DJ Qbert	Rob Swift and the Executioners
Grand Wizard Theodore	DJ Babu and The Beat Junkies
Afrika Bambaataa	DJ Faust and Shortee
DJ Shadow	Steve Dee
Director: Doug Pray

Story Line: Through a series of interviews, jam sessions and competitions, this movie plunges us into the lives, homes and worlds of new wave musicians-the creators and innovators of hip-hop. With its cult-like followers and cornucopia of personalities, races, religions, and ethnic groups spanning the entire U.S., turntabling has become mainstream underground¾mainstream with musicians of all genres, yet at best only marginally known to the non-hip.

We meet Grand Wizard Theodore, acknowledged to be the creator of this music style, the first to perform with a group, purposefully rubbing records backwards on a turntable to produce backup "music" -an amazingly brilliant concept in an era when kids were constantly screamed at, "Don't scratch the records!" Grand Wizard made percussion backup for a multitude of bands, we see clips from the low-budget movie Wild Side, featuring him performing onstage with his band, creating a new category of music.

An unforgettable early zealot of this innovation, Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the Universal Zulu Nation in the Bronx, used this music and DJing as a way to keep kids off the streets and out of gangs.

Once the music drifted farther uptown into some of the New York clubs, it struck another convert, David Stein, "Steinski," who became an early promoter and producer of the music. He talks about being out with a girlfriend and hearing this new sound in a club, buying her two drinks and then ignoring her so he could concentrate solely on the music, "This is music I've been waiting all my life to hear and didn't know it."

On the other coast, in California, there is DJ Qbert, of Philippine ancestry, who develops into an icon of scratch. He notes there are an amazing number of Philippine-Americans adept at this art. He's cool, laid-back, wearing his backwards baseball cap, living, thriving on continually innovating ways to perform this music.

Another black DJ, living in one of the boroughs of New York with his mother claims, "If you practice for one year and give up everything-wine, women-you'll be the best at what you do." These disciples teach about life as well as music.

There's a sharing and intense healthy competition among these scratch artists that keeps them improving and innovating. As one DJ put it, "Once you think you've reached the limit, someone's going to prove you wrong."

Tell Me More About It: This movie opened up a completely new world for me. Where've I been?…certainly not in the hip-hop clubs or at their intense, relentless competitions. The movie's not only incredibly entertaining, but an education about today's music and its world. I had never heard of the term "turntablist," never thought there was any use left for those old LP's and it would never have occurred to me to scratch one backwards. I loved the music and the people in this movie-- passionate and crazed about what they do. They live in my country, speak my language, and probably watch some of the same television programs, yet we live in two completely different worlds. This is a great example of why a good documentary is so rewarding to watch. You learn through real life, are introduced to a new world and come away entertained and more knowledgeable.

I was struck by the cult-like aura in this DJ club. They all have names preceded with "DJ" as if they're ministers of a new religion-DJ Qbert, DJ Shadow, DJ Babu--proponents of a new gospel according to sound.

I was enriched by the New York street scenes and the slang. So much of our culture comes from the street up, and this movement has infiltrated all races, nationalities, locales-though strangely enough not the sexes. With just one female performer in the movie, it's a cult of incredibly creative, talented hip guys.

Seeing this movie makes you feel like you've been to a party, and the distributors must feel the same way. Part of their promotion for this film includes live "Scratch" performances scheduled for opening nights in most major U.S. cities. In Chicago, it's March 1st at the Century Landmark Theater, followed by an opening at The Fillmore in San Francisco on March 5th, and finishing up on March 25th in Miami.