Meeting Report: March 14, 2018 - Michael Feldman Lecture

The creative Bay Area magician Michael Feldman presented a lecture on his latest material to a large audience of Ring 216 members.  The first edition of his recent book, A New Angle, co-written with Ryan Plunkett, has nearly sold out. The last remaining copies were offered for sale after the lecture, and quickly snapped up.

Michael performed and explained a series of novel effects. He began by holding a competition to find the three best Rock Paper Scissors players in the room. The winning moves of the top three players then turned out to have been written, in the correct order, on three large sheets of paper that had been stuck to the wall since the start of the game.

Next the cap of a ballpoint pen vanished, reappeared, and changed color. This was an update of a do-anywhere pocket effect Michael had released years ago and which he had published in his book “The Opposite of People.”

The material from his new book was then showcased in a series of card routines, kicked off by Ryan Plunkett’s “Shuffleupagus.” Two spectators each shuffle half the deck. The magician then shuffles and shows the cards are nearly separated into reds and blacks. He shuffles again, and the cards are in new deck order. It was this effect which was the genesis of the book, Michael explained. He followed this up with the outstanding “Complete faro control, then the direct location of any named four of a kind, and rounded off with some thinking on the larger principles behind the book.

The second half of the lecture was devoted to impromptu card tricks. These included an in-the-hands effect where a mixed deck of face-up and face-down cards rights itself and a cutting the aces routine.

The finale was “Merely Impossible,” a routine Michael has been incorporating into his act over the past year. This astonishing routine has taken in probably every magician who has seen it. In essence, the selected and signed card is located by the magician in the deck…before the spectator returns it to the deck! Michael graciously discussed in detail the psychology behind the routine.

The books he brought with him quickly sold out at the end of the lecture – but a new edition is on the way.

Ring 216 members and friends:

Join us on March 14 at 7:30 p.m. sharp for a magic lecture by San Francisco's own Michael Feldman — sleight-of-hand artist and international man of mystery.

As a gift for Ring 216 members, Michael's lecture is free for paid members ($20 for non-members). You can sign up for membership at the meeting and enjoy all the benefits for just $25.

For the last 20 years, Michael has traveled the world with a deck of cards performing sleight-of-hand magic. He has been a featured performer at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, on Crystal Cruiselines, and at Monday Night Magic, New York’s longest-running, off-Broadway magic show.

At the lecture, Michael is planning to cover a variety of topics. He's most excited about (1) a stand up routine that can be customized to predict almost anything, (2) performing with signed cards, and (3) hands-off magic with cards.

In addition, he's interested to hear what people want to see or have him talk about. He can tailor the lecture to discuss what people would like to hear.

No need to RSVP... just show up!

Meeting Report: January 10, 2018

Cheryl, the receptionist at the Yu Ai Kai Center, was impressed by the number of magicians trooping through the lobby on Ring 216’s meeting night. “Everyone wants to see John Carney,” she said. “They say he’s The Man.”

The man himself began by telling the capacity crowd his mission: “I teach the thinking behind tricks. To me this is the fun – working things out, discovering things.” John demonstrated his thinking process by detailing the reasoning behind every move in his first two routines, “Coffee Cups and Grapes,” inspired by Michael Skinner, and Ramsay’s “Coins in Hat.” Make changes and see what results, he urged. Coffee cups have handles – what new moves does that make possible? Consider whether each visible movement can be made more graceful and more efficient, each hidden sleight covered by misdirection. Apply the attention-controlling concepts of tension and relaxation, punctuation, focus. “You can’t misdirect until you know where they’re looking.” At the end of these two teaching sessions, John remarked truthfully, “We only talked about two tricks, but one hundred secrets.” 

The lecture continued with Mora Balls, Quarter through Plate, and coin vanishes, card controls and color changes, each showing the improvements that occur when one tries out additions and subtractions to routines, and works on changing the moment of secret actions. He reminisced about Vernon and other magicians he had met and learned from. At the end, John summarized again his message of inspiration: “To improve, make adjustments. Don’t practice the same way for forty years.”

The magicians lingered talking with John Carney long after the appointed time for the center to close. At the front desk, Cheryl, waiting patiently, said she did not mind. It looked to her like it had been an important night for the magicians.

Meeting Report: February 14, 2018

Awards – raffle prizes – a mini-lecture – and magic performances. What more could one want for Valentine’s Day?

First on the agenda, the awards were handed out for the Ring’s magic competitions that took place last year. Beautiful first-place trophies were awarded to Alex Wu (Stage/Parlor) and to Danny Cheng (Walk-Around,Close-Up and Magician of the Year). Personalized certificates were awarded to the People’s Choice winners, Tom Collett (Stage/Parlor), Perry Yan (Walk-Around) and Luke Adams and Danny Cheng (Close-Up).

The free-for-members raffle followed with prizes of magic props and DVDs generously donated to the club by Fred Rasmussen, John Jones, David Martinez and Tom Collett.

David Martinez presented a mini-lecture on “Opening Lines.” Quoting Eugene Burger – “Every good trick deserves a good opening line” – David compared the compelling first lines of literary works to the typical opener of magicians: “Here I have an ordinary deck of cards.” David presented the characteristics of great lines and how to find them, with references to the ideas of Darwin Ortiz and Pete McCabe. At the end he handed out lecture notes with dozens of examples of openers.

In the open performances of the evening, in which feedback was provided by the members if the performer requested, the Ring enjoyed the following acts.

Anthony “Doc Boodle” Pratkanis – The Three Shell Game.
Gene Johnson – Four aces fairly lost in the deck rise to the top.
Danny Cheng – Coins fly from hand to hand.
Mitch Kothe – A new arrival to the Ring, presenting Valentine themed three card location with a color change, and the deck turning into a steel block.
John Jones – The Box of Doom card prediction.
David Martinez – Teleportation of a nickel from hand to hand as spectators held his wrists.
Ken King – The Wizard Clock prediction.
Raphael Delgadillo – Card magic.
Tom Collett – Vanishing ribbon.
Gary Goldberg – A Shuffling Lesson.
Stan Sieler – A divination.

Coming February 14: Awards, Mini-Lecture, and Open Performance

When: Wednesday, February 14, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Where: Yu-Ai Kai Senior Center, 588 North 4th Street, San Jose, CA

Join us on February 14 for our next Ring 216 meeting featuring an awards ceremony, mini-lecture, and open performances.

We hope you can get away from your significant other for a few hours on Wednesday, February 14, and spend it with your family in magic. Here's our agenda:

• Awards ceremony honoring the winners of last year's competitions, including Danny Cheng and Alex Wu
• Mini-lecture on opening lines by David Martinez (adapted from his essay in the Ring 216 publication, The Real Magic of Silicon Valley: Volume 2).
• Open performance — share your magic with the club.
• Food and beverage will be served.

This is a great opportunity to re-connect with your friends, honor our award winners, learn something new, and enjoy some fun magic.

Pre-Meeting Workshop Opportunity

We are thinking about holding an informal, free workshop before our February meeting to discuss a routine we learned at the recent John Carney lecture: Coin Thru Plate. The workshop will run from 6:30–7:15 p.m. on February 14.

If at least 5-6 people will commit to attending, then we will host the workshop. Otherwise, we will schedule a workshop for a future date. Please email president@ring216.org to let us know if you will attend.