Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker Tournament

Digital Rodeo will sponsor Nashville's first ever Andy Griggs Celebrity Poker Tournament, to be held Thursday, June 11 at Cadillac Ranch.

"We got to know Andy and learned of his involvement with the World Series of Poker," says Digital Rodeo Director of Marketing and Promotions John Pyne. "Digital Rodeo is continually trying to create unique country music events, and we felt like a celebrity poker game was a great way to benefit a wonderful organization like St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Judging by the early response to this event, we're anticipating an incredible turn out from both the artists and fans."

Country recording artist and World Series of Poker main event participant, Andy Griggs, will host the event, beginning at 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. An artist "in-the-round" jam session will follow at 5:30 p.m. A silent auction and door prize with five separate drawings will also be held.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to work with the guys at Digital Rodeo again and raise money for some really great causes," says Griggs. "I know this is going to be a great event because everybody wins - the fans get a chance to see some of their favorite celebrities interact and compete, we get a chance to play some music and some poker, and the charities get all the proceeds. It's a win-win-win situation."

Celebrity players from country music, sports, film and television, as well as professional poker players, will participate in the tournament.

Griggs is the first country artist to receive sponsorship into the main event at the World Series of Poker. He outlasted every non-poker celebrity in the tournament, including his sponsor, WSOP champion Doyle Brunson. Griggs went on to register an impressive finish in the top 12 percent of the 2008 competition.

Currently, Digital Rodeo is featuring a weekly poker tip from Griggs on his profile page at www.DigitalRodeo.com/AndyGriggs. The clips offer advice on a variety of topics, including how to bet, gauging facial expressions, reading your cards and learning to interpret body language.

Kellie Pickler Returns to American Idol

Kellie Pickler returns to American Idol on Wednesday to perform her latest single, "Best Days of Your Life." Pickler and Taylor Swift co-wrote the song which is the second single from Pickler's most recent album. Pickler was a finalist during the 2006 season of the TV show. "Going back to American Idol is like going to a family reunion. Well, it's more fun than going to my family reunions," she laughed. "Seriously, it's always great to see the gang and feel the excitement from the contestants."

HOLLYWOOD'S A-TEAM TAPPED FOR NASHVILLE SCREENWRITERS CONFERENCE 2009

In a city filled with creative talent, Nashville provides the ideal setting for the Nashville Screenwriters Conference (NSC) to be held May 29 - 31, 2009 at the historic downtown Union Station Hotel. Now in its eleventh year of bringing Hollywood to Nashville, the highly acclaimed and open-to-the-public event provides aspiring screenwriters and individuals interested in film and TV the chance to network, learn and explore professional opportunities within these industries. For detailed information and to register, log on to www.nashscreen.com. Register before May 28 to take advantage of discounted registration fees. Walk-up tickets will be available but space is limited.

This year's conference kicks off Friday, May 29 with Catherine Tarr, a 19-year veteran of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and in-house story editor, who will host a discussion titled "Yes, You Can." Tarr will offer inspirational advice on turning the craft of writing into a successful career. She will be followed by William Akers, author of "Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways to Make It Great" and a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America. Akers will share how to keep the attention of agents and producers and avoid common mistakes and pitfalls in his panel, "Keep the Reader Reading-Fatal Errors Writers Make."

Friday's speakers will be followed by an advance screening of the highly anticipated film "I Love You Phillip Morris" (rated R) starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor. On Saturday, May 30, the film's screenwriters and directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra ("Bad Santa") will host the panel "Adapting a Non-fiction Book." The writing and directing duo will be joined by Steve McVicker, author of the book which was the basis for the film, and producers Andrew Lazar and Far Shariat (NBC's "Life," "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind") to discuss the process of turning a non-fiction book into a feature film.

