Check this site out and get on board! Our friends here have been doing amazing work since the war began. Help us help them by watching the show that John Hurlbut and I are doing this Saturday the 6th of May at 4PM. Here’s the Eventbrite link.
Hulrbut/Kaukonen show May 6, 2023 at Four PM.
Be there or… be square,
OK, moving right along:
Photo by Phil Jacobs
Yeah… who knew? This was our first time at the Smith as I recall and we loved it and can’t wait to get back.
Hot Tuna 12, 2023
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Smith Center For The Arts
Geneva, New York
Thursday, April 27, 2023
First Set:
- Ain’t In No Hurry
- Second Chances
- Ice Age
- Whining Boy Blues
- How Long Blues
- Great Divide Revisited
- Let us Get Together Right Down Here
- Ode To Billy Dean
- Sleep Song
- Trial By Fire
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
- Bar Room Crystal Ball
Second Set:
- Hesitation Blues
- New Song For The Morning
- Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
- Death Don’t Have No Mercy
- Hamar Promenade
- Sea Child
- Trouble In Mind
- San Francisco Bay Blues
- Come Back Baby
- I Know You Rider
- Encore: Water Song
The weather was flawless for most of our stay at the lake. The rain hadn’t started yet. Then a drive to Penn’s Peak and yes, it poured!
Photo by Phil Jacobs
We’ve been here a number of times and it’s always a blast!
Hot Tuna 13, 2023
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
Penn’s Peak
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Friday, April 28, 2023
First Set:
- Dime For Beer
- Hesitation Blues
- Great Divide Revisited
- Barbeque King
- Death Don’t Have No Mercy
- Sleep Song
- Trial By Fire
- Letter To The North Star
- Trouble In Mind
- San Francisco Bay Blues
- How Long Blues
- Ice Age
Second Set:
- Blue Railroad Train
- Ode To Billy Dean
- That’ll Never Happen No More
- Another Man Done Gone
- Whining Boy Blues
- Living In The Moment
- Sea Child
- Good Shepherd
- Hamar Promenade
- Uncle Sam Blues
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
- Encore: Water Song
Then a drive to Staten Island and the St. George Theater. Myron and I would be heading home to Ohio after the show so no hotel for us.
Photo by Phil Jacobs
It was pre-Pandemic the last time we were at the good old St. George and it was good to be back. The house was full of excitable folks in spite of the nasty weather. Only the strong survive!
Hot Tuna 14, 2023
The Original Acoustic Duo
Jorma Kaukonen & Jack Casady
St. George Theater
Staten Island, New York
Saturday, April 29, 2023
First Set:
- True Religion
- Hesitation Blues
- Barbeque King
- Death Don’t Have No Mercy
- Highway Song
- How Long Blues
- Letter To The North Star
- Second Chances
- Sea Child
- Trial By Fire
- Whining Boy Blues
- That’ll Never Happen No More
- Bar Room Crystal Ball
Second Set:
- Trouble In Mind
- Great Divide Revisited
- Been So Long
- Keep On Truckin’
- Ode To Billy Dean
- Sleep Song
- Good Shepherd
- Hamar Promenade
- Genesis
- Keep Your Lamps Trimmed & Burning
- Encore: Water Song
The ride home from New York hasn’t gotten any shorter but hey, there are worse things to complain about. Jack and I loved this run and we were more than satisfied with our musical output.
We’re not done yet and we love you all out there.
Stay positive… test negative!
Just noticed the tour website was updated w presale codes.
Thanks Jorma!
Any presale codes for UPAC and The Egg?
I hope Jack and Jorma finally play at the New Orleans jazz fest. Acoustic and electric would be an amazing treat.
I can’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe… Jorma, Jack, and Justin will work out a last chance version of what is surely a favorite to many long time Tuna fans, Invitation!
Please?
I’m a gonna do my very best to attend all 3 Florida shows.
