Glastonbury.........

We have been watching some of Glastonbury tonight on the BBC. We have caught loads of small parts of performances but managed to watch the full set by Amy Winehouse, read about it here. In a nutshell it was a car crash of epic proportions. She was a mess, her vocals seem to have descended into a complete shambles and her behavior was less than rational, its sad to watch.



Jay Z is on stage right now. He began his performance by "singing" wonderwall by Oasis in an apparent jibe at Noel Gallagher who said Glastonbury should not have a hip hop act as a headliner. Regardless of that matter his endless shouting about bitches and constant massaging of his own ego is kinda lame. I appreciate that he is talented but he is giving me a bit of a headache, i mean SO WHAT BRO, you can talk really fast over some samples? YAWN..................................

Cherith has also been blogging about JAY Z at Glastonbury here. She is much more eloquent than i................

[crave]: creative chaos........

The majority of the photoshop work you saw in my time lapse the other day was for [crave]: (pictured below). Last year i designed the artwork for their latest album 'Waiting Games', i blogged it here, do take a look. These guys are awesome so it is great to be working with them again.....


as always the excellent photography is by Connor

Chaos@ragamuffinsoul.com

Lincoln Brewster

Lincoln Brewster's new track Today is the Day is well worth a listen folks. It is not in the UK just yet but stop on by his myspace for a listen. If you are in the USA click into iTunes here and get it purchased. HIs spell as lead guitarist for Steve Perry of JOURNEY in the mid 90's is only one of the cool things about this guy but that aside he really is a great musician, check him out.

God & The Rolling Stones.....

I love this song, i love that Mick & Keith wrote a song about various people in history who had converted to Christianity, notably St. Paul and St. Augustine. Mick sings that he will never be a saint but he also sings that he believes in miracles and he wants to save his soul, i wonder does he mean this or is it just lyrical word play?



I wonder sometimes when we are a fan of someone in the public spotlight do we take time to stop and pray for them? It is crazy that we can write off a film star or musician due to their excessive lifestyle or at least some part of their life we do not agree with. We sit in judgement and never stop to pray that God would touch their life. I wonder who is praying for Mick & the boys? Who are you praying for?

Memory Lane Monday no.4

"Ok, Shaun Groves! Musician, teacher, husband, father and blogger to name but a few" That is how i began this post on Oct 22nd 2006. Shaun Groves had just been with us in Belfast, we enjoyed a great night of worship & song with Shaun but we knew we would. The night of the concert i was suffering from a bad head cold, that cold became a viral inner ear infection & to cut a long story short, i then had a very sucky 3 months!! This, of course, was not Shaun's fault but when he returned to Belfast again last year, i was sick & didn't make the gig! I was rather unimpressed that i didn't get to see Shaun again, i was less impressed with the amount of time i spent on the toilet that weekend! I hope that Shaun will return another time, Ireland loves him and personally i have been blessed greatly through his music, his blog and his ministry. Bless you Shaun.......

Memory Lane Monday no.3

When i was about 7, maybe 8 i got my first Walkman! It wasn't a real sony walkman but hey it played cassette tapes and had big black stupid looking headphones! It was the mid eighties and we all looked stupid! The first tape i owned was an Elton John compilation, some kind of "best of" thing. It was my Dad's idea i think and i am grateful for that cassette. It shaped my musical interest and set me on my way to loving great music for years to come. It did not make me want to wear big star shaped glasses and platform boots though, thank goodness eh? Anyway, here is one of my favorite tracks from Elton's great early years......

Esbjorn Svennson....

The Swedish jazz pianist and composer Esbjorn Svensson has died in a scuba diving accident near the Swedish capital Stockholm. He was 44. His Esbjorn Svensson Trio, known as EST, became renowned for bringing jazz to a younger audience. This is super sad, this guy was so so good, music will miss him.

Big shout out Sunday no:2...........

My older brother Philip works in music! Thats probably the best way to describe what he does! Its his birthday today and i won't give away his age but its less that 50! ha! He is the one sitting down with the cheesy grin in this pic, thats cuz he is doing what he does best here and no i dont mean sitting! He is hanging out with a group of musicians, either before or after a show! We have networked our butts off over the last last few years, put on some great events and made some great friends. Here is a tip, if you want to put on a concert in Ireland, he is the guy to speak to! Trust me!

