n mflGflzme OF innovfiTion IXXXIX
PRECURSOR
LXXXIX
This is PRECURSOR LXXXIX and is published in January 2004. PRECURSOR is edited by William P. Miesel and is published by unikorn magik. The editorial offices are at 2215 Myrtle Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16502-2643 (phone 1-814-454-8802). unikorn magik can be reached through Ed Eckl. "Clutter Cottage," 3 Gregg Street, Beverly. Massachusetts, 01915-2913 (phone 1-978-927-9388). PRECURSOR will be published more than three times a year, and it will be sold for $21.00 (U.S.) for three issues. Outside the United States. Canada, and Mexico, three issues are sent Air Mail for $25.00 (U.S.). This issue starts out with "Drink Think," a very surprising prediction effect from Marty Kane. Even though I know some of the strange things that Marty has come up with, this climax took even me by surprise! Bob King gives us his "Piano Concerto," which is his version of that very popular card trick of all young card guys, the "Piano Trick." The big difference between this and the original is that a specific card jumps from one packet to the other. In 1960. Mel Stover contributed an interesting mathematical principle of the mathematician. Nathan Mendolsohn, to the Ibidem. It was written up in about a dozen lines in Ibidem #21. Around 1980, at an "Ibidem Potpourri" at the Oban Inn at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Mel and I sat down one afternoon and kicked the idea around. "Australian Anytime" is a collaboration of those ideas that Mel and I talked about. In September 1979, Ron Ferris had a trick called "Hard Candy," that is visually appealing, in Apocalypse, Vol. 2 #9. Reinhard Miiller has come up with a very deceptive handling plus further variations of this routine called, "Cinnamon and Licorice," which increase the effect on an audience. It is basically self-working, so you might give it a try and see the reaction you get. "Never Say Diary" by Phil Goldstein provides an interesting dissertation on the history of the "Diary Trick" ending up with an alternative handling to part of Cushing Strout's, "The Diary Trick" in Precursor LXXXVII. Tom Craven's "A Lot of ESP" is a cleaned-up version of a very messy trick that Rick Johnsson used to like to perform. It is no great mystery but the typical fun shtick that Rick loved. It will bring back wonderful memories for us old-timers and is an excellent introduction to Rick"s shtick for our younger readers. I knew that Herb Zarrow would be intrigued by Neal Elias1 "Alternate Aces" in Precursor LXXXJ'Il, and I was right - but he wanted a magical effect in addition to the shuffle demonstration, and this resulted in "Alternate Aces - Plus." My "Numerological Discovery" makes use of a very interesting mathematical principle that I discovered in Dave Arch's "Omniscient Oracle" in Syzygy #82 to find a thought-of or a selected card using a plot of numerology. I normally only have one trick per cardician in each issue, but a couple years ago. Marty Kane sent me a packet of tricks for Precursor, and I thought that I had used them all. Recently. I discovered "Orson Welles Meets Anna Graham," and I better get it in print without any further delay. Lovers of anagrams are going to like this. 1
A trick from the past is my "One Good Turn Deserves Another/" a routine that has been hidden away in one of my notebooks since Christmas Week 1971. This is a "Twisting The Aces" type of routine with a totally unexpected climax. Karl Fulves provided the inspiration with his routine, "Looking Glass Aces," in his Packet Switches. William P. Miesel September 25, 2003
BOOK REVIEW By William P. Miesel One of my subscribers, Fredric P. Lamazor, sent me a manuscript entitled. Card Excursion Modules. This is a handwritten, 176 page comb-bound manuscript with a great many elementary line drawings {Precursor style), which make the explanations very clear. The text is divided into three parts: Part I - Ambitious Card Variations Part II - An Ambitious Card combined with a packet of Four Aces Part III - A Series of tricks performed with only the Four Aces This is the kind of book that 1 enjoy studying, because it is a real aid in the thinking process for developing some routines that are really different. Just to give you an example of the initial thought process that I went through at the start of my reading, I will give you an unsolved problem a la Karl Fulves: AMBITIOUS ALL AROUND The way that I visualize this is that you are at a party and are persuaded to perform a trick and you go into this five to seven minute routine, which has a great many surprises and a natural opportunity to put the deck away at the climax. Here is an outline of a possible routine - why don't you try to develop the details for yourself. 1. The four Queens are removed from the deck and placed on a bar, a table, or in your hostess's hands with the explanation that they are prima donnas. 2. Perform an "Ambitious Card" routine explaining that this is the reason for the removal of the four Queens - they don't like to be up-staged. 3. After four or five phases, the Ambitious fails to arrive at the top - instead it vanishes. 4. The Ambitious card reappears on the top of the Queen Packet. 5. Perform a variation of the small-packet Ambitious Card Routine. Place it second - it jumps back to the top. Place it third - it jumps back to the top. Place it fourth - it jumps back to the top. 6. Place it on the bottom - it vanishes. 7. The Ambitious Card reappears back on top of the deck. 8. Now, perform a full-deck version of Bob Ostin's "Submarine Card." The face-up Ambitious/ Submarine Card sinks down into the deck in four or five stages until it ends up on the bottom. 9. Autograph the Submarine Card and present it to your hostess and pocket the incomplete deck. A copy of Card Excursion Modules can be obtained for $30.00 post paid from: Fredric P. Lamazor; P.O. Box 1279; Bonsall, California 92003.