Snarkle Talks: Episode 02 (The One Where We Learn About LVKO)
Kellie Kawahara-Niimi (00:00.75)
And we're recording I'm gonna make some noise so the audio editor knows when to cut
Kellie Kawahara-Niimi (00:20.27)
Hi friends! Have you ever felt that electric buzz of nostalgia mixed with a dash of excitement? Or have you ever craved a return to the golden days of kendama while yearning for a glimpse into its future? Me too! Hi, I'm Kellie, your host and the friend who somehow always says the quiet part out loud. And this is Snarkle Talks, the podcast where we reveal that kendama is more than just a game.
It's a community bound together by creativity, play, and fun. In this episode, we're doubling down on how one event acts as a bridge between our cherished past and the neon lit future. Joining us today are Brett Austin Walters and Kelvin Wong, the dynamic duo who are organizing one of this year's most anticipated events, the Las Vegas kendama Open.
While Brett and Kelvin each bring their own mix of skill and luck to the table. Together, they are a winning hand. Their connection to the Kendama community runs deep. So listen up as we roll the dice on the storied past of LVKO, bet on the ways this event will shake up the Kendama competition scene, and take a sneak peek at the glitz and glam awaiting this year's gathering. Whether you're here to stroll down memory lane, unveil new thrills, or simply bask in the glow of kendama high rollers, you've hit the jackpot. Welcome to Snarkle Talks, where you're never gambling on a good time with us. And no, I'm not sorry about the puns at all.
Kellie Kawahara-Niimi (02:01.742)
Hi everybody. I'm Kellie and I'm here today with two special friends who are going to talk to us a little bit about event planning. I would love for you both to introduce yourselves, let us know your pronouns, and do you have a favorite bird off the top of your head?
Brett:
I'm Brett Austin Walters. He, him are my pronouns and...My favorite bird off the top of my head is a woodpecker because I like the rhythm in its got.
Kelvin:
My name is Kelvin Wong. Pronouns are he him. Professional for Sol Kendamas And my favorite bird off the top of my head is a kiwi because it looks so funny when it runs and it's like a armless bird.
Kellie:
It does. Its little bobble head just kind of like wobbles on its body. Literally. It's a good one. Yeah. Also woodpeckers, I hadn't ever seen them or known that they existed as a real bird until I moved to the Pacific Northwest. And you can hear them now. And I'm like, oh, that's a real thing. In Hawaii, we don't have a ton of variation in wildlife because island things. And so mainland.
things are novel to me still. Also, sometimes it makes me sound silly.
Brett:
But now you've seen a woodpecker, right? I have.
Kelvin:
Yeah. I've never seen one either. They're taller in the trees than you think. They have them out here. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow.
Kellie:
Oh, we're gonna have to go birdwatching. Let's do it. Dama and birdwatching.
Kellie:
Okay. I would love it if you could tell us a little bit about the event that you're hosting. Share a little bit about the history behind the event and what it means to you as Kendama players.
Kelvin:
I think I got this one. So our event is LVKO the Las Vegas Kendama Open. This is the third installment. First one was 2016, then a long break. And then 2023 was last year, which is our like, you know, rebirth of it. And then this is our third installment. Basically like...History -wise, there was this family called the Cristobal's They were a huge, huge play in how the Vegas community grew. They, along with Dave Mateo and the other key players in the Vegas area at the time, helped grow the Vegas community. And the Cristobal's were the ones like holding events at District Art Studio, which is where last year's LVKO was. So there's a lot of history behind this event.
So the Cristobal's hosted the first one and Kelvin and Mia song and I hosted it last year. And this year it's me and Kelvin running the event. We just wanted to bring it back because it's a very special event to me because it's where I met Chad. It's where I got my start on wanting to get sponsored by Sol And then eight months later I got sponsored by Sol . It was a very special event to me.
Bretty:
Yeah, and it just seemed appropriate to bring back such an iconic event to Vegas and to use the Vegas name because it's just so well known and so iconic around the world.
Kellie:
Yeah, I love the I just got to learn that that's how you became a pro, Kelvin It's a really touching moment to be able to kind of come full circle where this is where you were as a player and this is where you've grown.as a player and getting to touch both the history and the future of your life is really, really special.
Kellie:
Can you both talk a little bit about how kendama has grown for you from just a toy to becoming more than that, to becoming a whole event planners?
