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On the Cover By Karl Rabe

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Magic Messenger November 2025

 

Club President Sean Howell presents the Parlor Competition Fan Favorite trophy to 2025 winner Mike Thornton.

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President's Corner By Sean Howell

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We are rapidly approaching the end of 2025 already…Inconceivable!!! It’s been an incredible year so far with a lot of club activities. I want to once again thank our performers for doing such a great job and more importantly the people doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes. I believe we enjoy fairly solid support from our membership but we need to do better. We are facing some challenges that we may need to find some creative solutions because our profit and loss are out of balance.

The fall Parlor Show did not have the attendance revenue we have previously achieved. Our biggest short fall is the size of our marketing audience to sell tickets. I understand that we all have lives, but in order to continue we need all hands on deck to achieve our goal of 75 sold tickets per show to cover meeting expenses. We have fallen short of this goal, combined with a couple of long-range planning issues that will be taken up by the board at the next meeting, specifically with the Spring Parlor Show in 2026 and 2027.

We will be hosting the 2027 Michigan Magic Day so there will not be a 2027 Spring Parlor Show. I do expect that to be a lucrative fund raiser for the club and the lineup is shaping up to be star studded, that’s in 2027.

We learned that the Flint Ring has scheduled the 2026 Michigan Magic Day for April 24, (the same day as our scheduled 2026 Spring Parlor Show) and a few of our members have already committed to supporting and attending the 2026 Michigan Magic Day including myself, it would be counterproductive to compete with the 2026 Michigan Magic Day for resources and volunteers. As Ring member of the IBM, we should support The Flint Ring the same way we want all of the other rings in the state to support us at the 2027 Michigan Magic Day. [EDITOR'S NOTE: The board will be looking at options to avoid conflicting with MMD 2026. KR]

As always we are looking for new and creative ways to raise money in support of the club’s efforts and activities.

As 2025 continues to zoom by, our November meeting will be one of the most interesting of the year. Our very own Michael Thornton will be presenting his “Table Talk” or what I consider to be Everything Tabled. Theory meets practicality as Mike discusses how to use a table, what type of table, how to load or lay it out. Want a table that you can take as an airplane carry-on straight to the stage? Mike is going to show you how to do it. Mike has a way of teaching that is clear and concise, taking the time to answer all of your questions. I’m looking forward to Mike’s table lecture and looking forward to seeing all of you.

Cheers,
Sean

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Secretary's Report By Karl Rabe

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October Meeting

We had a great turnout for our Parlor Magic Competition. Spectators enjoyed wonderful magic from a great slate of performers.

• First up was Dan Jones who performed his classic vanishing coke bottle. Then Dan performed his comedy version of the Pom Pom Pole.
• Next up, Mike Thornton performed a clever book test involving a numerical dictionary reference. He then dusted off his billiard balls and treated us to manipulation act from his Chavez days.
• April Barrett opened with a quick Pumpkin from Chick Pan and then gave us a lesson in the history of scarecrows as her puppet Buddy aided her in a candy production and a pop quiz candy giveaway.
• Phil Mann, the Magic Mann did a giant pole production, then a glass mysteriously shattered and wrapped up with a feather from book.
• Lincoln Stone did a nice Chop Cup routine.

Everyone voted on their two favorite acts and when the votes were tallied President Sean Howell awarded the Fan Favorite Trophy to Mike Thornton. Second place went to Dan Jones and third to Lincoln Stone.

Everyone did a great job and gained valuable experience performing on stage.

 

South Lyon Library Open House

Mike Bogdas organized an Open House at the South Lyon Library on Saturday October 11. The purpose was to advertise the upcoming Parlor Show. Patrons were encouraged to provide their email address for our contact list and in turn their name was thrown in the Magic Top Hat for the chance to win 4 Free tickets to our parlor show.

A big thank you to the volunteers who gave their valuable time to participate and entertain.

Pictured below, left to right…. Phil Mann, Dan Jones, Alex Heath, Rob Krozal as the Ancient One, Mike Bogdas, Bob Goodwin, Hugh Irwin (our newest member AKA The Kilted Magician) and Brian Campbell (Santa Brian).

Top Contributor Update and Reminder

If you remember, the AAMC Board recognizes members who have gone above and beyond in volunteering for the club. We will be recognizing 2025's Top Contributors at our January 2025 meeting.

