* BiIl Alton, editor of the Noble Disk newsletter for yo-yo enthusiasts, is instituting a new competition called the "Yolympic Games." The events include such things as yo-yo golf, knocking down soda cans, a long distance dog walk, yo-yo hockey and the slumber party. The first Yolympics will be September 9. For more information, write Alton at Portsmouth NH.

 

* Brian Dube' now has a full color electronic catalogue on the Internet. It can be viewed with a graphical web browser or in a text-only format with other internet tools like lynx.

 

* Notes on jugglers found in other publications....

 

Rob Lange juggled with the Star Circus...

 

Kris Kristos juggling on a unicycle with Circo Atayde Brothers in Mexico...

 

Dino, Rudi Ortez and Armando with Circo Americano in Mexico...

 

Dario Vasquez at Circus Circus in Las Vegas...

 

Kenny Sherburne juggling on a unicycle and rolling globe with Holiday Magic Circus...

 

Anthony and Paula Valencia with Circo Garcia...

 

Justino Zoppe in a Big Top Circus production at a Victoria Secret catalog center in Dayton...

 

Dieter Tasso in a "Night of Stars" fundraiser for the Ringling Museum of the Circus in Sarasota...

 

Emil and Debi Zachery doing their gaucho juggling with The Billy Martin All Star Circus...

 

Brad Zupp was a strolling performer at the new Circus Circus casino near Tunica, Miss...

 

Oscar and Kathy Garcia doing rings and clubs with Bowmans Star Circus...

 

Shane Hansen juggled on a Statler Brothers television show that appeared in mid-March...

 

Bruce Johnson taught a session in 'Jest Juggling, How to Make Juggling Entertaining" at the World Clown Association convention in Southport, England...

 

Kenny Sherburne juggled and rode unicycle with the Downie Brothers Holiday Circus...

 

Albert Lucas is now working in the "Magic on Ice" show in Myrtle Beach, S.C...

 

Pat Davison has performed in "The Best of Burlesque" in St. Petersburg, Fla., and been touring with Billy Martin's school show...

 

The Duo Carlos, Bobby Kludsky and partner, with Circus Kludsky in the Czech Republic...

 

Locarti doing three ping pong balls from his mouth with Circus Mundial in Madrid...

 

Adan Morales as clown Chico Rico did a comedy kitchen routine involving juggling and plate spinning with Duffy's Circus in Ireland...

 

Jose Cristos with Cottle Sisters' Circus in England...

 

Rebecca and Victoria Danielle with Chipperfield Brothers Christmas Circus...

 

Stephen Sallay from Hungary performing with Bobby Roberts' Super Circus in Glasgow, Scotland...

 

Ancsa Schneller juggled umbrellas, hoops and clubs with Circus Harlequin in Liverpool...

 

Danny Hasler and partner with Jay Miller's Circus in England...

 

Marco Biasini doing up to six rings and four torches, and Gabi and Beverley Donnert juggling on horseback with the European Circus in England.

 

* Lad Endresz Jr., his sister, Kate, and her husband Andreas, won a silver medal at the Cirque de Demain in Paris for "Wild on Wheels," a juggling on motorbike act.

 

* The young Swiss diabolo artist Laurent Perrelet won second prize among 15 international competitors at the Seventh Premiere Rampe competition on March 11 in Monte Carlo. The competition was sponsored by the Monaco Kiwanis Club for performers under 18 years old. A Chinese acrobatics troupe won the gold prize, and third went to a team of Italian hand balancers. Laurent was pleased to find Kris Kremo in the audience, and spoke with him after his performance.

 

* Atsuko Koga performs her act at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, beginning with a devil stick routine in which the center stick is switched for a tennis racket and then a full size broom. She rolls a ball around the rim of a parasol, then replaces that with a square block and coin. She next uses a three-tier parasol, rolling a ball along the edge of each tier and jumping it up and down between them.

 

* Todd Blair and Jimmy Robertson, performing as Flight Patterns, will spend their fifth summer at Kings Dominion theme park in Virginia. This year, however, they will be in­volved with a stage show for the first time, rather than appearing as roving entertainers.

 

* The Gravity Brothers, Martin Beam and his son, Jeremiah, from Charlotte, N.C., will be flying free to the IJA summer festival after winning a talent contest sponsored by the NBA Charlotte Hornets. The father-son comedy duo passed a preliminary test at a local comedy club and was invited to appear as a finalist at halftime of a Hornets game versus the Chicago Bulls. They met several NBA stars before the match, 'performed their halftime routine, and were announced as winners of the contest.

 

Their prize was free US Air tickets, which they will use to fly to Las Vegas for the IJA festival.

 

* Since September, Joel Heidtman has been working a 40-hour week (with full benefits!) at the MGM Grand Theme Park in Las Vegas. Heidtman does a five-minute diabolo routine during three daily shows with a Dixieland band, and strolls the grounds for the rest of the day. He also helps with Japanese translations as needed, since he is currently engaged to a Japanese woman and has studied Japanese since his first four-month trip there in October 1993. As the only American in the Kinoshita Circus, language study was a necessity. He also spent three months at a resort near Osaka last summer, and now considers himself conversationally fluent. With lots of strolling and juggling time on his hands, Heidtman has been working to perfect a trick he nicknamed "Heidtman's Headache" in which he puts five silicone balls in one hand, drops them to the floor and catches them all in one hand on the first bounce. He's also working on bounce tricks with the diabolo, tossing it high to bounce off of an awning and catching it back on the string. Heidtman reports that Jason Neistadt, 18, also juggles at the MGM and works as a caricature artist at the Excalibur Hotel, and that Ian Pugh specializes in contact juggling at the Excalibur.

 

* Michael Menes and Fritz Grobe collaborated in a production entitled "Twisted" at the Lancaster Trust Building Theater in Lancaster, Penn. The 11-show run in late March and early April featured solo work by each artist and duets. The show repertoire included routines entitled Spike, Radioactive, Nightlights, Trunk, Drums, Diabolos, Ribbons, Spoons, Intruder, Assassin, Globus, The Coil, Puberty and Illusions. Word has it that those two will be joined by Morty Hansen and Jay Gilligan this coming summer to undertake an East Coast theatre tour. Gilligan said he and his 1994 team championship partner, David Cain, will try to defend their crown this year in Los Vegas with some new ring tricks and a ball piece they call "Birefringence." Gilligan will graduate from high school in May and tour with the above-mentioned quartet for a while before he enrolls in college.