Ladies and Gentlemen: The Dead Kennedys
by Timm Carney
With an
approximate combine age of 165 years, the Dead Kennedys stepped out on
stage. Their last stop on this tour was Axis on Lansdowne St in Boston.
One side of Lansdowne St. is lined with nightclubs and bars; on the other
side of the street is the ass of Fenway Park. Steven Tyler once owned a
club called Mamakin on Lansdowne. It’s a street with “rock cred”.
Reformed
once again the DK’s are still pumping out loud fast punk rock. The band
looks and sound great. Jello Trois (Jeff Penalty) does a fine job of
resurrecting the spirit and it doesn’t hurt that he looks not unlike Jello
when Jello looked like Jello. One was able to forget the bands
melodramatic legal troubles while they kicked out hit after hit. “It's
the suede/denim secret police. They have come for your uncool niece”
“Last night
we were in New York doing our last show at the real CBGB’s.” If at all
possible the campy “Viva Las Vegas” was camped up even more to become
“CB’s Las Vegas” The DK’s are always good for a laugh. The show was fast
fun and really short! They played for about an hour. Axis becomes a
dance club later in the evening so once the show is over it’s out out
out! Less than 10 minutes later, the band was on the sidewalk surrounded
by fans and autograph seekers. East Bay Ray is an old friend of mine and
it was fun seeing him as the ROCK STAR signing CD’s and girl’s t-shirts.
A friend of mine and I walked through the crowd and I tapped Ray on the
shoulder. He turned smiling his celebrity smile and did a tremendous
double take.
“What are
you doing here?”
“Seeing a
Dead Kennedys show” We talked and gossiped for a minute or two but he was
still at work and there were t-shirts to be signed and camera phone to be
smiled at.