Viva La Vida : Coldplay

Well, i had my first proper listen whilst i relaxed in the bath this evening! I am impressed!
What do we think?

Shelter : Ray LaMontagne

What can you say? This man is a genius!

Big shout out Sunday...........

Another new series shall begin right now with 'big shout out sunday'! Why? Well, why not? So, the first shout out goes to ONEHUNDREDHOURS (pictured below) These guys are the real deal, talented, honest, passionate and a complete blast onstage. Rock n Roll through and through, these guys display a kind of connection with God in their music that i can relate to. Its not just about the "mountain top" stuff that dictates so much "worship" music these days. They speak truth from real life experiences of love and loss. BUy their album iTunes,you won't be disappointed!

LEELAND gig

The plan was that you could follow tonights Leeland gig live on twitter here.
I gave up just before Leeland took the stage as i was so upset with twitter and basically it sucked right when i needed it! Anyway, the gig was awesome, Compass and ONEHUNDREDHOURS opened the show brilliantly BUT Leeland were awesome! From start to finish they just blessed us all with their music, their words and all they did onstage. It was a pleasure........


Here is Stevo with the wonderful Mike! There are no good pics of me with the band and i don't wear hats well!! GRRR

This video could kill my blog............

but on the other hand sometimes its good to admit any strange & sad stuff you like? Well, i am not ashamed to say i dig this song, i kinda dig the video and yea i know that makes me tragic and could ruin my reputation BUT i dare you to watch it and not be compelled to sing along.....................



what type of speakers do you like?

downhere free album...

These guys rock, and they are a pretty good band too!! Get this great album FREE



Download here

I CANNOT wait for this............

The Hold Steady

Joel Augé............

Joel Augé (pronounced “Oj-hay”) hails from Ontario, Canada, where he serves as a worship leader for The Meeting House family of churches. Check out his Pastor's book here, its a good read. For a limited time you can download a free track via the widget on the right of this page or here and also listen to some more tracks on his myspace here. Anyone who knows me will be aware of my love/hate relationship with Christian music, especially the "worship" industry, but in recent months i have pulled back the veil of skepticism to discover that there are artists out there who are truly artists in their own right, writing amazing music that is worshipful without being a big bundle of cliches and mediocrity. This is one of those albums that could stand in the spotlight of "secular" music and be noticed for the melodies, lyrics and the voice that Joel has been gifted with. I have talked about this recently with a few folks and would love to see albums like this flying off our shelves, being re-ordered in larger quantities and generally getting into the ears of more people. So, with that in mind i aim to try and do something about it! This post is just the start, many changes are on my horizon but for now, just take my word for it, this album is great stuff and you should check it instead of that "huge monster big worship 6 cd box set" that is on sale at a discount price and features no original artists! I am going to hound thousands of people about the music they should be buying, watch this space!

Guitar Heroes part 3

I haven't done one of these for ages & today i was chatting about this guy so here goes..........

Songs of Praise subtitled.......

You MUST watch this & MUST also not be offended, its just for laughs!



H/T Cherry

Hugh Hewitt got me thinking

I guess in light of this post by Hugh Hewitt i should say something! I would be over-reaching to suggest that my blog has brought about any changes of significance, at least not that i know of. I started the blog because of people like Normal Rockstar and then became inspired by people like Shaun, Randy, Chad and Carlos. Their influence and that of Hugh's Book have been instrumental BUT to what end? I know at least one blogger & friend who "might' say i influenced her to start a blog. Get involved with her search for Polaroid here.
Possibly the most fulfilling thing for me has been the bond formed with downhere and atiG. I think i am going to take some credit for that, even if i do say so myself, at least in the months following their first visit to Ireland. The blog connection also brought us Shaun Groves soon after and has connected us with other industry people that are benefitting our vision to see the best Christian Music introduced to Europe.
I am saying this here in the knowledge that not too many folks will read this. I sometimes stick my head above the trench and can be a little brash but usually i don't like a fuss. Thanks for reading, thanks for linking and thanks for influencing.

Weekly Classic no.11

I haven't posted one of these since March!!! EEEK! whats that about? Enjoy.............