Sorry it took so long for this post, but I’ve never been so
glad to be back home. I got ‘detained’ for a few days trying to get back in the
US from Canada. Turns
out that my name popped up on some ‘watch list’ because of some of my past
narco-anarchist shenanigans. Seems like Homeland Insecurity wanted to flex
their little muscles & (flashback to the 60s) hassle the hippie (some of
the photos they had were ancient..I sport a military grade buzz-cut these
days…course the tats don’t help). Anyhoo, the graybar hotel was the usual
shitty overnighter. Being a vegetarian, I couldn’t even get three hots with my
cot, but they didn’t really have anything solid to keep me, so now I’m home
sweet home. Here goes…
This one has been the toughest pick so far. So much musick
to choose from outa the rock US. So many of my all-time favorite bands. As I
said on my post when Don Van Vliet died in December 2010: “He always has been
& always will be my #1”. (
Here’s the song I posted then, “Her Eyes are a
Blue Million Miles” from
Clear Spot. It not only is the Captain at some
of his finest, but was featured in
The Big Lebowski, which is one of my
favorite movies as well).
Pere Ubu is so close on The Magic Band’s ass that it’s
almost gay. Then there’s Iggy, Funkadelic, The Mars Volta, The Ramones &
Patti Smith, & the list goes on & on. How do I pick one?
Then I got the great (another one) idea to have US bands.
Not just from the US, but
like America, UXA, Chicago, USSA, United States
of America, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Presidents of the
United States, John Denver, US Bombs, All-American Rejects…well, it’s a swell
idea, but the swelling soon went down when I realized I had a way of narrowing
things down, but most of the bands, well, not really sucked but not what I’d
really call a finale to this incredible journey.
So on to Plan Q.
I have decided to tell you the story about the first record
I ever bought. Then I’ll feature the band that started this whole nothin’
thing. I believe that will be appropriate to this journey around the world, end
at the beginning, so to speak.
I was born in southeastern Pennsylvania
in the village of
Intercourse. When I was
five years old my parents relocated to the exact opposite corner of
northwestern Pennsylvania, to an even smaller
burg twenty miles from the New York
state border & twenty million miles from civilization. The hamlet we moved
to was Beantown (not Boston,
just Beantown, named after the family that originally settled there). We used
to call it Bum Fuck, Egypt
but that was doing a disservice to Egypt. The greatest thing about
living in a cultural vacuum like that was that it somehow as if by magick
sucked in radio signals from far & wide.
I lived by The Radio. I worshiped at the Church of Radio.
It was my only salvation. I had a tiny transistor radio (originally AM, but
after a while enough stations had gone for that NEW thing, FM that I got a new
AM/FM transistor). At night after I’d gone to bed, I’d crawl under the covers,
pull the pillow over my head, stuff the earplug into my ear & start scanning
the dial to hear what I could hear. I even wired up the plug end with two ear
plugs so I could hear heavenly music & nothing else (it was still monaural,
no stereo, but two ears were better than one).
On clear, crisp nights I could pick up stations from the
real world that was out there to be sampled. Someone told me about something
called skywave or skip that is the propagation of radio waves reflected back
toward Earth from the ionosphere, the electrically charged layer of the upper atmosphere.
Since it is not limited by the curvature of the Earth, skip can be used to
communicate beyond the horizon. Whatever…all I know is that I was living in the
skip zone for a lot of good music.
I lived only about 90 miles from Cleveland, Ohio, so it was
plenty close enough to pick up if their wasn’t a lot of interference. I
listened to Wicksee (WIXY) & WHK (Alan Freed was long gone by this time,
but Cleveland
almost always came in good). Some of the further stations skipped into my ears
even better & were much more desired. About the furthest & one of the
best was WBZ in Boston,
a favorite of mine until they got too heavy into live play-by-play sports
(Bruins – Celtics, I don’t know). By that time, though, my favorite had become
CKLW in Detroit (really in Windsor,
Ontario…Canada’s
southernmost city & Detroit’s
sister…they played the Hitsville USA/Motown greats but because of Canadian
fair-play laws, also Guess Who & other Canadian acts). I also listened to
WLS from Chicago & several New York City stations. Early on I listened
to Cousin Brucie on WABC or Murray the K on WINS, but by the mid 60s they were
so into the Beatlemania thing that I searched elsewhere around the dial
(spoiler alert - I’ve never been a Beatle’s fan). Also in New York was WMCA with The Good Guys. In
1960, led by Ruth Meyer, the
first woman radio programming chief in New
York City history, WMCA began promoting itself by
stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as the Good Guys. The Good Guys outdid the other
stations by playing the top 25 (as opposed to the top 20 elsewhere) along with
Sure Hits & Long Shots which were not on the charts yet. They were also
always a few weeks ahead of the other stations at airing new music.
