^Ring 76 Chartered by the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 1948

MagiCurrentsSan Diego, California

Recipient of the IBM's Quality Ring Award Honest Sid GerharRing 76

Honest Sid Gerhart Ring 76Website

www.ring76.com VolumeXX Ijanuary2006

Public Relations chiefannounced for jointI.B.M. & S.A.M. Convention

Brad Jacobs, Chairman of the CombinedInternational Brotherhood of Magicians and theSociety of American Magicians Convention in 2008,has appointed Jack White as the official voice forboth magicorganizations. Assuch, White is chargedwith the responsibility ofwriting and distributingall news releases andannouncements duringthe two-year periodleading up to what isbeing billed as thelargest and mostexciting magicconvention ever held.

Jack White new P.R.and Press spokesmanfor IBM & SAM2008 Convention

In making theappointment, Jacobsnoted that White is alongtime radio,television, and newspaper journalist, and a memberof both the I.B.M. and S.A.M. Jacobs added thatWhite would be the source for all news releases,announcements, and information concerning theplanning and events leading up to and throughoutthe convention.

In his first news release (December 23rd, 2005),White informed the magic media that the combinedconventions would be moved out of New Orleans,because of severe damage to the theaters that areso vital to the success of this event. The siteselection committee is currently reviewing severalnew venues and an announcement will beforthcoming on the new location and exact dates ofthe combined convention.

January meeting toinclude installationof new members &Trick Parade

If you have joined Ring 76 in the past year, plan toattend the January 9th meeting when all newmembers will be officially installed in the Ring.Each person must be a member of the I.B.M. andwill be asked to take the Ring 76 oath, after whichthey will be given a certificate making them anofficial member.

The program that evening is a "Trick Parade;"several members of Ring 76 will present magicroutines and then explain how they are done. Thisprogram is patterned after the popular section in theI.B.M.'s Linking Ring magazine. The effectspresented are for stand-up or parlor performance.Several members have volunteered to take part inthis exciting program. There will be an opportunityto ask questions during the explanation portion ofthe program.

This will also be a good opportunity to learn a neweffect to incorporate into your own program. Wehave not presented this program in several years,and we believe we have lined up an exciting eveningof magic and magic instruction.

We also remind everyone who wants to take part inthe February close-up contest that you must auditionMonday, January 23rd at 7:30 p.m. The field ofperformers will be limited to six contestants.Everyone who auditions for the contest will be askedto do their complete routine for the judges. Theiract should run no longer than ten minutes. Thejudges will be announced the evening of the 23rd.The auditions will be held following the regular boardmeeting of the Ring 76 executive committee atJack's Magic Place, 4275 University Avenue.

(Continued on page 5)

Page 2 MagiCurrents

Large turnout for the annual Ring 76Holiday Party, brings year to a close.

Turkey for everyone!

The holiday season was'celebrated at Ring 76 ingrand style December 12th, with a potluck dinnercomplete withroast turkey, roastbeef and roastedpork loin. Ourhead count shows62 members andguests turned outfor the annualevent. There wasmore than enoughfood and thedinner was toppedoff by an excitingarray of dessertsthat included brownies, carrotcake, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie, as well as a largevariety of cookies.

During the dinner hour many members took the timeto show a few close-up effects at the table to theirguests. There was a lot of story telling and laughterduring this time. Following dinner, Ring 76

President BobIngalls, called themeeting to orderand made a fewannouncementsand thanked themembers formaking 2005 agreat year formagic.Bob then asked ifanyone hadnoticed anythingdifferent about the

turkey? He then put his hand to his mouth as hecoughed up a large amount of feathers. Bob did aquick card trick with a funny ending to get theaudience warmed up and introduced our M.C. for theevening, Terry Lunceford.

Terry was smartly dressed in a beautiful black suitand asked the audience if they would like to see theoldest trick in the world? He then presented hisown very beautiful routine of three linking rings tomusic. There was not a single flaw in hispresentation and the big twelve-inch gleaming rings

Bob Ingalls & J.R Scirica

melted througheach other. Itwas anexcellent pieceof magicpresented byanexperiencedpro. Theaudience letTerry knowhow much theyenjoyed theroutine with anextendedround ofapplause. Jerry Lunceford and his

linking ring routineBut that wasonly the curtern-raiser for the evening'sentertainment. Terry introduced a longtime Ring 76member who has become a legend in presentingclose-up or bar magic, J.C. Wagner. In all of hisyears as a performer J. C., only gets better withtime, like vintage wine he improves with age. A bigscreen was set up and Kenny Shelton operated thecamera so everyone in the room could see theaction at the table.

