The sun sets over Wendy's as we head from Boston to Kent
Quite a haul from Boston to Kent in Ohio… but that’s why they pay us the moderate bucks.
The good old Kent Stage...
Foto by Phil Jacobs
I have been to the Kent Stage a bunch of times… both solo and with good old Jack Casady. It’s always a good time here… plus, I was back in my home state for 20 seconds!
Hot Tuna 19, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Kent Stage
Kent, Ohio
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
First Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. Hesitation Blues
3. I See The Light
4. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
5. Barbeque King
6. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
7. Sea Child
8. Sleep Song
9. 99 Year Blues
10. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Second Set:
1. The Terrible Operation
2. Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
3. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
4. Come Back Baby
5. Heart Temporary
6. Watch The North Wind Rise
7. Good Shepherd
8. How Long Blues
9. Bar Room Crystal Ball
10. Water Song
11. San Francisco Bay Blues
12. I Know You Rider
13. Encore: I Am The Light Of This World
After the show, we go to hang with our pal John Sferro, of Glass Harp. Check out John’s own homepage too. He’s a fine fella… and Jack and I have gotten to play with him a number of times.
Jorma, Jack an John
Foto by Myron Hart
Then it was off to Ann Arbor and The Ark.
Welcome to our world!
The Ark is a dandy little venue and I’ve played all their locations!
Nice...
Foto by Phil Jacobs
Hot Tuna 20, 2016
The Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Ark
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
First Set:
1. True Religion
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Barbeque King
5. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
6. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
7. Sleep Song
8. Sea Child
9. Candy Man
10. How Long Blues
11. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Second Set:
1. Ain’t In No Hurry
2. In My Dreams
3. 99 Year Blues
4. Watch The North Wind Rise
5. Living The Moment
6. San Francisco Bay Blues
7. Come Back Baby
8. That’ll Never Happen No More
9. Bar Room Crystal Ball
10. Water Song
11. I Know You Rider
12. Encore: Good Shepherd
The sound guys...
Remember musicians… be nice to the sound guys… the ‘Suck Button’ is at their finger tips…
But they didn’t use it… A great show!
Then off to the Englert Theater in Iowa City…
We’ll be pickin’ up a storm tonight…
Good times…
Wonderful story Barbara. I loved your last line.@Barbara Jacobs
I’ve heard that story about Hank Williams.
Dad talked about his death as a cautionary tale. I was very young when I first heard the tale. I was allowed to walk around the neighborhood, the East Village was safe enough in the early 1960s. People sat out on their stoop in good weather and in the summer because most didn’t have a/c.
Although I was told not to walk south of Cooper Union (where Third Ave. turned into The Bowery),one day I wandered over there. The street was full of drunken men, passed-out on the sidewalk and in the gutter. It was dirty and smelly. I felt so sorry for those people, thinking about what their lives were like before they ended up there.
When I told dad about it, he explained that some of them probably just fell on hard times and The Bowery was the last stop for them. So many of them would die on the street. Their bodies were picked-up in the morning and taken to Potters Field.
Dad knew of some guys that had served in the Navy with him, they made it back home and drank too much. Dad only drank a Bud, just one. He made a choice not to
drink for the purpose of blotting-out reality, he chose the light.
He was O.K. because he loved life and his freedom. Those guys on The Bowery sidewalks weren’t free. @rich l
@Barbara Jacobs
“Turn it up, the saxophone, I play just what I feel…” Hope your dad was ok.
at the risk of Jorma finally putting me on call block, I have one little tidbit on Hank Williams. There’s a few different stories behind how the song “I saw the Light” came to be. The one I like best is Hank was heading back to Montgomery from a show in a driving rain, on those dark country roads in Alabama. The old car they were driving was heading home on a wing and a prayer, ready to break down at any minute. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have On-star back then. No doubt they were tired and probably over served.
Just about when it seemed like they were not going to make it, Hank spotted the lights at the Montgomery airport. Overjoyed, Hank said, “We’re going to be ok boys, I saw the light.” (other versions have his mom saying this)
When he got home, he spent the rest of the evening composing the song and it’s famous refrain,
“No more darkness, no more night
Praise the Lord, I saw the light.”
Unfortunately, he left us way too early at age 30, do to drinking and drug issues. Some say he was trying to self medicate a painful spina bifida condition. As I read though, he seemed to be just as comfortable in one of Alabama’s blood bucket honky tonks on a Saturday night, as he was singing a hymn the next morning from a pew.
As Willie Nelson put it, “We’d sow our wild oats on Saturday night and pray for a crop failure on Sunday morning.”
Why is it we so often choose darkness over light in our lives?
In many ways we are more alike than different.
Country music and Big Band are quite different but dad loved both. Yours, too.
