The Mezzanine Floor

< /2007><2008>

Well, RN06 was incredible. And utterly astounding. And… just… wow. Each day, I got up at 6.30am and fell asleep at 12.30am… in between, helping to park cars, welcoming people, meeting people, singing, screaming, listening, laughing, moshing, talking, getting myself exhausted… and I still absolutely loved it!

And did I mention that it was utterly life-changing?

And, above all, it made God famous.

I can’t really point to one thing that made it excellent. Maybe it was Mal Fletcher’s brilliant Pythonesque impressions and parodies. For example, on death metal:

 I love how our songs are getting more aggressive. I bet you that by 2020, this will be a Christian song: [very quickly & guttural] “God God God God God God God!” And the second verse will be: “Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus!“

Or on fashion:

And Paul came into Antioch wearing a very nice pair of jeans and an extremely fashionable T-Shirt; well done, Paul!

Or how about this?

[in a very high-pitched British accent with elongated vowels] You see, Eve, when God says, “Don’t eat the fruit”, He doesn’t actually mean, “Don’t eat the fruit”. You see, you must take the context in which God says it! Do you understand me, Eve? Nod your head if you do. He means don’t eat too much, Eve; don’t make a pig of yourself, woman! That’s what He means!

And that’s not all! What about Matthew Barnett’s brilliant parodical music videos for the “Frontstreet Boys”, or “Weezing”? Elmo playing guitar in a spoof music video for “Beverly Hills“… just pure genius… (that song’s been stuck in my head for the past few weeks, by the way ).

 And what about the bands? Tree63 weren’t bad at all (although I had to leave about six songs into the concert), and Onehundredhours impressed me far more than I thought they would, especially with “I Believe In Love” and “Come Take Me Home”. thebandwithnoname were as aggressive as ever, although I wish that they’d put their lyrics up so that we can rap along.

Electralyte were excellent, although, again, I heard their gig from a distance. I was expecting Titus to be my favourite of the guest bands, and they didn’t disappoint. I don’t think one of their songs dropped below 160bpm. Then again, what can you expect from a Geordie Chinese Christian punk rock band?

But the real stars of the show - conference, even - were RPM, even if I do say so myself. I mean, watching Alex jump off a ten-foot half-pipe skate ramp and accidentally kick a guest dancer in the head (no injury incurred) was fantastic!   Then there was the new RN06 theme song/opener,  ”Remember You”, which was pumping. “Fire In Me” was an especially powerful rock epic…

…but the whole choir coming down onto the stage and jumping around with the band members in the final song of the conference - ”Live God Loud” - was just incredible.

And then there were the skate competitions, basketball competitions, obstacle courses, caged football competitions, and the Battle Of The Bands…

…but I’ve gone on for quite long enough already, so let me leave you with a few videos… visit here, enter “colourorcountry” as the password, and click on “RockNations 06″ to view some videos of RPM and Titus performing, plus a brilliantly funny “Please Turn Off All Mobile Phones” advert (spoofing Orange in several ways).

Next post expected, ooh, sometime later today. Maybe.

It’s been a month or so since my last post. In-between has been (amongst other things) RN06 and weird bugs in the site databases; however, the ever-helpful Chromakode has helped to restore my site from the depths of the murky cybervoid (thank you so much, Chroma!). So… I’m back. I hope you didn’t miss me too much.

 In other news, Homestar Runner is now ten years old! The Brothers Chaps have created a Flash version of the original book. I strongly suggest that you check it out. Also of note is the other recent big toon, “Weclome Back“. They’re hilarious.

 Next post expected in a couple of hours. 

Speaking of Switchfoot, they seem to be caught up in the fad of more cowbell…

Next post expected in a few seconds.

My friend Carole said of the subject of my last post: “7/7 is, like, Doomsday!”

It is a very odd coincidence that in the Doomsday Algorithm, devised by Mr John H. Conway, the Doomsday of a year falls on 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, and 12/12, though not, unfortunately, 7/7.

Next post predicted tomorrow: “Dry Eyes in the Pouring Rain”.