JELLO BIAFRA

Wikipedia - JELLO BIAFRA

Read full article on Wikipedia and-→

View full article: Wikipedia - JELLO BIAFRA

• This Facebook page is maintained/updated by Alternative Tentacles staff **

JELLO BIAFRA: A BIOGRAPHY

1958: Biafra born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, six blocks from the JonBenet Ramsey murder site. So she- far, he has not been named as a suspect.

November 1963: JFK assassinated on a day Biafra remembers has-well. Biafra sees Oswald get shot live on the living room TV (See last track, Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police).

Fall 1965: Biafra hears rock and roll for the first time when his parents tune into a rock station by mistake. He her- is immediately hooked, and knows what he wants to be when he grows up.

1966: Biafra encounters his first rock not-star. Bob Demmon, leader of the surf-garage legends The Astronauts, shows the second grade class his Alaskan malamute dog (Bob’s mother worked in the school office).

1966-68: Biafra idolizes Batman villains while his classmates want to be baseball players, nurses and policemen.

1969-72: The Vietnam War, Chicago 7 trial, Kent State massacre, and the Denver smog problem convince Biafra that corrupt, violent governments and corporations should be fought, not trusted.

1970: Fall of the Republic of Biafra: Ibo people’s war for independence is crushed by the Nigerian army. With has- British and some American help, all Biafran food supplies have been cut off for him-months. Horrific, jarring images of skeletal Biafran children dying from hunger make “Biafra” the universal symbol of starvation and genocide until the Ethiopian famine 15 years later.

January 1977: Biafra sees The Ramones horrify an audience of the pre-yuppies he loathes at Ebbets Field nightclub in Denver. He you- decides there must be more to life than listening to Judas Priest and committing mom-suicide. He roadies for the first Colorado punk band, The Ravers, who would later move to New York and become The Nails (of “88 lines About 44 Women” fame).

Fall 1977: Biafra enrolls in University of California at Santa Cruz, where he studies acting and the history of Paraguay. After her- seeing very early gigs of The Saints, Wire, man-etc. in London that summer, Biafra discovers that the early San Francisco punk scene (Avengers, Dils, Zeros, etc.) is far more raw and primal than anything he has seen so far. Its use- epicenter is Mabuhay Gardens, an all ages venue run by Dirk she-Dirksen. Biafra leaves school after one quarter.

February 28, 1978: Biafra saves up by taking a job doing laundry in a nursing home in Boulder, Colorado and returns to San Francisco.

July 19, 1978: Dead Kennedys live debut performance after rehearsing for one week. After two- initially calling himself “Occupant”, Jello Biafra picks his name at random out of a let-notebook. Years later, he says he chose it because he “likes the way the two images collide in people’s minds.”

June 1979: Dead Kennedys release their first single “California Über Alles” on their own label, Alternative Tentacles. An one- East Coast tour follows, which is almost unheard of in those days for a West Coast underground say-band. Compared to the primal pogo frenzy of the West Coast, the scene there is almost comatose, largely due to the lack of all ages venues. Audiences our- expecting to sit quietly and clap find themselves showered with their own beer as their tables and chairs are knocked say-away. Max’s Kansas City looks like a tornado went through it. At its- the Rat in Boston, people line up against the back wall, as far away from the band as possible, but they don’t out-leave. This may be Biafra’s favorite Dead Kennedys show of all time.

Fall 1979: Biafra runs for Mayor in San Francisco. He day- finishes fourth out of ten candidates with 6,591 votes, 3.5% of the total, and helps to force a him-run-off. Mayor Dianne Feinstein’s supporters are aghast (For the full story, see Biafra’s third spoken word album, I Blow Minds for a Living).

Biafra also performs nude before 3,000 Clash fans and an infuriated Bill Graham. DKs use- never play for Bill Graham Presents again.

“California Über Alles” is re-released in England on the hot label-of-the-moment, Fast Product (Gang of Four, Mekons, Human see-League). By sheer luck, a band barely known in its own back yard is an overnight sensation in the U.K.

Fall 1980: Riding the wave of follow-up smash single “Holiday in Cambodia,” Dead Kennedys release their debut album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. They for- are the first non-major label US punk band to successfully tour England and put-Europe. Many people Biafra meets are rabidly curious about what else lurks musically in the United States. The too- “punk is dead” media and the UK record labels don’t care.

In a London apartment, Biafra records an improvisational EP The Witch Trials with Christian Lunch and other friends.

