That little old wineshop on Varick St.

That little old wineshop on Varick St.

Foto by Phil Jacobs

Hot Tuna 52, 2017
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The City Winery
New York City
Monday, November 27, 2017

Set One:
1. True Religion
2. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
3. River Of Time
4. Hesitation Blues
5. Come Back Baby
6. Serpent Of Dreams
7. Full Go Round
8. Sea Child
9. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
10. Barbecue King
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Set Two:
1. I See The Light
2. Candy Man
3. Too Many Years
4. 99 Year Blues
5. Barbeque King
6. Been So Long
7. San Francisco Bay Blues
8. Search My Heart
9. Sleep Song
10. Trial By Fire
11. Good Shepherd
12. Whining Boy Blues
13. I Know You Rider
14. Encore: Water Song

Back ‘to work’ on Monday… and a good time was had by all. On Tuesday before the show the boys and I walked over to visit our friend Matt Umanov.

A legend...

A legend...

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

We’ve all frequented this wonderful shop for decades and decades…

Jorma, Matty, Jack & Myron

Jorma, Matty, Jack & Myron

Foto by Phil Jacobs

AS G.E.Smith so sagely said, ‘The 60’s are finally over!’ Maybe we’ll have time to go fishing sometime Matty.

Back at the City Winery we played two more grand sets:

Hot Tuna 53, 2017
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The City Winery
New York City
Tuesday, November 28, 2017

First Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. Wolves & Lambs
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
5. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
6. Barbeque King
7. Things That Might Have Been
8. San Francisco Bay Blues
9. Watch The North Wind Rise
10. Sea Child
11. Whining Boy Blues
12. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning
Second Set:
1. Second Chances
2. There’s A Bright Side Somewhere
3. That’ll Never Happen No More
4. Come Back Baby
5. Candy Man
6. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
7. Keep On Trucking Mama
8. Sleep Song
9. Trial By Fire
10. Good Shepherd
11. Bar Room Crystal Ball
12. Water Song
13. Encore: Embryonic Journey

After the show we boarded our bus for the drive to Boston and the gig at the Wilbur Theater tomorrow. Here in Boston I found this swell joint for lunch.

Delicious and affordable...

Delicious and affordable...

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen

The Lucky Cafe rocks! Now a full night’s sleep and ‘back to work!’

Old School

Old School

Foto by Jorma Kaukonen


Comments

  1. Comment made on December 8, 2017 by Joey Hudoklin

    @Richu
    Mmmmmm hmmmm

  2. Comment made on December 6, 2017 by John B

    Lonesome Dove is awesome and Dunces made me LMAO. @carey georgas

  3. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Richu

    @Barbara Jacobs
    Google billy Preston and Barbra Jacobs.how’s that for Dick in hand?

  4. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Richu

    Thank you for the trip upstate.grazie….

  5. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by johno

    By the way, The Cars and The Moody Blues are doing very well in voting and should make it into the Hall Of Fame next year. Now we have to get Hot Tuna into the HOF.

  6. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by doug mlyn

    wow, Varick Street brings back some good memories to me. My late father owned a typesetting shop on 175 Varick St and after I graduated school, I came to work with him. I had gone back to the neighborhood a few years ago, and wow the neighborhood really has changed. I have some really good memories of driving from NJ into the city every morning with him, through the traffic in the Holland Tunnel. I used to buy a buttered roll and a coffee every morning from the vendor outside his shop and also remember buying 40 cent hot dogs for lunch with mustard and sauerkraut. I was actually going to come back for the Asbury Park show but my wife wanted to go somewhere warm for our vacation, so we decided to go to Mexico instead. I guess things always work out in the end because we got an electric show in Sonoma this month!

  7. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Greg Martelli

    Thanks for ticket suggestions
    I appreciate the lead

  8. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Fran

    Jorma & Jack,

    I was at the Boston show at The Wilbur! Thanks for another wonderful night of music. I’ve been seeing you guys since the late ’70’s. As a guitarist, you’ve influenced my musical taste buds for years!

    I have two questions…First, can you please post the set list from the Boston show? (I don’t see it…unless missed it somewhere on your blog).

    Second, what kind of bass was Jack playing at the Boston show? It sounded great, but have never seen it before.

    Thank you and keep on pickin’ ‘n grinnin’!!!

