Tickets for Cornerstone Festival 2009 are on sale now. If you place a ticket order starting today (11/21/08) until February 13th, 2009, as our way of saying thank you, you will be entered to win one of the following prizes. Remember, the sooner you buy a ticket, the more drawings* you participate in!

11/28/08 - $50 iTunes Gift Card
12/05/08 - iPod Shuffle
12/12/08 - $50 iTunes Gift Card
12/19/08 - iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano (2 winners)
12/26/08 - $50 iTunes Gift Card
01/02/09 - iPod Shuffle
01/09/09 - $50 iTunes Gift Card
01/16/09 - iPod Shuffle
01/23/09 - iPod Nano
01/30/09 - $50 iTunes Gift Card
02/06/09 - iPod Shuffle
02/13/09 - iPod Nano

*When you buy a ticket you will be entered in a random drawing each week, so the sooner you buy a ticket the more chances you have to win. Please remember, you can only win once, and buying a ticket does not guarantee winning one of the prizes. Open to U.S. residents only. One prize per winner. Winners will be notified by email only. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. No purchase necessary, If you do not wish to make a purchase, you may enter by hand printing the phrase Cornerstone Festival iPod Giveaway, your first and last name, email address, complete address, daytime phone number, date of birth on 3″ x 5″ paper, and mailing it in a hand-addressed stamped envelope, to: Cornerstone Festival iPod Giveaway, 939 West Wilson Avenue, Chicago, IL 60640. All entries become property of Cornerstone Festival. Contest ends on February 13, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Kemper Crabb’s Downe in Yon Forrest: Christmas From the Middle Ages is airing on a PBS station near you this month. Check local listings

Creation Northeast: June 24 - 27 • Agape Farm, Mt. Union, PA

Creation Northwest: July 22 - 25 • Gorge Amphitheater, George, WA

Our desire is for you to have a spiritually enriching time at the Creation Festival. Something wonderful happens when so many people come together to “Give Tribute to Our Creator.” Plan on coming and bringing your youth group, your church, your family or come by yourself.Creation understands that every dollar counts during these times. Although the festival has always been a great value, ‘09 is even a bigger value! For 2009 our prices will remain the same as 2008! That means NO INCREASE over last year! You can save even more by registering early!

Creation 2009 could be
“the highlight of your summer and maybe your life!”For information on Creation and Pricing for 2009 go to: www.creationfest.com  

Based off the title of his new album, What If We, K-Love and Brandon Heath partner to give K-Love listeners and Brandon Heath fans a “What If We” opportunity to give back. In an effort to bring community together and work toward helping those in need, K-Love, Brandon and the Denver Rescue Mission will host a toy drive and VIP free concert on Tuesday, December 2 to gather gifts for 12,000 children this Christmas.

In order to be qualified for this event, K-Love listeners were prompted to call in and share ideas about how to serve others in need. Qualifiers received Brandon’s sophomore album What If We. One caller and a guest won the grand prize drawing of a roundtrip flight to Denver for two nights to work with Brandon at the Mission and attend his concert later that evening. For more information about Brandon Heath please visit: www.brandonheath.net.  

 Receiving its third AMA nomination early last month, Atlanta based rock band, Third Day, celebrated its first American Music Award win tonight in the “Favorite Artist in the Contemporary Inspirational” category. 

Due to a non-stop touring schedule, band members were unable to attend the awards show which aired on ABC, live from the NOKIA Theater in Los Angeles.

Following a sold-out show last night in Clinton, MS lead singer Mac Powell shared from stage, “What an unbelievable honor to win an award in a category with such great friends. This is our first AMA win and it means so much to us because it’s voted on by fans and we’re certain we have the best fans anyone could ever ask for.  Thank you for this tremendous honor.”

Thanks to everyone who nominated us for the Open Web Awards at Mashable! We’re now in the first round of voting, so now that you’ve nominated us, please vote for us. There are two rounds of voting. Round One started on 11/19, Round Two will start on 12/3.

We need the help of all our awesome fans and artists to win! Please vote using the widget here, tell your friends, and post this widget around using the “Grab This Widget link! As you can see, you can vote once per category per day, so we would appreciate as many (legit) votes as you can muster!

Matt Davis, former member of the band Showbread, put his musical aspirations on hold and is spending time in Shell, Ecuador, where he is working in an orphanage, teaching and working on building projects. He is blogging about his experiences on the Faceless International website.

HM Magazine has all the latestes news, including Family Force Five, Thousand Foot Krutch, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Mute Math released a new song, “Spotlight”, as part of the official motion picture soundtrack for the film “Twilight”. Mute Math also composed new music for one of the scenes in the movie. The film, a modern day love story between a vampire and human, is based off Stephanie Meyer’s New York Times bestselling series of vampire novels. The movie’s record-setting release was November 21. “Spotlight” will also be featured on Mute Math’s sophomore album due out spring 2009.

