By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Vanderbilt Commodores and Tennessee Volunteers each face one of the nation’s top teams this coming weekend, and they’re coming into these games coming off very different results. Vanderbilt, which encouraged by its first half performance against ninth ranked Ole Miss, still has to be discouraged about the second half collapse and ultimate 52-28 wipeout at home. Tennessee is sure to advance in the rankings as they routed number 25 LSU 40-13 in Baton Rouge. The SEC losing streak has increased to 23 for the Commodores, who now head to Georgia for their game…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Charles Fuller, one of America’s greatest playwrights and a Pulitzer Prize winner, passed Oct. 3 at 83. He was a Philadelphia native and army veteran whose plays sought to portray Black Americans authentically as multidimensional, complex characters rather than restrict them to stereotypical roles and in cliched stories. His works often highlighted uncomfortable truths about racism in the US and were written with mainly Black audiences in mind. For “A Soldier’s Play,” which highlights tensions between Black servicemen on a segregated army base, Fuller was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in drama and, nearly 40…
NASHVILLE, TN — Longtime CNN anchor Don Lemon now has a new position. He started this week as a co-anchor on CNN’s morning show alongside Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. “Not goodbye, but certainly the end of an era as we sign off this last broadcast of Don Lemon Tonight, more than eight years, thousands of hours of live TV, historic moments and tough conversations,” Lemon said on his final nighttime broadcast last week. “A lot happened between 10 and midnight, or later.” “This is it, the final ‘Don Lemon Tonight.’ It’s a bittersweet moment for me, but it’s not…
Few people on the college football scene these days are making more headlines than Jackson State’s Deion Sanders. Win or lose, and so far his teams have mostly posted victories, Sanders name and statements are always front and center. It certainly helps that a team which was 4-8 in its last season before Sanders’ arrival has been 17-5 since he became head coach going into last weekend’s games. Jackson State was once fortunate if their scores were even carried in local papers. But now their games are being covered by writers and columnists across the country. Over the last two…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Much of the casting has been completed for the upcoming film “Genius: MLK/X,” the Disney+ (formerly Nat Geo) series executive produced by Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood. Kelvin Harrison Jr. will play Martin Luther King. Jr, and Aaron Pierre will play opposite him as Malcolm X. Weruche Opia and Jayme Lawson will star alongside as Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz, respectfully. Principal photography has begun now in Atlanta. “We are beyond excited to have put together the incredible foursome of Kelvin, Aaron, Jayme and Weruche to bring the depth, complexity, and humanity…
With the Major League baseball season heading into its final two weeks, the possibility of something rare and historic is becoming very real. There are only two Black managers in baseball, one in each league. They also have the distinction of heading the team with the best record, setting up the possibility that this year’s World Series would be the first with two Black managers opposing each other. That both are also former players only adds to both the similarities in their stories and the significance if their teams end up in the World Series. For Dave Roberts, manager of…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Al Grey was one of modern jazz’s premier soloists, a superb soloist and influential figure who played in several great big bands and also a number of fine small groups. This Sunday the latest special presentation in the Jazz On the Move series spotlights his work and impact. “Jazz On The Move: Life & Music of Al Grey” will be held at the Frist Art Museum. It’s being presented by fellow trombonist and educator Roland Barber. He’ll be heading a fine group whose personnel includes besides Barber saxophonist Denis Solee, pianist Bryan Harrison, bassist…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Legendary saxophonist and bandleader Pharoah Sanders, one of the last living links to the free jazz movement of the ‘60s and a member of John Coltrane’s final ensembles, passed away Saturday at 81 in Los Angeles. Sanders also recorded numerous vital albums as a bandleader for several labels, most notably a string of remarkable LPs for the Impulse label in the later 60s and through the’70s, and other labels right up until last year. The news was announced by the record label Luka Bop, the company that issued his final release “Promises” in 2021.…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Vanderbilt Head Coach Clark Lea did make a QB switch Saturday, and the move led to the Commodores overcoming a 14-point deficit on the road and defeating Northern Illinois 38-28. A. J. Swann, who had looked good in late action during the Wake Forest defeat, led Vanderbilt to 24 unanswered second half points. It’s the first time since 2017 that Vanderbilt has won three of its first four games, two of them as the visiting team. Swann completed 18 of 28 passes for 258 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Lea told ESPN. com…
The ranks of major college Black head coaches are never swollen, and there remain many Power 5 and predominantly white colleges that have yet to hire their first one. But as the college football season nears the end of its first month, there are two new Black head coaches who are in charge of high profile programs that face major challenges. Both Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame and Mickey Joseph at Nebraska are also first year and first time head coaches as well. Notre Dame’s Freeman was the universal choice of the players to replace Brian Kelly after he left…