Latest news with #AlanJackson
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Honkytonk Kenya: Africa's home of country music
The party is in Kenya, but the vibe is distinctly Americana: a sea of cowboy hats and boots with a soundtrack of whisky-soaked tales about heartbreak and good ol' boys. Kenya has become the unlikely home of a growing country music scene, possibly the biggest in Africa, as testified by the thousands line-dancing in a field in the capital Nairobi this weekend for International Cowboys and Cowgirls Day. The festival crowd went wild for the king of the local country scene, "Sir Elvis" Otieno, as his deep baritone belted out classics like "Take Me Home, Country Roads" mixed with newer hits like "Down to the Honkytonk". Sir Elvis's parents named him after another musical monarch who died a few months before he was born in 1977, and then raised him on a diet of country legends like Jim Reeves and Alan Jackson. "When I started out it was a very tiny genre" in Kenya, he said at the festival. "It's a dream come true to see a crowd like this today." There are links, he said, to local traditions, particularly the story-telling music of the Kikuyu tribe known as Mugithi. "Kikuyu folk music has the same kind of language, they draw from each other quite a bit," said Sir Elvis. "It's really crazy -- so many thousands of miles apart, but the messaging is the same." 'Life, love, hate, forgiveness' Anne Anene, 26, still remembers the song that turned her into a country music fan: Dolly Parton's "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?". "Her songs always speak to me because they always have deep messages, and they usually tell a story of what I go through," said Anne. "I've always hoped to go to Texas or Nashville one day," she added. "I'd like to visit the ranches, I like horse riding, I like the ranch kind of life - the quiet, the calm." The clothes are also a big part of the appeal. The festival was organised by Reja Manyeki, who runs a clothing and events company called Cowboys and Cowgirls. It was still pretty niche when he opened in 2018 but "now people love country music. It touches all corners (of society). "We do cowboy-themed events, birthdays, weddings, end-of-year parties... Now everyone comes, even schools." Big farming and Christian communities also make Kenya fertile ground for country and gospel music. First to perform at the festival was Samson Maombe who's picked up millions of streams for his Swahili-language takes on Christian country tunes. But for "King George" Gustavo, lead MC of the festival, it's the tales of everyday life that keep him hooked and ensures he listens to Alan Jackson "every single day". "The lyrics speak to life, love, hate, forgiveness, cheating, drinking..." he said. "You identify with that, and then obviously there's a bit of dancing." Anne Anene, the Dolly Parton fan, says country music is also an escape. "In this world full of confusion, full of drama, country music is the only thing that makes sense to me. It has made me find peace."
Int'l Business Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Honkytonk Kenya: Africa's Home Of Country Music
The party is in Kenya, but the vibe is distinctly Americana: a sea of cowboy hats and boots with a soundtrack of whisky-soaked tales about heartbreak and good ol' boys. Kenya has become the unlikely home of a growing country music scene, possibly the biggest in Africa, as testified by the thousands line-dancing in a field in the capital Nairobi this weekend for International Cowboys and Cowgirls Day. The festival crowd went wild for the king of the local country scene, "Sir Elvis" Otieno, as his deep baritone belted out classics like "Take Me Home, Country Roads" mixed with newer hits like "Down to the Honkytonk". Sir Elvis's parents named him after another musical monarch who died a few months before he was born in 1977, and then raised him on a diet of country legends like Jim Reeves and Alan Jackson. "When I started out it was a very tiny genre" in Kenya, he told AFP at the festival. "It's a dream come true to see a crowd like this today." There are links, he said, to local traditions, particularly the story-telling music of the Kikuyu tribe known as Mugithi. "Kikuyu folk music has the same kind of language, they draw from each other quite a bit," said Sir Elvis. "It's really crazy -- so many thousands of miles apart, but the messaging is the same." Anne Anene, 26, still remembers the song that turned her into a country music fan: Dolly Parton's "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?". "Her songs always speak to me because they always have deep messages, and they usually tell a story of what I go through," said Anene, a customer service representative for a health insurance firm. "I've always hoped to go to Texas or Nashville one day," she added. "I'd like to visit the ranches, I like horse riding, I like the ranch kind of life -- the quiet, the calm." The clothes are also a big part of the appeal. The festival was organised by Reja Manyeki, who runs a clothing and events company called Cowboys and Cowgirls. It was still pretty niche when he opened in 2018 but "now people love country music. It touches all corners (of society). "We do cowboy-themed events, birthdays, weddings, end-of-year parties... Now everyone comes, even schools." Big farming and Christian communities also make Kenya fertile ground for country and gospel music. First to perform at the festival was Samson Maombe who's picked up millions of streams for his Swahili-language takes on Christian country tunes. But for "King George" Gustavo, lead MC of the festival, it's the tales of everyday life that keep him hooked and ensures he listens to Alan Jackson "every single day". Anene, the Dolly Parton fan, says country music is also an escape. "In this world full of confusion, full of drama, country music is the only thing that makes sense to me. It has made me find peace." Sir Elvis is the biggest star of the Kenyan country scene AFP Kenya's country scene has grown in the last decade thanks to live gigs and the popularity of the outfits AFP Shared traditions of farming, Christianity and links to local folk music help explain country's popularity in Kenya AFP
