Day 16: The Soul Bar. Augusta, GA. 3-20-08

We spent the day basking in the sun and near perfect weather that blessed us in Aiken, South Carolina all day... 70 degrees and sunny. We cruised around town a little bit and then caught up with our new friends Nick and Elizabeth in a cute little neighborhood where Elizabeth and her kids lived. Cam and them ended up never returning to the hotel room the night before as they raged it until sunrise... sounded like quite the escapade... and thus they were all a little pooped. We were thoroughly entertained by Liz's kids: Ellen Wallace, William and Cannon as we all played out in their front yard for a good chunk of the afternoon... riding skateboards, playing basketball, playing badminton, riding big wheels, etc etc etc.

Lisa and I also cruised over to Nick's parents place for a bit where we met Gepetto -- his large horse friend of the Belgian sort. He was a big friendly horse. He tried to talk to us a few times but couldn't seem to get the words out.

The show that night was actually across the river in the town of Augusta, Georgia -- home of The Masters golf tournament and James Brown. In fact, we played at The Soul Bar, which James Brown apparently frequented right up to his death and often played impromptu shows there. They had James Brown memorabilia all over the place. The venue was amazing really. One of the coolest bars i've ever been in. Rad lighting. Rad music. Rad staff. Rad beers. Rad high ceiling. Rad sound, despite the funky stage setup. It was such a cool place. The scene was fantastic. Thanks to Coco for owning and operating such a treasure. And he DJ'ed all night before, between and after the show setting an absolutely pristine mood in the place. Hard to fully explain how rad this place was, but trust me, if you're ever in the area, go check it out. There and Nacho Mamas a couple doors down... cheap and epic mexican food.

We played a nice long set. It was a really really fun show. Great crowd through it all, apparently pretty pumped too. All really nice and enthusiastic -- called a really inspired set out of us.

After us, The Burgundy Curtain debuted their live set for a bunch of friends and locals that had come out to support. They're set was rad, despite some technical problems with the computer that was housing the programming. Really cool electronic / pop / post rock stuff. Check them out at www.myspace.com/burgundycurtain The sound and whole setting of the room was intense and inspiring, loved every moment of it. Thanks so much to Nick and Andrew for making this show happen, to Nick and Elizabeth for the hospitality, to Coco and The Soul Bar for hosting and for being rad, to Al and Leela and Lee and the rest of the staff for being stellar, and to everyone else that made the evening so radical.

Off to Florida!!!

Reporting for all of us Finn Rigginses :::
::: gilbert

Day 15: day off. 3-19-08. road to Georgia. big rainstorms. obama speech.

Woke up around 10am, rolled out of the van and stumbled into the gas station to go to the bathroom. The guy behind the counter was the one that was there when I wandered in around 3am to brush my teeth before going to bed. Felt a little funny that I had been sleeping in his parking lot for 7 hours and he was still there. Curious what he thought of seeing me again. If he even noticed. If he knew we had been sleeping outside the whole time. By the time I had used the restroom and brushed my teeth again, the sky had unleashed a massive downpour. I puddle-jumped my way back to the van getting quite soaked on the way. We shuffled ourselves around then hit the road for Augusta, Georgia where we’d be playing the next night and had some new friends to meet up with.


The rain kind of cleared up, but after about an hour on the road the sky once again unleashed the fury and we were driving in one of the worst rainstorms I’ve ever been privy to experiencing. It was relentless. Pounding our windshield. Our wipers couldn’t keep up at all and we were slightly concerned that the big cracks in our windshield might give way to this onslaught. The freeway was a legitimate river -- solid sheet of water. We decided to pull off and eat some breakfast rather than crawl along at such a slow pace, or risk getting in some sort of accident in the current conditions. Cam and I settled into another Waffle House adventure while Lisa cruised off to Target to quell her shopping urges.

By the time we were all done with our chosen indulgences, the rain had mostly cleared and we hit the road again. Just a few miles down the road there were a couple of major accidents holding traffic up and reassuring us of our decision to pull off when we did.

As we headed into Atlanta we heard from our buddy Travis -- from his perch in California -- as he had been seeing on the news about extreme weather out in Georgia. It had mellowed out, though, and we definitely seemed to be missing the worst of it. As we drove through Atlanta we noticed a bunch of the damage from the tornado that had ripped through the city just a few days prior. We also started hearing about major flooding in Southeast Missouri and Eastern Arkansas, an area we were in just a few days ago. Just a few steps ahead of the disasters it seemed. Pretty wild.

We got stuck in rush hour traffic in Atlanta for awhile, but soon broke free and cruised on to our hotel in Aiken, South Carolina -- the home of The Burgundy Curtain and right across the river from Augusta, GA. Nick from The Burgundy Curtain had set up the Augusta show and had helped us track down a cheap hotel room for the night -- our first of tour. Upon arriving, him and his childhood friend Elizabeth cruised over and we all shot the shit for a few hours before Cam and them decided to hit the town and Lisa went to bed while I nestled up with the computer to catch up on some work.

