By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune and other outlets
October 10, 2023
A veteran musician who has toured and played guitar for artists like Alejandro Escovedo, Chuck Prophet and John Doe, Tom Heyman is celebrating the release of his album “24th Street Blues.” And while the release is exciting, the guitarist said going back on the road is something he’s really looking forward to. “When I was younger, touring sometimes resembled a party that you never had to clean up after,” Heyman said from his San Francisco home. “The first time I went to Europe, we had a driver/road manager, and it was a revelation to be rolling down the road and drinking before and after the gig, not having to worry about who was sober enough to drive. When I got older and stopped drinking, touring became much more about trying to get enough sleep, eat right and to really try and connect with the audience in a meaningful way.” Heyman keeps fans updated on Instagram (@txheyman), X (@Tom_V_Heyman) and Facebook.
Q: Did you work on any of “24th Street Blues” while you were on the road traveling?
A: I rarely write anything on the road. Simply getting from point A to point B is hard enough. “24th Street Blues” came about when I had a group of songs that seemed thematically linked. In this case, I had written a bunch of songs that all seemed to deal one way or another with changes I felt were happening in my Mission District neighborhood. The record was done in a couple of sessions at Blue Rooms in Portland, Oregon. The studio is owned by my old friend Mike Coykendall, who also played on the record. The sessions were completed in late 2019, and I got the final mixes back on March 11, 2020, three days before the Covid-19 pandemic closed the country down. At that point, there didn’t seem to be any reason to rush it out. My wife and I got busy making the songbook that accompanies the record.
Q: Your album’s press release describes your album as being about “the endangered culture and living ghosts of San Francisco’s Mission District.” Can you extrapolate?
A: Ghosts as in people and places that seem to have disappeared, but traces still remain. I walk past buildings that are gone, and I feel like I can still see them. On 24th Street where I live, there were dozens of ficus trees that lined the street, creating a green canopy of shade. The city cut most of them down for various reasons, but on cloudy days it sometimes feels like they are still there.
Q: How comprehensive is this tour?
A: I will be trying to cover as much ground as possible on this new record. The last time I was in Chicago was in 2019, for a gig at the Montrose Saloon as part of a Midwest run. Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the United States. There is so much there, and the middle class hasn’t been totally hollowed out of it.
Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
A: Spain is wonderful for how different it is everywhere you go, like several countries within a country.
Q: How do you separate work from vacation trips?
A: It’s easy. When I am on vacation, I am on vacation, period. When I am on tour, I am stuck with a schedule and a bunch of cumbersome gear and merch.
Q: What was a childhood trip that stands out?
A: In 1968, I went to San Francisco with my parents. My dad was there for a convention. My older sister and I got to stay in a fancy hotel in Russian Hill. It’s kind of weird, but this was the height of the counterculture and hippies. And being downtown, we kind of missed all of it. That said, San Francisco seemed like an absolutely magical place to a kindergartener and the trip stuck with me so hard that I eventually moved here.
Q: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
A: Always try and do a bit of research about what the local customs are wherever you are going. Try and be as polite and friendly as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Use public transport, remain flexible, be in the moment and pack less stuff.
Q: If you could only pick one place to eat, would you prefer a food truck or fine dining?
A: Last time I was in Mexico City, we hit an even split between street food and fine dining. I really don’t want to have to choose, but if push comes to shove, I will pretty much always choose sitting at a table indoors.
Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A: Living in San Francisco, I love to head west to Point Reyes Station or south to Half Moon Bay. But sometimes it is cool to just go to North Beach, get a cappuccino at Caffe Trieste and act like a tourist.
Q: If you’ve ever gone away for the holidays, which was the best trip?
A: We spent New Year’s Day in Mexico City a couple of years ago. It was great, because we caught a flight on New Year’s Eve and skipped all of the nonsense.
Q: What are your five favorite cities?
A: Brooklyn, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Madrid, Hamburg.
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A: Saigon.
Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A: Sleep mask, small extension cord, extra bag inside my suitcase, cool shoes, and sensible shoes.
Q: What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?
A: Any sort of local confection.
Q: What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A: My wife and I took a slow circuitous drive from Madrid to Barcelona a few years ago and it was an absolute blast. When I graduated from high school, I hitchhiked most of the way across the United States, which is a whole story in and of itself. But at the end of the trip I wound up visiting some friends in Southern California and wound up at the beach near San Clemente for a big weekend party. I got incredibly sunburned and spent the next couple of days shivering under a blanket in the dark, barely able to move – not good.
Q: Is there a place that you went to where you would never return to again?
A: Never say never. It will come back to haunt you.
© 2023 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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