Nashville: Laid-back and Hip? Oh No!
Now that Nicole Kidman has birthed her baby right here on Nashville soil, national press are giving this big city with a small-town vibe a little closer scrutiny. Turns out all the reasons some folks might leave Nashville for bigger cities—largely those landlocked, second-tier city blues—are the reasons celebs love to come here. Apparently, Nashville gives them something approximating a normal, papparazi-free life. Durrrrrrrrrrr. My question is this: Exactly how many babies born of celebrity loins must drop on Nashville turf before national press realizes that, just like plenty other cities, Nashville has always had pockets of cool? I know it makes for better copy to pretend otherwise, but sheesh—it's been nearly 40 years since Altman's film, not to mention the fact that what makes it cool has nothing to do with celebs finding refuge here.
From an AP story (dig the what-has-the-world-come-to-if-Nashville-is-cool jab):
It's ironic that Nashville, the city that Robert Altman poked fun at with his '70s film "Nashville" and that spawned the cornpone TV series "Hee Haw," is being celebrated as laid-back and hip—but perhaps that's what it's come to.Miley Cyrus, who grew up here, is also filming a movie here. Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Ashley Judd—and, during her brief relationship with Kenny Chesney, Rene Zellweger—either lived here, worked here or spent considerable time here. Ditto for tabloid queen Jessica Simpson and TV's "Dancing with the Stars" champ Julianne Hough. Rock stars Sheryl Crow, Jack White and Kid Rock all own homes here.
"I definitely think it's easier to live as a celebrity in Nashville," said Maureen O'Connor, a publicist with Los Angeles-based Rogers & Cowan. "LA isn't as bad as London, but we do have a lot of paparazzi-type photographers and online media who can torment celebrities to the point that making a law against it has been proposed many times.
Then again, maybe Altman's Nashville is all anyone knows about anyway.
Comments
Hey, join the club. The Blues Brothers and Al Capone are still mentioned in any article about Chicago.
There are two major contributing factors at play:
-Arrogant, self-involved NYC/LA centered media
-Failures on the part of your own citizenry to stand up and be counted.
Face it, your own Nashville media loves it's "cornpone" image and does everything it can cater to the stereotype. Even when, for instance, a decent band does come out of Nashville's woodwork, your mainstream media will either ignore them or offer up one of those "aw shucks, them kids are so crazy" reports, which is actually worse than no publicity at all.
Hell, even this article is endemic of the problem by even insinuating that there is a problem.
Want to fix it? Here's what you do:
Reject the east/west coast cultural hegemony. Stopping looking toward NYC for acceptance. Reject NY outright. NYC is a shitty city full of arrogant, shallow, self-involved hipsters. 9-11 was the best thing to happen to New York. Fuck them. Those pussies are scared of Nashville, and they should be.
Restate this mantra every day. Spread the word. This is how you emerge as a dominant American city. You do no get anywhere by fawning over the allusive other.
Posted 07/10/2008 at 04:22:03 PMWhat the fuck is wrong with Hee Haw? Besides the humor.
Posted 07/10/2008 at 04:30:30 PMI don't know...I kinda like the humor on Hee Haw.
But I've also spent the last two days making weiner jokes and writing fake craigslist ads about metalheads with cleft lips.
Posted 07/10/2008 at 04:35:09 PMa whole lot of lsd was consumed in the making of hee haw.
a whole lot.
anyone got dvds of Nashville '99. I have got to see more of this!!!!!!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1A2xDcg7gE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAiAhqKMYk
Posted 07/10/2008 at 06:59:22 PMPlease, please saomebody say they know where to find the entire run of Nashville 99. That show looks too awesome not to be on DVD. Plus the fly over of downtown in '77 is adorable./
Posted 07/11/2008 at 09:10:22 AMone of the key guys at the Belcourt (name starts with a J maybe?) has a ton of reels of Nashville 99. it's part of the Belcourt's permanent collection of film. i wonder if they've ever thought about updating the format? might wanna check with them.
Posted 07/11/2008 at 04:35:36 PMThanks for the tip, HOL, I do some investigating when I go see Stagecoach tommorrow.
Posted 07/11/2008 at 04:51:58 PM