Brett: Wow. Yeah, it kind of, I guess it snuck up on me a little bit. much I really became involved with so many different facets of kendama. And I would say it was really finding the community. I had known about kendama and was pretty obsessed with kendama when I first found it for at least the first year. But then I didn't really know there was a community until 2018. And when I found the community, I found out that there was Las Vegas players and that there was Jams.
So I started going to those and then I started hosting those and then Kelvin and I started making edits together. Kelvin reached out to me and we made his Mari edit. And that was kind of like the first step into getting more involved with creating videos for the community, working with different companies and eventually leading to Birl which I released in January at Battle at the Border.
Kellie:
Would you really quick love to talk a smidge about Birl and actually who you are in the community?
Brett:
Yeah, I started a project called Birl and Birl is essentially a video production and distribution platform that creates high quality kendama videos, teams up with players and filmmakers from all over the world to create a feature length kendama video every year in collaboration with multiple players and filmmakers from all over the world. And that's the basics of what Birl is. But I also hope to branch out in lots of different ways and just kind of be a pillar of support in the community with video as its base. Awesome. Kelvin.
Kelvin:
So this year is like my 10th year of playing and it was kind of like a dream to help organize an event. I've been like a pro player for a decent bit now. As a pro player, you travel around, compete, make videos, and that's pretty much all there is to it. But I wanted to go to the next step because you don't really see a lot of professional players make these really curated events. So I wanted to just add that to my portfolio as a kendama player andI felt that it's a good way for me to give back to the community that helped start it all for me, because that's where I started as well as in Vegas too. For a decent amount of years after the first LVKO, there weren't many Vegas events at all, small jams here and there, but there weren't many events. So this is our way to bring some spark back into the community and hopefully turn this into a West Coast major. Yeah. And we're taking a lot of steps towards that this year, starting with the venue, which is amazing.
Kellie Kawahara-Niimi (09:11.982)
It looks beautiful. So along with the new venue, I know that you're both very creative people. What new things are you bringing to LVKO that make it different from other events?
Brett:
We're trying to make this event a little bit more player centered, a little bit more grassroots. So, we still want like the professional stage and big name emcees and streams, which will happen this year. But at the end of the day, it's really all about the setting of Vegas. And this is a big center for kendama So we try to still incorporate elements of how Vegas got its start. That's why we try to put open and freestyle at the core. Other than that, for our prize pool.
Kelvin:
We do winner takes all. So the winners of AMOpen, Open, and Freestyle get all of the money. Typically you see cash prizes for first, second, and third place. The location of events too, you don't really get to see the star of the location. So we really wanted to try and be near the heart of Vegas, which is the strip. So I we did just that.
Brett:
Yeah, we're trying to keep it really Vegas centric and pay homage to the roots and Our venue is within walking distance of the strip. It's Vegas Performing Arts Venue. So the stage and lighting is amazing. Kelvin has been crushing it with all the graphic design and all of the graphic design that you're seeing on the Instagram is going to be carried over into products that will be for sale at the events. Some of which are in collaboration with Snarkle Rocks. So that is super exciting.I'm stoked on what they've come up with. And like Kelvin was saying, we want to focus on competition as well and really draw some of the best players from all over the world. And I'm especially focused and interested. I love freestyle as far as competition goes. And so I really want to make sure we have a stacked freestyle roster and we're making big strides there already. The people we have lined up are insane. The freestyle is going to go off and Kevin DeSoto will be emceeing. There's lots of fun new developments that aren't 100 % solidified, but there'll be incredible vendors from all your favorite companies. Overall, there'll be more space for everyone to sesh and it'll just be an overall more hype vibe.
Kellie:
I'm so excited. The graphic designs that you guys put out are always so clever and Vegas centric. I try my best. Yeah, I'm crushing it. I'm really excited to be able to wear that, rep that, have it be a thing that LVKO is alive all year long. And it's not just a thing that happens once a year at one time. I really love that we get to support you in a different way too.
Kellie:
In terms of freestyle, it is also near and dear to my heart. It's my favorite comp and I'm very excited to hear who you have come out. I know you'll make those announcements later. Keep an eye out on the Instagram.
Kellie:
But when you look into the future, what role do you see yourself playing in the Kendama community now that you're event organizers? You're not just players anymore. You're a staple in the community. You're a pillar. What do you want to see going forward? Like, what do you want to bring to the table?
Brett:
I really...As an event organizer, I am more focused on the overall vibe of the event. For me, that really starts with the setting and then it's the lighting and the music and setting the mood for everything. Our event will definitely have that in spades this year, which is awesome. I don't know. I never thought I would be an event organizer. And then I stumbled into it through doing jams, I guess.
