Where Alcohol and Country Music Meet
“You wrote your Cheating Heart about,
A gal like my first ex-wife,
You Moan the Blues for me and for you,
Hank Williams you wrote my life.’‘
—by Moe Bandy
Getting ready to head off and do something I almost never do anymore, especially at this time of year. Going to see a movie, at a real-life theater. Usually I just wait until it comes out in DVD, but I’ve been dying to see Crazy Heart, the one in which Jeff Bridges plays the broken-down juicer country music singer. My bride bought me the book, by Thomas Cobb, when it came out about 20 years ago, and I read it. Some grim, grim stuff that’s hard to get through, but definitely worth it. The trailers of the movie look enticing (as they’re obviously supposed to) and Eddie Bumgardner, who I thought was as good a music reviewer as I’ve ever read during his long and legendary run with the Winston-Salem Journal, has insisted that I check it out. When Eddie B. gives me advice, I’ve learned to take it.
My great hope is that it’s 1/10th as good as that other movie about the broken-down country music singer, Tender Mercies, which stunned the movie world in 1983 by winning five Oscar nominations, including best actor for my cinematic hero, Robert Duvall. My daughter, who is home for spring break, just told me she’s never seen it. I assured her that it would be mandatory viewing during her week in Winston. If somebody put a howitzer to my head and insisted I name my favorite movie of all-time, it would probably be Tender Mercies.
I hate to miss the two early ACC games, but I’ll be back in time the see the Techs go at it at 4, and then await breathlessly along with the rest of the college basketball world for tonight’s titanic tilt between the Blues. Life is grand.