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Boo Ray Takes a Little Trip on 'Gone Back Down to Georgia': Video Premiere

Boo Ray and his band are charismatic enough to carry a video just by performing. But the Americana artist adds a wrinkle or two for the video for "Gone Back Down to Georgia," premiering below from his new album Tennessee Alabama Fireworks.

The plot — about a woman collecting mysterious envelopes that she delivers to Ray to reveal a secret recipe for Nashville’s famous Hot Chicken — was cooked up by Ray after a discussion with director Price Harrison. "Price and I had been talking about stuff —movies, mostly," Ray tells Billboard. "I'd been talking about a bunch of David Lynch stuff and we looked at some other movies, even Blade Runner and True Romance." A Harrison photo shoot with the band that incorporated a red light backdrop gave Ray a sense of the feel that he wanted and led him to come up with a treatment for the video.

"I wanted it to be fairly abstract so I didn't have to plan a bunch of specific shots," explains Ray, who's seen performing with his band, inspired by the roadhouse scenes in Lynch's Twin Peaks, while the actress is on her quest. "I wanted the cameraman to be able to shoot and just follow what looked good." Ray used James A. Willis, who did the Tennessee Alabama Fireworks album cover, to illustrate the envelopes and plans to give the envelopes away to fans via contests and promotions.

Ray began work on Tennessee Alabama Fireworks while working on his previous album, 2016's Sea of Lights, in Los Angeles. Producer Noah Shain (Nikki Lane, Nico Vega, Dead Sara, Badflower) was on board again, recording the set live to tape at Nashville's historic Welcome To 1979 studio. "(Shain) said, 'I want to record the sound of you with an outfit of guys that's been running down the road with you and has a couple hundred dates under your belt together. Make the playing you're doing so important and so unique I can’t come and hire an all-star band to replace you guys,'" Ray recalls. He followed orders, barnstorming with the current incarnation of his group right up until the time it hit the studio to record the new album.

"Man, I love having directions," Ray says. "I really do love to be told what to do. I like to be produced. It's like boxers working with a trainer; I like to be produced in the same way a boxer likes to be coached."

Ray and company are already back on the road touring in support of Tennessee Alabama Fireworks. He also has a new line of customized, embroidered shirts coming out in conjunction with Western Ranchwear H Bar C that will be going wide after an initial promotion as part of pre-orders for the new album

The Soapbox: In Defense Of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”

It took me all of 10 seconds to fall madly in love with “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” the “Toddlers and Tiaras” spin-off about Alana Thompson, the 6-year-old pageant hopeful known for her one-liners and love of Go-Go-Juice, and her self-described redneck family. While I was already enamored with Alana after seeing her on “Toddlers and Tiaras” last year — for being, essentially, the opposite of everything the pageant world wants their living dolls to be — but “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” sold me on the entire Thompson family. What Alana, June, Sugar Bear, Pumpkin, Chubbs, and Chickadee lack in traditional etiquette and higher education, they make up for in love, acceptance, and family values.

Source: superluchas.com

There’s a distinct difference between watching Alana on “Toddlers and Tiaras” and watching her on “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” She’s still the same vivacious, crazy, loud, and hilarious little girl on each, but the context and tone of each show reveals a startling difference in the way she’s perceived. “Toddlers and Tiaras” has always made me a little sad; little girls parading around as tiny embodiments of the Madonna/Whore complex. And then you have Alana, a cruder version of the girl in “Little Miss Sunshine,” whose sassiness cannot be hidden under layers glitter, fake eyelashes, and a hand-me-down flipper. She is a star in every sense of the word, simply by being herself. While viewers may root for her to succeed, you know she never will in that arena. As stupid and useless as pageant crowns and accolades may be, that’s kind of a bummer.

The brand that is “Toddlers and Tiaras” isn’t supposed to “get” a girl like Alana, let alone her family, and there’s the distinct sense that the pageant world and the show is laughing at and even disgusted by them. While many of the families who participate in pageants have to penny pinch in order to afford the expensive dresses and travel costs, it’s clear that the Thompson family is perhaps poorer than average. In one scene from Thursday’s new episode, which aired before “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” Alana’s mother June talks about how the local police call her when a deer has been hit by a car so they can come pick it up and actually use the meat. I felt like I was supposed to be, I don’t know, grossed out that this family would eat roadkill, or depressed about the level of poverty they must endure to do such a thing. A friend of mine, who loves Alana, tweeted her discomfort, saying the episode was making her sad because the “joke” was about how poor the Thompson family is, like a running string of “you’re so poor” jokes. Though I personally saw the roadkill segment as an example of how, frankly, practical June is (seriously, why should a freshly killed deer go to waste, regardless of how it died?), I completely get the discomfort with feeling like the show is using the Thompsons’ poverty for laughs. At the same time, I don’t think the Thompsons want or are seeking our pity. In fact, their spinoff show, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” indicates they’re doing just fine without our armchair sympathy.

Source: tv.avclub.com

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” has a different tone than “Toddlers and Tiaras” for me as a viewer. For starters, there’s less focus on the pageant world as a whole and its variety of horror show parents and the children they hairspray and spackle into submission. The focus is purely on the Thompson family and life in Georgia, pageants just being one aspect. In that sense, it’s no different than any other reality TV show out there, from “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” to “Miss Advised,” except that the reality being presented isn’t “aspirational” in the traditional sense. And yet, farting and burping at the dinner table aside, the Thompsons’ approach to life and the way they treat each other is far healthier than what is presented on many of those other shows. While their life lacks glamour, and the family shops with coupons and at food auctions, they have an abundance of what money and material goods cannot buy.

With the spotlight fully focused on Alana and her family in their own environment, the tone of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” has a lighthearted humor, even sweetness to it. Instead of being prodded to laugh at Alana and her family, you’re laughing with them — at their silliness, their bawdy humor, the exuberance with which they do everything, from bobbing for pigs feet at the Redneck Games to getting etiquette lessons. It’s impossible to deny that they all adore each other, that they’re each others’ biggest cheerleaders — compared to the constant catfighting and backstabbing on other reality shows, that’s nice to see.

Source: etonline.com

As much as the family embodies some of the more harmless stereotypes about people from the South, the especially negative redneck stereotypes are nowhere to be found. June and her husband Sugar Bear seem to have a loving marriage — no spousal abuse here! They don’t, from what I can tell, drink alcohol — and they’re certainly not drunks. Most noticeably, they are not homophobic. In fact, Alana’s uncle (seen on the preceding episode of “Toddlers and Tiaras”) is gay. And then, of course, so is her pig Glitzy. And as far as Alana is concerned, that’s a great thing, because that means he’ll be interested in performing in pageants with her. While this is obviously not the most broad perspective on homosexuality, and the context is silly, it’s nice to see a child understand and express that there’s nothing wrong with being gay.

One of the most striking aspects of the show is how confident each of the girls is, both in her appearance and her convictions. Alana, obviously, is overflowing with positive self-esteem. There doesn’t appear to be the slightest bit of shame in Alana’s actions when she squeezes her belly to make it talk. Her older sister is affectionately nicknamed Chubbs, but she has a rather blasé attitude about losing the extra little bit of weight she carries around, likely because there is not an emphasis on physical beauty within the Thompson household. Yes, Alana participates in pageants, but the hair, makeup and frilly dresses that go into it are purely a stage performance that has no place at home, aside from practicing her tennis routine in the living room. If there’s a healthy approach to child pageantry to be had, it’s that.

Source: newravel.com

And then there’s Pumpkin, Alana’s 12-year-old sister, who revels in sharing her bodily functions with the camera and anyone within a 12-foot radius. “I’ll stop farting when I’m dead,” she says firmly. Considering she’s at that impressionable age when most girls are learning — via society, their parents, and their peers — to find their own bodies gross and shameful, Pumpkin’s doesn’t-give-a-fuck attitude about what anyone thinks of her is kind of fantastic.

Lastly, there’s big sister Chickadee, who, at age 17, is pregnant with a little girl the family has already named Kaitlyn. There was a rare subdued moment on the show when June talked about finding out that her eldest daughter — who she had at 15 (and she had her second child at 17) — was pregnant. While she wasn’t happy about it, knowing how hard it was for her to be a young mom, she was determined to be supportive of Chickadee, and expressed pride that she was still focused on school. There are certainly parents who wouldn’t have handled it as well as June and Sugar Bear clearly have, and it’s obvious — the whole family goes to her ultrasound appointment — that Chickadee has a solid support system in place. The situation is not ideal, but how a person or a family rises to meet a challenge says a lot about them.

Source: popculture.com

Of course, only two 30-minute episodes of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” have aired, so much remains to be seen. Even fart jokes wear thin after a point, and, as they say at the Redneck Games, there’s only so many times you can belly flop in a shallow mud pit.* Luckily, I think this show’s got depth.

* They don’t actually say this, but they should.

Original by Amelia McDonell-Parry

'American Soul' Episode 4 Recap: Don, You In Danger, Boo

In this week’s episode, Don Cornelius tries to book an act on his own, JT is having a hard time, and a famed attorney makes a cameo.

We couldn’t help but focus on the men of American Soul during Episode 4.

