April 30: Dollywood Details Divulged A little bit more about Dolly's next stop at Dollywood has been revealed. The theme park has announced that she will make appearances on the grounds both Friday and Saturday next week, including weather-permitting park tours at 3 p.m. Friday and 1:30 p.m. Saturday. In addition, as was previously announced, her annual Pigeon Forge parade down the Parkway begins at 6 p.m. Friday. It has also been divulged that The Waltons actress Elizabeth McDonough, who played Erin on the series, will be at the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame and Museum on the park's grounds that weekend to sign copies of her new book Lessons From The Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton, which was released earlier this month. Copies of the book must be purchased on site for autographing. McDonough will be on hand to sign from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Saturday. In related news, a profile on the park, focusing mainly on its scrumptious food, made The Australian on Friday here.
April 29: Dolly On PBS Show This Summer
Dolly will be among the music legends featured in Opry Memories, a PBS special that will be shown on most public television stations during pledge periods thus June. The network a few days ago posted to its YouTube page a 1974 performance of "I Will Always Love You" on the Opry stage. Watch it here. Thanks, Jason!
Dolly Chats Up Sound Kitchen Dolly is also on YouTube in a video promoting Sound Kitchen, the recording studio where she was recording Better Day at the time. See it here.
Grascals Drop Back Off Country Tally The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin this week falls back off the 75-position country albums chart, down from No. 74 the previous week, its 11th on the tally, the May 7 Billboard charts showed. Elsewhere on the lists, the CD falls three to No. 9 in its 15th week on the bluegrass albums chart. On the overall charts, Allison Krauss and Union Station's Paper Airplane remains at No. 1 country and dips three to No. 3 pop in its second week, while Jason Aldean's My Kind of Party holds steady at No. 2 country and moves up two to No. 13 pop in its 25th week.
Latest Library News North Dakota's First Lady took part in a reading session for Dolly's Imagination Library, The Williston Herald reported here. And in Oshkosh, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh is working on a study of the program's impact there, according UW Oshkosh Todayhere.
April 28: Site: Wells Duet On 'Better Day' Thanks to Tony for pointing me to a blog from Dolly producer Kent Wells, who has been working with her in the studio on Better Day, her upcoming CD to be released this summer. The post includes a couple of in-studio shots of Dolly at work and also reveals that Wells himself will perform a duet with her on the album. Check it out here.
'9 To 5' Wows Reviewer In Denver Had the revamped touring version of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical been the show that was on Broadway, it probably would still be playing two years later instead of having closed after just four months, the theatre critic for The Denver Post opined on Thursday in a raving review of the production's stop in that city, where it plays through May 8. He adds that Dolly's "well-written and at times even powerful score deepens our ready-made affection" for the characters, pointing out, though, that her "only songwriting misfire" is "Shine Like The Sun." He gives the show three out of four stars. Read more here.
Nashville Warhol Exhibit Includes Dolly What would an Andy Warhol exhibit in Music City be without one of his Dolly paintings? Apparently not much, so they've included one of the mid-1980s images of her that the iconic artist made of her. The exhibit, "Warhol Live: Music and Dance in Andy Warhol's Work," bills itself as the first exhibit to deeply examine the roles of music and dance in his work. It runs at Nashville's Frist Center for the Visual Arts June 24-Sept. 11.
April 27: Pirate M&G Contest Explained Dollymania.net on Tuesday received some clarification on the items missing from the rules on the contest to meet Dolly at the opening of her new Myrtle Beach, S.C., dinner theatre in June. I'm told that the winner and all three of his or her guests will receive admission to the meet-and-greet, and contestants may enter once daily via either the Pirates Voyage website, Facebook page or Twitter feed. In addition, fans who enter using the following Twitter link (http://wildfireapp.com/twitter/233/contests/115149) will Tweet news of their entry and a link, receiving an extra entry for each new Twitter follower of the venue who enters using their link. Thanks!
