Ed Jackman |
Robert Moranti |
Page 7 August - September 1978
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Saturday July 15th Saturday
morning the convention attendance had broken the 300 mark. Once again,
the convention hall was divided into two rooms - one for juggling and
the other for the business meeting. Bill Barr, who led the meeting, was
determined to keep the proceedings as short as possible, so everyone
could get back to serious juggling.
After
the meeting, it was time for the parade through town. Waiting outside
the Inn was the "Lukenbach Special", a converted Greyhound
bus, which transported about 50 jugglers to the University of Oregon,
where the parade was scheduled to start. With motorcycle escorts,
unicycles, banners, costumes and more, the group traveled about 15
blocks to Eugene's famous Saturday Market, which is the local arts,
crafts, and entertainment fair. More juggling was being done there by
the Portland Family Circus and the West wind Aerial Zircus (Roberto
Morganti and Mose Wright).
After
the parade, back at the Inn, Lheith taught a workshop
on multiplex juggling. A
television was brought into the hall
to enable everyone to watch the CBS News coverage of the convention.
Then the main room was cleared so the convention staff could set up for
the banquet. About 170 people attended, and for the first time, a
vegetarian meal was available. Mike Marlin acted as master of
ceremonies, and Roger Dollarhide announced the winners of the
Championships and presented their awards. Then the new officers were
introduced.
Following
the banquet was the "after dinner" show. Mike acted
again as m.c. The show opened with Reverend Chumleigh doing his
"death walk" on broken glass, and his sidekick Brodie,
"dog of the future", doing various tricks. Then Magical
Mystical Michael performed more feats of magic. Avner the
Eccentric performed various tricks with a red scarf while doing a
mime piece. Tom Notty blew bubbles of all sizes and shapes while
smoking a cigarette. One of his tricks was a smoke bubble inside a clear
bubble. Then Roberto Morganti did his 3 ball routine, and Molasses
ate more fire. John Grottola juggled day-glo balls under 2
four ft. "blacklights". The show climaxed when Glenn Davis took
off his shirt as he juggled under the black lights and finally removed everything
as he continued to juggle. (The Valley River Inn never heard of such
a thing...).
Saturday
night, the convention hall stayed open till 2:30 a.m., occupied by
fanatical and dedicated jugglers. For the second year in a row, the
convention center night man, realizing his efforts to close the room at
12 midnight were futile, was persuaded to learn how to juggle in the wee
hours of the morning.
Sunday
July 16th
The
energy on Sunday ran high, and freeform juggling was the order of the
day. Lots of jugglers showed no intention of leaving the convention hall for the entire day. Many
spectators continued to observe, and if they missed the championships on
Friday, they had another chance to see them on Juggle Bug's video tape
which played over and over Sunday afternoon in the foyer.
Around
6:00 p.m., people began leaving for the postconvention party, which
was held in a beautiful house way up in the hills overlooking the Eugene
area. Not much juggling occurred, as space didn't permit, although
someone did set up a tight wire between two trees. Juggling in the
convention hall lasted till around 8:00 p.m.,when the last holdouts
finally departed to bring the 1978 I.J.A. Convention
"officially" to a close.
However,
the following day, group juggling and the aura of the convention still
continued as illustrated by Barrett Felker, Edward Jackman, Peter
Davison, Jon and David Held, and others. This group managed to occupy
one of the buildings at the University of Oregon, and continued juggling
all day...
.
This
year's convention was attended by people from 35 states, 4 provinces in
Canada, and the Dominican Republic.
Some
new ideas that were tried at this year's convention were:
|
|
Ed Jackman |
Robert Moranti |