ON AIR July 25, 2007: The Lisa Toliver Show features Minister of Music, Major Ouida W. Harding

Oyez! Hear ye! Lend me your ears! Tomorrow's Lisa Tolliver Show should get you shouting, clapping, and tapping your feet. You may even lift up your voice and sing.

My guest will be Minister of Music, Major Ouida Waltryce Harding (affectionately known as "Major"). If you've never heard OF her, you've likely HEARD her beautiful, award-winning music. That's likely, as she sometimes performs with well-known gospel artists, such as Dorothy Norwood and Cissy Houston.

For example, Major was Musical Director for Face to Face, for which Ms. Houston captured the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album. [Hear excerpts.] And the gospel singing group, 'The Reflections of Faith', which Major says she organized "with the intent to do more than sound good, but to also connect and encourage persons from all walks of life," won three consecutive NYC Gospel Grammy Awards for the Best Non-Recording Female Group. Amen!

The show will air at high noon (ET) on Wednesday, July 25. To hear and share, tune to New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, listen live online at WVOX.com, or phone the call-in line: (01) 914.636.0110.

I've been trying for a year to interview the globetrotting musician (piano, organ), minister and retired military officer, and we're all blessed she's booked this broadcast. Hallelujah!

Major Harding and her gifts are in great demand, worldwide, to uplift audiences as personal as wedding ceremonies and as public as the National Baptist Convention (for which she is the Dean of Seminars and Training. Major also participates in and heads workshops (like this one) and international missions (like this one in Ecuador, and an upcoming one she recruited me for).

Experiencing Major in action at her house of worship, Walker Memorial Baptist Church (WMBC), and sharing her stage during the World AIDS Day 2006 event: "A Time For Healing", has revealed some secrets to her success and popularity. For example, her extraordinary musical talents, leadership, and Army officer experience are clearly manifested when Major leads her musical troops in Sunday services and special events.

Some facts about this superb musician (organ, pianist) and minister are detailed in her bio at Yahoo! Groups: WMBC Mass Choir. [I've copied it below, and inserted links and bracketed text.]

[Minister of Music and Sacred Arts, Ms. Ouida W. Harding] is a graduate of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta Georgia [Morehouse School of Religion, 2003], with a Master of Arts in Church Music degree. She is a native New Yorker (Harlem) and [has] been appointed to the position of Dean of Seminars [and Training for the Music Auxiliary] for the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

A member of the St. Luke Baptist Church (Harlem) for over thirty five years, under the leadership of her father Reverend Walter L. Harding who served as pastor for over 53 years, Ouida comes to us with a thorough understanding of her ministry not as a job or a hobby, but as a Calling.

Ouida's credits her Mother as her first music teacher at the age of 4, and is using opportunities given to her to effectively contribute towards the resurrection of trained musicians especially for our local Baptist community.

And that's not the half of it. Tune in and witness the rest for yourself.

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The Power of Podcasting for Performers, Artists, Talk Radio Hosts, and Entrepreneurs

Summer camp, anyone? In less than two weeks, a few hundred friends and colleagues and I will be pitching tents at PodCamp City Online. I hope you'll join us there July 28, 2007.

What's on the menu? We will not have marshmallows, but we will toast the the joys and benefits of podcasting from 9:00 AM-9:30 PM, Eastern Time.

Why not come gather 'round the campfire from 7:00 PM-8:00 PM, Eastern Time? That's when I'll be hosting "The Power of Podcasting for Performers, Artists, Talk Radio Hosts, and Entrepreneurs."

Want to be spotlighted? My session, and others throughout the day, offer numerous opportunities to showcase your podcast, serve as a case study, ask questions and give feedback. To participate in my session, register for PodCamp City Online and follow the instructions provided at Lisa Tolliver On Air and Online: The pod people are coming! Come join us.

Are you wondering: "Whoa! What are podcasting and PodCamp?" Then read this post and participate in PodCamp City Online.

Need podcasting advice and tools, pronto? Then check out Shared Tools and Common Knowledge >> PodCamp.pbwiki.com, TheFreeSite.com: Free Sounds and Music, and the books featured here and in the ads below.

