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[yollector]

Thanks Jorge,
did you get a trophy ?

[the Earl of Whirl]

I keep checking the site which has a list of famous Uruguay people.  For some reason, they do not have Jorge Alcoz on there yet.

[Jack]

well well well what do we have here 

[the Earl of Whirl]

Ha!  I was at that Montreal event in 1992!!! 

[Jack]

Ha!  I was at that Montreal event in 1992!!!

was there many top spinners back then in attendance???

[the Earl of Whirl]

I am pretty sure Don Olney was there.  Of course, Dale Oliver was there (as you can see from the picture and his t-shirt) but I'm not sure he was much into tops at that time.  That is all I know for sure.  I was into joggling and did not pay too much attention to the string guys......except they always seemed to be smiling and having a good time.

I noticed tops a little more in '93 at Fargo.  Several times I saw Walter Watts bag and big tops laying around.  And near the end of the festival a guy named Stan Watson (I believe that was his name) handed me a video of him on a TV show.  Later I found out that Don had contacted a number of spinners within driving distance and had a small gathering there.

In '94 they had a workshop I attended (only to calm down my youngest son Joe who was begging like crazy).  That is where I first learned to throw a top (barely).  Dick Stohr was there.  Come to think of it, I remember Jon Gates at Burlington and Fargo.....and maybe even Montreal!   

[Dick Stohr]

'94 Burlington I was just getting back to yo-yoing after 40 some years and had never thrown a top. Dale told me that if I practiced a LOT I could make a living playing with my toys and other peoples kids. So he helped and showed me how to throw tops as part of the school assembly program. You should have heard my wife when I told her I was quitting my day job. But she was very supportive and we did it, what fun.

[Kirk]

- warning - off topic

Dick,
Rachel laughed out loud when she heard this story.  We have a similar story of how we made a full time business out of photographing kids and families. It's like being a grandparent that gets paid.
Kirk

[MarkHayward]

Montreal in 92 was my first IJA festival and my first yo-yo contest. I'm pretty sure that year I bought my first top from Don Olney (an orange monarch that Jon Gates told me was from an older batch), and was just barely able to spin it for the fest the next year. In other words there weren't many top spinners there that year because there weren't many of us spinning yet.

[ta0]

That photo with Dale was taken at the after-party on Saturday. The Japanese guy with the top is Toshiaki Nakamura from Chiba who was part of the staff and plays decent spintop so he will be on the Figaro Gallery.

I like this poster of the Iron Mods Battle (I hope the link works):



Here is a photo of the 10 prelim participants:



By the way, I now realize that the list had Daisuke Watanabe but not Fajar, although Fajar told me he had paid for the registration. So I guess we could have been 13 if everybody would had shown up.

Tomorrow I am helping Diego move to UT at Austin, but Sunday I should be able to upload many more photos.

[jim in paris]

great group photo !!
valid for the contest ! 


jim

[robtsou]

So.. I did sleep through the top prelim but to be fair, I think I was sick the entire previous day with a low grade fever.  That was the only day I woke up after 7:00 am (11:30 to be exact). On the plus side, Dale asked me to judge the finals which was awesome getting to hang out with him and Val and getting to be an official World's Judge!  I searched Tokyo high and low for beigoma but was only able to find some steel ones when we went to Kamakura.  I did get a really cool koma and I did buy a couple of tops in preparation for my freestyle (I really did plan to compete, well "compete" is probably more accurate).

Kyle and I did not win the Iron Mod but we did really well, especially considering that we were on unfamiliar equipment.  It was great fun to be up on stage with Taka commentating though.  The hour really flew by!

Then in the airport waiting for my flight, who do I see sitting there on my same flight? Jorge! I did look for you in Chicago but I'm guessing you went to a different terminal.

Pics of the koma and beigoma once I get them uploaded.

[Jack]

So.. I did sleep through the top prelim but to be fair, I think I was sick the entire previous day with a low grade fever.  That was the only day I woke up after 7:00 am (11:30 to be exact). On the plus side, Dale asked me to judge the finals which was awesome getting to hang out with him and Val and getting to be an official World's Judge!  I searched Tokyo high and low for beigoma but was only able to find some steel ones when we went to Kamakura.  I did get a really cool koma and I did buy a couple of tops in preparation for my freestyle (I really did plan to compete, well "compete" is probably more accurate).

Kyle and I did not win the Iron Mod but we did really well, especially considering that we were on unfamiliar equipment.  It was great fun to be up on stage with Taka commentating though.  The hour really flew by!

Then in the airport waiting for my flight, who do I see sitting there on my same flight? Jorge! I did look for you in Chicago but I'm guessing you went to a different terminal.

Pics of the koma and beigoma once I get them uploaded.

ur a lucky cookie getting to be a judge @-@
cant wait to see the pics of your new tops eh!!!
#japaneseTops4life!!! @-@

[ta0]

The venue for the contest was something else. It was located in the neighborhood of Akihabara, center of anime/otaku culture, on a corner on one of the main avenues of Tokyo, Chuo Dori.



The black glass building is where it took place:



On the first floor it was open to the street on two sides, with a little stage on the front, the vendors behind, an area for learning to yo-yo (at one time I did show tops ot kids), and a large stage on the back:



The basement floor was for practice and an area was separated Saturday for tops. There we did the prelims.



The main stage was on the second floor:

[the Earl of Whirl]

Love the pics.  How exciting to know the event was held in such a great location in such a great venue!