Over the course of the calendar year, members accumulate points for engaging in activities. At the end of the year, members who have at least 25 points, will be awarded a Top Contributor lapel pin. Read more about the program here (club password required).

Below are members who have achieved the status of Top Contributor or are close. You can view YOUR numbers anytime you want at this link

Let us know if you think we missed a contribution of yours.

Member	SUM of Points
Jones, Dan	73
Rabe, Karl	48
Mann, Phil	44
Stone, Lincoln	40
Rabe, Bill	32
Howell, Sean	30
Reuter, Michael	29
Bogdas, Mike	28
Krozal, Rob	26
Barrett, April	25
Thornton, Mike	23
Goodwin, Robert	22

 

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Around the Town By Karl Rabe

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Our meeting in December will be our holiday party. We will have pizza and soft drinks. There will be a white elephant exchange. Stay tuned for details.

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.

Past Events

The 2025 Fall Parlor Show was a great success entertainment wise, but we fell short generating revenue.

An incredible amount of effort was put into marketing the show and many volunteers played a critical role in pulling it off. Apologies if I missed anyone.

Member	Activity
Barrett, April	Door Hanger distribution
Bogdas, Mike	Open House, Videos, Card design and printing
Campbell, Brian	Open House
Clark, Jackie	Tickets and Raffle
Doyle, Michael	Performer
	Sold tickets
Goodwin, Robert	Open House
	Distributed Posters
	Customer survey at show
	Purchased PCAC signs
Heath, Alex	Open House
Howell, Sean	Producer, Emcee
	Performer
	Fox 2 and Live in the D On Camera
Irwin, Hugh	Open House
Jones, Dan	Open House
	Distribute Posters
	Backstage Fox 2 and Live in the D
	Balloons, Popcorn, Setup and Cleanup
	Marketing Lead
Krozal, Rob	Open House
	Door Hanger distribution
	Concessions
Mann, Phil	Open House
	Distribute Posters and Cards
Oesterwind, Don	Sold tickets
Peczynski, Austin	Performer
Rabe, Bill	Performer
	Sold Tickets
Rabe, Karl	Performer
	Door Hanger design, printing and distribution
	Digital Marketing
	Poster design and Printing
Rabe, Patty	Tickets
	Door Hanger distribution
Reuter, Michael	Performer
	Sold tickets
Stone, Lincoln	Performer
	Fox 2 and Live in the D On Camera
Stone, Wendy	Sold Tickets
	Concessions, Cleanup & Balloons
	Backstage Fox 2 and Live in the D

 

We had a great lineup of onstage performers….

• Sean Emceed the show, performed a few fill-in tricks and closed with a whiskey shot glass routine. Mirf performed his card trick with Sean assisting.
• Lincoln Stone opened with several tricks including his vanishing rabbit cage, the pom-pom pole, and card trick.
• Michael Doyle performed a die prediction and a version of Cardiographic.
• Karl & Bill Rabe performed their "Bill, Lend Me a Hand" routine based on Kevin James' body-parts illusion kit.
• Austin Peczynski performed a variation on the spot card with a nautical poem to match.
• Mike Reuter had a number of routines including a multi-phase Rubik's cube trick and a variation on Bill Abbott's tossed out deck with a kicker prediction at the end.

Photos courtesy of Jackie Clark and Dan Jones

Our treasurer Rob Krozal keeps detailed records on each show. On the financial side, we cleared $506 profit with an average of 37 tickets sold per show. To cover our annual operating expenses, we really want to clear a minimum of $960. On average since 2022, we are falling short by about $300 per date (afternoon and evening show combined). We need to regularly achieve results like May 2023 and October 2024 to meet our goals.

We posted digitally in three waves reaching a combined estimate of 1 Million touches (email, Facebook, TV, Posters, Cards, Door Hangers and Print Media). Bob Goodwin surveyed attendees to determine the forms of marketing that reached each group. His data is below. Almost half of our customers are generated by word of mouth through members. For reference, if a family of four attended, Bob surveyed one person from that family and they will show as a tally of 1 below.

 

We will discuss this more in the future, but wanted our members to see the data so we have context to discuss it further.

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Funny Business By Karl Rabe

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