Why So Much Dolly Parton Hate?

Why So Much Dolly Parton Hate

Everybody is talking about Dolly Parton lately. She did some songs off of her new album Rock Star during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving. Adding to the discussion is the fact that she did it wearing a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader outfit. It was probably something she knew would get people talking, one way or the other. It was definitely a good way to promote her new album.

I was listening to The Real Music Observer. David and I have similar tastes when it comes to classic rock, and I think he was looking at trends. When you're doing content on YouTube, it's in your best interest to grab a hold of topics that are popular in the moment. Right now, Dolly Parton is trending, and Dave decided to join the people taking shots at her.

On one level, I understand him. The classic rock genre and people who make music in that sort of style aren't getting much love. New artists aren't getting played and even new material from classic artists doesn't get the time of day. I would just say to Dave, start your own internet radio station and be a part of the solution, but don't hate Dolly because she chose to make a record with classic rock songs.

Dolly Parton is 77 years old and still looks amazing for her age. I know people are going to get down on her for not being a mother and therefore not having grandchildren or great grandchildren at this point. However, she's been a mother figure to many in her family, and her philanthropy, which includes her doing her part to get children to read, is unquestionable. She makes a difference.

I've appreciated her music through the years, although admittedly I wasn't as big a fan of her as others in my circle. I will say I remember when she had her own TV show and would close with I Will Always Love You. It's a song that she wrote and, in my opinion, sang better than Whitney Houston. I just like her rendition of that song and don't really feel like it needed what Whitney gave it. Make no mistake, I like Whitney's version as well, but I prefer Dolly.

Dolly and her marketing team are very smart. I'm sure they had to think about what her appearance would do at the Cowboy game. Going out there dressed as a cheerleader might have bothered a few people who would rather see her in a rocking chair acting like their grandmother. However, I think Dolly made the determination that she looked good. We know her vocals are still on point, and we can say this knowing that she's 77 years old.

What does it say about the world that so many people are basically turned off by the fact that she's 77 years old and doing what she does? They would rather have her act her age, and that means not trying to be relevant on the world stage. As I write this, she has the number one rock album. We can debate what that says about the rock music industry, and I'm not disagreeing with what David says when it comes to that.

What we can't debate is that Dolly Parton is still relevant in the music industry at 77 years old. She is loved by people all around the world and still sounds great and looks amazing. She's managed this at 77 years old. I know some people have their own opinion on the life that she's lived. They will go after her for what she hasn't done in the family sense. However, Dolly made her choices, and she doesn't seem unhappy to me. I'm happy for her. It's her life, and she's lived it on her terms. She has made a difference in the world.

Thoughts On The Do Not Comply Movie

Thoughts On The Do Not Comply Movie

I saw a Do Not Comply trending on X this morning. I figured that might be something to do with not complying with certain mandates the government puts on us. I understand the distrust. I have a heavy dose of mistrust in me as well, and I think there's reason to be that way. 

This is coming from people who would call themselves members of the truth movement. What I've seen in that area that is alarming to me is how they've shifted from not believing in any party to becoming Republicans and saying that the agenda they're fighting is from the Democrat side and the left.

I find that to be a joke. One of the people that they are bowing down to now because he took over a social media site could have a hand in the very thing they're fighting against. I'm not going to unpack that statement here as I just want to offer observation on the movie.

In the movie, they needed to get little jabs in at what they call woke as well as the trans community. I don't understand the paranoia against trans people as they are a marginalized community. Also, is the movie saying that we in the trans community can't agree with much of what they are saying? Not all of the trans community fits neatly into their basket. Some of us like the freedoms the truthers say they like.

What the 25-minute movie did was tell of a near future where we are being controlled. We are put in housing sectors and monitored for compliance. It speaks of forced vaccinations, rationing, the environment and forcing people to ultimately eat bugs. I've heard all of this, and I know there are people in power who push for that.

It's important to know that when you're reading about people in think tanks and who wield a little bit of power, it doesn't mean that every little thing that they're pushing for will happen. The human equation comes into play and things change. However, the movie speaks to the fact that our compliance will put us under their control if we don't speak up against things that we feel are questionable.

Is there any truth to that? Is there any sort of agenda at play? Are there people in the world who want to put us under a system of control? Take a look at the world, and you tell me. Look at the way technology is being used. I know what I think, but I encourage you to think. I think there's an obvious answer here.

In reading the comment section of this video, there are a lot of people who would consider themselves patriots. They aren't going to comply and so on. One of the ways they would make you comply is by making it harder for you not to comply. Automation and using computers and machines to do everything is one way of doing it. I was just at a store that encourages people to use self-checkout, but I prefer to go to a human to checkout.

