Plague Monk left a comment on my post about Dolly Parton's passing. The Queen of the World was not amused. She emailed this to me because I require Blogger registration to comment:
Usually I just rant to you in private but this was too big!!!
I’m once again impressed at how kind you are to your most ignorant of readers. The moron that commented about pissing on Dolly Parton’s grave is clearly a troll yet you were polite in your response to the most asinine of low life idiots that ever stepped up to prove the serious decline of intelligence ever exhibited in black and white. Its very clear he found the movie 9-5 to be as realistic as Superman and Ghostbusters and was therefore offended, thus yet another example of the current snowflake mentality the rest of the intelligent world has to live with while wishing there was a law that would allow the thinning of the herd!
I have never registered to allow myself to make comments on your post for fear you would have to quickly ban me and thus cause much marital strife, but once in awhile DAMN!! Can’t you just call an asshole an asshole?!?!!!
It's rare that we see an honest-to-goodness saint these days. It's even rarer to see one in the entertainment industry. Dolly Parton was one.
This is a photo from when she opened a branch of her Imagination Library in London (of all places, but it was at the start of her 2008 "Backwoods Barbie" European tour).
Her father never learned to read, growing up in Depression era eastern Tennessee, but she always said that he was really intelligent and always wondered what he could have done if he had had access to books. So she started her Imagination Library 31 years ago.
The charity has given away a third of a billion children's books. I don't think that I've seen anyone in my lifetime (celebrity or not) that has had this big a positive influence world wide.
As I said, a saint.
Her enormous success as an entertainer allowed her to do this. Here is a quick recap of just how enormous that success was. Note that the numbers are low because I took them from a 16 year old post, so she was even bigger than this:
She was called the "Iron Butterfly" for her tough business negotiation, having turned down Elvis' (Elvis!) request to cover I will Always Love You.
He wanted too much money - half of all royalties in perpetuity. She
said no.
She was Entertainer of the Year - one of only seven women who have
ever been given this award.
45 Grammy nominations, 7 awards (she wuz
robbed). Two Academy Award nominations.
Ms. Magazine Woman of the Year. Country Music Hall of Fame, and
Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
A 2003 tribute album to her featured covers
of her songs by Melissa Etheridge, Allison Kraus, Shania Twain, Norah
Jones, and Sinead O'Connor. Yowzer.
American Idol had a "Dolly Parton" night where everyone had to perform one of her 6000 (!) songs.
Yet she said that the greatest honor she's received is a bronze statue
on the Courthouse lawn in her hometown. She was more properly called Dr.
Dolly Parton - she received an honorary degree for her decades of work
to increase literacy. Eastern Tennessee had a real problem with that
when she was born in 1946.
Through it all, she's kept her sense of humor. Famous (or infamous) for
her showy outfits and huge wigs (among - ahem - other things), she has
been known to say "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." When Dolly was originally on the UK TV's Graham Norton Show, Graham was wearing quite a loud suit, for which he apologized. Without batting an eye, Dolly said Don't you worry yourself, my aunt had a sofa just like it. It was instant chemistry, and Norton and Parton became great friends, to the point where he recorded a duet of Islands In The Stream with her at her theme park, Dollywood.
Unusually for an entertainment celebrity, she was married to her husband, Carl Dean, for almost 60 years until his death. When asked if she was going to remarry, she demurred, saying I don’t think I’ll ever be married but once. I think Carl’s waiting for me on the other side, and if I turned up at the pearly gates with somebody else, he wouldn’t like that! He’d be saying, ‘Who’s that little [bleep]? You leave him outside the gates and if the Lord wants him in here, you get on in here with me!
Needless to say, The Queen Of The World and I are huge Dolly Parton fans. There's a real sense of loss in her passing, that we shall not see her like again. But our loss is Heaven's gain. Like I said, a saint.
So long, Dolly. Thanks for making the World a better place.
The Queen Of The World and I are saddened by the passing of Dolly Parton. But neither of us are unsure of whether she has been reunited with her husband of 60 years on the far side of the Pearly Gates. While she was not in this version of the song, I'd be astonished if she would not have been able to sing this from memory.
This weekend is Memorial Day, the traditional BBQ kickoff to summer. But on these shores, it's the day to remember the fallen from past - and current - wars. The day was originally called Decoration Day, the date was at the very beginning of summer so that wild flowers would be available everywhere for families to decorate the graves of their fallen loved ones.
Many had no graves to decorate, as their loved one had an anonymous foreign grave for their final rest. Today the Texas Air National Guard (and others) bring the fallen home on "Angel Flights". This weekend, remember them. Both the quick and the dead.
In the Eyes of a Ranger, the unsuspecting Stranger, had better know the truth of wrong from night Cause the rule of law and order starts at the Texas border, with the lone Star of the Ranger shining bright.
For the Eyes of a Ranger are upon you; Any wrong you do, he's gonna see. When you're in Texas look behind you; for that's where the Ranger's gonna be.
