That headline’s something you think people might LIKE to hear. Not this time. Yes, this nervy shoplifter stuffed a two-foot python down his pants during a pet store theft caught on video. Christin Bjugan, who owns Portland’s A to Z pet store, told KPTV.

“He’s lucky it wasn’t feeding day. Feeding days are on Mondays. And they’re very hungry.

“I’m just surprised that people are so bold.”

The man is seen wearing a black and yellow baseball cap with a Nike jumpman logo on it and a gold necklace.
In store surveillance video released to local media, the thief is seen reaching into the python’s case. Once he gets a grip, he is seen quickly dropping it into his pants and VERY carefully stepping out the store’s door. He appears to be assisted by a woman with blue-ish hair.

Watch.

(via Huffington Post)

The post “Hey, Mister, Is That a Python In Your Pants?” (Yes, This Time It REALLY Is!) appeared first on World of Wonder.

Lots of sequels out every year. But one we didn’t need to see at the Academy Awards; #OscarsSoWhite. On Thursday morning, as Academy of Motion Picture Arts nominees were read off, the acting Oscar nominations got that unwanted sequel. For the second year in a row, there is not ONE nonwhite nominee in any of the four major acting categories. So, host Chris Rock just came up with an even better title for this year’s ceremony. He posted a new promo with this message on Twitter,

Yes, the opportunities were there this year. Before last year, it had been nearly two decades since the academy had nominated such a pale pool of actors. This year saw such movies as Beasts of No Nation with Idris Elba and Creed starring Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson and the whole cast of Straight Outta Compton. And it wasn’t just the acting categories that saw especially white nominees, either; in best picture, almost all of the eight nominees feature heavily white casts in their films. Last year, critics could at least take some solace in Selma‘s nomination for best picture, with director Ava DuVernay at the helm. Not this year.

The 88th Academy Awards, airs February 28 on ABC.

The #Oscars. The White BET Awards. https://t.co/8qjLR0uysI

— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) January 15, 2016

(via Mic.com)

The post #OscarsSoWhite: Chris Rock Just Threw Shade at the Awards He’s Hosting appeared first on World of Wonder.

Sad news on top of sad news. Just two days after her husband Rene’s’s death, Celine Dion’s brother, Daniel Dion has died. A statement read,

“Battling cancer for a few years, it’s in the uttermost discretion and surrounded by his family that Daniel Dion, 59, died today, January 16. His last days were in the wonderful care of the doctors and presonnel at Maison Adhémar-Dion, a palliative care center in Terrebonne Québec.”

A tribute will be held January 23 at Salon Charles Rajotte in Repentigny, and will be followed by a funeral at St. Simon et Jude in Charlemagne, Québec.

Daniel was the eighth child of Thérèse and Adhémar Dion, who had a total of 13 children. He is survived by his two daughters, Valérie and Marie-Michelle.

Celiné Dion had cancelled her Vegas show until the beginning of February after her husband’s death. (Top left, Pacific Coast News/ right, Getty; via BuzzFeed)

The post #RIP: Celine Dion’s Brother, Daniel Dion appeared first on World of Wonder.

On this #AfterShow, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 7 queen Trixie Mattel and Edward Hansen recap Wednesday’s finale of American Horror Story: Hotel!

The post #AfterShow: The FINALE of ‘American Horror Story: Hotel’ with Trixie Mattel & Edward Hansen appeared first on World of Wonder.

January 17, 1927– Eartha Kitt had precisely the qualities that make a true Gay Icon: a history of anguish, abandonment & alienation, mixed with a campy & sexually audacious stage act with the necessary elements of artifice & aggrandizement. Plus, there is that unique, sultry purr of a voice.

Born Eartha Mae Keith into a life of profound poverty in the rural South, Kitt’s start in life must have seemed as if life was stacked against her. She had to endure prejudice from black people and whites because of the mixed-heritage color of her skin. Kitt never knew her father and she was abandoned by her mother at an early age in favor of her darker hued siblings. Raised by another family that barely noticed her, she grew up with low self-esteem, but Kitt had the drive to surpass her surroundings and achieve something great.

Kitt made her way to NYC where she became a member of the prestigious Katherine Dunham Dance Company. Her work as a soloist in the company captured the attention of Orson Welles, who cast her in his production of Doctor Faustus. Welles fell in love with her proclaiming:

“Eartha Kitt is most exciting woman in the world.”

