Totally Rad Christmas!
It's a show about the raddest time of year in the baddest decade ever! That's right! We talk all things Christmas in the '80s to the max! Toys, movies, specials, music, books, games, comics, decorations, food, fashion, and fads--if it was gnarly during Christmas in the '80s, we got it covered!
Totally Rad Christmas!
Dolly Parton (and Tim Curry) Tribute (w/ Ken, Scott, CJ & Anthony)
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What's up, dudes? It's been a beast of a week. We lost two legends of their respective industries. Dolly Parton was one of the greatest people of our time. She was a musician, actress, and humanitarian. Her Christmas albums, all of which were accompanied by a tv special, have been staples of many a family's Christmas season. We've even covered some of her '80s Christmas endeavors on this show previously.
Tim Curry was a genius in his own right. Had he not made it as an actor, he could've been a prolific musician as well. His role as Wadsworth has so much energy and wit! From Pennywise to Rooster to Darkness to the Concierge, he proved that the term "character actor" is not a bad thing.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.
Give us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!
Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!
Well, it's been a week here at Totally Rad Christmas. We've had the passing of two legends that um that meant a lot to us. We have Dolly Parton, who we're gonna be talking a lot about, and Tim Curry, who also meant a lot to me. Personally, I I knew him from so many things. Uh I could talk about him and uh dedicate a whole episode to him as well. But um tonight I really want to focus more on Dolly Parton, her contributions, her music, her movies, and I'm gonna have a bunch of guests join. They're gonna be in and out. Um starting off, I have Ken Kessler from Sounds of Christmas and Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly Xmasu. How are you guys doing tonight?
SPEAKER_00Okay. It's like you said, it's been a week. It really has.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, a lot a lot to uh a lot to digest this week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_06I agree, I agree. A lot of um I mean, I knew we she we knew she was sick, right? Because uh she cancelled that last performance and um uh I mean for health reasons, so we knew something was up, but uh it it seems like it still came on suddenly. Like I I just was not expecting this at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was like just a day or two before she had posted a health update and it w seemed like she was turning the corner and getting better, and she in some interview she had talked about how she's not going anywhere because there's so many things she still wants to do.
SPEAKER_06Right. Well, she's she'll probably find a way to do 'em. I if I know her, you know.
SPEAKER_00If anybody could, it would be Dolly.
SPEAKER_06That's right. So why don't we start off? What's your experience with Dolly Parton? What's uh what do you remember about her movies, her music, anything in general? And we can focus on Christmas music as well. And why don't we start with you, Ken?
SPEAKER_00Well, for me, it's it's all it's all about the Christmas music. Um I did an episode just focused on the Christmas music um that came out just after I got the news, and that's mostly what I know her from. I mean, of of course, nine to five. Nine to five. We all know that. And and maybe Rhinestone. And there are there are a bunch of movies that and and appearances and Dollywood and all kinds of things. Um her imagination library giving books to kids. She was she was incredible. The Christmas music, I I didn't realize that that she was on Emily Lou Harris's Christmas album Light in the Stable that came out in the mid-70s. That she was she and Linda Ronstadt were the backing vocalists for that. Um I had no idea until I started digging in about this, and because I figured her first Christmas music was the album she did with Kenny Rogers. But she also had Hard Candy Christmas that came out before that.
SPEAKER_06Right. Yeah, she sure did.
SPEAKER_00And there's there's just there's just so much. And one of the things that I thought was just terrific was she had three Christmas albums, and for each one, she had a TV special on network television, and each one it was on a different network. I thought, that's terrific, and that's so dolly, it just spread it all around.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, for sure. And uh CJ has joined us as well. CJ Belanger. How are you doing, man?
SPEAKER_05What's up, man? You try to get my name right every time, but I try, and I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_06I'm just one of these days I'm just gonna roll the R's and just forget it, you know. How are you doing?
SPEAKER_03You know, I just you know, uh it's it's a bit angle, but uh it's okay.
SPEAKER_05No, uh good man. Um happy to be here talking about Dolly and uh obviously shitty circumstances, but you know, she lived a good life, a full life, a very positive life. Some people considered her an angel on earth. I'm one of those people. Um I don't think you can ever find anybody that had a bad thing to say about Dolly. And you know, um grew up on her Christmas album, grew up on her music. Uh my mom is a huge fan. She's devastated, but um yeah, you know, um my earliest Christmas memories are hearing the Kenny and Dolly album and you know, Christmas to remember, obviously Hard Candy Christmas, uh Greatest Gift of All. I remember being in school one year, and we were obviously we were in the choir, and one of the songs they were doing was Greatest Gift of All. And you remember when we'd have the lyrics in front of us? Yeah, we'd have them on a sheet, and I'm like, man, I don't need these. I know this entire album, like off my heart. So I was like so stoked to do that song, man. And um, yeah, it's a it's a big loss to the world. It's uh sad, man. It's really sad. Um, I was hoping this like, you know, she was gonna start some kind of tour again, and then she was gonna adjust it. And I knew when she was having health problems, I I couldn't fathom that she'd pass away, but I didn't think she'd ever hit that tour. But I thought she had some time left with us, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think we all did. What about you, Scott?
SPEAKER_01We we were never like or at least my parents were never like big country fans, but you know, we knew Dolly, we liked Dolly, and then you know, nine to five came out. And how can you not be a massive fan after that? Um I I have no idea how many times we saw it in the theater, and then it hit cable, we watched it over and over again. And as far as her Christmas output goes, um, the album with Kenny, Hard Candy Christmas, um those are just uh you can't top them. And my older girls, when they were little, Hard Candy Christmas was far and away their favorite Christmas song. So you know, she gets a lot of airplay around here around around Christmas time. Yeah, and I just I I didn't even hear about her health issues. So when I saw the uh the stories popping up that she had passed away, yeah, I I didn't even think it was real at first. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah. So I mean isn't that and that kind of is sad about the state of the world. Like a lot of times it's like, wait, is this is this like a trick or is this AI playing jokes on us or something?
