Hey Lamar whats your take on Ron Balicki's new book....

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Lamar,
Just wanted to get your feed back as well as anyone here who's read Ron Balicki's new book (The Principles Of A Fighter) IMHO this is one of the best on JKD that I have read in a long time....

He made a few good points that I would like to get some feed back on from you & or anyone who has read it, especially if they train in or teach JF/JKD....( Being that those of you who train & teach JF/JKD say it's original JKD)

If JKD is clearly the "way of no way", the "style of no style" then why do so many JKD players insist that they have the "true" art of JKD, that they are preserving the "authentic" art developed by Bruce Lee? It would seem,if you really read Bruce right,that there is no such thing as "authentic" JKD - there is no "style" to preserve. JKD, Bruce Lee said, must be a creation of the individual....

No one sells magazines like Bruce Lee.No one in the martial atrs world has more magnetic draw. If a martial artist can play off that,by claiming to have the only true knowledge, then people will come to him to learn. Undearneath this wholesale abandonment of the master's philosophy is the desire for power. Those who claim to know the "true JKD art" are really about money. There is no such thing as the "true JKD art". That is why we are not telling you that this book is the "how to" book of JKD. We are not saying that way have the correct techniques. However, there are certain principles and ther are certain concepts Bruce Lee developed. Each person will fill in the blanks differently. Each person will take the concepts and create an art that works for them. We can only help expose just what those concepts are.

Hey just for the record when I read this the first three that came to mind were lamar,panther & madigan....lol :D

Peace

[jmdrake]

Hello Raynysc,

I'm not Lamar or anyone else you mentioned (Madigan, Panther. But the way, who the heck is Panter?). But since I have trained under Lamar I guess I do qualify to answer your question. First I'm wondering how you call this "Ron Balicki's new book" when it's been available for some time now? I have "thumbed through" the book. I skipped over all of the political BS that you seem to find so interesting for some odd reason. On the techniques I did like where Ron thew his keys to distract a knife wielding opponent. But his "spit in their eye" technique left me scratching my head. Maybe if I chewed tobacco I would find that more pratical. :D

Now for the whole "style of no style" and "way of no way" argument, it's true that Bruce Lee said that. But it's dangerous to hang an entire argument on a single quote. He also said "JKD is definitely a Chinese martial art"? He also had a definite curriculum that he wanted taught at his schools and got all over Dan's case when Dan went astray from it. (That's according to Dan.) He also said "JKD represents X. Your style represents Y. To mix X and Y is to deny both X and Y". And let's look at what Dan Inosanto himself has said. In one interview he said "Sometimes I'll do a seminar and teach JKD. Othertimes I'll do a seminar and teach Kali." If there is really no "authentic JKD" only "principles" or "concepts" then why would Dan make such a statement? Why does he have seperate tapes on "Jun Fan Gung Fu/JKD kickboxing" and Kali?

http://inosanto.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IAMA&Product_Code=DEFINVIDEO01&Category_Code=VIDEOS

People who actually train with him say that he keeps the JKD classes seperate from the other things he teaches. If there is no authentic JKD then why bother with all of this? Why not mix everything together in one big pot?

Anyway the whole "original versus concepts" debate is old, stale and boring. It all comes down to terminology. Another Dan Inosanto student by the name of Kevin Seaman wrote an excellent book called "Jun Fan Gung Fu: Seeking the Path of JKD". The basic premise of this book is that you can't truly understand JKD until you first know Jun Fan Gung Fu. I agree, but for me Jun Fan Gung Fu is the Seattle period stuff (since that's the title Bruce was using for his art at the time), Oakland is the transitional period and LA is the JKD era. But hey, if someone else wants to use Jun Fan Gung Fu as a label for what I call JKD (or in Dan Inosanto's case "Jun Fan Gung Fu/JKD kickboxing" for JKD though that seems a little wordy) then fine. It's just a name after all. Names are good for exchanging ideas. Silly accusations on who is/isn't trying to "make money" off of the term JKD does nothing to help in the exchange of ideas. And the OJKD people can EASILY counter that the JKDC group are the ones trying to cash in via lineage/certification arguments.

One more thing. You really don't know much about Sean Madigan do you? That's a shame since you both live in New York. Sean does his own thing and at this point he doesn't even use the term JKD in his advertising. But he has a stronger grasp of what JKD is all about than many people in either camp. He chose to use a new term to describe what he does now that he's experimenting with things other than JKD, but he still has a strong JKD base IMO. Rather than seeking to criticize Sean you should seek to meet him. I would say the same thing regarding Lamar since he is in New York yearly for seminars. As for "panther" I still don't know who that is. Wasn't he on Martial Arts Masters or something?

Regards,

John M. Drake

[Sean Madigan]

Hi All,

Funny thing is, I wrote a very positive review of that book for my website.