In the Heart of a Ranger he'll never know the danger; from desperate men with nothing left to lose, the Ranger keeps on coming; so there ain't no sense in running, cause he's bound and sure to make you pay your dues.
For the Eyes of a Ranger are upon you; Any wrong you do, he's gonna see. When you're in Texas look behind you; for that's where the Ranger's gonna be.
When a Ranger's on your Trail, he won't know how to fail, and you can't buy him off at any price; so if you decide to ramble, and with your life you'd gamble, know where you are before you roll the dice.
For the Eyes of a Ranger are upon you; Any wrong you do, he's gonna see. When you're in Texas look behind you; for that's where the Ranger's gonna be.
If you see him coming' round the outskirts of town, never take that Ranger for a ride. For the Eyes of a Ranger are upon you; Any wrong you do, he's gonna see. When you're in Texas look behind you; for that's where the Ranger's gonna be.
Yes, that's sung by Chuck himself.
But this is the song that I associate the most with him. R.I.P.
Charlie Kirk gets laid to rest today. He was a man of faith who always reached out to the greater crowd. I like to think that he would think that this song speaks to how he lived his life.
Dwight (my go-to guy for obituaries) has one worth your time: the last WWII recipient of the Victoria Cross takes off on his final flight.
For those on this side of the Pond who are unfamiliar with the VC, it is the UK equivalent of the US Medal Of Honor: awarded for bravery above and beyond the call of duty under fire. It (as the HoH) is very often awarded posthumously. Flight Lt. Cruickshank survived the war to the ripe old age of 105, the oldest WWII VC recipient.
As with many who served - and very, very many of those awarded these decorations - he kept an enormous humility. I love this quote from Dwight's post:
…he told The Daily Telegraph, “The citation said ‘showed great courage’ and all that nonsense, but a lot of people would have done that in those circumstances.”
Translation: No, I wasn't a hero in the war. But I served in a Company of heroes.
Ave atque vale, Flight Lieutenant. May your Final Review be in Glory.
The Register (as reigning Nerd-Central) has a really interesting post up about Lehrer's life and music including the NSA, Jello shots, and not one but two Royal Family mentions. Pretty cool.
I may come as no surprise to long time readers, but I led a pretty intellectually precocious adolescence. Part of that was listening to the very funny and sarcastic music of Tom Lehrer. It looks like I wasn't the only one.
If you've never listened to him then you're in for a treat. His two most famous songs are probably "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" and "Pollution" but this one is particularly fitting for those of us in (or near to) the Florida Space Coast.
My flight to Detroit just touched down. The flight attendants came on the PA asking everyone to remain seated when we reach the gate, so some soldiers returning back to Afghanistan.
Everyone clapped. Everyone.
Then the Captain came on. He said we were taking a fallen soldier home. You could have heard a pin drop.
God Speed, whoever you are. I can't imagine any thanks can possibly fill the void your family feels.
We're at the gate, and the plane is clapping for the soldiers again. Out the window, you can see the cars lined up on the tarmac for our fallen hero. Everyone' crowded around the windows.
It feels like you're in church - that you're in the presence of something holy.
That weekend Dad was much on my mind that weekend, but this wasn't an old man coming home to lie with his brothers, it was someone in the flush of youth. Someone who didn't get the chance to bury his father; on the contrary, someone whose father met him on the tarmac on his last flight.
Maybe Donald Trump is doing something to end the endless wars we've been in these two decades or more. At least we've brought the fallen home.
This weekend I don't think that the fallen would begrudge you your time with family and friends. But remember them.
The passing of George Foreman got me thinking about how boxing has changed from back in the day (1960s/1970s). Back then we used to watch Friday Night Fights pretty regularly - that tailed off in the 1980s as we all lost interest. It just didn't seem as exciting as it had.
There is a great podcast episode on Dan Carlin's Hardcore History about this: Boxing with Ghosts (free download and highly recommended if you ever watch Friday Night Fights). In it Dan interviews longtime sportswriter for Ring magazine Mike Silver about how boxing is really just a shadow of its former self (and why).
But in this episode Dan tells a George Foreman story that illustrates why boxing was so great in those days. The story is from when Foreman was going for his comeback world championship in a bout against a much younger Michael Moorer. Foreman lost each of the first 9 rounds (unanimously). Entering the 10th round it was like a football game with a minute left when he was down 99 to nothing. A friend of Dan's left and went to the bathroom because the "fight was over". Then two quick punches finished Moorer off in a KO and Foreman was champ again.
There is a lot to admire in Foreman's life, but we remember just what a superb fighter he was. Rest in peace.
Doubtless Dwight will cover this in full presently. But he was an actor that I enjoyed pretty much throughout his entire career (who can forget him in The Sandlot?) - but one role stands out in my mind: his guest appearance (as himself) on The Big Bang Theory.
And this scene was hilarious (from that same episode) but I had never heard the full story:
