Happy New Year!

I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!

Jason and I spent the most romantic and relaxing Christmas in our cabin near the Smoky Mountains. We weren't quite in the Smoky Mountains, but we were close to them, in Morristown, Tennessee. I think we saw maybe one or two cars and not a soul in sight from our cozy little haven. The cabin had to have been maybe a year old - cause everything seemed so new and beautiful. We spent most of our time lounging in our pj's just hanging out.
For the majority of the time, I was obsessed with a puzzle that Mom Keith sent to us. This is how the puzzle looked Christmas morning and I had finished it by the next day! (And yes, Jason did help as much as he could :-) )
Jason kept himself quite busy writing up yet another new Christmas song. As I sat there working on the puzzle, he would often be sitting at the table or in the hot tub singing to his recorder with a Cream Soda in his hand. Ah, this is the life! I believe in total he has completed 4 Christmas songs this holiday season and I can't wait to hear what they sound like when they get demo'd.
I was good for the most part in getting some pictures from our time in the cabin, but I am sad to report, that we didn't get one of us together. We did however get a few of eachother on Christmas Day and throughout our trip that I think many of you will enjoy.

This first picture is of our little "Charlie Brown" tree. I had originally thought we would cut a little one down to use, but the cabin had this little guy and I had brought some bulbs to hang on it. Isn't it cute? We got so spoiled by our families too. ALL these presents are mostly from family back home! We got new clothes, books, cds, games, and cash! Talk about being blessed! Thank you so much to our families! We sure did miss you all and loved having the chance to talk to you all on the phone.
This next picture from our vacation is our Christmas morning breakfast. I had made Banana bread and Jason made us French Press coffee.

Christmas morning we hammed it up for a couple pictures while we opened our gifts. This is not my most flattering moment, but we had to take this for my family to see me in this oh-so-lovely-redneck-apron thing they sent me. Thanks Kati and mom. Very cute.

Jason got a bunch of cute new clothes from me for Christmas, I couldn't help but spoil him. Last year was tight for us in the gift department for each other, since we had the wedding coming up, so this year we made up for it and had some fun shopping for one another. He got me some yummy perfume, Obsession Night and a beautiful Willow Tree statue of a husband and wife holding eachother. He also got me some clothes from Banana Republic and a CD of Chris Daughtry. Like I said, we spoiled each other.
And this is our Christmas dinner. We got a few questions about what we did for dinner, so we thought we'd take a picture to show you. When we first got to town, we had stopped at the store and picked up some steaks. Jason marinated them in terriyaki and pineapple juice for a few days and then we grilled them up. YUM! He made us a delicious Christmas dinner, probably one of the best I've ever had. We also had potatoes and green beans. Oh, and that would be cream soda in our wine glasses, since I know Kris was probably wondering :-) This is the view from the hot tub on Christmas night.

And this is Jason saying goodbye Tuesday morning, as we were getting ready to head back home.

So now this brings us to New Years Eve. As many of you are aware, all the employees at Mortons' restaurant are required to work on New Years Eve - and after hanging out there this New Years Eve, I can definately see why. It was insane! I got to Mortons around 11:40 and the place was slammed! The guests were getting crazy, blowin their horns in rythmn and dancing around their tables. The wine was flowing and people were shouting. It was hysterical and if it hadn't been so dark in there, I would have gotten some better pictures of these folks. I did get a picture of Jason in action that night. He was asked by the management to expedite at "the wood", which is by the grill. He basically had to make sure all the garnishes and extra things needed were ready on the plates before the servers came to pick them up. This is the back of him at the wood, but you get the idea. I can't believe how fast all the servers were working. I tucked myself away next to an empty corner table and watched in amazement.

Then when the countdown began, the servers stopped, everyone was yelling and whooping and then the free-for-all of kissing began. I grabbed my man and my camera and we got in our Happy New Years kiss!! After he got off work, we were both pretty wiped. We tried to find a place to eat at, but everything was closed, so we gave up, took our steak from Mortons home, had a snack and fell asleep on the couch. And so begins 2007!

What are your New Years Resolutions or goals? Mine are to work out on a regular basis. I've lost a bit more weight and was very excited to receive 4 new pairs of pants from Jason for work, in a size 4 - yippee!! But more than wanting to lose any more weight, I really want to tone up. My other goals for this year is to get more involved with our new church and meet some ladies there. I'm getting a bit better with being more outgoing, but it is taking some stretching on my part for sure. I've hung out some more with my new friend Leigh-Ann, who is an absolute sweetheart and we had a great time last Saturday night hitting the honkey tonks and having dinner at Roberts downtown. Then for dessert, I took her up to Mortons and we sat in the bar and laughed and talked for close to 3 hours.

So tonight ends my four day weekend and I'm so sad that I have to go back to work tomorrow. At least its only a 3 day week, which is very cool. I feel so spoiled to have had so much time with Jason this weekend, in addition to our Christmas vacation. Even though he was only off on New Years Day, we have had so much fun spending all this time together in the mornings and when he gets off work. I seriously have enjoyed every single minute. Last night was Mortons Company holiday party and it was held at BBKings Bar on 2nd Avenue downtown. There was a great live band and we had a private corner in the back reserved for us. We had a great time hanging out with our friends and meeting new people. I do have to make note of the food though. There was this buffet table in the back and I kid you not - EVERTHING WAS DEEP FRIED! Just lookin at all that gave me heartburn. Jason is still taking more Pepcid from last night's indigestion. I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it - though I did try my very first fried pickle. That's right, I said fried pickle. Basically what I've learned from the south is...they'll fry anything.

And for those of you who are wondering, we have not heard from Billy Currington yet. Now that the holidays are coming to an end, and we know he'll be recording soon, we are praying like crazy that he will call and put Right Where We Belong on hold. So keep praying!!! It's not unusual at all, that things in the music business take a very long time to come to fruition. So just cause we're not calling yet saying we have a cut, does not mean its not going to happen. Just please, please, please keep on praying for us!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years as well. If you have a favorite memory to share, please share it with us in a comment! We always love to hear from all of you back home. We love you and miss you all - Jason and Kimberly Keith

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our loved ones!

It's a bittersweet time of year for us. We are so excited for our upcoming trip to the Smoky Mountains where we'll be spending 5 days in a cozy cabin, but at the same time, it will be both mine and Jason's first Christmas away from our families. I feel like I'm on a bit of a rollarcoaster, I'm super excited one minute that I have all this time coming up with Jason and then I get really sad that I'll be missing our families back home.

I hope that with even the distance, everyone will still have a wonderful Christmas together and make many new memories. If possible, we would love to see pictures of how everyone's Christmas was spent and then I'll even post them on the blog for all to share.

Our shopping is finally done. The families gifts have been mailed, most of the presents wrapped and the Christmas cards mailed. Other than some baking and packing for our trip, we're about ready for Christmas. There's even a chance of snow, which would be so very cool. I'm really excited about the gifts we've mailed to our family, they are going to love them!

I also have some other news, that most of you may have heard by now. But, no harm in mentioning it on the blog as well. I've sent out some emails requesting that people be praying for God's favor on Jason's music. While at work one evening, Billy Currington and his girlfriend came back into Morton's Restaurant. And Billy walked right up to Jason and told him how much he loved the song he gave him, Right Where We Belong. It was a huge compliment! Can you imagine a celebrity seeking out a normal person and not the other way around? Crazy! His girlfriend even mentioned that they keep Jason's demo cd in their car and listen to his songs all the time, that she loves them. Well here's where we're asking everyone to pray - Billy is finalizing his song list for his new album that he starts recording in January. So we're really praying that he picks Jason's song for his new cd. So please everyone, keep us in your prayers!

Other news, our firm Adams and Reese had a Christmas party at Mortons Steakhouse. It was fun to see my hunny working our party, looking all cute in his black and whites. One of the attorneys, Gif Thornton, who was running the show and making annoucements, pointed out Jason told everyone that he was my husband! He then proceeded to inform all of us that "Jason and his team" would be serving us today. You know he got razzed for that one by his coworkers. I had one lady I work, ask him if she could pinch his butt. When he told me this, I laughed, cause she knew he was my husband and she was trying to give him a hard time. It was pretty funny and don't worry, no pinchage took place. I was so proud of him, he was such a professional and looked so cute at the same time. We ended up having so much fun, that a bunch of us stuck around in the bar till almost 8pm that night - and that's with the Christmas party starting at 1pm! I have to say, I think it was the best company Christmas party I've been to. Oh, this picture is of myself, Brooke and Melissa. Our offices (or cubes I guess) are all next to eachother - and we love keeping our corner of the offices a fun place to be. We have a great time with some of the best attorneys in the offices right next to us.

