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Dave's Top Eight
1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars) Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.
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Most Recent Articles
Why blog? (Three years and counting)
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-----------October 30, 2004Hawaii Bids to Close Out Presidential Race
See the link above for the full story in The Guardian. Yeah, THAT Guardian, but it's still worth reading.
-----------This is a great story. It's the end of October, and now three days before the election, Hawaii suddenly appears to be a swing state in the presidential race. Do you think the politicians need any volunteers to help sway our Pacific based, island dwelling citizens? Al Gore and Dick Cheney have already agreed to campaign there. I'll bet someone had to twist their arms to get them to visit a sunny climate at the end of a hard fought campaign. We've GOT to have those four electoral votes, so . . . Send me, send me! Kerry, Bush, I don't care. A free trip to Hawaii can change a mind in a hurry! LOL! October 29, 2004SGBlogNews
Check out: www.sgblognews.com
-----------I just read about it yesterday in a post by Deon Unthank on the Sogospelnews message boards. Does it seem like all of us who have SG blogs spend way too much time categorizing, rating and linking to other SG blogs? Well, this site takes that aspect of blogging to a new extreme. Cataloging, rating and commenting on other SG blogs is the whole purpose of SG Blog News. It seems to be fairly balanced in tone, and offers ample opportunity for reader feedback . . . I like the colorful layout, too. I could see avid blog readers using SG Blog News as their portal for keeping up with all the blogs on the web. One interesting note, though. No name is published on this site as a responsible party, yet they rate several blogs as "weak" due to the anonymity of the authors. On the other hand, the Moderator at Sogospelnews said the site owners would tell you who they are if you ask . . . but now A Very Fine Line is reporting that it's a "you show me your's, I'll show you mine" policy. UPDATE: SG Blog News has now posted an "About Us" statement on their site. October 27, 2004Singing News threatens legal action against AMGS posters
In a post to the Usenet group alt.music.gospel.southern today, Kenneth Kirksey of The Singing News strongly urged participants to cease copying and posting copyrighted news stories from the SN website and email newsletters and implied legal action would result if his warnings were ignored. Kirksey stated, "Our attorneys will be monitoring this newsgroup for further copyright violations. A letter has already been sent to the ISP of one member of this newsgroup who was warned on two occasions to cease and desist posting copyrighted material on this newsgroup."
I looked back and found two such postings that had occured in the last three days. One was the story where David Sutton told the Singing News that Integrity's new name would be Triumphant. The other was a prayer request for Roger Bennett. All these posters had to do to remain legal was re-word the information, but people are lazy. Kirksey suggests linking to the stories on the SN site, but what about times when the story vanishes? That's what happened with the Sutton/Integrity news story. On one hand, it seems to be terribly nit-picky to protect a copyright on a brief news article. It's not like feature articles are being reprinted without permission. Still, I believe the Singing News is well within their legal rights to do so. Another angle on this to consider . . . often the copyright is protecting what is actually a Press Release that the Singing News didn't even write. I know this, because other news sites get the exact same press release and I often get them direct from the artist too. Unfortunately, some AMGS posters are so lazy they don't even snip the SN copyright notice from the article. How can they stamp their own copyright on something that was given to them as a press release? The original press release isn't copyrighted. Copyrighting would defeat the whole point of having a press release in the first place. In the final analysis, though, Kirksey is well within his technical rights if he chooses to pursue this. It's not like the readers aren't informed. There's a notice right there in black and white which clearly says, "No part of this message may be reproduced, stored in a retreival system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other-without expressed written permission from the publisher of Singing News." What they don't say is that fair use copyright laws provide for quoting part of a copyrighted work for the purposes of commentary, but these posters are just copying and pasting the entire articles without comment. That's clearly a violation of copyright law. It should be fun to watch things unfold if they actually go so far as to prosecute one of the AMGS regulars.
