Reflections From Thrice Meeting Sinead O'Connor

About 10 years ago I started compilation of a most-loved "Big Song List." 

Of the 2,850 tunes saved to date, few artists enjoyed as many or more noted works as Sinead O'Connor, who sadly died earlier this month.

Reflecting on her passing and my personal journey with her catalog brought to mind three introductory encounters with the Irish singer. 

Like tens of millions of fellow fans, my first brush with O'Connor's powerful voice and iconic gaze arrived in early 1990. The new decade had just opened, and on a mid-winter weekend to attend a Rotary Teen Leadership Retreat held near the Marland Mansion in Ponca City, Okla. (hometown of 1960 Olympic gold medal wrestler Shelby Wilson), Sinead first appeared.

In my shared room for the weekend, MTV was the only decent channel for a 17-year-old, and on the night of our arrival "Nothing Compares 2 U" was in heavy rotation. And, oh, my God, it was captivating! (In those days we did not abbreviate OMG!)

Memorable was the visual alternation from pensive garden strolls to tight, tearful closeups of O'Connor's hypnotic eyes, which climactically spill over as the song crescendos, a scene later replicated twice my Margot Robbie, first in the title role of "I, TONYA" (reviewed here) then again as the lead "Barbie" -- but I think directors of Sinead's video took their cue from Glenn Close's final scene in 1988's "Dangerous Liaisons." 

The video inspired discussion among the impressionable teen attendees before and after the event's keynote speaker, prominent Oklahoma businessman Vince Orza, presented his remarks.  

The 1990s and early 2000s provided further opportunities to get acquainted with Sinead's work. I purchased a cassette of "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" and received "Universal Mother" at Christmas 1994. 

Between the acquisitions, the famous "Saturday Night Live" incident occurred, which I missed in real-time, later citing SNL skits of preceding and following weeks among my favorites. Not surprisingly, NBC.com is experiencing "technical issues" preventing clip access. 

By the early 2000s, my career started to gel in Atlanta, with The Tabernacle -- an historic downtown church restored as a concert hall in time for the 1996 Olympics -- emerging as a media relations client. When O'Connor performed for a packed house there in 2007, attending was a no-brainer, and she put on a fantastic show for which apparently few recall the exact setlist. 

After the intimate concert, dozens of fans including myself lined up in the parking lot, cautiously optimistic for an autograph or photo. 

When she eventually obliged, signing my concert ticket, I asked her to verify whether she once resided in Atlanta as heard around town. 

She had indeed, replying in her friendly and softspoken voice that she lived here with "her boy" (her youngest?) for a spell. In retrospect, it's possible her "boy" in this context was an agent who, years later, she referenced in her autobiography as a frequent guest of Atlanta's thriving strip club scene. 

Now, nearly 16 years later, I don't recall much more from the conversation except that she not only made, but also sustained for more than a minute, sincere and smiling eye contact for our entire chat, which was very powerful. She also had a firm handshake as she thanked me and moved on to the next fan with her black Sharpie pen on the ready.

I also came to respect what came next. Excited by the surroundings and eager to pose another question (and to attempt a second autograph, this time with my Sinead cassette liner notes), I stood in line again while she spoke with others, eventually asking what became my standard query of other celebrities: What's been your experience related to the Olympics?

Sinead politely paused with another fan, turned my direction and softly admonished me, "Now, please, I was able to answer your question earlier and now it is another person's turn (implying so let's not spoil it for them, while motioning to my already-signed ticket, as though to state, "sorry, only one to a customer"). 

Message received, I smiled back and sincerely thanked her again while making space for others to interact. And then she turned to board a bus and exited the scene. 

Over the years of sharing this story, it's set a high bar for other A-list conversations, also shaping how I respect other fans in those moments. 

Flash forward to October 2019, when a pair of Sinead concerts went on sale scheduled for March 22 and 23 at City Winery Atlanta the following year. Lucky me, I snapped up one front section seat for each evening ... at a bargain price of $105 each! Would this pair of events provide an option for long-awaited follow-up questions? 

Sadly, by March 12, 2020, the world shut down due to COVID-19, and both shows got rescheduled for June 2021 only to be indefinitely postponed again. Reading her autobiography "Rememberings" was small consolation -- on the last page she wrote, "I've decided to start school in autumn 2020 and go out on tour again (I hope) in the summer of 2021." Regretably, that never happened. 

Through the arc of these 1990-to-present experiences, O'Connor's religion shapeshifting resonated with me. Here's another person who grew up with questions about organized religion and tested the waters with several. 

