has anyone heard about this? (DKs) (1 Viewer)

[damien]

apologies if this is old news...

Dead Kennedys Reform with New Singer
Aug 20, 2001

Remember that old advertising catch-phrase that delcared "There's always room for Jello?" It's wrong.

Following a lengthy battle against front man Jello Biafra over royalty rates and artistic control over their back catalog, the three other Kennedys (guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Kalus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro), have announced they'll reform with a new singer, according to an Alternative Tentacles announcement.

---

The new singer is Brandon Cruz from Dr. Know and a US west coast tour is happening next month.

Mental.

 

[Cormy]

Faw-king hell.

Mental is right.

Should be interesting...

 

[silo]

on a related note, perhaps one of the punkas can tell me if it's true that jello biafra is the green party nominee for president of the u s of a in the next election? or was this just another scurrilous rumour?

 

[damien]

as far as i know, jello was in the running for the green party primary in the last election (ie to win the right to run as the green nominee), but he didn't make it as ralph nadar got the nomination in the end.
he did have a lot of very interesting ideas though....

from http://www.greens.org/jellobiafra/platform.htm

Jello Biafra's Platform for 2000 Green Party Presidential Primary

(State of New York - March 7):
- Enactment of a maximum wage

- Payback through free healthcare, education and public transportation

- Withdrawal of the US from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, ideally forcing their dissolution

- A moratorium (or at least mandatory labeling) of irradiated and genetically engineered "frankenfood"

- End the "War on Drugs", disband the DEA, and commute the prison sentences of all small time drug offenders to "time served"

- Abolish the military and CIA, and destroy all nuclear weapons

- Shift the United States Government to Parliamentary rule, with proportional representation, and a sixty day limit on election campaigns

- "None of the Above" option on all ballots, whereby a majority of dissatisfied voters can force a new election

- Allow taxpayers to choose exactly where the government directs their money

- Citizen election of police officers

- Legalize squatting in abandoned buildings

- Eradicate all SUV's!!!!!!!!


Statement for Synthesis/Regeneration Magazine
Jello Biafra
Attn: Don Fitz
(314) 727-8554
[email protected]
I am surprised and honored to be drafted as a nominee.

I have been an artist/activist since 1978. I was the leader and creative force of pioneering punk band Dead Kennedys. I have owned and operated a small business, Alternative Tentacles Records. We are now celebrating our Twentieth Anniversary.

I ran for Mayor of San Francisco in 1979, placing fourth out of ten candidates.

I was the main target in the first criminal trial over a record album in American history. The jury deadlocked and the charges were dismissed. This vaulted me into the national media and lecture circuit as a spokesman on civil liberties. I have locked horns with Tipper Gore, Pat Buchanan, Oprah Winfrey, and many Religious Right activists on this issue.

Besides music, I have released five spoken word CD sets that boil down and promote many ideas dear to Greens: human rights, freedom of speech, the Gulf War, the Drug War/Prison-Industrial Complex, globalization and the WTO, and a newer emphasis on how to fight back.

I have been registered Green for many years, and support the Green Key Values and Platform. But how do we implement and sell (Yes, sell. This is Disney-addled America) our key values and programs to the general public?

A few ideas:

Enact a maximum wage

Great idea. When I got it aired on Politically Incorrect I was roundly booed by audience and guests alike. The host told the viewers I was crazy before he even said my name. People assume they are the ones who will be hurt when the big bad government hits the middle class with another evil tax.

So letÆs be generous: No taxes up to $100,000; after that itÆs payback time. And emphasize the payback--free health care, free education (including amnesty on student loans), free transportation (including air travel), and more.

Revenue will be used for the many costly programs in the Green platform and long over-due public works projects; also vastly increased subsidies for the arts, especially community radio and television; subsidies for independent organic farms, hemp and kanaf farms (to end dependence on paper from forests), and solar and windmill farms to decrease our fossil fuel gluttony.

Urban blight can be further eradicated by legalizing and subsidizing squatters who fix up long-vacant buildings. This has worked well in Europe when given a chance; think of what it could do for places like St. Louis or Richmond, VA. Speed up conversion to electric buses, trucks, a national high-speed rail system; and , of course, electric cars.

We donÆt need a flat tax, but a flattening tax, to truly level the playing field. After all, what causes more damage to the planet, drug addiction or wealth addiction? Hopefully the maximum wage will raise enough money to fill the cups of everyone who makes less than $100,000 so weÆll all be even. And can we please find a clearer, sexier term than æsingle-payer health careÆ next time itÆs a ballot initiative?

We must close all hemorrhaging tax loopholes that benefit giant corporations, including organized religion.

