The Fallen Angel Film & Music Tour kicked off last night in Surrey, BC, featuring a documentary about late CCM legend Larry Norman (who died of heart failure in 2008), live music from Norman's contemporary and longtime friend Randy Stonehill, and a Q&A with the film's director, David Di Sabatino.
According to a press release, the documentary asks whether Norman, known as the "father of Christian rock," was "nothing more than a contemporary Elmer Gantry, a musical flim-flam man out to con the faithful."
The release also calls Norman "the most vibrant musical performer to shake, rattle and roll church pews during a hip countercultural revival of religion known as the 'Jesus movement.' Casting a prophet-like presence and with lyrics that cut to the marrow, Norman became the voice of a generation of young Christians trying to make sense of their faith amidst the chaos of the 1960s. . . . Over time however, Norman's crafted image began to overtake him and the line between fact and fiction became blurred.
Stonehill (at left with Norman many years ago), who was led to Christ by Norman, only to be burned by his friend more than once in later years, says he watched Norman "grasp for hope at first, but then slowly lose grip on those fundamental principles." The press release says that in the documentary unfolds "the true story of this enigmatic figure for the first time."
See the trailer for Fallen Angel here:
Fallen Angel DVD Preview from churchspeak on Vimeo.
