Oct. 31: Dolly Touts Gospel Music In Dollywood Video
With Dollywood's National Southern Gospel & Harvest Celebration wrapping up on Saturday, the park on Tuesday released a video of Dolly discussing the impact gospel music has had on her life, music and career, including memories of her preacher grandfather. Watch the video on YouTube here or in the media player above.
Dolly Song Featured On 'The Voice'
Dolly's classic "Jolene" made an appearance on NBC's The Voice Monday night, as performed by a male contestant, Cody Belew. The song won him a slot to continue on the program, and judge CeeLo Green commented "It takes a brave man to sing 'Jolene.'" Watch the performance (which comes after his competitor in the challenge sings) here or in the media player above. That wasn't the only Dolly music on the tube this week, as Dancing With The Stars used "Islands In The Stream" for a foxtrot.
Library Coming To New Colorado Towns Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is heading to Moffat and Rio Blanco counties in Colorado, according to The Craig Daily Presshere.
Oct. 29: '20/20' Praises Women Of Country, Including Dolly
ABC's 20/20 news program the other night celebrated the current leading ladies of country music, which led them to also look at the all-time greats, such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Reba and Dolly. Carrie Underwood and others cited Reba and Dolly as their two favorites, with Little Big Town admitting to "a collective band crush on Dolly Parton" and their desire to record with her. Watch the video in the media player above or by clicking here.
Dolly Dips A Bit Down Under The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 slides one to No. 24 in its 243rd week on the Australian top 40 country albums chart, it was revealed Sunday.
Another Positive '9 To 5' Review Released Another paper gives a positive review for Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, giving it four out of five stars, saying the music is amazing and giving the best performance of the show to the actress playing Roz. Read more here.
Enter Dolly's Book Contest There's still plenty of time to get your entries submitted for Dolly's Dream More, Win More contest to get one of 10 autographed copies of her upcoming book, Dream More, which hits stores Nov. 27. Contestants should submit a video of 60 seconds or less about a person who inspires them to dream more. As of press time, only 10 videos have been submitted and accepted for the contest (including one by your webmaster), but you have until Nov. 11 to enter via Facebook or the Imagination Library website. Public votes will be taken Nov. 12-25, with the winners announced Nov. 26.
Dolly Fan Party Planned May 10 The organizer of a Dolly fan party celebrating its third year next year in Pigeon Forge asked that the site alert readers that it will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, May 10, at the Golden Corral following Dolly's annual parade through the city. Read more on the event's Facebook page here. As was previously reported here a couple of weeks back, the parade had originally been moved to May 3 but was moved back to May 10 to coincide with the opening of Dollywood's Splash Country and its new water coaster ride.
Gossip empire TMZ ambushed Dolly outside Los Angeles restaurant Matteo's Wednesday night, and although she usually interacts quite a bit with the paparazzi there on most nights, she was in a hurry and didn't appear to want to be interviewed. Still, the cameraman got her to say she had purchased a sexy pirate costume earlier in the week from Trashy Lingerie. Watch the video here or in the media player above.
Dolly's Projects Improve On Charts Dolly's 1984 holiday album with Kenny Rogers, Once Upon A Christmas, makes it annual reappearance on the country catalog albums chart this week, re-entering the 25-position tally at No. 18 to log a 74th week since release, the Nov. 3 Billboard showed Thursday. The title loses six to No. 17 in its 43rd week on the holiday albums chart. The Cracker Barrel-exclusive set An Evening With . . . Dolly gains four to No. 25 on the music video DVD chart for its 29th week on the chart. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack rises two to No. 28 in its 41st week on the gospel albums chart. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," holds steady at No. 9 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Jason Aldean's Night Train debuts at No. 1 country and pop, while Christmas With Scotty McCreery debuts at No. 2 country and No. 4 pop.
Vanity Fair Interviews Dolly On Life's Questions Dolly is this month's Proust Questionnaire celebrity in Vanity Fair magazine, giving her usual cheeky answers to a series of questions such as identifying with Snow White because she got away with sleeping with the seven dwarves or wanting to be reincarnated as a pig so she can eat like a hog. Read the full set of answers here. Excerpts from the interview are getting a lot of coverage from the foreign press such as The Belfast Telegraphhere and OMG Philippineshere.
Graham Remembers More Of His Time With Dolly British television host Graham Norton recalled his time in Pigeon Forge with Dolly during the September 11th attacks in an interview posted Thursday by The Knoxville News-Sentinelhere.
