Author Topic: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!  (Read 302 times)

StephenR

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Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« on: September 26, 2024, 03:50:26 PM »
Tonight is the first night of Hot Tuna acoustic at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. My wife and I are going on Saturday. I have seen Hot Tuna countless times since 1973. The first show was an electric one at CW Post College on L.I. Jack and Jorma had just gotten back from speed skating in Europe and both had shaved heads, Jack was playing Alembic #1 so that was especially cool.

So, I was looking forward to the show Saturday but after seeing photos from the show up in Tacoma, WA a couple of days ago I am suddenly very excited we decided to go this time. Apparently Jack has pulled out his Starfire for at least the West Coast leg of the tour. This may be the first tour he has played this bass on since it was stolen in 1969 and eventually returned to him in 2016 minus the original finish.

Freight shows are all sold out but you can buy a streaming ticket, not sure about the other venues on the West Coast.  There is a two month break before the next leg of the tour. So, if you have always wanted to hear this bass played and can get tickets this is your chance. Here is a link to an older discussion about the bass back in 2016 when Jack got it back.
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=16167.msg163033#msg163033

Picture I found in a recent TalkBass thread about the Tacoma show.


« Last Edit: September 26, 2024, 03:52:57 PM by StephenR »

Quasar1

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2024, 04:48:04 PM »
Wow Stephen, you really took me back to the day man !

First time I caught them was 1976 in Reading PA !

Glad they are still goin strong !!
« Last Edit: September 26, 2024, 04:49:36 PM by Quasar1 »

mica

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2024, 11:24:31 AM »
Jack stopped by with this bass on Wednesday on his way down to the Berkeley shows. My dad and Tom spent the afternoon with Jack and the bass going over the electronics, which did need some work. A little more work is needed so we will be visiting it yet again after this tour.

Ron and Tom went to the show last night and I heard it was fantastic! Definitely stream this if you don't have tickets.

David Houck

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2024, 11:00:51 AM »
Stephen, did you make it to the show?

StephenR

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2024, 12:18:42 PM »
Show was excellent and Jack's bass sounded great to me. It has a nice woody sound but with great diction and clarity to the notes. It certainly helped hearing it in a small 220 seat venue with a Meyer Sound system. I really enjoyed the interplay between Jack and Jorma at this show. They have been friends and musical compatriots for about 60 years now and it is easy to see that they are still good friends who love playing music together. Not sure you can say that about a lot of the "legacy" acts that still tour. When they were playing it sounded like one person with four hands and despite the simplicity of a lot of the songs the music twists and flows to new places each time they play them.

I did hear Jack play the same bass one other time, at Woodstock, but only made it though a couple of tunes before needing to crash. The Airplane closed out the Saturday show but didn't come on until Sunday morning after the Who's set during which the sun had come up. We headed back to camp around 7 or so after being essentially in one spot since 9:30 AM Saturday. We had found a good spot a couple hundred feet from the stage in the center so each of the two of us took one bathroom and food break while the other held the space. Kind of thing that was easier to do at the age of 16, now just thinking about it wears me out.

David Houck

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2024, 06:42:00 PM »
 :)

rv_bass

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2024, 07:08:27 AM »


I saw Jack play this bass with Hot Tuna the other night, sounded great! I would love to learn more about the electronics in this bass :)




« Last Edit: December 14, 2024, 07:10:24 AM by rv_bass »

edwardofhuncote

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Re: Jack Casady touring with his Starfire bass!
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2024, 01:18:48 PM »
Me Too.  :)