Ring 266's Christmas Party

The East Texas Court of Magic held its annual Christmas Party and show a couple of weeks ago. Loads of good fun and good food. Took both of my kiddos. Photos to follow.

Sideshow in Chandler, Texas

This is a brief bit of the bally-hoo heard from a side show talker with the Culpepper and Merriwether Circus based in Hugo, Oklahoma. He had his joint set up at the main entrance to the midway. This circus was performing in Chandler, Texas in October 2009 (at Winchester Park). He was a nice guy (I think his name was Bruce)......good Irish accent. He had a couple of fossil-stones and a nice little FeeJee Mermaid.....she was a beauty! I didn't attend this circus.....the only One Ring circus I've ever seen was the Kelly Miller Circus.

October and November

Well....I managed to miss the Dinardi dealer show held in October........I hear he over-priced his stuff......that's a shame. I enjoyed speaking to Mr. Graciano by phone, but in these times, he has to price his magical goodies at reasonable prices. I also missed our November meeting.........my wife went out for her birthday........oh well, she had a good time!!

Dinardi's Magic Shop

I.B.M. Ring 266 will host Roy Graciano, owner of Dinardi's Magic Shop in Shreveport, Louisiana in October. Roy will provide a dealer lecture at our monthly meeting scheduled for the first Monday in October (starting at 7:00pm). He'll bring a broad smattering of everything you might hope to find in any modern magic shop. Join us!

Kingside Castling

Jeff Stone has released a nifty little effect entitled, "Kingside Castling"......nice, takes a little bit of practice but nothing that a patient beginner can't handle. Find it at: http://www.stonecoldmagic.com

Jeff Stone lecture

Jeff Stone!!! He's a real swell fella and he came to Tyler this month. Jeff's first "away from home" lecture happened at Trinity Baptist Church in Tyler, the regular meeting place for the Tyler Magic club......photos of the lecture to follow.

Mail order magic has been around for decades and decades. http://www.mjmmagic.com has great prices and they ship fast! Check 'em out!

One Hot Summer

Well, primarily related to work, I've been on a bit of a magic sabbatical for about 6 weeks. But, things are better, so I'm getting back into the swing of things. I mailed my (very late) IBM dues the other day, only to find out they'd gone to the wrong address as the International HQ of the IBM has moved!! Sindie there told me by phone she was heading out to the Annual IBM convention, but would check on things after she'd returned on July 6th. If they've not been returned to me by then, I guess I'll just pay online by debit card....I dunno.....we'll see. I missed the last meeting of my local IBM Ring....and it was a great lecture on coin magic no less!

My son and I will be going to the July meeting for certain!!

Jeff Stone has released a new book: Stone Frixion Fire relating to the use of those Frixion pens that've been out for awhile now. Cool stuff!!

I'm still workshopping my little bizarre effect. Mark Kilsby and his son, Josh helped me out with that recently. Many thanks to them!

General update

I'm a little behind on posting.......in February, our local magic club held a Chinese auction at our usual meeting place: Trinity Baptist Church in Tyler. Lots of club members donated a wide array of interesting items......I'm sad to report that I won absolutely nothing!!! Oh well, there's always next year. The club raised quite a bit of money. Our March meeting was devoted to our annual swap and sell. I netted some key goodies at that event. My current favorite: a set of Buddha papers.

On March 7th, we (as a club) performed a benefit show at Trinity Baptist Church to assist a young lady in raising funds to go on a misson trip to Japan. There were some pre-show tensions between a couple of club members (maybe between a few club members is a more appropriate was to put it!) Nonetheless, the show went off quite amiably (I was a bit surprised to tell the truth)......lots of performers: Dillon Humphrey, Gene and Neta Colteaux, Janice Ernest and Mark Kilsby co-emceed [and both did a splendid job, quite frankly]. Other performers included: Johnathan Ernest, Robert E. "Pappy" Lee (yep, Robert E. Lee is his real name!)......there were a few more performers, but I forget their names at this present time.....sorry!
That's about it for now....check back soon!

Mark Kilsby as Santa

Upcoming Ring 266 events

Well, our Ring's V.P., Mark Kilsby, called me two nights ago to discuss some upcoming Ring events. I was tired, had left work late and wasn't in much of a talking mood (although he's a good friend......but you know how it is) anyway......he reminded me of the Chinese auction we'll be having at our February Ring meeting. He also told me about the Ring performing a little pre-banquet walk-around magic at his church's Valentine's Banquet in February. Additionally, he stated that the club would be doing a full stage show as a benefit at his church in March (him to M.C., me to be stage manager). So, busy magic stuff on the horizon.
Both of these events to happen at Trinity Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas (by the way!).

Stone Cold Magic

I've corresponded some (who says "corresponded" anymore??) with Jeff Stone of stonecoldmagic.com for some time now.......a real creative guy! Check out his stuff!