averyfineline

No, it’s not to lie about taking time off (though it seems I’ve done that, however good my intentions were at first). According to Roger Ebert, it’s to “be an example of the process of finding your own answers” (hat tip, JM). Just so, I’d say, no matter how far short of that goal I […]

Or, what would happen if you crossed Norman Vincent Peale with Ernie Haase and Signature Sound? Find out, if you dare. (Hat tip, Jrod)

(Yes, I’m still taking some time off, but this morning I’m taking just a little time off from my time off.)
That’s because reader DE brought this Washington Post article to my attention about the effort to get right-leaning Christian music culture to look left, and I wanted to comment on it while it’s still freshish. […]

I’m taking some, away from the blog for a bit. NQC for me compresses what feels like a month’s worth of intensive daily listening, processing, writing, and revising into three days that leaves the sg part of myself more or less exhausted, and I need some time to recharge and attend to the rest of […]

Are jingles and advertising ditties the new driving force of creativity in music? So says David Singer (hat tip, M):
This year’s other giant smash has to be “Free Credit Report Dot Com,” with multiple versions clogging the airwaves. The real toe-tapper is the seven-note phrase that punctuates their radio commercials, its placid female harmonies beckoning […]

I will keep this brief, at least by my standards. Saturday night was something of an experiment insofar as the Fan Awards were moved from Thursday to here at the end of the week and though the Awards Show itself was nothing new, a Saturday slot for it definitely changed the feel and pace of […]

[NOTE: Comments are now closed, since most people stopped saying anything new or illuminating a long long time ago.]
The Washington Blade covers  CCM’s Ray Bolz and his decision to be honest and open about his sexuality (this mainstream media treatment of Christian entertainment subculture echoes GQ’s article on Kirk Talley a few years ago; […]

Some thoughts on Friday afternoon’s Celebration of Phil Cross’s Ego Phil Cross’s Songs of  a Lifetime songwriters showcase, in no particular order.
The sound sucked. Mikes weren’t on for most of the singers and speakers for the first few minutes, including Cross’s. Songs had to be restarted including the first one, the Booth’s unremarkable “Welcome […]

Friday night the Easters had Connie Hopper join them for part of “Thank you, Lord,” in what I assume was a continuation of the effort to pair up different groups that’s been going on all week. Hopper sang this verse:

I know I’m not wealthy
These clothes, they’re not new
I don’t have much money
But Lord I have […]

Tonight’s lineup looked much stronger on paper than it sounded in person. Gaither and EHSSQ brought the crowds, as planned, but it wasn’t entirely clear that we got we thought we were paying for. More on that momentarily. It wasn’t just the centerpiece acts, though. As you’ll see from the fat cluster of comments in […]

Reader (and twitterpater) RF weighs in here on the the avfl Twitter feed, and/but I’d like to hear from some others of you twitter readers. Is it worth the trouble? There are so far about two dozen “followers” signed up for the avfl feed. Are other people reading directly from the avfl Twitter page or […]

Reader HPA writes:
After reading some other blogs it seams that even the lay person can look around and figure out simple reasons for bad sound.  I would be interested if anyone could send me pics of audio set up to evaluate.  Being a former sound man for a SG group, I used […]

Welcome to another year of live-blogging the NQC. For the newcomers, what follows is a nightly digest I put together after each evening concert. It’s written late (as I begin to write this, it is 1221 on Friday morning; as I put the final edits on it, it’s 235 301), and it’s based on a […]

So the interns (and M and C) have convinced me to try Twittering NQC this year. I emphasize “try” because I’m only half-sure I know how this whole thing works (if you’re unfamiliar and want to jump in the deep end, try this as an explainer). Nevertheless, I gather that if you want to be […]

My friend B from Nville kicks things off:
Based on the discussions, I’ve tuned into the SolidGospel.com live feed.  I’m up to the Kingdom Heirs and I have to wave the white flag and quit for the night.  Here’s my statement for the small investment of time I’ve made tonight:  The Mike Lefevre […]

From Charles Brady:
NQC really needs to question the benefit of providing live unmixed/poorly mixed feeds for solid gospel to broadcast. (What I heard last night sounded like the little kids may have been singing and doing the mixing. ) If you can’t get it mixed correctly most people just can’t handle the raw unmixed vocals..  […]

Responding to my complaints about tonight’s performances, Eric asks:
[Then] why listen if you don’t like it?
Because one pretty decent definition of a southern gospel fan is that no matter how bad it gets, we always hope it will get better real soon, and who’d wanna miss that?

I’m listening to the NQC Solid Gospel feed and Gerald Wolfe is doing his best to create for the new tenor, Jacob Kitson, a signature narrative like the one that Waldroup had (you know the one … how Wolfe auditioned Jason in that little concrete box of a stairwell over there in Freedom Hall etc). […]

Via DBM’s liveblogging of the Solid Gospel Monday-night feed:
9:20 PM - The Inspirations begin with “Amazing Grace.” Fans are already applauding by the end of verse one. Archie Watkins sounds like a rooster[.]
Heheh. Sounds about right to me, though it seems awfully unfair to roosters.

I just got a chance to log on to Solid Gospel to catch a few minutes of the NQC mainstage lineup and mostly have heard a bunch of ads: ads for smoking cessation, ads for religious organizations pushing their “election guides” (uh huh), and ads with Gary Casto promising to put your group in touch […]