Today is the birthday of Eric Reed Boucher, better known by his punk name Jello Biafra. He turned 65 today.
Biafra is a very outspoken punk musician who was the frontman for the Dead Kennedys, the No WTO Combo, and his current band, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, which recently enjoyed a new release. In addition, Biafra has had numerous collaborations with other musicians and bands, including the Offspring, MoJo Nixon, the Melvins, NoMeansNo, DOA, and some others, as well.
He started his own record label, Alternative Tentacles, which had grown impressively over the course of years and now decades, even though it has remained largely a grassroots record label, which had also delved into publishing books.
One thing nobody can accuse Biafra of is shyness. He is very outspoken on political matters, and has a regular video series that can be viewed on Youtube known as “What Would Jello Do?” or WWJD for short. On these videos, Jello gives his summaries and opinions on key political matters of the day.
This birthday post for Biafra is a little different than the past. He suffered a stroke months ago and is still recovering. One hopeful sign is that I saw a picture of him up and about and at a San Francisco Giants baseball game, of all things. Would not have pegged him of a fan of sports, especially major league sports. But hey, he always is full of surprises. And it really did seem like an encouraging sign to see him out and about in the world again. That was the first time that I can remember hearing from him directly in a number of months.
Biafra was born Eric Boucher on this day in 1958.
Here's wishing Jello the very best and a Happy Birthday.
And here's to many more!
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