shawn avery

this morning, for no real reason, i woke up with an overwhelming urge to read up on the bio of gram parsons. electroliner plays a cover of " that's all it took " in our set... a duet for two of our singers doing gram's and emmylou's parts... so maybe that was bouncing around in my brain's pop-cultural lobe. anyway... upon reading his wiki entry , i've discovered the following facts. gram was born in winter haven, florida (basically my home town) in november, 1946, about a month before my dad was born, 8 miles away. gram grew up in winter haven (and later winter park), attended winter haven high school (i used to rehearse there) and played in cover bands around winter haven as a teen. his mother's family (the snively's) owned a lot of citris property in polk county, including the land that cypress gardens was built upon. the snively's and the adam's were two of the major grower families decades ago. i grew up in these orange groves. gram g...

i don't go on rock binges much anymore. my last big one was probably fleetwood mac about 4 years ago... and probably my ongoing nin binge. lately i've been fixated on the 90125 era version of the british prog band, yes. they have one of the most confusing line-ups in rock. ironically, the most controversial line-up (some fans thought they were too mainstream) was also the most successful and the most stable. this line-up was in tact from 1983 to around 1995. yes made 4 albums with this line-up - 90125 , big generator , union , & talk . the union album was a combination of the 70's and 80 's band members. notable hits from the 90125 era include: owner of a lonely heart , leave it , changes , it can happen, hold on , rhythm of love , love will find a way , shoot high/aim low , lift me up , & walls . i've been perusing youtube for some particular songs and performances from this line-up, most notably, the yes union tour and some mid '80's 90125 era vi...

we went to nyc for the third year in a row. this was the most laid back of the three trips. alison ran the marathon again and shaved 5 minutes off of her time from last year. she came in first for her age group in alabama, and she made the first page of the runner listing in the new york times. not too shabby. this year, unlike last year, we opted to attend the pre-race dinner and fireworks in central park. it rained a little, but it was pretty cool, considering the amount of people they had to accommodate. we hung out with the same folks, and spent half of our time in manhattan, staying in midtown and half of our time in brooklyn. i worked out the day we got there (oct 30th) and i haven't worked out since! i got some catching up to do. meanwhile, ida is blasting the south with a year's worth of rain at the moment. meh. tonight, electroliner rehearsal, and trying out some new drum gear. if only i could find a good drum wrap reseller, i'd be set. alas... photos, most of whic...

it has... and not necessarily for the better. by John F. Harris @ Politico In the year since he was elected president , Barack Obama has revealed himself as one of the boldest leaders to occupy the Oval Office in the modern era. In that same year, Obama also has revealed himself to be an innately self-protective, constantly calibrating and, in some surprising ways, supremely conventional politician. So who is Barack Obama ? The drama of this presidency — in sharp relief with Wednesday’s one-year anniversary of his 2008 triumph — revolves around how Obama navigates his own contradictions. Obama turns out not to be a Bill Clinton-style centrist or a Paul Wellstone -style liberal. His plans for health care and his trillion-plus dollars in new spending have earned the ire of Rush Limbaugh for being too grandiose and of Arianna Huffington for not being grandiose enough. Obama is the president as grand improvisationali...