iTopSpin
Current Posts => Latest Spin => Topic started by: the Earl of Whirl on July 25, 2014, 12:57:42 PM
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I was sure to put "top spinning" in the title so there would be no confusion about whether this would be a NSTR thread or a Latest Spin thread. Yes, we are going to a juggling festival. Yes, there will be a lot of other activities there. Yes, there will be no mention of top spinning in the program. Yet, this will most definitely be a top spinning gathering!!!
Life is getting crazy for me as I try to leave town (it always seems to be this way) so I am starting this thread as a way to relax a bit and dream in the middle of all the other stuff going on around me. Thank you to one and all who contribute to this.
I am starting to get excited about hanging out with Jim Neff and Mark Hayward. They both make me smile and laugh. I am hoping to get to spend some time with lincolnrick. I am also hoping to find some other "unknown and new" top spinners in the world. If all goes well, I will have a lot to report. Actually, even if there is not much to report about I will probably make something up because I will need to sit and rest on occasion and would like to spend some time as a roving correspondent during those moments.
So it is back to work but I do so with a twinkle in my eye, full of hopes and dreams of what lies ahead in the coming week. FYI, I will be in the office on Monday morning and finishing up last minute details that afternoon. If all goes well I will be there Monday evening and staying through Thursday. I hate to miss Friday and Saturday (the most exciting days) but I am happy to be able to be there for more than one day. Don't ask me where I am staying as I do not know. That is part of the adventure!
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I am sure you are going to have lots of fun! I can visualize you trying Jim's cornucopia of kongzhus/monobolos. I bet you will not go unnoticed in the festival! >:D
I look forward to the reports.
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Mike, I'm looking forward to seeing you in Lafayette, as well as Mark and Jim and any other spinners that appear. 8) Looks like our paths will cross only for a bit more than a day though. I'm arriving Wed. late afternoon and will stay for the rest of the fest. Like you said, the best shows are Fri/Sat, besides that's the weekend!!
I'll leave the reporting up to you (you know how to keep it interesting), I'll just try to stay out of the way.
Till we meet in Lafayette.
rick
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Wow, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at Purdue....Mike , Mark, Rick and hopefully others. I arrive Monday evening and should be spinning there for the duration. Mike..hopefully we have many converts.
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Yippee!!! Monday night seems like the time that the gathering starts. Thanks for posting JNeff.
Rick, you are so funny. I love to hear your take on things. Please report with me. Maybe it can be a tag team, like wrestling? Since I will not be there on Friday or Saturday we definitely need your comments about those days.
I am one step closer to getting there as I now have a funeral behind me (it wasn't so bad as she was 88 and had been struggling lately). Hopefully I can get some more work done today (for while I am away) and then get through the worship services tomorrow. Thanks for everyone's comments. It sure helps me to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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It's been a few years since I've attended an IJA festival, but I have attended several over the years. They are always a good time!
I am a long time juggler, but only (re)discovered spin tops recently. I have never had the opportunity to spin tops at an IJA fest. I hope you have a great time, and look forward to hearing all about it....
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Great to hear from you, mailman. Where are you located?
I finally got out of town. I am an hour on the road and in Indiana! Yippee. I hope to see Jim Neff tonight. I just went by Sheldon's fireworks in Richmond. They say they are the largest in the world. Perhaps this a prelude to the fireworks that will be happening around Jim's equipment bag this week?
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Great to hear from you, mailman. Where are you located?
I'm just west of Rochester, New York. I'm a long time member of the Rochester Juggling Club, and have been attending the RIT Juggle-In for over 25 years. Last year I encountered top spinners there for the first time, and my interest was captured (thanks, ta0!).
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Ahhh, THAT mailman. Thanks for the info and once again, welcome.
I arrived safely to the Purdue campus after a slight detour in Indianapolis. I was looking for a break and thought of the Tip Top Tavern and good times there years ago. Guess what? It was closed. And it looked like it had been closed for quite some time. Rats.
The IJA feat is on wood basketball courts and the place was hopping already when I arrived. It is going to be pretty tight in there later in the week. Guess who was at the entrance door with a big suitcase of equipment? Jim Neff!!! We chatted then followed a crowd of people heading outside. They were taking the unjuggable club challenge. One was normal. Another had sand in the handle. The third had a heavy weight in it. No one could do the required 15 throws. The closest was 8 or 9. David Cain calmly picked up his clubs and juggled them cleanly for over 30 throws!!!