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
From ‘look the other way' to ‘no collision': Karen Read's defense changed its strategy — and won
At a series of pretrial hearings, Karen Read's defense team fought bitterly to be able to pursue a theory it had suggested for years: that her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, was beaten up inside a Canton home before his body was placed on the front lawn. But when Read's retrial arrived, her defense largely abandoned the third-party culprit strategy that was at the center of her first trial. Instead, her lawyers cast blame toward investigators for failing to look at whether anyone other than Read could be responsible. The shift was most evident in the closing argument delivered by Alan Jackson, who was Read's lead defense attorney. And it may well have been the key difference that led to Read's acquittal on the three most serious charges she faced. During the first trial, he returned over and over again to the theme of 'look the other way.' He argued that the series of witnesses called by the commonwealth were asking jurors to disregard some of their own suspicious conduct, like destroying cell phones or 'butt dials' in the middle of the night. But at the second trial, Jackson's opening salvo struck a different tone: 'There was no collision.' Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University, called it a 'classic reasonable doubt defense.' 'In the first trial ... the defense probably went for a home run,' he explained. 'It's a good example for lawyers to look at ... sometimes less is more, and sometimes throwing everything in, including the kitchen sink, doesn't help.' Jackson's hour-long closing argument at the first trial focused less on the evidence that Read didn't hit O'Keefe with her car, and instead on the evidence the defense said showed O'Keefe went inside the Canton home he was found dead outside of. But this time, 34 Fairview Road, and its occupants, were more supporting characters in his closing argument. Instead, Jackson literally stacked cards of reasonable doubt for the jury on the in-court televisions. He told the panel that unanswered questions they may have about the case represented the reasonable doubt that prosecutors could not overcome. The defense may have benefited, in some regard, from the decision by the prosecution not to call any of the people it suggested could have been responsible for Read's death. Read's defense could have called any of them, or the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, but opted not to. Instead, they served as 'elephants in the courtroom,' said Medwed. That left the jury with enough evidence to create enough doubt to lead to an acquittal, but not so much that they may have been overwhelmed. Shira Diner, a professor at Boston University and the president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Read's defense was very effective at laying out for jurors that they had no obligation to prove to them how O'Keefe died. 'The Commonwealth and only the Commonwealth have the burden of proving that the death occurred in the manner they claim. In trial 2, they were unable to meet that burden and that means [the] defendant is not guilty,' she wrote. Indeed, Medwed said the defense strategy at the first trial may have been trying to offer some explanation to jurors whose first instinct may be to determine who, exactly, was responsible for O'Keefe's death if not Read. Retrials are generally seen as beneficial for the prosecution, which can alter its strategy based on what did and didn't work the first time around. And to be sure, prosecutors altered their strategy: the district attorney hired a special prosecutor who brought on new experts and called far fewer witnesses. But Read's defense likely benefited even more. 'The defense just kept coming back to those basic questions. It's almost like a simple equation: if you're not sure the car hit him and you're concerned about the police missing things, then [she's] not guilty,' Medwed said. And it was Read's lawyers, not the prosecution, who asked for the inclusion of lesser included charges for the charge of manslaughter while operating under the influence, which included the simple misdemeanor OUI charge Read was ultimately convicted of. Medwed said the decision to include the OUI charge was 'genius,' even though it led to a conviction. He called it a 'mercy verdict' for situations where jurors are split on the most serious crimes, but still feel they should hold the defendant accountable for something. 'If you feel like Karen Reed did something wrong that night, here's the perfect charge,' he said. 'A stunning win for the defense': Experts react to Karen Read verdict Karen Read verdict: How the day played out before acquittal Canton was 'deeply affected' by Karen Read murder trial, official says 'This is the best day ever': Karen Read supporters erupt in sobs and confetti After acquittal, what comes next for Karen Read? Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Karen Read Makes Bold Cash Grab 9 Days After Murder Acquittal
