Busy is good when busy leads to a day of epic fantastic. Today we had two demos that were a pretty far distance from each other but, they were both so great that the energy carried us through and then some.

We started off the day at Winkies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The space there is so cool. There is an upstairs area that houses delicious candies and gifts. While that is neat, the downstairs is a toy store that is as fun as any playground. It was an early demo but, we found out that the kids of Milwaukee were out of school due to parent-teacher conference day. That of course meant that we had a great crowd and some serious yo-yo teaching going down. Not only that but, yo-yo player, James Buffington, also brought out his father to check out our shenanigans. I have it on good authority that he had as good of a time as we did. If you find yourself out here, definitely grab yourself some of the pumpkin pie chocolates from the upstairs of Winkies. So delicious. So Dangerous. SO……mmmmmm. I can’t find the words to thank Winkies for starting the day of fattening me up. SO…mmmmmmmmmm

As if that wasn’t enough delicious for one day. We made our way to Heim’s/Scoops in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Man oh man! That place is an oasis of Awesome! To put it into perspective, the place is a toy store attached to a candy/confection/old school ice cream shop which is all connected to what will soon be an art house movie theater and mini-children’s museum. That my friends,  is what ambition in good people can accomplish. The turn out to the demo was fantastic, just as it was at our morning demo and the energy was undeniable. It was just too much fun for words. I seriously just want to be in Kenosha for a while to see how much the Heim’s/Scoops building becomes a conerstone for the city’s culture and development. Everyone from little kids, and firemen to hip twentysomethings and Captain America were at the demo and that is a testament to how cool any place can be.

At the end of the day, this was a great experience and leaving Wisconsin will be bittersweet. It is a beautiful place with great people but, I am positive that greater adventures await us on the rest of this tour.

Here are the tricks you want to learn to rock out at a Heritage Tour contest.

There is nothing as comfortable as being understood. Today we found ourselves at the HobbyTown USA in Delafield, Wisconsin. The people here seem to understand our traveling family and embrace it. We definitely have to tip our hats at people that took time to learn the history and culture from their region and share it with us. That is a good chunk of the reason that we are out here and it’s great when you can see the overlap of history and what is happening here and now.

Like always we had a good time at the demo. We had some awesome youngsters get excited about what we do and jump right into learning to play with both feet. Also like always, the enthusiasm of the young snared a few adults into giving yo-yos a go. If you are ever short on inspiration and excitement, find a little kid and ask them what they think is cool. Chances are, they have the inside track on what will bring you to happiness.

In other news, if you are ever in Delafield, Wisconsin, you absolutely have to stop by LeDuc’s for a meal. The locals have it right when they say that it is some of the best frozen custard and sandwiches anywhere. If you miss the chance, you’re doing it wrong.

p.s. On a personal note, today is my father’s birthday and I want him to know that I miss him out here on the road. Happy Birthday Dad.

Duncan Heritage Tour Chapter 2

Today we made our way out to Wisconsin and boy was it an adventure. They say that Chicago is the windy city but, man oh man, the drive between Brookfield, Wisconsin and Chicago is more like the super windy corridor. It was a little terrifying for a Florida boy that never sees wind like that unless a hurricane is brewing but, we made it without incident.

When we got to down to business, Puzzleworld (Brookfield, WI) was a great time. There are some great players in this area. The best part is some of them have been hiding and learning super difficult tricks and came out to blow us away. They did it. Small pockets of people with huge ability are awesome to come across and it is always humbling when they know who you are. The internet has that kind of effect of the world, I suppose.

It is definitely important to mention that Brookfield had a fair amount of people out that weren’t players when we showed up but, were well on their way by the time we left. Several players came in to learn sleeper and left with braintwister under their belts, and one girl even hit trapeze! This tour has been awesome for people coming out just to learn and get involved. We have yet to run into a stop where that was not the case. Heck, people seem to be excited about what we’re doing 24 hours a day. Going to the hotel lobby to grab a drink or going to a store to buy batteries often turns into a mini demo. It is awesome and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

As an aside, Puzzleworld just happens to be attached to one of the finest guitar stores in the world and anyone who knows me knows that the other thing that gets me super jazzed other than Duncan yo-yos is music gear. The people at Cream City Music are awesome and they were more friendly than I ever could have expected. They let me play some beautiful instruments and I honestly cannot wait to stop back by to play some more. Anyone who will trust me playing a Gretsch White Falcon is instantly a friend of mine for life. It’s the Freehand MG of guitars.

