By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Over the last couple of years outstanding previously unreleased LPs of John Coltrane have been unearthed in different places. The latest example of that concerns a live version of the music many consider the greatest Coltrane ever recorded. That’s “A Love Supreme.” Until now it was widely assumed that there was only one live recording of “A Love Supreme.” It was recorded in July 1965 at a festival in Antibes, France, but never released until 2002. However various collectors, critics and historians were aware that “A Love Supreme” was played live in its entirety…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — There wasn’t really any question of if goalie Juuse Saros would sign a new deal with the Nashville Predators, only when would it happen. Saros inked the new deal last week, signing for four years and $20 million. Considering that Saros had arguably been the best goalie in the NHL for the second half of the season and had played well despite the Predators’ first-round playoff loss to Carolina, it didn’t really raise any issues when he filed for salary arbitration. The Predators avoided that hearing by reaching agreement on the new deal, making…
The world of major college sports continues to radically change, and over the next few years things will look totally different from how they’ve been throughout the 20th century and much of the 21st. The recent Supreme Court decision regarding what colleges could do regarding the regulation of athletes’ earnings has resulted in individual football players on campuses from Alabama to TSU and beyond making huge endorsement deals before they ever step on a field or a court. These are only the tip of the iceberg as athletes in all sports are now free to reap the dividends from name,…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — It took much longer than anticipated, but the man known as “The Genius” is now in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Charles was among the inductees announced last week along with Pete Drake, Eddie Bayers, and The Judds. Charles was announced as the annual Veteran Era artist. The Judds received the Modern Era Artist medallion. Bayers and Drake earned indction in the Recording/Touring musician category, with both receiving benefit of a tie vote, the first since 2010. The 2021 class brings the total Country Music Hall of Fame inductees to 146. Inductees are…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — There are many different specials coming from many networks chronicling the 20th anniversary of 9/11. As would be expected, native New Yorker Spike Lee has his own perspective on what happened and its impact, and he’s getting plenty of space on HBO to present it. His eight hour opus “NYC Epicenters: 9/11 – 2021 ½“ debuted Sunday night and continues on successive Sundays leading up to the finale September 11. The first half of the opening episode focused interestingly enough on something else – the COVID-19 pandemic and summer of protests that followed George…
With pro football teams beginning preseason games this month and college teams having camps, both the NFL and the NCAA are cautiously hoping that somehow they can make it through this season without games being delayed and/or postponed and rescheduled due to COVID-19. That hope may prove overly optimistic looking at the soaring rates of infection across the nation, in particular throughout the South. The NFL has already announced that not only do they not have contingencies in place for teams that might not have enough players in place for a game, but if teams cannot take the field with…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — He may be gone, but the music of Prince retains plenty of popularity. His newest posthumous LP “Welcome 2 America” was only released last week, but it is already his 20th Top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart. It debuted at number 14 on Saturday, That feat makes Prince one of only 12 artists to have at least 20 Top 10 LPs in the charts’ 65-year history. Technically, “Welcome 2 America” is not a new album. Prince recorded it in 2010, but for whatever reason it has just now been released. It’s also…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — CBS News is hoping to get the same boost from having an athlete in a non-sports role as ABC did when it plucked Michael Strahan from the set of Fox’s NFL studio show and turned him into a major personality who currently co-hosts “Good Morning America” and also hosts the latest version of “The 100,000 Pyramid.” CBS announced last week that Nate Burleson would be joining their weekday broadcast “CBS This Morning” in September. Burleson becomes the third member of the on-air team along with Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil. Burleson had previously gotten…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The most heavily anticipated Tennessee Titans season in many years gets underway Friday night in Atlanta. Coming off an 11-5 year that saw the Titans win the AFC South only to suffer a hugely disappointing home playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the team is the consensus pick among the national sports media to at minimum repeat as division title winners and have at least one more home playoff game. While no one has uttered the words “Super Bowl or bust,” the addition of heralded wide receiver Julio Jones to what was one of…
In the end, despite the prevalent threat of COVID-19 and constant controversy reverberating over whether the Tokyo Olympics should have been cancelled a second time, several amazing stories made these Games memorable in spite of all the problems. But none were more compelling than those of USA women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley and track star Allyson Felix. Their victories were part of an overall impressive showing by American women, but they also represented very special personal achievements for Staley and Felix. Staley became the first Black woman to coach an Olympic team, and (shockingly) only the third African American…