More interested in traditional camping? There are some resources here for that, too and in the ads below.

MUSIC: Sonific SongSpots and Sonific Mail are cool man, cool (for the most part)

Hear ye! Oyez all audiophiles, podcasters, bloggers, webmasters and indie musicians! I recently subscribed to Sonific and posted the "Ciao Bella" SongSpot in this post (which won't change) and this sidebar (which will update periodically). The upbeat piece by Percussive Arts Society Hall of Famer (1994), Emil Richards, and the Maui Jazz Quartet really jazzes up the joint, n'est ce pas?

From where I stand now: orchestrating SongSpots-powered virtual jukeboxes will be a piece of cake. However, synchronizing multiple selections into an automatically-started, sequentially sequenced playlist may not yet be possible in this, Sonific's Beta, stage I will fiddle around with that project after the holiday.

My impressions, so far, of Sonific's offerings (the Sonific Music Network, SongSpots and Sonific Mail): the short version can be encapsulated in seven beats: cool man, cool (for the most part). I'll riff about my reservations later. First, let's review the pertinent facts, which strike mostly high notes.

Sonific LLC, according to PR Newswire, is "a leading provider of licensed music widgets and free music applications for social media." The firm also purveys podsafe music, gratis, from the Sonific Music Network ("SMN"). Collectively, Sonific's separate but integrated wares comprise a brilliant combo of viral marketing tools.

This arrangement benefits five audiences. It helps:

Artists and Labels to disseminate and increase sales of their music;

Publishers and Audiophiles to access enjoyable, cost-effective sounds they can legally share online, sans exorbitant licensing fees; and of course,

Sonific to take a slice of music sales.

The SMN is a large and expanding catalog of genre-diverse music. Sonific FAQS sez they've licensed "over 500,000 tracks which [they] are gradually bringing into the system, plus, [they] have a huge collection in the pipeline too."

That's good news, as size matters with music collections. So does easy searchability, whose importance is positively correlated with the vastness of a catalog. SMN has both. Search tools and tag clouds facilitate searches by artist, title, description and genre.

Selections, a.k.a. "SongSpots™", are free customizable flash-players that "stream the song of your choice from almost any web page that you can edit yourself, such as blogs, social network profiles, photo sharing sites, or home pages." The musical widgets, each of which plays a full-length single, can be easily tailored for size, horizontal or vertical orientation, volume, and automatic or manual start or replay.

Sonific also offers a comprehensive array of publication options. Subscribers can readily e-mail SongSpots via Sonific Mail, or post them online via Object & Embed, JavaScript Object & Embed, Object only, and Embed only elements, as well as by JavaScript and HTML links.

The entire process of selecting, tailoring and distributing SongSpots is fast and easy, too. Moreover, Sonific.com offers ample, well-written, user-friendly help resources.

Despite your possible impressions at this point, SongSpots don't flow as freely as speakeasy booze during Prohibition (or pirated (?) music in Napster's heyday). Sonific has several strict terms of use. However, they are reasonable and easy to comprehend and adhere to.

Here is the low note: Sonific's generally win-win arrangement has skipped a beat regarding certain affiliate revenues for SongSpots publishers.

Don't get me wrong. I dig it that musicians and Sonific split the proceeds from songs and albums featured in specific SongSpots. It's appropriate that publishers get SongSpots singles for free, in exchange for helping to publicize the featured singles, albums and artists.

But here's where the arrangement falls as flat as an unleavened, crumb-free Bonfire of the Vanities cake: links in each SongSpot don't just spur sales of the selected singles and the CDs they ride in on. They promote sales of music on other CDs, as well. Consequently, precluding publishers from participating with Sonific in earnings from this latter, legitimate, source of affiliate marketing revenues strikes a slightly sour chord.

Affiliate revenues-loving SongSpots subscribers can take some solace in this: there's more than one way to feed a kitty. One example is contextual programs like Google Adwords. Another is affiliate link and banner programs that promote music by SongSpots artists. For example, the Amazon.com banner, below, advertises albums that feature Emil Richards.

