Lay off the Inspirations!

One of the more inexplicable phenomena of recent years in gospel music writing is why one of the industry’s leading groups(the Inspirations)is regularly pilloried and put down for the sound of their music, especially in light of their enduring popularity as a group for over 40 years now…culminating in yet another Fan Award for favorite male quartet(shared with EHSSQ).

Their detractors say they lack professionalism and musical skill…a ridiculous charge if examined with any degree of closeness. They sing on key and on pitch, and Martin Cook is more than competent on piano, as is his son Myron on bass. And the singers seem to have the basic gospel quartet style of singing down pat….handling conventional arrangements as well as some of the trickier Stamps/Baxter style ones. And they excel at the old-fashioned shape note style, too.

Maybe Martin is no piano virtuoso a la Anthony Burger, but is that any reason to put him and his piano playing down? Martin does have a definable, basic gospel piano style that fits his group like a glove…therein may lie the rub with some gospel music critics who seem to enjoy lording their inherent musical superiority over us.

The Inspirations know what they’re doing. They know what they do, they’re good at it, and they stick with it. They don’t force their style in unnatural directions in a vain attempt to look “cool” or current. They understand their music, and most important, they understand what people like, and how to give that to them.

When they first attracted attention as a quartet in the late 1960s, promoter JG Whitfield asked Les Beasley who people liked seeing at singings…and Beasley said that there was this quartet of youngsters from the mountains of North Carolina who people just adored, and that they had a tenor singer who “nobody liked but the people”. Even then, the Inspirations moved audiences. Whit listened, and then began to book the Inspirations extensively in the Southeast, and they caught fire like a gas can in no time.

I don’t have formal degrees in music or anything, but I know enough to know that music isn’t solely based on technical proficiency. Especially with gospel songs, the good groups are the ones that move the hearts of audiences as well as their ears. And the Inspirations are competent enough musically that they can move ears, and skilled enough communicators in song that they can move hearts with their singing as well.

And it’s that ability to reach audiences that has made the Inspirations popular now for over 40 years…and that popularity shows no signs of abating, even in these times of gospel groups seemingly falling all over themselves to sound “cool” or “progressive”. The Inspirations are real…they put on no airs, and don’t pretend to be anything that they aren’t, which resonates with their audience, and as a result, the group stays popular with fans, and sells out wherever they sing. It was once estimated that the Inspirations brought over $70 million a year in revenue to the Bryson City, NC area that they proudly hail from.

I shouldn’t think the mindless criticism bothers the Inspirations much…they’re busy all year, they encounter adoring fans on a regular basis, and they’re a model of integrity in a business more in need of it than might be imagined. They can laugh at those comments all the way to the bank!

The Inspirations have been one of the most distinctive gospel groups in the history of the music…and I say, give them their due…they’ve earned it!

People are looking?

Tonight, while engaged in an online chat with a good friend(and fellow blogger), I was informed that there were people here who were going over to his blog from this one, and it made me wonder….

Are there more people out there peeking in on my “inquring mind” than I even imagined?

Earlier in the day, I noticed on a message board(that shall remain eternally nameless)that someone was asking for opinions from the posters there on who the best gospel bass singers of all were. This a day after I posted the previous entry here on the renowned “Big Chief” Wetherington(the favorite of most of those posters, not surprisingly), where I shared my own impressions on the gospel music legend.

Hmmm…if I knew that I would be even indirectly responsible for informed discussion on a message board, I might consider charging royalty fees for my thoughts.(Only kidding, folks.)

It DOES make me wonder, though, just how many people stop by to look at my thoughts…and why they are so important to some readers/visitors. After all, who am I really?

Some consider me a gospel music historian, and I suppose I am, after a fashion(I do have a monthly article on gospel music history on the top gospel music website, after all)…but does that really impress me? I’m very proud and happy to have the privilege of writing for SouthernGospelNews, but it in itself doesn’t really make me anything special…other than a gospel music fan and student of history with a sort of bully pulpit. If that makes me special to some readers, fine.

Don’t misunderstand…I’m glad that people find this little corner of the web worth checking out, and I’m glad that ALL of you stop by. I have just learned not to get too caught up in the idea that I’m someone extra special just because a lot of people stop by here(I learned that lesson in 20+ years of doing radio for a heritage station in an important market).

It’s just fun to think about who’s looking here…and why.

And I thank all of you for doing so…stop by anytime.

The greatest?

I’m back…and posting…I needed to take a few days to collect my thoughts, and do some other recharging that we all need from time to time.

Today, I intend to post something I’ve threatened to post for some time here…I’m one of those who like to challenge occasional widely held myths, that to me, deserve to be challenged in the interests of clarity and accuracy.

Keep in mind that the following is solely(but I don’t think exclusively)my own opinion…but since what I’m challenging here is a consensus opinion and not factual, I don’t feel I’m necessarily out of line in posting a counter-opinion.

It is held almost as an axiom to many longtime gospel quartet fans(a group of which I am assuredly a member) that the greatest gospel bass singer of all time, without question, was one James Stephen Wetherington, known to gospel music fans as “Big Chief”, the much-heralded bass singer of the famous Statesmen Quartet for some 23 years. I say otherwise, and I’ll make my case here.

Now I realize that in so doing, It’s as if I’m challenging the almost universal notion among many that the Statesmen were the greatest quartet of all time. (Well, they’re not…but that’s another post for another time.)

For now, on to “Big Chief”. There can be no doubt that he was among not only the greatest bass singers of all time, but among the greatest overall contributors to gospel music. As a singer, he had a fine voice, was a great stage personality, was hugely influential on not only his peers but on subesquent generations of singers, and as a songwriter, has a very impressive resume. He wrote over 200 songs, many of which are still being performed today. And as a businessman, he also was impressive, not only owning a piece of the Statesmen for years, but also a couple of publishing companies. His presence is all over the gospel music of the 1950s and 1960s.

And in one respect, he was quite UNDERrated. Hovie Lister for years claimed that Big Chief was the ultimate “quartet man”, always looking sharp and being well-prepared for any personal appearance or any recording session. Lister claimed that once Chief got a hold of an arrangement, he’d “learn his part and everyone else’s within a day”! And contrary to another legend surrounding the Statesmen, Chief had a LOT to do with that group’s famous arrangements, right along with longtime baritone Doy Ott. I don’t doubt any of that at all…clearly Chief was a superior musician with obvious innate musical skills. Those skills went a long way toward developing the legend that would later surround him.

So why would you even THINK, John, in light of all that, which you concede…that Chief ISN’T the greatest bass of all time?

Well, one reason I don’t think so is that he was kind of tough to listen to sometimes…like his longtime partner, lead singer Jake Hess, Chief chose to use his voice in an extremely mannered style, with exaggerated pronunciations on some words, and used those unique idiosyncracies repeatedly to the point that it almost bordered on self-parody. To say the least, that aspect of Chief’s singing was indeed an acquired taste.

As was his habit of under-enunciating, or even NON-enunciating lyrics(particularly on fast songs). His diction was almost intentionally sloppy often, to the point where it was hard to make out the words to what he was supposed to be singing. The outstanding example of this sloppinesss is on the famous Statesmen recording of “I Wanna Know” from their 1959 RCA live LP. If you didn’t know what the words were ahead of time, you’d never learn them by listening to Chief. And he was only barely more intelligible on the faster songs on the rest of the album. And incredibly, when asked about this all too common tendency of his, Chief’s response was essentially, “It’s not that important.” Say WHAT? You’re singing the world’s greatest message in song, and people can’t understand you…but it’s not that important?” Hello! You’d wonder if Chief just had a problem getting the words out clearly, or whether it mattered to him that much. In any case, many of Chief’s contemporaries(JD Sumner, Armond Morales, even London Parris and Jay Simmons)were far superior to him in that respect.

And a legend persists that Chief could sing much lower than he demonstrated on record, but Hovie Lister held him back from doing so. While I never met Chief, and I never heard what he might have done off the record, and I’m aware that many singers claim that that is true…I have trouble buying it. For one, why. with JD Sumner on the very same stage with the Statesmen on many a night, and as competitive as the gospel business was in those days, did Hovie not let him show his stuff if he had it? I think fans would have loved to see “bass-offs” between Sumner and the Chief, much like the ones between Sumner and London Parris? Fans loved those…and so did Sumner and Parris, who, despite their rivalry, were the best of friends. Even once in a while on record, one would thought Hovie would have really “turned him loose” just to show people he could , if nothing else. That never happened, to my knowledge. I have most of the records that the Statesmen made between 1957 and 1969, and I never heard Chief approach those depths once. And even on the songs where he did go unusually low(for him), his vocal quality was nowhere near Sumner’s, Parris’s, or even Bob Thacker’s!

Of course, bass singing is not about merely singing low, or having the lowest voice. Still, it’s clear to me that there is more legend than fact in the idea that Chief is the unquestionable greatest bass singer of all time.

