Back at the Ranch...
Foto by Vanessa Kaukonen
It was a chilly night pulling into Kent, Ohio for our performance at the Kent Stages but the weather didn’t chill our spirits on stage.
Hot Tuna 56, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Kent Stage
Kent, Ohio
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
1. True Religion
2. I See The Light
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Letter To The North Star
5. Third Week In The Chelsea
6. Barbeque King
7. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
8. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
9. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. How Long Blues
11. Sea Child
12. Trial By Fire
13. Good Shepherd
14. That’ll Never Happen No More
15. I Know You Rider
16. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
17. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
After the show we had a ‘day off’ to drive to Chicago for our show the next day at Park West.
It's been a minute or two since we played here...
Foto by Phil Jacobs
Hot Tuna 57, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Park West
Chicago, Illinois
Friday, December 13, 2019
1. True Religion
2. I See The Light
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Barbeque King
5. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
6. Sleep Song
7. Trial By Fire
8. Watch The North Wind Rise
9. River Of Time
10. Trouble In Mind
11. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
12. Been So Long
13. Sea Child
14. Good Shepherd
15. San Francisco Bay Blues
16. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
17. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
It was a great gig and I got to see my friend Dave Specter. I got to play on Dave’s new record ‘Blues From The Inside Out which was an honor indeed. I also got to see Julia Miller from Delmark Records. It was a grand hang! Then we breezed up to St. Paul and the Fitzgerald Theater, former home of Prairie Home Companion and more.
The Mighty Fitzgerald on a frosty night!
Foto by Phil Jacobs.
I had been looking forward to this gig in more ways than one. I had been communicating with David Flammang for the better part of the year… waiting breathlessly for the J-35ish guitar he has been building for me. With a torrified top and a dark burst finish I can hardly wait for this beauty to sit in my lap onstage!
GreenE, Iowa is luck to have a man like Dave as a neighbor!
Larry Campbell dropped into the dressing room and wound up taking on of Dave’s guitars home as well!
Man, what a sound. Of course, Larry's playing it! 🙂
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
Oh yeah… there was the gig too!
Hot Tuna 58, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Fitzgerald Theater
St. Paul, Minnesota
Saturday, December 14, 2019
1. New Song For The Morning
2. Serpent Of Dreams
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Barbeque King
5. Letter To The North Star
6. River Of Time
7. Sea Child
8. Trial By Fire
9. I’ll Be All Right Some Day
10. San Francisco Bay Blues
11. Come Back Baby
12. Sleep Song
13. Good Shepherd
14. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
15. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
Thanks for making the trek Dave. You are the man!
Sunrise in St. Paul
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
Then it was an early drive to Milwaukee and the Turner.
Yet one more great venue!
Foto by Phil Jacobs
Jack and I have been sitting in with Teresa, Larry and Myron Hart for their final number… Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning.
Fun with friends
Foto by Phil Jacobs
I’ve been playing Lamps for decades but Teresa owns that song and that’s a fact. Rev. Davis would have love this!
Hot Tuna 59, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Turner Hall Ballroom
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sunday, December 15, 2019
1. True Religion
2. Been So Long
3. Hesitation Blues
4. Too Many Years
5. Ain’t In No Hurry
6. Barbeque King
7. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
8. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
9. Sleep Song
10. Flying Clouds
11. I Am The Light Of This World
12. River Of Time
13. Come Back Baby
14. San Francisco Bay Blues
15. Trial By Fire
16. Good Shepherd
17. I Know You Rider
18. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
19. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
L and T joined Jack and myself for the last two songs each night. Soaring on heavenly wings indeed!
Children Of Zion
Foto by Phil Jacobs
After show we beat feet for home and pulled in about 1100. Rainy, cold and gloomy.
Great run… great to be home!
Goodbye to the Big Bus
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
Looks like I’m home for the holidays… well, except for New Years. More on that later…
In the meantime, all of us… all good friends, heading for home!
PS Lest I forget.. because I did forget… the Buffalo Set List.
