Good Asian Drivers Tour

A couple of weeks ago, when my good friend Henry told me that he was gonna start busking on the sidewalks, I had a vision of him cradling an acoustic guitar crooning some emo song crackling through an electric amp. After all, that was me when I was a street musician.

“My friends and I are playing some music in JP,” he said. “Come check us out.”

I asked him half-jokingly, “Do you need a lead singer?”

He chuckled and said, “It’s not that kind of music.”

Well, last Thursday, in front of the Harvest Co-op in JP, I finally got it. As I neared the small but attentive crowd, the band’s spirited Irish folk music brought a much-welcomed energy to the neighborhood. It was a three piece band: Tessa on the fiddle, Travis on the guitar, and Henry on the bodhrán (he didn’t even play the guitar!). And Henry was right. It really wasn’t that kind of music. It was better.

You know, I’m no expert on Irish folk music, really. In fact I can’t say that I can even distinguish any of the songs apart from each other if I tried. But the energy was so on I really could have watched them all night. Tessa was swaying with every stroke of her bow and fiddling so effortlessly. (I, a good Asian child, admit that I’ve studied the violin, but we’re talking Vivaldi, not folk music. And I was not nearly half as good as Tessa.) Travis accompanied with enthusiasm, and the rhythmic strum of each chord felt like he was waking spirits from the earth. And Henry held it all together with his passionate pounding of that bodhrám, a round flat frame drum played with a short stubby stick. He stared intensely at the music, brows furrowed, as his hand blurred with a life of its own and the drum seemed to play itself. They were impressive.

Entranced passerbys dropped ones, fives, and even tens in their case. No doubt equally, if not more, impressed than I was.

Their repertoire was small (they had just started practicing together recently) but they were having so much fun I wanted to join their rehearsals too…and pick up an instrument or two.

At the end of the night I asked them if they had a band name. Henry said, “We were thinking of ‘Heyyy…’ but we’re not sure.” I said, “Heyyy…like all gay?” He said, “Exactly.”

Well, no matter their band name, I just wanted to know if I was gonna get to experience this magic again. “Yeah, we’ll do it again definitely before the summer’s over.” Travis started counting the bills. “Let’s get some ice cream.”