Donna Summer: She could sing anything, anywhere, with anyone, at any time.
[OCT 7] Happy Monday all! To all of you in the path of hurricane Milton,
please stay safe!
[OCT 7] Let's start with a time sensitive item. There is a
contest online to win tickets to Johnnyswim's March 21 concert in
Louisville. The
link is here and you have to enter by October 13.
[OCT 7] Bruce Sudano fans - you have a bunch of new videos to watch.
Episode 10 of
Stages & Stories is out talking about Flashdance/Stayin Alive period
of time, the latest
Album by Album is out talking about the current album Talkin' Ugly
Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies, and on
Facebook there is a short clip of Bruce performing Cardboard World.
[OCT 7] You can also catch Bruce on the
Follow Your Dream podcast.
[OCT 7] That brings us to YouTube. Thanks to the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
movie, MacArthur Park is finding its way into my YouTube feed more than
usual. LOL So let's start with a montage of clips from that movie
set to
MacArthur Park. Then we have a
10
minute version of MacArthur Park - it's the suite with Heaven Knows
and One Of A Kind edited out. But if you'd like to hear those 2
songs, there is a version of
One Of A Kind with alternate vocals, and the Brooklyn Dreams
version of
Heaven Knows with the vocal parts switched. Then if you want
to see something fun, someone made a YouTube short of a
Norwegian dance set to MacArthur Park.
[SEP 30] Happy Monday everyone! A special shoutout to all the people who
were affected by Hurricane Helene. I hope everybody is ok - I
can't even believe some of the photos I have been seeing. If anyone is
in a position to help the victims of Helene,
USA Today posted a list of legit charities that are accepting
donations.
[SEP 30] The first order of business in Donna-land this week is the new
Summer Fever Pick. For October we will be celebrating
A Love Trilogy.
[SEP 30] Many of you may remember that there was a Donna Summer block
party in Boston a little while back. For it someone painted a huge mural
of Donna that is still there on the side of the Black Market in Nubian
Square in Roxbury. WGBH Radio did a report on it recently which you can
check out here. There are quotes from Mary in the report as well. If
you go visit Boston, go see the mural - it's something like 50 x 60
feet!
[SEP 30] There is a new Book coming out on October 15 called
Disco: Music, Movies
And Mania Under The Mirror Ball by Frank Decaro. [Amazon
affiliate link] This is a coffee table book that (among other
things) includes an un released interview with Donna from 1999.
The author has a
Facebook video where he does an unboxing of his copy of the book. It
looks really nice.
[SEP 30] Donna's official
YouTube channel has been posting HD remasters of her videos lately.
The most recent one is for I Don't Wanna Get Hurt (which unfortunately
doesn't actually feature Donna in it.)
[SEP 30] Speaking of official Donna sites... be very cautious on social
media sites. There have been a ton of scammers out recently - mostly
they are t-shirt vendors hawking unauthorized merchandise, but there
have also been imposter accounts. The latest is an account on Facebook
calling itself "Donna Summer" and claiming to be Mimi using her mom's
name. It's NOT Mimi. Here's the deal.... when you are looking at
accounts for Donna (or Bruce, or Johnnyswim, or really any celebrity) -
look for that blue checkmark that indicates that the account is
verified. If you are already following any (or all) of those artists,
then be suspicious of new accounts showing up with their names. And in
the case of family, NOBODY in Donna's family is going to randomly start
posting under a new account with Donna's name. They will use their own
name, or have whoever has the keys to the official verified account post
there. Seriously, the scammers are out in force lately. Don't be taken
in.
[SEP 30] Moving on to Johnnyswim, the spring tour tickets are
on sale now
for the When The War Is Over Tour. (Tickets for the Christmas tour are
also on sale now.) There are also VIP tickets available for the shows.
Johnnyswim tickets (and the VIP packages) tend to sell out quickly, so
if you want to go to one of these shows, better get your tickets now
before they are gone! And if you have never seen Johnnyswim live before
- GO! They put on a great show!
[SEP 30] In Bruce news, he's posted his latest
Album By Album video. This one is about Ode To A Nightingale.
I think that's the last one except for the new one, Talkin' Ugly Truths
Tellin' Pretty lies.
[SEP 30] That brings us to YouTube. Let's watch some clips
celebrating the new Summer Fever Pick. SO we have the video got
Try Me I Know We Can Make It, a live clip of
Wasted, and
Come With Me and Could It Be Magic from Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
As an added bonus - Donna and Barry Manilow live on
Could It Be Magic because I love any excuse to share that video.
