Category Archives: Ring 129 News

For those of you not familiar with Michael’s work, he is an author, creator, performer and
consultant.

Stu Lewis performing June Ring 129 Meeting

August Ring Meeting Report 2018 by Alan Goodheart

Hard to believe summer is coming to an end, as we gathered for our August Ring meeting. President Lance Rich got us started hearing about the IBM Convention by a few of those that attended it. And he reminded us about our upcoming annual Ring Picnic hosted at Lake Jacomo by Kirk Deweese who docks his boat there. It is a great Sunday held where we share magic and friendships until the sun sets.

This month was called our “Summer Challenge”. Lance asked all members to take a look at magic they have had laying around in their drawers or wherever, get it out, and work on a new routine that you had meant to do months ago. And let’s see what they all came up with. Once you performed, you would get critiqued by the fellow Ring mem-bers on what they liked, and suggestions on how to improve the act.

Dennis Burks kicked off the evening handing out papers having songs with “Magic” in the title to members. They were placed in a box, and he “influenced” the song to be chosen, and proved it to be true with a prediction in plain sight the entire time.

Justin Brewer next got out his cards saying he could memorize the deck and find cards selected by two separate assistants. He did this using a double card at any number performance. It was truly amazing!

Keith Leff then showed us all a staple of his close up performances in which he has a Bic pen (white pen, black cap) and continued with his version of a coin and pen transposition making the coin appear and disappear, out of the pen cap, the coin into the wand, and the wand into the coin. Lots happened in a short time frame.

Lance joked that Tom Burgoon, standing near the stage, should come up and perform. Never wanting to disappoint, he came up and showed us something he had just started work on as a prototype, and it was in its infancy stage. He showed cards with four coins, one on each quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. He did a rendition of the Twisted Aces trick, making each coin appear and disappear, with the climax being the backs all change to different designs. Tom should “cash in” on this one just fine!

Next was John Hicks who was coaxed to per-form early. John started with two card decks, having someone guess a card. John takes the second deck, finding the card that was its match, and showing the rest of the deck to be blank. He called it “The Only One” and it is a John Hicks original.

Phil King never disappoints us and this month was no exception. He decided to try working on Larry Becker’s “Cardology” routine, where cards are shuffled, a birthday month is selected, and he shows the card in the position represented by the month selected. And he confirms by reading a letter given to Lance Rich long ahead of the meeting.

We always like it when we include the kids, and Brad Lynn took a deck of Dr. Seuss cards and per-formed a mental trick where an invisible colored magic marker is selected and a shape circle, heart, triangle, and square is selected as well. He shows a prediction that exactly matches.

All attending the meeting gave excellent comments to each performer, and various ways to improve their acts. And those of us not participating learned a LOT from all the positive comments shared by many.

Allen Goodheart

Lee’s Summit Downtown BASH!

Lee’s Summit “BIG BASH” Performance Night

Wednesday, March 28 2018, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Thanks to all of our Ring members who came out to perform at the Big Bash. It was wet and cold – but we had a good time. In addition to the locals from Lee’s Summit, our members (Tom Burgoon, Jack Reid Cunningham V, T-rav Nero, Gene Turner, Stu Lewis) magic was seen by 600 city planners and civic leaders from across the country. It was nice to see Rod Sipe, Julia Clark, Charles Martin Replogle, Beth Replogle out to enjoy the festivities. And great to see some of our allied variety artists (Martika Daniels, Beth Byrd-Lonski).

Huge thanks to Eddie Pease and Fringe Beerworks (which is really cool, btw) for providing us this opportunity. #KCMagic

Ring 129 Magic Auction 2018

Hard to believe but it is time again this year for Ring 129’s Annual Ring Magic Auction.  World Famous entertainer T. Texas Terry will be our Auctioneer / M.C. for the evening. It will be lively, fun, and exciting!

Join Ring 129 for another GREAT Magic Auction in Kansas City (Lenexa, KS). You will find bargains galore! FREE ADMISSION TO EVERYONE gets you in as a Buyer OR Seller – or BOTH!

Doors open at 6 pm; Auction starts at 7 pm. Food and adult beverages available at the bar adjacent to the auction.

– Admission is free to members and guests AND anyone may sign up and sell.

 (Make sure to invite all the Magicians in the area – even if they aren’t Ring members).

– The auction will start at 7:00 pm. Sellers may begin to put their items on the tables at 6:00 pm.
– Every seller gets 2 rounds with 5 lots each. (a total of 10 lots).
– After 2 Full Rounds a speed round of 2 Lots per person will commence until 10:00, at which point the auction will end.
– Buyers and sellers are encouraged to settle up after the action ends.
– Sellers fees are 10% for members and 15% for non-members and will go to Ring 129.
– Credit & Debit Cards fees will be added to buyer’s totals.

PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMAION ALONG TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP AND ANYONE WHO LOVES AN OPPORTUNITY TO SELL THEIR MAGIC OR BUY TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTIONS.  THANK YOU.

Location:

Clarion Hotel
12601 West 95th St.
Lenexa, KS 66215

Look forward to seeing you all in KC on April 12th.

