Chicken John

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Chicken John, born John Joseph James Rinaldi in 1968, is a San Francisco musician, showman, activist, and author. He is active in the San Francisco arts scene and the Burning Man community.

In 2007 he ran for San Francisco mayor as an “experimental candidate,” wearing seven fake mustaches, debating a puppet, and organizing a zombie flash mob at campaign events. He finished sixth with 2,508 votes (about 1.75%).

Earlier, he played with the New York punk band Letch Patrol and briefly was the guitarist for The Murder Junkies, GG Allin’s band, before being replaced by Dee Dee Ramone and William Weber. He later expressed negative views about that experience in the film Hated: GG Allin And The Murder Junkies.

In 1994 he created Circus Redickuless, a touring punk rock circus. The project became the subject of a 1997 documentary, which won Best Documentary at the 1998 New York Underground Film Festival.

In 2006 street artist Swoon recruited him to build the propulsion system for a raft for Miss Rockaway Armada, a project traveling down the Mississippi River. He also engineered the central floating platform for the Seasteading Institute’s Ephemerisle in 2009.

During his mayoral run, he claimed about $25,000 in donations by late August and sought public matching funds. The San Francisco Ethics Commission initially denied funds because some donations came via PayPal and lacked residency proof. After verification and appeals, the commission ultimately overturned its initial decision, but the funds were denied on review.

He was part of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco that proposed naming the Oceanside Treatment Plant after George W. Bush for the 2008 ballot, but the measure failed.

In 2009 he organized opposition to opening an American Apparel store on Valencia Street, supporting a city rule requiring public hearings for certain formula retail stores. The permit was rejected.

Rinaldi self-published The Book of the IS: Fail... To WIN!, Essays in engineered disperfection, and collaborated with Jason Webley on a hardcover book accompanying Webley’s Margaret album.

In 2020, employees at Ritual Coffee, owned by his wife Eileen Rinaldi, raised concerns about diversity and workplace culture. He had two confrontations involving customers of color, including one where he called the police on a Black customer in 2019. He admitted using a racial slur in a 2021 parking dispute, and Eileen Rinaldi said she terminated his employment that June.