Propaganda 21 ch06

 +----------------+
 |IN THE SPOTLIGHT|
 |IN THE SPOTLIGHT|
 +----------------+

     ______________________________
      CBA TALKS ABOUT THE RECENTLY
      ADDED SECTION FROM THE CZECH
      REPUBLIC AND REORGANIZING
      THE CORE OF TRC*SCS.

     ______________________________
CBA, YOU WERE QUICK TO GAIN A SECTION
IN POLAND.  JUST RECENTLY, YOU HAVE
GAINED A SECTION IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC.
IN TERMS OF THE DUTCH COOPERATION, WHAT
CAN WE GET FROM THIS?

Well, the simple fact of adding a Czech
section is that we need some new blood

in the group to make things go further.
Our Czech members were a very good move
to take as they are really active.

DO YOU THINK YOU CZECHIAN EXPANSION
WILL TRIGGER OTHER GROUPS TO FOLLOW?

Well, from what I heard, other groups
have shown interest in them, and it is
quite obvious that the maingroups at the
moment are hunting for members over
there, and a new market.

A SURPRISINGLY WIDE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE
HAD TO BE DISMISSED FROM THE COOPERATION
AS OF THE NEW YEAR. IS THIS THE SIGN OF
A STRICTER ORGANIZATION AND INCREASED
FOCUS ON ACTIVITIES?

It is. In fact we (NIGHTSHADE and I) are

quite busy with making the TRC*SCS-org-
anization even better and smoother than
it was before. The main reason for boot-
ing people out of the group, was that
we wanted to continue this cooperation
with only active members, and not with
people who haven't done anything over
the past year.

LOOKING AT IT, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM
TRC*SCS IN 1996?

I guess a lot. The mainthing this year
will be our party held in April. You
can also expect a lot of games finding
their ways to the boards once our org-
anizaition is 1OO% perfect as I want it
to be. Then, you can expect a lot of
good things coming your way.



 +-------------------------------+
 |                               |
 |CONFRONTING A NORWEIGAN LEGEND |
_|CONFRONTING A NORWEIGAN LEGEND.|______
 |                               |
 +-------------------------------+


 "First great scene memory was back in
  85 or 86, when I was in a group call-
  ed THE GUARDIANS INC. I started work-
  ing to get good software-suppliers.
  So after getting some insiders, I sent
  our cracks to LIGHT CIRCLE, ESI, TWB,
  FCS, FAC, DYNAMIC DUO, HEADBANGER,
  TMC, DANNISH GOLD, you name it. Most
  of them actually replied! About 75%
  of them wanted to trade! I was in
  fucking software heaven, eating cherr-

  ies with the elite. I always had a
  big ego on the scene, but when I was
  elected the scene's most liked AND
  most hated in the same, elite mag-
  azine, I was honoured like God."

GENE, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PROFILES
IN BOARDHISTORY LOOKS BACK AT HIS PAST
ON THE 64 WITH LAUGHS AND TEARS FOR
PROPAGANDA. AS A MEMBER OF GROUPS LIKE
ACE AND BROS, HIS TALE IS IMPRESSING.

 ______________________________________
    +-------------------------------+
    |                               |
    |"I WAS NEVER ON THE 64 TO PLAY |
    | THE DAMN GAMES. I WAS THERE   |
    |        FOR THE FUN..         "|
    |                               |
    +-------------------------------+



GENE, IT HAS BEEN LONG SINCE YOUR DAYS
ON THE BOARDS. WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE?

Well, computerwise it can be summed up
like this: I bought a PC in November
1992 and started getting into the scene
for RAZOR 1911. The speed and flow of
of wares was extreme, hence great! Got
some really good friends. I called some
64-boards with my PC occassionally, was
still in ILLUSION, and I got aware that
things were not working at all in the
group. Due to the internal disputes, I
partly went 64 again, trying to set
things straight. All things did seem to
get better - but then came the bust. As
for myself, I was studying law when I
got busted. I quit lawschool when I de-

cided that journalism was what I really
wanted to work with. Started studying
English at the university and finally
got a job as a journalist in a local
newspaper. After one year, the editor
quit and I was promoted to editor. That
is what I am today.

THE FALL OF THE NORWEIGAN ILLUSION WAS
A TRAGEDY. IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHAT HAP-
PENED TO EVERYBODY WHEN THE FRAUDS
WERE DISCOVERED?