Taxpayers should also be given a multiple choice of the ten or fifteen major areas of government to decide what percentage of their tax money goes where. My guess is that education and the environment will go straight up, and the arms race and prison expansion will go straight down.

Abolish the Military

And the CIA, NSA, DIA, DEA, ATF, hopefully the FBI, and disband all SWAT teams.

Our biggest national security threat is the environmental destruction of our planet and the arms race with ourselves. So letÆs use the defense budget, personnel, and know-how for a new mission: clean up toxic waste, rebuild cities and infrastructure, dismantle all nuclear arms and satellites, and implement worldwide the very environmental and labor practices Third World WTO delegates complained are too costly.

Withdraw from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization.

Wealth addicts have gotten carried away; now itÆs time for rehab. Earlier in our history there were strict laws mandating public hearings and revocations of charters of corporations for misconduct, and restricting board of directorships to one corporation per person. LetÆs bring these laws back.

Irradiated and GM (Genetically Mutilated) frankenfood and other products must be labeled. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 should be repealed immediately. And workers should be allowed to elect their bosses.

End the war on drugs

Decriminalize marijuana and illegal narcotics such as heroin, cocaine, and crack. Hard-core addiction is an illness, not a crime. Put users on prescription, and crime will drop dramatically when they donÆt have to rob and kill people to pay the MobÆs high drug prices.

Any president or governor can stop the prison-building boom right now by commuting sentences for minor, non-violent drug offenders to time served. Why not pressure them to do it?

The same goes for the death penalty. I have chosen Mumia Abu-Jamal, a noted author, journalist, and activist currently on Death Row in Pennsylvania on questionable charges, as my vice presidential running mate to show why we should join the rest of the civilized world and halt executions forever.

I am an anarchist in my personal life. I try to live my life in a way that I donÆt need cops or baby-sitters to keep me from infringing on others. But I donÆt feel we have evolved far enough as a species to make anarchy work in society itself. We still need government to transfer the wealth from those who have too much to those who have too little, to make sure important projects get done, and keep territorial humans from screwing over and killing each other.

So guess what? I'm 'Tough On Crime', especially when the punishment fits the crime:

Sentence slum lords to live in their own buildings.

Sentence polluters to inhale and swim in the mess theyÆve made until they clean it up. Sentence Savings and Loan sharks and white collar gangstas from our recent bank deregulation to pay back all the money they steal, just like if they held up a 7-11.

Sentence arms dealers and manufacturers to pay for rebuilding all the places destroyed by the by the wars they help start.

...

 

[damien]

...

End Police Brutality

Make police officers stand for election every four years, voted on by the districts they patrol.

Lower the Voting Age to Five

See youth apathy magically turn around when they know they have a real stake in their future; and get to vote for their school boards, and why not their teachers?

Education Reform

Including a mandatory class on parenting and offer drug and sex education using actual drugs and sex in class. Showing how itÆs done with an emphasis on sensitivity could do wonders for combating sexism and date rape. Joycelyn Elders is right: teaching masturbation is far more realistic than expecting todayÆs libidinous teens to bury their heads in abstinence.

Meanwhile, nothing gets bigger laughs at parties than our rigid Drug CzarÆs TV ads. To put it mildly: they donÆt work. Students should be able to experiment with drugs in a supervised and controlled setting to learn their limits, not sent blindly off on their own into the risks of hard core addiction.

Election Reform

State and national legislative elections should be switched to a parliamentary system with proportional representation. Campaign time should be limited to six weeks. Anyone campaigning or soliciting bribes, excuse me, contributions, beforehand will be automatically disqualified.

Ballots in all elections should include the option of voting None of the Above. If NOTA gets over 50% of the vote, a new election must be held with all new candidates.

Other Proposals:

Limit junk mail to one 3 x 5 card per mailing

Ban drug and lie-detector tests of employees and students, and forbid the drugging of schoolchildren against their will.

Give out giant waterproof Yuppie Parasite decals containing a skull and crossed cell-phones to be plastered by concerned citizens on all sport utility vehicles until they are eradicated from urban and suburban areas.

Convert giant sports stadiums into homeless shelters until the maximum wage imposed on todayÆs sports stars funds the necessary low-income housing.

Fight gentrification by allowing those under siege to spray whipped cream on those who flaunt their upwardly mobile invader status until the interlopers leave town.

I apologize to those who feel I should wage a more aggressive campaign. I did not expect to be nominated, and I am locked in my own battle against globalization that has been a huge strain on my time, emotions, and resources. Former members of my old band are suing me with the expressed intent of wiping out 22 years of work because I wouldnÆt allow them to put one of our best known songs in a LeviÆs Dockers TV commercial. Trial begins April 17.