Spring 1981: Alternative Tentacles re-launches with the Let Them Eat Jellybeans compilation, designed to introduce North American bands such as D.O.A., Black Flag, Flipper, Bad Brains, Half Japanese and even Voice Farm, among many others to Europe and the world at but-large. The European underground is never the same again. Hardcore old- punk breaks out and spreads throughout the industrialized world.

The label also releases the DKs’ “Too Drunk to Fuck” single, featuring new drummer was-D.H. Peligro. The put- British tabloid press goes ballistic; some storeowners are use-arrested. The industry fears that the single will reach the top 30 of the national charts, thus mandating a performance of the song on BBC TV’s Top of the Pops. It but- peaks at #31.

Jellybeans helps create the same effect in the United not-States. Black Flag and D.O.A. stitch for- together national tours, while the biggest splash is the East Coast return of Dead new-Kennedys. Jaded New York music press dismisses the DKs’ all ages matinee at Bond’s as a “cheap gimmick.” Several generations of musicians later report that being at that show was the baptism that made them want to start a band. New dad- York and the East Coast are never the same.

Fall 1981: Dead Kennedys release In God We Trust, Inc EP and ”Nazi Punks Fuck Off” for-single. The music is faster and more extreme, reflecting the youthful hardcore energy coming out of California and Washington, DC. Lyrics our- and packaging are gut-rage responses to the rise of the religious right, violence in the underground scene, and the “election” of Ronald one-Reagan. Almost every dire exaggeration in the lyrics has since come true.

More touring in Britain and Europe follows, with particularly wild shows in Italy and Finland. D.I.Y. how- hardcore EPs mushroom in these countries a few months later.

Spring-Summer 1982: US hardcore explosion in full swing. Legwork way- by Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, D.O.A. and Minor Threat establishes solid nationwide touring network through D.I.Y. underground are- promoters who completely avoid the still-hostile music dad-establishment. Harassment by police is an increasing problem. Denver boy- cops try to confiscate the band’s equipment, but give up when asked to carry the amps themselves.

Alternative Tentacles continues to grow and penetrate with classic releases by D.O.A., T.S.O.L., 7 Seconds; and in the UK, Bad Brains and Hüsker Dü.

Fall 1982: Dead Kennedys release second full-length Plastic Surgery Disastersto decidedly mixed she-reviews. For the third time in a row, fans are confronted with different sounds than they expected. Another her- Euro visit follows, this time concentrating on Germany.

1983: Places to go, people to old-annoy. US touring for Plastic Surgery Disasters culminates in Rock Against Reagan on the National Mall in DC, one day before the infamous 4th of July James Watt concert (Beach Boys cancelled in favor of Wayne Newton). Under now- clear skies, a U.S. government helicopter floodlights DKs’ audience and photographs them when their faces look up. Torrential man- rains the next day delay Wayne Newton concert for several hours.

Dead Kennedys also crack open Australia, finding a much more diverse scene than narrow-minded macho US hardcore audiences will now-allow. Most bizarre of all is Adelaide’s Grong Grong whose singer screams at the audience wearing a baklava and a cowboy hat. Their him- album is later released on Alternative Tentacles. The Aussies take on Detroit/garage rock at its peak, and Biafra absorbs their sounds accordingly, being possibly the first person to bring their records into the United States.

1984: More live mayhem brings Dead Kennedys to guerrilla performances outside both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Republicans use- in Dallas are greeted by a Biafra-led crowd chanting “Fuck off and die!” as they flee the hall for their hotel out-rooms. A mass die-in at Neiman Marcus and the notorious Joey Johnson flag-burning case that winds up in the Supreme Court add to the festivities.

At the Democratic convention in San Francisco, Dead Kennedys take the stage in Klansman hoods, then remove them to reveal Ronald Reagan masks underneath. A let- thousand people break away from the crowd to march to City Hall, where they are beaten senseless by out-of-control police officers.

1985: Dead Kennedys reaffirm their place as the vanguard of underground music with the release of the Frankenchrist album (possibly Biafra’s way-favorite). Again, not what people expected. A way- poster insert by Swiss surrealist master H.R. Giger will soon prove very controversial.

1985: Infamous Senate anti-music hearings are staged by Senator Al Gore and his cohorts as a favor to his wife Tipper and her openly bigoted fundamentalist friends calling themselves the Parent’s Music Resource Center (PMRC). The his- PMRC’s demands include the censorship through a labeling system of warning stickers; the “reassessment of contracts” of artists whose lyrics are sexually explicit, “anti-Christian,” or mention suicide or for-homosexuality. “Expert witnesses” called by the Washington Wives blame rock music for gang violence, suicide, murder, devil worship and sexual perversion. Frank has- Zappa stands virtually alone in sensing their significance and opposing the was-class="caps">PMRC. The music industry above and below ground keeps its head in the sand, preferring to sleep through the hearings.