I had been out of town, and called
SECTOR 9 of RAZOR 1991 on my way home.
He asked if the police had been to my
house. I had no idea so I called my
roomate. He told me the cops had been
there, confiscating all my gear. He is
a rather paranoid guy, and is smoking

dope on a regular basis. First of all,
he understood the guys standing outside
the house were cops, but he thought they
had been tipped about him. It was pretty
funny though, he swallowed everything
he had. When the cops left, he was so
stoned he was just lying in half-dead

     +----------------------------+
     |"I THINK MOVING MORE OF THE |
     | 64 SCENE TO THE NET WOULD  |
     | CREATE A FLOW OF COMEBACKS"|
     +----------------------------+

on the coach. According to some of the
papers here (it's been front-page stuff)
the cops think I only called boards for
three months. They discovered I bought
a PC three months earlier, but did not
at all know about my 64-career. Damn,

I started elite-modeming back in 1987,
so I got off lucky there. HERO was the
only other Norweigan 64-guy who got
caught. I am not sure what he has said
to the police (I know he narced though),
but the cops told him he'd get off with
3 months in jail and a 3O.OOO dollar
fine if he confessed to everything
(I think it was 3 months and 3O.OOO -
not far from that at least). He said
no. One of the RAZOR guys told the cops
I sold games and  they also found doc-
umentation. I did admit I was starting
to sell games on the PC, but actually
managed to convince the cops that I was
not allowed to keep any of the money.
When they started asking about AT&T, I
told them I had no intention of talking
about it unless my lawyer was present.
And that is actually where it stands

today - nearly three years later. They
still haven't pressed charges. None of
us have heard anything for ages. My
guess is that if they do go to court
with this, we will be fined but not
sentenced to jail.

LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, MEETING UP WITH
THE 64 ON THE NET, HOW DO YOU LOOK ON
THE SCENE TODAY, COMPARED TO THE ONE
JUST A FEW YEARS BACK?

It is hard to say. There are so many
people I have never heard of, and some
new groups etc. According to most of
the rookies I have met, the quality
wares are extinct. But hey, I was never
on the 64 to play the damn games. I was
there for the fun. If there is still a
lot of fun on the 64, keep on kicking

some ass!

NORWAY IS THE ABSOLUTELY WEAKEST COUNTRY
ON THE 64 TODAY. LOOKING BACK AT GROUPS
LIKE ILLUSION, ABNORMAL, SHADOWS, THF,
RAW DEAL, RAWHEAD AND MANY MORE, ONE
WONDERS WHERE ALL THE VETERANS WENT.
WHAT IS YOUR COMMENT TO THIS?

Not to forget JAZZCAT and NEWLOOK! I
think it is pretty obvious. Norway was
the first country in Europe where the
police, phonecompany and software-
distributors did a major raid. This
most probably scared the shit out of
people who were on their way up. The
bust served it's purpose, I guess.

THERE IS CURRENTLY A DEBATE ABOUT THE
NET VS. THE BOARDS. THE ISSUE IS OF

COURSE THE FIRSTRELEASES. WHAT IS YOUR
OPINION ABOUT ADAPTING TO THE NET?

My opinion here is biased, as I can only
call the net these days. But I must say
moving the scene to the net would be
great! I think lots of the old elite
oldtimers would return. I am on an elite
oldtimers 64-mailinglist now with i.e.
SHARK/INC, TBB/FBR, STORMBRINGER, BOD,
STRIDER, SKREEMER, SAURON, OEP, RONSKI,
SKATER, NEWSCOPY, ROCKSTAR and ANTIT-
TRACK. I'm also talking to THE CURE. I
think moving more of the 64 scene to the
net would create a flow of comebacks.
And as I mentioned earlier (between
the lines) the 64 has always been about
PEOPLE, not games! Getting firstreleas-
es is cool, but hey, who knows - maybe
oldtimes can kick some rookie-ass again?

If the 64 moves over to the net, I would
indeed get active again!

    +-----------------------------+
    |"I ALSO DID SOME TRADING WITH|
    | A NOT TOO FAMOUS AMERICAN IN|
    | A NOT TOO FAMOUS GROUP -    |
    | PUDWERX/ATC.               "|
    +-----------------------------+

COULD YOU EVER TAKE PART OF ANOTHER
SCENE AGAIN, THE PC FOR INSTANCE?

Well, thing is, I am not starting to
phreak, and I'd rather leave the scene
with my name and a good reputation than
being a total lamer mailtrading six
month old games with my locals. When
somebody asks what GENE is up to these
days, I won't let the reply be: Ahh,

he is mailtrading for a local PC group
which is releasaing shareware utilit-
ies. Just isn't me!

CAREER-WISE, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN
GOING THROUGH DURING YOUR TIME ON
THE COMMODORE 64?

