To be updated

From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers

Ring 102 Sydney NSW Australia – The Maurice Rooklyn Ring

Our April meeting fell on the Tuesday after Easter which is still in the middle of the Autumn school holidays and as such we were low in attendees, but high in quality. Conway Restom, the organiser had spent some time in finding some fine performers with some good magic. Conway had chosen “Mind Games-Mentalism and Mind Magic” for the topic and he had organised the program but unfortunately he was unable attend himself because of persistent chest infection.

Dale Trueman our president opened the meeting and introduced Peter Wood who had volunteered to stand in as the compère of the night’s entertainment. He commenced with a performance of Marc Oberon’s E-Wave which proved to be a real fooler. He showed five ESP cards and a Whiteboard stand. The effect commenced as just a 50/50 decision with two symbols, “which hand is the named symbol”? The odds became higher with extra cards added with no mistakes until we witnessed the strong finish of all ESP cards matching a predetermined prediction. A great effect. 

Peter then introduces another Peter, your scribe, Peter Rodgers who commenced by transmitting a two digit number to a spectator. The spectator said 68 and Peter opened the slip of paper sticking out of his breast pocket, it disclosed the number 68 printed in large writing. This was “Way Out”, another effect by Marc Oberon which shows the genius of this magic creator from the United Kingdom. Peter continued with a book test using the recently published, but un-gimmicked, novel “Double Deal” written by our member John M Green. He then concluded by reading the minds of virtually everyone in attendance by divining cards that they cut to. It was actually Peter’s variation of an effect from issue number 8, that’s  the December 1956 issue of the P. Howard Lyons great Ibidem magazine. This was the Edward Marlo issue and the effect, A Miracle With Cards, showed Marlo’s magic wasn’t all based on pure sleight of hand. Peter had commenced performing this routine in the early 1980’s and has had great success with it. It is often his, “go to routine” when trying to create a strong impact with either magicians or non magicians. He had recently re-read the instructions and realised that the effect has evolved so much in his hands that it has little similarities to the original Marlo presentation.

We never think of Phuoc Can Hua as a performer of mind-reading effects but tonight he played with our minds with great success. He turned on his music, but it wasn’t music, was it a metronome, or was it a ticking clock? He opened his case and removed some curious object wrapped in a towel. When unwrapped it appeared to be a wooden framework with hinges about 60 centimetres (two feet) high. He then unwrapped another parcel which turned out to be a ceramic looking human head. He attached the head to the wooden frame which now as it was opened up started to have the appearance of a small human body with legs and arms. With the head attached Phuoc held on to the hand of  the “Supernatural Puppet” and with the appropriate sound effects and a ringing bell he walked across the stage. Was it a puppet or was it a Psychokinesis doll? Why did Phuoc need to wear a golden headpiece himself? Was it to make contact with the hidden forces, it was all very eerie and left a big impact on tonight’s audience. Phuoc later told us that he got the idea of a Supernatural Puppet from the GeniiCon convention held in Sydney in four years ago and his doll has had a few variants over the last 3 or 4 years.

Peter Wood  then brought on president Dale who showed us a packet of about a dozen cards. He had one picked, it was printed with the word “Yours” which didn’t get any reaction until he showed that all the other cards were printed with “Mine”. Steve Miller was next, Steve has only been into magic for a few years but he thinks about his magic and he is always entertaining. Steve started with a bunny doll that he used as a mascot on his table. He asked “who believes in the psychic?”, being magicians we all shook our heads, he then asked, “who believes in a gut feeling”? This time we all nodded until Steve pointed out that they were basically the same. Steve then performed Christian Grace’s Inevitable Choice. After having a spectator choose a card he dealt cards face down on the table requesting the spectator to say ‘now’ about ten times. He then repeated this with just the ten cards this time eliminating all but three card. Two more cards were eliminated leaving just one card which proved to be the original chosen card. He concluded with the photo of a famous freely chosen celebrity actor holding a playing card proving to be the same as as a freely chosen card and actor chosen by a spectator. The combination of the old  “The Baby Gag” principle plus some new mobile phone technology gave us a new routine.

Anthony Dillon was next, he had a spectator predict his favourite VIP hotel using Anthony’s collection of hotel room keys. We ask the question, has Anthony really stayed at all these five star hotels? It was a fine performance of Executive Suite available from Alakazam Magic in the United Kingdom. He then produced three medallions/coins from his collection. One was freely chosen and it was shown that Anthony had pre determined the choice. Anthony is very generous with his methods at our meetings and he explained the method to those in attendance. The method proved to be a great use of multiple outs which can make an effect almost  unfathomable to a lay audience. Anthony calls this routine “Multiple Outs Plus”. 

