Ryan Bingham to play Borders Books in El Cajon, California
On Sunday night March 7, relative newcomer Ryan Bingham collected the Academy Award for “Best Original Song.” On Monday morning, he will appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” a natural showcase for his considerable talent and memorable music. On Tuesday night, March 9, Bingham will appear in one of the least likely venues for a fresh-from-Hollywood Oscar winner: He will play with his band at Borders Books in El Cajon, California.
Few people have heard of El Cajon, and even fewer can pronounce it—L Ka-HONE, which means “the box,” because the city of approximately 100,000 spreads across a large valley directly east of San Diego. El Cajon does not attract headlines or headliners. Solidly blue collar and especially hard hit by the New Depression, El Cajon does represent the core audience for both Crazy Hearts, the movie, and “The Weary Kind,” the song for which Bingham and co-writer T-Bone Burnett won Hollywood’s most cherished statuette.
Borders Books in El Cajon provides an “intimate” setting for Bingham and his music. In El Cajon, “Intimate” translates to up very-very close and perhaps uncomfortably personal. Converted to a bookstore after an early shopping-centre life as a grocery store, the El Cajon Borders has hosted local musical groups and a few prominent local authors. No El Cajon Borders performer ever has topped the charts or earned a trophy. The 900-square foot performance space never has accommodated a certified “star.” Unadvertised, the special appearance nevertheless has the buzz-machine in overdrive, and Borders officials expect a capacity crowd
Winning the Academy Award, Bingham and Burnett edged some formidable competition: veteran Randy Newman received nominations for songs he debuted in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, and Tony Award-winning composer Maury Yeston, who won the Academy’s recognition for “Take It All,” an original song penned for Marion Cotillard in Nine. The competition also included “Loin de Paname,” composed by Reinhardt Wagner for little-known Paris 36.
