Egg Bag - April 2008

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23 Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun and fellowship. Cocktails normally start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 8 p.m. However, please plan to come early for the April 2008 meeting as the evening show will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

ANNUAL DUES:

Dues are now due! Our dues are only $10 per year, a real bargain. If you have not yet paid dues for the new fiscal year (April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009), you may pay the Treasurer, Noland Montgomery, at the meeting or mail your check payable to “Larry West Assembly 23” to Noland Montgomery, P.O. Box 581, Beltsville, Maryland 20704-0581.

OUR NEXT MEETING:

In lieu of the regularly scheduled meeting, the Assembly will hold its annual close-up/parlor show for the National Press Club members and other guests on Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The show is free to the public and starts at 7:00 p.m. instead of at the regular 8:00 p.m. meeting time. Please arrive early and if you will be dining at the Press Club, arrive extra early. Press Club members, Assembly members, non-member magicians and their guests are all invited. The performances are family-oriented, so children of all ages are welcome. Performers will include Turley the Magician, Lee Eyler, Buddy Smith, Sam Brothers, Lars Klores and Dwight Redman. Rick Beatty and Steve Javes will be the evening emcees.

SPECIAL MARCH EVENT:

At the March 19 Assembly meeting, Barry Taylor was the recipient of the Assembly's first annual "Sammy Award". The dinner was well attended without a single empty seat at the table.

Larry Lipman began the evening with a very short business meeting. The following topics were discussed: the Annual Close-Up show at the National Press Club to be held on April 16th starting at 7:00 p.m. as well as the upcoming IBM Ring 50 Magi-Whirl 2008 to be held March 28th and 29th. The motion was made and seconded to have Sam Brothers carry a proxy vote for the chapter at the National IBM/SAM Meeting in June 2008. The meeting was adjourned at 7:42 p.m.

All the dinner attendees moved to a larger room in the club and were treated to a standing room only roast in honor of Barry Taylor.

The roast began with a video from Dallas-based James Munton featuring special "guest appearances" (actually, James wearing various disguises) from some of the top names in the magic field such as: a very muscular Greg Wilson, a thoughtful Jeff McBride, Chef Aldo Combini, a hacking Martin Nash, a strangely powerful Max Maven, Dan Harlan, and finally some kind words from James himself.

Then a beautiful and touching video montage was played that was created by Barry's wife Suzie. It was a myriad of photos of Barry showing his history from his beginnings in magic to recent photos with various top names in the industry.

Larry Davidson gave several hilarious stories about Barry struggling to get his start with his magic store. George Woo spoke about several other very funny situations as well. Barry Wood spoke about his relationship with Barry and expressed his frustration as always getting called "the other Barry”. Joe Zable performed a very funny and creative mentalist routine with several cards and spoke about Barry the man, the punster, the lecturer, the shop keeper, his wife, the psychic ghost theatre and his relationship with Al Cohen and Al’s magic shop in Washington, DC.

Al Cohen spoke at great length about his relationship with Barry. Al then performed a card revelation in which the spectator sat on a freely chosen card, and Al seemingly discovered the name of the card by shining a light into the spectator's mouth and down his throat. His second routine was a CD that played by itself without a player.

Next, Larry Lipman presented Barry with a beautiful SAM Assembly 23 Sammy Award plaque. Barry then gave a warm and at times, emotional, speech, and presented a wonderful poem about the rewards of being a magic dealer. He closed the evening with a fantastic stage version of the 3 card monte in which all three card ended up being the same!

FUTURE THEMES:

May-“Show us what you want to show us” and nomination of new officers

June-“Show us what you want to show us” and election of new officers

OTHER NON-ASSEMBLY EVENTS OF INTEREST:

June 6 and 7, 2008 will be the annual Parlour Magic Foray of Famous Unknown Magicians and Clowns. This year’s featured performer and lecturer will be Bev Bergeron. Please refer to the attached message from Charlies Zuis, an out-of-town Assembly 23 member, for information concerning this annual event, which will be held at the Hall of Fame of Famous Unknown Magicians and Clowns near Cooperstown, New York.