Peter Wood started the entertainment with a fine routine and he came back to conclude the night in the same way. He showed 4 large white pearls and one black one. Maybe its just me, but I suspect that they were not real pearls. They were all examined then dropped into a small “marble” type bag. Five spectators were invited up and one by one they took a pearl out of the bag. All the pearls were held tightly in their clenched fists so that nobody new had which pearl. Peter turned his back, had the spectators carefully check the pearls in their hands without exposing it. Now the only person that new who had the black pearl was the person with it. By asking the people to lie and tell the truth and by using the techniques of Charles Gauci Peter was able to deduce the owner of the black Pearl bringing the entertainment to another successful conclusion.

We then adjourned to a lite supper and some informal fraternisation.

Peter Rodgers

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

Once again due to COVID restrictions we met online. 

President Dale Trueman opened the meeting with a routine he called Red Card Blue Card. It consisted of him repeating the words “red card blue card” over and over while he impossibly passed a red playing card through the centre of a blue playing card then moved it from side to side going past the edges on both ends.

Peter Wood showed us his Acrobatic Chameleon Cards where 4 regular cards were shown front and back, then the backs changed to a single colour then changed again to a separate colour each. He then performed a paddle routine with a paddle made of lego.

Garry Davis asked a volunteer to choose where three playing cards would each be placed.  Next to a set of keys, a phone and in one of his pockets. When revealed the cards had been marked as keys, phone and pocket and each were in their correct place.

Dale Trueman then returned as his beer drinking rowdy magician character “Davo” and demonstrated his effective method for hiding a full glass of beer by levitating it behind a bamboo mat held in his hand. 

Phuoc Can Hua demonstrated a small construction he had made of cardboard which had four thin ramps leading uphill to a post in the middle. He invited others to choose a ramp to place a ping pong ball on at the bottom and no matter the ramp chosen, the ball always inexplicably ran uphill to the post in the middle.

Dale Trueman then presented again as his character Davo and gave what he called his Gambling Awareness Lecture which was a large three card monte similar to Chase the Ace. No matter where the Ace appeared to be, it was not.

Anthony Dillion offered a volunteer the free choice between a credit card, a drivers licence and a club membership card. He even lay $20 on the line to say that he knew which card would be chosen and he didn’t lose his money.

Brandon Voight took a bite out of a playing card. Took the piece out of his mouth and showed that it matched the hole. Then replaced the piece in his mouth and spat it back onto the card making it whole again. 

Conway Restom performed a very visual routine ‘coins through’ routine, starting with the slow and open extraction of a coin from inside a sealed ziplock bag. He then blew up and sealed the bag like a balloon and visibly tossed the coin back inside.He then took a transparent plastic juice bottle with its lid screwed on and slammed a coin into the bottle through the side. He finished with Rick Lax’s ‘Melt’, in which he openly caused three 50c coins to pass, one by one, through the bottom and then the sides of a solid, thick beer glass. 

BellaDonna McCarthy then displayed 8 cards each with its own colour and description representing an aura eg; passion, knowledge, compassion. A volunteer was asked to chose an aura they resonate with the most. The selected card was brought forward. The remaining cards were shown face up and down to show the backs are blank and then placed in a pile. The selected card was revealed to be the only one to have a cross drawn on the back

Dale Trueman again returned as Davo with an old plug-in work light with a long lead. He plugged it into the mains and turned the light on then showed that when you find the sweet spot in an electrical lead it can be passed straight through the middle of the body. Though he said it gave him a bit of a buzz.

Jeffery Clark gave a talk about his upcoming Magic Inn Convention and the meeting came to an end.

As COVID spread appears to be significantly decreasing it looks as if we will be meeting in person for March!

From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers

With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 rampant in Sydney we decided to revert to  Zoom  for this meeting. Anthony Dillon had volunteered to host tonight’s meeting on “Classic Magic Effects” and he was happy to change from an in person meeting to a Zoom meeting with the same topic.

