Hooker Life

Forty years ago today a great man was born.  Who might you ask?  Well, if you’re an American, then you know him as Pain Solution.  Live in Europe?  Well, if you know the anything about the world of sideshow or flesh hook suspensions then you’ve probably seen the Head Master.

Although he is best known for being a mutli-talented performer, his biggest contributions have been in the world of education.  Besides teaching the art of suspension throughout the world and running a school of sideshow in Oslo, he has worked directly with the Norwegian medical community to explain the art and science behind pain and to show the positive effects of body suspension.

Yes, today is my friend Håvve Fjell‘s 40th birthday.  Unfortunately I cannot be there to celebrate with him.  However, I will be there in a few weeks for the Oslo Suscon. (In my opinion the world’s best suspension convention)

My Story of Håvve
It was December 3rd, 2000 – I had just finished a suspension performance for Torture Garden .  (Opening for Ron Athey)  During my suspension I had managed to rip my knee and was a bit distressed about how to handle the gaping wound.  I remember sitting upstairs at Body Probe Studios staring at the hole when I notice a tall bald man standing over me.

“Hello Allen, I’m Håvve”
“Nice to meet you Håvve, by chance to do have any sutures?”
Now in all honesty, the question was more of sarcastic joke.  Yes I needed to stitch my knee, but I never expected anyone to have anything that might help.
To my surprise he replied, “Yes I do”
He dug through his backpack and handed me a sterile suture pack.
“Wait.  Who are you?”
“I’m Håvve from Oslo.  We have been chatting online.”

At the time it seemed like a random encounter.  Little did I know that I had just met such an amazing person that was not only going to influence the world of suspension, but become such a good friend.

Happy Birthday Old Man

So much is going on in the world of suspension right now. First of all, I finally made an announcement that the Dallas Suscon will happen again in 2010. It is scheduled for April 2-4 of 2010. The event will be similar to last year, including the big Freaks and Fetish opening party that will feature some amazing acts that Dallas has never seen.

In more recent news. Emrys and Bella from Rites of Passage just appeared on the National Geographic network last weekend. The show was entitled Humanly Impossible. The segment was short, but the science they describe pretty much hits the nail on the head when it comes to the biology and brain chemistry that surrounds suspension:

Those of you that keep up with this blog know that I’ve been promoting the Hellzapoppin sideshow coming to Dallas Thursday December 17th. Presently I’ve been focusing on the Lizardman and his book that he will be selling at the show, but I wanted to make a special shout out for another Hellzapoppin performer, the World Famous Penguin Boy. This last Monday I had the honor of hanging him for his first suspension. Photos never really show the how well people suspend, but I can assure you he hung like a pro:

And speaking about someone that hangs like a champ. Holy shit! Two days ago I opened my email to find a link to this video of Neil from the Houston AGRO team. This, my friends, is in my opinion one of the most impressive suspensions to date. Trust my folks, this is definitely one of those DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME moments:

From Neil: “This would not have happened without the help of so many of my close friends.  Arwen Rosa, Joe Amato, Tim Taylor, Kenny Hughes, Kieran Diedrich, Jill Coudray, Nicola Sands, Rick Pierceall, Miss Ouch, Roel Moreno, CoRE, AGRO, DHS, SMS, everyone who hung from me, and several others who I’m sure I forgot to mention.  I couldn’t have done this shit without help from all of them.”

People have asked if this was the first one point resurrection. Actually the first to my knowledge was done by Alice from Constant Elevation at the 2008 Oslo Suscon photo below:

Update 09/12/11: I can’t believe I forgot about Damien who was hung by Hanged Man Suspension Team in Australia. He did a single point resurrection back in early 2009, I believe.

This next video is also Damien suspending from his forearms, doing some VERY impressive aerial flips.  The clip is from a show entitled “Live Bait. ” Interesting side note, there are some old TSD button work shirts out there, circa 1998, with graphic of a doctor performing surgery holding a hook. The caption on the shirt is “Live Bait”

He may not have been the first to pull of the one point resurrection, but the tandem seen below is, I believe was a first. Yes, that’s Neil again doing a superman with 3 people hanging off him from their knees. Think that’s impressive? What you may not know is that not only was this after the one point suspension you see in the video, he also had several other people hang from him as well this day. I’m not even sure how many in total.

Man I love the suspension community …you guys never cease to amaze me!!