There's really only one thing we can do this week. We're going to Dollywood.
I have no Dolly stories. I can't tell you about the time I met her. I never benefited personally from her philanthropy. I've been to Dollywood two or three times but I never saw Dolly there or anywhere else. I've never even owned a Dolly Parton record.
But I do remember when she was on the Porter Wagoner show. Miss Dolly.
The closest thing to a connection is she and I were born about 35 miles apart. Which of course means we could be related since half my mom's side goes way back in the Smokies area.
Not sure how far I want to run with that one. But make no mistake, if I thought we were cousins I'd lead with it.
Dolly Parton was the smartest person in the room. Dolly Parton was the most talented person in the room. Dolly Parton was the most genuine person in the room.
Imagine how much fun she'd be at the family reunion. Then imagine all the different people who feel the same. That kind of admiration is as rare as she was.
As a songwriter, Dolly stood with Hank and Woody. In the money making game, she maintained her own publishing and outsmarted Colonel Parker, Porter and everyone else who tried to take what was hers. She opened an amusement park against all advice that thrived and made over a billion dollar a year impact on the local economy.
For over 30 years, she's delivered over 200 million books, raising literacy in disadvantaged communities across the country. Like the one she grew up in. Instead of buying yachts and castles, Dolly Parton spent her money to benefit people not named Dolly Parton.
It takes a lot of money to look this cheap indeed. She could have been a billionaire a few times over and on the books she might have been. But she gave so much away she has to be the greatest philanthropist Nashville ever produced instead.
Somehow, it's all overshadowed by the way she treated the world. Lead with love is easy to talk about but rare as hens teeth to live. Dolly Parton did. She made herself the butt of the jokes and showed nothing but caring to the people who get the short end. Sometimes that is hillbillies, sometimes different races. Sometimes it's those who don't conform to those false measurements we call norms.
It's a sad irony that Tim Curry, the actor who played Doctor Frank N Furter, the sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania, in Rocky Horror Picture Show passed on the same day as Dolly. Generations of drag performers have had a love affair with Dolly and Mr. Curry's character brought the art form to the mainstream in America way back in the 70s. About the time Dolly was starting to really make her mark.
We have a tendency to idolize entertainers far beyond their actual worth to the world. When it comes to Dolly Parton, I don't think we can. If there was an American registry of saints, she'd be in on the first ballot. If you were looking for an example to live by, you couldn't do any better.