Live Blogging 30 Minutes of Country Radio, Part III
Final live blog in the warm-up for the ACM Awards Live Blog: Pacific Edition on April 5. I’m now in peak live blogging condition and eager to exercise my skills on something (hopefully) more interesting than 30 minutes of country radio, so I hope some of you in my timezone will join me here on Sunday for the big event. Anyone with me? Should I just plan on talking to myself for a few hours? (Updates will be less frequent in the big blog since I’ll be watching the show for the first time. Radio doesn’t demand nearly as much attention.)
- 11:00 AM: Turning on the radio
- 11:00 AM: Shocking! It’s “Where I’m From”
- 11:00 AM: What am I supposed to talk about?
- 11:01 AM: I don’t want to talk about this song anymore.
- 11:01 AM: Saw Hag and Kristofferson last night. Concert review is forthcoming.
- 11:02 AM: Jason Michael Carroll blah.
- 11:02 AM: Thinking of Hag and Kris and hearing this song calls to mind…
- 11:03 AM: “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”
- 11:03 AM: “Down the Road” now… Chesney and McAnally
- 11:03 AM: Really pleasant sound to this song.
- 11:04 AM: I’m excited that McAnally got a new record deal.
- 11:04 AM: Hope he’s able to find some solo success at radio.
- 11:05 AM: The story of this song doesn’t really go anywhere.
- 11:06 AM: Now what?
- 11:06 AM: Ah, “Songs About Me”
- 11:06 AM: Another song about an airplane encounter.
- 11:07 AM: At least the story of this song kinda fits together.
- 11:07 AM: The guy asks “Whatever made you want to sing stuff like that?” and the singer answers.
- 11:07 AM: In the Carroll song there’s a total disconnect between the question and the answer.
- 11:08 AM: Still, I’m not sure that if the guy was right by the stage and shouted “Man, it was right it was like you sang those songs about me…”
- 11:08 AM: that Trace would be able to make all that out
- 11:08 AM: mixed in with the din of the crowd and all, you know
- 11:09 AM: Maybe one or two words.
- 11:09 AM: Not complete sentences or choruses.
- 11:09 AM: Let’s be realistic here.
- 11:09 AM: Taylor Swift time!
- 11:10 AM: “White Horse”
- 11:10 AM: She sounds okay on quieter songs.
- 11:11 AM: This might be my favorite thing she has put out.
- 11:11 AM: Pretty strong songwriting here. And it’s more complicated than typical radio fare.
- 11:11 AM: But still… not getting the whole her being country thing.
- 11:13 AM: Caller 25 gets a $25 FoodMax gift certificate
- 11:13 AM: “Ain’t Goin’ Down ‘Til the Sun Comes Up” now
- 11:14 AM: I burnt out on Garth years ago, but this song is still palatable.
- 11:14 AM: Which late night show was he on?
- 11:14 AM: Leno, was it?
- 11:15 AM: He sounded good on that show. He hasn’t sounded great in most live stuff I’ve heard during the past few years.
- 11:16 AM: The part where it seems like he’s about to end, then he goes “yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh” is pretty neat.
- 11:17 AM: “This is David Nail. When I’m in Sacramento, I listen to…”
- 11:17 AM: That’s not saying much, David Nail.
- 11:18 AM: You probably don’t hang out in Sacramento much.
- 11:18 AM: Except when you’re here to promote yourself at that station.
- 11:18 AM: I hate those spoken artist bits on radio stations.
- 11:18 AM: Never believable.
- 11:18 AM: Anyway, it’s “Red Light” right now.
- 11:19 AM: This guy doesn’t sound like a country vocalist.
- 11:20 AM: He’s okay, but his voice sounds better suited to rock.
- 11:20 AM: I will never look at a red light in the same way.
- 11:20 AM: Actually, I will.
- 11:20 AM: As I’ll forget this song as soon as it’s done playing.
- 11:21 AM: Here’s the winner of the $25 gift certificate
- 11:21 AM: He seems extremely excited.
- 11:21 AM: Unreasonably excited, really. Hollering, shrieking, the whole deal.
- 11:21 AM: Like he just won a million dollar jackpot.
- 11:22 AM: It’s $25, man.
- 11:22 AM: Now commercials.
- 11:22 AM: If past blogs are any indication, this commercial break will last 6-7 minutes.
- 11:23 AM: Massage therapy school ad.
- 11:24 AM: Gas station ad.
- 11:24 AM: Happy California Cows.
- 11:25 AM: These are some talkative cows.
- 11:25 AM: I suspect people outside California will have no idea what I’m talking about.
- 11:25 AM: Come to think of it, people inside California might not either.
- 11:26 AM: But I’ve never been shy about talking to myself.
- 11:26 AM: Now beauty/hair care supply store ad.
- 11:26 AM: Then bank ad.
- 11:26 AM: We have time for one more song.
- 11:26 AM: When these commercials end.
- 11:27 AM: What will it be?
- 11:27 AM: The suspense is killing me.
- 11:27 AM: Auto glass repair and replacement ad.
- 11:27 AM: SafeLite. I’ve used them. They were pretty good.
- 11:28 AM: So, there you go. Now I’m plugging auto glass repair places.
- 11:28 AM: By the way, the ACM Awards blog will be much more interesting.
- 11:29 AM: Because I’ll actually have stuff to be talking about.
- 11:29 AM: Instead of making stuff up while being bored.
- 11:29 AM: And latching onto the most mundane of details.
- 11:29 AM: Still commercials.
- 11:30 AM: Time’s up.
- 11:30 AM: But I still want to see what the next song would be.
- 11:31 AM: “Kiss a Girl”
- 11:31 AM: Enough of that!
Another great edition! It’s cool that you can turn 30 minutes of blah into a fun read. Keep up the great work.
They didn’t give you a lot to work with this time. I’m jealous that you got to see Haggard and Kristofferson. I’m sure it was great and I look forward to the review.
I’ll be here on Sunday. Looking forward to it!
I wish I could be here, but it’ll be too late for me on a night before the work week.
Great blog, of course. I completely agree on the Chesney/McAnally song–sounds really nice, but no story development there. I think it was the worse half hour you had to blog though.
We have the ‘happy cows come from California’ commercials here in Ohio too.
Oh, good. I wasn’t sure how far we were spreading the happy cow propaganda.
I like the one where they speak french.
I’ll be here Sunday. Hopefully the show won’t be any worse than the CMAs.
Hey – are any of you old enough to remember the California cheese cows commercial where they sang that Brady Bunch song? I think it’s called “Sunshine Day”. (I think I’ll go for a walk outside now, the summer sun’s calling my name…) I loved that one!
Wow. I hadnt seen a happy cow commercial in quite sometime…as I read this…one came on.
Happy cows work in mysterious ways.
that they do