Stud juggler and DDR god Jimmy Roberston hooked me up big time on this one. I've always wanted to go to this festival because I've heard it's a blast, and because they have the Groundhog "Phil" trophy competition, wherein a trio of randomly picked non-juggling civilians whose only qualification is that they know NOTHING about juggling picks the top three entertaining acts out of a bevy of juggling pros and amateurs alike. If you look at the names of people who have won this award over the past quarter century, you'll see names like Gatto, Gilligan, McGuire, Nations, Daymont, Kariotis, McKinney, Brown, Panic, and Boehmer. One of my juggling goals has been to join that list of names. Pure ego, but heck, if Jimmy was kind enough to fly me out for the event, the least I could do would be to make a good show of it. Winning one of the awards was my highlight for the weekend, especially when there were other names in the running like Tony Duncan, and David Dimuzio. Otherwise, I just really loved hanging out with Jimmy and his crew at the family estate outside Atlanta. Going to lunch with the Mills after the contest was cool. Getting to know Fettucini Steve Langley was a definite plus. The late night diner sessions were awesome. Watching Dimuzio win every 7 ball endurance contest and do 50 five ball 5 ups in a row made me realize that Benji Hill is one freaking good coach. Dave passed on some tips for which I am most grateful. Last but not least, MC'ing the short but extremely fun Midnight Show at a great venue, with hot acts (Michael Garner, Alex Burke, Matt Ritter, and Dan Howard-my JKP/LOT bitch), with beer onsite was a definite capper to a great weekend.
To read the full story of the festival and see more cool pictures of Atlanta 2006, click here
