HOT TUNA PICS from june 5th 2005

[Bill]

hey guys. click this link to see the pics http://photobucket.com/albums/b291/hottuna1/

it was an awesome show.
-Bill

[Lilla]

Wow, thanks Bill! Great pics!

-lilla

[knight of ni]

Damn, I'm envious. Hot Tuna's coming to NYC in November but the ticket prices are quite a bit higher than I'm able to afford. Looks like it was a fabulous show, though.

[gTarFreak]

Acoustic and Electric Tuna dates -
Friday, July 15 - Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ
Saturday, July 16 - Brookhaven Ampithater in Farmingdale, NY
Sunday July 17 - House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ

Acoustic -
Wednesday, July 27 - Blues Cruise NYC

I've already taken Friday off to head on down to the Pony...

Cheers,
Dave

[gTarFreak]

Holy f*@#ing sh*t!!! Just got back from the Pony. Right up at the edge of the stage between Jorma and Barry. All electric show. Jack jumping around. Jorma bouncing on his feet and pulling feedback out of his Riv, Barry playing a plethora of bizarre, 4, 5, and 8 string electric thingies. Eric banging the life out of the drums. Waaayy better than Double Dose. They still Rock!!!

Cheers,
Dave

[jimmy ray]

Totally agree - Hot Tuna ELECTRIC is alive and well. Just saw them at Brookhaven Amp on L.I. - couldn't have been more satisfied with the song list: True Religion, Serpent of Dreams, Talkin' Bout You, Day Out the Window Blues, Wish you Would, Can't be Satisfied, Funky #7, Water Song... There was room to dance (if you call my Cecil the turtle imatation dancing) very close to the stage, without blocking the view of other fans. Jack had that thumper turned way up, the kid Erik Diaz on drums was solid, and Barry Mitterhoff made a nice fit. I get the impression that Jorma could care less about the psych-electric stuff these days, but that didn't stop him from putting on an awesome show. I love "Double Dose", the live record from 20 years ago - play it loud on a daily basis. I never thought I would ever hear this stuff live, not to take away from the acoustic shows I've also enjoyed immensly in the past. God bless these guys pointed little heads!

[jimmie ray]

Hot Tuna played "Rock Me Baby" also - that's a tune they did with Jefferson Airplane, I recall now.
Dave, is that a picture of you at Jorma's camp? It must be the greatest feeling to be able to play amongst the best!
What would be your expectations for the upcoming "Blues Cruise" in NYC? I read a review somewhere on the one last year, and evidentally there were problems with seeing and hearing them - maybe a boat isn't an ideal place to see a group?

[gTarFreak]

The Blues Cruise is definitely not the ideal concert venue. The sound isn't that great, even on deck in front of the band due to the fact that the ceiling is full of life preservers and that pretty much deadens the sound. If your not on the top deck then you only get to watch on TV. It's mostly a chance to get closer to a group than you ordinarily would get, plus the general setting of a boat at 'sea', great views of NYC and lots of expensive beer.

Yah, playing at the ranch is, at once, a treat, a challenge, and sometimes just plain scary. When I first went there I was playing guitar for barely a year, knew I didn't know anything and therefore wasn't bothered by not playing as well as the others. After 3 1/2 years pf playing now I'm starting to see more clearly the differences between 'real' musicians and 'hackers' such as myself and I'm putting more pressure on myself to raise my level of playing. Still haven't worked up the nerve to ask Jorma to play with me, but I'm working on it. Did get a nice 'review' from both Jorma and Jack on my last performance (I See The Light), mostly on merits of originality. What that means is I couldn't figure out all the bits Jorma plays so I patched together what I could figure out and made up the rest

Cheers,
Dave

[jimmie ray]

I used to go see Jorma solo in the late 70's-early 80's at a local Long Island bar (My Father's Place) - he would play 2 sets, each a good 2 hours long - lots of old blues and improvising. I hadn't seen him since, other than one acoustic show with Jack at an arboretum in 2001 and now last weekend the electric show.
Unfortunately, my wife has very different musical likings and neither one of us is that open to a variety of music. Naturally, I got dragged off to alot of concerts that "real men" don't go to, and decided it was better to pretend that concerts didn't interest me anymore. No we have a better compromise - she goes to her shows with whoever she wants, and I do the same. Should have thought of that 20 years ago - but hey, Hot Tuna is now touring like crazy and I can make up for the lost time!
Another relavation is the website Jorma has, where I can find tour dates a half year in advance! I see already dates in November or December in the New York area, featuring electric and acoustic sets...
I see others posting here that they are not familiar with Hot Tuna - I would implore you all to take advantage of the chance to see and hear them. They really are as good as ever, and to me the cost of the shows is ridiculously low - for what you get!

[Don Rico]

I myself don Rico was fortunate enough to witness the "reunion" of Jack and Jorma back in July of 1987 in Dallas at the Hard Rock Cafe.

It was just two guys jamming... Jorma on a 6-string acoustic and Jack on a 4-string electric bass...

Those guys did more with that limited set-up and filled the place with more sheer captivating musical geniusness than almost any full band/group/combo I have ever seen... It was absolutely spell-binding...

I dragged one of my discriminating "punk-rock" friends and he was just as blown away as I was...

Hot shit indeed!

[gTarFreak]

Some pics from last week's Blues Cruise here...

http://davehoffsommer.photosite.com/BluesCruise2005HT/

Couldn't even see them during the first set (hence all the scenery shots), but watched over their shoulders the second. Despite a rowdy, rude, drunk crowd (in other words, typical NYC bar scene ) the playing was right on the mark.

Cheers,
Dave

[jimmie ray]

O.K. Dave, now I see how you operate - bad mouth the Blues Cruise, send me some CDs to distract me - then it's off for fun with your Fur Peace buddies! Probably have some secret little winks and waves between yourselves, too - dontcha?
Just kidding, of course! Glad you had fun!!
The Double Dose CDs sound great - just ask anyone within a 10 block radius of my house.
Are you planning on going to the Beacon (in November)? I see some seats still available, and it's damn temptin'...

[gTarFreak]

I enjoyed it because I knew what to expect. There were some people there that were expecting to be closer to the band and were really disappointed, especially since they don't have their usual boat and this one's arraigement further restricted access to the band. Jorma (on his diary page) wasn't too happy either. On one hand this boat didn't have the overhead loaded with life jackets which improved the sound, but I think a lot more of the crowd noise got back to the band. And I was standing up for 5 hours straight!

Glad the CDs came out ok. Yes, I've got tickets for the Beacon. That's probably my favorite place to see a band, these days, outside of clubs. I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.

Support Live Music

Cheers,
Dave

[jimmie ray]

Amazing how some people just need to ruin everyone else's good time. I remember Jorma could persevere through breaking bottles and constant screaming for song suggestions - but after all the years of performing, you would think people would give him a break? Having to change your setlist, so that you could be heard over all the noise, has to be frustrating indeed!
He's right though, switching to electric would have cured that problem - but he shouldn't even have to deal with it in the first place.