This may take a while.

1969	On December 18th, in Salem Hospital, Salem, MA, Jim makes his first appearance... weighing in at a hefty 9 pounds, with a full head of hair. Photo: 1971, Notice the red socks! A sign of things to come...	Jim, age 2.
1970- 1975	Jim has a relatively normal childhood. He isn't born into a circus family or traveling sideshow or anything. He's just a quiet, shy kid growing up in the suburbs. One of Jim's earliest vivid memories is learning to ride a bike with no training wheels at 4 1/2 years old, the same age he enters Kindergarten. Photo: Jim, pre-curls, with shoulder-spanning 1975 lapels!	Jim, age 5.
1976	While on a summer family vacation to Busch Gardens, VA, 7 year-old Jim is called on stage as a volunteer in an amusement park magic sideshow. He is the kid volunteer for the guillotine trick. Although terrified, he immediately becomes obsessed with learning how magic tricks are done. Tells his mom, "I want to be a magician." That Fall, back at home, Jim's mom enrolls him in an after school magic workshop for kids. Jim begins learning magic tricks, buying books and magic props. During one class, the teacher tells the kids that juggling is a good skill for magicians to have. Jim goes home and teaches himself how to juggle three beanbags.	First time on stage. (Jim is on the left.)
1977	At Meadowbrook School, East Longmeadow, MA, Jim (in grade 3) performs his first real solo show ever for the grade 2 class next door. The routine includes rope tricks, thumb-tip tricks, and a (stuffed) rabbit production. He even tapes a list of jokes on the inside of his magic table so he has patter between tricks. This is the first and last magic show Jim ever does.	First show ever!
1979- 1981	Jim loses interest in magic, but gets inspiration from Evel Knievel. He tears apart his bicycle, rebuilds it with cooler parts, and begins riding it off curbs and through trails in the woods. Jim discovers there's actually a sport called BMX (Bicycle Motocross). Immediately begins saving paper route money for a 'real' BMX bike.	Backyard Dirt Jump
1982	Jim starts buying BMX magazines and learning about the sport. Jim's Dad isn't too keen on Jim racing BMX, so Jim begins practicing a new riding style called 'trick riding' or 'freestyle' because he can do it anywhere and it's free. After one year of saving, Jim buys his first BMX bike (a Redline 600a) and starts riding it 6-8 hours per day.	Endo.
1983	Jim, now a freshman in high school, begins jumping off bigger ramps and embankments. One day, Jim and his friend Ken go to the local bike shop to see two local riders put on a bike trick show. Their names are Brett Marshall and Will Raymond. Ken walks right up and befriends them and Jim gets to hang out vicariously. Jim and Ken build an 8 foot high quarter pipe ramp in Ken's backyard. Jim continues riding BMX freestyle every day. In the winter, Jim and Ken build a trick ramp in Ken's basement (with 7 foot ceilings) and ride every day before school. Jim spends hours learning flatland balancing tricks.	Jim in the air. Basement.
1984	Jim and Ken ride every waking moment and in the summer, begin going to BMX freestyle competitions in Guliford, Connecticut. They compete in a dirt parking lot riding lame 6 foot high ramps. There were a total of about 10 riders competing in two different classes. Jim and Ken usually traded off wins in the intermediate class, Brett Marshall won a couple in the expert class. Late one fall night in Ken's backyard, Jim, Ken, Brett Marshall and Will Raymond get the idea of starting a freestyle team. "Critical Mass." is born. The four teenagers build a 'portable' 8 foot high quarter pipe ramp and find a trailer to tow it. The first gig was a free show at the grand opening of a Domino's Pizza in Springfield. (Ken's brother, the Domino's manager, got them the gig.)	Competing in Guilford, CT. Team logo.
1985	In January, Jim and Ken begin competing at each of the (newly formed) monthly AFA freestyle competitions. The competitions are Northeast US Regionals, with over 100 riders competing each month. Right away, Jim and Ken are standouts in the intermediate class, both placing the the top three every competition. The Critical Mass. Freestyle team continues performing at camps, schools, bike shops, parades and festivals. By the end of the year, Jim wins the 1985 AFA Massachusetts state trophy for total competition points, even after missing two competitions.	Jim in competition, Worcester, MA, May, 1985
1986	Jim contiunes riding and performing with Critical Mass., but does not compete. The team has some line-up changes. Brett Marshall goes on the perform with Ringling Brothers. Jim and Will continue booking shows and take in other riders and a unicyclist, Gary Spear. (Interesting note: Spear is a Ringling Clown and juggler, yet Jim has no interest in juggling at this point; just riding.) Photo L to R: Mike Scalzo, Jerry Lang, Jim, Luke Malone	Critical Mass. circa 1986.
