{"id":496,"date":"2026-09-30T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T17:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/?p=496"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T19:42:23","slug":"496","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/496\/","title":{"rendered":"KC Magic News October 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5911 size-large\" style=\"color: var(--text-color); font-size: 1rem; font-weight: bold;\" src=\"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front-1024x586.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front-1024x586.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front-300x172.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front-768x440.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front-500x286.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Westport-Flea-Market-Front.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>RING 129. HEART OF AMERICA RING. Meets first Thursday of every month at AT BOWERY THEATER\u00a0 (BEHIND WESTPORT FLEA MARKET) 817 PENNSYLVANIA, KANSAS CITY<em>, MO 64111<\/em> President: Kelly Rusk,\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ring 129 report for September 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1>Ring 129 Has a Lot to Report This Month<\/h1>\n<p>Ring 129 has a lot to report this month.<\/p>\n<h2>A Visit from Jamie Williams<\/h2>\n<p>First, at the end of August, we were treated to a lecture by British magician <strong>Jamie Williams<\/strong>. He was very entertaining and gave us a lot of tips, including the choreography involved in presenting card tricks. He also had a lot of unusual items available for sale.<\/p>\n<h2>September Was Houdini Month<\/h2>\n<p>September was <strong>Houdini Month in Kansas City<\/strong>, per an official proclamation from the Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. More on this later in the column.<\/p>\n<p>Our September meeting focused on Houdini. We began by watching part of a film featuring some of his best-known escapes, including a recording of his voice.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kelly Rusk<\/strong> showed us some comic books from his personal collection that featured Houdini. <strong>Duane Fields<\/strong> gave us a bit of Ring 129 history, reporting that the late <strong>Harry Otto<\/strong>, who was called the \u201cDean of Kansas City Magic,\u201d worked with Houdini. Those of us who have been with the Ring for about half a century remember Harry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dennis Burks<\/strong> displayed several books on Houdini from his personal collection.<\/p>\n<h2>Quarterly Contest<\/h2>\n<p>We then moved on to our quarterly contest, which determines who will qualify to compete in our annual contest for <strong>Magician of the Year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Phil Franklin<\/strong> performed a mentalism routine based on the game of <em>Clue<\/em>, but it broke down due to a mix-up in the instructions he gave to the spectator.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Samuel Bricker<\/strong> performed a routine based on a Lota Bowl, which stood for a spittoon.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Harry Schuman<\/strong> performed a routine involving the manipulation of a Losander floating table.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the voting, <strong>Samuel Bricker<\/strong> was chosen to advance to the annual contest.<\/p>\n<h2>Show Me the Magic<\/h2>\n<p>In the open <strong>\u201cShow Me the Magic\u201d<\/strong> segment of the meeting:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Steve Steiner<\/strong> performed a gag routine with a foam-rubber camera.<\/li>\n<li><strong>John Hicks<\/strong> performed a four-ace routine.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adam Brown<\/strong> mystified us with a mentalism routine utilizing a cellphone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Houdini Comes Home to Kansas City<\/h2>\n<p>Now for the most important event of the year.<\/p>\n<p>For the past year, <strong>Dennis Burks<\/strong> has been heading up an effort, in coordination with our local SAM Assembly, to have a plaque erected commemorating the spot in downtown Kansas City, Missouri\u2014<strong>Tenth and Main Streets<\/strong>\u2014where Harry Houdini first performed his trademark routine: the <strong>upside-down straitjacket escape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>His efforts paid off during September 9\u201311.<\/p>\n<h3>John Cox Lecture<\/h3>\n<p>On September 9, <strong>John Cox<\/strong>, perhaps the world\u2019s greatest expert on Houdini\u2019s life and career, gave a lecture at the downtown Public Library on Houdini\u2019s life, focusing on his connection with Kansas City.<\/p>\n<p>Much of what Cox presented was information that most of us were not aware of. The event drew a large crowd\u2014not just of magicians, but also members of the general public.<\/p>\n<h3>The Houdini Plaque Unveiling<\/h3>\n<p>Two days later, we held the actual unveiling of the plaque in conjunction with <strong>SAM Assembly 38<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>John Cox gave a brief summary of what he had discussed in greater detail two days earlier. <strong>Kelly Rusk<\/strong> and <strong>Matt Gurley<\/strong>, presidents of the Ring and Assembly, respectively, followed with their remarks, including the reading of the mayor\u2019s proclamation naming <strong>September 2026 as Houdini Month<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This was followed by the actual unveiling of the plaque, which was financed by both the <strong>IBM<\/strong> and the <strong>SAM<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, as a fitting conclusion, our own <strong>Lance Rich<\/strong> performed the <strong>upside-down straitjacket escape<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to our extensive publicity, in addition to a large number of magicians, <strong>more than 100 members of the general public<\/strong> were in attendance.<\/p>\n<p>It was a fitting conclusion to the seemingly endless hours of work put in by the two clubs.<\/p>\n<p>==Stu Lewis, ring reporter<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; RING 129. HEART OF AMERICA RING. Meets first Thursday of every month at AT BOWERY THEATER\u00a0 (BEHIND WESTPORT FLEA MARKET) 817 PENNSYLVANIA, KANSAS CITY, MO 64111 President: Kelly Rusk,\u00a0 Ring 129 report for September 2026. Ring 129 Has a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/496\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":144,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5912,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions\/5912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ring129.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}