6/8/07- Somewhere in the air over Eastern Oregon…

Flying. 47 Minutes on a packed Southwest plane to Boise for a show at Terrapin Station. The first show of the tour with Finn Riggins, the amazing pog-pop band from tiny Hailey, Idaho. Leaving was difficult as Brianne and I have never been apart for this long…two weeks once, but never a month. It was especially hard as today is the first day our Tender Loving Empire Store has been open. (Still trying to figure out at what point it became a good idea to open a store one day and leave for a month the next.) The kickoff/grand opening party last night went well. Lots of people lots of friends new and old, some I’d never met in person that came out just to see the store.

To further complicate issues, I haven’t smoked for five full days now due to the pneumonia I developed last Sunday. My lungs are still full of fluid, but the fever and extreme break-a-rib coughing fits are done with. I never would’ve picked this time to stop smoking, one of the most stressful, intense times of my life, opening a store, leaving for a month, meeting tons of new people…it’s more like smoking quit me.

Regardless, very interested in calming down, chilling out and understanding who it is I’ve become over the last few months/years. Quitting smoking occupied with the TLE Store opening, being very ill and going on this tour is causing a kind of involuntary renaissance inside. I’m not sure I like it but it feels new and different and promising, like moving away or quitting a job or graduating…

Wondering what the sets with Finn Riggins will feel and sound like. I’ll be playing by myself for the show tonight as well as the one tomorrow in Pocatello.

Just Barely Eeked out the tour EP. Five New Songs recorded basically live at Dan Seger’s studio. He did some horns and toy piano and banjo overdubs despite developing a really weird flesh eating boil on his hand during the recording…

Really excited about Finn Riggins. They’re one of the best bands I’ve seen in recent memory, not to mention some of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know…

6/9/07 -Outside The First National Bar in Pocatello.

Show last night at Terrapin station was rugged but successful. I managed a pretty intense—if rushed and frenetic—nine song set but payed for it with a ten minute coughing fit in the alley afterward. Lots of weird colored junk: The product of 5 years of smoking I guess…

My best friend Jerome, a firefighter for the Idaho Hotshots, randomly showed up with a few friends, which was great. It was awesome to have friends around, throwing out requests and buying rounds. Just like old times. He had to be at work an hour away by the early morning but still stuck around till 1:30 am. We ran the Finn Riggins merch table during their set, which is like a mini-mall. They sold a ton of stuff during their hour and half set (which apparently was still too short for the club owner as they ended at 1:40 instead of 2 am). Still, the bar was pretty cool. I guess it used to be called The Crazy Horse a while back. Nirvana supposedly played there.

Anyway, here at the First National Bar in Pocatello, Idaho, they put us up in a hotel and I haven’t payed for a drink yet…There’s this sweet neon Budweiser Guitar over the stage.

I played well. I’m realizing that I sing really loud if my monitors aren’t up high enough, that by the end of a set I’m screaming to keep up with myself. The nerves always keep me from remembering this mid-set: People can hear you even if you can’t hear yourself, that’s what the sound guy’s for. Either way, tonight’s set felt great- Since there were just the two of us on the bill, I got to play for 45 minutes which I’ve never done outside of a small gathering.

A Ton of wild ass people rolled in during my set from a “shrooming” party. They’re going fucking nuts right now during Finn Riggins’ super dancey tune, “Geology”.

Theres a guy here who’s wearing a faux Ski-Area type shirt—you know the ones—instead of a ski area name, though, it says “motherfucker” in these crazy letters with two big middle fingers underneath. Anyway, the merch table has been hosting his ashtray and beer all night. He keeps saying he wants to buy this one Finn Riggins CD and every time someone picks it up to look at it he grabs it out of their hands and says “save this one for me,” at which point I have to explain to him that I have a whole box of them down here. He’s currently using my cell phone to call one of his friends that owes him money so he can buy “every goddamn thing on this table” He’s kind of spitting on it right now which is gross.

I guess the money never came through, but he did have a pretty great closing monologue: “There comes a point in time where you really don’ give a shit….” I said “Yeah, you’re right,” and he continued, “and it, yeah, it makes me wanna leave this town…it’d be easy. Sandy ‘n me…but now I gotta walk home and it sucks when you’re wasted…I did it like four or five times last week.”

6-10-07

At the Finn Riggins’ Helibase in Hailey, Idaho. Its beautiful here. Reminds me of my hometown of Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Really quiet. Extremely quiet. The Riggins Pad has 5 cars out front—all owned by their drummer, Cam: An Old school bus they gutted and are planning on taking back out when/if gas prices recede; a red Triumph, which is probably one of the coolest cars I’ve ever seen in my life. A ‘38 Ford that looks like something out of Mad Max as well as 2 almost identical Subarus. They rent their house/practice space for 400 bucks a month. No wonder they live here…

Sat up for a few hours last night with Eric, drinking beer and talking. That’s something I haven’t done in a while without feeling like I needed to get something else done. It felt really nice to relax.

We’re going to practice my set later this afternoon and each day until the next show in Boise on Thursday. I haven’t played with a band in a couple years so I’m a little nervous. Going to call Brianne right now.

Looks like our Portland House show date is going to go through: The Haunted House on 6/15…

-Jared

Links:
Jared Mees-space
Tender Loving Empire

Tour poster courtesy of Finn Riggins’ myspace page.