Notes

 

Variety In Motion, Rick Schnitker and Mardene Rubio, won the 500,000 yen ($3,500) first prize in the World Performance Festival at Tempizon Harbor Village in Osaka, Japan, in mid-August. A field of 16 North American street acts was assembled at the shopping and office complex for two weeks of street shows, culminating in the stage competition. Second place went to Charlie II, and third to the Oresto, who did hand stands and five clubs on a free-standing ladder. Others participating included David Aiken, Dan Bennett, Wheeler Cole, Terrell Hayes and Sandy Johnson.

 

Though Schnitker and Rubio are no longer husband and wife, they continue to perform together "as best of friends," according to Rubio. They have worked in Japan several times, and now perform a 30 minute show in Japanese. Their winning routine in Osaka included six club passing, torch passing on tall unicycles and a three-club routine with takeaways and steals. They traveled on from Osaka to Nagoya, where they spent time with jugglers Jeff Taveggia and Brian Hulse, who is now living and performing there.

 

The Flaming Idiots juggled on the Fox network's Sunday Comics show July 7.  Two members of the trio passed hair jokes as well as clubs around their bushy-headed partner. The middle man also did a series of take-aways and put-backs before they broke out into three person passing with nine and ten clubs. Many lively tricks highlighted their two person six club routine, including one in which a passer did solids by sticking a club between his legs and knocked it to his partner by hitting it with the other club from behind!

 

Ditt Rittenhouse began his almost annual two-wheel pilgrimage to the festival thIs year by juggling in the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca, Minn. He then biked the 1,220 miles to St. Louis in a leisurely 28 days, spending many nights with people he met along the way. He juggled for them and taught several to juggle, then bought props at the festival to keep them going. His bike load was 45 pounds, "including three clubs and six balls." Rittenhouse invites anyone interested in planning a bike trip to Montreal with him next summer to contact him through the roster.

 

The Passing Zone, Jon Wee and Owen Morse, made a second appearance on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" on Aug. 16. The comedy juggling duo did some six and seven club passing, including back to back. They finished with each man juggling torches as Wee stood on Morse's shoulders, while Morse balanced on a rola-bola.

 

Las Piranhas is now a juggling / acrobatics duo. Fritz Brehm and Raymundo Reyes were performing in Canada, doing the Atlantic Buskers Tour and the Halifax Buskerfest. They also planned to attend the convention in Tbilisi, USSR.

 

Juggling Jeff Plake recently took a one-week trip to Amsterdam as his prize as a three­

day winner on the morning Wheel of Fortune television show. At the request of the host, Plake juggled three apples and ate one on the show during his appearance. Plake did more than 600 shows this year, appearing in schools, variety shows and amusement parks, including three shows a day for 10 weeks this summer at the Conneaut Lake Park near Erie, Penn. Besides a juggling routine that goes up to seven balls, he rides a unicycle on a ramp and set of steps that respond with lights and musical notes. Next spring Plake will be on an eight-week tour of military bases in the Pacific.