About a half hour before today’s matinee here at Magicopolis, a dull pain developed in my chest and persisted in making itself felt with every breath I took. The pain was dull and tolerable enough for me to do the show, and I was determined to go on, pain or no.

From the very first time I set foot on stage, starting as a kid, I have never, ever missed a performance. Neither snow, nor rain nor fever nor flu nor allergies nor a broken ankle, could keep me from doing my performances.*

When my wife became aware of the pain, she suggested I not ignore it and get myself to a hospital emergency room. She said don’t worry about the show, give everyone their money back. Because the pain was tolerable, I didn’t want to do that. I kept thinking, the show must go on… the show must go on.

Less than five minutes after the final bow, I felt the pain in my chest inelegantly and unceremoniously leave my body. At this moment, a huge, ear-shattering, triple flutter-blast of a fart escaped from me. I guess the huge breakfast I force-fed myself this morning backfired.

At first I was hesitant about sharing this, but ultimately, I, like all immature adults, find the loud passing of gas to be funny.

*My broken ankle incident also involves a fart, and the story, which happened 25 years ago, can be found in the “Bad Shows” thread here at the Café when I was the Chef Special back in January 2008.

Hope to see some you in the near future here at Magicopolis, there are still a few tickets left for our big New Year’s Eve show - http://www.magicopolis.com or buy tickets at 310 451 2241 from 11am to 6pm daily.

Oh GROW UP!

























...wait, um, on second thought, DON'T! As an irreverent kid who refuses to grow-up as well, I LOVED your story! - Hehehehehehe!

Deano (Refuses To Grow Up Too...) In Reno
<><

Hey Ireland. The gang at Magicopolis knows that you have a hard time getting to Santa Monica on a weekly basis. I lived in Canada for a while, (Toronto, I was a Yuk Yuk's comic) and I feel for you sir. That's why I recommend logging onto GarageComedy.com every Saturday night at 10:00 pm pacific time and watch The Bar Show! live streaming on the internet.

We just got a new broadcast system. Our co-producer Val Myers has hand built a broadcast system to do live remotes from the best comedy shows in Los Angeles. It doesn't cost you a dime to watch and you can catch our broadcast from anywhere in the world.

This Saturday we have an over sized show. Normally we only have two comics and one magician. This week since it's our last show of 2008 we have booked three comics and two magicians. It's our supersized mega show.

A little anecdote on last week's show. We gave away free DVDs. Who knows what we're giving away this week! Maybe more DVDs, perhaps blue ray! Oh and a little known cat named Jon Armstrong dropped in for a guest set after the show was over. That's just the kind of people we have dropping in on the show.

This week we have special guest comic Scott Bowser. If anyone has been to The Bar Show! they know that Naughty Scotty is a crowd favorite.

See you guys this week.

-Host and producer of The Bar Show! Erik "Delusion Master" Tait

In 1982, at the Magic Castle, I met an actor named Joseph Bologna. He said “you have a terrific act, I predict that you’re going to have a big career… and what I’d like to propose to you is…”

At the time Bologna was well-known because he was starring with Peter O’Toole in a great movie called “My Favorite Year,” as we talked, a couple of his fans interrupted and...

What proposal? I never did find out. He put his arm around my shoulder… “You’re a very talented kid.” He shook my hand… “We’ll be talking very soon, you can bet on it.”

I’m glad I did not bet on it, because it was twenty-six years before we talked again. It was this past Sunday, here at Magicopolis, he shook my hand, and said, “I’m very pleased to meet you. Love your work, Stan.”

I've just been reading all of Steve's great stories, Thanks! I am lucky enough to perform two shows a night in a magic restaurant in Barcelona with a great team of guys and girls, its the life. I should think of some of my stories from the shows to write about! I have a great one about causing a riot with a heckler put down line I used, but maybe its not for the Café!

I must pick up a copy of your performance dvd Mr Spill!

Best,
Matt

I finally had the pleasure of going to Magicopolis and, I must say, saw a wonderful show! I took the family (wife and kids...6 and 3) to a matinee show and we all had a great time.

