Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas

[GeneChing]

We will never escape Carl Douglas. Never. Time to start a thread dedicated to this because if we can't beat 'em, join 'em.


Man arrested for singing 'Kung Fu Fighting' (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42779407/ns/world_news-europe/)
Singer says police questioned him after Asian man filed a race complaint
msnbc.com
updated 4/27/2011 9:21:12 AM ET

Police arrested a singer on racism charges after a man reportedly of Chinese descent complained about his performance of the song "Kung Fu Fighting," according to reports.

Simon Ledger, 34, told Britain's The Sun newspaper that he and his band were performing the 1970s classic at the Driftwood Beach Bar on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England.

"We were performing Kung Fu Fighting, as we do during all our sets," he told the newspaper. "People of all races were loving it. Chinese people have never been offended by it before."

But Ledger told The Sun an Asian man walking by with his mother hurled an expletive and made an obscene hand gesture at the performers during the Sunday afternoon performance, then took a photo with his cell phone.

"We hadn't even seen them when we started the song. He must have phoned the police," The Sun quoted him as saying.

The man claimed he was "subjected to racial abuse," police told BBC News, and complained to the police the same evening.

'I thought it was a joke'

Ledger told The Sun that police called him later that evening — while he was eating at a Chinese restaurant — to arrange a meeting. It was at that meeting that police arrested him, Ledger said.

The BBC report said police released Ledger after his arrest, intending to question him further at a later date.

"An investigation into this allegation is continuing to establish the full circumstances surrounding what happened," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman told the network.

"I thought it was a joke but they were serious," Ledger told The Sun. "They seemed pretty amazed but said the law is the law and it was their duty. It's political correctness gone potty (a British term for crazy)."

The owner of the bar defended Ledger, telling the newspaper that he doesn't believe the song or the singer are racist, and that there "is no way he would abuse anyone."

[GeneChing]

...just an irritating song.

Here's some vids for this archive:
Carl Douglas - Kung fu fighting(original) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0)

Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting 1974 live (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTiSzFp4arg)

Kung Fu Fighting | Cee Lo Green | Kung Fu Panda (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc8wQb0hGjo)

CARL DOUGLAS - DANCE THE KUNG FU 1975 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKy9ulkIPgo)


28 April 2011 14:42
Kung Fu Fighting Singer Insists Song Is Not Racist (http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/kung-fu-fighting-singer-insists-song-is-not-racist_1215992)

KUNG FU FIGHTING, the GRAMMY AWARD winning disco song of 1974, has been accused of containing racist lyrics. The song's writer CARL DOUGLAS has expressed his disbelief after an entertainer was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment for performing the hit in a local bar, reports the UK's Metro newspaper.

Mr Simon Ledger was arrested after a Chinese passer-by overheard the song being performed in the Driftwood Bar in Sandown and promptly made a complaint. A Hampshire Police spokesperson said they received a complaint from a 32-year-old man of Chinese origin who claimed he had been subject to racial abuse. The song, which features the lyrics "There was funky Chinamen from funky Chinatown", reached number one in the US and UK charts and sold over nine million copies worldwide. 63-year-old CARL DOUGLAS, who penned the track, says he was shocked to hear of the arrest, saying, "I couldn't believe it. This is not a racist song. It's a happy, kicking, disco song. I have Chinese cousins and my sister is married to a man called Tony Chang. Why would I sing a song that could be interpreted as racist?".

According to the police spokesman, the Kung Fu Fighting investigation is on-going and musician Mr Ledger has been released on bail.

[doug maverick]

and was literally just talking about this song with my mother. the song is EVERYBODY IS KUNG FU FIGHTING!! not all chinese people do is kung fu fight, or something like that. if i was that guy i would sue the hell out of that guy for pain and suffering.

[GeneChing]

Racist? My song's just a blend of East and West, says Kung Fu Fighting composer (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381305/Kung-Fu-Fighting-composer-Carl-Douglas-defends-racist-pub-singer-Simon-Ledger.html)
By Tom Kelly and Jane Fryer
Last updated at 10:31 AM on 28th April 2011

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/04/27/article-1381305-0BC9094E00000578-340_233x423.jpg
Carl Douglas says there is no racism in the song

A pub singer held on suspicion of racism for performing the pop classic Kung Fu Fighting in front of a Chinese couple was yesterday defended by the song’s composer.

Simon Ledger said he was still in shock after he was reported to the police for singing the 1974 Number One to a packed bar on the Isle of Wight on Easter Sunday.

He claims he was halfway through the song when he was approached by a Chinese man swearing at him. The man was with an older Chinese woman.

Yesterday the song’s writer and original performer Carl Douglas described the decision to arrest Mr Ledger as ‘political correctness gone mad’ because the song was not racist.

‘The arrest is a little unbelievable because there’s no racism in the song,’ Douglas, who is now 68, said. ‘It’s very strange indeed.

‘I’m very proud of the song. Everyone told me that a fusion of the west and east couldn’t work and I said “no, it can”. I have cousins that are Chinese in Jamaica, so I knew it could work.

'Why would I sing a song that could be interpreted as racist?'

He said he has met thousands of Chinese fans of the hit and had even been asked to perform it at the Olympics in Beijing.

Mr Ledger was last night due to be interviewed by police following the incident at the Driftwood Beach Bar in Sandown, Isle of Wight.

Police sources suggested there was more to the allegation of racially aggravated harassment than just his performance.

Arrested: Simon Ledger has called the incident 'ludicrous'

But Mr Ledger insisted: ‘The whole thing is ludicrous. I have never been in trouble with the police before.

‘I have friends of all creeds and colours and have absolutely no racial prejudices. I appreciate the police have a job to do, but if you think about how much this is costing when so much other crime goes unsolved, it really is farcical.’ The incident happened at about 5.30pm on Sunday.

Mr Ledger said: ‘I was half-way through the song when this man approached me swearing and making a lewd gesture with his hand. I asked him to leave because there were children in the bar.’

Bar manager Sean Ware, who had to give a statement to police, said: ‘It’s mind boggling. It was a very relaxed atmosphere in the bar with lots of families with children here.

‘The CCTV showed a Chinese man making abusive gestures. Simon waved him away, but he returned.

‘It seems clear that the man was genuinely aggrieved about something, but this is just crazy. Simon often sings Kung Fu Fighting.’

Officers later tracked Mr Ledger down to a Chinese restaurant where he was arrested. Kung Fu Fighting was the biggest selling hit of 1974, topping the charts in the UK and the U.S. and turning Jamaican-born Douglas into a star.

Hampshire Police said a 32-year-old man of Chinese origin had claimed he was subjected to racial abuse.

A spokesman said police had to treat such allegations seriously, adding: ‘Investigations are continuing.’I want to hear from the accuser. Honestly, it's a bit late to take issue with this song. It's such a classic.

[curenado]

Yes, it is ridiculous. But the more frivilous and grudge based "racial" whines get made, the more people will come to ignore them. About time too.
I think the Asian gentleman is outvoted. People be liking kung fu fighting....

[GeneChing]

‘Race hate’ singer records kung-fu record (http://www.iwcp.co.uk/news/news/race-hate-singer-records-kungfu-record-38601.aspx)
By Jamie White - Friday, May 6, 2011

http://www.iwcp.co.uk/files/images/m33_newsimg_4aa78625-0dcd-4998-b454-d7f2801a01bb.jpg?width=350&height=350
Bill Padley with Carl Douglas and Simon Ledger
it’s been a bit of a whirlwind few weeks for Island entertainer Simon Ledger.
On Sunday, April 24, he was accused of racially aggravated harassment by a Chinese man, who was walking by when he sang the hit song Kung Fu Fighting at the Driftwood Beach Bar, Sandown.
Mr Ledger, 34, of Shanklin, was arrested and questioned by police before being told he would face no further charges.
His story made the front page of The Sun and went worldwide, with interviews for TV and radio stations across the world.
There was also a response from Carl Douglas, who originally released Kung Fu Fighting in 1974, expressing bemusement as to why Mr Ledger was arrested for singing the song.
This week, Mr Ledger met Mr Douglas and re-recorded the single with producer and former Isle of Wight man, Bill Padley, who has worked with many stars, including Boyzone’s Ronan Keating and Take That’s Gary Barlow.
Mr Ledger said: "What’s happened is just unbelievable. One minute I’m singing Kung Fu Fighting in Sandown, the next I’m recording it in a studio, in London, with Carl Douglas."
"Joe Scott, who I perform with, has recorded vocals with myself and Carl and we are hoping to release a new song that is respectful to the original Kung Fu Fighting."
He has also been in touch with representatives of martial artist Jackie Chan, he added: "We have even been in talks about a possible spoof music video. It could be this year’s big summer hit."
I still want to hear from the whiner who made the initial complaint.

[doug maverick]

I still want to hear from the whiner who made the initial complaint.

yea there is a reason why he is silent, and has kept himself out of the spotlight...because no asian celebs or anyone else asian for that matter has taken up his cause...i think he was probably drunk...but still man, you never call the cops for some nonsense like that. someone couldve gotten killed and the cops have to respond to that lunacy...yeesh.

[GeneChing]

Are any of you twins?

ZOMG! These Cute Little Twins Are Dancing To Kung Fu Fighting! (http://perezhilton.com/2011-08-17-justin-and-jeremy-twins-dance-to-kung-fu-fighting?from=mostemailed)

[GeneChing]

Remember when we used to march in protests? Now we just Occupy. This puts Occupy to shame in my mind.

There's a vid if you follow the link. I only skimmed it as it was mostly interview. I didn't see the protest itself, but it was a quick skim. If anyone finds the protest singing, please post and share.


Philippine Protesters Accuse China of Sea Dispute Bullying (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-11/china-s-tourism-watchdog-issues-warning-on-philippine-trips.html)
By Bloomberg News - May 11, 2012 1:41 AM PT

Filipinos demonstrated in front of a Chinese consular office in Manila and China told tourists to avoid unnecessary travel to the Philippines in signs of an escalating dispute over territory in the South China Sea.

Shares of Philippine tourism-related stocks slid for a second day after China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that travel agencies in Shanghai and Guangzhou suspended tours. On May 9, Chinese travel agencies Ctrip.com and Beijing Caissa International Travel Service Co. also suspended trips.
Philippines' Purisima on China's Travel Warning

May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima talks about China's decision to tell tourists to avoid "unnecessary" travel to the Southeast Asian nation. China's Manila embassy warned of public protests amid rising tensions over a disputed island in the South China Sea. The National Tourism Administration warned Chinese tourists who are already in the Philippines to abide by the local laws and mind their own security, according to a statement posted late on its Website last night. Purisima speaks from Manila with Zeb Eckert on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

Tensions have risen since a standoff began last month between ships from both countries over an island called Scarborough Shoal by the Philippines and Huangyan by China. China has become more assertive over its claims to the oil and gas rich waters of the South China Sea, while the U.S., which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, has shifted its military posture toward the Asia-Pacific region.

“ All we ask is for the Chinese government to respect the rights of its neighbors, even while it needs to assert its national interest,” said Bituin Bautista, one of the protest organizers. “If it continues in this path of obstinate bullying, it will only have itself to blame for the consequences of its folly.”

Kung Fu Fighting

About 500 people gathered for the protest, demanding that China pull out of the disputed area. Demonstrators sang and danced to the 1974 disco hit “Kung Fu Fighting.” Police stopped a man from trying to burn three Chinese flags.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily briefing in Beijing that the Philippines should take measures to keep the dispute from getting any worse.

“The government has incited the Philippine people to protest,” Hong said. “We again demand the Philippines to take effective actions, respect China’s territory and sovereignty and avoid escalating the situation.”

