Former CBS record label mates convention....

Had an unexpected reunion with former CBS records labelmate John Cooper Clarke, still strutting his stuff as the definitive punk poet... On the right (my left in the photo) is one of my son's craft stalls (Sam's Wood) with his wooden creations displayed in the Essex town of Wivenhoe, where JCC now resides.

We reminisced about the various shared acquaintances and personalities from those days, compared notes on our life stories since being 'signed' and generally put the world to rights. Have to say his detailed memory from those heady days is impressive, he hasn't aged a bit ;-)

Here is one of my favourite examples of his work:

I wrote the songs that nearly made
The bottom line of the hit parade
Almost anthems, shoulda been hits
Songs like... Puttin' on the Ritz
Some enchanted afternoon
Twenty-four hours to Levenshulme
Dancin' in the daylight, singin' in the smog
You ain't nothin' but a hedgehog
So close and yet so far
Do you remember they way we are
I'd like to get you on a speedboat to china
From an idea by George Steiner
Ain't no blag - uncle's got a brand new jag
Ain't no slouch - mama's got a brand new couch
She ain't heavy, she's my sister
Not to leave out twist and whisper
Brand new leapordskin pillbox glove
Baby you and me we got a greasy kind of love

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God's extraordinary symphony...

Rapping theology...

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Voting by your views...

I know some Bloggers despise stats but as a relative newbie I couldn't resist!

Top viewed BanksyBoy Briefings January 2010:

1 Great tidings of joy in the Brit film Nativity!
2 After The Fire becomes International Rescue as ATF ring tone finds mobile in snow drift
3Whilst we allow poverty through inequality we are culpable for disasters like Haiti
4 Angels from the realms of... er, Norway! Breathtaking and truly wonderful music
5 Art and Christianity - made in the image of God - Antony Gormley's love for his art
6 Mumford & Sons, music to mend and inspire!
7 Art and Christianity - using Biblical texts to be subversive in poetry
8 Art and Christianity - can music really be sacred? Yours truly reckons this is
9 One of After The Fire's youngest fans comes up with a brilliant CD design
10 This is how the world will end... The Elms video shows Haiti poverty pre-earthquake

All Time top views (since Dec 2009)

1 Ashamed Anglican? Bravo Father Tim and shame on you Archdeacon of York - should have stood by your man
2 One of After The Fire's youngest fans comes up with a brilliant CD design
3 Great tidings of joy in the Brit film Nativity!
4 Angels from the realms of... er, Norway! Breathtaking and truly wonderful music
5 After The Fire becomes International Rescue as ATF ring tone finds mobile in snow drift
6 Brilliant article in blokes mag Esquire by Greenbelt Festival speaker Shane Claiborne
7 Whilst we allow poverty through inequality we are culpable for disasters like Haiti
8 Made in the image of God - Antony Gormley's love for his art
9 Paloma Faith sings 'Do you want the truth or something beautiful?' Bit like the Christmas story
10 Jackson Browne's moving song which should be a regular Christmas anthem

Top referring blogs January 2010

1 theartistandthetartist.blogspot.com (James & Maggie)
2 elizaphanian.blogspot.com (Revd Sam)
3 diggingalot.org (Graham Peacock)
4 philipstreehouse.blogspot.com (Phil Ritchie)
5 joninbetween.blogspot.com (Jonathan Evens)
6 jonnybaker.blogs.com (Jonny Baker)
7 cartoonchurch.com (Dave Walker)
8 cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com (Archdruid Eileen)
9 ocicbwneighbourhood.blogspot.com (Madpriest)
10 evangelistchanging.blogspot.com (Joe Haward)

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Art and Christianity Part Five - Poem

This my final post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

I remember hearing this poem for the first time in an English Literature lesson. Although initially I didn't fully understand the depth of the text I could clearly tell the link to Abraham and Isaac from the Bible narrative. Then the teacher went on to explain that Owen's technique was to use both the biblical text as an analogy and also, significantly, as a subversive weapon to get his message across about the massive loss of life in the first world war. Then last year at Greenbelt 2009  Maggi Dawn, during her talk on Lent, quoted the last two lines which triggered the memory banks...

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb, for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

I find this deeply moving in both the way Owen adopts the language and meaning of Scripture as well as having the courage to speak out so challengingly in an era when it would have been shunned...

Text copied from here.