Monday news: Power Picks, new concert shots, chartgazing, and more (updated)

Bucky Covington smiles from the stage at the Germain Arena in Estero, Florida; photo by the very kind Lisa/Judge. You can see more of her great images and graphics at her Buck Wild fan site. Thanks so much, Lisa!

Bucky Covington's latest CMT Power Picks matchup is coming up this St. Patrick's Day morning; tune in and log on at 11 a.m. ET (please note new time) to vote. "It's Good to Be Us" will face a challenge during the second half of the show. Click that button to go to the main Power Picks site, hit the "Vote Now" link, and watch that pop-up voting window. When you see Bucky's photo, mouse-click him to victory! (Update: Well, we didn't quite win this one, but it wasn't for lack of trying! Stay tuned for Bucky's next Power Picks matchups on Wednesday and Thursday, and keep those mouse-clicking fingers nimble...)

Here's a glimpse of the rest of today's happenings:

Chart news: The Mediabase weighted and Top 500 charts have been updated and the news was worth waiting for--Bucky's single holds on to that #14 spot on the former and moves up to #13 on the latter. (And of course--a request or two for "it's Good to be Us" at your favorite local country station is always on time...thanks to a kind Anon in comments for the latest!)

(Click here to get the badge at left for your MySpace, webpage or email signature.)

Upcoming shows: Your next chance to see and hear Bucky and his band happens at the Buffalo Bar in St. Joseph, MO on Friday, March 21--tickets are on sale at Biggins Sports Bar & Grill (816 232-4450) and at the Buffalo Bar at (816) 390-8444. Bucky's travels with Dierks Bentley's Throttle Wide Open resume on Thursday, March 27th, when he'll join Dierks and Luke Bryan for a concert at the Broome Arena in Binghampton, NY; your seat for that show awaits you at Ticketmaster. (Tickets for most of Dierks Bentley's Throttle Wide Open dates are available now at Ticketmaster--check Dierks' official website for details on non-Ticketmaster events. )

Happydays captured this beautiful shot from the Estero, FL show this weekend--click here to see more of her fun concert and meet-and-greet images. Thanks again, Happydays!

On the tube and around the net: There's lots to enjoy this morning. Bucky and his excellent band's recent travels down South were captured in fine style by some truly talented concertgoers. The very kind blogger at It's Just Water has a stunning shot of Bucky at the Germain Arena atop her 3/17 post; click that image to see many more from her beautiful Flickr photoset from the night. Our friend Happydays shared some great concert and meet and greet shots from that same show in her Photobucket gallery, including the classic you see above. And Lisa/Judge of Buck Wild fame was there as well--check back for more images and memories coming soon to her gorgeous site. Finally, Buckwild08's lovely (and large!) Photobucket gallery is chock-full of shots from that memorable show in Myrtle Beach. Many thanks to all the generous fans who've shared their Throttle Wide Open experience!

The Covington Times is graced with two great concert shots of Bucky and Rocky Covington, and we're glad to see that the "Video of the Day" feature is back--head over there now for a mini-review of this weekend's shows and a link to a sweet video memory from Bucky's very first CRS.

Midask9 features more stellar shots from her files for you at It's Good to Be Us this morning, along with a reminder about requests and a hint about the fun that awaits on the AI.com Bucky thread today.

And on the video front, check out this terrific concert photo montage by Misty, freshly posted to YouTube today--a nice way to enjoy "It's Good to Be Us" and stroll down memory lane...

Bucky Covington's next "It's Good to Be Us" quiz question will be posted at his MySpace blog at 12:30 p.m. today. Get the details on the contest in this post, then stand by for your chance to qualify and win! Here's the quiz schedule for the week:

Monday and Wednesday 12:30 pm
Tuesday and Thursday 9:00 PM
Friday, Saturday, Sunday 4pm

Vote for Bucky: We'll wrap up St. Patrick's Day morning with the handy video voting links--give "It's Good to Be Us" some luck of the Irish at GAC Top 20 Country Countdown, at CMT's Top 20 Countdown and at CMT's Pure Country Pure 12-Pack.

And hey--should I put up a countdown clock for this one? (I believe in "efficiency in nagging...")

The voting for Bucky's belt-buckle trophy ends April 11th--which is not as far away as it sounds, y'all. If you haven't already, run, don't walk to the 2008 CMT Music Awards ballot and give Bucky a very important thumbs up. Register at CMT and vote now---and recruit as many friends, co-workers and neighbors as you can!

More soon--have a great Monday!