The legend continues... The Crawlspace / Waypoint Studios / Test Audiences / La Grande continue to host some of the coolest events that we've been blessed enough to be a part of... and Friday Sept. 26th -- CRAWLSPACE 3 -- was certainly no different. the Test Audiences and Waypoint Studio crew raised the bar once again with a brand new warehouse space right next door to the Waypoint Studio space that hosted the first two Crawlspace Invitationals... this one, scrubbed from it's years as a metal-working shop and cleared out... stage built on one end... merch table... bar... ping-pong table. tons of dancing space. 400 capacity easy. mind blowing what they've done to the place. and we and some friends helped them christen it on Friday... it was beautiful.
Avery Hook & Jeff Grammar kicked the evening off around 9pm with all of Test Audiences backing them up and Greg Rawlins also getting in on the action. a big family affair. very appropriate way to kick things off with everyone on stage part of the core of this rad scene around the Crawlspace and the budding art / music scene in La Grande...
after a short break, Test Audiences, the official hosts of the evening and our good good friends ripped into a big set of TA awesomeness... Avery, Jeff and Greg all stuck around on stage and kept the family spirit alive. here's some video of some goodness...
our buddies from Boise LE FLEUR made the trek over for the show and were Crawlspace virgins... stoked to have them there... and they sounded soooo good in the new space... Ivy's gorgeous vocals booming off the warehouse walls. you have to check them out: www.myspace.com/lefleur photo below by Shaun Daniel
things were running behind and kegs were going down like bowling pins, but at midnight:30 JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN took the stage for the first of several Album Release Parties they'll be doing around the country for their new album "Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money". which is stellar. and even features one of us finn rigginses on keyboards and some backup vocals on some tracks...
anyhow, they unleashed one of the most chaotic and crazy JM & TGC sets i've ever witnessed. complete mayhem!! in a most awesome way. i think there were as many interlude jams by the band in between songs with jared dealing with technical difficulties as there were songs played... all the songs were off the hook. in the middle of "Working & Drinking" another technical difficulty and the need for water led Jared to offer a deal for the first person to get him some water could finish singing the song... Lisa came through and her and Megan sang the end of the song with Jared in the crowd playing guitar... it was pretty epic. this photo by Shaun Daniel is proof... what a crazy set. it bode very very well for the family tour that we'll be embarking on with JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN in just over a week... very very excited for it.
we took the stage sometime around 1:45am to 4 empty kegs and a surprisingly strong showing of peeps still there... luckily the Test Audiences crew had gathered donations in the middle of the Jared Mees set and managed to buy several more cases of beer... that probably played a big role in keeping as many people there as there was...
it was a pretty wild set for us as well... super high energy despite the hour... we wrapped up a little bit after 3am after a few different encores. probably could've coaxed us into playing longer if we didn't have to hit the road due to a job i had to be at at 10am six hours away in Ketchum, ID... we packed up and hit the road for home just after 4am PST... we rolled in to Hailey just after 10am MST... i was a little late... but considering i was running on barely an hour sleep and made the effort... my boss was more than understanding... i finally went to sleep at about 2am later that night... pretty crazy 48 hours for sure...
anyhow, it was yet another epic adventure at The CRAWLSPACE in La Grande... and we can't thank our friends in Test Audiences enough for being so awesome and such radical hosts... thanks Bill + Wayne + Annie + Josh. you rule.
definitely keep your ears and eyes peeled for more Crawlspace adventures as the legend continues...
our FALL US TOUR kicks off this Friday with a huge fun event in the mountains out Trail Creek... and then we're off... full tour itinerary at www.myspace.com/finnriggins
below are some more photos of our own from last Friday's show at the Crawlspace...
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///love, gilbert
look to the left... team Finn Riggins managed to notch 3 collective wins on the ping-pong table and make the ping-pong scoring wall...
///we just got home a few days ago from a pretty stellar 10-day tour of the NW and Inland NW. here's some recap and some highlights...