One of the most popular panels, "Music in the Movies," will again offer aspiring songwriters, composers and artists advice on how to get their music placed in films and TV. Hosted by Music Supervisor, Anastasia Brown ("Billy: The Early Years," "August Rush," "Taken"), this luncheon taps into Nashville's songwriting community by providing the opportunity to actually submit songs for placement in upcoming movies. Tickets are available a la carte for $40 (includes lunch) and sell out fast.

On Saturday, attendees can also look forward to "The Psychological Perils of Screenwriting" hosted by Craig Mazin ("The Specials," "Scary Movie 3," "Scary Movie 4"). Mazin will take participants through the battles screenwriters face with both the blank page and with themselves, including procrastination, self-doubt, criticism, deadlines, distractions, creative block and other obstacles. Mazin will be joined by screenwriters Scott Frank ("The Lookout," "Minority Report," "Out of Sight," "Get Shorty"), Dan Weiss (upcoming films "The Game," "I Am Legend 2," "Game of Thrones"), David Benioff ("25th Hour," "The Kite Runner," "Troy,"), Phil Hay ("Bug," "Clash of the Titans," "Aeon Flux," "Crazy/Beautiful") and Matt Manfredi ("Bug," "Clash of the Titans," "Aeon Flux," "Crazy/Beautiful").

Derek Haas and Michael Brandt ("Wanted," "3:10 to Yuma," "2 Fast, 2 Furious") will host "Your Team: How Screenwriters Work Daily with Agents, Managers and Lawyers." Haas and Brandt will be joined by their team: literary agent Jeff Gorin (William Morris Agency); manager and producer Andrew Deane ("Masters of Horror," "Till Human Voices Wake Us," "See Spot Run"); and entertainment attorney Adam Kaller, to give an insider's view of the inner-workings of the Hollywood machine.

Also during the conference, "Survivor: How to Keep Your Career Alive in a Rough Business" will be hosted by, Linda Lichter, one of the most successful and respected attorneys in entertainment. Lichter has worked on such recent hits as "Finding Neverland," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, "Quantum of Solace," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Babel," and "Juno." The panel will include a discussion with three writers Lichter has worked with over the years: David Franzoni ("Gladiator," "Citizen Cohn," "Amistad"); Linda Woolverton ("Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast," and the upcoming "Alice in Wonderland"); and Terry Rossio ("Shrek," the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, "The Mask of Zorro").

(All panelists are subject to change.)

Steve Martin to Play Banjo at the Grand Ole Opry

Comedian Steve Martin next month will make his debut on a new type of stage for the well-known television and movie star, plucking his banjo at country music's Grand Ole Opry.

Martin, a veteran of TV shows like "Saturday Night Live and films such as the recent "Pink Panther 2," has long been a banjo player. He even incorporated the instrument into his stand-up comedy act as he rose to stardom in the 1970s. But only last month Martin released his first music CD, a bluegrass album called "The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo," which he will perform at country music's premiere venue on May 30, in Nashville.

Martin began playing banjo at age 17, and recently joked with reporters in New York that early in his career he opened a Manhattan night club picking away at the instrument but nobody turned out. On the second night he agreed to play for free, and when the club was empty again, the owner fired him.

"I thought if I don't do it now, my fingers might slow down or I might forget the songs," the 63-year-old Martin said about making "The Crow" with 15 original songs.

His friend Jon McEuen, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and producer of "The Crow," had a different take on Martin's abilities.

"The Opry audience will find out when Steve picks, that he's a musician disguised as an actor," said McEuen, who met Martin as a teenager when both worked at Disneyland in California.

McEuen also will perform songs from Martin's album at the Opry, alongside country stars including Vince Gill and Amy Grant.

Opry manager Pete Fisher said the venue was excited about the upcoming show. "Of course we've all been fans of (Martin's) work on stage, television and in film for years, but we've also been very impressed with his musicianship," Fisher said.

