Price$24.95
Media TypeVideo Download
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedJul 28, 2014
At the Table Live Lecture - John Guastaferro 7/23/2014
Guastaferro, John
Murphys Magic Supplies
(Based on 3 reviews)
John Guastaferro is a dynamic performer, author and creator. His published works are acclaimed by magicians worldwide, including his Brainstorm DVDs (2003) and book One Degree (2010). In this new lecture, John will cover a broad range of effects, predominately with playing cards, featuring some new material and old favorites. He'll also talk about the creative process and how the one-degree approach can create great impact through small refinements. Learn more about John at MagicJohnG.com
LECTURE OUTLINE
JOKER OPENER
- In the Doghouse (two Jokers and a selection transpose)
- Club Daley (a two-phase sandwich effect using two selections) MOVES
- Ballet Cut (John's versatile in-the-hands false cut/flourish)
- Proximity Peek Control (learn the identify and position of peeked card) MENTAL
- Twenty (a commercial blackjack and poker effect with a mental twist)
- Little White Lies (a fooling packet effect with an ending no one sees coming) NON-CARDS
- Some fun bits, including unpublished ideas for Ring & StringACES
- Tailspin (an impromptu twisting effect with some new added touches)
- Hide & Seek (a very clean pocket interchange effect)CLOSER
- Multi-Mental (John's signature multiple selection routine)
Reviews
(Top ▲)
This two and a half hour lecture by John Guastaferro is another killer episode of the Murphy’s Magic “At The Table” lecture series hosted by Mike Hankins. The 45 year old Guastaferro teaches and entertains with nothing more than a deck of cards, some rope, finger rings and a straw.
The audio quality for the first fourteen minutes of this lecture is a bit off, until it is adjusted and that is the only negative comment about this worthwhile download. During the course of the lecture, Guastaferro discusses his philosophy about magic, the evolution and improvement of his routines and his interplay with his audiences. Guastaferro performs and explains many tricks and routines which will appeal to performers of varying levels of skill. Guastaferro frequently takes questions from the audience or Hankins’ live internet feed during the course of the lecture and is genuinely interested in the audience and connecting with them as part of his experience in performing. During the course of the lecture, John explains why the words, “creativity”, “simplicity,” and ”artistry” are words that are his guiding principles in magic.
John starts off the lecture by performing his “In the Doghouse” card transposition routine where a spectator’s card switches places with the two Jokers and ends up in the card box. The techniques used during this routine (which can be used with other routines) are clearly explained, including some card switches that are easy and fun to do. Mike frequently stops and asks John to explain his moves which enhances the lecture and makes it more valuable to the viewer. John performs a medley of tricks in a row which keeps adding to the audience’s amazement. He uses various techniques and flourishes during this routine, which makes the entire presentation seem like real magic.
John continues with an amazing unpublished gambling trick in which he has a spectator act as the dealer and indicates that “20” is a lucky number for the trick and he puts down a twenty dollar bill down as a bet on the table. John calls another audience member up and cuts the cards into 3 packets. The spectator, Hankins and Guastaferro each take a pile, cut them and then exchange the piles amongst themselves. Each packet is then freely mixed by the three and placed into one pile. A random “lucky card” is thrown on the table face down and then the deck is riffle shuffled. Guastaferro predicts that spectator will deal a winning blackjack hand, specifically a 20, without busting. The hand is dealt face down and after 5 cards are dealt, Hankins indicates that he drew a 20, the predicted winning blackjack hand. And, of course, John indicates that the lucky card would have given him a “blackjack” and it is revealed to be an Ace. That in of itself is impressive, but then, John asks if the five face-down cards would be a good poker hand. In fact it is a straight and when John turns over the twenty dollar bill, it has prediction written on it that the spectator would receive a straight flush. This is an easy and very impressive trick to perform. One of the techniques explained as a component of this trick is the Charlier Shuffle, which is a very easy and convincing shuffle that keeps the deck in the same order, despite the appearance that it is being completely mixed.
