A Special Story

Some of you may be aware that my husband and I have been great fans of the band 'Hot Tuna' (Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane), and over the years we have seen them in many venues, from Thanksgiving Eve shows at the Keswick Theater, to Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Wilmington, DE, even the Pitman theater in Pitman, NJ. We have seen acoustic Hot Tuna, Electric Hot Tuna, Hot Tuna with David Bromberg, Jorma Kaukonen solo with Barry Mitterhoff at the TLA, Philly - anyway you get the picture. For the last number of years, they have toured with mandolin player Barry Mitterhoff (of a bluegrass group Skyline), and we have had the pleasure of seeing this collaboration develop from an acoustic trio, onward to an Electric Hot Tuna with Barry playing electric mandolin, finding his way into creating electric guitar rifs on the mandolin.

 

So when a friend told us Barry Mitterhoff was coming to Medford, NJ for a house concert last Monday evening for SJARMS (S. Jersey Acoustic Roots Music Society), we had to go. We were told that they would do some 'jamming' afterward, so I knew I had to bring my flute & ukelele, (even though my ukelele playing isn't exactly masterful). I have to add that halfway through the concert Barry introduced a song that he said had flute & ukelele on the original recording, as well as mandolin & guitar, so I felt justified with my intrument choices!

 

After the concert, the members of SJARMS were gathering to play some music, and we saw a few people go outside to the Gazebo, and that's where the night turned magical for me. I sat in a gazebo with Barry and some other musicians, and was trading solos on my flute with Barry for what seemed like a good 45 minutes or so, (and also occasionally strumming my ukelele!). At any rate, it was a special, magical night to have the opportunity to play with such a fine musician, and I send out a special thank you to SJARMS, for creating such an opportunity, and for allowing a 'non-member' to participate! Here's their website, if you're interested in learning more about them: http://sjarms.com/

 

Here's a photo of Barry that night, with me sitting across the way strumming my ukelele:

 

Barry Mitterhoff and me with my ukelele