Category: Entertainment

Music Spotlight: Lucas Hoge

Bethany Bowman

Lucas Hoge hails from Hubbell, Nebraska, a tiny town with two churches. He grew up singing in a little Methodist church his family attended. While his parents were rehearsing in the choir, the pastor gave Hoge a little electric drum pad to keep him occupied. He started playing along and the pastor cultivated his love for music at a very young age.

In high school, he was introduced to a music teacher who helped him craft his love of music.  “My music teacher was great, Mrs. Riggs. She was amazing,” he said. “She just wanted everyone to explore the love of music that they had in them.”

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Guest Lineups for the Sunday News Shows

The Associated Press

Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows:

ABC’s “This Week” — Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services Department official overseeing the nation’s coronavirus testing efforts; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Giroir; Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md.; Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools district.
CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. surgeon general; Mayor Kate Gallego of Phoenix; Terry Shaw, president and CEO, AdventHealth; Tom Wyatt, CEO of KinderCare.
CNN’s “State of the Union” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; Mayor Carlos Gimenez of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
“Fox News Sunday” — DeVos; Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University.

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Music Spotlight: Derek Jones

Bethany Bowman

Even though Derek Jones’ dad was a drummer and his grandmother played piano, he never played music until later in life.

“We always had music going on at the house at our supper table. If Dad was in charge of the music, we listened to Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Grand Funk Railroad but if Mom was in control [of the music], we listened to Lionel Richie, Jim Croce, stuff like that,” he said.

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AP Source: NFL to Play Black Anthem Before National Anthem

The Associated Press

“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” will be performed live or played before “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to each NFL game during Week 1 and the league is considering putting names of victims of police brutality on helmet decals or jersey patches, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

The person said the league is working collaboratively with players to recognize victims of systemic racism throughout the season in a variety of ways. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because discussions between the league and the NFL Players Association are ongoing.

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Carl Reiner, Beloved Creator of ‘Dick Van Dyke Show,’ Dies

The Associated Press

Carl Reiner, the ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man,” has died. He was 98.

Reiner’s assistant Judy Nagy said he died Monday night of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

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Music Spotlight: Tyler Rich

Bethany Bowman

Tyler Rich grew up in Northern California in the small town of Yuba City. He grew up listening to country music with his mom and rock n roll with his dad.

“My Uncle [Tim] always had his guitar at every family function. He was always playing. He didn’t know genres, he just knew good music,” he said. “He would play, Tom Petty, Credence Clearwater, George Strait, Brooks, and Dunn or Garth Brooks. He even played Michael Jackson and the Beatles as long as it was good music.”

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REVIEW: A Bestseller in 1971, ‘None Dare Call It Conspiracy’ Lends Insight to the Events of Today

Admin

Does anyone still believe what they read in the New York Times or watch on any major television network news broadcast? Because for millions of Americans, the credibility of those news sources is at an all-time low. The internet hive mind, even in the face of blatant censorship by search engines and social media monopolies, simply offers too many verifiable, alternative facts for establishment media to get away with the kind of lying they do, and yet they persist. Exposed and discredited, they keep on lying, betting that an exhausted populace simply will not verify every single thing they report.

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Music Feeds Nashville Hosts Food Distribution Saturday

Bethany Bowman

Music Feeds Nashville is set to host its 13th food distribution Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Plaza Mariachi Music City. In partnership with One Generation Away, the Franklin food ministry has a community-based initiative designed to help unemployed Nashvillians keep food on the table.

The program brings the music community together to deliver food straight to Nashville Metro neighborhoods in an effort to make healthy food more accessible during the pandemic. Music
artists such as Martina McBride, Lauren Alaina, Michelle Branch, Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), and more have donated truckloads of food along with Marbaloo Marketing and CTK Enterprises.

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No Charges in NASCAR Noose Incident Involving Black Driver

The Associated Press

The noose found hanging in Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway had been there since at least last October, federal authorities said Tuesday in announcing there will be no charges filed in an incident that rocked NASCAR and its only fulltime Black driver.

U.S. Attorney Jay Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. said an investigation determined “although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week.”

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‘Jaws,’ ‘Black Panther,’ and More Coming Back to the Drive-In, with a Percentage of the Proceeds Going to Black Lives Matter

The Associated Press

Jaws,” “Black Panther” and “Back to the Future” are just a few of the modern popcorn classics coming to the drive-in this summer.

Tribeca Enterprises, IMAX and AT&T on Monday announced the initial lineup for its summer series of films, comedy and football, running every weekend from July 2 through Aug. 2 in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Miami and Seattle.

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Comedian DL Hughley Announces He Is COVID-19 Positive After Fainting Onstage

The Associated Press

Comedian D.L. Hughley announced he tested positive for COVID-19 after collapsing onstage during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee.

The stand-up comedian, 57, lost consciousness while performing at the Zanies comedy nightclub on Friday night and was hospitalized, news outlets reported. On Saturday, Hughley posted a video on Twitter in which he said he was treated for exhaustion and dehydration afterward.

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Charlie Daniels Reschedules 2020 Volunteer Jam

Bethany Bowman

Due to coronavirus concerns, Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels announced Friday that he is rescheduling his 2020 Volunteer Jam. The concert, originally set for September 15 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, will now take place Monday, February 22, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. Central Time.

“Volunteer Jam is alive and well and is moving from September 2020 to February 22, 2021,” said Daniels. “The Jam turns 46 years old this year and this could be the best one yet.”

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Author Jake Brown Releases a New Book About What Happens Behind the Scenes in Nashville’s Music Industry

Bethany Bowman

Jake Brown knows more about the music industry than any human I have ever met. Being that he just completed his 50th book, Behind the Boards: Nashville, he writes memoirs and provides a plethora of behind the scenes’ antidotes for all music genres.

Brown said he got interested in what goes behind the scenes when he was a kid. His mother took him and his brother to see the Bon Jovi –Slippery When Wet concert. At the concert, Brown and his family had such terrible seats that they couldn’t see the stage much. However, one thing Brown could see was what was happening behind the stage.

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St. Paul Saints to Play Season in Sioux Falls for Now Because of ‘Capacity Restrictions’

Anthony Gockowski

The St. Paul Saints announced Friday that the team will be participating in a 60-game season beginning July 3, but all games will be played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota until “capacity restrictions for outdoor events have relaxed.”

The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball said the shortened season will run from July 3 to September 10, concluding with a championship series between the top two teams. The league will consist of six teams based in three separate hubs.

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Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard Lead Americana Awards

The Associated Press

Singer songwriter Brandi Carlile has had a productive year and that’s led her to be the leading nominee at the Americana Honors and Awards for her roles as a solo artist, a member of the group The Highwomen, as a producer and as a songwriter.

In the nominations announced Monday for its September awards show, the Grammy-winning artist has a total of seven nominations, including artist of the year as a solo artist and duo/group of the year with The Highwomen, which includes Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby. Rocker Brittany Howard, who has won Grammys with her band Alabama Shakes, is up for five nominations, including artist of the year and album of the year for her solo album “Jaime.”

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Academy Delays 2021 Oscars Ceremony Over Coronavirus Concerns

The Associated Press

For the fourth time in its history, the Oscars are being postponed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network said Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards will now be held April 25, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned because of the pandemic’s effects on the movie industry.

The Academy’s Board of Governors also decided to extend the eligibility window beyond the calendar year to Feb. 28, 2021, for feature films, and delay the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures from December until April 30, 2021.

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Warner Bros. Sets Late July Theatrical Release for Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Tenet’

The Associated Press

The closely watched arrival of Christopher Nolan’s big-budget sci-fi espionage film “Tenet” will finally happen on July 31, Warner Bros. announced Friday.
The studio said it would delay the release by two weeks and instead re-issue Nolan’s 2010 sci-fi blockbuster “Inception” in mid-July.

The release date for “Tenet” has been closely watched in all corners of the film industry, which has faced shuttered theaters due to the coronavirus since mid-March. Movie theaters plan to reopen in July for a vastly different summer season than the one the industry had planned.

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Ulysses S. Grant Mini-Series Review: Who Controls the Past Controls the Future

Admin

The History Channel’s recent series about Ulysses S. Grant was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and based on the best-selling biography by Ron Chernow. It concluded on Wednesday and was just about what one would expect from a film created by some of academia’s and entertainment’s biggest leftists.

Although the series did fairly well in rehabilitating and humanizing Grant’s better characteristics, it could not resist hammering home trite narratives about Reconstruction, going so far as to omit well-documented history about Grant and his administration to accomplish the task. He who controls how we speak about the past and what we know about the past controls the future. This show, like much of what is created in academia and entertainment, advances that project.

