shawn avery

too busy this week. it's too bad that i'm not the kinda of person who calls in sick anymore. where is my lethargy when i need it? i'm tired. need to get to sleep early tonight. but first i gotta record some acoustic guitars, burn some reference cd's, take a shower, get some dinner... fklhuhrlfkuhkf ! rehearsal went well yesterday. clint wells is quite good. one of the better guitarists i've played with. i dunno about the rest of jesse's band, but i'm pretty damn ready. my bass parts are way done. there's nowhere else to go with them. i've been listening to uber-electronic music again. whatever album i do post-wiseblood, it's not gonna be americana, or even post-modern ambient americana, which is what wiseblood is destined to be - it's gonna be blips, beep, basses and beats. word to ya' mutha'. more photography this week. then i'm going to south alabama this weekend. i need a clone. november is toast...

the first show with jesse's band went quite well on wednesday night. there was a mistake or two, but the energy was there, the crowd was receptive, and everything looks good for the release show on 12/11. i noticed, having not played a "rock" set at the nick in over a year that my bass playing has improved. i thought i had peaked. i spent the holiday at my grandmother's cottage up in north alabama. i had way too much food... had the big dinner with 50 members of family and friends. on friday i got up at 8:30 and proceeded, over the next 8 hours, to go crazy with a chainsaw. i cut about 900lbs of limbs on the property, in order to lighten up the trees for ice storms. my left hand is still sore from gripping the chainsaw. i went out very briefly on friday, after i got back to bham. edited some tracks on the album, and started making rough mixes of a few tracks for review. saturday, more of the same, went out with my usual group of scenesters, through the sparks, and amb...

it's 12.30pm on november 22nd. 41 years ago this very moment, JFK had a very bad experience. it's a shame that his party is as dead as he is. eric clapton's "lay down sally" might be the best song ever written. well, maybe it's a tie with wilco's "kamera." nonetheless, it kills. i got a massage out on 280 on saturday and now it's monday and i'm sore. that's never happened before. got some fishies and a sweet aquarium for jen's apt. chilled most of saturday. got some more chinese food. went to the nick sat and hung out with my peeps. the jesse payne band was in full effect on the front porch. jody was in rare form, which was still actually pretty normal. judah and amber are in pre-relocation mode. they were at the nick as well. they'll be moving to l.a. in jan. i remember when i moved out west... it was about this time of year.

trent reznor, my generation's father of industrial electronica is close to finishing his new album. i checked out the nin site today and i have the feeling he's a democrat. jesse and i are working on booking the opening bands for his cd release show... so far it looks like the opening acoustic band will be long story short out of oxford alabama. i found them online and i love their song called, that much. they recently opened for unkle cracker and their harmonies are super tight. they should be confirming with us this afternoon. we had another acoustic opener but the guy dropped the ball. the second band is likely to be the universal joint or cordova, both are birmingham bands. i've had a crazy busy week. i did promo work for jesse's shows, scanned photos from some photo jobs, edited some on the ashes album, and got slammed at work. it's friday. it's miller time.

sound clips from a few songs on the jesse payne solo album, humming.the.tunes.of.luxury ... track 1 | grace track 2 | take me track 6 | redmont

had another low key weekend. i made a big breakthrough while editing the track beautiful. i chopped up the entire song and i am in the midst of constructing drum loops from my own performances. this song will be full of surprises. the gloves are off. my mom got back from europe on sat. god did she shop. 200lb suitcase. damn. sunday night jen and i watched the fabulous cult zombie horror b-movie "children shouldn't play with dead things." i hadn't seen it in 20 years. it was made in '72 in miami by some hippy kids. excellent. jesse payne, who appears on our upcoming album, wiseblood, has released his own debut solo album. his summer project has charted at #22 on laser's edge, ahead of razorlight and tom waits, but we are still getting caught in a stranglehold by elton john and rod stewart. my first show with jesse's band is at the nick on 11/24.

i had some chinese food today in a strip mall in homewood. damn good stuff. i wonder if there is a chinese takeout flavored ice-cream out there somewhere? like spicy-sesame chicken crunch. check this out... a quick graphics based infomercial about bush's plans to dominate the globe, even if it means starting world war three . thanks to my college buddy stev e for posting this on his blog. he's gotten very political on there lately. sides are being taken, and he's hip baby. it's too bad i haven't seen him in four years.

