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
Because the Oklahoma State Fair takes over the fairground in September, our meeting was held at the New Fellowship Church. Thanks to David and Justin Teeman for arranging to make it available for us.
President Cassidy Smith introduced David Teeman as our featured speaker for the September meeting. Our theme for the month was linking rings, so David started by showing how the “S” shaped hangers that can be placed over a door for hanging clothes on can be utilized to hang linking rings on. This keeps the rings in order and makes them easily retrieved when ready to perform. David then performed a routine with black plastic rings that turned into sparkling colored rings. David showed a set of mini linking rings that are perfect for walk-around performances and concluded by demonstrating some linking ring moves.
Cassidy Smith performed a full linking ring routine using a standard set of eight rings. He climaxed the routine with a chain of eight rings. Darryl Brooks performed a routine using four rings. He used music to enhance the entertainment value of his routine.
Michael King performed a very nice eight-ring routine. He employed some comedy byplay by having the rings “accidentally” link to the ring of keys on his belt. Michael then performed Troy Hooser’s “Charming Chinese Challenge” using washers in place of Chinese coins. He explained that some audience members don’t recognize Chinese coins and think they are gimmicked in some way. Mike Stelzer demonstrated how to switch in a “key” ring using his coat.
Lee Woodside told of buying his first set of linking rings from Gene Jeffries after watching him demonstrate them at the magic shop in the old Black Hotel in downtown OKC back in the early 1960s. He then demonstrated a “ring drop” move that he learned from Terry Lunceford and has never seen anyone else use in a performance.
For a change of pace, Cassidy Smith conducted an exercise where he challenged us to write down our most-loved magical routines, whether they are ones we actually perform or just enjoy seeing. He then asked us to home in on the top five of our list. He had several members read their lists and explain why they picked the routines they chose.
Darryl Brooks led off the member performances with a sliding knot routine. He climaxed the routine by showing that the red knot on the white rope was a section of the rope that was actually red. Jim short produced a magic square by first having four different audience members choose numbers to put along the top row of the four by four grid. He said that he had learned the method from an article in GENII by Harry Lorayne.
Jordan Johnson had a participant choose one of three business cards and place it in his pocket. He then had the participant hold one of the remaining cards in his left hand and the other in his right hand. When the business cards were turned over, the message on each correctly predicted where it would end up.
We were fortunate to host a lecture by Kainoa Harbottle in mid-September. Those who arrived early enjoyed watching Kainoa do a fingertip muscle pass with Wheat Thins crackers. He had three different people each select a playing card. Each card was returned to the deck. After shuffling the deck, Kainoa revealed each card in a different manner and climaxed the effect by showing that all the other cards in the deck were jokers.
Kainoa started his lecture by producing a finger ring and doing some magic with it, finally turning it into a coin. He then performed a “coin flurry” routine.
After a number of entertaining coin routines, Kainoa brought out a set of four small linking rings. He performed a routine that he credited to a Japanese magic family other than the one Shoot Ogawa belongs to. There were a number of “wow” moments in this routine.
One highlight for me was when Kainoa brought out a brass goblet and performed a miser’s dream type effect. He produced coin after coin and used his two hands like a coin ladder as he coin-rolled the coins into the goblet. He finished by dumping the coins out of the goblet and it seemed to contain more coins than could be held in both hands.
Kainoa showed that coin magic did not always have to be confined to close-up. He invited Darryl Brooks and his wife Nanci to sit at a table “on stage” and performed a “coins across” routine that utilized a small rocks glass. He showed how a shell coin could be place in a spectator’s hand without detection by using the right management skills.
Kainoa finished his lecture by having coins disappear until only one was left and then changing that coin into the finger ring that he started the whole thing with. It was a pleasure watching a master at work even though I may work up only a tiny fraction of the magic he performed.
Lee Woodside