Kitt blossomed into a Broadway performer in the revue New Faces Of 1952 where she introduced a song that would become one of her signature tunes, Monotonous. In that decade, Kitt had six Top 10 Hits, including Uska Dara (1953), C’est Si Bon (1954) and I Want To Be Evil (1955). They totally dug Kitt in Britain too, where she had Top 10 Hits with Under The Bridges Of Paris (1954) and Just An Old Fashioned Girl (1956). Where Is My Man? (1983) was her only certified Gold Record and a huge hit in gay dance clubs, although just last month, the ringtone of her recording of Santa Baby went certified gold.

I remember my parents and me fighting at the dinner table in 1968, after Kitt expressed her views on the Vietnam War to First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, at a White House luncheon. She had been asked asked what she thought of the war and Kitt dared to give a genuine, forthright opinion:

“You send the best of this country off to be shot & maimed. No wonder the kids rebel & take pot. The children of America are not rebelling for no reason. They are not hippies for no reason at all. They are rebelling against something. There are so many things burning the people of this country, particularly mothers. They feel they are going to raise sons to die,& I know what it’s like, and you have children of your own, Mrs. Johnson… we raise children and send them to war.”

Her remarks brought the First Lady to tears. The public reaction to Kitt’s statements was extreme, and the media exploited Kitt’s opinions. For the next decade she was blacklisted in her own country for speaking her mind. Kitt remained determined to do the work and she returned to Europe where she was much loved and the war wasn’t. She toured in Europe for several years until the controversy died down in 1976, when a new President, Jimmy Carter, invited her to come home. Kitt returned to the USA for a star turn on Broadway in the musical Timbuktu!. Americans were hungry for some Kitt and once again her career took off.

Among her life achievements, Kitt earned nominations for 2 Tony Awards, 2 Grammy Awards and she won 5 Emmy Awards for her work on the television series Emperor’s New School.

Kitt was proud of the label of Gay Icon. Kitt:

“After my blacklisting, it was the Gay community that welcomed me back with open arms.”

She was an early supporter of Marriage Equality, which she thought of as a civil right:

“I support gay marriage because we’re asking for the same thing. If I have a partner & something happens to me, I want that partner to enjoy the benefits of what we have reaped together. It’s a civil-rights thing, isn’t it?”

Kitt appeared at many LGBTQ fundraisers and she spent a great deal of her time dedicating herself to working with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis & other AIDS charities. Her 1989 single Cha-Cha Heels recorded with Bronski Beat, was thumping away at the dance clubs during the worst years of the plague and the club kids fell in love with Kitt.

Kitt continued to work on stage and screen until the end of her life. In the aughts she returned to Broadway in The Wild Party opposite Mandy Patinkin and Toni Collette. She starred as the Fairy Godmother in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella at Lincoln Center, and she replaced Chita Rivera in the long-running musical Nine on Broadway.

Kitt was a fighter and a force of nature. Describing her own life in 6 words, she said:

“Rejected, Ejected, Dejected, Used, Accused, and Abused”.

Regret wasn’t one of those words. Kitt took her final curtain call on Christmas Day 2008 at her Connecticut home surrounded by her daughter and her grandchildren, taken by that damn cancer at 81 years old.

The post #BornThisDay: Eartha Kitt appeared first on World of Wonder.

In the 70s, after just a week together David Bowie put his full trust in photographer Andrew Kent, thanks to writer/ director, Cameron Crowe. Crowe was the wiz-kid who left school and started touring with bands for Rolling Stone—at age 16, the story of which is detailed in his film, Almost Famous. This meant that Crowe had missed Drivers Ed.

“I was very lucky to meet David Bowie when I did. I met him almost nine months before I ended up working with him. Cameron Crowe didn’t drive so I had to go back to the studio and pick them up at two in the morning. We went back to Bowie’s place in Stone Canyon Bel Air. And the rest is history.”

Kent’s portraits capture some of the most striking images of Bowie ever. During the relentless tour schedule, Bowie and Kent made time for fun stops along the way. From crossing the Atlantic by ship, getting lost behind the Iron Curtain and moments backstage when Bowie would put on his own makeup. With the rest of his tour flying out days later, Bowie decided to take the Italian ship Michaelangelo across the Atlantic with just his assistant, Coco.

All photos are by Andrew Kent and available for sale at RockPaperPhoto.com

(Photo, Andrew Kent; via Observer)

The post Photographer Andrew Kent Captured Bowie’s Most Private Moments appeared first on World of Wonder.