John then performs “Little White Lies” from his book, Seven Wonders, where he takes the four Queens from his wallet and a prediction written on the back of a business card, which he shows and then places face down. The spectator then picks an undisclosed number (only indicating if it is even or odd) and the performer names a number and the spectator counts the cards under the table from top to bottom, based upon those numbers. The spectator then turns one card in the small stack he is holding over and brings the cards to the top of the table. When he spreads the cards, the prediction card is shown to be the face-up card. Then, all of the Queens are shuffled by the performer and when turned over again, they are all blank as well as the prediction card. The effect is amazing. Again, another incredibly impressive and easy card trick. Although not previously explained in his book, John teaches how to perform this trick from a wallet with some very easy and slight alterations to the wallet.
Based upon a live question, Guastaferro, departs from his pre-planned lecture and performs an impressive trick that he had not anticipated he would perform during the lecture, from his e-book RSG. He demonstrates and explains several moves that when put together compose another great card trick.
One of the many moves that Guastaferro demonstrates and teaches is a beautiful flourish, the ballet cut. The ballet cut is a fluid flip and toss of the deck, that is also a false cut.
Guastaferro performs Proximity Peak Control and has several spectators pick cards and then cards are shuffles and mixed throughout and all the cards are located and found. This like everything Guastaferro does is amazingly impressive. The explanation reveals how easy it is to do an amazing effect.
After about an hour and twenty minutes of jammed packed moves and card tricks, John turns to non-card close-up tricks. His first trick is an impromptu trick with a straw, Zen Bend. Zen Bend is a visual straw bend which is easy, quick and fun to perform and can be done within an instant, whenever you have a straw. The next trick is a series of ring and straw tricks that result in the appearance of a ring in a closed fist, the disappearance of a straw and the ring penetrating and jumping from the magician’s palm to the middle of a straw, even if it is being held by spectators on each end. John next performs Clifton’s ring move and is able to vanish a ring off of a string, does a ring transposition with his ring and the spectator’s ring, which appears on his finger, while his ring ends up on the rope. John continues his ring and string routine by making a necklace with a string and making a ring from his pocket jump to the looped ring around his neck.
John then performs “Stress Test” and has the spectator hold a business card sized color changing stress meter. The spectator picks a card when John is dribbling the deck face down on the table. John names the card, incorrectly, and indicates that he is “stressed out” about blowing the trick. The spectator then looks at the stress meter card and the name of his actual card has appeared in writing on the color changing stress meter. During the explanation. John shows his dribble force across a table. He also reveals how to erase sharpie ink with a dry erase marker, which is an interesting tip.
John finishes up the lecture by returning to card tricks, including “Color Blind” in which John buries four of a kind in the deck. The two red cards appear on the top of the deck and are placed down on the table. Then with a quick move, he pulls two cards out of the deck and they are revealed to be the two red cards that he had already placed down on the table. The face down cards are then shown to have transposed with the red cards and are the two matching black cards. He then performs an updated version of his trick “Color Blind” and “Tail Spin”. Guastaferro then performs “Hide and Seek” where the patter explains that the four Jacks will hide and the four Aces will look for the hiding Jacks. The four Aces change places with four Jacks after being handled and displayed by both the performer and spectator.
In the finale, Multi-Mental, Guastaferro has numerous spectators choose and remember a card. He is then able to read each spectator’s mind when they think about their cards, by naming the cards and then producing them in various and impressive ways. John performs this trick using a basic technique and although this is not a complicated trick to perform, it will make you look like a pro.
This lecture is so dense with amazing tricks, moves, routines and techniques that you will need to watch it several times to absorb the mountain of material and information that will no doubt add to your act.
I highly recommend this excellent installment in this great series by Murphy’s Magic.
The audio quality for the first fourteen minutes of this lecture is a bit off, until it is adjusted and that is the only negative comment about this worthwhile download. During the course of the lecture, Guastaferro discusses his philosophy about magic, the evolution and improvement of his routines and his interplay with his audiences. Guastaferro performs and explains many tricks and routines which will appeal to performers of varying levels of skill. Guastaferro frequently takes questions from the audience or Hankins’ live internet feed during the course of the lecture and is genuinely interested in the audience and connecting with them as part of his experience in performing. During the course of the lecture, John explains why the words, “creativity”, “simplicity,” and ”artistry” are words that are his guiding principles in magic.