What about prayer and pre-destination?I posted my "God's knowledge vs. Human free will" article in the Religion section of the message boards at Sogospelnews. You can read the ongoing discussion by clicking here. One poster who I've come to know via the message boards (and have grown to respect in spite of opposing political views) brought up the question of whether prayer could influence God's will. We concluded that the movie in my analogy was more like an interactive experience . . . a DVD with menus and options for playback, if you will! Another brought up the topic of pre-destination and juggling that concept with free will. Unfortunately, he thought I was being hateful when I responded to him. I'm sorry he took my statements of conviction on the topic as "retorts," but that's the way it goes at times. I can't be expected to reason on a rational level with a person who enters quickly, states their "food for thought," and then leaves in a huff when I challenge it. Anyway, I thought my readers here might want to read the responses I've got at the other site if they haven't already. Check it out if the original article interested you and you want to see where it went from there. (Join in by posting either here or there if you're so inclined.) As I commented to poster
cvqpianoman, | I may have to turn the topic into a book before it's all said and done! It certainly has a good mix of analogy and controversy, vital characteristics for any topic worth expending effort to explore.October 25, 2004In the detailsI was considering removing the link to SG Commentary from my sidebar because I didn't think the blogger had ever updated his site. Every time I looked at it, the front page said the same thing. Just today, I finally noticed his "Archive" and "The Latest Commentary" links to where the actual content resides. On the outside chance that someone else thought the same thing, look closer and you'll see he has some interesting things to say!
God's knowledge vs. Human free willA question was recently posed in the "Politics" section of the Sogospelnews message boards about whether God knows the outcome of the Presidential election. Is the man who wins the one that "God put there?" If so, what about human free will?
Here's how I look at this topic, and please understand, this is theology by DBM, not something I've read in a book by some great Bible thinker. I believe that "Alpha and Omega" means God is now, is in the past, and is in the future. Notice I didn't say He "was" in the past or "will be" in the future. I said "He IS." Look at it this way. When you watch a movie for the second time (and subsequently), you know how it will end, but the characters IN the film don't. They are simply making choices that lead up to the conclusion, based on the info they have at the time. In Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Pete and Delmar are so excited by the prospect of digging up a treasure that they escape from prison along with Everett. They don't know Everett is lying until he confesses near the end of the film. As viewers though, we know Everett's motives from the very beginning. A person watching the film can fast forward to the end or rewind to the beginning until they know it intimately. The time sequence of the film world holds no restrictions for the person holding the remote control. In life, we are like those characters in the film. God is the one holding the remote. Sometimes we watch movies we don't like. Sometimes God watches us use our free will in ways He doesn't like . . . even to the point of putting the wrong person into a political office. Still, He knows how it all ends up, and has even let us in on some of it. When the actors trust their director in a film, and when the director has a clear vision of where the film ought to go, the end result is always better. In life, when we seek God's purpose and put our trust in Him, the end result is life eternal. I've gotta be nice now!Tonight at church, a deacon's wife told me she'd been reading this blog regularly. She had a few suggestions for me, but so far, I think my church job remains secure (although she did get in some digs for me leaving the Inspirations off my Top 20 Male Quartets). Anyway, I thought I should give my other readers fair warning. If my writing suddenly seems to be nicer than normal, or if you ever see the Inspirations reach my Top 5, you'll know BD has been cracking the whip! Of course, now I'll probably be in trouble for THIS article. :o) No, seriously . . . this lady is a great fan of Southern Gospel . . . attends every concert that comes to town. I'm happy to know I have a local reader, and I look forward to her comments.
October 23, 2004Grumble, grumbleThe guy with his head in a bag over at www.averyfineline.com immediately took issue with my Top 20 list last night and offered up a range of ways to improve it. His main concerns are that my list is too long to mean anything, will be updated too frequently too mean anything, and needs input from more contributors to mean anything. He even suggests possible contributors and expanding to other configurations like trios and soloists to give the list more scope and meaning. I thought I'd respond, only on the outside chance that there's some others who share his concerns. I listed 20, because new fans of quartet music need that many suggestions when they're first learning about this music. I also added the list to my sidebar with links to the artists websites so it will stay there after the article leaves my front page. Many sites have links to artist sites, but I have a ranked list of links in order of my preference. When they lose my favor, they lose my link. The advantage of that is the links aren't permanent or static. (I did leave some major names off . . . Crossway and the Inspirations, for example). As to the frequency of updates, that's the one point with merit. In fact, I was already planning to write a note this morning saying I probably wouldn't be changing this list as frequently as I originally said (monthly). I'm more likely to just change it when my tastes make a significant shift for one reason or another. Finally, these are my favorites . . . nothing more, and nothing less. If I brought in others to vote, it would change the whole point of the list. I see no reason to be "fair and balanced" on my own blog. As far as really meaning anything or affecting the genre, that wasn't the point . . . the point is letting my readers know who I like, in what order, and why. I certainly hope no group is going to be bragging that they topped MY list, since I'm just one fan out of many.:o) BUT, if www.averyfineline.com wants to start a consistent and meaningful ranking system on his site with my input as one of the key contributors, I'll be more than happy to give him my list of Top 5 (or just 3) in those categories every quarter (or six months). Sounds like a great idea.
