Happy Valentines Weekend ... CRS Packing Weekend ... Race Week Daytona ...President's Weekend ... That should just about cover it...

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

The Winter of 2014 for most of us as been horrible. The Cold, The high energy bills (you won't beat me water bill was $2,400! Even made the 6 o'clock news...)

The flu, the snow, more than enough obstacles in our way to get 2014 off to a great start ... Okay,that's done. Spring is on the horizon. VALENTINE'S DAY around here has always been the first indicator and that will remain.

Icebreaker Church has torn through the Winter chill with upwards of 300,000 sold of his new CD, The Outsiders - released stay home and wait for better weather to go out and purchase it. You may or may not like him ...You may or may not like his music but it's hot and his fans are eating this new album up. He is the rebel and his music is not cookie-cutter. It is genuine and in your face. He's good for business!

Then there is the million-dollar baby ... Taylor. Announcing her Far East Red Tour. June visits to place American pop music is played and loved. Remember it was a disaster but the Beatles played the Far East ... Sounds great on paper... but check out this account of THEIR visit from Kenneth Womack author of The Long and Winding Roads:

:July 3, 1966, the Beatles' Far East Tour takes them to the Philippines for the first time. After checking into a Manila Hotel, the Beatles were blissfully unaware of an invitation from President Ferdinand Marcos and first lady Imelda Marcos requesting their appearance at Malacañang Palace at 11 a.m. the following morning. But "since the British embassy fiasco," the group's assistant Peter Brown recalled, "the policy was never to go to those things." The next morning, the Beatles' entourage ignored further demands from Filipino officials that they go to the Palace, where the First Lady and some 200 children were now anxiously awaiting their appearance. After playing an afternoon concert for some 35,000 fans and an evening performance for another 50,000 spectators at José Rizal Memorial Stadium, the band started to realize that they were in dire straits when news reports began detailing their snubbing of the royal family.

Later that night, a genuinely contrite Epstein attempted to alleviate the situation by expressing his regrets to the first family on the "Channel 5 News," but a burst of suspicious static rendered his apology all but unintelligible. The next day, the Beatles were suddenly ordered to pay income tax on concert receipts that they still hadn't received from Filipino promoter Ramon Ramos. Worse yet, their governmental security detail had been suspended, given their allegedly rude treatment of the first lady, and the group and their entourage were left to their own devices as they rushed to the Manila International Airport in order to make their KLM flight to New Delhi.

But their ordeal wasn't over yet. The Beatles were jostled by an angry mob as they made their way to immigration, and things became even more dicey on the tarmac, when roadie Evans and press officer Tony Barrow were removed from the plane shortly before takeoff. The group had been declared "illegal immigrants" by the Filipino government, and Mal and Tony spent some 40 minutes negotiating the band's way out of the country. When the pair finally returned to the plane, the Beatles hastily exited the country, relieved at having survived what they considered to be a near-death experience in the South Pacific.

I'm sure Taylor will meet and greet everybody who needs to be greeted and meeted !

As we continued the rebel theme for a little more ... Trick Pony is back together after an eight-year rest. Keith, Heidi and Ira Dean are great and hopefully can handle things better this time around. To know them is to love them ...Trickpony.com is new and let the music and touring begin...'

Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley both hitting snow cancellation dates this week...Luke headed to Daytona on the 23rd for the big Nascar Race. The "crud" caused Kenny Rogers to cancel his Valentine's Day Nashville show as Ronnie Milsap cancels a few dates as he recovers from surgery.

CRS late-night and daytime is filling fast. Should be a fascinating week as the labels bring out the baby acts and try to hold on what they have now with the veterans.

The veterans are struggling a bit. I hope the programmers feel some responsibility to play the real hits and not just the record company push songs. What will be the buzz at CRS 2014 ... Network radio, for sure, but what else????