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Re: Passing of Brian Kennedy

PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2019 9:15 pm
by Formosa Neijia
I knew Brian when he lived in Taiwan. I taught him some xingyiquan and we practiced BJJ and taiji together under some of the local teachers. I was sad to learn that he had passed away. We were friends when his books got published so it was an interesting time to know him.

For a former lawyer, he sure had a heck of a sense of humor and he had a very down-to-earth attitude. He always surprised me by having a pinch of dip (Copenhagen IIRC) in his cheek nearly every time we met. I remember the country folks back home dipping but it was bizarre to see it here but he assued me that it was available for purchase in the "combat zone" area of Taipei that used to be so popular with foreigners back in the 70s. This unusual habit for Asia made Brian unique IMO.

Publishing his books was a bit of an ordeal considering he was hit with a bill of US$3K for the editing and formatting of the transcript. I put this out there because Brian wasn't exactly raking in the dough by teaching an occasional class at the law university here or by teaching a little English. He struggled with that and i felt bad for him. I dont think most of know the process of publishing all that well but there is obviously behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on. So Brian had a heavy personal investment in his books in more ways than one. They were a real labor of love for him, making them all the more valuable.

I'll drop a couple of anecdotes because if i don't, they'll pass away forever. He told me he knew Paulie Zink back when he was living in California and said Zink was an outstanding Chinese martial artist. In fact, he said Zink had two obsessions: kungu and German cars. Apparently Zink was a master mechanic who specialized in German cars like Mercedes and he made a lot of money repairing them. According to Brian, Zink spent a lot of money on his obsession with learning kungfu. i got the impression that Zink was one of the best of early 80's wushu guys and his reputation in the magazines in those days was earned through a ton of hard work.

Brian and I took a taichi class from a very "high level teacher" who happened to be president of one of the biggest taichi orgs in Taiwan. He had come up with his own short form which shocked me that it took over a year to learn. I had assumed it would take a month, tops. Brian and I were the only foreigners in the class and we were surprised at how often the teacher showed up drunk. One Saturday morning, the teacher came stumbling in in the clothes he fell asleep in and his hair was sticking straight up from the dried vomit in it reminiscent of a scene from "Something about Mary." The teacher was obviously still tipsy and was stumbing around through the form as he tried to maintain his balance in front of the class. Brian and I were trying to not lose it in the back of the class but our laughter was noticed by the other students. This teacher wanted Brian and me to appear in pictures for his taichi book but I refused and left the class. Poor Brian was left to hear the complaints about where I was and we often joked about that.

Much of the info that Brian used in his research was due to Mr. Liu opening his Lion Bookstore. He made available a bunch of books and articles that weren't easy to get before that. Mr. Liu almost single-handedly started a mini revival of the Taiwan martial arts scene. I used to bump into Brian in the store all the time. Because Brian didn't have an offcial lineage, he wasn't tied down to a specific local teacher and this allowed him a lot of freedom to write about various stuff in a way that others don't feel free to do. I think this was one of the most interesting things about his work. He could go from topic to topic picking what was most interesting instead of staying in one narrow field.

RIP, old friend.

Re: Passing of Brian Kennedy

PostPosted: Mon Nov 25, 2019 5:40 pm
by nicklinjm
Love these anecdotes, thanks for sharing!