Bad Blogger....

I apologize for the absence, lots going on right now on a personal level, and I just cannot dedicate the time to the blog for the time being. If you need your Bucky fix, please check the links to the right. Also pay a visit to Buckytown, USA for upcoming shows, news blurbs, concert pics and tons of other goodies.

Hugs to all. I will be back as soon as I am able to commit the time needed.

Catching Up

Hi all! I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of my telephone service for last weeks absence. Dial up and noise on the line do NOT mix, and I was unable to connect at all. Lots happened in my absence though, so I will spend the next day or so catching up.

The first big thing I saw when I was able to get online is that Winnie over at Buckymania has been offered a new opportunity. As a result she is closing her Buckymania blog, but the archives (blogger willing) will remain for all to see. Winnie, we love you and will miss your daily musings, friendship and the occasional bit of rational advice when we stray just a wee bit off the path of being a good fan. Please don't be a stranger, Bucky and the rest of us are lucky to count you among our friends and we would all hate to loose that. Wishing you the best Winnie!

I would also like to welcome Fran to the blogging world. Fran has set up house over at Buckytown, USA and is still getting things settled in but her blog is shaping up to be a real winner. Stop over and say hi, and check out the helpful links she has graciously shared.

It has been nearly 1 week since Bucky Covington's 3rd single hit the ground running with its official release May 5th. We are back to pounding the keyboards and dialing digits to request the song to our local (and sometimes not so local) stations. "I'll Walk" is showing a steady climb upwards, sitting today at #51 on the Mediabase Top 500, and #53 on the weighted chart. The bullets are looking GREAT for a new release, so lets get busy and light up those request lines. This single is definitely a hit song in the making, so lets help get it there!

I will be back tomorrow with photos and more news, again I apologize for the absence. Sweet Bucky dreams to all!

Technical Difficulties

Please excuse the lack of updates. I am experiencing technical difficulties and they should be repaired tomorrow (fingers crossed).

Meanwhile - get your requests in for I'll Walk to your local radio stations! It should have officially been released, so the time has come~

*If it has not been officially released, I apologize. A week without internet doesn't give me much in the way of current info!

DJ Training 101

Today's post is about training your DJ. I know that sounds like a silly topic, but for those of us who's lives revolve around our favorite artist(s) a DJ is a very important friend to have. In all of my adventures requesting Bucky Covington's "It's Good To Be Us" or "A Different World" I failed miserably at striking up any sort of relationship with any of the DJs. It was surely not for a lack of effort, though I did call during the different shifts, and switched it around a bit so perhaps there was no traceable pattern which would work as a conduit for said relationship that never developed.

Now finally (and at a good time certainly with Bucky's new single knocking insistently at the door) I have selected and trained my DJ. I have actually been listening to him for years, as he ends up with the early afternoon/drive home shift plus Saturdays. My job dictates that I spend the majority of my working hours on the road, so naturally the times I am at work are spent listening to the radio. In my conversation mentioned previously, I dialed up the local DJ to thank him for playing Jason Michael Carroll's new single "I Can Sleep When I'm Dead". I thanked him, told him I looooooove the song and so on. End of phone call, moving on. The next time I heard it was exactly 1 week later and within minutes of the time it was played the previous week. Hmmm, well that is bizarre, what are the odds? So again I call, and thank him. It went something like this me: "Thanks!" him: "I was wondering if you would call" me "I listen when I am at work, so I caught it and called". End of that days interaction. The following day - same time AGAIN he plays it, I call - "THANKS!", he says "you're welcome" and talked a bit about a visit he had with JMC in Nashville (and what a darn nice guy he is!) and we hang up, me grinning to myself. Today he played it, I called.....he answered "You're welcome!" so I said thank you, chuckling to myself as I hung up. That ladies and gentlemen is how to train a DJ in 4 easy steps. Gotta love it! Shout out to Tyler Reese with Star 96.3, you rock dude! 96.3 Star Country

Have a few minutes to spare? Allow me to continue promoting my other addiction, check out Jason's very new video for "I Can Sleep When I'm Dead" over on CMT!
CMT : Videos : Jason Michael Carroll : I Can Sleep When I'm Dead

Collecting Rocks?

Thanks to a heads up from Winnie (hi Winnie!) I ventured over to Steve Cook's journal to see what the latest and greatest on tour adventures are. While I cannot speak for the rest of the folks on the bus, it seems Steve is busy filling the bus full of rocks. I can actually identify with that problem, I have always liked pretty rocks and have a hard time walking by a nicely landscaped yard and not taking one home with me. I actually have 2 geode pieces that I just found a few weeks back landscaping a park. Given enough time I would have taken home all of the pretty ones. Mind you Steve is working to landscape his own yard (perhaps one day I will visit and steal one of those rocks for my own collection) while I just snag them for no apparent reason aside from liking to look at them. I rent so I won't be landscaping...in fact the two treasures from my last adventure are sitting on my microwave, I guess I could landscape it. Check Steve's journal for more about life on the road Steve Cook | Shiny Bass | Journal

On a quick Bucky note, I spoke to my local DJ today after calling him to thank him graciously for playing JMC's "I Can Sleep When I'm Dead" and requested that he play Bucky to continue appeasing me. He said he would see what he could do, but asked me about my thoughts on his new single. Caught completely unprepared I told him it was beautiful. Hindsight is 20/20, I am not sure I would sum it up as merely beautiful. Anyhow I asked if it was on the play list yep (NOPE!) and asked when they would be adding it. He was able to confirm that it is being officially released as a single this coming Monday, so hopefully that will help get it into play. I can't wait til I hear it in the regular rotation!

