NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville gossip

Toby's rapping was actually controversial I guess

Oh geez.  People will take anything and run with it, I swear. 

I had the video earlier of Toby entertaining the crowd at the Nobel Peace Prize concert afterparty and was amazed at Toby's rapping skills. Okay, more amazed that he would actually get up and do something like rap, but that's beside the point.

Well now I read over on TMZ that some people are up in arms because Toby apparently did a slant-eye thing when Will Smith said "yellow." 

Really?  Are people honestly watching THAT closely just to see if anyone does something that might just possibly offend someone?  Crazy.  Aren't there toys to take away from orphans or something? 

I watched the video again and couldn't catch what the heck they were talking about, but luckily TMZ cuts to just the right spot where you can see Toby do "the move."  Check it out here if you care to.

Toby's rep unnecessarily responded, "No one at the concert thought Toby was out of line."

Toby's rep also said, "Everyone was impressed with his rapping skills and that's it ... all of the artists liked each other, hung out, and it was a very friendly, genuine, and supportive atmosphere."

Thoughts?

Reba on Craig Ferguson 12/14/09

Spontaneous dance numbers to Josh Turner tunes are definitely good for the soul

Have you ever seen one of the YouTube videos where all of a sudden in a crowded area a bunch of people will seemingly out of nowhere break into some routine, usually a dance?  They are so friggin' much fun to watch.  The people's reactions who aren't in on the joke are the best.  Some are shocked, some are confused, and some are just downright ready to join right in.  They're so great.

 

Well a group of these "spontaneous" dancers (called a Flashmob, which I didn't know until I read it on CMT) recently broke out into dance at a Nashville Predator's game and just happened to be shakin' their booties to Josh Turner's latest single "Why Don't We Just Dance."  Enjoy!

 

 

And if you enjoyed that, here's my favorite flashmob performance of all time that took place at Central Station of Antwerp in Belgium.  Yes, it's for real.

 

Is Taylor about to enjoy a little Swiftmas herself?

 
 

Back a few days ago I brought you the video for the cute little holiday song inspired by Taylor Swift called Merry Swiftmas.  The song has become a bona fide hit (heck, it even plays on my satellite music channel Sirius Holly) and I think has surprised pretty much everyone.  Taylor even Tweeted about it making her smile. 

Well since the song has come out the guy who wrote and performed the song, Evan Taubefeld, has been doing tons of interviews.  Well he recently gave an interview with his home-town paper, The Baltimore Sun, and gave a little hint about a certain someone who might appear in the upcoming official music video for the little-song-that-could.

"In the end, there's a really nice surprise," he said. "You'll have to wait and see if Taylor herself makes an appearance or not. We've got tricks up our sleeve."

Well the boy certainly knows how to pique people's interest if nothing else. 

Update..

Taylor did make an appearance...

First Michael Jackson, now rap....Toby Keith is sure full of surprises

Wow, Will Smith and Toby Keith sure do know how to bustamove and party hard.  And who knew Toby Keith had some mad rapping skills? 

Well a fun little video of the Peace Prize Concert after party has emerged and guess who decided to show Will Smith and Wyclef Jean that country boys can party with the best of them.

And I thought the Michael Jackson tribute that Toby had took part in was surprising.

Props to Bam'sBlog for digging this gem up.

Sugarland, free and funky fresh

Oh those two crazy Sugarlanders, they show up in the strangest spots.  This time they've ended up on the Nike Women website where you can get a taste of their holiday album "Gold and Green" and check out an interview and yoga session with Jennifer. Kristian's apparently just in the picture to look pretty.
  

Two contests end today with a new one going up, still time to enter

 
I will be drawing the winners of the Billy Ray Cyrus and Carter Twins prizes, but there's still time to enter to win.  Just look over on the left-hand side under the contest section and follow the links. 

Stars let fans tour their buses for a good cause

 Dozens of country singers rode into the Hendersonville Wal-Mart on Monday to let fans take a peek into their rolling homes for a good cause.

The annual Christmas 4 Kids tour bus tour brought in dozens of country tour buses from artists such as Gretchen Wilson, Danny Gokey, Randy Houser, Keith Anderson, Darryl Worley, and more.  The money raised will be used to send 400 kids on Christmas shopping sprees tonight.  

"That's what we do here and that's what all this money goes for. To take them shopping, make sure they get all the things they have to have and hopefully a little something else they really want," said Gretchen Wilson.

All in all there were 80 buses parked at the Wal-Mart. 

"It's cool to be able to open it up and show them basically our home, our house on wheels. I spend more time every year on this bus than I do in my house," said Keith Anderson.

One funny story, though, is that not all the fans were there to see the buses as one frisky fan who flew in from California to get a hug from Keith proved.

"Well I'll tell you, if I was younger it would be more than that, but I'm too old. I'm an old lady, [80 years old]," Wanda Evans said with a chuckle. 

Oh Wanda, you give me hope for when I'm 80!

 

LeAnne gets cooking

Hey, LeAnn's got something going on besides dating married men and hitting things with her car.

Life's looking up.

For those of you who still love LeAnn (and you know who you are!), she will be appearing tomorrow on Fox's Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live special.  LeAnn will be joining Cedric the Entertainer and this-one-time-at-band-camp Alyson Hannigan to cook up something yummy with Ramsay. 

And just in case you're a crafty cook, CinemaBlend.com has the shopping list you'll need to cook up whatever it is LeAnn and the others will be cooking up. 

SHOPPING LIST (Serves 4)

PRODUCE
• 1 red chili pepper
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 large tomato (heirloom, beefsteak or a few smaller roma tomatoes)
• 1 lemon
• Small handful of fresh basil leaves
• 3 scallions
• 4 ounces crimini mushrooms, cleaned (can also use button mushrooms instead)
• 3 shallots, peeled
• Small handful of flat-leaf parsley
• 3 small sprigs of rosemary
• 1 pound small waxy potatoes (Yukon Gold or any small potato, cut in half)
• 2 cups peas, defrosted if using frozen

MEAT/FISH
• 1/2 pound medium-size raw, peeled shrimps
• 4 small sirloin steaks (approx. 7 ounces each)

DAIRY
• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup mascarpone
• 2 1/2 tablespoons salted butter

PASTA/BREAD
• 7 ounces angel hair pasta
• 4 Italian Ladyfingers, or Savoiardi

BAKING
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vamilla extract
• Piece of chocolate (to grate as garnish)

LIQUOR/COFFEE
• 4 tablespoons Marsala, or sweet dessert wine such as Vin Santo
• 1/4 cup brandy or cognac
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup cold strong coffee

CONDIMENTS
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, to taste
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Let's get physical, physical

You know what tomorrow is?  It's the official launch date of Julianne's new kick-our-asses-into-dancing-shape-video release day. That's right, Julianne Hough's new Cardio Ballroom will officially be hitting store shelves.  And trust me, after the holiday season come January 1st we're all gonna be needing a little Cardio Ballroom video.

 

Julianne says that it was the fans that talked her into making the video. She tells TV Guide, "Every time I meet a Dancing with the Starsfan, they're like, 'Man, I wish I could dance like that. Is that how you stay in shape?'" the 21-year-old Hough tells TVGuide.com. "And I say [yes] and they go, 'I wish I could take lessons from you or a pro.' So I thought, why not do something that's dance-related?"

 

Now if she could just promise us normal folks a body like hers I'd be running out first thing tomorrow morning to get my very own copy.  But who knows, maybe Santa will stick one in my stocking on Christmas morning.