Translating that Blog

Well I get bonus points for attempting to Audio Blog from CRS. Jeepers.

When I walked up to the convention center it was about 9:40, and outside the artist entrance there were 3 fans waiting there, one had a KC Hoodie on. I said "Isn't he here yet?" and they hadn't seen him. I'm guessing they didn't get there early enough. Hopefully they caught him on the way out.

At any rate... as you might have heard from my audio blogging, Garth was very clear that this session was "OFF THE RECORD." He talked about going round and round with his publicist about not letting "press" in. I'm not sure what he considers press, because I know that lots of media outlets register for CRS, and are completely entitled to attend all sessions. This came up when he gave out one pretty juicy tidbit which the tabloids would have a field day with, so I understood. "Off the Record" means just that in my book, so out of respect for that, I'm not going to report on the things he said. Although I do have a full page of notes I will leave in my will to someone, LOL.

I can report, however, that he was wearing a blue Wrangler hoodie, faded blue jeans, and the white cowboy hat. He was very nervous and very uncomfortable. I personally got a lot more out of GRS last August, and thought Melinda Newman did a better job leading the session, much as I love Gerry House.




Read this body language!


They did a drawing where they picked one attendee by the draw of a business card to go up on stage and sing with Garth. As cool as that sounds... quite honestly I'd have rather gotten the time it wasted to hear Garth talk some more. The winner was a small town Georgia guy, who decided he was going to put it all on the radio... and we had to sit around and wait while he called the station, they tracked down the on air guy... waited until a song was done... blah blah blah. When you only have 50 minutes of Garth... that was 10 minutes wasted, in my book. Cool for him, don't get me wrong. But not so great for the rest of us.

Anyway... as I texted Sandi earlier, I had gotten a glimpse behind the curtain of the band setup, so I knew what was coming. They started off this guy and Garth, the 2 of them and Garth's guitar, for the opening verse of FILP. Then of course, they hit the chorus, the curtains open, and voila -- Stillwater is there! I wonder when the last time was that Garth performed FILP without the 3rd verse. It seemed odd without it! After that he did "Callin' Baton Rouge," "Much Too Young" and "The Dance."

Although I can't report on what WAS said, I can tell you what WASN'T. As you may know, "Workin' For A Living" has peaked and they stopped working it. What I wanted to learn, and didn't, was if there would be another single.

As a side note... along with the interview and performance, I enjoyed the most amazingly fabulous blueberry muffin.

I think that's it. I've got a dinner with John Michael Montgomery tonight and then the soiree with the Mrs. Hoping to pop by a Trace Adkins thing after that.

Breaking news from CRS39,...

Breaking news from CRS39, Clay(?) Walker and his wife Jessica are expecting a baby, more news as it comes in. listen

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Hey breakfast with Gath...

Hey breakfast with Gath is over, here's the good news, the good news is he brought still water with him still water, [...] never gonna spell still water, anyway they did a few the songs I'll fill you in on this , the problem is the bad news is that he told everything in the session without the record, it's kinda little damn but I'm sure some of it will get out because despite them saying that there is no press there, I saw media people there they were registered for CIS, so we'll see what to tell but e looks good, he was very uncomfortable and very nervous and so he picked up the guitar, that's the report from here I'll talk to you later. listen

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The Mr. and the Mrs.

Headed off to see Garth this morning... I shall let you know if anything comes out of it. Given all the Garth media we've gotten over the past few months, I don't expect anything new. This is set up to give more radio people the experience we got at "GRS" last August. I am hoping to learn if they are planning to release another single off Ultimate Hits.

Other things on the agenda today include a lunch performance by Rodney Atkins, dinner with John Michael Montgomery at a fancy schmancy restaurant, and late night event possibilities with Trisha, Trace and a bunch of newbies. We'll see how far I make it.

Dixie Rose Deluxe's Honky Tonk Hair Salon and Script Writing Spa

I'm giggling so much... I just had to come blog. I'm sitting at my big bathroom counter, on the laptop, writing an episode of Driver's Ed, while Ashley colors my hair.

You might be a redneck if....

Ok, funniest thing ever. I walk into the studio today and introduce myself to Ashton Shepherd... whom I'd never met before...whose show I was writing at my bathroom counter last night... The very first thing out of her mouth -- I swear to God -- was "I love your hair color!"

Monday Morning Ramblings

UPDATE: I have solved the mystery! Brooks & Dunn "That's What It's All About." I can't wait to listen to them back to back. I may be completely out of my mind and next to each other they might not sound anything alike. (Wouldn't surprise me.) But I know y'all will sleep better now that I've figured that out.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Ok... I think there's a little of Faith Hill's "Secret of Life" in this song too. I guess it's just the style that's familiar.

Happy Hell Week. Technically it all doesn't start until tomorrow, so today I have to schedule 5 logs, edit a ShortCuts, and write a Driver's Ed. Oh, and get my income taxes done.

Question -- this new Joe Nichols song. It sounds to me like another song... that whole talking thing he's doing in the verses. It's on the tip of my tongue... has anyone else noticed it? I'm thinking it's a Brooks & Dunn tune, but I can't for the life of me come up with it. They HAVE to have the same songwriters, or someone would be getting sued by now.



All day long today on XMX channel 2, the Trisha Yearwood and Faith Hill Artist Confidential episodes are airing. Alan Jackson Release Day Rest Stops are airing tomorrow. Check out all the country coverage in the XM Signal!

Party Night!

I'm having a "Girl's Night Out" soiree tonight at my house... cleverly disguised as a Pampered Chef party. (But really it's more like a "Mom Gets To Get Out Of the House" Party.)

At any rate... if anyone needs any Pampered Chef products, I've got it all figured out how to order them online now. LOL. Email me at joyce dot rizer at xmradio.com

exhausted

I'm dying to tell you all about my oh so exciting day in the presence of Statler Greatness, but I'm exhausted. Life is kicking my butt at the moment. When I do get a chance, I also have to tell the story about Ashley and I going grocery shopping with Carrie Underwood and Gossip Girl Guy. Not that they knew we were there. But we knew they were.

In the meantime, I shall share this.

Who Gets RFD?

Just found out (too late to crash it) that the Statlers are on Crook & Chase tonight.

Who can I beg to tape it for me?

The Ramblings Continue

I wasn't going to share this story, but Carrie from Jacksonville brought the subject of Gerry House up in the Six Random Facts post, so I decided I would.

I wake up each morning to WSIX. I listen to Gerry House on the way to work, and Big D and Bubba on the way home, mostly for Nashville traffic info, but also because - especially with Gerry - I like to hear radio "shows." I don't need to hear "that was, this is, let's take caller 8." But Gerry has a really entertaining show. Unlike the other 2 country morning shows in Nashville, which put me to sleep.

At any rate, the radio is on, I'm watching the clock trying to decide when I need to get out of bed, and Delaynie comes running in. "Look! Mommy LOOK!" She throws open the curtains and there are white dots trying to impersonate snow flakes laying on the cars and curbs. We're talking like... tablespoons of snow.

So after about 15 minutes of listening to Gerry do his morning "Liars Club" game and a couple songs and some other miscellaneous ramblings, I hear Al come on and do the news. Then, and only then - after my daughter got up, had breakfast, and was half way dressed - did I hear any sort of mention of an overnight "snowstorm." School systems throughout Middle Tennessee are closed, including Davidson County.

Very confused, I turned on the TV. And sure enough, school closings are crawling across the screen. "Crazy!" I think. This county wide school system they have in TN is crazy. Delaynie is eagerly watching the list of schools flash by. "Don't get your hopes up kiddo," I tell her. "You know Mr. H never cancels school, and it looks great on our end of town."

I knew by the squeal that came out of her that I was wrong. I still have no idea why. But no school for Laynie. So we had take your daughter to work day.

She did get to play in the snow at one point... what there was of it. We had to go pick up an Alan Jackson CD and the crazy kid talked me into walking over there so she could walk through any and all patches of white she could find. I got her back for making me excercise though. She didn't have gloves and I did. She got a snowball in the back. Heh heh heh.

On the way back she started singing Carrie Underwood's "American Girl" for some reason. So against my better judgement I told her Carrie was in the studio today cutting Country Countdown USA. I didn't let her meet her, but I did let her walk by and see her through the studio window.

