The Price Of Being LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes and new hubby Eddie Cibrian shared a low-key night at Chicago's Tavern on Rush. The pair split a bottle of Villa Antinori, and ordered a hummus appetizer before tucking into two entrées: the Asian fusion bowl with chicken for her and a chopped salad for him.  During the meal, LeAnn was approached by a fan about her weight. 

According to a tweet from LeAnn, the fellow diner came up to her table and told her she needed to "Eat something" in front of her stepsons Mason and Jake. 

LeAnn tweeted, "What is wrong with people!?? AS I'm stuffing my face…have another drink and maybe take a class in manners! Cheers!"

A source says the pair looked like they were having fun, but attempted to go unnoticed: Rimes wore a fedora and kept a low profile while dining.

Garth On Parade

Garth Brooks sat down for an interview with Parade magazine and opened up on a few topics including politics.  

He weighed in on the state of the U.S. saying, "I don't feel the country is in a good place.  My thing is, whether you voted for someone or not, let's pull together and be a nation."

Garth says he's still a few years away from recording an album of new material as well.  He says, "Not until all the babies are out.  I'm going to raise them and then hit it with a vengeance."  Garth has said he will go on a large scale tour again once his children are grown. 

In the meantime, he's still doing his one man show at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort.

Expensive Pair Of Shoes For Twain

shaniatwain.com

Shania Twain's shoes raised nine-thousand-dollars auctioning off the autographed, black satin BCBG Max Azria heels she wore at the CMT Music Awards back in June -- when she slipped and fell as she was making her way to the stage. 

While she admitted she was embarrassed about her tumble at the time, it was in reflecting on the incident that she came up with the idea of helping others while eliminating the offending footwear from her life. 

The shoes went to the Canadian eBay website this month, and the auction closed Monday night. 

The nine-grand Twain is getting for the shoes will go to Shania Kids Can, a charity the singer established to help school-aged children who are struggling with problems in their homelife.

Three Different Endings For Sara

Sara Evans released her new video for "My Heart Can't Tell You No" with three different endings.  Fans must watch the clip at iTunes, CMT and VEVO to see them all. 

Sara has also launched a contest at SaraEvans.com with the winner getting an autographed iPad including all three version of the "My Heart Can't Tell You No" video.  

It's the latest single from her #1 album, Stronger.

Mr. Spontaneous Keith Urban

Keith Urban works hard to keep his live show spontaneous even though a lot of things in the production are timed to the minute. 

Keith also goes out into the crowd to play guitar during every show, and sometimes it looks like a mob scene.The idea is to keep every show different and keep the fans interested in what is happening.

Keith's Get Closer World Tour continues this ‘Long Hot Summer’.

Lambert and Shelton Surprise Announcement!

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert made a surprise announcement just moments ago via Neal McCoy’s youtube account confirming that they are indeed making an album together! I’m so excited about this that typing is a challenge, so I’m just gonna share the video right here! Stay tuned for more details as they unfold! 

Zac And Jack

Zac Brown Band & Jack Daniels will provide a one-of-a-kind experience for fans.

The Jack Daniels & ZBB partnership will include U.S. and Canada advertising and promotional activities, a dedicated responsibility campaign, and co-presenting tour support. It is the first major partnership between the famed distillery and a musical artist in more than a decade.

The partnership will also include a commemorative bottle program in support of Camp Southern Ground, Brown’s camp for children with special needs.

Jack Daniel’s and ZBB have joined forces to launch and actively promote a campaign to encourage responsible drinking.

Real Life Dierks Bentley

Dierks Bentley’s, "Am I the Only One," came from his real life.  

One part of the song isn't exactly true though.  Nobody turned down Dierks's invitation to party because they had to catch up on American Idol.  

"Am I the Only One" is the lead single from Dierks's new album, expected to come out later this year.

Taylor Swift History Fan

Taylor Swift is a fan of American history. In a issue of Rolling Stone, Taylor reveals she finished Laurence Learner's book The Kennedy Women, which traces the lineage of the Kennedys all the way back to Ireland in the 1800s. She's also picked up books about John Adams, President Lincoln's cabinet, the founding fathers and Ellis Island. 

During her tour through New York, the New York Historical Society was closed when Taylor tried to swing by. Taylor did get to to the Museum of Natural History and see the dinosaur fossils while in New York City, though.

