Donna Summer: She could sing anything, anywhere, with anyone, at any time.

[JUL 5] Happy Sunday all! I hope all my American friends had a nice holiday weekend.  And I hope my non-American friends had a nice regular weekend too. :-)

[JUL 5] Bruce Sudano fans - he's got a new video out for Back In The Neighborhood. You can watch it, and read an article about Spirals Vol 1 on BigTakeOver.com. You can also read an article promoting the video on Menafn.com.

[JUL 5]  Ever wonder what TV shows or movies have used Donna's music?  Check out WhatSong.com. The list starts back in 1981 with Highway Runner, and ends just about a week or so ago with Bad Girls on Doom Patrol.

[JUL 5] If you are into reaction videos, there is one on YouTube with a guy reacting to I Feel Love.  The guy is completely blown away!  :-)

[JUL 5] That brings us to YouTube. First up a new "mix" of Lush Life, where basically most of the music has been removed so for the majority of the song all you hear are Donna's vocals.  Then in honor of July 4th we have Livin' In America live,  God Bless Anerica live,  and The Star Spangled Banner live.  And then, one more that I posted recently, but I want to post it again anyway - Suecase Hall's video for Let There Be Peace/Enough Is Enough inspired by the global protests.

[JUL 2] The new Summer Fever Pick is up! This month we are celebrating Cats Without Claws.  :-)

[JUN 28] Happy Global Pride Day everyone! (Although with the pandemic, this may be the weirdest Pride month ever... as well as the weirdest everything else this summer!  LOL)

[JUN 28] So this is interesting.... this week (and some of you may have seen this already), a fan named Casper found a previously unheard early recording of Donna's! It is a 1972 recording credited to Cool Union Drive. The A side is a song called Time For Change which if you listen to it, you will recognize it as an early version of Walk Hand In Hand!  The flip side is called Something I'd Like To Tell You and the writing credits are listed as Brodersen/Pierre. Donna did used to use the name Gayn Pierre back around that time, so it is POSSIBLE she is the cowriter.  The other writer is Patrick Brodersen. Another interesting thing - the woman pictured on the single sleeve, is Donna's sister Linda Gaines. The photo is one she did for a Black Is Beautiful campaign back in Germany.  Over on Facebook, someone got in touch with Patrick Brodersen's son, and it's easier if I just quote what was posted:  "The song started out as a promo single for the 'junge union', the youth organisation of the German conservative party CDU. The CDU traditionally sports black as its colour and to cast a black singer, at the time for Germany somewhat untypical and exotic, was supposed to appeal to a young audience. Germany had no race segregation as there were almost no persons of colour here. It was recorded in the early to mid seventies when my father worked for the CDU as a graphic designer. He was a guitarist and song writer as well and somehow convinced the team around the later chancellor Helmut Kohl to record the song. Donna was cast when her engagement with the Hair musical ensemble in Munich was finished and she looked for other engagements. What you hear here is the original voice track on a complete new arrangement recorded a few years later in Hannover with the band Eloy as session musicians. My father had the rights to the track and the recordings, produced the new version and published it on a few samplers. I still got the 36-track reel somewhere and probably some very old two tracks.

I have no recollection to Donna Summer herself but i can remember the Eloy musicians rooming in in our house during the recordings, I was 12 then. The rest of the story was told to me by my parents. One nice touch to the story: on the original single cover it says Donna Summer, but the picture was of her sister, who was, as they say, more conventionally beautiful. The original single sported the slogan 'black is beautiful', again, a German like my father in the seventies had probably very little understanding of the political significance of that slogan and neither had any of the big wigs in the CDU it seems. Well, who am i to judge, by the way, no need to flame him either, he is dead."

So thank you Casper for sharing this great find!!!

[JUN 28] I feel like everything after  previously unknown is going to be anti-climatic, but let's keep going anyway.  LOL In Johnnyswim news, our favorite duo did a podcast for Relevent in which they get to talk about Songs With Strangers and their upcoming TV Show on the Magnolia Network.  (You can jump to about 44:25 if you only want to listen to the Johnnyswim part.)

[JUN 28] Bruce Sudano fans - check out the video of Bruce talking about Casablanca with Christian John Wikane.

[JUN 28] I think that brings us to YouTube.  Let's look at clips from the early years.  :-)  First up is Can't  Understand (credited to Donna Gaines). Then we have O Segne Gott Mein Seel from Godspell,  Black Power from a German TV show, an ad for Afri-Cola,  and The Flesh Failures from Hair.

[JUN 21] Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

[JUN 21]  Johnnyswim has popped up in the news a couple of times lately. The first is part of a CMT list called "On Juneteenth discover these African-American artists in country music and beyond". Johnnyswim is represented by their video for Home.  (A note for my non-American friends who might be wondering - in a nutshell, Juneteenth is an American holiday celebrating the end of slavery.  And yes  it is a bit more complicated than that, so Wikipedia is your friend, and then Google if you are interested in learning even more.  :-) )

[JUN 21] For those looking for a bigger Johnnyswim fix,  check out the Dream Big podcast for a half hour of Johnnyswim goodness.  :-) On a side note, they mention in the podcast that they have been together for 15 years! How is it possible THAT much time has passed?  LOL

[JUN 21]  Facebookers... Mary Gaines Bernard has teased an upcoming... something? Keep an eye on her page she said there are some great stories coming our way.  :-)

[JUN 21] Here's an unusual poll for you guys. In Boston there is (was?) a statue of Christopher Columbus that has become controversial.  There is serious talk of replacing it with something else so Boston.com published a poll asking readers what should replace the statue.  Donna is one of the choices on the list and you can vote for her if you want.  (I did, but I honestly believe that if they do replace the statue, it will be with an historical figure rather than a contemporary one. But wouldn't it be cool to have  a statue of Donna?  :-D )

[JUN 21] That brings us to YouTube. Since yesterday marked the first day of summer (well, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere), let's celebrate Summer!  First up, one that just screams summer to me - Sand On My Feet. :-) Then of course we have to have Summer Fever - this one is live in Brazil.  And of course the summer of 79 was defined for me by Hot Stuff, Bad Girls, and Dim All The Lights.  Then 20 years later my summer was defined by I Will Go With You. I don't know what song will define this summer for me, but I can say that this week I have been really drawn to this unreleased gem - Run With It.

[JUN 14] Greetings all!  Let's start off with Donna this week.  First up, a 1982 interview on Soundcloud. Then we have a new Suecase Hall video combining a little Enough Is Enough, a little Voices Crying Out, A lot of Let There Be Peace, and a ton of images from all the recent Black Lives Matter protests. It's powerful stuff!  :-)  We are living in historic times. (And not just because of the most 2020 thing ever - murder hornets...  lol)

[JUN 14] Johnnyswim fans, while our favorite duo has been off the road, they have picked up a new hobby - cooking videos!  Yes, you can watch Amanda and Abner make beef Bolognese, a roast chicken, macarons, Palestinian chicken, and croissants (so far). Warning - do NOT watch these videos if you are hungry!  LOL

[JUN 14] Bruce Sudano fans - check out the essay he wrote for Americana Highways about "Corona Time".  Then go check out his songwriting tips mini-lesson on the Grammy Museum website.

[JUN 14] And I think that brings us to YouTube. This week let's look at some Summer/Sudano collaborations.  First up,  the unreleased gem, Worth The Wait. Then we have Donna's version of Starting Over Again,  the demo for Bad Girls,  Anyway At All from the Tonight Show,  and as a bonus, Bruce's cover of Bad Girls.

[JUN 7] Greetings all and Happy Sunday!  Also, Happy Pride Month!  (For those who have lost track due to quarantine - yes! It is June!  LOL) And to all the peaceful protesters out there - (worldwide! Holy cow!) You guys ROCK! And you are making history. And in these dark times of pandemic, economic disaster, intolerance, hate, and violence, you are a ray of hope for the future, and you are being heard.

[JUN 7]  TheGuardian.com is counting down the top 100 UK #1 singles since the beginning of the charts.  Currently I Feel Love sits at #4.

