Tag: karate

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Yo… We are now on Tubi

A few months ago, I posted that I was interviewed by Tom Seymour for a documentary project. The film, American Expendables, is a deep dive into the impact that B-movie action stars like Bolo Yeung, Bill Blanks, and Cynthia Rothrock had on the martial arts genre.

Tom interviewed me because of my martial arts background and love of Kung Fu movies from the 1970s and 1980s. He worked on this project for several years. This was my third documentary collaboration with Tom, having previously appeared in VHS Massacre and VHS Massacre Too.

American Expendables, and both previous documentaries, are currently streaming on Tubi. The links to the films can be found below.

American Expendables
https://tubitv.com/movies/100022791/american-expendables-the-films-of-north-american-pictures

VHS Massacre Too
https://tubitv.com/movies/723878/vhs-massacre-too

VHS Massacre
https://tubitv.com/movies/655409/vhs-massacre

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NY Cine Video: MMA and other Martial Arts

This is the most recent New York Cine Video podcast. The conversation began with us talking about the classic martial arts comedy “The Foot Fist Way” featuring Danny McBride of “East Bound and Down fame”. Then the gang and I got sidetracked discussing the current state of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

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First Workout of 2015

I completed a fairly intense workout to start the year off. I did 7.5 miles on the elliptical and followed it up with 30 minutes of bag work, rope jumping, and stretching/yoga. My only resolutions for the New Year are to just keep moving and to remove as much negativity from my life as possible.

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New York Cine Radio: East Bound and Down and UFC talk

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I was fortunate enough to start the year off right with the team over at New York Cine Radio. The gang and I sat down and talked about Danny McBride’s East Bound and Down which Tom binged watched over the weekend. Ken and I sparred a bit over our impressions of James Franco’s and Seth Rogen’s controversial movie, “The Interview”. And finally our conversation took a weird turn as we veered into talking about Joe Rogan and Continue reading “New York Cine Radio: East Bound and Down and UFC talk”

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No more excuses

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The other day I was talking to my old martial arts instructor, Kyoshi Giles, and musing over the fact that only fellow martial artists seem to understand how getting together with close friends to punch, kick, and stab one another over and over can be a beautiful thing. The camaraderie that can be developed by working out with other like minded individuals is not only fun, but also uplifting. I bring all this up because I had just returned from an early morning knife fighting class at the Krav Maga Federation and was feeling pretty good about getting back into the swing of training on a regular basis.

Over the past year or so I had made a number Continue reading “No more excuses”

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Straight out of a comic book!

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When I was a young child growing up in Harlem there were very few people that looked like me in the media. And when they were people that looked like me presented in the movies, or on the small screen, they were almost always portrayed as unintelligent or docile. This is the rare exceptions to these rules made a seismic impact on me and many other impressionable black children. Yesterday I saw that one of my earliest heroes as a child, James Milton Kelly, had passed away at the age of 67. He was better known to the world as Jim “The Dragon” Kelly and was one of the prominent stars of the 1970s martials arts and Blaxploitation film era.

Jim Kelly was a martial arts legend to many of the brothers that I grew up around. He inspired many of us to start training in the martial arts just as much as Bruce Lee, and maybe more in certain ways. Being a young Continue reading “Straight out of a comic book!”

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RIP Aaron Banks

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This is sad news for the martial arts community. Master Banks was a very popular figure in the NYC martial arts scene during the seventies. He helped to pioneer the dissemination of the martial arts by helping to promote the “Oriental World of Self-defense” shows that packed Madison Square Garden during that time. I remember meeting Aaron Banks back in 1973 as my father was signing me up for my first martial arts class. This must have been only a few weeks after Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” premiered in the US. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but in NYC, that movie had kids dragging their fathers to any establishment that offered instruction in the martial arts. Unfortunately for my father, he was no different.

Aaron Banks was sitting at the front desk as my father and I walked in to Continue reading “RIP Aaron Banks”

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The Slow Road Back: Solo Training

The kid is trying to get back into shape after a long and rough year on a number of fronts. It has been about eight months since I was working out on a consistent basis. Still, in that time I have been able to adequately maintain my weight and general health by eating right. However there is no substitute for regular exercise. Plus the wife and kids have been telling me that I am a great deal more pleasant to be around when I workout. Who could have guessed Continue reading “The Slow Road Back: Solo Training”

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Randori Roundup

Ken Freeman

Pete Muldoon’s seminar from the other day got me thinking about my first Judo lessons, and has me wondering why I ever stopped. From day one you learn how to jump and fall, all while wrestling your friends to the ground. No katas or forms, just controlled roughhousing. Randori, as judokas refer to it. As a kid I loved it. And while I have always gravitated more towards of the striking arts, Judo was one of the first martial arts that I was introduced to when I was younger. Alot of time has past since those days. In fact it had been so long that I was shocked when my mother told me that it had been more than twenty-five years since my last Judo tournament.

I  started taking Judo while I was a camper at Kutsher’s Sports Academy back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The summers that I Continue reading “Randori Roundup”