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Reviews
JASON LEE McKINNEY BAND One Last Thing
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Underestimating an album, no matter the reason, can go forever unchecked, leaving billions of us unknowingly unaffected by an artist’s message thrown back into the racks. Fortunately, One Last Thing, the 11th studio album by Middle Tennessee’s Jason Lee McKinney Band, breaks the boundaries of the Christian rock section as “life-affi rming, modern-day roots music” with a big, Southern blues/rock/gospel fusion that is very much straight-up praise, performed by a properly produced funk/rock quintet.
The intro track, “Cross Over” features a youth minister-like singing McKinney on guitar as the choir and band claps in the big unison style of The Lumineers and responds for the verses, then seamlessly transitions into a solid funk band—with a full horn section, thicker bass lines and all—for the choruses and bridge. The production is immaculate and leaves listeners with a feeling that only a choir and horn section can provide. It’s great, right off the bat, and following with a similar sentiment, the midnight-funker “Sing a Prayer” could play on secular club’s PA as dancers ask who it is, instead of noticing its praise-rock.
McKinney says that with One Last Thing the band brought “the message of the Gospel to the foreground. The Gospel was always part of our foundation, but now it’s front and center.”
On “Freedom,” a Foghat-like Hammond organ-and-guitar intro explodes right into a Black Keys-
tinged gospel feel—loud, fuzzy blues with a choir yelling “Freedom!” Plenty of folks are into that stuff. With McKinney leading on vocals and rhythm guitars, Barry Strauser on keyboards and backing vocals, Billy Wright on bass, Sam Berce on electric and acoustic guitars, and Logan Todd on drums and percussion (with other guests throughout), the band has produced a range of praise songs that fi t anywhere from local Sunday sermons to convention centers. Other sweet spots on One Last Thing include McKinney gearing towards the vocals of Bad Company’s Paul Rodgers in the rocker “Make No Mistake,” the why-is-this-onesexy “Song of Songs,” and the piano-driven “Liturgy,” evoking strains of the country hymn “May the Circle Be Unbroken.” While listening to “When I’m Gone” for the fi rst time, following the uplifting horned intro, it turns into an indie song from a random North Californian couple; a pop album song. But wait. Here comes a half-time bridge with horns. So many layers! Then the electric guitar kicks in, an organ moans to match as they keep climbing! This band is too good. Many tracks evoke a sentiment like that (among hints of a wide variety of artists from Eagles of Death Metal to Scissor Sisters to Hall & Oates on some tracks), minus a couple of obvious, crowd-hypnotizing convention songs. It doesn’t matter how many tries or releases or genres it took to get there, the Jason Lee McKinney Band has reached a pinnacle with One Last Thing, where there’s plenty more to praise, for praise. Find One Last Thing, along with past albums, show dates and Jason Lee McKinney Band merch, at jasonleemckinneyband.com. ing that only a choir and horn section can — BRYCE HARMON
NOPE
DIRECTOR Jordan Peele STARRING Daniel Kaluuya,
Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea
RATED R Jordan Peele’s third fi lm comes with a lot of expectation behind it. Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out, was a smash hit that has solidifi ed its position in the modern horror pantheon. His follow up, Us, was met with milder acclaim, that, while not diminishing its quality, has since faded from its honeymoon glow. For better or worse, his latest fi lm, Nope, received the Cloverfi eld and M. Night Shyamalan advertising treatment, promising unparalleled mysteries and thrills that are all but impossible to live up to.
I’m happy to report that Peele manages to not meet those expectations, and in fact sidesteps them altogether with Nope, an Amblin Entertainment-style throwback to Spielbergian summer spectacles.
Nope is set in a secluded valley in Agua Dulce, California, where the descendants of the cowboy rider in Eadweard Muybridge’s famous photographic series “The Horse in Motion” own and operate a horse training ranch for horses in movies. After his father is killed by seemingly random falling debris, O.J. Haywood (Kaluuya) is left to run the family business with his energetic but disinterested sister Emerald (Palmer). Steven Yeun plays former child star Ricky “Jupe” Park, who now runs a Western theme park called Jupiter’s Claim. Jupe’s involvement is limited to small dealings with O.J., but he is given the biggest backstory in the fi lm.
Nope is told in short chapters, one of which deals with a traumatic and intense episode during Jupe’s childhood starring in a ’90s sitcom. It may seem incongruous, but it ties in directly with the themes of the fi lm, and provides one of the movie’s most haunting scenes.
