Our first meeting of the year focused on money magic in all its forms—coins, bills, psychology, and a few unexpected twists. The evening delivered a strong mix of visual magic, storytelling, and clever thinking, with a lot of variety packed into a short program.
Performances
Gary Lazok kicked things off with a lively combination of coin magic and bill transformations. His classic Magic Dust/four-coin routine played well, followed by a surprise change of $2 bills into $20s. Wisely—and refreshingly—he resisted the urge to change them back, because… why would you?
Bill Halmi blended personal storytelling with practical magic, sharing a tale from a European trip where he lost his wallet. Fortunately, Thompson Change and Instant Paper to Money came to the rescue, funding what turned out to be a great vacation.
Anvesh Yalamanchili presented a four-ace routine framed around a story of someone who claimed to do impossible things with a deck of cards—and then proved it. Simple, confident, and effective.
Doug Northway delivered a fun mentalism piece involving a stack of bills passed through the audience. Three spectators freely selected bills, each with unique serial numbers, and Doug successfully read all three minds.
Jeff Peterson made a quick but memorable appearance, producing a $100 bill using the Wormhole Deck. Sadly, he declined to use it to pay for everyone’s dinner.
John O’Hare demonstrated Weird Gravity Coins, a visual and curious piece that added a nice change of texture to the evening, and reminded the secretary what an awesome move Han Ping Chien is.
Tank Hanna, our club president, thought the theme was Monkey Magic. Fortunately, the stuffed monkey he brought turned out to have impressive mind-reading abilities, saving the day and the theme.
James Knight performed Color Psychology, a long-anticipated routine where multiple audience members were subtly influenced—or possibly predicted. Either way, it landed with both amazement and fun.
Raoul Limeres presented an effect he learned from a YouTube video that was in another language, but the closed captions stopped before the entire effect was explained, so his ending was Lost in Translation…
Brad Zinn followed with an inside-out bill (visual surprise!), and then a coin exchange, combining transformations with solid handling, amazing his two volunteers and the audience.
Roger Lefebvre showcased two effects: Eagles from Nowhere and Copper Copper Silver, packing a lot of magic into a short performance. It was nice to see more coin magic in this meeting!
David Xu closed the night with one of the most creative moments of the meeting: a mentalism routine performed using a dove pan. Yes—a dove pan. Challenged to make the prop do something unexpected, David absolutely delivered.
Overall
A strong start to the year with a well-balanced mix of magic and mentalism, plenty of creativity, and no shortage of laughs. If this meeting is any indication, 2026 is off to a very good start.