SPEAKER_05And uh sometimes it's pretty it's pretty messed up that like when you hear someone passes away, you automatically go to TMZ because TMZ will not run something unless it is 100% factual. Right. So, you know, when once you open up that TMZ and you see I hate the way they word it. I don't know if it's an American thing. I'm not dogging on you guys, but when somebody dies, they're like, oh, so and so dead at 80. Like, can't you just say like so and so passes that? Like, dead seems so like I know harsh.
SPEAKER_06My oldest no, no, I totally get it. My oldest, um we were talking about you said, Well, you know, Dolly, or she asked me why are you sad or something, and I say, Well, Dolly pardon. And that's all I said. She's like, Oh yeah, she's dead. And it was just like, Well, okay, don't say it like that. Say like she passed away, say, you know, I get it, she's 14, you know, or she died. Even she died, sounds better than dead. Just sounds so hard. Yeah, and I'm like, and she did so much for the world. Like, what do you like? Come on, put some respect on her name.
SPEAKER_05Well, look what she did for the world, even the president of the United States, like the flags are being um brought down to half mass. Like, that's that's really that's when you know you've done something in this world, you know what I mean. And um, Dolly went out of her way to like not be a political person. If you've seen her interviews, she says, I'm just an entertainer and I don't want to get into that. You can call that like shying away from it, but you know, she wanted to keep all her fans and um you know what I mean? She had so many and she was so beloved over like decades and decades. There was people there's people that have been dead 40 years that were fans of Dolly when they were in their 80s, like you know what I mean, kind of thing. She's really spanned, like she's really like she's really taken over like a lot of decades, and she'll be remembered more decades to come, that's for sure. Because somebody like that has a lasting impression. She'll be like an Elvis, maybe even I would I would argue maybe even bigger than Elvis. Like uh Michael Jackson, you know, I don't know. Michael Jackson in death, I feel like is even bigger now, but um, I just hope that everybody still continues to enjoy her. And I I I love hearing the stories that I didn't even know about. Um like through her death now, you're seeing so many different things that she did, how how many people she helped, and um, you know, she could have been a billionaire, but she kind of chose to invest in her community into children into different things, you know, and um they don't make them like Dolly anymore. She's a true farm girl that struck it rich and never never changed. Well, her her appearance changed, but never never changed.
SPEAKER_09Well, I mean, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like um I it was it was a bad joke to make, but I was thinking it to myself like the uh uh yesterday. I was like, I think Dolly Parton was like the first pair of boobs that I ever wanted to see. It's so crude, it's so like disgusting, but it was true.
SPEAKER_06Um we know Kenny Rogers wanted to see them.
SPEAKER_05I mean it feels like yeah, based on their kids. I always go back and forth. I always go back and forth with my mom. I'm like, you you think they did it? She's like, I think so. I'm like, they had to have, right? But they were both married, so who knows?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I don't know. But um I will say that that album with Kenny Rogers, that Christmas album, the song Um Winter Wonderland, it's like a medley. It's uh Play Ride in Winter Wonderland. I remember that was the second track on the Time Life Treasury of Christmas. So I know that song like so well. Even better than like some of the other hits on that song, uh, on that album. You know, the greatest gift of all.
SPEAKER_05And um that's funny because I think it's actually the second song on the actual Kenny and Dolly Once Upon a Christmas album, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06It might be. That was just a really good Christmas album. Like Dolly Parton's original songs were were pretty fantastic, and I gotta say, I don't think she gets enough credit as a songwriter. Like, people just think they know I mean, you know, they know I will always love you, and and that's about it. Like, she wrote a lot of just great songs. Now, were they all like bangers? Well, maybe not all of them, but most a lot of them were. And I feel like I I really do think she's kind of underrated as a songwriter.
SPEAKER_05I think one of my favorite songs by her is it's a pretty popular one, but um doesn't get enough credit, is Here You Come Again. It's like the one that says Here You Come Again. You got it, like it's such a good song, and like my mom used to listen to it all the time because she's like in her relationship with my dad when I was young, it was very back and forth and quite toxic. And um it was I she'd always listened to it when he left, so it was kind of like one of those things where I knew where her mindset was at. It wasn't always the most fun time, but I still love hearing that song, and um obviously Island's in the stream.
SPEAKER_06Like I just watched a YouTube.
SPEAKER_05I make it a point like a couple times a year to watch their last performance together singing that, and I still I still cry when I see it. And now I mean I'm not sure what I believe in, but there I take some kind of uh peace in my head hoping that her and Kenny are reunited and her and her family, things like that. But um they were they were a hell of a duo, man. And now that they're gone, it's so freaking sad.
SPEAKER_00The outpouring of emotion and praise for her has been unlike anything I've ever seen. Artists from every genre you can think of. I saw Eminem posted. You see that? Posted a letter that Dolly had sent him after he got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's just it's just amazing how kind and generous she was. That because after I saw that one, I saw so many other artists posting little notes that she had sent them, whether she got to perform with them or she got to meet them, or that she didn't quite get to meet them, but she wished she had, that kind of thing. It's just it it is just amazing. And I saw um a clip with Sylvester Stallone when they were doing Rhinestone, that when she got there, she took the time to meet everybody on the crew. So that they were all in it together, and she wanted to meet and know everybody, and it really opened his eyes because they are all in it together. We're making this movie together. Um, but it's just it's just amazing. And I had seen so many people post that their kids got a book from her the day she died. Oh it just happened to come. And somebody had posted that their seven-year-old was sad, and they asked why, and they said Dolly Parton, and they said, Did did you know who she was? And he said, Well, not really, but she sent me books.
