Who saw 106 & Gospel on Sunday?  It was pretty darn good, I think.

Mr. Del was on there, rappin’… I didn’t care so much for that, but that’s mostly cuz I’m not a big gospel hip-hop person.  But I LOVED his interview– he gave his testimony about getting out of Three 6 Mafia and the gang situation in Memphis… very inspiring and great for youth (and adults, actually)!

And you KNOW I enjoyed some shufflin’ and squallin’ from Shari Addison, singing “Please Make Me Better Lord.”  That woman can GO and she KNOWS it.  Plus, she did a great interview– nice and bubbly personality.  Fun stuff.

Who else saw it?

Word has it that BET is fixin’ to launch another gospel-themed spin-off program… Gospel Comic View: A Time to Laugh.  The show will be hosted by Vickie Winans.  Open-call auditions will be held THIS WEDNESDAY, February 25th, at Uptown Comedy Center in Marietta, GA.

Okay, BET, tread lightly.  Just cuz 106 & Gospel has taken off and we’re feelin’ it DOES NOT mean that you’re guaranteed success in the gospel comedy area (primarily cuz we don’t even like gospel comedy that much).

Now, having said that, I dare not discourage y’all from watching.  I think we all should.  I, for one, will be watching for the following reasons: (1) I’m supporting all things GOSPEL, (2) Vickie Winans is hilarious to me and, even if the comedians don’t bring it, SHE will! LOL

What do y’all think???

Finally!  The taping I went to a few weeks ago aired yesterday. It featured James Fortune & FIYA and Damita Haddon.

James Fortune sang his hit, “I Trust You.”  The song has been #1 at radio for 27 weeks!  Awesome energy, awesome response from the audience.  And great interview.  Damita Haddon also did a great interview. She spoke well about dressing modestly while still being herself.  She’s cool. YAY Damita!  Plus, her performance was great. And shout-out to my childhood buddy, Toni, on the bgv’s!

In her “Lifestyle” segment, Kierra Sheard gave some nice clothing tips for the young ladies.  Who’s the lifestyle correspondent for the dudes???

And can I quickly mention that I love what Juda Camp has done for the house choir songs?  Me likey!

Anyone wanna weigh in?

What in the world?!

Everyone was confused about who was gonna be on the show this weekend.  The cable guide said Crystal Aikin & Canton Jones, press and media said Damita and ‘em.  In reality, Tye Tribbett was on.

He performed “So Amazing,” with his usual energy and charisma.  He also did a good interview, which featured his wife and a chat about how she deals with all that energy!

A bonus for us:  We got to hear nearly two minutes of an original song from Juda Camp (the current house choir) DURING the show.  Awesome!  I secretly think someone at BET is checkin’ this site and adopting our suggestions…

They also showed the entirety of the featured music videos now, as opposed to the snippets they’d been showing.  Much appreciated.

Aaaaand the choir battle:

Voices of Promise sang a song called “Time Is Moving.”  They’re a nice youth choir with a kinda “Brooklyn choir” sound.  Age-appropriate and cool.  The other choir, Youth On Fire, sang a song called “Thank You.” 

All in all, 106 & Gospel is not disappointing me at all.  It’s become a part of my regular Sunday rotation.

Who else saw it?  Comments???

Y’all remember how I went to a taping of 106 & Gospel a couple of weeks ago?  And how Damita Haddon and James Fortune & FIYA were on that show?

That episode airs THIS SUNDAY.  So, check it out cuz it was good.  We’ll chat about it on Monday.

Anyone watch Bobby Jones Gospel yesterday?

I dunno if I enjoyed the line-up, though I typically enjoy the artists individually.  I DID, however, enjoy watching Damita Haddon.  It was Damita Haddon WEEKEND for me!  LOL.  Anyway, she and her background vocalists sounded great.  Good stuff.  I feel fanaticism creeping in…

On the Generation Gospel front, I didn’t like this episode as much as previous ones, but it was consistent.

I’ll note that the “Tye’s Tidbits” section was rather bare on the… bits.  Now that January is over, there’s not as much to talk about in the gospel industry for a minute.  Everyone is recuperating from the Stellars.

And what the heck were they talking about on the “J Sells” segment with Jermaine Sellers?  On his left was some 32-year old lady talking about being pure and how she can help everyone with their own purity, and on his right was African-American bestseller, Zane, who has been dubbed “The Queen of Erotic Fiction,” and has just released a new book, the title of which I cannot, in good conscience, say on this blog.  What exactly was the take-away from this segment???

