Myself and whomever I decide to bring in to help.
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PEOPLE/BANDS I HAVE REC0RDED WITH/FOR - - - DESOLATION WILDERNESS (www.myspace.com/desolationwilderness desolationwilderness.net) electric cello LE TON MITE (www.zicmuse.com www.myspace.com/letonmite) cello, TWIN (www.myspace.com/wearetwin www.wearetwin.com) cello
MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ (http://www.myspace.com/decablisty http://pink.ap.teacup.com/decablisty) cello
ZDRASTVOOTIE (www.myspace.com/zdrastvootie www.holymountain.com) cello
Jenny Jenkins celesta/bells/back vox/drums
, OLD TIME RELIJUN (http://www.kpunk.com/OldTimeRelijun/index.html) cello,
the HIT MACHINE cello, Leah cello, UNWOUND (www.killrockstars.com) cello, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FUN cello, THE STRANGERS (www.strangersoly.com) cello, bottle breaking, WARHAMMER 48k cello, MISCONCEPTION cello/keyboard/guitar/back vox, LICKED cello/guitar/bass/back vox/keyboard, Ted Connelly cello/guitar/keyboard/back vox/organ/piano, SUPERFLY 2000 guitar/elec cello, MR. HAPPY bass, Randy Baugh cello, FREQUENCY dB cello/guitar/back vox, SHARPIE cello, Chris Sohre elec/acoustic cello, Erika Johnson (my sister) bass/guitar/back vox, Arrington de Dionyso cello, Skaidra Jancaite cello Elizabeth Torres cello and a bunch I'm not remembering. Much more to come!
PEOPLE/ I HAVE PERFORMED LIVE WITH - - - various orchestral and chamber ensembles (including TACOMA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY, OLYMPIA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, OPERA PACIFICA), and a bunch I'm just not remembering.
2003 and 2006 OLYMPIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Cine-X
2003 - 2007 OLYMPIA FESTIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC (of which i am now one of the organizers).
2006 NW FILM FORUM as part of their local 'film makers' night of the Seattle International Film Festival
2006 PALAIS IDEAL Festival of Strange and Interesting Music, Chico CA
Jenny Jenkins (cello/guitar). LE TON MITE (cello). Warren Lee (cello). ENCYCLOPEDIA of FUN (cello). Jamie Stilman III (cello/guitar). MICSONCEPTION (cello/guitar/keyboards/back vox). Margaret Butler (cello/guitar). Ted Connelly (cello/bass/guitar/keyboard/back vox). DEAD AIR FRESHENERS (cello/tape machine). Robin Boomer (cello/voice). SUPERFLY 2000 (cello/guitar. John Densmore (cello/guitar/keyboards/back vox). MR. HAPPY (bass). Ross Cowman (cello/guitar). BLOODCLOT (drums/elec cello). Sarah Hubert (cello/guitar). FREQUENCY DB (cello/guitar/keyboards/back vox). Aaron Pierce (cello/bass/guitar/keyboards/back vox). Bob Marsh (cello). Cat Lamb (cello). Thollem McDonnas (cello). Tom Swafford (cello). Christian Asplund (cello). Corbin Keep (cello). Jen Grady (cello). FOQUE MOPUS (elec cello). Arrington de Dionyso (cello). Katsura Yamauchi (cello). Rob Allison (cello/guitar/back vox/keyboards). Erika Johnson (guitar/vox). Nathan Levine (cello). Claudia Meza (cello). Holly Reeves (cello). Ben Robertson (cello). Jeffry Morgan (cello). Anne Botka (cello). and many many others past, present, and future.
Influences
Arvo Paert, George Crumb, my own experiences life and genetics, my ex-wife, Gyorgy Ligeti, the Orb, Aphex Twin, Sergei Prokofiev, Prince, former bands I have been in, Saul Stokes, Raymond Scott, Alfred Schnittke, Dimitri Shostakovich, Theolonius Monk, Iannis Xenakis, Karlhinze Stockhausen, Edgar Varese, Zoltan Kodaly, John Cage, Johannes Brahms, Radiohead, Deerhoof, Eureka Farm, Rodgers & Hart, Stephen Sondheim, Pink Floyd,
GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR GEAR:
Instruments:
2006 Luis & Clark carbon fiber cello 92 (named The Monolith)
1992 Stephen Lohman cello. <-- I'm selling that one. it's at Feller Violin Shop in San Francisco.
1974 (?) BC Rich 'Seagull' guitar
1992 Fender Telecaster Thinline A/E (japan)
199? Fender Strat (mexi)
1982 Korg Poly6
Roland MC303 Groovebox
Yamaha QY70
Yamaha upright piano
Amps:
1989 (?) Roland JazzChorus 120
Two SWR California Blonde II
Two Samson EX500 15" active 500w subwoofers
and a bunch of other random things
Effects:
lots.
