Born in 1970 in Napa, California, TJ has studied and practices in multiple creative and technical disciplines, MIDI and Sound Design, Stagecraft, Art and Graphic Arts in LA, Napa, Central Coast and San Francisco. TJ is a solo artist and a contributor and collaborator in various forms from art shows, published in activist rags advocating for homeless with Street Spirit, Street Sheet and Homeless in the Homeland. As a musician and recording technologist he has played on college radio and on underground pirate radio.

TJ recalls “I had a one-man painting show at the last club with a cabaret license in SF and Edward Snowden was in attendance”. Locally TJ produced the Punk and Edge Arts Festival “Mocktoberfest,” the first of its kind in Vallejo.

Children received instruments and lessons free of charge in their chosen genre. This was in partnership with the Mira Theater and included 2 stages at the Empress and Mira theaters with 13 bands as well as a showing of “Afropunk” and an art show. Former museum director Jim Kern’s set list sheets from “The Cramps” appeared in the art show as well as an “Otaku Patrol Group” Cyberpunk leather jacket as artifact displays.

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedy’s was in attendance and a presenter through Schroom Custom Guitarworks, Consumer music and Ernie Ball were sponsors.

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Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures.

He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

This Artist Highlight was brought to you by the Vallejo Commission on Culture and the Arts.

Festival seeks to showcase local, homegrown talent

Vallejo, Calif. | Aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, orators, and other types of performers are invited to audition for Vallejo’s Juneteenth Festival & Parade onstage entertainment. Auditions will be held virtually, and applicants must send a video of the selection they would perform if chosen for the entertainment lineup. The Juneteenth event will be held Saturday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park downtown behind City Hall at Mare Island Way and Capitol Street. The celebration will also feature a parade through downtown Vallejo.

“We’re looking for people of all ages with exceptional talent but have not performed professionally,” said Gwendolyn White, president of the African American Family Reunion Committee which organizes the Juneteenth festival. “There are a lot of local residents who are singing or playing music in their church choir and gatherings with family and friends or doing solo or choreographed dance routines and other types of performing. We’d like to give them some exposure in front a large, live audience which could help jumpstart a career in the industry.”

Anyone interested in submitting an audition video should send an online link to their performance to aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com by May 5 and include their contact information. Performances should be no longer than 10 minutes and must be appropriate for all audiences.

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Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 which is recognized on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. It was on that date in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when enslaved people were declared free in the aftermath of the Civil War under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Event planners are also seeking merchandise and food vendors, and exhibitors, in addition to corporate, business, and community sponsors. The online application is available at www.vallejojuneteenth.com. The application deadline is April 30. Anyone interested in participating in the parade should submit the application on the website by June 2. Information is available at aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com.

By Zoe Jung

Robert Henry Johnson, a Bay Area dancer, choreographer, and playwright, passed away on Dec. 16, 2022. His body was identified in March.

Johnson will be missed deeply. He worked in the Bay Area for decades, teaching a generation of Black artists.

He was born Jan. 30, 1968, to Robert Gonzales, a guitarist, and jazz singer Lady Mem’fis. He grew up in the Western Addition neighborhood showing early talent in theatre and dance.

One of the first students to graduate from the San Francisco School of Performing Arts, Johnson went on to receive a full scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School in 1985, where he studied for four years. After graduating, he moved further into the world of writing and choreography.

He applied for a playwrights’ residency at Sugar Shack Performance Gallery in 1992 where he staged, directed and developed several of his plays. For his poetic and lively writing style, he was honored with the Levi’s & Strauss Certificate of Literary Appreciation that same year.

In 1993, he founded the Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company the same year his first play, “Poison Ground,” was featured in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and was produced by the Hartford Stage Company two years later.

Over time he created works for the Bavarian State Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Oakland Ballet, and others.

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Although his troupe performed for several years, earning local and national acclaim, he disbanded it to focus on solo efforts.

Among those efforts were writing plays and poetry. In the months before his passing, he had taken up a challenge to create poems just for his Facebook audience.

At the turn of the year, Facebook posts from friends showed they were concerned that they couldn’t get in touch with him, especially around his birthday.

When his death was announced, there was an outpouring of grief on social media.

On March 27, Wanda Sabir of Wanda’s Picks radio held an online memorial for Johnson. Each person attending was given a five-minute window to remember Johnson, tell stories about him, speak to his passing, and celebrate his life.

More than 80 people came to watch the memorial on YouTube, which ran for about two hours.

Dancer, teacher, and author Halifu Osumare began the memorial with a libation, invoking the spirits of the ancestors to help mourners through their grief and help Johnson’s spirit find its way.

Raissa Simpson, the founder of PUSH Dance Company, said, “He was young, gifted, and Black, the epitome of it. And he also mentored so many of us, so many of us young Black choreographers. He stood up for us, he protected us . . . he did a lot for us.”

Sherrie Taylor, Johnson’s cousin, said, “He was such an inspiration to everyone here. He will always be a bright light in my life because that’s what he did. He shined like a bright light. He was a wonderful person, and I just wish I could have spent some more time with him.”

Antoine Hunter said it was “a time to celebrate that light that was lit from the day I met him.” At the end of his speaking window, Hunter shared that the last words he said to Johnson were “I love you.”

Another celebration of Johnson’s memory will be held April 8 at the Zaccho Dance Theatre at 1777 Yosemite Ave., San Francisco, and another on May 27 at the African American Art and Culture Complex at 762 Fulton St, San Francisco. Time to be announced.