I can almost hear the whispers now: “Hey, that woman over there on the stage looks a lot like Joey Lauren Adams.”
That’s a twist on what I’ve heard a few times lately around town, when folks have said, “That woman over there looks a lot like Renee Zellweger” and it has turned out to be North Little Rock’s Adams, who is in town filming her movie “Come Early Morning” starring Ashley Judd.
On Thursday night at Alltel Arena, some of those same folks may very well be seeing Zellweger, who according to the Hollywood Internet gossip sheets married country singer Kenny Chesney on Monday in Chesney’s home base of St. John in the Virgin Islands. Talk about your quick switches with record stars –- wasn’t she just linked with the White Stripes’ Jack White?
The Zellweger-Chesney pairing apparently warmed to white hot after they met in January. Later, at Chesney show in Jacksonville, Fla., Zellweger reportedly brought Chesney a margarita on stage. Chesney has been cultivating this country version of the Jimmy Buffett style for a while now, hence his living on a boat part time in the Caribbean, loving margaritas and going through life in a rather laid-back style.
The Oscar-winning Zellweger, meanwhile, has been dumped by Jim Carrey and linked to who knows who in typical Hollywood fashion in recent years.
It should make for an interesting marriage, with the black-hatted Chesney escorting his wife to all those red-carpeted actor shindigs. It can’t hurt his profile, but certainly he didn’t marry Renee to improve his record-selling viability around Hollywood or land a movie role, did he?
Speaking of Jimmy Buffett, he can’t seem to find a Central Arkansas slot on his touring schedule, but sources indicate he’s working Northwest Arkansas in on June 2, appearing at Reynolds Razorback Stadium as part of the Wal-Mart shareholders meeting in Fayetteville. The shareholders will get first dibs on the best seats, but with 72,000 seats available, there ought to be enough open spots for the rest of us. And, talk about your pre-concert tailgating outside the stadium –- this may be better than the celebration before last fall’s Arkansas-Texas game. There’s no word yet on how tickets for non-shareholders will be sold or distributed. Maybe there’s still time to become a Wal-Mart shareholder of record before the meeting.
The word floating around the concert industry, we’re told, was that Wal-Mart Corp. was willing to pay $1 million to $1.5 million for a Buffett appearance, about two to three times what he’d normally make for a show. Buffett is one of the few artists doing stadium shows in post 9/11, with five scheduled this summer (one in Pittsburgh, two in Philadelphia and two at Chicago’s Wrigley Field) in addition to several amphitheater appearances.
So, you mean we can’t make him the second show at Ray Winder Field this summer?
By the way, tickets to the July 2 Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson show at Ray Winder Field go on sale Saturday, May 14, at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster (most Harvest Foods stores, by phone at 975-7575 or online at www.ticketmaster.com). Tickets are $49.50 each.

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