Foto by Jorma, poster by Kevin Morgan

Another fine weekend at the Fur Peace Ranch with Spencer Bohren, Doug Macleod, and of course, me with a song writing class.

I so love spending all my home time here at the Ranch…It’s something I always dreamed of!

Reference the great Russian Epic, Siberiade… and the highway to anywhere.

Saturday night came and Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley descended upon with their wonderful music. What a moment of beautiful old time folkiness came with them.

Then it was time for Jonathan Edwards.

When my cousin Dan Birman’s dad Joe, passed, he gifted the Kaukonen family with Joe’s old baby grand. It sure sounded good with Jonathan playing it!

Man… what a night of music!

Yeah, this was definitely a night to remember… plus I got to sit in with Jonathan.

But there was more…

And as i Spencer’s show Sunday night wasn’t enough, Doug Macleod sang the truth to us Monday morning at the coffee break concert!

Onwards!

Being home… always a blessing. It’s been comfortably cool at night and hot during the day. Very nice for August. I’ll take it.

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

Izze is not fond of competition… and that’s OK. Boy is she good with a compound bow though. The sound of that arrow piercing the target is like a rifle shot!

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

Barbecues and cook outs… the bounty of Summer.

Then my pal Jerry and I got furloughed to map out our route for this year’s Pick ‘n’ Putt.

Jerry and I have a superb set of roads for the riders this year!

Yep… all this and chores at home.

As good as it gets some days!

Onward

Wisdom from the Midwest!

The Englert Theater in Iowa City… we don’t get here often enough, but we love it!

Phil and I dined at Hamburger Inn #2.

Foto by Phil Jacobs

And at the Gig:

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Hot Tuna 21, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Englert Theater
Iowa City, Iowa
Friday, August 12, 2016

First Set:
1. Too Many Years
2. I See The Light
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Things That Might Have Been
5. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
6. Sea Child
7. Barbeque King
8. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
9. Brother Can You Spare A Dime
10. The Terrible Operation
11. How Long Blues
12. San Francisco Bay Blues
Second Set:
1. Second Chances
2. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
3. Where There’s Two There’s Trouble
4. Candy Man
5. Coe Back Baby
6. Third Week In The Chelsea
7. 99 Year Blues
8. Sleep Song
9. Good Shepherd
10. Bar Room Crystal Ball
11. Water Song
12. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
13. Encore: Embryonic Journey

Love the Englert… good friends, good food and a great show… then it was off to the Windy…

When I was at Antioch College in 1959… the Old Town School Of Folk Music was Folkie Mecca so to speak. Win Stracke did us all a service… and it was an honor for us to play there again… one more time.

Hot Tuna 22, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Two Shows @
The Old Town School Of Folk Music
Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, August 13, 2016

First Show:
1. Heart Temporary
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
4. That’ll Never Happen No More
5. Come Back Baby
6. Genesis
7. Sea Child
8. Watch The North Wind Rise
9. I Am The Light Of This World
10. Keep On Trucking Mama
11. Where There’s Two There’s Trouble
12. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
13. I Know You Rider
14. Encore: Embryonic Journey
Second Show:
1. Dime For Beer
2. I See The Light
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Brother Can You Spare A Dime
5. Barbeque King
6. Candy Man
7. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
8. Living In The Moment
9. Sleep Song
10. Good Shepherd
11. Ain’t In No Hurry
12. San Francisco Blues
13. Bar Room Crystal Ball
14. Water Song
15. The Terrible Operation
16. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning
17. Encore: Whining Boy Blues

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Then a couple hours of sleep and off to the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.

Hot Tuna 23, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Cedar Cultural Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sunday, August 14, 2016

First Set:
1. True Religion
2. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Heart Temporary
5. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
6. Barbeque King
7. Sea Child
8. Sleep Song
9. I’ll BE All Right Some Day
10. Brother Can You Spare A Dime
11. Death Don’t Have no Mrcy
12. San Francisco Bay Blues
Second Set:
1. Too Many Years
2. Candy Man
3. Come Back Baby
4. That’ll Never Happen No More
5. Watch The North Wind Rise
6. 99 Year Blues
7. 3rd Week In The Chelsea
8. Bar Room Crystal Ball
9. Water Song
10. How Long Blues
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
12. Encore: Genesis

This was an awesome run… Jack and Justin and I loved the four electric gigs with Leftover Salmon and an Jack and I loved the five acoustic gigs together…

Looking forward to the next move!

