User:Eire2020/Archive/UserArchive

ALKIVAR





BIOGRAPHY



 * Jon is an energetic party kid who grew up in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area and was primarily exposed to hip-hop and urban underground culture through friends and WPGC 95.5FM the largest urban radio station south of NYC. Growing up in a neighborhood with kids who were mostly involved in the skateboarding community, he began to meet kids involved in the DC Graf scene. It would be these Graf kids who would later introduce Jon to the underground party culture.


 * Attending his first warehouse party around late 1992 he immediately gained an interest in the early DC electronic music culture and started attending as many underground events as possible. It was at this time he first heard Acid house, while it was not his preferred style of music it did get him to listen to more of the UK sound. It was not until sometime in the summer of 1994, at a party in southern Virginia, that he first heard hardcore. The banging bass lines and the soaring pianos had him hooked.


 * By the time Jon was in High School he was sneaking out at least one night a week to hit up a party. Jon gained a strong interest in the Jamaican Reggae culture through his next door neighbor Luchinvar while living in Takoma Park, MD. Luchi's father Lloyd was a former Sound System DJ in Kingston and would play his music proudly whenever the chance arose.


 * It was around the summer of 1995 that Jon with his family and several boxes of stuff moved to Maine. Being put in a town he had only visited on vacation put an end to his regular partying. It was not until he met several of the DJs from WRBC 91.5FM (Bates College Radio) that he first found out about the local Maine scene. However, the parties he attended in Maine bore little resemblance to the scene he was used to; being more rock oriented, rather than hip-hop, freestyle and house oriented.




 * While vacationing in Athens, Greece in 1996, he walked into a three story Virgin Megastore and picked up his first hardcore compilation the three CD This is Hardcore set mixed by DJ Vibes; this began his addiction to collecting hardcore records. Upon his return to the United States he moved to northern New England.


 * The parties he attended in Maine bore little resemblance to the scene he was used to. It was not until a party in March of 2000 called "Mr. Wendal" that he first saw some of the various New England Hardcore DJ's play the tunes he knew and loved that he had not heard played out since his move.


 * The following year in the early spring of 2001, he went to the UK on vacation. Visiting well known record shops like Wax City, Elite Records, and Blackmarket Records, it is no wonder he returned home with two large bags full of hardcore vinyl and an empty wallet. Sadly Elite Records is no longer in business. After returning home he began to spin. Spending long hours as frequently as he could, he began to grasp the concept of beatmatching and scratching. A few years later and quite a bit poorer, he has amassed enough vinyl to make it impossible to find what he wants when he needs it...

MY ADMITTED BIASES

 * I contribute some of the time with Linux and the rest using Microsoft Windows XP, but always with Mozilla Firefox. I would consider my skill level with HTML and CSS advanced, but my PHP skills are only at the beginner level. I do have a small programming background in, javascript, BASIC, and C++. I am an AMD zealot, Intel hardware has died on me too frequently. I am currently running a dual Opteron 246 system (2.0Ghz stock) each is overclocked to 3.2Ghz with 4GB of Corsair DDR SDRAM (PC-3200 ECC). Fortunately most of my spare cycles are going to the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (Folding@home) project. Although GIMP is a nice software package it in no way even comes close to the level of flexibility that Adobe Photoshop has. As such all my image editing is done in Photoshop. I do all of my audio recording using Sony's Sound Forge. As a professional DJ most of my audio editing is done with records on my turntables, however they never have enough cowbell to satisfy me.


 * Politically i'm a conservative libertarian (I'm categorized as a Paleolibertarian but i'm not entirely sure I agree with that). I usually tend to vote for the U.S. Republican Party (so according to most of you I'm probably going to Hell). Unfortunately George W. Bush is an idiot, but the thought of John Kerry as President was even worse. I think my cat has a higher IQ than either of them. But generally as far as politics go, I don't really care who you vote for as long as you actually vote. Issue wise, I support the legalization of cannabis, closing the US borders along with restricting immigration (not entirely, but its a point I'd be happy to discuss), repealing blue laws (what goes on in your house is your business). I support lowering the drinking age back to 18 (if you can smoke, vote, and die for your country at 18 you should be able to have a damn beer). I tend to lean towards the pro-life side of the abortion issue, but as I am not capable of becoming pregnant, its really none of my business. I am a member of the NRA, the EFF, and the Drug Policy Alliance and support the majority of their agendas. I have donated money to GLAAD even though half the time I completely disagree with their agenda. It is sadly an organization that is still needed as homophobia is still rampant in the United States.


 * I root for the Boston Red Sox or anyone beating the New York Yankees (Yankees Suck). I also root for the Washington Redskins (my old home team) and the New England Patriots (I live in New England, I don't really have a choice here). Other than that I don't really watch sports. I used to play football, but injured both my knees shortly before going to college, ruining my chances at playing Division I ball. So now I just drink and watch the games.