what's on the CD player?
. the big chill - ichill . !k7 . fila brazillia - brazilification2
what books are by the bed?
. the music of silence - john tavener . hey nostradamus - douglas coupland . this is uncool (the 500 greatest singles since punk and disco) - gary mulholland . the bible . fences and windows - naomi klein . the art of looking sideways - alan fletcher
jonnybaker blog
Sunday, November 09, 2003
jonnybaker is now blogging at http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/ please change your links and visit me there...
Sunday, November 09, 2003
this blog ends here today! i'm moving to typepad. why? well... after a year and a half on a free old blogger template i'm ready to shift up a gear. i like what typepad offers - especially the categories, photo albums, comments and trackbacks, rss capabilities, ftp included etc... i am going to leave this blog out there in the ether so all the existing links will not be lost BUT please change your links on your sites/blogs to http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/jonnybaker/. sorry if this is annoying but i think the blog will improve (at least from my end anyway). thanks to blogger - it's nothing personal...
Sunday, November 09, 2003
Friday, November 07, 2003 this made me laugh. daniel blogged about it and you can order shirts here. apologies in advance to anyone who is offended but i still think it's hilarious!
Friday, November 07, 2003
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
i very rarely blog about football but yesterday's result simply has to be mentioned : lazio 0 chelsea 4 !!!!!!! read more Wednesday, November 05, 2003
emergingchurch.info has had it's monthly update of stories and reflections. i love the site already - i am really excited that after just a couple of months there are some great stories and brilliant pieces. e-merging by paul thomson is my favourite i think, but there are loads of good things.... the discussion boards have also taken off well. go and join if you haven't already. hadge for example had this to say:
Relational or Communal? I'm thinking about the gathered community seeking to engage in an act of worship (be it alt.worship or otherwise) - this is not necessarily the place to be building relationships (which is why I abhor coffee and donuts in the middle of a worship gathering) - there can and should be other forums for that - this is the place to encounter God in community - hence Communion - if we're not careful we can lose the communal in pursuit of the relational in the context of worship - it is for this reason that I think we need to distinguish between the terminologies, esp. that of alt.worship and emerging church - alt.worship is exactly that (or should be) and should focus on communal worship rather than relationship building - the approach of the gathered community to the presence of God - the numinous - being still and knowing etc. The emerging church however should be all about relational ways of doing things together and being church together and this will take place on many levels and will not/can not insist that we all relate in the same way or at the same depth . . . . . just a thought Wednesday, November 05, 2003
caught up with tallskinnykiwi. he was passing through at the emergent conference in london. i popped in for a half hour to see what was happening (too busy to take the time out to be there for three days) and happily my visit co-incided with andrew's. he stayed last night and we chatted into the early hours. then followed it on this morning in what has to be one of london's finest little cafés - the guy that runs it seems to have two passions in life - scooters and classic expresso machines! the pic is paul thaxter (on the same team as me at cms), a classic expresso machine and andrew (with the scooters in the background). amongst other things we discussed blogs and the need for me to get up to date with xhtml and all that. andrew was raving about typepad - can i face a redesign and rethink?.... mmmmmmm watch this space
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
got sent a gushing glowing review of our last album spirit of the new by mike rimmer at crossrhythms magazine. a bit embarrassing (but not so much as to not mention it on the blog :-) )
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Monday, November 03, 2003 just a reminder that this saturday is grace's tenth birthday. from 4:30-6:00pm we are open for families/kids with birthday cake at 5:30pm. there will be installations etc... then the main party/service/alt worship is at 8pm followed by fireworks, bubbly, cake, VJs and DJs.
ten years firestarter chillout incense undeserved favour muslin rembrandt desert labyrinth bitter sweet ibook icons ikea ice shrine pebbles prayer camouflage candle wax washing lines bouncy castle tvs bread and wine....
please come and join us
sat november 8 | st mary's church, st mary's road, ealing, london w5 @ 8pm nearest tube south ealing
was in coventry this weekend for the cms festival inspire to witness. ran the labyrinth all day saturday which was the first time for a while. it was very busy - reminded me of what a wonderful experience it is. good to cath up with matt cryer who led the labyrinth uk cathedral tour... coventry cathedral is amazing - very modern but has the most amazing pieces of art and stained glass. the old cathedral ruins are next door. they have some wonderful sculptures too - i love epstein's ecce homo. i took the inevitable pictures but somewhat inspired by other bloggers who have photo albums/photologs and discovering that iphoto will publish web pages of whatever photos you select (macs are so cool!) i have started a photo albums section in the links on the left hand side. i've put two there for starters including pictures of coventry. i've no idea how often i'll add something else, but seems a fun idea....