SPEAKER_06Well, that's sweet. Although I do have to say, whoever thought Sylvester Stallone was gonna be a good country singer in that movie, I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_00Come on, but Drunkenstein, come on.
SPEAKER_05Uh, did you also hear uh the video he put out today when he was talking about when they went horse riding together?
SPEAKER_06No, I I missed that one.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, cuz uh it was Sylvester Stallone and he was talking about um I don't know if it was part of them being on set for that, but they were a certain type of horse. Uh I forget the name of them, but they gallivant almost like their uh their hooves go high up. Anyway, they wanted them to go on, and Sylvester Stallone wasn't sure if she should go on because it was uh you're not supposed to double up, but they said it'd be fine. So anyway, it was gallivanting or whatever it does, and then it started to lean forward, and apparently Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton went ass over tea kettles and nearly got squashed by this horse, and he said she got right up and she said, Okay, let's do it again. It's just like every story, like like like you just said, like every story you hear, I feel like she really made an effort to make everybody feel like they mattered and that they were seen. I think she really recognized her celebrity and wanted to make an impression on everybody she met because how many times have we met a famous person and been like, oh man, like that was kind of don't what did they say? Don't meet your don't owe you anything, right? In reality. But I feel like seeing Dolly interact with people, she wanted to give every person the the the absolute most of her. And um, I think I think like he said, the outpouring of love shows that, you know what I mean? And um I'm just like I'm still sad. Like um, my daughters were around uh yesterday when I called my mom when I heard the news, and like I didn't I didn't think they were gonna come to that particular room, but I was talking to my mom and I was obviously crying, and my kids have probably seen me cry maybe maximum four times in my life, maybe. And um I I was in the kitchen and she's like, You're sad? I was like, Yeah. I was like, I I wasn't embarrassed to tell her, yeah, I'm sad. I really I really cared about Dolly. I like Dolly, she's a big part of my life. Like, I think anybody, any celebrity that's a part of your life, it's not bad. It does it, it's not bad to mourn them. You shouldn't feel ashamed. So I didn't mind them seeing me cry at that moment. And um I'm gonna miss Dolly till I die for sure. But you know, we still have her music and like the the way she touched the world, man. She's special, she's very special.
SPEAKER_06So the uh the Once Upon a Christmas album, let's talk about that album for a little bit. So again, with Kenny Rogers, there's a bunch of songs that uh that she wrote. Well, not a bunch, but several songs that she herself wrote on it. And uh I gotta say, out of all of them, Once Upon a Christmas was a really, really, really good one. I love that one. You know, it tells the story of the Nativity. But the greatest gift of all, um now she didn't actually write that one, but the way she sings it with Kenny is just such a great duet.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's so good. It's very much a Christmas Eve song, I would say. Like it's one of those songs you play on Christmas and Christmas Eve, it's fantastic. Um, I really love on that album, uh I Believe in Santa Claus, obviously. Yeah. Oh yeah. And I love with Bells On. Oh, with Bells On. I'm so excited to get home and I'll be home with Bells on. And like it's just such a good song. Like all I love every song. If I if I had to choose my least favorite, it'd probably be, I don't know, like Once Upon a Christmas. It seemed a little scary when I was younger. The the opening beat seemed a little ominous, but um atmospheric. Everything everything about that album. Since I was a kid, man, that was what was playing when we were decorating the tree on repeat, like back to back to back to back to back. And my kids grew up on it too that did the same thing, but such a good album. But yeah, with bells on and Winter Wonderland, like just a Christmas to remember is a really good one.
SPEAKER_06It's is very just an upbeat, fun, you know, yeah, toe-tapping kind of song, honestly.
SPEAKER_01One of the local stations around here, um, this is a few years ago, people started posting on their Facebook page saying, you know, that that's enough of Kenny and Dolly Winter Wonderland. I'm like, ha how can you not like that?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I know that's uh that's a little bit of BS, man. I'd be pissed.
SPEAKER_06Let's see, she wrote one, two, three, four, five of the songs. So half of the album was was uh her composition.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And we we covered that on your podcast too. We did an actual special.
SPEAKER_06We did the special like that Kenya talked about uh how there was a special for every single Christmas album she released. We uh CJ and I talked about that one back in season two, I think. It was a long time ago. And uh the special was okay. The album was great, you know. There was there was some choices.
SPEAKER_05I don't know if you remember those weird elf-looking things, CJ, but yes, yes, I I I probably watch that on because I have YouTube Premium, so I just kinda at night sometimes if I can't sleep, I'll throw it on as background and just to kind of watch it. But they they have like a song Christmas Without You, but on the album it's more like uh it's more of an upbeat kind of like song, but they have uh in the video, in the actual special, it opens up as a ballad, and they don't have a uh they don't have a CD version of that, and I really love the ballad part. And I'm gonna I listened to it yesterday and it kind of hit me harder because the song's called Christmas Without You, and it's gonna be the first Christmas without Dolly, so just made me really freaking sad. Just makes me sad now, but such a good song.
SPEAKER_00I bet that song is gonna get a lot of airplay this December.
SPEAKER_06I really doubt it. Yeah, I I that sounds like a a good bet.
SPEAKER_05I really hope this album gets reborn in like the mainstream this year with Dolly passing. I think it'd be really fun because it's so good, and I find it's like in different parts of the world, everybody's heard of it, and then other parts of like Canada and here, like not a lot of people have heard of it out here. And then when I put them onto it, they're like, Oh my god, it's fantastic! I can't believe I didn't know this existed. I'm like, hell yeah, man, this is the best this is the best Christmas album for me, period. Well, they except you know, Michael Booble, the Canadian, but you know.
