WHO GIVES A DOLLAR?

Donald Grant memorabilia sold at auction, including two original sketches, and a "Donald Fun Pack" (Las Vegas beer mug, cigarettes, and diabolo hand sticks ).

Each netted the IJA 15 bucks. In true Scots fashion, the latter items were blagged, so that's pure profit! I'm coming back next year with a bale of letters. Maybe I can payoff my school loans, or even my phone bill...

 

While I am not getting into Anthony Gatto's pants, I couldn't resist putting on the vest when it was on the block, thereby instantly doubling the value!

 

Noelle Franco dropped nearly a grand total on a scrapbook, and someone bid her up there.

 

ABSENT-MINDED:

Games are always fun, and well run, but I had to work. A table tennis tournament had pairings called to the tables all week, competing for oh­so shiny, lighter-than-air trophies; they had to tape 'em to the table to keep from floating away!

 

Deanna made fans with her left hand, but in competition she spanked kids hard with a right­handed paddling that left them crying. Dick Lucas won a pairing against Lenny the Viking, who worked it for Dube.

 

I couldn't go rock-climbing, but Todd "nature-boy" Smith went. Kinda like Pope-on­a-Rope, the miracle being that he returned alive. Having missed most of last year's fest, Todd was on hand this year, good as gold in a buzzcut that had me calling him Oscar. Ngaio Bealum has a quick tongue, and he was in fine trim, at least on stage; when Todd phoned home to his kid's first birthday party, Ngaio led the gym singing happy birthday to Walker. Todd reportedly got all teary-eyed; he couldn't have been more pleased if you had all bought a set of 2.5" silicones, two devilsticks, and some Satellites. Well, maybe...

 

I am not front and center in this year's big toss-up photo (and not because I didn't have busfare). G'head; just try to find me there. No, not the one with the great big head ­THAT'S Thomas Jefferson (another great American).

 

PLAY DOUGH:

Youth is no crime, just a disease that cures nicely with age. The youngest juniors had the styling down, but the tricks they caught were standard. They attempted much they were years away from catching. Judges just hate that! Until a peewee showcase is instituted, prelim experience is invaluable - even Jay was this young once.

 

Jeff Daymont's best score was his Anthony Gatto joke ("What's the big deal? My gardener can do eight!"). His ren fare wasn't terribly interesting, and we've seen him drop much better cigar-box tricks. Jonathan PoppeIe qualified with satanic diabolo moves, but his assistant got off a better one as he was leaving the prelims, after his four clubs fell apart. He asked if he should drop the clubs. She said he'd already done that....

 

Personable German junior Toby had spiffy flourishes, tops and bottoms, but he succumbed to the gravity of the huge stage, which is where his props seemed to feel more comfortable. Luke Jay also wore a vest, and he juggled good, too, putting him in the finals.

 

Qualifying is like winning, because you make it on the video; you just don't pay for expenses. Gil Pontius, aka Dr. Stardust, won the People's Choice trophy, which will make a lovely lamp. Like last year, it went to a medal­worthy competitor that didn't finish in the money.

 

The good Doctor was the best of the first night's Renegade, building a toybox full of diabolos, rings, balls and other props into a pretty face-balanced sculpture, and then smoothly breaking it down while holding the balance. With a thematic, cohesive, and polished competition routine, tricky AND entertaining, I reckoned his five-bag face juggling (a clever solution to a tendonitis problem) was worth a bronze. The giant tetherballs weren't technically groundbreaking (no one really does meteors much, do they?), but they were good to qualify, although he got caught up in it onstage, and biffed his exit. Judges don't like that.

 

MEDALlNG:

Good thing the technical difficulties in the staged competitions worked out, because the flubs were just making Mark Faje crazy! He couldn't keep himself from popping out of his seat and running backstage to sort things out. New people involved is good; it's how clubs grow and flourish (teehee!).

 

Arthur Lewbel managed the championships well, and the prelim judges organized a good show, leaving the difficult sorting to the finals judges. Bob Nickerson, the jocular juggler, may not look fit, but boy, can he ever stretch! Not only did he host the championships in evening wear (that's a size medium in Rapid City...) but he donned flippers to tread water for the 45 minutes it took the judges to deliberate, which was more than enough to earn him the Founder's Award.

 

Only a board-treading pro could have kept running puns and doing tricks for as long as it took the judges to decide to award championship gold to... Greg Kennedy, for "Hemisphere" (also known as the bowl o' balls), which had premiered at the D.C. fest.

 

Cool idea, nicely executed, and the Grecian Formula folk keep calling for Greg. But when was the last time you saw people doing the gold medal routine in the gym five hours later? Oh, except for the Kappel gold, I mean...

 

Audience response to this highly­innovative, drop-resistant piece was tremendous; Greg got the only standing 0 in the whole competition, though only about 20 people could catch the visuals in the mirror. I'm surprised he didn't also win Mr. Congeniality; I'm sure his friends would have been happy to crown him, and I would have, too! Greg sent himself up on Renegade with the big salad - that's just the kinda guy he is.