December, 2009
SFC HEADQUARTERS DOCTRINE
"Read by Thousands Round' the World!"
See Y'all Next Year!
Adios Amigos
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15 December 2009: "You need to go see Ray Medina"
In 1986, I was a frustrated karate and jujitsu student taking classes in a local gym. I wanted to do so much more than traditional material that it was just driving me crazy. I had a cop's eye and a military eye on what was and wasn't real fighting. My good friend, comrade and co-detective and karate Black Belt Roger White knew this and told me, "you know, you need to go see Ray Medina." Ray had returned from yet another trip from California (the martial arts mecca) and he was learning a whole new way to teach and train. I contacted Ray, who was a respected champion Black Belt at the Karate system that was taught at my gym. I knew him and knew of his "mysterious" trips west." You can ask anyone of that area and of that day, that Ray was a real champ.
When I spoke with him, he had news. "I am starting a summer series," he told me. "You should join." I did, and with a series of summer classes in Jeet Kune Do and JKD Concepts that included JKD, Filipino, boxing, shootfighting, Muay Thai, silat, the Vunak PFS, Larry Hartsell, Lucay Lucay, Saluite material, (and more karate and jujitsu). I became hooked. When that summer series was over at the school? I immediately became a personal student ($50 an hour back then, twice a week)
This first private lesson night was held in the local Shin-Toshi karate school. Ray said, "Okay, lets see where you are." We put on boxing gloves and in went the mouth pieces. Now, I had been kickboxing since the early 1970s. I wasn't any good at it per say, but I wasn't that bad either. Ray said, "let's just box." We did, and he proceeded to whip my ass like a step child. I mean, it was embarrassing. After a few rounds he stopped and we took off the gloves. he was quiet and I thought he would tell me to leave and say I was hopeless. But he simply said, "Okay, let's get started. I tell this story in a lot in seminars. One point was that many people kickbox and Thai box, but boxing alone is a unique skill that enhances kickboxing and Thai. That is sort of a known fact now, but wasn't way back then.
Anyway, I worked with him about for the next 5 years. And I mean obsessively. Two afternoon privates, two weeknight classes and something on the weekend. We traveled together attending seminars and hosted seminars. Ray was just as interested in new martial arts s I was. When Ray or I had a new idea? We would "box it out," as we called it, meaning we would battle-test the move (within reason).
At the left is a photo at a Guro Dan seminar. We caught him every time he was in the region. (I don't like to show photos of me and Dan, as it's kind of taboo thing, out of political respect. But under these circumstances, I don't think he would mind. I was just a seminar student. This is about Ray, not me. At seminars, Dan would wave at Ray when we walked in (you know, which was very cool).
Ray and I started a "Concepts Class" in Gold's Gym in 1988 which I eventually fully took over by 1993. Ray sort of "disappeared' from time to time. Left the city, the area. These stretches got longer and longer. Sometimes I knew where he was, like in southern California with Dan or Vunak for a month, or places like upstate New York with Kevin Seiman events. Then other times? i didn't know. There was no email or the internet back then to stay in touch. He never had a steady phone. He'd come back and teach the new materials he learned. Meanwhile, I kept on contacting new experts too.
He popped in and out, again and again, the last time telling me that we simply HAD to study Kung Fu by Francis Fong in Atlanta. I told him I was already doing privates and seminars with a Wing Chun,/James Lee/Oakland JKD instructor. And well, I just wasn't interested enough in Kung Fu to jump both feet into it like that. Miffed I guess, he left again. This time for good. You know I never could really figure Ray out. Anyway, I continued on the search around the world. Always looking for the next best thing....the next best thing. The next best thing was never the best thing. My job now is to make the next best thing. Or to make people learn how to make the next best thing (it's a Zen thing).
Its a fast-forward. About 4 years. In 1996 I was back on patrol on a cold, bleak, midnight shift. 4 am. On W. University drive I saw a lone, male figure walking west on the island between lanes. Who is this poor bastard? It must be 20 degrees out. I pulled over and rolled down the window, "where ya' going?"
