Who was the first???

[J-P]

I was thinking of the poles with the supports and not that bloody thing you used to stand on, that was scary!
Tim read me the set of emails you two had and I found them hilarious more than offensive. No, really. his long one and your reply were fantastic - I was pissing myself.
Sean's still alive and working. I've seen the 'scratches' alot like the welt I gave you on the arse in Waterloo. There's afew down his back and on his arm. He told us the story when he rocked up late to the draw with his shirt off. I won't comment on what happened as I've been caught too many times to bite again but the welts are there and 'the king' still lives.

J-P

[Lynneski]

Touch him with his 12 foot pole

G'day, Japes, Gav. Long time, fellas. Just for the sake of completeness, I think the swaypole guy you referred to in Dundas, Japes, was Davio AKA Denis Daviault from Montreal.

What the hell is that about, wanting 13 poles in Sydney? Sarcasm, I hope.

Much like any other performing dimension, it's no more interesting to see pole after pole than it is to see juggler after juggler or hand balancers after handbalancers. In the end, it's essence is the same and the attraction is in the "showpersonship" (wah, I laugh even typing that crap) that's built around the skill. I'll take a "good" show anyday, regardless of how tall, loud or on fire it is.

[J-P]

Thanks for that Lynnski, I was feeling guilty that I couldn't remember his name.

As for inviting poles to Sydney - I'm getting used to the poles and your dead right that audience get desensitised to them but it's become a running gag here and it's funny to see the one uni looking good next to 4 poles.

Also, if everyone gets one then maybe my show will start to look good.

One other thing - many years ago Al said that when everyone starts doing poles then he'll come off his and I'd love to see him rock on the ground.

Great to here from ya.

J-P

[le pire]

Re: here here

Originally posted by gav
One thing, I disagree that there is no skill involved. Trust me, when you have a 3mtr pole that you stand on top of and trust 3 strangers to stop you from falling it definately feels like it is a skill.

This takes guts, but it is not a skill. No disrespect for guts!

By comparison-- I consider most fire eating to be on the same "skill" level as the pole. The fire-eating that most street performers do (swallow 1 torch, swallow 2 torches, tongue transfer, little volcano, blast) tooks me about 1 hour to learn. The hardest part was holding a lit torch over my face. Once I got past that fear, no problem. Skill? Not really, just guts. That's not to say there are not VERY skilled fire eaters and fire performers. By the same measure, there are very skilled pole performers-- but the pole is not their skill.

I think a skill is something that took you more than a week to learn and more than a year to perfect.


etienne

[J-P]

Well put.

I should admit that the real reason I'll not get a pole is I'm scared of heights, oh well, no guts. . .

J-P

[gav]

chicken

What ever happened to that rickety table thing you had once JP ?

[J-P]

I tried it for a year on and off. I've still got it somewhere in storage but it never improved my show or hat and it's bloody heavy. Most of the time it hurt the show to have the separation from the audience so I went back to the ground I love.

J-P

[Ivan Bellari]

variation!!!!

i've seen a few pole acts... gav, al, dukedreamer, sean,.... and the big unicycles....slack ropes ( they scare me) ladders, boxes, tables,stilts, people on top of people .... a little chinese girl on a tower of glasses..

any sort of crazed blancing act is amazing to watch for a few minutes....

but really in the end .. there are very few shows where the props are the stars...

it's like juggling, or devil sticks, or diablo tops, or fire eaters....
really...

there are a finite number of ways to do these things... i mean if you put a hat on a dog.... it's still a dog...

but the what you do inbetween the same old tricks/stunts .. thats the amazing part...

i don't really know who started the "pole-as-a tall-thin-wobbly-dangerous-stage" but of the shows i've seen with pole finale's
the similarities end at the height...

cause the personalites are what the shows about.
gav is charming,
duke is wistful,
al is perfectly timed,
sean is crazy.

all are fun to watch but if they were on a pole or in a hole .. they would still be fun to watch...

i dont like juggling.. a monkey can juggle... but some of the funniest performers the most imaginative shows ... have been put on by jugglers... like jeb shoe, jp, and aiden orange...

i've seen horrible fire shows... any idiot with a bic a stick and some gauze can do some stunts... but
pyromancer takes you on a 30 minute escape and blows your mind.. jeff hill shows some of the bestest ever fire eating skill, and loki can get a crowd in a froth frenzy...

then there are the performers who do so much of everything that you can't really slide them into a pigeon hole... just high grade entertainers, like dantastick, the dan show, and ettiene ( who's name i can never spell )

lets face it .. we all steal a little from eachother, sometimes wed steal alot... but we make it our own... and it's up to each oerformer to continue to grow and change and adapt until they are constantly playing at the best of their ability.

i've seen shows that have not changed in the past 4 years... and it's sad..

i wouldn't get to worried about who did it first... as much as who makes it the most fun to watch.. and that is after all a question of personal taste.

oops sorry i rambled

[Road Mage]

No plans to do the pole-fireball joke we were taqlking about in Singapore then J-P?