China’s National Tourism Administration warned Chinese tourists who are already in the Philippines to abide by the local laws and mind their security, according to a statement posted late on its website last night. The Philippines should ensure the safety of Chinese people and companies in the country, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Shares Slide

Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), which owns the operator of the Philippines’ biggest casino, fell 0.3 percent to 12.90 pesos at the close of trading in Manila, after posting its biggest loss in more than seven months yesterday. Cebu Air Inc. (CEB), the nation’s largest budget carrier, fell 2.3 percent to 67.25 pesos, its lowest close in more than a month.

Hotel operator Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI) declined 5.8 percent to 40.5 centavos, while Acesite Hotel Corp. (ACE) decreased 2.7 percent to 7.59 pesos. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PCOMP) fell 0.7 percent to 5,158.14.

The standoff with China may force Philippine travel agencies to look to other markets for tourists, according to Aileen Clemente, president of the 364-member Philippine Travel Agencies Association.

China is the fourth-largest market for tourists to the Philippines, behind South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Tourist arrivals from China rose 78 percent in the first quarter, more than from anywhere else among the top 12 markets, to 96,455, or 8.4 percent of the total, according to government data.

Cancellations Already

“Since there have been cancellations from China already, we have to move strategies elsewhere,” Clemente said. “We will have to mount new markets and increase marketing efforts in countries such as Russia, India, Europe and the Middle East. The effect of the cancellations is immediate.”

The latest dispute began on April 10, when Chinese ships blocked the Philippines from inspecting Chinese fishing boats in the area. China’s Foreign Ministry has summoned a Beijing-based Philippine diplomat at least three times since the standoff began.

China has become more assertive in the South China Sea and Cnooc Ltd. (883) began its first deep-water drilling rig in the area on May 9. Cnooc Chairman Wang Yilin said the rigs are a “strategic weapon for promoting the development of the country’s offshore oil industry.”

China has also clamped down on the Philippines beyond the tourism sector. China will increase quarantine and inspection of fruits shipped from the Philippines including pineapples and bananas, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a release dated May 2.

The Philippines sought to play down the latest dispute. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said every bilateral relationship has its issues and that the media was blowing the latest dispute out of proportion.

‘Peace-Loving’

“Filipinos are peace-loving and most welcoming of foreigners and I think our track record bears that out,” Purisima said in the interview. “It is important that we continue to work on this on a reasonable basis.”

The Philippines has a mutual defense treaty with the U.S., which announced last year that it would carry out a “pivot” to focus its military in the Asia-Pacific region. At a meeting with Philippine leaders on April 30, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed the U.S. commitment under its mutual defense treaty, which obligates the two sides to support the other if attacked.

At a regular briefing yesterday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged restraint and said the U.S. supports “any kind of collaborative, diplomatic process by the claimants to resolve the disputes without any kind of coercion.”

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Norman P. Aquino in Manila at naquino1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net

[GeneChing]

A black belt in words is prized (http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120515/NEWS01/205150305)
Teacher develops Sight Word Karate to challenge kindergartners
6:43 AM, May. 15, 2012 |

FRANKFORT -- A literacy program that combines martial arts and language arts has helped a group of kindergarten students at Adena Elementary School learn more than 200 new words since January.

Kindergarten teacher Jillian Bluck, who previously taught in the talented and gifted program, said she came up with Sight Word Karate as a way to challenge her higher-achieving students while also motivating the rest of her class.

Sight words, as their name might suggest, are words that must be learned by sight, because they seldom can be learned phonetically. "Do" and "have" are examples of sight words.

After determining only two of her 22 students knew all 30 of the sight words required of kindergartners, Bluck said she set out to find an activity with different levels of achievement, so her students could work toward short-term and long-term goals at the same time. Karate was perfect, she said, because with each of the nine sight word levels, a student could earn a belt.

As it turns out, "karate" is all Bluck had to say to win over her energetic students.

"When they heard 'karate,' they were excited, and they didn't even know what it was," Bluck said.

Bluck said she's done away with rest time to make time for the program, which was a popular decision among her students.

"They wanted to do this more than they wanted to rest," she said.

The belts in Sight Word Karate aren't exactly belts, but rather pipe cleaners. Every time a student earns a black belt, the entire class dances to "Kung Fu Fighting," a disco one-hit wonder that celebrates a different martial art but nevertheless gets the kids up and on their feet.

"Once you become a master, you become a teacher (of other students) and they loved that," Bluck said. "I get goosebumps talking about it."

Bluck said she tests each student by holding up flash cards and asking them to say the words without sounding them out.

So far, 21 of Bluck's 22 students are Sight Word Karate masters. She said she'll work until the last day of the school year to ensure they all earn their black belts.

Heather Crocker said her son, Daniel, has become obsessed with reading and using the new words he's learned.

"He'll read the back of the cereal box in the morning and at night. I'll catch him reading books when it's time for him to go to bed," Crocker said. "That's what it's about -- making (learning) fun."
At least the author makes the distinction between kung fu (http://www.martialartsmart.com/kung-fu-tai-chi-shaolin-styles.html) and karate (http://www.martialartsmart.com/karate-styles.html).

[GeneChing]

Filipinos use 'Kung Fu Fighting' vs Beijing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62xL_7t5aAI)


'Kung Fu' dance: Protesting vs China the Pinoy way (http://www.rappler.com/nation/5221-pinoys-use-kung-fu-fighting-vs-beijing)
by Paterno Esmaquel II
Posted on 05/11/2012 2:42 PM | Updated 05/11/2012 5:01 PM

PROTESTS, MORE FUN IN PH. Filipinos use song and dance to oppose China's claim over Scarborough Shoal.PROTESTS, MORE FUN IN PH. Filipinos use song and dance to oppose China's claim over Scarborough Shoal.

MANILA, Philippines – The rally that initially agitated Beijing, with 1,000 Filipino protesters expected to attend, ended in a gathering of hundreds singing and dancing to the tune of “Kung Fu Fighting.”

The anti-China rally, which is also scheduled at noon in other parts of the world, took place outside the Chinese embassy in Makati City for less than an hour. Police estimated the crowd at around 400.

“That's very good,” said one of the protesters, economist Winnie Monsod, referring to the song-and-dance rally. “That is uniquely Filipino.”

Organized by the United States-based US Pinoys for Good Governance, the rally aimed to show the world China's supposed arrogance over the Scarborough Shoal dispute. In a conversation moderated by Rappler, however, some netizens argued the move could do the Philippines more harm than good.

Meanwhile, some participants shrugged off the low turnout of protesters.

The group Kalikasan's Albert Muyot, who participated in the event, described the turnout as fine given that organizers held the rally during office hours. “We did not want to create traffic. So it doesn't mean that those who didn't come, do not care. Everybody, I believe, is aware,” Muyot said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“Okay lang, basta naipaglaban natin, kasi tayong lahat na Pilipino ang concerned dito,” another protester said. (It's okay, as long as we fought for it, because all of us Filipinos are concerned.)

The rally happened amid the resumption of talks between the Philippines and China over the Scarborough Shoal dispute. – Rappler.com

[xcakid]

Filipinos use 'Kung Fu Fighting' vs Beijing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62xL_7t5aAI)

My fellow countrymen are happy people. Even in protest we Party!!! :D

[GeneChing]

@ DJ xcakid: How often do you drop Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting in your mix?

[GeneChing]

A nice historic overview


One Hit Wonder Wednesday: Carl Douglas - 'Kung Fu Fighting' // Issue #16 (http://hangout.altsounds.com/features/152391-hit-wednesday-carl-douglas-kung-fu-fighting.html)
Where are they now? IS Carl Douglas still Kung Fu Fighting his way in the charts?
by NyW, September 12, 2012 and has been read 208 times.
http://hangout.altsounds.com/altthumb.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fhangout.altsounds.co m%2Fgeek%2Fgars%2Fimages%2F1%2F7%2F9%2F0%2F0%2Fkun g_fu_fighting.jpg&w=600&zc=1&q=70

Spread the Social Love:
It’s One Hit Wonder Wednesday time! Our 17th installment comes from Carl Douglas who is best known for his 1974 disco classic ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’ The song reached the number one spot in the UK and in the US, won a Grammy for best selling single and has gone on to amass sales of over 10 million worldwide.

The song capitalised on the popularity of Kung Fu films at the time by using the quintessential oriental riff, it also came in at 100 in vh1’s 100 greatest one hit wonders poll and number one in Channel 4's countdown of the ‘50 Greatest One Hit Wonders.’

WATCH // Carl Douglas - 'Kung Fu Fighting' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TgoF-ccdGM)

‘Kung Fu Fighting’ was not intended to be a single it was originally the B-side to a track entitled ‘I Want to Give You My Everything’ that Carl and producer Biddu Appaiah had recorded. However after hearing both songs Robin Branchflower of Pye records insisted that ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ was released as a single.

http://hangout.altsounds.com/attachments/features/16729d1347390415-hit-wednesday-carl-douglas-kung-fu-fighting-carl-douglas-png.png

The track took a while to pick up steam gradually becoming more and more
popular in the clubs until it charted at a lowly 42 in the UK top 40 in August 1974. The track rose steadily up the charts reaching the summit in mid-September.

‘Kung Fu Fighting’ has been covered several times in the years following its release; it was particularly popular in Jamaica where Carl is from, with many notable reggae versions made by artists including Pluto Shervington and The Cimarons. Jack Black and Cee-lo recorded a version for the film 'Kung Fu Panda' and British act ‘Bus Stop’ reached number 8 in the UK with their 1998 version which sampled Carl’s vocals and added rap verses.

Douglas later tried to recapture the success of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ with a reworked version of the track entitled ‘Dance the Kung Fu’ needless to say this did not work.

[GeneChing]

There are a lot of embedded YouTube vids of the songs cited here. I didn't cut&paste any of those. The forum only allows 1 per post and you all know most of these tunes anyway.


How The 'Kung Fu Fighting' Melody Came To Represent Asia (http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/08/28/338622840/how-the-kung-fu-fighting-melody-came-to-represent-asia)
by
August 28, 2014 3:42 AM ET
5 min 22 sec

Since this is a story about a musical phrase, it's one that's best heard. Give it a listen.

There's a tune that you've probably heard throughout your life. It's nine notes long, and it's almost always used to signal that something vaguely Asian is happening or is about to happen.

You know what I'm talking about. The tune's most prominent role is probably in that 1974 song, "Kung Fu Fighting." It comes in right as Carl Douglas is singing that anthemic "Oh-hoh-hoh-hoah."

(Just for funsies, here are some of the song's lyrics: "There was funky China men from funky Chinatown/ They were chopping them up/ They were chopping them down/ It's an ancient Chinese art/ And everybody knew their part.")
YouTube

It was in The Vapors' "Turning Japanese." It was in every cat lover's childhood favorite, The Aristocats. (Yes, before you even ask, it was in the outlandishly racist Siamese cat scene.) It even made an appearance in .

The tune is ubiquitous. And like many things that are just in the air, few ever ask where it came from. But we did.

The Quest

We're not the first to ask the question. Back in February 2005, , a person with a username "Doctorduck" asked:

"Where does that stereotypical 'oriental' song come from? You know, the one that goes dee dee dee dee duh duh dee dee duh. Featured heavily in braindead Hollywood flicks made by clueless directors who want to give a scene an 'oriental' feel. Also a variation of it can be heard in David Bowie's 'China Girl.' "

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/27/109364913-1c233c2fb58f555e784e7da1cced9af58c4b08be-s3-c85.jpg
Carl Douglas strikes a pose as he promotes his 1974 song, "Kung Fu Fighting."
Michael Putland/Getty Images

It was a question that confounded many. Trying to pin down this nameless tune and its place in history turned out to be difficult.

Across dozens of comments, people agreed 1) that the canonical example of the melody was in "Kung Fu Fighting," 2) the melody also appeared in many other places, and 3) it probably pre-dated Douglas' song. But for weeks, no one could name an incontrovertible pre-1974 example of the tune.

