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    Having played their version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" in my former band, The Family Scandal, I was more than eager to tour with Vanilla Fudge. Talk about wild!! Those were the days of "trashing hotel rooms" being in vogue, as far as rock n rollers were concerned. Being the kings of decadence and frivolity, they were set on breaking us in and teaching us "the ropes," so to speak. I recall Mr. Jimmy Greenspoon, being undaunted by Tim Bogert's continual lamp smashing, was quick to throw a TV set out of a 3rd story hotel room window. Maturity was yet to come. Strange bonding rituals, these American rockers. The guitar player, Vinnie, and I enjoyed blubbering guitar talk over Texas Everclear, a drink of infamous strength. I was all of 21 years old. This tour had set the tone of intense revelry, in all its wonder, for the next few years. Young men, loose on the nation in a pillaging frenzy of success driven sex and rock and roll. The money and the excessive "party" drugs they could buy, were yet to come. A legacy of the '60's and the love generation that we had come from. Having taken psychedelics during my late teen years and occasionally, until the time I joined 3DN, I was somewhat put off and surprised by others in the band that had previously used psychedelics, but were opposed to it now, for professional reasons, and rightly so. In retrospect, it was mostly just an illusion. I say mostly, because there are aspects of LSD that are amazing and enlightening, to some degree, as to the potential of the mind, but, it is way too dangerous in it's unpredictability and sheer potency. Far more potent and potentially mind altering than the average person would ever imagine. It's been more than 30 years since I last took any and I would never, ever take it again. Fortunately, it was like a cartoon to me; I was too naive to be afraid of it. Somehow, I got through those teen years of dangerous drug experimentation by sheer luck, I think. There was a wonderful sense of belonging during the "summer of love" and those that followed, weaving their way through the latter 1960's. A sense of belonging to the family of all living things. A sense of moral brotherhood and religious wonderment that filled a young generation full of hope. A heightened kinship with animals and all that grows. Communes became hip, agenda's were hard to find, other than "lets be happy." Just a bunch of kids on drugs? Yes, yet more than that. Woodstock, Monterey Pop Festival and all that was to follow. A wondrous time, yet a wasted time, to some degree. A time of change. The death of John Kennedy had galvanized the youth of our country. It came as a staggering, rude awakening to the reality that all was NOT Camelot and that even Camelot could be assassinated. Unbelievable, really. The end of naivety for an entire generation. I was home from school that day, Nov. 22, 1963, gold bricking, really. I'll never forget sitting glued to that TV set for the entire weekend, as the hurried explanations came across to comfort all of us. The rush to judgment. The killing of Lee Oswald. I was watching it live when it happened. The funeral procession for John Kennedy. The riderless horse being led. John John's salute. Jackie's black veil and incredible poise, during a horrible nightmare. More was to come. Martin Luther King. Bobby Kennedy. Mankind's ugliness graphically depicted. America the beautiful, painfully exposed as soiled , tattered and ridden with money and crime. Dare I say it? All the way up to our federal government. Government IS business. Business is money. Government, big business and even organized crime syndicates in partnership IS AMERICA. Whatever is necessary to accomplish an agenda, just IS. It is the natural result of individual initiative left unchecked. Grow up. We had to grow up. Even more, we had to understand that government and big business, being one in the same (in essence) seems to be a necessary evil. Big business generates jobs for the masses. This is true. In reality, people with the big money are the ones who really DO know all the intra structure of our society and how the economy works. We don't want to hear that, but I have found it to be true. They probably ARE the best ones to be in office. Dangerous, though, that young lives should be so generously sacrificed for political (money) reasons so often. Not always, but not infrequently either. Such has always been the history of man. The old men and women with the money, send the young men and women off to fight the wars, to save the old people's money. Maybe that's a bit harsh. Probably. Just a thought. Notice how easily I slip into a "PODIUM" mode? A shameful self-indulgence that I just can't shake.

Let me wrap this page up by getting back to the Texas/Fudge tour of 1968:

   Also on this tour was B.J. Thomas, of "Hooked on a Feeling" fame. He can really sing. On the down side, I had the Fender Telecaster I was playing, the one in the Bruce Amp Free Press (ad) stolen from me in Ft. Worth. Bummer. It was unique in that I had modified it by putting a Gibson humbucking pickup in the rhythm pickup slot. Funny how even apparently bad things can create a pivotal decision in your life. It was shortly thereafter that I switched to a Gibson and went on to play a Gibson Les Paul for the next 25 years of my career. Due, at least in part, to the thief that night. A belated "thanks" to him or her.

    After that dissertation on drugs, please don't be confused. I'm not glorifying drug use. Do yourself a favor. --Don't take drugs, kids--Live healthy--Live Happy--Live Long.

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