Tuesday, January 31, 2012

For you shooters

When I went off to school at the Sig Sauer Academy in New Hampshire with Steve White, our instructor was John McGregor. John had taken a bit of kenpo as it turned out. Anyway, he's the new co-host in a podcast series at www.gunfightercast.com. Check him out.

Up and running in Round Rock

I've secured a place to teach here in Texas and will be offering tai chi classes to start and will also be able to do some private lessons in tai chi and kenpo.
Daniel Delanela runs the studio where he teaches Tang Soo Do. My immediate impressions on visiting were that the school is clean, nicely decorated and equipped, well-laid out, doesn't have that "karate school smell" and that he is of legitimate TSD lineage. You can see his website at www.rrkarate.com.
   I'll be doing an intro to tai chi there on Weds, 15 Feb at 10am and starting the classes the following week. On Saturday 25 Feb I'll run a women's self defense class like I have in Florida, Illinois and California, at his invitation. The info on both events is on his site.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Meet Charlie Gonzalez

The first of Ed Parker’s Infinite Insights into Kenpo series came out in 1982. As I’ve written in my books, Mr. Parker told me he thought it would be one volume. However, as he talked with his students and continued to write he found the work became “more pregnant” with information. What eventually happened was that he expanded it and made it into the five volumes we know today. He arranged it so the volumes would be released around the time of the Internationals, in August of every year. But there’s a back-story. And I’d like to introduce you to Charlie Gonzalez, the man who printed the books and more for Mr. Parker

I met Charlie way back around 1980 at the Pasadena studio. This was when Frank Trejo was managing the studio and Charlie was one of the “home boys”. I’d see Charlie when I went out to train and he’d run the line with us. He’s a great guy and we recently re-connected on Facebook. I thought it might be interesting to get the lowdown on how he became the printer and any historical info on the book development he could provide.

Charlie was a yellow belt at the Montebello studio when he first met Mr. Parker. He says, “Frank Trejo was my instructor and I was testing for yellow belt. He (Mr. Parker) came in to judge, our performance. He was very friendly but did not know I was a printer yet.”

He continues, “I believe it was 1980 when we started talking about doing the printing for the Internationals, I started with the flyer and brochure. Then in 1981 I helped Jim Grunwald with the photo shoot for the covers we got the idea for the color background ! Nice I thought.” Charlie knew Jim from the Montebello school. He says that with new technology the covers could have been sharper and more colorful than back then. Every year at the IKC Jim, who was a professional photographer, would have a booth set up to do portrait photos and many people took advantage of that.

I asked Charlie how he got along with Mr. Parker. “I liked Mr. Parker, we got along real good.  He took some advice from me on the books, he gave me credit on book one. He also took me to Hawaii as a reward”, Charlie wrote. Mr. Parker had said once that he wanted to do some particular type of illustration and that his printer told him it could not be done. He said he thought about it and went back to him with four or five ways to accomplish it and that his printer was amazed. Maybe Charlie was that man?

How many books were printed? His answer was that “It’s been a long time but about quantity and lay out of the job… the run was 3000 books and 3000 every year after that.” Charlie thought Mr. Parker’s idea of the family tree was pretty good. Over time, Charlie estimates “book one we printed about between 30,000 and 40,000. On all five books we must have printed over 120,000.”

Personally, I remember Mr. Parker talking about wanting to do a book on the knife but that the technology would not allow him to illustrate the effects of the knife use. Charlie commented that Mr. Parker would “stay up all night working” on what he wanted to show but would then “say they were too gruesome”. Interesting to know he was thinking that on the empty-hand material, too. Ed Parker Jr told me a few years back that the technology has caught up with what his father wanted to do and it would be possible today. Mr. Parker wanted to be able to show the layering of the body with respect to the effects of a cut; a superficial cut, a deep thrust, for example with the respective anatomy affected.  

You can find Charlie on Facebook if you want to know more. I thought this little bit of kenpo history might be interesting.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Been there?

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots.
Apparently, you can't go alone, you have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't  have an airport; you have to be driven
there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on
physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing
and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have  been in Continent, and I don't remember what country I was
in. It's an age thing.

And you don't want to go to Gunpoint. Bad things can happen there.

