Don Joyce (musician)

Don Joyce
Birth nameDonald S. Joyce
Born(1944-02-09)February 9, 1944
Keene, New Hampshire, United States
DiedJuly 22, 2015(2015-07-22) (aged 71)
Oakland, California
GenresExperimental
Sound collage
Plunderphonics
OccupationCulture jamming
Instrument(s)Fidelipac
Turntable
Tape recorder
Booper
Websitehttps://archive.org/details/ote

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 a visual 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. Joyce began his Bay Area radio career in the 1970s at KALX, where he worked as an on-air programmer, and produced station IDs, promotional spots and other continuity. At KALX, he produced a weekly summer replacement program for the news called The Alternative News, featuring fictional news stories. The last episode of The Alternative News included the eco-revolutionary character Thunderman, which led to his producing a multipart serial called Thunderteam for KPFA.[citation needed]

While working at KPFA hosting a more mainstream type music show, he encountered Ian Allen and other members of Negativland. Don was a master at tape editing and 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][4]

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.[5][6]

Death

Joyce died of heart failure in Oakland, California, on July 22, 2015, at the age of 71.[7][2] He was cremated, and the band packaged two grams of his remains with the first 1000 CD copies of Negativland's 2016 album Over the Edge Vol. 9: The Chopping Channel.[8] 750 of his O.T.E. and live show Fidelipac audio carts were also sent along with those ashes. Don's remains became a viral story on the internet.[9]

Following Joyce's death, filmmaker Ryan Worsley directed an 80-minute documentary, How Radio Isn't Done, featuring surviving members of Negativland as well as archival footage of Joyce himself.[10]

Over the Edge continues on KPFA, hosted by Jon Leidecker and Robert "KrOB" Cole.[11]

References

  1. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Biography: Negativland". AMG. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  2. ^ a b c Kory Grow, Don Joyce, Negativland Sound Collagist and Radio DJ, Dead at 71. Rolling Stone, 2015-07-23.
  3. ^ a b "Don Joyce (9 February 1944 – 22 July 2015)". Negativworldwidewebland. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  4. ^ Ned Raggett, Don Joyce, radio maverick and member of Negativland, dies at 71. SFGate, July 23, 2015.
  5. ^ Don Joyce as Crosley Bendix, "Crosley Bendix Reviews Jam Art and Cultural Jamming." JamCon '84, track 2. CD release on Seeland Records 004, 1986.
  6. ^ Mark Dery, The Merry Pranksters And the Art of the Hoax. New York Times, 1990-12-23.
  7. ^ Lynch, Joe (July 23, 2015). "Negativland's Don Joyce Dead at 71". Billboard. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  8. ^ Hilton, Robin (18 October 2016). "New Negativland Album Comes With A Bag Of A Band Member's Remains". NPR.org. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  9. ^ Dan Weiss, Why Negativland Packaged Late Bandmate's Remains With New LP. Clrvynt, December 9, 2016.
  10. ^ How Radio Isn't Done at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  11. ^ Over the Edge Radio at Negativland's website


Flag of United StatesBiography icon

This article about an American musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.