Todd Michael “Leon” Bridges is originally from Fort Worth, Texas. While he hails from the Lone Star state, his music is far from country. His style has been compared to legendary soul singers like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. This is high praise for such a young artist, but Bridges has created a sound all his own. Guitar came second to Bridges, initially learning the instrument by playing simple chords to accompany his lyrics. Quickly gaining popularity, he was signed by Columbia Records in 2014 after the label took interest in the demos of “Coming Home” Bridges had released on SoundCloud earlier the same year.

Much of Coming Home, Bridges’ debut album from 2015, sounds as if it was transported straight out of the 1960s. All the trimmings of old-school soul are present: emphasized baselines, slow and steady percussion, brass ornaments, even doo-wop backup vocals on a few tracks. “Coming Home” is exceedingly deserving of gaining the album title, a leisurely dream.

The language of admiration runs through the majority of Bridges’ lyrics — a collection of musical love notes. “Coming Home” is a prime example, centering around returning to a loved one: “You’re my one and only woman/The world leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, girl/You’re the only one that I want.” This tenderness is what makes his music so alluring.

One of the most powerful tracks from the album that is far and above my favorite, “River,” shows that love — and life — are not always easy or enjoyable. The pared down accompaniment of acoustic guitar and tambourine punctuates Bridges’ longing with feelings of guilt and regret: “But there’s blood on my hands/And my lips aren’t clean.” Raw vocals against the simple backdrop makes for an emotionally moving journey down “River.”

After the success of Coming Home, Bridges headed out on a nationwide tour to spread his infectious sound. Not one to succumb to idleness, Bridges soon after started working on his second album, Good Thing, which was released in May of 2018.

Good Thing is a wonderful showcase of creativity from the songs down to the series of beautiful cover art for its singles, created by Filip Peraić. The songs on this album vary more in feeling and genre than those in Coming Home, to fascinating ends. Bridges transitions into a more current R&B sound while nodding towards the soul music that he started from.

“Bad Bad News” indulges in a James Brown tinge in Bridges’ vocals. This track has a modern lounge feel, high-hat driving the beat with guitar and electronic effects romping alongside the classic drum kit. “If It Feels Good” leans a bit more towards pop, but still with a grounding in R&B. Though Good Thing pushes out of the tropes of classic soul towards modern elements, the standout “Beyond” is signature Bridges—simple guitar and light drums backing up buttery vocals.

Bridges has maintained high critical acclaim throughout his career. At this years’ Grammy Awards, Good Thing was nominated for Best R&B album, Bridges’ second time being up for this award after Coming Home was nominated in 2016. But that wasn’t the end of the night for Bridges. “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand” took home the 2019 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance, his first win.

Still in the upswing of his musical career, Bridges has a unique sound that doesn’t quite fit into any mold of present genres. He blends together past and present elements in ever-interesting combinations. The novel approach he takes towards his art is endearing and will hopefully inspire other artists to join Bridges in providing mainstream music with a dash of soul.

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I was a DJ of my own radio show last year on KRUI, and I am now very pleased and excited to announce that I will have my own column titled, “Fresh Bread Film Review” on the KRUI website, dedicated to reviewing independent and lesser-streamed films, something I am very passionate about.

You can expect my reviews to be on movies that are brand-spanking new and possibly just screened at FilmScene to older, independent films that could be difficult to track down online and/or in stores.

Expect to learn about films from across the globe with local actors/actresses, and expect that I am willing to hear you out if you have any suggestions on movies I should check out and review. Just shoot me an email at lily-goodman@uiowa.edu if you have any requests.

Okay, so now that you have the low-down, let’s get to it! The first movie I am going to talk about is the 2004 coming-of-age film, Mean Creek.

I stumbled across director Jacob Aaron Estes’ breakout film one night when I couldn’t fall asleep. It was in the independent section on Netflix, starred a young Josh Peck, and had a four star rating. I figured, why not give it a try? Little did I know how much of an impact Mean Creek would have on me, even five years after watching it for the first time.

The film follows six of your average, American teens and young adults from a small, unspecified Oregon town as they devise and enact what was supposed to be a cruel, yet ultimately harmless act of revenge (if there ever is such a thing), and the consequences they face when their plan goes horribly wrong.

Quiet and slightly awkward, Sam, played by Macaulay Culkin’s younger brother, Rory, is constantly picked on by George Tooney– the overweight and deeply troubled middle school bully, brilliantly portrayed by an almost unknown-at-the-time Josh Peck.

After George attacks Sam and gives him a black eye for touching his new video camera without permission, Sam looks to his protective, older brother, Rocky for advice.

Rocky assures Sam not to worry, and quickly consults his two best friends, the skinny, underdog, Clyde, who honestly seems kind of like the high school version of Sam, and the alpha male, overtly macho and fatherless Marty Blank, who, throughout the course of the film, becomes noticeably just as much of a bully as George Tooney, himself.

The four of them– Sam, Rocky, Clyde and Marty– come up with the perfect practical joke to, as Sam puts it, “hurt him without really hurting him”, and invite George to Sam’s fake birthday party, which includes a day of boating along an isolated river outside of town, oh, and stripping and pushing an unsuspecting George into the river and leaving him to walk home naked.

Of course George agrees to go, as one early and rather poignant scene in the film illustrates– and what anyone who has experienced a schoolyard bully would probably already know– George is lonely, friendless and feels just as misunderstood as the rest of us. He fills this void with purchasing the newest gadgets and gizmos, but would clearly trade in his flat screen TV for some actual, human friends any day.

Thus the game begins. The boys, including George, and Sam’s sort-of, kind-of, it’s-unclear-because-they’re-in-middle-school girlfriend, Millie, all head out to the river.

Pulling a 360 in terms of personality (perhaps because he finally feels like he belongs), George becomes almost likable, keeping his hurtful comments to a minimum and his knuckles out of anyone’s face.

This prompts everyone to want to call off the plan, well, everyone except chip-on-his-shoulder Marty, who points out to Rocky that he came out on a Saturday with a bunch of sober kids when he could have been watching TV to teach George a lesson. “I’m a man who likes to follow through with his plans,” he says. But Rocky blows him off, reminding Marty that the plan is a no-go consequently inducing a tension-filled rest of the afternoon that culminates in tragedy.

I think what I liked so much about Mean Creek is its seamless ability to tackle such a controversial topic such as teen-on-teen bullying and represent it in its rawest, and in my opinion, most accurate form. This is in contrast to many films that depict bullying by our “innocent” youth, which because of its uncomfortable and disturbing nature, is usually skimmed over, generalized, and sometimes made even comedic as in movies like Mean Girls. Don’t get me wrong, I can totally appreciate Mean Girls, but that’s for another day, another time.

Estes’ film isn’t even just a simple tale about seeking revenge and being met with an unforeseen outcome though. It’s actually way more complicated than that, giving it that extra oomph and dubbing it as a coming-of-age story for a reason.

Every single character on that tiny boat goes through some sort of transformation throughout the duration of the movie. But perhaps what is the biggest transformation of all, is the very adult-like realization they come to all together, something that George’s video camera, which is arguably what got them all into this mess in the first place, ends up symbolizing. If there’s one thing, amongst many, that I was reminded of while watching Mean Creek, it’s that there are just some things in life, some actions, some words, that no matter how hard you try, you can never take them back, and then all you can do is live with the consequences and attempt to move forward.

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