It was just another day of traveling in the martial arts world as I boarded the silver-winged bird headed from Knoxville, Tennessee to Los Angeles. After an uneventful flight the Boeing 757 touched down at LAX. It was a mighty smooth ride. I soon saw Sensei Tony Calvinos smiling face as he greeted me at the airport. Tony had invited me to do a seminar at his dojo and is also the promoter of Martial Oceans. www.martialoceans.com LA was hot that day and I was glad to slide into his luxurious air conditioned automobile and feel the rich Corinthian leather as it caressed my body. After a brief moment and only one confrontation with a taxicab we were gliding down the freeway headed for his dojo in Simi Valley. The following evening we had two great seminars. We worked on basics, fighting drills, prearranged sparring, self-defense and some jujitsu techniques. We spent time practicing the sochin kata and pressure point applications. I also had the pleasure of working with Hanshi Tony Ravens, 10^th Dan Judo and Jujitsu. Tony has a world of knowledge in the grappling arts and has been training for sixty-five years. He recently celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday.

The next day we headed over to AFI (American Film Institute) in Hollywood. Tony is an alumnus of AFI and used to work there. He arranged a tour of the facility for me. Upon our arrival at AFI Mr. Tong greeted us and showed us around the campus along with a demonstration of the latest in film editing equipment and computers. He explained the AFI program is two years long and the cost of tuition is $24,000 a year and that the total cost was $52,000. I got $48,000 but there must be some funny kind of Hollywood math involved I didnt understand. At any rate, we concluded our tour but were disappointed we didnt get to see Chuck while we were there. Oh not Chuck Norris--Charleton Heston! He is on the board of AFI and also calls himself Chuck!

After our tour of AFI we headed over to World Black Belt and had a meeting with Bob Wall. Bob owns Wall Street Properties and The Wall Street Promenade in Tarzana, which serves as the headquarters for World Black Belt. Once inside World Black Belts offices, the always friendly and ever-smiling face of Adam James greeted us. Aloha my brothers!, was his greeting as we walked in. Adam gave us a quick tour of their facility and then ushered us into Bobs office. I must say his office was most impressive. It has high ceilings, masculine martial arts appointments, richly paneled walls and a giant Enter The Dragon movie poster. He even has a bar in his office and a bathroom complete with Jacuzzi-style tub. Anyway, back to the meeting, after a pleasant greeting Bob said, in a voice reminiscent of Ohara from Enter the Dragon, George we need to talk to you! I thought to myself, what have I done now? Have I offended in some way? Keep in mind this martial arts world is a world of manly men with chiseled bodies of iron but with egos as fragile as glass. One wrong move, one slip of the tongue, one degrading remark and its all over! But alas! Bob said, George wed like you to be the official historian of World Black Belt. I thought for a moment and said, What an honor. Certainly Bob. Id be delighted to be the official historian for World Black Belt. We chatted further, reflected on the past and discussed the state of the martial arts today. One of Bobs missions with World Black Belt is to achieve a higher standard for the martial arts and lay a foundation for the future. As we shook hands and concluded our meeting I left World Black Belt with a new fondness for Bob Wall, his staff and his mission.

Checkout the website at www.WorldBlackbelt.com

Black Belt Does It Again!

On Friday it was off to Long Beach, the site of Ed Parkers Long beach Internationals and this years venue for Black Belts Festival of Martial Arts. The Trade show was well attended and had some great demonstrations and exhibitors. Robert Young and Cheryl Angelheart were there along with Judith Maich, Donna Diamond and Rachel Lagnado as well as others from Black Belts staff. Robert Young is the Chief Editor of Black Belt and Cheryl is the publisher of the magazine. They both worked hard to produce a world-class event again this year. In addition, Robert has promoted my recent column in Black Belt entitled The Shaolin Path. Check it out each month on page 36 of the magazine.

