Today was right on point! Drew and I started the day off with a demo on television, bright and early. The folks at KDFW 4 here in Dallas were really good to us. We got a few separate spots throughout their morning show and got a chance to share some screen time with Jason Castro from American Idol. No matter how you feel about the show, it’s pretty cool to hang out with that caliber of fame and realize that you harness the same energy. We are the power from which the universe was created for sure!

After we wrapped up the news spots, we regrouped with Takeshi at the hotel. We ran some errands and had a fantastic lunch to power ourselves up for our evening demo. It turned out to be a great one. We had a gig at the Learning Express in Plano, Texas. They did it up right. We had a really cool mix of older and younger people interested in learning some yo-yo tricks. Most of the crowd was beginning players and we love that. Sometimes, it’s easy to light a fire in their hearts, simply by making a little spark in their minds. Everyone was as stoked as could be to see us play and learn to do it themselves. Our lives are just way too fantastic for words.

If you aren’t living a similar one, perhaps it’s time to pick up a Duncan yo-yo and get to it.

The pattern continues, Duncan Crew promotes only the best contests! Our week in Kansas City wrapped up with a fine fine day and one contest to rule them all.

We threw down at Brookside Toy & Science and the setting could not have been more perfect. The store is awesome. The staff is top notch. They did a great job promoting the contest. All that and it was such a nice day that we decided to set up out front and take advantage of the beautiful weather and the beautiful space. What else could any of us possibly need? Top level players you say?…

Thanks to our week linking up so much with the Kansas City Yo-Yo club, we had a great many players of all skill levels. And like we’ve done before, we threw an “experienced division” contest along with our heritage contest. The results were surprising and fascinating. It shook out like this. For the “Experienced Division” Justin Perez came in 3rd. Blake Freeman got 2nd and National Master, Rick Wyatt took home the gold. It is worth saying that Rick was actually partially defeated due to Nate getting a higher score on sleeper.(note: Rick Wyatt is a guiness book sleeper record holder at over 18 minutes)

For the real deal Heritage Contest division it was a real fight. Everyone took the contest super serious and delivered. The results were like so: third place was Alex Jones. Second place was Luke Sherman and the winner for the week was Daniel Traub. The truth is, everyone who threw a yo-yo today was a winner.

We may have not known it then but, these sorts of events are a huge part of the reason any yo-yo professional ever picked up a yo-yo. Nothing is a cool as teaching someone to yo-yo and seeing them blow the doors off the place in a contest. This is what being a demonstrator is all about. A massive thank your to Brookside Toy & Science as well as Kansas City in general. You all went above and beyond and the week was awesome. I promise, your scene will be better for it.

Today was a perfect example of a gig being easy because it is just so very good. The people at The Toy Store in Lawrence, Kansas really worked their butts off to insure that today’s demo was going to be off the hook. Mission Complete.

From the minute we rolled up, the spot was hopping. Tons of foot traffic came through. Which meant that every few minutes we had new people to play for. It was amazing to constantly have new hearts, minds and eyes to set on fire. As it turns out, today was National Neighborhood Toy Store Day. So there were plenty of bells and whistles to go along with our own festivities. Everything from an old school popcorn machine, and candy apples, to balloon powered rocket ships worked themselves into our visit. It doesn’t get more awesome.

We had plenty of players as well. Tons of players from the Kansas City Yo-Yo club came out and helped us have a good time. Not only that but, we had quite a few players there who weren’t a part of the club. Jacob Deffenbaugh and others were awesome people to hang out with. They just light up the demo with their creativity and spirit. We need more people with that sort of passion for the activity getting out and in the limelight. They could improve the lives of everyone exponentially.

Unfortunately, the demo couldn’t last forever. So, we wrapped up and met up with National Yo-Yo Master, Rick Wyatt for dinner. He is such a great friend and has been amazingly valuable with our visit to Kansas/Missouri behind the scenes. What a guy. We wrapped up dinner and decided to hit up a local dueling piano spot. As we all know, I love music. I love it even more when it’s live and done well. Rick knows the spots out here and he hooked it up. We got to take in some great piano players killing it and, lucky us, we managed to turn the visit into an impromptu yo-yo demo. The entire place embraced our yo-yo play and we shined as always. A night out with Duncan Crew is more fun than the best night with almost anyone else.

Today’s demo was a hurricane of fun that I simply did not see coming. We have had a great week so far and I am always suspecting that this much fun just cannot keep itself up. I was wrong wrong wrong.

