Powerhouse vocalist Ann Nesby is back in the music lab, working on her 7th studio album, to be titled Annthology and released in 2012.
She recently shared her first single from the project, “Alright.” It sounds like classic Ann Nesby from Sounds of Blackness days, which is always a good thing!
Check it out (requires Flash)–
Malaco Music Group announced yesterday that it has signed Grammy-winning group Sounds Of Blackness.
Their newest single, “Fly Again” goes to radio at the top of August, but you can listen to it NOW on the Pundit Player below!
The tune features Jamecia Bennett on lead vocals. She’s the daughter of Sounds of Blackness mainstay vocalist Ann Nesby, and mother of American Idol Top 5 contestant Paris Bennett.
The upcoming self-titled CD, Sounds of Blackness, will be released later this year, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the group’s debut album, The Evolution of Gospel (which featured the crossover hit “Optimistic”), and the 40th anniversary of the group’s inception.
I have a special place in my heart for Sounds of Blackness– some of their early work forms pieces of the soundtrack of my life. LOVE ‘em!
Don’t forget to check out the single on the Pundit Player!
***BREAKING NEWS***
The 52nd annual GRAMMY Awards are being held tonight, but the winners in the gospel categories were JUST ANNOUNCED at the pre-show.
My predictions were pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I was 5 for 7 in the gospel categories!!!
The winners in the gospel-related categories are highlighted in GREEN below (if I was wrong in my prediction, my earlier predictions are still there in yellow).
The winners are…
Best Gospel Performance
“Free To Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli
Track from: Free To Be Me
“Jesus Is Love” by Heather Headley feat. Smokie Norful
Track from: Audience Of One
“I Believe” by Jonny Lang w/ Fisk Jubilee Singers
Track from: Oh Happy Day
“Wait On The Lord” by Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard
Track from: We All Are One
“Born Again” by Third Day
Track from: Revelation
Best Gospel Song
“Born Again” - Tai Anderson, David Carr, Mark Lee & Mac Powell, songwriters (Third Day)
“City On Our Knees” – Cary Barlowe, Toby McKeehan & Jaime Moore, songwriters (TobyMac)
“Every Prayer” – Dayna Caddell, Israel Houghton, Aaron Lindsey & Ricardo Sanchez, songwriters (Israel Houghton & Mary Mary)
“God In Me” – Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell & Warryn Campbell, songwriters (Mary Mary)
“The Motions” – Jason Houser, Sam Mizell & Matthew West, songwriters (Matthew West)
Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album
The Big Picture - Da’ T.R.U.T.H.
Crash - Decyfer Down
Innocence & Instinct - Red
Live Revelations - Third Day
The Dash – John Wells-The Tonic
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
Speaking Louder Than Before - Jeremy Camp
The Power Of One - Israel Houghton
The Long Fall Back To Earth - Jars Of Clay
Love Is On The Move - Leeland
Freedom - Mandisa
Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album
Jason Crabb - Jason Crabb
Dream On - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
The Rock - Tracy Lawrence
In God’s Time - Barry Scott & Second Wind
Everyday - Triumphant Quest
Best Traditional Gospel Album
God Don’t Never Change - Ashley Cleveland
The Law Of Confession, Pt. 1 - Donald Lawrence & Co.
Oh Happy Day - Various Artists
The Journey Continues - The Williams Brothers
How I Got Over - Vickie Winans
Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album
Audience Of One - Heather Headley
Renewed - Sheri Jones-Moffett
Just James - J Moss
Smokie Norful LIVE - Smokie Norful
Bold Right Life - Kierra Sheard
Congrats to all of ya!
Aaaaand, just FYI– in a poll asking who YOU wanted to win for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album, you guys picked Kierra Sheard. The full break-down:
Kierra Sheard – 41% (90 votes)
J Moss – 23% (51 votes)
Smokie Norful – 20% (44 votes)
Sheri Jones-Moffett – 10% (21 votes)
Heather Headley – 7% (15 votes)
Gospel Artists Nominated In Non-Gospel Categories:
I was 3 for 3 in these predictions!!!
