It has been an amazing 50 years for Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady.  Their band, Hot Tuna, invokes as many different moods and reactions as there are Hot Tuna fans — millions of them. To some Hot Tuna is a reminder of some wild and happy times. To others, that name will forever be linked to their own discovery of the power and depth of American blues and roots music. To newer fans, Hot Tuna is a tight, masterful act who define the cutting edge of great music.

Iconic architects of San Francisco’s celebrated psychedelic sound, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, brought their enduring roots-infused mélange, Hot Tuna, to Eugene’s (Ore.) McDonald Theater on Sept. 1st and suitably verified their vaunted rock-and-roll credentials. Though not as widely known as their seminal 60’s group Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna have been playing searing, head-spinning shows for nearly five decades.

On August 28th, St. Martin’s Press released the long-awaited autobiography from iconic musician Jorma Kaukonen. Whether you’re familiar with Jorma as lead guitarist of the seminal San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, the beloved American-roots act Hot Tuna, or the founder of Fur Peace Ranch is Southeast Ohio, his previously untold story is both moving and exhilarating.

Grateful Web recently had the privilege of catching up with classic rock bassist Jack Casady. The seventy-four-year-old Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famer was inducted with Jefferson Airplane, but his musician partnership with Jorma Kaukonen as the celebrated revival blues group Hot Tuna goes back even farther. Many of our readers know the history surrounding the beginnings of Tuna.

On Sunday, May 6th, the much-anticipated documentary, Olompali: A Hippie Odyssey, will premiere as part of DocLands Film Festival at CineArts Sequoia Theater in Mill Valley, California.

The doc explores a fascinating thread of the 1960s San Francisco counterculture.

Ask you mothers and wives along to roam the forest, walk the labyrinth, explore the Psylodelic Museum or simply relax in the warm spring air in Southeast Ohio. It’s a beautiful time of year at the Fur Peace Ranch! Or…. send them to a spa and come to the Fur Peace Ranch May 11-14. It’s a musical adventure that includes the whole family or not!

Hot Tuna, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, perform with a well-honed and solid power – always in the groove from their years of experience and mutual inspiration.  From their days playing together as teenagers in the Washington, DC area, through years of inventive Psychedelic rock in San Francisco (1996 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, 2016 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients), to their acoustic and electric blues sound, no one has more consistently led American music for the last 50 years than Jorma Ka

It was a 1967 jukebox performance like no other at The Fillmore in San Francisco on January 31, when a veritable who’s who of contemporary Bay Area jamsters came together for a “Surrealistic Superjam.” The event, presented by the Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter, was a salute to “the 50th Anniversary of the Summer Of Love and San Francisco's own Jefferson Airplane’s release of the iconic album ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ on this day in 1967.”

Paul Kantner, co-founding member of Jefferson Airplane died today after suffering a massive heart attack just days earlier.  Kantner had been with the Airplane and its later spin-off, Jefferson Starship for half a century. Kantner suffered his first heart attack back in March of 2015. After taking time off to recover, Paul returned to the stage later in the year to honor the 50th Anniversary on the Airplane.  Kantner is survived by his two sons and one daughter, Paul was 74.

I first saw Jorma play an acoustic solo show in 1980 at the Palace Theatre in Albany, New York.  I remember shooting a bunch of photos of him playing that night, and I tried to find my film negatives before seeing him Friday night at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California.  I wasn’t able to find my old pics, but I’m glad I couldn’t.  Because to really experience the wonder that is Jorma (instant recognition from just his first name speaks to his sing