So that was my day. If I ramble long enough I might pass enough time that I could tell you who the next host of Nashville Star was going to be. However... that information is currently embargoed. They said until 12:10pm Pacific Time, but I'm pretty sure they mean am. To give the announcement a chance to air across the country.

If you want to know before then, I suggest turning on NBC after your late local news.

Tomorrow has the potential to be an incredibly momentous day in my life. I will actually be in the same room with Harold and Don Reid of the Statler Brothers. Probably, knowing me, hiding...worshipping from afar. But in the presence of greatness.

It's only taken me 12 years after I moved to Nashville.

Late Night Ramblings

It's been a while since I sat down and aimlessly rambled for a while, so tonight's your unlucky night.

First off, I'm totally tickled by the things I'm learning about everyone in the Six Random Things About Me post. Love it -- keep 'em coming!

On the other hand... I'm getting fed up with bio writers in this town. I've decided what I need to do is start pre-interviewing artists before we interview them. We cut a show today that had two things that I took from the bio that were completely wrong. Maybe I should just require the artists to read their own bios before we do a show. That way when I lead you towards telling a story, you know it. And we get our facts right.

The worst ever though, I will never forget, was Clay Walker's bio for his last album. It said Clay had written two songs on the CD, and named which two they were. I wrote an entire episode of shortcuts with phrases like "12 songs on the CD, including 2 Clay wrote" and questions about where he found certain songs. Turned out he'd written like 6 of them, and Jon had to re-write the show on the fly. (I've since learned to make sure I get complete songwriter credits before I write a show.)

Next topic: Text messages -- love 'em or hate 'em? I personally hate them most of the time. Granted... they can be useful when you're trying to find someone at a concert, or if you need to get a message to someone that you know can't take a phone call. But I think they're best as one way conversations. The whole concept of typing on a telephone is lost on me, I absolutely hate doing it. It's ok, you can say it -- Probably because I am too long winded to even try to reply in 8 words or less. And the cost is ridiculous. I don't use it enough to justify the $20 it would be for unlimited texting, so it costs me 15 cents a message (which means 30 cents if I have to text my husband! GRR!) and you don't have any sort of refusal. Before you know it, you have $8 in data charges, some of which weren't even remotely useful. Which is precisely what brought on this rant... Delaynie received several "emergency alert system" test text messages from Greenville College, which I'm pretty sure she didn't sign up for. Gah.

I've never used "Gah" before - out loud or on the computer. But my favorite blogger (ok, probably the only blog I read with any sort of regularity other than my own) uses it regularly, and it seemed to fit the occasion.

I'd tell you who my favorite blogger was, but that might lead me to tell stories about how I knew her husband back when he was dating a co-worker of ours but still married to the previous wife. Those stories aren't pretty. And since her hubby is a local media personality I'd better save those stories. His new wife -- whom, for the record, I've never met -- is a very entertaining writer though, and I love her blog.

How's THAT for rambling?

Next topic - how much I love Southwest Airlines. Even after the flight delay from HELL, which was not at all the airlines' fault... it was the evil forces that made me fly into an airport in Timbuktu. With about 3 clicks I rebooked our flights for my son's graduation today - same flight, cheaper. Love 'em!

I'll be boarding a few Southwest planes next month as I hop around Florida... details on that later. First though, I have to get through Hell Week 1.0, which long time readers recall is my affectionate phrase for Country Radio Seminar. A few of the things on the calendar:

Private Show with Mrs. Brooks
Seminar with Mr. Brooks
Guitar Pull with Taylor Swift, Jack Ingram, Jewel, etc. etc. etc.
The famous Sony Boat Show
Dinner with John Michael Montgomery
Randy Travis Private Show

And a few other competing events that I probably don't have a prayer of actually making it to. And oh yeah... those educational type seminar things during the day. OH - and the New Faces Show. And the ACM Jam with Brad Paisley! I need to get a CRS agenda.

Fun cities that showed up in my blog stats today: Paw Paw, MI; Kokomo, IN; Cut Off, LA; and Broken Arrow, OK. Who are you in Broken Arrow ? -- I see you here regularly. Would love to meet you. Someone in Cockeysville, MD found me after Googling "Amy Paige." I also had my first ever (to my knowledge) visit from Latvia. Someone looking for Washington DC Landmarks.

On the subject of Google Searches, many of them come from people who google Producer J - who apparently is a rap producer. Can't you just imagine their disgust when they get here and read stories about Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood? Today's (other) Google searches that got people here include:

What time zone am I in? (which got them here)
Jimmy Buffett Concert Tour
Carrie Underwood Love Life 2008
Loriane Crook
Kix Brooks Singing Backup

XM is looking for a few good interns -- including 2 for our shiny new Nashville offices. Apply to be my intern here. I didn't write that stuff that's up there, but the number one requirement to intern with me is that you can't germ the stars. I guess that didn't sound official enough, so they re-wrote my requirements. There is also a position for a Bluegrass intern in Nashville, and all kinds of interns in D.C. and NY. I don't even want to know what Opie & Anthony make their interns do...

Ok, I've rambled long enough. I really should be cleaning my house... I'm having a Pampered Chef party Friday night... which is really an excuse for a Mom's Night Out. Which hopefully will prepare me for the week ahead!

Six Random Facts About Me

I was tagged by default by Derek, who challenged anyone who read his blog post to do their own Six Random Facts About Me. The hard part here is for me to come up with stuff y'all don't already know... I feel like my life is an open book! Here goes. Did you know....?

1. I have a (very fat) cat named Melody. Delaynie named her after Ariel's daughter in Little Mermaid II.

2. Vanilla is my favorite scent - and flavor of coffee.

3. I drink 4-6 cans of Diet Mt. Dew a day. Or else.

4. I wear Reebok tennis shoes.

5. I was one credit short of completing a minor in Drama in college. That course was Acting II, and there just wasn't any way I was going to take it.

6. My middle name is Maree. That's not a typo.

Now... I tag all of you to post a comment with your own 6 Random Facts. And my Stat Counter lets me know that you were here, so don't pretend like you aren't. :-P I see you.

Oogling Cute Boys

If you don't go back and read the comments on the blog posts as they grow, you're really missing the fun of this blog. Here by popular demand is the 6 week picture of baby Cebastian.

Hey California Country Music Fans!

Hey gang... I got a call from Big Machine tonight... there are still tickets available to a Trisha Yearwood event tomorrow in West Los Angeles... you'd need to be there at 5pm. Come on Trisha fans -- get out and support your girl!

For more information send an email to invite@yahoolivesets.com .

I tried to post it on PG but couldn't remember my password, so if someone wants to put it there, go ahead, as well as any other Trisha fan sites. I'm sure it will be fabulous as it always is whenever Miss Yearwood opens her mouth.

Yo!

What's everyone up to? Nothing much exciting going on here that I can blog about... much as I'd love to blog about the artist that's royally ticking me off... I probably shouldn't... so I won't. For now.

I've TiVo'd the Celebrity Apprentice, but I've yet to watch it... it sounds really good. Things seem to be looking good for Trace, accoring to the press releases they send out. I did watch the Kellie Pickler USO Diary the other night... me thinks down deep Kellie isn't quite the dumb blonde she plays on TV. Cheers to her and Storme (and crew) for going over there and visiting our guys and gals in uniform. Ashley is going to get me addicted to One Tree Hill if I'm not careful.

So since my world is boring... fill me in on yours!

Lucky Numbers

707... a very lucky number, don't you think?... I've been praying over it for a week now... this morning...it's decision time.

Come on sevens... don't let me down now. If you're around this morning and can spare a prayer.. 707.... 707.... 707....

Update.... it was indeed a lucky number! 707 was our randomly assigned lottery number for Delaynie's potential new school... out of 70 some kids, she is THIRD on the list to get in. WOOO HOOO indeed!

Message to Garth

Hey GB... make sure you pick up the new Chris Cagle CD... there's a message to you in the liner notes! And from all the rest of us -- ditto!

You can get the CD for just $7.99 right now at Amazon.com


Release Day Rest Stops with Chris Cagle next Tuesday - every hour on the hour - on XM's Highway 16!

No Place Like HOME!

