Word has it that Yolanda Adams will be interviewing President Barack Obama on her morning radio show tomorrow, Thursday, October 28, 2010, at 7:20am ET and again at 9:20am ET.
The President also chatted with Steve Harvey on his morning show today. As I understand it, this is part of a grassroots check-in effort being facilitated by the President’s administration. In any case, kudos to Yolanda for landing the interview and a big “hey, how are ya?!” to Mr. President. 
Who’s tuning in???
Check your local PBS listings to catch In Performance At The White House: A Celebration Of Music From The Civil Rights Movement TONIGHT (in most cities, at 8pm ET/7pm CST).
Yolanda Adams was among those fortunate enough to sing before President Obama in the Civil Rights concert celebration. She performed Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” to an audience in the White House’s East Room. PBS has already posted some of the performances on YouTube.
Personally, I’m not thrilled with the song choice– I generally think of this song as one intended for a gravely male voice, not a pure, clean and soaring voice like Yolanda’s. But after just a short time, she definitely captivated the audience with her sound and her message. Something about the tune even made Mr. President snuggle up with the Mrs. about 1 minute in (I just LOVE them!).
Other performances came from Jennifer Hudson & Smokey Robinson (“People Get Ready” – click here to watch it), the Blind Boys Of Alabama, Bob Dylan, Seal, Natalie Cole and more.
It looks like the same house band that played last year when Mary Mary performed at The White House in tribute to Stevie Wonder (which would also be the house band of American Idol). Musical direction is coming from Rickey Minor and I think I spotted Teddy Campbell (husband of Tina Campbell, from Mary Mary) on the drums. So, you see… all things come back to Mary Mary. LOL
Okay, tune in tonight to catch the full performance. I’m just thrilled that President Obama hosts so many great concerts and parties… wonder why he didn’t invite me… must’ve gotten lost in the mail. It’s cool.
Ok, folks… after the Central Park Summer Stage concert (click here to read my recap from yesterday), we grabbed some grub and rushed to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ for the annual McDonald’s GospelFest.
The GospelFest used to be in NYC, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, but they moved it to Jersey a coupla years ago and I hadn’t been since then… going all outta state and what not. 
But, I was thrilled to be in attendance this year! Performers included J Moss, CeCe Winans, Regina Belle, Cissy Houston, Vickie Winans, Hezekiah Walker, Donnie McClurkin and Patti LaBelle. WOWWWWWWWWW.
J Moss tore that stage APART. He’s not playing, folks! CeCe Winans was also incredible and she brought her brother, BeBe, out to sing their new single, “Close To You.” I’m growing increasingly excited for the reunion album and tour!
Regina Belle ministered like you wouldn’t believe! Remember how I posted something months ago about her being sidelined due to a sudden illness? Well, she testified about that trial– what should’ve been one 2-hour surgery ended up being an 8-hour surgery, followed by FIVE more surgeries. She was told she would be deaf in one ear, but she’s healed and in business! She sounded great.
Hezekiah Walker & LFC also gave a rousing performance (as always), with Donnie McClurkin joining the tenor section, just for kicks. Up next was Donnie’s set, full of energy, classic songs, GREAT singing and some of my favorite background singers on Earth. I was backstage by the time Vickie Winans went up, but I could HEAR her loud and clear– she never disappoints on the vocals.
Behind the scenes, even more folks were milling around– Melinda Watts, Jason Nelson, Jerard Woods, Andrea Mellini…
At a certain point, the security backstage got SOOO tight, you’d have though President Obama was coming through. You know how sometimes folks take their jobs a bit too seriously? Yeah… shout-out to the security team for being super duper EXTRA with your little walkie-talkies. 
Turns out it wasn’t the Prez… it was Patti LaBelle. Close enough, if you ask me! 
She closed out the show in grand fashion, looking and sounding SPECTACULAR at age 65.
All in all, a GREAT time. Met some new folks and re-connected with old ones… I’m grateful. You can check out some GREAT performance pictures at the website of The Star Ledger, a local NJ paper. My own backstage pics follow:
And, of course, I didn’t forget to get a quick word on video from Melinda Watts:
Whatd’ya think???
Folks, in stores NOW is an all-star compilation album celebrating the message of hope, inspiration and faith of President Barack Obama. And I think the artist line-up on this one is kinda hot!
The project, titled A Gospel Tribute to President Barack Obama, features performances from Donnie McClurkin, Israel Houghton, Marvin Winans, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Kelly Price, Jerard Woods and MAAAANY more artists. The album is distributed by Central South Distribution.
The single, “This Is Your Cue,” was written by Angie Winans, features Benita Washington, and is already gaining airplay. I still get kinda choked up when I think of President Obama winning the election… Watch the video here:
Click here for more details and to order your copy.
Whatd’ya think???
Word has it that Mary Mary will be performing at The White House tonight as part of a tribute concert to Stevie Wonder, who has been honored with the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. He’s only the second recipient of this honor, so it’s kind of like… a huge deal!
President and Mrs. Obama (STILL love saying that) are hosting the concert, which will also feature Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, will.i.am, and Martina McBride.
Didn’t get invited to the shindig? Never fret– the concert will be aired on your local PBS station on Thursday, February 26th (that’s TOMORROW) at 8pm ET.
Gee whiz… those gals are EVERYWHERE!
I wonder what they’ll sing… maybe a special ditty for the people?
Well, it’s finally official. Mr. Barack Obama has been sworn in as this nation’s 44th President!
Let’s chat about it.
Now, he’s not a gospel artist or industry exec, but I think he has a place on this blog. After all, he did enlist the participation of several gospel artists on his campaign trail, such as Beverly Crawford and, more controversially, Donnie McClurkin. Mary Mary publicly endorsed him before he was elected, Yolanda Adams and BeBe Winans are on a compilation CD in his honor, a truckload of gospel artists performed at various inaugural celebrations, and Dionne Warwick just performed “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in celebration of him at the Stellar Awards on Saturday, in which we all had to take out our cell phones and wave ‘em in the air with the lights out. So, yes… it’s relevant!
My question: what does it mean for us in the gospel music industry?
You may, at first glance, say “NOTHING,” but I think it says something that many of the biggest and greatest in gospel music, and some of the most prominent institutions and organizations we have in the industry, have made a very clear statement that President Obama is our kind of leader.
What does that assume? What does it neglect? Who’s being embraced? Who’s being overlooked? Does EVERY gospel music artist, exec, and fan love President Obama? Are we sure? Does it matter?
Talk to me!
Note: I love him like he’s my uncle or something, so if you say something mean about my President, it’s on and poppin’.
Everyone in gospel is gearing up for the Stellar Awards this weekend. It’s gonna be great. But something else MAJOR is going on this weekend– a bunch of inaugural celebrations for the nation’s first Black president– Barack Obama.
I’m gonna post a little something on Tuesday about the significance of it, but for now, I wanted to bring to your attention that Hidden Beach has released the only official Obama campaign album– Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, featuring a bunch of artists from various genres, including Yolanda Adams and BeBe Winans.
Personally, I’m not getting it cuz I’m not interested. I couldn’t decide which stuff (i.e., magazines, books, photos, mugs, t-shirts) to get, so I chose “NONE,” except my “One Voice” t-shirt that Mr. President sent me for donating to the cause. But, if you’re collecting memorabilia and what not, you may wanna check it out.
Listen to snippets of it, and purchase it, by clicking here.
