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Countdown to Creation (Prologue) 
It is Saturday and Creation East is a matter of days away.  This will be my first Creation so it will be interesting, even more interesting since I will be going as a member of the media. For many church youth groups and young Christians, Creation is a dream event that they must go to at least once.   I just looked over the newest version of the program last night and saw a few changes, including a few new things.  Krystal Meyers is going to be at the Fringe Stage.  There has been a lot of buzz coming out about Miss Meyers and I have a copy of her CD to review so I am curious to hear her live.  The only shame is that this means I will miss part of Todd Agnew's performance.  Agnew's new single sounds pretty good on radio and I am curious about his upcoming release.  I also see that the program no longer lists Joy Williams as performing twice.  Another interesting thing that I noted was the fact that new artist, Sarah Brendel, is not listed to perform, despite the fact that her website says she will be doing some acoustic sets and the Creation website says she will be speaking to youth workers at the event. I was glad to see that the new program had times when the various artists are performing, which will make it easier for me to figure out who I want to see when and whose performances conflict with press conferences that I want to go to.  I was hoping to see Disciple perform since there has been a lot of buzz on them as well and it looks like I will have some time after Phil Keaggy's performance to catch some of their set.  I also see that Hearitfirst.com is offering Late Night Listening Parties to hear new music from the upcoming releases by Switchfoot, Audio Adrenaline, and Bethany Dillon.  I will have to check out these Listening Parties. 

One of the things that I am most looking forward to is seeing some artists or groups perform that I am not all that familiar with.  For example, both Relient K and Switchfoot are performing Wednesday night.  I am not too familiar with either group, but both are really popular and Switchfoot is enjoying a good bit of mainstream success.  Creation will be a great opportunity for me to expand my musical horizons. 

Some of the artists that I am looking forward to seeing include TobyMac (although I was under whelmed by his performance earlier this year at a Winter Jam tour stop), Bethany Dillon (who I still say should have won New Artist), MercyMe, Michael W. Smith (always an enjoyable show), and Joy Williams (one of my favorite artists).  I am also looking forward to hearing Margaret Becker speak.  She is speaking Saturday morning on "Living From the Gifting Outward" and then Saturday afternoon on "Defining Your Life Art." 

I have a busy few days in front of me, so I may not say anything again until at least Tuesday night or possibly some time Wednesday. 

Tuesday, June 28-Wednesday June 29, 2005  Daily Photo Gallery 
Tuesday was crazy. Worked until 3:45pm, went home and slept until 11pm., tot up and finished packing for Creation.  With the car finally loaded, I left home at 2am Wednesday morning.  I arrived at Creation at about 9 in the morning and had to ask several people before I was referred to where I could camp for the week.  By the time my camping situation was taken care of, it was about 9:30 and I had been told that there was a photographers meeting at 10:00.  I walked back to the main stage (a good 40 minute walk if you walk fast) only to find out that the meeting had been pushed back.  I also found out that the meeting was for those who were taking pictures for the festival (working for the festival officially), which didn't include me.  I went back to my campsite and figured I would start getting all my stuff set up.  Right about the time that I started laying out my tent, a gentleman named William came up and offered to help.  With two people, setting up the tent wasn't too bad. It would have been much more difficult without his help. 

Wednesday was fairly busy, even though the actual concerts did not start until Wednesday night.  There were two press conferences; one with Relient K, one with Barlowgirl.  Relient K is a funny group of guys who spent some time with each of the questions. A question about recreation sports resulted in a several minute discussion about golf and whether it is better to have consecutive good shots or consistent good shots.  Barlowgirl wins the award so far for being the nicest group that has done a press conference. These three girls are sweet as can be.  I'm definitely looking forward to hearing their upcoming album, which they said has more of a rock sound. 

During the course of the evening I had an opportunity to visit the packed artist and vendor booths. I got to see the trailer for Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The trailer will excite many fans of the books and they also had images of each of the kids and the White Witch.  I have posted pictures of each of these images at my Creation photo gallery. 