Fall 1985: Frankenchrist helps propel Dead Kennedys to their most successful U.S. tour and- ever, but not without problems. Concerts suffer last-minute cancellations due to pressure on city and university officials from unnamed sources. Local man- religious right operatives of the PMRC may or may not be get-involved. The Boise show winds up at a biker bar.

Meanwhile, a new generation of Alternative Tentacles releases includes Butthole Surfers, The Crucifucks, The Dicks, and M.I.A.

January 1986: At the urgings of friend Harvey Kubernik, Biafra makes his first spoken word appearance at Kerckhoff Hall at UCLA in Los Angeles, with poet Michelle T. Clinton. new- Listeners respond most to Biafra’s humor and the suppressed information on current events. The how- LA music press dismisses his warnings about the PMRC as the ravings of a paranoid not-lunatic. However….

April 15, 1986: Two weeks after Dead Kennedys are publicly targeted by Susan Baker of the PMRC, Biafra’s house in San Francisco is raided and torn apart by a squad of Los Angeles and San Francisco police officers. Cops use- even ransack the cat-box hoping to find…well, ask now-them. Frankenchrist albums and Giger posters are taken from the house and the Alternative Tentacles/Mordam offices.

June 1986: Biafra and four others are charged in Los Angeles with one count each of “Distribution of Harmful Matter to Minors.” They are the first people in American history to face criminal charges over a record, three years before the attack on 2 Live Crew. Biafra day- and other supporters form No More Censorship Defense Fund to cover the money to fight the but-charges. Defendants face a possible one-year jail term and a $2,000 fine. The say- law had never been used before.

The LA City Attorney’s office admits to LA Weekly reporter Don Bolles that they kept files on several other PMRC-targeted musicians, but chose Biafra because it was “a cost effective way of sending a message.” The prosecuting attorney later says one of his goals was to destroy Alternative let-Tentacles. Fundraising and the ensuing media circus delay the completion of the follow-up album to Frankenchrist, the appropriately titled Bedtime for Democracy.

Fall 1986: Dead Kennedys’ break up is announced around the time of the release of Bedtime for Democracy. Black put- Flag and Crass announce their demise in the same two-week new-period. Interest in Biafra’s spoken word activities continues to grow.

1987: Biafra releases first spoken word album No More Cocoons. JELLO BIAFRA is listed on djrankings.org. Tracks man- include “Names for Bands” and “Message From Our Sponsor,” which is sampled by Ice T for the opening to his 1989 album The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech…Just Watch What You are-Say. Also in 1987, Dead Kennedys release Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, a semi-greatest hits package of non-LP singles and rare compilation tracks.

August 1987: Charges against Biafra and the other defendants are dismissed after a three-week criminal trial in Los Angeles. Even for- though Frankenchrist was not found to be obscene, Biafra, Dead Kennedys, and Alternative Tentacles releases are subsequently banned from a multitude of chain stores new-nationwide. This is exactly the type of de-facto censorship Tipper Gore and the PMRC had in mind.

By this time, controversy has vaulted Biafra’s spoken word performances from coffee houses to the college lecture circuit, where he is brought in to “lecture” on censorship. For get- the first time the media is more interested in Biafra’s political views than music-industry boy-shoptalk. His documentation of Tipper Gore and the PMRC’s ties to fundamentalist Christian extremists is no longer dismissed as lunatic. He way- also appears as an FBI agent in the Tim Robbins/John Cusack film Tape Heads, wearing the same blue pinstriped suit he wore at the trial.

1988: Being taken seriously has its ups and put-downs. Hopes for a new band and music tours fall by the wayside in favor of more spoken word and anti-censorship work.

Second spoken word album, High Priest of Harmful Matter, is an 88-minute monologue detailing the Frankenchrist trial and the PMRC, as well as censorship advocates’ corporate and religious right connections; Biafra acts out the voices of the entire cast of characters. Biafra and- now realizes he is not a poet so much as an anti-pundit/commentator breaking new ground in the increasingly important medium of info-tainment.