meet ferdinand gilson , 106, a decorated world war one veteran, who also participated in the french resistance during world war two. he refused to work for the nazis in 1940, and made false documents for french soldiers, saving them from the work camps. this guy ate worm infested meat in the gas trenches in europe at age 19. he dragged pieces of his friends out of ditches. long live war vets and current service personnel...and good luck. with dubya, you're all going to need it . in other news... ashby just got some raw concert footage from the july 15th show at workplay. eventually we will be sifting through all of the footage we've acquired in the last few years, in order to put something together that seems interesting.

i started editing the drum tracks for the song "beautiful" last night. actually that isn't true. i did some editing about 6 months ago, but now i'm tightening everything up. i decided to try the drum beat in the intro, all the way through the verses, and it sounds pretty amazing. it's funny that we have been living with this recording since spring when we did the drum tracks for it. i've probably heard it at least 200 times since then. now it is going to be very different, and much better. i've also redone the bassline. i've actually made it more direct and simple. i'm thinking about creating varied bass loops for the track. the editing will be quite intensive on some tracks. we have some quirky ideas and they must be realized. also... the micro-site that is currently up is getting a face-lift. the new gallery is very sleek and minimal. i like it. on the 34 track local music compilation on skybucket records , there are a few bands that kill. great ...

he's apparently the most important dj in music. hmmm. he's described as also being the warhol of the west. that kinda makes sense. celebrities flock to him, and visa versa. he's quiet small, and get's more play than kobe. it's a fascinating movie about fame, the loss of fame, and people who love music. rent it ...

i'm doing a lunch time perusing of internet headlines and i read a news report about a global population trend study. i was floored by how a tenth of a percent increase or decrease in population growth could save or end the human race by the year 2300. notice in the study that if today's current population growth rates go unchanged, we will basically fuck ourselves out of existence. that puts an interesting spin on the pro-life movement. here's an excerpt: If fertility rates stabilize at 1.85, the population would shrink to 2.3 billion. If it went to 2.35, the population would balloon to 36.4 billion. If fertility rates remained unchanged from the 2000 rate of 2.83, there would be 134 trillion people in 2300, impossible to sustain. also... i wanna give some props to the guy who got my vote .

i'm thinking about going into politics. i'm not saying i want to run for office, but i wouldn't mind fundraising, marketing, campaign staff, etc. something really strange happens when you hit thirty... you gain weight, enjoy documentaries more than rock concerts, and you actually start looking at not only the "big picture", which i feel i have always done, but the "right picture" - the point of view matched with personal action. heady stuff. my summation of this week - the nation has gone red. although the heavily populated, progressive states held onto reality. in '08 there will be no middling. there will be no centrist pacification. america had it's chance, they made a clear, legal choice. they have four years. the democrats played nice. kerry was respectful, truthful and honorable. in return, he was smeared for a life of service and duty. we on the left figured america would vote based on truth. this was not the case. they voted squarely...

51 - "the moral majority" 49 - "the reality based community" at least we know once and for all where america stands... on it's head. this election has done something truly beautiful for me. it has erased the centrist leanings of my mid/late twenties, and has sent me back to the left. i'm such a naughty bastard. i'm also thankful that i am not a female. the criminalization of abortion awaits. elections are almost too exiting. i voted for the first time last night, and even though i live in the backward state of alabama, and thus had no chance of my vote winning, at least we have scantron ballots. my vote was probably counted. ...a new world order... By Sidney Blumenthal Nov. 3, 2004 | "This country is going so far to the right you are not even going to recognize it," remarked John Mitchell, President Nixon's attorney general, in 1970. Mitchell's prophesy became the mission of Nixon's College Republican president, Karl Rove, who imple...

this weekend was incredibly action packed. thursday night, jen and i went over to ashby's house for a four way pumpkin' carvin'. christine, ashby, jen, and i did up 5 different pumpkins... all of them rocked... we took pics... friday jen and i got comped tix (thanks amber) to the alabama theatre for the rocky horror picture show halloween ball. very cool venue for this kind of thing. i've seen rocky horror on halloween all over the country, and this was the best production. amber got her camera stolen, only to later find the abandoned purse/ wallet of the thief. a trade was made early saturday. some people are so stupid. the rocky horror crowd... i edited some more of the album. I'll probably be saying that phrase well into my 40's. went later to the nick where i hung out with what is coming to be defined as the "nick group." james, jody, his girlfriend, amber, judah and some others... until well after 5am. saturday was comprised of sleep, shower, and ...