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Saturday Renegage
Here is our compere for the night... the last leopard of wales... Jules.
That's Mr Jules to you.
Malta showed us a bit of a new act he is working on. The soundtrack was as funny as they come
as were his responses to it. And the juggling he did was pretty clever too.
Two young jugglers stole each others balls. I can't remember thier names. Obviously not the best juggling I've seen but at least they got up there and did something.
The Georgini Devilstick Project. Nice.
A group of 4 boys did stuff on stage next,I can't remember what this group of jugglers called themselves but it was probably as lame as their act. Not that I can speak.
Tom Baker. Star of the main show decided to have a go at amazing us again with a new set of tricks. Juggling a walking globe? No problemo. Brunn's Impossible Trick? Got it this time. You can see the video here.
Bendy Dan.... again.
Next on stage was the best advert for a juggling convention I've ever seen. A lone juggle did some tricks with three clubs but he was soon forgotton as four naked male bodies appeared behind him. After a dance to "teenage kicks" they turned around holding signs in front of their parts saying "BELFAST JUGGLING CONVENTION 2001". Yeah!
Peewee and Em (Stickleback Spasticus, another act from the main show) sang us a song and did things to microphones.
Donald Grant (hey, why not get everyone from the main show on the renegade stage?) tried some three ball and three club tricks and then did the routine he did on the main stage but at three times the speed and talking us through the whole thing in a mumbling scottish growl. Another highlight of the renegade.
You know I said that the vaudiville act in the main show was the second most boring act of the entire convention? Well, here's the first. Lindsay, who did an excruciatingly boring act for the thursday renegade show decided to do the exact show again. The exact show again. Remember what I said about the total lack of tricks in this mindnumbingly tedious routine? We had to sit through all of it again. Actually, we didn't have to, lots of people left at this point. The best bit of the act was when he fell off and the heckling practice we got in.
This is "Satan". Yes, to make himself look more evil he wore a bowler hat.
With a SlipKnot jumper. What was I saying about juggler's fashion sense?
My turn on stage. I did poi. I thought I would mention the fact and then untangle them on stage so everyone had to watch my back for a while. You know, it's all in the build up. Anyway, I turned round and mentioned the fact that I was actually going to do rocket poi at the last possible moment. I hadn't told anyone before hand in case they tried to stop me. I think it worked quite well. A video of it here.
Actually I was quite impressed that both Haggis and Jules (stage manager and compere) had heard of the League Against Poi and warned me about them before I went on stage.
Chicks with Dicks was a very amusing drag act based on Circomedia's Chicks with Sticks. They wore the same clothes and were carried on stage by the girls who do the original. I'm very worried about those guys in bristol, they seem to be learning more about cross dressing than circus skills.
One bloke decided to try doing an act, which normally takes two people to do, by himself. It would have been ok if he had managed to pull off a single trick but he failed at everything he tried. Even when he got a helper to fill in for the second guy. I didn't get a picture. Then someone did some things with glowing props to the audience singing the Bohemian Rhapsody which outlasted the act by about 10 minutes. I wonder who started that off...
The last act was Devilstick Pete and he got around to doing something with his devilstick this time. I think he balanced it on his nose and played a penny whistle. It's a good job he's a very funny guy otherwise it could have been a very disappointing end to the renegade for 2001. It wasn't though.
Saturday night renegade was by far the best of the convention. I was slightly surprised at the lack of a pisstake act based on the Russians.
Sunday and some final thoughts.
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