Under the hood of the jacket? It was...Ray Medina! He was going to a relative's house. I got him in the squad car and drove him there. I could tell he felt uncomfortable about his last "disappearance" as we had no real conversation. We actually never discussed martial arts once on the drive! When I parked at the house, I remembered that in my trunk was a case of FMA materials. (At that time, Roger White and I were working out at our "lunch" hour - 5 am - YES! 5 am! - at the Police Athletic League each night and I had my gear with me). I had recently returned from the Philippines and had a few of those classic "Filipino Weapons' Boards" (see right) inside my gear. Before Ray left, I gave him my business card and one of these cool, large boards full of replica knives. And that, despite our promises, was the very last time I saw him.
Just as Roger White first told me to "go see Ray Medina," in the 1980s, Roger also had some sad Medina news for me this very day in December, 2009. You see, Ray Medina just died. He had some kind of huge tumor. We don't know the details. But he's gone.
For what it is worth, I don't know where I would be today without having met Ray. I probably would have bailed on the martial arts out of boredom over a decade ago? I simply don't know. But he came along just at the right time with the right message and lit a fire in me. Since that first private lesson night when he boxed my ears in,the subject of fighting - thoughts on and about it - occupy my mind most of every day. Like a painter paints. Like a sculptor sculpts. This is what I think about. Yeah, I think it's unhealthy. But this is who we are. This is what we do.
Still, one of the great accomplishments of my life, is the fact that that within about three years from that first night when Medina boxed my ears in, I could go toe-to-toe, switch leads, with Ray Medina standing and on the ground, with any weapon. He taught me all that and more. His goal was to make me better than him. He worked hard on it. What a lesson that is for all instructors! Ray was conduit to a bigger truth. My troops know I follow that format when I've said a million times, "I am am mere vessel, a conduit. This is about you, not me." That comes from Raymon Medina. One of the scores of things he taught, even by osmosis. The Obituary from the Denton Record Chronicle reads:
Ramon Medina, 49, of Denton, passed away Sunday December 13, 2009 at his home in Denton.
Mr. Medina was born on December 5, 1960 in Robstown, TX to Jose Medina and Damiana (Gonzales) Medina. For the last 15 years he shared his life with Claire Stuart and they celebrated their 1 year anniversary of marriage on November 1, 2009. Ray was a barber for 33 years. In 1980 Ray became a premier student at the Denton Academy of Martial Arts when he was awarded the coveted rank of Black Belt in the art of Shin-Toshi. In 1982 his extra ordinary skills achieved a national level when he traveled to California to train in Bruce Lee's legendary art of Jeet Kune Do along with the Filipino Martial Arts under Dan Inosanto. He had a life long dedication to martial arts as well as his family. A visitation will be held from 6-8 pm, Tuesday December 15, 2009 at Mulkey-Mason, Jack Schmitz and Son Funeral Home. A graveside service will be held at 2 pm Wednesday December 16, 2009 at Roselawn Memorial Park. Ramon is survived by his wife, Claire Medina of Denton; mother, Damiana Garrett of Denton; daughter, Cierra Medina of Denton; son, Jeremy Medina of Denton; sisters, Diana Pyke of Denton; Carol Marroquin of Denton; brothers, Ricardo Medina of MO, Jose Medina Jr.of Denton; two grandchildren, Avery Brianne and Gavin Ramon; his faithful dogs, Chico and Emmers and numerous nieces and nephews.
Adios Amigos. And adios to you, my important amigo, Ray...
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12 December 2009: Murder-Lite / Murder-Dark
People always criticize television shows for not being very real. With some shows you know from get-go not to expect reality. Take the CBS show the Mentalist - which I do not care to watch, or Monk which is very campy and I do catch every once in a while. You expect a little silliness or truth-stretching. Then look at Law and Order. A viewer immediately expects some level of reality with Law and Order. Look at the old Angela Lansberry, Murder She Wrote or that old Dick van Dyke show Diagnosis Murder. I never watch these show but have seen them in foreign countries. Still on! I call them Murder-Lite. You never see more than a trickle of blood and the actual crime itself is not over-shown or over-done. So, I am not a fan of most crime shows, whether they are Murder-Lite or Murder-dark. 
