NQC 07
Via amgs, I see the NQC 07 schedule is up. Discuss.
Update: I had a chance during lunch to look at the lineup briefly. Some instant reactions.
- Hope’s Call gets a spot on one of the Thurs-Fri lineups … good for them (and I see the LeFevre Quartet’s little temper tantrum served them well; they’re on Thursday night).
- I always thought Fri-Sat nights at NQC, while beginning to show some wear around the edges as the die-hards start leaving, was a somewhat coveted spot nevertheless because it’s a chance to sing to a lot of new people in the audience (read comparatively younger people with jobs who can’t and wouldn’t want to spend a whole week in Louisville). This, I thought, explained why Friday and Saturday were historically full of top-tier groups with some also-rans mixed in for convenient bathroom and refreshment break (Specks = the New Hagees!). Maybe that’s no longer the case, and/but I was surprised to see BFA get shafted out of a Fri-Sat spot.
- Saturday night might as well be themed: “Everybody who matters has already gone home so we’ll put a lot of bad music on the main stage.” But that said, in general the lineups seem a bit more balanced and diverse than I’ve recalled in recent years, though I’m not sure if that’s historically accurate.
Later Update: Bored at work, reader SM crunched some numbers on NQC mainstage appearances:
It’s all basically confirms the obvious, that NQC is mainly about the traditional male quartet–the ratio is around 1.5:1 in favor of quartets over trios, traditionals over progressives or “others” (i.e. bluegrass or groups that I feel that I couldn’t make an accurate judgement on), and all-male groups over mixed groups.
I thought I had wasted a bunch of time until I looked at the lineup of the AGM festival, which includes a couple of choirs and soloists like Larnelle Harris and Babbie Mason. The slant is still toward quartets, traditionals, and males, but the bias is far less than at NQC. I don’t know if this is the chance to make a first great impression by AGM, an attempt to distance itself somewhat from NQC, or something else entirely.
It’s also pretty surprising to think that Larnelle Harris, Babbie Mason, and several church choirs were AGM-ified before Gold City, the Kingsmen, Doves, etc.
Even more interesting than the fact that Harris, Mason, et al were AGM-ified so soon is that unlike sg types, they didn’t go around posting self-regarding press releases about their spiritual certification (notice, not a mention one about being spiritually certified on Harris’s awards and honors page). As a friend of mine put it earlier this week after reading the Triumphant press release, it sure seems like AGM is “taking advantage of southern gospel’s naive yearning to gain respectability, yet in the process, we are looking more foolish. It makes me angry, and it makes me sad.”
Even later update: In his random thoughts about NQC 07 lineups, David Bruce Murray has a nice run down of who’s in and out compared to last year. Among the most disappointing acts cut from the 07 lineup: Lordsong, the Martins, and THE ISAACS (!). Let’s hope this is one of those things that’s “subject to change,” in a good way.
And finally: Alert reader MM notices that “the Anchormen” are still on the 07 lineup even though the group that sang last year and the group that may sing in 07 is the same in name only. Maybe I should start a group called The Nelons or The Crabbs and see if I can get on the mainstage.
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www.southerngospelblog.com » Elsewhere in the blogosphere on 04 Feb 2007 at 12:30 am
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