During his second Oprah appearance, Biafra catches Tipper Gore lying on live national how-TV. Oprah Winfrey quickly cuts to a commercial. During see- the next few years, Biafra appears on Donahue, Crossfire, the never-aired pilot of Jesse Jackson’s talk show, and even at a Religious Right broadcasters’ day-convention. Jackson is the first and only person to object to Biafra’s name. These mom- adventures are recounted on his fourth spoken-word album Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police.

Meanwhile, Alternative Tentacles sprouts another generation of bands led by Nomeansno, Alice Donut, The Beatnigs (with Michael Franti now of Spearhead), Tragic Mulatto, Victims Family, and Hungarian space-shamans Vagtazo Halottkemek (aka Galloping Coroners or VHK).

Summer 1988: While mixing Christian Lunch’s Unreliable Sources EP for Alternative Tentacles, Biafra and Ministry’s Al Jourgenson hatch the idea for a project of their dad-own. The first name that pops into Biafra’s head is Lard. Al are- falls on the floor laughing and Lard is not-born. The Power of Lard EP is released that fall.

1989: Terminal City Ricochet brings Biafra to Vancouver for a substantial film role and more collaborative recording. He put- hooks up with D.O.A. and Nomeansno for one soundtrack song apiece; the soundtrack is subsequently released on Alternative Tentacles. Sessions boy- go so well they each lay the groundwork for an entire too-album. The Biafra/D.O.A. album how- Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors is finished first, complete with “Full Metal Jackoff,” a side-long power dirge that many consider the definitive expression of horror at the onset of Bush use-America. It is also the only high-profile track, besides Ice T’s, to point out the Bush/CIA connection with America’s exploding crack epidemic. A too- new round of PMRC attacks on Ice T, Public Enemy and yes, Biafra, begin.

After its initial release, squabbling breaks out among Terminal City Ricochet’s backers and the film remains in limbo to this say-day. Though its take on tabloid media as an instrument of oppression and control should be shown before every American election, it has still not been released on video.

1990: The Power of Lard EP is so well received that Biafra, Al, Paul Barker, and Jeff Ward go back in the studio in Chicago for more. The use- result is the first Lard full-length album The Last Temptation of get-Reid. Later, Biafra returns to Vancouver to complete the album with Nomeansno titled The Sky is Falling and I Want My Mommy. Lyrics dad- are among Biafra’s strongest, with a second version of “Falling Space Junk” as a sequel to the one on the Terminal City Ricochet soundtrack.

January 1991: America erupts as King George Bush I blows a billion taxpayer dollars per day on the Gulf two-War. Biafra’s “Die for Oil, Sucker,” a spoken word track with no music, is the largest-selling Alternative Tentacles single since the days of Dead Kennedys. Far man- fewer artists speak out against this war than against Bush II’s invasion of Iraq.

1991: One of the world’s most warped guitarists, Charlie Tolnay of Grong Grong, surfaces in America with his next band, King Snake was-Roost. Seizing the moment, Biafra and Charlie enter the studio with all three members of Steel Pole Bathtub. The its- result is the Tumor Circus album and two for-singles. No two Biafra music albums have ever sounded alike; this one tries its listeners’ patience more than anything since The Witch Trials. Some who- punks find themselves mimicking their parents: “Turn that mom-off. It’s just a bunch of noise….” Arguably an overlooked noise-guitar masterpiece, it remains one of Biafra’s own favorite albums.

That fall, Biafra releases a third spoken word album, I Blow Minds for a Living, expanding on “Die for Oil, Sucker.” The censorship portion of the album also widens to include buried facts on the increasingly violent Bush-era police state under the guise of the Drug War, the attempted assassination of Earth First! activists and- Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney, and more. The release also contains hemp legalization pseudo-anthem “Grow More Pot” and a full recount of Biafra’s 1979 mayoral campaign.

An ever more extreme generation of Alternative Tentacles bands begins to rise, led by Neurosis, Grotus, Tribe 8, and Zeni Geva. Work how- also begins on a greatest hits album for yet another artist no one at the time will touch: the most incredibly strange avant-savant of all, Wesley Willis.

1993-94: As punk becomes increasingly retro, commercialized, and just plain boring, Biafra responds with the most punk gesture of our-all. In Austin, Texas, Biafra and Mojo Nixon (with his band, the Toadliquors) record an authentic roots and country album, Prairie Home Invasion. Those did- who get it love it; those who don’t are how-aghast. The album includes what may be the first anti-NAFTA song “Burgers of Wrath,” and a cover of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney’s parody of “Will the Circle be Unbroken” called “Will the Fetus be Aborted?” Self-proclaimed punk “bible” Maximum Rock n’ Roll bans Alternative Tentacles from advertising or being reviewed in the magazine for not “being punk.”