They even called in the experts. One user reached out to Charles Hiroshi Garrett, a professor at the University of Michigan. In 2004, Garrett had written an academic paper referring to the riff, which a user in the Straight Dope forum quoted:

"[The opening phrase from the song 'Chinatown, My Chinatown'] resembles an extremely well known trope of musical orientalism—one of the most efficient that the West has developed to signal "Asia" ... Such orientalist shorthand remains recognizable to twenty-first-century listeners, since these tropes continue to inhabit today's popular music. Thus, as clearly as the song's title captures its subject, the opening moments of 'Chinatown, My Chinatown' inform listeners that the song aims to fashion Asian difference."

Garrett responded:
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/08/screen-shot-2014-08-08-at-1.50.50-pm_custom-a9b56a65fc261fc979ab8e95c05e6230701588b2-s40-c85.png
A user in the thread pointed the question to Charles Hiroshi Garrett, a professor whose work others in the forum had cited.
Straight Dope

But then, the trail turned cold. Radio silence for a year. Then, suddenly, in June 2006, a user named "mani" announced that he'd built a whole website devoted to the question:

"I got fascinated with this question, and for the past month I've done some research, mostly utilising various online archives of old sheet music and recordings whose copyright claims have expired. My findings soon became far to voluminous to fit in a single post, so I created a website dedicated to the 'Asian riff': ."

The user was Martin Nilsson, a Web designer in Sweden. He'd been studying piano at a conservatory and had a lot of free time to devote to this "hobby research," as he told me over the phone. (It's "hobby research" that lots of different folks have cited, including music professors I chatted with, and bloggers at You Offend Me You Offend My Family.)

Nilsson found that the melody's roots went back way ****her than "Kung Fu Fighting" — at least as far as the 19th century.

Defining The Cliche

One of the things Nilsson was trying to discover was whether the melody was ever a reference to a real Asian tune — or if it was purely a Western invention.

"It doesn't come from Chinese folk music, really," Nilsson says. "It's just a caricature of how [Westerners] think Chinese music would sound."

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/08/screen-shot-2014-08-08-at-2.09.07-pm_custom-93c5632fdb4c0c66450c53f98e78495908fa848b-s40-c85.png
This is how Martin Nilsson defines his "Far East Proto Cliché" — the earlier form of the nine-note riff.
Martin Nilsson

While digging through American sheet music archives, Nilsson reached a point where the line between references to the riff and very similar ones got blurry. So he dubbed the similar riffs the "Far East Proto Cliche," based on specific musical characteristics. The definition: "Any melody with this particular rhythmical pattern and whose first four tones are identical" that usually uses a pentatonic scale, Nilsson wrote on his website. (Some melodies that fit this pattern make no reference to Asia whatsoever — you might recognize it in Peter, Bjorn and John's song ".")

This nine-note tune and its cousins rely heavily on the pentatonic scale, which music from many East Asian and West African countries used.

"We get the sense of another culture when we hear the scale," says Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, an ethnomusicologist at Arizona State University. "It's worth thinking about the fact that the scale isn't necessarily something we would've been listening to in the United States in a significant way before the end of the 19th century, early 20th."

The pentatonic scale gained global popularity in 1889, during the Paris World's Fair. The French exhibition — along with other world exhibitions that were popular in that time — was where folks exchanged ideas and learned about other cultures. It was home to a range of exhibits, like the human zoo (also known as the Negro Village) and a Javanese gamelan showcase. The latter inspired composers like Claude Debussy, whose work often used the pentatonic scale.

But the "Far East Proto Cliche," Nilsson found, went back even ****her than that World's Fair.

The Backdrop Of The Riff

One of the first instances of the cliche Nilsson found was in a show in 1847 called The Grand Chinese Spectacle of Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp.

And to understand the evolution of this riff, we need to look at the backdrop against which this tune emerged.

In the 1800s, men from China were coming to the U.S. to work in gold mines and on railroads. By 1880, there were 300,000 Chinese in the States — and there was a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment. In 1882, the U.S. banned Chinese immigration with the Chinese Exclusion Act. It took until 1968 for such restrictions to be lifted.

Think about it: Most people back then had limited interactions with people from China and other Asian countries. So playwrights and writers had to come up with a shorthand way of saying, "This is Chinese; this is Asian."

This building of a viewpoint — a viewpoint that , that people of Asian descent are intrinsically foreign — is echoed time and time again in various cartoons from the early 1900s that feature the riff:
YouTube
YouTube

Someone, somewhere decided that this short musical phrase — and others like it — could represent an entire region or identity. And it stuck.

[GeneChing]

Nice 'catch up with Carl' piece. There are a lot of embedded vids of the music mentioned in the original of this article.



‘You become an arse overnight’: the pitfalls of having a hit novelty single (http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/11/novelty-hit-single-kung-fu-fighting-crazy-frog)
We love them (for about five minutes). Then we hate them (for ever). But what do the people who made such classics as Kung Fu Fighting and the Crazy Frog think of them now?

Peter Robinson
The Guardian, Thursday 11 September 2014 13.38 EDT

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/9/11/1410456957440/Carl-Douglas-of-Kung-Fu-F-011.jpg
Carl Douglas of Kung Fu Fighting and the Crazy Frog … where are they now? Carl Douglas of Kung Fu Fighting and the Crazy Frog … where are they now? Photograph: Guardian

In 1974, a 32-year-old Jamaican singer called Carl Douglas was hoping to release a single called I Wanna Give You My Everything. One afternoon, his label’s head of A&R announced that the single could come out as soon as it had a B-side, and asked his colleagues to sift through Douglas’s recordings for suitable candidates. He went to lunch, came back an hour later and was greeted by a defiantly absurd disco banger by the name of Kung Fu Fighting.

That executive’s response, Douglas explains today from his Hamburg home, was this: “JESUS CHRIST! This is a monster. We need a B-side for THIS. He’s going into the FUTURE!”

Carl laughs at the memory. That’s only fair: Kung Fu Fighting was released 40 years ago this month, sold 11m copies, won a Grammy, and hit No 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Last year, the song topped the charts in China for the first time, and is one of the 50 best-selling singles of all time. It’s also the quintessential novelty single.

In 2014 novelty records continue to seduce record buyers around the world. Forty years (and one week) after Kung Fu Fighting topped the UK charts, Meghan Trainor’s quirky, doo-wop-inspired rotundity anthem All About That Bass will be released in the UK having already hit No 1 in 28 countries. Like Kung Fu Fighting and a surprising number of novelty records it is exquisitely written and produced. But just like Kung Fu Fighting and era-spanning hits from Yakety Yak and Yes! We Have No Bananas to One Pound Fish and Can We Fix It? it is, at its heart, a novelty track.

Rarely championed by media gatekeepers, novelty hits prompt a visceral, unmediated type of connection with record buyers – one that’s arguably stronger than you will find in pop’s better regarded sub-genres. But they have morphed over the decades. In pop’s early days, when audiences would come to know songs such as David Seville’s 50s hit The Witch Doctor, Napoleon XIV’s 1966 hit, They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! (whose B-side was simply the A-side played backwards) primarily through radio broadcasts, novelty hits were frequently song-driven efforts.

By the 80s novelty hits such as seemed to come with a far greater reliance on presentation and personality – a novelty single came part and parcel with a career in light entertainment. In 2014, a track like All About That Bass has blown up – like Gangnam Style – through YouTube, where its brilliantly charismatic video is the embellishment on the song’s eccentric sonic styling.

It is a curious and perhaps heartening fact that very few novelty hits are totally worthless on a musical level. “Novelty records usually tread the knife-edge of taste,” admits producer Nick Coler, who worked on the Timelords single in 1988, and later propelled the Tweenies into the top 5. “So they’re normally considered crap, but all the biggest novelty records are generally well recorded.”

It’s certainly easy to reassess the Simpsons’ Do the Bartman when you know Michael Jackson wrote it. Equally, does William Orbit’s role in Loadsamoney (Doin’ Up the House) qualify that song for honorary Balearic classic status? More recently, does the presence of Stargate – the team behind hits for Beyoncé, Rihanna and countless others – on Ylvis’ The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) make that song seem any less inane? Either way, Coler suggests that novelty records must tick one further box. “They normally have someone behind them who’s taking the ****,” he says, “but in a pleasant manner.”

All pop transports the listener to the point in time when they listened to it, but novelty records – obsessed as they often are with zeitgeist – can prove particularly potent portals to specific moments. The Cuban Boys’ 1999 hit Cognoscenti vs Intelligentsia was based on the hugely popular “hamster dance” song that itself proved an early viral sensation as dialup connections gave more and more families internet access, and says as much about that era as the Chainsmokers’ recent viral hit #Selfie does about 2014.

“I had this idea of a concept album chronologically sampling music from the 20th century,” remembers Cuban Boys founder John Matthews. “It would end, I decided, with the millennial No 1 – an ultra-banal, ultra-repetitive, internet-flavoured hit.” The album never materialised but Matthews did create that internet-flavoured hit – based on the hamster dance song – and found an unlikely champion in John Peel. The Cuban Boys signed to EMI, and the single made the top five.

A couple of years later Matthews teamed up with jocular rapper Daz Sampson, who’d already charted with his own version of Kung Fu Fighting, to form Rikki & Daz. They roped in Glen Campbell – “I think the extent of our UK credibility may have been slightly exaggerated to his people,” Matthews laughs – for a version of Rhinestone Cowboy. Later, they reinvented themselves as the papier mache-bonced Barndance Boys. “We hyped that Barndance Boys single to No 1 on [TV music channel] The Box by phoning up a million times,” Matthews admits. “When thousands of copies were ordered in the shops it inevitably turned out nobody wanted them, and we may have helped bankrupt Woolworths. Maybe we were dancing in the last flames of the old-school novelty hit back then, but we were still desperately trying to keep that career fire burning.”

Technology, with its endless distractions and resulting drop in shared experience, has not been kind to the brand of novelty record many cherish, or at least fail to forget. “You need the focus of a nation for a gimmicky song,” Matthews explains. “As people are so rarely looking in the same direction now I think the ability of a mass audience to recognise and enjoy novelty music has been lost.”

In the modern age, with most releases strategised to within an inch of their lives, it is cheering that novelty hits can still happen almost by accident. In 2012 Sam & the Womp, the sort of fringy act you might find pootling away in the outer reaches of the Glastonbury site, had a surprise No 1 with an absurd drum’n’bass-inspired song called Bom Bom. Radio 1, apparently on something of a whim, awarded it heavy rotation. Sam & the Womp signed to Warner Brothers Records.

“In our mind Bom Bom really wasn’t a novelty song,” admits the band’s Sam Ritchie (in pleasing Seven Degrees Of Kung Fu Fighting Separation, he’s best friends with the godson of one of Kung Fu Fighting’s co-writers). “Our original instrumental worked well, but the slightly noveltyish lyrics did bring it to life. Only in hindsight am I now seeing that it had real novelty value.”

When it came to the second single, lightning refused to strike twice. “We thought there’d be a play on Fearne Cotton’s show,” Sam remembers. “It didn’t happen, and that was it.”

Instant, widespread recognition is important in a novelty hit, but it doesn’t always pan out well. Today, Alida Swart works in the operations department at a London telecoms company, but between 1996 and 1998 she and three friends were in a girlband called Vanilla. At an early stage in Vanilla’s career their manager explained that he had bought the rights to a piece of music, which producers would then write a song over. The piece of music was Mah Nà Mah Nà, a song closely associated with the Muppets; Vanilla’s resulting 1997 single, No Way No Way, was named the 26th worst song ever by Channel 4, but was inescapable at the time.

