War on War

Almost four decades later, The Fugs' Ed Sanders is still fighting

A A A Comments (0) By Jeff Liles Thursday, Oct 31 2002

Sanders may have been the lead singer of one of the first truly underground rock-and-roll bands in the world, but that path didn't lead to the same type of crash-and-burn coda of his contemporaries like Jim Morrison, Jack Kerouac or his close friend Janis Joplin. This is a man who has since won an American Book Award, an NEA grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and still gives regular lectures on Homer, Blake, investigative poetry and the work of his mentor, Charles Olson. Sanders is one of the few remaining writers who can offer firsthand perspective and speak with great clarity on the counterculture Beat movement, and his gentle demeanor and willingness to discuss politics make him one of the more approachable pop-culture figures of our time.

His upcoming Dallas performance will include excerpts of his brilliant ongoing work-in-progress, America: A History of Verse. Don't expect words of encouragement for the current administration's policies in Iraq. Afterward, he'll invite his audience to run naked through the moonlit streets of Highland Park, focusing on the front yard of the house where Dick Cheney once lived.

Ed Sanders, as he appeared on the back of The Fugs' self-titled 1966 debut

Details

Ed Sanders of The Fugs will read selections of his published literary work at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 1 at the Horchow Auditorium in the Dallas Museum of Art. On Saturday, November 2, he'll be conducting "Bringing to Grace Glut as Data: Writing the Epic," a six-hour writing workshop. For further information, contact WordSpace at wordspace3@aol.com.