This weekend I had a couple of gigs in the Chicago area, but I went up a day early to participate in a taping for Chicago Public Access Cable TV.

Harper, Matiss and I showed up with a bag full of juggling machetes and two pumpkins.


We carved this one in advance, and the other was to be carved while we juggled.

Two guys passed six knives between them, and the thrid guy had an extra knife and hacked at the pumpkin for a second before cycling back into the pattern and letting the next guy take a few swings at it.  After a few minutes of reducing the pumpkin to a paste, Matiss stood in front of the slain gourd and did some solo tricks while Harper and I not-so-discretely switched the slain pumpkin for the nicely carved one we had kept hidden.  We got a good reaction from the audience, it was a lot of fun, and I really look forward to seeing the video tape.

I have to admit though that I was the weak link in the whole operation.  It turns out that it’s a lot harder than I realized to juggle knives for that long.  Harper and Matiss had recently been doing a knife act so they were used to it, but once my forearms cramped up I started dropping a lot.

On Saturday the three of us went down to Dailey Plaza and saw the Midnight Circus Halloween show.  It was really fun.  I highly recommend it.  I guess they do slightly different shows throughout the day, so if I can get back up to Chicago before Halloween I will have to camp out for the whole day.  After the show we got to hang out with Keith Bindlestiff of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.  Always a good time.