YouTube often can help you find artists you have never heard before. I start with a search for a musician I like, and then I start clicking through other artists’ videos on the side. That is how I recently ran across Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound.
The band released its self-titled debut album in 2014. But there is not a lot about them on the Internet. There is no proper Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound website beyond the Bandcamp site.
There is a Facebook page keeping fans updated about their performances (around 2,300 Likes so far). But the band — whose members are from the Cincinnati area — was recently listed as the most popular band in that Ohio city.
Their Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound album is darn good, featuring a great country lead voice from McKinley with great backing vocals and band. It might remind you a bit of Whiskeytown.
Sure enough, Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound list Whiskeytown among the band’s influences, along with Neil Young, The Band, Otis Reading, Circle Jerks, The Ramones, Larry Sparks, Keith Whitley, Chamberlain, Whiskeytown, Gram Parsons, and Misfits, George Jones. There is maybe a little similarity to Tyler Childers, who is the artist I started with on YouTube.
That is a good mix of influences, and Arlo McKineley & The Lonesome Sound delivers. Do not take my word for it. Check out some of their music. One of my favorites is “Just Like the Rest.” McKinley’s voice perfectly conveys the heartache in the heartbreak song. The following performance is from the 2014 Bellwether Live at Buckle Up Music Festival.
Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound is made up of McKinley, Tyler Lockard, Brian Pumphry, Zac Roe, Sylvia Mitchell, and Sarah Davis. Their live performances often concentrate around the Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia area. But with their talent, look for them in your neck of the woods one day, hopefully with a new album. What is your favorite song by Arlo McKinely & The Lonesome Sound? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I recall watching the famous 1980 Wimbledon men’s championship game between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. In what may be the most famous tennis match of all time, the two men battled back and forth, highlighted by a tie-breaker in the fourth set that was won by a score of 18-16. A new film, Borg vs. McEnroe (2018), attempts to capture that drama while also revealing more details about the two tennis players.
Borg vs. McEnroe, with a screenplay by Ronnie Sandahl, provides some backstory about the two men, especially Björn Borg. We see the Swede as a driven child with a bit of the temperament and lack of emotional control we associate with McEnroe. But Borg works to establish a more cool and calm persona, while the movie reveals trouble burning beneath the surface. As Borg, actor Sverrir Gudnason is the highlight of the film, presenting a realistic portrayal while bearing an uncanny resemblance to the tennis player who was attempting to win his fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship.
As the upstart emotional challenger John McEnroe, Shia LaBeouf gives one of his best performances to date. But partly because the film focuses more on Borg and partly because McEnroe had such a larger-than-life personality, it is more difficult to imagine anyone else as him.
Regarding the drama of the big match, Borg vs. McEnroe does a decent job capturing the back-and-forth of the match and the anguish and joy of the competition. Still, because tennis is a game of so many points scored and no ticking clock, filmmakers face a challenge to create a great sports movie about tennis. There is no one key football play as time runs out, there is no game-winning home run, and there is no rally in the final minutes in the boxing ring.
So, in the classic match, the movie version lacks the drama of watching the players in real time in a match where even today the main parties remember every point. Still, director Janus Metz Pedersen keeps the viewer engaged in the Borg-McEnroe battle until the end, helping explain why the film has a decent 83% critics rating and 72% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Regarding the match and the relationship between the two men, HBO produced an excellent 2011 documentary McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice. I recommend that film, which features extensive interviews with the two key players, for anyone interested in learning more about Borg and McEnroe and their relationship after watching Borg vs. McEnroe.
Overall, Borg vs. McEnroe will not go down as one of the all-time great sport movies and it never quite completely captures one of sports’ all-time great rivalries. But if you wish to re-live the famous match or do not know anything about it, you may enjoy spending 100 minutes with this well-directed and well-acted film.
Borg vs. McEnroe is available in theaters, pay-per-view, and on Amazon Prime.
Below is video of the actual match from 1980, although you may want to wait to watch it until after you see the movie. Check it out.
Do you remember the famous Borg-McEnroe match? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On a Friday the 13th, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, John Prine, took the stage at Radio City Music Hall to launch his first album of new material in thirteen years. With some help of a great band, opener Sturgill Simpson, and special guest Brandi Carlile, the 71-year-old showed that he remains a great entertainer too.
The April 13, 2018 show began with Sturgill Simpson opening for Prine, taking the stage alone with a guitar for about an hour. Few performers can command such a large audience alone, but Simpson is one of them, even as he admitted being nervous before coming out.
Simpson’s set included many of his best songs, with a highlight being his performance of “Turtles All the Way Down” back-to-back with “Just Let Go.” Both of those songs appeared on Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014). Other songs included a moving rendition of “Oh Sara.” And he played the opening song from A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016), “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog).”
Simpson also played some traditional songs and covers, including When in Rome’s “The Promise,” which he had included in Metamodern Sounds, and the Bee Gees’ “Come on Over.” And he began “Long White Line” with a riff that took a detour into Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.”
One has to admire Simpson, who could fill the seats just on his own, having the respect for Prine to be his opener. Simpson is one of the best music artists today, in or outside the country genre, so it was great to see him in this context.
Simpson also announced that while he will be playing a number of festivals until September, after those shows he plans to take a year off from touring. His wife is having another son and he wishes to spend time watching his children grow.
John Prine Takes the Stage
John Prine took the Radio City Music Hall stage for the first time in his career with a sharp band, including new members Ken Blevins on drums and and Fats Kaplan playing fiddle, mandolin, and lap steel guitar. At one point Prine explained how much it meant to be on this stage when he recounted seeing Bette Midler at the venue performing his song “Hello in There.” At the time, he dreamed of one day playing here.