Swart laughs off the longstanding rumour that Vanilla signed to EMI as the result of someone losing a bet, but accepts that Vanilla were launched with what was unmistakably a novelty single. “When we first heard it we just laughed,” she remembers. “Then we looked at each other. Two of us wanted to be doing R&B. But we thought: ‘We might as well do it.’” Girl Power was at its peak; they reasoned that Wannabe had itself been gimmicky. No Way No Way got to No 14 but Vanilla’s second single only managed No 36 and the band were dropped. Nonetheless, Alida looks back fondly. “People still tell me today that they remember this song,” she laughs. “It’s been nominated as the worst song of the 90s quite a few times, but at least it’s remembered.”

Decent careers have been built on less. In 1997 Steps were signed for just one single – the line-dancing cash-in atrocity 5, 6, 7, 8 – but when it sold 300,000 copies they were given another single and the rest is history, or Tragedy: they eventually sold 20m records. A few years earlier, Right Said Fred got their foot in the door in a similar way.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/9/11/1410448660462/31660925-e017-4696-8bb1-ea5a437dcf19-460x276.jpeg
The Crazy Frog. The Crazy Frog. Photograph: REX/REX

“If you heard the original demo of I’m Too Sexy you’d have a hernia,” declares Right Said Fred’s former label boss, Guy Holmes. “It was a rock song. I said to them, I think you need to make this danceable. The entire music business thought it was a novelty single. We went on to become two-hit wonders, then three-hit wonders. The album cost £40,000 to make. That first album sold 5m copies, along with 7m singles.”

Holmes admits that while Right Said Fred used a novelty single as a trojan horse for a more conventional band launch, one of his later signings was less artistically driven. Years later, stranded in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami and, watching television in the only part of his hotel that hadn’t been destroyed, Holmes could not ignore one particular TV ad. It featuring a rather distinctive frog. “Every five minutes there was a ****ing advert for this ‘ring-ding-ding-ding-ding’ ringtone,” he recalls. “I thought: ‘That would make a great record.’” The cash from Crazy Frog’s records meant Holmes’s label, Gut Records, could develop other artists, including a young Jessie J.

“My bank manager loved me,” Holmes laughs. “The downside is that you’re instantly an arsehole. Credible artists won’t sign to you. I’d worked with U2 in 1982, but as soon as I did I’m Too Sexy I was an arsehole, overnight. The music business should remember it’s about entertaining people. There’s room for everything, and novelty records are just moments of fun. Gangnam Style is an example that you can blow up on YouTube if you’ve got a massively entertaining video.”

Novelty records may have evolved over the years but many of the principles that made Benny Hill’s Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) a No 1 in the 1970s would still work today, despite changing consumption habits. The cooler corners of the internet are currently tying themselves in knots over QT’s Hey QT, a deranged electronic pop record fronted by a girl purportedly selling a made-up energy drink. The fact that it’s signed to XL Recordings sweetens the pill slightly; either way, Hey QT is arguably the first hipster novelty single.

Whether a novelty single is cool or not the trick to making one, John Matthews says, is not to fear failure – or criticism. “People hating something is a much better indication that you’ve hit gold than indifference,” he says. He recently wrote and recorded a single called Meat Paste (Get It Down Your Face) with CBBC puppet Hacker T Dog, which he hopes the BBC will release for Christmas. It is, he says, “exactly the sort of old-school novelty gimmick record we need nowadays”, though the ultimate decision lies in the hands of the public.

As for Carl Douglas, life is good. Kung Fu Fighting continues to turn up in unusual places – it has received a new lease of life thanks to the Kung Fu Panda films, a reworked version is due to appear in a new Bollywood film, and there is talk of a musical based on the song.

“I don’t know how much money that song’s made me,” he says, “but I know I’ve been fortunate. My accountant says I don’t need to worry, and that I never have to work again if I don’t want to. But I do want to.”

So that’s what he’s doing: he has recently been making a new album in Los Angeles, Barbados and Hamburg with producers including Sly & Robbie. Naturally, it includes a new version of Kung Fu Fighting. “I love that song just as much now as I did 40 years ago,” he chuckles. “I’m really quite proud of it.”
Sly & Robbie? Maybe he'll come up with that reggae Kung Fu anthem like I discussed with Ziggy Marley (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1040). :cool:


I would also be remiss here if I didn't mention our latest ezine article: When Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting in New York City: A Retrospective (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1174) by Williy Pang

[BigChris]

Always loved this song.

[GeneChing]

40 years ago, 'Kung Fu Fighting' tops pop charts (http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/12/23/music)
Arts & Culture St. Paul, Minn. · Dec 23, 2014

Today's Morning Edition music is from 40 years ago this week when "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas finished a two-week run at the top of the U.S. pop chart.

The song capitalized on the popularity of martial arts movies made by Bruce Lee and others during the 1970s.

"Kung Fu Fighting" was originally intended as the B-side for another song Douglas recorded, but the record company decided to release it as the A-side. The song started moving up the charts after becoming popular in British disco clubs. It eventually sold 11 million copies.

Carl Douglas never had another hit song.
Forty years and we still can't escape this **** song.

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu Fighting...the gift from Carl Douglas that just keeps giving...


Fox Reporter Accused of Racism for Chinatown Interviews Expresses ‘Regret’ (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/business/media/fox-reporter-accused-of-racism-for-chinatown-interviews-on-trump-clinton-and-china.html)
By LIAM STACK OCT. 6, 2016

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/10/07/us/07xp-watters_web1/07xp-watters_web1-master768-v2.jpg
Jesse Watters interviewing a man in Chinatown in New York. Credit Fox News, via YouTube

A Fox News correspondent who has been accused of stalking and harassment for his ambush-style interviews on the street expressed “regret” late Wednesday after provoking a storm of criticism and accusations of racism for filming a series of mocking interviews of Asian-Americans in New York City’s Chinatown.

But activists and officials who say the segment by the correspondent, Jesse Watters, trafficked in odious stereotypes and was demeaning to the men and women featured, planned to protest at 4 p.m. Thursday in front of the Manhattan headquarters of Fox News, according to a statement from a coalition of elected city officials and community members.

Fox broadcast the interviews on Monday as part of “Watters’ World,” a recurring segment on “The O’Reilly Factor,” the network’s top-rated show. The host, Bill O’Reilly, introduced the piece by saying it had been inspired by how frequently China was mentioned during the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump.

But the nearly five-minute video was interspersed with references to martial arts and scenes of Mr. Watters getting a foot massage, playing with nunchucks and asking loaded questions that some residents appeared not to understand or couldn’t answer. Clips from well-known movies were sprinkled throughout the segment, including “The Karate Kid” and “Chinatown.”

Mr. Watters begins the piece with an instrumental version of the Carl Douglas song “Kung Fu Fighting” playing softly in the background. He asks two young women, “Am I supposed to bow to say hello?” He asks a street vendor if his wares were stolen: “I like these watches — are they hot?”

When he asks some passers-by their opinion of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump, the two men answer in accented English, and their answers are displayed in subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

“Trump has been beating up on China; how does that make you feel?” he asks an older woman. He peppers others with questions like “Is it the year of the dragon ... rabbit?” “Is everything made in China now?” “Do they call Chinese food in China just food?”

And at one point, when another young woman says she really doesn’t want to vote for Mr. Trump so her choice was Mrs. Clinton, he opines, “So China can keep ripping us off.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJmnLzw8NA4
Watters' World: Chinatown edition Video by Fox News

The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it as flat-out racist. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was “outraged and shocked” and demanded an apology from the network.

“We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.”

The influential blog Angry Asian Man, founded by Phil Yu, a Korean-American, described the segment in a post as “a new low, even for Fox News.”

“Jesse Watters went for a holy-crap-that’s-so-racist-man-on-the-street approach,” the post said.

State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose district includes Chinatown, condemned the segment for “stereotyping, mockery and a thinly veiled disdain for immigrants.”

Councilman Peter Koo said in a statement: “Passing off this blatantly racist television segment as ‘gentle fun’ not only validates racist stereotypes, it encourages them. The entire segment smacks of willful ignorance by buying into the perpetual foreigner syndrome.

“How is it, that in New York City in 2016, this is still O.K.? Short answer: It’s not, and it is unfortunate that Fox News needs to be reminded of that.”

Mr. Watters responded to his critics on Twitter on Wednesday, saying he considered himself “a political humorist” and regretted that he had upset people. He said his interviews were meant to be taken as a lighthearted joke.


Jesse Watters ✔@jessebwatters
As a political humorist, the Chinatown segment was intended to be a light piece, as all Watters World segments are.
2:19 PM - 5 Oct 2016
162 162 Retweets 1,018 1,018 likes

Jesse Watters ✔@jessebwatters
My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and I regret if anyone found offense.
2:19 PM - 5 Oct 2016
189 189 Retweets 961 961 likes

Mr. Watters and Mr. O’Reilly, however, appeared to know that the interviews would cause a stir when the segment was broadcast on Monday.

“I know we’re going to get letters,” Mr. O’Reilly said. “It’s inevitable.” The Fox host added that he was surprised, considering how “insulated” he believed the residents of Chinatown were, that many seemed to be aware of what was going on politically.

Mr. Watters said one man who had responded negatively to him was “one of many” who “hated” him. “They’re such a polite people — they won’t walk away or tell me to get out of here,” he said, laughing.

“They’re patient, they’re patient,” Mr. O’Reilly replied.

Renee Tajima-Peña, a professor of Asian-American studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the segment captured a longstanding and distinct feature of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States.

“They mock the Chinese and Chinese-Americans, yet the backhanded compliments — he said these people were so polite,” Professor Tajima-Peña said. “That kind of duality of the perception of Asians has been there since time immemorial and the beginning of the republic.”

“We are either perpetual foreigners or we are the favored model minority,” she added. “We are a threat or we are docile.”

Mr. Watters has been at the center of controversy before. He became known for street interviews that sometimes seemed to serve little purpose save for bothering critics of Fox News or Mr. O’Reilly. In 2009, Amanda Terkel, then an editor at the liberal website Think Progress, wrote that she had been “accosted” by Mr. Watters while on vacation in a town two hours from where she lived.

She said she had been “followed, harassed and ambushed,” and referred to him as “O’Reilly’s top hit man.”

That incident reared its head years later, when Mr. Watters found himself in a brawl at the United States Institute of Peace during an after-party for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChWPrpFXEAESFwL.jpg
daveweigel ✔@daveweigel
Brawl between @ryangrim and @jessebwatters at MSNBC party.
10:30 PM - 30 Apr 2016
476 476 Retweets 491 491 likes

The fight began when Ryan Grim, a reporter at The Huffington Post, where Ms. Terkel is currently employed, tried to film Mr. Watters with an iPhone. Fisticuffs soon followed.

“Ambush guy can’t take getting ambushed,” Mr. Grim told The Washington Post. “Maybe he should think about his life choices.”

[GeneChing]

You must follow the link to see the vid and the typo. ;)


Decatur Firefighter Shows His Dance Moves Amid Flooding (http://www.nwahomepage.com/news/decatur-firefighter-shows-his-dance-moves-amid-flooding/704071524)
By: Karella Kordsmeier
Posted: May 01, 2017 06:45 PM CDT
Updated: May 01, 2017 06:45 PM CDT

DECATUR, Ark.- - It's clear the weekend weather took a toll on the state, but as Taylor Swift famously said, "shake it off."

Check out this video of a Decatur Fire Fighter showing off his "kung-fu style." The video is courtesy of Northwest Arkansas's bravest and the has been viewed nearly four-million times.

We caught up with the man in the video, Derek Knight, who says he was getting tired and delirious, so he wanted to lighten the mood.

"We'd been up for quite some time. It was getting a little weary. I was a little tired and I was a little loopy from being so tired but they started putting music on the PA system on the truck and I started dancing," said Knight.

The video is getting traction all around the world.

Knight said if it helps people find a reason to smile in all the storms and damage, then he has done his job.

