Cheryl and JaVonne: News/Updates

WoW, so much has been going on since we introduced our new music video, Waiting All My Life (Marriage Equality Song) just one week ago today. The video was Directed by Shari Carpenter and well, just go to our links and check it out for yourself :-)

So far, the video is being featured on a number of websites including the home page of the National Black Justice Coalition. If you are not familiar with them, please check them out at www.nbjc.org They fight against racism and homophobia and are working with religious leaders to help them become inclusive as was Christ. A wonderful organization.

We remain within the top 10 on the reverbnation music charts and for that we thank you also. We even got a shout out from the founder of the Miss Black America Beauty Pageant...Wow!!! We are so blessed and we thank God for you!

We have transitioned over from the Reverbnation Gospel Charts where we were #1 for over 2 months. We are proud to say that since we have migrated to the R&B charts for NY, NJ, and PA we have once again reached the #1 spot, but this time with a song for marriage equality! Please support and download the song. Let's make a difference.

We have been #1 on the Reverbnation Gospel Music Charts for 2 solid weeks. It feels good and it's only due to the support we get from you. So Thank You. We really do love you : - D

We are purposing a new thing this year. We are working in support of marriage equality. We believe that love between consenting adults is just that...love between consenting adults. In the U.S. there is a separation of church and state, therefore, religious views have no place in this argument. Two adults should be able to sign into any legal contract that all other tax paying citizens are privy to. If you must know our spiritual belief in this regard, there is no conflict here. We believe that God is love and love is for everyone.

With that being said, we invite you to send your same-sex wedding photos to stoneymae@aol.com. We are creating a music video in support of marriage equality. You must state in the e-mail that you give us permission to use the photos. Also, if you have pictures of yourself at a marriage equality rally, we will consider using those as well.

As always, we thank you for your support and love :- )

Cheryl and JaVonne

View the complete Cheryl and JaVonne tour schedule

Wow, it seems like forever since I’ve written news here…so let me catch you all up on what has been going on. Let’s see, we left off at the 7th Anniversary Gala that our church had. It was a FABULOUS affair! There was so much love in that air, I was practically floating! The food was delicious and the people were beautiful. Bishop Jones was present and it’s always marvelous to see him! We did open for Tonex that night and that was a wonderful experience also. During our performance, he was out of his seat grooving to the sounds of “Each and Every Day.” He requested copies of the cd so I gave them to him. He and I were just vibing that night and it was wonderful. He advised me to get a myspace page hooked up, and I’ve been hooked on myspace ever since LOL!

Since the Gala, Cheryl and I have been performing at various churches. If we sell our cds at a church function, we gladly tithe back 10% of the money from the sales back to that church. Cheryl’s recently performed at St. John’s Baptist Church in Scotch Plains, NJ. She sold 33 CD’s that day! They are very supportive and we appreciate them sincerely!

We went to Charlotte, NC for a mid year celebration with our church and sister churches. There we met the founder of PMYNER and formed what we hope was the beginning of a life time friendship! When we came home, we had the pleasure and honor of performing our gospel music at their 2nd Anniversary Poetry Slam. It was a great event! Everyone was so warm and welcoming. We felt as if we were with old friends.

We also performed at our own usher boards “Poetry Slam” which was yet another blessed event! The poets were slamming! We bought our music director/band leader and 5 of the nine voices who will be performing with us. It was fun! We heard from some great poets from our sister church Liberation In Truth.

Speaking of sister churches, it was at a function at LIT that the idea of the Cotton Club came up. After we finished singing “Each and Every Day” to the pre-recorded track (as we usually do) the bass player picked up the bass line, the drummer picked up the beat, and the Dionne McClain-Freeny tickled the ivory and started scatting. Let me tell you, I couldn’t believe how awesome the sound was. Then I heard, “Take this to the Cotton Club.” Of course my “common” sense responded, “Yeah, right” LOL, but here we are, ready to praise the Lord at the Legendary Cotton Club. All of the people we thought of to join us were put in our paths at the right moment. People we hadn’t seen in over a year just appeared. Let me tell you, when God has something in store for you, no one, not even you yourself can mess it up! We’re blessed to have with us a 7 piece band, and 9 beautiful voices to help us edify the Lord. Our opening act is a choir that has toured in Europe. There’s going to be delicious food served, dessert, and all at the Legendary Cotton Club. History…Herstory…and you have the opportunity to share it with us! We are all blessed right now! The Giants won the super bowl (nothing less than a miracle), Barack Obama (need I say more), and Cheryl and JaVonne at the Cotton Club! LOL…God just wants to bless you! And please bless us by joining us and sharing this special occasion with us…oh yeah, dress nice, we will be filming this event! :- ) God bless you! We love you! Enjoy the pics below:

We greatly appreciate your support! Now that our CDs have begun circulating the community and hitting the air waves, we will be sending out a survey soon to find out just what you think of them. We hope you all will respond. We look forward to your feedback! :-)

Next up we will be performing at our church's 7th Anniversary Gala. It's a black tie affair (Lord, what will we wear????)

And guess who we will be opening for?!???! None other than...Tonex, the chart busting gospel recording artist!! So click on the Calendar Dates on our website for details. You won't want to miss this event!!!

We are also looking for a venue in NY so that our friends and loved ones will have an excuse to come into the city :-) Stay tuned...!

We just wanted to thank everyone who joined us at our first CD Release Party. It was an Amazing event and we are so thankful for each and every person in attendance...you helped make the evening so special.

