Summer 2011 : The Heat, Deficit Ceilings, The Sheltons ... and Murder!

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Meet the Sheltons: Blake and Miranda. They own the headlines in Country music this year.

Are they doing it right now or what? The VH-1 Behind the Music for Miranda gets her sainthood in Country music. Must see TV! She is for real and the modern-day Loretta Lynn! That show needs very wide distribution. She could run for President -- of at least the CMA!

So great to see honesty. She doesn't sing to me; she sings to her girls. Stands her ground. If she has fear, it's cloaked. Says what she thinks and writes songs like a female Hank Wiliams. She is an artist in the true sense of the word. I've been so used to frauds, I almost didn't see the real deal when it presented itself. I admire Miranda Lambert for standing up for what she believed in. After the Behind the Music, I admire Miranda Lambert. She is an original ... very very rare!

Blake Shelton ... the husband. #1 pop and country this week. Great on Jimmy Fallon and Letterman. My 14-year-old asked this week: Does he have other songs besides "Honey Bee?" Great!

Get well, Loretta ... Heat exhaustion/dehydration ... Get well, Tim McGraw ... broken foot ... Get well, Lauren. The Idol runner-up ... sprained ankle, foot in cast ...

Taylor Swift needs a dumptruck to carry her money ... Seen the box scores for Heinz Field and the two nights in Foxboro?

Aldean versus Shelton at the CMA's this year ... Miranda vs. Taylor for Entertainer of the Year ... REBEL time in Nashville. The once-outs and now the VERY ins!

Checked the news lately? This summer is depressing! Heat waves, murdered children walking home from camp in NY, traffic jams on the 405 of a Biblical proportion ... Anne Murray sang it once: "We Need a Little Good News Today!"

Better try to lift the spirits these days ... This summer, with 55% of the folks not able or going to take a summer vacation, things in a lot of places pretty much suck!

If you want to start complaining, it is easy to let things fly. Summer TV sucks, Howard Stern takes too much time off from his radio job ... Harry Potter/Oprah/Rescue Me all going away. I may jump off my back deck!

Somehow I personally am not in a funk but that could change on a moment's notice. That IS the issue right now in our country. Fight all you like ... ignore the obvious, but people are nervous. They have little confidence in any institution. When the highlight of your day is a new episode of "Pawn Stars," things SUCK!

Thus we come to music and radio. ESCAPE. FUN ... a smile. People want to be informed and feel someone is looking out for them. It's why for better or wors,e Fox News and Tea Parties thrive in this climate.

Having trouble pulling that trigger to spend money on concert tickets and vacations? Worried about upcoming trauma? Most everyone is. Then you say to Hell with it ... and just do it. And so our story goes.

Don't think everybody gets it ... the folks in NYC and LAX, but trust me the rest of us do.

We worry. We hope things will get better. How great was that night we whacked Bin Laden. That was the best night I can remember in a long time. It was great to listen to the radio and watch TV. We need some wins in late column!