Banjo told me this story in person twice. But I am not used to his voice enough to quote him, so will sketch an outline of the encounter.
As a semi-homeless bluegrass banjo player living in the most evil city in the world, Banjo finds himself making ends meet by working as a bar-back. After closing time, as he ran the trash, he saw a man pass by, young, fit and metrosexual and was stricken with a “vibe that I was going to have to fight this guy.”
The man then started throwing trash out of the trashcan and Banjo asked him not to do that, to which the man accused Banjo of being gay and threatened him. Banjo stated that he didn’t want to fight as the man advanced on him. As the man pressed forward Banjo shot a right shovel-hook to the spleen and dropped the guy, then put him in a choke and tried to talk the guy into leaving to no avail, so choked him out.
When the man revived Banjo calmly talked him through the recommended egress method and promised “to bring great violence down on” the dysgenic doper—who seemed to have been cranked up on something—and released the fool into the night.
Banjo is a very soft-spoken man from the West negotiating the seething East and it occurred to me listening to his second relation of this encounter that the worst thing about getting beaten up by Banjo for an easterner might just be the Jordan Petersonesque statements made in the voice of David Carradine in his Kung Fu TV role.
Leading with the right shovel hook—way to go Banjo.
Also, Banjo made sure he viewed the video security footage as well in case the police became involved. The footage included a clip of his hand [the rest of him off camera] making halting motions towards the advancing man.
Being a Bad Man in a Worse World
Fighting Smart: Boxing, Agonistics & Survival
