11/4/08 Washington DC

///OBAMA!!!!

it's now 5am. still up. show at Dahlak was surreal. all the other bands cancelled for a variety of reasons... we were the last band left standing. they fed us. we played very very little. just enough to help celebrate in between speeches. unvelievable night. spent it with my childhood friend Leigh McIlvaine another friend from Idaho Paul Mitchell and our buddies Woven -- Rich, Barak, Steve, Ory, Mas, Mark -- and several strangers of all types at Dahlak, an Ethiopian restaurant in Washington DC on U St. NW...

DC erupted into celebrations all throughout the streets... so amazing. spirits were sooooo high. right after Obama was declared the winner the streets came to life... Cam and Mark + Rich + Barak from Woven helped get the street parties started early with pieces of Cam's drum set outside of Dahlak... corner of 18th and U St NW...



Obama's speech floored me. floored everyone around.
McCain's speech moved me too. good man. intense moment.

U St between 14th and 9th was absolute mayhem for a good chunk of the night... until atleast around 3am. dancing on cars, in the streets, everywhere... everyone high fiving everyone else... hugging... absolutely ecstatic. fireworks, drums, pots and pans, music, chanting, horns honking, and an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. the celebration just took over. the cops were awesome. if they weren't fully taking part, they were doing their best to stay out of the way, keep it alive and keep everyone safe. it was as if this huge weight had lifted off of the nation, off of DC and everyone could breathe freely again... unforgettable...



here's another taste of the massive street party that erupted on U St. it was incredible.



so thankful to have been able to spend this momentous evening in the epicenter of everything that tonight pertained to, but mostly thankful that Barack Obama will be our next president. i'm speechless and still processing... but i truly do feel like the tone of America changed drastically with his election, and for that i'm grateful and extremely excited to see what the future will hold for us all...

lots of love from all of us at Team Finn Riggins on the ground in our nation's capitol during this historic moment in time....

///gilbert