For September we had 43 people including many guests. Magi-Whirl Chairman Mike Taggert awarded certificates of appreciation to the 2009 volunteers. The senior member of the Board of Directors, Don Freedman (above, on left), gave President Louis Meyer (on right) a plaque in appreciation for being the president for 2008-2009.
Two new members were voted into Ring 50. Bob Wieman of Alexandria, VA dabbled in magic since the age of 6 and has taught magic since 1991. Bob was a member of Ring 50 from 1995 to 1997. John Whitney of Alexandria, VA performed over 300 magic shows in High School and College.
Our theme was "Try A New Trick" and Noland Montgomery performed Richard Sanders' "Visi-bill," a variation on the classic bill switch in which a $5 bill visibly morphs into a $20 bill, and then back again to a $5. This was followed by the Karrell Fox-Dick Stoner comedy routine in which the name of a chosen card appears on the lenses of a pair of giant glasses worn by the performer.
Larry Lipman aka "Lorenzo the Great" performed his version of Tarbell's "Flying Cards and Envelopes" updated to include a Harry Potter-style demonstration of apparition. With help from two young assistants, the audience made three selected cards out of a dozen disappear from one envelope and reappear in another.
Kevin McGuire did his own version of the "Professor's Nightmare," with some of Richard Sanders' "Fiber Optics" thrown in. This was his first performance at Ring 50, and he acquitted himself very well.
Using an assistants borrowed belt and one finger and a little plastic gimmick, John Roberts demonstrated a seemingly impossible suspended levitation. John followed this with another balancing act using a long Japanese box with three tassels on strings that passed through it (a la pom pom stick). The box was opened briefly to show the separate strings. The tassels represented "Compromise", "Happiness" and "Integrity" By pulling on the mysteriously linked tassels John showed various ways these concepts could be "Balanced".
Tom Paxton showed a helper 4 wallets, each containing one bill of different denominations. They selected one, and he was was able to determine which bill they had chosen.
Eric Henning performed Paul Green's "I Knew It All The Time," predicting chosen cards in more and more bizarre ways, until he divined a card chosen at random by a committee. He then went into the Malini Card Stab, in which three audience members looked at cards, which were lost in the deck, Henning was blindfolded and proceeded to stab each card on the point of a wicked-looking stiletto. 
Geoff Weber asked a volunteer to remove a freely thought of card from an "invisible deck". Instead of revealing the card in the traditional manner, Geoff revealed a tattoo on his back that accurately predicted the selection. Next, Geoff transformed the invisible deck into a visible one, and had another card selected and returned. He wrapped a quarter in tissue paper and set it on top of the pack. The paper was lit on fire, and in a flash, it burned a hole down through the deck, stopping on the selected card.
Theo Rushin Jr.performed two effects. The first invoked a spectator's cell phone and a balloon. Pressing the inflated balloon against the phone he caused the phone to be inserted into the balloon. The second effect included a story about three mummies and a coffin. After asking the spectator to place one of the mummy statues in the coffin and hide the other two, Theo was able to correctly discern which mummy was in the coffin ...twice! This is was a great lead-in to the announcement of next month's meeting theme: Spooky Magic!