the cms festival was a big success with about 500 around on the saturday reflecting on mission in all areas of the world and life - urban mission | club culture | alt worship | asia | africa | new forms of church | virtual mission | kidz klub .... etc - hopefully a few people will have gone away inspired to witness. the evening had a big celebration in the cathedral. a highlight was procession of christians from lots of nations of the world in national dress who then sang in their own languages. it was a fantastic picture of the world church...
Monday, November 03, 2003
mike yaconelli was killed in a car accident last night. he was founder of youth specialties, a greenbelt favourite speaker who manged to make you laugh and cry and feel inspired all at once, cheeky, fun, a writer, a prophet, said it how it was, a storyteller.... youth ministry has lost one of its heroes. what a sad day. youth specialties site has more info and space for people to add their reflections...
Wednesday, October 29, 2003 got to visit two bill viola exhibitions as well (what a few days eh?! - come and live in london). i mentioned these last week in anticipation. the first is at a small gallery the haunch of venison and is a piece called the hall of whispers. there is a darkened hallway and on either side are a total of ten video projections of people with their eyes closed and their mouths gagged. you hear the sound of them trying to speak but all you hear is muffled voices. this was incredibly powerful. made me think about church | worship | expression | finding your voice | not being heard | the prophets | crossing cultures | .... one idea can so powerfully evoke so many thoughts. apparently the piece when exhibited before was called buried secrets, which i think is a more evocative title.
the other exhibition is at the national gallery and includes the passions which i have blogged about before so won't go on again. the main theme that they explore is grief - again so many thoughts buzzing round my head on that. but the piece i really wanted to see was the crossing and this was simply stunning. i could have stayed and watched it for ages. there is a screen in the middle of a darkened room - both sides have a video sequence projected on to them. a man walks slowly towards you and then stops. one side of the screen then has water that begins as a droplet landing on his head, the drop becomes a trickle, and builds until the man is engulfed in water. he raises his hands as though to welcome this baptism and then disappears. the other side is similar only with a flame that begins small and engulfs him. i'm sure this wasn't exactly what viola had in mind but this is so ideal for pentecost or a baptism (of water and of fire). i'd love to know what is going through other peoples minds as they watch. it filled me with longing for god to fill me and refresh me and i found myself praying. go and see it if you get the chance (you have to pay for this one - the other is free).
as ever i thought how similar these kind of installations are to much of what is done (on a much smaller budget!) in alt worship.... i'd love to see more churches embrace this kind of art. it's a window to the soul or at least to mine - there's a breeze blowing in.
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
talllankybaker standing by one of banksy's stencils that we spotted on the south bank! (it says this is not a photo opportunity on a bin in front of the tate)
went back to see the weather installation at the tate as the boys hadn't seen it.
the way we went was via st pauls tube which means that you walk past st pauls cathedral and then across the milenium bridge to the tate. in the pic you can see me (or at least my shadow) - when you look from the bridge one way you see st pauls and when you look the other you see the tate. that bridge joins up what needs to be joined more than just physically. two worlds need to collide... ancient and contemporary | art and faith | risk and tradition | spirituality and soulless expression | god and the imagination | art space and sacred space | worship and installatons | word and image | in many ways both could do with the best of the other... (and a personal dream would be to see the kinds of art/design books in the tate being invested in by the church - anyone like to commission us?....)