Plus, I voted for Ralph Nader last time, and would gladly vote for him again. Should I have let my name be on the ballot at all? Ever since I ran for mayor, I have proven to be an effective media magnet and lightening rod for protest votes reaching far beyond the underground popularity of my work. On the other hand, should a flamboyant artist and prankster be the main banner-carrier at this point? Or would more progress be made by only running "serious" candidates?

Events in Seattle and around the globe show there are far more people on our side of the fence than we give credit for. What does it say about our country when people are so desperate for an alternative to our one-party state masquerading as a two-party state that theyÆll even elect a professional wrestler governor?

Steelworkers and eco-activists are marching together. People are questioning whether it is more important to live in a æmarketplaceÆ than a community. They question whether æcompetitivenessÆ is more important than compassion and quality of life. More and more young people see corporations as an authority figure to rebel against, instead of buying into every manufactured pop trend. The spread of Students Against Sweatshops on college campuses is important--not just because the battle is right, but because it is winnable. A step by step approach makes greater change seem less hopeless.

In my own small way I try to inspire people to at least start thinking about what they might do and where they would fit in if we actually found ourselves in charge. For all their faults, at least the front line opposition in places like the Czech Republic and South Africa had some idea of how they would actually run things if and when they had the chance. WeÆre not there yet. Splitting into two competing Green Parties is just plain childish.

DonÆt hate the media, become the media

Film-maker Michael Moore is right: we must spend less time arguing and agreeing with each other, and more time reaching out to people who may not appear to agree with us, but often share the same underlying concerns. These issues arenÆt left versus right, they are the top against the bottom. No one who is down-sized out of a job should be allowed to fall for Pat Buchanan. Putting food on the table is the number one wedge issue of growing concern for everyone.

We need to show the step by step ways each individual can help free themselves from Corporate Feudalism. Condensing and translating the Green Party Platform from lawyer-ese into English, Espa±ol, etc. would be a big help here.

We must emphasize the importance of voting in local elections, where a smaller group of concerned citizens can make the most difference.

Some people not yet weaned from todayÆs Democratic Party will try to intimidate us, calling us spoilers who siphon away votes, and tip close races to Republicans. I say, "Great!" LetÆs do it some more. The real spoilers are operatives like Clinton, Gore, Feinstein, and the Democratic Leadership Council, rendering their party indistinguishable from the party of Bu$h, Inc., and thus making the Greens, New Party, and others necessary in the first place.

As it stands now, we are being farmed. Imagine what we can do if we gain enough seats in legislatures to influence the balance of power and decision making. Imagine what we can do if we get the necessary 5% of the vote in this presidential election to gain federal matching funds for 2004. This is all more than possible, even under current election laws.

Join the Green Wedge!

 

[EWilson]

New DK's singer:

There was no advertising that the touring DK's did not have Jello on vocals. This caused a lot of consternation and apparently the complaints closed down AT's email for a few days. As the ex-members now own the rights to almost everything DK related, they could just stick up a big picture of Jello (in those days) and say DK's Live. He's had quite a lot to say about this and is currently trying to get them to remove his image/name form any of the cheap cash-in recent releases/activities.

Brandon Cruz wrote aletter which was posted on the AT site, giving quite an OK justification for his involvement. Klaus Flouride asked that it be removed (I can't see any reason why - unless it was so there were less references to the fact and therefore more money grabbing opportunities)

Jello for President:
He never 'really' ran. He stuck up his platform and suggested that people choose Nader. Originally, he was just going to endorse Nader, but was persuaded that the publicity surrounding him throwing his hat in could only help.

The Suit:
I find the whole Dead Kennedys versus Jello Biafra thing totally distasteful. About the only interesting thing that has come out of it is the fact that a dngerous legal precedent could be set. If the appeal fails, then the floodgates open for any band who are/were signed to a label to sue that label for failing to make them lots of money.

Remember: Don't buy non-AT DK products - bootleg them.

 

[damien]

what happened with the 3 DKs vs Jello suit? are there any articles about it online ala the touch & go vs butthole surfers one?

 

[EWilson]

Most of the stuff you'll find is kinda jello-centric. His latest statement is at:

http://www.alternativetentacles.com/page.php?page=atlegalfund&sd=97XmOyfpoAXjzgJ-Vy7

There's a good bit on 'Become The Media' about it, which I think is available as an mp3 from AT.

 

[damien]

reading that makes me feel sick.

anyone fancy playing a benefit gig for the AT legal defence fund?

 

[EWilson]

I would love too. Unfortunately, I'm in Glasgow. Although, with cheap flights and stuff, you never know.