In preparation for my trip to edinburgh for castle rocks and the brief festival experience I was reading trainspotting, I guess to get into the mood and to prep for the accent. this was somewhat hindered when I realised in my haste to make my train fresh from hipnotic I had left the book at work and so ad to spend five hours of discomfort on the train instead watching episodes of flight of the concords Nathan Barley and Alan Partridge on rotation. Not so bad really though.
spent the first night at Emmaready's house drinking tinnies with her and Reilly and it was cool, then i slept on the sofa...very leith!
the next day was the jam itself so I met with the Ghetlow, Nadia, flowrex and the Heavy Smokers in waverly and had a nice spud you like with chilli, tasty and good banter all round. made me very happy to see the boys again and its business as usual all round...excellent stuff.
the jam was dope, as a judge I had to outline my criteria, which are fairly standard, basically using common sense on musicality, creativity and technical execution. My main other factor which I am fairly keen on and some people seem to not grasp is about the honesty of expression. In my opinion this culture and dance are enriched by how it is open to personal expression, so I am looking to get a feeling of the person dancing through their actions and the quality they have. This can be them wigging out, the completion of their style (this does not mean having all the moves, rather their identity being complete) or just the feeling i get from them dancing. not a science I'm afraid, but its a free subjective dance so there!
the prelims were pretty clean cut in judging, with a Gumpy and Nadz (Born 2 Ghetlow) doing well but losing in the second leg final. Ippy smashed a tie break for zou rock to qualify against Eggy and Jason (Heavy smokers) but both sides brought the heat.
Also standing out for me were Kiina, Kazuki, Iain bru and the boys from Got Skillz (Holland)
the competition proper (tony) was heated and Jingles and Zorro did us proud, though lost in the semi's to Bull and Virgil. Was a good battle though and I thought they flew the flag well. The most controversial battle for me was the semi between the extraordinary gentlemen (Kido and Detail) vs El Diaz and Ma'roc. I thought honestly the dutch took it, coming hard with more creative and technical moves to the table, but the other judges went the other way.
Bull and Virgil won the final against diaz and Ma'Roc, which for me was my gut feeling on the day. Although some dispute this look back I still feel I made the right decision. Virgil, although a little loose in his form, brought a more developed, 'free' style to the battle and they looked to be more comfortable in the battle. Ma'roc and Diaz were pumped up and came hard but for me that doesn't really do it. I think looking back i scored it round for round 4 -2 to the winners, with Diaz taking two rounds from Bull towards the end, but it just wasnt enough for the win.
No bad feeling though, it was a dope final and was a tough call for me. I am not sure I like the pressure of judging when so many people with passion are putting it on the line! we then went on for the afterparty (which could be considered the main event in edinburgh!) after i snuck in a cheeky chat with Tony Thrills parents and a tea with Kerrie Sauce and Frenzy. It went off as expected, thanks to Dhalsim providing free booze and there was some serious mobb deep mosh pit action and a thoroughly entertaining simon says moment. It all ended with me kipping on Tony's Sofa in his lovely house and feeling ropey in the morning. Ghetlow know how to party party as the pictures obviously demonstrate.
Post breakfast in a great cafe in tollcross with the Frenzy Kerrie connection I went to see Tony Thrills solo show 'watch it' - a thoughtful and engaging piece of dance theatre about one mans relationship with TV. anything with that many killer facial expressions and Tony shooting ten of more tonys on a tv screen with a remote gets the thumbs up in my book!
I then took a boring train journey home with no power socket for my computer so just twiddled my thumbs for 5 hours. dead.
all in all edinburgh was great as usual and I urge every bboy to try and hit a jam there at least once a year as its always good fun. my only criticism would be that the music could have been better at the Jam, I think Edinburgh is in need of a specialist Bboy DJ, as P Stylez did play some good jams, it was a little hit and miss for me though better than previous jams I have been to in Scotland.
Thanks and Props too:-
Dhalsim, Emma ready, Tony Thrills, Ben Swift, Kerrie Sauce, Frenzy, Psycho Styles, Heavy Smokers, Flowrex, Joey D (thanks for the DVD and sorry i didn't make the show), Uncle Andy and anyone else I forgot.
Big love to my brothers in Ghetlow who made the trip for me and Nadz for doing her thing.
Roll on Next time
