SouthernGospelBlog.com

The Bloggers conference went well. Clarke Beasley, who’s in charge of the NQC, introduced himself briefly at the beginning of the meeting, then left the room and let us talk to our heart’s content. So any concerns about NQC unduly influencing us turn out to be groundless. They just gave us the room and the credentials to get in, and let us run our own meeting.

I did my best to make a guest list:

1. Aaron Crisler (Gospel Music Update and NQC Photographer)
2. Doug Harrison (Averyfineline)
3. Daniel Britt (XM Radio, danielbritt.com)
4. Kyle Boring (Southern Gospel View)
5. Lottie Squires (WCKB780.com)
6. Allisonn Lynn (Adventures of a Starving Artist)
7. David Murray (Musicscribe)
8. Paul & Kathy Jackson (pauljacksongroup.com/blog)
9. Daniel J. Mount (southerngospelblog.com)
10. Aaron Swain (Swain’s Musings)
11. Adam Edwards (Southern Gospel Critique)
12. Chuck Peters (Southern Gospel Reporter)

Observers:

1. Clarke Beasley (NQC) - briefly
2. Bob Crawford - 80s record company exec and involved in early websites, but there as a silent observer (except for introducing himself and maybe once or twice when we asked him a question)
3. Joel Lindsey (songwriter)
4. Sue Smith (songwriter)
5. Wayne Haun (songwriter/Vine Records)
6. Kathy Jackson (Paul’s wife)
7. Kevin Boring (Kyle’s brother)

I probably missed at least one, and if so, my apologies to them.

We started off with a group photo. The discussion about anonymity earlier this week prompted me to prepare a surprise for Doug at Averyfineline. Right before the shot, I handed him a paper bag with eyeholes. If I can talk Aaron Crisler out of a copy, I might post a copy of the shot here. (We did pose one right after with the bag off.)

A couple of other highlights:

• Paul Jackson said that he came from a different perspective than the rest of us, since he was an insider blogging. We discussed how he simply was a different kind of blogger, and if he established a voice of his own (Doug’s phrase), that was a good thing.
• Chuck Peters said that Doug at Averyfineline posts things that nobody else will, but that he sometimes crosses the line and posts personal things that hurt people. We spent a good deal of the conference talking about where the line should be drawn. There were really no surprises there; the bloggers’ views line up with what they’ve posted in their blogs.
• I asked if we should measure artists by whether they meet their standards or ours. We had quite a bit of discussion on this point. The most memorable comment (to me) was Doug’s, that there are some objective measures, like staying on pitch. But, of course, the bloggers discussed other less objective aspects of the issue.