Here's my newest article for eJuggle magazine.

peterbone - 2013-12-20 16:28:18 UTC - Parent #

Very interesting. I heard that Rastelli could head bounce 3 balls in practice but didn't know anyone else had. Do you know how many bounces they typically did?

My skeptical side has to question a couple of the tricks in your article though. The 6 heavy balls sounds unlikely. That's a combined weight of more than 2.5 times my weight and a 6 ball pattern with such large balls would have to be high. The picture is clearly faked as it shows a shower pattern. He perhaps used sleight of hand to replace a heavy ball with a light one that looked identical.

The 5 point balance obviously interests me as it implies that he was doing the dual balance of 2 poles on his head. The pole length ratio looks like less than 2, which is extremely difficult, not to mention doing 3 other balances and on a unicycle. Looking at the full size image, it looks like the mouth stick balance could be a single pole with a bend in it and therefore a static balance, but I could be wrong. The other balances are clearly active though, which is amazing.

I look forward to the next article.

DavidCain - 2013-12-20 17:47:41 UTC - Parent #

Yes, I suspect trickery as well with the Conchas 6 cannon balls. Regarding the five point balance, I agree that the mouthstick might not be active, although it does look fairly legit. If it's not active, he did a great job building the prop to match the other, active ones. I really would love to know how Piper played four banjos while juggling them. I have a picture and description of him doing the same with 6 in practice!

peterbone - 2013-12-20 17:59:35 UTC - Parent #

The simplest way I can think for the banjo trick is that the tune simply repeated 5 notes so that all the strings on each banjo would be tuned to the same note. He would then only need to be able to pluck the string on the banjo when it was in the hand, perhaps with his thumb.
It's also possible that each banjo was tuned the same, with each string a different note. This would be more difficult but would mean he could play more complex tunes, even if there were still only a few notes. He would just need to catch the banjo the right way round and then pluck the correct string for each catch. This sounds difficult, but I don't think it requires more during the hold time than Ravi does when solving a Rubik's cube while maintaining a 4 ball fountain.

Daniel Simu - 2013-12-20 19:00:53 UTC - Parent #

I remember an act at the EJC (I think Karsruhe 2008?) where some guys passed ukuleles and played a tune at the same time. I can not remember much of it except for assuming that they had cleverly strung the ukuleles. 6 ukuleles, the two outer strings on each (which are easiest to pluck while juggling) tuned to a specific note gives you 12 notes to work with, enough for many melodies!

^Tom_ - 2013-12-21 16:58:31 UTC - Parent #

Karlsruhe at the German show in the special tent on the (I think) first night. they are one of my, and several other people who saw it's, favourite acts.

the duo are Duett Complett ( www.duettcomplett.de/ ).

Daniel Simu - 2013-12-21 10:32:22 UTC - Parent #

You can move a mouthstick side to side maybe without affecting the forehead balance, but not to the front and the back.

To me the mouthstick looks very much like one piece. Too bad that there is not much more information on this person!

DavidCain - 2013-12-21 20:48:07 UTC - Parent #

I just talked to Bruski's son. He told me that his dad, (Richard) Bruski did the trick with a one piece, static mouth stick. Good call, Peter.

peterbone - 2013-12-22 10:36:40 UTC - Parent #

Thanks for your research. I'm just impressed that you have contacts like that. Can you now ask Paul Conchas' great grandson how he did the 6 heavy ball juggling please?

DavidCain - 2013-12-20 20:59:48 UTC - Parent #

Yes, I'm quite aware of Chrys Holt. She is Bert's daughter, but never did anything nearly as technical as her father.