i need new music

i heard someone say the other day "its hard to find good music at my age". at first i didnt understand the logic of this statement but then i thought about it: im at that age where i am not surrounded by people that spend most of their time listening to music, standing awkwardly in front of a stage filled with tight panted hipsters but im not at the age where i have completely given up and and just settle for what ever top 40 gives me. but i still need great music in my life. we all do. i dont have the time to sift through everything thats out there and cant really explain my tastes to someone who might offer up some new sounds. i know the following artists are not new, but new are not they make it happen for me. hear are some examples of my favorite songs. lets see if you can recommend my next favorite band or singer:

1. Adele - Someone Like You - keep in mind i have not heard her whole album. but this song, more specifically this version of this song literally stops me in my tracks. i think she carries the weight of the world's love woes in her voice. people dont sing like this. just thinking about her performance here breaks my heart yet fills it up:



2. Loudon Wainwright III - Red Guitar - There is something so simple in Red Guitar and thats what I love it. Someone once said that genius is the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way. This has always been part of my music taste. I dont need a thousand instruments or crazy arrangements, just give me a piano and a voice. Its this form of storytelling through a song that I have always been a fan of that Loudon rules at on this song.



3. Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1 - I dont know what it is about this song. Maybe because it was featured in the incredibly inspiring film Man On Wire or maybe because it feels like it has the perfect balance of sadness and happiness. This song reminds me of those days where you walk outside and you may have a little sorrow hanging on your heart but you are also filled with gratitude and hope. That is this song to me...

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4. Jay Z featuring Mr Hudson - Young Forever - Jay-Z is one of those artists that cant stop being great. In my opinion he has taken rap/hip-hop to the next level by embedding a level of heart and passion that you dont find in other hip-hop songs. Young Forever is a song that makes you want to dance but also makes you want to grab the hand of your neighbor and take on the world!!



5. Mumford & Sons - Awake My Soul - This song literally changed my life...


6. The Magic Numbers - I See You, You See Me - This is a love song for the modern lover. It really hits on the issue we have all been in where you think you are in love with your best friend. It also has the feel that it could be from a indie music broadway musical. Something about it never gets old


I will stop here for the sake of time and for the fact that I could go on and on. I guess what I have learned from this post is that I love music with heart that makes me feel something. I almost take it to the cheese factor. If you have something you think I would like please share it with me claytonshanefarris [at] gmail [dot] com

Until then, please enjoy the music while your party is reached...

Everything Is Butter In Texas

the law of attraction. does it work? im starting to think so.

10 Day Avail

listening to charmed actors complain about their lives can be annoying. trust me i hear it all the time, but allow me to take this minute to describe to you just how fucked up it can be. i had an audition on January 15th that went swimmingly for a small little company called Altoids. since you can never tell what these people want you just try and move on with your life after youve poured out your sould in a room. cause thats what i do, nothing is half assed. knowing what day the callback was scheduled for, once that day passes you can usually let go and move on. i was super busy with many other projects at the time, so i didnt put my eggs in this basket so to speak. then out of nowhere, 15 days after the initial audition date, BAM! callback. i was excited because it seemed like a fun spot. i had to rap a song of my choice for the original audition and i of course chose a classic method man song that references pussy more than once. the callback asked us to write our own rap and then around 9:00pm the night before they released a song/rap that they wanted us to learn. i did as much pre-work as i could and managed to get to the audition early. there was a cd that was on repeat of the song they wanted us to sing. i was determined to book this. i went in and charmed the room and blew the socks off the song. after a few adjustments, as they thanked me, i offered to rap the piece i had written. too much? maybe, you never know what is too much. you know they want to see your personality, but you dont want to look desperate. i realized i had one more chance to hook them so i did my rap. they liked it and had me do it again. i left, feeling good. i wanted this commercial. less than 4 hours later they called and put me on avail. this is where shit gets tricky. being on avail means you are made available for the shoot date. meaning if you book something else, this project has first right to use you. avail is a good thing, cause in theory it means you and maybe 1 or 2 other people are up for the spot. but the emotions that come along with being put on avail are what kill you. first of all, you start spening money you dont have. luckily commercials are jackpots. being sooo poor all the time and knowing that with one phone call you can make some serious cash is tough. its like when people go crazy after winning th lotto. if fucks with your head. then theres the fact that this spot could be a big success so it could in theory really change your career. then you think about how calling home to your family down south with th egreat news will make everyones day. then theres braggibg rights, and of course validation, because we need as actors is a little FUCKING validation that we shpuld keep doin this to oursellves. dragging ourselves thru the mud day after day just to have somebody in a room that doesnt know anything about you tell you that you arent good enough. this was my thought process for 12 days of avail. then today my agent calls and says 'sorry. youve been released' without acknoledging what youve been going through. now, i know its not rocket science and i know there is some real shit going on in the world. but sometimes i just gotta bitch about it because it rips me apart. the highs and lows of the artists are beautiful and hideous. but all we can do is forge ahead. i choose not to be bitter. i choose to be happy for whoever booked the spot. and i choose to hang on even tighter to the handle bars of this endeavor. beacuse after all, i chose to be here. namaste and blessing s to everone out there and may success find all of us.

