MAI

Hi mate,

You had me chuckling today.

I was browsing through MAI in a newsagents, looking at the storm you created.

The Editor said words to the effect of "What would we do without Dave Turton."

Respect!

its the most pages ive read of MAI in years

4 pages of dave
4 pages of goshinkwai
2 pages of idiotic bruce lee fans writing stuff about Dave

Bob Sykes is loving all this Bruce Lee/Dave Turton stuff, he is laughing all the way to the bank, this Dave should get at least 50p of every mag sold

Ha Ha .. its actually quite funny really... for months now Bruce Lee fans have written in having a pop at my comments about him...

NO ONE has written in saying anything negative or derogatory about anything else I wrote/write ...

Its amusing that people can get so het up over a dead martial artist movie star... in most instances they werent even BORN when Lee died. Its as bad as Elvis.(This 30th anniversary of his death brings out the weirdos)

Bob (Sykes) I have known for 25 years and he is a wind up merchant.. if he didnt want letters about or from me.. why print 'em..
cos he likes controversy knowing it sells mags...

I think I'll put a halt to it.. its getting silly

cheers Brian and Andy

One thing that amuses me about the Bruce Lee thing...

Lee went off to do his own thing, put his own system together, rejected what he thought was rubbish and said so aloud. A lot. And upset various people.

Dave Turton is doing much the same thing, but only Lee is allowed to do that. By daring to think for himself, speak out etc, it's like he's been caught slathering mustard on the sacred cow....

For my part, I did some JKD and it was good. I know there's a million versions and my version was the wrong one with a duff lineage and... yeah well, actually I learned a lot of good stuff from a very good teacher, even if other JKD people disparage it.

But thing is, I'm not a Bruce Lee fan. He said some useful things, enunciated some good principles, and all that. But overall I think that the movies are... okay. The fighting system (as I trained in it) was pretty decent.... but the one thing I really admire about Lee was his willingness to think for himself and try to find his own way, no matter what convention and 'tradition' had to say on the subject. That I do admire.

What I don't like is the reaction of certain segments of the JKD crowd when you suggest that other people might have usefully followed the same process and could indeed have developed their own useful system...

The fact that I admire Lee's willingness to think and explore might in some way explain why I find closed-door schools annoying. Especially closed-door JKD schools.

'Right, that's it. We've got all the answers now. We can supply anyone who comes into the class with everything they need. We're great.'

Of course, when Joe Public asks about the class he gets told it's complete, it's all he needs, and he's not allowed to train elsewhere. He gets a couple of lessons maybe before he chooses to enter and slam the door behind him.

That's asking for a lot of faith. How do I know this class is all I'll ever need? Because someone from the class said so. And once I join I don't get to look around to see if I'm missing something. Something I might need to stay alive. Just have faith and keep training. We're the best and we have all you need.

No, I don't like this attitude. I've heard it in all manner of classes, from hardcore kata competitors to actual fighting styles. All of them want me to chuck away my right to choose and slap the blinkers on after just a couple of lessons. How much can you know about a style in a couple of sessions? (answer: just what the instructors want you to know).

It's poor, and a bit cultish, at the best of times. When JKD people do it in the name of their founder, who espoused getting out there and looking at what was on offer, I makes me grind my teeth.

Gah.

I'd of thought that the letters attacking Dave for his Bruce Lee comments would have died down by now. The article they appeared in was months ago. Still seems Dave has got another interview over his views, which is good advertising for the SDF.

Looking forward to reading the whole interview and also the aricle on Goshinkwai.

I'd of thought that the letters attacking Dave for his Bruce Lee comments would have died down by now.

Not a hope, Dave has done the martial arts equivalent of telling kids that Santa Claus isn't real and that kind of legend slaying leaves a mark.

But Santa Clause is real, silly.

Brian S wrote:But Santa Clause is real, silly.

B*stard never brought me my bike then!!

That's because I got it. I had these photos, y'see...