Where do you get caps for a cap gun? This is one of the many questions that was asked and answered this month. Ring 2100 has enough members to answer this and other questions. Its members are its resources and they do share information. For example where may you buy the best hat tears? Is the Masters of Illusion show going off the air? Where may I find a certain type of Mike holder? What is the best Mike holder? What are monkey bars? What is a good source for Public Domain Music for your act? These are some of the reason for those of you who own computers to log on to Ring 2100 and join the discussions.

E-bay came under the microscope this month. This auction site on the web sells magic to the highest bidder. An interesting discussion ensued with the report of someone allegedly being conned. Everything from praise to complaints were aired. The discussion didn’t end there but took another turn towards who people felt were the more reliable dealers. This interesting part of the discussion was the feeling of being ripped off because the trick didn’t live up to the advertising. Some felt that they were paying to much at auction. Myself personally? I have a house full of stuff I can’t use and purchased long before there were computers. I have also found myself with auction fever. So what else is new?

Bizarre Magic came up again this month. Is Bizarre (Bazaar Magic was pointed out to be stuff you do at Flea Markets or Mid East Bazaars) Is it just story telling? Or is Bizarre Magic a way of presenting magic? This topic lead to a discussion of definitions and the need for definitions. What is magic? Do you need to know what Magic is in order to do magic? Not satisfied with this the discussion veered into Marketing your Magic. And suddenly we had a lot of ideas appearing in the digest.

Card men once again defended their section of magic along with instruction on how to use a Card Press. It was a nice discussion until someone brought up Magic Wars (The fight between the performer and the audience.) This naturally lead to War Stories. Somehow this lead to Maskelaine, the War Magician. Seem there may be a movie in the works about the man that fooled the Germans into bombing the desert.

How do you get a Magic Book published was a hotly debated subject. Many authors, would be authors and ex-authors threw their two cents into this one. Trades Shows was another hot topic this month. We even had a request for magicians to work at a Las Vegas trade show. Part of the discussion centered around "Why don’t companies hire local talent?" The answer was, "If we are spending top dollar for a booth space, a designer for the booth, clothing for those manning the booth why wouldn’t we spend top dollar on proven entertainment to attract people to our booth?" In other words, "We are willing to spend the money on those we know can do the job and pass on those who have to learn to do the job at our expense." It the same old truth, "You have to pay your dues."

How to have more interesting Ring meetings was kicked around a bit. Then suddenly the topic of Native American Magic, came on to the scene. We had many who are interested in presenting magic and native magic in the proper setting. The discussion was interesting. This lead to the creation of Theme Shows. These were dissected and ideas were tossed around by several members.

The cream of the crop in discussion this month with over twenty entries was a discussion that started with the Ortiz article in Feb. Linking Ring. This was a major theory discussion. Many members voiced their opinions or challenged the opinions of others. The discussion lasted more that half the month of Feb. In my opinion it was great.

To me one of the best things on Ring 2100 are discussions such as the Ortiz discussion. This one centering around presentation and theater arts delved deeply into what we think we are doing up on a stage. There were differences of opinion but no hard feelings. It was a discussion that if you missed it (still available in the Archives of Ring 2100) you missed the chance to expand your ideas or contribute your ideas about Magic. This discussion alone was worth sitting down and typing www.ring2100.org

Submitted by Gerald Wincklhofer