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NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES - 2010

January 13, 2010

Awards for the 2009 RING 216 Magic Competitions and Certificates of Appreciation for Leadership in the 2009 Teach-In Club Meetings were presented to club members. Theron Schaub won first place at the Walk Around Competition, Stan Sieler won first place at the Close-Up Competition, Kim Silverman won first place at the Stage Competition, and John Bodine won the People's Choice Award at the Walk Around Competition. Many members were excited to have the December 2009 Stage Competition Details (along with pictures of all the competitors) published in the monthly IBM RING Magazine, January 2010 edition. The following individuals were awarded Certificates of Appreciation for leading Magical Teach-Ins during the 2009 year: Doug Eakin, John Bodine, Brian Hart, Calvin Tong, Jeff Chiou, Mike Bailes, Bill Benson, Stefan Fisher, Guy Philips, Jim Mullen, Scott Emo, and Patrick Reed. Finally, Michael Bailes received the Wally Gibson Award (Outstanding Contribution).

February 10, 2010

We kicked off the February meeting by having President Fred Rasmussen present Jim Mullen the Life Time Achievement Award. Fred also formally introduced Jim Blashek as the clubhistorian after which Jim shared some of his ideas that would be presented to the club in future meetings. Next, Bill Benson walked the members through the new IBM Ring 216 web site which is now fully up and running! Big thanks for Bill for all his efforts in the new web site and in transitioning into his new position as webmaster! Next, Vice President Cal Tong facilitated the main event of the evening: John Bodine’s Expert at the card Table focusing on the top palm and Will Chandlers Ring on String lecture. We would like to thank both John Bodine and Will Chandler for leading the hands-on 2 part series lectures which were kicked off in January and completed in February. The evening ended with open performance night where 8 members (Jim Mullen, Fred Rasmussen, Michael Bailes, Cal Tong, Ken King, Bruce Jordan, Alan Lees, and Michael Feldmon) performed their entertaining magic effects for the rest of the club. Jim Mullen started off the open performance night with a torn and restored card card routine using a band-aid. Fred Rasmussen performed a 4 Ace Card Routine. Michael Bailes performed a series of Wally Gibson routines including the Coin Vanish/Production routine, the Red and White Silk in Glass, and the 3 Match Box Marketed effect. Cal Tong provided advice on love while performing 2 Back-Fire Matrix routines. Ken King performed a Teleporting Knot routine involving a red silk, a white silk, and 2 glasses. Ken taught the secret at the end of his routine. >Bruce Jordan performed a Monkey Bar routine. Alan Leeds performed a mentalism routine called “Who wants to be a Mentalist?” Last but not least,Michael Feldmonperformed 4 cards to Pockets.

March 10, 2010

We had a great turnout for the Shawn Farquhar lecture (sponsored by IBM RING 216, San Jose and coordinated by Ring 216 President Fred Rasmussen) this past Wednesday night. Many of us were blown away by Shawn's Bread and Butter lecture which included presentations on MatriXpress, MagiCD, Torn 2 Pieces, Tagged, Photo Finish, and the Ultimate Invisible Deck. We would like to thank SAM 94 (Society of American Magicians Palo Alto) and OMC (Oakland Magic Circle) Officers for helping us advertise the lecture (). We would also like to thank the many club members from IBM Ring 216, OMC, and SAM 94 for attending and supporting this lecture. Shawn is a super nice guy and Kim Silverman, Joe Caffal, Scott Alcalay, and Bryon Walker socialized with us at our usual restaurant of choice after the IBM Ring 216 club meeting and lecture. Shawn shared many wonderful stories with us relating to his experience performing magic on Cruise Lines, business conventions, and Television shows such as the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Our IBM RING 216 President, Fred Rasmussen, met Shawn in mid year 2009 while vacationing around the world and set actions in motion at that moment which led to this past week's lecture. A Million thanks to Fred! On that note, if you have the opportunity to meet fantastic professional lecturing magicians (like Shawn), please establish that relationship, obtain contact information, and relay that stuff to one of our Magi clubs (ie.. IBM RING 216, SAM 94, or OMC). Thanks again for helping make this a successful event!

