My martial arts addiction.

Yes, I admit it freely; I'm a martial arts junkie.  I have been since 1980.  Even before then, I was dibbling in the martial arts, but it really wasn't until college that I made Budo/Wushu, a real part of my life.  Rarely does a day past where I don't do some kind of training.  Whether it's something as simple as doing a couple of basic punches and kicks, to complex drilling like Naihanchi kata or the sword techniques of Fiore Dei Liberi.  I'm always trying something.

I've had the opportunity to study quite a few different systems in my past 30 years of training, and I've had a chance to study under some wonderful masters.  It was one of the benefits of having lived in a great martial arts city like Chicago.  Primarily though, my focus centers on five different styles.

Those are:

Karate ( Tang Soo Do, Shotokan, Kenpo, Shorin Ryu. )

Bujuikan Ninpo

Serrada Escrima.

Kung Fu ( Wing Chun, Shuai Chiao, Tai Chi, Northern Shaolin, Hsing - I. )

Historical European Martial Arts.

I don't have  a teacher currently.  Most of my training now is self-training, with occasional sparring matches with some friends of mine out my way here in Southold.  I'd like to teach somewhere and I'm currently looking for a spot to do just that.  The problem I've run into is there's a general lack of interest in martial arts ( especially Traditional ) in both the North and South Forks of Long Island.  So, I've been forced to practice mostly on my own.

It hasn't been all bad, though.  Self - work leads to self - discovery.  Many of the theories and concepts of the various different arts that I've studied have become clearer to me now through my struggle to master the basics of those arts.  I'm not where I would like to be, but at least, I'm trying.

And maybe, that's the point.  It's not the end of the journey, but the journey itself.  It's highs and it's lows.  The constant self - critiquing.  The massive effort to train when it is the absolute last thing you want to do.  The people you meet along the way, who make your life all the more worthwhile for meeting them.  The examples they entail for you.  The lessons that they teach.

I may not be the whole man I would like to be.  I'm still struggling financially.  I'm still struggling with finding steady work and my efforts as a writer and actor have not always come to meet my expectations and this is hard to admit, but I'm still trying.  I'm still sending out my resume, like I'm still practicing my reverse punch.  Moment by moment.  Every day.

Keep training, people.

Fitness for the actor.

Someone once asked me what was the one piece of advice given to me as a beginning actor, that I wish I had taken more to heart.   I didn't have an immediate answer at that moment, but I certainly do now and that would be on making fitness, especially running,  a major feature in your life.

In my last 3 independent movie roles, I've had to run like the dickens at some point during the shooting of them.  I mean, really sprint!  The last time was in a comedy called Fire Island. ( https://www.facebook.com/Fire-Island-541008672698431/timeline/ If you want to see further about this film! )  I had to run off a broad walk down a flight of steps onto a sandy beach then down into the water.  Doesn't sound like much, but try doing that for over 10 takes!  I was sweating bullets by the end of the shot.  I hung in there though, because I didn't want to look foolish in front of the two actors ( both, half my age, mind you, ) that I was doing the shot with. I was seriously winded, though, and pretty wiped out next day as well.

After that, I promised myself, that would never happen again and decided to devote, at least, two days per week to jogging. I've been a bit uneven with that promise.  Sometimes I could do two days.  Other weeks, it's just been one.  Lately, though, I've been more consistent and have stepped it up to 3 days a week for jogging.

For awhile, it was mostly just a distance of about a mile, to about a mile and half most days, but now I've developed my running distance to 3 or 5 miles at a time.

My point about this is that I've come to realize that acting is one of those professions that regularly calls on you to exceed your physical limitations.  At any given moment, you might very well be asked to run up a hill, or slide down a fire escape, or pretend to get hit from behind and have to fall down a flight of stairs.  All of these I've been ask to do at one time or another.

One story that has always stay with me about just this sort of thing, was related in an interview with British actor, Michael York of the Austin Powers movies and Logan's Run fame.  He was telling about the time while he was filming the Four Musketeers movie, he and his fellow actors, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain and Roy Kinnear had to run up a steep hill during a battle sequence.  It was supposed to take, at most, about 10 minutes to shoot.  Unfortunately, because of problems that always occur on any outdoor movie set, it took much longer.  Constantly, they had to stop and re-start the shoot due to either misfiring of the cannons featured in the sequence, or clouds that would past by and block the sunlight needed for the shot or just technical malfunctions of the cameras.  It finally took over five hours to get this one shot!  York reckoned that he and his fellow Musketeers had sprinted about 10 miles, maybe more, in that time frame.  Sprinted!  At the time, York was still in his 20's and in decent physical condition to be able to handle the stress of all that running, but Oliver Reed was pushing 50 and had a well - known drinking problem.  Also, Roy Kinnear, while being a brilliant comic actor, was always a man who suffered with obesity.  York expressed how they were all drenched in sweat and feared that both Reed and Kinnear might be endanger of having a heart attack, both at the same time!

