Tour Udate (09-30-05)

Hey everyone, Evan here. Thought I'd post a little tour update now that i've been on the road for about a week.So far things have been great. Traveling with Anne Feeney is loads of fun, and we're getting along great.Played a few fun shows in Saint Louis, at a house party and then at the September 25th anti-war rally there. (Which was kind of crappy since it rained and we had the "rally" inside a hotel... great folks there from the Jobs With Justice conference though.)After the Lou, we headed south to Cape Girardeau, MO, which is Rush Limbaugh's hometown. Played a nice, intimate house concert there for about 12 people at the home of these two fantastic and inspiring activists who get death threats from their psycho conservative neighbors all the time. Next morning we played in a Social Justice class at South Eastern Missouri University. Great to be able to get the message out to a bunch of students who aren't hearing it anywhere else.Next we headed off to Indianapolis, IN. Where we marched with SEIU Local 3 on their Justice with Janitors campaign, and walked with them and sang on their picketline. Really important work happening there. Later that evening we performed for about 30 folks at the Julia Carson Center during a meeting of the Indiana Democratic Club (allegedly not related to the Democratic party...) I was a little leary when the meetings started with the Pledge of Allegiance, but it all turned out well and the candidates left before i started playing. The people who stayed were all really into it even when i played my more radical songs like "ya basta." good times.On Wednesday we drove to Richmond, IN to meet up with kids at Earlham College, plus my friends who i met last time i was there. Awesome kids. I love em to death. The show was great, about 30 kids there. Afterwards we all went over to this new squatted social center they're opening and played music and told stories late into the evening. It rocked, and i was super sad to have to leave. ("by 8am we had all hit the road again, goodbyes are so short when you don't want to say them.") met some killer songwriters there who i'm hoping to get to play with in the near future.Yesterday we drove 9 hours from Richmond, IN to Kansas City, MO and got there just in time to give these labor lawyers a ride over to the Majestic Steakhouse (ugh) where the Worker Justice Summit (conference where we're playing tomorrow) was hosting dinner. We ended up getting treated to a very fancy meal and VERY fancy drinks. (I had a shot of $600/bottle single-malt whiskey that blew me away.) After dinner, we were invited to bring our instruments up to the members-only cigar bar. Anne and I played a bunch of old Irish rebel tunes, and then busted out some original material. It all went over great. My assumptions were shattered again.I'm currently staying at a friend of Anne's house on the Kansas side of the river (Kansas City, KS.) We're playing tomorrow at a UU church as a benefit for a local community radio station, and then we're off to Grinnell College up in Iowa.On Monday, we're going to be on National Public Radio in Iowa, on a show called Live From Studio One. You can catch it streaming online'>online here.

the tours, the new album, etc.

Wow. I haven't updated this thing in ages. Apologies for that.

Europe Wrap-up
The long and short of it is that touring has been great. The Europe tour finished up beautifully at the G8 protests with some of the best and largest shows of my life. It was an incredible environment to be working in: camped out in rural Scotland with thousands of amazing activists and beautiful people. We managed to make it back to the $tates without too much more trouble from the authorites. There are some photos and such from the Europe tour here, courtesy of Christa Daring.

New England / Maine
Since I've gotten back I've mostly been playing around New England. Played a few great and well-attended shows in Boston. (One with Mischief Brew/Evil Robot Us'/Bread & Roses/Sharp Teeth and the other with Embryo/The Cliches/Amy Littlefield.) Did a stint of gigs up in Maine with David Rovics and also got a chance to play with Emma's Revolution (Pat Humphries and Sandy O). In Belfast, ME I also met a great songwriter named Olias Kraft. They don't have a website up yet, but check out the show if you ever see that name on a flyer.

JED Collective and the New Album
After gigging around Maine for a bit I went up to stay with Ethan Miller and co. at the JED Collective in Greene. Stayed for about a week and a half and it was just what I needed. Went swimming, did some work out in the garden and such and had a great time with amazing folks. Also, Ethan and I mixed and mastered the tracks that we recorded back at the first Riot-Folk! convergence, which we're releasing as an album called "Rise Like Lions". This is by far my favorite recording that Riot-Folk! has put out. It's more of a collaborative effort than a compilation, and has more of a "band" sound than other RF! releases. I play mandolin and lead guitar on several recordings, and there are new versions of "I Want Something" and "Punks With Clean Kitchens."

