Yeah, as #20 slips into the rear view mirror, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Everyone who knows me pretty much is aware about how I feel about the current political atmosphere here in the good old U. S. of A. We’ve all got opinions and another one is not necessary in print. Nessa and I occasionally poke the bear during our Quarantine Concert series, but we have never… and I repeat never, proselytized and we never belabor the point. Last night we were talking about the importance of voting and some gal started ragging on the chat feed about politicizing. We didn’t say who to vote for… we just said VOTE. With the soul of the country at stake, whatever your position, you can’t complain if you don’t vote.

On a far lesser note, if I wanted to be visibly political on my show I would be. That’s not what our show is all about. I love the badinage, the fellowship and the music. That said, if one doesn’t like what we’re doing, get your money back and don’t watch. Wait, it’s free… there’s no money involved.

Just saying…

Anyway, another really great night for us with #20 and now we’re on to #21. Here’s what we did last night!

Jorma Kaukonen 25, 2020

Quarantine Concert Series #20

Fur Peace Ranch

Darwin, Ohio

Saturday, August 29, 2020

1. True Religion
2. The Terrible Operation
3. Barbecue King
4. Song For The High Mountain
5. Half-Assed Mule with Myron Hart
6. I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now
7. Johnny Too Bad/Bank Robber with John Hurlbut
8. Don’t Think Twice with John Hurlbut
9. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Second Chances
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
12. Bar Room Crystal Ball

As I mentioned in the Forbes article, it’s the one night of the week I get to be Jorma again.

Good times…

Off to Columbus for some sushi… at Akai Hana!

OK… some evening addenda:

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

The only meat was that very small plate of Prosciutto rubbed with fennel and chili oil and the sopresata. Everything else was vegan or vegetarian. Guacamole, hummus, salsa, fresh baked baguette, rosemary 
and sea salt crackers, baby petite carrots, dill cucumbers, hard green Italian olives, snap peas, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, homemade balsamic dressing, organic strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, black and green seedless grapes, tofu and veggie dumplings, shelled and roasted pistachios and espresso bella vitano cheese.

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

Not much to say during the week. We’re all in the same boat so I decided to just keep my whining to myself. However, here it is Friday, the day before tomorrow which of course is Saturday and the launching pad for #20 of the Quarantine Concert series.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FurPeaceRanch

I think we have some treats and treasures in store for you all and on Sunday, I’ll weigh in, definitely in more detail. In the meantime…

Stay well!

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

We just concluded our first weekend here at the Fur Peace Ranch. That is indeed our first session this year. I’m not going to bore everyone with Covid-19 details, prerequisites and regulations. There are out lot out there and there is no doubt in my mind that there is a potential dark side if those of us who deal with the public on any level fail to take care. OK, that said Pat Donohue came down from Minnesota and graced us with his august presence for this opening weekend. Big thanks are in order for for the students who braved travel in the outside world to come to Meigs County. With the ultimate safety of our guests in mind, we started with only five people for the two instructors and it looks like that’s the way it’s going to have to be at least for the rest of this year, presuming there is a rest of the year. Anyway, we found ourselves having a great time in spite of everything and we were able to give you all another Quarantine Concert, as we will this coming weekend.

Jorma Kaukonen 24, 2020

Quarantine Concert Series #19

Fur Peace Ranch

Darwin, Ohio

Saturday, August 22, 2020

1. Been So Long
2. There’s A Bright Side Somewhere
3. In My Dreams
4. River Of Time
5. Oklahoma Hills with John Hurlbut
6. Driftin’ Blues with John Hurlbut and Karl Dentino on harp
7. Song From The Stainless Cymbal
8. ‘Homebound’ a parody by Pat Donohue
9. West Coast Blues by Pat Donohue
10. I’ll Let You Know Before I Leave
11. Genesis

I’m going to leave it at this for now… it’s been a long day, but more will be revealed I’m sure.

