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.
Posted on Sep 20, 2006 - 09:17 PM | [0]
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