On the Cover By Karl Rabe

Magic Messenger March 2025

Fred Lenter amazed the club as the featured performer for February.

President's Corner By Sean Howell

Greetings and salutations from Dade City, FL. I must admit I left about 20 minutes before the snow started falling. The entire drive down here Mirf and I stayed just at the leading edge of the storms. We arrived to some incredible adversity due to the three hurricanes that took their best swipe at the area. The entire festival grounds had to be rebuilt…that was no small feat. Overcoming adversity is one of the strengths of our club. The February meeting had to be postponed a week out of an abundance of caution due to the snowstorm coming in. In spite of the last minute change, I hear we had a great turn out at the meeting and lots of magic was to be had. I am proud to be a member of this club.

The mission of the board is to continue improving our magic club to give you the best experience we can. We want you to WANT to be there and not miss a single minute of the magic. With that end in mind, we will be sending out a member survey in the near future to find out what you, the member, really want from our club. I request that you please fill it out with your honest thoughts and opinions letting us know what you like and what you don’t like. You will have the opportunity to fill it out anonymously so please be brutally honest. This survey is very important to me so that we can make adjustments to better serve all of our membership. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and honesty.

One of the opportunities we offer is the ability to perform in front of an audience as often as you like. Our club members are a mix of professionals, semi-pro's, amateurs, beginners, aficionados, collectors and history buffs. With such a wide range of membership the opportunity to practice in front of a very supportive, caring audience is one of the highlights of our club. Repetition is what makes you better, but repetition in front of an awesome group of people is priceless. Watching a Pro perform can be daunting to some people as it may seem so effortless, challenges exist for the Pro also in a different form. For example, a pro that has been performing for years in front of thousands of audiences can fill a fifteen-minute slot without a thought, ask that Pro to limit themselves to 5 minutes and they often struggle limiting themselves whereas a beginner may struggle to fill 5. While it's not the same struggle, it's still a struggle and everyone is always working to be better. The point is we all need to remember everyone can and will experience challenges. Repetition has value, repetition in front of a group has even more value to the aspiring performer. I was told early in my magic career (if you'd call it that) "If you want to have the polish of a thousand shows, you have to do a thousand shows". Our club is where that can start and the Pro's can help you get there.

Another way to get that polish is our club competitions. Now, think of our competition as more of a fun, structured jam session where you can be the star. Do you win cash and prizes? No, but you get the feeling of accomplishment in front of you fellow compeers. We have two different types of competition coming up in the future, close up and parlor. Each are a different format and more information will be coming soon.

In closing, the Spring Parlor Show is coming up soon (May 24). May first emails will be going out to those that have volunteered to perform in this spring's parlor show. Rehearsals are over Zoom every Thursday at 7PM until 8:08ish when the Sterlini Magic Auction starts. If you don't know what that is, ask me next time you see me in April. The rehearsal link will be available on the website for anyone that wants to join in and watch.

Have a great month.
Cheers,
Cap'n Sean

Secretary's Report By Karl Rabe

We kicked off our meeting with our featured performer Fred Lenter. Fred did a great one-handed card trick, where a peak card disappeared from the deck and appeared in Fred's hand which also happened to be in his pocket for the entire trick. Then Fred did a variation of the Multiplying Billiard Balls with more of a two in the hand - one in the pocket flavor. This clever routine included an original ball from mid-air appearance which was a real fooler. Finally Fred wrapped up with an "Intuition" trick. The spectator selects one card from the deck which they feel is "not garbage". After being returned to the deck the spectator randomly throws cards from the deck into the NG (not garbage) bag until only one is left in their hands.. which turns out to be the selected Not Garbage card.

Then it was on to a few bits of business.