Garth And Alan Together Again

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Foundation announced this year’s inductees for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame:

In the Songwriter category, hit writers John Bettis, Thom Schuyler and Allen Shamblin were selected.  In the Songwriter/Artist category, country superstars Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson.

Induction into the prestigious songwriting community will be held at the 41st Anniversary Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony to be held on Sunday October 16 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

Blake In Cosmo

Blake Shelton has landed one of country's hottest women, Miranda Lambert, and he's sharing some of the things he likes most about her in a new feature in Cosmopolitan. 

The story actually has Blake laying out what makes a guy think a girl is really a keeper, and the first sign a girl is on the right track is if they guy wants to be the girl's best friend. Says Blake, "As a man, you want a woman who makes you want to be buddies with her as much as you want to be romantic with her because you like her that much." 

Blake also thinks a woman who sticks to her guns is sexy. He says, "What I love about my wife is that she knows what she likes, and she never makes apologies for it. That confidence is very attractive."

Blake also thinks men and women alike should use their talents and skills to continue impressing each other. "I'd always pull out my guitar and play a song," he says, "Women should show off their talents too." Blake goes on to say that women who are able to chill at a sports bar and hang with her guys' friends is a definite plus.

Lastly, Blake thinks most guys would prefer staying in with their girl. "We much prefer staying home and having a drink with you," he says of his male counterparts. "Miranda likes doing that too, and it's one of the reasons we work." 

For more of Blake's dating advice, pick up the September issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale now.

Another Concert Accident Injures Keith Urban Fans

Keith Urban played the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas last Wednesday (8/16/11), and the evening nearly ended in tragedy when two fans leaned on a railing and it gave way. 

Luckily the drop was only about 4 feet. The two Wichita fans were treated by EMS workers and luckily didn't suffer any major injuries.  The fans were sitting in a front row area and fell the 4 feet to the area main floor.

The arena's general manager says that the railing was bolted down, but the railing in that particular spot isn't permanent since they move things around depending on the event taking place at the arena.

A similar incident happened in 2009 when Keith played Memphis, Tennessee. Fans leaned a little too hard on the railing and it gave way sending several people tumbling down.  That time fans actually fell on Keith. 

Tim and Faith Are Real Dolls

To celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary this fall, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have been immortalized into a set of collector Barbie dolls. The ‘Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Doll Gift Set’ is on back-order until September 1, but is available for purchase now at BarbieCollector.com for $69.95.

Tim & Faith were involved in the process of creating the dolls, which reportedly took about two months.

You may also want to add the Reba McEntire Barbie to your collection.

Get Hell On Heels

Pistol Annies, Miranda Lambert's new all-girl group with Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe, have released their debut album, Hell on Heels.

The ladies also came up with nicknames capturing what they individually brought to the group.

Miranda is known as "Lonestar Annie" since she hails from Texas.

Angaleena comes from a tiny town in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky called Beauty, which is why she's called "Holler Annie."  Ashley got the nickname "Hippie Annie" because of her peaceful outlook.

Pistol Annies was a name Miranda came up with after the three of them bounced around literally about a hundred possible names. At first they wanted to be the Calamity Janes, but a stripper owns that name, and she wouldn't give it to the group.

Miranda has been featuring Pistol Annies in her live shows for the past few months.

Bentley Said No To Apprentice Job

After Trace Adkins placed second on Donald Trump's NBC reality competition show, 'Celebrity Apprentice,' there was only one name that came to mind when asked to recommend a country star to succeed him: John Rich. And after John Rich won his season of the show, the one name he insisted to 'the Donald' could be as passionate a competitor as he was: Dierks Bentley.

But not likely Dierks will be the ‘Celebrity Apprentice’.

Dierks' just announced his Country & Cold Cans Tour, a 22-city trek that kicks off October 6 in Lacrosse, Wis. Opening acts include Jerrod Niemann and the Eli Young Band for the first leg of the tour.

Dierks' sixth studio album is expected to be released this fall.

Indiana State Fair Tragedy Toll Is Now 7

The death roll has risen to seven. Meagan Toothman, a 24 year old cheerleading coach from Ohio, has become the seventh person to die from injuries sustained from the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. Fox 59 also reported Jenny Haskell, 22, was pronounced dead at 8:15 am Friday. She was reported to be a student at Ball State University.  

“After a long courageous battle, Jenny Haskell died at 8:15 this morning from her injuries sustained from the tragedy at the state fair,” the statement said. “Jenny’s family would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers during this difficult time. Continued support and prayers for the remaining victims would be greatly appreciated.”  

