Country singers Kenny Chesney, left, and Tim McGraw appear at a news conference to promote their "Brothers of the Sun" concert tour on Friday June 1, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. The pair will kick off their tour on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Scott Miller/Invision/AP)
Country singers Kenny Chesney, left, and Tim McGraw appear at a news conference to promote their "Brothers of the Sun" concert tour on Friday June 1, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. The pair will kick off their tour on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Scott Miller/Invision/AP)
Country singer Kenny Chesney appears at a news conference to promote his "Brothers of the Sun" concert tour on Friday June 1, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. Chesney and fellow country singer Tim McGraw will kick off their joint tour on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Scott Miller/Invision/AP)
Country singer Tim McGraw appears at a news conference to promote his "Brothers of the Sun" concert tour on Friday June 1, 2012 in Tampa, Fla. McGraw and fellow country singer Kenny Chesney will kick off their joint tour on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla. (Photo by Scott Miller/Invision/AP)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? This is no ordinary friendship ? or concert tour.
When country superstars Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw kick off their highly anticipated 22-city stadium tour Saturday in Tampa, it will be the high point of their careers and friendship.
The two men met at a bar in Nashville more than 20 years ago. Chesney had just moved to the city and didn't know anyone. McGraw had a record contract but had yet to put out a single.
McGraw joked in an interview at Raymond James Stadium on Friday that they would hang out at each other's apartments "depending on who had paid the electric bill that month."
"That's not a lie," Chesney added.
Neither dreamed they would ever headline a tour, much less enter territory attempted by very few music acts of any genre as they co-headline this tour together. Today they are two of country music's top draws and by combining forces on "The Brothers of the Sun" tour they're launching what some are calling country music's biggest tour ever.
"You don't dream that," said Chesney, pointing at the enormous stage inside the stadium. "I just wanted a song on the radio."
Added McGraw: "We wanted to have big careers. We wanted to go out and set the world on fire. But you know, in the back of your mind, you always think, 'If I could just get a hit song, I'd be happy.'"
The tour, which also includes Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jake Owen, is so much more than a hit song or even your usual arena show. It's comprised of three complete stage systems, 85 tractor-trailers, 240 roadies and two culinary staffs, according to tour manager Ed Wannebo, who spoke to the media Friday as McGraw and Chesney joked and whispered in each other's ears nearby like schoolboys.
The tour ? and especially the stage set ? "consumed" Chesney. It started with ideas scrawled on "a pen and napkin" and planning and preparation began months ago.
"Building that," Chesney said while pointing to the stage, "There's a lot that goes into it. I have my hands on basically everything on that stage, the way it looks, the way it moves, everything. That's just the way I am. I'm very hands-on. I care what it looks like, because I want to give the fans the best possible experience."
McGraw said he and Chesney initially wanted to do just a couple of large shows, but the plan grew. The first show in Tampa is sure to be a large one; when Chesney played there in 2011, he drew 50,548 fans.
Each performer will have his own set and the pair, who released the dual single "Feel Like a Rock Star" in anticipation of the tour, will join together to top off the night. Potter will likely join Chesney for a rendition of their steamy hit "You and Tequila." And McGraw, fresh off a new deal with Big Machine Records, will unveil news songs he's been working on for his next album.
"You try to entertain the last guy that you see in the very top row back there," McGraw said. "Make him feel special, make him feel like his money was worth it."
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Online:
http://www.kennychesney.com
http://www.timmcgraw.com
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Follow www.twitter.com/AP_Country for the latest country music news. And follow Tamara Lush at http://twitter.com/tamaralush.
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It was bound to happen. When I opened the email from the Afghan Women?s Writing Project?their first newsletter?I immediately saw the candle and the words ?In Memoriam.? One of the writers had been killed. The project, founded by novelist and foreign journalist Masha Hamilton, gives women in Afghanistan the space and freedom to express themselves in safety. Women are provided with laptop computers, flash drives, and, in Kabul, a secret meeting place where they can gather to discuss writing, hold classes, and offer support. There is also a virtual classroom through Google Groups where women can have their writing critiqued by English-speaking mentors with the objective of publishing their work on the blog. I have had the privilege of being a mentor for the past four years. I first learned about the Afghan Women?s Writing Project from Kore Press. I was so moved that I signed up right away to be a mentor. Since that time I have done several rotations as a mentor for Writing 3, the advanced ?class? on Google Groups. I have learned so much about courage and determination from those beautiful women. I wrote? this piece in gratitude for all their spirits.
The mission of AWWP is ?to support the voices of women with the belief that to tell one?s story is a human right.? Utterly crucial ?in a country where women have been told their stories do not matter, and urged to be silent, and warned against honesty.?
Tabasom is not alone. In a recent New York Times article Eliza Griswold tells the story of the writers of Mirman Baheer, a group of women writers who celebrate Afghan women?s long history of political expression and protest through poetry. Those women fortunate enough to live in Kabul can meet openly, but those living in rural areas, ?roughly 8 out of 10,? must communicate their poems over the phone, often in secret, walking long distances in the company of a friend or relative who supports their project. For many of these women, discovery by their husbands or male siblings would mean certain beating or even death. These women, says Ogai Amail, who currently runs Mirman Baheer, ?are in a very dangerous position. They?re behind high walls, under the strong control of men.? Zarmina, one of the poets in the group, committed suicide two years ago by setting herself on fire. Her mother is not even allowed to speak of it. Nadia Anjuman, a renowned Afghan poet, was beaten to death by her husband at the age of twenty-five. ?I am caged in this corner/full of melancholy and sorrow,? she wrote in one of her poems.
I do not mean this post in a ?poor starving children in India? kind of way. None of us choose who or where to be born, and our own writing, fortunate to find its way onto the page in a place of relative freedom, is no less valid for its serendipitous origins. My intention is rather to celebrate the power of the word and to pay homage to those who have given their lives, or who risk doing so, in order to wield the word?s sword. For if writing were not a form of power, why would those who hold the greater share of it feel threatened?
But that is not all I hear in the poems and essays from Afghan women. I also hear a profound and joyful love of life, a celebration of the foods and customs, of the people who come from this country that these women so fiercely love that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for her. Their words are filled with longing for a world in which they can walk freely, without fear, a world in which they can express themselves without the threat of retribution. A world in which they can openly lift up their faces and their voices and celebrate. ?From this cup of my lips comes a song;/ It captures my singing soul, my song,? writes Nadia Anjuman in the opening stanza of a ghazal.