J.C. began with four quick card miracles with eachone becoming more involved and complex in their

handling as hemoved along.Then came a setwith coins and awonderful storyabout learning acoins acrossroutine from TonySlydini. Thecoin effects wereclean and fastwith no waistedmoves. Theaudience wassilent and theireyes were gluedto the big screen

J.C. Wagner

MagiCurrents PageS

as the performance unfolded.

At this point in his performance J.C. asked theaudience if they had a favorite trick they would likehim to perform? From the sidelines Terry Luncefordyelled out the name of a very difficult card trickinvolving a variety of moves. J.C. smiled, and said;" I think I remember that one." And quickly launchedinto the routine just as a piano player would acceptthe challenge of remembering an old song andplaying it without music and never missing a singlenote. How many magicians do you know who takerequests for tricks and then do them on demand,flawlessly.

Then came J.C.'s version of the Benson Bowl andsponge balls. J.C., has been doing this routine foryears and asked a lady out of the audience to comeup and help him. The comedy lines came rolling outof J.C.'s mouth, as he began the funny andmysterious routine. It was like watching an old GaryGrant movie as J.C. would throw out his fast patterand then stop and make a funny face and quicklypick up the pace again after a pause for reaction.

The audience was treated to a gifted professionalperformer doing what he has done for years andmaking it look seamless, effortless and as though hewas doing it for the first time; it was fresh andexciting. It was also a true highlight for ourmembers to see and enjoy.

After the showmembersstayed andtalked, had asecondhelping ofdessert andcoffee andwished eachother theHappiest ofHolidays anda prosperousNew Year.Ring 76 hadloggedanother yearin the historybooks.

Table full of hungry people

For those who did not attend the photographs on thenext two pages will give you an idea of how theevening looked.

Page 4 MagiCurrentsMagic Book

Reviewby

Dr. Joel Moskowitz

Secrets of the SideshowsBarnum was incorrect. His statistics are wrong. Itis not that there is a sucker born every minute.Virtually everyone born is wired to believe theunbelievable, to thirst for the weird, the bizarre, andthe monstrous. Our inner anxieties simultaneouslydraw us to that which frightens us: strangeappearances, nature's mistakes, and medicalanomalies. Even those who protest an aversion toseeing a two-headed goat or the bearded womanare vulnerable to a spectrum of fascinations whichincludes slowing down to peer at the victims of aninjury crash or the disfigured survivors of a burn.We, and that is all of us not just the sucker bornevery minute, peer and are repulsed at the verysame time. This mental struggle with the vagaries ofour existence and how matters may go awry haslinks to myth, superstition, religion, medicine, andmagic.

The sideshow of yesteryear where persons clutchingtheir loved ones and families could, in a sociallyacceptable way, view those unfortunateswhere mother nature's plans were corrupted,producing the too short, dwarfs, too tall, giants,humans with extra digits and those with none atall. We may think this is less in evidence in ourmodern and scientific times. Not at all. Go tounderdeveloped countries where birth care andnutrition is lacking, where sexual unions are familyaffairs, where thoseunfortunate poor cannot readily obtain plastic ororthopedic surgery or medicine for their hideousdisfigurements and where they are obliged tobeg on the streets, and you may be shocked that thesideshow is on the main street. In first worldsocieties inquiry from the prurient to theintellectual has become transmuted into the guise ofscientific investigation of these errors of medicalanomalies or, for example, those whose life's work isdedicated to fix nature's mistakes i.e., separatingtwins conjoined at the head, etc.

Joe Nickell, magician and investigator, has writtena scholarly book Secrets of the Sideshow, TheUniversity Press of Kentucky (his Alma

Mater): September 09, 2005, $32.95, pp 401. Theauthor, lifting up the back flap of the tent show,reveals, informs, and presents a range ofhuman oddities from the real to the created (readfake) Mr. Nickell is senior research fellow of theCommittee of Scientific Inquiry for Claims of theParanormal. The author of this review is ScientificConsultant to PSICOP.

