Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson, aka Tony "Offender," b. Nov. 17, 1957, d. May 12, 2012. Guitarist, historian, father, survived by his mother Richardine Kitchen Coon, and two children, Natalie Johnson and Alex Johnson.

Tony spent his formative years as an "army brat" in Germany,reveling in the landscape and history of Europe, As a teen he camped behind the Iron Curtain in Romania. All this inspired a lifelong love of fantasy fiction.

But Tony's true love was loud rock'n'roll music. He saw Hendrix open for The Monkees, and never looked back. He soon discovered Cream, Deep Purple, and Mountain. His parents bought him an electric guitar, and he taught himself the solos and big riffs played by his favorite bands. He took a job at the local record store after his family moved to Killeen in the mid-1970s. There he started his first band, The Offenders

The band moved to Austin in 1980. Tony was the first to find work, as custodian for the Paramount Theatre, where he worked until 2010. The Offenders went on to record 2 singles and 2 LPs, touring andgaining national notoriety until disbanding in1986. Tony met Laura Croteau in 1983. Their first child Natalie was born in 1984. Tony and Laura's son Alex was born soon thereafter. Austin band Not For Sale then recruited him to play guitar with them for a couple of years in 1987.

Always the iconoclast, Tony then began pursuing an interest in Confederate history. He enjoyed taking his kids on trips to historic sites in Texas the Deep South, and became an avid collector of Confederate currency.He was a proud member of the Austin chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and participated innumerous historic re-enactments and parades with that organization.

In 2002, The Offenders reunited at Emos in Austin, and played a few more shows after that before finally disbanding again in 2004. In 2008 Tony joined Austin band Roger's Porn Collection,collaborating on 5 new songs which the band recorded with him in 2009. He told friends that really enjoyed reigniting that old musical magic, and cranking his Marshall amp to ten again!He was also especially proud of an Offenders anthology CD he produced for a Swedish label in 2010.

The family would like to thank MusiCares, HAAM, and Hospice Austin for the generous assistance and care they gave to Tony these past months. Tony has hundreds of friends in the Austin Music Community who will miss him dearly. A celebration of his lifewith live music will be held at the Scoot Inn on Sunday May 20 beginning at 3:00 PM. A formal memorial ceremony is scheduled for June 9th at Oakwood Cemetery at high noon.