Today's Soundtrack

I was over at Blog-Bud Kris' place earlier today to listen to her Saturday Selections.  Her mood is weather-driven, what with New England experiencing a cold and rainy sort of day, and her selections reflected that same mood... which is to say quiet and reflective.  I dropped a comment saying we were on opposite ends of both the weather and music spectrum and I would probably choose something big and bouncy for today's Happy Hour.

Well... check that.  Here's what we began with:

That's Jefferson Airplane, as you can plainly see from the title.  Acoustic JA.  Which, to my way of thinking, was their best stuff.  I was quite taken with the young Grace Slick and her band, like most guys in my generation.  The bloom came off the rose rather quickly for me, considering I thought their very early work was their best work.  My love affair with JA ended with the release of "Volunteers," and their reincarnation as Jefferson Starship was nothing but a laughing matter.  Pathetic.  Still and even... I bought "Bark," from whence the above tune comes.  It was arguably the best cut on the album and was penned by Jorma Kaukonen, which leads us to where we're really going... today's soundtrack.

We're listening to a couple of albums by Hot Tuna, an offshoot of the Airplane  formed by Mr. Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady.  Hot Tuna did both electric and acoustic work, and fine work it was (is!).  All my Airplane stuff is on vinyl, as is most of my Hot Tuna.  But I took the trouble to replace my vinyl Hot Tuna with CDs, and they still get a lot of airplay.  Here's one such tune we're listening to this afternoon:



That would be Water Song, which is pretty reminiscent of "Third Week," innit?  But... for me, personally... one of the best reasons Hot Tuna had it all over the Airplane was their dedication to roots music, which is to say... blues.   And here's one of their best:



So.  We have the first album and "Burgers" queued up in the CD player this afternoon.  The weather is warm, the beer cool, and life is GOOD, Gentle Reader.