Christmas is coming!

Birmigham Guitar Shops

http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/
http://www.fairdealmusic.co.uk/
http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/birmingham_shop.asp

If you like any of what you see on this blog, why not check out some of contributions to various sites :

Chritian Faith Based Comics

Home of the Graphic Novel "Allegories of the Way"

Home to some interesting christian-based comic projects.

And it look like David's Mighty Men is finally coming back to the 'Net!

Concert avec SOLA

Ce samedi je donne un concert avec mon groupe Sola, à 20h30 au Foyer Rural, Avenue de la division Leclerc, Château-Gontier Bazouges. L'entrée est gratuite, alors si vous êtes disponible, venez passer la soirée avec nous, pour (re)découvrir nos compositions ainsi que quelques reprises.

Vous trouverez des vidéos d'un concert qu'on a fait en juillet ici

Is the New Testament Reliable?

Just finished reading an excellent little book on the historical reliability of the New Testament by Paul Barnett. I think it's been reprinted under the title 'Is the New Testament Reliable?' Great stuff ;-) You can get a copy on amazon.co.uk or any 'good christian book shop' like GLO Bookshop (http://www.globookshop.com/) for example.

Sola - Videos

Here are a few videos of the recent Sola concert we did in Argentré, July 2011. Second outing for a reinvented Sola ;-)



For more info on Sola : http://sola53.free.fr

Guitar Battle - Flash animation

Here's a little guitar based flash animation I came across recently which I thought was pretty cool. Hope you enjoy the guitar references.

Free music - Holy Soldier

Holy Soldier are a Christian hard rock/metal group from the 90s. They did some excellent rock music and one album in particular that I rememeber never tiring of listening to entitled simply "Holy Soldier" released in 1992.

I've just discovered that they have made some of their tracks available for free download on their site : holysoldier.com

Here's the direct link : http://www.holysoldier.com/download_mp3.htm Go check them out while they're there. And why not buy a couple of albmus too, while you're at it ;-)

Music 4 the Soul 2011 - videos

Voici quelques vidéos du concert qu'on a organisé et donné à Châtequ-Gontier le vendredi 22 juillet avec l'équipe Music 4 the Soul.

Here are a few videos of the concert I helped to organise and play in here in Château-Gontier on Fiday 22nd July with the Music 4 the Soul team.

Concert de Music 4 the Soul - Vendredi 22 juillet - Château-Gontier

Du 13 au 22 juillet, je participe à l'organisation d'un camp de musique "Music 4 the Soul".

Les participants, venus de l'Ecosse, l'Argentine, l'Angleterre et la France, prendront une semaine pour préparer un concert d'environ une heure et demie, avec des chants de Zazie, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Christophe Maé, Laurent Voulzy, Dany Brillant, Tracy Chapman, Barclay James Harvest, Ben Harper, Eric Clapton et bien d'autres encore ! A ceci s'ajouteront des histoires personelles des participants en rapport avec les thèmes des chansons et leur propre expérience avec Dieu et la foi chrétienne.

Les concerts auront lieu ici à Château-Gontier le vendredi 22 juillet dans la Salle des Fêtes à 20h30. Ensuite le groupe fera deux autres concerts, un à Guincamp (22), et un dernier au Horps dans le nord Mayenne. Chaque soirée est ouverte au public et l'entrée est gratuite.

N'hésitez pas de me contacter pour plus de renseignements.

Cyrano de Bergérac - Thêatre

CYRANO DE BERGERAC, le nouveau spectacle de la Caompagnie de L'Ourson Blanc, du 1 au 16 Juillet: 11 représentations pendant le mois de juillet, sur la place de l'église de Montreuil sur Maine à 3 klm au nord du Lion d'Angers. Début des représentations à 21h30. La jauge étant limitée à 150 places, mieux vaut réserver.

Tél : 02.41.76.50.65 (Janine Servan, responsable de la billeterie).

Concert - Mark-oh! and Friends - Folk Rock Night

Ce samedi 25 juillet Michelle et moi-même participons à un concert Folk/Rock au Brasserie du Vieux Pont, Château-Gontier. Nous ouvrons la soirée vers 21h, avec des reprises et quelques compositions, avant de passer le micro à Funky Raccoons, et ensuite Mark-oh! Plus tard dans la soirée on reviendra sur scène pour faire d'autres morceaux.

Venez nombreux pour une soirée sympa !

Free music - Exode

Exode "Au commencement" was the second album for a French Christian group based in Marseille. They released a previous album which I believe was recorded live. This second album features some great songs, all in French obviously, and the group included a couple of guys who are friends of mine. I don't know exactly when the album was recorded, probably in the late 80s/early 90s, but the mp3s in this download were converted from the cassette using Audacity; they're about as clean as I know how to get them, but there might be the occasional tape wobble.

Here's the download link: http://www.everlightskeep.com/Exode_-_Au_commencement.zip

Free music - No Big Deal

No Big Deal were a Christian rock group doing the rounds in the early '90s. I came across them when they performed at a school during the Metal Meltdown festival. They did an excellent set, rock tinged with a funky edge on some of the songs, which at the time reminded me a little of Extreme.

They released at least one EP called "You've Been Robbed" which I have on cassette, and as I've recently converted it to mp3s (using my trusty Audacity), I thought I'd post it up here for downloading. . . music this decent just deserves to be heard.