Oct. 25: More '9 To 5' Reviews Come In From Overseas Reviews of the U.K. tour for Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continued this week, with The Telegraph giving it a very positive reading here with four out of five stars and a summary of "There is a terrific joie de vivre about this stage version" which the critic enjoyed more than the original film, noting Dolly's music ranges "from the wry and comic to more deeply felt tunes." The Stage offered a mixed review here, saying the script "remains faithful to its source work although the formulaic conclusion so acceptable on celluloid, seems distinctly unsatisfying here despite Parton's lively score, which borrows heavily but not exclusively from the emotional territory of her Country and Western roots."
Oct. 24: Latest News From The United Kingdom Several media outlets the past few days have repeated the story about Dolly's earnings increasing due to Whitney Houston's passing and the renewed popularity of her "I Will Always Love You" cover as well as her statement that she'd enjoy appearing on The Voice. The original story on which those reports were based, from the British Daily Star newspaper, is available here. In other U.K. news, the British tour of her 9 To 5: The Musical is reviewed in The Daily Mailhere, which opined: "Volume levels are high. The music is more strenuous than subtle. High art? Er, no. But with a couple of jars down your neck beforehand, it becomes reasonably watchable, particularly for those with a taste for cheese."
'Hard Candy' Cover Coming Indie performer Tracey Thorn has covered "Hard Candy Christmas" on her new holiday album, Tinsel and Lights, coming out Oct. 30. Although the song is originally from the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Dolly is the artist most associated with it from her turn in the film adaptation of the show, resulting in her version becoming a holiday standard. Order Thorn's CD here and take a listen to the track and others from the project streaming via WNYC here. Thanks, Darin!
Oct. 22: Australian Chart Updates The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 holds steady at No. 23 in its 242nd week on the Australian top 40 country albums chart, while The Essential Dolly Parton falls back off the top 40, down from No. 40 in its 46th week Down Under.
Oct. 20: 'Joyful Noise' Wins Faith Movie Of Year Dolly's most recent film, Joyful Noise, on Thursday night won Movie of the Year at the Inspirational Country Music Association's Faith, Family & Country Awards in Nashville. It beat out several larger-name motion pictures nominated for the honor: Courageous, Dolphin Tale, October Baby, Red Tails, The Help, The Shunning, Tree Of Life, War Horse and Water For Elephants. In coverage of the awards, Billboard reported here that writer/director Todd Graff accepted the trophy and commented backstage: "I think our movie is good. I thought 'The Help' was better. I loved 'The Help.' I'm very happy we were recognized. It's nice particularly because there were so many devout Christians who were involved with the movie and it will really be a big deal for them."
Oct. 19: Enter Dolly's Autographed Book Contest Today
Full details were released Thursday at the start of the contest to win one of 10 autographed copies of Dolly's upcoming book Dream More. Entries of 60-second videos explaining who inspires you to dream more are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Nov. 11. Public voting runs Nov. 12-25, with winners announced Nov. 26, the day before the book is released. Winners must also be available Dec. 15-16 for "promotional display and presentation," although the rules do not explain why. Enter here via uploading your video online or mail it to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Video Contest, 920 Eastgate Rd, Sevierville, TN 37862. A video announcing the contest is available on YouTube here or in the media player above.
'Evening' Holds On, 'Joyful' Rises On Chart An Evening With . . . Dolly holds steady at No. 29 on the Oct. 27 Billboard music video DVD chart, it was revealed Thursday, giving it a 28th week on the chart. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack, moves up two to No. 30 in its 40th week on the gospel albums chart. Although it's not been on the soundtrack albums chart in several weeks, and your webmaster hasn't been able to find SoundScan data on the release for a few weeks, this week's SoundScan numbers show it is the 58th-best-selling soundtrack CD in the U.S., moving 457 copies for a cumulative total since release of 113,788 units. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," rises two to No. 9 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums but falls off of the 50-position pop catalog albums list, down from No. 42.
Overall, Little Big Town's Tornado remains at No. 1 country and falls six to No. 14 pop in its fifth week, while Carrie Underwood's Blown Away stays at No. 2 country and dips two to No. 32 pop in its 24th week.