In 1992 Architectural Digest visited David Bowie & Iman‘s retreat on the island of Mustique. According to the story,

“Five years and more than fourteen cargo containers in the making, culminating in an Indonesian-style pavilion that horseshoes around two koi-filled ponds that descend burblingly toward the setting sun into a sort of trompe-l’eau sluice from which dark water appears to emerge magically pristine as it pours into the swimming pool. ‘It’s a whim personified,” says David Bowie. ‘I love a good cliché, and this house for me is just the most delightful cliché.’

‘Frankly, it was quite odd. I went down to spend a couple of days with Mick and Jerry in their house, and while waiting for the boat—I was going to take a trip up and down the Caribbean and it never happened because the propeller fell out or something—I was stranded. And I just went scouting one day, having nothing better to do, there being little else to do there, and I came across this area of land attached to Arne Hasselqvist’s. And we talked about it, and I thought, Why not?’

He spends five or six weeks on Mustique over Christmas, and then goes back for a bit in midyear. He says he keeps things intimate, inviting just a small circle of friends, Iman and his twenty-one-year-old son, Zowie, now called Joe.

‘I throw one big party a year. This year it was a New Year’s party, the theme being the seventies. I put on a disco, and Iman brought a mirrored ball down with her, an electric one. We had dinner for fifty but then invited people in for dancing afterwards. They all go down to Basil’s when they’ve had enough. That’s the one bar on the island, I’m up on the hill, which keeps me away from the odd tourist boat, which is getting less and less frequent because we’re being quite strict about what anchorage we’ll make available, because one used to get tourists coming up in cars and people-spotting, of course, basically because of Mick, myself and Princess Margaret’s house.’

‘My ambition is to make music so incredibly uncompromised that I will have absolutely no audience left whatsoever and then I’ll be able to spend the entire year on the island.”

Looks like heaven.

(Photos, Derry Moore ; via Architectural Digest)

The post #RealEstatePorn: David Bowie’s Private Island Retreat appeared first on World of Wonder.

The ultimate real estate porn, you might say. As you may have heard, the Playboy Mansion is on the market for $200 million. THE most expensive house for sale in America. But the buyer will have to let 89 year-old Hugh Hefner live in the 89 year-old mansion until his death. Buyers will reportedly be allowed to tour the 29-room Holmby Hills house as long as they stay out of Hef’s bedroom. (Cranky old man doesn’t want you looking a his stuff!) That steep asking price may actually be pretty unrealistic. The property –worth more for its six acres, than the house itself– will likely sell for closer to $80 to $90 million, with our without Hefner. Real estate site website Zillow estimates that estate is worth closer to $34 million.

Built in 1929 (yes, the year Hefner was born) the English Manor-style house is 7,300 square feet with a double-height entry, formal living room, dining room, library, his-and-her powder rooms. The hotel-sized kitchen features an open plan with a morning room and butler’s pantry, opening to an outdoor terrace. A maid’s room in the rear of the house has a separate entrance. Upstairs are three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The master suite, which includes a fireplace and walk-in dressing room with mirrored doors, overlooks the backyard garden. The walled estate backs onto the L.A. Country Club, includes a large motor court with three-car garage, rolling lawns and views of the golf course.

My old colleague and friend, author Anthony Haden-Guest, tells of his visit to the mansion on The Daily Beast. Hefner said to him,

“Playboy and my own lifestyle are a Rorschach test where people find their own fantasies. But you’ve got to realize that this isn’t where I ever expected to go. There was no parallel. There was no such lifestyle as this when I was growing up, that I could look to, and think: this is the life that I want to live. I mean, I didn’t know anybody who was fulfilling their personal, uh, aspirations to the extent that I’ve been able to.”

Anthony goes on to say,

“As for life in the monument to sybaritism nowadays, well, Down the Rabbit Hole, a tell-all by Holly Madison, Hefner’s seven year live-in girlfriend–he is now married to 29-year-old Crystal Harris–describes a bedding ritual which sounds like erotic pantomime, what with multiple women, mostly blondes, in matching pink pajamas, porno movies, pot, desultory penetrations. Still a Rorschach Test? Perhaps.

And the mansion? Hefner bought it and the five-acre estate in 1971 for $1.1 million, a record at the time, but the company, in which Hefner is now a minority shareholder at 30 percent, have been shelling out for the running costs for quite a spell.”

