Garth Brooks won't be thrilling fans at North Little Rock's Verizon Area until next month, but we can all warm up with the Oklahoma native tonight.
The country superstar is among those set to perform on the 2014 American Music Awards broadcast at 7 p.m. on ABC. The three-hour special will air live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
Our host will be the rapper Pitbull. Trivia: Pitbull's birth name was Armando Christian Perez.
The 52-year-old Brooks has been a busy, busy man lately. Maybe he's making up for his "retirement" years 2001-09. In 2009, Brooks signed a five-year deal with a hotel in Las Vegas. Now he's free of that and his official comeback world tour kicked off in September. Three days of the tour -- Dec. 11-13 -- include Verizon Arena.
Brooks' latest album, Man Against Machine, was released Nov. 11, and tonight on the AMAs he'll be performing live from Greensboro, N.C., from a stop on his tour.
Superstar? Brooks has sold 134 million albums and has received every honor the recording industry can bestow on an artist. His 2012 appearance at the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede sold out all 15,000 seats in less than 60 seconds.
No wonder he's playing three nights at Verizon.
But don't think the AMAs are only about country music. ABC is hoping to cover all the demographics. Also hitting the stage are pop star Selena Gomez and rockers Imagine Dragons.
The 22-year-old Gomez will sing her new single "The Heart Wants What It Wants." It'll mark the first time she performs the song live for television. The song is from her forthcoming greatest hits collection For You. Isn't it swell to have a "greatest hits" collection at the age of 22?
And Imagine Dragons will perform their new single "I Bet My Life," the first music to be released from the band's forthcoming second album. Imagine Dragons won "Favorite Artist -- Alternative Rock" at last year's AMA event.
ABC has three hours to kill, so there will be many more performers other than these three.
In addition to Pitbull, taking the stage will be Australian boy band 5 Seconds of Summer, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, R&B artist Mary J. Blige, pop punker Charli XCX, hip-hopper Fergie, New Zealand indie pop singer Lorde, English-Irish boy band One Direction, British pop/soul singer Sam Smith, and the ubiquitous Taylor Swift.
The 24-year-old Swift recently completed the transformation from country/country pop to pop/pop rock with the release of her fifth studio album 1989 last month. The thing went platinum in, like, a minute.
Azalea leads the nomination pack with six. Other top contenders are John Legend, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams, with five nominations each, and Lorde with four.
Trivia: Here are more birth names. Iggy Azalea (Amethyst Amelia Kelly); Charli XCX (Charlotte Emma Aitchison); Fergie (Stacy Ann Ferguson); Lorde (Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor).
Taylor Swift's real name? Taylor Alison Swift.
For the record (no pun intended) the American Music Awards website says nominees "are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, streaming and social activity. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound."
The nominees are then voted on by the fans.
• Ho. Ho. No. It's just not enough to have ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas" event every year. Oh, no. Now we have the cable outfit's "Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas." It begins today and runs through Nov. 30.
As ABC Family says, "The movies featured in this year's countdown demand to be watched with a bowl of popcorn and possibly some loved ones. There is no better way to unwind from a day of holiday activities -- preparing the turkey, eating leftovers, spending all your money during Black Friday -- than with a favorite movie."
Only one of the countdown movies has a semi-Christmas theme. I was taught it was gauche to watch Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, so don't admit it if you do.
Here's the countdown lineup for the next couple of days.
Today:
The Hunger Games, 4-7 p.m. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) rocks Panem. Note: ABC Family plans to kill three hours with this movie that lasts 2 hours and 22 minutes. Brace for the commercials.
Finding Nemo, 7-9:30 p.m. Nemo is an adventurous young clownfish. Spoiler alert: He gets lost, then he gets found.
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, 9:30-11 p.m. Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, attempts to become a substitute Santa. Chaos ensues.
Monday:
Finding Nemo encore, 5-7:30 p.m.
Dark Shadows, 7:30-10 p.m. Johnny Depp as our favorite vamp, Barnabas Collins.
Another Cinderella Story, 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Selena Gomez (see first item above) displays her acting chops.
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Style on 11/23/2014