The first law suit has apparently been filed. 

Attorney Kenneth J. Allen is seeking damages for his clients Wanatah, Ind. Natives Janeen Beth Urschel, who survived the stage collapse accident, and Tammy VanDam, who died in the catastrophe. 

The attorney says that he feels better calls should have been made to get concertgoers out of the area, ultimately preventing the accident. “This was a terrible tragedy that could and should have been prevented,” Allen said in a statement, according to IndyStar.com. “The responsible parties must be held to account.”  

Multiple companies responsible for putting on the concert, including the company which owns the stage rigging that fell, Mid-America Sound Corp., the show’s booking agent, Live 360 Group, and Live Nation Entertainment, who owns Ticketmaster are named in the law suit.

 

$50 million is sought for VanDam’s estate plus 10 million punitive damages for her partner Urschel. The couple had been together for 10 years, and maintained a civil union from Hawaii — though that was not recognized by the state of Indiana.

Legal experts expect many more lawsuits to follow.

State law limits government's liability to $700,000 per injury or death. But the more important limit in the stage collapse is that all claims from a single incident are capped at $5 million.

Lawyers have 270 days after an incident to give the state notice that they intend to sue.

Journey To Fearless

‘Taylor Swift’s Journey to Fearless’ is being released in October. The DVD runs two-and-a-half hours and features performances from Taylor's last road show and early home movies and backstage footage.  

Performances of Taylor's hits like "You Belong with Me," "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Love Story" are also included.

The DVD, available on October 11, will feature 13 performances. In addition, fans will see photos and home video footage from her personal vault. 

Portions of the DVD aired last year as a three-part miniseries on the Hub network. Swift’s Speak Now Tour runs through November 22. Most shows are already sold out.

Paisley Is Hot In Europe

Brad Paisley launched the European portion of his "H2O II" tour with a show in London Wednesday night.

Brad made his solo concert debut in London last summer, with a two-night stand at the Shepherds Bush Empire. This time around he'll be taking the stage at London's O2 Arena. 

Brad will be returning to Oslo later this month, after he performs in Dublin, Castlebar, and Klllarney, Ireland and Stockholm, Sweden. Following his Norway show, Paisley will head back to Sweden for a show in Goteborg, 

then wrap up his time overseas in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Brad will bring his "H2O II" tour back to these shores next month, resuming his North American trek in Tampa on September 9th.

Tough Way To Lose For Joe Don

Monday, Rascal Flatts Joe Don Rooney had to deal with a big loss.  Joe Don's 170 pound French Mastiff, Stevie Ray is no longer with us.

Rooney tweeted this:

Just wanted to resend this to y'all... We miss our Stevie so much! RIP Stevie Ray Rooney 8.15.11 Sweetest dog http://t.co/psFxgy1

The photo comes from the pages of Celebrity Dog Watcher.

Here's Joe Don's TwitPix feed for more on Stevie. 

CMA Music Festival Wins The Night

You may have heard there's a battle over what network will bring you country music awards shows in the future. 
 
ABC has been airing both the CMA Awards and the CMA Music Festival since 2006.  If  Sunday night's show is any indicator, the network will want to hold on going forward. 

The broadcast of the festival attracted more than 7 million average viewers and was the most watched show in its time slot.  That Nielsen rating was an increase of almost 1 million viewers from 2010. 

Tickets to the 2012 CMA Music Festival are on sale now.

Those Heels Almost Killed Her

The killer shoes are going, going, gone. Shania Twain's high heels that caused a painful fall during the CMT Video Awards in June are going to the highest bidder.

Shania had joked about the shoes going to auction. Now they are.

You can catch a glimpse of the shoes on eBay. All proceeds are going to the Shania Kids Can charity. The charity works through the school system to help kids in Canada.

The shoes are black satin BCBG Max Azria heels, size 6. The bidding when last checked was at $6100. You have until Monday night to bid.

Chesney Sets New York Paid Record

Kenny Chesney has set a lot of new records in country music.  Now he set another one in New York City.  Last Saturday, Chesney played the Meadowlands in East Rutherford in front of an estimated 55,000 fans.  The previous record in paid attendance for a country show was a 1983 festival with Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Linda Ronstadt at Giants Stadium. 

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and New York Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher were reportedly in the crowd.