Murder-dark is like CSI. Its another “hotel show” for me. The first time I saw it was in London on BBC! Years after it started in the USA. I can’t say whether my interest was in the show or seeing Marg Helgenberger (before these annual face lifts). I can’t stand that weird Caruso on CSI Miami and while I think Gary Sinise is a great actor but CSI New York just bores me. Even Kojack, filmed mostly in Los Angeles with some New York stock footage, seemed to better capture the essence of New York that CSI New York. But what really aggravates me about the CSI stories is that the CSI people...like...run the investigation and the actual detectives follow them around like naive puppy dogs. "What should we do next, CSI?" "CSI, please sit in on the interrogation. I don't know what to ask?" As a former detective for many a year, I can tell you this is COMPLETELY the opposite of how it works. As a detective I might conspire ways to keep Marg with me on the case, sure...but I no longer watch any of the CSI shows. I tried. I just can’t. Too much, and too much plastic surgery.
Something about that Marg!
At least in NCIS, the crime scene people are back in the lab taking requests. I will admit I have become addicted to NCIS. It also started while I’ve been stuck in hotels on the road where I would just leave the TV on and see some segments of NCIS while writing. All over the world! Sometimes in English with foreign subtitles and some dubbed. Soon it caught more and more of my eye and now I have about 5 years worth of shows to catch up on. I will tell you that it varies from murder-lite to murder-dark, and gets silly too, but the show has a nice chemistry and of course, you know...Ziva. It has been the number one show in the USA since this season. I was also a military investigator and albeit a long time ago, I can safely tell you that things are run quite the way they appear on NCIS. For one thing the show suggests there are other teams working in that big office. Highlighting that might give the show a little more reality and depth. Plus..they only work on one case at a time? Which is the biggest misconception. And many of the themes they work on belong in the CIA and Homeland Security. But how many times can Gibbs say, “saddle up, we got a dead Marine on the parkway.” They have to “24” the show up a bit with terrorism and so forth.The new offshoot NCIS Los Angeles does nothing for me...yet. Cops I know from Baltimore and DC tell me that HBO's The Wire was the most realistic crime drama, at least about their area. I started to watch it and found that observation very scary. The original Homicide was based on a non-fiction book and had some mojo.
Through the years I have gotten to know some TV crime writers. They tell me that its all about what they call “execution,” and not in like execution-murder. On paper, its “man murdered, cops solve.” Its execution as in how the producers, directors, writers and actors execute that simple plot line. They all change decades, clothes, cars and guns, hairdos and yes - face lifts, but murder-lite or murder-dark, the basic plot hasn’t really changed much since the Murders of the Rue Morgue.
Its all about the execution. No pun intended.
Adios Amigos
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9 December 2009: Not “Where are they now,” but “WHY are they now?”
In the big picture, the martial arts world is very, very small. I think more people golf, shoot pool or play basketball that do any MA. Even in this small world, it was once very much smaller. Small indeed. A good question periodically raises its head in the martial community about left-overs from these olden, golden days.
“How does this old, “has-been” martial arts guy still get around,
is still known and still gets new students?”
Some would think that the older some products or personalities are, the less chance many are still known and viable. In the martial and/or martial arts world that might be different. First in this line of work, old-timers are supposed to be smart. But, lets look at this, this way - by the numbers. The Car Example
Imagine as an example, a decade like the 1960s and lets say for the sake of argument, there were only ten cars made that year. If you were a car buff or even remotely interested in cars it is quite likely that you would know these ten cars and a lot of trivia about them.
Imagine next the 1970s. More cars. Not that many, but more, maybe 20 now. The buff and the mildly interested would still know all 20 cars and things about them. Then the 1980s. 25 or 30 cars. Still manage-able. the car buff knows all of them but them semi-interested will start to lose count and interest. Along comes the 1990s and there is 40 or 45 cars. Then the 2000’s and there in...hundreds of cars. Hundreds of them. Hard to keep track of all the new cars from the 1990s and 2000s. But almost all car and non-car people still remember the Edsel, the Ford and the Cadillac.
1960s
Lets remove the word “cars” and insert martial artists names to get back on subject. In the 1960s there were hardly any MA names. If you were in MA you knew a whose-who of special and active “Ku-raty” people. Chuck Norris. Alan Stein. Bruce Lee. Ed Parker, etc...the list was short and very manage-able. These people are considered American pioneers. We all remember who these people are. Big fish in a small bowl.
1970s
Crossing into the 1970s, the list grew just a little more. We all still could manage knowing whose-who. TV (as in Carradine) and martial movies helped out. Who came upon the movie scene? Chuck Norris. Bruce Lee. Lewis did that “Jaguar” movie. All was very manage-able for the practitioner and fan. Big fish is a slightly bigger bowl.
1980s
In the 1980s, the list grew again but not by much. Even doubling wouldn’t add much. More MA Movies. Dan Inosanto became much more popular. As of course, did others. We all could still keep track of the important or popular players. Paul Vunak and Burton Richardson split off from the Inosanto world. Remy Presas and Leo Gaje were touring up a storm. I can’t name them all here, but like the automobile example used above, a player could keep track of the major whose-who.
One VERY big thing happened in the 80s in this cause. Video tapes and VCRs! And suddenly unknowns became knowns, usually through Panther Videos and Paladin Press. Remember the little stable of ESPY? A couple of production companies were born. It was way too costly for unknowns to make their own videos then. Thousands of dollars. (I had a friend who paid a whopping $10,00 in 1988 to have 6 terrible video tapes made.) But, by 1988 or so, MA people could “hummm, hymmm and hawww” about these new training video tapes advertised in the few MA magazines at the time. Inside Karate. Inside Kung Fu. Black Belt. Just a few mags like those. Just a few stars. Just a few videos. All manage-able for an MA-er to keep track of whose-who. If you had a Panther video series? You are probably still known to some extent today. Eric Knaus Dog Brothers. Tony Blaur. Larry Tatum.
1990s
In the 1990s, even more names appeared on the scene. Why? Well, more “graduates” from the 1970s and 80s! Like in the mid-to-late 1980s, in the 1990s more videos appeared on the scene, this time even self-made ones as the cost of video cameras and editing equipment went down and down.
I had a MA and Crimestopper TV show in a north Texas market at the time and I had full access to a TV studio. I was able to convert these episodes to training films, buy ads in these few magazines and get into the business before the production prices really went down. This is why I am a “figure” from the 1990s...a “car” of the 90s if you will. Like a Trivial Pursuit question, I am a name from the 1990s. This is partially why I am remembered and get around today. Partially. I still have to produce quality and unique material. Different treatments. My niche started a bit with FMA, but took off with the knife and now for many a year I pushed and prodded on all fronts to be a seamless "hand, stick, knife and gun" guy. Core "essence of combat" guy. That is my shingle. Four college courses on them, blended where possible for faster consumption.
And in the 1990s, the lists of MA names on the scene, and the names of the MA magazines and the names of the MA training film companies were all still small enough to be known by the MA buff and even by the remotely interested. All the while everyone still remembered names like Chuck Norris, Bill Wallace and Ed Parker, much like people today remember TV shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanza and I Love Lucy. (Oh, and meanwhile this little thing called the internet was spreading.) Big and small names in a medium-sized fish bowl.
2000s
Then came the 2000s. BOOM! The bowl got REALLY big. Super-sized. More graduates from the 1980s and 1990s! Then, every dickweed with a cheap video camera, graduate or not, became a self-make star. Plus, more video companies, like TRS popped up. More people. More Videos. Budo Magazine and their videos kicked in from Spain. (keep in mind that Europe and the UK were undergoing their own revolutions and name games).
But soon DVDs swept in and completely wiped out the cheap, video tape industry. Only for awhile though. The new DVD equipment was expensive again. The “training film” industry therefore shrunk. But within a few years, once again, the prices went down and every dickweed with nasal hair could afford a digital cam and a cheap computer and was once again banging out films in their basement. I saw one DVD where a guy hung a bed sheet across a small, living room apartment. You could still see the furniture right through the sheet. Jeez, man, just shoot it in your living room or not. But pick a fucking motif! The transparent sheet shows you are half-baked idiot.
Oh, and did I mention the internet? It GREW in the early 2000s. Ya’ notice? The internet now made what was once a simple “Joe Jones” business card into a glorious Superman webpage. Every Clark Kent was a Superman. At first they were expensive to make and maintain. Then it got cheaper. By 2007, even an inexpensive webpage could make a airhead look like a combat genius. And of course, You-tube appeared, making an explosion of MA people, all looking at other MA people looking back at MA people, all in an MA circle jerk of jerks, all making You-tube films to look at more MA people looking back. EVERYBODY was an expert in the circle of the jerk. Smaller fishes in a great big, giant bowl.
