Jim Sisti!

I am vehemently trying to set up a lecture tour for the talented Jim Sisti.......for November 2021. Two dates nailed down for Texas as of this moment!

Eugene Burger

Wow! It has been TOO LONG since my last post! Any-hoo........mining the depths of some old issues of The Linking Ring brought me to the February 1982 issue. Who should be featured there? None other than the recently-departed Eugene Burger. I will discuss has contributions to that issue in a later post.

I'm always a sucker for a good Chop Cup routine!

....and it doesn't get much better than this one!


Superb Chop Cup bit - plus nice little Gemini Twins routine

Profoundly excellent!

Making a 'Zoltar'!

Ningthing!

Happened upon a pretty interesting blog/site today:  Ning Thing

I think the creator lives in Singapore. Whatever/wherever.......its pretty cool! I like that it's a gumbo of 'regular' book reviews and magic-related reviews too. Check it out!

It's the End of an Era

Well, IBM Ring 266 met for its very final time last night at Trinity Baptist Church in Tyler. That's been our regular meeting place for the past (roughly) 9 years, and we're moving to a new location in Tyler. Mark Kilsby (who's served more terms as the Ring's V.P. than anyone cares to count) is a member at that church, so he's been the Keeper of the Keys......and we owed him a hearty thanks for the annoyance of doing that for such a LONG run! The mayor of Tyler issued a proclamation in Mark's honor which was presented by a city Councilman and Linda Gish made him an award adorned with many keys/club members' names. We had a great dinner, although the event was bitter-sweet....but many good things to come down the road!  Merry Christmas to all, by the way!

Mark Kilsby (left, wearing tie) with Tyler city Councilman D. Bowdre

Balloons!

So, I've decided to get serious about balloons and making balloon sculptures.  Had a tiny bit of a balloon session with my friend, Mark today. Fine tuned my chops on the basic dog......a classic!

Mu-hahahahahahha! (Evil laugh!!!!)

So, no, it's not exactly magic, but I acted in a haunted attraction in Tyler, Texas recently (still planning on doing another night soon). It's fun!

Big coin!

Earlier in March, I assisted my good friend, Mark Kilsby in a show he did in Rosewood, Texas. Took this shot of him at his home later that day.  

'Is this thing real??'

ACES 2015

Well, the last post I made here covered us doing some planning for a mini magic convention in Tyler, Texas. Well, that event actually happened!! Yep, we did it! (I'm as amazed as anyone else might be!) It was called the Association of Christian Entertainers Symposium and it was held at Trinity Baptist Church on January 16th and 17th.  Duane Laflin, Steve Varro, Del Wilson and David McCullough lectured, along with Kit Scott and they all taught us some great stuff. Here's a quick photo of the stage, about 3 hours before we started (more photos to follow!):

Gone to the dogs

OK, technically speaking....this isn't exactly related to magic........HOWEVER: last week, I was at a planning meeting at David Gish's house (along with George Garrett and Mark Kilsby) and I just felt the need to take a photo of one of David's dogs.....so here it is! [note Mark Kilsbys' foot in the background]. Planning for a big magic event in Tyler for 2015.

You're getting very sleepy!

This is a GIF I made yesterday. I took these photos at my local IBM Ring meeting over the Summer (June, I think....not sure). The gentleman is Jene Carrol....a nice guy. I think this is funny because the way I took the photos and the way the GIF turns out, it almost looks like he's hypnotized the lady.........but it was just a 'regular' card trick.

I follow, like....a gazillion blogs.....and there's an artsy one called 'Half 'n Half' I sort of like. I was looking at a post over there (from a while back) about this mixed media artist who's a pretty good mask maker and just happened to see that he's made some stuff for a noted magician!  Ironic, huh?  Anyway, here's the link:         A mask maker

Got a dollar??

It's a VERY RARE thing for me to say good things about magic videos found on YouTube......but this is a good one!  Trust me!

Excellent floating dollar trick!

A touch of inspiration

No, it's not exactly magic-related, but when I'm a little dry in the inspiration department, I'll often turn to animated shorts......nice, tight bits of entertainment to awaken (hopefully) the Muse!

You'll like this one, entitled "Writer's Block".


https://vimeo.com/60097083

Recent Ring discussions

Well, my IBM Ring met on Monday night and one of our members brought up something he's hinted at before: us hosting a mini-magic convention in Tyler. I stated openly that I'd volunteer 10 hours to help with the event, but I also expressed that I'm EXTREMELY pessimistic that it'll get off the ground. One or two of our Ring's 'Shadow Leaders' (as I like to call them) will torpedo it, watch and see!  Let me give an example:

Some time back, our officers met with leaders from a local non-profit about hosting a big magic show fundraiser. They'd handle all the publicity, we'd do the show and split everything 50/50.  Well, we met and talked and we met and talked again, and about 40 e-mails flew through the air and different discussions went on and etc. etc.  Things were flowing along swimmingly. Then, one night, at a regular monthly meeting, one of our marginal members (I like the guy and he's a skilled performer, but he's also pretty new to our club) just mentions, "Well, what if something happens and the club gets sued?" Guess what? The ENTIRE PROJECT COLLAPSED right there on the table in a matter of seconds!  That's what I'm talking about.......that's a small reason why I'm growing disillusioned (get it?) with my magic club. Its a lot of talking and not much doing and most of the talking is built around 'Why this wont work out' or 'Why that wont work out'

I think, if done properly, it could make some money.....I really do......we just have to make sure we don't spend too much in an effort to make a little $.

I'll post developments here........and I'll try to keep a positive attitude! Here's hoping for the best!

H.G. Wells in 'da house!!

Not exactly magic related, but I was taking some inpiration over at Bent Objects 'blog 

......I particularly liked his Tri-pod from War of the Worlds!

Sometimes, you just need to "feed" the Muse!

More Ice McDonald pics

Ice!

Last Monday (5-20-2013) Kenrick "Ice" McDonald lectured for IBM Ring 266 in Tyler, Texas. It was terrific!

I would be lying if I didn't say I was excited about this lecture tonight!!! I've wanted to meet Ice McDonald for at least 5 years now!!

Ring Parade notes February 1981

So, I've been saying for a long time I was going to do this.......put some reviews/notes on old Ring Parades from The Linking Ring magazine........so here's my first:


[Page 59]

A Coin Routine: A very involved coin routine using a Boston Box (among other things); quite British in design/timbre. Good fodder for ideas/inspiration.....would take a while to work up.

Four Card Assembly: An assembly routine with some potential.

Marbelized: A mental routine with a bunch of envelopes, colored ribbon, a display board, marbles.......it reads like one of those things that "another" guy could maybe work, but I don't think its right for me. Long editorial at the end suggests it seemed a bit convoluted and wordy......did give a bit of a snippet about working up your own cheap-o clear force bag, though.

The 5040 Prediction: A very promising number card thing that I might consider.

Simplicity one in fifty two card force: An excellent card force, using an easily-gaffed deck.......that one's a keeper!!


(to be continued later...........)

Rich the Clown

His driver's license might read, George Garrett, but whatever you call him, you'll certainly consider him to be talented! I visited the Tyler Fellowship of Christian Magicians chapter a couple of weeks back, and George did a mini-workshop on gospel clowning. I've never hidden my general disdain for most forms of gospel magic, but his was classy, poignant, well-considered and tasteful all the way around......very nice!! What might you say if I told you this guy designed and built Kirby Van Burch's appearing helicopter?!  ......that's no clowning around, either!

Johnny Magic

Last night, the Tyler magic club had, what started out as a "regular" meeting. We had a couple of past members come, one of whom was Jonathan Havier (aka Johnny Magic). He discussed some of his performing days in great detail.....and led a huge work session on setting up/doing the traditional Anderson Newspaper tear. I took some photos, but I'm not sure I caught any of him! It was a great session.....heck it was worth it just to know how to make the gimmick. I'll post some photos later.

As I like to document the history of magic performance all over Texas, I thought this was proper: in February, our club, IBM Ring 266 in Tyler, awarded a certificate of appreciation to Gene and Neta Colteaux for their many years of service to our magic club. Gene served as our Ring's President for 3 straight years and Neta was our Ring's secretary for more years than anyone can count (about 7, I think, but could be longer!), she also spent the last two years as our Ring's Treasurer. They both were excellent as officers for our Ring! (Far right is our Ring's new President, Jerry Abercrombie.)

Parade (January 2007)

I'd noted some time back that I was going to post some reviews/comments re: some Parades from various issues of The Linking Ring magazine..................so, I just happened to pick up an issue from January 2007. The Parade features The British Ring (Ring 25)...............admittedly, I've not read the whole thing, but heck, it spans over 20 pages! What I've read looks pretty darned good! .....those Brits, they always make for heavy reading.....................but it's good stuff! Some very performable stuff.....there's a little bit that involves a diary and a deck of cards..........worth my time!

Cube-Cube-Cubio!

A few nights ago, about 2 hours before our Ring's November meeting, an idea struck me for a bit using a Tenyo "Cubio".........I'm going to try to throw up a video here soon!

I'm a bit confused, if not annoyed that it's been so long since I last posted here!! Any-hoo, I stumbled upon a truly clever little trick in an old copy of the Linking Ring that I absolutely MUST start performing....uses only an Ali Bongo hat and a deck of large cards!