PAPER Magazine
(NY, NY)

MAY 1996
Subject: Dean Johnson of The Velvet Mafia

After spending innumerable evenings in search of music that wasn't tired 90's punk, imitation grunge, just another drag queen or bad bar act, I finally came across three new bands that made my ears tingle. Ironically, the lead singer of each one performed in the popular early 80's club outfit called Dean and the Weenies. Lead singer Dean Johnson now fronts the Velvet Mafia, while former backup singers, sisters Melissa and Perry Masco, now head Felonius Punk and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) respectively.

Dean Johnson has been so many things in his life, it's hard to keep track of them all. Besides fronting the Weenies, he was the first doorman at Save the Robots and also ran the legendary (and recently reopened) Rock 'N' Roll Fag Bar before his heroin addiction landed him in jail.

Staging a comeback, Johnson looks at this new band, the Velvet Mafia, as the first focused thing he's ever done. "I named the band after my idols Barry Diller and David Geffen because of how successful they are. Like them, the Velvet Mafia is definitely a commercial venture!" Geffen actually caught the band's gig at Jackie 10, but he didn't exactly rush backstage. "I heard he freaked when I sang a song dedicated to him. Hello. Good-bye!" As New York's reigning 6-foot 6-inch bald drag queen (that's without heels), Johnson gives the band's sarcastically bittersweet songs an added punch. Look for their upcoming self-titled debut on Trip Records.

When not playing around town, Johnson keeps busy writing (he recently sold his screenplay Secret Spy-A-Go-Go) and doing domestic chores with his husband, Ralph, a manager at a grocery store. "I just wish he'd stop telling his coworkers he's married to a tall bald woman named Denise," he says.

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