why i don't really believe in chinese kung fu

i have been fortunate to have met some really amazing people in my life. and i've tried to learn all i could from them. martial arts has always been a part of my life, though i lack talent and skill in that area. i try to make up for that by being a hard working student.

but enough is enough. what my eyes (and bones) tell me is dishearting, but here it goes:

explain to me why, if kung fu is so good, NO ONE, NOT ONE competitor in the MMA uses it or has been able to use it successfully? yes, many have tried and many have died (figuratively of course). why is it that no one, no matter what system/systems they have studied fair any better in these matches than someone who has not studied them?

why is it that even arts like wing chun, though they look cool when two exponents doing the same thing are practicing together,are UNABLE to be used as they are practiced? these people too end up relying on some form of boxing and/or grappling.

i know very a good kung fu teacher who has answered this question well:
".....because when you practice, you practice in form, but when you fight, you must have no form"

excellent analysis. as a jazz musician i know this well. we practice etudes to learn how to swing, but when you're up on the bandstand you have to forget those etudes and just play.

but then, if the form is going to be forgotten anyway..... hope you see what i'm getting at.

also the concept of chi kung is very vague. i believe it has more to do with moving your body in a coordinated manner which includes the breath. but even weight lifters know this, so why go all mystical?

many would say that the reason these arts can't be used effectively is because the secrets of the arts have been lost to all but a few, and those few never choose to compete, so we never see the arts in their true glory.
again, those guys are like a UFO- heard of them, but not sure i've seen one.

also in taiwan, a lot of kung fu is connected to the temples, which are connected to the mafia or quasi-mafia type organizations. this i want no part of , not only because of the criminal element, but because this kind of stuff is retro-taiwan. modern, educated people don't run with gangs or go around establishing "turf". we spend our time at Starbucks reading and call the cops when shit goes down. or use pepper spray.

then again, a lot of teachers don't really want you to know anything, especially if you're a foriegner, no matter what they say to you. they will lead you on, teaching you just enough to keep you on the hook but never enough to really understand ,and they feel they haven't wasted your time because at least they taught you something.
and the foriegner gets dissed for learning it anyway, being called a kung fu freak. but when taiwanese learn it, it's ok.

also, i think a LOT of the forms in CKF are really anti-grappling moves or weapons related, and herein lies their real value, but there are tons of teachers still trying to get you to beleive that these moves can block a punch against a moving opponent. put a weapon in the hands of a person practicing these forms and they start to make sense. apply them to grab defenses and they make sense. but try to use the moves to block and you'll be blocking his punch with your FACE!!

personally speaking, i think most people would do better to learn how to box. or learning something modern like gracie jujitsu, or reality based things.

i am presently learning wing chun with a great teacher, but i have no desire to learn it all the way thru. i like the sticky hands and trapping and the concepts in it, but in the end, i will try to take from it what I, at my low talent end of it, can use.

that's my take on chinese martial arts.

the golden melody awards: the "big club"

the taiwan golden melody award reeks of the croynism and insider privledges that the whole "music" industry as whole here does. it's basically a club where " i win this year, you win next year".
what is equally ridiculous are the "categories" of music: taiwanese songs, mandarin songs, hakkanese songs.
i've got news for you- those are LANGUAGES NOT MUSICAL STYLES! but since taiwan has YET to establish a true musical style of it's own, the only distinctions they can make are linguistics.
the fact is, taiwan threw away its musical heritage a long time ago, back in the 90s, in favor of more western sounding music, in an attempt to show they were on an equal footing with the west.
now taiwan music sounds no different than any other western music, save the language used. there is no definitive style to taiwan music (save tai yu song, which is a hair's difference from japanese enka).
this year they are sure to have a foriegn artist as a guest. thing is, if that foriegn artist lived in taiwan, they'd be doing EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO KEEP HIM FROM EVER MAKING A RECORD! because taiwan artists aren't ready to have competition on their on soil.
simple as that.
will i watch the GMAs this year? maybe. or maybe not. i doubt very seriously if it will be anything but the same shit, different year.
i'm sure jay chou and tchai yi ling will win most of the awards, with a few concessions to the little guys to keep people hoping. and i'll bet little fat ass gets best "best artist" of the year. fuck him too.
no, i probably have better things to do that night. like writing some songs that'll never be heard anyway because i'm too white to be marketable here, or maybe just too taiwanese for their comfort.

the erie side of ah mei/a- mi

though it may be just another example of the taiwan music industry's total lack of creativity thanks to ultra-localization and cronyism, the "a-me/a-mi" phenomenon is just downright creepy!

first of all, the idea that one can become another person, another identity whenever one changes his/her hair color then change back smacks of mutiple personality disorder, if not programmed multiple.

is a-mei being handled? and to what end? to confuse the masses of young people already struggling with their own identity?

maybe it's just another record company ploy. but the weird factor is in there enough to get it mention on this site.

this week's psycho-bitch award goes to a-mei/a-mi or whatever she calls herself.