All Things Twilight

“Dial M:” Somber, yet reflective, mournful, yet hopeful, this is Martin at his sleeve-wearing finest. Feeling speaks first here above all else, but just don’t expect him to trade songwriting or sonic surprise for sentiment. And there is more than one dose of the unexpected here: instead of any sense of drive to the guitar sounds, SF59 goes the opposite direction, which proves to be a wondrous decision; Mr. M. and company rely heavily on assorted analog keys and synths, with a sprinkling of acoustic guitar. There are even tracks without any guitar at all. Consider, The sexy swing of track number three, “Concentrate.” With a beat that you cannot help but slowly sway to, and the swagger of Jason’s sultry vocal, the point is made without the need for a six-string.

“My dad passed away last year, so this record for me is a bit more personal than my records usually are….Not that I have so much to say, but I really wanted to write some songs that had some meaning to me, and in a small way to honor my old man, who I really miss.”

“Dial M” is available in stores like Best Buy or your local indie record store or online at iTunes! Sample songs from the new album at the band’s MySpace page.

Announcing THIS TIME OF YEAR EP, the brand new release from Project 86 available Tuesday, November 25th! This release is NOT in stores and is only available from the Project 86 online store or in digital format from iTunes*, Napster, Rhapsody and Amazon MP3. Five new tracks from Project 86 on this Holiday EP! This is not just a batch of Christmas covers. This is brand new music from Project 86, for you, for the holidays:

The band had this to say about the new EP:
“We wanted to get people new, original music around the holidays. We were very happy with the cover of “This Time of Year” and used that as a springboard into new songs. This isn’t a Christmas EP, though that song is a cover. This is a collection of original material based on some Holiday themes, but with a bit more scope than that. There are some ideas here musically and spiritually that can apply to the whole year…”

Listen to three tracks off the album now!
Myspace.com/Project86
Buy the EP!
Project86.com

Come celebrate the release of THIS TIME OF YEAR EP at two very special shows:
-December 7, Ennepetal, Germany. Christmas Rock Night. P86 is co-headliner!!
-December 13, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Club 3 Degrees. W/ Children 18:3!!

*”According to the band, iTunes has failed to publish the digital release EP on launch date; the band are working on the problem. All the more reason to buy the physical copy!

Sources: Project 86 website/myspace

From www.myspace.com/thelistening: “Transmission 1 orders have surprised even the optimist in me. Our first initial shipment sold out in one weekend. Our second was only able to fill our orders through November 2nd. We apologize for the delay for those of you who have ordered Transmission 1 and were expecting it sooner. We have been taken off-guard by the orders, and were not prepared for such a warm welcome from our friends and fans.

Our next shipment from our manufacturer comes in November 27th. Envelopes are prepared and ready to be stuffed. They will ship out November 29th. And from there, we should be prepared for the Chrismas rush. Please forgive us for the inconvenience we have caused you.”

After nearly three years since the release of their critically acclaimed self-titled LP, The Listening have returned from their studio underworld with a sample of their latest musical offering. Four new songs, produced by mega-producer Tedd T. (MuteMath, Newsboys, Delirious), showcase a stronger melodic sensibility framed within the familiar dark tones which The Listening have become known for.

These new songs are simply a taste of the vast collection of material in which Wilson and his band of musical mystics have feverishly been crafting for more than two years. Nearly 30 songs are still in the making, with their full-length release slated for 2009. Transmission 1 will be a limited pressing.

Buy the new EP: L-Town Music Group
Gabriel Wilson interview: JesusFreakHideout

The new EP “Against The Silence” is complete. We’ve posted a song for your listening pleasure. We are extremely happy with the way it turned out. Jason Martin and Steve Dail did an amazing job. We will have more info soon, but for now, enjoy “The Dash On My Headstone”. The complete tracklisting is:

1. Against The Silence (Long For More)
2. Side-Stage Syndrome
3. The Dash On My Headstone
4. Teeth Like Knives
5. …The Band Played On (Against The Silence Pt. II)

LISTEN TO THE NEW TRACK NOW AT MYSPACE.COM!

Sources: myspace.com/stavesacre

John Spalding, former guitar player for late 90’s Tooth & Nail band Ninety Pound Wuss, died on Sunday November 23, 2008 after a grueling four year battle against cancer. John was 33 years old and leaves behind a wife, his mother and father and a brother and sister.

You can donate to the John D. Spalding Medical Fund at any Bank of America branch. All proceeds go to his wife, Jody.

LINKS
http://www.toothandnail.com/news/2067/John_Spalding_19752008/
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2008/11/rip_john_spalding.php
http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2008/11/24/lovelands-the-beautiful-truth-weve-already-stuck-our-heads-up-and-now-its-time-to-swim/
http://www.seattlesubsonic.com/2008/11/24/in-memory-john-spalding-1975-2008/
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-11-12/music/how-terminal-illness-helped-one-local-musician-find-his-voice/