Hot Tuna has lasting flavor of friendship

Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen remembers that the band members had been up all night, and he was surprised they could play, much less turn in one of the group’s finest performances. During an interview with James M. Clash, host of “The Adventurer,” a Forbes.com video network program, JA’s bass player, Jack Casady, recalled that bleary-eyed morning.

“The magic of the nighttime had sort of fallen away by the reality of the morning,” Casady said. “It was a pretty bedraggled-looking bunch out there, including the guys on stage.

“But it was something amazing to behold.”

Even in the bright light of a new day dawning, the band rekindled the magic that came to define the high-water mark of a short-lived era of hope and love. A year later Casady and Kaukonen launched their own band, Hot Tuna.

Through the decades popular music morphed first into this and then that. But Hot Tuna stayed true to the rockin’ blues that brought the band to the dance, and it’s still at it.

On Tuesday evening, Hot Tuna (Electric) will take the stage at IS Venue in Charlottesville. It should prove to be a memorable musical event, especially with the afterglow of Woodstock still radiating from the recent celebration of its 40th anniversary.

Casady and Kaukonen are more than a direct link to a time when, for a while, everything seemed possible. They also embody one of the soaring ideals of the ’60s — acceptance of diversity in people and lifestyles.

The longtime band mates have been called “the odd couple of rock ’n’ roll” because they’re so different from each other. That hasn’t kept them from enjoying one of the most productive and lasting friendships in rock history.

The duo began playing music together when they were in grade school growing

up in the D.C. area. They went on to help create what became known as the San Francisco psychedelic sound while playing with Jefferson Airplane.

These were heady times when baby boomers were coming of age and believing they were the vanguard of a new epoch of enlightenment. Rock musicians became the messengers, and songs like “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” served as both blatant and encrypted communiques to the masses.

The two D.C. guys helped wrap the words in some of the most memorable and haunting musical licks ever devised.

Kaukonen’s picking style and songwriting talent and Casady’s thumping bass runs earned them legend status.

Through the years the band has had a number of members come and go, but Casady and Kaukonen always have been there as the driving force.

In the current arrangement Skoota “the Funky Drummer” Warner provides the blistering beat.

Warner got his nickname by way of his “soulful, rhythmic sound,” which has backed up some of the top groups and performers in the industry.

These include Santana, Mary J. Blige, B-52 and Lionel Ritchie.

Rounding out the band is multi-instrumentalist Barry Mitterhoff. Kaukonen and he became friends while working together on Kaukonen’s Grammy-nominated record “Blue Country Heart.” Mitterhoff’s resume lists performances at the White House and Library of Congress.

He also can be heard on the soundtrack of the film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” which won a Grammy in 2001 for album of the year.

Throughout Hot Tuna’s long reign, it has provided its legion of loyal fans with a more than generous outpouring of albums.

To date, they number more than 20, and include such classics as “Burger,” released in 1972, and “The Phosphorescent Rat,” from a year later.

But in 1969 the future members of rock’s hall of fame were rocking the world as members of Jefferson Airplane.

It was 7:30 a.m. Aug. 17, 1969, when they took the stage at Woodstock.

“It was really kind of a them-against-us mentality going on back in those days,” Casady said during the interview. “And this was us.”

On Tuesday evening two of the “us” will strike up the band at IS Venue. It should be a trip from the past right up to the now.

An Evening with Hot Tuna (Electric) will be presented at IS Venue at 709 W. Main St. on Tuesday. Doors open at 9.

Advance tickets are $30, $35 at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at www. isvenue.com/ or by calling 1-800-594-TIXX (8499).

Details

An Evening with Hot Tuna (Electric)

9 p.m. Tuesday

IS Venue

$35; $30 advance

Ages 18 and older

http://www.isvenue.com

202-0234