Monday, October 24, 2016

Preaching to the Choir - my Men's Day experience

For nearly thirty years I have been blessed with longevity in the urban radio and music arena and I have enjoyed a pretty good reputation. I truly love the essence of music, particularly where it comes through the black american perspective. Yes, the method to all this madness is all about the music. I am a promoter of black arts and culture - globally.
That said, here's a random musical contemplation. This past Sunday It was men's day at my church. As I do each year, I sang in the Men's day choir (I have been so busy and swamped that I almost missed it this year, but at the insistence of one of my brethren I went in, one rehearsal and done). I love to do so because I spend year after year promoting and producing awesome music shows and festivals - indeed some of the biggest in our community.
SInging in the Men's Day Choir is sort of therapeutic for me. From my seat at the radio station, I hear some if not all of the best choirs, bands, singers and groups. I love discovering new talent in our community and giving them a shot on our many music stages throughout the course of the year. I love watching the crowds react to good musicianship and exceptional artistry. I love to work with some of the hottest professional bands, groups and singers in the nation as they share their latest hits live to our audiences in the community. I love it. My men's day is my opportunity to actually be in the choir, sitting next to the band, hearing what they hear and lending my voice to the awesome music that emanates from us. I cannot stop laughing as we sing those holy ghost gospel songs!!! It is like a thrill ride for me!!!
So this Men's Day, as I sang those inspiring gospel songs, those sweet songs of praise, those Pentecostal anthems, it dawned on me that I was in the company of some of the greatest musicians in the nation if not the world:
  • The great @freddiefluwellen on bass - I been knowing him a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time and he has always been and is the truth!!! ,
  • The incredible EricWalls on guitar - got to watch him work up close and wow - this dude right here;
  • The brotha Dana Hammond on drums - he is always incredible - keepin it on the one...
  • The ultra talented David Daughtry led and directed us - he has one of the top gospel albums out right now
  • The awesome psalmist @duwarddavis led praise and worship.
  • Didn't I see Judith Christie McAllister tending to stuff in the background?
Whew!! I'm beginning to wonder if I should submit our performance for grammy consideration lol!!!!! What an incredible musical experience!!!!

Preaching to the Choir - my Men's Day experience

For nearly thirty years I have been blessed with longevity in the urban radio and music arena and I have enjoyed a pretty good reputation. I truly love the essence of music, particularly where it comes through the black american perspective. Yes, the method to all this madness is all about the music. I am a promoter of black arts and culture - globally.
That said, here's a random musical contemplation. This past Sunday It was men's day at my church. As I do each year, I sang in the Men's day choir (I have been so busy and swamped that I almost missed it this year, but at the insistence of one of my brethren I went in, one rehearsal and done). I love to do so because I spend year after year promoting and producing awesome music shows and festivals - indeed some of the biggest in our community.
SInging in the Men's Day Choir is sort of therapeutic for me. From my seat at the radio station, I hear some if not all of the best choirs, bands, singers and groups. I love discovering new talent in our community and giving them a shot on our many music stages throughout the course of the year. I love watching the crowds react to good musicianship and exceptional artistry. I love to work with some of the hottest professional bands, groups and singers in the nation as they share their latest hits live to our audiences in the community. I love it. My men's day is my opportunity to actually be in the choir, sitting next to the band, hearing what they hear and lending my voice to the awesome music that emanates from us. I cannot stop laughing as we sing those holy ghost gospel songs!!! It is like a thrill ride for me!!!
So this Men's Day, as I sang those inspiring gospel songs, those sweet songs of praise, those Pentecostal anthems, it dawned on me that I was in the company of some of the greatest musicians in the nation if not the world:
  • The great @freddiefluwellen on bass - I been knowing him a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time and he has always been and is the truth!!! ,
  • The incredible EricWalls on guitar - got to watch him work up close and wow - this dude right here;
  • The brotha Dana Hammond on drums - he is always incredible - keepin it on the one...
  • The ultra talented David Daughtry led and directed us - he has one of the top gospel albums out right now
  • The awesome psalmist @duwarddavis led praise and worship.
  • Didn't I see Judith Christie McAllister tending to stuff in the background?
Whew!! I'm beginning to wonder if I should submit our performance for grammy consideration lol!!!!! What an incredible musical experience!!!!