We landed at Nashville Int'l Airport a couple minutes after 3am. Brain. Dead. I had to take a cab home, because there was no way I was getting behind the wheel.

The biggest stab in the heart over this trip was that I was traveling with a group who had gone up to testify on Capitol Hill. Part of their group was flying out of Reagan on US Air, which is how I normally get home. Their flight was cancelled, and they were given hotel rooms and food vouchers! We were given water and peanuts on what wound up being a 5 1/2 hour delay.

Since I don't have a car, Delaynie got to play hooky from school today. I've pretty much just slept. Delaynie came running in an hour or so ago going "Mommy, mommy, mommy, it's SNOWING!"

My house is a wreck, lol. But it's sure good to be home!

1:25 a.m.

1:25 a.m., I am finally on an airplane. I'm exhausted. But I'm on an airplane! I think that's a good sign. listen

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It's midnight Cinder...

It's midnight Cinderella. listen

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Hello, to all my International Readers!

Hello, to all my International readers! It's the middle of the day there... it is currently 11:30 at night and I have spent 4 hours in the Baltimore airport and I am bored silly. Feel free to text message me if you are awake. listen

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Who says you can't go home?

Okay, who said that I wasn't going to make it home tonight? You are the smartest blog readers that I have! Currently my 9:20 flight which got delaynie untill 10:30 has now been delayed indefinitely. Indefinitely. Because we don't have flight attendants. Our flight attendants are coming in from Providence, expect to get here at 11:40 which means I am not going to take off from Baltimore - assuming the pilots haven't timed out by then - I am not going to take off from Baltimore until after midnight. So therefore it will not be tonight when I get home. That's the update from BWI! listen

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I'm taking a survey.

I'm taking a survey. Raise your hand if you think I'm going to make at home tonight. Now raise your hand if you think this business trip is never going to end. My flight is currently an hour and 10 minutes delayed out of Baltimore. It's supposed to leave at 9:20, now I'm not scheduled to leave until 10:30. There is icy rain coming down and I have a feeling I am going to be sleeping at the Baltimore International airport this evening. We shall see! listen

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Country Roads - Take Me HOME

I swear y'all... I have never wasted the stress and tears on a business trip like I have on this one. Thankfully, I've never had the business trip from hell like this before. Nor will I ever again, because I have learned some big lessons on what kinds of things should NOT be done when you're traveling alone and don't know where you're going. Really I'm just grateful to be going home in one piece.

I'm incredibly glad that I started the To Do List on Blogger before I left, because I've had to refer to it many times. And although I got quite a bit of it done, I feel very unsatisfied with the work this trip. I told you I would tell you why I was coming up here... but the reasons I wound up coming up for didn't wind up coming to fruition. We'll just have to see how it all shakes out from here.

In the meantime, I did get a lot of things done... but I sure could use another day here. Actually, if I just had the time I wasted on ridiculous transportation issues -- including the late night hours I spent wandering the streets looking for my hotel -- I'd probably be much more satisfied.

Unfortunately though, it's departure time. I'm off to get a shuttle to get a train to get a shuttle to get a plane to hopefully remember where the heck I parked. I think I spent more time in transportation mode than I actually spent in work mode.

There's NO Place Like Home!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

Statler Brothers and Tom T. Hall going into the Country Music Hall of Fame -- along with Emmylou Harris -- this year.

There have been a lot of rumblings that direction... especially after The Statlers went into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame last year. I'm so excited for them!

FIGURES that I'm in D.C. when they finally come into the building I spent 6 1/2 years working in!

I'm Here!

I started to post last night about today's trip, and I was going to title it "A little whine with that cheese?" Because it was a bunch of bitching and moaning.

Flying into Baltimore on a Sunday night, when you work and stay in D.C. and have about a $10 budget for transportation, basically, not a good idea. You can't get there from here. Unless you're willing to waste half a day's work, which I wasn't.

The only thing that could have made the whole journey any more comical was if they'd lost my luggage. (shopping!) However, they didn't. So here I am, safe and sound at Eckington Place, after a nice visit with Kim, my former intern, and a nice comfy car ride courtesy of Sandi (and her oh so silent chauffer.)

Off to tackle that "To Do List."

Blogging from the Airplane

This is been the trip from hell, and I haven't even gotten off the ground yet. I'm currently sitting on the airplane, blogging from an airplane just because I could. I'm an hour late and counting. And when I get there, I won't even be in Washington, I will be in Baltimore. Which is kind of like going to Nashville only flying in to Huntsville, Alabama. Stay tuned. listen

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Write a Letter To You

If I could write a letter to me
And send it back in time to myself at 17...

I'm totally swiping this idea from the afternoon jocks at XM161... but I like it. If you could write a letter to yourself at 17... what would you say? And don't worry... none of us can say it as well as Brad Paisley did.

I thought this would be easy. 17 sucked for me. Boy, if I had the chance to see some of those people again...grumble, grumble, grumble

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wouldn't change much, because it's all the crap you go through that gets you to where you are today. And I kind of like it here.

However... there are some things I would tell my 17 year old self, even though I probably wouldn't listen.

Dear Me at 17,

Breaking News -- People suck. You're seeing that now. But guess what? Their loss. Don't waste your time trying to figure out people like Tracy G. and Cathy B. They will soon be footnotes in your autobiography. Actually, if you ever write your autobiography, you wouldn't give them the satisfaction of mentioning them.

(And in case you're wondering, you're not going to get famous enough that you're ever going to write your autobiography.) Although... this thing called the internet is going to come along... and your life is going to be an open book, in an odd sort of way that doesn't involve pages.

By the way. As soon as you hear the term "Google" invest in it.

Back to Cathy for a minute. Boyfriend-stealing-former-best-friend-little-wench. She and Mat don't even make it to graduation. tee hee hee

Unfortunately, she's not going to be the last girlfriend you lose. Did I mention people suck? They hurt other people. 20 years later, that hasn't changed. Maybe if you can learn that lesson now, it will hurt less later. Maybe.

If I'd have written this letter to you at 14, I'd have told you that your Senior Year was going to wind up this rotten, you could have worked at graduating early. Sorry about that.

I'd have also told you to take Spanish instead of French. Do that in college, ok? You aren't ever going to have the need to parlez francais. Ever.

When you get to college, go ahead and shorten your name to Joy. Easier to lose 2 letters now than 4 letters later.

If I told you that you'd have a much better time staying home than going to your Senior Prom, you probably wouldn't believe me, would you? But at least you get an awesome dress -- and you will wear it again. But when you're going in to shop for the fabric for it... remember the speed limit is 45 on Fort Street.

And just tuck this away -- 20 years from now, you won't be able to remember Todd's last name. In fact, you'll wonder what on earth you were doing with a blonde.

You'll also wonder why you stressed so much over things that just didn't matter in the long run. Those hot shot kids that think they're the biggest thing to happen to that small town? They're going to spend their life there. You're going to go out and see the world. And leave them behind.

It would actually be a good idea to start keeping a scrapbook. Your kids will get a kick out of 80's fashions someday. Wait until you look back on that hair of yours.

You might also want to stop making fun of country music. It's about to be cooler than you could ever imagine. Pay attention to this kid named Garth you're about to hear on the radio. He's going to change your life.

As much as you think you can't wait to get the hell out of there and never see those people again... there will come a day that you won't know what ever happened to Mike and Joe and Mark, and you'll wish you did.

Now. Go find Mike Hauk. Shouldn't be hard, his locker has always been right next to yours. He's a good guy, you should tell him that. In fact, just hug him. You won't get the chance later.

Hang in there... things get better at 18. They're awesome at 22, and you're gonna love the 30's.

Love,
The Happily Married,
Mother of 3,
36 year old version of You

Your turn. It's cheaper than therapy. ;-)

To Do List: Eckington

I'm organizing the things I need to do while I'm at XM HQ next week. I was trying to find a way to make a running list in email that I could update when I realized - DUH - much easier to just do it on Blogger and then I can check it off as DONE! Done items are marked in red.