I first learned of Magicopolis strolling around Santa Monica early last year (and a follow up search on the Café). I had reservations at the Magic Castle during that trip and didn't have time to see Mr. Spill's show. So when I returned to So. Cal. last week I made it a point to go. The venue is in a great location...it's adjacent to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. That fact pleased the wife as she was able to duck into a few shops before and after the show while the kids and I watched some street performers.

Steve Spill was a gracious host and took the time to show me around the place. The things I liked best about the performance (without tipping the effects):

1) The stage illusions, which I am generally lukewarm about, were presented with comedy instead of taking things too seriously. In fact, there was coemdy throughout the entire show. I really enjoyed that part of the show.

2) The venue was such that not only were stage illusions presented, but also some great close-up magic. It really was a great place to see a show!

3) Steve's assistant was more than just an assistant. She also presented several effects herself, which was really great to see since my oldest daughter is interested in magic. She was talking about Olga all day after the show. Don't worry...I was talking about you, Steve

4) There were four birthday parties there and each birthday kid got to go up on stage and help out. Both Steve and Olga had an excellent rapport with the audience, including the kids.

5) It was great magic and a fraction of the cost of the Magic Castle.

I highly recommend Magicopolis and will definitely be back to check out the evening and bar shows when I get a chance!

Cheers,
Steve

Rupert, I also once incited a riot…

I spent spring 1976 on a coast to coast bar busking tour with my friend Johnny Fox. In those days, most people were extraordinarily generous. Almost everywhere we stopped to do a show someone offered us a place to stay, food, drinks, money... they knew we didn’t have much money, but it wasn’t because they thought we were poor that they were so kind… it was because they enjoyed our tricks, liked talking to free spirits, and above all, because they wanted to offer tokens of friendship to traveling strangers.

The flip side of the coin… THE RIOT… I had to talk loud to be heard over the disco beat, but the guys and gals in a Nashville club seemed to be enjoying my card tricks. I held out my hat and … suddenly lit cigarette butts were flicked at me from an adjacent table. Orange embers everywhere… my hat smoldered as the big fellows next door were laughing at their handiwork.

The boys I’d entertained didn’t take kindly to this. To make a long story short, words were traded, the situation escalated to a fist fight… the club’s bouncers got involved, followed by a full scale riot. Lostsa guys threw punches, threw furniture, broken glass.

Fox and I were able to slide out unscathed, just as the police arrived. We never found out if this was really a dispute between rival gangs or just a bunch of guys who worked at the serious business of committing felonies. I’ve seen some bad card tricks in my time… but I can definitely say that, in the last thirty-plus years, I’ve never seen or heard of any card tricks that have provoked that kinda reaction.

For the complete story on that busking trip, see my Blog entry, 8-21-08 Busking, over at http://www.magicopolis.com and while you’re over at the website, be sure to buy some tickets to our show, Escape Reality, or buy tickets at 310 451 2241 from 11am to 6pm daily, we'll both be glad you did.

I went to the Magicopolis last Saturday night and loved the show. It was my second experience of Steve Spills entertainment and I was much impressed by the comedy, drama, close-up magic, his assistant "Olga", and of course the Table Of Terror, Steve's signature effect in the show.

The interior of Magicopolis has evolved as well. Steve now has a bar selling drinks and a magician who makes them. On the opposite side of the building, magicians are demonstrating magic tricks in the magic shop before the show, during intermission, and even after the show.

My favorite part about the show was Steve's comedy. One can definitely tell that he is what a great performer should be after so many years in magic.

All in all, the show was great, the drinks were great, and I would like to thank you again Steve for such a wonderful experience last weekend!

David

I went to Magicopolis last Saturday as well. We had a great time, and enjoyed the show. The levitation bit was great! What I really liked were the lead in bits and skits before the illusions. It gave a nice different perspective on truly combining theatre with magic, which you don't see all too often. (at least done well!)

Steve has a great sense of comic timing, which helps the show flow smoothly. He was very accessible before, after and even during the intermission of the show which gave a very personable touch to the evening. The theatre itself is a nice little gem in Santa Monica, and if you are in town, check it out!

