Alternative Tentacles

Free-Market Medicine by Michael Parenti

2012-01-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Free-Market Medicine—A Personal Account
by Michael Parenti

When I recently went to Alta Bates hospital for surgery, I discovered that legal procedures take precedence over medical ones. I had to sign intimidating statements about financial counseling, indemnity, patient responsibilities, consent to treatment, use of electronic technologies, and the like.

One of these documents committed me to the following: “The hospital pathologist is hereby authorized to use his/her discretion in disposing of any member, organ, or other tissue removed from my person during the procedure.” Any member? Any organ?

The next day I returned for the actual operation. While playing Frank Sinatra recordings, the surgeon went to work cutting open several layers of my abdomen in order to secure my intestines with a permanent mesh implant. Afterward I spent two hours in the recovery room. “I feel like I’ve been in a knife fight,” I told one nurse. “It’s called surgery,” she explained.

Then, while still pumped up with anesthetics and medications, I was rolled out into the street. The street? Yes, some few hours after surgery they send you home. In countries that have socialized medicine (there I said it), a van might be waiting with trained personnel to help you to your abode.

Not so in free-market America. Your presurgery agreement specifies in boldface that you must have “a responsible adult acquaintance” (as opposed to an irresponsible teenage stranger) take you home in a private vehicle. I kept thinking, what happens to those unfortunates who have no one to bundle them away? Do they languish endlessly in the hospital driveway until the nasty weather finishes them off?

You are not allowed to call a taxi. Were a taxi driver to cause you any harm, you could hold the hospital legally responsible. Again it’s a matter of liability and lawyers, not health and doctors.

One of the two friends who helped me up the steps to my house then went off to Walgreen’s to buy the powerful antibiotics I had to take every four hours for two days. I dislike how antibiotics destroy the “good bacteria” that our bodies produce, and how they help create dangerous strains of super-resistant bacteria. I kept thinking of a recent finding: excessive reliance on medical drugs kills more Americans than all illegal narcotics combined.

So why did I have to take antibiotics? Because, as everyone kept telling me, hospitals are seriously unsafe places overrun with Staph infections and other super bugs. It’s a matter of self-protection.

Two days after surgery I noticed a dark red discoloration on my lower abdomen indicating internal bleeding. I was supposed to get a follow-up call from a nurse who would check on how I was doing. But the call might never come because the staff was planning a walkout. “We have no contract,” one of them had told me when I was in the recovery room. So now the nurses are on strike---and I’m left on my own to divine what my internal bleeding is all about. What fun.

Fortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. A nurse did call me despite the walkout. Yes, she said, it was internal bleeding, but it was to be expected. My surgeon called later in the day to confirm this opinion. Death was not yet knocking.

A few days later, there were massive nurses strikes on both coasts. Among other things, the nurses were complaining about “being disrespected by a corporate hospital culture that demands sacrifices from patients and those who provide their care, but pays executives millions of dollars.” (New York Times, 16 December 2011). One cold-blooded management negotiator was quoted as saying, “We have the money. We just don’t have the will to give it to you” (ibid.).

As for the doctors, both my surgeon and my general practitioner (GP) are among the victims, not the perpetrators, of today’s corporate medical system. My GP explained that it is an endless fight to get insurance companies to pay for services they supposedly cover. Feeling less like a doctor and more like a bill collector, my GP found he could no longer engage in endless telephone struggles with insurance companies.

There are 1,500 medical insurance companies in America, all madly dedicated to maximizing profits by increasing premiums and withholding payments. The medical industry in toto is the nation’s largest and most profitable business, with an annual health bill of about $1 trillion.

Along with the giant insurance and giant pharmaceutical companies, the greatest profiteers are the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), notorious for charging steep monthly payments while underpaying their staffs and requiring their doctors to spend less time with each patient, sometimes even withholding necessary treatment.

I am without private insurance. And my Medicare goes just so far. Like many other doctors, my GP no longer accepts Medicare. For a number of years now, Medicare payments to physicians have remained relatively unchanged while costs of running a practice (staff, office space, insurance) have steadily increased. So now my GP’s patients have to pay in full upon every visit—which is not always easy to do.

Our health system mirrors our class system. At the base of the pyramid are the very poor. Many of them suffer through long hours in emergency rooms only to be turned away with a useless or harmful prescription. No wonder “the United States has the worst record among industrialized nations in treating preventable deaths” (Healthcare-NOW! 1 December 2011).

Too often the very poor get no care at all. They simply die of whatever illness assails them because they cannot afford treatment. An acquaintance of mine told me how her mother died of AIDS because she could not afford the medications that might have kept her alive.

In Houston I once got talking with a limousine driver, a young African-American man, who remarked that both his parents had died of cancer without ever receiving any treatment. “They just died,” he said with a pain in his voice that I can still hear.

Living just above the poor in the class pyramid are the embattled middle class. They watch medical coverage disappear while paying out costly amounts to the profit-driven insurance companies. I was able to get surgery at Alta Bates only because I am old enough to have Medicare and have enough disposable income to meet the co-payment.

For my out-patient operation, the hospital charged Medicare $19,466. Of this, Medicare paid $2,527. And I was billed $644. The hospital then writes off the unpaid balance thus saving considerable sums in taxes (amounting to an indirect subsidy from the rest of us taxpayers). Had I no Medicare coverage, I would have had to pay the entire $19,466.

I was informed by the hospital that the $19,466 charge covers only hospital costs for equipment, technicians, supplies, and room. So besides the $644, I will have to pay for any pathologists, surgical assistants, and anesthesiologists who performed additional services. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

How much does my surgeon earn? Not much at all. He gets about $400 to $500 for everything, including my pre-op and post-op visits and the surgery itself, an exacting undertaking that requires skills of the highest sort. He also has to maintain insurance, an office, an assistant, and an increasing load of paperwork.

My surgeon pointed out to me, “If you ask people how much I make on an operation like yours, they will say $4000 to $5000, and be wrong by a factor of ten.” He noted that in a recent speech President Obama criticized a surgeon for charging $30,000 to replace a knee cap. “The surgeon gets a minute fraction of that amount,” my doctor pointed out.

To make matters worse, there is talk about cutting Medicare payments to physicians by 27 percent. If this happens, it is going to be increasingly difficult to find a surgeon who will take Medicare. Still worse, the private insurance companies will join in squeezing the physicians for still more profits.

I was able to meet my payment ($644) not only because my operation was heavily subsidized by Medicare but because it was a one-day “ambulatory surgery.” I don’t know how I would fare if I had to undergo prolonged and extremely costly treatment.

So much for life in the middle class. At the very top of the class pyramid are the 1%, those who don’t have to worry about any of this, the superrich who have money enough for all kinds of state-of-the-art treatments at the very finest therapeutic centers around the world, complete with luxury suites with gourmet menus.

Among the medically privileged are members of Congress and the U.S. president. They pay nothing. They are treated at top-grade facilities. They enjoy, how shall we put it, socialized medicine. No conservative lawmakers have held fast to their free-market principles by refusing to accept this publicly funded, medical treatment.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, cheerfully announced that medical care is not a human right; it should be “market determined just like food and shelter.” Nobody has a higher opinion of John Mackey than I, and I think he is a greed-driven, union-busting bloodsucker. Nevertheless I will give him credit for candidly admitting his dedication to a dehumanized profit pathology.

The U.S. medical system costs many times more than what is spent in socialized systems, but it delivers much less in the way of quality care and cure. That’s the way it is intended to be. The goal of any free-market service---be it utilities, housing, transportation, education, or health care---is not to maximize performance but to maximize profits often at the expense of performance.

If profits are high, then the system is working just fine---for the 1%. But for us 99%, the profit lust is itself the heart of the problem.

© Michael Parenti, 2011
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Michael Parenti’s most recent book is The Face of Imperialism. Go here for further information about him.

Buy his AT release on iTunes!

Michael Parenti on Occupy America!

2011-11-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

Occupy America by Michael Parenti
November 8, 2011

Beginning with Occupy Wall Street in September 2011, a protest movement spread across the United States to 70 major cities and hundreds of other communities. Similar actions emerged in scores of other nations.

For the first two weeks, the corporate-owned mainstream media along with NPR did what they usually do with progressive protests: they ignored them. These were the same media that had given the Tea Party supporters saturation coverage for weeks on end, ordaining them “a major political force.”

The most common and effective mode of news repression is omission. By saying nothing or next to nothing about dissenting events, movements, candidates, or incidents, the media consign them to oblivion. When the Occupy movement spread across the country and could no longer be ignored, the media moved to the second manipulative method: trivialization and marginalization.

So we heard that the protestors were unclear about what they were protesting and they were “far removed from the mainstream.” Media cameras focused on the clown who danced on Wall Street in full-blown circus costume, and the youths who pounded bongo drums: “a carnival atmosphere” “yongsters out on a spree,” with “no connection to the millions of middle Americans” who supposedly watched with puzzlement and alarm.

Such coverage, again, was in sharp contrast to the respectful reportage accorded the Tea Party. House Majority Leader, the reactionary Republican Eric Cantor, described the Occupy movement as “growing mobs.” This is the same Cantor who hailed the Tea Party as an unexcelled affirmation of democracy.

The big November 2 demonstration in Oakland that succeeded in closing the port was reported by many media outlets, almost all of whom focused on the violence against property committed by a few small groups. Many of those perpetrators were appearing for the first time at the Oakland site. Some were suspected of being undercover police provocateurs. Their actions seemed timed to overshadow the successful shutdown of the nation’s fourth largest port.