Norton Would Join Dolly's Cult British television host and major Dolly fan Graham Norton would worship in a Dolly cult, he told The Hindu. In an interview here, the host says Dolly was his most memorable guest, explaining: "getting Dolly Parton on the show was a big, big deal for me. I love her. There's something almost mystical about her. I call it mystical because she has a charismatic energy that's just infectious. If she ever wanted to found a weird cult religion, she'd do terribly well! We would all live in Dollywood, sewing blankets and worshiping her. She has that power." The host also visited Dolly and her theme park in 2001 to film a BBC Christmas special with her, Graham Goes To Dollywood.
Oct. 18: Fireworks, New Shows, Extended Summer Hours For Dollywood
Dollywood on Wednesday revealed its 2013 season additions with a preview video featuring Dolly posted to YouTube (watch it here or in the media player above) and issuance of a press release detailing new shows, fireworks, extended hours and more. Given the major addition this year of the $20 million Wild Eagle steel roller coaster, there is no new ride planned at the park – although the adjacent Dollywood's Splash Country water park will be adding the River Rush water coaster when it reopens in May. Instead of a new ride, the main park will focus on entertainment in the new year.
In the release, Dolly commented on the park's fourth consecutive award for its entertainment offerings: "Of course I'm really proud of our four Golden Ticket Awards for Best Shows. Who wouldn't be? But I truly want to celebrate and share this great honor with our guests all season long in 2013 with all kinds of new entertainment and incredible shows from the stage all the way into the sky!"
Festival of Nations returns March 23-April 22 and will feature a new headliner, China's Cirque Shanghai, as well as a new dance troupe Mystic India, new international food offerings (for an additional fee) in the Passport to Food and a new One World Celebration in Market Square where dozens of international performers celebrate world harmony and friendship with music, dance and audience participation. Other offerings are a glass harp duo from Poland, aerial ballet pole act Swoon from Australia, Equator's Atahualpa, Zambian Vocal Group, China's "rolla bolla" balance board performer, Germany's Zebra Stelzentheatre stilt walkers, Ugandan children's choirs, Mexican Mariachi Divas, British roving puppetry, French hang drum and folk music performers and a Scottish bagpiper.
The new Great American Country Show headlines in DP's Celebrity Theatre May 10-Oct. 26. This new live 40-minute music stage show from GAC features the network's on-air personalities in videotaped appearances and special appearances by various country music legends. Returning weeks later is the Bluegrass & BBQ festival May 25-June 9.
Replacing KidsFest after 10 seasons will be the new Great American Summer, June 22-Aug. 4, featuring extended hours of 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Each day starts with a flag raising ceremony and live national anthem, closing each night with a fireworks show called Dolly's Nights of Many Colors. A new version of the Gazillion Bubbles Show will premiere, as will new shows in the renamed children's theatre series The Little Engine Playhouse at Heartsongs.
Also new is an original musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday classic in Dollywood's Christmas Carol, which is part of the annual Smoky Mountain Christmas, Nov. 9-Jan. 4, 2014.
Dolly's Parade Likely Moving Back To May 10 After initially moving it a week earlier than usual, it looks like Dolly's annual Pigeon Forge parade for 2013 will now be moved back to Mother's Day weekend, which would place it on Friday, May 10, to allow her appearance in town that weekend to coincide with the May 11 season opening of Dollywood's Splash Country and its new water coaster, River Rush, as well as the premiere of Dollywood's new Great American Country Show headliner in DP's Celebrity Theatre.
Oct. 17: Win Autographed Copy Of Dolly's New Book Fans who want an autographed copy of Dolly's forthcoming book Dream More, which hits stores Nov. 27, will want to enter a new contest this week. Dolly's Imagination Library, which will receive the proceeds from the book sales, is giving away 10 signed copies of the book in its "Dream More, Win More" contest. Interested fans should visit the literacy program's Facebook page or website to enter. You'll need to create a 60-second or less video telling who in your life inspires you to dream more and upload it (directly to YouTube via the entry form, to YouTube on your own and share the link on the entry form, or to your Facebook page and share it with the contest). Videos containing profanity, nudity of any kind or that the Dollywood Foundation deems unsuitable will not be posted. Once the contest becomes active Thursday, the end date for entries will be revealed. After that date, the public will vote on the videos. The 10 entries with the greatest public votes will each receive a book autographed by Dolly. As of now, I understand that no book signings are scheduled, so this could be one of just very few opportunities to get an autographed book.
