Life at the Top ... Some Weeks It Just Sucks!

Jimmy Carter in Birmingham, Alabama

Checking out one of the best shows on the road today: Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and Justin Moore in the Magic City (lived here once and never did know why they called it that) ... Birmingham, Alabama.

Grammy week and the dust ...or should I say MUD, hasn't settled yet. A real bad week for a real good girl, Taylor Swift.

Did she sing poorly on the Grammys? YES. Were there a bunch of people ready to tear her to shreds at the first bump in the road? Apparently.

Taylor Swift got too much too fast. That's not anyone's fault. It is just how the cards were dealt. You think The Beatles volunteered for all aspects of Beatlemania? You know they didn't.

The Kanye event changed everything. She went from on the way up to top of the mountain all too quickly. It became HER year with all the trappings. Money, yes ... amazing amounts. Awards by the van load. But all that provoked jealousy from those who lose the awards and their fanatic followers. Resentment. The CMA ... everything cocked the gun. The predictable Grammy win pulled the trigger. Something was going to be that bump in the road. The off-key medley did it.

The criticism was justified, but the Taylor Haters must have come from central casting where the Dixie Chick haters have been hiding, The Miley haters work out of the same office.

Now is the time for character reinvention. They changed the website to a more grown up Taylor. She has a condo and now the music evolves. She evolves. The "Gee wiz, I won" has to become a more humble, mature, thankful pose.

Taylor is loved and I can't imagine but have now lived to see almost despised by every mom it seems whose daughter lost the talent show. Just read the Letters to the Editor in the Tennessean they will make a reasonable person insane.

I love Taylor and respect her crew. They have done everything about as good as anyone EVER has. She is Fearless but that Fearless got her into that duet. Learn your limitations and work within them. Grow, but even top guns know what they can and can't do.

The mess in Alabama in the political electronic gaming world was equally ugly this week. Country Crossing, where all those Country artists have made an investment in time and maybe money, has been padlocked. The gambling war in Alabama was going to get hot, but not sure if this would be so crazy. Google Country Crossing and Victoryland ... news...you will see some of the mess ... WSFA-TV, WTVY-TV and the Dothan Eagle have the best coverage. It is a really big mess ...Lots of Music Row types are knee-deep in this, too. It may work out in the long run ... then again, it may not.

Lots of folks ... maybe 3,000 ... unemployed after these facilities shut down in the war with the Governor Bob Riley, who isn't too popular right now.

It was a crazy, crazy week ... snow up to our knees ... but Spring and renewal is on the horizon ... still more Winter....