Music Times contributor Ian Holubiak and his band Oh Honey are on the road, traveling to SXSW and across the country to spread the musical word. Ian will give us a look into the life of the touring act as part of the Tour Journal series. Stay tuned for more reflections from the road.
I imagine most of these tours across the continental U.S. only warrant a mere look into a country almost entirely discovered and tramped. There probably aren't many that grant a unique look or interest into anything too unfamiliar.
I wouldn't know though—this is my first, and seeing Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Fresno and now Los Angeles has been a generally average experience (I often find myself wondering what to write about).
And yet, some of the smaller experiences I've had amount to so much more than just standard solo wanderings (my stash was starting to run out so I was growing real sore).
The crackheads from California seem like they are fellow departed New Yorkers, of a much crazier and comfortable echelon too dangerous for Manhattan streets (not really, but they are pretty f-----g nuts and are in the jaws of an ever-expanding turf war that's very much "in the family").
But now I'm sitting on the couch of an apartment much nicer than mine in Los Angeles, at the Broadway-Hollywood, watching our single "Be Okay" in a Glee-esta rendition that echoed something from my childhood—one familiar with my Uncle William's in Jackson, Mississippi—a much more sheltered time I spent beside my cousins of the same age.
There isn't anything like the West in New York City. I mean, Brooklyn is freezing with snow, and chatter from my mates back in Williamsburg has halted...I imagine rations are running low, too.
But "Be Okay" on Glee was a surreal experience, nothing unlike hearing your voice singing for the first time—or watching yourself laugh, or cry. There's something very humbling about good reception, and homemade vodka sodas (and there seems to be a fire growing out of all of this, too. One much closer and where the music doesn't sound so distant).
