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!!!!

Soul Train Music Awards: I could give it to you but what you gonna do with it

I watched the 2010 Edition of the Soul Train Music Awards last nite. Generally I was impressed with the presentation, but was left wondering if indeed, the Awards has resurrected itself back to its former glam status. Or if indeed the essence of Soul Train is even present in this current generation of the music industry...

I remember that the Soul Train Awards was a must have ticket. I remember that you went and got your tux or your gown and got dressed to the nines for this show. After all, since the Grammys did not award our music as we felt it should, then we HAD to be our best and look our best to honor our best.It was, at the time, the consummate honoring of our musical universe.

One year, I remember sitting with Tom Joyner when Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre rolled onto the stage in his '64 impala.... that was dope!!! And Tom was so funny, but I believe at that moment he was speechless!!! I remember with the explosion of hiphop, the quality of the show quickly diminished to a super ghetto presentation that folk came out for in tennis shoes, jeans and even flipflops.... and then the violence.........

The Soul Train Awards was dead.

Well, that was then and this is now. Don Cornelius has sold the Soul Train brand to Madvision Entertainment who in turn has produced the nouveaux generation of the Soul Train Music Awards. They've done a deal with the new Centric Channel (an extrapolation of BET) and turned it into a first class production. The current generation of music artists have seemingly embraced the renovation wholeheartedly.

Atlanta is the new center of African American culture and, I suppose, it is a fitting location for the new generation of Soul.... The red carpet presentations seemed shallow, though. After all, how many times can you ask what was your best memory of Soul Train. What about the substance of the music projects? what of the artist perspective of current, culturally relevant events? But nay, the red carpet interviewers only asked the obvious: "What was your best memory of Soul Train?" and the answer was always the same.... "The Soul Train Line".... ho hum.

The production was awesome. A first class presentation. Although, like a lot of twitterlings, I have mixed feelings of R. Kelly's appearance - I just have a problem with forgiving him and moving on... however, his appearance with Ron Isley and Chante Moore was completely off tha chain!!

Cee-Lo: Loved it, but what the heck was that you had on???? Also, I know it was the Soul Train Awards and Centric and all that, but the original version of that song is the complete bomb and just doesn't do it for me as a clean version. I wanted to hear you sing F&^k You straight up....(sorry church fam... that's just how I feel)

Anita Baker Tribute: loved it! and especially loved the return of Dionne Farris... where you been girl? Goapele is someone the national audience has been sleeping on.... on the Steve Harvey Morning show, they couldn't even pronounce her name.... Goapele is the bizness.... you betta ask somebody!!

Ron Isley Tribute: I love that the Awards has these tributes. It makes today's artists give props to those who paved the way for what they do today..... I actually think some of the artists onstage are humbled when faced with singing the hits of the honoree IN FRONT OF the honoree... Everyone did well, although Eric Benet seemed like he was working too hard to impress.... he got down though...

Janelle Monae: don't sleep on this young lady.... saw her at the Greek for the first time this year and had to wonder out loud.... who is this child?? she is James Brown, Prince, and Jackie Wilson reincarnated!!

Taraji and Terrence: Jury is still out for me, but looking at twitter and facebook comments, they get mixed reviews.

In the end, I am so glad that the Soul Train Music Awards is rebirthing itself... It should take its place as the premier black music awards show in America. It should be the creme de la creme of urban music culture. The mantle has been passed....

So in the words of that song from Jayo Felony a few years back "I could give it to ya but whatcha gonna do with it"

Soul Train Awards 2009: A reflection of heritage?

I saw the Soul Train Awards on Centric last week.... And while I could take this time to dish about elements in the show, I have to admit I was taken to a space of introspect, retrospect and reflection on where the Soul Train Awards had been. This production, after all, was a resurrection of sorts.

The Soul Train show had been cancelled upon sale of the Tribune Broadcast Company and even as Soul Train had not produced an awards show in a couple of years, the awards already had been declining in quality and allure in it's last say, five years of life...

I was glad to see it back.

Soul Train is without a doubt, a national treasure. A distinctly American heritage. The foundation for the mass popularity of modern black music. Thus, when Don Cornelius decided to produce an awards show, the Soul Train Award became, for the black artist, almost as prestigious as the Grammy Award.

Now, with new owners of the Soul Train brand, they have resurrected the Soul Train Awards anew:

New channel - BET has created a new brand called Centric. (My guess is that they are trying to re-invent themselves...)
New location: Atlanta, GA - Georgia World Congress Center
New hosts: Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard

They got off to a decent start with 4 million viewers. According to CNN and PR NewsWire, compared to the last airing of the Soul Train Awards in 2007, the CENTRIC PRESENTS: 2009 SOUL TRAIN AWARDS on BET posted triple digit gains in viewership (+144%) as well as among adults 18-49 (+192%) and ranked as the # 1 Soul Train Awards telecast ever among Adults 18-49 (2.2 MM Adults 18-49). Additionally, the show’s ratings exhibited continuous growth every half hour. BET and CENTRIC Soul Train Awards-related terms dominated the top 10 trending topics on Twitter on Sunday, November 29.

When the Awards first debuted in 1987, the buzz all over the industry was tremendous. This was our award, created for us by us.... The ceremony was held at the Santa Monica Civic Center and was hugely anticipated by people within the industry and without. I mean we wore tuxedos, the ladies wore gowns, it was off the chain.... For years we came to the Awards in formal attire, the after parties were among the most elegant in Hollywood. And soon Soul Train Awards night became a week of celebration in the city as artists, record companies, magazines and corporations gave must-attend parties with guests lists that read like a who's who in Black America publication. The Soul Train Awards were the bomb until....

With the explosion of HipHop and Rap, came the expectation of violence at some of our most important black music events. All across the nation, our biggest and best music events would be stained by the spectre of violence. Those of us in the industry would frequently be caught in the middle of some beef between hiphop crews. We stood helplessly by as hiphop posses and their street teams totally vandalized the five star hotels where we used to hold our national conventions, or some beef would send us scattering for safety as the crew squared off in free for alls and even gun battles...

The Soul Train Awards was no different. Over the years, fear of fights caused an uneasy celebration. The Soul Train Awards was known for its' awesome after parties, a reputation forever tainted after a few were shut down by police due to fights, arguments and gunfire.

In spite of it all, The Soul Train kept on rolling. And while it rolled, the Awards got more and more stale. Artists stopped maintaining the Awards as a must attend event on their itineraries. Soon, only the brand new and wannabe artists would be in attendance. Rarely did the major artist come through and if they did, they did not stay around for the after parties or social soirees traditionally attached to the Show. Backstage, we would stand around for hours to wait for an major artist to visit the media room. That was few and in the end, that few dwindled to none...

The quality even went down in the attendees.. sign of the times I guess, but for the life of me could not understand how "generation next" could stop considering the awards as a dressy affair. Folk were coming to the awards in jeans, tennis shoes, shorts. etc. Ok, I know, those are designer items that carry a pretty penny at the store, but c'mon.. jeans and tennis shoes??? At an awards show???

And now, the Soul Train Awards is back. In the end, I am glad that "generation next" had the foresight to purchase the rights. I can only be optimistic that MadVision Entertainment will retool and grow the heritage brand that is Soul Train.

I wish them LOVE PEACE AND SOUL in all that they do...