Anthony opened the meeting with the simple statement “Classics are classics for a good reason.” He then had Dale Truman, our president open with a ring and ribbon routine performed to music. Dale commenced by tying knots in the ribbon but they seemed to dissolve into thin air. On the third occasion a two inch brass ring suddenly  appeared on the ribbon in place of the knot. The ring then came on and off the ribbon without going near its ends. Various moves including Clifton’s Ring Move which was first published in Earl Nelsons Variations in 1978 and has now become a classic move of its own. At this stage we noticed an interloper had gatecrashed our meeting. It was Gingy, an animated Gingerbread Man who performed a basic mathematical mystery using pictures of famous magicians. It is rumoured that Gingy was under the control of our member Jeffery Clark who was joining us from his home in the country town of Cessnock.

Anthony again got control of the meeting and demonstrated a dissolving knot in a handkerchief before handing over to Phuoc Can Hua who tries to perform at every meeting. He started with the Chinese Sticks and he then demonstrated a Breakaway Fan. Phuoc produced a Chinese book published well over 100 years ago in Shanghai, the title translates to “The Grand View of Magic”. The book has illustrations of both effects. Bruce Elliott reproduced in his Classic Secrets of Magic book published in 1953 a list of the most popular tricks currently performed in America. It had been compiled by Robert Orben for Genii Magazine and it listed the Chinese Wands at that time as the eleventh favourite effect.

Terry Fernandes doesn’t like driving at night these days but he joins us at our zoom meetings. He started his performance with Liam Montier’s ‘What Happens in Vegas’ from Alakazam magic. He had a card stopped whilst he dealt cards from a face up deck made of 52 casino decks. He then had a card stopped at whilst he dealt the cards from the deck now face down. Terry then produced a casino chip, the back predicted the casino card chosen and the front the card value chosen. Terry then had an ESP symbol chosen from five ESP cards. His prediction again proved to be correct.  John Kanawati removed a card from his pack, it was going to shrink but instead the rest the pack, fanned into a rosette visually diminished, a great illusion that showed up well on our computer screens. Peter Wood commenced his performance but with the vagaries of technology his system crashed.

Anthony again took control of the meeting and filled in with Paul Richards Shanghai Coins were an American half dollar changed to a copper coin and then to a Chinese coin with the hole through the centre. Then the routine went into reverse and the coin changed back to copper then to the Silver half dollar. Anthony then introduced the other Peter, your scribe Peter Rodgers. Peter started by explaining that instead of magic he was going to demonstrate how to cheat at games such as poker. He then performed his gambling routine that he first started to perform in the early 1960’s. The routine started with a Dai Vernon segment including The Last Trick of Dr Jacob Dr. Jacob Daley, Twisting the Aces and the The Vernon Poker Deal all from the Lewis Ganson Books on Vernons routines. He then continued with his own poker deal based on poker deals by Harry Lorayne, Walter B Gibson and other performers and writers of magics classic methods. Peters routine concluded with a quick drunken shuffle.

Peter Wood had managed to reboot his system and Anthony reintroduced him. Peter produced a large six inch ring and a length of rope. He declared it was the magician challenge with four magicians each showing how they would get the ring on and off the rope without passing it over the ends. He demonstrated how Brendan would perform it, then Terry and Phuoc and finally Anthony were the ends of the rope were actually knotted together and the ring ended up knotted to the centre of the rope. Brendon Voight brought out a pack of cards in its tuck case. He showed that the front of the case had a large hole in it. A card was chosen, and Brendon wrote a spectators name on its face. Because it couldn’t be signed during a Zoom presentation he had his spectator nominate a number or a drawing that he could label the card with. The card was returned to the deck and the deck returned to its case. Almost instantly the case was shown to be empty except for the marked chosen card.

Jeffrey Clark showed a playing card size card with a Movie Classification showing. As the classification mysteriously changed a film running as Jeffery’s background changed from General Classification to X-rated. A novel presentation. Jeffery then demonstrated the Mel Stover Calendar trick using a an X-Rated Fireman’s calendar. Conway Restom proved that he was the king of predictions in a novel version of the Classic Everywhere and Nowhere routine. A card was chosen, the 3 of hearts and returned to the deck. Four cards previously held aside each now changed into the 3, and the card in the deck changed to the four kings and then they swap places again. A great routine 

We are all hoping that Omicron will decline as fast as it appeared and that our next meeting will be back in person at our Chatswood meeting rooms. Its too early to know but members will be informed well before our next meeting.

