His mother was devoted to the Church of Christ. Bridges, a precocious lad from the sound of it, read etiquette bibles. A scholarship to Vanderbilt took him to Nashville. His rules of etiquette are irony-clad. But it's about making the world easier, not about making the world more difficult.
Bridges is less intimidating in person than in print.
He drives a Saturn. A gentleman, it seems, keeps a lot of junk on the passenger side. The car was in the parking lot behind the new Country Music Hall of Fame, where Mayor Purcell had a 10 a.m. meeting with some music industry people. While his boss spoke, Bridges shifted back and forth on his red bowling shoes with restless energy. After his speech, the mayor attested to Bridges' savoir-faire, his gift for saying and doing the correct thing.