Hot Tuna 54, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Asbury Hall
Buffalo, New York
Monday, December 9, 2019
1. New Song For The Morning
2. Candy Man
3. Second Chances
4. Letter To The North Star
5. Death Don’t have No Mercy
6. Day To Day Out The Window Blues
7. Let Us Get Together Right Down Here
8. Serpent Of Dreams
9. River Of Time
10. I Am The Light Of This World
11. Barbeque King
12. Been So Long
13. Flying Clouds
14. Trial By Fire
15. Good Shepherd
16. I Knows You Rider
17. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
18. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
And last but not least…
Hot Tuna 55, 2019
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
The Palace Theater
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
1. Letter To The North Star
2. Hesitation Blues
3. Trouble In Mind
4. I’ll Be All Right Some Day
5. Barbeque King
6. Too Many Years
7. Second Chances
8. San Francisco Bay Blues
9. Death Don’t Have No Mercy
10. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
11. Heart Temporary
12. Sleep Song
13. Good Shepherd
14. Encore: Children Of Zion with Larry & Teresa
15. Encore 2: Bar Room Crystal Ball with Larry & Teresa
So I was able to obtain the June 1976 issue of Guitar Player magazine, and it had a fine familiar face on the cover.
I think Jorma said he still has the red jacket.
Happy Birthday Jorma! And all the best for a Happy Chanukah and a year a head of good health and happiness for your family and the FPR family! BTW, the Park West show was outstanding!
Keep Pressing On Brother Jorma…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K01EAM2TtD4
Our health is our wealth, physical and spiritual health.
“Sins are gone, now I know what is wrong and right”
Happy Birthday
You are a treasure to us all ! Wishing you the happiest of Birthdays and a joyous Holiday Season!
See you in 2020 !
Happy Birthday Jorma, and many mo’, plus and Happy Hanukkah to you and yours
A Double Dose……………go figure
Happy, Happy Birthday, Jorma!
Plenty Your twenty twenty.
Happy Birthday Jorma.enjoy with family and friends .Stay well hope to catch you down the road.
Many happy birthday Jorma!
Happy Birthday Captain!
Many many more!
Sto Lat!
Thanks Andy. It truly was a special evening. The crowd tried their best to get them to play another song after Children of Zion and Bar Room Crystal Ball. I was hollering for four more, one for each artist.
Larry did break out the “devil’s instrument,” as Teresa said it was called in the South. Is it a coincidenceCharlie Daniels sings about the devil trying to steal a soul in Georgia with that instrument? Me thinks not. And you are most certainly correct…Larry does have some “chops” on that unholy instrument.
My first Hot Tuna concert was at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, back in 1972 I believe. Papa John and Sammy joined the lads. With the exception of Papa John, they were all puppies back then.
Wouldn’t it be great to hear Teresa, Larry, Myron and the boys due a rendition of “Highway Song?!” Hint, hint, double dawg dare, you’ll shoot your eye out, hint.
And I think one of these days, “for his moving gets to worn…” it would be great to hear Jorma break out “Hamar Promenade.” LOL, time did not slip on at a faster pace during that concert last Friday. Unfortunately, it did end though. While there were no sugar plum fairies, at least that I saw, it truly was a magical evening.
Happy Birthday Jorma! I wish you many more years of health and happiness. Dennis
Happy birthday Jorma!
Happy Birthday, Jorma, and best wishes for many more. Thank you for a lifetime of beautiful music.
Happy birthday, Jorma.
The Happiest of Birthdays to you Captain….
Hope your day is filled with happiness and joy that is so well deserved.
Happy holidays to you and your family
🙂
Happy Birthday Jorma, and greetings from the old world. Have a nice day!
Rich, Enjoyed your concert recap. Did Larry also play the violin? He really has chops on that instrument too. And hearing Teresa on Lamps is an amazing experience. With Larry Campbell on violin, the boys can do some old burgers tunes just like with Papa John Creech
Best !@rich l
Never mind…Just got 10th row! Yahoo!…
Anybody have an extra good ticket to Parker Playhouse?…
When I got to my friend’s house in Nyack, New York on Friday the 13th he grabbed me by the collar as I arrived and scolded me for not telling him I was arriving…I was then turned right around and whisked to the Turning Point Club in Piermont to see Duke Robillard before I even knew what was happening…A pleasant turn of events because I had never seen him play before…
Here’s the video:
https://www.facebook.com/100005208704771/videos/1288109444706000/?id=100005208704771&fref=browse_search
Happy Bday Jorma..I know yours is tomorrow ..May you have many more..Mine is today too..Love and Peace for the New Year too..