October 22, 2004Top 20 Current SG Male Quartets20. Kingsmen - I expect this group to rise in my rankings now that Phillip Hughes is on board. 19. Dixie Echoes - Great talent, but the act could use some sprucing up. 18. Southern Sound - These guys just need a few breaks. They have a great sound. 17. Journeymen - One of the better up and coming groups. 16. Dixie Melody Boys - Currently shopping for a lead singer, but Ed O'Neal knows how to pick 'em. 15. Melody Boys - They've slipped some with recent lineup changes. 14. Legacy V - Lots of talent and great material, but they don't quite seem to gell as a unit. 13. Anchormen - I'm amazed by any group that sounds this good with this much turnover. 12. Brian Free and Assurance - Too many solos featuring Brian holds this group back. 11. The Stamps - Jerry Kelso is the most under rated piano man in the business. 10. Florida Boys - Some of their gags are getting a bit tired, but this group continues to impress. 9. Integrity - Integrity's Home Free is my favorite release of 2004. 8. Kingdom Heirs - Singing at Dollywood every day makes this group perform like clockwork. 7. Mercy's Mark - This new group is turning heads right and left. Garry Jones has put together a great ensemble. 6. Palmetto State - John Rulapaugh is one of the best tenor singers in the business. 5. Gold City - Despite recent changes in personnel, Gold City is still a Top 5 group. 4. Old Time Gospel Hour - OTGH combines classly quartet music with audience participation. 3. Ernie Haase and Signature Sound - Cheesy dance steps aside, Signature Sound is a solid quartet. 2. Gaither Vocal Band - If they would perform full length concerts regularly, they'd be my number one pick. and in the Number One slot for this month . . . 1. Dove Brothers - The Doves are riding high with their Quartet Legacy Tour. Also, the recent addition of David Hester at the bass vocalist position has solidified what was already an outstanding group. They've got a great combination of harmony, blend, variety, and excitement. Although detractors fault them for stressing traditional songs of the past, few would argue that they're lacking anything in presentation skills. Honorable Mentions: I wanted to find a place on my list for the Toney Brothers. They had a great set at NQC last year. Safe Harbor is another group that's hovering just outside my Top 20. They have been turning heads since Chris Cooper became their tenor. Also, the Imperials are fantastic, but they don't have a record deal at the moment. I think their fame will grow as people get opportunities to hear them.
SG Male Quartet RankingsI'm going to start posting my personal rankings for the Top 20 SG current male quartets once a month or so. Look for the first list to be up by tomorrow.
October 21, 2004Another blogAmy Marie Unthank of Southernspin and Sogospelnews launched her own blog on October 12, 2004. She has interesting things to say . . . well, sometimes at least . . . when she's not rambling on about her dogs. :o)
One of her posts had me scratching my head, though. Amy says I let my blog "get to me." I have no idea what she's talking about. (I assume I'm the DBM she meant . . . but maybe not.) Here's the post . . . CG...just so you know, I'm only doing this to see how many friends I have! LOL Never fear I will no let it get to me as DBM! Besides, I haven't yet talked about SG! haha! Amy, it really doesn't get to me at all. I just SEEM like I really care about these issues when you read it in print. :o) Welcome to the blogfest! October 19, 2004Over-reactions to a first impressionSome fans of the Freemans are up in arms against me over an article I wrote at Sogospelnews.com. Read it all, including their comments, at the link above. The article is the first of what I plan to make into a series called "First Impressions." In contrast to a full blown review of a CD, a "first impression" article is based on me listening to part of each song rather hurriedly and noticing outward things like the packaging quality . . . in other words, about the amount of time you might spend sampling a CD in a music store. My time for writing articles is limited, so I thought this approach would allow me to cover a greater quantity of recordings. In the process of this article, I dared express my opinion that I wasn't a big fan of the Freemans' vocal style. You'd think I'd called them a dirty word. One reader said I was "clueless" for saying they had a Hinsons influence (but they clearly do . . . Chris Freeman used to sing with the Hinsons). Another said I didn't "respect" Southern Gospel "royalty" like the Freemans properly (but I do respect any group with a large fan base and hit song success). Another said I should familiarize myself with their music before making comments (but the article plainly states that it's my "first impression"). Nevermind the fact that I gave them a high rating for the product in spite of my personal taste. There are some artists out there with rabidly devoted fans. If you dare say in public that they aren't your favorite group, you're in for it. To be honest, I was surprised by the reaction at first, but I guess I should have anticipated it. People are funny. October 17, 2004Other SG BlogsI've found a few more Southern Gospel related blogs out there in cyberspace. See my links in the sidebar at the left for the complete list. I'll keep adding to it as I discover new and interesting sites. 