www.dollymania.net                News                          June 1999

June 28: I just learned of another Dolly recording! Dolly sang harmony on the song "Corner of the World" on contemporary Christian singer Andy Landis' 1993 CD Stranger on the Star Songs label. The album was produced by Steve Buckingham, who produced most of Dolly's albums from 1991 through 1996, and it also features vocals by Ricky Scaggs, Twila Paris and Sweethearts of The Rodeo.

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June 26: More news on Dolly's movies has been cropping up all week. Both on E! Online and in The Tennessean's Brad Schmitt column Friday, the upcoming CBS film Heaven's To Betsy was discussed. Both said Dolly will likely co-produce the film and include songs she has written for it. She devised the plot herself: An unlikely R&B trio takes its act on the road, and Dolly discovers she has psychic abilities and convinces the others to use music to help others. E! Online says the film is slated to air next season. Also, a recent issue of Country Weekly noted Dolly has four new television films in the works with her new production company, Southern Light. It notes Blue Valley Songbird and Trouble in Jerusalem but doesn't mention Heaven's To Betsy or what the fourth one is.

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June 25: Lifetime this week confirmed Dolly's Blue Valley Songbird film will air next season, according to reports by Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter. According to the Reporter, the film begins production in Nashville July 12 and will premiere this fall. Lifetime purchases 12 original films per year, Reuters explained, nine of which come from Hearst, which owns 50 percent of the network (with Disney owning the other half). Blue Valley was one of three announced this week by the network. According to the Reporter, Dolly's film is being made by Hearst. There was no mention of her Trouble in Jerusalem film, also reportedly for Lifetime, but the Reporter did mention her CBS film Heaven's To Betsy, in which it said she plays a psychic R&B singer.

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June 24: Dolly bigger than Elvis? Well, in tourism counts it's true. According to E! Online, Dollywood, her theme park in Tennessee is the state's biggest attraction, outpacing the number of tourists who pay their respects to the King of Rock 'N' Roll at his shrine, Graceland, in Memphis. (The information was included in a story Wednesday about rapper Snoop Doggy Dog's plans to open his own theme park, Doggyland, in his parents' hometown of Magnolia, Miss. As a point of reference, they used Dollywood, stating that a park of that type would cost about $100 million to build, an amount they said was doubtful Snoop could raise.)

* What was the reaction of Country.com's "Crusin' Country" columnist Kimmy Wix to the news that Dolly, Conway Twitty and Johnny Bond are the CMA's 1999 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame? "It's about time," he wrote in his column this week. He also noted Dolly's upcoming Lifetime television films Blue Valley Songbird, based on the song from Hungry Again, and Trouble in Jerusalem, about a Southern Christian girl and Jewish New Yorker who fall in love.

* I got e-mail the other day about a somewhat funny and flattering review of Trio II on a weekly music site, The War Against Silence. To read the review, click here. But to understand some of what is said in it, you should be aware the review came at the end of the column after a number of reviews of albums by depressing or angst-ridden alternative bands. Thanks, Tim, for the note!

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June 17: : Dolly's everywhere today following yesterday's announcement she's been named to the Country Music Hall of Fame! Other inductees are the late legend Conway Twitty and late singing cowboy Johnny Bond. They will be formally inducted at the CMA Awards in September. Click on the following links to read articles about her honor: The Tennessean (great article) here, Reuters/Variety article here and the CMA's press release here.

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June 16: Did ya catch Dolly on Lifetime's original movie Jackie's Back? The mockumentary, based on the life of fictional diva Jackie Washington, featured cameos by Dolly three times. In the first, at the beginning of the film while everyone is taking a few seconds to laud Jackie, Dolly says, "Jackie Washington? Who is Jackie Washington?" In the second, a little more than a half hour into the film, the narrator is talking about "Jackie's" blacksploitation film Coco's Revenge, and Dolly notes that she saw the movie. "What can I say about that film? Well, it sucked!" In her final appearance, the show is discussing "Jackie's" failed line of beauty products for African American women sold through an infomercial. A "news clip" tells of five women being rushed to hospitals for scalp burns and warns anyone with her products in their homes not to even touch the box, that the FDA will come remove it. Then she holds a press conference to refute the claims, saying she tested it on her own daughters, and adding that her lawyer wanted her to say she never advertized it could be used on dogs since some woman was suing her because her dog's hair fell out. Then it shows Dolly, who says she still has litigation pending over that because her poor little poodle lost all of its hair. Then she notes that she shouldn't even be talking about it because her attorney told her not to. Then she gets flustered and says that this is all she can say and that, in fact, "This interview is over." She stands up and struts off in a huff.

* And thanks Ralph for reminding me that TNN is showcasing Dolly in its Century of Country promos this week. For a peak of what they're showing, click here.

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June 14: Wanna get Dolly's hit disco single on CD? My friend Sean just informed me the original remix version (which reached No. 25 on the pop charts and was a club smash in 1978) was included on the 1997 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras CD. It is available here.

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June 11: The Trio's "After The Goldrush" has been placed in heavy rotation on CMT, it was announced this week!

* Did you catch Dolly last night on TNN? First, Century of Country focused about a quarter of the episode on Dolly, country music's first superstar, then they re-ran the Crook and Chase episode with a Dolly interview.

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June 9: Dolly gets a brief mention in the June 12 edition of TV Guide. In Matt Roush's column, he talks a little about the Lifetime movie Jackie's Back, airing June 14 on the network. He notes, "Spirited cameos by the legendary likes of Whoopi, Bette, Liza and Dolly spice up this overextended sitcom-style parody . . ."

* From Reuters/Variety's coverage of the Tony Awards: "It was a bull's eye for Barry and Fran Weissler, producers of Annie Get Your Gun, winner of best revival of a musical . . . But, Barry quashed the rumor that Dolly Parton would be joining the cast of Annie. 'She has no interest in doing a Broadway musical, but we're talking to her about other things,' he said."

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