NASHVILLE, TN — Among the many questionable omissions of Black performers from major awards consideration, none seems more glaring according to many critics than the absence of Alfre Woodard. She is the principal star in the film “Clemency,” which opens at the Belcourt Friday. It is written and directed by rising star Chinonye Chukwu, and co-stars Richard Schiff, Danielle Brooks, Michael O’Neill, Richard Gunn, Wendell Pierce and Aldis Hodge It was a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, and both Woodard’s performance and the overall writing, direction, score and production have been heavily praised. It received a limited opening Dec.…
Author: Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee Titans’ valiant string of playoff victories ended Sunday one game short of the Super Bowl as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated them 35-24 to take the AFC title. The Titans had previously won road games at New England and Baltimore, but were unable to hold a pair of early 10 point leads in Kansas City. The Chiefs scored 28 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, turning a 17-7 deficit into a 35-17 lead, making a final Titans score anticlimactic. The Titans were unable to clamp down on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who hurt…
NASHVILLE, TN — The offensive production problems for an injury plagued Vanderbilt Commodores squad continued Saturday as a 21-5 surge in the opening moments of the second half propelled Tennessee to a 66-45 victory over Vanderbilt in Nashville. Making matters worse was the loss dropped Vanderbilt to:0-4 in the SEC, and 8-9 overall. It also marked and end to a streak that began with the introduction of the three-point line into college basketball in the 1986-87 season. Vanderbilt had made at least one-three pointer every game since. That was a streak of 1,080 games over 34 years. But the Commodores…
A couple of years ago it looked like perhaps the National Football League had turned the corner in dealing with a persistent problem: getting more Black head coaches. A record number of Blacks were leading teams and it seemed perhaps a new and positive trend was definitely underway. But flash forward to the present and things suddenly look as dreary as they did before. At press time there had been four vacancies filled, all by whites. Unless the Cleveland Browns break the pattern, when the new season begins, there will be a grand total of three Black coaches in the…
By Ron Wynn Monday morning brought the latest nominations for this year’s Oscar Awards, and with it came the familiar lament that has accompanied pretty much every recent awards nominations announcement with a couple of exceptions: the list of nominees are very lacking when it comes to diversity and inclusion. The first and arguably most surprising omission came in the Best Actress category. Lupito Nyong’o got a Critics Choice nomination for Best Actress for her performance in “Us,” and it was widely assumed that she would be followed by an Oscar nod. That didn’t prove the case. Nor did Eddie…
By Ron Wynn Harmonica ace Mark Hummel has long been blending vintage and contemporary influences in his writing and playing, perfecting for decades a style that manages to balance modern concerns with the classic ethos and sensibility of the classic blues from the ‘30s and ‘40s that Hummel admires. That’s definitely the case on his latest LP “Wayback Machine” (Electro-Fi) that’s being released this week. Hummel is joined on this stirring session by guitarist Billy Flynn, Mississippi blues star Joe Beard and the West Coast combo The Deep Basement Shakers. It was recorded by Chris Kid Andersen at Greaseland Studios…
By Ron Wynn Xandra Lee embodies a new artistic vision for contemporary Nashville vocalists, an engaging mix of vintage influences and modern production techniques and musical elements. Gifted with a powerful, rangy and highly expressive mezzo soprano voice, Lee has both a strong natural sound and polished performance ethic that reflects her longtime involvement in the arts world, despite still being quite young. Lee has been a Music City resident for over five years now, but was born in Arizona and started her career as a dancer. She calls herself “an old soul in a young person’s body,” something that’s…
David Stern was the longest serving commissioner in NBA history, remaining in that position over three decades after taking over in 1984. Stern died last week at 77, and many across the world of sports paid tribute to his impact and influence on the game. For the most part, Stern’s tenure will be seen as a positive one, and even his most severe critics acknowledge that the league is better off in many ways as a result of things that he did. But there were also some controversial things he did that weren’t so positive, many of which folks were…
By Ron Wynn Jordan Peele is now one of Hollywood’s busiest producers, writers and actors, and he shows no signs of slowing down in 2020. His next project will be for Amazon and this week they released the first trailer for “Hunters.” It’s Peele’s production about Nazi hunters, and it’s also been renamed and retooled. The original title was “The Hunt.” Amazon has also announced the release date is Feb. 21. It’s a joint venture between Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Sonar Entertainment, but was created by David Weil. Weil will also serve as head writer and executive producer. The teaser…
By Ron Wynn The Tennessee Volunteers came back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit with a pair of touchdowns to grab a stunning 23-22 win over Indiana Thursday in the Gator Bowl. Indiana was ahead 22-9, and the Volunteer fans among the crowd of nearly 62,000 in Jacksonville looked glum. But then the Vols drove 82 yards to pull within six points, and made the play of the year on the following kickoff. Paxton Brooks perfectly executed an onside kick, with the game’s MVP Eric Gray recovering it. It took only three plays before Gray went 16 yards for the…