Sept. 29:
Dolly's Gaylord Water/Snow Park Deal Dies
Dolly has backed out of a deal to open a water and snow park in Nashville as a partnership between her Dollywood Company and Grand Ole Opry parent company Gaylord Entertainment, it was revealed Friday. Gaylord's decision to sell its brand name and management to Marriott spurred her change in plans. In a statement, she said: "Gaylord makes decisions that they feel are good for their company and their stockholders, and I have to make decisions based on what is best for me and the Dollywood Company. Governor Haslam, Mayor Dean, and all the folks in government have been great to work with. I really appreciate their support through this process. I think everyone knows I love Nashville, and I hope the work we've already done will spark more family entertainment in Nashville." Gaylord Chairman and CEO Colin Reed responded with a statement saying: "We are deeply disappointed in today's news that Dollywood will no longer partner with us to build a family attraction. We have enormous admiration for Dolly Parton and her company, and respect their decision. We continue to believe that a water park attraction on the property adjacent to Gaylord Opryland would be a valuable contributor to both our hotel and Nashville tourism. We will endeavor to find another quality partner so that this important tourism project can become a reality." The $50 million first phase of the project was announced in January, although Dolly said in August that it was on hold, but officials with both companies countered that they were still working on finalizing the project agreements at that time. Coverage of her announcement is available from CMT here, Nashville Business Journal here, WSMV here and News Channel 5 here. Image at left of Dolly with Gaylord Hotels Chairman and CEO Colin Reed from the January announcement of the park is courtesy Gaylord Entertainment.

Hear Porter & Dolly 'Vines' Preview
Amazon.com on Friday added an order page for the Oct. 9 release of the new compilation Playlist: The Very Best of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in MP3 format, which will be available for download here, providing preview audio for the previously unreleased 1969 Porter & Dolly duet "Tangled Vines."

Irish Chart Update
Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," loses 14 spots this week to No. 67 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.

'9 To 5' Gets Bad Boston Review
The Boston Globe did not like Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, a review of the local production indicated here Friday.

Sept. 28:
U.S. Chart Updates
An Evening With . . . Dolly inches back up one on the music video DVD chart to No. 36 in its 25th week, the Oct. 6 Billboard numbers Thursday showed. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack dips one to No. 66 on the Christian and gospel albums tally and four to No. 47 Christian albums, its 36th week on both tallies, gaining five to No. 23 gospel albums in its 37th week there. For the first time since her passing in February, Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," is gone from the top 200 pop albums chart, down from No. 187 the previous week. The collection drops seven to No. 33 pop catalog albums and two to No. 7 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Little Big Town's Tornado retains the No. 1 country spot and slips three No. 5 pop with 50,000 units moved in its second week, while Easton Corbin's All Over The Road debuts at No. 2 country, No. 11 pop.

No Dolly At Dollywood Next Week
Although there were some rumors in the fan community of a possible Dolly appearance at Dollywood next week to kick off the park's annual National Southern Gospel and Harvest Celebration, which starts Wednesday and runs through Nov. 3, a park spokesperson confirmed this week to Dollymania.net that there are no plans for her to participate in the festivities. However, The Oak Ridge Boys will be on park Wednesday for the James D. Vaughan Impact Award from the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame during its annual induction ceremony and Singing News Awards. The band's most recent CD, Back Home Again, released earlier this year, contains their cover of Dolly's "Coat Of Many Colors." The ceremony takes place at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets, $55 each, are available from 865-908-4040. Read more about the award from The Knoxville News Sentinel here.

Read 'Southern Living' Dolly Story
Southern Living magazine has posted online the story referenced here a few days ago from the October issue about a mother's conversation with her daughter about Dolly. Check it out here.

More Library Stories Posted
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is highlighted in Douglas County, Wisc., from Superior Telegram here and Floyd County, Ky., from The Louisville Courier-Journal here.

