By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Vocalist Jonathan McReynolds exemplifies the modern gospel artist in many ways. His music has the inspirational zeal and spiritual lyrical direction of traditional gospel, but enough contemporary elements and sensibility to reach fans of both spiritual and secular music. McReynolds has enjoyed multiple number one Billboard Gospel LPs, won eight Stellar Awards, earned five Grammy nominations and now will host the 2021 Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards (he’s also a multiple winner in that field). It’s the 52nd annual event, and the in-person ceremony happened Wednesday night at Allen Arena. But the show airs…
Author: Ron Wynn
When Bubba Wallace became the second Black driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race last week, he did much more than make personal history. He achieved career validation because there are many NASCAR drivers who never win any races throughout their tenure. It’s the main reason for the points system that awards drivers who finish in the Top 10 because few things in a team or individual sport are tougher than winning an auto race, whether it’s Formula 1, Indy Car or NASCAR. Though he’d previously gotten a second place in the Daytona 500, there remained those who viewed…
NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Titans get an extra day to prepare for a tough foe as the Buffalo Bills come to town for a Monday night contest. The Titans gave the Jacksonville Jaguars their 20th straight loss Sunday 37-19, improving their record to 3-2 and getting a split of their two game road trip to New York and Florida. They also remain atop the AFC South. Offensively the Titans prime weapon remains running back Derrick Henry. He’s on pace to set NFL records for carries and yardage. At his current game average he would set the record even in…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — One of Black America’s lesser publicized, yet important figures is now getting his own bio. Bayard Rustin was a longtime active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, someone in the forefront who along with A. Phillip Randolph began working on what became the March on Washington back in 1943. Now his life and accomplishments will be highlighted in a Netflix film directed and co-written by “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” director George C. Wolfe, who now’s in the process of lining up its cast. Colman Domingo will star as Rustin alongside Chris Rock, Glynn Turman…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — There’s a special twist in the current James Bond film “No Time To Die.” It’s not quite the one that some would like, as there’s been a push in some circles to have Idris Elba become the new 007 in place of Daniel Craig, who’s departing the role. However there IS a new OO7 for this film. Lashana Lynch is making history. Her “No Time to Die” character of Nomi takes over the 007 mantle in the new film. Unfortunately, not all reaction to this news has been positive. When news leaked that Lynch…
With NBA camps opening this week, the league would love for attention to be focused on their 75th anniversary celebration. This year a select media committee will name the all-time NBA team, the top 75 players in league history. Who those players will be, what percentage will come from the eras before the trio of Magic/Bird/Jordan, and which foreign players will make the list are the questions that league officials would love to see some media attention given. But instead, the main focus remains on the percentage of NBA players who refuse to be vaccinated. The league announced last week…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — With the Titans facing consecutive games against winless teams, no one anticipated that they would have any problems getting victories, even with injuries that saw their two top wide receivers out of the game. But after Sunday’s 27-24 overtime road loss to the New York Jets now their trip this week to Jacksonville doesn’t look like so much of a sure thing. Besides A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, the Titans lost guard Roger Saffold in the fourth quarter, while both center Ben Jones and tackle Taylor Lewan suffered injuries during the game and missed…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The halftime show for Super Bowl LVI will be a special one, and a program dominated by rap and R&B acts. The program is officially titled The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show and the lineup will be Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. They will appear on the world’s biggest stage at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, airing on NBC (WSMV-4). This show will mark the first time these five artists will perform together on stage. There’s added significance for the greater Los…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — This has been another tremendous year for Black women country artists, and one of the highlights is Miko Marks’ “Our Country.” The album features a host of superbly sung, lyrically memorable works that are both purely country and reflective of a Black woman’s perspective and outlook that too often has been ignored or overlooked. Marks recently talked to the Tribune about not only “Our Country,” but life in the country world for Black women. “We didn’t officially start working on “Our Country” until maybe late spring of 2020,” Marks said. “The idea came by…
The NBA and its players’ union have largely been on the same page in recent years. They’ve been able to work through a variety of issues, and last year when the COVID-19 pandemic first surfaced, they worked together to salvage the season and playoffs through the “bubble” setup in Florida. This year the league plans to resume its regular 82-game schedule, and also allow most arenas to resume selling tickets to capacity with a couple of exceptions. But one thing the league didn’t expect was problems with unvaccinated players. The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) specifically prevents the NBA from…