ICRT or I [CIA] RT?

ICRT was originally chartered as military radio for american servicemen stationed in taiwan. after the removal of US troops from Taiwan soil, ICRT found itself in limbo. so some forward thinking investors restructored it to be an englsih radio station, serving the foriegn community, etc, and so on.

the official story.

actually ICRT's story reads CIA ops thru and thru. after the US "gave up" taiwan in favor of mainland china, it needed a way to keep american cultural influence in taiwan. but that cultural influence had to be in line with the KMT's desires for this westernization to be controlled.

that ICRT was refunded by private interests is not unusual. many CIA operations don't go on the budget.

ICRT is the most taiwan condcending station i have ever heard. they are basically in the business of making the taiwan entertainment industry look good. and you dare not run afoul of them.

a friend of mine is a comedian in taipei who made some jokes about ICRT as part of his set. he got a lot of cold shoulder treatment as far as securing perfromances after that, though he is still working, thankfully.

ICRT has also deliberately played B version records ( almost exact, but flawed nontehless)imposter-sung copies of western pop records. why would they do this?
as a music producer, guitarist, recording tech person, i know all of these original recordings down to the fizz in the mics they used back then. but it doesn't take a musician to spot that the singer on these B records is not karen carpenter, yet ICRT played these records and SAID it was karen carpenter! the reason is i believe because ICRT is in cahoots with the record industry here to make the great western artists of the past look not so great and therefore not make taiwan musicians look so lame.
in this, ICRT is IMPLICIT in helping the taiwan government do everything it can to boost the self esteem of the taiwanese people, even if it means tarnishing the truly great music of western artists.


listen to ICRT DJs drabble on about taiwan music like it's the beatles,elvis,jackson brown, stevie wonder, micheal jackson, using words like "seminal, groundbreaking, etc".
there is NO COMPARISON between the sappy, copycat dribble presently put out by EMI, BMG, SONY, in taiwan and the truly groundbreaking seminal music of the founding western music artists. to say otherwise is pure cantor.
if tawian music is so earth shaking, why are they copying instead of creating? why have they yet to produce something like a reggae, ska, or even ONE UNIQUE, WORLD CHANGING FORM OF MUSIC as even little 3rd world island nations have?
just saying taiwan music is great will not make it so. this double standard special- ed class for the funk afflicted needs to stop.
taiwan needs to go back to the music they were doing in the 80s, which was TRULY taiwanese and which touched my heart from across the ocean and made me want to come here.

my experience in the taiwan music industry

the folllowing all happened to me.i will testify in court that all i have said is true.

1989- went to live in houston chinatown. opened english school. was inspired to go to asia from watching HK movies at the chinese movie theater. became famous at karaoke club for singing.

1990- while working at a chinese owned ice cream shop, one morning while i was washing the windows a man in a suit came and sat down at the table behind me outside. he was an asian man, dressed in a suit that was very conservative. he looked like an IRS person. he said from behind me "you like working with chinese people don't you?" i said yes. he said good, took his newspaper and walked away without looking back.
in chinatown there were rumors that i worked for the FBI. i was asked this seriously by more than one person.

1993- after sending demos to japan, i was getting mail one day, when a man called out my name. he said" are you (my name)" i turned around, and saw an asian man, shorter than the one before. he just ran off when i turned around. he didn't even wait for me to say "yes i am".

1997- i issued all the papers to get a performance visa in taiwan. taiwan government only gave me a travel visa. they said i could get one when i got there. afterwards i found that was not true.

1997- in the immgration office renewing my stay, a cop saw me pull a record company person's name card from my wallet. he took the card without asking me and called the guy on the card saying "listen here you CANNOT hire this foreigner on any record do you hear me? it's against the law!!" (actually it is not wth the proper paperwork).

1997- was introduced to EMI executive. after hearing my demo he said "if i give you a contract, are you willing to leave taiwan?" i said " maybe hong kong?". he said "no leave asia. go to europe. you cannot stay in taiwan". {EXACT WORDS]

BMG said they had a rule not to hire any really strong foriegners because the foriegners would raise the bar and cause the companies to actually have to compete. he said the companies had a rule not to compete to strongly against each other. they said the companies even trade songs with each other.


