Juggling fun with serious business
An international touring performer known for his high-energy physical comedy and world-class juggling, he's turned living out of a suitcase into a full-blown career.
With over 20 years of performing experience — including headline acts on Disney, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line — James has juggled (literally and figuratively) his way across more than 40 countries.
From cruise ships to corporate events and international festivals, he blends precision, panic and punchlines in every performance.
In addition to performing, James is a passionate advocate for artists. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was invited to Parliament House to represent the voices of unemployed entertainers, particularly those in the cruise industry.
People say they love to travel — but try doing it while hauling a pogo stick and explaining juggling knives to airport security. It's like a stand-up routine before I've even reached the stage.
While most travellers juggle boarding passes and kids, I am juggling actual knives. With 50kg of bizarre props, a pogo stick and a suitcase full of gear that leaves customs scratching their heads.
What most people don't see is the exhausting, exhilarating world behind the curtain. My days are often a blur of early flights, customs checks and stage lights — all while keeping up the energy to try to bring the house down every night.
+ For more on James Bustar's comedy juggling shows, corporate event entertainment and global performing schedule, visit
jamesbustar.com
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The Advertiser
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- The Advertiser
After 33 years playing Home and Away's Irene, Lynne McGranger is just getting started
You'd be forgiven in thinking that after 33 years of playing beloved Irene Roberts on Home and Away that accomplished actor Lynne McGranger planned on resting and slowing down. But the departure of Irene means welcoming a whole new and exciting chapter for McGranger, 72, who will be on tour with The Grandparents Club nation-wide until November. The actor, who finished filming the soap in March, told The Senior that after first doing The Grandparents Club last year, it "triggered" her thoughts to return to the stage and she just knew it's where she wanted to be. Read more on The Senior: "I've still got my marbles, and I'm still physically fit. Thank goodness. Touch wood," she said. McGranger joked that maybe she should "jump before I'm pushed", a notion which is highly unlikely given the reaction of staff when she told them she was leaving Summer Bay. "I went and spoke to the producers and they cried, which was lovely," she said. 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McGranger decided to do some drama lessons on the side, but relief teaching proved to be the final straw. "I just went, 'Oh boy, I'm really bad at this. I really don't like it, I'll have a crack at this acting thing'," she said. "And my dad, God bless him, said 'don't come to me when you're in the gutter'. "And then, of course, two days later, he's ringing me going 'are you alright for money?'." Lynne said both her parents were very proud of her work in Home and Away and would be so excited she was nominated for Australian television's biggest award. "They're watching down from heaven ... they would be enjoying every minute," she said. The refreshingly down-to-earth McGranger is shocked by her nominations. "I was absolutely blindsided," she said. "It's very gratifying." McGranger, who suspects she is nominated because it is her last season on the soap and joked she would have "left years ago" if she knew it meant she'd get the Gold nod, is wonderfully self-depreciating. 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Lynne said both her parents were very proud of her work in Home and Away and would be so excited she was nominated for Australian television's biggest award. "They're watching down from heaven ... they would be enjoying every minute," she said. The refreshingly down-to-earth McGranger is shocked by her nominations. "I was absolutely blindsided," she said. "It's very gratifying." McGranger, who suspects she is nominated because it is her last season on the soap and joked she would have "left years ago" if she knew it meant she'd get the Gold nod, is wonderfully self-depreciating. "I think the silver was probably, in a way, even more surprising," she said. Explaining that the Silver Logie is now two previous categories combined - Best Outstanding Actress and Most Popular Actress - McGranger said she is in the same category as "wonderful actresses". "Good grief," she said. "If I win that, I really will probably fall head first into my soup." 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'I like vibrating at an optimal level, and the things you thought were annoying when you were younger, you start to do automatically and with pleasure when it comes to self-care.' Kravitz is speaking over Zoom from New York, where he's been preparing for a coming residency in Las Vegas. More than 35 years since releasing his debut album Let Love Rule, he's one of the '90s' most stylish rock'n'roll survivors, and he still tours the world. He's the fittest and happiest he's ever been, closer to God, and has found his ultimate purpose in life – though it took a lifetime to get there. In November, after several cancellations due to COVID, Kravitz will tour Australia for the first time since 2012 to promote Blue Electric Light, an album he recorded last year. 'I am in the best shape I have ever been,' he says. 'I am now enjoying all these experiences in life more than I ever have, and to be on the road playing shows is truly a gift. I am savouring every moment.' Kravitz first toured Australia in 1994, a year after releasing Are You Gonna Go My Way, his first album to climb to No.1 on the Australian music charts. By then, the four-time Grammy winner had found his musical sweet spot traversing rock, soul and R&B, a melding that made him a household name. A motorcycle ride to the Blue Mountains with a group of bikers in 1994 remains a nostalgic highlight of his time in Australia. Then came a campervan road trip to the outback, with some of that footage to be re-released as part of his music documentary Alive from Planet Earth. 