I’ve been thoroughly addicted to the current presidential campaign, as I’ve been sincerely moved by Barack Obama -- first back when he spoke at the 2004 convention, then again when my sister got me his book The Audacity of Hope, and now during this presidential campaign. I sincerely believe that he can help transform the political and overall mindset of our country. I believe that he represents a future that can help this country mature out of its adolescence that has had us as a nation thoroughly confused about who we are -- riddled with internal struggles, disagreements and immature bickering -- like any awkward teenager trying to figure out its path to adulthood. I not only trust that he will provide some truly sound judgement in the oval office, but will also be a leader that we as a people can trust -- something it seems we haven’t had for a long time. And that, coupled with his speaking ability and willingness to speak to us as if we’re intelligent creatures capable of understanding the complexities of our country and world, will help to renew the spirit of this great county and help us all tackle the growing challenges of an uncertain future here on earth together. Its wild. Its historic and an opportunity that we would be fools to let pass us by. Its been frustrating watching the cheap political maneuvers of old from both the Right and the Clinton campaign -- the kind of tactics that prey on our perceived ignorance and short attention spans and that at times are successful with many voters. Especially with this recent distortion of Obama's former pastor and what that relationship means about Obama and Obama’s views of this country. Complete and udder distortion. Then Obama gave one of the boldest and most remarkable speeches I’ve encountered in my lifetime.

Two days ago Obama gave a 40min speech on race relations and politics. I saw snippets about it on the front pages of all the newspapers at our stops all day yesterday, so around 2am I took a break from my work, sat back and watched his speech. Truly historic. Completely moved by what it asked of all of us, and it’s candor and willingness to talk frankly about the “elephant in the nation’s closet”. I felt myself transform. I felt myself being able to be honest about how race is perceived in my own mind and I sensed the transformation and realized what a mature conversation this was for anyone, much less the country as a whole. I noticed that this video had been the most viewed video on Youtube since it was posted and suddenly felt like I had entered into a new paradigm with everyone else that had seen it. It was unbelievable. I have little doubt that Barack Obama will be our next president, and know that it will be a great disservice to us all if he isn’t. Imagine a world with Obama leading the nation’s dialogue. The possibilities for a return to moral and intellectual greatness would be wide open to us. We could start carrying the responsibilities of being the leaders of the free world with true honor once again and be a part of a nation truly proud to be a part of itself, with the populace willing to do what it takes for the good of us all. A pipe dream? Maybe. But we’d certainly be a lot closer to it with Obama as our leader than anyone else that’s being offered to us at this point in time. I highly encourage everyone to watch this speech in its entirety. Don’t rely on the soundbites and the intense spin on him, race and so many other worthy issues in this country. Most of the press continues to fail us. Constantly sensationalizing and pushing us apart rather than helping us better understand the truth and what can help us work together. Remember that they’re profit machines. Nothing else. They are no longer here to serve us, only themselves. Listen to Obama and others willing to speak to us like adults... Watch this speech and continue to pay closer attention than the Clintons, talk radio, and others afraid of Obama would like you to. Pay close attention and make up your own mind. Here's a link to the speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

word. sorry for the monologue. don't mean to shove anything down anyone's throat, just wanted to share how i've been feeling about this whole issue recently. this speech re-stoked the fire for sure. pretty incredible.

Reporting from a moment of renewed inspiration and a lot of faith in our country’s future.
::: gilbert

Day 14: Preservation Pub. Knoxville, TN

Cruised out of Nashville relatively early in the afternoon despite a fairly short drive to Knoxville as we had been informed of a free pizza buffet at the venue between 5-6:30pm and didn’t want to miss out. We made it with plenty of time to spare, shoveled in some pizza then proceeded to explore the Market Square plaza that the Preservation Pub was a part of -- thoroughly enjoying the spring weather. As it got dark, I wandered around the square and came across a monument to the Women’s Suffrage movement and the women who had laid their lives on the line for the cause. Reminded me of the movie Iron Jawed Angels, which does a great job of capturing the spirit of the movement and the women that were a part of it. Some of the quotes on the monument really struck me and sent me into a nice inspired and introspective state of mind as I wandered amidst the street lamps and warm spring evening. Pretty intense imagining those women and the battle they fought against their own government. Hard to imagine that they faced so much resistance for something we take for granted now -- the right to vote. Hard to imagine that this great nation put up such a fight to withhold this right from women -- as if they're not as qualified as us men. I can only imagine the nightmarish things that talk radio would've said about these women had it existed at the time. Had me thinking about what our generation's big calling is and how we still see intense resistance to any calls for progress as if those fighting for it are anti-american or anti-family or anti-moral, etc etc etc. No different from what those women faced. Sometimes hard to put the present struggles in the context of history, but I suppose that's the role that monuments like this one play in our everyday lives. Although, as a I stood there, a guy walked by me and asked me what the monument was for, said he walked by it everyday and had never stopped to look at it. Rather telling i suppose -- one example as to why history is so easily forgotten... And why the sensationalism of talk radio is so popular...