I also met a new friend this week. There's this girl that started emailing me from Scotland, who was going to be moving out to Nashville and she wanted to make some friends before her move. So we've been emailing for the last 6 months or so and finally met for the first time last Monday night. I was nervous, but as you all know, I've done this before ;-) We met at Starbucks in West End and hit it off immediately. She's 27, recently married, 5 months pregnant and has a great accent. The next thing we knew, three and a half hours had flown by! I took her back to her home and met her husband Aaron. I'm looking foward to hanging out with her in the next few months, before she heads back to Scotland to have her baby. I've included a picture of my new friend from her MySpace, so you can see what her and her hubby look like.

We've also been to the movies quite a bit lately, so I have a few reviews for you. Our friends Nick and Melanie (I also stole their picture from Myspace) joined us to see Apacalypto - which I DO NOT recommend. Two thumbs way down. That movie was so incredibly violent! After 2 hours of sitting through a ton of violence, my stomach couldn't take it anymore and I went into the hallway and waited through the last 30 minutes on the phone with my dad. Then this last weekend, after church we went by ourselves to see The Nativity - two thumbs way up! We loved it - it was so good! This will be a movie we hope to buy and share with our kids every year at Christmas. It was done really well and wasn't corny at all, which I kinda expected a bit. If you haven't seen it yet, you should see it over the holidays! AND, last week, I went with my friend Brooke out to dinner and to go see The Holiday with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet - loved it. It was such a good movie, very funny and heartwarming. I also recommend that one and will be adding it to my collection.

Tonight I'm baking a bunch of stuff as gifts for my attorneys. I'm making fudge, rice krispie treats, molasses cookies, peanut butter cup cookies and if I have time, Sugar Cookies. I know - I'm a maniac. Its a wild and crazy night in the Keith home ;-) You all have a wonderful Christmas and I will be back with pictures from our vacation next week!

Love you all & Merry Christmas!

Brrrrr.....20 degrees!

Believe it or not we had weather that literally went from 75 degrees one day down to 20 degrees the next. It was nuts! This was around the time that you all had snow back home. I mean if its going to get that cold here, it might as well snow! My parking garage is two blocks from where I work and it seems to get longer every day the temperature drops. I bundle up like you wouldn't believe. You know that scarf and gloves you gave me Sherry for Christmas? I wouldn't DARE leave home without them! I kid you not that when I walk down the street the wind blows right through my pants and I have to look down to make sure I'm not dreaming and didn't forget to get dressed that day. My next investment will be in leggings to wear under my clothes.

Well I found some pictures that I had taken from when Jason and I had gone out househunting one weekend. It was a gorgeous fall day and we fell in love with some of the houses in East Nashville. So I've added some of the different ones here for you all to see what exactly we're hoping for in terms of buying next year. As small as some of these homes are, because of the nice location and how well they've been restored, they are more expensive than your typical homes outside of Nashville, which is where you find some of the better deals. I would say these homes start in the 300K-400K range.

I also added a couple pictures of the East Nashville Fire Station that Jason was trying to show his parents while they were in town. I guess they couldn't locate it, but we found it by accident and I snapped a couple pics. It's very old and beautiful.

This is a bed and breakfast also in East Nashville. Its smack in the middle of where all these other beautiful homes are that I've shown you. Aren't they great?

