Photo by Jorma Kaukonen
Izze and Nessa went to Newark (or Nerk as we say) for a volleyball tournament. They left around 0530. It could be worse. A male kid playing ice hockey would require lots more driving. Anyway, left home alone, I took Mav for a walk down our Hwy 61 in between storms. Rain or not, at least it’s warmer and any day now I expect to hear peepers.
Well, we sent out # 39 to our brothers and sisters in Radio Stream Dreamland last night, and here’s what we did:
Jorma Kaukonen 10, 2021
Quarantine Concert Series #39
The Fur Peace Station
Darwin, Ohio
Saturday, February 27, 2021
- West Coast Blues
- Serpent Of Dreams
- Walkin’ Blues
- Full Go Round
- Brother Can You Spare A Dime
- Living In The Moment
- Kansas City Southern with John Hurlbut
- Someone’s Calling with John Hurlbut
- Mann’s Fate
- Letter To The North Star
- Genesis
West Coast Blues was the first finger style songs I ‘got’ when I was first starting out finger picking in 1960. thanks brother Ian! I owe more to you than I was ever able to tell you, may your memory be a blessing! I rarely do it as a performance piece so it was big fun to start the set with it. I hadn’t performed Brother Can You Spare A Dime since one of the very earliest shows of the Quarantine Concert Series so it was equally great to bring that beauty to light again. Now I’m already thinking about #40. Hmmmm….
Photo by Jorma Kaukonen
I’ve got a Sunday Zoom lesson coming up but I just wanted to get this post up and running.
More will be revealed!
It was ’85 and I’d just turned 21. Bouncer said he didn’t know how I got a license showing I was 21, but no way I was. I think it was a Jorma with Sly and Robbie night.
@eaglesteve
Good stuff, Steve. Thought you were gonna say it was Hooker.
I lifted a jar with Doc Pomus there one Independence Day, ’84 maybe. It was afternoon, hours before a show. City was deserted on the 4th those days. I’d just turned 18, but looked about 12. It used to surprise people I was a boomer born in the Village. I knew what was going on around World, so we talked a while. Good guy.
@ Willy
Here’s another old Lone star memory.
Very late at night, and again maybe 25-45 people still around. Pouring rain, and cold. The revolving door spins, letting in a gust of frigid air accompanied by an elderly black gentleman wearing a suit, white shirt, tie, and nice overcoat. He directly to the stage and asks Jorma if he could sing a bit. Jorma asks what he wanted to sing and the man says the blues. Jorma says come on up. And for the next half hour-forty minutes or so, they get it on. Another great memory indeed.
@eaglesteve…Yes indeed, the old, original Lone Star. Where, as JK said at one show I saw there, it was always cerebral. I got a great photo of him there 10/2/85 at an acoustic TGTN show, which he graciously signed a print of many years later at some record release party (original Sweetwater CD?) in the city. Great TGTN show – Jaco was sadly MIA at that point, Steve Sacher was on bass and Rashied was on drums, Prevo on guitar and someone else on keys. Gettin’ up for work was a challenge after those late Lone Star nights. Remember those days Jorma? Different days for sure.
Peepers:
Wednesday, in Columbus it got up to 55 degrees. Took my dog to Rocky Fork Metro Park where they have a nice off-leash trail. Came to a marsh, heard a loud buzzing like an electric saw. Couldn’t figyyre out what it was. Asked a couple ladies passing by if they knew whar it was. “Peepers” they said. Me: “What’s a peeper?” Now I know what a peeper is.
@ Willy
The Lone Star……….the old one. I saw Jorma there about every time he played, alone or with others. One wintry night in a blizzard Jorma played alone. Maybe 25 people were there as it continued to pile up and the faint of heart departed. Got a picture of me and The Captain really late after the show that night. It’s hanging up right near my deck. Some 20 years later Tuna played in Teaneck at Mexicali. I took that photo and Jorma signed it saying ” Those were the good old days”. Indeed they were. If I had to put a date on it I’d say early 1990’s. One of my fav photos.
@Dan Nigro
I got to meet John Turturro on the set of the movie Good Shepard .He is from the town I grew up in ,Rosedale which is in Queens NY. I now live in the next town Valley Stream NY in which Steve Bushemi grew up in. I used to chase the girls in that area and always wanted to know if John knew Steve growing up. They are in so many movies together,but John said no never knew Steve then..
And Mac is a quirky but good movie..It was shot in Staten Island NY,some other union set builders I know worked on it.
My dream double bill JK and JW. Wish I could have experienced that. If I had a time machine, first stop, Beacon Theater.
Jorma, maybe you can say a few words about Will Scarlett on Saturday. His sound on the first two HT albums is so unique. I never hear much about him these days.
@BrendanC
Thanks for the tip, I have not seen MAC, looks like a good one. John Turturro is in two of my all time favorite movies, “Big Lebowski” and “O Brother Where Art Thou”
@Dan Nigro
Thanks for that, Dan Nigro. Got me right here (me tapping chest).
Have you seen John Turtorro’s MAC? Would definitely resonate with you. My brother Sean worked some jobs with John’s dad, said he was a good guy (I spoke with Aida Turtorro and Edie Falco about movie shortly after I saw it. This was before they were famous).
@eaglesteve I too have seen Jorma in a suit and tie at The Beacon…11/14/87 w/ Will Scarlett on a double bill with Bromberg (with Phoebe Snow sitting in on a tune with DB and JK during their set together). And I seem to recall JK exhibiting similar sartorial splendor in a booth at the original Lone Star down on 5th Ave prior to a show, but that was a long time ago and the sands of time may be affecting my memory. Safe to say there was never a dull moment at the Lone Star though!
I also saw Jorma solo at the Beacon with Winter. Jorma opened. He wore a suit jacket, and a tie. Which I have not seen at a show before or since.
If I recollect correctly, I also remember Jorma making a comment here about Johnny saying backstage that he didn’t know Jorma played so well. I guess Johnny didn’t know Jack on that particular issue. No one knows it all.
‘nuf said.
C’mon down, Jorma! Our Governor has pronounced us Texans invincible! All facetiousness aside, if the virus don’t get you, the ‘lectric grid will. Mercy!
I may have been at that Beacon show. I know that I saw a double headliner there with There Goes… and JW and JW played second. At that time, JW was doing strictly 70 – 80 minute sets, so making sure the music was over by 11:00 would have been easy depending on the start time. However, most of the songs in the set were usually about 7 or 8 minutes long (most of which was guitar soloing–which is why i loved seeing him so much), so it’s hard to imagine that he could have done 3 songs starting at close to 11:00 and finish by 11:00. It must have been about 10:30 when this stagehand conversation happened.
Written in 1955 I would suggest to anyone interested looking into Labor’s Untold Story by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M Morais. Fascinating stuff regarding abolitionists seeing slave labor being replaced by wage labor. How those filthy commie socialists wanted weekends and eight hour work days . Someone , a goon for management , did yell fire in a crowded theater in 1913 and closed the door so people could be trampled to death during a Christmas party. I recommend it highly bought ten copies to give to friends and family.
I recall being in the Beacon with stage hands when Jorma was on the bill with Johnny Winter and a little before eleven one said that Mr Winter would do two more songs and an encore all before eleven. They all wanted Jorma to close because they felt Mr K would do an hour and five minutes more giving them two hours of overtime and the audience an extra hou and five minutes. He said we love Jorma.
Mr Kaukonen I’m assuming you and Mr Kantner discussed Science Fiction Novels. Were there other musicians or characters over the years who shared you fondness for that genre or any other type of books?
My rabbit hole lately leads me to history. Just finished No Pasaran an anthology of writings from all angles of the Spanis Civil War. Some real horror stories there. Currently breezing through Damn Rebel Bitches, The women of the’45 by Maggie Craig bit of Scottish history. Ms. Craig also wrote When the Clyde Ran Red about Glasgow in the early twentieth century.
Peace✌🏻️❤️Love All Ways🔥🚲🌹🙏🏻🖖🏼
Thanks to all who spoke out for unions. Stay well,
And Tiny Tim and Red Skelton thoughts to everyone
PS Thanks to you and Vanessa for the Winnarainbow story my granddaughter had come downstairs and was watching Q 39 while coloring and drawing. I had just finished talking about things Wavy with her as she colored a 🤡
@Kevin
Yup. No coincidence. Ronald Ragass had his reasons.
@carey georgas
That same line would show the loss of Union jobs on the same declining plane as middle class wages all the while the upper management (top 1%) on a steady incline. The wage gap has increased dramatically since the union busting of the 80’s.
@JohnB
Y’know, John, I ain’t no statistician or one of them fancy actuaries, but I’d bet you dollars to donuts you could draw two lines, one representing the rise in income disparity since 1985, the other the decline in national educational proficiency over that same period and they’d be pretty damned close to inverse. Just another perspective.
All politics aside, my Dad was a proud 50 year member of the NYC Laborers Union Local 79. When he was in the ICU he made my sister go to the house to get his 50 year gold watch to give me so he could see me wear it before he passed. I still wear it today 20 years later
John; there’s an argument to be made for benevolent dictatorships presiding over labor, but you’re coming on pretty strong. Maybe a bit personal. Just saying. I mean, most cops and fireman are union. “Elgin movements…head down to her toes”.
That slower version of Walking Blues is the one that hits the spot for me.
