Only The Strong

Only the Strong is a 1993 martial arts film directed by Sheldon Lettich, starring Mark Dacascos. It is considered to be the only Hollywood film that showcases capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art, from beginning to end.

Only the Strong

Former Green Beret Louis Stevens (Mark Dacascos) returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off the school property, Mr. Kerrigan (Geoffrey Lewis), one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school, giving Stevens an abandoned fire station as their practice area. While doing so, Stevens earns the ire of the local drug lord, Silverio Oliveiras (Paco Christian Prieto), whose younger cousin, Orlando Oliveiras (Richard Coca), is one of Stevens' students. Silverio is also a master of capoeira, and he engages Stevens in combat, beating him viciously. The horrified Orlando resolves to learn everything he can from Stevens. Stevens' class learns quickly, and they become very skilled at capoeira. The principal, delighted, proposes a district-wide capoeira program to the school board. After a field trip with his class, Stevens once again clashes with Silverio, who declares war against him.

"Only the Strong Survive" and "Hey, Western Union Man" are both originally from the same Jerry Butler album, The Iceman Cometh, which was recorded in Philly at Sigma Sound in 1968. That's the only album that you chose two songs from. Why did that album have such an impact?

The only other artist you have two songs from on this album is Levi Stubbs, lead singer of the Four Tops. You bookended it with one from 1967, "7 Rooms of Gloom," and one from 1981, "When She Was My Girl," which are two very distinct periods of the Four Tops.

When "7 Rooms of Gloom" came out in 1967, you would have been about 18. Then, when "When She Was My Girl" came out, you were in your early 30s. What was it about Levi's voice that called to you when you were 18 and still was able to call to you at a different stage in your life? Why did it resonate with you?

You worked with Sam Moore of soul duo Sam & Dave on the record, and he sings on a couple of the songs with you. I know you actually had a chance to see Sam & Dave when they were still together back in the 1970s at the Fast Lane in Asbury Park. What do you remember from that show? Can you take us back there?

So you said you would have been sort of just starting out around the time you saw Sam & Dave in Asbury Park. You're playing shows yourself. What lessons were you learning from seeing soul and R&B acts like that perform?

Sam is on this new album. He also sang harmony on a couple of songs on your 1982 album, Human Touch. How did you go from a kid in the crowd meeting him for a minute at the Fast Lane to actually working with Sam for one day?

You've spent much of your career writing about the condition of working class people through your lens and your upbringing. You've also made music like your album Western Stars a while back that addresses and explores the mythology of the American West and the image of the cowboy in the desert, the lonely traveler and the vastness. Now you've released an album of soul music, which is also an American art form. Where does it fit in for you in the American story?

I want to close things out today with your take on the Commodores song "Night Shift." They released it in January 1985, right when you were on your massive Born in the USA tour, blowing up and becoming a star. Did you become a fan of that song in real time when it first came out, or did you come to it later?

Strong antibodies hold on to activate GPIb-IX signaling. (A) Antibodies sometimes bind to GPIbα on 2 different platelets. When the platelets move at different speeds, these GPIb-antibody complexes are pulled. (B) A strong antibody holds on tightly whereas the intraplatelet forces unfold the stalk of GPIbα. This transmits a signal inside the cell, likely by allowing the other subunits in the GPIb-IX complex to move closer together. (C) A weak antibody will let go of GPIbα before the stalk unfolds.

Quach et al compare 2 antibodies, 6B4 and AK2, that both recognize the LBD of GPIbα. 6B4, but not AK2, mediated shear-dependent unfolding of the GPIbα stalk and platelet activation. The authors showed that the critical difference between the antibodies was that AK2 was simply too weak under force, letting go of GPIbα before the stalk could unfold (see figure panel C). This study therefore demonstrates that only strong antibodies can activate a mechanoreceptor. This may not be the only case where antibodies cause disease by activating mechanoreceptors because mechanosensitive proteins are common,6 so it may become necessary to develop methods to test antibody strength in clinical laboratories. Quach et al characterized the mechanical strength of the antibody-antigen interactions using methods that are not currently feasible in a clinical laboratory setting. However, they addressed the same questions for clinical samples using much more efficient assays and less expensive equipment.

This is not the first instance in which it has been discovered that the mechanical strength of recognition interactions involved in adaptive immunity can be critical to function. Natkanski et al showed that B cells generate high-affinity antibodies by pulling on and internalizing antigen clusters to discriminate between strong and weak interactions by mechanical strength.7 Liu et al showed that T cells can distinguish between agonist peptides and antagonist peptides bound to major histocompatibility complexes by the mechanical strength of the recognition interaction.8 Mechanical force is often involved in immune functions through fluidic shear stress as in the Quach study or cytoskeletal contraction as in the Natkanski and Liu studies. It remains an open question as to how often the mechanical strength of different antibody-antigen interactions may be critical in explaining the different clinical outcomes for different patients.

While never the blue-eyed soul singer type a la say Van Morrison, fans who've seen Springsteen do Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love (With You)" live know Springsteen is a strong soul singer. He has said leading up to this album he was confident in putting that voice forward on these songs. And he is definitely up to the challenge throughout the diverse 15 songs.

I'm a dual Colombian-Luxembourgish freelance journalist, inveterate traveler and writer based in the world's only Grand Duchy. I write a column on European affairs for the editorial page of El Tiempo, Colombia's main newspaper. I have been a columnist for Newsweek and written for, among others, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and Toronto Globe & Mail.

Springsteen performed some of these songs-Do I Love You (Indeed I Do), Nightshift and Turn Back the Hands of Time-on the Jimmy Fallon show this past week. He was backed by a huge, excellent band which sounded enthusiastic and well-rehearsed. Unfortunately, it just exposed the fact that his voice simply isn't up to the material. I haven't heard the LP yet, but studio trickery can only go so far to disguise his vocal limitations. I know he loves these songs, but the best thing about this release may be that it causes people to go find the original artists and bring them some well-deserved attention.

An exciting, yet nerve-wracking passion emerged from the challenge of standing over a heavy weight and attempting to figure out if he was strong enough to pick it up. Reminiscent of his love for basketball as a teenager, he became obsessed with the competitive spirit of strength training and began his journey towards excellence.

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"I would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves," Boyd wrote. "I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout. I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!"

Note: Written by Jimmy Webb and first recorded by Art Garfunkel, "All I Know" was recorded during the sessions that ultimately led to Only The Strong Survive but was excluded from the tracklist once that album's soul music theme became clear.

Note: Written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, and first recorded by The Temptations, "My Girl" was recorded during the Only The Strong Survive sessions, but was excluded from the album because Bruce didn't feel he successfully added anything new to the classic. 041b061a72