Do
you actually do this for a living/ Is this your real job?
Is Jim your real name?
Did you go to clown college?
How long have you been juggling?
What is your last name?
Are you like that off-stage?
What does your mother think about all this performing?
What do you do in the winter?
Do you do birthday parties/ bar mitzvahs?
How many things can you juggle?
What kind of props do you use?
How old are you?
Boxers or Briefs?
Can I hire you?
| Do you actually do this
for a living/ Is this your real job? |
|
| No, there's really no
money in performing. I just do it for fun. As for money, I have several sources
of income... |
- I'm a personal consultant for Bill Gates; he calls me up whenever he's in
a jam and sends me a blank check once a month.
- I'm psychic and I play the lottery professionally.
- I earn royalties off the name Slim Jim® (My idea.)
- I'm a professional poet on the side.
- I do tons of those paid medical studies that you always see ads for. They
pay pretty well. You're not supposed to do more than one at a time, because
it messes up the results, but they never find out.
- I live off un-employment checks. And even though I do earn money juggling
on the sidewalk, they continue to pay me because, technically, "street performing"
isn't considered a job.
- I do web pages for a living.
- I write jokes for other performers to use. (But there's really no money
in that.)
|
|
Actual answer:
Yes, I actually do this for a living. It's a combination of street performing
and private gigs, but basically I travel around and do my show for a living.
I haven't had a job or a boss since 1993 and I'm pretty happy about that. |
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| No, Jim is just a nickname
I've had since I was about 10 years old. Before that, my nickname was Jimmy.
My real, legal name is James. |
|
Actual answer:
Yes, Jim is the only name I really answer to. By all means, please call me Jim.
"The James Show" just sounded way too formal. |
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| Did you go to clown college? |
|
| Yes...UMass, Amherst.
Class of 1991. |
|
Actual answer:
No, I didn't go to the official Ringling Bros. Clown College. I did, however,
go to UMass. I have no formal theater/ performance training. It's amazing what
you can learn in the street! There really isn't any way to learn this stuff other
than just doing it and doing it badly until it gets better. I did it badly for
years. I learned most of my juggling tricks at the UMass Juggling Club. And,
yes, I did graduate in 1991 with a degree in education and environmental studies. |
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| How long have you been
juggling? |
|
| Since I was about eight
years old. |
|
|
Actual answer:
Well, technically, I taught myself how to juggle when I was eight using three
beanbags that came with that old game Toss-Across®, so I can't remember
a time in my life when I didn't know how to juggle three objects. I didn't actually
get "into" juggling until 1989 when my next door neighbor at college, Howard
Ehrenberg, gave me three clubs and dragged me to the UMass Juggling Club. From
then on, I was totally hooked and began juggling literally every day. So I guess
I've been seriously practicing since 1989.
|
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| This is probably the most
guarded secret in the entertainment industry, but if you promise not to tell
anyone... it's Bond; Jim Bond. |
|
Actual answer:
Look, I don't need any more stalkers than I already have. This information is
given out only on a need-to-know basis. The only reason you'd "need-to-know"
is if you were going to write me a check. And also, if I start using a last name,
I'll never be able to book another AA-meeting gig. |
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| Are you like that off
stage? |
|
| No, I happen to be a pretty
mellow guy in general. Growing up, I was always very quiet. However, I found
that there are two situations in my life when I really cut loose, go crazy and
act like a wild man; one is when I'm performing. The other is during my juggling
show. |
|
Actual answer:
I guess you could say that during my show I'm at Jim-intensity-level-10 and when
I'm off stage I'm about Jim-intensity-level-5. |
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| What does your mother
think about all this performing? |
|
| She thinks it's great,
and so does my father. In fact, I personally wanted to continue on in college
with an advanced degree, finish my MBA, and go to law school, but my parents
were the ones who pushed me into performing. |
|
Actual answer:
Mom thinks the performing is pretty cool and Dad thinks it's pretty cool that
I don't live at home and I haven't asked him for any money in over ten years.
|
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| What do you do in the
winter? |
|
| During the cold winter
months from November to March, I go to an exclusive resort
island in the South Pacific, lie on the beach, sip exotic
cocktails and update my web site with my trusty laptop. I
can afford to do this because I earn millions of dollars street
performing in the summer. |
|
Actual answer:
I live in the Boston area. I do NOT travel south to follow the weather for street
performing. Depending on the year, I'm either really busy or I have a lot of
free time. The last few years have been really busy. It's a combination of: doing
indoor gigs, designing promo, building web sites, returning email, sleeping in,
drinking coffee, booking work for the following summer, doing taxes, building
props, working on the show, MAYBE taking trip and generally trying to re-charge
my batteries for the summer season. Work doesn't slow down, it just changes slightly.
