Clifton B

YoYo History

"My first throw was a blue wooden fixie with the Smothers Brothers logo on one side. I didn't do a lot with it, but I watched that show religiously, and something about Tom's enthusiasm for this little spinning toy was really captivating. Fast forward 15 or so years. I started this circus in Seattle with my friend Scotty Walsh--a magician, acrobat, escape artist and all around fascinating guy. He got me juggling, and a while later I was passing clubs with pros who were nothing but nice and outgoing and really just thrilled to share their sport with anyone who's interested. I soon discovered the diabolo, and abruptly quit juggling. Diabolo became my life for a good couple years. I dedicated five months to perfecting my 2D entries, sometimes doing nothing but starts and corrections with two bolos for 5 hours at a time in the field at the Evergreen State College. Trust me, that was more productive than a lot of students at that school ever were. Then I found something that changed my world forever: The Japan 2003 National Yo-yo Contest video. Got it off Soulseek, if I recall correctly. (See, it's not all about pirating movies and albums.) That did it for me. I soon found TheGlassLab's videos, specifically Experiment 4 with Doc Pop and Experiment 8 with lots of people. My next few months worth of paychecks went to as many yo-yos as I could find. Someone saw me trying to throw a Flying Panda, taught me a trapeze, then gave me his old Night Moves 2. The NM4 would later become my favorite throw until the Project. In the meantime, I met up with john Huber and Sterling Quinn, who taught me more basics, and I knew yo-yo was gonna stay with me forever. Oddly enough, I went to the same school with Mark Montgomery for a year and a half in Savannah, Georgia. I think we saw each other exactly three times while I was there. I was embarrassingly bad whenever we threw together. But next to him, not many people aren't. Highlights of my yo-yoing career include making it to Worlds '06, catching up with the Yo-yo Samurai Tour for a day in Tokyo, and throwing every month for over a year in Shu Takada's house before he got all famous. The Project's my absolute favorite yo-yo in the world. It's perfect for me. I like my throws light and my strings short, because I'm a fan of fast and blurry. I'm pumped to be a part of the One Drop team. I want to represent the company and brand with a smile on my face at all times. Yo-yo should be about fun, not intimidation or superiority. It's a friggin toy. And it's kinda my life."