Before you question why a homeless would look so thrilled with themselves - this is in fact Joaquin Phoenix and he's living the dream.
The one time Oscar nominee showcased his new day job (he said "bye good" to acting last October) to a clearly tanked up crowed at Las Vegas's LAVO club over the weekend. The actor has been busy working with Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, hence why he's now gone down the hip hop route. Before Phoenix busted out some incomprehensibles, he reportedly said: "Are there people out there who think I'm a joke? I'm sure there will be. Are there people who think it's going to suck? Probably, but I can't worry about that. This is me saying this is who I am. This is my story. After all the years of reading scripts and reading lines, this is my chance to do something straight from the heart and put it out there." Or, at the very least, mumble it. I blame the beard - anything that size has to act as a buffer.
There to (officially) record the Walk The Line star's hip to the hop debut was his brother-in-law Casey Affleck (this picture is deserving of a caption. Something along the lines of "Summer, it's over" or "where is that darned cab number gone. He'll never notice if I slope off"). He's making a documentary "tracking the star's new career in music." Isn't it amazing how far two celebrities, presumably aided by a bag of blow somewhere during the process, can propel themselves? I doubt homeless sorts, complete with beyond bedraggled attire (that is indeed a dangerously high gaping hole. And that hat looks like a fish heaving up a hairball), get to stage invade Vegas clubs often. Although it is worth noting that the engineer had to turn off the stage lights in order to coerce a rather enthused Joaquin offstage... unbalanced hobos are a hoot.
*UPDATE*: Defamer are claiming that "Casey Affleck's supposed interest in capturing this career suicide on tape is actually a giant hoax, which will result in a mockumentary being released." In which case - rock on, you crazy bum with your fluff.
