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Music for free and the death of the album

I recently got two new albums for (next t0) nothing - In Rainbows by Radiohead and Ray Davies' new album Working Man's Cafe. They're both very good in different ways. But the way I've acquired the albums makes them seem inessential, and I haven't revisited them much.

This time ten years ago it took me a few weeks to save up the money to buy the album Urban Hymns by The Verve. Back in those days(!) you bought the single(s) first and then waited for the album to follow. It was all very exciting. I can still remember heading round to Music World in Newtownards straight after school (parting with £13.99!!) to buy it - getting the last copy he had in stock.

Due to more disposable income I've bought a heck of a lot of albums since then, nearly half of them online, and any new stuffI can download in advance of the release date to hear what they're like before I buy. Only now its just not as exciting. The expectation of waiting for a new piece of music has been watered down by convenience. Radiohead's album was news for a few days now it's dropped off the radar.

New albums have been released this year by some of my favourite bands - Wilco, Crowded House, Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. But I'm bombarded by so much music all the time that I don't get to appreciate new music properly. At times I'm a victim of my own greed for possessing the latest album. I've started selling off some albums I bought simply because I could - what a waste.

I can remember queuing for tickets to concerts as well - the nervous excitement, the bleary-eyed album track discussions with fellow early-morning queuers as the time crawled by out in the cold. Now the die-hards are overtaken by casual fans with high speed internet bandwidths. Queuing is a waste of time. Buying tickets is like booking a flight, or ordering your shopping. Maybe I'm being over-sentimental - but everytime I queued for a ticket I always got one.

I re-lived the Monday release day experience in July when the new Crowded House album came out. I deliberately didn't order it online - and I have actually listened to it more than a lot of other albums I've bought since. This could be coincidence.

Great poem

This is an excellent poem I read on another blog:

The God Who Loves You
It must be troubling for the god who loves you
To ponder how much happier you'd be today
Had you been able to glimpse your many futures.
It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings
Driving home from the office, content with your week—
Three fine houses sold to deserving families—
Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened
Had you gone to your second choice for college,
Knowing the roommate you'd have been allotted
Whose ardent opinions on painting and music
Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion.
A life thirty points above the life you're living
On any scale of satisfaction.
And every point A thorn in the side of the god who loves you.
You don't want that, a large-souled man like you
Who tries to withhold from your wife the day's disappointments
So she can save her empathy for the children.
And would you want this god to compare your wife
With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus?
It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation
You'd have enjoyed over there higher in insight
Than the conversation you're used to.
And think how this loving god would feel
Knowing that the man next in line for your wife
Would have pleased her more than you ever will
Even on your best days, when you really try.
Can you sleep at night believing a god like that
Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives
You're spared by ignorance?
The difference between what is
And what could have been will remain alive for him
Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill
Running out in the snow for the morning paper,
Losing eleven years that the god who loves you
Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene
Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him
No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend
No closer than the actual friend you made at college,
The one you haven't written in months.
Sit down tonightAnd write him about the life you can talk about
With a claim to authority, the life you've witnessed,
Which for all you know is the life you've chosen.


Carl Dennis

Thirst for Romance

Thirst for Romance by Cherry Ghost is a brilliant wee album that I picked up recently. North of England alt-country that pulls no punches lyrically. The title track is a poignant story of an elderly (possibly dying) man's plea to be shown some dignity by those around him as he recounts snap-shots of his life. It's one of the most moving songs I've heard in a long time.


Here's the first verse:

Remember me with a smile on my face.
replace the tears in your memory with
two heroic arms that twisted lids from jars
and dragged you home after drinking in the park.

England rugby win again - oh crap!

Can't believe these cloggers have penaltied their way into another final. 14-9 against France.
Please South Africa give these guys a last minute DEFEAT for a change.

Worship Services

I don't want to harp on too much more about modern Church worship, but this is a great quote.

“People at worship services close their eyes and, as ecstasy spreads across their faces, begin to rock rhythmically, arms out, mouthing the lyrics. It’s more than a little sexual and a tad uncomfortable if you’re sitting next to an attractive person who’s been overcome by the Spirit. Worship tunes tend to evince an adolescent theology, one that just can’t get over how darn cool it is that Jesus sacrificed himself for the world… Moreover it’s self centred in a way that reflects evangelicalism’s near-obsession with having a personal relationship with Christ. It’s me Jesus died for. I just gotta praise the Lord.”

This review was written by Andrew Beaujon after he had attended a worship service at the Gospel Music Awards in Nashville in 2005. Beaujon was researching his book Body Piercing Saved My Soul, which he wrote after spending a year researching the Christian Music industry.

Lesser known Dylan pt. 1 - Nashville Skyline

As another Bob Dylan compilation hits the shelves I started to dig out some of his old albums that I started collecting a few years ago. Sure everyone should own Highway 61, Blood on the tracks blah blah blah according to rock critics. But I think some of his lesser known and less critically acclaimed work has its merits. Nashville Skyline is one of them.

How long should an album be?I used to think it should be on average forty four minutes. Or is it based on number of tracks? Love Over Gold by Dire Straits only has five songs but one of those is fifteen minutes and the other four 7 minutes each.

