shawn avery

tomorrow, the year is half over. this year has flown by exceptionally fast. the weather lately has been very hot... and i'm getting out of town this weekend with alison and 6 of our close friends. we are going to dismals canyon . the name is strange. the canyon is actually named for the illuminated phenomena known as dismalites . there's nothing dismal about it. it is located in north central alabama. we will be setting up a camp site comprised of four tents, and a central cooking station at the scout camp site . we will be getting there friday afternoon, and leaving sunday afternoon. lots of great food and beer will be coming with us. it has an illustrious history, and was once the hideout location for arron burr, and some notable outlaws. here are some images from the canyon floor. Here's what their site says about the canyon : Intentionally private, Dismals Canyon - in keeping with its pristine surroundings - offers a quiet and unspoiled oasis in Alabama’s last secret ...

MICHAEL JACKSON (50), FARRAH FAUCET (62) & BIRMINGHAM'S CITY STAGES FESTIVAL (21) - ALL DEAD. strange days indeed . Hi res photos of michael's last rehearsal, 2 days before his death: photo 1 / photo 2

this will be our 2nd public show of the year, and possibly the only one in the middle of summer. i'm going to bring the projections back in full force. but i've said that before. it would be nice if i could throw up a digital ep on the interweb or something by then. meh.

tonight. st. vincent @ bottletree. this will be the 3rd time i've see her live, and the 2nd @ bottletree. she has a new record that i really haven't heard yet. some way, somehow, she's related to frank zappa. tomorrow is eight years since the start of phase 3 of my completely fucked circumstance. here's my previous blog with clips from the set i watched at sxsw07. the top photo was taken at coachella. the bottom photo was taken by leah hutchenson, who was standing beside me during st/ vincent's set at antone's during sxsw07. also in this photo, brian teasley (bottletree) is playing drums.

if all goes as we've initially planned, i'll be jumping aboard the psychedelic post rock local zeitgeist racing dune buggy known as through the sparks , as their percussion with sound-maker. they have just begun the final mixing/mastering of their new full length release. hopefully a few laid back (read: fun) shows will emerge later this summer. through the sparks @ myspace.

on june 6th, 2002, my first gig with the ashes (also my first gig in alabama) went down at the high-note on 21st street. i had met ashby via another project earlier in the spring that lingered on for a few months but never came together. he had been playing at the hippodrum for a few months with some other guys. by the time we played this show in june, we had been rehearsing for maybe 2-3 weeks. we played a mixed bag of covers, originals and some idea fragments. we played summer babes by pavement, something by david gray, and several songs that would become staples in the ashes sets over the next 2 years. although we wrote easily 40-50 songs as the ashes - we only existed as a live band for just over 2 years. pictured here is ashby pate, houston wood, tony dichiara and myself. i was kinda freaked out to be playing in front of a crowd for the first time in almost 2 years, and ashby was plastered drunk from a combination of nerves, and having to wait around forever to play our set...

last weekend we went to a cookout / movie screening at our friends greg and hannah's house. we set up a screen in the back yard and screened two movies: the life aquatic and purple rain. the life aquatic was incredibly entertaining the 2nd time around. i hadn't seen it since it was in theatres. the dvd of purple rain was mine, and i've seen the film at least 15 times. a lot of folks at the cookout had never seen it, and it was illuminating to see the various reactions. now that we are about to hit the summer of 2009... that means a seminal summer of my youth, the summer of '84 is a quarter of a century past. here's a critical, but ultimately accurate assessment of the biggest pop-rock film of the era. ( popmatters is doing a 25 year retrospective series of articles on the film & soundtrack): By Rob Horning PopMatters General Features Editor: It’s something of an understatement to note that Prince has done some strange things over the course of his...