The Way Of The Dragon

Martial Arts
Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco in 1940 and grew up in Hong Kong. He was introduced to martial arts by his father and began formal training at the age of 13. He excelled in Wing Chung Gung Fu and was eventually trained privately for several years by his master, who greatly influenced him. In addition to studying Gung Fu, he also boxed and became a champion at the age of 18, beating many of the best amateur fighters his age in Hong Kong. Lee's brother, Peter, was a champion fencer and Bruce learned the techniques of the sport from him. This wide range of influences and abilities helped Lee formulate his own style of Kung Fu later in life.

Lee's father forced him to move back to America when he was 19 after getting into a fight and severely injuring his opponent. Upon returning to the States, he moved to Seattle and began teaching martial arts. He modified what he had learned and improvised techniques in an effort to develop his own system with an emphasis on practicality, flexibility, speed and efficiency.

By 1965, he originated Jeet Kune Do whose symbols indicated that 'using no way as the way' and 'having no limitation as a limitation'. He threw out the formalised approaches that he felt held back the traditional styles of martial arts. He adopted and emphasized 'the style of no style'. He lived his life and taught his students how to exist outside of parameters and boundaries.

Lee met and taught several famous people in his studios, including:
Kareem Abdul-Jabar
Steve McQueen
James Coburn
Roman Polanski
Chuck Norris



Physical Abilities
Lee's philosophy and exceptional training program meant that he was able to achieve a phenomenal level of fitness and perform exceptional physical feats, which included:

* Achieving striking speeds of five hundredths of a second from three feet away with his hands down by his side.

* Lifting a dime off a person's open palm and leaving a penny behind before they could close their hand.

* Performing push-ups using only his thumbs.

* Performing up to 50 repetitions of one arm chin-ups.

* Throwing a grain of rice in the air and then catching it in mid-flight with a pair of chop sticks.

* Thrusting his fingers through unopened steel cans of Coca-Cola.

Acting
Lee began acting (if you can call it that) at the age of only three months and continued throughout his entire life. He died shortly after filming completed for 'Enter The Dragon'.

Here is a list of his film credits:

Childhood
1940 - Golden Gate Girl
1946 - The Beginning Of A Boy
1946 - The Birth Of Mankind
1946 - My Son, Ah Cheun
1958 - It's Father's Fault
1958 - The Orphan

Adulthood
1969 - Marlowe
1971 - The Big Boss / Fists Of Fury (US)
1971 - Fists Of Fury / The Chinese Connection (US)
1972 - Way Of The Dragon / Return Of The Dragon (US)
1972 - Game Of Death (completed and released after his death)
1973 - Enter The Dragon

Philosophy
Lee was believed to have more than 2500 books in his personal library and his eclectic philosophy was a result of borrowing something from everything that he read or studied. Ultimately, he believed that any knowledge led to self-knowledge and that each person had a chosen method of self-expression based on their knowledge.

Quotability
"A fight is not won by one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard."

"A glass that is half empty is better than a fully broken glass."

"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer."

"Balance your thoughts with action. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done."

"Cease negative mental chattering. If you think a thing is impossible, you will make it impossible. Pessimism blunts the tools you need to succeed."

"Don't fear failure. Not failure but low aim is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

"If you always put a limit on everything you do, it will spread into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus and you must not stay there. You must go beyond them."

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

"Know the difference between a catastrophe and an inconvenience. To realise that something is just an unpleasantness is part of coming into your own, part of waking up."

"Optimism is a faith that leads to success."

"Simplicity is the key to brilliance."

"Take inventory of everyone with whom you have contact."

"To be perfectly frank, I really do not. I believe in sleeping."
- When asked if he believed in God.

"To me, the function and duty of a quality human is the sincere and honest development of one's potential."

"Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it."

"We all have time to spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once passed, it is gone forever."

"We are always in the process of becoming and nothing is fixed."

"What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become."

"Your best move is the one you regret not doing."

Music
Kick or chop here to listen to the Bruce Lee mix.

01. Bruce Lee Speaks (Part 1) :: Bruce Lee
02. The Dragon :: Homeless Balloon
03. Bruce Lee :: Underworld
04. Bruce Lee Speaks (Part 2) :: Bruce Lee
05. Kung Fu Fighting :: Karl Douglas
06. Martial Beat Arts :: The Quiet ft DJ Silent
07. Bruce Lee Speaks (Part 3) :: Bruce Lee
08. China :: Red Rockers
09. Karate Stance :: The Combovers
10. Bruce Lee Speaks (Part 4) :: Bruce Lee

The Young Knives - Whelans, Dublin, Easter Sunday 2008

Words: Paulo
Tunes: Kub

When one mentions this band, I find myself drifting back to the summer of ’07 and the U.S. Road trip I did. It was in a quality little music establishment called “Grimey’s”, Nashville, Tennessee (another story!) that I came across the wonderful first album “Voices Of Animals And Men”. It was my good mate, Kub, who encouraged me to buy it and for this I say “Cheers lad”.

Anyway, back to the present! I found myself at the infamous music venue that is Whelan’s of Wexford Street on a cold Easter Sunday accompanied by the aforementioned Kub. Having picked up the second album “Superabundance” earlier in the week and found it to be as good if not better than the debut, I was naturally excited about hearing the tunes live. I hadn’t witnessed them on stage before so I was curious and buzzing!

