It's been a jam-packed quarter since last issue. In fact, so busy that I often forgot to take notes... Apologies in advance for dropped items and forgotten names. I've learned my lesson and will take to jotting down info as it comes in.

 

The major gossip this month comes from Andrew Allen, who is currently "somewhere in Europe." Apparently taking my offer that he run the Foreign Affairs Desk for the Fields Report, Andrew sent in the following twisted report, warning vile consequences if I change. even one sentence. Knowing what Andrew can do with a devil stick, the following is verbatim.. .

 

Fear and Loathing in Frankfurt A Delirious Memoir

"Before leaving the States for the European convention, I spent a week in New Jersey at the home of a certain female juggler with a thick German accent. Her son, who also juggles a bit, happened to be visiting her at the time and also happened to have a very bad cold, which he gave me as a going-away present. I landed in Bruxelles with a backpack, a passport and a very high temperature.

 

"Having heard of two juggling events in Holland, I boarded a train for Amsterdam and checked into a miserable hotel in that city's infamous red-light district - the Coney Island of the genitals. After several days, I was found wandering the park by a group of young jugglers who lived in an abandoned flat. They invited me to move in with them and, since Dr. Gonzo advised me (as my attorney) to do so, I did.

 

"This was followed by a private party in a neon light factory and a week-long series of bad street shows. Then, I found out that the juggling events had been canceled, so I set out for Frankfurt with a 16 year old juggling Amsterdamer, to whom I was still trying to explain the perverse humor in the idea of a Dutch boy sticking his finger in a dike.

 

"We hitch-hiked about halfway to Frankfurt before we decided it was raining too hard and got on a train. By the time we checked into a room in Frankfurt, my fever had sky-rocketed and the next few days seemed like a surrealist 3-D film.

 

"All I remember of the convention is an abnormal number of jugglers in an abnormally small space and a public show that was far more entertaining than the three I have seen in the States. I took some notes while I was there, but, looking over them, I realized that they were almost completely illegible and the parts I could read sound like excerpts from a James Joyce novel.

 

After another month of adventures that range from uninteresting to unpublishable, I find myself in an empty room with a bag of juggling paraphernalia. I think I am still in Europe, but I could be wrong..."

Andrew Allen October 1984

 

Other major gossip this month concerns the Baltimore-based All American Mini Circus and their ill-fated but ultimately successful European tour for the USA. The members were only nine days into the tour when, in Gennany, the driver of their vehicle plowed into another, seriously injuring two members and slightly injuring the other two. It took a week to fully assess the situation of the most seriously injured member, Mardy Rubio.

 

Fortunately, the group was now in Frankfurt and decided to drop in on the European Juggling Convention. Rick Diamond, whose hand still carried shards of glass from the accident, Chuck BoRinger and Daniel Anderson had a delightful time meeting both the European jugglers and Americans Andrew Allen and Neil Robinson.

 

Though it appeared doubtful that Mardy would be able to rejoin the group during the remainder of the two month tour, and Rick would have his right hand in a cast throughout, the group decided to continue with a modified routine.

 

Rick, who could only use his left hand, served as post in an eight club, three per­son feed with Daniel and Chuck. Mardy rejoined the group for their last three

shows of the tour. Thankfully, the group s largely back in the pink, except for Mardy, whose neck injury is causing memory problems.