Jello Über Alles

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About a week ago, Mike Whybark attended a small event involving local performer Jason Webley), and subsequently posted a video of fellow accordionist Aaron Seeman leading the accordion class in a rousing rendition of the Dead Kennedys‘ ‘California Über Alles‘.

In an entertaining little bit of synchronicity, while driving around on Saturday afternoon Prairie and I happened to catch the last half of this week’s This American Life show on the local NPR station. The show (at least in this latter half) was a fascinating look at Michael Guarino, most notorious for being the prosecuting lawyer in the 1986 obscenity trial against Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys over their _Frankenchrist_ album and the H. R. Giger print included with it.

From the Alternative Tentacles website:

When a San Fernando Valley mother complained that her 13- year old daughter had purchased the record as a gift for her 11-year old brother (at a Wherehouse Records outlet in a large mall), the LA City Attorney’s Office decided to prosecute the case. Deputy city attorney Michael Guarino, the prosecutor in the case, admitted they chose to prosecute the DKs because it would be a “cost-effective” way to send a message to other musicians, record companies and fans. Guarino had been considering prosecuting several other groups when this case came along, and he thought he could win this one.

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Charged in the case were Biafra, and four others, including the 67-year old man whose company pressed the Frankenchrist disc. Conspicuously not charged were Wherehouse Records which sold the offending album. They had agreed to stop selling Frankenchrist and all other Dead Kennedys albums when the controversy first surfaced.

Biafra and the others decided to fight the charges of distributing harmful matter to minors, and set up the No More Censorship Defense Fund…

Finally, after months of delay, during which Biafra’s time was taxed enough that he had no time to work on his music, the case went to trial. After a week-long trial in which witnesses such as Greil Marcus testified on the group’s behalf, and a respected art teacher attempted to show how the poster was an integral part of the Frankenchrist package, the jury came out deadlocked (7-5 in favor of acquittal), and the judge dismissed the case.

Jello has talked about this case many times over the years at spoken word performances, some of which have been recorded and released as albums. I first learned about the case from Jello’s spoken word album No More Cocoons, and have heard it referenced quite a few times over the years since.

Apparently, though, Mr. Guarino has come to see his zealous attack against the Dead Kennedys as a mistake — and has since come to gain an appreciation for the causes that Jello supports. From a 1997 Music News of the World article:

In fact, Guarino, whose son is a big fan of Biafra, said he now appreciates a lot of what the punk poet has to say in his spoken-word rants.

“In retrospect,” Guarino, the Director of Clinical Programs at JFK University in Orinda, Calif., told ATN last week, “I think it’s more important for (District Attorneys) offices and US Attorneys offices to focus on the tremendous amount of conflict of interest at the top, the accountants, the lawyers, the politicians, and get out of the area of freedom of expression.”

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In one of life’s great ironies, Guarino said his teenage son “idolizes” Biafra and constantly listens to the punk poet’s CDs of spoken-word rants. “I keep trying to tell him that there’s much more to all of this than what Jello talks about, but he is definitely right about a lot of stuff,” Guarino said about Biafra’s conspiratorial rants. “He’s an interesting guy, but he only sees what he’s in a position to see and he can’t get beyond a quarter-inch or so of what’s going on. In some cases, it’s much worse than he could ever imagine.”

Towards the end of the This American Life segment, interviewer David Seagal (sp?) has called Jello and gotten the two men to talk. Not only do they end up talking about the nearly two-decade old case, but they go on from there, finding more common ground than might be expected and chatting like old friends.

It was an incredibly interesting bit of radio to randomly stumble across. The show (Know Your Enemy) isn’t available online yet, but according to the This American Life website, it should be downloadable in about a week or so. Consider it highly recommended listening.

iTunes “California Über Alles” by Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, The from the album Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury (1992, 4:13).

How many times were you a minor?

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On a lighter note, while this news story isn’t really something to laugh at, it has a wonderful example of bad writing that made me laugh:

A 35-year-old educator in Douglas County has been arrested on charges that she allegedly had sexual relations with a 16-year-old student who is a minor more than once.

So he was a minor more than once, huh? Just how many times can one be a minor? Is it a cumulative thing encompassing everything up until your 18th birthday? Are you a minor 18 times? Or once for each month/day/hour/minute? Just how is this figured out, anyway?

iTunes “I’m Going Straight to Heaven” by DJ Zero/MC 900 Ft Jesus from the album Hell With the Lid Off (1990, 4:03).

It’s only domestic violence if you’re married

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Here’s a jaw-dropping, “holy shit” item: in Ohio, beating someone you live with is only domestic violence if you’re married, and the justification used for this is Ohio’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

A judge has ruled that Ohio’s new constitutional ban on same-sex marriage prohibits unmarried people from being able to file domestic violence charges, a decision that has prompted an immediate appeal by prosecutors.

