cornerstone '06
last week was a great break. my drive ended up being ten hours each way, i had car problems and worried that i wouldn't make it at all, i felt old, and i didn't like a lot of the music. but it was still just what i needed.
i went to a music festival called cornerstone. it's a christian music festival, but a very alternative one. there were apparently protesters the first day because of all the people showing up with tattoos and piercings and revealing clothes. i have to tell you, the difference between this festival and the one i used to go to was palpable. the other one was very high school, and this was more college. i was overwhelmed by the amount of black that was worn, heavily tattooed people, girl jeans on super skinny boys, and girls in skirts. the artists who come to this festival are the type who are more likely to be contraversial. pedro the lion used to play there, and he'd get in trouble for swearing too much on-stage. most of the bands at this festival i either hadn't heard of or i didn't know they were "christian". like, maybe the members of the band were christian, but none of their songs were "christian" per se. which, quite honestly, was fine with me, as i haven't been too into christian music lately. so there was potential for me really to enjoy this, but sadly, most of the bands were screamo:) i can't deny that i've never enjoyed a song with screaming in it. and i enjoyed the first band or two i heard like that. but man, it got old. if i'm not going to be able to understand the band's lyrics live, i at least want to already be familiar with the song.
the music i enjoyed there was mostly whatever was most familiar to me. mxpx put on about the only show i could really sing along to (and even then, only to like four songs). leigh nash (formerly of sixpence none the richer) put on the only set of music i liked enough to want to buy her cd. starflyer 59 was the only show i got really excited about and felt like i NEEDED to see. this festival is pretty much my friend jack's highlight of every year, and he advised me throughout as far as music went. he brought to my attention the fact that one stage, for one afternoon, was the "alternative" stage, meaning more indie rock/experimental music than screamo. and jonezetta wasn't bad. bernard, while a little more experimental than i usually get into, was really good. actually, the two things bernard really had going for them, as far as i was concerned, were that 1)i ran into the bass player twice and he was super nice, and 2)they played some film stuff throughout, which was very andy warhol-esque, and one of the songs was to outtakes from the 50s informative short "a date with your family," a short i only know from mystery science theater 3000.
but there was more to this festival than music. they actually had a program called "flickerings," where they showed foreign films. i only got there to see two of them, but both were amazingly good. the first was called rosetta and won three awards at cannes when it came out in '99. some films were contraversial as well, since there was swearing (albeit rarely in english). the second foreign film was called europa '51. it was directed by roberto rossellini and came out in '52. it stars ingrid bergman as the character rossellini apparently believed saint francis of assisi might have turned out to be if he had been born in europe at that time. apparently it's a pretty rare movie, hard to find. not on netflix or blockbuster or anything. it was a great discussion movie and very thought-provoking. watching that was one of my highlights of the week. each movie showing only had between one and two dozen people watching, probably.
i also went to a few speakers. these were better than they looked on paper. the first was basically a q&a with the frontman from mewithoutyou. he filled his tent past capacity, and i was stuck outside where i could only mostly hear. he was a breath of fresh air for me. he spoke out against the war and talked about respect for people of other religions. his mom is muslim and his dad is jewish. he's also very into responsible living. he apparently dumpster dives for most of his food. anyway, i was just SO happy to hear from a christian who wasn't from the religious right. that's all you see on tv, and i was starting to wonder about the church if the people i saw on tv were the new face of it. after him, we went and caught the end of a session called "east meets west" or something, which i wish i could have seen in its entirety. this guy was talking about all sorts of things people assume are anti-christian that actually aren't preached against in the Bible. he pointed out things that are just against our cultural standards that are part of the church in africa and south america. seriously, seriously interesting. after him was a woman who talked about "why apologetics doesn't work," which wasn't as enlightening or cool. but still ok.
and, of course, i ate lots of hot dogs, drank lots of mountain dew, got a lot of good walking in, saw a lot of stars, slept in a tent, laughed a lot, got to have grown-up conversations with people not related to me, tried not to feel responsible for anyone but myself, and avoided sunburn.