• We celebrated the club's 54th birthday by not singing Happy Birthday. It was announced that free posters commemorating our 54th year were available for all members to take home.
• Three guests were introduced. Brian Derringer and Russ Kennedy were club members from the 1990s, and Tom Lybrand paid a visit from Ring 22.
• We reminded everyone that John Luka from Ring 22 is recovering from broken ribs and his planned lecture is postponed until he is feeling better.
• We will be sending out an email soon with information on signing up for our Close Up Competition scheduled for our April meeting.
• Members were reminded that they can sign up to volunteer for our Magic Summer Camp and/or to be a Featured Performer or to deliver a Learning Session. We are now using SignUp Genius. Check your emails for details.
• We announced that a new feature of our meetings is "Show and Tell". Members who have a collection are encouraged to bring in some pieces to share. A couple of tables will be available in the back of our meeting room to display your collection. During the Jam and Socialize time at the end of our meeting stand by your table and SHOW members what you have and TELL them about it. No pre-planning is required just show up with your collection at a meeting and we will accommodate you. This month Dan Jones brought in his collection of Harry Blackstone, Jr. memorabilia including a signed photo with a young Dan Jones. bla bla blah...

Then we had an open brainstorming session with members on some of our regular events.

• Mike Thornton raised the topic of the amount of time allocated for featured performer. There was a mistake in the email we sent and it has been corrected. Featured performers that open our meetings typically run in the 15 min range. More is fine and less is also fine. We want all skill levels to be encouraged to perform.
• We discussed the format of the Close Up Competition. Mike Thornton suggested that 5 minutes was a pretty short amount of time. He also thought that it would be better not to break the audience up into such small groups. A number of people chimed in on the topic. The board will discuss when we meet next week. One concern the board was trying to avoid was a format that discourages beginners from signing up. The original intent was to create a format to showcase close-up by members. The competition aspect was secondary.

Then we moved on to a learning session. This month's topic was Gimmicked Key Cards led by Karl Rabe. Karl provided a hand-out and a variety of premade gimmicked cards including short, double, double and short, corner short, so members could experiment with the different variations. We then walked through making a breather card. A number of great tips were offered by members. Mike Thornton shared his technique for creating a breather card. He also shared a sequence for returning the card and going right into a shuffle that controls the selected card to the top. Johnny New York suggested a very slight pencil mark on the key card's edge to aid in locating and cutting to it. Fred Lenter shared how he used a key car. Karl shared a key card he makes which he calls the Heavy Breather.

Then it was on to member performances.

• Lincoln Stone performed a nice rope and ring routine. He then did a selected and revealed card using the tag on his magic case.
• John Smith did a routine where cards are mixed, mixed and mixed again with spectators making many decisions in how they are mixed, only to result in the four cards selected by a spectator appearing face up in a face down deck.
• Dan Jones did a jumbo monte style routine.
• Mike Bogdas did a Padlock with Multiple Keys. Keys selected fairly by the spectators won't open the lock, but the one remaining key does.
• Our guest Russ Kennedy did a nice rubber band routine, where colored rubber bands switch places.
• Mike Thornton did a deck memorization routine where a shuffled deck is split between two spectators and Mike correctly identified the location of every card.
• Tara McAllister shared the linking ring routine she is working on.
• Karl Rabe did a variation on Bill Abbott's Stabbed and Shot, using a digital thermometer.

Photos by Dan Jones, Karl Rabe and Mike Palko.

Then members spent the rest of the evening socializing, jamming and viewing Dan Jones' Harry Blackstone Jr. memorabilia.

Around the Town By Karl Rabe

Calendar of Events

As you probably heard we have made a few adjustments to our upcoming schedule.

Our March Meeting will be a good old fashioned magic meeting. We should have plenty of time for Member Performances, so bring something to show. If you have something for "Show and Tell", bring it in! We still have openings for a featured performer and for a learning session. Sign up here.

Our April Meeting will be our Close-up Showcase. Sign up NOW! We will arrange the tables into small, close up settings. Entrants 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 and 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 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.

2024 Close-up Showcase Winner
Mike Thornton poses with the trophy

 

At our May Meeting John Luka will be lecturing on material from his book "Uncovered",  John's routines are always very do-able and do not contain knuckle-busting sleights. John always puts on a great lecture, so you don't want to miss it. More details here.

Mark your calendar for May 24, the date of our next Parlor Show. Our 4pm show has always out-performed our 7pm show, so we are moving the show times to 2pm and 5pm. Zoom rehearsals are open to all members. Logistics can be found here.

 

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

Our club President Sean Howell reports from the Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Dade City, FL that he and Mirf were on their morning walk-about and stopped in at the Pirate Pub to hang out with the scurvy dogs.