Barlowgirl did a set that had the crowd up and moving.  These three have a great deal of potential so it will be interesting to follow them over the next few years to see how they grow.  It was easy to tell that many of the young adults and teens were into Relient K's performance and Switchfoot's performance.  David Crowder Band also put on a good set.  One of the nice things about Creation is that you can hear the artist/speaker on the main stage pretty well from the booths or the press tent.  The fireworks at the end of the night were definitely stunning and almost as good as any I have seen before.  I mentioned in my prologue that the Creation East program mentioned a listening party featuring music from the upcoming releases of Audio Adrenaline, Switchfoot, and Bethany Dillon.  Unfortunately, it wasn't where they said it would be and no one knew where it had been moved to.  My one consolation on not getting to hear that was the fact that I was dead tired.  I went back to my tent and called it a night. 

Almost forgot to say that it is unbelievably hot this week.  Haven't heard a weather report, but the heat is awful.  Add to that, the idea of having to walk for almost half an hour Wednesday to get from my campsite to the main stage and press area and it was not fun. It might have been easier if the trip between my campsite and the press area was all flat but it isn't.  It's fairly hilly.  Even the two short rainstorms we got did not help the heat too much. Thankfully, I brought a lot of bottled water and the press area has water as well. 

Thursday June 30, 2005 PM  Daily Photo Gallery 
Did you miss me?  I'm enjoying the AC in the press trailer as I listen to the evening speaker.  I attended the Starfield press conference before lunch. I reviewed their debut CD last year and was disappointed in it.  Tait and Caedmon's Call both cancelled their press conferences, which was a shame, but as I am quickly learning things happen and schedules change.  I was hoping to hear something about Caedmon's upcoming release In the Company of Angels 2. They greatly impressed me with their Share the Well project last year. 

Coming in to Creation I was hoping to learn something about some of the artists that were going to be here that I didn't know anything about and I have gotten that opportunity. A great example of this was with the press conference this morning at 11 for M.O.C. She is an independent hip-hop artist and her press conference was interesting even if few people had questions.   After lunch I decided to go take a short nap, but I ended up sleeping over an hour. I woke up at almost 3:10 and had to rush back to the press tent for the press conference with Krystal Meyers.  I came in after it started but managed to catch quite a bit of it. Todd Agnew's press conference was after Krystal's.  It came through during the press conference that Agnew is a man with a great heart.  After Todd's press conference, I went over to the Fringe Stage to see Krystal perform. Her songs are much more rockin' in person than they are on CD.  She is very energetic in concert, spinning, jumping and just looking like she is having a great time. 

I also got a chance to check out some of the extreme games that they have this weekend.  They have a rock wall, a huge slide in the shape of a sinking boat, bungee power jumping, and one of those platform jousting set ups. 

My favorite press conference so far was one that we had less than an hour ago.  He was supposed to do one earlier in the day at 4pm, but TobyMac stepped into the press tent at about 6:30 tonight.   Toby went into a great deal of depth in answering each of the questions that was asked of him. He was originally scheduled to only do a 15 minute press conference but when one of the staff members went to wrap it up, Toby asked if he could stay around 10 minutes longer.  So a 15 minute press conference ended up being almost half an hour.  He was outgoing and yet also quiet in his own way.  Several members of the press said that he seemed very renewed in comparison to how he looked at Creation last year. 

Tomorrow should be interesting as tentatively there are press conferences scheduled with Taylor Sorenson (artist on Rocketown Records), Phil Keaggy, Superchic[k] (which I would really like to check out), Casting Crowns and others.  There is also a pizza lunch with new Inpop artist Sarah Brendel.  It will be a busy busy day.  Hopefully I can plan it so I don't have to make too many trips back to the campsite.  The pizza lunch means I don't have to go back to the campsite for lunch so that will help.  I also may not have time to go back since the day is pretty packed with press conferences.  There are 9 press conferences listed and many of them are within an hour of each other.  For example after lunch we have Superchic[k] at 2, Casting Crowns at 2:30, John Reuben at 3 followed by Jeremy Camp at 3:30.  Busy busy busy. 