Yeah that’s a fine product the union is turning out….I would keep that under my hat if I were you. U. S. students over the last 30 years have seen their standing in the world continue to go down. Math 31st , reading ninth , science 24th .”#comment-53464″>@Ham Neggs
I’m forever grateful to the late John Nicholson, President of W.P.N.Y. Carp Lcl 53, who got me a scholarship to a treatment center 33 yrs ago, even though I didn’t have a book. Honest as the day is long he was. I was fortunate to know a group of the area trades-people through that. They’d give you the shirt off their backs.
Life expectancy of an air traffic controller was 55 in 1981.
@Ham Neggs
Amen
@Ham Neggs
You didn’t start it. I’m with you, pal.
Yeah it’s all the teachers Union fault I’m collecting a nice pension after working my balls off over thirty years and have medical.
Maybe we should just get those brats out of the schools and back into the factories and farm fields.
The Golf Links
The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play
-. Sarah Norclife Cleghorn
Speaking of trickle down economy. Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining
Sorry Jorma just couldn’t keep my mouth shut on this one
Peace✌🏻️❤️Love All Ways🔥🚲🌹🙏🏻🖖🏼
@John B
One year ago tonight we went over to River City Casino to check out Hot Tuna by the slots. Had been to the venue for the first time a couple of nights prior to watch Dave Mason (good show) and get the lay of the land. The one portentous omen of what was to come occurred when the cheap seat denizens (myself included) were urged to move closer to the stage by the staff. Was hoping to hear Rock Me Baby and it got played. Thank you. We were a small crowd but no less appreciative and we didn’t get cheated. Since then we’ve been spoiled by pearl after pearl in the quarantine concerts. Words fail to sufficiently express the gratitude felt. Loving the Fur Peace family for brightening up Saturday evenings and praying for packed houses and ample itineraries in the very near future.
It was President Reagan that ordered the A T C back to work and when they refused they broke their own union. Hopefully someone will come on the scene with the balls that Reagan had and take on the teachers unions…..we shouldn’t hold our breath. @BrendanC
Abraham said,”Where do you want this walking done?”, the Big Guy said, ” Out on Highway 61″
40 years since the powers-that-be broke the air traffic controllers, so as to show they could bust any union. I guess everyone reading remembers when most Dads had been in the service and were union after. Scorsese’s The Irishman told it well.
“Up this morning, had to ride the blinds”
That picture explains why Google maps tries sending me through Ohio.
Hey Jorma, I heard Vanessa mention you like time travel sci-fi themes, and I think I’ve seen you mention Heinlein. “Time Enough for Love” is my all time favorite time-bender.
RIP Vernon Jordan.
Love that HWY 61 sign!
Someones Calling, holy cow! I keep listening, and it’s chills every time. Great lyrics and sublime guitar Jorma. Love the Hurl!
I believe there is some more spunk in your sets since your second shot, seems like the sets are even more joyful. Hope Vanessa and Izze didnt get caught in the rain. Is Maverick showing a little grey in the muzzle ? BTW Live Nation thinks shows will be back by summer (of course they have a significant investment to protect)
https://jambands.com/news/2021/02/27/live-nation-ceo-michael-rapino-says-large-scale-u-s-concerts-could-return-by-midsummer/?s=09
Thanks Jorma, once again, for brightening up our Saturday night. As winter drags on endlessly in the northeast, you continue to give us something special to look forward to every weekend. Hope to see you perform live again in Woodstock, NY soon.
I watched the replay this morning with my daughter while having coffee. Very enjoyable! My daughter just started playing volleyball this year, but her school did not have any matches. She’s only in sixth grade, so hopefully there are lots of matches to attend in the years to come.
Vanessa said that Genesis is one of her favorite songs and it is one of mine too. It’s interesting that Genesis was written in 1971 and Quah was released in 1974. Had you been performing it in the time between? After the stream this morning, I dug out my vinyl copy of Quah, which I bought used in the early 80’s. Mine’s on Grunt. I think at that time it was out of print and had not been reissued yet. According to Discogs there have been quite a few reissues since. When I took mine out, the vinyl looked horrible. I cleaned it up as best as I could and gave it a spin. It sounded much better than it looked, a nice surprise. A little light crackle, but otherwise you were coming through my speaker bright and clear. A pleasant Sunday morning, indeed!
Many thanks for playing West Coast Blues. I first heard you play it on a Homespun guitar lesson. I had the VHS tape. What a pain that was to have to keep rewinding. Since have it on download. Always something new to learn watching you play.
As always, I greatly enjoyed the concert. Your voice was very stirring last night, Jorma – e.g., Spare A Dime, North Star, Genesis. And thanks for suggesting Connie Kaldor – enjoying her Wood River album now.
Nothing says volleyball more than Newark does lol
Good luck to your daughters team.