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Moving this entry up so I can update it easier...

I was going through my memory boxes and found all these ticket stubs, so I thought I'd make a list of concerts I've attended. It's definitely not all of them, but it's fun to look at. I wish I could find more... :D

8/18/94 - Aaron Tippin - Rockingham County Fair
8/26/94 - Mary Chapin Carpenter with Shawn Colvin - Patriot Center
11/11/94 - John Michael Montgomery - Wolf Trap
3/12/95 - Alabama with Neal McCoy - JMU Convocation Center
4/6/95 - Sawyer Brown with Toby Keith and Rick Trevino - JMU Convocation Center
6/30/95 - Patty Loveless - Geo Theater
8/17/95 - Joe Diffie - Rockingham County Fair
10/1/95 - Clay Walker with Lee Roy Parnell - JMU Convocation Center
3/23/96 - John Michael Montgomery and Sawyer Brown - JMU Convocation Center
3/9/97 - Bryan White with Neal McCoy - JMU Convocation Center
10/10/97 - Tracy Lawrence with Trace Adkins - JMU Convocation Center
8/18/00 - Toby Keith - Rockingham County Fair
8/16/1 - Travis Tritt - Rockingham County Fair
…

I had an amazing time in Nashville, visiting CMA Music Fest, and seeing many artists live, both at the festival, and live in bars too, so thanks to all of them:

Becki McLeod
Shelly Bush
Trent Jeffcoat
Tawnya Reynolds
Clay Walker
Josh Thompson
Joey + Rory
Pam Tillis
Danny Gokey
Alan Jackson
Tim McGraw
Jason Aldean
Lady Antebellum
Carrie Underwood
The Band Perry
Patty Loveless
Eli Young Band
Bucky Covington
Emily West
Julianne Hough
Josh Turner
Miranda Lambert
Keith Urban
Reba McEntire
Sunny Sweeney
Lynn Anderson
Gloriana
Melissa Du Vall
Josh Gracin
Elizabeth Cook
The McClymonts
Rhonda Vincent
Bo Bice
Shawn Mayer
Billy Currington
Zac Brown Band
Martina McBride
Rascal Flatts
Whitney Duncan
Carter's Chord
James Otto
Jason Michael Carroll
Jo Dee Messina
Charlie Louvin
The Grascals
Justin Moore
Kellie Pickler
Blake Shelton
Trace Adkins
Darius Rucker
Brad Paisley

It's been a pretty eventful year for me as far as music is concerned. I've gone to more concerts in a single year (seven) than I ever had before, I had a four month stint writing for The 9513, I visited the Eli Young Band on their tour bus and my iTunes library continued to expand and became significantly less mainstream.

Once again, I've put together a list of my favorites from the past year. For this year's list I've added a category, which is a bit of a power ranking of how good the concerts I went to were.

Concerts I went to
7. Newsboys with No Better Cause - Nebraska State Fair - Lincoln, NE
6. Eli Young Band - UNL East Campus Mall - Lincoln, NE
5. Zac Brown Band - Pershing Auditorium - Lincoln, NE
4. Terri Clark and James Otto - Five Rocks Amphitheater - Gering, NE (review)
3. Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker - Qwest Center - Omaha, NE
2. Randy Travis - Nebraska State Fair - Lincoln, NE
1. Gary Allan and Jamey Johnson - Heartland Events Center - Grand Island, NE (review)
…

Last.fm Top Artists
Two familiar faces are tied for #1 this week, as George Strait and Miranda Lambert both have 24 listeners. Alan Jackson is one behind to end up at #3, and the group of artists at #4 with 21 listeners includes Taylor Swift, Patty Loveless, Keith Urban and Johnny Cash. For Swift and Urban, it’s the best showing for either of them in quite some time. Perhaps Swift’s release of a recycled old album with a few new songs, photos and videos brought a few additional fans out of the woodwork. Joe Nichols makes a strong showing as well, with 17 listeners putting him at #17. Lorrie Morgan, despite the fact that Amazon was giving away her new album for spare change and pocket lint, ended up with 11 listeners, actually one down from last week. Lyle Lovett, who was the beneficiary of a similar bargain with his new album, had 10 listeners, an increase for him. Hayes Carll ended up at #21 with 16 listeners, the best of the Americana bunch, with Steve Earle (13) trailing.