Best,

Alan Goodheart

Past President, Ring 129

KANSAS CITY RING 129 HOSTS STAGE MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

By Stu Lewis

Ring 129 held its annual banquet and stage competition on the evening of January 20 at the Roeland Park Community Center.

Following a delicious catered dinner, we were ready for some magic.

Pete Walterscheid served as master of ceremonies for the competition. Instead of supplementing the performances of the contestants with his own magic repertoire, he chose instead to use humor (some of it rather corny) to fill the gaps between the acts.

This year three members acted as judges rather than having all members in the audience vote, a change from previous years.

Keith Leff was chosen as winner of the Enslow award, named for our late president H. Claude Enslow, whose daughter and great granddaughter were in attendance.

Roger Miller was first runner up, while Travis Porter took third place.

Pete Walterscheid and his wife Nancy did a comedy routine based on Johnny Carson’s “Carnac the Magnificent” (with a magic theme) while the judges were conferring.

We then presented plaques to two members who had worked countless hours to make our past two ‘Ring 129’s The Workshop’ a success—David Sandy, who organized and chaired the events; and Terry Magellssen (in absentia), whose tech work made the shows and lectures possible.

Seven members who had qualified in our quarterly contests were on hand to compete.

Phil King started the contest with a mentalism routine. As people entered the building, they were asked to write a four-digit number and drop it into a box.

Phil began the performance by having four numbers drawn at random and having the digits read off in apparently random order. He then showed that the total of the new numbers thus created matched his predicted total.

Keith Leff began his act with a flag-based routine, changing red, white, and blue silks to an American flag, and doing some rope tricks with red, white, and blue ropes. He concluded with “Snowstorm in China.

Youth magician Josephine Malia did a mock science lecture and showed remarkable poise in soldiering on despite technical difficulties that would have caused many magicians to panic. She concluded by fulfilling every girl’s fantasy—making her brother disappear (though she brought him back at the end).

Roger Miller did a gag card in balloon routine in which spectators “shot” at the balloons causing them to burst.

Stu Lewis did a couple of mental routines with seven audience volunteers—a Woody Aragon routine in which they tore cards in half and despite various counting and discarding of half-cards the last half-card left matched their “target” card; and Chris Carter’s “Vocabulation,” in which spectators mix face-up and face-down alphabet cards to arrive at the word “Miracle.

Travis Porter did a couple of danger effects, slamming his hand down on three Styrofoam cups, leaving the one with the spike under it intact; and having a spectator choose three of four staple guns to staple (without success) a card to his hand, after which he showed that the one gun not chosen actually was loaded with staples.

Justin Scott did a three-card monte with four cards and extracted a chosen card from a resealed deck.

We won’t know where Justin might have placed, since he exceeded the time limit and was therefore not eligible to win.

Finally, we inducted our new officers and recognized members for service to the Ring by either inducting new members into our honor society, the Sorcerers’ Circle, or awarding stars to present members who essentially requalified by continued service. Ring president Lance Rich was our one new member, and stars were awarded to Alan Goodheart, Phil King, Keith Leff, Chuck Replogle, and David Sandy.

We cannot end this article without giving credit to Duane and Janie Fields, who, as they have done for so many years, organized and chaired the event.

Stu

Final Chapter……

Authored by Laird Wilcox.

 On January 25th, Laird Wilcox, the writer of our monthly column, “The Card Corner” passed away at his home in Kansas City.

Laird was actually known by his family as Anthony or “Tony”. You see, Laird was the fourth of five “Laird” Wilcox’s!

In an interview with Laird’s father, now living in Olathe, Kansas, I was able to piece together some interesting facts about Laird. Though we mostly knew him through his involvement with the local I.B.M and S.A.M. magic clubs, Laird had several other interests and hobbies.

Laird was a trained Army Combat Medic Paratrooper. He spent two years in Germany and worked in several army hospitals during his military career. Following his term in the army, he worked as a nurse at various veteran hospitals including the VA Hospital in Kansas City.

During his life he was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to hunt, fish and camp. He also grew up with and loved guns and weapons and was an active member of the National Rifle Association. He was in line to be one of the official local representatives of the NRA.

Laird spent time traveling throughout Europe and became a very good amateur photographer.

Laird always liked messing around with cards. But, it was when he discovered the local magic clubs and card tricks that changed his life. Magic soon became an important part of his life. He became friends with many members of the local magic clubs and found a niche as a card guru. According to Laird’s father, “It was a natural fit.”

Laird’s death is still somewhat of a mystery.   The actual cause of death is still undetermined and no death certificate has yet been issued. It is estimated that he had been dead for two days before he was found in his home in Kansas City. He had been

going through some serious physical issues which were only known to a handful of people.

Laird willed most all of his magic to fellow ring member, Shawn Rivera.

