Stop me, if you've heard this before! I might have written about it earlier on, as I know my mouth is both big, large, wide, and at times, great!
Esbjorn Jakobson, a drummer, and I've been in the same band for several years. A long time ago, must have been in the 80's, he told me about the time he lived in the north-western parts of our beatiful country. Must have been like 74-75. As he was interested in ice-skating, long distances, he got to know another guy in his (our) age, also interested in ice-skating. After a few days the guy told Esbjorn that he played the guitar. By that time Esbjorn was quite heavily into jazz, after playing rock, blues, folk and - in the beginning - military marches, since the early 60's. The guitar player had a Swedish girlfriend, that's how he'd come to the countryside of Jamtland, the part of our lovely (and so on...) where the guys met. The guitarist was, of course, Jorma Kaukonen.
Esbjorn told me they jammed a bit, and then Kaukonen asked him if it would be all right if he'd bring his friend, the bass playing Jack, to Sweden, so they could put a band together, and maybe do a tour? Of course, was Esbjorns reply. So Casady came, rehearsals began, and the trio soon had a set.
Came the first night. And here's the time for a short bit of poetry:
Esbjorn knew the tunes so well, from A to Z.
But Casady had something else, spinning round, in his head!
I guess that something else had it's origin in South America. Someone counted in, but Esbjorn didn't recognize the tune. In fact, he didn't recognize a single tune the whole night. But there was one tune, he thought was one of the ones they rehearsed. In that tune, there was a stop. So Esbjorn did it. Jack Casady turned arund, sank his forehead, looked above the brim of his round glasses. Said:
- You do that again, and I'll f--ing kill ya!
Esbjorn did the rest of the gigs with the guys. But he says it felt strange. The whole atmosphere had changed. The two young men who got to know each others on behalf of their mutual interest in ice-skating, was drifting apart.
So if you'd ask me, I would never buy one of these basses. I don't know how my old pal would take it. Some things are better left in the ditch!
Esbjorn also told me the story of how the Hot Tuna album Hoppkorv got it's name. But, it's late, and I believe you guys are supposed to go to bed early tonight. After all it's Wednesday tomorrow, and you must stay as intact as possible during that important mid-week day. I'll tell the story some other night. Maybe...