[28 Nov 06] Get on to iTunes

More and more of us are inclined to download our music from the internet rather than buy CDs these days. If you are that way inclined, you'll be chuffed to bits to know that CJM Music are about to release four classic Boyce & Stanley albums into the digital music superstore known as iTunes. (What do you mean you've never heard of it!!??)

Open 24/7, the iTunes Store features more than 3.5 million 79p songs, 65,000 free podcasts, 20,000 audiobooks, 200 TV shows, and even movies.

In amongst all that lot are the songs of Boyce & Stanley, from these recordings:

The Promise
Before the Lord
In the Company of Angels
Behold the Lamb

So now you know what to do with that iTunes music gift voucher that you'll be getting for Christmas.

iTune release date: 10 December 2006

[11-Aug-06] Alive Again in Walsingham

What do you get when you cross 500 young people, 40 priests, 4 bishops and a field?... Alive Again!

And they were - very much ALIVE. This year's Anglican youth pilgrimage to Our Lady's land of Walsingham was one of those experiences you'd find difficult to let slip from your memory.

I thought it was slightly bizarre celebrating Christmas at the height of summer last year, but to re-enact the Passion of Christ when it wasn't Easter was most definitely bonkers. However, my opinion - since reliving Our Lord's Passion in a field - has changed considerably...

read more: Emily Jane's Fantastic Newsflash!
                    (sorry, she insisted we call it that...)

[14-Jul-06] Lourdes 2006

Keep your lamps lit! That's the message in Lourdes this year - and it's more easily said than done, but certainly worth a try.

Paul - who was co-opted onto or team as official roadie for the pilgrimage - shares his memories of this year's pilgrimage and offers a practical guide to the ministry of "lamp lighting"...

read more: Keeping Your Lamp Lit

[14-Jul-06] 10 Years of Music & Ministry

Well, May 31st 2006 came and went. It was the feast of the Visitation and we were in Lourdes leading the music for the Pilgrimage from the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The previous evening we'd had to make a mad dash from the Hospitalite Evening prayer to sing Magnificat at the torch light procession. The words and melody rang out over a sea of flickering candlelight and mingled with the profound waves of prayer that could be felt rising from the thousands of pilgrims gathered in the domain. It was one of those moments that affirmed in us why God had called us to this ministry.

The following morning, as our tired legs carried us into the underground Basilica for the International Mass, Archbishop Vincent Nichols strolled alongside us and wished us a happy 10th anniversary.

We kind of missed the significance of the moment at the time, but his ongoing support of our ministry in our home diocese - and the support and encouragement of his predecessor Archbishop Maurice - is one of the reasons cjm|music exists today.

Later that evening some 600 pilgrims - including a contingent from Catalonia who understood enough of my Spanglish to work out when and where the concert was - gathered in St Bernadette's Chapel for the unofficial, exclusive, 10th anniversary Boyce & Stanley concert!

We sang and we danced; we wept and we clapped; the young people from Plymouth and Keighley formed a conga line (!); and we were blessed and we gave thanks.

And we continue to give thanks for 10 years of unforgettable - and at times unbelievable - ministry moments. Here's to the next ten (though I dread to think how many grey hairs I'll have by then)!

[Jo]

[26-April-06] Stepping into Freedom in L.A.

This year saw us make our sixth annual trip out to Anaheim for the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. In many ways, the trip was more bewildering that usual - coming in the middle of our Born for This tour and presenting the first opportunity to meet with our new US distributors, World Library Publications.

Between moments of jet-lagged bewilderment and super-sized American meals, the experience was nonetheless inspiring though. The keynote lecture by Timothy Radcliffe O.P was certainly one of the highlights, as was the fabulous closing liturgy which marked the 5th Sunday of Lent.

The theme for Congress 2006, "Step Into Freedom", was drawn from the Gospel reading of this 5th Sunday of Lent - from the command of Christ to Lazarus and to us: unbind…
unwrap…
roll away the stone…
come forth to a life that is brand new.

In her opening talk, Sr. Edith Prendergast RSC, Director of the Los Angeles Office of Religious Education put it like this: "Jesus is the one who gives life, raises hope and calls us to an appreciation of the vast spaciousness, wide-openness of a God who invites us to leave behind all that enslaves and stand fast by the liberty which Christ has made for us.

Faith in Christ as resurrection and life brings fresh stirrings of divine life and ultimately true freedom. We then are challenged to Step into Freedom, witness to our new life in Christ, and place our lives and ministry at the service of God’s people in the world."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Jo]

gallery: images of Congress 2006
read more: about last year's Congress Experience

[15-Nov-05] It's a Girl!

Aidan and his wife, Cath (known to many as our liturgical movement & dance co-ordinator) are outrageously happy to announce to birth of their first child - a beautiful baby girl who they've named Lily Rose.

She was born at 3:51pm on Friday 4th November, weighing a very reasonable 7lb 9oz. Mum, Dad and baby Lily are doing well and Aidan is enjoying a couple of weeks paternity leave as he comes to grips with the awesome gift and responsibility of being a Father.

[22-Oct-05] Lifted up in the USA

The US leg of the Lifted up tour has left the band worn out, jet-lagged and feeling truly blessed.

Although Jo Mike and Aidan have been back and forth to the US a few time in recent year, It's the first time all five members of the Boyce & Stanley band have been able to travel together to perform state-side.

Mike the bass can't wait to tell you all about it. Better make yourself a cup of tea first... more

[02-Sep-05] Did I say "nosiy old van"?

I might have mentioned something recently about life on tour often involving "driving back from a distant venue, in a noisy old van in the wee hours of the morning, longing for the warmth and comfort of our own beds...."

Well, I am officially taking back the bit about the "noisy old van" - please scratch it from the record.

