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

 

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