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Hari Om Everyone!

I’m quite happy to say we’re going to be at Shanti Om Yoga in Staunton Virginia again this Saturday, July 31st. Things get started at 7pm!

I’m also in the process of putting together a South-East tour for this December. I’ve got 2 dates already confirmed, but am not getting a lot of response out of most states. If you are in the South-East area and want to help out, contact tour@jdavydwilliams.com!

Om Shanthi,

Hari Om everyone,

First, the good news:

Our first tour of the north east was a success! We met a number of incredible new people, and were able to sing with new crowds every night. There was more love and enthusiasm than I even could have dreamed of. All over the north east people opened their studios, their homes, and their hearts to us, and my gratitude is immeasurable.

In less good news:

At some point on the road I picked up a virus. It started to make it self known before we left Ithaca. Luckily I was able to finish the whole gig in Buffalo. Our trip to Harrisonburg was spent drinking ginger tea, with me communicating with my travel companions by passing notes and sending text messages to save myself from having to speak. It was fun, in a sort of kitchy way, and with the help of the other Basement Bhaktis we were able to get through most of the gig in Harrisonburg last night.

We decided to come home, sleep on it, and see how I felt today. Unfortunately, there has been no improvement. In fact, I’m hardly able to talk. I have never had to cancel a show in my life, and as much as I don’t want to do this, there is just no way I’ll be able to sing tonight.

A hundred apologies to everyone who planned to come, and especially to the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. Again, I have never had to do this before, and I hope that I never have to do this again.

For now, I’m going to get rest, and focus on healing, so that you can still plan to see us at Yogaville next Saturday, June the 19th, and at Shanthi Om Yoga in Staunton VA on the 31st of July.

Om shanthi,
J

Ahimsa Yoga in Ithaca was one of the first studios on the tour to confirm. In fact, when I was putting the tour together, a friend told me that if I was going to NY State, I had to make sure that Ithaca was a stop. Ahimsa’s owner, Carol “Hawk” Saahas, told me in one of our first phone conversations that Ithaca was “10 square miles of paradise, surrounded by reality,” and boy was she right about that!

Hawk describes Ahimsa as Ithaca’s most “eclectic” yoga studio. The studio is attached to another room that is used as an art gallery/performance space. The art currently on display made for an incredible backdrop for our kirtan!

The response from the Ithaca community was one of the most enthusiastic we’ve sang with to date. We also met some of the members of a local Kirtan group, One Love, and set up tentative ideas for collaborating when they tour the south in the future.

Hawk had told me that if we didn’t stay an extra day in Ithaca, we’d regret it. Unfortunately our schedule didn’t allow for it, but the short time that I spent there made me think she was absolutely right, and we all agreed that we can’t wait to get back.

From Cambridge, we made our way to the great state of Rhode Island, which was a short drive. The tour was making 2 stops on RI; the first in Cranston, at the studio Raffa Yoga, and the second in Providence, at Tazza Caffe. The stop had originally been conceived as a chance to meet up with another friend of mine from the ilovefuzz.com forums, Jeremy Withers. We hatched a plan to put together a show that would feature his band, The Inclined, the Basement Bhaktis, and Seismic Feedback, the project of another ilovefuzz.com forum member, Ben Carl.

Flash forward, some logistical hiccups prevented Jeremy’s band, The Inclined, from playing the show. That did not stop him from going out of his way to take care of us for the entire RI stop. Jeremy’s Inclined band mate had recently sold his house, and since they had moved out already, but the closing was not till the middle of the week, they allowed us to take up residence in it. Since we knew we’d be there until Tuesday morning, we basically got to set up camp; a welcome change even just being a few days on the road.

The show at Raffa Yoga was conceived literally at the last minute. With a little more than 2 weeks until the start of tour, we still had a day off before the Providence RI show. Jeremy sent me a list of Yoga studios in Providence and the surrounding areas. I was instantly drawn to Raffa because of their website; there were numerous testimonials about the profound effect that Christine Raffa and her studio had made on the students. With just 2 weeks to set up and promote, Christine opened her studio to us and agreed to host our kirtan. Jeremy happily agreed to the use of his PA for the evening.

Me & Jeremy at Raffa Yoga

The Cranston community was one of the most enthusiastic of the entire tour. They easily filled the entire room with their voices as we all sang in glorious praise. A particularly powerful moment for me came when we played the song “At Sea,” – I just so happened to open my eyes and look out the window as I sang the opening line, “Rain outside the window pane…” and saw a storm.

At the end of the night we made our way back to our temporary home base in Providence. It was amazing not having to drive anywhere the next day. While Patrick had to head to Brown College to take a proctored test for one of his PVCC classes, the rest of us were able to kick around Providence. Jeremy showed us around, took us to get some amazing Falafel, as well as bubble tea.

We also made a stop at the All Vegan “Like No Udder” ice cream truck, a new staple of the providence area. We met the couple that owns and operates it at Raffa. If you find yourself in the Providence RI area, look for it!

Monday night we played at Tazza Caffe with Seismic Feedback. SF play instrumental electronic music that is a bit hard to pin down, genre wise. There are elements of industrial, but I wouldn’t classify it as industrial outright. They created some serious soundscapes; each song was like it’s own world, and the listener was invited to explore it. It fit very well with what we were doing, and I hope that we get to share a bill with them again.

Jeremy, Me, and Ben from Seismic Feedback

I have to take an extra moment to again thank Jeremy for his hospitality. He made the stop in Rhode Island one of my favorite parts of the tour. Hopefully next time we could through we’ll be able to play with The Inclined as well!

The second night of the tour was Kitchari Kirtan in Cambridge, MA. KK is hosted by Tom Lena, and takes place once a month. It’s usually on Friday nights, but Tom was kind enough to shift to Saturday to accommodate the free night that we had on the tour.

It was immediately clear, just from walking into the room, that we were in a sacred space. The deep vibrations of all of the kirtan that had been sung in the room throughout the years made it feel very much like coming home; a nice feeling when out on the road.

Here’s Marshall with our friend Noah Krohn, a charlottesvillian who relocated to the boston area.

And here’s Ally, our new biggest fan from Cambridge MA. Ally hung out with us all afternoon, gave us all nicknames, and even helped make the Kitchari! The Kitchari was incredible, by the way. Unquestionably the best food we will eat the whole tour.

Special thanks to Tom for opening his home and heart to us. He helped to create one of the best kirtan experiences I’ve ever had, and certainly one of the most memorable stops on the tour.