  9. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Bob Kelly

    anyway, back to what matters, the music.. Again a quick review of the City Winery show 11/28. great venue, sound is always very Clear,clean..At times I thought JacksBass was a little to Quiet, That might have been him laying back. small pet peeve.
    We really enjoying the “new” tunes to the sets..Sleep Song works real well.Wolves and lambs sounded real nice also.Have heard them a few times now and they grow stronger every performance
    .On that, the person sitting next to us thought she had never heard either song.. So through the magic of todays technology I Showed her a version of sleep and Wolves via Youtube on my phone…. She ordered both tunes via iTunes right there in the winery..that should entitle me to a small finders fee/commission lol..
    Again thanks for gracing us here in the Ny area with a great set of shows..looking forward to the Trio show in Huntington best of both worlds,,acoustic, small room, than electric.. thanks again..

  10. Comment made on December 4, 2017 by Andy K

    @Greg Martelli
    Greg, Good seats avail for the Asbury Park show on Thurs.
    https://www1.ticketmaster.com/event/000052EECE528076?f_PPL=true&ab=efeat5787v1#efeat4212

  11. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by carey georgas

    Please, please, please don’t nobody respond.

  12. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Ham n Eggs

    Over the years I have always been reluctant to clap thinking I was always off but I feel great knowing it’s my natural rhythm and everyone else is off.
    Peace
    Love All Ways
    @Jorma

  13. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Joey Hudoklin

    So, I see we’re back to insulting insinuations regarding others intelligence, and unprovoked vulgarity.
    I was hoping we were through with it.
    A reminder, this is not the place.

  14. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by carlo pagliano

    I meant Beautiful Boot.

  15. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Greg Martelli

    Our 4- chestnut trees this year were compromised by weevils- very low yield.
    Might have to look into pesticides.
    120 lbs of chestnuts 99% wormy.

  16. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Greg Martelli

    Wendy and I have decided to go to New York next weekend,we don’t need a miracle,but if anyone has a lead on 2- tickets to Friday night show,we’d love to go.
    Haven’t been to Howard Steins Capitol theatre since 73 seeing ,Byrds,Tull & Traffic.
    If anybody has lead on tics-Greg Martelli (859-338-4292), thanks in advance.
    Greg

  17. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Rich L

    I listened to Highway song and Hamar Promenade yesterday. “World keep spinning and I can’t wait…”

    the pace of life is accelerating now, isn’t it? The cost of the Jorma Christmas CD also accelerated! When I went on Ebay, the first offer that popped up was $69.95! I did manage to locate a used one for $29.95 – I consider it a Christmas present to myself. (Am I the only person who tends to buy things for himself when I go out Christmas shopping?) I ca’t wait to listen to the CD!

    “raining somewhere down the road, now that don’t mean a thing…”

  18. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by carlo pagliano

    Apropos of old chestnut, Royal Piedmont, northwest of our Beautiful Booth, is worldwide known for splattering mashed chestnuts into a pot of glass, the ever famous chestnut jam from Piedmont, Italy. Late Autumn, early Winter it’s pickin’ time, as for the olives actually, knocked down with a pole into nets on the ground. Rural Love.
    Rock Them All Soft Tonight Jorma.

  19. Comment made on December 3, 2017 by Greg Martelli

    Very Crumbian alussions .
    Sometimes the blog reminds me of scenes and vignettes from Zap comics,Pete The Plumber/Mr.Natural/Honey bunch Kaminski,Captain pissgums/angel food Mc Spade ,flakey fount, the lot.
    We’re all bozos on this bus.
    Keep on trucking,Momma

  20. Comment made on December 2, 2017 by Barbara Jacobs

    @Greg Martelli
    It’s a matter of those people who can’t differentiate.
    They have no intellectual ability to think and therefor don’t know much beyond their
    self-serving feelings, which force them to be enslaved to their narrow-minded viewpoint.
    They are unable to engage with any other ideas, on the merits.

    There is a difference between the cable tv news programs which are opinion-based and the
    nightly local news-casts of each broadcasting entity.
    (and of course, as usual, my comment was replied-to by one of the most idiotic commenters
    here on this blog comments section. He’s always ready to ask a stupid question, just waiting with dick-in-hand, hoping that I will reply to him. What follows directly after that, is more of the same.

    Suffice it to say that I was unaware that Jorma and Jack would be there at Matt’s and it
    was a pleasant surprise to see them participating in that local news segment.

