Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring
Meets 7:00 pm, 1st Monday of the month at the New Beginning Fellowship Church, 15601 S. Pennsylvania in OKC
LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.
Vice President Justin Teeman opened our February meeting with an announcement of upcoming magic activities. A Jeff Corn lecture is scheduled for February 13th and will be free to all paid-up members. An IBM Jam is set for February 18th. A Ryan Byer magic show, which will include local magical talent, will be performed on March 11th at Rose State College.
Secretary Lee Woodside announced that the Ring 46 Grimoire will be available at the March meeting and will be delivered on flash drives this year. Our Grimoire began many years ago as a printed document and was later made available on CD-Rom discs. The Grimoire will be free to those who contributed material and will be five dollars for everyone else. Malaki Dracwin (AKA David Swanson) has been our Grimoire editor for more than twenty-five years! Lee also announced that a box of books on juggling, balloon animals and yo-yos had been donated by Jim Short. He invited members to grab a book if they were interested in learning a new skill.
Our theme for February was “Coming out of your Shell.” Members were challenged to present coin tricks where the effect could be achieved using either a gimmick or by pure sleight-of-hand. Lee Woodside invited Rick Johnson to join him “on stage.” He showed a US fifty-cent piece and a Mexican 20-centavo coin and asked Rick to put them behind his back and place one coin in each hand. Lee asked Rick to open the hand with the half-dollar, which Lee took and showed to everyone. He then waved his hand over the hand holding the Mexican coin. When Rick opened his hand, the Mexican coin had changed into a US quarter. Lee said that this trick, “Scotch & Soda,” is probably one of the best-selling magic tricks of all time. He said that the trick could be easily performed with three un-gimmicked coins, but the gimmick is really cool.
Lee next showed a “Coin Changer” that he said was made by master-craftsman Rick Martin. He slid the drawer out of the device and showed that it contained a US penny. He slid the drawer back into the box and invoked a spell used by the ancient alchemists. When the drawer was pulled out, the penny (base metal) had changed into a US quarter (“silver”).
President Cassidy Smith performed several versions of “matrix,” using four coins and four playing cards. He even performed a reverse matrix, where the coins ended up in the original four corners.
Michael King showed that he had a quarter and a penny. He asked Jerry Bowzer which he preferred and Jerry chose the quarter. Michael showed that he still had the quarter, but the penny had disappeared. He said the trick is sold as “Captain & Coke.” He said that while it is much easier to reset than Scotch & Soda, the coin gimmick does not hold up to close inspection.
Jim Green wrote a number on a dry erase board and then asked audience members for numbers. When Cassidy Smith added up the numbers, they matched Jim’s prediction.
David Teeman displayed a fifty-cent piece and as he held it, it visibly morphed into a transparent disk. David then brought out a metal box full of coin gimmicks that he had been given and asked for help identifying the uses for the different pieces. His fellow magicians were able to identify several of the gimmicks.
Our meeting concluded with Justin Teeman leading a discussion on the use of gimmicks versus sleight-of-hand. Some of the considerations were price, ease of reset, and the effort required to master a routine. It was agreed that marrying a gimmick with sleight-of-hand can create killer routines.
Lee Woodside