Judges and others across the country have been waiting for a ruling on how Ohio’s ban on same-sex marriage, among the nation’s broadest, would affect the state’s 25-year-old domestic violence law, which previously wasn’t limited to married people.

Wednesday’s ruling by Cuyahoga County common pleas judge Stuart Friedman changed a felony domestic violence charge against Frederick Burk to a misdemeanor assault charge.

Burk, 42, is accused of slapping and pushing his live-in girlfriend during a January argument over a pack of cigarettes.

His public defender, David Magee, had asked the judge to throw out the charge because of the new wording in Ohio’s constitution that prohibits any state or local government from enforcing a law that would “create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals.”

Prior to the amendment’s approval, courts applied the domestic violence law by defining a family as including an unmarried couple living together as would a husband and wife, the judge said. The new amendment banning same-sex marriage no longer allows that.

This disgusts me on all sorts of levels. The discrimination against same-sex partners is bad enough, but using that to reduce the possible penalties for abusing someone you live with purely because you’re unmarried is reprehensible — in this case, the assault was reduced from felony domestic violence, with a possible 18-month jail term, to a misdemeanor assault, with only a possible six month jail term.

Here’s hoping the appeals process goes a long way towards turning this mess around.

iTunes “Children of the Light” by Eva O Halo Experience from the album Gothik (1994, 4:22).

Marilyn Monroe

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Up until last week sometime, I’d never actually seen a Marilyn Monroe film. Marilyn MonroeI knew who she was, of course, and had seen the occasional brief clip from one film or another here and there, but I had yet to actually watch any of her work. All I knew about her was the image — the blonde bombshell, most often posed either with her skirt blowing up around her waist or in her famous nude shot.

Last week I got Some Like it Hot from Netflix), Prairie and I watched it over that weekend, and both really enjoyed it — as much for realizing just how cute Marilyn was as for the excellent humor running throughout the film. This week we decided to try another of her films, and picked Monkey Business, which was equally enjoyable.

Something tells me there may be more Marilyn films in the future ’round my place.

iTunes “100 Mile Dash” by Giacchino, Michael from the album Incredibles, The (2004, 3:07).

They used to be funny…

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When did Steve Martin stop being funny? It had to be sometime after 1991, when he wrote and starred in one of my personal favorite films, L.A. Story. I found out some time ago that Prairie hadn’t ever seen L.A. Story, finally managed to remember that while we were wandering through Blockbuster, and got to introduce her to it this weekend. As I expected, she loved it.

Still, I’d watched Bowfinger, a more recent Steve Martin comedy, earlier in the week and had been singularly unimpressed with it. Neither Steve Martin nor Eddie Murphy are nearly as funny as they used to be — in fact, these days I generally tend to avoid movies with either of them. Admittedly, Eddie Murphy has done some worthwhile voice work lately, as Donkey in the Shrek films and as Mushu in Disney’s Mulan, but his recent live-action work (Daddy Day Care? Dr. Doolittle?)…well, even the trailers make me cringe. Meanwhile, Martin, who has two of my favorite films in his past — L.A. Story and Roxanne — has been turning out such quality fare as Cheaper By the Dozen and Bringing Down the House (I’ll admit that I haven’t seen either of those — but again, the trailers don’t give me any reason to bother).

A shame, really.

iTunes “Blues Line” by Toyes, The from the album Toyes, The (1996, 4:13).

Small Pets Allowed

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As Prairie and I are planning on getting a place together in a few months, we’ve started occasionally flipping through ‘For Rent’ listings to see what’s available in our price range around town.

Yesterday, one of the listings caught my eye.

“Hey — ‘small pets allowed, up to 20 pounds.’ We could get forty hamsters!”

Sadly, my idea was vetoed, as was my backup suggestion of one large hamster.

Ah, the compromises we make when arranging living with someone else.

iTunes “Razor’s Edge” by Revolting Cocks from the album Beers, Steers and Queers (1990, 4:45).

Photo Flood Finished

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I’ve finished uploading older photographs into my Flickr account for now. I’ve been concentrating on bigger “event” things to put into sets, rather than everyday stuff.

New sets since the previous update: The Jensonia Hotel fire, Kevin and Emily’s wedding, Bumbershoot ’03, Pride Day ’03, Bumbershoot ’02, Bumbershoot ’01, and Pride Day ’01.

And right at the end of the Pride Day ’01 set, just for Kirsten:

Seattle Gay Pride Parade, Seattle, WA