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
it's amazing how a couple of days off can refresh you... a weekend with friends in bath and a day with joel and harry visiting some galleries in london has done me the world of good. bath is an amazing place. as well as being a beautiful city, all round it you can be in gorgeous countryside within 5 minutes in almost any direction. living in london, you get to appreciate countryside in a different way. ealing has plenty of green but it's common or park land. we visited southstoke where they have a millenium bench that looks over the landscape. the sun was shining and it was so quiet. we sat soaking in the sun and the view and then strolled through the valley below. i've added a few snaps to give you the flavour.
i'm reading douglas coupland's latest hey nostradamus at the moment. one of the themes i love in his books is the sense of wonder at the world (and how in danger we can be of losing it). a quote from the latest...
i'm glad that i never lost my sense of wonder about the world although i have a hunch it would have happened pretty soon.... the world is a glorious place and filled with so many unexpected moments that i'd get lumps in my throat, as though i were watching a bride walk down the aisle - moments as eternal and full of love as the lifting of veils, the saying of vows, and the moment of the first wedded kiss.
soaking up the sun and view in southstoke will keep me from losing my sense of wonder for a while....
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Monday, October 27, 2003 jon birch has put up a wonderful web site showcasing his work. it's a great portfolio. jon is one of the team behind proost. illustration, design, logos, flash animation, music production, web design... - all these are talents up jon's sleeve. with the web site up, the rest of the world can now see what a genius he is. if you've got any work needing doing you know who to call... one of my favourite piece's in the portfolio is the sower. this will no doubt be appearing on a future proost resource at some stage in the future... i have added the sower in as worship trick 61.
Monday, October 27, 2003
Sunday, October 26, 2003 congrats to seb and sam who were married on friday. it was a fab wedding. it was also a first for me in that i was invited to run visuals during the wedding. i enjoyed the challenge and used arkaos. i have put a few screen grabs to the left. i put together a few transparent word slides such as 1+1=1 | one | flesh of my flesh and overlaid other video loops. seemed to work pretty well. one of my favourite loops was one of osbd's of a man and woman outline that fades between the two. it's from the being and belonging video.
have a fab honeymoon in cuba!
am now in bath for a couple of days with jon and clare. no doubt we'll dream a few new dreams for what next on proost. jon played me some very very cool dub tracks he has been working on....
Sunday, October 26, 2003
Thursday, October 23, 2003 world studio foundation, based in new york, joins up social activism with art and design in some pretty cool ways. one of the ways they have done this is to link young people up with designers to mentor them in producing some art. one of the issues they have picked up on is prejudice and the young people have produced some fantastic work. there are two pieces in particular that struck me. the first is the one above why did god create us. john macdonald and vincent cardenas explain their thoughts behind the work. it seems ironic that while the church is arguing about purity and truth and what the bible says, a young person has so powerfully articulated what it feels like to be gay and on the receiving end of the church's prejudice.
worship trick 60 the other piece that really grabbed me was this one. it's hard to make out here but there's a larger version of the pic here. this piece is by 16 year old jessica fei - a simple but powerful idea and her spiel about it is wonderful:
"What are you made of? We're all different compositions of the same set of elements. You might be surprised to find out what someone in your life is really made of - your worst enemy may be more like you than you think. So the next time you roll your eyes at the 'freak' down the block, stop and challenge yourself to take a second look. Have you got it in you?"
this is so like something we would do as an installation at grace and i have added it as a worship trick....
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 worship trick 59 i while back i mentioned the fantastic stuff on the creative review dvd. the frustration with it is that you can only get it if you subscribe to the magazine. so i have been keeping an eye out for any of the bits i mentioned. anyway by a stroke of luck (or divine providence:-)) i came across the lemonjelly ducks video as a quicktime video. it is simply wonderful. i am adding it as worship trick 59 as a pentecost video. the video is of a coloured raindrop that falls from the sky and transforms a grey world. the rainbow of colours ripples through the whole creation infecting everything with joy so that all the animals are dancing along with the old man (perhaps the ducks swimming in the water is the equivalent of the trees of the field clapping their hands???) - anyway it's brilliant! so all i need now is to find ed holdsworth's videos and royksopp's remind me - let me know if you find them...
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
avant garde, a gathering of 'l'église en devenir', takes place in france this friday and saturday. hope it goes well guys. wish i was there... but seb (who was with us at the last paris gathering) is getting married on the friday so i'll be there (and am looking forward to it)... so say a prayer for him and sam when you get to the centre of the chartres labyrinth!
talking of new looks (shaved chins and all that) matt glock seems to have had a makeover by jonathan finley!
Tuesday, October 21, 2003 i don't think i have ever posted a picture of myself on the blog... but today is an exception. after having had a goatee for 8 years i decided to shave it off on sunday morning - why? i don't know.... anyway in case you wanted to see the result here it is - smooth eh? (and cold!)
