Plans for the 5th Annual All-Star Gospel Brunch are underway and the big event is going down in Dallas, TX during the 59th NBA All-Star Weekend.  The brunch will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2010.

Donnie McClurkin, Fred Hammond, James Fortune & FIYA, Ricardo Sanchez and Angella Christie are slated to perform for the event, while Paula White and Jonathan Slocumb will serve as co-hosts.

For more details, visit http://www.allstargospelbrunch.com/.

The list of artists who will perform at the 25th Annual Stellar Awards has been released:

Mary Mary
Byron Cage
Dottie Peoples
Hezekiah Walker
Shirley Caesar
Ricky Dillard & New G
Tramaine Hawkins
Richard Smallwood
Crystal Aikin
Smokie Norful
Vanessa Bell Armstrong
Edwin Hawkins
BeBe & CeCe Winans
Jonathan Slocumb
Israel Houghton
James Fortune
Walter Hawkins

For some reason, the list doesn’t mention Donald Lawrence, but it was announced elsewhere that he will be performing with the Atlanta West Pentecostal Church Choir (winner of this year’s How Sweet The Sound competition).

Should be interesting performances– glad to see some new folks on the show, like James Fortune and Crystal Aikin, as well as some faves that don’t always perform, like Tramaine Hawkins and Hezekiah Walker.

At the fear of sounding redundant, I would love to see Kierra Sheard SOMEWHERE on SOMEBODY’S show… she’s nominated for several awards, including ARTIST OF THE YEAR, for cryin’ out loud.  She can’t get a performance slot?!

As an aside– it’s interesting that, despite the fact that so many indie artists proudly let us know that they “took the ballot by storm” this year, not one of them was given a performance opportunity…

What do you guys think of the line-up?

Not to be upstaged by what appears to be “gospel weekend” at BET, Gospel Music Channel has got a premiere or two of its own!

On SATURDAY at 8pm ET/PT, GMC will premiere Ha!  Standing Up For Clean Comedy, a new Christian comedy program hosted by Jonathan Slocumb.  Make sure you check that out cuz we’re prolly gonna talk about it… and once BET launches its comedy show, A Time To Laugh, we’ll prolly be comparing the two!

And, as I mentioned, GMC is airing the world television premiere of Hopeville on SUNDAY at 8pm ET/PT (encore at 11pm).  If you never made it to the concert, sorry for ya… but you can see it now.

Who’s tuning in???

In your face, BET!  LOL

On Saturday, March 7th at 8pm ET, Gospel Music Channel will air its newest show, Ha!  Standing Up For Clean Comedy.  The show will be hosted by comedian/actor Jonathan Slocumb, and will feature several other comedians in various stand-up routines, short bits and sketches.

Between this show and the BET Gospel Comic View joint (click here for details on that), we’re either gonna be really entertained, or REALLY upset.

I’m taking bets… what do y’all think???