…and running that place must not be cheap. But Hef wants to live out his days there even though, it or the man himself, ain’t what they used to be. That’s life. Take a tour courtesy MTV Cribs, circa 2010 below. (Photos, Pacific Coast News)

The post #RealEstatePorn: The Playboy Mansion Is on the Market For HOW MUCH? appeared first on World of Wonder.

Comedy king-maker Judd Apatow and wife, actress, Leslie Mann‘s Malibu beach house is not huge, but the price tag is. $12 million. For that you get just 2,550 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, which is tiny by Hollywood standards. But look at that backyard. The Pacific Ocean is yours. Well, not exactly. It’s not a private beach. Anybody can walk by, but if you want a place to get to on the weekends, this is pretty much perfect.

(via Variety)

The post #RealEstatePorn: Judd Apatow & Leslie Mann’s Malibu Pad Is THE Perfect Beach House appeared first on World of Wonder.

This has to be the gayest news of the day. Bette Midler has signed on to star in HBO’s upcoming biopic about Hollywood glamour-puss and bawdy gal Mae West. It’s based on West’s autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It, to be directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist) with a script by Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots) It will chronicle West’s scandalous Broadway show, Sex, which landed her in jail for 10 days for

“corrupting the morals of youth.”

I saw Bette play another mouthy babe, superagent Sue Mengers, in her one woman show I’ll Eat You Last on Broadway, and as you know she has acting AND comic chops to burn. Here are some of Mae’s best lines, which you can be SURE Mr. Fierstein will be quoting and the Divine Miss M will be delivering with relish –and a side of hot tart! Watch.

The post #GayOD!: Bette Midler Is Playing Mae West In An HBO Bio-Pic (with Script By Harvey Fierstein!) appeared first on World of Wonder.

No this isn’t Glendale… These are mansions in Romania.

The post Romanian Palaces appeared first on World of Wonder.

When Lewis Flint from England was 16, he thought it was hilarious getting Henry the Hoover tattooed just above his junk. Now that he’s older and ready to seriously date, he’s second guessing his choice.

Lewis recently told his story on Channel 4’s Bodyshockers in the UK. He said:

When I first got it done aged 16 I couldn’t stop getting it out, I got loads of attention and I was a bit of a local hero, I loved it. But I was with a girl recently and I liked her, things were going well until we got naked. When she saw it she said ‘what’s that? I am off!’ I was gutted, I never thought I would regret my tattoo when I got it done.

Part of the show is for the people to get their embarrassing body art or cosmetic surgery reversed, so of course Lewis wanted to get the tattoo removed, which wraps around and continues on his right ass-cheek.

When I think about that night the girl walked out it does haunt me and puts me off showing it to other women in the future. I know laser removal is painful but never getting laid again would be more painful.

It wasn’t very long before the laser removal proved to be too much for poor Lewis, and he asked the technician to quit. He’s now going to keep the ugly tat.

The thought of that going round near my balls is unbearable. I don’t know how people put up with 20 minutes of it. Laser is too painful for me to get rid of this tattoo, I am going to have to put up with it.

(via thegailygrind.com)

The post A Classic Story: Man With Henry the Hoover Tattoo Above His Penis Now Regrets It appeared first on World of Wonder.

What little boy/girl doesn’t want to grow up to be just like her dolls? WOWlebrity, and face of World of Wonder’s QwerrrkOut, Mx Qwerrrk has become the latest craze in the New York fashion and nightlife scenes…and now she’s been forever immortalized as a Pidgin Doll by former fashion illustrator, now doll maker Joshua David McKenney. The New York-based artist recently gained mega attention when one of his dolls that he did for Doe Deere (CEO of Lime Crime) ended up in the middle of an art world scandal. Famed photographer Richard Prince decided to use an Instagram pic (below) of Deere and her doll for his own exhibition at the Frieze New York Art Fair without consent from Deere or McKenney. And if that wasn’t enough, he actually decided to charge upwards of $90,000 for the co-opted works.

McKenney considers his creations a way of communicating the parts of him that are feminine, gentile and magical…so, it was no surprise that he chose Mx Qwerrrk as his next muse. And she’s in great company! McKenney has collaborated with other fab ladies like Grace Jones, Mariah Carey, Brooke Candy, Dita Von Teese, Candy Darling, and even Taylor Swift! Mx Q sat down for tea with Joshua recently and here’s what went down. (Mx Qwerrrk pics by Santiago Felipe)

Mx Qwerrrk: What made you wanna become a doll maker?