Last.fm Top Albums
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Note: I meant to post this interview much earlier this week, but because of some technical issues (read: "I hate Avid") it got delayed until today. Better late than never.

Last week the Eli Young Band did a free show here at UNL along with Aaron Watson as part of the University's celebration of homecoming and the 300th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium. I had the opportunity to visit with the band on their bus for about 15 minutes.

For those who don't know, the members of the band are:
Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar)
James Young (lead guitar, backing vocals)
Jon Jones (bass, backing vocals)
Chris Thompson (drums)

ANDREW LACY: First of all, walk me through a little bit of what a typical day is like when you're on the road.

JON JONES: It's so different. It seems like it changes day to day. It's weird because the focus for the day is always the show, which is anywhere between 25 minutes if we're the first out of a lot of bands or if we're headlining an hour and a half to two hours. …

(This journal is now appearing on The 9513, but I'll keep it here as well.)

To the surprise of absolutely no one who’s looked at our group more than once, George Strait is the most popular artist of the week with 18 listeners, along with Alan Jackson. Martina McBride, riding the popularity of Shine, is second with 16 listeners. She’s tied with Lee Ann Womack, still (STILL) riding the popularity of Call Me Crazy, and Tim McGraw, who is riding the popularity of…what, exactly? The third or fourth repackaging of his earlier work? The announcement of his new movie with Sandra Bullock? Well, imagine how well he’ll do if he ever gets to release new music.

Throw in Faith Hill’s 13 listeners, and the couple scores 29 total listeners, topping Garth Brooks/Trisha Yearwood (28) and Keith Urban/Nicole Kidman (13–hey, she sang in Moulin Rouge) for most popular singing couple.

Insanity still dominates the Top Albums chart, as Miranda Lambert’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (11 listeners) and Womack’s call me crazy (10 listeners) are #1 and #2…

Once again, it's time to consider what a 9513-run radio radio station would sound like. Going by this week's results, George Strait (19 listeners) would be the most-played artist. Considering his career output, that's pretty fair. Then we have Sugarland (17), but Miranda Lambert gets played just as often. Patty Loveless and Johnny Cash (16) get played just a bit more often than Taylor Swift and Keith Urban (15), and Dolly Parton and Alan Jackson are right there with them. Heck, there's even room for the likes of Waylon Jennings (11) and Hayes Carll, as well as Jake Owen (10) and Kenny Chesney (9). That's fair, right? Everybody wins.

The albums chart showed similar eclectic tastes. Sure, the same blond ladies who have been dominating this chart for weeks and months are still dominating it. (Some Hearts and Fearless with 10 listeners each.) Putting them aside for a second, the Top 10 also included Rattlin' Bones at #3, and a six-way for #10 that included Midnight at the Movies, Trouble In Mind and Sounds So Good.
…

The American Idolization of The 9513 is beginning. While Brad Paisley managed to snag the top spot on the artists' chart this week with 18 listeners, Carrie Underwood was right behind him with 17 listeners. How did she do it? Well, her duet with Randy Travis, I Told You So was premiered on American Idol and became the second-most popular track with 8 plays, and her take on the country standard Home Sweet Home, the new Am-Idol farewell song, had 6 listeners. Among the top tracks for the week were Blame It On Your Heart and Wild Angels, which were featured on Idol's country night last week. Were our members looking for the better versions of those songs after hearing them Idolized? Maybe. Actually, Allison Iraheta's version of Patty's song was pretty good. Oddly, two people listened to Ring of Fire by Adam Lambert, and no one listened to Johnny Cash's version.

Elsewhere on the charts, the Top 20 doesn't have a ton of surprises. A couple days with my fiancee's copy of Alan Jackson's Greatest…