Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jul 2003
Source: Daily Texan (TX Edu)
Copyright: 2003 Daily Texan
Contact:  http://www.dailytexanonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/115
Section: Entertainment

THE FUGS STILL RELEVANT AFTER 40 YEARS TOGETHER

NEW YORK - In the 1960s, the rock group the Fugs were at the vanguard of 
the underground counterculture movement, railing against the Vietnam War, 
promoting legalization of marijuana and extolling the virtues of free sex.

Nearly 40 years later, American troops are in Iraq, pot is still illegal 
and the sexual revolution has been blunted by the scourge of AIDS. Yet the 
Fugs continue to preach their gospel of peace, love and .. well, not so 
much drugs anymore.

In their latest release, "The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)," the New York-based 
group sings about sex for senior citizens, criticizes the U.S.-led war in 
Iraq and advances other leftist causes such as pacifism and universal 
health care.

"We're just as radical as we were before," 79-year-old vocalist Tuli 
Kupferberg told The Associated Press before performing Wednesday night in 
Greenwich Village. "The ideas we had are still valid today."

Kupferberg and singer/poet Ed Sanders founded the Fugs in 1965 in New 
York's East Village as an underground alternative to mainstream rock. The 
group, which took its name from Norman Mailer's euphemism for the 
similar-sounding four-letter obscenity, plunged headlong into the 1960s 
anti-war movement and associated with other radicals, such as Beat poet 
Allen Ginsburg.

Several of the band's new songs, such as "Go Down, Congress," a play on the 
gospel song "Go Down, Moses," are criticisms of the Bush administration's 
war on terrorism. Others, such as "I've Been Working for the Landlord," 
feature an anti-capitalist bent.

And the Fugs are still breaking sexual taboos. Kupferberg's hilarious 
"Septuagenarian in Love," a randy takeoff of Dion and the Belmonts' classic 
"Teenager in Love," laments the problems of sexual gratification for a man 
about to hit the big eight-oh.

"Some of our tunes are risque," said Sanders, 63. "But if you look at BET 
and MTV, our songs are mild compared to that."

The group attracted an eclectic mix of aging radicals in tie-dyed shirts, 
and multi-tattooed and multi-pierced Gen-Xers who weren't born when the 
band first shocked audiences with its explicit lyrics.

Rick Shafrick, 41, of New Haven, Conn., said he had been following the Fugs 
since he was a kid.

"They are just as relevant today as they were 40 years ago," he said. "You 
can just change a few lyrics and the songs they sang in the '60s would 
apply today."

Sanders and Kupferberg said they may hang it up after this album but did 
leave themselves an opening.

"That's why we subtitled our CD 'Part 1,'" Sanders said. "Never paint 
yourself into a corner."

Kupferberg believes there will always be a place for the Fugs.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart