A Howl of Greeting:
The rhythm of the seasons is with us and its time for the "Fall Dog Brothers
Gathering of the Pack". On behalf of the Council of Elders of the Dog
Brothers, Dog Brothers Inc. Martial Arts hereby cordially invites you to its
"Dog Brothers Fall Gathering of the Pack" at 11:00 AM on Sunday, November
19, 2006 at the RAW Gym in El Segundo to conclude when the fighters are
done.
Many of you may remember our Gatherings held in the park in Hermosa Beach,
which, although they were hosted at considerable expense, were always free
to you our friends, our guests. However with a private facility involved we
now need to charge admission of $15. We ask that you still consider
yourselves to be our friends and our guests. In this context we ask that you
respect our wishes in the matter of Video.
It is very simple:
NO VIDEO CAMERAS, NO DUAL PURPOSE CAMERAS (i.e. with both still photo and
video capabilities). THIS MATTER IS OF IMPORTANCE TO US! And, if you see
someone videoing, please don't let them abuse our hospitality-please let us
know.
As always, you may take photographs for personal, non-commercial use
PROVIDED you give us a complete set of the ones you take. Thanks to the
increasing numbers of you who actually remember and bother to do this! It is
very much appreciated!
The Magic Words:
The MAGIC WORDS: "No judges, no referees, no trophies. One rule only: Be
friends at the end of the day. This means our goal is that no one spends the
night in the hospital. Our goal is that everyone leaves with the IQ with
which they came. No suing no one for no reason for nothing no how no way!
Real Contact Stickfighting is Dangerous and only you are responsible for
you. Protect yourself at all times. All copyright belongs to Dog Brothers
Inc. CA law applies."
This matter of accepting the risk applies to those of you in the crowd too.
For example, sticks, and fights for that matter, may go flying into the
crowd. Parents should consider things like this in deciding whether a child
is old enough to bring along and/or deciding on from where to observe the
event. For example, sitting on the heavy bags ringing the fighting area is a
really risky idea for a child (or adult for that matter). If a stick or a
fight comes careening your way-get out of the way!
This matter of copyright is of particular importance with this Gathering.
It is 97% certain that Spike TV will be recording the day as part of having
5 "webisodes" of approximately 5 minutes each which will appear on their
website. Spike will be at the door with some sort of legal release giving
it permission to have you (fighters & audience members) appear in the
webisodes, not sue them, etc. Spike also will be looking to interview
some of the fighters that they will feature in the webisodes.
At this Gathering, we will continue starting the knife fights with a
handshake and the knives undrawn. Again we encourage you to fight knife
versus stick-- the stick versus electric knife fight last time was a great
success and the electric knife will again be available. Stick vs. knife has
been one of perennial questions of the FMA, so let's continue the research!
In a similar vein, we have word that there will be a couple of cattle prods
available either for "cattle prod versus stick" or "cattle prod versus
cattle prod".
Remember that you may fight with weapons other than a stick if you can find
someone willing to go against you. Please consider staff, double stick, and
anything else. In order to more deeply explore certain variables, fighters
may agree to "no grappling" rules. In staff fights, the fighters may wear
wrestling type ear guards under the fencing masks.
There is no charge for fighters but FIGHTERS MUST PRE-REGISTER, even if they
have fought before. The Fighter's Registration form can be found on the
website. If you are a member of the Dog Brothers tribe an email or phone
call will suffice. For all Fighter Registration matters, please contact
Cindy at Prettykitty@dogbrothers.com 310-540-6853. You are not
pre-registered until your name appears on the list of registered fighters on
the website!!!
If you have fought before and show up without having pre-registered there
will be a $20 fee. We REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don't like having to deal with
this on such a busy day so please do both you and us a favor and
pre-register. If you haven't fought before and you show up without having
pre-registered, you will not be allowed to fight. This will be ruthlessly
enforced!
"Higher Consciousness through Harder Contact"
Crafty Dog
Guiding Force of the Dog Brothers
DB Inc.
