Cold Snap...Dollywood Weekend...Dates Ahead

BILL BLOG

Monday March 13, 2023

 

Monday morning…back home in Nashville. Did you move your clock forward? Hello Daylight Savings Time.

 

And hello cooler weather! Only 49 for a high today with a freeze warning tonight. 29 degrees for a low!

 

THE WEEKEND

It was quite the weekend in Pigeon Forge making music at Dollywood with my friends Steve Dean & Victoria Venier. Friday was opening day at the park for those season ticket holders as well as VIP’s and guests. Our “Hits & Grins” trio played 3 shows Friday and 3 more on Saturday at the Showcase Palace Theater which is beautiful. Victoria is hosting a run of 5 or six weeks of shows with songwriters saluting the 50^th Anniversary of Dolly’s hit “I Will Always Love You”. 

 

 

 

We had so much fun. Victoria and her husband Matt Davenport own and run Matt Davenport Productions and they put together theme park shows and more all over the country and the world. So they jumped in and designed this beautiful set on the stage we played on that you see here.

 

 

The audiences were great although…our third show on Friday at 4 pm was off. Guess why?  Because at 4 pm there was a parade with Dolly in it!  I can’t imagine why folks would rather see Dolly than me. Geez. 

 

 

The staff, sound, lighting, hospitality were all first class making our job very easy. Thanks to all of those folks for a job well done…and thanks to all of you who came and caught one of our songwriter shows.

 

 

NEW AT THE PARK

Dolly was on TV here promoting the new season at Dollywood and the new roller coaster ride Bear Mountain. And we also found out they are building a Dolly Museum on the property that will be much like the Van Gogh immersion experience that my wife and I took in a few months ago in Nashville. If you’ve gone to one of those then you can imagine how special this kind of environment will be in telling the story of Dolly. Should be a special experience for the visitors at Dollywood.

 

 

UP NEXT

Steve Dean and I play at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum here in Nashville. A noon time songwriter show in the Ford Theater that is free with your museum admission ticket. 40-minute show with a question-and-answer session with the audience which is always fun. Looking forward to that. It’s always an honor to play at the Hall of Fame.

 

 

AND THEN

On April 1 I’ll be in Stephens City, Virginia for the “Faith, Love & Laughter Show”. The folks who put on this great event that I’m part of with Linda Davis and Lang Scott came to one of my shows at Dollywood this weekend and asked me if I would say a few words about the show on camera to help promote it. Of course. Straight from the stage I played in Dollywood wearing my “Dolly” cap they gave me. 

 

 

FURTHER AHEAD

Tuesday night February 20 of next year…2023 is on the calendar now for our “Evening in the Round” show with Linda Davis Lang Scott and myself in Avon Florida…near Orlando. Check out this beautiful theater we’ll be playing.

 

 

More details coming as the date gets closer, but we’re looking very forward to this show in Central Florida for sure. 

 

 

 

HEALTH NEWS

A New England Journal of Medicine article says that men diagnosed with prostate cancer should not panic. The point out that the mortality rate is low despite treatment, meaning one might not need to choose radiation or other invasive treatments.

 

A TRILLION masks were bought during the COVID pandemic. And most research is saying they provided zero protection. Hard to re-sell used ones.

 

Pfizer just got FDA approval for a migraine nasal spray they say will ease migraine pain in 15 minutes. If you’ve ever suffered from migraines, as I have, you know what a blessing that would be.

 

OSCARS

Nope…didn’t watch it. But a movie I never saw “Everything At Once” was the big winner taking home 7 trophies including “Best Picture of the Year”. Jamie Lee Curtis gave perhaps the most emotional speech after winning “Best Actress”. And the “Elvis” movie and the “Top Gun Maverick” movies that a lot of us loved got shut out.

 

I’m guessing some folks will be curious now and watch the Oscar winning movie. But I’ll be that more of us will watch “Elvis” or “Top Gun” a second or third or fourth time instead.

 

WE LOVE OUR RECORDS…AGAIN

For the first time since 1987 vinyl records outsold CD’s. Wow. Everything old is new again. A lot of folks are looking to buy turntables and needles again. It’s still my favorite way to listen to music…even if the danged record skips. It also means another generation will now sit cross legged on a floor and read the liner notes on the back of the album. And that’s cool too.

 

YIKES

A study reveals that those reusable bottles so many of us carry wherever we go has more bacteria than a toilet seat. Think I’ll drink from a public water fountain tap from now on.

 

SOUNDS LIKE A SCIENCE FICTION MOVIE

They say a gigantic blob of seaweed twice the width of the US is taking aim at Florida. It’s so massive you can see it from space. It could cause all kinds of problems on the southwest coast, breathing issues for some. Not to mention there will be a lot less folks spreading out a towel on the beaches.

 

AUSTRALIAN FEAR

An Aussie claims, “I threw a boomerang a few years ago. I now live in constant fear.

 

TODAY
I’m off to write with my talented bluegrass friend Irene Kelley which is always a pleasure. Irene will be joining me in a couple of weeks to write with nurses who have served in the military with Freedom Sings USA. That retreat will be March 20 & 21 in Murfreesboro, TN and it will be Irene’s first time to participate. So I’m sure we’ll talk about that some today as well.

 

 

Have a great Monday!