///woke up before daylight in New Hampshire to hit the road for our 9am load-in for a recording session in Burlington, VT. beautiful sunrise on our way. fog. fall colors.
our friend Jamie Wiener engineered the session at Eclectic Recording Studios. with just two eight hour days to work with, we focused on 4 songs. three of which have been in live rotation for awhile now: Battle, Bus Pilot and the new version of Mahoney (My Homie). the fourth song we laid down is brand new. we started practicing it the week before tour and have played it a few times on this tour to help get it ready. it's called Antoinette.
we got drum tracks for all four songs done on the first day as well as keys on Battle, then cruised back to Jamie's farm house about an hour away north of Montpelier and ate dinner with him and his wife Alex. they cooked up their rooster that had been killed by a weasel a couple of days before. it was surprisingly good. we slept amazingly.
next morning we got to hang with their kids Finneas and Zephyr as well as their goats and pigs -- super cute -- before heading back into Burlington to finish up. we had an amazing time at their farm. really blessed to have such good people in our lives.
second and final day of recording went great. busted all the keys, guitar and vocal tracks without any major problems. curious to hear how it'll all turn out. no direct plans for release just yet, but it felt good to get the ball rolling on some new recordings.
cruised back to New Hampshire that evening in a pretty nasty rain / snow / sleet storm, but made it safely to Lisa's parents house and hit the sack since we had an early date at Lisa's high school alma mater in the morning.
///super beautiful fall Sunday in New Hampshire. spent it with Lisa's family -- the Simpsons. riding bikes. hangin with bunny rabbits. checkin out old cars. getting shot with airsoft guns. playing Legos. watching star wars. and eating some good home-cooked food. and some much needed rest.
thanks Bruce + Laura + Nina + Kevin + Heather + Josh + Jared + Gracie + Jacob Simpson!!!
///back at The Barley House in Concord, NH -- ground zero of the infamous New Hampshire presidential primaries. lots of memorabilia on the walls and a shrine to Ronald Reagan next door. awesome.
fun show. thanks to Rose and Anne and Dana and everyone else for making it out. and thanks to Cory for having us and feeding us some good grub. nice crowd for a good chunk of the show.
rainy rainy night in 'ol New Hampshire. torrential downpour as we were loading out... the friggin Nile was flowin underneath the van... it was pretty hilarious. we got very wet.
///we ended up having two shows at CMJ on Friday. the first being part of the Portland Showcase at the Knitting Factory during the day... we were grouped into this showcase thanks to our friends at Tender Loving Empire... load in was at noon. it was intense. three floors of rock music. all day.
we played right in between good friends and Tender Loving Empire labelmates Super XX Man and Jared Mees & The Grown Children. it was a tight stage. we rocked it hard. it was a our last show with The Grown Children on the two week family tour we'd been on and had started in Clarkston, WA. their set after ours was the bestest. it raged. we were all onstage for their last song. perfect end to two weeks of awesomeness.
the whole Portland Fest day was a big love fest with friends. our buddies Merrill and Patrick from Sister Suvi even made it over. soooooo good to see them. very bummed we weren't able to catch any of their sets. we also made some new friends in Strangers Die Everyday who played before Super XX Man and were very very cool.
here's a blogger review from this afternoon set... that includes some very kind words aimed at us: Best of CMJ includes a big photo of lots and lots of the people that performed that afternoon... including Lisa and I (in the back).
we wrapped things up at the Knitting Factory then headed over to Williamsburg (Brooklyn) for our night CMJ showcase at The Charleston... grabbed some epic pizza across the street, then hunkered down for a rather strange but super fun show with Capitol K, Peachcake and Team Genius. all were super nice. we closed the evening out at around 1am to a cozy and rowdy basement of friends and friends of friends and CMJ showgoers in general... even our recent tour buddies Low Red Land showed up to rage with us... and The Grown Children! and Scott from Super XX Man! and Marty! and Steve-o! and Kyle! and so on and so on. fantastic end to a wild wild couple of days.
things got really weird after the show at where we were supposed to crash nearby... so we said goodbye to The Grown Children then cruised back to Steve-o's for another night of comfy, but not very much sleep...
