June 28: Country.com reported Tuesday that Big Mon, the Ricky Skaggs-produced tribute album to The Father of Bluegrass, Bill Monroe, will hit stores Aug. 29 on Skaggs Family Records. Dolly's contribution to the CD is the song "Cry, Cry Darlin'," one of 13 Monroe songs included.

* And the folks at Dollywood tell me there is no limit to the numbers of entries per person in the name the water park contest. So be creative and enter as many suggested names as you'd like here!

June 27: Wanna win a canoe autographed by Dolly, outfitters gear, VIP status at her new water park's opening day, a "splash party" there for 10 of your friends and a photo session with Dolly? Well, you can if you win the contest to name Dolly's new water park adjacent to Dollywood to open in May 2001! For official rules and to enter, visit the water park page on the Dollywood page here.

* And Dollymania has received several new Letters To The Webmaster. Thanks to all who're writing in! Read them here!

June 26: Dolly got a little more coverage over the weekend on her new water park groundbreaking. Here's an Associated Press story which many newspapers ran on Saturday here.

* And what are your chances of running into Dolly in public? Well, The Tennessean's Restaurant Rounds column on Saturday said she was seen enjoying lunch at the Cafe at Belle Meade Plantation last week. Amy Grant was also spotted there.

June 24: The Knoxville News-Sentinel has a great article in Saturday's online edition on Dolly's groundbreaking Friday for her new water park, complete with a cute shot of Dolly in a custom-made wetsuit-type outfit. Read it here.

* Dollymania on Friday passed 55,000 visitors! Thanks to all who've dropped by and all who keep coming back! (And we got the first Letters To The Webmaster posted last night! Read it here and e-mail yours today!)

June 23: Dollywood on Thursday confirmed rumors that Dolly will be on hand today (Friday) for the 11 a.m. groundbreaking for Dollywood's new water park The 35-acre, $20 million park is scheduled to open in May 2001. For the full release, click here.

* Although it's been a while since it came out, Hungry Again is this week's top Editor's Pick for CDNow's country genre section. If you don't have this CD, it's one of her best and is available here.

* And I have added a new page to Dollymania which will be a Letters To The Webmaster section. Simply e-mail me by using the form here with any comments you'd like to make about the site, suggestions for improvement, criticisms or questions about Dolly (which I will answer on the page to the best of my ability). Please include at least your first name (last name optional) and the city, state and, if outside the U.S., country of residence. The letters will be reprinted on the page as soon as possible after they are received! Thanks in advance for any who plan to participate!

June 19: Dolly is among 42 entertainers honored as part of the musical history of Knoxville, Tenn., in a new murial the city recently erected, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported Sunday. Dolly got her start singing on radio and the local Cas Walker Show on television in Knoxville, the closest "big" city to her hometown in Sevier County, Tenn.

* Reba McEntire will apparently take over for Bernadette Peters in the Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun, The New York Post reported Friday. You may recall that it was reported last year that the producers originally wanted Dolly for the role, but she turned it down.

* Dolly's still riding high on the bluegrass charts. For details, see chart listings to the left. Thanks, Justin!

* And in personal news from your webmaster, Duane, I took home several honors at the Mississippi Press Association convention this weekend. Although I was unable to attend, I won four awards for work done last year at my former employer, The Madison County Journal: first place, Best General News Story; first and second places, Best In-Depth/Investigative Reporting; and first place, Best Planned Series of Stories.

June 14: Dolly's comedic talents got a nod from the expert voters in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Funniest Films of All Time, announced on CBS Tuesday night. Her film debut, 9 to 5, came in at No. 74, but it rang much higher with audiences than with the "experts." On the AFI website, the final public vote of the 10 funniest films ranked 9 to 5 as the No. 1 comedy of all time! The 1980 blockbuster, which grossed more than $100 million to be the third biggest theatrical hit of the year, earned Dolly her biggest honors for acting and songwriting. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song ("9 to 5") and received two acting nominations from the Golden Globe Awards (Best Supporting Actress and Best New Film Star) as well as the People's Choice Award for Best Actress. Co-star Lily Tomlin recalled fond memories of Dolly and co-star Dabney Coleman in the segment honoring 9 to 5 on the CBS special announcing the list, which featured Dolly's fantasy clip of harassing her chauvinistic boss. The No. 1 film was Some Like It Hot, and Tootsie was No. 2. (But I wonder where were The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Steel Magnolias. They should've ranked in the Top 100.)

* The Dollywood website has posted pages for Dolly's Christmas concerts, with a concert page here and a press release here. Tickets ($50 and $35) go on sale Thursday at 8 a.m. Eastern via telephone at 865-428-9620 or 865-428-9630 for the 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, shows. And remember, her only other concert appearance scheduled for this year will be at an Oct. 7 benefit in Amory, Miss. Tickets remain on sale for that show at 1-877-677-8279.

* And speaking of Dollywood Thursday, that will be the day several new solar power panels will be unveiled in the parking lot. Dollywood is one of the first sites to participate in the TVA's Green Power Switch program, which uses solar panels to generate electricity. The panels will have the added benefit of providing shade for park guests waiting for the tram ride into Dollywood. For the full press release, click here.

* And according to a press release, Dolly is one of several celebrities lending their faces to raise money to fight Down's Syndrome through a calendar for the Down's Syndrome Association of Middle Tennessee. To see Dolly's photo and order the 2001 calendars, click here.

* In Tuesday's Los Angeles Times, renowned Pasadena gardener Jacob Maarse named the Dolly Parton rose one of the 14 best ones for growing in gardens and cutting for display. He calls the flower a "most fragrant" red rose.