There was one other station that I came to love out of New York that eventually
led to this long-winded tale & my transformation. That station was WBAI, a
listener-sponsored, non-commercial radio station. Their signal reached only a
hundred miles or so from NYC usually, they just were not as powerful, but on a
clear night, it was the cat’s pajamas. In 1963 Bob Fass's program Radio Unnameable first aired. From
the beginning the show featured the work of & impromptu interviews with
counterculture figures such as Paul Krassner, Bob Dylan, & Abbie Hoffman. A
long list of musicians have appeared on Radio Unnameable, including Townes Van
Zandt, David Peel, Richie Havens, Jose Feliciano, Joni Mitchell, The Fugs,
& Phil Ochs. Jerry Jeff Walker & David Bromberg introduced the song “Mr.
Bojangles” on the show. The Incredible String Band came over from Scotland &
stopped in to chat & play music. The first performance of Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant” was on WBAI.
Late one night in mid-summer 1966, I was listening to WBAI
("Good morning, cabal"). It had been coming in unusually clear &
it was cracking me up. Fass was one of the creative genii of free-form radio,
each night creating a program with no format, an improvised mélange of live
music, speeches, & random phone calls. Radio Unnameable was a forum for eyewitness reports from war
zones & urban conflicts, recitations of poetry & prose, solicitations
for political causes, testimonials for illegal drugs, & experiments with
noise & silence. As I was listening, I heard an 11+ minute long song called
“Virgin Forest” by a band named The Fugs that
blew my mind.
The Fugs self-titled album, which I erroneously assumed was
their first album (it was really their third album & second to be
released…their second album was released third…never mind, we’ll straighten
this out shortly) was released in March, 1966, with liner notes by Allen
Ginsberg. The Village Fugs' debut album, The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of
Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction, had been
released by the Broadside subsidiary of Folkways Records in 1965. The group
simplified its name to the Fugs, & the album was reissued by the
independent jazz label ESP as The Fugs First Album. ESP initially
rejected the band's second recording as obscene. They followed instead with an
album called The Fugs. This album somehow broke into the pop charts in
July 1966 & reached the Top 40 during a six-month chart stay even with
tunes like "Kill for Peace" & "Group Grope".
Well, as I said earlier, by the end of “Virgin Forest”
my life had changed. I had never bought a record before in my life. I told you
I lived by The Radio. But my parents had a stereo console record player/AM/FM
radio unit (the Hi-Fi they called it) in the den & they had records, mostly
religious (I remember Tennessee Ernie Ford was my mom’s favorite & my dad
was partial to Vic Damone). I listened to some of their records sometimes, Nat
‘King’ Cole, Harry Belafonte, & Glenn Yarbrough (“Baby, the Rain Must
Fall”), but until I heard The Fugs I had never wanted to buy one myself. After
all, I listened to the radio. New music every week, every day, every hour.
I didn’t really know how to go about buying this record.
There were no record stores where I lived & anywhere that did sell records
sure wouldn’t have The Fugs, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, it is
said. I called Radio Unnameable late
one night a few days later, after my parents had gone to bed. I snuck
downstairs, dialed the operator, she connected me to the number, & after
not too long of a wait, I actually got to speak to Bob Fass. I told him I lived
in Bum Fuck, Egypt
but listened to his show on my transistor & wanted to buy my first record
album, The Fugs – The Fugs. He gave me the information for contacting
ESP Records & I did. I found out the information, sent them cash (well
concealed in a letter, as we were not to send cash in the mail), & waited.
My uncle Dean was post-master in a nearby town that had the
closest Post-Office. I had the album sent there for him to hold for me so my
parents wouldn’t find out if it got delivered to our house. I told my uncle it
was a surprise for my parents to insure his silence. When it finally arrived, I
snuck it up into my tree-house & ripped it open. Even before I read the liner
notes by Ginsberg, I read the song list in awe: “Skin Flowers”; “Group Grope”;
“Dirty Old Man”; “Kill for Peace”; &
at the end of Side 2, the incredible 11:20 (who had ever heard of an eleven
minute song?..I listened to the radio…songs were three minutes) “Virgin Forest”.
Now all I had to do was wait until my parents were gone with my younger brother
& sister & I could actually listen to it.
