An exclusive interview with rock legend, Jorma Kaukonen.
Jorma is a legend in his own lifetime. He is best known for being part of the super bands, Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, scoring up such hits as Somebody to Love and White Rabbit in the 1960’s.
Hi Jorma, thanks for taking time out to answer my questions. My first is, what would you most like to be remembered for? Is it the music or the meaning?
I guess I would first like to be remembered as a good husband to my wife and father to my two wonderful children. After that we get to the music. Music to me these days is nothing without meaning so I guess I'd have to go for the meaning.
We know most politicians were born in the fiery pit of hell as the spawn of Satan, but what’s your opinion of the politics of the world today?
Good one! It seems as if there is really nothing new under the sun. Politicians seem to have been around since recorded history and probably before... sort of like a virus. Thanks to modern technology, they can do more damage with less effort.
Can you tell us all about your past, present and future?
Well... I see myself as an average American Joe who found himself blessed to be able to communicate through music and words. Thanks to the Jefferson Airplane and my pals therein, I have been able to spend my adult life supporting myself doing what I love. Right now I am running a music school in Ohio called the Fur Peace Ranch (check it out) as well as touring extensively both with my mandolin playing buddy, Barry Mitterhoff, and with Hot Tuna... which is Jack Casady, Me, Barry Mitterhoff and Skoota Warner. In 2003 I received a Grammy nomination for a solo project of mine called Blue Country Heart. Jack and my Tuna buddies and I just recorded our first studio album in 20 years for Red House Records. It's call, 'Steady As She Goes,' which sort of reflects our life's mantra. Larry Campbell produced it. As for the future, I would to live long enough to see my thirteen year old son and my five year old daughter graduate from college. Considering I'm seventy years old, this may be asking a lot, but I'm going for it.
Tell us a little about your kind of music please!
I guess blues and spiritual music started out as my muse... but I got infected by Rock and Roll which is certainly seductive. Thanks to the plethora of categories these days, it would seem that what I do now is Americana... whatever that is.
Have you ever heard of a band called Jefferson Airplane? Any good?
No band with a name like Jefferson Airplane is ever going to go anywhere. That said, when I go back and listen to our stuff from back 'in the day,' I have to remark, 'We weren't bad!'
If you were an alien visiting planet earth, what would you do? Would turn around and go back? Or stay and try and help? Or maybe conquer?
Who would want to conquer these barbarians? We humans (and I use the term loosely) are a nasty lot. I think I'd pick up as much good music as I could and head back to the home planet.
What has been your greatest achievement so far?
Boring answer, but I'd have to go with being a good father.
What has been mankind’s greatest achievement?
Music and art.
If you had the chance to speak to every human being on earth, what would your message be?
Doesn't it make sense to get along better with each other? How hard could that be... really?
If your life depended on it, which Soap Opera would you do a cameo in?
General Hospital
If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to see or hear it, does it make a sound?
If a man is alone in the forest without a woman, is he still wrong?
Have you ever felt pressured by the fact that what you sing about affects society? Have you ever wondered whether you were doing the right thing?
I'm not sure 'pressured' is the word I would use... When I was younger I wouldn't have cared. Now, it concerns me. As for question two... 'yes.'
What advice would you give to musicians today? And what’s your opinion of the highly engineered and marketed music we see in the charts today?
Never mind the marketed music. One has to be true to one's self. There will always be people waiting to share honesty.
Why do you think music and words seems to work so much better than just words as a means to get a message across?
Somehow music seems to bypass the brain and go directly to the heart.
What kind of movies do you watch and why?
Every now and then I actually watch a 'good' movies... more often than not it's 'forensic dramas,' and the like. Yeah, I know... pure escapism.
What are your opinions about the power of the internet?
Of course, we really have no idea how powerful the internet is going to be. There is now question that it is in my life every day!
Do you think man is created in the image of God (or Goddess) or the other way around?
If indeed we are all children of a higher power why should that power look like us and not a jellyfish?
A recent scientific report stated that religion will eventually die out completely. What’s your opinion on that? A good thing or a bad thing?
I consider myself a spiritual person. I have heard it said that religion is for those afraid of hell, and spirituality is for those of us who have been there. Who knows?
Is "free will" the whole of the law? Can man ever be truly free?
Aleister Crowley had something to say on this subject.... 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,' or some such nonsense. Of course, depending on where we live, we have many choices to make. If we didn't care about consequences, we could choose any path. If we do
care about consequences, the choices are by definition, limited.
Do you back Nuclear Power? If not, why not.
In the wake of the tsunami in Japan, Nuclear Power seems like a dangerous way to boil water. There must be a better way. We do not have nuclear power in the part of Ohio in which I live. I would oppose it if they tried it here.
Do you believe in Ghosts? UFO’s (i.e. aliens visiting planet earth)? God?
Just because I have never experienced a ghost doesn't mean they don't exist. Same for aliens. Why should we be the only sentient life in universe. Lastly, I believe in a higher power I choose to call G_d.
Have you ever experienced altered states of consciousness? How, why and was it beneficial? And would you recommend it to all politicians, business and religious leaders?
Of course. I grew up in the Sixties. Now this is just my opinion today. I didn't work out so well for me and I wouldn't recommend it to my children. As for politicians, business and religious leaders... if they could just take a good look at themselves in the mirror and start practicing rigorous honesty, this would certainly solve their problems in my opinion.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Gotten into and stayed in the music business.
What would you still like to achieve?
Play some more good music... record some more good music... keep on smiling.
Would you ever record a duet with Justin Bieber?
Good grief. Tough to imagine.
Do you believe in manmade global warming? Or is it natural?
Beyond my expertise.
And lastly please feel free to say anything at all you want to the world of readers and tell us all about what you’re upto these days, plug an album, website or carboot sale.
Thanks for being interested in anything this old guitar picker has to say. Check out:
www.jormakaukonen.com see what I've been up to.... I write stuff too.
www.furpeaceranch.com see our cool little world where peace and music actually reigns full time.
www.hottuna.com see what the old rockers are still pulling off
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