I Don't Know Jorma, But I Met Jack

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Enjoyed having Hot Tuna Electric with Steve Kimock come play in at the theater in my building today.   Two sets, Watersong encore, Jorma played a bunch of guitars.   Good performance, sound was a little distorted, hard to hear the high end at times.

Earlier in the day, I was going through six boxes of records someone brought in, when all of a sudden right before me appears Jack Casady, asking me if I have a copy of an O.V. Wright album called "A Nickel And A Nail".  I didn't have it, but had some other stuff of Wright's, so we had a chat.  Then Kimock came down,  he was looking for an album by Lothar & The Hand People.  We had one on the wall, and while I was doing my Eddie Vedder impersonation crawling up there to get it we shared a chuckle over how Mike Meyers used that album for his inspiration for the SNL Lothar and the Hill People skit.

It was  great to meet Jack and Steve!

Oh so cool. I saw they were all the way out there.

The show was sold out.

Glad you went ~

PS- I met Steve too, very nice guy.

Awesome.  Thanks for sharing.

 

That's a danged good day. How cool.

Cool stuff.  Did anyone else but you recognize them?

 

Also, good thread title, but I would have went with My Friend Jack.

Yay!

 

..and there are still good seats available for the mountain winery show this weekend. 

I will be seeing them tomorrow.

Can't wait.

Sunday for me. Probably a meat in your seat crowd, but I’ve got an aisle seat

Here's how he looked this past Saturday night in Colorado -- he sounded great, as usual

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It was definitely a meat in your seat crowd, but after working all day, I was good with that.  At 53, I was on the young end of the spectrum for the crowd.

My employee Mike was the first to notice Jack.  He came up to me while I was working on the buy and made an excited gesture.  There were 4 other people in the store when Jack was there, but no one seemed to notice.  He's a lot shorter than I imagined.  Impeccably attired and one of those folks you get an "old soul" vibe from.  He took out his cell phone to show me a picture of the album he's after, saying he owns practically everything Wright recorded except this album.  I never said "Hey Jack" or "Mr. Casady" to him, but told him I would dig through another big pile of R&B records I'd bought a couple of weeks ago, and if I found it, I'd come up to the bus and tell him, so I guess he knew I knew who he was.  

Kimock had to negotiate around where I was doing the buy.  He admired an original copy of the self-titled Meters album on Josie that was part of the buy, and when I asked if I could help him find anything, he asked about a pop vocalist named Kay Starr. I pulled out some records of hers and went back to the buy while he was digging through the Jazz & Pop Vocal and Oldies sections.  

A few members of the crew (one of whom I realized was the drummer once I was at the show) were asking Mike about Grateful Dead records.  I told them we were currently out of them, except a German first pressing of Garcia's first album.  I said we had some of Weir's solo work, and the crew guy said he wasn't as interested in them, and I'm pretty sure I heard Steve make a muffled laugh.  Told them I had a sealed copy of Seastones on tape and the Silver album with Brent, but the guy said he didn't have a tape player for the Phil tape, and we both agreed that Silver were like the Eagles-lite and not crucial.

Mike was ringing up Steve's purchase at the register when I heard Mike say "we've got that Lothar & The Hand People" album up on the wall in the back", and that's when I climbed up there to get it for him while he was saying he'd forgotten to look up at the stuff on the walls.  Later, after he'd checked out and left, Mike said Steve had noticed a copy of Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum" on the wall and told him that he owned the fuzz petal used on that record that he'd gotten when he was neighbors with one of the guys in Blue Cheer.

 

The typical meat in the seat  crowd usually gets up and dance for the encore - did that happen?

Everyone stood up at the end of the main set for a nice ovation, but most everybody sat back down for the encore.  That's how Seattle rolls for a weekday show.  

i May need to change my strain for the show..

I bet you get a more lively crowd in SF, being a homecoming show and a weekend.  Seattle has a rep for being a little reserved.  

Jack was certainly game, bouncing and strut-walkin' with his bass throughout the show.  When they opened with "Been So Long" I thought how I'd never seen Phil move with his bass like that.  He was doing a march-step, which was getting me pumped, which was when I realized it was a much more sedate crowd around me.  My balcony seat was pretty comfortable, on the aisle with lots of legroom, so I was happy to just sit back and enjoy the show.

Thanks for sharing. Must've been a cool experience. I'm going to Mountain Winery show in Saratoga, CA on Sunday. Psyched for Hot Fucking Tuna! 

Cool.

I've seen Hot Tuna three times and can't remember anything hot or danceable,

That's awesome Dave.  When you don't go upstairs, can you still hear the music down in your shop?

>>>>>I've seen Hot Tuna three times and can't remember anything hot or danceable,

I have seen Tuna about seven or eight times before and can see that sentiment.  Jack and Jorma doing their blues revue. 

But last night was different. They slayed it at Revolution Hall with Kimock.  Groovy, hard driving space rock.  I was up dancing for much of it.   

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It was also LOUD and it much of it was sounded like hard rock Hot Tuna.   My only gripe was that the mix was off.  Jorma's vocals were a bit muddled and got lost in the din.   Kind of reminded me of the crappy sound of so many hard rock and heavy metal bands I saw in my youth.   Revolution Hall always has crystal clear sound so it had to be Jorma and Jack's sound man responsible for the bad mix.  

Who is the drummer on this tour?

We had the same sound issues in Seattle, Ken.  I took a friend to the show who is a sound engineer, and he was appalled.  He thought they needed better speaker separation and to maybe turn it down a few decibels.

You can't really hear the music too well down in my shop.  We have a crawl space in the back we use for storage where it comes through a little more, but is still muffled.  When my nephew worked for me, he used to climb up the fire escape to the roof and told me there is a sweet spot up there where you get clear sound and a sweet view of Lake Union, Lake Washington, The UW campus and the city skyline.  I've never checked it out though.  They let me and my staff into shows for concessions we make for parking and other issues, so I've been too lazy to check out the rooftop view.

The drummer is Justin Guip. He worked for many years with Levon Helm. Ran the studio and sat in with the band when Levon was going down hill. 

$9 tickets on Stubhub for Sunday's Mountain Winery show.

One set or two?

Two sets and an encore, Surf.

EEExxcellent!

Thanks.

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My buddy John was working the book table and got me a signed copy.  He just dropped it off.  It has a 4-song CDEP with it.  Looking forward to reading this!

Tuna is always a good time, but I don't think the Eugene show was all that. My problem was with Kimmock. He only came out for the second half of set I and 2/3 of set II. When he was on stage he didn't play much on half of the songs - in fact he really didn't get going until the last three or so tunes. Steve doesn't really like having another guitar player on stage with him. He clams up - seen it before. That's why Zero was perfect for him.

Jorma's voice was strong and rich when he projected, but otherwise often fell in to the mud of the mix. He got off some nice runs on guitar, but often when Steve was playing Jorma would just stand and watch without playing a note! 

Justin was fine, but why have all of Tuna's drummers through the years been overly heavy-handed?

Jack was great as always.

A few too many of the heavy three-chord blooze-rock tunes for my taste. 

Sorry I missed you, Surfdead. I did see Bss, Moses and the Air Drummer, whom I could see striking the air from the balcony, his dark silhouette against the lit stage.

The sound was as Dave and Ken described it, loud, a little muddy, and as Surfdead said, Jorma's vocals often fell in the mud of the mix. I hate wearing ear plugs, but did for much of the show, probably making it a little muddier.

I had no problem with Kimmock, especially since his tone was so clear and I thought he added a lot, but didn't take away from Jorma. They were generous with each other's sound and space. Both he and Jorma played a lot of different guitars, and it seemed to me that while he often played with restraint, he was playing most of the time he was on stage, about 1/2 of each set.

I liked the drummer, though he occasionally dominated the scene. Much of the time I thought he was right on.

Jack was great. While watching him dance around I remembered seeing him in the '60s/'70s when he stood still in his rose-colored glasses, just moving his fingers, letting the sound be the dancer. I loved watching and listening to him last night.

I had a lot of fun rocking with the music, but I've really preferred their acoustic duo shows.

Kimock?  Restraint?

 

Imagine that.smiley

They haven't been loud enough when I saw them but it was outdoors. 

I'd like a loud heavy rock show with no acoustic tunes. 

I likes the setlist better in Seattle, but Portland had more intense rocking moments. Jacks bass 'solo' in Funky #7, consisted mostly of feedback with his 60's Versatone amp, which he drives to 11- he is truly the 'heavy' of the overall sound. It wasn't exactly electric Tuna when Jorma played that acoustic-y guitar, but it highlighted Jack even more. When Jorma did bust out the Firebird guitar-through-a-Marshall amp, I thought they really had that classic rocking 70's Tuna sound - which didn't always seem to be the case in the last 25 years. These guys had/have the heaviest old school blues sound this side of Zeppelin.

I was impressed how Kimock could adapt his style to Jorma's, have a similar tone, yet still retain his own identity. He played about as much as I expected him to - and between the two nights , there were plenty of musical fireworks on display.

I was sitting close center on the floor at The Neptune, so I was getting their onstage sound, and thought it was pretty loud & crunchy. As for vocals, Jorma kinda mashes the words sometimes, and it comes off as muffled. Portland, I was to the side near the back, where some were dancing, so it was a different experience, but the sound was pretty decent and loud for my inebriated liking, and there was a little more of a 'wag' in the crowd - having a rooftop bar contributed to that - but people were more attentive in Seattle, even if they sat the whole time. Apples and oranges, I guess.

 

 

 

Right on. Wish I would have gone.

The Walking Blues last night might have been the best version I’ve ever heard. Great show. 

I woke up this mornin', feelin' round for my shoes
Know by that I got these old walkin' blues, well
Woke this mornin' feelin round for my shoes
But you know by that, I got these old walkin' blues

Cool.  Need to pick up the book.

Are you going to see The Growlers?  Was just looking at their schedule.  They're playing at the Neptune on 9/6 and 9/7.