The Endless Journey

In essence: peacefull non violent marches. demostrations. Sit-ins, along with several effective boycotts which resulted in equal rights in all arenas of
The Endless Journey                       

    Recently in Atlanta, Georgia- Extrodinare martial arts expert/actor Gradmaster Michael Dee made a special pilgrimidge from his martial arts headquarters out of Cleveland, Ohio, in order to pay special homage, and respect at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Natiomal Historic Site.

 Grandmaster Dee is a national/ international martial artist with well over 35 years of actual training, and teaching experience within the illustrious field of martial arts. the various combat arts that he has intently studied and mastered are, Kajukenbo, Chinese Kempo Karate, Western Boxing, Muay Thai Boxing, and the ancient Egyptian/Asian martial arts known today as Kali and Escrima.

 In similarity to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Grandmaster Dee' combative spiritual training was influenced by a humble man from the far away east. In the case of Martin Luther King, Jr. it was the legendary Mahatma Ghandi that inspired Dr. King, Jr. to instrumentate and to execute the universal concept, and law of civil disobedience.

Tribute to GM Filemon " Momoy" Canete (+playlist)

An outstanding display of speed, power & precision that shows the complete excellence of the Filipino Martial Arts regardless of system.  

Sparring With Angel Cabales by Ron Saturno

"Why in the hell won't that damn ash fall.", I said to myself. It was damn embarrassing that an older man could walk through ten or twelve men and not only was he hardly breaking a sweat, but could do this and the whole while could keep a long ash hanging from his lip. J.C. Cabiero had brought his crew in from Merced, Ca., and Jimmy Tacosa was also there with some of his crew from the Bay Area.

Angel Cabales had asked all of us to attend the Saturday training session. We had been training on Wednesday and on a Saturday. For some reason the afternoon training sessions would be the ones where we stayed the latest. There were times that we didn't leave into really late in the night.

These were the times that we would sometimes just sit around and shoot the shit after training. These are the kind of times that I so dearly want to have again and also share with my students. It was an honor and a deep blessing to have sat at the knee of Angel Cabales during those late night training sessions

. He would keep us enthralled with his stories and just by his taking the time to talk with us about life. when people tell me how lucky I was to have trained with Angel Cabales: They can never truly understand how well that I know this. Manong Angel made you feel that you were the only one in the room that he was speaking to. He had charisma leaking from his diminutive frame. GM Carlito Bonjoc and myself had tried to do our best to avoid being the first ones to spar Angel. We continually gave our spot up to others. We thought that he would surely be tired by the time that he finally got to the both of us.

Come on...there were at least ten guys ahead of us that Angel was going to spar. He intended to take everyone one on one until everybody had a chance to spar with him and he was going to do this non-stop. Most of the students were already advanced graduates of either Jaime or Angel himself. He had never done this before that day and so we figured that it would take a toll upon him, because of the sheer number of people that he would have to spar.

Shit, were we wrong. As I was standing in line watching I could see the ash of his cigarette just get longer and longer, but it just wouldn't fall. I don't know what was more fascinating: Angel fighting a dozen men non-stop, or that he could do this without the long ash hanging from his cigarette not coming off while doing this. You could see the tip glow a little more bright red periodically. By the time that Carlito and I were getting to our turn, not only was there a really long hanging ash, but Angel was now really warming up and was ready to go full blast.

Now Carlito and I were gently juggling each other to be next. We both knew that we didn't want to be the very last one up. I can't truly say who was the last man up, but it may have been myself. Hell, I don't really remember too much about actually sparring Manong Angel that day, after all its been many years ago. But, what i can remember was a man in his upper years being able to go through at least a dozen trained men without breaking a sweat or dropping his ash off of the end of his cigarette. I do remember towards the end of the sparring session that he had a little perspiration forming on his forehead.

Now days GM Bonjoc and I get to periodically attend functions together. I know that he looks at me sometimes and wonders why I am staring at him. During those staring moments I am fondly remembering this time and moment that we shared so many years ago. There are many more. There are some things that we can never ever forget, it is how we are made. We can't help this. There are a lot of men that I have met who have out grown their teachers. They say this and they say that about their teachers. I say that I will never forget Angel Cabales, because of the many gifts that he gave me and the honor that it was to have been trained by him. As I write this I am picturing that long ash hanging from his lip. God Bless you Manong: If they allow smoking in heaven light one up on me.

