My team 'The Saints' play at the new Wembley Stadium on Saturday and Joan and me will be leaving Greenbelt for the afternoon to see them win (hope) and then travel back to Greenbelt for all the continuing fun and stirring of the soul.

My hero - Keiron Cunningham, who plays hooker just like I did some years ago, has ben appointed Captain and will lead the team out on the pitch ........ you can see it all on BBC TV hey hey



.

Joy is back from working in Mauritius.
Joan is back from a long haul with her Mother.
Ann starts a new TV Series today.
The Lord of Wilson Mansions has just revived from a 12 hour gut attack - hate it hate it. A dull disabling pain in the guts with accompanying sweats and shivers...... and I have had it before ....
It delivers vulnerability and weakness and dependency like ............ I hate it.

We had arranged to meet up with Richard last night. A homecoming Curry for Joan and a last chance to catch up with Richard before The Greenbelt Festival which starts for me on Thursday. An Indian meal was what I didn't need last night as my gut issue was just starting it's attack for the whole night. I am OK now.
Sorry Richard - I was not much of a social animal - just a limping one!

Lots to do ............. bye for now .......




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"We are so accustomed
to disguise ourselves to others that
in the end
we become disguised to ourselves."

Francois de La Rochefoucauld




.

@ Greenbelt .......


Help us remember that the idiot who cut us up in traffic
is a single Mother who has worked nine hours that day
and is rushing to Greenbelt to cook a meal and settle the kids down so they can have a good first day at the festival
and spend a few precious moments with her friends
who have saved hard to get to Greenbelt.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man
who can't handle his change correctly is a worried YMCA Hostel resident who is behind in his rent and cannot afford the cheapest hotdog on site.
At the same time balancing his apprehension over his fear
of not getting on well with the group he came with.

Remind us Lord, that the scary looking young woman
rolling her eyes and cannot stop moving her body,
is a recovering slave to addictions
that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Remind us that the scars of the self harming woman,
scarred for life,
is just like me with my scars
that and hinder and equip at the same time.
And remember that we, maybe,
can just hide ours better.

Help us to remember that the old couple
walking annoyingly slow through the festival site
and blocking our process
are savouring this moment,
knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week,
this will be the last year that they will be at Greenbelt together.

Creator God, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us,
the greatest gift is love.
That it is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear.
But those for who,
on first impressions,
make us shudder, or sigh or grunt with irritability.

Open our soul and press your finger tip right on that part,
the part to raise your love to the surface.
So it touches the practical.
The proactive.
The love department.


www.pipwilson.com

.

.... I did a blog some time ago with a title like::
"Are you still scared of your Mother"

Fantastic article in the Guardian today about one Mother.
I am interested because I come across so many humans who are knotted up due to having an oppressive parent - usually Mother.

This one makes me think. I have written about my relationship with my own Mother and we have things going on at the moment regarding Joan's Mother.

If this rings bells with your interest - due to your own experiences or others ........... this is well worth a read.

The trouble with Ma
Peter Beresford spent 15 years trying to protect his family from his mother's inexplicable hatred. It was only after she died that they learned her true feelings

'She's nothing more than a prostitute," quickly followed by, "but she has got good teeth." These were the opening words in my mother's relationship with Suzy when we told her that Suzy was pregnant and we were getting married. They set the tone for a 15-year relationship of uncertainty, shouting and abuse, which later went on to involve our children.

Saturday August 18, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,2150799,00.html



.

"Never be afraid
to laugh at yourself,
after all,
you could be missing out on the joke of the century."






Dame Edna Everage

The sort of music I love and play on my PiPod (and my iPod)....... it is not the usual pip-pop music - and I like some pure pop ....... but this does something new to my soul ....... and you can hear it by clicking here and listening to it all online::


