An evening of dinner and magic with Andy Dallas will again be presented at Busboom Castle on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 18, 19, and 20. Dinner starts at 6:00pm with the magic show to follow. Only 60 tickets are available for each show. Tickets are available at Dallas & Co. 217-351-5974. The flier is available in the link below.
5 Comments
The book Chris reviewed at the last meeting is called, "Memoirs of an Elusive Moth Disappearing Nightly with Harry Blackstone & his Show of 1001 Wonders." The author is Adele Friel Rhindress. The book details the memories of a performer in Harry Blackstone, Senior's touring show from 1947 to 1950. It is available at http://www.squashpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=256&osCsid=8814bbf6655111284c61969162fd7ca7
Our next club VA show will be on Saturday, June 18, at 2:00pm. All are encouraged to attend and perform. If you plan to attend, please call Chris Bontjes at 442-6244 to let him know you are coming and what effects you plan to perform. If you have not been to the VA before, make sure you get directions. It is NOT easy to find!
Chris Bontjes is participating in the MDA Lockup. He is trying to raise $800.00 in "bail" - the cost of sending one sick child to summer camp. You can help by going to http://www.joinmda.org/2011vermilioncounty/christopher and making a donation. All donations are completely tax deductable and all money raised goes to help local kids and their families.
Hello Everyone!
Wow! I’ve got a bunch of exciting news for you this month. So settle back and enjoy what promises to be a longer-than-normal newsletter. S.A.M. New Assembly Member Incentive When your Assembly gets new members, your Assembly gets FREE MAGIC! · Recruit 3-5 new members and your Assembly gets a Creative Magic award package worth $80.00! · Recruit 6 or more new members and your Assembly gets a Creative Magic award package worth $240.00!! · Recruit enough new members and your Assembly could win a Creative Magic award package worth $700.00!!! No extra paperwork! Your Assembly gets credit for every new S.A.M. member added to its roster! Every Assembly can win!! Contest ends April 30, 2011, so go out and recruit a new S.A.M. member today! More details can be found at http://www.magicsam.com/contest.asp It seems like every month I tell you something new about the upcoming S.A.M. Convention in Pittsburgh. This month is no exception. In fact, I have two new tidbits of information about the convention. In addition to all of the other great stuff I’ve already told you about, this year’s convention will also feature comedy magic from the likes of Dave Kaplan (one of my favorite comedy magicians), “Haywire”, comedy juggler Howard Mincone, Bill Cornelius and John Hromada. And, for those of you who are collectors, make sure you bring some of your old pieces of magic. The S.A.M. will have experts on hand to tell you all about your treasures. Think of it as sort of an “Antiques Roadshow” for magicians. You can find an up to date listing of the lectures, shows, performers, events and other fun stuff at www.magicsam.com. Do you know someone who is on active duty in the military and enjoys magic? The S.A.M. is proud to offer a special military discount for those serving our country. The paperless membership is only $35 per year for active Military personnel. For more information, or to find an application form, go to www.magicsam.com. If you do school shows, you know that schools are looking for assemblies with messages on topics like bullying, substance abuse, peer pressure, health and safety to name just a few. The S.A.M. has just started something that I know you’re going to like. It’s a new WIKI site that lets S.A.M. members learn about special presentations and allows you to share ideas and suggestions with one another School show performer and S.A.M. member Bob Carroll and PNP Bruce Kalver have teamed up to create a site that’s full of information and ideas that will help you create a terrific school show...or if you already have a terrific school show, you may find ideas to make it even better. This valuable resource just launched about a week ago, so it’s still rather small, but it’s bound to grow pretty quickly. In fact, I have a few ideas I’m planning on posting in the next day or two. Interested? Go to www.magicsam.com/SAMSAM to register. This is a free site, but you must be an S.A.M. member to access it. Don’t forget that the S.A.M. is still accepting applications from young magicians to be a part of the Stars of Tomorrow show at the National Convention. If you know someone age 7-17 who’s interested in performing in Pittsburgh, let them know they can find an application at www.magicsym.com or by contacting Marlene Clark at 860-349-8149 or at [email protected]. March 11th & 12th, I’m going to be representing you at the National Council Meeting in Orlando, Florida. If you have any items you’d like me to bring to the attention of the National Council, please let me know as soon as possible. I will be unavailable February 16th through March 2nd, but I’ll respond to any messages as quickly as I can after that. Since I am going to be unavailable at the end of the month, my next newsletter will come in early March. Finally, as I mentioned in my last newsletter, I’ve made it a resolution to leave you with something at the end of each newsletter that hopefully you’ll find useful. Here’s my little contribution for this month: Here’s the scenario...You’ve just done a great show and someone comes up to you and asks you for a card. You reach in your wallet...or purse...or wherever you carry your business cards only to find that you’re out. You’re stuck writing your information on the back of a bar napkin and hoping that the person will call you. It’s happened to me, so I decided to do something about it. Get one of those cheap plastic business card holders or even a picture holder for your wallet and put a few business cards in there. Next, get some velcro and attach that holder to the inside of your table or case. Then, every time you load your table or case at home, take a minute to make sure that holder is filled with cards. Trust me, when you can’t find one in your wallet, you’ll be thankful that you have a back-up stash of cards handy. Have a fantastic February everyone! Yours in M-U-M, -Jeff Sikora S.A.M. Midwest Regional Vice President National Magic Week Chair (402) 339-6726 CIMA NEWSLETTER