I got to meet some new people who work in the press, including the webmaster from  Jesusfreakhideout.com and his wife and one of the writers from Cmusicweb.com.  It is always interesting to be able to put a name to a face for people who do things online. I also enjoy meeting people who love music and the internet as much as I do. 

Tobymac had the crowd moving as he delivered a high energy set with many of his great songs from his two projects.  This was a much more enjoyable set than when I saw him at Winterjam earlier this year.  Once again, I am left wondering when Nirva will release her solo CD as she was great as usual.  The night's performances  closed with Michael W. Smith performing yet another of his high quality sets. 

The night ended with the candle lighting ceremony, which was amazing.  I stood near the side of the stage and was able to see thousands of lit candles that looked like small points of light piercing the darkness.  It was one of the most beautiful sights that I have seen in years. 

Friday, June 30, 2005  Daily Photo Gallery 
I skipped the Pillar press conference this morning. The past few days wore on me and it finally caught up.  I got up and rushed to take yet another cold shower. The line was a little longer today but nothing too bad. At first I thought I was going to miss the Phil Keaggy press conference but it took less time to make it back to my campsite. I arrived at the press tent right about time for the press conference and was told that it was not going to happen. I just rolled with it and decided to wait around for the luncheon/pizza party with Sarah Brendel.  Sarah Brendel is a new artist on Inpop, whose debut CD releases on July 19th.  Two words of advice...BUY IT.  Sarah performed two songs off the project for us, in addition to a Bob Dylan song and this girl is really good.  She has a great voice with a surprising range for someone so young.  Sarah seemed nervous as the press asked her a few questions, which is understandable when you take into account her age and the fact that she is in a foreign country (she is from Germany).  Sweet sweet girl.  Some may describe her music as alternative, but she also has a bit of pop mixed in there with a voice that might remind some in its simplicity of Leigh Nash.  Her music also has some electronic elements that add an interesting flair.  This is a CD that deserves a listen.  Hopefully I will have a review of it done soon to give you a better idea of this project. 

One o'clock brought a performance from Christian music legend, Phil Keaggy.  He was at his peak and sounded great.  After that I adjusted styles and went to hear new S/R/E Recordings artist, Disciple.  While these guys have been on the independent scene for a while, they just released their debut major label release.  I arrived in time for the encore and was able to take a few photos.  Going with the busy afternoon feel, I rushed back to the press tent for a press conference with Superchic[k].  They were one of the groups that I have heard before and I wanted to learn more about.  They gave a great press conference, despite the fact that the lead singer was unable to make it. They told about how they write from their own pain.  For example, over the past year each band member has been through a major breakup.  The group feels that by writing from their own pain, they are better able to minister to their fans who are hurting 

Superchic[k] was one press conference of several that we had almost back to back. Casting Crowns was next, which was interesting since they are currently one of the most popular groups in CCM.  They have enjoyed tremendous success, with songs like "Voice of Truth" and "Who Am I."   I did not get a chance to ask them about their upcoming CD, but I did get to ask them what an authentic life of worship looks like since that is one of the themes of their upcoming project.  Nice, nice group. 

