Hello again from Ring 49 in Hamilton ON. Sometimes you get real killer presenters for club meeting, and we excelled this month – our members took turns demonstrating, teaching, getting effect and presentation feedback and generally sharing the knowledge with each other. This is all real-life stuff from peers in the same performance sphere (let’s face it, everyone wants to have a David Copperfield lecture, but how many of us are booking gigs that his material would apply to).
Here’s my dilemma: brevity is important for ring reports (or no one will read them) but it’s imperative to give people their ‘due’. Here’s whirlwind attempt to meet both objectives.
After the requisite preliminaries, the night started off with our own president Doug Hunt presenting a Balancing Bottles effect he developed (Doug combines magic and juggling). Great presentation followed by a very informative discussion on how he developed the props.
Peter Wiltshire showed an effect with a large key and explained his thinking on using everyday items for props, followed by an effect using wood tiles with letters spelling ‘REVERSE’. The effect was fantastic (no matter how he put the tiles into their box, then ended up in order). It turns out he built the prop himself –he does beautiful wood working.
Magic Travis (Halyk), who also handles a supply table for the club, showed a clever effect with a fork and spoon (with a humorous tie back to our last meeting).
Doug McCoy demonstrated and explained some packet card effects including one using a brainwave Deck and another where the cards turn into credit cards.
Rick Rossini took the floor with a Jumbo Card effect called Sidewalk Shuffle (sort of a Three Card Monty variation) and showed a classic coin through silk.
Beebop the Clown (Laura Martin) performed an effect with animal cards and a silk.
Vic Staniewski recently bought a Dice Box at an auction and basically queried the room on all sorts of performance tip and ideas. Many people are familiar with standard props like this and have developed unique ideas, so this was a really good opportunity for everyone to share thoughts.
Finally, our own TVP, Scott Hood, closed the night with several effects. Someone picked a card, and a picture of his selection rose from his sketch pad. He also explained the use of a Svengali Deck for forcing a card. A real novel piece he displayed was a prop where the performer shows a wooden puzzle of a deck of cards that then turns into a real deck – great effect.
Another great night in Hamilton.
Rene Chouinard