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Contemplations of Stellar Awards 2016.... Live Blogging....

Thus far, we have seen Maurette Brown Clark, Donald Lawrence and Brian Courtney Wilson. I have been impressed with the contemplations and energy shared by each of these artists. They have a great testimony and perspective on their art. For Brian Courtney Wilson, I watched him receive an honor from ASCAP during the ASCAP/Motown Gospel breakfast. I was immediately struck how humble Brian is. He is one who definitely isn't forgetting where he came from and remains grounded in the memory of his previous circumstances. He shared a profound perspective in that he talked about coming to the Stellar Awards in previous years wondering if anyone even saw him. You know we can come to events and no one knows our name... Brian reminded us that faithfulness is the way to success... We have got to keep at it...

Donald Lawrence and Maurette Brown Clark shared how proud they are to see Anthony Brown gain so may  accolades in this day and time.... He paid his dues playing and singing for them and now it is his time....

I am curious about Iyanla VanZant .....

Interesting... Ricky Dillard says that when he first came to the Stellars he was considered contemporary, now he is considered traditional.. just to show how long he has been around. He also remarks that when he firs came out he was revolutionary, controversial, but nowadays there are many imitators....

I must say that covering the Stellar Awards and how they manage their media room is a different experience from other awards shows....

Hezekiah Walker shares with us how he has been going to South Africa for the last nine years.. he has a church, he's adopted a school and continues to do mission work on the continent. He encourages everyone to step out from here in America and we will learn there is more to life than what we see and are conditioned....

Listening to Ben Tankard and his wife.... they have a reality show and financial empowerment programs for women....

The 2016 Stellar Awards - Gospel's Biggest Night - live blogged

So it's awards season and her I am again... in the media room trying to share sights and sounds as today's hottest artists receive their honors for their efforts and releases of the past year. The Stellar Awards is gospel music's biggest night. It is a huge honor to say one is Stellar Award nominated artist or radio station and it is an even more magnificent honor to say one is Stellar Award winner.

In my many years of experience, I have never experienced the Stellar Awards. I am an integral member of the team that earned a Stellar Award for KJLH Radio as Radio Station of the Year. But I have never attended this auspicious occasion. And so here I am.

Now you must understand that this isn't just one evening of an awards show... This is an entire weekend of showcases and special events. I attended the official All White Party when I arrived in LAs Vegas. And while I had no idea what to expect, I was really impressed with the attendance and the quality of attendees. I mean Doug Williams, Edwin Hawkins, Byron Cage, Richard Smallwood just to name a few. I witnessed some excellent music ministries of up and coming  artists... it was awesome.

I then rushed over to the other side of town to attend Gerald and Tammi Haddon's Love and Lyrics Showcase. Now THIS was rockn.... I saw Anthony Brown and Group Therapy, Jonathan McReynolds,  plus an exceptional lineup of independent artists. It was phenomenal.

I also attended the ASCAP/Motown Gospel breakfast. This performing rights agency took this opportunity to honor all the nominees on the Motown Gospel Label. It was a nice way to start the day.... And now I'm backstage at the Awards Ceremony.

The opening number was delivered by Anthony Brown and Group Therapy and it definitely set the tone for the evening... I really like this group. He is authentic and his song Worthy really ministers to me..

Charles Jenkins won for Choir of the Year and Anthony Brown just won for Male Vocalist of the year.

I have some more observations in a bit

Monday, February 15, 2016

Contemplations of the Grammy Awards... a final thought..

And so this is the part of when the Grammy Awards media room experience gets a bit boring... The show is over but we are sitting here waiting to see if Kendrick Lamar or Taylor Swift will come back. So far, Earth Wind and Fire came back briefly. I was able to offer my condolences to my favorite group of all time...

Just saw the group Alabama Shakes who has a new fan in me... They are dope.. I thought they were being billed as a country band but they are actually a alternative, rock....

Neil Portnow is now explaining why Rihanna did not show... Apparently she has a flu bug and is on some antibiotics.. Doctors orders.. immediate bed rest.. she made rehearsals but fell sick and the doctor ordered her to bed rest..