Chesney Ties Dolly No. 1 Record Billboard magazine announced Monday that Kenny Chesney this week ties Dolly and Tim McGraw for the fifth-longest stretch of years with at least one No. 1 in each year on the country charts. With his "Live A Little" hitting No. 1, he has amassed 11 consecutive years of having at least one No. 1 single, 2001-2011. That ties McGraw's 1994-2004 streak and Dolly's 1977-1987 stretch. Surpassing them are Loretta Lynn with 12 (1967-1978), Alabama with 14 years (1980-1993), Ronnie Milsap with 16 years (1974-1989) and George Strait with 18 (1983-2000). Read more here.
April 25: Dollywood Pictures Return After a few days' break due to a busy schedule, your official Dollymania.net coverage of Dolly's appearance last month at Dollywood returns in tonight's update thanks to more images from correspondent Jason Worley that have been posted in the section of the site here. Thanks!
Another British Interview Published It's a little later than the others, but another British newspaper this weekend published a Dolly story based on her round-table interviews in the U.K. earlier this month. Check it out from Sheffield's The Starhere.
'9 To 5' Heads To Colorado Completing its three-week Seattle engagement Sunday night, the national touring company of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical was back on the road again this week, heading to its two-week stop in Denver. The Denver Post framed its interview with the director and a local-born cast member as nine things its author knows about the production before even having seen it in a piece published Sunday here.
April 23: Pirates Voyage Offers Meet & Greet Dolly's Pirates Voyage, which is replacing her Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is celebrating its summer opening with a contest announced Friday that includes admission for four to the June 3 show premiere, two nights' accommodations that weekend and a meet-and-greet with Dolly herself. Entries may be submitted until 5 p.m. Eastern May 20 via the venue's official website as well as its Facebook page here. The contest rules don't state whether there is a limit on entries nor how many people in the winner's party get to meet Dolly.
April 22: Grascals Return To Country Chart With increased sales for the week following the band's appearance on the CBS program The Talk to sing "I Am Strong" (complete with Dolly's part played on the screen behind them – check out a video on YouTube here; Thanks, Jason!), The Grascals' Cracker Barrel disc Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin re-enters the 75-position country albums chart this week at No. 74 to log an 11th week on that tally. Elsewhere on the April 30 Billboard lists, the album gains three to No. 6 bluegrass in its 14th week on that tally. Rhonda Vincent's Taken, with a Dolly collaboration, falls back off the 15-position bluegrass albums chart, down from No. 12 in its 27th chart week. On the overall charts, Dolly devotee and frequent harmony singer Allison Krauss and Union Station's Paper Airplane debuts at No. 1 country and No. 3 pop, while Jason Aldean's My Kind of Party slips one to No. 2 country and three to No. 15 pop in its 24th week.
April 21: Dolly Releases New Pirates Voyage Pic Dolly's Pirates Voyage, the new dinner theatre in Myrtle Beach, S.C., that is replacing her Dixie Stampede there, on Wednesday released a new photo behind-the-scenes of the change. This one, at left, featured Dolly inspecting the upcoming show's new costumes with director Ken McCabe. The show, which will start after an $11 million renovation to Dolly's theatre, will feature Crimson and Sapphire pirates fighting on deck, in the air and in the water with full-sized pirate ships in a 15-foot-deep indoor lagoon. The new attraction opens June 3 with Dolly in attendance. Image courtesy Pirates Voyage. Click on it for a larger view.
Dolly Parade Float Hint Given Dolly's float in her annual Pigeon Forge parade this year will likely have an aviation theme, an e-mail to Dollywood season passholders revealed Wednesday. The message notes the 6 p.m. May 6 parade down the city's Parkway (from traffic light No. 6 to traffic light No. 3) and says "rumor has it she'll be flying by the seat of her pants!" In several recent years, the float's theme has had something to do with the park's new ride addition that year, which for 2011 is the Barnstormer airplane-themed attraction.