Well I sure hope not like BB..Saw him at end of his career and he did 50 minute set. I understand that he couldnt do more but Jorma would never play that short of a set. I know not the 5 hour sets he did in the 70s..LOL
Got it, all future shows Jorma will be sitting down (a la BB King) some of the tunes from America’s Choice, Yellow Fever and Hopkorv will be retired but not the Captain (although I am still hoping for an acoustic workout for Hit Single #1) Thanks for one last electric show at the remodeled Parker in Ft. Lauderdale
Before St. George on Saturday, I last saw Hot Tuna in May of 1976 at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. Also, in july of 75 at the Schaeffer festival in Central Park. At the latter show, they got thrown off the stage by the management after three hours. Tuna always liked to jam all night. At a Jorma solo show at the Capitol Theatre in 1978 I called out “True Religion” and got a big applause, but Jorma ignored me and I never heard it on stage until he opened with it the other night. It was such a privilege to see the band again after 48 years. It brought back memories of my marijuana fueled youth. I had cheap seats but for a few minutes I walked downstairs and stood ten feet from Jorma and Jack and contemplated all the history these men had seen from the Jefferson Airplane onward. Jorma and Jack, Keep on Truckin’
My sister and brother in law went to college in Geneva. The finger lakes region is a beautiful part of the country!!
Jorma,
Thank you so much for an outstanding show at the Smith. It felt so good to see you guys again. The set list was stellar and thanks for New Song…:-)
It’s been a great run my friend..
Take Care and hope to see you at the Electric shows.
Hogan
🙂
RIP Gordon Lightfoot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5tr_L31StI
Is there is it are interested, consider seeing the boys play the Egg in Albany. One of the most comfortable and intimate venues on the planet. If you’ve never been there, check it out!
@Bob Prestifilippo
Thu, May 4 at 10am with code SOCIAL.
Beacon Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday. Thursday tickets are on sale to those with a pre-sale code. Any idea what that code might be?
Smith is on Seneca Lake and as you know is one of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. I go there usually every summer. Ithaca is about an hour from my country house so it’s pretty close. It’s a different world up there. Great wineries and restaurants dot the shores of the two longest lakes, Seneca and Cayuga which are almost 700 feet deep making them ideal for winemaking. They’re so deep they never freeze and moderates the climate. With Watkin’s Glen right there at the south end of the lake it’s a great place to go on a hot summer weekend. And the wine is great! Last year I stayed at Geneva on the Lake which is an old mansion in Geneva and the Grateful Dead used to stay there.
It’s been nearly 50 years since I rode around Staten Island with my buds and an 8-track of America’s Choice playing. It was bittersweet to return to the Island at the St George Saturday to come full circle but glad I did. The sound was great and the venue superb, and the restaurant next door is killer. Today I hear Electric shows will be no longer soon but glad we’ll continue with solo and duo acoustic.
Good to see you two celebrating the joy of living some more, looking forward to it.
I’m thrilled to see 3…3! Electric shows in fl.
My dreams are come true.
Can’t wait!
Keeping mouth shut is better, but in this case I’ll share having sent some dollars to above linked legit Ukraine med-kit drive, wanting those kits to become surplus.
I hope that the Beacon show isn’t going to be digital-only tickets. I don’t have a smartphone and really want to go. The Beacon is a great place but they switched to digital-only tickets for most shows during the pandemic and it’s drag for those that aren’t into fancy phones.
@Jorma
Thanks so much for your reply.
Just saw your Hot Tuna electric date in Sept at the State in Ithaca! Woot woot! See ya’ there! 🙂
Oh noooo..Final electric run…Well I am sure touring is not easy..Been seeing HT since 1974 at the Palladium in NY..It will be just short of 50 years..Where did the time go? Good luck to Jorma and Jack. Thanks for such great music and the beautiful vibe you guys have shared for so many years.. The electric shows will surely be missed by your adoring fans..
The Hot Tuna to Play Final Long Island Show at Great South Bay headline in today’s Newsday (Long Island Paper) was an eye opener.
