Saturday nite and the Fudge

Well, this is the first of this years posts and it starts off with a great night with Vanilla Fudge. I must say that it came as a total surprise to me that Tim Bogart had retired and is not touring with the VF any more. I was looking forward to his Jeykel/Hyde transformation pre and post show. Having met Tim several times, I can tell you he runs the gamet of moods before during and after a show. Pre show, he is all laid back, relaxed, almost semi-comotose, then the curtain call comes and out comes this MAD man running around, literally beating the hell out of his Fender bass, and hitting those magnificiant high notes, then post show again the laid back guy appears. Tim has been replaced by Pete Bremy on bass. Pete did a remarkable job and seems to have Tim's spirit down pat. Then there is the power behind the band in Carmine. Carmine has not changed at all, all this time I have known him. He is a true showman in every sense of the word. Great on the vocals, and untouchable on the drum solos, Carmine is truely the driving force for the band. Next comes the Vinny, in my opinion, highly underrated as a guitarist. Vinny is such a great guy both on and off the stage. Very approachable and down to earth. Doesnt let the 40 yrs in the business define him and will spend time to talk to a fan. His guitar playing does nothing but get better everytime I see him. And lastly we come to Mark. I have only met Mark once, I know his replacment better, Bill, but I have to admit that I was disappointed in both his vocals tonight, along with his refusal to join in the band meet and greet after their set. I was hoping for an autograph from the whole band and was only able to get the other three, as Mark never came out to sign anything or meet with anyone. Also, there did seem to be some tension between Mark and Vinny after a comment that Mark made referring to himself as a founding member of the Fudge. From where I stood, is seemed that Vinny took exception to that statement and gave the response of there are other founding members on this stage. Of all the songs on the set list, the stand out tonight were "You keep me hangin on" "Shotgun", and my all time favorite VF song, "People get ready". The harmonies the band has and the execution of the song, make this in my opinion the bands best song ever. It was, this time, for me, a bit different without Tim's great harmony, but still in my humble opinion their best song. It is my understanding that this performance is still part of the "Farwell Tour" and it will be a sad day in Music history when we can no longer hear that great driving beat of Carmine, fabulous guitar riffs of Vinny, and the magnificent harmonies of the first Pyschedelic Band this country ever had.