It may come as a shock to those who knew (and loved) the larger-than-life cross-dressing musician and NY nightlife star for the best part of three decades, DEAN JOHNSON was actually the son of a preacher man.  Now, THE BIG JOHNSON tells the incredible story of this underground rock star and sex worker,  AND celebrates what it was like to be unabashedly gay in NYC’s East Village, where he played a seminal role in the emergence of the Queercore gay rock-and-roll subculture during the middle of the AIDS crisis.  The film is about how he was known for his towering height, shaved head, giant sunglasses, and penchant for wearing short cocktail dresses that exaggerated the length of his pale, lithe figure.

Throwing parties that celebrated queerness, community and gay sexuality. Dean brought people together, normalizing LGBTQI rock music and telling the world…FUCK YOU if you don’t like it. His song Fuck you with the band “Dean and the Weenies” topped the college charts and landed him a record deal with Island Records.  He partied with art-world luminaries like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol, and performed at nightclubs such as Area, Danceteria, The Cat Club, and the Pyramid. Johnson was the driving force behind the ground-breaking Rock and Roll Fag Bar party, held Tuesday nights in the late 1980s.

As he discovered that he too was HIV positive Dean also realized certain people wanted him in the closet., which he totally refused to do.  Heartbreak, drug addiction, then rebirth, Dean’s journey has it all, through the backdrop of an ever changing and quickly gentrifying New York City.  Dean did drag at every Wigstock, his bands toured the world, his parties were lined with sex and celebrities, his songs inspired a new generation of Queer rockers, yet he had to escort to pay the bills, leading to his life ending in a lonely apartment in D.C.  only four days after another escort had died in that same apartment.   A dramatic end to an unbelievable life. 

Directed by Lola Rocknrolla, a member of Johnson’s second band The Velvet Mafia, this compelling real life story adds to the wealth of queer history we need to know about and share. This son of a preacher man lived life past  beyond the edges in a way that will never, or could ever, be repeated.  UNMISSABLE

The film is about to have its premiere at Slamdance Film Festival : check back later to see what happend next