Flop Eared Mule A Country Music Death Beast and Worker in the Dylan Industrial Complex | Sydney, Australia | Est. 2004

I'm watching The Highwaymen Live DVD, which I got for Christmas. There are a lot of clips on YouTube if you're interested.

Saw Crazy Heart the other day; its quite alright and if you're stuck for something to do on half price Tuesdays, do check it out. The movie didn't quite blow me away in total. Jeff Bridges is certainly brilliant, no complaints here if he wins the Oscar. Maggie Gyllenhaal does well in the thankless ... well, not quite the Manic Pixie Dream Girl role but close enough. The weak acting link is Colin Farrell (tho I like his songs on the soundtrack well enough). Maybe it was the Character but man he was WOODEN and I felt embarrassed for him having to act next to Bridges.

Bridges certainly does, apart from his own acting chops, have the boozy washed up country thing down, in a spine tingling way. On stage he looked crazily like Waylon, and in other light (mostly the Morning After the Night Before seedy kind of light) looked chillingly like Kris. The movie is based on a book and I wouldn't mind reading that. Of course I hope Ryan Bingham, who has a small role in the picture too, wins the Oscar for the song. The Stephen Bruton songs the characters sing, particularly "Falling an' Flying", are spot on, no wonder the soundtrack is top of the Americana charts for sales and radio plays right now.

This audience footage is interesting, of the Bridges/Farrell concert sections of the movie. The clip says it was half time at a Toby Keith gig -- gotta get that authentic country audience on film for free -- although in an iTunes Celebrity Playlist thing with Jeff Bridges I just listened to he said it was a Montgomery Gentry gig. I don't care enough to find out which is right (I assume the audience person has more incentive to know for sure than the Hollywood B+ lister) but it's interesting if you've seen the final thing.

EDIT!!!!!!! Apparently it is both. Toby Keith with Montgomery Gentry as back up band. This is how much I (don't) know about modern country music, folks.