DJ Mike E

Proud husband (Monica Allen aka MonicaDollFTC), parent (Sommer Allen aka MoonDoll95 and Alexa Rimmer aka Alooloolexa) and grand-parent. Ex-military. House afficionado. Computer programmer, CTO and general technical egg head, and most importantly, Proud Member of the Family Tree Collective.

It was summer time, Baltimore, 1991. My first ever Ultraworld Rave. Barthio (Chris Barth) and I had just met through a mutual friend from my high school at the time. Barthio’s wife at the time was manning the water station, the strobes were kicking, the bass booming, there was caution yellow and black striping all over the rugged steel scaffolding. A very industrial feel, and on the main floor, a DJ is playing Smart-E’s “Sesame’s Treat”. The scene was electric, and everyone so happy and bouncey and welcoming. I was hooked. So now I’m a raver. Going to parties every weekend.

Fast forward a couple of years of making constant trips between my first duty assignment (Fort Lee, VA) and my family home in Maryland each and every weekend … it’s time for ol’ Mike “e” to be shipped out of the continent. I was Germany bound! This is the year of our Lord, 1994. Love parade is huge, the Tresor and the Omen were both still alive and kicking as night clubs. With no friends, family, or parties to go to … I did the only think I could think to do next … Started to throw my own parties in Germany. So, as quickly as I could, I bought two turntables and a mixer, amplifier and speakers … and … Away we go!!

Fast foward a few more years, and it is time to come home. My love for the DJ’ing and music just got bigger and more pronounced, so did my interest in all things technical and cool. So, it’s 1998, I’ve returned home, gotten settled into a new place after having finished my enlistment in the military. My cousin Jimi Vegas (Jimi Spurgin) is living with me, and we DJ a party for the friends I had left in germany. I used ShoutCast back then … and it worked like a dream. This was long before the days of Twitch streaming was even a consideration.

Jimi Vegas, had a brother. His name was Trevor. Trevor was best friends with one Jeremy “Elation” Olsen. It’s somewhere near the turn of the century, the year 2000ish? 2001ish? Not 100%, but it was learned that this guy Elation was also DJing, and was trying to get some promo’s together or something. And me being the technical dork that I am, naturally I offer my assistance. CD burners just hit the market, they were expensive. Naturally I owned one. Had to have it. So after the formalities were worked out, an invite had finally emerged. Jeremy was coming over for dinner. And he was also going to lay down his first mixed CD ever … compliments of one Mike “e”. Ahh… the lore.

So, I hook back up with my brother in Tunes … Barthio. And we start doing some house parties. Smathered in w/some house parties and some outtings such as Barthio and Elation playing Tsunami’s in downtown Annapolis. Also, enter in “Pinky or the Brain” (Steve Baker) and Paubl0 (Paula Baker) … Pinky is an ex-military buddy of mine. We cohabitated in the same Barracks, and partied often. The House parties at Pinky and Paubl0’s with me and Barthio were always the most fun.

Fast forward nearly another decade or two … and life get’s pretty lifey. The whole marriage, house, kids, work, etc etc … take its toll. We wind up moving to Roanoke, VA for a while. And eventually convince Barthio to finally leave Baltimore and come to the slow pace of Roanoke. There we meet the likes of CaptCapsize and eventually Assprofessor, and all the other friends Fartboy etc. Fast forward to April 22, 2018. Jeremy “Elation” Olsen and myself are DJ’ing a memorial service for our dearly departed Jimi Vegas. I played a set that included a lot of the tracks that Jimi used to play and loved the most. I think it was at this point, that Jeremy saw for the first time that I can actually DJ … decently enough. So … Fast forward to 3 years ago. COVID — I get a message from Jeremy talking about coming to his studio space and doing some mixing. One thing leads to another … parties outdoors in the woods, parties being thrown everywhere. AND … we start streaming. We have such a time of it, why wouldn’t we want to do this ALL THE TIME?! … and so we have. And we forged some amazing friendships in the process. And we’ve only just begun!

ALL THE LOVE FAMILY!