Yesterday and Today

Morning! The good thing about not having recovered from my trip to New Zealand is that I'm not remotely bothered by Vegas time... which falls somewhere between Pacific time, two hours behind Nashville - and wherever it is that people don't go to bed until 5am.

Our show yesterday went great. Gilley's is a really cool hang out. The hotel it is in scared me a tad from the outside... it's a little dated. But you can't beat the ambiance. I hope you were able to catch some of the show. Dusty Drake was a great co-host, and it was nice for Jon to have someone other than me to talk to on the air. Two years ago when we were out here broadcasting, I was his sidekick. This year, we've called in the pros! Amy Paige will be there today, and Jack Ingram tomorrow!

Dusty performed live 3 songs... just him and a guitar, and sounded great. His wife was a doll too - she was talking all morning about wanting to ride the bull at Gilley's. So after the show I got the manager, and he got her on! She did good - much better than the guy that tried it after her.

Taylor Swift has always struck me with her poise and level head. Needless to say she's terribly excited about this week. She has two new dresses to wear to the show, made by Sandi Spika. She says she's isn't nervous about singing Tim McGraw in front of Tim McGraw. I finally got to meet Taylor's mom. Her mom was totally down to earth. And Tracy Byrd is always a fun hang. We'll once again be carrying the T-byrd / Griggs fan club party live this year from the Wildhorse Saloon!

After the show Sandi and I started walking down the strip, taking in the sights. Disneyland for Grownups - there's SO much to see you almost don't know where to look. Walked through the Venetian, which is my favorite hotel. Still beautiful. Our destination was Margaritaville, where we did some shopping while partaking of those pretty beverages I posted last night. Umm.... earlier this morning.

We also made a stop into Harrah's to visit Toby Keith's I Love This Bar. Y'all should be proud. Small joint... Toby stuff everywhere.. I did not give Toby any of my money, but I now can say I've been there.

We eventually hopped the monorail back to the hotel, where we saw the MGM Lions. There were two of them on display, and they gave us a nice little show of batting a ball around and hopping in the water to get it. Captured it all on video for Delaynie. They had mics in the cage too, so when the lions roared, everyone heard it. Did some shopping in the Lion gift shop too for the little girls in my life!

We had a little time to rest up and change for the evening's activities, a pre-show party and concert courtesy of Columbia records. They shuttled us over to a new club in town that's only been open a couple of weeks. It was beautiful, and we befriended a bartender that made us fruity martinis. It was a bit of an odd VIP party... there were winners there that got a meet and greet with Gretchen... not the usual schmoozefest. But the bar was open and the cheese sticks were awesome. Shrimp quesadillas were pretty good. And I befriended a journalist from ABC Radio, with a mohawk and several piercings, who is my favorite person I've met in Vegas.

Caught up with a lot of my Nashville buddies there... Storme Warren was working... Neil Haislip... some of the GAC execs... Craig Shelbourne from CMT.com, a bunch of media folks... and of course the record label gang. From the pre-party we went out to Freemont Street, where Gretchen was kicking off her new tour. They had a nice VIP section for us, thankfully, because the crowd was huge!

The set was an air stream trailer, complete with pink flamingos and a camoflauge piano. The trailer windows were video screens, and she - and her special guests made their entrace through the trailer door. Gretchen is very comfortable on stage, she's got a big band, and a strong voice. She stripped it down to a couple of acoustic numbers but really rocked on some other things.

Speaking of rocking, Mr. Mohawk had let me in on Heart being one of the special guests. They came out and did "Barracuda." John Rich came out and sang "Come to Bed" with Gretchen, which was cool. She did a full show - just under an hour and a half, complete with the requisite "Redneck Woman" encore. Don't tell anyone, but someone we know... who has previously not been a Gretchen Fan... was seen rockin' and boppin' and having herself a grand time. ;-)

We headed back to the hotel and hit the food court at about 1am for some really bad chilli dogs. Saw John Rich in the casino. I forgot to mention that he and Cowboy Troy were also at the pre-party.

Today we've got Lonestar, Ty Herndon, and new artists Stephen Cochran and Jerrod Nieman coming by the broadcast. Tonight we have the New Artist show and a Songwriter's show, and we still have to hit the M&M's store at some point and see the dancing water fountains at Bellagio.