HARD ROCK CAFE NASHVILLE HOSTS MARK WILLS & FRIENDS

The beginning of April will be rockin' as Hard Rock International hosts March on Stage, the fifth annual global live music series featuring high-caliber iconic and emerging artists. On Wednesday, April 8th Hard Rock Cafe Nashville will host Mark Wills & Friends. The doors will open at 8:30pm and the show will begin at 9pm. Joining Mark Wills will be Trent Willmon, Jeff Bates, and Johnny Cooper. Tickets are only $10 and available at ticketalternative.com. Your admission into this event will bring one song to the bedside of a patient in a local healthcare facility.

Little Jimmy Dickens Last of a Generation

His performances on the Grand Ole Opry are memorable. Wearing a flashy rhinestone suit, Little Jimmy Dickens charges onto the stage carrying a J200 Gibson guitar about as big as he is (4 feet 11).

He launches into a song, probably a funny one like his 1965 hit "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." Later, there's a quip or two, like this comment to 6-foot-6 country singer Trace Adkins: "You're so tall, if you fell down, you'd be halfway home when you got up."

But for a couple of months over the winter, the songs and jokes were silent. The 88-year-old Dickens was sidelined with health issues, and the usual Opry verve was diminished.

He returned to the stage in late February, resuming his career as one of the oldest performers in any genre of music still entertaining: B.B. King is 83, Tony Bennett 82 and Andy Williams 81.

In country music, he's among the last of the generation that included Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe and Ernest Tubb. Kitty Wells, "the queen of country music," is 89 but retired except for occasional public appearances.

His illness hasn't diminished his drive to perform and he's mining his age for new jokes. "I could do two, 45-minute shows and never repeat one," Dickens says.

On a recent Friday night Opry show, these observations:

"You know you're 88 when your wife says, 'Let's run upstairs and make love,' and you say, 'I can't do both.'"

"You know you're 88 when you see a pretty girl in a bikini and your Pacemaker makes the garage door go up."

Dickens clearly still relishes performing. And fans respond with a chorus of camera clicks when he takes the stage of the Opry.

He missed six weeks this year after surgery for a subdural hematoma and a month last year for bloodstream and urinary tract infections.

"It hurt because I couldn't do what I love to do," he said in an interview in his dressing room two hours before a show. While ill, he didn't even listen to the Opry radio broadcast or watch the televised portion, explaining, "I just wanted to get in the harness."

His popularity is not lost on the younger generation. Brad Paisley — 36 and young enough to be Dickens' grandson — uses a big screen at his concerts as part of a multimedia presentation to show Dickens playing "Guitar Zero," a takeoff on a video game. "He stands taller than anyone else, in my mind," Paisley says.

Dickens' resume is packed with achievements. Member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Sixty years on the Opry singing country classics like "Out Behind the Barn" and "I'm Little but I'm Loud." He's made more than a dozen trips to perform in Europe and entertained troops in Vietnam three times.

This night, he's not feeling well, bothered by the sniffles. Dickens also is frustrated because he can't find a guitar pick, lamenting, "I left 'em at home." A colleague comes to the rescue and locates four down the hall. (What better place to find a guitar pick than the Grand Ole Opry?)

Dickens is resplendent in a white cowboy hat, blue jeans and a colorful shirt with crimson and black stripes offset by a gold watch and a gold chain peeking out around his neck. Several rhinestone suits hang against the wall.

Dickens is credited with introducing rhinestone suits to country music around 1950.

He has no idea how many rhinestone suits he owns, though he still has the first one he ever bought.

"My wife won't let me touch 'em," he said. "They're all sealed up."

Dickens performs on the Opry for up to 4,400 people each show — most times two shows a night on Saturday and one on Friday. Thus, he sings before a potential audience of 500,000 people each year — without leaving Nashville.

Thanks to Joe Edwards

Stoney Creek Records Launches on Music Row

Stoney Creek Records, a new independent record label, is launching on Music Row.

The label is staffed by industry veterans. It is headed by Benny Brown, who financed and launched Broken Bow Records, which had country chart success with Jason Aldean and Craig Morgan.

The label released information on its radio promotion staff, but hasn’t yet announced any artist signings.

John Rich's New Album + Exclusive Tracks