Swekoski performed a Chop Cup routine, multiple card selection, and The Linking Rings. His funny and slightly edgy act had lots of audience involvement with Swekoski convincing one spectator to dance through the Linking Rings presentation and another to put his head under the Chop Cup. Note his final reveal of a selected card in the photo in the slideshow below. Swekoski, who bills himself as The Disillusionist, is a former philosophy professor who regularly performs at Taste of Magic and private gigs in the New York City area.
Peter DePaula debuted a new mentalism act which he performed with his daughter, Lily. The set included divinations of selected cards, mental reading of a bill's denomination and serial number, and the puncture of his hypnotized daughter's arm with a long needle (which DePaula acknowledged was "creepy"). Depaula is a magician and mime who has been based both from New York and Los Angeles. In the mid-1970s he toured extensively as the lead in the road company of the Broadway musical, The Magic Show.