The Master... enjoying a masterful moment!
Foto by John Hurlbut
Our second week at Sanibel was a so called ‘Master’s” class. I am a little reluctant to use such terms of exalted description but the guys guys could all really play well and were all ‘masters’ in their own realm. This class was a little experiment on my part and I shall digest the results from my point of view in time. I had been thinking about what I could offer a good player in such a class. Song catching is important, but anyone can learn a song. To me it is the interpretation, the way one communicates and inflects emotion in an accessible way that is important. In my own way I tried to talk about what I consider to be the four important qualities in a musician. Technique, Tone, Timing and Taste… not necessarily in that order. I’ll wait for some feedback to determine how successful I was.
Including the jam Cruise and the four gigs Acoustic Hot Tuna did in Florida by the time I landed yesterday I had been gone a month. I thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and the quality of life to be found on Sanibel, but here at home I’m not minding the sub freezing weather at all!
Anyway, Thursday night Hurl and I did a little show for friends and Ranchers in the FPR Room at the Sundial Resort.
Pure acoustic, the way it was meant to be!
Foto by Pete Stern
After about a half an hour with me, Johnny took center stage and I had the honor of accompanying him for about an hour!
Johhny and me...
Foto by Pete Stern
This is big fun for both of us and on Friday the 15th, we’ll be playing four our Valentine’s Day Dinner here at the Fur Peace Ranch!
As for sunny Sanibel in the winter…
Going...
Foto by John Hurlbut
Going
Foto by John Hurlbut
Gone
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
Home, Home, Home
The lineup so far for Woodstock 50 at Bethel Woods in August includes Ringo Starr, Santana, Doobie Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, Edgar Winter and more to be announced. Hope they can get Hot Tuna and John Fogarty there as well.
NY Daily News had an article about the biggest crowd ever at Madison Square Garden 80 years ago . Went on to mention Prospect Hall as one of their regular meeting places. Glad to know you got to dust out any residual vibes when you played there.
Oh yeah – biggest crowd at MSG was for an Amerikkkan Fascist Party
And… did Mr Santana ask for help with his house band at Bethel 50?
Peace Love All Ways
Sweetbac, Jr, checked all 886 cast members on IMDB on the five seasons of the Mod Squad. Only Piazza is one Ben Piazza (don’t know if their’s a relationship) who appeared as Dr. Ed Chase in one episode in 1973. No Sammy, but no clue on the “banana peels.”
Met Dan and John working on movie Neighbors building the sets early 80s,anyone remember that flop?..LOL Dan was very cool and so was John even though he was really out there..Sad he went so young..
@George Henn
Ah, The Radiators – they are back together. Amazing guitarist that Camile Baudoin.
It was a great triple bill that night at House of Blues Atlantic City…Hot Tuna, Railroad Earth and the Radiators.
Saw the Blues Brothers when they closed Winterland down…..We were right up front.@JJK
Rubber Biscuit?@Tom Fabry
Should say Tuna played there well after it opened.
@Tom Fabry
I met Dan Aykroyd when I was a construction superintendent overseeing the House of Blues being built in the ShowBoat Casino in AC. He was the $ behind the project.
Jack & Jorma there also. Did anyone besides myself see Tuna perform at a small club in Trenton NJ called City Gardens early Eighties?
@johno
Dan Aykroyd did a great Tom Snyder impersonation. Tom also had a good interview w Lennon, and later Garcia and Kesey. Oh, what would they all tell us now.
I went to look up the proper spelling of Dan’s last name and bumped in to his purported net worth. Smart Dude. Funny too.
Yes, that’s the station Johno.
ANYone remember when Sammy Piazza had a small recurring role on “The Mod Squad”?…I seem to recall an episode where he unwittingly got caught up in an undercover sting of banana peel sales!
Must’ve been WOR channel 9. They’re located in Secaucus across from the then Giants Stadium on the south side of Route 3. Tom Snyder was a good show.
@eaglesteve
I used to go to Prospect Hall as a kid for parties etc.
My grandparents lived in Brooklyn. On 14th Street in Park Slope then on 62nd Street in Bay Ridge. I remember them building the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
To see Tuna at Prospect Hall in April 2017 was a real treat.
Jack with the Raccoon hat and then singing Happy Birthday to Jack was priceless!
@AndyK
R.I.P Kofi.
Saw Jack & Jorma in Secaucus, NJ, for/on the Tom Snyder show, I forget the station, but it was just south of Rt 3 across from what was called Giant Stadium at that time. Must have been late 1980s or early 1990s. Snyder dug Tuna. Smart guy.
Anybody remember Jorma and Jack appearing on the Clint Holmes tv show on WOR Channel 9 in New York quite a few years ago? I had taped it, but must have lost it.
At the Old Prospect Hall in South Brooklyn!
Amongst all the chandeliers.
What a great show!
@AndyK
@Willy
Sounds close enough.
Perhaps Jack was the Grand High Exaulted Mystic Ruler but they did celebrate his birthday.
@Careygeorgas Not sure about the consummation, but Jack wore the official Raccoon Lodge Coonskin Cap at the start of the show – Woooooo!
@AndyK
Keewah! Was there a consummation?
One of m
@johno
One of my favorite life moments was seeing the marriage of Hot Tuna and the Honeymooners in Brooklyn at a benefit concert a couple of years ago!
Fugeddaboudit
Good old Brooklyn NY!
@AndyK
2/12/2019
53 years since The Watts Test
haahhahaahahahaahh
Home is where the hearth is, eh?
Hello Jorma, one of these days I plan to hear Hurl play. Ashamed to say that after knowing him all these years (back to the Columbus record store days) I still haven’t been able to catch him live. Would love to see him open the FPR season this year but don’t think I can make it out there for that show.
Also, got to see Kim Wilson & The Fabulous Thunderbirds this past weekend in Virginia. They put on a great show and KW still sings and plays harp wirh such great soul. Johnny Moeller on guitar was great too. The highlight for me was a cover they did of the Cookie & The Cupcakes tune “Mathilda” that was just super. I have a version of that tune that Mike Bloomfield did on one of his albums that was also great. In fact, I think I bought that album from John H. at his store. Anyway, it got me to wondering if you ever hung out and played much with Mike Bloomfield?
When I got in the Prius to go get my beach parking sticker in today’s bright sun and 83 degrees blues expert Kerry Wolfson was on National Public Radio talking about the history of American Blues…I caught him talking about 1920’s American blues and he said: “I hope when the aliens come to Earth they hear this music first before they examine current world politics”…He was talking about the profundity of the art form and what it represented…
I guess Jorma is sort of keeping up what Wolfson was talking about, as would be realized if he didn’t do it…
@johno
Yes, in Brooklyn, USA!
Me too! Can you imagine Hot Tuna covering ‘All Along The Watchtower’
Can’t wait til Jacks Birthday Party!
@AndyK
@Pete
Wow, some set list!
Would love to hear JnJ play All Along The Watchtower on this summer’s Electric Tour.
Kept a set list for you –
Jorma
Sundial Beach Resort & Spa
Flamingo Room
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Serpent of Dreams
Candy Man
Come Back Baby
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
Sleep Song
San Francisco Bay Blues
All Along the Watchtower w/ John Hurlbut
The Old Homestead w/ John Hurlbut
The Ballad of Easy Rider w/ John Hurlbut
Sugaree w/ John Hurlbut
Stand By Me w/ John Hurlbut
Across the Borderline w/ John Hurlbut
Driftin’ Blues w/ John Hurlbut
This Land Is Your Land w/ John Hurlbut
Hi Jorma,
When you mention “Timing,” would that equate to phrasing? I’m a total amateur, but in a lifetime of listening to and playing music I’ve come to think that phrasing is the essential thing that differentiates the best players.
-Ed
Fur sure Maverick greeted you with a big kiss and his leash for a nice long walk in the woods.
Welcome home.