A newspaper article on the previous Friday had recommended the gig and advised, in particular, that anyone in attendance should pay special attention to the ‘in-between-song-banter’!

The venue quickly filled up and both Kub and myself were happy to see the back of the support band (called Unicorn something or other). We moved down towards the stage, took up our positions next to the sound desk and watched as the roadies meticulously put the bands gear together.

At approx. 9.30pm the lights went down and a cheer went up as the band took to the stage. Lead singer Henry Dartnall said a quick hello and they were off, opening with the snappy “She’s Attracted To”. I was also off, getting straight into gig pose with air guitar/bass/drums at the ready (sorry, I probably look like a twat but I can’t help it and those who know me well understand what the music buzz does to me!). Having finished the first tune Henry thanked the crowd and dived straight into the ‘in-between-song-banter’ I mentioned earlier. “We’re gonna be playing a lot of songs from our new album which is called Superabundance. We will of course also be peppering the set with all of our chart topping hits!” I turned to Kub and smiled. The tone was set for the evening!

They breezed through singles “Terra Firma” and “Turn Tail” with gay abandon and you could tell they were enjoying themselves. Henry then quipped that it was “great to be back in Whelan’s” and went on to introduce the band – “on bass we have the wonderful House of Lords! And on drums is Oliver”. Now, I was aware of the fact that the bass player held this quirky title but on the night, the lead singers’ reference to him was particularly humorous. What was even more comical was the fact that a few songs later the lead singer went about introducing the band again at which point The House of Lords interjected to inform the “slightly chubby” (he referred to himself as this) Henry that he had already done this. “Oh did I” was his reply, “Well you obviously didn’t say anything when I did as otherwise I wouldn’t have forgotten!” which brought a hearty laugh from the enthralled crowd.

Upon introducing one of the “chart toppers” the lead singer blasted “This is another one of our singles. One of our chart topping, best selling singles. Singles... Singles shmingles… what does it matter? Singles shmingles. I’m not even Jewish by the way”. The House Of Lords then pointed out that his remark was rather racist which led into a lengthy and clown-like debate on racism between the two front men. Henry made some comment about how the House Of Lords doesn't speak much to him and then comes out with that attack. Without missing a beat, HOL replied, "I can't ever talk to you backstage because you always have your head buried in 'Mein Kampf'!" Ouch. All Henry could say was "touche". “Why can’t all gigs be like this” I thought to myself.

They continued to bang out the tunes with the crowd getting more and more involved as they did so. “Fit 4 U” was then announced as the next song at which point I let out a roar of appreciation that came out very high pitched, sounding like a teenager whose adult vocal chords were breaking in! But I didn’t care. My favourite song of the new album was played to perfection by the boys and it made my night!

Henry then announced that time was closing in on them and that they were coming to their final two tunes. The crowd sighed with disappointment! “However, there is a line drawn under these on the set list with 3 more songs underneath”, he cheekily chirped (one of which was Adam & the Ants ‘Stand & Deliver’ – legendary!). The crowd went bananas and all was OK again!

They finished off with the harmony-tastic “The Decision” and bounced offstage to a barrage of applause and cheers. It left me longing to see them play live again very soon. Whelan’s is just a great little venue too… if only it could play host to every band!

Hot summer… here’s hoping! Hot band… ooooooooohhhh yeah!!!! Mother Nature sighs with relief… for now!

The set list was:

01. She's Attracted To
02. Counters
03. I Can Hardly See Them
04. Coastguard
05. Terra Firma
06. Rue The Days
07. Rumor Mill
08. Dyed In The Wool
09. Turn Tail
10. Fit 4 U
11. Up All Night
12. Weekends And Bleak Days (Hot Summer)
13. Current Of The River
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14. Loughborough Suicide
15. Stand And Deliver
16. The Decision



If you want to learn more about this English three-piece, tweed-loving group of geek rockers, go here.

If you want to hear some of their quality tunes (listed below) mixed by Kub, go here.

01. Turn Tail
02. The Decision
03. Walking On The Autobahn
04. Weekends And Bleak Days (Hot Summer)
05. Fit 4 U
06. Dyed In The Wool
07. Here Comes The Rumor Mill
08. English Rose
09. Terra Firma
10. Flies

Finally, Henry in his own words (courtesy of www.myspace.com/theyoungknives):

Thursday, March 13, 2008

"Our new album "Superabundance" is out this week. This is the week to make a difference. If you are sick of rubbish music then stand up and be counted. If it is your birthday next week and you were hoping someone might buy it for you , don’t wait, they have probably bought you a Sugababes (nothing wrong with this, just not the same) record, so get Superabundance immediately. If you think that maybe Young knives have gone a bit crap on their second album, then rest assured, it’s a pretty good record, so take a chance and splash out on Superabundance. If you thought you would just download it for free from the internet, then just don’t, it ruins music for everyone, buy Superabundance (and everyone else’s albums that you were considering stealing). If the tone of this message has put you right off buying our album then a) I’m sorry and b) never pay attention to the pish that spews out of musicians mouths, judge them purely on their music (ie, buy Superabundance). "