CBC Talks With 'Mom' Moviemaker Canadian network the CBC on Wednesday posted an interview to YouTube with Tara Johns, the filmmaker behind The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom, about that project. Watch it here.
April 20: Pics From The Park, Website Retool, NPR Praise A good bit from Dollywood in tonight's update. First, you have the first photo galleries from Dollymania.net correspondent Jason Worley added to the section of the website covering Dolly's recent appearance at the park here. Thanks! Second, unified marketing company Definition 6 announced Tuesday that it has landed the contract with Dolly's partners, Herschend Family Entertainment, to re-build websites for five of the company's largest properties, including Dollywood. In a press release here, the company says the re-toolings will include a new booking platform, improved check-out processes, greater video capabilities and greater social and mobile integrations. Finally, NPR on Tuesday released an engaging and clever blog entry about the park, comparing its best points with those of its namesake. Read it here.
Rock, Paper, Scissors For Library Your webmaster's hometown affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program in Jackson, Miss., will raise money for the program with a rock, paper, scissors tournament, according to The Jackson Free Presshere.
April 19: More Dolly Reader Shots Added Another gallery of reader-submitted Dollywood pictures of Dolly have been added to that section of the site here courtesy Kelly Spears. Thanks!
One More U.K. Story The Liverpool Echo on Monday released yet another Dolly story from her recent U.K. press tour. This one contained answers she had given to reporters' questions that were previously included on YouTube and linked from here, with the exception of the final question, about whether she likes The Beatles. In response, she revealed a bluegrass section of this summer's tour will feature her cover of their song "Help" along with her Grammy-winning "Shine" cover and her much-talked-about version of "Stairway to Heaven." Read the complete story here.
Singer-Songwriter Covers 'Dover' Singer-songwriter Ruth Gerson has released a cover version of Dolly's classic "Down From Dover." The track appears on her CD Deceived, which has been available as an on-demand CD-R release via Amazon since February and will be released as a commercial CD in stores next month.
April 18: New Dollywood Appearance Galleries Added Your Dollymania.net coverage of Dolly's recent season opening stop at Dollywood continues this week with the first reader-submitted images from the festivities thanks to Chris Goff., which have been added to that section of the website here. Thanks!
Another British Interview Even though it was conducted in Nashville prior to Dolly's trip overseas, her U.K. publicity tour continued over the weekend with an interview in Scotland's Daily Record, which you may read here.
April 15: Dolly's U.K. Appearances Continue
Dolly's promotional tour of Great Britain continued Thursday as many more interviews came out, including the one above available on YouTube here from The Chronicle Live and another from the same publication here (which had a text version here as well). In addition, the footage from the Associated Press that was linked from here last night is also available on YouTube with the interviewer's missing question audio here. Thanks, Jason! An audio interview with the BBC 6 Radio is available here and she has reportedly been added to Friday's ITV show Loose Women. In addition, Christopher, who uploaded her appearance on The One Show earlier that was linked from here, has added her ITV Daybreak and Lorraine interviews on his channel here.
Dolly Tweets Past 1 Million Dolly's official Twitter page (@Dolly_Parton) passed 1 million followers Thursday, and to celebrate, the page chose 100 random followers to receive a free copy of Better Day when it is released in the U.S. in July. In related news, its U.K. release via Sony Music has been announced for Aug. 15 (to more closely coincide with the European leg of her tour), and Amazon's U.K. store is already taking advance orders. The exact U.S. release date has yet to be announced, so stores here aren't taking advance orders yet. (The news of Dolly's milestone even inspired your webmaster to set up a Twitter page here!)
