A PUNK REUNION.(the Dead Kennedys reunite for a performance in Brooklyn, New York)

It has been twenty-three years since the Dead Kennedys released their first single, "California Uber Alles" (which envisioned President Jerry Brown flanked by "the suede-denim secret police"), and since their singer, Jello Biafra, ran for mayor of San Francisco (his platform called for all downtown executives to wear clown suits during business hours) and came in fourth. And it has been sixteen years since the band broke up, after playing what was supposed to be its final show, in Davis, California. "We all agreed not to carry it on, but the thing about punk rock is, it's against having a set of rules, and here we are," East Bay Ray, the band's guitarist, said. This was the other night at L'Amour, a club in Brooklyn, where the DKs, touring for the first time since 1986, were about to play a midnight show. Their re- union is incomplete, however, as Jello has been estranged from the group since 1998, when Ray and the others--the bassist, Klaus Fluoride, and the drummer, D. H. Peligro--sued him for unpaid royalties and for the rights to license their music. (Biafra has accused them of wanting to let Levi's use the song "Holiday in Cambodia" in an ad. The band denies it.) In Jello's place, they have hired Brandon Cruz, who's on loan from a band called Dr. Know.

"My involvement is controversial, obviously," Brandon said, drinking a beer in an unfinished broom closet that was being used as the greenroom. "Now Jello is suing Dead Kennedys, accusing me of impersonating him and emulating his stage act. I've had death threats from fans. I've been called a scab and a trust-fund baby--because of my background, I guess." When Brandon was six years old, he began playing Eddie in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," a sitcom that ran on ABC in the early nineteen-seventies and starred Bill Bixby as a widowed father. "Bixby was an amazing man," Brandon said. "In 1981, I did a Dick Clark special called 'Whatever Became of . . . ?,' and I showed up with green hair and he hugged me. He said, 'Are you on drugs?' and I said, 'No.' So I lied to Bill Bixby, but it was O.K."

Brandon, who has small eyes, tight skin, and short platinum hair, wanted to make it clear that, despite stories about Jello living in a large Victorian house in San Francisco while the rest of the DKs were going broke--Klaus had been driving a DHL truck--this tour is not just about money. He said, "I didn't write these lyrics, but I believe every fucking word of them."

"Surprisingly, most of the lyrics ...