Anyhow, it was a Tuesday, the University of Tennessee was on spring break, and it was the day after St. Patrick’s Day. We were warned that it could be a pretty quiet night by the staff of the Preservation Pub. Didn’t matter too much to us, we knew we had a long set to play and were excited to get the machine up and running again after our first day off. Sound guy Daryl rolled in around ten -- turns out he does sound for the Del McCoury Band, including a recent show at the winery outside of Boise that does music. Really nice guy. Enjoyed rapping out with him. We started around 10:30pm to a crowd of about 20 people.

The Preservation Pub is a big long rectangular box, with a high ceiling and the stage at the back end of the room. The 20 people there were hardly a dent in the big space. We did our thing. They did theirs. They were pretty subdued in general, but as the show went on showed some life and bantered with us about geography and other randomness. We had a good time with it. We were supposed to be splitting the evening with a band from Georgia, but they never showed -- odd, not really sure why a band would not show, not call, but I guess they knew it was going to be a quiet night and decided to bail. We stretched our set a little bit longer, then wrapped it up so that we could hit the road.

Had some interesting post-show conversations, and was psyched that several of the few folks there bought a bunch of merch. They were sweethearts. Despite this being the quietest night of tour, we left there warmed up again and pleased with the overall outcome -- and grateful for the opportunity to explore Knoxville. Met some good folks and will definitely be back. Hopefully sometime when school is in session and on a better night of the week.

Drove into the night -- headed toward Georgia. Pulled over before too long and crashed hard in the van. Felt soooo good. Another glorious night of sleep in a gas station parking lot. ahhhhhh...

Reporting from the land of infinite Waffle Houses for all of us Finn Rigginses ::::
::: gilbert

Day 13: first day off. Nashville, TN

This is our second tour that has taken us across the U.S. so extensively, and second time that we've landed in Nashville on such a tour, and we've yet to play a show in Nashville, although, it once again played host to a pretty epic day off. Due to our adventures the night before -- thus a noon wake up -- and an extremely pleasant early afternoon in Chattanooga where we had a leisurely breakfast at Aretha Frankenstein's with our new friend Jeremy then went and did some good food shopping at a Greenlife market, we didn't roll into Nashville until about 6pm.

We had arranged to visit our long lost buddy, bandmate and schoolmate from Moscow -- Brian Smith -- who now is taking the Nashville music scene by storm. He's a 1st class guy with an incredible tendency toward laughter and generosity, as well as being an incredibly professional drummer, all of which are serving him well in Nashville. He's been doing a lot of studio work, and session work and whatnot, but recently his main project -- pop-country band TelluRide -- signed a pretty major deal with a label there and just recorded a pretty major record at Sony Studios that will be released in a couple of months.

He definitely works in a whole different realm than us, as TelluRide recently reached #8 on the CMT video charts, and is in general putting out a super polished product to speak to an already established audience of pop-country enthusiasts. It's a well-branded product for sure. It was interesting to meet them all and get their perspectives on the whole game. Great guys. Really no different than us, just with different goals i suppose. Definitely different approaches to those goals.

We're psyched for Brian and his wife Angie, though, as he's living his dream and she's hammering out a nursing degree... their definitely living life to its fullest and we had a fantastic time catching up with them. That and Brian kept us super entertained on St. Patrick's Day running us around to all the local hangs and introducing us to folks. We saw some pretty epic coverbands and this amazing venue that Brian has been playing at a bunch recently called the Wildhorse... opening for acts like Foreigner, Sister Hazel, CCR, Hootie & the Blowfish, Richard Marx and other names from the past. Pretty wild. Pretty funny scene in general in Nashville. A world all its own -- it was super cool to get the insider's perspective. He even took us to "music row" where all the studios, labels, management companies, dentists, plastic surgeons, entertainment lawyers, publishers, music business school, etc etc have buildings. All within walking distance of themselves. Craziness.

We cashed in relatively early, then stayed up late sippin the high life and makin veggie sandwiches before finally yielding to a comfy night of sleep and dreams.

