BST's Blog

Last night we got to go see Nashville Star. We've been watching it on TV and it hit me last week that, duh, it's taped here in Nashville and we ought to go see it! Amanda hooked us up with one of the producers so we got to skip the extremely long lines outside and go in through the side door. Our seats were AWESOME!! We were about 5 rows back right next to the judges--



Phil Vassar kicked off the evening (he's on the far right). He's had a couple of number 1 hits himself and multiple others he's written for different artists. My friend, Julie Corlew, was a song writer and knew Phil back before he was a country star. We used to go listen to him play in this little dive bar in Antioch. Someone I know who reads this blog was a bouncer there---but I am not naming names. :) He is really such an amazing singer, writer, and performer. I remember thinking--if this guy can't get a record deal, no one can. Sure enough. Anyway--he kicked off the night because it was "original song night". He was awesome.

Brett Michaels (the guy on the far left) also sang last night. He is the lead singer of Poison (that'll take you back.) He sang "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". It was hilarious. Definitely a rowdy performance.

The contestants were fun to watch. I could not believe that Tamika got cut this week. She has such an amazing voice--way better than Jenny. (One of the judges said to Jenny, "I know you have to be as surprised as we are that you're still here." OUCH!) I was not a fan of the Rockabilly guy. His song was pure cheese.

The coolest part was just being there and seeing what it was like to be in the audience for the live taping. Leann Rimes was sick and looked miserable. The audience was extremely rowdy and loud last night--which made it even more fun. And--we were right--it does sound different in the "house" than it does on TV. It's harder to tell when they are pitchy in the theater. Although, Jenny's pitchiness was hard to mask.

All in all, it was a really fun night. Thanks for hooking us up, Amanda! Sometimes, living in a city makes you blind to the fun things that go on there. Nashville has so many cool events. We need to take advantage of them.

It's absolutely beautiful here. It is supposed to be 76 degrees today! I talked to one of the people from Steamboat Springs who told me that there was a huge snow dump there this week. YEA! We will get to ski a week from Saturday. Who can resist Spring Skiing?

I am reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. We are going through it in our staff retreat next week. I don't really love books of that nature, although several of them HAVE been helpful through the years. Two that stick out are Ordering Your Private World by Gordon McDonald and Boundaries by Henry Cloud. Those are two very helpful books. I have liked what I've read so far in Seven Habits. Have any of you read it? What is your impression?