  21. Comment made on December 2, 2017 by johno

    Everyone that likes The Cars and The Moody Blues go to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame website and cast your vote. To not have them in the HOF is ludicrous. After Hot Tuna my favorite bands include The Moodies and The Cars. They are on the ballot this year. And let’s e-mail them every day about getting Hot Tuna on the ballot next year.

  22. Comment made on December 2, 2017 by Greg Martelli

    Our republican ( not party)form of government ,presupposes a population that is sufficiently informed and applied.Thats a marvelous paradigm,it didn’t contemplate junkies shitting in the streets.
    The San Francisco’s movement of 66/67 was appealing to me for the freedom that it espoused.
    Not everybody was sufficiently self disciplined or had a sufficiently strong moral compass to handle the freedom,we all know the results-hard drugs killed the scene.
    “death of hippie”, parade at end of summer of Love.Im sure that this will elicit frantic response.
    I looked into the eyes of Henry Vestine at a bar called Armando’s in Louisville in mid 90’s,it was death ,he sat and cranked on his Les Paul.I always enjoyed the bite and assault of his guitar,I sat with him at intermezzo and talked.I was fortunate to have talked to the”Bear”,years earlier at break in a loft bar in NewHaven, around 75.
    Great talents,no self control.Couldnt handle the freedom.Theres a lot of us participating in this blog that made the right life choices,the line was razor sharp.
    I’m glad we have souls around today that made the same good choices,if it weren’t for that they go the way of the litany of those that did not.
    Life’s for the living ,hallelujah.
    Rock em Hot Tuna
    As for Fox News,to disparage because where too erudite,is preclusive .
    Our educational system failed when they stopped teaching history,and instead substituted social studies.
    A frikken joke.

  23. Comment made on December 2, 2017 by Dead Head

    Fox news is tabloid journalism.

  24. Comment made on December 2, 2017 by Richu

    @Barbara Jacobs
    Who is against fox news?what did we miss.

  25. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by Barbara Jacobs

    Jorma: Matt Umanov, a cool guy who let people into his place to hang out.

    I saw the video of you and Jack paying a closing visit there, I was watching the news on satellite tv.
    In the New York tri-state area channel 5 has a very good news-cast.
    People who don’t watch it because they are against “FOX News” miss out on a lot of good reports. It’s the nightly news.

    No other news-cast that night, or any other, covered it.
    The producers send reporters to places that other stations don’t give time to report on.
    They are very good at covering music-related topics.

  26. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by Richu

    Jorma..arson fire in cohoes.many bldgs affected.Remsen st. We still on?

  27. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by Andy K

    @rich l
    Also sound of breaking glass on Johnny Cash @ San Quentin Prison Album

  28. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by John R.

    Thank you, Jorma and Jack, for a great show at the Wilbur last night.

  29. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by carey georgas

    I’ve got that very song on my playlist.@rich l

  30. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by rich l

    Carey – cool that you do that. Always fun stuff.
    I do recall an album a “few” years back that was recorded in some coffee house. In the middle of the song you here this beer glass crashing on the floor during a song called Uncle Sam Blues. @carey georgas

  31. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by carey georgas

    @rich l I’ve done some community theater acting over the years, and from that point of view, nothing’s harder to play to than a dead audience (most small community theater is comedy). On the other side of the coin, nothing is more obtrusive or irritating than the drunk on the back row who makes noise, or tries to add their two cents to the dialogue taking place on stage. Sometimes they’re not drunk, just assholes. So, distractions in that setting make the performer’s job harder, and in some cases a pain in the ass and not fun. That’s entertainment, I guess.

  32. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by rich l

    I always wanted to hear the Dead do an extended version of The Riviera’s, “California Sun!”@Kevin

  33. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by Andy K

    @Kevin
    I saw the last performance of Johnny & Edgar (March 2014 – Tarrytown NY). What a talented guitarist!
    Thankfully, Gary Clark Jr. is keeping the electric Texas blues guitar music in front of large American audiences.

  34. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by Kevin

    “Although, if Jorma were to ever play Rocky Top, all bets are off!”

    Now that’s funny. Years ago on the Johnny Winter site a friend of his (comedian by trade can’t remember his name) would post songs that he wished Johnny would cover. Totally off the wall and very funny to think of Johnny playing those songs.

  35. Comment made on December 1, 2017 by rich l

    Actually Carey, your thought was along the lines of what I was trying to ask. Does the artist feed off the audiences reaction sort of thing. If it’s a dead audience, do they feel people aren’t “digging” it. LOL – I guess if were still following Hot tuna some 50 years later, they know how much their music is loved and appreciated!