1997- while sitting outside Mc donalds on min chaun east road (i was sitting on a concrete thing outside) there was a lady, taiwanese, sitting inside McD who looked at me, kind of flirting. i nodded back at her and turned my head down to bite my hamburger. i looked out of the left corner of my eye and there was a white man, blondish, sitting at a table outside, signalling to her, something like "tone it down". i looked up and saw her doing something like "ok ok," then she saw me watching her do that and she totally stopped moving and smiled at me. i grabbed my bag and ran, leaving McD. my heart was pounding very fast.

one of my guitar solos from my demos was lifted directly and placed in a pop song during this time. i had listen to my solo a hundred times so i know what i played. it was my solo.

** also the practice of B version CDs was revealed to me. this is where a person sings a song and copies it so directly that it is ALMOST indistiguishable from the original. then it is packaged AS the original singer and sold. i have even heard these versions on ICRT. (i beleive the reason is to make the really great performers from the west appear not so great so that taiwan performers do not appear so lame). the taiwanese small companies recruited many foriegners to do this too. i refused.

1998-200ish- appeared on many foriegner talk shows and dissed the record companies' practices.

2003-ish i did a contest at ***** pub. the boss said she liked my music and asked when could i come do a show( i also won 2nd palce in that contest). i went back a few weeks later and she said, oh i need your demo" i said "you already said you wanted me to perform for you. i just came to get back with you on that" she said "i have to hear the demo. i didn't hear your music so clearly that night so i can't make a decison." then after i sent the demo she said she was all booked up. i asked again maybe a year later and she said she had never liked my music.
i will always feel someone told her to not let me play.

was schedualed to appear on a radio show, to play my song and also discuss the industry. the radio guy immediately called up a guy to appear with us. the guy began to defend the industry vehemently, starting off the interview by calling me a racist name.

2003-4 ish- i played substitute for a band in a pub, the boss asked me to play solo. after i did he said "listen don't play too well" i said don't worry i can't play too well. he said "no i'm serious.in taiwan you can't play too well"

last company i sent to was Warner. bascially all the companies have said that they wil not risk money on a foriegner or cannot because they have a rule.all companies have offered to buy out my songs, but i refused because i protest this system.

all thru this experience- if i have am booked on a show, they put me near the end. always.or i get bumped.

basically my experience. i hearby affirm that all i have said is true.

the truth about the taiwan music industry

They didn’t want me to be in the white guys’ way… I felt I was pushed into a rhythm and blues corner to keep out of rocker’s way, because that’s where the money is. When ‘Tutti Frutti’ came out… They needed a rock star to block me out of white homes because I was a hero to white kids. The white kids would have Pat Boone upon the dresser and me in the drawer ‘cause they liked my version better, but the families didn’t want me because of the image that I was projecting."[16]

Little Richard, on why he got sidelined by white singer Pat Boone

the taiwan "music" industry is one big propaganda machine. but propaganda to what end? to answer this one must understand a little about the concept of taiwan status.

after taiwan was kicked out of the UN in the 70s in favor of diplomatic relations with mainland china, it has been in a sort of limbo- a country that is not a country. an entity that has to beg and scrounge for recognition and allies. many of it's diplomatic allies consist of 3rd world island nations and despot countries who have been bought off with the abundant reserves of the ROC, thanks to their semi-socialist control of industries such as tobacco, steel, rail (all of which they pillaged from the Japanese after WWII).

everytime taiwan tries to assert itself either in opinon or joining organizations suc as the WHO etc, they get threatend by china. then the US also tells Taiwan when and where to open it's mouth.

this kind of manhandling frustrates the taiwanese people and their politicians and has been a source of inferiority complex for them. so they try everything they can to assert a feeling of "superiority", hence and emphasis on localization in the music industry, whether the music sucks or not.

also westernization of taiwan (in the surface sense not the philosophical) has been quite rapid. as taiwan is closest to the US both in military need and as a trading partner, this was natural.

however, chiang kai shek was not a fool. the ROC observed that music was a threat. elvis, the beatles, the hippie movement, were things he couldn't allow in his fascist island paradise. music was tightly controlled. yes elvis got in, but not the threating elvis that we know.

taiwan basicaly went thru the 50s and 60s in a vaccum. few people in taiwan are on the same page as the rest of the world in discussing modern music. it's as if they had been asleep for 50 years and have to have everything explained to them. even japan is not like this. taiwan people do not feel they are with the world. it's an us/them mentality. they never look at themselves as being a part of the world culture.

whats worse, the music industry in taiwan wants it that way, because foriegn artists outsell local records in actual sales. people know that local pop stars are manufactured, and thus don't buy their records. that's a good sign. the bad is, what taiwan people know about foriegn music is as FORIEGN MUSIC, again the us/them mentality.

the taiwan record industry exists as a form of control, mostly to child down the population, but also as a morale building agent, to show taiwanese what taiwanese can do. that is admirable. but this form of localzation has created a "special ed class" for the musically untalented, and a highly subjective double standard for musical performance (ie, taiwanese don't have to play that well) as well as cronyism and an elitist only participation in entertainment.