Jordan Peele pulls together many themes and ideas in Nope, but whether you pick up on how the Haywood’ legacy in Hollywood is symbolic, or how advancement in camera technology connects to what we watch and how we watch it, or the themes of man’s place in nature, an exciting and enjoyable spectacle is still there to behold.
Peele’s writing and directing are sharp as ever, and cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema’s lens beautifully frames the desert landscape at magic hour, or O.J. racing on his horse mirroring his great-great(great?)-grandfather’s legacy. Everyone is excellent in Nope, but it’s Keke Palmer as Emerald who is the buoyant soul of the fi lm, the perfect foil to Kaluuya’s down-toearth O.J. Her and her brother’s investigation into the oddity in the sky, the mystery in the clouds (I’ll say no more), is a delightful journey.
Whereas Get Out was an intense thriller with moments of tension-relieving levity, and Us was a downright scary semi-slasher, Nope is a lighter affair: a joyous adventure. There are plenty of intense and even terrifying moments, but the overall feel of Nope recalls the thrilling spectacles of the late 20th. That there’s so much more to mine from Nope is a bonus, but at this point it is to be expected from Jordan Peele. — JAY SPIGHT
A CLASSIC OUTSTANDING AVERAGE BELOW AVERAGE AVOID AT ALL COSTS
Living
Guard members from across the country compete in swimming, shooting, survival skills
STORY BY ETHAN PICKERING
Tennessee hosted the Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition on the last week of July. The competition is an annual event in which National Guard soldiers from across the country have to compete hard in preliminary competitions just to reach. The competition involves various fi tness training, fi eld exercise and combat scenarios. Units across all 54 U.S. states and territories compete yearly in the Best Warrior Competition with 14 National Guard soldiers chosen to compete in the fi nals.
“It’s like March Madness for the Army,” said Lt. Col. Darrin Haas, with the Tennessee National Guard Public Affairs Offi ce.
This marks the fi rst time that Tennessee has hosted the Best Warrior Competition. The competitors will travel all over the state, but the contest is based out of Smyrna.
Middle Tennessee State University was chosen as one of the sites for the competition because of the swimming and exercise facility that the school recreation center has to offer.
Last year’s winner of the Best Warrior competition, Sgt. Cole Lukens, is a current MTSU student and involved full-time with the Army National Guard.
Lukens, 23, is a part-time student studying fi nance; he usually only takes three to nine credit hours per semester. The National Guard is paying for his schooling.
“The best part is probably the comradery, being able to develop and sharpen your skills with the best NCOs and soldiers in the National Guard,” Lukens recalled of last year’s competition, hosted in Arizona. Lukens plans to attend Army Ranger school next spring.
The competition took place in several venues over the course of a week. Following the Murfreesboro stop, competing soldiers traveled to do weapons, vehicle and survival training in Tullahoma and Milan, Tennessee.
“Tennessee hosting this competition means that we get to showcase all the things that we have to offer, like MTSU and all the facilities that the National Guard uses here in the state,” said Senior Enlisted Leader Ken Simmons with the Tennessee Air National Guard. Simmons has been with the Air National Guard for over 40 years and regularly attends the Best Warrior Competitions.
Tennessee State Command Sgt. Maj. Dale Crockett has helped energize the Best Warrior program and helped get Tennessee on the radar for hosting the national event.
“The competitions are pretty similar wherever it’s hosted, but this year we are giving it some Tennessee fl avor,” said Crockett while watching the soldiers competing in swimming contests.
On the fi rst day of actual competition, on July 25, exercises involved several types of cardio challenges including an endurance running test dubbed “the beep test” as well as several types of swimming tests. The swimming sections featured everything from endurance swimming to diving exercises, where soldiers dove for rifl es at the bottom of the 12-feet-deep pool. The soldiers had to swim in full uniform with rifl es and fl ak jackets to test their endurance in water scenarios.
Throughout the rest of the week, soldiers tested in weapons training with small arms, practiced survival skills in the Tennessee wilderness, and practiced combat exercises like breaching rooms and clearing buildings.
A scoring system tracked each competitor and by the end of the week-long contest Sgt. Spencer Fayles, with Utah’s 144th Area Support Medical Company, received 2022 National Guard Soldier of the Year honors and Sgt. Tyler Holloway, with Wyoming’s 115th Field Artillery Brigade, was declared the Noncommissioned Offi cer of the Year.
