“It is all about Feb. 25.” That is the night Blake Shelton will heat up the stage in Brookings for a stop on his “2011 All About Tonight Tour.”

Blake and opening acts Easton Corbin and The Band Perry are sure to make the night one to remember.

Shelton, the fiancé of fellow country star Miranda Lambert, started his career out strong. His debut single “Austin” held the number one spot on the Billboard Country chart for six long weeks in 2001.

He went on to score two more number ones with “The Baby” and “Some Beach”, but superstar status was just out of reach until recently.

2010 was by far his best year yet.

“This has been an amazing year for me,” Shelton said in his website biography. “If you would have told me when I started out that I would have two major awards, a CD in the upper reaches of the charts, a sold-out show at the Ryman Auditorium and a career that’s generally on fire, I would have thought you were pulling my leg.”

Shelton sings about the things he knows best. He is guaranteed to have the crowd on their feet for party anthems such as “The More I Drink” and “Hillbilly Bone”, but he can also show a serious side. His raucous recollections of the night before are balanced by songs that reveal regrets about relationship mistakes and reminisce about home.

His opening acts also have a lot to offer.

The Band Perry is a sibling trio that plays a unique mix of country and rock. Lead singer Kimberly Perry’s hauntingly sweet voice makes their standout hit “If I Die Young” something to look forward to hearing.

Florida native Easton Corbin is also sure to make a splash. He is a George Strait sound-alike that will prove he is “a little more country than that” with a lineup of traditional yet fresh songs.

As for Blake, it is a miracle what getting rid of a mullet can do for a career. The 2010 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year said goodbye to his signature hair style a few years ago, and hello to a new approach to country music.

He has become an innovator in how he approaches releasing new music and uses social media to connect with fans.

Blake has chosen to release new music in extended play albums he calls “Six Paks”, because they each contain six songs.

“I can record a lot more and release a lot more,” Shelton said in a USA Today article.

He promotes his music on Twitter, but the networking site has also become his go-to outlet for speaking his mind on topics such as PETA and gun control.

Whether people find his tweets funny or offensive, he has drawn a following of over 174,000.

On December 8^th, 2010 at 1:54 AM, he tweeted, “I’m so drunk right now I just defrosted my cat…In the microwave….”

You can follow Blake on Twitter at @BlakeShelton and still get tickets to the concert through the Swiftel Center or Ticketmaster.com.

If standing in line for an ice cream cone on a below-zero day is any indication of quality and popularity, SDSU ice cream is well worth the wait.

Even in the dead of winter, the SDSU Dairy Bar is serving up delicious treats and will soon have a newly renovated home to produce them in.

According to Howard Bonnemann, dairy plant manager, the Dairy Bar’s $9 million dollar expansion project is nearing completion and the new store front will be open for business during the first week of April.

“This renovation process has been quite an adventure,” Bonnemann said. “But the end result will be very nice.”

The Dairy Bar has been in its current location for about 50 years, but will soon look much different than it does now.

An inviting exterior will feature plenty of green space, accompanied by a plaza and a patio with additional outdoor seating.

“It will definitely be something to see when it’s done,” Bonnemann said.

A variety of high and low tables, along with booths, will increase the Dairy Bar’s seating from the current 16 to about 50.

The walls will be bright, sky-blue with a five foot tall grassland border and cutouts of cattle.

“It’s designed to feel like you are out on the prairie,” Bonnemann said.

He said the new plant will have an observation corridor which will make the manufacturing process more accessible to industry visitors.

The new Dairy Bar will be managed by Aramark, the universities food provider.

According to Bonnemann, their Java City coffee shop now located in Medary Commons will move across the street into the same room as the Dairy Bar.

“It will be an interesting partnership, where coffee and ice cream will be sold side-by-side.”

At the new location, students can expect to see the same dairy products their taste buds have come to know, but with a wider variety of serving sizes.

“Pint and single-serving containers of ice cream, and 12 or 16 ounce containers of milk are possibilities,” Bonnemann said.

The creamy treats that are offered at the Dairy Bar come from a facility about two and a half miles north of campus, at the SDSU Dairy Research and Training Facility.

Approximately 130 cows produce the milk needed to make the 62 flavors of ice cream, 13 varieties of cheese and full-to-the brim glasses of milk offered at the Dairy Bar.