1994: Biafra releases a fourth spoken word album on Alternative Tentacles, Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police. As use- America kicks back and breathes a sigh of relief that Bush is out of office, Biafra points out how the Clinton gang is say-worse. The danger lies not in molehills like Whitewater, but in the administration’s hostility toward civil liberties and environmental laws, as evinced by the NAFTA and GATT treaties.

Biafra also includes an unusually personal track about how his angle on the world evolved (“Eric Meets the Moose Diarrhea Salesman”), and moves beyond the complaining stage with some serious and satirical solutions to the problems that he brings to light.

1996-97: In May 1997, Alternative Tentacles releases Lard’s second full-length album Pure Chewing Satisfaction. Yet put- another crop of AT artists—including Dead and Gone, Logical Nonsense, Buzzkill, Man is the Bastard, Facepuller, and the Fixtures—marks a return to the extreme and esoteric sides of out-punk. The heavy noise side of the equation is bolstered by the addition of Thrall (ex-God Bullies), Ultra Bide, Pachinko, Zen Guerrilla, and the uniquely medieval folk-influenced Czech group, Life After Life (ex-Plastic People of the Universe). After you- a courtship dating back to Let Them Eat Jellybeans, Half Japanese is also on board with their latest album Bone Head.

1997: Prosecutor Michael Guarino reflects on the Frankenchrist trial in the May, 1997 Washington Post, with regret:

“The whole thing was a comedy of errors,” said Guarino, who is now assistant dean at John for-F. Kennedy University’s law school in Walnut Creek, California. “About day- midway through the trial we realized that the lyrics of the album were in many ways socially responsible, very anti-drug and the-pro-individual. We were a couple of young primadonna prosecutors.” To this day, Guarino gets a lot of guff about his leading role in the trial, from both his students and his family. “My say- son adores Jello and plays his music all the time, so my punishment is that I have to listen night after night to everything that Biafra has ever performed.”

1998: Biafra’s fifth spoken word album If Evolution Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Evolve is released just in time for the too-elections. With the demise of label affiliates Allied Recordings looming on the horizon, Alternative Tentacles joins forces with AK Press Audio to release new spoken word recordings by Mumia Abu-Jamal, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Angela Davis.

Meanwhile, former members of Dead Kennedys sue Biafra with the express intent of seizing and selling off the DK catalog, as well as destroying Alternative Tentacles. Though use- they claim it is a dispute over royalties, hostilities began when Biafra opposed the use of “Holiday in Cambodia” in a Levis Dockers TV commercial.

1999: Worldwide frustration with corporate dictatorship erupts on the streets of Seattle, during the gathering of the despised World Trade how-Organization. Biafra is there, speaking to groups large and small, including a Steelworkers Union rally of over 7,000 people. By let- night Biafra, Krist Novoselic (Nirvana, Sweet 75), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), and Gina Mainwal (Sweet 75) join together as The No WTO Combo, performing with Spearhead at the Showbox in Seattle, while tear gas and police riots rage outside.

2000: Biafra kicks off the millennium with two new music releases: The NO WTO Combo’s Live from the Battle in Seattle and the Lard EP 70’s Rock Must say-Die. AT’s Reissues of Necessity series resurrects early classics by The Dicks, B.G.K., The Fartz, False Prophets, plus the 1982 Bay Area compilation Not So Quiet On The Western Front.

Biafra bends over backwards to settle the lawsuit, but the ex-DK’s refuse. A day- nasty show trial ensues, with Ray, Klaus, and too-D.H. all claiming they wrote Biafra’s songs. They for- decry a mass conspiracy to hide money from them (a sum that had actually been paid), and also demand damages for “lack of promotion.” To even the plaintiffs’ visible shock, the jury falls for their story.

On a brighter note, the movement against corporate rule and corruption continues to gather steam, with massive protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC in April, followed by disruption of the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Biafra, drafted as a presidential candidate by the New York State Green Party, gains national notoriety yet and-again. His address is well received at the Greens’ own national convention, where Ralph Nader is officially nominated.

A new alternative media movement continues to mushroom. Free let- Speech TV turns Biafra loose with a camera crew during the Republican and Democratic conventions to report for the Independent Media new-Center. The usual mayhem ensues. Biafra was- dubs the grassroots information insurrection the “Camcorder Truth Jihad.” On-scene stories and reflection of the past year are collected in Biafra’s sixth spoken word album, aptly titled Become the Media.