In the meantime I read Ginsberg’s words so many times that I
knew them by heart. “It’s war on all
fronts. ‘Breakthrough in the Grey Room’ says Burroughs – he meant the Brain –
‘Total Assault on the Culture’ says Ed Sanders…On one side are everybody who
make love with their eyes open, maybe smoke pot & take LSD & look
inside their hearts to find the Self-God Walt Whitman prophesied for
America…Who’s on the other side? People who think we are bad…”
Finally I got the chance to listen to the whole album,
cranked up as loud as I dared. By the time it was over, I was certain which
side I was on…I wanted to make love with my eyes open & all those other
things. Every opportunity I got I listened to this record, eating it up in big
bites. But of course, the inevitable finally happened, but it was beyond my
imagination & led where I could never have known.
One day as I was listening to Side 1 at maximum volume, I
failed to hear my mom return. She came into the den in the midst of “Group
Grope”. She had a look of rage on her face that I had never seen. She picked up
the album cover, looked at it, looked at me, & went into action. I had
never seen my mom do anything in the least bit violent, but I had unwittingly found
that button, pushed it, & she snapped. She yanked the record from the
turntable & I heard the scream of the stylus ripping through the fatally
wounded vinyl. Then she gripped the record in both hands & began furiously
twisting it left & right, back & forth, shaking with rage, veins
popping out on her neck & the sides of her head, her eyes wild with…HATRED.
Somehow she managed to rip the record into several pieces. Then she started in
on the cover. When she was finished, she stared at me for a moment with sweat
& tears running down her face. “Don’t ever bring that FILTH in our home
again,” she said so quietly I almost missed it. Then she turned, walked out,
& threw all the pieces of my first record into the trash.
I was embarrassed. I was dumbfounded. But I was on to
something here. This was musick. She HATED it. She called it FILTH. I knew in
an instant which side she was on.
The next album I bought was The Virgin Fugs. This was
the one that ESP had originally rejected for being ‘obscene’. Oh, boy.
By then I had met a friend who had a record player in her bedroom.
Her name was Isabel. She wore only black, wore heavy black make-up. This was
before a style called Goth. This was the era of Munsters & Addams Family.
We listened to The Fugs & other tastes. We smoked pot. We made love with
our eyes open.
I never brought ‘that FILTH’ into my parent’s home again. As
soon as I was old enough I moved out on my own. Isabel moved to Washington, D.C.
but we kept in touch. In January 1969 when I returned to the East Coast from California for the Nixon
Anti-Inauguration, I visited Isabel. She was working with some Embassy Staff
from Argentina.
They were bringing in pharmaceutical LSD25 in their Diplomatic
pouches. We had a good time & laughed about the bad influence of bad
musick. But that’s another story for another day. It’s bedtime now, kiddies.
Get out your transistors & earplugs.
The Vilage Fugs, later just The Fugs, are a band formed in New York in mid-1963 by
poets Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon
afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel & Steve Weber of the Holy
Modal Rounders. Kupferberg named the band from a euphemism for ‘fuck’ used in Norman
Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead.
In 1964, the band surfaced on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Fugs became
an important part of the American counterculture of the mid to late 60s. The
band’s frank lyrics about sex, drugs, & politics aroused a hostile reaction
in some quarters, enthusiastic interest in others.
Their first album was The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of
Contemporary Protest, Point of Views [sic], and General Dissatisfaction,
released in 1965 on Broadside #304 & Folkways FW 05304. It was re-released in
1966 on ESP as The Fugs First Album with alternate takes/edits of at
least three songs.
On The Fugs, The Fugs are: Ed Sanders – vocals; Tuli
Kupferberg – tambourine & maracas; Pete Kearney & Vinny Leary –
guitars; Lee Crabtree – piano, celesta, & bells; John Anderson – bass;
& Ken Weaver – percussion, with Betsy Klein – backing vocals.
all decryption codes in comments
Side A –
Frenzy
I Want to Know
Skin Flowers
Group Grope
Coming Down
Dirty Old Man
Side B –
Kill for Peace
Morning, Morning
Doin’ All Right
Virgin
Forest
The Village Fugs were: Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg –
vocals, tambourines, & maracas; Steve Weber & Vinny Leary – guitar; Pete
Stampfel – guitar, fiddle, & harmonica; John Anderson – bass; & Ken
Weaver – drums, with The Fugs – backing vocals.
Side A –
Slum Goddess
Ah! Sunflower, Weary of Time
Supergirl
Swinburne Stomp
I Couldn’t Get High
Side B –
How Sweet I Roamed from Field to Field
Seize the Day
I Feel like Homemade Shit
Boobs a Lot
Nothing
On Virgin Fugs, The Fugs are: Ed Sanders & Tuli Kupferberg – vocals & percussion; Steve Weber & Vinny Leary – vocals
& guitars; Peter Stampfel – vocals, guitar, banjo, fiddle, & harmonica;
Lee Crabtree – vocals, keyboards, & percussion; John Anderson – vocals
& bass; & Ken Weaver – vocals & drums.