1. Global SG Radio Blogger - This blog dates back to April 2004 and has been sporadic in updates, sometimes going as much as two months with no updates, and at other times having several entries on consecutive days. 2. Martin Roth Christian Commentary - Martin Roth casts a wide net with his comments, but Southern Gospel is a regular topic on his blog. He has been blogging since 2002. In addition to blogging, Roth has written a book on his conversion from Buddhism to Christianity. This appears to be a very interesting site that I'll have to check out more fully at a later date. 3. John's Jottings - John Rulapaugh of the Palmetto State Quartet recently began blogging on the group's website. He has several entries spanning the past few weeks. Also while Googling, I ran across a cute entry about SG on a general Christian blog . . . The Southern Gospel Singers Creed. I got a good laugh out of this (though it reads more like SG Group Bylaws than a "creed" to me). Sadly though, I suspect this is about how many non-SG fans perceive the SG industry. Here's a sample . . . Article I: We the Southern Gospel Singers affirm that our men will wear alike suits shirts and ties along with our women wearing like floral-print dresses. Article II: We the Southern Gospel Singers affirm that our clothes mentioned in Article I will be homemade with the cheapest materials and simplicity patterns from the cloth department at Wal-Mart. And so on . . . you'll have to visit the link to read the rest. Finally, did you know there's a site that treats blogs like stocks? It's called "Blogshares." Even the "Scoops" page at SoGospelNews.com is being traded on this blog exchange. Now that's just downright weird.
October 16, 2004Celsius 41.11 Non-updateI sent the makers of Celsius 41.11 an email last week after I made the post about their annoying fund raising phone call (see "Another Anti-Moore Film"). In the email, I laid out the same complaints I made here . . . that they shouldn't attempt to raise funds on the pretext of conducting an opinion poll while using unsubstantiated comments (like "this would guarantee a Bush victory") to make their requests. It's now been a week and they haven't even acknowledged my email. Their silence tells me they evidently can't take well reasoned criticism.
NQC Votes To Stay In LouisvilleAfter all the hoopla among Southern Gospel fans about whether or not the National Quartet Convention would be moving to Nashville, TN in 2007, the NQC board voted to remain in Louisville, KY for an additional year (2007). They also left the door open to stay in Louisville thru 2009. I don't think the majority of fans were so much opposed to the idea of a move as they were opposed to Nashville being the other option. At least, I know I wouldn't have minded it going to another venue, but I didn't like the idea of downtown Nashville. I've been there in the past for Gospel Music Week, and I think the Louisville facilities . . . though showing age . . . are better suited to the type of crowd NQC attracts. Also, there's the fact that NQC fans welcomed the move to Louisville in the early 1990s because they felt the town of Nashville didn't want them there . . . not a good idea to move back, even if it is better now than it was then. Nashville is the country music capitol of the world. The same could be said for contemporary forms of gospel music. Southern Gospel will always feel like the red headed step child when it comes to getting respect in Nashville. That being said, I would be in favor of a move to somewhere other than Louisville if the alternative could offer a similar "in your own little SG world" setting. That's the underlying factor that has made Louisville so well loved by NQC fans. Labels: NQC October 11, 2004Who is factcheck.com, really?
Well, I just read on www.factcheck.com that they were simply redirecting traffic to an anti-Bush site after Vice President Cheney gave out their web address by mistake during the debate. factcheck.com is simply a directory site in real life.