Reporting from the Goodyear blimp for all of us Finn Rigginses:::
:::gilbert

Day 12: JJ's Bohemia. Chattanooga, TN

We entered Tennessee via Memphis sometime midday with Chattanooga still around 300 miles away. We were wishing we had more time so that we could stop in Memphis and check it out for a little while, but alas, we settled for some whirlwind sight-seeing from the inside the Ghost Ghost as blew through town -- giant posters of Elvis and faux pyramids whizzing by. We drove through the Volunteer State towards the end of our fall U.S. tour, but besides an afternoon goofing off in Nashville, was mostly in the dark and we didn't get a chance to see much of the Tennessee landscape -- or maybe it just didn't strike us then. We were really impressed with the what the state has to offer, especially in between Nashville and Chattanooga, where they have some pretty good size mountains and some impressive lakes and other waterways. According to the locals, kayaking and other whitewater sports are really popular in the area as is the bass fishing -- not a whole lot of trout out this way -- but other than that was reminding us a lot of Idaho. Chattanooga in particular, as it was nestled in the hills and lakes, with a nice downtown area that was super mellow.

It was a sunday night. Sunday night before St. Patrick's Day. And upon arriving at JJ's Bohemia we learned that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was on spring break. Luckily, we do a good job of maintaining low expectations. It was our 12th show in a row, we were all a little spaced out from lack of sleep and showers, but we were all pumped to be sportin t-shirts in the startlingly perfect weather, and the vibe at JJ's upon arrival was instantly good. Rad murals on the walls outside and all kinds of goodness on the inside -- including a Kissing Booth.

This turned out to be a real darkhorse of tour. A sleeper show if you will. We ended up with two stellar and enthusiastic locals on the bill in Antebellum and Coy, both of which were quite different from each other but really talented and tasteful in their own ways. Antebellum reminded me of the experimentalism of Radiohead or more so My Morning Jacket or Wilco with the folk elements and sections of their set. Their friend Ben did video projections during their whole set and they overall did a great job of setting the vibe for the evening and getting folks pumped up. Coy followed with a high energy set of upbeat and funky pop, slightly reminiscent of early Ben Folds Five. Really fun tight set. Even through in a cover of the Beastie Boys' "Sure Shot" which was pretty cool. Definitely had the crowd riled. Already we were really impressed with the turnout considering all the factors, but curious how many would stick around for us Idahoans in town for the first time.

First of all, huge thanks to all the guys from Antebellum for leading the enthusiasm charge during Coy's set and then carrying it over during ours. Some more folks left before we started, but considering that it was 12:30am on a Sunday night, there were a lot that stayed. A posse led by the Antebellum boys (John Michael, Stratton, Eric "the Croatian Sensation", Travis, Jeremy, Leif... and others) brought the fire throughout our entire set with some of the wildest dance moves we've seen in years. Including a point during DeTamble when they were all on the floor writhing ecstatically. It was quite the scene. And made for a really really fun set and a lot of energy in the room in general. Their friend Ben did projections during our set as well, which increased the visual experience of the whole happening. Truly a dark horse show, and despite better overall turnouts at some shows, probably the best show of tour thus far -- a great way to end our first 12 days leading in to our first day off. Other folks deserving our thanks: Coy, Ben, Mandi, Zach and the rest of the JJ's staff.

We went out to some great american diner in downtown Chattanooga after the show with the Antebellum crew then made our way to the comfy confines of Stratton & John Michael's place. Nice to have a clean place to stay again, and a shower awaiting us in the morning.

Reporting from a laundromat in South Carolina for all of us Finn Rigginses --
--gilbert

Day 11: Station House Bistro. Russellville, Arkansas

We woke up in the van for the first time all tour, breaking a solid streak of nights slept fully stretched out on floors or couches or even beds. We managed to sleep in to 10am, though, in the gas station parking lot that we had selected in the dark of night and a power outage in the area. In our search the night before we had driven a majority of the hour and a half to Russellville, and thus had some extra time, so we jumped off the motorway and drove into the town of Ozark to explore the area a little bit. We tooled around some thrift shops and some antique stores in historic downtown Ozark -- or atleast its skeleton of a more vibrant past. There were some pretty interesting cultural landmarks around, like this tobacco store -- pretty classic. That and the Hillbilly Carwash. The Hillbilly Burger. The Hillbilly One-Stop Shop. Etc. etc. etc.

We rolled into Russellville around 1pm and made our way to the Station House Bistro where we’d be playing that evening. The Station House is a cute little café / coffeeshop with rad murals on the wall and the coolest staff and ownership ever. They took great care of us as we hung out all afternoon drinking Rich Irishmen and munchin sandwiches and checkin ye ‘ol internet and learning about the local scene -- the drama around the current theater production of “Assassins“ at Arkansa Tech University, the hippies in the hills, the straight up hillbillies, the nature of a “dry county” and everything in between. So much cultural education to be had -- in this country alone -- we’re learning a ton. Love it.

They cleared the tables completely out of the room by mid-afternoon and opened the place up into a decent sized little venue and we setup basically in the middle of the room. The sound in the room was really really good. -- it held the sound really nicely -- it didn’t bounce around too much or get too muddy and muffled. It was pretty amazing.

