In the third installment of the ongoing 'Where Are They Now?' series, I catch up with the original intern himself, Drewnami! (or Drew for short)

So hit the jump, and sorry in advance for any terrible puns....

So tell us about yourself. What are you up to these days?
I just graduated with my Associate's Degree, and I'm getting ready to move to Kentucky and get hitched to a lucky gal who also happens to be an OLR listener!

Favorite BEMANI game?
I still have a soft spot for Beatmania, even though I was never stellar at it. (I even tried to be like lisu and do everything one-handed. No dice!)

Favorite mix from said series?
It's hard to pick between Beatmania III and IIDX 8th Style! One had "Jack And Mark Get Busy" and the other had sooooo much Akira Yamaoka and TaQ!

Favorite song/artist? (doesn't have to be from your favorite game/series)
Maybe it's just my nostalgia talking, but there's something about being able to play "bit mania" and having it fill the vicinity with epic.

Any tournament memories you want to share? (also, PA or Freestyle?)
Oh, lord, I remember SHAFT, when I was just a gangly young DDR dork. (Now I'm a gangly older gaming dork.) I miss Wendell's "ROAST BEEF!" Orion .78 freestyle - and yes, Nori Nori Nori still haunts me. I should have never stepped up onto that stage! I swear I just did it for the badge. [lucky him, I was unable to find it on youtube.... EDIT: he still has it, but will probably never see the light of day so long as he lives.... sorry. :P]

Proudest accomplishment?
I remember beating The Legend Of MAX on heavy. It was a total fluke in my college arcade, and I had my friends watching - okay it was more of a "hey, let's watch Drew kill himself on the machine!" As soon as the "FEAR!" freeze hit and I was still over 75%, the music starting to swell up again, I remember there was this massive cheer starting to swell along with it! Turns out I was full-comboing that entire slow build-up and they'd never seen me do anything near that. Kept enough adrenaline to pound out the rest of the song and nearly had to be dragged out of the cafeteria for air! Good times.

Any memories from OLR you'd like to share?
Oh, I've been listening since the second episode...there's just so many. I remember the first time I came into the studio (27), the craze over V, the legendary Episode 69 (with mlkshkes!) the GET IT wars in chat, and the random Karaoke Revolution incidents! Let's not forget all the crazy Match Game segments, either, or my bad jokes (which I try to keep to a minimum these days, I swear)!

Do you still play DDR/IIDX/etc. nowadays?
I still play DDR in the arcade on occasion, but I haven't had console mixes for years now and I'm not sure about the state of my Ignition. Every once in a while I'll pull out Beatmania-US and try to keep sharp.

If you've seen what DDR is like now, do you feel it's 'jumped the shark'? Share your thoughts on that.
I can't really say it's jumped the shark so much as it's faded away quietly. It's sad to see music games fall by the wayside like passing crazes. Hopefully the revivals I've been hearing about hold water...I'd hate to see dancing games limited to Just Dance et al.

Obligatory 'your first time playing DDR' story
I think it was at my local roller rink, with an old DDR 2nd Mix machine. I remember trying to play it in my socks and failing Boom Boom Dollar because I kept stepping on screws and yelping! I got a little better by the time I got to RVGL, though I'm betting Jamie got sick of hearing the weird skinny kid playing the hell out of B4U!

Final thoughts?
I share a birthday with OLR. I guess you can say I grew up with it - from the tender age of 17. Through it, I've met all sorts of people, made the sort of long-term friends that just make me scratch my head in wonder of how it all happened.

I've been a little quiet lately in chat, but I'm still a presence. I'm going to miss being able to waltz into the studio like Cosmo Kramer and surprise the listeners, but I'm gonna keep listening and pimpin' it out to people no matter where I am. It's been a great nine years, and the show's been a staple of my life for so long. Let's keep it going!

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And he wasn't even supposed to BE here today! ... anyway come back tomorrow where we catch up with 'ver2', aka 'the MAX300 king'!!