Punk

Nick Gillespie at Reason posts on Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys and all the libertarian punks come out of the woodwork to post in the comments. I think Gillespie misread the original piece at Daily Beast: Biafra called Jerry Brown's record "mixed at best", not Pol Pot's. But he's certainly right overall:

You got that? He's deflatin' the great pols of the day, but not Lord Obama, because...well, it's just not Barry O's fault. Cue up the Mary Magdalene bit from Jesus Christ Superstar and hum along: "...he's a man, he's just a man..."

Read the whole thing, including Jello Biafra's middle-aged worries about those Tea Party types ("Some of them are even talking in terms of guns and Obama and whatnot and you know that if anyone said that on radio or TV about Bush they'd be in jail for the next 30 years,”) and then remember one of the foundational truths of punk by way of D.H. Lawrence: Never trust the singer, trust the song. The icons of our youth exist to disappoint us in their (and our) old age and in that sense, Biafra has indeed managed to cough up a second act, however predictable and uninteresting it might be. The madcap fella who closed out one of the greatest albums of all time with an ironic version of "Viva Las Vegas" has become far more cringe-inducing in life than Elvis Presley did while dying on the crapper.

Recommended listening from Gillespie's comments thread:

• Jello Biafra with DOA: "Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors", especially "Power is Boring", "Wish I was in El Salvador" and "Full Metal Jackoff" (ok, I recommended that set)
• Minutemen, "Double Nickels on the Dime"
• The Bats - Kiwi punk from Flying Nun
• The Chills, "Pink Frost" and "Heavenly Pop Hit" - more Kiwi music from Dunedin
• Melvins with Hank Williams III, "Ramblin' Man" [I second; saw Hank III at 9:30 in DC, was excellent]; whole "Crybaby" album looks very good
• Bad Religion recommended over Dead Kennedys
• Pixies "I've been Tired"
• Dread Zepplin, Viva Los Vegas

Again, stupid fixed costs...I'd have picked up a dozen albums out of the recommended list were I in a low fixed cost environment.