Pictures from National Press Club Centennial Celebration

Cristian Vidrascu, Rick Beatty and Dwight Redman entertained guests April 5 at the National Press Club's centennial celebration. Here are some pictures from the festivities. (Photos by Larry Lipman)

SAMMY Award Presented to Barry Taylor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Long-time magic dealer Barry Taylor was honored at the March meeting of Assembly 23, the Larry West Assembly, with the first of what may become an annual “SAMMY Award” for lifetime contribution to magic.

Taylor, owner of Barry’s Magic Shop in Rockville, Md., was roasted and toasted by a panel of area magicians including legendary magic shop proprietor Al Cohen, whose Washington store closed five years go.

Others toasting Barry’s 34 years in the magic store business included George Woo, Larry Davidson, Barry Wood, and Joe Zabel.

Dallas-based magician James “Wand” Munton, Assembly 23’s immediate past president, compiled a hilarious video tribute for Barry in which Munton shamelessly imitated some well known magical personalities including Gregory Wilson, Jeff McBride, Aldo Colombini, Max Maven, Martin Nash and Dan Harlan.

Barry’s wife, Susie, also put together a touching slideshow tribute to her husband.

The presentation of the first SAMMY Award to Barry Taylor was made by Assembly 23 President Larry Lipman.

Barry accepted the award with a gracious speech about the joys of magic and then entertained with a giant-card Monte routine.

Barry Taylor, (left) owner of Barry’s Magic Shop in Rockville, Md., receives the first SAMMY Award for lifetime contribution to magic from Assembly 23 President Larry Lipman at the March meeting. Al Cohen, bottom left, looks on. (Photo by Joseph Tessmer)

Here Comes the Judge

Photos of Assembly member Apurva Sanghi performing at a private event in March 2008, assisted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Stephen G. Breyer

Apurva makes his case to Justice Breyer.

Justice Breyer administered the magic oath by Apurva

Egg Bag - March Issue

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23 Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun and fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – MARCH 19, 2008

SPECIAL MARCH EVENT:

Our March meeting will be the first Annual “Sammy Award” night honoring Barry Taylor. The evening will begin at 6:30 with cocktails, dinner at 7 p.m. is optional for $25 and the program will begin at 8 p.m. The program (not including any dinner) is free to Assembly 23 members and $10 for non-members. Attached to this newsletter is a flyer promoting the event for distribution to interested non-members.

FUTURE THEMES:

April-“Annual Close-up Show”

May-“Show us what you want to show us” and nomination of new officers

June-“Show us what you want to show us” and election of new officers

PERFORMANCES FROM FEBRUARY 2008 MEETING.

Rick Beatty performed three effects with the four aces. First, three aces were made to magically join a fourth ace held in a spectator’s hand. Then, the deck was divided into four piles, with one ace being placed in each pile and the piles returned to the deck. Rick spelled to the ace of diamonds and then to the ace of clubs. The last two aces were found when Rick cut them to the top of the deck. To finish, Rick again lost the four aces in the deck, had the deck shuffled and cut by a spectator, but still successfully cut the deck to each ace.

Noland Montgomery performed a “multiple selection” routine in which seven cards chosen by each of seven different spectators were lost in a shuffled deck, and then found by Noland in different ways, as follows: the first card was found by rubbing the deck against Noland’s nose; the second, when Noland “read” a spectator’s mind; the third, when Noland cut the cards to the chosen card; the fourth, when Noland blew on the face of the third card, magically changing it into the fourth spectator’s selection; the fifth, when one card turned over face up in mid-air; the sixth, when it popped up from the deck; and the last (which had been signed by a spectator), in Noland’s wallet.

Larry Lipman performed a variation of monte using four cards, called “Poor Man’s Monte.” Using three tens and one queen, Larry first showed the three tens, placed the queen among the tens and put one ten in his pocket. The pocketed ten then seemingly changed into the queen. Again, the queen was replaced among the tens and one ten placed in the pocket. This time all the cards in Larry’s hand changed into queens.

Jonathan Walker performed a three card monte routine using an ace, two and three in which the location of the ace repeatedly proved impossible to track.

