Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our theme for October was “Telling a Story with a Deck of Playing Cards.” President Cassidy Smith introduced Michael King as our featured performer for the evening. Michael told the entertaining story of Jack Spade, New Age Detective as he turned over cards that matched the story. He continuously shuffled and cut the deck as he did so. Michael then told the somewhat risque story of a King, his Queen, and his mistress with lots of double entendres. The moral of the story was that one can’t have his Kate and Edith too.

Our best trick of the evening was by Cassandra Crowe. We noticed that there were now two of her. None of us had known that she had a twin sister, Eileen.

David Teeman told the story of the Four Brothers. The brothers went out for a walk and, one at a time, they turned back to get a drink. (Like twisting the Aces.) As a kicker ending, the backs of the Bicycle cards all turned into Coca Cola products. David came up with this routine and markets it as “Refreshment Rainbow.”

Michael King invited Cassandra and Eileen to join him “on stage.” He showed a ribbon and several Chinese coins and caused the coins to penetrate the ribbon multiple times. He said this was the “Charming Chinese Challenge,” by Troy Hooser.

Lee Woodside told the story of a young cowboy on his first cattle drive. The young cowboy went into Dodge City and met four beautiful ladies, but when he woke up the next morning, he found that it had all been a dream and there were just dusty cowpokes around the campfire with him.

Cassidy Smith performed the “Sam the Bellhop” routine made famous by Bill Malone. He even had a bell like those at a hotel check-in counter.

Cassandra Crowe enlisted Cassidy Smith, Michael King, and David Teeman to play the part of the three witches in her production of Macbeth. She spread a deck of playing cards face down onto a piece of cardboard and as each witch read a prediction, Cassandra stabbed a card with a knife. Sure enough, she had stabbed the four kings.

The names of all the evening’s performers were placed into a hat and Justin Teeman drew one name. It turned out that his dad, David Teeman, won a Bicycle Mental Photography deck.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

President Cassidy Smith introduced David Teeman, who gave us a rundown on the recent TAOM/SAM Convention that he and Justin attended over the Labor Day weekend. He showed us several tricks he had acquired and performed one called “Great Magicians Are in SAM,” which was a card match-up routine along the lines of “Will the cards match?”

The rest of the September meeting was devoted to our annual flea market and appraisal auction. As usual, Lee Woodside was our intrepid auctioneer. There was a lot of spirited bidding and some great deals were made.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our August theme was Liquid Magic and Lee Woodside kicked off the meeting with his “Captain Lee’s Magic Medicine Show.” Lee left out the gags and bits of business he usual employs and focused on liquid magic effects. He began by telling how he collects the magical waters used in making the miracle fluid from a small mountain spring on land held sacred by the Shoshone (small lota pitcher). Next he demonstrated how he tests the waters for the special magnetic properties necessary (hydrostatic glass). He stacked three small tumblers and showed how the magic elixir goes straight to where it’s needed. For a belly ache, the liquid accumulated in the middle tumbler, for a headache, it went to the top tumbler, and for a big toe sore from gout, it went straight to the bottom tumbler. Lee ended by showing why one may need to buy only one bottle of the medicine. He poured a dose of the medicine into a small glass and then proceeded to pour from that glass into progressively bigger ones (multum in parvo). Throughout the presentation, he used a large lota bowl as a running gag. Lee fielded questions about the various effects.

President Cassidy Smith demonstrated how to produce a liquid load in a cups and balls routine. He then performed Will Golden’s “Super Aerial Glass,” where he poured wine from a bottle into a goblet and, when he released his hold on the goblet, it floated.

David Teeman showed off a gospel magic routine where red liquid turns other liquids clear when they are mixed together.

Cassidy Smith stressed the importance of one’s entrance to the performing area. He invited each member to demonstrate his or her entrance. David Hira and Howard Hale were mentioned as magician who know how to make an entrance.

David Teeman demonstrated his quick coffee brewing machine. He showed the ground coffee in the top of the apparatus and when he placed the cover on and removed it, he had delicious brewed coffee.

Professor Ludicrous (AKA Rick Martin) made a cone from a sheet of newspaper and poured milk from a pitcher into the cone. When he unfurled the newspaper at the audience, the milk had vanished.

Brian Tabor rolled a dollar bill into a cylinder and placed it on a credit card. He visibly poured liquid into the small cylinder, but when he unrolled the bill, the liquid had vanished.