Feb 2011 We have a new CIMA web site. Our last host levitated our price so we suspended the contract. The new site is free and as such is much more affordable. http://cimagic.weebly.com/index.html. Chris did a nice job setting it up. ELECTIONS: Club elections are this month. Anyone who wants to be an officer must be a member of both the IBM and SAM as we are a combined group. The proposed roster is as follows: President – Jim Percy Vice President – Professor Rob Higgins Treasurer – Dennis Reed Secretary – Ken Barham Retired Ladies Man, and All Around Nice Guy – JR Thomas The slate was accepted unanimously but can be amended prior to the election. If YOU are interested in being an officer, be there and tell us. I here the Secretary is a bit weak and could be toppled with little to no bloodshed. There are 4 appendices at the end of the newsletter. Be sure to check them out. Reviews of the lectures by Rob Thompson and Don England were enthusiastic and positive. It is great that kind of talent locally. Lectures coming soon to an Urbana Civic Center near you: Keith Fields - March 1st at 6:30. We have had some excellent reviews of his lectures and performances. See below the newsletter for an introduction letter from Keith. Eric Fischer – Sometime in March or April. Aldo Columbini – We may try to get Aldo to stop by on his farewell America tour. He is moving back to Italy. New Magic Web sites to check out: http://magicnewstelevision.com/ http://canadasmagic.blogspot.com/2011/01/eric-leclercs-project-365.html - Eric Leclerc will post a new trick online every day for a year. February’s theme will be Sponge Magic. March will be Magic with liquids. I hear some liquids, if used correctly, can make ugly people attractive and even make their judgement disappear. Chris gave a report on a book he is reading called “Slight of Mind” written by a couple of neuro scientists. You won’t learn tricks per se but it explains the science behind concepts such as misdirection. If you want to know WHY what we do works, this may be the book for you. Andy showed off a ten dollar craft bag that he purchased several of to carry effects around in. It was a handy little thing and I bet Walmart is first going to run out and then overstock them after the rush of CIMA members buying them up. January’s topic was silk magic. Pedro opened with silk ranch using 2 assistants. Kemal gave a history of silk and silk magic. JR took the floor with silk to eraser, left handed knot, ghost knot. Jim did a nice job with Invisible Paint. Prof Higgins followed with Silk through a chair leg. Chris did a color changing silk that becomes a two color silk. Andy came forward with his version of the color changing silk with a slight modification of the gimmick and his version of the move. The next meeting is Wed Feb 16th at 7 PM at Dallas and Company. Bring your sponges and soak up some ideas. See ya at the meeting, Ken Barham Co-Secretary CIMA CIMA Newsletter
January 2011 The December meeting found us at the beginning of a snowstorm but that couldn’t dampen the spirits of those made it in. First up, the club will be doing a show for the VA in Danville on Jan 22 (Sat) at 10:00 AM. This is always a lot of fun and they really appreciate our coming over. I urge anyone who can make it to come entertain these very deserving veterans. It’s the least we can do. After the VA show, we will head east to Covington Indiana for lunch at the Beef House with the Indianapolis group. I imagine that will be a load of fun as well as very tasty. ELECTIONS: Elections will be held at the February meeting. To be an officer, you must be a member of both the IBM and SAM. To vote you must be a paid member of CIMA. Pedro did our DVD review this month giving Armstrong – Card Magic two thumb tips up. It is a three DVD set. In Tales From The Trenches, Andy discussed his concept of a False Start to a show. This is a bit of show before the show to change the dynamics of the performer/audience relationship. This brought about a lot of interesting ideas, comments and questions. Andy also discussed Close-Up Magic by Harry Lorraine. A great read with some great tricks in it. Chris showed us a program he bought called Magic Database, which catalogs everything you have. He is very happy with it. Paul agreed to do a book report for January. In the magic portion of the evening, Paul discussed his Card In The Balloon routine and some problems that may arise. He also did his version of Color Monte. Pedro did a nice version of a selected card turning face down in the deck. The idea was brought up that at each meeting, a card move be taught and practiced with variations. This would allow us to improve or increase our skills and techniques. January’s topic is Silk. February is Sponge Ken Barham Co-Secretary CIMA Below are two Newsletters from the SAM RVP