Takeshi Horiuchi has toured over the
years with Brian and Marty. Originally working in the US, he has since
returned to Fujinomiya, Japan. That hasn’t stopped his love of music and
frequent trips back to join Switchback on stage. Brian and Marty respect
Takeshi-san’s’ mastery of the Irish drum called the bodhran and announce him to
audiences as “the greatest bodhran player in all of Asia,” to which
Takeshi replies..."As far as we know.” Below are his thoughts on the
Prairie Tour last month that covered travel over five states with 17 shows, in
just a day shy of two weeks.
This was the first tour I was to do with Switchback.
Brian and Marty are good friends of mine that I have known for eight
years since we first met in Rochester, Minnesota, at the pub Whistle Binkies.
In the past when I came to visit and play with the band, usually for Th’
Gatherin’ in WaKeeney, Kansas, I would fly into the country, rent a car, and
drive to meet them. This was the first time that I would travel in
the van and play 17 shows with the band in two weeks. So I was a bit
worried about our relationships at first. How would we be able to get along
without a collision of personalities? We survived and I found that
we only had minor collisions of personalities. We could handle those and
we did have a great time. I am happy to say that we ended the tour
still friends and that my traveling with Marty–san and Brian-san did not result
in the end of Switchback either!
The biggest surprise on this tour was Th’ Gatherin’.
This year, unfortunately, Th’ Gatherin’ was cancelled. In its place
we had a private “Baby Gatherin’.” We had a house concert at the home of
Seamus Cleland in WaKeeney. I asked Marty and Brian what was happening
with Th’ Gatherin’ as we headed out toward Kansas. Both of them did not
know what was to be expected and so I was feeling pretty sad as for six years I
had made the trip from Japan to this place of wild weather and nice people.
I thought I wouldn’t see so many of the friends I had made
over the years. Happily for me, the Baby
Gatherin’ was almost everything I expected.
My friends, like the Harveys, Dave from Hays, and George and Margaret
from Scotland all came! I realized that
Th’ Gatherin’ was not about the Highland games or the bonfires. It was like Thanksgiving or Christmas in that
the people would come together once a year, enjoy music, and have a great time.
And we did.
We played what Switchback calls Community Outreach
Programs. Almost all of these gigs would
have us traveling to a small town and playing at a local retirement
community. Our aim was to give such
people some happy times and an enjoyable show. Some of the places
were extremely interesting to play as I discovered that some residents had very
little reaction to the music. Usually
playing music is fun and enjoyable, but in this case, the music was more of a
challenge. I felt sorry that it seemed
to me that these elderly people really need our music to remind them of the
enjoyment of life. We would play several
Community Outreach Programs a day when traveling. I had never felt that
physically tired before. Giving these people a good time was rewarding
though, even if it meant looking for a tiny reaction. It meant my music
reached them and I was glad.
We played one place on my 50th birthday. Marty
mentioned that it was my birthday to the audience and all of the sudden the
people started singing “Happy Birthday” to me all by themselves. They
even said my name right, which was a big surprise. It was very much a gift
from the people and I was very happy.
Because I played so many of these gigs with Switchback on
this tour, I think I can tell what the energy will be, even before a show
starts. When I mentioned this to Marty he said, “Takeshi-san, now you are
truly a musician.” So it showed me that Switchback knew about energy and
how to play these types of shows.
I also experienced how dangerous traveling on a tour can
be. I was driving the Switchback van
about 80 miles north of Kansas City and with our speed at 75 miles an hour when
I heard this strange noise. At first I
thought it was a motorcycle rider coming up on my side, the noise and vibration
were that big. Soon after I knew something
was wrong with the van and I tried to stop on the side of the road. Marty helped by reaching over and canceling
the auto drive and told me to take the foot off the brake and let the van roll
to a stop. When I got out of the van, I
found the right rear tire had blown out very badly.
I didn’t know what to
do, but Switchback was able to call for help and two hours later we were back
on the road. We had left at 5 a.m. and
so our arrival in Chicago was going to be right in rush hour. But I also
thought perfect timing happened here, as we had the accident on the day when
there were no shows. We also didn’t leave after the show the night before
and travel through the night. If we had lost the tire on a curve in
Kansas City that morning with all the traffic, it could have been worse.
So we were lucky. I think it shows how important
keeping the van in good condition is. Perhaps many fans do not realize
how hard traveling is on a vehicle as well as on Brian and Marty.
We laughed about it, but I also felt that we could have not been
laughing, too.
On this tour, I had the chance to listen to the rough tracks
of “Kanoka.” I enjoyed these very much
and I think people will love this new album.
I also found that playing JR’s Down Under in Buffalo, Minnesota, was
extremely fun as the people were very nice, we made new fans, and I had to play
on top of a table! One man asked me when
was the last time I had to play on a table, and I told him this was my first
time! But I was surprised that the next week at a concert in Great Bend, I was
back again on top of a table so people could see me play the bodhran.
I was also very surprised at Oak Center when Steve (who runs
the Oak Center) didn’t make his usual political speech before the show. I told our percussionist Nick, who had never
been to Minnesota, to watch Steve as he was about to give a big political
speech, and here he was, talking about planting vegetables. I was actually disappointed that Nick didn’t
have the chance to hear Steve go on and on about American politics! That’s a tradition at the Oak Center.
Nick wasn’t able to go to Kansas with us because he said he
had work to do. But I was thinking he
may another reason as he mentioned that he just started dating a girl. Brian joked in front of Nick that I was the
most reliable musician he has ever worked with because I show up on time all
the way from Japan! I think Nick is a
great musician and we had a good time riding together through Minnesota during
the tour and having some beers at the Buffalo Tap. But I think when we were drinking together
his mind was on a very special lady. I
saw her picture and she’s very pretty. I
told Nick she looks like a fairy from the woods. Good for a city boy from Chicago!
One thing I can’t understand about Switchback is how they
eat. For example, we ended up eating
twice on the same day at the same restaurant in Great Bend at a place called
Treaders. I also thought it funny that
they didn’t drink alcohol, but instead drank coffee and were very picky about
what coffee to drink. They even
brought their own coffee maker!
Not all the tour is working.
We managed to get to the Sternberg Museum in Hays for a very quick
visit. However, we only spent about 20
minutes there before we had to leave. Later, I went back to the museum
(Switchback was taking a nap in the van before a show) and talked to the cute
woman who was charging admission. She
allowed me to tour the museum for free as it was near closing time. Or maybe she liked me, I hope. I
was really happy when Brian and Marty gave me a shirt from the museum that had
an image of a fossil fish that had eaten another fish on it. That fossil was found near the museum from a
time when Kansas was an ocean. It was a great birthday present.
Finally the best part of the tour (and I mean this with
sarcasm, a word Brian taught me) was the daily harassment from these two
guys! For example, they took funny
pictures of me and put them on the Facebook site, especially the one with me
holding two bags of cookies. I didn’t
get to eat any of them. Also, they made
me sing “Sukiyaki” at the retirement homes. I am a very shy guy, I mean
it! A big harassment was at the Baby
Gatherin’. Marty and Brian had me take a
solo and then left me on the stage alone.
I had to solo a very long time before I realized they were not coming
back!
And the biggest harassment was when Marty announced to the
audience, “Takeshi is turning 50 years old and has never been kissed yet.” I was then met by ten women who came running
up to kiss me. I felt harassed, not by
the women, but by Switchback. All I can say is when the day comes that Switchback tours
Japan, I will make all the women kiss them!
