Legions of Boom by Oliver Wang

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Duke University Press
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Armed with speakers, turntables, light systems, and records, Filipino American mobile DJ crews, such as Ultimate Creations, Spintronix, and Images Inc., rocked dance floors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. In Legions of Boom noted music and pop culture writer and scholar Oliver Wang chronicles this remarkable scene, which eventually became the cradle for turntablism. These crews, which were instrumental in helping to create and unify the Bay Area's Filipino American community, gave young men opportunities to assert their masculinity and gain social status. While crews regularly spun records for school dances, weddings, birthdays, or garage parties, the scene's centerpieces were showcases—or multicrew performances—which drew crowds of hundreds or even thousands. By the mid-1990s the scene was in decline, as single DJs became popular, recruitment to crews fell off, and aspiring scratch DJs branched off into their own scene. As the training ground for a generation of DJs, including Q-Bert, Shortkut, and Mixmaster Mike, the

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2K views82 pages

Legions of Boom by Oliver Wang

Uploaded by

Duke University Press
Armed with speakers, turntables, light systems, and records, Filipino American mobile DJ crews, such as Ultimate Creations, Spintronix, and Images Inc., rocked dance floors throughout the Sa…
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Legions of Boom / Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area  / Oliver Wang
 
Legions of Boom / Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews in the San Francisco Bay Area / Oliver Wang
Duke University Press / Durham and London / 2015
 
© 2015 Duke University Press / All rights reserved / Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
∞
 / Designed by Natalie F. Smith / Typeset in Chaparral Pro by CopperlineLibrary of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data / Wang, Oliver, 1972– / Legions of boom : Filipino American mobile DJ crews in the San Francisco Bay Area / Oliver Wang. / pages cm—(Refiguring American music) / Includes bibliographical references and index. / ISBN 978- 0- 8223- 5904- 3 (hardcover : alk. paper) / ISBN 978- 0- 8223- 5890- 9 (pbk. : alk. paper) / ISBN 978- 0- 8223- 7548- 7 (e- book) / 1. Filipino American youth— California—San Francisco Bay Area—Music—History—20th century. 2. Filipino Americans—California—San Francisco Bay Area—Ethnic identity. 3. Disc jockeys—California— San Francisco Bay Area—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series: Refiguring American music. /
F870.F4W364 20115
 / 305.235089’92107307946—dc23 2014041941Frontispiece: Newspaper ad for a 1988 party in Union City hosted by the Legion of Boom, an alliance (cooperative) between several different Bay Area crews. Courtesy of Francisco Pardorla. / Cover art: Illustration using a photo of Arnie Espinosa (Images Inc., Fremont) by Francisco Pardorla, c. 1986. Photo courtesy of Francisco Pardorla.

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