LOL
[SEP 24] Happy Tuesday all! And Happy Birthday to Bruce who
celebrates a little later this week!
[SEP 24] Let's start this week with some disappointing news. If you
missed Bruce's announcement - he unfortunately had to cancel his
upcoming tour dates due to a flare up of a nerve condition that causes
debilitating pain when he performs. The plan is to reschedule the
shows, so watch for an announcement when that happens. In the meantime,
if you have tickets for a cancelled show, contact your point of
purchase.
[SEP 24] In other Bruce news, his new video for
Under The Gun is out now on YouTube. He has also posted a new
episode of
Album by Album - this one about Spirals Vol 2, and just today
he also added the 9th installment of the Brooklyn Dreams series
Stages And Stories. This one covers the period after Heaven Knows.
[SEP 24] You can also catch Bruce in an interview for the Celeb Savant
podcast available on
Spotify and all the other places you get your podcasts. Please note
that this was recorded before he had to cancel the tour.
[SEP 24] Moving on to Johnnyswim... They have a new single out called
Los Feliz. Check out the live performance on
YouTube. This song is from their upcoming album, When The War
Is Over which is due out on February 7. (Pre-save
it at your favorite music service.) With the new album comes new
merch which can be pre-ordered on
Johnnyswim.com.
[SEP 24] And I'm sure none of you will be surprised to learn that Amanda
and Abner will be touring to support the new album. They have posted a
whole bunch of spring 2025 dates on
their website,
and of course VIP packages will be available as well. They also have
their Christmas tour coming up in December and Silobration on October
12. Tickets for the spring tour go on sale Friday, and if you are
on their mailing list (and you should be) keep an eye out for a message
with a code for the presale which I believe starts tomorrow. By
the way, Johnnyswim is calling the Spring tour part 1... you know when
there is a part 1, that means there has to be a part 2 in the works. So
watch for an announcement of more dates.
[SEP 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's see, since I was
travelling last week why not look at songs about different places. So we
have a liveandmore video for
Driving Down Brazil, a lyric video for
Tokyo, a video for
To Paris With Love,
Sunset People from the 1980 TV special, a live performance of
In A New York Minute,
Don't Cry For Me Argentina from the Hot Summer Night concert,
and finally a lyric video for
Denver Dream.
[SEP 13] Happy Friday all! (Friday the 13th - oooo spooky! LOL)
Just a reminder - next week's update will be late because I will be
travelling.
[SEP 13] Let's start off with Donna this week. As you know, Boston.com
had a bracket to decide the most iconic artist from Boston. You
guys came through with your votes and
Donna is the champion! You can take a look at all the voting along
the way using
this
link.
[SEP 13] In release news, look for an expanded version of On The Radio
hitting stores on November 15. Amazon UK has it listed as a
2 CD or 2 vinyl disk
set. The US
Amazon has a listing for a colored (silver and gold) vinyl set
also slated for November 15. [Both of those links are affiliate links
that can potentially earn me money. Amazon says I have to make sure you
know that.]
Townsend Music Store is offering a multi-buy deal where you can get
the regular vinyl and the cds for one price - $64. Click any of
those links for photos of the items and for the complete track list.
[SEP 13] Moving on to Bruce - he's been busy on YouTube this week. He
uploaded episode 8 of
Stages And Stories where the Brooklyn Dreams talk about touring.
Then he posted a new
Album By Album about Spirals Vol 1. And then just this morning
he released his new music video for
Under The Gun.
[SEP 13] Now if live performance is more your thing, Bruce just
announced that he will be playing at the
Black Oak
Artists 4th Annual All Day Party on September 21. That will be
at Dee's Country Cocktail in Madison, TN. It's free and the party goes
from noon to 8PM with Bruce slated for the 12:30 slot. This in
addition to the
rest of the
tour that starts on the 19th.
[SEP 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some live concerts
this week. First up is
Italy 1977, followed by
Japan 1979,
Japan 1987,
Japan 1991,
Chile 1994,
Night Of The Proms 2005, and
Long Island 2008.
[SEP 10] Guys - Donna is in the championship round of
Boston.com's music brackets. She's up against Aerosmith which
is a great band... but they are not Donna. LOL As I write
this, Donna is trailing by 182 votes. I think we can fix that! We only
have 2 more days (until the 12th) so let's get voting!
