18th Jul 2004
Playing the Piano With His Balls
I can juggle three balls better than the average person, and four balls for a few seconds, but I never could crack five. Much less while playing the piano.
Thanks Mark.
UPDATE:
My link to this seems to have stopped working. I found the same file here. To all of those who suspect this is a fake (see comments), I’ve decided you’re probabaly right, in as much as I’m guessing that his piano keyboard just plays the next note as soon as it’s touched by a ball, regardless of where the ball lands. It’s still some pretty amazing juggling and impressive entertainment.
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Looking at it more closely now, I think he’s faking it. There one instance where a single ball hits and no note sounds, and several where balls landing at different spots product the same note.
You think so? I watched it about three times and I heard at least one wrong note he hit. Plus, the timing of the notes is perfectly synched with the visual. That would be hard to fake. Even so, it’s pretty remarkable juggling.
he is amazing! but yes, it’s fake (manipulated realism)
Its fake and not fake. The piano is one of those pre-programmed pianos where when its programmed to a song, you can hit any key and the piano will play the notes in the order its programmed to play. The part where it is not fake, and totally amazing is that he is hitting the keys with the balls and keeping time perfect with only a few minor slipups. I think thats the amazing part! im sure thats what he was going for too.
Its fake and not fake. The piano is one of those pre-programmed pianos where when its programmed to a song, you can hit any key and the piano will play the notes in the order its programmed to play. The part where it is not fake, and totally amazing is that he is hitting the keys with the balls and keeping time perfect with only a few minor slipups. I think thats the amazing part! im sure thats what he was going for too.
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This isn’t fake because it is on the show Just For Laughs in Canada. Just For Laughs is a show based on the acts from the comedy festival every year in Montreal. This video is quite old now.
I think the guy is pretty awesome. And it is really. You can see that by where he throw the ball. When he hits a certain key, it products that note every time he hits that key. It’s like a regular piano. It’s not pre-recorded. Plus he does hit I think at least one wrong note. And by the way…does anyone know that guy’s name?
http://www.pianojuggler.com/index.html
He has performed in all these places. Don’t you think they would cancel his performances if he were a fake?
TELEVISION
The Tonite Show (three appearances)
ABC Command Performance for the President
HBO “Just For Laughs” Special
The View
Thirty Seconds to Fame
Evening at the Improv
The Statler Brothers Show
The Pat Sajak Show
Super Dave Osborne
The Arsenio Hall Show
Comic Strip Live
Carolines Comedy Hour
Nashville Now
INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION
Six appearances on Japanese TV
Five times on English TV
Four times on Italian TV
twice on German TV
Twice on Swiss TV
Single personal appearances on Television in
Holland, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, Hungary, Scotland,
Spain, Portugal, Canada and Korea.
COMEDY FESTIVALS
Just For Laughs, Montreal
Molson Comedy Festival, Toronto
Montreux Festival de Rire, Switzerland
Variete De Bale, Basel, Switzerland
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Over one Hundred half-time shows for Twenty of the NBA teams including,
Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns…
Many games for the NHL (Hockey) including;
The San Jose Sharks, and The Carolina Hurricanes.
College Basketball;
Wake Forest University, Penn State Univ, Oklahoma State Univ…
Pro Baseball, Indoor soccer and Arena Football
Hundreds of corporate Clients
Chevrolet, IBM, Apple computers…
Rock Concerts!
The X Fest 2001 in Indianapolis opening for “Ramstein”
Toured 12 cities for “The International Auto Show”
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles…
CASINOS
Harrahs, South Lake Tahoe
The Showboat, Atlantic City
John Asquaga’s Nugget, Reno
Trumps Taj Majal, Atlantic City
Bally’s, Reno
Merv Griffin’s Resorts International, Atlantic City
Flamingo Hilton, Reno
The El Dorado, Reno
Ceasars, Las Vegas
Who are you, his agent? Fine, I didn’t say he was a fake. But this doesn’t even look like the same guy, unless he’s aged a lot since the clip I have here.
No, I am not agent. I saw this guy on Johnny Carson and have seen him in person. So why can’t the other guy be authentic?
Why are you so sarcastic? I was just posting a link for people to see that someone else does this too are even performing Las Vegas.
I wasn’t trying to be especially sarcastic. I must just come naturally.
This guy was pretty good,, I think it is real,,, but I would like to know his name to see him ;ive,, if anyone has his name please do tell,, thanksss
Hi
I noticed this posting on another website
-David
“his name is Wally Eastwood. He is a Vegas performer. He stole the idea from Dan Menendez(The Piano Juggler). He has never let anyone examine his keyboard. I have played piano for 25 years, the first 10 notes of “God Bless America” (he started on a C note) would use only the six keys in the very middle of his keyboard. So right off the bat there’s a tell. Half way through the performance he throws a ball and there is no sound. There are many times that he hits a low key and we hear a high note and vice versa. Sometimes when the same consecutive note is heard, the balls are hitting in different places. The last part of the last song changes key, yet he throws the balls at the same place. The last part of the last song would only need the top half of the keyboard, yet he is all over the place. Lot’s of inconsistencies. His biggest feat is holding the world record for juggling 7 ping pong balls with his mouth.
07.20.04 05:01PM PDT by lyzard “
I’m not sure about this one. I’d give it 85% odds that it is real. I noticed the silent ball moment too, but that supports the case that it is real. If he was just following along with the music, there would probably be a note. In that case, he probably just missed hitting any key.
The one thing that gives me pause is how well the balls bouce off the keyboard (a normal keyboard would absorb most of the balls’ energy), but it was probably a unique, custom-built one that is basically hard all the way across and with sensors embedded in the appropriate spaces.
A juggler is certainly capable of doing this. I have personally witnessed juglers doing over a dozen balls at once, and whenever one juggles (one of my old hobbies), it has to be done VERY precisely. I would still be juggling regularly, but my eyes have got so bad I have to use tri-focals, and they totally mess up the monitoring of the balls’ paths.
Almost all pro jugglers can easily juggle 5 balls, and many can juggle downwards (It is harder, though). I never got past four. I tried very hard, though. I just wasn’t coordinated enough.
I also took piano lessons in college, but failed.