Biography
Joseph Karsner‘s hometown lies just beyond the mountains of Utah, in a place known to many as Zion. It is tucked away, in a soft beauty often looked over in the constant stream of criticism known to cloud Salt Lake City.
Young Joseph spent his youth sifting through piles of old newspapers, cutting and pasting. He loved spelling out life through other people’s words, mangled and reincarnated. Sometimes, he and a friend that lived down the road would create massive cities out of mud surrounding his yard. It was thick, dark mud that appeared almost black, and the mounds looked like gothic structures lined with grassy knolls. His family consisted of only his two young parents and himself, so chores and duties were never part of his life. His mother was often on trips to Africa and the Middle East, as she worked the Peace Core and taught him that life is precious and most importantly, in our control.
As a teenager, Joseph Karsner found little entertainment in the normal activities offered by his education and those around him. He didn’t play sports or join clubs, not because he thought they weren’t useful, but because the responsibilities frightened him. He did, however, get coerced in to joining the high school band, and chose the tuba because he wished to be wrapped in the brass of the large instrument. There, he learned much about music, it’s composition, and how it felt within his body as it left his limbs and lips. Eventually, Joseph experimented with the bells and the glockenspiel, becoming fascinated with percussive rhythm and melody. Noticing his abilities and interests, Joseph’s music teacher agreed to give him lessons in any instruments he wished during off-class time. He learned the keys to reading and writing music, as well as conducting.
Though for many years Joseph anticipated a career in music composition or conducting, he did not go to college. Something stood between him and continued education; twelve years of constant school marked his soul with deep wounds that needed freedom to heal. With the money from his high school graduation, Joseph and two of his friends packed his tiny Ford Escort to the roof and spent over a year driving across the country, exploring the nooks and creases of the land before them. During that time, the group recorded a number of songs from different places on a tiny four-track recorder they bought from a used music store. Once their journey was over, the boys never played music together again – the emotions and melodies found during their travels spoke only once.
Once home and back in what most people call the real world, Joseph joined his mother in working with Habitat for Humanity, as well as numerous other charitable causes. When his parents divorced in 2004, Joseph and his mother moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to work with a larger charitable organization there.
In his adult life, Joseph lives in a small apartment near the outskirts of town. He often spends evenings on his small front porch playing the guitar, channeling the thick desert air for inspiration. He finds comfort in the two large cactus plants that bloat up against the side of his apartment, in the dusky sun that seems to resist the threats of winter year after year. He finds great happiness working with others, helping others, and spreading the word of optimism and love through those who need it most. He sees music as a channel, a medium in which some can speak and others can listen, but all can detoxify their minds and souls.