'The '90s were all about being free and in the moment,' Kravitz says. With 12 albums under his belt, Kravitz continues to make music at his state-of-the-art home studios in the Bahamas and Paris, where he splits his time. He's already working on two new albums; a dedicated multi-instrumentalist, playing drums, guitars and occasional horns allows him to tap into different sides of his personality. 'It always starts with the music for me,' he says. 'I think that as long as you're hearing the music, and you have the desire to do it, it doesn't feel like work to me.' Kravitz has worked with many famous artists in his time, too. He co-wrote Justify My Love with Madonna in 1990, recorded a version of Give Peace a Chance with Sean Lennon in 1991, while co-writing with him on the track All I Ever from his 1991 Mama Said album. He also worked with Mick Jagger for his 2001 solo album on the track God Gave Me Everything. But for all the perks of the job, he says it's his fans he does it for. 'My music wouldn't exist without my fans. The fact that for all these years people have enjoyed my music and made it part of their personal lives and given it life, they in turn give me life … I have more perspective, more gratitude. It's a blessing to still be doing this at my age.' Away from music, Kravitz has dabbled in painting and art. Two months ago, he took us through his 16th arrondissement Paris home – Hotel de Roxie, named in honour of his late mother – in a video for Architectural Digest. His lavish Parisian home is filled with designer furniture, from his own namesake Kravitz Design chairs to pieces by his favourite furniture maker Paul Evans, who crafts brutalist elegance that feels H.R. Giger-esque in his pad. There's an iconic Karl Springer table and some Paris flea-market cane chairs he's thrown in for the high-and-lowbrow juxtaposition. Art fills the walls, too: an original Muhammad Ali Warhol print is there, as well as photographs of his mother, Roxie, and maternal grandfather, Albert Roker. The library bookshelves are filled with literature and African art books, while music memorabilia is all around. From James Brown's boot on display to garments worn by Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Bob Marley and Miles Davis, it's his shrine of worship. Yoko Ono presented him with a John Lennon shirt for his birthday once; it hangs protected behind glass here. Kravitz's luxe interior world highlights the fruits of his labour. He's an artist who found worldwide fame and broke boundaries to become a mainstream biracial American success story. In 2020, Kravitz released his autobiography Let Love Rule, a deep dive into the first 25 years of his life. His fraught relationship with his father, Sy Kravitz, an American-Jew, came to the fore. His bond with his showbiz mother, Roxie, who appeared in 11 seasons of the TV show The Jeffersons, was tighter by comparison, instilling him with African-American stoicism and Christian values. Kravitz was living on Broome Street in New York in 1989 when he began writing his debut Let Love Rule; he noticed the words scrawled near an elevator in his building and thought it would be perfect for the album title. His then wife, actress Lisa Bonet, helped him write the lyrics for Rosemary and co-wrote Fear. The couple were together from 1987 until they divorced in 1993. They have one daughter together, award-winning actress Zoe Kravitz, who appeared in Big Little Lies with her father's ex-fiancée Nicole Kidman. Kravitz lost his mother when she was 66 years old, the decade he finds himself navigating now. While on a phone call with his cousin a few days before we speak, Kravitz recited a quote his mother would often share with him. 'My mum always said, 'Don't worry about what everybody else is doing, do what you're supposed to do' – meaning, no matter how hard you're being treated or how wrong somebody could be treating you, don't worry about that, continue your life with love and integrity and respect,' Kravitz says. 'I love this because it requires a lot of self-control and non-judgmental thinking to apply it to your life.' Roxie Roker was an actress on Broadway, while Sy Kravitz worked for NBC, producing radio and television shows, and promoted jazz on the side. Kravitz recalls a childhood spent meeting his dad's friends, from Miles Davis to Sarah Vaughan and American poet, activist and writer Maya Angelou. Loading 'I grew up in the middle of different religions and found my place within it all,' Kravitz says. 'For me, it's always about God and Christ consciousness, the real meaning of all of that – that's where I am.' While he won't weigh into the politics of the world, he remains firm on his position for peace and love. 'As you know, people can take any good faith and twist it to justify something that is not what it is,' he says. 'I can take a knife and butter your toast, or I can take a knife and cut you with it. I'm all about God, which is love. That is how I have always lived it.' Faith has never been about religion for Kravitz, but his moral code and self-love has helped him find nirvana. 'It starts with God for me,' he says. 'I lean on faith and gratitude no matter what the situation. Whether that is prayer, meditation, rest, exercise, therapy, diet – all of these techniques make you the person you are.' He has no plans to slow down as he ages, either. 'I am still young, but I am not 20, of course,' he says. 'But I want to get the most out of each day in life as I can. We spend so much time looking back and looking forward and forget to be in the moment – yet the moment is all we have, and I am trying to be in it as much as possible.'
