I.B.M. Ring 362
Dr. James William Elliott Ring
Bangor, Maine

Ring Report
July 16, 2006

The July Meeting for I.B.M. Ring 362 was held at the Sebasticook Valley Community Center in Newport on July 16, 2006 at 2:30 pm. The theme of the meeting was Tarbell Night.

The meeting began with a half-hour teaching table by Wes Booth, who taught a series of coin sleights (Vol. I: Lesson 3) that he then wove into a nice routine; he then performed Arnold Furst's coins across using eight quarters. He taught the Chinese Paper Mystery (Vol. I: Lesson 15) in which a strip of red crepe paper decorated with Chinese characters is torn and restored. He closed with the Impossible Prediction (Vol. V: Lesson 62). He wrote a four-digit number on a slip of paper which he folded and placed in open view in a wine glass. A member of the audience was permitted to pick any other person as the "waiter." Wes gave the waiter a slip of paper and a pen, and instructed them to step out of view and write a four-digit number on the paper. They returned with their slip, revealed the number, which matched the prediction!

Dr. Wilson showed all four sides of two slates, then put a bit of chalk between them. As two other sitters held the slates, Dr. Wilson called upon the spirit of Harlan Tarbell. A faint scratching was heard as the chalk was animated by a ghostly hand. When the slates were opened, the message was "Volume 4, Lesson 57, H. Tarbell."

Alan Drew performed a pair of Ring and String effects from Volume 7. A finger ring knotted onto a string, then a stainless steel nut jumped from a cord in Alan's hand to the hand of an audience member. Conjuring Carroll followed with his version of The Linking Ropes (Vol. 6: Lesson 75) to a very nice story about Loopy Louie, a fictitious member of the Ring.

Brother Don swept us away with an elaborate presentation titled "Dinner with the Borgias." After a bit of historical introduction, he showed a poison ring and its use, loading the ring and then delivering the poison to a candle flame, which exploded in a symbolic representation of the end of a life. He invited four members to the table with engraved invitations. Each selected a silver chalice, leaving one on the table for him. He offered each of them the opportunity to exchange chalices with the one on the table, and two members did. Each guest then examined the folded slips of paper found inside their chalices. Each guest found a death's head, while Brother Don displayed a smiley face.

Brother Don followed this drama with a very nice design duplication effect and a self-working card prediction. Professor Miller performed Twentieth Century Silks in the manner favored by Silk King Studios. He tied two silks together, placing the knot in his mouth. A third silk vanished in his bare hands. He traced the silk's passage to his mouth, where it appeared tied between the first two silks. He produced a ball, only to cause it to vanish, then produced the ball from his mouth.

The business meeting followed. The highlight was the discussion of the Ring's first public show, the All-Star Magical Review. Full details are available on the Ring's web site (www.ibmring362.org).