This reminds me of the story about Vince McMahon receiving a call from Ted Turner about his having bought into pro wrestling. As McMahon tells it Turner said, “Hey, I just wanted to tell you I’m in the RASSLIN’ business now!”
McMahon supposedly said, “That’s great Ted. But, I’m in the ENTERTAINMENT business.”
I love good juggling, and can appreciate what Garfield does. But by using juggling as tool for entertainment, rather than as just a display, Chris Bliss is in good company. Steve Martin and Bill Irwin come to mind.
The Flying Karamazov Brothers have been mentioned - and they are far less technically proficient than most people realize. But that’s not a critique. Rather, it’s their strength. Rather than getting bogged down in too much technique, they do what they do very well, and tell a great story with it.
Garfield reminds me of Gob and his magician’s alliance on “Arrested Development”: WE DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!!!
The FKBs are not technical jugglers, certainly. If I have my facts straight, of the current four, only Rod was really a juggler to start with. Paul and Howard were self-taught and learned as they went, and Mark was mainly a musician and got into the juggling later. I’ve taken a juggling workshop with them and consider myself to be friends with Rod and Mark, as well as former FKB Tim Furst–they are really cool people. I highly recommend to anyone if you get a chance to see their show, RUN, DO NOT WALK and get those tickets.
I hope no one gets the wrong idea… I like the Chris Bliss video. I think it’s good entertainment. I just think that a lot of people are impressed with it for the wrong reasons…? Does that make sense? People see it and think he’s some world-class amazing juggler. He’s not. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching, or that it isn’t impressive, or anything like that…
I take your point, but you’re making one mistake, IMO. You’re viewing it from the perspective of an enthusiast. I’m speaking for myself here, but I think a lot of people might view it this way: I wouldn’t know world-class, technical juggling if it crawled up my pants leg and wiggled, nor am I likely to become interested enough in it to know the difference.
What I do know, though, is good entertainment, and that Bliss video is excellent entertainment. He’s enthusiastic, he gets into the music , he interprets the music with his juggling. I’d rather watch an hour of that than thirty seconds of a super-technical juggler making fun of him and supposedly “dissing” him.
All Garfield proves in his snide little interpretation is that he does not get it. It’s not all about him, and that makes Bliss’s video superior.
I think a lot of people in the juggling community think Garfield is something of an asshole. I’ve never met the guy, so I don’t really feel like I can say.
As for your first point, no you might not know good technical juggling if it bit you, but I’m not just talking about techinical juggling. People like Garfield are the exception in their weird attitude toward showmanship. Most of the really good jugglers are very into performance, choreography, costuming, etc. If you saw one of THOSE people perform, you WOULD see a difference.
Just for example: there was a guy in the juniors competition last year who juggled while playing DDR. (He got an A on the DDR game he played, too!)
I neglected to give an example of a juggler who combines good showmanship with excellent technical skills. IMHO, Mark Nizer is one of the best in this regard.
As good a tech juggler as they come, but he doesn’t forget to use his skills to entertain. And a super-nice guy, which comes through on stage. Audiences like him for a reason.
I’m so glad you posted this video! I saw that guy in person at Pickwick and Frolic here in Cleveland last year. Can’t remember his name…he’s a stand-up comedian, and this is what he closes his stand-up act with. I was sitting at the front table, literally at his feet, and it was amazing. I love juggling, but I’m no expert on it. This guy may not be the world’s best technician, but he was wonderful. The timing was perfect…the video doesn’t do it justice, and you soon felt that the balls were being contolled by the music and just pulling him into the action. Sitting that close you really felt the great concentration and hard work that were going into the act, while at the same time it felt effortless and fluid. His timing with the music was perfect, and since he’s such an average guy, not flashy or showy, the facial expressions were great. You really felt the connection…no flash or glitz or patter, just oneness with the balls and the music. Amazing. Thank you so much.
Okay, I guess I should have read all the intervening posts carefully before I posted…sorry. Chris Bliss. I’ve now read all the posts, gone to the Garfield video, and sent an email to Garfield telling him he’s a whiny perfectionist who doesn’t understand the difference between juggling as a technical sport and giving a performance that connects with an audience on an emotional level. And that sometimes simpler is better, and more moving. And that Chris bliss never claims to be an incredible, world-class juggler…just a guy making you experience a little magic. He can look down on us ignorant masses all he wants, but until he understands the difference between being technically proficient and giving a great performance, he won’t be getting any of my money…but Chris Bliss will.
I know how to juggle. Nothing spectacular; a few three-ball tricks and I’m trying to just learn a five-ball cascade. I’ve juggled while listening to music, and it’s fascinating how the juggling will tend to synchornize with the beat.
When I watch the Garfield video, if I concentrate, I can see that he’s staying in tempo with the music. He probably feels it more strongly, with the impact of each ball into his hands, but there’s a difference between being and just watching. And he’s got the tempo, but not the rhythm.
The Bliss video is fantastic. He matches the tempo and the rhythm. And the beats come on his catches; more emphatic catches on stronger beats, which means that it’s not just a series of simple patterns. If you have to make each throw a beat-and-a-half before the flamboyant catch, then every single throw has to be choreographed.
My jaw drops watching Garfield, I want to cheer for Bliss.
Tomcat, good call on Michael Moschen. I remember a Great Performances about him on PBS years ago. Does anyone (OpalCat, maybe) know if he still performs? I think he’d be amazing to see in person.
Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Garfield seems to be a person who is jealous that someone else has a promotional video out that is getting all the attention.
One would think he’d be happy that Chris’s video gets the attention it gets because it brings more attention in general to juggling. But no, he has to whine and do a parody saying ‘look at me and how great I am’. Eff-you, Garfield.
First of all, Garfield did his routine on a dare from Penn Jillette. Penn and other jugglers aren’t opposed to Bliss, per se. He’s a comedian to, like Steve Martin, uses juggling as part of his act. What got under their saddle was the world-wide acclaim as a juggler that Bliss was getting for what they knew was a rather simple 3-ball routine. Garfield and Penn were making the point that while it was good showmanship it wasn’t world class juggling and it bothers them that it is presented as such.
It’s like Pat Metheny getting up in arms about Kenny G. It galls people who have great skill and talent when they see someone without their level of skill getting world-wide attention they don’t feel is deserved.
One of my fave juggling memories was Penn Jillette juggling broken bottles - along with some hysterical patter.
My experiences with FKB have been inconsistent. I realize they have changed personnel, but one time they were much more polished than the other. I’m no expert, but even if you are doing something impossible, it loses something ifthe clubs keep ending up on the floor! Really enjoyed them some time back in a Shakespear comedy - As you like it - or 2 Gentlemen?
Love the part where they agree to juggle any 3 objects brought in by audience members. My favorite was an overturned container of ricotta cheese with lit sparklers inserted into it.
At the show I went to in February, they juggled a broken club with nails in it (Howard said to Paul: “don’t grab it by the handle” “why’s that?” “It’s got nails sticking out of it. Oh, and don’t grab it by the other end either.” “Why’s that?” “It’s got nails sticking out of it.”), a lit birthday cake, and my bra. It was awesome.
I saw the FKB do Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” on TV back in the '80s. It was awesome.