Cristian Vidrascu performed a guessing routine he called a “Tribute to my mentor.” Spectators were asked to guess the name, height and age of Cristian’s magic mentor. Cristian recorded each guess on the back of separate business cards. At the conclusion, each guess was found to correctly match the information Cristian had earlier written down on three other cards. Cristian also performed a routine in which five spectators were asked to write down their favorite destinations on some cards and then asked one spectator to mix up the cards. Cristian was subsequently successful in guessing which spectator had chosen which destination.

Joe Tessmer performed a color changing disc routine called “Black and White or Not,” in which two discs were shown to be white on one side, and black on the other. The discs then magically changed colors to red/green and then to yellow/blue.

Matt Hiller performed a quick coin production in which a card was turned over four times in succession, with a coin appearing under the coin each time the card was turned over.

Dwight Redman performed a version of Professor’s Nightmare, as follows: first, Dwight folded a single piece of rope into three equal lengths and had a spectator apparently cut the rope into three equal pieces. The pieces were again shown to be equal, then balled up and handed to a spectator to separate. When the spectator separated the pieces, they were found to be three different lengths. Next, Dwight magically stretched the ropes until all three were equal again. Finally, Dwight, together with a spectator, tied all three pieces end to end and then made the knots magically disappear, restoring the rope back to one, long piece.

Egg Bag February 2008

THE EGG-BAG-FEBRUARY 2008 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23 Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun and fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – FEBRUARY 20, 2008

Theme for this meeting:

The theme is “Show us what you want to show us,” which is to say, there is no official theme this month. The meeting will be an opportunity for each member to show us a work in progress, or showcase a favorite routine, as he or she chooses. This is also an opportunity for performers looking for constructive feed back on their routines to ask for and receive it from other members.

UPCOMING SPECIAL MARCH EVENT:

Our March meeting will be the first Annual “Sammy Award” night honoring Barry Taylor. The evening will begin at 6:30 with cocktails, dinner at 7 p.m. is optional for $25 and the program will begin at 8 p.m. The program (not including any dinner) is free to Assembly 23 members and $10 for non-members. Attached to this newsletter is a flyer promoting the event for distribution to interested non-members.

FUTURE THEMES:

March-First annual “Sammy Award” honoring Barry Taylor

April-“Annual Close-up Show”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

Assembly member Noland Montgomery performing strolling magic at the 2008 Annual Press Club Inaugural Event

Assembly 23 Treasurer Noland Montgomery impresses a guest with his magic

and humor at the National Press Club's presidential inauguration Jan.
26. S.A.M. members regularly perform at NPC events. The assembly will
also entertain at the Press Club's centennial celebration on April 5 and
at the annual Close Up show on April 16. (Photo by Larry Lipman)

First Annual Sammy Awards

Our March meeting will be The First Annual "Sammy Award" Night honoring Barry Taylor. The evening will begin at 6:30 with cocktails, dinner at 7 p.m. is optional for $25 and the program will begin at 8 p.m.

Egg Bag January 2008

THE EGG-BAG-JANUARY 2008 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23 Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun and fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – JANUARY 16, 2008

Theme for this meeting:

The suggested theme is “Love Story,” so dust off your favorite Valentine-day trick and give it a trial-run at the meeting. Or, just “show us what you want to show us,” which is to say, perform a work in progress (no Valentine-day theme) or showcase a favorite routine.

MINI-LECTURE:

This month’s topic: “Fantasy in Silk.” Presenter, Phil Milstead, will teach some silk productions as well as the nuts-and-bolts of silk folding and preparation that is essential to the production of anything from a 12 inch silk to a 6-foot square foulard. Phil suggests that members bring 4 or 5 silks, mostly 12” and 18” for a hands-on practice session.

If there is a topic you would like to see covered, or a topic you would like to volunteer to teach, please e-mail your suggestion to Larry Lipman at: lorenzomagic@cox.net. Remember, the idea behind our mini-lectures is that one member will spend 5 to 10 minutes at each meeting demonstrating a move, a technique or a trick and teach the rest of us.