-----------Rather than simply shutting down their servers to protect them, they redirected viewers to an anti-Bush political site. Get this, they say . . . When Mr. Cheney mis-spoke, viewers heeded his advice and visited factcheck.com in staggeringly large numbers. Name Administration re-directed this traffic for several reasons - to protect our servers from the potential for damage caused by Mr. Cheney's error, and as a service to our advertisers. Our advertisers intend to pay for potential customers to their websites instead of observers of political current events. They go on to say . . . Name Administration re-directed those visitors to a website relevant to U.S. politics. Name Administration chose the website of investor, philanthropist, and political activist Mr. George Soros, because his website is well-funded, does not seek to raise funds from visitors, and had greater capacity to absorb the load of visitors, reaching over 100 visitors per second during peak times after the debate. And of course, the fact that billionaire Soros is vehemently campaigning AGAINST the Bush ticket had nothing to do with their choice of URLs for redirection . . . riiiiight . . .looks like they could have sent half of them to Rush Limbaugh's highly funded, free site in the spirit of fairness, or . . . oh, I don't know . . . thrown up a "Site Not Found" error code instead. Soros had a post on his site as well to help clear up the mess . . . We do not own the FactCheck.com domain name and are not responsible for it redirecting to GeorgeSoros.com. We are as surprised as anyone by this turn of events. And naturally, factcheck.com denies any collusion with Soros as well. They conclude their article with . . . Contrary to some imaginative rumors spun by some, our action was undertaken on a voluntary and emergency basis, with no prior communication or consultation with the Soros organization. Of course now, the front page of factcheck.com has sponsored links to both factcheck.org and www.georgesoros.com. I thought they just said their regular advertisers didn't like to have viewers directed to political sites. Politics . . . what a stinking mess. October 9, 2004An example from the leftWell, after I criticized the Celsius 41.11 telemarketers, I thought I should give equal treatment to an example from the other side. Unfortunately, the liberals haven't called me in the last few days, although I exchange messages with some from time to time on the internet. Still, I didn't feel I could give it the same personal experience point of view, so instead I direct you to www.factcheck.org.
That site has a slew of distorted statements from both parties along with rational explanations as to why things aren't always quite as extreme as the politicians would have you think them to be. (By the way, this is the site Dick Cheney intended to mention during his debate with John Edwards. Instead of "dot org," he said "dot com," inadvertently directing listeners to a slanted anti-Bush site. Maybe you should check that one out as well.) Another Anti-Moore FilmThere's another anti-Michael Moore film out there, which is a good thing, I guess. Unfortunately, the money raising tactics of this new film are grossly offensive to me.
I had never heard of Celsius 41.11 until yesterday when the phone rang. A lady said she was conducting an "opinion poll in support of the Bush agenda." Now, I've already decided to vote for President Bush, but this type of opening sentence annoyed me. What's the point of conducting a poll when you say right up front it's biased? Margin of error on a question like that . . . 100%.
Before asking the opinion question though, they played me a clip of a guy talking about the Michael Moore film and how they needed MY help to fight it. This didn't sound like an opinion poll. I'm thinking they'll probably ask me for a donation before the call is over. So then, another lady comes on the phone and asks the opinion question, "With the revelations about Dan Rather using documents that weren't real, do I feel there's a liberal bias in the media?" I refused to say yes or no, because Michael Moore and Dan Rather are on two totally different levels, in my opinion. Sure, Dan leans liberal, but we've only caught him distorting the facts once as opposed to Moore who does it routinely. Besides, why frame a question about Dan Rather with commentary about Michael Moore? Then she went into a pitch for this new film Celsius 41.11 and asked me to donate $100 to $150 so that it could be put into theaters before the election. She went so far as to say it would "guarantee a Bush victory" if they got it into enough theaters. She even said she'd send me a free DVD. Yippee! (For $150, I could buy all three seasons of Alias! Later, I looked at their website and found I could get the free DVD for a $25 dollar donation, plus additional copies for $12.50 each, so she was gypping me on the DVD offer.)
