# Elvis.



## arnisador (Sep 15, 2002)

Elvis presley appears in a giy in a small photo on the cover of the current Maxim magazine. (I saw it at the bookstore.) It's part of a 33 trivia facts about him article, and another or the same picture appears in the article itself ("Fact: Karate helped Elvis' dance moves" or words to that effect).


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## sammy3170 (Sep 16, 2002)

> _Originally posted by arnisador _
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> *Elvis presley appears in a giy in a small photo on the cover of the current Maxim magazine. (I saw it at the bookstore.) It's part of a 33 trivia facts about him article, and another or the same picture appears in the article itself ("Fact: Karate helped Elvis' dance moves" or words to that effect). *



He learnt from Ed Parker who bodyguarded him for a while.

Cheers
Sammy


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## Kong (Sep 20, 2002)

Elvis was promoted to 7th dan by Kang Rhee, the site says Karate, but Rhees ma backround seems to be mostly in the Korean arts.

http://www.elviskarate.com/


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## sammy3170 (Sep 21, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kong _
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> *Elvis was promoted to 7th dan by Kang Rhee, the site says Karate, but Rhees ma backround seems to be mostly in the Korean arts.
> 
> http://www.elviskarate.com/  *




and apparently to 8th degree by Ed Parker but from what I can gather he didn't go through the same type of training as your regular belts would have.  He was the king but ranks like that are  insulting to the martial arts.

Cheers
Sammy


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## Kirk (Sep 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Elvis was a qualified kenpoist black belt .... the 8th was honorary.


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## Eraser (Sep 27, 2002)

Hey there..

Do any of you have a video clip of Elvis practising MA...
or know of links that have em..
I would really appreciate this..

Thanks in advance!!


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## Kirk (Sep 29, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Eraser _
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> *Hey there..
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Supposedly very litte footage of it exists.  There's quite a few
stills out there, but not much video.  The guys who made The
New Gladiators claim to have 16mm footage of Elvis doing kenpo,
but it's not released yet :shrug:


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## Rob_Broad (Sep 29, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Actually Parker sent Elvis to a real hard *** instructor to earn his first degree Black Belt.  His logic behind it was if he could survive the Sarge then he was worthy of the rank.  Elvis was quite the accomplished Black Belt, and could go with the best of them.  Elvis having Parker as a friend and bodyguard enetitled him to certain privileges such as many private sessions with SGM Parker but you can't attend group classes when touring the country.

Elvis was passionate about Kenpo and was promoted through the ranks for his knowledge and contributions to the art.  There is no real qualifiactions after 4th degree and degrees after that are based on abilty, time in rank and contributions to the art.  Elvis did just that, he introduced Kenpo to millions of his fans.

Ladies and gentleman Elvis has left the building.

Rob Broad


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## Seig (Oct 1, 2002)

According to the Journey, Elvis' 8th was NOT honorary, it was legit.


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## sammy3170 (Oct 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Rob_Broad _
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I totally disagree with that.  I guarantee that 99 out of 100 Elvis fans would have no idea what martial art Elvis did let alone seek it out and participate.  I've no doubt Elvis was passionate and was physically able but what promotion did he do.  He did about as much for American Kenpo as he did for promoting healthy eating habits.

Just my thoughts 
Cheers
Sammy


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## Kirk (Oct 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Check the net, there's quite a few sound bites out there of Elvis
talking highly of kenpo.  Back when he was studying, it was BIG
news.  Elvis wore suits with the kenpo patch on it, and had a 
guitar with a kenpo patch on it, which made a LOT of people ask,
"what's that?".  I totally disagree with your statement.


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## cdhall (Oct 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
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Mr. Warrener says that there is an old magazine or newspaper article which says that there was only 1 instance of Elvis doing martial arts "for real" (as in, in class or something) ever shot on film and it is this footage that Mr. Warrener has and has not released.

Apparently it was shot during a demo in Tenessee and there are still from that day floating around in places such as a deck of Elvis playing cards that I have.  Elvis never reviewed the footage and it was not very good apparently and for these reasons Mr. Warrener has not yet decided what to do with it.

