Dolly Parton

Neil Patrick Harris donned a shiny tux and a big smile, hosting the Tony Awards last night at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Broadway veteran John Stamos and newcomer Anne Hathaway were among the stars who stepped out to present awards. Dolly Parton, Stockard Channing and Elton John took the stage, as well as Bret Michaels who injured himself during the big opening number. Liza Minnelli beat out Will Ferrell's George Bush impersonation for Best Special Theatrical Event — see all the winners here — but Will didn't seem to mind as he and the rest of the audience enjoyed a night filled with music and laughter.

To see more photos including Kristin Chenoweth, Gina Gershon, Angela Lansbery, Jessica Lange and many others just read more

How I love this woman, let me count the ways. Here she is on the way to Late Night With David Letterman which aired last night.

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Well, this was the highlight of my weekend: official GiggleSugar girl crush Dolly Parton strutted her stuff on 60 Minutes last night and told a story about how as a little girl, she wanted to be a piglet so bad, she tried suckling a mama pig. Somehow, it's cute when she says it. Don't worry, Dolly: you're not the only one!

The indie band Ida recently premiered their cover version of Dolly Parton's "The Pain of Loving You," and it's lovely. The New York City band, which formed in 1992, has a sound that is evocative of Iron and Wine, or a calmer, more pared down Belle and Sebastian. It's a sound that works well for the Dolly cover which will be a part of their forthcoming EP, My Fair, My Dark. We've all heard Dolly Parton remakes before (most notably Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and The White Stripes' "Jolene") and often the artist tends to do something dramatically different. What's refreshing about the Ida cover is that it stays true to Dolly's bluegrass-y, folk sound. You can listen to both versions below, and If you like what you hear, check out Ida's latest CD titled Lovers Prayers.

To listen to the Ida version, just press play below.

To hear the Dolly Parton version (with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris), read more

There's been a little dust-up on the Internet surrounding the new Weezer album cover (pictured above), as some bloggers assumed it was a joke because it looks . . . a bit weird. The band's publicist had to make an awkward statement to the contrary, saying, "Yes, that's absolutely the cover. It's what they chose. They looked at a bunch of mockups, and that's the one they decided to go with. It's not a joke."

I'm glad people actually care about this and that album art is not dead in the mp3 age. When done well, it adds to the overall effect of an album. When done poorly? Well, then it's either totally hilarious or just plain awful. Of course, this made me think of some of my favorite ludicrously bad album covers. Seriously, check out that Dolly Parton album art: Dolly's head is bubbling up from a pool as Dolly herself looks on.

And Blake. Poor Blake. What the heck was he thinking? Idolator once nominated his visually assaulting cover the worst of the year. As for Paula Abdul, I didn't remember her Spellbound art right away, but I took a wild stab in the dark that she'd have a ridiculous cover out there somewhere. Bingo!

Which album covers make you laugh — or, worse, make you stay away from the music?

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Country superstar Dolly Parton has a busy 2008 planned. Not only is she writing the score for a Broadway rendition of her 1980 movie 9 to 5, but she's also working on a television show for children and an autobiographical musical. Now she's hoping to launch a cosmetics line of her own.

Dolly told Billboard Magazine:

I want my own cosmetics line. When I first came [to Nashville] I really was the backwoods Barbie. Too much makeup, too much hair, the big boobs, country girl straight out of the mountains. It’s hard to take somebody looking like that serious, I guess, so I had to work double hard to prove myself.

Dolly has famously said, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." I kinda love her for poking fun at her over-the-top appearance, and because she's so sweet (and a philanthropist!) I could imagine checking out one of her lipsticks for fun. Would you?

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