Sept. 26:
Dolly's '9 To 5' Heads To More Cities
Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continues to pop up at theatres across the country. The Wilmington, N.C., area gets it Sept. 27-Oct. 7 at Thalian Hall, according to Encore here and The Star News here. And Broadway World reports here that the Boston area gets it at North Shore Theatre Sept. 25-Oct. 7 featuring Dee Hoty, who played the role of Violet in the show's first national tour and stepped in for this production due to a back injury suffered by intended Violet Lucie Arnaz. In other theatre news, Flat Rock Playhouse in the Asheville, N.C., area will honor Dolly's music in its Music on the Rock season Feb. 6-9 and 13-16, The Citizen Times reported here.

Sept. 24:
Dolly, Whitney Rise Down Under On Charts
The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 rises six spots this week to No. 23 Australian country albums in its 238th week in the top 40 Down Under. Also in Australia, Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," gains nine to No. 39 catalog albums

Library Gets Newspaper Attention In Alaska, Michigan
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is reaching more than one-third of all children in Alaska, The Juneau Empire celebrated in a profile here. A long way away, The Times Herald in Port Huron, Mich., fetes the program here, comparing its impact to the life of Thomas Edison, who credited his success to his mother's reading him books as a child in the city.

Thanks A Million, Make That Four Million
Just a few weeks shy of the 14-year anniversary of Duane's Dolly Pages re-launching under the name Dollymania.net: The Online Dolly Parton Newsmagazine -- and the start of its visitor counter, the website on Sunday night logged the 4 millionth visitor to its front page. The front page passed 3 million visitors three years ago. Thanks for your readership!

Sept. 22:
Dolly In 'Southern Living'
Thanks to Francis for alerting me that Southern Living magazine's October issue features an story on Dolly titled "Our Own Dolly Lama." It's a conversation between the writer with an 11-year-old child about Dolly while visiting Dollywood, offering a commentary on why people love Dolly and find her to be a role model.

Irish Chart Update
The late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," rises 14 places this week to No. 53 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.

Sept. 21:
'Evening' Dips On U.S. Chart
An Evening With . . . Dolly inches back toward the bottom of the music video DVD chart, the Sept. 29 Billboard numbers revealed Thursday, falling four to No. 37 in its 24th week. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack loses two to No. 65 in its 35th week on the Christian and gospel albums tally and two to No. 28 gospel albums in its 36th week there, holding steady at No. 43 Christian albums, its 35th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," slides 19 to No. 187 pop while gaining three to No. 26 pop catalog albums and three to No. 5 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Little Big Town's Tornado debuts at No. 1 country and No. 2 pop, while Carrie Underwood's Blown Away slips one to No. 2 country and 19 to No. 24 pop in its 20th week.

Sept. 20:
'9 To 5' Heads To Another Tenn., N.H. Towns
Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continues to open in towns across the country. Clarksville, Tenn., sees it at the Roxy Regional Theatre, Broadway World reported here, while Kansas gets it at Theatre Lawrence, the site reported here.

Latest On 'Hollywood To Dollywood' DVD
Thanks to Gary and Larry Lane for alerting me to some of the bonus items in the DVD re-issue of their documentary Hollywood To Dollywood. More than 90 minutes of new bonus footage has been added including updates on their lives, their filming the Jeff Probst and Marie Osmond shows, a film festival round-up, Dolly's comments about the film, a Bowen Birdhouse update, director John Lavin interview, extended interviews with Beth Grant and Dustin Lance Black, Q&A with Chad Allen and the twins at the NYC Film Festival, Q&A with the director, Leslie Jordan and the twins at the Palm Springs Film Festival and more. Get your re-issued DVD from Breaking Glass Pictures in stores everywhere Nov. 6. It's also available for pre-order from Amazon.com here.

Celebrities Love Dolly
And a couple of stars are citing some Dolly love. Broadway.com reports here that Wicked star Kyle Dean Massey names his favorite obsessions, listing Dolly as his celebrity obsession. On the country side, American Idol champ Scotty McCreery says Dolly is one of his dream duet partners alongside Loretta Lynn and Carrie Underwood, according to Taste Of Country here.

Library Helping Kids In Canada
Dolly's Imagination Library in Prince Edward Island, Canada, is profiled in Charlottetown's The Guardian here.

