From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers
The March meetings topic “Something Different” which was chosen by our member Bella Donna. She was introduced by our President Dale Trueman to MC the program. Bella Donna earlier in the evening had been showing her well trained pet rat. She commenced the entertainment by reintroducing Dale who performed his ‘work in progress ring on ribbon routine’. Dale has been working on this routine for some months, he has tried it with and without patter and with other variations. Tonight Dale attempted to tie a knot in the ribbon but the knot would never form, then suddenly the ring appeared on the ribbon, it then came off, but not in the usual way via the ends, it vanished and reappeared. Finally Dale invited member Phuoc to come up and hold the ring whilst it was on the ribbon and mysteriously it still managed to come off in Phuoc’s hands. Bella Donna then invited Conway Restom to perform. Conway brought out a salt shaker which squeaked when shaken. Mysteriously Conway produced a large silver coin from the salt, it vanished, appeared under the shaker, vanished again then appeared on top of the shaker, under the cloth. The coin seemed to have a life of its own vanishing and appearing at will to the sound of the squeaky shaker. To conclude the salt transformed into three large silver coins.
John Kanawati is always original and tonight he performed an interesting “Multiplying Billiard Ball” routine for want of a better name. The balls, however, were not billiard balls, they were about the size of golf balls, and the routine included various techniques such as a “one in the pocket two in the hand” segment and an original production of another ball by rolling his hand across his arm. It was another lovely routine from John. Bella Donna then introduced Benny O (Ben Orson) a Sydney magician who we don’t see often enough at our meetings. Benny started with some Cardistry, he then had a card chosen by Bella Donna and another by Steve. Steve’s card kept rising to the top of the pack and Benny kept trying to get rid of Bella Donna’s card but it kept returning. It was obvious from his performance that Benny was experienced at “Jazz Magic”.
Bella Donna then brought on Phuoc Can Hua who always performs a novel routine at our meetings. Tonight it was a routine that he calls “Grandpa’s Necktie”which he performed to music. Two brightly coloured neckties were linked together then tied around his neck, to prove that he is a true man of magic they mysteriously penetrated his neck not just once but twice to show that he is truly the man that can’t be hung. Bella Donna then introduced Peter Rodgers well known for performing card magic. Peter began with Richard Smith’s NUMB where he predicted the total of numbers written on the back of four freely chosen playing cards. He then showed that he also knew the individual numbers on the chosen cards, not just the total. He then had a card very freely chosen, it was the Ten of Hearts, but his written prediction was wrong. Not to be deterred, Peter lit a candle and held the prediction close to the candles flame. Slowly the wording of the prediction changed and it now proved to be correct. Peter was using the text of Norman Ashworth’s “Before Your Eyes” from Annemann’s Jinx magazine from the early 1930’s combined with little known properties of modern Frixion ballpoint pens to create an up to date, but very unusual effect.
We haven’t seen Clement Kwok for a few months but when we do see him his magic and skill is always impressive. Clement has now taken over the long established Sydney magic business, Hey Presto, which is now known as The Art of Magic and has a new bricks and mortar location in the Sydney suburb of Pymble. Bella Donna introduced Clement and he took out an already mixed up Rubik Cube. He solved the red side, then the orange side and then the whole cube. He then solved the cube behind his back then visually almost instantly. Conway came up to assist and, with instructions from Clement, Conway also solved the cube behind his back. Clement then used a Sharpie to draw a cross on the palm of his hand, he close his hand into a fist and when opened the cross had vanished only to appear in Conways hand. A corner torn from Clements “The Art of Magic” business card mysteriously vanished and appeared attached to the clock at the back of the hall.
Daniel Shields handed out some mints, the kind with the hole in the middle, Lifesavers to some of us, Polo mints to others. Daniel then popped a mint in his mouth, he chewed a rubber band and caused the mint to link on and off the band. He then formed a “ladder of rubber” between his two hands with the band and the mint jumped from rung to rung.
That was the end of the organised meeting but because of the early finish Bella Donna now invited anyone else who was interested to perform. Dale came back with his rendition of Astor’s Trio. Dale’s three written predictions of playing cards agreed with three cards very freely chosen by three spectators. The cards were all displayed in an innocent looking plexiglass stand. John Kanawati came back and performed an in the hands Oil and Water routine with four red and four black cards. His story was about physics and every action results in an equal and opposite reaction. At no time did he mention either Oil or Water.
The month of March this year was an important time for Magic in Sydney. The six month exhibition of Magic at the New South Wales State Library came to an end with an impressive magic show at the library. Both the exhibit and the closing show were well supported by Ring 102 members.
Ring 102 Sydney of the IBM together with our sister Sydney magic society, The Geniis Magical Society, and with financial support of the New South Wales State Government put on a one day convention, “The Business of Magic”. With the end of lockdowns an initiative of the state government was to kickstart businesses affected by Covid-19. Sean Taylor, the president of The Geniis and a past president of Ring102 contacted Dale, our current ring’s president and said, nobody was more financially affected by Covid than Magical entertainers. Both clubs got together and applied for a grant from the state government to run a one day convention with an emphasis on the business side of our art. Yes, we had a Close-Up show and a Stand-Up show but we also had lectures on how to get bookings and how to perform magic during lockdowns after Covid-19. The day was voted by all eighty odd attendees as a great success.
Peter Rodgers
Sydney Magic Club 