John starts off the lecture by performing his “In the Doghouse” card transposition routine where a spectator’s card switches places with the two Jokers and ends up in the card box. The techniques used during this routine (which can be used with other routines) are clearly explained, including some card switches that are easy and fun to do. Mike frequently stops and asks John to explain his moves which enhances the lecture and makes it more valuable to the viewer. John performs a medley of tricks in a row which keeps adding to the audience’s amazement. He uses various techniques and flourishes during this routine, which makes the entire presentation seem like real magic.
John continues with an amazing unpublished gambling trick in which he has a spectator act as the dealer and indicates that “20” is a lucky number for the trick and he puts down a twenty dollar bill down as a bet on the table. John calls another audience member up and cuts the cards into 3 packets. The spectator, Hankins and Guastaferro each take a pile, cut them and then exchange the piles amongst themselves. Each packet is then freely mixed by the three and placed into one pile. A random “lucky card” is thrown on the table face down and then the deck is riffle shuffled. Guastaferro predicts that spectator will deal a winning blackjack hand, specifically a 20, without busting. The hand is dealt face down and after 5 cards are dealt, Hankins indicates that he drew a 20, the predicted winning blackjack hand. And, of course, John indicates that the lucky card would have given him a “blackjack” and it is revealed to be an Ace. That in of itself is impressive, but then, John asks if the five face-down cards would be a good poker hand. In fact it is a straight and when John turns over the twenty dollar bill, it has prediction written on it that the spectator would receive a straight flush. This is an easy and very impressive trick to perform. One of the techniques explained as a component of this trick is the Charlier Shuffle, which is a very easy and convincing shuffle that keeps the deck in the same order, despite the appearance that it is being completely mixed.
John then performs “Little White Lies” from his book, Seven Wonders, where he takes the four Queens from his wallet and a prediction written on the back of a business card, which he shows and then places face down. The spectator then picks an undisclosed number (only indicating if it is even or odd) and the performer names a number and the spectator counts the cards under the table from top to bottom, based upon those numbers. The spectator then turns one card in the small stack he is holding over and brings the cards to the top of the table. When he spreads the cards, the prediction card is shown to be the face-up card. Then, all of the Queens are shuffled by the performer and when turned over again, they are all blank as well as the prediction card. The effect is amazing. Again, another incredibly impressive and easy card trick. Although not previously explained in his book, John teaches how to perform this trick from a wallet with some very easy and slight alterations to the wallet.
Based upon a live question, Guastaferro, departs from his pre-planned lecture and performs an impressive trick that he had not anticipated he would perform during the lecture, from his e-book RSG. He demonstrates and explains several moves that when put together compose another great card trick.
One of the many moves that Guastaferro demonstrates and teaches is a beautiful flourish, the ballet cut. The ballet cut is a fluid flip and toss of the deck, that is also a false cut.
Guastaferro performs Proximity Peak Control and has several spectators pick cards and then cards are shuffles and mixed throughout and all the cards are located and found. This like everything Guastaferro does is amazingly impressive. The explanation reveals how easy it is to do an amazing effect.
After about an hour and twenty minutes of jammed packed moves and card tricks, John turns to non-card close-up tricks. His first trick is an impromptu trick with a straw, Zen Bend. Zen Bend is a visual straw bend which is easy, quick and fun to perform and can be done within an instant, whenever you have a straw. The next trick is a series of ring and straw tricks that result in the appearance of a ring in a closed fist, the disappearance of a straw and the ring penetrating and jumping from the magician’s palm to the middle of a straw, even if it is being held by spectators on each end. John next performs Clifton’s ring move and is able to vanish a ring off of a string, does a ring transposition with his ring and the spectator’s ring, which appears on his finger, while his ring ends up on the rope. John continues his ring and string routine by making a necklace with a string and making a ring from his pocket jump to the looped ring around his neck.
John then performs “Stress Test” and has the spectator hold a business card sized color changing stress meter. The spectator picks a card when John is dribbling the deck face down on the table. John names the card, incorrectly, and indicates that he is “stressed out” about blowing the trick. The spectator then looks at the stress meter card and the name of his actual card has appeared in writing on the color changing stress meter. During the explanation. John shows his dribble force across a table. He also reveals how to erase sharpie ink with a dry erase marker, which is an interesting tip.