There was a nice little crew of kids that made it out in time for our set which began at 8pm. It was a really fun set as we finally gave the new version of Mahoney (My Homie) some love and pulled out a few other things we hadn’t played as much. Cloud Minder from Philadelphia played after us. Super nice folks playing some pretty epic instrumental music ala Tristeza and other post-rock heroes. The textures and nuances in their music translated extremely well in the Station House as they had the crowd -- including myself -- mesmerized. Local William Blackart wrapped the evening up with his “hand-rolled voice” crooning some pretty rad tunes over his fingerpicked steel string guitar. Really moody and he too sounded soooo good in that room. Loved it. Great show. Cool bill thanks to the Fort Delicious crew. Everyone was rad. Thanks to Colin, Stan, Jamie, Michelle, Amy, Emily, Brandon, Dustin, Daniel, Amber, Dalton, Cloud Minder, William Blackart and everyone else that made the whole Russellville experience so educational and joyous.

The after parties were pretty epic in their own right as we explored Russellville with the locals. The Fort. Some late night piano duets. A ridiculous amount of riduculousness. And other adventures carried us into the wee hours before Cam and I saddled up the van (with Lisa sleeping in the back) and cruised to a Waffle House for a quick hit of greasy breakfast before hitting the road for about an hour to give us a head start on our big drive to Chattanooga, TN. We slept in the van again. It was good. Oh so good.

Reporting from the Ghost Ghost in motion for all of us Finn Rigginses.
==gilbert


PS here's a little video taste of William Blackart's set:

Day 10: surprise show! Toothpicks. Fayetteville, AR

We had Friday, March 14th off, which was shaping up to be our first night off so far on tour after 9 straight shows. We had several invites to venture down to Austin, TX to go to some SXSW parties on this day, but with no guarantees of an opportunity to play, we couldn’t justify the 8 hour drive since we’d be headed back to Arkansas the next day anyhow. So we tooled around Fayetteville all day. Did some laundry at The Dinosaur House and went out to lunch with Justin before packing up and heading downtown to a coffeeshop to spend the rest of our afternoon catching up on some internet work and hanging outside in the beautiful spring day. After hitting up a nearby pizza joint for some dinner, we made our way toward a movie theater to drop Lisa off to go watch a movie. Somehow we got confused on times and missed the start time on her movie but found Dickson St. -- the main college strip near the University of Arkansas that's lined with bars and clubs -- on our way. Cam got all fired up to find us a gig for the night and jumped out and went on the hunt. After close to an hour of asking around, he finally found a place called Toothpicks that was up for letting us setup and play until atleast 10pm when they would most likely be closing since UofA had just gone on spring break.

We scoped it out and despite doubting that the empty pub would gain any customers in the next couple of hours since it was dead during dinnertime and definitely slightly hidden on the strip, we decided it would be fun to setup and play regardless, to at the very least practice some tunes we hadn’t really been playing much.

We busted a quick load-in and started setting up as the waitress/manager Alyssa and the cook Steve stood by watching and chatting with us. Around 8:30, though, as we were about half way setup, this party of about 10 stumbled in all rowdy and ready for dinner after being at the happy hour of a place up the street and watching the UofA basketball game that afternoon. Oh my, they were some giddy and toasted middle-aged folks that were rowdy as all getout from the start. They were pretty vocally excited about the fact that there was a band setting up to entertain them for their dinner and the continuation of their drinking excursion. It was quickly pretty hilarious as they were begging for us to start. They all had Electric Kamikaze shots then ordered their dinner.

We started around 9pm and were surprisingly greeted with a bunch of enthusiasm by these crazy dinner eaters of apparently the wealthier and older sort. Granted, we were consciously playing stuff of ours that we thought might go over a little better with them (and they were significantly lubed up), but still, we didn't expect such a warm reception. Drunkenness could’ve certainly led to violence and some intense heckling if we offended them in any way -- so we were psyched it was going the other way. They got their dinner about midway through our set, and soon after we decided to play our sexy dance tune Pump It, Fill It just for shits and giggles. About 2 min into it the entire table had emptied and had broken out into an all out dance party right up in front of us. At one point, one of the ladies, who had been adding some pretty rad harmony vocals throughout the evening, started bustin some funky funky rhythm on Cam’s washboard. It was unbelievable. What a random happening. We played about 4 more songs after that as the dance party continued to rage, and these crazy people worked off their dinner. It was 10:20. Time to close. Time for us to be done and time for our random little crowd to leave. It was a wild convergence of epicness. An experience that none of us will easily forget.

We packed up and drove out into the night to find a place to sleep. We were greeted with some magnificent lightning -- spidering all across the night sky. Really wild stuff. And then a downpour for about an hour. Same storm system that had sent a tornado through downtown Atlanta, GA that night.

Still no days off -- 10 shows in a row -- with two shows over the weekend that would extend that streak to 12. Our St. Patrick‘s Day show on Monday got cancelled though, so that‘s looking like it will probably end the streak and be our first day off, but who knows, as tonight had proven -- anything can happen.