Hi Jorma,
Congrats on the recent DEC tour with Larry and Teresa. We caught a NYC ‘Town Hall’ Thanksgiving weekend show and loved the trio set (plus Steve), working hard, giving your all, mixing Flying Clouds, Sleep Song, or Jack jumping while you channel Chuck Berry on Talkin’ Bout You. Thanks.
A few years back, “LI Music Hall of Fame” presented you with a musical legacy award, for years of performing regularly and contributing to Long Island’s community.
Tying into your Birthday Monday, LI University CW Post radio is playing a full hour of your music Monday Dec 23, 10PM-11PM ET (College radio, no commercials) streaming at wcwp.org
Best to Vanessa and your family.
George
Ok, finally have found/made the time, to give my take on the Tuna/Campbell/Williams/Myron festivities last Friday at The Park West. If I had to title it, I think I’d call it, “Ain’t In No Hurry.”
And I’d have to say, Myron had the best hair thang going on in this quintet!
First off, I want to apologize in case I hurt anybody’s feelings by calling most of you a bunch of ol’ dawgs, (Teresa excluded – she would be a Newfie puppy, the cutest thing the good Lord ever put on this earth!) Calling some one your dawg in modern kid lingo, means you are a highly valued and trusted friend. The type you can borrow money from. So I just wanted to establish, that when I call you dawgs, it’s a very positive thing.
As I left a brilliant performance last Friday, that ended way too soon, (basically from 7:30 to 10:30 with about a 15 minute break between shows), many thoughts crisscrossed in my fragile, eggshell brain. (RIP Jim Morrison)
First off, I told my sister that the show reminded me of my big old dawgs plumping down on their beds. They sort of let out this big gasp of air/harumpf type sound. I told a friend about this one time and he said, “Their just kicking it into a lower gear.” To me, that sort of described the Tuna show, (in a very positive way), …more on that in a bit.
Secondly, my first exposure to Larry and Teresa was on the “Ain’t In No Hurry,” CD. Their performance literally blew my socks off from the get go. I had no idea how good of a guitar player Larry is. Hold the woodpile down, fo sho. It would have been nice if Teresa could have played guitar, I would have liked to hear her style also, But Myron did a fine job steppin’ up to the plate. Let me tell you, it has to be damn hard to keep up with Larry! I think it was right before Children of Zion that Jorma called Larry a showoff!
Throughout the entire evening, the artists kibitzed with the audience. Teresa told the story about her mom cutting the rug to Larry’s fiddle – the only time she ever saw her mom dance. She went on to add that fiddles and dancing were cause for expulsion in the church she attended as a youth. Reminds me of that Pure Prairie League song “Pickin’ To Beat The Devil…”Kentucky women and Tennessee whiskey, there’s gonna be hell to pay!” I think Teresa’s recollection of her mom was inspired of the guy who got up and threw it down by himself, (Soul Train Style), during one of those banjo and fiddle crap songs!
Her story about Larry meeting the outlaws, Teresa’s family (who she noted were suspicious of yankees, especially from New york, with good reason I might add!), was another gem. The bottom line is, bring your fiddles when you head south.
Larry paid homage to the great song writer John Sebastian, which reminds me of a story. My friend Jack (no relation) and I went to a Deep Purple concert back around 1971/72 at the Amphitheater in Chicago. Kind of an old barn, but Purple played loud enough where it didn’t make a difference.
Sebastian on the other hand, could have used a more intimate venue. At any rate, Deep Purple’s plane was almost two hours late, and Sebastian tried his best to keep the very pro Purple crowd entertained. Let’s just say the animals were getting restless while awaiting DP’s arrival.
In the middle of the last song he played, the raucous crowd started hollering out “Purple!” and Sebastian quietly left the stage; I probably would have flipped the crowd off. So for the next hour and a half or so, we sat their twiddling our thumbs. I still feel bad till this day for the rude treatment Sebastian received. But it definitely was a Purple crowd, and it was well worth the wait when they finally arrived!
Jorma told a similar story about a gig at the Cubby Bear. He said he was playing a Genesis like song and some one hollered out, “Play the blues mother fucker!” Clearly, Chicago is a tough place to play.
For the last song Of Larry and Teresa’s hour long performance, they called out the two ol’ dawgs, Jorma and Jack. Together they played the best version of “Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,” that I ever heard. This has always been one of my favorite Tuna melodies, and it says something about Jorma that he took second fiddle so to speak, and let Teresa sing the lead vocal. Teresa reminded me a bit of Susan Tedeschi, as she absolutely hammered the vocals. The four of them crushing this song, (can’t recall if Myron joined them on this one), was “the highlight” of many highlight’s that evening. As Peter Wolf might put it, “Blow your socks off baby!”