Tonex was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for his single “Blend” (Unspoken), but as I predicted, it went to India.Arie.
Ann Nesby’s “Sow Love” (The Lula Lee Project) was nominated in Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. As I predicted, it went to Beyonce for “At Last.”
Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters were nominated in the Best R&B Performance By Group/Duo with Vocals category for their performance of “Higher Ground” (Oh Happy Day), as were Ann Nesby & Calvin Richardson, but as I predicted, it went to Jamie Foxx and T-Pain for “Blame It.”
That’s the full deal, folks! What do you think of the winners list???
Okay, buddies, it’s that time of year again. The GRAMMY Awards telecast is this Sunday, January 31st at 8pm ET/PT on CBS.
With that, it’s time for my predictions. These were REALLY tough and I changed ‘em numerous times over the course of the past two weeks. I’m finally at peace about them (for today), so I’m posting them before I change my mind again. LOL
Before I give ‘em, I wanna make two disclaimers–
(1) My predictions do NOT necessarily reflect my preferences, nor do they reflect who I ACTUALLY voted for on the GRAMMY ballot this year. They’re predictions… and nothing more.
(2) The winner is often based on popularity. Plain and simple. Now, NARAS (the voting body) has gotten much better about this, even making all of the nominated music available for online listening so that we can make educated votes, but it’s still an uphill climb. My predictions are based on how I believe the majority voted and that requires consideration of who’s most popular within the entire music biz.
Without further delay, here goes…
Best Gospel Performance
“Free To Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli
Track from: Free To Be Me
“Jesus Is Love” by Heather Headley feat. Smokie Norful
Track from: Audience Of One
“I Believe” by Jonny Lang w/ Fisk Jubilee Singers
Track from: Oh Happy Day
“Wait On The Lord” by Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard
Track from: We All Are One
“Born Again” by Third Day
Track from: Revelation
This is a tough one, fresh out of the gate. I’m thinking it’s gonna go to Heather Headley and Smokie Norful for a couple of reasons– folks adore “Jesus Is Love” and the song has carried mainstream significance for decades. Similarly, Heather Headley carries mainstream voting power with her, despite the fact that it was a gospel project. And, all that aside, their duet was quite good.
Best Gospel Song
“Born Again” - Tai Anderson, David Carr, Mark Lee & Mac Powell, songwriters (Third Day)
“City On Our Knees” – Cary Barlowe, Toby McKeehan & Jaime Moore, songwriters (TobyMac)
“Every Prayer” – Dayna Caddell, Israel Houghton, Aaron Lindsey & Ricardo Sanchez, songwriters (Israel Houghton & Mary Mary)
“God In Me” – Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell & Warryn Campbell, songwriters (Mary Mary)
“The Motions” – Jason Houser, Sam Mizell & Matthew West, songwriters (Matthew West)
I’m betting on The Marys for this one. The success and popularity of “God In Me” was like a runaway train– it was played everywhere, performed everywhere, talked about everywhere… and with good reason. I expect this GRAMMY to be the culmination of over a year’s worth of rather deserved acclaim.
Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album
The Big Picture - Da’ T.R.U.T.H.
Crash - Decyfer Down
Innocence & Instinct - Red
Live Revelations - Third Day
The Dash – John Wells-The Tonic
As much as I enjoy Da’ T.R.U.T.H.’s project, I don’t think he’ll nab this one. I’m actually torn on this, between Third Day and Decyfer Down… ultimately, I chose Third Day cuz they’re more of a household name.
Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album
Speaking Louder Than Before - Jeremy Camp
The Power Of One - Israel Houghton
The Long Fall Back To Earth - Jars Of Clay
Love Is On The Move - Leeland
Freedom - Mandisa
Another REALLY hard one for me… Jars Of Clay, Jeremy Camp and Israel are established artists with great music and big followings. Mandisa and Leeland are newer, but just as popular in many circles, and also making some great music. I have NO PEACE about this, but I’m predicting Mandisa. She has a good project and her widespread exposure (added to her lingering American Idol popularity) may tip the scales in her favor here.
Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album
Jason Crabb - Jason Crabb
Dream On - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
The Rock - Tracy Lawrence
In God’s Time - Barry Scott & Second Wind
Everyday - Triumphant Quest
I never have ANY clue when it comes to this category, cuz it’s just not my thing. That said, I do know that Jason Crabb is one to watch right now, and I believe it’s because of this project. That said, my money’s on Jason Crabb.
Best Traditional Gospel Album
God Don’t Never Change - Ashley Cleveland
The Law Of Confession, Pt. 1 - Donald Lawrence & Co.
Oh Happy Day - Various Artists
The Journey Continues - The Williams Brothers
How I Got Over - Vickie Winans
This is another tough call. Donald Lawrence is simply incredible and he definitely deserves an award, in my opinion, but I fear that voters may not have agreed with his placement in the “traditional gospel” category… on that grounds, is it the best traditional project? Maybe not… I predict the Oh Happy Day compilation. It successfully brought together heavyweights in gospel and mainstream music to commemorate one of the most popular gospel songs in history. It’s hard to ignore that.
Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album
Audience Of One - Heather Headley
Renewed - Sheri Jones-Moffett
Just James - J Moss
Smokie Norful LIVE - Smokie Norful
Bold Right Life - Kierra Sheard
First of all, shout-out to EMI Gospel for having 4 of 5 the artists in this category. That said, I’m QUITE unsettled about this one. Ultimately, I predict that Heather Headley will grab it– she has a nice voice, an album that lots of folks enjoyed, and popularity in the mainstream. In my opinion, her album was not the best out of this group and I didn’t know that so many people would vote for it. But I’m inclined to believe that if she got enough votes to get a nomination, she just may have gotten enough to get the win.
Gospel Artists Nominated In Non-Gospel Categories:
Tonex was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for his single “Blend” (Unspoken), and he might win that, but I also see an India.Arie nod in the same category and she will probably nab the award.
Ann Nesby’s “Sow Love” (The Lula Lee Project) is nominated in Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (dunno why), but I’m fairly certain that Beyonce’s rendition of “At Last” will win in that category.
Robert Randolph & The Clark Sisters are nominated in the Best R&B Performance By Group/Duo with Vocals category for their performance of “Higher Ground” (Oh Happy Day), as is Ann Nesby for a Bobby Womack collabo, but I kinda expect the win to go to Jamie Foxx and T-Pain for “Blame It”.
OKAY. Those are my predictions for the 2010 GRAMMY Awards. For the full list of nominees in all categories, visit the GRAMMY website here.
What do you think???
Okay, as promised… my thorough (albeit delayed) recap of last night’s episode of Sunday Best… generally: good show.
We FINALLY got to see Donald Lawrence on camera. Everyone was saying he was the backstage coach/mentor, but we hadn’t seem him YET, so I’m glad he got some screen time.
Ann Nesby ended the show with her performance of “I Found A Place,” the single from her latest album, The Lula Lee Project. Alright jazzy lady! Great voice, great look. Fine for me.
The wildcard contestant was Zebulon Ellis, which I was actually okay with. I was slightly disappointed cuz I wanted to see more of Clifton Ross III, but it’s cool. I think Clifton will do well, in God’s timing, in spite of that. Plus, Zebulon ain’t a bad vocalist anyhow!!
Zebulon Ellis – “A Song For You”: He has a nice voice and he did well, but I didn’t enjoy this performance as much as others probably did. The melody is classic, so I didn’t want his rendition to be so varied from the original. It’s cool to “make it your own,” but… I dunno. BeBe said “you took it away from Donnie [Hathaway]“. I firmly disagree. No one has ever taken ANY song away from Donnie Hathaway. Again, though, good vocalist.