Kissing and Telling: My Valentine's Day program was a public display of affection

On Valentine's Day, USPS representative Tony Musso and actor-radio host Steve Pal (nee Stephen Plaushin) joined the WVOX engineers, listeners and me for a lovely show. There was something for everyone, whether looking for love or in love, lovelorn or about to tie the knot, distant lovers or chocolate lovers. Content included kissing and call-ins, telling of tales and history, serenading and songs, advice and confessions.

Steve, by the way, is starring in Welcome to Norway this Saturday, February 17 at 3:00 PM and invites one and all to come. The play, by writer-director Robin Anne Joseph, is being presented in Series F of the Riant Theater's Strawberry One-Act Festival.NYC. In the play, "a woman [played by Laura Maggie Kramer] discovers a powerful lesson about life's destinations and how to accept it." - source: the Riant Theater Website

Now, about the Valentine's Day Lisa Tolliver Show. The broadcast included:

MUSIC

We played...

• "Can't Hide Love" (from Earth, Wind & Fire's The Eternal Dance, Volume II)
• "Dedicated to the One I Love" (The Shirelles)
• "I Love My Daddy" (from Hubert Laws' track on the CD 101.9 Presents Columbia & Sony Jazz Collection CD) - which I dedicated to my late father
• "Love You to the Letter" (from Anita Bakers' Compositions CD)
• "On the Radio" (from Donna Summers' Endless Summer: Donna Summer's Greatest Hits CD)

We serenaded listeners with selections from:

• "Take a Letter, Maria" (R. B. Greaves)
  
• "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (Stevie Wonder)

We discussed relationship songs mentioning letters, stamps and mail, such ...

• "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" (by Fred E. Ahlert and Joe Young and sung by many artists)
  
• "The Letter" (Box Tops)
• "Love Letters in the Sand" (written by J. Fred Coots, Nick Kenny and Charles Kenny and performed by various artists)
• "Please Mr. Postman" (Marvelettes)
• "Return to Sender" (Elvis Presley)
• "Sealed With a Kiss" (by Peter Udell and Gary Geld and recorded by various artists)
• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" (Stevie Wonder)
• "Twistin' Postman" (Marvelettes)
• "Yesterday's Letter" (98 Degrees)
• "You Send Me" (Sam Cooke)

TALK:

Love at the USPS...

• Love Stamps and other romantic trinkets at the USPS Store
• The Valentine's Day Re-Mailing Program at the USPS Post Office in Loveland, USA, which Crew's Nest Holidays reports:"creates a special and one-of-a-kind cancellation stamp every year in order to celebrate Valentine's Day and the romantic name of Loveland, Colorado."
• The Love and Kisses campaign (offering sweepstakes and other sweet somethings) sponsored by USPS and Hershey (commemorating the 100th anniversary of Hershey's Kisses)

Information and advice, such as...

• Valentine's Day history and facts, courtesy of Crew's Nest Holidays (which provided the image, above right) and History.com.
• Love-themed libations, such as those tagged "bride," "honey," "kiss," "lip," "love," "romance," "sex," "sweet," "Valentine," and "wedding" at DrinkNation.com.
• How to write a love letter.
• Many lovers get married on Valetine's Day (and other holidays), but divorce divas say, "don't do that." (If the relationship sours, the holiday will forever serve as a painful reminder). On the flip side, many vengeful spouses also file or serve divorce papers on Valentine's Day.
  
• Why, on holidays, it's better receive than to give engagement rings.

WHAT WE DIDN'T GET TO:

I'd be insulted if anyone ever sang or dedicated either of these popular songs to me:

• "I Love You Just the Way You Are" (Billy Joel) - specifically:

I don't want clever conversation
I don't want to work that hard.
I just want someone to talk to
I want you just the way you are.

• "My Funny Valentine" (Rodgers and Hart) - :

Your looks are laughable, unphotographable.
Yet, you're my favorite work of art.
Is your figure less than Greek ?
Is your mouth a little weak ?
When you open it to speak, are you smart ?
But don't change a hair for me, not if you care for me.

I love you for listening! SWAK