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
a bit about me...
i am a londoner; christian; dad; postmodern (whatever that means - i know at least that i'm not modern); director of an independent record label proost which we set up to release music without being subject to christian record labels who had a frankly unimaginitive approach to music at the time as far as we were concerned; a member of grace , an alternative worship community in west london that has been an inspiration, lifeline, home, great bunch of friends, provided an arena in which to be creative about faith and worship and culture; i'm also part of the wider alternative worship movement/scene in the uk where i have lots of friends sharing the same dreams and struggles; an ideas person; a husband; national youth co-ordinator for cms; involved in various creative projects, the most successful of which has been the labyrinth which has been on a roll since we first installed it in st pauls cathedral in 2000; a mac user; co-ordinator of the worship at greenbelt arts festival where we have tried to create a space for new/creative/alternative worship especially in the new forms venues - a good place to visit if you want to encounter lots of creative uk worship in one go; writer (albeit a novice) with a few articles in books, mags and the web; a chelsea football supporter; involved in youth ministry - i have been for 15 years now - in the uk at least many people involved in alt worship want to avoid being labelled youth ministry as it's a convenient way for the church to write off what you do and the people involved aren't by any means youth (though some are), but i live in both arenas and think there's lots of overlap and creative conversation and ideas to be shared between the two; songwriter; lover of music especially the ambient, chilled, dub, instrumental end of things; lover of good food, belgian beer and conversation;
this made me laugh. 
caught up with 
was in coventry this weekend for the cms festival inspire to witness. ran the labyrinth all day saturday which was the first time for a while. it was very busy - reminded me of what a wonderful experience it is. good to cath up with 
the cms festival was a big success with about 500 around on the saturday reflecting on mission in all areas of the world and life - urban mission | club culture | alt worship | asia | africa | new forms of church | virtual mission | kidz klub .... etc - hopefully a few people will have gone away inspired to witness. the evening had a big celebration in the cathedral. a highlight was procession of christians from lots of nations of the world in national dress who then sang in their own languages. it was a fantastic picture of the world church...
mike yaconelli was killed in a car accident last night. he was founder of youth specialties, a greenbelt favourite speaker who manged to make you laugh and cry and feel inspired all at once, cheeky, fun, a writer, a prophet, said it how it was, a storyteller.... youth ministry has lost one of its heroes. what a sad day. 
got to visit two bill viola exhibitions as well (what a few days eh?! - come and live in london). i mentioned these last week in anticipation. the first is at a small gallery the haunch of venison and is a piece called the hall of whispers. there is a darkened hallway and on either side are a total of ten video projections of people with their eyes closed and their mouths gagged. you hear the sound of them trying to speak but all you hear is muffled voices. this was incredibly powerful. made me think about church | worship | expression | finding your voice | not being heard | the prophets | crossing cultures | .... one idea can so powerfully evoke so many thoughts. apparently the piece when exhibited before was called buried secrets, which i think is a more evocative title. 
two worlds need to collide... ancient and contemporary | art and faith | risk and tradition | spirituality and soulless expression | god and the imagination | art space and sacred space | worship and installatons | word and image | in many ways both could do with the best of the other... (and a personal dream would be to see the kinds of art/design books in the tate being invested in by the church - anyone like to commission us?....)
congrats to seb and sam who were married on friday. it was a fab wedding. it was also a first for me in that i was invited to run visuals during the wedding. i enjoyed the challenge and used 
the other piece that really grabbed me was this one. it's hard to make out here but there's a larger version of the pic 
i while back i mentioned the fantastic stuff on the creative review dvd. the frustration with it is that you can only get it if you subscribe to the magazine. so i have been keeping an eye out for any of the bits i mentioned. anyway by a stroke of luck (or divine providence:-)) i came across the lemonjelly 
i don't think i have ever posted a picture of myself on the blog... but today is an exception. after having had a goatee for 8 years i decided to shave it off on sunday morning - why? i don't know.... anyway in case you wanted to see the result here it is - smooth eh? (and cold!)
i am a londoner; christian; dad; postmodern (whatever that means - i know at least that i'm not modern); director of an independent record label 