SPEAKER_06Michael Boob's um so they did so I there's two versions of that, right? There was the original, and then there was like uh where they re-released it and they took uh off like Kenny's solo and they put Hard Candy Christmas on it, I think.
SPEAKER_05Is that right? Yeah, so there's something like that, because there was a coup the earlier ones didn't have um hard candy Christmas, then they added it after, I think when they kind of came out with the CD. I don't know, I could be wrong, I could be conflating memories, but yeah, you're right. Um Hard Candy Christmas wasn't always on there, and people assumed that it was just a part of that, but no, uh like he had said before, it came out long before this album. And I believe it came out in the seventies, did it not?
SPEAKER_06I think it did, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It it came out a couple years before this album. It was in those little whorehouse in Texas.
SPEAKER_06That's right.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And you can find that video on YouTube. So yeah, it came out uh a year before then, because I believe this album came out in eighty three. So I thought it was the late 70s it came out in, but yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, this was um 84. So release. Was it 84? October 29th, 1984, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh wow, okay. Okay, two years before.
SPEAKER_06But Jerry's got the uh I yeah, I have it here so we can, you know, I can double check myself. But um it would yeah, it's just it's a fantastic album. The one that she released in uh 1990 that she also had a special on that we just recorded on, CJ, uh was uh Home for Christmas. That special's trippy. Uh it's it's great, it's just a simple, like, she literally goes to visit her family and she's like singing with her sisters, and just you know, here we're gonna walk through the town. And of course it's all stage, it's not really like just a camera with her and the family, but at the same time, you kind of feel like I bet that's exactly what they really are like together. You know, her brother probably makes fun of her while singing a song, and uh they're a huge family, man.
SPEAKER_05Those parents got busy.
SPEAKER_06I guess there was nothing else to do back then.
SPEAKER_05Gotta keep warm. Yeah. Friction helps.
SPEAKER_06Like the appellation.
SPEAKER_05Um yeah, we also covered her movie too. What's it called again? Smoky Mountain Christmas. So she didn't know.
SPEAKER_06It was terrible, but it was fun. It was terrible, yeah. Um it's like Snow White meets like backwoods with the Jezebel. With mountain magic. Did you all ever see a smokey Smoky Mountain Christmas, Canon Scott?
SPEAKER_00I I I did, but it was you know back in the eighties. I I don't remember much from it. I thought it was cool that her Holly Dolly Christmas album that came out a few years ago that that song finally was released. But even even hearing it on that and like this doesn't spark any memory. I wonder if I'm protecting myself by not remembering that.
SPEAKER_01I tried watching I tried watching it a few years ago, and it's when my insomnia was like really bad. I know I watched it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's all I'm gonna say. It wouldn't have helped. It would have felt almost like a fever dream too.
SPEAKER_06So yeah, there was some weird, I mean there really was some weird things. There like there's a mountain mountain magic is there's like a lady that uh I don't know, the the town Jezebel, and I think that was actually her name, right? Jezebel and something like that. She tries to like poison Dolly with a an apple pie. And I mean it's literally like Snow White at the end there. But um the songs, you're right, Ken. The songs they released like three of them. I'd like I uh I'd like to spend Christmas with Santa, I think, Smoky Mountain Christmas, and um Wrapped Up in You. And Wrapped Up in You is like has become one of my favorite Christmas songs now. Just I added it to my 80s Christmas blast playlist, which is now about 40 hours long. You know, just 80s music. And uh I gotta say, it's it's up at the top.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So it's funny that he brought up the Holly Dolly Christmas. Um I was really excited for it. I listened to it, I liked it, but you could tell obviously Dolly was very much losing her voice by that time. Like she didn't she didn't have the same voice, and you could tell it was a bit weaker, but I still enjoyed it. But it it still made me a little sad in 2020 because it's like it's like watching an icon fall. Like, you know what I mean? And um, she did the best with it though. Her rendition of Silent Night was still really sweet on that album.
SPEAKER_00And uh they did have Smoky Mountain Christmas on that, and um, I enjoyed it for the most part, but uh it's the one of the things one of the things that I thought that was really cool about Holly Dolly Christmas, and I know there are gonna be some people who hear this and go, oh, it's just commercialism, marketing, blah blah blah. But for her fans, there was a cassette of it with an extra song, and there was an eight track that was made with an extra song. And these aren't for everybody, but if you were a big fan, that was kind of cool. Now they re-released Holly Dolly Christmas two more times with extra stuff, so those bonus songs from the cassette and the eight-track wound up on the I think it was the second deluxe um edition. So if you can't find those now and you're just hearing about them, um you can you can stream those songs with everything else uh on the ultimate deluxe edition that was the second go-round that added even more stuff.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, or just wait for the next re-release.
SPEAKER_06Well, they might now. I mean, they they probably could. Uh joining us now is Anthony Caruso from Tids of Podcast. Anthony, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02I'm great. Sorry I'm late, Jerry.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that's okay, man. That's okay. This is a come and go thing anyway, so it's all good.
SPEAKER_05It's not okay, Anthony. Go to hell.
SPEAKER_02Uh I've been there, thank you. I find it quite low-like.
SPEAKER_05You're in there now, you're in Florida, buddy. I feel like it sometimes.
SPEAKER_06I'm telling you, the heat this year is it's different. It feels hotter than and I've lived in Texas all my life. I've dealt with like 114 degree temperatures, but for some reason the heat this year feels hotter than it has in a long time. That's probably true. Well, what about you, Anthony? What's your history? What what do you remember about Dolly, especially her Christmas music, movies, things like that?