 

McKenney: It wasn’t a planned thing. It was just kind of something I fell into. I was working as a professional illustrator and I just had the urge to start making dolls. I took a few ceramic and mold-making classes and the more I explored sculpting, painting, and photographing dolls, the more it just felt right. To me it’s the ultimate expression.

 

Mx Q: How long does it take you to make a doll?

 

McKenney: My current wait time is 4-6 weeks. It really depends on the doll.

 

Mx Q: For me, you did sculpted hair. Is that a more complicated process?

 

McKenney: Usually, I adapt existing synthetic fiber wigs to the style I want, but sometimes I make them using natural fibers, like mohair or alpaca. Hand-sculpted wigs, like yours, do take a little more time, but they are best when you have a short or set hairstyle. I’ve just started 3D printing “snap-on” wigs. They are still in a development phase, but the potential is really exciting.

 

Mx Q: What was your reaction when you heard that Richard Prince had used one of your dolls in his photo exhibition without your knowledge?

 

McKenney: At first I was just surprised, but I didn’t know anyone would really see it. But then I was getting called by my friends at the Frieze Art Fair, and being tagged all over Instagram. That image, in particular, was all over TV and media like CNN, Fortune Magazine, The Today Show, and I was all of the sudden being asked to speak on internationally broadcast news shows….I realized it was kinda an oddly big moment. It lasted about two weeks and I’m just glad that I have enough of a presence and voice on social media that I was able to speak out and get credit because he had totally erased my name from the image.

 

Mx Q: Would you say that some good came from it, since it gave you more exposure?

 

McKenney: For sure!

 

Mx Q: What kind of people buy Pidgin dolls?

 

McKenney: I’m an artist and my medium is dolls. The people that buy Pidgin are the kind of people that understand that they are buying art from an artist. Before dolls were massed produced in factories, they were hand-made luxury items, heirlooms to be cherished…..this is the kind of doll Pidgin is.

 

Mx Q: What kind of doll are you?

 

McKenney: Actually, I consider myself more of a puppeteer than anything. I use dolls as a way to express things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to express by just being myself. Pidgin doesn’t ‘talk’, but she communicates a lot for me.

 

Mx Q: We’re about the same height and equally pretty… Would you have an issue with dating a pig like me?

 

Mc Kenney: Absolutely!!! I’ve always had a thing for glamorous pigs!

 

Grace Jones

Candy Darling

Brooke Candy

The post WOWlebrity Mx Qwerrrk Gets a Hi-Fashion Pidgin Doll Done in Her Likeness appeared first on World of Wonder.

Oh, this year is starting off with too many deaths. Glenn Frey, a founding member and guitarist for The Eagles, died today. He was 67. The band said in a statement,

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our comrade, Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016.Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia. The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery. Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide.”

Frey wrote and provided vocals for many of the Eagles’ hits, including Heartache Tonight,Lyin’ Eyes, Tequila Sunrise & Take It Easy. Fry along with Don Henley, also co-wrote Hotel California & Desperado. Henley praised Frey in a statement,

“He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved. We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed.

But, Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved his wife and kids more than anything.”

Below is the band’s performance of Take It Easy in 1977, with Fry on lead vocals.

(via Variety)

The post #RIP: The Eagles’, Glenn Fry appeared first on World of Wonder.

Good old Marjorie Conrad. Hadn’t seen her in absolute AGES. The former America’s Next Top Model-turned-WOW receptionist-turned-indie filmmaker returned to her old stomping grounds to talk about her upcoming SLAMDANCE feature Chemical Cut. The movie – which she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in – follows the story of a young misfit model who struggles to define herself in the nutty world of modeling, until a mysterious woman’s performance strikes her imagination. So it’s how you can find inspiration in absurdity, see. And the chemical cut of the title refers to when you bleach your hair and it melts off, which, it turns out, is a metaphor for the fashion industry as a whole, see, because… well, just watch the interview below.

Chemical Cut premieres this week at the Slamdance Festival in Utah, and other film festivals thereafter.

The post #WOWExclusive: JSJ Interviews Marjorie Conrad on her New Film Chemical Cut appeared first on World of Wonder.

