Jason Lavengood sent along a second batch of edited photos from our shoot in Indiana today! Check them out, and let me know which ones you like!
I may have left the house stressed this morning, but wow what a good day. After quickly getting yesterday’s blog post up we jumped in the van and shot off towards Genuine Toy Company in Plymouth, MI. Genuine Toys is a new mom-and-pop toy store that’s only been open a few weeks, and let me tell you, these are awesome people. The owners, the staff and everyone who stopped by to interact with us were fantastic. For what was predicted as a quiet Sunday morning turned into an action packed fun 2 hours that blew by.
We were having so much fun we almost lost track of time and had to pack up in a hurry to take off for the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, which is essentially another awesome children’s museum. Our contact there was afraid it would be really slow because it was such a beautiful day outside, but between PA announcements and attracting attention from being near the entrance we gathered crowds for two 15-20 minute shows.
We got a lot of milage out of having Jake with us. A local, a great player, and 7+ minute of organized presentation was perfect for the start of the show, followed by exploring the five styles with Nate, and 5-10 minutes of juggling presentation from myself. It was all excellently well received, and we left the museum tired and happy.
We left the museum and started brain storming ways to infiltrate the GIANT crowd headed to the first University of Michigan Football game of the season. We ended up driving around and admiring the mayhem until we found this great drag where everyone was walking down towards the stadium. We drove down it twice blasting music, and the second time I had the guys walk on either side of the van looping and interacting with people. It was rowdy, and silly and fun.
To finish off our day we decided to go back to Genuine Toys. Why? Because we had a ton of fun there! The best part was the sign they had on the door when we got back, check out the pictures! We casually set up again upon arrival and though the evening did not supply much foot traffic, we hung out with the staff again, and I had possibly the best juggling practice since EJC in Spain this summer. Truly awesome.
After a home grilled meal at the Maloney’s we’re now trading tricks, editing vids, and hanging out. Michigan is treating us well. Tomorrow we hit Detroit for a few hours in their Science Center (1-3pm) come join us if you can.
Hey guys,
sorry this post goes up a little late. We ended up without internet once we arrived at our new location. But now you’ve been waiting with baited breath for 4 hours while I slept and its twice as exciting! :-p
Anyway, yesterday was our last day in Indianapolis. I can’t thank Takeshi enough for showing us such a great time. Not only do I feel like I learned a lot from him, but it was great to be sleeping in a house instead of a hotel and have someone who knew the area well enough that Nate and I weren’t struggling to find locations, good food, or people. He also taught me a few new tricks, and I’m happy to say I can actually hit them!
I spent the morning working but wrapped up quickly so we could attend our gig from 12-3 at the Indiana State Museum. It was a calm demo, but we were out on the canal boardwalk and would get spurts of 5-10 people every few minutes. In the end we actually spoke to a LOT of people and I was surprised by the end how tired we were from demoing almost constantly for 3 hours. It was also really nice to be outside enjoying the great weather. Overall a pretty great demo! Of course, we were additionally graced by the presence of Lord Buffington himself, and its official folks, his grace will be joining us for Illinois and and Minnesota.
Perhaps the best part of yesterday though was Mary! Mary is the sister of our Czech Republic crew leader, Korda. Both Takeshi and I new her from various time spent in Prague and she’s now studying in Indianapolis for 5 months. It was so great to see her and meet some of her friends. We all caught up over post-demo milkshakes, a definite two-thumbs up.
Demo and milkshakes done, we ran back to Takeshi’s to exchange various files from our time in Indy, wash the bug juice off the van, pack up and then head north to Michigan. We finally got to meet Takeshi’s wife too! Super cool lady who can make a mean late, whoa. In the end, saying goodbye Takeshi was really sad, we had such a good time, and couldn’t leave without taking some farewell pictures. See below.
We’re now at Jake Maloney’s place (awesome house, I slept in a n awesome bed) and prepping for our two gigs today – Genuine Toy Company in Plymouth from 10-12, and then the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum from 1-3. Its a beautiful Saturday so stop on by and show us some Duncan Love!
‘Sup guys. I’ll keep it kind of short and sweet this evening.
While perhaps not as action packed as yesterday, today was pretty productive. Our first stop was at the Indy race track where the famous Indy 500 is and a number of other races that are well known and well trafficked. Unfortunately the only major events (in any sport) happening today were several hours away, but we took some pictures and determined before leaving that the Duncan Van is totally regulation standards and ready to RACE!
After the track visit there were a number of small errands that needed running, phone calls to be made, and concentrations of people to be found. We never found much in the way of crowd but as usual caught the eye of more than a few people just yo-yoing on street corners, walking through malls, or hanging out in front of cafes. We all ended up in various cell phone videos and I got to talk a lot about the tour and what’s to come with onlookers. When we were tired and hungry Takeshi continued his amazing string of excellent food selections with a family style Italian dinner. It was sooo gooood. I must say though, the giant slice of chocolate mousse cake was a nice finishing touch!