///9-4-08. The Red Room. Kennewick, WA.
opened for Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (brooklyn, ny). what a rad rad place the 'ol Red Room is. staff and everyone were so good to us... had home-cooked lasagna and an epic salad. some chips and salsa. and a bunch of veggies and fruit. it was pretty heavenly. show was fun too. we played a 30min power set, then cleared out for the MBAR team. enjoyed their set as well. they were good peeps. thanks to Caleb and Bryson and all the rest of the staff and family for such a rad start to our little mini-tour.
after the show we packed up and headed to Portland... rolled in late night and crashed with the Mees's.
///9-5-08. Music Fest Northwest. Portland, OR.
spent the day chillin in Portland and helping out around Tender Loving Empire headquarters. played that night at Slabtown as part of the TLE Showcase for Music Fest Northwest with labelmates Nick Caceres, Super XX Man, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Boy Eats Drum Machine. we played right in the middle. the turnout was fantastic... especially considering all the amazing bands playing at the same time... the TLE Showcase slayed it. friends and friends of friends. loved everyone's set. wouldn't have wanted to me anywhere else all night...
we took this day off to hang out with friends and check out some music at the festival... got some QT in with Milo and Jess and Noah... and Jared and Brianne Mees... hung out at some industry panels... munched some pizza and traded witty small talk and booking tips... stood in line to see Ratatat and Les Favy Fav... settled for free ice cream from the Ice Cream Man... later that night caught our old friend Justin Ringle with his band Horsefeathers at Holocene... super quiet and rad... from there saw our buddy Sean shed some drums for The Wherewithals at Rotture... then some of the Hillstomp set at Slabtown before heading for sleep... early morning looming ahead...
///9-7-08 Moscow Food Co-op Parking Lot Party: 35th Anniversary Celebration Moscow, ID
got up at 6am and headed inland toward Moscow... had a parking lot party to help setup. i used to work at the MFC and used to be such a huge part of all three of our lives, so we were pretty excited to be a part of this celebration. this show would also be the first of 7 shows in a row we'd play with our buddies
Ben Walden kicked the party off with some cameos from Von Walden (dad) and Henry... Dan Maher followed despite having been stung on the tongue by a hornet that morning. the Kim and Kenna delivered a spectacular update on the status of the Co-op on behalf of the Board of Directors... and after them Low Red Land slayed some Co-op folks of all ages, shapes and sizes. our set started right as it was getting dark... for a sunday night, Moscow sure brought it's game face and a bunch of people shredded some dance moves on the asphault. it was super fun. all in all, another Co-op success.
we post-partied at the new Shari's in Moscow. 24 hour grazing. we grazed hard all crammed into a cozy little booth. 4th meal had some guest stars in Mary Packer, Andy Jacobson and Sara Foster -- who would end up housing Low Red Land and Cam for the couple of days we were there...
///9-8-08 John's Alley. Moscow, ID
slept in. then slept in some more. Cam took Ben out for a run on Moscow Mountain... and hooked Mark and Neil up with some bikes for a little Palouse bike ride... we all met around 4pm and destroyed ourselves on the basketball court out at Mountain View Park. after some showers we cruised over to Jerry & Amy McMurtry's place for some BBQ, beers and we all helped crank out some homemade ice cream for desert. pretty epic.
show that night was off-the-hook. even on a Monday night, Moscow represented hard. and the Alley got danced and danced and danced till last call. it was pretty ridiculous in the fun factor.
///9-9-08 The Empyrean. Spokane, WA
The Empyrean has become a little bit of a home away from home... always excited to be there... with friends like Rhea and Chrissy and Michelle and Mike and Sean and his brother etc etc etc.... Sara Foster even came up for the show... it was a decent crowd for a Tuesday. locals Dominik Bar and The Farm Circle sandwiched the other two of us... Low Red Land shredded. The Farm Circle closed. what a rad group of kids. sweet tunes. a harp! lots of instrument switches. fun fun stuff. we scored some cookies then cruised to Couer d'Alene to crash with my sister.
///9-10-08 The Badlander Missoula, MT
thai spicy thai spicy thai spicy put all of our digestion systems through the ringer... those of us willing and qualified, employed the Wild Turkey to battle the intestinal demons... to mixed success. show was put on by Mike from Dead Hipster. we opened. dusted off Combover to kick the show off. it was a playful and fun set for us. Low Red Land followed with the thunder. locals Wartime Blues closed out the night why the rest of us celebrated being in Missoula...
got to catch up with our old Moscow friends Mamie and Kevin before the show. what sweethearts! oh my. it was awesome. we crashed at their cozy pad that night. so so nice of them. especially since we had another early morning awaiting us...
///9-11-08 Common Ground Cafe McCall, ID
got up around 7am for an ambitious day of driving and exploring. we were excited to take Low Red Land over Lolo Pass and along the Lochsa as we crossed back into Idaho. and we all had our sights set on Weir Hotsprings... as they were stoked to experience some natural hot springs...
just had to make a quick stop as we were all still processing the Thai Spicy experience...
turns out there's bears in them there hills...
drove a little ways more down the road and parked. after a nice little hike we were all bathing together on the side of a mountain... Bort (mark's dog) included:
Bort couldn't stop attacking the water. she's fierce and relentless:
we then began work on the Neil Thompson mansuit calendar for 2009...
then we continued on down through the epic spine of idaho drive... rolled into McCall around 4pm and slammed out setup at the Common Ground... all spiffied up since last year... new stage location... bigger stage... sand pit for dancing and chillin... Brian and Pam are awesome. please please support this place when and if you're ever in McCall. they've always been really good to us and do a lot for that community...
show that night was rad. great turnout. lots of dancing. big moon. 9/11. Ben (low red land) recently took part in Run For the Fallen... a non-political run to honor all the men and women that have lost their lives in Iraq. check it out: www.runforthefallen.org those guys lost a really good friend in the war, just two weeks before he was supposed to come home. pretty moving talking with them about it. this run sounded incredibly moving.
hung out with some locals into the wee hours. crashed at a nice cabin that was generously provided by Ben's ex-girlfriends parents. super cozy night for all of us.
///9-12-08 Visual Arts Collective Garden City, ID
super casual morning in McCall... then hit the road for Boise. stopped just south of Banks to go swimming in the Payette. sun was out. water was crisp. it was awesome. continued on and hit up Chiang Mai for some better Thai food than what Thai Spicy had to offer in Missoula...
show that night was a little disappointing turnout-wise. headliners System & Station rolled in late since they were coming all the way from Denver... we started a little before 9:30. we had a nice little crowd of folks that had come out. some buddies and some new friends. it was rad. most of them stuck around for Low Red Land, but when System & Station started there were just about 10 of us there. they had had a long day of driving, but they did there best to energize.
all week we'd been talking about doing a SPORTS show. it had been decided that we'd pull out all the stops for the tour closer in Poky. it's a fun place and we knew it could handle it.
show was awesome. a perfect way to end what turned out to be a very successful tour with Low Red Land. all around. they're rad. we all got along marvelously. very very similar wavelengths. they have a new album that just came out yesterday. it is sooooo good. go to www.myspace.com/lowredland to hear more and find out how to get yourself a copy...
sweet local band Spondee opened the show with a set of fun fun pop tunes. def. check them out: www.myspace.com/spondee123
here's some photos and videos from the SPORTS! night tour closer at the First Nash... go to www.myspace.com/finnriggins for more photos from this night and all of this tour...
NEIL
MARK
BEN
GILBERT
LISA
CAM
LOW RED LAND -- WEIGHT OF NATIONS
LOW RED LAND -- LANDMARK
LOW RED LAND w/ Lisa Simpson -- HAWK'S DIE (acoustic)
FINN RIGGINS -- A WHALE, A FISH
show ended with an unprecedented and pretty epic SUPER JAM with all of FINN RIGGINS and LOW RED LAND on the stage. unrehearsed and unscripted, we unleashed a 15min or so psychedelic improv to celebrate a love fest week of touring together. i suspect we all will tour as one once again... not sure when, but odds are very good that it will happen... thanks to everyone that made it out to any or all of the shows!! it was a super fun tour. appreciate all of you support, your energy, your dance moves, your generosity and good spirits.
