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Doug Harrison at the Averyfineline blog has somewhat of a reputation for coming up with hilarious and thought-provoking one-liners to illustrate his points. Take today’s gem (I do mean that seriously, not sarcastically), buried in a post on Contemporary Christian Music and double entendre songs that could refer either to God or a boyfriend:

No one would ever think a masculine pronoun without a clear antecedent in a McKameys song might actually refer to Ruben Bean.

Check the rest of the column out here.

There is a discussion going on in this post which those of you who care about comment censorship will probably want to note. The summary is that I leave comments with which I disagree posted, in most cases.
Just so the readers of this blog understand my approach to comments, I wanted to say it here at some point. Since this is in a sense a public forum, I feel an obligation to leave posts with which I disagree as untouched as the posts with which I agree.

That said, there are two circumstances in which I could foresee censoring a post: (1) if profanity is used, and (2) if a poster makes public a currently private personal matter in the life of a member of the Southern Gospel industry. Other than that, I pretty much let both sides speak their mind. Sometimes I take part in the discussion, sometimes I just sit back and watch.

Now it’s official; I just opened a press release that was sent out early this morning confirming that Mike Allen is, indeed, the newest Prophet. That’s quite a catch for this group.

Ed Hill’s Prophets made their mark in their day; the only other quartet he managed was the Singing Americans in the 1980s. If the names he’s putting together are any indicator, we could possibly see some of the spark of the Singing Americans’ glory days return to the Southern Gospel scene.

Internet communications–most prominently message boards and blogs–allow us to capture our instant reactions to news items.

My instant reaction to hearing that Tim Parton was now the pianist for Legacy Five was captured yesterday for all to see. Several people took me to task for it, and I guess anyone who felt the way I did had the sense to remain quiet and not say so.

It was a day I knew had to come, but part of me wished the official announcement hadn’t happened quite so quickly.

I don’t know. Perhaps it would be wise to avoid posting immediate reactions.

But then, sometimes the immediate reactions are the most honest.

EDIT: All right, everyone (and especially JSQ and MST), I’m returning to equilibrium. But I’ll leave this up because it does capture my initial reaction.

***

Singing News is reporting that Tim Parton has agreed to join Legacy Five as their new pianist.

Tim Parton is the pianist for Legacy Five.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about seeing that last sentence in black and white. It was one thing to hear of him filling in for Roger, but it’s another thing to see that he is the

Permanent.

Replacement.

There is a sense of finality to that that I must admit I just don’t like. We all knew the day had to come, and that Legacy Five would eventually name another pianist.

But I guess in my mind, replacing Roger is something that will take years, not just happen overnight…if a replacement can ever be as accepted and beloved as Roger was, just by being himself.

Now some of you will probably say you suspected this all along, but at last we have confirmation, from the words of Mr. Averyfineline himself:

a non-sg friend of mine who lurks on the blog as an alien outsider commented just the other day on how many intelligent and insightful commenters this site is fortunate to have…

I didn’t know they had computers on Mars, or spoke English for that matter. But at long last I have an explanation for those occasional comments I can’t make heads or tails of, no matter how long I scratch my head.

During the years he sang with Poet Voices (1996-99), Mike Allen seems to have made for himself quite a base of fans who have since wanted to see him back with a quartet. Since 1999, Allen has been touring as a soloist with the Homecoming Tour, but it looks as though his fans are about to get their wish.

A source close to Ed Hill’s Prophets Quartet tells me that they are about to announce that Mike Allen is joining them as their bass. Last week, Allen was in the studio with the rest of the quartet recording vocals for their debut project.

The quartet already has legends Bill Baize on tenor and Ed Hill on baritone. (Paul Jackson, a newcomer to the quartet scene, sings lead.) Although they’ve taken their time getting this group off the ground, adding Allen to the lineup would create a group so strong vocally that I’m suspecting the wait will be worth it.

(Disclaimer: The following is a general observation and is not in reference to any individual on this year’s Fan Awards ballot.)

Random thought of the day: Occasionally, when a singer moves from one full-time major group to another, they are nominated as Horizon Individual of the Year. (The Horizon Individual award is mainly intended for newcomers to the full-time professional quartet scene.) When this happens, am I the only one who hesitates to vote for such an individual because to do so almost seems like a snub to the previous group?

Say Stewart Varnado moved from the Dixie Echoes to the McKameys. (No, don’t start rumors…I’m only picking on him because the readers of this blog already know I think he’d sound great with any quartet out there!) Anyhow, suppose that happened, and Stewart was nominated for Horizon Individual of the Year. While I would jump at the chance to vote for him in almost any other category in which he was eligible, I’d hesitate to vote for him there because it would seem that my vote would express an opinion that the Dixie Echoes were a small-time group–which they’re most certainly not.

Am I the only one who sees things this way?

Today’s a slow news day–so far, at least–and it’s one of those days where it’s somewhat of a challenge to come up with something to say. But I post every day, six days a week, so here’s what’s on my mind today.
Numerous factors go into selecting a single. Perhaps one of the group members is a songwriter; perhaps one of the group members hasn’t been featured on a song for the last six singles; perhaps this song was published by the record company and some of the others weren’t.

Sometimes, with all those factors to keep in mind, the best song simply gets left behind. The Perrys are an example that came to mind last night in a conversation with a friend. No question, they sent out the best songs from This is the Day, and that’s what put them on top of the Southern Gospel world. But with Life of Love, “We Will Be Changed” got left behind in the selection process, and in my opinion it would have been their strongest radio single from the project (or at least right up there with “I Will Find You Again.”)

We can’t close the book on Come Thirsty yet, because they could yet squeeze one more single out of it before the next project comes out. But I haven’t changed my initial opinion of the project–that “A Day that Never Ends” and “Walk Away Free” are two songs begging to be the uptempo and midtempo (respectively) singles from the project–Perrys classics in the waiting if they just send them to radio.

Other examples that come to mind are the Mark Trammell Trio’s “When Mercy Came Down” (from This Time) and Legacy Five’s “I Have Been Changed” (from Live in Music City). The Mark Trammell Trio has already moved on from This Time, but Live in Music City is Legacy Five’s current project. If L5 doesn’t send “I Have Been Changed” to radio, they will have missed out on the sort of opportunity that only comes along once every few years, at best.

By now you’ve probably figured out that only someone who really likes to write would maintain the challenging pace of posts six days a week, every week.

Some of you know that my writing interests extend beyond Southern Gospel. As a matter of fact, if I may be permitted a little self-promotion, my book on The Faith of America’s Presidents was just published by AMG Publishers / Living Ink Books.

Copies can be purchased from Amazon and Christianbook.com. For information on purchasing an autographed copy directly from me or on bringing me in to speak on the topic to your church or group, email me at daniel**@**danielmount.net. (Remove the asterisks.) Note: I’m also happy to autograph copies you purchase elsewhere.

Well, we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon, but I wanted to let you know that the book was complete.