Can Taiwanese People Think?

borrowing from the book titled "Can Asians Think?" by Kishore Mahbubani here.

I have serious doubts, in fact i have proof of experience that the majority of taiwanese people, though having a good IQ, are quite incapable of serious thought and critical analysis.

the most common phrase you'll hear when making an observation that taiwanese people just don't get (or just don't want to look at) is "you think too much".
true many westerners think too much and read too much into some cultural aspects in taiwan, but "you think too much" and it's derivative "DON'T think too much" have become the "default mind setting" of most Taiwanese people. and it is that default mind setting that i want to expose.

taiwan is basically a "group think society". people travel in groups because they are basically insecure, go out in groups becuase it's more fun. some women even bring friends on their date so they can check the person out and help her decide (actually decide for her).

taiwan is also an "easy please" society. if i were to make a list of adjectives to decribe this country, taiwan would be "fun,convenient, yummy". which is fine in it's own right. i enjoy those parts of taiwan too. but too many things in taiwan are being used to dumb down, or more accurately "child down" the society so they are easliy managed.

consider taiwan music: it has a sing songy, childish melodic style, with childish "artists" fronting the show. the lyrics are also childish, talking about anything safe such as young romance,etc. one would argue that teens make up most of the record buying public so this makes economic sense, but this teeny-bopper mentality permeates almost all aspects of taiwan popular culture, well into adulthood. think about it; what kind of culture has people over 30 living at home, playing online games, and reading comics? what kind of culture needs every product or new idea introduced to them like it's on "Bill Nye the Science Guy"? that's exactly how taiwan news feels. the reporters talk loudly and pitch their voices like they are introducing something to a child.

side note: watching a taiwan concert is basically like watching Barney the dinosaur in concert. the shows are always intersped with announcements from glitzy, dipy stars who introduce this and that. it's not really a concert, but a show, designed to sell celebrities and more importantly CELEBRITY as a guiding force.

taiwan is indeed a paradise for teenagers. i admire that, because young people need distractions and fun to keep them in line. but this culture is just that: a distraction... to keep people in line.

Ma going hardline?

there are many worries that president Ma may already be going hardline. last year, when native taiwan protesters against a visiting delgate from mainland china played the taiwan anthem, the police shut them down. also taiwan independence flags were torn down.
the rights of free speech, which the taiwanese fought so hard to achieve are being taken away, in the name of impressing china. is Ma trying to show china that he would be a governor capable of controlling dissent on the island if and when Taiwan is handed back to the mainland?

The Fascist Roots of the ROC

Taiwan ( the island) has been occupied for 60 years by a government that, though it's individual representatives are voted in by the populace, the GOVERNMENT itself was not.
The ROC is a fascist entity. though it's founder dr., sun yat sen was a great, open minded man with a wonderful vision for the chinese people, many bad influeneces crept in beyond his control such as advisors from various entities, including communist russia and nazi germany.
dr. sun yat sen never intended for the chinese people to turn to fascist ideology, but that is what has happened.
listen to television shows in taiwan and you will hear white foriegners called the taiwanese word "ah do gah" (high nose). white people are called foriegners(lao wai). but japanese, vietnamese, other asians are NOT called foriegners even though technically they are.
this is because taiwan seeks to use race/racial outsider-sim as a binding force in it's society. but this outsider-ism has also been used against ethnic chinese from the mainland.
there basically two types of fascism in taiwan: original ROC fascist ideology established by chiang kai shek during his regime of terror (in which score of native taiwanese protesters were murdered over the years) and reverse fascism, invented by native taiwanese against everybody who is not them (fukien dialect speaking, 4th generation on the island). this form of localization crippled the last administration under Chen sui bien, who excluded people of mainland decent who were more capable of carrying out his policies than the locals he chose.
this localization/outsiderism in taiwan is what is holding taiwan back as a people. out of love, i say "taiwan open your eyes".