While the show may have been the biggest in paid attendance for country, it comes no where close to the biggest country show ever to play New York.  Garth Brooks performance at Central Park in 1997, filmed for HBO, was estimated to have more than 250,000 New Yorkers stomping their feet.

Band Perry's Video For All My Life

The Band Perry has a new video of their current song, "All My Life."  Here's the band performing in the famous Oceanway Studios in Nashville via their VEVO/YouTube channel.

The band just kicked off their Purveyors of Performance Tour.  The tour is around 75 live performance dates.  It's a mix of their own headline shows, along with support dates with Keith Urban and Reba

The cinematic video (different than what you see here) features TBP as a vagabond troupe.  CMT and GAC are playing the cinematic video now.

Songs To Boat Away The Remainder Of Summer

Discover Boating, the U.S recreational boating industry's non profit arm, took to Facebook to get the songs that best capture beating the heat on a boat. Their are 195,000 Facebook fans of boating. Around 1500 took the time to vote on the top 10 list. Here were the results including five country songs by Zac Brown Band, Craig Morgan, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Lyle Lovett.

Here are the Top 10 Boating Songs according to Discover Boating fans.

1. “A Pirate Looks at Forty″ - Jimmy Buffett

A Parrothead favorite, released in 1975. The song is one of Buffett's "Big 8" played at every show he performs.

2. “Come Sail Away” - Styx

3. “Redneck Yacht Club” – Craig Morgan

This song was filmed at Percy Priest Lake in Nashville. It's what you expect with Craig, he and his buddies having fun on and around the water. Blake Shelton and Aaron Tippin also show up.

4. “Southern Cross” - Crosby, Stills & Nash

5. “It's Five O’Clock Somewhere” – Alan Jackson feat. Jimmy Buffett

Massive number one country song for Alan Jackson. Yes, that is Alan's boat in the video.

6. “Knee Deep” - Zac Brown Band feat. Jimmy Buffett

Number one song from the Zac Brown Band. This song makes me want to run off.

7. “Boats” - Kenny Chesney

No video from Chesney was ever done for this song, and its not a song he performs live. It really does capture boating.

8. “Sloop John B” - The Beach Boys

9. “If I Had A Boat” – Lyle Lovett

10. “Rock The Boat” - Hues Corporation

A classic hits staple, Rock The Boat by the Hues Corporation rounds out the top 10. Some consider the song the first "disco" song on the Billboard chart. I don't hear it.

Lady Hazed is After Jason Aldean

Lady Antebellum loves to pick on their friends. They started a very public effort by picking on Lee Brice, turning "Love Like Crazy" into "Biscuits and Gravy." Now they've gone several steps above doing songs as "bus tunes" and produced a full music video for their latest victim. 

Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem" has become "Country Club Anthem." Colt Ford, who co-wrote Dirt Road, is in the video. Plus you'll see what Lady A thinks of the country club life.

Other songs the group has done include "A Little More Preppy That That," a parody of "A Little More Country Than That" by Easton Corbin. Jerrod Neimann's "Lover, Lover" became "Mother, Mother" in the twisted minds of Lady A.

The band tweeted their hazing effort get Jason's attention.

“Dear @Jason_Aldean, you’ve officially and lovingly been Lady Hazed! Love, ~ Lady Haze,” they tweeted.

Craig Morgan Drives a Charity Home Run

Billy's Place is a lot brighter today following Craig Morgan's 5th annual Charity Motocross Ride, Concert, and Sporting Clay Shoot. The event pulled in more than $95,000 more than the previous two years combined.

Billy's Place supports children's causes in Middle Tennessee and is planning to build a home in Dickson for displaced children.

One of the big money raisers was the chance to give Craig a "high and tight" haircut. The bidding hit $1200. Bucky Covington, Sarah Darling, and Pam Tills also were part of the activities for Morgan's event.

Craig's current single is "This Ole Boy," which is the title track and single from his new CD coming early next year. You can catch Morgan in the Outdoor Channel series, "Craig Morgan All Access Outdoors."

Taylor Swift Gets Down Again

Taylor Swift had such a good time she's going south for more. This is way south as Swift returns for shows in Australia and New Zealand in March 2012. She played Australia in the Fearlessour in February 2010.

March 2, 2012 - Perth Australia

March 4 - Adelaide, Australia

March 6 - Brisbane, Australia

March 9 - Sydney, Australia

March 13 - Melbourne, Australia

March 16 - Auckland, New Zealand