June/July 2010
Sorry we’ve been out of your mailbox for a while. What happened? Between camps, tours, and planning 2011 we’ve had our hands full – so to speak. Speaking of 2011 we will release the confirmed schedule of instructors on July 15, 2010. We will then have a two week waiting period. We will begin taking applications for the 2011 workshops on August 1, 2010.
Need a teaser? 2011 will feature the usual suspects, some very special weekends, a weekend with the ladies of Fur Peace welcoming Dar Williams to the fold, the return of Tim Reynolds and Pete Huttlinger, some young guns, new and old faces alike.
Ranch Congratulations:
Congratulations to the Captain! Jorma was recently awarded the Ralph J. Gleason grant from the REX Foundation to help spread music education throughout the Appalachian Region! Read more here...
Fiona Boyes received two Blues Blast Music Award nominations. One for Best Traditional Blues cd for “Blues Woman”, the other for Best Female Blues Artist! Way to go Fiona!
 Aloha. Imagine yourself waking up in Maui….morning birdsongs swell into days of pure exhilaration. The palm trees sway and groove to the sounds of your acoustic guitar. From the breathtaking natural beauty to unparalleled guitar instruction… from one of the world’s greatest guitar players, join Jorma Kaukonen in Maui at the Royal Lahaina Resort January 10 – 14, 2011 for a bucket list experience and a winter break that will leave your friends envious or wanting to join you.
The Royal Lahaina Resort is located on the island of Maui, Hawaii - consistently voted one of the best islands in the world! The Kaanapali Beach that borders the resort property receives many accolades as being one of the best beaches in the world! All of this combined with the finest fingerstyle guitar teacher in the world, Jorma Kaukonen, sets the stage for a fantastic Fur Peace Ranch winter retreat!
Jorma will teach a combined level 2/3 workshop. The workshops will total 12.5 hours of instruction from the Captain including one-on-one assessments. Topics will included the essentials of fingerstyle guitar: alternating bass and melody lines, chord inversions, and keys - plus a variety of runs, licks and fills that will add character to any song you play whether it is improvisational, cover, or original.
Tuition
- On Site: $2200 Accommodations in one of Royal Lahaina Resort’s cottages (FPR will take care of lodging arrangements on your behalf.)
- Off Site: $1800 (make your own lodging accommodations at one of Maui’s many fine resorts or inns.)
- Guest fee for the week will be $250 includes lodging (with student), meals, 1 off-site excursion and performances.
Tuition includes all workshop instruction with Jorma Kaukonen (12.5 hours w/one on one assessments with Jorma), All Meals (Monday night, all day Tues, Wed, Thursday and breakfast on Friday), Lodging (with on-site tuition), concert with Jorma, and one off-site excursion during stay! Don’t be surprised if we decide to take you to the top of Haleakala to witness a spectacular sunrise on the rim of the volcano.
* Please note that airfares are not included but Fur Peace Ranch is making arrangements for Preferred Travel to handle special airfare deals.
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Hot Tuna Tunes now Available on Apple's itunes |
 That's right! You can now get live Hot Tuna (and Jorma) recordings on iTunes.
Check out all the shows! And check back often because more recordings will be uploaded on a regular basis.
Spot Lights On: Bassists - Bob Stroger & Oteil Burbridge |
 Bob Stroger . . .
Bob Stroger moved to Chicago in 1955 and he lived in the back of a night club on Chicago's west side. At this club you would regularly hear two of Chicago's finest bluesmen, Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf. Bob got to hear them on a regular basis and it was during this time that Bob became really interested in Blue's music. "It looked like they were having a lot of fun and I made up my mind, that what I wanted to do was play music."
After spending some time in various Blues' groups he was asked to join Otis Rush's group and he stayed with Otis for almost 13 years. It was Otis who brought Bob to Europe for his first time and taught him some of the fine points of the Blues' world. He has gone on to play with a who's who of the great Chicago Bluesmen in his role as "have bass will travel" including, Sunnyland Slim, Mississippi Heat, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddie Clearwater, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin and Snooky Pryor among others. Bob along with Odie Payne became the rhythm section for the "American Blues Folk Festivals" that toured Europe.
Bob Stroger is a Chicago Blues Legend and if the Blues is what you are interested in learning and how the bass is the driving force behind the music, Bob is the teacher who can lay it all out for you. Aside from being a great bass player, Bob has a warm and friendly way about him that will make you want to bask in his company, while he schools you in Blues' Bass.
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 Oteil Burbridge . . .
Oteil Burbridge was encouraged by his family to study music and at an early age he was studying Jazz and Classical music. While he has played several instruments, by the time he was 14 he was focused on the bass guitar. A Grammy Award-nominee, Oteil is well known in the jam - band scene. He has been the bass guitarist for The Allman Brothers Band since 1997. Before that he played with Colonel Bruce Hampton as a member of the Aquarium Rescue Unit. The band also featured Jimmy Hearing who has gone on to work with Oteil on various occasions and projects.
Oteil has also worked with Trey Anastasio, Derek Trucks Band and Grateful Dead drummer, Billy Kreutzman, among others. Oteil was heavily influenced by the great Jaco Pastorius. Oteil's bass playing encompasses a variety of musical styling's and he approaches each one with a solid backbeat and improvisational excitement. A foundation builder and musical explorer, a class with Oteil will offer a unique study opportunity and will propel your bass playing to places you have never gone before.
