WOW!!! Time magically flies by and the IBM RING 22 is once again wrapping up another spectacular year for 2023! I’d like to send my sincerest THANK YOU to EVERYONE involved in our ongoing and highly successful “magic project” - The DETROIT MAGIC CLUB! Through your collective efforts - members, guests, out-of-town friends from other states (including other countries!), and fellow officers (VP FRED LENTER, Treasurer ROBERT PURCELL, Advisors KEITH FIELDS, ANDY MAKAR) - our club made record-breaking annual history! On a personal note, I will forever appreciate your continued support, encouragement, and friendship – it is what I cherish MOST whenever I reflect on the magical wonders within our club! THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!
It is impossible to summarize our organization’s year-long achievements in a single message - there are simply too many GREAT THINGS that all of YOU bring to our club at each and every event. Yet, with every Yuletide season, I think it’s important to share at least SOME of RING 22’s notable moments during this past year - I may be biased here but I’m enormously proud and grateful for YOUR commitment, energy, and enthusiasm, making our club the most unique (if not THE BEST) magic club ever!
Our recent Holiday Club Meeting (12/14/2023) was a sensational success, with 70 members and guests attending a truly magical evening filled with great magic, fun, and fellowship. Special thanks goes to club member and caterer RICK RAIMONDO (AllAboutCateringllc.Com) for preparing another amazing feast, and our esteemed guests, master magician MING LOUIE and his charming wife BARBARA, provided an outstanding surprise magic performance! Our IBM TERRITORIAL VP, JEFF BRODRICK and company, traveled all the way from Grand Rapids to join us and celebrate the holiday cheer (!), and we all enjoyed “LIVE” music (played by our guest/professional harpist, PAT TAIT)! Perhaps most significant was the enormous generosity of our members, “paying it forward” and gifting valuable magic items to just about everyone, literally guaranteeing another unforgettable holiday bash! As always, four lucky winners received gift certificates (courtesy of RING 22!) to our favorite store, the WUNDERGROUND MAGIC SHOP!
But our magical fun in 2023 didn’t begin or end there…
We received countless positive responses to the informative workshop segments and strong performances presented by members and guests at every meeting (now regularly averaging 40-50 people!), and a “hats-off” must be given to our spotlighted performers who opened every meeting with an extended “mini-show”. Following every event our club magic continued with well-attended AFTERGLOW sessions - now a much anticipated and welcomed tradition! In addition to our IN-HOUSE lectures (thanks to our Canadian members, CHRIS PHILPOTT and ERIC BEDARD), we also hosted three wonderful GUEST lectures, presented by CHRIS CARTER, FENIK, and GEORGE TAIT. Let’s not forget our very successful and completely free MAGIC FLEA MARKET & SWAP MEET last August and our TAILGATE MAGIC PARTY & BBQ at the home of KEITH and SARAH FIELDS (who generously allowed 50 or so magicians to invade their magical residence last September!). Also deserving of mention are those terrific event summaries which are regularly submitted by one of our club members from Ohio, NORM CATTELL, and published each month in the IBM LINKING RING magazine! No doubt about it, there’s always plenty of impressive activity buzzing within this club, and true to our philosophy, these events are fully funded by RING 22 whenever possible!
And our magical fun in 2023 wasn’t limited to events…
I’m sure we are all proud of the many magical accomplishments of our wide-ranging membership. At our May 16th Meeting we were ALL honored and recognized with an in-person presentation from a leader of magic, the IBM PRESIDENT BILLY HSEUH (!), and this year, two of our youngest magicians, FERRAN POAGE and DREYGON HIBBLER, won 1st and 2nd place in the 2023 IBM Convention Close-Up Competition (HOLY COW!). Looking at the “big picture”, RING 22 plays only one small part of our incredible magic community at large, and we’re glad to support and acknowledge our nearby neighbors, the Ann Arbor Magic Club RING 210, Toledo’s RING 68, and the ABC SAM Club. Working together, we will all inevitably strengthen and foster much more extraordinary magic in 2024!
Our magical fun in 2023 will continue…
Speaking of next year (with 2024 just days away!), we’re “rolling out the carpet” for another whirlwind year, and RING 22 has already made preparations for a COIN LECTURE featuring the masterful coin manipulation of RICK HOLCOMBE (!), as well as a lecture by one of Michigan’s most celebrated magicians, NATE KRANZO! There’ll be much more to come - we hope you all will stay tuned and continue to read my rather long email announcements for updates! Forging ahead, please keep us in mind with your monthly plans next year – we are only as strong as our membership, and YOU are the SECRET MAGICAL ELIXIR that propels us forward! If you haven’t signed up already, please visit DetroitMagic.Club and join our ranks SOON! Remember, we’re more than a monthly club meeting, we’re a MONTHLY CONVENTION!
We’re looking forward to seeing all of you at our next meeting on TUESDAY JANUARY 16, 2024 at 7:15 PM EST (Spirit of Christ/Trinity Lutheran Church, 749 W. 14 Mile Rd., Clawson, MI) - featuring the amazing magic of JOSH WILDE and a few other surprises to kick off the new year! Best wishes to everyone this holiday season and in 2024!