SPEAKER_02Well, first of all, I always thought Dolly would just live forever. I can't I can't imagine a future without Dolly, but she's always been around. My mother was a huge fan of Dolly Parton. Well, is a huge fan of Dolly Parton, and um, so she was always part of the music in our household growing up. Both during the Christmas season and out of the Christmas season. Um she was a fan of her movies. Uh, nine to five is one of the greatest comedies of all time, in my opinion. Um and the song is wonderful too. Uh, but her Christmas music, it's not Christmas without listening to Dolly, and this year's gonna have some Ugh. I am not looking forward to Christmas this year in the sense that we've lost so many people from Dolly to Tim Curry to Atherin O'Hara, like it's gonna be so weird this year. But I mean, Dolly was a legend. Dolly was the best of us, like, for music or acting, just for philanthropy, like she was the best to ever do it. And when I saw she died yesterday, I was literally had to walk away from my desk at work to cry.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Yeah, I I I feel like this is this you're right, Ken. You talked about the outpouring of love. This is one that seems like it's hit people the hardest. And I think because she has touched so many lives with, you know, her her different projects and funding different things and just helping uh those in need. To her music being staples at Christmas time for everybody. I mean, I I think this one really hits harder because of all that compared to some of the other celebrities that we've lost.
SPEAKER_02I mean, well, go ahead. I was just gonna say how, you know, and I'm not it's not to say anything political, but like there is not one universally beloved figure by everyone, no matter your beliefs or political beliefs or everything, but like Dolly, like everyone, you know, far left, far right, middle of the road, like believe in nothing, believe in everything. Everyone expressed remorse when Dolly died, and that just does not happen anymore for anyone. Like she was something special, and she's probably the last person, sadly, we'll ever see that for. But I mean, she deserved it. She was such a light in this world that everyone latched on to.
SPEAKER_00Agreed. Agreed. And she collaborated with so many artists, so many genres. It would almost take less time to name the artists that she didn't work with.
SPEAKER_09It's probably true.
SPEAKER_00It's just it's just amazing. Um, and that's before the rock star album, the her last album that came out, where she where there were so many I mean, she did Beatles covers with the surviving Beatles. I mean, she just she's she's worked with everybody, and everybody is excited to work for her with her. I saw a uh video that Sting posted that she did every breath you take on the rock star album with him. And he said, you know, Dolly calls, absolutely, I'm there. Yeah, I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_02And so many of these tributes started out the same way, like from these celebrities and whoever all these famous people who knew her. Like, they say never to meet your heroes, but Dolly is the person who is exactly as you'd picture her to be, and that's such a rarity uh in the industry. Like, but she was just she never forgot her humble origins and where she came from. She always gave back, and she was always collaborative and kind, but also knew what she was worth and wouldn't let people walk over her. Right. I think one of the things I liked about her, I I she was one of the funniest people ever as well. She has such a good sense of humor and was so self-deprecating. Yeah, she means obviously her famous quote about takes a lot of money to look this cheap, which hilarious. But also, like there was a time she entered that drag competition and lost to a Dolly Parton lookalike, like no way she was a real dolly. She loved that. Like she just had she was a good sport about everything. Like she knew people made fun of the hair and the boobs and the rhinestones, and she just leaned into it. Yeah, like she was not the butt of the joke, she was in on the joke.
SPEAKER_05She was so witty too. She was witty. Her one-liners were hilarious. I was watching some uh one of the clips today where uh she was performing and uh someone uh yelled out, I love you, and she had a witty comeback that said, I told you to wait in the trunk, or something like that. But she always seemed to have like a one-liner for everything that somebody said, and um just so kind, man. Just so kind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, she had this wonderful um Oh, I I don't want to mess up the quote. I've gotta find it. Keep going.
SPEAKER_06Okay, well, I gotta say, um, I just saw that clip or a couple of clips of her where she was saying how she wrote nine to five and how she was just like rubbing her nails against them, each other, and it was kind of making like a clicking sound like a typewriter, and that kind of helped her write it, and so she actually is credited on the on the album as Nails by Dolly Parton because they've oh my god that's part of the song. I thought that's that's amazing. I gotta like I I need a credit like that somewhere, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was today years old when I found out in that song that that clicking is not a typewriter, that's her nails.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I had no idea.
SPEAKER_06Same. I thought it was a typewriter, but no.
SPEAKER_02So she had I'm sorry to interrupt, but she had this wonderful quote story on Jimmy Fallon, where she was talking about doing a project with Jennifer Aniston, and she said, My husband is crazy about her. He was more excited than I was gonna do than I was that I was gonna do a movie with her. Then he was um, I think he kind of fantasizes like a threesome with us. He can't even get it out to P, much less of it get it up for three. She just had Fallon cracking off of you.
SPEAKER_05I still can't imagine the words threesome coming out of Dolly Park's.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that's funny. Yeah. I still it it's still like a huge missed opportunity that her and Elvira never starred in a movie together.
SPEAKER_02Freaky Friday with the two of them would have been great.
SPEAKER_05That would have been a certified just Viagra without the pill for Anthony.
SPEAKER_02Well, and so sorry, CJ, uh Jerry may need to add this out, but I saw the funniest tweet. Um, somebody somebody tweeted out, uh I just found out Dolly Parton uh Parton died. Gotta go rub one out in her uh in her honor. Oh god. And so somebody replied to the tweet, no, no, this can't be how I found out that she died. Oh no. That's the worst.
SPEAKER_06That's the worst.
SPEAKER_00Have you seen the uh I know it's been going around again, the top ten list that she did on Letterman? I didn't see no so good that it and she would she was, I think somewhere in it at Dollywood. And so they the screen is split and Dave's feeding her the numbers, and it's the top ten pet peeves of Dolly Parton. And she was and it was so good, she's so funny.
