The Secretary’s Report

We kicked off January's meeting by officially welcoming three new members. We are glad to have you join the club.

Chris Johnson - Chris is interested in ventriloquism and was a friend of John Osborne. Chris has what sounds like an impressive collection of Ventriloquist Dolls.
Paul Jones - It sounds like Paul is very new to magic and is eager to learn.
Bou-Yu Chen - Bou-Yu has attended a number of our meetings in the past and has displayed some impressive sleight of hand with coins, pens and cards.

Next it was on to our Magic Question roundtable. The question this month was "What is your MAGIC New Year's Resolution. We have a broad variety of interesting answers.

Practice & Do the Tricks I own
Develop a Maine Coon routine
Get back into the game (of magic)
Document the tricks I perform
Develop 3 solid tricks
Transform (remodel) house and make debt disappear.
Develop a solid 30 min act
Perfect the Mercury Card Fold
Lean the tricks I already own
Never Make a Resolution (resolved many years ago and kept to this day)

It was reported that lifetime member Marvin Mathena had suffered several minor strokes but was now back at Regency Heights Nursing Home (19100 W Seven Mile Rd, Detroit, MI 48219).

The slate of candidates for the AAMC Board was reviewed.

President - Dan Jones
Vice-President - Sean Naes
Treasurer - Rob Krozal
Secretary - Karl Rabe
Sergeant at Arms - Mike Bogdas

As each candidate was running unopposed, the slate was accepted by the club members as given.

We want to extend a big thank-you to outgoing Sergeant at Arms Don Oesterwind. Don has made a huge positive impact on the club in the past and we know he will continue to do so. Not only does Don add encouragement and fun to all our meetings, he bolsters our Flea Market profits by providing his facility free of charge. In addition he has been instrumental in facilitating the large Rotary show the club put on in the past, which generated significant revenue for the club. Thank you Don.

Everyone was reminded of upcoming events.... see Around the Town for details

March Lecture with Erik Tait
AAMC Open House at the Plymouth District Library
An informal trip to ABC Magic

It was suggested that although we have a Facebook "Page", this only allows administrators to post, so we should add a Facebook "Group" that would allow all members to post, share pictures, ask questions, etc. This has been created and you can join here if you already haven't. This group is private for AAMC members only.

Next it was on to performances. The theme of the month was "Silver".

Ming performed Coins Through Table as taught to him by the master Slydini himself.
Mike Bogdas performed Wonder Needle from Tannen's. A needle is put on a thread with both ends held by a spectator. The needle is covered with a hank, poked through the hank, and then inexplicably pulled off the thread.
Dalton performed a mysterious bit with an old box of artifacts including a bottle of rum, parchment quoting from the Book of the Dead, a mummified finger, some old photos and various symbology.
Boyu performed a work in progress where he blows bubbles that are then transformed into solid objects in the spectators hands. Later the marble changed colors.
Sean performed a coins across routine with an in-the-spectator's-hands finale.
Dan demonstrated the French Drop and then performed a baffling Sewing Needle through Mirror routine.

With that the official meeting was adjourned and members mingled and jammed for another half hour. Afterwords the magic continued with a few reconvening at Hermann's Old Time Grill.