Build an Ark – ‘Healing Song’ (Kindred Spirits)
Robert Glasper – ‘J Dillalude’ (Blue Note)
Little Dragon – ‘Twice’ (Peace Frog)
Tawiah – ‘Every Step’ (Test)
Wahoo feat. Paul Randolph– ‘Don’t Take It Personal’ (Georgs Levins Edit) (Fine)
Tuomo – ‘Don’t Take it Too Hard’ (Jupiter)
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons – ‘Beggin’ (Pilooski Re-edit) (679)
Amy Winehouse – ‘Love is a Losing Game’ (Dobie remix) (Test)
Joy Denalane – ‘Strangers in This Land’ (Nesola)
Common – ‘U Black Maybe’ (Geffen)
Thome Yorke, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West - ‘Us Placers’ (Test)
Tiombe Lockhart – ‘GP’ (Jazzy Sport)
Channel 2 ft Joy Jones – ‘S'posed To Be’ (Record Breakin)
Ta’Raach feat. Joy Jones ‘Liberations Lullaby’ (Sound in Color)
The Politik Ft Bembe Segue – ‘She’s Gone’ (Antipodean)
Rednose Distrikt – ‘Plop’ (Kindred Spirits)
Zap Mama – ‘1000 Ways’ (Heads Up)
Seun Kuti & Egypt ‘80 – ‘Think Africa’ (Still Music)
Alborosie – ‘Kingston Town’ (Test)
Connie Price & The Keystones vs. Big Daddy Kane and Percee P - 'Give A Demonstration, Part 2' (Stones Throw)
Quasimode – ‘The Man from Nagpur’ (Geneon)
Soil and Pimp – ‘A.I.E’ (Test)
The Eternals – ‘Too Many People’ (Do the Wrong Thing) (Aesthetics)
The Caural – ‘Re-experience Any Moment You Choose’ (Mush)
Flying Lotus ft Madvillian – ‘Untitled’ (CDR)
MIA – ‘Bird Flu’ (XL)
Skull Disco – ‘H**as Rule’ (Skull)
Taggy Matcher – ‘Rockit’ (Stix)
Drum Lesson - ‘Higher State of Consciousness’ (Test)
Middlewood Sessions – ‘Fall Back’ (Spiritual South) (White)
Zed Bias – ‘Boomerang’ (Sick Trumpet)
Kenny Dope – 'Psyche Out' (White)
At Jazz feat Robert Owens – ‘Love Some-one’ (Slovenian Remix) (Test)
Swell Session vs Mr Scruff Ft Elsa Esmeralda - 'No No' (Freerange)
Robert Appel – ‘Changes’ (Sonar Kollektiv)
Jazztronik – ‘Bra Step’ (White)
Seu Jorge – ‘Mina Do Condominio’ (Javali Valente Records)
Mexican Institute of Sound – ‘La Kebradita’ (Le Hammond Inferno Mix) (Nacional Records)
Q-Tip – ‘Work It Out’ (White)
Terminology / DJ Premier – ‘So Amazing’ (Test)
Jneiro Jarel – ‘Lets G’o (Lex)
Marco Polo ft J Davey – ‘Relax’ (Rawkus)
Elmore Judd – ‘Happy Bass Caravan’ (Honest Jons)
MF Doom & Clutchy Hopkins – ‘Untitled’ (Test)
Linkwood Family – ‘Piece of Mind’ (Firecracker)

.

......... and now I am back home after taking Joyce, my Mother in Law, back home after her holidays with us.
Joan has stayed for a few days to settle her down in her own home.

It has not been an easy period as she is fragile and needy.
Now we have a few days to turn around and catch up with all the undone. And Greenbelt stuff.

Be certain to view the Greenbelt website during the event, next week-end, as there will be several inputs to the website as the event of wonder proceeds.

I love getting you 5 words (to describe your life at the moment) and especially from Dana in Canada.
excited
hopeful
scared
challenged
finding my way.........my hand in His


and Big John .................. what a friend ..........
chaotic
timetable-ing
voxtastic
blessed(immensly)
scruffy


Stay beautiful.
Believe it
Even if you do not feel it
You have a friend .................

"A friend is someone who knows all about us
and accepts totally who we are."
St Augustine

.

.... Jules and Big John in the picture.


Greenbelt Festival

The place to become is::
Greenbelt Taker
and then become a
Greenbelt Maker.

Many of us, 2000+, give our time to help this wondrous festival to deliver such a special week-end of adventure .............. you can still be a Maker/Volunteer by visiting the website.

Here is the Big John story::

I first heard of Greenbelt back in
1986, through my then-girlfriend,
now missus. She was working for
a company called Traidcraft, who
had quite a big presence at the
festival in those days.

She came back telling me about this really
interesting place; how she got
blown away (by the hurricane,
remember!); about how the Alarm
played, and Bono was a steward.
Well, being a bit of a muso and
punky rockery type, it sounded as if
I had missed something. So, I made
sure I wangled my way into 'helping
out' Traidcraft the next year!
First memories included: having a
wee crappy tent that sagged in the
middle and leaked and dodging off on
my own to discover what was going
on around the festival, and stumbling
on this thing called a seminar,
with this very loud and excitable
bearded American bloke making
jokes and talking about Jesus.