Before you dig into a heaping dish of cookies “n cream at the new Dairy Bar, be sure to thank some of your fellow SDSU students for their hard work.

From cow to cone, students have been the driving force behind all aspects of production and manufacturing of products since SDSU ice cream was first sold on campus in 1927.

Bonnemann said the renovation project is part of a larger investment that will bring more students into the dairy industry and encourage growth.

“The dairy industry has a need for graduates trained in the manufacturing of dairy products and SDSU will provide a large number of those students,” Bonneman said.

Molly Paterson is a senior dairy manufacturing major and has worked in both the Dairy Plant and Dairy Sales Bar.

Paterson said her experience will be very beneficial when she enters the workforce.

“Not only do you know what goes into making the products we sell, but we learn how to relate to the consumers and answer their questions,” Patterson said. “It helps us learn how to turn our technical skills into relatable information for the general public.”

According to Bonnemann, the new facility will be a huge upgrade in learning for students.

“Currently, only one thing can be done at a time; we can make ice cream, cheese or milk,” he said. “The new plant will allow more opportunities for students to become valuable industry employees because they will be able to do all things at once.”

Paterson is looking forward to being able to serve more people at the Dairy Bar and hopes it will be a “hot spot” for community members, current students and prospective students visiting campus.

“I think the Dairy Bar will become a destination point rather than just a stop on the way to class.”

SDSU dairy products have already outgrown their home on campus.

Those craving cheddar cheese or a dish of mint chocolate chip can visit the new downtown location, Campanile Connection.

“If you don’t want to deal with parking on campus, you can go downtown and find the exact same products,” Bonnemann said.

Campanile Connection opened on Hobo Day 2010 and offers eight flavors of ice cream at any given time along with an assorted selection of cheese and packaged goods.

“The Chamber of Commerce wanted a north-end business that people visiting the Children’s Museum may want to go to,” Bonnemann said. “I hope it works out really well.”

The shop is open seven days a week and provides catering to downtown businesses on weekends which helps stimulate economic activity.

#1.1972080:3611120990.png:The Campanile Connection, which opened on Hobo Day 2010:The Campanile Connection, which opened on Hobo Day 2010, reaches the Brookings community and downtown shoppers.:Collegian Photo by Robby Gallagher

Superman and Clark Kent, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, the Jackrabbit mascot and the Easter Bunny. Although the latter is largely unconfirmed, there are many well-known alter egos, such as the former two, in the entertainment industry. Let me introduce you to one that you may not be as familiar with.

The Garth Brooks that music fans know was born Troyal Garth Brooks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962. His country music career began in the late 1980s and from there he went on to become a dominant force in the industry. On radio, award shows and in concert, no one could beat him. His charismatic personality and traditional sound resonated with listeners of all ages and backgrounds, making him the Recording Industry Association of America’s best selling solo artist in U.S. history. That is a big deal. But what if I told you that Garth is also a high school dropout from Australia, the son of an Olympic swimmer, and the survivor of a serious car crash, which caused injuries that required extensive reconstructive surgery.

In 1999, the Garth energetic hat-act transformed him into Chris Gaines, a dark and pensive pop singer who lurked mysteriously behind a shadowy black wig and a rather odd-looking soul patch.

Garth created the alter ego because he was slated to star in a movie called The Lamb, which was to focus on the tortured life of the fictional star Chris Gaines. Instead of just portraying Gaines, Garth became him in many aspects of his life. He released a CD entitled The Life of Chris Gaines and made public appearances, such as a stint on Saturday Night Live, where he pretended to be Gaines.

Striking similarities between the life story and personal style that Garth generated for the film project left some to wonder whether he used Keith Urban’s real biography and appearance as a template for Gaines’.

Even though Garth fully embraced his creative venture, the public did not. The movie was never made, the CD did not live up to expectations and frankly people were a little “weirded” out by the whole situation. The failure of such a dramatic and elaborately concocted project proved that Garth could not have his cake and eat it too. It is unknown whether the two events are related, but Garth retired from recording and performing a little over a year after the Chris Gaines flop. Since then, Garth has been in and out of various degrees of retirement and during this time has released several CD boxed sets and performed select concerts.

#1.1655727:1030366358.jpg:Katie Rusch: Music row musings:Katie Rusch: Music row musings:File Photo