Mark Hayward Is My Hero

Mark Hayward in the media once again.

Check out www.intakeweekly.com/partycrasher/ and click on the July 7th gallery.

My dog loves to chase deer.  Sometimes it has been a bit of a problem.  Today on our walk in a forested area he chased one right AT me.  It passed within 8 feet of me.  My thought process went something like, “Oh here comes Vader (he’s about the same color as deer)… wow, he’s going really fast… wow, he’s bigger than usual… HOLY CRAP! THAT’S NOT MY DOG!”  About a minute later Vader trotted up very intently, and I managed to convince him that he had already lost his prey.

Final game of the World Cup today.  Holy head-butt Batman!  That was nasty.

A bunch of the yo-yo guys came to juggling practice today, so no surprise, I didn’t juggle much.  As soon as anyone starts thowing a top around I’m done with whatever I was doing.  Tops are SO awesome.

If you spend a lot of time in the car, or on the train or any place like that, audiobooks are the best. I’m currently “reading” Dune by Frank Herbert, and other than having to stop twice at the restroom, my six-hour drive today went by in a flash.

Go, Muad’Dib go!

(Of course, since I’m actually listening to the book and not really reading it, I had to look up the spelling of Muad’Dib online.)

This was a good day. Took Vader to the dog park in Madison with my Mom and Brother, had some delicious food, hung out with some family friends, made some more food, ate it, had an awesome birthday cake in the shape of a giant beetle with chocolate Twizzlers for legs, and went to the fireworks at Elver Park. I love the fireworks shows on the 4th. All the booming and whirring and whistling. It’s great.

Today will be my last day of Summerfest for this year. Last night Marcus Monroe had a barbeque at his house. It was a lot of fun. They even surprised me with a birthday cake. Andrew and Wayne were there and Andrew was in his full glory. He was hilarious, and at times it was like we were watching the Andrew show.

After my shows at Summerfest today, Vader and I head off to Madison for a few days since my brother Kent and his new fiancee Lissa are in town. I’m really looking forward to it.

Yup, you heard it right… today is my birthday. I am going to celebrate in my traditional fashion by working at Summerfest, and then having a little party with some of my family. It’s going to be fun.

For a few years I was bringing b-day treats to the people I work with at Summerfest, but that turned out to not be as fun as I had hoped, so I stopped doing it.

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 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)