Other news, today we're throwing a baby shower for a friend of mine at work. Her name is Leslie and she had a beautiful baby girl Copeland when she was only 5 months along! If you all remember, my cousins were born pretty tiny too, so I remember how small these premie babies can get. Copeland was born at 2 lbs 2 oz. Smaller than even my cousins Kathrine and Kolleen. She's gained a few more ounces and I finally got a picture of her total cuteness to add to the blog - in this picture she's 2 lbs 6 ounces, but isn't she beautiful? She's now 4 weeks old. I honestly have no idea how someone can look at baby like this, that would normally still be in the womb and call it a fetus or tissue. God is amazing isn't He? Leslie is also doing really well - she is the sweetest lady and we've all been praying for her here at the office. I'm looking forward to seeing how blessed she will be when she sees how much everyone gave - a ton of attorneys and staff gave close to a $1,000 in gifts.

We've decided on a home church for sure now. On Sunday Jason and I attended the 101 class for Harpeth Community Church and there wasn't one thing that raised a red flag. Everyone was really nice and I learned quite a lot about who they are and what they believe. Our senior pastor Dr. Bobby Harrington is actually from Calgary, Alberta and received his Bachelor's degree in Theology and his Masters in Christian Counseling from Harding University and then also a Master of Divinity Degree from Regent College, the University of Calgary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Asbury Seminary. That's quite a list! And even as well learned as he is, he sticks to the Bible in everything. We love his teaching style. It's weird to think that we'll be going through the Identification process in front of everyone - I remember seeing other people do that, but I haven't done that since I was in elementary school back at Northgate. Eventually, as we get settled into the church, I would like to get involved with the youth program. The church has about 450 members and close to 60 youth. They also have bands for the high school and juinor high, so they can be trained for the worship teams. I loved it when Pastor Stone did that for CCK. While we were at the church service, I also ran into my friend Kacie from work. It was so fun to see someone I knew there. Then through her and her boyfriend Dan, they introduced us to some of their friends and we all ended up having lunch together. In between the church service in the morning, lunch with Kacie & Dan and the 101 class in the afternoon, Jason and I squeezed in a movie and saw Deck The Halls - which we laughed our butt off. It was seriously so funny and we were expecting it to be quite corny.

In the world of reading, I recently finished Summer Breeze by Catherine Anderson, which I loved and will be reading more of her stuff in the future.

I'm currently reading The Most Important Year in a Man's Life/Woman's Life, which is a Christian book on the first year of marriage. It's aimed at showing newlyweds how to cultivate good habits in preparartion for the challenges in the future. I'm really enjoying it - half of it is written for women and the other half for men - so of course, I'm always flipping it over to read Jasons side after reading mine :-) Jason is also reading this at the same time.

AND finally I'm also reading Seasons by Bonnie Hopkins which is also been great and I've been enjoying quite a bit. But I'm trying to hurry so I can read Dear John, the latest novel of Nicholas Sparks'!

How's everyone doing on Christmas shopping?? I'm almost done! Yeah! Which is good, cause I have to mail a lot of mine over to Seattle and that's going to take close to 6 days for shipping, unless we want to pay an arm and a leg.

And before I wrap all this up, I have to give huge props to Jay & Tina for celebrating their SEVENTH Anniversary last Sunday! Congratulations you guys!! I love you two so much and I am so proud of you both. You never settle for mediocre in your marriage and you continually push for more of God. We hope to see you both soon!

I had to add this one last picture. Your probably wondering why I'm attaching a picture of our bed. Well if you look closely or click on the picture to zoom in, that little black speck next to the button is Bank's tail peeking out from inside the duvet cover. She crawled inside the duvet cover and I almost didn't see her, I thought it was just a lump in our bedspread. After she heard the click of the camera she poked just her head out - I so wish I could have taken a picture of that in time. Its her new thing of playing hide and go seek. It was pretty stinkin funny - she has quite the personality.

That's all I have for now. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and we miss and love you all. 19 days till Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving for Real This Time!

Hello there friends and family!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! I for one had a wonderful time with Jason, but also missed my family a whole lot. Thankfully, Thanksgiving started out on the perfect note with a phonecall from mom and her annual turkey wake up call. I got up early and baked crescent rolls with homemade frosting and put on a pot of coffee so I could catch the Macys Parade - which is my favorite and I can never miss it. But Kati, I sure did miss cuddling up with you this year - and yelling at Kris from the living room to get her butt up out of bed to join us!!

