I was elated to receive this photograph from Philip Weyland, wrapping up the final interviews and shooting for his documentary, The Last Great Flyer, about legendary Miguel Vazquez, right, and his brother Juan.
When I first glimpsed the tiny image in its attachment, I only noticed the two figures in the picture; Not until I downloaded and took a second look did I notice -- my book in their hands!
Thank you Miguel and Juan, and thank you Phil!
Phil was in Las Vegas filming the brothers in their post-trapeze jobs. They work on Cirque du Soleil shows as stage technicians. I think that's great, that the film will show us what they have done with their lives since bringing to a close their unprecedented mastery on the flying trapeze. Miguel, as most of you know, was the first flyer to execute the quadruple somersault -- a feat that continues to elude the younger generations inspired by Miguel's mastery and trying to duplicate it.
I might enlarge the photo and frame it. It was on my birthday in 1981, that Miguel caught his first quad, in a late night practice session in Long Beach.
I also witnessed Miguel achieve another first-- at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on September 4, 1982, when, after throwing a flawless quad, during his mid-air return to the fly bar he turned two perfect pirouettes.
The greatness that was ... Some of us were there. Some of us were lucky.
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