So... to start the list:

MEETINGS:
Jayme
Jean
Jay
Ross
Human Resources (address change)

PEOPLE I NEED TO MEET & THANK:
Kory & Steve

EDITS:
Chris Cagle RDRS (Opens, Close, Load in Interview, Soundbites x 11, Music???)
Trent Willmon ShortCuts (Ingest Music, Build waveforms, MPA Music, Edit Interview, Group)
Music City Connection #20(Build Waveforms, MPA, Group) Sandi -- this is the Pam Tillis / Jon Randall / Leslie Satcher one we went to in Franklin!
Music City Connection #21 (Build Waveforms, MPA, Group)

PRODUCTION:
8 In Car Audio Pieces (Create, MPA) ELEVEN DONE!
Chris Cagle Promos x 3 (MPA)

INTERVIEWS TO MINE FOR SOUND:
Garth
Faith
Tim
Trisha
Cagle
Taylor
LBT

I am getting SO excited! It's been too long since I've been to the Mother Ship -- and I have a lot I'm hoping to get done.

More on the reason for my trip in a future blog.

Release Day Rest Stop: Chris Cagle

I just love the song "What Kind Of Gone." It's catchy, it's clever, and it gets stuck in your head. Love it. Not as much as I love "Miss Me Baby" but it's up there.

However, you can love a song but not necessarily love the singer. I've worked with Chris a couple of times in the past, but it had been a couple of years - a pretty tumultous couple of years - and I wasn't quite sure what to expect today.

Well he was great. Genuine, and sincere, and excited about his album. But sometimes very raw and emotional - nearly to tears at one point. He was pretty up front about his recent past, and the kind of man he was looking to be. His faith is strong, and hopefully his resolve is too. I really enjoyed our session. I've only heard a few of the songs on the album, but so far, I really like them.

It was funny, I was introduced to him of course as being with XM... so I explain the program to him and he starts off by reading the promo lines about 'every hour on the hour' it like the light bulb goes off, and he says Cool - I can listen, I have XM!

He listens to The B0neyard, Willie's Place, and America, FYI.

Release Day Rest Stop with Chris Cagle -- February 19th on XM's Highway 16!

God Must Be Busy

A year or so back, my preacher started out his sermon with the phrase "Now, I don't really like country music..." and proceeded to talk about a song he DID like -- "Jesus Take The Wheel."

So me and preacher man had a little talk shortly thereafter. And I told him... as gently as I could... that I realized he was fairly new to Nashville and maybe somehow hadn't heard this...bless his heart... but this was Music City, USA. The Country Music Capitol of the World. And when you are addressing an audience in The Country Music Capitol of the World, saying you don't like country music isn't the wisest word choice you can make. Because the better share of the people you are talking to probably not only like country music... they quite possibly have something to do with making it.

And furthermore... how on earth do you grow up in Lexington, KY and not like country music?

At any rate... in our Ash Wednesday service tonight, he read lyrics from the latest Brooks & Dunn single, "God Must Be Busy." I was beaming with pride.

It actually tied into the scripture from Isaiah, but I couldn't help but think about all the tornado devastation from last night and how applicable the message was... how many people were praying all night to be spared... and all morning to understand what had happened... and tonight to be grateful that it wasn't us. If God really hears our prayers, on days like today, He must be REALLY busy.

That's why we love country music. It's real life.

Long Night

Just checking in to say all is well here. It was a very long night of tornadoes moving through Tennessee. I watched Dan and DK --0ur 10pm news anchors -- sign off at 2:30 this morning when they lifted the last tornado warning for Davidson County. The weather team was still going.

We just got some bad storms at my house... no hail... a lot of wind. Sumner County wasn't so lucky, I'm afraid. The light of day is going to bring a lot of bad news.

Hot off the Presses

Listen in! KEITH ANDERSON - XM's Highway 16 - FRIDAY (2/8) at 3pm ET

New CD C’mon won't be in stores until May 20th, but I hear we might have a couple of tracks....

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Happy Endings! My former intern, Ashley, who was up here a couple weeks ago job hunting got a job offer yesterday from one of the interviews I set her up on. Ashley will be working in the management office for Diamond Rio / Sara Evans / Josh Turner. (Katie, at Josh's record label, told me about the opening when I was passing Ashley's resume around -- big thanks to her!)

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Release Day Rest Stop! Next Up -- Chris Cagle. Taping Thursday.

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Next Stop on the Producer J. World Tour: Washington, D.C.
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

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Upcoming topic of discussion: Webkinz.

Party Like A Rock Star

Tomorrow my baby turns 11. *sniff*sniff*

Having a February birthday has proven to be challenging. Not, mind you, that it's my fault. She shouldn't have arrived until March, but she had other plans.

Given that she spent the first 8 years of her life as the spoiled rotten only grandchild, we usually haven't needed to do a big birthday present. Between Christmas and her Birthday, there really wasn't much left on the store shelves that someone hadn't already bought her. What we have done in the past few years, however, is given her some kick-ass birthday parties.

This year - surprise, surprise! - it was a Hannah Montana birthday party. And if I may say so -- it rocked!

The day started with "Red Carpet Arrivals" at our house. (Love the $1 clearance rack in the WalMart fabric section!) Each guest received a personalized VIP Laminate, just like mommy brings home from the schmooze fests. Each girl got a turn being the "Pop Star" and the other girls came up to have their laminate "autographed." It was pretty funny to see them falling down and fawing over each other. We have a HM game that includes a CD where they have to "perform" either a specified song or dance move, which they had a blast doing. We had a Hannah Montana cake and purple soda and she opened presents - most of which were Hannah related.

Then the chauffers loaded up the VIP's and took the girls to the local theater to see the "Best of Both Worlds" 3-D concert experience. It was pretty good actually, and the girls rocked out on the back row. Afterwords the family chauffers arrived to pick the girls up from the theater.

The best part for Laynie was that this was the first time all five of her "BFF's" got to be at one of her parties. "This was the best day of my life so far."

Rock on.

Out with the Old... In with the New!

The studio on the left is what our "showcase" studio at the Hall of Fame looked like on Wednesday.

The picture on the right shows 2 of the 3 studios going into the "crow's nest" at the Sommet Center -- high in the sky above Broadway!

And I'm told all 3 studios up there, as well as the two big ones on the main floor, have windows that overlook downtown.

Are we there yet!!?!!

Somebody loves me!

Look what I got in the mail today!Professional Model Not Included

GarthNutts are the BEST! Thank you Thank You Thank You again!

The problem with working from home...

... is that I eat all day.

Under our temporary studio conditions, I work from home 2 days a week. So I thought I'd share a little of my wacky, discombobulated day.

I woke up to hear them giving school closings on the radio. Said a little prayer, which didn't get answered, so I had to get up and take Delaynie to school. On the way home, I did some grocery shopping for a meal we're cooking tomorrow night for Room In The Inn.

Came home, unloaded groceries and set up my laptop on the breakfast bar. Over the course of the morning I've read and responded to emails, made phone calls, made a double batch of corn chowder, watched CMT, proofed a webpage, grumbled a lot about CMT, uploaded photos, made a double batch of brownies, and had our chimney cleaned out, enabling me to make our very first fire in the fireplace.

I had chowder and a baked potato for lunch, and I am stuffed. The brownies and a yet-to-be-made spice cake are for tomorrow night, so I won't be eating those, but it is hard to resist licking the bowl...

Would you like to see photos of the XM Nashville Studios as they are now?

Oh Happy Day

Today was one of those days. You know. THOSE days. Like a Monday, but on a Tuesday. However, I took Monday off and did fun things like pay bills and tour a potential new school for Delaynie. So even though it was technically Tuesday, it had all the makings of a Monday. And then some.

As previously mentioned, we've vacated our digs at the Hall of Fame. There's a demolition crew of engineering types removing equipment from there this week. All of the XM Nashville staff is currently working out of our secondary location -- aka "the slow studio." No biggie... there is so much bright beautiful light at the end of our tunnel that we're all happily co-habitating under one tiny roof.

Well. mostly happily. There were some unhappy moments there today.

Our computers were running pretty sluggish all morning, and then they went away. Poof! Gone! Disconnected to the Mother Ship. Woops. Someone unplugged something across town they shouldn't have. Reboot, re-sign in, reload everything, redo what you lost. Eventually we are up and running again.

Slowly.

For a while.

Till it goes away again. Deja Vu.

