Mills' Mess caught and is holding a ball), the Mills Mess pattern is sometimes called "Inside Out" -- from its appearance when performed: alternate chops alternating from "inside the pattern" to "outside the pattern", making it seem almost as if the balls are juggling the hands. The effect is that of a juggler frantically pursuing the balls in their staccato movements. The American artist, Glenn (with no last name) aka "The Great Bongo", gave this pattern its name, and claims to have taught hundreds of jugglers "how to do it the easy way." Mills Mess is a shape distortion involving crossing and
Mills' Mess pursue each other from one side to the other. It is also a windmill pattern which changes direction every three throws. Mills Mess was invented in the early 1970s (Between 1974 and 1975). Steve Mills was experimenting with many different variations that his teacher Ron Graham, Ron Lubman and a few others were doing in Central Park. Steve was inspired to do a two-handed variation of a crossing of the arm trick performed by Ron Lubman. Steve invented the trick while attempting to transition smoothly from right-handed windmill to left-handed windmill. About the naming of the trick Steve Mills adds: