By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Joe Simon was one of Southern soul’s smoothest and most convincing stylists. Yet he also was not enamored of fame or status, and he walked away from popular music in 1983 to become an ordained minister. Simon died Dec, 13 at 85 in his hometown near Chicago. But his music remains beloved, particularly his biggest hits “The Chokin’ Kind,” a soul cover of a Harlan Howard country tune, in 1969, “Drowning In The Sea Of Love” with Gamble and Huff in 1971, and “Power of Love” in 1972. Simon grew up in Louisiana, but…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Though it has been both a critical and commercial success when it’s aired, Donald Glover’s landmark show “Atlanta” hasn’t had new episodes air since the second season concluded May 10, 2018. But that’s now about to change. FX announced this week that “Atlanta” was getting a third season starting March 24. “We are thrilled to have “Atlanta” back with a new season on March 24,” FX Entertainment president Eric Schrier told the Hollywood Reporter. “Once again, Donald Glover, the producers and stellar cast have delivered another signature season synonymous with the excellence that makes…
Nearly a week later, the decision of the nation’s number one high school football player Travis Hunter to sign with HBCU institution Jackson State continues to be the talk of the college football world. Head coach and Hall of Famer Deion Sanders was already basking in the glow of a 10-1 season and HBCU Coach of the Year honors. But his landing Hunter has topped all that, especially since one of the schools Hunter spurned is Sanders’ alma mater Florida State. The others were SEC stalwarts Georgia and Auburn. Hunter, a gradate of Collins High School in Suwanee,Georgia, represents the…
NASHVILLE, TN — As the Titans prepare for their second game in a short week, they know that offensive production has become a major problem. The inability to score more points, coupled with major turnover problems, have resulted in disappointing losses. The most recent was Sunday’s 19-13 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It dropped their record to 9-5 and reduced their division lead to 1/2 game over the Colts, although they own the tiebreaker if the two teams finish deadlocked for the division title. Still, this loss was especially troubling, as the Titans were outscored 16-0 in the second…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — NBC has high hopes for “Bel-Air,” a new series that’s a dramatic reboot of a previously successful comedy, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” This version will get the highly coveted post-Super Bowl premiere slot on its network, the NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock. The debut episode premieres on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 13th 2022, with new episodes premiering weekly. The series is out of Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and Universal Television. It is based on the viral concept trailer from Morgan Cooper released in 2019. Peacock won a bidding war for…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — W. Kamau Bell has never shied away from controversy, and his latest project will certainly be perhaps his most controversial ever. Its subject is Bill Cosby, and Bell has a four-part docuseries that he says will look at all aspects of both Cosby and the trial. “We Need To Talk About Cosby” is getting two premieres next month, first at the Sundance Film Festival Jan. 22 and then on Showtime Jan. 30 at 9 p.m.. CST. Bell hasn’t done a lot of talking about the series before it airs, and now has released both…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Expectations for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were huge, even with pandemic concerns. But no one anticipated just how well the film would do in its opening weekend. The finale of the Tom Holland trilogy garnered $260 million in North American theaters over the weekend. That beat the Sunday estimates of $253 million. “No Way Home” has now surpassed “Avengers: Infinity War” ($257 million) and become the second-biggest debut in Hollywood history behind only “Avengers: Endgame” ($357 million). Internationally, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” captured $340.8 million from 60 overseas markets, pushing its global tally to…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — It’s still early in the 2021-22 NHL season, but the Nashville Predators are showing signs that they will be better than many observers expected. Their 1-0 victory Sunday night over the New York Rangers was their fifth straight, and it completed an impressive 3-0 sweep of the New York teams. This time it was rookie forward Philip Tomasino who scored early in the second period for the game’s only goal. Juuse Saros made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season. This win followed the Predators defeating the Islanders 4-3 Thursday night and…
They may not be in this year’s college football playoffs, but Notre Dame University is still making headlines. In fact they surprised numerous analysts and pundits when they named Marcus Freeman head coach two weeks ago. He becomes the second Black head football coach at the school, and takes the job after only one season as defensive coordinator and no previous head coaching experience. But he was undeniably the choice of the players and Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick didn’t waste any time with the appointment. Freeman at 35 is the second youngest head coach ever hired at…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — With his long-running comedy “Black-ish” set to end after this season, Anthony Anderson is returning to the dramatic sphere. He’ll reprise his role as Detective Kevin Bernard in “Law & Order,” which returns to the airwaves Feb. 24 after an absence of nearly 12 years. Anderson previously played Bernard for seasons 18-20 of the show. Despite it’s long time away from the air, NBC is calling the revamped version “Law & Order’s” 21st season. Casting has been completed for the police portion of the show. It was announced last week that Camryn Manheim had…