Mark Hayward Is My Hero » takeshi

I Just Got My 2010 Trading Cards

mark — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:37:43 +0000

That’s right! Not only is my new trading card out, but it has a SUPER-AWESOME photo on the front taken by the world famous yo-yo master Raphael Matsunaga, aka: Red. This photo was taken in Takeshi’s living room while Duncan was shooting some new instructional video with Raphael and Takeshi as well as Jack Ringca, Brandon Jackson, Drew Tetz, and Hank Freeman. It was fun. I love pictures of me.

Indiana State Yo-yo Contest!

mark — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:11:38 +0000

This year Takeshi scored an amazing hook-up for the Indy State contest: it will be held at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. Sept 22nd, 10-5pm. More info here.

Also, with a little luck, we will have a trial run for the set-up and scoring of the Ultimate Battle Top Championships of the Universe too. The actual contest will be at the National Yo-yo Contest in Chico CA in October, but we have to make sure that it’s going to be a good event first.

Working on a Mark Hayward DVD with Takeshi

mark — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:10:09 +0000

I have been gathering footage, and mulling over ideas for this project for years. Many of my performer friends have DVDs that they sell after their shows. I have wanted to make one for years, but having the high standards that I do, I wanted to make a really high-quality DVD so it took a while to gather enough footage and get my ideas together. I’m really excited about what we’ve been working on so far. The whole thing will be bonus footage. There are plenty of opportunities to see my show, and lots of people have seen it, but if you buy the DVD, you will get nothin’ but EXTRAS! There will be footage of me performing bits that I don’t do very often, or in some cases have only done once; Takeshi is working on a mini-documentary that will incorporate news footage, and interviews with friends and family; and there will be tutorial videos on how to do both yo-yo and spin-top tricks. There will even be a section with really old-school footage, including a short documentary that my brother made back in the early 90s called “The Gemini’s Big Gig” from when Matt Henry and I used to perform together as The Gemini Jugglers.

Takeshi and I shot a bunch of footage on Thursday, and we will shoot some more in a just over a week after I get back from the IJA juggling festival in Winson-Salem NC. The whole thing might be finished in a month, but we’ll see.

Indiana State Yo-yo Contest 2006

mark — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 04:18:10 +0000

It seems that no matter where I move I end up getting involved in organizing something that is juggling or yo-yo related. I’m not complaining, it’s just what happens. At the moment I’m helping my buddy Takeshi organize the Indiana State Yo-yo Contest. I’m really looking forward to it, it should be a blast. If you want more info check out the website: http://indianastates.newschool101.com/

Workin’ on the Model A Ford

mark — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 05:27:26 +0000

This morning I got up early to take my Robot Car (aka: my 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid) to the mechanic, and as soon as I got home I went into my garage to work on my family’s 1930 Model A Ford. I love the contrast.

Here’s a picture of my Grandpa, Mac McBride, in the car in September of 1985, just after he got it restored.

Today’s task was to finish taking off the radiator so I can get it professionally cleaned. Yesterday I got stopped by not being able to remove the hood by myself, but my friend Takeshi gave me a ride back from the mechanic and came over to help me out. It took about two seconds, but I was very glad I had help. The rest of it was pretty quick too. It would have taken longer except that when I got around to taking off the main bolts that hold the radiator on to the frame, I discovered that there weren’t any. Just two empty holes. For all these years the radiator wasn’t fully connected to the car! It had pipes and wires and supports on it so it wasn’t going to fall off or anything, but the main attachment bolts just weren’t there.

I called my buddy BMX Bill (that’s just how I refer to him when he’s not around… I like it because it’s very descriptive… his real name is Bill Nitschke) and he hooked me up with his radiator guy who worked on my other BMX buddy Devin’s Model A radiator. I should be able to take mine in tomorrow. My other task for tomorrow is taking apart and cleaning the horn so that it will properly go AAAAWOOOOOGAAAAAA again. At the moment it’s got 20 years of gunk in it so it doesn’t make any noise at all.

It’s really fun (and addictive) to work on cars. I can see why so many guys get so engrossed in it. I’m not even finished with this one yet and I already have ideas for what I want to do with the next one… or two….

Mid East Regional Yo-yo Contest (MER)

mark — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 00:49:09 +0000

Yo-yos are awesome. I’m hanging out in Cleveland Heights Ohio after finishing the yo-yo contest today. It was fun. I helped judge the Sport Ladder portion of the contest and ran the music for all the freestyle competitors. This is the contest run by Steve Brown, National Yo-yo Master. The big plans for tonight are hanging-out, yo-yoing and eating pizza. Should be a great night. Tomorrow we barbeque.

7/26/2006

mark — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:38:19 +0000

Ate breakfast (Apple Jacks cereal… I’m not proud). Went to dog park. Took dog home, went to get oil changed and steering column recall done on Prius. Brought Taco Bell to Lenore at work. Forgot guacamole. Went to Takeshi’s house. Talked about his yo-yo DVD project. Painted some yo-yos. Came home. Fed and walked the dog. Ate dinner. Watched TV. Brushed teeth (and flossed). Worked on websites. Quick shower and reading of book on vaudeville coming up… then bed. Big day.

Dogs, Deer, Soccer and Juggling

mark — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:36:11 +0000

My dog loves to chase deer. Sometimes it has been a bit of a problem. Today on our walk in a forested area he chased one right AT me. It passed within 8 feet of me. My thought process went something like, “Oh here comes Vader (he’s about the same color as deer)… wow, he’s going really fast… wow, he’s bigger than usual… HOLY CRAP! THAT’S NOT MY DOG!” About a minute later Vader trotted up very intently, and I managed to convince him that he had already lost his prey.

Final game of the World Cup today. Holy head-butt Batman! That was nasty.

A bunch of the yo-yo guys came to juggling practice today, so no surprise, I didn’t juggle much. As soon as anyone starts thowing a top around I’m done with whatever I was doing. Tops are SO awesome.

The Duncan Warehouse. It’s like the Holy Land for yo-yoers.

mark — Thu, 25 May 2006 06:07:03 +0000

Takeshi and I drove down to Columbus Indiana today to go to the Flambeau (aka Duncan) warehouse. Takeshi had ordered some yo-yos, and I needed to get some too. It hadn’t occured to me that I needed to place my order in advance, but thankfully Michelle in Customer Service was very kind and made things happen for me.

The warehouse is CRAZY. There are SO MANY cases of yo-yos. It’s AWESOME. It just makes me want to buy them all. I like to look at the shelves full of boxes and imagine all the joy that is going to come to all the people who will eventually get those yo-yos. It’s my inner hippy showing through, but it’s a pretty great, and pretty big thought.

I am constantly amazed at how cool I still think yo-yos are. I mean seriously… yo-yos are SO cool.