Publisher Vows to Sell 'Fugs' Himself

The manufacturer and distributor of The Fugs' records has threatened to sell their albums from a card table in Harvard Square if local stores continue to refuse to handle them.

Record stores in the Square stopped selling the two albums of the controversial singing group when Briggs and Briggs Music Inc. was threatened with Court action earlier this month after selling a Fugs recording to a minor.

"I'll make a nuisance of myself around Cambridge to make sure those records go on sale," Bernard Stollman, head of ESP Disc Ltd. said yesterday.

Stollman might have to back up his threat, because spokesmen for Briggs and Briggs, The Coop and Minuteman Radio Inc. have indicated that they will not run the risk of court action in order to sell the Fugs.

Stollman said he would supply legal and financial support "all the way to the Supreme Court" to any record dealer in Harvard Square who wants to fight the issue.

Facts of Life

"When a child is 13, his father usually levels with him and tells him the facts of life," Stollman said. "I don't think a teenager should be sheltered from this."

"But nothing could delight us further," he continued, "than having the notoriety of being banned in Boston."

He said Cambridge is the only place in the country where the sale of the records has caused any incident.

Still Legal

So far no hearing has actually been held to determine whether the Fugs albums are obscene, and the records are as legal in Cambridge as any other record.

When Briggs and Briggs promised not to sell the recording, a Cambridge court judge denied a complaint against the store. Technically this decision involved no other stores. And before the store could be prosecuted for selling the record to a minor, a hearing would have to be held to determine the legal status of the record.