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John Carey Lecture
Mid Essex Magical Society
6th January 2015
Reviewed by James Cooper
In recent years, John has become well known in the magic world for his ability
to streamline effects without them losing any of their impact on an audience.
Although I had heard of John Carey and seen his work before, it was the first
time I had had the pleasure to meet him and what can I say, he is one of the
nicest, down to earth guys in magic. John’s enthusiasm shone through when
performing and explaining his routines and he was happy to spend individual time
after the lecture going back over anything we asked for.
All of John’s routines are within reach of the average performer and when you
have a teacher like John explaining every nuance, detail and subtlety it makes
for a great lecture.
John opened both halves of the lecture with a coin trick, the first half with
‘Triple Impurseination’ from his Handle with Carey DVD, which is a clever
copper, silver, Chinese spellbound routine combined with a coins to purse. This
is a great opener for any working magician that instantly resets and I for one
will be giving this a try.
The second half was opened with ‘Gys Coin’ which is a single coin routine with
several productions and vanishes culminating in a kicker ending and ideal for
the strolling magician.
John then turned his attention to some fantastic card magic mixed with theory
and explanations of numerous practical card forces, false shuffles, false cuts
and many more insights that seemed to endlessly tumble out of his head. I think
that if we could have arranged a lock-in at the venue, John would have performed
all night.
Among the many routines demonstrated and explained, here are some of my personal
favourites:
Johns ‘Do as I do’ - A one deck effect making the spectator the star which is
one of the best uses of the Balducci cut I have seen.
‘3 Chances/sub rising’ - An impromptu approach to the classic rising card which
is brilliant and simple you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself.
‘Mystery in time’ from his Keep Calm & Carey On DVD - One of the best Mystery
card routines to date, fact!
‘Everybody’s Oil and Water’ – A brilliant multi-phase routine with six cards
which fooled me badly.
‘Counting on you’ – John’s take on a Paul Cummins classic ACAAN effect which was
a particular highlight and a great use of a breather crimp.
If you are looking for a great lecturer with practical, useable, commercial
magic with cards and coins then look no further than John Carey.
© James Cooper, January 2015