Now, I don’t mean to minimize Chief’s obvious skills. As I said, he was one of the best innate musicians ever to sing bass in a gospel quartet(his only rival in that respect might be JD Sumner). And his skill at singing rhythm bass is peerless, no question about that.

So, John, you don’t think Big Chief was the best? All right, who was then?

And I have to say, I really don’t know. Beauty is often in the eyes and ears of the beholders…and although I have my own personal favorites, I’m not prepared to say that they were the best, or lowest, or best-looking…or anything of the sort!

As a longtime fan of gospel music, I am glad that such a talented man as Jim “Big Chief” Wetherington chose to lend his skills and abilities to it, and gospel music is better for what he gave it. And that goes for the music’s other “legends”, too.

Honoring Jesus

Here is another classic gospel album I wanted to review for this blog, and it’s a tasty yet relatively unknown classic by the Couriers Quartet from early 1965, “Honoring Jesus”(Hymntone 3086).

“Honoring Jesus” is not usually mentioned in lists of all-time favorite albums by the Couriers, but to underestimate its musical magnificence would be a mistake. Quite simply, it is one of the most musically accomplished albums that renowned group ever made, and of all the albums they did as a quartet(still my favorite iteration of the Couriers), it is probably my second favorite one after “Nothing…but the Gospel Truth”(reviewed in an earlier entry).

This album was recorded most likely in late 1964, not long after the quartet’s lone Christmas album was released. They had earlier on recorded an album in lead singer Neil Enloe’s living room(”The Love of God”, Hymntone 3085), which was as close to a straight southern gospel quartet album the group ever did.

The group returned to the RCA Studios in Nashville for this one, though, the scene of triumphs like “The Lord’s Prayer(1962)”, “You Will Never Have To Journey Alone(1962)”, and their two albums for Warner Brothers in 1963 and 1964. This meant, of course, that they would be back in the capable hands of renowned gospel sideman Brock Speer, along with his brother Ben, and some of RCA’s top sidemen backing them instrumentally.

This particular group of Couriers was not only my favorite, but the favorite of many who were fans of the group during their quartet days…tenor Duane Nicholson, Enloe as lead, baritone and manager Don Baldwin, bass Dave Kyllonen, and multi-talented pianist L. David Young(known widely as “Little David”), who did most of the arranging during his time with the group, as well as writing a lot of the group’s songs during that time.

The album came out in two versions, with differing song orders. As I proceed through the songs, I’ll be reflecting the order on the original issue(the copy I have). It was also distinctive in that there was no group picture on the cover, merely a depiction of Jesus(Whom the group was ostensibly “honoring” on the album). That was not unusual in that day, but still a bit different.

The album opens with a Young original, “Gathering Home”, a nice bit of quartet harmony with Young himself doubling the melody line an octave high on the final chorus. That’s followed by another beautiful Young original, “Greatest Friend”, which has a big harmony sound. The story goes that Young wrote the song by thinking of ways in which to describe Jesus, and asking the group members on the bus to do so in one sentence. Young took the various lines and made the song.

Next is an energetic rendering on “I Am Resolved”, which features a solid lead from Enloe at the outset, and good vocal work by Nicholson and Kyllonen on the choruses. This is followed by the attractive close harmony of “I Found A Friend”, which ends on a very nice modern harmony chord.

Then Baldwin and Nicholson combine features on a unique arrangement of “Victory In Jesus”. IMO, Baldwin never sang better on a song than he did there. The next number was written by Young’s pastor in Pennsylvania when he was with the group, and it features on of Kyllonen’s best bass leads, “When The Lord Is Near”. I might mention that the group sings with as much confidence as they did in their careers on this album…and Kyllonen’s best all around bass singing during the time he sang bass in the quartet is heard on this album.

The next number features an unusual Courier lineup…Nicholson and Kyllonen drop out, and the singers are Young, Enloe, and Baldwin…quite a unique trio. The song is an old number written by Bob Robinson for the Sons of Song(a group Young was a part of at the start of the 1960s), “Jesus Knows About You”. Young’s lead is quite compelling, and the arrangement is magnificent. This song was a staple in Courier concerts during that period, and never failed to bring down the house. The song is being revived today by the Cerces, but this is the definitive version of it.

