Update:
Online news article: 9/2022
Let's Infuse a Better Tomorrow Together - Nicholas Seigel
Original 2018 Publication:
This is more than just a testament to the brilliance of the human spirit. More than will and mettle carries us through the darkest nights of the soul. Has anyone ever tested out the rubber band theory that there might be a limit to the deeper fall from grace where there is no chance to ever return? If there ever was a story to tell this extraordinary tale of returning from past the point where most never return from and, in the process, being forged into a very powerful man, more so than most mortal men, the story of Nicholas Seigel and RadioCave is one such great story whose time has come to be told.
Often for us humans it is difficult to imagine someone had a life before we knew of them. A great story with a fine storyteller can draw an audience in as though they are part of it. What an important thing to do for the figure we put on a pedestal and look up to, or the people we would not have around our respectable neighborhoods, whom we look down upon. What were the changes and adventures in life, ups and downs, good and hard times, that brought them to here and now? This is a very important part of humanizing a person.
Nicholas Seigel was not always on top of his game in the world as he is now: working with strong leaders and community organizers in countries like Israel, Australia, Uruguay, to name a few, even the EU, and some African countries; collaborating with Earthdance to televise their synchronized global Prayer for Peace; facilitating RadioCave/Earthdance artists exchanges, including crafters, vendors, and various service people united in the common mission of global peace work and play.
It is quite something to frame a life into a biography that speaks to the whole person beyond boxes and labels we place on occupation, social class, ethnicity, diagnosis, hobbies while doing justice to a great story and view of a person’s precious gift of life. A poet, musician, and person with epilepsy who also has Hypergraphia, a condition characterized by desire to write or draw, Nick describes this in his own words: “My poetry comes from the heart. I would like everyone to read it, no matter who they are. When it's my time, I will leave my emotions, my soul, my intelligence, my calm, my fear, my love and inner-self in my poetry and music.”
His early development into adulthood evolved as a powerfully gifted poet and DJ who grew up in trance and old school breakbeats around Orlando, Florida circa 1997-2012. Nicholas Seigel, a.k.a. Dj Logik: owner-creator and mastermind behind Liquefy Your Mind Visual Productions, brought his unique visual skills to the Orlando masses for 16 years.
In 1999 this talented DJ/VJ brought his mixing skills to Orlando stages, liquefying the minds of many including the Barbarella crowds on Utopia Thursdays and entrancing crowds from Rumors and Diggity Dank Productions, and the unforgettable “ranch and woods parties.”
In 2001 Dj Logik formed an alliance with Cybervibe Productions and its owner, Dj Godspeed. Their exhibition ranged from Daytona Beach, throughout central Florida, and northward up to the Carolina party scene. From their jaw dropping jungle throw downs to break beat sessions that bring down the house, these two DJs were a team that would rival any.
DJ Logik released CDs from Trance and House, to Breakbeats and Jungle. He was a resident music producer with the Cybervibe crew. Feel the Vibe.
There you have some of it. Nick started his journey into the world of disk-jockeying at a ripe age of 18. He was diagnosed with epilepsy very soon after at age 20. What came after was a long period of trying to keep it a secret from his friends and acquaintances until the age of 32, at which time he chose to leave the scene due to health reasons. He made a valiant attempt to keep working after that. Nicholas was a Microsoft certified system engineer circa 2008. His last job was working at Suntrust Bank in their anti-virus remediation department before epilepsy took him away from the workplace.
Can’t we just have a network of safe harbors where we can exist in a sheltered notion that life doesn’t care about whether or not it passes us by while we are disassociated? Well, perhaps by way of our experiencing these and overcoming them we may deliver the grandest triumph of all: to establish such a network of sanctuary spaces for those who will experience something similar to what we have.
If we could see the life that Nicholas lived after this point, perhaps even through artistic impressions and metaphors, we would see a very stark contrast of a picture from the socialite well-connected in the music scene with lots of activity, privilege, and access. We might, many of us, empathize with the haunting shadows, isolation, and low self-esteem, for we too have been there. Some of us though, may need to close down our sensitivity to his struggle with depression that lasted for the next nearly 20 years because connection with another living person in their pain and sorrow is too much for many of us to bear. If you can lend an ear or a heart to the hard times of his story, then please give yourself to the goodness in Nicholas’ story too: it was the beauty of Earthdance that opened the door of opportunity for him to believe in something greater than himself.