Mankind is a frightened folk. Life is so brittle andmarvelous. In primitive cultures, which sadly existtoday, throngs cheer a beheading or a hanging. Thestage magician dismembers an audience volunteer(and restores the severed hand instantly), cuts hisfemale assistant into multiple sections, randomizesthe parts and re-synthesizes the woman toappreciative applause. Secrets of the Sideshowsmay be mistaken for a history of past popular culturebut this writer suggests, is as active today albeit inthe guise of the conjurer, the physician, the clergy,the purveyor of quackery, and psychics, and eventhose of the media, for many of whom, dramaticdisasters are news. People want to hear, read, andlearn about the catastrophes and curiosities of life'sadventures.

Magicians need this well-written tome in their library.Those fortunate enough to have enjoyed Al Flosso,the Coney Island Fakir, will pleasure in the memoryof this sideshow-style wizard. Harry Andersonpenetrating his arm with a long needle, fire andsword eaters, and those who pound nailsinto their head through their nostrils are variants ofsideshow working acts. Bizarre magic is today'ssubspecialty where theater audiences can workthrough their fears while seeing the performer tearthe head off a duck and glue it back again. It isreassuring to know that no matter what the insult, wecan survive.

Some may criticize Secrets of the Sideshowsbecause they feel it discloses deceptions used byconjurers today. Penn and Teller have madean art form of revealing secrets, which has onlyheightened audience amazement. Others may faultSecrets of Sideshows as being tooencyclopedic while at the same time asserting thatmost of this data has been described elsewhere.This inherent fallacious internally contradictoryargument is its own rebuttal.

Ray Hyman, a friend of mine, and EmeritusProfessor of Psychology at University of Oregonagrees (with me) that humans have evolved to be a

MagiCurrents Page 5

credulous species. Dependant on social groups fortheir survival, these groups tend to share beliefs.Even, I would attempt to persuade, when thosebeliefs are harmful, incorrect, and even dangerous.H. L Mencken writing in the Baltimore Sun, June 4,1923 opines, No democratic delusion is morefatuous than that which holds that all men arecapable of reason, and hence susceptible toconversion by evidence. It is this writer's thesis, asa trained psychiatrist, that each of usstruggles with inner fears which perforce makes usvulnerable to the mysterious, the magical and thosewho, with evil intent or their own inability to berational, seek to capitalize on our anxieties. TheSecrets of the Sideshows by Nickell is a thinkingperson's text.

Nickell seeks to shine knowledge on the history ofthese demonstrations of oddities, illusions,aberrations of human development, impossibleabuses of the human organism (swallow swords andfire, lying on beds of nails while being pounded,escaping traumas which, one would expect, wouldsevere limbs, or lead to decapitation). By being,himself, a magic pitchman in a carnival andobtaining a backstage view of the devices ofdeception. He shares his fascination not to approvebut to enlighten.

Regrettably, it is our unconscious need that makesus susceptible to these carny talkers. As pervasiveas is the tendency to be gullible, it is remarkable thatthe word gullible does not appear in any dictionary orencyclopedia. Check it out! When you discover thatI have sent you on a wild goose chase, rush quicklyto your local bookstore to buy a copy of Secrets ofthe Sideshows.

Ring 76 Special LectureJamy Ian Swiss

Wednesday, February 8th7 p.m. at Jack's Magic Place

4275 University AveSpecial Workshop Session

7 p.m. Thursday February 9thThe lecture is "Free" the

Workshop is limited to 20 peopleand is $50

January meeting, continuedfrom page one

During the actual close-up competition itself, eachcontestant will perform at five different tables beforemembers of the Ring. Each member will be allowedto cast one vote with the outcome of the contestbeing announced during the Awards and InstallationBanquet next July. Our top winners will receive amedal and cash award in July.

J.C. Wagner LectureWednesday, January 11th

"Free" to all Ring 76 members7 p.m. Jack's Magic Place

"MagiToon"

Page 6 MagiCurrents

View from the Cheap Seats

By Jon A. Hand

Have you ever wondered why magic is a second-rate entertainment in the eyes of the public? Or whymagic is not considered an art like music, theatre, ordance? I have been giving this some thought anddiscussion on some of the magic bulletin boards,and here are my conclusions. As a professionalmusician and music teacher by profession, I willcompare music and other "live in real time" arts tomagic, in both their history and their currentincarnations, as the parallels and differences arecrucial.