Side A –
We’re the Fugs
New Amphetamine Shriek
Saran Wrap
The Ten Commandments
Hallucination Horrors
I Command the House of the Devil
Side B –
C.I.A. Man
Coca Cola Douche
My Bed is Getting Crowded
Caca Rocka
I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rot
Tracklist –
Doin’ All Right
The Swedish Nada
Homage to Catherine & William Blake
I Couldn’t Get High
Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel
J.O.B.
My Baby Done Left Me
The Garden is Open
The Exorcism of the Grave of Senator Joseph McCarthy
Yodeling Hippies
A Medley from The Fugs’ first concert – The Ten
Commandments/ Swinburne Stomp
According to the copious 40-page full-color liner notes that
accompany this strictly limited-edition three-CD set, Electromagnetic
Steamboat: The Reprise Recordings gathers "every unique master
recording of The Fugs that was delivered to & survives in the Reprise
[Records] archives."
This includes not only the four LPs: Tenderness Junction,
It Crawled into My Hand, Honest, The Belle of Avenue A, & Golden
Filth, but also an additional 40 minutes of material that never made it
onto a standard commercial release.
After their somewhat acrimonious split with ESP, The Fugs
signed with the decidedly West Coast Reprise Records. The band's revolving door
personnel features a few familiar session musicians during this era. Among the
more notable names are: Danny Kortchmar – guitar; Charles Larkey – bass; Bob
Mason – drums; Richard Tee – organ; jazz legend Julius Watkins - French horn;
& Ken Pine - guitar. Remaining at
the inventive center of The Fugs were still Tuli Kupferberg - vocals, Ed
Saunders – vocals, & Ken Weaver – vocals & drums. Even with the lack of
stability in the lineup, the nature of the band remained pure.
Golden Filth is conspicuous as the only live album of
the Reprise era. It was recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore East. The set
includes "I Want to Know," in addition to other tracks from their ESP
days, including "Coca Cola Douche," which is titled "CCD"
for obvious legal reasons.
The Fugs – Electromagnetic Steamboat, Rhino Homemade RHM2
7759. 2001.
Originally The Fugs - Tenderness Junction, Reprise Records
RS 6280, 1967.
Tracklist –
Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out
Knock Knock
The Garden Is Open
Wet Dream
Hare Krishna
Exorcising the Evil Spirits from the Pentagon October 21,
1967
War Song
Dover
Beach
Fingers of the Sun
Aphrodite Mass (in 5 sections):
I. Litany of the Street Grope
II. Genuflection at the Temple of Squack
III. Petals In the Sea
IV. Sappho's Hymn to Aphrodite
V. Homage to Throb Thrills
Disc 1 - Tracks11 through 30
Originally The Fugs - It Crawled into My Hand, Honest, Reprise
Records RS 6305, 1968.
Tracklist –
Crystal Liaison
Ramses II Is Dead, My Love
Burial Waltz
Wide, Wide
River
Life Is Strange
Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel
Marijuana
Leprechaun
When the Mode of Music Changes
Whimpers from the Jello
The Divine Toe, Part I
We're Both Dead Now, Alice
Life is Funny
Grope Need, Part 1
Tuli, Visited by the Ghost of Plontinus
Robinson Crusoe
Claude Pelieu and J.J. Lebel Discuss the Early Verlaine
Bread Crust Fragments
The National Haiku Contest
The Divine Toe, Part II
Irene
Disc 2 Tracks 2 (somehow) through 11
Originally The Fugs - The Belle of Avenue A, Reprise Records
RS 6359, 1969.
Tracklist –
Bum's Song
Dust Devil
Chicago
Four Minutes to Twelve
Mr. Mack
Belle of Avenue A
Queen of the Nile
Flower Children
Yodeling Yippie
Children of the Dream
Disc 2 – Tracks 12 through 20
Originally The Fugs - Golden Filth (proving my mom right),
Reprise Records RS 6398, 1970.
Tracklist –
Slum Goddess
CCD
How Sweet I Roamed
I Couldn't Get High
Saran Wrap
I Want to Know
Home Made
Nothing
Supergirl
outtakes & alternative cuts
Tracklist –
Knock Knock
Wet Dream
Carpe Diem
Nameless Voices Crying for Kindness
Aphrodite Mass
Turn On-Tune In-Drop Out
Knock Knock
The Garden is Open
Wet Dream
Hare Krishna
Exorcising the Evil Spirits from the Pentagon October 21,
1967
War Song
Dover
Beach
Fingers of the Sun
Crystal Liaison
Fug Off,
NØ
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