[SEP 07] Happy Saturday all! Just a quick note - I have an out of
town visit planned with a little friend who just turned 2, so the
next 2 updates will be a little off schedule. Next week will probably be
a day or 2 early, and the week after will probably be a little late. But
this is the sort of sacrifice we have to make to teach the younger
generation about Donna's music. ;-) (Oh and if there are any
potential robbers reading this - me traveling does NOT mean my house is
empty - so hands off my record collection! LOL)
[SEP 07] Ok let's start with Donna. The new movie Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice is using MacArthur Park in the soundtrack. Actually they use
it twice - they play the Richard Harris version and Donna's version.
(Listen for Donna over the credits.) Read about the music in the
NY Times.
[SEP 07]
UltimateClassicRock.com has an article about Skunk Baxter's guitar
solo on Hot Stuff.
[SEP 07] Calling all mad voters out there...
Boston.com is doing one of those bracket things of Boston music
acts. The contest goes on until September 12 and as of this writing
Donna is in competition with the band Boston to get to the next level.
The winner of that bracket will face off against either The Cars or The
Pixies and then that winner will go to the championship.
[SEP 07]
MSN.com just posted a short interview from the Hard For The Money
era. It looks like it was part of the promo for the Disney anniversary
special she did back then.
[SEP 07] The Photographic Art of Donna Summer by Harry Langdon is out
now on Amazon
[paid link] as I mentioned last week. I got my copy so I can talk about
it a little better. Ok, it's not a big glossy coffee table book. It's on
the thin side with a couple of typos ad the photos (in terms of the way
they are printed in the book, not in terms of the talent of the
photographer) is not always top notch. This is not the effort of a big
name publisher, this is put out by a small publisher that tends to serve
niche audiences. As to the content of the book - well there are a bunch
of photos we've seen before (because of course, they are iconic!) and
there are a bunch of cool behind the scenes photos from the On The Radio
shoot. There are also some of Harry's memories about the various shoots.
If you have even seen his YouTube videos - the text is like that. Just
Harry reminiscing. I'm glad I have the book, but frankly some fans have
been disappointed. I will admit that it is pricey for its size, but
that's what happens sometimes with small publishers that serve very
specific audiences.
[SEP 07] Moving on to Bruce Sudano. He's working on a video for Under
The Gun from Talkin' Ugly Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies. You can get a
sneak peak on
Instagram.
[SEP 07] Also in Bruce news, his latest video in the
Album By Album series is up now on YouTube. This one covers 21st
Century World. There are still more albums to go, so stay tuned to his
YouTube channel.
[SEP 07] Just an FYI - there was a fake Bruce Sudano account on Facebook
recently hawking t-shirts. I believe that account has been taken down
now, but I did want to take the time to remind you that the only place
to buy Bruce's merch online is
BruceSudano.com.
Also, Bruce's music account has a blue verification check. If you see
his name and photo, but no blue check - beware! (Also, this situation is
not unique to Bruce. There are lots of scammers out there, so be
cautious of the links you click - not just on Facebook. I have seen this
nonsense on popular YouTube channels too.)
[SEP 07] Oh, I forgot, there is one other legit place to get Bruce merch,
and that's at his concerts. And there are a
few of those
coming up soon. Go grab some tickets if you haven't already.
[SEP 07] Don't forget that Johnnyswim also has a show coming up soon.
They will be in Annapolis for the Songwriter's Festival on September 12.
Tickets are
available here.
[SEP 07] That brings us to YouTube. In honor of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,
let's look at Donna's music in movies. First up, a
video montage of Beetlejuice set to MacArthur Park. Then we
have the
Romeo video from Flashdance, a clip of
Hot Stuff from The Full Monty,
On
The Radio from the Foxes movie,
Down Deep Inside from The Deep, and Ordinary Miracle from
Let It Be Me. As a bonus, here's Donna on an alternate version of
the Brooklyn Dreams'
Hollywood Knights from the end credits of the movie of the same
name.
[SEP 01] Happy Sunday all, and Happy September! (And Happy Labor Day to
my American friends!) It's a new month, so it's time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we look at
Love To Love You Baby.
[SEP 01] First up - Harry Langdon has finally released his book of
photos. It's called The Photographic Art Of Donna Summer- The Creation
of Her Music Album Covers. You can grab it on
Amazon [affiliate
link] or you can just take a look at the sample pages available. I just
ordered a copy and I can't wait for it to arrive! :-)
[SEP 01] RollingStone did a 500 Greatest Songs podcast. The
final episode covers I Feel Love and features an interview with
Bruce in one of the segments. (If you want to check out some of
the other episodes, they are on
iHeart Radio.)
