About Me
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Express It or Repress It! ------------------------------------------------------------
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Healing Happens-----------------------------------------------------
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An essay chronicling a three-year healing journey.----------------------------------------------------
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By Doug Johnson-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------Go to http://www.dougthedrummer.com and take the "Express It or Repress It" link ============================================================
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Doug Johnson is currently living and playing in the Ventura, California area. He has just finished his screenplay "Pizza Man", a hilarious chronicle of the lengths life will go to in order to make a person take a real look at him/herself, and the less-than-graceful lengths he or she will go to in order to avoid taking that look at themselves. Doug is currently rounding up an indie team to produce "Pizza Man" and take it to the silver screen. In addition, he is working with Peace Thru Music, a non-profit dedicated to getting music education and musical instruments to children and helping children learn healthy means of self-expression. ------------------------------------------------------------
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============A music lover out of the womb, Doug learned to operate the family stereo by the time he was 1-1/2-years-old. His childhood years were spent hanging out with a large extended family, doing homework, playing sports, and running through the local lemon groves with his clever neighborhood buddies. Together they caused an assortment of mischief that encouraged any passersby, civilian or law enforcement, to vainly give chase. -----------------
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============At age 13, Doug's world changed. An older sister's boyfriend gave him a Gordon Smith surfboard, and his parents enrolled him in snare drum lessons. He was hooked on these new pursuits and gave up organized sports to surf and practice his snare lessons on his practice pad. On his 14th birthday, after proving his dedication to his drumming, Doug's parents bought him a drum set. From then on, he spent all of his spare time practicing his drums and surfing in and around his hometown, Ventura, California. It wasn't long until he began playing drums professionally at age 15. ------------------------------------------------------------
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============Upon graduating from high school, Doug decided that being a drummer was not enough...he wanted to be a musician! He enrolled in music courses at the local community college and had the privilege of studying with master composer, conductor, and music theorist Burns Taft. Doug's music studies would take him to Cal State Long Beach, where he studied classical percussion and to world-renowned Berklee College of Music, where he studied Jazz drums and theory. ---------------------------------------------------------===
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=========Since then, Doug's diligent efforts to hone his drumming skills have allowed him to play just about every style of music, shaping him into a seasoned recording drummer along the way. While his rhythmic vocabulary is expansive, he has proven his ability to say just the right things with the right feel. He is as adept at the art of improvisation as he is at hypnotically playing a groove over and over. Doug's Gretsch drums and various other snare drums always sound great, with head selection and tuning that are a perfect fit for each session. He has been called into recording sessions as the expert who can make other drummers' kits sound excellent in any location. His array of Zildjian and Paiste cymbals make for perfect drum tracks.-----------------------------------------------------
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=============================Doug has become a sharp arranger, praised for his rhythm section arrangements. He is an avid composer, who artistically writes anywhere on the board he is inspired to write. Heavily influenced by what he calls the most positively impacting and profoundly changing experience of his life, a three-year "journey of the dark (k)night" that culminated in his complete healing from a long-term problem with depression, his lyrics are full of the revelations and insights that made the higher purpose of his depression realized.---------------------------------------------------
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===============Giving in to his Renaissance spirit, Doug began studying theatre in the midst of his musical pursuits and professional playing. Having long had a knack for acting, a knack that up until then had only been used, albeit extensively, to create mischief (see "Bad Face Days at the DMV"), Doug excelled at his theatrical studies. He became a member of the Screen Actors Guild in 1993 and has been cast in several theatrical productions and commercials. Look for Doug's first Indie Film appearance as Tennessee in Oenethea Films' upcoming "Neva' Goin' Back." ------------------------------------------------------------
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==========================Doug has been a private drum teacher for over 15 years, and has experience teaching music in the public school system.