Author: ReneC

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

Ring 49’s season opener was a lecture by Ryan Edwards – arguably Canada’s top mentalist, and it was certainly easy to see why. Ryan gave one of the most entertaining and educational lectures I have seen in a long time.

But before we get to Ryan, Scott Hood (our TVP), Derrick Finn and Victor Staniewski had recently attended Magic Live where the magic of Doug Henning (former member of Ring 49 and namesake of the club) was highlighted. Mr. Henning’s sister Nancy was there and sent back a special gift: an original event poster from one of Mr. Henning’s shows for one of our current members, Doug McCoy. Why specifically for Doug? Doug Henning and Doug McCoy both joined Ring 49 on the same night!

A second bit of business was the introduction and first presentation of a new tradition for Ring 49, an annual President’s ward.  The brainchild of our current president, Doug Hunt (we have a lot of Doug’s in this club), this is an award that will be presented each year for service to the ring. Doug was honored to present it this year to our long-serving Treasurer and Secretary Victor Staniewski. Vic is passing those formal duties off to our new Secretary/Treasurer Kim Harrington, but he had literally kept the ship afloat for many years and we all appreciate and thank him for that.

Another new initiative, this time from member Magic Travis (Halyk) is the setting up of a monthly Dealer’s Table to make available effects and supplies as a service to our members. Travis brought in a good range of items, and all sales will help support the club as well.  Excellent initiative Travis, thanks from the group.

Finishing that, we had a great lecture.  Ryan (Edwards) had a well thought out reason for specializing in Mentalism; magic equipment is too heavy and requires too much effort to set up, and the public is often desensitized to magic, so mentalism often has much more.  I like performing magic, but I must admit I see both points. Ryan has had a long, varied and interesting history which I won’t go into too much detail here, but includes effect production and marketing, consulting (including for TV) and of course lots of performing.

One criticism he has for current mentalism is all the reliance of electronics, so he started out with an effect that was more old-school, and pure genius.  He did a trick where the back of a deck of cards changes from blue to red – very strong effect. Then he explained it was entirely based on people not really caring about details. The entire club would have sworn that he spread out a blue backed deck (face up) and that it turned red. I won’t divulge his method, but it was strongly based on mis-leading actions and comments (I will say that the deck was red from the beginning – how can a club full of professional magicians miss that?).

We discussed how to use psychology to mislead people and influence what they believe they saw. He demonstrated fooling people without actually doing anything at all, simply by saying things and letting their mind fill in erroneous assumptions. I think I learned more about magic from this effect than from learning 100 tricks.

Other effects that he offered his takes on included distributing bags for people to put objects in and then identifying who each item came from, and getting several people to randomly suggest large numbers and then having them add to a predicted number – both standard effect but with very good twists. He also demonstrated skill at splitting cards and other items for making customized props.

Ryan closed with a discussion about the importance of scripting, including prop and stage management, music, and generally treating magic as the artform that it deserves. Too many of us are focused just on doing tricks. Ryan emphasized the importance of the performance elements and of theming a performance. Well said!

Next month, we are opening the floor for members to bring in items of interest and perform short presentations for the benefit of the group. These events are invaluable as they are hugely instructive to the members, highlight new or unusual effects, and maybe most importantly allow the presenter to gain constructive feedback from a well-informed group on the effect and their presentation. Looking forward to seeing everyone then.

Rene Chouinard

On June 5^th, 2025, member volunteers of the Doug Henning Magic Wand Ring 49 club performed two shows for the clients’ of St. Joseph’s Villa in Dundas ON (a neighboring hamlet to Hamilton ON). There are a lot of benefits to a ring for providing such a service.

First and foremost, is simply the charitable intent to benefit of our community. That goes without saying, but beyond that there are many more reasons to host an event. As a ring we have been trying to focus on the various aspects of magic, like: children’s parties, school and/or library programs, fairs/festivals, walkaround, restaurant and/or bars, trade shows and corporate events. In that vein, stage shows have a long history in our art, even if they are less common then in the past.