Analyzing Dolly An artist brought in to New York's New School for Social Research on Thursday presented an academic analysis lecture of Dolly's image. Called "Desperately Deconstructing Dolly," the talk – which was to include Southern food and a Dolly impersonator's performance – was to "open up various aspects of Parton's mythology in relation to contemporary performance and conceptual art, feminism, psychoanalysis, southern culture, queer identity, and post-human discourses." Jarrett Earnest's talk got notice in advance from sites such as NBC New York here, and it was promoted with a YouTube clip here which features a few screenshots from your own Dollymania (I saw a shot of Debbie Poole and even Paul Woodall Jr. as Dolly Wood in there).
Chart Updates The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, the band's Cracker Barrel CD with three Dolly duets, inches up one this week to No. 9 on the April 23 Billboard bluegrass albums chart in its 13th week on the chart. Rhonda Vincent's Taken, featuring a Dolly collaboration, re-enters the 15-position bluegrass albums list at No. 12 in its 27th chart week. On the overall charts, Jason Aldean's My Kind of Party holds steady at No. 1 country and shoots up 11 to No. 12 pop in its 23rd week, while The Zac Brown Band's You Get What You Give remains at No. 2 country and rises 13 to No. 15 pop in its 29th week.
April 14: 'Night Of 1,000 Dollys' Returns May 6 Good news, Dolly partiers! Knoxville gay bar Club XYZ is bringing back the Parton-packed "Night of 1,000 Dollys" event following her annual parade in Pigeon Forge on May 6. The unofficial event, which was originally created in 2007 and is in its second year at this venue, last year attracted Dolly's attention for the first time. She taped a welcome message to party-goers that was played throughout the evening and also sent a film crew to record the festivities for her to see them for herself. As in the past, the event features Dolly contests (Best Dolly Costume, Biggest Dolly Boobs, Biggest Dolly Hair) with prizes including Dollywood season passes and tickets to her July charity concert in Knoxville. A Dolly-themed drag show will be performed at 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. Admission is free for those with a Dollywood season pass or ticket stub. Check out their poster for the event at left – click on it for a larger view.
'Straight' To DVD Early? 'Gnomeo' Coming! I've heard two or three reports from readers that they found BluRay copies of Dolly's Straight Talk released early at their local Target stores for the value price of $5 each. The disc isn't scheduled to hit stores for almost another month on May 10. Thanks! In addition, another Dolly appearance, well sort of, is heading to video. Elton John's Disney animated film Gnomeo and Juliet, which features a Dolly gnome in a couple of brief scenes voiced by Dolly herself in a cameo, will hit DVD and BluRay on May 24. Reserve your copy here! Thanks, Tony!
AP Releases Dolly Interview Video The Associated Press on Wednesday released a new brief video interview with Dolly, accessible here, in which she talks about Lady Gaga, her look, performing and more. It's a bit odd sounding because you don't hear the questions asked and have to figure out from the context of her comments what she's answering.
Michigan Library Gets Large Gift The Albion, Mich., affiliate of Dolly's Imagination Library snagged a very nice gift recently, with the donation of $65,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for its permanent endowment, The Battle Creek Enquirer reported here.
April 13: Dolly's GLAAD Coverage Continues
Dolly's stop by Sunday's GLAAD Awards continued to get noticed on Tuesday, with numerous press mentions of her appearance at the event including a brief interview from after the ceremony with Access Hollywoodhere or in the media player above. The attention also contributed to her spending the day "trending" throughout the top three, including some time in the No. 1 spot, on Yahoo's list of popular search subjects based on the percentage increase in Internet searches over the previous day.
British Promotions Begin, Run Through Thursday Dolly's British appearances to promote her upcoming CD and tour began Tuesday with a great interview on The BBC's The One Show, which is viewable via YouTube here. Thanks, Christopher! The promotions continue Wednesday with two interviews – at 7:40 a.m. and 8:10 a.m. – on ITV's Daybreak, followed by an 8:30 a.m. appearance on Lorraine. As was previously noted here, she'll then be interviewed on BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon. Announced Tuesday was a Wednesday night appearance on ITV's London Tonight as well as that her stop by the network's This Morning program has moved to Thursday. In addition, SkyNews offered an interview here, and photos of hosts from The One Show and Lorraine dressed up as Dolly made the news as well with a story here.
