The good old Boulder Theater

Saturday night the Hot Tuna gang headed out to Boulder to play the Blues And Roots Summit at the Boulder Theater. We were blessed to have our good friend Steve Kimock on board for our whole show. Steve is an honorary Hot Tuna member and he’s welcome to play with us any time he wants to.

Steve and I seen here at sound check

Before our set Ben Manilla did a meet and greet for the Bluesmobile Radio Show. He channeled Elwood as he always does, but that’s another story. Anyway, Ben presented Jack and myself with a lively lifetime achievement award for a life in the blues. Good stuff… really!

Living the Blues...

Here is our set list with Steve!

Hot Tuna 17, 2013
The Acoustic Trio
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
& Barry Mitterhoff
Featuring
Steve Kimock

1. True Religion
2. I See The Light
3. River Of Time
4. Children Of Zion with Steve Kimock
5. Hesitation Blues with Steve Kimock
6. Barbeque King with Steve Kimock
7. Mama Let Lay It On You with Steve Kimock
8. Come Back Baby with Steve Kimock
9. Ten Minutes of Steve
10. Good Shepherd with Steve Kimock
11. Goodbye To the Blues with Steve Kimock
12. 99 Year Blues with Steve Kimock
13. I Am the Light Of This World with Steve Kimock
14. Nine Pound Hammer with Steve Kimock
15. Encore: Embryonic Journey With Steve Kimock

After the show… back to the hotel and up at 0400 for an early flight home. Today I worked on my tractor and mowed for four hours. Good times and clean living…

Last but not least… allow me to present:

Maverick... Dog Of Destiny

We love this dog…

Onward!

The class gents from Glass Harp and I

Saturday night night Glass Harp came to town. That would be Phil Keaggy on guitar and vocals, John Sferra on drums and Daniel Pecchio on bass and vocals.

The men at work at the Fur Peace Station

I had heard Phil play before, but I had never heard Glass Harp live. These gentlemen are beyond praise as far as I am concerned. People talk about ‘Power trios,’ and that’s well and good. These guys are incisive artists whose mode of expression happens to be a trio format. What an evening. Before the evening was over, Phil called me up and we started with Green Onions and wound up in some other galaxy. Good times indeed.

Beam me up Scotty

This is the real deal… real life art unfolding before your very eyes. Gotta do this again!!!!!!!!!! Thanks men!

Last but not least… yesterday was Mother’s Day. My Mom, Beatrice, passed on May 8, 1998 while my brother and I went out to get her some flowers. She waited until we were out of the house before she made her final journey home. I still miss her. The good news is that on this Mother’s Day, we also get to celebrate the Mothers in our lives that are still alive. Obviously Vanessa is a Mom and so Izze and I tried in some small way to honor her. As for all the other mothers in the world, where would we be without you. G_d bless you all.

Onward!

(fotos by Robert Brandt)

Just a quick one here… A giant rainstorm came in yesterday and we completely lost power at the Fur Peace Ranch. The guys and gals in KIrchen’s Electric Pickin’ class showed a lot of intestinal fortitude and did what they needed to do unplugged. Bill Nershi was dealing with acoustic players and I’m working on songwriting so we were OK by candlelight. There was ground to ground lightning, high winds… the whole ball of wax. When I hit the sack last night about 2330 I was thinking about calling Bedrock Rentals this morning and seeing about getting a big generator out to the Station, but fortunately, the power came back about 0400 this morning. I’ve got a couple of little 7800 watt generators so the kitchen and the walk in freezer stay on but they’re not enough to run the Station or the workshops. I’d sure like to have one those Ingersoll Ranch monsters. We’ll see.

Still pouring… gotta walk the dog and head over to the Ranch. Izze has Brownies, a birthday party and some sort of function at the Dairy Barn. With a show tonight at the Station, Nessa has a real Mom Day ahead of her.

Into the fray…

Today, our lovely daughter Israel Love made the big move from Daisy Scouts to being a Brownie. Whoah! In three weeks, Schools in the Ohio school system will be out for Summer Vacation and there will be camps galore for the kids. Music camp, theater camp, wildlife camp, swimming camp you name it camp. It seems like the kids get out early here, but they’re back in August so it all works out. Yeah, yeah… I know it’s been said before, but they grow so fast and as my dear old Dad used to say with a wag of his head, ‘We are too soon old, and too late smart!’ Words of wisdom from the old boy… may he rest in peace. he also used to say, ‘Why are there so many more horse’s asses than there are horses?’ Point well taken.

