Candlemas Rocker Service...

Clearly Archdruid Eileen of the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley has the gift of prophecy as the posting on Saturday 29th; 'Middle Age Rocker Service' was somewhat matched by the real thing this Sunday. In many ways 'Middle Aged' is on the gracious side for After The Fire (ATF) and our extra team of acoustic musicians (no Fender Squier but we did have a genuine Dobro) in our nine piece ensemble. Also whilst our repertoire, although ambitious and not quite as adventurous as Voodoo Chile, I must gently point out we did not actually play 'Joy' during the offertory this time...!

Here is the list of spiritual songs we played that formed the Musical Liturgy:

Sometimes - After The Fire
Help - The Beatles
How Deep the Father's Love - Hymn
Ride Back Home - John Mellencamp
Are We Alright - Steve Knightley/Show of Hands
When the Trumpet of the Lord shall Sound - Hymn
I'll Fly Away - Hymn
Dark Side, I'm not an Angel - After The Fire
Time To Think - After The Fire
Meet Me - Rob Halligan
Laser Love - After The Fire
Jesus! What a Friend for sinners - Hymn
Did Trouble Me - Susan M. Werner / Tom Jones
You - Rob Halligan
Here is Love - Hymn

If doubts overcome, then check it out! Download the whole order of service sheet here!

ATF return to the full rock edition later this month, with US made Strats, February 26th, Rock for Fairtrade, Burgess Hill and then a Water project fundraiser here on Mersea Island on 19th March.

P

I Wish So Bad...

The Voice Project is a brilliant website that was setup to support Northern Ugandan women that have suffered much over the last few years. On a visit by The Voice Project the ladies sang their local songs and then asked to be taught one by their visitors. They learnt 'Suitcase', written by Joe Purdy, which was filmed as they sang it a capella. This video was eventually shown to Joe and the idea of filming artists performing, typically, an unplugged version of another artist's song which would then be then passed along as a 'baton' in a musical relay to the next artist.

As well as some rock premiership names including Peter Gabriel, which I featured here, and Mike Mills of REM who, impressively, recorded one of Billy Bragg pieces there are number of excellent lower league contributions as per the video above.

I find these very uplifting, as, taking The Shivers (above) for example, the performers clearly love the song they've chosen and their interpretation is uniquely special. They take ownership of the song giving these candid films a moment which captures the passion and emotion they pour out of their spirit.... Wonderful!

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Haiti refugee camps - Sprawl with Arcade Fire

An incredible trailer for a forthcoming film called 'The Country Club' featuring superimposed images of the refugee camps and stores in Haiti over Google Earth maps of the area set to Arcade Fire's haunting track Sprawl (Flatland)...

the only golf course in Haiti has become an impromptu home to tens of thousands living beneath tarps due to a devastating earthquake. Out of the estimated half-million left homeless, this short documentary follows one 12-year old boy struggling to find hope despite heavy rains, instability, and a future unknown.

h/t coolpeoplecare

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All things must pass...

Oh, America...

Peter Gabriel, Wallflower, lest we forget...

To view the song only, it is also on YouTube here: Peter Gabriel - Wallflower (piano version)

Peter Gabriel's December message in which he talks about a number of projects he has been involved such as Witness and also bigs up Emmanuel Jal's 'We want Peace' project. Towards the end of this video he performs an exclusive, informal version of his 1982 song 'Wallflower' which was inspired through seeing the work of Amnesty. This simply features PG accompanied beautifully by pianist Tom Cawley. 'Wallflower' is one of PG's songs selected for the 'New Blood' record featuring full orchestral arrangements. It is in support of Mary Robinson, one of the innovative peacemakers, The Elders.

My highlight of 2010 was experiencing PG's Scratch My Back concert which I reviewed extensively here, so inspiring, so moving and the most significant spiritual refreshment of the year...

You can still preview the whole Scratch My Back album here too

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That fifteen films meme...

 

Unfashionably late, as usual!

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen films you’ve seen that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen films you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

Not in order of preference.

• Chariots of Fire
• What's Up Doc?
• Let it be
• 2001
• Wayne's World
• Nativity!
• Bladerunner
• Something's Gotta Give
• Bucket List
• Star Wars
• You're a Big Boy Now
• War Child
• Animal House
• Africa United
• Die Große Stille

Do go tag thyself!

In the words of the rebel Jesus...

Re-post from last year - still listening and admiring Jackson Browne nailing it...

This amazing song from Jackson Browne is one of my fave Christmas pieces with so much truth and depth compared to other commercial stuff and what we sing in church. Verse two is really hard hitting linking 'Temple Trading' to both the church and environmental issues way back in the early nineties:

Ah, they call Him by the "Prince Of Peace"
And they call Him by "The Saviour"
And they pray to Him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill His churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in Him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

In the last verse he apologises for appearing to be judgemental (which I wonder if that's another sideswipe at the established church!) before closing the song with the fantastic proclamation:

So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus

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We Might As Well Be Strangers...

