WA2K Radio is now on the air

Jean Stapleton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray on January 19, 1923 in New York City) is an American actress of stage, television and film.

She is best known for her portrayal of the long-suffering, yet devoted wife of Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor) and mother of Gloria Bunker Stivic (played by Sally Struthers), Edith Bunker on the popular and groundbreaking 1970s situation comedy All in the Family. She was also occasionally in the All in the Family sequel Archie Bunker's Place.

Stapleton's awards for "All in the Family" include three Emmys and three Golden Globes. Jean was offered a role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but declined because it coincided with the production of the All in the Family pilot.

She began her New York career in American Gothic, an Off Broadway play. She has been featured on Broadway in several hit musicals, such as Damn Yankees, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing, and Juno.

Stapleton has also acted in made-for-TV movies and feature films such as "Klute," which starred Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, the zany comedy Cold Turkey and the Faerie Tale Theatre episode Cinderella as the fairy godmother. She also had a recurring role on TV's Scarecrow and Mrs. King as a British spy. Stapleton appeared in the 1999 movie You've Got Mail.

In 2001, Stapleton attended the funeral of Carroll O'Connor, along with Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers.

Stapleton's husband, William H. Putch, by whom she had two children, (actor/writer/director John Putch and actress Pamela Putch), died in 1983. Her husband directed a summer stock theater, Totem Pole Playhouse, at Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania for 30 years. Stapleton performed occasionally at the theatre with the resident company.

Stapleton is not related to the late actress Maureen Stapleton; she acquired her professional name of Jean Stapleton as many other actors have done. She used her mother's maiden name. Jean Stapleton has numerous relatives in show business, including actress cousin Betty Jane Watson.

Fritz Weaver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Fritz Weaver (born January 19, 1926) is a prolific, Tony Award-winning American actor and voice actor.

Weaver was born on January 19, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector during World War II, breaking into acting in the early 1950s. His first television role came in 1956, on an episode of The United States Steel Hour. He would continue to appear on television during the next four decades, appearing on such shows as The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Rawhide, Mission: Impossible, Combat!, Gunsmoke, Mannix, Kung Fu, Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I., Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, Law & Order, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (in the episode "Tribunal"), The X-Files, and Frasier.

In 1970 he won a Tony Award for his performance in Child's Play

He appeared in many films, generally as a supporting actor. Of these, the most well-known are probably Marathon Man, Black Sunday and Creepshow, and the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. Other notable movies include The Day of the Dolphin (1973), and Fail-Safe (1964).

Since 1999, Weaver has worked primarily as a voice actor, providing narration for programs on the History Channel. Weaver is currently starring in a revival of Harley Granville-Barker's play The Voysey Inheritance at the Atlantic Theatre Company in Manhattan.

Tippi Hedren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Nathalie "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930)[1] is an American actress with a career spanning six decades. She is best known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and her extensive efforts in animal rescue at Shambala Preserve, an 80-acre wildlife habitat which she founded in 1983.

Enjoying a successful modeling career in the 1950s and 1960s, she was discovered by Hitchcock, who was watching The Today Show when he saw Hedren in a diet drink commercial and was taken by her distinctive walk and attractive toss of her head. Hitchcock was looking for an actress who possessed something of the sophistication, self-assurance and cool-blonde sex appeal of Grace Kelly, with whom he had made three films. Hedren, expensively groomed and mentored by Hitchcock, appeared in his films The Birds and Marnie. At the time of the films' releases, she was criticized for being too passive in The Birds and too expressive in Marnie. It took several years before she received respect for her work in both films from American film critics. Hedren is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith, and they share credits on six films, notably Pacific Heights (1990).

Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota to a Swedish father and a German-Norwegian mother. Her father ran a small general store in the small town of Lafayette, Minnesota. It was her father who gave her the moniker "Tippi" even though her birth name is Nathalie Kay Hedren. "My father thought Nathalie was a little bit much for a brand new baby," Hedren explained at a 2004 screening of The Birds. Tippi comes from the Swedish nickname "Tupsa" or "sweetheart".

As a teenager, Hedren took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was still a high school student. When she reached her 18th birthday, she bought a ticket to New York and began a professional modeling career. Within a year she made her film debut (minus dialogue) as a Petty Girl model in The Petty Girl (1950) musical comedy, although in interviews she refers to The Birds (1963) as her first film. While in New York, she met and married her first husband, Peter Griffith, in 1952.[2]



Films

At a packed house in Lancaster, California's Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival Cinema Series screening of The Birds on September 28, 2004, Hedren recalled how she was mysteriously selected for a lead role: "I said, 'Well, who is this person? Who is interested?'... Nobody would tell me who it was." It was Alfred Hitchcock, who soon announced his choice of Hedren for The Birds.

