The theme this month was story magic — effects with a good story, or even just tell a good story about magic past or present. We weren’t sure what that theme would bring out, but it turned out fun!
Unusual for us, but we had a “business meeting” first, with some out-of-the-box thinking about how to get more members into the club and more members showing up regularly to the meetings. We may not have solved the problem that night, but we got a running start at some promising changes.
First up with a performance of “story magic” was David Boehm with two card effects, Argentine Aces and then Aces Front with the cutest little deck of cards in a champagne glass. With the wave of a red silk David magically had the four aces come to the face of the untouched deck one at a time.
Club Secretary Jay Jennings performed “No, Not Numbers!” (based on The Ultimate Prediction). Numbers can seem good or bad depending on cultural and historical perceptions, and he had someone choose a random digit that just happened to match the number in an envelope.
Club Treasurer Doug Northway brought Polly The Elusive Parrot that he had purchased from Sun Magic in Phoenix many years ago. He pulled Polly out of “magic storage” and told us the story of buying a parrot and some cages, and how Polly was able to escape from one cage after another. Fortunately, the effect ended with Polly safe in a cage and not flying free where a hawk could get her. (It happens, I’ve seen the videos.)
Graham Rogers talked about how he uses effects that “fit the situation” and showed us Eye Exam by Danny Archer, which he has also performed for his optometrist — the perfect fit!
Yes, only four actual performances this time, but we had great discussions in between each of those effects, including one that touched on the pros and cons of different versions of the Torn & Restored Newspaper, with Graham Rogers saying that effect had more of an impact on the audience than many of the big illusions he carried with him. And Jeff Peterson talked about the version he performed that started with the paper already in pieces that could be used over and over so he didn’t need to make up the effect ahead of time.
We also had stories about shows in Las Vegas, and two of our members had actually been chosen for an on-stage effect in David Copperfield’s show. Getting some minor behind-the-scenes info was cool. There was also a consensus that if you can only see one show in Vegas, go see Mac King. (Penciled into my calendar for my next trip!)
Before the meeting ended we had more magic stories and ended with examples of why the neck cracker is the best gimmick you can carry. Especially if you’re headed to the chiropractor.
