Since 1991 he has made 20 albums and toured the American continent, Europe and Asia with Hagfish and Only Crime. For the past 13 years he has been the bassist for Texas favorite the Toadies. He began writing his first book “Even If It Kills Me” (YMAA Publications) while on the road in 2015 about his black belt journey in Taekwondo. Upon release it was a Silver Winner for the Benjamin Franklin Award.
When he’s not writing he can be found drinking coffee, trying to learn Rush songs, training in martial arts and drinking coffee .
He lives in Amarillo, TX with his wife Shelley and, since his bass guitars are his children, their 13 kids.
- The Partial Artist - October 13, 2021
- The Harder We Fall - September 8, 2021
- Am I My Brother’s Keeper? - September 6, 2021
Taekwondo is translated as “the art of kicking and punching.” But what is that exactly? Yes, the translation is from the Korean language but wouldn’t ALL martial arts fit in this category? Agree with me or not, it’s just an opinion/observation. Forward all hate mail to doni@keepittoyourself.com.
For the past few months I’ve been training at a local TKD school a mile from my house. The Master is a man I’ve known for 20 years and, although I did not receive my black belt from him, he has allowed me to wear mine at his school. It isn’t common practice but he respects the hard work I have done to reach that rank. That’s the kind of person I want to learn from, they care about you and your journey, not their own affiliations and aesthetics. The man works his butt off and not once have I seen him not flourish in an industry that isn’t known for prosperity.
It’s all just kicking and punching
In class the other night our instructor was teaching some basic TKD moves- kicks, punches and whatnot (whether your school prefers WTF or ITF taekwondo, the basic moves are the same.) Some use military forms and some do not. This particular school uses TKD as it’s base ingredient and adds other techniques to make the student a more efficient fighter. Their curriculum follows tradition closely but that is more commonly used for testing.
It’s a fighting school, they teach you how to use it, IF you have to. As the Master was instructing he showed a technique that smelled strongly of kung fu, the patterns were circular, the footwork used angles and I had not seen this in any type of TKD. It could have been Hapkido but what do I know? Turns out I know the difference between TKD and Kung fu. Because he later told us the pattern was Chinese in origin.
So why was he showing his TKD class this move? Because it worked, that’s why. And it fit perfectly with his system. As I mentioned , this is a fighting school. By that I mean the adult students and upper ranks are encouraged to spar as much as possible. How else are you going to learn? Sure, your kicks are crisp as hell against the BOB but that SOB doesn’t fight back. Karl does. So, the Master wanted to instruct his students in techniques that work. Being a street fighter in the day and unfortunately having the bad luck of being taught some things that DID NOT work has helped him. In one specific example, he learned the hard way with broken teeth from a failed technique. Now he doesn’t teach that technique to save our teeth.
It’s all fists and feet
That evening he was acknowledging the obvious non-Korean elements in his style when he mentioned that TKD is translated as Foot Fist Way or the ‘art of kicking & punching’ and asked the question that ‘wouldn’t this categorization be an apt description for ALL martial arts?’ At first I was kind of taken back from his statement. WHAT? That’s just not done. Kung fu and karate are in no way similar…are they? After I thought about it I realized he was right. Even BJJ, which doesn’t use the hands and feet in the way that a karateka would, could be described as Foot Fist Way. The juijiteiro has to use their Feet and Hands to manipulate the opponent to do their bidding, right?
A fist by any other name…
It got me to thinking, what’s in a name? It’s something to describe to the student what you are trying to achieve and usually contains elements from your heritage/ background. For that matter any art that prevents a strike from hitting an opponent or intercepts could be called Jeet Kune Do. Or any style could be referred to as Krav Maga for that matter, which means ‘contact combat’.
My point (I know, finally) is don’t put too much into a name. What makes martial arts great are the people, how you go about your training, your instructor, and how it makes you feel. Think of it like a band- Twisted Sister sounds cool until you hear them. Forward hate mail to the above email address. VoiVod are one of the best metal bands ever but have the weirdest name. And I submit to the court my final piece of evidence-what’s a Van Halen?
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