Happy Friday! 6/27/2008

Thanks for hanging out with us this morning, unless of course you did miss the show and your checking in to see what you missed and well, thank you too!

A Winter Park, Florida, man said it felt like he “stuck a fork in an outlet” when lightning struck him while he was holding a cigarette and lying in bed. Adam Rice was listening to music and watching TV in an apartment when lightning zapped him on the hand Wednesday. He was taken to the hospital last night after complaining of a “tingling” in his brain. He said he could feel the electricity leave through his feet after running through his body. The lightning strike caused nearby brush to burst into flames.

Even the most well-meaning pet owners can forget to give their pets the meds they need. But this site offers a free tool that will remind them. By registering at RemindMyPet.com, pet owners receive customized e-mail reminders when it’s time to give medications to Fido or Kitty. . Check out more at http://www.remindmypet.com/

Top renting movies:
Video Top rentals

1. “Rambo” 4. “Untraceable”
2. “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” 5. “P.S. I Love You”
3. “Mad Money”

Movies out this weekend:

“WALL-E” (Wide) (G)
Stars Jeff Garlin, Kim Kopf, Fred Willard and Sigourney Weaver.
“Wanted” (Wide) (R)
Stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Common and Kristen Hager. Andy

Bill Gates is retiring and stepping down from Microsoft. Matt said he would have applied but they haven’t listed the job in the want ads. We also talked about Monster.com coming to Florence. You can find out more in Today’s Morning News. Here’s the whole story: Bill Gates, the man who co-founded Microsoft and turned it into a worldwide computer phenomenon, will end his full-time tenure today as Microsoft’s leader. Gates will spend more time on his charitable foundation. Microsoft announced in 2006 that Gates planned to go part-time as board chairman, so he could spend more time on his global health charity. Two senior executives were named to take over.

A Colorado man is still in disbelief after crashing into a bear on his bicycle. The "Rocky Mountain News" reports 53-year-old Tim Egan was traveling on a mountain road when a 500-pound bear appeared in front of him. Egan believes he was going about 45 miles per hour when the collision happened. He added, quote, "This bear looked at me with a look of terror on his face and sort of made a noise." Egan suffered cracked ribs and several cuts. He was able to get back on his bike and pedal to the nearest hospital. As for the bear, it reportedly ran away after crash.

Auditions for the eighth season of “American Idol” will begin July 17th at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Auditions are open to men and women 16-28 years of age who are eligible to work in the United States. Get the full itinerary at www.americanidol.com. The eighth season of “American Idol” will premiere on Fox in January.

Women spend 58 days of their life removing unwanted hair. That's according to a Zoomerang hair removal survey, which also found that women tend to also spend more than ten-thousand-dollars on hair removal products and services during their lifetime. Women who rely on waxing for hair removal only one or two times per month will spend an average of 23-thousand-dollars on hair removal during their lifetime. Those who shave to remove unwanted hair say they spend an average of ten-point-nine-minutes each time they shave, an average of 12 times per month.

It’s Time For ‘Dukesfest’
John Schneider, who played Bo Duke on the original “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show, says this weekend’s “Dukesfest” at the Atlanta Motor Speedway will include familiar stunts like turning cars over and jumping cars. Several of the original stuntmen from the show will be attending this weekend’s 30th anniversary celebration, along with Schneider, Tom Wopat and Catherine Bach.Adam West and Lee Meriwether from the ‘60s “Batman” series will also be on hand. Details can be found at http://www.dukesfest.com/.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that individual Americans have a right to own guns, a first in thecountry’s history. The ruling strikes down a gun control law in the U.S. capital. The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument that the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

Florida authorities are trying to determine whether a man drank himself to death at a strip club. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department, Eric Morris of Seffner had almost two dozen shots of Vodka in less than an hour. The 26-year-old went to "The Angels" bar in Tampa on Tuesday night and didn't stop drinking shots of vodka until he consumed 23 of them in about 60 minutes. His body was later found at the bar and an investigation is taking place.

