Tuli Kupferberg, RIP

When it comes to deaths-in-threes, has there ever been a combination as curious as Harvey Pekar, George Steinbrenner, and Tuli Kupferberg? Here's a shout-out to Kupferberg, who in addition to being one of the best minds of Allen Ginsberg's generation (he's the one "who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge this actually happened and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alleyways & firetrucks") was a founder of the Fugs, the band that bridged the way from the folkies to the punks (and recorded what may be the filthiest country song ever written, and yes I'm familiar with the work of David Allan Coe). Kupferberg also co-wrote 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft, the Chuck Norris Facts of its era. And now he's dead at age 86.

I can't make any grand claims of greatness for the Fugs, but their songs were crude, direct, and frequently funny; they're the Greenwich Village beatniks in the Ramones' family tree. RIP, Tuli.

Comments

[theocrat]

I always liked River of Shit, more gospel sounding.

[Jesse Walker]

I saw someone (was it David Thomas? Eric Mingus?) leading the crowd in a massive singalong of "River of Shit" at one of the Harry Smith tribute shows in LA, back around 2001.

[?]

Frank is probably still upset.

[Warren]

...I'm familiar with the work of David Allan Coe

You should be more familiar with the work (and politics) of Mojo Nixon.

[Jesse Walker]

I'm familiar with both.

[Citizen Nothing]

I once got a friend to go to a LP convention when he heard I could get him a spot at Mojo Nixon's table for dinner. The friend now seems consistently libertarian in his views. All praise Mojo.

[Jeff P]

FYI prometheus award winning SF author James P. Hogan died as well. His stuff was very anti-authoritarian.

[Harry Dean]

As my brother-in-law said, the only problem with the Fugs is that they were a bunch of goddamned beatniks.

[DC]

When I was a teen gallivanting around the Village - rumor had it that a reporter once stood up in the front row of a Fugs concert and called them 'fakes' - whereupon Tuli simply took a break from playing and whizzed on the guy. Of course, the gossip at Cafe Wha? wasn't that reliable...

[heller]

Whenever I see a nine-pronged dong, I'll remember Tuli.

[Don't squeeze the Charmin]

Is that Country, Bluegrass, Blues or Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers?

[Douglas Fletcher]

Considering this guy was 44 in 1968 I wonder if the Fugs weren't just his mid-life crisis.

[Doug Lynner]

Memorial Tribute to Tuli Kupferberg on Doug Lynner's World of Noise Internet radio show. Go to http://www.neatnetnoise.com for more information.