There was the odd comment or two that said people who like their freedom of choice are selfish. I think that's an odd thing to say, especially if the commenter is an American. That is something I don't know, but our country was founded on freedom. I'm quite certain our founding fathers would have encouraged us to speak up and use our voices when we feel something isn't right.

The world is changing. Nobody can deny that. In my lifetime, I've seen us go from having to get up to use the phone and having to get up to change the TV channel. I remember a time when there were just 13 channels on the dial and a few others on the UHF dial. Now, we've gone beyond TV to apps that show specific genres of entertainment. That's just one aspect of the change.

It's important to note that technology can make our lives better. Technology doesn't have to have a nefarious agenda attached to it. It can be what we're being told it is at face value. However, it's important for us to use our heads and engage in critical thinking. It's not selfish to want your freedom, and here is something to remember. Just because you want your freedom doesn't mean you're not the type of person who would help other people when you can. That doesn't make you selfish. It makes you a critical thinker.

That goes to my belief that we are getting divided into camps. If you look at things from a Republican or conservative viewpoint, increasingly you don't want to talk to somebody from a Democrat or liberal point of view. We don't learn and grow that way, and there's something else to consider. If there is an agenda at work here, one of the things they would do to accomplish their goal is divide us into our own camps.

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Why Styx Without Dennis DeYoung Hurts Some Of Us More Than Others

Why Styx Without Dennis DeYoung Hurts Some Of Us More Than Others

If you were more negative towards Dennis DeYoung when the band was at their peak, you're more likely to defend the current incarnation of Styx. They've definitely tried to put more of an edge to their music, and even the one replacing Dennis, Lawrence Gowan, has more of an edge to him than Dennis. If you like that image (Larry has a spinning keyboard), you're probably into it.

I didn't really get the covers album (Big Bang Theory) that they did after Dennis was ousted. It took their third effort, The Mission, for me to appreciate this band as it is now. Even their most recent album doesn't really do it for me. It's like Styx trying to be somebody else. I suppose my opinion might offend some fans. They would say, "Dennis is gone.This is the band as they are now." They're not wrong to say that. 

I got to see this band reunite for the Return To Paradise Theater Tour. It was my first time. Sadly, John Panozzo was unable to make the tour due to being ill, and he passed away that year. We'll never get a full reunion of this band as a result. However, the three principle singers/writers in this band, Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw and James Young, are still very much alive.

The fact that JY and Tommy still continue to throwing shade at Dennis is heartbreaking to see. Just leave it at "we don't like the guy and we never want to tour with him again." Be brutally honest. Hack, put it on your website and put it in bold letters. It's a damn shame that it has to be that way, but it is what it is.

Since Dennis has a nice band himself, people can go watch his version of the Styx experience and be taken back in time to the glory days. That's exactly what he's aiming for, so much so that he brought in August Zadra to do the Tommy Shaw stuff. In fact, I think August does justice to Tommy.

Those of us who are Dennis fans might say, "Screw the band. He doesn't need them." I get that mentality. However, since Dennis has expressed an interest in one more tour with Styx, some of us would like to see it happen again. Just one more tour. 

Let's face it, they're years away from their big success. The only advantage Dennis brings to the band is they might sell more tickets and be able to play bigger venues, but that's a good reason to do it. New hits aren't needed for a new album as that's not where the music industry is these days Then, you have to figure out the pay for the members, but something tells me Dennis wouldn't be a problem here. 

Once dates were negotiated, I think it would be time to go tour. I doubt Dennis would commit to a huge tour, but I bet he would honor every date he booked with these guys and give everybody his best effort.

Why does it bother some of us so much, but not others? Dennis brought an optimism to his lyrics. There's a hope that, even though the times might not be so good, things are going to get better. You associate the band with that. So when they're singing optimism and hope and basically a positive message overall, it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that these guys don't get along.

We want to see these three guys together while they're still able to do it. Tommy still sounds amazing and so does Dennis. JY wasn't known for his vocals, but he can do what he does quite well. I'm not saying Chuck or John are easily replaceable, but you can get fill ins and people would be okay with that. Todd Sucherman is an excellent drummer  Plus, Chuck could still show up as he does occasionally.

We're saddened because we associate their music with them in such a way that when we see they're not getting along, it puts a little bit of a dark cloud over the legacy of the band. I'm not saying it ruins them by any stretch of the imagination. It just makes you realize that all was not what it seemed.

Dennis just wants to do this for the fans because he knows there's a rift in the fan base. The others don't really care what Dennis thinks. They are so wrapped up in what it is they're doing now that they don't see the positivity that a brief reunion could bring. Even if it was just 20 or so dates where they had to be together, spread across the United States, it would draw attention to the band.

