Exerpt from an Interview by Derek de Koff
Anyone can get up on stage and make music. I never studied music and had no idea what I was doing when I formed The Weenies. I got my education on stage.
When did you form The Weenies?
Back in '85. Dean And The Weenies. We were a club band. We used to play Rock And Roll Fag Bar and some of the other clubs. It became something of a phenomenon. I did this song called "Fuck You" in the film Mondo New York. From that I was able to get a recording contract with Island Records. They signed me based on my performance of "Fuck You" but when they realized I was a gay activist and a drag queen, they freaked out and found an excuse to dump me. They released my record in an unmarked brown paper wrapper and then said that they were dumping me because the album wouldn't sell. (Laughs.) They printed out thousands of CDs of "Fuck You" and then decided to get rid of them. They dumped them into a dumpster behind the Island offices. Homeless people pulled them out of the garbage and sold them for a dollar on St. Mark's and it became a huge phenomenon. That's how I really established myself as a performer back in '87.
So Island Records probably isn't releasing this one.
No, Trip Records is putting out this album. They're a small independent label based in Miane, where I'm from. It's a gay-owned label and they have a definite political agenda. The themes in my material are consistent with the kinds of projects they want to promote.
Would you say you have a political agenda?
I would say I have a social agenda. I grew up in the '70s. It was a very hard time to grow up gay, and very hard for me to pretend I wasn't. I've been motivated primarily by trying to be as visibly and openly gay as possible, and hopefully make it easier for people who are growing up now.
Generally, your subject matter revolves around drag queens, hustlers, crack whores, rock and roll fags...
Well, I write about what I know. (Laughs.) Those are the people that inhabit my world, but you rarely hear them or see them in popular culture. I really wanted to show people the reality that I know with my lyrics.
Good titles on this album. "HIV: Her Infinite Vanity" is one that sticks out a bit.
"Her Infinite Vanity" is about how you just can't escape AIDS, even if you have it. It's there, every time you meet someone new. It permeates all facets of our lives and makes me very angry. That song is really just an expression of my frustration about HIV.
When you perform, how does the audience react?
Never had a negative reaction from an audience. Never. We're always met with unbridled enthusiasm. It doesn't matter where we're playing or what kind of audience we're playing for. In fact, straight audiences tend to be the most enthusiastic. I find it astonishing, actually. I think it's got a lot to do with middle-class guilt, you know? All this material dealing with drag queens and hustlers and drug addicts... Maybe everyone is feeling oppressed by mainstream culture, and that's why they respond the way they do - they react to the fact that I'm trying to tell it like it is.
When The Weenies fell apart, I started doing dope for awhile. I was a heroin addict throughout the entire Bush administration. When I stopped doing drugs and got my life back together, I'd pretty much given up any hope of continuing with music... but I was watching this video of Tina Turner doing "A Fool In Love" and it moved me so much that I started crying and I started to think I was staring into the face of God. Don't worry, I know that sounds incredibly cheesy. But I went back and listened to my old songs, and some of them had really held up. Strangely, I ended up meeting (bass player) Little Mary Feaster that same day. We hit it off instantly. Twenty minutes later we were up on a roof-top, smoking a joint, and planning to form a new band.
What kinds of music do you listen to?
I don't listen to it ever. It's like eating donuts when you work at Krispy Kreme. I spend so much time making music and thinking about it. When I come home, all I want to do is watch daytime television. Jerry Springer twice a day. My husband is Puerto Rican and he listens to classical disco all the time. He's the dictator of the stereo and I don't ever attempt to use it. (Laughs).
Influences?
I have many, but I don't listen to them... Lou Reed, The B-52's, Cher and Stevie Nicks... I worship Stevie. I've been in every single Stevie Nicks tribute that Jackie 60 has ever done. It's bigger than Christmas for me. I spend a month getting ready. I literally can't sleep the night before. My cat is named Stevie Nicks. So I have influences, but I never listen to them.
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The Velvet Mafia
"Once Were Weenies"
by Walter Cessna
After spending innumerable evenings in search of music that wasn't tired 90's punk, imitation grunge, just another drag queen or bad bar act, I finally came across three new bands that made my ears tingle. Ironically, the lead singer of each one performed in the popular early 80's club outfit called Dean and the Weenies. Lead singer Dean Johnson now fronts the Velvet Mafia, while former backup singers, sisters Melissa and Perry Masco, now head Felonius Punk and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) respectively.
Dean Johnson has been so many things in his life, it's hard to keep track of them all. Besides fronting the Weenies, he was the first doorman at Save the Robots and also ran the legendary (and recently reopened) Rock 'N' Roll Fag Bar before his heroin addiction landed him in jail.
Staging a comeback, Johnson looks at this new band, the Velvet Mafia, as the first focused thing he's ever done. "I named the band after my idols Barry Diller and David Geffen because of how successful they are. Like them, the Velvet Mafia is definitely a commercial venture!" Geffen actually caught the band's gig at Jackie 10, but he didn't exactly rush backstage. "I heard he freaked when I sang a song dedicated to him. Hello. Good-bye!" As New York's reigning 6-foot 6-inch bald drag queen (that's without heels), Johnson gives the band's sarcastically bittersweet songs an added punch. Look for their upcoming self-titled debut on Trip Records.
When not playing around town, Johnson keeps busy writing (he recently sold his screenplay Secret Spy-A-Go-Go) and doing domestic chores with his husband, Ralph, a manager at a grocery store. "I just wish he'd stop telling his coworkers he's married to a tall bald woman named Denise," he says.
Profile edited with:CricketSoda Myspace Profile Editor
hi how are things goin? your myspace is looking slick! anyway, i just downloaded some awesome new tones off www.tonetomyphone.info for FREE! they have the tightest selection!
Your tallness! Thanks for accepting my friendship request from beyond the grave. You're still with me every day; your sis is holding up, but needs a big hug from you - you gave me one in a dream a few weeks ago, please visit her and do the same. We all love and miss you so much; you're 18th annual 29th Birthday in May promises to be an event you'll just love. I've got a speaking engagement; I promise to make you and Beth laugh - and make Missy angry (which is something I can't seem to help doing...). I love you more by the day. xoxo B
Dean was a rock star like no other. He could give a shit about what people thought and had a mind of his own. I was a huge fan back in 80's - always coming out to see him when he performed. I am grateful to have known him.
My saddness is tempered only by knowing that Dean lived his life like there was no tomorrow and I am sure he is making the afterlife a far more interesting place.
The Paley Center for Media, ye olde Museum of Television and Radio, will host a Live University Satellite Seminar this Thursday night from 6-7:30p.m. It is an evening with Mary Tyler Moore! Should someone call in and ask her about Thermo Nuclear War?
Dean you are very much already missed, We posted the clips from the film film "Freaks Glam Gods and Rockstars" where we interviewed Dean in the bathroom of CBGB's on one of Dean's famous HomoCorps night when he performed with Velvet Mafia.
From the guy who made the "Chicken" mp3, this saddens me to no end. Dean and his music made for a wonderful shake up in the small town continuum that I come from. The do your own thing attitude and no care for what was popular at the time is where the rest of the world needs to head. But we seem to ignore this and keep to the herd mentality. We still have the music. Those that knew Dean personally will have the memories. He will live on through both.
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