Florida

We’re all about country music at the ol’ SPT Saloon this weekend.

There’s a feature by yours truly: "Southern Comfort: The music industry is sliding. The economy is in the dumps. Sounds like the perfect time for a country song."

There’s a killer Country Quiz concocted by none other than that hot urban cowboy Steve Spears (CLICK HERE TO PLAY). Let us know your score. I made a bonehead mistake, but still managed a 13.

There’s a great mini-movie of backstage antics with Dierks Bentley and his fans at a recent Tampa show (CLICK HERE TO WATCH THAT).

And to top it all off, here’s a playlist of THE MOST NOTORIOUS COUNTRY SONGS.

(Read the full post about ‘The Most Notorious Country Songs’…)

Retirement planning used to consist of having a lot of children to support you in your old age. If you weren’t particularly good in that department, you could end up in the local poor house. Those reminders of retirement past are among the many fascinating details presented in the Retirement Revolution, which airs the next two Monday nights at 10 p.m. on WEDU and many other PBS stations. The producers at WTTW in Chicago who put the program together managed to interview dozens of retirement experts, retirees and workers who hope some day to be retired. Three people in that last category are from the Tampa Bay area and I interviewed one of them for my column today.

(Read the full post about ‘More TV: The Retirement Revolution’…)

Monday (March 31) with Kathy Fountain for the "Your Turn" broadcast on WTVT Channel 13. It comes on at 12:30 pm as the second half of the noon news and takes questions from viewers.

We’ve left Katie Holmes alone for too long — Star is saying she’s sickly and falling apart under the strain of living a fake life with Tom Cruise!

After a lunch at L.A. eatery Joan’s on Third recently, a thin, pale and exhausted Katie almost collapsed, bracing herself against a door frame before being whisked off by her bodyguard. A source tells the mag that dizzy spells and headaches are the norm, and despite being emaciated, she feels compelled to lose more weight to please Tom, who is driving her to the brink.

"Katie doesn’t get enough sleep — and hasn’t for months now," a source says.

(Read the full post about ‘Katie Holmes collapses, run ragged by Tom’…)

We’ve had a spate of Tyra Banks news on The Juice* lately, and that’s because we revel in having the TV-watching predilections of teen-aged girls by counting America’s Next Top Model as one of our faves.

But all is not well on Banksian shores: Ok! says Tyra is so sick and tired of the grind (the show’s on its 10th season) that she’s looking for a way out. Not only that, but she and shoot director Jay Manuel (that’d be MISTER Jay to you) are on the outs.

“It’s gotten so bad that Tyra and Jay aren’t speaking,” a source told the magazine.

(Read the full post about ‘Tyra Banks is getting sick of ‘Next Top Model’’…)

Even though Heather Mills got paid $48.7 million for four years of marriage to Paul McCartney, she’s still not satisfied.

The U.K.’s Daily Mail says the bitter divorcee is hiring "a team of forensic accountants" to examine Sir Paul’s finances and prove he’s worth a lot more — up to $1.6 billion, according to her estimate.

And remember the $70,000 per year she got to take care of their daughter, Beatrice? Yeah, not enough.

"Heather says she can prove the amount of money that is being given to look after Bea will not last over the year. She is putting it to the test," a source says.

(Read the full post about ‘Heather Mills wants more than $48.7 million’…)

Not that you’ve been keeping up with California politics lately, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proved last week you can choose your friends and family by bouncing pal Clint Eastwood and brother-in-law Bobby Shriver off the state parks commission.

The L.A. Times reports both men, who were appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2001 and reappointed by the Governator in 2004, learned about their fate through governor aides, despite their respective relationships to Schwarzenegger.

“I think it was just somebody got a bee under their bonnet at the right moment, so there we are,” Eastwood said.

(Read the full post about ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger fired Clint Eastwood’…)

You know how we all thought we’d be in flying cars and have tracking chips embedded in our skulls by now? Let’s take a look back to November 1968, courtesy of Mechanix Illustrated, to see what life in 2008 was supposed to be like:

Read the whole thing here.

Not all of it is right, of course, especially that part about heart disease being eradicated (have you eaten at Five Guys yet?!?), but the part about paperless banking, electronic shopping and giant televisions is kinda creepy.

Thanks, T-Bone.

A note to the devoted Stir Crazies:

I’m on assignment next week and won’t be blogging. Take some time to peruse the recipe archives which go back at least a couple of years. Let me know if you find anything yummy to make. I know, I know. I’m always begging for a little feedback and you keep ignoring me.

Not to worry, though, I’ll be back on April 7 to stir it up!

I just got a copy of the new Cook’s Illustrated compilation cookbook. This one is all about chicken dishes. I kid you not. Seems like there’s a million ways to cook up America’s favorite white meat and the folks at Cook’s know it.

I particularly like the sounds of this recipe which takes Mediterranean flavors - olives, tomatoes, feta and mint - and combines them in a quick-cooking dish. I love tossing in cherry or grape tomatoes to sautees or pasta or roasted beast. They heat up and implode, their tangy innards flavoring everything up, plus adding liquid to sometimes dry chicken. For this recipe, you can you basil instead of mint.

(Read the full post about ‘Eat more chicken.’…)