After Casting Crowns, we got a little break as John Reuben's  press conference had to be rescheduled.  Jeremy Camp stepped into the press tent at 3:30pm, looking different from what I imagined.  Part of that may be due to the fact that some of his hair has been colored. He is also more buff than he appears to be in his photos.  Jeremy was one of the first to give us an interesting tidbit of news...his wife Adrienne is working on a solo project.  She used to be a part of Benjamin Gate before they disbanded.  Jeremy is helping her work on a new album and it should release in 2006.  I was greatly impressed with Jeremy.  After Jeremy, John Reuben stepped into the tent about 10 minutes early.  Reuben is a nice guy and comes across as real sincere. It is evident that music is his life and his passion.  He also had some of the best Zoolander poses for photographers after the press conference 

Disciple was written in as a possible press conference for 5 pm, but they cancelled.  This left us with one final press conference for the day, Mat Kearney.  Kearney released a great debut album last year that was badly overlooked despite being one of the most creative sounding projects of the year.  He told us that his name is pronounced "carney like the circus guys" and explained what happened to the missing "t" in his first name.  Kearney also talked about his mainstream deal with Columbia Records who is tweaking and remastering the CD. Kearney is looking forward to it coming out.  Kearney came across as a nice, personable guy with a great heart.  He also gave us an interesting tidbit of news; he is working on an acoustic project.  I had a chance to listen to his debut project when it originally came out last year and it is definitely unique with a sound that is hard to put into words.  Even Kearney couldn't quite define his own sound when I asked him. 

Got to hear all of Superchic[k]'s show and based on that and their press conference, I have an even greater respect for them.  They are a group with a heart to reach out to youth.  I also got to hear some of Jeremy Camp's set and I was definitely impressed with the two time winner of the Male Vocalist of the Year Dove Award. 

Casting Crowns had a good set.  They performed many of their hits off their first album and some from their upcoming project, including the title track"Lifesong," even putting the words up on the jumbotron screens for people to sing along. Newsboys was the final performance of the night and there was some new buzz surrounding their performance, based on the fact that it was being taped for a live DVD. Before the Newsboys performed, though, the crowd was in for a surprise treat as Mat Kearney performed a two-song, fifteen-minute set.  In a change of pace for him, Kearney performed acoustic, which was interesting, but didn't give the listeners a good feel for his music. Kearney even did some freestyling for the Creation crowd.  Finally the Newsboys were up and I was able to get some pictures before the crowd received a shock.  Harry Thomas, founder of Creation, came on stage to announce that a transformer was overloaded and getting ready to blow so they had to stop the concert for forty-five minutes while it was repaired. After it was repaired, the group took the stage again and continued a great show. 

Tomorrow should be interesting with Margaret Becker speaking twice (once in the morning and once in the afternoon), Bethany Dillon performing in the morning, and Joy Williams performing in the evening.  Closing out the evening and Creation 2005 tomorrow night will be Audio Adrenaline and MercyMe.  Not as many press conferences listed so far, five tomorrow as opposed to 10 listed for today.  It is still possible, though, that some might be added during the course of the day. 

Saturday, July 1, 2005  Daily Photo Gallery 
Happy Independence Day! What?  That's not for several more days?  Oh okay.  That's what several days of a dusty, hot festival can do to you.  The heat gradually got better each day, but it was still hot all week long.  The lack of rain meant that the dust was everywhere.  Very little here at Creation is paved, including the roads, so things get real dusty real quick.  Shoes that were white several days ago now look like they are well used and over a year old. 

Today has been a long day, but a good one. I arrived at the main stage in time to hear Margaret Becker speak.  Most know her from her long and illustrious musical career, but in recent years she has been doing more speaking engagements.  Her passion shows through as she speaks. This is a woman who determined that her mission statement for her life was to exhort and encourage others and she did a great job of that with this message and her seminar at 3pm. Jason Morant was unable to make it so the schedule shifted and out came Bethany Dillon.  One word to describe Miss Dillon is "sweetheart".  She got up there with her guitar and no other backing vocals or instruments and did about 6-8 songs, including two new songs, including "Hero" from the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack.  She is extremely photogenic and a joy to photograph. I am hoping to see her this fall as part of a tour with Jeremy Camp. 

