Charles Montgomery Oral History Part 1 of 2

Charles Montgomery Oral History Part 1 of 2

B-boying/B-girling (Dance)

Climax/Soul Control (Crew)

DIS (Crew)

Charles "Goku" Montgomery was born in Southeast Fresno. In this oral history, Montgomery reflects on his family's multi-ethnic composition including an African-Mexican grandfather, a Creole grandmother, and a Mexican father. Montgomery lost his father at a young age and was raised by his grandparents. Montgomery was introduced to b-boying in the eighth grade by Pablo Flores, who lived in the same Butler Park neighborhood and attended King's Canyon Middle School. Montgomery and Flores went on to dance in predominantly Hmong b-boy crews (DIS and Smurfs, respectively) before forming their own crew, Climax. Montgomery and his Climax crewmates actively participated in b-boy battles throughout California's Central Valley. Montgomery and Flores also started traveling to larger b-boy battles in Los Angeles where they battled some b-boy pioneers and caught the attention of, and eventually joined, Soul Control,a prominent California b-boy crew. In Fresno, Climax crew began throwing their own events/battles, including an early iteration of Urban Kombat, and Hip-Hop In the Park. Climax and Soul Control crews eventually merged, becoming Climax/Soul Control; Montgomery is still active in the crew and has gone on to be a respected judge at some of the most prestigious b-boy/b-girl battles in the nation. In addition, Montgomery teaches b-boying and b-girling out of his Fresno studio.

Sean Slusser (interviewer)

Oral history interview, 1 digitized recording, Straight Outta Fresno, Fresno State University

Digital publisher: Claremont Graduate University

The Valley Public History Initiative: Preserving our Stories holds all rights, title, and interest, including literary rights and copyright, to the oral histories and documents collected as part of Straight Outta Fresno: From Popping to B-boys and B-girls project. Oral history narrators retain the non-exclusive right to copy, use, and publish their oral histories during their lifetimes.

MP3

English

Sound

sof_0040

Fresno (Calif.)

West Fresno (Calif.)

Theodore Roosevelt High School (Fresno, Calif.)

Holmes Playground (Fresno, Calif.)

Mosqueda Community Center (Fresno, Calif.)

Roeding Park (Fresno, Calif.)