As with Phenomena EPs, these songs are not mine, and hopefully members of No Big Deal won't mind me posting these songs. I've tried to find out what happened to them after the festival but I've not been able to find any info about them on the internet. The only thing I've come across is this review from Cross Rhythms magazine :

If you'd been bold enough to step into the rock 'n' roll pubs of Southampton and Portsmouth over the last six months you'll have caught this tough, gritty foursome who play decidedly heavy rock managing to avoid both the predictability of some metal and the tired old blues ruffs of some heavy rock. In fact, this tape exudes a gutsy vitality I found completely invigorating while the lyrics speak the gospel truth with unembarrassed directness. Suffice it to say I liked 'You've Been Robbed1 and once they get a producer and a budget they'll surely be on to bigger things. In the meantime, get along to one of their gigs all you Hampshire rockers. - Tony Cummings

So I guess this post is a little hommage to an excellent Christian 90s rock band.

Here's the link to download the EP: http://www.everlightskeep.com/No_Big_Deal_-_-You've_Been_Robbed.zip

Free music - via Leafmouth

Thanks to the wonderful people at Beehave webzine I've just discovered a bunch of rock/punk/metal/hardcore albums being made freely available featuring Jeff Jacquay via his official website leafmouth.com. Excellent stuff!

Crize2foi en concert - 10 juin 2011

Voici deux chansons que j'avais fait au dernier Caf'conc de Challenge & Musik, le vendredi 10 juin 2011.

Le premier est le permier morceau que j'ai composé pour la guitare. J'espèrais trouver des paroles et une mélodie pour qu'il devient un chant, mais finalmenet c'est resté depuis très longtemps un instrumentale. Alors, finalement j'ai décidé de le joindre à quelques paroles légèrement modifées de la chanson "Lving On The Edge" de Aerosmith, une chanson qui fait partie des mes préférées.

Le deuxième morceau est un composition que je travaille depuis à peu près deux ans. Je voulais trouver des paroles, mais finalement comme celui d'avant, rien n'est venu pour l'instant, alors j'ai décidé de le garder comme instrumental. C'est la prémière fois que j'ai composé avec un accordage ouvert, celui de DADF#AD, suite à un masterclass songwriting avec Terry Lee Hale oganisé par l'association Challenge & Musik en 2008.

The Letter Black

http://www.toothandnail.com | check out the store

Inkspace - Free Open Source Vector Graphics Programme

Inkspace is an excellent open-source programme, freely available from www.inkscape.org/.

It's an alternative to some of the big name graphic software out there. I'm not too sure of how it compares to the likes of Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, but it seems very capable!

I'm no graphic artist, but I've been messing around with Paint Shop Pro for a few years, without ever really getting into it. But the time has come to start developping my own graphics for web-sites, posters, and such and it looks as though Inkscape is going to be my way forward.

Not that I've got anything against Paint Shop Pro (I have version 7 on my computer) but tutorials seem so hard to find! Plus which, it has since been updated and I really can't afford to invest in the more recent versions.

Inkscape, as I mentioned above, is available as a free download, it's opehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn-source, works on Windows, Mac, or Linux and there are a whole host of tutorials available for the beginnger and intermediate user. The doll figure to the right is my first attempt at using Inkspace, and is the result of a tutorial at verysimpledesigns.com.

But after making a quick search I've come across a few others which look very promising too:
www.microugly.com/inkscape-quickguide/
screencasters.heathenx.org/

Sola en concert le 16 avril

Le samedi 16 avril à 20h je vous invite de venir nous découvrir de nouveaux morceaux en savourant des crêpes lors d'une "soirée crêpe/concert" organisé par des amis à notre église.


A l'Eglise Protestante Evangélique, 15 rue de Rennes, 53000 LAVAL. Pour plus de renseignements voir le site de l'église ou envoyez moi un mail :-)

Songwriter's Monthly

Songwriter's Monthly Jan 10, #121 Issue

Tournesol - magazine chrétien enfant

Open publication - Free publishing - More adle

Spectactle - Théâtre à Marans

Free Music - Phenomena

Phenomena were an excellent christian rock group from the West Midlands, England. They were around in the late 80s and early 90s and produced at least two EPs, which are available in this download.

I don't know many more details about the group, apart form the fact that Jon Grant was the guitarist in the group, and he went on to perform with singer Lynsey, who later became his wife. The two know do an excellent job with a youth work called Krunch based in the West Midlands.

The latest I heard there was a possibility of Phenomena reuniting for some gigs! For more info check out their facebook page

The download available here is from 2 EPs Phenomena recorded. They are tranfers from cassettes, using Audacity to clean up and compress the files. Unfortunately Audacity can't remove tape-wobble from years of playing, and believe me these Phenomena cassettes have been well played. Check out the song "So you say" which is a song which has stuck in my head since I heard it back in the early 90s.

Here's the link to download the tracks: http://www.everlightskeep.com/Phenomena_EP.zip

Free Music - Martyn Joseph

Martyn Joseph - free downloads

Martyn Joseph is a Welsh singer/songwirter. He often performs solo, just him and his acoustic guitar, although he has been known to have a full band set-up, or to join with other musicians (see 'Faith, Folk and Anarchy' below). He's made loads of recordings, but personally I prefer his live acoustic stuff; to me it's where his passion really comes across. And passion is a word you have to use when talking about Martyn Joseph, who writes and performs passionate songs covering a variety of subjects from the mundane to the spectacular.
You can discover or rediscover Martyn Joseph through a variety of mp3s freely available at www.MartynJoseph.net/category/listen/. There are also a whole host of downloadable Windows Audio files (wma) taken from various radio interviews that Martyn has done over the years, including his thoughts on different subjects as well as some live performances.
Visit www.MartynJoseph.com