When we finally decided to get going, we headed out for some good ol' Southern dining at the nearby Cracker Barrel. :-) We had decided earlier on that because we had celebrated Thanksgiving with the Keith family and Grandma Moreland in October, we weren't going to cook another Thanksgiving meal - it's a lot of work and a LOT of leftovers! We STILL have turkey in our freezer! These are two pictures from when we had our Thanksgiving with the Keiths, Grandma Moreland and our friend Roxanne.

After dinner at CB, we headed over to some friends of ours, Chris and Sara to say hi and have a little pumpkin pie. And we finished the evening curled up on the couch and watching You, Me and Dupree - which was a very lame movie might I add.

The rest of the weekend was very restful and relaxing. I was home most of the weekend reading and hanging out, since Jason had to work Friday night and Sunday night, but on Saturday we did head out in search of the perfect Christmas Tree. And we found it with no problem at all! The first place we had stopped at, we were told that if it was Nobles we were in seach of, there was a guy out in Smyrna that had them shipped in from Oregon! It was a strange concept to me that they have to literally ship Christmas trees in from other states, since most of the trees here are leafy ones. And a lot of people here in town use fake trees! Back home you can't go a mile without seeing a tree lot, but here you have to drive quite a ways just to find one.

So anyway, we find this guy's tree lot out in Smyrna and had no problem finding the perfect tree right away. I would say its close to 6 feet and it was surpringly only $40, which you all know back home is a pretty good deal for a noble. We got the tree home, made tacos for dinner and then Jason wanted to take me out someplace as a surprise. (That's Banks under the tree in the left corner of the picture.)

Jason definately surprised me, by taking me to Opryland Hotel. As we pulled up to the hotel, the lights outside alone were enough to take your breath away. Every Christmas Opryland Hotel decorates their lobbies and conservatories with TONS of lights and decorations. It was like walking through a mini disneyland it was so cool. We walked the entire hotel, which is not small by any means, and sipped coffee from a little cafe. I took a ton of pictures for you all to get an idea for what it was like.

This is Jason and I outside the hotel in front of this gigantic blue lit tree. I've included a picture of the whole tree, so you get an idea of just how huge it is - those little flowers at the bottom, is what we're standing in front of in the first picture of us and also in the picture with just Jason.

This is me in front of a beautiful gazebo inside one of the hotel's conservatories. The pose was special for Jason :-)

Here I am standing on top of one of the walkways over one of the three conservatories. If you look around the edge of the room, you will see the balconies and windows from the hotel rooms. And the ceiling is made of glass. Those are all hundreds of thousands of white lights strung from the ceilings with huge, white light ornament balls hanging throughout the room.

I also included a closer shot of the lights and you can see some of the stuffed animals and hot air balloons that also hung around the hotel. Isn't it gorgeous?

The hotel also has a huge waterfall and we walked into a tunnel that goes behind it. This is Jason in front of the rushing water. He looks like a total rockstar in this picture. I married such a hottie :-)

Finally, one last picture of Jason and I sitting in front of a teddy bear whose wearing a red top hat and striped scarf. Can you see him?

It was so much fun and we had a great time spending some good quality time together. Finally when it was close to 11, we headed back home and Jason began setting up the tree, as I couldn't help but fall asleep on the couch.

Around 2am Jason finished putting all the lights on - and its looks so beautiful! As you can see, Banks has made her home underneath the branches, for some reason its her favorite place to be during Christmas. Sunday was spent by decorating the apartment for Christmas and again I was good and remembered to take lots of pictures of how our home looks now for the holidays.

Meet our ducks Mr. Jones and family. Jason has developed a bit of a fetish for ducks, and I bought him his first one as a surprise about a month ago. Then we decided Mr. Jones was lonely and we added on a family. Aren't they cute?

Here we have the dining room table all ready to go for Christmas.

And this is our console table - once again, you'll notice the ducks.

And finally, before I forget - I just had myself another celebrity sighting! I just rode the elevator up with Sara Evans! She must have been on her way to her divorce lawyer, cause she got off on the 22nd floor and we're representing her husband Craig on our 28th floor. She is absolutely gorgeous and has lost a lot of weight even since Dancing with the Stars. I didn't say anything since she was talking with her friend and I didn't want to interrupt, but it was pretty freakin cool.