This weekend teaching at the Fur Peace Ranch is myself, (doing a song writing class), Bill Kirchen, bless his pea pickin’ heart, and Bill Nershi. Kirchen and I are old buds from back in the day and I got to know Bill Nershi a year or so ago when he was at the Ranch. Helluva picker and a great guy. We’re going to have strum fun this weekend! Click the Strum Fun link and check the video of Eddie Peabody… speaking of pickers!

Saturday night we have a concert at the Fur Peace Station with Glass Harp. We are so excited about this gig. It’s going to be a rocker for sure. Next week I’ll be heading to Boulder to hook up with Jack Casady, Barry Mitterhoff, and Steve Kimock for a gig at the Boulder Theater in Boulder on May 18, 2013. The Boulder Theater is such a beautiful gig and when you throw Steve Kimock into the mix… anything can and probably will happen.

Big smiles! More will be revealed as the weekend progresses.

Me, Mickey Thomas and the birthday boy... Jack

The boys and I have been playing Wanee for many years now. We love this gig and the folks there have always treated us like gold! The weather was perfect… and there were 10,000 folks there at the Mushroom Stage. Now, I knew that there was a secret plan to celebrate Jack’s 69th birthday on stage. Jack, I think, was clueless. Here is our set list with the birthday events inserted:

Hot Tuna 16, 2013
The Electric Quartet
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
Barry Mitterhoff & Skoota Warner
Wanee Festival
Live Oak, Florida
Thursday, April 18, 2013

1. I See The Light
2. Children of Zion
3. Can’t Get Satisfied
4. Ode To Billy Dean
5. True Religion
6. Hesitation Blues
7. Jack’s Birthday Celebration

The cake...

Myron Hart and a lovely assistant present the cake on stage:

Is that for me?

Wait, there’s more:

Many more brother... many more!

More from the set list:

8. A Little Faster
9. Bowlegged Woman
10. Vicksburg Stomp
11. Rock Me Baby
12. Funky # 7

Yep… good times. After the show we drove Barry Mitterhoff, Jack Casady, Skoota Warner and Phil Jacobs back to the hotel at the Jacksonville Airport and Myron, Daniel The Driver and I headed back north to Ohio. Right now we’re somewhere in South Carolina.

As always, more will be revealed!

Precious Cargo!

I had some blog thoughts in mind this week, but after the mindless tragedy in Boston, somehow they just seemed too trivial to post at this time. I think about my family… my lovely daughter, my handsome son and I wonder what I would do if some evil being harmed them. Truth be told, I do not know what I would and I hope I never have to find out. That said, I think I would require and eye for an eye. Vengeance is not pretty, but justice is necessary.

Life is ephemeral at best and you cannot mandate or legislate, goodness or common sense. Evil exists in this world whether you believe in it or not. If your are lucky enough not to have been touched by it, count your blessings… but be prepared. Deserving has nothing to do with how the universe treats us. We are fortunate to live in a society governed for the most part by the rule of law. That said, the veneer of civilization is very thin and the the last analysis, personal vigilance is all that will protect us and our loved ones.

I hope that the guilty responsible for the horrific tragedy in Boston are quickly found, tried, convicted and disposed of like the garbage they are. Have a nice day!

Here in my little world, things are considerably brighter today. I am in Florida and the boys and I are getting ready to play the Wanee Festival in Live Oak, Florida. If nothing else, Hot Tuna is always ready to play. Always have been… always will be! I will write more bout this tonight after the show.

Living in the moment requires a smile and I’ve got mine on.

Onward!

Soaring with eagles... me and Mountain Heart

Last night Mountain Heart graced the boards of the stage here at the Fur Peace Station. In addition to Barry Abernathy (of course) there was Seth Taylor, Josh Shilling, Molly Cherryholmes, Aaron Ramsey, and Jason Moore.

I met the gang a couple of years when Hot Tuna did Woodsongs down in Lexington, Kentucky. I was thrilled when we got them to come to the Fur Peace Station here in Darwin, and more than thrilled when they asked me to join them for their second set.

Truly, how good does it have to get. If I was any happier, I’d have to take something for it!

Thanks, Lady and Gents! Lets do it again sometime!