Stay well!

The Fur Peace Ranch is open in a small way this weekend for the first time since last year. This weekend the teachers are myself and the great Pat Donohue. We each only have five students and even though it’s not the greatest financial situation, with only five students, it’s a teacher’s delight. We have No. 19 of the Quarantine Concert Series tomorrow, and we’ve got a couple of surprises for you all.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FurPeaceRanch

Yeah, so life is opening up a little in a very small way, but we’ll take if with a smile, do the right thing and hope it lasts.

More anon, as always…

Stay well!

Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen

So Andie Walla, our great videographer and her husband Scotty Hall, a great photographer came over early last night and showed Vanessa how to make sushi… It was awesome, sushi right in our own dining room.

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Yeah, and then to get to play music! It just can’t get much better!

Jorma Kaukonen 23, 2020

Quarantine Concert Series #18

Fur Peace Ranch

Darwin, Ohio

Saturday, August 15, 2020

1. Living In The Moment
2. Re-Enlistment Blues
3. 99 Year Blues
4. Trial By Fire
5. Third Week In The Chelsea
6. Waymore’s Blues with Myron Hart
7. Great Divide Revisited
8. So Long It’s Been Good To Know You with John Hurlbut
9. Six Days On The Road with John Hurlbut
10. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
11. Hamar Promenade

We are so blessed to be able to bring these shows to life every Saturday night, and doubly blessed that so many of you out there join us. We can’t thank you enough.

Next week, #19!

More anon…

Yesterday we had another great Panini lunch and mini concert here at the Fur Peace Ranch. Here is what was played:

Jorma Kaukonen 22, 2020

Panini Concert #8

Beatrice Love Kitchen

Fur Peace Ranch

Darwin, Ohio

Friday, August 14, 2020

3. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
4. Parchman Farm
5. Come Back Baby
6. Sea Child
7. Good Shepherd
8. Hickory Wind with John Hurlbut
9. Kansas City Southern with John Hurlbut
10. The Old Homestead with John Hurlbut
11. I Am the Light Of This World
12. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
13. Embryonic Journey

Now tonight of course is #18 of the Quarantine Concert Series and here’s how you get there:

This is a shorty this morning. It’s a gully washer out there. I might have to put on a wet suit to walk the dogs.

More anon…

Life continues to evolve in it’s own idiosyncratic way. #17 was a treat for all of us here at the Fur Peace Ranch and we look forward to some new delights for # 18. More will be revealed.

Here’s seventeen:

Jorma Kaukonen 21, 2020

#17 Of The Quarantine Concert Series

Fur Peace Station

Darwin, Ohio

Saturday August 8^th, 2020

1. Dime For Beer
2. Search My Heart
3. Genesis
4. Letter To The North Star
5. Blue Railroad Train
6. West Coast Blues
7. Hobo’s Lullaby with John Hurlbut
8. Can’t Find My Way Home with John Hurlbut
9. Highway Song
10. How Long Blues
11. Water Song

John and I are examining some new gems for this coming weekend and it is highly likely that Myron will sneak in an appearance.

The girls and I made a foray to Columbus yesterday for some socially distant sushi at Akai Hana. It was nice to get out, and they did it up right. Reservations required, temperature checks, masks when not eating and truly delicious food. Sunday, well spent.

0730n Volleyball training for Izze this morning and ‘school’ starts next week. It could be worse…

Another week has slipped by and here we are on the brink of Quarantine Concert #17.

It’s been a decent week as these things are reckoned. As always, the ebb and flow of life essays to keep us on our toes and there is no good time for bad news like it or not. Our world, like so many, exists in a quasi state of limbo, but we always have our concert series and we so look forward to that.

Before I go, in the spirit of admitting when I’m wrong (which is more often than I would like) one of our comment pals observed that he thought I needed a new back tire on my bike. I deflected the comment by saying ‘I’m not even down to the wear marks.’ I took the bike in for a 10,000 mile service and the tech said, ‘Jorma, this tire is toast.’

