What do '78 San Fran and '25 Worcester have in common? Quite a bit, turns out. We bring on historian Michael Stewart Foley to talk about his book Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, a history of the Dead Kennedys record by the same name and the context in which that work of art / protest document was birthed: San Francisco, 1978. After the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, newly sworn in Mayor Dianne Feinstein ushered in a wretched era of city governance built on an axis of neoliberal evils: the real estate industry, the police, and the nascent culture war affectations of the cranks—all set on destroying the city’s sense of self. And then there was Jello Biafra, a 20-year-old punk running for mayor and writing some of the best punk rock songs of all time.
This is a really fun interview about a great book. There is a lot to learn about Worcester in what San Fran wrought onto the world in the moment that Dead Kennedys were writing the songs that became Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables. Foley’s a relatively new resident of the Worcester area, so of course we ask him the requisit question: whaddaya think?
Foley’s book on Dead Kennedys and author page his Farm Aid “Against The Grain” podcast
Other links:
Survival Research Laboratories
508: A Show About Worcester YouTube archive
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