SPEAKER_02And her number one was amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, her number one was Nobody Ever Even Notices That I've Got a Great Ass 2. Yeah, I did see that.
SPEAKER_06She always dressed amazing, also. So we've covered a couple of specials uh on the show, and every single one she has like just this perfectly form-fitting outfit. Sometimes it's like Buffalo Check or Gingham or something. Like just, you know, not nowadays we'd say like hideous, but back then, I mean, I'm sure they were stylin' for especially for a country star, but it always just fit perfectly, and um, a lot of times they were, you know, they weren't low-cut, they were up to her neck, and I mean she like she protected her modesty, but still showed um enough of the curves.
SPEAKER_05I mean, she was I mean, it's kind of hard not to. Well, you're right about that, but flotation devices.
SPEAKER_06Um, let's talk about her other her second Christmas album, the the one that came out in 1990, Home for Christmas. So there's a lot more traditional Christmas carols and songs on on that one than there are on the other one with Kenny. Um, so we have like the first Noelle, Santa Claus is coming to town, I'll be home. I'll be home for Christmas. Yeah, Rudolph. I love that cover. Um Go Tell It on the Mountain, Little Drummer Boy, We Three King. I mean, it's it's like uh mostly like traditional Christmas, you know, songs on that album. Like, what do y'all think about that one? Is that is that one also in like heavy rotation, or is it mostly like her Kenny album?
SPEAKER_00I it it should be. And and like Anthony said, I'll be home for Christmas. You listen to that and you believe her. It's not just she's not just singing a song. It you you believe it. Um, but there's no originals on that. No. Which I think is I think that keeps it from getting a lot of airplugs on the radio because they've already got all these versions of Santa Claus's coming to town, and I'll be home for Christmas. And you squeeze in another one. It's it's tough. But like I was saying for a Holly Dolly Christmas with the collectibles, they made a a CD for radio stations when this album came out that had songs and it had Dolly doing behind the scenes, behind the music kind of thing, Christmas stories and stuff. And you might find those for collectors, keep an eye on eBay. Because I bet those are gonna pop up now. Um but that was the it was a promotional thing. But that album, I think it should have gotten a lot more notice because I th I just feel like it was warmer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think that comes from the fact that it was traditional songs she was singing. Um which, you know, I know Dolly is an amazing songwriter, but and maybe it's just me, but um when it comes to Christmas, I like the traditional song. So to hear an album full of it, but in her angelic voice, like I love this album. More than some of the album's amazing original stuff she does.
SPEAKER_05The album's really good. I don't think it got the popularity the other the others did, obviously, because it wasn't originals, and I think it was only about ten tracks, if I remember it. I remember it only being like half an hour long. So it was a really short album. Not that that really matters, but um I feel like when you have more originals, people tend to go to that one more, especially if they liked it prior to that. Like I love listening to the classics, but there's so many people that have so many songs by you know, yeah. I mean, there's a there's only so many like the first Noelle you can hear, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And people have their favorites already, and they kind of like are accustomed to just listening to that. So and they all came out so much far before this. But can you think of anybody that's really redone a like you know, a Christmas classic that has really taken it over? I I can only think of like Booblay, uh-huh, but that's because he sounds like everybody from the 50s and 60s.
SPEAKER_02Josh Josh Croben too.
SPEAKER_05He had a couple good songs, yeah. But like as far as original sang by somebody else, like more recently, I can't think of anybody that's kind of taken it over besides Booblay.
SPEAKER_00Because I agree with that. Yeah, not not that have been really big. But with the Sounds of Christmas, I get so many songs sent to me every year, and there are so many that sound phoned in. They did another version of Santa Claus's Coming to Town or Silver Bells or whatever, and that was probably a danger with the second album, the second Christmas album from Dollar Fly, but it doesn't sound like it either she really enjoyed doing it, or she's just really good and makes you think she did. Either way, it doesn't sound like it's you know, so many of these that you hear today sound like, hey, I've got half an hour of studio time left, let's knock out Jingle Bell Rock. But with with this album from Dolly, it sounds like these were the songs she wanted to sing, that they meant something to her, and she feels it and she believes it. And you listen to them, and like I said, you listen to I'll Be Home for Christmas from that one, and it doesn't sound like she's just singing somebody else's song, it sounds like she believes it. That's where you get the magic in a Christmas album.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know who had a really good Christmas album that I like, some people didn't, and she's a big fan of Dolly. It was Carrie Underwood's Christmas album. I really liked it. And there's somebody else that doesn't have a Christmas album that should. How the hell does Bruno Mars not have a Christmas album?
SPEAKER_06Right? Right?
SPEAKER_05I feel like he would really crush that genre. Like you're probably right there, or like an Ed Sheeran or something, like do a collab. I don't I know he has a couple Christmas songs, but a Christmas album, I think he'd do really good. You know, who really missed the mark for me? Oh, sure. But you know who really missed the mark for me that I who I thought would really outdo himself was John Legend. I think he had like two good ones on there, but for the most part, it just kind of fell flat for me. But anyway, I digress.
SPEAKER_06I so I gotta say, the uh the whole rock and roll Hall of Fame thing, you know, the fact that she didn't feel she was worthy enough to be there because she really hadn't done any rock and roll. And I get that. I mean, if you look at her corpus, there really wasn't a lot of like anything that you could really classify as like rock or rock and roll. But then she goes and records an album. I mean, she has a version of Purple Rain. Like, that's you know, that's Dolly Parton singing Purple Rain. That's cool. I gotta I gotta say.
SPEAKER_01Have you heard Dwight Yoakam doing it?
SPEAKER_06No, oh, I didn't know he did it.
SPEAKER_01The album he put out like right after Prince died, he threw on a cover of Purple Rain. And it it's just it's something else.