Upon first look, one might foolishly dismiss the well-known Instagram user Walle Couto as JUST a handsome guy with a REALLY GOOD sense of style. Like seriously, his clothes are amazing. Take note:

See what I mean? But more importantly, he posts what are perhaps the most INTENSE thirst-trap selfies OF ALL TIME. LIKE THIS:

AND:

He also teaches us how to be a good person. Like, he loves animals:

He lets other people photograph him from questionable low angles:

He genuinely wants us to have good, safe weekends:

He’s adventurous:

He loves to flex for us while naked because he knows it will make us feel better about life:

He doesn’t shy away from flexing his (VERY IMPRESSIVE) backside either:

He knows how to look amazing while stretching under a light (a rare talent):

He motivates us to never skip leg day:

He doesn’t mind showing off his PERFECT body hair:

And, last but CERTAINLY not least, he shows us how to completely murder the classic locker room mirror selfie:

The post #ManCrushMonday Walle Couto Is About To Burn Up The Internet appeared first on World of Wonder.

Is there anyone more terrifying than Chelsea Handler on drugs? The answer to that question is…no. Need it, want it, this is a must-watch. Chelsea Handler will be in a four-part documentary series on Netflix touching on hot topics that fascinate her like marriage, racism, Silicon Valley, and drugs. Chelsea Does… premieres January 23 on Netflix.

The post Must-Watch Chelsea Handler Doc on Netflix appeared first on World of Wonder.

Antoine Fuqua
Cindy Sherman
Coral Smith
Desi Arnaz, Jr.
Dolly Parton
Drea de Matteo
Hikaru Utada
Jean Stapleton
Jodi Sweetin
Katey Segal
Logan Lerman
Luke Macfarlane
Marsha Thomason
Michael Crawford
Paula Deen
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Wayans
Shelley Fabares
Tippi Hedren
Trey Lorenz

The post January 19: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on World of Wonder.

January 19, 1946– Dolly Parton:

“I’m not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know I am not dumb. I also know I am not blond.”

Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean was born on this very day, in rural Tennessee. I love Dolly Parton. I love her big voice, her big hair, and her big boobs.

I also admire her. Parton is passionate about early childhood education, and she has done amazing, important work to give kids who are born in her part of the Appalachian Mountains a good start in life with her Dollywood Foundation, which runs The Imagination Library, providing rural Tennessee kids a new book every month until their 5th birthdays. So far, Parton and The Imagination Library have given away more than 50 million books.

Parton is an outspoken advocate for Women’s Rights. A good Christian girl, like Tammy Faye LaValley Bakker Messner, she seems to have actually read The Bible and gets the loving message of the life of Jesus. She has been an especially good friend to her gay fans, a longtime supporter Gay Rights and Marriage Equality, even appearing on the cover of Out Magazine.

Parton’s production company, Sandollar Productions, which she started with her longtime manager/business partner/close friend Sandy Gallin, an openly gay man, chose, as its first project, the Academy Award winning documentary about the making of the AIDS Quilt Common Threads (1989).

Drag Queens adore Parton, which is the highest compliment a human being can hold. The wigs, the costumes, the trashy makeup, the over-the-top, larger-than-life hair, and we still believe her sure-enough sweetness and the love she exudes.

Parton knows about family. She was born fourth of 12 children. Her father paid the doctor that attended her birth with a bag of oatmeal. Parton’s father was a sharecropper, growing tobacco. He was one of 15 children. By the time Parton’s mother was 30 years old, she had already given birth to 8 children. Her mother was one of 10 children.

Parton began composing songs before she could read or write. Her mother would transcribe her lyrics on paper for her. When Parton was just 7 years old, she was playing the guitar and singing her tunes to anyone who would listen. The cows, chickens & cats were her audience. Parton and her sisters sang at the Pentecostal Church, where her grandfather was the preacher.

When she was 10 years old, an uncle brought her to the attention of Cas Walker, the owner a chain of grocery stores. Walker produced a radio show to promote his shops. Parton sang on his Knoxville radio show in front of a live audience. They loved her. In 1960, Parton signed with Gold Band Records, and recorded a single of Puppy Love and on the flip side, Girl Left Alone. She was 14 years old. When she was 16 years old, she signed with a major label, Mercury Records.

In 1964, Parton became the first person in her family to graduate from high school. The very next day, she got on a Greyhound bus bound for Nashville with her songs, her old guitar and all of her belongings packed in 3 paper bags from Walker’s grocery store.

