John Rich's House and Fontanel

That house wasn't John Rich's house.

It's the Plowboy Mansion, former known as Fontanel, is or was the at one time the largest long home in America. Barbara Mandrell built it. According to one article, "It's become the place for Big & Rich and their pals to party, play music, hang out and have target practice."

Hmmm..... I just googled "Fontanel", and apparently a fontanel is the soft spot on a baby's head. So why did they name that huge house fontanel I wonder???

And according to this real estate listing:

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/ProfileSE.aspx?LID=15180102&linkcode=10850&sourcecode=1lww2t006a00001

It's for sale for $14 million. 27,000 square feet on 136 acres.

I'll tell you one thing, I almost cried last night when I saw the indoor pool and the wall of glass in front of it. Amazing.

Anyway, this article says a developers bought a majority interest in it from Big & Rich's managers, who bought it in 2002 at auction for $2.1 million!! Barbara spent $6 million building it and tried to sell it for $7 million but ended up auctioning it off. The developers are planning to sell it.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58634

Oh Fontanel has its own website - I see, the developers are selling off the subdivided lots and creating a "private rural community". Very interesting.

http://www.trailsatfontanel.com/

John Rich's house is horribly ugly - very "modern" I guess.

http://intownnashville.com/intownreport/2007/01/09/no-love-on-love-circle/

Okay I know beauty is subjective. I love log homes so that's why I like Fontanel. Those who like modern may think John's real house is beautiful.

That's not even a real picture of it, it's an artist's rendering. I don't even know if he ever finished building it.

Gone Country

John Rich's new celebreality show, Gone Country, premiered last night. And OF COURSE I'll watch it. I heart celebreality AND John Rich!

Basically, John Rich takes several (has-been) celebrities: Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister; Carnie Wilson; Sisqó; Bobby Brown; Maureen McCormick; Julio Iglesias Jr; and Diana DeGarmo (American Idle), lets them live in his (incredible) house, and tries to turn them into country music stars. Sort of.

"Gone Country uproots these seven musical celebrities and moves them into a Nashville mansion together to embark on a two-week adventure, hosted by singer-songwriter John Rich. Each celebrity will be paired up with some of Nashville's finest songwriters in an attempt to prepare them for a career in country music. In each episode, the cast competes against each other in challenges that will test them musically and physically to adapt to a country music lifestyle, both on and off the stage. At the end of the two weeks, the artist who is most prepared to impress a country audience, as determined by Rich, will record and release a song."

John arrived on a helicopter after they had settled in the house. I don't know if his coat was real or faux fur. He recently made news when PETA emailed him after he wore a fox coat on the CMA awards. He said he would be glad to wear faux fur if any of the designers PETA referred him to wanted to send him a coat and he would tell everyone it was faux. I don't now if that ever happened.

I like his style. Country pimpin'. LOL. John does love his bling!!

Big & Rich Awesomeness

Watch video of Big & Rich performing in the "WalMart Sound Check". Lost in this Moment, Between Raising Hell & Amazing Grace, Save a Horse, 8th of November and Comin' to Your City!

http://soundcheck.walmart.com/bigandrich.html

You can watch any of them or all of them. And you don't have to sit through 30 seconds of commercials either (a shorter one LOL)

This is the first time I've heard Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace and I really like it. I was disappointed in Lost in This Moment (it's a beautiful song, but not ... special). This is better. Their live sound is a little different from their studio sound, so I'll be interested to hear the studio version. I always like their live stuff better though. Except it seems like their kind of slurring over the word "hell". Or else it's not the same word in some places. It's somewhat perplexing.

Somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace
is a place i keep finding myself
Yeah I get a little crazy
trying to have a little fun
then I end up back where I started from
down on my knees I pray
oh Lord let me see another day
Somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace

The album will be in stores next week!!! Target has it for $9.98 next week.

Big & Rich album teaser

"Big & Rich's upcoming album, Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace, includes a guest appearance by rapper Wyclef Jean and a cover version of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." The Fugees member is featured on "Please Man," a John Rich song that contains mentions of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels and Reba McEntire. Big & Rich's album will be released June 5. "

http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1558423/20070430/big_rich.jhtml

Big & Rich: Instant Karma

Big & Rich is going to have a song on "Instant Karma", an all-star album benefiting Amnesty International's campaign to end the Darfur genocide. It will be out June 12 and sounds great.

More here:

http://www.instantkarma.org/pr-REM.html

Daily Darfur: Your Daily Dose of Activism: 3/12/07.

Big & Rich + Bon Jovi = We Got It Goin' On

"This year the Arena Football League will feature a duet between the iconic, Grammy Award-winning rock band Bon Jovi and country sensations Big & Rich. Philadelphia Soul co-owner Jon Bon Jovi and band-mate Richie Sambora co-wrote a brand new song titled "We Got It Goin' On" with Big Kenny and John Rich that will become the theme song and part of the opening video for ESPN's weekly 2007 AFL game telecasts. "We Got It Goin' On" will also appear on the upcoming Bon Jovi album, which is planned for a 2007 release. "

Source: http://tidbitsbytj.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-2-favorite-jonjohns.html

Big & Rich's new single is out!

Click on the banner to hear it on their MySpace

Big & Rich

"BIG & RICH...AUTHORS?
Yup! Big & Rich are planning to release their third album, as well as a book, on May 15th. Big Kenny Alphin and John Rich have recorded about half of the songs so far for the yet-to-be-titled follow-up CD to 2005's "Comin' To Your City." The book, an idea of Warner Books, is more of a celebration of the duo rather than a biography. It will chronicle when and how they came together in 1998, how the records came about, and the Muzik mafia family. Kenny is also working on other projects, including a musical called "Code Name Rock Star" and "Milk And Beer: Pirate Songs For Sons And Fathers," which he plans to start as a film and then adapt into a stage musical."

source: http://www.mywesttexasblogs.com/blog2/index.php?blog=13&title=monday_moanin_59&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1