Like music, dance, and theatre, magic has a longhistory dating back centuries. At the time that Scot'sDiscoverie of Witchcraft made its appearance in the1580s, music and dance were about to explode dueto the popularity of musical instruments in theRenaissance (1400 -1600) and the subsequent newstyles of the Baroque era (1600 -1750). However,the founding of permanent settlements in the NewWorld stemmed the development of magic inAmerica when the Salem witch trials made anythingmagical a dangerous entity. Meanwhile, streetmagicians had flourished in Europe throughout theMedieval era and Renaissance, perhaps due to thefact that many of them were also pickpockets andteam thieves, using the magic as misdirection for thethefts.

Magic, then came into major periods of publicdistrust just as music, theatre, and dance werehitting their strides. From the Classic era (1750 -1820) through the Romantic era (1820 -1900),traveling circuses and touring shows becamepopular in both Europe and America. However, inAmerica, the distrust of "traveling show folk"lingered, and it continues to do so in many parts ofAmerica today.

Music became an integral part of society. Even inthe 1800s, when all music was live prior to theadvent of Edison's cylinder recording machine, mostAmericans learned to sing and/or play the piano or

violin for self-entertainment. Organized dancebecame the prominent social entertainment in thosedays when "dating" was severely restricted to mixedsocial events. Live theatre was the highlight ofentertainment, and as such was relatively rareexcept in large cities. Touring magicians did well inboth America and Europe (see MilbourneChristopher's Illustrated History of Magic for moredetails), but the popularity of live magic nevertranslated into the sort of personal interest thatmusic and dance had engendered.

After the popularity of Edison's cylinder player andsubsequent flat disk records invented by others,music began to revert to a passive listening moderather than the previous active music maker mode.The invention of radio in 1921 contributed further tothis passivity, and individual music making fadedquickly during the depression. In addition, dancebecame more frantic and less organized during theRoaring Twenties. Still, the long popularity ofpersonal music making, stretching more than 500years since the Renaissance, meant that music hada highly organized infrastructure. Masters taughtstudents, and those students spent years of practiceto develop those skills. Music was respectedbecause the amount of effort and time that isnecessary for those skills to blossom.

Magic had, and still has, precious little infrastructure.Undoubtedly, the art of magic has been hamperedby the secrecy of the methods and relatively hard toget information. Very little information was availableuntil the late 1800s. In the twentieth century, only aserious student would seek out deeper informationand find the insider information held in "small printrun" books available only from magic dealers.Although this lack of information made magic moremysterious to the public, it also deterred thedevelopment of infrastructure. Professionalmagicians were quite often too busy making a livingto serve as the master to an apprentice.

Before television, magic could only be experiencedlive, just as music could only be experienced liveprior to cylinders and radio. Actually, relatively fewpeople have ever seen any superbly-performedmagic live. The desire to see it is not fueled like thedesire to see musicians perform live, and this lack ofdesire is a vicious circle in holding back thedevelopment of a magic infrastructure. Prior to theadvent of television in 1941 (and widespreadpopularity of it beginning around 1952), the publicwas more aware of magic than it is now. Astelevision kept more people at home, the interest inlive performances of all types began to wane.

MagiCurrents Page?

To continue my music analogy, after the invention ofmulti-track recording and tape splicing/editing in the1950s, the goal of musicians became to sound asgood live as they did on record, a complete reversalfrom previous attitudes. Magic is having the sameproblem: the goal is now to be as impressive live asmagic is on television. Actually, live magic ismore impressive than televised magic, but so fewpeople have ever experienced it that the public doesnot understand that fact.

Today, entertainment has become disposable. Haveyou ever noticed that the best pop songs of 40, 60,80,100, 120, even 140 years ago are still known bythe general public, yet the current pop songs die aquick death in less than six weeks? Current moviescosting $100 million to make often stay in thetheaters less than two months. Television showsthat do not find a huge audience in six to nine weeksare cancelled. In the rush to disposableentertainment, magic has fallen by the wayside.

Many thought that video, computers, and theInternet would be the saving grace of magic.Certainly, information on magic is much easier to findand purchase. However, magic is lost in the glut ofinformation and entertainment so readily availablefrom the Internet, television, DVDs, movies, MP3s,iPods, video games, etc. Brick-and-mortar magicdealers, previously assuming a major role in themaster/apprentice relationship, are vanishing asmore young magicians order their informationthrough the Internet. What little infrastructure thatexisted is all but gone.