Sept. 18:
Twins' Fan Doc Getting Second DVD Release

'9 To 5' Returns To Nashville
Nashville-area fans who want to catch Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical again, the show has a local production at Gaslight Dinner Theatre. Check out a story about it from Broadway World here.

Sept. 17:
Aussie, Irish Chart Updates
The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 loses five spots this week to No. 29 Australian country albums in its 237th week in the top 40 Down Under. Also in Australia, Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," dips seven to No. 48 catalog albums while in Ireland the disc falls 23 places to No. 67 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.

'Blackbook' Talks Up 'Islands'
Thanks to Janet for alerting me to an interesting story from Blackbook magazine reminiscing of Kenny and Dolly and their classic hit "Islands In The Stream" for its "Fern Bar Fridays" series. Check it out here.

Sept. 14:
Dolly To Get Own Slot Machines
Coming soon to casinos worldwide: three different Dolly slot machines, it was announced Thursday. One video slot machine and two mechanical slots with five spinning wheels each will "feature interactive jukebox-style song selections, big bonus action and front-row concert experiences all with Dolly cheering the player along," manufacturer International Game Technology (IGT) stated in a press release. The Dolly Parton Video Slots, Nine To Five Spinning Reels and Two Doors Down Spinning Reels will debut at the Global Gaming Expo trade show in Las Vegas Oct. 2-4. In a release, Dolly said: "As you know, I love doing lots of different things and this is the most different thing that I've done so far. I'm very excited to be working with IGT with my very own video slot machines and five-reel spinning reel games.  Wanna play?  Well, come on!" IGT is an industry leader in pop culture themed gaming devices, producing slot machines licensed with images of Elvis Presley, Sex and the City, American Idol, The Beverly Hillbillies and Wheel of Fortune, among others. Dolly had previously entered the gaming world by licensing her name and image to a British gambling company about a year and a half ago for an online bingo and slot gaming website operated out of Malta, DollyPartonBingo.com.

'Evening' Inches Up A Little On Chart
An Evening With . . . Dolly gains a little ground on the Sept. 22 Billboard music video DVD chart released Thursday, gaining three to No. 33 in its 23rd week. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack slides three to No. 63 in its 34th week on the Christian and gospel albums tally and seven to No. 26 gospel albums in its 35th week there, while gaining one to No. 43 Christian albums, its 34th week there. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," rises eight to No. 168 pop and four to No. 29 pop catalog albums, dipping one to No. 8 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away holds steady at No. 1 country and gains three to No. 5 pop in its 19th week, while Luke Bryan's Tailgates and Tanlines inches up one to No. 2 country and slips two to No. 20 pop in its 57th week.

Chinese Kids Try Dolly Song
Well, this is just too cute. Claus, who is teaching English in China, thought it would be a good idea given the high standing of ping pong in that country to teach his kids to sing Dolly's early single "Ping Pong" for its sport-themed week of classes. Watch it here.

'9 To 5' Arrested For DUI
TV star Sally Struthers, in a Maine town of Ogunquit performing the role of Roz in its local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence early Wednesday morning, several media outlets reported. She denied the charges through a spokesperson. Read more from The Kennebec Journal here. In related news, Florida Today reviewed the Titusville Playhouse production of the show here.

More Imagination Library Expansions
Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program continues to expand across the country. Stories came Thursday about new chapters in Oneida, N.Y., from The Madison County Courier here and Robeson County, N.C., from The Robesonian here.

Sept. 12:
Dolly Celebrates Golden Ticket Honors
Dollywood this week celebrated its weekend win of five Golden Ticket Awards reported about here on Sunday. In a statement, Dolly said: "I'm overwhelmed and overjoyed by the five Golden Ticket Awards that Dollywood won. I understand the voters are a who's who of folks who know the theme park industry, and I'm just tickled for our family that Dollywood can lay claim to the best food, shows, new ride, Christmas event and friendliest park in the world. And to be there and accept all of the awards at Dollywood while we hosted the event just makes these wins even sweeter for me." The park also released a picture of her with the five awards, seen at left courtesy Business Wire (click on it for a larger view). Also, thanks to my anonymous reader for sending in a few more shots of Dolly from Saturday's ceremony. They are available here.

