John Prine’s death took us all by surprise even though I guess in retrospect we might have seen it in the wind. Rest in peace John… your work here on earth may done but we will be wrapped in your spirit for a long time. What a powerful legacy although I imagine that’s a small consolation to his surviving family. Your are all in my prayers.
There’s no good time for bad news and that bad news put some of my daily ruminations on hold, so I will take this opportunity to release them from their confinement.
Almost a week ago Nessa and Izze and I climbed into our truck on a beautiful day and drove to Athens town for some takeout from the Casa Nueva, our local ‘Counter Culture’ Mexicanesque restaurant. My two favorite times to eat at the Casa are breakfast and dinner. I’m not really a lunch guy except when the Fur Peace Ranch is in session, of course. I tend to be a creature of habit so my breakfast order is almost always their scrambled tofu (which is totally awesome in utterly unreplicatable at home), a side of their more than killer bacon, dry wheat roast and whatever their homemade jam de jour might be. Eating breakfast out is a social event for me so the takeout b’fast is not on my to do list. Dinner, however, is another story. At the Casa I always get the #3 dinner. I’ve been ordering this for twenty years. It’s a chicken enchilada with black bean sauce, rice and a small cheese empanada. I forget what the girls got but with take out in hand we got back in the truck and drove over to the river by Parks Hall and found a socially distant spot under a blossoming cherry tree.
Great day for a picnic
Timed selfie by Vanessa Kaukonen
It’s chilly here today. There was a freeze warning last night. Big change from the high seventies/low eighties you see in these pictures. Ah, April… gotta love it!
Anyway, back home Vanessa ( the four leaf clover whisperer) found what might have been the first emerging four leaf clover in our little yard.
Bingo... it is found!
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
I did get several really good motorcycle rides in while the weather wasn’t bone chilling and there was almost no traffic on the highways and back roads. Not a big surprise but thoroughly enjoyable.
It’s Friday as I write this and tomorrow will be #2 Of The Quarantine Concert Series, Live From The Fur Peace Ranch. I wanted to research some lyrics for some tunes I haven’t done in a really long time. I needed to check out some lyrics and the info I needed was unintelligible on youtube so I went down to the old studio behind our house and started looking through my CD collection. I needed a tune from Too Hot To Handle. I was halfway through the Jorma/Hot Tuna/Jefferson Airplane CD collection when… there it was! The Too Hot Too Handle CD almost jumped in my hand!
Awesome!
I opened the jewel case… it was empty. Good grief. I’m sure that album is somewhere on line, but I couldn’t find it. I went to my vinyl shelves. I never got rid of any of my vinyl so these records (and they are records) go back over fifty years. Anyway, right under my hand as I pulled back the Indian bedspread that keeps dust off all this stuff was the Too Hot To Handle LP with the shrink wrap intact.
In living color...
Foto by Jorma Kaukonen
I thought about playing the cut I needed on Dad’s old Denon turntable via the Marantz pre-amp on it’s way through the Austin and Michaelson TVA-1 power amp with the JBL 4312’s as a final destination but what the heck. I took the LP up to the house, cut the shrink wrap off and put it on the Rega turntable through the NAD Stereo Receiver 7155 with the music reaching my ears via a matched set of Polk Audio speakers. The speakers and the NAD came to live with us when my dad passed away in 1997. That gear still sounds great. Anyway, I heard the song and got the missing verse I needed. (I’ll be doing this tune on the show tomorrow night so I’ll be back later to talk about it.)
Vinyl… cool. Brings back memories of when listening to music was a appointment experience. Finding the sweet spot… digging the stereo imaging, the whole sonic deal.
OK Nuff said for now. If you haven’t done so, please subscribe to the Fur Peace Ranch YouTube channel. It doesn’t cost a darn thing and the numbers really help us out.
Here ya go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTLGKvG4U0
Catch you in the internet ether…
Stay well!
God bless my college roommate, who hipped me to both Hot Tuna and Polk Audio 10 speakers. He damaged one cranking Jimi’s “When the Gods Made Love” but – amazingly enough – fixed it with Shoe Goo.
This was an invite to tonight’s show I sent out to the huddled masses yearning to breathe Free again…
To the quarantined masses,
Jorma Kaukonen, (Jefferson Airplane, Hot tuna guitarist and song singer), is going to stream live again tonight from his Fur Peace ranch in Ohio. As many of you might recall, there was a constant battle that took place in the Rat Hole at 96th and Longwood. Jack would be trying to squeeze a Loggins and Messina album onto Jim’s record player, in between my attempts to play Deep Purple and Hot Tuna. Mike McP would try to smuggle in some Leon Russell every chance he got. Let’s not forget “Moody Blues” Jerry. Grif would be trying to sway our ears the great southern rock or the good Doctor – Watson, not Humble Pie. we’d even let Englehardt play some of his wreck of the Edmund fitzgerald crap. (JK, love me some Lightfoot) If i recall correctly, Delaney was into the Eagles at that time. Dan was just busy chasing short cock whores at the time. Can’t recall if Joe and Dilly had any favorites. as long as dilly had his 12 pack of Meister Brau or whatever was the cheapest beer he could find, he was happy.
