Naphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg (September 28, 1923 – July 12, 2010) was an American

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

poet, author, singer,

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

comic artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

, columnist, publisher, and co-founder of the rock band

The Fugs The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver (musician), Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy ...

Biography

Naphtali Kupferberg was born into a Jewish, Yiddish-speaking household in New York City. A ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' graduate of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

in 1944, Kupferberg founded the magazine ''Birth'' in 1958. Kupferberg reportedly appears in Ginsberg's poem ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: * Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species * "Howl" (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl or The Howl may also refer to: Film * '' The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 Am ...

'' as the person "who jumped off the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

soup alleyways & firetrucks, not even one free beer." The incident in question actually occurred on the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. Designed by Leon Moisseiff, the bridge has a tota ...

. Ginsberg's description in ''Howl'' uses

poetic license Artistic license (and more general or contextually-specific, derivative terms such as creative license, poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It ...

. Kupferberg did jump from the Manhattan Bridge in 1944, after which he was picked up by a passing tugboat and taken to Gouverneur Hospital. Severely injured, he had broken the

transverse process Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

of his spine and spent time in a body cast. In 1964, Kupferberg formed the satirical rock group

the Fugs The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964, by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver (musician), Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy ...

with poet

Ed Sanders Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have bee ...

. Kupferberg was active in New York pacifist-anarchist circles. In 1965 he was one of the lecturers at the newly founded

Free University of New York The Free University of New York (FUNY) was an educational social enterprise initiated by Allen Krebs, his wife Sharon Krebs, and James Mellen in July 1965. as reproduced in History FUNY began as a home for professors dismissed from local u ...

. He appeared as a machine-gun-toting soldier policing Manhattan in '' W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism'', a 1971 film about the revolutionary psychiatrist

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( ; ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several in ...

Dušan Makavejev Dušan Makavejev ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Макавејев, ; 13 October 1932 – 25 January 2019) was a Serbian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his groundbreaking films of Yugoslav cinema in the late 1960s and early 1970s—many ...

. An anti-police-brutality skit from his Revolting Theatre appeared in the 1971 underground film ''

Dynamite Chicken ''Dynamite Chicken'' is a 1971 American comedy film. Described in its opening credits as "an electronic magazine of American pop culture", it presents a series of interviews, stand-up comedy, countercultural sketches, documentary segments, and a ...

'' directed by

Ernest Pintoff Ernest Pintoff (December 15, 1931 in Watertown, Connecticut – January 12, 2002 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles) was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer. He won the Oscar for Best Animated Short for ''The C ...

, and featuring

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...

. In 1972, Kupferberg played the role of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

in the Canadian experimental film '' Voulez-vous coucher avec God?''. Kupferberg later appeared in the music video for ''Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror'' by

Jeffrey Lewis Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. Early life Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating in ...

. Kupferberg suffered a stroke in April 2009 at his home in New York City, which left him severely visually impaired and in need of regular nursing care. After treatment for a number of days at a New York hospital, followed by convalescence at a nursing home, he recuperated at home. Kupferberg died in New York Downtown Hospital in Manhattan of kidney failure and sepsis on July 12, 2010.Sisario, Ben (July 12, 2010)
"Tuli Kupferberg, Poet and Singer, Dies at 86"
''Artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com''. In 2008, in one of his last interviews, he told ''

Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' (stylised in all caps) is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that ...

'', "Nobody who lived through the '50s thought the '60s could've existed. So there's always hope." A documentary film titled ''"Tuli Tuli Tuli, 1001 Ways to Be Joyfully Revolted"'' is dedicated to him. Directed by David Liver, the film features contributions from figures such as Jeffrey Lewis and

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

, and is expected to be released by the end of 2025.

Bibliography

*''Birth 1, The Bohemian Issue'' (1958) *''Birth 2, Children's Writings'' (1959) *''Beating'' (1959) *''Children as Authors: A Big Bibliography'' (1959, with Sylvia Topp) *''Snow Job: Poems 1946–1959'' (1959) *''Selected Fruits & Nuts'' (1959) *'' Birth 3, parts 1 & 2 Stimulants, An Exhibition'' (1960) *''1001 Ways to Live Without Working'' (1961) *''The Grace & Beauty of the Human Form'' (1961) *''1001 Ways to Live Without Working" (1961, rev. 1968; German translation by Max Wickert & Hubert Kulterer, with facing English text, Stadtlichter Presse 2009, 2015) *''3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Beatniks : or, The War Against the Beats'' (1961) *''Sex and War'' (1962) *''The Mississippi (A Study of the White Race)'' (1962) *''The Rub-Ya-Out of Omore Diem'' (1962) *''The Christine Keeler Colouring Book & Cautionary Tale'' (1963) *''Kill for Peace'' (1965) *''Caught in the Act: a Legal Vaudeville'' (1966) *''The Book of the Body'' (with Judith Wehlau, 1966) *''I Say to Masturbate is Human, to Fuck Divine'' (1966) *'' 1001 Ways to Beat the Draft'' (with Robert Bashlow, 1966) *''Fuck Nam : a morality play'' (1967) *''1001 Ways to Make Love'' (1969) *''Newspoems'' (1971) *''Listen to the Mockingbird; satiric songs to tunes you know'' (1973) *''As They Were'' (with Sylvia Topp, 1973) *''Universal Housewife'' (1975) *''First Glance'' (with Sylvia Topp, 1978) *''As They Were Too'' (with Sylvia Topp, 1979) *''O God!'' (1980) *''The Crazy Paper'' (1980) *''Less Newspoems'' (1981) *''Questionable Cartoons'' (1981) *''True Professions'' (1981) *''Why Don't We Do It in the Bed?'' (1982) *''Was It Good For You Too?'' (1983) *''After the Balls Are Ova'' (1984) *''In Media's Feces'' (1986) *''Kill For Peace, Again'' (1987) *''Reaganation'' (1987) *''The Tuli Kupferberg Instant Lottery Broadside'' (1988) *''The Dark Night of the Soul in the Poetry Mines'' (1988) *''Signed By the Artist'' (1990) *''Don't Make Trouble'' (1991) *''My Prick is Bigger Than Yours'' (1992) *''The Land that God Remembered'' (1992) *''The Old Fucks at Home'' (1992) *''You Know Helen : Maybe Chimps Know a Lot More Than We Think'' (1994) *''Hey Ann! : What's The Diff Between Religion & Patriotism?'' (with Dave Jordan, 1994) *''Whitman said : "In order to have great art you have to have great audiences!"'' (1994) *''When I Hear the Word 'Culture' I Reach for My Gun'' (1994) *''I Hate Poems About Poems About Poems'' (1994) *''Great Moments in the History of Sport : No. 4, The Spartans Invent Football'' (1994) *''Teach Yourself Fucking'' (2000) *''Paris I Have Never Seen'' (2001)

Discography

*''No Deposit No Return'' (1967) ESP Disk – ESP-1035 *''Tuli & Friends'' (1989) Shimmy Disc – shimmy 020

Biography

Bibliography

Discography

References

Further reading

External links