Time and again, the media made the protestors the issue rather than the things they were protesting. The occupiers were falsely described as hippie holdovers and mindless youthful activists. In fact, there was a wide range of ages, socio-ethnic backgrounds, and lifestyles, from homeless to well-paid professionals, along with substantial numbers of labor union members. Far from being a jumble of confused loudmouths prone to violence, they held general assemblies, organized themselves into committees, and systematically took care of encampment questions, food, security, and sanitation.

One unnoticed community protest was Occupy Walnut Creek. For those who don’t know, Walnut Creek is a comfortable conservative suburb in northern California (with no known record of revolutionary insurrections). Only one local TV station gave Occupy Walnut Creek brief attention, noting that about 400 people were participating, average age between 40 and 50, no clowns, no bongos. Participants admitted that they lived fairly prosperous lives but still felt a kinship with the millions of Americans who were enduring an economic battering. Here was a contingent of affluent but rebellious “middle Americans” yet Walnut Creek never got mentioned in the national media, as far as I know.

The Occupy movement has promulgated a variety of messages. With a daring plunge into class realities, the occupiers talk of the 1% who are exploiting the 99%, a brilliant propaganda formula, simple to use, yet saying so much, now widely embraced even by some media commentators. The protestors carried signs condemning the republic’s terrible underemployment and the empire’s endless wars, the environmental abuses perpetrated by giant corporations, the tax loopholes enjoyed by oil companies, the growing inequality of incomes, and the banksters and other gangsters who feed so lavishly from the public trough.

Some occupiers even denounced capitalism as a system and hailed socialism as a humane alternative. In all, the Occupy movement revealed an awareness of systemic politico-economic injustices not usually seen in U.S. protests. Remember, the initial and prime target was Wall Street, finance capital’s home base.

The mainstream news outlets not only control opinions but even more so opinion visibility, which in turn allows them to limit the parameters of public discourse. This makes it all the more imperative for ordinary people to join together in demonstrations, hoping thereby to maximize the visibility and impact of their opinions. The goal is to break through the near monopoly of conservative orthodoxy maintained by the “liberal” media.

So demonstrations are important. They have an energizing effect on would-be protestors, bringing together many who previously had thought themselves alone and voiceless. Demonstrations bring democracy into the streets. They highlight issues that have too long been buried. They mobilize numbers, giving a show of strength, reminding the plutocracy perched at the apex that the pyramid is rumbling.

But demonstrations should evolve into other forms of action. This has already been happening with the Occupy movement. It is more than a demonstration because its protestors did not go home at the end of the day. In substantial numbers they remained downtown, putting their bodies on the line, imposing a discomfort on officialdom just by their numbers and presence.

At a number of Occupy sites there have been civil disobedience actions, followed by arrests. In various cities the police have been unleashed with violent results that sometimes have backfired. In Oakland ex-Marine Scott Olsen was hit by a police teargas canister that busted his skull and left him hospitalized and unable to speak for a week. At best, he faces a long slow recovery. The day after Olsen was hit, hundreds of indignant new protestors joined the Occupy Oakland site. Police brutality incites a public reaction, often bringing more people out, just the opposite of what officials want.

Where does this movement go? What is to be done? The answers are already arising from the actions of the 99%:

--Discourage military recruitment and support conscientious objectors. Starve the empire of its legions. Organize massive tax resistance in protest of corrupt, wasteful, unlawful, and destructive Pentagon spending.

--Transfer funds from corporate banks to credit unions and community banks. Support programs that assist the unemployed and the dispossessed. It was Giulio Tremonti, Italy’s embattled finance minister who declared: “Salvate il popolo, non le banche” (“Save the people, not the banks”). It would be nice to hear such sentiments emanating from the U.S. Treasury Department or the White House.

--Coordinate actions with organized labor. Unions still are the 99%’s largest and best financed groups. Consider what was done in Oakland: occupiers joined with longshoremen, truckers, and other workers to close the port. Already there are plans for a general strike in various communities. Such actions improve greatly if organized labor is playing a role.

--We need new electoral strategies, a viable third party, proportional representation, and even a new Constitution, one that establishes firm rules for an egalitarian democracy and is not a rigmarole designed to protect the moneyed class. The call for a constitutional convention (a perfectly legitimate procedure under the present U.S. Constitution) seems long overdo.

--Perhaps most of all, we need ideological education regarding the relationship between wealth and power, the nature of capitalism, and the crimes of an unbridled profit-driven financial system. And again the occupiers seem to be moving in that direction: in early November 2011, people nationwide began gathering to join teach-ins on “How the 1% Crashed the Economy.”

We need to explicitly invite the African-American, Latino, and Asian communities into the fight, reminding everyone that the Great Recession victimizes everyone but comes down especially hard on the ethnic poor.

We need to educate ourselves regarding the beneficial realities of publicly owned nonprofit utilities, publicly directed environmental protections, public nonprofit medical services and hospitals, public libraries, schools, colleges, housing, and transportation--all those things that work so well in better known in some quarters as socialism.

There is much to do. Still it is rather impressive how the battle is already being waged on so many fronts. Meanwhile the corporate media ignore the content of our protest while continuing to fulminate about the occupiers’ violent ways and lack of a precise agenda.

Do not for one moment think that the top policymakers and plutocrats don’t care what you think. That is the only thing about you that wins their concern. They don’t care about the quality of the air you breathe or the water you drink, or how happy or unhappy or stressed and unhealthy or poor you might be. But they do want to know your thoughts about public affairs, if only to get a handle on your mind. Every day they launch waves of disinformation to bloat your brains, from the Pentagon to Fox News without stint.

When the people liberate their own minds and take a hard clear look at what the 1% is doing and what the 99% should be doing, then serious stuff begins to happen. It is already happening. It may eventually fade away or it may create a new chapter in our history. Even if it does not achieve its major goals, the Occupy movement has already registered upon our rulers the anger and unhappiness of a populace betrayed.

Michael Parenti’s most recent book is The Face of Imperialism. Go here for further information about him.

Buy his AT release on iTunes!

AT Closed for GENERAL STRIKE this WEDNESDAY!

2011-11-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

Alternative Tentacles will be closed on Wednesday, November 2nd to show solidarity with the General Strike recently proposed by the Occupy Oakland movement!

[DOA's "General Strike" set to 2011 Wisconsin protest footage!]

The occupiers' proposal follows:

"We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

"We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

"All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

"While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

"The whole world is watching Oakland. Let's show them what is possible."

-----
One of the most well known U.$. general strikes occurred over a five day period in Seattle, 1919, with 60,000 union members and 40,000 non-union sympathizers walking out and taking to the streets. The city all but stopped functioning, with exceptions made for essential services (firefighters, hospital staff, and the like). Crime plummeted, neighborhood kitchens were set up to feed the populace, and a staunch anti-authoritarian spirit permeated the city.

That peaceful strike ended with National Guard interference and the subsequent anarchist / socialist / IWW witch hunt that followed. Let's hope this one ends on a better note!

(info taken from chapter 15 of Howard Zinn's classic "A People's History Of The U.S.", available in its entirety online): http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

For up-to-date Oakland Occupation information:
http://www.occupyoakland.org

We Are The 99%!

Jello Biafra on Occupy Wall Street.. and more!

2011-10-13T14:22:00.001-07:00

Jello Biafra on OCCUPY WALL STREET!

Jello shoots awful flooding in Vermont

2011-09-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here is footage shot by Jello on his phone of some of the horrible flooding in Vermont last month due to Hurricane Irene.

Back to the Old School Sale!

2011-08-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Back to school- that is, the OLD SCHOOL!

16 of our favorite 1980s punk records on AT are on sale for $4.99 each only on iTunes for the month of SEPTEMBER 2011. Here's a sampling!

1980s Hardcore Punk Sale by AlternativeTentacles

Nardwuar vs. Jello Biafra, with Ani Kyd and more!

2011-06-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

Straight outta Vancouver from the set of "I Love You, I Am the Porn Queen," written and directed by Ani Kyd of Fuel Injected .45!

Mumia Abu Jamal's death sentence overturned!

2011-04-28T12:44:00.001-07:00

Here's the latest news on Mumia Abu Jamal's case- a Pennsylvania Appeals Court unanimously said his death sentence was unconstitutional.

Here's the 15-minute Democracy Now story & interview from April 27, 2011:

JB & GSM cancelling this weekend's Las Vegas shows

2011-04-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

‎"Two band members have been called back to New Jersey due to an urgent family emergency." - Jello Biafra

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine have had to cancel their Las Vegas appearances this Friday & Saturday. As soon as we know more information about current show/rescheduling we'll post an update.

Our deepest, best thoughts go out to our GSM friends who are grappling with this family crisis.

What Would Jello Do? PART 10

2011-04-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

How to help the victims of today's 8.9 Japanese quake

2011-03-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

For all of our friends & colleagues in Japan and around the Pacific rim. Stay safe and- if you can- pitch in and help. Beneath all of the musical/political/whatever differences, we're all flesh & blood.

Here some links showing you how YOU can help!

Yahoo

Charity Navigator

Jean Smith (Mecca Normal) on her involvement in making Terminal City Ricochet

2011-02-18T14:47:00.000-08:00

My name is Jean Smith. I'm the singer in the Vancouver punk duo Mecca Normal. I got involved with the film Terminal City Ricochet as a graphic designer, to create visual components - credits, signage etc. I knew one of the film's writers, Ken Lester. He'd been talking about the film for eons before it went into production. In the eighties, Ken managed D.O.A. and I believe he did some management stuff with Jello Biafra.
In 1986, Mecca Normal and a bunch of minimalist musicians and anti-authoritarian poets - including Ken - formed the Black Wedge.

