Steve Golden, Alumnus of Bruce Lee's Chinatown School
First-Generation Jeet Kune Do: Exclusive Interview With Steve Golden, Alumnus of Bruce Lee's Chinatown SchoolBy Paul J. Bax |
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Steve Golden started training under the legendary Ed Parker long before he was introduced to Bruce Lee, but his kenpo black belt and his loyalty to his master didn’t keep him from recognizing the logic of Lee’s fighting method. Golden wound up spending six to nine months with Lee at his Chinatown school, and on April 1, 1967, he received a certificate saying he was promoted to first rank within the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute.
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I was 12 when I really got interested. I used to read Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, and they always had those “Defend Yourself” type ads. I sent for everything they offered. The only school I could find was a judo club about 30 miles from my home. Being 12, I didn’t drive, so I couldn’t get to any classes. It wasn’t until 1959 that Ed Parker did a demonstration at my high school. I was more than a little impressed. And I had a driver’s license. Describe your training with Ed Parker. It was great. I practiced constantly, and after four months I was invited into the intermediate class. That was from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. At 9 p.m. everyone had to leave, and the doors and shades were closed. That’s when the advanced class worked out. No one was allowed to watch. Well, I did make it into the advanced class and used to be on the demonstration team. Ed would take us to schools, gyms, hotels and anywhere else that people were interested in martial arts. When we did a demo, we went hard. I’m still surprised that we didn’t kill each other. Oh sure, someone would get their face smashed into the concrete or there would be a fractured rib now and then, but nothing really serious. How did you first meet Bruce Lee? I think it was in 1964. Bruce used to stop by Ed’s school in Pasadena, California, to talk to Ed. I think it was about the Hollywood scene, but I wasn’t interested in that so I never asked. But I was interested in Bruce. I don’t think he ever got out without us questioning him. He always took the time to show us things and play around. How often did Lee show up at Parker’s school, and what were some of the topics he discussed? Bruce showed up once in a while. When [he did], we never discussed topics as such. Bruce usually just did whatever he wanted to do, or he would answer questions by showing us how he did things. Ed was usually not involved in those discussions. I do remember one time when Bruce was in Ed’s office showing Ed how he defended against kicks. He was demonstrating a low stop-kick or foot obstruction. We thought it was interesting but not very practical because it wouldn’t work against things like roundhouse kicks, back kicks or spinning kicks. It took me quite a few years to understand how it really works and how useful it is.
At that time, I didn’t see much difference. The punches in jeet kune do were [done with] a vertical fist, and the side kicks used the flat of the foot and heel instead of the knife edge. But that’s small stuff. You should understand that we all relate and compare new things to what we already know. I knew hundreds of combat techniques from kenpo. So, for example, when Bruce taught us trapping drills, I considered them new techniques. Sure, they were different techniques from the kenpo I had learned, but it wasn’t like it was that revolutionary. It took years before I realized what Bruce was trying to teach me. Looking back on those days, I think of them as the time that Bruce turned on the lights but I didn’t know how to open my eyes. Would you say that Parker had a different interpretation of fighting? Of course, he did. In Ed’s world of combat, your actions had a predetermined set of actions. In Bruce’s world, nothing was predetermined—except, of course, that he was going to win. If you look at kenpo using JKD theory, kenpo doesn’t look so good because it makes too many assumptions. But looking at kenpo that way does not give you a true representation of what it was really like. I keep hearing people say that JKD is Bruce Lee, but I don’t hear people say that kenpo is Ed Parker. But it’s just as true. You can look at kenpo and tear it apart, but in reality Ed Parker made it work. And with Ed’s personal teaching, I made it work, too—until I met Bruce. Did Parker harbor any ill feelings toward Lee after several of his students enrolled in Lee’s Chinatown school? I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t thrilled with the situation, but it wasn’t like you think. It might sound like Bruce came along and showed me something new and I deserted Ed. I had been with Ed for seven years. Ed was almost always at the school teaching me and the other advanced students. But for the last year before I left, Ed was spending more and more time away from the Pasadena school. He was involved in his other schools and with the Hollywood crowd. So at least for that period, he was not teaching me. I still needed more training, and Bruce Lee was available. Ed and I remained friends. I moved to Eugene, Oregon. He used to come there to do seminars for local kenpo schools, and I’d bring my students. He was so friendly to me and my students that the kenpo people in town got real cool toward me after that.
Since I’ve been working on what I learned from Bruce Lee for over 30 years, you might think that his teachings would be the most valuable. However, things are not always that simple. One of the reasons Bruce liked Ed Parker’s people is because of the way we learned to move and think. That training has stayed with me and influenced all of my understanding of Bruce’s teaching. So maybe I would not have the understanding and abilities that I now have without the base from Ed Parker. It might also surprise you to find out that the kenpo training keeps showing itself in a very positive manner and fits in well with all the other training. Of course, an observer might not recognize it as kenpo. Then again, the observer might not recognize what I’m doing as anything related to Bruce Lee’s teaching, either. Describe your early training sessions with Lee. There were a few different flavors while I was there. We always started with a warm-up and some heavy exercising. We moved on to footwork, kicking, trapping, sparring and a lot of questions and answers. When Bruce was there, he would teach new things. When he wasn’t there, Danny Inosanto would lead the class through what Bruce had previously taught. In all cases, the door was locked promptly at the beginning of class, and the door and windows were covered so no one could watch. Did you ever get the feeling that Inosanto was more than just Lee’s assistant instructor, that he was part of the formation of JKD? No. I never saw any evidence of that. From what I’ve seen and experienced, Bruce’s path and Dan’s path are quite different, and that’s as it should be. Of course, if you mean that Dan may have influenced Bruce in some way, then I’d agree. But so did everyone Bruce met and worked with. In that sense, many people influenced the development of JKD. But when you get down to it, Bruce Lee was the genius behind his system. Some have said the Chinatown school was casual in one sense and strict in others. We had a very casual atmosphere. There were no uniforms and no ranks. We all went on a first-name basis. If I had a question, I’d say something like, “Hey, Bruce, how does this work?” It may sound like lack of respect, but that’s the way it was. I can assure you [that] no one lacked respect for Bruce Lee. When we were working out, we were serious. We went hard and put everything into it. I’ll tell you something about being serious: [Once] Bruce told me that he was going to kick me and that I should get back as fast as I could. It doesn’t get any more serious than that. I’ve never moved back so fast in my life. Fat lot of good it did. His kick still knocked me across the room into a concrete wall, and I thought he broke my ribs. And that was while moving away from him and wearing two chest protectors. What were the sparring sessions like? The sparring I did was pretty controlled. It was frustrating, though—not just for me but also for Bruce. I remember him yelling at us: “Don’t just move around; move with a purpose!” I thought we were moving for a purpose—I wanted to hit my opponent and didn’t want him to hit me. It took me about six years before I realized what he really meant. Now I understand why he was so frustrated with us. So what did he mean? If it took me six years to understand after Bruce’s personal instruction, I don’t think it would do any good to try to explain it now in a few words.
Yeah. It was frightening to see how easy it was for Bruce. The black belt mentioned that he knew Bruce had good hands, so Bruce said he would only use his feet. They went pretty hard, and the guy really tried to kick Bruce. Every time the guy kicked, Bruce got just barely out of range, and just as the guy’s foot came down, Bruce held his kick up to the guy’s face—a roundhouse kick right up to the guy’s nose or a side kick up to the guy’s temple. This guy was putting everything he had into getting Bruce, and Bruce was barely putting out any effort. If it was for real, it would have lasted until the first kick. What were your sparring sessions with Lee like? There weren’t any. The closest I ever got was once [when] he told me to really try to stop him any way I could. I actually did very well for the first three-quarters of a second, but then he had my arms trapped and his fingers in my eyes. What a nasty feeling! But what can you expect—I was only a black belt with seven years of experience. Does that make a statement as to Lee’s prowess or kenpo’s inferiority? It makes the same statement it made when he did it to people of any system. The statement it makes is that it makes no difference what system you study—Bruce Lee could easily beat you. Ed Parker’s kenpo is not inferior to JKD, just different. Kenpo is better than JKD for some people; JKD is better than kenpo for others. Why has the public become confused as to what constitutes JKD? What can you expect when you can’t get a useful definition of JKD out of anyone? As the saying goes, if you ask two JKD instructors, you get three opinions. But if you want to know what JKD really is, just ask any practitioner. They will tell you that their instructor is the one who knows. Let’s face it: The school/instructor you study with is the one who does it right, and all the other instructors do it wrong. Ask anyone. So what is the official definition from Steve Golden? No definition. Jeet kune do might be described and explained, but I don’t think it should be defined. As soon as you give it a definition, you’ve created the very limits that jeet kune do must not have. Try not to turn a living dynamic art into a static and set academic thesis.