Manchester Paper Interviews Dolly Dolly struggles to be a good boss to her employees, she told The Manchester Evening News in an interview prior to the British opening of her 9 To 5: The Musical. Read it here.
Dolly Puzzle On 'Wheel' Thanks to Larry for alerting me that on Monday night's Wheel of Fortune, a puzzle in the category Song and Artist was solved with "I Will Always Love You By Dolly Parton." Host Pat Sajack then noted how much he loved Dolly.
Oct. 16: More From British '9 To 5' Tour Opening
Here are a few more details on the U.K. tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical, which kicked off Friday. A reader alerted me that opening night was electrified with many Dolly look-a-likes and a sold out theatre. Director Jeff Calhoun welcomed the crowd, and book writer Patricia Resnick waved to the audience. The song "I Just Might" was gone, and the new number "Egotystical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot" replaced the trio of tunes for the fantasy sequence. Unfortunately, Dolly wasn't there for the opening and said on the BBC Radio 2 Elaine Paige show via a telephone interview broadcast on Sunday that she likely won't make it across the pond anytime soon to help promote the tour. Listen to the interview here or in the media player above. Thanks, Chris!
'IWALY' One Of Britain's Top Funeral Songs "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly or Whitney Houston was the 12th most popular song at funerals in the U.K. in the past year, a new survey released this week revealed. Based on requests for 30,000 funerals over the past 12 months, the top three were Frank Sinatra's "My Way" at No. 1, Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli's "Time To Say Goodbye" at No. 2 and Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" at No. 3. Read more from NMEhere.
Porter & Dolly Track Listing Error Found Thanks to John for alerting me to an error on the liner notes for the recently-released compilation Playlist: The Very Best of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, which came out last week featuring a previously-unreleased duet from 1969. The liner notes mistakenly list the track "If You Go, I'll Follow You," which doesn't actually appear on the CD, and leave off "Once More." Consequently, songs 11-13 are mislabeled on the track list. However, the MP3 album track listing is correct.
Oct. 15: '9 To 5' Opens In England, Heading To Australia The British tour of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical opened in Manchester, England, on Friday night. The show is booked for 26 cities through July. This is Tamworth reported here on another cast member in the company. Get more information on the tour here. In addition, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed on Sunday that the British producers plan to bring the show Down Under to tour Australia next year. Read more here. On this side of the pond, reviews of the American local productions came from Albany, N.Y.'s Times Unionhere and Broadway World's Florida page here.
Overseas Chart Updates Dolly is active on this week's top 40 country albums chart in Australia. The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 rises two to No. 23 in its 241st week on the chart, while The Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 40 at No. 40 for a 46th week Down Under. In Ireland, Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls back off the top 100 Irish pop albums chart, down from No. 80 the previous week.
Minnesota Library Gets Notice In Paper And learn about fundraising for Dolly's Imagination Library in Detroit Lakes, Minn., from Detroit Lakes Onlinehere.
Oct. 12: 'Evening' Gets Another Week On The Chart The Cracker Barrel-exclusive set An Evening With . . . Dolly earns a 27th week on the music video DVD chart, Billboard revealed in the Oct. 20 numbers released Thursday, inching up one to No. 29. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack, however slides one to No. 32 in its 39th week on the gospel albums chart. Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, featuring the late singer's cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," holds steady at No. 42 pop catalog albums and falls three to No. 11 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Little Big Town's Tornado remains at No. 1 country and rises one to No. 8 pop with 31,000 copies sold in its fourth week, while Carrie Underwood's Blown Away gains one to No. 2 country and loses three to No. 30 pop in its 23rd week.
'9 To 5' Opens In More Cities Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical continues to pop up all over. Naples News in Florida noted its Thursday opening for more than a month at Broadway Palm here, The State Journal Register in Springfield, Ill., reported here on its Oct. 19-21 run at Springfield Theatre Centre, The Saratogan in New York State reported here on its Oct. 12-28 production at Homemade Theater, and The Lancashire Telegraph covered an actress in the British national tour of the show that starts this month here.
Dolly's Imagination Library Comes To Mid-Mass Central Massachusetts is getting Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program, The Leonminster Champion reported here.
Broadway Dolly Cover Hits YouTube Some Broadway stars appear to be having a hoot playing Dolly's "Wildflowers." Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo, who co-starred together in The Phantom Of The Opera and Love Never Dies, joined Boggess' father for the song and posted it to YouTube here.
