|
I left for the trip to Danville,
Kentucky around 11 am on Tuesday with Dolly’s painting safely
laying in the back seat and her new CD, “Those Were The Days”,
blasting on the van stereo. Being a
lifetime fan, my anticipation started to build when I saw the sign “Danville
– 22 miles”. I finally
pulled into the parking lot of the Norton
Center for the Arts at Centre
College around 4:30 pm – yes it was a very long
trip. Cutting me off at the turn in
of the parking lot to the back entrance were two very large buses. Could it be Dolly’s bus? Probably just some of her crew!
 
If anyone knows
if either of these are Dolly’s bus then
please let me know!
I arrived in the lobby of the Newlin
Hall where I waited for the opportunity to give Dolly the painting. The wait seemed like forever. I could hear the band warming up and
practicing in the theatre. Then
through the wall we heard the voice of an angel – Dolly was on stage
practicing “PMS Blues” with the band. She sounded great! That’s when my excitement was
really boiling. Around 5:45 pm everything got silent –
there were neither band nor Dolly practicing. I started getting nervous. At 6 pm
the box office manager handed me my backstage pass and said that I would be
meeting Dolly at 6:30 pm in her
dressing room. Just 30 minutes away
from finally fulfilling a lifelong dream.
The longest thirty minutes of my life was over and I was
ushered through the side door and down the elevator. All the way down the hall I could hear
Dolly talking. Then I turned to go
into Dolly’s Dressing Room and there she was. Standing there in the corner in front of
several mirrors and the minute she saw me, she came running forward and
said “Here comes Big Wheels” (referring to my
wheel-chair). The box office manager
introduced me to Dolly and then she was handed the poster flat of
“Those Were The Days” to sign.
Dolly signed the poster “To Teddy Love, Dolly Parton”.
Dolly was then handed the painting of her with her
parents. She took sometime to look
it over and asked me how long it took to paint it. I responded with “…about a
week,” and she was astonished that it only took a week. She said that it was beautiful and her
Mommy and Daddy would be proud.
Dolly first sees the painting!
We then took several photos together. She made sure that I was giving her the
painting because she told me that she didn’t want me to take it
back. I also gave her a copy of my
book which I signed along with a letter to tell her more about the painting
and how much her music has inspired me.
We thanked each other and I was ushered back up to the lobby.
  
Just a few of the dozen pictures taken of Teddy with
Dolly!
I got three really good close-ups of Dolly’s face
while she was in her dressing room!
Then later around 8 pm
Dolly opened her concert with the title song from her new album and every
song she sang was superb. Sitting in
the fifth row from the stage we had magnificent seats. Dolly covered several of her hit songs such
as “9 to 5”, “Two Doors Down”, “Coat of Many
Colors”, “These Old Bones”, “Here You Come Again,
“Apple Jack”, “Marry Me” “Jolene”,
“My Tennessee Mountain Home”, “Smoky Mountain
Memories”, “PMS Blues” and my favorite song by Dolly -
“I Will Always Love You”.
Dolly also sung eight songs from the album including my favorite,
“Imagine”.
 
Just a few of the hundreds I took at the concert!
Dolly was fantastic and meeting her in person was a
chance of a lifetime. It was an
honor to have a huge celebrity such as Dolly Parton
now own a piece of my artwork. A
Great Accomplishment! Now that a big
portion of my dreams have been fulfilled – I must dream
BIGGER!!! So stay tuned to more
adventures of Teddy…
To view a more
detailed picture of the painting Dolly received – Click
Here!
All of these photos are copyright and CAN
NOT be used without my permission!
|
