ADA's blog: Bay Area Dirtstyle Challenge
The Date: Sunday June 24th, 2012
CAUTION: Combining "Casual drinking" and "Over 20 invited Vendors & Collectors" can result in excessive spending.
It was just a couple beers really. But I did spend quite a bit and it took several trips to the car to carry it all.
The way I see it - these are not just records to add to my (already massive) collection. These are investments. How much longer will you still be able to find records like this in the flesh? We shall see.
A lot of these won't be repressed. Many of these you can't find on cd or mp3 and if you did - would it really be the same?
But let's move on.
I was trying to get a good picture of the scene when I spotted a familiar face: QSU Handyman, El Dawg! He's the resident Guidance Counselor at QSU so hit him up if ya ever need to talk. Office Hours: 7am-2:00pm PST, appointments upon request.
The Infamous Toadman was hanging around, always a good sign!
There was a beat showcase going on next door, but I was mostly busy digging through boxes of records in the other room. From what I did hear was nice.
Meanwhile, they were setting up a makeshift octagon for the Challenge. Before the Challenge they had an "open tables" session - which gave all the contestants a chance to loosen up and get the skratch juices flowing.
I jumped on as soon as a right handed setup opened up, and got in a few rounds of cuts - always a thrill for me. I'm no Kurteek, but over 12 years of practice helps me hang with even the best.
Soon the First Round of skratching commenced.
Dirtstyle Vinyl Challenge (Bay Area) - Cut 2 Cut Finals Round 1 from Battle Avenue on Vimeo.
Then came a Head to Head Battle Royale of epic proportions between 2 members of the QSU: Chuck Flava vs. DJ Traps
Chuck Flava
DJ Traps
Judges included Mista B, Celskii, Dee Android, and Swift Rock (remember this??).
The legendary Chief Rocker Busy Bee was in the building!
After a break it was time for the next round of skratching.
In order: DJ Serial Killer, DJ Mr Vibe , DJ Jamz Dean, DJ Traps
Dirtstyle Vinyl Challenge (Bay Area) - Cut 2 Cut Finals Round 2 from Battle Avenue on Vimeo.
The judging commenced and then they announced the winners for the Cut to Cut Challenge:
1st Place: Mr Vibe (Sleeprockers); 2nd Place: DJ Traps
Gotta give a Big Thank You to Battle Ave for throwing a great event and providing the footage!
Also BIG THANKS to Beat Swap Meet for a great record show.
And to all the DJs for providing a great soundtrack that kept me feeling good all day as I went through records.
Big up Dirtstyle! What turntablist HASN'T been influenced by the Dirt Dirt Style?
Lastly, Big Shout Out to ArtistWorks - they are the real creators of QSU.