Hitchcock put Hedren through a then-costly $25,000 screen test, doing scenes from previous Hitchcock classics as Rebecca, Notorious and To Catch A Thief with actor Martin Balsam. He signed her to a multi-year exclusive personal contract, something he had earlier done in the 1950s with Vera Miles. Hitchcock's plan to mold Hedren's public image went so far as to carefully control her style of dressing and grooming. Hitchcock, ever the showman, insisted for publicity purposes that her name should be printed only in single quotes -- 'Tippi'. The press mostly ignored this directive from the director, who felt that the single quotes added distinction and mystery to Hedren's name. In interviews, Hitchcock compared his newcomer not only to her predecessor Grace Kelly but also to what he referred to as such "ladylike", intelligent, and stylish stars of more glamorous eras as Irene Dunne and Jean Arthur. Later, Hedren indicated that she didn't want to be known as the next Grace Kelly but rather as the first Tippi Hedren.

Hedren made her debut in The Birds with a wealth of publicity. In a December 1962 Look magazine cover story "Hitchcock's New Grace Kelly", Alfred Hitchcock compared her to his star of To Catch a Thief and Rear Window, saying, "'Tippi' has a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor. She displayed jaunty assuredness, pertness, an attractive throw of the head. And she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well and is sharper in expression."

Hedren said of her mentor, "He is subtle as a psychiatrist and never gives displaced encouragement." With the release of the film, she got a very tepid reception, the only exceptions being critic Bob Thomas ("Miss Hedren makes an impressive debut") and Time magazine ("pleasant and ladylike, as Grace Kelly was.") Years after the film's release, she remembered the location work at Bodega Bay as dangerous and taxing, commenting, "For a first film, it was a lot of work."

For the harrowing final attack scene in a second-floor bedroom, filmed on a closed set at Universal-International Studios, Hedren had been assured by Hitchcock that mechanical birds would be used. Instead, Hedren endured five solid days of prop men, protected by thick leather gloves, flinging dozens of live gulls, ravens and crows at her (their beaks clamped shut with elastic bands). Cary Grant visited the set and told Hedren, "I think you're the bravest lady I've ever met." In a state of exhaustion, when one of the birds gouged her cheek and narrowly missed her eye, Hedren sat down on the set and began crying. A physician ordered a week's rest, which Hedren said at the time was riddled with "nightmares filled with flapping wings".

The Birds brought her a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer.[3] Premiere magazine chose Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels in The Birds as one of "The 100 Greatest Characters of All Time".

Marnie (1964), a psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, was Hedren's second Hitchcock assignment, co-starring with Sean Connery. She recalls Marnie as the favorite of her two films for Hitchcock because of the complex, challenging central character, an attractive, secretive, emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises in order to rob her employers. [4] On release, the film was greeted by mixed reviews and indifferent box-office but, over the decades, has significantly grown in stature among Hitchcock fans.

Although Hitchcock continued to have Hedren in mind for several other films after Marnie, the actress had become increasingly uncomfortable with his possessive manner and she flatly declined any further work with him. Other directors who wanted to hire her had to go through Hitchcock, who would inform them she was unavailable. "It grew to be impossible. He was a very controlling type of person, and I guess I'm not about to be controlled," said Hedren, who bought out her contract. Ending their professional relationship on a sour note, she recalled, "He said, 'Well, I'll ruin your career.' And he did."[5]

Charles Chaplin cast her as the sophisticated, brittle, cheated-upon wife of Marlon Brando in his shipboard comedy A Countess From Hong Kong (1967). She made more than 40 films between 1967 and 2006, including Pacific Heights and I Heart Huckabees. More recently, she has appeared in episodes of The 4400 and Fashion House and the forthcoming thriller Rodeo Girl (2007).


Influence

Hedren's influence on actors and films has surfaced in recent years: A stylish Louis Vuitton ad campaign in 2006 paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. For a woman who was introduced by Hitchcock as the next Grace Kelly, now found herself as an original inspiration to younger actresses. In interviews Naomi Watts has stated that her character interpretation in Mulholland Drive (2001) was influenced by the look and performances of Hedren and Kim Novak in Hitchcock films. Michael O'Donoghue, one of the writers of the original Saturday Night Live (1975), praised its star Jane Curtin when he said she had "an icy Tippi Hedren quality" about her.[6]. Bridget Fonda, who played Hedren's daughter in the straight-to-cable film Break Up (1998), gushed to her about how she watched Marnie "a million times".


Shambala Preserve

In 1981, Hedren produced Roar, a grueling, five-year project starring dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen," remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of Roar, both Hedren and her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, were attacked by lions, and Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped.

Roar directly led to the 1983 establishment of the non-profit Roar Foundation and Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Acton, California between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley 40 miles northeaast of Los Angeles. A haven for endangered exotic big cats, Shambala currently houses some 70 animals, including African lions, Siberian and Bengal tigers, leopards, servals, mountain lions and bobcats. Hedren lives on the Shambala site and conducts monthly tours of the preserve for the public. When questioned about the many birds at Shambala, Hedren responded, "I love birds. No, I like 'em. I do. I hate to tell you that. It spoils the whole story."[7]

Hedren took in and cared for Togare, a lion that belonged to Anton LaVey, after he was told by San Francisco officials that he couldn't keep a fully grown lion as a house pet. More recently, Shambala became the new home for Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers after he decided to close his zoo at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos, California.


