I shouldn’t say this, but Joe Don has always been my favorite Rascal Flatt.  He’s just so cute, and also extremely funny and a hoot to hang around with.  I’m feeling a little bad for him, though, because apparently he’s not getting much Twitter love!  Joe Don has about 31,000 followers on his individual Twitter account, and when he had a birthday this week, he decided to ask everyone for birthday tweets.  Even though he asked 3 times, he only got 50!  This is an insanely successful artist, part of one of the biggest bands in country music!  Poor guy.  How could that have happened?  Well if it helps, Joe Don, we wish you a big fat happy birthday!!!

OK, you heard the song “She’s Going Places,” that was a tribute to little Caylee Anthony and was supposedly written by Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox, along with Cledus T. Judd and another guy. So Caylee’s grandparents, George and Cindy, were using this as an excuse to request a meet and greet with Rascal Flatts, to express their gratitude (a thank-you note wouldn’t do the job, I guess.) I was pretty sure the Flatts boys would pass on this opportunity, but now I’m quite sure, since it turns out Gary didn’t actually write Caylee’s song. He did write a song with Cledus and the other songwriter a year or so ago, and then Cledus took that song and totally revamped it into a song about Caylee. So that’s how Gary’s name got mixed up into this whole thing on CNN and pretty much everywhere else, including right here in my tidbits.  But in terms of actually writing a song for Caylee,  Gary had nothing to do with it.  End of story. It’s still a nice story, and you can still get it on itunes and feel good, because all the money goes to charity.

So you remember this song that Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox wrote with Cledus T. Judd?  It’s about little Caylee Anthony, and it’s a heartbreaker.  The good news about this song is that if you buy it from itunes, ALL of the money goes toward charities that help kids.  No one is profiting from it.  Especially not the Anthonys.  Unless, of course, Gary LeVox agrees to meet with Caylee’s grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, who have taken this song as an excuse to request a meet and greet with the singer and his band. They want to let him know how much they appreciate it, and I guess a thank-you note won’t do the trick…Gary won’t know how much they appreciate it until he’s posed for a photo with them and signed an autograph for them. Sorry, my sarcasm is showing. But really, I find this request tacky. While the band hasn’t decided what to do yet, I have a feeling they’ll find a way to decline this one.

Rascal Flatt’s lead singer Gary LeVox teamed up with comedian Cledus T. Judd and another songwriter to create a tribute song to Caylee Anthony. They want to make sure that you know they are not interested in making a single penny off this…in fact they won’t accept any money for their work. And the guy singing, by the way, is a guy named Shane Hines who sings demos in Nashville.

So Rascal Flatts sang for Oprah yesterday on part one of her goodbye extravaganza, and she sang along every word to “I Won’t Let Go,” their latest #1 hit.  What really blew my mind was that at the very end of the song,  this huge cavalcade of stars filed up onto the stage…everyone from Madonna to Tom Cruise, Beyonce, Halle Berry, etc. etc.  How the heck did Gary keep it together?  Watch it by clicking here and you’ll see what I mean.

Here’s the video that hair historians will be analyzing for years to come:

Why? Because it was on the set of this sure-to-be famous video that Justin Bieber famously cut his famous hair. Lots of tweeny-boppers are watching this video, just to check out the new ‘do and decide if they like it, or if their life no longer has meaning. Although I recognize it’s creepy for me, who is probably older than Justin’s mom, to weigh in, I think the new haircut is actually a big improvement because without that tidal wave of bangs, you can see his cute little face better (Well, I ended up sounding like a mom after all!)

The boys from Rascal Flatts have been tweeting all kinds of encounters lately…first them hanging out with Justin Bieber, and now….Michael Bolton?  And Lionel Richie?  What the…who the…?  All we know at this point is that they were working with both of them.  They were recording with Lionel, and writing with Michael, or according to Jay DeMarcus’ tweet, which I think has an auto-correct typo, “writing a tune formula new record!”  Here are the pics to prove it:

Rascal Flatts are all a-Twitter about the fact that they are shooting a video right now with none other than Justin Bieber!  They recorded remix of a song with him called “That Should Be Me”, and now they’re making a video with him that no doubt has a very generous hair product budget!  No word yet on a release date, but it will be fun to see all of those boys together. 

Okay, I guess sometimes it takes a while to notice something that’s NOT there. Which explains why I, along with many other country fans, am finally noticing the fact that Rascal Flatts got ZERO ACM nominations. Zip. Nada. Bupkiss. Seriously, what the heck is going on with THAT? These guys sold out big arenas all across the country and had a song that stayed at the top of the charts for 2 weeks.

Recently, they’ve been snubbed at other awards shows in the “entertainer” category, and they’ve been losing out to Lady Antebellum in some group categories. But to not even get NOMINATED for vocal group? Take a look at the list of other nominees: Lady Antebellum (well, yeah), Zac Brown Band (sure), The Band Perry (new, but a big year for them), Little Big Town (solid, but not huge), and……Randy Rogers Band. Sorry, but WTD? (What The Devil???…just made that up.) It’s just weird. And that’s all I have to say.

Pop sensation/haircut model/teen singer Justin Beiber will soon be in Nashville, recording his part of a duet he’s doing with Rascal Flatts.  So is the Bieb-ster going country?  Doesn’t sound like it.  Because the song will be on Justin’s next CD, sounds more like Rascal Flatts are dipping a toe into pop.  Of course some traditionalists would say they already have more than a toe in that format, but there you go.