All posts by diggabeatz

An Evening with 3 Hip Hop Legends

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by Utah’s own B-Boy Federation at the Utah Arts Alliance facility in downtown Salt Lake City. I had the opportunity to meet, learn from and pick the brains of 3 of the most famous street dancers in history, one of whom was very influential to my style of dancing – the one and only Boogaloo Sam, inventor of the Electric Boogaloo style. The other two, Ken Swift and POE One are legendary members of the world-renown Rock Steady Crew, one of the most important B-Boy crews in Hip Hop.

Sam arrived first and for the first two hours taught us one of his classic popping routines and reinforced the basics of his trademark popping style. He really drilled us, too. It was a great work out and so much fun, clowning in the back row with Robot Rob and Terry Post. Then Ken Swift and POE One arrived for the discussion panel and we were able to hear from and ask questions of these icons of Hip Hop culture. We all learned a lot of history and insights that even I hadn’t heard about

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Diggabeatz with the legendary Boogaloo Sam
For example, I had always been taught that B-Boy or  B-Girl stood for “break boy” and was coined by Kool Herc. But I learned that it originally meant “Bronx Boy” and the term became associated with breaking because  started mainly in the South Bronx and the DJ’s associated that borough (New York speak for greater neighborhood) with that style of dancing, so when they were ready to start juggling a break they would announce it to the South Bronx people by saying “B-Boys are you ready? B-Girls are you ready?”

The panel discussion was very casual and  open format so we were able to actually make conversations out of it and I had some great exchanges with all three. I wish I could make it to the second night tonight and see the art show, but alas, I am pulled in other directions.

But I’m so glad I went; it once again refreshed my inspiration to continue living my life as an ambassador of true Hip Hop.

I just want to big up the one like Josh Perkins and the B-Boy Federation for making this happen and continuing to keep the true spirit of Hip Hop alive and well in Utah by providing quality events like these and opportunities for education!

WRRD!

Digga

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Josh Perkins moderates the panel discussion with 3 legends of Hip Hop dance. POE One, Ken Swift and Boogaloo Sam

Synthesis Moving Forward – watch this interview with Jean-Michel Jarre

This is a fascinating interview with Jean-Michel Jarre. I feel like he has a similar mindset to mine when it comes to how the evolution of technology affects how we produce music. These same attitudes reflect how I DJ, as well. Technology is allowing us to explore new sonic ground by simplifying the complex mechanics involved in (and eliminating a lot of the drudgery and manual labor of) sound design.

Coachella 2015

My second year working this festival as the Coachella Stage Lighting Coordinator … click “continue reading”  for the whole story and more pix 🙂

The opening night headliners. They are all nearly 70 years old and still kick ass!!!

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Palm Springs… the irony was not lost on me that I was staying on a man-made lake in the middle of the desert during California’s drought.

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This wandering caterpillar on the first day turned into…

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This wandering butterfly on the second day…

Coachella Butterfly 2015

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The 1st real rave I played – Tribal Gathering 2 – Lantana, Florida – DJ Icey, Kelly Reverb, headliners

One night in June 1997, I invited my friend and Fader Freekz co-founder, Sean Smith over for a typical night of spinning records at my apartment. He brought along a friend named Mark W. who hung out and spun records with us. He was impressed with how I was spinning and invited me to play a party he was throwing in two months. A couple of weeks before the party I got a call from my friend Mike M. who was with Mark at the graphic designer. Mark was from England and had misheard my name, thinking it was spelled Digger Beats. LMAO, Good thing Mike called me and I gave him the correct spelling!

DJ Icey and Kelly Reverb were the healining DJ’s that night. I got to meet Kelly after his set and talked to him for about an hour, which was the highlight of my evening. He was very down to earth and a very nice guy to talk to .

This event turned out to be very fun. I was there with Natasha, my girlfriend at the time, and our friends Juan, Nicole, and Jeremy. I watched DJ Jason Dunne spin before me and was blown away! This guy was so skilled and energetic and he played some dope ass beatz! Plus he had some crazy long curly blonde locks that bounced around when he danced. Then I got on the decks and he was equally impressed with my set.

3 days later he came over to my house and we improvised a tag team set that we both described as pure magic. It was like we were long lost DJ brothers LOL. I asked him if he’d be interested in joining me and Sean as a 3rd Fader Freek and he agreed.

GOOD TIMES!!

Jason Dunne at Tribal Gathering 2 - Aug 19997