Library A Louisiana Hit Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is having a massive impact on children in one Louisiana community, a recently completed report has found. Check out coverage from Lafayette's KATC here.
April 12: Dolly Surprises At GLAAD Awards
Dolly on Sunday night was the big surprise guest at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards in Los Angeles, presenting an honor to NBC Universal head and former Showtime chief Robert Greenblatt, lead producer of her 9 To 5: The Musical. Greenblatt, who shepherded gay-themed shows such as Six Feet Under, Queer As Folk and The L Word onto television, was honored with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality. In her introduction, viewable in the media player above or by clicking here, she explained: "I feel fortunate that I've never had to be anything but myself and I know Bob has lived his life in exactly the very same way but we both know that there are many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who are afraid to live this way in spite of the fact the world seems to be moving to a more tolerant and accepting direction finally, thanks to God. . . Everybody has the right to dignity in their lives." The evening also saw Dolly friend Kristen Chenoweth, who has said her dream job would be to play Dolly in her life story on the stage or screen, honored with the Vanguard Award for those who increase the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community in the media and through their work. Her moving acceptance speech, in which she called for acceptance of gays and lesbians in the name of Christianity, is available here. Also recognized were Glee and Modern Family in a tie for Outstanding Comedy Series. Coverage includes The Los Angeles Timeshere and E! Online here, which found Dolly backstage praising Lady Gaga and saying she'd like to work with her. Photo courtesy GLAAD. Click on it for a larger view.
Dolly Lands In London As soon as the awards concluded, Dolly was on her way to the airport for a flight across the Atlantic to land in London and begin promotions for her European tour this summer. The appearances begin on BBC's evening program, The One Show, Tuesday before heading over to ITV Wednesday for early morning program Daybreak and mid-morning This Morning. Wednesday afternoon will see her on BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright in the Afternoon. Thanks, Kevin! If you have a picture on Dollymania.net'sFan Antics section, your image might appear on Daybreak, as the show's producers contacted the website seeking permission to possibly use the pictures.
New Dollywood Pictures, Y'all! New galleries from Dollymania.net correspondent Harrell Gabehart from Dolly's recent appearances Dollywood are now available in that section of the site here. And we're not done yet!
April 11: More Dollywood Galleries Posted Thanks to Harrell for additional Dollymania.net correspondent pictures of Dolly at the Dollywood season opening, which are now available in new galleries in that section of the site here. Still more to come!
April 9: Critics Talk Seattle Stop Of '9 To 5' Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is getting mostly good marks from reviewers in the Pacific Northwest, where it's taken up a three-week residence in Seattle. Crosscut says here that its reviewer can't see why New York critics hated the show so much because it's amazing. While Broadway World's Seattle critic didn't care for Dolly's intro and outro to the show, the review noted here that "performances are great sometimes to the point of stunning" and that while it's not "a masterpiece" audiences will leave "smiling and laughing and humming some familiar and not so familiar tunes." And The Seattle Times gave a mixed but mostly positive review, finding the show fun here.
More On 'Year' In Vancouver Vancouver-area press for The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom also continued Friday with another gushing review, this time from The Vancouver Sun, which called it "a small gem" here and an interview with the filmmaker in The North Shore Newshere.
April 8: 'Mom' Movie Moves To Vancouver The indie Canadian film The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom opened this week in Vancouver and snagged a significant amount of press on Thursday. Interviews with young star Julia Stone made The Provincehere and The Vancouver Observerhere, while filmmaker Tara Johns was interviewed by The Star Phoenixhere. In addition, very positive reviews came out in The Vancouver Sun, which called it "surprisingly potent" here, and Straight, which noted it was "lovingly crafted" here.
