A blog by Jorma Kaukonen

It Tolls For Thee… And Me

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No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend’s were.
Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

John Donne

In my neighborhood when I was a kid, my best friend was Bill ...
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A Dip In The River Of Time And The Last Waltz Redux

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The Real Last Waltz
Lake City Florida
Friday, April 20, 12

My Hot Tuna friends and I came to Live Oak, Florida to play the Wanee Festival. We knew that our brother, Levon Helm, was hanging by a thread as we drove down here, and yesterday at 1330, we got the sad news… that Lee was making his journey beyond the stars. I had stumbled on a piece by Mark Salter that just said it so well and I offer a ...
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Instructions

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Sent to me by my old college friend Paul W.:

Date: Apr 19, 2012 10:32 AM
Instructions

Give up the world; give up self; finally, give up God.
Find god in rhododendrons and rocks,
passers-by, your cat.
Pare your beliefs, your absolutes.
Make it simple; make it clean.
No carry-on luggage allowed.
Examine all you have
with a loving and critical eye, then
throw away some more.
Repeat. Repeat.
Keep this and only this:
what your heart beats loudly for
what feels heavy and full in your gut.
There ...
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On The Road Again. A Message For Levon Helm!

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Larry Campbell came to us at the Ranch last weekend with the sad news of what might be Levon Helm’s last battle this side of the great divide. I remember, I think it was sometime in 1968, I was staying at the Landmark Motel on Franklin in Los Angeles with the rest of the Airplane. We might have been recording… I don’t remember. What I do remember is that Eric Clapton had the room next to mine. Eric played ...
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Perfection In The County

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This past weekend at the Fur Peace Ranch we hosted Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams as well as Happy Traum. Happy, Larry and myself conducted classes and Teresa flew in for the concert on Saturday night. It was a beautiful weekend and I was ably assisted in my class by the wondrous Marjorie Thompson. Larry and Teresa’s show Saturday night was as elegantly beautiful as it always is. I got to play a couple of numbers with them as ...
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Interim Report

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My son Zachary’s Spring Break was over yesterday and he’s back at school today. I’ll miss that young man, but we’ll be seeing him again in a month or so. Izze just took her theory test in piano yesterday and aced it. An almost six years of age, she reads music better than I. Chuck and Donna are visiting from California and we’re having a great time showing them the ‘sights.’

This weekend we have another camp at the Fur ...
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Son & Father

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Yesterday my son, Zachary Kaukonen-Kearse, my daughter Israel Love and my wife Vanessa and I celebrated Passover with our friends at the Hillel Center in Athens Ohio. Good times indeed!

A Sweet Passover to all our friends out there… those we know, and those we are yet to know!

Pete Huttlinger & Geoff Achison

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This past weekend we hosted Pete Huttlinger and Geoff Achison at the second weekend of the fifteenth year of the good old Fur Peace Ranch.

The classes were fabulous and Saturday night the show was Geoff Achison and Randall Bramblett. Teddy, the bass player got stuck in Atlanta at Hartsfield Airport so the boys along with their drummer presented a trio show that was, well… absolutely fantastic! Hard to beat perfection.

It was so great to see and hear Pete after ...
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