Now I'm thinking with Birl, it's basically an events company in a way. The very first thing we ever did was a premiere, which was essentially throwing a huge event. It was over 200 people in that space, which is what we're planning to be pushing this year at LVKO. Yeah, I'm rambling, but I don't remember where we started, but. No, this is great. You come with a vibe and you bring that vibe to this event. It's really cool. I feel like I come with the vibes and some business sense and I like talking to people, just getting to know different people in the community. So I kind of do that behind the scenes while Kelvin does all the awesome stuff around the competition. Obviously Kelvin is an incredible competitor and so he's the perfect person to be curating all of the competition side. I'm more of a visual vibes person. So I kind of lean into that and talking to everybody and making sure everyone's happy and stoked at the event while Kelvin makes sure that the competition is awesome.
Kelvin:
Competing has always been a part of my whole career as a dama player. I think in the future when I'm past my prime, I still want this event to continue on running and I hope that it gets to the level that NAKO and Battle at the Border does. In this like a West Coast major, as a competitor too, I...always try to sprinkle in stuff wherever I can. So with the trick list, I want to make them as hard and clever and as quirky as possible. Kind of how NAKO has their own Open Tricks. I want Las Vegas kendama Open to be known for the Open Tricks. So I really do care about the competition side for LVKO.
Brett:
Making the trick list is super fun too.
Kellie:
You talked a little bit about how you both work together. Do your personalities also work together in the same way? Like you kind of just flow back and forth in your communication?
Brett:
Yeah, I mean, Kelvin and I develop a very particular style of communicating, working on all the edits that we've done together and we become homies. And I don't think there's anything super unique about our relationship in that regard, but I guess because he has always come with the tricks and I've always come with the vibes. I guess that has just always been our relationship in a way. So it makes sense that that's how we work on edits and that's how we work on competition too. I never really thought about it like that, but I guess that is the relationship really, you know? Yeah. But Kelvin comes with so much of the vibes too, because he does all the graphic design.
Kelvin:
For the business side, I feel like he has like a bit more connections than like me, cause he's reaching out to people that I don't talk to as frequently. And like, he always presents like a lot of really unique ideas on how to grow our event and with his experience and the whole business side, like communicating dates and hyping up the events and stuff. He's really good at doing that from his years of media work. It's kind of just a nice little synergy that once he has an idea, I really like everything that he puts out and then whatever I have an idea, he usually goes along with whatever I'm scheming or thinking about. So there's never really a lot of conflict at all.
Brett:
I'm just so thankful to have a partner in an event. Honestly, I can't picture myself running LVKO by myself. There's no way.
Kelvin:
Hell no. Me neither.
Brett:
I never would have had the idea by myself, first of all.
Kelvin:
So we got to shout out Mia too, because she helped so much with year two.
Brett:
Yeah. Mia built a structure for organization that we're carrying through to help us streamline things this year for sure.
Kellie:
It's really great having that roadmap so that you can find your way again, as opposed to rebuilding the road all over again. Are there tips or tricks for anybody who wants to run their own event one day that you could give now that you have some experience under your belt?
Kelvin:
So very huge thing is plan in advance. Make sure that you're not stacked for time and organization. So there's a structure to how we do things now, we announce the date and then everything else follows after that. The sponsors, the venue, those are like the two most important things. And then the smaller things like the trick list, the freestyle invitees, MCs, whatever those will follow after that. But just make sure that you have everything organized and you set deadlines for yourself and just know that if something gets out of schedule, it's not a complete loss. Just find a way to get whatever task you need done and then move on to the next thing.
Brett:
Yeah, that's great advice. We set small deadlines a little ways out and then we'll set new deadlines. And like Kelvin said, things inevitably change and shift. And as long as you communicate that with whoever you're collaborating with, it's chill. My biggest piece of advice would basically be if you're planning to do an event year after year, start planning the next one as soon as this year's finishes. Give yourself a week, but honestly, reach out to your venue like immediately because your venue is going to take forever no matter what. For some reason, every single venue I've ever worked with is terrible at communication and you just have to stay on top of them constantly.
Kellie:
I am learning that running an event is a little bit like herding cats. It's tough to manage.
Brett:
Yeah, it's a lot of different personalities. That's for sure. That's the fun of it though once you get everyone together.
Kellie:
So we just talked about Making sure you're on schedule. Yes, so let's do date.
