5:30am another night done: Here is an old photo taken at the end of a long night working nightclub security back in the 1990's. Like most bouncers I worked at a few clubs that provided steady gigs for a period of time, along with numerous others where I would do freelance work replacing someone who couldn't make it, got hurt or recently left. You can tell this was at one of the more action packed venues by the short hair (always better for fighting) and football jersey (excellent for fighting – totally rip proof, bare forearms to facilitate strangles and prevent people gripping sleeve cuffs and interfering with strikes, easy to wash out booze and blood), ultra baggy pants with robust leather belt for mobility while staying firmly in place and preventing someone pulling your shirt over your head in a melee and blinding you – low riding pants are never a good idea in a full out brawl – it's hard enough to fight other people without having to fight your own pants at the same time! Next to me is a tall bar stool – if a fight went to knives I would immediately smash the stool into the floor and now it provides two long and strong sticks – an excellent improvised counter to knives which saved me on several notable occasions. I'm waiting for the promoter of the event to finish counting his cash – he used to make a lot it from his cut of Moët champagne sales at the bar. As such he was an obvious mark leaving the club with the money – I would escort him to his ride back to Brownsville Brooklyn and then I was done – I would walk home and spoil myself with a big old cheeseburger with lettuce and tomatoes at a local 24 hour diner – sometimes the patrons of the club that I had been fighting earlier in the night would also be there and usually it would be straightened out but sometimes we would fight again Then I would get some sleep and get ready to go and teach Philosophy at Columbia University- sometimes with cuts, bruises or black eyes from the night before Crazy times in my early days in America, but it was these early experiences that created my first interest and experience of Jiu jitsu and had a huge impact on how I perceived the value of the art.
