A Musical Missionary?

This little gem I picked up from Shane Hipps' Twitter stream. Shane is now partnering Rob Bell at Mars Hill, I first came across him as the author of one of my favourite books Flickering Pixels. Formerly he was at Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Arizona, a church I was privileged to offer some musical advice to recently...

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Ticket to ride... extremely!

Watching this is almost as convincing as one of those roller coaster simulators! Just hope wasn't disqualified for riding through the tapes a couple of times (or splatting the dog!)? I couldn't help noticing the pin-striped suit the competitor is wearing, too!

P h/t Pat Kirby

Let everything that hath breath...

Saturday night's alright for music! The official launch of the new 'Friends of West Mersea Parish Church' was both an inspiration and a privilege to be part of...

Setlist for Café Musica:

Help - The Beatles
Blowin' in the wind - Bob Dylan
You - Rob Halligan
Time to think - After The Fire
Are we alright? - Show of Hands
Harvest home - Traditional

With a little help from my friends - The Beatles
Forever young - Bob Dylan
Every breath you take - The Police
Railroad man - The Eels
Still haven't found - U2
Blackberry blossom - Traditional

Do you wanna dance? - Bobby Freeman

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The Peace of the Lord be...

Well, I, for one, can't wait to see this movie based on Don Miller's cracking book 'Blue Like Jazz'. Instead of a 'coming of age' storyline it's a bit more of a re-discovery with some seriously perceptive observations of the church.

Love it!

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Out of the mouths of babes...

Adele's wonderful cover of Bob Dylan's 'Make You Feel My Love' plays over the closing credits for BBC's documentary masterpiece, 'Poor Kids' broadcast last Tuesday. Filmed and directed brilliantly by Jezza Neumann, here's the official blurb:

Documentary telling the stories of some of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK. It is one of the worst child poverty rates in the industrialised world, and successive governments continue to struggle to bring it into line. So who are these children, and where are they living? Under-represented, under-nourished and often under the radar, 3.5 million children should be given a voice. And this powerful film does just that.

Eight-year-old Courtney, 10-year-old Paige and 11-year-old Sam live in different parts of the UK. Breathtakingly honest and eloquent, they give testament to how having no money affects their lives: lack of food, being bullied and having nowhere to play. The children might be indignant about their situation now, but this may not be enough to help them. Their thoughts on their futures are sobering.

Sam's 16-year-old sister Kayleigh puts it all into context, as she tells how the effects of poverty led her to take extreme measures to try and escape it all.

Poor Kids puts the children on centre stage, and they command it with honesty and directness. It's time for everyone to listen.

Sadly there are only a few days left to watch on iPlayer, try and make the time...

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BBC Desert Island Discs... The Challenge

Found I couldn't resist the challenge of trying to come up with just the eight requisite number of pieces of music to post on the BBC Your Desert Island Discs page despite knowing how difficult it would prove to be. So I settled on attempting to pick pieces chronologically that had affected me in some profound way, regardless of whether they were actually real favourites. This meant there were far more that, sadly, had to be dropped and so they simply got away! The final list I submitted, after much deliberation:

The Beatles - In My Life
Wendy (was Walter, at the time) Carlos - from Switched on Bach - Brandenberg Concerto No.3 In G Major 1st Movement
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - from Pictures at an Exhibition - The Great Gate of Kiev
Queen - These Are The Days Of Our Lives
J S Bach - from the St. Matthew Passion - Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
Peter Gabriel - The Power Of The Heart
Coldplay - Fix You
Sir Edward Elgar - from The Enigma Variations - Nimrod

with the Peter Gabriel track as my favourite

Now, as mentioned these all mean a great deal, even though I appreciate some are very popularist choices and will potentially bring down scorn upon my cultural taste. So to get around the strict eight disc rule here are some more from the shortlist in a similar chronological order:

Easybeats - Friday On My Mind
Fleetwood Mac - I need your love so bad
The Nice - Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite
Carl Orff - from Carmina Burana - Fortune Plango Vulnera
Bob Dylan - When He Returns
Van Halen - Jump
Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
Arcade Fire - Intervention

Again, even this more esoteric list leaves out many I would love to feature... oh woe!

I have discovered you can see who also picked the songs you selected, quite alarming in some cases! Try out the searches in the section Find castaways and choices.

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