Chicago! You cannot help but love the town that made the blues electric. Today we had a demo at Cat and Mouse Game Store and it was as fun as these things always are! As it turns out, the level of play in Chicago is very high and that only inspires us to play better and have even more fun. The only thing more inspirational than the high level players was the amount of beginners and their enthusiasm for learning.

I pretty much love everything about our trip to Chicago. It’s Hank’s first time so he’s extra stoked about it as well. The city has grit and character that many other places can only wish they had. Another thing that it has is in spades is cupcakes – this morning saw Hank & Drew hopping into a cab and ridin’ on down to Molly’s Cupcakes to pick up some treats for the crew. While kickin’ it at Molly’s (which, by the way, is fantastic) and trying to engineer a cupcake picture trick to show the staff, they were hailed by a pair of people expecting to see them at Cat and Mouse that night. We all took that as a good omen, and it turned out to be right on the money! Linda and the Family at Cat and Mouse were so much fun to be around. You have to dig being around people who dig being around toys. Life really is that simple sometimes, and we found ourselves hanging out even after the demo officially “ended”.

A huge thank you goes out to James Buffington and Terry Ulmer for coming out to the demo as well. They helped us out with the demo when things got heavy and they definitely carried some of the good times with them. They are fun guys to play with and I got to give Terry his very first chess lesson ever. I love geeking out on chess and so that was one of my favourite things that has happened on this entire tour so far.

When we wrapped up, we hopped on over to Reckless Records to shop for music “High Fidelity” style. Drew and Myself went a little overboard but, we are so into music that it was fully expected. I kind of want experiences like today to last forever. Thank you people of Chicago. You are super. Allison and Jake, this means you.

Razzmatazz Toys in Livonia, MI is a new location but, they know exactly how to get a party started. From first thing in the morning to last light, we had one heck of a time and an exciting contest with some great people and some great players.

From the get go, it was obvious that all of the players we ran into this week had decided to take this contest super serious and that there would be fierce competition. They definitely did not disappoint. They players all practiced hard and represented their neighborhoods with ferocity and focus rarely seen outside of a good old fashioned rumble. It was awesome.

In the end, the competition was so stiff that we ended with a tie and had to have a loop off to decide who would become champion of the Greater Detroit Area. For the uninitiated, a loop off is where you have two competitors lined up side by side and they each perform as many inside loops as they can. The first person to make a mistake or lose the strength to loop is defeated. It has been a while since any of us had seen a loop off and so, it was dramatic and exciting for all of us.

The final results shook out like this, Chase Baxter rounded out third place with a very respectable score of 39. First and second place players each scored an awesome 46 points but, Nathan Easton ended up in second place with 30 loops(on a dragonfly no less). And Michael Stecz won the entire thing with an awesome 79 loops! The boy put it down with authority! He loves his new Schwinn bicycle and looks great with it. He earned it for sure.

I can’t thank Chris and Laura Mathews enough for hosting us at three different events this week. They definitely went above and beyond and it was more than any of us could have expected. A huge shout out also goes out to Kyle and Patti! They were the energy that kept us excited and we love them for it. I know I’ve said it before but, I seriously hope the rest of the tour holds up to the awesome that we have already been through. The legendary players of Michigan have been and continue to be a huge inspiration for us as well. Rich Machniak, Bud Lutz, and Mike Taylor have kept the home fires burning even when they were only a candle in the window. Thank you for everything.

Who needs days off!? Duncan Crew will show up and demo anywhere the love flows regardless if it is planned or not. Mondays on this tour are typically designed to be travel days. We have been taking the time to leisurely get to our next big city and check into a hotel but, today we decided that rest is for the less awesome.

We got a chance to be a part of a seminar at Kalamazoo College on the subject of “The Psychology of Creativity”. If you know a little about the crew we have on this tour, you know that this crew is the perfect discussion subjects for that course. We were invited by Professor Siu-Lan Tan and it was a sheer pleasure. It is a hip and different experience to discuss what it is that we do on a high academic level in a panel discussion format. The students were charming and engaging and they were the types to take full advantage of the chance to engage us in conversation and learn from it. As it turns out, Kalamazoo College is the oldest educational institution in Michigan, being established in 1833. Thus, this detour was the perfect place to visit on the Heritage Tour. A huge thanks goes out to the class and college for having us in their midst to speak with and learn from them. It was a fantastic experience for sure.

