How good does it have to get?
Last night my Airplane pals and I were honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Academy. An honor beyond words…
Living at Loew's... This is LA
One moment Jack and I were in Cincinnati and the next… well… we’re in LA.
Cathy and me...
Cathy knocked it out of the park with her rendition of Somebody To Love. Coolness…
That's right... the Oscars are here too...
Rehearsal... me and the Gibby
China and me...
The big stage...
Kenny Aranoff and me...
Jack, Grace & Jorma
Don Was, Jack and Jorma
Home sweet home
Wow... who would have thought?
Jorma and Al Schmitt
Al is one of the greatest producers of all time and a great guy. We worked with him for years.
By the bye… a very special thanks to Doug Pettibone who took a few moments off from Don Was’ band to play rhythm guitar with us. Thanks Doug.
Then it was to bed… early call for the Q and A with Jack and me at the Grammy Museum.
Lay it on us...
After the interview with Scott Goldman, which was really cool, by the way… Jack and I threw down a little set.
Doing what we do...
Foto by Phil Jacobs
I will write more about the actual experience when I get home… it was deeply moving, suffice it to say!
Night at the Loews complex
Early flight tomorrow…
What a blessing this has all been…
Dear Jorma,
Congrats to you and the entire JA Family, Paul, Jack, Marty, Signe, Grace, Spencer, Papa John, Joey❤️
So well deserved ! The Airplane was the backstory to my life, as well as Hot Tuna.
Thank you all for being a part of my life. I am blessed and grateful ❤️
Much Love,
Cyn
Congrats and Mazel Tov to all of the delightful JA members. Are you going to keep the gorgeous new Gibson ES 345 they made for this occasion??
You bettcha… Stereo is coming back…
Jorma
Jorma, you have always been a winner to me! Quah is my #1 album! It’s about time the JA is recognized! Glad you, Jack & Grace could get together! Mazal tov! Looking forward to Red Bank! Thank you for all the mysic and joy. Take good care. ♡♡♡ PS. Maybe you and your pal David Bromberg can put together some Jewish music for us one of these days!?!
How is Al Schmitt 86yrs old? When I saw that picture, I thought he looked younger than you (no offense Jorma) than I look him up and found he’s 86 and still producing! Amazing. On another note, get Don Was to the Ranch! He is a musical genius and a fine player.
JA was undeniably one of the most influential bands in the 60’s and 70’s. As for me, it was THE band during those years. A well deserved recognition for your timeless songs and place in music history.
Mozel tov to you all! Well deserved and long overdue! We missed you at the ranch and you missed a fun show, but good on ya!
Congrats!!
Congrats Jorma, a well deserved honor. Can’t wait for the show to hit the airwaves? Check this out.
http://liveforlivemusic.com/news/watch-jorma-kaukonen-and-jack-casady-perform-discuss-jefferson-airplane/
Congratulations Jorma !!
Well deserved .Happy Passover to you & your family .
I recently discovered the Airplane and dove in on You-Tube. In my life I went for Hendrix and other heavy guitar music and never really explored the Airplane. I just want Jorma to know that, holy sh*t, I am discovering this incredible treasure trove of music I was never fully aware of before and having sort of a Haight experience in 2016. Would the award be truly represented if it didn’t have some cat who truly dug the Airplane tell the audience that this band was more than just a band. It was a psychedelic movement that conveyed an astral window or dimension in its music that was mind-blowing. The Airplane went far out into this uncharted territory and came back with bounty that is still locked-in to its music for those with the ears and hearts to sense it. What the award doesn’t articulate is that these Airplane kids in their 20’s were emissaries for a new awareness and consciousness that was part of a movement that used the carefree ambition of youth to sincerely try to change the world. The hope and freedom of the mind and soul that is locked into that music is timeless, vibrant, and alive. But in a mind-blowing way also captured the frequency and vibration of psychedelic consciousness and presence. How do you tell industry people your band captured and played to higher consciousness that was an open window for love children to dance in, and a little bit of heaven played to with conscious intent, and with jubilant dedication and illumination, and that is what you’re really awarding? A band that managed to open a palpable window to higher consciousness on stage and convey it with clarity and beauty like its supplicants and translators? The Jefferson Airplane was the Wright Brothers of this psychedelic quantum leap that first managed to get off the ground and fly and play music to this newly-detected cosmic clockwork. Years later, after the buzz wears off and you live in a less colorful post-Reagan