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

10/8/08 Boise, ID

///this tour is now officially off the ground. crazy show in Boise last night with our brothers from other mothers WOVEN (los angeles). moved it at the last minute from The Bouquet due to complications with their remodel and new ownership... had to cancel Woven in Boise a year ago due to a venue remodel, then Woven cancelled back in February due to a massive snow storm... we were on the verge of going 0-for-3 with Woven in Boise... until Justin Cantrell ("too much distortion" on BSU radio) and Jennifer Orr (backstage pass) stepped up and helped us move the show to Gusto's -- 5 blocks up Main St. -- just 3 days before the show. heros!

it all ended up being really fun. started the evening with homebody friends eating Amanda's amazing pork carnitas. unbelievable. they sent us with a huge tub of chocolate from the chocolate factory that Amanda works at. absolutely amazing.

caught up with Woven and local openers The Red Machine down at the venue and MacGyver-ed together a sound system. thanks to Woven's sound jedi Mas, the show ended up sounding pretty damn good. especially Woven's massive soundscape. radical. we had some good good buddies out (martin, susan, leif, kelsey, travis, simpson) and thus took advantage of the early evening to pal around with them. our set was wild. on the floor. definitely inspired. dug the halfpipe inside. dug the sound of boards riding it. Woven is also currently on a big U.S. Tour... check out their dates and if you're anywhere close to one, highly recommend doing whatever you can to catch them. www.myspace.com/woven

post-show we continued palling around with questionable associations.... then cruised to the Pie Hole and got some slices. then dropped C. Simpson off. got some coffee. and by 3am we were on the road for Lewiston. we had a 9:30am PST load-in for an 11am show at Lewis-Clark State College. we were able to gung-ho a good chunk of the drive up the spine of Idaho before pulling over and dropping the seats back for a nap between about 5:45am and 7:45am MST. it got cold in the van. started frosting in that two hour span as we were pretty high up... just north of New Meadows. it was a weird and restless 2hrs of sleep. i got us further on up the road to Riggins, ID... then Lisa took over and finished it off while i got a good solid hour or so of quality sleep in the backseat.

we arrived at LCSC at 9:35am to find out that the show had to be cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with a State Board of Education meeting going on at the same time... the show will be rescheduled!! and we're off to take some naps and rest up for the clash of the titans tonight in Clarkston, WA @ Hogan's Place with Jared Mees & The Grown Children.... the beginning of the epic 2 week FAMILY TOUR!!! portion of this latest !!! tour.

///it's 2pm PST. Oct. 9th. goodnight.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses
///gilbert