///rolled into NYC around 6pm and headed straight to Greenwich Village and the church where we were supposed to check in for the CMJ Music Marathon that was already two days over and would be what we would be up to for the next two days. www.cmj.com
after getting checked in we met up with The Grown Children then went on a direct pursuit for Indian food. we succeeded in that mission, but parking was a whole nother story. Jared and I drove around for a good 30 min before finally settling on a spot near the restaurant... turns out it was metered until 10:30pm!! so i got nailed with a $65 parking ticket... not too stoked about that...
but the amazing Indian food made up for it... as well as the company...
from there we cruised to the Lower East Side and spent the evening venue hopping catching a bunch of CMJ shows... highlight being bumping into our friends from We Vs. The Shark and then catching their side project's set at the Cake Shop... Pegasuses XL. it was awesome. although sound at the Cake Shop wasn't all that awesome. soon found out that the best part of CMJ was bumping in to friends and chillin with friends... friday would embody this spirit super well... thursday was a good start...
also dropped in to the Mercury Lounge, the Living Room, the Bowery Ballroom, Crash Mansion and Arlene's Grocery. ended at Arlene's and just hung out at the bar since we were with our friend Steve who didn't have a CMJ badge... super fun night. hangin with Jared, Brianne and Megan in NYC. we were all very excited. we were originally supposed to play a Fanatic showcase this night, but it being cancelled allowed us to just chill and roam... it was nice.
we all crashed that night at Steve-o's place in Brooklyn. yet another late night.
///unbelievable drive through rural upstate New York between Ithaca and Oneonta. rolled into town around 5pm and headed straight to Hope and Joseph Von Stengel's place... good buddies of ours from the Moscow days... they were hosting a pre-show potluck and invited us over for some grub and hangtime.
show that night was a benefit for the Oneonta Teen Center and held there as well. what a rad space. decent crowd came out on a rainy and cold Wednesday night. it had been set up by Joe, who has collaborated with us on several occasions now doing projections with his MAshUp, RE-Mix Digital MEdia SHow. the space worked great for the collaboration. the whole show was videoed and we should have footage soon. really really fun working with Joe. check out more of his work and philosophy at culturerecycling.com
Jared Mees & The Grown Children played first. here's a few photos and a video of "Slabtown (Friday Night)" featuring Joe's projections... keep in mind that this video is lo-fi off of my digital camera, and not from the video that the venue did... still pretty cool though... note Zissou Cam dancing....
Joe's always been a wealth of quality conversation... thus we conversed into the wee wee hours... lots of big thinking. psyched we've been able to schedule stops in Oneonta on all of our tours out East... this was the first official show though. cool town. look forward to more.
///long rainy drive through north western Pennsylvania and in to New York state up to Ithaca. cold and rainy was definitely the theme. beautiful place though. still plenty of fall leafery remaining for our eager eyes. lisa, however, stayed focused on her reading addiction...
show that night was mostly about visiting Ithaca and seeing our BFF Liz Bageant. all of those things were accomplished marvelously. show was fun, although pretty sparsely attended. good times. cool place. Lost Dog Lounge. right in downtown. thanks to Sprocket for having us and for incredible hospitality.
another wild adventure after the show as The Grown Children's infamous van James Brown was once again not starting... we pushed it around in the rain for awhile with some drunk guys, then shuttled everyone to Liz's house for some sleep.
///got an early start from Middletown since we had an 11am appointment in Columbus, OH to film an in-studio performance and interview with Palestra.net. we met them at the studios in the 1305 Artists Ltd building. really nice place. great staff. thanks to Freddy and Jason for their hospitality!! and to Brian, Nick and Dan from Palestra for having us and asking some fantastic questions. we played three tunes: Detamble Wings, Pankakes and Geology. and interviewed for about a half hour. should be posted on their site in the next couple of weeks.
from their we headed north to Cleveland. the drive was gorgeous. 65 degree fall day in Ohio. fall colors ruling. rolled into Cleveland and the home of Cliff & Marie Hershman -- parents of Jake from The Grown Children -- in Shaker Heights. super rad place and they were incredible to us. lots of food and comforts of home. beautiful yard. and a basketball hoop. my inner basketball star came out immediately.
show that night was at a funky little place called Pat's In The Flat's tucked in an industrial part of Cleveland, just down a hill from the hip Tremont neighborhood. Pat's is owned and operated by Pat -- an older lady and an obvious institution in Cleveland. newspaper articles and photos on the wall talked about and showed that Pat's has been bringing blue collar Cleveland and alternative underground music together since the late 80's. lots of history.
show ended up being a blast. not a huge crowd, but a great crowd. lots of dancing and merrymaking. a fun fun sextet from Kent, OH called See Urchin opened the show and set the fun knob on high from the getgo. one of the most fun shows of tour so far. after sweaty sweaty Grown Children and Finn Riggins sets, local Sarah Nowicki provided a nightcap with her perty tunes on elec. guitar with some help from cello player Matthew. solid night all around. and we made some great new friends.
thanks to Steve (lightning fingers) for setting the show up, Pat!, See Urchin!, Sarah and Matthew!, Cliff & Marie!, the Grown Children, and everyone that danced and made this Monday night show in Cleveland super super super fun.
///sunday. spent the day relaxing hard and catching up on some internet bizzzzz. thanks to our buddy Josh and his Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob for the hospitality and cozy place to hid out at for the day and night!!
