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Daniel Johnson
daniel johnson is a post-taoist pop-religiophysics systems-loving anarchist with markers and microphones.
Born in Garland, TX - daniel moved to Houston-suburb Pasadena, TX at 1-month-old where he grew up going to Baptist church, playing sports, and riding his bike on intra-neighborhood routes. The town was known for young trees, being downwind of the chemical plants, and being a suburb of Houston.
At 13 years daniel moved with his mother and sister back to his parents home state of MS where he attended Byram High School graduating from the brand new Terry High School in 1997. In school, daniel was known for generally doing his own thing which rubbed some teachers the wrong way while prompting others to praise his “creativity”. He was involved in the high school band as 1st chair saxophone until he was 15 when he was kicked out for sock issues. He was active in the choir and was even mascot (a bulldog) his junior year. He was active on his speech and debate team as well as participating in the Mississippi Youth Congress. He attended the Mississippi Governor’s School in 1996 where he focused on Ethics. He was an active artist throughout his high school career despite a complete lack of arts curriculum in his school. Most of his time out on the Jackson scene in his high school years were spent at the Living Room Coffee House and CHANEs both located at the Starplex Amphitheater on [[Capitol Street].
Upon graduation daniel wasted scholarships at Hinds Community College in Raymond where he was enrolled and lived in the dormitory while sparsely attending classes. This lasted 3 months before he was informed he would have to move.
daniel lived in south Jackson off TV Road for a bit in a run-down shack with a half-pipe ramp in the living room while reading, philosophizing, and generally contributing to society through hapless positive interactions throughout the community. In December, daniel left this house and bummed around Jackson for the next 5 months before moving to Byram in May of 1998 to rent his mothers house while she moved to New Orleans. The house quickly became a happening spot for many young Jacksonians necessitating another move at the end of the summer.
In August of 1998 daniel moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where he worked at an Amoco oil refinery running conduit for a new computer system. He rode public transit, read alot of Eastern religious and pop-physics books, saw great music (such as Tricky, John Spencer Blues Explosion, and Primus), and generally marveled at the friendliness and cleanliness of the city. It’s easy to navigate city structure is also worth mentioning.
In January of 1999, daniel moved back to Jackson and once again became a transitory character in many homes of friendly people. daniel was fairly active in the rave scene both in Jackson (mostly at Tiffanys and the Palm Beach Club)and New Orleans and began to discover his love for dancing around this time. In the summer of 1999, daniel ran into old pal Jakob Clark and decided to move in with his brother Josh Clark as Jakob was moving out. This period became defined by an interest in colored pencil/photography-collage work, cut-n-paste audio cassette recording projects, and potato sandwiches.
Around January of 2000, daniel met his companion amber kellum while living behind the Texaco at McDowell Road and Interstate 55 with Chad Johnson and Ryan Johnson; we were of no relation.
August of 2000, daniel moved to Roswell, GA (just North of ATL) and spent the next 4 months working at Galaxy Tobacco, listening to college radio, and reading religious, psychology, and pop-physics books...he took notes and made many mixtapes. One highlight was watching Radiohead’s Kid A vinyl play on MTV2 before it’s release date.
daniel returned to MS in January 2001 and attended Copiah-Lincoln Community College focusing on Physics. daniel soon realized he was not so much interested in the mathematical aspects of physics and so dropped it. daniel soon met classical guitar and piano major Gregory Smith. They became roommates and meditation became a habit.
The following year daniel played bass drum in the marching band, took up timpani and marimba in the concert band, played miscellaneous percussion and marimba in the jazz band, participated in the choir and the ambassodors, a chamber choir.
In the Fall of 2002, daniel attended Millsaps College where he studied Eastern religion and spirituality, pragmatism, and prophets. It was at Millsaps College that daniel met Walter Young who was in Alexanders Dark Heart.
The Fall of 2003 daniel returned to Copiah-Lincoln Community College to focus on music. dainel studied music theory, composition, piano, and percussion. His percussion studies were focused on the timpani and marimba. During marching season he played the quads. He continued to participate in the Ambassodors and the concert choir as well as percussion ensemble and the jazz band. He also started the Copiah-Lincoln Earth Club whose most notable accomplishment was hanging up informative signs regarding average resource use.
During the Spring of 2004 daniel began playing saxophone and synthesizer with Alexanders Dark Heart.
The Summer of 2004 daniel moved onto Carlisle Street in the Belhaven neighborhood across from New Stage Theater. He lived their with roommates Casey Parks and Amy. This summer Alexanders Dark Heart went on hiatus and The Try Force was created. Improv happening After Morning also began at the apartment and quickly moved to Studio 2 on Wednesday evenings.
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