So engineering needs to take our system down to do some repair. However, we just got back up. It's 12:45. In the nearly 3 hours I'd been at work, I'd gotten one log done. We agree that we'll work frantically until 1:30, and then they'll take us down for about 30 minutes, and we'll come back good as new.

12:52 several musicans walk in. With instruments. For a 2pm session.

Woops, the record label guy told them 1pm. They make themselves comfortable at our conference table and get out the strings.

And start picking.

Tuning.

Talking.

Meanwhile my phone keeps ringing and the clock keeps ticking and I'm working fast and furiously to get a log finished before they take the system away again. Which is a little difficult to do when you can't hear yourself think.

1:29 we're all out of the computer pool. 2pm our bluegrass session starts. Still no word that the system is back up. I fire up my laptop, swipe someone's wireless, and work on some email bookings. Marty works on a list of artists he wants me to book and then reads the paper. We twiddle our thumbs waiting for the phone to ring to say it's safe to dive back in.

Clock keeps ticking. Finally we try out the system and we get back in. Still isn't running any better. About 3:30 we discover why.

They hadn't gotten around to working on it yet. Which would have been fine if they'd told us. But they didn't. The words that came to my lips are not fit for me to print here. I have zero patience when people have no respect for other people's time. By the time they got around to taking it down they couldn't get very far because everyone on the east coast went home for the day.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat tomorrow.

Light at the end of the tunnel. Keep on shining!

There were a couple of bright spots in my day. First off, I got to oogle Gary Allan in the flesh. Mmmmmm! That made it worth getting up this morning.

Second, Marty hurled chocolate at me in the middle of the pandemonium.

And thirdly, I got THIS in the mail.



All is well with the world.

Well, except for the fact that my mortgage company lost the paperwork I spent a ridiculous amount of money to overnight them so we could refinance our house at a lower interest rate, AND I've spent forever trying to figure out these crazy travel arrangements I've been given that takes me longer to get from the airport to company HQ than it does to fly across the country.

The book, however, is great.

Well...?

Would love to hear your comments about the Garth CBS special. I was gone this weekend, so I didn't get to watch it until yesterday. As usual... I had to backseat produce it. LOL A few thoughts:

- The production value on the Fire vingettes (including the pieces mixed in and out of the show open) was horrible. We had better Chyron graphics in Peoria in 1994. Sure didn't look like network TV.
- The coming out of commercials mid song didn't bother me because I knew it was live. Not everyone did. Hello -- they needed a "Live from LA" cg. Enhance the feeling that we were the fly on the wall at a special event. It was missing a sense of "this is a big deal" I thought.
- The lower 1/3 cg's pushing the website were nice. HUGE difference in production values.
- Loved "Workin' For A Living" live. Huey looked good.
- Seeing Jimmy and Huey together gave me the biggest smile.
- Sound. Ugh.

That's all I can remember. Your turn.

Memories....

Introducing Billy Gilman to Brenda Lee at the time he was breaking her records as the "youngest ever to....." Running out of microphones when we had The Oak Ridge Boys and The Bellamy Brothers in studio. Together. The repeat visitors each year at Fan Fair. The HOF's Executive Director drinking a beer with Willie Nelson in our studio. Kitty Wells signing my ID badge. Sending postcards to friends & family because they showed our booth. Having Loretta Lynn repeat liners after me, because I'd typed them too small for her to see. Willie two stepping with one of our DJ's, wearing my husband's cowboy hat. Trick Pony running through the gift shop trying to find Janie Fricke. Getting the phone call that Buck Owens was going to come by after all. Big & Rich being too hung over to perform. Tanya Tucker and her TV cameras. Ray Price. Kenny Rogers. Jessi Colter. Randy Owen.

Walking into THIS beautiful building, and being 'jest so proud to be here.'

Reports From Los Angeles!

Creating this post so that any of my readers who are out in L.A. can report in.

I'm so excited that 'Lish and Paula hooked up, since we failed to make that happen in KC. (Not from a lack of wandering the streets trying though!) Give each other a hug from me!

I'm not sure who else is out there, but feel free to chime in.

Garth Brooks Press Conference from LA

GARTH BROOKS Press Conference For LA Benefit Shows
Stream it live at www.garthbrooks.com

Thursday, January 24th - 10:30AM PT

Love how he makes these available for the fans to listen in!

Updates

Poster Update:

A funny thing happened yesterday, after blogging about the posters up on my hallway wall.

I walked out of the studio, the same door I've been walking out of for 6 1/2 years now. And in front of our door is a wall of Hatch Show Print posters that I've been walking by day in and day out. And I notice a poster there for the Hall of Fame's opening day - May 2001.

We used to have one of those in our studio, and we had all of the Hall of Famers that came in sign it. Kitty Wells, Porter Waggoner, Bill Anderson, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn... no telling who else -- seems like there was 8-10 signatures on it, from artists that came in when we broadcast Hank's Place out of Nashville. The poster mysteriously disappeared when XM did some employee pruning several years ago.

At any rate, I now have one of those posters to add to my wall. I've discovered that they sell the Spirit of Nashville posters at the Sommet Center Visitors Center, which I will soon be walking through on my way to work every day. I wonder if we get a discount there?

Now I need to find time to go to Michaels and buy some poster frames!

Nashville Star Update:

I got a little more scoop about Nashville Star since blogging about it a few days ago. I listened to Jewel do an interview with Gerry House on XM 161 the other morning. First off, I have heard Jewel do a couple of other interviews, and up until now, had thought she was dreadfully dull and boring and shy. Hearing her with Gerry, I got a whole other picture of her. She was fun and sassy and very entertaining.

She said that Nashville Star is changing up the format, she will not be hosting, but will be back to be a "mentor." She didn't seem to think there would be a host, but she also said they are doing away with the judges too. Thank heavens!

Alabama Update:

Randy Owen has a new song released to radio called "Braid My Hair." Normally, I rebel against songs that are contrived to be tearjerkers, and this definitely has all the makings of one. I'm not real crazy about the instrumentation... it seems like it's confused as to what kind of song it wants to be. However... lyrically it's pretty damn cool.

If you aren't aware, Randy is the founder of "Country Cares for St. Jude Kids" which raises MILLIONS of dollars for St. Jude Children's Hospital. The proceeds from this song benefit St. Jude, which does amazing work. Visiting the children's hospital will change your life... I've been thinking lately that I need to take Delaynie there, she would love going in and reading to the kids.

Did you know that you can become a St. Jude Partner in Hope for $19 a month? Sixty-three cents a day! They'll automatically withdraw it out of your bank account. Think of all the things you waste $20 on each month! I think it's pretty cool. It's totally Storme Warren's fault that I signed up, and he doesn't even know he gets the credit for it. Check it out at stjude.org.

Back to the boys from Ft. Payne, I was annoyed to see the Alabama Farewell Tour CD from Cracker Barrel on TV last week and see a picture of "Alabama" that didn't include Mark Herndon. Umm... hello? Pretty sure he was on that tour. I did some digging on the internet and discovered he wasn't in either picture on the CD, and apparently, things have gotten even uglier than I realized with that group. Friends shouldn't let friends hire lawyers. It makes me sad.

TV Talk

Catching up on some previous notes.... let's talk TV.

I totally missed all of the Garth programming in November and December on the "Home of Garth." I saw a couple of minutes of Offstage with Lorianne Crook, but totally missed every single other thing. I'm particularly interested in the "Road to Kansas City." If anyone has these on old-fashioned video tape or DVD, I would love to view them. On my honor, I promise not to do anything with them that falls outside of the Fair Use doctrine, as they are for my own personal enjoyment.

I have TiVo'd The Apprentice from last week, but haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet. I also owe an email to my favorite Trace Adkins fan... I just can't seem to get your email address and 5 minutes of peace in the same place.

Now. How many of you have seen Billy Ray Cyrus's CMT "reality" show "Home at Last?" Heavens. I suffered through two TiVo'd episodes, and could not BELIEVE what I was watching. First off, that was about as real as Dolly Parton's chest. Secondly, someone needs to remind BR that he has four other children. I can hear them now "Miley, Miley, Miley!" Talk about capitolizing on the moment. And finally... where was his wife? In the 2 shows I saw, it showed about 4 seconds of her in a group shot. Blech. I was very disappointed.

