It is with great sadness that members of New York Budokai learned of the very untimely death of former Dojo member and friend, Keith Alexander. Keith died in a bicycle accident on Monday, July 11, 2005. Although he was chiefly associated with the music, body art and blogging worlds, Keith's involvement with New York Budokai was less well-known. Nevertheless, his tenure with us was equally memorable to the Dojo members who studied with him.

Keith joined NYB in 2002. My first thought, upon meeting him, was that all those tattoos would not go over very well if he ever went to Japan, where tattoos are seriously affiliated with gangsterism. Even though Japanese realize foreigners have different customs, less sophisticated people would probably infer a gang affiliation for a tattooed Westerner in any case. And Keith's body was a canvas. The Shimazu kamon on his wrist was both affectionate and totally irreverent at the same time.

I noticed that shortly after Keith started classes with us, photos of his iaito showed up on his website, nootrope.net, along with a little profile of the Dojo. I was surprised by the rest of the website, which chronicled his music career and friendship with Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder, among other things. Keith never mentioned this to any of us; except for those of us that checked out the website, he was just another beginning student at the Dojo.

Keith Alexander seated in seiza at the New York Budokai dojo in 2002.	Keith Alexander demonstrating seigan kamae at the New York Budokai dojo in 2002.

And an easily distracted one, as it turned out. Keith's attendance fell off after a few months, but the emails did not. Every now and then, I would get something about some new enterprise or new job. Or, surprisingly, I would read some glowing tribute to myself on the iaido-l email list from Keith, which I would have to publicly disclaim by reminding everyone that I was just an instructor. Flattering? Yes. Embarrassing, too.

Last summer, Stan Chin, Stan's wife Jackie and myself were invited to a party at Keith's house in Brooklyn. We expected some sort of glittering gathering of pierced, tattooed retired rock stars and wannabees, but instead we were treated to a family backyard barbeque with Keith's Mom, his girlfriend Melissa, his sister and other family members and close friends. Keith was an absolutely gentlemanly host, even calling us a car service to get to the subway when he realized everyone was too inebriated to drive (or walk!). I never had Aquavit before, and I will not forget it soon, either.

Keith Alexander demonstrating seigan kamae at the New York Budokai dojo in 2002.

Keith's last real involvement with the Dojo was in January of this year, when he acted as official photographer at the memorial enbukai we held to honor Otani Sensei. While professing his lack of expertise with a camera, Keith nevertheless took over 200 photos and posted them on nootrope in less than 24 hours. Even so, he insisted the photos belonged to NYB and had anyone inquiring ask me for permission to use them. Although there are not many photos of Keith at the event, his hand shaped it, in some ways, as much as those of us who took part.

The last time I saw Keith was this past Spring, when we met so he could give me a CD of the photos. He was all excited about his new blog (though really, Keith's website had acted as his blog from before there were blogs), and his new radio show for Sirius. I caught him up on the latest happenings at NYB.

Keith was one of those larger-than-life guys, who, unfortunately, was not larger than the fate that met him on Shore Road last week. Our hearts go out to his family and to Melissa, even though we know it is small consolation for someone who enjoyed life so fully, and flamed out well before his time.

Otani sensei's memorial enbukai January 30, 2005. (Front to back) Deborah Klens-Bigman, Masami Shioda, Phil Ortiz, Keith Alexander and Melissa Medina (partially obscured).