The names of all the performers were placed into a hat and one name was drawn. Lee Woodside became the proud new owner of John Bannon’s “Call of the Wild.”

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our annual “Pandemonium of Magic” public show was a rousing success. David Teeman welcomed everyone to the show and introduced President Cassidy Smith as the emcee. Cassidy produced a rose, caused it to multiply, and then changed the color from white to red.

Rick Martin, AKA Professor Ludicrous from the Skunkworks Laboratories, showed a gadget from the firm’s archives that he said he had been trying to figure out. Colored switches always seemed to control the bulbs of the corresponding colors, no matter how the bulbs and switch covers were moved around. He removed one bulb from the socket and attempted to turn it on while he held it in his hand, but was met with a shower of sparks.

Rick Johnson showed a cereal box empty and then poured cereal from the “empty” box into a cereal bowl. He showed a paper sack that he said contained a drink and asked an audience member to name any drink. When an audience member said “orange juice,” Rick removed a can of Dr. Pepper from the sack with a shrug. However, when he poured out the liquid, it proved to be orange juice. He repeated this with another audience member and poured milk from a newly opened Dr. Pepper can.

Rick invited an audience member with a cell phone to join him on stage. He placed her phone into a manila envelope and sealed the envelope. He brought out five fake phones and placed each one into a similar envelope. After mixing the envelopes, he numbered them one through six. He handed the participant a die and asked her to roll it to select a phone. When she rolled a four, Rick set the number four envelope on the table and pounded it with a hammer. This process continued, with much laughter from the audience, until only one envelope remained. He handed this one to the lady and she opened it to reveal her phone.

Brian Tabor performed what he said was his first trick in magic. After showing a candle, he wrapped it in a silk scarf and pulled forth a flower. He threw the scarf to the floor and there was a loud clang when the “candle” hit the floor.

Brian asked three ladies in the audience to each write the name of her first crush on a small piece of paper. He then asked them to drop the pieces of paper into his jacket pocket so he would not know which was which. He pulled the first two pieces of paper from his pocket, read the names, and divined which of the ladies had written each name. He asked the third lady to think of the name she wrote and then divined the name. Brian ended by performing a very entertaining version of the multiplying bottles.

Lee Woodside, AKA “Captain Lee,” honored the military veterans in the audience. He played the anthem of each of the armed services and asked that any vets who served in that service please stand up. He had Brynna and Braylee take a small American flag to each of the honorees. Lee concluded by performing his medicine show multum in parvo routine.

David Teeman unfolded two giant dice and nested them. When he lifted the dice, there was Braylee. David Performed a very moving piece about God, man and sin, each represented by a different color block. The three blocks were threaded on cords, with sin separating God and man. A red silk scarf was placed over the ‘sin’ block and that block penetrated the cords and crashed to the floor, leaving God and man together again. David invited a girl from the audience to help him with a magic trick. David handed her a wand and asked her to wave it over his hand, into which he had stuffed a red silk hanky. The trick failed, so David called for a bigger wand. This continued until the final wand was humongous and the trick finally worked.

Michael King, AKA the “One-Man Circus,” dazzled the audience with his juggling, plate spinning, and unicycle riding abilities. He said he learned these skills when he ran away and joined the circus for a year.

Kevin Brasier and his daughter Molly, along with Molly’s friends Summer and Austin, treated the audience to several illusions. In a gender role reversal, Molly locked Austin into a tall box, inserted steal blades, and pulled his middle section out to the side. After reversing the process, Austin stepped out of the box none the worse for wear. Kevin placed Molly into a box and began inserting geometric shapes through the box, making it seem impossible that she could still be in the box. After removing the shapes, Kevin opened the door and not only was Molly unscathed, but her friend Summer had joined her.

Kevin asked for a volunteer from the audience and a lady came up on stage. Kevin unveiled a wicked-looking head chopper and showed that it was able to easily slice carrots. He locked the lady’s head into the device, and after the usual comedy byplay, he brought down the blade. Fortunately, she was magically unharmed. For the climax of the show, Molly locked Kevin into a sack that was in a large wooded box. She then securely locked the box. She stood on the box holding a large curtain. When she held the curtain over her head and dropped it, there was Kevin standing in her place. Unfortunately, Molly was securely locked in the box because Kevin had accidentally dropped the key. The audience members were thanked for coming and told the show was over. However, no one moved until the key was located and Molly was successfully retrieved from the box.