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NASCAR Ready for Long-Term Commitment in Nashville

The Associated Press

Here’s what NASCAR hopes is the honky tonk truth — that a Nashville reboot is good enough this time to make the sport a tough ticket in the heart of one of the entertainment hot spots of the south.

The first step? Convincing its star drivers the trip to Nashville Superspeedway in 2021 is the spark of a motorsports rebirth in the area and not just another lazy ride on an intermediate concrete track.

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Music Spotlight: Adam Sanders

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee –  A native of Lake City, Florida, Adam Sanders knew at an early age that music would be his life.

“My mom likes to say I could sing before I could talk. It was as far back as I could remember. My earliest memories were dressing up like Alan Jackson and singing ‘Chattahoochee’ and ‘Don’t Rock the Jukebox,’” he said.

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Emily Hackett Releases Heartfelt ‘Handle’

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – I first interviewed Emily Hackett in October 2018 when she was featured in my Music Spotlight column. There has been a lot of shifts in the music world since then and we were able to talk about how that is affecting her/the industry.

As mentioned in my column, in 2018 Hackett released her EP By the Sun, and in 2019 she released its counterpart By the Moon which landed her as one of CMT Next Women of Country for 2019.

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Music City Dedicates This Year’s Fourth of July Celebration to First Responders

Bethany Bowman

Music City will honor healthcare heroes, first responders and frontline workers with a televised fireworks show from downtown Nashville on July 4th, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today. There will be no public concert or spectators allowed in parks. A short fireworks display will be set to recorded music by Nashville artists, which will air locally on NewsChannel 5.

Country music superstar Brad Paisley, who was previously scheduled to headline this year’s July 4th event, will instead headline in 2021, giving the community something to look forward to and visitors a reason to book a trip to Nashville next year. 

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Music Spotlight: Brian Callihan

Bethany Bowman

Born and raised on a small farm in South Georgia, Brian Callihan was your typical country boy as he hunted and played baseball and football. However, he found his true passion when he started listening to Keith Whitley.

Callihan said when he was around 10 or 11 years old he got a “Keith Whitley’s Greatest Hits for Christmas,” which was his dad’s favorite singer.

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Commentary: America’s Rock-n-Roll Architect Little Richard Has Died

Admin

Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as “Little Richard,” died on Saturday at his Nashville home. He was 87. Millennials and such may be unaware of the man and the great American music he pioneered.

As the big-band era of the 1940s began to wane, musicians opted for smaller combos. They pounded out a rollicking sound with a heavy backbeat, honking saxophones, percussive pianos, and simple lyrics that lingered in the mind. When Chuck Berry sang “roll over Beethoven, dig these rhythm and blues,” that was the music he was talking about. By the mid-1950s, rhythm and blues had been rebranded as rock and roll, and Little Richard was the king.

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Music Spotlight: Heidi Newfield

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee –  Even though I was familiar with the country/rock band, Trick Pony, the first time I was aware of Heidi Newfield the solo artist was when I heard “Johnny and June” on the radio in 2008. When I learned that Newfield was going to be one of the guests performing at the Her Song fundraiser for Thistle Farms at Third and Lindsley/Backstage Nashville, I got tickets to help a good cause and see some awesome female artists in an intimate setting. Fortunately, I was able to meet and secure an interview with Newfield who has one of the most beautiful, raw, bluesy voices I have ever heard.

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Music Spotlight: James Robert Webb

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee-  You may have heard of the story Longwood Symphony Orchestra which is a symphony comprised exclusively of Boston physicians and health-care professionals. The link between music and medicine is well-documented. So when 117 Entertainment Group asked me to interview a traditional country crooner from Tulsa named James Robert Webb who happened also to be a renowned radiologist, I was eager to hear his story.

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Music Spotlight: Andrew Hopson

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Rarely do I agree to write a story on a person based on one single. But when I heard the song “Stronger Than That,” it was a no-brainer for me. I knew I had to interview this up and coming artist. Andrew Hopson is a true country boy from Tazewell, Tennessee (located where West Virginia meets Kentucky), whose music will bring you back to the traditional honky-tonk sounds of Hank, Willie, and Waylon.

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