IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING MEETING TIMES:
Our room may be assigned to a different group before our 7pm start time. If the room is occupied before 7pm, please do not enter the room until that group has cleared the room. We will try to start the meeting as soon after 7pm as possible because WE MUST be outside by 8:30pm. The business meeting must be conducted efficiently so that our magic part of the meeting will start as soon after 7pm as possible. If another group is using the room, please be quiet in the hall while waiting.
Need meeting location/details?
January 8, 2026: Mental Magic and Mentalism
NOTE that we will meet on the 2nd Thursday because of New Years Day. Our topic will be Mental Magic and Mentalism. Although these two topics are similar and the routines and methods overlap, the presentations differ considerably.
February 5, 2026: Flea Market and Nominations for 2026, Also Coin Tricks after the Flea Market
Bring your Magic Fleas and money to buy stuff. Sellers must be paid-up 2025 members of the club. However, anyone can be a buyer. The club does NOT charge the sellers.
The following Ring members are offering to continue Board positions in 2026:
Current Board members:
President: Dave Dunlap
VP: Charlie Schroeder
Treasurer: Tom Plunkett
Sergeant at Arms: David Ryan
Also, for Secretary: Chrissy Cadabra
Our current Secretary, Bill Fienning is retiring from the position.
Additional nominations must be made at this meeting. Elections will be at the March meeting.
If we have additional time, we will do some Coin Magic.
March 5, 2026: Board Elections for 2026 and Rope, String and Ribbon Magic
We will have elections for the 2026 Board. Following the elections, our topic will be Rope, String and Ribbon Magic. The audience may not realize the extent to which these items can be gimmicked. So, they make excellent innocent-looking props for magic.
April 2, 2026: Teach-In
This will be a Teach-In. There will be 4 or 5 tables stationed around the room. At each station one of our members each teach a trick or sleight. The attendees move from station to station to learn the tricks or sleights.
May 7, 2026: Card Tricks that are not Take-A-Card Tricks
So many card tricks are of the Take-a-Card type. However, there are many other ways to use cards in your performance. Let’s see your best card tricks of a different type! We love having as many members perform as possible and share both wonder and knowledge with the group.
This will also be a special celebration and unveiling of new club logos! Nation Green and Gene Gutierrez masterfully created some wonderful logo designs that bring our club to life visually!
Mark your calendars. You are cordially invited to join in celebrating President Dave Dunlap’s work retirement on Saturday, May 30th at Mimi’s Cafe (4316 The 25 Way, Albuquerque, NM 87109) at 6:30pm.
June 4, 2026: Sponge balls, sponge rabbits, or bananas, or Sponge Whatever!
Just remember that this must be a family-suitable-type show. Now is your chance to learn some techniques for making sponge objects appear, disappear, teleport, multiply, and even turn into other objects! Bring any knowledge or tricks you would like to share with the group.
July 2, 2026: Essential Card Techniques (double lifts, false cuts, false shuffles, etc.)
What are some card techniques that are critical for success and can be applied to many illusions to add extra surprises or recover from accidental blunders? Feel free to bring fundamental card handling knowledge that may often be taken for granted, as well as complex techniques for more advanced hands. We’d like to share all levels with everyone!
August 13, 2026: Homemade Magic or Business Card magic and Out to Lunch principle.
(Note: 2nd Thursday because Magic Live is in Las Vegas August 2-5).
Have you ever made your own illusions or props at home? Or have you really liked a magic trick you saw and decided to modify it to fit your routine? Bring any/all homemade illusions and props to share some wonder as well as inspire others to use creativity and make some of their own!
September 3, 2026: “Gypsy thread” workshop
“Gypsy Thread” is one of those rare pieces of magic that feels less like a trick and more like a tiny, beautiful miracle. You take a simple strand of thread, tear it apart until it’s nothing but fragile little fragments… and then, with a slow, breath‑holding moment of wonder, it knits itself back together as if time rewound just for you. It’s intimate, elegant, and unbelievably powerful in the hands of any magician. If you’ve ever wanted to learn an effect that makes spectators lean in, hush their voices, and truly feel the magic, this workshop is the perfect place to begin.
(NOTE: the terms “gypsy” and “gyp” are used historically as the coined name of these techniques, but the words are now often considered to be offensive or an ethnic slur in some regions. Alternative words for this are: Nomad, Wanderer, Traveler, and Free-spirit).
October 1, 2026: Weird and Unusual Magic (for Halloween)
Note: This may be held at the Tanoan Club Community room to permit it to be a bigger event.
Ready for the spooky feeling that fall and Halloween bring? We always look forward to seeing strange and unusual magic and hearing stories that leave the hairs standing tall on one’s arm. Macabre is welcome, just remember we are meeting in a church and there may be members of ALL ages. So send everyone home with chills and smiles, not nightmares!
November 5, 2026: Card Tricks
What are some of your favourite card tricks? Do you use regular or special decks of cards? Do the illusions involve other props as well or only cards? Bring ALL your fun and most cherished card sleights to share. We love seeing members share illusions they enjoy, as well as watching others perform and being awed every month with new knowledge!
December 3, 2026: White Elephant Exchange
(Only if the room is not needed for a church event.)
It’s time for our annual end-of-year meeting, and what better way to end it than with a BANG and a fun White Elephant Gift Exchange!? Wrap a coveted magic trick, book, or prop and add it to the pile. You MUST bring a wrapped gift in order to participate! Everyone will draw random numbers/cards and then go in that order to select a random gift. The next person in line has the opportunity to see and steal the previously opened gift(s) OR choose a new one! Then it gets WILD with round TWO! There will be another round of stealing to ensure as many people as possible get what they hoped for. Gifts can only be stolen THREE times. On the 3rd steal, they belong to that person and cannot be stolen again. So be strategic with your trades.
STAY TUNED FOR UPCOMING MEETING TOPICS FOR 2027!