This is a short album clocking in at just over twenty-seven minutes. I think it got a bit of a mauling at the time of release in 1969 for being a bit too insubstantial time-wise and lyrically, plus he veered straight into unfashionable country and western territory. Bob's delivery is pretty odd as well, adopting a strange nasal drawl. I think it works. it's a fun album that doesn't overstay it's welcome in a way unlike an album like Blonde on Blonde that drags on a bit to be honest.

Me, Rick and Gaston listened to it in the car three times in a row one Saturday in June 2006 while stuck behind a herd of cows in Kilkenny. We were on our way to see Bob Dylan play in Kilkenny town with the Flaming Lips and Ray Lamontagne also on the bill. The whole album made sense sitting there in a way I can't explain! The drunken duet with Johnny Cash on Girl from the north country, Nashville Skyline Rag's instrumental shuffle contrasted nicely with our lack of movement, and Tell me that It isn't true mirrored our frustration at arriving late for Ray Lamontagne's set.

There were rumours that Michael Jackson was in town with his kids, having flown in specially to see Bob. It was an odd day - Flaming Lips were a blast - everything that's good about music. As for Mr Zimmerman, it was a curious performance. Strange listening to the crowd singing songs word by word perfectly, only for Bob to sing over them however the heck he liked. Great to say I'd seen him play. At least I think it was him. His on-stage movemenst were a bit "Weekend at Bernie's" at times.

Atonement

Saw the film Atonement last week with Lisa and was glad I went.

Ian McEwan's books haven't yet made their way onto my (long) reading list but this film has gone some way to hopefully changing that.


It's not a Keira Knightley vehicle at all. Hers is a key role but just one of a trio of characters whose intertwining stories ask plenty of questions about the implications of telling (or not telling) the truth. Lisa grasped the intricacies of this discourse within the film better than me though!


The scene that won me over (see the picture above - I can't believe it was filmed on Redcar beach!) was Robbie Turner's (James McAvoy's) arrival at Dunkirk hoping for a swift escape from France back over the channel to England only to encounter thousands soldiers swamping the ruins of the town. The panoramic shot of the town is absolutely breathtaking - taking in all walks of life who fought in that war in all their ragged glory squeezing the last drops of pleasure from their painful lives - singing hymns in a male voice choir, riding dilapidated fairground carousels, drunken singalongs, card games, reading the last rites, it was a depiction of the human cost of war that moved me more than any of the overtly war-themed films that I've watched over the years.

Getting on with Church

I was reading a blog by a local theologian/writer. In it he talked about being "in exile in the church" - the idea that being part of a fellowship of believers is even more of a challenge than being part of this world.

I thought about this tonight walking home from an outreach event arranged by my church (this was one was aimed at men). I can't bring my friends to these things, it's a non-starter. We don't have conversations or encounters anymore that will come to a nice clean ending at a church service. I used to think I did in my teens when I was a fired-up wannabe evangelist type. Back then I never saw my friends as what they should be..just friends. They were targets, notches on a belt rather than caring individuals whose acts of kindness and selflessness meant more for me than I ever did for them. I still believe that becoming a Christian is an idea that's worth sharing - but it's one that's worth sharing. You learn to share -and I'm learning it's a two way thing between me and the other person.

We have yet to find a niche or a ministry, as they call it, since we moved into the area and decided to attend the local church. Lisa and I are involved in bits and pieces of work in our spare time that don't seem to fit directly into these categories. I'm starting to think that good gifts are just gifts, when did they stop or start being "spiritual"? Every good gift comes from God after all.

I've realised I have a huge list of social, political, even musical grievances against the established evangelical church, but that I need to get over myself. God has shown me more than enough grace to get by and I need to show more of it too. Despite the frustrations the blessings are still abundant inside and outside the four walls of that building. Church is a struggle - it's meant to be that way but thank God there's more to faith than two meetings on a Sunday. I need to realise this before I start hightailing it somewhere else at the first signs of getting pissed off with something.

Good lyric from Zimmerman

A lyric jumped out at me yesterday while listening to John Wesley Harding, probably my favourite Bob Dylan album.

From 'I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine:'

"Now go your way accordingly and know you're not alone.."

Simple, being given the independence to go your own way - yet safe knowing it's not a solitary journey.

Spurs 4 - 4 Aston Villa

Sometimes you have to be experience the depths before you see something really special!!

Faith in premiership football (partially) restored after tonight's result. You can keep your predictable top-four results if the rest of the games are like this!

Yes we were still pretty awful (especially the 'keeper) but what a comeback. We're going through the doldrums this season but experiences like tonight remind me why I decided to support this club.

Whatever happens to Spurs in the future as the game drifts away from the fans and becomes a millionaire's plaything - I have had some great years of ups and downs, laughs with friends and family, frustration and anger at throwing games away, relief holding onto one goal leads. Dreaded Monday mornings in school after drubbings, had my head held high after (occasionally) scalping the big teams. I know it's only football but it's a big part of your social life, and you make friends and build relationships through shared relationships over football teams. How to handle defeats with dignity after getting raked by your mates in school has been good discipline!

Thanks Spurs. Happy 125th Birthday - football is changing, please (please) don't you change too much.

The Link Family and Community Centre

I've been privileged to be involved with The Link Family and Community Centre in my home town of Newtownards over the past ten years.

