October 2020 Ring Report
- Ring Report submitted by Dennis Chan -
There wasn’t too much business at the October meeting. President Rod Boss welcomed the members to the meeting and he also welcomed new member Scott Barker to the club. Rod showed some video clips from the club’s DVD library.
The October meeting is always Halloween themed. There is also a Halloween competition for the Tip Top and Tootsie trophy. This trophy is awarded for excellence in a Halloween themed performance by a junior or senior member. At least one magical effect, close-up, parlour, or stage must be included in the routine. Last year’s winner, Robert Teszka was the host and emcee for this event. He was dressed in full ghost make up. He also gave a brief history of the Tip Top and Tootsie trophy which was donated to the Vancouver Magic Circle by the late VMC members George Patey and Bill Eliason. Rod Boss read the rules. The competitors were John Stenning, Rod Boss, Jordan Vo and Yoosik Oum. The judges were Graham Kita, Roy Hopwood, Harmony Woodington and Michael Likey. The timekeeper was Harmony Woodington. Scott Jansen was the judge coordinator and he also tallied the scores. Jordan Vo was the winner. Yoosik Oum came in second place. Congratulations to Jordan and to the rest of the competitors. Robert Teszka told Halloween stories and did some Halloween magic in between the acts. He also gave a solo performance on the ukulele while the scores were being tallied.
Of course what would the evening be without the club’s most fun filled event, the Halloween dress up contest. Under normal conditions the winner is determined by the amount of applause by the members through elimination. Robert Teszka also emceed this event. The competitors were John Stenning, Rod Boss, Graham Kita and Errol Lipschitz. Errol Lipschitz was the winner. The voting was done through audience voting by private message via Zoom. Rod Chow tallied the scores. Normally prizes are not awarded for this contest, just a whole lot of fun and laughter. This year Rod Boss decided to award to the winner a beautifully engraved Vancouver Magic Circle oak wand. Congratulations Errol. Rod also mentioned that the Vancouver Magic Circle trophies will be transferred over from Dennis Chan’s house to Shawn Farquhar’s Hidden Wonders magic show room. After the meeting, several members “hung around” showing each other some card sleights. Thank you Robert Teszka for doing a great as M.C.! He also helped out with this report.
The Children’s Magician of the Year competition is normally a live event. Because of the COVID-19 rules relating to health and safety concerns such as social distancing, the Vancouver Magic Circle had to change its performance format. The contest took place on Saturday, October 24 2020 online via Zoom. In order to see the contest, tickets had to be purchased through Eventbrite. The contest took place at Shawn Farquhar’s magic showroom Hidden Wonders. Performers and crew members were the only people allowed in to Hidden Wonders. Arriving early at Hidden Wonders to set up the sound, lighting, cameras and staging were Shawn Farquhar, Billy Hsueh, Rod Boss and Graham Kita. Many thanks to Shawn Farquhar for letting the Vancouver Magic Circle use his magic showroom for this event. President Rod Boss greeted and welcomed the guests. He read the rules and he also introduced Graham Kita, the winner of the 2018 Children’s Magician of the Year. Graham was the host and emcee for this event. He also welcomed the guests and the performers. The performers were (in order of performance) Yoosik Oum, Rick Mearns as Count Ricula, John Stenning as Melrick the Magician, Ed Stehr and Rod Chow. Many thanks to Shawn Farquhar and his dedicated crew for keeping the programme running on time as Graham Kita introduced each performer. In order to determine the winner, the voting was done online by the people who bought tickets for this event. Rod Boss was the timekeeper and he also tallied the scores. The criteria judges were Rod Boss, Graham Kita and Shawn Farquhar. After the scores were tallied, it ended with a tie between Rod Chow and Rick Mearns for the 2020 Wilf Rutherford trophy for the Children’s Magician of the Year Contest. Congratulations to Rod Chow and Rick Mearns and to the rest of the competitors.
After the competition, Rod Boss thanked the audience members for taking part in this exciting event.