Brett:
Registration is open for all divisions except freestyle. Freestyle is yet to be announced the way Freestyle is going to work and as far as other dates April 1st pre -registration prices increase so you'll want to register before April 1st. Okay. Unless you would like to pay more money.
Kellie:
Which we don't love that.
Brett:
Most people don't. Yeah. So... And LasVegasKandamaOpen com.
Kellie:
And then the event date?
Kelvin:
- April 20th.
Kellie:
If people are flying in, will there be pre or post jam things that we should know about? \
Brett:
Yes. There will be a post jam on Sunday, April 21st. The location is yet to be announced. It will be hosted by Birl. It will be a jam day on Sunday that will also include a mini competition that you do not want to miss. This is a historic first of its kind competition hosted by me and Haley Bischoff. It is called the Las Vegas Poop Off and will include only poop tricks in the competition. This will be hosted at the Jam the Sunday after competition.
And Friday..
Kelvin:
.We might have a casual, official, unofficial pre -jam for whoever wants to come out.
Brett:
If people get in town early, there will be people chilling, for sure. But Sunday is the official post -jam. Cool.
Kellie:
I can't wait to hear what the prizes are for the poop -off. Honestly, the poop tricks are kind of my favorite because they look so fun!
Okay, we're gonna close out , so if you could let people know where can people find you, where can people find LVKO and what should people look out for?
Brett:
I'm Brett. You can find me on Instagram at @baustinw. That's B Austin W. And you can find our event on Instagram at Las Vegas Kendama Open. You can also find the event at lasvegaskendamaopen.com. That is where you will find the links to pre -registration on Eventbrite. Our website will send you right there and you can pick your division and pre -register.
We highly encourage you to pre -register on April 1st. Prices will increase for registrations and you'll want to go purchase Birl Volume 1 at birlsubculture.com and get hyped for the Jam Day on Sunday, April 21st.
Kelvin:
You can find me on Instagra@_sorrywongnumber. Just to reiterate, April 1st prices will go up and we will most likely not have in -person registration. So please, please, please do register online. As for what's coming up for me, got a huge competition schedule unfolding within the next few months. EKC Cup, big things and maybe something in the works between me and Brett once again but in due time.
Ooh, scheming. Awesome.
Brett:
You can catch me at EKC as well. I'll be there wrecking Birl. Us too. Oh, you too? Snarkle's gonna be there soon? Snarkle's gonna be there too. Yes. Let's go.
Kellie:
Yes. Snarkle up in Europe. Ooh, we should do another episode there.
Kelvin:
Europe episode.
Brett:
I'm down. Let's do it.
Kellie Kawahara-Niimi (23:24.462)
Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being on here with me and good luck with everything. We will be in touch soon.
Brett:
My pleasure.
Kelvin:
Thanks for having me. Thank you.
Kellie:
A massive thank you to Brett and Kelvin for chatting with me today. If you want to keep up on the latest on LVKO news, trick lists, who's coming to town and other fun stuff, click all the link things in the description below. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on the magic they're cooking up.
It's the kind of show Vegas itself would bet on. Before we go, in honor of Brett's favorite bird, did you know that the woodpecker's tongue is so long that they wrap around their brains serving as a shock absorber? Yeah, it's like a built -in crash helmet. It turns out that it comes in handy, what with all the smashing their face into blocks of woods repeatedly. (Insert your mom joke here.) Thanks for tuning into Snarkle Talks.
If you like hanging out with us and hearing random animal facts, do us a solid. Hit the rate and review button, click the thumbs up, give us a follow, share it with a friend, or even keep it running in the background while you're sashing. We're not picky. You do you. Until next time, keep your friends close and your kendamas closer. Bye!
Rae Maxwell Ross (24:54.51)
Snarkle Talks is brought to you by Kellie Kawahara Niimi, generally in charge of things and speaker of many words. Seth Niimi, producer and probably not imaginary co -host. And Rae Maxwell Ross, producer, sound editor and goblin. Music for Snarkle Talks is R .S .P. by Pow Music. Ugh, this echo is killing me.
Kellie:
I can't figure out how to...
Brett:
Is Rae still on?
Kellie:
No, they're in editing mode.
Brett:
I wonder how Rae is going to feel about this.
Kellie:
I know. They are so lovely. They are so patient with me because they explain to me how sound things work. Hi, Rae I love you. Thank you for doing all of this. um because you can hear all of it um but they explained sound editing to me and i'm like sure i don't know.