By Nick Christophers In the summer of 1987 a young boy headed to the movies with his family and came to the realization of where his future road would lead. The young boy Dimitri Tsikitas went with his family to see the movie La Bamba". After seeing it he wanted to learn a musical instrument.That Christmas Dimitri kept bugging his mother to buy him an electric guitar and she eventually did. I took guitar lessons and formed a rock/dance band with some friends from school. We actually weren't that bad. After awhile I wanted to incorporate more electronic keyboard/drums, record scratching and dance/ hip hop beats. Unfortunately the rest of the band members wanted to write love ballads. So, the band split up they went there way and I bought turntables and started to learn the art of DJaying and the rest is history! Dimitri grew up with various different genres of music. His two older sisters were big into club music so when he was around them he would listen to dance music, freestyle, and new wave. Back in the late 80's it was the height of dance music with performers like Coro, Judy Torres and new wave artist like Billy Idol. The stations that Dimitri would be tuned into would be Hot 97 and the late KTU. When he drove around with his father it was strictly 100% hardcore Greek Music in the car. Ironically he still has some Greek music on 8-track tapes and 45 records that he stole from his parents. Yet Dimitri was also influenced with the likes of Run- DMC, Beastie Boys, Guns N Roses, and N.W.A. But that did not go over to well in his home. His mother once stormed into his room and destroyed every copy of anything labeled N.W.A.. As Dimitri's skills evolved he started throwing parties at various night clubs. At times some parties failed and some where great. The second he graduated High School he met a big night club promoter named Richie Rubenstein. He gave Dimitri his first big resident job at a popular hot spot at the time. As time progressed he began working with some of the biggest promoters in NY and out of state. Name like A-Luv, Brian Rosenberg, Bobby Goodrich, Artie and Joey, Richie Markowitz, Keith Hart, Richie Bedrosian, Breeze, Alex and Leo, Jon Paul and Trust Us, Lou B., Joe Messina, Chris Reda, Rob Fernandez, Area Events, Vic Latino, and Mikey Linx etc. Dimitri actually did not study anything related to communications in college but computers and marketing. But his love for music re-routed his occupational choice. Yet the knowledge he carried of computers and marketing aided him on the technical and business end of the industry. When it comes to music Dimitri feels it is always recycling itself. Because of technology, better quality productions have gotten easier to achieve. I feel a lot of dance music has returned to the notion of quality over quantity. There was a time period in dance music were there was too many new tracks coming out every week. Because a lot of record labels over looked sound quality and good production of course there are always exceptions. Personal preference has to play a role. The bottom line is the cream always rises to the top. Dimitri has never lost touch with his ethnic Greek music whether it is old school or new school. Yet the Greek music era of 1991-1998 will always have a special place in his heart. That era the Greek Music scene like the American was taken to a whole new level of quality production, good song writing, and popularity. When it comes to Greek singers who have crossed over to the American dance scene Despina Vandi stands out for him. The house remixes "Yia" or "Gia" was the record that placed her career in a whole new spectrum. Dimitri happened to be one of the first DJ's to break the record on New York radio. Dimitri made his first move to mainstream radio in 2001 with WDRE. The experience has been amazing. I was a featured guest DJ on a dance music mix show/talk show. I was a nervous wreck. Week after week, I got more involved with the show and its radio syndicated network. Eventually I became a co-host / air personality/ mix show DJ. As time went by, I got more comfortable talking on the air, taking phone calls, and interviewing guests. He had been a part and started a couple different shows on WDRE. The best thing that makes him comfortable is that all these shows were dance music driven. At one point the radio network was syndicated in different cities all over the U.S. and all over New York State. He knew it was important to feature different genres of dance music , different DJs, artists, and producers, new and old. Dimitri did not want to dominate the air time for his own benefit, but instead always tried to make the music and dance music scene the star of the show. When it comes to the future of music he sees House music making more noise in the states. Also the continuation of more hip hop artists, producers and labels fusing hip hop music with elements of house music and electronica. He would like to see more hip hop artists, country artists and rock artists collaborating more with Dance/House music producers, and vice versa. He believes this would be a more positive direction for all genres of music. He is not talking about remixes or mash ups. Yet for example Tiesto, Deep Dish, Metallica, and Dr. Dre all work together in the same studio on an album from scratch. Dimitri has had the pleasure of working with some of the best DJ's, producers and remixers in the business. Such individuals like Glenn Friscia, Johnny Vicious, Nick Planet, Jason Ojeda, Motomo 315, Razor N Guido , Chris the Greek, Jonathan Peters, Tommy Nappi, Sizzahands, Riz, Richie Santana, Oscar G, Peter Presta, and brother in law DJ Spiro NYC. One particular project he worked on was with the talented duo of Mike Ivy and Dave Rose on a remix for Moda records. ?The artist we remixed was "Dimension X" under the A&R Supervision of one the biggest names in the record business Nicky Kalliongis ". Dimitri is presently working feverishly in the studio on new projects. If there was anyone he would like to do some work with in the near future he mentioned Timberland, David Guetta and Vangelis.