Anyway, back to the phone call . . . at that point, I said she was a hypocrite for soliciting funds on the pretense of conducting an opinion poll. Also, it's just a blatant lie to say putting this film in theaters would guarantee Bush a victory. The phone call was just wrong on so many levels. She said she "understood" where I was coming from and I said, "You say that, but you're about to hang up the phone with me and you'll do the same thing to someone else." I told her she wasn't helping the conservative cause and she should be ashamed of herself for being involved in something so deceptive. Now in fairness, I know liberals conduct scare tactic phone calls that are just as reprehensible around election time. Unfortunately, these people on BOTH sides think they are helping their respective causes by being misleading, but they aren't. Labels: Movies October 8, 2004I Love It
http://www.averyfineline.com/letters/letters2.htm and http://sogospelnews.com/index/features/comments2/2822/
About two thirds down the letters page on Averyfineline, there's one from a reader criticizing a spelling typo in an article at Sogospelnews.com. On the Dale Dahl article I read the article via the link in your site and he does the incredible songwriter and singer and just plain LEGEND Andre Crouch the AWFUL disservice of misspelling his name in a terrible way: "...for a live appearance along with Andrea Crouch." You'll also notice a number of errors in the link as well, including a reference to the song title at the end as "Pray List" instead of "Prayer List". Over the years, I've noticed that just about any time someone is critical of typos, THEY make at least one error of their own in the process of pointing it out. I usually let typos slide with no comment because of this, but I'll make an exception when I get the joy of pointing out a typo in an article that criticizes another typo. Where did this letter writer go wrong? Well, "Andre" may be the more typical spelling and yes, "Andrea" is definitely wrong, but Mr. Crouch in fact spells his name "Andrae." Then, in the process of posting the letter, the averyfineline blogger spelled Dale Duhl's name wrong as well. It just compounds with each iteration, doesn't it? Now look for the typos in this article and have a laugh on my behalf if you like. :o) Associations
While I suppose it's nice to have folks thinking I'm nearly omniscient about matters where Southern Gospel intersects the internet, it is of course not true. For example, I don't moderate discussions anywhere on the internet. I do write CD reviews for www.sogospelnews.com, but I'm not a moderator on their message boards. I'm just like everyone else who posts over there. Also, I don't know the identity of the blogger at www.averyfineline.com. I certainly appreciate the fact that he refers to my comments quite often and links to me on his site, but (probably due to his unsolicited links to me) several people expect me to know who he is. I don't know. (I know what name is listed as the registrant for his domain name, but I have no way of confirming whether the registrant is the same person doing the writing. No, I didn't recognize the name.)
-----------So maybe I ought to clarify my various associations . . . I'm a minister of music at a mid-sized church in rural NC. I've been writing on the internet so long that some artists, promoters, and other industry people actually know who I am, but I'm far from being a mover or a shaker. I'm just a guy with what I hope are well reasoned opinions. I don't have an agenda or any connections. Well, actually I DO have a personal agenda for constantly challenging the SG industry, but all I stand to gain is better music in the future . . . better CDs, better concert events, and hopefully . . . someday . . . better exposure for SG via radio, TV, and video. It's a pretty honorable motivation, I think. I certainly haven't seen any real tangible benefits (like CASH MONEY :o)) from my efforts over the years. Any suggestions on how to change that??? Although I do offer a few services via this website which I promote from time to time, it's not the way I earn my living . . . far from it. I've also dabbled in songwriting and I play keyboards for a local, very part-time SG quartet. That's pretty much the extent of my associations with the SG industry. October 7, 2004Saved! Question: What do Mandy Moore, Reunion Records ("Beautiful Day" performed by Ian Ashley Eskelin) and Spring Hill Music Group ("Holy, Holy, Holy" performed by The Martins) have in common?
Answer: A new movie recently released on DVD called Saved! Visions of A Walk To Remember dance in your head, right? Well, not quite . . . in fact, quite the opposite. Moore was the outcast in AWTR, but in Saved! she's the leader of the pack . . . the "bad guy" disguised as a "good girl" attending an all Christian high school. Think Mean Girls . . . same plot, but with religion gone bad as the driving force behind Moore's motivations. When the central character Mary (Jena Malone) becomes pregnant by her gay boyfriend while trying to fulfill a vision from God (not too far fetched, right?), Moore's character goes into full assault mode . . . literally hurling scripture at Mary after she refuses to submit to an exorcism. It's all mindless formula teen issues from there. Director Brian Dannelly claims the film portrays redemption and forgiveness for viewers who stick with it to the end, but I had a difficult time buying that promise when there's not one Christian in the flick who has it together. Don't get me wrong. Overbearing Christians need to see themselves caricatured from time to time. Maybe this film can show how Christians appear to non-Christians when they get all self righteous. Also, Saved! IS pretty funny. We've all seen the self righteous bible thumpers get in the face of an easy target without having the slightest idea of how much grace their presentation lacks. It's enjoyable to watch them get justice. I just haven't quite figured out how Reunion Records and Spring Hill Music Group were persuaded to grant permission for musical cues to be used. Did the movie studio mislead them about the nature of the film and/or use Moore's previous film reputation and involvement with Saved! as bait? Or were they star struck enough to trust Hollywood without doing their homework first? It seems to me that when it comes to granting film sync licenses, standard operating procedure for any Christian music label would include seeing a copy of the script. Labels: Movies October 5, 2004Other SG on XMWhile looking forward to the SG Countdown being added to XM, I thought I'd point out that XM radio already offers some SG programming. Right now, I'm listening to "Stained Glass" with "Country Dan" as the host on Ch. 10, America. The program began today with the Bishops singing "Let's Celebrate" followed by Vestal Goodman and the Homecoming Friends singing "Jesus, Hold My Hand." Good stuff. Now, Ricky Van Shelton is belting out "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." Here's the schedule I've compiled from www.xmradio.com of SG and near SG related programming currently on XM, along with the descriptions of each show. "Stained Glass" Tuesday - 2:00 PM ET, Wednesday - 5:00 AM ET, Friday - 7:00 PM ET, Sunday - 7:00 AM ET