'Very Best' Porter & Dolly Disc Gets Cover Art
Cover art, at left, has been released for the forthcoming compilation disc Playlist: The Very Best of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton. As was first reported here, the set on Sony's Legacy imprint will feature the previously-unreleased Porter & Dolly duet "Tangled Vines" from 1969. It hits stores on Oct. 9 and also contains 13 other of their classic songs. Get your copy here!

Dolly Congratulates Simpson On Birth
Dolly fanatic Jessica Simpson was Katie Couric's first guest on the debut episode of her new talk show Monday, and the booking got her two blondes for the price of one. Dolly sent in a video message for the singer, congratulating her on the recent birth of her first child, Maxwell Drew, back in May. "I'm so proud of you for everything that's going on good for you, and that baby is absolutely beautiful; I can't wait to see her in person. (She's) pretty like her mama," Dolly said. She also congratulated her on her weight loss after the birth, and Couric added that her favorite Dolly quote is "It costs a lot to look this cheap." The exchange was noted on Contact Music here and The Knoxville News Sentinel here.

Edge Interviews 'H2D' Twins
The Lane Twins of the fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood snagged another interview this week, this time in Edge On The Net. Read it here.

Sept. 10:
Dollywood Takes Five Golden Tickets
Dollywood over the weekend hosted what is often referred to as the worldwide Academy Awards for the theme park industry, the Golden Ticket Awards, and took home five first place honors during the festivities: Friendliest Park, Best Christmas Event, Best Food, Best Shows and Best New Ride of 2012 for Wild Eagle. In addition, Thunderhead was ranked No. 4 on its list of the 10 best wooden roller coasters in the world. (It has remained in the top five each year worldwide since its 2004 opening, having finished at No. 1 twice.) The park came in third for Best Park behind No. 2 finisher Europa-Park in Germany and first place winner Ohio's Cedar Point. Other finishes were second place for Cleanest Park, fourth place best water ride (Mountain Sidewinder) and fourth place Best Landscaping. Dollywood's Splash Country was fourth place for Best Waterpark. Last year, Dollywood won just two first place awards, Best Shows and Best Christmas Event, also earning one second place, two third places, one fourth place, one fifth place and one sixth place finishes. This year marks the fourth consecutive Best Shows first place honor and fifth consecutive Best Christmas Event first place award from Amusement Today's Golden Tickets. Dolly performed "My Mountains, My Home" (which, unfortunately, does not appear on the video below). She returned for the final honor of the night, presenting Amusement Today publisher Gary Slade with their first Golden Heart Award and a $50,000 prize before the park's entertainers closed the show with "Celebrate The Dreamer In You." See a few more photos from the ceremony in a gallery courtesy an anonymous photographer here. Watch the last few awards from the ceremony online here or in the media player below.

'Evening,' 'Joyful' Sales Slip Slightly
Even though An Evening With . . . Dolly bounced back slightly with a three-spot rise on the top 40 music DVD chart last week to No. 36, SoundScan numbers showed it lost a little sales ground for the week. The title sold 251 units at Cracker Barrel's nationwide, equaling a 2 percent slip for the week. Since release 22 weeks ago, the set has moved 48,372 copies. Likewise, her Joyful Noise Soundtrack saw a single-digit loss, dipping 1 percent to 840 units for the week and one spot to the 38th biggest selling soundtrack of the week. In its 34-week sales history, it has sold 107,639 copies.

Australian Chart Updates
The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 gains five places this week to No. 24 Australian country albums in its 236th week in the top 40 Down Under. Also in Australia, the late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," loses 10 to No. 41 catalog albums.

Billboard Lauds Dolly's Accomplishments
Dolly gets her due respect from Billboard in response to a reader's critique that she or Reba should be titled the Queen of Country Music, not Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift, the two current country-pop superstars the magazine had pitted against each other for the unofficial title a few days ago. Read it here.