Mitch Miller, yes we followed that bouncing ball!
Dad was open to liking things: people, places, music. He was never bored or disappointed, because he had so much that he enjoyed. I have his love of choice.
We didn’t have a big family and going to the movies with my mom was a big deal. Dad never went to see a movie, he came home and relaxed by watching television. We had a Hi-Fi and he did splurge on buying records.
He was known to suddenly start belting out a Hank Williams song, although he couldn’t sing well. He played his old sax along to his records and anytime there was music on the television, he would play along to the horns.
It drove the neighbors crazy but they endured it because everybody on the block knew that “he had a rough time in Korea.”@rich l
Barbara- I know what you mean by your dad working several jobs – if my dad wasn’t at work, he was working on some project around the house, or trying to get a car started. He once decided to remodel our “only” bathroom. (bear in mind I come from a family of 9 kids!) It took him what seemed to be a short eternity, (oxymoron alert), to complete and was a constant bone of contention between my mom and him. (No one took a shower in the house for about a month! I have no clue how that all worked out.)
I’m guessing quite a few of our parents grew up in the depression – they were quite familiar with the phrase, “Put a little elbow grease into it.” No one was passing the Grey Poupon at their dinner table.
We had a surprise 30th wedding anniversary for my mom and dad one year, organized by my sisters extraordinaire – it was a total surprise. We all chipped in and gave them a trip to Ireland as a present. I remember saying, anyone who knows me would know what a sports fan I am. I told them, my heroes were Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus, Little Louie Apararicio, Nellie Fox, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. But that night, I told them the two biggest heroes in my life were sitting on the couch. As I’ve often noted, my parents were the Good Lords greatest gift to me. Amen and amen. (even if he did constantly question me on whether or not there was a problem with the volume control on my stereo!)@Barbara Jacobs
Ha! on your dad “never taking the time to go.”
I once saw a cartoon with two old man fishing in some tranquil location. The one guy says to the other guy, “Ya know, if we had been doing this all our lives, we couldn’t afford to be doing it now.”
My dad had a few Gene Autry and the Tumbling Tumbleweed’s albums. Also, some big band stuff. I most certainly can remember following Mitch Miller’s bouncing ball!
Funny you mention Willie Nelson – his Stardust album was sort of a doorway to the past for me. I played it for my mom and she loved it – those were the songs they grew up with. Of course, we had one of those console stereos where you could stack 4 or 5 albums on top of each other – I can distinctly remember playing the Dead’s ” St. Stephen” song over and over. (“one man gather’s what another man spills…”
Not to digress, or shotgun as I have been accused of on occasion, but Willie Nelson’s Stardust came to mind after a Lin’s Bin on WXRT in Chicago one day. Lin is a quirky DJ who answers listeners questions with his incomparable wit and taste in music. The segment runs about 3 minutes and often times gets me laughing out loud while driving to work in heavy traffic.
At any rate, one morning Lin attempted to answer the question, “Did the dishwasher lead to the lack of intimacy between married couples.” Thoughts about my wife and I, cleaning up the evening slop, and engaging in idle banter came to mind. I emailed Lin and told him he should have played Willie’s version of Stardust – ya know – “When our love was new, and each dish an inspiration…”
Ah, but that was long ago…@Barbara Jacobs
“Haunting in a Happy Way”, best description I can come up with, besides; captivating, playful, mesmerizing, tight, and rooted, to describe the 10pm show at Chicago Old Town SChool of Folk Music on the 13th. Like Jorma said “past our bedtime”, but held that audience captive with simple, but complex music from Piedmont to San Francisco. Thanks for who you’ve been, and become with music that mesmerized so many that night and for decades…first saw you as an 18 year old at Chicago Auditorium, Electric with Papa John, but this recent Chicago show reminded me of what I’ve missed in between those two shows. Thanks for what you do for folks.
“…that’s another story…” for the book!
@Jorma
The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio) has those shows in its collection. Check it out, next time you’re in NYC.
Once went to taping of In Concert at the Santa Monica Civic (about the same time I saw Tuna there, I was 20)
James Brown got a couple of songs, and then Climax Blues Band, doing Nogales Blues (and a boy can sing the blues in his stocking feet (guitar riff))
About a month later, I wad visiting my cousins in NC. I was in the kitchen, In Concert was on in the living room, and suddenly I heard my cousins and Uncle Norm yelling ‘hey, Jim’s on TV. Of course I ran in, and so I was, in an audience shot, rocking out to the song : )
Television variety shows were the place to see music in the comfort of our living room.
Ed Sullivan was must-see viewing. The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was a nightly party. Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert was created because there was a variety of music and a television audience was in place for it.
