NashvilleGab - Country music news and Nashville celebrity gossip

Alan Jackson unloads another home...takes a massive loss

Alan Jackson has been selling homes right and left it seems for the last couple of years and now he's gone and sold another. 

This time, though, he reportedly lost almost as much money as he made. 

Back in 2010, Jackson listed his Tequesta, Florida home for $1.27 million, the price he paid back 10 years ago. However, according to Gossip Extra, this month Alan sold the house for just $725,000, a loss of around $545,000. Not a huge amount for someone like Alan Jackson, but when you consider the loss is almost as much as what the house sold for, it puts it in a different light.

The new owner, of course, is excited that the singer's loss is his gain. 

"The coolness factor is a 10," said buyer Lawrence Dario, a Rhode Island dentist. "Ernest Hemingway wouldn't have looked out-of-place in the living room."

Alan has another Florida property for sale, this one in Jupiter Island that is listed for $14.9 million. 

Alan Jackson's daughter arrested in Nashville for DUI

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Alan Jackson's eldest daughter, Mattie, was arrested August 19th in Nashville for an alleged DUI.

I came across this story yesterday, but the original news story on Nashville's ABC station had been removed. I was thinking perhaps they had the wrong Mattie Jackson or something like that, but after doing a public records search this morning and comparing the accused's birthday and full name, I found that it was in fact Jackson's daughter so I'm not quite sure why the original story was removed. 

Anyway, the police officer's affidavit states that 22-year-old Mattie was observed to be driving 45 in a 30 mph zone. The officer attempted to pull Mattie over but she kept going for quite a ways. When she finally stopped, the officer said, "I detected a strong odor coming from the interior of the vehicle that appeared to be the odor of an alcoholic beverage. I also observed she had red blood shot eyes, slurred speech and watery eyes. I asked her where she was coming from and she stated from her boyfriend's house. Then I asked her if she had consumed any alcoholic beverage to which she stated that she had consumed 3 beers prior to operating her vehicle."

Mattie was observed and tested for 21 minutes before being given a breath test and then being arrested. The affidavit says that Mattie initially refused the breathalyzer test until being explained the consequences of refusing, at which point she agreed to have it done.

Mattie was released on $2000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court November 20.  

Let's hope this was just an oops and she learned her lesson. 

(Full PDF arrest report here)

A-MAZE-ing -- Alan Jackson gets his own corn maze

Last year Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum were honored with corn mazes and this year it's Alan Jackson's turn. 

Gull Meadow Farms in Richland, Michigan unveiled the Alan Jackson themed corn maze on their Facebook page September 1. 

The company's website says about the maze:

This year we are proud to partner with WIN 98.5 to bring you the Alan Jackson Corn Maze. What better way to welcome Alan to the St. Joseph fair this fall. If finding your way through 8 foot high stalks of corn across six acres wasn’t challenging enough we’ve added one more twist at Gull Meadow Farms. As you travel through the maze punch your card in the appropriate spot by finding each of the five hidden stations scattered throughout the maze. As you exit the maze drop your card off to one of our staff members for a chance to win our weekly giveaways.

For fans who hope to cruise around Alan's head, the maze officially opens for business Saturday, September 8. 

{Hat tip to MLive}

Alan Jackson Sunday show in Anderson, California canceled by promoter

Well this is certainly bizarre. 

On Friday, Alan was forced to reschedule his show at The Greek Theatre in Los Angele due to a sinus infection, but performed as scheduled on Saturday night in Salinas, California to a sold-out crowd. Now for some strange reason, the promoter of Jackson's Sunday night concert at the Jukebox Music Festival has canceled Jackson's show reportedly because of Jackson's rescheduled Friday show. 

From Jackson's website:

Following early morning e-mails from the promoter of the Jukebox Music Festival, Alan Jackson will not be performing as planned this evening in Anderson, CA. Jackson, his band and crew were on-site this morning, ready to load in and prepare for the show, but he will regretfully not be performing. Citing the postponement of Jackson's Friday show in Los Angeles, the promoter felt that this impacted ticket sales, even though Jackson played a sold-out show in Salinas, CA Saturday night. Jackson is sorry to disappoint his fans who had expected to see him tonight, but the trucks and buses will turn around and head to Los Angeles, where he is playing his rescheduled Greek Amphitheatre concert on Wednesday.

Wow, how crappy for fans that spent their hard-earned money to see Alan Jackson. I would definitely get the number of that show promoter and give him or at least his secretary an earful.  

Alan Jackson cancels show due to illness

Photo via AlanJackson.com

Uh oh, I hope everything's okay. Alan Jackson had to cancel a show tonight in California due to being under the weather. From Alan's Facebook:

A bacterial sinus, respiratory and bronchial infection has forced Alan Jackson to postpone tonight's show at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.  The concert has been re-scheduled for Wednesday July 25th.  All tickets will be honored on the new date.  For more information please visit www.greektheatrela.com 

Alan hopes to be back on stage tomorrow night in Salinas, CA and Anderson, CA on Sunday evening.  Stay tuned.

Wow, at least fans only have to wait a few days for the makeup show. That's great for them.  

Get well Alan.  

Alan Jackson, Easton Corbin, and Gloriana celebrate 4th of July early with military and families at Fort Sill, OK (press release)

Country superstar Alan Jackson will kick off the Fourth of July celebration early for members of the military and their families at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in the nation’s heartland this weekend. On Saturday evening June 30, Jackson will perform at the Polo Field on the base and the show is open to the public. Special guests joining Jackson for the event are Easton Corbin and Gloriana.

Fort Sill is a storied Army facility founded more than 140 years ago on the plains of Oklahoma; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1960 and is home to Army artillery and officer training programs.

Jackson’s ongoing 2012 tour also includes shows this week at Red Rocks Amphitheater near Denver (Thursday) and a Lubbock, TX show at the United Spirit Arena (Friday).

Jackson’s acclaimed new album, Thirty Miles West, was released early this month – it debuted at #1 on Billboard’s country sales chart (and at #2 on the overall Top 200 Album chart). The album – which features the hit “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore” and “Dixie Highway,” a duet with Zac Brown – has remained in the Top 3 on the country chart since its release. 

Alan Jackson and Siri have a bit of a textual misunderstanding

Photo via Wikipedia

Alan Jackson hits me as the sort who would be totally discombobulated with modern technology of any kind from social media to cell phones. 

Turns out I'm right, but his attempts at mastering his iPhone are pretty funny.  

Alan recently spoke with The Boot and told a funny story about trying to master Siri, the iPhone help app with the pleasant female voice. 

When he first started using the phone, Alan was excited about showing his wife Denise how the app (Siri) worked. So he said "text" into the phone and handed it to Denise to demonstrate what it could do. Her surprised reaction told him something wasn't working as planned. When he looked at the screen, the phone had pulled up listings for nearby adult bookstores!

"It thought I said 'sex,' not 'text,'" Alan explains in his warm Georgia drawl. He and Denise had a good laugh over the incident and since then he's careful to enunciate clearly.

Now that's funny.  Good thing it brought up adult bookstores rather than something a bit more risque.  

Deal of the day: Alan Jackson $2 off coupon for Best Buy -- get "Thirty Miles West" for just $7.99

Alan Jackson had this coupon on his Facebook this morning so I thought I would pass it on to you guys. Just print (from here or Alan's Facebook) and redeem for $2 off "Thirty Miles West" at Best Buy.  Considering Walmart matches competitor coupons, it might work there too.  

Offer's only good until Saturday so better hurry.   

Alan Jackson raises big money for Mineral, Virginia

Alan Jackson photo via Alan's Twitter

It may have taken seven months to get the job done, but Alan Jackson finally played his much anticipated fundraising/contest prize concert in Mineral, Virginia and ended up raising $152,500 dollars to boot for the earthquake-damaged town. 

Back in August of last year, Mineral was severely damaged in a rare earthquake that rocked the area.  The small town of 400 apparently caught America's attention because later in the year when Eventful began a contest to bring a free Alan Jackson concert to the city who got the most "demands," much of the country banded together and voted for Mineral. The city ended up winning the contest in October by more than 20,000 votes over the closest runner up. 

Shortly after winning, though, reality set in and the truth came out about how much the winning city had to provide in order to make the concert a reality. From meeting Jackson's production requirements to finding a venue that could hold 1,000 to 3,000 people, it quickly became obvious that there was a lot more involved than the town had anticipated in bringing the free concert to them.

But it looks like the town and their supporters really came together because seven months after finding out they were the winning town, Alan Jackson finally pulled into Mineral and performed his “Music for Mineral: The Aftershock of Hope" concert in a local high school parking lot. Nearly 6000 people attended and, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the concert raised $152,500 which will be used to help rebuild Louisa county's schools. 

So glad this all finally came together for Mineral. 

If you'd like to see some pictures from the concert, the Richmond Times Dispatch has a nice gallery here. 

 

Alan Jackson has officially become a mountain man

Heaven's Landing runway photo courgesy Heaven's Landing website

Alan Jackson has been selling off quite a bit of property in the last couple of years, reportedly so he can simplify his life.  

First there was the huge 19,000 square foot home called Sweetbriar that he sold for $28 million a few years back. Now he's trying to sell another Tennessee property for a little less than $3.4 million and he's also trying to unload his Jupiter Island, Florida property.  

If you were worried about Alan being homeless with all this property selling, don't worry too much because he's apparently found a slice of heaven in a gated community in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia that, while only a seven minute drive to Clayton, Georgia, population 2198, is geared more towards the resident who likes to come by plane rather than by more earthbound means.  

Heaven's Landing is an exclusive 635 acre mountainous community geared towards pilots that now proudly boasts a very famous resident. In their monthly newsletter, they officially introduced Jackson to his neighbors:

Heaven’s Landing is proud to introduce a world famous new addition, to our also world famous fly-in community.  Grammy Award winning country music star Alan Jackson, and his wife Denise recently became new owners at Heaven’s Landing.  You’ll notice the couple flying in regularly in either their Falcon 50 or their Lear 24.  

“They are some of the most down to earth people that you will ever meet”, says developer Mike Ciochetti Jr.  Being an avid pilot himself, Alan appreciates his small fleet of private jets as he uses them for both business and family travel.  Heaven’s Landing is proud to have both Alan and Denise as new members of the Heaven’s Landing family of owners.

They even include a picture of Alan and Denise coming in for a landing in one of their above-mentioned planes.  

No word on whether Alan and Denise bought an already-built home or are planning on building a custom one (I'm thinking they will be going custom), but if you're looking to relocate to be closer to your idol, it's gonna cost you. This real estate site has some properties in Heaven's Landing including hangars, bare land, and actual homes and they definitely cost a pretty penny....but I'm pretty sure you probably already guessed it would. 

Thanks Gayle for the heads up on this.