Albert Lucas was in Boston with the Ice Capades over the Christmas and New Years holidays. Rawd Holbrook and Roger Reed saw Albert.'s act and report that he is billed as "The World's Greatest Teenage Juggler". A great crowd pleaser, he also impressed Rawd and Roger with his act which included routines with three frisbees, four and five tennis rackets, three clubs, four scarves, three torches, seven balls, and seven hoops while twirling two more on one leg and balancing a ball on a pedestal on a mouth stick.

Jim Moyer wrote to say that two professional performers, Mrs~ Dot Duffy (Duff the Clown) and Mr. Wilbur J. Hall (Cowboy Wimpy), donated their time to give juggling and rope-spinning demonstrations to the children the the physical education program of the Oak View Elementary School of Fairfax, Virginia. For several years juggling, rope-spinning, unicyclying, circus bicycle, German gym wheel, stilt­walking, plate-spinning, and rolling globe have been part of the school's physical education program.

John Palmstrom wrote to say that he has formed an act with two other IJAers, Mary Joyce and John Spurney. They have performed a few times and our looking for more bookings. John also has become assistant director of the Uniwheelers, a unicycle group in Stow, Ohio.

Doug Hall sent a newspaper clipping from the University of Maine newspaper which reports that juggling is very popular at the University of Maine. Doug invites other jugglers to drop by any time to visit him on campus in Orono, Maine.

Andy Swan sent two press clippings. One reports his feat of juggling continuously for eleven hours and claiming the world record from John McPeak. The other clipping reports Andy's scoring a perfect thirty points to win one segment of the Gong Show on TV. Andy started juggling in 1969 and two years ago branched out by starting the Swan Bros Circus about two years ago with his brother, Mike. Andy included two photographs of their circus, one showing a full house of several hundred people and the other showing Andy and Mike tight wire walking above their circus big top. Andy and Mike perform juggling, magic, trapeze, escape, fire and other acts in their circus. Andy particularly credits Ken Benge and Homer Stack for encouraging him with his performing arts.

ATLANTA JUGGLING ASSOCIATION

The Atlanta Jugglers Association got off to a very encouraging start as over thirty people, jugglers and would-be jugglers, got together on Saturday, December, 1977, to form the first organization in Atlanta dedicated primarily to spreading the joy and obsession of juggling. This first meeting resulting in the adoption of by­laws (closely modeled after the IJA's), election of officers and a board of directors, and acceptance of membership dues for 1978. The meeting was preceded by a flurry of press activity as a television camera crew and newspaper reporter/photographer converged on the meeting looking for strange people doing unusual things with assorted objects.

This came on the heels of a feature article in one of the weekly newspapers about the formation of what, for Atlanta,

is an extremely odd group.

Though the A.J.A. has been in existence for less than three months, it has already begun setting up classes and performances, thus starting to fulfill one of the principles on which the organization was founded, that is, to take juggling to the people of Atlanta. Weekly classes are under way at an elementary school for children aged nine to twelve. A four day promotion with one of Atlanta's largest shopping malls is scheduled for February.

A feature television spot for the local educational TV station is planned. And appearance at various recreation centers and youth development centers are in the works. These public programs are being put on by the A.J.A. at no charge to the public, and those jugglers, musicians, magicians, mimes, etc. who perform do so for free. Though some of the members of the A.J.A. are professional or semi­professional entertainers, most are simply jugglers for the fun of it and are receiving their first exposure as per formers.

The Atlanta Jugglers Association is very interested in hearing from people who are interested in or can contribute to the spread of juggling in Atlanta and the South. If you or someone you know is going to be coming this way, please get in touch with us. You can write or call us at the address or telephone numbers given below.

Finally, we of the A.J.A. express our appreciation to the I.J.A. for the inspiration and assistance which helped us on our way.

--Roger French, A.J.A. President, Atlanta, GA.

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