She was probably my favorite singer of all time and her joy and music will never be replicated.

-Txec R

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Today at 02:23:53 PM

Proclamation of Mourning in Honour of Dolly Parton

The Government of the Kingdom of Talossa notes with sorrow the passing of Dolly Rebecca Parton, who died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 25th of August, 2026, at the age of eighty. While the world will rightly remember her as one of the great voices of American music, it is for her works of generosity and compassion that we particularly remember her.

Dolly Parton understood, from the poverty of her own childhood, that dignity is not a luxury. Inspired by a father she loved who never learned to read, she built the Imagination Library -- now the largest early childhood book-gifting program in the world, with more than 300 million free books delivered to children across five countries (including my own). Through her Dollywood Foundation, she reduced her home county's high school dropout rate from thirty-five percent to six, funded children's hospitals, and created thousands of jobs in a region that badly needed them. When wildfires struck the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016, she raised over twelve million dollars for displaced families. When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the world, her million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University helped fund the early research behind the Moderna vaccine -- and then she rolled up her rhinestone sleeve on camera to get the shot, because she knew her people trusted her more than they trusted a press release.

The Kingdom of Talossa extends its deepest sympathies to the Parton family and to the countless communities she lifted. Her legacy is not measured in platinum records, but in children who learned to read, in families who kept their homes, and in lives that were saved because one woman from the hills of Tennessee decided that she could help. May she rest in peace.

I would like to countersign this proclamation. I had the great pleasure of seeing Dolly in concert some years back at the Hollywood Bowl. My heart aches at the loss but it also feels great joy when thinking of all that she did for the world and her love for life, music, and her fellow humans.

(Baron you beat me to this as I was going to post my own proclamation when I had a few moment!)

I would as King like to take this one step further and declare that henceforth, August 25 shall be known as Dolly Parton Day.

-Txec R

Via a private donation (without use of treasury funds), a full page in the MicroCon 2027 program has been procured.

While we await design criteria from the hosts (Slowjamistan) those interested can be pondering draft layouts.

We have a new winner! Or at least a different one from last year. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here did not make it through the semifinal, which means we're gonna have a different winner from last year. The rest of last years top 5 is still in the race. Of course Starman would still be a repeat winner if it won and would enter the Hall of Fame in that case.

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QAHYdPpVnElXYd8h1yEpA

The Final consists of one group of 15 songs (the winners and runners-up songs from each group in Round 3 and the top 5 from the semifinal).

The voting period will last until Tuesday, September 1st at at 12:00 PM, Talossan Daylight Time. (19:00 CEST). I'm still hoping to do a full countdown broadcast starting around 14:30 (21:30 CEST) and finishing just before the general election deadline

Give your top ten songs 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points, respectively. You must give points to exactly ten songs.

DO NOT POST YOUR VOTE HERE, SEND IT TO ME IN A PRIVATE MESSAGE!

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
David Bowie - Starman
Dire Straits - Telegraph Road
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
House of Pain - Jump Around
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want
The Who - Baba O'Riley


Tiebreakers:
- Number of voters giving 12 points
- Number of voters giving 10 points
...
- Number of voters giving 2 points
- Rank in Semifinal (if applicable)
- PPV in Round 3
- Rank in Round 3
- PPV in Round 2
- Rank in Round 2
- Last year's result (1 > 2 > ... > 20 > Round 4 > Round 3 > Round 2 > other)
- PPV in Round 1 (if applicable)
- Rank in Round 1 (if applicable)
- Year first nominated (special edition > earlier > later)
- Random chance

Tactical voting refers to either giving more points than you normally would to a song because it would make the difference between it going through or getting eliminated, or giving fewer points than you normally would to a song because it might kick a song you like even more out of the competition. This is hard to prevent, but my very strong request would be to not do it. Give points to the songs you believe deserve to go through, regardless of how others are voting. Doing otherwise reduces the value of votes that came before you, which is unfair to them. Remember that it's not a competition between voters, but a collective effort to make a nice list of songs we like. Thanks.

I did my best with all the links but there is always a chance some are broken or have a wrong version or bad audio quality. If a link is broken or you have a suggestion for a better link, please contact me or post the link in the thread. Officially, we are not voting on the YouTube link, but on the listed Artist + Title.

COMMENTARY ON THE PROGRESS OF THE GAME, THE RULES, WHAT SONGS YOU LIKE, ETC., IS VERY WELCOME.

The Government of the Kingdom of Talossa notes with sorrow the passing of Dolly Rebecca Parton, who died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 25th of August, 2026, at the age of eighty. While the world will rightly remember her as one of the great voices of American music, it is for her works of generosity and compassion that we particularly remember her.

Dolly Parton understood, from the poverty of her own childhood, that dignity is not a luxury. Inspired by a father she loved who never learned to read, she built the Imagination Library -- now the largest early childhood book-gifting program in the world, with more than 300 million free books delivered to children across five countries (including my own). Through her Dollywood Foundation, she reduced her home county's high school dropout rate from thirty-five percent to six, funded children's hospitals, and created thousands of jobs in a region that badly needed them. When wildfires struck the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016, she raised over twelve million dollars for displaced families. When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the world, her million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University helped fund the early research behind the Moderna vaccine -- and then she rolled up her rhinestone sleeve on camera to get the shot, because she knew her people trusted her more than they trusted a press release.

The Kingdom of Talossa extends its deepest sympathies to the Parton family and to the countless communities she lifted. Her legacy is not measured in platinum records, but in children who learned to read, in families who kept their homes, and in lives that were saved because one woman from the hills of Tennessee decided that she could help. May she rest in peace.

closed

Probably at least two of the five I didn't vote for...