Her book and archived interviews delve into her personal journeys with Catholicism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which she Tweeted, "This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey" according to news reports.

And in 2019, upon viewing Natalie Portman's role as a pop star with serious issues in "Vox Lux" I could not help wondering the extent to which O'Connor's roller coaster career impacted the writers and performers. 

Some did compare Portman's and Sinead's shaved heads back in the day and more recently. The former's fictional media interviews in the film definitely are reminiscent of the latter's real life media convos. When given the chance to one day speak with Portman, I'll be sure to ask. 

During summer of 2017, while traveling in New Jersey, reports of O'Connor's post from a Hackensack Travelodge gave pause. Which brings us to the now. 

My third time "meeting" O'Connor arrived these last few days since the BBC and other international news organizations announced her death. With each tribute post or report, such as NPR's summary of O'Connor's career, I started learning about fantastic recordings by Sinead that proved new to my ears or not heard in years. 

Here's are a few notes from by "Big Song List" favorites and/or the recent discoveries marked with an asterisk:

Troy, with perhaps my favorite of her lyrics:

"Oh, I love you. God, I love you. I'd kill a dragon for you. I'll die, but I will rise. And I will return: The Phoenix from the flame! I have learned, I will rise, and you'll see me return, being what I am. There is no other Troy for me to burn."

Heroine, with The Edge, for the film "The Messenger." Bring me into your arms again. 

Sacrifice, the Elton John classic reimagined.

Harbour, a personal favorite discovered in 2002 via Moby's "18" release. The saddest songs are played on the strings of my heart. 

*Never Get Old, with Enya reading Psalm 91:13. Sources state O'Connor wrote this at age 16. Thanks, Neda Ulaby.

You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart, her second collaboration with U2 members, this time with Bono, in the name of cinema. 

*Mother, with Roger Waters in Berlin. OMG!

Blood of Eden, with Peter Gabriel. 

Feel So Different, ... taught me the "Serenity Prayer" and a few other things. Started off with many friends and we spent a long time talking. I thought they meant every word they said, but like everyone else, they were stalling.

*Irish Ways and Irish Laws -- A fantastic discovery via "The Arsenio Hall Show" archive (her 15+ minute conversation with the host is one of the best celebrity interviews out there in TV Land)

Drink Before the War, with these contemplative lyrics ... admonishing an unnamed someone at the top of her lungs:

"And your parents paid you through, You got a nice big car - nothing bothers you. Somebody cut out our eyes, you refuse to see, ah, Somebody cut out your heart, you refuse to feel. And you live in a shell, you create your own hell. You live in the past and talk about war. And you dig your own grave, yeah, but its a life you can save, oh, So stop getting fussed, it's not gonna happen. And you'll cry, but you'll never fall, no, no, no. You're building a wall. Gotta break it down, start again."

The Emperor's New Clothes, which O'Connor referenced in the April 5, 2020, epilogue to her autobiography. Of Donald Trump she wrote, aptly frustrated, "None of the reporters ever ask him, 'Sir, what is wrong with you?' Negligence ... and it goes on and on. No matter what he does."

Last Day of Our Acquaintance, which, if the mood is right, I quote to fellow passengers after boarding and fastening my seatbelt on flights: "I know you don't love me anymore." At least once, the person next to me replied with the rest of that lyrical sentence, "You used to hold my hand when the plane took off." Then we laughed, until deplaning with, "I'll meet you later in someone's office." 

Scorn Not His Simplicity, by fellow Irish songwriter Phil Coulter. 

Tiny Grief Song, ... my grief, my grief, my grief, my grief, my grief. 

*Dagger Through the Heart, performed as requested by Dolly Parton.

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, ... for the bread of life is mine. 

You Do Something to Me, the Cole Porter standard she recorded for charity.

*V.I.P., one of her last songs, through which Sinead rhetorically asked fellow celebrities (specifically, Miley Cyrus and her peers, perhaps):

"To whom exactly are we giving hope, when we stand behind the velvet rope, or get our pictures taken with the pope, like some sick April fool's kind of joke?" 

On the day of Sinead's passing, one of my close friends quipped that he knew of no obvious O'Connor Olympic connection for a tribute by this five-ringed blogger. Inspired and challenged by his comment, I searched for and found two, the first of which tops this post. It's an image taken in the late 1980s at Dublin's popular Olympic Ballroom. 