Mike Yak [thatís Mike Yaconelli,
of course], I think he was called.
He reached the parts other
preachers cannot reach, you might
say. I remember a shift in the
internal that weekend. The feeling
of being a part of something, yet
being an 'outsider'. A feeling that
hasnít gone away, and probably
never will.

So, over the years we returned to
Greenbelt. And every year I would
return home and try to hold on to
the feeling and high for as long as
I could, determined to do this or
that, inspired by the real difference
and change that had been affected
upon me. I was and still am like a
sponge for truth and the 'real' (as
well as being a loafy dreamer),
and maybe thatís why I love
Greenbelt so much. That's why we
kept coming, every year except
two since then. We never knew
anyone else who went. We never
ever really got 'involved'. We just
absorbed, took. For me, it was my
once-a-year-church (that, and a
Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at
the local Catholic place, which
was always a good show). And
then our little baby came along,
and things took a turn.

We both wanted to come to
Greenbelt and give thanks for our
blessing. But that year, 2003, we
took a last-minute decision to book
a hotel instead of camping. By
pure coincidence, we ended up in
the hotel where a lot of the festival
artists and contributors were, too!
As I sat in the bar on the first night
I became aware of a group full of
familiar Greenbelt faces. I tried
not to stare too much, but couldn't
help it. I can be a bit shy and very
much a lone wolf, but inside I
really wanted just to go over and
say, Hey! Let me in! The crack
looks good!î But knew I wouldn't.

And then at the bar I was smiled
at and my wristband was noticed
and my name was asked. And then
someone said to me, So, have you
met Martyn? as Martyn Joseph
comes up. And I say 'No'. The
next thing I know I am being invited
into the group and introduced to
them all, including Mike Yak!

For that festival, each night, I was in
the company of this crowd for
my nightcap.
I felt like a bit of a fraud. They
all were so 'involved' in festivalmaking.
Me, I was just a Greenbelter.
But it really didn't seem to matter
to anyone. There was no bullshit
superstar stuff going on. Just real
and deep conversations, and some
powerful moments. Like Mike Yak
saying to me: 'I think that it is
truly wonderful, how you give up
one weekend a year to come to
find God. Amazing. He loves you
now as He always has, and always
will.' And tears flowed.

I was informed of Mike's death just
a month later. It made the festival
weekend ever so more real and
special. So, I started to deepen my
contact with Greenbelt, and started
to get the Greenbelt eNews,Dispatches,
and to take an interest through
the website. One thing always
struck me, though, was why
I couldn't download the talks via
MP3.

Then on Dispatches a call
came out for volunteers to help
out in the Talks Recording area!
As I mentioned earlier, I am a muso
type, and always have been into
recording. I packed in the building
trade about five years back and
went back to Uni to study Music
Production. Now I have my own
recording studio, self-built with
friends. So, it seemed like I might
be able to be of some use and put
myself up to help out. So, at
Greenbelt 2004, I found myself
packing recorded cassettes of
the talks!

It was a really different festival
for me. For the first time, I felt
more a part of it, talking to fellow
volunteers, sharing, helping - all
good stuff. That same year I got
an email from Karen (the Festival
Chair), inviting me onto the
Greenbelt Management Group as
they were looking for some 'new
blood' Wow! After 2004's festival
I agreed to become the Recorded
Talks co-ordinator for 2005.
This meant organising 30 or so
volunteers to do the recording and
duplication and delivery of all the
talks at the festival. And I ended
up getting my wish of having the
talks available from the website
as MP3's by getting involved
and doing it myself!

My message to anyone who thinks
they have something they can offer
back to make the festival grow is
that while it is great to be a
Greenbelt taker it is even better to
be a Greenbelt maker, taking on
different, challenging, stretching,
and sometimes difficult things to
see the festival you love grow.


The name of
the Greenbelter in
question has been
left out, but his
experience is by
no means unique.
We hope it chimes
a chord with many
of you.

You can browse and buy all the recorded talks (including MP3s)
online HERE.






.

At this moment
God loving
me and you
Just as we are
There is nothing we can do to increase that love.
There is nothing we can do to diminish it.


.