Jessica Reedy – “Just As I Am”: She is just so doggone incredible to me! She looked great (again) and brought the sincerity, the worship, the rawness (with a polished presentation)– again, I want my album NOW. I agree with BeBe when he said “tone will tear me down.” It is ALL about this woman’s tone and choices. She rocks and I cannot wait to hear more from her. She’s my favorite and I’m sure y’all know that by now.
John McClure – “You Are My Life”-etc.: An incredibly great song from Fred Hammond, which turned into a medley of sorts. Not the best we’ve heard from him. It was very very good, but it didn’t provide the same “wowwww” factor as the other contestants have been giving us. BeBe said it well: “quiet storm,” meaning that he didn’t give it to us with all the stomps, shouts and whistles that other contestants give, but he did well. But was it well ENOUGH?
Latice Crawford – “Reach Out And Touch Somebody’s Hand”: I did NOT like the song choice until the vamp, which she killed, as usual! Her voice was hoarse, but she yanked those notes from SOMEwhere. She’s awesome, and there’s no denying it. I hope her voice holds up for the coming shows.
Dontavies Boatwright – “How Great Is Our God” [Editor's Note: I JUST talked about this song in my first Across The Aisle post about Chris Tomlin, remember??? Click here to see that again]: I like his voice a lot. I wanted him to deviate a bit and play with the melody more– it’s a simple worship chant, so there was plenty of room to be more creative with it. That said, I want him in the industry, kinda to become the new generation of soaring crooners in gospel. We like you, Dontavies.
Y’Anna Crawley – “Waiting On The World To Change”: This song wasn’t built with the room to kill it like Y’Anna has demolished songs in the past, but she MADE spaces in which to demonstrate her ability anyhow! That makes for a great artist, in my opinion. She was polished and seasoned, as always, and she looked great. Great job.
So, those were the contestants. I think I feel some kinda way about the show having them do so many mainstream/R&B songs… there’s AMPLE material in gospel music to have these gospel singers sing gospel songs on the gospel talent competition. And I’m not hating on other genres cuz my iPod is full of a wide range of music, AND I’m not saying that the songs couldn’t be re-interpreted to be about Jesus… but… we haven’t run out of gospel stuff yet, have we?
In any case, the finalists were Jessica Reedy, Zebulon Ellis, Latice Crawford and Y’Anna Crawley. I’m incredibly pleased, though I kinda wasn’t expecting four contestants to be finalists (thought we’d go down to three), nor was I expecting Zebulon to be among them, quite honestly. Still, great show and I’m cool with all of the judges picks. EACH ONE of these singers are phenomenal vocalists and could hold their own on most stages, so I’m kinda excited to see what happens.
SUPER SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT to my awesome guest Twitter-er. This special individual kept the conversation fresh and stimulating and I appreciate it! Thanks! 
Some of you have already let me know your thoughts on my earlier post today, but what does everyone else think???
Earlier this week, Byron Cage took a minute to chat with me to discuss his upcoming LIVE recording in Detroit on March 13th!
We had a great convo about what folks can expect from this new album, how he’s developed as an artist, and I even got a couple of tidbits of random trivia about him. He’s a personable and friendly guy… I rather enjoyed him. I hope you enjoy the interview…. Here’s Byron Cage.
* * *
EJ: How are you?
BC: I’m good, how about you?
EJ: I’m great. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
BC: Oh yeah, thank you.
EJ: I wanna jump right in and talk about this upcoming recording that’s got everybody buzzing. I wanna know what you’ve got planned for the people! You’re going to Detroit, March 13th…
BC: Yes! March 13th.
EJ: Talk to me about returning back there.
BC: Oh man, you know, that’s my hometown. I was born in Grand Rapids, but Detroit is where I consider home. I was there for junior high school, high school, college… and I grew up in Detroit during the “golden era” of gospel music. You had people like Donald Vails, Thomas Whitfield… I sang background for Thomas Whitfield. Donald Vails was the minister of music at my church, Fred Hammond played the bass guitar there, I directed the choir. Then, you have the Clark Sisters, the Winans, Rudolph Stanfield, Esther Smith, so many incredible artists… Rance Allen. The concerts used to be amazing!
