When I was young, this was never the happiest time of the year. I’m wasn’t an abused kid and I’m not putting any blame on my parents. It was a long time ago and they did the best they could. That said, their relationship was a volatile one, especially in the years following WW II. My mother being a non observant Jew, we sort of celebrated Hannukah when my grandparents were around. Christmas wasn’t as well… omnipresent as it is today but it was there… and expectations were always high. Yeah, it was more about the presents than Christ and the presents almost never lived up to their expectations. Yeah… short of that Daisy Red Ryder BB gun, you could pretty darn well expect to be let down.
I mean look, my birthday is the 23rd of December… I’m getting cheated out of presents anyway because people kept doubling up. ‘Yeah, this is for your birthday, AND Christmas.’ Inconsiderate to say the least. And then there was the toys themselves. No matter how cool you thought they were going to be, they never worked the way you envisioned they would. Yeah… tragic. I may have to go back into therapy just thinking about it.
The other day I was driving down Court Street with a friend of mine after a meeting, and the Xmas decorations were, well beautiful. There were kids on the street… Morgan horses pulling hayrides… Yeah… good stuff. The holidays are for kids and now that there are kids in my life… I am able to enjoy them as I never could when I was there age.
Better late than never.
Good friends at my birthday dinner at the Fur Peace Ranch
I knew a couple of folks were getting together for lunch at the Fur Peace Ranch today, but I didn’t realize how cool it was going to be. It was John Hurlbut’s Dad’s birthday too. Ray, at 92 is one of the oldest living WW II vets still living here in Ohio. Always good to see Ray. John’s sis, his brother in law, his niece and her husband, friends from Columbus and my good bud Jerry Sullivan who escaped Buchtel for an afternoon with us.
The culinary motif was Italian, and it was as good as any I’ve ever had. The fellowship outstanding and the kids, Izze and Liam had a great time too. Liam is Kevin Morgan’s son, so it was extra special to see Kevin out and smiling.
Sunset after lunch
What a beautiful day… Scrooge was gone, and the holiday spirit was here. Yep, I feel pretty darn good about the whole thing. As for my birthday… check this out:
1958 Warren Smith on drums, Jack Casady on guitar, and me guitar and vocals
Just a flash across the years…
Izze and Dad at the 75th Anniversary Wizard Of Oz Monopoly Set
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
Well, it didn’t start out bad and it just keeps getting better. My expectations are more than filled this holiday season, and I hope yours are too! Many thanks to the hundreds of people who wished me happy birthday on our collective Facebook Pages. it means a lot to me.
May nothing but the best surround all you out there. May your dreams come true in the New Year… and my no one go hungry tonight.
Onward!
Glad you had a Happy B-Day! Great insights on Christmas and the Holidays, and great pic from ’58! Hope 2014 brings all good things to you and the Family.
Happy Holidays to you and your family…hope to catch you all in Orlando in Jan. stay cool…Peace -denise
Always nice to see your smiling face also Jorma. Looking forward to New Years Eve at Morganshire, we are always more than graced by your presence, and I know you have an early start with the tour bus leaving the next morning. Janet and I made it a point to slim down on presents for the kids (and each other) this year, and lo and behold come Christmas morning there was more than ever. But family get togethers always trump any gifts we may receive, and at times like these we realize (again) it’s friends and family that make the season special. So thank you for being a pillar of strength for us to lean upon when the storms rage fierce and the waters run deep, indeed. Bless the I, forward march, Kevin =i=
Dear Jorma,
My youngest daughter shares your birthday and she just turned 23 after reading your post I started to think about it and I asked her if she ever felt cheated out of her birthday because it was so close to Christmas and her reply was yeah sometimes it did I usually got more for Christmas or sometimes more on my birthday, as a parent I really did try to not let that happen but I guess with having other sibblings and money being tight at this time of year it did.
Well it’s never to late to right a wrong.
Hogan
🙂
@chuck newman
I just happened to put that tune on cd last night. You heard it on the radio – really cool.
Driving home tonight on Christmas night from Mom’s after a great meal and great times. Snowy roads in Wisconsin were bringing me down a little when all of a sudden my satellite radio starts playing “Holiday Marmalade”. Everything was back to being great. Thanks Jorma for laying down such a great groove for everyone at this time of year.
Happy bday Jorma. Happy bday Ray. And wow Jack in 1958 looks a whole lot like Jack in 2013!