May 2006: Shambala benefit stage production of The Birds in Hollywood. Shambala supporter Don Norte, Veronica Cartwright, playwright David Cerda, Tippi Hedren and Shambala supporter Kevin Norte.Several documentaries have focused on Shambala Preserve, including the 30-minute Lions: Kings of the Serengeti (1995), narrated by Melanie Griffith, and Animal Planet's Life with Big Cats (1998), which won the Genesis Award for best documentary in 1999.

Shelley Fabares
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born January 19, 1944
Santa Monica, California

Shelley Fabares (born January 19, 1944) is an American actress and singer.

Born Michele Ann Marie Fabares in Santa Monica, California, she is the niece of Nanette Fabray, who changed the spelling of her last name, though Shelley kept the original form [1]. She got her big break in the role of the teenage daughter in the long-running television family sitcom, The Donna Reed Show. Her national popularity led to a recording contract and she had two "Top 40" hits including "Johnny Angel" that went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of 1962. Fabares left the TV show for a career in film and starred in a number of motion pictures including three Elvis Presley movies: Girl Happy (1965), Spinout (1966) and Clambake (1967).

Fabares married Jan & Dean's record producer Lou Adler in June 1964 before separating in 1966. The couple would later officially divorce many years later, in 1980.

In later years, she returned to television, most notably in the roles of Francine Webster on One Day at a Time and as Christine Armstrong Fox on the sitcom Coach.

She is married to actor Mike Farrell and is step-mother to his two children from a previous marriage. In October 2000, she received a life-saving liver transplant after being diagnosed with hepatitis.

Dolly Parton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Background information

Born January 19, 1946 (age 61)
Sevierville, Tennessee, United States

Genre(s) Country, Bluegrass, folk, pop
Instrument(s) Singing, guitar, banjo, autoharp, piano, drums
Years active 1959-present
Label(s) Goldband (1959)
Mercury (1962)
Somerset (1963)
Monument (1965-1967)
RCA (1967-1985)
Warner Bros. Records (1987)
Columbia (1987-1995)
Rising Tide (1996-1997)
Decca (1998)
Asylum (1999)
Sugar Hill Records (1999-present)

Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American Grammy-winning and Academy Award-nominated country singer, songwriter, composer, author, actress, and philanthropist.



Family life

Parton was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens. Her siblings are Willadeene Parton (a poet), David Parton, Denver Parton, Bobby Parton, Stella Parton (a singer), Cassie Parton, Larry Parton (who died shortly after birth), Randy Parton (a singer), twins Floyd Parton (a songwriter) and Freida Parton (a singer), and Rachel Dennison (an actress).

Her family was, as she described them, "dirt poor", and lived in a rustic, dilapidated one-room cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains, near Locust Ridge. Parton's parents were parishioners in the Assembly of God Church, a Pentecostal denomination, and music was a very large part of her church experience. She once told an interviewer that her grandfather was a Pentecostal "holy roller" preacher and today, when appearing in live concerts, she frequently performs spiritual songs. (Parton, however, professes no denomination, claiming only to be Christian while adding that she believes that all Earth's peoples are God's children.)

On May 30, 1966, at the age of 20, she married Carl Dean (whom she met upon her first day in Nashville at the Wishy-Washy Laundromat two years earlier), who ran an asphalt-paving business in Ringgold, Georgia. She has remained with Dean, who has always shunned publicity and rarely accompanies her to any events.


Music

Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio programming radio and television program television in East Tennessee. At age 12 she was appearing on "The Cas Walker Show" on WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and at 13, she was recording on a small record label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. When she graduated from high school in 1964 she moved to Nashville, taking many traditional elements of folklore and popular music from East Tennessee with her.

Parton's initial success came as a songwriter, writing hit songs for Hank Williams, Jr. and Skeeter Davis. She signed with Monument Records in late 1965, where she was initially pitched as a bubblegum pop singer, earning only one national chart single, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby," which did not crack the Billboard Top 100. Additional pop singles also failed to chart.

The label agreed to have Parton sing country music after her composition "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" as recorded by Bill Phillips (and with Parton, uncredited, on harmony) went to No. 6 on the country charts in 1966. Her first country single, "Dumb Blonde" (one of the few songs during this era that she recorded but didn't write), reached No. 24 country 1967, followed later the same year with "Something Fishy," which went to No. 17. The two songs anchored her first full-length album, Hello I'm Dolly, that same year.


In 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly syndicated country music TV program hosted by Porter Wagoner, replacing Norma Jean. She also signed with RCA Victor, Wagoner's label, during this period, where she would remain for the next two decades. Wagoner and Parton immediately began a hugely successful career as a vocal duet in addition to their solo work and their first single together, a cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind," reached the top ten on the U.S. country charts in late 1967, and was the first of over a dozen duet singles to chart for them during the next several years.

Parton is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country songs with strong elements of folk music in them based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors" and "Jolene" have become classics in the field, as have a number of others. As a composer, she is also regarded as one of country music's most gifted storytellers, with many of her narrative songs based on persons and events from her childhood. Dolly Parton has published almost 600 songs with BMI to date and has earned 24 BMI awards for her material.

