A couple of weeks ago my local
Word bookstore announced a
20%-off-everything-in-the-shop sale. It brought the price of Gaither Homecoming
DVDs down to the equivalent of US$24, which isn't much more than I'd pay at
Amazon.com when you add in overseas postage. So I drove down and picked up "Live
from Toronto" and "Canadian Homecoming."
My enthusiasm for World Cup soccer means I haven't been able spend a lot of time
watching the DVDs, but I've certainly watched a little.
First impressions? I love them. They seem to be full of great hits like Ivan
Parker singing "When I Get Carried Away" and Ben Speer with "When Morning Sweeps
the Eastern Sky." I don't know if many of the songs are new, but to me that
doesn't matter. I love the old songs (which are all pretty new to me, down here
in Australia, as it's only a few years since I discovered SG), and there's an
infectious enthusiasm that I love.
I've just finished watching the World Cup final, so Canada, here I come. July 10th, 2006
Carolina Quartet
Early last year, I decided it was time to introduce SG quartet
singing to Australia, and I signed up for singing lessons with a professional
teacher, who was formerly music pastor at my church. One of my models was Ivan
Parker, whom I particularly admire. So I bought the Homecoming Souvenir
Songbook, Volume VI, and with my teacher practised one of my favorite
Gaither Homecoming songs, "When I Get Carried Away."
Well, the lessons lasted for about six months, until I realised that I just
couldn't really sing in tune, and I stopped. Maybe I'll join a choir one day,
but quartet singing is certainly beyond me.
So it was with envy that I read a press release of the launch of the Carolina
Quartet. Making occasional appearances with them will be another blogger, David
Bruce Murray. You can read about the group
here. July 4th, 2006
Too Much Time on His Hands?
Bill Gaither is set to become a disc jockey on Sirius Satellite Radio (best
known as home to shock-jock Howard Stern). The weekly
three-hour radio program,
"Bill Gaither's Homecoming Radio," starts on July 9th. July 2nd, 2006
Christian Song Writing Seminar
If you live in Ohio you may be interested in what sounds like quite a special
Christian song writing seminar on July 1st. June 24th, 2006
Jerry Falwell reveals that a special new
Southern Gospel septet will be performing at
the 50th anniversary celebration of his Thomas Road Baptist Church:
We will welcome several special guests to help us celebrate our Golden
Anniversary. Charles Billingsley and Guy Penrod (of the Gaither Vocal Band) will
be our special music guests. They will electrify the audience as they sing
praises to our Lord. Guy, a Liberty alumnus, is also bringing his seven sons,
who will also be singing.
June 19th, 2006
Hair to Stay "Just
call me Buzz," says
Mark Lowry as he reveals his new look, at the
latest edition of his reMarks newsletter and on his Polls page. Vote
here
on "Should Mark continue to cut his own hair?" and "Should Mark let the
goatee stay?" (As of this writing, 75% of respondents are voting Yes to the
first question, while 51% say Yes to the second.) June 6th, 2006
More Southern Gospel History
I made mention (below) of the new SGM History website. Thank you to BKH for
notifying me of
Southern Gospel History, a website performing a similar role. At
present it is divided into three sections - biographies, discographies and group
member lists. The site is looking for contributions, and offers a list of groups
for which information is requested. June 3rd, 2006
Southern Gospel History - New
Website
When I started this website last year, full of enthusiasm, I intended a section
on Southern Gospel history. I quickly found (a) that I was being far too
ambitious for the site, and (b) the internet (my only SG resource, down here in
Australia) didn't have a lot of information on the subject. So welcome
SGM History, a
new website from Deon and Susan Unthank, owners and editors of
SouthernGospelNews.com.
In a press release they say:
SGMHistory.com is a new website designed to be an all-compassing listing of
the history of groups, singers, organizations, etc. that have had a vital effect
on the Southern Gospel industry. The site is designed to allow registered users
of SGMHistory.com to submit new entries and edit current entries based on their
own knowledge of Southern Gospel history.
“We’ve had SGMHistory.com in the planning stages for a couple of years now, and
we have been working on getting the software down just right for the last couple
months,” mentioned Deon Unthank, owner of SGMHistory.com and
SouthernGospelNews.com. “We really feel like this will be a good tool in
teaching individuals about the history of our genre and at the same time, it
will allow people to get involved with the cataloguing of the history of the
music.”
The site is currently up and running and features editorial work by some of
Southern Gospel’s most respected historians and writers including John
Scheideman, John Crenshaw, David Bruce Murray, James Hales, and site owner Deon
Unthank. May
23rd, 2006
New Bass for Gold City
A media release announces that Aaron McCune is to join the group, filling the
bass vocalist position in the group left vacant by Bill Lawrence earlier this
year.
At the age of 25, Aaron McCune already has a strong resume within Southern
Gospel music. McCune has been singing and recording with Palmetto State Quartet
since September of 2003, and he was a long time member of the Anchormen previous
to joining Palmetto State Quartet. McCune started singing bass at the age of 14
and has also previously sang with the Journeymen and the Nobelmen Quartet.
“We are very excited about Aaron joining Gold City,” mentioned Daniel Riley,
baritone and manager for Gold City. “We see large amounts of potential in Aaron
and firmly believe that he will go down in history as one of Southern Gospel’s
strongest bass singers.”
“We’re a blended family,” she says. “The ages range from 22 down to 10. ...
We have a wedding, three high school graduations and one college graduation that
we’re all doing within three weeks of each other, so life is very full right
now. But that’s all right, we love it …” But she’s trying to control the chaos,
or at least embrace it.
“My latest project,” she says, “is a book called ‘My Life in the Blender.”’ May
16th, 2006
Check out
this fascinating article in National Review
Online about dramatic initiatives by a Moroccan Muslim leader, Dr. Ahmed Abaddi,
and his colleagues, to build ties between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. One
quote:
They launched an initiative to build a “bridge of friendship” to evangelical
Christians in the U.S., including on-going dialogues with Richard Cizik of the
National Association of Evangelicals, Rob Schenck of the National Clergy
Council, and Josh McDowell of Campus Crusade for Christ, among others. Abaddi
and his colleagues have also invited pastors and evangelical business leaders to
Morocco for conferences and high-level inter-faith talks, and have even helped
organize a series of concerts in Marrakesh where Christian and Muslim rock bands
perform together for thousands of Moroccan young people.
Wasn't that where the Crabb Family performed?
May 11th, 2006
Avery Fineline asks SG bloggers for some visitor numbers and the
search terms that bring visitors to the site.
As best as I can tell from my web host's near-incomprehensible stats service,
the top 10 search terms in April were as follows (though there's little
difference in visitor numbers for the bottom half):
1. Anthony Burger
2. Gaither
3. Booth Brothers
4. Janet Paschal
5. Mark Lowry
6. Talley
7. David Phelps
8. Crabb Family
9. Signature Sound
10. Lynda Randle
My Site Meter tells me that February was my peak month, with 25,000+ page views
and 7,500+ visits, falling to about 14,000 and 4,700 in April. My current daily
average is 190 visits and 558 page views.
May 11th, 2006
Gordon Mote Blogs
New Gaither tour pianist Gordon Mote has
started
blogging. His initial entry: "Well, this is my first attempt at
blogging. I would love to meet the person who came up with the word BLOG!"
"Just
call me Buzz," says