All the best mate

Owen

[J-P]

SSSHHHH!! don't tell everyone, owen.

And it sounds like great rambling to me, Ivan.

J-P

[Daniel Craig]

Ivan,

I truly think you've hit the nail on the head- I remember one of the first things that was ever told to me about street performing back in 2000, or it may have been 2001. I remember it very very well and it's something I'll never forget.

JP, one day, did what the rest of us thought was a suicide show- Sunday, at noon, to a church crowd. He came back afterwards jubilant, and I remember him looking at a couple of us with a stack of fivers in his hand, as he averted his gaze down to the bills in his palm saying:

"I can't believe there are this many!"

I looked at his hand, in which a wad of fivers, many tens and the occasional twenty were grasped. I was younger and in awe- In awe that someone was even capable of making that much money at all from a single show, never mind a Sunday at noon. I looked back up at him and asked a simple question.

"How?"

And he looked down at his bounty, and he looked up at me and imparted a seemingly obvious truth that escapes a lot of us. He said:

"It's not what you do, it's how you do it, and who you are."

And how true that is. Also Ivan, I'm very flattered that you consider me one of those performers... I hold you and Loki in the same high regard.

But as you said it, the audiences fall in love with performers for completely different reasons, whether it be outstanding skill, comic timing, a never say die attitude, boundless energy, dry wit, pure confidence, or even being a complete underdog but using that apparent weakness. It's the strongest shows that know what their own strengths and weaknesses are, and can use that to create a personality and chemistry...

That being said though, skill helps, it's true. No one leaves because a trick is too impressive.

And I've ranted too now, so.. </rant>

[martin ewen]

Thanks

That was great to read first thing in the morning.
Came very close to substituting my coffee.
I agree that at the heart of it it's about a relationship. The audience want the opportunity to like you and as importantly they want you to like them. Make that happen and you've succeeded.

[Road Mage]

Originally posted by J-P
SSSHHHH!! don't tell everyone, owen.

Oh shit! I mean.. ahem... I mean sorry about that post, dunno WHAT I was talking about - must have been the madness setingin, Dublin does that to ya.

All the best

Owen

[ALAKAZAM]

THE POLE

ALright now let me tell you all the story of how my pole came about,maybe it'll get Gav off my back here.
First pole I ever saw was in funny bones [lee evans] didn't cross my mind to do that in a show at that point.I was still in school.
Then my first year overseas street performing[97] i met Andy Taffs [in vancouver] who told me about his pole show,sounded pretty cool,i asked him why he didn't do it anymore,he liked the crate stack better.
About the same time in vancouver, i met tom comet who had a twelve foot unicycle,and i kikas show [up till then the two biggest show's id seen were him and lucky rich....both giraffe unicycles.]
SO I started to realise that being up real high get's you the big crowds and the big cash.So the seed was planted.I was gonna get a 12 foot unicycle.
Too bad i can't ride one.
SO i decided id by a 12 foot unicyle and take off the wheel and have a few guys under me holding it straight up and i'd sit on it and juggle fire,people would see me from afar and think i was riding it.
After that summer i went to taste of tasmania and saw another guy who did a pole act [Mark Sands,now in Popeyed] he did exactly what i was thinking but with a long steel pole,8 guys at the bottom holding him up.I was back to the pole idea because it was cheaper than buying a DM 12 footer.
It wasn't till 3 months later i checked out perth and did the freo pitch only to see GAV doing a pole with ropes attatched.......ingenious,he only needed 3 guys and it looked much safer than mark's pole.
SO the rope's came from gav ,total kudos to him for that idea ,but the pole began almost a year before i met him.
The next nth american season i debuted the pole,in new orleans,i knew my new show would need work so i went where i knew nobody and could work everyday.
I worked there ,new york ,bosotn and canada that year and made an impression all over.
I give total props to gav though,he's a great show and a fun guy.You know it shits me that every twat has a pole now,from Arizona jones to that dude bruce[he walks around like he's the god of street performing,and he ripped off every line from bikeboy even wears seans old clothes...and.....speaks exactly like sean in his show,complete and total ripoff]But what can you do......

Move on

My band is going quite well,we are working with Radioheads producer for our debut CD,anyone wanna check us out,you can hear our demo at

https://www.humankindband.com

Now ya'll can talk.
AL.

[ALAKAZAM]

P.S

Oh yeah

The stirrups came from "strange fruit" [sway pole] who i saw in my first year street performing [summer 96] at darling harbour.

Rock on
AL