FUTURE THEMES:

February-“Show us what you want to show us”

March-“Show us what you want to show us”

April-“Annual Close-up Show”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

OFFICERS:

President - Larry Lipman

Vice President - Matt Hiller

Treasurer - Noland Montgomery

Secretary - Ray Eyler

Egg-Bag Reporter - Sam Brothers

Webmaster – Lars Klores

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Remember to check out our web page at www.assembly23.blogspot.com.

Egg Bag, November

THE EGG-BAG-NOVEMBER 2007 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23

Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun & fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 and the Meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – NOVEMBER 21, 2007

Theme for this meeting:

The suggested theme for this meeting is “Holiday Magic” so that members can brush up on their Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and any other holiday-related tricks they may wish to present during the upcoming holiday season. As always, the theme is not mandatory and members are also more than welcome to present any trick of their choosing (not holiday themed), whether it be a work in progress, that they are seeking constructive feed-back on, or simply a favorite trick.

MINI-LECTURE:

This month’s topic: “Color changes, transformations and switches with a deck of playing cards”

Presenter: The Legendary Rick Beatty

If there is a topic you would like to see covered, or a topic you would like to volunteer to teach, please e-mail your suggestion to Larry Lipman at: lorenzomagic@cox.net. Remember, the idea behind our mini-lectures is that one member will spend 5 to 10 minutes at each meeting demonstrating a move, a technique or a trick and teach the rest of us.

LAST MONTH:

George Schindler was our featured lecturer at the October meeting and drew a packed house with his “Entertainment is First” lecture. George performed and explained his stand-up comedy routine, done entirely from his pocket and drawing heavily on playing cards. George’s professional routine is extremely practical, plays big and very, very funny. For those who missed the lecture, a portion of his presentation is available on DVD from your favorite dealer. George’s lecture was a real education in how to structure and present a highly entertaining, commercial magic routine.

FUTURE THEMES:

December-“Show us what you want to show us”

January-Love Story (Valentine day magic)

February-“Show us what you want to show us”

March-“Show us what you want to show us”

April-“Annual Close-up Show”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

OFFICERS:

President - Larry Lipman

Vice President - Matt Hiller

Treasurer - Noland Montgomery

Secretary - Ray Eyler

Egg-Bag Reporter - Sam Brothers

Webmaster – Lars Klores

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FROM LARRY LIPMAN:

The National Press Club and S.A.M. Assembly 23, the Larry West Assembly, have a long history together. And we have an unwritten tradition: the Club provides us with hundreds of dollars worth of free meeting space each year and allows us to dine and drink in what is normally an NPC members only area.

In exchange, the Assembly provides free magical entertainment at Press Club functions. One of the most rewarding of these functions, from a performer’s standpoint, is the annual Children’s Holiday Party. This event is usually attended by hundreds of Club members and their families. There is food, drink, games, and Santa Claus. Over the years, a handful of our members have performed children’s strolling magic at the party. This year the party will be held Saturday, Dec. 15 beginning at 11 a.m.

I’m looking for a few magicians who would be willing to perform that afternoon. For those of you who want a little more performing “flight time,” this is the perfect venue: you will not be performing alone so you don’t have to worry about being the sole magical entertainer; and you’re not doing it for payment, so you don’t have to worry that you’re not giving the clients their “money’s worth.” At the same time, you will gain invaluable experience and have a great and rewarding time bringing smiles to the faces of young and old alike.

Normally, the performance is about two hours. But you are not expected to perform for the entire solid two hours. If you would like to do it, please contact me at: lorenzomagic@cox.net.

There will be several other opportunities to perform at the Club. At the end of January, there will be the NPC presidential inauguration. We usually provide two or three very good close-up strolling magicians for this adult, black-tie event. If you think you can handle it and would like to be considered for performance, send me a note to the above address.

This year there will be two opportunities for Assembly magi to perform in April. The Club will be celebrating its 100^th Anniversary with a gala event on Saturday, April, 5. We’ll again be looking for top-notch strolling magicians to entertain adults. Let me know if you would like to be considered for performance.

And our annual Close Up show, for a family-style audience of children and adults, will be the third Thursday of April, in place of our regular meeting. Again, this is a wonderful opportunity to get performing experience, or just help us keep our share of the bargain with the Press Club. This is more of a parlor magic style show in front of about 25 to 40 people in a couple of rooms. We’ll let you know more about it as we get closer to the date. But if you want to be considered for performance, particularly if you have not done so in the past, please let us know.

