Flamenco - Magic by Juan Tamariz Written by Stephen Minch

Review by Michael Close

It’s great to be the bearer of good news, and this month I have some really good news. Flamenco, a book of routines and moves from Juan Tamariz has finally been released. The book has been in publishing limbo for almost three decades. Was it worth the wait? You bet it was. Like all of Juan’s books, it is chock-full of the ingenious creations we have come to associate with the maestro.

Flamenco contains Juan’s material, but the text was written by Stephen Minch (our cover subject this month). In his Preface, Stephen explains the story behind the long delay in bringing this book to completion. He also talks about this during my interview with him. During its long gestation period, Flamenco has undergone some alterations. Stephen writes:

“It is not the same book it would have been almost thirty years ago. A few items have dropped away: Juan became less enthusiastic about six pieces and withdrew them…The years, though, have not just submitted Flamenco
to some pruning. They have also refined its content; a content that, despite the time between its writing and its publication, has not tarnished. These pieces from the

Tamariz repertoire have received his further burnishing. And many of the settings contain jewels that may be mounted in other arrays. You can be confident that those you may choose to display will do so in their full beauty and deceptiveness.”

For those of you who are fans of Juan’s work, you don’t need any urging from me to pick up a copy as soon as the book is available. But for everyone else (and I can’t quite imagine whom that would be), I’ll give you an overview of the contents.

The book is in three large sections. The first (“Toque: True Palms, False Mixes, and Sly Glimpses”) covers exactly what it implies: an ingenious top palm, three false shuffles, a false cut sequence, and two methods for glimpsing cards under the cover of natural actions.

If you’ve ever felt insecure about palming a card, be sure to try The Phantom Top Palm. As Minch writes, “Here is a top palm, possible with one card or several, that is so deceptive, it can be done with all attention focused on the hands. In fact, it is designed for just such scrutiny. Misdirection, contrary to the common rule, is undesirable in this rare instance.” I have demonstrated this palm to several of my Zoom students; it went by all of them. For those of you who do memdeck work, pay attention to The Non-shuffle, a devilish concept I have seen Juan utilize on several occasions. It requires very little technical ability, relying on a prearrangement of the cards and some acting ability.

The second section (“Conte: Card Tricks for Near and Far”) contains two parts: the first offers routines using an ordinary deck; the second has routines using various gaffs. The opening routine, The Accommodating Deck, is an archetypal Tamariz trick. A shuffled deck is divided in half; suddenly, the red cards and the black cards separate. Then the cards separate into the four suits. One of the suits is chosen and that pile of cards is shuffled by the spectator. Magically, the cards arrange into Ace-through-King order. The biggest surprise – almost no sleight of hand is required. As Minch says, “Ninety percent of the secret manipulation is within the first ten seconds of the presentation.” It is a masterpiece of psychological manipulation. Other routines include: Wordly Rise (and yes, that’s spelled correctly) in which a named four-of-a-kind rise from the deck in a visually unique way; The First-class Tourists, a handling of Vernon’s Travelers (be sure to pay attention to the interesting way the Perpendicular Control is used); Oil Strike, a two-phase Oil and Water routine; A Separate Piece, another Oil and Water routine with a full-deck climax; 1942, a handling for Paul Curry’s Out of This World; Traveling Together, a transposition between two pairs of cards under test conditions; Paradise Recovered, a trick the entire audience can participate in, and which Minch calls “the most inspired – and inspiring – presentation for a card trick I’ve ever encountered”; and The Final Mystery, a set-closing routine in which the entire deck vanishes.

The gaffed card part begins with Exactly the Same with a Difference, in which Juan takes an old, beginner’s magic effect and turns it into something that will fool laymen and magicians; Los Centauros, a charming effect with hand-drawn cards depicting centaurs and mermaids (you can watch Juan perform this here page 21); and Trise, Automājuan, and A Case of Intuition, which use a simple gaff to produce a rising cards effect and much more.

Section three (“Baile”) contains three routines using a variety of props. Meal Ticket, in which Juan uses two old optical illusions to demonstrate to the spectators how they can magically create food and money; The Secret Life of Coins, a multi-phased coin routine that can be performed completely surrounded; and Point Blanche, a color-changing knives routine.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you read any book of Juan’s creations. First off, be aware that Juan structures his routines, his moves, and his presentations to fit not only his performing persona, but also his manner of handling props, and even the way he dresses. (For example, notice his version of Travelers, which he performs without wearing a suit jacket. This changes where the “traveling” cards will end up, and thus changes how the palms and the loads are accomplished. In fact, as explained in the write-up of the routine, the final card ends up in his shirt pocket, which is under the pullover sweater that is part of his everyday wardrobe.) Part of the challenge is to adapt all these things to fit your personality, mannerisms, and clothing choices. It is a worthwhile challenge.

Second, don’t skip over a routine just because the plot or the props don’t appeal to you. When I study Juan’s material, I’m interested in how he solves problems, because Juan is one of the most ingenious problem solvers out there. I also pay attention to his use of psychology and language to distort memory and his audience management techniques. These are all things I can extract, file away in my mental toolbox, and apply to my own routines.

Bottom line: It’s been a long wait, but Flamenco is a worthy addition to the Tamariz canon. Highly recommended.

Ordering details HERE.