Last night's episode of the BBC mini series Nativity where the tension betwixt Mary and Joseph is both at breaking point and breaking down as the awareness that Mary's innocence is true grows.

Despite the literary license used to flesh out the narrative, which Biblical purists find uncomfortable, I find it totally riveting, beautifully artistic, sensitively produced and, at times, intensely moving...

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Stand up, stand up for Emmanuel Jal...

An Advent meditation from 'ethical rap' artist Emmanuel Jal, endorsed by the peacemaking initiative The Elders, in support of We Want Peace. Emmanuel has appeared at the Greenbelt Festival twice plus the stunning biographical film about his life 'War Child' was previewed there. That turned out to be one of those Greenbelt 'moments', as, when the film show became very delayed, a member of the audience, Shaz Brown, volunteered to perform some of her stunning and earthy urban poetry while we were waiting, everybody there will remember how amazing that was...

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me... he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

Isaiah 61:1

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Brandon Flowers - a divine spark...

A breathtaking video by The Killers' front man Brandon Flowers beautiful song 'Only The Young':

Mother its cold here. Father Thy will be done.
Thunder and lightening are crashing down.
They got me on the run, direct me to the sun.
Redemption keeps my covers clean tonight.
Baby we can start again.

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When the roll is called up yonder...

... So singer Caleb Followill of the excellent Kings of Leon proclaims in the first line of the band's single 'Radioactive', the words taken directly from the well known Gospel hymn. The inspirational video also demonstrates an acknowledgement of their church roots, featuring an excellent young choir, perfect music for a joyful Gaudete Sunday!

Recently ITV recently carried a documentary which followed the band around for 48 hours entitled 'Excess All Areas' (Explicit!). Despite the title and the presenter's efforts to talk sex drugs and rock and roll, the band came across very much as the family that they are genetically, very different to most bands with similar status.

And to make an important join - check out Martyn Joseph's brilliant song 'Brother's in Exile'...

PB

Jónsi - Totally Transcendent Tunes

Jónsi - Grow Till Tall from fadryke on Vimeo.

Advent Two

Every so often an musician emerges who is clearly a prodigious talent. Jónsi hails from Iceland and clearly draws on his cultural roots to season his incredibly atmospheric music. His live shows feature stunning background graphics which appear to both surround and integrate with the band's contribution. Wonderful stuff!

h/t Tim Abbott's recent blog review

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Awesome Advent from Sufjan Stevens

A stunning version of my fave Advent hymn, love both the apparently haphazard and over the top production! This piece is on an amazing five CD collection Songs for Christmas. The enigmatic Sufjan also produced an incredible CD by another Greenbelt Festival favourite band who played there in 2009, The Welcome Wagon.

Welcome to Advent 2010!

PB

The shuffling first fifteen meme...

 

1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.

1. The boy with no name – Travis
2. Are we alright? - Show of Hands
3. Bring 'em all in - Mike Scott
4. He never said - Martyn Joseph
5. Blood red sky - Seth Lakeman
6. Why does my heart feel so bad? - Moby
7. Superhuman touch - Athlete
8. I grieve - Peter Gabriel
9. Black swan song - Athlete
10. Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001 Space Odyssey
11. Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
12. You (Live 2008) - After The Fire
13. Somebody told me - The Killers
14. '40' - U2
15. Walking into battle with the Lord - Chumbawamba

I supposed I am slightly puzzled this list is relatively contemporary yet my overall library is substantially more varied Intriguing that over 50% are bands that have played at the Greenbelt Festival over the years...

Thanks for the tag Phil, if you haven't been tagged yet, go for it anyway (that's you, that is!).

Creative Covenant Conclusions...

Richard Twiss (above) of Wiconi International was one of the speakers at the recent Emergent Village Theological Conversation which evoked an incredible blog post from Julie Clawson. This paragraph jumped out at, giving me a gentle sense of joy with its resonance to my concerns for the church, particularly all the turmoil over the Anglican Covenant:

The speakers had led us to see how the Bible is used as a colonizing text and how the rituals and trapping of the Western church have colonized the minds of indigenous peoples. Their dream is to find ways to do distinctly indigenous theology and develop spiritual practices that are native to who they are. They pleaded with us to stop seeing Western theology, philosophy, academia, and liturgy as the norm that all others must aspire to or at least subjugate their spiritual language to. And above all to not just allow native peoples space to pursue those paths, but to join in with them valuing their voices just as much as we value Western voices.

Let's face it, The Anglican Covenant is simply an ecclesiastical straight-jacket, therefore I support and endorse the #nocovenant campaign.

It will be interesting to see what 'action' comes out of the Emergent Village Theological Conversation... At Greenbelt 2100 Richard Rohr said 'The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better'.