Oct. 10: Trans Dolly Tribute Show Hitting LA This Week New York transgender artist Our Lady J is bringing her Dolly tribute show to the West Coast. Her "Gospel of Dolly" show, which focuses on Dolly's spiritual side, will play the Cavern Club Celebrity Theatre in Los Angeles at 11 p.m. Thursday night with the Train-To-Kill Gospel Choir and special guests Euan Morton, Calpernia Addams, and themegoman. Get tickets here.
Latest News From The Lane Twins Lots of activity is going on for Gary and Larry Lane as their documentary Hollywood To Dollywood nears its second DVD release. The film will play a one-night engagement in a double-feature screening with the LGBT comedy Gayby at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on Nov. 4, two days before the re-release of the DVD with more than 90 minutes of new bonus footage here. They'll be on The Jeff Probst Show on NBC Oct. 23 and The Hallmark Channel's The Marie Osmond Show in early November. They're also planning a 2013 college tour with film co-stars Chad Allen and Leslie Jordan: "The Follow Your DREAMS Acceptance and Inclusion Tour."
Oct. 9: 'IWALY' Wins Nashville Song Of Year 40 Years After Written Given the rediscovered popularity of the Whitney Houston cover of Dolly's classic "I Will Always Love You" following the singer's death earlier this year, the track was named Sunday as 2012's Song of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. The award came 40 years after Dolly wrote the song as her farewell to duet partner Porter Wagoner and 20 years after Houston's version became one of the biggest-selling songs in the history of music. Dolly accepted the award via videotape, thanking Wagoner for inspiring it, Kevin Costner for convincing Houston to sing it and Houston for recording it. The song was also named to the awards list of this year's 10 "Songs I Wish I'd Written." Check out coverage from CMT.com here and the Associated Press via ABC News here.
'Steel Magnolias' Got 6.5 Million Viewers Lifetime's African-American remake of Dolly's classic film Steel Magnolias on Sunday became the network's third-highest-rated broadcast of all time with 6.5 million viewers, The Hollywood Reporter reported here. In related news, critics of course began immediately comparing it to the 1989 original movie. As example, Vulture noted eight examples of when the remake did not live up to the first version, including on the list Jill Scott coming nowhere close to Dolly's performance as Truvy. "Parton's performance in Steel Magnolias paralleled Cher's in Moonstruck as one of the best-ever singer turned actor feats ever committed to film. So, to be fair to Scott, Parton's legacy loomed large," the reviewer explained here. Likewise, WBEZ compared the performers in each version, also giving Dolly the top honors here.
Oct. 8: 'Very Best' Continues Australian Slide The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 inches down another spot this week to No. 25 Australian country albums in its 240th week in the top 40 Down Under.
New European Compilation CD Coming British Dolly fans can't seem to get enough Dolly compilations, as another is hitting stores this month. The Hits comes out overseas Oct. 22 on Sony's Camden International imprint and Amazon.com is showing it available as a U.S. import Oct. 30. Get yours here! The track listing is:
Jolene
9 To 5
Here You Come Again
Islands In The Stream
Coat Of Many Colors
Tennessee Homesick Blues
The Bargain Store
Love Is Like A Butterfly
Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That
Two Doors Down
Romeo
The Seeker
My Tennessee Mountain Home
Single Women
Joshua
Touch Your Woman
Rockin' Years
Save The Last Dance For Me
I Will Always Love You (1974)
Oct. 6: Ovation Network To Profile Dolly In New Series Cable network Ovation announced Friday that Dolly will be the next artist profiled in its Song by Song series. The show's first series, focusing on fellow country legend Johnny Cash, premieres this Sunday with two back-to-back episodes and then a new episode each week. Each of the six half-hour episodes "reveals the true character behind the man and the image through one of his most significant hit songs," meaning each one focuses on the story of a single song. The next series, Song by Song: Dolly Parton, will premiere in the first quarter of 2013, according to World Screenhere. It doesn't indicate how many episodes will make up Dolly's series or which songs will be the focus, but certainly her biggest hits are the most likely candidates: "I Will Always Love You," "Jolene," "9 To 5," "Coat of Many Colors," "Here You Come Again" and "Islands In The Stream." The Cash series will profile "Hurt," "Jackson," "I Walk The Line," "Ring Of Fire," "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "A Boy Named Sue." Announcing the show, senior VP of programming Kris Slava commented on it and another new series: "We've been on a mission to expand our original production slate over the past couple of years and we're very fortunate to have found production companies who really understand our brand and our audience. These two productions are very different in some ways—but they both tell stories about artists and how they shape our culture. It's the kind of unique programming our audience has come to expect from us and we have plans to deliver more in the form of commissioned originals, co-productions and U.S. premiere acquisitions."