The other regards Sinead's starstruck notes in her "Rememberings" chapter titled "The Greatest Love of All." This is my favorite section for the apex of joy it seemed to deliver, and it tethers to various memorial posts logged on this site in 2016. 

"The most incredible experience I ever had, apart from having children, was meeting Muhammad Ali," wrote O'Connor. "Not only did I meet him, but myself and my eldest son, Jake, escorted him to the Special Olympics in Dublin in 2003."

In her description of that Rome Olympian encounter she later wrote, "That guy is my biggest hero ever" (her quote to Jon Bon Jovi, who set up the Ali introduction and, indirectly, inspired the moment of conception of O'Connor's fourth son, Shane, whose full name includes the Olympic champion's nom du guerre). Through this chapter, O'Connor at once poignantly and accidentally sets the joyful antithesis of her son's later suicide. It's a happy chapter, though tough to read with that later context. Another cheerful and insightful version of her Ali encounter appears in this Equire article from that time in their lives. 

To wrap up this tribute post of appreciation, scroll down for an Irish all-star assemblage courtesy of "The Late Show with David Letterman" archive. 

Only Sinead could get away with laughing in Van Morrison's face. Brilliant!

Top photo from Dublin's Olympic Ballroom via The New York Times and Independent Newspapers Ireland/Getty Images. Jan Hooks/SNL photo via NBC. Ali photo via AP/Esquire/Getty Images. Ticket photo by Nicholas Wolaver. Tabernacle photo by Robb D. Cohen via AJC.com. "Rememberings" jacket designed by Mark Robinson w/photo by Herb Ritts via Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. "Vox Lux" image via IMDB. 

Clint Eastwood Crew Films Family Jewell In Atlanta

Olympic park/Eastwood mash up image via JoBlo.com

For film buffs and Atlanta residents, summer headlines about Warner Bros. casting a new feature based on Richard Jewell may be old news.

For those further afield, the following roundup includes updates and photos from the set of the upcoming movie centered on the hero of the July 1996 Olympic Park bombing.

Hopefully a detail or two may also serve as informative updates for local readers.

I enjoy Clint Eastwood, a longtime favorite of this writer, equally for his behind-the-camera work and for original characters he created as an actor.

His film career spanning seven decades seldom includes five-ringed themes, but that's quickly changing with Eastwood directing a new picture based on the 1997 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner titled "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell," about which I first posted details in 2015.

At that time, Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio were set to star as the 1996 Olympic park security guard hero-turned-bombing suspect and one of his attorneys, respectively.

Consider me anxious -- for nearly four years and counting -- to experience this film.

For context: Getty Images photo of bomb investigation site taken July 27, 1996

Thanks to an online post by a fellow writer, earlier this month while my girlfriend visited from Russia, we enjoyed an extended peek at one of the Atlanta sets created for the film. For almost a week, Centennial Olympic Park's north end served as a closed set for Eastwood's team.

We snapped two night photos and several daytime images, sprinkled about this post (though not one is worth a thousand words in this case).

The image at right, for instance, offers a little taste of the set designers' take on Atlanta's "look of the Games" complete with an original Olympic torch logo created for the film.

More on what we learned around the site, where one overnight sequence involved detonating noisy pyrotechnics, follows later in this post, but first a bit more recent background.

During spring 2019, online sources said Eastwood reconfirmed involvement with the project in May, a cast was locked in within weeks, and shooting began in July. As of two weeks ago filming remained underway at multiple locations across Atlanta, with reported sightings of cast and crew both downtown and the city's upscale Buckhead district.

Paul Walter Hauser landed the title role. Some may recall his Olympic-tethered scenes in "I, Tonya" with pivotal action (sans Nancy Kerrigan knee-bashing gear) set inside Decatur's local favorite Asian restaurant, The Golden Buddha.

Paul Walter Hauser in "I, Tonya"

There's definitely a Hauser resemblance to Richard Jewell in other "I, Tonya" scenes as well.

Richard isn't the only Jewell family member who'll appear in Eastwood's project. Misery loves company as Kathy Bates signed on in (what I guess to be) a supporting role as Bobi Jewell, the security guard's mother with whom he resided, and endured throngs of media staked out at their apartment, when their lives were upended.

The film also stars Olivia Wilde as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter whose cover story about the bombing investigation put Jewell in a global spotlight, while Jon Hamm will don, er, drape the shoes and uniform of Tom Shaw, possibly a pseudonym for Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer Tom Davis, who helped Jewell to relocate bystanders before Eric Rudolph's pipe bomb detonated.