I’m honored that people think I’m so good at trapping and that they think it’s the best thing I do. But actually, I’m much better at other aspects of jeet kune do. If you are talking about the five ways of attack, I’m better at direct attack, progressive indirect attack and attack by drawing than I am at trapping. These are pretty easy to demonstrate but more difficult to teach and use well. But you asked what makes trapping work in a real confrontation. People say they have seen numerous fights and have never seen trapping work. When I pin them down, they admit that they have never even seen someone try trapping in a real fight. So I’ll answer your question in a roundabout way. Why doesn’t trapping work in a real fight? Because people don’t know how to use it. I’ll go so far as to say that most people don’t even know what trapping really is and how it should be used. But think about this: Bruce used it, I use it and my students use it. So if it doesn’t work for others, maybe they are doing something wrong. Why is footwork so important in JKD? Because you don’t want to get hit. With few exceptions and if done correctly, jeet kune do utilizes little or no blocking. Blocking is the least efficient and potentially the most dangerous way of handling an attack. So one answer to an attack is to not be where the attack is being targeted. If you can’t move well, you get hit. Of course, the other reason is you want to hit. Without good footwork, you pretty much have to wait for your opponent to be in your range before you can attack. It is not a good idea to let your opponent dictate your actions. It gives him far too much power. I know that jeet kune do mentions that your opponent’s actions will determine what you do, but that does not mean that your opponent should force you to do anything. How do combinations of footwork make attacks more successful? What footwork is taught in jeet kune do? Well, there’s step and slide, shuffle step, circling, pendulum, quick-step and a few others. We say, “Let’s practice the quick-step,” or “Let’s practice the pendulum.” That’s fine, but in reality the situations are dynamic, and footwork should continue to change from one kind to another as needed. Without the practice of combining and switching, many people get stuck doing only one or two types when a combination and blend would work much better. In the case of simplifying training by practicing only single types of footwork, people make real situations more complicated. What is the best way for a student to increase his awareness and speed up his attack methods? There are drills that help increase a person’s awareness. We used to do some in Bruce’s class in Chinatown. Usually the drills are two-person drills that train one person in awareness while training the other person in nontelegraphic attacks. One of the drills is well-known and taught by almost all jeet kune do instructors. Unfortunately, the drill is most often taught for the wrong purpose and is also done in a way that loses both the value of the awareness training and the value of the nontelegraphic training. This drill is so important that I teach it at almost every seminar. People rave about your method of teaching the five ways of attack. I didn’t know that people were raving about anything I do. I can tell you how I teach the five ways, but I can’t tell you how my way is different from anyone else’s way. I teach the five ways of attack the way I teach almost everything in jeet kune do. The ways or methods are not separated from everything else. I don’t like to teach a technique for, let’s say, indirect attack without teaching the underlying principles that make it work. I could say, “If a person stands this way, then do this,” or “If the opponent stands that way, do that,” but how would that help if you came up to someone standing in a way that you had never practiced against? If you’ve been taught the principles, it makes no difference how someone is standing or moving. This opens your abilities to deal with situations you have never trained for. So I guess I teach the five ways of attack in a way that removes limits rather than instills limits. How does a martial artist beat a faster opponent? It’s not really complicated, but it’s difficult to describe because it requires the knowledge and ability to have the opponent’s energy help move you. This means that the faster the opponent moves, the faster you move. This is pretty basic to jeet kune do and wing chun. Energy and awareness drills, along with training in chi sao, are keys to success. People who have studied jeet kune do for a number of years should understand how to beat a faster opponent using these methods. It’s not complicated, but it’s a long road. I teach how to beat a faster opponent at some of my seminars. The method is one that uses only the opponent’s energy and positions and does not take long to learn. It works well but does have some limits. It is, perhaps, the first few steps on that long road to proficiency. Some view JKD as nothing more than the accumulation of techniques or arts. If some view jeet kune do as an accumulation, then they are quite mistaken in their interpretation of Bruce Lee’s art. I see it over and over again in jeet kune do, as well as in other martial arts and in life: People want to learn but only so far as it doesn’t interfere with what they already believe or what they prefer the truth to be. They spout Bruce Lee’s words when convenient and ignore his words when they may cause some discomfort. It may be a lot more fun to accumulate things, so I don’t blame people for doing so. But I don’t understand why they justify their actions by calling it JKD. Bruce said to simplify. Does that mean accumulate? No. It is simplifying to [get to] the essence of a combative art. How valid are the principles of JKD when applied to the fighters of today? Why should anything have changed? Hitting hard still hurts as much today as it ever did. Awareness is still important. Bruce didn’t develop JKD just to handle existing systems. He developed it based on the principles of combat, and those certainly have not changed. About the author: Paul J. Bax is a freelance writer and Bruce Lee historian. This article was originally printed in the October 2008 issue of Black Belt. 
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