NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville celebrity gossip

Steel Magnolia member heads to rehab

Well this is unexpected.  Steel Magnolia member Joshua Scott Jones wrote a letter to fans and put it on the duo's website today to announce that he had made the decision to enter rehab.  

To all of our fans and to those whom it may concern,

God has been on my heart to announce and make public that I have entered a rehabilitation and treatment facility to address issues related to alcohol and substance abuse. Hundreds of thousands of people in the world struggle with these battles daily, therefore I am sincerely grateful for all thoughts and prayers at this very poignant juncture in my life and career. I would also like to thank my family, friends, record label and management team for being so supportive and having an active hand in my recovery process.

Thank you and God bless.

--Joshua Scott Jones

Kudos to Joshua for nipping this in the bud and having the strength to be honest with fans rather than ending up as a blind item on a gossip site.  

Hopefully, his decision to undergo the process of quitting drugs and recovery would serve as an inspiration to other people who are hooked on drugs but are hoping to kick the habit.

Shania has the power to make grown men confess

Shania stalking trial sketch via Ottawa CTV 

As I wrote earlier, the trial of Shania Twain's stalker doctor, Giovanni Palumbo, began today and that Shania would be testifying via a video link due to her not wanting to be in the same room as her stalker.  

But the trial ended abruptly on its first day the way all good dramas should end....with a confession. 

On video, Shania read several letters that Palumbo had sent to her in 2009 that she said made her sad and fearful for her safety.  She testified that she was forced to hire 24-hour security after Palumbo had made several attempts to contact her in person as well as members of her family.  

After about 90 minutes of listening to Shania testify, Palumbo dramatically stood up, interrupted Shania, and expressed his wish to withdraw his not-guilty plea. 

“Eilleen, you can trust me, I’m going to plead guilty,” he said.

“I’ve been offended too much, your honour.”

Palumbo was handcuffed and led away and the judge called a recess.  

The trial was scheduled to last three days, although with today's dramatic courtroom outburst, it's not clear if the trial will continue or if Palumbo will be allowed to officially change his plea.    

If Law&Order were still on the air, I could totally see this being the plot to one of their episodes.  

Luke Bryan's not a very good actor, but who cares, he's almost shirtless

If Ashton Kutcher has taught us anything, it's that you don't actually have to be a good actor to get acting roles as long as you look good shirtless.  

Yesterday on The Ellen Degeneres show, Luke Bryan put this theory to the test in a skit called As the Tide Turns.

Yeah, I'd hire him if I was a director.  

And here's what Luke's actually good at....singing.

Shania Twain's stalker's trial starts today as his exwife speaks to the press

Shania Twain's physician stalker, Dr. Giovannie Palumbo's trial starts today.  The "good" doctor is accused of stalking Shania for years and has been in jail since he showed up at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto during the Juno Awards, where Shania was set to receive an award.

In case you thought Dr. Palumbo's obsession with Shania was just a little crazy, let's allow his exwife, Christel, to show us how crazy obsessed the creepy doctor REALLY was.

Christel recently spoke with the Calgary Herald to let them in on many of the reasons she divorced Dr. Palumbo...and they mainly have to do with Shania Twain.  

According to the former Mrs. Palumbo, her husband insisted that she cut her hair like Shania, be slim like Shania, and dress like Shania.  

Definitely a tall order for the normal human being.  

He also reportedly had a Shania "shrine" in his Ottawa home.

"He even called me his own personal Shania Twain, which was very hurtful," Christel said.

Christel said her husband's obsession with Twain began in 2003 when the country superstar hosted the Juno Awards at Scotiabank Place.

"He would put her music on when we were together just to make me upset, because I knew he had a crush on her. I tried reasoning with him but he would laugh it off, saying it was nothing."

In November 2007, Palumbo was charged with assault and uttering death threats against Christel who was married to Palumbo for 16 years.  The couple ultimately separated in 2008 with their divorce being finalized in 2010.  

Definitely sounds like this is a dangerous and very delusional fellow.  Let's hope that after all these years, the Canadian courts finally do something with him rather than just putting him on probation. 

Shania is expected to testify via video link sometime during the trial.  

Hi Ho Silver....the Lone Ranger reportedly ready to ride again

I know, I know, who cares about the Lone Ranger movie, right? 

Well every red blooded American with a pulse better care, dammit. 

Okay, actually you should care as a country fan because Dwight Yoakam has a part as a bad guy in the flick.  

As I told you back in July, Dwight was all set to play the part of the villain, Butch Cavendish, who is part of the gang that tries to kill the Lone Ranger played by The Social Network's Armie Hammer.  Then came word that the movie budget had skyrocketed to a crazy $250 million and Disney had put the project on hold indefinitely. 

Now comes word from The Hollywood Reporter that all the big name players in the making of the movie - Johnny Depp (as Tonto), director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean), and producer Jerry Bruckheimer - have cut their fees and several expensive special effects have been nixed in order to bring costs down and it looks like Disney's ready to get things moving again.

So we may just get to see Dwight Yoakam try and kill the Lone Ranger after all.  Happy day!  

You can now send Taylor Swift sentiments as an eCard

If you had any doubt as to how successful Taylor Swift's greeting card line has become, you can now stop wondering.  American Greetings, the distributors of Taylor's words of wisdom in card form, have taken things one step further and are now offering a full line of eCards for those occasions when a trip to the post office is just too much hassle.

American Greetings recently launched a section of their website dedicated to Taylor and her cards where you can buy regular cards, send eCards, buy postcards, and print your own cards from the comfort of home. 

Dolly Parton joins other celebs in insuring her most valuable body part(s)

When you think of Dolly Parton, what do you think of besides her wonderful music?

If you're like most people, you probably think of her wigs and her breasts.  She's definitely famous for both.  

Well Dolly's a smart business lady and she's not taking any chances with her world famous boobs.  

According to an old report that I stumbled on recently, Dolly has joined the ranks of celebrities who insure their most famous body parts by insuring her...ummm....twins against fire, flood, and act of God. 

I kid, I kid, but she has insured her famous breasts for an amazing $600,000.  

I'm not sure what Dolly thinks will happen to her ladies, but I guess if times get tough she can always have some sort of unfortunate brassiere accident.  

Taylor Swift's new movie gets a poster

I bet you forgot that Taylor Swift had a new movie coming out, eh?

Well she does.  Taylor is voicing the character of Audrey in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax alongside Zac Efron, Betty White, Willow Smith, Danny DeVito and many others.

The movie will hit theaters March 2, 2012.  

Right now there's no official trailer for the movie available, but there is a covert copy on a Chinese website you can check out here if you're adventurous.  

It takes a little while to load, but it does eventually show up.  Oh, and it's an unfinished copy so the official trailer will be much more polished. 

Taylor Swift as Audrey

So let's talk about Billy Ray Cyrus' new hair cut

Just look at it.  Look! At! IT!

Bask in the glory of Billy Ray's mulletless hair!

I'm telling you, this man's hair fascinates me to no end and I have no clue why.  I honestly need a Billy Ray hairtervention.     

I'm also fascinated by the fact that Billy Ray's kind of starting to morph into Gary LeVox.  

Is it just me? 

More photos here.

 

Your YouTube cover of the day

It's hard to have a lot of attitude when you're sitting and singing for your webcam, but this girl's definitely got it.  

Check out more covers by YouTube user Gillian Nicola here.