Don Joyce (musician)
Donald S. Joyce (February 9, 1944 – July 22, 2015) was an American musician who was a member of the experimental music group Negativland. He also hosted a weekly radio program called Over the Edge on the Berkeley, California, radio station KPFA, for more than 30 years.[1]
Joyce was born in Keene, New Hampshire. Originally an artist, he earned a master's degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to the Bay Area, where he lived most of his life. While working at KPFA hosting a more mainstream type music show, he encountered Ian Allen and other members of Negativland, at that time creating similar pieces they called "free form sound". He began developing his sound collage techniques using radio and television broadcasts captured on tape and blending them into layered mixes, each with a unique theme.[2][3]Heavily influenced by Bob and Ray and the Firesign Theater, Joyce developed a number of continuing characters whom he would portray in the more theatrical episodes of Over The Edge. [3]
In 1984 he coined the phrase culture jamming.[2] Using his alter ego, cultural reviewer Crosley Bendix, he presented an explanation of culture jamming and its importance on the 1984 album Over the Edge Vol. 1: JAMCON'84:
As awareness of how the media environment we occupy affects and directs our inner life grows, some resist. The skillfully reworked billboard . . . directs the public viewer to a consideration of the original corporate strategy. The studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large.[4][5]
Joyce died of heart failure in Oakland, California on July 22, 2015 at the age of 71.[6][2] He was cremated, and the band packaged two grams of his remains with select copies of their 2016 album The Cutting Edge Vol. 9: The Chopping Channel.[7]
References
- ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Biography: Negativland". AMG. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
- 1 2 3 Kory Grow, Don Joyce, Negativland Sound Collagist and Radio DJ, Dead at 71. Rolling Stone, 2015-07-23.
- 1 2 "Don Joyce (9 February 1944 – 22 July 2015)". Negativworldwidewebland. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
- ↑ Don Joyce as Crosley Bendix, "Crosley Bendix Reviews Jam Art and Cultural Jamming." JamCon '84, track 2. CD release on Seeland Records 004, 1986.
- ↑ Mark Dery, The Merry Pranksters And the Art of the Hoax. New York Times, 1990-12-23.
- ↑ Lynch, Joe (July 23, 2015). "Negativland's Don Joyce Dead at 71". Billboard. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
- ↑ Hilton, Robin. "New Negativland Album Comes With A Bag Of A Band Member's Remains". NPR.org. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
External links
- Interview with Don Joyce from Some Assembly Required blog (August 2009)
- A few words on Don Joyce, by Jon Leidecker, a fan, a friend, and long-time collaborator
- Interview with Don Joyce from Perfect Sound Forever (June 2000)