They do fantastic, groundbreaking community development work and need as much help as possible!! Their website is www.thelinkcentre.org. I went on a training residential with some of the volunteer team to Lucan, Dublin earlier this year and was asked to write a bit about it for their newsletter.

Pulling up at the Clarion Hotel in Lucan with the rest of the group on Friday night I realised it was ten years since my last visit to this ever-expanding Dublin suburb. Back in 1997 I’d been getting to know a group of friends through The Link’s Friday and Saturday night drop-ins for a few months and the prospect of a weekend away with them all was too good to turn down. As a sixteen year-old veteran of church youth club weekends I thought I knew what to expect. Instead it was the first of many experiences with The Link when you feel a bit uncomfortable with something while realising you’re benefiting from it at the same time.

I tried to keep this feeling in mind at a reception for Link volunteers and staff in the Aras An Uachtarain, the residence of Mary McAleese the Irish President on the Sunday afternoon. Like the memorable weekend spent in a draughty monastery overlooking the Govan area of Glasgow, this residential was another Link experience that would undoubtedly be for my benefit in the long run. People as diverse as Link volunteers, Loyalist representatives, and Protestant clergy have all been welcomed through the Irish President’s gates – if only we were as welcoming to people in our own (much smaller) backyards. In Belfast over 40 “peace” lines still exist across the city, racially motivated attacks are rarely out of the local news, and up at Stormont the Good Relations strategy “A Shared Future” sits gathering dust.

In the meantime, organisations such as The Link continue to take risks and deal with social issues that remain unresolved. At Lucan youth centre in 1997 we looked at our perceptions of the Roman Catholic community and we were back at Lucan Presbyterian Church ten years later still asking the same questions, this time with an added multi-cultural dimension. Ten years ago we took the bus into central Dublin and for the first time I encountered young children begging for food and money along O’Connell Street. Fast forward to June 2007 and the forlorn roadside caravans of Dublin’s travelling community dotted along the motorway on our journey to Kilmainham Gaol was a stark reminder that the increased prosperity promised by the Celtic Tiger has widened rather than narrowed the gulf between rich and poor in the South. Over same period of time The Link has developed it’s services to continue to meet the needs of the marginalized in Newtownards, and trips such as this serve the dual purpose of being a reminder of the work to be done yet also an encouragement that we are struggling in the right direction!

Ten years on my involvement with The Link has progressed from young person to volunteer, from volunteer to staff member, and back to volunteer again. Yet each residential still manages to be challenging, stimulating and fun. I look forward to comparing notes at the Clarion Hotel in 2017!

Arsenal are pure evil

I endured an unpleasant couple of hours at White Hart lane in North London Saturday as Spurs bottled it against our rivals Arsenal yet again - going down 3-1 despite having been in front.

It's hard to put into words how much I don't like that lot. But I'm starting to come around to the fact that they're not a bad team. What is so galling is that they're playing the sort of football Tottenham have traditionally been renowed for. It's frustrating that a team who built a tradition around dour route-one football now regularly dish us out a lesson on how to play the game.

Quite frankly the two teams were a class apart. I was in the second row behind the goal posts at the park lane end and so was privileged (?) to see the three Arsenal goals all too closely.

I usually go to White Hart Lane once a season and to be honest I've enjoyed less and less the last few visits. I know that I'm purely viewed by the club as a customer - but the greed in this league is unbelievable. Transfer fees may be too high but what about the wages? Club directors and investors hang around clubs like vultures ready to cash in and make money on disgustingly over-inflated ticket prices and replica shirts. Yet we as fans fuel it by giving them our money.

Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is the best example of this - a debt-laden soulless corporate cavern of an arena. Supporters are crammed into another atmosphere-less library with huge chunks of the ground allocated to corporate customers that lie empty for much of the game due to hospitality being quaffed in the swanky lounges. Don't get me wrong the Spurs board or any other board would love this as well.

Back to the football - which the premier league's power that be seem to have forgotten about - Spurs' season can only get better. Martin Jol I fear is soon to be shown the door though.

The Protestant Revolution

I managed to catch the second episode of this four part series tonight - and although it was on BBC 4 I was still able to understand it OK!

It was refreshing to hear the development of family life that Protestantism served as a catalyst for - the programme interestingly traced how it's emphasis on individual conscience served both liberal and conservative ends of the Protestant spectrum. I was glad that all these bases were covered for a change.

I'm no theologian but after watching it I felt glad to be part of this tradition. There has been too much cheap TV recently focussing on the wackier, extreme, unreasonable elements of the denomination so this was a welcome change.

NI music - where are all the girls?

Bit of a random one this..

I was lucky to be invited to the launch of the Oh Yeah project - a recording facility in the cathedral quarter of Belfast aimed at supporting young up and coming musicians to get their foot on the ladder of the music business.

Talented local musicians and Snow Patrol were there to give support and it looks like a great idea. Local journalist Stuart Bailie arranged a display of his own Northern Irish music memorabilia as well which was very impressive.

One thing struck me - where are all the female artists? Not one to be found among the memorabilia - nor in any of the acts performing at the launch.

The only female artist from here that I can think of with any recognition is Juliet Turner.

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe Northern Ireland lost against Iceland tonight!

The consensus in the Longfellow was that we would go on and win after Healy's equalising penalty. Sadly it was not to be, and I had to watch the second half of those English prima donnas strutting past Russia with a particularly long face.