You can download the album for free at riotfolk.org/releases/riselikelionsdownload

What's next?
Well, right now I'm at my parents house in Massachusetts, where I've been holing up while I finish booking this next tour. I leave September 22nd to start on a several-week tour with Anne Feeney, who Utah Phillips says is "The greatest labor singer in North America." So with that reccomendation, I'm guessing it's gonna rock. That tour will go thru mid-October. At which point I'll be heading south for a little bit to play shows and visit friends in Knoxville and Asheville. Then back north and west via Chicago and Twin Cities, some gigs in Alberta and British Columbia, and meeting up with other Riot-Folks and what will hopefully be our next convergence in the Bay Area in late November. After that I plan on heading south down the California coastline and doing some gigs in the Southwest. As always, feel free to contact me about booking any dates in these areas!

That's all for now!
Safe travels and happy community building.

Love,
-Evan G

Riot-Folk Tour Detained by Police in Europe

Several members of the Riot-Folk! Collective (a collective of radical folksingers from the U.S. currently traveling around Europe and heading up to play some music at the G8 Protests) were detained today at Victoria Station in London by the London Police as we tried to get on our bus. Two cops stopped us and ran passports, claiming they needed to check our immigration status and make sure we weren't planning trouble in Scotland. They gave the usual story about how they have the right to "keep people safe", as though we we're en route to some gathering of how to rip off poor people (which we are, except that we are protesting it, not participating in it, like a few people I could mention).

As our ID's were checked, we noticed 3 other cops approaching us, one with a large camera. We realized that these were the same police that stole Evan's notebook yesterday and detained everyone they could leaving the Institute of Autonomy (a pre-Scotland convergence center in London). The cops literally stole the notebook through physical assault from the person who was holding it and used the itinerary inside of it to find us at our bus. The notebook contained a lot of important contact information that is now unfortunately in the hands of the police.

So 2 of us we're cleared but Evan and Mark were questioned about our travels here and Evan had to fill some shit out to try to get his stolen notebook back from the cops. The police attempted to scare us by telling us how customs can detain us for up to 72 hours and that our immigration status was in question. There has been a lot of photographing of us and others and intelligence gathering going on in the last few days and we anticipate more of these fear-tactics as we approach Scotland.

We are writing this because we are concerned for our safety as far as illegal detainments go in times like these and we want to make public our movements so that if anything happens, lots of people know the truth. We are traveling through Europe, playing music that matters, learning from the people we meet, and voicing our opposition to a global problem. Our next stop is Nottingham tonight, Leeds tomorrow, and Glasgow the next day.

If George Bush and these 7 other shitheads can come here and plan out the further destruction of the planet, we can come here to stand up against them and promote the ideas of resistance.

For those who don't know, the G8 (Group of Eight) are the heads of the 7 richest countries in the world, plus Russia. These power-mongers meet each year in an official setting to map out how they will continue to fuck everyone over to continue being rich, powerful people. They have been cornered several times in recent years by hundreds of thousands of people who are fed up with their corporate bullshit.

From July 4-8, they will be kicking back at the Gleneagles Resort in Perth, Scotland. Gleneagles is owned by Diageo, which also owns Guiness, Smirnoff, and other brand name alcoholic drinks. Please see http://www.dissent.org.uk or http://www.indymedia.uk for more info.

IMPORTANT: If you put your email address down on the Riot-Folk! email list at any point during our European trip, the cops now have it. We feel like total shit for this and the guilt is causing us lots of arguments and stress. These addresses we're in a notebook that the cops stole from us and we are attempting to go through the legal bullshit to get it back. Unfortunately, the cops have it and there is absolutely no doubt that they are taking the names down from it. This is one of many tactics that government(s) are using right now to fuck with us and all of you.

just when you think things couldn't get better...

Wow.
Riot-Folk is exploding in ways none of us expected. The convergence was amazing and we made some fantastic recordings with all of us singing and playing various instruments. (I have acquired a mandolin and am starting to be able to play it reasonably well.)

