I looked at the juggler again last night - Chris Bliss. If you click on the link, there’s another video of a juggler imitating him with a more complicated routine. But he doesn’t have Chris Bliss’ mastery - he even dropped a ball a couple of times (pun intended?). I think that’s what makes Chris’ performance so compelling - it’s his mastery. He and his balls are “one”. He’s the Yo-Yo Ma (my hero!) of juggling.

Did you know that in Chinese, repeating the first name like that (Yo-Yo) is a term of endearment? I have a good friend that calls me “Mare-sy” (as in “Mares eat oats and so do goats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?”) and I call him “Mikey”. Or my good friend “Johnny” Byrne. I’m the only one in the world that calls him Johnny, I think. Sometimes, he calls himself “Little Johnny”. Other people have asked me, “Why do you call him Johnny?” Well I’ve known him for nearly 30 years and he taught me all I know about real estate - and his middle initial is E. So he is, literally “John E.”  Of course, then there’s my husband Bobby - which I’m the only one allowed to call him that. Then there’s the pianist Lang-Lang. Same deal. I don’t know of any other Chinese examples. Just imagine, if he weren’t “Yo-Yo”, he would sound like Sylvester Stallone calling for his mother: “Yo! Ma!”

“All Things With Exuberance!”

mary!

I’ve been getting some inquiries about the juggler I posted back in April. I dug a little further and discovered that the artist is Chris Bliss. The website that he was posted on where I discovered him is some builder - the apparent reason they have his performance on their website is “this is just like building!” Well, I won’t deny that there are a lot of pieces that have to fit together when you build, but come on. That’s just silly.

In case you missed his act, here it is again:

And here’s the real skinny on the guy from Wikipedia… Enjoy!!

“All Things With Exuberance!”

mary!

Chris Bliss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chris Bliss

Chris Bliss is an American stand up comedian and juggler. He majored in comparative literature at Northwestern University and the University of Oregon before dropping out to pursue a career in juggling [1].

Bliss decided not to pursue the conventional route of circus style juggling. Instead he chose to blend popular music with tightly choreographed fast paced moves. Where other jugglers seek to juggle more and more objects, Bliss chose to juggle only three balls. It is this combination of a simple juggling style and his choice of popular music that made Bliss a big hit, culminating in him being chosen as the sole opening act for Michael Jackson on his 1984 Victory tour.

Following on from this big success, Bliss expanded his brief juggling act to include stand up comedy. His act now comprises both stand-up elements and juggling.

In 2006 Bliss enjoyed widespread fame when an online video of his juggling finale became a viral internet sensation. The five minute video shows his energetic finale where he juggles 3 balls to Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End by the Beatles. The video was widely circulated via email and blogs with an estimated 20 million viewings within 40 days [2].

The video caused quite a stir in the juggling world, with Bliss appearing as a guest on Penn Jillette’s radio show [3], Penn was himself a juggler and is associated with the World Juggling Federation. Many jugglers were surprised and confused by the success that Bliss had found with such a simple juggling routine. In response to this, Jason Garfield, a highly accomplished technical juggler, recorded a self-described “parody” video of Bliss’ finale using much more technical tricks with 5 balls. In reality, this video is simply a more technically demanding performance set to the same music, with nothing else in common with Bliss’ performance. This video also went viral, further boosting the fame of the original.

Following the success of his ‘Grand Finale’ video, the UK musician Fatboy Slim ran an online competition on MySpace asking for fans to submit juggling videos for the single release That Old Pair of Jeans [4]. The competition asked whether you can “Juggle to music like Chris Bliss” and featured a video of Bliss juggling three balls in his unique style to the single.

Aside from his performance career, Bliss has also started a project known as My Bill of Rights. The goal of the project is to erect monuments to the United States Bill of Rights in every state capitol, and in any public location where a monument to the Ten Commandments is located. A monument has been approved in Phoenix, Arizona, and Bliss cites Austin, Texas as the project’s next goal. The organization is funded by donations, and has applied for 501(c)(3) status.

We were at an organ concert at a church in Park Ridge, IL last night. When we got home, we were curious about the congregation and logged onto their website. What to our wondering eyes did appear but a link to their “bottle band”. What’s a bottle band? Well, check it out. It’s absolutely fabulous!! They’ve actually appeared on David Letterman not once but twice!

 http://www.stlukespr.org/stlukesbottleband.html

 All Things With Exuberance!

mary!