User:Mrphoneman2010/John Haikara

John Haikara new article content ... John Hart Haikara was born on May 6Th, 1962 in St. Petersburg, Florida son of John and Patricia Haikara. At the age of four he began playing drums and guitar, later he played baseball and was very active in the Boy Scouts of America obtaining the rank of Eagle Scout at the youngest allowed age of thirteen. He also became a Brotherhood member of The Order of The Arrow, an elite scouting organization that specialized in wilderness survival and Native American Studies. Thruoughout this period in his early teens he participated in many suvival outings that consisted of surviving off of the land alone with only the clothes on his back, a pocket knife, two matches and a bottle of water purifaction tablets.Aparently he survived these outings.

He left high school at the beginning of eleventh grade, recieved a G.E.D. and began working as an electrician. By the age of eighteen he was a lead journeyman electrician overseeing other electricians in various projects such as main power distribution at the Bay Pines, Florida VA Hospital(main hospital project) as well as several other significant projects through his mid twenties.

In 1985 he decided to try something new and answered an ad in the Tampa Trbune newspaper for a car sales position. By the end of 1985 hes was awarded the Saleman of The Year Award at Tampa Mitsubishi, the largest Mistubishi dealership in the united states at the time. At twentyfour years old he was promoted to Business Manager of Superior Pontiac, the largest Pontiac dealer in the southeast U.S. at the time.

Four years later in 1989 he became the co-founder of an Inmate Telephone Company named CTI. This company installed and serviced telephone systems for inmates to use in hundreds of small and large jails and prisons in over twenty states. In 1992 he became the V.P. of a telephone interconnect company based in safety Harbor, Florida named Proper Connections. Eight years later he founded Coast Communications, another interconnect company based in Clearwater, Florida. By the recession of the late 2000's Coast Communications is one of the few surviving companies of this type in the Tampa Bay Area. Some of their more notable customers are the entire Sweetabay Super market chain, Fideity Ntional Title Insurance, tampa International Airport Jet Center, Bayfront Medical Center offices and many others. John is still the prestident of the comapany.

MUSIC

John's maternal grandmother Marie Zachary was a professional organist that played in various clubs, movie theaters, and recording studios throughout the eastern united states. Her a trumpet player Ray Stone made several recordings in the 50's and 60's. His uncle Jeff Haikara was a professional singer songwriter that played in clubs from Florida to New Orelans to California and many points in between. He wrote many country and folk songs and made a CD as recently as 1993, "Good While It Lasted". John's father who is still living was a drummer for much of his younger life.

As stated before, John started playing many instruments as a young child but always stayed away from lessons or reading music. He is a self taught master guitarist and a part time drummer, bass, and keyboard player. In the eighties he started writing songs and realized that he would need to start singing out of nessesity as he never came upon a singer that suited his self style of writing.

In 1989 he recorded three songs at DB Studios in Pinellas Park Florida with two members of Atlantic Records artist Savatage. Jon Oliva plated Bass Guitar and produced the project, Steve "Dr. Kildrums" Walcholz was on drums. On the commercial song "Don't You Know" Jon Oliva played bass guitar and drums. John wrote the songs sang and played all of guitar tracks.

By 1993 John and Criss Oliva, the famed guitarist of Savatage had spent many years jambing and working on various songs that ultimatley should have been on a studio project that was to start on October 18th, 1993. tragically Criss Oliva was killed by a drunk driver inroute to a music festival call Live Stock. For fifteen years John retreated in to various recording studios owned by him not sure of what direction his music would ever take.

As the years went by the friends in Savatage became he Trans Siberian Orchestra, to date one of the biggest rock bands in the world.For the most part John had lost touch with his old friends until 2004. In 2004 John began building his most modern recording studio to date in Clearwater Florida. He contacted an old friend named Johnny Lee Middleton who along with being the sole remaining original member of the Trans Siberian Orchestra aslo owned Middleton Air Conditioning. Johnnies company installed