Below is a copy of an obituary which Laird’s father had prepared for the Kansas City Star:

Laird Anthony Wilcox, 55, passed away at the age of 55 on 25 January 2018 in Kansas City, MO.  He leaves two sons, Laird J. Wilcox, 21, and Theodore A. Wilcox, 19, of Tulsa, OK; his father, Laird M. Wilcox of Olathe, KS; his mother, Eileen Maddocks, of Burlington, VT; two sisters, Elizabeth Carrier of Middletown, CT; Carrie Wilcox of Dry Ridge, KY; a niece, Christine Franklin of East Hartford, CT, and a large extended family.  He was interred at Leavenworth National Cemetery.

Laird “Tony” Wilcox was born in Topeka, KS on 18 November 1962.  He lived with his parents in Lawrence, KS, until 1966 when he moved with his mother and sister to Clinton, IA, and then to Houston, TX in 1967.  From there they moved to Middletown, CT in 1979 where he graduated from high school.  While in Middletown he accompanied his mother who was a tour leader on two trips to Egypt to visit the Pyramids at Giza in 1982 and 1983.

In 1983 he joined the U.S. Army where following basic training at Ft. Hood, TX, after which he took training as a qualified combat medic paratrooper at Fort Jackson, SC, and was assigned to the 1^st Cavalry Division in Fulda, Germany on the East German border.  He traveled widely when on leave in Europe, spending time in Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Greece.  He was an accomplished photographer and had photos of his travels published in a number of collections.

He returned to the United States in 1987 and was stationed at Ft. Riley, KS where he was assigned to Irwin Army Hospital, promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was subsequently assigned to the last remaining MASH unit held in reserve during Desert Storm in Iraq, ready to ship out at a moment’s notice.  He left the Army after 8 years of service in 1991 and moved to Skaneatles, NY, where he went to work for the Veteran’s Administration Hospital and remained for a year before transferring to the VA Hospital in Kansas City, MO in 1992.

In 1995 he married Ruth Ann Mason, daughter of Theodore and Ruth Mason of Tulsa, OK.  They had two boys mentioned above.  After their second son was born in 1998 Ruth Ann left for Tulsa, OK, to be near her parents and Tony moved to Olathe, KS, where he lived until he moved to Kansas City, MO in 2004.  He stayed at the VA Hospital for 12 years and then moved into private nursing until he retired in 2012.

Laird Anthony Wilcox was a member of Sons of the American Revolution, a hereditary organization of descendants of Revolutionary War veterans, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, a hereditary organization of descendants of Civil War Union Army officers.  He was a member of Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS and an Endowment Member of the National Rifle Association.

He was an accomplished amateur magician and was active in both the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) and the Society of American Magicians (SAM).  He performed for veterans at the VA Hospital and in the early 2000’s could be seen performing on the Country Club Plaza and other locations in Kansas City.  He was a regular attendant at conventions of both organizations and was well-regarded in both groups and good friends with a number of performing magicians.  

He will be deeply missed by his many friends and family members.

Kelly Rusk

Planet Comicon 2018 was February 16-18th and IBM Ring 129 was invited back for the second year in a row to entertain guests in the Planet Entertainment Zone.  Very special thanks go out to Jack Cunningham, Chuck Replogle, Brad Lynn, Dennis Burks, Julie Clark, Shaun Rivera, Rod Sipe, David Heeter, Justin Brewer, Daniel Mooncalf, Keith Leff, Israel and Millie Rivera, Todd Lamanske and David Sandy for their work in the booth.  This year Tom Burgoon, Terry Magelssen, and Lance Rich provided entertainment on the PEZ stage.  We sold some great magic items from our sales booth.  Planet Comicon hosted between 50,000 and 70,000 guests, so needless to say, a LOT of magic was performed for a LOT of people!

Magic, Magicians & Mayhem at the Mall!

Ring 129 Mall Show October 14th to support Workshop 2017 – Remember the days when malls and shopping centers would frequently hire magicians to entertain shoppers by performing magic shows several times on a Saturday afternoon?  It is more uncommon these days to hear of a mall offer live entertainment, but that’s all going to change on Saturday, October 14, 2017 when our Ring 129 and the East Hills Shopping Center in St. Joseph present MAGIC, MAGICIANS & MAYHEM AT THE MALL.  This is basically a Ring 129 fundraiser to help supplement the revenues needed to produce the WORKSHOP on November 8-11, 2017, also in St. Joseph.

Ring member and WORKSHOP Executive Director, David Sandy, met with the East Hills Shopping Center management and contracted with them on the idea of doing a full day of magic at the mall.  The event would include three stage shows (at 11am, 1pm and 3pm), strolling magicians, balloon sculpting, busker-style magic performances, and even beginner magic classes for youth.  The day’s activities begin at 11am and everything will wrap up by 4pm.

Those Ring members and area magicians performing include Tom Burgoon, Lance Rich, Korso, Willy Leiva, Brad Lynn, Shaun Rivera, Justin Scott, Jack Cunningham, Darrin Springs and David Sandy.  All Ring members are invited to attend the festivities and join in on the fun!  We will also be promoting the International Superstars of Magic & Comedy show that will be held at the Missouri Theatre in St. Joseph on Saturday, November 11 (the final night’s show of the WORKSHOP).