W.R. ‘Bud’ Thornton: Ass or Fox?

Just sat down to add my own two-cents on the CBC Jian Ghomeshi vs Billy Bob tilt, making the cyber-rounds at YouTube (embedded video below) and esteemed society-class chronicler, TMZ, when I see my own crafty uncle has beaten me to the punch.
Frank’s take on this messy train-wreck from CBC’s Q studio covers my thoughts with far more spunk and skill (albeit with a  jab at ‘Upper Canadians’ that left this dandy shifting uncomfortably in his pantaloons), including a cowboy twist of his own.
One query though: Maybe this baffling version of Thornton (aka ‘W.R.’ or ‘Bud’ as he’d prefer to be known in the musicians’ set) shows he’s taken a PR lesson from Joaquin Phoenix, assuming you believe Joaquin’s meltdown on Letterman was actually orchestrated to draw attention to his upcoming and secretive quasi-autobiographical docudrama, where Joaquin allegedly plays a loonball version of himself, transitioning from Hollywood star to rapper? There’s a certain tantalizing appeal to outfoxing the media at their own game in crafting an absurd persona and tabloid storyline before they can.
Thornton is on tour and trying to promote his band and hillbilly-meets-British-invasion flop ‘The Boxmasters’, where he’s apparently prone to slip into a curmudgeonly, wild west shtick, onstage and in interview.  His album packaging, affected posturing and band attire suggest he’s cheekily shrouding himself and band in the veil of some jaded, journeyman act, longing for the hey day of a musical genre that seems to have never have actually existed. This latest Ghomeshi interview and another with the Calgary Herald may just be an extension of the brand.
Then again, maybe Billy’s just not that sharp, as his ability to so naturally play Karl Childers in Slingblade would suggest. Still, he could have been engaging in some good ol’ fashion interview atossin’ to grab a little press.
It reminds me of a story I once heard from a guy in Vancouver who played in the alt bad Limblifter. When Oasis came to town in the mid-90s, Limblifter opened for them. You may recall this as the same concert where someone threw a birkenstock on stage, which prompted Noel Gallagher to pronounce that they were ‘not a bunch of monkeys’, and see the band walk off the stage and not return after playing for a grand total of 15 minutes.  According to the band member from Limblifter, it was all set up in advance. Oasis hadn’t garnered any negative press in a while to prop up their bad boy persona, an essential component in the Oasis marketing machine. He also said Liam and Noel were just about the nicest guys he’d ever met.
Who knows what Billy Bob’s really up to in this current asinine incarnation. Maybe he really is just another Hollywood prima donna, all in a lather that the world won’t recognize his other godly talents, worthy of Tom Petty. Maybe he’s every bit the bastard that I am at 6 in the morning (read this was the time of the interview taping). But if there’s any method to this bit of madness on the airwaves yesterday, it’s W.R’s very acting skills propelling his musical ambitions forward.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• The Bravery Play Musical Chairs in New York