Sam Rockwell stars as Richard's criminal attorney Watson Bryant. It remains unclear whether Jewell's libel attorney, who made a name for himself by representing pariah clients, will be portrayed.

Now back to the local sets for the film.

In Centennial Olympic Park, Eastwood's crew built a replica of the AT&T stage, sound/lighting tower and concert area that operated in the summer of 1996. As a one-time Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games employee who watched the stage's original construction from the lunch room balcony of The INFORUM (ACOG's headquarters), no matter the angle the modern rebuild looked authentic.

From our western-edge vantage to view filming, we noted some of the finer details of the set, such as the mock Atlanta Olympic banners donning many stage elements.

In the rain, when some extras retreated to a staff tent and others stopped along the fence line to visit with non-cast friends, we noted their costumes included Olympic-branded gear with logos that matched the banners (both are of mock logos, not the actual AGOG trademarks and rings).

Nice touches, right down to the security guard pith helmets and baseball caps.

According to the Vanity Fair article, on the evening of July 26, 1996, a band named Jack Mack and the Heart Attack was playing just before the bomb exploded. We neither saw nor heard any music, as the evening of our scouting they were already filming post-explosion emergency response.











We also saw no EMT vehicles in scenes being filmed at night, but the following afternoon we spotted ambulances and police cruisers circa 1996 (or at least dressed to resemble the era) parked on the set as well. The blue pickup truck has a resemblance to Richard Jewell's personal vehicle, and the FBI investigations van (see photo) also looked "real" in broad daylight.

The centerpiece of the set was a recreation of the sound tower including a park bench like the one under which the original Jewell discovered Rudolph's backpack.

The set designers really nailed it (no pun intended) with "the look" of the damaged tower as it appeared during the 1996 investigation and as the park reopened with Ambassador Andrew Young leading the ceremony all those years ago.

A security guard hired for the film set informed us that the mock bombing, which took place in the middle of the night, brought at least one disgruntled hotel guest to the set to express her frustration for getting jarred out of bed without warning.

I am really curious who created the Olympic sport pictograms that decorated the set, and would love to know who was involved with the fictional XXVI Games banners. The color schemes are this close to authentic. Too bad, but the costume designer did not resurrect the brown skorts donned by summer of '96 female volunteers ... well, not "too bad," actually (they were terrible).

Our study of the set gave me hope Eastwood is committed to creating an authentic audience experience.

Reflecting on "The Ballad of Richard Jewell" article and its conversion for the screen, taken on by Billy Ray of "The Hunger Games" and "Flightplan" fame, I admit to biting my nails about the screenwriter taking liberties with Olympic facts as did the scribe for an earlier Eastwood film.

In 2014, Eastwood and Jason Hall -- screenwriter for "American Sniper" -- played fast and loose with five-ringed details, inspiring the most-read post on this blog (and the second-most read) in which the facts about an "Olympic sniper from Syria" are verified by the Arab state's national Olympic committee (there was no such character in real life).

For the Jewell feature, it's been reported the 2019 AT&T stage set included an actor portraying Kenny Rogers, the Georgia-based singer who did perform in the park in 1996 but, according to the Vanity Fair article, appeared in concert earlier in the week (not the bombing eve).

One wonders: when the final cut hits theatres, will Rogers show up in place of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack during the climactic bombing scene Eastwood & Co. recreated?

I am eager to see how and whether other International Olympic Committee, ACOG or USOPC (then USOC) players may show up in Eastwood's picture. For instance, an archived joint press conference hosted by the IOC, ACOG and FBI includes officials who are potentially quotable in Ray's screenplay, but only the FBI official is listed in IMDB.

Olympian Janet Evans appeared in explosion footage during a live interview that took place on the fateful night -- no listing for her portrayal in Eastwood's film, however.

And though the recreated AT&T stage includes several NBC affiliate studio spaces branded on the set, there are no IMDB-listed credits for cast members portraying NBC, CNN nor other national network reporters who covered the bombing and investigation.

As of this post, the only exception found in IMBD is a cast listing for an actor portraying Bryant Gumbel, who interviewed Jewell in the latter months of 1996, according to Vanity Fair.

It's my understanding "The Ballad of Richard Jewell" filming remains underway in Atlanta. I'll be on the lookout for signs with the production code "KIKI" and post updates as additional details emerge (please share via comments if you have them -- would love to hear from the extras selected for the film).