Onward

Here it is the Fourth Of April… well into the beginning of Spring, if the calendar is to be believed. Perhaps… but this morning when I got up to take Izze to school, it was twenty eight degrees. Twenty eight degrees… and it’s been this way all week. Yeah, I know. Before I know it, I’ll be complaining of heat and humidity, a staple here in Southeast Ohio.

So I go outside a couple of days ago to uncover the pool and start opening it up for the warm weather I have been told is coming. It’s in the low thirties but what the heck. It’s Spring, right? I pull the cover back and find that the temperature fluctuations over the Winter have wrinkled the liner severely. Now I realize that complaining about swimming pool problems is an embarrassment of riches. If I didn’t have the pool, I wouldn’t have the problem. I get it. But I do have the pool, and I do have the problem. So I start draining the pool… the water is freezing cold and it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be warm enough to ever swim again. There is a somewhat complex series of solutions that must be effected to fix this thing and of course, I called an expert. Good news? It’s still so cold and so early in the year that I am first in line. OK. I have every confidence that things will work out and when it gets warmer the sound of joyous children will fill the back yard again. Ever the eternal optimist… that’s me!

Tomorrow the Fur Peace Ranch opens for the second weekend of our sixteenth year and we will be hosting Pete Huttlinger and Toby Walker who will be on board to share their skill and artistry with their lucky students. Of course, Marjorie Thompson will be at my side to help demystify the process for our Level II/III Students.

Saturday night we host a concert at the Fur Peace Station with the great progressive Bluegrass Band, Mountain Heart. I will be joining the boys Saturday night as much as they will allow so it promises to be a great evening for everyone… especially me!

OK… nuff said for now. Onward!

A Spring Day At The Psylodelic Museum

So last Friday was the opening day of the sixteenth year here at the Fur Peace Ranch and what an unbelievable weekend it was. First of all… it snowed all weekend. Actually, it snowed until Monday evening. Good times… Spirits were undaunted and however. The Psylo and the old Volkswagen looked great in the light blanket of white and even though it was snowing, the temperature was a little above freezing. A very nice set touch.

In any case, for this grand opening weekend we had myself, G.E.Smith , Steve Earle and Dick Boak and Craig Thatcher from Martin Guitars. What better way to start off what I know is going to be a great year. On Friday night after scheduled classes, Dick and Craig put on a multi media presentation of of guitar history that had all of us guitar geeks enthralled. Saturday and Sunday night Steve Earle put on two fantastic shows for two sold out houses.

If you build it... they will come!

I’ve been a huge fan of Steve’s since Guitar Town in the 80’s and to have him here not only in my own back yard but in our own house was, well, more than a blessing. G.E. and I have a chance to sit in with Steve towards then end of his second set each night. I played on Hometown Blues and a Lightning Hopkins number i forge the name of. Lightning through Townes, and Steve. Grand stuff! Steve taught a great songwriting class and we hope to have him back again. Thanks Steve!

Last but not least, G.E. and I have been friends for some time now and to have him in our corner at the Fur Peace Ranch is something we are always grateful for. To count him as a friend and fellow traveler is well… priceless! Thanks George!

Monday morning class in the Station

Foto by Zach Kearse

My son Zach was here in Ohio for his Spring break. He put in a man’s work this weekend doing security and parking cars for the shows, taking pictures for posterity and shooting show video for our videographer, Andy Walla.

What a great weekend… what a great time!

Onward!

PS Thanks to Mike McSteen and Jack Brandt… I know that the mysterious Townes song is Brand New Companion!

Thanks fellas…

Avanti!

Launching light at the Psylo

Last I went back over to the Fur Peace Ranch to see Chris Samardizch of the Brotherhood Of LIghts launch the beautiful light show he put together for us at the Psylodelic Museum. Hard to shoot decent pictures in low light with an iPhone… but all things considered, this isn’t bad. The projection on the Psylo was beautiful. The liquid light show with music on the second floor of the Museum, was breathtaking! Chris and his pals are true artists!

The weekend we are hosting Steve Earle who is not only teaching a writing class but is also playing two sold out shows Saturday and Sunday night. Also on board for the weekend is my good pal G.E.Smith who is always welcome here at the Ranch or anywhere. A good time is sure to be had by all.

Also on board for a presentation is Dick Boak and Craig Thatcher from Martin Guitars. We’re going to have big fun!

Good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are...