They could all come out publicly and bury the hatchet once and for all. They could put together a live DVD release. At the very end, the three can hug on stage as Dennis and the band go their separate ways. Then, the band goes on being who they are, but fans who are hurt by the rift now see that it's all in the past.

In this day and age, there's so much negativity in the world. Maybe the band doesn't see what a reunion might mean to some of us, but every little bit of positivity helps. Those of us who mourn what once was have a harder time. We'd like to see our music heroes getting along. But sadly, what we see from them is all too typical of the world as it is now. At least we have the memories from when we thought everything was okay.

Because, That's What They Want You To Think

I learned a long time ago that there's more going on in the universe than we can even imagine. There's more going on here on our own planet than we are being told. The truth is stranger than fiction, and many things that are called conspiracy theories are based in truth. Don't believe everything you're told. People are easily led astray that way.

When I was a child, for instance, I had this belief in mind. The history of mankind on this planet goes back much further than we have been taught or can even imagine. It's my belief that civilizations have been completely wiped out, and there's not a trace of their history left. They may have even been more advanced than we are. That history is lost in time.

I remember looking up at the stars and thinking about planet Mars and the other planets in our solar system. Is their life out there? I had a belief that there's more about Mars than we are led to believe. When Richard C Hoagland would be a guest on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell, I would listen intently to what he had to say.

People that you would call conspiracy theorists, such as Jim Marrs, Anthony Hilder, Jordon Maxwell, David Icke and William Cooper, fascinated me. Some of the stories I would hear sounded far-fetched, but they sparked my imagination. Then, there was a book called Nothing In This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are. Bob Frissell told a fantastic story, but it sparked my imagination. The style of that book inspired me when I started writing Because, That's What They Want You To Think.

If you believe what you're told by the media is 100% true, Because, That's What They Want You To Think is not the book for you. This book invites you to think. It gives you theories and opinions on several different topics, but it doesn't claim to be the authority on any of it. I talk about things that I believe, but my beliefs are ever evolving. I believe that once you say you've got all the answers, you cease to grow as a person and you're deluding yourself.

I actually started writing the first chapters back in 2003 while I was still involved in motorsports journalism. I wanted to do something that was completely different from what I had been doing. I wanted to expand my horizons as a writer. I put things aside for a year or two and came back to finish this book by 2006. I even started working on an unfinished second book that was deeper and darker.

This book is meant to be taken with a grain of salt and light-heartedly. You'll read some fantastic ideas, but it urges you to do your own research and think for yourself. Things like the political system, Hollywood, the conspiracy theory movement, life on Mars, the world of sports and many more topics are covered here.

I've experienced some things that I can't explain in my life. I've had an out-of-body experience as a child and had experienced lucid dreaming before I started writing about it in the book. The topic of what our mind is capable of is covered in this book.

You'll also hear people say "they" are doing this or that. By they, people are referring to the powers that be. They can't put a real name on this because they don't know. The final part of this book explores that subject in a chapter called, The Conspiracy Of They. Just who are they? Who do you think they are?

This book is not meant to stress anybody out. It's not meant to give you all of the answers. It's meant to give you questions and theories and leave you to find out what the answers are for you. Even the title of the book is tongue-in-cheek, meant to make fun of the "tin foil hat" conspiracy theorist.

I picture a scene with that crazy conspiracy theorist in a movie. He's looking over at somebody and trying to have a conversation. That person is telling this person how there's an answer for everything, and this person comes back with, "Maybe that's what they want you to think. Maybe the truth is they don't want you to know what the real truth is."

My opinions have evolved since I wrote this book, but that's understandable. I've gotten new information and answers to certain questions, and now I have more questions. I still don't believe everything I'm told. I still believe there's more going on in this world and in the universe than we are led to believe. What do you believe? 

This book is available for PDF download or print on demand at the links below.

Download HERE

POD Book HERE

Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl - Basic Charts Edition

Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl - Basic Charts Edition

Around 2006 through 2008, I finally achieved a couple of dreams I had when I was a kid. I got to go to GenCon in Indiana to meet some of the people in the RPG gaming industry that I looked up to. I was also able to participate in content creation for the Basic RPG game that I enjoyed. Ultimately, I wrote my own set of rules for a fantasy RPG I called  Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl.

 

I enjoyed attending Gen Con 2007 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was over 25 years after reading about this convention, which took place in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at the time. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were both in attendance. I met both of them and got autographs. I even got to meet Frank Mentzer, who penned the BECMI line of Basic through Immortal Dungeons & Dragons.

Basic D&D had always been my preference, because when Tom Moldvay wrote the Red Book, we could play several gaming sessions with just that one book. Add the David "Zeb" Cook penned Expert D&D book, and we were set for a whole campaign. Two books to play for hours and hours.

I hadn't played the game in quite some time when I came back looking for the latest Basic D&D product. It didn't exist. The rules had undergone a big change, including the elimination of the armor class system (THAC0) as I knew it. Because of the open gaming license, Goblinoid Games was able to create Labyrinth Lord, which was pretty much Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons in one book

The simplicity of the basic rules couldn't lend itself any easier to getting new people to play the game at the table. To the seasoned gamer, options are nice. You can go through a bunch of pages to design your ideal character in perfect fashion, but a newer gamer might lose interest very quickly if faced with a bunch of rules.

I remember when I was introduced to Basic D&D at the time. It was simple. You had four basic character classes. Humans could be fighters, clerics, magic users and thieves. Or, you could play a dwarf, halfling or elf. It didn't take you long to create a character and start playing, which was a good thing back then. Your characters could die rather quickly when they first started out.

Deciding To Create My Own Game

I didn't want to go through all of the OGL stuff when I created my version of a basic game. What I decided on was abandoning all of the fancy dice made famous by D&D in favor of just six-sided dice. I reasoned that if anybody bought a game book or downloaded it online, they had to have a six-sided dice or two among their board games.

I did a stripped down version of character creation. I kind of drew on the simplicity of Fighting Fantasy and Basic D&D for inspiration in creating this rules set. I even went with zero level characters. That is the say, they don't start out as first level. They have to aspire to earn the first level. Levels had a new terminology. A character started out at zero degree.

In fact, the terminologies were changed to be unique to HotDC. My intent was to create a full rule book. While I was writing the rules and testing them out, I made it to GenCon and met some of the founders of the game. I also faced a realization that cooled me off on creating my full-fledged rule book.

It wasn't likely that anybody was going to come play my game. When you can walk into a store and find the Dungeons and Dragons brand, that's what you are most likely going to play. There were other established options, such as Pathfinder. While these games may be more complex to a new gamer, that's simply what people play. A person not interested in too many rules but interested in fantasy gaming might just as easily play something on their computer.

You can call it defeatist, if you will, but I was cooling off on creating the campaign setting and the rule book for my game. However, I had created the basic mechanics to make playing my version of a role playing game possible. Rather than just abandon everything and not put anything out, I developed the HotDC Basic Charts Edition.

 

The Basic Charts Edition Has What You Need in 44 Pages

In this book, all the basics of how to play the game are described. There are charts for the early degrees of creatures that you could face. There are incantations for the lower degree characters to cast. It's all in the book.

 

I crated rules to make the early degrees less lethal, allowing for the role players to create back stories and really play their characters if they so choose. Bandaging became an option so characters could get healed and recover from particularly brutal encounters. This depends on the sort of game a Hero Guide runs at their table. Furthermore, I even created a sample dungeon.

What's interesting is I've since discovered that people have actually bought print on demand a copies and put those books on sale through eBay and Amazon. I didn't sell a bunch of copies, but the fact that I was published at all and sold one copy is a source of pride with me. I'm officially a game designer.

I can remember as a kid, thumbing through the early Basic D&D modules, such as B4 The Lost City, penned by Tom Moldvay. The way that adventure was written, I thought it was so cool. There were so many potential stories just in reading the descriptions of this adventure and the rooms within it. I imagined what it would be like to create an adventure myself.

You can call it defeatist, but I imagined TSR Hobbies at the time getting hundreds of submissions from people who all thought the same thing I did. They were going to create an adventure that people would be playing in Advanced or Basic Dungeons & Dragons. Sadly, most of those gamer's dreams never came true.

What did happen with the Open Gaming License was people were able to return to the earlier expressions of the Dungeons and Dragons rules and create their own adventures. OSRIC helped make that possible, which led to the aforementioned Labyrinth Lord. I did have a hand in helping others create their adventures and was even credited as such.

I never created anything for Labyrinth Lord, which would still be an option if I wanted to do it just for the sake of doing it. However, I did something much cooler, in my opinion. I created another version of a fantasy role-playing game that's simplistic enough to get people to sit down at the table and fling the dice for the first time.

 

Simplicity Is The Best Way To Get New Players To The Table 

Knowing what it's like to play a game like this at a kitchen table, rather than in front of a computer screen, I can say there's nothing like it. I believe that the easier the rules are, the easier a task you have in getting people to sit down and play. Before you know it, you could have your own gaming group.

I don't want to underscore the importance of creating something very basic in rules, but with enough to it to hold people's attention. I think Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl had that potential. The HotDC Basic Charts Edition exists as a 44 page print on demand book as well as a free download. All these years later, it's still available.

 

The rule books are available on Lulu.com

The free PDF can be downloaded here

 

The paperback can be ordered here