I was at the 2004 International Jugglers’ Association Festival last week and 8 of the Flying Karamazov Brothers were there (the current 4 and 4 retired ones). They did a show on Friday night, led a workshop on Saturday morning, and accepted an award plus did an act in the Cascade of Stars show on Saturday night. On Saturday I took their workshop and got to hang out with several of them, and juggle with a couple. Saturday night after the show some of them came back to the gym to juggle some more and I passed clubs for probably half an hour with Mark (one of the current KFBs).
In a strange “small world” moment, I discovered that Mark has a summer house on the same lake in New Hampshire that my family does (which is where I am right now) and it’s been in his family since his grandfather–same as ours. We were immediately hugging and carrying on about stuff from around here. He asked if I was going to this particular annual event this summer and when I said yes, he said “we should juggle there!”
AAAAHH!!! Juggle. Publically. With one of the FKBs. That is sort of like your favorite musician asking you to sing/play with them at a public event. Anyway, regardless of whether we do that or not, we have definite plans to do some canoeing and general lake socializing this summer. Turns out he was at the same event last year… and so was I.
So anyway, back to the festival. On Saturday after the workshop, I got all of them to sign one of my clubs. I used one of my club swinging clubs rather than one of the ones I juggle with, since it’s all white and has no decorations on it.
I have a temporary lame-ass page with photos here: http://opalcat.com/IJA/2004Festival/index.html since my gallery has been obliterated for the time being. The one who signed it “To Katherine with the purple things” was referring to the headband I was wearing for virtually the entire festival. I was pretty much known as the girl with the purple things (yes there is a picture on that page).
So anyway, I don’t know how many other juggling groupies there are out there, but I thought it was pretty damned cool getting to talk and juggle with the FKBs. They’re incredibly nice people, and so very, very talented.
Juggled for the first time in 1978 in a motel room in Ann Arbor.
Number of times juggled with the FKBs: 0.
(It might take me a while to catch up to you.)
Although now I feel this big as whenever we juggle again I shall be forever held to the standard of the FKBs. I can hear it now, “Mark never hit my shoulder. Roderick never aimed for my head.”
That book is what I used to learn how to juggle back when I was 15. A couple years later, I saw the the FKB perform here in Kalamazoo. It was an awesome act! They have been one of my inspirations ever since.
I now have a magic act and part of it is an entire juggling routine.
BTW, another great book to help you get started is “The Complete Juggler” by Dave Finnigan which after checking around, is no longer in print. He has a new book out called “Juggling from start to star” and it’s available here at Amazon.com .
I learned to juggle three things when I was a kid. It impresses people all out of proportion to how hard it is. It’s easy once you get it, and I don’t remember it being hard to get it either.
I’ve never tried to go to four. I probably should.
Hehe! Well, we were inside a gym rather than out in the wind, which helped a lot! Oh, Rod and I hung out quite a bit… before he went into the FKBs he was a member of the Fairfax Jugglers club, which is the one I go to. He also knows how to do The Cup Thing, so we did that a bit. I haven’t known anyone who knew The Cup Thing since high school!
Dave Finnegan was at the festival, as was his daughter. They’re both very nice people
For those who are curious, I made this mpg video of “The Cup Thing”… ideally you do it in a group, and the last part you set the cup down in front of the person to your right, while the person on your left sets theirs in front of you. In this way, the cups all travel around the circle counter clockwise…
I have been amazed at the jugglers I have seen lately here in Prague. Just a few in the parks practicing. Ever see someone juggle 3 diablos, alternating behind their back? Plus there is this one kid from slovakia (maybe 10, 11) who can do 7 balls- ground and up! He stands on this round platform and does his show to music- he is going to give Moschen a run for his money in the next few years.
I’m going to start going to the local juggle club at the end of the summer. Lots of fun, lots of talent. Well, they have the talent, I have the love.
The only thing I can juggle is a crazed lifestyle, but one of the prouder moments of my life was when Papa Zappa and I brought some leftover pizza to a FKB performance at Wolf Trap 12 years or so ago… and of all the weird crap the audience brought for them to juggle, they chose our pizza. The juggler pulled off the sausage topping, exclaiming in horror “This has pork on it. I can’t juggle pork on the Shabbas!!!”.
Ooooh, I love the Flying Karamozov Bros. I’ve seen them twice in person once on HBO. I took my mom for mother’s day when I was a kid (I bought HER ticket at least) and they performed in a small theatre near where I went to college. Besides being amazing jugglers, those guys are hilarious. Love the part where they will juggle three items smaller than a breadbox brought by audience members. In Nashville I remember they used some chainmail and a Big Wheel (“You have some awfully big breadboxes down here”)
I can hear it now, “Mark never hit my shoulder. Roderick never aimed for my head.” 
