Jeff McBride Lecturer of the Year at Magi-Whirl!

The Academy of Magical Arts (The Magic Castle) has named Jeff McBride the 2008 Lecturer of the Year. I.B.M. Ring 50, the National Capital Ring, is pleased to announce that Jeff will be lecturing and headlining the Public Show at Magi-Whirl 2009, April 17-18 at Whaley Auditorium, Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

Jeff will also be presenting his famous Secret Session after Magi-Whirl on April 19, also at Bishop Ireton. This session is limited to 20 people and there is an additional fee.

Get full info, tickets and register at http://www.Magi-Whirl.org

If that's not enough, we also have the Magic Castle's 2007 Close-up Magician of the Year, Paul Green, who will be lecturing, as well as SAM President Bruce Kalver who will be lecturing and performing in the Public Show. The Public Show also features IBM President Joan Caesar, 4-time DC Magician of the Year Noland Montgomery and M.C. Eric Henning.

We also have a Close-up Session, 10 TOP dealers with LOTS of time to browse and a Special Q&A session with the Presidents of the SAM & IBM, Bruce Kalver & Joan Caesar!

Register at http://www.Magi-Whirl.org

Early Bird Convention Registration
$50.00 through April 1, 2009 - $65.00 after April 1
(for one person, includes convention, all lectures on April 17 & 18, Dealer Room, Close-up Shows, Q&A session and One Ticket for Gala Public Show.)

Bishop Ireton High School has a lovely 700-seat full theatre - you will want to bring your friends to the Public Show on Saturday April 18. Show-only tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door (cash only at the door) and $45 for a four-ticket Family Pack (advance only).

Tickets on the Web at http://www.Magi-Whirl.org

Tell your friends! DC's ONLY Magic Convention is better than ever!

March Brings “What’s New At Barry’s”

President Louis Meyer began the meeting with the indoctrination of two new members into I.B.M Ring 50; Thomas Bohacek of Haymarket VA and Theo Rushin of Germantown MD. Meyer reminded those attending that next month was ‘Auction Night’. Bob Patterson gave out the auction procedures and forms to some of the interested people in putting items into the auction. Mike Taggert, Chairman of Magi-Whirl encouraged everyone to register now before the price increase. It was suggested those attending the I.B.M. Convention in Nashville to meet one evening at the convention for dinner.

The theme for the March meeting was “What’s New at Barry’s”. The personable proprietor of Barry’s Magic Shop demonstrated a wide variety of magical items. “He brought some new things and some old things.” Barry Taylor says. “You know, what’s old is new and we have some things that are old that nobody ever saw”. He had some standard classics too that people were interested in seeing. Barry’s shop has served the Washington D.C. magic community since 1974.

Barry brought a lot of items including attractive displays of magic items, magazines, DVDs, and books. He opened with multiplying ice cream cones, turning one ice cream cone into two cones. After several cones were place into a hat, he inverted the hat and showed it to be empty. The Card Lasso or Miracle Rope routine has been around for a long time but never gets old. Barry had a card selected from a deck. Toss the cards into a hat and drop in the end of a length of rope. Give the rope a few shakes and when the rope was pulled out, the selected card was seen tied in a loop of rope! Next Barry followed with the Misers Delight Pro. He placed a paper bag on the table and reach into the air to pluck out a red light and then he placed the light in the paper bag. The light was seen falling into the bag and then settling to the bottom. He repeated several more times and had several lights shining in the bag. On his puff of breath all the lights went out. For laughs he brought out is hot book and fire wallet.

A very impressive effect was the Mental Die Prediction. A spectator was given a 3" die, made with an exotic dark hardwood and contrasting white spots. Barry turned away and the spectator is instructed to choose a number on the die, set the die on the table face up, and cover it with a cloth. Barry was able to reveal exactly what number they chose. He repeated this with various spectators and named correct the number each time. This was a fantastic addition to an elegant magic performance.

~ ~ Bob Patterson