///more details on our Fall US Tour to be announced soon. know for sure that we'll be making some appearances at the CMJ Music Festival in NYC and several other dates out East... full, regularly updated, tour itinerary at www.myspace.com/finnriggins
thanks for listening!!
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses //gilbert
/// things never really slowed down after the spring tour... we headed full bore into summer... most of the rest of May was spent at home working during the weeks, then playing shows either locally or regionally on the weekends.
some highlights:
///weekend trip in May with stops at the Yakima Sports Center in Yakima, WA where we played with The Dimes... followed by an early early morning to hustle to our set at the Eagle Island Experience Festival in Eagle, ID
/// one of our bestest friends TRAVIS SILVERS coming out to hang in Hailey with us and then hitting the road for some shows... he was on the good ship from 5/22/08 till 6/3/08. so good to get such a solid dose of the Travis factor. TRAVIS SILVERS:
/// big ranch party we hosted on Cam's birthday on 5/24/08 out at the Deb-Da-Doo Ranch. we invited a bunch of good friends from all over and several other bands as well... Test Audiences (la grande, or) + Hillfolk Noir (boise, id) + Craters of The Moon (boise, id) + Thomas Paul (boise, id) + Piers Lamb (hailey, id) all made it out and helped us rock the barn into the wee hours. it was a pretty rowdy day and night. things got a little bit crazy by the time we took the stage at midnight. it was an incredible party. there are some big visions for next year... we'll keep you posted.
/// the weekend after that we did a little family mini-tour with Jared Mees & The Grown Children. Brianne even made the trek helping the family be fully in tact. we kicked it off with a Boise Bicycle Project Benefit at the Visual Arts Collective down in the Boise, ID area. Golden Spun and Low-Fi also rocked that show with us all.
from there we cruised to La Grande for the CRAWLSPACE INVITATIONAL II with Test Audiences, Greg Rawlins and Shawn Daniels as well. friggin incredible show. completely off-the-hook. so so good. really set the table for the CRAWLSPACE INVITATIONAL III that will be going down in a couple of weeks on 9/26/08. these are unexplainable. they must be experienced.
TEST AUDIENCES (la grande, or):
from there, the family tour headed up to Spokane the next night to play at The Empyrean, which was rad. then ended the little mini-tour with a special sunday show at the One World Cafe in Moscow. so fun. really got us excited for more family touring... which is coming to fruition this fall when Finn Riggins + Jared Mees & The Grown Children will tour together across the US for 2 weeks to the CMJ Music Festival in NYC.
MEGAN & BRIANNE:
we stayed in Moscow for a couple of extra days and celebrated Lisa's birthday in our old stomping grounds.
/// two weeks later we hit the road for a 3 week West Coast Tour... most of which were with our buddy Tony aka OREM THE SINK. we picked him up in L.A. and dropped him off in Portland... helping him move up to 'ol PDX.
quick rundown of that tour: 6/11/08 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT --quiet but fun show. especially enjoyed the post-show basketball with Gary Vance.
6/12/08 Beauty Bar Las Vegas, NV --rad outdoor show amongst the buildings and powerlines. super muggy and hot. cool crowd. we didn't get shot. major bonus. both of the local bands were fun.
6/13/08 backyard BBQ show at Bella's House Fullerton, CA --started the Friday the 13th festivities off with a really fun set in our friends' backyard to help them house-warm. nice little neighborhood event. lawn chairs. potluck. dogs. kids. chillin.
6/13/08 The Michelsen Compound West Covina, CA --met up with our friends Asher in the Rye (logan, ut)... featuring our buddy Ashlee house... and also united with our new tour buddy Orem The Sink for the late show... another house party. this one inside. and the sweatiest show of the summer. oh my. Asher in the Rye were rad. they all came back to Bella's with us and we had a sleepover. it was epic.
