Newsletter for IBM Ring 105

Columbia SC
Ring 105 Forum | SCAM Website |

• Next Meeting
• Last Meeting
• Meeting Themes
• SCAM Report
• Opinion
• Magic
• Links

This newsletter is available in this Graphics Format, as well as a Plain Text Format. If you'd like to change the format of your newsletter, please contact me at mkimble@logicsouth.com.

OFFICERS:

NEXT MEETING:

The next meeting is February the 3rd, 2000.  We'll get started around 7 PM, so bring a guest, bring some magic!  

DIRECTIONS:
LANDMARK APARTMENTS CLUBHOUSE, ST. ANDREWS ROAD, COLUMBIA. (DIRECTIONS: I-26 WEST, TAKE SECOND ST. ANDREWS ROAD EXIT TOWARDS IRMO, GO THROUGH THREE STOP LIGHTS, PASS MOVIE THEATER, ENTRANCE TO LANDMARK IS NEXT RIGHT. GO IN COMPLEX, CLUBHOUSE IS ON LEFT.)

MEETING THEMES:

February = Story telling effects - perform an effect that the story performs the trick for you.

AT THE LAST MEETING:

Ring 105 met at the Landmark Apartments clubhouse.  We gathered a little early to discuss some final plans for the SCAM convention.   

We finished with the business portion of the meeting and started the fun part – the magic!  We welcomed a visitor, Blake Barnhurst, to our group.  Chris Thee started us off by showing us a disappearing candle trick.  We were speechless, but then found out we were supposed to be. Bill Groomes dazzled us with some card magic, as did Dale Rabon and Mike Kimble.  Blake was messing with Cameron’s head with some coin magic.  Those Hopping Halfs were really hopping!  Cameron ate the center out of a dollar bill and then made it reappear.  Doc Soos gave us a mini-lecture on the Stratosphere.  He has added some very nice touches to a great commercial trick. (And I’m not telling, you should have been there!)  We then broke into small groups to pick each other's brains for the really good stuff.  Some of us went off to the IHOP to make food disappear and others hung out and played with our cards. 

SCAM REPORT:

SCAM 2000 is over!  I don't have anything official to report, so I thought I would share a few of the email comments that have been received since the convention:

***********************

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT!:

We (all 4 of us) had a great time last week. You Guys did an outstanding job. I know it was a lot of WORK. The shows were #1... Enjoyed all the acts, Dave Tanner was great, Jeff McBride was not only excellent in his performance but was just as nice a person as you would like to meet. I believe that the most important thing that the four of us got out of this trip was to try and become better magicians and not someone just doing tricks.

Thanks for your efforts.

Terry, Malcolm, Chris,& Stan.
SAM RING 164
Newport, NC
PS Next year (MORE VENDERS)100 or so!!!!!!!!!!!!just kidding..

Once again John Tudor & his loyal staff are to be commended for putting on yet another entertaining "one day" convention (actually about one and one-fourth days).  For me the high points were as follows: Mark Mason & Paul Cummins proving in lecture & performance that card magic can be entertaining; Glenn Strange doing his "usual" strange close-up; Seeing John Tudor do story-telling magic and stage a very nice broom suspension; Enjoying Matt Fore on the evening show--he creates a most amusing character and stays in character; and, of course, Jeff McBride in lecture & performance.  Jeff was both informative and charming in his lecture, and full of energy and grace in performance.  As my wife said after the evening show, "He doesn't "mail in" a performance, does he?" No, he does not.  And there is always the pleasure of seeing old friends & making new ones.  If you like "small" conventions with plenty of life, you ought to try to attend SCAM 2001.

Charles J. Pecor

Mike,

  I always enjoy getting together with my fellow magi... I don't have a strong desire for card magic, though (as with all magic) I appreciate the devotion our craft requires. Having a strong headliner was the cherry. Years ago when I attended the Abbott's get together a friend of mine suggested that during the down time announce jam sessions, breaking into groups. We did and I learned a great deal as a hungry 15 year old kid. 

                                                Sincerely,
                                                    C.A. Winkemann

Hello Gentlemen,

Hope today finds the both of you well and happy.  Just wanted to drop someone a few lines about this past year's convention.  There were 4 of us who drove down from N.C. to attend this years event.  While it was a great time to see and hear Jeff McBride, we were all disappointed in this year's convention when compared to years past.

You guys really had something unique and a great idea/thing going with your 1 day convention.  In the years past so much magic and fun was crammed into 1 day and it was a real value.  I can honestly say that we all ranked it up there as one of the best values and more bang for the buck than anything else out there.  There was hardly time enough to go eat, but we loved it because there was so much to do, see and learn.

By stretching it out as long as you did, something was lost.  On Saturday, I would have liked to have been able to attend more lectures, by more people---just like in the past.  There was too much dead time. The dealers room was closed by 4:30 because they had to be out by 5 pm. What's people supposed to do for 3 hours if they don't have a hotel room?  Your convention was great in past because, you could see a lot of magic with out a lot of expense, of staying overnite for 2 nites.  If you take what was done on Friday nite and add it to Saturday, there was not as much as in years past.  If you are going to stretch it out, you need to add more lectures/workshops/dealer room time or something.

