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On the Cover By Karl Rabe

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Magic Messenger March 2026

Member Lincoln Stone produces a Birthday Cake to celebrate the Ann Arbor Magic Clubs 55th Birthday. The Club received our IBM Charter on Feb 23, 197

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President's Corner By Sean Howell

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Greetings from Dade City! I hope everyone weathered the storms of November well enough, I read about a couple of doozys. Spring is coming rapidly and with it, the time of renewal. A little bit of cabin fever can be a real drag in life, but we have cure…a magic meeting. If you have not been to a meeting in a while, come on in an renew those friendships with some outstanding magic and learn a wee bit.

 

This month we have Phil Mann the Magic Mann as our featured performer. Phil goes all out when he's the

 

featured performer so you really don't want to miss what he has in store. Next, Mike Thornton, our resident Master Magician with a sharp wit, slight of mind and a deck of cards will help you take your magic to the next level.

Traveling affords me a perspective I don’t contemplate frequently, the value of our club. I miss being at the meetings and interacting with everyone. I miss the hands on instruction I have received from a number of people in our club and I hope that all of you enjoy and appreciate the program your board works hard to put forth.

A couple of things we are working on is to increase our meeting lead time so that people have a better chance to be prepared to take advantage of the meetings. For example, myself. I will work harder to get my articles to our Secretary Karl Rabe in a more timely fashion and which will help get the word out sooner. Thank you Karl for tolerating my tardiness at times.

For this month, I highly recommend you bring a deck of cards and a notebook with you. Mike Thornton will be teaching his trifecta of card tricks he uses to stun audiences all throughout our magical galaxy. Having a deck of cards in your hands with a notebook at your fingertips so that you can make the most out of Mikes experience as a seasoned performer. If you want to be the best, learn from the best and Mike Thornton is one of the best, we're lucky to call him our own in house master magical educator.

Come and be amazed while learning to enthuse.

 

Until next time we meet,
Cheers,
Sean

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Secretary's Report By Karl Rabe

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February Meeting

Our meeting was led by Vice President Wendy Stone as President Sean Howell is engaged in Florida at the Bay Area Renaissance Festival. Wendy introduced two guests: Russ Harris and Robert Langefeld. Robert joined the club and is now our newest member.

Wendy announced that the club was celebrating their 55th Anniversary.

Karl Rabe distributed the remaining 2025 Top Contributor recognition pins to members that were not able to be at the January Meeting.

Stone, Lincoln Reuter, Michael Stone, Wendy

 

Next up was our featured performer and youngest club member, Lincoln Stone. Lincoln kicked off by producing the classic rabbit from hat. He did remind the members it was not a real rabbit and they should not report him to PITA… again. Then Lincoln vanished a handkerchief which magically appeared between two previously tied handkerchiefs. Next was a pick a card to giant silk reveal with Phil Mann as his assistant. For a fitting finale, Lincoln produced a birthday cake from a small pan in honor of the club's 55th birthday.

Then it was time for our educational segment. Mike Thornton delivered a very informative lecture on performing Walk Around Magic. No trick were taught, rather the topic was focused on the professional aspects of performing that type of magic. See more detailed notes in the Vox Pop article by Mike Thornton.

• Why Mike likes walk-around and you should too.
• Walk-around Reference Books.
• 3 different sets of 3 different tricks.
• The importance of grooming.
• How to manage your props and avoid having to return to your case after every trick.
• Multiples of set props vs resetting every time.
• Why Mike likes a rolling case / table.

Next it was time for member performances.

• Mike Bogdas performed a with Russ assisting. Mike shared his collection of unlucky poker losing playing cards.
• April Barrett performed a lego figure transformation. A figure of herself aged mysteriously along with some clever patter.
• Ken McGee performed a nice version of Color Vision with April assisting.
• Karl Rabe performed his unique variation on the Daytona Magic Card Rising Box. According to Claude Klingsor in The Big Book of Rising Cards, this method of the Rising Cards was first introduced by Jack Hughes and his Card Rising Box c. 1946. Karl adds the twist that a spectator shuffles the deck and has three other spectators each select and sign a card. The spectators bury each card in the middle of the deck and it is replaced in the box all without Karl touching it. The cards are placed in the box and proceed to rise one at a time.
• Alex Heath then entertained us with his unique combination of magic and music. Alex sang several tunes while performing different routines.  His finale was a cups and balls routine performed to "I take a lot of pride in what I am" by Merle Haggard.
• Finally Robert performed a nice coins-across routine with Lincoln as his close-up observer and assistant.

 

Fan Mail

Some of our traveling members….

