Awards Shows ... Crazy Games Of Chance !!!

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

How does a master showman like Keith Urban ... or a guy the women are screaming about, Luke Bryan ... miss the boat at the Academy of Country Music? It's just how the ball bounces just like it did when the Packers lost to the Giants.

Stuff happens ... How does Kenny Chesney get nine nominations on a year so burned up by Jason Aldean? Those crazy award shows ... Live by the sword, die by the sword.

The social media experiment by the ACM to announce the nominees was good. Once we all figured out what to do, it was novel and the right way to do it. Finishing the step by step reveal and immediately posting the full list on their website was excellent. The ACMs are trying and getting there, showing how they are different from the rival CMAs.

The entire industry depends on the ACMs to be good. It's a three-hour infomercial for the business just like the more-establishment CMAs. The ACM show has always been a little more fun, riskier and glitzy. Vegas on April 1st at the MGM ... be there!

The Grammys are always at least that confusing. This year The Grammys are going to be an important night for Jason, Blake, The Band Perry and Taylor Swift. Blake and the Band Perry are going to be a part of the Lifetime Achievement segment for Glen Campbell.

Can Blake get any more high-profile gigs? The Super Bowl pre-game...The Voice after the Super Bowl ... Seven days later, the Grammys ... The All-Star Race in Charlotte for NASCAR. Many of us are so happy for Blake ... Good things come to those who wait.. some wise man said once.

Keith Urban and Richard Marx at a #1 party this week for their song "Long Hot Summer." KU survived his vocal cord surgery and sounds fine. His tour in 2011 was great.

Glad to see Merle Haggard back home after a medical breakdown in Georgia. Merle says the folks at Macon's Medical Center probably saved his life. Loretta Lynn seems to be back in gear after a few medical leave.

"Red Solo Cup" madness ... "Achy Breaky Heart" comes to mind as the last song little two and three-year-olds were singing like a nursery rhyme. "Red Solo Cup" is one of those symbols of the Internet age with that song taking off as a video on the Net ... growing by word of mouth. Parody songs are on the way. May not be a massive Country hit but it's a whole lot bigger than just the Country chart.

Kellie Pickler out in the world pushing her new CD. Lots of people rooting for her. A good person with a big heart. Ellen would have her on weekly if she could.

How about Lady A selling a half-million tickets in advance of their big tour this year. Big number for a big group!

Lots of positive things on the talent side of things. Record companies are trying to figure out how to make money in this digital age. Some get it and some don't. Radio ... that's the odd man out right now. Some of the moves that are necessary by the corporate powers-that-be are not going to win with the listeners. A very dangerous time as the fans get more digital and if you don't entertain and inform them, they will be gone....Maybe the most dangerous time in radio in its history. Get it right in 2012. It can be done. But it takes people. No one wants to hear automation. I have an iPod for that!