Cornerstone As A Family
I could easily post something today about all the amazing music I have seen since I have been at Cornerstone Festival 2010. In fact, it is only the beginning of day three here and i could write a book. Love Begotten, Ascend The Hill, Listener Project, So Long Forgotten, White Collar Sideshow, In The Midst Of Lions, and I Am Alpha & Omega have all reminded me why I love music so much. I WILL post in more detail about the individual shows I have seen later, but first I want to talk about a concept that the vocalist for Love Begotten touch on during their set.
Losing focus in a place like this is all too easy. From the outside, and maybe a little bit from the inside, Cornerstone is just a music festival. A place where a whole bunch of musicians come to gather in a small area and compete for fan’s attention all day with shows, merch, and flyers. It should be no different than SXSW.
But this IS different, because this is the Body.
Metal, folk, electronica, hip-hop, punk, progressive rock, worship; these are all genres being represented here this week, but yet in some way they are all singing the same song. This festival is a celebration of art created from hearts changed by Jesus Christ, and in that way this is a family reunion. The fans, the artists, the label owners and promoters come here to gather as a community and enjoy each other. I felt this the most as I embraced (that means hugged by the way) Dan Smith better known as Listener, T from White Collar Sideshow, and Donny from I Am Alpha & Omega as brothers and not as strangers. We are coming together here to experience God’s heart through music, and it is beautiful.
There is nothing else on Earth like this!
At the heart of it, this sense of community is what this website is about. We wanted to create a place for people to come and experience music that connects them to other believers, no matter what the music sounds like. As I have been walking around taking in this festival, I am reminded of the first time I came here in 2002, and how the sense of connection to all the performers has not faded a bit so many years later.
We are the Body, and this music is our voice. Use it, embrace it, and let it change you.
around the final schedule and the Cornerstone staff and volunteers are learning as they go. Yesterday was different. We drove right in, secured a golf cart for rapid transportation around Cornerstone Farm, set-up camp and had time for lunch before our shows started. Oh, by the way, the weather is spectacular with a capital S. Only a few clouds, highs in the mid 80′s. It was cool enough last night that I crawled into my sleeping bag at about 4 a.m. Here is Ian, our president and the master of all knowledge about Christian music and our professional photographer Rebecca (note: none of the pictures in today’s post we taken by Rebecca, she is much better than this.) The best part is that we four great shows among the seven or eight we visited. The Unfortunate ( a jazz-blues quartet), Josh Davenport (a Delta blues guitar player), The Listener Project (talk music extravaganza) and Oh Sister Oh Brother (indie, electro pop).
As Debbie joined me to play out the schedule I had so carefully planned out and re-planned out the weeks leading up to Cornerstone 2010, Ian bounded up to our golf cart. “Listener is playing a surprise show at the Sanctuary Stage at 4:15. You guys have to come see him! They are like nothing you have every experienced.” We have been fans of 
and Project 12 (more on than later). First up, Josh Davenport burned the Chelsea Cafe up with a screaming set of sludgy Delta Blues. He started his set with three snarly songs from early blues legends like Leadbelly and Rev. Gary Davis. It was hot, slide guitar wailing about the hard life of early 20th century black men in America. He then launched into his own songs of blues about social injustice and God’s sovreigntry over the Earth. Most of his set he played a homemade guitar (a box, a long neck and duct tape). When Josh Davenport introduced his “made guitar” he told of his philisophy: Christ found us broken and discarded in the alley. He rebuilt us into something pleasing. We should take the broken things (objects, relationships and people) and invest ourselves to re-make those found objects into something pleasing to God. I thought that was pretty cool.