Because the show was the album-release show for The Tree of Forgiveness (2018), many of those new songs made it into the set. But there was plenty of room for old gems.
Early on, Prine played a wonderful rendition of his classic “Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow).” And there was a fun performance of “Grandpa Was a Carpenter.” But the audience was just as welcoming of the new songs from The Tree of Forgiveness, sometimes helped by a humorous introduction, as in the case of “Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone).” Everyone in the audience will be receiving the new CD in the mail after buying a ticket for this show, but they had not received the album yet.
While there was not much politics in the show, there was a nod to the political climate with “Caravan of Fools.” And Prine introduced his old gem “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore” by saying that he normally dusts off the song only for election years. But he said that after the last election, he is keeping it in his set.
While some may have wondered how Prine’s voice would hold up at his age and after two bouts of cancer, he eliminated any doubts by generally being in great shape. His voice got a little hoarser as the show went on and he missed a few of the high notes on “Hello in There.” Yet, any voice cracks gave more emotion to the song, and guest and backup singers helped out in the last part of the show. And with all that, Prine was still going strong at the end.
In the middle of Prine’s show, all of the band members left to take a break. And the 71-year-old entertained us with just his voice and guitar for several songs, including the best version of “Sam Stone” I have ever heard.
Special guest Brandi Carlile helped out with Prine’s new song “Summer’s End,” which she also sings with him on the new album. She also did a great job trading verses with Prine on what may be his most recognized song, “Angel From Montgomery.”
And one of the highlights of the entire show was when Prine and Carlile came to the front of the stage for “In Spite of Ourselves,” a song from Prine’s 1999 duets album of the same name that had featured Iris Dement on the tune. Prine introduced the song by saying that his wife said he could do another song with Carlile if he did not talk too much during the show.
Sturgill Simpson returned to join Prine too. The two men sang “Please Don’t Bury Me” and a touching “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness.” With the band, the whole group gave a rousing performance of “Pretty Good.”
The latter song transcends well in a live setting with multiple electric guitars and the power of Simpson’s voice, while “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” was a quieter moment befitting the lyrics.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Prine closed with with his wonderful epic “Lake Marie,” backed up by the band along with a few guests that included Carlile, Prine’s son, and Prine’s wife Fiona. Then, they finished with another song of spoken words and choruses with “When I Get to Heaven” from Tree of Forgiveness. The final song, referencing lost loved ones and looking with joy toward death, was a touching and humorous finale.
It was my first time seeing Prine perform live, and as in the case anytime I have seen a long-term favorite artist perform, I could count a number of songs I wish he would have played. But with such an amazing catalog, there is no way he can play even a significant portion of his great songs. Yet, during the show, I never spent any time wishing for anything else besides what was going on at the stage. It was a fantastic celebration by one of America’s gems.
Photos by Chimesfreedom. Leave your two cents in the comments.
In this segment from The Ronnie Wood Show, songwriter Steve Cropper discusses co-writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of the Bay” with Otis Redding. Cropper tells how Redding approached him with the opening, and then Cropper added information from Redding’s own life (“I left my home in Georgia. . .”).
Redding died in an airplane crash on December 10, 1967 before he could see the song become a hit. Cropper also explains how Redding never got to hear the electric guitar part in the song too. Check it out.
Surprisingly, some were concerned that “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was too different from Redding’s catalog to be successful. But Redding was happy with the somewhat different sound.
After Redding’s death in December 1967, the song was released on January 8, 1968. It became a number one song in the U.S. and the U.K. And it was the first posthumous single to chart that high in the U.S.
The song’s universal appeal is one of Redding’s final gifts to us. One can understand how an organization like Playing for Change, dedicated to inspiring and connecting the world through music, would make the following video.
The Playing for Change version features people singing the timeless song all over the world. Otis touched a lot of us.
Occasionally, while watching a film on Turner Classic Movies, during the break between movies I’ve caught a wonderful montage of movies throughout history. I am always mesmerized by it. During the video, I cannot change the channel or turn off the TV. The short montage, called 100 Years At the Movies, takes the viewer through the history of movies up to 1994.
The segment begins with a movie shown in a former shoe store on April 14, 1894. Viewers watched the moving pictures through a slot, making it the first commercial movie in history. With that humble beginning, the motion picture industry has captivated viewers, making us laugh, cry, think, feel, and watch in awe.
The short film 100 Years At the Movies, takes us through that history. It features short clips from some of the greatest movies during the century. It will remind you of the joy you have received from watching movies. At the same time it will test your memory to try to name as many as you can as they quickly flash by.
Chuck Workman created 100 Years At the Movies for TCM. Check it out.
The band released its self-titled debut album in 2014. But there is not a lot about them on the Internet. There is no proper Arlo McKinley & The Lonesome Sound website beyond the Bandcamp site.
I recall watching the famous 
. I recommend that film, which features extensive interviews with the two key players, for anyone interested in learning more about Borg and McEnroe and their relationship after watching Borg vs. McEnroe.
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On a Friday the 13th, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, John Prine, took the stage at Radio City Music Hall to launch his first album of new material in thirteen years. With some help of a great band, opener Sturgill Simpson, and special guest Brandi Carlile, the 71-year-old showed that he remains a great entertainer too.
(2014). Other songs included a moving rendition of “Oh Sara.” And he played the opening song from A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016), “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog).”
, sometimes helped by a humorous introduction, as in the case of “Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone).” Everyone in the audience will be receiving the new CD in the mail after buying a ticket for this show, but they had not received the album yet.