I only wish that Ron would come out with a book that deals with his knife method as well. Ron Balicki has built much of his reputation on his knife skills, and when I ordered that book I was hoping he was going to cover more of that in it.

I am really looking forward to Matt Thornton's SBG book that is due out next year.

Ray, you and I got off to a wrong start, and if that was my fault (by not answering a question in a manner you liked) then I am sorry. I really think you have a wrong opinion of me, and what I do.

All the best,

Sean Madigan

http://www.combativesolutions.com

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Sean,
Everything is cool. I guess we both got off on the wrong foot. I can understand how you feel about wanting to see more knife material in the book. What one needs to keep in mind though is that the book is geared more towards explaining the theories & concepts. It is not a manual of how to techniques. What the photographs in the book show are examples of what can be done, not necessarily what should be done.(something to think about there Drake if you know what I mean) :D Also it tries to cover all areas of combat, so obviously he can't get too detailed on any one subject. As each range of combat could easily take up one whole book.

I'm curious Sean as to what your take is on the Jun Fan/JKDConcepts issue now a days. It looks to me like you've strayed a little from Jun Fan & are now more open to exploring other things?
If you don't mind me asking is this is true & if so, what has brought you to this stage of your training & self discovery?....

If you don't want to discuss this openly on the forum please feel free to contact me privately. We're both in N.Y. so maybe I can stop by your school one of these days....

Now Drake,
You made mention that Dan himself said that Bruce Lee got on his case when he went astray from what he was doing
Dan has never went astray from what Bruce was teaching him at that time. For the record Dan has said that "Bruce researched all the arts of that time,(but) he kept a tight rein on the amount of knowledge he wanted to give out at the chinatown school. He severely limited the amount of material he allowed me to teach. Bruce dictated that I teach only about one-tenth of the actual material he had developed at that time"....

In short one does need a good understanding of what Jun Fan is before they can say that what there doing is JKD,as Jun Fan is the base system of JKD....
So with that being said heres something to think about when it comes down to JKDC....:D

A point should be made about the term "modified". Modifications were never made just for the sake of change,or simply because something looked pretty or better. Modification in Jun Fan evolved gradually,through a constant process of trial & error & experimentation. A technique was modified only because it did not theorectically accomplish what Bruce felt it should,& nothing was changed unless a genuine improvement could be demonstrated.

Also drake...Panther,Prather,whatever...It doesn't matter....:D
As for lamar, I'm still waiting on a response....


Peace

[Sean Madigan]

Hi Ray,

Bro, I stay as far from the whole JFJKD vs. JKDC concepts argument as I can....You know? LOL

It should all boil down to performance anyway, not politics and lineage. Can you do and teach what you say you do and teach? If you can, then everything else is non$en$e. :)

Give me a call anytime you want to come down and hang with us. My cell number is: 917-509-9008 and it is just about always on.

Hey, here is an idea, we are having our training camp this weekend at my place, since you and I have a 'history', you are welcome to come as my guest.

So, what school do you train at on a regular basis?

All the best,

BIG Sean Madigan

http://www.combativesolutions.com

[SifuLMDII]

Hello Ray!

Although I don't know why you are so interested in my opinion of Ron's book, I'll be happy to give it to you! I think it is a good book and covers exactly what it says it covers! It was published by the same publisher who published my book, therefore a copy was sent to me as soon as it was available. I have read the book several times, and in fact was reading over parts of it again a few weeks ago! Well, that's about it! Happy training to you!

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Sean,
Thanks for the invitation as much as I would like to make it this weekend, I have to pass I'm working weekends at the moment. I'll certainly will try to make one of your camps in the future.... :cool
That is if the offer still stands?....;) As I look forward to kicking it with you....
As for where I train I train here in N.Y. If you want to know more about where & who I train with just e-mail me....

Peace :D

[RAYNYSC]

Hey Lamar,
How's it going?.... The reason I wanted to know what your opinion of the book was, is because it seemed to me that a lot of what Balicki mentioned in his book went against what you've said in the past.... I'm at this point a bit surprised that you have a positive opinion of the book, when it seems to disagree with you on many different levels. Maybe you skipped the first few pages and went straight to the pictures?:D lol....
Anyhow thanks for your response & time....


Peace:D

[SifuLMDII]

Hi Ray!

Although I am, when it comes to Bruce Lee's art, strictly a Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do man, I do believe that other approaches to training are just as valid and often better for some people! Although oftentimes very opinionated, I may not be as closed minded as you think! You probably don't know this, but I also teach a system of empty hand, knife, stick and combat handgun training oriented toward those in the private security/law enforcement/bodyguard industry. Therefore, much of the material in Ron's book is very interesting to me! Best wishes for your martial arts training!