Next is “Lily of the Valley”, not in the version most quartets sang it in, but the alternative hymnal version. The Couriers sing Neil Enloe’s arrangement of it, and he and Nicholson contribute great lead vocals on it. That’s followed by a story song written by Young and sung by Enloe, “Jesus Loves You”, based on a true story Young saw when observing an elderly man talking to a pair of children on a street corner.

That is followed by a unique arrangement of “Led Out Of Bondage”, not featuring Kyllonen as one might expect, but Young…who delivers it flawlessly as well as opening it with a memorable piano riff. Next is a convention-style arrangement on “Jesus Is The One”, showing that the Couriers took a back seat to no quartet when it came to a straight, southern-style quartet arrangement.

The album closes with a lovely rendition of “Take Up Thy Cross”, featuring Kyllonen and Nicholson. It is an appropriate wrapup for one of the finest quartet albums of the period, and an almost unknown gospel classic.

The Couriers by that time had come a LONG way from the ragged but determined college kids trying to make their mark on the quartet scene in the late 1950s, and with this album, definitively demonstrated they were one of the top quartets of the 1960s. This album is extremely hard to find, but if you can find it, and you love good gospel quartet singing, by all means, get it!

Besides the excellent musicianship on “Honoring Jesus”, the most pertinent thing to say about the album is that it lives up to its’ title….it indeed honors the Master. “Honoring Jesus” is a triumph of what skill, dedication, submission, and commitment to a vision can produce…this is why it is indeed a gospel classic.

NQC 2006

Well, I’ve been threatening to post these for days…might as well finally post ‘em.



This year’s edition of the National Quartet Convention has come and gone…and from what I can gather, once again, most of the people who attended(again, I was not one of them)enjoyed themselves and what they saw. And really, isn’t that the bottom line with an event of that nature?



I’m sure there were some artists who didn’t perform as well as they or their fans expected them to…but that always happens at a live event. Besides the entertainment provided by the music, the real highlight of the NQC is the networking…the fellowship between fans and each other, fans and artists, and artists and promoters.



As far as that part goes, of the people I’ve spoken to since the convention, all were unanimous in their overall satisfaction. And that is always a good thing.



But every year, there’s always some sort of picky, cynical putdown of some aspect of the convention…if not about the actual performing, then about the Singing News Fan Awards that are an annual highlight of the event. And this year was no exception in that regard, either.



Now realize that I am by nature one of the more cynical observers around. I have no real room to talk when it comes to speaking about the cynicism of others. But since this is my blog, I’m going to talk about it, anyway…and let you object via the comment box!



The Perrys were one of the award winners for best mixed group…but in light of the Crabb Family’s announcement to call it quits by this time next year, they announced their desire to give their award to the Crabbs, in recognition for the latter’s achievements in the last several years. Some have suggested that this is typical of the Perrys to make a spectacle of sorts during an award presentation, given their past history.



Well, if it is, so what? If they meant that as a sincere gesture, why does it have to be analyzed so scrupulously? Can’t we just accept it for what it is?



And the big award story…that there was a tie in the Male Group voting between the Inspirations and Signature Sound…was even looked upon by this year’s cynics as a political concession to both sides of the southern gospel genre…the so-called “progressives” and the traditionalists. Never mind that once you go beyond the hair and the ties and the “dancing”, Signature Sound is as traditional a quartet musically as they come nowadays, if that’s what it was, so what? Some have complained for years that the powers-that-be at the NQC don’t recognize the “diversity” that exists in today’s gospel music. Now that it has been recognized at least in a token way, what’s the problem? You can’t seem to please some people.



Perhaps in a later entry, I’ll weigh in on the patently ridiculous criticism of the Inspirations concerning how “bad” their music allegedly is…my lines of reasoning go beyond the scope of this posting here, so I’ll save that for later, if I decide to do it at all. But for now I’ll simply say, if the people like it and are blessed by it, how “bad” can it really be?



The fact that most had a good time speaks well for the NQC, and my personal hope for future NQCs is that the Gaither organization will lose its’ little snit with the convention, and stop aggressively promoting competing events right at the time of the NQC. Regardless of the merits of that particular “feud”, the constant perpetualization of it looks bad, and it does the fans of both the NQC and the Gaither events a disservice.



Oops, there goes my cynicism now. Sorry about that.

Another place to go

Those thoughts on this year’s NQC are coming, but right now I want to point out a new link I have to my(and your)right here.

Daniel J. Mount is a 20-year old gospel quartet fan from Ohio, and has aspirations of becoming a gospel music historian. In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen of his contributions to various gospel music message boards, he’s off to a very good start.

