NYC Nightlife Icon Dean Johnson Is Dead

By Tony Reid: 2007-10-03 17:57:28

Queer or not, New York nightlifers know Dean Johnson, the bald and compelling six-foot-six rock 'n roll drag queen. The man who founded Rock & Roll Fag Party at the late CBGB’s rock club and fronted bands Dean & The Weenies and Velvet Mafia, died last week.

The New York Post reports Johnson, 45, of Brooklyn, New York, was found in an elegant Washington D.C. apartment of a wealthy unidentified Saudi man. Mysteriously or not, another man was also found dead in the same apartment several weeks before Johnson’s death. No link has been made, but police are investigating.

Fearing he was murdered, a friend of Johnson’s learned through searching Dean’s e-mails that he traveled to D.C. regularly. Of the Saudi apartment owner in question, photographer John Penley said, “Nobody knows his identity, but it’s all very suspicious.” Johnson carried no ID when his body was recovered and remained in the morgue several days before his body was finally identified.

Dean, long a fixture of the New York night scene, promoted some of the city’s most bizarre and exciting parties. He made being queer fierce for a generation of gay and gay-friendly partygoers. A nightlife that is drowning in the swamp of sameness has lost a figure who made nighttime the right time. Rock on, Dean.

RELATED: death

Latest Headlines:

Courtney Love Is An Idiot, Possibly Dyslexic

Bozo Passes On

Brinkley Divorce Trial Heats Up

Black Won't Sue Grooming Product Company

Manzarek: 'Morrison's Death May Be A Fake'

Larry David Hates Cancer

Transgender Man Gives Birth

Mandy Moore Is Back On The Market

Ballerina Baronova Dead At 89

PETA Offers Stone A Brain Scan

Comment on “NYC Nightlife Icon Dean Johnson Is Dead”

Note: This website is not intended for use by minors. The views expressed in this comments section are not necessarily our own. Comments that we deem to be poorly worded, off topic, or threatening will not be published. For free, uncensored discussion visit our forum.

John Says:
October 7th, 2007 at 17:57
I just wanted to put out there the other guy that died in the apartment 4 days earlier was my boyfriend Jeremy Conklin. I know all of the articles say Jordon Cronklin, but they have his name wrong. I currently am waiting to hear what the tests results are to come back. I went down to DC to identify Jeremy 2 weeks ago and I just want to put it out there that Jeremy was a great kid I loved him very much and he had so much more life to live.
He like Dean was only going down there for the weekend.
if you would like to see pics of me and Jeremy they are available on my myspace page myspace.com/livefan81
I miss my Jeremy very much and will be holding a memorial service in Provincetown this month for him.
John

jackie Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 16:13
I am trying to locate John, who wrote about Jeremy Conklin being misidentified as "Jordan Cronklin." Please contact me jackie.bensen@nbcuni.com

dc10001 Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 23:08
Tony, thanks for the post, but a correction is in order to a now-common error. The source of this error is the usual half-assed reporting from the NY Post. Dean LOVED appearing in Page Six through the years; but he knew better than to trust them with details (those biatches are ALLERGIC to fact checks!).’Rock and Roll Fag Bar’ was a party first held at the World in ‘86; to cite Dean’s entry diary:

“…The idea was to have a gay club with live bands where people could dance to rock music and be free of the izod/designer jean mentality dominating gay culture in the early 80s. In four weeks Rock and Roll Fag Bar was the hottest party in nyc and dominated the club scene for the rest of the decade. Over the years it played hosts to dozens of celebs who will deny ever being there, but two who didn’t deny it were Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and Malcolm MacLaren. The night Robert Plant arrived and danced all night, many of us who had been raised on Led Zeppelin achieved Nirvana…”

HomoCorps, Dean’s monthly queer music showcase was held at CBGB’s. It started in ‘99, and it opened the doors of CBGB's to a wave of musical talent that otherwise would not had had a chance to mount its grimy stage. Dean “…decided the queer music scene needed a new home after Squeezebox closed and opened HomoCorps at CBGB …Rufus Wainwright really helped us put the night on the map and celebrities start slinking through the door on a routine basis. Parker Posey shows up in her “Best in Show” braces and Kirstie Alley wasn’t too big to scale the amplifiers for a better view of the stage…”

This conflation of the an '80's with the more recent (landmark) music showcase is unfortunate; but hey, what more to expect from the Post? Their only interest in the story is the tabloid factor. But the rest of us can stop amplifying their mistake.

Back to NYC Nightlife Icon Dean Johnson Is Dead

NYC Nightlife Icon Dean Johnson Is Dead

Comment on “NYC Nightlife Icon Dean Johnson Is Dead”

Leave a Reply