He is now explaining Adele's lackluster performance.... a microphone inside the piano fell down and the performance suffered....

He is now explaining why Lauryn Hill was missing in action for the Weeknd's performance... She did not make the rehearsals earlier in the week, however, made this morning's rehearsals... Nonetheless she missed her call time .. after hearing that she was three minutes away, ten minutes away... minutes wwwwway until in the end, she missed her call time and there it is... Neil Portnow says and I agree, that he isn't responsible for how she handled her appointments but in the end, The Weeknd gets props for standing up and pushing through.... he killed it....

Neil Portnow answers these journalist questions about "warnings" that Kendrick Lamar's performance would be "controversial" and how did he plan to "handle it"... Mr. Portnow responds by saying I don't know how or where this word controversial came from and that he feels Kendrick delivered a "vignette" that is powerful, artistic...  a statement...

Mr. Portnow also speaks to the grumblings about who to posthumously honor.. He says that in his tenure this is the most we have lost. He has never seen anything like this. He says that if you look in the program book there are hundreds that we lost and it was quite hard to choose who to honor... But there are at least three pages of names of the ones who have transitioned in the last year....

Well, I think I a going to get out of here... pack it in.... In the end, it has been a great night for music.. This, in my opinion was a greatly improved Grammy Award Show..... Props to the Recording Academy.

Contemplations at the 58th Grammy Awards - Kendrick Lamar

So we are here live blogging backstage at the 58th Grammy Awards. The buzz going in has been the 11 nominations for Kendrick Lamar. Thus far, he has won five... four during the three hour preshow which is not televised. After winning the Rap Album of the year, a category which was televised, Kendrick proceeded to rip the stage with a tremendous and incredibly poignant, artistic, powerful live performance. Just so you know, it's taken me a full hour to come down to consciousness after this emotional presentation.

First I was amazed at the look of shock on the faces of my colleagues here in the media room of the Grammy Awards. I'm sure at first, their cross town perspective was assaulted by the imagery of the black men shackled together in a prison line as Kendrick spit lyrical about the hatred America seems to possess against the black man. I was touched deeply by Kendrick's lyricism and the imagery. I mean it hit me hard... 

Earlier today, as Angelique Kidjo came back to the media room after winning the best world music honor, she used the platform to promote world peace and to encouraged artists to use their creative platform to fight against hatred and racism. To build a message of peace and unity through music. It was a profound a great message in answer to a question posed by one of the journalists here who used Kendrick Lamar as an example of an artist who used violence and hatred in his music. Clearly this man did not know Kendrick Lamar.

I don't think anyone was prepared for what we saw in Kendrick's performance. For me, not only was it a powerful political statement, the performance was poignant because just two days ago, I was in attendance as the City of Compton presented Kendrick with a key to the City. I learned where Kenrick came from. I learned of his desire to give back to the community... I heard from his teachers, I saw his family, his folks from the hood. And now, I see him here, at music's biggest night.. leading the nominations, winning five thus far as I write this.

But the performance surely must go down as one of the best in Grammy History. It was powerful.

Ladies and Gentlemen... Kendrick Lamar is king tonight!!

Contemplations of the 58th Grammy Awards recap.. halfway through.... - 6:05pm

So after watching the Pre-show, we are now watching the live to the east coast telecast of the Grammy Awards... This gives me a good time to recap....

Taylor Swift opened the Grammy Awards and I suppose it was a nice number, I just didn't feel the energy...

Kendrick Lamar won his fifth Grammy of the day, as he received the best Rap Album nod for To Pimp a Butterfly.. I'm feeling proud of him because i was fortunate to be in attendance as Mayor Aja Brown presented him with the Key to the City at City Hall in Compton,CA. gave me an introspect as to his background nd humble begnnings.

The Lionel Richie tribute was pretty cool.. John Legend sang Easy, Hello was absolutely unequivocally royally sung by Demi Lovato, Penny Lover was performed by Luke Bryan, You are by Meghan Trainor and Brick House was brought to us by Tyrese - love Tyrese but it was an unimaginative placment and one must note that Brick House was sung by Walter Orange in the Commodores not Lionel.... The tribute was rounded out by All Night Long.. sung by everyone...

