20th October 2020
Killara
Our October meeting was given a Halloween theme this year even though Halloween is not celebrated in Australia to the same extent as the USA and parts of Europe. It is a further anomaly with our seasons reversed to the Northern Hemisphere, this been our spring with summer now quickly approaching.
Our hard working treasurer, Peter Wood, held the meeting together acting as the MC for the evening. He started the meeting by performing a Wild Card routine with a spooky theme by producing images of invisible ghosts on blank playing card. He followed this up by levitating a small straw voodoo figure on his hand. Making a pin dance around a sketch of a hand in his performance of Voodoo Needle amused the audience and concluded Peter’s performance. Jack Sharp showed a broom through body prop then gave it to the first person that thought they could use it. He then brought out his washing and performed a new comedy routine designed for family audiences culminating in a routine using socks and large images of more socks. The Routine was based on the recently released close up packet trick “Socks” by Michel Huot.
Bruce Glen performed routines from his “The Gentlemen Magician, A Soirée” which Bruce creates twice weekly at the Sir Stamford hotel in the city. His performance of the Joel Mirander Haunted Box was perfectly targeted at our Halloween theme as was his demonstration of his close up effect “Dead Queen” which is a routine devised by Bruce using a switching gimmick from the french card craftsman Mickael Chaelain. Bruce was followed by a visitor to our club Andy Nunn who performed some Rubic Cube magic. He got member Garry Davis to solve a cube behind his back then he managed to sort 4 Rubic cubes to display the exact number of seconds in digits that were chosen by two throughs of a dice and he did it in that time.
Your scribe followed with an attempt to read the thoughts of a few members who were thinking of glimpsed playing cards. This was followed by my routine with The Hades Finger Chopper. Tony Croft performed card magic using the Black Jacks to locate a chosen card and then to prove that he predicted another chosen card to show that he already had it displayed as an image on his smart phone. Phuoc Can Hua was the only performer dressed for the night. He performed his complete act with skeleton gloves including demonstrating a model of a skeleton stirring a cauldron. He showed a Wobblestone, a plastic canoe type gimmick that mysteriously spun counterclockwise when pushed clockwise. He showed a Caucasian Diver in the form of a small plastic squid that sank and rose in a sealed water bottle. His final effect was to unscrew a nut by the power of his mind.
John Kanawati then performed a wild card routine where ants appeared all over a packet of blank both sides cards. He concluded by showing his sleight of hand skill by vanishing and producing a sponge ball in a routine he called the Invisible Ball. Anthony Dillon failed in his attempt to hang himself with a rope then a double rope which kept passing through his neck. He then showed his powers extended to rubber when he caused a rubber band to penetrate the wrist of a willing spectator. Garry Davis ended the main part of the meeting with by causing a chosen card to travel to his pocket and then he performed an impossible card discovery.
Another successful meeting concluded with impromptu performances and discussions whilst tea and biscuits were served.
Peter Rodgers
Sydney Magic Club 