Thanks for sharing Jorma. You have been a blessing to me on many ocassions. Years ago we met after a concert you played at Finny Hall at Oberlin College. Afterward, you and I got stupid partying. We discovered that we had very similar emotional backgrounds both being born around the same time. I would like to think that was preparing us for these days. The Gospel music that you often played in those days really Heldrich my path to the point that I’m at now. These days I’m a conselor to wayward youth. Thanks for being around the ride. Many blessings to you and yours.
My birthday is 12/19/1949. Went to U.of Miami in 1971 which is where I saw you and The Airplane perform. Always loved that Jorma tone from the 345 through the wah wah….so expressive and human sounding. I don’t think anyone has ever been able to duplicate or capture that sound. I’m a big fan of you and Jack and Barry and hope to see you live one day. In 2011 the Tenor Guitar Foundation inducted Rabon Delmore into the tenor guitar Hall of Fame, and have the CD where you recorded several of their songs. Rabon played a four string Martin tenor guitar tuned CGDA. I know Barry plays tenor guitar with you on a few songs. Music has made me very happy over the years even though I have never made any money from it. I have played on and off in bands since 1960, when I was ten. It’s always been a lot of fun. Happy Birthday to both of us. I hope to see you perform sometime in 2014.
Happy Birthday fellow Capricorn Jorma ! I know the feeling of being cheated out of presents as my birthday is the 31st, still close enough!
Happy birthday and happy holidays Jorma. Peace and love to you and your family. See you in February in Seattle. :))
Jorma I didn’t get going early enough to get tickets for the shows with Marty but if you’ll throw open a window that night maybe I could stand in the driveway and catch a little of what I know will be a great show. New vids of Marty and company at the benefit for Slick Aguilar are up on the Tube. Looking good and sounding great.
Happy Birthday Jorma. Those hayrides have a way of being a big hit with us older folks too. I think somebody once said something like “Go ride the hayride”.
Happy Birthday, Captain.
Here’s a little something I threw together last year that perhaps you will enoy.
The Day Before Christmas
Twas the day before Christmas
And I was running around
Doing some errands for Mom
In a Texas Hill Country town
When what did appear in the front of the store?
A very kind couple, with three bags of groceries (or was it four)?
The man looked me over, saw my hat and he said:
“Does that say “Fur Peace Ranch” on the top of your head?”
“Yes, sir, it does” I replied, not knowing where this was going
But I was sure I was going to hear a wonderful story
“I love Jorma and we saw him in Austin not long ago,
He and Jack put on such a great show.
I’ve wanted to see them since the days of my youth
It’s been a few years since then, you know that’s the truth!”
So to Jorma my hero, I dedicate this attempt at a lyric
Because he has inspired so many with his life and his music.
Wishing you a Happy Birthday,Happy Holidays and a Healthy, Happy New Year!
@Mitch Spector
mitch: didn’t know you were that old … Just kidding.. Peace Man
Glad you had a nice birthday Jorma …Happy holidays …You are a huge part of my life .Thanks for entertaining me for as long as i can even remember (im 53) .Peace
yesterday I wished you a happy birthday and today I’m wishing you a happy holidays. didn’t want to roll it all into one. I would just like to say and I think I’ve said it before, I still remember that day in high school when I never had heard of Hot Tuna and a buddy said to me, hey you need to check out Hot Tuna they are playing a the Capitol tonight.. The rest is history. Thank you for all the years of great music and at this point all we can do is say “onward”
Thanks for that picture of you and Jack… priceless. Glad you had a nice birthday Captain.
Jorma,
Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. And a huge THANK YOU for the “Christmas in August” gift that I treasure every year at FPR with you, Vanessa, Hurl, and all of the fine folks there.
Peace, love, and music to all!!!
Happy Birthday Jorma!!! I always make sure I wish some of my friends and family Happy Jorma’s Birthday. Either I get “Right and same to you” or blank stares it’s great!! Killer early daze picture of you and Jack!! Will that be included in the box set book along with the early Triumphs recording that us fans have been clamoring for? 😉 Well this fan at least….Just realized it is also Eddie Vedder’s birthday as well………There ya are!!!
Jorma
Your posts continue to be a source of wisdom and inspiration. I really believe that if you had not been blessed with the musical gifts that you have, you most certainly could have been a writer. Your musings on Christmases past and present are spot on.
Happy holidays (all of them!) and a very happy birthday. And best to the whole Kaukonen clan. Hope to see you at FPR.
-Bill
Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Cap. Looks as if you have been blessed in all ways by the Great Oz – a brain, a heart, courage and a home. Give my love to all. I’m off to see the wizard in the island. Cya in Jan. Happy New Year.
