Journey

This trip was based around the idea of music. Of finding specific instruments and also documenting the different musical expressions of the cultures I ran into. To that end I have found so much, and have been infinitely fascinated by the new sounds. So you’d think they would completely occupy my mind.
It’s funny the actual music going through my head. For instance:

The night before going through the Petra ruins, I was joking with fellow travelers that we’d be humming the Indiana Jones theme while running through the ruins. But something went horribly wrong, and the theme from Dallas got stuck in my head. As hard as I tried to remember the Indi Jones song, fuckin' Dallas would spring up again as I bounded across rocks and ruins. Good lord!
And now, in Jerusalem, I’m rockin’ to the sounds of some metal that a friend sent over email, and while walking down the street, singing “Lights” by Journey. I think it’s the two month homesickness that I heard about. But it struck me how perfect that song was for my situation, so here it is, in all it’s poetic supremacy, by a group of traveling balladiersmen from the same town as I:

When the lights go down in the city,
and the sun shines on the bay,
ooh i want to be there, in my city,
oh-oh oh-oh-oh

So you think your lonely
well my friend I'm lonely too
I want to get back, to my city by the bay,
Whoa-ooh-oh, oh-oh-oh

Its sad ohh,
there’s been mornings out on the road without you,
without your charms
oh-oh-oh-oh nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah,
oh-oh, oh-oh-oh

When the lights go down in the city
and the sun shines on the bay
ooh i want to be there, in my city, oh-ooh-oh-oh
Whoa-ooh-oh, oh-oh-oh

Pretty sure I got all the ohhs and ohs, it's very important with Journey, that's their specialty.

It’s not surprising I’d miss home. It’s hot as hell here (appropriate in the holy land) and there are only rocks. I think about the refreshing breeze of home, the wonderful escape of the green hills across the bay, the endless waters of the Pacific, and the people and places that make it home. While the wind chilled me to the bone before and that damned city was so frustrating, I’m missing it a little. But I left for a reason, and I’m finding even more reasons now, so I’m gonna give it some more time. In the meantime, thank God- or Allah or Yahweh, or whatever the hell they’re calling him or her or it in the next town- thank you for music. I don’t need a religion, I just need a good song, like this one. And... maybe a little time in the Dominican Republic, yeah, maybe that.

This video was filmed in my other hometown. Watch Neil rock out with the Jewish fro!