The ladies are good, for the most part: Tessa found her footing, literally and figuratively, finally showing Flo and the Soul Train gang she ain’t nothin’ to play with on the dance floor, and checking Don for taking out his frustration on her with mixed messages and disrespect. Simone is still getting away with using a fake ID to chase her singing dreams in a jazz club and has emerged as a Soul Train fan favorite.

But the men are having a tough time.

JT avoided getting pinched for his role in the robbery and police shooting – but only because Chris (Trey Best) made sure the crime was pinned on someone else. Now we maybe understand why Benny (Kristopher Charles) was tearing up after giving info to the police last episode. He knew he was basically writing a death certificate. Chris has now told JT he won’t get any money from the heist, so all the stress and drama was for naught. Now his family’s finally being evicted. Just as it seems he can buy a little bit more time, Mr. Willard pushes JT past the breaking point with a comment about his mom’s “million-dollar mouth.” We knew this was coming; people been talking to JT crazy for 3 episodes now. JT knocks him out, and the family seeks shelter from Ma Mable (Elizabeth Omilami) in a storage room at the diner. JT wants to hide this from Simone and Kendall, even against Ma Mable’s grandmotherly advice, “Don’t lie to the people you love.”

Simone’s on a mission to save up enough money for Encore to cut a demo and gives JT the pooled cash to hold onto. She knows his mama’s a drug addict, why would she do that? We’ll bet $96 - the amount Simone passed to JT - that the money’s gone next episode. Also possibly gone next episode? JT’s mama. Soon he may have to cut her loose so he doesn’t drown along with her.

Kendall is still figuring out who he is in the absence of his father. Possibly still sorting his guilt for avoiding his father’s fate in the service, he’s trying patriotism on for size, hanging a gigantic American flag in his room. Simone reminds him their mom would not want it in the house, but he insists – to his sister’s amusement – that since he’s the “man of the house,” it’s his call. He’s also still juggling responsible fatherhood with chasing his dreams, bringing his son with him to an emergency show rehearsal. Our real worry, however, is that Flo now has Kendall in her sights. Kendall clearly isn’t a virgin, but Flo’s on another level. Pulling celebrities, locking people in rooms to get a look, on a make it by any means necessary level. Kendall’s not ready. Our hero (anti-hero?), Don, is going through it. He’s still not landing big enough acts for the show, and his primary sponsor is threatening to pull out. He’s taking it out on Tessa, the only other person working as hard on the show as he is, and she’s fed up. Motown, which moved to LA right before Soul Train, has shut him out because he was “difficult” with Gladys.

Don rolls through Club 100 Proof hoping he can again grab an act through Gerald, but Gerald makes it clear that the new BFF free trial period is over. “(The) first taste is hospitality, brotha,” he says. “Now you gotta pay to eat.” Eventually, the two businessmen come to a gentlemen’s agreement: Gerald will help Don land marquee acts for a 5% cut of the business. But what Don doesn’t know (that we do), is that Gerald is a for real gangster. Like killing people and then standing up to his gangster boss’ crew, gangster. Don, you in danger, boo.

Before settling on an arrangement with Gerald, Don tries one more time to land an act on his own. Following a tip that Ron Isley is performing at an NAACP fundraiser, Don crashes the event and runs into Motown’s Ilsa Dejarrnette (Shannon Kane). Isla and Don bond over a little coke (what’s a couple of lines between social acquaintances?) and Ilsa offers to help him navigate the black bourgeoisie and make an introduction to Diana Ross (Michelle Williams), who showed up in place of Isley.  Don, ever anxious and determined to do things his own way, charms Ross by knowing she sang Ray Charles’ “The Night Time is the Right Time” when she first auditioned for Berry Gordy. Diana, of course, is way too big of a star for a fledgling show, and she tells Don as much. Now, Don must get into Dejarnette’s good graces to get an in with Motown acts. Sounds like a scandalous tryst is on the horizon.

What this episode got right: Soul Train dancers indeed got paid in fried chicken. Members of the Soul Train Gang weren’t compensated, but there was free KFC on set every show taping for lunch.

What it could have done without: Johnnie Cochran showing up as the attorney for Dexter Brown might be a bit much. We appreciate incorporating black figures that we know and will recognize, and highlighting their backstory (Cochran made his name representing black victims in highly publicized police brutality cases), but the intersecting moments can feel forced.

What we absolutely don’t believe: That a record label’s legal representative is all up in lounges and parties, having final say on who performs where, and schmoozing with artists. Even at an everyone-wears-multiple-hats label like Motown. Ilsa is most likely based on long-time Motown senior executive Suzanne De Passe, but De Passe worked on all aspects of creative and artist development.