Love and Prayers Fur All
mutt
Happy Birthday Jorma…May You Stay Forever Young! Peace
happt birthday Jorma thanks for all the good times 45 years blessing to all at the fur peace ranch hope to visit next fall
jorma
happy birthday enjoy your family time
that is the best this time of year and
all year as well
i have seen you many times n you bring joy to many with the music you play and create
you have a great and kind spirit
ill see you in jan and early feb mcbes belly yo n other
no cal shows
looking forward to seeing tuna again
lets get some electric tuna out to the west coast
BE WELL
MARK M
jorma
happy birthday enjoy your family time
that is the best this time of year and
all year as well
i have seen you many times n you bring joy to many with the music you play and create
you have a great and kinf spirit
ill see you in jan and early feb mcbes belly yo n other
no cal shows
looking forward to seeing tuna again
lets get some electric tuna out to the west coast
BE WELL
MARK M
Best wishes to you as you begin another lap around the sun!
Many thanks to you and Vanessa and the whole crew for creating the Fur Peace Ranch and the blessing of the community that is the resulting ripple.
Growing up in SW Ohio, olives were a rarity reserved for the most special occasions. At home at the holiday dinner table, I always felt rich when I placed a pitted olive on each fingertip and thumb. I was certain that queens and princesses did that each time they sat down to a meal.
Our holiday trees were cut on our place by my dad. Some of my fondest memories of the season are of his obsession with making certain the tree was standing absolutely straight. One year, he lassoed the top of the tree and threw the rope over a walnut beam in the living room to achieve the desired effect.
The funniest time was when he went down to the basement for a hammer and some nails. He then nailed the tree to the floor.
Mom, my brothers and I were all laughing so hard we had to go to the kitchen. He also cooked game; his pheasant w/ oyster dressing was unforgettable. What I liked best about this time of year was no school, sledding and playing in the snow with my brothers and our friends, and sitting by the fireplace.
May you and your family enjoy peaceful moments during this season; and may you always have just enough.
love to you from france
happy birthday
happy just to think of you
happy with all this beautiful music through the years
quah ?
A very big and wonderful belated Happy Birthday to you Jorma!!!!!! Great pic of you and Jack from the 50’s. Keep on truckin’ both of you. Have seen Tuna much, and look forward to many more times. The best to you, Jack and the band. Merry Christmas and a grand new year!
Happy Birthday Jorma,,good wishes to you, and yours,,, be well,,
Oh please offer copies of that vintage photo in your online shop! Earliest Hot Tuna. Happy Birthday Jorma!
Jorma,
Happy Birthday and thank you for your creative spirit and everything you’ve given us for so many years! As a child in Los Angeles in the 1950s, my best friend Ralph (and twin brother, Stewie) were born on Christmas Day itself. Needless to say, this was considered by all the neighborhood children, and especially Ralph and Stewie, as a great injustice, at least as far as presents were concerned. I remember being thankful I was born on St. Patrick’s Day, and only had to compete with corned beef and cabbage for my family’s attention. Best wishes!
Jorma, I wish for you the happiest of Birthdays.
The day you were born is a blessing.
Thank you for the wonderful pictures.
I’m going back to practicing.
“Barroom Crystal Ball”. Open G-3rd fret capo.
Awsome!
Happy birthday, Jorma! God bless.
Happy Birthday Jorma
Dear Jorma,
Happy, Happy Birthday!!
Glad to hear that your day was special! You deserve it for all the joy you
have brought to us all these years!
The best to you and yours!
With warmest wishes
Cyndy
Happy Birthday Jorma. I wish you many more. Thanks for bringing so much joy to our lives for so long.
Happy Birthday Jorma ~ I am glad life is treating you so well. May your light shine on and on.. your writing paints a picture of beauty and peace. Remembering you today.. Thanks for the music, Mindy VT
Jorma happy birthday. Thanks for a great post, it puts things into perspective for the holidays. All the best to you and your family.
Glad you had a great day! You deserve it. Your thoughts on holidays are not too far off from many I suppose. I was fortunate and was spoiled no doubt being an only child. Not until I had 3 boys of my own now grown into fine young men, that I truly appreciated what I was given and so many have gone without. Cherish every day with your family as they are what is most important in our lives.
Happiest of days and a Merry Cristmas to you and yours.
As always a friend from afar,
Peace,
Rich
Happy Birthday!
Jorma – Happy Birthday!!! and many more…..
Wow. thank you.