averyfineline

When last we heard from the fake Florida Boys, they were performing to not-bad reviews from a few readers but seemed to be keeping a generally low profile. Now, it looks like they’re slated to start appearing at the Showplace Dinner Theater in the Smokies. Theater management is in a dispute with the previous headliner, […]

I speak, of course, of XBox Rock Band, which I played for the first time tonight. Our group had a four-piece combo … drums, bass, lead guitar, and vocalist. My inner music snob made me reflexively skeptical of the game at first, and if you’re not a metal or hard rock fan, it’s easy to […]

For those of you who took a long weekend, Tim Parton left Legacy 5, the group announced they were auditioning new pianists, and Parton rejoined the group this morning. Reminiscent of Frank Seamans leaving the group a while back, and then unleaving before he was ever gone. Maybe the group needs a new slogan. L5: […]

I don’t watch much television, unless it’s reruns of Seinfeld or Law & Order (original flavor only please, and preferably the Adam Schiff era or earlier). So sometimes it’s a revelation to me when I finally see shows that everyone’s been talking about. Or shows that are knock-offs of shows that everyone’s been talking […]

So, if David Bruce Murray’s little bird is right that a bluegrass song will be the next No. 1 song on the SN chart, and given that Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver were sitting at No. 4 last month (same position on Billboard’s report, too), doth my powers of deduction fail me to conclude that DL&Q’s […]

Reader S writes:

i’d add to your list of things that fans wouldn’t believe about sogo artists and writers the amount of plastic surgery and the numerous varieties of cavorting (men with men, women with men, women with women, men with others’ wives, wives with others’ husbands, dogs with cats)….i guess because i have been “enlightened” […]

Well, I guess I should have a strong opinion about this Joel Hemphill kerfuffle, but honestly I find it difficult to get overly worked up about it. The best I can tell, Hemphill is coming from the general vicinity of Oneness Pentecostalism, which certainly is unorthodox compared to mainstream Protestantism, but is just one subspecies […]

From the Ask Avery file, JM writes:

Question: The history of the Evangelical movement in America goes back to colonial times and before. However, during the baby-boomer generation, we have seen the rise of evangelists (Graham, Humbard, Robertson, Falwell, Swaggart, Baker, etc.) via electronic media. And while some of these mentioned TV pioneers have passed […]

And now a few words on netiquette from your tired traveler, to all my fellow itinerant telecommuters who, like me, are enjoying the free internet at the local café: Even though you may have paid $4 for that cup of coffee, you are not thereby entitled to camp out near the electrical outlet and set […]

Insiderman says the Perrys pianist is leaving. Or rather, has already left.
A little digging confirms this is indeed the case and the Ps are auditioning replacements. From what I can tell, they parted on good terms. Holt is, evidently, returning to some sort of something in education near his home.
If all the details aren’t entirely […]

Well, the hills are alive with the sound of Joel Hemphill claiming that Jesus was not God in the flesh. Quelle scandal. I’ve been traveling and haven’t had time to sort through all of this sufficient for a post of its own. But in the meantime, let’s put to rest an idea that was succinctly […]

Greetings from the faceless Atlanta suburb of Stockbridge (which always reminds me of Admiral Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate from back in the 90s, and Phil Hartmann’s hi-freakin-larious send up of him on SNL), which is home for the night, only because it’s the closest thing to half-way between Southwest Florida and the Midwest and […]

So my avfl email box filled up without my realizing it, which meant no comments got forwarded to the workaday account I use to moderate avfl posts. Thus the dearth of comments posted on the site for the last … what … day or two? Apologies.
I’ll be traveling for the next few days. Talk amongst […]

Dunno if this is for real or not (almost funnier if it isn’t) but RH sent along this eBay auction. Check out the photos.

It’s a harshing twofer! BF writes:

Dear Ask Avery-

I have this sore on my…..

Just kidding. Just kidding.

I’m curious to know if the undercurrent of anger that so often comes alive through the comments posted by your constituency is a phenomenon peculiar just to Avery Fine Line or is it embedded […]

Leebob claims the complaints about EHSSQ are purely subjective:

The arguments against EHSS are personal tastes for the most part. I have not seen any argument against EHSS that are substantive. For the most part they have been made by people from a distance. When the attacks on their style didn’t work then the […]

From the Ask Avery file, Edie wants to know:

Hey Mr Editor-guy,
I’m wondering why you think there are all these Ernie-haters out there? Is it jealousy? I mean, Ernie is just as nice and just as normal (which means he has his faults) as anybody else out there.

On the one […]

Not so fast, a reader says in response to my thoughts on the Best of Ivan Parker.

Don’t confuse a set of video presentations of the artist at Gaither tapings with the actual artist. Ivan actually does perform live very differently. He often has live piano, guitar, and saxophone, mixed in with tracks. He’s […]

The extended-commercial version of Gaither’s Best of Ivan Parker was on the Jesus channel this evening, so I watched a bit of it. I confess that most southern gospel soloists leave me cold. I mean, isn’t one of the main points of this music the (useful fiction of) live harmony? If I wanted to hear […]

The singer/songwriter Christine Kane has a blog post up re-imagining what would happen if bloggers wrote song titles. It’s pretty amusing. My personal favorite: “Stairway to Heaven” in blogspeak becomes “Five sure-fire ways to create a riff that will piss off every music store clerk from here to eternity.” Heheh.
I have nothing to say about […]