Ian Buchanan... my teacher and mentor... with unkown beauty
Happy Traum sent me this picture. Ian Buchanan, of course, is long dead… but in this picture he will be forever young. Without his mentoring I would not be the musician and man I am today. Thanks Ian.
I love my music and I love playing it for people… but I also love enjoying life here in the country when I’m not on the road. As for Morels… soak them over night, split them, bread them with egg and flour and cook them in butter. Yummy!
A man, his daughter and his four wheeler... pole barn in the background.
We’ve been getting a lot done and that’s good, because on any farm, there’s always a lot to do. I’ve got an old Toro Wheel Horse garden tractor… its about seventeen years old but I love it. It’s small compared to a real tractor but it weighs about seven hundred pounds. We were just putting up some new fence today and after it was done I thought I’d get a jump on the mowing. Saturday is mowing day and I’ve got about twelve acres to do. Of course I got the tractor stuck in the run off from an old spring, but the four wheeler pulled it out.
Me, Maverick and Izze at dinner
Yes folks… we’re building BLT’s with Challah… the way it was meant to be.
Maverick, the big dog
I’ve had many, many dogs over the years, but I think Maverick (the boxer/doodle) is literally the pick of the litter. He’s loving, obedient, and large so that when he barks when someone comes up the driveway, it’s a real attention getter!
I’ll be mowing and weed whacking all day tomorrow while Vanessa, izze and the gang from the Fur Peace Ranch clean up the two mile stretch of highway we adopted down here in Meigs County. You wouldn’t believe the stuff people through out of their windows but don’t get me started.
Nuff for now… early to bed and early to rise!
@Brett
Did you also know Alan Heald at Antioch? I have been good friends with his daughter since her first quarter at Antioch in Fall, 1990.
Alan was a dear old friend…
Hi Jorma. I interviewed you when you played Antioch in the ’90s. While hearing you talk of Ian Buchanan I mentioned Alan Heald, whom you also played with on campus, and said his daughter Stephanie was a student. She came backstage and met you and you sent holiday cards to their family the following year.
I just had dinner with Stephanie. We’ve remained good friends over the years. Sadly, Alan passed away this year, but he had a good run and was loved by many.
I found this blog post checking Google for references to your Antioch years.
I hope this finds you in good health and good spirits. I saw your Hot Tuna show at The Fillmore just before the pandemic. I’m long overdue to see another one!
All the best!
Matthew Rick
Today, I went to the beach with my children. I found a sea shell and gave
it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her
ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her
ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off
topic but I had to tell someone!
I would have to say, well stated.
Great picture of Ian. Just like I remember him. I remember the honey too, believe it or not.
Well, hello Maverick – about time there was some poodle lineage at FPR!
I like that. I’ve never heard it put that way before.@Dusty
@Joe in DC
with all due respect I have to disagree with you there, someone can have all the money in the world and still can’t get clean…. I don’t believe that money has anything to do with recovery. If someone really wants to get clean, it doesn’t matter at all about their financial status (just my two cents)
Love Peter!
Also his daughter, Amanda.
Is anyone going to see Peter Rowan in Tuxedo NY or at the Winery in NYC?
Amen Barb @Barbara Jacobs
@Dusty
@Dusty
Thanks for resting your case Dusty……glad you have it all figured out…..Whew
Some of us are a bit more pragmatic. It is not cut and dried, as you would indicate. INDULGENCE/DEPLETION/DEPRIVATION, take it or leave it…….
Addiction is a spiritual malady.
Recovery comes from a spiritual place as well.
Money doesn’t bring it on, nor does it fix it.
Brian Jones epitaph: Please don’t judge me too harshly.
I can see JK unraveling a new page today as this discussion has transformed from a simple, rural and rustic, organic fungi recipe to a forum on addiction, to which a few have donated their agenda. I find it fair to say that this is a very complicated and extremely personal issue to anyone absorbed with the dilemma. To help someone is huge; to be an expert is ridiculous; to brag about it is moronic.
Nothing in this universe is clear-cut, with the exception of simple arithmetic. I find it fascinating that “therapists” with credentials, those that diagnose, dissect, and label the accounts, do not have a clue as to what the “throes” are and yet are able to relieve some sufferers. It confounds me the manner in which AA members address each other as complete slaves to the component. “Hey, I’m so-and-so and an alcoholic”; how are you going to whip anything with that attitude? Yet it works for millions.
DC Joe stated that money is an issue. Consider this: nicotine, compared to some of the other “fine horsehairs”, is relatively inexpensive but one of THE MOST addictive elements. It’s legal and one can purchase any quantity they desire.
I presume we can talk about it all we want, but in the end, you don’t quit ANYTHING until the day you die. Could do 50 gigs but I rest my case. WHEW….
Joe: That’s true. However when Mick Taylor left The Stones, he just quit and went home. The money he had earned didn’t last very long.
That’s my point: Mick Taylor made a choice to quit and get away from the Rock&Roll Circus.
