# Hot Tuna Rocks!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 10, 2001, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300 "2001-01-10T07:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/1 "2001-01-10T07:11:03Z")
Just came back from seeing “Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady The Original Acoustic Hot Tuna” at the Bottom Line in NYC and it rocked! Well, it was blues & rock. **Incredible** jams! Jack Casady is the BEST bassist I have ever, ever heard. Jorma Kaukonen at 60 is a fantastic guitarist. Much underrated. These guys were the original Lead Guitarist and Bass Guitarist for The Jefferson Airplane, but you knew that. Set lists to be posted shortly at [tunabase.com](http://tunabase.com). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/2 "2001-01-10T07:16:30Z")
I thought that this would either be a new recipe thread involving freshly-baked fish gonads, or a plug for the newest “As Seen On TV!!!” gimmick. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/3 "2001-01-10T09:15:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slythe \* > \*\*I thought that this would either be a new recipe thread involving _freshly-baked fish gonads_, or a plug for the newest “As Seen On TV!!!” gimmick. \*\* Someone should toss this over to the SDMB Iron Chef thread. Beats the hell out of pineapple. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/4 "2001-01-10T13:34:46Z")
Back to OP, Tuna is absolutely wonderful. Check out some of Jorma’s solo work. It’s just as wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/5 "2001-01-10T14:01:14Z")
Wow, Hot Tuna are still around?! I saw them in 1978, with 10CC and the Stones in England. Wow. I have to go have a flashback now. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/6 "2001-01-10T14:11:53Z")
You lucky SOB!!! They’re on my top-three list of performers to see before I shuffle off this mortal coil (along with Taj Mahal and Etta James). BTW: If you liked them, pick up some Taj Mahal–I’d recommend…anything and everything. There are songs where the guitar styles are very similar. ---
**Author:** ![uberDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f04885/32.png) [@uberDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uberDave)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/7 "2001-01-10T14:57:18Z")
I believe Jorma and Jack were the best part of Airplane. And better by themselves. Although I always liked Airplane. Glad to hear they’re still playin’. I saw Hot Tuna at the Main Point in Philly in 1975 or 1976. Fuckin’ A, Hot Tuna. Dave ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/8 "2001-01-10T15:05:38Z")
**uberDave** , I dig the sig. I’m a big TW fan, too. As stated above, check out Taj Mahal. Be careful though, some of his albums are not “representative” of his usual style. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/9 "2001-01-10T15:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spritle \* > \*\*As stated above, check out Taj Mahal. Be careful though, some of his albums are not “representative” of his usual style. \*\* True, but it’s all excellent. I can’t really ut my finger on a style, though. Sometimes it’s straight Chicago blues, sometimes Delta, sometimes Bluegrass-y, sometimes Caribbean-jazz-y. If you want a great overview of his musical style, get _In Progress and In Motion,_ his 3-CD set. 15 previously unreleased songs, 2 versions of “Fishin’ Blues” (one of them on a 12-string–amazing stuff), all running from 1965 through the late '90s. ---
**Author:** ![uberDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f04885/32.png) [@uberDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uberDave)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/10 "2001-01-10T16:11:24Z")
Step right up, **spritle**. Ole Tom sure is a favorite. Dave ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/11 "2001-01-10T17:44:34Z")
Yeah, Hot Tuna is one helluva band. I’m a Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship fanatic, so I naturally have feelings for Hot Tuna, as well as a number of their albums. Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy are good together, and it’s just as well that they left Jefferson Airplane—for their own sake. They certainly were an asset to the band, but they really came into their own after they left. One album that’s too obscure for its own good is Jorma’s _Barbecue King_ (1980) which was his first solo effort after Hot Tuna broke up. _Roads and Roads &_ is my favorite track, and it’s just started running through my head right now. No complaints! I’m not sure when Hot Tuna got back together; seems it was about ten years ago or so. Last time they were in New York I missed them. I’ll have to see what I can do, next time they come through. As far as the Jefferson Airplane goes, I’d say that that band turned on the Paul Kantner/Grace Slick axis. Fine by me, since they’re my favorites. I won’t lie and say that I like Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna equally; I do prefer Jefferson Starship. (Though I feel compelled to insert that Marty Balin is a major-league goofball.) But Hot Tuna is one of the greatest instrumental jam bands there is. R.I.P. Papa John Creach, 1917-1994 ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/12 "2001-01-10T19:53:55Z")
Hmm…Count me in the “I don’t get it” camp on this one. I saw them open for the Allman Brothers this summer, and I just wasn’t that impressed. I’ll have to give them another listen, though, as I’m a pretty big Airplane fan. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/13 "2001-01-11T02:15:27Z")
“ **Water Song** ” will remain an immortal rock instrumental compared to any you can name. “ **Embryonic Journey** ” isn’t half bad either. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/14 "2001-01-11T13:00:43Z")
I didn’t really want to bring up other solo guitarists in this thread for hijack reasons, but since **Zenster** brought it up… Leo Kottke does a wonderful take on _Embryonic Journey_ to be found on _Balance_ and again on _Essential Leo Kottke_ As far as other awesome guitar work goes, check out some early YES instrumentals. Happy listening ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/15 "2001-01-11T15:36:48Z")
Hot Tuna, yummy! Listened to them a lot in college, sorta forgot about them for several years (although I went to hear a Casady-less Jorma at the old Lone Star Cafe, on 12th and Fifth Avenue, back in the late '80s). About a year ago I got a hankering to hear them again, and re-bought the first album on CD. (Supposedly, every time they play “Uncle Sam Blues” in a club, somebody will drop a beer glass at the same point in the tune where you hear the _CRASH tinkle_ on the recording.) I was also delighted to find that Tuna’d released a few new live albums in the 1990s! I highly recommend the acoustic LIVE IN JAPAN and the electric AND FURTHERMORE. Cryin’ shame that Jorma’s solo album, QUAH, is out of print. I believe that had the first version of “Water Song.” Personal fave tune: “True Religion.” Never owned the vinyl album it was on; first heard it as a bonus unreleased track on the CD of HOT TUNA LIVE (the first album…the blue-and-red one). “Momma, take the pillow from under my head…halloLOOOOOOO…” ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/16 "2001-01-11T17:16:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chance the Gardener \* > \*\* One album that’s too obscure for its own good is Jorma’s _Barbecue King_ (1980) which was his first solo effort after Hot Tuna broke up. > > R.I.P. Papa John Creach, 1917-1994 \*\* I’m a big fan. Saw Jorma alone in a music hall (UVa 1983) and Starship at Cap Center D.C. Spitfire tour '76. Not to nitpick but Barbecue King was recorded with Jorma’s ‘New Wave’ band the Naughty Bits that he ditched after one touring season because they were ‘too teeny-bop’. I have got to get a turntable. Very little of this great stuff has been converted to digital. ---
**Author:** ![L714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dec6dc/32.png) [@L714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/L714)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/17 "2001-01-12T01:25:08Z")
Jorma and Jack are great musicians. We’d catch the 11:30 show at the Academy of Music in NYC … You’d fall asleep in your chair, wake up an hour later and they’d be jamming their asses off still. My Mom would go ballistic on me when I’d walk in the house 7:30 in the morning. I also saw Cassidy with his SVT band at the Bottom Line sometime in the late seventies (?) I was sitting at his feet. Damn he’s a great bassist and there’s nothing like listening to Jorma play Third Week In Chelsea, instrumental. Just beautiful. Does anyone else play a Hagstrum bass? I can’t recall if I’ve ever seen one used other than by Jack. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/18 "2001-01-12T15:15:12Z")
Quoth **dustMagnate** : _Not to nitpick but Barbecue King was recorded with Jorma’s ‘New Wave’ band the Naughty Bits that he ditched after one touring season because they were ‘too teeny-bop’._ “New Wave”? You know, I’ve heard this before, sort of. I read an overview of Airplane-family records some years ago and it said that _Barbecue King_ was Jorma’s “foray into punk rock”. That made me burning to hear this, so I drove to Pittsburgh and dug up a copy of the record at the incredible Jerry’s Used Records on Forbes Avenue. I bought _Barbecue King_ and took it home to listen. It sure didn’t sound as gritty as Hot Tuna; it was much more polished. I can get what they mean by “New Wave”; compared to Hot Tuna, Naughty Bits was much closer to the New Wave sound, but that’s not saying much. Seems someone was just dismissing Jorma’s latest effort because it sounded different from what they were used to hearing (and maybe it was that ska-type outfit he wore on the album jacket, too; I dunno). **Ukulele Ike** —I agree with you about _Quah_; I love that album. It’s sitting in my closet, unplayed since my turntable has been broken for far too long. Same with my vinyl of _Burgers_, which is my favorite Hot Tuna record, and _True Religion_ is my favorite Hot Tuna track, period. **L714** —I saw the Jefferson Airplane reunion tour in 1989 and got to see Jorma play _Third Week in the Chelsea_ accompanied by Jack and Grace, which was the closest they got to the 1971 cast of the Airplane as they could get. It’s a sweet song with special significance: all about the slow, painful breakup of the Airplane. That song appeared on Jefferson Airplane’s _Bark_ album, though Hot Tuna had already released at least one album by then. ---
**Author:** ![dustMagnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/fbc32d/32.png) [@dustMagnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustMagnate)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/19 "2001-01-12T15:38:41Z")
Ummm, new wave is kind of just a term. Record companies had to label the dance sound in order to focus group and channel creativity into a money making venture. When Jorma forayed into punk rock it probably means he allowed his touring band to be booked into a couple of punk clubs. He tired of the scenesters. As I recall, BBQ King was a bluesy record, all Jorma. (Gotta get that turntable). Played live to the kids (with a young band) it might have come off as punky. Not an insult. My point was to clarify that ‘…King’ wasn’t exactly a solo effort, that’s all. It is nitpicky, apologies. I saw Bo Diddley at a punk club way back when. That doesn’t make him a punk or a new wave or anything other than a great party guitar player with a unique sound. Music labels suck, and suck the life out of creativity. ---
**Author:** ![L714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dec6dc/32.png) [@L714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/L714)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300/20 "2001-01-15T18:33:28Z")
Boy do I wish. I’ve been stuck on Hot Tuna all over again ever since I saw this thread. [http://www.furpeaceranch.com/](http://www.furpeaceranch.com/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hot-tuna-rocks/49300.md?page=2)