Ring Report
August 16, 2009

Minutes for this meeting.

The theme for the August Meeting was Wellsprings, with Professor Miller as the Theme Leader. Professor Miller presented a David Roth coin routine using three silver and three copper coins, a coin purse, and a glass. He placed the three copper coins in the purse and the three silver coins on the table. Each time he tossed coins into the glass, another silver coin turned to copper. At the end, he showed that the purse now held three silver coins. Dr. Wilson briefly demonstrated his dictionary memorization feat, which has served as the basis of his medicine show for Dr. Wilson's Memory Elixir.

Brother Don Paul drew from his wellspring of mentalism. He showed a bag of lottery tickets, each bearing a different three-digit number and alphanumeric serial number. After everyone had examined several tickets to establish that they were all different, he was able to divine the winning number and serial number on a selected ticket. Brian Rodgers showed his version of the "Hospitality" illusion, which he built to resemble a kid's lemonade stand. The wonderfully-built prop will be used in an upcoming public Ring show.

Three members showed that card effects were their wellsprings. Brian Rodgers showed Hunter's Monte, a very clean handling of the Three Card Monte that had even experienced operator Dr. Wilson making incorrect selections. Prashant Srivastava had a card selected and placed on the table. When it was returned to the deck, the rest of the deck changed color, making it easy to find the selected card. Alex Turanski showed a series of card effects, one of them original. Among other feats, he shuffled a deck in many different ways, but when he was finished, the four aces had collected and reversed themselves in the center of the deck.

Professor Miller presenting a Teaching Table on "Character and Costume." Drawing on his theater training, he made the distinction between personality, persona and character, citing well-known magical performers operating at each level. He developed the idea that magic that does not suit the personality, persona, or character of a particular performer often strikes us as ineffective in others. He asked each of us to look at the material that we have selected to determine whether it fits us. He also showed costume elements, accessories, and props that he has selected to suit his magical persona.

As members got together to session with cards and other props, Professor Miller and Alex Turanski posed for publicity shots under portable theatrical lighting. Any member interested in high-quality digital photographs is being offered this service. Full details of the business meeting and photos are available on the Ring's web site (www.ibmring362.org).