EJ: I can only imagine!
BC: Yeah, I grew up in that. And even once I started in the industry… a lot of people don’t know that I sang background vocals on one of Commissioned’s albums, Will You Be Ready?
So, I look at the history of all of that, you know, the whole Detroit connection… and now I’m going back home to do my 6th recording. I’m just so thankful that I’ve lasted in this time and people still wanna hear the ministry.
EJ: What’s the direction of this album?
BC: It’s a hard-hitting, praise and worship, Sunday morning, Wednesday night Bible Study, revival, on the treadmill, in your car… it’s all of that.
EJ: I love it!
BC: Yeah, it’s gonna be one of those CDs that you’re going to want to just get your groove on, get your worship on… there’s just such a wide variety of music on this one.
EJ: Awesome. Do you have any guest artists coming?
BC: I do, indeed. One, I can’t name yet. We were trying to work out Pastor Marvin Sapp, but it didn’t work out for this one. But, thank God, Pastor Marvin Winans is doing a song with me, my boy Tye Tribbett is coming to do a song I wrote called “In The Midst” with me… it’s gonna be a great time.
It’s being produced by the 2009 Stellar Award Producer of the Year, Aaron Lindsey.
EJ: Well, we KNOW that’s gonna be hot.
BC: Yeah, and we’ve got some great writers. And the songs are just phenomenal. I believe it’s gonna touch the lives of people in a special way.
EJ: Nice, do you have background singers already lined-up?
BC: Yeah, I’m using 3 of my background singers and I’m pulling 9 singers from Detroit. You know, they say “it’s in the water in Detroit,” *laughs* so if I’m going home, there’s no sense in me bringing a whole aggregation of singers with me, ’cause there are so many great singers there in Detroit.
It’s gonna be like a big homecoming there, you know? On March 13th, all roads are leading to Second Ebenezer Baptist Church and we’re just looking forward to the Lord doing something magnificent through the praise and worship that evening.
EJ: You have a title yet?
BC: You know, we’re teeter-tottering. I was thinking about calling it ”In The Midst,” but then I wrote this song with Aaron Lindsey… I just wanna do cartwheels when I hear that song! So, I don’t know.
EJ: *laughs*
BC: *laughing* I’m just grateful that it’s on MY record, you know what I’m saying? Because if I heard it on someone else’s record, I’d be like “maaan…” *laughs*
EJ: Right!
BC: But, I’m really looking forward to it.
EJ: That’s great, man. Tell me: how do you feel that you have evolved as an artist? What, if anything, is different about you on this album, musically or ministry-wise?
BC: Well, you know, I started out in the industry pretty much as a very creative artist. I produced my first two records and I thank God for them because they kind of established me as an artist. Both projects were nominated for Stellars, though neither of them won. But when I got to GospoCentric, Vicki Mack Lataillade wanted to move me out of the “Byron Cage & Purpose” era and she just wanted to sign me as a solo artist, a praise and worship leader. I said, “I don’t know if the church is ready for praise and worship,” and she was like “are you kidding me? Did you see what happened when you did ‘Shabach’ with Full Gospel Baptist? All the Baptist churches had praise teams the next year!”
EJ: *laughing*
BC: So, the next song I wrote was “Yet Praise Him,” and she signed me. We were having creative battles at first because I wanted to stay in that group setting and she didn’t want that. She brought in Kurt Carr, a phenomenal writer and great producer, and he wrote “The Presence of the Lord Is Here” for me and the rest is history.
The next record had “I Will Bless The Lord” and, though that record was wonderful and it was a blessing, it was somewhat hurtful to me as well. Brother Isaiah Thomas, who is a very talented writer, his original form of that song had different words. I wrote all the words over because I wanted to add more scripture to it. And when it won “Song of the Year,” of course I didn’t get any accolade as being co-writer of the song. But the Lord showed me something, as I evolved in the music business of what we do, and I understood that there are just certain things that you don’t do. If you wanna change the words to a song, you gotta let people know, you gotta sign agreements… so that was something that I learned from it.