John finishes up the lecture by returning to card tricks, including “Color Blind” in which John buries four of a kind in the deck. The two red cards appear on the top of the deck and are placed down on the table. Then with a quick move, he pulls two cards out of the deck and they are revealed to be the two red cards that he had already placed down on the table. The face down cards are then shown to have transposed with the red cards and are the two matching black cards. He then performs an updated version of his trick “Color Blind” and “Tail Spin”. Guastaferro then performs “Hide and Seek” where the patter explains that the four Jacks will hide and the four Aces will look for the hiding Jacks. The four Aces change places with four Jacks after being handled and displayed by both the performer and spectator.
In the finale, Multi-Mental, Guastaferro has numerous spectators choose and remember a card. He is then able to read each spectator’s mind when they think about their cards, by naming the cards and then producing them in various and impressive ways. John performs this trick using a basic technique and although this is not a complicated trick to perform, it will make you look like a pro.
This lecture is so dense with amazing tricks, moves, routines and techniques that you will need to watch it several times to absorb the mountain of material and information that will no doubt add to your act.
I highly recommend this excellent installment in this great series by Murphy’s Magic.
(Top ▲)
John Gustaferro looks like such a nice unassuming guy but his magic uses devious methods and he has some wonderful touches. The magic here is very card heavy but you get a handful of different types of tricks. They are not all pick a card find a card tricks rather you get a twisting the aces routine, a gambling routine, some in the hands magic and a multiple card find all in one place. It’s card heavy but there are some cool touches on effects with straws and rings as well, check them out below.
In the Dog House: A card is selected, 2 Jokers are placed in the box, the card turns over in the deck, it changes into the 2 jokers and ends up in the box. What a fun way to do a card to box, there are a couple silly jokes here that work together with the premise of the cards being some sort of dog. This only requires a table a box and an ungimmicked deck.
Club Sandwich: Two selections are chosen and found one at a time in between the 2 jokers and at the end they change positions. This is a classic of John G’s and is a nice sandwich routine with a nice kicker ending. I don’t love sandwich routines but this is nice.
Dr. Daley With Selections: The 2 Jokers and selections change places while in the spectators hands. This is a basic handling of the classic effect, nothing is super new here besides the routine in which it takes place. John performs In the Dog House, Club Sandwich and Dr. Daley’s Last Trick all in one seamlessly woven together to make 5 minutes of solid magic.
6 Card Charlie: This is a fooler! The deck is clearly mixed by you and the spectators. It is shuffled like crazy. A spectator is then able to deal exactly 20 in a game of blackjack and a straight in a game of poker and of course all of it is predicted by the magician.
Little White Lie: 4 queens are given to a spectator mixed up and one is chosen. They continue to mix them up and the magician is able to predict which card would be chosen. He then makes all of the cards turn blank. John has a few versions of this out there and he teaches the most complex version on this lecture. He shows how to make a gimmicked wallet that switches out gaffed cards and your prediction, and he uses black cards. He mentions that you could do this with a regular deck as well without a problem. It is generous of him to show the complex one because it is very easy to simplify.
Spectral: A card is selected and lost in a small packet, it vanishes and the spectator choses where it will reapear in a ribbon spread. This is similar in presentation to the classic Biddle trick. This is based on an effect by John Carey and John G. shows how he has added that one degree difference which he has got so famous for. It is fun to see how all the pieces come together to make a very magical effect.
Ballett Cut: A simple flourishy false cut. After learning it I have been surprised at how good it looks. It is a super simple 2 packet cut that can be performed at any time without a table and retains the whole order of the deck. John goes over a few applications including using it as a force, a production and a control.
Proximity Peak Control: You get a spectator peak, have a few people shuffle the cards and you are able to know the identity and location of that card. This is a nice thought, the handling and choreography needs to be fairly specific in order to pull it off, but it is not very difficult and gets a lot done.
Zen Bend: A straw held by the finger and thumb bends. This is probably best for a casual performance given the set up. All it requires is a straw with or without the wrapper on,
Ring on Straw: With the wave of a straw a ring magically appears in the magicians hand. The straw then vanished appearing behind the ear (just like in the classic gag) and the ring visually penetrates the center of the straw. This is a very natural routine, if you wear a ring then it could be a very strong impromptu piece.
Clifton’s Ring Transpo: The spectator’s ring is threaded onto a string, it melts through the string and changes into the magicians ring. It is then revealed that the magician is wearing the spectators ring. This is a quick ungimmicked addition to a ring on string routine using an updated version of a classic move.
