Johnny was one of six founding members of Street Poets United, DreamYard/L.A.'s poetry performance group (est. 1998) originally composed of formerly incarcerated alumni from our poetry workshop at Camp Fred Miller. At the age of 17, shortly after his release from Camp Miller, Johnny was shot five times at point blank range and left to die in the street. He survived and subsequently emerged as a leader in our community, performing with Street Poets United and eventually working for LivePlanet, an entertainment/media company. But the addictions with which Johnny had struggled intermittently throughout his young life caught up with him, and, once again, he found himself re-immersed in the streets that almost claimed his life just a few years before. His relapse culminated in a botched Las Vegas bank robbery for which he was convicted of being an accessory. Johnny is currently on the final stretch of a five-year Nevada state prison sentence, during which he has been engaged actively in his own recovery and evolution as a poet and man. He meditates regularly, reads extensively and generously shares his journey with our community through his weekly correspondence with DreamYard/L.A. director Chris Henrikson. But nothing speaks for the powerful spirit of Mr. Johnny Tremain like his poetry... The Evolution of a Street Poet: Picture This (1998) Eternally Ill (2002) If You Were Me (2003) All of Me (2004) Chemical Reaction (2004) Rise Up (2005) Spiritual Evolution (2005)