Teachers in all fields of study are finding thatstudents do not have the patience to learnsomething thoroughly, perhaps due to ourdisposable world. The fine arts take much time andeffort, and magic is no exception. There is simplytoo much out there to be experienced, and theexperience has become everything, instead of theassimilation of the experience.

Magic will have to move beyond mere disposableentertainment if it is to gain the same respect as thefine arts. It will have to move emotions and touch thehuman heart with the same impact as the bestmusic, dance, theatre, paintings, cinema, sculpture,photography, and literature.

The questions are: Will magicians be able to takemagic to the next level, given the stiff competition ofmodern media? How will you and I help advance it?

Copyright, 2005, Jon A. Hand

More Holiday PartyPhotos Dec. 2005

PageS MagiCurrents

Magic notes from:

The other day someone wrote to ask about thecartoon at the top of this column. It was drawn byKarl Kae Knecht, who was my great uncle. When Iwas just a little boy, Uncle Karl came to visit us onesummer. He was an elderly gent and liked to take alittle catnap at about 2 every afternoon, in a bigleather easy chair in the living room of mygrandmother's home.

One day while Uncle Karl was trying to sleep I wasplaying just outside the window where he wasseated. I was making a lot of noise and he cameout to see what was going on. He wore funnyspectacles that would pinch on his nose and had abig black ribbon that ran from the glasses and hungaround his neck. As he stood in the doorway lookingrather annoyed with me, while the spectacles wereperched on the tip of his nose, I told him I wasdriving a chariot with an elephant as my mode ofpower.

Karl Knecht was a prominent cartoonist in the mid-west and often did cartoons for Robert Ripley's"Believe it or Not" series that was syndicated innewspapers around the world. After listening to myexplication of all the noise, he went to his drawingboard that was always set up in a corner of the livingroom and created the little boy with the elephant andthe chariot. That evening at dinner he presentedthe cartoon to my mother and told her it was hernoisy son and his elephant. Mom was pleased bythe drawing but for a moment was a little terrifiedthat we might really have an elephant living out inthe barn behind grandma's house. You see UncleKarl had a large collection of exotic animals thateventually became the Evansville Zoo.

My mother saved the original cartoon and in my lateteens when I needed a logo for some advertising Iwas doing, I remembered the elephant and thechariot, and it has become a bit of a trademark logoever since. Karl Kae Knecht lived in Evansville,Indiana, and did a daily cartoon for the newspaper

there for 42 years. He loved magic and just aboutanything that involved entertainment. He was oneof the founders of the Circus Fans of America, backin 1926, and was an active member of thatorganization until his death in 1966; for a time hewas the editor of their bimonthly magazine/newsletter called "White Tops."

I remember him best for his exciting stories aboutcircus performers he had met and written about.When he would tell his stories he would sometimesillustrate them with a cartoon or two. I wish I wouldhave kept all of his drawings from those wonderfulstory telling sessions, but I didn't. Of course to methe best cartoon he ever did was the little boy, theelephant and the chariot.

While we are talking about names from the past Iwould like to sharesome newphotographs Ifound of Ring 76'snamesake Cecil"Sid" Gerhart andsome of themembers of Ring76 around 1959.The event was apublic show thatwas presented byRing 76 membersand a group ofperformers whowere notmembers. Theshow took placeon a Sunday, July13th at theShriner's Hall.

Sid Gerhart doingLinking Rings 1959

Hal Clark was the master of ceremonies and also leda group of women singers known as the "SweetAdeline" singing group. Bernard Berwin, known as"Baffling Bernardo," presented a forty-five minute actof mixed magic effects and dancing. HarrietRapheal, a dancer who was produced from a veryunique dollhouse illusion, assisted Bernardo.

Tommy Woo did his minpulation act in a beautifulChinese robe. The act was flawless and brought agreat round of applause. Next came youngChristopher Fair with his award winning magic act.Fair had been voted the best all-round youngmagician at the I.B.M. convention the year before.

MagiCurrents Page 9

Sid Gerhart closed the show with his comedymedicine show routine that brought him a standingovation. Sid went into the U.S. Navy aftergraduating from Franklin College in Indiana. Heserved during World War II. Following the Navy hemarried his childhood sweetheart whom he hadknown since he was 8 years old.

More Holiday PartyPhotos Dec. 2005

Row 1 Ed Shultz, Sid Gerhart, Tommy Woo,Bernard Berwin, Sven Lindquist. 2nd row,Hal Clark, Urban Crispin, Ted Russell, Dr.V.C. Harris & Elias Berwin.

