An Itch to Scratch
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De la Pena attended his first DMC event in 1989, when the U.S. finals were held here at the Riviera and DJ Aladdin took home the title. The experience inspired de la Peña to take his craft more seriously. Although he’d been spinning since 1985, he mostly worked at underground parties. The acrobatic, technically rigorous performances he saw at the DMC competition enlarged his sense of the possibilities inherent in a pair of turntables. “It inspired me to go home and practice, just working with two records for hours,” he says. He incorporated the cutting and scratching techniques into Liquid Soul, the popular acid jazz group he used to perform with. The DMC finals returned to Chicago in 1991, and in 1998, WBMX DJ Jumpin’ Julian promoted a semifinal at the Odeum in Villa Park. But for most of the decade the event was absent from the city.
More than 40 people have registered for Sunday’s competition, including newcomers from Schiller Park, Waukegan, Peoria, and Lombard. Anyone is eligible, though de la Peña will hold a preliminary competition to narrow the field before the doors open. Sixteen finalists will strut their two-minute sets for the crowd and a panel of six judges, who will choose the six best. Those DJs will then give six-minute performances, with the winner heading to the U.S. finals in New York this August; the world championship takes place in London this September. The competition at Metro will be hosted by Kool DJ Red Alert, the legendary New York radio DJ, and will feature performances by local MCs the Pacifics and J.U.I.C.E., and turntablists Spictakular and Slyce, who took the U.S. title in 1997.
Kelly Hogan will provide the live music component for Chris and Heather’s Lil’ 16mm Film Jamboree at the Record Roundup, 2034 W. Montrose, this Saturday at 8 and 10:30 PM. The program will feature rarely screened performance footage of Ray Price, Webb Pierce, Jean Shepard, Red Sovine, and others.