He was paid as a side-man (not a full-share Rolling Stone).
oh and Jorma..thanks for this spot to express views and vent and talk on subjects way beyond music and Tuna…glad you dont censor the comments……….
All addicts pay a price, as do those near to them; family, friends, what have you.
It is good that Mike was able to get his monkey under control. I wish that type of success for anyone out there currently looking for their bottom and a reason to get sober. We all know though that they cant do it for anyone in their life cause it dont work…they do it, if they do it, for themselves and in the end by themselves…
I am torn on my view of addiction for a “rock star” (xcuse the phrase Jorma)vs. a normal person (if there is such a thing)….forgive me folks I am generalizing here.
Someone with an abundance of $ and exposure to the good and bad that life has to offer may fall victim to addiction to smack or oxy or booze or crystal etc. easier then a person with lesser means…at least that is one way to view it. That being said, the “normal person” is really just as vulnerable to falling victim to the same substances. In fact, many today say it is really not a choice after the first snort, pill, shot for some cause they have “addictive personalities” and that they are wired that way and there was no hope for them anyhow, it was just a matter of time till they were visited by the dragon….I can see the logic in that.
The thing is, in my view, an addict with means (i.e. mike) really has it much easier on the road to recovery then a ‘normal person”. There is not a money issue to speak of for an addict with means, and believe me there is a $ issue for the normal Joe trying to recover. You know; the health care system here, outrageous rehab costs..I mean most people really can not afford $10,000 month to dry out.
Then throw in all the legal issues the “normal addict” faces on the road to recovery. I mean most times they have either shop lifted or committed various felonies to get the $ to but the drugs to feed their head (sound familiar??). I mean a real addict that’s what they are all about and do steal/rob to get the $. I do not see many of the addicts that make the papers busted for shoplifting at a Walmart to get a fix for that night…they just dont have to
So to wrap this up..addiction stinks, no matter who you are. But the $ really does help in the recovery.
It’s all good, John B.
The stones will be back and do stadium gigs later in the year so save your money. Its a shame that ticket scalpers and others of their ilk have nearly ruined the concert biz. I would never begrudge an artist making what they can. I’ve seen the Stones a couple of times and came away satisfied . I would take Tuna anytime over them. That is just my very humble opinion . I have left Tuna shows convinced that i had never heard anything like that before ; nothing as satisfying as a Hot Tuna show. I am very much looking forward to this summers slate of Hot Tuna shows !
@Robert
Agree that Stones tix are expensive. The Stones have put a limited amount of tix up for sale at $80 per. The seats are spread out among the various seating locations in the venue.
You could try that or maybe wait for Mick to do some shows here in the USA.
I think he may guest at a couple more Stones concerts on the current tour.
He propbably will go back to England and do some solo shows there and I believe
he’s putting together a band.
Dusty, Joey and Todd: Agree! Mick Taylor is alive and well, a real survivor.
@Joey hudoklin
Yes. Yes it is!
The bio of Ian Buchanon says he went to Antioch College. Isn’t that where you went Jorma? Did your paths cross at Antioch ?
I’m not trying to ne smart or on the level of over my head comments,
as I just can only concieve of so much information at one time, and
I live in the projects. Sometimes I love it and sometimes curse my fate and others.
For me being down with my truth is important and exploration of different
states of mind being educated enough to take precations, have extra knowlege
of health and exercise projects weather it be running, waliking, yoga, What have you.
Never being one to delve in the politics of the big red dogs that run this country
I have blind faith that somehow they do know what they are doing and that every perspective and way of life has a purpose. (sometimes i think I am a hippie)
So, losing my own personal train of thought I was listening to a playlist of richie Havens , unfortunately rediscovering him too late, in a way. I loved his music and danced to motherless child, as shock treatment was a means of curtailing when i was growing up. Heard a song that to me imo (in my opinion ) pertained to a underlying thread in J’s blog. But now I can’t remememer what it was , a song Richie wrote. If I find again I’ll post it on here as long as my name doesnt say BANNED YOU FOOL , lol. willing to accept that i have been kicked out of chat rooms for being to mouthy, A long time ago. And some how I am proud of that, idk why.
Oh , speaking of substance i think it would be wise to address the most essential ones first, and then adfdress health issues, just saying , I checked my mail today after updating myself on this blog here, to get a grasp on what the heck i jusr walked into, and my perspective changed from being a lover of beer to hey, maybey im not so bad after all. They just had a beer and wine fest here where i live with music and everything, I wanted to go but did not, Substance abuse is and issue just as politics, terrorism, yin yang stuff. every act has a ripple affect not saying
that any form of violence is justified. I try to realize I am not the only thread of conversation, or trail anyones ever been down, Noticing trash or abscence there of. If the moral of the story was substance abuse and trash then I missed somthing, On any point in a wheel their can be a different perspective, I expect to stumble along and either learn to do it correctly, without corrections. lol. or not. I need to go hunting for some morals and consume them like a true northener. After my sons fifth grade education on the civil war and all my anscestors that had different roles in preserving the south. One being my sons school which was burned to the ground and taken ove by civil war soldiers, One of my anscestors was a trustee to that school, descendent from Thomas Jeffesrons Granfather, and It was rebuilt and my son went to the new one, where their is a picutre of my second cousin in all her beauty participating in a dedication to the former acadamy. She was also descendant from him.
