* Don Ganz made the "Marblehead (Mass.) Reporter" police log last summer. According to the report, "At 11: 15 p.m. there was a report of suspicious persons on Atlantic Avenue, where there were two males dressed as circus clowns riding a circus bike." According to perpetrator "Dondo" himself, he and fellow clown Boris Funovich were practice-pedaling their pennyfarthings for the upcoming Fourth of July parade in front of his office/studio late at night because it's the only time of the day there are no cars around to endanger them. No charges were filed!

 

* Three IJA members, Greg Borah from the USA, Minoru Takei from Japan and Gonzalo Arias Martinez from Spain, were recently attending the year-long intensive circus course at Circomedia, Academy for Circus Arts and Physical Theatre. Besides receiving juggling instruction from Haggis Mcleod and Rod Laver, they were being trained in trapeze, acrobatics, performance and movement.

 

* Todd Strong will be bringing a group of European jugglers to the IJA festival to present a "Showcase of European Talent" as part of the banquet and awards ceremony on Sunday evening. One of those committed at press time to attending is Martin Mall, who presented a popular diabolo routine at last year's IJA fest. Strong would like to take the Europeans sight­ seeing before and/or after the festival, and some may want to visit American cities on their own. Anyone interested in hosting one of these jugglers is invited to contact Strong, who has no telephone or e-mail address in East Berlin. Write him at Berlin; Germany.

 

* The Raspyni Brothers have become a closer team with the recent move of Dan Holzman from Los Angeles to the San Francisco area, where his partner, Barry Friedman, lives. The duo were special guests at the New Zealand Juggling Convention in Wellington in January, where they did two spots in the public show and led workshops in advanced club passing and comedy routining and performing. They also appeared on national television in America during the annual Easter Seals fundraising telethon, and are finding steady work at corporate events.

 

* Having graduated from NYU film school, Doubble Troubble is back in the juggling business. The twin brothers Nick and Alex Karvounis, who won the IJA 'team championship in St. Louis in 1991, worked for a while last spring at Disney World in Florida, but have been juggling on the high seas ever since, working mostly for Cunard and Holland America. In November they competed for three days at the World Cup Street Performers Festival in Shizouka, Japan, and on the final day won the Best Visual Show of the Year Award (Visual Impact) and prize money. They report that they're doing quite a bit of comedy, and working on several new "dramatic" tricks that can't be discussed yet. Having plenty of time between shows on the ship, Nick is putting his degree to work writing a feature film about a juggler. If you want to find out more, ask them about it at the coming IJA fest in Las Vegas, which they plan to attend!

 

* Visual comedian Pete Geist produced a benefit variety show called "Hocus Joke Us" February 5 for the Lancaster, Penn., Cleft Palate Clinic. Also appearing in the show was unicyclist and juggler Michael Rosman, new Vaudevillian Stanley Allan Sherman, and illusionist John Westford. The well-publicized fundraiser attracted more than 900 fans and netted about $15,000 for the 57-year-old non-profit clinic.

 

* The Flaming Idiots are preparing for another season of outdoor performances. You can catch their act: April 29 - June 18 at the Scarborough Faire in Waxahatchie, Tex., June 24­July 3 at The Minnesota Fringe festival in Minneapolis; July 21­Aug. 10 at the Madora Music Festival in Madora, N. Dakota; Aug 18 - 27 at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in Edmonton, Alberta; and Sept. 30 - Nov, 19 at The Texas Rennaissance Festival in Magnolia, Tex.

 

* Kevin O'Keefe will be giving public perfor­mances of his "Circus Minimus" kids circus on the following dates, generally at the end of res­idencies in these places:June 2 - Hillview School in Montville, N.J.; July 8 - Early Childhood Center of Bennington College; July 22 - Smith Center for the Arts in Manchester, Vt.; Aug. 5­Union Center for the Arts in New Paltz, N.Y.; Aug. 18 - Discovery Center in Binghamton, N.Y.; Sept. 5 - Swanns Island, Maine. Call 2121679-7575 for more information.

 

* More than 1,300 English schoolchildren and 200 jugglers massed for a BBC television "Record Breakers" show event on March 11 in London's Wembley Stadium prior to a big England v. Brazil Schoolboy International Football Match. Susi Oddball, Terry Cole and Bill Hurley helped organize and register the 895 among them who could juggle three objects. There was a countdown from 10, then 2,685 objects were juggled for ten seconds. The feat was hosted by British Olympic run­ner Kriss Akabusi and Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies, and organized in pan by Paradise Wildlife Park. Several lion cubs were on hand to remind the crowd that the event benefited Project Life Lion, an effort to raise money to immunize lions in a Tanzanian game park against a fatal canine distemper. Participants paid 5 English pounds each, and received a goodie bag that contained a set of Oddball's balls, t-shirt and certificate of par­ticipation. It topped a similar earlier feat by 850 people at Glastonbury, England, and is scheduled for telecast in September.

 

* Speaking of records, the Guinness Book of World Records is interested in two-person passing records set at this summer's IJA fest in Las Vegas. Start practicing, and call IJA director Steve Salberg for more information.