Can you believe that the guy in the grey sleeveless tee is also this guy?

Yep!  That’s Kenny Chesney, one of country music’s biggest heart-throbs, looking a little less hunk-a-licious than usual.  Maybe it’s because he’s standing next to Tom Brady?

Taylor Swift did two shows in Nashville, and as you can imagine, there were many, many special guests.  During her regular show, Taylor does this thing where she rises up onto the stage on a couch, so you can imagine the crowd would go wild if that couch rose up and someone like Ronnie Dunn or Tim McGraw was on there.  They were among the couchsurfers, along with other guests Kenny Chesney and Hayley Williams from the rock/pop band Paramore.  Here are some videos of her Nashville pals on stage with her.

Wha?  Why?  When?  Actually it’s a pic of Kenny from his high school yearbook, and for reasons unknown he is sporting a skirt and a lovely blouse/hat ensemble.  It looks like some kind of goofy assembly, but we may never know the details.  It’s part of a slide show that USA Today put together of celebs’ yearbook shots.  Here’s another one of Kenneth:

And Garth, too!

The whole slide show is here.

I think those of us who aren’t working on Kenny Chesney’s and Taylor Swift’s tours are clearly in the wrong line of work. Taylor plans to take her entire tour staff on a big exotic vacation when her tour ends, and Kenny has been doing this for his crew since 2002! Kenny says he brings along every single person on the tour and their boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, whatever, and they head to the Virgin Islands. He also does something from time to time that he calls the “merch lottery.” the whole tour staff puts their names into a hat, and at the end of the night Kenny pulls a name. That person gets ALL the merchandise sales for the night. Sounds pretty cool. Especially when you hear that the biggest check he’s written out for that is $300,000!!!!

A bunch of stuff all wrapped up together:

REBA’S WITH BLAKE:  She’ll be helping him out on upcoming episodes of the already very popular singing show “The Voice.”  Not tonight (9PM, ch during auditions, but in a few weeks when they get to the “battle” part of the show.  Each coach gets to pick a pal to help out, so Blake picked Reba.

SHANIA’S ON OPRAH:  Shania’s got a book out today (“From This Moment On”) and a new TV series that starts on Oprah’s network this Sunday.  So Today she’ll join Oprah (4PM, Ch to give us titillating tidbits that will make us want to read and watch  more.

SARA’S ON TOP:  YAY for Sara Evans.  Her great song “Stronger” has just topped both country music charts.  The comeback is now official. 

KENNY’S ON TOP OF GAGA:  Lady Gaga’s “Little Monsters” tour has been HUGE.  Who could top it?  How ’bout Kenny Chesney?  His “Goin’ Coastal” tour just beat out Gag’s (oops! I meant “Gaga’s”!  that was an honest typo, but I just had to leave it in) tour, grossing $6.5 million in one week.  That’s the highest grossing tour out there, and it’s about a million more than Gaga made.

Here’s a story that I think will make you say Awwwwwww……

Carrington Walker is a 14 year old girl who was diagnosed with acute lymphoma leukemia in 2008.  By a series of good deeds, she ended up on stage with Kenny Chesney in Kansas last week.  First of all, her tickets were given to her by an anonymous donor after her mom was out-bid at an auction.  Then at the show, someone randomly gave her one of those wristbands that get you up close in the “pit” area.  Once she got there, lots of tall grown-ups who had no clue she had been sick kept moving her closer to the front.  At one point, some strangers hoisted her up so that she could wave to Kenny, and he ended up pulling her up onto the stage…again, having no idea Carrington was a leukemia patient.  He sang the song “Summertime” to her, and as she says, “It was amazing!  I couldn’t breathe at all.  I just kind of stood there.”  After the experience of a lifetime, Carrington says the favors kept coming.  Since she didn’t get a chance to photograph the moment, total strangers came up to her and told her they had photos they would send her.  “I went to bed with a smile on my face,” she says.  Everyone, all together now….Awwwwwwww!

He’s kicking off his “Goin’ Coastal” tour this week, and he’s very excited about it because he took last year off.  I hate to spoil the surprise, though, because now you know there’s a giant stuffed swordfish involved!  Sorry.

No? Well, what if Kenny Chesney asked you to?  And it would help save the oceans?  And the glasses had some Kenny lyrics on them somewhere?  Now would you?  I know, the price is high, but that’s what you will pay if you want Kenny’s line, which you can check out here.  As per Kenny’s direction, $10 from each pair goes toward an ocean conservation organization.  Now I’ve never paid that much for glasses, but I will say that in my experience, the more you pay for them, the more they last.  Not because the quality is necessarily that much better, but because you spent so danged much on them you actually think twice before you leave them sitting around.

check out that weird photo bomb between them!

Kenny Chesney remembers a time when he felt bad for Taylor Swift because he had to fire her as an opening act.  It was about 4 years ago, and while he was excited for the new girl on town to join his tour, once Corona became the sponsor it became kind of inappropriate.  So to make up for the snub, Kenny says he gave Taylor the gift of a nice wad of cash.  Then just a year or two later, Taylor snagged the Entertainer of the Year CMA award right out from under Kenny.  He says the first thing he said to her was “You owe me money!”

Kenny Chesney has posted some new dates for his “Goin’ Coastal” tour, and I’m happy to say that Sleep Country Amphitheater is on that list! July 23rd is the date, and it looks like Billy Currington and Uncle Kracker will be the openers. No ticket sale info, but there you go!