Peter Rodgers

December 2021

From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers

Our December meeting is also our Christmas party and following recent practices it was again held on the deck at Peter Wood’s (our Treasurer) home at Lane Cove. Possibly because the night fell only a few days before Christmas or because of the spread of the Omicron variety of Covid-19 the number of members at this years party were reduced. In fact we had more visitors than members. People started to arrive about 7:00pm with everyone bringing their own drinks of choice. Pizza’s were delivered at 7:30 and salads and deserts produced by our host and Michelle, one of our delightful visitors for the night.

Peter Wood commenced the entertainment with John Carey’s Invisicard where a chosen card vanished and then reappeared in a small packet of cards after the Down Under Deal. He then performed a Gimmickless Get Sharkey where a chosen card mysteriously appeared in his pocket. The effect although lacking the impossible card vanish of the original method was a fine effect. Peter then performed an Ambitious Card routine based on a Jay Sankey effect including a Repeat Card to Pocket using a George Schindler idea and finishing with the signed card ending up in a Tom Mullica Wallet.

Peter was followed by one of our visitors Brendon Voigt. Brendon has been a magic fan since childhood but is only now coming back to the art after a lapse of many years. He caused a card held by a spectator to mysteriously change. He then located three chosen cards whilst the pack was in his pocket. We are hoping that Brendan will join the ring in the new year.  Peter Rodgers followed with just two effects, he started with Star Warp, a version of Roy Waltons Card Warp using a dollar note and just one playing card. Star Warp was a Howie Schwarzman routine that appeared in Harry Lorayne’s July 1980 issue of Apocalypse magazine. It was actually Bob McAllister that originally had the idea of performing Card Warp with just one card and a dollar bill and his routine subsequently appeared in Richards Almanac September 1983. Over the years the routine has evolved in Peter’s hands and it now includes some of Mike Close’s ideas from his version that appeared in the Workers series. Peter then performed his adaption of Ed Marlo’s “A Miracle With Cards” from Ibidem 8. 

Otto Patterson has been coming to our meetings for some months as a visitor has now joined our Ring, welcome Otto. He vanished a red silk handkerchief in his bare hands, performed Equal Unequal Ropes, made a sponge penetrate the table top and stretched his thumb. Phuoc Can Hua has been working on his phone effect again. This time he placed the phone in his shirt pocket and requested a spectator to imagine they were walking through a department store. They moved through different departments then just focused on one item to purchase. It was a mans neck tie, the spectator removed the phone from Phuoc’s pocket and the image on the phone was also a tie. Phuoc is developing a very novel routine.

Steve Miller has only been in magic for about a year but his performances at our recent meetings show that he understands the basics of deception and he is thinking about his routines. Instead of performing tonight he decided to discuss an effect that he had recently developed and performed with great success. He had been impressed with Jonathan Levit’s “The Stranger” which has been widely promoted over the last few years. Steve wished to create a simplified version of this effect and he developed a code to send the value of a chosen playing card over the telephone. He used our member Conway Restom to act as the psychic at the other end of the phone. Steve had inadvertently reinvented the now classic John Northern Hilliard Telephone Trick that originally appeared in the February 1905  The Sphinx magazine and has appeared in many other sources over the years. ( ie. Over the Telephone – David Devant, The Wizard – Scarne on Card Tricks etc.) It just shows that great minds think alike. 

It was now time for our final performer of the night, Conway Restom. Conway commenced by producing the four aces one at a time. The first materialised, the second was found reversed in the pack, the third sandwiched and the fourth just appeared in his fingers. The pack then changed from blue back to red and to finish the backs of the aces themselves changed from blue to red. Conway had just given us a great performance of John Guastaferro’s “Wonder Aces”

We must again thank our treasurer, Peter Wood for providing his home for another great Christmas Party meeting and Michelle for assisting with the catering and been the one layperson in attendance to assist all of tonight’s performers.

Peter Rodgers

From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers.

16th November 2021.

