About Me
"Get it when you can and can it when you get it because you never know when you are going to get it again," a quote, a saying, a mantra for percussionist Johnny "StarrCatt" Polasnky. He has emerged as a dynamic and vibrant entertainer and musician bringing excitement and energy to all the stages he has the pleasure to play on. Born and raised outside of Pittsburgh, PA in Washington, John Sylvester Albert Polansky III started playing recorder and dancing in catholic grade school in the early 70's. After feeling stifled by the tight confines of the Sisters of Merciless, he switched to a public school (Trinity), that sounded like a Christian school that used to be a military academy and began his accent-playing cello. Johnny participated in many area and regional Orchestras including The Carnegie Mellon Youth Orchestra of Pittsburgh. After entering Trinity High School, the option of playing a drum, actually marching timpani (no joke there were three of us), in the marching band presented itself as a freshman and groove was born. "Marching changed my life,†says Polansky. "It was then that I decided I loved playing on the road in front of crowds. Traveling to march competitions regionally and nationally in high school taught me so much about what I wanted to do everyday." Cello soon became a back seat to drumming and after high school Polansky turned to more serious studies with Guy Remonko at Ohio University and later with Pittsburgh Symphony section player Ronald Horner at The University of Pittsburgh. While in Pittsburgh Johnny made a smooth transition from university to professional life easily by attending jazz jam sessions, open stage nights and bugging every musician for a chance to sit in and develop his skills as a sideman. After three years back in Pittsburgh with local success on both the live stage and in the recording studio, Polansky moved on to Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Here he did work for Marimba great Leigh Howard Stevens at Mallettech. It became quite apparent that Arkansas and all its offerings (Hot Springs, Dry Counties and DeGrey Lake) were not suited to the life of touring and playing. In 1994 he left Arkansas and never looked back. Landing in Columbus, Polansky did what he knew best, beg to play and tell every band in sight "you're good, but would be better with a percussionist." This strategy paid off in Columbus and soon enough John "whorecatt" Percussionist was born. "Columbus has been a wonderful city to me. I have had the opportunity to play and record with just about every musician over the age of 29 or 30 in all of the city limits. Really. Well, maybe 33." While feeling that he was doing well in his newfound town Polansky knew he needed more road. In 1999 that call came in the form of an unlikely troop, Ekoostik Hookah. Stylistically this was a leap for Polansky in that he hadn't played in a "jam band" per se, but had a vast amount of experience in a key element that can tie Railroad Earth to Santana to the MMW; improv solos. Through continuous networking, Johnny has had the chance to join in on the stages of everyone from Little Feat, Ratdog and the Derek Trucks band to The Meters, Dickey Betts and String Cheese Incident. In 2005 Polansky left Ekoostik Hookah and formed One Under with longtime friend and fellow musician Mike Iannicello. Polansky continues to work on the growth of One Under with some of the best musicians out of Ohio. Being involved in music has opened many doors that continue to be a part of Johnny’s life. Through hard work and dedication he has had the opportunity to play many major musical events including Bonnaroo and The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. You can catch him doing his solo shows, duo and multiple partner acts in a club near you soon.
