Society of American Magicians - Ralph Greenwood Assembly #174

04/05/2026

It's going to be a busy, fun, hopefully not too crazy 2026 tour!

03/17/2026

Here is a sequence of images as Club Past President, Wes Booth, finishes performing Derrick Dingle's COLOR TRIUMPHANT out of the book, Dingle's Deceptions.

01/31/2026

February 8th - Maine Magic Meeting is Cancelled.
Super Bowl LX - Patriots vs Seahawks

UP NEXT!
March 15th - Scot's Theme - Beginner Tricks:
Give an experienced presentation using an effect that can be found in a beginner magic kit or a beginner magic book.

There has been a trend of magic products that have traditionally been part of beginner magic kits. Dan Harlan has produced a pro-version of Color Vision Box called Mental Block. David Regal put out a pro-version of the boomerang illusion called "The Long and Short of It". TCC has versions of the ball and vase, the drawer box and others. Of course, you are free to use cups and balls, and other items found in beginners magic kits. Your are also within the theme to perform an effect that can be found in beginner magic books.

April 12th - Wes's Theme Gaffed Coins, also Wes will give a 10/15 minute talk on Routining/putting a show together.

01/07/2026

Kudos to Scot Grassette for his Assembly report highlighting former S.A.M. President, Wes Booth's contribution to our meeting.
Booth said, "While reading a biography of W.C. Fields, I discovered that he had contributed 2 tricks to the reknown, P.T. Selbit's 1901 "Magician's Handbook." In one of the tricks the audience was convinced they were witnessing a true miracle, only to have their beliefs dashed the next second. Reactions were interesting. Some laughed sheepishly for allowing themselves to be conned and some were irrate at being lied to during the build up. Intrigued, I ordered the ebook and devoured Field's chapter. I loved the bit, and saw how it could be worked with other angles, and started presenting it as a juggling feat with 4 decks of cards! It's a nice bit of nonsense and I love doing it."

12/26/2025

We will meet Sunday January 11th for our annual Yankee Swap and Magic JAM. Please bring a new or lightly used magic item wrapped up with a value of at least $20. Following the Swap we will do an Open Magic JAM "Perform or Pass" until we run out of time. We will gather at a local eatery following the JAM!

We talked about this at the December Christmas event:
The 4 performers who volunteered for the Christmas fundraiser shows will get a month in their honor and will choose a month and choose the theme for that month. Wes and Scot are on the agenda and Dennis and Carroll will also have a month in their honor.

These are the dates for the next 4 months of magic meetings:

January 11th - Yankee Swap and Open Magic JAM
February 8th - Scot's Theme - Beginner Tricks - give an experienced presentation using an effect that can be found in a beginner magic kit or a beginner magic book.
March 15th - TBA
April 12th - Wes's Theme Gaffed Coins, also Wes will give a 10/15 minute talk on Routining/putting a show together.

12/10/2025

Some members of the MagiKings donated their time and talent to a worthy holiday cause that also benefited our club! L to R we have Conjuring Carroll, Mr. Magic, Scot Grassette, and Magic Wes Wonder. Photo credit: Bryan Taylor.

10/24/2025

10/20/2025

Here's my report for October. Please share photos you may have taken here in the comments!

Our October meeting consisted of the Jim Sisti Lecture, nothing more nothing less. (We skipped the business meeting and any other discussions and focused on the lecture at hand.) Knowing that Jim and Sandy Sisti resided in New England and within driving distance to our meetings here in Maine we've been tossing this idea for a "Jim Sisti Lecture" around for years. At this year's NEMCON held in Connecticut last March we made an in-person connection and set the lecture up for October.

As many of you know Mr. Sisti is a prolific writer and producer of many magic projects including his very popular and almost out of print "The Magic Menu" hard cover book set. The effects that he shared with us included what he explained as "greatest hits" for his years of performing table side, stage and parlor. Jim opened with Ring and String, and as I watched I couldn't help think, "That's really smooth". He then explained the 3 phase effect and finale with the reasons why it appeared different than other R&S routines. Many times the string whips through the ring and there's a "tell", Jim explained how he eliminates those telling moments. This routine was thoughtfully explained once, using a regular signet ring, and once using a heavy-duty jumbo ring that was gifted to him at a magic conference. FYI - The routine can be found on his Penguin Live lecture. He then moved into Signed Business Card Transpo which leaves a business card on the table for whoever may want to pick it up. He showed us Aces Under Control by Marlo. He performed "Mixed Symbols" with jumbo ESP cards which fooled me badly, and would play well in parlor or stage. He ended the lecture with Jazzy Transpo, a very visual and clean transposition of 4 cards from hand to table. The Sisti lecture was interwoven with stories, theory, and "real work" presentations. His approachable demeanor, professionalism and bits of humor was appreciated by everyone in attendance.

09/21/2025

September 14th Magic Meeting - Escape!

Quick business was followed by plenty of magic. We mixed things up by starting with "off topic". First up Wes Booth had some Show & Tell with some items he's been working on including a shrinking wand which shrunk when pushed into a block of wood, and a fire effect with a hand held lamp of flames that turned into a bouquet of flowers. Scot demo'd Persona by David Jonathan. Alola Morrison's persona was found to be Awesome! Joel Riemersma ran through a couple coin routines including Misbehaving and Never 2 Without 4. Joel is earning his title of Maine's coin guy. Geoff Miller had a couple of effects that fooled Penn and Teller, and are works in progress including Artimus, the appearing card and Flip, the coin divination effect.
The topic of the month was Escapes, Dennis Labbe kicked it off with Losander's Chain Breaker. Dennis's forefinger and thumb were tapped together and he magically penetrated various items including a chain, a chair and Karen Seymore's necklace. Last spring Scot put on a set of classes for kids and showcased them in a performance open to the public and was willing to put on a mini workshop for the group. He opened by having Karen demonstrate the Siberian Chain Escape also known as one of Houdini's favorite escapes. There were several chains and locks available and the group worked together to get their wrists chained, and locked only to escape in seconds. The next escape was the Houdini wrist tie, and similarly after being shown the method the group was tied up and escaping in quick order. Scot also showed and demonstrated gimmic hand cuffs, shackles, mail bag, thumb cuffs. Time was running out in the meeting but he managed to show the Fisher Bamburg Packing box Escape featured in Tarbell. It's a very clever method to escape from an ungimmicked box which was built during the pre-show in front of the audience. If you're curious it can be found in Tarbell vol. 6. The escapes continued at our regular post meeting gathering at Margarita's where Scot taught the Kellar Rope Tie out of ear shot of regular customers.

Thanks for the photos Wes Booth

08/12/2025

Maine Magicians gather for a fun carnival themed bbq with prizes for contests including dart in balloon, ring toss, guess how many thumb tips in the jar. We also had 3 topics for trivia that included Magic in TV and Movies, Who Invented This?, and Songs With Magic. There was a prize for each category. We enjoyed burgers for lunch and sausage for supper. There was plenty of good discussions around magic and performance and great opportunity to just relax and socialize with each other. Plans and a date for next year are in the works!

07/21/2025

NEMCON 2026
March 6th, 7th, 8th.

More info to come when it becomes available!