this is halloween, this is halloween

"So I think this is the best costume for today." - Little Edie

working at a costume shop during halloween is a deep look into people's lives. you get to see who people tuly want to be. for the purpose of this post i have narrowed people into 3 groups. sluts, nuts and realists.

people like to dress 'slutty' on halloween. the most common request is "i want to be __________, but a sexy _________" The blank being filled in with words like cop, bunny, pirate etc. i believe the ones that want to be sexy for halloween see themselves as sexy in real life. its not an excuse, its a continuance. if these sluts could could get away with being sluts everyday, they would. there is nothing wrong with showing skin; i mean we all like to look at skin, but why use the one day you have all year to be whatever you want, as an excuse to wear the same thing you would wear out to some ultra lounge on a Friday night?

nuts are the ones who want to be funny. these come in a types. my favorite are the 'beautiful' ones that would rather use this holiday as a chance to be something 'ugly' or most importantly 'funny'. a very common costume that we send out at the Shoppe is a 'furry'. its just a big animal costume. there is no shape to it, no sex appeal, its just a furry sack. but for some reason the ones that choose the shapeless sack or the most sexy to me. there is something to be said for a person that hides their shape and all they have is their personality. personalities really shine when you arent staring at a pair of tits or raging six pack. i like to consider myself a nut when it comes to halloween.

the realist are those that dont want to be funny or sexy but want to be real. authenticity is key to the realists. they want to take on a whole new persona. not one that showcases their sex appeak or personality, but one that all together changes who they are for one night. this is, in my opinion, the true spirit of halloween. we all question who we are. we all wear costumes everyday. but how wonderful it is to be someone else for a day. by simply putting on a new costume and changing your accent, we get to escape for those few hours while we sip spooky punch or walk the streets with our children knocking on strangers doors.

we choose how we represent ourselves to the world. it was my decision to wear my tight jeans and my grey fedora propped everso perfectly on the crown of my nogging to work today so i could prove to others at first glance that i am more of an artists then they may have perceived had we had a simple conversation. this is why people wear flashy t-shirts with fake diamonds and swirls of stitches on there jeans, to let you know they have money before you have a chance to see the one room studio that they hibernate in. this is why the sales person wears a precisely pressed suit to prove to his prey that what he has to offer is prestine even though his car is filled with trash and apple cores, a disorganized mess.

were we all to stand naked sans 'costume' in a row before a jury, they would have know idea how to qualify us. we all have abs, we all have tits, we all breathe and eat and shit, and it all stinks. but what we dont all have is compassion and character. my dad always told me that 'character' is who you are when no one is looking. this is what my father gave me. and when my heart breaks for everyone because i know that they have pain and faults and that they want love and they want to be good, i know that these 'costumes' we wear evertyday are forced upon us. afterall, we have to choose what we put on. so i will respect how people choose to represent themselves everyday, because I know, if they had more of a choice , they woiuld change it up a bit. at least i hope they would.

so for all you sluts and nuts on halloween, enjoy this chance to be whoever you want; after sunday its back to playing your hardest part ever; you.

damn the man

i have no idea if anyone out there is reading this blog, but i am continuing to post. in a display of true greed i joined the google adsense program. i thought why not monetize this blog? hell i can use every penny i can get these days. so i accepted the terms. then i took one look at this blog with the ads on it and it made me sick. just the thought of advertising random businesses and organizations so i can make a lousy 6 cents everytime someone clicks, goes against everything i believe. i have done my best to ignore every ad that i am forced to look at while perusing the internet and think i have managed to avoid clicking through; accept of course the recent ad that featured my face. fuck yeah i clicked on that. point is no ads.

2nd place Loser

so keep in mind i am writing this after literally 12 cockyails. i had to drink after my loss. thats right, i lost the comedy contest. and by lost i mean i got 2nd place. i feel like the dad that is overly competitive and harsh on his children when they do something mediocre but the child is myself. whoa. mind blown. i fucking love doing stand up. what did i win? i won a $50 gift card to Flappers, which I spent last night. I also won a copy of my set, which i will be posting soon. and i won 2 tickets to see tommy davidson tonight at flappers which i cant go to because I have a show.

the good part is all the people that came out to support. i forget sometimes that i do have a nice group of friends out here in los angeles. i love you guys!

new goal: make stand up full time. may as well have the goal of becoming a rocket scientist. if you dont know good stand up you should watch Louis CK, Nick Swardson and Ellen. They are my favs.

louis ck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u2ZsoYWwJA

ellen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZblil8YCBI&feature=related

nick swardson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em0dXkqPMlw\

face

i kept getting emails and facebook messages from friends about the REDCAT ad i was in. i had no idea what they were talking about. finally a friend sent me a screenshot of what keeps popping up on her facebook page. since she sent me this photo, i have seen the add over 50 times while on FB. first thought is, 'i spend way too much time on facebook'; second thought is 'i don't remember giving my permission to use this photo'. this is not an indictment on REDCAT. i have since agreed to using my face as the face of the REDCAT membership campaign, but i just wonder how often things like this happen.