Unlike other DJ-centric music scenes - the Jamaican sound systems, Detroit techno, New York disco - the Bay Area mobile scene left behind almost no formal recordings (singles, albums, etc.) to document its own existence.¹ This was a scene based around playing records but especially as a scene populated by teenagers, there was a general lack of access to the means of production to record, manufacture and distribute their own records.

However, that doesn't mean the scene didn't leave behind music or other forms of media. As our Visuals and Audio archives demonstrate, there is an immense amount of media out there, connected to the scene. These are some of the most powerful documents that help give people - especially those outside the scene - a sense of the scale, scope and creative grandeur of the mobile crews. Even something as simple as a page of business cards gives you a glimpse into the diversity of ideas and identities that crews were playing with. Add to this event and party fliers and these also become crucial documents naming crews, identifying their neighborhoods and personnel. And of course, the DJ  mixes that have survived offers us the ability to hear what party-goers may have heard back when they went to dances and parties that mobile crews played at.

That challenge, for years, has been to share all this material. Until the popularity of Facebook.com and other social media sites, much of this content had literally been collecting dust but gradually, people have found ways to bring it with a greater audience. Unlimited Creations describes itself as a dynamic, user-generated research repository because while we are building our archives with materials collected during the course of our own research, we are dependent on you to help fill in the many gaps that exist. The more that can be collected and shared only helps to broaden the portrait of the mobile scene in all its diverse, rich complexity.

Don't see your business card listed on your crew page?
Have some party fliers you don't already see listed?
Do you have any video of an event or performance that you'd like to share?
And do you have a story to share about the scene or your crew or anything related to it?

Please fill out this short submission form below. We'll contact you as soon as possible with directions for sharing your stories and/or media formatting (image resolution, file size, etc.). All questions can be sent to bayareacrews@gmail.com.

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