BJC96 Edinburgh Review, Part I - Who
Michael Ferguson
British Juggling scene, that's who! Plus a few somebodies and
anybodies from elsewheres.
The Robs were there. Seems like every juggler in the UK is named
Rob -- the place was just crawling with Robs! Come to think of it,
at one point I believe I saw one of the Robs actually crawling on
the floor, but I could be wrong since the inside of that tent was
rather smokey at the time.
Rob Stone re-introduced himself to me and the "other" UK Rob r.j'er,
Rob Street, made himself known and demonstrated that he can still
fling clubs with the best of 'em. Having suffered near blindness
at the hands of Rob (Street) and his partner last year, I was wise
enough to keep my head out of his flinging zone this year, but fling
he did.
Rob Dawson was seen flingin' 'em as well. Mostly I saw him flinging
7 balls and I think he flang 9 a bit. I didn't see Rob flinging any
clubs this year, but I think he can do that a bit too since he's
recently published a book on that subject.
Sadly :( , rumor has it that you won't be able to walk up to Rob
(Dawson) at the Mushypea stall anymore and buy a copy of his book
and schmooze personally with the man who wrote it. Seems that
Mushypea will soon be closing. This will be a loss even for those
of us who only visit the UK once a year.
Course, if you're a British juggler and your name ain't Rob, then
it's gotta be Peter (or Pete), right? Peter Moffatt was witnessed
doing a long steady 5-balls at eye level and will likely soon be
doing 7 at the same height now that he's acquired some smaller
numbers beanbags. Peter was also seen doing 5-clubs, a skill that
now seems to be sweeping Britain.
Peter Richardson did his patented three high ball spin and
demonstrated a nifty little trick where he spins a ball on the tip
of a mouthstick whilst he spins a ring on the stick itself, between
his face and the ball.
Then, of course, there's Devil Stick Pete. What can you say about
Pete that hasn't already been said? This year Pete was sporting a
new clean-cut look with his dreadlocks now shorn. However Pete
seems to be a little uncertain about his change in appearance, so
he's kept his clipped dreadlocks and attached them to the inside of
his cap and was often seen in Edinburgh looking much like the Devil
Stick Pete of old.
Rumor has it that world renowned author Charlie Dancey also donned
Pete's cap-o-dreads and for a moment became Devil Stick Charlie, but
most likely this is just a lie that someone made up in the beer tent
after they'd had a pint or two. Were it true though, one would hope
that Charlie had the good sense to wear the cap BEFORE Pete used it
in his tent-stage strip act, for where that cap ended up in Pete's
routine was not a pretty sight. [... or so I'm told. Actually from
where I was in the back of the tent I couldn't see much of Pete's
act, which probably was for the better. But I did overhear one
person with a better view mention that she now understood why Pete
was short for Peter.]
Other less commonly named, but equally well known, jugglers were
found on the grounds at Crammond. I finally met r.j legends Tarim
and Ken Zetie. The former speaking quite well in the first person
and the latter friendly and affable. [Although Mr. Zetie did renege
on his promise to buy me a pint. Fact is, all the UK jugglers who
promised to buy me pints reneged! Must be some kind of awful
British custom. American Braidy Brown didn't renege on his promise
of a pint, though I think he probably paid for it out of IJA funds.]
Sam I Am (Veale) added style to the festival as well as smoothness
to a somewhat rough public show and showed off his ball bouncing
skills with partner Ben Jennings. Ben was also seen bouncing 8
balls solo and occasionally striking a Bobby May like pose for the
cameras.
Charles Brookman was in attendance, which shouldn't be a surprise
since Charles lives in Edinburgh. Charles was often seen flashing 9
balls in one or the other of the gyms. With his new supply of
smaller numbers beanbags he will likely cross that 18 catch
threshold before I see him in Grenoble. [Several jugglers were seen
sporting new sets of smaller numbers beanbags this year. Where do
you suppose they're getting those things ???]
Then, of course, there were the Americans. 14 of us by my count,
nearly triple the total at Norwich. Most prominent among us were
the trio of Blinkies -- Fritzy, Morty, and Jay -- who did many
fantastic things in the gyms as well as on the public show stage.
The 13 (or was it 14?) ball bounce passing that Fritz and Jay did on
the less than ideal floor of Gym #3 stopped the crowd as did Jay's
solo club work. Morty was no slouch either, showing off his solid 7
ball juggling -- surely the best 7-ball juggler at the convention!
Morty also proved that he is quite skilled as a ballboy, fetching
the errant bounces of Jay and Fritz with a quickness that would make
even Nick Gatto envious. Every bounce juggler needs a Morty.
Other Americans on the scene were Joann Swaim, a 2nd Place finisher
in the Springboard Competition, Sue Kirby who showed off her 9 ball
skills, and another American female juggler who twists balloons a
lot and otherwise flits about, but I won't mention her name since
I'm not talking to her anymore (... or so I discovered when I read
the Winter issue of Juggler's World. Well that was news to me, but
I guess it must be true if the IJA prints it. Bill Giduz wouldn't
print a lie, would he?).
Sheesh, this has gotten quite long and there are still hundreds of
WHOs to go. Heres a a trio of WHOs whose names I never got, but
who certainly added a lot to the 9th BJC:
* Fuchsially-attired petite (French or German?) woman in Gym #3
running five clubs (fuchsia in color) and 7-balls (also fuchsia I
think). Reports were that she also flashed 8-balls. Very
skilled and smooth.
* Gentleman in red and white striped shirt juggling red and white
striped clubs -- quite often six of them and sometimes four of
them with a fifth balanced on his forehead.
* Very small 7-ball and 5-club juggler who won the Springboard
Competition. (Just exactly how old was this kid?!) I couldn't
stop from smiling when I found myself next to him in the gym one
day, both of us doing 7-balls. Only thing was, his 7 balls were
about the size of navel oranges and probably weighed about 150g and
mine were the size of chestnuts and weighed only 65g. The grimace
on his face while he tried to keep the 7 going outdid even the
world famous Chris LaReau 5-club backcross grimace.
Yep, I left out a lot of WHOs, but to go on would likely crash even
the most robust of newsreaders and besides there's still the What,
Where, When, Why and How to get to. I leave it to others to fill in
the missing WHOs.
--Michael Ferguson (a.k.a. Fergie)