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FILLMORE EAST, JUNE 1971

The Mud Shark

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Mud Sh-sh-shark

THE MUD SHARK DANCING LESSON!

My mind drifts back to a meeting, a chance meeting
in the Chicago O'Hare Airport
where the members of the
Vanilla Fudge
told Don Preston about a home movie they made
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  Below is a message I received one day, it's obviously a reaction of a former Vanilla Fudge bass guitar player Tim Bogert to what he once read about event in question in aff-z FAQ.
  BTW, unfortunately despite all my efforts I wasn't able to contact original author for detailed interview, Alas:-((
From:
realname=Tim Bogert/Vanilla Fudge band member
emailaddress=ejscully@adnetsol.com
message=The Mudshark Dance:
  Regarding the Fish Dance, it was originally done on her back. I remember she was laying down because she was sucking on Clive while I was kneeling next to him.
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at the Edgewater Inn with a Mud Shark.
I'm gonna tell you, this dance, the
Mud Shark,
is sweeping the ocean!...
From: sshupe@alesis1.usa.com
  I don't know if there is a dance or not, but the mud shark is about a band ( i think vanilla fudge, really) who caught a fish at the edgewater inn in seatlle, and procedded to plook some groupie with it. i think this is described in the real fz book. the story was told to a member other than frank, but supposedly the groupie person enjoyed it vigorously, identified with it strenuously, got up, dressed herself, and then thanked the band persons very much for doing this to her, and left.
  The interview with the guy at the edgewater, on playground psychotics, obviously took place after frank heard the story. frank seems to be hinting at what a person could do with a fish that they had caught the whole time. i also remember flo and eddie referring to the "Dance that would be sweeping the nation" (and the nation needs a good sweeping).
From: cate@brahms.udel.edu (Catherine M Leonard)
  I have a recording of Frank describing the Mudshark Dance to the audience. You open your legs, clasp your hands together & s q u a t ! To do it in 4/4 time, step left, step right, squat, rest. All the time you should have your hands together down by the knees. I'll have to check for the date, etc.
From: rich.gregory@suzys.altcit.eskimo.com (Rich Gregory)
  I have a bootleg where FZ coaches the audience on how to do this dance. He's got 'em all lined up standing, no, squatting in their seats w/ their hands between their legs. One hand between the legs to the person behind you, the other hand to the person in front of you (who's hand is between his leg back to you). The idea is to sort of duck walk & in unison with the music SQUAT at the appropriate time with everyone else.
From: linetramp@delphi.com
  Now that you mention it, I do remember Phlo & Eddie and several other bandmembers attempting this maneuver while Frank narrated from the side. It was a nice break from Nixon, Vietnam and Kent State. It was just plain idiotic looking! I REALLY wish I had a video tape of that show! Zappa showed us all that you could still have fun while surrounded by a world full of "plastic people".
  CC
From: ralf@ark.btbg.sub.de (Ralf W. Stephan)
  Well, Frank says on 'Bebop Tango'(Roxy) that the BT will 'sweep/t(?) the ocean, right after the Mudshark did'.
From: cantrell@ssd.intel.com (Jay Cantrell)
  Also, on PlaygroundPsychotics, Frank interviews the desk manager at the Mudshark Hotel....Well, since my baby left me, I've found a new place to dwell, It makes a sort of Puget Sound...
From: chris@transdata.co.nz (Chris Grace)
  On an (almost) related subject, the Vanilla Fudge (of Edgewater Inn fame) had an album called 'Rock and Roll' released sometime around 1968. One of the tracks on the album is called 'The spell that comes after'. The writer of this song is cited as 'Calvin Schenkel'. Bearing in mind the Mudshark episode, I wonder if it is the same Cal Schenkel? It's not a very common name....
From: John Henley <jhenley@mail.utexas.edu>
  As I posted on affz a couple of weeks ago, Playground Psychotics contains an interview by Frank of the manager of the Edgewater Inn. I consider this little cut to be essential to CC. The manager denies ever seeing any visual evidence of sexual activity with any of the fish that people catch from their balconies, though there's plenty of evidence that they catch the fish and just leave them to rot in the bathtub or on the floor. He also points out that a mudshark has sandy skin, which would make for an unpleasant encounter.
From: chulrich@interchange.ubc.ca (Charles Ulrich)
  FZ says it's also known as a dogfish. So he's probably talking about the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias Linnaeus), which is a small shark whose skin is rough because it has small spiny scales on it.
From: rmaurer@pinc.com (Rolf Maurer)
  Right-O. Dogfish is what we call our local low-rent sharks up here off the upper left hand edge of North America. They can grow to 3-4 feet and don't scare anything bigger than krill. Arf! Arf! Some people, including the Fudge and the Mothers, prefer to refer to them as mudsharks -- seems sexier and more dangerous than "dogfish", I suppose.
  Dog -- fish fish fish ...
  If you want so more, here is some more Mudshark legend of Vanilla/Zeppeiln 1969 tour
  BTW:-)))
From: "L. Hirsch" <lverre@u.washington.edu>
  I just thought I'd post a bit about the Edgewater in case anyone's interested. If you come to Seattle, you just might want to stay there for the sole novelty of the whole mudshark experience. BUT, you should all be aware that it's a pretty cheezy hotel. It was recently renovated, so it looks a little prettier, but it's still pretty close to a Holiday Inn experience. Might I suggest going to the top of some building in town .. preferably not the Space Needle ($6.50 a pop) .. to simply look at the giant "E" that sits atop the inn.
  Apparently it actually used to be a nice hotel. My grandparents were very fond of staying there in the 60's. The Beatles stayed there during their first Seattle visit. As far as I know, you can still fish from your window. Not too exciting .. but there ya go. Enjoy!

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