The theme of our July meeting was “Picnic Magic.” President Cassidy Smith laid a blanket on the floor and set his picnic basket on it. He showed that his lunch box was empty by dropping the two sides. When he closed the box, he took out a thermos, which he said worked like a foo can. He caused a spoon to vanish and then demonstrated his ability to juggle drinking glasses. He put the rim of a plate into his mouth and “bit off” a piece of the plate, which he then restored. Finally, he showed a large ladybug, split it into two ladybugs and performed a sponge ball routine with the two bugs.

Lee Woodside said that picnics are all about food and fun. He said that he had a game that emphasized those two things and invited Kallie and Molly to compete against each other. Lee dumped out a bunch of small drawstring bags, each containing a Hershey’s nugget candy bar. He asked Molly if she preferred the plain or the almond, and she chose the plain. This left Kallie with the almonds. Lee invited the two ladies to take turns using their psychic abilities or their women’s intuition to pick a bag containing the correct chocolate. If they got it right, they got to keep the candy bar. If they got it wrong, the bar went into a discard paper bag. At the conclusion of the game, Lee turned the bag around to show the prediction that Molly would choose almonds and would lose by one. Sure enough, Kallie had eight chocolates and Molly had only seven. However, they were both winners because they got to keep the chocolates they had correctly divined.

David Teeman placed a yellow silk scarf into a change bag. He said that sanity could be determined by what color scarf one sees. He invited Cassidy and Kallie to participate. He showed the open end of the bag to Cassidy and he said he saw yellow. He did the same for Kallie and she saw red. Finally, David removed a rainbow silk scarf from the bag and said, “There is no sanity clause.”

Cassidy invited Rick Johnson, Rick Martin, and Kevin Brasier to each select a card and place it back into the deck. Cassidy said that he had a jumbo card with a prediction of Rick’s card. It turned out the be the venerable 52-on-1 card. Since no one seemed to be impressed, Cassidy brought out his insurance policy covering such magical catastrophes. He opened it up and showed Rick Johnson’s card. He unfolded it once more and there was Rick Martin’s card. Unfolding the policy all the way revealed a very large image of Kevin’s card.

The week after our July meeting, we hosted an ice cream social. The magicians and their families enjoyed ice cream cones, banana splits, root beer floats, brownies, and sodas. It was a great way to beat Oklahoma’s July heat.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our annual close-up contest was held at our June meeting. We had five contestants vying and cash prizes and bragging rights.

Lee Woodside invited sisters Molly and Kallie to assist him in a psychometry experiment. He handed Kallie a Master padlock and began handing her keys, one at a time, to try in the lock. After trying each key, she would place it in a small drawstring bag. The eighth key finally opened the lock and Lee asked that she hold this key tightly in her hand for a while before placing it a bag. The lock was again locked. Lee asked that Molly place four bags in each hand and try to determine which hand held the correct key. The other four bags were eliminated and two bags were held in each hand. She again sensed which hand held the correct key and the other two bags were eliminated. Finally she chose between the final two bags. The key was removed from the bag and did, indeed, open the lock.

Shaun Clark began by taking a photo of the audience with his cell phone. When the flash occurred, the cell phone immediately vanished. Shaun then had Brian Tabor turn a watch to a random time, which proved to exactly match Shaun’s prediction.

David Teeman told of sneaking a box of chocolates into a movie. When confronted by the manager, he showed the box to be empty. When he opened it again, it was filled with chocolates. David read off a list of movies and then had Cassidy Smith tell him where on the list to cut the list in two. The movie just below the cut proved to be “The Ugly Little Mermaid,” Cassidy having cut “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in half. Sure enough, David’s prediction was a photo of a very ugly mermaid.

Rick Johnson asked Molly and Kallie to join him at the close-up table. Rick performed a very nice ACAAN (any card at any number) routine.

Brian Tabor asked that Rick Johnson assist him. Brian laid out a circle of playing cards and asked that Rick roll a pair of dice to arrive at a number. When Brian counted around the circle of cards to that number, the card chosen was the three of spades. Brian removed a three of spades from the card box and showed that Rick’s name was written on the card. Brian then demonstrated his skill at “pack whacking.” He asked Rick to name a card. Brian began showing each card in the pack face up and then dealing it to the table face down. He invited Rick to “whack the pack” when his card was dealt. Rick did so, but Brian showed that the selected card was actually under his own hand.