In addition to our own Yamazato Video booth at the show www.yamazato-videos.com, there was an excellent Bruce Lee exhibit along with many others. I got to see my great friends Alan Goldberg and Peter Ticali of the Action Martial Arts Hall of Fame & Trade Show held every January in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Kendall Key and Solara Key were there. Youll be seeing more of Solara soon. You can find out more about her on the World Black Belt site. She is already a star. Speaking of movie stars, I got to visit with my good friends James Bennett and Karen Sheperd. James is an incredible physical specimen and martial artist. He works out at Golds Gym every morning at 5:30 a.m. James is cast to appear in the TV series 24 with Kiefer Sutherland. Shooting will start in October. Great job James! Karen Shepard had a booth at the trade show to promote her new business called Martial Arts Players Directorywww.martialartsplayers.com. There is a real need to service martial artists who want to get movie work. When someone comes to LA with the Hollywood dream of seeking fame and fortune in the movies its hard to know were to go and who to contact especially for the martial artist. Karen is well qualified in this area and is really filling this need.

At the show a young man [about eighteen]came up to my booth and picked up a DVD with me on the cover demonstrating a bo kata. He was not friendly. In fact, he was confrontational. He said to me, What do you do if you dont have that bo and youre lying on the beach and someone attacks you. I said, I shoot him with my pistol. He then said, What if you dont have a pistol? I said, I squirt sun tan lotion in his face (I would really throw sand. There is an old Okinawan kata with this move in it). The conversation then drifted totally into the absurd. Obviously he had been brainwashed by his own stylistic propaganda. I dont mind anyone having a different opinion than me regarding martial arts or anything else. I just didnt like his attitude. The hoodlum mentality has no place in the martial arts. By the way, it is up to his teacher to fix this not me. On the technical side however, and to quote Sokon Matsumura (1805-1889), A style is only as good as the man who practices it! Conversely, some styles are no doubt better than others. Of course as with any discipline we should first define our terms. What do you mean by better? Better in the UFC? Better at self-defense? Better at traditional kata competition? Better at street fighting? Better in prison? Better in combat? Hmm? The point is to have some respect [as the Godfather would say]. Respect the other mans art and his effort to preserve it. The mountain does not fault the river for being lowly nor does the river fault the mountain for being immobile. We are dancing on this earth for a short time. The point that he is missing is that a fifteen-year old gang member could cap him in a second and he doesnt even know anything about martial arts. Sorry! Got on a bit of a rant there.

Many other celebrities were there including Bill Wallace, John Pelligrini, William Cheung, Sifu John Lee, Chuck Platten, Marvin Dickerson, Dan Kelly of World Black Belt Travel, David Krapes of Terra Nova Entertainment, Leo Fong, Eric Lee, Stephan Hayes, Bart Vale, Dan Severn, Dana Abbot and Dan McAdams who helped out with our demo and Emil Farkas who is coming out with a new book. Gary Wasniewski made the scene. He recently completed two DVDs with YamazatoKnockout Free Fighting And Knockout & Power Kicking. Sensei William Peterson of Uechi Ryu Karate and Filipino stick fighter Julius Meligreto were there along with Rorian Gracie and the irrepressible Gene Labell.

Later that evening the banquet was held and new members were inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame, the first and most prestigious martial arts hall of fame. Shanon Lee was recognized and was congratulated by her mother Linda Lee who was in attendance. I was glad to see that Michele Mouse Krasnoo was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame along with Dawn Barnes. Mouse has been around the martial arts scene for sometime and has appeared in many films and won many championships. It was good to see her get the recognition she deserves. Dawn Barnes gave a good as well as entertaining speech at the banquet. She has contributed much to the marital arts through her ongoing efforts--teaching children on a grand scale. She is a real professional who is patiently grooming the black belts of tomorrow. It was a great show! I hope to attend again next year.

Just finished a project that has had me occupied for sometime. Sun Tzu The Businessmans Guide to the Art of War. This will be available in about three weeks as a book and also on CD. Call me if you would like an autographed copy. 1-888-299-YAMA (9262).

Our next events include the ISKKF Summer Camp August 11^th, 12^th and 13^th in the mountains of Tennessee, The Martial Oceans Caribbean Cruise August 18^th 22^nd, a quick trip to Italy to taste some wine and do a seminar in Florence, the Nine Dragons Martial Arts Tour to China, November 7^th-16^th, then off to the Dominican Republic for some scuba diving and rest on the beach. Let me know if you want to go to China.

Peace to all my martial arts brothers and sisters. George Alexander

George Chickento-the-Rescue Yo Jonny! Tiger Claw. Sifu John Lee & George Asian World