She stayed with the Wagoner show and continued to record duets with him for seven years, then made a break to become a solo artist. In 1974, her song "I Will Always Love You" was released and went to #1 on the country charts. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that she would have to sign over half of the publishing rights if Elvis recorded the song (as was the standard procedure for songs Elvis recorded). Parton refused and that decision is credited with helping make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years. She claims to have made over $6 million from Whitney Houston's cover version of this song[1].


Branching out

Despite originally being typecast in many circles as a "Country and Western" singer, Parton later also had commercial success as a pop singer and actress. Her 1977 album "Here You Come Again" was her first million-seller, and the title track became her first top-ten single on the pop charts; many of her subsequent singles charted on both pop and country charts simultaneously. Her albums during this period were developed specifically for pop/crossover success.


In 1987, along with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, she released the decade-in-the-making Trio album to critical acclaim (a second collaboration, "Trio II", would be released in 1999). In 1993, she teamed up with fellow country music queens Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette for a similar project, the Honky Tonk Angels album.

After 20 years with RCA, Parton signed with Columbia Records in 1987, where her recording career continued to prosper, but by the mid 1990s, Parton, along with many other performers of her generation, found that her new music was not welcome on country radio playlists. She recorded a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums, beginning with "The Grass is Blue" (1999) and "Little Sparrow" (2001), both of which won Grammy Awards. Her 2002 album "Halos and Horns" included a bluegrass version of the Led Zeppelin classic Stairway to Heaven. In 2005, Parton released Those Were The Days, her interpretation of hits from the folk-rock era of the late 1960s through early 1970s. The CD featured such classics as John Lennon's "Imagine," Cat Stevens' "Where Do The Children Play," Tommy James' "Crimson & Clover," and Pete Seeger's folk classic "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" and the title track.


Image

Standing at an even 5 feet tall (152 cm), Parton is well known for her large bust and low-cut, tight-fitting costumes. Her short height and thin waist accentuates her 40-inch bustline. She has turned down several offers to pose for Playboy magazine and similar publications. Breast-obsessed film-maker Russ Meyer wanted to make movies about her. Although she has admitted to having some amounts of cosmetic surgery (notably a breast lift), rumors that she had breast augmentation surgery remain unsubstantiated. (According to IMDB.com, she has never denied it, and the site includes the personal [unsubstantiated] quote that "People always ask me if they're mine. Yes, they are...all bought and paid for.")

On a 2005 taping of "Oprah", the talk show host asked Parton what kind of cosmetic surgery she'd had done. Parton stated that she felt that cosmetic surgery was imperative in keeping with her famous image, but jokingly admitted "If I have one more face lift I'll have a beard!". Parton has repeatedly joked about her physical image and surgeries, saying "If I see something sagging, bagging and dragging, I'm going to nip it, tuck it, and suck it!" and "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."


Acting

During the mid-1970s, Parton had her eyes set on expanding her audience base. The first step towards meeting this goal was her attempt at a variety show, Dolly!. Even though it had high ratings, the show lasted merely one season, with Parton asking out of her contract due to the stress it was causing her vocal cords. (In 1987 she tried a second TV variety show, also titled Dolly, which lasted only one season.)

In 1980, Jane Fonda decided Parton was a perfect candidate for her upcoming film, 9 to 5. She was looking for a brassy Southern woman for a supporting role and felt the singer was perfect. Parton received acclaim for her performance, receiving Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Female. She also scored one of the biggest hits of her career with the title song, which she wrote; it earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song - Motion Picture. The song won two Grammy Awards, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also #78 on American Film Institute's 100 years, 100 songs. She was also named the Top Female Box Office Star title by Motion Picture Herald in both 1981 and 1982.

Parton's other films include The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for which she received another Golden Globe nomination, Rhinestone where she was paired with Sylvester Stallone, and Steel Magnolias. Parton's last lead role in a theatrical film was in 1992's Straight Talk, opposite James Woods. She played the plainspoken host of a radio program that has people phoning-in with problems. The film, while not a blockbuster, did respectably well upon its release. She later played an overprotective mother in Frank McKlusky, C.I. with Dave Sheridan, Cameron Richardson, and Randy Quaid.

Parton has also done voice work for animation, playing herself in the TV series Alvin & the Chipmunks (episode: Urban Chipmunk) (1987) and her voice role as Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy in The Magic School Bus (episode: The Family Holiday Special) (1994). She has appeared on many non-musical television shows, usually in cameo roles as herself, for example in a 2006 episode of children's program Hannah Montana, as "Aunt Dolly".


Movies, theatre, and music

Aside from 9 to 5, Parton's music has been featured prominently in other films. In 1982, she recorded a second version of "I Will Always Love You" for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; the second version proved to be another #1 country hit and also managed to reach the pop charts, going to #53 in the United States.

