The Dude Abides: Jeff Bridges to Headline Lebowski Fest
The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges, will appear at this year’s Lebowski Fest as the music talent in a group dubbed Jeff Bridges and the Abiders at the annual celebration of all things white Russians and bathrobes. The actor has previously appeared a few times in various incarnations of the event, which was founded in 2002 in tribute to the Coen Brothers’ 1998 slacker romp The Big Lebowski. Bridges sang “The Man in Me,” the Bob Dylan song from the movie soundtrack, in 2005 and with other members of the cast in 2011. This year’s concert will take place April 25th at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater, according to LebowskiFest.com.
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The opening act, the Kyle Gass Band, is led by one half of Tenacious D, and the concert will also feature appearances by Jeff “The Dude” Dowd, who inspired the Dude character, Jim Hoosier, who played Liam in the movie, and actors and actresses who got credits in the flick for “Corvette Owner,” “Family Waitress” and “Ralph’s Girl.” The concert will be followed by a screening of the movie. The next day, the fest will hold a bowling party and costume and trivia contests. Dowd and Hoosier will also partake in the bowling part, as will Barry Asher, who was the bowling adviser for the movie.
In a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, Bridges recalled what it was like working with Asher. “I asked [him], ‘I’m wondering what the Dude’s preparation would be?'” he said. “So Barry tells this story about his own preparation when he bowls. And how there’s kind of a Zen thing to bowling: the pins are down before you even bring your ball back. So Barry would get up there to bowl and he would prep, he’s gotta shake it off, waiting for that moment to cock it back, and it would go on for five, 10 minutes. And his bowling partners on the team would say, ‘Throw the fucking ball!’ He actually had to go into therapy about it. So I said, ‘So how do you do it now?’ He says, ‘I just get up and throw the fucking ball. I don’t think.'”
Jeff Bridges Performs “The Man in Me” at Lebowski Fest