Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Rock Out With Yer Caucus Out -- IDAHO


a few notes on the last several days:


1/31/08 + 2/1/08


-cancelled two shows in Montana due to extreme winter weather in the region. specifically a blizzard that shutdown most of Idaho on what was our main travel day north. thanks again to Grant and Compound Productions for setting up the Bozeman show and for graciously understanding our predicament and rolling with the punches. same goes for the crew behind the Friday show. Big Quinn. Out The Lights. etc.


2/2/08


-woke up early Saturday morning to watch Barack Obama's appearance at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise, ID being broadcast via local TV. We had tons of friends that made it in person and Idaho represented huge with over 14,000 people coming out for an early morning rally and packing the place... they even had to turn away a ton of people. Really exciting. We were pumped to have a couple of Idaho shows leading right up to the Idaho Caucus for the opportunity to help spread the word and help get people excited, but Obama's appearance pretty much sealed the deal. It was awesome.


-played at the First National in Pocatello, ID that night. been creating a really awesome relationship with the Nash and with Pocatello in general, as it's been a regular stop since early on in the life of Finn Riggins. Between consistent support from the campus radio station KISU 91.1 FM (thanks Levi + Beat City Radio!! and McKenzie!!) and several rad and enthusiastic people we continue to have fun shows there. Sort of feels like family these days. And our family gatherings are pretty epic in the fun realm. This night was no different. Travis Shipley + Dorian once again opened the show with goodness. Overall, lots of body movin and fun. And we gained a new slogan for problem solving: Let's Hug It Out, Bitch


-thanks to Jamie, Bonnie, Joel, Dan and the rest of the Nash staff; and to everyone else that continue to make Poky a great place to come back to.


2/3/08


-woke up late. blizzard. warm and wet one though. drive to Boise went fast. watched the New York Giants shock the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. liked it. jumped up and down. well worth the time.


-found out that our buddies Woven (los angeles, ca) would not be able to make it to the show in Boise the next night with us due to weather and bad roads between Portland and Boise.


2/4/08


-night before Idaho Democratic Caucus. we had a show at Terrapin Station in Boise that was supposed to be with Woven and that we had playfully been dubbing a Rock Out With Your Caucus Out pre-funk party. Woven wasn't going to make it as noted above. we decided it would be fun to throw an invite out on myspace and see if we could round up some folks to play the show with us for fun.

-it worked. Boise bands Low-Fi and A Seasonal Disguise both jumped onboard within an hour of the invite being posted. it was awesome. they were great additions. check them both out. we had so much fun with them.

-made a new friend in photographer Dominique Svamberk. she took some cool photos of us that night (including the one at the beginning of this post). we look forward to working with her more. check out her work at http://fieldzofview.weebly.com/

-we played late. it was fun. lots of fun. cool crew stuck it out with us. thanks to everyone that came out on a monday night! lisa and cam drove home to hailey. i stayed behind to help around the house since my dad had just gotten home from open heart surgery and we'd be back in Boise on Thursday anyhow.

2/5/08

Super Duper Tuesday. and Idaho was a part of it all. atleast for the Democratic nominees. i had found out the night before that i could volunteer if i showed up outside the caucus area at 4pm. so i did so. jumped on as a volunteer for the Obama caucus crew. started as a 'greeter' passing out stickers and being friendly, then traded up as a 'section leader'. didn't really change much, just helped the girl that was wearing that tag to relax more than anything. Since i was in Boise, i was taking part in the Ada County caucus, which was the largest in the whole country since Idaho was caucusing by county and not by precinct. It was in Qwest Arena -- a 6500 capacity hockey stadium. The Obama seats filled up super fast, and after a rumour that people outside were being told they'd be turned away, i was part of a crew that went outside to clear up the fact that everyone would get to vote. The line outside was out of control. Winding all around the area, with no end in sight. So exciting! At 7pm, though, the doors were closed and all ballots had to be collected. 2400 or so were unable to get in! So i ran around outside helping other volunteers enable those shut out to vote -- getting them ballots and collecting them. Everyone got their ballots in and all of us volunteers cruised back inside. After a long long long wait, the results rolled in with Obama taking everything. No other candidate in either district in Ada County garnered the necessary 15% to have even one delegate sent to the state convention. A sweep!! It was rad. People of all walks of life out in force.

-Lisa and Cam both caucused for Obama up in Hailey at the Blaine County Caucus. Obama swept there too. They also packed their room and had to turn people away. Like the rest of the country, record turnouts.

-at the end of the night, Obama had his largest margin of victory in Idaho, 82% to 17%, taking 15 of the 18 delegates. we did our part. the movement is on. so great that Idaho was a player this year. for once feeling like a legitimate part of the process. once again making me feel proud to be an Idahoan.

let's see this through, eh?
i'm liking the looks of things for Obama, and for the country with him as our next president. exciting times!

cheers.
gilbert

1 comment:

Tessa Sheehan said...

Hey guys and chicks,
I just wanted to let you all know that whatever message, show, opinion you'd like to get out there sunvalleyonline.com can help. I know Cam from bumping into him in Moscow when you played at Mikey's Gyros-how i miss thee-and now I work for SVO. I'd like to get a younger crowd throwing their thought around on the site so check out the blogs on it...http://blog.sunvalleyonline.com/.
Thanks,
Tessa Sheehan