SHANNON LEE REVEALS THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BRUCE LEE UNIVERSE

Black Belt started working with Bruce Lee before he was a star witness our October 1967 issue, which featured him on the cover at a time when his name was deemed less attention-getting than the phrase Green Hornet's Kato’ Does he really practice kung fu?” Since he passed away, the magazine has continued to work with the Lee family to keep readers up to date on all the projects that are inthe works. In that vein, we present our annual interview with his daughter Shannon Lee, who has her hand in so many projects that it’s hard to imagine her ever resting.

- ROBERT W. YOUNG

First of all, could you make a few comments about Bruce Lee in Black Belt, the book that Black Belt Publishing is about to release?

I think this is going to be a real treat for people, even for myself, to have all this content in one place. We have such an amazing long history with Black Belt. The magazine gave a voice to my father way back in the 1960s and '70s, and we continued this relationship over 50-plus years. There's been a lot of content, and now for all that to be in one place-I just think it's exciting 

The exciting thing for us is that it also deals with those iconic first-generation students who became well-known masters-like Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo. It's a continuation of the work your father started. 

It's like a tree. It starts with the seed from him, and then it sprouts out from there. All those people are part of his legacy.

Could you comment on the Bruce Lee app? Is it the vehicle that people use to access your "Be Water" membership program, or is it something else?

Ves, it's about the "Be Water" membership. The reason it's changed to an app is so we could offer it internationally. When we launched the program, it was just within North America, and it was a texting-based program, which was great, but there were so many people from other countries asking, "How do I get this?" We didn't have the technology quite yet, but now we do.

I have the app on my phone, and it's great when I get a text message -1 have the number saved as "Baba, which means "father" That's what I used to call my dad, so it's like getting a text from my dad five times a week (laughs) They're great daily reminders.

When you sign up, you are entered into a monthly giveaway, also-and we give away some pretty cool stuff. (laughs) They are random thank-you prizes for continuing to be a part of my father's legacy.