Just to recap, Cheryl and I arrived later than we had hoped and planned. My family had already arrived, as did our Pastor (our Emcee for the event), as well as some of Cheryl's co-workers. Fortunately, our friends from Florida were with us and assisted us in setting everything up quickly. My brother was also helpful at the door. He gave a CD to everyone who came with a ticket to the event or purchased one at the door. I also had for sale that evening an original house music CD that I created from scratch. It's called "Sweet Jazzy House" and it is available for $10, while our Gospel CD is $15. However, both CDs can be purchased for a discounted price of $20.

Our good friend Maggy did her thing, selling 50/50 raffles as well. We were blessed to have friends assist us with serving the food, setting up tables, cleaning up, ANY and EVERYTHING else you can imagine an event like this entails. Initially, we hoped for 50-75 people. We were blessed (and blown away) to have approximately 180 people show up!!! It was standing room only and we had to borrow chairs from the restaurant downstairs and add 2 more tables. It was incredible!

After dinner, we began our show with a drumming invocation featuring members of our church's drum ministry: Star, Keisha, and Pat. They were great and really set the atmosphere! Then our Pastor, Elder Kevin E. Taylor, opened with prayer and welcomed everyone with his usual eloquence and wit. He invited all of us in the room to look at our own lives and dreams and ask ourselves what is there for us to do...what is our special purpose? Then challenged us to say "Yes" to our own dream or calling. He was the consummate Emcee, the best we could possibly hope for. He is a Super Star! Star sang "Gotta Praise Him", a transfiguration of Luther Vandross' song, "Never Too Much" and did a fabulous job. Then, Keesha and Keisha performed a powerful mime/dance to Shekinah Glory Ministries' "Yes", which was the theme of our event as introduced by our Pastor. Somewhere early on I said Yes to this wonderful music God gave me to write, and finally Cheryl said Yes to recording it and making this project a reality. So we wanted to invite our guests to open their hearts, minds and spirits to their own dreams and callings, whatever they might be. Next, Peggie Miller sang a soulful rendition of Douglas Miller's "My Soul Has Been Anchored In The Lord". She was great! Actually, most of what went on that evening was largely due to the help we received from Peggie. She arranged the venue, sold tickets, and advised us on several different aspects of throwing this sort of events. Pegs, we love you and can't thank you enough. After Peggie sang, Lisa Nelson offered a spoken word performance of a poem written by her late partner, Jacqueline McCray. The poem, entitled "When Jeanette Sings", was absolutely awe-inspiring and sooo appropriate for the occasion. Jackie's presence was certainly felt in the room.

Then, it was our turn to sing and I am not lying when I say my mouth dried up like a wilted leaf! LOL I strained through "God Was There For Me", which is a song I usually sing quite easily. Afterwards, I had to drink water (I felt woozy and overwhelmed LOL) I know Cheryl would have caught me had I fallen, but I didn't want to leave her up there singing alone (she's a little shy believe it or not :-) I managed to carry on, and then we sang our own transfiguration, "Is It The Way You Love Me Jesus?" Although it is not on this CD we hope to complete the process of obtaining permission to include it on our next gospel CD. We really love singing that song. We then introduced a new song from our CD, "Each and Every Day". We love that song as well. You can now hear a snippet of it on our website in the music section. After we sang, I was finally able to sit down and allow the Songbird to do her thang (not
thing! :-) and that she did. Cheryl sang "Safety" (the only song on the CD that I did not write) and she put her foot in it. Folks cried, applauded, and were overcome by her delivery. I've heard her sing that song at least 50 times myself and I am continuously moved by it. (The CD is worth buying if just for that one song). While she sang, Keisha and Keesha blessed us with another wonderful dance interpretation...how lovely. We couldn't have asked for a better show...everyone contributed their talents so beautifully...it was truly blessed.

After the performances, we gave out door prizes and our own Deacon Rwanda won the 50/50 as well as a door prize! After that...PARTY, PARTY, PARTY!!! Folks danced and boogied to the thumping sounds of DJ Melodious (If you need a DJ, hire her!)

Cheryl and I didn't get a chance to party much, but we still had a great time. There were so many folks there that we loved and hadn't seen for a while. We even gave an interview for our church news letter (we felt like celebrities LOL)

We hope everyone had as great a time as we did. As for us, it was simply blessed and fabulous all at once. A dream come true...

We want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your love and continued support of this project! Your well wishes mean more to us than you can possibly imagine.

Oh, by the way...did you catch us on the radio???? Believe it or not, less than one week after the party, we were featured with members of our collective church choirs on WBAI, 99.5 FM, as part of their special Working Women weekend. Cheryl also sang "Safety" a cappella and then we were interviewed by Radio Personality Joyce Jones. They even played 2 cuts from our CD! You can hear a snippet on this website in the music section.

Finally Stoney Mae Productions has become a reality. I have been dreaming of this forever. I have written so many songs over the last 2 years and now I can actually record them on my own label. This is wonderful. What's equally wonderful is that I have the beautiful and talented Cheryl Barclay recording with me. I don't know what I would have done without her. (She is also doing some work for the label, but I haven't figured out what her title is yet LOL). We are scheduled to put out our first CD very soon. The CD release party will be in NJ on March 1, 2008. We are working hard to get you a product you'll enjoy.

We want to thank those of you who have constantly asked, "When are y'all gonna make a CD?" Thanks Mom, and thanks to all of our friends, and especially our church family. Thanks for letting us sing for you! Thanks for the encouragement and support! Well here it is and we pray you enjoy it! It's being recorded for you!

I'll try to update this page every couple of days to keep it interesting. I'll let you know when the tickets for the release party go on sale.

So keep checking or give me a call. I would also like to hear your feed back so please feel free to write.

Until next time
Peace with 2 Fingers!
J