Duo, Groupe, Chorale & Associations

Ca fait longtemps que je n'ai rien posté sur ce blog, alors je voulais juste partager quelques nouvels.

Depuis à peu près 2 ans j'ai changé les formations musicales dans lesquels je joue.  Sola ne joue plus, ni Last Chance, mais je laisse les liens à côté pour les souvenirs.

Maintenant je joue en duo avec Michelle (ma femme) sous le nom de Liv'in'Proof.  Nous avons un site http://www.livinproof.fr où on peut écouter nos compositions, voir quelques vidéos, et découvrir nos news.  Notre style live est plutôt acoustique folk/pop.

Tous les deux, nous jouons également sous le nom d'Everlight's Keep avec les amis Michel et Karim.  C'est encore pas mal de compositions, mais dans un style plus rock.  Pour plus d'infos :  https://www.facebook.com/everlightskeep

Et puis je mène depuis quelques années une chorale anglophone qui s'appelle s[i]nglish.  Nous chantons, pour la plupart, des chansons pop/rock anglophone, mais également de temps en temps des chansons traditionnels, ou même classique.  Pour plus d'info, rendez-vous sur la page : http://www.musicalame.org/singlish/  La chorale est ouverte à tous, peu importe le niveau d'anglais, peu importe le niveau de chant. L'essentiel c'est de vouloir prendre du plaisir dans les deux :-)

Et finalement, pour regrouper et gérer ces trois formations, nous avons créés  une association qui a pris pour nom : Musical'âme.  Toutes les infos sont sur le site: http://www.musicalame.org

Calendrier 2014 - en français

Je me suis rendu compte dernièrement qu'il y a très peu de calendriers 2014 disponible sur internet de façon gratuit, et en français pour fabriquer ses propres calendriers.  Alors voici une image que j'ai retravaillé de sa version anglais, pour donner les mois de l'année en français.  J'espère qu'il pouvait être utile à quelqu'un.

Soirée Pop/rock, Poésie & Peinture

L'association protestante évangélique castrogontérienne organise une Soirée Pop/rock, Poésie & Peinture le 12 octobre dans la Salle de la Motte Vauvert, Château-Gontier, à partir de 19h. C'est une occasion de découvrir les chansons de Michelle et moi-même en tant que Liv'in'Proof, la poésie de Denis Gaultier, et les tableaux de Chantal B. La soirée est gratuite, et ouverte à tous :-)

Reflections on the Psalms - C.S.Lewis

Just wanted to note down a few thoughts from reading this great little book by C.S. Lewis 'Reflections on the Psalms'.

Firstly, in chapter II he talks about 'Judgement In The Psalms' and what particularly struck me, is how he draws the readers attention to the book of Judges in the Bible.  He points out that we often have an image of God as Judge, to punish the guilty, etc., but the Jewish idea of a Judge was someone who maintained justice, and rendered justice to an injured party.  Hence longing for judgement, because you had been wronged, for example.  He talks about the idea of fairness, justice, equity.  But what particularly struck me was when he talks about the judges in the book of Judges who were actually champions of the people, and it's related to the idea of providing fairness.  The judges were raised up by God to vanquish an enemy who was mistreating them, a judge saves, protects, frees, liberates, sets things right.  Hence, God is our judge, our champion, our saviour, our protector, our liberator!  Excellent!  He rights wrongs, and brings about justice.

Then in chapter IX he has a 'A Word About Praising' in which he points out that praising is a natural part of life:
". . . all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless (sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise - lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, playesr praising their favourite game . . ." (p80)

And it's so true, which of us when we're caught up with a great book, or piece of music, or film, doesn't easily tell our friends of it's greatness, and the pleasure we derive from it.  It's natural, normal, to give praise.

He goes on to say :
I had not noticed how the humblest, and at the same time most balanced and capacious, minds, praised most, while the cranks, the misfits and malcontents praised least. The good critics found something to praise in many imperfect works; the bad ones continually narrowed the list of books we might be allowed to read. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible."(p80)

Praise is normal, natural and healthy.  Personally, I thought that was particularly cool.

