Ring 199's Friday Magic Luncheon meetings are facilitated by Danny Reeves. For some reason, magic makes food more digestible. Rick DeNatale turned a dollar bill into a mismade dollar bill where the corners become the middle of the bill. Hopefully, that was not DeNatale's tip. Steven Perry showed how he could seemingly pull the "silk" fibers from a $20 bill.
Perry's "Coins Across" routine was well done. Mike Gorman's rope and ring routines were second to none. Gorman also did an invisible coin routine wherein a coin became visible and then multiplied into 3 coins. Danny Reeves demonstrated his mental prowess with an effect using a deck of ESP cards. Kevin Reylek thoroughly entertained everybody with his classic "Twisting-the-Aces" routine. The luncheon group then wrapped the meeting up with discussions on cr
imping, spinning, and flicking cards.
FAMILY FLING! On May 7, 2016 Ring 199 hosted its annual "Family Fling" event. The get-together was replete with good food, family, friends, and tons of magic!! The main focus of the event was that of ring members competing in contests for coveted first place bragging rights. The contest categories were Stage/Parlor, Youth, Potpourri, and Close-up.
Stage/Parlor Category:
Roger "Skip" Way's mischievous wand and rope effects were hilariously funny and genuinely magical! Way literally left everybody, including several magicians, scratching heads trying to figure out how he flawlessly cut and restored his rope. Way's rendition truly took this art form to another level.
The dynamic duo composed of David Trustman and Sarah Moseley did not disappoint anybody at all with their mentalist routines. In true form, Trustman and Moseley managed to beat the odds by repeatedly correctly guessing numbers and names of cards arbitrarily thought of by audience members.
Tony Baro demonstrated that he could take a volunteer's randomly chosen cards, shuffle them into the deck, and then magically reveal that the volunteer's cards were next to their sister cards.
Fred Rosenbaum kept everybody glued to their seats with his original (morbid) "Funeral Sampler" performance. In this routine, audience members were asked to randomly
choose amenities for a deceased (mythical) person. When the different amounts for the accommodations were tallied, the total amount EXACTLY matched the predicted sum total of the value of an insurance policy in a sealed envelope.
Youth Category:
Ten-year-old Aleksander Levy comedic card effect based on rising magic star Piff the Magic Dragon and his canine buddy, Mr. Piffles, captured everybody's heart and imagination!
Ten-year-old Cooper Moseley's "Magic Square" presentation was VERY adult-like and VERY professional! A randomly selected audience member was asked to select a two digit number. Moseley met the challenge of accurately completing the venerable routine's 16 squares in less twenty-two seconds, clearly faster than the "average" magician.
Potpourri Category:
We added a new non-magical category this year inviting members to perform any skill or talent outside of the standard magic areas.
Six year o
ld M.J. Moseley showed the audience a mathematical chart representing "pi" (
π) divided out to 60 places. As is well known, the number pi (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter)
cannot be expressed exactly as a fractio
n, and its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern.
The 60 numbers were listed in groups of 3 digits. Each set of 3 digits were written on a single card. Behind each card was a single sequential number. Past International President Mike Gorman was asked to choose a card and state the sequential number listed on the back. Mind bogglingly, little M.J. successfully identified, from memory, the 3-digit pi increment on the face of the card! M.J. flawlessly performed to randomly selected panels three times!
Youth member Mariah Redman gave a "magical" solo performance singing "Bare Necessities" from Disney's version of "The Jungle Book" to thunderous applause from the audience.
Close-Up Category:
Kerry "Kingman" LeBlanc's jaw dropping shuffling/cutting/tossing gambler's routine was a must-see-to-believe performance.
Charles "Awesome" Nichols' storytelling performance incorporated magic tricks and focused on the theme of explaining to everyone that everybody has a gift.
Fred Rosenbaum's séance-like routine about Blackbeard the Pirate utilized a small treasure chest with on small bell on top of it. The bell mysteriously rang when Rosenbaum made "contact" with Blackbeard's "spirit". The routine was well done and kept all pirate-tale aficionados "anchored" to their seats.
The Winners!
Competition was fierce this year! Winners in each category were selected by a secret ballot vote of all audience members. When the annual Family Fling dust settled, the People's Choice winners were: Stage/Parlor - David Trustman and Sarah Mosley, Youth - Cooper Moseley, Potpourri - M.J. Moseley, and Close-up - Fred Rosenbaum. The winners were provided beautiful large blue & silver award ribbons bearing the I.B.M. Seal and the category created by Sarah Moseley.
Fred Quick, Secretary
Ten members attended the May Magic Youth Sessions. Roger Way led hands-on lessons covering vanishing coin effects from the Tarbell Course in Magic, Volume #1, Lesson 5. The youth members also covered various thumb tip techniques and effects covered in Lesson 6 of the course.
Our sincere thanks to Jon, Kelly, and George Ferrante and The Magic Corner for hosting our youth sessions! Couldn't do it without you!
