About
Sometime in October, 2010 my old web site went down, taking with it a copy of my bio and a whole lot of other information. I’m certain one day I’ll be able to snag it back and repost it if I feel like it. To tell the truth, I’m not sure if people even rely on DJ bios anymore, or if the ability to post all of our thoughts and output instantly to blogs, Facebook and Twitter have made these self-aggrandizing bios obsolete. Maybe the press still use them.
But writing a new version of my bio seems like a better idea than hunting down the original one I just kept updating. So here it goes once again, in the first person this time:
I grew up in the Chicago burbs, but found it easier to hear ska and punk music in my suburbs than the house music that was thriving in the Chicago underground in that era. In 1998, I went to a New Year’s Eve party in London and witnessed DJs and electronic music in a live setting for the first time. At the time I had no idea that event would change my life, but looking back over the past decade of my involvement with electronic music and DJ culture, it is clear that night at the Ally Pally ringing in 1999 definitely was a turning point for me.
Returning back to college, I started a radio show that focused on electronic music, and then added hosting a weekly mix show to my on-air schedule. Soon I was named Electronic Music Director for WESN 88.1 FM, and that mix show I started, Digital Groove, carried on for over a year featuring very early sets from now established DJs such as Frankie J, John Mork and DJ Zeek. I gave them a chance to show off their skills and records, and they in turn taught me the basics of mixing on turntables.
After graduating college I moved onto law school in Champaign, IL. In March of 2002, I purchased my first pair of turntables (the same pair that I have to this day). With a few crates of records that WESN was going to be forced to throw away if someone didn’t take them, I started practicing spinning house music. My first gig was about nine months later at The Highdive which eventually turned into my first residency — a monthly Thursday at Highdive.
If the New Years party in London is what made me go crazy for electronic music, that first residency and many nights in the years after spent at a now-defunct Champaign sound lounge called Barfly, are what made me so loyal to the DJ scene in the town that I now call home.
Since those early days, I’ve gotten to play records as far away as San Francisco, and more frequently spin across the Midwest including Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Columbia (MO) and a lot of other places in between. In Chicago, I’ve been fortunate enough to perform at some of my favorite venues including Sonotheque, both Lava locations and four appearances at Smartbar. I’ve opened for Cut Chemist, Bassnectar, Skream, DJ Vadim, Girl Unit, EOTO, Plastician, Colette, Dayhota, 6Blocc, Justin Long, Bryan Jones, and The Sound Republic. And back in the day I used to spin every week at a co-residency with current rising tech house star and Champaign, IL native, J Phlip.
Outside of the clubs, I’ve hosted four radio shows that combined have covered nearly all genres of electronic and beat music. It would not be surprising if another radio show or a podcast is in my future, because I truly love this medium for sharing music. But for the time being, I’m off the air.
In Champaign, I’ve been playing out regularly since that first gig in 2002. I’ve held residencies at Highdive, Soma, Nargile, and Joe’s. For nearly five years, I was the weekend resident at Boltini Lounge. I founded the CUdance mailing list, the 217mafia, and co-founded the Dubstep Massacre parties that helped spark Champaign’s current massive dubstep scene.
But as 2010 came to a close and 2011 began, a funny thing happened. I found myself looking at a blank slate. No residencies to my name for the first time in 7 years. No specific plans for shows to book. No radio shows to host. It’s simultaneously depressing, terrifying and inspiring. But lately, it has just been inspiring. So keep checking my blog and my web site to see where the music takes me this year, because I definitely have a lot more music to share with a lot more people.