In 1992, "I Will Always Love You" was performed by Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Houston's version became the best-selling hit ever written and performed by a female vocalist, with worldwide sales of over 12 million copies. As Parton owned the song, she reaped the benefits of the royalties from Houston's version. The song was also covered by music legend Kenny Rogers on his 1997 album "Always and Forever," which sold over 4 million copies worldwide, as well as by Leann Rimes.

Parton has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "9 to 5" in 1980, and for "Travelin' Thru" from Transamerica, filmed in 2005. She was considered the front-runner in the 2005 Oscar song category, but the song lost to "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," from the movie Hustle and Flow. Had Parton's song won, she would have become the first country artist to win an Oscar. (Although other country songs have won the Best Song category in the past, all previous winners had actually been written by non-country artists, most often classical or pop composers.) "Travelin' Thru" did win as Best Original Song award at the 2005 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. The song was also nominated, though it did not win, for both Best Original Song by the Foreign Press' for the Golden Globes as well as Best Song by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

A third Parton performance, "The Day I Fall In Love," a duet with James Ingram from the film Beethoven's 2nd was nominated for an Oscar in 1994 and was performed live by the duo on the awards telecast. Oscar nominations, however, are for the songwriter, not performer, and it did not win.


George Jones and Parton singing in the music video "The Blues Man."According to a broadcast of the public radio program Studio 360 from 10-29-05,[2] as of October 2005 Parton was in the midst of composing the songs for a planned Broadway musical adaptation of the film 9 to 5.

In 2005, Parton joined with George Jones on the song the "The Blues Man". They also made a video for the song. This is the very first time Parton and Jones came together and did a duet.


Business

Parton invested much of her earnings into business ventures in her native East Tennessee, notably Pigeon Forge, which includes a theme park named Dollywood and a dinner show called Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, which also has venues in Branson, MO, Orlando, FL, and Myrtle Beach, SC. The area is a thriving tourist attraction, drawing visitors from large parts of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. This region of the U.S., like most areas of Appalachia, has suffered economically for decades; Parton's business investment has revitalized the area.

She also owns Sandollar Productions, a film and television production company, which produced the Fox TV Show Babes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the features Father of the Bride I & II, Straight Talk, Sabrina, and Academy Award-winning (for Best Documentary) Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, among other shows. Sanddollar is co-owned by Sandy Gallin, Parton's former manager.

Parton also owned her own wig company in the early 1990's.



In concert

Parton toured extensively from the late 1960s until the early 1990s. Since the early 1990s, Parton's concert appearances were primarily limited to one weekend a year at her Dollywood theme park benefiting her Dollywood Foundation. After a decade long absence from touring, Parton decided to hit the road in 2002 with an 18-city, intimate club tour to promote the "Halos & Horns" CD. The House of Blues Entertainment, Inc. produced show sold out all of its U.S. and European dates (her first in two decades). In 2004, she returned to mid-sized stadium venues in 36 cities in the US and Canada with her "Hello I'm Dolly" tour, a glitzier, more elaborate stage show than two years earlier. With nearly 140,000 tickets sold, the "Hello I'm Dolly" tour was the tenth-biggest country tour of the year and grossed more than $6 million. In late 2005 Parton completed a 40-city tour with "The Vintage Tour" promoting her new album, Those Were The Days. In the late months of 2006 Parton scheduled five concerts throughout the U.S. and Canada, as a gear up to her European tour in early March 2007. This is her first world tour in many years and will be hitting 17 cities in 21 dates and will run from March 6 through April 3, before Parton returns state side in time for summer of 2007.


Honors

Parton is the most-honored female country performer of all time. She holds 25 U.S. gold, platinum and multi-platinum honors from the RIAA. She has seen 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years. All inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during Parton's career have reportedly reached 100 million records around the world.[3]

She has received seven Grammy Awards and a total of 42 Grammy nominations. In the American Music Awards, she has taken home the AMA trophy three times but seen 18 nominations. At the Country Music Association, she has received 10 awards and 42 nominations. At the Academy of Country Music, she has been given seven awards and 39 nominations. She is one of only five solo female artists (others include Reba McEntire, Barbara Mandrell, Shania Twain, and Loretta Lynn), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year".

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, awarded in 1984; a star on the Nashville Star Walk for Grammy winners; and a bronze sculpture on the courthouse lawn in Sevierville, Tennessee.

She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1969. In 1986, she was named one of Ms. Magazine's Women of the Year. She was given an honorary doctorate from Carson-Newman College in 1990.

1986 saw Parton's induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1999, Parton received country music's highest honor, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. This was followed by induction into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.

In 2002, Parton was ranked #4 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

She was honored in 2003 with a tribute album called Just Because I'm a Woman: Songs of Dolly Parton. The artists who recorded versions of Parton's songs included Melissa Etheridge ("I Will Always Love You"), Alison Krauss ("9 to 5"), Shania Twain ("Coat of Many Colors"), Me'Shell NdegéOcello ("Two Doors Down"), Norah Jones ("The Grass is Blue"), and Sinéad O'Connor ("Dagger Through the Heart"); Parton herself contributed a rerecording of the title song, originally the title song for her first RCA album in 1968.

