Forgive me, please, I did not mean to be rude, I have not introduced myself. My name is Richard Fern. I’m the hairy one on the right in the picture above. The man on the left is Maestro James A Keating. Some of you may recognize the name or face. Some may not. He is the founder of the American Blade System taught at his school Combat Technolgies, or Comtech for short . His contributions to the martial arts world and the world at large could fill a book but we don’t have that kind of room here, so we’ll concentrate on what Maestro Keating is most noted for and that is the Bowie knife. Not the creation thereof but for the preservation of its usage and history. While the history is being preserved through many other means and people, it’s usage almost died out and had it not been for the efforts of this man it may have faded out completely. Ask any practitioner or fan of the Bowie to link a modern name and Uncle Jims name will be right there on top. The art, which had thrived so brightly but for so short a time, was buried deep under laws, technology and major socio-economic upheaval. But Uncle Jim is an adventurer at his core and a renaissance man to be sure. What better weapon to choose than the Bowie? A weapon that could be wielded by mountain men and Gentry alike and seemed at home on the hip of either. But I sometimes think the Bowie chose him and not the other way around, throwing down the gauntlet and saying “Pick it up if you dare”. Heh. You can visit his site here and you should go there now and every day. So why am I mentioning this and posting a picture of myself with Maestro? Well, a funny thing happened. When I started this blog I forgot to introduce myself. I just didn’t think of it. Who am I? I just love the Bowie and wanted to share my journey with the world. I am a student of Maestro and want do my part to see that this way does not die out. It never occurred to me that I should mention myself. I also seem to never actually sign any of my blogs with my actual name. Just a ---_)------- So I have no one to blame but myself when I found my article on the Passatta Sotto shared on a social media page and being attributed to James A Keating. When I saw it I had a good laugh and didn’t think anything of it until the next day when I got a blog comment thanking Uncle Jim for his article. I am flattered. I am humbled that you would think my writing is his but alas, it is not. It is me. It also does not help that Maestro just recently was kind enough to share an article as a guest on my blog. I mentioned it to him at a recent seminar he gave and we had a good chuckle. He came up with this idea to post a pic of us on each of ours sites. I jumped at the idea because I really had no idea on how to correct this but knew I could not let you dear readers go on thinking I was James or he was me. So I hope this clears up any confusion and that you will continue to come back and join me In the preservation of the Bowie. Grab a blade and step up. We have work to do. Stay Sharp Richard Fern ---_)-------
5 Comments
Doug B
7/31/2017 02:49:40 pm
I believe the social media page was mine.
Reply
Rich (Admin)
8/2/2017 03:24:08 pm
Hey Doug,
Reply
Doug Bergman
8/2/2017 04:11:15 pm
Yep that's me. lol
Reply
Dan
8/6/2017 06:32:38 pm
I like the blog so far. I've been a Comtech enthusiast since about 1994 and love me some knife combatives and the venerable Bowie knife. Glad to see a new blog on this stuff up and running. I hope you do well.
Reply
Rich ---_)-------
8/6/2017 07:55:36 pm
Thank you Dan and welcome. Good to meet another enthusiast.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |