He has developed a recognizable “Bannon” trademark of creative, easy-to-do, deceptive card magic. I have known John since the late ’80s, and I think we’ve discussed most of his tricks. (Even the ones that were not very good — but I’m under oath not to talk about those). His friends know him as a thinking man’s card magician who prefers subtlety over sleight, and discrepancy over dexterity. John thinks about the “whole trick.” He and I have discussed at length not only effects and methods, but construction, context, presentation, and impact.

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So how does a high-powered, fulltime Chicago attorney have time for all this? I asked John about the balance of work, family, and hobby. When does he find time to create and think about magic?

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“Actually, having a career and family makes it easier in a way, because it takes away the urgency. I work at my own speed and only publish when I have something really good. The alternative of having to ‘create’ for financial reasons, or under pressure, would not work for me at all. I keep a notebook of projects of interest, but sometimes I am more productive than others. It goes without saying, I like thinking about and working on card tricks.”

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John’s pragmatic outlook is one of the reasons that he seldom gives lectures or appears at conventions. He says that, given his other obligations, it’s often difficult to commit very far in advance. I’ve booked him twice for magic convention appearances where he was the only performer who didn’t sign a contract. What else would you expect from a lawyer?Intrigued by his recent output, I asked John about his creative process.

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“I don’t really have a ‘creative process.’ I come at different tricks in different ways. Sometimes a plot will catch my interest and I will start from scratch, or a good idea buried in a weak execution will give me a head start. Most of the time, the effort involves cross-pollinating from one set of magical concepts to a different set and developing the ‘intersection.’ In a nutshell, the skill is having as many nodes in your magic neural network as you can, encouraging interaction between them on conscious and unconscious levels, and developing the judgment to dismiss or exploit the various connections. Many times, I’ll come up with a trick that works well but is simply a linear series of moves. That’s just not interesting enough for me. There needs to be some kind of twist for me to be truly happy.”