Break from Tradition

Richard "Boogeyman" Martinez, a three-year veteran of the Freak Show (an eight-member break-dance crew), says the local b-boy culture will not accept anything rock-edged.

"I have a mohawk. I'm into industrial music. I was raised around '80s bands like Bauhaus, Depeche Mode, and Siouxsie and the Banshees or punk bands like the Subhumans or the Casualties.... People don't respect us. Why would we respect them? We've been in a lot of fights."

"They get hated on a lot," says Mike Matcke, who organized the recent B-Boy Battle at Mira Mesa's Epicentre. "Everyone has an argument with them. They get battled on a lot. People start mocking the way they dance. When people make fun of your dancing, they are definitely insulting you."

Martinez says the Freak Show's look has cost them in break-dance competitions, including the B-Boy Battle, which had a $1000 first-place prize. Although Martinez doesn't mind that Killafornia won first place, he says the crew that beat them in their semifinal round were not as good.

"We got robbed. Everyone thought we won.... But we got invited to a competition in France. We're going there in November." The Freak Show, which has attended competitions in Texas, St. Louis, Oregon, and the Bay Area, practices their nontraditional routines four or five nights a week.

"We're more explosive. We do a lot of tricks. I put my leg over my head. One of my moves is I jump up as high as I can and land on my shoulder. I do a lot of balancing. I have a yoga move; a 'lotus freeze'.... Most of us want to get into Cirque du Soleil."

Martinez says the music tracks they dance to are created by DJ CPS Diablo of Encinitas.

"He goes to thrift stores and swap meets and gets rare records to make his own beats. Eventually people find out what the music is, but we find it's better to keep that stuff secret. DJs just don't ask each other what their music is."