A few months ago we had a thread on a juggling routine by Chris Bliss in front of a large audience set to a Beatles song. Later in the same thread, was a link to a parody of that routine by Jason Garfield, set to the same soundtrack, including the audience response.

For those who didn’t see the first thread, here’s the first routine by Bliss, and the response by Garfield. I thought both fellows were pretty good though obviously Garfield’s skills are a plateau or two higher than Bliss’s. I was also struck by the rudeness of Garfield’s attitude and the lifting of the entire soundtrack from Bliss.

A few weeks back, I passed through Eugene, OR where I stopped at the Flying Clipper Leathers store. The proprietor is a footbag enthusiast, world champ a couple of times, I understand. He makes footbags and juggling beanbags. I asked him about the two videos and he agreed Garfield’s was a bit rude even if he is a very talented guy. He says he refers to him as the “angry juggler” cause he often cusses on stage when things go just a bit wrong. I read parts of Garfield’s bio at his web-site and the guy is a real study in the human condition. An excellent example of how really talented people sometimes don’t learn how to handle their ego very well.

Here’s a video response from Blair to the many e-mails he received regarding his parody of Bliss’s routine:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3203883329274446460

Here’s a video of greatest hits from Garfield’s World Juggling Federation get together:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2639980997907701949&q=chris+bliss+fat+boy+slim

He’s still on the running Chris Bliss down track. The guy’s fixated. Maybe Bliss gets a lot more attention on the Vegas circuit, I don’t know. There are some awesome jugglers in this vid. Pretty humbling. I’m still working on getting the 3 balls in one hand bit down. These folks are a couple of lifetimes ahead of me in juggling skills.

Another hot juggler I ran across, Anthony Gatto. Some of his videos here:

http://www.anthonygatto.com/Gatto-fan-index.html

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Wow!

Howdy cmac,
Anthony Gatto was very good at a real young age. A guy that I was impressed with but wasn't known for it was W.C. Fields.

__________________
Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

I hadn't heard of Gatto until I read this interview with Jason Garfield. In the interview was the following exchange:

What is your opinion about Anthony Gatto and Bruce Sarafian?

Anthony Gatto- Good juggler; Bruce Sarafian- No opinion

I found Sarafian on some web site, apparently he's the world record holder in 11 ball juggling (?!?!) for number of catches, 15. Here's the site with the records. I haven't been able to find a video of Sarafian, or at least one that my computer would play. I get a message that says I need more software but I can't determine exactly what it is I need and I don't want to buy plug-ins willy-nilly.

One of the video bits on JG's WJF bits and pieces has a guy doing what I think is 9 ball juggling. Amazing stuff. I've tried to do 5 balls a few times. It's clear that an enormous investment of time would be required. Probably have to get serious about it while you're a teenager -- in fact, Garfield became quite good as a teen and your're telling me that Gatto did also. Kinda like learning a second language perhaps. Got to do it while your mind is still flexible.

Another routine in that compilation has a guy doing what I think is 7 balls, each hand thowing at the same time, one hand throwing the ball quite a bit higher than the other, so there's kind of a strange mix on the catch side, probably how he can do an odd number and throw at the same time.

Coordinating that, even conceiving it staggers the mind.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

BTW, I think in Fields' movie, "The Old Fashioned Way," he does the longest bit he did in movies. I read where he was quite the deal in the vaudeville days.

__________________
Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K