Newworldson Nominated For 7 GMA Canada Awards
Our good friends Newworldson have been nominated by the Gospel Music Association Canada with multiple 2008 Covenant Awards. They were among this year’s top nominees, with seven total nominations including both “Group of the Year” and “Artist of the Year.” That’s not a bad way to close out their busy summer and thanks to this e-mail from Soul Joul we get caught up on other good news for the band.
What’s up funkateers?
Soul Joel here blogging through a haze of jet lag and general exhaustion overall. But life is good, God is good (all the time), and being busy is good.So here’s what’s been going on over the past few months. First of all, big shout out to everybody we met on the Go Tour, from Washington to Texas, Maine to Florida and everywhere in between. Though it was a crazy schedule that kept us away from our families for weeks at a time, our favorite part of the tour was the opportunity to meet so many great people after the show every night. Thanks for sticking around our CD table, introducing yourselves, encouraging us and supporting our ministry. We are family after all…Flying half way around the world to play Easterfest in Australia in March was well worth it, to say the least. We were blessed enough to play three times in Toowoomba. Our headlining spot on the mainstage on Good Friday was in front of 8000 - 10000 people. What a moving spiritual experience that was. Shout out to all our new fans and friends down under! I think the Sunday afternoon spot under the big top tent might have gotten even crazier still! Raise the praise mates! Sometimes it needs to start with dancing, y..’feel me? I’d also like to mention how grateful we are for all the support we’ve received from the Gospel Music Channel. (If you don’t know about GMC yet, get hip to it, trust me. It’s a great channel.) After our video for “Working Man” went to number one, we were invited to perform on “Front Row Live” in front of a live studio audience. (The same evening, I might add, as Mary Mary; to say they tore it up would be an understatement.) We’re really looking forward to growing our relationship with GMC and serving their ministry in every possible way.This summer was our second time playing Kingdom Bound at Darien Lake, NY, which we like to call our hometown festival. It was nice to share the mainstage with our friends Leeland who just continue to impress us with their passion and material. (We’re going to be playing with Leeland again in Tampa, FL on October 19th. Stay tuned for details.) We made sure to stick around late that night so we could sit in and jam with Rick Cua who was been a light and a source of encouragement from the beginning. We also got to play both Cornerstone and Spirit West Coast this year for the first time, which was great. I think our set might have gone over our time a little in Monterey but we couldn’t help it, the Spirit was really moving. Respect to the small but mighty crowd! Now…the reason why my sleeping habits are so turned around is because we just got back from our first European tour yesterday. Well, mini-tour would be more like it. A definite highlight of our year was headlining the Frizon festival in Sweden. Those are some believers after our own hearts! God bless all the soulful Swedes for teaching me a few new tricks. What great dancers! You really came to praise and celebrate!Then after a few days of rest and promotion in London, we headed to Holland to be a part of Flevo’s 31st anniversary. Now that’s a festival with a legacy! This year it was sponsored by our friends at Xnoize, a Christian radio station in the Netherlands. We got to play twice in one day actually, once on the “Music-and-More” stage in the early evening and then at about 1:45 in the morning but this time it was a stripped down, intimate set in front of about 200 hard-core music fans. In fact, Mark was downsized to playing a wooden box so we decided to throw the set list out the window and just jam and have fun with our new friends. I should also add that we caught Salvador’s performance on the mainstage which was sublime and absolutely electrifying.There’s a great new festival getting off the ground in Germany called Revofest and it was an honor to be one of the bands to play its inaugural year. Also on the bill: Stellar Kart, Sixpence None The Richer, Salvador, Starfield (fellow Canadians, good friends and sparring partners…just kidding) and that’s just naming a few. I’m so impressed with how the organizers have answered God’s call to encourage and lift up the young people and future leaders of their country. I really believe it’s going to quickly become one of Europe’s most influencial Christian festivals.Before flying home, we made one last stop back in London to go to church; it was Sunday after all… Technically in Surrey, Cornerstone church invited us to be a part of their evening service and what a warm congregation they were! We’re used to being the very last ones out the doors on Sundays back home and this week was no exception. It was nice to hear a message and to share fellowship after so many early mornings and plane trips (all in all, eight flights in 12 days…ughh). We’ve decided that Cornerstone is now our home church whenever we’re back in the UK.So that’s the long and short of it…or maybe the long and long of it, haha. We’re looking forward to playing some dates in Texas later this fall so all in the Lonestar State keep checking our website or myspace.com/newworldson for the particulars. Keep being that “city on a hill which cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14).Blessings,Soul Joel and the entire NWS posse.Way-a-reprazent ‘seen?PS: sorry for the lack of paragraphing but myspace just doesn’t seem to want to cooperate today…
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