[SEP 01] Speaking of Bruce, His latest episode of
Album By Album is up and it covers The Burbank Sessions. The
new episode of
Stages And Stories is also up. In this one, the Brooklyn Dreams
discuss vocals and instruments. He even posted a live clip today
on Facebook of
September In Your Eyes.
[SEP 01] Don't forget,
Bruce's tour starts later this month, so grab your tickets if you
haven't already. He's promising "special guests" for his New York show.
[SEP 01] In Johnnyswim news, they will be at the
Annapolis
Songwriters Festival on September 12. So go check that out if
you are/will be in that area.
[SEP 01] Here's a video I just ran into, even though it's over a
year old. It's one of those reaction videos where vocal teachers
look at a singer's performance and offer their take on it. There have
been a bunch with Donna's music, but I found one that looked at
Johnnyswim's live version of
Touching Heaven. The vocal coaches (there were 2 of them in
this video) had a lot of nice things to say. (As well they should!
LOL)
[SEP 01] And that will bring us to YouTube. This week we will look
at clips related to the new Summer Fever pick. So first up is a
clip from the documentary with footage from the
album release party. Then we have a
video for the title track, the
original ad for the album, and a video of Donna
talking about Love To Love You. As a bonus, here's a clip of
Donna rapping a bit of
Love To Love You in the middle of Bad Girls back in 1999.
[AUG 25] Happy Sunday all! Can you believe August is almost over?
Where did the summer go? Let's start this week with Bruce. His new
single is out now in
all the usual places. It's called My Blonde Italian Girl (and I
assume her name is Francesca. ;-) ) He's also got a lyric video
for it on
YouTube. Here's your fun fact about this song - the cover art was
drawn by Bruce's 10 year old granddaughter (Brooklyn's daughter.)
[AUG 25] Also in Bruce news - he's posted new videos in his 2
video series on YouTube. Episode 6 of the Brooklyn Dreams
Stages and Stories is all about Bad Girls, and the newest
Album By Album is about Angels On A Carousel. For those who don't
remember (or who are new to Bruce's music), this is the album he wrote
when Donna was sick. Stay tuned to Bruce's YouTube channel for
more videos next week.
[AUG 25] Moving on to Johnnyswim. They've been hanging around in
Scotland this week working on a "secret project." (Watch
Instagram for more details on that when the time is right.)
While they were there, aside from taking a bunch of photos that you can
see on Instagram, they also recorded a
video short for She Checks The Weather on location in Edinburgh.
[AUG 25] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, is
On
The Radio from VH1 Live & More Encore simply because I was out all
day yesterday and that song was following me EVERYWHERE! It was on
the car radio when I left the house, in the store when I got there...
Apparently the universe thought I needed to hear that particular song,
so now you will hear it too. LOL Then we have the
Original Hits Disco Box Remix which is a nice medley of Donna songs,
Donna's
set at Night Of The Proms Belgium in 2005, and finally Donna's live
set in Rotterdam.
[AUG 18] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with Johnnyswim
this time. Their new single, She Checks The Weather, is out now in
all the usual
places. For those who haven't heard the song yet (and it was
their New Music Monday clip last week), spoiler alert: the song is "an
ode to the battle of chronic illness." I could explain the story
behind the song to you, but let Amanda do it... Check her post on
Instagram.
[AUG 18] In Bruce news - he's been posting videos again. He's got a
short on the couch clip on
Facebook. But of course he's also added to both of his YouTube
series. Album By Album looks at
Life And The Romantic, and Stages And Stories recounts the
Brooklyn Dreams move to LA. Look for more uploads this week.
:-)
[AUG 18] Oh and one more thing this week. You may have run into
images on social media of Vice President Harris exiting a record store
with a record in her hand. In the original photo she is holding an
album by Charles Mingus. HOWEVER - the photo has become a meme and
people change that album to pretty much anything they want. (You
can do it pretty easily in a program like Photoshop, or there is even an
online
meme
generator that will swap in a different album for you.) It's fun to
play with, but just keep in mind that of you run into the photo and
Kamala Harris is holding up a Donna Summer album, it is unfortunately
fake. But I would like to think that the only reason she wasn't
holding one of Donna's albums is because she already owns them all!
Should I reach out to her people and find out? (Dear Harris for
Prez people, I don't care about stupid trivial issues like economics,
foreign policy, border security, healthcare, civil rights, etc, etc...
all I want to know is if the candidate is a Donna Summer fan! LOL)
But on a serious side note, yes it's election season here in the US
again. So if you are a US citizen who is eligible to vote, make sure you
are registered, educate yourself on the issues and the candidates, and
then in November (or October if your area has early voting) get your
butt out there and vote for the candidate who likes Donna Summer... I
mean, who aligns best with your vision for the country. ;-)
Remember, if you don't vote, you can't whine about the results later.
