Movie Trailer: Country Strong

Earlier this year, on a stretch of incredibly cold days, I filmed several scenes as an extra in a movie called Love Don't Let Me Down. A few months ago it was announced the title was changed to Country Strong.

The film stars Gwyneth Paltrow as former queen of country Kelly Canter, Tim McGraw as her manager/husband/producer, and Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester as up and coming country singers.

Well, the trailer came out yesterday and no, I'm not in it...at least as far as I can tell. I'm not sure what I think about the trailer. It seems to me they could have done a better job with the editing. Hopefully the film will be better. It hits theaters January 7, but I'm sure they'll screen it in L.A., New York, and probably Nashville before the end of the year so they can get Oscar consideration.

UPDATE: You can see me in the trailer. I'm at the tall guy in a black hat holding a camera at 1:36 behind the lady in yellow.

Let me know what you think:

The Nashville Flood of 2010

I have never seen anything like this. Ever. Nashville is experiencing worse flooding than it has seen since the flood of 1979,

The National Guard has been called in to aid in flood relief. The government is strongly encouraging people to not leave their homes. Streets have become rivers that look like whitewater rapids. MTA buses are not running. Many church services have been canceled. As I write this, 48 roads have been closed in Nashville alone. As of this morning, more than 150 water rescues have been performed. More than 48,000 homes without power. Sadly, seven deaths have been confirmed in the area.

This video is from yesterday. It's worse today.



So far we are okay at our house and on our street. I am waiting for a break in the rain (and, more specifically, lightning) to get on a ladder and fix our gutter. We put a trash can under the gutter to catch water and it filled within a few minutes.

My band had a show in Illinois last night and, even though we got back around 4 in the morning, I'm happy that got home when we did because sections of most of the local interstates are now closed.

I will be posting pictures here from friends throughout the next couple days. Stay tuned.

Zoo

Went to the Nashville Zoo with Daphne and Jackson. My friend BeLinda made me realize it needs flamingos. Other than that, a fine experience was had by all.

Dan Miller - 1941-2009

I wasn't going to blog this week. But I had to log in to just say that I already miss Dan Miller so much. He was my favorite local anchor. He was every bit as good as Brokaw or Rather or Cronkite. He was comfort. He was home. And Nashville will never be the same again.

Rest in peace, Dan.



Read more here.

Jack White is the drummer in The Dead Weather

And Alison Mosshart of The Kills is the singer.

Read more here.

Nashville Is Manliest City

Nashville is "America's Manliest City" according to a study released today that was commissioned by Mars Snackfood US and its Combos snack food brand.

Cities were ranked on criteria such as the number of professional sports teams, popularity of tools and hardware, and frequency of monster truck rallies. That last part makes me laugh.

The ranking is part of the Combos launch of its Ultimate Man Zone Sweepstakes, which awards prize packages to upgrade men's tailgating, grilling, home theater or gaming "zones."

New York City finished last out of 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Cities lost ranking points for "emasculating" characteristics like the abundance of home furnishing stores, high minivan sales and subscription rates to beauty magazines.

Nashville grabbed the top spot in the ranking thanks to its high number of NASCAR enthusiasts, popularity of hunting and fishing, and concentration of barbecue restaurants.

Read the full article and list at WSMV here.

The moral of the story is that I'm not very manly according to these criteria. I've never been to a monster truck rally, I'm not into NASCAR, I manscape, never been/will go hunting, I would love a minivan, wear skinny jeans, and I'm a stay at home dad.