In Nashville, Parton rented a small apartment above the Wishy Washy Laundromat. While waiting for her clothes to dry, Carl Dean stopped to talk to Parton. The couple wanted to get married, but her agent was against it. They kept their wedding a secret for 2 years. The couple will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in May. Although they have no children of their own, Parton and Dean have raised 5 of her siblings.

“When I am home, I spend Sunday with my husband. If we’re not cooking, we travel around in our camper, stop at fast-food restaurants, and picnic. We love that stuff that will harden your arteries in a hurry.”

In 1967, Parton’s song Dumb Blonde placed in The Country Music Charts Top 10. The accomplishment was noted by singer/songwriter Porter Wagoner, who asked Parton to sing on his popular television show for $60,000 per season. Parton and Wagoner had a difficult, often contentious relationship, but they recorded and performed together until 1974. In 1973, Parton wrote a little ditty titled I Will Always Love You as a thank you gift for Wagoner. We all know how that turned out.  In the same writing session, Parton penned another huge hit, Jolene. Between 1968 and 1972, the prolific Parton released an astonishing 21 albums.

A fan named Jane Fonda sent Parton a script for a film titled 9 To 5 in 1980. Parton was not certain that acting was for her, but she reluctantly took the role. Parton enjoyed acting, audiences enjoyed Parton on screen and she was nominated for an Academy Award for writing the popular title song.

In 1996, research scientists named the world’s first cloned mammal, a sheep, after Parton. Ian Wilmut, who was in charge of the project said:

“Dolly (the sheep) is derived from a mammary gland cell and we couldn’t think of a more impressive pair of glands than Dolly Parton’s.”

On Halloween 1999, Parton entered a Dolly Parton Lookalike Contest in Santa Monica. She lost.

Parton claims that she has written about 5,000 songs and she composes a new one every few days:

“Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.”

Parton has sold more than 100 million albums, received 2 Oscar noms & a Tony Award nomination, and 46 Grammy Award nominations with 8 wins. In 2005, she was honored with our country’s highest arts award, the National Medal Of Arts, and the next year she was given a Kennedy Center Honor.

“If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.”

She built a Dolly Parton-themed theme park. Dollywood opened in 1986. It was originally a tiny tourist attraction that opened in 1961 as The Rebel Railroad. Dollywood put Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on the map and gave jobs to hundreds of people in the area. The park had a million visitors in the first 6 months after opening and they still have more than 3 million visitors a year. I want a Stephen theme park SteveTown!, a place with Marijuana tasting rooms, whiskey and pizza bars, a Daniel Craig ride, and Stephen singing songs on the Steve Stage every day at noon. Every evening at twilight, Stephen ascends to the top of The Magic Mushroom Castle with a baby pink spot light following him.

“I look just like the girl next door… if you happen to live next door to an amusement park.”

Parton is fabulous and fabulous comes from self-invention. This is what us Old School, Pre-Stonewall Gays love the most, getting knocked down by society and then having the genius and the artistry to remake yourself into a fabulous creature. Don’t you think Dolly Parton fits the bill? She is a Coat Of Many Colors, from her style to her stylish struggle against adversity & prejudice, plus her unabashed celebration of sexuality. Parton and all her companies are estimated at more than $500 million. However, she has no maids, drivers or servants. Parton is nothing if not a survivor, which feeds her status among her many gay fans. She has defied her critics, stayed true to herself, and turned a stereotype into a power position.

She certainly holds a very special place in our culture, embraced by Conservative Christians and gay people in equal measure. What is your favorite Parton project? I am still over the moon for the Trio Albums with Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt.

“The only way I’d be caught without makeup is if my radio fell in the bathtub and electrocuted me and I was between makeup sessions at home. I hope my husband would slap a little lipstick on me before he took me to the morgue.”

The post #BornThisDay: Dolly Parton appeared first on World of Wonder.

Just when you begin to feel Bowie fatigue setting in (ENOUGH, FACEBOOK), something like this yanks you right back to the despair you felt when you first heard the news of his passing.

Toronto’s Choir!Choir!Choir! teamed up with the Art Gallery of Ontario to pay tribute by singing our original arrangement of Space Oddity with 500+ singers. It all went down last night in Walker Court and here’s how it sounded, looked, and felt. RIP Starman: to say we’ll miss you doesn’t even scratch the surface.

I DARE you to listen to this and not get choked up. “Space Oddity” isn’t even my favorite song and I’m still blubbering at my desk right now.

The post Choir of 500+ Sing “Space Oddity” and It Will Absolutely Move You to Tears appeared first on World of Wonder.