More Dollywood Images Available The next set of Dollymania.net correspondent shots of Dolly at the season opening of Dollywood have been posted to that section of the site here. Thanks, Harrell! In other park news, The Knoxville News-Sentinel noted here that plans are still being considered to build a resort hotel on the property.
Chart Updates The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, the band's Cracker Barrel exclusive featuring three Dolly guest appearances, slips three more spots to No. 10 on the April 16 Billboard bluegrass albums chart in its 12th week on that list. On the overall charts, Jason Aldean's My Kind of Party holds steady at No. 1 country and gains three to No. 23 pop in its 22nd week, while The Zac Brown Band's You Get What You Give remains at No. 2 country and No. 28 pop in its 28th week.
April 7: Dolly Sings Rambo Tribute Song Dolly was in the studio Monday laying down a track for a Dottie Rambo tribute album, Dollymania.net has confirmed. Longtime Rambo manager Larry Ferguson and former Rambo merchandiser Chris Barnes both this week posted photos from the session on their Facebook pages (including the one at left of Dolly with Ferguson and his son, Christian, for which Ferguson granted permission to publish here when requested). Asked about the photos by Dollymania.net, Ferguson said Dolly recorded a track for a multi-artist tribute album in Rambo's memory that he and Barnes are producing which will feature "bluegrass and Broadway royalty and members of the Rock 'N' Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame." Both Ferguson and Barnes were injured in the Mother's Day 2008 bus crash that took Rambo's life and also injured Ferguson's wife and two small children. She and Dolly had a long history stretching back from a Rambo family appearances on The Porter Wagoner Show when Dolly was a cast member to Rambo's regular performances at Dollywood during its gospel festival. The two recorded a duet together, "Stand By The River," which topped the southern gospel singles chart in 2002. A few months after Rambo's passing, Dolly planted a rose in her memory in a ceremony at the park, footage of which is available on YouTube here.
More Dolly Pictures Posted The first Dollymania.net correspondent shots of Dolly at Dollywood's season opening have been added to that section of the site here thanks to photographer Harrell Gabehart. Much more to come! Thanks!
M&G Auction Nets $7,000 Dolly's charity auction meet-and-greet to benefit the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, which Dollymania.net was the first to report last week, finished on eBay Wednesday, taking in 31 bids and a winning amount of $6,950.31. The lucky bidder gets two tickets to the June 3 opening of her new Myrtle Beach dinner theatre Dolly's Pirates' Voyage and a meet-and-greet for the winner and a guest complete with photograph with Dolly. The auction even made The Tennessean's Celebrities column Wednesday here.
Grammy Awards Change Categories It may have become harder after this week for Dolly to keep her crown as the vocalist with the record for the most Grammy nominations in history, as the Recording Academy on Wednesday announced major changes to the awards. Starting with next year's 54th annual ceremony, the number of awards have been slashed to 78, a nearly one-third decrease from the current 108 trophies handed out each year. The gender-based categories in each genre – country, pop, R&B and rock – have each been combined to a non-gender-specific best solo performance award, most instrumental categories have been eliminated, and the collaboration categories have been rolled into the duo/group awards. For country-specific honors, this means Best Country Female Vocal Performance (responsible for 18 of Dolly's nominations and three wins) and Best Country Male Vocal Performance, which previously had five separate nominees each, have now been combined into the one Best Country Solo Performance category. The Best Country Collaboration with Vocals category (responsible for six of Dolly's nominations and one win) has been eliminated, meaning that when two or more artists who don't normally work together record a song, it will be considered instead for Best Country Duo/Group Performance category (responsible for seven of her nominations and one win), which originally was open to all recordings of multiple vocalists but was changed to only duos or groups who record together regularly when the "collaboration" category was created. In addition, the Best Country Instrumental Performance category has been eliminated, making solo instrumentalists eligible instead for Best Country Solo Performance and duo or group instrumental recordings eligible for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Best Country Song (two of her nominations and one win) and Best Country Album (two of her nominations) categories were unchanged. In related fields, Best Bluegrass Album (two of her nominations and one win) and Best Americana Album were unchanged, while Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Contemporary Folk Album have been combined into Best Folk Album. In other developments, the new categories will require between 25 and 39 submitted projects for consideration to have three nominees and 40 or more submitted projects for the traditional five nominees. Any category with fewer than 25 submissions for that year's consideration will not be awarded that year, and eliminated completely if it fails to reach 25 submissions for three consecutive years. Her other non-country nominations have been one each for sacred performance, pop female vocal performance, pop duo/group performance, motion picture score, motion picture song, Broadway musical album and the all-genre overall awards for Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Her total 45 nominations are the most for any vocalist, most for a female and fourth-most for any artist, surpassed only by producer/instrumentalist Quincy Jones with 79, classical conductor Georg Solti with 74 and jazz pianist/composer Chick Corea with 54. She has won eight Grammy Awards: seven regular honors and this year's Lifetime Achievement Award.
