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       PHLOG:
       2023-08-05 - Scratch the Beach
       
       
       Going on our daily walk down to the beach, my 
       spouse and I happened upon an uncommon sight 
       today. Over at the picnic tables by the main 
       lifeguard station was a group of five or six 
       guys, all seemingly local, each with their own 
       single portable turntable in front of them. 
       
       All of them had same model of turntable. It was 
       small and compact, with a built in speaker and a 
       fader, clearly designed for the purpose of 
       developing scratching skills. And in the middle 
       of all of them on the picnic table was a wireless 
       speaker playing hip hop beats. Each of the guys 
       were taking turns showcasing their scratch skills 
       over the underlying beats. It was super cool to 
       see. 
       
       Another curious feature to the whole sight was 
       that they all had 7" records on their turntables. 
       Nobody was scratching a 12". Even more curious 
       was that these 7" records had classic scratch 
       sounds on them, like Fab 5 Freddy's "Ahhh Fresh!" 
       sample in the track entitled Change the Beat. 
       
       In all my 30 years of DJing I've never seen a 7" 
       DJ scratch tool, but I guess after today I now  
       know they they exist.
       
       Anyway, we walked by and paused to watch for a 
       bit, saying nothing and just taking in the sight. 
       It was super cool to discover there's a local 
       crew of these guys that are way into scratch 
       culture. 
       
       Figuring that they might like to have copies of 
       some recent releases I did, which are all very 
       much in the same vein, I grabbed a few copies out 
       of inventory once we got home, hopped in the car,
       and made my way back to the beach.
       
       By the time I got back to the picnic tables, they 
       had all moved on. There was nobody to be found.
       
       In hindsight, maybe it's for the better. Not 
       every guy in the group looked like a person of 
       upstanding character. Also, I've regretted 
       getting tangled up in scenes before. The last 
       thing I need is to get caught up with a group 
       that I couldn't escape from even if I wanted to, 
       because it's literally in my back yard.
       
       Home is best kept private.
       
       
       – BSTUF