Parton was awarded the Living Legend medal by the U.S. Library of Congress on April 14, 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States. This was followed in 2005 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts.

On December 3, 2006 Dolly Parton was honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her lifetime of contributions to the arts. The other 2006 honorees are Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson and Andrew Lloyd Webber. During the show, some of country music's biggest names came to show their admiration. Carrie Underwood performed Dolly's hit "Islands in the Stream" with original duet partner Kenny Rogers. Alison Krauss performed "Jolene" and dueted "Coat of Many Colors" with superstar, Shania Twain. Vince Gill performed "I Will Always Love You" which he dueted with Dolly. Jessica Simpson sang "9 to 5" but left the stage mid-way through after messing up the lyrics. the broadcast on national television did not include her performance. Reba McEntire & Reese Witherspoon also came to pay tribute to this living legend.


Philanthropic efforts

Since the mid-1980s Parton has been praised for her many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy. Her literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which mails one book per month to children, from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten, began in Sevier Country, Tennessee, but has now been replicated in 566 counties across thirty-six U.S. states, as well as Canada. [4] It has resulted in Parton's receiving the Association of American Publishers' AAP Honors in 2000, Good Housekeeping's Seal of Approval in 2001 (the first time the seal had been given to a person), the American Association of School Administrators' Galaxy Award in 2002, the Chasing Rainbows Award from the National State Teachers of the Year in 2002, and the Child and Family Advocacy Award from the Parents As Teachers National Center in 2003. The program distributes more than 2.5 million free books to children annually.

Her Dollywood theme park has also been noted for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region.

Her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003.

She has also worked to raise money on behalf of several other causes, including the Red Cross and a number of HIV/AIDS-related charities.

In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90 million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in the name of Dr. Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her; she also announced plans for a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. [5]

Trivia

The first cloned mammal was a sheep named "Dolly" in honor of Dolly Parton, because it was cloned from a mammary cell.
As the writer Tony Barrell has pointed out (London Sunday Times, January 8, 2006), Parton was born on the same day as the eminent British novelist Julian Barnes, and both stars have theme park connections. Parton, of course, has Dollywood, and Barnes's 1998 novel, England, England, is about an entrepreneur re-creating England as a theme park on the Isle of Wight.
In a live recording of "We've got tonight" with Kenny Rogers, she swaps the lyrics "who needs tomorrow" with "who needs Sheena Easton" (who originally sang the duet with Rogers).
In a Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch on Saturday Night Live, Darrell Hammond, portraying Sean Connery, answers "Dolly Parton!" in the category "Famous Titles," which he thinks is "Famous Titties."
She once said: "I'm not offended by all of the dumb-blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb--and I'm also not blonde."
Told guest host Jay Leno, during an appearance on The Tonight Show in 1989, that her mother was one of ten children and her father one of fifteen children.
In 2006, she was named Honorary Citizen of Piteå, a city in northern Sweden. [8]

"OLD" IS WHEN ... Your sweetie says, "Let's go upstairs and make love," and you answer, "Pick one; I can't do both!"


"OLD " IS WHEN ... Your friends compliment you on your new alligator shoes and you're barefoot.


"OLD" IS WHEN ... A sexy babe catches your fancy and your pacemaker opens the garage door.


"OLD" IS WHEN ... Going braless pulls all the wrinkles out of your face.


"OLD" IS WHEN ... You don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.


"OLD" IS WHEN ... You are cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of by the police.


"OLD" IS WHEN ..."Getting a little action" means you don't need to take any fiber today


"OLD" IS WHEN ... "Getting lucky" means you find your car in the parking lot.


"OLD" IS WHEN ... An "all nighter" means not getting up to use the bathroom.

AND

"OLD" IS WHEN ... You are not sure these are jokes.

This link is to a song I wrote two days ago, recorded and only posted the lyrics here.

Here is the music now.

http://rexred.com/crystalwaters.wma

The lyrics again

Crystal Waters

To live and be reborn
To dream of cool waters washing over me
I am free to live
I am free to fly away with you
It's all I want to do
Please stay here
With me
And we will sail on the crystal sea
Forever my love
Till the day we sail away
Into the misty sunset of night
Wrapped in a blanket of light
An ocean of dreams it is more than it seems
Just one moment with you
On a crystal sea
Let the cool waters wash over me
I am free to live,
I am free
To sail away with you.
Is all I want to do.
On Crystal Waters (crystal waters)
Crystal Waters (crystal waters)
Crystal Waters (on crystal waters)

RexRed
1/16/07

Faces to match:

John Raitt, Guy Madison, Jean Stapleton, Fritz Weaver, Tippi Hedren, Janis Joplin, Shelly Fabares and Dolly Parton

Why, Bob. Not one of us here fits your definitions, and besides that, I have no stairs at my house. Thanks, hawkman, for the great bios.

And there is Rex with music to his Crystal Waters. I will have to wait for a while, Maine, because of the inconvenience of dial up, but thank you.

Well, Raggedy, it does help to know who, what, when, and where, PA.