"One step easier than punk! The Black Wedge is out to spread the word of how to combine poetry, music and politics and have a fun time doing it. Hardcore poems and shredding guitars, radical voices crushing sexism, militarism, poverty and conformity. The Black Wedge wants to set wild hearts and imaginations free, to release a riot of emotion - opening up a new arena for activist resistance culture." - Black Wedge poster, 1986

D.O.A. loaned us their school bus to tour on the west coast. Jello was going to speak at the San Francisco event at the Mabuhay Gardens. This, to me, was incredible. I'd seen the Dead Kennedys in Vancouver - I was a fan. I was inspired by Jello's political lyrics, his singing and general exuberance. The tour was in June of 1986. Right at the time, Jello was dealing with the Frankenchrist album poster by H. R. Giger. Basically, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) took Jello to court to send a message to musicians considering the inclusion of material that might be offensive. Warning shots, as it were.
To be entirely self-referential, it was very bad news that Jello wouldn't be able to be part of the Black Wedge show in San Francisco. 1989 rolls around and Jello is in Vancouver playing Bruce Coddle in Terminal City Ricochet. He has this Marlon Brando thing going on with a very elastic vocal performance. To me, Terminal City Ricochet was a comic book come to life and it seemed like Jello played it that way.
At some point in the film, we see the character Beatrice putting up Intens-i-thon posters that David Lester designed, not for the film, but for an actual event that included poets, painters and musicians - something Ken came up with. Mecca Normal played the Intens-i-thon in Vancouver after the second Black Wedge Tour. For me, it was great seeing Ken's ideas in action within the film. Beatrice explains, "That's why I organized the Intens-i-thon. To get people together. Music, art, graffiti. Sort of a resistance culture." When the character Alex asks more about her involvement, Beatrice says, "I give a shit. I know that idealism and activism beat cynicism and apathy any day."

I was an extra in a rock show scene where D.O.A. was playing on a wharf. There was an all-female band "on the bill" and somehow I ended up getting plucked out of the extras and sent to wardrobe and make-up to be the keyboard player in this band, which was all sort of weird. There were a bunch of people in the audience, so it felt like a show, and I was on stage, which was normal enough, but I don't usually end up on stage, "playing" with people I've never even spoken to, wearing clothes that someone else selected, with a hair "style" I didn't get any say in. Plus, I don't typically wear a dress on stage and we were on this wharf and it must have been winter, because the cold air off the waves beneath us was going right up my skirt. It was fucking freezing. All very surreal. I remember they kept me on the set for hours because they'd had me go through wardrobe, hair and make-up, so they wanted to keep putting me in scenes. The gig scene went on; we were dancing, but there was no music, and then I was supposed to stand and talk to this very serious-looking guy, which was very awkward, because we had to act like we were at a show, leaning in and talking loudly, but there was no music. I thought the guy I was talking to was looking at me like I was nuts. Maybe he wasn't that into the whole "pretending" thing.
At one point, to warm up, I got on D.O.A.'s bus, which had been driven out onto the wharf. A bunch of us were inside talking, drinking beer, watching the spectacle - the underground rock show "after rock had been banned". It was weird sitting on the bus again, after we'd used it for the Black Wedge Tours, driving it from Vancouver to LA and then the following year, from Vancouver to Montreal. It was like having lived part of what was being made into a film outside the windows of the same bus. Watching the movie version of a comic book that never existed about ideas we'd been living out on tour - getting people together to use culture to create progressive social change.

Mecca Normal has been functioning continuously since 1984. Recent projects include David Lester's books The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism and The Listener - a graphic novel, a classroom event called "How Art & Music Can Change the World" and The Black Dot Museum of Political Art. Jean Smith is the author of two published novels.

Jello on the Giffords shooting

2011-01-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

We all wondered what Jello had to say about the Giffords shooting, and here he ties it into gun control and media reform, the tea party, and Sarah Palin.

Teaser from SCAC forthcoming album Unentitled

2011-01-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lord Dwight Pentacost for this video. "Unentitled" will be out on March 1st on Alternative Tentacles. We will have the world wide vinyl rights.

What Would Jello Do? Part 6- Obama's Tax Deal & more!

2010-12-15T11:54:00.000-08:00

See all of the What Would Jello Do episodes on our youtube channel!

Also, here's a classic Jello interview w/ Jools Holland @ L.A.'s infamous Oki Dog in 1979 or 1980:

Love Slim Cessna, Dash Rip Rock, AND Rock Band?

2010-12-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Then you're in luck! Slim Cessna's Auto Club "Americadio" is now available to play on Rock Band! Here's the preview video.

Want to buy the track now? Click here

Also out now, Dash Rip Rock "Johnny Ace 2010"- you can buy it here to practice, just in for their January-March 2011 tour with Cowboy Mouth!

Check out this awesome preview video!

After this dose of Alternative Tentacles twang comes some classic AT riffage from Ludicra "Veils" and... wait for it... AMEBIX!

To sate your curiosity, here is the preview video for Ludicra.

Not So Quiet On The Blanket

2010-10-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Artist Lisa Anne Auerbach was inspired to make this based on the 7 Seconds song on our Not So Quiet On The Western Front compilation.
In her own words:

The blanket was knit on the occasion of a project I was invited to do at Los Angeles Nomadic Division. For the blanket, I wanted to evoke the character of Madame Defarge in "Tale of Two Cities." Because a lot of my work involves knitting, and much of it is political, I have been asked about this character a lot, so for this project I thought I'd just go with it.

The border of the blanket is the lyrics to the song "Fuck Your Amerika" by 7 Seconds. I first heard that song when I was high school, and it's really stuck with me. Inside of that border is another rectangle of red and white and then inside of that is a gray stripe that says "Today we invoke the first amendment, tomorrow the second" which I saw quoted in the newspaper as being on a sign at a Tea Party Rally. So it's this idea that the American rights are being talked about by one constituency as an entitlement while the lyrics are much more questioning. In the center of the blanket are names of people that I and friends of mine can't stand. I put out a call asking for names and people wrote me back with everyone from Bush to ex-boyfriends. I wanted to make a blanket that was a collective effort, naming an "enemy" together and strengthening this idea by knitting it, as did Defarge.
It's intentional that the 7 Seconds lyrics is in the red, white, and blue part of the blanket while the so-called "real americans" get shafted into the gray area.
At the evening project (http://www.nomadicdivision.org/programs/nomadicnights/lautner/default.html)
people drew on a large piece of knitting graph paper, creating their ideas for a new blanket of enemies. This blanket was there as inspiration.
A friend of mine called this the "Blanket of Death" but that seems a bit too voodoo for me. I like to think of it more simply as a snapshot of the time I made it, who was in the news, who was on people's minds. It's important to me that there are personal enemies as well as political adversaries.
The most common name people wanted put on the blanket was Sarah Palin.

Looong-awaited films FINALLY here!

2010-09-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Terminal City Ricochet (1990) & The Widower (1999) are 2 excellent indie Canadian flicks that feature, among many others, Jello Biafra & Joey "Shithead" Keithley from DOA!

Both come with their respective soundtracks- we've had the Terminal City Ricochet soundtrack since 1989 (the Jello/DOA & Jello/Nomeansno tracks kickstarted Jello's records with each band: Last Scream Of The Missing Neighbors and The Sky Is Falling And I Want My Mommy). The Widower soundtrack has never been released and features DOA, Neko Case And Her Boyfriends, The Evaporators, and many more!

These DVD+Soundtrack CD packages will be in stores October 12th, 2010, but until then you can get them exclusively from our on-line store!

Todd Sampson (MIA) R.I.P. 7/25/10

2010-07-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

We are sad to bear the news that M.I.A. singer Todd Sampson passed away this weekend.

This Las Vegas Weekly article by Spencer Patterson filed July 25th, 2010 provides some background but does not have a cause of death determined.

Friend and photographer of the band Jesse Nabers informs of us a memorial show being organized, we will post that information when it becomes available to us.

UPDATE FROM JELLO BIAFRA:

I am totally shocked. I was just getting to know Todd, as a great musician and performer, and above all as a friend. He was a real natural.

Here at Alternative Tentacles, we are devastated. Our hearts and wishes go out to his son Daz, his girlfriend, the MIA family, and all those who loved him.

Whatever you do, please don't give up. Todd never did. He will be truly missed.

The classic Bat is BACK!

2010-07-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Back in stock, it's the CLASSIC Bat logo shirt, now in black, white, & long-sleeve black. All are on American Apparel (except the 5XL one).

P.S.- Sorry about all of those weird spam blog comments. Please ignore them!

Memorial Day Weekend BAT-STYLE!

2010-05-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend features Cross Stitched Eyes swooping into Chaos In Tejas with Subhumans (U.K.) and Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine rockin' Fleet Week for NYC's anti-war UXO boat festival!

Cross Stitched Eyes Tour Kickoff!

2010-05-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

A.T.'s beloved crust punkers Cross Stitched Eyes kick off their 2010 U.S. tour on May 21st at 924 Gilman in Berkeley! Also playing are Crow (from Japan), Conquest For Death (from U.S. / Japan / Australia), Surrender (U.S.), Acephalix (U.S.), and No Statik (U.S.)! They're playing a ton of other shows, most along with the U.K. Subhumans:

05/21/2010 924 Gilman Berkeley, CA - w/ Crow, Conquest For Death, Acephalix, Surrender, No Statik

05/22/2010 Black Water Portland, OR

05/23/2010 The Morgue Seattle, WA - w/ Nux Vomica, Countdown to Armageddon, Raw Nerves: 6PM SHARP!

05/24/2010 Red Room Boise, ID

05/25/2010 Salt Lake Recording Service Salt Lake City, UT - (721 S. 400 West)

05/26/2010 Blast-O-Mat Denver, CO - with Clusterfux + more! 8 PM.

05/27/2010 TBA Kansas City, KS

05/30/2010 Beerland (CHAOS IN TEJAS!) Austin, TX - Day show - starts at 3:45 PM. (21+.)

05/31/2010 The Prophet Bar Dallas, TX - with Subhumans, Slang (Japan). All ages, 7 PM.

06/01/2010 The Conservatory Oklahoma City, OK - with Subhumans, No Man's Slave. 7:30 PM.

06/02/2010 Lauchpad Albuquerque, NM - with Subhumans. 7 PM.

06/03/2010 Ft. Defiance Chapter Ft. Defiance (Window Rock), AZ - with Subhumans. 8 PM.

06/04/2010 Chasers Scottsdale, AZ - with Subhumans. 7 PM.

06/05/2010 Glasshouse Pomona, CA - with Subhumans, Aheads. 8 PM.

06/06/2010 The Echo Echo Park, LA, CA - with Subhumans, Aheads. 8 PM.

06/07/2010 Alex's Bar Long Beach, CA - with Subhumans, Aheads. (21+).

06/08/2010 The Box Office Las Vegas, NV - with Subhumans, Aheads. 7 PM.

06/09/2010 Downtown Brew Fresno, CA - w/Subhumans

06/10/2010 The Catalyst Santa Cruz, CA - w/Subhumans

06/11/2010 Shire Road Club Sacramento, CA - w/ Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine (advance tix @ Dimple Records)

06/12/2010 Bottom Of The Hill San Francisco, CA - with Subhumans, A-Heads, Vacuum. 8 PM

Check them out if you get the chance - they're an AMAZING live band! Hell, they're a great studio band too!

Electronic Plantation at your service!

2010-05-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

Consume! Consume! Consume!

Whether it's the new Subhumans re-recording of Incorrect Thoughts, or the return of the classic John Yates' Democracy We Deliver shirt, all items on our super-webstore are now available via credit card again, as well as Paypal, money order, Western Union, and personal check. Questions about this & much more are all answered here!

Slim Cessna stranded, SFH & Victims Family too?

2010-04-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

Slim Cessna's Auto Club haven't been able to leave for their European dates yet.

Stay tuned to see if Victims Family & Star Fucking Hipsters can get through in the next few days!

Fucking nature!

Winston Smith- 1 night only this Friday in Frisco!

2010-04-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Jello & Guantanamo School of Medicine posters!

2010-03-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

For sale now, direct from the artist!

Jello & Guantanamo School of Medicine in Frisco!

2010-02-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2010 @ the Bottom Of The Hill!

Gremlins working @ Alternative Tentacles

2010-01-11T11:53:00.001-08:00

If you've been trying to order via credit card on our site over the weekend, you'll know that it's not possible. We're working to get this fixed, but in the meantime you can use the paypal option on-line or use one of the other methods on our FAQ page

You can also use our Discogs page to order anything in our catalog! (And you guys scoffed at how late we set up shop there- better late than not now, at least you credit card fiends can get your hit of The Bat while we fix our main site)

Jello on the Underwear Bomber AND Intern Insanity!

2010-01-07T17:35:00.000-08:00

Jello Biafra on the Underwear Bomber (& more!) plus Neha T. Intern curates Intern Insanity #5! It's all on the latest Batcast!

(Subscribe via iTunes or go to our site & listen directly!)

Jello talks about Spain, New Year's Eve, and MUCH MORE

2009-12-27T20:41:00.001-08:00

It's all in the brand new BATCAST we uploaded on Christmas Day! Rock it, true believers!

Taqwacore film chosen for Sundance Film Festival!

2009-12-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

The film version of The Taqwacores book about Muslim punx has been accepted into January's Sundance Film Festival! Congrats to director Eyad Zahra & author Michael Muhammad Knight!

Twisted Holidaze from the Bat!

2009-12-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

The latest BATCAST is up and ready to roar thru yer speakers! Titled Twisted Holidaze from The Bat, it's Jesse romping through some oldies & newies from AT, plus talking 'bout some seasonal specials.

You can also subscribe to the Alternative Tentacles Batcast via iTunes!

IMPORTANT HOLIDAY ORDERING DEADLINES!
For Christmas/Hannukah season we have the following deadlines. Find your method of shipping/ordering and get your order in by the date below. This should ensure delivery by Wednesday December 23, 2009.

All orders sent through the mail should arrive at our PO Box by Monday November 30
International web orders Wednesday December 2
Media Mail web orders Wednesday December 9th
Priority Mail orders Wednesday December 16

Orders received after those dates will be sent out as quickly as possible.

We do not track packages and we do not ship any other method except US Postal Service (No Fed Ex, UPS, DHL, etc.).

Selling on Discogs

2009-12-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Although we prefer it when you buy directly from us, the ludicrous prices some people are charging for old AT releases on Discogs drove us to enter the fray.
Browse here if you'd like, but note that shopping directly through Alternative Tentacles mailorder is cheaper (because Discogs tacks on a small percentage of sales).

Seller Profile -
Get This Widget

Anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests

2009-11-30T17:18:00.000-08:00

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. Here are some news articles about this anniversary from Common Dreams, People's History Project, and Seattle Indymedia.
Always ahead of the curve, Jello Biafra along with Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), and Gina Mainwal performed at a Dec 1 protest under the name The No W.T.O. Combo. Shepard Fairey did the cover artwork for the live recording, as he did most recently for the cover art on The Audacity of Hype. Here's some behind-the-scenes perspective on that day from Matt "The Tube"'s blog.
We are selling both the CD and LP of "Live From the Battle in Seattle" for $6.

Black Friday

2009-11-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Early Capitalism

they are perfecting the pillow
with which
you are being suffocated

now it sings to you
and shows you pictures-

- Joe Wenderoth
The Nation 11/23/09

William S. Burroughs on Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

W. S. Burroughs - thanksgiving prayer -
by Maetthew

P.S.- Alternative Tentacles is closed Thursday and Friday for the U.S. national holiday of Thanksgiving. See ya Monday!

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Akimbo

2009-11-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

The "last hair band in Seattle", Akimbo, was kind enough to answer this Q&A for Alternative Tentacles' 30th Anniversary. Jon Weisnewski takes a second out of kicking the ass of video game world.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles? What were you doing in 1979?

In 1979 I was UNBORN.
I discovered Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles at the ripe age of 14. I was just getting into punk and listening to some undoubtedly awful pop punk when my Dad came into my room and told me if I liked that, I should check out the Dead Kennedys. He then played me "Too Drunk to Fuck" and "Holiday in Cambodia" (what a Dad!) and I was in the club. By the time I got around to In God We Trust, INC, shit was real.

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

My favorite AT band was easily Nomeansno. I bought the Sex Mad/You Kill Me CD used in a record store, simply because it had the bat logo on the back. Loved the album, but wasn't officially on board until I saw them live in 1998, at which point I used that handy catalogue that comes with all AT releases to order everything of theirs I could afford. I hate those catalogues, until you want something out of it, and then they're awesome. My favorite AT releases are (hands down!) Wrong, Sex Mad, and the Jello/Nomeansno collaboration The Sky is Falling and I Want My Mommy.

When did Jello ask you to put out a record on AT and how would life be different if you hadn't worked with AT?

Akimbo caught a lucky break when we lost a show in Pittsburgh on tour, and we ended up getting thrown onto the opening slot of a Melvins show instead. Jello was there debuting some songs off of the first Jelvins project and he saw our set, and then asked us for a few LPs. That will freak any dude out. About a year later, Jello asked us to open for the Jelvins, and then after the show asked if we wanted to do a record on Alternative Tentacles. It's pretty goddamn insane to spend your most formative years foaming over a small group of bands on a small DIY label, and then through a loose chain of circumstances get personally asked to be a part of that very group by it's executive. It still blows me away when I think about it.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

In 2039 I see myself playing the Biafra 8-0.

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Grong Grong

2009-11-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

George Vagas from Grong Grong took some time to email us back this Q&A all the way from Australia.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles?

Alternative Records was and still is the No. 1 punk label. As a DJ myself I collected all Punk Records from America / England & Europe. I started my own Punk / Psychobilly / Trash / Swamp Rock nightclub called The Electric Torture Room in Adelaide around this time, then played drums in a few punk bands before we started GRONG GRONG.

What were you doing in 1979?

In 1979 I was DJing at numerous Punk / Ska / Rock / Rockabilly / Psychobilly events.

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

Favorite AT Bands would have to be Flipper / Butthole Surfers

When did Jello ask you to put out a record on AT?

Jello came to Australia with the Dead Kennedys in which GRONG GRONG supported DKs in Adelaide, South Australia and we were one of the best live acts he saw in Australia. That's why Jello decided to release us on AT. GRONG GRONG was invited by Jello to Tour America but unfortunately Michael Farkas our lead singer had a major drug overdose & was in a coma for 6 months and our band split up for 23 years.

How would your career/life be different if you hadn't had a record on
AT?

Without the introduction to Jello & the support to the Dead Kennedys in Adelaide we would definitely not have any of the international exposure we have today. The best thing that happened to GRONG GRONG was the record release on AT records.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

By 2039 I see GRONG GRONG having at least another 1 or 2 record releases on AT and finally being able to Tour America and Europe with our band supporting Jello's "Spoken word" Tour.

Anything you want to add?

ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES is not just a record label, but a way of life and a major inspiration to the new acts and artists who can and will have a chance to a record release on the No.1 ALTERNATIVE label in the world.

Jello & Guantanamo School of Medicine LIVE!

2009-11-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here's Jello and the Guantanamo School of Medicine LIVE in Grass Valley, CA in August, 2009, doing the ace new tune, "Clean As A Thistle!"

Over the TOP!

