I look down at my watch. 4 am. It's so early that my eyes haven't even produced sleep yet.

I am attempting to stay awake in the Chicks' hotel room, in solidarity, while they prepare for their early morning promotional appearances. Dean is painting on the canvas that is Martie's face and Brent is creating his own masterpiece with Natalie's hair. Nearly comatose, I am creating a mixed media work of modern art from the drool I have dribbled onto the wood table.

Emily, who received the luxury of sleeping in for an extra hour, strolls into the room wearing her robe. She picks up this morning's New York Times and breaks the silence in the room by reading aloud an interesting article by Kalefa Sanneh about the alleged battle between the Dixie Chicks and country radio fans.

Immediately after Emily reads the following passage from the article…

The Dixie Chicks were once considered too country for country radio. They didn't take off until Ms. Maguire and Ms. Robison, who are sisters, replaced their twangy old singer with Ms. Maines, who has always seemed like a pop star.

…. Natalie jokingly blurts out: "That's right! Don't you forget it!" She starts laughing.

Emily, with cool collect, retorts, "We've never been afraid to change lead singers."

Natalie quickly replies, with a smile, "You've never had a lead singer who's not afraid to be fired."

At an hour when roosters are still asleep, the Chicks know how to crow and slap us awake.

The Chicks rarely have their laptop computers more than an arm's length away.

Natalie and Emily seem to have an interesting relationship with each other and their laptops.

During the last tour, Emily broke her toe, tripping on Natalie's computer bag.

Last week, I watched Emily accidentally drop Natalie's computer onto the ground, just a few feet away from Natalie. Emily coyly apologized, "Oops, sorry, Nat. I'll buy you a new one if it's broken."

A few days later, Natalie strained her arm while picking up her computer. No big deal. She didn't have anything important to do in the next few hours, except, well, play guitar live on stage for a national televised appearance. (You might have noticed the black arm brace she wore on The Early Show.)

Then today, Natalie's computer has stopped working. After she finishes asking Ralph to see if he can fix it, she turns to me and says, "I don't know if you heard, but my laptop is broken." She stares at Emily and fakes a mean glare.

Martie seems to avoid laptop damage by keeping hers on her lap. Aside from checking email, what is Martie most likely to be doing with her PowerBook? She regularly does web searches for "Dixie Chicks suck."

Seriously.

Natalie has just received an email that an animal shelter is naming a litter of three puppies after each of the Dixie Chicks.  

She opens up an attached picture of the adorable puppies.

Her first comment: "Awwwwwww …."  

Her second comment: "Wait, I better be the cute one!"  

Her third comment: "I better not be the fat runt."

If it weren't for the possibility of being mistaken for a sexist pig, I would have asked her who she'd like to see adopt the bitches.

Emily showed up to the concert in London sloppy drunk. She was so inebriated she couldn't speak, much less sing. Natalie and Martie, in a panic, yelled, "You're drunk again?"

*

This is what Emily dreamt last night.

She confesses to having these types of anxiety dreams before a big show.

Another common one for Emily is where she shows up for a show and, unbeknownst to her, discovers that Natalie and Martie have added choreographed dance steps.

*

You can't really blame Emily for being anxious when the Dixie Chicks are less than 24 hours away from their first concert in two years, their first webcast ever, and their first return to the scene of the crime.

The excitement here in London is palpable and escalating. For the past few weeks, the Chicks & company have been incessantly immersed in promotional stuff, performing only a few songs per day, at most. Today, at the rehearsals, I could sense how hungry the Chicks, the band, the crew, and the entourage are to put on a full-fledged Dixie Chicks show. Everyone knows that tomorrow will be a big, intense, emotional, powerhouse evening.

The Chicks will be performing a full set of songs, both new and old. They've rehearsed with the band and crew like crazy.

But just so you know, this London show will be quite different from their upcoming Accidents and Accusations Tour, which kicks off in Detroit.

For starters, tomorrow's show takes place in the very intimate setting of Shepherds Bush Empire. You would think any venue with the words "Bush Empire" in its name would be forceful and overwhelming, but this club -- yes, I did say club -- is rather humble in its size. At one point today, I stood where the Chicks normally stand and felt like I could stage dive into the back row.

The AAA Tour, on the other hand, will feature a custom-built 270 degree stage -- not quite in the round, like the last tour -- in much larger, modern venues. The AAA shows will also feature high-tech multimedia surprises.

Another major difference is the hordes of press from around the world scheduled to be at this London show. Insane. Every reporter will be clinging to the Chicks' every word, waiting for the next major headline. Little do they know that Natalie is not scripting any inflammatory banter, but instead, is spending much of her free time finishing sudoku puzzles.

One final difference is that attendees at this London show will have a chance to buy a very unique T-shirt. More details tomorrow!

Tune in to the show -- June 15, 7 pm PST, 10 pm EST -- at http://dixiechicks.msn.com!

Congratulations to …

G. Brake

Seattle, WA

… who won the MSN Sweepstakes and scored a free flight to London, hotel accommodations, and two tickets to see the Dixie Chicks at their concert in Shepherds Bush Empire, London.

Personally, like the rest of you, I'm always skeptical of who wins these contests -- especially when the winner lives in the same area as the corporate headquarters that sponsored the contest.  In this case, I suspected Mr. Brake, who is from Seattle, is Bill Gates' nephew.  But when I share my suspicions with him on the phone, he points out that being the nephew of Bill Gates would be like winning the lottery and he wouldn't need to enter any sweepstakes contests.

As it turns out, our contest winner sounds like an incredibly humble, nice guy and, interestingly enough, someone who has an amusing story to share about the Dixie Chicks.

Brake lives in Seattle and works as a scheduling analyst for Starbucks.  (Apparently, everybody in Seattle works for Microsoft, Starbucks, or Amazon, give or take those guys that splatter fish blood on tourists at Pike Place.)   But he spent most of his life in his home state of Texas.

As Brake is a country fan born and raised in the Lone Star State, this won't be his first Dixie Chicks concert.  In fact, I'm willing to bet that he has seen the Chicks perform live before 99% of the other Dixie Chicks fans.

You see, Brake started the San Antonio chapter of the Texas Gay Rodeo Association.  As a listed recreational activity during the organization's state meeting in Dallas, he went to a piano bar called John L's where a female quartet called the Dixie Chicks -- before Natalie Maines joined the band -- were performing some country music that was far more country than what country radio was playing at the time.  

Brake recalls that the Chicks all performed well, but looked quite bewildered and out of place -- especially Emily, who was only 16.  (Kudos to Emily's and Martie's mother for being so open-minded and trusting!)  Unbeknownst to the girls, the building next door was a club with male dancers wearing mostly birthday suits.  

Needless to say, the Chicks have been gay-friendly since the very beginning of their careers.

Brake remembers that the Chicks had very, very, very big hair back then and they were all decked out in satin shirts with fringe.  The stage was a miniature platform eclipsed by the line to the bathroom.  Deprived of the giant entourage they have today, they packed their own instruments and sold tapes and CDs out of their cases.  While he thought the show was great and their harmonies were incredible, he didn't buy one of their albums, to his regret.

He eventually realized that the quartet he saw in 1989 was the same group that was singing his favorite song, "Wide Open Spaces," on the radio.

Brake and his partner are headed to London now and, hopefully, we'll get their thoughts after the show.

Congratulations!  (And sorry to everyone else.)

P.S. Don't forget -- the Dixie Chicks' first concert appearance in over two years will be exclusively webcast here at http://dixiechicks.msn.com.  The show is being billed internally as "A Return to the Scene of the Crime," since it's taking place in Shepherds Bush Empire, London -- the same venue where "The Incident" took place three years ago.

For those who didn't get pre-sale tickets, don't worry -- there are still tons of seats remaining and some of the best have been reserved for the regular sale.

Many U.S. and Canadian dates on the upcoming tour go on sale tomrrow -- Saturday, June 3 -- including shows in Albany, Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Fargo, Ft. Lauderdale, Knoxville, Minneapolis, Nashville, Omaha, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Tacoma. Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC.

New York City tix go on sale Monday, June 5. The remaining shows go on sale next week.

Additional show information and links to purchase tickets can be found on the dixiechicks.com tour page.