The votes were tallied by Michael King. A check for ten dollars was awarded to Lee Woodside for third place. Rick Johnson received a check for twenty dollars for second place. Brian Tabor claimed first place and a check for thirty dollars plus bragging rights for the next year.

Vice President Justin Teeman gave a rundown on the Kyle Purnell lecture that Ring 46 hosted just two days before the meeting. He said that Kyle devoted the first half of his lecture to truly impromptu magic. He penetrated a borrowed bill with a borrowed Sharpie. He teleported a signature on a borrowed bill to the other end of the bill. He tore up a business card and restored it. The second half of Kyle’s lecture was a workshop on the muscle pass and a demonstration of Kyle’s marketed items, the most impressive of which was the vanishing cell phone.

President Cassidy Smith reminded everyone of our upcoming Pandemonium of Magic public show, which will be held the day before Father’s Day. Lee Woodside signed out tickets for members to sell.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

We were very pleased to host a lecture by Dan Fleshman. Dan is the penultimate restaurant magician, having earned his chops at the Chop House in Beaver Creek, Colorado over the past sixteen years.

Dan began his lecture by talking us through the loading of his pockets for an evening of magic. He stressed that it is important to know where everything is and to always be reset when props are returned to the pockets. He said that his pocket management includes pockets within pockets.

Dan performed and explained his “Jiggernaut” routine, which uses a non-chopped double-jigger, fake olives, and wine corks, a lime and a “Cutie” orange as final loads. He showed us his “Kineti-Key” routine with his special patter about the Magic Castle.

Dan’s close-up linking ring routine is the best I’ve seen since Shoot Ogawa visited us. His links are a thing of beauty.

Dan shared many of his other pet routines with us, including his routine with the Anverdi Die. We can heartily recommend Dan Harlan as a lecturer for those interested in close-up magic and particularly those with an interest in pursuing restaurant magic.

Thirteen magicians showed up for our May 13^th meeting. The meeting was delayed a week because of the threat of severe weather the week before.

Daniel Buster was our featured performer. He began with a large bracelet and a string and caused the bracelet to melt on and off the string in a variety of ways. He tore a rectangle out of the middle of a playing card and then tore a hole in that piece. After having Brian Tabor and Jay Relkin sign the two rectangular pieces, he linked them together and handed out the linked pieces.

Cassidy Smith stated that the linking rings are an effect that is very easy to do – badly. He showed us several sets of linking rings from his personal collection and went over various counts and methods of linking the rings. Lee Woodside demonstrated a very nice un-link that he said he learned from a Terry Lunceford lecture.

Jim Green demonstrated a brass ring that links onto a loop formed by a ceiling fan chain. He showed us the secret to making it work every time.

David Teeman showed a ring off string routine using a Jardine Ellis Ring, a prop that isn’t seen as much these days. He then showed us some large rings that changed between black and rainbows and some juggling rings.

Brian Tabor showed us some monkey fist balls that he had made for doing Max Maven’s classic “Kurotsoke” routine. He then amazed us by linking a linking ring to a “Linking Ring” magazine that had a round hole cut into it.

Lee Woodside performed a finger ring on string routine that he said he learned from a Harry Blackstone, Jr. book. He next showed off a set of 12-inch solid stainless steel rings that he had custom made to Bud Dietrich’s specifications. Mr. Dietrich was a trade show magician who lectured in OKC about 30 years ago.

Gary Trosper demonstrated his “Wandini,” which is a lighted large wand that performs somewhat like a dancing cane. He said he got it on Amazon.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

David Teeman kicked off our April meeting as our featured performer. He began by showing us his gag solar eclipse glasses, a very timely gag since the eclipse had occurred that afternoon. After showing is hands empty, David produced a purple sponge ball.

David invited Grant Vinson to attempt to keep track of which of three miniature wands would rattle. Even after David made it as fair and easy as possible, Grant was still unable to identify the correct wand.

David saved the best for last. He presented his gospel routine where man is separated from God by sin, using three wooden blocks to represent man, god and sin. The “sin” block was threaded onto cords and securely tied in place. “Man” was placed on the cords on one side of “sin” and “God” was placed on the other side. When a red silk scarf representing the blood of Christ was placed over the “sin” block, it fell to the floor, leaving God and man together once again. David had shown the two cords obviously separated before threading them onto the blocks. He called his setup move the “hiTch,” the capital “T” representing Teeman.

