They Had a Barbecue Stain on a White T-Shirt …

In the latest issue of People Country, you can find out exactly where country stars find the best barbecue. But I have to warn you, if you don’t live south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it’s kind of depressing. Tim McGraw likes Podnuh’s in Baton Rouge, Jason Aldean picks Fincher’s Bar-B-Q in Georgia and Jake Owen names a spot in Florida. Dolly Parton chooses Couser’s Southern Restaurant in Nashville (and also serves up quite a spread at her Dollywood theme park). I’m sure all those meals are just fine. But for those of us who live up north, what about us? Even though it didn’t make it to the top of anyone’s list, Memphis-based Corky’s is my personal favorite. Not just because it’s tasty, smoked and hand-pulled, but because they will deliver it to your door. You can get three pounds of their pulled pork and a bottle of sauce for around $70 and eat like a star no matter where you live.

Photo credit: Dollywood

HullabaLOU Loses $5 Million Despite Country Stars

Say you’ve lined up Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney and a whole onslaught of talent from all kinds of music for an outdoor festival. Sounds like a moneymaker, doesn’t it? So how on earth did Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., lose $5 million in three days with HullabaLOU? I could see taking a bit of a loss, but come on. Five million? The president of Churchill Downs Entertainment said that he wanted to create the Kentucky Derby of music festivals (which is a nice goal, by the way) and noted, “When we started out with Derby, it didn’t start out with 155,000 people. And it’s grown for 135 years. Hopefully this thing will grow over the next five to ten years and become something that’s meaningful.” They had hoped to have 90,000 people but wound up with about 78,000. And the lost income from slow tickets, parking and concessions is partly what caused the big loss. They aren’t giving up just yet, though. Organizers say they will try again in 2011.

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(HullabaLOU 2010)