Staying upbeat: 8-year-old DJ doesn't let muscular dystrophy stop him

Justin Lopez, aka DJ Ju5tin, has trouble speaking and reading. But the 8-year-old has found a way to express himself: blending beats at his mixing board.

The Bethlehem boy was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy known as glycogen storage disease. It affects his liver, muscle strength and speech. But the upcoming DJ has found his voice through music.

He already has performed at Crocodile Rock Cafe and other local venues, and he will perform 3-4 p.m. June 23 at ArtsQuest's Sabor! Latin Festival at the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem.

"It keeps him busy so that he doesn't have time to think about what he has," his father Dan says.

He introduced his son to electronic music when Justin was still a baby. A bank manager, Dan would come home from work and go into the basement to relax, mixing salsa, merengue and bachata songs in front of the computer.

When Justin turned 4, he regularly joined his father downstairs. Dan noticed that the boy was sensitive to the beats, bouncing his head in time.

"The only thing that would calm him down was music," Dan explains.

At age 5, the boy asked his dad to let him try his hand at the mixing board. Dan was nervous at first to include the child in his expensive hobby. But Justin seemed to possess an innate ability.

He could identify the various folders in the mixing software, enabling him to play with the beats and songs, even though he couldn't read. The boy had been paying attention to his father's moves for so long that he knew where everything was on the board.

Their time at the mixing board became a source of bonding that has continues today.

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Staying upbeat: 8-year-old DJ doesn't let muscular dystrophy stop him