草莓传媒 celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month this Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, with stories spotlighting the contributions, culture and accomplishments of Hispanic communities across the D.C. region.

Hispanic Heritage Month has officially started and movie fans have a big reason to celebrate.

The 35th annual returns to the historic AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, from Sept. 19 through Oct. 10.

“We’re really excited,” associate film programmer Josh Gardner told 草莓传媒.

“It’s one of our flagship festivals and it’s my favorite time of year. The festival does coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month. It features 43 films from almost every country in Latin America. One of the things that’s really important to us is to showcase the diversity of filmmaking and Latin America itself, so we have documentaries that are issue oriented, comedies, dramas, thrillers.”

The AFI Latin American Film Festival kicks off with an opening night screening of “La Cocina” by Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios.

“It’s set in a busy Times Square restaurant and follows a Mexican immigrant chef, who’s having an affair with the waitress, played by Oscar-nominated actress Rooney Mara, and follows the intense drama after $800 gets stolen from the cash register,” Gardner said.

“For any fans of ‘The Bear’ out there, which I know there are many, I think this might be a can’t-miss film in the festival for you. We’re really lucky that the director is joining us for a Q&A.”

Baseball fans will appreciate “Clemente” about late great Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente.

“This is a great documentary about Roberto Clemente’s life, charting it from his childhood up until his unfortunate passing,” associate film programmer Javier Chavez told 草莓传媒.

“I’m Cuban, so while baseball is not actually a big thing in my life, it’s a big part of my culture, so it was great to see this perspective of someone who really opened the door for Latinos like myself and see all of his struggles, but also how great of a baseball player he was.”

Washington policy wonks won’t want to miss a pair of issue-oriented border documentaries.

“The first one is called ‘Borderland: The Line Within,’ which exposes the border surveillance system we have in the United States,” Gardner said.

“That is going to be followed by ‘State of Silence,’ which just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s a really important documentary that exposes the dangers that journalists in Mexico face for speaking the truth. That’s produced by powerhouse Mexican actors Gael Garc铆a Bernal and Diego Luna.”

You also don’t want to miss the thriller “Ellipsis” by Spanish filmmaker David Marqu茅s.

“This is the U.S. premiere, so it’s the first time anyone is going to see it here,” Chavez said.

“I describe it as Elena Ferrante meets Alfred Hitchcock, because it’s the story of a successful writer of mystery novels who writes under a pseudonym. He’s sequestered in his chalet working on his next novel when a mysterious stranger knocks on his door. Nobody knows where the writer is except his agent, so who is this man? Why is he knocking on the door?”

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Meghan Trainor brings her “Timeless” tour to in Virginia on Tuesday alongside singer, actor and TikTok guru Chris Olsen, who grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

“I feel like I’ve listened to this [radio station] so many times in my life,” Olsen told 草莓传媒. “This would be the radio that I’m pretty sure would be on every morning driving to school. This is D.C. This is it. We’ve made it.”

“Chris’ hometown!’ Trainor told 草莓传媒. “He came on my podcast called ‘Workin’ On It’ and we realized our birthdays were the same exact date, Dec. 22, so we fell in love like, ‘Whoa, we’re soul mates, we are the same person.’ We’ve been inseparable ever since and I hired him to help me with my TikToks and be my best friend.”

While Olsen was born in D.C., Trainor was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and grew up listening to 2000s pop.

“I was listening to T-Pain, I loved T-Pain,” Trainor said. “I was listening to whatever my brothers put on, then sometimes I would get to have a say and put Britney Spears on, but luckily my brothers loved the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC with me so we would all listen to that together. Then my dad would play us old-school music, so we would listen to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Then my mom would play a lot of Madonna and Billy Joel.”

In 2014, she signed with Epic Records for her first album “Title” (2015) with hits like “Dear Future Husband” and “Lips Are Movin.'” Trainor co-wrote the songs with Baltimore native Kevin Kadish, who attended Owings Mills High School and created his own music management major at the University of Maryland in College Park.

“I was 18 I think and I was living in Nashville and I drove to Franklin to write with a guy named Kevin Kadish,” Trainor said. “We were working together on the whole album and just kept getting confused by what we were hearing from the label and managers. We were hearing different things, so we were like, ‘Let’s write a song to them saying, ‘Your lips are movin’, I know you’re lying because your lips are movin’, you just talk in circles.'”

Of course, the album’s biggest pop hit was the catchy No. 1 smash “All About That Bass.”

“[Kevin] had a title in his notes that said ‘all bass, no treble,’ and I was like, ‘Well, all the kids say, ‘I’m all about that’ when they’re saying I like something, and literally I’m all about my booty, my thickness and I got no treble,” Trainor said. “Like in music, bass is thick and treble is the thin, high parts … so I was like, ‘I’m all about that thick,’ you know? Then we wrote it that day in 45 minutes and I was like, ‘No one is ever gonna hear this.'”

“All About That Bass” was not only nominated for song of the year at the Grammys, it was also nominated for the top prize of Record of the Year alongside Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Sia’s “Chandelier,” Iggy Azalea and Charlie XCX’s “Fancy” and Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” which ultimately won.

“He got me,” Trainor said.听“I’ve never felt cooler. I was like fan-girling the whole night. I was living at like Park La Brea [in Los Angeles] and I was like, ‘What am I doing here?’ It was the best night of my life.”

The following year, Trainor returned to the Grammys to win best new artist just a few months before the release of her second album “Thank You” (2016), featuring the hit single “No.”

Her third album “Treat Myself” (2020) delivered even more hits with “No Excuses” and “Nice to Meet Ya” featuring Nicki Minaj, followed by her Seth MacFarlane duet “White Christmas” on her holiday album “A Very Trainor Christmas” (2020). Her fifth album “Takin’ it Back” (2022) delivered the hit song “Made You Look” with funny turns of phrases like, “Call up your chiropractor just in case your neck breaks.”

Now, her latest album “Timeless” just dropped in June with the single “Been Like This” featuring T-Pain.

“‘Been Like This,’ thank you for playing it on the radio,” Trainor said. “‘Whoops’ is one of my favorites, that’s been playing on the radio recently so thank you, then we just released the deluxe, which has my favorite songs: ‘Make a Move,’ ‘Booty’ and ‘Criminals,’ which is also in the new TV show ‘The Perfect Couple,’ which is my dream come true. It’s crazy seeing all these famous talented actors [like Nicole Kidman] dancing to my pop song.”

At this point, they had to run to get ready for their next show, doing makeup in the green room.

“I’m starting my makeup, so I have beautiful, blue, glittery eyes right now,” Trainor said. “You should do that for your hometown. For the hometown, if you show up, Chris is going to have gorgeous makeup that I’m gonna do.”

“Meghan is the makeup artist for this tour, so she is doing it for me as well,” Olsen said. “I’m ready. If people show up for the show, I will show up with the glittery makeup. 鈥� My parents still live in Maryland, so I’m still a DMV girl.”

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The Band Perry burst onto the scene 14 years ago with some of the best country songs of all time.

Now, the talented Kimberly Perry brings her first solo tour to in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday night.

“I was super excited to be invited up to Rams Head,” Perry told 草莓传媒. “We’re kind of weaving this tour and this stop in Maryland as part of the tour for me, so I’m gonna be playing that set list. It’s a little bit of everything. I got to put out my first body of solo work last October called ‘Superbloom,’ so I’ll be playing songs off ‘Superbloom’ and of course, all the hits from The Band Perry. It would not be a set without those.”

Perry’s showcase is a fitting grand finale for the third annual Annapolis Songwriters Festival, which will welcome such prolific singer-songwriters as Marc Cohn, Lee Brice and Natalie Hemby throughout the entire weekend.

“Those are some of my very favorite songwriters,” Perry said. “In fact, Natalie Hemby was one of my first co-writes in Nashville when I started writing in the town. The amazing songwriters that come from Nashville, it’s just a special community and anytime we get to break it down on stage, the stories behind the songs and the atmosphere of how we wrote it in the room that day, getting to tell that and then play the song is such a cool experience.”

Born in the country-famous town of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1983, Kimberly grew up listening to the radio and singing around the house with her brothers and future Band Perry members Reid (bass) and Neil (mandolin).

“The very first foundation was we did listen to music a lot as a family,” Perry said. “Every Saturday night, our parents would listen to public radio and in Jackson, Mississippi, every Saturday night they had two hours of bluegrass, so our dad would grill some steaks, our mom would make potato salad and we would all sit around and listen to these two hours of bluegrass together, so that was my first love of country and Americana music.”

The siblings performed everywhere from shrimp boils to birthday parties before eventually moving to East Tennessee. Soon, they were discovered by Garth Brooks’ manager Bob Doyle to sign with Republic Nashville for their self-titled debut album “The Band Perry” (2010), produced by Paul Worley and Nathan Chapman.

The breakthrough album featured the smash No. 1 hit “If I Die Young,” an instant classic of visual storytelling, melancholic mood and turns of phrase as Kimberly belts the stinging chorus, “The sharp knife of a short life, well, I’ve had just enough time,” followed by the haunting coda, “Funny when you’re dead how people start listening.”

“It’s so true, right? So many artists have become massive post their death,” Perry said. “I wrote ‘If I Die Young’ at our home in East Tennessee. For whatever reason that day, I was daydreaming about life and all the things I wanted to come of it, but I also wanted to be content with where things were in that very moment. ‘If I Die Young’ is ironic in its title about making the most of every moment because you never know what’s gonna happen.”

The song won CMA Awards for Single of the Year and New Artist of the Year, while earning a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song (ultimately losing to Lady A鈥檚 鈥淣eed You Now”). They would return to the Grammys a year later nominated for Best New Artist in a 2012 class that included Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Skrillex and Bon Iver.

Their second album 鈥淧ioneer鈥� (2013) delivered 鈥淒on鈥檛 Let Me Be Lonely,” “Chainsaw” and a pair of No. 1 hits with 鈥淒one鈥� and 鈥淏etter Dig Two.” The latter was a stomping romp written by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and Trevor Rosen with a sassy Old West chorus, “If you go before I do, I’m gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two.”

“‘Better Dig Two’ is so cool,” Perry said. “I’ll never forget the first time they played that song for us, inviting us to record it. I was like ‘100%.’ … When we recorded ‘Pioneer,’ we had advanced from playing smaller rooms and theaters to arenas and amphitheaters, so we knew we wanted a bigger-sounding project with more country-rock elements, so ‘Better Dig Two’ felt like the perfect thread between our first album and where we were headed.”

In 2015, The Band Perry won their first ever Grammy for Best Country Duo Performance for their cover of Glen Campbell’s classic 鈥淕entle on My Mind鈥� for the Oscar-nominated documentary 鈥淕len Campbell: I鈥檒l Be Me.鈥�

“That was such an amazing experience,” Perry said. “They invited us to record ‘Gentle on My Mind,’ which to this day is one of the most beautifully-written lyrics of any song of all time. … We had played it a year before at the Grammys when Glen Campbell got his Lifetime Achievement Award. … We looked out during rehearsal in the front row and Paul McCartney was sitting there recording our rehearsal because he’s a huge fan of Glen Campbell.”

Beyond the early career accolades, one of Perry’s defining experiences came when the band delivered a genre-bending performance on CMT’s “Crossroads” with Fall Out Boy, taking turns playing each other’s hits.

“Honestly, that’s one of my favorite things that we ever got to do,” Perry said. “Those guys are just sweethearts. Before you even see the taping, we got to do two days of rehearsal, just hanging out, learning each other’s music. They had a great love for the country songwriting format, so I love those ‘Crossroads.’ If in the future I ever get to do it again, I just can’t wait. I was such a blast and I think our appetite was wet by that with pop music.”

After that, The Band Perry began experimenting in crossover pop music, delivering singles like 鈥淟ive Forever,鈥� 鈥淐omeback Kid鈥� and 鈥淪tay in the Dark” that would wind up on their digitally-released EP “Coordinates” (2018).

“Creatively we were in a season at that time that felt like, ‘Hey, let’s explore,'” Perry said. “It was never our intention to let go of country, but sometimes on the pop side, you have a lot people interested in growing your sound then sometimes it feels like you’re getting a little too far from home plate. It’s been really cool since 2020, Reid, Neil and I have been individually and collectively writing songs that brought us back home to country.”

In March 2023, The Band Perry announced that it would be taking a “creative break as a group” to “focus on our individual creative pursuits.” This allowed Kimberly to release her first solo EP 鈥淏loom鈥� (2023) that would eventually expand into 鈥淪uperbloom鈥� (2023), which released last fall with the single 鈥淚f I Die Young Pt. 2.”

“With my project ‘Superbloom,’ it was really me with my solo voice getting to go like, ‘Hey, I’ve had such an amazing journey, I’ve gotten to explore a lot,'” Perry said. “I’m all for experimentation, there’s a lot of country artists doing it now and vice versa, a lot of pop artists experiencing country, but for me, it’s just always wonderful to know where the pillow is warm and where home is: that’s country music and being a country singer-songwriter.”

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D.C. movie fans were devastated when HBO discontinued its popular “Screen on the Green” series in 2016.

Now you can rejoice with a revival of sorts as the National Mall hosts the inaugural .

“If you miss Screen on the Green, come by this Saturday evening and watch our Paramount+ Movie Night in its first-ever inauguration on the National Mall,” Executive Vice President of Marketing Puja Vohra told 草莓传媒. “We have been doing our Movie Nights series in New York. 鈥� We picked this incredibly iconic location for our very first one in D.C. 鈥� Is there a more iconic landmark in America than to be on the National Mall, America’s front yard?”

Saturday’s free outdoor event will feature a special 30th anniversary screening of “Forrest Gump” (1994).

“The movie itself has glimpses of this iconic location, so it felt like the perfect partnership to bring this movie to the National Mall,” Vohra said. “The movie has that scene with Forrest and Jenny in the Reflection [Pool] during the protest march. 鈥� Forrest is in D.C. going to visit multiple presidents including LBJ and Kennedy, so it should be a fantastic background for us to be seeing this movie while it’s happening in the movie itself.”

In this way, the entertaining flick becomes a deceptively profound journey through American history.

“‘Forrest Gump’ is such an incredibly iconic movie,” Vohra said. “It’s kind of insane to think that it’s already been 30 years, but if you love the movie and want to remind yourself all the reasons why it’s the perfect family-friendly big blockbuster movie with some incredible stars, including Tom Hanks, come on out and see the movie this weekend.”

To this day, “Forrest Gump” remains one of the most beloved Best Picture winners of all time, having won a whopping six Oscars, including Best Actor for Tom Hanks and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis.

“It is so rare for us to have these big blockbuster movies also be critically acclaimed and award winning, sometimes those things can be very different, but this is one of those rare movies like ‘Titanic,’ like ‘Lord of the Rings,’ like ‘Oppenheimer’ that has everything: big stars, big locations, incredibly heart-wrenching story, phenomenal acting, awards, box-office bonanza, all of it all rolled into one. It’s such a part of American legend. It’s one of the greats.”

The giant screen will be located on the National Mall near the Smithsonian Metro Stop.

The lawn officially opens at 5 p.m. with the movie screening beginning at dusk.

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Now, the pride of Iceland comes to the heart of America as in D.C. on Monday, Sept. 16.

“I’m pretty sure this is our second time,” Frontman J枚kull J煤l铆usson told 草莓传媒. “We played it about two years ago and it must have been pretty brand new at the time, but such a beautiful venue, man, like right on the water, so we’re super excited to be back.”

They’re calling it “The Payback Tour” for a reason as the band grapples with budget realities in the 2024 music biz.

“To be honest, we called it ‘The Payback Tour’ because we’re actually working our way out of debt,” J煤l铆usson said. “We’re a big band with two tour buses and a truck, so it’s challenging, but we’re making steps in the right direction. COVID didn’t help and obviously we feel like artists should be getting paid more in every aspect of the game, so I hope that environment changes soon. We’re happy to be back on the road and playing for the fans.”

Born in Iceland in 1990, J煤l铆usson’s family briefly moved to Denmark before returning to Iceland for his teenage years. He and his pals formed the band in 2012, settling on the name Kaleo, which means “the sound” in Hawaiian.

“Two of my boys were in school with me, we met when we were around 14 or 15, everybody was hugely into rock music and classic rock, so we bonded over that,” J煤l铆usson said. “I had obviously been writing songs for a long time, so around [age] 17 or 18 we were like, ‘We should jam,’ so we did. I think our school even provided us with a rehearsal space at the time and we went for a few years kind of doing covers around town making decent money.”

After early indie efforts, their breakthrough album was the platinum-selling 鈥淎/B鈥� (2016) with the world-famous hit 鈥淲ay Down We Go,” which topped Billboard鈥檚 Alternative Songs Chart and Rock Airplay Chart, as well as No. 54 on the mainstream Billboard Hot 100. It was even used in the movie trailer for 鈥淟ogan” and the TV trailer for 鈥淥range is the New Black,” making Kaleo the across movies, TV shows and video games in 2017.

“How do you write any song? Just receive it, I guess,” J煤l铆usson said. “I was just extremely influenced by some blues at the time. To me it’s kind of a blues song really, then you just go into the studio and write more for hip-hop drums, production wise, that kind of gave it that extra lift, but I’d say it’s kind of a bluesy song to begin with.”

The same album also featured the killer track “No Good,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance, losing to Leonard Cohen, who had just died the previous year. It was also featured in the HBO series “Vinyl” (2016) co-produced by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, who invited Kaleo to open for The Rolling Stones.

“I like to write riffs, I worship rock ‘n roll music, I love to perform, it’s a lot of energy, so that one is great to play live,” J煤l铆usson said. “We had played it live for years before we recorded it, so that’s the kind of music I really enjoy performing live. I just went to an AC/DC concert a couple months back. That kind of music is meant to be played live! It’s another blues track for sure, but kind of rock ‘n roll. … I would love to see more of that come back.”

Five years later, their next album 鈥淪urface Sounds鈥� (2021) was released during the pandemic, featuring songs like 鈥淪kinny鈥� and 鈥淚 Want More” — the latter of which they performed on “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.

“I write a lot of the songs beforehand,” J煤l铆usson said. “I definitely had more time I would say on ‘Surface Sounds,’ so I did try to sonically explore more and I do think that it was a learning experience for me, producing myself as well as my collaborators in studio. I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, most of it was recorded in Nashville, which has become like a second home to me. … I’m proud of that record and we’re playing a lot of those songs live.”

Through it all, they’ve played all of the biggest festivals in the world from Coachella to Lollapalooza to Bonnaroo.

“Our experience is so different from the consumer or the fans that attend, but it was so special going to South America with the Lollapalooza franchise doing Brazil, Argentina and Chile,” J煤l铆usson said. “We also just went to Morocco this year to perform at a festival. I think they’re all different, but in a good way. I’d love to play a couple we haven’t done still like Stagecoach — and we haven’t done Glastonbury, that would be sick.”

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Are you a lyrical wordsmith who wants to pick the brains of the best songwriters in the biz?

Or are you simply a music fan who wants to enjoy some cool concerts in Maryland’s capital?

The third annual returns this Thursday through Sunday, modeled after the 28-year-old Key West Songwriters Festival.

“We purchased the Key West Songwriters Festival about three and a half years ago and one of the goals was to bring a sister festival here to our own town in Annapolis,” Festival owner Kyle Muehlhauser told 草莓传媒. “There’s a lot of great synergies between Annapolis and Key West, we bump into a lot of people from Maryland when we’re in Key West. It’s just a great, historic, maritime town. It really showcases the city.”

The first year welcomed Jake Owen, the second year hosted LeAnn Rimes, Blondie and Michelle Branch, and now this year’s star-studded lineup features 140 artists across 15 different venues across the city.

“You get to just bop around town and see all of these different shows and it kind of highlights all of these different venues and parts of the town,” Muelhlauser said. “We have some emerging young artists that aren’t quite established yet and they’re getting to mix in with some of these established songwriters. We’ve got guys here that have written songs that you’ve been listening to on the radio for years and years.”

It kicks off Thursday with a full day of events leading up to a ticketed event with American folk duo Johnnyswim at Maryland Hall, followed by another full day of events on Friday, headlined by Citizen Cope at Annapolis City Dock.

Saturday at Rams Head you can see Natalie Hemby, who won a Grammy for Best Country Song for “Crowded Table” with The Highwomen and another for Lady Gaga’s “I’ll Never Love Again” in the film “A Star is Born.” She’s also been nominated for CMA Song of the Year five times: “White Liar” (Miranda Lambert), “Pontoon” (Little Big Town), “Automatic” (Lambert), “Rainbow” (Kacey Musgraves) and “Bluebird” (Lambert).

It all culminates Sunday with arguably the biggest lineup, including country music hitmaker Lee Brice (“I Don’t Dance”) at Annapolis City Dock, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn (“Walking in Memphis”) at Maryland Hall, and Grammy winner Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry (“If I Die Young”) at Rams Head.

“It’s a great family-friendly event,” Muelhlauser said. “Annapolis is a very walkable town, so being able to walk around and see all of this great music, it’s really a fun event. 鈥� Seeing all of the songwriters walking around town with their guitars on their back, it’s kind of like the whole town kind of transforms for the weekend.”

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Immigration is front and center in the heartfelt new dramatic play which opens Wednesday night at the prolific Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, running now through Oct. 6.

“It’s a timely topic,” director Valerie Curtis-Newton told 草莓传媒. “There’s a lot of conversation about immigration that doesn’t take into account how many folks really love where they came from. They come here for education, to move ahead economically, many go back or send money back, and they contribute to our society. It’s not a one-way transaction. It’s a give and take that makes America stronger to have new ideas and different perspectives woven into the fabric of our country.”

The story follows a pregnant woman named Abasiama and her husband Ukpong, a pair of Nigerian immigrants studying and living in Houston in 1978. Ukpong is excited by the promises of America and grows to love their new home, while Abasiama becomes homesick and increasingly frustrated by Ukpong鈥檚 frequent absences.

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• Grammy-winner Debby Boone to perform at Rams Head in Annapolis on Sept. 21

“They had an arranged marriage and they come to the U.S.,” Curtis-Newton said. “One of them is in love with the country and the other one still hungers for home, so the idea of how they work together to settle that tension in their relationship and what the experiences are for each of them is the heart of what the play is about. … A sojourn is a temporary stay. … That’s one of the tensions: whether to go home or to not go home.”

Similar to August Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” of 10 plays, “Soujourners” is the first in an epic nine-part “Ufot Cycle”听depicting the Nigerian-American experience. It’s written by playwright Mfoniso Udofia, who grew up in Massachusetts with parents who immigrated from Nigeria. You might recognize her writing from “Little America” (Apple), “A League of Their Own” (Prime), “Let the Right One In” (Showtime) and “13 Reasons Why” (Netflix).

“This play ‘Sojourners’ is actually the first in the cycle, it’s the origin story. all of the foundational characters are present in this play, so we see them arrive here and wrestle with what it is to be an immigrant,” Curtis-Newton said. “I think Episode 3 of ‘Little America’ actually is the story of a Nigerian immigrant who came here to go to college, so there are a lot of themes and ideas in that show that are present in our play.”

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Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t the only groundbreaking California force making history in Washington.

America’s largest full-time Black and Latinx orchestra is paying a special visit to the nation’s capital as the (ICYOLA) kicks off its exciting fall season with a pair of concerts timed with the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend in D.C.

“When we talk about being the largest orchestra of color in the United States, we’re talking about an orchestra that has a regular season that operates year-round,” founder Charles 鈥淐huck鈥� Dickerson told 草莓传媒. “That’s to be distinguished from what we might call ‘festival orchestras’ that come together for one or two performances.”

Fittingly founded in 2009, the same year as the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, ICYOLA continues its original mission of transforming the lives of inner-city youth through high-quality music education.

“Nine African American high school-aged instrumentalists approached me at the beginning of that summer looking for an opportunity to play their instruments,” Dickerson said. “They said, ‘Mr. Dickerson, we need a youth orchestra in our own community that can serve the young people who live here in the inner-city parts of Los Angeles. I frankly did not ever anticipate that this would turn out to be what it has turned out to be.”

Indeed, the group has grown from just nine musicians in its humble beginnings to a total of 139 musicians taking the stage for its most recent season finale show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles back in July.

This weekend in D.C., the ICYOLA was asked to limit its size to just 20 young performers, whom Dickerson will proudly conduct at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Thursday.

“This is really a hallmark opportunity for us,” Dickerson said. “We’re gonna play a little bit of Mozart, a little bit of Holt, a little bit go Grieg, and a little bit of Beethoven. 鈥� We have also a jazz combo playing very well-known jazz pieces: ‘Stolen Moments’ by Oliver Nelson, ‘All Blues’ by Miles Davis, ‘Bags’ Groove’ by Milt Jackson. We’re actually also gonna play ‘As,’ a very well-known Stevie Wonder song, [and] a couple pieces by The Isley Brothers.”

After the Black Caucus convention, music lovers can watch their free show Friday at the Kennedy Center.

“It’s gonna be the same set list 鈥� but we’re expecting an entirely different audience,” Dickerson said. “At the Washington Convention Center, we are performing for the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Weekend, I think those who attend had to have registered to be at the convention. On the other hand, the performance at the Kennedy Center is gonna be at the Millennium Stage, which is open to everyone and free.”

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Jayden Daniels may have lost his rookie season opener with the Washington Commanders on Sunday, but he’s starring in a brand-new documentary on a revolution in college sports.

The six-episode docuseries “The Money Game” premieres Tuesday on Amazon Prime Video, chronicling the aftermath of a 2021 Supreme Court decision that allowed college athletes to make money off their “Name, Image and Likeness” (NIL), a financial barrier long held by the NCAA for its student athletes.

The series is told through the lens of one specific school, Louisiana State University, which saw numerous athletes sign groundbreaking NIL deals with a big impact on the economy of not only Baton Rouge, but on college sports nationwide. These include product endorsements, television commercials and even video games (archival footage shows former UCLA hoops star Ed O’Bannon playing himself in an NCAA video game with zero compensation).

Episode 1 is fitting titled “The Wild West” for such uncharted territory. The opening credits introduce our five main characters with nifty graphics showing their number of Instagram followers: gymnast Olivia Dunne (15.6 million), football star Jayden Daniels (300,000), women’s basketball stars Angel Reese (7.9 million) and Flau’jae Johnson (3.4 million), track star Alia Armstrong (53,200) and men’s basketball star Trace Young (360,500).

Ironically,听Daniels appears to have the most apathetic approach to social media and NIL deals, knowing that his true earning potential will come by turning pro. Episode 1 shows Daniels’ breakout victory over Alabama in 2022 before his electrifying 2023 season got him drafted at No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft. Episode 1 wraps with Daniels injured with a concussion, an effective cliffhanger even if we already know he bounces back to win the Heisman.

While football carries 90% of the LSU Athletic Department’s annual budget of $199 million, the smaller sports have to scrap for more exposure by churning out social media content to ink NIL deals. Young comes across cocky on and off the basketball court as he approaches WWE scouts at a convention, while Armstrong is a lovable track-and-field underdog, dutifully meeting with school NIL liaisons, then giving the glory to God with each hurdle.

Still, no one is more successful at this new “money game” than gymnast Dunne, who has quickly built her name, image and likeness into a global brand worth millions. The filmmakers show her at home playfully making TikTok videos with her sister, who is also her biggest fan screaming her head off in the stands, but at what price? Dunne was surprisingly benched in the finals as her teammates won LSU gymnastics its first national championship.

Last but not least, you can be damn sure the docuseries chronicles the LSU women’s basketball program, namely Reese and Johnson. LSU alum and the docuseries’ co-producer Shaquille O’Neal said, 鈥淲hen I purchased Reebok, the first person I called was Angel.鈥� We even see flashbacks of O’Neal breaking backboards and branding his “Shaq” character, intercut with him now cheering on the sidelines during games and DJing at college parties.

More than Daniels on the gridiron, the main character (or even “antihero”) so far is Reese, who transferred from the University of Maryland to LSU. Episode 2 is titled “The Price Just Went Up,” a phrase declared by Reese and Johnson after winning the 2023 national title, while Episode 3 is titled “You Can’t See Me,” referring to the John Cena hand gesture Reese made to Caitlin Clark, .

That’s where I left off 鈥� with three episodes to go. I can’t wait to watch Episode 4, 5 and 6. All I can tell you is that Episode 3 ends with another cliffhanger as controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey benches Reese and refuses to explain why during press conferences. One analyst quips, “NIL has divided the locker room” as Twitter/X posts wildly speculate about a rift. Reese replied, “Don’t believe everything you read.” Cut to black.

NOTE: I found the subject matter personally amusing since I visited LSU to watch my cousin Jake Fraley play baseball for the Tigers before being drafted into the MLB. This was back when NIL wasn’t yet a possibility for players like Jake, who is now on the Cincinnati Reds. I’d be curious to get his take on this at the next Fraley family reunion.

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Maryland has many county fairs, but the proudly calls itself the “G.O.A.T.”

That’s the double-meaning slogan for this year’s event, running Sept. 13 through Sept. 21.

“This year is the G.O.A.T.: The Greatest Fair of All Time,” General Manager Karen Crum told 草莓传媒.

“Ironically, we have more goats than we’ve ever had. We had to build another barn for them. We had ‘great’ in our name ‘The Great Frederick Fair,’ so it seems fitting. We have the greatest sponsors, the greatest vendors, participants, members, exhibitors, so we just loved the play on words with that. We truly do feel like we have the best people involved in our fair and our community tradition.”

This year’s kicks off with hip-hop megastar Flo Rida this Friday, Sept. 13, featuring hits like “Low,” “Right Round,” “Club Can’t Handle Me,” “Wild Ones,” “Whistle,” “Good Feeling,” “I Cry” and “My House.”

“Bring your apple-bottom jeans for Flo Rida 鈥� and boots with the fur, you can’t forget those,” Crum said.

“I just had a really good feeling that he was going to be really good. We’re really excited to have that genre. Even when we were picking the entertainment, I named a bunch of Flo Rida songs, then you keep listening and he has like 100 hits. 鈥� Half the track is seated and half the track is standing room only for those who want to be up and dancing.”

Classic rock fans will enjoy Bachman Turner Overdrive on Saturday, Sept. 14, delivering timeless hits like “Takin’ Care of Business,” “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and “Let it Ride.” The show will also feature British rocker John Waite, who is best known for his chart-topping hit “Missing You.”

“We’re excited,” Crum said. “They’ll be taking care of business that night 鈥� every day. 鈥� You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Country music fans will sing every word with Tracy Lawrence on Sunday, Sept. 15 for hits like “Time Marches On,” “Alibis,” “Texas Tornado,” “Paint Me a Birmingham” and “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” Opening up is Sara Evans with “Born to Fly,” “Suds in the Bucket,” “I Keep Looking,” “No Place That Far” and “A Real Fine Place to Start.”

“Paint me a Frederick Fair!” Crum said. “We’re just excited when you get those combos. Some people prefer to listen to the male artists, others the female artists, so why not two in one night?”

Next week closes out summer with The Beach Boys on Thursday, Sept. 19, followed by country star Riley Green with John Morgan on Friday, Sept. 20 and the Christian rock group Casting Crowns on Saturday, Sept. 21.

“Hey DMV, we really hope that you come to the Great Frederick Fair from Sept. 13 through Sept. 21,” Crum said. “Whether you’re coming to a concert or if you just come to enjoy all of the delicious food, fun, games, rides, carnival and animals, there’s over 4,000 animals on sight, so there’s something for everyone.”

Listen to our full conversation here.

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Did you ever grind to Ginuwine’s “Pony?” Did you crack up watching Anthony Anderson’s “Black-ish?”

The Kennedy Center welcomes both stars for a special two-night event called on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

“I’m from D.C., I was born here and I know the rich culture of the city,” curator Carlos Simon told 草莓传媒. “I know how special the city is and I know the amazing talent and amazing culture that comes out of this city, so I was like, ‘Let’s highlight some of that at the Kennedy Center, the nation’s cultural stage.'”

The event will be co-hosted by “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson and Dr. Tonya M. Matthews.

“Anthony Anderson needs no introduction, he’s an amazing actor and he’s absolutely going to bring that fire in hosting,” Simon said. “He’s of course known for the big show ‘Black-ish’ and he’ll come and host the show with that same energy. Then we have Dr. Tonya Matthews, who is an engineer and also works with the Maryland Science Center, so they’ll tag-team the event hosting and emceeing and introducing the artists.”

While born in California, Anderson has strong D.C. ties as a proud graduate of Howard University.

“Howard shows up a lot in this concert through artists who graduated and also we have some students from the Howard University Music Department: Afro Blue,” Simon said. “We have Imani-Grace Cooper, who’s a graduate of the university, Kenny Lattimore, who’s also a graduate of Howard University, so Howard is well represented in this concert. Hopefully we have some alum who will come support these local and homegrown artists.”

Lattimore will perform chart-topping R&B hits, alongside another D.C. native, Ginuwine.

“Kenny Lattimore is an American R&B singer, born in D.C., grew up in the DMV area, whose songs include ‘For You,’ ‘Love Will Find a Way,’ ‘Stay on My Mind,’ so it was really important to highlight the R&B element of the city in what it has to bring in contemporary R&B,” Simon said. “Ginuwine will follow Kenny Lattimore and sing those classic hits like ‘Pony’ and ‘Anxious.’ … He is legendary across the world as an R&B singer.”

Other hometown performers include Christylez Bacon, The String Queens and The D.C. Go-Go All Stars.

“The String Queens are a local legend, but they’re performing all over the country now. The name is pretty indicative of what they do, they play strings, but they are exciting, they bring some heat and energy to the classical space,” Simon said. “You cannot have a concert featuring D.C. music and not feature go-go. … We close out the program with the D.C. Go-Go All Stars. It’s going to be really exciting to have the orchestra play go-go music.”

That’s right, the National Symphony Orchestra will lend its epic instruments to the catchy tunes of the late “Godfather of Go-Go” Chuck Brown, as well as other legendary D.C. natives from Marvin Gaye to Duke Ellington.

“They’re a top-tier orchestra with some of the best musicians,” Simon said. “Of course they do classical music like Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, but they also perform works by popular artists. … 听It shows the wide-ranging talent of the musicians in the National Symphony Orchestra. They can do so many types of music so well.”

Rounding out the concert is a fresh original piece composed by Simon specifically for this concert.

“It pays homage to a D.C. native born in the 1920s known for bringing jazz to Europe,” Simons aid. “His name was James Reese Europe. He led a band called The Harlem Hellfighters, they fought in World War I, Black Americans unable to serve in combat but they were able to play at different bases in Europe to boost morale. They played jazz music from Harlem, music from D.C. and this element of Black American music across the world.”

Arrive early and stay late for pre- and post-shows, pop-up vendors, drink tastings, photo booths and more.

“Be prepared to get out of your seats,” Simon said. “This is not a concert where you’re just gonna sit down and enjoy. No, be prepared to get up and clap your hands and dance a little bit. It’s going to be really exciting.”

Listen to our full conversation here.

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Lake Street Dive is bringing its 20th anniversary tour to Maryland this weekend.

The band rocks in Columbia, Maryland, on Friday night.

“We’ve been in the region many times over the years, but this is our first time at this specific venue,” Drummer Mike Calabrese told 草莓传媒.

“It’s always been great for us down there for sure. We were playing tiny clubs in D.C. back in the day, then the 9:30 Club, then we did Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, and we’ve been in the small clubs of Baltimore, too, so this has been a good all around regional area for us.”

They’re calling it the “Good Together” Tour, fittingly named after the title track of their latest album.

“It’s named after the song but figuratively it really is about the fact that we’ve been a band for 20 years and we’ve been able to make it work and it’s still working this long. Also, some of the subject matter in the songs is very much about how people can connect, making connection possible, remembering that with some intention, the right focus and the right work you can work well with anybody. That can be found as a common thread throughout.”

Formed in Boston in 2004, the pop-soul, alt-jazz and folk-rock band mostly met at the New England Conservatory of Music.

The original lineup featured Calabrese (drums), Rachael Price (vocals), Bridget Kearney (bass) and of course Mike “McDuck” Olson (lead vocals, trumpet and guitar), who named the band after a dive-bar-style bowling alley on Lake Street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that was a family favorite among his hometown relatives.

“There’s a spot called Bryant Lake Bowl on Lake Street in Minneapolis that one of McDuck’s uncles, who is also a trumpet player, frequented,” Calabrese said.

“Back in the day it was one of the cool underground clubs and that was the original idea, it would be a band you would see in a dive bar. That’s how we got our start and developed a following in Boston and we still try to bring that to the stage even if the stage is as big as Merriweather Post.”

Lake Street Dive’s first full-length indie album 鈥淚n This Episode鈥� (2007) was partially funded by Kearney winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, using the $1,000 cash prize to produce 1,000 CDs of their first gritty effort.

“It was pretty cool,” Calabrese said.

“We don’t even sell that album anymore because it’s not our best work, but Bridget had written a song that the band recorded called ‘Sometimes When I’m Drunk and You’re Wearing My Favorite Shirt.’ 鈥� She took half her winnings and donated it, then took the other half like, ‘Hey, I know this is a brand new band, but you guys helped me record the demo, so let’s put this toward making our first album.'”

After their second independent album “Promises Promises鈥� (2008), the band delivered its true breakthrough studio album with the self-titled release 鈥淟ake Street Dive鈥� (2010).

“The first album that we still sell is the eponymous one, ‘Lake Street Dive,’ which is technically our third but that was the first album where we decided we’re not going to pursue the jazz element, we’re gonna go this new route with back beats and four-minute songs,” Calabrese said.

“We still play songs from that record because it still somewhat represents us as a band, our more concise, cogent pop songs, so that’s kind of where we start.”

The band continued to evolve with their next album 鈥淏ad Self Portraits鈥� (2014).

“The title track is still a big one for us, and also ‘You Go Down Smooth,’ those are two songs we play almost every show to this day, but a great tune from that record that we haven’t played in a while is ‘Just Ask,’ written by McDuck,” Calabrese said.

“That was one of the better songs he ever wrote and it was a turning-point song for us where we embraced this more moody, emotional side of us in a perfect way. I think about that song a lot.”

Their next album 鈥淪ide Pony鈥� (2016) delivered the tunes 鈥淐all Off Your Dogs” and “I Don鈥檛 Care About You.”

“‘Call Off Your Dogs’ we brought back because we’ve been touring around with the Huntertones, this horn group, but we didn’t play the title track ‘Side Pony’ for years because although McDuck had written it, he was very embarrassed by it, he kind of wrote it as a lark, basically a love song for his wife who at their wedding had a side ponytail, and the greater meaning of it is more about what makes you you, what is your flair or your signature?”

In 2018, the band recorded the Emmy-nominated theme song for the Netflix foodie series 鈥淪omebody Feed Phil,” the same year as their sixth album 鈥淔ree Yourself Up鈥� (2018) with fan favorites like 鈥淚 Can Change” and “Shame Shame Shame.” It also included arguably their catchiest, most mainstream hit 鈥淕ood Kisser.”

“It’s just a great sentiment,” Calabrese said.

“Bridget wrote that one with a great melody, hook, feel, all that stuff. 鈥� Breakup songs usually go one of two ways: begging someone to take you back or you’re the worst and I never want to talk to you again 鈥� but what’s good about ‘Good Kisser’ is that it’s like, ‘OK, be fair, tell the whole truth, if you’re gonna gossip about me after we break up, how about you tell them all the good stuff too?'”

After a pandemic hiatus, they released their much-anticipated seventh album 鈥淥bviously鈥� (2021), which featured the tracks 鈥淢aking Do,鈥� 鈥淜now That I Know鈥� and the popular song 鈥淗ypotheticals.鈥�

“We started work on that album in late 2019,” Calabrese said.

“We took a little break and did a cruise for a week in February 2020, we were hearing all this news, got back from the cruise, finished the record and three days after flying home it was lockdown. All the songs were written and recorded before the pandemic hit, so we were able to mix and master it remotely, but we had to sit on it for a year and a half before we played a single show.”

McDuck left the band in 2021, leaving the rest to emerge from the pandemic with “Good Together.”

“He did some soul searching and it just was not right for him or his family, which is 100% understandable and respected, and he went into education,” Calabrese said.

“It was very amicable and maturely discussed. 鈥� For years we鈥檝e just been notorious amongst ourselves as the lowest-drama band I think you could possibly find. We’re not cool, there’s no hijinx, we don’t trash hotel rooms and we don’t have big blowout acrimonious fights.”

Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:

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Stephen King called it a “clever masterpiece.” Mike Flanagan added, 鈥淪ublimely brilliant. You must go in blind.鈥�

Allow me to throw my own stunned support behind the must-see new thriller “Strange Darling,” written and directed by JT Mollner, who is now officially a filmmaking force to be reckoned with in the horror genre.

The film opens by claiming it’s based on a true story of “the final known killings of the most prolific and unique American serial killer of the 21st century.” Films such as “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974) and “Fargo” (1996) have taught us that this is often apocryphal, but it’s an effective tease as we enter rural Oregon for a one-night stand that goes terribly wrong in the grand finale of a bloody rampage across the Pacific Northwest.

The film works as well as it does because of the complex performances by its two lead actors. Willa Fitzgerald previously starred in Flanagan’s miniseries “The Fall of the House of Usher” (2023) and her performance here is truly harrowing, transcending the label “scream queen” with chilling shrieks. You’ll also recognize Kyle Gallner from the horror flick “Smile” (2022) and here his mustached loner is creepy right from the opening frames.

The coolest casting coup is Barbara Hershey, who had a run of ’80s classics in “The Right Stuff” (1983), “The Natural” (1984), “Hoosiers” (1986), “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986) and “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1987) before her resurgence in horror films like “Black Swan” (2010) and “Insidious” (2010). She joins Ed Begley Jr. (“St. Elsewhere”) as a nice old couple making Sunday breakfast and doing puzzles before hell arrives at their doorstep.

These actors weave in and out of a nonlinear script brilliantly presented out of order as Mollner intentionally rearranges his scenes to subvert audience expectations. He first drops us into the middle of the story in Chapter 3, then leaps ahead to the penultimate Chapter 5, rewinds back to the setup of Chapter 1, races ahead to Chapter 4, doubles back to Chapter 2, and finally drops the dramatic conclusion of Chapter 6, followed by a brief Epilogue.

The genius fractured narrative is clearly inspired by Quentin Tarantino, right down to catchy titles for each chapter (“Here Kitty, Kitty”). There’s a similar energy to the proceedings, including an enclosed space like the buried-alive sequence in “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (2004) and a roaring car chase that recalls “Death Proof” (2007). As for the Pacific Northwest setting, I found it to be reminiscent of John Hyams’ underrated thriller “Alone” (2020).

Homages aside, Mollner deserves credit for his own creative voice. He’s a 16-year “overnight success” since his first short film “The Red Room” (2008) before getting the horror rub from Dee Wallace (“The Hills Have Eyes,” “The Howling,” “Cujo”) in his short “Flowers in December” (2015). His feature directorial debut “Outlaws & Angels” (2016) starred Luke Wilson at Sundance, using Kodak film stock and old-school Panavision cameras and lenses.

Similarly, “Strange Darling” rebukes contemporary digital cameras to shoot on 35-mm film for a gritty throwback feel. You’ll be wonderfully surprised by the end credits to see who is behind the camera as actor Giovanni Ribisi (“Saving Private Ryan”) makes his debut as a cinematographer, while also executive producing. Together, Ribisi and Mollner demonstrate a strong visual eye, even in mundane moments such as overhead shots of breakfast plates.

The soundtrack is gloriously mischievous with Z Berg’s female cover of Nazareth’s “Love Hurts” with symbolic lyrics such as “love scars” that are both melancholic and meta considering the male voice on the track is Keith Carradine. Not only did he sing “I’m Easy” in “Nashville” (1975), his brother was the late David Carradine (“Kill Bill”), who had a child with Hershey and whose shocking manner of death hauntingly echos in “Strange Darling.”

If the film has one flaw it’s the late scene of a male cop making misogynistic quips to his female partner, though I suppose the entire film is a commentary on genre and gender, so maybe that’s the point. Driving down the road in the final shot, the color slowly drains from the image like blood draining from a body, but it lasts a little too long before the end credits arrive. The unblinking final gaze of Ti West’s “Pearl” (2022) still takes the cake.

Don’t worry, that’s just some necessary nitpicking by a film critic who has to point out extremely minor issues in order to justify his otherwise overwhelming praise for a vibrant instant classic without simply saying, “No notes.” Without a doubt, “Strange Darling” is one of the best horror-thrillers I’ve seen in years, maybe one of the best that you’ll ever see, and certainly one of the most unpredictable. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s truly electric.

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“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” recently competed for Best Play at the Tony Awards in June.