The Pirate Pub was Mirfelated

Show and Tell By Karl Rabe

This month we start a new feature called Show and Tell. Members are invited to bring a magic related "collection" to a meeting. Tables will be set up in the back of the room for the member to set up their collection. During the Jam and Socialize time at the end of our meeting, stand near your table and share your collection with members as they mill around. No prior arrangements are needed. Just bring your collection to a meeting. Note, if the meeting time is scheduled for a lecture or competition, Show and Tell will not be held.

This month's Show and Tell was Dan Jones' Harry Blackstone Jr. collection. The collection includes...

• A tee shirt from the Blackstone 100th Anniversary Tour in 1992
• A tour program book and show program from Detroit's Music Hall Center circa 1982
• A large photo taken on the street in Colon, MI during Abbott's Get Together in 1982
• A Bally's $5 poker chop featuring Blackstone Jr.
• A small photo is of Dan Jones on stage with Blackstone Jr. at the George Burns Theatre in Livonia, MI.
• To the right of the photo is Dan's handkerchief which he borrowed, made to dance and signed for him after the show.

Very cool Dan, thanks for sharing.

Spotlight By Karl Rabe

As a reoccurring feature of the Magic Messenger we will highlight a member and ask them to answer a few questions about themselves. You can be featured in Spotlight by completing this form.

This month the "Spotlight" is on Fred Lenter.

Fred Lenter

Where did you grow up / where have you lived? 

Detroit and suburbs

How did you get started in magic? 

Sent away for a Vic Lawston catalog that I saw advertised in a comic book when I was about 15 . Bought a few tricks . Started going to Roy Kissells shop in downtown Detroit . Been hooked ever since .

What type of magic do you perform? 

Prefer close up sleight of hand . Perform close up and stand up .

What is your favorite magic book? 

Bobo’s coin magic —— Tarbell Course

Who is your favorite Magician of all time? 

Don Alan —- Michael Skinner —-Mike Thornton

Do you have any words of wisdom for newer magicians?

See as many performers as you can . Don’t copy them but learn from watching them. Read magic books . You don’t need to know a million tricks . Learn a few tricks that you can do really well. Practice, Practice, Practice. Have fun . When you’re showing tricks, show enthusiasm. If you’re having fun, your spectators / friends will have fun.

Fred lectures at the AAMC

Funny Business By Karl Rabe

Funny Bones

Rings of Yore

Select excerpts from the IBM Ring Reports archive...

Linking Ring Vol. 52 No. 4
Apr 1972

Secretary Charles Ruff's shares his gift of writing….

On February 11 the Duke Stern Ring held a Charter-Night Banquet at Weber's Inn in Ann Arbor. An attendance of 98 attests that our small ring has won some good friends embracing a wide area. Kissells, Conklins, Osbornes and numerous other exotic species of magic birds flew in from all parts. "Close-ups at Poolside" featured Jim Wallace, Graham Putnam and Dennis Loomis.

Even without the cocktails, you couldn't have asked for a nicer warmup to the excellent dinner which followed. The genial Doug Dean, Territorial V P for Michigan, came over to present our permanent Charter. The secretary presented excerpts from his curious and maudlin "History?!" of the ring. There was scarecly a dry eye present amongstthese lovable dingalings.
Putnam manned the M C-chores as a strange specie from Midland swooped intothe opening spot. Our good friend, and no outsider to this group, Gene Anderson slew (in the more acceptable sense) his audience with his tightly-timed and hilarious Pitchman routine. Our favorite 10-year-old charmer, Diane Petersen, graced the stage with her truly talented vent-act. Lyle (Lolly) Richards, his wife and a most tolerant stooge followed all of this with comico-magic -cum-mayhem surrounding a "decapitation".

Our own beloved Family of Magic the Moorehouses (Henry, Vera, Kim and Buddy) performed a smooth kaleidoscope of silk, doves and suspension effects. It is an act that is both pretty and pleasing. Our teen-hero Jeff Wawrzaszek wowed us with a new and skilled routining of the dancing ring on rope. A delightful evening was topped, like frostng on the cake, by Dennis Loomis and Bonnie. They premiered their newly-built Zig-Zag Girl Ilusion —a pretty box, a prettier girl and a smoothly professional presentation!