Villari Stories.
Anyone have any stories of Fred Villari( Good or bad) or Fred Bagley ,Art Singer, Charles Mattera.
Registered User
Villari Stories.
Anyone have any stories of Fred Villari( Good or bad) or Fred Bagley ,Art Singer, Charles Mattera.
randomness is key
Fred Villari is a nice guy.
Kickin' it
That's what Rommel said about Hitler, until he had to take the cyanide.Originally Posted by SenseiShellie
randomness is key
Let me rephrase it, if he likes you, he's a nice guy...
Glorified TCMAist
not so much about villari, but about the orginazation in general. I brought my 12 yr old student (son of a friend-whom I've been teaching since he was 7,so he was more like family) to a Ninja Seminar. It seemed cool in the flyer, as it showed an obstacle course,rappelling,knife throwing,etc.
Well, the "obstacle course" was lame, walk over a log...the rappelling was down a six foot hill that you could have simply stepped off of, it turned out that each one was a station of this "course" they had set up, anyway,the knife throwing was hilarious. They had styrofoam sheets on plywood, and these stars, and throwing knives. This one kid throws a knife and it hits handle side first, and sticks. The Vilari BB runninig the station, thinking ever so quickly, says,"Yes, even the HANDLE can be a formidable weapon!"
ok, it gets better, um worse.
Then we are to learn this staff set, so seeing that real Ninjas use their enviornment, we were to go into the woods and find staves. Picture a group of thirty or so, probably more, all learning a lame staff set, holding sticks, branches, some all bent with branches coming off them..hilarious-but wait, there's more...
at one point there is a thrust and the "Sensei" thrusts and yells,"CHAII!"
of course, the whole group follows suit. Everyone thrusts and yells,"CHAII!"
Little friend, who after knowing me since a toddler, has a warped sense of humor, does a little thrust and in a funny weak voice, looks up at me an says,"chaaii..." We burst out laughing. We were the only ones laughing,, as everyone else took this bullsh1t very seriously.
They were, after all, training to be Ninjas!
Then in the main hall, "THE MAHSTUH" (said with a Bahstahn accent) taught a CHI-KUNG set. Ok, so he's up there in his Elvis suit,white gi, TEN gold stripes, on the belt, ten gold stripes on the sleeves, ten gold stripes on the lapels, Sunglasses,all he was missing were the muttonchop sideburns.. well, he's going through this totally made up "Ch'i-Kung form"..and everyone's following along, then he does three um, raking claw moves, or whatever, and makes a hissing sound,three to the right, "SSSS! - SSSSS-SSSS!" three to the left,"SSSS! SSSS-SSSS!" and everyone in the place is doing the same thing.
My little guy tugs my sleeve, looks up at me and says in a stage whisper,"There's grown men doing this!"
I look at him and nod-"That's it, we're outta hear."
It took a child to put things in perspective.
obviously training you how to order a sweetened tea drink at Starbucks...
randomness is key
OMG...LOL about the Starbucks comment. That is seriously a sad "Ninja Camp." I've thought of better things to do than that.
Registered User
LOL Same here Sensei Shellie.
Registered User
Really? Have you seen him mad before? How many times have you met him?
Glorified TCMAist
Master Bagley was teaching, I dunno, some sh1t..anyway, it had to do with Tiger Claws, and I make your standard fu-jow, and Bagley makes a claw with the index and middle finger extended, ring and pinky curled in more-kinda like Dracula.
Ok, so he sez, "You can tell when someone doesn't really understand Tiger when he makes his claws like that(meaning me) the index finger and middle finger are much stronger.." And I'm thinking, 'hmmmm, then I guess all those Hung-Ga,CLF,Fu-Jow,etc etc guys must have it all wrong.."
Then he's teaching the "Half-Moon Stance" which they use instead of a bow stance. Bagley "Proves" the innefectiveness of the bow stance and superiority of the Half-Moon Stance by having me stand in a bow stance and then he pushes me sideways, and of course, I topple. Then he shows me how doing that in the Half-Moon Stance is better because."The feet form a tripod" ok,I was young and naive, but not totally stupid. Two feet, two points on a plane. There will always be a perpendicular force to topple you. The half-moon stance does not transfer force or forward energy or rooting, completely lacking in structure..
but...I kept my mouth shut.
Another time, I brought in a magazine showing Ark Y. Wong, still going strong at 90. And I am remarking at how these old Chinese Masters are still traiinng, and how amazed I was. Well, one guy, an instructor in the org. says,"You talk about alot of other masters" I say, "Well, yeah, these guys are inspiring"
and he goes, real angry and offended, "Fred Villari is the only MASTER I know of!"
I'm thinkin.."you should get out more.."
Last edited by TenTigers; 07-21-2007 at 05:57 PM.
Registered User
Funny stuff!
Have you ever worked with Master Bagley before that?
Do you have more stories?
Glorified TCMAist
I have to say, Master Bagley was one of the good people there. His Martial Arts was good, and he didn't seem at all like a prik, while others were very cliquish and obnoxious.
randomness is key
I've met him a few times. I have only heard of him being mad once...wasn't pretty from what I understand.
randomness is key
LOL! Tripod? What was he smoking? I love how whenever you bring in something about another master, they always are say things like FV is the only Master. I remember once at the FV school I trained at, I said something about studying Taiji from a guy in the park, and my instructor made fun of me because I wanted to "go be with old people in the park and work really slow" I was like "huh? It's fun and relaxing." He then said he would teach me Taiji...I'm glad I didn't hold my breath. All I learned was Pinan 1 really slow.
Registered User
Can you go into more detail ?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote