‘This Kind of Man’ is the new short story collection by Sean Murphy. Photo: Amazon
Short story collections are literary treasures, offering a diverse tapestry of narratives within a compact form and offer a glimpse into the human experience. They invite readers to explore new perspectives and cultures within a single volume. Each story is a different universe and readers can enjoy them individually or binge through the collection, reveling in the variety of themes. There is a new short story collection out this month by Sean Murphy – “This Kind of Man.” So if you enjoy these types of books, here is some more information.
Sean Murphy is the Founding Director of 1455, a non-profit that celebrates storytelling. He has appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and been quoted in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and AdAge. A long-time columnist for PopMatters, his work has also appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Sequestrum, Blue Mountain Review, and others. His chapbook, “The Blackened Blues,” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2021. His second anthology of poems, “Rhapsodies in Blue” was published by Kelsay Books in 2023. He has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize, twice for Best of Net, and his book “Please Talk about Me When I’m Gone” was the winner of Memoir Magazine’s 2022 Memoir Prize. His new book “This Kind of Man” is his first collection of short fiction and offers an unvarnished look at life in 21st Century America, excavating the complicated, tender, wild truth of what it is to be a man across generations and relationships. (1455 Literary Arts, 2024)
“This Kind of Man” – These stories interrogate the pressures and tensions of contemporary life, and the ways men grapple with them, often without success. Issues such as marriage, fatherhood, aggression, alcoholism, gender expectations, generational backlash, and the inexorable dread of death, abound.
Many of these stories live within a slow implosion of coping, and often failing, as well as those who refuse to succumb, addressing concerns oft-discussed, or not discussed enough, in mainstream print: gun violence, the recent history of coal country Appalachia, sports-related concussions, illegal immigration (and the jobs many of these ostensibly unwelcome folks are obliged to do), homelessness, and the inability of men to honestly connect or communicate.
Far from excusing or exonerating toxic males, this collection locates their violence (toward others, against themselves) in the context of a deadening culture and the false narratives that prevail in an exploitative, zero-sum game capitalist model, where those without are encouraged to quarrel with similarly overworked and underpaid, mostly blue-collar workers. We see that our received notions of manhood and masculinity are inculcated-from the beginning and by design-to ensure willing participation in a system where the overwhelming majority are excluded from the start. We witness the way these dysfunctions are handed down like inheritance, and how every cliché, from fighting to drinking to intolerance of dissent and distrust of others, is a carefully constructed trap, preventing solidarity, empathy, and love (for others, for one’s self).
Invaders from Proxima B beams onto Video On Demand on May 31, 2024. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Looking for a new family friendly sci-fi movie to stream? In today’s movie news: coming up on Fandango at Home, is release of Invaders from Proxima B.
Buffalo 8 is excited to slide into summer with the North American VOD release of Invaders from ProximaB, a family friendly science fiction comedy from writer/director/star Ward Roberts (Westworld, Agents of SHIELD) and Samantha Sloyan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass). Invaders from Proxima B debuts exclusively on Fandango at Home May 31, 2024. (Justin Cook PR, 2024)
Invaders from Proxima B– After a wise-cracking alien named Chuck (Roberts) crashes in the backyard, the Jankins family (Roberts, Sloyan) teams up with their new otherworldly friend to battle a dangerous array of weirdos that show up in hot pursuit. The stakes couldn’t be higher for Chuck, the Jenkins, and maybe even all of planet Earth.
Ward Roberts produced the film under his DrexelBox Films outfit alongside Mike C. Nelson. The film had its world premiere at the Austin Film Festival. The cast is rounded out by Sloyan, Mike C. Nelson (Shrinking, Black-ish), Richard Riehle (Office Space, Casino), Jeremiah Birkett (Black Cake, Euphoria), and Sarah Lassez (Nowhere, Lo).
Greensky Bluegrass announces new EP The Iceland Sessions featuring Holly Bowling out May 10 via Thirty Tigers. Photo: Tobin Voggesser, used with permission.
Greensky Bluegrass is widely known for their thoughtful lyricism, edgy and genre-expansive sound, dazzling live performances, and relentless touring schedule. However, that is only the tip of the complex tale of the five musicians that make up Greensky Bluegrass: Anders Beck [dobro], Michael Arlen Bont [banjo], Dave Bruzza [guitar], Mike Devol [upright bass], and Paul Hoffman [Mandolin]. The five are connected through a deep bond, just as they are seasoned road warriors, they’re a band of brothers who have seen each other through decades of ups and downs, personal and collective highlights, and the moments when life turns it all upside down. (Big Hassle Media, 2024)
For the past century, bluegrass music has traditionally relayed real tales of American life, struggle, tragedy, and triumph. It gives a voice to the quiet, yet colorful stories woven into the fabric of the country itself. Greensky Bluegrass live these stories through their records and performances.
Greensky Bluegrass is thrilled to announce The Iceland Sessions due out May 10 via Thirty Tigers. Pre-ordersare available now.
The EP was recorded at Flóki Studios in the summer of 2023, just before their first-ever Icelandic run of shows at Reykjavik’s Harpa Concert Hall. “We invited some of our favorite friends and musicians to play with us, including Holly Bowling, and we set out to make memories in the twilight sun with a bunch of fans who joined us from all over the world,” recalls Paul Hoffman. Bowling has been a regular guest in Greensky’s band lineup throughout the last several years and the chemistry between Bowling and the band is undeniable.
Flóki Studios is located in a very remote section of northern Iceland, and for Greensky, that’s precisely what was needed. A very intense few days that drew out creativity and inspiration not yet tapped by the band. “We embraced the disorienting inspiration and played late into the night as the sun never left us, all the while still developing lyrics and figuring out harmonies and arrangements. We swam in the cold water. We saw more sheep than people for days. We listened to the birds sing through the night while we charged through each song. A recording project that felt like a whirlwind at times turned into something calm and peaceful that felt more creative and raw than anything we’ve done before. Fully aware that we could continue to work on this later, we decided to commit to what we created in Iceland and have the recording be truly a moment in time.”
Following the release of The Iceland Sessions, Greensky will set out on their summer tour which kicks off May 12 in Mill Valley, CA. Up to date news and tour information is available online.
Grouplove announces deluxe version of I Want It All Right Now – out on May 10, 2024. Photo: Brantley Gutierrez, used with permission.
On their new album I Want It All Right Now, Grouplove offers up a body of work built on a raw but incandescent sound that vocalist/keyboardist Hannah Hooper refers to as “resistance pop.” As Hooper reveals, the Atlanta-based band’s sixth full-length album emerged from a period of intense transformation for herself and her husband/bandmate, vocalist/guitarist Christian Zucconi. Over the course of 11 shapeshifting songs, Grouplove’s debut release for Glassnote Records documents that progression from external searching to radical self-discovery, infusing each track with the wildly unbridled spirit the band has always embodied. (Big Hassle, 2024)
I Want It All Right Now fully harnesses the ecstatic energy Grouplove has brought to the stage on multiple international headline tours and at leading festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza. In a major leap forward for the band—whose lineup also includes bassist Daniel Gleason, guitarist Andrew Wessen, and drummer Ben Homola—the album explores the deepest tensions of the human psyche with equal parts tenderness, curiosity, and exacting self-revelation. A bold evolution of the defiantly sincere songwriting they first delivered on their 2011 debut Never Trust a Happy Song, I Want It All Right Now ultimately leaves the listener newly awakened to the wisdom and power of their own intuition.
The deluxe album will feature six new tracks, including the live version of the album’s title track “All” from Madison Square Garden. With Jake Clemons from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band lending his talents on the saxophone, the live rendition sheds any previous confines and swells into something altogether larger than life.
Multifaceted in her approach to artistry, Hannah Hooperhas painted all of the band’s artwork. Grouplove’s artwork has become almost as recognizable as their sound over the years, seeing the band work out the tensions of life through all mediums at their disposal.
In February, Grouplove released the first deluxe track “Chances.” The rapturous, overstimulated, hallucinogenic singsong saw the band channeling their ecstatic energy into the deepest tensions of the human psyche, all while playing with the contradictions and complications of existing. I Want It All RightNow, the band’s sixth studio album, was originally released in 2023.
Over the last month, Grouplove has been joined by Bully for the North American Rock And Roll You Won’t Save Me Tour. Fans who missed the tour or simply want more need not despair as the band has upcoming festival performances this summer at Wildflower! Festival, Bonnaroo and Oceans Calling. By popular demand, Grouplove has been added to 9 new dates this fall supporting P!nk.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES May 17 – Richardson, TX – Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival June 14 – Bonnaroo – Manchester, TN June 22 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage (with Arkells) September 28 – Ocean City, MD – Oceans Calling Festival November 3 – Austin, TX – Moody Center ^ November 6 – Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field ^ November 8 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center ^ November 11 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena^ November 12 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena^ November 14 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena^ November 16 – Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at The BJCC^ November 18 – Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium^ November 20 – Columbia, SC – Colonial Life Arena^
^ supporting P!nk
I Want It All Right Now Deluxe track list: “All” “Cheese” “Malachi” “Hello” “Eyes” “Billie” “Tryin’” “Cream” “Francine” “Climb” “Wall” “Chances” “Can You Feel My Love” “Fire” “House” “Fishbowl” “All (Live)”
Aulia Sarah, Claresta Taufan Kusumarina and Maudy Effrosina in Dancing Village: The Curse Begins. Photo: Lionsgate, used with permission.
Love horror movies? I do. Horror movies tap into our primal fears, exploiting the dark recesses of the human psyche. They’re a rollercoaster ride of adrenaline and terror, plunging audiences into a world where the supernatural collides with reality and making excellent use of tension and suspense. While exploring themes of mortality, the unknown, and the macabre, they remind us of the thin veil that exists between the rational and the irrational, making us confront our deepest fears in the safety of a movie theater. If you’re looking for a new horror movie, here is an Indonesian horror movie coming out today, Friday April 26, 2024: Dancing Village: The Curse Begins (International title: Badarawuhi Di Desa Penari). It has English subtitles.
In this horror-thriller, a shaman instructs Mila to return a mystical bracelet, the Kawaturih, to the “Dancing Village,” a remote site on the easternmost tip of Java Island. Joined by her cousin, Yuda, and his friends Jito and Arya, Mila arrives on the island only to discover that the village elder has passed away, and that the new guardian, Mbah Buyut, isn’t present. Various strange and eerie events occur while awaiting Mbah Buyut’s return, including Mila being visited by Badarawuhi, a mysterious, mythical being who rules the village. When she decides to return the Kawaturih without the help of Mgah Buyut, Mila threatens the village’s safety, and she must join a ritual to select the new “Dawuh,” a cursed soul forced to dance for the rest of her life. (EG PR, 2024)
Dancing Village: The Curse Begins is a prequel to KKN DI DESA PENARI, which was the highest grossing Indonesian film in history when it was released in 2022.This new film is the first film made for IMAX movie ever produced in Southeast Asia and in 2024, it will be one of only five films made for IMAX productions worldwide. Producer Manoj Punjabi is Indonesia’s most successful film and TV producer, and is the founder of MD Pictures, the country’s largest film company. Punjabi has produced 168 movies, including five of the biggest all-time local box office hits in Indonesia, including SEWU DINO and KKN DI DESA PENARI.
“Last Slice of Heaven” is the first single off Jack McKeon’s forthcoming new album Talking to Strangers, due out June 21, 2024. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Jack McKeon is a different sort of musician; a Nashville-based singer-songwriter with an honest, plainspoken vocal, an eclectic-roots sound, and a knack for bringing crystalline characters to life. A student of the greats drawn to the timeless, rather than the trendy, he hails from Chatham, New York (a few hours north of New York City and a world removed from the Americana and bluegrass scene he now inhabits), and harbors a deep love for the written word. First inspired by literary music icons from Hank Williams and Guy Clark to Tom T. Hall and John Hartford, McKeon arrived in Nashville in 2021 and has since established a reputation for his own message-drive lyricism—a value which shows up in its full sonic serenity on his 2024 album debut, Talking to Strangers, due out June 21. (IV-PR, 2024)
Recorded live over three days, Talking to Strangers captures the warm, organic sound of contemporary Appalachian soul, infusing folk rock with an easy-going bluegrass sway and speaking to his long-held musical values. It’s a work of classic craftsmanship, sturdy and simple yet packed with the nuance of a true, intentional wordsmith, and just the first significant step in what McKeon sees as “a lifelong pursuit.”
“Last Slice of Heaven” is the first single from Talking to Strangers. Fans can stream or purchase the single and pre-saveTalking to Strangers ahead of its release.
With a classic banjo kick-off and rose-colored details dotting the first verse, Jack McKeon gives listeners their first taste of his new album with “Last Slice of Heaven.”
McKeon’s depiction of developmental creep is the story of every landowner outside of burgeoning cities nationwide. It doesn’t take long for the story to take a darker turn. How are the bills getting paid? Is there a new contractor twisting the county’s arm to condemn? “But now the land that he’s been working is worth more than he could need,” McKeon sings in the song’s pre-chorus. “If selling out’s surrender, is leaving like defeat?” “I wrote this song to give a voice to the person I imagined holding on to this ‘Last Slice of Heaven,’ a character at odds with the transformation around him who’s fighting to hold on to his own identity,” says McKeon. “…in spite of ‘A world that’s always changing what it means to be the same.’”
The Bluegrass Situation premiered the music video for “Last Slice of Heaven,” a simple, poignant affair in which McKeon picks the song on his vintage Gibson dreadnaught in his own little slice of heaven.
Talking to Strangers track list: Willow Lane Paler Shade of Blue Highway 29 Last Slice of Heaven I Don’t Trust You Hard Headed Crooked Teeth Past the Point of Rescue Waffle House Wonder Love at the End of the World
The French macabre horror movie Pandemonium leads ARROW’s May 2024 lineup. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Arrow Video is excited to announce the May 2024 lineup of their subscription-based ARROW platform, available to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK, and Ireland. Enjoy a selection of new titles, from carefully cultivated curations, shorts by new talent, and deep dives into the tastes of filmmakers whose talents have delighted audiences and shaped genre filmmaking. (Arrow Video, 2024)
The May 2024 lineup leads with the exclusive ARROW release of Quarxx’s French macabre horror Pandemonium, available May 27 in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland.
Drawing on themes found in Dante’s Inferno and Milton’s Paradise Lost, Pandemonium is a multi-textured existential fantasy, topped with signature notes of visceral horror, disturbing fairy tale, wry comedy, and dark thriller. From the creative mind of Quarxx, comes this aesthetically stunning and relentlessly macabre tale. Pandemonium made its world premiere at Neuchâtel and went on to screen at Fantasia, Frightfest, Fantasy FilmFest, Sitges, Grimmfest, Trieste, and Screamfest and you can see it at home on ARROW with a host of brand new extras.
May Seasons bloom May 3 with Jennifer Reeder Selects (UK/IRE/US/CA) Titles include Switchblade Sisters, The Sacred Spirit, Lady Morgan’s Vengeance.
Also on May 3, subscribers in all territories can enjoy a pair of underseen violent short films. The Host (UK/IRE/US/CA): In this tense-as-hell 1960 short from Jack Hill, Sid Haig plays an on-the-run cowboy who is laying low. But, to remain safe and appease a local tribe, he must commit another terrible crime. Hill and Haig’s incredible talents were burning bright right from the beginning in an atmospheric, violent debut feature that is not to be missed.
The Adventures of Denchu-Kozo (UK/IRE/US/CA): Hikari is a boy who is bullied at school because he has an electricity pole growing out of his back. One of his classmates named Momo comes to his rescue and he thanks her by sharing his secret possession with her: a time machine. Activating the time machine transports him 25 years into a dark, dystopian, world of the future. There he encounters members of the Shinsengumi Vampire Gang who are hunting a woman named Dr. Sariba who is revealed to be Momo’s future self. He and he alone must save the world.
On May 10, head to the fields and forests and watch Cunning Folk (UK/IRE/US/CA). Cunning Folk is a collection of folklore and folktales, the locals who believe in them and the outsiders who inevitably fall foul of them. If you know what’s good for you, you will fear, respect and uphold the Old Ways of the Cunning Folk. Or else… Titles include The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras, Threshold, Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji.
On May 10, enjoy a trio of recent additions to the indie horror lexicon. Legs (UK/IRE/US/CA): Joy and Harry are trying to have a baby. One night, Joy swallows a spider in her sleep. When Joy subsequently develops an insatiable appetite for flies, it dawns on her that there may be more than one way of becoming a mother.
The Afterlife Bureau (UK/IRE/US/CA): “There’s something which comes after death and before you meet your maker… paperwork.” The Afterlife Bureau is a dark comedy in which brings Earthly nuisances such as bureaucracy to the afterlife.
Ouzo and Blackcurran (UK/IRE/US/CA): Two old friends take a trip down memory lane, but they are not alone – there’s someone there who never left.
On May 17, stay up all night and watch The City that Never Sleeps (UK/IRE/US/CA). On ARROW, the Big Apple is known as The City That Never Sleeps because the films set on its streets will give you nightmares. Psychopathic gangsters, deranged killers, out-of-control street gangs, even zombies and misshapen, deadly ex-conjoined twins, get a taste of an older, scarier, grittier, scuzzier New York in The City That Never Sleeps. Titles include: The Driller Killer, Basket Case, Mammoth.
Also on May 17, enjoy origin stories of genre legends. Eaten Alive (UK/IRE/US/CA): Nearly a decade before he donned Freddy Krueger’s famous red and green sweater, horror icon Robert Englund delivered a supremely sleazy performance in Eaten Alive, another essay in taut Southern terror from Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Oozing atmosphere from its every pore, Eaten Alive matches The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for sheer insanity helped in no small part by some marvelous histrionics from Chain Saw star Marilyn Burns and William Finley.
Spider Baby (UK/IRE/US/CA): This was the first solo feature by Jack Hill, whom Quentin Tarantino dubbed “the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking,” and it remains one of his wildest and weirdest. Lon Chaney Jr gave one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, their guardian and protector, who has managed to cover up their crimes until two distant relatives lay claim to their house. When they insist on moving in, Bruno has to cross his fingers and hope that the ‘children’ behave towards their new guests.
On May 24, slide into The Ick (UK/IRE/US/CA). Guaranteed to gross you out and featuring the sleaziest and skeeziest films on ARROW, this one is bound to give you The Ick. Titles include Doom Asylum, Hellish Flesh, The Baby.
On May 31, ARROW closes out the lineup by sending audiences to Heaven or (Mostly) Hell (UK/IRE/US/CA). Recently dead and stuck in limbo with a very important choice to make, up or down. Who knows if we get a choice of paradise or the abyss à la the beginning of Quarxx’s film Pandemonium? We’ve tried to give you a choice in this collection, but let’s be honest, on ARROW, the choice favors purgatory more than the pearly gates. Titles include Pandemonium, Hotel Poseidon, A Ghost Waits.
Head over to ARROW to start watching now. Subscriptions are available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly.
ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc.), Apple TV & iOS devices, Samsung TVs, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc.), and on all web browsers.
With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface, and an unparalleled roster of quality content from westerns to giallo to Asian cinema, trailers, Midnight Movies, filmmaker picks and much, much more, ARROW is the place to go for the very best in on-demand entertainment.
In the coming months, ARROW will be adding Oscar-winning hits, European classics, Asian cinema masterworks, rediscovered Westerns, offbeat gems and much more as part of ARROW’s international strategy to support and celebrate the medium of film.
Sarah King’s new album When It All Goes Down is available now. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Award-winning singer-songwriter-guitarist Sarah King makes her long-awaited full-length solo debut with When It All Goes Down, exploring life’s seismic shifts via her own singular strain of Gothic Americana. Produced, engineered, and arranged by David Baron, the album sees King weaving classic rock ‘n’ roll, Southern soul, true country, and primal folk-blues into something inspiring and cathartic, deeply personal yet wholly universal. Fired by King’s spellbinding, seen-it-all vocals and rock solid rhythm guitar, songs like “The Longest Night” and the empowering, anthemic title track are haunting, oft-times harrowing, tales of impossible guilt and inconsolable grief, of raising hell (and the repercussions that follow), of how to stand face to face with the Devil himself yet somehow emerge bigger, better, and badder than before. (One In A Million Media, 2024)
Currently residing in the Green Mountains of Vermont, in a tiny log cabin without cell reception, Sarah King has walked many a hard road to reach When It All Goes Down. New England born and raised, King spent her early twenties down South, playing in a GA-based rock ‘n’ roll band and generally “growing up, a.k.a. becoming an adult.” She eventually moved back north but found herself at a crossroads, slightly burnt out but driven by an evolving passion for front porch folk and traditional blues, hard times music as real and true now as it was nearly a century ago.
A captivating and engaging live performer, King is keen to bring her cathartic blues to life on stage both as a solo artist and bandleader. Rich with rare integrity, earnest emotion, and a restless energy born of extraordinary experience, When It All Goes Down captures an acutely authentic artist exploring her spirit and songcraft in an effort to reach a place that’s both true and transcendent not only in herself, but in all those who also call upon the power of music in their time of need.
“My stories are folk stories,” says Sarah King. “Of the people, for the people, by the people (I’m a person). These are songs for folks who’ve lived through some shit and want some music that doesn’t shy away from that.”
When It All Goes Down track list:
1. Lord Take My Soul 2. Always an Almost 3. When It All Goes Down 4. The Longest Night 5. Blame it on the Booze 6. Stronger Than You Ever Knew 7. You Were Wrong About Me 8. Hey Hey What Can I Do 9. Whiskey Thinking 10. Pretty Things 11. The Moth 12. Devil’s Try
“A declaration of empowerment… with a wild, unbridled attitude” – Americana UK
“A haunting tale with slow-burning Americana Noir sound” – Glide Magazine
“Fiery, vulnerable songs informed by heartbreak and whiskey alike” – Relix Magazine
“Merciless…she sings with a venomous tongue” – American Songwriter
“King’s powerful voice is uniquely suited for Americana and blues, a force of nature that conveys big emotions amidst rock-steady arrangements” – Rainbow Rodeo
Brontë Fall’s new single, Woman Like Me, is a bluesy-rocker appealing to anyone who has ever been asked to fit into a box. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Teri Bracken, better known by her stage name Brontë Fall, is an acclaimed songwriter whose road to songwriting began in childhood when she picked up piano at age 7. Classical violin lessons soon followed, and eventually she was tapped as the singer/violinist in a college rock band with a group of nineties rock loving frat boys. Bracken eventually made her way to Nashville—a dream come true considering it is a songwriter’s mecca. Though most of her instrumental focus is on guitar these days for pure convenience sake, Bracken still brings out her violin and even performs on piano during her shows—she never sings a note empty handed. (IV-PR, 2024)
After a family tragedy struck in 2022, Bracken rededicated herself to her craft, emerging with plenty of scar tissue and a batch of new songs that she considers her best yet. That lineup is highlighted by the new single Woman Like Me. The track is both a reminder of Fall’s skills as a songwriter and a significant leap forward in both sound and style. It’s a defining statement, the culmination of years grinding for a shot and, at the same time, a new beginning.
