Johnny Dwork

Johnny Dwork

Photo by Kyre Wiltshire

Johnny Dwork (born October 22, 1959) is a two-time world champion flying disc freestyle athlete, award-winning Grateful Dead scholar and author, event producer, and multimedia artist.

Early life

Johnny Dwork, the only son of Dr. Kerry and Bonnie Dwork, was born and raised in New York City.

Career

Flying Disc Freestyle World Champion

Dwork is a two-time world champion flying disc freestyle athlete.[1][2][3] Dwork also holds the world's only Bachelor of Arts degree for studies in Professional Flying Disc Entertainment and Education, awarded by Hampshire College in 1984.[4][5] Media reports of his degree circulated worldwide, including in outlets such as Newsweek Magazine, elevating the overall exposure of flying disc sports. Dwork co-founded The Wizards, a world champion flying disc freestyle team, and had a decade-long career as a professional flying disc entertainer and educator, including performing in the Rose Bowl in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981, as well as performing at Madison Square Garden, and appearing on ABC's Wide World of Sports, CBS Sports Spectacular, and Sesame Street.

Grateful Dead Scholar and Author

While attending Hampshire College, Dwork started the Hampshire College Grateful Dead Historical Society, where he began publishing the Grateful Dead research newsletter DeadBeat. Upon graduating from Hampshire College, Dwork began co-publishing the in-concert Grateful Dead newsletter Terrapin Flyer. Dwork then co-founded the international music culture magazine Dupree's Diamond News, and for ten years served as its editor and publisher.[6] Dwork is co-author and editor of The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, an award-winning, three-volume encyclopedia of the Grateful Dead's music on tape.[7] In 2013, the Grateful Dead included an essay penned by Dwork in the book accompanying the box set release of Sunshine Daydream, the Grateful Dead's all-time most requested live concert recording.[8]

Event Producer

Mentored during college by Bill Graham, Dwork is a pioneer of "transformational festivals" based on mythic themes, environmental production ethics, and audience participation.[9] Dwork is the Creative Director of Peak Experience Productions, and has produced and co-produced many music and performance arts concerts and festivals across the United States, including the Gathering of the Vibes Festival, and in venues such the New York City's Wetlands Preserve.[10] From 1999 to 2007, Peak Experience Productions produced concerts and festivals with the jam band The String Cheese Incident. In 2012, Peak Experience Production began to produce The Illumination Gathering, a sacred fire circle retreat.

Johnny Dwork Fire Dancing with a Dreamcatcher

Multimedia Artist

In 1978, Dwork co-founded The Speed of Light Show, a visionary light show company, and served as its Creative Director. The Speed of Light Show presented morphing panoramas of 16mm film, slides, video, liquid lights, lasers and theatrical lighting that were choreographed to both live and recorded music. The Speed of Light Show appeared with many renowned artists including Phish,[11] The Chambers Brothers, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Bob Weir & Kingfish, Ginger Baker (Cream), The String Cheese Incident, Country Joe and the Fish, Spencer Davis, Robby Kreiger (The Doors), Ozric Tentacles, Dark Star Orchestra, and Dr. Timothy Leary at many iconic events on college campuses, nightclubs, and music festivals nationwide.

In 1984, Dwork co-founded Arc Audio Visual Productions, which from 1984 through 1989 audio and video recorded lectures at the New York Academy of Sciences, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, the New York Open Center, and at the annual conferences of the Association of Humanistic Psychology and the Association for Transpersonal Psychology.

Dwork's company Peak Experience Productions co-produced the film The String Cheese Incident: Evolution, which was released in 2001.

Dwork is the creator of the L'HA! Laser Harp Alembic, which was featured at the Harmony Festival in 2011, at the Portland Art Museum in 2012, at The Tech Museum of Innovation in 2014, and at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in 2015.[12]

Musician

Dwork is a pioneer of circuit bending, and was the inspiration for Reed Ghazala's iconic “Dworkian Register” instrument. Dwork is also a harmonic overtone singer, able to simultaneously sing three notes with his voice. In the late 1980s Johnny was a member of the Spectral Voices overtone choir and performs on the group’s album entitled “Coalescence.” As a spoken word artist Dwork performed with the Everyone Orchestra and The String Cheese Incident, and appears on the String Cheese Incident's official live concert album releases of their Hornings Hideout 2005 and Hulaween 2006 performances.

Activist

Dwork is a lifelong social and environmental activist. As publisher of Dupree's Diamond News, Dwork partnered with The Nature Conservancy to raise the funds and awareness for saving thousands of acres of endangered rainforest. In the 1980s, Dwork served as the President of the Pioneer Valley Resettlement Project. Dwork also served as a business and creative advisor to the founder of Wetlands Preserve, [12] and is featured in the film “Wetlands Preserved, The Story of an Activist Nightclub.” [13] Dwork also sits on the advisory boards of numerous nonprofit organizations, including The Threshold Foundation and The Prayer Rock Foundation.

Spiritual Practitioner

Johnny is an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. As such he performs weddings, funerals and other transitional ceremonies for his community. In 1982 Wavy Gravy ordained Dwork as the Rabbi of the Phurst Church of Phun, a secret society of activist clowns dedicated to healing humanity through good-hearted humor. In that role Johnny has initiated thousands into the Phurst Church of Phun and performed many comedic spiritual ceremonies at venues nationwide, including the Oregon Country Fair, Wetlands Preserve and the Crystal Ballroom.

Dwork is also a practitioner of “spiritual alchemy” and co-facilitates numerous alchemical fire circles including the Illumination Gathering which he produces.

References

  1. ↑ "Freestyle Disc Results by Player". Freestyle Players Association.
  2. ↑ Conte, Robert (September 30, 1981). "Frontiers of Frisbee". Amherst Bulletin. Amherst, MA: Amherst Publishing. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Frisbee Degree". Spokane County Metro. Spokane, Washington, USA. November 20, 1983. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  4. ↑ "8: Student Life". Hampshire.edu. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  5. ↑ "Mass. Student Spins Frisbee Into Degree". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Lewiston, Maine, USA. November 15, 1983. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ Giordano, Al (December 5, 1988). "John Dwork". The Valley Advocate. Northampton, MA: Valley Advocate. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ Villano, Michael (July 18, 1998). "In Print". Billboard Magazine. New York, NY: Billboard Publishing. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  8. ↑ Sunshine Daydream (booklet). Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead Productions. 2013. p. 6-7.
  9. ↑ Davis, Eric; Wiltshire, Kyer (2009). Tribal Revival: West Coast Festival Culture. Loveolution Press. ISBN 978-0615315874.
  10. ↑ Mikayla Uber (August 5, 2015). "Johnny Dwork: Event Producer". About Face. , Portland, Oregon, USA. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Sat, 1990-03-03 The Wetlands Preserve". Phish. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  12. ↑ Aaron Martin (November 27, 2015). "An Alchemy of Sound: The Transformative Power of Johnny Dwork's Laser Harp Alembic". Oregon Music News. Oregon, USA. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
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