Reflecting on the incredible list of songs Tuna played that night, makes me long for so much more. I could easily ad another 20 songs I wished they had played. My brother in law pointed out after the show that Jorma played the brownish guitar a lot more than the yellow Martin(?) guitar. He actually knew the names of them, but I’ve never been one for details. Yellow and brown are close enough for hand grenades. In past performances, it seemed it seemed just the opposite. The Brown guitar definitely has a different sound to it – LOL – the brown guitar looked like an ol’ dawg too!
After they played “Good Shepherd,” I told my brother, “I feel like I just got out of a church service.” It was definitely hallowed ground we were sitting on during this song. Like Moses, I even took off my sandals halfway through. Fuckin’ Jack just turned the bass solo in this song every which way but loose.
I recall questioning Jorma playing “Sweet Fern” on his “Ain’t In No Hurry” CD. I was kind of hoping Teresa and Larry would accompany Jorma on that one…”there’s no place that I’d rather be…” than at a Tuna show!
To summarize though, the entire evening seemed to be played out in a lower gear, that big ol’ dawg harumpf. It felt like you were sitting in a living room, (sans the fire place), listening to these incredible musicians. They seemed like long lost old friends.
I’m not sure how can something be described as layed back and exhilarating at the same time. (oxymoron alert) But this Tuna show/Larry, Teresa and Myron, was beyond special. kicking it into a lower gear works sometimes! The only bad part of the evening, was that it ended.
As Tom T. Hall once put it:
“Ain’t but three things in this world that’s worth a solitary dime,
But old dogs and children and watermelon wine.”
Wow, what a run.
@Sweetbac Jr.
Yeah, I like ‘at other oil with them different letters in front of it.
after reading these comments, it make me wanna reach for some of that there DCB oil or whatever it is. HOT F’ING TUNA!
I was watching a great interview with Chef Marco Pierre White and one bit of advice he had for other chefs was, “Cook things you want to eat.” Sounds like really simple – almost too simple – advice, but it really gets results. Don’t cook what everyone thinks is cool and what everyone thinks you should serve. Cook the stuff you like and that you love to cook. I think that can apply to the other arts as well, including music. Play the stuff you’d like to hear. Play the classics and standards the way you’d like to play them and the way you hear them, even if some prig says it’s not the “right” way. Don’t try to write what you, or someone with a bunch of market research in hand, says you should play. Play what you’d like to hear. I think about that a lot when I listen to Hot Tuna. Seems to me to be their formula for success, and it has inspired me in everything I do.
@mikie
Ah, sounds like when Tuna plays an encore after 2 great sets!
“A lagniappe is “a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase” (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, …”
aahhhh donuts….m
@Greg martelli
I guess a better way to say it is, “They ain’t in it for their health!”
@JB
I live amongst the Cajuns, so I kinda grew up hearing it. It is a good ‘un, though.
@Carey- love seeing lagniappe in a sentence! I’ll take seldom used words for a 1000 Alex! 😉
@Greg martelli
I have to disagree and say that cash money remains the best remuneration. Appreciation and gratitude are the lagniappe that makes it fun to keep earning.
It still amazes me how that bus gets up that road and driveway. I hope your time home is peaceful and joyous. m
How about the Palace in Greensburg set? Great show!!
Done and done…
THANKS for a great night in St Paul. We traveled from Madison to see you again this year. It was COLD outside warm HOT Tuna inside. 2019 was special, seeing HT twice and stopping at FPR in Sept. to pick up Christmas presents and (bonus) meet with Kelly. Thanks again. You keep our WI hearts trimmed and burning.
Looks like a great run
I’d say the best remuneration is the appreciation and gratitude expressed by a faithful fan base.
Do you have the Buffalo set list?
Ooh you got the Flammang! Did it meet all your expectations?
It did… more. David is one of the great builders!
Hot Tuna has brought me endless inspiration, and life lessons.
Since I left New York (again), one of the hardest things to accept is that I can’t see you perform as much. But this year, I get Florida shows, and on New Year’s!
For me it will be extra special as my sober birthday falls that night. 10 years. Thank you and Jack for showing me the way!
shows, and