Defiance s Pete Schlegel saves drummer

9/28/2006

Former medical helicopter pilot and Defiance resident Pete Schlegel is still out on the road trying to make his Nashville dreams come true. But recently, Pete s former career came in handy when he saved the life of his choking drummer.

While eating a preshow meal at a restaurant in Hagerstown, Md., Schlegel s drummer began choking.

"He sucked [a piece of steak] down his throat. The piece of meat became lodged in the airway," Schlegel says.

His keyboard player, Jeff King, tried the Heimlich maneuver, but he wasn t able to dislodge the meat. Schlegel, who had extensive Emergency Medical Services training for his career as a medical helicopter pilot, was able to do the Heimlich, and the meat "just shot out," Schlegel says.

Pete continues to tour with Daryle Singletary and Jeff Carson. His current single is "You Can t Bring Her Back," which is on his sophomore album, "I m Not Listening."

Keep up on Pete s career at www.peteschlegel.com.

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I m really happy to see Jimmy Wayne back on the Nashville scene. The former DreamWorks artist, with hits "Stay Gone," "I Love You This Much," and "Paper Angels," is now finishing up his debut album with Big Machine Records. His first single, "That s All I ll Ever Need," will be released to radio on Oct. 9.

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Jimmy Buffett, who showed off his country roots in his No. 1 album "License to Chill," is set for the release of his second album off of Mailboat Records/RCA Nashville. "Take the Weather with You" will be in stores on Oct. 10, and it combines a variety of styles and sounds from Nashville, New Orleans, and Key West.

"Without realizing it, I went to my roots on this record," Buffett says. "It s not a stretch for me to do country music."

Included on the album is a remake of Merle Haggard s "Silver Wings."

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The USA Today featured a story earlier this week talking about artists and their summer tours. It found that Madonna was the only act who had 100% capacity at all her summer tour dates. No. 2? Kenny Chesney, whose shows were filled to 98.9% capacity.

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Phil Vassar headed back to school last week when he was a guest lecturer at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. For 90 minutes, Vassar lectured a class on songwriting, music, and the music business. After talking to the class, Vassar played a few songs and held a Q&A session for the students in the packed auditorium.

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Brad Paisley is giving his fans a cool Christmas present this year. He will be releasing his first holiday album, "Brad Paisley Christmas," on Oct. 10. The 11-track collection features traditional songs "Winter Wonderland," "Silver Bells," and "I ll Be Home for Christmas." But it also has a quartet of Paisley-penned originals, including "364 Days to Go," the Santa s secret- agent-tale of "Penguin, James Penguin," and "Kun Pao Buckaroo Holiday," which is a return of the Kung Pao Buckaroos (Bill Anderson, George Jones, and Little Jimmy Dickens) in a light-hearted look at holiday political correctness.