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Around the Town By Karl Rabe

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Other Calendars

• Check out John Luka's Magic page and his well maintained list of Michigan Events
• All AAMC Events and details can be viewed on the website calendar.

Open Signups

These are activities club members may sign up for on Signup Genius. Details are included in the signup link.

Signup	Featured Performer - Most Monthly Meetings Sign up to be the featured performer at one of our upcoming meetings. We like to open our meetings with MAGIC! Our featured performer opens our meetings with around 15-20 minutes of magic. If you are a Pro that might be easy and you might have a bit more than 15 minutes. If you are a beginner, that might feel like a lot of time to fill. No worries. Do what you can. We want to get YOU onstage. What you get... Approx 15 minutes of Stage Time absolutely free Adulation by our members included at no additional cost Check off you New Year's Resolution to perform (or perform more) A hearty handshake from one of our esteemed board members Income Tax free, because you don't get paid ALL skill levels welcome. You don't need to be a Pro and you don't need to have a whole routine... one or two tricks will do if that is what you have.
Signup	Close-Up Contest - April Monthly Meeting Sign up now for our Close-Up Showcase (competition). To keep things fun we ask that the prior year winner refrain from signing up until the following year. If available the prior year winner will announce the current year's winner. On April 8, 2025, our regular scheduled meeting, we will arrange the tables into small, close up settings. You will get the opportunity to perform multiple times. All you need to do is prepare a close up routine of five minutes or less. 5 minutes is the absolute maximum time. Each performer will be at a table. Audience members will be divided up among the performers table We will ring a bell and each performer will perform their 5 minute or less act After 5 minutes we will ring a bell and the audience will rotate while the perform has 2 minutes to reset. We will repeat steps 3 and 4 until the audience has seen all the performers. At the end of the evening, all of the audience members will vote for their favorite performer. The winner will be awarded the coveted Close Up Showcase Trophy.
Signup	Magic Summer Camp - June 15 thru June 19 Mornings Magic Summer Camp is co-hosted by the Plymouth Community Arts Council (PCAC) and the Ann Arbor Magic Club. As a volunteer you will teach kids magic. The camp runs Monday through Friday from 9am to Noon. If you can not attend every day, that is OK. We need magicians, baloon twisters, and jugglers.

Other Events

The Magic Soiree has regular shows scheduled through June. Buy tickets here.

 

Get your tickets to MMD 2026 now!

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Monthly Board Meetings

The AAMC Board meets monthly on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 10am via Zoom. Zoom meetings can be joined by PC, Smart Phone or Audio Only using any phone.

All Members in good standing are welcome to join the meeting. Zoom information can be found here.

 

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Ex Libris By Dr. Joaquin Ayala de Cedoz

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The Art of Switching Decks by Roberto Giobbi

A book review by Dr. Joaquin M. Ayala, PhD

Hello folks and welcome to the Ex Libris article for March of 2026! As you read this, we may well have already switched over to the Spring season (March 20th) and if that is the case, I hope you are starting to warm up weatherwise! I just had to sneak it into the intro…

This month our book has something to do with switches of some sort, but not banknotes and such as in the January article. This time, we are diving into The Art of Switching Decks by Roberto Giobbi, a 153-page hardcover book, originally published in 2013 by Hermetic Press.

If you have been a long-time reader of my articles, you will, by now, recognize both Roberto Giobbi and the publisher, Hermetic Press (formerly run) by Stephen Minch, a very prolific publisher of many, many, many high quality and best-selling magic books. Roberto Giobbi, of course, became very well known for his publishing of the Card College series of books, which start with the basics and move on up to advanced work with cards.

This book is all about ways to “covertly” switch a deck of cards, for whatever purpose you may need to do so. I say “covertly” because, while they will go undetected if done properly, some of them are so devious that they happen out in the open, in plain sight. That is the power of well-timed action and misdirection.

Giobbi wastes zero time getting right into it because as soon as you open the cover, you will see diagrams printed on both the pastedown and the flyleaf (go ahead, look those terms up if you are unfamiliar with them), illustrating and labeling all the parts and finger sections of both sides of both hands, and a diagram of the different parts of all sides of a deck of cards, and the cardinal directions in which that deck might move. Strange, you say? Not in this case, but particularly useful because those are all the terms that may or may not be used throughout the book to describe or otherwise indicate the particulars of each deck switch.

Further in, you will also find a map, of sorts, of the various parts of your wardrobe, also used in tandem, in the same way, for each of the switches throughout. But here is where the book really begins in earnest, with Giobbi describing the terminology used not only in this book, but as often found in other publications, as well as a deck switching diagram, which shows the flow of various types of switches, the types (read: categories) of deck switches (i.e. mechanical vs. technical), the where, when and why of switching decks, and more.