Jim and his roommate headed out to their hotel while I walked the outer ring of the room and checked out what was for sale. There are a number of vendors there already! Then I headed out to find a place to crash. I think it is best to start the week out with a good night's sleep.
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Mike,glad to hear you and Jim have arrived safely and intact. I hope it's not to tight for some spinners! Any hallways available? At one fest, Mark and I scrounged a mat that was almost big enough for the top folks and protected the floors as well. You might ask around. Anyway, keep us posted, I'm on the road tomorrow and hope to arrive around dinner time.
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You are the best top reporter! The board should sponsor your trips so you can report back ;D
You are going to have a blast with Jim's bags of props!
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Ahhh, I had a good night of sleep and was ready to go today. Good thing, because I saw Jim as soon as I walked in again. He is everywhere! He has also made a mark in the Rochester juggling club. Mike Levy reports that his group hardly juggles any more. They throw tops the whole time!!!
I watched a pair tossing 11 rings very smoothly. I saw a guy balancing on his hands upside down on a chair. I saw two guys passing 14 balls, bouncing them back and forth. But none of that garnered the attention Jim draws when he pulls out his bag of tops. Whew!!! Where do I start? Maybe in another post as I am getting distracted here and I do not want to lose what I have.
Thanks for your kind words about the posts. Honestly, I have to pace myself and reporting is a good use of my sitting time.
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Good news. There will be a break out session for top spinning at 3pm tomorrow (Wednesday). Bad news. Mark Hayward will not be here until Friday. I think I will miss him!
How do you say spinning top in Russian? That is what we were asked by Anna from Russia who now lives in Houston. She is caught up in the spinning bug. "Where is your friend" she asked me when Jim stepped out for a bit. She obviously cannot wait for him to open his equipment bag again.
His bag is really "bags". There have to be three dozen smaller tops in one carrying case. Another large suitcase seems to have larger wood tops. Another large bag has metal contraptions. Yet another has mostly diabolos and kongzhus. That appears to be most of his stuff but I may be missing some smaller bags.
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Ahhh, I had a good night of sleep and was ready to go today. Good thing, because I saw Jim as soon as I walked in again. He is everywhere! He has also made a mark in the Rochester juggling club. Mike Levine reports that his group hardly juggles any more. They throw tops the whole time!!!
Hahaha! Mike Levy is my juggling partner, going back almost 20 years! He has been just a bit put out by my recent interest in top spinning, but I got him throwing some tops, and I think he may be hooked. He told me he would be checking the vendors to see if he could buy himself one to bring home. If you see him again, tell him I said "Hi!"....
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Good news. There will be a break out session for top spinning at 3pm tomorrow (Wednesday). Bad news. Mark Hayward will not be here until Friday. I think I will miss him!
If Marks not there are you the lead in the top breakout? I'm afraid I'll just miss it by a couple of hours.
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Thanks for your words of confidence, lincolnrick. If they were stuck I would help out but Keith Nelson is all set to run it. Jim Neff and I will be there to add some support.
I am virtually unknown around these parts for my top spinning. There seems to be very little crossover between the IJA fest and World yoyo contest. I have seen a few people yoyoing but they say they have never been to worlds. And as I look around I do not see anyone here I have ever seen at worlds. Just like at worlds there seems to be no one who goes to the IJA (except Mark and occasionally that tall guy who juggles 5 and 6 clubs).
Anna from Russia and Houston came back to learn more about spinning. She brought a special bag as a gift to Jim for using some of his tops. She learned how to wrap and throw spinners on the ground and is now working on the sky rocket.
Glad to hear about the Mike Levy and mailman connection. He has asked me for a top since there are none for sale around here (what kind of a place is this).
I went to the welcome show tonight. For $20 it was a fun show but the price suddenly was worth it when one of the acts centered on a spin top. It looked like a trompo grande bearing from Spintastics. He had some fun puns about the string and the top "meeting" and the top being strung along and then becoming "engaged" and the string coming from a long line of that sort. Everyone ooed and awed at the tricks although they were not too difficult. As you can imagine, they loved the three wrap corkscrew!!!
