Danny Archer
Danny Archer hails from Denver, and is an experienced magician whose material has been gaining acclaim from magicians around the world. His marketed effects (Birthday Banner, Eye Exam, Grandpa's Deck, to name a few) have become smash hits. Danny has been a professional magician/entertainer for many years. In the world of magic he has done it all, from owning a magic store, to TV work, family shows, restaurant magic, dealer, lecturer, manufacturer, trade show worker and more. He is also the director of the Magicians Lecture Network, through which we book many of the great lectures that we enjoy.
His lecture is called Working Alone , and has been praised for the wealth of usable, commercial material. His lecture is chock full of solid audience tested close-up, stand-up, and mental magic. All the effects are fully explained and use simple and engaging props, with devastating results.
If you come to the regular meeting place (Rm. 210, Colorado State Office Bldg., 3842 S. Mason St.) at the regular meeting time (7:30 pm) on Thursday, June 17th, I think you'll be pleased to see yet another quality lecture. There will be no admission charge. The cost of this lecture is being absorbed by the club as a benefit of membership to the Presto-Digitators.
News Clips
Graphic Arts on Display The Presto-Digitators are playing the role of "clients" to the CSU Summer Graphic Art Design class this year. The students are working on graphic materials for a "marketing" package for the "clients" (us). This provides them some real world experience in their chosen area and provides us with some graphic materials that could be used for some club events (e.g.., MITR). Some of the students work will be on display at the June 17th meeting and input on this work from anyone present will be appreciated.
M.I.T.R. Not much new to tell this month. The line up is lined up; the halls are rented; the band is... well, there is no band, but we're about ready to "rock 'n roll". There are a few chores that we could use some help with (both during and preceding the convention). If you think you might like to help out, please contact Tim Pendergast, [(970) 225-0708, Penderwiz@aol.com], or any other club officer.
A couple of other things to remember... The deadline to reserve a room at the Marriot at the special conference rate of $79.00 per night, is August 12th. You can call the Marriot toll free at 1-800-548-2635. The deadline for early registration ($99 for Blue Ribbon) is August 1st. After that the Blue Ribbon registration goes up to $109. Also remember that our club website is a great place to find the most current info on the convention. Tell your friends.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, July 7th, is the date for the next planning mtg. We are meeting at the Colorado Sate Office Bldg., 3842 S. Mason St. at 6:00 pm. As always, any and all members are welcome to join us for discussion of upcoming club events. We often end up (at CooperSmith's) actually discussing magic after the planning of the next meeting or two, so think about stopping in sometime and joining the fun.
On June 18th & 19th the Relay for Life (a benefit for cancer research) will be held at the Rocky Mt. High School Track. The Presto-Digitators have volunteered to provide some magical entertainment at various times during this event. While we already have a few people lined up for this, there is plenty of room for anyone looking for performing experience. Call Tim Pendergast or Lew Wymisner for more information.
The annual "President's Picnic" is scheduled for Saturday, July 10th at 1:00 pm at the Pendergast Presidential Residence (1032 Boltz Dr., Ft. Collins). More details to follow.
On Thursday, July 22nd, 7:30 pm we will be presenting a lecture by Alain Nu. Mr. Nu, originally from Hawaii, is becoming quite popular in the magic community. Highlighting his lecture will be a fresh approach to impromptu effects, close-up magic and "visual" mentalism. Admission will be $5 for members and $10 for non-members.
Thursday, August 19th, 7:30 pm will be a regular meeting. Subject will be a Creativity Workshop. Details will be forthcoming.
Immediately preceding the August 19th meeting, at 6:30 pm, we will have the next "Quarterly State of the Club meeting". Food will be provided for those attending the early meeting, but I'm not sure what kind just yet.
Presto-Digitator's Web Site
Several new and improved features have been rolled out on the Presto-Digitator's web site recently. If you haven't visited, now is the time! To view any of the new features, visit the Presto-Digitator's web site at http://www.byrini.com/presto
Our collection of videos (and in the near future, books), has recently been placed on-line. By visiting the Videos link, members can view the inventory that is not currently checked out, see brief descriptions of the information on the tapes, and reserve a tape to be brought to the next meeting. We think this will give members a much better opportunity to learn what tapes are in the library, and simplify the process to "get one." The video checkout system is password protected. Members desiring access should enter the word PULL to proceed past the prompt for a password. Only members who are up-to-date on their dues are allowed to check out videos. We hope this will encourage members to get those dues paid up. Let us know what you think!
Also new to the web site will be some interesting pictures of club members! Our May meeting was video taped on digital video, and clips from parts of the meeting will be transferred to the web site. If there's interest, perhaps more clips from more events could be posted. We think this is a great way for others to see some of what goes on at our meetings, and to get to know each other!
May 1999 Ring Report
The May 20th Meeting of the Ft. Collins Presto-Digitators found magicians and mentalists massaging their mental muscle. Our May meeting launched with a theme of "Mental Magic." Apparently the theme struck a chord with members since many turned up to perform their favorites.