    The key word for me in Jorma’s gentle rebuke was “distracting.” Even on a song like “That’ll Never Happen No More,” Jorma is doing some intricate picking.(for lack of a better term) A dilettante like myself has no idea what is involved, and the concentration required, to do what Jorma does. It’s not like he’s strumming three chords up there!

    Obviously, most of Tuna’s songs, are not clap along’s. (I’m a poet, and I know it, cuz my big toe shows it, it’s a Longfellow) Can you imagine trying to clap along to Embryonic Journey or Heart temporary or Death Don’t Have No Mercy? I just recalled the last time I heard them play “That’ll Never Happen No More” at The Old Town school of Folk Music in Chicago. The version they played that night was just a flat out party song!

    But again, the key word for me was “distracting.” I didn’t realize that, and most certainly would not want to break, the concentration required to do what Jorma does.

    From now on, I intend to just tap me foot robustly when the spirit moves me. Although, if Jorma were to ever play Rocky Top, all bets are off!

    @carey georgas

  36. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by carey georgas

    I’d like to retract that question I asked above. It is comparing apples to oranges. I don’t know what possessed me to ask something so inane.

  37. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by carey georgas

    @Jim Hitchcock Yeah, from what I read his mother took it out after his suicide and found a publisher. Then, it won the Pulitzer. Ain’t life a trip?

  38. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by carey georgas

    @Jim Hitchcock Yeah, from what I read his mother took it out after his suicide and found a publisher. Then, it won the Pulitzer. Ain’t life funny?

  39. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by Jim Hitchcock

    @carey georgas Confederacy is a great book. Unfortunately the author was unable to get it published until after his departure.

  40. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by carey georgas

    Piggybacking on Rich’s question, I totally get it that clapping in time, or other audience gyrations could be distracting or obtrusive. Were an audience to sit as if attending the opera or symphony would it be any more or less distracting? That’s not meant rhetorically, I’m just wondering.

  41. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by willy

    @johno – my pleasure, though I have to say that a pal gave me the heads up on the video since I am not a watcher of Fox.

    @AndyK – I too noticed the misspelling of Jack’s name and half-wondered if it was deliberate since it’s been spelled six ways to Sunday over the years in articles, album credits, show bills, etc…that said, you’d think they could get it, along with proper pronunciation of Kaukonen, right. Too much to ask/expect I guess.

  42. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by johno

    @willy
    Thanks for sharing that article. I
    I missed it and I live in NY.
    Too bad the shop is closing.

  43. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by Andy K

    @eaglesteve
    Nice article except Fox referred to “Jack Cassaday”
    Guess Fox = fake news 🙂

  44. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by eaglesteve

    Fox 5 News in NYC filmed and aired Jack & Jorma’s visit to Umanov’s. The wife recorded it for me.

  45. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by willy

    Related to Jorma’s words about Matt Umanov Guitars, here’s a link to an article about the shop with video of JK playing and reminiscing.

    http://www.fox5ny.com/news/legendary-nyc-guitar-shop-closing-after-53-years

  46. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by Andy K

    For NY area Electric Tuna fans, the latest report on tickets for Dec 7-9.

    Capitol Theatre – Port Chester – only some upper balcony
    Paramount – Huntington -SOLD OUT
    Paramount – Asbury Park – amazingly a bunch of good seats available (grab’em)

    Out of town? We have 3 airports!

  47. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by rich l

    …now, that we can see the light.

    LOL – I knew I wasn’t going to like the answer! I’ll be quiet as a church mouse next show! can I shake and bake in my seat? (That’ll never happen no more – is anther one of those one that gets me moving to the groovin.)

    I guess that means no drumming on the tables either then :(. In church, I focus an clapping in time with the drummer – I don’t go totally free style!)

    Seriously though, thanks for your insight. The way you explain it makes a lot of sense. @Jorma

  48. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by rich l

    I did an article last time he was here. It was during the strike shortened season in 2013. Look at the lyrics in the song Alfie – until that night, it was as song I’d never say, “Man, I think I’ll play what’s it all about Alfie today.” T

    here’s a line in the song that goes, “Are we meant to take more than we give, or are we meant to be kind.” You had players and owners, both millionaires, not able to come to an agreement and half the season was lost. Conversely, Earl Klugh is a very humble man.