What made things even more galling was that we completely bossed the game in terms of possession and chances. Performances in the past have been a matter of shutting up shop and playing for a point - we really went for it here and I'm encouraged by that. The team played with passion and a lot of skill!!

I fear Worthington will get a lot of undeserved stick for this. Our away record under Sanchez was pretty poor too!! And Sanchez was tactically naive in the home defeat against Iceland. A poor start and poor finish were our undoing tonight. How much of that can you attribute to the manager. I will concede that taking off Davis was a strange decision though.

We'll pretty much drift off the agenda of the national press now too but stuff 'em - we're better as underdogs. I wouldn't be surprised if we still came pretty close to qualification come November.

Now what about the Scots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great result against France.

The big man breaks it off

It was announced on Friday night that Dr Paisley will step down as moderator of the Free Presbyterian church at the end of the year. Ever since he led the DUP into government with Sinn Fein trouble has been brewing in the fundamentalist heartlands.

And in those early days leading up to May 07 Paisley tried to paint himself as some sort of martyr, bullied into government with Republicans by the British government, and sacrificing himself for the good of the people of Ulster. But this clearly hasn't washed with his church and the writing was soon on the wall.

I for one am glad that the Free Presbyterian church no longer has a moral foothold in the running of our country and in that respect this secularisation of the DUP is no bad thing. Some of the comments from their leadership which surface in the press from time to time are a few beard trimmings short of the brand of fundamentalism peddled by the likes of the Taliban.

But on the other hand I can understand the frustration of the Free Ps at Paisley's abandonment of their stance of no government with terrorists. There was no evidence of Paisley gradually softening his views over a sustained period of time like Trimble and the Ulster Unionists, or even the journey undergone by loyalism's more eloquent spokesmen. This seemed like too much of a smash and grab lunge for power as soon as the opportunity arose.

Commentators have spoken of a changing of the political wind, as if something magical, mystical even, has taken place - as if there was no other way that Paisley could have led his party in this direction.

In my opinion it's simply the return to NI of "normal" politics which we as a country have longed for. Sadly along with the bread and butter issues comes the politics of opportunism, personal gain, and lust for power.

No wonder this half of the chuckle brothers has had such a smile on his face. He's grabbed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Joel Osteen (aka. Pastor F Gump)

Have you seen the state of this guy? Unbelievable.

I wasted 30 minutes of my life watching his church broadcast on God TV and it took my breath away.

Random quotes from the Bible, endless anecdotes of how God has moved traffic for him to get to important meetings, how friends have mysteriously got jobs they weren't qualified to do, neighbours were able to get higher than expected offers on their houses, people getting moved to the front of the checkout queue supermarkets - all because they had "God's favour resting on them." Ridiculous!!

Never have I seen such a sermon that cross-referenced Jesus with economic prosperity as much as I have in this programme.

Oh, not to forget the delivery - think Forrest Gump only with even more inane platitudes.

ipod therefore i am

My world has ground to a halt...

The ipod, which has never been more than a few metres from my person since I first got it, has packed in...

It's a gadget that's enabled me to listen to my huge range of CDs with the click of a wheel. Forget downloading - just being able to hear so much of my own music conveniently is just brilliant.

I would liken it to when people moved from manually changing channels on their TVs to using a remote control instead.

Apple are sending me out special packaging for me to return it to them. Thankfully it's under warranty.

Don't be too long!!

The glory game?

Football (and English football in particular) is an increasingly dirty business.

Although Spurs have had a successful few seasons, and I still (reluctantly) am giving them my money when I go over to the North London derby next month, the events of the last week at Tottenham leave a bitter taste in the mouth - with no-one coming out of it smelling of roses. It's symptomatic of everything that's destroying this wonderful game.

The Spurs board openly went behind Martin Jol's back to seek out a new coach, after THREE games of the season. After they failed to get their man from Sevilla, the bare-faced lying to cover-up the whole sorry affair was disgusting. Spurs are now the laughing stock of the premiership both on and off the pitch.

Meanwhile Martin Jol has allegedly been talking to other clubs such as Newcastle and Ajax over the past year in order to lever a pay-rise from Tottenham.

Our supposed "star" player (for on the pitch reasons, for the second half of last season only - let's not get carried away) Berbatov said today that he's staying at Spurs of his own free will, and also let the press know that the club were giving him a huge pay rise.

"Of his own free will" - what happened to contracts? We all know that he'll be off to Man United as soon as the next opportunity arises.

Money is ruining the integrity, value for money, entertainment, and competitiveness of this league. To the clubs we're no longer supporters, just customers.

Only the recent success of the NI football team has kept my faith in football alive - a bunch of modest players united only by a desire to play for a team and country that have been getting results against the odds.

The Proclaimers, a Shared Future, and some mountains

I read an article in the paper last week on the new musical "Sunshine on Leith" featuring the music of the Proclaimers, which is taking Scotland by storm. Their album of the same name sold 25,000 copies in the UK LAST YEAR!!

Coincidently later that dayI went for a walk with the dog and "Letter from America" was the first song that started playing on shuffle on my ipod. It was one of the songs that always seemed to be around when I was a boy, and dad liked it too so anytime we were in the car he would turn it up if it came on the radio. I love their music - funny, honest, delightfully out-of-kilter with musical trends, and unashamedly sentimental.