We are viewing John, Guy, Jean, Fritz, Tippi, Janis, Shelly, and Dolly. there is, however, one missing from that octet, and that would be:



Elizabeth, it surely is most fit
[Logic and common usage so commanding]
In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
Zeno and other sages notwithstanding;
And I have other reasons for so doing
Besides my innate love of contradiction;
Each poet - if a poet - in pursuing
The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
Has studied very little of his part,
Read nothing, written less - in short's a fool
Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
Being ignorant of one important rule,
Employed in even the theses of the school-
Called - I forget the heathenish Greek name
[Called anything, its meaning is the same]
"Always write first things uppermost in the heart."

Never heard that poem before, folks.

Back later, with more music here on WA2K radio.

Rex, that was lovely and quite wistful. The melody was haunting, buddy. Thank you for allowing us to hear it.

I noticed that Fritz Weaver played in The Day of the Dolphins with George C. Scott. I vaguely remember the movie, but I remember that the dolphins cried at the end, "Ma--Pa". Ahhhhhh.

Here's one by Janis for Amigo, wherever he is.

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
I'm counting on you, Lord, please don't let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?

Everybody!
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

That's it!

She looks like a mere child in that photo, Raggedy.

Well, what do you know, folks, we're back on the air. Let's hear it for the hamsters and their keepers:

THE HAMSTERDANCE SONG

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Here we go...

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

That's it....

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

That's all...

All right everybody now here we go,
it's a brand new version on the do see go,
just talk you free and clap your hands,
come on everybody in the hands, let's dance.
Bounce and hands, to the beat,
hey, you don't reaven have move your feet,
so shake your flame like a see you new,
now spin araound and feel the grove.

That's right....

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Your getting on....

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Come on Everybody... clap your hands,
Come on Everybody... it's a hands with dance,
Come on Everybody... cl - clap your hands,
Come on Everybody... it's a hands with dance.

Here comes the music...

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Dibidi ba didi dou dou,
Di ba didi dou,
Didi didldildidldidl houdihoudi dey dou.

Hahahahaha....

Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey


We're so sorry, uncle albert,
We're so sorry if we caused you any pain.
We're so sorry, uncle albert,
But there's no one left at home
And i believe i'm gonna rain.

We're so sorry but we haven't heard a thing all day,
We're so sorry, uncle albert,
But if anything should happen
We'll be sure to give a ring.

"we're so sorry, uncle albert,
But we haven't done a bloody thing all day.
We're so sorry, uncle albert,
But the kettle's on the boil
And we're so eas'ly called away."

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh,
Doo-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh,
Uh-uh -

Hands across the water, heads across the sky,
Hands across the water, heads across the sky.

Admiral halsey notified me,
He had to have a berth or he couldn't get to sea.
I had another look and i had a cup of tea and a butter pie.


"couldn't put it in something else
So i pulled it in the pie, alright!"

Hands across the water, heads across the sky,
Hands across the water, heads across the sky.

Live a little, be a gypsy, get around,
Get your feet up off the ground,
Live a little, get around.

Live a little, be a gypsy, get around,
Get your feet up off the ground,
Live a little, get around.

Hands across the water, heads across the sky,
Hands across the water, heads across the sky.


Paul McCartney

Great, edgar, updates and all. Speaking of gypsies:

Gypsy Songs

The faery beam upon you,
The stars to glister on you;
A moon of light
In the noon of night,
Till the fire-drake hath o'ergone you!
The wheel of fortune guide you,
The boy with the bow beside you;
Run ay in the way
Till the bird of day,
And the luckier lot betide you!

To the old, long life and treasure!
To the young all health and pleasure!
To the fair, their face
With eternal grace
And the soul to be loved at leisure!
To the witty, all clear mirrors;
To the foolish, their dark errors;
To the loving sprite,
A secure delight;
To the jealous, his own false terrors!

-- Ben Jonson

Chickery Chick
Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra

[Words by Sylvia Dee]
[Music by Sidney Lippman]

Once there lived a chicken who would say, chick-chick
Chick-chick all day
Soon that chick got sick and tired of just, chick-chick
So one morning he started to say

Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la
Check-a-la romey in a bananika
Bollika, wollika, can't you see
Chickery chick is me

Every time you're sick an tired of just the same old thing
Sayin' just the same old words all day
Be just like the chicken who found something new to sing
Open up your mouth and start to say
Oh....

Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la
Check-a-la romey in a bananika
Bollika, wollika, can't you see
Chickery chick is me

Stuck inside these four walls, sent inside forever,
Never seeing no one nice again like you,
Mama you, mama you.
If I ever get out of here,
Thought of giving it all away
To a registered charity.
All I need is a pint a day
If I ever get out of here.

Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun,
And the first one said to the second one there I hope youre having fun.
Band on the run, band on the run.
And the jailer man and sailor sam were searching every one

For the band on the run, band on the run, band on the run, band on the run

Well, the undertaker drew a heavy sigh seeing no one else had come,
And a bell was ringing in the village square for the rabbits on the run.
Band on the run, band on the run.
And the jailer man and sailor sam, were searching every one

For the band on the run, band on the run, band on the run, band on the run

Well, the night was falling as the desert world began to settle down.
In the town theyre searching for us every where, but we never w ill be found.
Band on the run, band on the run

And the county judge, who held a grudge
Will search for evermore
For the band on the run, band on the run, band on the run, band on the run


Band on the Run
Paul McCartney

i see all the familiar names are still around !
say , you want to "monkee" around a bit :wink:
hbg

99 Pounds

I tell ya she's a heart breaker
And you can't tell me she ain't
There's a little devil in her
Under all that powder and paint
And she can hang you up every night
And get you so uptight
She's 99 pounds, I said 99 pounds,
She's 99 pounds of some kind of dynomite

I tell you half a ton of sugar ain't half as sweet as her
She can change and rearrange you
Till you can't tell what you were
And it don't even pay to fight
'Cause she don't know wrong from right
She's 99 pounds, I said 99 pounds,
She's 99 pounds of some kind of dynomite

And she may look like an angel
But she's made out of TNT
She's a little bitty babe of explosivity
Yeah but when she holds you tight
She's some kind of outa sight
She's 99 pounds, I said 99 pounds,
I said 99 pounds of some kind of dynomite
I said 99 pounds, I said 99 pounds,

(you probably guessed that it's by the monkees)

someone is asking us to please "take a letter to his girl lucille" !
why not help a fellow in such distress .
hbg

LETTER TO LUCILLE
-----------------------
Somebody, please, if somebody will
Let them take a letter to my girl, Lucille
Let them tell her, Lord, how I'm missing her still
I think about her constantly

Somebody, please, if somebody can
Let them take a letter from this lonely man
All I ask is Lord, make her understand
I'll die if she don't wait for me

I heard a rumour from the guys in Cell A
You've served your time and you are leaving today
Well, there is something you can do
for me to help your old friend
Help me, please
'Cause I've got seven years in this old pen
Till I'm home again

Somebody, please, if somebody will
Let them take a letter to my girl, Lucille
Let them tell her, Lord, how I'm missing her still
I think about her constantly

Somebody, please, if somebody can
Let them take a letter from this lonely man
All I ask is, Lord, make her understand
I'll die if she don't wait for me

To hear you tell it, you're all innocent men
But I was guilty, and I'd do it all again
Just to hold her for a minute or two
I'd steal a king's crown, yes, I would
If I don't reach that girl some way, I know
There'll be another man around

Somebody, please, if somebody will
Let them take a letter to my girl, Lucille
Let them tell her, Lord, how I'm missing her still
Because I think about her constantly

Ugh, somebody, please, if somebody can
Let them take a letter from this lonely man
All I ask is, Lord, why don't you make her
understand because
I'll die if she don't wait for me

Oooooh, somebody, please, if somebody will
Let them take a letter to my girl, Lucille
Let them tell her, Lord, how I'm missing her still
I think about her constantly............

Speaking of a band on the run, Texas, how about a fox?

Tom T. Hall
(Chorus:)
She walks through the corn leadin' down to the river
Her hair shone like gold in the hot mornin' sun
She took all the love that a poor boy could give her
And left me to die like a fox on the run
Like a fox, like a fox, like a fox on the run

Now everybody knows the reason for my fall
A woman tempted me down in paradise hall
This woman tempted me and she took me for a ride
Like a lonely fox, boys, i need a place to hide

(Chorus)

Oh, we'll drink a glass of wine, boys, to purify our soul
We'll talk about the world and the friends we used to know
I see a string of girls who have put me on before
The game is nearly over and the hounds are at the door.

Dorothy Parker has a nice thing going about Frank Sinatra, folks, and I thought we might look at this for a moment:

Sinatra Club
Frank Sinatra, The Rat Pack, Las Vegas, & The Golden Age of American Entertainment


Frank Sinatra - Dark Star

A Rat Pack Mystery
Published December 14th, 2006 in Rat Pack, Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.


Yesterday's Boston Herald reviewed the new Rat Pack mystery novel, Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (Rat Pack Mysteries) Pardon the pun, but this seems a novel way of writing about the Rat Pack.

Let's hear one by him, at the point in his life that he knew he way dying:

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

Oops, hamburger. Missed your two songs, Canada. Where is our dj? Been trying to get him in our studio for some time.

I don't know Lucille nor the weight song by the Monkees, but I do know this monkeying around song

(i'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone


by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone
I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone
You're trying to make your mark in society,
You're using all the tricks that you used on me,
You're reading all them high-fashion magazines,
The clothes you're wearing, girl, they're causing public scenes.
I said, I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone
I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone (No!)
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
SOLO
When I first met you, girl, you didn't have no shoes,
But now you're walking 'round like you're front page news,
You've been awful careful 'bout the friends you choose,
But you won't find my name in your book of "Who's Who".
I said, I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone (No, girl, not me!)
I-I-I-I-I'm not your steppin' stone (No!)
Not your steppin' stone
I'm not your steppin' stone
SOLO
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
No, girl, I'm not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
Not your steppin' stone
(fade out)