The performances were cool: Spensha Baker sang her remake of the Clark Sisters’ “Hallelujah.”  To be only 15 years old, she’s got a VOICE on her!  And Marvin Winans, Jr. performed and did an interview, too.  Cool.

Like I said in my earlier post, Juda Camp won the choir battle, so they’re the new house choir.  I still want them to sing DURING the show, not just as we go to commercial breaks, but if you like it, I love it.

Thoughts, anyone???

At the 106 & Gospel taping, I got to hang out with Damita Haddon.  She’s absolutely HILARIOUS and incredibly down-to-earth.

As we were talking in her dressing room, her background singers came in… one of ‘em is a childhood friend that I used to sing with in the Soul Children of Chicago over 13 years ago!  SMALL world!  Shout-out to Toni Stephens.  Great to see ya!

Damita did a great interview (for the record, who you see on TV is who she is behind closed doors, which is great to see) and she did a great performance of her single, “No Looking Back,” from her recent solo album of the same name.  I encourage you ALL to check out that album cuz it is reeeeaaaally good and ridiculously underappreciated in the industry.  In particular, check out the title track, check out “Pray,” check out “I Won’t Complain” (you’ve never heard it so mellow and so right).

Actually, watch her video for “No Looking Back” here:

What do y’all think???

MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR shout-out to Jojo Pada of Ignition PR for, among other things, inviting me to kick it with y’all.  We had a gooooooood time, as always!

Over the weekend, I went to one of several tapings of 106 & Gospel (the new name of our favorite new show, 106 & Park Presents: Generation Gospel).  Actually, they’ve been calling it 106 & Gospel for a minute now, but it’s all official now, with a new logo and everything.  But BET has heard our cries and made some changes.

They probably have a few shows left from their last production run, so we’ll be seeing the “older” stuff for a few more weeks, but stay tuned cuz I think BET’s heading in the right direction.

First, and most important to me: THAT YOUTH CHOIR IS OUT.  LOL

Deep down inside, I kinda believe that someone saw me blasting it and decided it had to be over.  If you watched the show yesterday, you saw that Juda Camp is the new house choir.  Remember them?  They were the choir in the choir battle that sang to a track and did a lot of dancing.  Well, they won and they’re singing sho’ nuff now… and they’ve got a new song that brings us in and out of commercials. It’s better, though, for real.  WORLDS better.

Jor’el and Angel are still doing their thing.  I’ve always thought, and still believe, that he was more comfortable in this role than she is, but she’s warmed up a lot.

All in all, I think BET is really trying to listen to everyone’s feedback and make the show better.  I think you’ll be pleased with the result.  Upcoming performances include Canton Jones, Crystal Aikin, Damita Haddon, James Fortune & FIYA, Tye Tribbett and more.  Make sure you stay tuned!

Guess who’s going to a taping of 106 & Park Generation Gospel???

I’ll tell you how it went next week, but you KNOW I’m gonna talk to someone about that youth choir when I get there.

And, uhh… as usual, watch some gospel programming over the weekend.  There won’t be as much as this past Sunday, but we’ll be talking about it anyway.

The Stellar Awards are airing in more cities this weekend.  The awesome folks at GospelFlava have graciously compiled a list of airdates: http://www.gospelflava.com/stellar/stellar2009airdates.pdf.

Oh, I almost forgot because I reeaaaally don’t follow sports, but…  SUPERBOWL! Yay!

That means that the Superbowl Gospel Celebration is happening TONIGHT in Tampa, FL.  Now in its 10th year, the concert will feature Donnie McClurkin, Marvin Sapp, Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker… and the football players choir.  Okay, that’s not the name.  LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHATEVER.  I’m fighting a cold and I’m giving this post all the energy I can muster!

Have a great weekend!

Did y’all watch 106 & Park Presents: Generation Gospel yesterday?  It was pretty good, again.

Guest artists were Da’ T.R.U.T.H. and Kirk Franklin.  Both gave good performances that the audience REALLY loved, and both gave some great interviews.

Also pretty cool was seeing Cheryl “Salt” James (from Salt-N-Pepa) on the “Guess Who’s Back In Church” segment.  Her testimony was awesome and relevant for the youth, I think.

Still don’t like the concept of that youth choir, but they sounded a bit better this week.  I guess when you do it so much… “gen-er-a-shun gos-puuuuuuuhhhhhlllllll…..”

* * * * *

And, on Bobby Jones Gospel, I can’t really remember anything except that DORINDA CLARK-COLE did some gooooooood singing!  She did “Make Me Real” and “Take Me Back,” and she sang like nobody’s business on both of ‘em.

What did y’all think?