[OutVoice] R.I.P. Dean Johnson!!

[Zecca Esquibel]

OMYGOSH! And I just said hi to him two weeks ago backstage at the Howl
Festival. What a LOSS! Apparently, Dean and another man were found
dead under suspicious circumstances which are still being
investigated. (There was nothing on the news, so I got this much from
friends.) I personally recall his first band "Dean and the Weenies"
storming the stage during the the best New Year's Eve Party ever  @ the 
Pyramid Club in the East
Village somewhere around 1985.  And he was already performing his 
why-the-hell-are-you-cruising-me
masterpiece "F@#K OFF!"  6'6" Dean, both as performer
and then promoter, did more than any single person at that time to 
promote LGBT
Rock WHEN NO ONE ELSE WAS INTERESTED IN DOING SO.  His 1,800
person per night Rock 'N' Roll Fag Bar @ The World
later morphed into the regular monthly Homocorps shows @ CBGB's. His
bands also changed into The Velvet Mafia. There is too much to tell
about Dean for a post here, so I suggest all of you who didn't know
just how important, scandalous and boundary shoving this gigantic, bald 
rockin' drag
queen really was should do some surfing and find out. I repeat, what
a terrible loss of a truly original and daring gay rocker.

Zecca