That's all I got for now. I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Did She Mean It?

So other than the elections being the big talk around town, the other topic that is getting a ton of press around here is Faith Hill's reaction to Carrie Underwood winning Female Vocalist of the Year at the CMA Awards Monday night. Her reps are saying that she was only joking....ok. Watch the video below and tell me if you think her reaction was for real or not.

Other news - we booked our cabin for Christmas - yeah!!!! My husband is so awesome, check out the pictures below and see what a good job he did in finding us our cabin for Christmas~! It's called the Cherokee Lake Cabin and its in the Smoky Mountains, we'll be there for 4 nights!!

CMA Awards

Tonight is the much anticipated CMA awards hosted by Brooks and Dunn. And I hope to be leaving work early enough to not get stuck in too much traffic. The preshow starts around 6:30pm, and the actual show at 7. They're being hosted at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, which is only two blocks from where I work. I normally drive up 5th Street to head to the office, but today it was blocked off by police officers and the red carpet. It was kinda cool to see it being set up after watching it on TV for so many years. Our friend Jeff Batson is going tonight and taking his girlfriend Lindsey. Must be nice to afford tickets at $500 a pop!! Jason has already been seeing some of the celebrities here in town for the show. On Saturday night Jon Bon Jovi came into Mortons for dinner and on Sunday he told me that Kenny Chesney and George Strait had reservations for dinner. Jason was off last night, and we almost went into Mortons for dinner, but decided to have pizza at the Mellow Mushroom instead. Kati, you still breathing? :-) But we do plan on watching the Awards show from the comfort of our home and we've invited a few friends over to hang out with us.

It was a great weekend hanging with the hubby. We looked online for a cabin to rent in the Smoky Mountains over Christmas. We also checked out the local farmers market yesterday - yah, not so much. I had in my mind Pike Place, and it was more like a glorified garage sale. We still had a great time though and after pizza, we stopped at Starbucks and went to Target to buy some fun things for the apartment and then headed home to watch a disney flick - Eight Below. I don't recommend it - I cried and not just a few glistening tears either, like weepy crying. So much for staying safe with Disney. I also finished a puzzle that was started back when my inlaws were in town. I'm noticing a pattern here. They visit - we start a puzzle together - they leave - and Kim obsesses over finishing it. Not to long ago, my husband looks over at me and says, "you really are a grandma aren't you?" No comment. Wickie..wickie..wickie. They don't call me Grandma Scribbles for nothin.

A little update for those of you who don't know. A week ago, Jason and I had the opportunity to meet Billy Currington. He was having dinner at Mortons of course, and when I came to pick up Jason from work, I had brought a CD with me of a few of Jason's best songs. I walked over to Billy's table where Jason was talking with him and his girlfriend and Billy introduced himself. Girls, he's not as cute in person. We gave the CD to Billy and three days later (last Wednesday), Billy was at Big Yellow Dog Music publishing company, when the general partner and manager, Carla Wallace asked Billy if he had heard of any new writers. Billy remembered Jason's CD and retrieved it from his car and he and Carla listened to it. On Wednesday afternoon Jason got a call from Carla asking to meet with her on Thursday. They had their meeting and it seemed to go well. Jason brought a few more songs with him and she really liked some of what he's written. So where do we go from here? Carla has asked Jason to drop by some more of his music by her office and she would like to get to know him a bit better to see what he's about and more of his style. This is encouraging. What I'm learning from this music business, is you have to choose to see God in every circumstance and how He might be working in it. Here's where you come in. You all know Jason and how incredibly hard-working, dedicated and passionate he is about songwriting. Pray that God would show His favor in this situation and if it be God's will, that Jason would be offered a publishing/writing deal. One very exiciting and encouraging thing that we learned from this meeting was that when Carla pulled out the CD of Jason's music during their meeting, it was not the same CD Jason gave to BIlly. Billy had kept his copy and they made a seperate copy for Carla. Carla also told Jason that Billy really liked Right Where We Belong a whole lot. He should be starting on his next album in January, so it wouldn't be surprising if he was already looking for songs. AGAIN, pray for favor. This one divine appointment could possibly have two very significant outcomes. Either way, even if nothing comes of it, just knowing that this top executive at Big Yellow Dog wants to get to know Jason better and that Billy Currington really likes Jason's song is extremely encouraging. After all, we all know Right Where We Belong is a hit, its all just a matter of time.