I think I got that right.  I'll dig for my source and post a link if I find it.
:asian:


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## cdhall (Oct 1, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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I think you are missing most of the point, Sammy.
Before Bruce Lee ever shot a movie.
Before Chuck Norris got $1million for doing a karate film.
Elvis did karate in the movies in 1964's Roustabout.
http://members.tripod.com/beyondthereef__1/tigermanpics.html
Elvis had a tremendous impact on Martial Arts in America, as Mr. Parker forsaw, and it can be traced even up to Walker, Texas Ranger.

At the link above the page also mentions Hank Slomanski's and his interesting role in checking out Elvis' martial arts prowess.  I think it goes to an article alluded to earlier by Rob Broad but I didn't follow the link before I posted this.

Also, Elvis got his 8th from Ed Parker in Las Vegas on the same day that Dave Hebler got his 7th and Tom Kelly got his 6th.  

There is a pretty good discussion of Elvis and Kenpo in The Journey which is available here with and without an interview tape I shot in 1994:
http://www.akfkenpo.com/homecomingbundle.htm

I'm not saying Elvis could take Mr. Kelly, but again, the Journey goes over this pretty good and the Slomanski story is worth reading if it is the one I think it is.



:asian:


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## sammy3170 (Oct 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
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No worries.  I will just agree to disagree on this one.   I would say a hell of a lot more people took up American Kenpo after seeing The Perfect Weapon than Roustabout.  Maybe due to the limited amount of American Kenpo(it is growing) that is practiced here in Australia we don't benefit from any publicity the king may have done.  

Also regarding Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris they made their names as martial artists before they entered the entertainment industry, Elvis took it on as a secondary interest.  I actually have an unedited copy of an interview Mr Parker did with the Australian version of Hard Copy. He talked a lot about Elvis and the book he wrote of his days with Elvis and not one word is mentioned about Elvis' training.  If he was so outstanding why wouldn't this be mentioned.

Just my thoughts 
Cheers
Sammy


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## Kirk (Oct 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Ya got me!  I have no idea.  As a matter of fact, I have no idea
as to the validity of my statement, I'm just repeating what I was
told/have read.  You have more evidence to support  your 
argument than I do!  :asian:


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## cdhall (Oct 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Thank you Sammy,

I didn't mean to say that Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris did martial arts because of Elvis, I'm just saying that they may not have gone as quickly/firmly into the entertainment industry if Elvis hadn't been there first.

I also am not saying that Elvis was better at Kenpo than he was at entertaining.  Mr. Parker even makes this point in his book I think.  But in the interview Mr. Parker would get the most mileage about talking about what Elvis was good at and letting peoples interest draw them to Mr. Parker and Kenpo.  

I don't think we disagree too much.  I think Elvis was probably a good Black Belt like Mr. Parker said, and that he did all martial-artists/actors/entertainers a favor with his efforts, but again, he was not as good as Tom Kelly I'm sure, and Mr. Kelly was only a 7th.
 
If you weren't in Australia I'd ask about you sending me a copy of your Mr. Parker interview.
:asian:


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## Kirk (Oct 2, 2002)

> _Originally posted by cdhall _
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> *If you weren't in Australia I'd ask about you sending me a copy of your Mr. Parker interview.
> :asian: *



Me too!  *drool*


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## ace (Oct 2, 2002)

Elvis Lives
:boing2: :boing2: 
Primo
LoL


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## sammy3170 (Oct 3, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kirk _
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> Me too!  *drool* *



It doesn't go for that long, maybe 20 minutes where he just talks about Elvis' generosity and what life on the road was like etc etc. With Frank Trejo doing forms in the background.  Not that special but nice to have just the same.

Cheers
Sammy


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## Kirk (Oct 3, 2002)

> _Originally posted by sammy3170 _
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Given how rare footage like this is, it sounds very special to me!


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## ace (Oct 5, 2002)

The King is Alive & puting to gether a new Band.:boing2: :boing2: :boing2: :boing2:


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## Kong (Oct 5, 2002)

> http://members.tripod.com/beyondthe...germanpics.html


This was amazing, I had no idea Elvis incorporated ma into his stageperformance like this (never been a huge fan ). I mean, I`ve heard about it, but always took it as sort of a joke to be honest. These clips clearly show some real ma skill, he`s got some nice moves there  !


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