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver and Valentian Kucheriavenko except the movie still of Hauser from "I, Tonya" via Neon; top image of Eastwood via this site; Getty Images photo of bombing investigation at sunrise 7/27/1996 via this CNN archive link. 

Review: Golden Moments Abound In "I, TONYA"

There's a captivating moment of stillness in "I, Tonya" -- the highly anticipated figure skating drama disguised as comedy -- which may just earn the film's leading star some golden awards.

Donning a homemade uniform in a Norwegian ice arena dressing room, Margot Robbie stares into the camera, as through a two-way mirror, to apply a thick coat of dark rouge to her cheeks while her character -- disgraced Olympian Tonya Harding -- prepares to skate in her last winter Games.

As she attempts to fake a "psych-yourself-up-for-the-ice" smile, her emotions -- at last cracked by the pressures of the world's stage, its judgments upon her shoulders, and a lifetime of physical and verbal abuse -- bring forth a single, slow motion tear.

And when the film finally achieves national release next month -- on the 24th anniversary of the events around which Harding's bio are centered (Jan. 6) -- I believe audiences coast-to-coast will cry, too, empathizing with her.

With thanks to the publicists for distributor Neon who sent this Olympic blogger a link to a media screener, on Monday evening I watched "I, Tonya" in my apartment. What a treat!

Much like other recently-experienced award-contender films "Lady Bird," "Blade Runner 2049" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," the skating movie made me want to watch it again right away.

"I, Tonya" is so good.

A theory is that director Craig Gillespie laced "I, Tonya" with subtle homages to a handful of great scenes of '80's and '90's cinema from the years during which Harding's real-life drama took shape.

The tearful solitude during Robbie's makeup application (described above) reminded me of Glenn Close's powerful mascara-removing closing shot, weeping while accepting her fate as the shamed widow at the center of "Dangerous Liaisons."

About mid-film in "I, Tonya," during a scene portraying how competition judges too-often downgraded Harding's hardscrabble performances with low marks, a livid and unapologetically crass Tonya tells a row of officials to "suck my dick!" just like Demi Moore to her master chief while soldiering on as "G.I. Jane."

And a youthful Harding endures paternal abandonment through a tearful and gut-wrenching car-side goodbye to her daddy, just like little Bernice in "Hope Floats."

But first, "I, Tonya" begins with matter-of-fact introductions of Harding, her mother LaVona Golden (expertly crafted by Allison Janney -- more about her later), Harding's dastardly ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), his one-time friend and oafish self-proclaimed bodyguard/espionage expert Shawn Eckhardt (Paul Walter Hauser), and a slippery "Hard Copy" producer (Bobby Cannavale) who covered the attack on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan and its aftermath, which Harding later tags as "The Incident" and only reason everyone is watching.

Through documentary-style living room or kitchen storytelling confessionals, members of Harding's five-ring circus each present their version of events. Not surprising, their stories rarely jive.

Janney as LaVona = scary. Here's a woman so grizzled she smoked on the ice while enrolling the four-year-old Tonya in youth skating lessons before kicking her daughter out of her chair while admonishing her crying child to "Answer me when I talk to you!"

"You think Sonja Henie's mother mother loved her?" asks LaVona of her daughter. "Poor fucking you!"

Yikes!

Sidebar: The young actress who skates as a pre-teen Harding (Mckenna Grace) gives a confident child star performance reminiscent of a Hannah Pilkes as Robin in "The Woodsman."

Introducing her exotic bird, who roosts on LaVona's shoulder and pecks at her ear, Janney describes the aviary companion named "Little Man" and her "sixth husband" who is the "best one."

Cute, until she tells a teenage Harding's coach to "lick my ass -- she can do a f-ing triple" as in triple axel, which became Tonya's signature move to win the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Before achieving this pinnacle moment on ice, viewers learn of Harding's awkward introduction to Gillooly (LaVona chaperoned their first date) and the physical abuse that escalated until their 1993 divorce.

LaVona's mother-daughter coaching dynamic, which skews to bullying as motivator, peaks with maternal bribes to fans to psych-out (or toughen?) Tonya before key competitions.

Harding and Kerrigan were friends and roomies during these years, audiences learn. And we learn about Tonya placing out of the medals at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games.

"When you come in fourth at the Olympics, you don't get endorsement deals," said a dejected skater-turned-waitress Harding.

With scant employment prospects and motivated by a 1993 visit from her first fired-in-a-tirade coach (Julianne Nicholson), Tonya decides to return to the ice for another Games in just a year (in real life, the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic cycle was determined by the IOC much earlier, with creative license slightly tweaking the timeline to "just today" for "Games in Norway next year").

