Get the Fugs out

EXCLUSIVE news from the camp of the legendary Beat-rock-folk-poetry band as the group celebrate their late, great member Tuli Kupferberg on record and bring unheard work back to life

POET TULI Kupferberg was a true icon of two explosions of American countercultural life: he was part of the initial Beat Generation pulse of the 1950s and then a hero of the radical 60s scene as he became a member of the Fugs, also featuring, of course, Ed Sanders, a band who personified the rebellious spirit of both connected movements.

Kupferberg passed on, aged 86, in 2010, following a series of strokes. Prior to his illness, fellow co-founder Sanders, along with Fugs bassist and recordist Scott Petito, visited him in his Soho loft in New York City and recorded him singing a series of previously unrecorded songs. Now, 13 years later, the band are committing a selection of those songs to vinyl.

Pictured above: Tuli Kupferberg

In September 2022 and February 2023, band members Sanders, Petito, Coby Batty and Steve Taylor met at NRS Studios in Catskill, New York to record accompaniments to four of those 2010 recordings, and to record nine additional songs.

The sessions were filmed by celebrated documentary filmmaker Chuck Smith, who made the remarkable Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground released in 2002.

Pictured above: The new album due later this year

The recordings, gathered under the title Dancing in the Universe, will appear in a limited-edition vinyl pressing this summer, preceded by CDs and streaming. The film, we are told, is in progress.

See also: Linked articles of possible interest – ‘Correspondence #10: Steven Taylor’, September 25th, 2022; ‘Interview #1: Samara Kupferberg’, November 3rd, 2021. For more information on Chuck Smith’s documentary output, please visit https://barbararubinmovie.com