2009-11-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

Better- yes BETTER!- that a Sly Stallone movie, it's DAY THREE of the INCEST-A-THON with Alice Donut, Victims Family, and Burning Image!

(and, of course, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine!)

Only a few tickets left!

Second verse, different from the first!

2009-11-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Day TWO- can you handle it?

Come down & find out- tickets here!

And so it begins....

2009-11-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

TONIGHT!
Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary Incest-A-Thon

Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine
Citizen Fish
Star Fucking Hipsters
MIA (original Las Vegas Hardcore)

SOME TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!

Witch Hunt back to the US

2009-11-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

After a kazillion-month long tour, Witch Hunt's finally back in the US.

Here's them rockin' the Hazmat earlier this year in Oakland, CA.

Chuck Biscuit LIVES!

2009-10-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Whew, thankfully the news about Chuck Biscuits is a hoax- he's still quite alive according to our friend & ally Joey Shithead from DOA!

RIP Chuck Biscuits

2009-10-29T12:39:00.001-07:00

RIP Chuck Biscuits, drummer extraordinaire!

"Chuck was one of the finest drummers in punk rock and his ability to beat the crap out of his drums with pinpoint precision was unmatched. He did time in a number of legendary punk rock bands and they were always better off for having him in the band. Chuck did time in D.O.A., Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Social Distortion and Danzig (which is was probably most well known for). Chuck also lent his talents to Run DMC on my favorite album of theirs, Tougher Than Leather."
(from Punk Vinyl)
Punknews.org article

Jello speaks! A lot!

2009-10-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

I just sat down with Jello Biafra for an hour in front of a microphone & we talked about everything from his new record to Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize to- well, just listen for yourself, okay?

The batcast (a.k.a. the AT podcast) is split into 2 parts- here's Part One!

(if you're subscribed to the Batcast thru iTunes, it's up there now!)

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Ludicra

2009-10-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ross from Ludicra took time out of his busy schedule (everyone in this band seems to be an overachiever) to answer some stock questions about being on Alternative Tentacles. We released their critically acclaimed albums Fex Urbis, Lex Orbis and Another Great Love Song. The band follows up their Halloween show in Portland for the Fall Into Darkness festival by playing our November 6th Anniversary show in San Francisco.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles? Were you on the ball in 1979, or did it come up later.

In 1979, I was a bit busy smashing a 3 3/4" Darth Vader into his 3 3/4" son, Luke (spoiler!). No, I'm afraid I was not on the ball. My first memory comes much later, when I came to the realization that there was more to life than comic books and cartoons, namely music and sex. A friend passed along to me a CD copy of Plastic Surgery Disasters, and I was hooked. Around the same time, there was the great Oakland Hills fire and the riots following the Rodney King trial, which so perfectly mirrored Jello's lyrics in "Forest Fire" and "Riot," it was eerie. I knew this was something smart I had to be a part of. I got everything I could from DK and ordered all the posters and lyrics sheets then available. My mother particularly loved the Giger penis collage. Later, my friends in high school contacted AT about having Jello come to help emcee a concert we were putting on through the school, ostensibly as a benefit to get clean underwear to the homeless. To our astonishment, Jello wrote back personally, and was supportive of our "Underwear Fest." What a stud! Unfortunately, dire events transpired to where he could not attend, but his support was an inspiration to me beyond our little concert. Alternative Tentacles forever wound around my heart and drove me mad, like some kind of Lovecraftian elder god.

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

Neurosis "Souls at Zero" changed what I thought was possible with punk. First, it perfectly crossed over into metal but kept the punk ethos. It heightened emotional levels with hypnotic melodies, leaving the listener humming the tunes after they'd been thoroughly crushed by the record. Neurosis was and still is a great band, but that seminal release, shepherded by Alternative Tentacles, was a genre-defining moment and changed extreme music for all time. In addition to that, I've always enjoyed the spoken word released by AT, from Jello's hilarious monologues to Noam Chomsky's sobering lectures.

When/why did Jello ask you to put out a record on AT?

Lord only knows why we were asked (did we beg?). I think Jello enjoyed our band's genre-defying inclusion of a coupla girls and a coupla jews, compared to black metal's stereotypical bands. I think he could appreciate our city-living cynicism, we having walked the same streets and meeting the same panoply of punks, spangers, junkies, and hipsters as he. Mostly, I'd like to hope he thought we were good, because AT has always seemed to make a priority not of quick albums sales, but of putting out things that Jello believes in.

How would your career/life be different if you hadn't had a record on AT?

I'd be a much less fulfilled person and musician, not least because I would have missed out on seeing Jello wearing a gold lame pimp costume at one of our Halloween shows.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

I'll be singing that Beatles' song "When I'm 64," because that's how old I'll be, to an empty room. I'll be wondering who is going to need me, feed me, and also I'll add a line about changing my adult diaper, because I'll have just filled it.

Thanks to the folks who've worked at AT in the past, present, and future, for keeping a great symbol of musical integrity alive and kicking! Here's to 30 more years.

Ace Nomeansno Victims Family Triclops poster

2009-10-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hot poster from last weekends' Nomeansno, Victims Family, Triclops! show @ the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma!

Made by Zoltron Posters

It's here!

2009-10-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

Shazam! Get the brand spankin' new Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine LP NOW!

Gimme Something Better Rocks the Radio!

2009-10-08T12:49:00.001-07:00

Gimme Something Better, the ginormous oral history of San Francisco/East Bay punk that includes dozens of AT-related bands & extensive comments from Jello Biafra, is gearing up with a series of shows, spoken word events, and radio interviews. (You can buy it here!)

You can hear co-editor Jack Boulware on KALX's "Soap Box Derby" call-in talk show tonight (Thursday 10/8) live from 9-9:30 pm by tuning into 90.7 FM or streaming it live.

Friday morning, 10am-11am, Jack will appear on KQED's "Forum" call-in talk show, along with a host of book contributors, including Alternative Tentacles' own Jesse Luscious. Tune in at 91.7 FM or stream it live.

Donut in November- GET PSYCHED!

2009-10-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

In Brooklyn & San Francisco! Here's the flyer from the band:

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Th' Inbred

2009-09-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Though a relative newcomer to the Alternative Tentacles fold, Th' Inbred were of an initial generation that was directly influenced by the first wave of punk. Based in West Virginia through the mid '80s, we've compiled the band's two albums and singles for the collection "Legacy of Fertility." Singer Bobb Cotter (aka @rt reco) and drummer Billy Atwell indulged our questioning. "Legacy of Fertility" and its two vinyl volumes hits stores October 6th.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles? What were you doing in 1979?.

Bobb Cotter: I was still in the process of dropping out of college. My first memory of AT is walking into a 7-11 and hearing "Too Drunk to Fuck" blasting out of a future roommate's boombox. Had to wait a couple more years before it made it to Morgantown, West Virginia, where I was living at the time.

Billy Atwell: In 1979 I was in junior high still. The action was low-key and harmless. One day I took to running over disco records with my other punk rock skater buddies during lunch hour in front of the student body. We started requesting Ramones and Devo at school dances to have pogo fits. I was busy getting my ass kicked by the public school band program, an experience I would ironically draw on in hardcore bands and allow me to sustain a career as a composer and musician years later. I lived in Morgantown, WV and everything revolved around sports events at the University. Me and my few closest friends were like time bombs waiting for hardcore to happen. We also formed bands and jammed in our parent's garages.

It was a defining moment in the fall of '81. Mike McCuskey came up to me in gym class, handed me his Sony cassette Walkman and hit play. It was the Bad Brains "Pay To Cum" and the A side of "Let Them Eat Jellybeans". Rallying around 1977 became a distant memory the second Paul Miller's drums kicked in, Darryl Jennifer's percussive bass dropped like thunder and HR's amphetimine rant of PMA logic came screaming...so much so I had to ask Mike if he forgot to change the speed setting on the turntable when he made the tape. "Is this on 45???!!!" He smiled as if saying, "I thought the same thing" and shook his head slowly and deliberately back and forth. Kinda like he just became privy to a revolution he never thought possible was actually happening and we had the guerilla ammo in the audio at hand. Then came copies of the MRR comp "Not So Quiet On The Western Front" and the DK's "In God We Trust, Inc.". On all accounts everything in my value system was about to become assessed in a way that shocked me into confirming my own disenfranchisement with what seemed to be the American standard in 1981.

Embracing hardcore became a fast and greasy incline from September to December. I got my first defiant haircut from the barber of my choice and could no longer hide my code. That totally bummed my Mom out and the community at my local Methodist church. Low income, denim and flannel sons from the pike who normally rocked on AC/DC were not into my brand of freak flag but were also a little too terrified to engage at close range to really confront their concerns. From the artwork to the lyrics of those 3 AT releases "it was on!" as they say and my life changed forever. I began questioning authority though a little too pointedly and at times misguidedly (typical high school kid) but found years later that there were certain things associated with the political extremety of the DK's and first wave of US h ardcore on the "Jellybeans" comp that became a useful ally lacking in many of my peers. The straight and narrow, the tried and true, the conventional and typical left many of them scratching their heads. For many the itch is still there. I hate to say "sheep" but...

In a strange way the reverberation of the first wave of US hardcore ties in with recent interest in samurai literature, the complete self-sacrifice for completion of the mission with absolute resolution. Was there Zen in stagediving? Intense as that is my goal in reading that literature was to find a temperament. The savagery I could call up on tap more often than not verbally and not raise a finger to the agitator. Call me stubborn but the logic of "if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything" was seared to my brain permanently in old school HC lyrical mantras. The objective through hardcore (at least for me) became that of determining what it was you stood for and finding ways to get along with the rest of the sheep. Or not. The first MDC release and the Butthole Surfers first two AT releases just kept throwing gasoline on the fire of my newfound liberation. I may never have said this but...gosh!...THANK YOU, AT!

