t in the barn launch

Very quietly, the build up to T (and Toast) in the Barn has begun. I've copied and pasted the initial blurb from facebook 'cause I'm really lazy. For non-facebookers in particular (who won't have been invited yet), if you're interested in coming (or even participating) then please give me a shout in the usual ways. Pencil it in folks, Saturday 4th of October.

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T (and Toast) in the Barn is a one-night only musical gathering, intended to be all about the fun without the fuss... good music, good people, good times.

Entry is free because its a festival for friends, playing for friends. With that in mind (and the size of the location) it's a closed event, so sorry if you wanted to bring your granny/weird cousin/guy you fancy from small group... but if you want to bring someone who hasn't been invited already, just drop a line and all should be fine, within reason.

There will be a donation bucket to help cover the minimal costs (hire of sound gear, etc.) but all profits will be going straight to charity: water and Tearfund - feel free to bring your jar of pennies!

Hay bales and plastic cups provided. Limited secure parking (i.e. not on the roadside) available. Camping facilities (i.e. garden or field) also available. Strict limit on numbers.

Final lineup still being confirmed... watch this space!

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AND FINALLY

If you're a musician (or performer - mimes need not apply!), and have would be interested in playing in a barn near the end of the M2 motorway on the first saturday in october, gratis and for charidee, get in touch and we'll squeeze you in somewhere!

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render unto...

In response to Dave's rant on rendering... this is why man discovered drip brewing and killer su doku!

Currently handwriting a job app... first form I've ever filled in that does not ask for an employment history or date of birth... so I might actually have a shot then!

Rediscovered the joy of the PostSecret project this morning - often hilarious and heartbreaking simultaneously.

stuck in a rut

Just read an interesting article from writer Russ Breimeier about the state of modern worship music. Russ reckons we're stuck in a rut and going nowhere after the initial surge in great output from prolific musicians and songwriters over the last ten years, and backs it up with some convincing stats about CCLI's most used/licensed songs this year - most of them being five years older or more (in the USA.) In the UK, the same top 25 are actually on average a whole lot older by my reckoning, from the birth of modern worship (circa 1998-2000) and further back, with the exception really of Stuart Townend's output and a few american imports.

Just as interesting though, Breimeier offers a few starting suggestions about how to solve this. It's worth a look if you're a songwriter in general, but particularly if you regularly lead or co-ordinate praise too. Read the entire article here.

into the great light

In what is becoming a bad week for good people, woke up this morning to find out that founding DMB member (and therefore demigod) saxophonist, jazz master and professional genius LeRoi Moore has passed after some unexpected complications in his recovery from a quad bike accident a few months.

Word is Jack Coffin, LeRoi's understudy is going stay on in place for the rest of the summer tour, but anyone who can appreciate that LeRoi pretty much made sax solos cool in rock songs again (even in Springsteen's wake) will recognise that the world just got a little less talented.

bend an ear to the truth they tell ye

Oul Ronnie Drew has finally been claimed. Was pretty much dragged to see him a few years ago with Dave, spurred on by our joint passing interest in drinking songs, (but more his own deep-seeded desire to be republican, whether he'd admit it or not - and he would, just to spite you). He talked as much as he sang, but it was pretty enthralling. He could have been talking to any crowd anywhere, you got the feeling he would just tell the first story that had come to him that night.

And my WORD, the beard really was that astounding, though he lost it in the last couple of years to the throat cancer that would claim him.

Personal favourite is any of the various version of Finnegan's Wake that the Dubliners and Ronnie pulled off.


Have already downed a pint in his memory tonight... singing to follow...

showcasing talent

Something I've been meaning to do for ages is build a proper showreel. I've never really been able to get it all together: the problem with working for other people too often (but not often enough to go fully pro, I hear you chuckle. Sod off.) Anyway, I have at least cobbled a few pieces (mostly previously mentioned on this very page) together to create the showcase, now available in the main "about" bar on the right. Or below, if your mouse finger has had a sudden fit of paralysis and you can only move one hundred pixels, and not the required four.

View the mediatree showcase.

toast II

Introduction to said adventures can be found here... enough said.

"but yeah..."

"...Camp is awesome.".

Good times folks... check out all the kids work here. Including the ridiculously popular FREE Camp Radio RINGTONE... oh yes...

Genuinely the best Camp Alliance experience yet. Already excited about next year! It's not often I would enjoy working consecutive 15 and 16 hour days (voluntary, of course) but when the times are that good, how could you not?

If that doesn't float your boat, at least go to the Monday 'Pictures and Sounds' section and download the podcast, which for one day only was actually a Boosh-esque (others words, not mine, thank goodness) radio play about quests, horrific insults and cheese-snaffling rodents. We laughed a lot.

no quibbles from me

Down in Rostrevor this week (where the walls between the worlds are that little bit thinner) in my usual annual role as tutor/photographer/guru at Camp Alliance. Extra exciting this year is that El Craigery has come up with The Camp Quibbler, an online newspaper that kids will be designing and uploading daily parallel to the Camp Radio broadcasts and podcasts that are now 'part of the very fabric of Camp'.

You can follow Camp during the week through the AYW website, or go straight to the Quibbler page of said website by clicking here.

Monday's podcast (on the Pictures and Sounds page) was knocked up by the producer and his best mate whilst exceptionally hyper one weekend. Get high on sugar and listen with a friend.