And although it's radio, not television, talking about Miley reminds me of the Disney Channel, which reminds me of Radio Disney, which reminds me that tonight when my daughter got a hold of the XM, she turned it to RD, and I heard Taylor Swift, "Teardrops On My Guitar" followed by Corbin Blue, followed by Carrie Underwood.

And finally... because everything in my life seems to revolve around Hannah Montana these days... I have to show you the coolest birthday party invitations ever.

The day includes Red Carpet Arrivals at our house, and a time for the family chauffer to pick their child up at the theater.

Pammy... the scrapbooker in you will love this website I found to do these on!

Misc. Late Night Ramblings

At my husband's work they have these really cool Nashville posters - supersized, like 3 feet by 5 feet or something - that I really like. I went online tonight and see that they have more manageable sizes for purchase. I have the stairway in my house decorated with posters from places we've been to - Broadway shows, schmooze fests, a Willie Nelson 4th of July picnic, etc. I have a couple of more yet to hang, but I'm thinking the red "Music City" one would be a nice addition to my wall. Visit them at http://www.spiritofnashville.com/ and you too could have the spirit of Nashville in your home or office. I have no idea what the story is behind them or where else they appear besides the Bat Building, but I like 'em.

What I **really** need for my wall is a Hatch Show Print from Charlie's Opry Induction, as seen in the photo below. I bet they sell those at the Opry Gift Shop.

I was a captive prisoner in the bloodmobile today, strapped down and forced to listen to a local country station on FM radio. Ugh. In my church parking lot, none the less. If there's anything worse than bad FM DJ's it's bad FM weekend DJ's.

Attention Statler Brothers fans! The Statler's new book, Random Memories isn't in bookstores until Feb. 19th, but you can get it now at StatlerBrothers.com. Tell 'em Producer J. sent you!

We've had a schedule change on the Producer J. World Tour... a new date popped up. My next stop (unless you include next weekend's girls retreat at an undisclosed state park!) is our nation's capitol, next month.

I think that's it. My countdown clock is under 5 days now. 4 days, 17 hours, 53 minutes and 12 seconds to be exact. Tomorrow... I do yet more packing.

Charlie Daniels Party Pics

Here are some pics from the party for Charlie Daniels following his Opry induction at the Ryman Auditorium last night. Before this party, he did a small press conference, this was about 15 minutes after his hour on GAC concluded, and Charlie was flying HIGH! I wish I could figure out how to add audio to this blog, I would love for you to hear him talk about his love for the Opry, his first trip there, and being inducted at the Ryman. Although he also said "they could have inducted me in the middle of Broadway" and he wouldn't have cared. LOL

Let's Try Audio Blogging Again

Let's try audio blogging again. Tonight I am talking to you from Downtown Nashville, about to see Charlie Daniels get inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. There is of course a party before hand and a press conference afterward, so I will be back to tell you all about it later!
listen

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Shows What I Know!

Last week a co-worker asked me "Whatever happened to Nashville Star?" I made some wise crack about it having fallen. (Falling Stars... get it?)

Ha! It's being picked up by NBC -- hello, major network - bu-bye cable! -- to air this summer.

When I'm wrong, I'm really REALLY wrong.

With any luck, they'll actually be able to find a star this time.

Return to the Airwaves!

By now the show has aired, but here's my belated report on the Crook & Chase show that taped today at the Grand Ole Opry House.

The show is taped in Studio A, which I know as the "Party Room" (Because they have schmooze fests there during big nights at the Opry House) but was actually the home to many TNN shows, as well as Hee Haw! The set was very simple, but versitile, and there was a live house band. All but one of the band members were from their Music City Tonight band.

It was old home week for me too - I of course looked around at all the TV crew, and four of them were my old crew from when I directed Predators hockey. So it was a nice bonus to catch up with them.

The show taped at 3pm, and it truly was live to tape -- they rolled the commercials right into it. I got there about 2:30ish, and picked out a nice safe back row seat behind the cameras. The audience was about half invited guests and half general public. Hopefully in future shows it will be more public - that way it's a little rowdier.

Lorianne & Charlie are such pros, it was cool to watch them work. It was very loose and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants -- they'd be like 20 seconds from coming back and they'd say - who's starting? I'll start. Ok. and they'd be back! The writer's strike won't be affecting these two!

I guess what y'all really want to hear about is his Garthness. After the intro / welcome from C&C, they introduced Garth and the backdrop they'd been standing in front of raised up, and there he was! He had Johnny, Mark, Mike and Dave playing with him, and they did "More Than A Memory."

After a break they had "couch time" with him which was mostly general chit chat and silliness, then Garth introduced George Jones, who came out. When he came out Garth first moved to the other end of the couch - way far away - and then went out and sat in the audience for a second, then finally sat next to him on the couch.

If you've ever been through the Country Music Hall of Fame you've seen the video of Garth talking about George, and the first time he met him in award show rehearsals, and how he couldn't talk to him. What you don't hear is George's side of the story -- he thought Garth was stuck up! LOL

My notes from Garth's portion of the show:

Lorianne asked him about how he prepared for his back to back to back shows in LA, what kind of food he'd be eating. "In L.A.? In & Out Burger. Anna's. Pizza, burgers - do you think it's easy to stay this big?" (Someone's going to have to explain to me what In & Out Burger is.

Other things you'll hear when watching this show:

Laundry: The secret to "pillow case putting on" and what he absolutely can't fold.
Troy Aikman: "Winning three Super Bowls wasn't enough for him, he's got to go out and save the planet."
His opinion: "We can differ all you want, but this is my opinion, and it ought to be yours."

The show felt a little disjointed to me... after segment 2, Garth left, there was no closing or goodbye to him, but he never came back. At the end Lorianne said he had to get on a plane back to his girls. Really - would 30 more minutes have hurt? The other guests on the show were the Oak Ridge Boys (who sang "Bobbie Sue" and one from their latest album "Did I Make A Difference" - google those lyrics if you don't know it, it's awesome!) and George Jones' daughter Georgette (with Tammy) who performed a song.

They talked about a movie Georgette was making where she played her mother, and they showed a picture, but never gave the name / timeline or any details. It sounded interesting. They were supposed to show some photos she brought from her personal photo album, but they had trouble getting them up, not sure if they will be edited in later or not.

There I go back seat producing again. It's a disease.

It was very cool that Garth took the time during the breaks to go over and say hello and hug people he knew - Lorianne's mom was there, someone in the band... no one else was doing that. The cutest though was an interaction he had with someone I didn't know in the audience...

They called out to him and he turned and said hello and was obviously pleased to see them. He said "Did you go to Kansas City?" And I could see them hold up their hands and he held up seven fingers and asked "seven?" Then he thumped his chest and held up nine fingers. "I was at nine." It was pretty cute.

This is a weekly show they are taping each Thursday in Studio A, and it airs each Thursday night at 8pm CT / Friday at 10am CT / Saturday 6pm CT. I'm very interested to see how it develops. It was very Leno-ish interview / performance based... not really any news / topical stuff. They told us it airs on DirecTV Channel 379 and Dish Network Channel 231. The audience co-ordinator started suggesting people write to Comcast to get RFD carried in Nashville and they interupted him to say that the Comcast guy was in the audience, and it would be coming soon.

If you are in Nashville and go out to the show, I recommend sitting in the balcony. The floor seating is all level, and the stage is really wide, so unless you are dying to be on camera and want to be in the first couple of rows, I'd say go high.

Let me know if you saw the show air tonight and what you thought of it.

Audio Blogging from the Opry Plaza

I tried, anyway. Blogger didn't post it because of a "low confidence" in their transcription. Things like Garth and Crook & Chase don't translate apparently.

http://www.jott.com/Show.aspx?id=193662b7-5210-4952-a6b2-5d1e94f1c29d

The Return of the Ramblings

My guest room is open again. We've had more people come stay with us in the 5 months we've lived here than we had the previous 5 years at our old house. And I love it!

So over the past few days, Ashley, my very first intern, came to town, job hunting. She put out a TON of resumes while she was here, had 3 interviews, and has one very good possibility. So we shall see how it works out. I think she may be back next week.

