C-stone festival 2011

Jane and I attended one day of the Cornerstone festival. It ended up being "vintage" day, or, as they called it, "The Jesus Rally" (click the link for links to all the bands). It was Thursday, June 30, and the main stage featured the likes of Servant, Barry McGuire, Daniel Amos, Randy Stonehill, E Band, Resurrection Band, Phil Keaggy, and Classic Petra. We stayed for all of them except Classic Petra. They were running behind due to a power outage, and we just couldn't stay awake any longer.

We left Wisconsin Dells at 8 am and headed south. We stopped at my parents house and grabbed a sandwich, then arrived at the Cornerstone farm in Bushnell, IL just before 2 pm. It was hotter than hot - made worse because it was the first hot and humid day we had had in a while. At any rate, we paid waaaaay too much for our 1-day ticket (contrary to what I was told, there were NO 1-day tickets), parked the car, and headed in. Our first order of business was to find the seminar tents. One of the main reasons I wanted to attend C-stone was to meet Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi). I have read his blog daily for years, and he is as responsible as anyone for me blogging. We found where he was going to be, and while waiting we stepped into the tent where Jim Henderson was leading a seminar. He wrote 'Jim and Casper Go To Church' (which contained a piece on a friend of mine's church, btw), and talked about the book and the experience of working with an atheist to try to bring people together. As Jim says, "We weren't told to AGREE with one another, but to LOVE one another." Anyway, this was a bonus, because I always used to like Jim's 'off the map' stuff. It was a good seminar.

At 3 we went to tent E5 and waited for Andrew. He was late. Apparently he wasn't aware he was supposed to lead a seminar this day. But he finally arrived and sped through his first talk on "Blogging Nomadic Couch Surfing Apostles." This talk was mostly about the "emerging church." I continue to be amazed at how little anyone really even knows (or cares) about this (I agree with Andrew that it's pretty much a non-issue anymore). Anyway, it was nice to listen to him, and meet him afterwards. I introduced myself and we chatted briefly. Jane took a pic of the two of us together, but my camera didn't work. So I had her take this pic after I got it working (that's me pointing at Andrew).

After that we walked around in the heat and sweat our guts out. I wasn't aware that they had moved the Main Stage. It was no longer in the big pit, but was now much more easily accessible, over by the food vendors. At first I didn't like it, but it was much nicer not having to walk the entire length of the farm.

We hung out and grabbed a bite to eat while the main stage acts got going in the early evening. Things were running about an hour behind due to electrical problems, but finally Servant took the stage, followed by Barry McGuire ("Eve of Destruction"). He talked quite a bit. We saw Randy Stonehill standing backstage listening to him, and later Randy came out and stood behind us. Then Daniel Amos took the stage. I was not overly familiar with them, but they were excellent - probably my favorite band of the day (mostly tears running down my face). Next up was Stonehill (classic), followed by E Band (Greg X. Volz), then Resurrection Band, and Phil Keaggy (with Glass Harp). We were so worn out that we left during Phil's set. I was never a big Petra fan (though I know many were).

It was neat seeing all the other artists hanging out backstage and to see them interact with one another. I mean, these were some of the heaviest of the heavies of the early Christian Rock scene. I was really glad we came, and stayed (yes, we briefly thought of leaving in the afternoon because of the heat). We caught Andrew Jones watching from the crowd later on. It was also the first time we'd seen Phil Keaggy with a band. They were LOUD, but good.

We also walked around the farm at various times and took in the sights. Things were more compact, and the crowd wasn't as big as it used to be years ago. But there were still a LOT of people there. And there were always several bands playing at the same time (all day and night). There were a lot of "scream" bands. I really just don't much care for that, but that's just me.

I have plenty of pics on my Facebook page. I may drop some here at some point too. All told, it was a nice, but long, day. We got home after midnight and were tired and filthy as pigs. This was probably the last festival we will ever attend. It's just too expensive anymore. But it was a good way to go out, and it was good to get some good old fashioned Jesus rock'n'roll into our system.

Now it's on to other stuff... Peace out; and in.