Live from Eagle Claw 2007

[GeneChing]

I'm always fascinated by the elder grandmaster demos. The tournament was weighted towards traditional, with only a small showing of modern wushu. That was very refreshing. And yes, Sifu Wilkie Wu and Sifu Wilson Wu both were amongst the cadre of masters who supported this event.

TC Media will be producing an official DVD of the demo on behalf of the United States Traditional Kung Fu Wushu Federation. We had two and a half ringside cameras on it and will edit it professionally. We produced the First Annual International Open Traditional Kung-Fu Wushu Championship 2004 and are honored to be able to bring you the second one, through our charitable arm, the Tiger Claw Foundation. We've scheduled it for release in the next three months and appreciate your support with this.

[GeneChing]

That's Gini's older sister. I'm merging this with the other formerly-live blog on the main forum. The 007 reference won't make any sense now, but at least it's more condensed.

[Shaolinlueb]

so how did the competiton look? was it good kung fu or just people wakling through their forms?

[GeneChing]

A lot of the local traditional schools showed, along with students from masters involved with the USTKFWF, so it was a nice showing of non-wushu stuff. There was a wushu ring, but it wasn't the main focus. There were 13 rings total. There was also light continuous sparring, but no full-contact sanshou (although there was two exhibition matches in the master demo). Several full-contact fighters showed up ready, but there was some issue with holding it - something to do with boxing commission regulations or insurance - typical hurdles for full-contact. To capture the Eagle Cup, you had to do empty hands, weapons and sparring. Lately, tournaments in our area has been inundated with PRC xin wushu, so it was very refreshing to see an event that was mostly traditional. The competition was small, only a few hundred competitors, and we were worried that the event would lose money. However the masters demo sold really well - nearly a capacity crowd. There was some sort of health fair going on at the convention center at the same time, and apparently a lot of them came over to check out the show.

I'll be reporting on this formally in our issue after the next one (the one that hits stands in December). The next one is almost at press and I won't get it in that one. Besides, we want to have the DVD ready for you all alongside the story, and that's going to take a little longer.

[jdhowland]

Gene, thanks for the info.

Any chance you can post names of master-status guests and participants? I'm curious to see who is still showing up at these kinds of events in my old stomping grounds. Any Ming Lum sightings?

[GeneChing]

We'll have a complete masters' demo video up for you in about three months. I'll be assembling the list of masters and V.I.P.s and such for that, and once it's ready, I'll post it here.

I don't recall seeing Ming Lum there. That's unusual, since he's almost always at events. Perhaps I just missed him because I was focused on other things. Al Novak was there. Did you ever read my interview with those two? See Tea with Grandmasters: Pearls of Wisdom from Martial Pioneers Ralph Castro, Ming Lum, Al Novak and Wally Jay

[firepalm]

For those that are interested a Tai Chi instructor (Sylvia Wong) from Vancouver that went down for the event has posted some photos;

http://www.westerncma.ca/ma9/index.php?option=g13#

Click on the photo to start slideshow. Enjoy!

[GeneChing]

It was the first time I saw her. She had some skills for sure. Vancouver's got it going on.

[jdhowland]

We'll have a complete masters' demo video up for you in about three months. I'll be assembling the list of masters and V.I.P.s and such for that, and once it's ready, I'll post it here.

I don't recall seeing Ming Lum there. That's unusual, since he's almost always at events. Perhaps I just missed him because I was focused on other things. Al Novak was there. Did you ever read my interview with those two? See Tea with Grandmasters: Pearls of Wisdom from Martial Pioneers Ralph Castro, Ming Lum, Al Novak and Wally Jay

Yep. Loved it.

It was good to see both of those gentlemen honored in your magazine.

BTW the "godfather" thing surprised me a bit. In the '70s in SF we always called Ming Lum "the Mayor of Chinatown."

[GeneChing]

Here's our cover story on GM Ming Lum - Ming Lum, Martial Arts Ambassador: Godfather to Two Generations by Roger D. Hagood from our 1993 Summer issue.

[GeneChing]

The 2nd International Traditional Kung Fu Wushu Masters' Exhibitions has just been released.