    At the show at the Old Town, he had five high school kids join him on stage for a few songs. Earl had visited this satellite H.S. in Chicago where music was the main focus during his time in Chcicago. The kids were awesome!

    But I contrasted Earl’s view, “giving more that we take,’ with the owners/players wanting the whole bunch of banana’s. The song Alfie, tied all my discordant thoughts together. (LOL – at last I thought so.)@willy

  49. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by willy

    @rich I: Hockey article? Do tell.

  50. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by rich l

    Absosmurfly great set lists. I loved that you pulled the cobwebs off a few that you don’t play regularly like Full go Round, Let us get together, Things that might have been, There’s a bright side somewhere, River of Time (Izze’s Lilluaby would be a good pull one of these shows!), Second chances, What are they doing in heaven today, Search My Heart.

    Please get a Chicago date lined up. If you ask me, you’re showing way to much favoritism to New York! We have feelings in Chicago you know!

    Ok, I have a question to ask, and I’m afraid I will not want to hear the answer.

    I saw Earl Klugh last night at the City Winery in Chicago. Smoking, intense, off the charts, only begin to scratch the surface of what I witnessed. I saw Earl solo at The Old Town two years ago, and couldn’t stop talking about that show either. (He wrung so much emotion out od the song Alfie – just an incredible interpretation. I ended up writing a hockey article on it. Could have heard a pin drop in the place)

    Last night, Earl was accompanied by a sax, bad ass bass that would give Jack a run for his money, Keyboards and drums. I could not sit still in my seat. Twice I got up and did a solo, impromptu dance. LOL – one was during a bass solo – the first time I ever through it down with the bass. Al Turner was his name and at one point I told my brother, “that guy reminds me of Stanley Clark a little bit.” Imagine one cracker, throwing it down in a 3 foot square area, trying to ride the wave that Turner’s bass was setting forth for consideration. At one point I just started jumping straight up and down when he was literally spanking the bass!

    I probably embarrassed my brother and sister and their spouses, But shit, that stuff was hot!

    So here’s my question – more directed at Jorma and Jack the masses blogging here; a few times during the show, I just had to clap along. It appeared that some of the serious jazz officianado’s gave me looks that seemed to say, “Knock it off.” (It should be noted that my clapping, and hooting and hollering, were in synch with the music – LOL – at least I thought so.) I wondered from a musician’s perspective, would you rather not have extemporaneous contributions from moron’s like me in the crowd.

    I’ve been to Tuna shows, and it seems a lot of the upbeat Rev Gary songs, (Let us get together, right down here as an example), are meant to get the frozen chosen off their duffs. I’ve had a few people at Tuna concerts who also give me the look. I understand that you want to hear every note from virtuoso’s like yourself, but is it wrong to have a little fun?!

    At any rate, the last song Earl and his band played was Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. They knocked it out the park. I told the sax player after the show that they should definitely put out a Christmas album. He said, “We just threw that song together two weeks ago.’ He made me laugh when he said he noticed me having a time of it.

    It also reminded me that you had a Christmas or Holiday album out. I tried to buy it last year through Fur Peace on line, but never got a reply. Is it still available?

    • Comment made on November 30, 2017 by Jorma

      Good question with a simple answer albeit conflicted… as an entertainer I appreciate the audience having a good time. With that in mind, I smile tolerantly of an audience trying to clap in time. As an artist, when I’m going to play I like to pick the people I play with. Audiences are totally incapable of clapping in time. They can’t hear what we hear on the stage. It’s obtrusive and irritating. That said, given the song and the circumstance… enjoy yourself. We’re there for you. As for the Jorma Christmas CD, it’s been out of print for years. eBAy has it. I had to buy it myself.

      Good times

  51. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by John R.

    Any chance of working “Corners Without Exits” into the set at the Wilbur tonight?

  52. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by carey georgas

    Thanks, Jim. I’m just finishing a real corker called “A Confederacy of Dunces”, and will soon be looking for another. I’ll put “The Son” at the top of my list.@Jim Hitchcock

  53. Comment made on November 30, 2017 by Jim Hitchcock

    @carey georgas , I’m reading a book called The Son. It’s no Lonesome Dove, but quite good, assuming you’re interested in Texas historical fiction.

  54. Comment made on November 29, 2017 by carey georgas

    Here’s hoping the rest of you guys’ ‘work trip’ will be as fun and satisfying as it sounds like the first leg has been.

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