Eff

They say that if you can remember the 1960s you weren’t there. I can’t remember these 1960s depicted in this book. But then I wasn’t there. I was here. My 1960s bore not the slightest resemblance to the Fugs’ 1960s. I enjoyed reading about their youthful adventures though, as I continue to enjoy their music. The Fugs weren’t the first musicians to set out to “shock” the “squares” with songs that questioned the establishment, sex, politics, war, the legalisation of drugs etc, along with other songs that basically just contained loads of effing and blinding, but they did it more consistantly than most. A radio station bleeped out the numerous swear words from “CIA Man” here to make it “radio-friendly” with the odd result that it virtually became a three minute bleep.

My audio archive contains a number of radio-unfriendly singles and LPs from the likes of Ivor Biggun and Judge Dread to name but two of the more innocuous examples that have yet to be appreciated in the way that Donald McGill postcards, old soft-porn magazines and Bettie Page films now are. Perhaps those records will eventually be collectible enough to appear in an episode of the “Antiques Roadshow” circa 2050. Much current “music” isn’t radio-friendly and is full of effing and yet empty of humour.

Did you notice when this Blog jumped the shark? If it hasn’t already I think it is just about to as my audio archive has recently welcomed a shedload of cover versions (for Adults only though…) of Cee Lo Green’s frankly wonderful 2010 hit “F*ck Yo*”. Some songs sound even better as an acoustic version.

The Fugs are off

I’ve just purchased the Final Fugs CD part 2. Lets hope its not though. If it’s half as good as their last “final” CD it will still be good indeed. The Final Fugs CD part 1 was released in 2003 and is a joy and a pleasure from beginning to end. As usual it mixes political comment with humour (dig Tuli’s “Why must I be a Septuagenarian in love?” which is his appropriate version of “Why must I be a teenager in love?”).

The Fugs have been performing (on and off) since 1965. The two main singers and songwriters of the Fugs are Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg. Tuli is probably the last of the “Beat Poets”. He harks back to an era even pre the swinging sixties underground period of the first incarnation of The Fugs. However throughout the last 60 years he has always remained contemporary. Although now not in the best of health he has embraced the internet and even has his own spot on YouTube (Search for” Tulifuli”). There you will find a few hundred (!!!) of Tuli’s short videos with music or his unique “proverbs/quotes of the day” which he actually calls his “perverbs”. Fascinating.

Much is explained here.

PS: I found this passage in a book. I’ve no idea if its true or not but it sounds feasible….
I asked Tuli Kupferberg once, “Did you really jump off The Manhattan Bridge?” “Yeah,” he said, “I really did.” “How come?” I said. “I thought that I had lost the ability to love,” Tuli said. “So I figured I might as well be dead. So I went one night to the top of The Manhattan Bridge and, after a few minutes, I jumped off.” “That’s amazing” I said. “Yeah,” Tuli said, “but nothing happened. I landed in the water and I wasn’t dead. So I swam ashore and went home and took a bath and went to bed. Nobody even noticed!!”

Nothing

ITEM:  For creative writing you can’t beat  the customer’s comments for Bic Biros at Amazon.  In fact you can have hours of fun at this site without ever having to spend a penny.  I was amused to discover that you can buy a box of nothing  here!!

ITEM:  I tell everyone who will listen (and even some of those who won’t) that The Fugs (I think the “g” was supposed to be pronounced “ck”) are one of the most under-rated Pop Groups of the 1960s. The VU, Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Grateful Dead etc are rightly famous. The Fugs languish in relative obscurity. Their music is a fascinating mix of underground poetry and humour and obscenities and noise and beauty.
Here is a short extract from Tuli Kupferberg’s unique take on life entitled “Nothing”.

ITEM:   Comics are nothing like they used to be. Thats what the article entitled “The End of an Era” as featured in The Rockets Blast Special Volume 2 No 7 was saying back in 1967. Then they were lamenting those far off days of 12 years earlier when EC Comics, Fiction House etc etc had faded away. Fandom then didn’t seem overly interested in the current comics yet in hindsight 1967 was a Golden Age of fascinating stuff on the spinner racks.

ITEM:   I have to admit that like the writer in The Rockets Blast I am happier looking at older comics. Lets face it the new comics are never going to be produced with me in mind as a reader. Well almost never.  J. Michael Straczynski has been writing a comic (for Marvel Comics surprisingly) entitled “The Twelve”. This has definitely been my favourite comic over the last year. Twelve heroes from the 1940s have reappeared in the modern day (without having aged ) and we see them trying to adapt to and understand the modern world. There are twelve secrets to be slowly revealed about their past.

Originally envisaged to be a 12 issue mini-series something has gone awry. So far I have 10 issues, the most recent of which is Number 8 (???). This is because there was an issue zero and also an issue 1/2 (half). But issue 8 was cover dated December 2008 and to the best of my knowledge the final four issues have disappeared off the face of the earth or been devoured by Galactus or something. Hey, come on Marvel and Mr J.M.S, I want to know how it ends. I’ve bought the Hardback book containing the First 6 issues as well !!

This seems to be the proposed cover for the so far unissued Issue 9.

ITEM:   And you thought there was no thought going into this. I kept going into the comic shop and asking for The Twelve Issue 9 with Tuli’s song running through my head “January…nothing. February …..nothing, March…lots more nothing…………..”