After years of grinding through music industry blockades on free-thinking, hard-working women, not to mention universal, unrealistic female expectations, Bracken decided it was time to set her record straight. “That we must ‘settle down’ at a specific time to start a family, give up our careers and lead a purely domestic existence; that we should be the apologetic, pleasing peacemakers; My song ‘Woman Like Me’ is a pushback on that entire narrative,” she says. After all, it was the Brontë sisters’ resistance to gender stereotypes in their industry that was a guiding light for Bracken at the beginning of her career, naming her whole persona in honor of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne’s resilience.
With Woman Like Me, while owning who she is but also lamenting the unease she feels, Brontë Fall poses the question “Am I lovable?” over minor blues chords and a rock groove, making the song feel edgy, rebellious, and intriguing. “I’ve also found, while performing this song, that it touches people regardless of gender because perhaps we all feel pressure to fit a certain box based on where we’re from—and through the lens of social media,” she says.
Recorded with a backing band of Matt Bubel, Robert Kearns, Jabe Beyer, Corey Congilio, Tim Craven (who also produced the track), and John Henry, the song signals a new era for Brontë Fall. Woman Like Me is the first of many new songs from the artist, all of which honor a new commitment to her most true self. “With this new era, I just wanted to be as authentic and raw as possible. In the past I was trying too hard or trying to be too different from who I actually am.” With Woman Like Me, Brontë Fall is beginning to unveil her unbridled vision.
Out everywhere, “Woman Like Me” is available right here and be sure to stay tuned for much more new music in the coming months. Brontë Fall will take the stage in Nashville for a hometown show on April 19. Tickets and more information can be found here.
From Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story, Corky Lee on 42nd St. Photo: Jennifer Takaki, used with permission.
Documentaries are windows into real-life narratives, offering insights into diverse subjects. They captivate audiences by illuminating untold stories, exploring historical events, or shedding light on societal issues. They not only provoke thought, challenge perspectives, and foster empathy, they also serve as educational tools, imparting knowledge on topics ranging from science and history to culture and politics. Documentaries play an important role in shaping public discourse and fostering understanding of the world around us. One example is Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story.
All Is Well Pictures, in association with Ford Foundation and Scandobean productions, presents Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story. It will be released theatrically in New York (DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema) on April 19 and in Los Angeles (Laemmle Glendale) on April 26 with a regional expansion to follow. (EG-PR, 2024)
Official Selection: DOC NYC, CAAMFest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF), Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), and many more.
Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story – For 50 years, Chinese American photographer Corky Lee documented the celebrations, struggles, and daily lives of Asian American Pacific Islanders with epic focus. Determined to push mainstream media to include AAPI culture in the visual record of American history, Lee produced an astonishing archive of nearly a million compelling photographs. His work takes on new urgency with the alarming rise in anti-Asian attacks during the Covid pandemic. Jennifer Takaki’s intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.
Running Time: 87 minutes Language: English Not Rated Documentary Feature (USA)
Corky Lee was born in 1947 in New York to Chinese immigrants who owned a laundry in Queens. He majored in history at Queens College and became a community organizer in Manhattan’s Chinatown in the 1970s. Over the next five decades he photographed countless protests and cultural events in the Asian American Pacific Islander community. Lee’s photographs documented the birth and growth of the Asian American movement for social justice and he became known as “The Undisputed, Unofficial, Asian American Photographer Laureate.” When he died in 2021 at the age of 73 due to Covid, the press mourned his death worldwide.
Filmmaker Jennifer Takaki is a fourth generation Japanese American from Colorado. She began her career in journalism at a Denver TV station and later moved to Hong Kong to work with Encore International. In Hong Kong, she produced English-based news programming broadcast in China, India, and the Middle East via Rupert Murdoch’s STAR-TV. In New York, she produced and directed “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” which premiered at DOC NYC and was supported by the Ford Foundation and The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). She was awarded the prestigious Better Angels Lavine Fellowship in 2023.
SA Examiner 