Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys’ lead singer and songwriter & Alternative Tentacles bossman turned 62 today.
The video here, Biafra performing anti-racist anthem “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”, from the album In God We Trust Inc. The concert, it was Dead Kennedys’ performance in June 1984 at the On Broadway, a former San Fransisco avant-garde theatre and nightclub. Director Dirk Dirksen documents the performance of Klaus Flouride, D.H. Peligro, East Bay Ray and Jello Biafra. A 58 minute concert—originally released in VHS format in 1985 as Live in San Fransisco and later re-released on DVD in 2000 with a different title: DMPO’s on Broadway—was captured in real time using four cameras.
Biafra today focused primarily on spoken word performances, however he has continued as a musician in numerous collaborations. He has also occasionally appeared in cameo roles in films.
Politically, Biafra is a member of the Green Party of the United States. He ran for the party’s presidential nomination in the 2000 presidential election, finishing a distant second to Ralph Nader. in 1979 he ran for mayor of San Fransisco, California. He is a staunch believer in a free society, and utilises shock value and advocates direct action and pranksterism in the name of political issues. Biafra is known to use absurdist media tactics, in the leftist tradition of the Yippies, to highlight issues of civil rights and social justice.
In the mid-1980s Biafra became an active campaigner against the Parents Music Resource Center—they introduced Parental Advisory stickers.
___________
Text sources: Cherry Red Records, Wikipedia.
Featured image via Dangerous Minds.
Photo on this page, Biafra with DK, via OZY • TRUE STORIES.
• Read also ST. PATRICK’S DAY: IRISH WHISKEY, CELTIC PUNK, & MORE WHISKEY.