[JUN 7] A blog post written in March  from VindicateMJ.wordpress.com has recently surfaced and it has some interesting SPECULATION about Donna's relationship with David Geffen. It's worth a read, but take it with a grain of salt.

[JUN 7] A 2008 interview from the Crayons tour has been recently reposted on YouTube. And something else interesting -  a promo clip for the 1994 "Complete CD"  has surfaced as well.

[JUN 7] Bruce Sudano fans: As you know he did an interview for Pop Matters recently.  Now pieces of that interview have been posted in video form on YouTube on the Conversations With Christian John Wikane channel.  :-) Also, check out American Songwriter's review of Spirals Vol. 1.

[JUN 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think this week we will celebrate the Summer Fever Pick. First up we have the title track live at Disney.  Then we have the video for Unconditional Love,  the extended version of Stop Look & Listen, Klyk's Smooth mix of Tokyo,  a clip of a 1983 interview in Rome (in Italian),  Donna's 1983 appearance on Johnny Carson, and finally Harry Langdon's discussion of  the Hard For The Money photoshoot.

[MAY 30]  Happy Saturday all! Yes the update is a little early - mainly because I had time tonight and I felt the need to escape from the real news cycle for awhile.  (How much death and mayhem can you watch before you get completely depressed?) Let's start off with the Summer Fever Pick for June.  This month it's She Works Hard For The Money.  Coincidentally, June is my annual evaluation at work, so boss if you are reading this, She (ME) Works Hard For The (no) Money!  LOL

[MAY 30] In the Donna is everywhere category, in episode 8 of the TV series Mrs. America there is a scene where the actress playing Gloria Steinem enters a hallway in slow-mo  and they play I Feel Love.  Better yet, there is no dialog running over the song.

[MAY 30] Also, catch an appearance by Donna in a documentary called The Secret Disco Revolution.

[MAY 30] Johnnyswim fans - they have completed yet another Songs With Strangers. This one is called Running and it is the last song on their upcoming Songs With Strangers album. It's been a fun run and they got some great songs out of it!

[MAY 30] Bruce Sudano fans - catch his interview with Christian John Wikane on PopMatters.com.  It's a nice long interview peppered with video clips and great new photos courtesy of Sekou Luke Studios.

[MAY 30] That brings us to YouTube.  This week let's play some songs that have been on my mind lately. A couple of them are audio only, but I think you will like them anyway.  First up, Mistaken Identity and Let There Be Peace.  Then we have Love Is The Healer, a cover of The Impossible Dream, the Ordinary Girl track Begin Again, the ballad of I Will Live For Love, State Of Independence with clips o f MLK, and We're Gonna Win. And a bonus clip from Johnnyswim, Let It Matter.

[MAY 24] Happy Sunday all! I hope my American friends are enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. And please, whatever your plans include, take a moment to remember the reason for the holiday and say a little thanks for the service people and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice.

[MAY 24] Let me start off with Bruce this week because he is doing an Instagram Live Lunch with Mike Montali tomorrow at 1 PM EST. He also did Thumpin' Thursday with Hollar which you can watch now on Facebook, and he also did Sittin' In With The CAT which you can also listen to online now.

[MAY 24] Brooklyn Sudano fans - catch her in the Freeform TV Series Cruel Summer. (It used to be called Last Summer.) The show is described as a thriller that takes place over 3 summers in the 90s and each episode is told from the point of view of one of the two main characters to keep viewers guessing as the plot moves along. Look for that to debut in 2021.

[MAY 24] In the Donna is everywhere category, there is a Hulu original series called High Fidelity. The main character owns a record store and somebody noticed  the album covers for The Wanderer and for Cats Without Claws in the record store.  :-) (That reminds me of the times I spotted The Wanderer in some old Cosby Show repeats. Or the Donna poster in the Fact Of Life repeats. :-) )

[MAY 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. In keeping with the holiday weekend, we have Donna singing The Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, Amazing Grace, and Let There Be Peace.

[MAY 17] Happy Sunday all. Can you believe 8 years has gone by since I had to write the site update that I never wanted to write? In some ways it seems like it was so very recent, but at other times I feel like it was decades ago.  Sigh...

[MAY 17] Let's get the bad news out of the way first. The tour of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical has officially closed according to BroadwayWorld.com.  Now the musical's website only says that this season has been cancelled - which is dates through September 2020. So there is a CHANCE it could return in 2021, but if it does I expect they will recast it. Also, keep in mind that the musical is available for licensing so that local theaters could theoretically mount their own productions.  Honestly, while it's sad that the tour has closed, I'm not surprised. Before this COVID situation is sorted, I'm afraid we will lose a lot more Broadway and touring shows. Heck - even the moneymaker Frozen announced that it's Broadway run is over. Anyway, Happy Trails to the Summer touring company and thank you for being part of our Donna family even if it was only for a short time.

[MAY 17] GQ Magazine posted an article called 16 Donna Summer Songs That Changed The Way We Dance. It's a pretty eclectic list that is arranged chronologically. It starts off with Aquarius which is not something most writers even consider. Of course it also stops with This Time I Know It's For Real which I am sure will annoy fans of the material that came later.  LOL

[MAY 17] In Bruce news, he posted a short little song on Facebook from his couch (well, I think it's from the couch - he just moved it outside.  lol) It's called No End In Sight.

[MAY 17] Over in Johnnyswim land... they are hanging out with strangers again and writing songs.  The new one is called And We Remain, and the accompanying video showing the creation of the song is also up. I think this whole Songs With Strangers thing may be the best thing to come out of this quarantine.  Every song they write this way just shows that it's not as important WHAT life throws at you, as it is what you DO about it.

[MAY 17] Harry Langdon has posted a new video about his photo shoots with Donna. This time he talks about the On The Radio sessions. Fun fact - the cover photo was the result of a second session they planned at the last second.

[MAY 17] I think that brings us to YouTube where we have some new and old clips.  First up, Suecase Hall has posted a video featuring Donna's music and a whole bunch of celebrity quotes from 2012 remembering Donna. Then Rikymira1 posted a video celebrating Donna's  whole musical career from Haare to Angel. Moving on, we have a song that I had on repeat on the drive to work today, Netherlands.  (Maybe it's the quarantine plus the date, but I was really feeling that one today.)  Then we have Omega Red (ft Donna) with Angel,  Bruce Sudano with See You When I Get There, and  Johnnyswim's Let It Matter. And then I can't leave you depressed... so here is one of my favorite FUN clips with Donna: Could It Be Magic performed live with Barry Manilow. I dare you to watch it and not smile.  :-)

[MAY 17] And finally - my annual MS Walk was officially yesterday.  Since we are in quarantine around here, the walk was made into a virtual event. So I put on my Donna gear, grabbed a safe "friend" (you will see  lol) and did some sort of walk that you can see on YouTube.  I want to thank all of you for your support! You guys are AMAZING - especially this year when I know so many can't work.  I have little trinkets to mail to you as my way of saying thank you - I promise I will sanitize them before I mail!  LOL (Oh and I also did a real walk yesterday of about 4 miles. If you are my Facebook friend and saw my post last night - that's how I got sunburnt! )

[MAY 10] Greetings all and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

[MAY 10] First up - you guys remember the Hot Summer Night With Donna concert from 1983? It's back - or at least it will be on July 10!  You can get it as a CD/DVD combo or you can pop for a purple vinyl edition.  Either way, it comes with a booklet with new interviews with Bruce, director Brian Grant, choreographer Arlene Phillips, and executive producer Len Epand.  It's currently available as a pre-order from Amazon UK, but heads up to my fellow North Americans: they currently won't ship here. BUT.... SuperDeluxeEditions.com will.   :-D

[MAY 10] In musical news, Summer: The Musical's Nashville performances have been rescheduled to  July 6 to 11, 2021. Ticket holders should have already received an email, but if you didn't - log into your TPAC.org account to see what your options are regarding rescheduling, etc. You MUST respond by May 26, or you will be locked into your rescheduled date. Also, both Detroit and Kansas City have been suspended.  I think Detroit is planning to reschedule at some point, I'm not sure about Kansas City though.  If you haven't heard from them already, contact the venues or ticket sellers for more info.