The best variety shows were hosted by musicians and featured them spreading their talented wings to tv. You could see them performing duets with their guests.(Ray Charles and Glen Campbell playing “Cryin’Time”, trading verses was one of the best.)
SNL has had great musical guests but these days, it’s Jools Holland who rules the musician/tv.host tradition. His multi-stage set-up is brilliant and he also sits-in with some guests.
My dad loved “Chicago” and wanted to go see them but he worked several jobs and could never take the time to go. (Another reason we were such a television-loving family.)@jim hitchcock
@rich l
I’m with you Rich. In My life, I’ve come to a place where the things that I love take on a much deeper meaning. For me to have gotten to this place is in no small part to watching, following Jack & Jorma in their progress both personally, and artistically over the past couple decades. This period of growth for out favourite has been a miracle. Into their seventies, and better than ever indeed!
I’m glad to hear of your report from Chicago.
The gifts of living well bare many fruits. They become more precious as we get older. I don’t intend on squandering my blessings.
With that…I can’t wait to see our guys Sept 30th+ Oct 1st!
Blessings come in many guises. I just want to thank the Good Lord for keeping Jorma and Jack healthy enough to be playing in their 70’s.
Last nights first show at The Old Town was the best Hot Tuna Show I have ever been to. I’m still trying to come up woth the words to describe it. For now I’ll leave you with three words;
Fucking Hot Tuna!
Funny when you think about it…chronologically from the Andy Williams Show to Glen Campbell to the Smothers Brothers to…I don’t know, SNL?
Izze probably wouldn’t be into that song now — but ask her in 20 years.
By then, she will have an education in old-time music and Jorma’s performances will be a source of great memories for her.
I remember watching the “Glen Campbell Good Time Music Hour” with my dad, he loved Glen Campbell and a country music song with horns was the perfect combination of his favorite country music and Big Band music. “Horns” were not “my kind of music” but it was played very well.
It was the first time I remember seeing Willie Nelson, he was playing with Glen Campbell on that show. ( Willie had a short hair-do with feathered bangs!)
By the time the Glen Campbell show series ended in 1972, I had experienced the Fillmore concerts and saw so many “new” musicians and bands. I loved it all.
My mother loved Barbra and who knew any of those performers would still be here today? Mom and Dad are long gone.@rich l
@jim hitchcock
That’s funny Jim.
Hot F’kn Tuna!
Jorma,
I see you will be in Mt. Tabor again this year. My 78 year old dad lives a few block s from that awesome venue. He recently celebrated his 45th year of sobriety.
He would be happy to hook you up with a good local meeting, if you don’t mind all the old guys. See ya soon, DennisK
Summer Olympics, 2024…
Freestyle Frisbee is added as an event, and Joey Hudoklin, at age 88, becomes the oldest gold medal recipient ever!
(Just having fun here,Joey 🙂 )
(
as usual, a day late and a post short…
“Well my rigs a little old but that don’t mean she’s slow
There’s a flame from my stack and that smokes blowing black as coal
Oh well my home towns coming in sight, if you think I’m happy baby, baby you right
Six days on the road and I’m heading to Chicago tonight. – (Dave Dudley with a slight modification)
Watch out for smokey by mile marker 19
I’m willing to bet even the “Suck Button” doesn’t work on you guys. (But true, you still need to be nice to the sound men.)
Sounds like a line from one of Verlon’s songs.
A bit off topic, if I may, but I’ve been watching some Larry Keel video clips on YouTube. On a couple of them, it looks like he’s using a fuzz-wha pedal with his acoustic guitar. Since a certain lead player for the Airplane was the undisputed master of that pedal, just wondering if you’d tried it with an acoustic? I’ve heard the phase shifter before, like on the Double Dose album, but what about the wha? m
Hey MIkie
I love Larry Keel… he’s a great guy and an awesome player. That said… I’m no longer interested in modifying my acoustic sound… been there… done that. I’m always chasing purer tones, sometimes more successfully than others…
Now… with the electric guitar… that’s another story…
Be well
Jorma
Sorry but I will be unable to attend your gig at the Englert. I heard you all there back in March better than three years ago. I had plans to go but I shot my wad in cash and time off going to the Haight Ashbury Streetfair a few weeks ago. I hope and pray G-d will grant I should see Jack and yourself again but it was important for me to commune with my A-deck and E-Deck friends and honor Paul. Anyway, peace, love and safe travels to you and yours. Iowa City will be blessed by your being there, I’m sure. please, try to find your way back to Iowa more often. You guys are loved here.
Pickin’ up a storm…that’s one lightning bolt I wouldn’t mind taking.
Pickin’ up a storm. That’s one lightning bolt I wouldn’t mind getting hit with…