No. 9, Atlanta, Georgia – Georgia Magic Club
3rd Monday, 7:30 PM, Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church, Dunwoody,
GA
Ring 9 Phone Number (404) 978-1260 ext. 9588
February's meeting of Ring 9, The Georgia Magic Club, started off with a
BANG! Actually it was several loud pops as five of Atlanta's best twisters
taught a Balloon Workshop during our Pre-Meeting Mini-Lecture (PMML) time.
A big THANKS to Tommy Johns, Howie
Marmer, Bill Packard, Guy Philips,
and Rick Silver for inflating, teaching and cleaning up the
mess after the lecture! The PMML continues to be fun and educational as we
draw deeply from the wells of wisdom in our club!
After a brief business meeting, led by president Paul
Sponaugle, we had a drawing for a close-up fanny pack, won by guest
Tashar Sharma. We enjoyed wonderful refreshments, provided by
Chris Teague, then had a one item auction of past issues of The
Linking Ring and M. U. M magazines. Each month lately we have been
fortunate enough to have performances for membership, and February brought us
SIX! Andrew McElhanon wrapped a
deck of cards in a sheet of newspaper and found a selected card with a
knife. Fred Kirkland attempted to bend forks using just
the power of his mind, and Terry
Lada performed a really nice 3 Card Monte routine.
Jim Driscoll's Cut &
Restored Rope routine was well done and was followed by Seth Beasley who performed some card miracles that
surprised us all! The most surprised was Gordon Astley,
who, arriving late, performed the same trick Seth had just done, albeit with a
different twist! But a good magic trick, like good music, can be repeated,
right?
We had fourteen, count 'em, fourteen performers for theme, which for
February was Combo Magic, combining two tricks into one effect. Space does
not allow me to do each act justice, but I will mention each with running
commentary. Rolando Santos (2002 GA
MotY) did a clever routine combining coin tricks which discussed the rights
and responsibilities of a volunteer. Dan
Garrett's combination of a Book Test and Sankey's Astral Projection
(with Garrett Handling, of course) demonstrated his mental prowess and/or
acuity. Cristophe Fouquet and son
Toma Jin entertained the crowd of 60 or so with a variety of tricks they
did together.
Joe M. Turner's beautiful close up
routine with 4 Cards and Matrix variation was a mind blower!
Michael Holt vanished
water in a tube, Gary Vaughn did some business card magic,
combining a magical pencil that wrote a prediction inside a hankercheif (I saw
the pencil move around inside the cloth - it was like it was haunted!), and
Evan Reynolds turned an ordinary deck of cards into a
lie detector test. Brad Parker, a regular guest of David
Spier, informed us that there was no O at the end of the word COMB and
he proceeded to show some hilarious COMB magic. He's got style, if nothing
else! Guy Philips then entertained
us with a Rice and Water Production to the stirring sounds of the
song Combo #5 - very interesting!
Tommy Johns combined Mental Epic and Phil for
a "no force" new twist on that classic. Victoria Skye did a couple of Harry Potter
routines with beautiful costuming and very clever ideas! Howie Marmer hypnotized a broken rubber
band and made it stand straight out, parallel to the ground! It was
as stiff as a strand of uncooked spaghetti! His routine included a
card to three pockets and finally a sandwich. Jim Mangham combined Danny Archer's Animental and a Silk
Casket. The theme magic was closed with Craig
Winkelman's unique Dice prediction, dice vanish, and foil
sculpting finale.
With so much high quality talent, the voting was fast and furious, but the
Coveted Royal Blue Pen of the GMC was awarded to a very deserving Joe M. Turner. Congratulations to all our performers and "Keep the
Magic Coming!"