Man we grew up with some great music.
I remember Bob, Tom E, Dan and maybe Tom O’C (this was before tom O’C vowed never to go back packing again – before the Saga of the South Forks expedition!) sang a Beatle song. (yeah, you do weird things when you’re in high altitudes struggling with our uneasy relationship with a 60 pound back pack) It was the one, “I’ve just seen a face, I can’t forget the time or place where just met – Falling yes I am falling.” At any rate 3 or 4 female backpackers brightened our day with their beauty and smiles as we rounded the bend in full throat! I’ll never forget this one girl that said, “You guys sound great!” Or the time we got off a train in Wyoming I believe and started singing South Bound Passenger Train by Doc Watson and the boys. I can vividly remember Tom E taking the low part in the song, “stick your head out the window watch the drivers roll…” Always wanted to hear Jorma play, “I can’t help but wonder where I’m bound.”
At any rate, I can’t urge you strongly enough to turn into Jorma’s show tonight. It was just flat out awesome last week – made me forget about Covid19 for awhile.
You can access it by going to Jorma’s web site, and clicking on his blog. In his latest post, he has a link at the end you just click on, and you are magically in his living room.
if you know how to copy and paste – here’s the link, otherwise just click on the one on the blog. I believe the show will start at 7pm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTLGKvG4U0
“I’m a loser, I’m a loser, and I’m not….
Loser
Jorma, is the show at 8pm Eastern again?
Triggered many memories here, Jorma. We’ve been binge watching and listening to John Prine for a couple of days now. What a loss! That jaunty humour in his music combined with seemingly day to day lyrics that pointed beyond. I’ve threatened Taylor that we will both have to learn “In Spite of Ourselves” and sing that Prine/DeMent inspired duet once a week. Moving on, Taylor and I got together in 1985 – our first show was Dec 85 – Jorma solo upstairs at the Holiday Tavern at the corner of Queen and Bathurst during the “Too Hot to Handle” tour.And moving on again, first time we visited Athens (pre-FPR, maybe 1998) we caught Kaukarano at a place called the Casa Cantina (Roman sold us the tix).I think that’s the Casa Nueva? Anyway, my apologies for rambling – just too many neurons fired in your post!
Hey Jorma, once again, I have plans for Saturday evening, thanks for the show this weekend! Absolutely wonderful!! Your making this isolation bearable. Will you be doing Broken Highway…Ice Age… or Killing Time? All my favs. Peace and have fun!
Hey Jorma, Great to see your concert last week and great to see some of my favorite artists giving back in this unique way. I’m a writer and actor and did some of that myself. If you feel like checking it out it’s on YouTube and called ‘How Do You Say Prostate In Italian?’ It’s a reading of a solo piece of mine; interesting what you can do with an iPhone! My hope was to put a little positive energy out there and judging from the feedback I’ve been getting, people are appreciating it. It’s a message of resilience, and we sure can use some of that right about now! I have tix for you guys with Grisman at the Cap this summer, sure hope that happens! Meanwhile . . . see you tomorrow night!!!
Been really enjoying my HT vinyl lately…Keeps me off of CNN and all the news..
Cant wait for Sat. night, been the highlight of the week..Thanks so much for what you do for the HT community..Nice!!!
Well, it’s snowing up here in VT. No grass to cut except…Looking forward to Saturday Nights Show! Jorma, Vanessa and Jack, you are the Light of This World!!! That is not a request. (or is it?)
Glad to hear one’s on the way – but let me know if it’s defective, or if you prefer a free one.
(And speaking of sound, I can’t believe what you guys pulled off with the first Quarantine Show. Impeccable.)
I’ve always really loved the sound of the Too Hot To Handle LP. The recording has a real immediacy to it that I can’t describe. Elegant simplicity at its finest!
Thank you for the Saturday shows, it’s a real treat.
Live to Mark Levinson System… no editing.
Jorma: I so much appreciate these blog posts these days. Really helps me – and others, I’m sure – get through the days.
I have the Too Hot to Handle CD if you want one! Happy to send it to you.
And yes, vinyl: I listened to the first Hot Tuna album the other night, the original vinyl. As you might say, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Be well.
Thanks anyway Ed… eBay has one coming to me.
Thank you for providing the Saturday evening concerts. Hope to tune in tomorrow. I too have been enjoying a nice motorcycle ride when the weather is cooperating. Brought my bike and my sons bike in for routine Sprung servicing couple of days ago. Unfortunately, one of them needs new tires. Things being way they are these days, apparently it’ll take four days for the tires to come!
Today is pretty cold and windy so it wouldn’t have been a good riding day. But I can’t wait to get the bikes back on the road and enjoy!