Magi-Whirl 2008 Just Around the Corner

“The best little convention in the National Capital Area”

Don’t miss International Brotherhood of Magicians, National Capital Ring 50, Magi-Whirl 2008, March 28 & 29, 2008. There will be four lectures, plus three close-up performances, and a Gala evening show. Magi-Whirl is being held at Bishop Ireton High School, 201 Cambridge Rd, Alexandria VA. Only $45 until March 16th. After March 16th it’s $60 for everyone. You can register and pay on our website: http://www.magi-whirl.org/ or download the registration form and mail it in.

Come to IBM Ring 50’s Magi-Whirl 2008, and hang out with other magicians and people devoted to magic. You may learn new tricks, ideas, presentations, and of course see some great performances. You won’t want to miss these great lecturers: Kenrick ‘ICE’ McDonald, Aldo Colombini & Rachel, and Eric Jones. A Question and Answer Session with Richard Kaufman, editor of Genii Magazine, and close-up magic with Wild Man Bob Little, Richard Kaufman, and Brian Morton.

We have twelve dealers scheduled for the dealer room. You can see and talk to professional magicians and look at new magic items for sale. On Friday night, March 28, there will be a dealer’s show with the dealers demonstrating the latest magical items, silks, accessories, and supplies. The dealers are: Wild Colombini Magic – Aldo Colombini, Sorcery with Class – Scott Correll, Guaranteed Magic – Bob Little, E-mmaculate Deceptions - Eric Jones, Magic Goods – Pravin Ponnuri, Hughes Magic – Richard Hughes, Fred’s Books – Fred Mitchell, Magic Enhancer – Robert Haas, Immagicnation – Bernardo Del Ray, KozmoMagic, Inc – Ted Brainard, and Magic, Balloons & Dave Cresey Products - John Reid, and SASCO - Sharon Wasserman.

The Saturday night Gala Evening Show includes: The Magic of Kenrick ‘ICE’ McDonald, Aldo Colombini, Swami Yomahmi, and DC Magician of the Year Noland Montgomery, with Magical Master of Ceremonies – Rich Bloch.

For details go to: http://www.magi-whirl.org./ Come and join the fun and meet new magical friends.

~~ Bob Patterson

Professor Hass Lectures at February Meeting

Prior the lecture, President Mike Taggert encouraged members to sell tickets to lay people for Ring 50’s annual Magi-Whirl Gala show March 29 in the 750-seat theater at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia. The show will feature Rich Bloch as the master of ceremonies. The program will include illusionist Kenrick “Ice” McDonald and the magic of Aldo and Rachel Colombini, Swami Yomahmi, and DC Magician of the Year Noland Montgomery.

Larry Hass, founding director of “The Theory and Art of Magic” program at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, urged Ring 50 members at their February meeting to “make performances more magical” in a new lecture he has developed.
Hass, a philosophy professor at the college who is a magician in his own right, has written a new book, “Transformations: Creating Magic Out of Tricks,” which serves as the foundation for his lecture. He pointed out that experiencing magic is not commonplace but rare. “It touches your heart,” he stressed. Hass noted he personally experienced a feeling of real magic that made him exclaim “Wow!, when he saw the late Tommy Wonder, a creative Dutch magician, perform in Chicago. He then invited others to complete the declaration: “I will never forget the night I saw…” Former Ring 50 president Eric Henning said he would never forget the first time he saw Harry Blackstone Jr. on stage. Rucj Uffelman topped that by recalling witnessing Harry Blackstone Sr. perform. Sam Brothers added he was inspired when he first watched the late Doug Henning.

All eyes were on Dr. Larry Hass

Hass encouraged magicians to develop individual presentational frames for their own acts. He told the Ring 50 audience that frames should “come from your own imagination” and he emphasized that even silent presentations have frames. He also told his lecture crowd of more than 65 that some standard card moves such as the finger break, which has been used by magicians for a half century, may be “on their way out” because lay audiences now are quick to recognize the method. He added that frustration count and double lift also may be on the endangered list. While some methods are close to extinction “we can try to repair them,” he said.

New Members Voted Onboard Ring 50

Two new members were inducted as new Ring 50 members at the meeting. They are Peter Zawadzki, who has been a Yogi Magic Mart student in Baltimore and was inspired by Jeff McBride, and Brandon Tucker, a junior member who started doing stage magic when he was 9 years old. He is now interested in close-up and street magic.

~~ Jim Flanigan