Sept. 8:
Dolly Makes Surprise Park Appearance Saturday
Dollywood on Friday announced that Dolly would be making a surprise appearance at the park on Saturday to participate in this year's Golden Ticket Awards, the leading annual honors for the theme park industry, which this year are being hosted by Dollywood. Dolly will ride in her usual park tour at 2 p.m. Saturday, weather permitting, and then attend the awards ceremony at 4 p.m. in Celebrity Theatre. The park notes limited seating is available for members of the public. For those unable to attend, the awards ceremony will be streamed live via the Golden Ticket website here. A park spokesperson told The Knoxville News Sentinel here that she will perform during the ceremony and also come on stage to accept any awards the park wins this year.

Irish Chart Update
Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," inches back up one spot this week to No. 44 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.

Sept. 7:
'Evening' Hangs Around For Another Week
An Evening With . . . Dolly hangs on another week near the bottom of the music video DVD chart, the Sept. 15 Billboard numbers showed. The set inches up three spots to No. 36 on the 40-position tally in its 22nd week. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack loses 12 to No. 60 Christian and gospel albums, nine to No. 44 Christian albums, its 33rd week on both tallies, and two to No. 19 gospel albums in its 34th week there. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," dips four to No. 176 pop and two to No. 33 pop catalog albums, holding steady at No. 7 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Carrie Underwood's Blown Away gains three to No. 1 country and shoots up 13 to No. 8 pop in its 18th week, while The Zac Brown Band's Uncaged holds steady at No. 2 country and No. 16 pop in its eighth week.

Twins' Documentary Gets First Bad Review
The Los Angeles Times on Thursday reviewed the Dolly fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, giving the Lane Twins the first negative review I've seen of the project since it started making film festival rounds more than a year ago. The paper's critic opines here: "Amiable and upbeat though it is, the documentary Hollywood to Dollywood lacks a compelling reason to see it. Unless you are a Dolly Parton zealot, which its two protagonists definitely are." One positive outcome from the review is that it should fulfill the final requirement for the movie to be submitted for consideration at next year's Academy Awards, as entries for Best Documentary must run for at least one week in a cinema in New York and a cinema in Los Angeles (which this one has done over the past several days) plus under new rules starting this year must be reviewed by The New York Times and/or The Los Angeles Times. Documentarian Michael Moore, who proposed that latter rule change, said at the time he expected it would reduce the number of Oscar-eligible documentaries from 124 considered for this year's awards to around 60 for next year.

Texas '9 To 5' Reviewed By Paper
Check out a review of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical in the San Antonio, Texas, area at Woodlawn Theatre from The San Antonio Express-News here.

Pardon Any Delays
Your webmaster is headed to a work-related conference for several days (bonjour New Orleans!), so please understand if on a few upcoming nights I may not have the opportunity to immediately post updates. I will post when I am able, and if the usual flow is interrupted at all, things should return to normal in a week.

Sept. 5:
'Evening,' 'Joyful' Lose Sales For Week
Last week's decline on the charts of An Evening With . . . Dolly from No. 25 to No. 39 on the music DVD chart corresponded to a 24 percent drop in sales that week, according to SoundScan figures. For the week, the set sold 256 copies at Cracker Barrels nationwide, bringing its 21-week cumulative total to 48,121 units sold. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack, no longer in the top 30 soundtracks albums chart, was the 37th biggest selling soundtrack of the week with a 15 percent loss to 851 copies for a 33-week cumulative total of 106,826 units sold.

'Steel Magnolias' Shipped, Reviewed
Fans who pre-ordered the limited-edition Blu-Ray edition of Dolly's classic 1989 film Steel Magnolias saw their discs hit the mail on Tuesday for delivery by its Sept. 11 release date. Your webmaster watched a review copy of the new edition over the weekend, and I can attest that the picture is beautiful, faces sharp and landscape simply gorgeous. The sound is crisp and clear. The high definition transfer is wonderful. The release is light on bonus features, though. As was previously reported here, it contains an isolated score track and the director's commentary, but that's it on the disc. The booklet with the release features three-and-a-half pages of new liner notes along with the new cover art, several photographs from the film, a couple of publicity images and a scan of the original movie poster. Copies of the Twilight Time release remain available for advance ordering here exclusively from Screen Archives.