Well, I got my first 64 in 1984. Started
like everybody did, just trading with
friends. In 1985 I started working in a
64-shop, and I met FIRKIN. We establish-
ed THE GUARDIANS INC., which was when
we took off! After quite some time, COCO
with whom I was trading asked if FIRKIN
and I wanted to join ACE. We did. I got
my first modem from a guy called Brett
from LA. It was a 3OO baud, and I was a
proud motherfucker! Just a week later,
BLUE LIGHTNING (Steve, he was from Flo-

rida) sent me a 12OO baud. The phone-
calls started coming. I think this was
when PROWL(ESI) who at that time was in
SURVIVORS called me. Also one of the
big moments, a good US group calling me
to trade. I don't remember what went
wrong, but I think we got some major
problems with connecting.

   +--------------------------------+
   |"THAT WAS WHEN THE WAR BETWEEN  |
   | ME AND DOMINATORS STARTED. THE |
   | COOLEST WAR I'VE EVER BEEN IN!"|
   +--------------------------------+

Some time later COCO slowed down and the
Norweigan part of ACE was doing all the
cracking. So we left, picked up some
guys from STARS and off we went. Then
PACO/BROS called me and wanted us as

members. This was in 87-88. BROS was a
fine importinggroup, but did not crack
much. We got a new supplier, SMASH
(who later became a speedhead. It was
a bitch meeting him, all down on his
knees a few years later). A not-so-
famous group called SPICE started call-
ing me a lot. Nice guys. Some months
later they were in PUBLIC ENEMY! I also
did some trading with a not too famous
American in a not too famous group
- PUDWERX/ATC.

 INSTINCT (Shawn) called me one day,
telling me  he'd run conferences when
I wanted. After some time, and 1O conf-
erences a week he had a shitload of
European contacts. He joined PUBLIC
ENEMY and later formed CONQUEST. The
BROS-period was great! We had a lot of

fun. And finally, I really got every-
thing working with the modems as well
(doing x-modeming earlier was a pain).
In 1989, BROS pretty much died, and
FIRKIN and I went on and joined ILLUS-
ION. FIRKIN quit the scene 2 months,
and I followed a few months after that.

    +-----------------------------+
    |"SAURON DID NOT HAVE A MODEM,|
    | SO WHENEVER WE HAD A FIRST- |
    | RELEASE, HE HAD TO SEND IT  |
    | BY TRAIN TO ME.           " |
    +-----------------------------+

Six months later, I returned to ILS.
SAURON did not have a modem, so when-
ever we had a firstrelease, he had to
send it by train to me and I sent it
to the states. EXECUTIONER (Joel) was

promised the releases, but we sent it
all to EXODUS. Joel was pissed like
hell! WAREWOLD/EXODUS called me and
asked what I thought about letting Joel
into EXODUS, and I said it was a very
good idea. So we solved that problem
quickly! WAREWOLF left and we went with
several groups until we went into a co-
op with ATC.

   +-------------------------------+
   |"DUKE WAS CRYING THAT HE COULD |
   | NOT TAKE ME ALONE, AND NEEDED |
   | HELP FROM THE OTHER GUYS.    "|
   +-------------------------------+

Some time later, NME, ICECUBE, D-RAM
REBEL and I left ILLUSION and formed
the famous DEADLINE with THE CURE and
some others. We had a great time, but

later came to join DOMINATORS, a really
stupid choice, since DOMINATORS were as
good as dead. None of the Danes did
jackshit, so again we left DOMINATORS
heading for ILLUSION. That was the time
when the war between me and DOMINATORS
started. The coolest war I've ever been
in! I was wrecking them on the boards
and all of a sudden I got access to
a private DOMINATORS-SUB at their head-
quarter. DUKE was crying that he could
not take me alone, and needed help from
the other guys. They had a little fight
- not too many of the DOM-guys wanted
to back up DUKE. I buffered the messag-
es and posted them on different boards.
At the same time, I put up the legend-
ary "DUKE'S VOICE MAILBOX", and I never
had so much fun on the computer. I re-
ceived tons of mail on the box where

people were just laughing. Ah well,
after some time, I went PC, came back..
You've read it.. (I ought to mention
that I think DUKE was a brave guy and
I did respect him. What I did not re-
spect was that none of the Danish DOM-
members tried to help him. They left
him in the heat - what a fucking bunch
of lowlife analfocused pussies!) This
pretty much sums it up. I still wanna
say hi and bye to everybody I know
whether they are still on the scene or
just happened to hear about this inter-
view. If anybody feels like leaving me
a note, either get onto #C-64, or leave
me mail at VESTNETT@IDGONLINE.NO. Good
luck to all of you.

      GENE/ ACE, BROS, STARS, DEADLINE
            DOMINATORS and ILLUSION