Ring NO. 46, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Seymour Davis Ring
Meets 7:00 pm, 1st Monday of the month at the Contemporary Arts Building, Oklahoma State Fairground.
LEE WOODSIDE, Secretary. Email: WoodsideLee@hotmail.com.
www.okcmagic.club
Derrick Beeson kicked off our first meeting of 2019 as our featured performer. He began with a routine using a leather cylinder open at both ends, four silver dollars, a small cork disk and a magic wand. He caused the coins to vanish and then reappear under the cork disk within the cylinder. He used four small linking rings to amaze a visiting young magician named “T.J.”. Derrick next had a playing card chosen and signed by an audience member. He tore it into four pieces and proceeded to visually restore the pieces one at a time. The restored card was given to the audience participant as a souvenir. Derrick ended his set of very professional magic by performing a rope routine that included the professor’s nightmare routine plus magically linking one of the solid steel rings to a loop of rope.
President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on what qualities an opening effect should have. Members suggested that the opening routine should establish the magician’s character, engage every member of the audience in some way, be visual and easily understood and set the tone for the show.
Justin Teeman showed us the effect that he uses to open his shows. He showed three cards to all be Aces of Spades and then showed each of the cards to be a different Ace.
Cassidy kept our business meeting short and sweet so that we could dedicate the rest of the meeting to magic. Me notified us of dates for upcoming lectures and Michael King reported on our financial status. There’s nothing like a five-minute business meeting and lots of magic to keep the members coming back.
Our theme for January was “firsts,” so members were encouraged to show the first trick they started with in their magic careers or the trick they start their show with. Alternatively, members could show or perform the magic they got for Christmas.
Darryl Brooks showed a large ball vase that he said was his first magic trick. He opened the vase and removed a silk handkerchief, which he poked into his fist and changed into a golf ball. He caused the golf ball to vanish and then reappear in the vase. He handed a wand to a member of the audience and had him wave it over the vase. Voila, the ball changed back to a silk handkerchief. A beautiful routine using what some would consider a throwaway trick.
Jordan Johnson performed and rated several effects that he recently acquired. He began by producing a flaming business card from his “Pyro Wallet.” The card was blank, but he waved it to produce printing. He next showed his new “Turner Watch.” He asked Justin Teeman to think of a happy memory and the time associated with it. He pulled out the stem of his watch and set it to a time and then placed the watch face down onto Justin’s palm. Justin named the time of the first class he taught and when he looked at the watch, it was set to that exact time! Jordan then showed us the “El Hilo” torn and restored thread routine. An audience member tore up a length of thread and rolled the pieces into a small ball. Jordan, showing his hands completely empty, picked up the ball and restored the thread. He ended by handing out a Gatorade bottle, a playing card box, a crayon box, a toothbrush, a pencil and a crayon for examination. He then took the items back and performed a laws of physics-defying balancing act with them, ending up with what might best be described a surreal 3-D sculpture. Jordan pointed out that most of these effects have been priced to discourage the merely curious.
David Teeman tied a knot in a scarf and caused the knot to vanish by blowing on it. He said that he learned the routine by watching Bill Bixby as “The Magician” on TV as a kid. He said that Bill Bixby had used this effect to “charm” a snake and then catch it in the scarf.
Dale Shawn invited four audience members to join him on stage. He had two of them each cut the deck. Each participant then took a card a returned it to the deck. One of them dealt the cards into two stacks and each stack was then shuffled. Each of the remaining two helpers was given one of the stacks and told to look through and find the lost card in that stack. Amazingly, each was able to do so. Dale then had a participant select a card. After floating the card, Dale returned it to the deck face down. However, when he spread the deck, the selected card was now face up.
Lee Woodside showed Meir Yedid’s “Total Destiny,” which he had purchased on eBay over the holidays. He said that had he paid anywhere close to retail for it, he would have felt ripped off. It is basically a piece of dry erase board with a four by four grid silk screened on it and can be used for forcing numbers. It would be good for performing a magic square except that no room was provided beneath the columns for writing totals.
Jerry Bowers, who is retired from IBM (no, not the magic organization) showed us an arm-twisting exercise that he used as a warm-up prior to his training sessions. He had us all stand and interlock our arms. He then rotated his hands 180 degrees, which no one else was able to accomplish.
Jay Relkin had Michael King select a card, which he then shuffled into the deck. He placed the two black queens on the top and bottom of the deck. When he threw the deck to his other hand, there was now a card sandwiched between the two queens. It turned out to be the selected King of Hearts.
After about ten minutes of visiting before we had to leave the building, the hardier members of the group repaired to the local watering hole for some late-night sessioning. Ring 46’s New Year had gotten off to a great start. If your travels happen to take you through OKC, please join us at one of our meetings.
Lee Woodside