Hollywood Park (Jollett) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—May 21, 1974
• Where—Santa Monica, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California


Mikel Frans Jollett is an American musician and author, best known as the frontman for the Los Angeles-based indie rock band the Airborne Toxic Event. In 2020, he published his memoir, Hollywood Park, detailing his early childhood in an infamous religious cult and his eventual journey to wholeness.

Early life
Jollett's father spent three years (1963-66) in Chino State Prison. where he overcame a heroin addiction. Jollett's mother was a social worker with a master's degree from University of California Berkeley. The couple met and started a family in Synanon, an experimental commune society in Santa Monica, California. Jollett  and his older brother were born and raised there, spending a large part of their time separated from their parents. Once the commune turned to violence, his mother left when he was five, taking his brother and him. They eventually made their way to Oregon.

Jollett later went to live with his father and step mother in Los Angeles. He attended Stanford University, graduating with honors in 1996. While at Stanford, Jollett was a member of Claude Steele's lab group in which he conducted research on the concept Stereotype Threat. His work focused on how negative racial stereotypes negatively affected the identity and test performance of high school students.

Writing
In the summer of 2008, McSweeney's (27) published Jollett's short story, "The Crack." He was a frequent contributor to All Things Considered on NPR, the Los Angeles Times, an editor at large for Men's Health, and the managing editor of Filter magazine. By 2005 Jollett decided to pursue music a career in music.

Music
Jollett began seriously writing songs following a week in March 2006, during which he underwent a break-up and learned his mother had been diagnosed with cancer. This quick succession of events spurred a period of intense songwriting featured on the debut album of his band, Toxic Airborne Evenet.

True to his literary roots, Jollett named the band after a section in Don DeLillo's White Noise, in which a chemical spill emits a poisonous cloud, dubbed an "airborne toxic event." The band went on to achieve a considerable following, with "Sometime Around Midnight," one of the songs on their debut album achieving certified gold status.

Personal
Jollett and his wife Lizette have a son and a daughter and live in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/28/2020.)