The newest album from Damita Haddon, titled Anticipation, will hit stores on July 24, 2012!

I’ve added her newest single, “Won’t Turn Back,” to the Pundit Player.

Click here to take a listen!

Soooo, if you were followin’ my tweets, you got up-to-the-minute results of the nominees.  My fingers HURT from typing so quickly on that BlackBerry!

For those of you who missed it, click here for a full list of nominees.

I’m disappointed that Sheri Jones-Moffett, Coko, 21:03, Melinda Watts, Damita Haddon and Kevin LeVar’s names are not anywhere among the nominees.  Each had great projects and should have been recognized.  Majorly not okay.

I’m very happy, though, for artists like Donald Lawrence (one of my faves this year), Kierra Sheard, Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker, Israel Houghton, Daniel Weatherspoon, Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Bishop Paul Morton…

Geez.  I just dunno.  Some of the names on there…

What do you guys think of the nominees?

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?

The nominees for the 40th Annual Dove Awards are in!  Some major gospel artists have been nominated in the biggest categories: Marvin Sapp is nominated for Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, Mary Mary is up for Group of the Year, and Jonathan Nelson is a nominee for New Artist of the Year.

Other notable nominees include Damita Haddon, Grits, J.R. (remember him?  he’s the dude that performed at the Urban Soul Cafe during the Stellar Awards weekend that I came back raaaaving about), Kirk Franklin, Bishop Paul Morton, Regina Belle, Hezekiah Walker, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Take 6, Tye Tribbett, Deitrick Haddon… gee whiz… a little of everybody.

I’m annoyed by the absence of two groups from the list of nominees: Ashmont Hill and 21:03.  Both groups are awesome and gave us some great music in the past year.  So… what’s going on here?!  But, I’m not boycotting… yet.

Click here to see the full list of nominees!  Fan voting, which commences later this week, will determine the winners in the Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year categories.  More on that later.

Thoughts, anyone???

Oh, by the way: the show airs LIVE on Thursday, April 23rd at 8pm ET on Gospel Music Channel.

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!