Somehow, the name Steve Spill escaped my attention, but that changed a few years ago when I viewed his funny and inventive DVD. A group of us just saw the Magicopolis show, and Spill's growth as a performer since the DVD, which I loved, is remarkable. The irony and attitude of his comic persona is still intact, but he also shows a serious side that communicates warmth, humanity, and emotion.

If you don't know, now you know. This full evening show is a tour-de-force of close-up, stand-up, and illusions, presented with a seamless organic style. Spill, and co-star Bozena, were dynamic, tender, funny, and everything was performed in a playful understated way.

I introduced myself after the show, Spill was gracious, but the flow of our group gave me little opportunity to converse in depth. At dinner, our constant conversation was Magicopolis. One friend, a Vegas regular, commented that so much magic has become pyrotechnics, lasers, shock, gore, but not here.

Steve, thanks for a job well done.

Magicopolis has always been a privileged place. Both for audiences and magicians. Besides the great stadium-style structure, I used to find that performers themselves, when in Magicopolis, adopt that sharing perspective. I was lucky enough to have insightful conversation with the different house magicians, which included Bob Sheets for a while. And then you had the stage performers, like Jeff McBride, meeting with fans and students after the shows. Good to know that Steve keeps everything up and running. When you visit the theater, you might enjoy talking with him about movies, apart from magic. He is a wonderful source of knowledge on the subject.

federico

When I told my friend about the Café and the comment I posted regarding the show he, a non-magician, asked me to pass on this:

Steve, this is an honest to God real life thank you for making my day a little better. You know how it is, you come home from your crap job after getting belittled for 8 hours for whatever it is you didn't do fast enough with a good round of hour-long traffic on both sides of the equation. I got home after a really swell day at the office and my wife and friends took me to Magicoplis for my birthday.

For those days that are as bad as that one, a cure is to celebrate your birthday with a magic show, which is why I wanted to say thanks. After a really crappy day, something that can make you forget it for a while and make you smile is worth a million thanks.

Regards,

Gerald P.

Federico, My how time flies, Jeff McBride and Bob Sheets were regular performers here eleven years ago. A lot has happened since you moved from LA to Argentina. Glad you are still in magic, how is Rene Levand doing? You mentioned our chats about films. Remember my Orson Welles story? I have a concise version of it written in my files. For those who haven't heard it, I'll paste it here...

In 1970 I was the youngest member of a magician’s club called “Sh*t,” the name was an acronym for Sleight of Hand Intimate Tableworkers. The club’s founder, magician / comedy writer Lou Derman, was a well-connected Hollywood guy, at the time best known for his work on “Mr. ED,” a television show about a talking horse.

When contacted by Nate, a fellow teenage magician and Lou’s nephew, about an emergency “Sh*t” meeting, I already had something planned for that night. My plans changed when I heard Orson Welles would be there and the purpose of the meeting was to screen a recently completed film called “Get To Know Your Rabbit.”

The film, directed by an unknown named Brian De Palma, featured Welles as a magician and Tommy Smothers as his student.

I was very excited, as was Nate, when we carpooled over to his Uncle Lou’s. Welles was the only participant in the film to attend the screening. I have no idea where Lou got a print of the film, but it wasn’t from Welles, who made a point of telling everyone he hadn’t seen it.

After viewing “Get To Know Your Rabbit,” which was projected on a window-shade-type pull-down screen in Lou’s den, all of us had the same reaction: the film was not as good as we had hoped it would be. Others must have felt the same, since it wasn’t released for years, and then only briefly in a single theater.

The evening still turned out to be one of the most memorable of all my memorable evenings. Welles told us wonderfully personal stories about his exploits as a filmmaker and his experience as the star of his own big magic show during the war years.

It was wonderful and terrible. Wonderful that all of us had fallen deeply in love with the utterly irresistible Welles. But terrible that an evening that went so smashingly could turn sour in the flush of a toilet. I was a more than credible eye-witness who would swear that the awful smell emanating from the powder room, which was located less than ten feet from where all the members were gathered, was not present before Oscar Award-winning filmmaker, Orson Welles, had gone into it.

Nate and I traded glances and grimaced, with a what-the-hell-is-that? expression on our faces. Welles came blithely out of the powder room and smilingly rejoined the crowd. No one seemed to smell what Nate and I were smelling, or if they did they were acting as though they didn’t, which, with a bunch of magicians, was possible. The stench of the lethal fumes poured into the den, making it a gas chamber. No one person could have created such a pungent bomb.

Suddenly everyone was saying their good-byes at the door. Uncle Lou made Nate and I stay to help find the source of the offensive odor. We considered that it might be a broken pipe under the powder room. The next morning, foul-smell experts – a plumber, along with someone from the health department, diagnosed the problem.

A stray cat had, weeks or months earlier, squeezed itself through a small opening under the house and had not been able to find its way out. A Santa Ana wind kicked up and blew through Los Angeles. A particularly strong gust had wooshed through the crawl space under the house, wafting the aroma of the putrefying cat up through the basement and into the house.

The next “Sh*t” newsletter explained that a gas-masked city worker, wearing heavy work gloves and carrying a very long pole with tongs at the end, removed the poor animal, and fumigated the area. Lou finished by writing, “I hope you didn’t, as I did, falsely accuse Orson Welles for fouling our lovely atmosphere. The man has been completely exonerated.”

Federico come back to LA, we miss you here at Magicopolis.

I also met Welles several times when he appeared on the Merv Griffin Show where I worked during the eighties. Hilarious anecdote Steve, I hope we can become better aquainted on my next Magicopolis visit.

Will be in LA soon and I'm looking forward to seeing the show, all of the reviews sound great and I can hardly wait!

Best,
Jeff

While I was telling him about Magicopolis, my friend Merpin started to express his admiration for Steve Spill. It happens that Merpin is an experienced performer (kind of legendary in Argentina) who actually makes a living using Steve's creations. Since Merpin doesn't write well in English, I am translating his words verbatim (not that I am much better at it, you'll see). He stressed the fact that these are his true thoughts on the matter:

"I first heard of Steve Spill through one of his original effects in an issue of Genii from the early 90s. There, he taught a fantastic effect, easy to build, where the performer eviscerated an eye from his own face with an 'ordinary' spoon. That effect rapidly became part of my repertoire. As soon as I finished reading the article, I realized that I was before a very original and creative mind. Said impression was confirmed some time later, when I was able to get acquainted with his marvelous creations.

I am now recalling his excellent, and to me inexplicable, version of Needles in Mouth. Also, I remember his version of the classic Prayer Vase, done with a wand and a bottle, with the unexpected ending of a broken and restored bottle.

I believe that the Mentalist Goose act represents the most wonderful and original use of nailwriting, and sharply comical.

A product of a very original mind, are effects like the Russian Roulette done with knives and the inventive manner of utilizing the rice bowls as the two halves of a human brain.

I would like to say that Steve Spill's magic is comic but not exempt from touches of black humor, as we see in effects like the Blood Crying Stone, or the Voodoo Doll.

All of this tied up with the synthetic staging of effects and the minimalist esthetics of his character. It makes me think that Steve Spill is a great creator, not only of effects but also of their presentations and staging. Both sublime qualities, which we rarely have the chance to enjoy together in one single artist. That artist is Steve Spill".

Ladirector and federico: please tell your friends I am flattered by, and very much appreciate, their comments.

Years ago I saw you live in Aspen. I am a big fan, here it is just a little over thirty years later and I going to see you again next weekend at Magicopolis.

You're in for a treat, Fred.

Ken

Ken, you were right on the money. This low-tech, but high-concept program is a simply terrific blend of large and small magic, brimming with comedy and heartfelt emotion. Spill assembles the show's challenging components of close-up, parlor, illusions, monologues, sketches, and storytelling, with the skill of a puzzle master. What results is genuinely artful, a vivid mosiac assembled from a lifetime in magic.