Lifetime's 'Magnolias' Gets Permission To Air Lifetime's Steel Magnolias remake will premiere Sunday night, a judge ruled this week in denying a temporary restraining order of the original film's producer demanding the airing be postponed until after her lawsuit seeking compensation for the new version of the movie, The Hollywood Reporter reported here. Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times gave a positive review of the project here.
Houston Irish Chart Update The late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," tumbles 13 places this week to No. 80 on the Irish top 100 pop albums chart.
Oct. 5: Kenny Explains More About His Relationship With Dolly
Kenny Rogers continues to make the rounds promoting his autobiography, Luck Or Something Like It, including the above clip with CBS News (also available here and discussed in writing here) about his chemistry with Dolly and why they never let their relationship turn sexual. Entertainment Weekly lists here Dolly's refusal to go boating in Australia with him due to her concern over her wig as the top tidbit from the book.
'Evening' Goes Up, 'Joyful' Goes Down An Evening With . . . Dolly gains six spots to No. 30 this week, its 26th on the Oct. 13 Billboard music video DVD chart. Her Joyful Noise Soundtrack, however, wasn't so lucky. That title loses eight to No. 31 in its 38th week on the gospel albums chart, but it falls off both the 50-position Christian albums tally and 75-postiion Christian and gospel albums list, down from No. 47 and No. 66, respectively, in its 36th week on each chart. The late Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, with her cover of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," drops nine to No. 42 pop catalog albums and one to No. 8 R&B/hip-hop catalog albums. Overall, Little Big Town's Tornado holds onto the No. 1 country spot and dips four No. 9 pop with 34,000 copies sold in its third week, while Jake Owens' EP Endless Summer debuts at No. 2 country, No. 19 pop.
Oct. 4: Dolly Slot Machines Debut As was previously reported here and elsewhere that it would be happening this week, Dolly's new slot machines debuted Wednesday at the Global Gaming Expo trade show in Las Vegas. Dolly quickly tweeted and posted to Facebook one of the first images of her new enterprise, noting: "I'm very excited to be working with@IGTNews with my very own video slot machines - Wanna play? Well, come on!" Manufacturer IGT released to Dollymania.net images of the three machines, which will begin making their way to casinos in January. Click on the slot names below for a larger photo of each:
Dolly Video Slots, which will feature concert video and audio clips with a free games Bonus function of four interactive game features: 1. Wild Boost, where all wild symbols on the screen expand to fill the entire reel; 2. Bonus Boost, where only one bonus symbol is needed to award free games instead of all three; 3. Dolly's Awards Pick Bonus, where icons appear over the spinning reels prompting players to pick for credit awards; and 4. Play That Video, where a concert video plays over the reels as they spin to award credits. Images on the reels include several Dolly promotional photos recent and older, earrings, pianos, microphones, high-heel shoes and the Dolly "mudflap" icon.
Two Doors Down Spinning-Reel Slots, which will feature Dolly talking to players, a 10-song Dolly jukebox of greatest hits, and a Free Games Bonus featuring stacked, nudging Diamond Wilds and concert footage of Dolly performing "Two Doors Down." Images on the reels include the Here You Come Again cover art, 7s, bar icons with music notes, diamond icons as wilds and Dolly signature logos. The jackpot will be triggered by getting five Dolly signatures.
9 To 5 Spinning-Reel Slots, which will feature Dolly talking to players, a 10-song Dolly jukebox of greatest hits, and the Rockin' Reels Respin Feature that may be triggered when stacked multipliers land on the center reel, rocking it up and down with a full stack of multipliers as the outside reels re-spin to "9 To 5." Images on the reels include the 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs cover art, guitars over "9 To 5" sheet music, 7s, bar icons with music notes, music note multipliers (in denominations of 9x, 2x and 5x, of course) and Dolly signature logos. The jackpot will be triggered by getting four Dolly signatures and the 9x multiplier.