What’s this about the final Hot Tuna electric tour coming in September?
Please, as Yogi Berra said, “it ain’t over til it’s over”. Jorma, please provide some details.
Or a metaphor?
Is “going fishing for a while” a euphemism?
Disappointed that “The Original Acoustic Duo” didn’t make it to the Boston area this time ’round. But “there are worse things to complain about,” as Jorma rightly says. Maybe next time. Will be at the Narrows and/or the City Winery in June.
HI Jorma,
I am usually a lurker here, not posting. I was at the Smith Opera House show. It is such an honor to witness the two of you playing together. But I do have one correction. The Smith is in the town of Geneva, but the town is on Seneca Lake, the longest (and deepest) of the Finger Lakes (not Lake Geneva as you state).
I have come to see you play in the area in the last 3 years – at the Smith, a Homer Center for Arts and right after COVID was breaking up, at an outdoor show in May where you were cold. Thanks again for keeping the faith. You and Jack – nothing better,
Hi Nancy… I welcome the correction. As confusing as the true location was for me, it was truly beautiful and Jack and I loved it. Until we meet again…
Jorma
Bc thanks for that info i was wondering what all the commotion was front of stage area at the beginning of last song guest someone hit the deck also seeing ambulance out front. wish i got dollar for every cane i seen g s.i.n.y.
I saw you and Jack at the Opera House in Geneva not too long after 9/11. If I remember right it was the anniversary of your marriage to Vanessa. Security was very tight as I recall. You gentlemen put on a great show then, as always.
NJ Turnpike I was rolling slowly cause of drizzling showers on way to Saturday gig. Parked around block, where I once worked now and then. Sought bladder release, but a pair of heavy duty ambulances were idling behind office building, so I held off. The end-of-show down front medical emergency didn’t feel right as it was happening. My Bronx intuition told me EMS Co is gonna bill at least $10k for this. Result of commotion was unusual Water Song thoroughly enjoyed, as was every note. I eschew expectations, but you mentioned here not long ago that your voice and musicianship is better than ever. I’ll be damned, no question about it and that brought my focus to a higher state, aiding the soothing of heart. If what I saw and heard doesn’t send or take listener somewhere… So the guy in need of all that emergency attention, looked a whole lot more like an EMT in civies than anyone I’ve ever seen at a Tuna show, as he walked to waiting ambulance. Maybe I’m wrong.
NJ Turnpike brought ‘Being John Malkovitch’ to mind. Malko initially balked at involvement, but filmmakers pleaded, as movie would only work if he was the vessel. During song suggestion call-outs Sat, I smiled at idea of calling out ‘Malkovitch’, which would only work with Hot Tuna on stage. Ocgh! Someone use that, will’ya? Thanks Jack, Jorma, and the extended family.
That was a terrific show last night, Jorma. A privilege to be in the same room with such artists. And a total blast, of course. Many thanks to you and Jack.
Been listening and watching since college days in 1973 and have always loved Hot Tuna! I have been reading your blog for years now and must say that your writing skills are outstanding! Anyways, I am pretty sure that you and Jack played at the Smith Opera House as I recall taking my young son to a show some 12 to 15 yrs ago (?). We had the pleasure to meet with you backstage at Gathering of the Vibes and you were such a gentleman to my young son. Please keep writing and playing for at least another 30 years or so!!
Made me some jelly today, Hot Jelly Roll Blues playing in my head as I worked. Mayhaw jelly. A niche southern delicacy. Anyone out there ever had any? Picked the mayhaws myself. Tree to jar is hard to beat, and certainly most satisfying to the maker. They’re hard to find in the wild anymore as their habitat is constantly getting chewed up and turned into something else. A few commercial growers, mostly in Louisiana grow them and process the juice for sale to jelly makers. I’m tellin’ you that stuff can make a blind man see and a lame man walk, make a deaf woman hear and a little baby talk.
Sounds like a great run. Rolling with a pre-pandemic intensity. Good to see normal coming back strong.