yo-yo #22: duncan midnight special

sweet nostalgia.


in 1987 (as far as i can reckon, that is), my dad came home from a trip to fall river with a special gift. he's a doctor, and growing up, he would regularly bring me presents after being away. he was away a considerable amount, which accounts for my impressive (but well-played) star wars collection. the gift was a yo-yo. i had never yo-yoed before (i may have had a few junky ones from party favors or something). the yo-yo came in an impressive clear plastic box saying something like "yomega - the yo-yo with a brain". the yo-yo within was also transparent, but for a weird pair of yellow plastic parts that each seemed to enclose a ball-bearing. i remember being impressed by its heft, but i actually kind of thought it was ugly.

i threw it down with my sorry little-kid throw, and it stayed down. i yanked, and it stayed down. then, apparently spontaneously, it snagged and climbed back up the string. although i thought this was pretty neat, i got tired of it quickly. gravity pull was my best yo-yo trick, and i couldn't perform it well with this "intelligent" yo-yo. i preferred my "dumb" yo-yo's that i was able to make bounce on the string and occasionally sleep (usually by accident). sure i could "rock the baby" with the brain just by letting it go, but that didn't really sit well with me. i think that i didn't like knowing that this "sharper image" yo-yo was giving me new abilities to which i felt i had no right.

i took the brain to school with me and my classmates were all WAY more impressed with it than i was. few of them could throw much of a sleeper at all, and i was getting a solid 15 seconds out of this thing! by accident! one kid, darrell i think, offered me a deal. he had a new, black duncan midnight special (he showed it to me with a nervous, clandestine posture as if he were revealing some contraband). he would trade me for the brain straight up. i didn't know yo-yo's then, but i knew duncan. it was the only brand i knew.

what struck me though - the dealbreaker - were the stars. the midnight special was just a duncan imperial, but it sported beautiful shiny silver stars which shone in relief with the yo-yo's black body. i just thought it looked so striking and classic. i asked to toss it a few times to make sure he wasn't tring to stick me with a lemon or anything. showing off the brain had improved my "power throw", and i remember being impressed that i was able to make the yo-yo sleep (albeit for not as long as the brain), but i could also content myself with the typical up and down i associated with yo-yoing.

i made the deal, and i went home with a smile on my face, wondering how i could have gotten so lucky. the yo-yo broke a week later. i smashed it to pieces on a hard sleeper trying to walk the dog. it positively came apart, all 4 plastic pieces removing themselves from the axle, which dutifully clung to the string (which i found hilarious). needless to say, i was disappointed whenever i saw darrell with his brain throughout the remainder of the year (if memory serves, it was stolen from him by a bully in late spring, and i'm guilty of having felt somewhat vindicated by this at the time).

the yo-yo's destruction did nothing to embitter me toward buying duncan, in fact, during the next few years, whenever i saw a midnight special at a toy store, i bought it. i'd play it for a week or a month on and off, and then break it or lose it and buy another. i was a "midnight special player". if someone asked me what kind of yo-yo i played, i'd answer "duncan. duncan midnight special." it wasn't until the boom that i gave yomega another chance and i realized their considerable potential.

in some ways, i look back on this, and i recognize that, in trading the brain for the m.s., i probably hindered my development in some ways. it took me forever to learn breakaway, and later trapeze on it. i "invented" something like braintwister (or really just an undermount and dismount) with it over a period of months in the early 90's, but referred to it as "whirligig" (god help me) until i was disappointed by the revalation that braintwister was actually an old trick during the late 90's boom. since imperials really aren't good for looping, i could never manage more than a single loop-the-loop with it.

if i had stuck with the brain, it might have made me a better player by some standards, but the fact that i didn't kind of speaks to some important truths about me:

1.) i'm less interested by the prospect of improvement than i am by "shiny things".
2.) i've always wanted to "yo-yo simply" and "simply yo-yo". the midnight special allowed me to do that.
3.) since the 80's, i've been aware of the idea of "cheating" in yo-yoing. part of the reason i rejected the brain was the fact that its transaxle clutch made it feel "unnatural". i don't speak out against bearings now or anything, but i've always preferred the feeling of a fixed axle yo-yo.

i WISH i still had the pieces of that original midnight special, but alas, they're scattered to the 4 winds. i've procured some from good friends, and i actually enjoy playing them. few things are more satisfying than nailing behind the head eli hops on a yo-yo like this. filtering the modest skill i've developed with "better" yo-yo's through the one i started on is a joy, which to me remains what yo-yoing is all about.

