2020

Michael Jons, a self-described mind reader and psychic entertainer, brought his thought-provoking, interactive show, “Michael Jons: Wicked Thoughts!” to the Greenbelt Arts Center (GAC) stage the weekend of March 6 to 8. The audience was treated to an evening of often hilarious and clever demonstrations of his modern take on the art of mind reading. Jons has been entertaining audiences with his psychic powers since 2014 in his residency show, “Michael Jons: Psychic Cabaret” first in Fort Lauderdale and then at the Four Seasons Hotel in D.C.

Jons began by asking audience participants to write something embarrassing or perhaps wicked that they had experienced on a card which was then dropped into the “Box of Shame.” Later in the show Jons proved his mind-reading skill by reaching into the box with a comical flair, picking out a card and humorously reading out loud the embarrassing moment or shameful action of an audience member. He then canvassed the audience and finally settled on one person who eventually owned up to the card being theirs. He continued to demonstrate his intriguing abilities to read, influence and predict thoughts by engaging audience members in games which highlighted techniques of manipulation that utilize a mixture of intuition and human psychology.

With his remarkable feats of persuasion, Jons demonstrated how easily minds can be controlled at times when people think they are making a decision using their own free will. He warned the audience to be aware of mind manipulation techniques used every day by advertisers, politicians, clergy and nefarious types on social media. His recommendation to combat this intrusion is to employ what he calls “kindergarten rules.”

The “King of Cartomancy,” as he describes himself, closed the show by using a deck of cards to predict the future. He accurately guessed the card each audience member was holding and had a highly intuitive and thought-provoking interpretation of each card.