After the war the Gerharts settled in San Diegowhere he opened a neon sign business. Oftenworking behind the scenes in magic organizationsfrom 1948 until his death in 1974, magic occupied allof Sid Gerhart's spare time. He enjoyed performing,teaching, and collecting magic. He was one ofthose special people who was always there whenyou needed help in getting your show packed ormoved from one place to another.

It is fitting that we have named our Ring in his name.If you would like to know more about Sid Gerhart, wehave some of his props on display at Jack's MagicPlace in one of the cases. In the near future weplan to publish his script for his medicine show pitch;it was truly different than anyone else.

While we are talking about things that are different,Samuel Patrick Smith sent me a copy of his newbimonthly publication "Funny Paper." The FunnyPaper is a wonderful place to find inspiration, ideas,and information for your business, whether you're amagician, clown, ventriloquist, juggler, puppeteer,face painter, balloon sculptor, or other variety artsperformer. This is an ideal publication for kid showworkers. It costs $30. for one year or 6 issues. Tosubscribe contact The Funny Paper, P.O. Box 787,Eustis, Florida, 32727.

Page 10 MagiCurrents

New Year'sResolutions

I have a couple of New Yearresolutions to share with each ofour members. My first resolutionis to invite a friend that isinterested in magic to attend oneof our meetings. I have found somany people living in the greaterSan Diego area who areinterested in magic and want to bepart of a club but don't knowabout Ring 76. Let's let themknow about us and about theI.B.M. and give them theopportunity to become members.

New people coming into our Ringbring new excitement to all of ourmembers, so it is important thateach of us invite a friend to ameeting. The January 9th

meeting is the perfect one toinvite a friend. Our program willbe showing our members how todo a favorite trick. It's more thana teach-in; it's a special workshopon stand-up and parlor magic.

My second resolution is to readmore than just the News Briefscolumn in MagiCurrents.Each month Jack White, Jim Rileyand a host of guest columnistsproduce one of the bestnewsletters in all of the I.B.M.Please take the time to read it all;I promise by doing that you willfind some information about ourRing that you did not know.

Better still, take the time to write abrief article about someone orsomething that is important to youin magic. Last year, Charlie Gottand Greg Wauson both wrotegreat articles about a person thathad made a difference in theirperforming lives. From Iran,Bryon McDaniel let us know abouta fellow Marine who taught him acard trick and brought him intomagic. Each month Jon Handdoes a wonderful job talking abouttricks and performing style, hiswriting is excellent; please takethe time to read his work.

Dr. Joel Moskowitz is an avidreader, as well as a writer, and atleast six times last year he wrotesome very insightful reviews ofnew magic books that were justreleased. Jeff Marcus, gave us anice look at the Columbus MagiFest in Ohio, and included somephotographs that he took whilevisiting that prominent event.Michael E. Johnson wrote a seriesof very funny articles aboutunexpected things that happenedto him during a magic show. SalBarajas has written about his visitacross the border to the TihanyShow in Mexico.

I hope in the year ahead you willtake the time to write aboutsomething that appeals to you inmagic and send it along to JackWhite, for inclusion in ourMagiCurrents newsletter. Don'tworry about your writing style,Jack will polish it up and make itshine in print.

Make it your resolution to be moreof a part of Ring 76 in 2006.

Ring 76Board

of Directors2005-2006

PresidentBob Ingalls

1st Vice PresidentTerry Lunceford

2nd Vice PresidentKenny Shelton

SecretaryJack White*

TreasurerRichard Ustick

Sgt at ArmsSal Barajas

Member at LargeJacques Lord

Immediate Past PresidentDiane Lane*

Territorial Vice PresidentJeff Marcus*

*denotes Past Ring President

For information onmembership, orRing events, contactJack White, Ring 76Secretary by e-mailprestoone@cox.netor by phone at619-299-9037

MagiCurrents Page 11

News

Syd Segal has booked mid-westmagician Nathan Kranzo to do alecture in San Diego, on March8th. The lecture will be at theCalifornia Western Law School;admission is $20 and Syd issuggesting reserved seating withpayment in advance. Nathan'smagic is geared towards beginnerand intermediate close-upworkers. Syd Segal's e-mailaddress for more information isBTL6380@aol.com

Bob Ingalls was a big hit at theMagic Castle in Hollywood thisHoliday Season with a card trickthat has the name of the selectedcard written on some M&M candythat he gives away to spectators.The spectator selects a card andreturns it to the deck. Bobattempts to find the card byrandomly cutting to various cards.When he fails to find the card hetells the spectator he needs acandy break and brings out someM&Ms only to find the name of thecard written on the candy.