[AUG 18] Ok, it's time for YouTube. First of all - hey YouTube.
It's really rude to throw me an AD for the 10 Annoying Songs Of All Time
when I search for Donna. For a second I thought they were going to
claim that Donna was on that list and I would have to declare war on the
YouTuber. And I don't want to do that... I'd have to go out and
buy tar and feathers... LOL Anyway, moving past the ad, let's look
at some early clips of Donna. First up
Black Power from 1970. (It's from a TV show so there is an
action sequence in the middle of the song.) Then we have a short
clip of
Nickelbag Annie, Donna with
Family Tree in 1974 (and yes there are some shenanigans with her
voice there),
Something I'd Like To Tell You and
Time For Change by Cool Drive Union (Donna's vocals - her sister
Linda's photo),
If You're Walking Alone (as Donna Gaines), and finally a trippy
little ad for
Afri-Cola.
[AUG 11] Greetings all and happy Sunday! First up this week, we
are getting a Christmas Spirit vinyl edition this year. It's listed at a
number of places as a preorder. Here's the
Amazon link
[affiliate link] showing a release date of October 4.
[AUG 11] In remix news, fanmixer Q has made a mix of Donna's cover of
Reflections from Divas 2000. Because of copyright issues, YouTube won't
let him post it there, so you can catch it on
Facebook.
[AUG 11] Moving on to Johnnyswim... (BTW - Happy birthday Amanda!) The
latest New Music Monday is up for your listening pleasure. This one is
called
She Checks The Weather. It's a beautiful ballad featuring lead
vocals by Amanda. I think tomorrow they should be due for another
episode of Say Grace.
[AUG 11] Also in Johnnyswim news, they are gearing up for a Christmas
tour this December. The dates are on
their website,
and if you are subscribed to their newsletter (and you should be if you
are a fan!) you should have received a code to get your tickets early.
[AUG 11] In Bruce news this week, he just did the Celeb Savant podcast.
The episode is a tribute to Donna. You can find that podcast in all the
places you get podcasts, but here is
the link I used when I listened.
[AUG 11] On YouTube, Bruce has added to both of his series. Album By
Album talks about
Rainy Day Soul. Stages And Stories talks about the Brooklyn Dream
album
Music, Harmony And Rhythm. Look for new episodes of both series
later this week.
[AUG 11] Don't forget that Bruce is
on tour
this fall. Tickets for Boston just went on sale, so grab them now if you
are or will be in that area.
[AUG 11] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since we are saying goodbye
to the Olympics tonight, let's see if we can dig up some more clips that
go with the theme of Paris. So we have the WaWa Radio Edit of
To
Paris With Love. Then we have a stampyourfeet video for Donna's
studio version of
La
Vie En Rose (from the Tribute to Edith Piaf CD) , the French
version of
Whenever There Is Love , and
From A Distance (recorded for the 1996 Olympics) . As a bonus we
also have Johnnyswim's
Paris In June and
Bonsoir. Thank you Paris for a great Olympics! And finally
since the next Summer Games will take place in Los Angeles, check out
Donna's waitress cameo in Frank Sinatra's
LA
Is My Lady.
[AUG 4] Happy Sunday all! It's a new month, so you know what that means.
It's time for the new Summer Fever Pick. For August we are going back to
the first album - Lady Of The Night.
[AUG 4] Let's start off with Donna this week.
Smooth Radio decided to post their ranking of Donna's hits. I'm sure
none of you will be surprised to see that I Feel Love topped the list.
[AUG 4] In remix news, fanmixer Q has made 2 new mixes of the song clips
for Addiction that Nathan DiGesare posted a few years ago. He's got his
Garden Of Eden mix, and his
Garden Of E-Dance mix.
[AUG 4] Moving on to Bruce, he's also posted some videos this week. On
Facebook look for his live version of
Bad Girls. Then on YouTube, he's added to both of his video series.
Album By Album covers the Joe Bruce & 2nd Avenue album. And
the Brooklyn Dreams series
Stages And Stories covers their debut album.
[AUG 4] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think in honor of the
new Summer Fever Pick we will do some Lady Of The Night clips. So
let's start with the
title track from TopPop, then we have
The Hostage from Van Oekel's Discohoek, a lyric video for
Virgin Mary, and as a bonus, a lyric video for
Denver Dream.
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