More choices tip some dominoes, and it's not long before Kerrigan's famous screams of "Why?" echo through a Detroit ice rink.

Fun facts from Tonya's training -- like jogging with a 50 pound bag of Purina Dog Chow a la Sly Stallone carrying trees across his Siberian training in "Rocky IV" -- keep things light along the ride.

I'm not gonna try to describe "The Incident" because all its complexities are either mostly known to those who witnessed them in 1994 or may remain as curiously riveting to new audiences in 2018.

Let's state instead that tabloid journalism cut its pre-O.J. Simpson coverage teeth with the Harding/Kerrigan story, and "I, Tonya" delivers in its unspooling then reconstruction of "what happened."

This is where Hauser as Eckhardt nearly steals the show as a man so incompetent on so many fronts.

It's like watching Larry, Curley and Moe all wrapped up with both characters of "Dumb and Dumber" and a dash, er, 300+ pounds of Richard Jewell ... for the win!

Sheesh, so cringe worthy and funny! And scary, "Oh, my!"

At the risk of disclosing minor spoilers, one of the best scenes that unfolds just after "The Incident" shows Eckhardt instructing Gillooly -- in his best "Deep Throat" or James Bond 007 whisper -- to "meet me at Golden Buddha, at our regular table, at the stroke of midnight."

Which brings me to a cameo by one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in suburban Atlanta.

Yes, The Golden Buddha restaurant on Clairmont Road in Decatur, Ga., is "the place" where Gillooly and Eckhardt share their clandestine conversation that unraveled the Harding/Kerrigan incident as the FBI listened from a parked van outside.

Just after watching "I, Tonya" it was fun to enjoy a late-night meal at "The Buddha" and learn from the owner and manager how a location scout approached them in early 2016 to rent the restaurant for a day.

"They liked our original, authentic look," said proprietor Ben Lee in a brief interview near Table 47 (shown) where Eckhardt attempts to incriminate Gillooly, already guilty by association and by many other measures.

Diners get Gillooly'd at blue Table 47

"We opened in 1977 and they filmed in fall 2016," added Lee. "At first we were reluctant to close for a day because of our customers, but we are glad we got involved [with "I, Tonya"].

According to the film's press kit, filming across Atlanta spanned 30 days. But none of other scenes in "I, Tonya" reveal specific Atlanta destinations.

My guess is the Arena at Gwinnett Center served as the Olympic and U.S. Championships skating venues. Shooting also took place in New York (including venues in Lake Placid?) for key rink scenes. (I later read this article citing venues in Macon, Ga.).

Speaking of the skating surfaces, the set decoration and CGI used in "I, Tonya" does present an authentic look of the Games used in Albertville '92 and Lillehammer '94 including the Olympic rings and logos or graphics used by the official broadcasters of both events.

Archival footage including Connie Chung, Ann Curry, David Letterman and other real TV personalities adds to the authenticity.

I wonder what groans and other reactions may occur as Matt Lauer circa 1994 appears on the big screen. Brought me a wince and chuckle.

The music helps, too. An original score by Peter Naschel and more than 30 crowd pleasing classic rock, pop and techno songs accompany the action of "I, Tonya."

I was jamming mostly with "Every 1's A Winner" (Hot Chocolate) or "Little Girl Bad" (Joanie Sommers) and favorites by ZZ Top, Foreigner, Violent Femmes, Heart, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Supertramp.

Doubtful but fun to entertain the notion that Harding skated in Albertville to La Tour's "People Are Still Having Sex."

Great editing, leverage and crescendo of "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac.

There's also a hilarious albeit "serious" reference to Richard Marx!

While pondering this film since viewing its trailer earlier this year, I wondered and started asking some figure skating veterans their take.

And today I reached out to the media relations team for U.S. Figure Skating to ask their stance on "I, Tonya" (also to attempt contact with Harding or Kerrigan -- will trying to contact them put me on thin ice?). Will write up responses as they are presented.

Robbie as Harding speaks throughout the film about truth and personal experience.

The truth is, "I, Tonya" is gonna be a huge hit for its excellent blend of storytelling, acting, drama with laughs, and its Olympic flair.

Sadly, it also reminds viewers that for Harding (and everyone) -- like my Golden Buddha fortune of Monday night -- "life ... is a reality to be experienced."

Photos by Neon, Newsweek and Nicholas Wolaver