I added the last line. Thanks to Bill Damewood for sending this along.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

20 years ago

On January 15, 1992 I opened the Ft Myers, Florida studio on College Pkwy. It was about three months after I moved to Florida from a short stay in New Hampshire and two days after my brother-in-law Rudy dies of a heart attack. He left my sister, Mary and a one year old daughter, Serena. Serena's birthday is the 15th also and she's now 21. So we have two anniversarys.
     I stayed in Florida for 19 years and 11 months before relocating here to the Austin, Texas area. Just as I left Chicago and now Florida, when people ask me if I miss it I tell them no. But I do miss the people, a lot. I made and kept many friends in both places and I'm fortunate to be able to return somewhat frequently to see them. And the web has made it easier to stay in touch with those I don't get to see.
     Those places were good to me. I'm sure Texas will be, too.
This time of year gives me much to think about - a grown niece away at school now, a widowed sister, the time spent living and teaching and what's to come. Thanks again to all of you who made it such an interesting time.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Kenpo described as a drug


I was in the gym early this morning and saw another one of those commercials for medication in which the side effects seem to be worse than the condition they treat. That got me thinking, so I wrote this.

Epaksazine – organic treatment

Originally developed in Hawaii and California, now world-wide. Largely unregulated but high-quality manufacturers exist in small areas.

Taken internally and may be applied externally to a spectrum of life-threatening conditions or a localized pain in the butt. Best taken with fertile, prepared mind, a warmed-up body and hydration.

Affects mood, strengthens musculo-skeletal system, improves balance, stimulates the central nervous system and is known to reduce cognitive impairments.

Recommended dosage is 2x/wk. Consult with a qualified professional before starting a course.

Side-effects
 May induce headache due to terminology.
Bumps, bruises, muscle aches, occasional sprains or breaks are possible
No anal leakage but a foot up a passage is possible
May induce thoughts of homicide...

Inform friends or family of thoughts of satisfaction with Epaksazine. If they last more than four hours, you’ve probably been to a Lee Wedlake seminar.

Studies show regular and/or application of Epaksazine to be successful in treating altercations of many types.    

More bragging

One of my old-time Chicago black belts, Ed Bilski, just earned his private pilot license. That's a big achievement.
The neat thing is that Ed was taught by his daughter, a flight instructor at Lewis University. And she took her first flight with me while on vacation in Florida.
Good for you, Ed!

Monday, January 9, 2012

I have stuff

I got my hands on some original IKKA materials. I have three second-edition Accumulative Journal binders, some crest decals and crest pins. http://www.leewedlake.com/store.asp

I just added some Ed Parker books, too. Nunchaku Guide, Women's Guide, Basic Booklet, Infinite Insights 1,3,4,5 and Memories of Ed Parker.
Infinite Insights books and other Parker books are coming, too.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

New article at www.leewedlake.com

I have posted the January article for subscribers at my site. The title is Time with Miyamoto, a little about his Book of Five Rings. Here's an excerpt. (This book cover is from a historical-based fiction work about his that is pretty good. Thanks to Tim McKenzie in NH for the steer.)

One statement he makes in the Book of Earth about what we today call cross-training is that you should be doing it. His reason is that you need to become familiar with what other systems do in the event you have to defend against it. I remember Mr. Parker telling me just that when I talked with him about how he selected the demos at his Internationals tournament. I saw some unusual stuff there and he said he wanted us to have an idea what they do in case we ever came up against it. We would not be surprised and therefore better able to handle it. That’s a page right out the Musashi’s book.  Some systems require their students to go get a black belt in another system in order to advance to the next degree in their system. Can’t say I like that idea. Today it’s the rage to do Mixed Martial Arts, which is another take on grabbing something from this and something from that and integrating it into what you do. Today’s MMA concept is not new, it’s just popular. Musashi says it “makes sense to study other arts”. He continues to say that we learn about ourselves by watching others. I take this to mean you either cross-train or at least carefully observe other systems. You’ll need a fertile, prepared mind for this. But taking a few years to get a black belt in something else is not what I hear him saying. He actually writes that a “kempoist should understand jiu-jitsu”.
A yearly subscription is $29 at www.leewedlake.com and click join LWKS

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The new Journey book

A second version of The Journey is on its way. Also authored by Tom Bleeker, this one updates some biographies and adds international instructors. I was told that updates included were only for those who have been active in contributing to the system since the original book was published. Should be out in April.