Marvin Sapp is singing “I Made It” and he’s doing a great job, but i don’t think anyone is going to top Trin-i-tee 5:7… Steven Curtis Chapman and Paul Baloche are back here now talking about Compassionart and the process of putting together the album…

oh, i missed the nominees for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year, but i can see now that Israel Houghton is headed up to accept the award… uh… i mean…

and the winner is… ISRAEL HOUGHTON

okay, David Crowder*Band has taken the main stage and that’s definitely a two-earbud situation… my apologies to SCC and Paul, but they’re performing “Everything Glorious” and they’ve made a music video out of the performance… they’ve had people bringing out pits and pieces of a happy sunshine scene throughout the song and now the whole backdrop has become a pretty little hill with a sun hanging from the rafters… that was hot…

peace… love… bdg…

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Chris Tomlin is introducing a video link to a comercial for Compassionart… and back here, we get to talk to Natalie Grant… i don’t think i like that dress of hers… and i think someone here has some bad gas… oh, on the main stage is Smitty and Paul Baloche, and Israel Houghton and Chris Tomlin and Steven Curtis Chapman and Christy Nockels doing a song for Compassionart…

This is pretty much a toss-up because Natalie is always a good talker and this performance is pretty interesting… Oh, the dress has pockets… anyway…

extended comercial break… they’re not moving things along very smoothly this time around…

peace… love… bdg…

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Casting Crowns has taken the stage to perform East to West which gives me more time to pay attention to Wynonna… i think she’s pretty awesome actually… i’m sure that it comes experience, but she really handles herself well and she seems entirely authentic…

Natalie Grant is doing the little mini-interview with the hosts and Brandon Heath has just stepped up to the mic back here… i’m very happy to see him take home this award… he’s a good guy and i enjoyed my interview with him earlier this week… oh yeah, it was only yesterday…

The Clark Sisters have taken the main stage for a performance and i’ve been listening to Brandon…

Donnie McClurken and Jaci Velasquez have come forward to announce the nominees for the group of the year…

and the winner is… CASTING CROWNS…

no surprise there…

peace… love… bdg…

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Up next is Trin-i-tee 5:7 with a style that none of ya’ll have ever seen before… Zydeco… that’s right, look it up… and in the words of Adam Sandler in the classic college film, Billy Madison… “[they] gonna sets it on fiya”… Queen Wynonna has come backstage to talk about gospel and such… Trin-i-tee 5:7 absolutely blew the roof, doors, windows and anything else you can think of off the hinges with an absolutely AMAZING performance…

comercial break whilst we talk to Wynonna…

Mark Shultz and Brian Free have taken the main stage to present the award for Natalie Grant of… i mean, Female Vocalist of the Year… Wynonna seems a bit cantankerous with these questions… i’ve never seen Mark Schultz in a suit before… he must be nervous…

and the winner is… NATALIE GRANT

Q: Wynonna, what is your reaction to Natalie winning the Female Vocalist of the Year award?

A: Did she win? Well, I wanna curse, but I can’t do that here.

peace… love… bdg…

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Natalie Grant and Wynonna are out singing the lights out with a duet and after they restore the ambiance, Skillet came out to announce the nominees for Male Vocalist of the Year… i wonder who might possibly win this… oh yeah… Chris Tomlin is nominated…

and the winner is… CHRIS TOMLIN…

he gives his standard humble speech and then yucks it up with Matthew West and that girl…

peace… love… bdg…

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Kicking things off is a montage of New Artist nominees including 33 Miles, Mandisa, DeWayne Wood, Group 1 Crew, Brandon Heath and Rush of Fools… Aaron Shust and Jeremy Camp are out to present this award and they’ve brought out some body guards to make sure that no one gives acceptance speeches that are too long…

and the winner is… BRANDON HEATH….

he’s been interviewed briefly by someone from The Kitchen Sink and Matthew West… apparently they’ll be interviewing all the winners…

peace… love… bdg…

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so, i had to go ahead and, um, stretch my legs… and i come back to see Group 1 Crew, the winners of the hip-hop album of the year and sudden front-runners for New Artist of the Year honors… we’ve also seen the Veggietales guys, Mike Nawrocki and the songs guy… they won for the CCM songs award… man, i’m really falling behind again… we saw Disciple, and now is Ricky Skaggs is talking about where Jesus would hang out…

something that was interesting was T-Bone and Mark Stuart tag teaming the mic and talking about expanding the Hands and Feet project into Nicaragua… also Cindy Morgan, songwriter of the year came in and talked a bit about her song, new album and she dedicated the Dove to her father… Nazareth is back here now… he hosted the pre-show and he’s doing a pretty good job…

Q: How did you become a Christian?

