shawn avery

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 ...

on saturday night i went back for more of the film festival. i watched dig!, which is an enthralling rock documentary about the on again - off again relationships between the cult bands the dandy warhols and the brian jonestown massacre. i was completely immersed in the lives of these people for the full two hours. it's premiering at pretty much every major festival in north america at the moment. wicked good movie.i got home (actually ashby's) and checked out the various related web sites for the main films, the festival etc. the ashes were actually featured in 3 or 4 of the sidewalk scrambler films last year. interesting stuff. i did some baby sitting for ashby's dog. tried to do some editing for the album, but all i really got to was editing the piano on "bad luck" (which is a working title), and the picked guitar part on the chorus. the bass is tighter now, and the drums are "ok" sonically. david's perfomance pretty much makes the song. i've ...

so we've finished tracking and we are now in the "editing phase." wonderful... so let me get this straight; no more rehearsals or live shows or spontaneous jamming to keep us well greased? at least not for the rest of the year. no more guitars or drums blasting to keep the happy accidents coming in great numbers? not until at least december. no more small groups of people recording, drinking, eating, watching political conventions, etc... nope. just me and the occasional collaborator in front of a powerbook g4. sign me up. 'cause that just sounds too exciting. luckily we do have to replace some of the "fake" scratch pianos with a real baby grand. i'll more than likely replace some electric and acoustic guitar parts. we still have to do all of the vocals for the album. again. the first time around was just for guidance during tracking. ashby wants to do them all within a few days for vocal continuity. i can dig that. we are also thinking a...

i've been pondering whether or not to do this diary thing for a while now, and having recently read the fabulous diary entries by daniel ferris and jessica grant of lunasect, i'm somewhat more in favor of the idea. i've liked the band and reading their diary entries made me admire them even more. protools editing, pets, being too tired to rehearse, problems with city stages, mastering the art of self promotion all-the-while-hating-it... we've got more in common than i thought. that sounds like us. their new cd is coming out this month, and like us, they record much more than they perform live. touring vs. recording. i think having done both, with this particular band, i like it more this way. i see bands, who are friends of mine, trampling across the country, or the state chasing the golden carrot. packing their gear night after night into the back of a car or an suv... for what? only to play to the same 27 people again in 12 days? i would much rather record, wri...