shawn avery

it happened ten years ago today .

i've been playing a few shows with john stroh m lately... 2 weeks ago i played with him in nashville. the line-up in nashville was john, myself, and bo butler / shae rives of the saturdays . john p. strohm and the saturdays are on the same record label, superphonic records . the line-up changed for the cd release last saturday at bottletree. we added brian t. murphy (of the spots) who has played with john in the past. we also got clint wells (also of the spots) on board to do some excellent lead guitar work. so basically, john strohm had the majority of two different bands backing him. with the exception of one botched ending, the show was incredible from my view. i usually loathe playing drums live, but i think i held it together. i actually got compliments on my drumming which i found hilarious. i'm about a 4th as good as i was in the early 90's. this was the 2nd show in two days that i played at bottletree. at this point i was exhausted and sunburned from doing the m...

i'm posting a massive set of photos today from the MUSE OF FIRE festival at sloss last weekend. i'll post a few here, and the rest can be seen from my photo gallery link... below: the bridges at the fountain stage and the final scene of henry v. gordon pate is on the left, and lead actor sly little jr. is at the right.

here's the second set of photos from the show at bottletree. liz wells just posted some pics of the john p. strohm cd release show that i'll post later today. i talked to brian murphy at the damnwells show last night and we talked about the potential for the spots... a band that was formed to have no potential. interesting. i also realized that this show was the first time i've played bass at bottletree. soo... here are the remaining pics, courtesy of t. scott carlisle :

the spots typically play private parties and events. we like it this way. this band has no singer. no songs, no set list. no stage persona. no words. we sometimes don't even face the audience. we are to be heard, not seen. this changes somewhat when we play in public. usually, when we do play public shows, we try to make sure that the event warrants the effort. last year we played the film screening in linn park, art walk 2006, etc. so now we've made our way to the ever encompassing bottletree... here's some pics taken by t. scott carlisle ... this is such a great band to be a part of. i'll post the vertical pics today...

...from the biggest, busiest musical week of the year. i'll post some diary-like entrries about this later in the week, along with photos and whatnot. those who know me, know i've been endlessly rehearsing and planning for the shows i played with john strohm in nashville last weekend, and bottletree on saturday night. throw in a show with the spots at bottletree on friday, and being the music director for muse of fire... and you've got a homey who is behind on the housework. more pics later... here's one of the spots from friday night. the spots ARE the best band in the universe. like, i mean... completely. also... here's a photo from the through the sparks cd release a few weeks ago. this is back stage at bottletree. and this is one of the greatest photos ever taken. it was taken by j. purvis. and i heart these girls...