April 14, 2010

Many thanks to Sergeant at Arms Sy Hoff for documenting the meeting activities while I was vacationing in Maui. The April 14th meeting activities started with Teach-ins by Kim Silverman and Stan Sieler. Kim talked about scripting being very important. He described his own methods for creating a script. As an example he demonstrated his version of Ring on Rope. He referred to the ring as "your life" and the rope as "your problems" and showed how your problems can be overcome and your life returned to you. As a surprise, Jim Mullen gave a short lecture emphasizing the importance of preparation and scripting. Stan Sieler's topic was Mentalism. He performed three demonstrations and explained how each of them was done. The effects he performed were the Tossed-Out Deck, a Mind Control effect using different colored shapes on cards, and a Mind Read/Recollection effect. He emphasized that performing magic and performing mentalism are different and should not be mixed.

Jim Blashek (newly appointed Ring 216 Historian) showed his new 17 pound book on "Magic and History from 1400 to 1950" that is a great reference on magic history. Seven members signed up for Open Performance Night. Joss Lee did some divining of who had what cards (Michael Weber's Memories). This was Joss' performance for Ring 216 acceptance. He was unanimously voted into our Ring. Stan Sieler did a Book Test. He had a spectator select a book, had another spectator stop him on a page, and was able to divine the information on that page. Alan Leeds performed a small act where he gave out some Movie Cards and was able to figure out which movie each participant selected. This was followed by a Book Test of the Travel Book. He was able to tell people what was on a freely chosen page, and also identified a picture on another page. Patrick Reed performed the new Chris Kenworthy effect, Mastermind. He had different cards chosen and amazingly they were both the same card. Vijay did the 52 on 1 Dick Barry routine. Fred Rasmussen performed Shawn Farquhar's T2P (Torn 2 Pieces). He used an Indian Fakir theme. John Jones showed us Kent Gunn's version of the classic, Triumph.

May 12, 2010

June 9, 2010

Our June Ring meeting included a successful lecture by Tom Ogden after Raahul Srinivasan was voted in as Ring 216 Secretary. Tom Ogden has appeared in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe, and he’s opened for such acts as Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, The Osmonds, and B.J. Thomas. His television work has included “The World’s Greatest Magic II” (NBC) and “The Great Magic of Las Vegas” (FOX), as well as numerous commercials. He has twice been voted “Parlor Magician of the Year” at the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood and has received an astounding additional 14 nominations in other categories! Today, Tom is one of America’s most popular cruise ship entertainers as well as the author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Street Magic.” Tom’s lecture material included the following: Business Card Switch, Business Card Wrap, The 7-Cent Solution, A Bird in The Hand, Five and One, Out of Sight, Cards Across, an Egg Bag routine, and tips on booking and performing children’s birthday party shows.

December 9, 2009

We held our Annual Stage/Parlor Magic Competition which was the 3rd of three friendly Magic Competitions in 2009. With over 45 excited attendees, 4 amazing competitors ( Jim Mullen, Kim Silverman, Joe Oliverio, and Stan Sieler ) expertly entertained the audience for the evening. Jim Mullen kicked off the competition with his humorous version of Bill Malone’s Bill-in-Lemon. A borrowed bill changes from a hundred to a one, and then the signed hundred ends up inside a lemon. Stan Sieler had the audience participate in a warmup exercise where they made six small decisions with the same result as a big decision. He then invited a couple from the audience to participate in making decisions in a game of poker. Stan closed his performance with his very own "Titanic Decisions" where a selected couple (volunteers) play the roles of the captain of the Titanic and the second officer. In deciding at random which passengers to save, the result was that the woman playing the captain saved every woman on the Titanic, and none of the men. Joe Oliverio performed three of his favorite routines starting with the Hopping Halves which Joe uses to check to make sure his audience is paying attention. Following that was Joe’s handling of the Do Nothing Machine which leaves him and the audience exhausted. Joe ended with his favorite closing routine; Gene Anderson’s Newspaper Tear. Kim Silverman opened with his Ninja Ring routine, which rather than focusing on the ring effects themselves, uses them to illustrate hope in the face of adversity. Then he had an audience member alone on stage produce an egg within a bag, as an illustration of how "with a good imagination and spell, anybody can perform magic". He closed with a version of Gypsy Thread with a script inspired by Eugene Burger, adapted to give hope to those who have experienced sorrow, pain, or loss. This used ultraviolet light, glowing thread, and the finale from Beethoven's 9th symphony. While Fred Rasmussen (President) and Calvin Tong (Vice President) calculated the final ballot scores, Patrick Reed (Treasurer) entertained the audience with his comedy magic. The overall winner of the Annual Stage/Parlor Competition was Kim Silverman.

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