6/14/08 Muddy Waters Santa Barbara, CA --another epic show at Muddy Waters. played with locals Run Rabbit Run. Orem The Sink opened. rad show. super high energy. our friend Abigail Noveen took some sweet photos... most of which are posted on our myspace site www.myspace.com/finnriggins...here's a taste:
BRIAN of THE MUTINEERS:
--we stayed with Brian and Merry from The Mutineers... they gave us the royal treatment... so good to us. fed us nicely and entertained us thoroughly. AND we got a much needed night of cozy rest. what sweethearts.
6/15/08 $ucka Free $unday @ Que Sera in Long Beach, CA --we took our time getting out of Santa Barbara... went over to our old Moscow friends Tiffany & Eric's place and had some breakfast. then early afternoon went to an all women's art opening in a rad backyard and Lisa played a solo set for an hour or so
--show in Long Beach that night was kind of a wanker. except for the fact that we got to rock with our most beloved buddies the WILDLIFE REFUGEES featuring Matt & Mark Clatterbuck and their sick bass player Stevie.
6/16/08 day off Hermosa Beach, CA --spent our one day off of this West Coast tour with our friends fondly known as the Hermosa Girls down in Hermosa Beach, CA. Susy, Kelly, Heather, Lindsay and co. took good care of us. it was fun being back as just nearly a year ago we had stayed there while recording "A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer" in neaby Torrance, CA. rad folks. we had a great night off with them.
--Cam and I rolled up into L.A. late night to hang with our buddies Woven. great to see them as well. we'll be playing with them again this fall. very excited about it.
6/17/08 The Airliner Los Angeles, CA --met up with our friend Augie up in Van Nuys, CA before the show. played some Wii. then watched the Celtics slaughter the Lakers to with the NBA Finals.
--show that night was weird and crazy... but strangely good. first band were jerks. our set was pretty rippin. have some long lost video of it that we hope to bring to light at some point... Church (portland, or) closed the show that night. they're friends of friends. fun to play with them. very cool stuff.
6/18/08 The Zombie Lounge San Diego, CA --buddy from Idaho: Wes Wallsworth happened to be in the area and we added him to the bill at the last moment. little party with friends. fun and divey evening. Orem The Sink played as well.
6/19/08 The Continental Glendora, CA --wow. almost all i can say. that and Rusty Jordan. Starving Daughters. Absolutely Parched. Orem The Sink. Summer. all in the house. and everything felt so right and hilarious. oh my.
6/20/08 The Crepe Place Santa Cruz, CA --Orem The Sink is now fully in the van and on tour with us. we got stuck in crazy traffic due to a raging forest fire. we made it alright.
--played that night with MAN/MIRACLE www.myspace.com/manmiracle rad rad band that used to live in Santa Cruz... now based in Oakland. show was phenomenal. super super sweaty and cramped. lots of body movin. definitely a highlight.
--afterwards we all went skinny dippin by moonlight in the ocean. pretty unbelievable. definitely check out Man/Miracle. so fun.
6/21/08 Satellite Lounge Reno, NV --had a nice drive up to Reno. stopped and some of us went swimming in Donner Lake near the top of Donner Pass... Reno was crazy weird as usual. played with St. Lawrence and The Touques. pretty sparse. oh reno. we enjoyed the adventure of it.
6/22/08 Mama Buzz Cafe Oakland, CA --returned to the 'ol Mama Buzz Cafe for the first time in a while... fun fun. nice and early sunday show. dug the art that was up at the time. nice little crowd for a sunday. Orem The Sink slayed it.
6/23/08 Cafe Du Nord San Francisco, CA --highligh of tour. played with good friends TARTUFI www.myspace.com/tartufi and THE DONT'S www.myspace.com/thedonts. only bummer was Orem The Sink had to sit out. show was packed at the classy and pretty big Du Nord. had a bunch of friends come out. really really fun show. Tartufi completely floored the place at the end of the night. played mostly new stuff. incredible. hung out into the wee hours in the city with them and some other buddies. then cruised back to Berkeley and crashed. (thanks to Chrissy for the comfy place to crash for a couple of nights!!)