Like a dream? so can it be like another lifetime within this one. What have all these experiences before now in our current year (2018-19) contributed to his character? To consider the implications of such a question is truly vast and mind-boggling:
- That he has been on over 18 medication combinations over the years; just imagine, if you may, what this alone can do to a human’s experience in life. At one point in time the side effects of medication were so extreme he developed body tremors so bad and frequent (nearly constant) he could no longer use a computer mouse, phone, or tv remote—nor could he write his name.
- On October 14th of 2014 he decided to leave behind a sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive relationship that lasted for 2 years. It was just then he decided he would walk 70 miles to his father's house. Nicholas started at around 10 pm. That night, while walking down a country road on the far right-hand shoulder of the road in the grass, with a mag flashlight shining behind him, a lady decided she would use her cellular phone while driving her vehicle. She veered off the road, far to the right side, and hit him going 40 miles an hour. The impact tore 60% of the major muscle groups in his left shoulder. He has since then after 5 years now been able to lift more than he did before. Luckily for Nick she stopped and called the police. “The only things I remember from that night are screaming in pain, the officer's face, and a couple images of the hospital…I don't even have a recollection of how I actually got to my father's house. I am thankful she called the ambulance ‘cuz I would have been laying in the side of the road somewhere.” She told the police she was using her cell phone and veered off the side of the road. And, she even stated she was guilty right there on site at the scene.
Nicholas still physically retains all the scars both physically and spiritually from that abusive relationship, but he now holds them as lessons of how not to treat people and how he would never want to act toward another living being.
In 2016 his father developed a pinhole in his colon and had to have colon removal surgery, after which he spent one entire year on his back. Nick had to attend to every waking meal, every need, everything, because “I’m his only son and it was my responsibility and I willfully accepted it.” Then, by the grace of God in the universe, his father was able to have reconstruction surgery in 2017 and he spent the next year healing, on his back still. Nick spent another year taking care of his every need. In 2018 he was able to slowly start working again. Interestingly enough, 2018 was also the year of liberation for Nicholas when he was awakened by an Earthdance experience which was indelibly etched into his being forever.
Nick looked at the 730 days he spent with his father, every day, every night, every moment, as his penance for making sure he could live despite the things that he had done in his life that he wasn’t proud of. After spending two years maintaining his father’s health, Nicholas was granted the opportunity to experience Earthdance, come out publicly and comfortably with his epilepsy. At long last the skin of secrecy was shed, and he found the drive to embark on a path of creating a world of unity among communities of loving, caring individuals.
Now, through meditation, yoga, and CBD (THC where applicable), Nick is now able to moderate his stress levels and interactions with various situations while maintaining his calm peace of mind—not letting his emotions override his intelligence. He is now an advocate for people afflicted with epilepsy, autism, down-syndrome; he also advocates for deaf communities and other similar “spectrum communities.” By providing this level of compassionate support, he hopes to inspire others who face similar challenges as he did and help them triumph—through his focus on raising awareness of epilepsy and promoting positive social change.
Nick is working to build many facets of support and extend them to all spectrum communities, eventually leading into creating a new festival of all-inclusive areas for specific global themes with special attention to environmental stimulus and such influences. This future event, in his vision, is a new world’s fair because the size and scope of our plans require nothing less than birth into the world on such a grand scale…then this goes a traveling across the globe.
“I am Nicholas S Seigel and I have been diagnosed with epilepsy for the last 20 years. Throughout many years of learning to deal with and accept epilepsy, I have now found not only many new friends in great abundance but also the ability to love myself and understand that neither I, nor WE, are limited by our spectrum.
“I have been very lucky but have also worked very hard over those years to learn meditation, yoga, and various calming holistic practices and feel more stable…in better shape than I have ever been in my life; I am stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally.
My memory is as sharp as ever; in fact, I find myself recalling information I never knew I had retained, yet somehow have the answer to the question. I now would not take back epilepsy or my having been run over because they both taught me the same thing: I am capable of overcoming great obstacles and even the most extreme of what was thought to be ruining my life is yet simply another life lesson and wisdom acquired.”
I thank you all for taking time to read these words, and so, being part of my life. If I can overcome the obstacles, so can you. If I can do all this, you can too.
Published 2018
A Deeper Glimpse into Extraordinary
A Biography by Luke A. Shootingstar Walters