April 6: Dolly, Latifah Chat With 'ET'
Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday offered a story shot on location at Dolly's movie with Queen Latifah, Joyful Noise, in which each one raves about the other. A text version of the story is available on their website here, which also includes a video (also viewable in the media player above). The version that aired was a bit more polished, with graphics and an additional interview with co-star Keke Palmer, but the online version has slightly longer segments with both Dolly and Latifah.
'9 To 5' Hits Seattle Seattle's KOMO caught up with locally-raised actress Ryah Nixon, understudy for Dorolee in Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, for a chat here about her life on stage and what it's like to work with Dolly. The touring show opened in the city Tuesday night and remains there for nearly three weeks.
MacLaine Dishes On 'Magnolias' Director Shirley MacLaine has a new memoir out, I'm Over All That: And Other Confessions, in which she relates that Steel Magnolias director Herbert Ross was "consistently unkind" to Dolly and Julia Roberts, which brought upon him the anger of his other cast members. The mention gained the attention of NPR in its coverage of the book here.
Vote For Dolly! FOX News is asking viewers who is the greatest country music legend still with us. Vote for Dolly here. The other choices are Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson and Vince Gill (wonder why they left off George Jones!).
Vote For Dollywood! Speaking of voting, Dollywood made it to the final two for the 2011 Theme Park Insider Tournament for the world's best theme park festival. It is facing off against Universal Studios Florida's Halloween Horror Nights. Cast your ballot here through noon Eastern Tuesday. As of press time Monday night, Dolly's park was leading with 61 percent of the vote.
April 4: More Dollywood Pics Posted Your next set of images from Dolly's recent Dollywood appearance are now available in several galleries in that section of the site here. And The Knoxville News Sentinel has a story here about the City of Pigeon Forge's growth over the past 50 years since its incorporation, noting that things really took off with the creation of Dollywood.
Dolly Videos On YouTube Thanks to YouTuber Jason for finding and sending me links to a couple of recent additions. First, Dollywood on Friday uploaded a promotional video of Dolly here talking about their Dollywood Vacation cabins, and second, the Academy Awards now has an official channel and last week uploaded the footage of an ecstatic Dolly (with Sylvester Stallone) presenting Robert Duvall his Best Actor trophy here.
April 1: 'Drum!' Pictures Posted On Site The next set of official Dollymania.net images of Dolly from last weekend's Dollywood 2011 season opening have been added to that section of the site here with galleries focusing on her appearance at the Drum! show on Saturday. Still more to come! In related news, Tricities.com featured a Bristol News story, photos and video from opening weekend here Thursday. And Knoxville's WBIR discusses the new Barnstormer ride and how it was designed with handicapped accessibility in mind here. Also, thanks to your votes, the park's Smoky Mountain Christmas festival has made it to the final four offerings for the fan-voted 2011 Theme Park Insider Tournament for the best theme park event in the world. It must beat Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival to advance to the last bracket and face off against the Halloween Horror Nights at either Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Studios Florida. Vote for the park here before noon Eastern on Friday!
