"Frankie says, no more"

Finally I have got around to blogging again. Probably to an audience of one now (me!) as you've given up checking.

Funny how things ground to a halt over the World Cup! Have been mega busy since - will try to fill in the gaps later - was at the Greenbelt Arts Festival over the weekend so gonna start there.

Was managing a seminar and talk venue (Sovereign). I really enjoy doing this venue - the programme changed from last year so I got to stay put, but see some different stuff:

FRIDAY
Bill Drummond (ex KLF art-ironist) - session ran 2.5 hours until midnight [called "The 17"] open to only the first 34 people! Closed, no spectators. Bill explained his thought processes and why he thinks music needs to start again. Fascinating concept - what if there were no music? We could recall that there used to be, and that it was important to us, but that was all. What would we do? Bill had an option....

SATURDAY
Claudia May - What Christians can learn from the blues. A really interesting woman who delivered a thought-provoking talk with some fab CD clips from Big Mama Thornton. Caught up with Claudia in the Contributors lounge late in the evening and we slipped into level 4.5 real quick. Loved chatting over a mug of tea and noodles!

Harold Hoyle
Religious education painful? Not anymore. Was busy / distracted for much of the session, but liked this guy who works with kids or on the edges of society, excluded, or in prison.

Born Again - with Glen Patterson, the author/reason behind the film/documentary, introduced by Gareth Higgins. Most of the session was a Q&A between Gareth and Glen as the latter forgot to bring the film on DVD! Nonetheless it was an absorbing discussion about the term "Born Again" and what it means to different people. Glen professes no Christian faith now - would have liked to see the DVD as the anecdotes ranged from hilarious to big-time cringe. Glen had some disturbing insights about religion / faith / sectarianism and people who confess conversion experiences.

Life Art - featuring a naked man and 27 artists keen to sketch him! Saw lots of the drawings afterwards and they were very good. Wish I had that gift.

[Glad to have been introduced to Ian Long (artist behind the 'Blobs') by Pip Wilson earlier in the day and strike a conversation as squeezing this session into the schedule was problematic. I don't think any of the punters were any the wiser and I was able to thank Ian for the Dads + Lads blob drawing so that's cool !!]

SUNDAY
Michael Symmons Roberts - Bodies, loved and wounded, dead and risen. Michael is a poet and he read his work for about 45 minutes - it was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing it. Meant to get to the bookshop to buy his book but bumped into an old friend and settled for a brew instead.

Ibrahim Hewitt - From mission hall to mosque: a journey of faith. A Geordie, this man converted to Islam and told his story to a packed, respectful audience. I was impressed with his narrative and reflections on being a British Muslim. May God / Allah bless him (may His name be praised).

Jean-Claude Bragard and Anna Cox - these guys are the producers of the series shown on BBC1 in July "Miracles of Jesus". I saw some on TV, but not much, so was glad to see 4 clips from it which brought informed debate and feedback. This session was typical of one that I would not chose to go to but was glad I was there to hear the issues around broadcasting religious programmes. This department is responsible for Songs of Praise, the Heaven and Earth show, Son of God on BBC1 and Noah's Ark on BBC2 and more. Similarly on:

MONDAY
Christina Morgan and Trevor Barnes - Religion on radio. These guys have been involved with BBC Radio for decades between them, and involved with (as I recall) Thought for the Day and Beyond Belief on Radio 4 amongst many other programmes etc. The delicacies of trying to position debate and draw articulate contributions from all faith communitiess was well conveyed when the 'facts' (truth?) are so highly emotive and open to broad interpretation and application.

I just looked at the BBC's website on religion where they have a comments section for different faiths. Gob smacked how often listeners are posting on this site, but then at some point Trevor quoted someone as saying "religion is the new history". http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbreligion/

Pete Rollins - The fidelity of betrayal: what would Judas do? Another session with people turned away. A few shenanigans (!!!) as we tried to switch venue at the last moment to try to accommodate everyone, however a downpour put paid to that. Pete was quite a guy - about 30 (?), from Northern Ireland, involved with Icon (sounded like an alternative worship thing [won't say emerging though, Pete, in case you ever read this!!!] exploring faith and worship through questions rather than providing answers - my interpretation of what I heard!).

Pete talked at a million miles an hour (much to the chagrin of the deaf signers!) and had an impressive grasp of theology and philosophy that he conveyed thoughtfully and provocatively in relation to his subject, which I just about kept up with, maybe, I couldn't tell you much more of what he said! He drew the youngest, coolest support of the weekend and told a couple of the best jokes I've heard in ages!

Vic Thiessen - I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Taking his title from Apocalypse Now, Vic spoke on Redemptive Violence in Cinema - good stuff, good DVD clips. He did well juggling the technology!

So there, that was my 'day job' at the weekend. Loved it :o)