if there was ever an album that defined the spitrual vibes that are ebbing and flowing out of every aspect of my personality, its "In An Aeroplane Over The Sea," by Neutral Milk Hotel. I'll be completely honest, i dont know whether or not the album is musical grounding breaking in the history of music but regardless there is feeling one gets when you listen to the painful truth of Jeff Magnums lyrics; i imagine this feeling being very similar to the one that a great inventor such as Thomas Edison, might have felt when he came upon the design of the worlds first light blub with great success. Its a revalation, its a challenging prose that makes you think of things we consistently overlook.
Well now that the pretentious indie freak that makes its home within a distant corner of my mind has had his say, lets talk. Whether or not you find yourself a very depressing individual there is something for everyone in this world that really turns them on. I've found my turn on and its this wonderful little place called Bushnell, Illinois or cornerstone music festival. I first attended cornerstone music festival in the summer of 2007 and i fell in love with the place. Throughout the midwest the are hundreds of music oriented festivals. However, i dont think there is a single other festival that can match the attitude and love one gets from the other people who attend. When you first start walking through the festival grounds you encounter 20,000 new faces, some you might never see again. But if you find yourself talking to a new face whether with a up of thai coffee at the gallery stage or in the flaring arms and legs of the pit, there is a concious effort for that person to show you love and caring. For me the most outstanding example i saw was at the August Burns Red show at cornerstone in 2007. ABR's set and off-stage surroundings were very much equal to that of an every other hardcore/metal band. The screaming vocals and blast beats of the double bass rand loud throughout the tent as the audience, or at the least the select few annoyting hXc kids, picked up the change, picked up the change, and spun their windmills as if a tornado was about to touch down. however there was one dramatic differene. I had attended an ABR show in my home town just a few months early that was basically the same as i have previously described. However there was a complete lack of caring for the welfare of the people that surrounded them. They didnt give a hoot if their furious windmill came round smack dab on the back of someones head, or the roundhouse kick that was a sign of masculinity hit smackdown on the side of another persons face. But cornerstone was different. If the pit got a bit wild or if an accident occured there was an immediate care for the individual or group in concern.
Another outstanding aspect of the cornerstone music festival scene is the fact that cornerstone music festival is much more than just another music festival. The director of cornerstone invites leaders from the social activists, film industry, art industry, as well as acting companies to provide a genuine mixture of all things that make the chrisitian culture unique. and dont get me started on the thai coffee. your local coffee shop serves up some joe, or chai coffee, but at cornerstone they take a unique balance of freshly brewed coffee, thai spices, and heavy cream on the rocks to deliver their customers an addictive sweet and orignal drink. i kinda of over did that sentance a bit but it had to be done.
my first blog, woo! i often times write in a notebook, which i will try and update on to the electronic version as much as possible. im out
but wait, do we really know everything. obviously not. we struggle with proving just about everything, and naturally humans need for physically and knowable facts in order to believe. but everyday we live in faith, in some sort of another, whether or not you apply yourself to religion. you have put faith in just about everything you do, and most the times you have little to no actually knowledge about what you are doing or why you are doing *this is everyone* when i went to bed last night and since i have been going to bed for the last 17 years i have some faith that the bed i lay upon will support me and give me comfort. i have a blind faith in every resturant i have ever gone to. i have faith that they wont give me some harmful bacteria laced food. i have faith that toyota will build quality cars so i wont fall through the bottom, or that the engine wont combust while driving. the list goes on. we have become adapted to our everyday blessings, to our everyday routine and have developed a sort of blind faith that it will continue as plan. so what i struggle with is how a unblind faith, a faith that makes itself evident as the wind among the trees, is so unattractive to a society where blind faith is the norm. : )