He has begun a blog…southerngospelblog.com…where he reviews gospel albums, posts discographies, and discusses issues involving gospel music and its’ history. If these are things that interest you as well, then I highly recommend checking out his blog on a regular basis.

Daniel is always digging for more and more information about the music he loves so much. In that aspect, he reminds me of myself at the same age. He has an advantage I never had back then…he has the resources of the internet at his disposal, and he has made far more connections in the gospel music world that I made when I was 20.

Daniel is a very good young writer, and a conscientious researcher, who never stops digging until he obtains the information he wants. I think it is a very good thing that someone of Daniel’s age takes such an interest in the great musical heritage that is gospel music. Those who are concerned with the future of this part of the genre can take hope in the fact that there are young men like Daniel that are determined to keep the quartet flame burning.

Daniel is the author of a site dedicated to the Cathedral Quartet, is involved with another gospel music history site, and his opinions and observations can be found on most any gospel music message board near you!

I recommend Daniel’s blog as a place to go if you want to read about gospel music, its’ history, and its’ heritage. The link to his blog, as I said at the outset, is in the link list to your right.

It’s coming!

Where have I been the last few days?

Well, while many of my friends and colleagues were enjoying the National Quartet Convention this past week in Louisville, I was trying to get certain aspects of my personal life in order, and deal with all the stress that entails. And there’s been a LOT of that, trust me!

But now that it’s over, I’m looking back at what others have said and written about it, and I plan to get the impressions of some of my friends who were there. And when I get all of that input sorted, and can express my thoughts on it in an orderly and coherent manner, I will do so right here.

But since I don’t post thoughts here on deadlines, I hope you won’t mind if for once I think over what I have to say, and share it when I’m ready to, not necessarily faster than anyone else does. Unless Jesus returns tomorrow, I think I’ve got sufficient time to do just that.

So…what can I say? I have thoughts on certain aspects of this year’s NQC, and the NQC in general…and I WILL post them here. In the meantime, you’re certainly invited to check out the links I have here, if you have to have thoughts THAT fast!

I’m sparing you all the details of what’s going on right now in my personal life, because I’m not comfortable about putting them in print right now, and frankly, it wouldn’t be THAT interesting to read about anyway!

Why change it?

Well, it’s National Quartet Convention time again…and for the 48th consecutive year, I won’t be there.

Do I wish I was? Well, yes…it would be nice to be able to attend gospel music’s premier event at least once while I’m still physically able to.

There are lots of reasons…one, there are many friends I have who are there that I’d like to meet. And since these particular friends I’m thinking of are gospel music fans, there is no better place to finally meet them. Two, it’s probably the best place there is to meet my favorite artists in one place…since the vast majority of them are all there for the entire week.

But the #1 reason is the music…my favorite kind of music, every night, for an entire week! In that sense, it’s like being the proverbial kid in the candy store!

Admittedly, I wish I could have been there during the mid-1960s…when it was still gospel quartet intensive, and most of my favorite singers and groups were there and at their peak. But sadly, I can’t turn back the clock.

I know enough about conventions from the years I’ve attended the one out here in Fresno…except that the NQC is the “big” one, and the model for them all…it’d be nice to see it.

But in recent years, I keep reading articles and comments about how the NQC is fading fast, and how it needs to be radically changed to become “relevant” again for today’s gospel fan. Come again?

As long as the event continues to be what is promised, and audiences enjoy it, it will never cease to be relevant to the dedicated gospel fan.

We hear suggestions(no doubt well-meaning)by many that the event needs to be booked differently, or that there is too much focus on this or that sort of thing as opposed to something else…even that the name should be changed to reflect the changes in gospel music.

These suggestions are invariably from people with personal agendas about what “southern” gospel music is(or should be), and however sincere, most of them add up to “much ado about nothing”.

First off, it was originally formed as a gathering place for all the top artists in the then-fledgling industry to get together, perform, sell their product, and network with promoters to secure bookings for the future. Because gospel quartets were the predominant vehicle for the music in those days, it only followed that it be called the National QUARTET convention.

Even today, gospel quartets are the most popular vehicle for the music, despite the growing preponderance of trios and mixed groups of whatever configuration. Those who are skeptical of that cite selected research data to justify their claims, but one look or listen at the various conventions still tends to support the contention that gospel fans still love quartets most.

It seems that it’s always a vocal minority that clamors for changes in what has been a largely successful endeavor for over 40 years. They’ll cite the popularity of the Bill Gaither Homecoming events and his related promotions(interestingly booked directly opposite the NQC of late)as evidence of the need for the NQC to change or eventually fade away in the coming years.