Sounds Like
Depends on the moment. Lots of sound collages. I love sound. My cello pieces range from Russian inspired stuff to timbral shifts to straight improvisations. It's not too often that I write lyrics or nice vocal lines, unfortunately. Sometimes, though.
My name is Derek M Johnson.
Here's a direct quote from a recent performance:
"What did you think of the celloist?" (yes, that's how they said it)
"It was very *instrumental*."
I like ice cream.
I like to pick on violinists because they deserve it.
I have a younger sister, Erika, who's an amazing percussionist. Hire her.
My cat is named Ginny, after Ginny Weasly.
I work for the USPS as a rural mail carrier and like it.
I have no children, except for the ones I sold off a few years ago to pay off the credit card.
I really like to eat and should be much larger than I actually am.
At the moment I'm 36 and am based in Olympia, WA, my hometown. By the summer of 2009 I should be living in Rhode Island. There's a blog on here that covers the whole move.
As you can probably tell, I play the cello and have done so most of the time since 1979. I didn't do much with it during my 20's but I sure pretended I did. There were only two successes that I can think of from that decade, an ambient piece of 8 layered cellos and a song from a band I was in during my years in Bellingham, WA.
I work very hard to not have contrived performances. I feel absolutely horrible when they occur, even if it's for a brief moment. To me it's like cheating the audience and myself.
Many of my performances are a soundtrack to slide shows I've created of manipulated, undeveloped film. I pull out the film from the canister and proceed to scratch, paint, burn, and apply chemicals after which I cut them up and place them in slide mounts. The hard part comes next. How to arrange them for this show? Once arranged, the dissolve unit (which controls the fades between multiple slide projectors) has to be programmed. Finally I get to make noise to it. It's fun, rewarding, a lot of work, and people tend to respond well.
I also play many other instruments, just not nearly as well as the cello.
well, that's the press release version. always so stale, don't you think?
Most of the time I perform solo cello improvisations, be they acoustic, electric, or both.
I am also a frequent member of two noise bands.
the Dead Air Fresheners. oly/pdx/sea/tac A bunch of weirdos doing weirdo stuff.
Bloodclot. We do live, improvised soundtracks to 'experimental' films that they and friends have made. I play cello and drums.
I call my home the Apple Valley Hotel/airporter/studios. Guests have included: Warhamer 48k, Mangled Bohemians, My Education, Wummin, Darwinsbitch, Crank Sturgeon, Hobby Knife, IDied, among others. The wonderful Claudia Meza (of Thunder Thunder Thunder and now of Explode Into Colours) lived here for a few months before she moved to PDX.
People I WISH would stay over include: Deerhoof, some people who will go unnamed (wink wink nudge nudge say no more!), George Crumb, Rodger Daltry, Spinal Tap, Ewen McGreggor, Prince, John Lennon's offspring, and a whole host of others.
CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS: ***10min slide show performance w/ new slides and focus. ***Some silly stuff for an audition. ***Recordings. ***
If you feel like snail mailing me:
Derek M. Johnson
PO Box 12242
Olympia, WA 98508-2242
The masked children of Interstate 5 Dead Air Fresheners join forces with Caprathian prosetress of the futuristic and surreal Jennifer Robin for an internet and radiowave reading of the sub-psychic tea leaves.
The radio show signal-to-noise-ratio on Portland's KPSU plays host to this broadcast and streaming event on Wednesday, April 29th at 8 PM.
Thanks for adding us as friends! The Wilson Arts & Entertainment District is delighted to be welcoming the FIRST gallery to Historic Downtown Centralia - the Centralia Visual Arts Center & Gallery - slated to open in May 2009! The CVAC is a newly formed non-profit with the goal of serving and supporting regional artists through changing exhibitions, creating an arts based community education program, workshops, lectures, poetry readings, recitals and becoming a "third place" for community gathering. We are on the GROW in Historic Downtown Centralia & looking forward to a summer FULL of great events - Stay Tuned!
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - we have many volunteer opportunities available right now - - if you have some spare time and want to invest it in our growing downtown - - post us back and we can message you further details! :) BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN OUR DOWNTOWN! Become a part of the Friends of the Wilson Arts & Entertainment District Volunteer Group!
That's good to hear! I needed a cheer-up. Had a disappointing weekend but oh well....things happen. Hopefully this count will backfire since they're predicting route to go down about 2 hours each.
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 from 8 to 9 PM the masked children of Interstate 5 Dead Air Fresheners join forces with the enigmatic cyber-prosetic Carpathian diva Jennifer Robin for a live radio and internet broadcast on the KPSU stalwart bastion program of moss-covered undergroundy goodness signal-to-noise-ratio!
Online Now!