Then in chapter X 'Hidden Meanings' he reminds us that God can and often does choose to communicate elements of his truth through those who do not claim to any relationship with him, or even claim to have none.
". . . in mythology divine and diabolical and human elements . . . all play a part" claims C.S.Lewis, so that when we read, be it fiction, philosophy, comics, or whatever, we can be struck anew by aspects of the truth of God.  God communicates to us through what we're reading, God communicates through the author, whether that author claims to know God or not.  Just like he did with Cyrus (see Isaiah 45:1-6)

Liv'in'Proof - en concert le 5 mai 2013

Testing Soundcloud

So, over on my web-site I've got a bunch of demos. They're mainly there so I can direct people to my songs, and also to enable easy access.
I'm just going to try and migrate to using Soundcloud for sharing purposes, and also, perhaps, to embed direct on the web-site.

 Here's a tester:

Music & Words

Cours de guitare & piano/clavier Ateliers linguistique (anglais/français) Traduction (français vers l'anglais)

Great bands from the Black Country/Birmingham/West Midlands area

Because for a while now I've been thinking about some of the excellent bands that have come from my home region, or who have included significant members from the Black Country/Birmingham/West Midlands region, I've finally decided to start making myself a list. I've a preference for rock/metal music, but I'll probably include those bands who played in other styles too. (If my info is wrong, let me know so I can correct it:-) )

Black Sabbath
Ozzy Osbourne (yeah, I know he was part of Sabbath, but he had/has a very succesful solo carreer too)
Judas Priest
Magnum
Led Zeppelin (Both John Bonham and Robert Plant are originally from the region)
Robert Plant
Wizard
Electric Light Orchestra
Slade
Black Country Communion (Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham are originally from the region)
Shy
Marshall Law
Diamond Head
Dark Star
Spencer Davis Group
Steve Winwood
Traffic
Toyah Willcox
The Move
Dexy's Midnight Runners
Moody Blues
Apache Indian
Duran Duran
Musical Youth
UB40

Ta Jeunesse no.257

Open publication - Free publishing

Farmer Giles of Ham - J.R.R.Tolkien

Recently read this short story by J.R.R.Tolkien and thorougly enjoyed it. It's available on the ebookbrowse.com website for reading or downloading.

J R R Tolkien Farmer Giles of Ham rtf

Ta desitnée - Ton choix

Voici une animation flash créé pour présenter la bonne nouvelle de tout ce que Jésus peut et veut faire pour nous. Il présente les vérités bibliques de notre besoin de Jésus, de son sacrifice, ainsi que de l'amour de Dieu et son désir de nous pardonner et nous offre la réconciliation. Le lien renvoie aux pages originaux du site ydyc.com
 

Your Destiny - Your Choice

Here's a little flash cartoon which was created to share the Good News that Jesus can and wants to change our lives, offer us the forgiveness and reconciliation with God. The links send you to the original pages at ydyc.com
 

Barnabas - Little Foxes

Barnabas were a Christian heavy rock outfit from the 80s.  I owned a copy of their album Little Foxes which is apparently now out of print. Thankfully numerous fans seem to be discovering (or posting) links to digital versions of many of the albums from those times.  Hence, here are two links for blogposts which give info on Barnabas and download links for the album Little Foxes : http://flipsidemn.blogspot.fr/2009/05/barnabas-little-foxes.html and http://phillovesmusic.blogspot.fr/2011/07/barnabas-little-foxes-1986.html

As the establishment continues to seek ways of making sharing even obsolete and deleted music illegal, may as well make the most of the links before they get deleted.

It does make you wonder who is heading up these laws against sharing on the internet.  I don't think it's the groups and artists, as generally the ones I've spoken to are quite happy to have their music available again.

Contre la suppresion des postes enseignants en Mayenne

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.