A: I was caller number nine to the radio station. I won salvation and two free t-shirts…

Okay… gotta get ready for the big show…

peace… love… bdg…

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so let me keep you up to speed with what’s going on here backstage… we’ve had Mac Powell and David Nasser back here talking about their two Doves for the Glory Revealed project… they were joined after a bit by Steven Curtis Chapman, who was humbled by sneaking back on stage to accept an award that belonged to someone else… as if he doesn’t have enough already… i guess after a while you just get used to just walking up there and taking it home…

i’ve all but given up on that GodTube thing… it says that there have been over 1000 visits, but i’ve been kicked out a few times and had to rejoin and it’s currently lagged by about 10 minutes…

Next up for us, as best as i remember was Tenth Avenue North, a new band worth checking out, who performed earlier on the main stage… followed by Michael W Smith talking about his Christmas album of the year win… they’re doing a special celebration during the live show to celebrate the 25 years that he’s been a part of CCM so that will be cool…

up now is Mark Lowry and his producer talking about their win for Inspirational Album of the year… (In your face, Sandi Patty – Mark)…

peace… love… bdg…

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Okay, so we’re backstage already for the Dove Awards and i’ve got the GodTube.com broadcast of the pre-show queued up and the XM Radio stream queued up for the actual show, but i’m not sure how it’s gonna work out… there’s some nice plasma televisions with the broadcast, but i was hoping to be able to listen to the show even when they turn the volume down for the interviews, but it seems like there’s a significant delay when the stream is actually active… so far not too impressed with the old GodTube.com…

so far, we have seen a number of awards, but just a few that i made predictions for in the Dove’s Feature… let’s see if i can remember them now…

Packaging of the year, was Remedy as i predicted… Special Event Album of the Year, i picked Amazing Grace and Glory Revealed ended up taking it… Skillet took home rock song of the year for “Comatose,” breaking his streak of 18 trips as a bridesmaid… John really plays up the humor and as he’s come backstage to address our questions…

i missed worship song, but i got worship and Christmas albums right and, you know what… i’m so not able to keep up with these things… i’ll sort out all the winners later i suppose…

peace… love… bdg…

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well, it’s Friday and you may be thinking that, hey, i guess the new schedule means that he blows off Wednesday and Thursday… well… you’d be wrong… sure, i did blow off the last two days kind of, but it wasn’t entirely intentional, it was just life… Wednesday i was in a fog most of the day and yesterday, among other things, i had to do an interview that i had pretty much forgotten about… and then amidst all the preparations for GMA Week which is now officially less than a month away… it’s just been pretty crazy around here… so i’ll try to make up for it with a fantastic post today, but be forewarned… i’m listening to talk radio and it’s kind of difficult to write while doing that… but let’s give it a go…

ONE. DOVE-ING IT

to the tune of We Won’t Be Quiet – David Crowder Band

So, they’ve announced the first batch of performers for this year’s Dove Awards and we care because i’ll be there and i’ll have to watch them… Anyway, it looks like an alright mix… we’ve got Casting Crowns, The Clark Sisters, Michael W Smith, Amy Grant, Marvin Sapp, Switchfoot, Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Trin-i-tee 5:7, David Crowder*Band, Israel Houghton and Charlie Daniels with Mac Powell… i’ve bolded the ones i’m particularly interested in seeing… but, i think it’s a pretty nice variety so that most people will enjoy at least, i don’t know, maybe 5 minutes of the telecast…

oh, yeah, they’re going to be telecasting the Dove Awards live on Gospel Music Channel

TWO. BUSSED-ED

to the tune of Gypsy Flat Road – Sandra McCracken

So i kind of laughed out loud when i read this story about flattened bus tires… not because i think it’s a good idea, but because i clearly remember a time when some guys i knew did something similar during my high school days… i don’t think they were successful, and they certainly didn’t keep a secret well, because everyone knew about it by the day’s end… this case, however included other vandalism to the busses including graffiti… i’ve also, in looking for a better article about this, learned that this has become quite an epidemic across the country, with recent occurrences in Boston, Chicago, Colorado, New Jersey and probably a lot more… that’s the power of the internet, kids…

one side note… i remember when graffiti was about giving a voice to the voiceless… now it’s just about degredation of society and it really irritates me…

THREE. NEW DAY???

to the tune of Come Together – Third Day

Third Day is planning a new album and by golly it actually sounds pretty exciting… given that i haven’t heard a note of it, i’m basing this solely on the press release that i received not too long ago… here’s the gist… they’re bringing in Howard Benson (Daughtry, POOD, Flyleaf) for production and they guest list includes Chris Daughtry, Lacey Mosely (Flyleaf) and Robert Randolph…

I’m not saying this is going to be the best rock album of the year, but REVELATION may just be the best Third Day album in many, many years…

FOUR. Syncast

to the tune of The IV – Braille

consider me a somewhat late whistle-blower, but if you dig hip hop and you do the whole podcast thing, you’ve got to check out The Syncast… i guess it’s once a month, but it’s generally packed with good tunes a brief interview or other feature and it really rolls along well… They’re on #37 and i’ve listened to the last three (they’re about a half hour each) and i’m definitely recommending it right now…

Check it out in iTunes now or figure out how to subscribe other ways at TheSyncast.com

FIVE. BIG BEN

to the tune of Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood

So Ben Stein has gotten behind and in front, center stage of a documentary about evolution, creationism and the suppression of free thought in the scientific world… the trailer, despite the loud, blaring music and the silly outfit, makes the movie look pretty interesting… i got a leaders packet a couple weeks ago about it, but unfortunately not a screener, so i can’t tell you if it actually is as good as it looks or if it’s just the magic of creating a captivating 3 minute trailer… either way, it’s an interesting concept and maybe, just maybe, it will get some people realizing that everyone who believes in the Creation isn’t a complete imbecile…

HAPPY WEEKEND

and that’s that… i’ve got a new Walk TRu posted for those that are interested… Ampersand EP by Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken… hopefully i’ll have some more for you soon… ’til then…

peace… love… bdg…

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