We had a great demo at Constructive Playthings in Leawood, Kansas. The best part is that the people who came out for it were primarily high level players. As it turns out, the Kansas City area is proving itself as a place with an awesome scene with some of the best players anywhere. Everyone is very dedicated to yo-yo play and they all seem to love their share of Duncan.

Not only, did we have a great crowd of experienced players but, we also drew a good crowd of children and adults that had never played a day in their life. Of course, this was a wonderful opportunity to get them involved and teach them how to throw and throw well. It’s honestly one of the very best parts of being out on tour. You just feel like you’re lucky enough to be the one to plant the seeds of a new path in someone’s life. In the end, our impact will be felt for generations and we will be the heritage the future looks back on. It’s exciting and humbling.

Viva la Duncan Yo-Yo!

Today’s demo was a place so nice, we had to perform there twice! Moon Marble in Bonner Springs is so very awesome! We gout out there and got right to it. Of course, the shows went off like hydrogen bombs filled with cool. We had some of the greatest crowd members ever. We had even more players from the Kansas City Yo-Yo Club come out and spend some time with us. We had some of the best rhythm to our play and we were so very inspired by all of it that we worked in some fantastic crowd participation tricks into the mix. A huge thank you goes out to all of our lovely assistants/crowd volunteers throughout the day. They were all great sports!

Between some of our demos, we got a chance to see a true classic toy master at work. The proprietor of Moon Marble, Bruce Breslow, treated us to a demonstration on how a hand made art marble is made. I had never seen art glass preparation in person and I know so little about it. So, it was a fascinating learning experience and a chance to see yet another thing that I want to get involved in. Truth is, it’s dangerous and amazing. I have no idea how to put it all into words so, I strongly suggest that you make it out to Moon Marble and see that demonstration for yourself. Of course, you always pick up a Duncan Yo-Yo while you are there.

It is Drew Tetz’s Birthday!!!! That alone means that we were destined to have one of the greatest days of any on tour.

The day started off crazy early. Fortunately I was still wired from how awesome yesterday was. We started with a news spot on KDFW in Topeka. It was a whirlwind but, the interview was a smooth and pleasant as they come. It’s always pretty awesome to yo-yo on television. Let’s face it, it’s hard to top knowing that there are thousands of people listening to your every word and watching you kick out some tricks on television.
After that, we set our yo-yos up and went on out to one of the most interesting demos I have ever had a chance to be a part of. We were at Moon Marble in Bonner Springs, Kansas. I have to say, this demo awoke the excited child in me. It has been a while since, I have seen a store that simultaneously fired up the artistic side of my mind and the childish wonder I always knew was there. The store specializes in marbles and I had no idea how deep that could go. I had seen some high level marbles when Duncan was developing WarStone but, I had no idea that there was such a world as art marbles and serious vintage collecting. It was a lot to take in and learn about.

As it turns out, Moon Marble also gives workshops on art glass and marble manufacturing and as such they have a mini theater with a built in jumbo tron screen. This is the perfect place to have a yo-yo demo and that is exactly what we did. We did four shows there and each one was full of people who have a great love for yo-yos and classic toys. We had some great players come out and we linked up with some members of the Kansas City Yo-Yo club as well. It made sharing the joy of what we do so very easy. It was great to be a part of their store for the day. It was so great that we will be back there to perform a second day tomorrow.

Drew was already having a great birthday but, about halfway through the demos at Moon Marble, things got serious great. We were blown away with a visit from National Yo-Yo Master Rick Wyatt. He is also one of the pioneers of the 3A style of play and as such, Drew and Hank have always hit it off huge with him. Not only is he a great human being, he is a great friend and an awesome player. Everyone should have someone like Rick in their life.

We wrapped up the shows for the day but, we knew that we couldn’t just call it a day. We found out that there was a meeting of the KC Yo-Yo and Juggling club in the city so, we rallied the troops and headed out there.

I love what they have going on. Any environment where skill toys, friends, creativity and positivity come together is a good one. As it turns out, the people in Kansas City take it up a peg and make it a great one. Word got around that it was Drew’s Birthday so, the club meet took a slight turn and pretty much became a birthday party for him, complete with his favorite ice cream cake. That was entirely Rick’s doing and he knows how to do it right. He makes parties and makes them worth being at.

In the end, the day rounded out as more than any of us could have hoped for. Kansas City knows how to keep the tour momentum up. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Duncan Presents, video evidence of awesome!

Today we had a wonderful day. We packed a whole lot into less than 12 hours but, we powered through it, made the most of everything and enjoyed every moment of it.

