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ESSAYS Caught Clean - A Rebuttal by Bobby Hartman
Caught Clean premiered in December of 1995 at The La Paloma Theater in Encinitas, Calif. It was then released in skate shops around the world and has sold more than 8,000 copies.
As a result of this juggling/skateboarding video, juggling itself has seen many changes. New jugglers are popping up everywhere. Here in Encinitas our weekly attendance has doubled in the past year, and most of these new jugglers are skateboarders. Most of them are four and five ball jugglers, and all are working hard on their new skill. In Blaine, Minn., The Hot Spot Skate Shop has started a weekly juggling club. The Wave in Roseville, Calif., reports that Caught Clean is the best selling video of 1996. Many skate shops have begun to sell juggling equipment as a result of this video.
The critics are raving about Caught Clean. Slap magazine says, "The melding of juggling hijinks and skateboards provides for a truly entertaining and completely original video which you will watch at least a million times." Axcess magazine writes, "If you're a skater or juggler you need this movie." Transworld magazine also gave Caught Clean an excellent review.
However, the idea behind this film didn't seem to sit so well with Craig Turner when he reviewed it for the Summer 1996 issue of Juggler's World. Throughout the review, Turner's continuous assumptions and misconceptions illustrate the common belief that juggling in its purest form must not challenge its sometimes stagnant and mundane routine.
Turner's shock and surprise at the idea of this video not teaching the viewer how to skateboard or juggle shows me what the problem is. We have become trapped within the four walls of an educational video, and don't know the way out. A "match this" mentality, as Turner calls it, is the basis on which any shared interest is taken to a new level. "Match this" raises the level of the sport, and "top this" is the phrase that applies to the over-achievers who will push their art form to the next level. Caught Clean says top this to the juggling world, and waits for jugglers to reply.
Although Turner implies that Steve Mills, Dan Menendez, Dan Holzman and others did not consent to be in this video, he doesn't know the facts. These jugglers were approached with the idea of a juggling/skateboarding movie that would be marketed toward jugglers and skaters alike. With this in mind, Steve, Dan, and Dan proceeded to pull out the big tricks for the camera.
Many people have commented and complemented Caught Clean. Aside from Turner, no one has neglected to mention the incredible juggling skill displayed by 1992 IJA Juniors champion Sean McKinney. Axcess magazine writes, "McKinney puts on an enthralling show with ricocheting tennis balls." Instead, 'Earner chose to comment on the style of clothes worn by the jugglers and skaters in the video.
I can dismiss Turner's opinions of skateboarding, fashion, humor and mandatory educational moments as one man's opinion. But when it comes to misrepresented facts, failure to acknowledge superb combinations of skateboarding and juggling, and a plea with parents not to buy this video due to its poor safety practices and complete absence of helmets, I must strongly disagree.
I would ask Turner to watch Caught Clean once again and try to imagine the skill involved in Laban Pheidias' kick flip while juggling clubs. Think of the time it took Andy McDonald to master his diabolo/skating tricks. Recognize the frequent use of helmets and pads and reconsider your statement of "not one rider" who used safety equipment.
In asking parents not to buy this video, not only has he misrepresented the product, but he may have let fall through the cracks some members of a new generation of jugglers who could push the limits and show us all the next level. This is a tragic possibility.
In recent years the popularity of skateboarding has skyrocketed. It is currently the sixth largest participant sport in the United States, with more than 10 million participants. If skateboarding is willing to share a part of its spotlight with juggling, we should jump at the chance. With only a couple of quarterly black and white magazines, and with videos that are failing to capture the essence of our sport, we can use all of the help we can get. Watch Caught Clean for yourself. Create your own opinion. Don't let Turner do it for you.
4 minutes, 10 seconds by Donna Koczaja None of the three of us are professional performers, but on October 19, 1996, at the Philadelphia Juggler's Festival public show, the Passable Jugglers came to life.
It began at the 1995 Philadelphia festival, when myself, my fianc6 Scott Dodro, and our friend, Bryan Olson, were discussing the fact that there was no club passing in the public show. Jokingly, I commented that "We should do something about that."
With a "why not" attitude, the three of us spent the next few months looking for a song and thinking of passing ideas. We settled on "Cliffs of Dover," a 4-minute, 10-second rock guitar solo by Eric Johnson, and we decided our choreography would involve a lot of club stealing and smooth transitions from one trick to the next. I must give Bryan credit for his creative talent. It is true that all three of us contributed our ideas and talents to the act, but without Bryan's innovative ideas the act wouldn't have turned out so well.
We debuted the act at the Kutztown, Penn., festival and performed it again at the Continental Congress of Jugglers in Washington, D.C. Though we received a positive response, we were disappointed with both performances because we dropped a lot. After the disappointments, we worked harder to "get it right" for our final goal: the Philadelphia festival.
The next few months were spent fine- tuning and perfecting the act, and slowly we improved and gained confidence in our juggling. We trusted each other, learning where the clubs should be at all times and that they would indeed be there! And then the "big night" came. I was nervous due to our previous performances, but I was also determined. "Mr. E." introduced us, the music played, and we ran out on stage to begin. We were doing great, our transitions were executed smoothly, and the audience was responding to us. We finished the act with but one barely noticeable drop.
What I will never forget about that night is how good I felt. We worked on that act for the better part of a year, and for 4 minutes and 10 seconds we were shining on that stage. By the end the audience was applauding so loudly that we couldn't hear our music, and I was smiling so hard my teeth hurt! I was glowing that night, and all the next day, and even the day after that. I just felt so good!
That night everything came together, and we accomplished our goal. Even now when I think back on the experience, I can't help but smile.
While our act wasn't the most technically difficult, it was challenging and lots of fun for both us and our audience. But perhaps why I am so proud is because our only motive was to share our juggling with other jugglers. We did this for no other reason than to have done it, and we accomplished our goal better than we could have hoped.
Unfortunately, the Passable Jugglers have disbanded until further notice due to our careers leading us in different directions. But I will always have the memory of that 4 minutes and 10 seconds when the three of us were at our best. |