SPEAKER_00Just absolutely that's a that's another singer that you know she believes what she's saying.
SPEAKER_02And I know we're getting way off of the mark here, but I would I would want to point out something about Dolly as well. Um, obviously, Whitney Houston popularized I Will Always Love You, which Dolly wrote and sang first, but Dolly never like begrudged. For it. She was always super excited and talked her up like she was her biggest hype woman when it came to that song. Like she loved to share the wealth.
SPEAKER_06Well, I'm sure the royalties helped as well. Yeah. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, to her credit, like she could have been a lot richer if she didn't donate so much of the money back. So, like, yep.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, this uh this loss was a was a hard one, I think. Um you know, just so much, so many great things. I remember seeing her, of course, nine to five. She was in um Steel Magnolias, you know, uh, of course, Festival Whorehouse in Texas. Just, you know, a bunch of things that she was.
SPEAKER_02I've gotta ask, I've gotta ask you, Jerry, was it Jane Fonda of Lily Tomlin's tributes that got you more like compared to a lot of other celebrities? Because it got me, because I think associate her with 9 to 5.
SPEAKER_06I don't think I saw their tributes. Uh I saw mostly musical acts. What what'd they say?
SPEAKER_02I mean, Jane Fonda wrote the whole thing, but yeah, like yeah.
SPEAKER_06Well, 9 to 5 really, I mean, she was already big, but like 9 to 5 also really like I don't know, broke her out. I mean, I hate to say that because she was already it's more like crossover, right? It it kind of crossed her over into a bigger audience, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, and you couldn't get away from the song. I mean, when that came out, if you listened to, you know, top 40, if you listen to country, it was on both. Yeah, if you're in Kmart, you heard it playing all the time. Well and once once it hit cable, I mean, it i I can't tell you how many times we've watched that. I I've probably seen that well over a hundred times.
SPEAKER_02I love that uh they waited till nine to five last night to light up the Empire State Building in pink for her.
SPEAKER_06Well, uh, someone someone actually suggested that like if if May the 4th is Star Wars Day, they should do like September 25th, you know, 925, 925, 925 to be Dolly Parton Day. And I thought come down with that. Like that that works for me, I think.
SPEAKER_02I think we I think as a podcast network, we can do that unofficially ourselves if we're not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_06We probably could. Uh all release some sort of Dolly Parton thing.
SPEAKER_05It's funny, man. I I saw like a Dolly Parton fact today. Um, do you know her parents paid for her birth with like a sack of like oats or something like that? Yeah. Something crazy. I was like, oh my god. I guess she really is 80 years old.
SPEAKER_06I mean, that's what you did when you lived on the mountain, right? I mean, you paid whatever. You bartered and traded, and we saw some of that in Smoky Mountain Christmas for sure.
SPEAKER_00And that does seem on brand for her. Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it really does. So she also in like 87, 88-ish, she had a show. I think it was just called Dolly, and it was like a sketch show, not so much comedy, but like they they would do different sketches, and um then sometimes they would just sit around and sing with different guests. Well, she had a Christmas episode, and we covered that one as well, and uh I think Burrow Lives was on it. You know, just uh just great uh what's the name? Mac um Mac Davis. Mac Davis was on it, and they had a little sketch about how like she was just moved into an apartment building and he was down like down the hall and they were singing some tunes on guitar and you know, little things like that. Just just stuff that's like she would she could do something like that and make it stand out. And I like that she she did those. Um it just it it they were really it was it was cool. It was good times. So uh I gotta say this Christmas will be a little bit uh more melancholy without Dolly Parton in it, but her music will definitely give us all the vibes and the feels and the nostalgia of um when we were little and we we got to listen to it.
SPEAKER_00So um guys I had heard that they the lit up the Empire State Building pink and kind of glittery for Dolly. I wonder what they're gonna do for Tim Curry.
SPEAKER_05There's so many random clowns popping out of the city.
SPEAKER_02I was about to say red and yellow for Pennywise.
SPEAKER_01I I just figured it'd be a pair pair of big red lips. Oh, maybe.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, maybe I told Ken uh You're gonna just see red balloons released across the world.
SPEAKER_06Before we started recording, I told Ken is it bad that my first thought was um when I found out well after like no my first thought was uh a quote from Clue when he gets shot by Mr. Green, he's like, good shot, Green. Very good. Very good.
SPEAKER_09One plus two plus two plus one.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I think to lose such uh such giants in their field, like back to back, is is definitely this week is is definitely I mean I know they come in threes, so it's like I I don't know if I can take the third one, whoever it is, but I know people were saying Carol Brunette should stay inside.
SPEAKER_02Oh no.
SPEAKER_01Well see, and with Tim Curry, I I was honestly more upset about Tim Curry, just cause um just you know, the music from Rocky Horror and some of the other stuff he's done has been like a real bonding thing for me and my daughters. So yeah, when I saw that, it just was kind of devastating.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it was go ahead.
SPEAKER_00I I was talking to Jerry before we really got started about about that, and my wife had said how Rocky horror put Tim Curry really on the map. If it hadn't been for that, what would he have been? And I said he would have been a rock star. Oh yeah. He was he was doing that. One of my friends on Facebook had posted what they remember most is going to see him perform at some small venue in California um after Rocky Horror, which was a flop at the box office, and he had recorded um, I think two or three albums in the 70s and he was touring. I would love to have seen that. I was only like 10, but yeah, I think absolutely if acting didn't work out, he would have been a rock star.
SPEAKER_06I think he was a great showman too, right? I mean, like he probably was a great frontman.
SPEAKER_02As a Batman fan, I also must mention that he uh was originally cast as a Joker in the animated series, but was deemed too scary.
SPEAKER_06They thought he was too scary.
