Fugs Here April 6

The great freak-rock New York band THE FUGS will be in Detroit the 6^th of April for a one-night only concert, under the auspices of the Friday Night Coordinating Committee (FNCC) of WSU. The Thursday night freak-out will take place twice that night at Wayne Comm. Arts Aud., with shows at 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Fifth Estate and at Mixed Media, at $2 and $3.

The FUGS, often described as the “underground Rolling Stones,” were assembled by poet-editor Ed Sanders (publisher of Fug Books and FUCK YOU / a magazine of the arts) in early 1965 and featured from the beginning poet Tuli Kupferberg on vocals, fartophone, and skin happenings, and famous dope fiend Ken Weaver on drums and vocals. The other members of the group have changed often, once including Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel, who left the FUGS to become famous as the Holy Modal Rounders. Now with the band are guitarist Vinny Lear and bassist John Anderson.

The FUGS first concerts were held at the East Side Theatre for Poets in 1965, and, after their popularity was established through two best-selling recordings (THE VILLAGE FUGS, first released on the Broadside label and later brought out on ESP, and their second LP, THE FUGS, also on ESP), they began a long run at the Players Theatre on MacDougall Street in the West Village which has just ended. The FUGS are presently on their first Midwestern tour, which includes concerts in Detroit, East Lansing, Chicago, and other colorful mid-American towns.

The FUGS call their approach “body-poetry”; most of their material is written by Sanders and Kupferberg, including such FUGS favorites as “Coca Cola Douche,” “I Feel Like Homemade Shit,” “Caca Rocka,” “Coming Down,” adaptations of the A.C. Swinburne, William Blake, and Charles Olson poems, Ken Weaver’s feature, “I Couldn’t Get High.” Their songs have been immortalized not only on their records but in the FUGS SONG BOOK as well, first published by Sanders’ FUG Press and reprinted last year by Detroit’s Artists’ Workshop Press.

The FUGS also take part in many anti-war rallies in New York City and make themselves available for peace rallies on many occasions. Sanders, who calls himself a “peace-freak,” considers the FUGS only one aspect of his general program, which he calls “Total Assault on the Culture.” One development in Sanders’ assault was his recent appearance on the cover of LIFE magazine.