URBAN CAMPERS AND THE WEIRDOS OF DOWNTOWN.

Having a school in downtown Jacksonville certainly has its moments. I had to evict a base of urban campers from behind the building. This group of 10-12 men would meet here, all day and night, and had done so for the past 25 years or so. It took me about weeks of time, several calls to JSO non-emergency, and sledgehammer, some mean words, and some kind words to get it all solved.

Then the weirdos. I leave my doors open whenever I’m there training. Everyday someone pops their head in, or just walks in, and tries to sell me something or ask for food or money. One day two people came in as I was cleaning and asked me what I was doing. I told them I was opening a Martial Arts school. They didn’t understand what that was, and I told them. One of them says to me: “You think you can stop a bullet with a kick?” and I said “Yes, of course I do.” Then he got into a “stance” and let out a “kiai.” I looked at him with a straight face and told him to bring it. Remember that he’s INSIDE my school doing this. He straightened up and left without a word.

Good times so far, I tell you!!!!

FINALLY.

I can’t wait.

IT BEGINS

Opening a dojo tomorrow. Starting 2010 off in style, doing what I love. I’ll keep you posted.

I STILL REMEMBER

Dear Blog,

I have not forgotten about you. I know it may seem that way, but I promise you, you are still on my mind, everyday. It’s not that I don’t have much to say. It’s not that I don’t have time to say it. Things have changed. First of all, don’t be jealous of Tumblr or my site. You have nothing to be worried about. The school is opening Tuesday, and I have to pour energy into that. You and me, we’ll get it right, and soon.

Always,

Autrelle

AUTRELLE DOT COM

It’s up. Don’t be fooled. It contains references to all of the zany things that I talk about, as well as information about the upcoming dojo.

Check it out.

DNBK Kigami Biraki

Perry Lambert Sensei, great friend, senior Aikidoka, and brother to me, invited me to a special training session this morning. The group was extremely friendly as always. Perry was his usual warm and congenial self. I brought my good friend Joseph Turner with me. We got introduced to everyone, and I met, for the first time, Luis Santos Sensei. It was a rather cold morning, so everyone did their best to warm up before the class started. We bowed in, and Lambert Sensei led us through a good warm up and some ukemi.

Santos Sensei—He started off the first technique with men tsuki kokyunage. He used a nagashi technique to deal with the punch. From the same attack, he showed a different nagashi entry that finished with a variation of iriminage.

Autrelle—Yes, a most unexpected surprise. I was asked to go next! I kept in tune with the nagashi theme versus a punch, and then demonstrated a yonkyo variation and the counter for it.

Lambert Sensei—He kept the party going as I expected he would, with sharp and scary waza! He showed an awesome entry against a person attacking with two roundhouse punches, finishing with ikkyo/ude osae. Then he showed a kubiwaza counter to a straight punch. Everything was going great so far!!!

After the break, the rotation started again.

Santos Sensei—Iriminage against a fast jab cross combo, kotegaeshi against the same combo, and kotegaeshi in response to a ko-yokomen followed by a punch to the stomach. Very nice stuff.

Autrelle—I showed two basic jo dori techniques along with the counters for them.

Lambert Sensei—Time was running out so he could only show one more technique, but it’s on of his best: kosadori iriminage. He cracked my back when he threw me! It felt great!

Being asked to teach someone else’s students, especially amongst such high ranking instructors, was truly a first for me. It was an experience that I do not take for granted. More than that, it was an honor and a privilege. It was refreshing to see Aikidoka from different backgrounds come together and share as they did today. Truly, it was “No Drama Aikido.” More than that, it was really a great demonstration of the meaning of Aikido as “The way of harmony.” This will most sure have a lasting effect on my approach to working with others as I continue on my on path of self-cultivation.

happy new years!!!!

Love to everyone!!!

AN OPEN LETTER TO ANYONE THAT CARES ABOUT THE DJ CULTURE IN JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA.

1. Simply playing a list of songs from your iTunes collection will never be satisfactory, ever. It could only be the least informed of venue owners that would ever pay someone to do that. If that’s the case, for a one time fee, I will assemble a playlist for you that will really kick ass. It will consist of the same songs that you already play so that your clients don’t get upset by hearing something new, also maintaining their status as an uninformed consumer.

2. iPod playlist. Two iPods and a mixer. One iPod in a mixer that lets you play tracks on two channels. Let me break this down for you: You can’t deejay with only one iPod, ever. With two iPods and a mixer, you can do some stuff, but, it’s not really the optimal set up. On the mixer that lets you play tracks on two channels from one iPod, there’s potential there. Usually those machines afford options such as pitch control and cueing, so maybe you’re starting to meet a bare minimum as far as deejaying goes, but most of the guys that I have seen using this rig just sit there and play preprogrammed lists while getting blowjobs from 17 year olds.

3. Turntables, CDJ’s, and laptops. You have to remember that deejaying was a product of the discotheque and hip hop cultures. Turntable craft was definitely perfected in the hip hop culture. Both were very diverse. If you watch things like Style Wars, Beat Street, Krush Groove, you’ll see what I mean exactly. We now have the means to replicate every thing that you could do with two turntables and a mixer with specially designed cd players, time encoded vinyl, mp3’s and software. It becomes a matter of skill and practice at this point. Any deejay with access to such things especially if the venue provides them, should be perfecting their art every chance that they get. Anyone can play songs back to back with little to no crossfading or segueway. Really. Anyone. Don’t be the deejay that does something that anyone can do. You won’t be a deejay for long, if you are.

4. You only play want you want to play. That’s fine, dick. It’s not bad if you happen to have stellar taste in music that is appropriate to what the venue wants and what the crowd wants. You do have a responsibility to play things relevant to the enjoyment of your audience. You’re rocking a fucking party, not masturbating over your music collection.

5. You always only play what the crowd wants to hear. So you’re a tool? Fuck you too. What in the fuck does the CROWD know about music that you don’t? You’re supposed to keep up with trends and more than that, introduce new ideas to the dance floor, even if that means playing things that are old but never got a fair shake. All you are doing is creating uninformed consumers who insist that you play the same songs, not because they are good songs, but because they don’t know any better, and they don’t know any better because you taught them this behavior. Nice and recursive, isn’t it?

Summarily: Don’t be a fucking jukebox. Use the right tools for the job. Get your skills up. Don’t be a dick. Don’t be a tool. Don’t create an anticulture of people that don’t know shit about music. Always play what you love. Always respect your audience and your venue. Stay current. Stay relevant.

You know who I like? The whole hip hop hell crew. Paten Locke and all of his crew, Ruff Rob, Basic, and such. Darrel Duke. Nick Fresh. Free. Comic. Blaze. Just saying.

OPRAH MOMENT.

Let me just state, for the record, that I do not believe in god. I respect anything that respects me and I leave it at that. I am profoundly spiritual in a non-god-believing-in way, and I acknowledge things like energy, consequence, eventuality, what have you.

198-whatever. My father beats the shit out of my mother. We have to go somewhere and hide for a few days. It was always the hotel on Stockton street. This happened often.

Today. I drop off the toys I collected from the toy drive last night. I take them to the Gateway Center. On Stockton street. The facility used to be a hotel. I did not connect that this was the same place that my mother would flee to when I was kid. More than a coincidence, for certain. I don’t know how to wrap my head around it at all.

REVISING THE AIKI JO NOTEBOOK AND MANUAL.

I’m currently working on a final text draft, which I expect to have finished by end of the year. I am happy to say that I have a satisfactory account of the Aiki Jo system that will be available to all next year.

INTROSPECTION.

I was recently asked a few questions regarding my thoughts and beliefs on Aikido. The result of which was that I felt the need to write out, at length, a personal account of what has been going on in my head this entire time. By that I mean, how I even got into Martial Arts, and what has been on my mind when I’m training, and when I’m not training. I want to share with you Part Four of my Introspection. Please read at your own discretion. These are my own highly personal thoughts, and I have no intention of defending them to anyone. Discussion on my thoughts, all day long.

Part Four: Maybe I’m not good enough for Aikido.