Onward…

Quite a haul from Boston to Kent in Ohio… but that’s why they pay us the moderate bucks.

Foto by Phil Jacobs

I have been to the Kent Stage a bunch of times… both solo and with good old Jack Casady. It’s always a good time here… plus, I was back in my home state for 20 seconds!

Hot Tuna 19, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Kent Stage
Kent, Ohio
Tuesday, August 9, 2016

First Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. Hesitation Blues
3. I See The Light
4. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
5. Barbeque King
6. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
7. Sea Child
8. Sleep Song
9. 99 Year Blues
10. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Second Set:
1. The Terrible Operation
2. Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
3. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
4. Come Back Baby
5. Heart Temporary
6. Watch The North Wind Rise
7. Good Shepherd
8. How Long Blues
9. Bar Room Crystal Ball
10. Water Song
11. San Francisco Bay Blues
12. I Know You Rider
13. Encore: I Am The Light Of This World

After the show, we go to hang with our pal John Sferro, of Glass Harp. Check out John’s own homepage too. He’s a fine fella… and Jack and I have gotten to play with him a number of times.

Foto by Myron Hart

Then it was off to Ann Arbor and The Ark.

The Ark is a dandy little venue and I’ve played all their locations!

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Hot Tuna 20, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Ark
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, August 10, 2016

First Set:
1. True Religion
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Barbeque King
5. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
6. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
7. Sleep Song
8. Sea Child
9. Candy Man
10. How Long Blues
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Second Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. In My Dreams
3. 99 Year Blues
4. Watch The North Wind Rise
5. Living The Moment
6. San Francisco Bay Blues
7. Come Back Baby
8. That’ll Never Happen No More
9. Bar Room Crystal Ball
10. Water Song
11. I Know You Rider
12. Encore: Good Shepherd

Remember musicians… be nice to the sound guys… the ‘Suck Button’ is at their finger tips…

But they didn’t use it… A great show!

Then off to the Englert Theater in Iowa City…

We’ll be pickin’ up a storm tonight…

Good times…

So a week ago tomorrow we started out on this little odyssey… Seems like a lifetime, or is it a minute? Hard to say. Anyway, we loaded up at the Fur Peace Ranch.

Vanessa and I got a Jeep Gran Cherokee for my son Zach, and I needed to drive it to Hagerstown to drop it off with him on the way to New Jersey.

Youth takes over the wheel as it should be. The bus picked me up at the Pilot Truckstop and we continued to Red Bank, New Jersey.

So, the ‘work’ part of this trip began. The Count Basie Theater in Red Bank has long been one of our favorite stops and this was a great place to begin our four day run with Leftover Salmon. These are a great bunch of guys and fabulous players. The Tuna guys and I had been looking forward to this part of the run for a long time. What do we have here? Aqua Rock? Who knows… anyway…

Foto by Phil Jacobs

This was the first time I was going to get to use my old Marshall Metalface… and I was pretty excited…

Then it was time for Tuna:

Hot Tuna 15, 2016
The Electric Trio
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
& Justin Guip
Count Basie Theater
Red Banks, New Jersey
Thursday, August 4, 2016

1. True Religion
2. Hesitation Blues
3. Ode To Billy Dean
4. Can’t Get Satisfied
5. Sea Child
6. Sleep Song
7. Bowlegged Woman
8. Come Back Baby
9. Serpent Of Dreams
10. Ain’t In No Hurry
11. Good Shepherd
12. Rock Me Baby
13. Water Song
14. Funky #7
15. Encore: Hit Single #1

Yeah… the first gig rocked and yeah, I love my Louis Electric Twinmaster and my Marshall Metalface.

