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parmenion Inner circle Switzerland/Zürich 3988 Posts |
Hello Steve,
First, I like your work I'm a big fan since I got scrapbook video ten years ago. I don't understand why you're not more famous Everybody talk about Mc King, Amazing Johnathan ( ok, they're very funny ) But you too. Do you think it's because they're a show to Vegas ? I don't know well the American system but it looks if you're to Vegs you become a star, if you're not you become a artist( joke) I like your bullet catch with your Tv last wil ! Incredible funny, for me perhaps the best end show I have ever seen. Best Christophe
“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”
<BR>Oscar Wilde experimentaliste <br> <BR>Artist pickpocket Professional <BR> <BR>Looking for the best book test in French? send me a PM! |
Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
One of the few books that I saved from our flooded basement was by Steve... even tho' it's musty and wrinkled, I treasure it.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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Steve Spill V.I.P. 211 Posts |
Hey Pete,why don't you come to one of my shows this weekend? Love to have you and your family as guests. For those who don't know,Biro is one of the greatest performers ever. I used to watch him at Carter's Cellar back in the early seventies. Great guys worked there like Matt Corin, Martin Lewis, I even met Harry Anderson there when he was a street worker.
I'd get up there once every couple months, it was a great room for close-up in particular. I think it paid $25 a night, out of which I had to pay for gas to make the 800 mile roundtrip drive from LA to San Francisco, a room at the YMCA, food, gratuities, taxes... I would have gladly performed in the cellar every Saturday night... but I couldn't afford it. |
Steve Spill V.I.P. 211 Posts |
Parmenion thanks for the compliment. As to your question about why I'm not so famous, all I can say is... I am very well know to those who know me and completely unknown to those who have never heard of me.
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Pete Biro 1933 - 2018 18558 Posts |
Steve your are too kind with your praise. Am still in recovery from stroke. Feeling pretty good, but family obligations kinda keep me glued home, but WILL TAKE YOU UP ON IT ASAP.
You are so right about the olde Magic Cellar being one of the greaet spots IN ITS DAY... we all learned so much there and had a blast working those San Francisco crowds.
STAY TOONED... @ www.pete-biro.com
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BobSheets V.I.P. 169 Posts |
One of my favorite things you put together was the "Busking Routine" you did in the restaurants on that tour. I remember it was a two deck routine that went back and forth and looked like all endings. Do you remember the tricks in that one?
Tell them the Johnny Fox story another great story from that tour. It's a riot. It's amazing that he went on to become one of the best buskers in the world. bob. |
Steve Spill V.I.P. 211 Posts |
In 1976 I was 22 years old and working with Bob as a bartender in Aspen. One offseason I went on a coast to coast busking tour with Johnny Fox. Today Fox is a successful sword swallower on ye olde Reniassance Faire circuit. In 1976 he was a talented coin man who liked performing outdoors in the daytime. I did cards and preferred performing indoors in the evening. When Fox was performing on busy street corners... I was avaliable to keep a lookout for the cops, or the juggler who seemed to think the corner belonged to him. At night, when I performed in bars, Fox was available to drink cocktails.
I'd walk into a crowded bar, often connected to a restauant with along dinner wait, a tavern full of construction workers, or a disco... go right up to a table, or the bar, interrupt coversation with a fan of cards and say "Reach in and grab one." If someone grabbed a card I was on my way. I always had two decks and two tricks going at the same time. The selected cards would disappear, float, change to other cards or... at the time I was a walking encyclopedia of card tricks. Often they'd keep the cards, or tear them up, but I wasn't detered, I'd just go somewhere else. If things worked out I'd do five or ten minutes, hold out my hat and say "Help me get a room tonight." Some nights it took four or five bars to find a lucrative spot. Other evenings I was successful going back and forth between two establishments all night. The manager or bartender would kick me out at times... it didn't matter, we never spent more than a day or two in any town. In San Antonio I was scouting the Riverwalk, looking for bars to return to that evening. I've picked my spots, time to meet up with Fox. As I walked down the hill towards the park I see a huge crowd, maybe a hundred people. Fox is in front of them doing Roth's Hanging Coins. I couldn't believe he'd drawn such a big crowd. I was thinking to myself, Fox has finally done it, the hat is gonna be huge on this one. As I got closer, I saw that about ten people were engaged in Fox's trick. The other ninety people were looking behind him, across the street, at the man standing on the roof of a ten story building. The guy dove, head first, straight down. The accelerated speed of his departure from the roof to his meeting with the surface of the street... produced a loud thud smack sound... that is a haunting memory I will never forget. The jumper drew a huge crowd, but he didn't pass the hat. |
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