Ask American Profile

Carrie Underwood, Carrot Top, Judge Joe Brown, Totally Country 5

What is Carrie Underwood doing now that she won American Idol?
—Bobby Griffs, Celeste, Texas

You can expect more fireworks from this promising young powerhouse, whose post-Idol career already is off with a bang. After winning the national competition, Underwood went into the studio in Nashville, Tenn., to record her debut album, Some Hearts, which immediately shot to the top of the country sales charts and generated a hit radio single, "Jesus Take the Wheel." The 22-year-old native Oklahoman now resides in Nashville with her four dogs and two cats, and is in awe of everything that has changed in her life. "I never thought any of this would actually happen to me," she says. "These kinds of things only happen to imaginary characters on television or in the movies, not real people."

What can you tell me about the comedian Carrot Top? I loved his commercials for AT&T.
—Anna R., Fairmont, W.Va.

Born in Florida, where his NASA-scientist father worked at Cape Canaveral teaching moon-bound astronauts to drive the lunar exploration craft, Scott Thompson first took up surfing, then stand-up comedy, as a student at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He eventually adopted his colorful stage name "because it was the only thing people used to call me that you can say on TV." After working his way up the comedy-circuit ladder, Carrot Top became a household name through his goofy spots for 1-800-CALL-ATT. He says his famously unruly coif, his trademark, is easy to style. "It’s just wake and shake," he says.

Please tell me something about Judge Joe Brown and what happened to his TV show.
—R. Ewell, Roswell, N.M.

The no-nonsense presiding judge of his own half-hour weekly TV series—still on the air in many markets, including New Mexico—was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in south-central Los Angeles. "I grew up in one of the toughest neighborhoods," he says. "If you saw the movie Boyz ’n’ the Hood, that was the way I grew up. I watched my parents tough it out on a daily basis, and I saw that what really kept them going was making a difference to others. That’s why, today, making a difference to others is everything I’m about."

Stars Come Out For New Country Collection

Totally Country 5 is the latest in the Totally Country series, one of the most successful ongoing country music compilations. The new 17-track collection contains recent hits from superstars Gretchen Wilson, Brooks & Dunn, Sara Evans, Montgomery Gentry and Lonestar, plus Andy Griggs and Van Zant, as well as other tunes by Martina McBride, Big & Rich, Blake Shelton, Keith Anderson, Miranda Lambert and others. It’s totally country, and totally cool.

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