Our November meeting was the first back into our club rooms after 4 months of been in a Covid-19 lockdown. Our president after welcoming everyone introduced Jack Sharp to host tonight’s meeting “Go-November”. To get started Jack performed his Rubik Cube routine that he originally developed for 11 to 12 year olds but now performs for 7 to 8 year olds. Perfectly suited for an audience of ageing  magicians. Jack was then surprised by the number of people volunteering to perform with fifteen acts making up what became a great night. Garry Davis was Jacks first performer, he performed some close up effects which were difficult to see by the large audience present. He dealt out some number cards into a rectangle, like a calendar. Numbers were chosen, rows and columns eliminated until nothing was left. When the chosen numbers were turned over a message welcoming us back to the IBM was disclosed. Anthony Dillon swapped an Australian twentycent coin with an American Quarter held securely in a spectators hand. He then turned some paper money into a credit card. Phuoc Can Hua used his telephone to predict a playing card chosen by the audience verbally. This routine was based on an effect that Jack had performed for Phuoc previously. Phuoc had improved the effect by writing a new App that eliminated the need to handle the phone prior to displaying the prediction.

Michael Giblin had noticed that Alakazam Magic in the United Kingdom was advertising our own Sean Taylors “On Target”. Michael was excited about the effect and performed it for us tonight. He wondered how he had missed purchasing it direct from Sean himself where it has been available for many years. Peter Rodgers commenced with John Bannon’s Second Reckoning from Destination Zero. He then deduced two cards removed from decks of cards and another card not removed from its deck. BellaDonna discovered the six of diamonds then performed Roy Waltons classic Card Warp.

Jack Sharp came back with what appeared to be a comedy prediction effect but ended up with a seeming miracle. He listed three digit numbers called out by the audience. When totalled they failed to mean anything but when repeated he showed that he had predicted the result. Conway Restom using original patter based on the  Game of Thrones television series performed the Chinese Linking Rings. Conways performance was greatly enhanced by him involving various spectators throughout his presentation. John Kanawati always impresses with his Ring 102 performances. Tonight he used just the four eights from a pack of cards, but the more he got rid of the more they kept coming back. A fine routine. 

Our president, Dale Trueman has been working on his  character, Snowy McKenzie – The Snow Man,  for a year or two now and we were privileged to witness the current version. On the face of it Snowy is a fruit and vegetables vendor at Taylor’s Square in the underworld of a 1920’s Sydney. He is in fact a cocaine dealer.  During the act ‘Snowy’ produces a table, a coin and a cut throat razor. A sugar bag, said to contain cocaine is the start of a cocaine production similar to a “Giant Salt Pour”. Tony Croft performed Steve Cook’s Swindle, available from Alakazam Magic UK. It’s a great two pill box “Just Chance” routine. He concluded with a play on words routine using “This, Yours, Mine, Something, That” on some poker chips.

Andy Nunn is a professional Magician Mentalist in Sydney. He started with a poker chip held by a spectator. Andy repeatedly deduced which hand held the chip was in. He then performed an Any Card at Any Number routine using methods made famous by such performers as Asi Wind and John Born. Andy then deduced a spectators astrology sign by asking just a few questions. Stephen Bell performed a Three Card Monte routine with four cards and then a returning black effect. He had three red and one black card but ever time he got rid of the black card it kept returning. He concluded with a signed card to pocket routine with the fifty one unsigned cards travelling on his second attempt. 

Daniel Shields showed his skill with switching cards before performing an in the hands Triumph Routine using a Topsy Turvey (drunken?) shuffle. Clement Kwok again showed his skill with playing cards by performing a fast Three Card Monte routine using two blank cards and a spot card. He then produced Four Aces from a spectator shuffled deck and concluded the night with another Triumph routine. 

Despite our months of lockdown it is obvious that the magic is back and is live and well in Sydney.

Peter Rodgers 

From Ring Reporter Peter Rodgers.

October 19th 2021.

It’s October 2021 and we are still in a Covid-19 lockdown, however we expect to be back to our normal meeting format in the Chatswood hall from our next meeting. Tonight though its an online Zoom show.

Our Secretary Conway Restom had volunteered to organise this online magic show replacing our usual meeting. For the last couple of months he has been contacting other magic groups throughout Australia and internationally requesting them to help promote our free show. He has organised the performers, both members of ring 102 and friends of our club throughout Australia. He has requested member Jeffrey Clark to look after the technical issues and our friend Alan Cullen to design a poster for the show, now to be called, “The Magic of Oz”. 

The show was introduced by Peter Wood who welcomed our viewers and explained the Zoom procedures before introducing our MC, Conway Restom.  The first performer, Joel Howlett is from Newcastle, ninety minutes to our north. Joel produced a dove, turned silks into ribbons, produced a cane, more ribbons, a fountain of silks and ended his set with the production of a butterfly “Good By Silk”, a great start to our show. Tim Ellis from Melbourne instantly solved a Rubic Cube, vanished and then produced salt from a twenty dollar note and performed an invisible card to envelope effect before concluding with a simple multiplying golf ball routine. Bruce Glenn performed John Bannon’s classic Twisted Sisters and a mental effect with imaginary coins. A spectator then mysteriously chose the only red backed card in a blue backed deck. 

A video clip of a much younger Peter Wood from the Sing Me a Rainbow television show was shown with Peter performing the Zig Zag. Phil Cass was brought on early because of a slight technical problem. Phill for many years was Australia’s top club and corporate magician. During the 1990’s he appeared many times on the top rating New South Wales televisions version of “The Footy Show”. Phil spoke of how he originally got this prestige and lucrative gig. He the showed a clip of one of his performances on the Footy Show assisted by Phillipa his long term assistant. The clip included condensed versions of many of the well known bits from Phil’s show including a watch steal, the Electric Chair and the Cut and Restored Tie and Duck production. 

Belladonna has been active in the Sydney magic scene for some years but has only recently joined our ring. She commenced her act with an audience participation mathematical routine using the fingers of everyone’s hand. Dan Harlan’s Starcle followed then the levitation of a feather on her hand. She closed with Lossander’s Floating Table. With our technical problems solved Sean Taylor was introduced. Today was Sean’s birthday but he was happy to be working for us instead of celebrating with his family. Sean commenced in his usual relaxed but very professional style with a comedy “Just Chance” (Bank Night) routine and ended with a prediction that had been on display in a bottle from the start of his performance. Allan Cullen in his character as Bubble 07 presented magic with soap bubbles. It was a nice change of pace and Allan produced various patterns and seemingly impossible designs such as square bubbles and bubbles within bubbles, some filled with smoke making volcanic type effects. 

Dr Taliesin’s (Tal Coward)  act was pure close up sleight of hand with coins. He started with a purse frame which he claimed contained two invisible coins which he then produced. He then amazed us with various coins through the table and coin transposition effects. Rosanna from Melbourne performed the Gypsy Thread with the string hanging from a balloon. She then performed Out of this World with beads and glasses instead of playing cards before producing silk scarves from a newspaper. The closing act was Adam Mada who commenced by showing a couple of stage theatrical effects, not magic but very interesting. He watered his stage setting of plants and flowers and they all came to life. He then showed a huge mock up magic book and the pages moved as if they were straight out of a Harry Potter stage show. Adam then presented his confused version of any drinks called for from a tea kettle with the chosen drink, some strawberry milk being finally produced in its own container from the now empty kettle.

Conway made his final appearance to thank all his performers along with Jeffery Clark for controlling the Zoom technology, Allan Cullen for producing the poster and everyone else involved in this extravaganza. I would also like to join him and send my thanks to everyone involved but also to Conway himself. It was Conways idea, energy and motivation that got this show off the ground. We had close to 240 viewers, mainly throughout Australia but with some international attendees. To close the event Scott Radburn of the famous Four Kingsman musical group performed a silk to cane cameo. 

Peter Rodgers

21st September 2021

September meeting is our AGM, and we had very fast election with little change before we got on to the main and important part of the meeting, the entertainment.  We are still in a COVID-19 lockdown and unable to meet in person so we again had a Zoom meeting. 

Our re-elected president, Dale Trueman had volunteered to run the meeting with an evening to “Teach and Learn”. Dale had asked five members to teach an effect or routine in under about twenty minutes. Our first “teacher”,  Anthony Dillon had been fascinated by a routine shown to our Ring by English performer, Mark Leveridge over a Zoom lecture a few months ago. Mark’s routine with a silk and ring was the starting point for Anthony to devise his own penetration of a coin through a silk. His explanation was clear and I am sure that many of our members spent time later that night practicing with a coin and handkerchief or silk.

Peter Rodgers is a big advocate of the literature of magic, both books and magazines. They have many advantages over video instructions. Tonight he performed and taught John Bannon’s “Bluff Oracle Aces 1” from Bannon’s great book “Destination Zero”. Peter recommends all of John Bannon’s writings from when he wrote his early books and edited The Card Corner column in the Linking Ring, through to his DVD’s and recent books and columns in Genii magazine. Peter then explained that it was Karl Fulves who first came up with the idea of finding a card by eliminating packets of cards via the reverse faro in his effect “Oracle” from the November 1970 issue of “The Pallbearers Review” (Vol.6 No.1). Lin Searles was the brains behind producing the four aces on the way in “Moracle” Pallbearers July1971 (Vol.6 No. 9). John Bannon, however was the final genius putting it all together and routining it with multiple false shuffles to retain the stock of aces.

