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David Ferguson
Occupation	Impresario
Website	Institute For Unpopular Culture

David Ferguson is an international outsider-culture impresario, activist, music producer and concert promoter. Over his career – most of which has been spent on the West Coast -- he has worked with musical acts such as The Avengers, John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten), Billy Bragg, Iggy Pop, Bad Brains, Black Flag, and The Butthole Surfersand visual artists Vaughn Bode,Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Barry McGee. Ferguson worked with multi-discipline artists such as avant-garde musician and spoken-word artist Lydia Lunch and the psychedelic drag queen performance group The Cockettes.

The San Francisco Chronicle referred to Ferguson as the "godfather of the unorthodox", adding that Ferguson "...not only thinks outside the box—he crushes it, dances on top of it, reinvents it and calls it whatever he likes. He has spent his life making trouble." The East Bay Express wrote, "David Ferguson's life story reads like an encyclopedia of the underground."

Ferguson founded and presently heads the Institute For Unpopular Culture, a San Francisco-based arts organization. Through IFUC, Ferguson has maintained his involvement in anti-war protests, an activism which dates back to his student days at the University of Miami in the 1960s.

Early career

Ferguson was co-leader of the Union of Students to End the War in Vietnam. Before his anti-war activism led to his expulsion from the university, Ferguson arranged for Pop Art icon Andy Warhol to speak at the campus in 1968,an event that led to a professional association between the two.

Ferguson moved to San Francisco in 1969 where he met the performance troupe The Cockettes, for which he later produced and promoted live shows. Even in tolerant San Francisco The Cockettes' bawdy performance antics presented thorny PR issues. A member of the group wrote about a tactic Ferguson used to sneak the troupe and its outrageous stage behavior by wary club owners:

For nearly 20 years, Mr. Bimbo had presided over his lavish and busy supper club five nights a week, and he was nervous about renting the place out...In fact, he was so nervous about that prospect that he asked David Ferguson to sign an affidavit of sorts—on the back on an envelope—swearing that he would allow no naked women to perform onstage. It was only after seeing the show that Mr. Bimbo got the joke and realized how funny his prohibition was. 'David,' he said, as he approached the table, laughing. 'I can see that I have to be careful with you. You promised me no naked women, but you said nothing about naked men.

Ferguson formed a lecture and appearance scheduling enterprise in 1973. Through the agency, he maintained an association with the Black Panther Partyby representing Black Panther Party then-chairperson Elaine Brown. The agency also scheduled lectures for Jo Ann Little, Paul Krassner, Jerry Mander, and Beat poet Michael McClure. In the early and mid-1970s, Ferguson also produced or promoted shows for acts such as Iggy Pop and The New York Dolls.

CD Presents

In 1979, Ferguson co-founded CD Presents as a concert promotion company, which later expanded into a record label that specialized in promoting, recording and distributing punk music and alternative music that was owned by Buried Treasure, Inc.

Ferguson's concert promotion career took an important turn when he was asked to produce West Coast shows for Public Image Ltd. during PiL's first two American tours (1980 and 1982, respectively). The 1980 show at Los Angeles’ Olympic Auditorium show proved not only a memorable event in PiL's career, but it also marked the first notable appearance of Los Lobos, a Tejano music wedding band that Ferguson brought in as a last minute addition to the bill.

In keeping with the group's iconoclastic image, PiL balked at major label promotion to back its tour, insisting instead on working with smaller, independent promoters. This led to the band's association with CD Presents, an informal partnership that put PiL and Ferguson on a collision course with music industry powers, most notably Bill Graham, head of the San Francisco-based Bill Graham Presents and the music industry's most powerful promoter.

Graham held a virtual monopoly on concert promotion in Northern California and he stepped in on more than one occasion to postpone the San Francisco PiL show, ultimately maneuvering to persuade city officials to terminate the concert all together.This battle played to Lydon's own reputation as an anti-establishment hell raiser: "We've got to play this gig," exclaimed. "It's everything we came here to do on this tour. We gave them six gigs for these two, and we'll see which ones come off the most successful. That's what they're really afraid of." Fearing riots if the PiL show was cancelled, city officials authorized CD Presents to proceed with the concert.

Either through the label or through its distribution system, CD presents recorded, released or distributed the music of nearly 3,300 artists. In 1983, the label released a compilation of The Avengers' material popularly known as The Pink Album. Additionally, As CD Presents released records D.O.A, Butthole Surfers, and Tales of Terror. CD Presents released the San Francisco group The Offs's First Record (1984) with a Jean-Michel Basquiat-designed cover.

During the 1980s, CD Presents released three volumes of punk recording compilations titled Rat Music for Rat People. Vol. 1 (1988), a collection of songs previously released by Go Records! in 1982, featuring a number of the era's most notable West Coast punk bands: The Avengers, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag w/Henry Rollins, Circle Jerks, The Subhumans, and D.O.A.Vol. 2 (1984) showcased a number of Texas punk bands including, The Butthole Surfers, Big Boys, The Dicks, MDC along with the influential Southern California hardcore band, Minutemen. Rat Music, Vol. 3 featured The Adolescents, Naked Raygun and Mojo Nixon. Vol. 3 also was one of the earliest records of producer/engineer Sylvia Massy (Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Tool's Undertow), who mixed and engineered a number of the tracks.

