Fufkin,
Artie: Polymer Records Midwest promotions rep assigned to
push Tap in Chicago area and Cleveland. Sets up Disk 'an Dat autograph
session in South Bend, Indiana, then invites boys to "kick
my ass, for a man" when it fails miserably. Blames oversaturation
of radio promos and the fact that he "fucked up the timing."
In an example of the selective editing that would later anger
the boys, DiBergi choose not to include footage of the few fans
who did show up for autographs. One named Johnny asks the band
to sign his copy of "Smell the Glove," but none of the
signatures are visible on the album's black cover. Another brings
an album called "Train Sounds." The band doesn't hold
a grudge against Fufkin, however, and years later attributes the
low turnout to "a traffic problem caused by a rooftop sniper
outside the shop." (LT) In addition, David explained, "Jack
Nicklaus was autographing his golf album in a store right down
the block, and we just happened to have concurrent markets."
(IST) What are the chances? In other scenes not included in "This
is Spinal Tap," Fufkin smashes an egg over his head to convince
the boys to get up for a 7 a.m. radio show the next morning. (Nigel:
"But we go to sleep at 6:15. That's kinda tight.") Fufkin,
who was later charged with sexual harassment and fired by Polymer
(He denies the charges: "There was no harassment. There was
no sexual. There was a cute secretary there named Barbara. I was
really just trying to give her some insight into what it takes
to be in this business they call record promotion"), ended
up in Australia as the executive programmer for Video Magic, a
22-hours-a-day video hits channel. Ironically, he refused to air
Tap's "Bitch School," claiming it was sexist. Later,
he became an salesman based in Wheaton, Illinois for the Jumbotronic
Egg. "We dose the eggs with a certain machine, and it enables
us to produce an egg of superior quality. It's not harmful in
any way. Record promotion, egg promotion, it's really the same
thing. It's all promotion and I figured what's the difference?
When you've got two kids in junior college, this is what you have
to do." In the same interview, Fufkin still feels some resentment
toward the band. "The kids really - Spinal Tap - were a bunch
of cocksuckers, between you and me, because they would not enable
a guy like me to do my job - to do what I had to do to get a record
played in a town like Chicago." (VH1) See also Kick
This Ass, For a Man; Train Sounds.