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

Billy Atwell: The DK's were tops, easily, but NoMeansNo, MDC, DOA, Butthole Surfers, as well as the Jellybeans and 1st MRR comp all got heavy rotation.

Bobb Cotter: The Dead who? BGK, Butthole Surfers and Zolar X! JONESTOWN ALOHA by BGK.

When did Jello ask you to put out a record on Alternative Tentacles?

Bobb Cotter: AT got in touch with us through Welly, a British anarchist/artist/musician who did the inside graphics to the CD booklet, and it just went from there. Jello told our bassist Duff a few years before that that he regretted not signing us to AT 'back in the day', so I guess that everybody just thought it was about time.

Billy Atwell: I could be wrong in my recollection but around the time that Grand Theft Audio had made a pretty solid commitment to do the anthology we got an inquiry from AT to put out the same release. On behalf of the band I had been talking to GTA and felt we were pretty far upstream with dialogue and a relationship and that to just cut it off at the point was not a very personable thing to do. Life got in the way on a number of levels and GTA eventually passed on the release in April of 2008. We then figured we'd just put it out ourselves through CD Baby (with WAY less artwork) and leave it at that. Welly, the artist who did the incredible layout and liner notes for the CD and vinyl releases (who was, BTW, doing the layout all along for the pending GTA release) thought to reach out to AT just to see what they'd say. Jello called me a few weeks later and the rest is history. None of us ever really thought this would materialize. It's as if we figured it was all too good to be true, Murphy's Law (the concept, not the band) would take over and that'd be that. Fortunately AT's follow through was all they said it would be and now we have these wonderful new releases with all the eye candy artwork, lyrics and editorial a once Inbred fan could want and maybe a few new ones.

How has being on the label made your life different?

Bobb Cotter: Well, it actually might have been different if we had been on AT 'back in the day', but since our anthology is coming out 20 years after the band broke up, I'd honestly have to say none at all - so far. But it's a little different now, simply having to do things like this and having "Legacy of Fertility" out; all sorts of people and memories coming out of the woodwork... as I said, we're all just genuinely amazed and honored that people remember us and consider us so well, or say we influenced their lives in some way.

Billy Atwell: I haven't fully figured that out yet. It's not like we expect to get college money together for our kids from the release but likely without the AT releases we'd be where we were on the hardcore totem pole depending on who you talked to. I found it curious that while I was actively maintaining a myspace page I'd get all sorts of emails from people in remote parts of the world talking about how they enjoyed the band and was there going to ever be a CD of the stuff. Questions about some sort of reunion are already coming in but I don't really see that happening. Not for anything interpersonal but because of where some of our personal lives are with careers and family.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

Bobb Cotter: In Pittsburgh.
Billy Atwell: 73 years old and retired in Santorini, Greece. I intend to die watching repeated viewings of the greatest sunset anywhere next to El Paso's.
If anyone is interested I am still releasing my own material and involved with music production and recording (should there be interest in hiring me as a producer/collaborator...visit www.billyatwell.com). I'm also up for studio session gigs and small tours as a drummer or whatever. In the New York City/New Jersey area I am available for master class style drum lessons without the commitment or regiment of weekly lessons. Note too that I am in the last few weeks of school but should be a certified massage therapist by the time this is published. In addition to performing on-site massage in the comfort of your own home and likely a wellness center in Hoboken, NJ, I will also be working on volumes of music for relaxation and wellness.

Kinda like th' Inbred did only much, much slower...

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Amebix

2009-09-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Rob "The Baron" Miller took time out of his busy schedule with the reunited Amebix and his swordsmith work to take a looky loo back at 30 years of Alternative Tentacles.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles?

Seeing the label of the "Fresh Fruit" LP was the first time I clocked the Label.

What were you doing in 1979?

Punking about in a small town in Devon, playing in 'the Band with no name'

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles release?

Zolar X first

When did Jello ask you to put out a record on Alternative Tentacles?

During a visit to Southern Studios in London whilst we were recording "No Sanctuary," he had come to see us play the Sir George Roby and dug it.

How would your musical career be different without AT?

The World would not have benefited from a great musical leap forward in the shape of "Arise!", and we may have given up trying to convince anyone that we had something to offer.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

Skye

Pansy & Avengers rock Oakland!

2009-09-18T01:52:00.001-07:00

Speaking of Pansy Division, they just tore up The Uptown in Oakland, CA, on tour with The Avengers & Paul Collins Beat (ex-The Nerves) tonight. If you're smart, you'll catch the tour in San Francisco @ the Bottom of the Hill or down in the Los Angeles area this weekend!

And yes, The Avengers line "Ask not what you can do for your country but what your country's been doin' to you" still strikes the jugular!

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Jon Ginoli

2009-09-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

Continuing our series of interviews with Alternative Tentacles acts on our 30th anniversary, multimedia domination is the name of the game with Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division who this year alone released his memoir Deflowered, the new Pansy Division album "That's So Gay", and the DVD documentary Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band. Pansy Division are in the midst of a West Coast tour with the Avengers as we speak.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles? What were you doing in 1979?

I bought the first DKs 45 that year. In college at the University of Illinois, I did the first punk/new wave show on that station, WPGU.

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

Tribe 8's "Fist City."

How and when did Jello ask you to put out a record on AT?

He liked our band and wanted to sign us back in 1992. We ended up on Lookout then, but finally got to AT a decade later.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

In a nursing home, in diapers. Depends.

Read the book Gimme Something Better, a history of the Bay Area punk scene that just came out. I'm on page 106, it's great so far!

AT 30th Anniversary - Q&A with Stza Crack

2009-09-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Alternative Tentacles began its illustrious life in 1979. Today in 2009, we are commemorating three decades of persistence with shows in early November in San Francisco and by continuing to release new music. We also thought we'd shine some light on the history of Alternative Tentacles by asking artists on the label, past and present, about what it all means to them.

First off and appropriately timed with the upcoming release of Star Fucking Hipsters "Never Rest In Peace" is Stza from Star Fucking Hipsters and Leftover Crack.

What is your first memory of Alternative Tentacles? Where were you in 1979?

I was playing with a tennis ball when I was 3 years old in 1979, I don't recall the Dead Kennedys playing, more likely it was the Beatles.
I think I was reciting my first words "Pol", "Pot", "Pol", "Pot", etc.

What is your favorite Alternative Tentacles band? Favorite release?

Being from NYC, I was really into Alice Donut, with songs like "Egg" and I even stole the first verse of "500 Channels" by Choking Victim from their song "Tiny Ugly World" from the record "Mule". Alice Donut had a great live show too as did NYC's False Prophets, my favorite song of theirs being "Destructive Engagement" from the record "Implosion" (I believe). That song's really hard to find because the record's been out of print forever. Also one my main musical influences of all time was and is Neurosis, who released several albums on A.T., my favorite still being "Souls at Zero" with my favorite track being "Takahnase."

How did Jello ask you to put out a record on Alternative Tentacles?

After spending over two years writing, recording, and mixing the initially self-financed "Fuck World Trade" by Leftover Crack with great folks like Steve Albini and the musicianship of folks like the World/Inferno Friendship Society we had a hell of a time trying to get record labels to listen to it and with the title being what it was. I remember receiving an e-mail while I was away in Central America and the gist of it was, "Call Jello, he likes the record!"

So I called him on a very poorly connected telephone from the middle of Guatemala and we discussed what would later turn out to be the A.T. release of the record in 2004. It was fairly surreal for me at the time to talk to him as we threw ideas back and forth at what seemed to be lightning speed, but with that annoying phone-delay echo to boot. I had always wanted to be on A.T. ever since I first became a punk and started playing in bands, after all they had the most politically influential artist up to that point in my life and he was the captain of the A.T. boat.

I was always vaguely disappointed that A.T. didn't want to put out "No Gods/ No Managers" by Choking Victim, although I'm certainly glad that they eventually came around to L.O.C. & now I'm proud to have our new Star Fucking Hipsters album on the label.

How would your career be different if you hadn't had a record on the label?

I would definitely be less politically satisfied, although I think Fat Wreck Chords also has their political hearts in the right place as well, it's just not quite the same as being on a label with great writers and political commentators like Arundhati Roy, Michael & Christian Parenti, Noam Chomsky, and Mumia Abu Jamal. A.K. Press is amazing, a lot of my research for the lyrics on "Fuck World Trade" was reading "Lockdown America" by Christian Parenti & Arundhati Roy's essays about the World Bank and I.M.F. devastating India with ill-conceived debt. Incurring dams that devastated and displaced huge populations of indigenous towns and also the writings of Mumia and the police injustice perpetrated upon him.

Where do you see yourself in 2039?

Old and fat suckling on the golden nipples of my A.T. royalty checks!
And of course captain some sort of starship, like the Jeffersons "Starship", ya' know "movin' on up to that big something starship in the sky-hi-hyyy"

Thank you for having me on the label and giving me a chance to fulfill one of my punk-rock dreams...

180 Gram Donut!

2009-09-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

Yes! It's here, the limited-to-1,000 180 Gram edition of the brand new ALICE DONUT record, "Ten Glorious Animals"!

If you order it, we will pack it & send it to you in the next couple of days. Who needs "pre-orders" when you can just get it sent to you immediately?

Rock the Donut!

The Mighty Layman & his new Donut CD!

The 'Org + The Bat = BFFs!

2009-09-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Our pals @ Punk News keep the AT-related stories coming. The fun part is observing the local flora & fauna's reactions to Our Heroes!