///we were super excited to be back at Tree's Farm... we befriended the family in April on our last tour when our old friend from Moscow, ID -- Josh Kettleshake -- set us up to play in their barn after a show in Cleveland fell through... we had such a good time with them that we routed them back in on this tour... and this time, we were going to help them celebrate their daughter Mary's 10th birthday and what would probably be the last music fest/party at the farm.
with The Grown Children in tow, we rolled in around 5:30 to homemade chili and sunshine and a happy happy Tree and Big Dannie and Mary and friends. after munchin some dinner we got the PA and stage setup on their back porch and got the opening band Rev & The Hot Carls started just after sunset. they had put up some crazy lights shining on the trees above the stage and this blue light that responded to the music. and a bonfire to help keep us all warm since it was definitely pretty chilly. it was a Halloween Costume Party too, so that definitely helped increase the intensity of the setting. pretty trippy all around.
Tree's Farm regulars Burnt Grass played second. and featured our buddy Josh on drums. they were dressed as Alvin & The Chipmunks and were suckin helium balloons on stage. very hilarious set. it was obvious that they were amongst friends and family. even sang a fun song about the farm. amongst other things.
we were scheduled to play a first set before The Grown Children and a second set after them... made for a wild night. our first set was fun and included lots of tunes that we thought Mary would be excited to hear since she probably wouldn't still be awake for our second set... we closed with her favorite song "A President, A Pacifist, An Auto Restorer" and it featured most of The Grown Children onstage in their bandito costumes and sombreros and local trumpet master Jason. here's a video of that tune from a distance... gives you a decent idea of the setting... so fun.
after that, The Grown Children played a good long set. it was wild and fun as usual. and sounded great in the blue light. really interesting to see them in that setting. once again, Cam played the whole set with them as a bonus drummer. i enjoyed it all immensely.
from there it kind of gets crazy. our second set consisted of Pankakes, Thumbs To Muse, Mahoney > A Whale, A Fish > Blackrock. then we started bringing up members of The Grown Children, starting with Kevin on additional drums at the end of Blackrock. then Sam (fiddle) and Jake (bass) joined in. they're also known as the appropriately-named Team Of Mavericks. it got crazy from there. played an old tune of mine from the Oracle Shack days called MIC, then a pretty sloppy but inspired Pump It that included my Tall Tales rap... all for our buddy Josh.... then for awhile we jammed on several different things old and new before bringing it back to some tunes to end the set... Geology > Glitch > noise freakout > Battle. it was pretty rad. the six of us really settled in together for the final stretch. really enjoyed the Finn Riggins Mavericky Grown Children set. we've been getting a kick out of recent superjams with our friends. this was pretty damn fun. and the perfect setting to rock it out like that.
by the time we were all packed up and crashing out it was around 4am or so. wow. big thanks for the day of rest today. and on that note, i'm off to bed.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Tree + Big Dannie + Mary + Josh + Josh's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob for the cozy place to stay today and tonight and for dinner and for cookies and for the opportunity to watch some baseball + everyone else that made the Hallow Tree Jam such an incredible experience.... it will definitely be much much much different than NYC in 4 days... wow.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
///woke up to an epic brkfst at Denny & Joan's. they were unbelievable hosts. 5 star hospitality. impossible to thank them enough. they even came down to Bloomington for the show at Rhino's All Ages that night. and danced. on stage. as did everyone else that night during the Jared Mees & The Grown Children set... despite bunches of kids outside the venue, they were all apparently uninterested unless the music inside was "christian hardcore". talk about a limited worldview. so yeah. big room. not that many people. only a couple for the local opener Sean Magwire's set.... our set was booming around the empty building and the 30 or so people there now were scattered around the room... so when The Grown Children took the stage they insisted that everyone join them on the big big stage... which effectively shrunk the performance space and made for a fun set. lots of sing-a-longs and booty shakin. and Cam setup most of his drums and played the whole set with them. Jake dangled from the rafters. it was awesome.
Rob Freeman of Kevin's former band Stranger Lazy closed the night out... with Kevin on drums and a bass player... show was over before midnight... which led to a really really fun afterparty a little outside of town with a campfire and some tasty beverages. some serious family tour bonding went down. it was pretty stellar.
more photos from the evening:
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///WIZARD ROCK FEST indeed ///gilbert
///rolled into Indy in the late afternoon to an amazing welcome from Joan and Denny Fitzpatrick (parents of Grown Children drummer Kevin Fitzpatrick) who would be our host for the evening and the following morning... they had cooked up a bunch of spaghetti and salad and bread and all kinds of other goodies for us. it was quite the smorgasborg. we heart Joan and Denny. they are some of the sweetest most fun people we've ever met. they were incredibly generous and a blast to hang out and chat with. our stop there really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Kevin grew up in Indy and used to play in a band around the area called Stranger Lazy so he was super stoked for this stop on the family tour... he had helped recruit AMERICA OWNS THE MOON -- his favorite Indianapolis band. and wow, we all know why now. def. check them out. really killer stuff.
