Short Documentary: The Death & Life Of Radiotron

TRACES NO.1: YOUTH BREAK CENTER, INC. / RADIOTRON from maya santos on Vimeo.

An event, I've always wanted to photograph and participate in Radiotron. I only knew of it via VHS tapes [and now DVDs]. I remember talking to West Coast bboys and bgirls years back, who said there has always been a movement to continue throwing events and gatherings in the name of Radiotron. Though the original building has been destroyed and turned into a strip mall, the people who truly care about keeping a community are still doing great things [Radiotron.org].

Click to read more ...

Audio Files: Cornelius, James, Riley and Castor

Winston Riley was one of many artists we lost tragically in recent weeks. Excuse me if I make a big deal about it.

Within the past two weeks the musical genres of Funk, Soul, Reggae and R&B lost some notable figures. All figures that were introduced to me at a very young age. Below is a tribute to their music and a few words as to how Etta James, Winston Riley, Don Cornelius and Jimmy Castor -- have all made an impact on my life in some odd way.

Click to read more ...

IBE 2011 Thoughts...

Friends on my facebook page are probably annoyed of my constant postings of this past weekend's IBE festivities. Full disclosure: All video you see here in this post is property of The Notorious IBE and they deserve full credit for their production value.

With that out of the way, time to share. I've recently gotten the dancing itch again. I've been dancing for a little over 10 years [which is peanuts compared to most established bboys and other dancers]. Everyday, after work, I go to practice. For the past year, or so, I've been trying to practice more. It initially was to maintain my girlish figure and to keep some sort of playful balance in my life. It also didn't help that I took a three year sabbatical and my form was a bit, well, crap.

Click to read more ...

Things I Did While In San Diego...

Visit La Holla beach, but remember to mispronounce "La Hoya" to "La Holla."Before we get into the details of one of the greatest trips of my life, I think I should send a tremendous thank you and shout out to Jesse Cunningham and Lea Stretch. Without them this trip wouldn't have been as great as it turned out. There are a lot of things that happened on the trip that clearly won't fit in any blog post, but hopefully I can get some of the finer points right.

Below are some photos and bulletpoints of the wild ride that was San Diego...

Click to read more ...

Commercial Break: James Brown...That's All

Some of my dancing friends read this blog, so this one is aimed at them. Last night was a tough night of dancing for me. Muscles are tight. Shoes don't feel quite right. I came home sweaty, tired and a little down. Then I searched previous posts on this very site. 

It wasn't until I remembered a clip nestled deep under the plethora of booty shaking vids and monkeys peeing-in-mouth clips, on Youtube. No matter my thoughts on James Brown -- the person -- I've always thought of him as a creative and [more importantly] diligent artist. His band, The JB's, clearly have so much musical training to follow Brown's ad-libs ... never missing a beat.

This clip...it's kinda what it's all about. Do your best. The rest will work out in the end.

Commercial Break: The New Dance Show

Okay, so my last post, a little heavier than I thought. Thanks for the kind e-mails. Looking back on it, I wonder if I should have posted it on multiple sites. "Shoot from the hip and speak from the heart." Something my mom always taught me [for better or worse]. Thanks for sticking with me, some thought it went over as well as a fart in church.

Here, this should lighten your week. A ridiculous clip of people dancing. I think that's what it's called right?

Edit: I just watched the clip again and I take it all back, this clip is f**king amazing!

Audio Files: A Tale Of Four Songs

I ain't sayin', but I'm just sayin'.

After watching The Fighter, my ear and interest piqued to this familiar sound. I'm sure you've heard it before. Living in this age of mash-ups, dubstep and the era of more mixtapes and minimal albums -- it's hard to keep tabs on what should be considered an original work. 

Click to read more ...

Commercial Break: Killafornia vs Skill Methodz

Not even the end of January and I'm very close to calling this the battle of the year. If you've clicked on the Videos tab on the left you've probably noticed a couple videos and battles of Florida's Skill Methodz crew. This is the first battle I've seen of Killafornia in quite sometime and had no idea Lil John & Machine were apart of the crew.

Be that as it may, these words aren't really describing the clip itself. If you follow bboying then you know that this is one of those special kind of battles where you just have grin and happy you seen it [even if it is in video format]. Shame we couldn't get the final set, but I'm sure this will be enough to get me back on the floor.

Commercial Break: Too Much Awesome In One Video

Its about time the commercial breaks return. I'm not sure what to even comment on in this video. What would you comment on? The band? The obvious couple that we are all deeply envious of? The fact that the drums sound like paper airplanes hitting a dart board?

The Brog's Best Album Of 2010: The Bitters "East General"

Play This After A Long Day Of Work

Click to read more ...