Ottawa’s Jaymes White is a different kind of busy these days.
Fresh off performing seances for his “Evoke” show, White returns to his milieu of mentalism with four virtual mind-reading shows, February 19, 20, 26 and 27.
His live shows run for two hours, but given the pandemic, his shows have been cut down to 45 minutes on Zoom.
“I’ve gotten known for my seances, and we’ve sold over 900 tickets,” he said of his brushes with the supernatural, adding he suspects they had one person who was possessed during an “Evoke” event. “(But) what we’re doing is a special mind-reading experience.”
Each event will be capped at 50 people, allowing White to both read his audience and teach them
“It’s more mind-reading basics, making you all do stuff like using science and psychology to realize the skills of how manipulation works, how misdirection works, how to read someone and how to do all these little things,” White said, during a February phone call. “I give little tips and demonstrate it.
It’s similar to another show titled, “The Art of Mind Reading,” which is based on his work profiling people and performing cold readings.
“That’s what I train detectives on how to look at someone really fast and read them.”
The challenges with using Zoom for the cold readings are trying to determine an individual’s demeanour or can’t hear them.
“These concepts are based on manipulation and subliminal influences, and old techniques that car salesmen and home sellers use in their day-to-day lives,” he added.
One bonus for White is it allows him to stay in tune with the news to pick up on trends and current news. That’s where the subliminal influences come into play.
“I explain some of the science behind it. We do something and then they get blown away by it and I go, ‘This is how it worked,’ and they actually get more blown away with it once they know how it works.”
The ultimate goal for the mind-reading experience is the chance of escape. With everyone in Ontario under lockdown, it’s a chance to do something different, all while escaping the feel of a Zoom call.
Tickets for the Special Virtual Mindreading Experience are available for $24.99 via jaymeswhite.com.