With The Proclamation, I wrote the majority of the songs on that one and I’ve just watched this whole musical ministry go from writing for a group to praise and worship… For this upcoming album, I wrote a song called “Goodbye,” which just deals with relationships and people and strongholds that have tried to hinder you… I’m saying ”Goodbye” to them in 2009. And that’s a growth for me, because I’ve never written a song like that.
EJ: Wow. That’s awesome. You’ve also managed to feature a bunch of incredible guest artists on your albums. Who have you NOT yet worked with that you are dying to have on one of your albums?
BC: Hmmm… Man, I have so many favorites. Of course, Karen Clark-Sheard has been one of my favorites of all time.
EJ: Absolutely!
BC: I love her ministry. I think if there was someone I would have loved to have on this upcoming record, it would have been… like, Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Some of these up-and-coming singers are really incredible, too, like Nikki Ross. Oh, and I would love to get up there and go toe-to-toe, although I couldn’t, with Kierra Sheard! *laughs*
EJ: Oh, she’s ridiculous. I just saw her on the BMI Trailblazers thing and I just had to stare at the screen, like “this is unreal.”
BC: Yeah, and she did a hard song. I think she did “Jesus Is A Love Song,” right?
EJ: Yeah, man. It was incredible.
BC: Oh, she ABSOLUTELY tore it up.
EJ: Most definitely. After your break-out hit, “The Presence of the Lord Is Here,” you were practically swept up into a whirlwind of success– tons of performance spots, a bunch of awards. On the more personal side, how do you stay grounded? Are you the same “Byron”?
BC: You know what? I stay grounded because I’m a minister of music of a church. I’ve been here at Ebenezer AME, in Fort Washington, Maryland, for 11 years and these jokers know how to keep me grounded!
EJ: *laughs* It’s like THAT?!
BC: *laughing* They don’t consider me “The Prince of Praise,” or “Byron Cage the Artist.” Some visitors come to church and they want to take pictures or get autographs, but for the most part, like… I’m at church now and getting ready to go to choir rehearsal in a few hours.
EJ: Really?
BC: Yeah, my Male Chorus rehearsal is tonight and those brothers, they don’t even consider me an artist. They just consider me “Byron” and we have a blast. So, I think that having pastors and a church where I can stay grounded, work, and be connected while serving God’s people, it all helps me to be appreciative when I can go out and do concerts and meet people.
That’s what keeps me humble. And to know… first of all, I didn’t record “The Presence of the Lord Is Here” until I was 41.
EJ: What?!
BC: Yeah, man. So to know that the Lord can bring you to a place, after holding you back in a certain area… when it was His time to really bring me forth, it took no time at all.
EJ: That’s the truth.
BC: And you sit there and it becomes surreal. You just say “God, thank you so much because I don’t know that I could have handled it in my twenties.”
EJ: That’s incredible. I had no idea that you were 41 when that song took off. That means you’ve been doing this for a while now.
BC: Absolutely. People don’t understand that I was a background singer first. I was in Michael Matthews’ first play back in 1984, I was in Tyler Perry’s very first play, “I Know I’ve Been Changed.”
EJ: No way!
BC: Yeah, man. It was starring me, Shun Pace and Ann Nesby.
EJ: You know, it’s funny that you mention stuff from back in the day cuz I VIVIDLY remember a certain episode of The Cosby Show…
BC: *laughing* Yep!
EJ: And I’ve got proof of it on my DVD box set, where you were singing in a choir behind good ol’ Claire Huxtable!
BC: You know what’s so funny about that, man? It took us all day to film that scene and they originally had me in the last row to the right. They dismissed everyone but the choir because they wanted to do the song over again, I was the only person they moved and they moved me right behind Phylicia Rashad! I just think that was the favor of the Lord because even back then, and that was back in 1986 *screams*, but I think “God, Almighty!”