Our theme for April member performances was animal magic with or without live animals. President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on why both kids and adults are captivated by animals. The discussion also delved into the work involved with caring for the doves, rabbits, and other animals used by magicians.

Cassidy performed the “Dream Rose” routine and then told why he likes it so much. The routine involved color-changing roses (white to red) and the production of a rose. It is a beautiful routine and a real fooler.

Brian Tabor showed us the “Secret Gaff and Packet Carrier Pro” which also includes an “out-to-lunch” feature and “The Leather Chop Cup with Balls” by TCC. He recommended both products, which he said are available from Penguin Magic. Brian then showed off the “bunny box” he had made. Of course, he will be using it to produce snakes instead of bunnies. He then showed how to use a coonskin cap as makeshift raccoon puppet.

Lee Woodside showed three cards with animal pictures on them: a cat, a dog and a parrot. He handed a wooden heart to Kallie and asked her to place it on any of the three animals. When Kallie chose the cat, Lee invited her to turn over the cat card and on the back of the card it said she would pick the cat. The dog card and the parrot card both said that she would not pick them. Lee said that this was his “Predict-A-Pet” effect, which he came up with back in 1997 to use in a mini-lecture on mentalism. Lee then showed a Robbie Raccoon, a rabbit in a hat puppet, and a skunk hand puppet that can be used in a magic show.

Kevin Brasier presented “Conopoly.” Four deed cards were chosen by Grace and Kallie. A “Community Chest” card correctly predicted the total of the rents of the chosen properties and a prediction envelope contained the exact amount of Monopoly money equal to the total of the mortgage values.

Jay Relkin reached into a bowl formed by Brian Tabor’s two hands and brought forth a “bird.” The only venue appropriate for this gag might be an adult comedy club.

The names of the evening’s performers were placed into a hat and two names were drawn. Lee Woodside became the proud owner of Doc Dixon’s “Psychic Cents” and Kevin Brasier won the “Die of Destiny.”

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Our themes for March were Hi-Tech Magic and Steampunk Magic. Our featured performer covered both of these admirably. Professor Ludicrous (AKA Rick Martin) of the Steampunk Skunkworks Laboratories demonstrated an artifact that had been discovered in the lab’s archives. The switchboard had four switches and four light bulb sockets. Each socket contained a bulb of a different color. Each switch had a cover with a color associated with one of the bulbs. No matter how the bulbs or switch covers were moved around, the corresponding bulb lit up when a switch was thrown.

Jim Green demonstrated his remote-controlled “Tipper the Monkey.” The monkey would bang his cymbals together in response to questions or math problems. He would also “chatter.”

Michael King discussed Hickman’s Famous Psychedelic Card Engine. This was a website that would appear to read peoples’ minds. It would name the cards they were thinking of. Michael then very generously offered each of us the magic DVDs from a project he had worked on a few years ago.

Cassidy Smith talked about the “iDeck” by Noel Qualter. He said that it gave the appearance of a high-tech gadget.

Lee Woodside announced that the second-greatest card mechanic in the Northern hemisphere was in our midst. (Richard Turner the being the greatest, of course.) He invited “Deadwood” Derrick Beeson to join him at the table and demonstrate his ability to deal bottoms, seconds, and even from the center of the deck. When he asked Derrick to turn over the top card of each stack on the table after the dealing, Derrick turned over the four aces. Lee then brought out two paper clips and told the story of how they fell in love, The paper clips ended up linked, and when he dropped them into Derrick’s hand, there were “baby” paper clips. Lee said this was his “21^st Century Paper Clips,” and was inspired by a routine in Ibidem.

Cassidy Smith showed us his new Brett Sherwood wand and passed it around so we could marvel at the quality. He then passed out sponge balls and showed us several moves that could be performed with this underappreciated classic of magic.

David Teeman showed a wooden bar with three scarves hanging from it. Two of the scarves were black and one was yellow. After much comedy byplay, he caused the outside yellow scarf to change places with the black scarf in the middle.

Brian Tabor demonstrated his lie detector, which had a green light for “truth” and a red light for “lie.” After having Derrick Beeson select a card and look at it, Brian asked Derrick several questions and each time the lie detector correctly deemed the answer true or false.

Mark Cristiano showed a list of 100 Taylor Swift songs on his phone. He asked that a number from 1-100 be chosen and 55 was named. The song at that number turned out to be “You Belong to Me.” When a page of “hieroglyphics” was folded at the creases, the name of the chosen song appeared.