A Colorado man is now calling the Boulder County Jail home after police say he spent about half a year on top of a T-Mobile phone shop. Workers were pretty sure something unusual was going on for some time after finding pillows, trash and a sleeping bag on top of the store and the trail led to Luke Barrett. It turns out the 25-year-old had been living on top of the shop since late last year. It took a chase and weapons drawn to finally take him into custody. Barrett told officers he's homeless and the roof seemed like a safe place to stay. He pled guilty to trespassing and is serving a week behind bars.

What’s cooking?
6:50

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman treated their second anniversary on Tuesday like it was any other day. People-dot-com says that the soon-to-be parents, dressed in sweats, spent the morning at Starbucks. Later that day, the pair joined another couple for a bite to eat at Whole Foods. In a radio interview, the couple revealed that they were taking Lamaze classes together, with Nicole saying that Keith has been a good student

Kellie Pickler will celebrate her 22nd birthday tomorrow [Saturday] while touring with pals Brooks and Dunn Wisconsin. Last year, the country music hottie became legal on Brad Paisley's Bonfires and Amplifiers -- with her pal Taylor Swift. But she also made an impression on Jack Ingram, who tells us, "[She's] a natural. Well not all of her is natural, but her personality is just naturally fresh and fun to be around."

Mindy McCready has been arrested for probation violation. According to the Tennessean, Mindy, who is out on five-thousand dollars bail, allegedly falsified her community service report,

Scarlett Johansson hasn't been able to stop bragging about her E-mail relationship with Senator Barack Obama, but she's about to shut up. When asked about his E-mail buddy on his campaign plane, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said Scarlett "sent one E-mail to [my assistant], who forward it to me. I write, saying, 'Thank you Scarlett for doing what you do,' and suddenly we have this E-mail relationship." -

The Tim McGraw fan ousted from the singer's concert earlier this week says he holds no grudge against the star. McGraw literally removed Marcus Nirschl from his show in Auburn, Washington on Tuesday after he thought he saw Marcus hit a woman in the front row. Nirschl claims he was just trying to get back to his seat before Tim sang "Indian Outlaw," which Tim and his band were performing while the whole incident took place. The fan denies the allegations against him, telling CMT.com he didn't grab anyone's hair and he didn't hit anyone. He says, quote, "I had a third row seat I paid one-hundred-dollars for. I was getting shoved up against some empty seats, and I may have pushed some people when I was trying to get my balance. I'm the nicest guy you'll ever meet." Despite being kicked out of the concert, Marcus proclaims he'll be at the next Tim McGraw concert that comes to his area. He explains, quote, "I still like the guy. The music's still great."

8:50
Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry say they were careful to take care of all the details with their new album "Back When I Knew It All." Eddie says that having good material is important, but the arrangement of the tunes also makes a difference. And he adds it was a complete labor love for him and Troy to work on all aspects of the CD,They are withToby Keith's "Biggest and Baddest" tour. Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday.

Mark Chesnutt is known for singing some great country songs. But Mark says when he started to record his new album, "Rollin' with the Flow," he wasn't sure songwriters were still writing the kind of songs he likes to sing. Chesnutt found out pretty quickly that there was no shortage of material

When Carrie Underwood ended the first leg of her "Carnival Ride" tour Tuesday in New Orleans, more than 200-thousand fans had seen her show. All but five of her 31 shows were sellouts. Underwood grossed over ten-million-dollars on the first leg of her trek

George Strait will release his third Christmas album this fall. The disc, which is likely to drop in October, contains 10 songs. Strait’s last holiday disc was 1999’s “Merry Christmas Wherever You Are.”

Drew Carey likes the pizza from Antonio’s in Ohio so much that he’s having UPS deliver dozens of the pies to Los Angeles. The Cleveland native often stops at the pizzeria for a pepperoni slice when he’s in town. He has ordered 45 pizza pies to celebrate Saturday’s season finale of his CBS game show, “The Price is Right.” The pizzeria’s owners say the order will cost Carey $450 – not including shipping.

Oh what a wonderful end to a fun week. Matt and I would love to have you join us next week as we do it all over again. Please check back and do let us know what you think about out Carolina Country Cruizin' blog.
See ya next week!
Live, Laugh and Love,
Dee Stevens

*All stories provided by Premiere, Jones and Metro networks*