Kenny Rogers Is Out Promoting His Book Kenny Rogers is making the rounds to promote his autobiography, Luck Or Something Like It, which hit stores Tuesday and includes tales of his work with Dolly. In addition to television appearances, check out an interview with CMT.com here and even a Good Morning America stop on ABC where Stephen Colbert took on Dolly's role in "Islands In The Stream," available on YouTube here.
HD '9 To 5' Hits iTunes Thanks to John for alerting me that iTunes has added an HD version of Dolly's film debut, 9 To 5, for download. Get it here.
Oct. 3: Blog: Dolly Likely To Get Oscar Nod Academy Award nominations aren't due for months, but Indiewire on Tuesday predicted Dolly's "From Here To The Moon And Back" from Joyful Noise is among the five most likely tunes to be up for Best Song. The other four top Oscar choices, according to the story here, are Adele's "Skyfall" theme from the new Bond flick (which hasn't even been released yet), "Suddenly" by Hugh Jackman (the only new song in the Les Miserables picture), "Learn Me Right" by Birdy and Mumford & Sons from Brave and Willie Nelson's "Midnight Run" from Lawless. Dolly previously was nominated for "9 To 5" and "Travelin' Thru."
Is 'Steel Magnolias' The Best Movie Ever? Louis Virtel, columnist for LGBT blog After Elton also known for his YouTube series Verbal Vogueing, opined this week that Dolly's 1989 film Steel Magnolias (recently released on limited-edition BluRay here) as perhaps "the best movie ever." Read the full piece here and learn why. In related news, the film's executive producer, Victoria L. White, filed suit this week against Lifetime seeking compensation due to what she claims was a requirement she receive payment for any television projects resulting from the film. The suit was covered by TMZ here and The Hollywood Reporterhere. Unless blocked by the lawsuit, the Lifetime remake of the film premieres Sunday.
More On Nashville Park Plans Change Herschend Family Entertainment, Dolly's partners in Dollywood, confirmed to The Tennessean this week that they are not interested in participating in Gaylord Entertainment's water and snow park in Nashville without Dolly, who announced she was pulling out of the project last week. Read about their reaction here.
Another Somewhat Negative Boston '9 To 5' Review The Boston-area critic for Broadway World enjoyed the local production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical but found her songs lacking. Read the full review here. Meanwhile, a positive review for the Wilmington, N.C., area production made The Star Newshere and a story on the Houston, Texas, area show at the Art Park Players made Your Houston Newshere.
Oct. 1: 2013 Dolly Parade In Pigeon Forge Scheduled The annual Dolly Parade through Pigeon Forge, Tenn., will move up a week next year, the city has announced. For the past several years, the parade has taken place the Friday before Mother's Day, but in 2013 it will be a week earlier, May 3.
Australian Charts Updated The Very Best Of Dolly Parton, Volume 1 slips one place this week to No. 24 Australian country albums in its 239th week in the top 40 Down Under. Also in Australia, the late Whitney Houston's The Ultimate Collection, with her of Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," falls off the 50-position catalog albums chart, down from No. 39 the previous week.
More On Water Park Decision The Tennessean spoke to Dollywood spokesperson Pete Owens for a little more in-depth coverage over the weekend of Dolly's pulling out of her planned water and snow park with Gaylord Entertainment in Nashville. Owens said that they had negotiated a deal with the company that included Gaylord overseeing its future operations, but expected changes in their day-to-day operations when shareholders voted last week to reorganize as a real estate trust called Ryman Hospitality Properties to focus on smaller hotel properties "in Dolly's view, fundamentally changed the program we were planning," he told the newspaper. He said the park will now focus on upcoming expansion plans for its existing sites. Read more here.
Paper: NBC Tried To Get Dolly For UT 'Today' NBC's Today show wanted Dolly for Monday's broadcast from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, but The Knoxville News Sentinel reported here that she couldn't join them due to her working in Los Angeles on her upcoming book, Dream More, which comes out Nov. 27.
Another Kentucky Library Coming Dolly's Imagination Library literacy program is coming to Calloway County, Ky., The Murray Ledger reported here over the weekend.
Washington '9 To 5' Reviewed The Kitsap Sun loved the Gig Harbor, Wash., production of Dolly's 9 To 5: The Musical. Read the review here.
Fans who want an autographed copy of Dolly's forthcoming book 
The British tour of Dolly's 
As was previously reported here and elsewhere that it would be happening this week, Dolly's new slot machines debuted Wednesday at the Global Gaming Expo trade show in Las Vegas. Dolly quickly 
