As first reported here, St. Louis songwriter Kevin Renick submitted a tune to “Up in the Air” director Jason Reitman and miraculously had it accepted. The next miracle was that the unsolicited song was soon included in chatter about the Oscars. Was it possible that this home-recorded track by an unknown Midwesterner could be nominated for an Oscar?

As it turns out, no. The arcane rules of Academy disqaulified the song because it plays over the end credits (after another track, by Graham Nash) and wasn’t written specifically for the movie.

That second rule has now claimed another victim. Sad Brad Smith, a Chicago folkie whose song “Be Yourself” also appears in the movie and on the upcoming soundtrack album, recently acknowledged that the song was pre-existing, and thus he withdrew it from consideration for the golden statue.

The good news is that soundtrack of Reitman’s previous movie, “Juno,” sold a ton, and both Renick and Smith are included on the “Up in the Air” album that comes out on Rhino on Dec. 1. Renick wil be performing and signing autographs at Vintage Vinyl that day, and he will also be perfoming before the sold-out filmfest screening of “Up in the Air” at the Tivoi this coming Saturday evening.