I am also discussing the possibility of some of our members providing brief magical stand-up entertainment at the Press Club’s monthly “Pub Quiz” nights. I’ll let you know more about that if we can work it out.

Assembly 23 is different from some other magic clubs. We emphasize the performance of magic. That’s why everyone performs at every regular meeting. These events with the Press Club allow us to stretch our performance wings even farther.

Pictures from the October Meeting

Former SAM national president George Schindler is
greeted by SAM 23 President Larry Lipman

Former SAM national president George Schindler gave SAM 23
Vice President Matt Hiller his new-member pin and certificate

Egg Bag - October 2007

THE EGG-BAG-OCTOBER 2007 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23

Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun & fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 and the Meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – OCTOBER 17, 2007

LECTURE:

George Schindler will be our featured lecturer at the October meeting. You won’t want to miss this! Those who have had the good luck to see George perform before know him as a very funny and entertaining performer who presents highly commercial magic. In addition, George is a dean of and past president of the Society of American Magicians. He has authored nine books on magic, is a leading authority on the art of ventriloquism, a celebrated comedy magician, lecturer and a Gold Star member of London’s prestigious Inner Magic Circle. George also is an inductee of the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and has been honored with the Milbourne Christopher Life Time achievement Award for Magic.

The lecture is free to members who are paid-up. If you are in arrears, you can still attend the lecture free by paying your dues ($10) at or prior to the October meeting. Magicians who are not members are welcome but will be charged $10 at the door. Please help get the word out to non-member magicians that they are invited to join us for this lecture.

FUTURE THEMES:

November-Holiday magic

December-“Show us what you want to show us”

January-Love Story (Valentine day magic)

February-“Show us what you want to show us”

March-“Show us what you want to show us”

April-“Show us what you want to show us”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

OFFICERS:

President - Larry Lippman

Vice President - Matt Hiller

Treasurer - Noland Montgomery

Secretary - Ray Eyler

Egg-Bag Reporter–Sam Brothers

Egg Bag, Sept. 2007

THE EGG-BAG-SEPTEMBER 2007 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23

Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun & fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 and the Meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – SEPTEMBER 19, 2007

Theme for this meeting:

The suggested theme for this meeting is “Halloween magic,” so that members can brush up on their bizarre, ghoulish and scary tricks in preparation for the upcoming Halloween month. As always, the theme is not mandatory and members are also more than welcome to present any trick of their choosing (not Halloween themed), whether it be a work in progress, that they are seeking constructive feed-back on, or simply a favorite trick.

HEADS UP FOR UPCOMING GEORGE SCHINDLER LECTURE:

We are very excited to let you know that the Assembly has secured the services of George Schindler to lecture at next month’s (October) meeting. You won’t want to miss this! Those who have had the good luck to see George perform before know him as a very funny and entertaining performer who presents highly commercial magic. In addition, George is a dean of and past president of the Society of American Magicians. He has authored nine books on magic, is a leading authority on the art of ventriloquism, a celebrated comedy magician, lecturer and a Gold Star member of London’s prestigious Inner Magic Circle. George also is an inductee of the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and has been honored with the Milbourne Christopher Life Time achievement Award for Magic.

The lecture is free to members who are paid-up. If you are in arrears, you can still attend the lecture free by paying your dues ($10) at or prior to the October meeting. Magicians who are not members are welcome but will be charged $10 at the door. Please help get the word out to non-member magicians that they are invited to join us for this lecture.

FUTURE THEMES:

October-George Schindler lecture

November-Holiday magic

December-“Show us what you want to show us”

January-Love Story (Valentine day magic)

February-“Show us what you want to show us”

March-“Show us what you want to show us”

April-“Show us what you want to show us”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

MINI-LECTURE:

This month’s topic: “Survival Tips for Performing Close-up Surrounded with Cards”

Presenter: Noland Montgomery

Noland will share some sleights, subtleties and strategies he has learned from his experience as a strolling magician at receptions and cocktail hours for performing card magic close-up and surrounded.