[GeneChing]

Today in rock history; R.I.P. Darby Crash, Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting" and more (https://www.cltampa.com/music/music-news/article/20985074/today-in-rock-history-rip-darby-crash-carl-douglas-kung-fu-fighting-and-more)
Tom Waits is born, and artists rock against apartheid.
GABE ECHAZABAL DEC 7, 2017 7 AM

...


Today in rock history: on this date in 1974, Jamaican recording artist Carl Douglas scored one of the biggest and most successful "one-hit wonder" songs of all-time. “Kung Fu Fighting,” a song originally scheduled to serve as the B-side of a single for another intended release went on to sell millions upon millions of copies all around the world and topped singles charts in just about every country that charts record sales. On this date, the song began the first of a two-week run at the No. 1 spot on U.S. Billboard charts; a feat it also duplicated on the publication’s soul charts as well. The song, intended to capitalize on the martial arts film craze of the day was a slow seller at first but constant rotation in dance clubs helped make it a successful seller in no time. Recorded in only 10 minutes and in only two takes, this song which was originally thought of as just a throwaway number, helped kick start the disco movement and remains a recognizable and well-known song to this day.

...


I only copied the section on this song (although Tom Waits B-day is worth celebrating too)

[GLW]

I only copied the section on this song (although Tom Waits B-day is worth celebrating too)

https://en.mediamass.net/people/carl-douglas/deathhoax.html

Hoax...

[GeneChing]

https://en.mediamass.net/people/carl-douglas/deathhoax.html

Hoax...

I didn't even see that hoax, just the anniversary. Good on you GLW. :p

[GeneChing]

The Top Uses of the Song “Kung Fu Fighting” in Movies (http://www.tvovermind.com/music/top-uses-song-kung-fu-fighting-movies)
Tom April 11, 2018 No Comments

http://www.tvovermind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Kung-Fu-640x423.jpg

Kung Fu Fighting kind of overshadowed the career of its creator, Carl Douglas. In the US he’s been known as a one-hit wonder, but in the UK he had at least two other songs manage to elevate him to a little more fame. Of course given that Kung Fu Fighting has been used so extensively being a one-hit wonder in the US wasn’t such a bad thing. In fact the song is still being used in film and TV since it’s such a popular and highly adaptable song. Chances are if you watch a fight scene that has any Asian undertones to it you might hear this song. It’s one of the more popular background tracks to use and has been around for quite some time.

Here are just a few instances in which it was used to great effect.

5. Kung Fu Panda 3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09DswQaZ6Hk

Po had a very interesting character arc throughout the three movies that he was the star of. He became the student, then the warrior, and then the master. Each film has him developing just a little more as he finally comes full circle and has mastered Chi, the life-giving force that resides in every person. Plus he managed to figure out just who he is and answer the question of he came to call a goose “dad”. continued next post

[GeneChing]

4. Dancing With The Stars


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOYX8ZXSO1Q

This song doesn’t seem like it would offer itself up to anything other than this. It’s possible I believe to adapt it to any dance but it seems to fit with this particular dance the most. It could have been that this was just the dancers’ favorite dance or that they figured it would be the easiest to adapt. It’s hard to know how they make their selections sometimes.
continued next post

[GeneChing]

3. Rush Hour 3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybvNZFEmQSw

A lot of people let out a collective groan when Rush Hour 3 was announced but you kind of had to expect it when Chris Tucker let it slip in the outtakes that a particular bad guy wouldn’t be in the third film. Of course that could have been a joke but obviously someone though it was a good idea and went ahead with the making of this third movie.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

2. Scrubs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjjKqJhBkdY

Scrubs was one of the funniest medical shows that ever aired to be honest. It paired the very serious idea of working in a hospital with the comical nature of what it means to compete at such a level and deal with very real issues. The moments of levity helped to break up what might have otherwise just been another medical drama among the many.

continued next post

[GeneChing]

1. Beverly Hills Ninja


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7iGuEr-u0s

Haru is about the worst ninja you might ever watch but obviously when his concentration is on he’s no one to be messed with. I get the feeling that a lot of people heard Chris Farley and ‘ninja’ and might have wondered just what Hollywood was thinking. It didn’t get a lot of rave reviews but it was still pretty funny. Plus it poked a little fun at martial arts movies.

Everybody was kung fu fighting!
This one vid per post is a pain in the ass sometimes. :mad:

[GeneChing]

If you want to hear the other 19, you'll have to follow the link.


20 politically incorrect songs that'd be wildly controversial today (https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/04/12/20-politically-incorrect-songs-thatd-wildly-controversial-today/465246002/)
Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY Published 3:45 p.m. ET April 12, 2018 | Updated 7:43 p.m. ET April 12, 2018

If these classic songs were released today, it would almost certainly ignite a scandal. USA TODAY

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/097cfac921067f8807b5fe4cd5938f0fbf0f0d13/c=0-58-2000-1562&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2018/03/28/USATODAY/USATODAY/636578429022603262-rsz-ap-rolling-stones-353725.jpg
(Photo: Chris O'Meara/AP)

There's nothing like hearing a song come on the radio or flicker across a Spotify playlist that you haven't encountered in a while, and realizing, "Was this song always this offensive?"

The answer: Yes, it probably was. Standards have changed quite a bit in terms of what references the culture at large deems offensive in its hit songs, from casual ****phobia in pop songs from Katy Perry and Taylor Swift to the jaw-dropping lyrical content of some Rolling Stones classics.

Below, find a list of songs that, if released today, would almost certainly ignite a scandal.

Song:Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas, 1974

Choice lyric: “There was funky Billy Chin and little Sammy Chung / He said ‘Here comes the big boss, let’s get it on.' ”

Why it wouldn't fly today: Perhaps the song was just trying to celebrate the ancient art of kung fu. But its lyrics about “funky Chinamen from funky Chinatown” with stereotypically Asian-sounding last names isn’t exactly a nuanced appreciation of the culture.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TgoF-ccdGM

[Jimbo]

If you want to hear the other 19, you'll have to follow the link.

Hey, Gene, I don't really understand why they included 'Ebony and Ivory' on that list. It's kinda ridiculous that they did, because IMO there's nothing offensive (or creepy) about it.

OTOH, I don't understand why they didn't include THIS song for lyrics that are beyond a little bit creepy (it's a song about a little sister):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwJV3ozcTUg&sns=em

[GeneChing]

Hey, Gene, I don't really understand why they included 'Ebony and Ivory' on that list.
Don't ask me, man. It's not my list. :p

I've always thought some of those songs were negative commentary, like Brown Sugar for example. They bring to light some past sin or atrocity. Unfortunately with Brown Sugar, Mick's singing totally obscures the slavery lyrics so it just sounds like he's singing about black women.

But point taken on Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting. I'm just tired of that tune. I was a groomsman at one of my best friend's wedding and they played that as my 'entrance' song, and had it not been such a joyous day, I would've been offended.

[Jimbo]

I'm with you on Kung Fu Fighting. I've been bored with it since way back in 1974, not long after it started playing on the radio.

I always hated 'Turning Japanese'. The band said it could have been anything, but they randomly picked 'Japanese'. If you hear the lyrics, that's total BS. There's reference to having a girl's picture all over, and wanting a doctor to photograph her so he can look at her 'from inside as well'. I always figured it was referencing the old stereotype of the creepy little Japanese photographer/tourist and his obsession with cameras and white women. Or maybe I assumed more than was intended, but I still hate that song with a passion.

Another 'song' that should've made the list is Black Korea by Ice Cube. Some of the most racist garbage ever put to a 'song', and I don't care WHY it was written.

[GeneChing]

How much is Carl Douglas Worth? (https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/singers/carl-douglas-net-worth/) in Richest Celebrities › Singers

https://vz.cnwimg.com/thumbc-300x300/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CNW-Man.png
Carl Douglas net worth:
$5 Million

Carl Douglas net worth: Carl Douglas is a Jamaican recording artist who has a net worth of $5 million. Carl Douglas was born in Kingston, Jamaica in May 1942. He is best known for his 1974 disco hit single "Kung Fu Fighting". Douglas released his debut studio album Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs in 1974 and the album reached #1 on the US R&B charts and #37 on the Billboard 200 chart. He also released the albums Love Peace and Happiness in 1977 and Keep Pleasing Me in 1978. His single "Kung Fu Fighting" reached #1 in the US as well as in the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Carl Douglas had some success with his next single "Dance The Kung Fu" which reached #5 in Germany. His single "Kung Fu Fighting" (re-issue with Bus Stop) reached #1 in New Zealand.

"Kung Fu Fighting" Royalties And Production: Douglas originally rented studio space and hired session musicians to record a cover version of a song called "I Want Give You My Everything". That song was recorded to be the A-side of a record. So they needed a B-side. Carl's producer asked him if he had anything else they could record quickly. The first thing that came to mind was an unpolished jingle Carl had written earlier that year after leaving a nightclub. As he walked down the street he saw a group of teenagers in a pinball alley mock fighting to the sound of the music that was fighting. Carl said to his friend "****. Looks like everyone is kung fu fighting." At that moment he had the hook and the chorus in his mind and rushed home to write down the music and lyrics. Fast forward to the recording session, Carl laid down the final version in two takes. The A&R staff at his record label thought the song was so good that it should be the A-side, not the B-side. Within weeks, the song was #1 in the US and England. The song has been covered a number of times including most notably be Cee-Lo Green for the movie "Kung Fu Panda". The song has also been used in its original form in hundreds of movies and TV shows. As the song's sole-credited writer and performer, Carl enjoys an extraordinarily high royalty percentage on the song. Even some 35+ years later, he still earns several hundred thousand dollars in royalties every year, minimum.

Honestly, how hard is it to get a pic of Carl Douglas? :rolleyes:

[Jimbo]

That's either an old article, or the author is bad at math. The song is not only 35+ years old, but more like 44 years old.

[GeneChing]

That's either an old article, or the author is bad at math. The song is not only 35+ years old, but more like 44 years old.

It popped up on my newsfeed this morning, but like you say, it must be a recycled piece. I posted it mostly because it had that missing pic with the white dude with the question mark over his face, and because I was just thinking about it after watching The Guardian Brothers (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69273-The-Guardian-Brothers-aka-Little-Door-Gods&p=1311373#post1311373). My bad. I'm still sore from my master's seminar last weekend (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?44742-Shi-Decheng&p=1311366#post1311366)and am not quite thinking clearly this morning. :o

[GeneChing]

Someone needs to wake up Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan. Kung Fu Fighting is more popular now than ever. And I know a dude named Billy Chin. He'd be offended that they think is name is a racial stereotype. :rolleyes:



MUSIC
12/11/2018, 08:00am
20 politically incorrect songs that would be wildly controversial today (https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/20-politically-incorrect-songs-that-would-be-wildly-controversial-today/)

https://suntimesmedia.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/music-taylor_swift-ready_for_it_70958663.jpg?w=763
In a Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 file photo, Taylor Swift performs at Club Nomadic in Houston, Texas. Is her 2008 song "Picture to Burn" politically incorrect by today's standards? | John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File

There’s nothing like hearing a song come on the radio or flicker across a Spotify playlist that you haven’t encountered in a while, and realizing, “Was this song always this offensive?”

The answer: Yes, it probably was. Standards have changed quite a bit in terms of what references the culture at large deems offensive in its hit songs, from casual ****phobia in pop songs from Katy Perry and Taylor Swift to the jaw-dropping lyrical content of some Rolling Stones classics. (Not to mention the whole recent “Baby It’s Cold Outside” uproar.)

Below, find a list of songs that, if released today, would almost certainly ignite a scandal.

