Meditations and Reveries

I've been thinking about doing a new aikido video for awhile. But sometimes the format takes awhile to assemble itself. I've been doing some music with Dennis Kyne(a very talented fellow) and one piece we did in particular stayed with me. A very meditative and reflexive piece. So it came to me that maybe the thing to do was to shoot some aikido footage, slow it down, and make the whole thing more of a meditation. So that is how this video came about.

Chet Baker seemed to have a lot of album covers with beautiful women. So I came up with the idea of doing a photo with Vlad. After all, even Chet never, to my knowledge, at least, did an album cover with a wolf. And even though Vlad is a flesh and blood being and a dear friend, he has a larger than life, mythical, and even magical side to him. My thanks to Dianna for allowing me to be photographed with him.

Aikido in slow motion is a powerful tool. It is often times referred to as meditation in motion. So hopefully the combination of the aikido movement and the music will produce a meditative state in those who watch.

My thanks to Lou Bermingham, Harry Concepcion, and Steve Tsao for role and rolls in this piece. And special thanks to Dennis for his part in the music.