Our President Dale then came back to explain the Salt Pour routine that he had performed at a previous meeting. When we are not in lockdown Dale is performing as “Snowy” a drug dealer from Sydneys criminal past in a theatre restaurant in Sydney’s Inner Eastern Suburbs. Snowy is a cocaine dealer and in this routine the salt is now cocaine, the drug of preference in the early years of the twentieth century. Dale showed us a video of a rehearsal of a performance. He then explained how he had researched salt pours and had discovered that the best resource  was Levent. Dale uses multiple Levent gimmicks during each nights performance where he has to repeat the act four times. He explained his set up, his moves, and how he controls the gimmicks. He explained how he disposes of the gimmicks into a Topit and his source of fine salt which gives a much better and longer pour than standard table salt.

Conway Restom is known for his mental magic but tonight he was teaching some coin effects. Conway repeatedly produced coins from his bare and sleeveless hands and then vanished them one at a time. He spoke of moves and ideas by David Stone and David Roth. He told us how to use large coins and how to palm multiple coins and to learn to drop them from the palm one at a time. He explained how to make your hands look natural  by pushing the thumb out and to stop the unnatural curve of the back of the hand by pushing the little finger out. Conway talked about the choreography of the effect, he spoke of the symmetry of movement such as doing the same action with both hands. He spoke of pre-conditioning, such as pretending to produce a coin from a child’s ear with an empty hand, then do it for real. He likes to make use of the dirty hand and to use different methods in the routine. He credited his final vanish to Joshua Jays vanish in the “Triad Coins” routine available from Vanishing Inc.  Conway also highlighted as a good reference book Peter Lamont & Richard Wiseman’s “Magic in Theory” which examines the ways in which human psychology plays its part in magic and sleight of hand.

Peter Wood, the last of the organised teachers performed and then taught “The Homing Card”, made a classic by the incomparable Fred Kaps as was the Salt Pour. Peter, to get away from card tricks likes to use “UNO” cards making this a family friendly routine. Peter says he is going to show you an effect with five red cards, but when he shows them one of them is black, “no matter I’ll get rid of that, it will work with four red cards” but when counted another one is black again. Then three then two and then one and the black card keeps returning. Its a great and very funny routine with many methods going back to the 1940’s. Originally invented by Fred Braue and published in Hugard & Braue’s Showstoppers With Cards in 1948. Peter’s version was based on Bill Malone’s routine which was again based on an Ed Marlo version. Marlo originally wrote it up in the New Tops Trick Annual for 1963.

We always encourage members to perform at our meetings and Phuoc Can Hua volunteered. He showed us a fan of cards, with a flick they turned into a fan of jumbo cards. Phuoc then taught us all how to make our own set with just a few spare cards, some cheap jumbo cards from the local dollar shop, a split pin clip some thread and some glue. Well done Phuoc. Jeffrey Clark got a spectator to bind his thumbs with tape. Jeffrey did the same to himself. They then covered their hands with a cloth but Jeffrey managed to escape instantly upsetting the poor spectator who was trapped.

Because we were using Zoom technology some members of Ring 273 Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory 250 Kilometres (150 Miles) to our south joined us. Both Phil Bevan and Joe McGrail-Bateup of the Canberra Ring performed. Phil performed a novel Coin Matrix using the Zoom technology to assist him. Joe then attempted to read a spectators mind by using a strange “Wiki” App. He finally succeeded after a few attempts. Joe then produced a pack of cards apparently made up of cards from 52 casinos. One card was chosen from the back and another from the face. When the cards were turned over it was discovered that Joe had predicted the cards prior to the start of his performance. It was a fine performance of Liam Montier’s “What Happens In Vegas” from Alakazam Magic in the England.

After the performances many of us lingered on to fraternise amongst old friends.

Peter Rodgers

17th August 2021

With Sydney still in a Covid-19 lockdown our president Dale Trueman requested a few of our knowledgeable members to perform and discuss their various effects, moves  routines over a Zoom virtual meeting. All our members were also invited to perform if they wished too, we called it our Magic Jam night.

