Our Monthly Meeting was led by Club VP Sean Howell as President Dan Jones was away on important business. First several guests were welcomed. Secretary Karl Rabe's brother John Rabe was in town for a visit from Los Angeles. Another Guest was Ryan Hoffman. Ryan's Father was a local performing clown. Ryan attended his first ever Abbott's Get Together this year and club President Dan Jones spotted him at a garage sale and invited him to our meeting. Finally a young man Lincoln Stone accompanied by Mom Wendy signed up to be a new member.
Then it was time for a few bits of business. Treasurer Rob Krozal gave us a rundown of the Pop-Up Magic Shop results. We sold-out 18 tables and had almost 40 walk-in buyers. The auction raised $168. Overall we netted about $325. Special thanks to all that made this a success including the donation of items for the auction, running the event, setup, teardown: Jackie Clark, Frank Machniak, Jim Molnar, Chuck Kimbrough, Bob Goodwin, Karl Rabe, Dan Jones, Rob Krozal, Ming Louie, and Barbara Louie, Phill Mann, Jim Folkl, Steve and Jeannette Schneider, and April Barrett.
Then Sean provided an update on the club's upcoming Fall Parlor Show on Saturday October 26 at 4pm and 7pm at the Plymouth Community Arts Council in Plymouth Michigan. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at aamagic.org or at the door. Those involved in setup should arrive by 1pm and performers should plan to arrive no later than 2pm.
We will be accepting nominations for board positions until October 25. Members should contact any board member if you are interested.
Then it was on to our educational session on Sponge Balls led by Don Oesterwind. Don recently ran into Bizarro so he had some tips to share straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Don walked us through his standard routine, stage vs close-up, color options, shape options, how to rejuvenate your sponge balls, Goshman Super Soft vs others, several vanishes, bunnies and growing sponge balls. Mike Thornton then piggy backed with his routine and some simple vanishes. Mike recommended the Daryle DVD and Steve Dacri works as the best references around. Mike also shared a tip from Steve Dacri on managing pocket space by keeping your sponge balls in a separate cloth bag until you are ready for that part of your act.
Then it was on to performances. Phil Mann performed a number of routines included a haunted house routine with ghosts, a crystal cube used to appear a number of "sprites", a silk vanishing wand, and a pagota appearance. Phil finished with a nice silk to rose and a blooming bouquet of roses.
Next Karl Rabe performed Tom Stone's "Of Dice and Men" Hug/Kill routine which is published in the October 2009 issue of Genii. Bou-Yu Chen narrowly missed tragedy when he selected the "Hug" option.
Mike Bogdas used member Chuck Kimbrough as a spectator to perform John Bannon's Hawaiian Punch... a heads-tails coin routine where the final coin was predicted on a postcard from Hawaii held by member Mike Thornton.
After that we wrapped up and jammed and socialized for another half hour.
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- Don Oesterwind lectures on Sponge Ball Magic
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- Phil Mann
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- Kaylin Janiczek and Mikę Thornton
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- Mike Thornton on sponge balls
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- Bou-Yu and Karl
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- Dr. Don
