Ready for Summer ... 2010

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

Tried to rent and car or price an airline ticket out lately? HIGH ... Rental car prices are outrageous!

With tightened belts trying to organize warm weather trips ... sticker shock. So be ready...

Still working on a few things to try to BUNDLE. It is supposed to help.

I hope with the economy a little improved in some quarters, radio will be able to do a little more promotion this spring/summer. After some lean months in that area, it better.

Grammy Block party for MusicRow this coming week ... all the runners are here for the huge 30,000-strong Music City Marathon over the weekend. Hockey playoffs ... he NFL draft and posting of the new season schedule. Busy times again.

The artists tours are starting ... the festivals. like the one in California, StageCoach ... this weekend. We are off and running.

After the most dreary winter in memory it's time! Brad Paisley at Austin's Aquapalooza. Strait in San Antonio May 1st. The Derby in Louisville with Rascal Flatts singing the Anthem. It's time to get outside.

Saw a great film ... yes. great. Teenage Paparazzo. Won't be out until Fall but is an Oscar nominee ready to happen ... here's the brief summary

"When precocious 13-year-old paparazzo Austin Visschedyk snapped a photo of celebrity Adrian Grenier (HBO's Entourage), little did he know his life was about to change. Turning the tables on the juvenile paparazzo, Grenier stepped on the other side of the lens in an attempt to mentor a teenager obsessed with the lure of the Hollywood lifestyle. Grenier develops a meaningful relationship with his camera-clicking young friend as he attempts to reconcile their mutual exploitation. Indeed, Grenier puts himself on the line here, trying to make sense of his own recently acquired fame.

Given the success of Entourage and its place in the zeitgeist, Adrian Grenier is the perfect person to explore our preoccupation with celebrity and the adolescent desire for fame. Exquisitely layered, Teenage Paparazzo moves beyond personal documentary, charting a cultural revolution of celebrity obsession that may have been born in the United States but stretches across the globe."

It is a fascinating work ... The Nashville Film festival had a few music films too ... check their website out for more cues to the future of independent films.

Heard from a few ACM week folks. Vegas handled it all well again ...The audio dept. had problems, but they always do at those huge shows. The ACM winners sure seems record company cutting-fresh ... not sure the masses are as hip to the change has the charts and the powers-that-be want, but we shall see.

Lady A on a great roll and they plan to be headliners in the Fall. Taylor needs a reinvention and she will get it with her new music later in the year.

Miranda is on top of the world. A few others are making behind-the-scenes changes as the music world keeps spinning out of control in the big bosses' offices.

Pandora and every other minnow is biting everyone to death. Making money other than concerts seem to be a challenge.

Can Larry King survive this domestic scandal? He has been a good friend to Country music through the years. Right now things aren't too pleasant at home or on the air with the ratings.

"Idol" may have audience, but I sure don't hear anyone saying how much they are enjoying this year. "Dancing with the Stars," too.

Shaking things up everywhere is making everyone seasick. From volcanoes to King, the world needs a Xanax or two.