I looked up his name and it is a guy from Portland. His name is Curtis Carlyle. Also, Dwayne Campbell from Austin says hello to ta0. He says you might remember his wife Debra better. Dwayne was out riding his 36 inch unicycle around the campus.
Time to head back to my hotel. Jim Neff has already left. One last item I want to mention concerns the bathrooms on the far end. I am curious as to what lincolnrick thinks of them. They look like the fanciest bathrooms ever for a college campus. Kind of makes you happy to go there.
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How do you say spinning top in Russian? That is what we were asked by Anna from Russia who now lives in Houston. She is caught up in the spinning bug. "Where is your friend" she asked me when Jim stepped out for a bit. She obviously cannot wait for him to open his equipment bag again.
According to Russian board member Maxim (http://www.ta0.com/forum/index.php/topic,2950.msg30210.html#msg30210):
. . . Yes, kubar is the word for russian whip top. This toy was very popular in Ancient Russia and is almost unknown now. A lot of people in Russia don't have any idea of what kubar is.
Volchok is used to name any spinning tops at the present time. Kubar is also volchok as well as finger top, peg top, whip top, etc. In russian all these tops are volchok. Moreover only finger tops are widely known. Other types are known only for fans like me.
. . .
Say hi to Dwayne. If I am not mistaken, Debra took one of the first spintop workshops I gave.
I need to go to an IJA meeting one day. At least this year I became a member.
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Just two more hours until the top spinning workshop. I checked to see where it was and I saw the title of it was top spinning breakout. It meets at the classroom. I went to see the classroom and it is just a section of the gym with a banner that says 'classroom'. Looks like the floors will be wood.
Jim Neff showed up today with a t-shirt that says "you spin tops?" over a picture of Groucho Marx. Underneath the image it says "Your parents must be proud!" I asked him where he got it and he said he had it specially made.
I got an old trompo grande bearing top to Mike Levy. He seemed happy and has been throwing it here and there. Played any ukelele lately, mailman? Have some ukes too (like 10) and we had a ukelele chorus in church a couple of weeks ago. I also hear that you were unjustly charged with a speeding ticket when you were only going 82 in an 81 zone. Or was that route 81?
JNeff will be back from lunch soon and we will have some more top play time before the workshop. By this evening I should have a lot to report about.
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Just met Don Shurlow (toysfromtimespast.com) and his wife Dawn from Midland, Michigan. He said he has been throwing tops since he was a boy (he looked to be 60 or so) and made a lot of tops for years. Now he mostly does just furniture. He said he still had a thousand tips somewhere!!!
We were on our way outside when we saw him. I introduced JNeff to two larger sizes of johnm tops and he let me throw his large Alan Gray creation "cyclone".
I am looking at a crazy big unicycle with five steps to climb to get to the seat!
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Looks like a fair amount of top-related stuff.
Did you have an opportunity to talk with that Curtis Carlisle who did the show?
I am enjoying your reporting.
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Curtis was in the workshop, which went very well by the way. We started with 7 or 8 and had about twenty when we finished. Great leadership by Keith Nelson (bindlestiff). About a half dozen had never thrown before. Everyone else had some sort of background but only a couple could do more than a few tricks. One highlight for me was finding plastic footstool/benches with a concave top. They worked well for battling. Knollstudio looked like the name on the bottom. The Hout house needs a couple of these.
A second highlight was Jim doing a long wire walker at the end. That is a sight to behold. Curtis stayed and was a part of it. He had some great stories about the Portland juggling club which is very strong. There are like forty locals in the group and when the college students come the group is like 80 to 90. Their festival is very well attended, as you might imagine.
Jack....how close are you to Quebec City. You will not believe what is coming your way. It is a dream come true!!! The 2015 IJA fest will be there and Jim Neff will be coming with his traveling top circus. Ta0......you are the winner of the other drawing. 2016 is in El Paso!