The journey that I have had to go has not always been easy. But I am so thankful to God that I stayed and I didn’t lose heart when everybody else counted me out and said “he’s not this, he’s not that,” and… just know that if you’re faithful to the Lord, He will make you the ruler over many so that no one else can take credit for what God does.
EJ: That’s great stuff, man. I’m trying to be mindful of your time… do we have time for some quick getting-to-know-you questions?
BC: Yeah, sure!
EJ: Okay, fill in the blanks. Many folks would be surprised to learn that Byron Cage loves __________________.
BC: to ride my motorcycle.
EJ: Seriously?
BC: Yeah, I’ve got a Harley Davidson Soft Tail Classic.
EJ: Ok, that’s dangerous…
BC: *laughing*
EJ: What’s with the Detroit people and motorcycles? You, Fred Hammond…
BC: Yeah, but he’s got more than I have. I’ve just got that one big hog. He’s got like four or five.
EJ: Okay, next one. Byron Cage is at the airport, on his way to his dream vacation. He’s on a direct flight to __________________.
BC: Whoooooo! TAHITI!
EJ: *laughs* Yeah?
BC: Mmm-hmmm! Never been.
EJ: Ok. When the dessert menu comes around, Byron Cage hopes it’ll have __________________ on it.
BC: *quickly* ICE WATER cuz I don’t need the carbs, or the sugar, or the fat grams!
EJ: What?! No. That’s not dessert!
BC: *laughing* I am just not a “sweets” person anymore. Sweets don’t agree with me– they cut off the blood circulation to my belly button when I put my belt on, so I had to let it go. If it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, I might do some red velvet cake or peach cobbler. But for the most part, I’m not a “sweet” person.
EJ: I hear you. I wish more gospel artists would preach THAT!
BC: Right, exactly.
EJ: Ok, last one. Let Byron Cage loose in a shopping mall and the first place he’ll be is __________________.
BC: Oooh. The first place I’ll be in a shopping mall will be Neiman Marcus.
EJ: They’re kinda expensive aren’t they? Their catalog has, like… cars for $50,000 in it.
BC: I know, they’re crazy but you can catch them on some good days, too. Catch the “20 or 30 percent off” sales. I paid full price for a couple of Paul Smith jackets that were kind of expensive, but for the most part… yeah, man… I’m a sales king. I don’t like payin’ full price!
EJ: I ain’t mad at that. One last question, on a more serious note, what is your message as an artist? At the end of the concert, or when the last track on the iPod is over, what do you hope people will know about you as it relates to your ministry?
BC: I pray that, when it’s over, people will know that I am a man of God who loves to worship the Lord, and my heart’s desire is that whatever has been given to me, I want to be a blessing to God’s people. Whether that’s through salvation, healing, encouragement, I want people to leave with the authentic feeling that God has spoken to them right where they need it. And they’re encouraged to go on in the journey.
EJ: Sounds good to me. Man, I’m excited for this album. I think it’s going to be good and I hope the recording goes well.
BC: I appreciate it, EJ. And I appreciate you for doing this for me.
EJ: It was my pleasure and, hopefully, we’ll talk soon.
BC: Okay.
EJ: Take care.
BC: Alright, bye-bye.
* * *
Click here for more information about Byron’s upcoming recording.
Sooooooo? You liiiiiike???? 
Lemme know your thoughts!
Word has it that Ann Nesby has signed with Tyscot Records. I was gonna say “you’ll remember her from Sounds of Blackness,” but the fact is that she’s had FIVE solo albums since she left Sounds of Blackness in 1995 (wow… that means that their first hit, “Optimistic,” came out in 1991… don’t you feel old?!). Anyway, seeing that it’s been 13 years since she left, maybe you’ll know her from somewhere else.
She’s expected to release her album, The Lula Lee Project, in the Spring of 2009. At first, I wondered who the heck Lula Lee is… turns out it’s a nickname… or moniker… or something. Anyway, I look forward to hearing it.
In the meantime, an older video for your viewing pleasure. Gotta love YouTube:
