Paul Kantner, Spencer Dryden (Photo courtesy of RCA Victor)
In light of the spate of music biopics and memoirs that have come out, anyone expecting lots of hot dishing when they crack open Been So Long: My Life and Music, Jorma Kaukonen’s 2018 autobiography, is advised to look elsewhere. Despite the fact that the Jefferson Airplane founding member experienced his first dalliance with fame during the group’s halcyon late ’60s Haight-Ashbury days, it’s more of an intriguing and straightforward account of Kaukonen’s life path. It’s a big reason why he decided to pass on doing a project like this when he was first approached about doing it about a decade or so ago.
“In the mid to early 2000s, I had an offer to do a book with somebody else as a cowriter. It was somebody that I liked and I hadn’t really thought about it. At the time, the idea of a cowriter made sense to me because I had never really done any writing of that magnitude,” Kaukonen recalled. “But it became apparent that the publishing company that we had been discussing things with wanted all that salacious stuff we talked about that I don’t have in my book. As soon as I realized that they wanted me to dish dirt on people that were more famous than myself, I thought I didn’t want to do that. So I just shelved the whole idea. The same thing happened when I didn’t make the cut for the Janis: Little Girl Blue PBS special because Janis and I never had sex or did drugs together. We just played music.”
Born in Washington, D.C. to Beatrice Love (née Levine) and Jorma Ludwig Kaukonen, Sr., the younger Kaukonen boasts Finnish through his paternal grandparents and Russian Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. Given that his father was a State Department employee, there was quite a bit of traveling that framed the future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s life. In experiencing living in far-flung locales like Pakistan and the Philippines, Kaukonen took to keeping a diary, a habit that carried into adulthood and was an enormous boon in detailing the finite detail that flows through Been So Long.
“Here’s the thing, even as a kid, I liked typing because I couldn’t read my own handwriting. For lack of a better term, I always journaled stuff when I was a kid. Back in the late ’90s, I started a website. It wasn’t interactive like the ones are today. Before there was blogging, I was still journaling. I just always enjoyed doing that,” he said. “For the book, I let the process be my inspiration. So once I sat down, I would start out by knowing that I had to spend three hours that day writing. I’d sit down and maybe the first few minutes, it would be labored. But once I got into the flow, I found that I could do it.”
The book’s narrative thread is wrapped in a straightforward honesty about Kaukonen’s journey, with self-examination that touches on his addiction and self recovery, his troubled first marriage and still-thriving current one, his musical journey, the creation of the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp and the joy of fatherhood. Sprinkled throughout are lyrics that provide handy narrative bridges.
First and foremost a musician, Kaukonen’s role is less of being an oldies act and more of a bard. As someone who started learning finger picking while at Antioch College, and subsequently wound up worshiping at the altar of the storied blues/gospel singer Reverend Gary Davis, Hot Tuna’s live set lists are rife with material from greats associated with the Americana canon. Fans can expect to hear a set list populated with gems from the likes of Jelly Roll Morton (“Winin’ Boy Blues”), Blind Willie Johnson (“Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning”), Jimmy Cox (“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”) and Davis (“Candy Man”). And there are, of course, nuggets plucked from the Jefferson Airplane (“Embryonic Journey”) and Kaukonen (“Wolves and Lambs”).
In the end, Kaukonen’s biggest gift that came out of this written project was his ability to hone his narrative craft.
“When you’re blogging, you blather and let your mind run free. And that’s okay. But in a book, it’s not okay. As I started working with them, I got that. So we were able to whip things into order. I found that I really enjoyed the process and was utterly un-self-conscious about telling my story, which would not have been true four years ago. I really enjoyed the process and when you think about writing a memoir and put down the last period, what do you do? Drop dead? I was just thinking this morning that I might want to write something else. I don’t know what it’s going to be about—I’ve already told that story, so I can’t go back. But we’ll see.”
Hot Tuna will be appearing on Aug. 17 at the NYCB Theatre @ Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Rd., Westbury. For more information, visit www.livenation.com or call 877-598-8497.
