June 2, 2009

• it’s in the can w/submissions for bwack

  well, sort of. we have finished tracking. we have finished mixing. (one shane d. wilson at the console pushing the ones and zeros. he is a wizard!) and the songs will soon be on their way to new york city for mastering by one ted jensen. our job now is to nod along or humbly suggest changes to what we’re hearing. this is all really super, except when you get toward the end of the process there is something that becomes necessary that we, as a band, genuinely hate -– the photo shoot. it is excruciating. standing there, or sitting there, attempting to look normal, like this is what we do all the time — hang out with our band mates in a semi circle so everyone can be seen, making very serious faces so that people later viewing the photos will think things like, “wow, these guys are really serious about sitting there in a semi circle, and it is very nice that they sit there so that all of them can be seen.”

  on our first photo shoot the photographer literally said, “give me kitty cat, give me kitty cat,” while making a clawing motion out to the side of her camera. this didn’t make us feel comfortable while sitting in a semi circle. it was confusing. does “kitty cat” mean “cute or playful face”, or should we bat at the air like the photographer, as in – this a frolicsome action sequence! – or are we just supposed to smile because that is a stupid thing to say, “give me kitty cat,” and this is the intent, to make us smile by saying such a stupid thing. i smiled. i was immediately told not to smile. evidently, kitty cats don’t smile, they look very serious. the next photo shoot was with one of my favorite photographers, dan winters. he’s amazing. his stuff is in magazines a lot, and when i see one of his photos i think, wow, that is a really nice photo, and then i sort of panic and start to sweat because it reminds me of the photo shoot. he told me not to smile. he would take like 100 shots of me looking very serious and i would think, maybe i should smile now, you know to just have the option of me projecting a pleasant feeling, and i would smile and he would say, “don’t smile.” he was also pretty obsessed with my beard. he shot from the profile quite a bit. it made me anxious. he would say, “stare out the window,” and i would stare out the window and think, “people will see me in this photograph and speculate, ‘hm, i wonder what he’s staring at.’” and i would smile because this was funny to me, because there wasn’t anything out the window, and mr. winters would then say, “don’t smile!”

  last tuesday we had our photo shoot. and, believe it or not, we had a good time. the last three photo shoots we have done with kaysie dorsey — wife of one gary dorsey, who, incidentally, has done the art work for our last three albums. both of the dorsey’s are from my hometown of texarkana. they are wizards, the both of them. and speaking of suits.

  

  i’m pretty serious about that cane. i kept hitting everyone with it, because i kept thinking of dumb and dumber.

  also, we did some stuff in front of a green screen. mark took one of bwack when no one was looking.

  

  now bwack is in space.

  

  we posted the green screen picture on twitter and a few people bit. my opinion is that you diligent blog readers are also quite clever and the potential for me to deliver a special photo to bwack, courtesy of you, is great.

  

  bwack homecoming.

  

  bwack tooting his horn.

  

  bwack and unicorn. magical.

  

  bwack and coldplay. also magical.

  so, i beseech thee, make something i can present to bwack that will bend his mind.

  oh, and i should also mention that the cover for the new album is ridiculous! there is no possible way you will be able to look at it and not smile. i would say, “don’t smile,” and you would still smile, regardless of my admonition not to.

  ––––– happy submissions following the previous request ––––––

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 2:02 am
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