my guitar heroes: BRAD PAISLEY and KEITH URBAN.

so one of the things that turned me on to country music is how damn nice everyone is! you hardly hear stories about celebrity feuds, divas, and showing up three hours late to your own concert--if you show up at all--just because you can. and country artists are so friendly and supportive of each other as well as their fans. in fact, i have two such AMAZING stories for you, courtesy of my guitar heroes, brad paisley and keith urban. both are being utter darlings and going above and beyond to make fans' wishes come true.

brad paisley helps fan propose to his girlfriend in the front row!

 
at about 2:45, brad's taking a solo during his performance of his wedding-song-grade ballad she's everything. you see him grab an iphone from someone in the front row and point down at one of his fans.  what is he doing, you ask? he's cuing up a fan in the front row to take the mic and propose to his girlfriend while brad stops the entire show to play camera guy to this once-in-a-lifetime moment in his fan's life! he even does the obligatory "i think i got it" disclaimer as he hands the iphone back. see!? they're real people, just like you and me! you can't say that about all genres.

i remember years and years ago, i was dating a guy who had a lot of friends in "bands" (trust me, quotation marks are necessary), and he asked one of them to say happy birthday to me while on stage (oh whateva, we were freshmen in college). all i got was an "oh-yeah-and-happy-birthday-annie!" in between verses. wtf do i do with that!? anyway, i suppose i was touched at the time, but gag with me a spoon when compared to THIS. more details about brad's lovely gesture--and cute banter--are here. I. LOVE. HIM.

keith urban performs "long hot summer" cover with two lucky fans.
my dreamboat-and-a-half keith urban has been out of the game for awhile recovering from throat surgery. in the meantime (i think it was in the meantime. and if so, then it's pr genius), he had a youtube contest for best cover of what is now my favorite song to blast in the car while driving above the speed limit, long hot summer. he selected the winners himself and then flew them out to nashville to perform it with him.



and umm, did you notice another heartthrob up on stage with keith? richard marx! remember that guy? ("wherever you go, whatever you do, i will be right here waiting for youuu." swoon.) anyway i smiled the whole time as my love for this enigmatic australian ken doll grew exponentially.

it's stuff like this, yall. stuff like this.

country ink: ANSWERS!

see how you did on yesterday's oh-so-titillating tattoo puzzle!

[photo credit: countrymusicfever.com]

1. the lovely lady with the treble clef on her foot is hillary scott from lady antebellum.

[photo credit: people.com]

 

2. one of the more visible tattoos on country ladies today is the one that adorns miranda lambert's forearm: two crossed 6-shooters with angel wings.

3. dreamy keith urban adorns his forearm with a thunderbird, and has several other tattoos elsewhere.

[photo credit: allaccess.com]

4. definitely the more bubbly half of sugarland, jennifer nettles, bears the inspiring inscription "believe" on the outside of her wrist.

[photo credit: yallwire.com]

5. i thought blake shelton's tattoo was fish swimming upstream, you know, as a sign of determination and perseverance, obvi. (i can't help it. i was an english major in college. my life was the explication of symbolism.) TURNS OUT, he's quite the outdoorsman, and this tat is actually a trail of deer tracks, you know, as a sign of staying focused and following your dreams, obvi. i can't turn it off!

how to lose somebody like you in 10 days.

i was watching how to lose a guy in 10 days on tv (usa was playing THE BEST movies all weekend for mother's day) for oh, about the five billionth time in my life. and for the first time ever, i really paid attention to the scene that comes right before the best scene in the entire movie (the pre-shower scene in the bathroom when chantal kreviazuk's feels like home starts to play). it's the scene in staten island where ben teaches andie to drive his motorcycle, and in the background, wouldn't you know it, it's KEITH URBAN!

{somebody like you by keith urban}

despite the obscene amount of times i've seen this movie, i never recognized this song because a) i had no idea who keith urban was (and even if i did, i probably would have made a less-than-impressed "mr. nicole kidman" type remark), and b) i was too busy obsessing over the astonishing transformation of kate hudson's artificially straightened hair to her gorgeous waves after the truck driving over the puddle gets her and matthew mcconaughey soaked and ruins two perfectly good ice cream cones.

it really is keith urban to the rescue because i was beginning to think that perhaps i was growing tired of this movie. but i've officially been roped back in with this new soundtrack realization. keith urban has some of the most subtly romantic songs (like without you and put you in a song), so including him in this soundtrack really is music supervision genius.

and just in case you thought i wasn't going to give you some eye candy with this post, never doubt me again:

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{zimbio.com}

{celebbinge.com}

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