I live in a wonderfully dull town named Longmont in the great state of Colorado which some might point out as a negative thing, I however see it as a positive for two reasons. Firstly living in Longmont puts me in the same city as Bug and Bubbas, my two amazing kids whom I moved all the way to Colorado for in the first place. Secondly Longmont is geographically smack in the middle of everywhere else I might want to go in this state and particularly close to Boulder, a city I have completely fallen in love with since the big move. Now I tell you this not because I am going to review a location, no this is all merely a primer for the main event....YO YO's!
In Boulder there is a small but vibrant downtown district on Pearl Street which serves as the cities cultural hub, not unlike Time Square is to New York but with less Adult Film Theaters, and has also become a mecca for hundreds of street performers and sideshow enthusiasts who travel from all over the world just to do their acts. One such performer named John Higby caught my attention, and a bit of my ear, today on Pearl and I thought I would share a bit. His specialty is rather unusual and involves several elements but mainly focuses on a ridiculously skilled use of YO YO's. John also uses his audience a great deal and is one hell of a showman, always keeping the crowd involved and excited to see what his next trick will be. In fact every time he is about to perform a new feat of YO YO awesomeness he rings a bell, to which the audience is instructed early on to yell "YO" as loudly as possible.
At one point in the show he announced the need for one more volunteer, specifically a father, which I just happen to be one of. Though reluctant at first I was encouraged to volunteer by my Bug and Bubbas momma, and once I decided "what the heck, might as well" I jumped at the chance to be a part of this guys act. Initially me jumping up and down with my hand raised was apparently not enough to get Johns attention, so Miss Momma yelled out "pick this guy" in an uncomfortably loud volume which seemed to work. So I strolled up admittedly a smidge nervous to the YO YO masters inner circle and helped continue the show, first by holding a match which he promptly lit using only a single YO YO toss. I cant even lite a match using the strike on box so this was at least a little impressive by my standards. He then used his skill to knock a quarter off my ear without severely injuring me, something I had my doubts of him accomplishing. I was assured that if I was indeed injured I would receive "everything you see here", which after scanning a bit included a large collection of YO YO's, a silver hat with a propeller on it, and a unicycle. If I did lose an eye during this show I would totally make out like a bandit. Alas John was successful with only a minor graze of my ear so I did not get to fulfill my life long dream of owning a unicycle, I did however have a load of fun and get to look like an idiot in front of a hundred random Pearl street tourists!
This is exactly the bit I played, except sexier.
John Higby had a family as well and closed out the show using his wife, who also had a rather impressive holahoop talent, and small son in a grand finale involving "Three YO YO's, a unicycle, two holahoops, one wife, one baby, and the worlds first YO YO powered propeller hat!" which I tell you now did not disappoint. Turns out that Johns show travels all over the world and has been featured on shows like Americas Got Talent and The Late Show with David Letterman, you can even learn all sorts of cool info on this family by visiting their website YOYOSHOW which I encourage you to do. All in all I had a blast watching this amazing families show and I totally recommend checking out their act if you ever get a chance.
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