Mark Hayward Is My Hero

Yesterday was the first day of Summerfest in Milwaukee WI. I had already done my two street shows for the day and was getting ready for my 4:00 appearance on the Children’s Stage when the power went out for the entire Summerfest grounds and surrounding area. But of course, the show must go on.

Instead of using the now dead in-house PA, I just hooked up my portable battery-powerd PA and we were off and running. I got one of the best cheers I’ve ever gotten at Summerfest when I announced that “Summerfest may not have power, but I DO!” It was followed closely by a woman saying, “You must be the Cool Yo-yo Man!” “Yes I am.”

Right after I finished my set, my ventriloquist friend Wayne Francis, pointed out that out of the 75 acres and 10 major stages, I was the only powered act on the entire grounds. As it turns out, he wasn’t exactly right… I was one of three… all variety acts. After my set I let the Dance School use my PA for their big public showing. Without me they couldn’t have done their show at all. That’s right, a juggler, a magician, and the yo-yo guy SAVED Summerfest! Maybe now the big dogs will once again see the value of having us there, but somehow I doubt it. Don’t worry though, I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth… and then some.

It’s very strange to drive 200 miles to perform an 8 minute, boiled-down version of your show, for no pay, in front of a panel of six people who don’t want to react and/or are bored. I did the Center East Showcase audition today in Skokie IL, and with the exception of one lady, the judges were pretty stone-faced. I actually had to point at, and specifically address, a couple of them to get them to react to some of the things I said. And the worst part about it is that there is no way to know how I did until they announce who got through. It’ll be worth it if I do make it though. Last time I performed at the showcase I got a LOT of work out of it. We’ll see what happens.

There is a new show on NBC called America’s Got Talent. I am very happy to have variety arts on TV, but there are some real problems with America’s Got Talent.

I’ll warn you now… this is a pretty massive rant.

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Tomorrow I go on the road for a week and a half.  I’ve got an audition for the Center East performer showcase up in Skokie IL, and then 5 days at Summerfest in Milwaukee WI.  I used to perform there for the full 11 days of the festival, but since the management changed two years ago they don’t like us variety performers as much as they used to.  I will get to hang out with my buddy Marcus Monroe though, so that should be fun.

I spent this week on the road doing shows. Monday was the Summer Music Clinic up in Madison WI, Tuesday and Wednesday down in Evansville IN, and then Thursday back up North to Skokie IL. It would’ve been nice if I could have had better routing so I didn’t have to do so much driving, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

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I just watched what may be the best juggling clip-video I have ever seen. It was done by Vova Galchenko and Mark Bakalor as a contest entry for Fat Boy Slim’s new video for his song “That Old Pair of Jeans” There was a lot of frustration in the juggling community when the video of Chris Bliss juggling to a Beatles song swept the internet a while back. This new video will (I hope) show you why.

After shooting the video of Fat Boy Slim’s song “That Old Pair of Jeans” with Chris Bliss, a call went out for jugglers to submit their own videos juggling to the same song. While there is no live audience in Mark and Vova’s video, it is SO much more interesting than Chriss Bliss’ performance with the same track, and it shows so much more of the potential of great juggling. This is not a totally direct comparison since it is an edited production vs. a (basically) live performance, but I think you will see my point. Make the comparison for yourself.

Check out Mark and Vova’s video.

The Chris Bliss version on Fat Boy Slim’s website. Click on Video.

My thoughts on the phenomenon of Chirs Bliss juggling to a Beatles song (w/link to the video) 

I learned WAY too much about the two ladies in front of me in line at the bank today. (more…)

I got to spend the weekend in Green Bay WI this week. I was up there for a gig at the International Bay Fest, 3 shows on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. It was a good time. Since I was staying at my friends Jeni and Adolfo’s house I got to bring my dog Vader. I love it when I get to travel with my dog.

Jeni was gone, so Adolfo and I got to have a Man Weekend. We did Man things like make “wraps” (black beans, cilantro, green onions, sour cream, hot sauce, cheese, and green pepper on flour tortillas… and no, they weren’t burritos), eat unbelievably good ice cream sandwiches, walk the dogs, go shopping, drink smoothies (Adolfo is a master smoothie maker), and play video games. You know… man stuff. It was awesome.

Bay Fest went well, with decent crowds, especially Sunday afternoon. I had standing room only, and it was an outside show. I got to eat some delicious sweet corn. I’m still regretting that I only ate one ear. What was I thinking?

The drive home was BRUTAL (8 hours with no help from Vader with the driving), but at least I got to stop in Chicago and see my friends Harper, Hiromi (visiting from Japan!), Matiss and Erica.

I finally got back to working on my family’s 1930 Model A Ford yesterday.

This is the best picture I have of it at the moment, since I haven’t gotten to go on a real drive in it yet. I’ve taken it out a couple of times, but each time a mechanical problem has stopped me before I got all the way around the block. Last time the radiator boiled over.

So yesterday I drained the radiator again, and took off the pipe at the bottom where the fluid goes back into the radiator from the engine. I took it off to do a “flow check” to see if the radiator is clogged with funk. Although I haven’t done the check yet, I don’t see how it could possibly NOT be clogged after looking at the inside of that pipe. Yeesh. There was SO much gunk in there. I chipped it out with a screwdriver, and got an astonishingly large plie. After I eat a little food, I’m going to go back out to finish the job.

PS: It only sounds like I know what I’m talking about. I couldn’t have done it without my friend Devin. He pointed me to Snyder’s Antique Auto Parts and to a great how-to book.

This weekend my neighborhood, Woodruff Place, is having their annual flea market. It’s kind of a big deal, and I’m told that last year there were about 6000 people who came through, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to do some street performing. Although the money would of course be nice, my real goal was to pass out business cards in an effort to try to get more local work, and spend less time driving to Chicago.

I have to say that I did have high hopes, and unfortunately, even my worst-case scenario was too rosy. I’m not quite sure what the problem was yesterday, but my two shows were pretty dismal. The first one wasn’t too bad, although a little sparse, but the second show was so painful that I actually cut it short. Not every event is a good place to perform, and now I’m thinking that bargain hunters in this town aren’t interested in wasting time watching a show when there are bargains to be had. There may also be a clash of style. In order to enjoy my show you do have to use your brain at least a little bit, and I couldn’t get the people watching my second show to engage in any way. At all. Seriously. Even when prompted, they wouldn’t respond. It was like they were dead. Or not even aware that they were watching a show. I had three fellow Indy Jugglers watching (yeah, that was embarassing) and they were usually the only ones reacting in any way.

In the end, I passed out very few cards, and made $13.53 in the first show, and $3 in the second show. Not my worst street show ever (35 cents and an apple split between two people), but it was pretty bad. Unless it’s really packed out there today, with people with pockets full of cash grumbling about how there are no good street performers in this town, I will be better off sitting in the dark watching reruns of The Golden Girls than trying to do any more shows.