Shut Up and Sing

Tonight is just my thoughts.

This evening I joined a couple friends from work to see a documentary that was pre-released to Nashville. It's called "Shut Up and Sing", a documentary put out by the Dixie Chicks. Before you read any further, let me forewarn you, you may not agree with what I have to say.

Call me crazy, but for some reason, I guess I was expecting to see mostly loyal fans. Instead, it appeared I was walking into a theatre full of democrats and liberals with a political agenda. Sure, the audience didn't say anything themselves, instead they only sneered, laughed and cheered at anything portrayed negative toward the President. I can't help but feel sorry for the Dixie Chicks. I have always loved their music, and I think they are extremely gifted artists and musicians. But I'm also not surprised by the damage of Natalies comment back in 2001 where she said she was embarressed the President was from Texas. Does that mean that people were right to burn their music or ban them from radio stations? Not necessarily. Am I only friends with people that believe the way I do? Does every band I enjoy have the exact same belief system as me? No. And am I surprised?

But when it really comes down to this matter of the Dixie Chicks, its not about who was right or wrong. It's not about the Dixie Chicks apologizing to President Bush or taking back what they said or even the freedom of speech. Even President Bush himself was quoted in the documentary as saying, "Freedom is a two way street." And it is. But I think this is more about the fans and the bands relationship to them. The band decided to stand firm to a comment that Natalie, their lead singer, made about the President while in London, but what they didn't think about, was how that might affect their fans. It's not President Bush buying their albums, its not the radio stations putting money in their pocket - its the loyal fans that went out and bought their cds, paid for concert tickets, wore their t-shirts and watched their videos. I personally would have liked to see them make a come back. I truly believe that will only come by them making amends with the very ones who made them so successful...their fans. Maybe if this documentary was more geared in that direction, it would have a postive impact on their career and their future in music, instead I believe its drawing a political crowd, that only sees it as an opportunity to further their own agenda. It was sad. I'm afraid this will only seal their fate.

I think the Dixie Chicks intent is to release this film to express their feelings on how they were treated and where they stand with the public's reaction toward Natalies comment back in 2001, and win back the respect of their fans. Unfortunately, I don't believe that the audience this film will draw, is really all that interested. I strongly believe that the majority of those I watched the film with, could have cared less what the Dixie Chicks have been through or have any interest in their music at all. I would have loved to have seen a show of hands of who there owned any of their albums. I went tonight to here their story, not because I was a republican or a democrat, but because I am a fan. I wanted to give them a chance to make it right...with me as the fan. Not the president, not the radio stations, not anyone else. And I was a bit disappointed. I'm not going to burn my cds or boycott their songs, and I still enjoy the albums I have of theirs. But more than that, I believe the most important thing they could want from myself as a fan is my respect and out of that respect, my support. They let us down, not because they spoke their rights, but because they were ashamed and they told another country so. Together we stand, divided we fall. I believe the greatest division and defeat our country will face is from within.

I had hoped after watching this film, my faith in them would have been renewed and I would be inspired to buy their latest album. But instead, I left feeling defensive and jaded. I left with the impression that they were not after their fans respect - they are more after feeling justified. When you place yourself in a position to rely on the public as your means of success and wealth, then you have to realize that along with that, you place yourself in a position to be critized and judged for how you conduct yourself and what you say. Your fans become a means for your financial security and success, I guess you could say that would make them your boss. I could see how this could freak a celebrity out, there is an illusion that you don't have to answer to anyone - but like a boss, if you don't perform to the degree you're paid to, you'll ultimately lose your job. Are they victims of being treated like puppets on a string or do we only expect from them what is expected from us on a daily basis? Everyday, we abide by standards given our environment - dresscodes for work, professional conduct, customer service...a certain kind of conduct and performance is expected from us just as we expect from others in their own given environment. Like I mentioned before, the film made me feel sad. I don't believe they will accomplish what they've set out to do. And I don't believe they will ever be as great of a band as they once were without that relationship with their fans.