Author: Adam Moore

Elections were held for Assembly 12 officers. The current officers — Adam Moore, President; Steven Peer, Vice President; Dave Taylor, Secretary/Treasurer — were voted in for a second term. The National Council ballot was subsequently reviewed, and Tom O’Lenick was selected as a delegate to the National Council Meeting.

Bruce Jensen is doing well according to Larry and Jennifer Kahlow who had just come from visiting him. Dave reported on his recent trip to Des Moines, IA for Magic Maynia where he saw Fielding West, Justin Alan, and Steve Daly. Larry attended Magic Collectors Weekend in Chicago where Minneapolis-based Tad Ware gave a presentation on Nicola showing never-before-seen photos of the sinking ship that was carrying Nicola’s show.

Jack Nordin gave a mini-lecture on magic tables focusing on P&L flanges, casters, and dragons. Aaron Timmerman performed Extreme Burn by Richard Sanders while telling how he ended up doing this trick in a Vegas casino. Donn French was on next with his trained fleas. Darnay then shared an impromptu card prediction with a borrowed deck that he uses in social situations. Adam performed Art Emerson’s Color Monte which reminded Larry of the time Art sat next to him at a convention, poured a glass of what turned out to be Vodka from a Mr. Clean bottle, and offered it to Larry. Dave performed Card Warp. Dwight Exe threaded Jennifer’s ring on a rubber band and caused it to move uphill. Tom wrapped things up by showing the program from the Tenth Annual Conference on Magic History (held in Los Angeles in November 2007) on Dr. Hooker’s “Impossibilities and Rising Cards.”

In area magic news, Geoff Williams reported that he saw Litchfield, Minn. native Dan Sperry perform locally with about 300 people in attendance. Dan performed a very limited engagement here between the close of World’s Greatest Magic and starting in V, The Ultimate Variety Show in Las Vegas.

There were 30-40 people at last month’s event honoring Bruce Jensen. Will Earley did an excellent job as the lead organizer and spoke poignantly about Bruce’s influence in Will’s life and magic. Tom Olenick presented an excellent commemorative video with well-wishes from a prestigious group of magicians who Larry Kahlow helped contact.

Jerry Johnson’s cancer has recurred in multiple locations. He started chemo several weeks ago, had a stroke on Saturday, and is back in the hospital.

President Adam Moore shared a message from I.B.M. Ring 19 President Rick Andresen inviting all Assembly 12 members to attend the Ring 19 meeting on October 13th.

Geoff Williams will be at John Luka’s Motor City Close-Up Convention in November and at Fechter’s Finger Flicking Frolic in April. He will also be shooting a new single-trick DVD on Jack Elmsley’s LA Wowee Zowee Card Prediction Miracle.

As you know, or could probably guess from the preceding paragraph, Geoff is a great magician and a great teacher. We have all learned something from him either formally through his lectures and videos or informally after an Assembly meeting. So, in honor of Geoff, we asked everyone to perform “Something You Learned from Geoff Williams.”

Darnay began with Knot So Tuff, Larry Kalow demonstrated a Vanishing and Appearing Knot, Bruce Kilber shared Talking Jokers. Secretary/Treasurer Dave Taylor “stumbled through” Coincidence, and Adam showed Geoff’s set up for linking rubber bands. Then it was Geoff’s turn.

He started with Miracle Coin Vanish. Next was Arnold Schwarzenquarter by Scott Franz (based on Dizzy Dial). Geoff then performed and taught Card in Pocket which he introduced as a way to build confidence palming cards. He followed this with a routine Scott Franz created in response to spectators who showed him the 21 Card Trick. It’s the same effect — except the cards are face down. Geoff closed with Paul Harris’ Solid Deception.