Because, thanks to the generosity of Noel Sweeney and his company Chasetown Civil Engineering, we now have a shiny, new van to make life on the road a little bit more comfortable. We want to say a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU!

We're in good company it seems, as Chasetown Civil Engineering have recently signed as principal sponsors for Derby County's Football Academy and bought them a brand new minibus too!

Chasetown's slogan is "building for the future", and that is exactly what they have been helping us do in our ministry over the years. We'll never be able to thank Noel enough, or the many others like him who regularly give of their own resoruces, time and talent to make what we do possible.

We know it all part of God's great miracle of providence and it keeps us humble and grateful, everyday.

[Jo]

[21-Jul-05] NEW Behold the Lamb

It's officially the quickest release in the ten-year history of cjm music... We wrote the theme song for the recent Eucharist Congress for the dioceses of Birmingham, Nottingham and Northampton.

The response to the song was so tremendous after it's preview hearing during Birmingham's diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, that we decide we just had to get in recorded in time for Congress itself.

We contacted our regular producer, Craig McLeish, rushed into the studio, and the result is a beautifully arranged song which speaks to the heart of what we believe about real presence of Jesus celebrated in the Eucharist:

Behold, the Lamb of God
Behold, the body of my Lord
Behold, the greatest sacrifice made for all time
We come to be made new,
to eat from the table of the Lord
Only by grace is our worthiness restored
and we behold... [listen]

To mark the year of the Eucharist, we have released 'Behold the Lamb' alongside two of our best-known Eucharistic songs - 'Bread of Life' and 'Taste and See'.

This four-track EP is available now, on CD for just £4.99. You can order it through our online catalogue or contact our office on 01675 466 254. shop

[15-Jan-05] Lights! Camera! Worship!

It was a dark Monday evening in Advent…and the priest leading the service (Fr Stephen Pritchard) welcomed everyone to Liverpool Cathedral with the words "good morning and welcome to this morning's service, at the start of Lent"!

Honestly, he did. And no, he hadn't lost the plot (as far as I am aware)…he was being appropriate to the occasion. The occasion being the youth service, going out on the morning of Feb 13th 2005 - the first Sunday of Lent - as an episode of ITV's program My Favourite Hymns.

We had battled early starts, high winds and long roads to get there, only to be foiled by how to get into the car park right beside the Cathedral. When we finally found the secret password and were ushered into the huge Cathedral, the wait had been worth it.

It is a stunning building, with great acoustics which at that moment were enhancing the sounds of a gospel choir. They were in recording for another ITV program…and were great. By the time they had finished, and another gospel choir had done their songs too, the day running a bit behind schedule. Consequently our rehearsal time was shortened…and meant some of the arrangements (particularly string parts) were created in the queue for dinner!

Despite frost bite, temperature issues which seriously affected the string section tuning, and all other manner of "its all in a day's work for someone involved with CJM" issues, the final recording went very well. ITV were certainly pleased and said it was the most uplifting service they had recorded in a while (do they say that to all the congregations?!).

It was a long, but fun day. Particular highlights for me were: playing with sound men who really knew how to blend a small string section into the overall band mix, watching one of the youth groups sign to God So Loved the World and the lasagne + salad we shared with the entire ITV crew before the recording!

So enjoy the program when it airs on Sunday 13th February, (Set the video / recordable DVD / TiVO etc...) and as you do here are a few of the behind-the-scenes goings on which normally you might never know: the violin mics were attached with black blue-tac, the cellist disrupted the rehearsal of one of the songs as he flailed about…having been 'attacked' by a fly! Mike Tildesley, the bass player, had discharged himself from hospital the day before to come and play; apparently it is always really windy when ITV record at Liverpool Cathedral and there are no service stations on the M6 (between Liverpool + Brum) which have a Burger King open at midnight!!

[CW]

[view] images on location

[19-Aug-04] Living 4 God's Sake

It was a pilgrimage, for God's sake...

No, that's not me being blasphemous, it was the provocative title of this year's Walsingham Anglo-catholic Youth pilgrimage.

When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining, there were smiles on the faces of those we met as we drove through the gates, and if there had been any electricity in the marquee then everything would have been perfect!

Thankfully, power was restored and our sound check went well. (Even though I'm in the band, I must say we sounded pretty good for an outfit that had just been packed into a Ford Transit Van for 4 hours!!)

A few hours later, many familiar faces began to gather in the marquee and soon a chorus of familiar songs (and a few new ones) began to sound from the worship space.

Among those gathered to share in the worship was Ali-G's main man, from the "Horsham posse" - the man wearing the biggest hat that week - none other than Bishop Lindsay Urwin. RRRRRRESPECK!

It wasn't the first time a bishop had attended the pilgrimage, but it was the first time one had spent the whole week listening to, ministering to, enjoying spending time with and even camping alongside the young people and their leaders.

That night, most of the pilgrims went to bed beneath the stars and woke beneath a blanket of grey cloud! And the rain began to fall… …

Monday morning's open-air Mass was relocated to the main marquee, and 650 slightly damp worshippers gathered to sing praise to the God who had called them to that place.

Over the next four days we were invited to listen for God's Word, and hear it knowing that it is only by grace that we can respond; to boldly speak out what you believe and 4Godsake let the example of your life be the loudest and strongest word you proclaim!

Fittingly, the pilgrimage ended with us washing each other's feet as we reaffirmed our commitment to "Live it!" like Jesus, our Servant King.

This pilgrimage was definitely not for the faint hearted, or for those without Wellington boots! The quote on the reverse of our pilgrimage T-Shirts that week read: "Show me you're redeemed and I'll believe inyour Redeemer" [Nietzche]

We have seen. And we believe.

[Mike]

view: pilgrimage pics...