Speed, Flow, & the Joy of Play-Play with a Short Stick by Ron Saturno

Master Ron, "You do a disservice to the FMA Community Sir, by using a short stick for your demo's on Youtube." Using a short stick makes you look faster than is possible. "We will sometimes talk about you Serrada short stick users in class", he told me. Obviously, the short stick using Serrada players have pissed in peoples pots of adobo again. So I tell him, " I don't use a short stick." And then I tell him that, "I slow my hitting down so it can be seen on video. In the old days guys would stop me for banging their pretty sister's and/or cousin's. Times change, but I'd rather get complaints about my indiscretions than my speed. I'd rather fight about something that I did with someone's sister than fight over the years that it took me to develop unconscious speed. I had been walking around the San Jose, Ca. Flea Market yesterday with a small piece of ballistic material hanging from my belt with my name and the U.S. and Philippine flag embroidered upon it. It is supposed to be used as a stick bag tag or on my luggage bag. I wanted to have a few more made at the Flea Market. It was a birthday gift from Master David Mah. He had it sewn overseas. The guy recognized my name and struck up a conversation. The guy looked stout and I really didn't want to imitate a star wars light saber scene, but with real weapons on an otherwise good day. So I asked him, "Do you have a sister?" Yes, he says, I have three sisters,"But they are in the Philippines and have never came to the U.S." So I then relaxed and started chatting with him. Are you sure about your sisters?", I asked. He then said, "Why do you keep asking about my sisters?" "Oh shit", I think. I answer, "You look like a girl that I once knew." I tell the guy that I developed speed in order to deal with what I learned in play-play. He then says, "What is play-play?" Play-Play is when you stand around with padded sticks and play-play. I had been swinging sticks for a long time. Yet, when the light padded sticks came out, it was really hard to deal with the speed of the play, because my footwork couldn't keep up with the speed of the weapons. My foot work that I really can depend upon is practically nullified and can even be negated when weapon speed increases beyond a certain point. Padded stick play is extremely fast and is almost too fast for the mind to properly deal with. And so I developed swift weapon speed to use against guys that slither back and forth and attempt to use their foot work as a means to defeat me. I also use weapon speed to quickly come behind a regular blow during a sparring match, because the tempo change is unexpected by an opponent and I can usually score if I had wanted to. I use weapon speed to increase the number of hits that I can deliver within a given amount of time. I would use weapon speed and accuracy to hopefully end a fight quickly. Mohammed Ali did say that, "The firstest with the mostest is the bestest." Yet, just hitting something, even anything first, is not the end all of end alls. Hitting at the right time in the right way is truly what it is all about. I like to hit where it's least expected, least wanted and hopefully never seen, but just felt. Now I'm talking about the good shit! I can take a normal Escrima player and pick their speed up appreciably. And oh how they will fight me. They will huff and puff and tense up and argue with me. They will fight me every step of the way sometimes, because they just can't believe that what I teach to actually use, really is actually usable in a combative situation. I teach simplicity! I teach natural flowing responses against men with nasty and evil intentions. The real problem that they will have is my slowly taking away what they took so many years to learn. Some are bound and wrapped within their respective systems. Sometimes I have to tell them that, "If you want to get your ass kicked as a died in the wool member of your school than go ahead, our training is over." I am not against "any" system. I am against holding on to your system when it no longer offers answers to the deep riddles that weapon fighting can usually offer us. I have had the opportunity to watch some really good Escrima players: As I have also had the enjoyment to watch some of these men teach. How they teach many times is "not" how they would really fight. I do not spar the way that I teach. I teach a basic system that allows a man to hopefully survive until he can accomplish an ability to flow! It is flow that I teach. If my system doesn't have an answer to a problem I will lovingly put my system on time out and search for the answer to my riddle. I later usually discover that my system had the answer, but I was too stupid to see it. Some men will keep a death grip upon their system's teachings. If their system didn't invent something than it doesn't exist in their hearts and minds. In the end flow is when you have to allow the moment to cut out most unneeded movements and if you are good enough...all unneeded movements. Flow is purity of movement. Flow is lightning with a stick or blade. Flow doesn't give a shit about a man's system or lineage. Flow is the perfect blending of mind, body and spirit. Flow is a beautiful example of actualized body mechanics. Flow is the quickest way from point A to point B. Flow is what the great Master's do when they dispatch you for your permanent dirt nap. Flow is a man who gives himself to the almighty and trusts the almighty to move for him. Every system aims for the achievement of flow. Some men acquire flow and some don't. Every system is a basic way to learn to achieve flow: Some systems are just better vehicles than others. But it is the desire of a man to become great at what he does that outweighs the system that he chose to be the vehicle he will ride toward his greatness. In the end, it is not about your system limiting you, it is about you limiting your system. You are the system and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.