Ariana Grande introduced the Weeknd. And then she felt it necessary to imitate-sing The Weeknd.... It was awful and some in the crowd let her know it... She was booed.

I'm also hearing that Lauryn Hill had rehearsed with the Weeknd and was supposed to sing with him and for some reason she wasn't here...

Also, Rihanna is on our media rundown sheet as scheduled to perform "Kiss it Better" but she didn't.... No word where she is....

My boss Stevie Wonder hooked up with the awesome a capella group @pentatonix to perform an incredible a capella version of "That's the Way of the World" in tribute to Earth Wind and Fire and Maurice White.... it was infinitely dope....

ok. Kendrick Lamar....... that's all I got.

So I'm live blogging from the media room at the 58th Grammy Awards..more to come.....

Contemplations of the 58th Grammy Awards: - 3:03pm

I'm sitting here in the media room of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards watching the Pre-show.... Most folk don't know that there is a three hour preshow where a huge amount of Grammy categories are awarded including most of the black/urban categories. I really like to hear this because I get such a well rounded exposure to different music. For instance, I didn't know about the jazz vocalisms of Cecile McLorin Salvant. She's won the Grammy for Best Jazz album.. I am really loving her music....

The buzz is all about Kendrick Lamar with 11 nominations... well thus far in the pre-show, Kenrick has won 4 awards..... Pretty impressive.... Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar..... In the media room, Thundercat came back to speak to us as one of the singers on Kendrick Lamar's track which won the best rap/sung collaboration "these walls".. I asked him to reflect back on his beginnings and contrast with how he feels right this moment.. He took a deep breath and began to express his gratitude for Locke High School in Watts and Mr. Reggie Andrews... He was so grateful for Mr. Reggie Andrews that he kept saying his name.... So I called Reggie and put them on the phone together... priceless.....

In th gospel categories, Kirk Franklin won for Best Gospel Performance/Song for I just want to be Happy..... During his acceptance, he brought up several of those who he was up against.  Because they represented the future of gospel music. In the media room, I asked him what he thought about the future.. He expressed that it was an honor to be among these new young cats and being able to pour into them..... He also reinforced that Gospel Music is like a Mission Field as opposed to being about blowing up.. I felt this to be tremendously profound...especially with how I have been observing the gospel music field lately.

This has been a decent night so far... Live blogging from the 58th Annual Grammy Awards....East coast.. here they come!!!!

Contemplations of 2016 Grammy Awards.. live blog 1:46pm

1:46 PM And so here I am in the media room at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. I sit here in the midst of an awards season that has everyone on edge with regards to the lack of diversity in the nominations. And while most folks attention is turned to the Academy Awards, I must say that the Grammy Awards has had its share of accusation of #grammysowhite. In recent days, in fact, I am hearing about the perceived snub in the In Memoriam category.... I've heard that the Recording Academy has decided to not include Maurice White and Natalie Cole in their memorial section. I'm left wondering if the tragic passing of these two isn't acknowledged because they left this earth after the Grammy recognition period. Now lets be clear, I am not excusing this omission however, I am saying there is a structure to what the Academy does. Now, As I arrive and set up my gear, I've heard that there is a big Earth Wind and Fire tribute featuring Stevie Wonder. Perhaps there isn't a snub after all.

I think fans need to understand that the Grammy Awards fetes every type of musical genre imaginable. I mean there is an award given to engineers, remixers, arrangers, artists in bluegrass, classical, tropical music, and so much more... To accommodate this, there is a huge pre-show that started at 12:30 and goes to 3:30. This is also where most of the black categories are presented. So yes, before the main televised events, before most of our favorite artists hit the red carpet the Academy has given hundreds of awards. I am sitting here now.... watching....

One interesting interview was with the winners of the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Snarky Puppy and the Metropole Orkest... I asked them to define why and how they came up with th concept of putting audience/listeners on stage with them.... he started  to express how they were always a studio/garage band and that someone challenged them that he loved the band live but hated to studio experience. And so the band decided to bring audience/listeners to experience the recording session from the perspective of the artist... The director of the Metropole Orkest addd that this revolutionary concept is taking hold in orchestra and jazz performances across Europe.... interesting....