"Join XM 10 America's Country Dan for an hour of faith and inspiration on the program "Stained Glass." Featuring many artists heard regularly on XM 10 as well as lots of great "Southern Gospel" artists like The Cathedrals, The Gaither's, Inspirations,The Goodman's, and many of today's top artists." "Hank's Place" (Ch. 13) has two shows with old timey Gospel music on Sundays . . . "Hank's Gospel Jukebox" Sunday - 10:00 AM ET, Encore Presentations: Sunday - 10:00 PM ET
"The greatest of Southern Gospel and Country Christian Music including the Happy Goodmans, the Speers and Gold City." "Nashville Cowboy Church" Sunday - 9:00 AM ET, Encore Presentations: Sunday - 9:00 PM ET "From the Ernest Tubb Theatre in Nashville it's Dr. Harry Yates' church service. With live Christian music featuring Joann Cash Yates (Johnny's sister) and other guest performers." "Open Road" (Ch. 171) lists "Bill Mack's Grand Ol' Gospel Show" on Sunday evenings from 8:30 PM to 11:00 PM EST. I'm pretty sure I've heard some Southern Gospel on that channel on Sunday afternoons as well, though. Well, as I finish typing this, Dolly Parton is singing "In The Sweet By And By" on the "Stained Glass" broadcast. Seems like the mix may lean a bit towards traditional Country artists. Tennessee Ernie Ford followed Shelton. Still, it's good to hear a mix of SG with gospel standards. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a round the clock SG channel in the future (but we ain't holding our breath!).
More on media biasAnother paragraph in Gary Wilson's rant about media bias is very entertaining. I have no comments other than I just thought it was funny, particularly the line about some victims of media bias in SG being "too effeminate to react." This article is not about the network news or their bias. It is about
the media bias that exists in Southern Gospel music. Anyone who has been around this industry for any length of time knows that my statement is true. The trouble is, most are silent and turn the other way. Some fear retribution. Others are just too effeminate to react. Glad to be DBM
The "non-professional blogger" (as opposed to the "professional blogger," so named by the non-pro) . . . er, what does that make me? . . . anyway, the non-pro gave me "kudos" on his site today for posting without a mask . . . in other words, posting using my real name.
Non-pro says, "I guess in a way, it takes a little of the fun away, but either way, Kudos David!" Well, thanks for the mention, certainly, but please understand that it does not take the fun away for me by letting people know who I am . . . not in the least. Because I really am who I say I am and even include my picture on this site, I get to walk up to guys at NQC like Jonathan Sawrie and have them say, "Hello David," even though he'd never seen me before that in person. On second thought . . . maybe anonymity isn't such a bad idea. Yikes, I'll be in trouble for that one! Press Release RantAs promised, here's my rant about the way press releases are typically handled by SG media outlets. There's an art to taking a press release and dividing the truly relevant facts from the fluff. Most successful non-SG news sources will re-write the info in a press release before publishing it (and that's only after they deem it worthy of publication at all). Why? Because they want to convey the actual news to their readers. They don't want to appear overly biased in favor of a party in a news article, so they excise all the braggary that typically gets included with a press release. In the case of mainstream radio and even moreso in television, there's a time issue involved. It's a constant battle to compress the most important news stories into "bites." Of course, that can have drawbacks too. With most Southern Gospel media outlets on the internet, though, it's a very common (and lazy) practice to just copy and paste the ENTIRE press release, word for word . . . after all, it's just Christians helping each other out, right? Unfortunately, this leads to excessive bloat, and "news" articles take on more of an advertisement tone. Promotions people know their articles will almost always be printed without any editing, so they stick in all sorts of additional tidbits (aka brag points). In fact, some feel entitled to have their press releases printed without so much as a paragraph deleted, even if the paragraph is part of the standard "look how great I am" section at the end of the release. See the next article below, for one example. This is compounded when the advertisers keeping a publication afloat are also the ones most frequently submitting the press releases. When artists, promoters and record labels are providing 90% of your operating cash, you tend to keep them happy. Unfortunately, the net result is a less credible publication. A continual stream of hype is not "news." It shouldn't be the reader's job to sort the beef from the bull. Right now, a website that publishes a well edited, unbiased version of the news will really stand out from the pack. It would also be refreshing to see a news story that's researched and reported without the aid of press releases from time to time. Why is there this notion that a story isn't news until a statement is issued by one of the involved parties? I'm not advocating digging around in the personal matters of artists, but I see nothing wrong with reporting something that has been announced from stage, for example, before an "official" press release is published. I'm also amazed that some websites even attempt to enforce a copyright on press releases they've copied word for word. Aren't press releases, by nature, designed to be redistributed? When it comes to websites on the internet, many are staffed by volunteers and not bouyed by much advertising . . . just a genuine love for the music and a desire to be a pro-active, involved fan. I can see extending those some slack on their journalism skills, but the tables are turning. I challenge the volunteer sites to rise to a higher standard. You don't have an obligation to advertisers right now. If you go ahead and set your standards, you won't have any guilt when the readers and advertisers come your way in the future. Yes, some people who send you press releases will complain if you edit them . . . but at least you won't be a party to stretching the facts in the name of "reporting the news."
