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
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