Jon is an energetic party kid who grew up in the Washington
DC Metro Area and was primarily exposed to hip-hop and urban underground culture
thru friends and WPGC 95.5 FM the largest urban radio station south of
New York City. 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 early 1993
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.
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 91.5 FM 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 entirely rock and tribal oriented, rather than hip-hop and
freestyle 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. 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 DJs 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 hardcore shops like Wax City,
Elite Records, and Blackmarket Records, it is no wonder he returned home
with 2 large bags full of hardcore vinyl and an empty wallet. Sadly these
stores are 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 beat-matching 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...
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