Morning all - today I am very excited to have @DocPop with us today!! Enjoy!!
What got you into throwing, how did you find the hobby?
On my 21st birthday, I took a trip from my home town (near Nashville) to Olympia, WA. My trip was planned around a meeting with a record label in Olympia, but I stopped by the Space Needle while I was in Seattle and picked up a souvenir yo-yo from their gift shop. It was a wooden yo-yo with green paint and a logo of the Space Needle. When I flew back to Nashville a week later, I bumped into a guy that was opening a yo-yo store in a nearby mall. I’d only had a yo-yo for a week, but he offered me a job as a salesman at his kiosk. This was in 1999, a few months before a big yo-yo boom swept the country. I basically got paid to learn how to yo-yo, it was great!
How did you come about creating your own yo-yo’s?
I had a chance to work with YoYoJam for a bit and released a few yo-yos (The Bolt, The Super Scientist, etc) with them. It was awesome, but I always wanted to have more control of the designs I made. Back then, manufacturing seemed impossible hard and expensive, so I never tried it out, even though I wanted to. Years later, I chatted with the folks at One Drop in Oregon about making a mini-yo-yo called the Executive and I’ve been hooked on designing yo-yos ever since. It’s gotten so much easier to work with a factory than it used to be, which is rad. I ain’t making a huge profit on my yo-yo business, but it does enable me to make a few yo-yos that I’m really proud of. My goal is to make yo-yos that I like, so running a yo-yo company is really just a way to make that happen. If I break even, I’m happy.
If you could only have one yo-yo for the rest of your life what would it be?
At the moment, that would be the DIY. That’s why I call it the Desert Island Yo-Yo, if I got stuck with that one yo-yo for the rest of my life, I’d be okay.
What trick are you working on currently and what is your all time favorite trick?
I’m working on DNAs and binds. I’d love to nail DNAs more consistently and have a wider array of tricks to do with them. As far as binds, I wish I had flashier binds that I could hit more consistently. It’s a bit of a bummer when you land an amazing trick on film, then end it with a lame bind… but it’s also a bummer when you nail the trick but miss the flashy bind. I’d love to confidently end a trick with a bind that’s just as cool as the trick was. As far as favorite tricks, I’m a sucker for gyroscopic flops and I love seeing people’s variations on a flop.
What’s the most meaningful yoyo you have in your collection?
I’m a sucker for weird yo-yos, like copper plated yo-yos or yo-yos manufactured with holes in them, so that’s what I geek out the most on. But the most meaningful yo-yo in my collection is my MarkMont Classic. That yo-yo was the inspiration for the Icarus and the DIY. My MarkMont Classic is also silver plated, which was part of a rare run, and it looks as cool as it plays. I cherish that yo-yo.
What’s kind of things are you into outside of yo-yos?
I like making comics and music when I’m not yo-yoing. I have a few albums on Bandcamp and I’ve self published a dozen comics. I even made a comic about yo-yos. I’m also really excited about some internet technology. I don’t care about NFTs or AI, but I really geek out on stuff that makes the web more open. Things like WordPress and ActivityPub, I love that stuff.
What’s your favorite restaurants and order?
I love southern comfort food (catfish, ribs, cornbread, etc) and I love chinese food. Mission Chinese and United Dumpling are two of my favorite local restaurants. They both specialize in that tingly sezchuan spice that I love so much. Tingly Noodle Lamb is my favorite thing to order at a sezchuan style restaurant.
Favorite movie or TV show?
Mystery Men is probably my favorite movie of all time. The Good Place might be my favorite TV show.
If there was one song that you say fits your mood and personality perfectly, what it be?
I dunno… “Creep” by Radiohead?
What’s your best yo-yo memory?
I really liked the early days of trick circles at yo-yo events with Mark Montgomery. These were inspired by hip hop culture where folks would form in a circle and people would take turns freestyle rapping. In the trick circles, we’d encourage folks to step in the center and do some entertaining tricks. It wasn’t a battle, and you didn’t have to be as good as the person ahead of you was, it was about sharing positivity with folks and encouraging players to focus on good-looking tricks, rather than pure technicality. An easy trick can still look great if done with style. Those circles (from US Nats circa 2004) eventually turned into the trick battles that take place late night at the World Yo-Yo Contest. Again focusing on forming a circle and doing tricks that emphasize personal style and keeping the crowd entertained.
What’s your yoyo bad habit?
I’m bad at yo-yo maintenance. When a bearing goes bad, I throw it away. I admire the folks who remove the bearing shields and maintain their bearings, but I never could get the hang of it.
As an artist, how do you feel throwing allows you to express yourself?
I’ve always been able to find a way to express myself with whatever I’m doing. Whether it’s making music, making comics, writing scripts, or yo-yoing. So I don’t think of yo-yoing as any different than a paint brush or a musical instrument. The only big difference is how much easier it is to carry around a yo-yo all the time.
If you never found yo-yo what would you be doing instead?
Making music probably. That was my goal in the first place and what lead me to yo-yoing. I always joked that if a guitar was as easy to carry around as a yo-yo is, everything in my life would be different.
Advice/ words of wisdom to new players?
No matter how late you got into the yo-yo game, there’s always room for innovation. It may feel like all the cool tricks have been discovered, but there’s always more waiting to be found.
What you want to tell the world?
Have fun.