Presenting a show like this also allows members to gain some experience in both the behind-the-scenes organization and in the ‘back-stage’ considerations such as lighting and sound systems, and this event even included visual projections. For amateur members of the ring a volunteer event also provides an excellent opportunity to get some ‘stage time’ that might be novel for them.

So, with those considerations front of mind, we found a suitable location: a seniors’ facility with a stage available for us to use. This venue already had appropriate stage lighting and one of our members (Scott Hood) lent us an excellent sound system (including mic’s) that perfectly suited our needs.

Peter Wiltshire handled our backstage requirements including adjusting the stage lighting so as to have an attractive red-washed background, not too much lighting on our AV monitor (so as not to wash-out the picture) and plenty of light on the performers from the front. Peter also handled the sound system ensuring level sound settings for each of the mic’s and all the backup music and sound used by the performers, muting and un-muting the appropriate mic’s for the performers, and even handled the AV requirements (PowerPoint based slides with embedded sound and/or video).

Originally there was intended to be four performers, but tragically Victor Staniewski suffered a leg injury just prior to the show date, so each of the remaining three extended their routines to accommodate (thankfully, Victor is recovering well).

With an excellent introduction from our MC’s Doug Hunt (first show) and Travis Halyk (second show) we were ready to go.

Scott Hood opened with the Gypsie Thread routine, then a disappearing Coke Bottle effect, the Vanishing Bandana, and closed with a Silk Fountain. Scott is our area’s Territorial Vice-President for the IBM and the Fan Favorite Winner – Toronto’s Best Magician Contest. He is a real anchor for our ring, and we thank him for his professional contributions to this event.

Barry O (O’Neil) was up next and was a crowd favorite performing his version of What’s Next along with his trusted sidekick George the Lion (Barry combines magic and puppetry). This friendly lighthearted effect really engaged the audience with a friendly personal interaction despite being a stage presentation.  Barry followed up with a changing color triangle effect that was equally engaging.

Finally, I (Rene Chouinard) took the stage with a little story telling magic. I started with a rope routine combining it with a sailing themed pater, then a routine involving the appearance, and disappearance of water. With a nod to the classics, I did my version of the Linking Rings and then closed the show with a routine I call The Time Box utilizing a modified Gibson Box, Spring Flowers and a pocket watch with a theme exalting the experiences we gain over time.

We all also did some ‘walk-around’ before and after each show to enhance the experience for people while waiting as facility staff assisted residents in arriving and departing (a nice consideration in facilities like this).

Was it a success? The audiences certainly seemed to appreciate the shows; several people were heard in their cafeteria afterwards making positive comments. The Villa staff (who were all excellent to work with) certainly seemed sincere in thanking us. As a performer I can speak for the group in saying we enjoyed the format and learned from the experience, and I think it’s fair to say that the entire ring has taken some pride in the event as input was made throughout this season towards it. So yes, it was a success.

Submitted by Rene Chouinard

The full crew, Scott Hood, Travis Halyk, Rene Chouinard, Barry O, Peter Wiltshire, and Doug Hunt up front MC’ing

June 2025’s Ring 49 meeting, the final event for our 2024/2025 season, was held at Symposium Cafe Restaurant in Ancaster Ontario. This well attended event was chaired by club President Doug Hunt. After some opening comments, he establishing the Executive Board for next year (he’s staying on as President).

Then, as Chair of the Events Committee, I gave a review of a recent club show performed for a local senior’s facility.  Performing annual ‘formal’ shows is something the club is intending to adopt as regular activity as it really seemed to unify and add purpose to the group.

After sharing a meal together, members took turns in performing their favorite effects for each other. Restaurant/table settings are well suited for card effects, especially packet tricks, but wands and balls and numbered tiles – all the usual paraphernalia – made appearances.

Informal events like this are well worth including in your ring’s schedule.  I find they create a real sense of comradery and group adhesion; and the food and drink doesn’t hurt either.

Rene Chouinard