1. “Kung Fu Fighting “by Carl Douglas, 1974

Choice lyric: “There was funky Billy Chin and little Sammy Chung / He said ‘Here comes the big boss, let’s get it on.’ ”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Perhaps the song was just trying to celebrate the ancient art of kung fu. But its lyrics about “funky Chinamen from funky Chinatown” with stereotypically Asian-sounding last names isn’t exactly a nuanced appreciation of the culture.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0 continued next post

[GeneChing]

Here's the rest of their NPC picks.




2. “Brown Sugar” by the Rolling Stones, 1971

Choice lyric: “Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields / Sold in the market down in New Orleans / Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright / Hear him whip the women just around midnight.”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Even Mick Jagger knows these lyrics aged incredibly poorly; in recent years, he’s changed the words when he performs the song live. Beyond the song’s opening stanzas, the racism, misogyny and outright references to raping slaves make this a low point in the Stones’ discography.

3. “Under My Thumb” by the Rolling Stones, 1966

Choice lyric: “Under my thumb, the squirmin’ dog who’s just had her day / Under my thumb, a girl who has just changed her ways.”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Another disgusting entry in the Stones’ songbook, the song about a woman who’s been molded to “talk when she’s spoken to” is an embarrassment for even existing.



4. “Ur So Gay” by Katy Perry, 2007

Choice lyric: “I can’t believe I fell in love with someone that wears more makeup and / You’re so gay and you don’t even like boys”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: If Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” was borderline gross for its exploitative take on same-sex experimentation, “Ur So Gay” crosses the line with its deeply immature rattling-off of gay stereotypes, driven home by the use of the word as a slur.

5. “Picture to Burn” by Taylor Swift, 2008

Choice lyric: “So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy / That’s fine, I’ll tell mine that you’re gay.”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Perry’s frenemy Taylor Swift wasn’t immune to the same kind of sop****ric ****phobia, with Picture To Burn subscribing to the same backward view that the worst thing you could call a teenage boy is “gay.”

6. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by the Band Aid choir, 1984

Choice lyric: “And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time / The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life / Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow / Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Possibly the most culturally insensitive Christmas song of all time, the Band Aid supergroup may have raised money to alleviate an Ethiopian famine with the proceeds from “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” But they did it with a song that declares the entire continent of Africa is bereft of water, trees or joy.

7. “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors, 1980

Choice lyric: “I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: No, Turning Japanese isn’t literally about turning Japanese. Still, it wouldn’t be acceptable today to hear a group of white guys assuming the identity of Asian people.



8. “I’m an Indian Outlaw” by Tim McGraw, 1994

Choice lyric: “You can find me in my wigwam / I’ll be beating on my tom-tom / Pull out the pipe and smoke you some / Hey and pass it around.”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: McGraw is certainly not “an Indian outlaw, half Cherokee and Choctaw” as he claims in the song. And even if he were, that wouldn’t excuse the hilariously lazy Native American tropes he employs.

9. “Island Girl” by Elton John, 1975

Choice lyric: “Island girl, what you wanting with the white man’s world / Island girl, black boy want you in his island world”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: The borderline fetishization in John’s chart-topping ode to a New York City prostitute who’s “black as coal but she burn like a fire” is cringeworthy.

10. “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, 1982

Choice lyric: “Ebony and ivory / Live together in perfect harmony / Side by side on my piano keyboard / Oh lord, why don’t we?”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: McCartney and Wonder meant well with their hyper-literal interpretation of race relations. But their message of “people are the same, there’s good and bad in everyone, so let’s just get along” would be interpreted as hilariously naïve by the more woke factions of today’s cultural discourse.

11. “Rape Me” by Nirvana, 1993

Choice lyric: “Rape me / Rape me, my friend”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: We get it. Kurt Cobain was a deeply tortured soul. He probably, in retrospect, could’ve expressed this one better.

12. “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” by Rod Stewart, 1976

Choice lyric: “Don’t say a word, my virgin child, just let your inhibitions run wild”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: In case the lyrics to this No. 1 hit weren’t cringe-inducing enough, try not feeling icky watching its video. In it, Stewart woos a faceless young woman and leads her up to his bedroom before she says in French, “I’m a little scared. What is my mother going to say?”

13. “One in a Million” by Guns N’ Roses, 1988

Choice lyric: “Immigrants and f****ts, they make no sense to me / They come to our country and think they’ll do as they please”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Axl Rose attempts to win our sympathy with his story of a “small-town white boy” feeling lost when he moves to Los Angeles. But using derogatory language for gay and black men certainly doesn’t help his case, nor do his wildly xenophobic lyrics about immigrants. (“They talk so many (expletive) ways / it’s all Greek to me.”)



14. “Kissin’ Cousins” by Elvis Presley, 1964

Choice lyric: “Well I’ve got a gal, she’s as cute as she can be / She’s a distant cousin but she’s not too distant with me”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Nothing like a little casual incest to get the crowd up and dancing. This seemingly innocent but actually creepy doo-wop tune is taken from the King’s 1964 movie musical, in which he plays an Air Force pilot whose two beautiful cousins compete for his affections. Different times?

15. “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number” by Aaliyah, 1994

Choice lyric: “Age ain’t nothing but a number / throwing down ain’t nothing but a thang / This lovin’ I have for you, it’ll never change”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: No disrespect to the late Princess of R&B, whose hypnotic vocals and idiosyncratic style remain timeless. But it’s hard not to feel at least mildly uncomfortable listening to this song in retrospect: At the time she recorded it, a then-14-year-old Aaliyah was dating — and would soon illegally marry — her mentor/producer R. Kelly, who was 27.

16. “Illegal Alien” by Genesis, 1983

Choice lyric: “It’s no fun being an illegal alien”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Its message and story are seemingly well-intentioned, detailing a Mexican immigrant’s struggle to cross the border in search of a better life. But the racist video puts the song in a whole different light, with stereotypical imagery of mariachi horns, ponchos, sombreros and oversize mustaches.

17. “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed, 1972

Choice lyric: “Holly came from Miami, F-L-A / Hitchhiked her way across the USA / Plucked her eyebrows on the way / Shaved her legs and then he was a she”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: In a song filled with racy anecdotes, this reference to Holly Woodlawn, a transgender actress who was bullied as a teenager and ran away from home, is alarmingly tone-deaf.

18. “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits, 1985

Choice lyric: “See the little f****t with the earring and the makeup? / Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair / That little f****t got his own jet airplane / That little f****t, he’s a millionaire”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: A slight at effeminate rock stars, once again using “gay” as an insult. It’s no wonder this ****phobic slur was omitted from the band’s greatest-hits album, “Sultans of Swing.”



19. “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” by Aerosmith, 1987

Choice lyric: “She had the body of a Venus / Lord, imagine my surprise / Dude looks like a lady”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Guy walks into a bar and realizes the stripper he’s been ogling is actually a man. Although the rock classic was co-written by openly gay songwriter Desmond Child, its questionable use in the media — by Fox News when reporting on Chelsea Manning, for instance — makes us think that it’s not the homage to the LGBTQ community that he intended.

20. “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)” by The Crystals, 1962

Choice lyric: “He hit me and it felt like a kiss / he hit me and I knew he loved me”

Why it wouldn’t fly today: Gerry Goffin and Carole King were inspired to write the doo-wop ballad by the tragic true-life story of singer Little Eva, who told them that her boyfriend’s beatings were motivated by love. But without context, lyrics such as “he hit me and I was glad” are an off-putting endorsement of domestic abuse.

Maeve McDermott and Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY

Snowflakes. :p

[GeneChing]

The Bachelor Recap: Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting (https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts-culture/tv/article/21046898/the-bachelor-recap-everybody-was-kungfu-fighting)
Colton gets dumped by a bunch of ladies — in Vietnam!
NANCY FLOYD FEB 12, 2019 10 AM

https://cdn.nashvillescene.com/files/base/scomm/nvs/image/2019/02/640w/colton_suit.5c62eca25b617.jpg

Last week, the most historic, dramatic episode in Bachelor history (not really) was to be continued. Why? Because two girls were arguing. The drama! The scandal! The horror of it all! This week, we find out if those two women will continue fighting over a man whose personality is equivalent to a mop wearing a muscle tank. It's The Bachelor, baby, and we're all just trying to survive.

Back in Thailand, we have reached the point in the season where the Bachelor walks sadly on a beach in a suit. In Colton’s case, this distraught pacing is caused by Onyeka and Nicole, who have been fighting for a week over which one of them is crazy and which one of them is a bully. I can say with confidence, they are both terrible. Chris Harrison shows up to join the aforementioned sadness parade on the beach. He is also wearing a suit. I believe he says some words, but I am so disinterested in these jackholes that I can’t be bothered to listen.

It is almost time for the rose ceremony that Colton so rudely left to be continued last week. Miss North Carolina Caelynn is really stressed out and can’t figure out who could possibly be going home. Just a shot in the dark here, but I’m going to guess the two women who derailed the entire party by ugly-crying on a Thai beach for four hours.

Colton has returned to the Love Hut to hand out roses and speak like a robot. “Night. Hard. Sad. Emotional. Follow. Heart. Bleep, bloop.” Roses go to Miss North Carolina Caelynn, Tayshia, Kirpa (still with that bandaged chin; found out that injury was sustained while taking a selfie), Demi, Hannah G., Katie and Sydney. Wow, real shocker there — the two girls who screamed at each other for a week are going home. See ya, Nicole and Onyeka. I hope your seats are beside each other on your 24-hour flight back to America.

Good Morning, Vietnam

Colton is in Vietnam and yet again he’s been abandoned by the entire production team so he’s filming himself on the beach. Meanwhile, ABC splurged for a camera to film the ladies galloping across a resort common space and gaping at the hotel room as though they’ve never seen a throw pillow in their lives. Let’s go stand on a balcony and stare off into the distance for a bit, shall we?

One-on-One Date

First Impression Rose Hannah G. gets a date card that says, “We really knead this date.” No one comments on the pun, and I’m alarmed they all think that is how you spell “need.” I assume they’re going to be baking bread or something, but nope — they’re about to get rubbed down in a Vietnamese spa. After pausing mid-way through their facials for a quick little makeout sesh, Colton and Hannah get into swimsuits and get wrapped in bamboo leaves. Things start getting PG-13 in the massage bed and in a mud bath and in the shower and it seems obvious that Colton and Hannah are connecting on a deep, mature, emotional level. This relationship’s got legs, and now those legs are being seductively caressed in a sauna.

https://cdn.nashvillescene.com/files/base/scomm/nvs/image/2019/02/640w/colton_hannah_g.5c62ec94c1834.jpg

At dinner, they’re required to make sentences, and so they use that time to talk about which makeout location they enjoyed the most (the shower). Hannah G. tells Colton that opening up is “not her jam.” Colton gets it because knowing and speaking words is also not his thing. He gives her a rose and delivers a speech that sounds like it was originally composed in a 12-year-old’s diary. They go subject some poor Vietnamese musicians to their sloppy kisses. I’m sorry, Vietnam.

Group Date

Cassie, Finally-Been-Kissed Heather, Tayshia, Miss North Carolina Caelynn, Katie, Miss Alabama Hannah B., Sydney and Demi are chosen for the next date. No one is remotely happy about being on another group date, but they’re rocking that athleisure wear like it’s their last chance to potentially secure a Lululemon partnership on Instagram. This date starts out with the ladies having to endure watching Colton do some very cheesy pretend Kung-Fu fighting. Even with the quick cuts and sound effects that are the result of Hollywood magic, this is terrible. I can’t even imagine how much worse it was in person.

https://media.giphy.com/media/cYy9gDmnV0kjZFYH3Q/giphy.gif
via GIPHY

The girls start learning some moves, and not surprisingly, Miss Alabama Hannah B. is very good at Kung-Fu fighting. A little too good. Like, red flag good. The girls have to pair up to spar, and it’s mostly a lot of high-pitched giggling, twirling around and slapping in the general direction of the opponent. Demi and Katie are the final pair, and Demi takes out all of her group date aggression on Katie — or attempts to, anyway. In reality, she ends up getting her ass whooped by Katie, who “accidentally” punches her in the face twice. Colton is sad to see Demi get beaten up. I feel indifferent about it because this show has made me dead inside.