6/24/08 Alex's Plaza Restaurant Ashland, OR --hooked up with our buddy Jeni up in Ashland and she would host us for the next two nights... ate an amazing dinner at Alex's. the show that night was sweet. nice crowd. Tony was great. and we toned everything down volume-wise, but were able to keep the energy up. cool scene. fascinating scene on the street after the show. trippers and cops and general merry-makers... and it was a tuesday. couldn't get over the guy standing in the street intensely urging us to marvel at his shiny purple bike with him. that guy and the fella standing in the street with his arms stetched to the heavens yelling all kinds of fantastical things that the cops were slowly surrounding. it was wild.
6/25/08 Stage Door Mount Shasta, CA --a friend we met our last time through California -- Sarabecca -- had since started a promotions company called Girl Genius Music Promotions... and she put together this sweet show for us. it was really fun. great little room. by this point, we'd fully fallen in love with Tony and his Orem The Sink stuff. and we'd been sitting in on his sets the last several shows. he's rad. really really fun tunes. really hilarious and awesome stage presence. you have to check him out. www.virb.com/oremthesink he also helps run a collective called the Prescott Family. here's a little video to wet your appetite:
6/26/08 Sam Bond's Garage Eugene, OR --due to a festival cancellation for the impending weekend, this was to effectively be our last show on this stretch... and definitely our last with Orem The Sink... however, early on in the drive Cam got a call that his Grandma up in Portland had suffered a severe stroke and that the rest of his family was flying in to Portland ASAP as it was unknown if she'd make it through the night. he kept in touch with his family and we tried our best to proceed as normal. upon arriving in Eugene, we had decided that Lisa and I would try and play our set and we would get Cam on a bus. we talked this through with the venue, trying to accomodate as best we could... we got to the bus station and discovered that another bus wouldn't be leaving until 9pm. it was 5pm at the time. not wanting Cam to have to wait, we decided to cancel and we all headed north to Portland. definitely a bummer way to end the tour. but we all made the most of it and were more interested in making sure Cam could be with his family. ironically, we were going to play a special show at the retirement home that his grandma had been staying at two days later on saturday the 28th.... we just missed her.
--cam's grandma died 2 weeks later with her whole family around her. sounded like a perfect way to go... and we're thankful that she went so peacefully.
///July was our first real sense of being home... we kept busy, but everything was very local. played all kinds of fun shows around the Wood River Valley... it was really really nice... sleeping in our own beds and being a part of the community we live in...
///toward the end of the month we hosted JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN as they were wrapping up a West Coast Tour of their own. super fun weekend. rocked Whiskey Jacques with them on a friday night... RIP Whiskeys!!! that was our last show there... it burned to the ground earlier this week... it will certainly be missed. we also cruised down to Pocatello with them for a night of ridiculous joy at the First National. then escorted them up to Redfish Lake where they played the Music From Stanley Series and got their minds blown by the Stanley area. we picked up our buddy Merrill (tune-yards, sister suvi) in Stanley and brought her to Hailey and we all had a massive sleep over. family family family fun.
JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN @ Redfish Lake... check the dancing bug nets...
///other highlights of the summer:
--appearances at the Northern Rockies Folk Festival + Music in the Mountains + Summer Meltdown + Bellevue Labor Day Festival + Ketch'em Alive w/ Fareed Haque Group + Wicked Spud
--hosting Or, The Whale + Chase Pagan at the Visual Arts Collective with Golden Spun and Craters of the Moon. sweet sunday night show.
--rocking the Garden City Library!!
--killer show at The Artistery in Portland, OR with World's Greatest Ghosts and White Fang on 8/7/08... that elicited this rad poster by Lloyd E Winter IV:
--Madison Street Music Fair outside The Empyrean in Spokane, WA on 8/10/08!!