1987	Jim graduates from high school and gets ready for college. There are a few Critical Mass. performances over the summer, but with Jim going away to college and other riders moving, the team disbands. Jim goes to college and leaves his bike at home. Photo: One of Jim's final bike-only performances. (Sent in by Maria Maddaloni)	July 4th parade, 1987
1988	One day at UMass, in September, Jim's neighbor Howard Ehrenberg (a Deadhead and juggler) asks Jim if he knows how to juggle. Jim picks up three beanbags, juggles, and says, "Sure." Howard then asks, "How about clubs? Can you do four balls?..." Jim is intrigued and challenged. Within a week, Jim is doing 4 balls and is working on clubs. Howard sells Jim one of his custom made devil sticks and begins dragging him to the UMass Juggling Club on Fridays. Jim spends every free minute learning juggling tricks and decides to begin buying juggling props. That winter, the hobby becomes serious.	Howard... The guy responsible for Jim's juggling.
1989	Over the summer of 1989, Jim lives on Cape Cod and has three jobs, but manages to juggle three hours a day in between work and sleep. Jim perfects many basic tricks with three and four balls, three clubs and devil sticks. At the end of the summer, Jim tries his first street show one day at the Hyannis Street festival. After failing to get anyone to watch, Jim decides to go home. On the way to his car, he sees his first 'real' street performer, Cyrus Koski, doing a show with a big crowd. After the show, Jim attempts to talk to him, but is basically snubbed. Jim is determined to learn to street perform. He returns to UMass for the fall semester and begins work on 5 balls and 4 clubs.	Practice on Cape Cod. Back- Crosses, UMass
1990	Back at UMass, after winter break, Jim gets on stage at an open mic coffeehouse and does 5 minutes of juggling with three clubs, 5 balls and finishes on a rola bola with three torches... Standing ovation. Jim realizes the importance of comedy in a juggling act. In the spring of 1990, Travis Bear (a pro juggler) gets Jim his first ever paid juggling gig... $50 for a 30 minute appearance at a 5 year old's birthday party. Jim continues getting on stage at every open mic he can find. In the summer, Jim works at a camp. Although not hired as a juggler, Jim performs for the kids at every session. Back at UMass for the Fall, Jim continues practicing and getting on stage as much as possible, performing at sororities, coffeehouses, and opening up for bands.	Travis... The guy responsible for Jim's career. Camp talent show.
1991, Early	In February, The UMass Juggling Club holds its annual convention. Over 200 jugglers show up. At the convention, Jim hears about a job opening in the Boston area. Jim takes info about the position (which involves juggling) and looks into it. (He'll be graduating in three months and will need a job.) In March, over spring break, Jim travels to Boston to meet with Barbara Storper to discuss Foodplay, a traveling nutrition education program. The show appears at elementary schools all across the Northeast. Jim is offered the position. Jim thinks, "Cool, a job after graduation... and it involves education and juggling; perfect." In April, Jim enters a campus-wide UMass talent search. Jim does a comedy routine on a rola bola, juggling a knife, a torch and a fake chain saw. Jim places 2nd (winning $95) behind a Whitney Houston impersonator. To this day, Jim can't stand Whitney Houston. Jim graduates in May with a degree in Education and Environmental Studies and moves to Boston to begin training for his new job. Jim spends the summer working on Foodplay and watching street performers in Boston.	UMass torches. Jim has a college degree.