We slept in the van for the first time this night. Our streak of 9 days without doing so ended, we were ok with it. Nice to keep to ourselves for a night.

Reporting from orbit for all of us Finn Rigginses
--gilbert

Day Nine: Old Post Office. Fayetteville, AR. dinosaurs

Started the day in Tulsa with showers then cruised to meet my cousin Scott for lunch at a local diner he’d tracked down in Catoosa. It was a cute place, and packed for the lunch rush. We hung there for a couple hours talking about progressive rock and airplane parts into the mid-afternoon.
Scott had driven his Oldsmobile wagon that he had tricked out and hand painted blue flames on. He come from a family of car enthusiasts and mechanics that love to rebuild old cars. He has a few other projects in the works, but this is his active treasure. In addition to being a commercial airplane mechanic, Scott does custom flame detailing. If you ever need anything at all flamed, look him up at www.flamebrainz.com and give him a holler. He does fantastic work. The Ghost Ghost might have a future of flames. We did some serious brainstorming for flames for her. Next tour that brings us to Oklahoma we’re going to look into scheduling some flaming time.

After lunch, we saddled up and began the relatively short drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since it was so short, we opted to dodge the toll road thanks to our GPS babe and wandered the Oklahoman backroads into Arkansas -- it was wonderful.

Landed in Fayetteville around 4pm and explored for awhile before meeting our hosts Amy and Justin over at The Dinosaur House -- their home and occasional site for house shows. They weren’t able to host a show with us due to volume issues, but had helped setup the show that night at the Old Post Office right up the street from them. Super nice people. Cooked us some vegetarian curry for our bellies and gave us a nice clean and cozy place to stay the night.

After dinner we walked a few blocks down to a cute local record store where a couple of Fayetteville bands were playing an in-store. We caught David’s Pegasus’s set as they played last and were celebrating being the local album of the year according to employees at the store. It was a cool scene. By then we were all feeling a very “Moscow-vibe” to the town -- the home of the University of Arkansas and apparently lots of like-minded folks. We also so our first rain of tour early in the evening. A nice warm spring rain accompanied by some rumbling thunder in the distance. Smelled amazing. Very refreshing.

The show that night was a lot of fun with a couple of great bands from Little Rock -- The Moving Front and Smokeup Johnny. We had a great time with everyone and once again met some rad people. Thanks to Amy and Justin and to Roger from Robot Lake Records and The Counterlife and to Shane and the OPO for a great night and a fantastic introduction to Fayetteville and Arkansas in general.

Reporting in transit via technological miracles for all of us Finn Rigginses
::: gilbert

Day Eight: Soundpony Lounge. Tulsa, OK. bicycle bar.

We arrived in Tulsa mid-afternoon and made our way to the Soundpony Lounge where we ended up hangin out for the rest of the day. Really amazing place. Turns out that the Soundpony is owned and operated by bicycle enthusiasts who also have a semi-pro bike team. There were old bikes hanging from the ceiling and scattered around the place as well as a bike chair, a bike tire hung disco ball and lots of numbers and uniforms from old bike races. It was beautiful. Staff was fantastic -- rad guys. We were pumped to be there.

My cousin Scott came down and met us for a few hours before he went to his night shift as an airplane mechanic for American Airlines. He informed of us of the history of Cain's Ballroom, which was right next door. The place was essentially built by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys way back in the day and had seen a lot of country music history and had played host to amazing artists throughout the years, including the Sex Pistols on their one American tour. We benefitted from there being a show there that night as a bunch of people flowed over to the Soundpony once the big show got out.

Motown Blood from Oklahoma City opened for us. They were great. Raw classic soul rock ala early Beatles. Super nice guys too. We were on by midnight to a fairly full room of rowdies. Fun set and met some fantastic people. Thanks Mike, Josh, Tony and everyone else that made the night there so rad! We also met the production manager from Cain's, who happened to also be from Idaho. He was all excited about the Idaho connection and ended up giving us a tour of Cain's Ballroom after the show. Running us through a bunch of its history -- pretty wild -- took us to the production office and showed us all the signed photos of the artists who had played there throughout the years. And showed us a framed piece of wall that had been punched in by Sid Vicious and they had salvaged it during a recent remodel. It was a living breathing rock 'n' roll museum. He's going to see what he can do to have us playing there next time, and we're going to continue to do our part to further justify it.

We crashed that night with my cousin's inlaws Jim and Pam. They were incredible. We had a great time hanging out with Pam late night and the next morning. Beautiful people.

Reporting from the road for all of us Finn Rigginses.
gilbert

Day Seven: Kirby’s. Wichita, KS

Wow. Last night was a unique one to say the least. For one, it warmed up considerably upon arriving in Kansas. If it was spring we’ve been seeking, it is spring that we’ve found. Definitely up in the sixties, and we turned on the A/C in the van for the first time and walked around in t-shirts all day. Checked out the Wichita State University campus as the sun went down. -- lots of cool sculptures all over campus and some cool architecture.