Cassidy Smith placed the names of all the performers into a hat. Mark Cristiano’s name was drawn and he became the proud owner of a book on rubber band magic.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

Brian Tabor kicked off our February meeting as the featured performer. He started by showing an octagonal piece of cardboard representing a clock face with one hand on each side. As he flipped the “clock” around various axes, the perception was that the hands were moving. Brian invited Jonathon Meyer and Rick Martin to join him for a test of observation. After showing a small spread of playing cards to each of the participants, he asked them how many red cards they saw and how many total cards were in the spread. Their different answers to each question demonstrated the dubious nature of eye-witness testimony.

Brian invited Kallie to deal cards face up from a face up deck of playing cards. He said that when she stopped dealing the last card dealt would be her selection. That card proved to be the only one with an “X” on the back of it. Brian asked Grant Vinson to hand him the deck of cards that he had entrusted Grant with earlier. He then asked Grant to name a number between one and fifty-two and any playing card. Grant named the number 22 and the deuce of diamonds. Brian removed the cards from the deck, handed the deck to Grant, and asked Grant to deal to the 22^nd card. Sure enough, it was the two of diamonds.

Jim Green showed a cork board on a stand on which a drawing of a stick figure of a person was attached. Jim blindfolded himself and asked Derrick Beeson and Rick Johnson to each stick a pin into the stick figure. Jim was able to divine that Derrick had stuck his pin into the hand and Rick had chosen the heart. Was it Voodoo?

President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on ideas for what to call a magician’s one-man show. He said that “Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants” was a great name. He said that his personal choice was “Modest Dishonesty – a Magic Show by Cassidy Smith.”

David Teeman invited Dale Shawn, who is blind, to experience some magic. David brought out three sealed decks of playing cards and laid them on the table in a stack. He invited Dale to pick up all three decks at once with one hand. After this was repeated a couple of times, he asked Dale to pick up only the top deck. It was obvious that Dale was amazed. He said that the one deck was heavier than all three of the decks. David said that the demonstration was more of a psychological phenomenon than a magic trick.

Lee Woodside invited Abby to experience some romantic magic. Lee explained that paper clips are male and female just like people. After telling the story of how the two clips met and fell in love, he magically linked them together. Lee said that the routine was from Ibidem, but the method is published in many beginning magic books.

Derrick Beeson showed a close-up mat and servante that he obtained from Patt’s Matts. He said that they were excellent quality. He said that he also recommends coins from Ronald Davies. Derrick performed a routine called “Chop Shop,” by John Bannon. He showed a red-backed queen and three blue-backed jokers. Each time he put the queen into his pocked, it would reappear in the packet of cards. As a kicker ending, the four cards turned into the four aces.

Jonathon Meyer caused coins to appear in his empty hands, then vanish. He then produced them from his nose!

Cassidy Smith performed a beautiful and romantic routine called “The Rose 2.0” from Bond Lee. After a long-stemmed rose vanished in a ball of fire, Cassidy magically produced four roses one at a time.

We were pleased to book a last-minute lecture by Michael Komiskas. Michael presents a well-rounded lecture; in addition to cards and coins, he teaches magic with cups and balls, business cards, silk scarves, and even the ever-present Sharpie® marker.

Michael began by showing a sheer head scarf. He performed a coin production and then caused the silver dollar to penetrate the scarf in different ways. The routine ended with the vanish of the coin.

Michael handed a deck of imaginary cards to a member of the audience. He asked that the participant throw half the deck over his shoulder and then pass the remainder of the deck on to another audience member. This process continued until only one card remained. Michael then opened a box that had been in plain sight the whole time and removed a folded playing card. When he unfolded the card, it matched the card selected by the audience.

Michael took out his Sharpie and showed that it would cling to his fingers. This old gag got a groan, because he was using the method taught in many children’s magic books. However, he then did it again without “cheating.” While simple and easy, the method is a fooler.

Michael invited Jay Relkin to observe his chop cup routine up close. The final loads were a large ball, a 9-ball, and a potato that more than filled the cup.

Michael took out a purse frame without a bag and took out four silver dollars. He performed a nice “coins across” routine with the coins.