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Jack....how close are you to Quebec City. You will not believe what is coming your way. It is a dream come true!!! The 2015 IJA fest will be there and Jim Neff will be coming with his traveling top circus
vive le quebec!!!!!!!! unfortunatly i dont vivre au Québec lol (ahh french class never thought id need u ;D ) well it seams im an unfortunate cookie but toronto is quite a ways from the rogue province of quebec lol plus ive pretty much bankrupted myself ordering tops recently looooooool oh well thats ok i still hold out hope that sense will prevail and theyll finally move the canadian yoyo championships to toronto instead of saskatchewan do you know whats in saskatchewan??? ill tell you whats in saskatchewan..........NOTHING!!!!!!!!!! thats whats in saskatchewan......im sorry im sure the people of saskatchewan are nice but come on seriously why is that waaaaay out there when toronto is literally the biggest city in canada @_@ eh?????? eh???? im probably gonna meet a nice girl from saskatchewan and she'll find this post and ask whats this??? and i will say: honey........look at how many times i spelled saskatchewan correctly without having to use autocorrect see???.........be that as it may, ya no unfortuantly too far of a trip for me :( thanks mike for telling me ill mention it to some of my ppl up at ottawa there a lil closer, jim sorry we couldnt meet it would have been a treat but we aint dead yet ;D lol btw i enjoyed reading your posts on this event :)
lol i just relized i have a pkg of tops in montreal right now in transit to me :P
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Looks like it is about the same distance to go from Toronto to Quebec City as it is from San Antonio to El Paso. Also, Jim Neff traveled farther from Buffalo to Purdue University, from what he said. Don't give up hope yet, Jack. There may be someone going that way you can hitch a ride with!
Anna from Russia came back later today and was sad she missed the top spinning workshop. Everyone else headed out to the junior championships (the word is that there are exceptional juniors this year) so she and I threw smaller battle tops for a long time. She is ready for you, ta0. It sounds like she will be at the Austin fest next year and has two battle tops to practice.
By the way, the word I heard is that 2017 could be in either Athens, Georgia or Debuque, Iowa. How that sound to everybody?
I am at a local sports bar for dinner. I think I will go back for some late night action but maybe not much top spinning. And tomorrow morning I am driving to Champaign, Illinois to see where they make vaulting poles. So, there may not be much to report for a while.
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Looks like it is about the same distance to go from Toronto to Quebec City as it is from San Antonio to El Paso. Also, Jim Neff traveled farther from Buffalo to Purdue University, from what he said. Don't give up hope yet, Jack. There may be someone going that way you can hitch a ride with!
thank you for your encouragement maybe it will happen but i must warn you us upper canada boys dont like to travel....just isnt done. heres what happens: getup get some shreddies go out play some hockey dont confuse me with the facts if its summer dammit were playing hockey thats all there is to it get out the way then go have a beer with friends if there still alive tday then watch a hockey game if its not the senators playin then whatever happens it was a good game allswell if however the sens are playin theres gonna be either party later or sum very unhappy campers for awhile eh @-@ after that lay down alone most likely aaaaaaand do it all over again ;D pretty much thats what happens more often then not and as you will see i did not mention travel in that itinerary and thats simply because we dont unless we are forced by some unforeseen problem long story short watch fubar and fubar2 and ull get a pretty good idea :( , jim is a better man than i. i hope you enjoyed your meal last night mike ;) mark my words sir i will shake your hand some day and a good day itll be @-@
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Yippee! Rick Prevett made it in last night and we got to throw some tops before hitting the sack. I showed him my smaller buckeye colored johnm top. Then surprised him with the bigger size. He sure knows a lot of people. It was hard to get much throwing done in between all the people waiting in line to greet him. And I guess I am one of those in his fan club! We figured out the last time we were together was the Davenport IJA of 2005 and the only other time was the Madison IJA a couple of years before that. We will have to work on improving that frequency.
I took some time off this morning to drive an hour and a half to watch them make vaulting poles in Champaign, Illinois. Wow, that was amazing. I got back in time to see Jim and Rick throwing and spinning crazy things. I haven't told you some of the things because I wanted to surprise Rick. There is a monobolo attached to a bike wheel. There is a two person Kongzhu. There is a cheese grater with spoons dangling. There is a monobolo attached to a kettle. And there are spinning plates and spinning things from the kitchen of all shapes and sizes. Whew!