show was at a super classy place called Radio Radio ran by Tufty -- the bass player of the Zero Boys and now Bigger Than Elvis as well. Radio Radio was obviously ran by musicians. it was an incredible pleasure to play there. and Tufty and Ronnie and Jeff were all super cool. got a good chance to talk music and history with Tufty. what a rad guy.
a bunch of Kevin's friends and family came out to the show, which was really fun. it was a really really great night. spirits were very high. here are some more photos from the evening:
JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN
AMERICA OWNS THE MOON
KEVIN and his friend MEGAN
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///THANK YOU JOAN AND DENNY FITZPATRICK!!!! ///gilbert
///rad rad show at the infamous Cal's Liquors in Chicago this night. setup while watching the last debate between Obama and McCain. it was pretty sweet to be watching it on Obama's turf. lots of enthusiasm for the spanking that Obama unleashed on McCain. helped fire up a spirited show.
the setup in Cal's is a lot like a house show. we setup on the floor and played first right in the middle of this old bar right in downtown Chicago. it was rowdy from the getgo. really fun set. then the Grown Children crushed the place after a long weird day for themselves. raising everyone's spirits. it was a rad crowd. for that, we have Cal's to thank, but most definitely the local headliner RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM.
RHTRB were rad. definitely check them out. really really fun set. very thankful to have hooked up with them this time around. our best Chicago show yet. by far.
big thanks to Mike (cal's), Raise High The Roof Beam, Miles from Kilo Records for helping with this show, Joe and Jake from Makeshift Prodigy for the epic place to crash south of Chicago... late night jams included... and to everyone else that came out to the show!
here's a video of the last song of RHTRB's set. rad tune. and unleashed a little dance dance in 'ol Cal's... fun fun.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
///lots of windmills popping up all through Iowa. rad to see. obvious why despite being in traditionally red state territory, that Iowa is strong for Obama. really inspiring to see rural America on board for a greener future...
show that night was at The Mill, a historic venue in Iowa City, and part of a new Tuesday night series called Tuesday Night Social Club. cool scene. finally played in Iowa. the odd doppleganger of Idaho in the minds of many of confused Americans... apparently according to the number of times the two states get mixed up, despite being very very different geographically. good town though.
played with a rad Chicago band called Brighton MA. great guys. dug their set. and their encore was one of the longest strangest experiences... it was wild. and ended with Kevin (grown children) on the drums with their lead guitar player and bassist and an audience member on vocals for an absolutely epic version of AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night Long". unbelievable.
thanks to Andre, The Mill, Sam, Tuesday Night Social Club, Ben for the place to crash, Craig from Public Space One for helping set the show up, the folks at KRUI for the same and for helping to promote, and everyone that came out to the show.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
///we ended up cancelling our Minneapolis show for this particular monday night due to venue issues, van trouble for the Grown Children and questionable road conditions ahead... turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we didn't get out of Sheridan until about 5pm... we were blessed with a big 'ol full moon for our late night drive though... pretty amazing. we drove until the wee hours by moonlight... crashed in the van for a couple of hours in South Dakota... before getting up with the sun and continuing on to iowa city... gnarly drive.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
///woke up to slush and sun in Bozeman. the Grown Children's van James Brown wouldn't start the night before, but Kevin and I cruised over in the morning and managed to coax him into firing up by throwing in some fuel additives and jumper cabling it to our trusty Ghost Ghost. after a stop at the Co-op we trekked off toward Iowa City... 1249 miles away...
our Minneapolis show the next day had been cancelled due to the backup venue being closed by coppers... which was a blessing in disguise with snowy roads in front of us and a limping James Brown...
the drive was gorgeous. tons of snow in some places. fall colors still on the trees... obviously an early snow... it was beautiful. roads were mostly dry and we made good time. cashing in the day in Sheridan, Wyoming. landing a cozy place to stay at the Trail's End Motel. ate dinner in their lounge. sipped some whiskey rocks. and got a solid night of rest. hit the continental breakfast this morning... now James Brown is not starting again and we're waiting on some service help. the lounge here at the Trail's End has been incredibly accomodating with Wi-Fi and coffee... hope to hit the road soon. Iowa City is still 1000miles away. we have 28hours until we have to be there. hope is not lost...
we'll keep you posted.
here are some more photos from our drive yesterday...
JAMES BROWN
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses ///gilbert
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.
been in live rotation for awhile now: Battle, Bus Pilot and the new version of Mahoney (My Homie). the fourth song we laid down is brand new. we started practicing it the week before tour and have played it a few times on this tour to help get it ready. it's called Antoinette.
that had been killed by a weasel a couple of days before. it was surprisingly good. we slept amazingly.
