Pranks, Punk and Industrial Culture from V. Vale

V. Vale on BIAFRA’S 50th Birthday Party, Mon-Tue June 16-17, 2008, Great American Music Hall

June 17, 2008 – JELLO BIAFRA’S 50th BIRTHDAY (Okay, so he must have been born in 1958).
Woke up after seeing the Biafra Five-Oh spectacular (JELLO Biafra’s 50th birthday celebration) at Great American Music Hall, a work of interior art so beautiful as to now appear “steam punk” in all its art nouveau detail. We got in early and grabbed seats at the stage right balcony right next to the 2nd huge support pillar – perfect visibility for all the musicians — especially the drummer(s). Funny, we share two interns with Alternative Tentacles now (Jared Power and Emily) and Jared displayed our Search & Destroy Vol Two, Punk 77 and Louder Faster Shorter DVDs on the Alternative Tentacles “merch” table. I noticed that Biafra Five-Oh t-shirts were on sale for only $10, plus the whole hard-to-find catalog of A.T. CDS, etc. Funnily enough, there was also a petition urging San Francisco voters to approve renaming San Francisco’s sewer processing facility the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.”

Went out on the main floor to talk to Meghan, Rick Prelinger’s (google him/them) wife, and was hailed by Mickey Creep, who now sports a shaven head instead of black curly hair. He was wearing a t-shirt. I hadn’t seen Mickey “Creep” for years. He told me he still got my monthly RE/Search newsletter, and especially enjoyed the “personal” stuff — what I read, did, etc. There’s a “lesson” there, I suppose, having to do with the rise of biographies/confessionals and neologisms such as “memoirist,” “diarist,” etc.

Around 1980 he had started “Creep” magazine (editors: “Mickey and Deirdre Creep”), and had once lived with Jello Biafra. Mickey had become a radical lawyer years ago — lived in Auburn (the home of Clark Ashton Smith, one of America’s greatest imaginative fiction writers) and a few years ago moved to Sacramento with his wife and two kids. He told me that he still has quite an archive of early “Punk” material — zines, posters, records, including a complete set of SEARCH & DESTROY tabloids — and deplored the seeming death (now occurring) of independent tangible media (books, records, videos): “There’s a lot fewer bookstores now, especially used book stores. I read about 3 books a week — that’s 150 a year, and in 40 years that’s only 6,000 books. But think of all the books that have been written.” I told him that last year alone almost 450,000 new titles had been printed just in America — how can anyone read them all, and how can they all be “good”?

Well, if in your entire lifetime you can only read 6,000 books, they had better be “good” if not “the greatest” — full of “eternal truths” and “lasting inspiration.” Which ones are they? The ones that urge you to pay attention to your dreams, to chance, to “do what thou wilt” without distraction and faltering, to cultivate your imagination, to nurture your obsessions, to think dialectically, to always extract what is the “justice” of a given social situation, to always be questioning the idea of “freedom” (with “responsibility”), et al. Using all these quote marks reminds me of where I learned not to be afraid to liberally use quote marks — which quickly function as a “distancing device” reminding you that you don’t really know what words like “Copenhagen” mean, even if you’ve actually been there. Guess where? From Babs Gonzalez’s great, classic book, “i, paid my dues.” His revisionism of the English language toward the goals of clarity, reflection and meditation, are both anti-authoritarian and definitely humorous.

But on to the show. First were the 1983 incarnation of The Melvins as a power trio (original bassist, drummer)  — they played only 20 minutes, but were “great” — a bit of a shock when they left the stage so early, but I realized “they” would be playing later on, with Biafra. (Actually, a different incarnation played; guitarist Buzz Osborne was the constant. Later met him backstage; he said he had the RE/Search #4/5 on Burroughs; Incredibly Strange Films; and the RE/Search PRANKS book.)

Next were LOS OLVIDADOS, who began circa 1982. Immediately I was impressed by drummer Matt Etheridge’s compelling rhythms and “beats” — which of course must have been augmented by bassist Ray Stevens II — drums and bass always provide an interactive foundation for a song. At first I thought the leader singer was Joey Shi-head of D.O.A., but his name is Mike Voss and he has stage presence equal to Joey S. As he wore a white shirt hanging out and tie, he “stood out” on the dark stage. The shaven-headed guitarist, Mike Fox, nimbly jumped around while savagely attacking his guitar and occasionally drinking almost a full bottle of beer, toasting the audience. The set was over all too soon. My overall impression was: again, great rhythms/beats. Good lyrics. So to sum up: the lead vocalist is a genuine character, and the band is outstanding — the kind of musicians who make playing instruments while jumping all around look effortless, easy, liquid-smooth. Their short set left you wanting more, which is a highly desirable reaction… It turned out that Alternative Tentacles has released a CD of LOS OLVIDADOS — it sounds great and my only regret is that it doesn’t have lyrics, as I like to “sing along” when I listen. And these are original recordings from 1981-1983, equal to or reminiscent of the Dead Boys or Heartbreakers, and some songs are evocative of the best of Iggy Pop.

Next up was DRUNK INJUNS — part of their personnel overlapped with LOS OLVIDADOS. The 10-year-old son of Mofo (Los Olivados founding member, not on their A.T. CD; and Thrasher magazine founder) came onstage in a Mohawk mask and throughout the set shook two maracas. The other five members also wore great masks. Their set began with a tape of “Indian war chants”… then the rest of the band joined in … again, just “great” songs and beats. Wearing ceremonial masks gives a lot of freedom to express yourself and also, like the Residents, you could have a career until you’re 90 years old and nobody would know it. And when you started “getting up there in years,” you could just hire younger people to “be” you… I noticed Mofo onstage videotaping a song with one of those handy new Flip Minnow videocameras — records one hour on a built-in solid state drive, and includes a USB plug which slides out of the thin case and plugs right into the USB outlet of a computer, simultaneously downloading video and recharging the battery at the same time. Under $200. (I would like one!)