yo-yo #20: the flying camel

i bought this yo-yo from the tom kuhn website a few years ago. obviously, it's just an ordinary maple no jive yo-yo, but this version comes in butterfly configuration and features a pretty intricate engraving on the sides. the legend is that while backpacking in the 70's, tom looked up and saw a cloud and thought it looked like a big camel... so he decided to put it on a yo-yo. i can totally believe that, [sorta] knowing tom. he's a very whimsical guy, and is pretty in tune with the outdoors. one time he emailed me a picture he took of a hawk and a blackbird with the sole caption "quit jivin' me, blackbird!"

a thread on yoyonation got me thinking about yoyoing "and the world" (as if they're two separate entities).

so much of yoyoing takes place in peoples rooms, or in tiny places. so many freestyles and videos are essentially compressed to fit into a miniscule, imaginary box. people regularly say that they don't like to yo-yo in public, for fear of embarrassment or persecution for such a "nerdy" pastime.

i find it kind of depressing, because to me, one of the most remarkable qualities of yoyoing is its inherent portability. growing up, i played piano. when i got a little older, the lure of a rock band (meaning an actual one, and not a video game) made me gravitate to the electric bass, followed by the big, honkin' upright. i always kind of wished that i played harmonica, pocket trumpet, or something comparably tiny, because i want to be able to make art and express myself on a whim, and in any situation. if i'm in line at the grocery store, or in the forest, i can take out a yo-yo, and just "dial in". for some people, it seems like a tool used to distance one's self from others; something i do in my room that no one can touch or interfere with. for me, yoyoing is one more art i can use to interact with the larger world.

i took this yo-yo to the beach around this time last winter. i love nature, and the outdoors, and playing wood just seems so natural and "right". i hesitate to use the word "organic", which has been sequestered by every supermarket trying to "go green", but there's something about playing wood that resonates well with being out under the sky. anyway, i'm also a surfer (though i've been less dedicated in recent years, i'm sad to say), and i got to thinking about the similarities and differences between playing yo-yo, and riding waves.

whether you've ever dropped in or not, surfing is fascinating because it involves the manipulation of a natural, primal energy source to propel you into what's essentially a controlled fall. i've never seen an activity more imbued with inherent grace. like yo-yoing, it's the simplest idea possible, which we've gradually refined and processed into a multifaceted and saleable "sport". (notice i didn't say "ruined", because i don't think it's in our power to do so to either.)

let's look at the respects in which surfing and yoyoing are similar:

• in surfing, the wave is the energy source, and it moves you and your board through space in the way that you want. in yoyoing, the roles are changed. YOU are the energy source, and you manipulate the toy in the way you want. though the differences are many, it's still just playing with finite energy. a wave only has so much juice before it dissipates on the shore. your throw only has so much juice before the force is dissipated by friction. maybe i like throwing wood because this is so much more palpable and obvious (in n.c., i'm used to short rides anyway).

• both occur in a similar time frame, and involve a similar breakdown of parts. yoyoing involves the throw, the trick, and the return. surfing breaks down to the paddle, the ride, and the kickout (or the glorious wipeout-beating that happens plenty, too).

• both are subject to fanatic, factious, tribal niches which generally perceive themselves to be more important to the greater world than they actually are. surfers and yoyoers are similar in their fierce devotion to their friends, and their general willingness to speak ill of their "enemies", as well as the uninitiated. a quick glance at any surfing or yoyoing forum proves as much.

although surfing and yoyoing are only similar in the most academic respects, the primary difference between them relates to "fear". when you're out there in the water (especially alone, or on a huge day), it can get scary. there are a thousand ways to kill yourself surfing in the ocean. i've been surprised by a half-dozen sharks sharing the same space in the lineup as me. i've been pulled from behind "over the falls" during hurricane swells. i've been faced with the terror of having no idea which direction is up while underwater. (and i'm only a relatively casual surfer on the east coast!). EVERY paddleout requires a bit of a gut-check.

in yoyoing, there's no immediate fear of death, and maybe there should be. who puts on the slipknot and wonders to themselves "will this be the last time?" who considers for a moment that they might pay for a "high risk" trick by eating a serious beatdown? yeah, i've got stringburn, and i've bonked myself on the head plenty with a yo-yo. i never fail to laugh though, when i read the myriad threads asking "how bad have you hurt yourself with a yo-yo?"

but we SHOULD yo-yo like that. we should LIVE like that. we should maintain within ourselves the ember of the understanding that every session and every throw may be our last. tomorrow is promised to no man. surfing causes its exponents to really value what they do because of the inherent danger, but even without the omnipresent risk of death, we should recognize that our lives are fragile, and that the pursuits to which we dedicate time and effort are truly worthwhile. our yoyoing should matter to us more than just a throwaway that we use to kill time. you can't "kill time", but you can surely waste it. this comparison with surfing (and so this yo-yo) reminds me to throw and live with a little more "intent".

though i live 100+ miles from the beach now, it's a beautiful day.
so, i'm picking up my camel, and taking it for a walk. ;)