If there is a topic you would like to see covered, or a topic you would like to volunteer to teach, please e-mail your suggestion to Larry Lipman at: lorenzomagic@cox.net. Remember, the idea behind our mini-lectures is that one member will spend 5 to 10 minutes at each meeting demonstrating a move, a technique or a trick and teach the rest of us.

DUES ARE NOW PAST DUE:

Dues are now past due – Our dues are only $10 per year, a real bargain. If you have not yet paid dues for this new fiscal year (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008), you may pay the Treasurer, Noland Montgomery, at the meeting or mail you check, payable to Larry West Assembly 23, to Noland Montgomery, 3621 Dunnington Rd., Beltsville MD 20705.

OFFICERS:

President - Larry Lippman

Vice President - Matt Hiller

Treasurer - Noland Montgomery

Secretary - Ray Eyler

Egg-Bag Reporter–Sam Brothers

Egg Bag, August 2007

THE EGG-BAG-AUGUST 2007 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter of the Larry West Assembly No. 23

Society of American Magicians

The Larry West Assembly Meets the 3rd Wednesday every month at the National Press Club, at 14th and F Streets, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Join us for magic, fun & fellowship. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30 and the Meeting at 8 p.m. Dress code: please remember that the Assembly is a guest of the National Press Club. Gentlemen should dress business casual or better–no Tee-shirts, shorts, jeans or flip-flops to the dinner meetings. Ladies should dress correspondingly appropriately.

OUR NEXT MEETING – AUGUST 15, 2007

Theme for this meeting:

In keeping with the new approach discussed in the President’s Message in last month’s Egg Bag, there will be no official theme for this meeting. Instead, the meeting will be an opportunity for each member to show us a work in progress, or showcase a favorite routine, as he or she chooses. Our President has dubbed this “Show us what you want to show us.” Also in keeping with the new approach, performers looking for constructive feed back on their routines will be given the opportunity to ask for and receive it from other members.

Future themes:

September-“Show us what you want to show us”

October-Halloween magic

November-Holiday magic

December-“Show us what you want to show us”

January-Love Story (Valentine day magic)

February-“Show us what you want to show us”

March-“Show us what you want to show us”

April-“Show us what you want to show us”

May-“Show us what you want to show us”

MINI-LECTURES:

Each month, starting in the near future, we plan to hold a mini-lecture, given by a member and running no more than 5 to 10 minutes. The idea is to have one member a month demonstrate a move, a technique or a trick and teach the rest of us. If there is a topic you would like to see covered, or a topic you would like to volunteer to teach, please e-mail your suggestion to Larry Lipman at: lorenzomagic@cox.net.

DUES ARE NOW PAST DUE:

Dues are now past due – Our dues are only $10 per year, a real bargain. If you have not yet paid dues for this new fiscal year (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008), you may pay the Treasurer, Noland Montgomery, at the meeting or mail you check, payable to Larry West Assembly 23, to Noland Montgomery, 3621 Dunnington Rd., Beltsville MD 20705.

NEW OFFICERS:

President - Larry Lippman

Vice President - Matt Hiller

Treasurer - Noland Montgomery

Secretary - Ray Eyler

Egg-Bag Reporter–Sam Brothers

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Remember to check out our web page at www.assembly23.blogspot.com.

Mini-Lecturer Wanted

Folks:

I'm looking for a volunteer to pinch-hit next Wednesday as our first
mini-lecturer of the new assembly year. Ray Eyler had volunteered but
is under the weather and I do not expect him to be at our meeting.

Remember, we're not looking for a lenghty teach-in. We're looking
for someone to teach a (public domain) trick, a move or a technique that
you think our members will be able to learn and benefit from having learned.

If you are willing to volunteer for next Wednesday night, Aug. 16,
please send me an e-mail.

Many thanks,

Larry Lipman
Prez. SAM Assembly 23

Some of our members performed June 30 at the Second Annual National Press Club Picnic at Bon Air Park in Arlington. Here are some photos. (Top to bottom: Dwight Redman, Larry Lipman (a.k.a., Lorenzo the Great), and Sam Brothers)