Then JELLO BIAFRA came onstage with his new band, the AXIS OF MERRY EVILDOERS. Don’t want to jinx matters, but maybe for the first time in some 20 years Biafra may have a REAL BAND, able to quickly come up with seven new songs and arrangements, with everybody having enough “space” to express themselves with freedom while preserving a kind of “group unity.” Great musicians: Victims Family’s Ralph Spight on guitar, Faith No More’s Billy Gould on bass, and Sharkbait’s Jon Weiss on drums. Really, the whole set was quite mesmerizing. And with the Melvins the songs “Holiday in Cambodia” and “California Uber Alles” seemed even better than the original recordings.

Some people (who paid for both nights) got a special giveaway: a 7-inch of Biafra and members of Zen Guerilla covering Rev. Horton Heat’s “Speed Demon” and Frankie Laine’s “Jezebel.” The second night beautiful large silk-screened posters arrived and were selling quickly (maybe they’re still available from http://www.alternativetentacles.com ?). Also second night, MATT GONZALEZ appeared to introduce Jello Biafra — and his appearance reminded us to check out all the YouTube videos showing Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez. Those two will bring some genuine integrity to the Obama vs. McCain presidential race, showing us again how lack of information (as well as too much information) are the chief enemies of informed decision-making. Oh, did you not know that Ralph Nader was running for President with Matt Gonzalez as his Vice-President? Check out those YouTube videos…

Monday night Biafra appeared onstage dressed in a long crazy-patterned coat, cowboy hat, a long crazy-patterned shirt underneath, and a black T-shirt that may have said “The Meek Shall Inherit S–t.” Tuesday night Biafra appeared in a beautifully tailored “pimp suit” with “pimp hat” which he “bought in Philadelphia, although there is a pimp clothes store on Market St near 7th St in San Francisco.” Both nights, near the end of the show he bravely stripped down to no shirt — not many fifty-to-sixty-year-olds would dare to do that.

BIAFRA’s “AXIS” set almost seamlessly morphed into Biafra’s “MELVINS” set, with seemingly less than a minute for the changeover. For an hour the audience was swept along on a tide of one compelling song after another. There were some great beats and rhythms and guitar work. In the balcony, it was difficult to decipher the lyrics, so — can’t quote song titles. There was at least one genuine “hit” amongst the new songs. Second night Biafra was possibly inspired by an over-the-top performance by TRICLOPS’ lead vocalist Johnny who was in the audience 50% of the set. So, Biafra was also in the audience, being passed overhead while singing. As our intern Emily put it, “Biafra outdoes many performers in their twenties.”

TRICLOPS! did an intense set of progressive jazz / punk rock fusion music centered around the machine-gun-rhythms of drummer Phil, who (for good reason) performed in his boxer shorts. Vocalist Johnny performed with two bright flashlights, illuminating both the audience and sometimes his face — very strange, low-tech but arresting special effect. TRICLOPS! is Johnny (vocals), Phil (drums),  Christian Beaulieu (guitar), Larry Bothroyd (bass).

Another Alternative Tentacles band, AKIMBO, sported matching big frizzy hair — a power trio performing a short but powerful set of very intense, complicated-punk arrangements. Lots of head shaking on the part of the drummer and guitarist — fun to watch. Personnel are: Jon Weisnewski – Bass, Vocals, GameBoy; Nat Damm – Drums, PBR; Aaron Walters – Guitar, Vocabulary (from their MySpace page). There’s a very detailed, fun blog detailing the Biafra Five-Oh show (and the band’s contextual tour) on their MySpace page, written by Jon W.

Seeing Biafra deliver a set easily as exciting as any ’70s Dead Kennedys show was a kind of affirmation, especially in the context of that despicable lawsuit Ray/Klaus/Darren filed against Biafra; as someone put it Monday night, “Biafra won!” What indeed have those other three “Fake Kennedys” done that’s as blisteringly creative as Biafra’s new songs? If those three are so original, where are their new songs??! Biafra and Iggy Pop are role models for all “rebels” who reject the “live fast / die young” cliche, and want to ride off into the sunset having never given up or lost a certain kind of “edge.” (And never retired to the suburbs, or O.D.’d. either.) Biafra’s fiftieth birthday, Iggy Pop’s sixtieth — two of the best birthday concerts the world has yet seen. You only live once, and certain experiences are beyond monetary valuation, so if you missed them… Both Biafra and Iggy symbolize a kind of triumph over adversity and the mortal human condition — a triumph of the will, to protest against our brave new 21st century world headed, seemingly, straight toward apocalypse…

Alternative Tentacles staffers Jesse, George, Maiko, Jared, Emily, Patrick, Erica and others pulled off one of the best celebrations of this decade: BIAFRA FIVE-OH at Great American Music Hall. Funny how many of our best social events are made possible by people invisible and unknown to most of us! We think of the Andy Warhol prediction, “In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes,” and think how now that is virtually happening in the world of MySpace, FaceBook (and other social-networking sites still to come). Maybe everybody has an interesting life, if they could only express it and we could only read it…

An aside: for five days June 10-14 we were graced by the presence of Adrian from Montreal, Canada, who helped us on Internet matters. Thanks, Adrian! (www.thepopulation.ca)