I’m excited for tomorrow’s demo at the State Museum. I think they have a great set up for us; we already know of several groups that will be going through during our demo time. It should be good. We have some friendly support stopping by as well so if you’re in the area feel free to join!
Check the pics, and holla at what you like!
Time just flies when you’re having fun, and once again I find myself writing blog posts late at night rather than through out the day. Firstly, yesterday’s good time and feelings:
As posted last night, yesterday was pretty much as top notch as a tour date gets. We headed off in the morning to the EPIC Children’s Museum here in Indianapolis. Not only is it massive, interactive, educational and fun, but we got some great footage and pictures there. Our primary reason for being there was to see if we could set up a demo for the following day. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but they treated us to a free tour of the museum which Takeshi knows pretty well since he’s worked for some time as a product demonstrator in their store.
From there we went to the best burger joint in the world. Mr. Dan’s! This old school window-and-benches burger joint was complete with bizarre customers, cheap dripping greasy food, seasoned fires of awesomeness, and a dude selling several hundred bootleg DVDs at 4 for $10 in the back.
Next stop was the demo, another Meijer Store, which as you’ll see in the pictures had us set up in a similar place with similar signage as the one in Cincinnati. Overall though this demo went a lot better. We showed up a little early and shot some extra footage of the van before setting up. Lord Buffington joined us and having four people on site was really great. We also had a good time-slot (3:30-6pm) and talked to a good few people in passing. We got the greeters to help us out and direct any kid traffic our way which was great, and though it was never crowded it was a really fun time.
From there it was already time to eat again by what our stomachs were telling us. Continuing his trend of amazing restaurants, Takeshi took us to Mama’s Restaurant, a Korean BBQ where us demonstrators sat down to a delicious asian meal. After a little while Takeshi’s friend Brad joined us. Brad is… hysterical. There really is no other description for how cool this guy is. Just Hysterical. Oh yeah, and he’s a great yo-yo player too.
Lord… ehem, James took off after dinner and the three of us plus Brad went and proceeded to hang out, trade tricks, shoot footage, etc etc etc until some obscenely late hour before heading home so I could post last night’s blog. Definitely check out the 20+ pictures in the gallery below, some are just awesome.
That’s right kids, it’s Takeshi here doing the first guest blog entry of the tour. HOORAY !!!
Well, I’m playing the role of host while Nate and Emil are in Indy. If you plan on meeting up with these guys, here’s a few things you should know/do….
Emil is taller than you think.
Emil is an amazing juggler. If you need tips on juggling (or just wanna see him show off), don’t hesitate to ask.
Emil is stepping up his yo-yo game and is getting into some pretty advanced stuff. Be sure to share a trick or two with him!
Nate is skinnier than you think.
Nate needs to practice for his 5A US Nationals 1 minute freestyle, so MAKE HIM DO A 1 MINUTE FREESTYLE FOR YOU!
Steal Nate’s Tricks. They’re awesome.
So far my time with these guys has been all about shooting photos and video, doing demos, exchanging tricks, talking story, being tourists… ahhh… good times. That’s all for now!
Much love,
Takeshi
Between Judge Mathis in the morning, adventures to the Children’s Museum, find random fun stuff to film, a pretty good demo, hanging out with cool players, and FANTASTIC food… I’d say today was pretty much a hit. SO much of one in fact that I can’t even begin to do it in one post at 3am.
Tomorrow you can expect to see several blog posts hopefully through out the day (or all clumped at once). One or two from myself about today of course. A guest post from our good friend Takeshi, and its possible the Sutter Master even has a contribution.
In the mean time, to tie you over I have a real treat. Jason Lavengood, our photographer friend from the other day has sent me the first 6 of his stylized portraits of us. They are a lot of fun! Check them out!
You could guess by the title, but in case you didn’t get it, today was AWESOME. Nate and I drove out about 11am and headed over to the Flambeau warehouse in Columbus, IN to pick up some product for the van. We got a quick tour of the warehouse and its goings on, they were really happy to have us and we did a little demoing for the workers there. It was great fun.
From there we went and did something I’ve been waiting a long time for. Meeting Takeshi! As it seems to be with all Duncan Crew, Takeshi is an awesome guy and we proceeded to have a rockin’ day out and about in Indianapolis. Starting with lunch at Dick’s Bodacious BQ-and yes, it was in fact Bodacious!- a little walking around, and then we spent the rest of the sun-lit day with a photographer friend of his. Jason is apparently someone Takeshi has known since high school, and aside from being a cool guy is pretty great with a camera. Check out: www.ishphoto.com
We spent hours setting up shots around Indianapolis, both for his own portfolio, as promo shots for the tour and us individually. We had an incredibly fun time, and met up with another Indy Freehand player named Connor, who’s a super cool guy. By the end of the day we had taken some great shots, come up with some awesome exciting ideas for the tour, attracted some onlooker attention, and eaten ourselves sick full of top notch pizza. To finish off the day I’ve got myself a seemingly new and very comfortable blow up mattress in Takeshi’s office where I write to you now.
Tomorrow we have our first of three demos in and around Indianapolis, and I have a sneaking suspicion they’re all gonna be great. Stay Tuned!