Another 'H2D' Review Released
New York's The Village Voice on Tuesday reviewed the fan documentary Hollywood To Dollywood, calling it "as much a road movie as it a subtle screed on civil rights." Read it here.

More '9 To 5' U.K. Coverage
The British tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical and its London stop are covered this week by Croydon Guardian here.

Sept. 3:
'Joyful Noise' DVD Re-Issue Coming Oct. 16
Dolly's latest film, Joyful Noise, sold so well in its initial DVD and Blu-Ray release that Warner Brothers is re-issuing its American edition of the film next month, just five months after first hitting store shelves. The film has sold about 750,000 copies during that time, depleting most stores' supplies of the release. For example, Amazon.com shows just one Blu-Ray and one movie-only DVD copy left in stock at the mega-retailer (although the movie plus bonus features DVD still has several copies remaining). Get the re-issue DVD here and Blu-Ray here. In other movie news, Universal has slated a re-issue of Dolly's 1982 classic The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, this time in its "Four Feature Films" series grouped with the Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner's Daughter, Southern tale Fried Green Tomatoes and another flick from her Whorehouse co-star Burt Reynolds, Smokey And The Bandit. Get that pack Oct. 9 here.

British, Aussie Chart Updates
The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 loses another six spots this week to No. 29 Australian country albums in its 235th week in the top 40 Down Under. Also in Australia, Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, with the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls 20 to No. 31 catalog albums. In the U.K., Houston's The Ultimate Collection drops back out of the top 100 pop albums tally, down from No. 98.

Will It Play In Peoria? Yes!
Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical is heading to Peoria, Ill. The Peoria Journal Star reports that a local production opens at the Peoria Players Theater on Friday. Learn more here.

Florida Library Funder Gets Noticed
A local champion helping fund Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program in Century, Fla., was profiled in The Pensacola News Journal over the weekend. Read more here.

Sept. 1:
Dolly Gives Her 'Minnie Moment'

Dolly Fan Doc Gets Another National Interview
The Lane Twins spoke about their documentary Hollywood To Dollywood in an interview with national LGBT magazine The Advocate this week. Check out what they had to say here.

'9 To 5' Maine Show Gets Review
The reviewer for Fosters Daily Democrat couldn't stop talking about the Ogunquit, Maine, production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, which he noted was a sign of a good production. Read the review here.

'Noise' Blu-Ray Also Hitting U.K. In November
Thanks to Tracey for confirming that in addition to the regular DVD release, a Blu-Ray edition of Dolly's film Joyful Noise will also be released in the U.K. on Nov. 5.

Kentucky County Gets $200K For Library
A Kentucky public library has received an anonymous $200,000 donation to launch Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program in their community. The Kentucky New Era on Friday reported on the gift here.

Irish Chart Updated
The late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," tumbles 21 places this week to No. 45 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.

Oscars Change Song Nomination Rule
The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences on Friday announced a rules change in how nominees will be selected for next year's Oscars. Starting the year that Dolly received her second nomination, for the song "Travelin' Thru," new rules were instituted that required voting members from the music branch to attend a screening of all eligible songs that had been submitted for consideration, giving each one a score. If five or more songs scored above a minimum average score, then the top five became the nominees. If only three or four scored above the minimum, there were three or four nominees. If only one or two scored above the minimum, then the top two highest-scoring songs would be the only two nominees. These complicated rules resulted in just two songs being nominated last year and four the previous year. In Dolly's year, there were just three nominees. The new rules will send a DVD of all eligible submitted songs to voting members of the music branch, which they are asked to watch and vote for up to five favorite selections. The five songs receiving the highest number of votes will be the nominees, returning to five nominations per year, although no more than two songs from the same film may receive nominataions. Dolly wrote three songs for her film Joyful Noise that would be eligible for consideration at next year's Oscars. Dolly has received two Best Song nods in her career, with the first being for "9 To 5."