|
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| Do you do birthday parties/bar
mitzvahs? |
|
| I love birthdays
and bar mitzvahs and I charge only $500.00/hour. |
|
Actual answer:
I love birthdays and bar mitzvahs and I charge only $1000.00/hour. |
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| How many things can you
juggle? |
|
| I can comfortably
juggle and do tricks with up to: |
- 5 balls
- 5 rings
- 4 clubs
- 4 cigar boxes
- 2 diabolos
- 1 set of devil sticks
I can juggle (pretty well/ with no tricks):
- 6 balls
- 6 rings
- 5 clubs (about 50 catches)
On a good day, with warm-up and no wind, I can juggle 7 balls for about 20 catches.
|
|
Actual answer:
I'm serious. Do you want proof or something? I've got video! |
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| What kind of props do
you use? |
|
| In no particular
order... |
- Clubs - 7 Brian Dubé Klassic Americans.
(The best clubs.) I bought 5 of them in 1994 and 5 more in 1998. I've broken
three, but if you've seen my show, you know I beat the crap out of them on
the street. (I used to replace my Dubé Europeans once a year.) I hate
decorations on my clubs; they get in the way. The plain plastic is great for
scrubbing squeaky clean once a week.
- Silicone Balls - 5 white Frank Radtke
'Fakini' 2 3/4 inch diameter (only $25.00 each!!!) I bought seven of them in
1995, but I lost one in the Singapore River in November of '97. And another
one was severely chipped during a Faneuil Hall show in May of '00. I called
Frank and recently bought 10 more (although the price went up.) In October
of 2000, I bought 5 NEW 'True Red' Brian Dubé silicone balls specifically
for use in Jon Hanson's Harvard Law School Corporations class. (Jon bought
3 of them for me.) Thanks, Jon!
- Diabolos - I own four Henry's, large size
(2 red and 2 bright yellow) Nice and easy to clean.
- Rola Bola - Home made (6 in. aluminum
cylinder / 12 ply birch plywood deck)
- Cigar Boxes - 10 Ben Decker customized-large
size (7.25" x 4.75" x 3"). Ken Zemach gave me my first three (second hand)
and then I ordered 7 more from Ben. He must have made one per month because
that's how long they took to get to me. I love them, though. (The boxes.)
- Devil Sticks - 2 sets of the old Dube
kind with silicone covered hand sticks. (None of that wimpy rubberized tape.
And NO TASSLES!!!) I think I have a Dube Fire Devil Stick in my garage somewhere.
- Torches - 5 Todd Smith's -1994 model (I
juggle torches about twice a year, and that's just for fun at parties.) Oh,
and three Dube wooden swinging torches I bought as my first set of juggling
torches 6 years ago.
- Bikes - 1985 Redline Prostyler, 1987 General
R.L. Osborn, 1996 Redline PL24 cruiser (yeah!).
- Sound System - The 'Liberty' System by
Anchor Audio. I used the 'Long Ranger' system by Lectrosonics for about 6 years
and it was great. The Liberty is just more powerful and has a warmer sound
for music. But it weighs about three times what the Long Ranger weighs.
- Mini Disc - I used a Sharp/Denon model
that Dave Aiken bought for me in Japan in '97 almost every day, but in late
2001, it started acting funny. Lately I've been using the tiny Sony MZ-R55
with no problems. No MP3 players in the near future for The Jim Show. I love
MD! I also own three (Ebay) of the Original 1991 Sonz MZ-1 MD player/recorders
with optical I/O and numeric keypads! Way cool.
|
|
Actual answer:
That was it. And I'm not even sponsored by any of these companies. |
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| I was born December 18,
1969. (Quick get your calculator.) |
|
Other December 18th birthdays:
1886 - Ty Cobb - Greatest baseball hitter, .367 lifetime avg.
1916 - Betty Grable - Film actress, W.W. II pin-up girl
1938 - Chas Chandler - Bass player: The Animals
1943 - Keith Richards - Guitarist, Rolling Stones
1946 - Stephen Biko - South African, killed in prison 1977
1947 - Steven Spielberg - Movie director
1950 - Leonard Maltin - Movie critic, video guide author
1955 - Ray Liotta - Actor
1964 - Brad Pitt - Actor
1964 - Stone Cold Steve Austin - Pro Wrestler
1967 - Nikki Sinn - Porn Star
1968 - Casper Van Dien - Actor
1969 - Jim - Comedian, juggler, web nerd
1970 - DMX - Rapper, Actor
1978 - Katie Holmes - Actress
1981 - Christina Aguilera - Grammy winner, MTV regular
There must be something in the stars. |
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| It depends on several
factors... Temperature, humidity, mood, and whether or not I have a show that
day all affect my choice of underwear. |
|
Actual answer:
Would you really like to find out? |
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| Absolutely. My show goes
over well on the stage or on the street. It's appropriate for all ages and I
can travel anywhere in the world. I like colleges, schools, corporate events,
after dinner functions, first night celebrations, street festivals, trade shows,
commercials, feature films, talk shows or my own sitcom. |
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