Tuli Kupferberg, RIP!

Some of you may be asking, "Who is Tuli Kupferberg?" And, "What does he have to do with music?"

Well, lots actually as he was a core member/vocalist of the NYC-based underground band (which had a strong and satircal left-wing bent to them), The Fugs. Probably more than many of you may have never heard of The Fugs, but that's ok. However, they were a viable part of the current of the stream of the '60s and wrote and performed many tunes like, "Kill For Peace." Satire, political, Beat Generation. Tuli was all of those things.

I came into knowledge of The Fugs very early after reading books by Ed Sanders, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and reading Ramparts (a leftist magazine headed by Warren Hinckle) when I could get a copy. Naturally, those avenues easily lead you right to bands like The Fugs (and Bob Dylan, etc). Ed Sanders, along with the lesser known Ken Weaver, and a cast of others, joined Tuli in the band that few are aware of. They released several albums on various labels including Reprise Records.

Tuli was a bit of a unique persona. He was referenced in Ginsberg's Howl, had jumped off the Manhattan Bridge in a suicide attempt, lived, and took part in one of the most influential periods of the 1900s. He never gave up his persona, displaying it to the end, which came on July 12 as a result of declining health after two strokes in April.

He left much behind. A lot more than you realize. Tuli Kupferberg is one of those rare instances of life. I am pleased to have been touched by his art and his words. I wasn't alone. Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and other notables also claim the same thing.

If you are unaware of who Tuli Kupferberg is (or who The Fugs are), now is as good a time as any to acquaint yourself. I'm pretty sure you won't regret it.

Tuli, thanks for everything. Now go and add a bit of spice to the Great Band!

Tuli Kupferberg
1923-2010
RIP

I'd also like to acknowledge the death of Harvey Pekar, an influential cartoonist of important note, and George Steinbrenner, who, despite your assessment of the man, typified the Yankees maybe more than the Yankees did.

From Monday:

Eric Clapton is one of the few solo performers who has had great success not only with a string of previous bands but also a pile of solo albums. Everyone has their favourite EC album for various reasons that make sense to them. I certainly have my favorite EC work. I'm sure many of you have yours.

It's certainly been a while since we have had a 'best of' career poll and so I'll offer a new one for us. It's certainly a more entertaining practice than my usual spouting of various things, musically related. With that I'll ask you which Eric Clapton solo album (we'll save his band work for another day) was his career best. I already know that my favorite Clapton album (No Reason to Cry) will NOT make the cut. In fact, I might be the only one here that reveres it as much as I do but I'll seed this Poll with its selection as the best of Eric Clapton's post-band career.

It should be interesting to see what kind of response we get for this Poll selection. Give me your choice here. I'll post the consensus on Monday, July 19.

I want to alert TAP readers to the fact that I have finally put together a FaceBook fan page that you can access and join by clicking on the badge below.  What this offers is the exact same thing as my Twitter feeds provide and that is first buzz on upcoming releases and free offered downloads, many announcements  that beat our main post, sometimes by days.  We also provide a Google BUZZ page that expands on most of the Twitter/FB feeds. On Buzz, you can even hear the music stream if a stream is offered.  There are still things that I'm working on in the FB page, like calender notes as well as links to great sites like The Second Disc.  I invite you to join us at our FB page and bookmark it.  Visit it daily and you'll be rewarded with much news and info.  Of course, you'll still want to come to the main MusicTAP page for our noisy commentaries.  Remember, with our Twitter feeds, you can elect to receive the news bursts as text on your mobile phone keeping you effortlessly up to date with stuff.  Lots of choices.  Find one, or two, that fits.

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