Dale commenced the performing with his rendition of Twisting The Aces as originally published in Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson in the early 1960’s. Dale then discussed the great book, Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz which explains amongst other subject pertaining to the presentation of magic on how to give your magic more meaning. Dale then again performed the effect, using the same sleights and moves but this time with presentation suggestions from Strong Magic. We could all appreciate the improvement. Jamie Cartier, a magician from the New South Wales Central Coast and a first time visitor to our club gave a very enthusiastic complement to Dale and his performance. Jamie said that it was great to see such a great routine without that “terrible” (his word) Elmsley Count move. Dale must have been silently chuckling to himself. Vernon’s Twisting the Aces is the effect that made Elmsley’s Counting Four as Four, now generally referred to as the Elmsley Count, famous. Both of Dale’s routines used that count at least three times. 

Jeffery Clark our technology expert performed an hilarious version of the Multiplying Bottles. Jeffrey used a green screen backdrop, technology available for a Zoom performance.  The background behind Jeffrey whilst he was performing his Multiplying bottles were old silent comedy videos including people falling off balconies and an interesting ‘adults only’ segment. 

Peter Rodgers claims that he is not a magic book collector, he is just an accumulator of books, not to collect but to read. Tonight he wished to discuss two of his favourite magic authors, that of Bruce Elliott and Karl Fulves. To begin he performed a Fulves routine “Five into Four” which appeared in The Book of Numbers which is a small booklet of card effects published by Fulves in 1971. A five spot is shown, it is cut into quarters and when assembled face down it is seen that the middle spot is missing. When turned face up the card is now naturally the four. The disappearance of the centre spot is a version of a geometric vanish much loved by many puzzle/magic inventors including Sam Lloyd, Martin Gardner and Fulves himself. The physical change of the card in the Fulves routine is normally a double lift, Peter on this occasion used the Bruce Elliott switch from Elliott’s Ambitious Card routine in his Classic Secrets of Magic. Peter promoted both Elliott and Fulves tonight because they were both knowledgeable in magic and also great writers. Their texts were always clear, succinct and interesting. Elliott came to prominence with his editing of the first 300 issues of The Phoenix Magazine in the 1940’s and his writing of four great books on magic for the general public. They are still freely available and have introduce many magicians to this great hobby . Most magicians know of the range of Karl Fulves Dover books published for the general public or perhaps his early magazines, The Pallbearers Review, Epilogue and The Chronicles, which were all republished in hardback form by L&L Magic. They are unaware, however of his dozens of books, booklets and magazines self published up until just a few years ago.

Conway Restom explained that it was a mistake to bypass effects because they appear to be old or seem familiar. It’s worthwhile studying various versions of the same effect because of the hidden gems. He then performed his Rubber Band routine which included many effects from multiple sources including the novel capture of the chosen card with a rubber band. Conway then performed Twist Till it Hurts, the magnificent Geoff Latta packet card effect that has recently been re-released by Meir Yedid of MYMagic as a download. Twist Till It Hurts was originally published in the December 1978 (Vol.1 No. 12) issue of Harry Lorayne’s Apocalypse magazine. It was unusual for Apocalypse to include packet type card effects but Twist Till It Hurts was considered an exception and it got pride of place. The routine is based on a Larry Jennings routine that was an underground effect at the time. Conway performed the “adults only” version as suggested by Meir which puts the effect into the “packet trick” category but the normal routine can be performed with a borrowed pack without any preparation. It is a great routine and Conway gave an excellent performance.

Stephen Miller performed a great effect where he did some mind reading, made a prediction, teleported a chosen card to an impossible location and then revealed it to be reversed in the deck. To add to the impossibility of it all he showed that the rest of the deck was now completely blank. It was John Carey’s ‘50 Oh!’ that Stephen had so capably performed.  Daniel Shields trialled a mathematical card discovery routine with everyone at home following along and locating their own card. Garry Davis is one of our country members, he lives in Bathurst a lovely town two and a half hours west of Sydney on the other side of the Blue Mountains. Its amazing how many meetings that he manages to get too. Tonight, though being a Zoom meeting he was able to log in from home. He gave us a great performance of Gary Jones’s ‘Ambitious Jazz’.

Karl Fischer, of Berlin Germany was a frequent visitor to our Ring meetings a couple of years ago whilst he was residing in Sydney for many months. Although Karl didn’t perform tonight it was great to have him join us from his home in Berlin. It just proves what a great organisation the IBM is bringing together magicians from around the world even whilst we are in the middle of a pandemic lockdown.

Peter Rodgers