Today you can read a sweet new interview with Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division and the low-down on the upcoming 1-2 punch of the Star Fucking Hipsters/Citizen Fish west coast tour (which includes a stop at Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary celebration!).

Neha versus Th' Inbred!

2009-09-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

Neha takes on Th' Inbred on the newest BATCAST!

She takes a look back @ the 1980s band new discography on AT, "Legacy Of Fertility," with fresh ears and lots of rare photos!

'School's in! Cologne Rock City!

2009-09-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

Ace German photog Marc snapped Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine last night in Cologne, Germany! Check out the photos here (& note the sweet "Iraq Veterans Against the War" shirt!).

Pop Songs and Anarchy!

2009-09-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Want some punk with your power pop, from the Bobbyteens to the Ripoffs to Darrin & the early Donnas to S'Cool Girls? Go see Bobby M, the man, the legend, the obsessive collector!

Jelvins back on VINYL!

2009-08-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Back in print on beautiful VINYL, it's Jello & the Melvins debut, Never Breathe What You Can't See!

Gimme Something Better website rules OK!

2009-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Check out the astonishing, time-sucking website for the upcoming "Gimme Something Better" book - complete with hundreds of images from the site AND the opportunity to upload your own images of San Francisco Bay Area punk (From San Jose to the moon over Marin, it's all here?!).

Compiled entirely of oral histories, it's subtitled "The Profound, Progressive, and Occasionally Pointless History of Bay Area Punk from Dead Kennedys to Green Day." Along the way they raided the Alternative Tentacles photo & ephemera archives, as well as speaking with Jello Biafra, Jesse Luscious, and many other Alternative Tentacles-related people!

Jello Parla In Italiano!

2009-08-25T14:30:00.001-07:00

Check out this cool long-form interview with Jello Biafra in XL Rupubblica! Try out your Italian with the text or watch the cool English-language streaming video of the interview w/ snippets of Jello Biafra & Guantanamo School of Medicine.

Rock On Wesley Willis! We Love You Like A Milkshake!

2009-08-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003

Listen to the Anniversary Batcast! It includes many Wesley songs PLUS a previously unheard recording of the Jelvins covering "Rock & Roll McDonalds" live in 2005!

Only U.S. show for Jello in MONTHS!

2009-08-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

The sizzling new punk band from Jello Biafra, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, is playing one show in the U.S. before heading to play Europe next week.

It's this Saturday in Grass Valley, CA, with ace d.i.y. band Git Some. Tickets Available Here. New tracks are up at the band's myspace page. This is the only US show scheduled until November, so don't miss out!

Leftover Crack over Europe!

2009-08-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Word on the street is that there's been live NSFW Stza craziness on the current LOC tour- stay tuned for the video evidence! Meanwhile, here's LOC live @ Tompkin's Square a couple years ago!

Ludicra FINALLY east of the Mississippi!

2009-08-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

For the first time, San Francisco black metallers Ludicra will be making their way east of the Mississippi. They will be joined by fellow San Franciscans and prog-fantasy metal band Hammers of Misfortune for the sojourn. Supporting their critically acclaimed Alternative Tentacles album release, Fex Urbis Lex Orbus, Ludicra will be sure to leave no grave stone unturned as they finally decimate the Eastern United States.

Ludicra features current and former members of Impaled, Wolves in the Throne Room, Exhumed, Hickey, the Fuckboys, Slough Feg, Phobia, and Gwar. Their eclectic membership takes black metal to an unheard of level, that is, until they are blasting ear drums and razing scalps. They were voted Best Metal Band of 2003 by the readers of the San Francisco Weekly and Best Metal Act of 2009 by the readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

They'll paint the towns red... with blood from their veins!

08/05/09 Alehorn of Power Fest IV @ Cobra Lounge, Chicago IL
08/07/09 Pirates Cove @ Peabody's, Cleveland OH
08/08/09 Casbah, Hamilton ON
08/09/09 Middle East, Boston MA
08/10/09 AS220, Providence RI
08/11/09 Santos, New York NY
08/12/09 Johnny Brendas, Philadelphia PA
08/13/09 DC9, Washington DC
08/14/09 Sonar, Baltimore MD
08/15/09 Ravari Room, Columbus OH

No roadside assistance for gays & lesbians?

2009-08-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Fundie nutjobs American Family Association's latest homophobic tantrum is about the Florida branch of the American Automobile Association's (AAA) decision to offer gay couples (& opposite sex domestic couples) the same membership options as hetero married people.

They are urging their flocks to barrage the Florida AAA with demands to not offer family rates to gay & lesbian couples.

You can go to Equality Florida's website to write AAA thanking them for not buckling to hate-mongers who apparently prefer gays & lesbians to be stranded by the side of the road.

Is this REALLY a huge issue for them or their followers? What's next, being pissed off at gay & lesbian seniors getting discounts @ movie theaters? Fucking creeps.

P.S.- Not that AAA is a saintly organization- they harassed Florida ska-punks Against All Authority about the band's parody of their old logo (see above).

Star Fucking Hipsters NEW SONG & TOUR!

2009-07-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

Star Fucking Hipsters- led by STZA from Leftover Crack- has uploaded up a brand new song from their upcoming Alternative Tentacles debut "Never Rest In Peace"!

All of you U.K. kids should get out & see SFH starting tonight in Kingston, West Sussex!
Jul 31 2009 8:00P the Fighting Cock Kingston
Aug 1 2009 8:00P barfly (cheap show) Cardiff
Aug 2 2009 7:00P Star & Garter Manchester
Aug 3 2009 7:00P End Bar Newcastle
Aug 4 2009 7:00P Sumo Leicester
Aug 5 2009 7:00P Asylum Birmingham
Aug 6 2009 7:00P Underworld London
Aug 7 2009 6:00P Rebellion Fest! Blackpoole

2 Brand New Jello songs up!

2009-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Check out 2 of the brand new Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine songs on the band's myspace page!

The album's being mastered today, and the art is being hammered out as we speak. The full length CD & LP will be out in Late October, and is called "The Audacity of Hype!" HYPE!

Wesley Willis vs. Nardwuar!

2009-07-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Put your helmet on! It's Nardwuar vs. Wesley Willis, with an intro by Jello Biafra!

Check out our awesome Wesley Willis deal!

Rock on Wesley Willis!

Leftover Crack in NYC & Philly!

2009-07-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yours truly had a chance to see Leftover Crack in their native habitat on the East Coast last week- here's a taste of the chaos!

NYC July 3rd!

Philly July 4th matinee!

Rubber Duckies & pop punk

2009-06-29T22:32:00.001-07:00

Some AT propaganda being squatted by some pop punk ducks at last weekend's Insub Fest in Baltimore!

More soon?

P.S.- Thanks to MrsWaves for the pic!

The Bat At Insub Fest!

2009-06-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

Alternative Tentacles is a proud sponsor of this year's epic Insubordination Fest in Baltimore, MD! It's this weekend and features Pansy Division and Reverend Norb's Boris The Sprinkler. You may remember Norb's contribution to the Alternative Tentacles catalog: his twisted take on Bob Dylan as Nob Dylan and His Nobsoletes!

Both Pansy Division & Boris The Sprinkler play on Friday June 26th, along with the Dead Milkmen, The Steinways, Toys That Kill, Underground Railroad to Candyland, and more!

NOB DYLAN AND HIS NOBSOLETES - Postively 12 Stiff Dylans! CD
PANSY DIVISION - That's So Gay CD

PANSY DIVISION - Life In A Gay Rock Band Double DVD

Insubordination Fest myspace

Insub Fest tickets

EXCLUSIVE! Michael Jackson Not Dead

2009-06-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

In his most thrilling media stunt yet the King of Pop basket cases burst through the doors to the ER, dancing, prancing, moonwalking and tossing false noses to adoring fans like Elvis with the scarves in Las Vegas. Sources tell us he will soon resume his sideline activity from the "Thriller" days - going door to door disguised as an old lady soliciting money for his fellow Jehovah's Witnesses. Yet another earth-shattering scoop that Wolf Blitzer missed, but Jello Biafra didn't. And TMZ?

Win a signed Witch Hunt poster!

2009-06-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the new Witch Hunt LP/CD "Burning Bridges to Nowhere," we're giving away signed tour posters to 3 lucky customers!

Jared the Mail Order Prince will choose 3 people who've ordered the new release on CD or LP. The lucky 3 will receive the 2009 US Summer tour poster signed by all 4 band members, in addition to the new Witch Hunt release.

Do you want in? Just place your order for "Burning Bridges to Nowhere" on our website by Midnight Pacific time Tuesday, June 23, 2009, and you're in the running for this ace prize!

To get you in the mood, here's the podcast interview Jared & Jesse Luscious did with the band when they were in the Bay Area last week on tour.
Direct link to the Witch Hunt AT Batcast, surf to the Batcast page, or subscribe via iTunes to the Batcast & never miss a show!

They're ON TOUR now!

Logical Nonsense live!

2009-06-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Logical Nonsense live! (while this isn't from their reunion show last month, it's still ace!)

P.S.- We've been swamped @ BAT HQ getting new releases ready for the fall, including a new Jello Biafra music project. Stay tuned for details, true believers!

Jello Biafra at Varnish Art

2009-06-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

Varnish Fine Art Gallery is putting on an opening entitled Eminent Domain Awareness as they are being forced to move out by the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. Read about on SFist, or come tonight to the event, where Jello will be speaking alongside other performers.

Awareness-Raising event and reception for the "Eminent Domain Awareness" Group Show
Friday, June 5th, 2009
77 Natoma street between 1st and 2nd St. and Mission and Howard.
7pm - Midnight
Tonight's event features legendary Dead Kennedys frontman and activist Jello Biafra, recent Vice Presidential candidate and former SF Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, newsman and Argonaut Editor Warren Hinckle, business consultant Melinda Phillips Zumski, live screenprinting by Political Gridlock and The Firehouse, and music by Burnt House and DJ Evil Justin + surprise guest performers!

