Blank Radio and Booze

Don't ever volunteer to ride in a Corvette for 2,395 miles over a four-day period. I don't think you can scan the dial outside morning drive and find much more than jukebox music stations.

No time, No temp, no titles. That should be a Chesney song. Fast songs slamming into slow songs separated by liners. Bad radio run by a computer -- and when the jocks do talk...LAME! Maybe it's because they try to hard or want to impress the listener with what they know. Bottom line: Over-the-air radio is not sat radio. I can't believe some basic service elements and listener interaction would ruin the show. Heck, they might even make it entertaining! If I want a jukebox, I get an iPod!

With that out of the way...booze is a problem in country music right now. Sweep it under the rug, bury the thought, do what you like, but just talk to anyone this summer and you get this picture:

• Mindy McCready was arrested for hitting her mom while drunk.
• Mark Collie was found slumped over a steering wheel with the car running near Music Row.
• Forty underage inebriated concert fans arrested at a Chesney show in Indiana.
• Another 44 arrested for underage drinking at Jamboree in the Hills.
• Someone driving away from Jamboree in the Hills slammed into a truck, a pole and two cars and was life-flighted away in critical condition. Ohio State Police say alcohol was a factor.

Look at all the booze sponsors right now in country and racing. Look at all the DUIs and now a near-fatal crash in Ohio. What's it going to take to rein this in? A huge tragedy? So far, the only thing that's talking is the money, money, money - as in the wads of money the booze folks are spending on promotion.

I am told by several behind-the scenes-folks and stars that the partying backstage and in front is over the top this summer. Can you hear the ticking time bomb?

A footnote: Only recently have artists openly embraced the hard liquor folks and their money. Of course there was drinking...duh! But never institutional endorsement. It was a double standard, yes, but the kids' element is newer to country music. The audiences are younger and with the hard liquor, cool songs and sponsors, this is a tragedy ready to happen. So far, it's "only" been kids getting a police record, or the DUI guy in Ohio nearly killing people. It is something that should be looked at. Education about responsible drinking at LEAST!

Mindy goes to jail again, Mark Collie DUI, Billy Currington out with voice issues, Keith Urban canceling his Europe tour. Carrie Underwood singing Guns and Roses songs. Country concerts taking in over $164 million so far this year. Yet CD sales still stink.

No shortage of things to talk about in these hot, at times rainy, yet anything but sleepy days of summer.