He details some actual card effects in this tome where the switch may rely on an actual effect to be done, and while these are good effects in and of themselves, the switches detailed within them are not tied specifically to that effect. The effects herein exist primarily to help clarify how and/or when to affect the switch within the context of a card effect, meaning you can plug these types into any effect where you might need to switch a deck in the middle of, or toward the end of, an effect that you already perform. This book is well-illustrated with diagrams and black & white photos throughout.

The endpaper in the back includes a handy table of all the switches, the page numbers where they are found, and all of the seven categories to which they may belong. The categories are: Seated, Stand-up, Technical, During a Specific Trick, On the Offbeat, No Coat Needed, and No Pockets Needed. Some switches belong to one or two categories, others belong to four or five.

A sweet little bonus will be found bound inside the rear cover of the book – a DVD which was filmed during a Deck Switch lecture given at the Genii Convention in Orlando, Florida back in 2012, and was never meant for release to anyone. The footage is very rough, but what you will see in action is a bunch (hint: 10+) of switches done within, as Giobbi puts it, “…the very rough concept of a “comprehensive show” order…” No matter – you will get the point when you watch it, and you will still see nothing!

If you every find yourself performing with gaffed decks, or decks that are set up in advance for a later payoff, you should consider obtaining this book. The techniques are very useful, and it can also apply to other types of cards (ESP decks, non-playing card decks, etc.), and in some cases, even other objects can be switched out using some of these techniques (maybe slightly modifying them to suit). Be sure to tune in next month where we will dive into yet another magical tome!

- J. M. A.

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The Vanishing Archives By Mike Bogdas

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Welcome to a new feature column in the Magic Messenger. Member Mike Bogdas will periodically be sharing with us interesting things from the AAMC Archives in a column called The Vanishing Archives.

Look for it here starting next month!

 

 

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Vox Pop By Karl Rabe

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Vox Pop is an occasional feature of the Magic Messenger. Vox Pop! From the Latin phrase Vox populi that literally means "voice of the people", Vox Pop is a place for random member submissions. If you have something you would like to share, submit it in the form of an email to annarbormagicclub@gmail.com.

This month is a submission from member Mike Thornton. Mike presented an educational section on Strolling Magic at our February meeting and these are some notes from Mike with some judicial editing by Karl based on Mike's lecture.

 

 

 

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Strolling Magic - By Mike Thornton

Why Strolling Magic

Strolling magic is one of my favorite types of magic to perform for a number of reasons.

• Opportunity - I find that the market for Strolling Magic is very strong. Restaurants, home parties and company events all are opportunities for strolling magicians. Those types of events are happening all the time.
• Satisfaction - I personally find that the working intimately with a small crowd is very rewarding. I like it! If you are doing what you love, it shows.
• Repetition - You get the opportunity to perform individual effects multiple times. You can break in a new effect in one night because you will have the opportunity to perform it over and over. Each time you get feedback and can fine tune what works best.
• Multiple Audiences
  • You get more than one shot to do a great show. You might not connect with one group, but you might hit it out of the park with the next group.
  • You pick your crowd, if you are working with a group that is unresponsive, you can elegantly shorten your set and move on to another group. You can't do that with a stage show.

Recommended Books

These are books I would recommend for anyone interested in getting into Strolling Magic.

Hygiene Bag

If you look good you will feel good. If you feel good you will perform well (famous quote from Mike Thornton).

Good hygiene is important. People will notice. I keep a small zipper pouch with care products. And it gets used before every show.

• Nail Clippers and Nail Buffer - Nails should be clean and trimmed. This is close up magic. People will notice your hands. Especially dirty ones or ragged nails. I keep a multi-sided nail buffing block/sponge. It only takes a few minutes to polish your nails until they shine.
• Lotion for dry skin if needed
• Breath fresheners
• Tooth Picks / Dental floss
• Comb/Brush
• Band Aids
• Small mirror

What Groups to Hit and When

Opening groups can be your most important, they set the tone although not so much in restaurants.
I like a large group to begin with. Condition them to respond, because it helps you with other groups and the client knows they are getting great entertainment. You need applause cues, basic showmanship. As the thunderous applause echoes through the room.  You may need to prompt them… "I do that trick two ways, the way we just did it or with a huge round of applause at the end…."

• Learn which groups to approach and which groups to leave alone. Are they talking business? Are they having a  serious conversation? Or are they laughing and jovial? Is it a closed or open group.
• In your first 10 seconds decide whether they want you there. If they are not interested, move on, don’t push it.
• Don’t open with “can I show you a trick?” They can say no.
• Instead, open with confidence and humor. Leverage the hosts' names… "John and Betty asked me to amaze you!"… “I promise two things: I’ll be fast, and you’ll like how it ends.”
• If they like you, they’ll like your magic. If they don’t like you, the magic doesn’t matter.

