Charges stem from one San Fernando Valley woman's letter of complaint made in January to the State Attorney which was passed on to the Los Angeles City Attorney. The woman, Mary Sierra, said her 11-year old son received the Dead Kennedys' Frankenchrist album as a birthday gift from his teenage sister. Ms. Sierra then discovered the enclosed poster which showed explicit sex acts.

"The First Amendment wasn't supposed to protect anything like this! Children's morals are being corrupted!" These are the comments of people who perceive Biafra and his business associates as blatant smut peddlers. These are also people who would call artist Francis Bacon and David Hockney's work obscene.

Biafra's poster is not aimed at 11-year olds to pervert them nor is that the intent of Academy Award-winning set designer and noted European painter H.R. Giger, the artist whose work is reproduced. Quite simply it is a political statement which the First Amendment protects like it was meant to.

Anyone who listens to the Dead Kennedys or is even aware of the name can infer a lot about the band's abrasiveness. Therein lies the band's genius. The immediacy of the message, devoid of any pretense, as in "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" and "California Uber Alles," hits you on a gut level and at the same time forces you to think about serious social and political problems. And this is precisely what the painting, entitled "Penis Landscape," does.

Giger's painting is visually assulting. It depicts a series of disembodied diseased buttocks encased in something like brown slime and linked in vertical rows by erect penises inserted into vaginas. Equally important, however, is the substantial border which surrounds it. Blue with white stars and Frankenchrist emblazoned in white and red stripes across the top, the combined effect of the painting and its border make it a kind of American Flag.

"When I see that picture," says Biafra, "I see consumer culture on parade and the pitfalls of consumer culture - the way we exploit and mistreat each other in a consumer-oriented society. It becomes a vicious circle of fear where people feel they have to play the game of one-upmanship, winning isn't everything - it's the only thing. It relates to what we're saying in our songs."

I don't expect all 11-year olds to have an enlightened political consciousness. But neither does Biafra. It is not as if he was passing these posters out in an elementary school yard. The album was a deliberate purchase by someone who was not only able to pay the estimated $7.99 but also to read the warning sticker prominently placed on the album jacket.

The Dead Kennedys don't have the mass appeal of Whitney Houston or even that of Judas Priest. They will not revolutionize America; not them or even the entire punk rock movement. Yet prosecuting attorney has singled them out on the basis of one mother's complaint in what he terms a "cost effective way of sending the message out" that punk rock can go too far.

That he presumes he can set such a standard is an infringement of the right to freedom of expression and if he succeeds it will set a precedent for other First Amendment-related cases around the country.

The recent banning of rock and roll magazines from Wall-Mart stores and evangelist Jimmy Lee Swaggart's attacks on rock and roll are indicative of the New Right's attempt to use popular music as a scapegoat for society's ills. If you think this is wrong, let someone know. Write a letter to your congressman, the editor of you local newspaper or large circulation magazines. After all, it only took one letter to spark Biafra's court case.

For contributions and more information regarding the Dead Kennedys case write: No More Censorship Defense Fund, P.O. Box 11548, San Francisco, CA. 94101. For a comprehensive packet of information and updated clippings on both sides of the recent Senate hearings on censorship of music send $1.50 and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Z/PAC, Barko-Swill, P.O. Box 5418, North Hollywood, CA. 91616 or call (818)PUMPKIN (this is Frank Zappa's group). For a more conservative viewpoint, request the newsletter of the Parents' Music Resource Center, 1500 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, VA. 22209. (703)527-9466.

As General Mananger of KALX, I was surprised that the police chose to act in such a fashion. I felt the police had violated the station's First Amendment rights, the right to the the listeners to KALX's coverage of the demonstration, and Federal Law prohibiting interferance with a radio broadcast.

I conveyed those feelings to Chancellor Heyman in a letter and asked that some sort of relief be given to KALX. If we were not given any relief, I threatened to sue for an injunction against the University. The University and KALX agreed to mediate a settlement between the station and the U.C. Police Department. A rough draft of the agreement is pending approval. I can guarantee you that the U.C. Police will never again interfere with KALX's broadcasting.