There's something very comforting about their music - their greatest hits should be in everyone's collection. No they're definitely not cool but there's a unifying, generation-spanning attraction to their music. Lisa used to tell me of going clubbing in Glasgow during her student days when, at the end of each night the DJ would put on "5oo miles" and the crowd would split into two, singing the song to each other. I've worked with Scots about my age who love their music as well. I remember very vividly a conversation with a drunken Glaswegian woman in a chip shop off Sauchiehall Street one night a few years back- she was coming out of a (sold-out) concert of theirs across the road and told me they were the greatest band on the earth.

Maybe I've been over-exposed to NI recently, but sometimes (just sometimes) I long to be Scottish. My family are of Ulster-Scots stock, and a recent expedition to the summit of Ben Nevis last Winter showed me how stunning the country is, and brought a lump to my throat. The BBC's "Mountain" programme focussed on the Cairngorms this week and it was absoutely breathtaking.

I love it that, despite sectarian divisions - there is a common music that the Scottish people can laugh, dance and sing to together. In the north everything is still so polarised - our culture - music, sport, leisure activities - not too mention many streets in Belfast still divided by "peace" walls. A government strategy called "A Shared future" has set out to try and tackle this but has shown little sign of being implemented. Our politicians are happy to get on with "bread and butter" issues in the new devolved government but have forgotten about the daily bread of our people just getting on with each other.

That's a mountain to climb.

Sunderland - what's going on?

So I was sitting in the Pavilion bar on the Ormeau road on Saturday watching Spurs yet again fail to realise their potential by struggling to achieve what seemed likely to be a draw against newly-promoted Roy Keane-derland..then the (sadly) inevitable happened. Michael Chopra fired in a 94th minute winner, guaranteeing the cloggers an opening day victory.

But the whole place erupted into huge cheers when Sunderland scored. I noticed about half a dozen Spurs supporters watching the game, the rest were tucking into lunches or chatting with friends but then chaos broke out. Honestly the atmosphere was like a cup final.

Are Spurs hated that much??

Is Keane still so popular among Man U/Republic of Ireland supporters that they'll even support any team he manages??

As for Spurs. I'm heading over to London next month to see them play Arsenal and I'm very very worried!!

Mezzamorphis by Delirious - blast from the past

After getting Derek Webb's album a few weeks ago I decided to dig out this old classic Mezzamorphis by the Christian band Delirious? released back in 1999.

Never mind the terrible, terrible cover. Mezzamorphis was the best album Delirious? have ever made - and will probably never come close to it again.

King of Fools, an album of praise and worship-based rock songs released in 1997, was a massive hit, made a dent in the UK charts - and along with the Cutting Edge tapes revolutionised modern church music (initially for the better - but have now led to the James-Blunting of worship that is blighting our churches, see my earlier post) when they were released in the USA.

In between King of Fools and going to the States though, they released this gem. It's a total contrast from King of Fools: dark, full of doubt, poetic, and sonically adventurous. The title was a made-up word - emphasising the feeling of being in-between worlds, in between where you were and where you want to be. These are songs about the journey of faith. I didn't really appreciate the album at the time as I was so caught-up in the hype of the charismatic worship scene that Delirious? very much played a part in. It's the one Delirious? album that I now revisit the most.

Sadly the album is now neglected for the most part - I've seen them live quite a few times and songs from it are rarely revisited. The band now tour the church worship scene in America and the world over - repeating themselves and falling into the genre they created that, with Mezzamorphis, they looked to be moving on from. Sadly this was not to be.

Mezzamorphis even made a dent on the charts, and a few single releases went top 40. It still sounds great, most Delirious? albums are really well-produced anyway. About half the songs on 2003's World Service came close, but this 1999 album was Delirious? at their peak.

The National play Belfast

I'm really excited that The National from the USA are playing Spring and Airbrake in October. I've been following them for the last few years and their most recent album Boxer is great.

Very interesting lyrically - a sort of urban-themed regret and loneliness/longing for community, with some original terms of phrase. These lyrics are from Looking for Astronauts on their last album

Take all your reasons and take them away To the middle of nowhere,

and on your way home Throw from your window your record collection

They all run together and never make sense

But that's how we like it, and that's all we want

Something to cry for, and something to hunt

The singer sounds a bit like the guy from the Tindersticks and musically they sound is somewhere between early Strokes and Willard Grant Conspiracy.

The crowds at Spring and Airbrake have begun to annoy me recently- either the place has been full of people too cool to listen to the music and just want to be seen, or full of Stella-ed up culchies /spides singing about Buckfast. Hopefully this one will be OK.

The (James) Blunt-ing of worship

American Worship artist Chris Tomlin is to play the Odyssey arena here in Belfast this week.

I think this has been the latest in a line of recent worship "concerts" in the Odyssey over the last few years.

It makes me a bit uneasy that events like this are more and more common - exalting the role of worship leader to that of a popular entertainer and then "God shows up" (I hate this term - it reduces the almighty to some sort of genie-figure that is summoned by whoever's leading the proceedings)

Don't get me wrong, if people want Christian entertainment - by all means folks are entitled to it - when it starts overlapping with worship of God is when it starts to worry me.

Worship has been commodified into a product that's in danger of taking our focus away from the Creator God and unto creator man instead.

As worship events become increasingly slick, and the accompanying CDs more and more smooth, bland, and unadventurous, I worry about how this style of worship in our churches reflects on how we see the world around us and vice-versa.

The prophet Amos' words to Israel from God about the noise of their songs and improvising away on their instruments while neglecting those around them made sense to me when I was thinking about this. It seems that the Lord wasn't annoyed about their musical ability but because they carried no credibility with the world outside.

I was involved on the music side of things in the church for a while and this really set alarm bells ringing for me and my involvement, attitude, and motivation.

Sex God

A deliberately provocative title for the latest book by Rob Bell, founder of Mars Hill Church in Michigan, the latest big name American Christian writer and speaker.

What attracted me to his first book Velvet Elvis -Repainting the Christian Faith was his open-ended style of writing. Each chapter was like a conversation with himself - then just when you're agreeing with him then he chucks a real curveball into the discussion to really get you thinking. You might not agree, but to him that's Okay - it's a discussion.

The subtitle of this book is Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality. It tackles a big question that's recently been plaguing me in relation to the evangelical church - we don't know what it means to be human. he explains that the word sex comes from a Latin root that means to be cut off or severed. We’re born into a world of disconnection, we’re disconnected from the earth, from each other, from God and ourselves. People say “I don’t know who I am”. So, sexuality is all of the ways that we are aware of this cut off state we’re in and the desire to reconnect.

Stylistically Sex God is very similar to Velvet Elvis, and is maybe too open-ended for some tastes, and I was expecting some discussion around homosexuality (maybe that's for a later book) but the final chapter where he draws everything together into exactly why he thinks Jesus uses the wedding analogy for his relationship with church is classic. I read this while I was away from Lisa in Chicago for a few days and it really gave me goosebumps!

Vic Reeves and Paulo Coelho - Two Journeys

Two names you wouldn't expect to read in the same sentence!

Since finishing On The Road a few weeks ago, I've recently finished reading two more books. It hasn't been intentional but the last few books have all been about journeys of some kind.

In many ways these two books couldn't be more different.
Me:Moir is the comedian Vic Reeves' account of his childhood and teenage years growing up in Darlington.

The Alchemist is Paulo Coelho's (now ubiquitous) book about a Spanish shepherd boy and his journey of self-discovery to Egypt and back.

It has been said that The Alchemist contains many autobiographical elements, which I hope to discover more about as I read Coelho's books further. Me:Moir on the other hand, would appear to be mostly autobiographical, but I don't believe for a moment that Vic Reeves was a ten-stone baby!

Me:Moir reminded me that my journey of growing-up is just as eventful as Vic Reeves' (drawing cartoons, playing in bands, being crap at sports, making my own fun during boring family holidays) and I don't have to think that my life has been boring and dull in comparison (although Vic can tell a better story than me).

The Alchemist showed me the importance of self-reflection - seeing how circumstances and seemingly random occurences then became pivotal moments in your life.

Vic Reeves' book is light reading for sure, but it's an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. The Alchemist has been dismissed as a mere self-help manual - but sometimes just one line from a book (or a song, or a poem) can say something very meaningful (whether profound or simple) to a person much more powerfully than a thousand words in a sermon, text book or a lecture.

Derek Webb - The Ringing Bell

If like me you've lost faith in artists from the Christian music scene having anything worthwhile to say then you might like Derek Webb.


I downloaded his last album "Mockingbird" for free from his website last year and it was one of the lyrically hardest-hitting and musically beautiful country rock records I'd ever heard. He used to be in the Christian band Caedmon's Call and now has released his fourth proper album "The Ringing Bell."

Lyrically - Think Freewheeling-era Bob Dylan meets pre-senile Larry Norman who then go and ask Martyn Joseph out to play.

Musically - The Beatles' Revolver and Teenage Fanclub. Like Mockingbird this is lovingly produced and is a joy to listen to.

Although not as hard-hitting as Mockingbird it still packs some punches. Here are the lyrics to
"This too shall be made right:"

people love you the most for the things you hate
and hate you for loving the things that you cannot keep straight
people judge you on a curve
and tell you you’re getting what you deserve
this too shall be made right

children cannot learn when children cannot eat
stack them like lumber when children cannot sleep
children dream of wishing wells
whose waters quench all the fires of Hell
this too shall be made right

the earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
we say we’re just trying to stay alive
but it looks so much more like a way to die
this too shall be made right

there’s a time for peace and there is a time for war
a time to forgive and a time to settle the score
a time for babies to lose their lives
a time for hunger and genocide
this too shall be made right

I don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door
I join the oppressors of those who i choose to ignore
I’m trading comfort for human life
and that’s not just murder it’s suicide
this too shall be made right

His music's quite hard to find in the shops so check out amazon or www.derekwebb.com

Snore Patrol zzzzz.......

So Snow Patrol have sold out Ward Park in Bangor for yet another "homecoming" next month..

Snow Patrol sold out a long time before that.

it's a sad indication of the music scene in NI that these boys are so massive in the UK and USA.

That friggin Chasing Cars song is everywhere - all of their songs follow that repetitive 4/4 beat, and what about those lyrics...hands open, eyes open, opening eyes, running, lighting up, holding on. They make Oasis' lyrics profound in comparison

Surely popular music has moved on??

I'm not even sure if they were all that good before they hit the big time. maybe they were in the right place at the right time?

Don't get me wrong it's not just them. This sort of spineless stuff is flavour of the month at the moment - and is as "indie" as The Kooks, Hard-Fi, or even McFly.

Watching a documentary about Ulster music the other night highlighed just how average Snow Patrol are compared to Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Neil Hannon,even Ash. Bands like Duke Special are far more innovative and still have mass potential.

They're just an OK band - let's leave it at that.

The Maze Fiasco

How long is this national stadium business going to lumber on for?

A multi-sport stadium as a symbol of "a shared future" is a complete joke. Are GAA/rugby/football supporters going to march arm-to-arm to every event at The Maze?

There's no point giving the impression that we all get on by building a stadium for three sporting codes that will never cross over at all.

In the meantime, segregated housing, "peace" walls, institutionalised sectarianism in the middle-classes, and downright racism all run riot in this "new" Northern Ireland.

The minister(s) responsible for dragging this on should concentrate on building a shared present rather than this community relations sham of a stadium. Witness the DUP wetting themselves over the Maze being a terrorist "shrine" as an example of our new government's inability to tackle the main issue that needs resolved in NI - actually living with each other.

Listen Poots et al give each sport some cash to improve their respective stadiums if they want (Windsor Park is an embarassment), and stop patronising us please.

On The Road - Jack Kerouac

I really should have read this book before now.

The music of Bob Dylan hasn't been off my ipod for a few years now, and Kerouac's stream of consciousness prose clearly had a big influence on Dylan's music.

Its one of those books that are so hyped and ubiquitous that surely it could only ever be slightly disappointing...?? (zeitgeist for the beat generation, quoted to death, much copied stylistically, blah blah blah)

But it was an engrossing read. The narrator Sal Paradise (loosely based on Kerouac himself) journeys from coast to coast across the USA following the free-spirited, fleet-footed, charismatic, selfish, irresponsible dreamer known as Dean Moriarty, in awe of him the whole way.

The two are difficult to warm to throughout due to their womanising, selfish manner - but their journeys are engrossingly described by Kerouac, the book has a real rhythm to it. I was reading the book while spending a few weeks doing bits and pieces of travelling across the USA, Ireland, Scotland and England which probably added to my enjoyment.

The heart of the book is the journey rather than the characters - their constant moving on signifying a restlessness and a yearning for something more, which I suspect is what Kerouac wanted to portray more than merely a character study of Sal or Dean. "Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together" is one of Sal's opening lines, and sets the tone for the optimistic searching that all the main characters are pre-occupied with.

Kerouac, a lapsed Catholic himself, allows Sal to show some signs of guilt and awareness of his own irresponsiblity and that of Dean's as the book goes on - and Sal eventually settles down into something close to domesticity by the end.

My main memory of the books is how it swings, especially when Dean takes centre stage. Sure, the language of how he "digs" everything is much-caricatured now - but the restless energy of the book is what I found so enjoyable.

My favourite line was when, during one of the many spontaneous parties, Sal described the atmosphere thus; "There was dancing but no music. Just dancing."
They were living life at such a rhythm that they didn't even music to get going, to revive them, to make them feel any more alive.

Highly recommended reading.

God TV reaches Afghanistan!

If like me you can't resist tuning in and getting annoyed at the car-crash TV known as the God Channel and TBN, you'll appreciate this tongue in cheek article below, from http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/

Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ here in Haizabad, Afghanistan, a small, impoverished village outside Kabul. Thank you for adopting us and lifting us up in your support with your prayers. We do not have complete freedom to worship since we are still captive to factions of Taliban, but that will change soon. This I have seen in the spirit world. Thank you for understanding that I can not use my real name in our correspondence, but ever since Trinity Broadcasting Network is now shown on TV here, I am known as "Jesse Duplantis," after the American televangelist.

Before TBN was available, I thought we had a firm foundation in the Holy Scripture, with a firm foundation of faith based on our Lord Jesus Christ. What fools we were being so blind! Watching TBN we are now learning much. We are awed at the revelations given to all the great teachers, especially those with daily prophetic visions. We are humbled that so many people in America have visions and revelations from God! No one in our village has had any revelations but I know that will change also once we actually have money to begin to tithe. I have no doubt now, knowing God's Spirit is still revealing today. Everyone on TBN says it is so.

We praise God for the Trinity Broadcasting Network ever since it made its appearance here. If I may explain. Our people once met for church every day in different houses to confuse the Taliban. Now we meet at my humble house, for it is the only house with both a roof and a television in the village. We spent an entire year's poppy harvest to buy the TV! The room is small, no more than ten people can sit around the television. But we are faithful! Always is at least five of us watching what God is revealing through TBN all the time or as long as the electric power stays on.