I have met some very convincing Aikidoka. By that I mean I found something so remarkable about them, that I wanted to somehow emulate that quality in myself. At such times, I feel like a wannabe. I have to look at other people doing things that I wish I was doing, and I have to look from the outside in. It’s entirely awkward, because I have so much, if not too much regard for my own autonomy. That’s a statement I make against the higher powers that be. I’m so sick of the fact that for some reason, a person that has “only done Martial Arts for 20 years” has little if nothing to say in matters, since the 50, 60, and 70 year olds have laid down the law. At times I find it dehumanizing. I have to withdraw my concern for anything that they do, and work on my own shit. Yet, I still have so much respect for the fact that they are there, authentically as such. I don’t envy them, and I would not trade places with them, I just find that the power and respect differential in the culture of Martial Arts hierarchy to be disturbing at times. Still, I think about Ueshiba, and what he must have went through in his life to provide what has been almost the singular activity in my life that I love completely. Aikido has hard standards that I find unbearable at times. Whether it’s just learning and training the waza, the techniques, or the reading, the studying, the protocol, the culture…all of it, at times, drives me insane. I refer to this as being in the state of having a “fried brain.” My little brain can’t take it at times. So many times, I have thrown my black belt, hakama, weapons, gi, what have you, under the bed, in a closet somewhere, and just left it alone. At least I would try to. It calls to me. It says, “Autrelle. Autrelle. Au-trelllllllle…hey. Psst. Psssssst. Pssssssst. PSSSSSSSSSSST!!!! Remember us, your gear? Come on, come over here, you little guy, you. There you go, pick up the Jo first. Oh yes, YESSSSSS. Remember that feeling? Now the Bokken. Oh yeah. Remember how you used to take us to the parks in the early mornings by the river? You would swing us around, and thrust, and yell in such a fantastic manner with each stroke! Just take us out for some air. No one has to know. It will be our secret. You don’t even have to wear the gi, today. Just take us out for some air…”

I swear to you, this really happens. My fucking weapons talk to me. So I give in, I oblige them. Just for that day. And the next. Then, dammit, a month has gone by, and over lunch, my weapons and I will be having a conversation:

Jo: Hey Autrelle, you know what we haven’t done in a looooong time?

Me: Don’t start…

Bokken: Oh! Jo, I was just going to say that…

Me: Both of you fucking knock it off, I’m not in the mood.

Jo: But Autrelllllllllllle!!!! Come on!!!! It’s so much fun!

Bokken: You know you want to. You KNOW you want to.

Me:: Fuck both of you. You both make me fucking sick, and I should turn you each into firewood.

Bokken: YOU WOULDN’T!

Jo: He joking, Bokken. He loves us. He’s just pissed because we’re reminding that he’s not doing what he really loves, and this is his way of lashing out. It’s not about us. Don’t be so sensitive.

Bokken: Well, what do you think? We could go see Dee and the guys there, go old school? Maybe Leo in Orange Park, catch up on, you know, the federation you’re a part of. Oh! Or James! He always sends you messages and invites to train. And we all know how badly you want to train with Perry…

Me: Seriously, fucking quit it. Just knock it off.

Jo: (Stares at me) You’re being a bitch right now.

Bokken: (Winks at me, bats lashes, pouts) Please Autrelle, please??? Just take some ukemi. You love that the most, you know that.

Me: (Sulking) Fine. If it will make you two happy, fine. Fine.

At this point, the weapons exchange a knowing glance at each other. They know that they have me. It’s sad really. I feel at times that I can barely live up the the ideas of inanimate pieces of wood. My Aiki-Psychosis has given them a voice that berates me for not training when I try to back off of it for a bit. They provide encouragement and support for what I want to do, even when I don’t feel like doing it, or I feel like no one cares at all. It’s wonderful. At times, it’s all I need.

TRIBE-K INSTRUCTORS SEMINAR.

This weekend’s seminar was hugely successful. I say that not because a bunch of money was made, or someone looked really cool doing something, but because so many different instructors and students from up and down the East Coast came together. I was more than honored to be a part of this event. One of my fellow Aikido instructors, a wonderful gentleman by the name of James Woodard, visited us as a guest and participated in the entire seminar. He is senior to me in rank, experience, and ability, so it was wonderful to get to roll around with him and receive knowledge from him as such.

