Too Big For Their Britches?

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Several showbiz axioms here ...You meet the same people on the way up that you meet on the way down.. So treat people accordingly...

Another ... Don't be accessible to the max on the way up, then become Marlon Brando, shut off from the world. Where only People Magazine is your conduit to the big blue planet.

A hazardous byproduct of fame is INSANITY! You should be warned going in that the drug called Fame is addictive and can kill you. It will in the least mess you up. Fame doesn't come with an on and off switch. Most don't handle it well at all! (Lindsay Lohan)

If you were weird going in, fame sure isn't going to make you less weird on the other side.

I bring all this up because I've spent my life ... almost all of it ... around famous people. At first, political famous people ... then sports ... then show business. I've spent 40 years talking to famous people about being famous. Almost everyone who has been anyone. I got paid along the way, too! How cool is that?

Eccentric is part of the gig ...Talking to Willie Nelson last week is always good. The most famous seem so real. So nice. Jay Leno comes to mind, though he's changed a little bit.

The ultra-famous Willie Nelson walked that entire red carpet showing no favoritism. A true man of the people.

The uber-stars ... who will never be God-like ... nope, we never see them. Hell, we can be there staring at them and don't even get as much as a wave. That is just plain weird.

Pointing a hot TV camera and they just look like they just hot-wired a car in the parking lot. We do need psych counseling as part of the fame package.

Did that last week at an event ... I mean media avoidance. The same people who begged us to talk to them on the way up ... not even a shout or wave. Sean Connery at least waves.

Garth has always handled all this so smoothly. He amazes me more as time goes by. Tom Hanks is another. Denzel Washington is another. So smooth and cool. Charming.

Not everyone can be Mr./Mrs. Charming. But you also don't have to be like a mob boss at an FBI convention, either.

It comes off bitchy and generally not good. Minnie Pearl was famous all over the world ... Loretta Lynn, too. Could not imagine either acting like some divas do in 2012.

Right now MOST of our Country stars could use some work in the charm area. Blake Shelton is NOT one of those. Still real ... always has and I bet always will be. Eleven years and hasn't changed a lick.

Back to a Minnie-ism ... Minnie Pearl once told me on days you don't feel like being Minnie Pearl, you stay home. Good advice!

Note to current and future stars: Advice. You got into this business to be loved, right?

Then be loved. Act like you like people. Don't be scared.

Stop listening to your advisors who never even entertained their kindergarten class. You are special. Don't hide.

Get out. Be brave. Country music is special. It is approachable music with approachable personalities.

Learn from the people who do it right! The Oaks are fine examples. Marty Stuart. Garth Brooks. Connie Smith. Dierks Bentley. Charlie Daniels. Blake Shelton. Who did it right: Dick Clark! Christopher Reeves.

Make friends. Build some trust with a few non-circle people.

You may enjoy this special Nashville place even more. Save the cool for Hollywood. This isn't Hollywood!

Reba ... careful with her publicity ... always has been, but does it when she needs to and I cant imagine Reba ever coming in some place and not even waving ... trying to hide like a person in the witness protection program. I am too smart to name names of the violators.

Reba's sitcom was very good! Try it ... I laughed out loud a few times ... Congratulations.

The true stars make it big and remain real. Letterman seems so tortured. Talented, rich and famous, but comfortable only when that camera light is on. This business is so complicated!