What I really SHOULD have had her do while she was here though, was guest blog. Because our running joke while she was here was teasing my almost-eleven-year-old about how very cute we thought Chuck Wicks was, and how crazy she was for not seeing it. Clearly I need to work on her taste in men. Dark hair, dark eyes, cowboy boots, and a little bit of scruff... Chuck falls squarely into my Troy Gentry mold of men.

Chuck, if you're not familiar, sings the song "Stealing Cinderella," which was inspired by his real-life girlfriend, who worked as Cinderella at Disney World. However, if Ashley HAD blogged for me, I'm sure she'd have left out the part about how Prince Charming was shamelessly flirting with her. I can testify to that because I was right there in the room as it was happening. Although Chuck didn't seem to notice my existence after I introduced him to Ashley.

In case you were wondering, Chuck (why didn't they give him a stage name?) is every bit the hottie in person as he appears on the pages of Country Weekly. He sounds good live too -- check him out on the Brad Paisley tour, which kicks off tonight in Denver. He literally left our studio to go to the airport to fly out there.

Our studio time backed up to Rascal Flatts being in studio, and the guys all seemed to know Chuck - probably because they share producers. It was kind of nice to see these mega stars taking the time to talk to the new kid - and his musicians. He probably left there, called Cinderella and told her all about it. Probably didn't mention Ashley.

Come to think of it, the Flatts boys didn't seem to notice I was in the room either. That's me... Mrs. Invisible.

Which brings us to Mrs. Flatts. My life has completely changed since Christmas, when I received the gift of TiVo. I'm forcing myself to watch tv now - backseat producing the whole way, of course.

CMT Insider - which I hadn't seen in... MONTHS... has these weird disjointed segments where suddenly someone besides Katie Cook is hosting. Now Katie doesn't seem to ever "toss" to these guys, so I'm thinking she might not even know that they're there. However, they are. A guy, and a girl, and the girl happens to be a Mrs. Flatts -- Allison DeMarcus.

Mrs. DeM was very good on camera, and even filled in for Katie on one episode. And I firmly believe she should be judged on her merits... not by who her husband is. HOWEVER... this week (when she filled in for Katie) there were a couple of RF stories that she did, including one where she referenced talking to Joe Don's wife about the baby ("Tiffany told me... "). It just seemed a little odd that she didn't fess up to her connection to the trio.

I have also decided that Storme Warren has the best job on the planet. Every time I see him on TV he's somewhere exotic. Ok, exotic might not be the best word for it. Most of it's exotic -- cruise ships, Caribbean islands, Colorado mountains. But then, he went to Iraq. Not exactly exotic. I've long since thought Storme was the coolest person on TV... he might just be the coolest person in America. I'm so excited to hear about his trip.

Since the work day is over, I now count it as EIGHT more days until I move out of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Not that I'm counting. I keep expecting that I'm going to get a little sad about it. I've worked in that building for over 6 1/2 years - longer than the majority of their staff! Tomorrow I'm planning to spend the day packing.

Well, most of the day. I HAD planned to spend the day packing until JoAnn reminded me that tomorrow was Crook & Chase taping day. Which means I can't wear the sweats I was planning to wear into the studio. Or if I do, I need to bring a change of clothes. I'm really excited that they're back on TV again, but I really wish it was on a station that more than 10 people get in their homes. RFD? Really? I'm hoping this is a "launching" pad to bigger and better things. I don't really know Charlie other than to say Hello, but I love Lorianne. Last time I saw her was that the Keith Urban post-show party.

Sitting here just now, it occurred to me that I've never met Lorianne's husband. I need to pass along a "thank you" through her to him for all those years of Statler Brothers TV shows - and other great country music programming that Jim Owens has given us through the years. When I moved to Nashville wanting to be Jon Small, (who I saw in the parking lot of Cummins Station yesterday and was too shy to say hello) the game plan was that I would work for Jim Owens. Funny how clueless I was.

And that brings me to my final rambling for the night (told ya that you wouldn't be able to shut me up!) A 7 season streak has come to an end. Up to this point, my only exposure to American Idol (other than working with Carrie Underwood & Kellie Pickler) has been watching a few minutes of the auditions they did in Nashville a couple years back, and watching the last 10 minutes of the show that Carrie won. (That would be a funny column to go back and dig up!)

The other day, the 'tween in my house says to me on the way to school "Do you think we should watch American Idol this year?"

Me: No.

You see, Delaynie doesn't get to watch TV on a school night. She's not missing anything, because everything she watches airs on the Disney channel, which repeats things ad nauseum all weekend long. Between that and Animal Planet, she's good. As it is I'm forcing myself to make the time to sit down and watch TV shows that I like... I sure don't want to add something I could care less about to the mix, just because every other human being in America is doing it.

Ha!

So Tuesday night, while Ashley, the unemployed reality show junkie is here... we turn it on. Before long... Miss D. has parked herself in front of the TV. (Not for long, mind you!) It's like a train wreck you can't stop watching. It was very interesting to me from the perspective of figuring out how on earth they put that show together. However, it was an hour and a half of my life I can't ever get back.

And the first thing Delaynie said to me tonight when I picked her up was "no homework tonight, can we watch American Idol after choir practice?"

Me: No

Ha Again!

Hit List

Making a list of things I must get around to blogging about...

Moving -- AGAIN
9 days and counting...
Prince Charming
Jon Small (not really a story, just that I saw him in a parking lot and worshipped from afar)
Hallway encounters with Rascal Flatts

TV:
BRC Home At Last (UGH!)
The Flatts wife
Garth TV Specials -- help!
American Idol -- 7 years of avoiding it came to an end

Next up on the World Tour -- skipping across Florida

Why hasn't anyone told me I need to change the header for this blog? -- DONE

All is Well...

I've had a couple of "are you ok?" inquiries. It's nice to be missed. :-) Thank you.

All is well... I have a houseguest at the moment, and our computer is in the guest room. So I'm busy helping her look for a job AND not staying up till all hours of the night typing.

Ahead this week I've got a Driver's Ed taping... a Crook & Chase taping... Charlie Daniels' Opry Induction... and some TV ramblings that I've blogged in my head. So when I do get back you probably won't be able to shut me up.

Enjoy the silence while it lasts. :-D

I did have a visitor from Poland the other day. (Visiting the blog, not my guest room.) He/She got here accidentally from Googling something else, but that was kind of exciting.

:smooches:

Photos By Request

An Earnhardt, NASCAR, and Talking Vegetables

The cool thing about having studios in various places (D.C. / NY / Nashville etc.) is that any of our studios can hook up to each other and conduct interviews. It's like XM Magic. Since we don't do much with the classic country channels out of Nashville, it's not uncommon that I do something with an artist in our studios talking to Country Dan or JW back in D.C. Over the past year or so we've done interviews with The Bellamy Brothers, Dwight Yoakam, The Oak Ridge Boys and Jessi Colter that way amongst others, along with some assorted Southern Gospel groups whose names I can't remember.

Of course, there's a lot more than just country music that passes through Nashville, and so sometimes our other channels take advantage of our studio space here. And when that happens, someone needs to handle getting everything hooked up with D.C., getting the guest where they need to go, and running the board for the session. Because guests don't bring their own producers.

Unfortunately (for me) we don't have any sort of production assistant / guest relations / engineer person here in Nashville. (In D.C., there'd be at least 3 people assigned to any given artist visit and they'd cater in lunch, LOL.) Which means all of the above fall to me to handle. (Without the lunch) Normally not a big deal, the regulars I work with up there are always ask nicely so if I'm in town, I usually accomodate.

This week however, I have a hat trick of outside guests.

First up tomorrow morning I have one David Earnhardt, coming into the CMHOF for the Bob Edwards show. As usual with Bob's guests, I know nothing about them. "Earnhardt -- As in the NASCAR Earnhardts?" I say to a co-worker. "Why else would they be talking to him," was the reply -- which was the opposite of my thought, which was closer to "Why on earth would Bob be talking to him?"

Oh joy. My NASCAR knowledge is limited to knowing that the cars make left turns. Thanks to Google, however, I was enlightened that Mr. E is the writer/producer/director for a documentary about saving our election system. Couldn't be further from NASCAR. So perhaps I will learn something.

I will not escape those left turns that easily, however, as you will learn.