Of course, since we were back in the Kalamazoo area for part of the day, we couldn’t pass up a chance to spend some quality time with Uncle Danny and we had the best meal we have yet seen on this tour. If you are in the area, check out Food Dance. The name alone screams “Holy Cow This Is Awesome!”

Today we delivered a one-two punch of super demonstrations that were so sweet that they may have given my soul diabetes. We had the first demo at Genuine Toy Co. in Plymouth, Michigan. We were helped out by Duncan Crew’s favorite sasquatch, Jake Maloney! If you haven’t seen him perform, you absolutely must make it a priority. The store there is beautiful and the city of Plymouth is so very homey. Everyone there is super nice and Genuine Toy Co. has some of the best toys anywhere. Not only do they have a great selection of yo-yos, but nothing says bizarre fun like wind-up robots that shoot sparks at you. Elle and Charles are great hosts and I can’t say enough nice things about them. They love having the store and they love their customers and that only makes doing a demo in their space more fun. They have an infectious kind of joy that only makes for better and better days.

As if having a great demo in a great space wasn’t enough, we had some of our heroes show up and blow our minds. Mike Taylor and Rich Machniak are some Duncan professionals from days gone by. But, they positively still have it. Make no mistake. I am so inspired by those guys and the knowledge they bestowed on us. It means so much to hear history directly from the people who lived it. It definitely makes what we do with yo-yos these days seem well worth it.

We wrapped up interviewing the legends and grabbed a quick bite to eat and before we knew it, it was time for us to hustle along to another great demo. Our evening demo was at Razzmatazz Toys in Howell, Michigan. Normally, just knowing that we would be in a store as awesome as Razzmatazz would be plenty of fuel for a great demo but, we are far from normal. It turns out that our demo was part of a street fair dedicated to Halloween, Fall Harvest and just plain awesome. The entire street was so crowded that they had to split us up into two squads and set aside separate dedicated areas for us to demonstrate in. That was just plain cool but, things got even more real when Rich Machniak came out and I was blessed with the chance to demonstrate along side him. It was surreal in the most fantastic of ways. As the demo rolled on, Hank and the fellas at the other area got an even bigger surprise when the legendary Bud Lutz showed up and spent some time with them. He showed them a few things and, just like the other elder professionals, dropped knowledge like a rocket scientist. Today ended up being “meet the heroes” day for us and it really could not have been planned better. I am not sure what we did to deserve this but, I certainly hope we can pay the universe back. It was simply amazing and humbling.

quick P.S.: a huge thanks goes out to Chris and Laura at Razzmatazz for again welcoming us into their family and for Lazer Tops. massive thanks to Chris Frasier for coming out and representing. You are one of the greatest living yo-yo players and a great person. Last but not least Thanks to Lynette Wagner for being a best friend. I am sorry I didn’t work this into the main body of the blog but, it was an eventful day.

It isn’t every day that you get to throw a demo at the largest independent toy store in the United States. Today we did just that and it was the coolest. The Toy House in Jackson, MI is cubic miles of toys and metric tons of fun.

Unfortunately, we ended up a little behind schedule due to a pile up on I-94 but, when we got there it was so packed and ready to rock that it was hard not to harken back to doing yo-yo demos for Ozzfest audiences. The space is huge but, even then we had so many audience members that we had to put on two separate demonstrations to accommodate them all. It was insanity plain and simple. The best part is that even with such a crowd, Phil and the staff handled everything with grace and they had it so well dialed in, you’d never see them sweat. They know what they are doing for sure. We came to find that Phil literally wrote the book on making this sort of thing a well oiled machine. It was unbelievable.

The place is a joy to be in. It’s a good thing that we had a chance to look around and take in some of the wonder of the store after we finished the demo and saw off much of the audience. If you get a chance to check the place out, it’s obvious that these are the sorts of spots that keep independent toy retailing alive and awesome. Even as an adult, it’s exactly what we need to capture our hearts and have some fun. If you can’t make it out to the Toy House, just knowing this sort of place exists should at the very least inspire you to seek out a spot local to you and have some fun with it. I am starting to think that every toy lover should make a pilgrimage to Michigan. I can’t thank them enough. Throw Duncan!