The jury remains out on all these claims…and frankly, on my own opinions as expressed here. But for now, I still say as long as a majority of gospel music fans still enjoy and are blessed by being at the NQC each year, stop complaining…and sit down and enjoy it along with the rest of us. It’s still the “place to be” each year for the gospel music fan.

Five years ago today…

The morning of September 11th began like most mornings did. Well, in a sense it didn’t…because in those days I worked the afternoon drive shift at the radio station, so normally I wouldn’t even have gotten up until about 10 AM or so. But because I had to fill in for our midday person, I was up at 7:30 to make sure I’d be ready and get to work on time.
Normally, I listened to our station if I was up in the morning, to catch the latest news. But I had a Christian station on, and awoke to a sermon by Adrian Rogers.

As is my custom even now, I turned on my computer over breakfast to check my e-mail…and what was going on at my favorite websites. I still had no idea what else was happening.

When I checked my AOL mail, I saw these pictures of falling buildings…and there was discussion of the “tragedy”…what tragedy, I wondered? It wasn’t long before I found out what had happened, so as I prepared to leave for work, I turned our station on.

We were in full emergency mode….our morning newsblock was being preempted for coverage of the event live from CBS radio in New York. I knew this was not going to be an ordinary day.

When I got to work, I noticed that our programming was being simulcast on all seven of the stations in our building…even the Spanish language ones. Our poor morning host had an awesome station ID to say at the top of each hour….he had to identify all seven stations! “You’re listening to live CBS coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center on KMJ, Fresno…KSKS, Fresno…KMGV, Fresno…KWYE, Fresno…KOQO-AM, Clovis…KOQO-FM, Fresno…and KHTK, Fresno.” What a mouthful!

We stayed with CBS through the early afternoon…all the commercials we had scheduled were ALL pre-empted…and periodically, our host would come on to summarize local reaction to what was going on. At 2 PM, we began taking calls from our listeners to get their reactions. While all this was going on, most of us were in the newsroom glued to the TV coverage. I distinctly remember watching Ashleigh Banfield on MSNBC out among the confusion, and interrupting her report to pull a pregnant woman out of the way of a piece of a building falling towards her.

The stark reality of the situation made a definite impression on me. I recalled thinking how silly the term “reality show” was applied to such contrived productions as “Survivor” and “American Idol”…THIS was TV verite as perhaps nothing was since the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald on national TV back in 1963.

Things finally calmed down after 3, and I went back to preparing my sports for the afternoon news. Of course, there would be no sports on this day, just reaction from the athletic world on the tragedy. I dutifully reported it, and suddenly, it was over for the day. It was 9 of the fastest hours I had ever spent at work.

People in my position are always asked what our “takes” on the event were. Mine is not really anything different from most people’s…it was a shocking example of the cruelty of mankind, and any spontaneous comments made at a moment like that would more than likely have been irresponsible…so like many, I just absorbed the shock…and did my duty as best I could.

But the one comforting thought I have(and had)about that situation, and others like it…is that when something like that happens, all of a sudden, the silly little life episodes that were so important to us prior to such events are forgotten. We put our selfish preoccupations aside for the betterment of our communities(whatever they may be)….and always afterward, I wonder…why can’t we be like that more often?

Perhaps it takes that kind of tragedy to bring out the nobler and more Godly side of human nature…perhaps not. But I do think about that. I guess that is my overwhelming thought when I think of what happened in New Tork City five years ago today.

This is the way it is…

Well, it’s over.



If you’ve seen the publicity, it is the most monentous event to have occurred in TV news since the advent of 30-minute newscasts. Katie Couric(hardly a giant of journalism)is now the anchor of the CBS Evening News(hallelujah!)!



And it WILL be different, that’s for sure. As she signed off last night, Katie gave us a nice shot of her legs…something that neither Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite, or Dan Rather(her predecessors)ever did.



She even asked us to submit a sign-off line for her, a la Cronkite’s “And that’s…the way it is”. We can make our choices on the CBS website.



Well, I’ve always wanted this to be an interactive blog. So I’m going to allow you to do it here, too. After all, if TV history is being made, I’d like us to be involved with it.



So if you have a suggestion for a tag line for Katie, feel free to submit it here. I’d love to be of help to this woman of history. Personally, the best suggestion I’ve yet seen is “Good night…and keep it perky!” Got a better one? Let me know!

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