October 4, 2004Is this "media bias?"I was pleased to hear about a Southern Gospel countdown program being added to XM radio a few weeks ago. Because it was announced to begin in September, I've been periodically checking the America (Ch. 10) schedule over at www.xmradio.com as well as the content provider's website at www.sgusa.com. Today, when I visited the latter site, I saw that a rant by Gary Wilson had been added regarding "media bias" in Southern Gospel. You can read it here . . . I get a real kick out of reading rants, for some reason. The article boils down to two complaints. When Wilson sent out his press release last month, one site wouldn't print it because Wilson didn't have a reciprocal link on his website. I agree with Wilson on that one. That's a stupid excuse. Any site claiming to provide SG news should publish the news regardless of whether any mutual back scratching is taking place. Another un-named "established" site did the unthinkable, though . . . and the irony of the situation is that this seemed to get under Wilson's skin the most . . . they omitted a paragraph! The horror! Just for kicks, I checked and promptly found the article with the paragraph missing in the "News" section of the Singing News website. (I'm not sure why Wilson didn't just go ahead and name the offending party in his editorial. It took me all of three minutes to end my speculation.) Here's the part that was snipped . . . This latest marketing success for the multi-award winning Gospel broadcaster puts the Southern Gospel USA Countdown Show on a higher plateau, and definitely raises the bar for other programs to follow. No other Southern Gospel radio program is featured on radio affiliates, websites, the American Forces Radio Network, and XM Radio. So essentially, the Singing News failed to relay the press release's dubious claim that the SGUSA Countdown is the most accomplished SG countdown program on the planet. Sorry, but I don't see any room for griping there. All the relevant information in the release, including quotes from both Wilson and the XM radio representative were included. There's no "bias" being exhibited when that paragraph is omitted. Wilson says he was told they were trying to trim the length of press releases (which IS a silly excuse), but I suspect they're actually trying to trim out the excessive bragging that frequently gets inserted into press releases as "news." The truly annoying thing about the whole situation is that the original press release was wrong. The program did not begin airing in September, and now that it's October, there's still no firm date for when the program will begin to air on XM channel 10. Why would two business entities announce a joint agreement if they weren't ready to roll with it? And when it became evident that the start date would be weeks later than originally announced, why was there no second press release to clarify the situation? I would have been more impressed with a candid comment or two . . . brief, by the way . . . as to the fact that the program would be coming out later than expected. Don't get me wrong, though. I loved reading the rant. I have more to say about the way press releases are handled by the SG media, but that rant of my own will appear as a seperate article.
October 1, 2004Great Southern Gospel RadioI rode up to Hickory, NC earlier today to waste time roaming around the mall, Best Buy, Media Play, etc., so I had the opportunity to listen to the Winston-Salem based Joy-FM while I was in my car. This station is at 88.1 in the Hickory area, and they do radio right . . . a real rarity for Southern Gospel. They keep the music coming, for one thing . . . plus, they provide an excellent mix of selections, announcing the artists every three songs or so. I was under the impression they were a commercial station based on the ads they were running, but their website indicates it's a listener supported station. Any aspiring Southern Gospel DJ reading this would do well to listen to the feed from Joy-FM and hear how Southern Gospel radio is supposed to sound. See: http://www.joyfm.org/ (Granted, they could improve their website design considerably.) Folks in the middle of NC are fortunate to have a great sounding SG radio station available 24/7. Now if they would just get a translator tower that could reach into my area.
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