Kevin Brasier selected a card and signed it. Michael put the card into his pocket. Kevin’s daughter, Kallie selected another card and signed it. Michael brought out Kevin’s card and put it with Kallie’s. The two cards fused together, with a signature on each side of a double-faced card. Michael calls this routine “Anniversary Travelers.”

Michael brought out a Sharpie and performed the ubiquitous bending trick that everyone has seen, where the magician shakes the pencil up and down and it looks like it’s bending. However, when he stopped the motion, the previously straight Sharpie was now visible bent and could be handed out for examination.

Ashlee selected and signed the four of diamonds. Michael folded the card and then tore it into four pieces. He placed the pieces into a card box and shook them to “heal” the cards. When he dumped the card into Ashlee’s hand, she unfolded the card and it had her signature on it. Michael calls this routine, appropriately enough, “Healed.”

Michael showed three white medical-grade silicon balls and caused them to travel from hand to hand. He ended the routine with the venerable “two in the hand, one in the pocket” effect.

Michael brought forth a small bottle with a cork in it. He removed the cork and dumped out his quarter collection. Each quarter featured a different state on the back side. Brian Tabor selected one quarter and initialed it. Michael initialed the other side of the coin. He then replaced the cork in the bottle and held the signed coin on his palm. When he banged the bottle against the coin, the coin penetrated the bottle. When he dumped the coin into Brian’s hand, Brian verified that it was the coin he had initialed.

Derrick Beeson wrote a word on one of Michael’s business cards and inserted the card back into the stack. The stack of cards was rubber-banded together. Michael was able to divine the word that Derrick had written.

Michael performed a routine with a hot rod that did not involve the cheesy “one through six” number force. His routine was a story about a rainbow and a pot of gold.

Michael showed a very small ream of “copy paper” and showed that all the sheets of paper were blank. He then began “printing” on the paper until he had a full deck of playing cards. His routine is a take on the mental photography deck.

Michael showed us a unique pencil through bill routine that he came up with after watching “Misled” on a David Copperfield show. Not knowing the method, he created his own.

Michael showed us his KFC, the Komiskas Folded Card. This is an improvement on the age-old Mercury Card Fold that most magicians are familiar with.

Michael showed us his improved method of handling the cross-cut force. It fools many magicians. After showing a couple of other things, Michael explained all his miracles. We highly recommend Michael’s lecture for magicians who want to learn some new effects and get some performance tips from a working professional.

Lee Woodside

Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring

Meets 7:00 pm, 1^st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC

LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.

www.okcmagic.club

We had a great turnout for our first meeting of 2024. John Shack was our featured magician for the month. He discussed SMART Goals for moving ahead in one’s pursuit of magic. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. John then had Jerry Bowzer select and sign a playing card. John clearly tore the card into four pieces in front of our eyes and then restored it one piece at a time. He told us that this effect of his was published in the July 2023 issue of Genii.

Our brief business meeting was a discussion of up-coming lectures. It is great to be back to having live lectures again after the hiatus caused by COVID.

Our theme for member performances was to show off the magic received from Santa. David Teeman kicked it off by showing a pair of bamboo sticks. One stick had a tissel hanging from a string and the other had a tassel. The tissel would go up when the tassel was pulled and vice-versa. After much byplay, it was proved that the strings were not connected.

Lee Woodside said that his sister-in-law told him she knew what to get him for Christmas after seeing his posts on Facebook. Lee expected a magic trick, but when he opened his package, he found a dictionary. Lee invited Brian Tabor to watch as he flipped through the pages of the dictionary to prove it was not gimmick-ed. Lee then held out the dictionary and asked for Brian to tell him to stop as he flipped through the book. He asked Brian to think of the word at the top of the page and Lee divined it.

Jonathon Meyer showed us a small packet that he said was a prediction and placed it in his back pocket. He had a card chosen, signed, and returned to the deck. In a flash, the deck turned into the prediction and it was opened to reveal the signed card. He removed the deck from his back pocket where the prediction had been.

Michael King invited an audience member to join him. He showed three washers and a length of ribbon. He performed a very “charming” multi-phase routine where the washers would melt through the ribbon.

James Schoonover handed David Teeman a pad of sticky notes and asked him to think of a word and write it on the pad. James was able to successfully divine the word that David had written.

Derrick Beeson performed a routine called “Wild Coin.” He used three half dollars and a shot glass. As he rubbed each coin, it turned to brass. He placed the coins into the shot glass and they turned back into silver coins.

Lee Woodside