Several people joined in on the top action. One was a friend from years ago. Kathy Glynn (now Schearrer I believe) had the mile joggling record in Guinness for 24 years. It was just broken last year. She stopped by with her kids and spun for quite a while. She says she has a top from the 1992 IJA fest in Montreal and I am begging her for it.
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Rick is giving string instruction. Trivia question: how many parts are there to a string?
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*snip*
We figured out the last time we were together was the Davenport IJA of 2005 and the only other time was the Madison IJA a couple of years before that.
*snip*
Now, how cool is that? Davenport was one of the IJA festivals I attended! Spin tops were completely off of my radar back then, apparently.
Hope you're having a great time at this one....
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Rick is giving string instruction. Trivia question: how many parts are there to a string?
hmm i would say 4 unless ure counting the button in which case 5 :o
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Mailman? You were in Davenport!!!? What a small world.
Rick says the answer is four parts to a string. The button. The string. The knot and the fray. He said this is a Chris Neff thing and the fray is important because it is used by the thumb to hold the string when starting.
The last few hours have been a whirlwind. I finally got away but not before I grabbed everything I could in my bag and juggled it. That way I could say yes when my wife asks me if I used all the stuff I took. Jason Snow from Austin must have recognized what I was doing so he went and grabbed his clubs and passed for a few seconds with me.
Gotta get something to eat before I hit the road but I still need to talk about rascals (oh no, those again), the big Autograph top, Curtis, combat, Anna, Jim rat and more.
Chipotle, here I come!!!
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I had a short conversation with Scot Sorenson when I was sitting by his stuff. He has been a multiple multiple numbers gold medalist over the years. Looking at this stack I said "How many rings do you have." Oh, let me count.....17.
How many clubs do you have.......18.
So you have more clubs than rings. Oh, I did not count my smaller rings. 16 there so my total is 33.
What? I said with obvious horror. He replied "you should feel my ball bag". He tossed this giant canvas bag my way and it landed with a thump in my lap. It had to be 30 pounds or so. And I was still looking at dozens of spinning balls.
I told this story to Jim Neff and he said "I thought I was bad".
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Curtis Carlyle gave me one of his cards. Cool looking card! People at the church are into mustaches and he features a big one on his calling card. His website is www.curtshow.com
He said he is familiar with this forum and will read what we have to say. He also says he has seen a number of world top spinning videos. He has considered competing.
We went outside with Autograph and were working on getting his name in the book when I noticed Jim Neff off to the side with some contraption. In the midst of all the strings and wire were seven monobolos. And he starts spinning in a circle!!! Oh my...what a sight.
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Rick is giving string instruction. Trivia question: how many parts are there to a string?
I tell my students 4.
- The button
- The long part
- The knot
- The fuzzy part (where you put your thumb)
What's the correct answer Mike?
--EDIT--
I guess I could have read all the posts before responding :-[
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I made it to the east side of Indianapolis. Only a couple hour from home. I should be ok from here, except I am already lamenting the lack of top spinning stimulation. Life was just too good with old friends like Jim and Rick and so many new friends.
Autograph continues to get lots of attention whenever he comes out. He and Cyclone had a lot of fun playing today. Rick must be a heck of a nice guy and a real softie because he continues to feel badly about an earlier encounter with Cyclone.
The surprise of the day, though, were the rascals. Once again I nearly forgot to bring them out but remembered just in time to have Jim play with them. Sorry you were already gone, Rick. As soon as we spun a few, people started gathering around. The famous passer "melonhead" came walking by and said "oh no...those again" which kept jneff and the earl laughing the rest of the day. An interesting fact is that whenever rascals come out, stories about Mark Hayward also come out.
Alan Howard was the champion stacker of the day. He had a stack of nine on one of his attempts.
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Thanks a lot for the reports! I am happy that Curtis knew about this forum. Did he throw Autograph? I need to get his picture with Figaro one day.
Reading that story I forgive you for hoarding Rascals. Actually, I now have a fair amount myself (well, when Don ships them to me).
It had never occurred to me, but now because of you I have to add visiting a pole-vaulting-pole-factory to my bucket list :P
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Whew. I arrived home. It is after midnight and I shouldn't be too tired but I am. I drank a bunch of diet coke on the way home so I am hyped up but tired, if that makes sense. It feels good to be back in the Burg for a day. We will soon be heading out to North Carolina to see two little grand-daughters. If I were a better grandpa (like Don) I would have spinning tops made for them. Maybe I can come up with something before we leave?