Types of Tricks-

What types of tricks should you perform?

• I like to mix up mediums; cards, coins, silk handkerchiefs, sponge balls.
• The best is strong visual magic- sometimes you are in a loud atmosphere and will be competing with the DJ or Band. Sometimes the lighting won't be too god.
• Long tricks die in walk-around. Choose quick, straight to the point effects. Avoid long, counting piles of cards type tricks.
• Always strong is tricks that work in their hands, with borrowed objects. Use as may people as you can in the group. When performing the Invisible Deck for example, don't work with one person. Get multiple people involved. One can take the cards out of the box, one can shuffle and spread, one can choose, etc.
• Look for tricks that are angle-proof and can be performed surrounded.
• Have many effects that you do not need a table. Or bring your own like I do. Does not mean that you work behind the entire time. Use spectator’s hand as table or to hold something.
• Reset Speed is important. If you need a quiet corner and a few minutes alone between every group, that’s not strolling material. That may not as important in restaurants on slower nights.
• Reset as you are performing the trick or while walking to the next group. Fast resets win gigs.
• If you have strong tricks that need a long reset prepare in advance multiple copies of the same trick and just grab the next unused one instead of trying to reset. -This is how I do my Gypsy Thread, Razor Cards and Ring in Wallet.

Building Sets

I like to put together 2-3 effect mini-sets and do not just perform individual tricks for the most part.

• Three tricks feel like a show.
• It seems like you have a real act.
• I like these types of trick in this order...

• 1. Something fast and visual to hook them
  2. Something with audience Interaction to build a connection. Maybe a personality piece.
  3. Finally a Strong Closer that will be memorable.

Be ready to make a quick exit if food comes, the CEO starts speaking, or if they are simply not interested. It happens.

• Never hijack attention from speeches or presentations, take a break.
• End Clean so you can immediately move to the next group.

My Routine for a Gig

• I always make sure I arrive at least 30 minutes prior to get the lay of the land. I don’t want to feel rushed.
• I find my spot.  I find a home base, in the corner, behind a wall, but close to the action. This is where I keep my consumables, other tricks, something to drink. Something like a tray jack works great for this.
• I personally use a small rolling box; I have 45 minutes available to me. I can pivot my material at any time.
• Most of my material is in my pockets. You need to learn pocket management. .
• I'll do several regular sets (as described above) but then I do an extended set each hour I am there. If it’s just one hour, usually it’s my last set. It has my best tricks, and it’s performed for the client or the most important people in the room and/or the largest group; Bill in Lemon, Mentalism, Newspaper Prediction.

Misc Thoughts

• I only work up to 3 Hours, and 90% of my gigs are 1-2 Hours.
• I usually stay an extra 10 to 15 minutes on 1-hour gigs. I want to make sure everyone sees me. But I also make sure that whoever hires me subtly knows I stayed extra too. This becomes a selling point… "Mike did a great job and he even stayed an extra 15 minutes…"
• You must make a decent dent in the crowd. It is not good if the host asks his guests, "how was the magician?" and guests say, they never saw the magician.
• If it’s a small group, consider a closeup show or stand-up show. Your strolling gig can turn into a show where everyone is watching at once. Be prepared. This is one of the reasons I have a box of tricks with me. If the host looks brilliant for hiring you, you’ll get hired again!
• Make sure you have cards to hand out.

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Funny Business By Karl Rabe

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A magician looking for a new trick went to a newly opened magic shop. The clerk handed him an ordinary-looking pair of glasses and said, "Only $1,000."

The magician was shocked. "A thousand bucks for a pair of glasses?"

"Try 'em on; they're special glasses."

He tried them on and suddenly the clerk was naked. So were the shoppers! He removed the glasses and everyone was clothed. "Sold!", he said.

Riding the bus home, he put the glasses on again. The bus driver was naked and all the passengers were naked! He took them off and everyone was clothed again. When he got home, he put his new glasses on before opening the front door. When he entered the living room, there on the sofa were his wife and his best friend, naked! He took the glasses off, but they were still naked.

"Damn!" he said. "A thousand bucks for a magic trick and in 30 minutes it's already broken!"

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Pictured above is Phill Mann (M.A.N.N.) Magic Mann (M.A.N.N.) performing the classic Linking Rings. Phil was known not only for his smooth magic, but for a look that could only be described as “full-service magician.” With a mullet in the back, legendary sideburns on the sides, aviator sunglasses up front, and a mustache that clearly had magical powers of its own, Phil brought an entire illusion to the stage before the rings even linked.