Bucky Withdrawal

Sitting here tonight feeling sorry for myself. My next Bucky fix isn't until June and I have no idea how I am expected to survive until then. Really isn't that expecting a lot? I mean it has been exactly 18 days since my last Bucky show and it feels like it was 10 years ago. What is up with that anyhow? I know we all feel the same once the after show aura wears off. It takes a week or so for that to happen, but within 2 or 3 weeks the most recent memory suddenly feels decades old, and you are craving and plotting your next fix. I even dream of one day being retired (and wealthy!) and following the tour around the country for a year or 10. I am not entirely sure if this addiction (which I admit to fully!) is really any different than any other addiction, with the exception that our therapy group doesn't meet weekly, nor typically in person. We often meet online in any of the forums listed to the right, and occasionally in person at concerts.

You can spot us a mile away too, we glance at our M&G pass noting it is the same as the other dozen plus we have collected at home, and then start talking to some newbie Bucky fan about how this is our eleven-hundred-thousandth time meeting him and how smitten we still are to this day. We then assure them they will feel the same way, while plotting our eleven-hundred-thousand and first M&G. We often bring gifts (hint: chocolate seems to go over big!) or photos to share, and we always bring a hug. We can be seen wearing a variety of clothing, from our classic Bucky concert tees to the now endangered Carolina blue It's Good To Be Us shirts. Some of us dress up quite a bit more, something a bit flashy perhaps - I freely admit to "concert shopping" in the days before a show looking for just the right thing to wear. I also freely admit to hauling way too much stuff to the shows. I have the camera and the purse, nothing too complex but then I add the really cool new tee that they are selling (tan one with the moon, I love it!) and a soda or water, plus the photo I want signed, plus perhaps a poster that I grabbed on the way in. At the last show things were going fine and I was doing a personal inventory of my baggage when I noted I was missing my purse. I had left it over at the counter when I purchased a soda. So yep, I bring too much stuff. If you bring so much that you don't immediately notice you are missing something, then you brought too much.

Next time maybe I will just load it all into a shopping cart and bring that along. Plenty of time to think about it, next show isn't until June.

*The Captain America Idol print was the last thing I gifted to Bucky....no, it is not chocolate. Yes, he seemed to think it was cool - and I doubt he has any thing quite like it LOL. Apparently when Captain America died, his replacements' name was "Bucky". Someone created the print and crossed it over to AI, pretty cool!

Wouldn't It Be Cool...

So I shamelessly admit I have entered the contest for tickets to the Stagecoach Festival. I have also entered both of the contests for the CMA Fan Fest (check CMT for a new contest with Keith Anderson as your tour guide!) If it involves airfare, a motel and passes - sign me up now! If I win, I will be there with bells on and cameras in tow. I promise to be a good fan and be on my best behavior, I will applaud all artists and treat them with respect. I also promise to treat fellow fans with respect unless they are extremely drunk and obnoxious - then I will treat them politely while evading their proximity as rapidly as possible.

So if I win, I will behave. I most certainly will. I will pack minimally (I only have so many Bucky shirts!) I will take my cameras everywhere and indulge the world with photos afterwards of my most excellent experience. I also promise to take far more photos of Bucky than of any other artist. I am not sure who I will take with me - perhaps the hubby, he is a big fan of country music. I might take my mom or my sister instead. They also love country music and have the added bonus of credit cards not attached to my own.

I know I am up against hundreds or even thousands of other entrants in these contests. I wish them good luck, but not quite as much good luck as I wish myself. I also expect the above behavior of them if they win. Indulge us all with photos (again heavy in the Bucky area) and behave in ways befitting a proper country fan. It would also be great if you wore Bucky t-shirts to the event - if you win and cannot find yours let me know and you can borrow mine. They are big, so should fit anyone either as a shirt or possibly a dress.

Wondering where to sign up to win the contests that I wish to win? Check out the following:

Indio CA - Stagecoach Festival Stagecoach Contest
CMT Ultimate Fan Experience CMT.com: The Ultimate Country Music Fan Experience Sweepstakes
CMT Keith Anderson Contest CMT.com: C'mon to Music Fest with Keith Anderson Sweepstakes

And like I said earlier - good luck! (just not as much good luck as I wish myself...)