Kirby’s is right across the street from the southern edge of the WSU campus. A tiny little dive snuggled up against a laundromat. Kirby’s is a square room not too much bigger than our tiny practice space at home. But with a little stage and PA, great staff and a crowd of regulars that love live music. And apparently love state trivia. We played two sets of rock music for these fine folks, all while being quizzed about Idaho state trivia and schooled on Kansas state trivia in between each song. I suppose all this educational material was appropriate considering the fact that we were practically on the campus of an institution of higher education. In general, it's been hilarious once again how much the Idaho topic fascinates everyone at our shows. It seems like we're a travelling band of Idahoans out to remind the rest of the U.S. that Idaho is indeed a state and that it does exist and that although potatoes are definitely an export, there are many other things that Idaho can boast about. And yes, Idaho has mountains. Lots of them. Elevational contrast is definitely something that separates us from these midwestern states.



We're musing about basing a sitcom off of each of the characters that spent the evening with us last night at Kirby's. It was a unique show in so many ways. Not sure it can really be tackled and recreated with any justice in this little cyber realm at this particular moment. The full story of this particular evening and the stories of these fine characters may someday surface in legend and folklore, but for now, we keep these magical moments to ourselves.

We crashed with a very nice axe murderer, i mean insurance adjuster, not too far from the venue after the show. One week down and we've yet to sleep in the van. No hotels either. These are trends that bode well for the future.

Last night's show helped us air out a bunch of tunes that haven't been played much on tour. It was a lot of fun. We're in Tulsa, OK tonight. It's beautiful out. Seventies. Very windy though. We've heard rumors of tornadoes... we're kind of excited about that potential.

Reporting from the streets of Tulsa, OK for all of us Finn Rigginses
g:/bert

Day Six: Awesome all over again. Lincoln, NE

Pretty nice showing up to the venue and having all our gear already setup and ready to go. .. As was the case last night, since we were still setup from our set on Sunday at Box Awesome. We had decided to stay and play their Monday night Open Stage of Radness series rather than leaving town and having a night off. We played first since we were already setup. We blasted through a set of all different stuff from the night before with the exception of Hraka. Then ripped our stuff off stage and settled in for an evening of Old Style tallboys and shootin the shit.

There was another touring band on their way to SXSW that had showed up for the open stage -- a band from Ann Arbor, MI called Great Lakes Myth Society. Their set of literary folk rock (a la The Decemberists) was fantastic. Featured some accordion, some sharp suits, and a lot of attention to detail. By then we had befriended some locals, two of which in a band called Esau, and this other fella with a solid tendency toward friendly heckling named Kyle. He got some colorful stage banter going with his offstage jabs. Pretty hilarious stuff. Kept things light in the room.

Hung out with the GLMS guys and a handful of other folks as the open stage turned into an open jam and wandered its way towards closing time. Great way to spend a Monday “day off”.

Crashed out in the Boom Chick Records studio once again and Liz & Brooks’ place. So thankful for shelter.

Reporting from the rolling plains of Kansas for all of us Finn Rigginses :::
e.gilbert


PS check out the street name and the giant flag in the distance in this photo. this greeted us upon arriving in Lincoln on Sunday. shoulda known from right then that Lincoln would treat us well. god bless america.

Day Five: Box Awesome. Lincoln, Nebraska. Corn vs. Potatoes

Woke up bright and early in Boulder, CO with a big drive ahead of us to Lincoln, NE. We had lost an hour over the night due to daylight "savings" time and we lost another hour crossing into the Midwestern Time Zone. So we trucked out of Boulder while our friends were all still sound asleep and made our way across the plains of eastern Colorado and western Nebraska. Once again another clear and sunny day made for a beautiful drive. Today, however, we saw several massive flocks of migrating birds. In the air, on the ground and in water. They were everywhere. Definitely a highlight of the drive.



Upon arriving in Lincoln, we followed our New Zealand GPS babe toward the venue. However, we were greeted by a road that no longer seemed to exist and were turned around in circles for awhile, before finally confirming the location of Box Awesome by foot. As you can see, Box Awesome was thoroughly in the middle of a massive construction campaign. We found it though, and then got a tip about a 3 tacos for $1 deal across the street and enthusiastically scored what might be the cheapest meal of our whole tour. Hopefully, more such deals find us, but for now we're still savoring this particularly glorious score.



We were added to the early show at Box Awesome on this particular Sunday just over a week earlier, and thus had very low expectations and were up for anything. Right away, we were greeted by awesome staff and a really cool room and were thus psyched we'd made the effort to get there. Plus, we got to load in off of a cobble stone alleyway. How cool is that? Lincoln-based cello & accordion duo Dos HobosEroticas opened the evening with an interesting set of re-arranged pop covers and instrumentals. Dug it. Then Ixnay (new orleans, la) played a raucous set of punky garage pop. Super fun stuff. Really nice girls too. And by then a decent little crowd had come out. Made for a real fun homey night. We played last and playfully heckled the room with taunts of the epic battle of Corn vs. Potatoes. As early on some staff were throwing the potato jabs at us. So we jabbed back. High Fructose Corn Syrup pushin Huskers. It was fun. Really rad little scene. Felt very much like home. So much so, that we decided to stay setup and play again tonight on what was going to be a day off for us. But we found out about Box Awesome's "Open Stage of Radness" that happens every Monday, and decided it would be fun to stay. Luckily, the Box Awesome folks liked our set and were all for us staying to play again.

A very nice girl named Liz invited us to crash at her place and we went across town to her place where we hung out with her and her husband Brooks late into the night in their basement studio and home of their indie / garage / punk label called Boom Chick Records -- specializing in 7" and other vinyl as well as distributing other garage / punk records from all over. Quite an impressive operation. And super nice people. We slept in their studio and practice space for their punk/ garage/ radness band called The Terminals. They've been schooling us on underground garage and the pretty sweet international 7" scene that they're apart of. Pretty wild. Check out their label at www.boomchickrecords.com

They also have some really awesome kids, some baby chickens and some piranhas that have been keeping us company as well.





Reporting from corn country for all of us Finn Rigginses.
--mr. gilbert

Day Four: Brooks Center Arts. Denver, CO

We woke up to a beautiful day in Colorado on Saturday and cruised down to Boulder to catch up with some friends for lunch and a hike. We had an amazing afternoon with Tim, Carrie and Mariah and her dog Indie before cruising in to Denver for an early show at Brooks Center Arts -- an underground teahouse in the basement of the Brooks Center for Spirituality. Our friend Laura Goldhamer caretakes the place and was the host for this show, which was an all ages Potluck / Concert / Art Show. And a pretty epic one at that. Laura didn't play tonight, but she's rad and you should look her up on myspace for sure. And what a giant heart she has. Oh my oh my.

The art opening was for local artist Paul Langway, who's art is behind Lisa in this picture. All in all, this show was a pretty epic community gathering with lots of rad people hanging out and helping, and all the other bands that played were fantastic. Tap & Kramer kicked the night off. We followed. Then Magic Circles. Then Zebra Junction. Then The Lisps (brooklyn, ny). Then Paper Bird. It was a fairly eclectic evening, but everyone was solid and super nice, and thus it all worked great together. We had an amazing time and were so thankful to be a part of such a great show and gathering of good people. On all levels. Reminded us of our history of potlucks with great friends and solid community gatherings in general. Had a very Moscow, ID vibe for us. Thus, it felt very much like home. Helped that we had some good friends there. What a blessing on tour.

Definitely check out all those artists that played. All worthy of your time. Really fantastic stuff. Here's a little video clip of the end of Paper Bird's set, and the end of the evening. A little glimpse into how special of a night it was... they played totally unplugged to a hushed crowd.




Reporting via satellite as we drive through Nebraska for all of us Finn Rigginses.
--g:/bert

Day Three: The Beetle. Greeley, CO

Greeley-based band Green Typewriters kicked the night off last night with a fun set of indie quirk pop. Switching instruments every song with really creative arrangements and textures. I was way into it. They also were comprised of two guys and a girl. Jared, Goija, Garrison. Rad tunes. Rad people. check them out at www.myspace.com/greentypewriters2

Attica followed them with a rambunctios punk pop set. Good guys. They hung out after the show with us as we chilled at our friends' Man The Moon's headquarters into the wee hours and crashed there. Ely from MtM is part of The Crew Presents that threw this show. Took good care of us. Thanks to him and Eric (the other half of The Crew and a member of Greeley band What About Pluto?).

Greeley jam / blues / cover band Pink Paisley closed the night out. It was a strange overall bill for the show. Made it fun and unique i suppose. Kind of like being on a carnival ride -- surprises around every corner... stomach not really sure what to make of it all. A head scratcher. But it's good to scratch one's head from time to time. Throw all notions of control and expectations to the birds. Tour's a lot like that in general.

We like The Beetle. We like The Crew. We like Greeley. Unique place. Good kids here.
We play in Denver tonight.

check out this Lincoln Memorial we drove by in Wyoming yesterday:




it's as if he has a robot body. sort of creepy. Lincoln watching us all so intently from his eternal perch upon his square robot rock body. it's almost like he's trapped. i wonder what he thinks of all this nonsense?

definitely a highlight of the drive yesterday. for that we thank you mr. lincoln.

reporting from Greeley, CO for all of us Finn Rigginses
<< mr. gilbert >>