Hi - resending this with Steve's revisions - it's worth it and it's sad - Alan
(Steve sent me the revision after giving me permission to send the
original version. Tuli was important to a lot of people, by the way; his
magazine Birth had a huge effect on me, for better or worse.)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:14:35
From: steve dalachinsky <[email protected]>
To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Re: seems done to me at end i will add stanzas from wandering jew
since
it's for a jewish rag What the Hell was that?
WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
"could
life turn out to be a dirty trick?" - T.K.
Tuli Kupferberg, Poet, Songwriter, Anarchist, Agnostic Jew -
Dies at 86
Born Norman or in Hebrew, Naphtali on Sept 28, 1923 (one day
and 22 years before me), poet, singer-songwriter, revolutionary,
publisher, street vendor, historian, mentor, sage, wise man and
wise guy, forward-thinking artist, activist, intellectual,
pacifist,anarchist, teacher, dreamer with a desire to
contribute his ideas for the construction of a better world,
boho and dear friend Tuli Kupferberg has gone on to wherever one
goes on Monday at N.Y. Downtown Hospital in Manhattan at the age
of 86 after a prolonged battle with Life and all its joys and
griefs, after suffering two debilitating strokes. Though never
really considering himself Beat he was anthologized as early as
1959 in Fred Mcdarrah's The Beat Scene.
In the 1964 at age 40 he went on to become, in own his
words, ?the world?s oldest rock star? after co-founding the Fugs with
poet Ed Sanders, and then-member Ken Weaver. They were, in my
opinion the first poetry/folk-rock band and a definite precursor
of punk, bawdy and politically outspoken. Their first lp was
produced by the equally legendary Harry Smith on Broadside
and later re-issued on ESP along with their other lps. His first
solo record, No Deposit, No Return was also issued by ESP. At
the height of their career during the psychedelic era the group
was signed by the then co-owned Frank Sinatra label Reprise who
also signed Hendrix among others.
When very young he worked as a medical librarian.
Tuli lived 2 blocks from my apt. We first officially met while
both of us were hawking our wares on the street though I had
known him through the music scene having first seen the Fugs
play way back in the '60s in various venues such as a loft space
on Great Jones street, the Provincetown Theatre, The Astor Place
Theater, and once at a free concert in Tompkins Square Park,
where, standing behind me to my amazement was none other than
Charles Mingus. When Tuli and I first conversed some time in the
mid-70's he was hawking these pamphlets which were I think, like
$1.29 for one and 99 cents for two, the catch being the more you
bought the cheaper they became. Though I could be wrong , memory
being what it is ( Hey Tuli help me out here.) Yiddish was his
mother tongue and he had an interest in Yiddish theater which he
shared with fellow poet and street vendor Harry Nudel and though
he loved being a Yid was an avid supporter of Palestine. Tuli
always told me he hated poetry and the scene in general thogh je
tolerated me and a few others. He was never hierarchical
and didn't choose his friends on their status in the art world
but on his ability to share with them his knowledge, sharp wit
and love. There were the many times we sat together in the park
sharing a pint of Haagen Daz or a Good Humor bar. He loved ice
cream. Particularly chocolate.
Tuli's great songs included Morning, Morning, Kill For Peace and
Nothing. On their last CD he wrote the poignantly beautiful "
Where is My Wandering Jew Tonight" never forgetting his roots.
Another song in that vein was chameleon which included the lines
" In winter i'm a buddhist / In summer I'm a nuddist/ In
Jeruselem...Talmudist." He also wrote a mocking protest tilted
"Backward Jewish Soldiers" a para-song based on "Onward
Christian Soldiers."
Tuli became something of celebrity when he was mentioned in
Allen Ginsberg?s ?Howl? as being the one who ?jumped off the Brooklyn
Bridge" then walking away "unknown and forgotten.? It was actually
the Manhattan Bridge but the Brooklyn Bridge seemed more
romantic and he didn't walk away but was brought to Gouveneur
Hospital with a spinal fracture.
He created and published in such zines as Birth and Yeah and
was the first to publish the African - American Beat poet Ted
Joans as well as over 50 of his own books.
He loved to take familiar tunes and write his own lyrics to
them, calling them the afore-mentioned para-songs . He did this
more and more in later years. While bedridden he wrote a series
of short pieces he called "perverbs" twisting well-known
aphorisms and posting them on YouTube. He's had a long running
MNN public access TV show called Revolting News which currently
is filmed and edited by his partner Thelma Blitz . She also
videorecords and produces his YouTube and DailyMotion channels,
?tulifuli? and posts Tuli on Vimeo in her own channel ?Thelma Blitz.?
Tuli?s cartoon prints were sold on the streets of Soho for many
years at the vending stand of his partner Thelma Blitz , where
Tuli would occasionally hang out to shoot the breeze with other
locals such as me. I was directly across the street selling lps
and books. He inspired many of us to not give up despite the
adversities of government, war and $$$$. He embraced his
"Bohemian" lifestyle, as a friend once told me I should. He
never shrank from his commitment to protest injustice. Never
gave into the "MAN". Never took the straight and narrow path.
Always fought against war, corporate interests and a greedy,
demonic capitalistic value system.
Long time drummer for the Fugs Coby Batty told me this story on
the phone the day Tuli passed that one day while walking in
Brooklyn Tuli turned and said that he wanted his epitaph to read
"What the hell was that?" - and as he mentioned in one of his
perverbs - "Life is funny, you can die." How Jewish can ya
get??
His is survived by his wife, Sylvia Topp, three children, and
one grand child.
from: Where Is My Wandering Jew
Did Hitler survive in the heart of the beast?
Is happiness there when we seek it least?
Does the Baal Shem dance at the President's feast?
O where is my wandering Jew?
Is loneliness cast at the center of life?
Is peace our reward at the end of this strife?
Is our time's music the Gun and the Fife?
O where is my wandering Jew tonight?
Where is my wandering Jew?
And O where is my wandering God tonight?
Where are my children, where is my wife?
Where is the song I once called my life...
Where is my wandering Jew, tonight?
O where is our wondering life, tonight...
Where is our wonderful life?
____________________________________________________________
Penny Stock Jumping 2000%
Sign up to the #1 voted penny stock newsletter for free today!
AwesomePennyStocks.com_______________________________________________
NetBehaviour mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