oh, and one of the girls camping with us? was one of my old campers. a senior in high school this year. the future is now, friends.
i went to a music festival called cornerstone. it's a christian music festival, but a very alternative one. there were apparently protesters the first day because of all the people showing up with tattoos and piercings and revealing clothes. i have to tell you, the difference between this festival and the one i used to go to was palpable. the other one was very high school, and this was more college. i was overwhelmed by the amount of black that was worn, heavily tattooed people, girl jeans on super skinny boys, and girls in skirts. the artists who come to this festival are the type who are more likely to be contraversial. pedro the lion used to play there, and he'd get in trouble for swearing too much on-stage. most of the bands at this festival i either hadn't heard of or i didn't know they were "christian". like, maybe the members of the band were christian, but none of their songs were "christian" per se. which, quite honestly, was fine with me, as i haven't been too into christian music lately. so there was potential for me really to enjoy this, but sadly, most of the bands were screamo:) i can't deny that i've never enjoyed a song with screaming in it. and i enjoyed the first band or two i heard like that. but man, it got old. if i'm not going to be able to understand the band's lyrics live, i at least want to already be familiar with the song.
the music i enjoyed there was mostly whatever was most familiar to me. mxpx put on about the only show i could really sing along to (and even then, only to like four songs). leigh nash (formerly of sixpence none the richer) put on the only set of music i liked enough to want to buy her cd. starflyer 59 was the only show i got really excited about and felt like i NEEDED to see. this festival is pretty much my friend jack's highlight of every year, and he advised me throughout as far as music went. he brought to my attention the fact that one stage, for one afternoon, was the "alternative" stage, meaning more indie rock/experimental music than screamo. and jonezetta wasn't bad. bernard, while a little more experimental than i usually get into, was really good. actually, the two things bernard really had going for them, as far as i was concerned, were that 1)i ran into the bass player twice and he was super nice, and 2)they played some film stuff throughout, which was very andy warhol-esque, and one of the songs was to outtakes from the 50s informative short "a date with your family," a short i only know from mystery science theater 3000.
but there was more to this festival than music. they actually had a program called "flickerings," where they showed foreign films. i only got there to see two of them, but both were amazingly good. the first was called rosetta and won three awards at cannes when it came out in '99. some films were contraversial as well, since there was swearing (albeit rarely in english). the second foreign film was called europa '51. it was directed by roberto rossellini and came out in '52. it stars ingrid bergman as the character rossellini apparently believed saint francis of assisi might have turned out to be if he had been born in europe at that time. apparently it's a pretty rare movie, hard to find. not on netflix or blockbuster or anything. it was a great discussion movie and very thought-provoking. watching that was one of my highlights of the week. each movie showing only had between one and two dozen people watching, probably.
i also went to a few speakers. these were better than they looked on paper. the first was basically a q&a with the frontman from mewithoutyou. he filled his tent past capacity, and i was stuck outside where i could only mostly hear. he was a breath of fresh air for me. he spoke out against the war and talked about respect for people of other religions. his mom is muslim and his dad is jewish. he's also very into responsible living. he apparently dumpster dives for most of his food. anyway, i was just SO happy to hear from a christian who wasn't from the religious right. that's all you see on tv, and i was starting to wonder about the church if the people i saw on tv were the new face of it. after him, we went and caught the end of a session called "east meets west" or something, which i wish i could have seen in its entirety. this guy was talking about all sorts of things people assume are anti-christian that actually aren't preached against in the Bible. he pointed out things that are just against our cultural standards that are part of the church in africa and south america. seriously, seriously interesting. after him was a woman who talked about "why apologetics doesn't work," which wasn't as enlightening or cool. but still ok.
and, of course, i ate lots of hot dogs, drank lots of mountain dew, got a lot of good walking in, saw a lot of stars, slept in a tent, laughed a lot, got to have grown-up conversations with people not related to me, tried not to feel responsible for anyone but myself, and avoided sunburn.
oh, and one of the girls camping with us? was one of my old campers. a senior in high school this year. the future is now, friends.