[MAY 10] Bruce Sudano fans, he's put out a lyric video on Facebook for  When This Is Over. Also keep an eye on his Facebook page for other cool things. The other night he teamed up with  the Philadelphia Folk Society for an online concert in which he did all the songs from the new EP, Spirals, and a couple of other songs as well.

[MAY 10] In Johnnyswim news, their Songs With Strangers project got a write-up on the JulieXplores.com blog under the title Johnnyswim Saves 2020.   :-)

[MAY 10] Moving on to the land of remixes, there is a new one out there  for This Time I Know It's For Real the JQ Bango Dance Remix.

[MAY 10] I think that brings us to YouTube.  Well, in honor of the Hot Summer Night DVD/CD/Vinyl coming this summer, I think we should look back at the concert as originally released.  As it happens the whole thing is on YouTube.  Not included in the original broadcast, but included on the Blue Live Lady album that came out way back when is Enough Is Enough.  The audio for that is also on YouTube. Then we have a TV performance of She Works Hard For The Money which features one of the Hot Summer Night costumes.  Up next is the official video for Unconditional Love with Musical Youth, a 1990 live performance of Romeo, and finally State Of Independence live at the 2005 Night  of the Proms.

[MAY 10] And finally next weekend is my official Walk MS  Event, although instead of getting us all together at the beach, we are doing a virtual walk in quarantine.  I'll have a video next week of my walk - and yes I really am walking somewhere.  If you would like to donate, my link is here.  If you already donated - THANK YOU!  And if you just want to show some moral support and walk too, pick a place and walk next weekend - even if it's just in random circles around your living room.  (So what if the neighbors think you are weird.  LOL)

[MAY 3] Greetings all and Happy May! A new month means a new Summer Fever pick, so this time we will be dancing to the tunes on the Donna Summer album.

[MAY 3] Let's start off with the musical. Summer: The Musical's Tampa dates have been rescheduled to  July 2021 (yes, 2021).  The shows in Miami, FL and Greenville, SC have been cancelled.  If you have tickets to any of these events, you may have already been contacted by the box offices. If not usually how this works is that tickets for postponed events will be honored on the new dates. Now for the cancelled dates they usually give you the options to get a refund, exchange your tickets for tickets too another show (or a gift certificate) or to make a donation out of your tickets. Check with your venue for further guidance.

[MAY 3] Also in musical news, the Brazilian cast of Summer recently surprised Brian Edwards on Zoom with a live from quarantine version of Last Dance.  :-)

[MAY 3] Moving on to Johnnyswim. They now have all 4 Instagram live videos up on YouTube for their Songs With Strangers tracks.  Better than that though, all 4 tracks are available to stream on Spotify, Amazon, Soundcloud, etc, etc,  and there are plans to make them into an album in the coming weeks.  They also have some t-shirts available to preorder commemorating each song.  All the profits will go to charity: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,  Crew Nation,  Convoy Of Hope, and  Michael Hernandez Kidney Transplant. Check out Johnnyswim.com for more info.

[MAY 3] That brings us to Bruce. He and his couch are live on Facebook again with a new one called American Sunset.

[MAY 3] Some of you Brooklyn Dreams fans might remember that they teamed up with Kenny Vance to become Professor LaPlano & The Planotones in the movie American Hot Wax. Well, the guys have gotten back together again along with special guest Vini Poncia on a song called Brave Companions.  You can check it out on YouTube,  ITunes/Apple Music, and Google Play music.  Proceeds from the songs will go to  the First Responders Children's Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. And before you ask - they still sound  great together!

[MAY 3] Ok in the everybody loves Donna category, there is a song out there called Gloomy Sunday - Donna Summer To The Rescue.  Give it a listen on Soundcloud.

[MAY 3] And that brings us to YouTube.  In honor of the Summer Fever Pick, let's do some tracks from the self-titles album.  :-) First up the official video for Love Is In Control - see if you can spot the baby bump that became Amanda.  :-) Then there is the video for State Of Independence, and some video from the recording of the song. (It's only the all-star choir - no Donna.) There is a video for The Woman In Me, and the live performance of Livin' In America from Reagan's inauguration.

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