Karen Read is officially developing a scripted adaptation of her two murder trials, just nine days after her retrial ended in an acquittal. The former financial analyst, 45, recently penned a deal with LBI Entertainment, the production company behind Martin Scorsese's 2023 drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which was nominated for 10 Oscars. The company will now work with Read and her defense attorney, Alan Jackson, to develop a script based on her three-year legal saga. In addition to the scripted adaptation, Read and Jackson also hope to secure a book deal, having recently signed with literary agency Janklow & Nesbit. Read was first arrested in 2022 after her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O'Keefe, was found dead outside the home of a fellow Boston Police officer in Canton, Massachusetts. At the time, police alleged Read had drunkenly struck O'Keefe, 46, with her car after an argument. She was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision. However, Jackson argued that the case, which was plagued by conflicts of interest and allegations of police misconduct, was a cover-up. The defense believes O'Keefe's real killers were fellow police officers who had beaten him to death in a drunken fight, then framed Read for the crime. The scripted adaptation will 'reflect Read's insight into the investigators' conduct and showcase Jackson's architecture of a murder defense,' Deadline reports. Read's case gained national attention during her first trial in 2024, with true crime fanatics divided on whether the defendant was the innocent victim of a police conspiracy or a cunning murderer who killed her lover in cold blood. Her national profile only skyrocketed when the case ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous consensus. Read's retrial began in April, with dozens of demonstrators gathering outside the courthouse daily to advocate alternatively for her acquittal or conviction. Read's defense team, led by Jackson, presented numerous alternative theories to explain O'Keefe's death and reiterated claims that the police may have tampered with Read's car to make the collision story appear more viable. On June 18, a jury acquitted Read of both manslaughter and murder, though she received a year's probation for operating under the influence. However, Read still faces a wrongful death lawsuit brought by O'Keefe's family, who maintain that she struck and killed him with her Lexus SUV. A judge previously ruled that the civil lawsuit could not move forward until Read's criminal case was resolved, and the family elected not to drop the suit after she was acquitted of the murder. The suit, filed by O'Keefe's brother, parents, and his niece, for whom he was serving as legal guardian when he died, seeks at least $50,000 in damages. While this will be the first scripted adaptation, Read's highly publicized story has already been the subject of several true crime adaptations. It was chronicled in the 2024 true crime podcast 34 Fairview Road (a reference to the address where O'Keefe's body was found), and 2024 episodes of both Dateline and 20/20. More recently, Investigation Discovery released a docuseries about the case, A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, in March. Netflix is also developing a three-part documentary.
CBS News
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Karen Read, defense attorney Alan Jackson reportedly teaming up for film script and book
Karen Read reportedly working on script, book after acquittal in death of John O'Keefe Karen Read reportedly working on script, book after acquittal in death of John O'Keefe Karen Read reportedly working on script, book after acquittal in death of John O'Keefe Karen Read is taking her story to Hollywood. According to multiple entertainment industry reports, Read and her prominent defense attorney Alan Jackson are teaming up again following her acquittal on charges in the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe, this time for a book and scripted film project. Variety and Deadline reported that Read and Jackson will give exclusive access as part of a scripted project being developed by LBI Entertainment. It is not known if the project will be a movie or television production. Variety reported that the script will include "crucial aspects of the story that have remained undisclosed to the public." According to the entertainment outlets, Read and Jackson are also simultaneously working on a book. A jury acquitted Read of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death on June 18. She was convicted of operating under the influence of alcohol and sentenced to one year probation. It was the second time Read faced trial in O'Keefe's death. In 2024, her first trial ended with a mistrial due to a hung jury. Read's defense team successfully convinced jurors in the retrial that the prosecution did not prove she backed her Lexus SUV into O'Keefe after a night of heavy drinking. Read has argued since O'Keefe's death in January 2022 that she was being framed by a group of people that includes law enforcement. Following her acquittal, Read is still facing a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the O'Keefe family in 2024.