Ring on Necklace: The magician makes an impromptu necklace using a shoelace or string, he then pops a borrowed ring onto the necklace worn by the spectator. This is a fun piece that leaves the spectator with an impossible object and a great souvenir. It is surprisingly easy as well.
Stress Test: A card that you buy in a novelty shop to measure stress is held by the spectator they then select a card and the stress test has morphed to match the card. John makes these cards specifically and has an extra kisker included on his but you can use your own if you find a card that changes color according to your mood. The way that he controls which card is selected is very cool, and you just need a table.
Color Blind: The spectator names a color and the magician cuts to an ace of that color, he cuts to another and the aces change color.
Tail Spin: The spectator names a four of a kind and those cards slowly turn over just like in the classic twisting the aces routine, they then turn into all double backers and then into the aces. They are handed to the spectator and they change to his original selected four of a kind. There’s nothing too difficult about this routine and with fairly little skill you get a handful of magical moments.
Hide and Seek: The jacks are hidden in a handful of different places all chosen by the spectator with one in the spectator's pocket. It’s kind of a version of open travellers where all 4 jacks switch places with the aces. It does require some minor audience management but it isn’t incredibly difficult to do.
Multimental: In this version 6 cards are selected and as they are found the magician is able to name them right before they produce them. The great part about this is that there is no memorization and no forcing of the cards, so you can do a part mental part magic routine that you can do just about anywhere from a shuffled deck.
So on this download you learn a ton of new magic that can be performed in any venue. Like I said before the card effects are very diverse and you learn about various different plots with a deck of cards. This has been one of my favorite lectures.
In the Dog House: A card is selected, 2 Jokers are placed in the box, the card turns over in the deck, it changes into the 2 jokers and ends up in the box. What a fun way to do a card to box, there are a couple silly jokes here that work together with the premise of the cards being some sort of dog. This only requires a table a box and an ungimmicked deck.
Club Sandwich: Two selections are chosen and found one at a time in between the 2 jokers and at the end they change positions. This is a classic of John G’s and is a nice sandwich routine with a nice kicker ending. I don’t love sandwich routines but this is nice.
Dr. Daley With Selections: The 2 Jokers and selections change places while in the spectators hands. This is a basic handling of the classic effect, nothing is super new here besides the routine in which it takes place. John performs In the Dog House, Club Sandwich and Dr. Daley’s Last Trick all in one seamlessly woven together to make 5 minutes of solid magic.
6 Card Charlie: This is a fooler! The deck is clearly mixed by you and the spectators. It is shuffled like crazy. A spectator is then able to deal exactly 20 in a game of blackjack and a straight in a game of poker and of course all of it is predicted by the magician.
Little White Lie: 4 queens are given to a spectator mixed up and one is chosen. They continue to mix them up and the magician is able to predict which card would be chosen. He then makes all of the cards turn blank. John has a few versions of this out there and he teaches the most complex version on this lecture. He shows how to make a gimmicked wallet that switches out gaffed cards and your prediction, and he uses black cards. He mentions that you could do this with a regular deck as well without a problem. It is generous of him to show the complex one because it is very easy to simplify.
Spectral: A card is selected and lost in a small packet, it vanishes and the spectator choses where it will reapear in a ribbon spread. This is similar in presentation to the classic Biddle trick. This is based on an effect by John Carey and John G. shows how he has added that one degree difference which he has got so famous for. It is fun to see how all the pieces come together to make a very magical effect.
Ballett Cut: A simple flourishy false cut. After learning it I have been surprised at how good it looks. It is a super simple 2 packet cut that can be performed at any time without a table and retains the whole order of the deck. John goes over a few applications including using it as a force, a production and a control.
Proximity Peak Control: You get a spectator peak, have a few people shuffle the cards and you are able to know the identity and location of that card. This is a nice thought, the handling and choreography needs to be fairly specific in order to pull it off, but it is not very difficult and gets a lot done.
Zen Bend: A straw held by the finger and thumb bends. This is probably best for a casual performance given the set up. All it requires is a straw with or without the wrapper on,
Ring on Straw: With the wave of a straw a ring magically appears in the magicians hand. The straw then vanished appearing behind the ear (just like in the classic gag) and the ring visually penetrates the center of the straw. This is a very natural routine, if you wear a ring then it could be a very strong impromptu piece.
