Changes

I have recently joined a gospel quartet as lead singer. I'll leave it to the really curious ones to figure out which one (shouldn't be too hard with a little detective work!). With this new change will also bring about a hiatus from this particular blog. I will pop back in as time allows, but my efforts will be much more focused on group activities (and perhaps a blog will pop up on the group's website in the future!!).

Rest assured, this decision is NOT based on a request by said group to discontinue my blogging. This is a personal choice due to lack of time to devote to writing here. As I said, if I have time (and the thoughts) to write, I'll pop in and share them. I'm sure I'll pick up some new tid bits along the way!

Roundtable Roundup

It seems that several people have already commented on the Blogger's Roundtable event, so I won't bog (or blog) you down with repetitiveness. I WILL say, however, that I have come to view some of these people in a whole new light.

The overall concensus of the meeting seemed to be that everyone has their own views, their own opinions, and their own voice. The biggest difference between, say, Doug Harrison (easy target, sorry bud!) and a person in the nosebleed section of Freedom Hall is that instead of the person in the crowd is only expressing their views to the person sitting next to them, while Doug is expressing his opinion to anyone with an internet connection. Both people could be saying the exact same thing (positive or negative), it's just a matter of who knows it.

In reality, the kind of talk that goes on within blogs such as Averyfineline, et al, has been going on for as long as their has been gospel music. The artists just rarely heard what there was to be said. Now that there is a world-wide platform for both praise and criticism, not only can anyone see what is being said, but anyone can get involved. Just imagine if Hovie Lister had to deal with blogs!!! I'm sure that not only would the criticisms be flying, but so would the comebacks from Hovie himself....

Now, I can see where people can go over the line. I have done it myself. It happens. That doesn't make it right or excuse it, but it does happen. It's an exercise in judgement that doesn't always come out right.

I have spoken to some artists who love reading these blogs, saying that it helps give them an honest view of what the fans feel. Other artists flat out hate them. My blog, for the record, has had a tendancy to be negative at times, but as was stated over and over around the table, it's one person's voice and one person's opinion. You can't (and never will) please everyone. You will always have someone who doesn't agree with you. Such is life. Being an artist myself, I can see both sides of the coin, and I try my best to control some of my opinions, but there are issues that I feel strongly about, and that's what this is for. Hopefully I will be able to continue with this blog for quite a while with this same stance.

Family Feud - Fast Money Round

I have been following the ever-growing (and increasingly-public) fight between Vicki & Rick Goodman. Some people have recommended to Doug that the thread should be closed and removed to avoid further spewing. I personally see no problem with the public forum; that's part of the point of the site!

If you ask me, the problem lies with the family members (and associates). Rather than take things private and deal with the issue, they choose to take things public, attacking each other and making accusations on the site.

I don't see Doug (or anyone else) as being at fault. I don't see Vicki demanding that her comments be removed from his site, and I don't see any of the Goodmans Generation II screaming to close the thread (why should they - as long as it's open, they have a public platform to bicker!). All that was done by him was passing along a statement. What happened after that, public speculation, assumptions, attacks, etc., were the result of visitors to the site. Removing comments (or closing the thread), in my opinion, would just be a form of censorship in what is obviously a hot debate.

As for the matter of the Goodman Thrift Store, if I remember correctly, when Howard and Vestal kicked off their "Final Stand" tour at the NQC, shortly after Howard's knee surgery, someone asked Vestal if they could have her hankie, do which she replied, "No, but we have some for sale at the booth." That comment brought out some laughs, and definitely caused a line at the booth after their show, and Vestal being Vestal, she could easily get away with that (where if, say, Ryan Seaton tried that with some hair gel, he'd be laughed clean off the stage). To me, it seems as if Rick is trying to keep up his family's tradition of marketing and hype; he just seems to have forgotten about the whole singing part....

The only thing I really have a question about with his ministry (or whatever people wanna call it) is the "faith partner" thing. My understanding is that, if you contribute a certain amount of money, you received an official "limited" supply Vestal hankie (which makes me wonder how many hankies the woman ever really had in the first place!!), a few other things, and become an official faith partner. Does this mean that I now have to pay to pray? I can pray for Rick and Diane, but only if I send them $300?

I'm not knocking the ministry, just trying to understand it....

Family Feud??

Apparently, Averyfineline has opened an unhealed wound in the Goodman camp by posting a letter he received from Vicki Goodman, Howard & Vestal's daughter, concerning her brother's recent ministry effort. Accusations are flying on both sides of the argument, including CD smashing and greedy prices.

If I remember correctly, this isn't the first time a feud has become public with the Goodmans; anyone remember the dropping of "Happy" from the name and the addition of Mike English and Tanya to the lineup in the early 80's?? From what I understand, this was the result of dissention between H&V and Rusty & Sam....