The day started bright and early with a grip of radio interviews in Columbia, Missouri. KFRU and BXR were amazing to us and spent some good times talking with us and helping us spread the word of the Heritage Tour through the airwaves. We stayed with them until early afternoon and it was amazing chatting with them and showing off what we could do to the on air talent.

Directly after the radio spots in Columbia, we motored up to Jefferson City to meet up with Chris Neff. Chris is an amazing player from Duncan’s recent past. He welcomed us into his home and into his yo-yo/spin top mod shop and let us play with everything and ask every question imaginable. Interviewing him was a treat but, just getting to spend time with him and see what his home life is like was the next level of cool. His wife, Jen, and his son, Eli, are some of the nicest people the earth has to offer and we can’t thank them enough for their time and hospitality.

As if we hadn’t already hit the limits of a good day, we then regrouped and did a demo at Downtown Books and Toys in Jefferson City. The demo was very well attended and everyone in the city was so hospitable. However, there were a few things that made it extra special. First being, the mayor of Jefferson City dropped by during the beginning of our demo. How often does the mayor of anywhere show up to your yo-yo demo? Second and more sentimental, it turns out that Downtown Books and Toys is the shop where Chris Neff bought his first yo-yo and he was kind enough to share his abilities and demo along side us there. It really made the entire tour mean more just having him there.

The fireworks don’t stop there. We wrapped up that demo and head back out to Columbia to do a show at Cool Stuff. Cool Stuff is more than a gift shop with a snappy name. It is a place that lives up to  every expectation that you can have and exceeds it. The crowd there was electric and it seemed that everyone had a yo-yo, no matter where you looked. They really put themselves to work promoting the show and it payed off in spades. I was so surprised how many people came out and stuck around until we absolutely had to wrap up. Their commitment to excitement was all I needed to stay wired and smile the entire night while driving to our next city.

I saw it coming a mile away. Today’s contest at Creative Kidstuff, Minneapolis (West End) was hardcore. It was the place where a week of great demos and years of serious scene building in the city could coalesce into some serious displays of yo-yo play. We had a lot of the local professionals come out to trade tricks and help out the competitors. And we had quite a few developing players we met this week come out and throw down for the glory of winning and that sweet Schwinn.

At the end of the day, there had could only be one winner. The results sheet looked like this. Keaton Moen came in third place. Joey Farah took second place. Gavin Lent clenched first place. Each and every competitor gave their all and each of them is an inspiration to us.

The field was full of amazing stories of people and how they relate to yo-yos. Some people used the yo-yo as a way to recapture their younger, wilder days. Others used the yo-yo as a way to rehabilitate themselves to perfect health. They were all amazing individuals. I can’t wait to hear more from these guys. I know that if they keep it up that each of them will make big things out of themselves, with and without the yo-yo. The Heritage Tour is the best!

Today was an early day as far as demos go. That definitely did not keep the players at home. It was go go go from the first minute and it was awesome.

We had our first demo at the Creative Kidstuff location in Maple Grove. That location is one of the fanciest places I’ve found myself in on this tour. Needless to say, it drew out people and they were all awesome. The place was hopping from the moment the store opened and still was when we had no choice but to slink away for the second demo of the day. We ended up with the pleasant surprise of having a National Yo-Yo Master, Dazzling Dave Schulte come out to spend time with us on the demo. It was a good thing he came out because he was an amazing help when we had so many kids ready to learn to play. He is not only a great player but, a great teacher and a great friend. He even brought out his six year old son, Eric. I’ve said it before, but it is awesome to see parents and children bonding over yo-yo play. It’s something I wish everyone could see.

We were having tons of fun at Creative Kids but, we had to wrap up and head on to Hub Hobby in Richfield for another killer demo. That demo ended up being a regular players’ ball! A number of big name yo-yo players came out and killed. I have to shout out to Abe Ziaihmer, John Bot, Matt Schmidt, Alex Ulrich, Justin Foell and the rest of the crew that came out today and any point this week. They keep the scene in this city hot and relevant. They worked their magic on the demo and put the energy level over the top. We all showed off to some passersby and the crew taught tricks to kids and adults alike. Just when we thought things couldn’t get more epic, we got a surprise that brought the house down. Seth Peterson was in town all the way from Des Moines, Iowa and he came out to surprise us. I was out on the last tour quite a bit with Seth last year and it was great to see him killing it like always. He is a monster player and a great guy. He’s going out on tour with Abe this coming week so, if you hear they are in your town, link up with them and let them blow your mind.

For what are obvious reasons, the entire week of demos in Minnesota has been serious fun and just plain cool. I can’t say it any better than that. Although, I will be glad to soon move on to warmer climates, I won’t be happy to leave the friends we’ve seen lately.