I am anxious to hear how the last couple of days go at P.U. Lincolnrick and JNeff promised to keep us informed.
On the ride back I do remember one thing that made me chuckle. Rick asked me what was so special about the bathroom. I said that I thought they were pretty fancy for a college. He said he was expecting more and they didn't even have a couch in them. I guess they actually rent couches for their big Flatlands festival and Rick was used to the full couch treatment. Sorry, Rick!!!
Special thanks to Jim Neff for all the equipment he packed in his car. It was quite a bit to haul. I sure appreciated all your efforts in getting so much fun stuff to West Lafayette, Indiana.
a possible list of the top ten top spinning wives (who did I miss?)............
Eric Wolfe's wife (he has to have lots of stuff all over the house and in the garage)
Chris Neff's wife (she puts up with his travel and his top creations)
Salvador and Gus' wives (even more travel plus Salvador's dodging of traffic)
Dick Store's wife (has a basement full of tops and yoyos)
Mike Hickerson's wife (she has to deal with THREE top spinners in her home)
Dale Oliver's wife (it almost seems like cheating to have her on this list since she is a thrower)
Kirk's wife (same as Dale Oliver - has a throwing wife)
ta0's wife (she has set up boundaries but he still has a lot of stuff everywhere)
Mike Hout's wife (many have said no one puts with more top trouble than what her husband throws her)
but now there is a new #1: Jim Neff's wife (he confessed that he has oodles more stuff in his house and garage)
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My wife is indeed surrounded by tops and yo-yos, and while she doesn't yo or throw, she can do a three ball cascade... ;D
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I think for my wife the stuff around is not as big an issue as the time I spend on this ::)
Talking about being surrounded by top stuff, I bet Don Olney's wife should be on that list (perhaps I should talk directly to her about a couple of boxes . . .)
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Yes, how could I leave Don Olney off! What a terrible omission.
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We had a good gathering this morning of top spinners. Rick and I and 6 others. Mostly beginners other than Curtis Carlyle. Curtis is very skilled. It's amazing how many jugglers are really covert top spinners. Anna the Russian girl also showed up. None of the prop makers here have tops for sale. And they call themselves prop makers.
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My sons and I throw Tops in my house/study and my sheet rock walls show the scars from our practice.
My wife wants to paint the room to hide the scars but I see the walls as showing our level of success.
So my wife struggles with my beat up walls in the study that's in her house. ;D
Learning Every Day and Having Fun
Mike
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Rick would have nothing to do with throwing Cyclone again. He reluctantly agreed to hold her. Tomorrow should be a busy day top spinning. Several of the beginners want instruction on more advanced tricks that they can work on when they get home. It rained tonight and the street busking was moved into the gym. There was no one from the public there but it still worked pretty well with just the jugglers in the audience. There were 4 performers one of which was Curtis Carlisle. Great act and fodder with standard juggling but no spin tops. darn. The winner receives 1000$. The winner hasn't been named yet.
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Wow! A thousand dollars!!! That sounds great.
You guys must be doing something right if the newer top spinners want to learn more and more. Good job.
I am now in North Carolina. No top spinning or juggling or anything down here. The highlight of the trip was when we went by Flat Top Mountain.
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I have several photos I want to post but for some reason they won't post from my iPhone or iPad. It says there too many mega something's. I'll try posting from home. Rick has a beautiful top made by Chris Neff. It is so light it feels like balsa wood but durable. It has a green coating that Rick says is a soda bottle heat wrapped on it. Very interesting.
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Ah yes, that was one of my early ones. I make them heavier now, and in a different shape. I hope you get to throw one of my new ones someday. Any chance of you going to Kansas City Jugglefest?
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I would love to make the KC festival but it's not possible this year. Rick and discussed the KC, the Lincoln-Omaha, and Miamisburg. All are tempting. The last few days were a whirlwind on top spinning. I'm not exagerating when I say we had 5 or 6 sessions with 7-8 of us. I don't remember so many at past conventions. I am packing now for the long drive home but I'll post more later.