2009. In review, this past decade has created thousands and thousands of MA people. No longer can a buff keep track of them. No longer can someone who is just remotely interested in MA even begin to keep track of the “names.” The other day I thumbed through one of these new MMA magazines on the rack. There are too many of these magazines and they won’t last. It was full of tattooed kids just out of puberty I’d never heard of, interspersed with girls in bikinis. Pages and pages. Fighter. Girl. Fighter. Girl. Unknown fighters interspersed with bikini girls. Think of all the issues after issues of unknown fighters and girls.
Anybody know them? Anybody care? Anybody care who won last April’s, East BeJesus, Wisconsin, “Rat in a Cage Fight?” Every city in Minnesota had 3 to 5 cage fights a month last year. Who won in El Paso, TX? In May? or June? In Flagstaff? Who cares? On that note, what was the latest UFC match number, anyway? UFC 198? UFC 211? Anybody still keeping track? Quick. Who won UFC 113? Anybody really care? But the same way we remember the MA folks of the 60s, we still do remember the early names of the UFC of the 90s. Its a pioneer thing we remember and respect. The pioneers and near-pioneers. And we remember some UFC champs that were very exceptional special winners since. The key word here will be “exceptional,” eye-catching... or "that which differentiates.” Pioneers and that which differentiates. Those are the two key points of this essay.
What's Next?
What will the next decade bring in MA and well, now MMA? That officially starts January 1, 2011 not next month. The next ten years all will increase MA-ers expediential. Thousands and thousands. That’s a lot of barb-wire tattoos and ball caps worn sideways. The Wall Street Journal recently called the DVD (and Blue Ray too) the “vanishing DVD.” Streaming and downloads will rule the world. Today, my local Blockbuster put up “going out of business” signs. DVDs will slowly go the way of the video tape. Training "films" and any related fame will take another odd turn.
How are these older martial artists still in the...now? Because they were once uniquely known, therefore they still are. A name. But on the subject of "whose-who "and "why-still," if you are a MA buff or someone that is remotely one, you will still remember the names of the 1960s, the 70s, the 80s and even the 90s. The pioneers and the near-pioneers. The names are like folklore, tossed around like gossip and Trivial Pursuit questions. We all still remember Mickey Mantle, Our Man Flint and Captain Kirk. I sometimes wonder what, if anything, Ed Parker would think of today's martial landscape.
In the big picture, the martial arts world is still a very, very small. More people buy magazines on quilting. I think more people golf, shoot pool or play basketball that do any MA. But still within this small realm, in 2015? How many MA-ers with training films...er...I mean downloads and flashy webpages will there be? And more importantly, what will you do to differentiate yourself from all this mess? Each year, each decade it will become harder and harder to stand out. More fish. Bigger bowl. I was lucky. I made a name for myself in the 1990s. A “near-pioneer.” Kind of like “near-beer.” Not quite the real beer, just near it. What will you do to differentiate yourself in all this future mess?
THAT which differentiates. Remember those words grasshopper. Who are they? What do they do? Where do they do it? When? How? Why? Separate your golden locks from the rest of the nasal hairs. (and don't put a bed sheet over a couch and call it a movie studio!)
Adios Amigos ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I December 2009: Son of Armageddon! The Sequel Sale!
More cats and dogs are sleeping together! Remember Winter, 2008? They predicted doom, despair and agony for 2009. So we ran an Armageddon sale. It is 2009 now! Yes, well, it’s back! Its worse! Unemployment, Iran with nukes, soup lines and rich liberals in charge of the economy! They are even taxing taxes. Death panels. The annual nuke-winter, Armageddon Sale returns this year with deeper cuts, despair and greater distress. Unions will soon run all major businesses until...unions leaders will be the businesses leaders and...and the union workers will unite against union management...leaders? And...wel ...make yourself feel better and buy something on deep six sale!
Quickly get these SFC DVDs, Books and gear in a sale like never before! It’s the end of the world as we know it. Look at the SFC Supply Depot Shop Site. Quick before 100 US dollars becomes just one Chinese jaun! We may sell out and move to New Zealand!
Everything is off 20% to 50%! Some things 75% off!
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Yes, the book, years in the making, is finished. 300 pages. Over 1700 how-to photographs. This is not the typical, razor-thin, large-print, knife books you have seen by others in the past.
Even I am impressed and I am my own worst critic. Click here for more
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