The Life of a Dragon — The Untold Story of Bruce Lee

As some of you may know, I knew Bruce Lee. He lived across the street from me when I was growing up in Oakland, CA.

You can't see my house from here but it's directly across the street from the driveway. But this picture of James Lee, who had a kung fu school in his garage, shows our house, the one on the left, with my parents' Rambler station wagon in the driveway.

Bruce lived in Mr. Lee's house for awhile. Bruce and James weren't related but very good friends. James' son, Greglon, was about my age and we were very good friends,

In the summer of 1966 I was breaking boards in our driveway (what else are you going to do when you had a kung fu school across the street...plus Greg's friends got free lessons) when Bruce walked over and told me that he was going to be on TV that fall!

Anyway, this post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:

If you were like most boys, you probably went through a karate phase as a kid. When I went through my karate phase as a 5- and 6-year-old, I demanded that my family called me “Daniel-san.” Unfortunately, they did not comply.

There’s one man you can thank for your karate phase: Bruce Lee

I was aware of most of what was discussed in the podcast, a lot from Greg's book as well as having lived through some of it.

The podcast is based on the book Bruce Lee: A Life

Here are some highlight's from the podcast:

• Why is there such a dearth of Bruce Lee biographies out there?
• Lee’s interesting familial makeup 
• Lee’s lifelong East-West struggle and straddling 
• His early life as a child star in Hong Kong 
• The street fighting prowess (and style) of Bruce Lee, and the rooftop fights of Hong Kong
• Why Lee had to keep his kung fu training a secret 
• How Lee ended up in Seattle, and his early experiences in America
• Bruce Lee, cha-cha king and kung fu instructor 
• Lee’s big dreams for his life
• The true acting and martial arts genius of Bruce Lee 
• Lee’s obsession with physical fitness/training — lifting weights, taking supplements, etc. 
• Lee’s voracious reading habits and voluminous library
• How Lee’s reading influenced his kung fu 
• Some of Lee’s famous kung fu students in Hollywood 
• The ups and down of Lee’s acting career 
• How Lee’s movies changed American cinema and culture 
• Some of the life lessons Matt took away while writing the book

Now, I need to find my copy of Greg's book and see if I can find this book in the library.

Interesting days

Today - Lighthouse Day, Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day and Professional Speakers Day

Tomorrow - International Cat Day, Happiness Happens Day, Bowling Day, Odie Day and Scottish Wildcat Day

Next Tuesday - Creamsicle Day and Social Security Day

September 7 - Bring Your Manners To Work Day, Salami Day, Lazy Mom’s Day, Superhuman Day, Buy a Book Day and Beer Lover’s Day