At the cocktail party, Tayshia opens up about her fears of opening up. Colton uses the required number of words to put her at ease before moving in for a kiss. Katie is worried that Colton will misunderstand her because she doesn’t express emotions. Colton, fortunately, is comprised of metal, bolts and binary code, so he doesn’t even know what emotions are. Colton reassures Miss Alabama Hannah, Miss North Carolina Caelynn and Cassie with his tongue, and all the while, Sydney is ticking closer to a meltdown. She finally sits down with Colton and asks why he hasn’t put her on a one-on-one date. She asks if he can see a future with her and he tells her he’ll “try,” so that seems promising.

Meanwhile, Demi decides to use her alone time with Colton to call Prison Mom on speakerphone. It’s very romantic talking about shivs and bail money, so they make out afterward. Sydney is still freaking out, so she takes Colton aside yet again and tells him she is going home because she needs more from him — presumably a coherent conversation and a wardrobe that consists of more than a couple of boy-sized Henleys. For anyone keeping track, this is the second time Colton has been dumped in a week. As she leaves, she tells Colton to find the good women in the group and NOT TO BE DISTRACTED BY SHINY THINGS. Sydney is my new queen! Colton gives the rose to Tayshia, the least shiny lady in the group. (That is a compliment; those other ladies look like they greased up their cleavage before this date.)

One-on-One Date

Kirpa, whose chin has healed since her traumatic selfie incident of 2018, runs across the beach and jump into Colton’s arms, and I give that leg wrap hug a 5.4. Poor form and she didn’t stick the landing. A little more practice, Kirpa, and you’ll get there.

They sit in a hut and talk about feelings and then hitch a ride on a rusty old fishing boat to go stab some unsuspecting sea urchins with a giant spear. They aren’t straddling each other within 10 minutes, so I’m worried this relationship has no future. At dinner, Kirpa tells Colton she dated a virgin for eight years so she’s used to this level of boredom in a relationship. Colton gives Kirpa a rose, mostly because he is running out of women.

https://cdn.nashvillescene.com/files/base/scomm/nvs/image/2019/02/640w/demi.5c62eca26aced.jpg

After Kirpa gets home, Demi puts on her trashiest jorts and moseys on over to Colton’s hotel room to make “a big move.” She says he won’t be a virgin when the night is over, but I think she is underestimating the strength of that chastity belt. Demi pours out her heart and tells him she’s falling in love with him, which honestly seems like a ruse to get to a quick make out sesh, and Colton responds by telling her that he doesn’t think he can see them being together in the end. She gives him a vague warning about playing it safe and tells him he’s not going to be happy in the end, and he says, “I appreciate that.” He is such a dum-dum.

Rose Ceremony

Chris Harrison shows up to check on the ladies and tell the girls that there’s not going to be a cocktail party. The ladies haven’t been in this much of a tizzy since they thought the hotel maid accidentally trashed their cleavage grease. Roses go to Miss Alabama Hannah B., Miss North Carolina Caelynn, Cassie and … dramatic pause … Been-Kissed-Once Heather. That means Katie is going home. Who? Exactly.

Katie tells him to be careful about the girls. That’s the third warning of the night that Colton has received. I assume he will be too stupid to realize this, but he actually picks up on it and he’s freaking out. He thought Sydney was talking about Demi. But then he got rid of Demi and she warned him about someone. And now Katie left and she warned him about someone else. This is like an Agatha Christie novel! And then there were six (potential fame *****s). Colton’s baby little brain can’t handle it, so he asks the girls to spill the tea on each other … in the next episode. And based on the preview, it’s going to be a doozy, which, in reality, means absolutely nothing will happen EXCEPT we’ll finally see Colton angrily scale that fence. It was all worth it, guys.

By the Numbers
Viewing Party Guests: 5 (4 women, 1 brave man)
Drinks Consumed: 17
Girls That Dumped Colton in One Week: 2
Girls That Warned Colton That He is a Moron Who Will End Up Alone: 3

So much wrong in this article. I can't even... :rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

How The 'Kung Fu Fighting' Melody Came To Represent Asia (https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/08/28/338622840/how-the-kung-fu-fighting-melody-came-to-represent-asia)
Code Switch
August 28, 20143:42 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
KAT CHOW

5-Minute Listen
Download
Transcript
Since this is a story about a musical phrase, it's one that's best heard. Give it a listen.

There's a tune that you've probably heard throughout your life. It's nine notes long, and it's almost always used to signal that something vaguely Asian is happening or is about to happen.

You know what I'm talking about. The tune's most prominent role is probably in that 1974 song "Kung Fu Fighting." It comes in right as Carl Douglas is singing that anthemic "Oh-hoh-hoh-hoah."

(Just for funsies, here are some of the song's lyrics: "There was funky China men from funky Chinatown / They were chopping them up / They were chopping them down / It's an ancient Chinese art / And everybody knew their part.")


https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=jhUkGIsKvn0&feature=emb_logo
YouTube

It was in The Vapors' "Turning Japanese." It was in every cat lover's childhood favorite, The Aristocats. (Yes, before you even ask, it was in the outlandishly racist Siamese cat scene.) It even made an appearance in Super Mario Land.

The tune is ubiquitous. And like many things that are just in the air, few ever ask where it came from. But we did.

The Quest

We're not the first to ask the question. Back in February 2005, on the Straight Dope message board, a person with a username "Doctorduck" asked:

"Where does that stereotypical 'oriental' song come from? You know, the one that goes dee dee dee dee duh duh dee dee duh. Featured heavily in braindead Hollywood flicks made by clueless directors who want to give a scene an 'oriental' feel. Also a variation of it can be heard in David Bowie's 'China Girl.' "

Article continues after sponsor message

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/27/109364913-1c233c2fb58f555e784e7da1cced9af58c4b08be-s500-c85.jpg
Carl Douglas strikes a pose as he promotes his 1974 song, "Kung Fu Fighting."
Michael Putland/Getty Images

It was a question that confounded many. Trying to pin down this nameless tune and its place in history turned out to be difficult.

Across dozens of comments, people agreed 1) that the canonical example of the melody was in "Kung Fu Fighting," 2) the melody also appeared in many other places, and 3) it probably pre-dated Douglas' song. But for weeks, no one could name an incontrovertible pre-1974 example of the tune.

They even called in the experts. One user reached out to Charles Hiroshi Garrett, a professor at the University of Michigan. In 2004, Garrett had written an academic paper referring to the riff, which a user in the Straight Dope forum quoted:

"[The opening phrase from the song 'Chinatown, My Chinatown'] resembles an extremely well known trope of musical orientalism—one of the most efficient that the West has developed to signal "Asia" ... Such orientalist shorthand remains recognizable to twenty-first-century listeners, since these tropes continue to inhabit today's popular music. Thus, as clearly as the song's title captures its subject, the opening moments of 'Chinatown, My Chinatown' inform listeners that the song aims to fashion Asian difference."

Garrett responded:
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/08/screen-shot-2014-08-08-at-1.50.50-pm_custom-a9b56a65fc261fc979ab8e95c05e6230701588b2-s1200-c85.png

A user in the thread pointed the question to Charles Hiroshi Garrett, a professor whose work others in the forum had cited.
Straight Dope

But then, the trail turned cold. Radio silence for a year. Then, suddenly, in June 2006, a user named "mani" announced that he'd built a whole website devoted to the question:

"I got fascinated with this question, and for the past month I've done some research, mostly utilising various online archives of old sheet music and recordings whose copyright claims have expired. My findings soon became far to voluminous to fit in a single post, so I created a website dedicated to the 'Asian riff': chinoiserie.atspace.com."

The user was Martin Nilsson, a Web designer in Sweden. He'd been studying piano at a conservatory and had a lot of free time to devote to this "hobby research," as he told me over the phone. (It's "hobby research" that lots of different folks have cited, including music professors I chatted with, and bloggers at You Offend Me You Offend My Family.)

Nilsson found that the melody's roots went back way further than "Kung Fu Fighting" — at least as far as the 19th century.

Defining The Cliche

One of the things Nilsson was trying to discover was whether the melody was ever a reference to a real Asian tune — or if it was purely a Western invention.

"It doesn't come from Chinese folk music, really," Nilsson says. "It's just a caricature of how [Westerners] think Chinese music would sound."

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/08/08/screen-shot-2014-08-08-at-2.09.07-pm_custom-93c5632fdb4c0c66450c53f98e78495908fa848b-s1200-c85.png
This is how Martin Nilsson defines his "Far East Proto Cliche" — the earlier form of the nine-note riff.
Martin Nilsson

While digging through American sheet music archives, Nilsson reached a point where the line between references to the riff and very similar ones got blurry. So he dubbed the similar riffs the "Far East Proto Cliche," based on specific musical characteristics. The definition: "Any melody with this particular rhythmical pattern and whose first four tones are identical" that usually uses a pentatonic scale, Nilsson wrote on his website. (Some melodies that fit this pattern make no reference to Asia whatsoever — you might recognize it in Peter, Bjorn and John's song "Young Folks.")

This nine-note tune and its cousins rely heavily on the pentatonic scale, which music from many East Asian and West African countries used.

"We get the sense of another culture when we hear the scale," says Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, an ethnomusicologist at Arizona State University. "It's worth thinking about the fact that the scale isn't necessarily something we would've been listening to in the United States in a significant way before the end of the 19th century, early 20th."

The pentatonic scale gained global popularity in 1889, during the Paris World's Fair. The French exhibition — along with other world exhibitions that were popular in that time — was where folks exchanged ideas and learned about other cultures. It was home to a range of exhibits, like the human zoo (also known as the Negro Village) and a Javanese gamelan showcase. The latter inspired composers like Claude Debussy, whose work often used the pentatonic scale.

But the "Far East Proto Cliche," Nilsson found, went back even further than that World's Fair.

The Backdrop Of The Riff

One of the first instances of the cliche Nilsson found was in a show in 1847 called The Grand Chinese Spectacle of Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp.

And to understand the evolution of this riff, we need to look at the backdrop against which this tune emerged.

In the 1800s, men from China were coming to the U.S. to work in gold mines and on railroads. By 1880, there were 300,000 Chinese in the States — and there was a lot of anti-Chinese sentiment. In 1882, the U.S. banned Chinese immigration with the Chinese Exclusion Act. It took until 1968 for such restrictions to be lifted.

Think about it: Most people back then had limited interactions with people from China and other Asian countries. So playwrights and writers had to come up with a shorthand way of saying, "This is Chinese; this is Asian."
continued next post (only one YouTube vid per post)

[GeneChing]

This building of a viewpoint — a viewpoint that in many ways is still with us, that people of Asian descent are intrinsically foreign — is echoed time and time again in various cartoons from the early 1900s that feature the riff:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQQluXMKKM&feature=emb_logo
YouTube

continued next post

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_YnFwGOunU&feature=emb_logo
YouTube

Someone, somewhere decided that this short musical phrase — and others like it — could represent an entire region or identity. And it stuck.

"Far East Proto Cliche" - now this has a name.

[GeneChing]

E. Paul Zehr Ph.D.
Black Belt Brain

What If Everybody Really Was Kung Fu Fighting? (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/black-belt-brain/202010/what-if-everybody-really-was-kung-fu-fighting)
Part 1: A bit about your body.
Posted Oct 23, 2020


In 1974, the disco song “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting” shot to the top of the pop music charts in Canada, the U.S., Britain, and Australia. This catchy certified “gold” tune by Carl Douglas rhapsodizes about the amazing abilities of Kung Fu fighters “fast as lightning,” although perhaps a “bit frightening” but “fought with expert timing.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0&feature=emb_logo

Obviously, not everybody is Kung Fu fighting at the moment. But what if they were? Or more to the point, committed to training in any martial art? That is, dedicated to attaining extreme skill through dedicated effort, which is what “kung fu” actually means.

Martial arts, “the arts of war,” or as written in Chinese (wushu) and Japanese (budo) characters, the practices for stopping fighting, are widely recognized for their quick motions, punches, kicks, locks, throws that create an overall image of superhuman skill and ability. While the practices are often glorified in popular media for the powerful movements, prowess, and skill, there are immense tangible health benefits that come from training.

There is a growing body of scientific literature showing that martial arts training using coordinated, whole-body movements improves balance, strength, and physiological function. The use of martial arts exercises is a promising treatment technique for individuals with chronic conditions and can also be used as a “pre-habilitation” tool. Additionally, martial arts provide a holistic approach to exercise where the brain, body, and mind reap the advantages if done consistently.

Since the “Kung Fu Craze” of the 1970s that spawned “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting,” martial arts continued to grow in popularity and recently, especially amongst older adults hoping to increase postural and balance control. Aging is often associated with a decline in neuromuscular function as well as a reduced capacity of the body. Falls are the leading cause of accidental deaths worldwide and the largest comorbidity in older adults. Of course, the expectation of decreased function in aging is often brought about by decreased activity itself. Regulation of balance, functional learning for activities of daily living, and strength training improve postural control and mitigate the risk of falls.

This is where Kung Fu (more properly wushu) kicks in. While it's impossible to definitively track the origins of any ancient martial art, two related but different streams of martial arts, Shaolin and Wudang fist (quan, chuan), originated from two centers in China. Shaolin refers to traditions associated with Buddhist temples that hosted more “external” or “hard” style martial arts. It is considered “external” because of the predominant strong, quick, and forceful movements and a common emphasis on using physical strength. External martial arts focus on strengthening the muscles, skin, and bone, building speed and strength. A significant “hard” Shaolin-related martial art is White Crane, whose children include Long Fist and Preying Mantis in China and which significantly influenced the development of Okinawan and then Japanese karate, and thus eventually Tae Kwon Do in Korea.

Wudang martial arts originated from Taoist practices in the Wudang mountains and have more of an emphasis on “internal” or “soft” style with a focus on meditative traditions which are in some ways subtly more complex. Wudang martial arts are centered around developing from the core to the outside. Internal martial arts prioritize skills such as focus, timing, awareness, precision, and the use of energy total body power. A hallmark of training in traditions like Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua Zhang, and Hsing I Quan is the combination of slow postural movement with rapid techniques. Many arts share probable origins that combine both, such as the system Bruce Lee originally trained in Wing Chun.

(Trivia interlude: the name for hip hop Wu-Tang Clan is an homage to martial arts. Their debut album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" refers to Bruce Lee's classic "Enter the Dragon" and the cult hit "36 Chambers of Shaolin.")

So what happens to your function if you do some Kung Fu fighting? Tai Chi Chuan is one of the most extensively studied martial arts and the slow movements place an emphasis on cognitive processing, leading to improvements in memory and function. Those trained in karate show improved one-leg standing balance compared with those in other activities (swimmers) where active balance and postural control are not key. Forearm bone density, handgrip strength, and balance control were shown to be greater in Wing Chun practitioners in comparison to untrained folks. On average, training in martial arts movements lowers the risk of falls while improving quality of life and functional capacity.

Karate and other martial arts have been built upon extensive repertoires of agile gestures, movements, and patterns that are interwoven in the practices, which lead to increased strength and reaction times. For older adults, improvements in strength and the ability to perform everyday household tasks such as opening jars can create substantial differences in lifestyle. Strength has been tested in several interventions with martial arts due to the fast and focused movements that exist within the modalities. Frailty increases with age; therefore, it is imperative to maintain or enhance strength throughout the lifespan. This can also help to offset or respond to injury or neurological damage arising from a stroke.

Falls are a cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, so strength is important for integrating different areas of the body in functional ways. In research studies, we showed that arm & leg cycling, arm cycling, and weight training improved strength and interlimb connections with training after stroke, likely due to evolutionarily conserved connections related to our quadrupedal ancestry. Possibly the same occurs in martial arts interventions where the underpinnings of the practices rely on neurologically coordinated movements within and between the arms and legs.t

Overall, martial arts improve balance, postural regulation, strength, reaction time, and body composition leading to improved quality of life for practitioners. In terms of physiology, many martial arts are excellent for exercise with multifaceted benefits in all parts of the body due to the focus on integrated whole-body movements. A focal point on balance is important for aging populations and martial arts such as karate are promising therapies. More understanding of the practices from a quantified scientific lens continues, and we hope that the use of traditional martial arts training can underpin preventative “prehabilitation” strategies across the lifespan.

To answer Carl Douglas then, if “Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting,” everybody might be better off both now and beyond. Which brings us to "Bruce Lee and the Brain" and "From the Shaolin Monastery to Your Mind" in our next posts. Please stay tuned!

Note: This post was a collaboration between me and Hajer Mustafa, a graduate trainee in the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Victoria.

Suddenly, I really want to hear someone remake this song...someone like Taylor Swift or Beyonce.

[Jimbo]

“Ah so, ah so, velly velly nice.” :rolleyes:


https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=QqXtrTEfADk

[GeneChing]

STUDY CONFIRMS ‘EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING’ CLAIM IS LARGELY TRUE (http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2021/02/01/study-confirms-everybody-was-kung-fu-fighting-claim-is-largely-true/)
MAX STARS NEWS IN BRIEF FEBRUARY 1, 2021
http://www.newsbiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/KUNG-FU.png
A major study led by celebrity social historians Dan Snow, Lucy Worsley and David Olusoga has confirmed that during 1974, there was an exponential rise in martial arts activity in the UK. Dan Snow said, ‘We found that upwards of 93% of the primary and secondary school population were Kung Fu fighting during their break times, and in some cases that carried on in their lessons as well.’

‘It was a fascinating insight into a different world’, said Lucy Worsley, preparing to dress up as Carl Douglas in a special programme that looks at the significance of the UK martial arts movement in the 1970s. However, David Olusoga was less confident, as he pointed out that ‘Some people did not take part in Kung Fu fighting, for a variety of social, economic and health reasons. But we must not allow that to cloud our judgement of this glorious period of British history culminating in millions watching the iconic TV programme Kung Fu on Saturdays throughout the land’.

Dan Snow observed that the rise of martial arts expertise around this time could be a significant factor. He explained that the number of medals won by British athletes at subsequent Olympic Games encouraged the trend away from the traditional British diet to a culture that embraced Chinese takeaway food.

So much for that old meme...
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f8/2a/ca/f82aca0ebf63f28be95b0ecef7b97adb.jpg

[GeneChing]

https://www.weareresonate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Kung-Fu-Vagina-759x500.png
‘KUNG FU VAGINA’: TWO WHITE WOMEN CREATE RACIST MUSIC VIDEO TO PROMOTE SEX TOYS (https://www.weareresonate.com/2021/02/kim-anami-lee-raven-kung-fu-vagina-two-white-women-create-racist-music-video-to-promote-sex-toys/)
RESONATE TEAM 3 FEBRUARY 2021

"Everybody wants a Kung-Fu gina / It starts with a jade egg from China!"

Two white women have created a racist music video to promote vagina eggs according to World of Buzz.

Sex and relationship coach Kim Anami and director Shae-Lee Raven created the music parody titled ‘Kung Fu Vaginas’ based on Carl Douglas’ 1974 hit ‘Kung Fu Fighting’.

Featuring an array of Asian clichés including chopsticks, kimonos and lanterns, the tone-deaf video is stereotypical at best and downright racist at worst.

Lyrics include:

“Everybody wants a Kung-Fu gina! / It starts with a jade egg from China! / No need for lube or saliva / To become a vag messiah!”

“We don’t need a funky Thai Vag, to shoot ping pongs with pizzazz / We just build the muscle up to chop a board down!”

“It’s an ancient Taoist art, of lifting weight with your parts! / Come on girls let’s flip and regain the power between your hips!”

“You’ll become your own **** messiah / When your ejaculate puts out fires!”

In other news, an Oregan bar has drawn criticism for using racist signs and for mocking a customer with a racist accent.

Last year, Steven Crowder released a similar parody of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ about Coronavirus.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDbLWhAEPJw



threads
Kung-Fu-Music (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?36569-Kung-Fu-Music)
Jade-Egg (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?67255-Jade-Egg)
Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?60335-Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas)
Jade-Egg-Master-Kim-Anami (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70502-Jade-Egg-Master-Kim-Anami)

[GeneChing]

Babylon Bee is a conservative satire news site. Nevertheless I saw this on social media being propounded as news :rolleyes:


Biden Welcomes BTS By Pulling Out His Phone And Playing 'Kung Fu Fighting' (https://babylonbee.com/news/joe-biden-welcomes-bts-by-pulling-out-his-phone-and-playing-kung-fu-fighting)
Celebs
June 1st, 2022 - BabylonBee.com

https://media.babylonbee.com/articles/article-11413-1.jpg

WASHINGTON, D.C.—K-Pop music sensation BTS has been invited to the White House to discuss anti-Asian hate and discrimination. When the artists entered the oval office President Biden welcomed them by pulling out his phone and playing ‘Kung Fu Fighting’.

"Welcome to the White House my fellow Kung Fu fighters!" said the President while holding out his phone and pretending to karate chop the artists. "HOO! HUH! Gotcha there! You're gonna have to be quicker than that if you wanna block old Joe!"

The BTS members—also known as the Bangtan Boys—shuffled awkwardly and forced a smile as the President of the United States continued to bob his head up and down as he displayed his kung-fu moves.

“HIYAH!" shouted Biden still trying to get the band to respond. "What's the deal? I thought you people are supposed to love this music? C'mon now show me your moves—how else are you gonna stop people from discriminating against you?"

At publishing time, Biden tweeted out a selfie with the Bangtan Boys that has already been deleted that was captioned "The White House rejects racism against Asians. That's why I'm proud to stand by and fight back with the Bangkok Boys!"

Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?60335-Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas)
Stop-Asian-Hate (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72003-Stop-Asian-Hate)

[GeneChing]

... but so stupid it needs to be posted here as a cautionary tale.


“Kung Fu Fighting” helps police identify those behind North Lawrence vandalism spree (https://www.wibw.com/2023/11/12/kung-fu-fighting-helps-police-identify-those-behind-north-lawrence-vandalism-spree/)
https://gray-wibw-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/ZtMxHALXP1KI-vGUVKh4VAF69FQ=/1200x675/smart/filters:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/QGSVHZK44JFHXBBWN3AUAEBES4.png
Lawrence Police released a new video showing their lead in a north Lawrence vandalism case.(Lawrence Police Department)
By Sarah Motter
Published: Nov. 12, 2023 at 11:15 AM PST|Updated: 23 hours ago

LAWRENCE, Kan. (WIBW) - The lyrics of a popular song released in the 1970s may have helped police in Lawrence identify those believed to be behind a string of vandalism cases in the northern part of the city.

The Lawrence Police Department says it has identified persons of interest in the ongoing North Lawrence vandalism case - thanks to the lyrics of “Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, LKPD took to Facebook with an odd request. It wondered if anyone in the community recognized the voices of a pair singing the song during the crime spree.

Earlier in the week, police released photos of the damage done at several locations in North Lawrence all of which is believed to have happened on Nov. 3. The crimes included smashed work equipment, busted vehicles and shattered bus stops dealing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

On Friday morning, LKPD said the ploy worked and both individuals who were heard have been identified. However, no arrests had been made and no identities were released.


Busted-Martial-Artists (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?48947-Busted-Martial-Artists)
Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?60335-Everybody-was-Kung-Fu-Fighting-by-Carl-Douglas)