Hello, Rockers!

  I hope everyone is getting as excited as I am about the upcoming tour.  One of the things I love about these projects is how interactive they are.  It's not only me on tour, but everyone!  I was mowing the back yard just now.  It was dusk, and the lightning bugs twinkled in the June night.  I'm sure I did a terrible job as far as landscaping goes, but it sure was pleasant.  After a day of sending press releases and recording tracks for the song, I thought about the project as the mower threw out sheets of dewy grass into the gathering darkness.

  There is something so punk rock about playing street music.  I went busking, as it's called, this past Friday evening.  I was joined by two young guitar comrades, and we jammed and hollered and entertained the people passing by as their mom and grandma watched and clapped along.  To be right in the street, and right in the middle of humanity, face to face and singing along...there's a magic in that.

  I look forward to harnessing some of this magic, and inviting people to join me to do the same as the tour rolls from city to city and propagates over the internet.

  It seems to me as this magic, and this spirit, is exactly what's called for in taking steps towards where most of us want to go, towards a more peaceful and happy world.  The division around us seems to grow daily. In addition to the war and violence, there's plain ol' hostility and intolerance towards our fellow citizens, even in the most innocuous ways.  Simplified answers to complex problems appear superimposed on photos as they show up on Facebook, and the news that trends is, at best, that of one person telling another off.

  The street is, in many ways, a perfect metaphor of the World.  As I stand there in the grit and the grime, the sea of humanity swirls around me.  Everyone is hurrying to where they have to go, not realizing that their neighbor, while different, has the same fears and hopes hanging over them like so many clouds and rays of sunshine, like an afternoon in the Appalachian mountains as the light plays over the landscape.

  So, the street seems an ideal place to stand firmly in the "rock stance", like Jack Black taught in School of Rock, and begin to play, gradually getting louder in a song that unites, singing "Hey brotha, commence the jam!"

  I'm looking forward to jamming with everyone, in cities and towns along the east coast, and worldwide on the Internet.  Let's get face to face with each other, and say "HI!  You're cool."  Let's start building those bridges right here, right now, in the middle of the street, on the subway platform, in line at the grocery store...

Let's start this jam!

Now, off to do more press releases...

- Josh  

A video!

Comrades!  It's 42 days till the first train departs, and MAN I'm getting excited!

Here's the official tour video!

And have you seen the site that Mazuzu.com built for the project?  www.JoshUrban.com/JURT

Plus, just added another week to the trip.  I'll be playing extended shows in Alexandria, DC, and Baltimore during the third weekend of August, as well as doing a bunch of online stuff during that week!  WOOO!

Big thanks to the sponsors who have signed on so far.  These comrades rock!  Thanks to Island Music Company, JTV Digital, We Spin, Mazuzu.com, Positive Impact Magazine, Bone Sigh Arts, and The Herald Square Hotel!

Talk to you soon - gotta go work on tour stuff!

- Josh