Meanwhile, we've been getting noticed by some big name folks who seem to be really into our stuff. Bev Grant showed up at our Abc-No-Rio show in New York, and this weekend we're playing with Tom Morello, former guitarist for Rage Against the Machine (and currently of Audioslave)!

More importantly, though, Riot-Folk is growing closer and developing more of a character and mission. These are some of my favorite people in the world and I'm so honored and elated to be able to make music with them.

The European tour is coming along nicely as well! Here are the gigs we have booked so far:

June 11 @ London, UK
June 12 @ London, UK
June 15 @ Amsterdam, NL
June 17 @ Amsterdam, NL
June 18 @ London, UK
June 19 @ Dublin, IE
June 20 @ Belfast
June 22 @ Belfast
June 24 @ London, UK
June 25 @ Brighton, UK
June 30 @ London, UK
July 1 @ Nottingham, UK
July 15 @ London, UK

More info coming soon! Check out the website for details.

-evan

Mid-April Update

Wow. It's been quite a while since I've updated this here thing.
It's been a month of amazing shows and people.

Recently, me and Ryan and Mark opened for Amy Goodman (the host of Democracy Now! Radio) at a church in Baltimore. It was a great event and Amy said we were very talented.

Then, on April 16th, we went to the IMF/WorldBank protests in D.C. It was a fun event with lots of energy and we got a great reception when we played at the rally in Dupont Circle. Apparently people really liked it because 150+ folks showed up for our show that night at Cafe Mawonaj. It was the best show I've ever played. Tons of dancing, stomping, clapping and singing along. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun and the energy was just crackling through the air. We all played as if we were possessed. Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who came out and made that one of the best nights of my life.

More exciting stuff is coming soon, including Riot-Folk!'s first convergence, where we'll all be in the same place at the same time. NYC April 22nd - 24th. Check the Riot-Folk! site for show details.

tour update 03/06

Wow. So far this tour has been really great.

The Jersey City show was small but fun. A nice intimate crowd.

Sarah Lawrence was probably the best show I've played in a long time. Lots of kids showed and there was more dancing than I've seen at a folk show in years, especially given that there wasn't any alcohol. To top it all off, three kids drove all the way down from MONTREAL just to see us play (it was one of their birthday's). That's love.

Last night we played Ramapo College in Mahwah New Jersey, which I now do believe exists, athough I was skeptical. It was a tough crowd at first but we slowly built it up and it turned out being a really good show.

So far we're all getting along, although we're hedging bets on who's going to get into a fistfight by the end of the tour. Current odds are me and Darren.

Tonight we're off to Kutztown to rock it with Erik Petersen.

Peace.

tour update 03/06

Wow. So far this tour has been really great.

The Jersey City show was small but fun. A nice intimate crowd.

Sarah Lawrence was probably the best show I've played in a long time. Lots of kids showed and there was more dancing than I've seen at a folk show in years, especially given that there wasn't any alcohol. To top it all off, three kids drove all the way down from MONTREAL just to see us play (it was one of their birthday's). That's love.

Last night we played Ramapo College in Mahwah New Jersey, which I now do believe exists, athough I was skeptical. It was a tough crowd at first but we slowly built it up and it turned out being a really good show.

So far we're all getting along, although we're hedging bets on who's going to get into a fistfight by the end of the tour. Current odds are me and Darren.

Tonight we're off to Kutztown to rock it with Erik Petersen.

Peace.

a few things

1. if you're going to be a patriarchal jerk, don't come to my shows. you are not welcome.

2. we raised a little over $100 for Philly Rage at the show last saturday with Erik Petersen. good times.

3. RIOT-FOLK! TOUR FINALIZED
March 4 @ Jersey City, NJ
March 5 @ Bronxville, NY
March 6 @ Mahwah, NJ
March 7 @ Kutztown, PA
March 8 @ Pittsburg, PA
March 9 @ Athens, OH
March 10 @ Bloomington, IN
March 11 @ Louisville, KY
March 12 @ Richmond, IN
March 15 @ Allentown, PA
March 16 @ Washington, D.C.

4. the prospect of two weeks away from school makes me giddy.

5. the prospect of the number of cds that i have to burn before tour makes me dizzy.

6. i like numbers.

7. not really.

-evan