CD Presents released albums from artists in other genres besides punk, including the avant-garde musician, poet and actress Lydia Lunch and electronic and the experimental post punk act Minimal Man.

Institute For Unpopular Culture

In 1989 Ferguson founded the Institute For Unpopular Culture (IFUC) as a non-profit organization to support artists outside the mainstream art world. "It is our aim to subvert all commercial avenues of art exploitation," Ferguson said. "It's not that we dislike people who own art galleries, we just think there could be a viable alternative." IFUC's stated mission is to discover and mentor outsider artists and creative people by assisting with public relations, business, counseling, opportunities, access to equipment, and funding for their projects.

Ferguson founded The Punk Rock Orchestra, a 50-plus member collaboration which recasts punk songs in an orchestral format. The orchestra has been featured on NPR and CBS Radio's The Osgood File. The PRO was voted San Francisco's Best Local Band in 2005 by readers of the SF Weekly.

Since its founding the Institute has supported and been associated with a number of artists, including Obie-award winning performance artist Holly Hughes and graffiti artist Barry McGee (a.k.a. "Twist"). IFUC sponsored artist Clinton Fein, founder of the controversial website, Annoy.com.Interns from the IFUC offered extensive legal research in support of Fein's successful legal case against the U.S. government (ApolloMedia v. Reno). The case challenged the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. IFUC has sponsored William Noguera, an artist who, since 1983 has been on death row at California's San Quentin State Prison and now creates photorealistic paintings with pointillism (thousands of ink dots) with a rapidograph pen.

References

1. ^ Martine, Lord (2002-03-29). "Ferguson finds unconventional fits him just right". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
2. ^ Kalem, Stefanie (April 16, 2003). "Chamber Punk". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
3. ^ Lawrence, Ella (December 27, 2006). "In Pen and Ink". SF Weekly. Retrieved April 3, 2008.
4. ^ Wechsler, Shoshana (1980). "Public Image: The Emperor's New Clothes". Damage Fanzine. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
5. ^ Jarrell, Joe (9-26-2004). "Putting Punk In Place -- Among the Classics". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications Inc. pp. PK-45. Retrieved 2009-01-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. Schindehette, Susan. A Simple Punk-Folk-Rock Protester, British Billy Bragg Makes Waves Onstage, Not Off People Magazine. July 29, 1985
7. Lifes a Riot and Brewing Up CD Presents discography
8. ^ nyu.edu Rat Music compilations
9. ^ WaxFM Rat Music Vol. 2
10. Bode Cartoon character based David Ferguson
11. Bode Cartoon dedicated to David Ferguson
12. ^ Rediscovered Punk Art at Art Basel, Miami NY Arts, March-April, 2008. Retrieved on April 16, 2008
13. Cartoon David University of Miami Yearbook, 1968, p. 92
14. The Miami Hurricane, August 9, 1968. p. 25.
15. University Of Miami Yearbook, IBIS. 1968. p. 96.
16. Ferguson Disciplinary Action Expected Miami Hurricane, 12/19/67, vol. 43, no. 25, p. 96
17. Tent, Pam (2004). Midnight at the Palace: My Life as a Fabulous Cockette.
18. David Ferguson Lecture Agency catalog
19. ^ Tudor, Silke. House of Tudor. SF Weekly, May 19, 2004
20. ^ David Ferguson Lecture Agency catalog. Elaine Brown, Jo Ann Little, Jerry Mander
21. David Ferguson Lecture Agency catalog, Krassner
22. David Ferguson Lecture Agency catalog, Michael McClure
23. Zinko, Carolyne (3-1-2008). "Out & About: Fashionable philanthropist feted". San Francisco Bay Area SFIS Special Sections. Hearst Communications, Inc. p. 4. Retrieved 2008-12-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. McKenna, Kristine."Public Image vs. a rotten crowd." Rolling Stone. June 25, 1980, p. 92
25. Munoz, Matt. of the Pack Bakotopia.com / Mas Magazine, September 23, 2007
26. ^ Wechler, Shoshana. The Emperor's New Clothes Damage Magazine. July 1980. p. 8-10
27. Avengers Summary.mp3.com
28. Keithley, Joe (2004). I, Shithead: A Life in Punk. Arsenal Pulp Press. pp. 126, 128–129. ISBN 978-1551521480. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
29. Discography: Tales of Terror
30. ^ O'Brien, Glenn. Review of The Offs First Record, Glen O'Brien's Beat. Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine. May 1985
31. penelope.net/discography
32. acc.umu.se Dils interview and discography
33. radiostarstudios.com/masseydiscography
34. TrouserPress.com Lydia Lunch
35. TrouserPress Minimal Man
36. Goff, Robert. The Oldest (art) ProfessionForbes Magazine. May 18, 1998.
37. Swan, Rachel (June 11, 2003). "Outcast Orchestras". East Bay Express. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
38. Evnochides, Fawnee (April 24, 2004). "Punk Orchestra". Weekend Edition. NPR. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
39. Osgood File PRO feature
40. "Readers' Poll". SF Weekly. 2005. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
41. Feinstein, Julie. Just Think SF Weekly, August 16, 2000. Retrieved April 4, 2008.

• American music industry executives
• Living people
• Music promoters
• Impresarios