Annual Calendar
August Meeting
AAMC Picnic
September Meeting
Flea Market
October Meeting – Parlor Competition
November Meeting
December Meeting – Holiday Party
AAMC Board Elections
Other Events
Abbott’s 88TH Get-together
Ring 22 Monthly Meeting
Parlor Show – Afternoon
Parlor Show – Evening
Coming Up
AAMC PicnicOngoing
- AAMC
Monthly Board MeetingRepeating Event
- AAMC
September Meeting
- AAMC
Flea Market
- AAMC
October Meeting – Parlor Competition
- AAMC
Parlor Show – Afternoon
- AAMC
The Magic Messenger
The Magic Messenger is published monthly by the Ann Arbor Magic Club (AAMC). The AAMC the Hank Moorehouse Assembly 88 of the Society of American Magicians and Duke Stern Ring 210 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
The AAMC (est. 1971) is a Michigan Domestic Non-Profit whose focus is to advance the magical arts by making available equipment, education, mentors and opportunities for magical enthusiasts of all ages to expand their craft.
Ann Arbor Magic Club
Board of Directors
- President: Sean Howell
- Vice-President: Wendy Stone
- Treasurer: Rob Krozal
- Secretary: Karl Rabe
- Sgt at Arms: April Barrett
The Ann Arbor Magic Club meets the 2nd Wed of each month at 7p at the Plymouth Community Arts Council.
Plymouth Community Arts Council
774 N. Sheldon Road at Junction Street
Plymouth, MI 48170
Published by Karl Rabe using Generate Press Theme and Generate Blocks Plugin on WordPress.
©Copyright 2026. All rights reserved, Ann Arbor Magic Club.
In This Issue
- The President's Corner
- The Ring Report
- Hocus Focus
- Around the Town
- Ex Libris
- The Vanishing Archives
- Funny Business
Website:
Email:
US Mail:
https://aamagic.org
annarbormagicclub@gmail.com
P.O. Box 532244 Livonia, MI. 48152
The President's Corner
By Sean Howell
My Fellow Compeers,
If there's one thing I've learned from spending ten years at sea, it's that no ship reaches its destination without a good crew. The same holds true for Ring 210.
This month, our club received some outstanding recognition at the International Brotherhood of Magicians National Convention. The IBM Effective Achievement Award was presented to the Ann Arbor Magic Club (Ring 210)—an honor that belongs to every member who has ever volunteered, lectured, performed, sold tickets, set up chairs, greeted guests, or simply showed up ready to support the club.
I'd like to extend a special thank you to Wendy, Lincoln, and Don, who were at the convention to proudly accept the award on behalf of Ring 210. They represented us with class, and we appreciate them standing watch for the rest of us.
Now, before anyone gets too comfortable celebrating, we've still got work to do.
Michigan Magic Day 2027 continues to move ahead on schedule, and every month we get a little closer. This convention will only be as successful as the volunteers behind it, so if you're waiting for the perfect opportunity to lend a hand, this is it. Whether you have years of experience or are brand new to the club, there's a place for you on the crew.
Speaking of opportunities, don't overlook our Fall Parlor Show. We're still looking for performers, and I can't think of a friendlier audience to debut a new routine or dust off an old favorite. Every great performer started by taking that first step onto the stage.
Before we get there, don't forget our Magic Flea Market in September. It's always a great opportunity to discover that hidden treasure you've been looking for, find a bargain on props and books, or pass along a few items that deserve a new magician to love them. You never know what piece of magic history might be waiting on one of those tables.
And of course, I hope to see many of you at our Annual Club Picnic at Kracken Acres, home of Mirf the Magnificent. Good food, good fellowship, a little magic, and plenty of laughs—it's one of the highlights of the summer and one of my favorite Ring 210 traditions.
As your president, I couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished together. Awards are wonderful, but what they really represent is something much bigger—a club whose members care about each other and about preserving and advancing the art of magic.
Congratulations again to every member of Ring 210. You earned this recognition.
Until next month, keep your palms empty, your loads hidden, and remember... the real magic isn't in the props—it's in the people who share them.
Fraternally,
Cap'n Sean
President, Ann Arbor Magic Club (IBM Ring 210)
Ring Report
By Karl Rabe
We had a great meeting in July with lots of performances, learning, fellowship and jamming.
Mike Bogdas was our Featured Performer. He performed a great set with some old props from his collection.
- Mike performed a great glass penetration using a classic Dove Through Glass apparatus.
- Next Mike performed the classic square-circle with unique production items that were associated with different members in the audience… a bottle of booze and a clown nose for Tippy the clown; a card trick for the Canadian Bedard where the selected card appeared in a Tim Hortons coffee cup; a blow up teddy bear for Phil Mann; a penny for Lincoln; my autograph book for Mike Thorton to sign above Houdini and below Copperfield and finally a bird in a cage for Mirf.