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Ah yes, that was one of my early ones. I make them heavier now, and in a different shape
thats interesting what are you doing differently? also is the extra weight intended?
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. . . I'm not exaggerating when I say we had 5 or 6 sessions with 7-8 of us. I don't remember so many at past conventions.
:o 8) 8) 8) 8)
Could this be an indication of increasing popularity in the juggling community? Would it reach some critical mass?
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. . . I'm not exaggerating when I say we had 5 or 6 sessions with 7-8 of us. I don't remember so many at past conventions.
:o 8) 8) 8) 8)
Could this be an indication of increasing popularity in the juggling community? Would it reach some critical mass?
If the Rochester Juggling Club is any indication, there is, indeed, an increasing popularity. All it took was a visible presence at the RIT Juggle-In by some enthusiastic top spinners (yourself included!), and the seed was sown.
Now we have 5 or 6 jugglers who take time out from juggling at our weekly Sunday meeting to throw tops....
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Thanks for your recaps. I really appreciate it and am thrilled to hear about the interest!
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Hres is a picture of Rick holding a repaired Cyclone. I tried to get him to throw her again but he would have none of it.
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Curtis Carlyle did a few top tricks on stage and also MC'ed the final show. Nice funny guy. He probably can throw a top with his mustache or more likely whip it.
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A few more photos of a Rascal Fest, Mike flaunting his John Markus top, Marc Daniels for Louisville who performs tops in his act also, and Anna , a Russian top enthusiast.
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We had a contest were we tried to throw a top onto a Upside down Hot Fudge Sunday vase. I couldn't do it well but Rick and Marc were experts.
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Thanks for the photos, makes me feel I was there.
So many props lying around!
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Yes, great pictures. I appreciate you posting them. Did Mark Hayward eventually show up? Glad you got one of Anna. She really showed a lot of interest and that pic could help Ta0 when he sees her at the Austin fest. I didn't know Marc Daniels showed up.
The woman with the green tie dye shirt is no ordinary individual. I joggled with her back on the 90's and she was tough. Her mile record from 1989 lasted for 24 years. Her name is still in he record book as part of the mile relay. She confessed that she had several tops at home including a Don Olney Toycrafter top from the 1992 IJA fest in Montreal!!!
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A few more photos of a Rascal Fest, Mike flaunting his John Markus top, Marc Daniels for Louisville who performs tops in his act also, and Anna , a Russian top enthusiast.
excellent! thank you for posting the pics ;) can someone tell me about that red top n the second pic?? i recognize the face i just have a terrible time remembering names to faces without prolonged and varied context, i am sorry really :-[ great pictures jim :D
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That is me (Mike Hout) holding a johnm creation. It is made with a diabolo tip and utilizes the colors of the Ohio State buckeyes.
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This looks tiring and none of the action is accessible but the spintop gang picked center screen to set up camp. If you look fast you can see the JNeff pile of fun sometimes near the center of the frame. Mike is regularly visible and sometimes with the saucer sled out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuP8ELkXyU
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This is hilarious!!! It proves that I really do sit more than I used to.
On Thursday afternoon you can see the gathering of people in a circle around the world's largest collection of rascals!!!
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I'm really late to do this, but here goes:
I arrived late Wed. and found Mike strumming a guitar. He had established a 'top zone' where he and JimN had set up. We moved from there to the front entryway because that was the only carpeted spot we could find. Mike then showed me a johnm top, which I played with for quite some time. A sly look came over Mike's face, then he brought out the big top, another johnm creation. Both of these beauties spun so well I did not want to stop. I got some tips from Mike on the current bane of my existence, the drumbeat (thanks Mike). We talked for some time and retired for the night.
The rest of the festival went like this: JimN shows up up with his two (at least) huge bags of toys. Lots of chinese tops which are monobolos and require a set of handsticks. He's really good with those. And lots of weird things to spin atop a stick, like a spinning plate, but I don't think I ever saw a plate. I saw colanders, a frying pan, bowls of various shapes and sizes, etc. These attracted a lot of jugglers who would come over and give things a try. And lots of diablo type contraptions, including a bicycle tire
mounted on either a diablo or monoblo setup.
