Five minutes after arriving at this concert I still had no idea Billy Bob Thornton had a band.  I was given a ticket to “A Celebration Of Music In Film” at Sundance by a press liaison who was trying to do me a favor for covering the Yes Men premiere for the Sundance Institute because the Wire Image guy showed up too late.  I had no interest in going to this “Celebration” but they were pouring the Le Tourmont Vert Absinthe I was working for at the party, so I figured I would pop in, get a few product shots and move on to the other parties I had to cover.  When I got in this pretty rocking twangy country band called The Boxmasters were playing.  People were watching, but no one seemed too animated.  Everyone was just sitting down listening.  I took maybe five pictures from the back of the room before their song ended and the lead singer began with his between song banter.  That’s when I realized that Billy Bob Thornton was fronting the band.  He started in about how he moved to LA to become a singer and that he got into acting by accident and that it was a terrible choice.  He went off on the film community, Sundance goers, critics and film as a medium.  He said the only movies he watches are movies with his children.  He started bitching about how in his day movies cost 35 cents and you got to see a double feature and you were happy about it dammit.  None of this critiquing bullshit from some no talent critic.  This tirade lasted about 10 full minutes before he told the audience that clearly anyone who showed up to his show was not one of the aforementioned film losers and that if he saw a single person out there with their arms crossed judging him he was going to come out into the audience and fight them.  I think everyone believed him, because with in a few minutes everyone in the room was dancing, myself included.  After smoking a pack of cigarettes on stage, making out with random girls in the audience when he got off stage, playing drums and ranting between songs, it was very fucking clear to me that Billy Bob Thornton is a fucking bad ass and someone you should not cross.  This is a good look for a tough rockin’ country band.  Speaking of good looks, check out the photos of the drummer.  The man looks like Clint Eastwood with Jim Jarmusch’s hair. Imagine what that dude was up to 30 years ago.  What a complete bad ass.  The steel guitar player was just too amazing for words and the dashing guitarist looks like a rockabilly version of John Flansburg.  Like I said, it was a good look.  This combined with the fact that one of the dudes from ZZ Top was watching from the side of the stage, made for an intense experience.  I am glad I was at the right place at the right time.

So seriously check out the Boxmaster photos here.  They might change your life.

Comments (1)