High School band director works for tolerance through concerts

This week, students and the public will have the opportunity to view “THE ROCK AND ROLL EXPERIENCE” with north-central Montana’s own one-man band.

Tuesday, April 24 at Hays-Lodgepole High School at 8:20 a.m. and Friday, April 27 at Dodson High School at 2:30 p.m., Hays-Lodgepole High School Band Director John Steinhardt will perform as his alter ego, Schizoid Johnny. Both performances are free and the public is encouraged to join.

Steinhardt’s alter ego not only sings but he also plays a variety of instruments including five guitars, keyboard, full drum set and percussion and is accompanied by recordings of himself playing other instruments.

“Johnny’s creation and portrayal of the character, ‘Schizoid Johnny,’ is an artistic expression of the antithesis and hypocrisy within society,” Schizoid Johnny’s official website says. “Art is made to reflect the age that we live in, and if needed, to create controversy, in order to bring truth.”

Steinhardt said he tries to make rock and roll more artistic and progressive.

“(Music) has helped develop our culture,” he added.

The concert he will be performing at both schools is entitled “THE ROCK AND ROLL EXPERIENCE.” The performance will feature all original music which was composed by Steinhardt and has been played on the radio.

According to the concert press release, “There is multimedia with projection of video for the entire concert and he talks of two themes; ‘THE RESPECT AND TOLERANCE OF DIVERSITY’ and the second; that ‘ROCK AND ROLL IS A TRUE AMERICAN ARTFORM!’”

Steinhardt said the concert is a mix of spoken word and lyrics and includes his own lyrics as well as quotes from important people in history like Ronald Reagan and Oglala Ladota medicine man Black Elk. The performance addresses rights, he added, from animal rights to Native American rights to African American rights with blues music inspired by Robert Leroy Johnson, an American blues singer-songwriter and musician.

“We are a very little planet,” Steinhardt said, “We are all one race.”

Steinhardt said that he feels that if people don’t pull it together as that one race, then the only other result will be extinction and that is what he wants people to take away from his performance.

He said that while his performance is more geared toward college students and adults, he is excited to perform it for these high school students because even though they might not take anything from it right away, he said he hopes that someday they will get it.

Steinhardt wants to present a concert that is both entertaining and educational. He added that he is especially excited to have a performance at the high school that he works at because he said he feels there is still a lot of hatred, racism and tension between Anglo-Americans and the Native American populations of Montana and he wants to see the relationship repair itself.

Steinhardt said he wants the residents of Montana to move forward and create a good future, together, as one race.