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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SleYHOcLjOg

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...

Last night, Jack, Barry, Larry, Teresa and I held for about seventy five glorious minutes and here is our set list:

Hot Tuna 15, 2013
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
And Barry Mitterhoff
With Larry Campbell
And
Teresa Williams
Breezes Resort
Negril, Jamaica
Friday, March 8, 2013

1. Serpent Of Dreams
2. I’ll let You Know Before I Leave
3. How Long Blues
4. More Than My Old Guitar
5. Deep Ellum
6. Things That Might Have Been
7. Barbeque King
8. I Know You Rider
9. Preachin’ On The Old Campground
10. Sugaree
11. Bar Room Crystal Ball

Another absolutely great evening for this old picker… and… later in the evening in the middle of Dixie Chicken… Jack and I sat in with our friends in Little Feat. What a night. Today we have an early show at four… and then the banquet.

Nuff for now… gotta hit the beach for the last time before we go home tomorrow!

OK folks… hang onto your hats… a short entry with our set list for tonight. Check it out!

Hot Tuna 14, 2013
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
And Barry Mitterhoff
With Larry Campbell
And
Teresa Williams
Breezes Resort
Negril, Jamaica
Thursday, March 7, 2013

1. I See The Light
2. Genesis with Larry Campbell
3. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here with Larry Campbell
4. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today? with Larry Campbell
5. Angel Of Darkness with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
6. Come Back Baby with Larry Campbell
7. Children Of Zion with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
8. San Francisco Bay Blues with Larry Campbell
9. Vicksburg Stomp with Larry Campbell
10. Smokerise Journey with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
11. White Rabbit with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams

Whaddaya thing about that?

In my blog a couple of days ago I thanked our legion of musician friends who made the Beacon Show possible… (go back a day and you will see them all!) but of course there are so many more and I will get to that now. It takes a lot of people to make for any successful show… with a big one like the Beacon, there are indeed quite a few.

To begin with, when we were up in Woodstock rehearsing at Levon Helm’s Barn, one of my aging Gibson Chet Atkins SST guitars developed some electronic problems at the eleventh hour. My trusty sidekick, Myron Hart grabbed the Kingston phone book and called and called Ernie Saker over there in the Stockade District of ‘downtown’ Kingston. It was after six but Ernie brought the needed part over to the Holiday Inn and the old SST lived again. Thanks Ernie… that’s customer service!

Now let’s move on to the myriad folks who made this show possible. They are all important to me:

Martin Guitars who honored me with the Jorma Kaukonen M-30 Artist Model. Who would have thought?
Louis Electric Amplifiers Not only do I play and praise Louis’ fine tube amplifiers, but Louis Rosano provided all the guitar amps we all used on these two nights!
Aguilar Bass amplifiers… Jack Casady always plays Aguilar. On this night, Lincoln Schleifer played the Aguilar Tone Hammer we use at the Fur Peace Ranch. Many thanks Dave!
GHS Strings… all of our electric instruments are strung with GHS strings and we also use GHS cables and assorted accoutrements.
Red House Records… Eric Peltoniemi, Ellen Stanley, Luke Welsh and the whole team
JGM Coaches (Our ride to the stars)
Carmelo LoMonoco… My old friend who came out of retirement to do this gig with us!
Myron Hart… Our guitar tech, sound engineer, luthier, also my neighbor and friend!
Stage Crew at the Beacon… thanks for your consistent professionalism
Metropolitan Entertainment for hiring us over the years…
JJohn Scher without him many of us would be struggling… thanks old buddy!
Ian Noble
Rich Nesin
Rene Pfefer
Cash Edwards our tireless and inventive publicist.
The Agency Group
Steve Martin one of the biggest of dogs at the group… Steve and I have been friends and worked together for well over a quarter of a century.
Seth Rappaport our amazing and trusty agent at the Agency Group
Ryan Edmundson at the Agency Group
Phil Jacobs: our worthy road manager and friend for more than twenty five years. Phil handles our logistics on the road and tirelessly listens to our infantile whining on the road. He knows that musicians complain about two things: Having a gig, and not having a gig.
Kevin Morgan… Kevin did the beautiful Tuna Beacon T-shirt… in fact, if it has to do with art, Kevin does it all for us.
The Fur Peace Ranch folks:
John Hurlbut
Brett Thompson
Kelly Stewart
…and the rest of the folks at Team Fur Peace.
Barry Berenson and Vernon Webb… two fine photographers who shot the show and captured the spirit of the night. I’ve known Barry since the 70’s when he was, well… younger… and so was I.

Finally, last but most assuredly not least, our Manager and my beloved wife and trusted partner… Vanessa Lillian Kaukonen. Vanessa’s loving spirit… attention to detail… creative spirit, deep love and commitment to just decisions and profound loyalty to her friends and family make all these things possible. Without her I would be something… but not what I am!

Thank you all!