Coming in May: Mini-lecture, teach-in sessions, and more

Join your friends in magic on May 9, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. for our next regular meeting. We have a fun, full agenda for the meeting... here's what we have in store for you:

1. Mini-Lecture: Music and Magic

Peter Apel will facilitate a group discussion on the topic, “The Magic of Audio: How Thoughtful Selection and Use of Music Can Enhance Your Magical Performance.” He'll cover selecting the right music, preparation and practice, technology and hardware, and other topics brought up by the members.

2. Teach-In Sessions: False Transfers and Double-Lifts

Next, we'll divide attendees into two groups to take part in teach-in sessions led by two Ring 216 officers. Each group will have the opportunity to attend each session.

• Cal Tong will lead a session on false transfers. As student of Shoot Ogawa, Cal is a master of the art and will discuss technique, psychology, and misdirection. Bring your own coins or other small objects to practice with.

• Gary Goldberg will facilitate a discussion on the double-lift. Gary is a wonderful cardician who has studied the classics, and he'll be able to share advice and techniques for mastering this extremely valuable card sleight.

3. Magic Reviews from Club Members

Have you bought any new magic books, videos, or tricks lately? Tell us what you think about them! We're going to inaugurate a new feature of Ring 216 where we invite YOU to share your opinions in an open forum about what you've purchased. In 1-3 minutes, tell us what you like or don't like about it so that your fellow members can decide whether to buy it. 

4. Open Performances

If you haven't performed at the Ring lately, we invite you to show your stuff! You'll get first priority during our open performance portion of the evening. Remember: As a member of Ring 216, you're obligated to perform at a club event (meeting or competition) at least once per year. Nervous? No need to be... We're family!

Meeting Report: April 11, 2018 - Open Performance Night

   Before the scheduled start of the April meeting of Ring 216, Don White led a workshop to practice the pen and cap trick that had been taught in the previous month’s Michael Feldman lecture.

  The meeting proper began with a greeting to new visitors and a free-for-members raffle of some generously donated magical items. It was Open Performance Night and a variety of valiant volunteers stepped up to practice and baffle.

Rafael Delgadillo started things off by divining a chosen card while his back was turned. 

        John Jones performed a 3-fly routine with differently colored poker chips. 

        John Mosh caused a spectator’s imagined red-backed card to materialize reversed in a blue deck, and he took care to show both sides of the deck. 

        Grant Yang, in his first performance for the Ring, performed a series of intertwined card mysteries, as a single selection is found three different ways.  

         Mitch Kothe used a spectator’s password to find a selected card, then the whole audience participated with cards in hand to find their own cards with their passwords. 

         Fred Rasmussen pitted a man and a woman against each other in trying to guess the color of a series of cards; the man was always wrong and the woman was always right. 

         Ken King told a history-based Old West tale where a gambler cut to four kings – which subsequently changed to four deuces. 

         Don White performed an inventive and deceptive close-up Miser’s Dream - the endless production of coins -- which he then taught to all. 

         David Martinez and a spectator took turns playing detective to identify the culprit among a group of spectators who held the guilty envelope. 

        Tom Collett closed out the evening with his presentation of a transforming sponge ball. 

Coming in April: Pre-Meeting Workshop and Open Performances

Ring 216 members and friends: Join your friends in magic on April 11, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. for our next regular meeting.

Here's the agenda for the meeting:

6:30 p.m. — Pre-meeting workshop
We'll practice one of the routines we learned at Michael Feldman's lecture: End for End. David has purchased a collection of Pilot V7 pens, and so we'll have them available to use and purchase (only $3 for two pens, red and black). The routine is available in Michael's book "The Opposite of People," and you can also purchase a video download of the routine from Art of Magic.

7:30 p.m. — Announcements, Raffle, and Open Performances
As usual, Ring 216 members are eligible to participate in a raffle of magic items — books, tricks, and videos — donated by our members. If you have anything you'd like to share with other members, please bring it!

After the raffle, we'll have a regular night of open performances. Perform a routine you're working on and get feedback. Or if you have something you'd like to teach us or ideas you'd like to share, bring those, too.

Did anyone say refreshments? We'll have those, too. Feel free to bring some food to share if you'd like.

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!