land of WalMarts and condos where the beautiful hitch-hikers have been herded back to their mazes, how do you explain what these enlightened young kids were really doing and how they wanted to change the world with it? And that is what you are really pinning the award on? It blows my mind that you can tune in ‘She Has Funny Cars’ from Monterey in 2016 and have an epiphany upon hearing a band suspended in this expanded window of consciousness and playing to its love, clarity, and beauty in perfect harmony with the Universe and realize it is everything that means the most to you like extremely deep personal religion. A spirit delivered to you that hits you with a feeling of warm familiarity like a heaven you once knew but human existence made you forget. It’s cool that the Airplane were the hip hosts of this cosmic new world. Cool and comfortable with it and familiar with its surreal depths. You are a welcomed guest where Grace (Alice) might warn you to watch that last room in the back. It has some really freaky rabbit holes we haven’t figured out yet. We’re still painting it. The cosmic paint isn’t quite dry yet. Don’t get freaked by the 6 foot tall talking rabbit. He’s friendly. If they were to award Grammy’s for this they would have to redesign it to look like the mechanics of the universe. Like a perpetual motion machine…Maybe like a Jefferson Airplane…Thank you and bless you Jefferson Airplane for letting me at least for a moment dwell in joy in the other side of this life…
Congratulations! Was at the live show as well in L.A. and yikes! you guys tore it up! As we were walking to the lobby for intermission I heard someone say wow, “that Jefferson Airplane set was awesome and the best act so far” I couldn’t agree more.
Congratulations Jorma!
Congrats! You deserve it all and more! Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna have been a major influence on my life and American music in general. Great to see the pictures of Grace and China too! Have fun with your new Gibson! Looking forward to see you again on tour soon! And congrats to Jack too! I play one of his Epiphone basses and its the best sounding bass I own! Whenever I play it people comment on how good it sounds.
Yeah Buddy!
A well deserved award and recognition from your industry peers to you and your esteemed band mates.
Its times like these that make me proud to be a life-long fan of all things JA, HT and JK. Cant wait to see you play the new Gibson. See you soon.
Rock on Captain!
awesome pics covers so much Would you ever perform sea weed strut again?
Congrats Captain, and a belated Zissen Pesach to you and yours
What more can be said except..Mazol Tov!!!!
Congratulations Jorma, Jack & all the Airplane Family. Your recognition is well deserved and long over-due in my humble opinion. You guys are all the best an avid music nut could want. Great Job Capitain, we’re looking forward to the PBS airing…gonna DVR it!
I couldn’t be happier for you, Jack, Grace, Marty, Paul.
Of course, in my little mind it’s all about Hot Tuna and your solo work. I discovered Jefferson Airplane after becoming a Tuna Head. Nonetheless, I’m in tears looking at you & Jack’s beaming faces. Who woulda thunk it? All these years later, after all you’ve been through, to be recognized by your peers as an all time-influential artist.
To me, since my first show at the Academy of Music in 75′, it’s been nuttin’but Hot F’kn Tuna!
Seeing you holding that award, the look on your face, says it all.
Congratulations Jorma & Jack!
This is also welcome by us fans, we knew you all were deserving of this long ago, your impact on the music world is just as important as your contributions to it. Words can’t express the pride I feel in a band and musicians I’ve listened to for so long to get their just recognition. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to you and your band mates.
Jorma will the Grammy be on display at Ranch?
What a special moment to see those three together. The beauty, energy, and magic they represent. You can see it in their faces…
Wow and wow… like you say Cap, “It doesn’t get any better than this…”
My wife and I were fortunate to be at your Grammy interview on Sunday. Great afternoon and thanks for playing songs at the end! Btw, my wife was the one who ran up to your van in front of the Yardhouse to get your autograph. Thanks for being so gracious. Come back to LA for a concert soon.
Hey Mike… Vanessa spearheads stuff for me too… I can dig it. Be well…
Jorma
well done boys.
Congratulations!Couldn’t be happier for you all!
Too bad Marty couldn’t make it for the celebration, but he turned this in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huz8Y5OfyZo
Nice behind the scene pics Jorma.
Congrats!
Thank you for the pictures
great to see you with “the airplane family”,(even “uncle Al” too
Early Flight indeed.
Peace
Love All Ways
OUTSTANDING…..Congratulations…
🙂