I want to thank those KALX listeners who offered their support during this crisis. Without that support, it is doubtful that KALX could continue to bring you programming so real and excithing that it requires official action to turn it off. That support also enabled KALX to win the National Federation of Community Broadcaster's "Golden Reel" award for excellence in radio news. We commend the News Department for winning this award, and thank our listeners for tuning in at 2:40 in the morning to find out what was really going on.

In the process it helped shape popular musical taste long before Top 40 radio got its grubby hands on that form of persuasion. It also proviede a wide range of visual aesthetics, as many juke boxes' ornamental features were often as curious and entertaining as the music that emanated from them.

Today the juke box is less common but far from dead. Since the 1960s most have become more functional and less ornamental, abandoning the classic styles that manufacturers like Wurlitzer and Rockola had pioneered.

New gimmicks always seemed to help the juke box industry, and today is no different. Technology has now brought us the video juke box that - you guessed it - plays popular videos instead of the standby 45 rpm record.

Many sources cite 1936 as the first year that juke boxes really took off and gained mass appeal in the U.S. It was then, thanks mainly to the juke box, that the depressed American record industry began to recover. It wouldn't be long before popular music (Swing at that time) replaced classical music and opera as the most popular type of music on record.

So, even though the juke box is a little older than 50 this year, now seems as good a time as any to recognize the value of the great machine.

Local bands work hard for their shows, but often they begin working after the club booking agent tells them who they'll be on the bill with. This can ruin a show from the start.

Good shows take a lot of planning from the bands' end as well as the club's. What makes a good show? Here's what a calculatedly random population of booking agents think:

"You look for the right chemistry of bands that will turn an audience on," says Wes Robinson. Wes books Ruthies's Inn in Berkeley and is now organizing for his Eastern Front festival this summer. "There are a lot of artistically beautiful shows. Trying to spread the money around can create problems."

"Very often the headlining band gets all the money," Wes says. "When you lose with a big headliner it can be very painful."

Club owners make money off the bar. It costs about $75,000 for a liquor license," states Wes. "You have to be concerned about the bar being patronized."

Jane Guskin is currently putting together shows at the V.I.S. Club on Divisadero Street in San Francisco. She also plays bass in a punkish trio called Ten Tall Men. "I try and book complete shows," she says. "I don't just throw a lot of bands together on a bill." Her club is "kind of a dive, it's kind of a bar, it doesn't have a predetermined crowd or atmosphere, it completely depends on the bands."

Jane advises local bands to go and see a lot of other bands and find out the ones they like, or even bands they wouldn't want to play with. "Too many bands don't have time to see other bands and it's not like they're really connected. It's good to try and meet people in other bands, even if they can't help you out."

Many local bands find themselves in a Catch-22 situation when it comes to playing gigs. They must play shows to get a following of fans, and they need fans to get shows. If a debut show at a club is sparsely attended the club may not let them play there again. Clubs like the Stone and the Chi Chi (located on Broadway in S.F.) are known to make bands sell tickets to their own shows. Once chewed on, twice shy.

Ness Aquino, across town from the V.I.S. at the Mabuhay Gardens, has the following news for local heroes; "Before they become famous, nobody knows who they are." Friends and relatives have to be invited whenever they play. "I book a band once, and if they don't draw I don't touch them again."

"Local bands have to get their friends to come," say the Berkeley Square's Michael Bailey, "And hope to build up a buzz or excitement from there. A lot of bands don't even do that, then they're upset when nobody comes."

Word of mouth remains the best of all channels of publicity. A band must promote itself the best way it knows. Getting college airplay from fickle djs definitely helps name recognition.

"Unless people know you, they're not going to come out and see you," says Michael. "The first gig is real important. They have to do something special to make people want to come back."

Another good idea is not to play too many shows in a short period of time. Instead of exposing a band to hordes of potential fans, this can wear down friends and relations who make up the core audience.

Time and energy that gigging entails could be better used to put together a demo tape, compiling mailing lists, and sending out promotional materials to the print media.

In what manner should a band approach a club booking agent for a show? It's best if only one member is responsible for contacting the agent. This reduced confusion. Attitude can be crucial as well. "When a band is really arrogant, they tends to annoy me," says Jane. "A lot of people expect a good gig right away. If they're humble and don't try and pressure me, I give them a gig."