Today, Cornerstone really starts. We start the day off at the luncheon formerly known as the RMC BBQ. There was once a time, young whippersnappers, where there was essentially only one place on the Internet to discuss Christian music (now every band seemingly has their own forum) and that was the USENET message board rec.music.christian. Cornerstone provided the opporunity for all of these posters to meet up and meet face to face. Today the luncheon not only invites all the r.m.c. old-guard folks to gather together, but it also includes several mailing lists and forums also, so the name RMC BBQ has become quite outdated. Votes were taken, but I don’t know if any consensus was achieved (though I quite liked Brian’s Lists and Message Boards Eating.)
We found out that yesterday there were some protestors who stood at the entrance holding signs that said “Cornerstone Dishonors God.” Apparently, they believed some of the appearances of some of the festival goers (you know, tattoos, piercings and such) and some of the acts and films that Cornerstone books are sinful and the festival is at fault. Some Cornerstone goers yelled at the people and mocked them. Some Cornerstone goers took food and water out to them during the day and told the protestors that Jesus loves them too. Having people at Cornerstone promoting or protesting all sorts of crazy social, political, and theological topics is nothing new, but someone protesting the entire festival was totally new to me. I found it all hard to wrap my mind around how people could protest such a diverse range of Christianity.
Back to the festival. The first show of the day is Family Force 5 and what a show. Ok, I’ll admit they are hokey, silly, gimmicky, and such, but they are good at what they do and they are entertaining. Sometimes you’ve got to have some fun to lighten up your palette of serious music. They got a good crowd for an early show and the crowd loved them. We then went to catch Andrew Oliver, Jeff Elbel’s drummer, play a solo set at the noisychristians.com stage (though to be honest, the really noisy Christians were the generator band across the street that nearly drowned out the sound.) Andrew played a short set of acoustic songs and was even joined by his father on a couple songs.
The Indoor Stage got knocked off of schedule so when I arrived to see Sleeping At Last, the show has been delayed. I went back to see Jeff Elbel debut his newest band, the toungue-in-cheek named Pilate Error. Jeff surprised us all by breaking out Kenny Rodger’s “The Gambler”, probably the first time that’s ever been played at Cornerstone.
After Jeff’s show, I headed over to the press tent to see the press conferences for The Lost Dogs and The 77’s. Mike Roe and Steve Hindalong show up to represent the Lost Dogs. Their newest album The Lost Cabin and The Mystery Trees was cranked out in just two weeks, which suprisingly is actually a long time for them to all work together. The album features a “Cowboy Opera” by Terry Taylor. Tim Chandler and Matt Slocum guest on the album. Hindalong has been more-or-less co-opted into the band thanks to all his work on drums and production. He was surprised when the band listed him as one of the members in the liner notes. I found it interesting that they both found working in the Lost Dogs more relaxing and care-free than their original bands. It’s almost as if Daniel Amos, The Choir, and the 77’s have become their side projects.
Mike Roe also talked about his tour with Micheal Pritzl of the Violet Burning and said they enjoyed the tour so much that they are going to do another tour later this year. They might even release an album together which would essentially be the songs they did together on this past tour and maybe a new song or two. I know I’d buy it. This is a busy year for Roe. He is also planning to release a blues themed 77’s album and a solo album.
A quick ribeye sandwich and then it’s off to catch the end of Sleeping At Last’s delayed show and also Class of 98 On the Fat Calf Stage, the very Keane-like Wolfy. Make no mistake however, this is no clone of Keane even if their setup resembles the band (piano, bass, drums.) Their joy and energy is infectous. We then go to catch Jonzetta again and they are as good as the first time we saw them. Afterwards, we watch the very artsy Bernard whom I would describe as “deliberate. Chuck loved them. Jerry hated them. I think I fall somewhere in between.
The evening is for the veterans of Cornerstone. The Lost Dogs open for The 77’s on the Gallery Stage. The Lost Dogs play a set of classics and selections from their new album. The 77’s follow with a set mostly of familiar 90’s songs and suprised us with 80’s classics in the encore. Terry, Mike, and Derri were all in good humor for the evening. The highlight of the evening was Terry’s “Throne Check-O-Meter” which swung from “In The Flesh” to “Annointed” depending on each member’s mood. Derri even broke it out on Mike during a particularly funny moment in the 77’s show, earning a guffaw from Mike. The evening was a fond reminder of Cornerstones past. It used to be that these guys were all over the fest all week, but this year just one night will have to do.