Registered: Jul 2000
Location: my mother's bloody womb
Posts: 7367

so the dead kennedys are coming to my town.

but...aren't they disbanded?

nope.

this is from the grapevine at work: apparantly the band sued jello over a clerical error which he told them about concerning money. he discovered the band wasn't paid enough in the 80's. so what does the band do? they SUE HIM and take the back catalogue, rights to the band name, etc.

so they hire some dipshit off the streets to be a lead singer, and now they're reissuing all the cd's and going on tour to make a shitload of money off of the name of one of the greatest punk bands ever.

fucking assholes.

i'm posting this because if they come to YOUR town, i don't want you to think that this is actually the real dead kennedys. four assholes parading about on stage for money is not a punk band. spread the word, and hopefully all of their shows will be wastelands of silent seats.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
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quote:

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Originally posted by morgana
...four assholes parading about on stage for money is not a punk band...

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: East Bay
Posts: 3495

I read about the first show they played in southern California. The reporter was shocked that so many people were not aware that it wasn't the real DK. People were pissed that Jello wasn't up there singing and stuff and they started throwing shit. It was both funny and sad.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
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That's like the time I went to see Life of Agony and they had the guy from Ugly Kid Joe singing and we left halfway through the second song.

Maybe its completely different, but that was a bigger deal to me.

Now when is Lard gonna tour?

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Registered: Jul 2000
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I think I've already ranted about this.

Biafra is a fucking asshole.

There is another side to this story.


I guess it wasn't much of a rant:

http://www.asylumnation.com/asylum/...ighlight=biafra

fuck if you want to boycott them, I doubt you'd be missing much.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: clinging desperately to my guns and religion gonna kill me some foreigners because i remember 9/11
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I just listened to some Dead Kennedys . . . doesn't sound like I'd be missing anything if I didn't go to a show, even if they were with Jello.

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Registered: Mar 2002
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Didn't work for the Misfits, won't work for DK...

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Registered: Jul 2000
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It was my understanding that the band was horribly ripped off. The bunch of assholes are the band who's been starving for years. They should continue to starve because Biafra is not interested in working with them? Fuck him. He was less than 5% of the talent in that band.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: my mother's bloody womb
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um...i don't know where it is online, because i never bookmarked it, but jello was the one who told them that the bookkeepers had made the mistake, and he was offering to pay them back everything that they had lost. instead, they saw a nice, ripe lawsuit fall into their laps and took everything from him. if i find that site again, i'll post it for you.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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Presumably the court must have considered Jello Biafra to be liable, though, if he was the one penalised for it all (rather than the bookkeepers)?

I had never heard this, so it is all news to me.

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http://www.deadkennedysnews.com/

That is the first link found after searching "dead kennedys lawsuit". If it is an accurate source, Jello Biafra is a piece of shit and they should drag him around on the tour nailed to a cross.

Here is some text from there:


Dead Kennedys were underpaid royalties by Alternative Tentacles Records. Though some find it hard to believe, when Jello Biafra was told of this underpayment, he said, "do not tell the band," the start of the fraud. Later, after a whistle-blower at the label informed the band that royalties were owed them, Biafra refused to compensate the band without a court order, thus causing the lawsuit.

Biafra made a mistake and did something wrong and was caught. He intentionally covered up royalties owed to Dead Kennedys and deliberately misled East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride and D.H. Peligro. He unfortunately fell victim to a conflict of interest and used the income to promote his solo career and label.

It was proven to be true that "Alternative Tentacles Records engaged in fraudulent conduct" and that Jello Biafra "breached his contractual and fiduciary obligations to plaintiff [Dead Kennedys]." It was also shown "by clear and convincing evidence" that Biafra and Alternative Tentacles were "guilty of malice, oppression and fraud" in committing these acts. Malice was defined as "conduct which is intended to cause injury or despicable conduct which is carried with a willful and conscious disregard for the rights of others."

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http://www.vsearchmedia.com/latest/biafeat.shtml

That is another article that tells the story a little more fully and with a different tone, but still says that Biafra was found to be a piece of shit in court.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Essex, England
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The Dead Kennedy's played in Breckenridge CO the same evening I came back to England....I was not impressed

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: my mother's bloody womb
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hmmm...considering that the dead kennedys news site is run by the band, i'm going to dismiss it as being overly biased, if you don't mind.

your second link, however, said some interesting stuff. like this:

"Biafra doesn't dispute that back royalties were due--they've already been paid--"

(as i said, the link i read stated that jello was offering to pay the back royalty fees)

"but he finds the "Failure to Promote" charge alarming. Witnesses for the defense (including a bleached-blond Dexter Holland of Offspring) testified that expensive ads for back catalog accomplish nothing and are not standard indie label practice--but this was an opinion. "

so basically...the band sued him because they felt that he wasn't marketing them enough...and won. not because he was an uber slime, but because he's not a marketing genius.

hmm...a punk singer who's not a marketing genius. whodda thunkit?

i'm not saying that there's no possibility of foul play on jello's part in all of this. i just think the band is SHITTY for taking on a new singer to tour, just to make more money off of the name. if they were so passionate about making music, they would've reformed a new band years ago. true or false?

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Registered: Jul 2000
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Ray and Klaus have both been involved in other bands over the years. Ray's also a producer.

I'm not going to bother to look up crap about this right now. Seems ridiculous, arguing about this. I know which one of them is shitty.

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Registered: Jul 2000
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There is really nothing to argue about. I'd guess that you and I look at the Dead Kennedys in different ways, morgana. I interpret what you've said to mean that you think that the Dead Kennedys are Jello Biafra and his backup band from the '80s. I think the Dead Kennedys are a band of 4. 75% of the Dead Kennedys want to tour. 1 member refused to tour so the other 75% voted to get somebody else to fill his role in the tour. In keeping with their history of each of the members having an equal say in how they will move forward, they are touring and they have brought in a replacement singer.

It is interesting that you'd excuse Biafra for what he's been convicted of because he is just a punk rocker. I'd hate to have to go to court and have my defense be that I was too simple to do what I was responsible for.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
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He shouldn't have made himself responsible for their label, really. Brett Gurewitz running Epitaph caused problems (although not of this size) with his role in Bad Religion, too.

But to be fair, if he lost in court then he was wrong, I should imagine.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: The Bottom of the Toyem Pole
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quote:

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Originally posted by morgana
... if they were so passionate about making music, they would've reformed a new band years ago. true or false?

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Denver
Posts: 22234

I saw them, it was alright, at least there was plenty of nostalgia for me, as the place I saw it in, I hadn't been in since I was a sixteen year old shaven headed punk watching garage bands break second hand pawn shop instruments. I got drunk, I jumped in the pit, I stomped on people. The music, sucked.

-m

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