By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Any music fan who missed the earlier screening this week of the rare and valuable film “The Blues Under The Skin” gets another chance Thursday. It’s being shown for a final time in a rare afternoon screening at the Belcourt. It was a classic work by filmmaker Roviros Manthoulis, despite the casual blurring at times of straight documentary fact and fictional cinematic encounters. The fictional portion spotlighted a turbulent relationship between a young couple (Onike Lee, Roland Sanchezz) battling the dual obstacles of racism and poverty that are preventing them from being a happy…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn The versatile Maya Rudolph took top honors as the Emmy Awards were announced last week. She not only won four nominations but they came for three different programs. Rudolph is nominated in comedy lead actress for Apple TV+’s “Loot” (just renewed for a third season), in character voice-over for her role as Connie the Hormone Monstress in Netflix’s animated “Big Mouth,” and in comedy guest actress for her hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” (which also got her an original music and lyrics nomination for her monologue tune). Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Richard Gadd (“Baby Reindeer”) and…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — New leaders are taking over for the basketball and track squads at Fisk University. The announcements were made late last week. The new basketball coach has an HBCU background as well as a solid coaching background. He’s former Tennessee State University basketball player Jeremiah Crutcher. He’s been in the coaching ranks since 2013. He previously coached at Battle Ground Academy Hunters Lane, John Early Middle School and Lebanon High School prior to his most recent Stay at Whites Creek. Last season he led them to the TSSAA Class AA Final Four. “I am excited…
By Ron Wynn ESPN last week launched a new eight-part docuseries that celebrates the career of tennis star Serena Williams. “In The Arena” showcases milestones in her career that covered 27 years and saw her win 23 Grand Slam singles titles as well as Olympic medals. It also covers other milestones in her life while also pointing out some challenging moments. Each episode will air on ESPN + exclusively, which means that fans who want to see it must have a subscription to that ESPN streaming service. The eight episodes began July 10 and continue through August 28 every Wednesday…
The quest of various Americans to win gold medals in track and field competition are far from the only big stories with the Olympics due to start July 26. Perhaps the biggest one away from the track is the return to Olympic competition of reigning world champion gymnast Simone Biles. She became only the fourth American woman in history to compete in three Olympic Games after she placed first in the all-round competition June 30 at the Trials in Minneapolis. While Biles became the most decorated gymnast in the history of the world championships after last year’s event, she also…
By Ron Wynn Though the film won’t be released until next year, there was still considerable excitement this Friday when the trailer was released for the newest edition to the Captain America franchise. “Captain America: Brave New World” features Anthony Mackie in his first time as Captain America. But Mackie has been part of the Marvel universe prior to this film, the fourth Captain America release. His character Sam Wilson was formerly known as Cap’s sidekick the Falcon. Mackie takes the Cap mantle over from Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, who starred in the previous three “Captain America” movies and the…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — A pair of powerhouse jazz ensembles, one local, the other a Crescent City institution, will get the Under The Stars series at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens underway Friday night. Vanderbilt University’s Blair Big Band under the leadership of Director Ryan Middagh will lead things off, followed by New Orleans’ celebrated Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The Blair School Big Band features the music of undergraduate students whose disciplined, yet dynamic style flourishes thanks to trombonist/director Middagh. The 16-piece unit has won number of awards, including getting Outstanding Trombone and Trumpet Section honors as well as…
By Ron Wynn While he’s still entering tournaments periodically, it’s pretty clear that Tiger Woods’ days of dominating the pro tour are over. But he remains involved and active in several areas, with his newest being a venture with pop singer Justin Timberlake. The duo plan to open a sports bar in Scotland. Woods and Timberlake) will be teaming up to convert the New Picture House Cinema in St. Andrews into a bar called T-Squared Social according to the BBC. The duo are shareholders in Nexus Luxury Collection, the real estate company that will transform the theater into an establishment…
Track and field doesn’t get much exposure in America except in an Olympic year, but the upcoming Summer Games in Paris that begin July 26 have put some of this nation’s top track stars squarely in the spotlight. For at least the duration of the games they will be the nightly leads on ESPN, and NBC is using the Olympics to attract new subscribers to their Peacock streaming service. They’re putting numerous hours of live coverage on Peacock, and have already done a trial run by putting almost all the Olympic trial broadcasts on Peacock. The person who will be…
By Ron Wynn Musicians across the idiomatic spectrum are joining forces to rebuild a cultural shrine in Mississippi. That’s the 200-year-old former home of the great Mississippi John Hurt in Avalon. It had been restored and turned into a museum, but it was recently burned to the ground. While no culprit has yet been arrested, it has been widely seen as the work of racist vandals. The home contained rare recordings, guitars and more. Immediately after the disaster struck, Mary Frances Hurt, the artist’s granddaughter who is director of the non-profit Mississippi John Hurt Foundation and the primary curator of…