--triple header on 8/23/08. woke up in a rest area in Oregon after a serious night of rock in Payette, ID the night before. got to La Grande, OR by 10am to setup for our noon set at Crossing The Blues: La Grande Summer Festival. played from noon - 1:30. hung out for a little while then headed to Boise for a show at the Neurolux with Le Fleur. was supposed to be Hockey as well, but they got stuck in Denver due to van trouble. the Neurolux show was super fun. bunch of friends and we absolutely love Le Fleur. good buddies. as soon as that show was done at 11pm, we cruised out to Farmer Brown's in Meridian, ID where we would be closing the Outta Town Git Down: an after-party for the Tour De Fat that took place in Boise that day... we were supposed to go on around 12:30am after Kamphire Collective... we didn't end up going on until 2:30am. played a 2 hour set until 4:30am. really really inspired and fun set at that. we were stunned how many folks rocked out with us that late... super fun. pretty epic day all around. we crashed hard when all was said and done.
--our friends Eric & Julia's wedding right here in Hailey on 7/19/08. oh my. what a riot!! holy dance party!
--camping!! actually got some camping in this summer... and some fishing!! a little hug-and-release for ya:
///i think that covers most of what transpired this summer... it was a good one... not a lot of slowing down... in August we also finally found sometime to start rehearsing and writing new stuff as we gear up to record another album this winter... in the meantime, lots more action this fall. just finished a 10 day tour of the Northwest and we hit the road in three weeks for another big US tour. details coming very soon. for full itinerary go to www.myspace.com/finnriggins
///thanks for listening.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
///our apologies. but the everyday life of being a musician has got us wayyyyy too far behind on this blog. so here's a quick summary... then we're moving back to the NOW.
spring tour wrapped up like this:
///Day 56: 4/30/08. driving day across minnesota and montana. slept in the van. went a little stir crazy with home looming oh so close. note how far till our destination... 1140 miles!! 18:57 hours!!!
///Day 57: 5/1/08. played at FRIEND FRIEND FRIEND FEST at The Badlander in Missoula, MT. a rad three-day festival hosted by Dead Hipster Productions. we helped kick it off on the first night. it was a sweet bill with 7 other rad bands. they had two stages and banged out band after band after band. also on our night: We Vs. The Shark + His Mischief + Tuff Mo + Apples of Dischord + Arrows To The Sun + Good Neighbor Policy + Deny The Dinosaur. all were pretty sweet. we hit it off particularly well with We Vs. The Shark. rad rad band. and awesome people. look for more meetings between Finn Riggins and WVTS in the not so distant future...
WE VS. THE SHARK (athens, ga)
///Day 58: 5/2/08
crossed into Idaho for the first time in 2 months. it seemed more beautiful then ever. althought we had two days before we'd actually be home home, we were all pretty excited to be back in Idaho. we played a really cool show at Agenda Clothing in Rexburg, ID that night thanks to our good good buddy Brent who hooked it up and played with us as his super duper self THE AWFUL TRUTH. also on the bill that night were Johan The Angel + Canoe.
afterwards we "partied" super hard into the wee hours drinkin Dr. Pepper and watching Molly Shannon. it was epic.
THE AWFUL TRUTH:
///Day 59: 5/3/08. ended the primary 9 week stretch of the tour on a super high note headlining THE REALLY BIG SHOW in Pocatello, ID... an all day festival to benefit KISU 91.1 FM and Poky Free Bikes... it was held at the Portneuf Brewery. all day the bands played outside. it was a great lineup. included our buddies Low Red Land (san francisco) as they played an acoustic set and The Future of The Ghost (slc, ut) who we had played with 3 weeks earlier in Vermont... pretty wild. also locals A.W. Feldt, Warbonnet, Jessica McAleese and Libbie Linton. it was a fantastic day. then the evening ended with a super long Finn Riggins set inside the brewery... it was cramped, but made for a lot of energy. what a blast. afterwords, we ran over to the First Nash to try and catch the end of Low Red Land and Dusty Rhodes & The River Band... but missed them and settled for some late night antics over at the Best Western where we were all staying... all in all, a rad way to end tour. (even though we'd only be home for three days... we'd be home nonetheless...)