After Bethany Dillon's set, there was surprisingly some down time, since KJ-52 rescheduled his press conference for later in the afternoon.  I did go see The Myriad for a few songs.  They did a noon show at the Fringe Stage that had the crowd rocking.  I knew that these guys were doing a press conference later in the day and I knew nothing about them so I wanted to see them perform to get a feel for their sound.  I did get to see KJ-52 perform a few songs, which was interesting.  Once again, he is one of those artists that I was not too familiar with before Creation and now have a new respect for.  I also got to see By the Tree perform a few songs, which was a treat since I thought so highly of their praise and worship album that released last year.  I thought it was one of the more creative and enjoyable praise and worship albums to come out last year, which is saying something since I was not a huge fan of the group's previous albums. 

The first seminar that I was able to attend all week was done by Margaret Becker.  Margaret Becker is an important part of the recent history of CCM pop music so this was a treat. During the seminar about "Discovering Your Life's Art," she managed to discuss discovering your passion and how you can live it out.  This is something that I have previous only seen done in longer workshops or seminary classes, so I was impressed that she was able to simplify it enough for this time and this audience.  She also came across as very personable and down to earth. 

After the seminar, I rushed back to the press tent to try to catch the 4pm press conference with Hawk Nelson, only to discover that it had been cancelled.  The rest of the afternoon featured press conferences with KJ-52 (where he had to explain yet again the meaning behind the "52" in his name...its pronounced five-two and refers to the story of the five loaves and two fishes), two members from Audio Adrenaline, and The Myriad.  The Myriad joked about the typo in the official Creation program that listed them as The Myraid, with several jokes that referred to Raid, the bug spray.  The press conference with The Myriad was a unique press conference as each of the guys brought a snack to share and explained why they chose each of their snacks.  Some of the snacks included trail mix, cashews, and chips and salsa.  The guys answered a few questions from the press corps and even offered answers to a few of the questions that they frequently get asked elsewhere.  After the Q&A time the guys mingled with the press corps talking to everyone.  It was one of the most relaxed times in the Creation Press Tent. 

The evening concerts featured Joy Williams, who seemed more outgoing and commanded more of a stage presence than I have ever seen her have before; Audio Adrenaline, who surprisingly played four new songs from their upcoming project, and MercyMe, who put on a good show as usual.  It was a treat to see Joy perform with a full band instead of the tracks that I usually see her perform with.  Fans of Audio Adrenaline will be encouraged to hear that the new songs that the group did were more rocking than anything they have done in a while.  They definitely were more rocking than songs like "Leaving 99" and "Ocean Floor," which did well on radio but weren't the rock songs that the group has come to be known for.  MercyMe performed many of their most popular songs from all three of their albums, including songs from their underrated project released last year. 

Friday, July 8, 2005 
Epilogue 
Creation ended almost a week ago and my mind is still flooding with memories from the event. 

What were my favorite things from the week?  The most enjoyable press conferences were TobyMac, Barlowgirl, Bethany Dillon, and the pizza luncheon with Sarah Brendel.  My favorite speaker was definitely Margaret Becker, who was gracious enough to sign autographs and take photos with people before her Saturday afternoon seminar.  Favorite concerts would have to be Joy Williams and Bethany Dillon, although it was also a treat to finally get to see the legendary Phil Keaggy on stage. 

Many thanks go out to the press staff at Creationfest for their patience and help, especially since many of us who came in covering the event were first-timers.  Their patience and understanding was commendable. 

As I write this, I am continuing to create a Creation photo gallery so check it out.  It features exclusive photos from press conferences and performances of many of the artists who were at Creation East 2005. 

I enjoyed my time at Creation East 2005 and look forward to Creation East 2006. Maybe next year I will get a campsite closer to the stage and maybe, just maybe there will be air conditioning in the press tent (hey, a guy can dream). I recommend Creation to anyone who is considering going. The weather was hot and the showers were cold, but the concerts were great and the event is one that I will remember for years to come.