Prior to beginning the magical portion of our meeting, some discussion ensued regarding a dealer demo by Jim Pace that had failed to occur previously in the month. Fortunately for those who showed up, Rune Klan, Dave Neighbors, and Stuart Hayner who traveled from Denver filled in. Everyone was appreciative of the work and effort the three contributed to the meeting. It was especially gracious of Rune Klan to offer his expertise since we had, due to other obligations, been unable to schedule his lecture previously. Thanks again to these three for a great fill-in lecture!
| Lew Wymisner began our actual meeting with a teach-in on the "one ahead" principal. Demonstrating how the principal applied in magic, Lew invited Geoff Thompson and Ed "Mr. Magic" Hurtubis to the stage. Ed began with a trick familiar to many, the yellow, red, and blue, cups and balls. Ed aptly moved a fuzzy curtain ball from cup to cup and back again in his demonstration (for which he later revealed the secret.) Geoff also demonstrated the one-ahead principal, this time using a matrix coins and cards type routine. |  Geoff Thompson use a variation on "Matrix" to also demonstrate the one-ahead principal. |
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 Ed "Mr. Magic" Hurtubis keeps one-ahead with a classic - the cups and balls. |
Ed "Mr. Magic" Hurtubis demonstrated Mark Striving's "Challenge Name-A-Card". Ed had a card simply thought of. Ed showed one deck to show that the card was missing from it. In the other deck, the card from the first deck had been placed- and it was the only card in that deck with the different color back. | |
 Lew "The Great Loudini" Wymisner shows mental epic to demonstrate the one-ahead principal. |
Lew Wymisner followed with a more traditional "mental" demonstration of the one-ahead principal. Lew performed a large version of "Mental Epic." Lew had spectators think of various games of chance in Vegas and name a card, a roll of two dice, and a roulette wheel spin. When he revealed his predictions, they named the three selections. Lew generously revealed the workings of the mental epic, and passed it around for all to learn from. | |
| Following some discussion on the one-ahead principal, volunteers practically rushed the makeshift stage to perform their own favorite effect. Clem "Mr. Mystic" Meyer demonstrated an excellent "future total" effect to the rapt attention of an appreciative audience. Having the digits of a calculation shouted out by the audience, the created equation was added together with the use of a calculator. This total proved to be identical to a number that Clem had previously noted on a business card. |  Perry, Hudson, and Ed watch Larry Davis calculate a total for Clem "Mr. Mystic" Meyers |
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 Barry hides his eyes and finds a card by only the sense of touch. |
Barry Fernelius, demonstrated a more classic version of Matrix, and a card effect where a chosen card was located three times using "psychic vision" by looking through a finger ring. Barry's routines are always well thought out, and it was nice to have Barry with us instead of performing at his normal Thursday gig. | |
| Byron Ferguson demonstrated an effect with a "Stock Holder" which uses the "Out of this World" principal. Byron after some humorous by-play asked a spectator to scribble some lines on a business card. These lines were later shown to bare an uncanny resemblance to a map draw earlier in the day. |  Byron Ferguson doing a Stock-Holder trick. |
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 Lew follows his teach-in with an actual effect. The one red card in the deck is found mentally. |
Lew Wymisner followed up on his excellent teach-in with a demonstration of a mental card effect. A red card was placed in the deck. A spectator, viewing the faces, was asked to touch any card. Amazingly, the card that was touched was the that red card, and had been mentally forced from the otherwise blue deck. | |
| Monte Haines, using a set of cloth bags, promised to divine an object's owner simply by touching them. While Monte was out of the room, various members of the audience placed a personal object in the bag, and the bags were returned to a table in the center of the room. Upon returning, Monte removed and examined each item from the bags. As he examined each item, he ably returned them to their rightful owners around the room. |
Is this Monte's first trick for us? A great routine where objects in the bags are matched with owners. |
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Da Prez- Tim Pendergast correctly predicts the coin that Bob Blea will choose. |
Tim Pendergast demonstrated several effects. Tim laid out a collection of interesting coins from around the world. Tim selected two and asked which the spectator cared to discard. Then the spectator chose two of the remaining coins and Tim discarded one. This continued, leaving only the coin Tim predicted in writing earlier. Tim followed by declaring that he could use his mental powers to predict where anyone in the room got their shoes. A volunteer allowed Tim to touch his shoes, and Tim visibly strained to divine the unknown. Then, in a baritone voice, Tim announced, "You got your shoes on your feet." |
Near the end of the meeting, large contingents of attendees were suddenly overcome with a strong psychic sense that they must go to the local tavern. Fortunately, upon arriving, everything was found to be in order. So that a trip wouldn't be wasted, the crew spent their time trying to predict what the next beer brought to the table might be. Jean Dixon would have, no doubt, been proud.
Byron Ferguson
TVP Thoughts
As I complete my second year as your IBM Territorial vice-president, I would appreciate any feedback that you might have for me. I am in the process of submitting my annual report to the IBM Board of Trustees, so your input would be very useful.
Here are a few questions that you might address:
1-Any ideas or activities you may have that should be shared with other Rings.
2-Any ideas you may have that could help us increase new members or retain members.
3-Give one specific item the Board could do for the Rings that would be helpful.
Please consider writing or calling me. Thanks.
Edward W. Hurtubis
IBM TVP Colorado/Wyoming
1624 Lakeshore Drive
Ft. Collins, CO 80525-2476
(970)223-8767 or email to: hurtubis@gateway.net
Additional TVP Thoughts
I have heard several comments regarding the Presto-Digitator 1998 year end financial report that was included in the May newsletter. The report is composed of two parts; the balance sheet and a profit and loss sumary. The report format is standard, but may be confusing to members who have not seen/studied a formal financial statement. On 12/31/98 the club had $9,388.85 cash; however, the profit and loss (income less expenses) for the year 1998 was actually a loss of $355.64. What this means is that we spent more than we had for the year. Not too bad for a non-profit. If you examine the pieces you will notice that one of our biggest losses (by plan) is the annual banquet. The banquet expenses were $1,078.36, and the banquet income was $342.00. The bottom line is that we are financially sound.
Ed