Dave and Dolly

It's good to have life-goals. Probably my top two are (1) to appear on the David Letterman show, and (2) to co-write, and co-record, a song with Dolly Parton.

Regarding #1: I'd be o.k. with being on Letterman because of my fame or worthy thing I did (e.g. as a notable Criminologist); or as the guest band; or through some sort of ''Stupid Human Trick'' (I have one or two in the works, but I'm not yet sufficiently practiced to send in an audition tape).

Regarding #2: Yeah, it's not hip or cool to be into Country music, and esp. not Dolly Parton (as opposed to, I suppose, The Dixie Chicks). But relative to Country music as a whole, she writes an astoundingly high proportion of her own songs (which I respect and admire); and her songs are both catchy and have good lyrics. She also seems like a genuinely nice person: she donates a ton of money to charities, and is pretty humble and good-natured and able to laugh at herself.

(A while back I Googled her, and found a number of interviews. One of them notes that she never had any children -- not through any birth control measures, but it just didn't happen, she said. She then says that she takes it as a good thing, because if she did have her own children she'd probably be selfish and channel all her money into giving them a better life. As it is, all children are her children, so she tries to look out for them all.)


WIFMD (When I Finish My Dissertation), it'd be tempting to send her a demo tape with a few of my songs, and ask her if she'd like to collaborate. But I don't know to make it past her ''gatekeepers'' that I would presume answer her mail and keep out the crackpots. And putting in my cover letter, "I'm not a crackpot! Really!!!" probably wouldn't work.

Something to deal with another day... :)


--GG