Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Dancin’ Dave is Back

I’ve now got some new reviews – under my old moniker of Dancin’ Dave - on the crossrhythms website after a hiatus of a few years. I’ve just received some more CDs to review so i guess I’m doing a good enough job to be kept on. Of course I’ve been following Christian music in the interim. I still listen to Mike Rimmer on Crossrhythms radio – especially his programme Profile Special that many years ago I used to help put together.

And tonight I’ve just got back from listening to Aradhna who are awesome. They were in Birmingham this evening so I was able to hop on a bus after work to hear them. Thanks Ruth for babysitting! It was good to get to chat with one of the members while we were being plied with wine and onion bargees. I love their chilled Asian fusion worship and they had some great insights into distiguishing Hindu culture from Hindu religion.

There is some great Christian music out there, you know.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Glastonbury


Glastonbury
Originally uploaded by dave & nettes.
Last weekend we went to Glastonbury for an arts festival Grace 07 organised by three churches in our network. On the Friday night I went to a gig with Bosh and Brother John. It was amazing what Bosh could do with his voice and Brother John rocked out with some good lyrics.

On Saturday with Nettes and Callie, I walked to the top of the Tor and down the other side to visit the meditation gardens. Then back at the festival the story tellers kept Callie occupied while I queued at the barbeque. And then later there was circus equipment such as diabolos to keep me occupied while Callie queued to have her face painted and her hair braided. In the evening there was an acoustic set where singer/songwriters told the stories behind their songs. This was housed in the atmospheric Abbot’s kitchen in the ruins of the Abbey. I enjoyed Shaico’s folksy political protest songs but the standout was little Sarah Lehman’s big voice that wowed us all.

Sunday morning we visited Mid Somerset Community Church. Callie was drafted into flag waving that appeared to be a hallmark of their worship. And their potluck meal was a good chance to catch up with our old friend Detta. The worship continued in the afternoon and included a dance troop from Sanctuary in Bristol. In the evening I was inspired by a talk on spirituality in contemporary art by Vincent Stokes.

On Monday as a family we looked around the Abbey museum and ruins before meeting Detta for a bite to eat in the tea rooms. Finally, in an art workshop with Tony Martin, I drew my interpretation of a psalm before heading home the Birmingham on the motorway with a Callie who had had her face painted and hair braided again.