Patty MItchell's presence noticed at BlaZStock
So on Saturday the 5th of July, Vanessa and I were invited by our friends Al and Adrone to join their friends and family for a wonderful festival at their farm in the hills of Athens County here in Southeast Ohio. If this were in town, I guess it would be a block party… here it was a Hills & Hollers Fest. There were food carts… balloons by Patty… music… and friends galore.
When we pulled up, our friend Vic Lora was playing a solo set of Jorma & Hot Tuna originals and doing a beautiful job. He was playing songs I couldn’t have remembered offhand if my life depended on it. I would have had to go back to the records and learn them like a kid. Thanks Vic for doing me the honor of keeping my music alive. You sounded great!
Purification
The next band that came on was Shouts + Whispers.
S & W sets up their stage
Shouts & Whispers played a fabulous set and had everyone on the scenes rockin’ and rollin,’ stompin’ and strollin!’
Al Thunderbear
This included our gracious host, Al B. himself.
Shouts And Whispers were joined on stage by Emily Singer and Stacia Carr. If the crowd weren’t already on its feet, these ladies would certainly have brought them to their feet. Great set guys and gals!
Tough act to follow… but somebody’s got to do it, and that somebody was me. I figured this wasn’t a moment for a journey into the canyons of my mind so I hit the folks with my rendition of the great Blind Arthur Blake song, That’ll Never Happen No More. Ian Buchanan taught me that song in Yellow Springs, Ohio over half a century ago and changed my life forever. Thanks for that one brother… may you rest in peace!
The John Hurlbut hit the stage and I joined him for Kansas City Southern and a rousing singalong of the great Woody Guthrie tune, This Land Is Your Land.
The boys from the Fur Peace Ranch
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
Then John’s buds The Spins, from Dayton, Ohio (The Gem City) took the stage with him and I joined them for a rendition of All Along The Watchtower.
The Watchower always rocks
(BTW… I bought my old (well, it wasn’t old then) Gibson J-50 in Dayton at Pops Music store. I paid a hundred bucks for it and worth every penny. Now it lives in our Psylodelic Museum at the Fur Peace Ranch.)
Letting my freak flag fly... what there is of it...
I played my new Gibson Peace Les Paul through my 1967 Deluxe… which is not vintage. It’s just old. I bought it new. I also used (in the spirit of Jimi) my Analog Man Sunface stomper. (geeky gear comment)
After Watchtower, we had to get beck to my sis-in-laws place to pick up our daughter and grab some smors.
Anyhoo… what a day! What an evening! Thanks to Al an Adrone and everyone else who was there! Good times!
Hey Doug… we’re nearby… Agoura Hills…
a few good concerts coming up…
freebies…
but good.
drop me a line if you want to connect.
netbee at hotmail
– Jon
.
@doug mlyn
It was an outRAGEous gathering.
Peace, Love, and Happiness
– Jon frUM California
Thank you and Ras Hurl so much for you magnificent contribution to BlaZStock, for shooting some pic’s and so eloquently describing the scene. Toward the end of the night, when the funkily dressed, multi-generational tribe of Athens was whirling and dancing up a storm, it felt like the sixties all over again. Peacever…
It was indeed a special day, for a top notch dude. To top it all off, the next day Hurl and Vanessa gave the Spins, and friends of Tbear an in depth tour of Fur Peace. What a special time, what a special place. Meigs is a honey hole! Many thanks and blessings- ToddO
@Jorma, thanks so much for sitting in with us (Lost on Iddings, a.k.a. Hurl & The Spins). It was a real pleasure to get to play a song with you.
And thanks to John and Vanessa for the great tour of the ranch. We really appreciated her taking the time to give us a little history on the place and the gallery. It was a really fantastic weekend overall.
@Bob b. I’m hoping that we got a good recording of that (and the whole day actually). If so, I’ll post a link up here for everyone.
Rich
Lost on Iddings
http://www.lostoniddings.com
Sounds like a good time Jorma.
Looking forward to seeing acoustic Tuna this Saturday night at the Common Hill on the Ground festival in Maryland…………
@doug mlyn
Thank you Doug. We met briefly at the Acoustic show in NY in Nov. I had 20yrs. in SB. I know you go to the shows @ McCabes’. I will making my best efforts to make to those when I get out west. Maybe we’ll connect.
All the best. HFT!
Thanks for the kind words Jorma. As long as I’m alive I will be playing your music. Also, thanks for coming and playing on such a beautiful summer night. The setting could not have been more perfect. See you at the next NYC area shows. Be well!!!
Sweet….
Good times indeed…
Gotta love those Smore’s too….enjoy
🙂
I’m a little jealous of those who got to hear some Jorma Watchtower guitar WOWs. Wow…Wow….Wow…Wow….Your Pal
Looks like good times! So grateful that we have people keeping the real music alive. I know I sound like an old fart, but some of the stuff on the radio today I don’t consider to be music. But that’s just me.
@Joey Hudoklin
Santa Cruz is a very cool place. My wife and I lived there for 10 years, we are in Ventura now, which we much prefer. It is a little more laid back than some of the bay area cities. We are very content there. We still try to make it up to Santa Cruz a few times a year. Check out Don Quijotes in Felton, they have some great live music going on there all the time.
Wow Jorma, you are blessed. I miss those old tymie back country hootenannys. I’ve been living in NYC too long. As of this coming new year, I will be moving back to my beloved California. Santa Cruz to be exact. Cleaner air, less noise, less stress, probobly more opportunities to play music and enjoy outdoor events similar to the one you enjoyed this weekend. A move like this makes me a bit fearful, but you know, do the next right thing, let go of the results, and my experience & HP tells me I will be Ok.
Anyway, it was terrific to hear about you being serenaded with your own music. I’ve never been able to locate the Blind Blake version of “That’ll Never Happen no More”, just yours & the Tom Ball-Kenny Sultan version. You taught me some great licks for that number my first trip to FPR. Thank you, as always.
Enjoy the summer!