Let’s get on with it. Guro Israel Cruz also served in the Special Forces with my Kali instructor, Guro Sean Hurst. He is currently employed by NYPD. He taught a simple yet highly effective entry against aggressive punching, followed by a fundamental controlling position. From there, we did several follow ups based on how the partner would try to recover from the control position. He then showed us what I felt was the most painful compliance hold I have felt in a long time. Essentially a variation of what we call Yonkyo in Aikido, it’s right up there with Nikyo and Sankyo, extremely painful!!!

Anthony Peters taught a section using a tee shirt to counter knife attacks. He showed three methods that allow you to quickly remove your shirt and use it for combat. Then he addressed the basic angles of attack from long range, followed by using the shirt in middle range to cinch the attacking hand and disarm the knife.

Sean then went on to address our roles as Martial Artists in society, whether we are military, LEO, or civilian. Essentially, since we are equipped with the necessary skills, we are expected to act on the behalf of those that need our help, whether it’s providing CPR, or just writing down a license plate number. He then demonstrated the efficacy of the tactical light with two systems, one from Surefire and one from Phantom Warrior. Phantom Warrior only sells to military, so you can imagine that this unit had several special features for those that serve. Sean and Israel went on to demonstrate a very thorough overview of knife defense, covering all of the basic principles from the slash, thrust, hostage scenario, and knife versus knife grappling.

Then I did my portion, which felt like so little considering the pedigree of the instructors that came before, and in front of James, who is a senior Martial Artist as well. I went over a few basic trapping drills from Wing Chun/JKD, and briefly explained the purpose of trapping. I used the trapping drills as a review and a prefix for Aikido/grappling suffixes. In other words, each trap was concluded with a takedown or joint lock. In keeping with my current trend to emphasize individual critical thinking along with learning as a group, I encourage everyone to see these as patterns for ideas, rather than rigid facts to be memorized. I asked everyone to consider why these things would even be relevant to them, and if not, to freely discard them. Of course, afterwards, I gave my little speech about the role of Martial Artists.

Then my brother Joey did an awesome presentation of Panantukan striking sectors, along with the basic ideas of ground fighting for self defense. These were drawn from Silat. A lot of the stuff that he does is frankly over my head, and it’s hard for me to detail it without know exactly how to express what he taught.

Overall, the whole experience has left me feeling light and elated. I really love Martial Arts. Words are not enough.

DEAFENED BY MY OWN PREJUDICE.

I’m walking home after working out today. A woman, standing out on the street, says something to me. It sounds like “Do you have any change?” or something to that effect. I politely dismissed her, and then she asked me again, and this time I listened. She asked me “Can you show me how to read this bus schedule?” Anything really good that I felt about myself was immediately cast aside. Here I am, literally, a big scary black man, dressed like a vagabond, carrying my big bag of crazy with me, walking down the street, my street, in Jacksonville, and I was too concerned with my own prejudice to actually hear an older white female ask me for help with reading a bis schedule so that she could get downtown. all because at first glance, I thought she looked crazy. The worst part is that I ride the bus too, and the schedule is sometimes hard to read, so I had so much empathy for her. Ugh – worst Autrelle ever.

ONE WAY WE CAN DO IT.

“http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/crimes_and_crime_rates.html

We are literally killing each other at a frightening rate. Literally. Killing. Each other. Take a moment to think about that.

Now, the way my mind sees things, I feel that they are very easy solutions to these types of things. What I mean when I say that is that, the ideal situation seems easy: let’s stop killing each other. I realized today that I need to find ways to communicate my ideas better, and find ways to reach a larger audience. My ideas are not original, and they are not complex, but it usually takes a conversation to get my point across. I think that the key is to give out little pieces of the big picture. Not pieces of the puzzle, because that very wording suggests that life is something confusing and not to be understood directly, through direct observation and your own experience. So I offer you a piece: Let’s stop hurting each other. I want to start a Harm No One Day. A day that we can all acknowledge and make a conscious decision to hurt no one. Period. Imagine a day when:

• Spouses don’t hurt each other
• Parents don’t hurt children
• Humans don’t hurt animals
• Strangers don’t hurt each other

You get the point by now. Harm comes in many forms, whether it’s someone beating a child, a soldier in the line of duty that has to kill an enemy combatant, a police officer shoots someone, a business overcharges someone for a product, a lover yells at their significant other. I’m not proposing some sort of “love everyone day,” but simply, just don’t hurt anyone. Period. We have all had harm inflicted on us at some point or another, and knowing how that feels, only a complete lack of empathy, if not humanity, we allow us to want to inflict that onto anyone else. It’s funny, because in thinking of a logo for this, my first thought was a fist, with that circle around it and the line through it thingy, and I remembered that the very word, Bu, which is the prefix for Martial Arts in Japanese, is made of two characters: “spear” and “stop.” The meaning implies stopping violence. It’s all full circle. My path is clear. I’m working ON it.