More On Thomas Foundation Auction The Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation on Thursday issued a press release on its Dolly meet-and-greet auction item first reported by Dollymania.net on Wednesday night. In the release, Dolly said: "I couldn't be more excited that I get to meet the winning bidders who are supporting the Dr. Robert Thomas Foundation which does such good work back in my hometown. But the winners also get to see Pirates Voyage on opening night, which I couldn't be more thrilled about!" As was previously revealed here, the meet-and-greet will take place at the opening night of the new Dolly's Pirates' Voyage dinner theatre in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on June 3 and includes tickets to the premiere show. The auction ends Wednesday and benefits the Foundation, for which Dolly serves as honorary chairperson. Named after the doctor/missionary who delivered her, the Foundation raises money to benefit healthcare in Sevier County, Tenn., primarily at the LeConte Medical Center, which houses the Dolly Parton Center for Women's Services and Dolly Parton Birthing Center. Enter your bid here; as of press time Thursday night, five bids had been placed and the current high one was $1,625.
Grascals, Vincent Fall Off The Charts It was not a good week for albums featuring Dolly, as The Grascals' Country Classics With A Bluegrass Spin, the band's Cracker Barrel exclusive CD with three Dolly guest appearances, falls off the 75-position country albums chart, down from No. 72 in its 10th chart week, and Rhonda Vincent's Taken, with her own Dolly duet, falls off the 15-position bluegrass albums tally, down from No. 14 in its 26th chart week. Elsewhere on the April 9 numbers, The Grascals' album slips three spots to No. 7 bluegrass in its 11th week on that list. On the overall charts, Jason Aldean's My Kind of Party moves up one to recapture the No. 1 country spot but drops eight places to No. 26 pop in its 21st week, while The Zac Brown Band's You Get What You Give rises two to No. 2 country and falls five to No. 28 pop in its 27th week.
New Dolly Videos On YouTube Thanks to Jason for tipping me off to a couple of recent YouTube video postings. The first, here and embedded below, is an ad from Mystic Lakes Casino in Prior Lake, Minn., promoting her July 27 concert at that establishment. The second, available here, is for the May 18-29 engagement in Dallas for the national tour of her 9 To 5: The Musical.
Dolly on Sunday night was the big surprise guest at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards in Los Angeles, presenting an honor to NBC Universal head and former Showtime chief Robert Greenblatt, lead producer of her 9 To 5: The Musical. Greenblatt, who shepherded gay-themed shows such as Six Feet Under, Queer As Folk and The L Word onto television, was honored with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality. In her introduction, viewable in the media player above or by clicking here, she explained: "I feel fortunate that I've never had to be anything but myself and I know Bob has lived his life in exactly the very same way but we both know that there are many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who are afraid to live this way in spite of the fact the world seems to be moving to a more tolerant and accepting direction finally, thanks to God. . . Everybody has the right to dignity in their lives." The evening also saw Dolly friend Kristen Chenoweth, who has said her dream job would be to play Dolly in her life story on the stage or screen, honored with the Vanguard Award for those who increase the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community in the media and through their work. Her moving acceptance speech, in which she called for acceptance of gays and lesbians in the name of Christianity, is available here. Also recognized were Glee and Modern Family in a tie for Outstanding Comedy Series. Coverage includes The Los Angeles Times here and E! Online here, which found Dolly backstage praising Lady Gaga and saying she'd like to work with her. Photo courtesy GLAAD. Click on it for a larger view.
Dolly's official overall website, 
Dolly was in the studio Monday laying down a track for a Dottie Rambo tribute album, Dollymania.net has confirmed. Longtime Rambo manager 
The next set of official Dollymania.net images of Dolly from last weekend's