"Deaf" Joseph Bartolotta
b. 5 May 1984
Instruments: Fiddle - Viola - Guitar - Piano
Roots and Influences: Django Reinhardt - Brahms - Radiohead - Beethoven - Bob Dylan - Dr. Seuss - Big Bopper - Bruce Springsteen - Oasis - Smashing Pumpkins - Eric Clapton - Son House - Weezer - Woddy Guthrie - Robert Johnson - The Strokes - Run-DMC - The Donnas - PJ Harvey - David Bowie - The Pixies - The Velvet Underground - The White Stripes - Kurt Vonnegut - Duke Ellington - Cream - Bj�rk - Joan Baez - Public Enemy - Blind Lemon Jefferson - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Led Zeppelin - Beastie Boys - Blur - George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic - Prince - The Beatles - Talking Heads - Yardbirds - Buddy Holly - Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff - Yoko Kano - George Gershwin - Itzak Pearlman - Rage Against The Machine - Nine Inch Nails - Billy Joel - Echo and the Bunnymen - Coldplay - NWA - Sigur Ros - Outkast - Ravi Shankar - Ani DiFranco - Placebo - Palo Alto - Rick Rubin - Oscar Wilde - Nick Drake - Wings - Monty Python - Jeff Beck
Formal Connections: Oak Grove Intermediate School Orchestra - All City Orchestra - Olson Jr. High School Orchestra - Thomas Jefferson High School Orchestra - University of St. Thomas Campus Orchestra
Stories about "Deaf" Joe Bartolotta have never been consistent. He rarely gives interviews and seldom appears in public with other members of his band. Almost an enigma, at times it is suggested that "Deaf" is a creation by the other two members, Kyle "Curly Back" Boe and Andrew "Berko" Berkowitz. However, there is still a wide consensus that "Deaf" is heavily involved with the band's sound and songwriting.
Firstly, there are two different accounts of his birth:
The less likely story is that Josef Ivan Bartolowski was born in 1984 in Brooklyn, New York. He is the grandson of Polish immigrants that moved to Northern New Jersey a year later to open a delicatessen. It was there he stayed until 1999, when he supposedly moved to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota studying veterinary sciences. He supposedly met "Curly Back" in a physics class. "Curly Back" was supposedly in a Post Secondary Enrollment at the University (he would have been in the 10th grade) and then went on to invite Bartolowski to join him and "Berko" in the studio of their High School. He supposedly changed his last name so that "No one could find out about his many parking violations".
This story comes from a "former classmate" of both "Deaf" and "Curly Back."
The more popular story is as follows:
Joseph Patrick Bartolotta was born in Northern New Jersey, and before the age of ten had lived in New York, Iowa, Chicago, New Jersey again, Utah, and finally Minnesota.
The nickname "Deaf" came from the fact that he supposedly lost his hearing when he heard Michael Jackson's "Thriller". He regained some of his hearing back after hearing Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.," but never regained normal hearing.
He kept quiet before he entered high school mainly because anything he said or did would immediately subject him to ridicule from his classmates. He played baseball (where "Curly Back" says that they met) and also took up the Violin at age 11.
Disenfranchised by Popular Culture and Music, "Deaf" listened to Classical music and Jazz. In 1997, when everyone else was listening to the Might Mighty Bosstone's album "Let's Face It", "Deaf" was engrossed in Brahms, Gershwin, Beethoven and Duke Ellington.
In 1998, he became obsessed with great French Violinist Stephane Grappelli. This began his quest to experiment with the way a violin is played. He gradually became exposed to Celtic Fiddle, and would often solo jigs and reels in performance.
In 1999, he was first exposed to "Pop" music. He became an avid gambler, playing cards and rolling dice in a friend's basement. There would often be music on, one time it was "Californication" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This began his exposure to "pop" music. It was also supposedly in one of these evenings of gambling that he was nearly stabbed to death by a friend who had lost a considerable amount of money ($200).
In the spring of 2001, he bought a guitar and began to learn how to play. This proceeded to introduce him to all sorts of excellent guitarist such as Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Hazel and B.B. King.
Having been a stand partner with "Curly Back", "Deaf" also had a knack for wanting to do "jack shit" and "getting paid for it". They pulled off some of the great moments in Orchestral history, including:
�Hitting on members of "rival" orchestras.
�Causing a director to quit.
�Reducing a section leader to tears.
�Forging the famous "Violin 2/Bass Pact", which included the Bass section on their antics.
�Writing several great skits and plays deemed too long or obscene to actually be shown.
�Getting members of the Orchestra to openly admit sexual exploits in graphic detail.
�Duct-taping a fellow member into her bus seat. (While she was sleeping).
While studying musical recording, "Deaf," "Curly," and "Berko" on several occasions skipped class to record random bullshit. This is how the Fiddlers on the B�ze started.
In 2002, "Deaf" went to study English at an unnamed Mid-West University. He is already an accomplished writer.
The man with the plan: Bartolotta also serves as the band's producer.
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