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Happy Traum, Woody Mann, and Rory Block
Wow what a weekend that was! Three of the great masters, all under the same roof, at the same time – could it get any better?. With the common past that Woody, Happy and Rory share it was kind of like a family reunion of sorts for the three.
 The show could very well prove to be the “sleeper” show of the year as Hurl calls it. That is: a show that just blows away any and all expectations! Fantastic and incredible would be more like it.
Happy Traum started the show off with some great folk tunes including some of the Dylan song book, of course. His voice was strong and clear and the music was spot on. Happy is still laying it down and leading the way.
Woody Mann followed with his set of fine instrumental guitar work.
After the set break Rory Block came out and put down one heck of a set. She surly lived up to her street cred of being one the true masters following in the footsteps of those before her. Rory called on Happy to join her on stage for what would be one the highlights of the night! Rory and Happy then called upon Woody to join them for a rousing encore of “I Shall Be Released”!
Sunday’s student performance was a blast as well opening with Rory and the Trusty Blues Gang’s rendition of Son House’s Death Letter Blues. The student performances were all great as usual and included several original numbers as well as timeless classics like the Maple Leaf Rag, Rag Mama Rag, I Know You Rider. Hurl and Happy closed the show with Dylan’s She Belongs To Me.
Jorma Kaukonen, Peter Rowan
A small but jovial group of students started this weekend off on the right foot with the jokes flying during the student orientation. Vanessa also hipped us to the fact the Rex Foundation had awarded Jorma with the Ralph J. Gleason award, a $10,000 grant to offer music instruction to the youth of the Appalachia.
 Jorma and the ever so fine Marjorie Thompson schooled a great group of students both newbie and repeat offenders in the elements of Fingerstyle Guitar all weekend long.
Saturday evening, Peter Rowan was performing the “big show”, flying solo, no opener, no parachute, two full sets. What a fine evening of music that was! Peter came out of the gates swinging with the ever popular Panama Red and closed the show with the Free Mexican Airforce. We are happy to report Peter’s performance was spot on. His voice was in impeccable condition and the repertoire hit all the highlights of his career. And his stories added illumination and humor to all of the above.
Sunday’s student performance was held “in the round” in the workshop rather than the concert hall. Just about all of the students participated and put in some fine numbers including Abeline, Vampire Woman, Early Morning Rain, and Summertime to name a few.
 Marjorie gave the students a great performance in the Library Sunday evening before the students gathered round the TV for a viewing of A Simple Man. Viewing movies at the Ranch is something we rarely do, if ever, but several lines from the movie reference the Jefferson Airplane and Jorma that had been quoted by some students during the orientation. That created desire within the other students to see the movie, and well Jorma just happened to have a copy handy.
Monday morning Jorma put on another Coffee House performance for the class before they got down to business in his final workshop for the weekend.
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Jorma Kaukonen, Geoff Achison & Fiona Boyes
Our next camp weekend featured two of our Australian mates, Geoff Achison and Fiona Boyes. Jorma held court in the Library, and Fiona took to the Station. Geoff, well, Geoff’s class took over the workshop. And I do mean took over. Amps up to the ceiling, and well the floor disappeared between all the guitars and peddle-boards, you had to hop from chair to chair to get in the room! Maybe that’s why they stayed in their jamming to the wee hours of the morning . . . no one could make their way to the door!
 Fiona opened the show Saturday evening with a fine set of traditional blues. If you haven’t seen Fiona perform yet, I suggest you make a point to do so in the future. Geoff took the second set with his lightning quick fingerpicking speed. Always an impressive performance from Geoff. Geoff invited Fiona out to meld their differing playing styles for a multiple song encore ending with Junior Well’s Messin’ With The Kid.
The student performances Sunday were just off the hook!! Strong performances all around; one of the strongest student performances thus far – I would have been willing to pay a cover charge at the door had I been asked! Is it any wonder that the student performance part of the weekend is our favorite part of the weekend?
Steve James, Darrell Scott & Mary Gauthier
Closing out the first half of the season at the Ranch we had the ever wonderful Steve James, Darrell Scott and Mary Gauthier. The two songwriters took to the Library and Workshop while Steve and his class took to the Station.
 Darrell and Mary performed a show Saturday evening for everyone. Darrell opened the show. He played some old songs and a lot of songs from his new album. Darrell was also the first performer to take advantage of the piano that now graces the Fur Peace Station stage.
Mary took the second half of the show and played songs that were truly heart felt. Mary and Darrell also performed some duets together for the grand finale of the evening.
Sundays student performance was in the round once again. This student performance was quite different, than most . . . with the camp being filled with songwriters we were treated to a plethora of original songs. We were impressed by all the offerings, more so than usual given their originality. Kudos to all of you, keep those pens filled and writing!
Steve James also treated the camp to a searing hot performance in the Library Sunday evening. Good thing the AC was on!
May and June Blog Report
Vanessa - The Labryinth
Hurl – Checkin’ The Levels
John’s been working the phones lining up instructors for 2011 that he hasn’t had a chance to write all the blogs he’s been threatening to write.
Check Out the Fur Peace Ranch Youtube Channel |
If you haven't already seen the FPR Youtube Channel, be sure to stop by and rate our videos, or become a subscriber.
Several new videos have been added this past week, including Darrell Scott and Mary Gauthier. Also check Geoff Achison and Fiona Boyes! Great stuff
We are building an audience for all the video material we are filming. We would appreciate your support and opinion. Look for new videos in the future!
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