Admission is Free; You must be 21+ to attend, so please bring ID

Pansy Division in SPIN & iTUNES!

2009-06-02T12:56:00.001-07:00

Essential Pansy Division is on the front page of iTunes Gay Pride page now!

Talkin' 'bout Pansy Division's Life In A Gay Rock Band DVD!

Logical Nonsense REUNION Saturday night!

2009-05-29T13:28:00.001-07:00

New Mexico's legendary Logical Nonsense are doing one show this Saturday May 30th at the Launchpad in Albuquerque!

Jello Biafra versus Ian Svenonius!

2009-05-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Jello Biafra being interviewed by Ian Svenonius (Nation Of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, and of course, Sassiest Boy In America!) on Vice TV!

On Soft Focus TV!

Saturday night SK8 update!

2009-05-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

Just got a text from John the Baker:

"Great trip. Finished last show, heading home. Alex won a skateboard. Jared got injured ankle and didn't finish. We're all together, Jared stayed in the van. Ankle get better."

Skate Till You Die 2009!

2009-05-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

From John The Baker, Jared, & Alex comes this news of their exciting 60 mile skateboarding trip down the length of the East Bay. Check out this East Bay Express article for more!

"SKATE TIL YOU DIE ! Welcomes the three Alternative Tentacles interns who are doing the full 60 mile skate from Richmond to San Jose, Ca. May 21, 22 and 23 to benefit Bay Area Kids Who Rock and Adaptive Action Sports, a group dedicated to skaters and boarders with prosthetic limbs. Please Sponsor them for Skate til you Die!
If you'd like to donate to the cause, you can do so through Paypal:
to leasa: lcatera@sbcglobal.net

Or Buy a shirt from Alternative Tentacles! AT has donated 50 shirts to the SKATE TIL YOU DIE! benefit and the organizers are screen printing the Skate Til You Die! Logo on the front with the ATR BAT SYMBOL on the back of the shirts. These limited edition shirts will be up & available here on the AT site next week!

Dead Dead Kennedys cds...

2009-05-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

One of the worse parts of the job- making excess DKs stock unsellable. (We have more as archival copies, but they will never be sold or available to the public)

Frank Zappa on censorship & the PMRC!

2009-05-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here's part 1, 2, & 3 of a 1986 interview with Frank Zappa about the PMRC on "School Beat." The relationship between art & action is still being debated- see Jello Biafra's High Priest For Harmful Matter for his experiences with Zappa, the PMRC, and of course the whole Frankenchrist trial.

1st Photos from last night's Jello show!

2009-05-10T12:02:00.001-07:00

Yes, these are photos from my phone. Yes, there were people with actual cameras there. We'll upload or link to some of them soon. In the meantime, it was a sizzlin' set from Jello & the boys, with a beer-drenched crowd creatin' chaos & disorder in the always intimate Annie's Social Club. You can see by the photos how intimate!

P.S.- Thanks to everyone who helped sell out the show last night, & to the other awesome bands- Social Unrest, Ribzy, Fix My Head, & The Excuse!

Jello's new band plays SATURDAY!

2009-05-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

Jello Biafra is now immersed in creating an all new music album with his new band, the same one that electrified the Biafra 5-0 celebration last year:
Jello Biafra
Billy Gould (Faith No More)
Ralph Spight (ex-Victim's Family, Freak Accident)
John Weiss (ex-Sharkbait, Horsey)
plus additional guitarist Kimo Ball (ex-Freak Accident & Mol Triffid)

[The band's still arguing over the name- it is NOT Jello Biafra And The Dick Army! Jello's current favorite is Gitmo Twinkie.]

The band's playing a last minute hit and run show @ Annie's Social Club in San Francisco this Saturday May 9th!

It's going to be a short-to-medium length set so that Billy's arms don't fall off after stacking this project on top of intensive rehersals for the reformed Faith No More. Speaking of Faith No More, this is probably Billy's last live appearance with Jello's band because FNM is going on tour!

Also on the bill are local punk rock legends Social Unrest & Ribzy, plus newcomers Fix My Head and The Excuse! Don't forget back room Punk Rock & Schlock Karaoke! 21+, $10
Buy Tickets!
SF Weekly's preview: Drink PlumpJack Wines or You Will Pay

The Sermon are BACK!

2009-05-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite San Francisco bands The Sermon are playing 2 upcoming shows!

Thursday, May 14th
Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th Street (at Missouri)
with Pierced Arrows (ex-Dead Moon) and Burnt House - 9pm $10

Saturday, June 20th
Bender's Bar and Grill 806 South Van Ness (at 19th Street)
with The Corruptors and The Holiday Band - 9pm $5

(don't forget their awesome AT album/cd!)

SWINE FLU!

2009-05-01T10:47:00.000-07:00

Who's ahead of the curve? Jello Biafra, Steelpole Bathtub, & Charles Tolnay/Grong Grong/King Snake Roost- a.k.a. TUMOR CIRCUS!

"Swine Flu" is the b-side of the classic 7-inch "Take Me Back or I'll Drown Our Dog"! It's also on their intense full-length. (It's about the cat that lived with Jello & Winston Smith back in the day)

Here's the MP3 of SWINE FLU!

Ani Kyd sings the (jump) Blues!

2009-04-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Our favorite female snarler from BC has returned to one of her 1st musical loves- the blues! From Jump blues to swing, it's all a part of her new combo, The Ani Kyd Blues! Check out the myspace page for tunes & live shows!

What a contrast with Ani's rough & tumble solo AT cd "Evil Needs Candy Too," huh? No rest for the wicked!

Drunk Injuns TONIGHT in the East Bay!

2009-04-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

That's right, legendary skate punks Drunk Injuns are playing ONE show tonight in Oakland at the Uptown with fellow legends D.I.!

Drunk Injuns "She's Got A Gun"

Burning Image emerges from their bat cave!

2009-04-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

Burning Image- the mysterious Bakersfield 80's goth-punk band legends- are emerging from the Great Beyond today on the radio & tonight in Oakland, CA!

After AT reissued their incredibly rare KBD recordings on 1983-1987, the band has now assembled a new look at the underbelly of existence as only Burning Image can! The new record "Fantasma" will debut at this show. It won't be in stores until mid-May but you can get it NOW from Alternative Tentacles!

Burning Image plays live on KFJC 3pm (Pacific) today!
Burning Image plays live @ the Uptown in downtown Oakland tonight! It's a Shadow Society event!

Cross Stitched Eyes sew up Europe!

2009-04-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Cross Stitched Eyes just wrapped their 16-date European tour in support of the smokin' hot brand new record Coranach! It's a big beautiful 12" vinyl with an audio cd inserted in the jacket. Ab fab!

CSE in Bristol a few days ago:

The Pansy Division Doc Down & Dirty!

2009-04-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

Pansy Division bassist & documentary film-maker Chris Freeman sat down with Jesse Luscious for the brand new batcast, talking about the new "Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band" Double DVD, and the band's history & future. Chris also talks about the new series of Pansy Division "webisodes" & other features of the Pansy Division You Tube Channel!!

"Pansy Division: Life In A Gay Rock Band" official trailer!

Pansy Division and ROB HALFORD from JUDAS PRIEST doing "Breaking The Law" Live!

Check out the brand new Alternative Tentacles You Tube Channel!

Erika "Crumbly" Hynes RIP

2009-04-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

Erika was a long-time friend who ran Little Type Mailorder, & worked with Maiko & I @ Lookout! Records in the late 1990s. She passed away on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 1, 2009, and is survived by her beloved husband, Patrick Hynes, and dog, Lucy.

We hit it off when she first moved to the East Bay back in 1994 or 1995, & our friendship continued over the years, ebbing & flowing as we worked together @ Lookout! and then later as she & Pat started up Little Type. She & Pat made a great team, and all of my heart goes out to Pat & her family.

- Jesse Luscious

Larry Livermore wrote about her here & here, while others memorialize her here, here, & here.

Photo= Patrick & Erika, drawing= BH, AJ, Erika, & Jesse. Art by Patrick.

guess who joined Twitter?

2009-04-01T13:51:00.001-07:00

Become the Media

Jon Ginoli readin' & strummin'!

2009-03-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

The videos are flowing in from Jon Ginoli's current book tour! Not only is he reading from his new book "Deflowered: My Life In Pansy Division," he's also playing tunes from Pansy Division record old ("Curvature" from "Undressed") and new ("Pat Me On the Ass" from "That's So Gay"). See both in this clip from his San Francisco reading @ Booksmith a few days ago!

Phantom Limbs RECORD RELEASE tonight!

2009-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight it's the Chicago CD/DVD RELEASE party for the Phantom Limbs at the Beat Kitchen! Featuring Phantom Limbs frontman's new band Loto Ball Show, plus Young Widows, Millions, & My Disco!

photo: Phantom Limbs @ 924 Gilman, Berkeley CA, in 2000.

SXSW, dicks, and hipsters

2009-03-19T17:01:00.001-07:00

Gary Floyd and the Dicks are in the news! Here's a live review by Christopher Weingarten, and a news piece on MSNBC by Robert Wellington. There's also a preview here from Austin Decider.

Other AT bands are at SXSW as well, including Dash Rip Rock, The Evaporators, and Star Fucking Hipsters (which features members of Leftover Crack).

Star Fucking Hipsters
March 19, Opal Divine's Freehouse 700 W 6th St. 12 midnight set

Evaporators
March 21, Habana Calle 6. 1:00 am set