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.
www.okcmagic.club
An Ring 46 officers’ meeting was held via Zoom on May 25th to plan our return to normal activities following the Covid 19 interruption. We decided that our annual public show “Pandemonium” would be canceled for 2020, but that in person meetings, with precautions, would resume in July.
Our June meeting was once again held on Zoom. Justin Teeman, our Vice President set it up for us. We were very pleased to have twenty-nine participants, including a number of magicians form Colorado, including the former President of Ring 46, William Rader, and the current President of the “Mile High Magicans,” Wendy Wylde.
President Cassidy Smith led a discussion on “Maximizing Impact While Minimizing Contact.” With the advent of the coronavirus, tricks where the audience members handle the props are at least temporarily out the window. Too bad; I love the sponge balls.
David Teeman spread a packet of cards to show their faces. He asked a participant to name one of the cards. He showed the back of that card to be red and the backs of all the other cards to be blue and no, it wasn’t a brainwave trick. He showed each of the card backs individually. David then showed a drinking glass on a pedestal. He removed a silk scarf from the glass and vanished it. He then showed a metal tube to be empty and placed it over the glass. When he removed the tube, the scarf had reappeared in the glass.
Justin Teeman performed Jim Steinmeyer’s 9-card trick from one of his IMPUZZIBILITIES books for those who missed it in June. John Stack showed a playing card from which a corner had been torn off. He was able to hold the card by that corner, which was an impossible-looking image. John then picked up a deck of cards and caused the majority of the deck to vanish in plain sight, leaving him with just two cards.
Mentalist William Rader told us about a new idea he is working on. He asks a volunteer to give him three names, the names of two people he knows and one he doesn’t. William then divines which of the names is the one the volunteer doesn’t know. He demonstrated this with Cassidy Smith and was successful. William also showed us proofs of a set Tarot cards that he is planning to market.
Zachary Heath, who is widely known in the magic community for his “Ash and Ember” effect, showed us a ring on his finger. He then removed the ring by pulling it through the finger. He then showed a “haunted key” type effect using a finger ring. With Zach’s great skill, and obviously lots of practice, it was very magical and a bit eerie.
One of the advantages of a Zoom meeting is that if a member happens to think of something he has that would be of interest, he can quickly get it and show it. In Joe Coover’s case, it was his tiny house. Joe used to build tiny houses when he lived in California and now that he has moved back to Oklahoma, he lives in one of his creations. Although quite small, it was laid out so that no space was wasted and it had some very interesting features.
After briefly discussing his ideas on tricks that work well on video, Joe Coover showed a $100 bill. He folded it lengthwise into thirds and folded it in about 1/8” on each end. He then balanced it between his two thumbs. When he slowly moved one of his thumbs away, the bill remained suspended. No threads, no adhesives, no magnets, no kidding!
Michael King showed us some “motion picture” currency that he uses to test the making up of tricks using currency. He said that it is available very economically on the internet.
David Teeman showed what appeared to be two folded dollar bills held together to make a cross. However, when he unfolded it, it was just one bill. He said the trick is from SELF-WORKING PAPER MAGIC, by Karl Fulves.
Jonathon Taylor has obviously been using his shelter-in-place time to work on his coin magic. He performed a very commercial coins through the hand routine.
John Shack showed us a piece of playing card art that he constructed to emulate Bansky’s famous art piece that self-shredded after being auctioned for $1.4 million dollars. Very clever!
Cassidy Smith put the names of all those who performed into a hat. The winner, John Shack, will receive an illusions book at the next in-person meeting. John Shack then offered the prize of a comedy mentalism book by Bob Nelson. Cassidy drew another name from the hat and David Teeman was the winner. We’re all looking forward to seeing one another in person in July.
Lee Woodside