Hot Tuna - 2008

The musical wishing well runs deep, sparking, alluring and yet unimaginable in reference to depth. From the ashes of a legendary band, i.e., Jefferson Airplane, the ancillary experiment, Hot Tuna became a separate entity in 1970 and Jack Casady & Jorma Kaukonen have never looked back. Initially an anomoly amidst the backdrop of psychedelia,the blues based duo dripped with Reverend Gary Davis, Howlin' Wolf & self-penned 12-bar blues compositions. Forty years later, Hot Tuna continues to expand the parameters of their chosen genre and tours the globe on an annual basis. This Hall Of Fame tandem conjures the memories of yesteryear, the simplicity of music that united an entire generation during the most violent and decadent decade known to mankind and continues their quest for universal peace through music. The pithy union with Jefferson Airplane is nothing more than fodder for rock n'roll trivia as Hot Tuna has evolved into an entity of it's own and worthy of selection to The Hall of Fame predicated on it's own merit. To remember the past is a grand thing but to live in it can only result in a cataclismic demise so, Jorma & Jack avoid the pratfalls of that endeavor while showing little signs of eventual retirement and drifting into the proverbial sunset. The extended repertoire is palpable and progressive with a staple of signature songs and a myriad of new additions either written by Jorma or those most admired during the embryonic days in Washington, D.C. These Hot Tuna performances are those special moments that reconnect us to people and places of the past, peak moments in on ongoing odyssey that brings us back to those carefree days of flaxen haired mavens in Golden Gate Park, The Avalon Ballroom, The Fillmores and other legendary venues, the sights and sounds of the much regaled Haight Ashbury & sixties"flower children". Jack & Jorma continue to appeace the palet, a musical feast that lingers not in the past but welcomes the future and rejoices in the path that brought them to 2008. Revered and admired by those who know the power of their chosen art and subsequent skills, their virtuosity still seems to be languishing in virtual obscurity. As a bass player and guitar player, there are precious few who have played or continue to play as well but none have ever exhibited greater ability than these Hall of Fame musicians. Hot Tuna remains much like a sparking wine, the enticement to drink often and enjoy. As the antiquated adage states, "the likes of their kind will never be seen again".

I am now into four decades of Hot Tuna and the images of Jack & Jorma and witout question, the performances from San Francisco to New York City have always been "the best of times". May they forever spread the joy of music and universal comraderie & "rock in peace"


Cheers
Don Aters - Editor
Haight Street Music News - 3/4/08