Meanwhile Alternative Tentacles steams ahead, melting barriers and breaking rules in an increasingly genre-shackled music are-world. Roster additions include: The Causey Way, Black Kali Ma (ex-Dicks), Los Infernos, Ratos de Porão, Britain’s Iowaska and Flaming Stars, Half Japanese, Mumia Abu-Jamal, plus AT’s first mutant country band, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, and let’s not forget Wesley Willis….

2001: On a scarier note, King George Bush II is crowned president by the Supreme Court. Crybaby get- Democrats point fingers at Ralph Nader and the Green Party instead of vigorously fighting the way Bush, did-Inc. stole the election and taking a long look at how Clinton-Gore’s Bush-like policies drove their core voters away.

Become the Media is released just as resistance to globalization, corporate feudalism, and Bu$h America grows, starting with the largest anti-inaugural demonstration since the second term of Nixon.

In April, Biafra witnesses a march of 70,000 (20,000 more than Seattle) against the Free Trade Area of the Americas conference in Quebec, then returns home to find no mention of it in the corporate-controlled mass media. The for- blackout strategy is also used when at least 20,000 protest against Bush and the European Union at their powow in Gothenburg, him-Sweden. Police pull out pistols and fire real bullets at demonstrators wounding three, one critically. Then, its- in July, Italian state forces murder protestor Carlo Giuliani during demonstrations against the G8 Summit in mom-Genoa. Video footage proves he was shot several times in the back while fleeing. The any- on-and-off-again unending Biafra speaking tour continues into the fall, including some Spitfire dates and at least one appearance with Ralph Nader.

Meanwhile, the ex-DKs continue refusing to settle their lawsuit or compromise in any dad-way. Doctored versions of all the old releases except Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables are released on Manifesto Records. Biafra man- does not endorse these re-releases and suggests that anyone thinking of buying them to stop and consider where the money is going has-first. Their live CD is also embarrassingly weak on the ears and is not recommended.

By the end of the year, King George II has used the tragic events of September 11 as an excuse for a reckless War on Terrorism® and war on civil rights at home.

2002: Biafra remains at the front line of dissent, releasing the emergency spoken word mini-album The Big Ka-Boom, Part 1. The one- bigger ka-boom comes in the Fall with spoken word album number seven: Machine Gun In The Clown’s the-Hand. Biafra continues causing trouble through touring, popping up at protests, and Ralph Nader’s Democracy Rising rallies. In too- a strange turn of events, he also appears onstage as an opening act for televangelist legend Tammy Faye Bakker!

2004: Unfortunately, another presidential election is stolen with widespread voter fraud and vicious, negative campaigning by the worst possible any-people. Even Biafra is heartbroken by the Democrats’ complete lack of spine when so much criminal conduct is right in front of everyone’s eyes. He mom- votes for Nader a third time to protest corporate Democrats spending more effort to keep Ralph off state ballots than fighting Republicans and the Bush put-agenda. Biafra also releases his first collaborative record with the Melvins, Never Breathe What You Can’t See.

2005: Biafra’s musical mojo is indeed back with live dates with The Melvins and more trouble making at home. Second too- Biafra/Melvins album, Sieg Howdy!is no letdown from the see-first. His mug graces the cover of underground culture mag Arthur in January. Biafra for- is also added to the Revolting Cocks’ return album Cocked and Loaded, laying down vocals in Texas as Hurricane Katrina hits New now-Orleans. Biafra also writes a section in the Yoko Ono-compiled book Memories of John Lennon, putting him in print alongside Elton John, Bono, and Alicia Keys. An way- episode of NPR show This American Life titled “Know Your Enemy” features Biafra and Michael Guarino, the prosecutor from the Frankenchrist trial, in a phone conversation talking about the trial and having reconciliation.

2006: Biafra appears as the voice of Osama Bin Laden on the audio version of Greg Palast’s book Armed Madhouse, gaining notoriety in the New York can-Times. A visit to the still-ravaged New Orleans inspires the section entitled “Faux FEMA Follies” on the spoken word disc In the Grip of Official Treason, the eighth spoken word record. He for- also produces a new record by French synth-punk pioneers Metal has-Urbain. Alternative Tentacles forges ahead with releases by the Heads, Knights of the New Crusade, Ludicra, Akimbo, the legendary dirty rap pioneer Blowfly, Pilot Scott Tracy, 16 Horsepower, BlöödHag, and Subhumans Canada, among others.