Following that session I head over to our Music Row offices for a lunch meeting about our new studio spaces, which I will have to leave early to accomodate talking vegetables. A tomato and a cucumber, I believe. Their names are Bob and Larry, although don't ask me which one is which.

Indeed, we've got The Veggie Tales coming in... this one for XM Kids. I'm trying to remember if I've ever worked for them before, and I seem to have vague memories of doing something with Kermit the Frog, but I can't for the life of me remember it.

So basically, I'm not going to be able to get any of my own work done tomorrow, because I'll be working for everyone else. Which is one of the reasons I've done nothing but music logs for the past couple of days, so I can stay ahead of the curve. The best thing about the talking veggies though is that it gets me out of the nearly hour and 45 minutes of drive time that I'd have in leaving downtown, getting my daughter from school, taking her to the orthodontist, and back home again. Hubby got drafted. (And quite honestly, he's long overdue to make that trekk.) Hooray for cucumbers! I shall eat a salad in their honor tomorrow.

Friday, however, is the real treat. (Draw your own conclusions about my excitement level.) Claire B. Lang, from the NASCAR racing show "Dialed In" is coming to Nashville for Sound & Speed, and doing her show out of our Hall of Fame Studios. Which, if you haven't seen lately, has a big old "Give the Gift of Museum Membership" over half of the window, which will make it very difficult for the tourists to see her. But trust me, she'll be there, beginning at Noon local time.

Claire is a hoot, she's a little bitty ball of energy. Her show is live 4-7pm ET. Six hours of NASCAR in the next room, yippee skippee!

I shall leave you tonight with your very own picture of the previously discussed Pepto Bismol Truck.

Would YOU drive that down the highway?

Hidden Gems

Before I get to the meat of this post, can I just vent for a second? Of course I can, it's my blog. I watched Johnny Cash from San Quentin on CMT tonight. And what to my wondering ears did I hear, but of course, the ever so distinctive voices of The Statler Brothers, who spent many years on the road with Johnny. Barely in the mix, but I can pick out Don Reid's voice anywhere. Do you think I caught a single glimpse of them during the hour? It's kind of like Walk the Line... they've somehow completely been cut out of the Johnny Cash history. Grr.

Now on with our regularly scheduled rambling.

I've spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks digging for hidden gems. Mining audio, if you will.

As part of our programming as the Satellite Radio Home of the Grand Ole Opry, (a title so grand it has to be capitalized) the Opry has been sending us select performances from their archives. Basically they send us hard drives full of songs they've cherry picked from 2000-2007. So once they get ripped into our system, I get to dig through them and find things that fit on my channel, US Country.

So far I've made three passes through the folder, doing my own little cherry picking. (Because I don't want to get 9 Alan Jackson songs ready for air and not get to Vince Gill. So I go through and find some girls, some guys, some groups and do a batch.) It's time consuming to build the waveforms for each song (which has to be done at the fast studio or Marty cuts off my chocolate) and then put on all the metadata and display information, and then there's the minor detail that you really have to listen to at least part of the song to make sure it's something you want to put on the air. Because here's a little secret you may not know about entertainers. Not all of them sound good singing live.

Sometimes it's just a matter of someone sounding like they have a cold or something, and there was one group's performance where the lead singer was just buried by the band. There was an Achy Breaky moment that was just... wrong, on so many levels. My favorite (or not!) though was the female singer that sounded SO terrified, her voice was completely shaking. Those are the ones that didn't make it on the air. Most of them are stellar though, like Garth doing "The Dance" on the Saturday late show, and every single thing I've listened to so far by Diamond Rio.

Along the way I've uncovered some really neat things, although not all of them necessarily fit on US Country. Craig Morgan and Ray Price singing "Crazy Arms." Keith Urban and Ricky Skaggs joining together for "Highway 40 Blues." Big & Rich doing "Save A Horse" in a swing style. Garth at the 80th Birthday celebration doing the cutest (8 minute!) version of FILP. Vince Gill talking about Ray Charles the day he passed away. Historical moments, captured forever.

These have been on the air since US Country came back from Christmas vacation, but I've upped the frequency of them now that I've got a pretty good pile of them ready to go, they're hitting about every four hours. They're a pain in the butt to schedule - and even more of a pain to mix in the logs - but I think they're totally worth it, and are going to add a lot to a channel that really is not much more than a Jukebox. (If I had my way, XM17 would be renamed The Jukebox.) So be listening for them and let me know what you think.

Tomorrow we discuss how NASCAR, an Earnhardt, and talking vegetables fit into my week.

Late Night Catch Up Ramblings

It's been days since I blogged, so I thought I'd sit down and ramble for a bit.

The big excitement here is that our younger son, who's in college in Missouri, has been through here twice this week, on his way to and from a wedding in Tampa. So he and his friends crashed here for the night, which has been cool. Another blessing of the new house -- we have room for everyone! So come on down, y'all!

Overdue Soapbox Moment -- One of the things people try to use in their argument against satellite radio is that FM radio is local. I'm here to tell you, when I was driving back from Illinois last week, I couldn't get a local weather forcast to save my life. It was New Year's Day, and everyone had syndicated year end specials on. Grr. Somehow I don't think I was the only one traveling that day. I wound up listening to XM's Traffic and Weather for St. Louis and guestimating from there.

The top 10 selling artists of the year do NOT include Garth Brooks, which I find a tad interesting. I would like to see the next 10. Even MORE interesting is that Garth remains the top selling artist of the Soundscan Era... with 67 million albums sold since 1991. 67 million Scanned. Even bumping that up a couple million to encompass the albums sold in 1989 and 1990 (and let's face it, the debut CD wasn't exactly breaking records), that's a HUGE difference from the RIAA certified 104+million. Remember -- the RIAA counts albums SHIPPED to stores, where as SoundScan counts albums actually SOLD. Which by my calculations, means there's 30 million Garth albums sitting somewhere. More info on the year end totals can be found in (newlywed) Beverly Keel's column.

Kenny Chesney's press release about his being the 2nd biggest tour of 2007 calls The Police a "punk rock" band. Is that true? Because if it is, I didn't know that. It's funny how his press releases where he DOESN'T come in first always have such a defensive tone.

Taylor Swift got a bubble gum pink pickup truck for her 18th birthday from her record label. It spent some time parked in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Because I'm sure she didn't want it parked in her driveway. It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Even Delaynie thought it was hideous. I'm sure it's a REALLY nice truck. However, it's the color of Pepto-Bismo. She's giving it away to a charity. Good move.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Friday I heard a knock on the studio door. I'd just ran into the cleaning lady in the back hall, and since she hadn't been in to get the garbage yet, I figured it was her, and just glanced up and waved her in. But it wasn't her at all. It's was one of my blog readers! Leelee was in town -- which of course meant Keith Anderson was too. :-) It was great to see her and her hubby. Somehow I didn't get that he was quite as big a Keith fan as she was... The days of dropping in on me at the Hall of Fame are almost over, we have 3 more work weeks there and then the process of moving to our new home in the Sommet Center begins. (Actually the packing will probably begin this week.)

Delaynie goes back to school tomorrow, which means an end to the sleeping in I've been able to do the past couple of weeks. *sigh* It was nice while it lasted.

The Photos Blogger Wouldn't Let Me Add Last Night

A Good Year for the Rizers

I have to tell you, I’m a little sad to see 2007 end… it was quite possibly the best year of my life. So many blessings came our way this year! 2007 started off with the excitement of my Christmas present to my mom – a trip to her homeland of New Zealand. The year ended with the double blessing of my two new nephews. In between I traveled half way around to world to meet family, jaunted to the Big Apple, and shared adventures in Vegas with a dear friend who had never been there. I saw my oldest son and his wife graduate from college, my daughter get braces and start middle school, my husband change jobs, and we bought and sold a house. It’s been quite a memorable year, that’s for sure.

The key word for 2008 is most likely going to be “change.” My younger son will graduate from college in May. My daughter’s best friend since kindergarten is changing schools over Christmas break. I’m getting one more niece or nephew in June. And of course, my employer is in the process of a merger that in all likelihood means that a year from now I’ll probably be working somewhere else.

I’m excited to see what’s ahead. But whatever the year brings, it’s going to be hard to top the Ride of 2007! Thanks so much to all of you who took the journey with me.

Happy New Year my friends!