SPEAKER_01Well, see, and and the the first thing that I really became aware of him in was uh was Annie. You know, I being a young kid in the early 80s, it that wasn't the sort of movie I'd want to particularly go to. Yeah. But him as Rooster, he just captivated me. So and I'd seen like well, and I'd seen pictures of uh Dr. Frankenfurter prior to that, but it wasn't until years later when they showed it on MTV that I finally you know had a better idea of who he was.
SPEAKER_06There's a there's a picture of him and Dolly together that I I've been seeing around on the internet, and I I don't know if that's like AI or like Photoshopped or if it's real. But um Yeah, great pair that we that we lost.
SPEAKER_05I'll look it up right now.
SPEAKER_02It's hard to tell because she knew everyone.
SPEAKER_06Well, I know. That's why I'm like maybe maybe it was like at some sort of movie award show that and it was true, or I don't know, but uh Oh, is it them from the nineties? Looks yeah. Yeah, and I don't know. I didn't do enough research to to find out if it was real or not. And again, it's kind of sad where like we're we're not sure if it's actually AI or not, but you know, that's that's just how it is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Let's not forget Home Alone, Tim Curry. Fantastic.
SPEAKER_04Oh man, his smile when like the Grinch transition wouldn't take your stolen credit card. Let's see what the police have to say about this. We love you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, and then Psych and uh uh Monk. Psych. Oh, I loved him on too. He was he was great in both of those.
SPEAKER_06Yep, yep. The worst which let legend. Uh you know, Muppet Treasure Island Muppet Treasure Island, he was good in.
SPEAKER_02I mean where he went the complete opposite of Michael Cain and decided to become a Muppet himself.
SPEAKER_00Did you see the official Muppets account, social media account, posting their tribute to him?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And they posted one to Dolly yesterday. Yeah. So people were like, can somebody check on the Muppets? Like everyone's grieving, but can someone check on them?
SPEAKER_00They said about Tim Curry that he he was one of the few that they would grant the honorary title of human muppet to.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_00And I thought, wow. And I uh would agree.
SPEAKER_06He was. He really was, yeah, for sure. Oh man. Well, I know that uh we can continue to enjoy their art and uh both of them Dolly through her songs, Tim Curry through his movies, and so And hey we have a new Dolly song to look forward to 2046.
SPEAKER_02I saw that. She left she left uh she recorded a new song and sent a time capsule to be opened on her 100th birthday. She talked about that.
SPEAKER_06Wow, no, I didn't know that. That's super cool.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that's the real deal.
SPEAKER_062040, so 20 years from now, huh?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Oh shit, I'll be dead, I think.
SPEAKER_0460? Nah, I could maybe make 60. We'll see.
SPEAKER_06I better knock on wood for sure, but uh what are you like 445? 46.
SPEAKER_04Oh, you'll be retired.
SPEAKER_05You might be dead too. I don't know.
SPEAKER_06You never can tell.
SPEAKER_05Nah, you'll be alive. You're slim. You look like you have impeccable blood pressure.
SPEAKER_06It's a little high. High blood pressure runs in the family.
SPEAKER_05So well then get it in check if you want to hear that fucking song. Oh, jeez, I I said the F-word. God dang it, so it's fine. It's near the end of the episode. You can edit it out.
SPEAKER_06Oh man. Well, any last-minute thoughts on Dolly Parton and or Tim Curry as well?
SPEAKER_00You know, I had I had told somebody earlier today after we found out that Tim Curry had died, that um I'm sad, but I still think it's pretty cool that I was lucky enough to be here at the same time that Dolly Parton and Tim Curry were here. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_05It's a good way to think of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I would say they were two of a kind. Like uh they were both unique and masters in their field, and there won't be others like them. Dolly for sure, but Tim Curry too, he was a chameleon, and in a way that a lot of actors are not.
SPEAKER_05No pun intended, but Tim Curry was a dying greed of an actor, and just a total overall showman. So um rest in peace to him and and Dolly. We'll never forget Dolly, man. Nobody's ever gonna forget Dolly. Dolly was Dolly was the best of us, man. Someone that we can only hope to be like greed.
SPEAKER_02And you know, they say a lot of people say character actor, like it's a bad thing, but Tim Curry proved it's not. He was the definition of a character actor, and he if he was in a movie for five minutes, he stole the movie with those five.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's so true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Like in that I love the scene I see of him. I forget what movie it's in. Was it like uh what was it, Anthony? Where he's like, What is it? Titties? Like, would you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_09I know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_05He's like, look at this on the screen. He's like, What is it? Titties? Just something like that.
SPEAKER_02It was like scary movie too. Scary movie too. Scary movie, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Well, what is it? Titties? We're gonna send it to the group chat after. And one of my other favorite Tim Curry lines ever, because he literally looks like he's about to cry, is when Catherine O'Hara, rest in peace as well, slaps him in the face, and then he's just like, do bundle up, it's awfully cold outside. Home alone.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, Home Alone 2 is gonna be a hard watch this year. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_05Ah, I'll still enjoy it. Well, we'll get through the tears together, folks.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Any last thoughts, Scott?
SPEAKER_01Uh I have nothing else. I I'm just it it it it has been a long couple days.
SPEAKER_06Yes, it has. Yes, it has. Well, uh no fun outro ending tonight. Um I just want to say make sure you go listen to Sounds of Christmas, Rose Such a Ladder, Holly Jolly Xmasu, and Tis the Podcast, and you will find in at least one of those, you will find something that you are direly in need of right now in the summer heat. So uh they're all great shows, and um guys, thank you. This was uh I I feel like I I just needed to talk it out, and I'm glad I got the chance to do that. So thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having us. Thank you. Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_06And I'll just say I will always love you. Later, dudes.
SPEAKER_07Dolly rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations the glory.
