Blog Posts by Wendy Geller

Jana Kramer (Photo: Jon Kopaloff)Drama…passion…rage…violence…romance! Breakout country star Jana Kramer shows off her already well-established acting skills (she famously starred on popular TV series One Tree Hill prior to her music career) in her brand-new video for “Whiskey,” the second single off her self-titled debut.

Not to worry, however. Although Kramer steams up the lens with the decidedly bad boy actor portrayed in the video, the singer—who was just nominated in the New Female Artist category at the upcoming Academy of Country Music Awards—is by no means repeating this behavior in real life. As fans know, she’s currently 100% happy with her boyfriend, fellow country up-and-comer and decidedly nice guy Brantley Gilbert.

Kramer has plenty of admirers besides her official beau. She was recently named one of 100 hottest women of 2013 by Men’s Health. If you happen to be near Abilene, Texas this weekend, you can catch her in person when she plays the Abilene Civic Center on Saturday.

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Troubled country singer Mindy McCready’s late boyfriend, David Wilson, appears to have had considerable issues of his own prior to his death reported on Sunday. The 34-year-old music producer’s demise has been determined a suicide.

Wilson was found in his Arkansas home by local police with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead shortly after being transported to the hospital. He leaves behind a 9-month-old son, Zayne, whom he fathered with McCready.

Aside from his involvement with McCready’s various brushes with the law—the most prominent being the 2011 attempt to abduct and hide McCready’s older son Zander from his grandmother, who had legal custody—there is little to suggest that Wilson had a disturbed lifestyle. Rather, the pieces of his puzzle show a typical Nashville music-scene up-and-comer’s story.

Dave Wilson in 2007 (Photo: Vibe 56 blog)

Wilson signed on as an intern in 2007 at Music Row recording studio Vibe 56, where the owners of the studio described him as a lifelong musician with a

Mindy McCready (Photo: Angela Weiss)Mindy McCready has yet another tumultuous experience to add to her trouble-ridden life. The country singer is mourning on Monday following the death of her boyfriend, David Wilson, who passed away Sunday night at the age of 34.

No details have been released regarding Wilson’s death. The songwriter and producer was the father of McCready’s younger child, 9-month-old Zayne, as well as a father figure to her elder son, 7-year-old Zander, from a previous relationship.

In a statement, McCready referred to Wilson as her “soulmate” and praised his loving ways. (See a picture of the two together here.)

“He was a caregiver and guiding hand to our sons, Zander and Zayne," she noted. "He was a precious gift from God to all of us and, yesterday, he returned home and is now with his mother and father. David loved and he was loved. Those who knew and loved him will miss him; those who did not know David, missed the opportunity to know a truly loving and gifted man."

We’re…not quite sure what James Franco had in mind when he decided to shoot a homemade parody of Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend” video—in which the 34-year-old actor channels his inner teen with bangs, hat, and hoodie; plus as a bonus writhes about with rumored girlfriend Ashley Benson.

We’re also not quite sure what he was attempting to achieve with this project. The actor has certainly amused us before with, er, interesting creative attempts (including a video for R.E.M. in which he plays Grease’s Danny Zuko to an unidentified Sandy wearing an enormous cat head). However, this is neither terribly ingenious, weird, or even particularly funny.

In fact, after watching it, one gets a sense of “Why?” It's just silly, and not in a good way.

Franco seems to have had second thoughts himself about the idea—shortly after he posted it to his WhoSay account last week, it was removed. Still, we all know how the Internets work; so, sorry, James—your bangs and cap shall live for eternity.

Randy Travis (Photo: Paul Archuleta)After a very tough year, things are looking up for Randy Travis—he’s allegedly sworn off drinking and is working on regaining his health. However, that doesn’t mean he can shut the door on his tumultuous 2012. Charges were formally filed against the 53-year-old singer Wednesday for driving while intoxicated back in August.

The infamous summer incident, in which Travis crashed his car on a Texas highway—and, prior to that, entered a convenience store stark naked—yielded official results that showed his blood alcohol level at the time was nearly twice the legal limit allowed by the state.

The DWI ranks as a Class A misdemeanor, which means Travis may face up to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Photo: Twitter/@jayleno

Why do Keith Urban, Randy Jackson, and Ryan Seacrest look so horrified in the above pic? Oh boy—the reason is definitely one for the ladies out there!

When the American Idol stars showed up on The Tonight Show Thursday night, Jay Leno had a big surprise for Urban. After a fairly tame discussion of Idol and fellow judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, Leno suddenly decided to steam things up a bit.

“Tell me about this?” Leno said, pulling out…a blown-up photo of Urban from his infamous 2001 Playgirl pictorial, in which he poses with a strategically placed guitar.

Fans of Urban know all too well that he posed for the magazine back in the day, but judging from the raucous audience reaction—it was news to many!

Brad Paisley (Photo: Ragnar Singsaas)If watching Kristin Chenoweth dress up like her at last month’s American Country Awards wasn’t enough for you to get your Honey Boo Boo fix—Brad Paisley has a new parody to get you guffawing.

On Wednesday night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the singer explained to the talk-show host that he’s written the new theme song “for a popular cable show.” Turns out it’s for—yep—you know who.

Paisley gets in some truly inspired lyrical matter in “The Ballad of Honey Boo Boo,” including such gems as “She's on the loose/Filled with balls of cheese and go-go juice” and "An American hero down to the core/She eats her meals right off the floor.” He also intersperses himself into actual clips from the show, with equally hysterical results.

Justin Timberlake (Photo: Scott Halleran)Those who have all but forgotten about Justin Timberlake as a musical powerhouse—hey, don’t laugh, his last album was in 2006, and that’s an eternity in today’s instantaneous media world—were startled on Wednesday night when the singer-cum-actor/businessman posted a cryptic tweet, promising a big announcement the following morning.

Within an hour, Timberlake was a top trend on Twitter. Thursday morning, Timberlake directed fans to a YouTube clip in which he indirectly announces his intent to create new music.

For those not paying attention--and that's pretty much all of us--this seemed to come out of nowhere. Why now, after so long? (As various outlets have pointed out, George W. Bush was president and iPhones didn't exist when we last heard new music from Timberlake.)

Theories have bounced around in the short period between his tweet and reveal; including half-humorous, half-serious musings whether he’s just gotten sick of his other pursuits, which include an avid golf hobby. There’s even the idea that his new wife Jessica Biel may have goaded him into it, although that’s unlikely.

Timberlake himself explains his decision to step away and return from the recording studio in typical superstar’s navelgazing fashion, saying that music “means more to me than anyone else in the world” and that he is “obsessive about it,” which is why, basically, he’s only released two solo albums over a decade.