Hey, literacy rocks!
@Barbara Jacobs
The last time I saw the Stones was when Mick was with them and he was their best guitarist.
I still like the Stones but I am not paying $2,000 or whatever they cost now just for a concert.
Give me a small intimate club at reasonable cost, or a small gathering in a park.
Got to admire Mick for that choice. If I recall, Keith acknowledges that as a live band, the Stones were at their height with Mick — I surely agree!
For those lucky enough to find out, life is better sober. Amen.
No offense to anyone; strictly an opinion, but no one could bend the strings quite like Mick. What a talent. Saw him not long ago on Jimmy Fallon, sitting in with the Roots. He appeared to be very coherent.
When Keith brags about someone, there must be some SUBSTANCE to it!
So, the moral of this discussion is:
Don’t get addicted to shit.
(Be it Heroin, coke, Meth…)
In doing so, you are allowing yourself to be the equivalent of trash thrown out on the road.
Mick Taylor paid a price (personally and financially) for his addiction and self-imposed exile from The Stones. He did so to save his own life and save his family from being responsible for him, as a heroin junkie.
After that removal, he had to deal with being an alkie (very common in the U.K.).
Broke and down on his luck, he knew he still was better off (if not financially)than if he had stayed with The Stones (although he would have earned Millions of dollars,just as a touring/recording hired-hand musician in The Stones.)
There is a big lesson to be learned and appreciated from the life and experiences of Mick Taylor.
BOOM LIKE THAT
Ugh, I hate trash on the road! Especially cigarette butts!
I usually do the samething every spring after the snow melts on the mile of roadside at my place upstate. Now i’m on this rural valley road – the closest mcdonald’s is at least 10 miles away and i see the samething – micky d wrappers, soda cups, beer cans burp! beef jerky wrappers, cigarette butts and boxes etc -thats the red neck way of keeping the truck clean.
@Jorma
I used to live not far from Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. After each weekend it was the same ritual for me. Every morning was spent cleaning up my country paradise from the night before. However when the Dead came through there was almost no trash anywhere. Us youngsters used to be a lot more in to just the music as opposed to having a materialistic bash.
Great picture of your mentor Ian. Pictures are great. It reminds us that these events really did happen. Not only forever young but he lives on every time somebody drives down that obscure little road in SE Ohio taking home something they learned at your crib.
Gotta love spring.Your place looks great.Thanks for the easy morel tip and pics.I’ve got the back ripped off my old post and beam jorma,time to re-insulate and close her up.My yellow onions are up and almost time to get the rest in.Thanks for all the home update from ohio.
My father would have ripped the shower curtain off the wall had he known
that winding boys treat someones daughter with disrespect. I bid you well
and goodnite.
Just watched a live performance of Jim Croce and Maury doing “New York’s Not My Home”. Then came here and found Jorma sorta in the same groove. Great finger-pickers and their friends playing together and the beautiful groove that time at home brings.
Talking about riders:
Check out Mick Taylor guesting at last night’s Stones show in L.A.
He’s doing well again, having had some hard times after leaving the Stones.
He left because he became addicted to heroin. He could have stayed but he chose to leave and try to straighten himself out.
How serendipitous that you met Ian. Talk about a life changer.
It does my heart good to see all the surviving members of the band that I still love, Jefferson Airplane, doing so well in their later years.
Keep riding the music.
Dear Jorma,
May Ian rest in peace.
I love the pictures, and the morel recipe!
Maverick is adorable!
Enjoy the weekend:)
Stay well,
Cyndy
Happy Traum!
Jorma really does know everybody…
Callah and bacon….now that’s the universal way of doing things…how about some shell fish and Matzoh….enjoy
I get so much from Jorma’s thoughts . Reality and ” spiritual ” at the same time !
Wonderful photo.
What kinds of stuff do people throw out of their windows? 😉
Take a wild guess. Bag’s of McDonald’s Happy Meal’s, empty Oxy bottled, beer cans, spent condoms, useless lottery tickets, old tires, refrigerators… and more. How much trouble is it to go to a trash can or if it’s big… the dump?
People…
sorry, i drank my wieght in beer this evening.
Finnish
-*//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Uh, I don’t do Facebook.
i WILL POST THE SONG WRITTEN BY HIM ON MY FACABOOK PAGE, COOL, DID NOT
KNOW HE WROTE THAT!
Thinking of today,
remembering yesterday,
looking forward to tomorrow…
Nice new photos, Jormala!
Really does hath no mercy.
listening to here comes the sun by richie Havens. Here comes the sun