1991, Late	Foodplay touring begins in September and the rigorous schedule takes its toll on Jim. Up at 5am, many hours on the road, two hour-long performances per day, home at 5 pm, eat, go to bed. On days off, Jim would go to MIT to practice for 4 or 5 hours at a time. During the winter of 91-92, Jim rehearses his own act in hopes of street performing the following summer. He decides to pull out his old BMX bike and try juggling on the bike! This promises to be a unique act on the street.	Foodplay Show
1992	In May, the Foodplay season ends after 100 schools and nearly 200 performances. Jim decides to have a go at performing on his own for a living. He gets a part time job at a retail store to help pay the bills. May 14, Jim does his first Harvard Square, Cambridge street performance. "The Jim the Juggler Show" involves juggling, BMX bike tricks, and juggling on a BMX bike. For the finale of the show, Jim jumps rope while hopping on the back wheel of the bike and then juggles torches in the same position. Crowds love it, but it's a hot, sweaty, painful stunt for Jim. After every show, Jim would be bruised or bleeding somewhere on his body. Jim spends the summer performing six days a week on the sidewalks of Harvard Square, Cambridge. He performs up to 20 shows per week on the street. He hands out business cards and gets a bunch of gigs around town and enough birthday parties over the winter months to survive. But he still keeps the part time job, just in case.	Early Street Show Bike Jumprope Hat Pitch
1993	In April, Jim auditions for the first time and is accepted into the Faneuil Hall Marketplace Street Performers program. Assuming he can make enough money performing in Harvard Square and Faneuil Hall, he quits the day job at the end of April, officially becoming self employed. This is the last time Jim will ever have a boss. For the summer, Jim works about six days per week in either Boston, Cambridge, or both. The BMX bike tricks are difficult on the cobblestones of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the physicality of the act wears Jim down so he can't do more than two or three performances a day. Jim begins thinking about a new, less painful, finale. He builds a table and tries a few shows doing the rola bola as a finish. At first, it's pretty weak and doesn't come close to the bike tricks as far as earning potential. Jim spends the rest of the summer doing the rola bola AND the bike tricks in every show. Jim resolves not to get a job over the winter months and survives on savings and birthday party gigs. He also has a lot of free time to work on the new finale.	First Logo Faneuil Fans Faneuil Finale
1994	Jim starts doing shows only using the table/rola bola finale. The money isn't as good as the bike, but he's able to do more shows in a day because the trick is physically less taxing. By mid summer, after doing so many shows, the trick develops into a much larger finish than the bike ever was. By Fall, Jim permanently retires the bike finale (on the street) and begins developing the rola bola finish into what it is today.	Waterloo Buskers, Ontario
1995	In April, at the Faneuil Hall Street Performer Auditions, Jim auditions as "Jim the Juggler" but after the performance, removes the "Jim the Juggler" sign from his trunk, autographs it, and gives it to fellow juggler Jay Gilligan as a souvenir. The show is immediately renamed, "The Jim Show!" Jim starts wearing the red shirt and socks to match his props, which all happened to be red, white and black at the time.	Harvard Square
1996- 1999	The Jim Show as it now exists comes into shape. Jim tours from coast to coast in North America performing for tens of thousands of people in hundreds of different venues. In 1996, www.smirk.com is born. Jim continues performing on the streets of Boston when he has no other gigs and the weather is nice. In 1999, Jim begins using Mini Disc technology to develop his "Watch the Pedestrain" musical routine on the street.	Edmonton Street Fest 1997
2000	Jim gets very busy in the college market, performing at several dozen colleges in the Northeast. Work begins on two new finale routines. Jim continues performing on the street, but only at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, and only about 5 shows per week. He goes an entire summer without doing a show in Harvard Square. Jim spends every free minute trying to get this web site on line.	Lock Haven University, PA
2001	February: The new web sites go on line... Yay! In May, Jim heads to Italy for his first vacation in 8 years. He spends three weeks touring all over the countryside, watching the sun set and NOT WORKING. He returns home relaxed and with a strong desire to learn Italian. The rest of the year is spent at home just doing local gigs and street performing. Aside from the Italy trip, the year 2001 was restful and uneventful... until September 11th. And after that, the gigs tapered off dramatically. Jim goes into hibernation hoping for the new year to arrive.	Ciao Italia
2002	In May, the "Jim Show Jim" theme song is released and shortly after, the even newer web site goes online! Jim does many, many, many gigs and street shows. They are mostly local performances, but a few tours pop up. In July, Jim buys a house and then gets back to work because all of a sudden there are big bills to pay. New box stacking finale is worked into the show.	New Finale
2003	The busiest year (so far) of Jim's career. In between numerous house renovation and landscaping projects, Jim squeezes a record number of performances into 12 short months. In April, Jim finishes his 10th year as a professional act. In June, Jim is published in Boston Magazine. In July, Jim hits his head and gets dizzy. 2003 seems like a blur, but a lot gets done. And The Jim Show seems to be maturing and evolving. A change of some kind is looming.	Hands Full
2004	An up and down year. The Jim Show Yo-Yos arrive in February and Jim starts learning yo-yo tricks during the long cold Boston winter. Spring comes late, and the season begins to warm up around June. A busy summer follows with many fun gigs for lots of new clients. In July, Jim performs in Las Vegas for the first time. As soon as the gigs cool down in the fall, things heat up in Boston with the thrilling Red Sox World Series victory! Overall, the year started off slow, then became busy, then turned slow again... kind of like a yo-yo. Weird.	Yo
2005	The year starts off with a huge trip to New Zealand (Christchurch Busker Festival) where Jim performs for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. The shows were absolutely wonderful and the sightseeing after the festival was spectacular. Overall, it was a slower year than usual, but the gigs were all unique, strong and significant. There were many first time experiences (Iowa! Michigan! Toronto!) and many indelible memories (vomiting—for the first time since 1987—on the Maine Turnpike, while driving home from a performance that ended with an encore and standing ovation.) Ahhh... In October, Jim nearly breaks his nose taking down a broken tree limb. The year wound down nicely with a relaxing month in Ireland in November.
2006	Who knows what the future will bring?