It’s not only good… it’s getting better.

Foto by Phil Jacobs

This was a new one for us… and we liked it just fine. Vanessa and Izze flew in for the gig and it was such a blessing to see them.

Hot Tuna 16, 2016
The Electric Trio
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
& Justin Guip
The Space
Westbury, Long Island
New York

1. That’ll Never Happen No More
2. Hesitation Blues
3. Can’t Get Satisfied
4. Ode To Billy Dean
5. Watch The North Wind Rise
6. 99 Year Blues
7. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
8. Bowlegged Woman
9. Rock Me Baby
10. Good Shepherd
11. Bar Room Crystal Ball
12. Water Song
13. Funky #7
14. Encore: Come Back Baby

Then it was time to move on to Portchester and the Capitol Theater. All of us guys from back then have a long history with the Capitol Theater… and you know what, it’s better now than it ever has been.

There were lots of cool pictures and poster and such…

Hot Tuna 17, 2016
The Electric Trio
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
& Justin Guip
The Capitol Theater
Portchester, New York
Saturday, August 6, 2016

1. I See The Light
2. That’ll Never Happen No More
3. Rock Me Baby
4. Can’t Get Satisfied
5. Sleep Song
6. Sea Child
7. Feel So Good
8. Ode To Billy Dean
9. Watch The North Wind Rise
10. 99 Year Blues
11. Bowlegged Woman
12. Bar Room Crystal Ball
13. Water Song
14. Funky #7
15. Encore: Hit Single #1

Foto by Phil Jacobs

So my lovely daughter Izze watched our set from the wings.

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

After the show, I asked her how she liked it. She said, and I quote: ‘No offense Dad. You know it’s not my kind of music, but you’re very good at it!’

I love that girl! How good does it have to get?

Then it was off to Boston and the Wilbur Theater where we played with Leon Russell a couple of years ago.

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Hot Tuna 18, 2016
The Electric Trio
Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady
and Justin Guip
The Wilbur
Boston, Massachusetts
August 7, 2016

1. Serpent Of Dreams
2. Hesitation Blues
3. Ode To Billy Dean
4. Can’t Get Satisfied
5. Sea Child
6. Sleep Song
7. Bowlegged Woman
8. Come Back Baby
9. 99 Year Blues
10. Good Shepherd
11. Bar Room Crystal Ball
12. Water Song
13. Funky # 7
14. Encore: Hit Single #1

Yeah… this was an awesome little run with the boys and I hope we get to do it again.

One minute you’re a hero on stage… and the next, you’re walking to the bus by the garbage!

So… that was that. Yesterday was a ‘day off,’ which means we drove 600 some miles on the bus to Kent, Ohio where we will be at the Kent Stage tonight… acoustic.

The Electric Trio run is over for a bit… but we’ll be back!

Now for some laundry… what a great hotel!

Foto by Jorma & Vanessa Kaukonen

Every weekend at the Fur Peace Ranch is special…but if you’re going to grade ‘special,’ Couples Weekend is high on the list of specialness! For teachers there myself, (of course), Verlon Thompson, and Kai Eckhardt. Verlon and I opened the Saturday night concert for Roger MacNamee, Jason Crosby, Pete Sears and Jay Lane. Yup… The Doobie Decibel System.

Foto by Rusty Smith

Jorma Kaukonen 28, 2016
With Verlon Thompson

1. Back Up & Turn Around, Verlon with Jorma
2. In My Dreams, Jorma with Verlon
3. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here, Jorma with Verlon
4. Come Back Baby, Jorma with Verlon
5. I Will Come Back, Verlon with Jorma
6. Poor Boy, Verlon with Jorma
7. Ain’t In No Hurry, Jorma with Verlon
8. The Guitar, Verlon with Jorma

Our cool little set…

Foto by Jason Crosby

A fine night of music and I got to sit in with the boys.

Then before you knew it… it was Monday and time for everyone to scatter to their homes.

Getting to hang with Kai and Verlon… two very spiritual people was the ongoing frosting on the cake…

Onward!