Thankfully, Kinnear and Reed pulled through to be able to finish that day's sequence, but York learned an important lesson about how demanding the career of an actor can be on one's physical self. He always made a point to stay in the best shape as he possible could, just in case, he might have to do something that strenuous again.

The irony of this, for me, at least; is while I knew this story and was effected by it - it took having to go through the exact same thing that York and Reed and Kinnear did that day - for me to make any real effort to get back into shape.  It stuck me that day on the set of Fire Island, that I was not coming through this rigor of constant running like Michael York did, but instead, I was huffing and puffing like Oliver Reed and Roy Kinnear combined!

Lesson learned.

My thanks to a wonderful cast!

There is nothing more pleasing than giving a great show!  My Murder Mystery play at the Mount Sinai Yacht Club went off great!  Better than I could ever hope.  I can't begin to express the feeling of gratitude that bloomed in my heart when the two men who had organized the event, told me how thankful they were that my show and its cast did such a glorious job that night.  It was better than they had ever expected!

To me, 90% of any good show is usually how good your cast is and I couldn't have gotten a better collection of actors than the group I had on last Saturday.  My thanks, to  Susan Trojanoski Hedges, Stephan Scheck, Richard Gardini, Rebecca Edana and Phil Reichert.  You all rocked out some top-flight comedy.

Another thank you to the staff there at Mount Sinai Yacht Club.  Hard-working group.

It's only been a recent thing for me to start writing and performing my own work.  I am my own worst critic, even to the point of holding back on submitting my efforts to various different theaters. It is a constant struggle with me to believe that I might just have something new and original to offer. There are so many people out there with greater skills and talents than myself.  I often get overwhelmed.

What sees me through these times is when I see the light that goes on in the eyes of the audience and to hear that laughter clear across a crowded floor;.  Thanks again to my cast.  You make the hours at the Notepad all the worthwhile.

The first step.

My latest attempt in joining the 21 century.  I'm starting my own blog!  My main focuses on this site is to inform you, my gentle reader, of my upcoming writing and theater ventures.  One, in particular, that is coming up for me - this weekend, is at the majestic Mount Sinai Yacht Club ( http://www.msyc.org/ ) in Mount Sinai, NY.  I'll be performing with a wonderful cast of local actors ( Susan Trojanoski Hedges, Stephan Scheck, Richard Gardini, Rebecca Edana and Phil Reichert. )  It will be a Murder Mystery play called Murder Most Foul in Mount Sinai.  It's an original piece written by myself, and it will be at 7 pm, Sat. Sept. 19th.  We're expecting a big crowd.  Should be fun for all!  I think tickets are still available, so if interested in joining the merriment - please call ( 631 ) 473-2993 for reservations.

I also have two staged readings coming up.  One will be at the Custer Institute and Observatory.
http://www.custerobservatory.org/  I will be performing another original work called The Trial of Galileo.  It will be on Sat. Oct 10th at 1:30 pm.  It will be telling the life story of the renowned scientist and philosopher,  Galileo Galilei.  I will be telling tale of his beginning as a young boy in Florence, Italy to becoming the leading inventor and thinker of his generation, only to run afoul of the Vatican and to spend the rest of his life under house arrest.  Phil Reichert will be playing Galileo and Lisa Dabrowski will be playing his daughter, Maria and I will be narrating the play for the audience.

The third performance I have scheduled for this year, will be my staged reading play, John and Abigail Adams: A Love Story at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Stony Brook, NY.
http://www.uufsb.org/. Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 pm.  Again, Phil Reichert, Lisa Dabrowski and myself will be telling the romance and life-journey of two of American's most famous couple,  John Adams and Abigail Adams.  John  spent much of his life in service to his country. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, an officially appointed diplomat (who served as a commissioner in France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, and minister to the Court of St. James), and President of the United States.  Abigail Adams did not have a formal education, but proved to be an extremely resourceful partner to John Adams.

 While he was away on numerous political assignments, she raised their children, managed their farm, and stayed abreast of current events during one of the country's most turbulent times.

John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams  exchanged over 1,100 letters, beginning during their courtship in 1762 and continuing throughout John's political career (until 1801). These warm and informative letters include John's descriptions of the Continental Congress and his impressions of Europe while he served in various diplomatic roles, as well as Abigail's updates about their family, farm, and news of the Revolution's impact on the Boston area.