New tire, bought, paid for and mounted.

Yet one more lesson in life… 🙂

Drone shot by Jorma Kaukonen

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

Sometimes the passage of time is like a rush of flood water, and sometimes it is a mere trickle. What to do? Nothing in particular, obviously. Time has no concerns for our needs. Our weekly Quarantine Concert Series events provide a destination for us here at the Kaukonen household.  In these moments we are back out in the world and in some small way we can convince ourselves that we are surrounded with a veil of normalcy. We are blessed to have this window.

The new normal of the rest of the week is an alternate universe. Our daughter is preparing to return to school, although no one is quite sure yet what that will look like. Every moment is a ‘More will be revealed moment.’ It’s been a while since I’ve been surrounded by a satisfying epiphany.

Our family is well, our mental health is tolerable and what else is one to do except keep on with one foot in front of the other. Here we are in the beginning of August and yet for this week at least the evenings and mornings have been cool, and there are already leaves on the ground. It will be a while before that fall smell surrounds us, but I can already see it’s coming. This too give me notice yet one more time of one of the many things the Virus is taking from us, and that is time itself. Moments gone can never be retrieved. I know this, but in the past my moments were like an endless stream of summers. This is no longer the case. It probably hasn’t been for some time, but hey… I’m a slow learner. The kids still have time, my generation doesn’t but that’s just the way it is.

On the bright side, and there is a bright side, there are still lots of things to look forward to not the least of which is #17 of our little concert series.

It is a lovely morning… lovely.

Good day to practice some guitar and maybe get a ride in.

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Here is it the second of August already. The year is slipping away, but as my mom used to say, ‘We’re still here.’ Communicating via the internet is such an interesting beast, but so unsatisfying in many ways. I don’t need to defend my wife from silly stuff she gets on the Quarantine Concert feed… she’s more than capable of putting that stuff in perspective and if necessary, defending herself. As for me, I get plenty of offensive stuff myself, but I do my best to ensure that racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic right-wing white supremacist screeds don’t make it onto my site.

You’re welcome.

As for the Quarantine Concert Series, It’s Vanessa’s and my world and we welcome our friends of all shapes and inclinations to join us. If you think we’re yakking too much, that’s OK. You don’t have to watch the show. Listen to the record… or not. When something is free, whether or not it’s ‘value received,’ complaints are a non-starter.

There was also some badinage that went something like this: ‘I thought you were going to play a Jerry Garcia song.’ I never said I was going to play a Jerry song. I said we were going to honor him on his birthday in some small way. Jerry was my friend. I’m not a Deadhead in that way. We were colleagues each with our own creative muse to bring to the table. I have, over the years, learned Dead and Jerry music for specific projects. It takes a lot of work to do it well and that’s that. It’s not an everyday part of my world. Knowing Jerry as a man, an artist and as a friend is much more important to me than learning a song. His friendship influenced me profoundly in a lot of ways. I have missed him for some time. He would have loved being here in the station. I thought John and I did a fine job bringing him briefly to life on our little stage.

Anyway, we have so much fun doing this Concert Series we are already looking forward to #17. It’s always good to have something to look forward to no matter what.

Here’s last night’s show:

Jorma Kaukonen 20, 2020

#16 Of The Quarantine Concert Series

Fur Peace Station

Darwin, Ohio

Saturday August 1st, 2020

1. True Religion
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. Barbeque King
4. Second Chances
5. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
6. Choices with John Hurlbut
7. No Woman No Cry with John Hurlbut & Vanessa Kaukonen
8. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
9. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Bar Room Crystal Ball

Moving right along. We’re so lucky last night’s storm didn’t know the power out. It was a bad one. Dark and unpleasant today. No trip to the lake.

Could be worse. I’m going to string my guitar with a Zen attitude and walk the dog!