* And finally, on a less happier note, Dolly didn't win a Golden Voice Award this week in Nashville, which honors the legends of country music. She was nominated for Best All-Time Entertainer, which was won by Ferlin Husky, and Best Group with Porter Wagoner, a trophy handed to The Browns.

June 13: Came across some new CDs, mostly imports, which contain some Dolly rarities.

Where The Girls Are a 1997 U.K. release on ACE Records, pays tribute to lesser known recordings of the '60s "girl group" sound including Dolly's 1966 "Don't Drop Out," a tune which sounds much like the classic "Leader of The Pack" in melody and accompaniment, produced by Ray Stevens. Although it wasn't a hit, this second single of hers from Monument is, in my opinion, one of her best and most fun recordings. The original master is believed to be lost, so this one couldn't be digitally remastered, but it is the only CD version of the song I've ever come across. The Monument Story chronicles the label's history, including Dolly's "Something Fishy" and "Dumb Blonde" from 1967 and the mid-80s duet with Willie Nelson, "Everything's Beautiful (In Its Own Way)," which used her 1960s vocals and his 1980s vocals. The Story of Goldband, a late '90s UK release, includes her first recording, 1957's "Puppy Love."

(And remember her other recent releases: Harmony on "Circle Game" and "Only My Pillow Knows" on Born For You, released in May by Kathie Lee Gifford; Sony's April re-issue of Heartsongs: Live From Home, her 1994 Sony concert album; her duet with Johnny Russell on "Making Plans" for his April release Actin' Naturally; and her new version of "Smoky Mountain Memories" with guitarist Bryan Sutton on his February CD, Ready To Go.) Order your copies today!

June 12: Knowledge in Dolly history last week helped a contestant on Hollywood Squares, I'm told. The question was "What female singer received her first gold and platinum single for the song 'Here You Come Again?'" Squares Queen Bruce Vilanch said it was Dolly, and the contestant agreed to get the square. Thanks, Solomon!

* And Dollywood is trying to get some "television for women" viewers to think about spending the summer in Dolly's mountain paradise. The theme park recently began regularly airing commercials on Lifetime. Thanks, Robert!

* And I've finally completed moving all of Dollymania to its new home at www.dollymania.net! Thanks to everyone for their patience during the move, and now you can enjoy all of the site once again!

June 7: Wanna own Dolly's jacket? Well, one (complete with a framed photo of her wearing it) is on the block in the Nashville Songwriters Association International/ASCAP celebrity auction being hosted at CountryCool.com. The auction ends in July, and as of last count, the jacket was at more than $300. To view it and place your bid, click here.

* I'm told the new 50-track Australian import CD Legendary contains what is to my knowledge the only CD version of Dolly's original cut of "Two Doors Down." Released only on the first pressing of this album in 1977, subsequent pressings of the recording contained a second version of the song. (The first version has an extra first verse which begins, "Lying across my lonely bed in this lonely old apartment," and does not include the bridge, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, two doors down . . .") Thanks, Steven!

June 5: Tickets for Dolly's winter concerts at Dollywood go on sale Thursday, June 15, according to an announcement sent out to Dollywood season ticket holers. Thanks, Debbie! Tickets will be $50 and $35 and will go on sale to the general public at 8 a.m. Eastern Thursday, June 15. $15 of each ticket is tax-deductible as a donation to the non-profit Dollywood Foundation, which benefits from all proceeds from the concert. The shows, "Dolly's Tennessee Mountain Christmas Benefit Concerts," will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16. Tickets will be available via telephone at 865-428-9620 or 865-428-9630 or in person at the Box Office in Dollywood or the park's Remote Office on Highway 441 at Dollywood Lane in Pigeon Forge. The concerts, usually held in the fall, were moved to winter this year and coincide with Dollywood's Christmas Fest. In addition to this show and her New Year's Day concert at the Opryland Hotel, Dolly's only other scheduled concert for 2000 is an Oct. 7 benefit in Amory, Miss., tickets for which are still available at the toll-free number on the banner at the top of this page.

* While the news page was unavailable for updates last week, Dollymania passed 50,000 visitors! Thanks to all who've stopped by!

* According to the Associated Press, the new $35 million Country Music Hall of Fame building in Nashville, anticipated for opening in May 2001, will contain the original handwritten lyrics to Dolly's "Jolene." Dolly, who is the most recent and youngest living inductee into the Hall of Fame, wrote the song in 1972 the same day she wrote "I Will Always Love You." It was based on a photo of a little girl scout which the child had given to Dolly and asked her to pass along to Porter. Her name was Jolene, which Dolly thought would make a nice name in a song. It is perhaps her most often covered song, after "I Will Always Love You" and "Put It Off Until Tomorrow," having been performed by everyone from Reba to Patti Smith to Natalie Merchant.

June 2: Dollymania is back and running after computer problems kept it down for the week! Plus, as you can see, I am with a new server, and while only the News page is accessible now, the rest will be up shortly!

* Dolly, LeeAnn Womack and Ricky Scaggs have cut a song for Scaggs' upcoming tribute CD to bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, I'm told. Dolly reportedly sings lead, while the other two sing harmony!

* I'm told Dolly is featured in the June 13 issue of Country Weekly in the ACM review and the "flashback" section! Thanks, Robert!

* Also in Country Weekly, Terri Clark raves about how "down to earth" Dolly was when the two met recently on an airplane where they were seated next to each other. "We gossiped and cackled the whole flight. It was more fun than I could ever explain," Clark said.

* Dolly.net got a plug in the June issue of the gay magazine Instinct, I'm told.