Wedneday Musical Tribute and Movie Review Combined

Saturday Harrogate saw Elizabethtown for the first time. Once again, he found himself wanting to throw things at the television for the way that Hollywood continues to exploit the dangerous Town versus Country narrative in ways that A)posit them as fundamentally alien to one another (as opposed to the more reasonable proposition that they are in some ways (but not all ways!) unfamiliar and awkward in relation to one another), and that B)invariably celebrates the communal and familial integrity of country at the expense of vacuous, mendacious town. Oh how Harrogate hates the binary.

Still, the movie impressed Harrogate on a number of levels. The quiet unobtrusiveness of the directing, a willingness to let scenes play out on their own strength that almost reminds one of the Coen brothers. The high profile actors who have overacted at times in other movies, but who bring a light touch in this movie. But most of all, the surrealistic blend of mournfulness and cheer with which Elizabethtown engages the great problem of Death.

The below clip shows much of what Harrogate describes. And what a kickass use of "Freebird," in Harrogate's estimation rivalling even the song's appearance in Forrest Gump.

Wednesday Musical Tribute, and an Important New Label wherein Harrogate Hopes Readers Will Not Confuse "Country" with "Nation"

A new musical hero emerges in Harrogate's ever burgeoning pantheon. Pieta Brown. The song is "West Monroe." All Harrogate can say to this is Yes.

West Monroe - Pieta Brown