WHY DO BIRDS SING? I MEAN, WHY DO MARTIAL ARTISTS FIGHT?

Condition One: Protection of Self and Others. In either case, a Martial Artist has to be both tactical and strategic. It’s not enough to know how to counter a groin kick with a joint lock. Martial Artists have to understand the ramifications of their actions and plan ahead accordingly. I have seen several occasions where a Martial Artist could have easily beaten someone that was immediately threatening them, but did not, due to the strategic implications. This could mean that for legal, social, or really any reason, it was more important and appropriate to keep the situation non-violent. Some examples might be that beating up a person would fuel more violence in the future that could not be contained, or that beating up a person could mean that they could not provide for their family afterwards because of the injuries. At other times, a Martial Artist can decide to beat the other person up. This can be for many reasons as well. Some examples might be that the other person left no avenue for a safe retreat, or the other person could be the sort that, if not dealt with in a harsh manner immediately, because a growing threat over time.

When it comes to others, Martial Artists are naturally protective, if not overly so. The proper function of Martial Arts, and thus Martial Artists, is the protection of others by warding off violence against them. The same ideas rise here as far why a Martial Artist would or would not fight in the protection of others. In the perspective of the Martial Artist, defeat of an enemy is literally a given, a foregone conclusion, and the decision is not so much “Should I fight?” but more “Should I let this person go home or die?” Protection of others can be a bit more intricate. This is because the person being protected is the consideration, not the person trying to hurt them. Here, the Martial Artist says “The most important thing is that my friend/spouse/child not be hurt.” So a Martial Artist can sometimes intervene, and by presence alone, ward off the intentions of someone thinking to do harm. Other times, the Martial Artist acts faster than breathing, to eliminate anything that threatens someone in his company. This is because the Martial Artist values life, and more so, humanity. Anyone that would try to hurt someone else has lost their humanity, lost their way. When the Martial Artist has to act in way that injures or kills someone like this, it is not the same, since they are acting in preservation of humanity and life, not in the destruction of it.

Condition Two: When Martial Artist fight each other. First of all, I’m not talking about sport or competition. When Martial Artist fight each other, it is usually over a philosophical disparity on the matter of style. For example, two Martial Artists can study two different Martial Arts. One or both of them feel so strongly that the other is doing something so remiss, that they fight over it. This is the strongest and most obvious example of style as a motivator for fighting. Another example could be that two Martial Artists practice the same style, but have different instructors. This is a bit more complex, because what they are fighting over now is not so much the style or method of their particular art, but the style or methods used by their particular instructor. A last example is that two Martial Artist that have the same instructor fight each other. This is usually very personal and based on nothing more than a hurt ego. When fellow students are at odds with each other, it is generally because they both seek favor in the instructors eyes, and they see the other person as a threat to that. Some instructors allow this, to a degree, as it sometimes builds stronger bonds between the two rivals. Usually it is not tolerated at all, and left up to the individuals to deal with. Note that the issue of style here is the manner the student feels that the teacher should be treated.

Of course, there are challenges. To be sure, whenever there is a challenge, someone will get hurt. Even in this day, and most people would politely, or at least publicly, disagree, challenges are still accepted. There are several types of challenges:

• When a student challenges a fellow student of the same school. Both students have the same teacher. One may be senior to the other in rank or experience.
• When a student challenges a student of the same style from a different school.
• When a student challenges the teacher of his own school.
• When the teacher challenges one of his students.
• When a student challenges someone from a completely different style, teacher or student.
• When a teacher challenges someone from a completely different style, usually another teacher.

The reasons for these challenges vary. They are sometimes purely academic, a desire to know how one would fare. They are sometimes issued out of malice toward the other. Other times, challenges are issued because the other party has committed a perceive act of malice, and the challenge is designed to hand out “justice.”