A Session with John Bannon
Category: Article Posted by: I.B.M. Website Editor
When Magi-Fest organizers announced Juan Tamariz would be among the performers featured at this year's convention, John Bannon knew he wanted to be there.
With the addition of magicians like Michael Weber, Eric Mead and the other talent, Bannon said it became an event not to be missed.
Bannon, like magician Chad Long, are not working the convention, but they both wanted to be part of the festivities and enjoy the long weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
Though Bannon was not working the magic convention, a couple of fellow members of the International Brotherhood of Magicians pressed him, an Order of Merlin, into service.
Matt Baker, a member of I.B.M. Ring 9 in Atlanta, approached Bannon to say he was a big fan. About that time, Martin Jarret, a member of I.B.M. Ring 68 in Toledo, Ohio, joined the men.
Jarret was having difficulty with a move Bannon wrote about, the Elias Shift, which allows the magician to control four aces to the top of the deck. So, he asked Bannon if he could help.
Bannon obliged, and for the next thirty minutes or so, a mini-lecture broke out with the masterful Bannon teaching the Elias Shift and showing Baker and Jarret some other things, too.
Baker, a mathematics professor at Georgia Tech who had an almost encyclopedic recall of Bannon's material and what books in which they could be found, asked Bannon if he could show him a routine he put together using a couple of Bannon's ideas, as well as an effect from Simon Aronson.
Baker's multi-phase routine brought a smile to the teacher's face.
Because Baker was a mathematician, Bannon showed him an effect he came up with, but has not published. It involved carrying out Pi to 10,000 digits. Bannon showed Baker an ebook on his smartphone and how Pi carried out to 10,000 digits covered 211 pages.
Scrolling through the pages, Bannon handed the phone, with the ebook displayed, to Baker and told him to stop on any page.
Baker went through a number of pages and stopped one. Bannon asked him to recite a few numbers. When Baker finished calling out a few of the digits, Bannon picked up, reciting every number remaining on the page.
Bannon also showed Jarret and Baker a new packet trick he plans on releasing later this year.
Eventually, the impromptu lecture ended, and Baker and Jarret appreciated the opportunity to spend some time with one of their favorite magicians.
"He was very sharing," Jarret said. "It's always nice to meet a person you read about and see on DVDs. He was very generous in showing his material and new material."
"I've been a fan for about 10 years," Bfaker said. "He's very clever. His principles are subtle, and his effects are very clean. They're off-the-shelf, ready to go. They are so beautifully thought out. He has thought out every detail."
These impromptu meetings and sessions are something Leland Pennington, Order of Merlin and member of Ring 71, Cincinnati, enjoys at magic conventions.
"It's more one-on-one, and you learn things from people you normally wouldn't," Pennington said.