Hello Everyone and Happy New Year. I’d like to start the year off on the right foot by introducing myself (or re-introducing myself to most of you.) I’m your S.A.M. Regional Vice President. My job is to act as the primary contact between your Assembly and the National Council. If you have any questions, problems, concerns or suggestions that you’d like to bring to the attention of the National Council, please get in contact with me. At the beginning of each month, you’ll be receiving a Regional Vice President Newsletter from me via e-mail. In fact, the one for January will be in your mailbox shortly. I’d like to ask that you make every effort to get this newsletter to your members. This can be done in a variety of ways. The easiest way is to forward the e-mail to them. You could also print the newsletter in your Assembly Newsletter. Or, read it during the business portion of your next meeting. Some Assemblies are even posting it on their websites. These monthly newsletters tell your members what’s going on with the S.A.M. and let them know about the many benefits of being a member of the S.A.M. If you are not the person I should be sending this newsletter to, please get in touch with me and let me know the name and e-mail address of the person I should be sending it to. I hope had a very happy holiday season and I’m looking forward to working with you to help make 2011 a magical year for your Assembly, Yours in M-U-M, -Jeff Sikora S.A.M. Midwest Regional Vice President National Magic Week Chairman (402) 339-6726 [email protected] Happy New Year Everyone! I have a feeling that this Newsletter is going to be a little longer than usual because there’s so much to talk about. First of all, if you’re within driving distance of Omaha, Assembly #7 would like to invite you to their annual Wizard’s Banquet next Saturday night, January 8th. This is a wonderful gala which includes a cocktail hour featuring strolling magicians, a wonderful dinner, an awards ceremony and a great magic show. This year, Assembly #7 is proud to welcome S.A.M. President Mark Weidhaas as a special honored guest. Go to their website, www.omahamagicalsociety.com for more information. Does your Assembly or your S.Y.M. Assembly have outstanding young magicians? Let them know about the “Stars of Tomorrow” show at the S.A.M. National Convention, July 13-16 in Pittsburgh. The “Stars of Tomorrow” show is now looking for magicians ages 7 through 17 to perform in this year’s show. Not only do these young performers get great experience and international exposure, but they also earn a fee for performing. Personally, I never miss the “Stars of Tomorrow” show at the National Convention. It always inspires me to watch them. If you know someone who might want to perform this summer, they can find more information at www.magicsym.com/sot.asp or, contact Marlene Clark at [email protected] or at (860) 349-8149. The deadline for the application is April 20, 2011. Speaking of the S.A.M. National Convention... I’m getting more and more excited about this one. “The Stars of Tomorrow Show”, The North American Championship of Magic (the gateway to performing at FISM in 2012), a performance by Michael Grasso from “America’s Got Talent”, a terrific dealer’s room, lots of lectures, a tremendous banquet and a few other cool things that I’m not at liberty to talk about just yet...maybe next month. Oh yeah, and the honoree this year will be the legendary Hank Moorehouse. I’d like to urge your Assembly to help honor Hank by putting an ad in the convention program. Hank Moorehouse has been a great ambassador for magic and the S.A.M. for many years. I think this would be a great way to say “thanks.” I hope to have more information on who to contact in my next newsletter. Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions this year? I did. My resolutions encompass both my magic life and my personal life. In 2010 I lost about 40 lbs. The holidays put about 5 pounds back on me, so one of my resolutions is to get back on track and lose that final 10-ish pounds and reach my weight loss goal. I also want to donate one show per month to a charitable cause. If I went back and looked, I’d probably see that I already do this, but I just want to make it official. Another one of my resolutions is to visit more Assemblies and go to more local magic conventions in 2011 so I can meet more of you. Finally, I’m making a resolution to give a solid tip or piece of advice in each RVP Newsletter this year. Here’s my piece of advice for this month. Invest a couple of dollars in a carpet remnant. I’ve seen them at hardware stores, furniture stores, even some grocery stores. If you can’t find carpet remnants, buy a small rug. Here’s why you need one of these. If you have a rolling suitcase table, or any other table that has ever touched the ground, the bottom is going to be dirty. Especially this time of year. You don’t want to put those dirty wheels down on someone’s carpet. Put a rug or remnant down first and then set your table on it. You might also want to consider buying some disposable shoe covers to wear in someone’s house. Think about it. We live in the Midwest and no matter how much we wipe our feet, our shoes are still going to be dirty. Plus, putting down a protective rug and wearing shoe covers shows that you obviously respect your client’s property and that little extra effort could lead to a nice tip at the end of the show. Have a wonderful, safe month. -Jeff Sikora S.A.M. Midwest Regional Vice President (402) 339-6726 |
CIMA NewslettersNews and events of the Central Illinois Magic Association. Archives
July 2011
Categories |