Karamazovs Report on Fun and Frustration of Rock'n'Roll Summer

by Bill Giduz

 

Day after day for eight weeks last summer, the Flying Karamazov Brothers ventured into unfamiliar territory. Not in the geographical sense, because they have traveled nearly every highway and by-way of the US and many other countries in their 25 years as the world's most widely recognized comedy juggling troupe.

 

The unfamiliar territory this summer was a big stage every day in front of up to 20,000 people at a time as a emcees for the Further Festival. Appearing as the "other guys" on a bill that featured bands reconstituted from former members of the Grateful Dead was not an entirely comfortable experience for vaudevillians accustomed to top billing, theatrical lighting and more intimate settings.

 

But they persisted for 27 shows through sometimes inattentive audiences, technical snafus and snubs from the lofty rock-n-roll egos with whom they shared the stage. It was a learning experience and musical challenge for the foursome that had opened for several Grateful Dead concerts in the earlier, simpler days of the rock revolution and become acquainted with Ken Kesey when his original magic bus, dubbed "Further", was still on the road.

 

Patterson said the Karamazovs drew some impetus for their efforts at juggling music from an early encounter with former dead member Mickey Hart, who appeared on the Further Festival with his band, Mystery Box. "Mickey saw us in the mid 70s at our first regular venue in San Francisco, The Magic Cellar. We weren't doing anything self-consciously musical, but he came up afterward and said, "You guys are making music!" His encouragement helped steer us in that direction."

 

The Karamazovs appeared with the Dead during the last concert ever at the legendary Winterland hall in San Francisco, at the Fillmore one evening, and then again in London and Germany. They even backed their bus into Jerry Garcia's BMW one time, tearing off the grill!

 

Garcia is gone now, but Dead band members Mickey Hart and Bob Weir were keeping the spirit alive via the Further Festival, along with Hot Tuna, John Wesley Harding, Los Lobos, Bruce Hornsby and Alvin Hart. In addition to their long relationship with the band and general appeal to the same tie-dyed demographic, the Karamazov's ability to blend juggling and music made them appealing as a part of the festival.

 

The four K's, Paul Magid, Michael Preston, Sam Williams and Howard Patterson, filed regular weekly reports with Microsoft about the tour. Those journal entries, while not revealing much about their juggling activities, provide a frank and fascinating glimpse of the rock scene. Even under the best conditions, their defined role was challenging. The Karamazovs were to introduce each of the seven acts with a bit of silliness, stretching as necessary while bands readied their equipment to make sure that there was never any empty stage time during the 3-1/2 hour event. They also had two 20-minute featured sets for longer presentations of their work.

 

"It feels like people are so far away," said Preston at the group's appearance in Charlotte, N.C. "Our normal sense of getting involved with the crowd isn't here. Here we're the 'in­between' act rather than the main show. Normally the audience is hanging on our every joke, but here they're getting up to go get a beer when we're on."

 

They faced trial by fire during the first evening's concert in steamy Atlanta when technical difficulties left them on stage improvising for long, sweaty, nervous periods of time. They were never miked properly for their sound and music to fill the huge outdoor amphitheatres where they appeared, and sometimes bands warming up backstage drowned out their weaker sound system entirely.

 

Road weariness from "event density" was evident in one of Magid's reports where he wrote, "The singular events have become blurred. Uno is todo. Help! They all look the same, and the food tastes the same, and I have the same conversations, and the crowds all wear tie-dye, and our bus is like an old ship on a long sea voyage - no land in sight."

 

Their routines during the show included the syncopated club passing "Jazz" routine, playing the marimba while juggling, a Mozart bassoon concerto, the multiinstrument juggling song, "Juggle," takio drumming, manipulation of Chinese martial arts fans and a silly ballet. Their fondest memories were not of juggling moments, but of the opportunity to meet, jam with and learn from some very talented musicians. Later in the tour they worked up a musical version of the Dead tune "Uncle John's Band" that they performed with John Wesley Harding.

 

They got at least two refreshing breaks from the tour when they flew to Ocean City, N.J., and Washington, D.C., to present a show they are now performing with symphony orchestras nationwide under the baton of conductor and friend Mark Ettinger. These shows, which mix classical music with vaudeville silliness, have

proven extremely popular and earned the group bookings with distinguished groups such as the Cleveland Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra and Rochester Symphony.

 

All members of the group were relieved to leave the experience behind them and return to their schedule of theatrical presentations. Sam Williams summed up the experience in his last journal entry, writing, "We weren't all that happy with how we were treated by the tour's internal powers that be; they did not seem all that happy with us, and we worked three times as hard as we do in our own touring while earning less than half the money.

 

"But, aside from all that, it was fun. Whenever we were in between things, we were hanging out at a great rock concert; we had pleasant times hanging out with various musicians; and most of the audiences were wonderful to us, loving what we did. Life has been little else but this tour for the past 48 days. At this point, it seems like the Furthur Festival is simply what life is. It feels like we've always done this and always will. Guess that means it's time to do something else...... "

 

Time, undoubtedly, for the Karamazov Brothers to delve "further" into the deeply interrelated realms of juggling and music!