Lincoln Stone showed his first-place prize from Tannen's Magic Camp. Then we had a Q and A with Lincoln led by Sean as members asked questions about the experience of Lincoln.
Then it was time for our Learning Session. Mike Thornton led a hands-on segment on cut and restored rope. Mike shared the basics of a method and walked members through the moves. Then further teaching was deferred until the end of the meeting where many gathered around and Mike provided more instruction and hands-on experience.
Then it was time for Member Performances.
- Guest David Rothbart performed with his two children. David recently hosted an event at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival with the assistance of Dan Jones. David and his daughter and son performed a variation of a sword chest using garden implements and a cardboard box. It was a very entertaining routine and David's son emerged none the worse for wear when it was over. Although to be fair, we did not see him take a drink of water to prove there were no holes.
- Karl Rabe performed a Gaëtan Blum routine where members of the audience pulled a skewer out of a box to get a random trinket prizes to fall out of the bottom. The last remaining skewer was for Karl which turned out to be a big wad of cash.
- Next Karl performed a lottery routine of his creation using the Binary Principle.
- Phil Mann the Magic Mann performed a coal to diamond routine.
- Robert Langefled performed a nice menu routine. The cost of randomly selected courses from different cuisines amazingly added up to Robert's predication and available cash.
- Robert also did a nice Professor's Nightmare routine.
- Charlie Palko performed a nice routine based on something he learned at one of the latest Ring 22 lectures. Four randomly selected numbers (by Lincoln Stone) amazingly matched four random cards previously laid on the table.
- Finally, Dan Jones displayed a number of magic related display items he had discovered for sale at Hobby Lobby.
Hocus Focus
By Various Contributors
Mike Palko got some great pictures at our meeting. Thank you Mike!
Around the Town
By Karl Rabe
Next Meeting
September Meeting
Volunteer's Needed
Other Events
August 2026
AAMC Picnic
Ring 22 Monthly MeetingRepeating Event
Monthly Board MeetingRepeating Event
September 2026
Flea Market
October 2026
Parlor Show – Afternoon
Past Events
The Ann Arbor Magic Club was awarded the Effective Ring Achievement Award at the Annual I.B.M. Convention in St. Louis. This award was given to our ring for dedication, innovation, community service, and the development of an outstanding magic community. Congratulations to everyone in our ring who helps in keeping the magic alive. Our Vice-President Wendy Stone was able to accept the award onstage at the convention on behalf of the club. Members Don Oesterwind, Lincoln Stone and Phil Mann were also present. If you are interested you can view our submission here.
Field Reporter Dan Jones says that A group of AAMC Members attended Cameron Zvara's family magic show at the Livonia Civic Center Library on Monday evening July 27th. Dan reports it was a wonderful show full of amazing magic, high energy audience participation and laughs. Cameron is a Michigander from Bay City who travels around performing shows and we try to see him whenever he's in t own. Rumor has it that Kinetic Kay and Trevor Elliott went to the morning show.What a great show and a great time with friends.
In attendance this show were club members Wendy and Lincoln Stone, (Kevin Stone, our photographer) Dan Jones, John Machniak, Rob Krozal, Jody Gladden, Cameron Zvara, down front, Ryan Hoffman, Harry Hoffman and April Barrett.
John Machniak delivered his lecture on ESP and Psychic Phenomenon several times last month. If you weren't able to attend, John will thought transmit the details to you.
Ex Libris
By Dr. Joaquin M. Ayala, PhD
Hello folks and welcome to the Ex Libris article for August 2026! I hope all of you have been staying cool because we have had a handful of scorching days up here, with a side of the air-you-wear…
This month as previously mentioned will see a continuation of the gambling/con game theme, and this one is something with which every magician is familiar, and some may even have seen it demonstrated. This month we will be looking at Notes on Three Card Monte by School for Scoundrels/Whit “Pop” Haydn & Chef Anton. This is a 154-page, 8.5” x 11” spiral-bound softcover book originally published in 2001 and illustrated with clear B&W photographs. The physical printed book is still available from the Scoundrels Store website for $55.00/USD, or as a PDF file for $19.95/USD. Physical copies can also still be found on the second-hand market.
As with the Fast & Loose booklet from last month, this is a full treatise on the Three Card Monte, not as a “magic trick” but as a genuine con game, in all its historic glory. If you have ever wondered how the actual game is played and operated, this will show you the way. As magicians, most of us are familiar with the packet effects played as a monte game, but almost none of them use any of the mechanics used in the genuine con.
You need not know anything at all about this con game because this book will teach you everything you need to know, everything like the difference between an open monte and a closed monte, the ideal types of cards to use and how to prepare them, the ways and means of the mechanics, including The Hype (the term for the actual sleight that does the work), the patterns and routining your layouts and your game.