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A secret chord...

Am tickled pink today... Wikio contacted me to say my blog had gone in to their music rankings at number 5! Plus they've given me the opportunity to publish a sneak peek before they release them:

1	Musicrooms.net
2	SoulCulture.co.uk
3	Alter The Press!
4	Lil Wayne HQ
5	St. Peter's View (BanksyBoy)
6	LondonJazz
7	Word Magazine blogs
8	Matrixsynth
9	No Rock And Roll Fun
10	Live4ever - The Brit Rock Daily
11	uncarved.org blog
12	Popjustice
13	PUT ME ON IT
14	Southern Hospitality
15	Slipped disc
16	Song, by Toad
17	We Are Pop Slags
18	On An Overgrown Path
19	Tom Service on classical music
20	The Chemistry is Dead

Music

Ranking recorded by Wikio

Hymns and Spiritual Songs...

One of the joys of being in the Blogosphere is making international virtual friends who lift your spirits with their thoughts and encouragement. Posting the video above was a direct result of reading this on the When Love Comes to Town blog, one that I have on my Blogroll and is clearly a fellow pilgrim on the 'Redeeming Culture' trail.

Over the last couple of days I have been wrestling with what to write about the version of 'In Christ Alone' that appeared as a just for fun 'cover song' on stellar musician Adam Young's Owl City Blog... so I am grateful for Mike Todd's excellent piece today, A Mild Rant on Sacredness, Owl City and The Jesus Station, which says so well what I wished I had thought of...

Cheers me dears!

PB

Greenbelt Festival 1974-2010 re-United...

 

Every so often a little bit of self promotion is unavoidable...! So here goes:

Saturday week 16th October 2010 After The Fire are delighted to have been asked to be part of this event to help raise funds and awareness the plight of the Dalit people of India via Life Association, a charity headed up by the noble Simon Hawthorne. The main attraction of the evening will be the re-union of the Bill Mason Band with the aforementioned Simon on guitar. Along with ourselves (After The Fire) and 70s legends The Movement Family Band the lovely songstress Hannah Atkins will be performing bringing the Greenbelt Festival connection right up to date after her stonking set in the Performance Café this year at #GB10.

For details of how to get tickets (via a PayPal donation) for this special one off event follow the Life Association link.

See you there?!

Music is A Voice of God...

The late Billy Preston giving a transcendent performance at possibly the very first major fund raising concert in 1971 organised by The Beatles guitarist George Harrison for the folk of Bangladesh. I was reminded of this song when a compilation program celebrating 250 great performances from 'Later... with Jools Holland' was shown recently.

On the same program DJ Trevor Nelson, when talking about Mary J Blige, used the expression 'Took it to church' to describe a particularly brilliant performance where artist and song become one entity, a special moment which transcends personal taste and totally captivates the whole audience. I immediately thought 'Took it to church' as an expression to describe something so special by linking it to 'church' was both challenging and something to always aspire to...

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Greenbelt Festival 2010 perspectives

 

Greenbelt is always a sea of surprises and stimulating encounters... 2010 was another great year and re-inforces my determination to never miss it!

Here are my initial responses:

Highlights:
1) Fr. Richard Rohr on the church
2) Watching the preview of the film 'Africa United'
3) Revd. Dr John Smith's talks which emphatically restated Greenbelt's original vision(s)
4) Shlomo's mainstage mini-set
5) The start and end of the communion service (i.e. unaccompanied singing with no band)

Surprises:
1) Giles Fraser on The English Civil War and the future of the Church of England
2) Martyn Atkins on Methodism and discipleship
3) Foy Vance bumped up to a mainstage set
4) How many talks I managed to attend!
5) Bumping into Clare Short and having a good chinwag

Lowlights:
1) The weather prior to the festival during set-up and the cold in the evenings!
2) Rock band style music in parts of the communion service
3) Many of the mainstage music acts
4) Confetti cannon during the communion service
5) Sensing 'beer and hymns' becoming more organised

Despite being involved as a contributor this year I did manage to attend a couple of Tweetups and was delighted to commune with some of my virtual 'friends' yet missed others altogether. Otherwise it was great to bump into friends from across the years and actually meet, for the first time, folk that I knew about and that knew me too, but until now...!

However, I do think Greenbelt needs to look carefully to ensure that aspects of the original vision that are still valid and distinctly 'Greenbelt' as some of this is in danger of being sidelined. I don't doubt the Greenbelt 'powers' will already be aware of this so I am not going to witter on here!

Greenbelt is for everybody... unless they're not keen on a bit of heaven?

Here's a perspective from a first time visitor: Do Christian Music Festivals Make You Want to Switch Religions?

And on the Greenbelt Blog today a gorgeous poem: 'If heaven (2)' by Rosie Miles