LEVI & CHENOA -- KISU Djs and super cute hosts of The Really BIG Show
WARBONNET (pocatello, id)
///Day 60: 5/4/08. home.
back to the HELIBASE:
as a reminder, here's what our yard was like when we left for tour:
we were home for three days before continuing on for the final leg...
///Day 63: 5/7/08 played at the Great Pacific in Pendelton, OR. a dark horse show indeed. really really cool crowd. especially for a Wednesday night. great show. great food. thanks to Peter and Ken and everyone else that played a role in it. we hung out for awhile afterwards then hit the road for Moscow...
///Day 64: 5/8/08 woke up in Moscow!! thanks to our buddy Sara Foster for letting us roll in super late night... our long lost pal Liz met us bright and early... waking up in Moscow is almost more like waking up at home then at our actual home... we were pumped to be there... despite knowing it would be short lived. we played that night at the infamous John's Alley. our friends THE MAGIC MIRRORS opened the show and what a rager it was! wowzers. us and the sweaty dance party rocked right up until closing time... the bar quickly pushed everyone out the door, we packed up and hustled home for our 3 hours of sleep that were awaiting us...
///Day 65: 5/9/08 got up at 6am and hit the road as we had an early appt. with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in Portland at 2pm to record an interview and live performance for later broadcast. here's a link to the OPB site that has photos, video and audio of it all: http://opbmusic.org/performances/45-Finn-Riggins
after the OPB session, we caught a quick bite with Jared & Brianne Mees and Mr. Jerome Nobles, then piled in and headed for Salem, OR for a show that night at the IKE Box with Insomniac Folklore + Seahorse + Breviamor. Jerome joined us. it was a fun show. we were glad it was an early one. we cruised back to Portland, dropped Jerome off then crashed super hard at the Mees's comfy pad after an incredible 36 hours.
///Day 66: 5/10/08 played an absolutely epic house party out in Southeast Portland that night. it was off the hook. completely incredible. packed basement. lots of sweat. lots of "totes". lots of "not my chair not my problem". lot of banter and sweat and unruliness. what a blast.
///Day 67: 5/11/08 Mother's Day. we all called our moms, then honored them by first rocking an in-store at Music Millenium in Southeast Portland in the early evening. then we packed up super fast to run over to Berbati's Pan to load-in for the TENDER LOVING EMPIRE 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY. which was amazing. just a big 'ol happy family. and truly the end of our monster spring tour. it was an action packed show with Nadine Mooney + Super XX Man + Saw Whet Sideshow + Southern Belle + Newspapers + Jared Mees & The Grown Children + Boy Eats Drum Machine... and we polished the night off just after midnight. incredible turnout. especially on a sunday. we ate birthday cake and whooped it up. so blessed to be surrounded by such good good people. very very very thankful we are. thank you all for being in our lives and being inspirations and support for all that we do!!
Finn Riggins is a band. a co-ed trio. with independent tendencies. a hunger for artistic collaboration. and a lean toward the fun side of life.
we tour a lot. we see lots of bathrooms. some cleaner than others. Lisa Simpson is the guitar shredder and vocalist for Finn Riggins and she's begun collecting Bathroom Graffiti to share with this world.
with a brand new warehouse space right next door to the Waypoint Studio space that hosted the first two Crawlspace Invitationals... this one, scrubbed from it's years as a metal-working shop and cleared out... stage built on one end... merch table... bar... ping-pong table. tons of dancing space. 400 capacity easy. mind blowing what they've done to the place. and we and some friends helped them christen it on Friday... it was beautiful.
difficulties as there were songs played... all the songs were off the hook. in the middle of "Working & Drinking" another technical difficulty and the need for water led Jared to offer a deal for the first person to get him some water could finish singing the song... Lisa came through and her and Megan sang the end of the song with Jared in the crowd playing guitar... it was pretty epic. this photo by Shaun Daniel is proof... what a crazy set. it bode very very well for the family tour that we'll be embarking on with JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN in just over a week... very very excited for it.
of beer... that probably played a big role in keeping as many people there as there was... 