You will find ideas and inputs from a few contributors like Gazzo and Ron Wohl, Bob Kohler and even the legendary John Scarne (who, himself, wrote a veritable masterclass book on this con game – see A Treatise on the Sucker Effects of Three Card Monte by John Scarne & Audley Walsh from 1933). In fact, the Scarne book is likely responsible for more people learning about the genuine version of this con game than any other book out there, until the School for Scoundrels came along.
Other things you will find in the book are interviews with police officers from various cities in regards to the legal side of this con, how it is played on the streets, the hooks and come-ons, the ways in which real grifters get away with it, busting up a monte game, developing a con game character/persona, and even a bit on how to photograph a real monte or shell game on the streets and not get caught!
Again, I bring this to your attention as magicians because it is an adjacent art (the art of the con), real or implied, but in any case, it is something that really draws an audience in (that is the whole purpose to begin with!) and you can get a lot of entertainment value out of a genuine demonstration of a real con game. Audiences always delight in seeing it because to them, it absolutely looks like real magic.
I always carry three Bee back cards in my wallet, ready at any time to launch into an actual demo of the con, and it is something I can easily get a solid 10-15 minutes out of, no gaffs necessary. If you ever run into my friend Michael Vincent, ask him to do the monte for you because he also always carries the necessary cards and if it is good enough for Mike, it is good enough for all of us!
As an aside, I will point out that this booklet also has a companion video available for purchase, and I highly recommend purchasing that as well. On the Scoundrels Store site, the physical DVD is sold, as of this writing, for $55.00/USD and comes with a free downloadable version of the full disc. The download sells for $35.00/USD. You might think that both of those prices are a little high for the product, but rightly so – just think of the kind of information being shared on them. People have and will, doubtlessly, continue to buy the School for Scoundrels products as genuine educational materials for their own nefarious intentions…
I highly recommend BOTH the book and the DVD/download because it is a lot of fun to demonstrate, it gets your audience involved and entertains them in many different ways. Well, that is all for this one and please join me again next month when we will conclude our exploration of scam/con game related materials. Ciao for now!
--- J. M. A.
Editor's Note: If you ever get a chance to see Pop perform or lecture, go! He is a fantastic combination of seasoned pro, humorist, sleight of hand expert and creator all rolled up into one. Every move has been honed over countless performances over countless years. He has heard every quip and comment and has a response for them all. Every trick he performs has his unique twist applied so it isn't just the run of the mill performance. You will not be disappointed -Karl Rabe
The Vanishing Archives
By Mike Bogdas
The Vanishing Archives
Let’s jump back in time with the Vanishing Archives — where old magic club columns reappear like a perfectly timed silk. Back when current member Jim Ruth was President of Assembly 88, the Michigan magi were serving up high-quality entertainment that still delights today. (Why do time-traveling magicians never get lost? Because they always follow the vanishing points!)
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Assembly 88 held its February meeting at the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Ypsilanti. Hank Moorehouse proposed a change of site for future meetings and it was decided to hold the March meeting at Hank’s Magic Emporium.
The magic program for the evening was of high quality, featuring back-to-back routines of stand-up magic by Mike Baumgardner and Walter Musial. Mike opened with the disappearing and reappearing wand. Then he presented his great Monster of Chopper Mystery — a clever use of a chopper with a sponge hobgoblin, a cut and restored rope and silks from a bottle led to the finale — the production of a dove from a breakaway box.
Hardly waiting for the applause to die, Mr. Magic, Walt Musial, entered to produce a glass of wine from a silk and caused the stripes on the silk to rotate before our eyes. After squaring a circle, causing a bottle to move from one tube to another and then vanish, Walt showed us a series of beautiful handling of silks in a vanishing archive of effects.
He then caused rice to multiply and produced a huge bird cage. He closed with the smooth presentation of the old sponge-balls-under (or not under)-the-bowl trick, with a surprise production of a silk fountain from the bowl. Walt’s careful attention to routining allows him to do a lot of magic in a short time while always seeming to move in his good-humored, leisurely way. And that’s entertainment!
What a night Assembly 88 had back in Ypsilanti! From Mike Baumgardner’s wand vanishes and that wild chopper mystery featuring a sponge hobgoblin and a surprise dove, to Walt Musial stepping in with wine-from-silk and rotating stripes — the silks were flowing and the audience was charmed. The evening wrapped up with multiplying rice, a massive bird cage, and a silky fountain finish that left everyone smiling.
In true vanishing style, the whole meeting proved that good routining, a little humor, and a lot of clever magic never go out of date — even if the bird cage somehow did.
Funny Business
By Karl Rabe and various contributors
Thank you Dan Jones and Frank & John Machniak for your contributions.