This Friday, the acclaimed Broadway comedy hits in D.C. now through Oct. 13.

草莓传媒 caught up with the Nikiya Mathis, who won a Special Tony for her hair and wig design.

“I was blessed this year to win a historic Tony because there actually is no category for hair and wig makers, so I am actually the first person ever to win a Tony for my wig design,” Mathis told 草莓传媒. “They actually announced it before the awards so I was fortunate enough to know that I was going to the Tony Award and I could tell my mom, ‘I’m winning.’ 鈥� That was freaking amazing, but I was still nervous to hear what other categories we might win.”

In addition to Mathis’ special award, the show earned five other Tony Award nominations, including the top prize of Best Play (Jocelyn Bioh), Best Direction (Whitney White), Best Scenic Design (David Zinn), Best Sound Design (Stefania Bulbarella and Justin Ellington) and a victory for Best Costume Design (Dede Ayite).

“I feel like all of those people should have won,” Mathis said. “We could have totally swept across the board because there are some amazing collaborators on this project. Jocelyn wrote such an amazing show, Whitney really created an atmosphere that we all thrived in. 鈥� I feel like we all worked really closely in tandem.”

Written by Bioh, the show is set in Harlem following the escapades of Marie, Bea, Miriam, Aminata, Ndidi, Jaja and others as they navigate life, laughter, cultural identity and the American dream in Jaja’s bustling hair salon.

“You really see a day in the life of these hair braiders, which is exciting because no play like this has ever been written,” Mathis said. “The life of a hair braider, especially for Black women or any woman who has gone to a hair salon, knows what it is to have so many different personalities. 鈥� One hair braider or stylist, you might go to one, but then you see that you like the work of another. 鈥� We’ll have a little drama amongst the hair braiders.”

The salon is the perfect setting for hilarious banter as a gathering place for the community.

“When you rub one personality that is completely opposite of another personality against each other, that is just space for comedy, especially when people don’t hold back their opinions when they should,” Mathis said. “We also have character work being done and there are people playing various characters, so that’s always fun trying to navigate accents and character transformations. There’s just a lot of jokes and a lot of laughter in the play.”

When you’re not busy laughing, you’ll be marveling at the stage magic of constant hairstyle changes.

“You’ll see the magic of Black women going from their natural hair to, let’s say, micro braids, corn rows 鈥� how the heck does that happen?” Mathis said. “That’s really the magic of the show. It’s the magic of the character work and comedy, but also the magic of how do we transform hair to completely different styles without leaving the stage?”

Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:

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NOTE: The following contains spoilers from Season 1, but I shall do my best not to spoil plot points of Season 2.

“The Lord of the Rings” prequel series “The Rings of Power” was a blast when it hit Amazon Prime Video back in 2022.

Since then, it’s been an excruciatingly long two-year wait for Season 2 to arrive due to the Hollywood actor and writers’ strikes, leaving us all anxiously coveting “my precious!”

To fill the time, my wife and I enjoyed a chronological re-binge of the entire “Hobbit” trilogy (2012-2014), which I surprisingly enjoyed much better this time around. We followed up with the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001-2003), which delivered the most recent film on the American Film Institute’s Top 100 with epic fantasy world-building that still holds up two decades after it first mesmerized me as a teenager at the multiplex.

Now, after our nearly 20-hour return to Middle-earth, the moment has finally arrived with “The Rings of Power” dropping its first three episodes of Season 2 this past week. Before you start, you might want to look up a YouTube refresher of Season 1 beyond the brief recap provided on Prime Video. Like “House of the Dragon,” it’s hard to remember all of the characters, but I’ll do my best to refresh you on Season 1 below without spoiling Season 2.

Adapted by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic books, “The Rings of Power鈥� is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, thousands of years before the Third Age explored in Peter Jackson鈥檚 Oscar-winning blockbusters. This means that the events take place after the First Age where the armies of good defeated the Dark Lord Morgoth, shown in flashbacks. Now, we explore the last alliance between Elves and Men.

Episode 1 (“The Elven Kings Under the Sky”) is written by “Breaking Bad” alum Gennifer Hutchison, opening with the back story of dashing sea drifter Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), who was revealed last season to be the evil Sauron shapeshifting in disguise. Our heroine Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) warns the elves about him, while being tempted by the rings with a transfixed gaze like Frodo or like Indiana Jones reaching for the Holy Grail (“Indiana, let it go”).

Episode 2 (“Where the Stars are Strange”) is penned by “Sopranos” album Jason Cahil, who reintroduces lovable dwarf spouses Durin & Disa (Owain Arthur & Sophia Nomvete). We also learn more about the mysterious Stranger (Daniel Weyman), who sparked fan theories about his identity last season. Is he Ian McKellan’s beloved Gandalf or Christopher Lee’s evil Saruman? The juicy clues continue, including a premonition of a magical wizard staff.

Most recently, Episode 3 (“The Eagle and the Sceptre”) is penned by “13 Reasons Why” alum Helen Shang, exploring the horseback journey of Isildor (Maxim Baldry), forefather of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen, hence “The Return of the King”). Tolkien die-hards know that Isildor will eventually battle Sauron for the Master Ring with an epic struggle and aftermath that will cause the ring to get lost in the river to be found by Gollum in the Third Age.

We also meet Isildor鈥檚 dad, Elendil (Lloyd Owen), protector of N煤menor’s queen regent M铆riel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who grew up in Silver Spring and spoke to 草莓传媒 in 2022. You’ll recall her character was blinded by the volcanic eruption of Mount Doom, devastating an entire village of the Southlands in Episode 6 (“Ud没n”). It was last season’s best cliffhanger, forcing us to hold our breath to search for survivors in Episode 7 (“The Eye”).

Both of those standout episodes were directed by Swedish-French filmmaker Charlotte Br盲ndstr枚m, who showed more restraint than the murky episodes by the usually brilliant J.A. Bayona (“The Orphanage”). Br盲ndstr枚m now directs most of the episodes in Season 2. If you still somehow doubt her directing chops, she also directed the third episode of FX’s “Sh艒gun,” which boasts a leading 25 Emmy nominations before the ceremony on Sept. 15.

That’s all I can say without spoilers, but now you are officially “primed” for Episode 4, which drops on Thursday. Hopefully it all builds to a more satisfying finish than Season 2 of “House of the Dragon,” which did way too much teasing of Season 3 without much payoff in the Season 2 finale. The rumored plan for “The Rings of Power” is a five-episode arc (or is it orc?). Die-hards will be delighted, though I doubt casual viewers will make it that far.

To quote Bilbo Baggins, “The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can.”

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