1998 Lodi Review

Well, folks, it's time for me to inflict another epoch upon you: my review of the tenth annual Lodi Juggling Festival (traditionally Columbus Day weekend, each year, in the Micke Grove Park just south of Lodi, about an hour south of Sacramento, California). All those whose names I am about to mangle, please let me now ask your forgiveness and understanding. As you might have noticed in previous posts, I was sadly unable to attend a large portion of the festival (the kid is doing much better now, thank you). Therefore, I'm only going to do this one short overall post, a review of the Big Show, and a recap of the Renegade Show (I missed a big part of Sunday and all of Monday, including the youth and Mark Nizer shows. Besides that, I mostly missed the late night combat and fieldball sessions -- nontrivial omissions, but not fatal).

I did get to be there from Friday afternoon through Saturday's show, and then from about 3 to 11 on Sunday. And from what I saw, things went swimmingly. I heard that just over 300 folks were in attendence. Micke Grove was still a perfect spot for a fest: lots of grass, covered/lighted area for nighttime juggling, shady spots for camping, a big happy community kitchen (with 24-hour hot water pots and donated tea & soup from Eric Cumberland, bless him), nearby zoo and auditorium, and lovely weather (the highs were in the mid seventies, with chilly nights in the forties) -- all this for free! (shows were $10 each, though).

Festival Grand Poobah Andrew Conway, with his faithful minion Mickey the mutt, was everywhere. No major injuries or screwups could be detected by the rest of us, which meant that either they didn't occur or Andrew had his covert spin operations well in hand.

Workshops coordinator Greg Edwards lined up another great list of classes: everything from basic passing and three ball tricks, to advanced things like a contact juggling panel and a seven-club-passing workshop, to some pretty esoteric stuff like a social history of juggling and whip making (unfortunately, I had to bail on my three-strand cascade/hairbraiding course Monday morning). Cosmo Hom and Scotty Meltzer both did longer-term workshops (on physical comedy and writing comedy, respectively) that seemed well-attended. The class I liked the best was Clockwork's course on things to do with two people and less than six clubs: steals, passes, and a whole passel of tricky bits.

One of the best new parts of this fest was the Damento Jugglers' "Construction Zone." Identified by donated CalTrans-style safety vests and signs warning of "Falling Objects," these volunteers staffed an area where new and experienced jugglers could come and ask any questions they liked. If the volunteer couldn't teach the trick or skill, they would know who to ask (on my initial shift, the first student I had wanted to learn Mill's Mess -- gee, I thought I was gonna be working on the easy stuff!). Kudos to Mike Brown, Greg Edwards and Kevin Schmidt (plus all the folks who volunteered their time), who put together this concept and made it a reality. I hope we'll see more new-juggler outreach like this in future festivals.

Some personal high points for me:

• Braiding Eric Bagai's hair while he worked on intricate monkey fist knots -- Eric has twice put on the superlative Portland Juggling Festival, and he was clearly enjoying himself at a fest where he had minimal responsiblities. I got to do some other fun hair things, too, including cutting Howard's hair (he said, "Be creative!" and I was -- think stairs under a mushroom). In other hair news: Michelle Gerdes sported, by far, the coolest hair of the fest. About four bright colors nestled among a natural auburn, she managed to dress in coordination with her hair daily. Seth Golub, devil stick guru, had just buzzed his locks, but very generously allowed us to rub the velvety remains throughout the weekend.
• Learning a snazzy behind-the-back catch from Robert (who lives in Sunnyvale -- sorry I don't know your last name!). His patience was remarkable, and I hope I didn't hurt him too badly when we both reached to pickup the same club and clocked our noggins.
• Passing seven clubs solidly with John and his Radical Fish from Seattle (I almost didn't recognize him without a unicycle under him), moving to seven in singles, then a brief (but exciting) attempt at eight.
• Learning how to play Anagrams with Paula Conway and Gary Carp (and being soundly trounced by Rick, Seth, Robert, and others...).
• The vendors: Renegade, Serious Juggling, Golden Jester, Klutz Press, some gorgeous tie-dye shirts, and possibly some others that eluded my sight.
• All the babies! I got reacquainted with Ellen Kalvan (about 8 months old), who I met at Primm, and had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Fernald, Chuck and April's snuggly new fella (three months, maybe?) -- Carl, whose last name I don't know but who very patiently worked on Hovey's Nightmare with me in Primm, was carrying his son around all over, and there were plenty of other kids of assorted ages. Cosmo Hom's son Brendan kept my four-year-old busy, and Greg's triplets were all over the place, too. It's great to see the next generation, up and coming.
• The best t-shirt I spotted belonged to Seth: a 5th Annual British Unicycle Convention shirt he snagged while in Edinborough this summer. Very classy and artistic. Hey, how about a Lodi shirt next year?
• Free pizza! Somehow, Andrew finagled boxes and boxes of Sunday night dinner for all. Do we really want to know ALL your whip tricks yet, Andrew? I think not!

The one sour note to the whole weekend: the *@#$! leaf blowers in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Andrew managed to finally chase them off, but if they had tried to return, there might have been an ugly scene. At least they kept the sprinklers off all weekend!

See you at Lodi '99!