We all have decided that we will not be back next year if the same format/schedule is used as this year.  We can go to Gatlinburg if we want a 2-3 day convention.  Please consider to going back to the way you used to do your convention.  You really had a winner.

Ed Yancey
George Klutzz
Richard Isenhour
James Witt

Just wanted to say thank you to all the members of Ring 105 who were involved in making SCAM 2000 such a great experience. This is the third SCAM that I have attended and each one has been better than the preceding one. The two day is a major improvement and I would hope for continued growth in
the future. It will be difficult to top this one, but I believe you will do it. The dedication and hard work of your members is obvious and they should take great pride in their accomplishments. We look forward to attending next year and wish all of you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Dick and Betty Larsen

Dear John,

    I have just gotten home....Salisbury, NC.....and wanted you and everyone associated with the Ring there what a beautiful job you all did putting on the convention featuring you and Jeff McBride. It was a splendid convention from A to Z.  You fellows really did a marvelous job.  Thank you so very much. Please give my regards to Allen Young, I know he and all of you are happy to have come out so well. Also, tell Kelly Lovejoy hello, the Sat. Night After Show party was terrific and the food was out of sight.  Thanks.

                                    Grace and peace magically, 

                                            William Ragsdale

 (I'm the one with the "teeth" and did a vent routine with Dudley on the Fri. nite contest)

It was a great convention.

Michael Barefoot

OPINION:

Submitted by our President-elect, Rich 'Doc' Soos.

We have not been fully instated yet as officers, but to keep things going I wish to submit these ideas for the club to think about at the next business meeting.

1.  Anyone that has E-Mail shall receive the news letter by that form only, unless requested to have a hard copy for a good reason and not just that I would like to continue receiving them that way as well.  This would result in the savings of at least $5.00 per month for every 10 people this includes the price of a stamp, the paper, the envelope,  and man hours.  I'm guessing that about 15 or so group members are using E-Mail which would give us a total savings of $90 dollars a year.

2.  Themes for the year would be the following:
January = All for one and one for all - display anything you are willing to share.
February = Story telling effects - perform an effect that the story performs the trick for you.
March = Business Card Magic - reveal your favorite way to introduce your business card or to receive a card.
April = Animal Magic - display the use of Fake or Real animals 
May = Birthday Presentation Magic - what is your favorite effect for the birthday child or adult
June / July = Impromptu Magic / Annual Picnic
July / June = Annual Picnic / Impromptu Magic
August = Mental or ESP Magic / Auction
September = Wands, Canes, Candles, Poles - perform an effect that uses an item that is straight and long.
October = Learn a Trick from a Book Night - Bring a book that you have learned an effect from and perform it or ask help in understanding what is trying to be explained.
November = Solid and Soft Magic - Perform magic with sponge items like balls, fruit, etc... than display a version can be done with similar solid objects like rocks, real fruit, etc...
December = Christmas Banquet

3.  Mini Lecturer of the Evening - every evening except for action, picnic or banquet night, I would like to have a volunteer to perform a mini lecture of 3 items or less that would inspire creativity or knowledge to fellow group members.  Rick Soos did one on the use of the stratospheres and accompanying Joker box just to start it off and had many extra tips from the audience that inspired all to do a little thinking. 

MAGIC:

This month's article was something I stumbled across from Ring 2100, an electronic ring.  The names have been omitted to protect the guilty.  Maybe you have an interesting story to tell?  Maybe a good trick or something to say about an old one? Please send it to the address at the bottom of this page!

The Gumsuckers, underhanded back shuffle is little known outside the inner circle of card wonder workers and it should stay that way. First piddle grip a jumbo deck and in jog your out jog and double under cut your framastat. Get a bow tie break and quadruple lift the fern starter while undercutting your faro with your gumsucker. Toss your deck into a canasta shuffler and turn the crank, Back bend the boisdark and realign your frizzle and do the optional subtlety with the slopslinger double dialogue, refinish the main mast and make three piles on the table. Open the oven and out pops grandma Moses with the ace of hearts between her teeth. Pass three times to the half back and dodge the A train before the conductor makes home base, Check to see if your spectators have gone home, ribbon spread your back pack, tie three flies and wet your line and then go to your Marback display before the audience catches on the you don't know what the hell you are talking about. With all due respect to the wonderful card workers out there in the 2100 ranks, this is what many of the messages I have read recently have sounded like to this old magician. Believe me, the diatribe I have written will be tried and many will come back and give me four corrections and twenty seven references to show how It might be done with more finesse. Am I wrong or is this some sort of terminal madness. Cards without reason is treason!  

LINKS:

If anyone has any favorite links they would like to share, send them to the address on the bottom of this page.

IBM Ring 105, Columbia

Magic Show

International Festival Of Children's Magicians

IBM Ring 63, Greenville

Grand Strand Magician's Society, Myrtle Beach

World Alliance Of Magicians, dedicated to eradicating magic exposures on television)