An outside session with the big tops. Curtis C. tried but was unable to get Autograph up and spinning. He gave it a really good try. JimN of course threw Cyclone, which finally gave me peace of mind that it was fully functional. Turns out a friend of his actually fixed it for him. This also was when JimN threw his 7 monoblo setup.
We taught quite a few people to spin actually. The top zone was always busy with lots of people returning day after day. I had fun meeting Marc and being the champ at the upside down ice cream vase for a while, thanks to Marc for bringing that. One thing about Marc was that he used a 7 foot string (I asked) with a Bearing King top. I've now got Chad Lunders tasked to make me one that long here in Lincoln.
Mark Hayward did show up Friday (?) night, and someone gave him a teeny-tiny top. After a few tries, he boomeranged it!
It was great to see Kathy again. Her girls learned to spin and she may be hooked again herself.
I got JimN to show me a super long wirewalker, using a Korean top (my definition) and fishing line. I now know the secret and will be working on that trick. Thanks Jim.
I know I've forgotten much, and will repost when I think of more highlights. Mike and Jim have done a great job of reviewing the week in Purdue, I don't have that much more to add. Oh and Mike, the bathroom was really nice but I was expecting a lounge of some sort with attentants, scented soaps, etc. going by your exuberance ;D ;D
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I'm really late to do this, but here goes:
I arrived late Wed. and found Mike strumming a guitar. He had established a 'top zone' where he and JimN had set up. We moved from there to the front entryway because that was the only carpeted spot we could find. Mike then showed me a johnm top, which I played with for quite some time. A sly look came over Mike's face, then he brought out the big top, another johnm creation. Both of these beauties spun so well I did not want to stop. I got some tips from Mike on the current bane of my existence, the drumbeat (thanks Mike). We talked for some time and retired for the night.
The rest of the festival went like this: JimN shows up up with his two (at least) huge bags of toys. Lots of chinese tops which are monobolos and require a set of handsticks. He's really good with those. And lots of weird things to spin atop a stick, like a spinning plate, but I don't think I ever saw a plate. I saw colanders, a frying pan, bowls of various shapes and sizes, etc. These attracted a lot of jugglers who would come over and give things a try. And lots of diablo type contraptions, including a bicycle tire
mounted on either a diablo or monoblo setup.
An outside session with the big tops. Curtis C. tried but was unable to get Autograph up and spinning. He gave it a really good try. JimN of course threw Cyclone, which finally gave me peace of mind that it was fully functional. Turns out a friend of his actually fixed it for him. This also was when JimN threw his 7 monoblo setup.
We taught quite a few people to spin actually. The top zone was always busy with lots of people returning day after day. I had fun meeting Marc and being the champ at the upside down ice cream vase for a while, thanks to Marc for bringing that. One thing about Marc was that he used a 7 foot string (I asked) with a Bearing King top. I've now got Chad Lunders tasked to make me one that long here in Lincoln.
Mark Hayward did show up Friday (?) night, and someone gave him a teeny-tiny top. After a few tries, he boomeranged it!
It was great to see Kathy again. Her girls learned to spin and she may be hooked again herself.
I got JimN to show me a super long wirewalker, using a Korean top (my definition) and fishing line. I now know the secret and will be working on that trick. Thanks Jim.
I know I've forgotten much, and will repost when I think of more highlights. Mike and Jim have done a great job of reviewing the week in Purdue, I don't have that much more to add. Oh and Mike, the bathroom was really nice but I was expecting a lounge of some sort with attentants, scented soaps, etc. going by your exuberance ;D ;D
i enjoyed your account :D. hey jim whats that skewer in the top case for?
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I use the knife to balance my acrobat top on the blade. I slide it up and down the blade. Its kind of a poor mans' Jochen Schell trick. He actually uses a sword with a larger top.
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Curtis Carlyle did a few top tricks on stage and also MC'ed the final show. Nice funny guy. He probably can throw a top with his mustache or more likely whip it.
Here is his whole bit from the opening show. Exclusively using a top as a prop! Interesting that he uses a loop for the wind and anchors the button on the palm side of his hand with the string looping a finger.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylT5COrjd9I
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Thanks for finding this john. I arrived at the fest later in the week and didn't get a chance to see Curtis in action. Nice routine and a good job of entertaining with a top.
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Great Top spot. Loved it.
;D