Jason Latimer appeared on theLate, Late Show with CraigFerguson on NBC. Jason didhis see-through cups & ballseffect and stopped the show.Craig Ferguson is a young guywho is very fond of magic and isworking his way up the late nighttalk show ladder.

Marcus Day was at the MagicCastle on New Years Day nightwith magic book author RonCartlage who wrote the book"Houdini in Texas." Cartlage isthe president of the S.A.M.Assembly in Austin, Texas, andwas in town for the Rose Bowl

Briefs

game. Marcus Day says thatCartlage and his friends were sohungry for more magic that theystayed at the Castle until 3 a.m.watching shows.

J.P. Scirica who operates theGrand Magic Shop in Escondido,says an elderly woman walkedinto his store during the holidaysand told him she had always beeninterested in magic but knewnothing about it. She said hergrand children were coming tovisit her for Christmas, and shewould like to learn a few tricks tokeep them entertained. Heshowed the woman a few simpletricks, and she left the store. Anhour later she called and told J.P.she had just presented a magicshow for her mail carrier, and hewas amazed she said she wascoming back to the store for more.Her show was a success for hergrandchildren, and she gave themthe tricks she learned and broughtthem to the store for more magic.See what happens when youteach someone a magic trick.

We also remind you that EugeneBurger is doing a lecture at theGrand Magic Shop, 1607Escondido Blvd, January 11th thecost is $25, Gene will stay aroundon the 12th and do a workshopthat afternoon.

J.P. Jackson spent his Christmasin Chicago visiting Bob JamesMagic Shop in Elmhurst. Bob

has just purchased the magicestate of the late Nick Tomei whoperformed magic for 74 years.The Tomei collection consists of42 large boxes of magic props,rare puppets, vent dummies, andbooks. J.P. helped Bob Jamesinventory and price the books inthe Tomei collection. Part of thatcollection is just beginning toshow up in auctions on eBay sowatch for it.

If you read the I.B.M. Ring 2100daily newsletter then you knowthe name Jamie G, a magicianwho lives in Canada and iswaiting for a kidney transplant.On New Year's Eve, Jamie took abad fall and tore the muscles inboth of his kneecaps. He wasrushed to the hospital and wasscheduled for emergency surgeryNew Year's Day after his dialysis.As a result of the accident, ablood clot traveled to his brainand he died. Jamie was atalented magician and he will bemissed.

Jamy Ian Swiss will present a"Free" lecture Wednesday, Feb8th at Jack's Magic Place. Jamywas called; "A remarkableperformer and the epitome of skil"by Dai Vernon. Jamy's lecture ispacked with practical materialfrom a professional's workingrepertoire - filled with real-lifeinformation about performance ofmagic. His card in matchbookroutine has been adopted bymany other magicians. He willhold a special workshop onThursday February 9th for alimited group and will teachsleight of hand during that sessionwith will cost $50.

Page 12 MagiCurrents

Coming Attractions

January 9, 2006, A New Year and time to induct all new members,those having joined in the previous year. Our program will be a "TrickParade"; various members will show you how to make props for varioustricks. This is the first time we have presented this program in severalyears; it should be very exciting.

February 13, 2006, Annual Ring 76 Close-up contest. All contestantsmust audition on January 23rd at Jack's Magic Place, 4275 UniversityAvenue at 7:30 p.m. Six people will be nominated to perform in thecontest on February 13th. These are new rules this year.

March 13. 2006, Bag night, members can select a brown bag containinga magic trick without instructions and then perform the effect. This isa true challenge to your performing skills.

April 10, 2006, Ring 76 Swap Meet. A chance to sell your unwantedmagic. See Terry Lunceford to reserve a seller's table.

The next Ring 76 board meeting will be Monday January 23, 2006, atJack's Magic Place; all interested members are invited to attend.

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MagiCurrents is published monthly by Ring 76 and is edited by Jack White; Associate Editor isJim Riley. We encourage articles, stories, and news items. All material should be submitted toJack White by e-mail at prestoone@cox.net. or written manuscripts may be submitted toJack White, 4288 Arguello St., San Diego, CA. 92103.