The Prestidigipaper Online . . .
newsletter
June, 1997

This year's contest and show was a tremendous success. The sell-out house (as usual) was treated to one of the best contest shows in memory. Many lay people as well as seasoned performers commented on the show's excellence. Tom Potter, who also directed this year's show, got the show off to a rockin' start (as a non-competing act) with his usual high-energy style. The six contestants were well prepared and provided fantastic entertainment for the audience.
First up was Gene Collins who treated us with a new version of his birds and umbrellas (where does he put them anyway?).
Brett Shaw then performed his new bird act (which was seen by most of us for the first time). Mike Desalt performed (first time also) a manipulation act to three very diverse pieces of music. Steve Lee then did two rope routines (I've got to see that rope!), one to music and one with audience participation.
Chris Rivet floated a red light, made a sketched card rise, and did the Assistants Revenge (lovely assistant!).
The final competitors, Bruce and Jan Spell, followed their popular manipulation act with Geometrics. I would have hated to be a judge on Monday night! What a difficult job they had! It was certainly to best contest... anyone could win...but we won't know until January's banquet!
Closing the show was our own up-and-coming superstar, Eric Buss. He had returned from the Magic Castle and flew in just for our show. What incredible changes he has made to his award-winning act since we last saw him... new music... extra effects...WOW!!!
Let us not forget the hilarious performance of our president and M.C. Norm Marini (no, he did not write this column). If you missed the show, ask him about his 'salad bar' line. It nearly killed us backstage.
Thanks to those of you who helped out with close-up before the show ( Frank Lutz , Pablo Martinez, Norm Marini, Emory Williams, ) We heard some great comments about your work. And of course, the Assembly is indebted to the Williams who sell our tickets and allow us to do the fun stuff!

Next Meeting
Monday, July 7th 1997 at Hotel Park Tucson, 5151 E Grant Road. The meeting will start at 7:30 PM. There will be a board meeting from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM and all members are welcome to attend any and all board functions.

Stars of Magic Auditions
This is the theme for the next meeting but we are not going to make everyone sit through a thousand hours of tapes. The format for the evening will be - bring a tape of your audition ( hey a really cool idea would be to use the tape from the contest ) and turn it in unless you have no tape then you are more than welcome to audition live. The tapes will be viewed by the show committee at a future date. The results of the committee will be in the next newsletter as well as the line-up. We will also discuss other Stars related topics such as stage help and crew needed. Then we can get to the good magic stuff, so make sure and bring something you think will fool the heck out of us, or a card trick.

GOOD OF THE ORDER
John Shyrock and Mary are off once again spreading magic across the fruited plain. They happen to be in Houston performing at the famous Magic Island. Rumor has it they will be there for an entire month. Maybe next time they'll bring some of us, you know to guarantee a good crowd.

FUTURE MONTHLY THEMES
July - Stars auditions
Aug- Parlor contest
Sept- Initiation
Oct - Close-up contest
Nov- Turkey Magic
Dec- White Elephant

NEW BUSINESS
Stars of Magic is set so pencil in your calendars , the official date is Sept. 27 Th. We will need all sorts of help and you all know that it is the combined efforts of the member that make these shows a success so please let Norm ,John or Mike know if you can help. The feed back results of the contest are available for the performers. Just contact Norm and for a small fee he will be happy to give them to you.

PARTY TIME
Where: Deshalit Home
When : 6/28/97
Time : 6:00 PM
Why : Just for the magic of it man. Check out the map on the last page. See you there- oh yeah B Y O B

BROKEN WAND
Esther Alexander 83, wife of John E. Alexander , passed away June 11th 1997. Esther was an active member of the PCAM as well as the SAM and she will be missed by many. Esther is servived by her husband John E., two sons John R. of Tucson, James E. of Las Vegas and a brother Charles of Levcadia CA. Esther and John were married 54 years.