Clifton’s Ring Transpo: The spectator’s ring is threaded onto a string, it melts through the string and changes into the magicians ring. It is then revealed that the magician is wearing the spectators ring. This is a quick ungimmicked addition to a ring on string routine using an updated version of a classic move.
Ring on Necklace: The magician makes an impromptu necklace using a shoelace or string, he then pops a borrowed ring onto the necklace worn by the spectator. This is a fun piece that leaves the spectator with an impossible object and a great souvenir. It is surprisingly easy as well.
Stress Test: A card that you buy in a novelty shop to measure stress is held by the spectator they then select a card and the stress test has morphed to match the card. John makes these cards specifically and has an extra kisker included on his but you can use your own if you find a card that changes color according to your mood. The way that he controls which card is selected is very cool, and you just need a table.
Color Blind: The spectator names a color and the magician cuts to an ace of that color, he cuts to another and the aces change color.
Tail Spin: The spectator names a four of a kind and those cards slowly turn over just like in the classic twisting the aces routine, they then turn into all double backers and then into the aces. They are handed to the spectator and they change to his original selected four of a kind. There’s nothing too difficult about this routine and with fairly little skill you get a handful of magical moments.
Hide and Seek: The jacks are hidden in a handful of different places all chosen by the spectator with one in the spectator's pocket. It’s kind of a version of open travellers where all 4 jacks switch places with the aces. It does require some minor audience management but it isn’t incredibly difficult to do.
Multimental: In this version 6 cards are selected and as they are found the magician is able to name them right before they produce them. The great part about this is that there is no memorization and no forcing of the cards, so you can do a part mental part magic routine that you can do just about anywhere from a shuffled deck.
So on this download you learn a ton of new magic that can be performed in any venue. Like I said before the card effects are very diverse and you learn about various different plots with a deck of cards. This has been one of my favorite lectures.
(Top ▲)
This was an amazing lecture! Most of the material presented was planned but there was a surprise bonus effect that was shown and explained -just fantastic material!
If you have ready of the books John has written or seen any of his past DVDs, you will recognize some of the material here, only the handlings have been updated or in some cases as he points out, changed, for various reasons.
The beginning of the video was hard to understand because it seems like the microphones were being overpowered, but about 20 minutes in it got much better.
Mike is a great host and interacts well between the guest and both the studio audience and the web audience. John did a great job of demonstrating and teaching, and, he answered questions from viewers with rather in-depth answers.
One of my favorite effects was "Little White Lies" - very nice! Another one that I quite enjoyed that may be of particular interest to those of you that do parlor or stage work is his "Multi-Mental". It is a multiple-selection revelation via mind reading, but the method could very well be applied to handlings of similar effects like the Robert-Houdin version called "The Ladies' Looking Glass".
There are two types of people I would recommend this video for: Those of you that have never heard of John Guastaferro and those who are familiar with his work already and enjoy it. The material is top-notch, none of it is overly hard to do and it is both very clean and very magical!
If you have never heard of or seen John Guastaferro - get one of his books (especially 'One Degree') or one of his DVDs. This video would also be a great introduction to his work.
VERY highly recommended!
If you have ready of the books John has written or seen any of his past DVDs, you will recognize some of the material here, only the handlings have been updated or in some cases as he points out, changed, for various reasons.
The beginning of the video was hard to understand because it seems like the microphones were being overpowered, but about 20 minutes in it got much better.
Mike is a great host and interacts well between the guest and both the studio audience and the web audience. John did a great job of demonstrating and teaching, and, he answered questions from viewers with rather in-depth answers.
One of my favorite effects was "Little White Lies" - very nice! Another one that I quite enjoyed that may be of particular interest to those of you that do parlor or stage work is his "Multi-Mental". It is a multiple-selection revelation via mind reading, but the method could very well be applied to handlings of similar effects like the Robert-Houdin version called "The Ladies' Looking Glass".
There are two types of people I would recommend this video for: Those of you that have never heard of John Guastaferro and those who are familiar with his work already and enjoy it. The material is top-notch, none of it is overly hard to do and it is both very clean and very magical!
If you have never heard of or seen John Guastaferro - get one of his books (especially 'One Degree') or one of his DVDs. This video would also be a great introduction to his work.
VERY highly recommended!