Sup folks. Thanksgiving is only a few days away (and my stomach is shouting in advance, glory!)  and although we know the food, family and fun are major parts of the celebration, we know the “intent” of the holiday is to to give thanks and show how grateful we are for all that we have. Although Thanksgiving isn’t necessarily a holiday that’s biblical and there’s some rather horrible history to the celebration (you know, the whole slaughter of Native Americans and such), I think it’s important to celebrate the sentiment more so than the history. Yes, you should be thankful ALWAYS but having a special time of year where you make it a major focus is rather great, at least to me.

So with that, today and tomorrow I’ll be sharing some of my favorite gospel songs of gratitude to help celebrate.  So here’s part 1! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a busy last couple of days and it’s no secret that the Bishop Eddie Long scandal has been 90% of it. One of the most frustrating parts of it has been watching different media outlets cover this story who don’t get “us” (Christians, church folks, etc.) trying to dissect this issue. Now don’t get me wrong; sexual abuse, manipulation, etc. isn’t a spiritual or religious issue and I’m not saying it shouldn’t be discussed for the issues/news that it is.  But I’ve noticed a few things: Read the rest of this entry »

Hey folks, last night the  2 day memorial festivities  for Bishop Walter Hawkins began with the memorial concert “The Man, The Music, The Ministry: A Musical Salute to Bishop Walter Hawkins” . I wanted to make it to Oakland  to attend but prior commitments and logistics just didn’t allow it, but thankfully our good friend of the blog BJ Daniels was able to attend and was willing to recap the night for us for those who didn’t make it. As I’m sure most of you know, I’m pretty active on the social media platform “Twitter” and it’s proven to be a rather remarkable way to bring people together and share information. Although most of us were unable to be at last night’s concert, you were able to get some updates of what was going on from different people on twitter. For example, the program photo tot he right was captured and posted by gospel artist DeWayne Woods. And our guest blogger today, BJ Daniels was able to offer his recap to me via twitter when he realized that I wasn’t there. How dope is that!

BJ Daniels is an administrator at Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church, Washington, DC, graphic designer, former gospel radio announcer and gospel enthusiast. He also has his own blog, so you should check it out here!

***passes mic to BJ Daniels*** Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve spend the week honoring the life and music of Bishop Walter Hawkins but today I’m taking a bit of a different approach. I reached out to a bunch of folks in the gospel industry and gospel radio to share their thoughts on Walter’s passing but one story stuck out to me and I wanted to give it it’s own space.

One of the reasons this stuck out to me because many times in gospel, inside and outside of the industry, we tend to get a little jaded or even sometimes forget what makes this music and ministry so important. We sometimes forget about the power of gospel music to change people’s lives. Kurt Carr’s reflections on Walter Hawkins brought it all back and I wanted to share it with you.

***passes mic to Kurt Carr*** Read the rest of this entry »

More details are coming in for the funeral/homegoing celebration of Walter Hawkins. Some of gospel and even r&b’s most talented and influential artists are coming to salute and pay tribute to Hawkins.

“The Man, The Music, The Ministry: A Musical Salute to Bishop Walter Hawkins” – Tuesday July, 20 @ 7:30 p.m.

Masters Of Ceremonies: Bebe Winans, Marvin Winans, & Dr. Bobby Jones Read the rest of this entry »

Sup folks!

Last night’s episode of Sunday Best was so epic! The contestants were already singing their faces off from the beginning but they all took it even further, it was bananas! Which is why I keep having to remind myself, that whoever goes home is going to be good so we have to work on taking the elimination news better. It hurts to see a good singer go, but there are no bad ones so what are we gonna do? Ha!

I also read all of your comments and know that Dathan Thigpen was a major favorite of many of you and I know quite a few of you took it hard. So I’m glad I’m able to let Dathan speak to you, his new fans/stans, himself! Read the rest of this entry »

Sup folks!

Well last week the first half of the  Sunday Best 3 Final 20 performed and now we finish up with the last 10.  I guess a lesson was learned from previous seasons that it’s hard to narrow down finalists until you’ve heard them ALL! Read the rest of this entry »

Sup folks. I kind of went on a twitter rant today about this topic so someone suggested I put it all in one place. So here goes.

There were a lot of excited new artists twittering and facebooking to the top of their lung fingers that “Ooooh, I’m nominated for a Stellar Award, go vote for me now!” Umm, I appreciate your excitement and all that, but when the Awards tape and they name the “nominees” from that podium, there’s a good chance your name will NOT be on the list. Read the rest of this entry »