Posts Tagged ‘live’

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.

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.

What an incredible way to kick off the tour! Because of my deep connection to Yogaville in Virginia, playing at the Institute in NYC has been a dream of mine since I started singing Kirtan. Setting up this particular night was the catalyst for booking this tour.

We had a very easy drive into NYC, and found the institute without any trouble at all.

The folks we met were all helpful and kind, and the presence of Gurudev could be felt strongly throughout the rooms and halls of the building. It wasn’t until after we set up all of our gear and did a level check in the Heaven room, where we would be playing, that they told us that room was Gurudev’s apartment in NYC! What a blessing!

This stop was the first one on the tour where I got to meet up face to face with a friend from the ilovefuzz.com forum, a place where you can find me pretty much every day discussing the joys of guitar pedal related joys.

Meet Steev!

Steev was kind enough to film a bit of the beginning of the set with Marshall’s camera: