Michael Jr. and Ben Utech have come on stage to introduce the nominees for Song of the Year… Toby was just backstage with the hosts, but he hasn’t won anything yet… Michael Jr is very, very funny…

and the winner is…. CASTING CROWNS, EAST TO WEST…

oh well… Switchfoot is up on the mainstage now singing their new song from the soundtrack of Prince Caspian… the song is called “This Is Home” and they also sang it the other night at the concert… it’s a pretty good tune… they’re also showing the new Third Day video, but that may have just been for us, i’m not sure…

Rob Beckley from Pillar and Krystal Meyers and someone else are up to announce the nominees for Short form Video of the year…

and the winner is… TOBYMAC… Boomin’

peace… love… bdg…

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Trin-i-tee 5:7 has come backstage to chatter a bit… they look great… and they’ve got Don Fransisco and Steve Archer announcing the inductees into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame… now Toby has come out on stage to talk about Larry Norman, who passed away this past year… and now, Point of Grace is singing How You Live (Turn Up the Music) with Cidy Morgan playing piano and a few, uh interpretive dancers doing their thing in the background…

Marvin Sapp is on his way back here and apparently his song was called “Never Would’ve Made It” not “I Made It” as i previously reported… my bad… comercial break and there’s only about a half hour left, so i’m gonna get me some more sweat tea before it’s all gone…

peace… love… bdg…

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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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