Bob Report This Comment Date: February 20, 2005 01:33AM
Jello Biafra (real name: Eric Boucher; born June 17, 1958, Boulder, Colorado)
is a punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead
singer of the Dead Kennedys. In the wake of the band's disbandment, he has
become a solo musician and spoken word artist. In his political life, he is an
active member of the Green Party and has participated in activism relating to
his progressive political beliefs. Though he is a self-proclaimed anarchist, he
claims that he is only an anarchist in his personal life, and that he does not
wish to make society into an anarchy due to mankind's current inability to
handle such a change. However, he is an advocate of civil disobedience and
pranksterism in the name of political change. Biafra himself has been known to
use absurdist media tactics in the tradition of the Yippies to highlight issues
of civil rights, social justice, and anti-corporatism.
His stage name is a combination of the brand name Jello and the name of the
short lived country of Biafra. The country of Biafra attempted to secede from
Nigeria in 1966; after four years of fighting and horrific starvation, Nigeria
regained control of the nascent Biafran state. Jello Biafra came up with his
name as an oxymoronic combination of a violent civil war and a consumer product.
southboundtrain Report This Comment Date: February 20, 2005 04:12AM
I'll take a holiday in Cambodia.
Chinese_Slave_Master Report This Comment Date: June 23, 2005 06:21AM
Thanks for the info Bob. I saw the DK's in 1984 at my local pub in Sydney
Australia. When Jello come on stage everyone started spitting on him and in
minutes, he was covered from head to toe in gollys! He seemed to thrive on it
and the crowd was going wild. Although I was fearing for my life as there was so
much violence in the 2000 strong crowd on the night, I had to get out but it was
still a night to remember. PS: I've heard some of his political speeches and I
admire what he does these days.