We are amazed at what we are learning from the great Bible teachers of TBN! Bro. Kenneth Copeland, what astonishing faith he teaches to be able to call things from the spirit realm to the physical. With our previous limited understanding of God's holy word, we would have never have believed such things. We still await many manifestations to make themselves occurring, as we do not let doubt enter. I originally in my ignorance found it hard to believe that we are little gods as Bro. Ken Copeland teaches, or can use the power of what we say to call into existence whatever we want. Before, we used to pray and make our requests known to God who already knew before our asking. Now, our declarations have been for what we want, not just for our needs. What a revelation! We are learning. Not only am I calling for a bigger church for hundreds of people, but am declaring my miracle for a car for me and my family, along with a $25 million mansion with indoor plumbing and food, just as he has. I'm believing for a thousand sheep and camels. I believe that my left deaf ear drum blown out from a rocket attack will be healed. Also, my son's feet will grow back. I do not doubt because Brother Benny Hinn, another of God's great administer of miracles, prayed for us as we reached towards the TV with our remaining hands and limbs.

Other brothers and sisters here are believing for their own miracles and have given all that they have—two chickens—to Bro. Hinn. So far we have received a prayer cloth which, alas, our grandfather in his hunger tried to eat. He said it tasted like chicken. But he was a big jokester in his youth. The church associate pastor has been fasting for ten days for his own private airplane and a healing for his eyes. One deaconess wants her hair pink like her hero, Jan Crouch, but short like Joyce Meyers—when the burns from the napalm heal. She believes, as Paula White, that God wants her to have everything—which raises some question by some of the men. It is hard in accepting, but they too are learning to believe, especially for miracles that their wives can look like Victoria Osteen. Many in our village have spoken the Word of Faith, so miracles will soon abound. We are in need of miracles, of course, because of our lack of faith. It is not God's fault that Osama bin Laden moves freely through our village, conscripting the few remaining men who have not already been maimed by landmines—it is our lack of faith! It is not Jan Crouch's fault we are dying of starvation—it is our lack of faith!

I now believe God wants me to start a television network, I know it's not in the physical world yet, but is coming. I do not doubt and Bro. Paul Crouch believes with me, he said so in his letter after I sent him our last five afghanis. It will be returned back 10, 20, maybe 100% because of my faithfulness to his ministry. I am hoping he will send a tasty prayer cloth as well because it is still many months to the next poppy harvest and we are hungry here in the real world, though filled to bursting in the spirit realm!

Christ's blessings to you all,
Pastor Jesse

Faith Beyond The Church

I was struck by the title of this article on the Christian Aid website (and then the content)- about what it really means to live the Christian faith outside of the comfy confines of church and into the firing line (literally).

Taking faith beyond the church - beyond "church" perspectives on an over-theologised conflict - and engaging with the world around us for the sake of all of God's people.

You can read it here

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/stoppoverty/conflict/stories/faith_beyond_church.aspx

Transformers is brilliant

Just back from a preview showing in Movieland Cinema Newtownards.

Wow its some show. the special effects are breathtaking, it moves at a breakneck pace, and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Transformers fans will notice a lot of in-jokes as well - like the new Bumblebee slamming into an old yellow VW beetle at the used car lot (he was a VW beetle in the original story).

Optimus Prime was awesome - the film was everything I expected it to be and more.

I'd welcome some comments from other TF fans who've come across this blog!

The music of Christopher Gaston

My friend Chris Gaston writes songs.
They're really really good.

Listen to them at www.myspace.com/gastonssongs

Mido - Spurs are laughing all the way to the bank!!

Not included expressly in my profile (I say that I support average football teams) is that I'm a huge Spurs fan.

Boy we did a great bit of business today selling Mido to Birmingham for £6m.

I liked him but he only seemed to play well when he had a target to aim for (eg. a new contract). With Bent coming to Spurs he was going to be even further down the pecking order too.

Good luck to him, and the best of luck to Steve Bruce for taking on a player who's had more clubs in his short career than Spurs have central midfielders (and that's a lot - sort it out Martin Jol!).

Transformers - I'm sucked in!

I'm giving in to the marketing men here - I'll be seeing Transformers this weekend and I don't care!

Yes I fit the film's other target demographic besides primary school kids, of a nostalgic twentysomething seeking to relive his youth. So I've downloaded the wallpaper to my desktop in work, ordered the computer game with free t-shirt, and booked my tickets to the preview showings on Saturday night.

The toys, comic strip and original cartoons were a massive part of my life. Optimus Prime was probably a role model in my childhood without me ever realising it.

My dad took me to see the original animated Transformers: the Movie at the Curzon one afternoon when I was about six. I'll be returning the favour by taking big Eddie to see this one.

I bow to corporate marketing this time, it's too hard to be cynical - after all Megatron must be stopped!

Expect a few more blogs on this one.

New Crowded House album!!

I never thought it would happen - probably the most melodically gifted band since the fab four have reformed and released a blinder of comeback album.

It's easy to be cynical. Neil Finn's solo career hasn't exactly set the cash tills ringing for Parlophone - and resurrecting the band moniker may well have just saved his record deal. But who cares when the songs are this good!

NeilFinn's songs always take a while to seep into the consciousness, making repeated listenings even more rewarding. The album kicks off with "Nobody Wants To" - a real spine tingler of an opener. Uplifting but filled with yearning at the same time - a trick that Finn constantly pulls off with ease. The other songs are beginning to grow on me! If it was on vinyl I'd have worn it out already.

This has been a year of comeback tours - The Police, Happy Mondays, James, Genesis, Dodgy(!), and the Verve to name a few. But few have actually released any new material - seemingly content to release repackaged greatest hits albums. CH have definitely bucked the trend with Time On Earth.

They're playing the Waterfront Hall in November - what a night that's going to be!