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

[OCT 22] Greetings all! I hope your weekend is going well. Let's start off with Mary Gaines Bernard this time. She will be performing on Sunday February 11 at the South Florida Garlic Fest in Lake Worth. For info check out the Garlic Fest website.

[OCT 22] Ok - back to Donna. Fans of the self-titled album, Donna Summer,  will want to check out the Insights and Sounds blog for an in depth look at  the album.

[OCT 22] Bruce Sudano fans - catch his performance for 91.3 FM The Summit on his Facebook page. It's about 50 minutes long, so allow yourself plenty of time to enjoy the show. ALso, if you happen to be in LA on the 24th (Tuesday) go see Bruce at Genghis Cohen at 8PM. He's bringing his full band and he's promising some new songs. 

[OCT 22] Johnnyswim fans - catch them on the road now through December in various places here in the US. And if you can't get to a show, check out their Instagram feed for pictures from the road. Oh and go check out KTVU.com also. Johnnyswim brought special guests Steph and Ayesha Curry up on stage for the final number and KTVU has the video. (Johnnysw3im's Instagram has some video too, but it's a much shorter clip.)

[OCT 22] Let's jump to the rumor mill for a second. Some of you might remember that there was a rumor going around awhile ago that Madonna would record Enough Is Enough as an anti-Trump anthem. Well now we have a new rumor about the song which is that Pink and Kelly Clarkson will perform it. I'm not holding my breath on that one - Pink has never heard of the song.  LOL

[OCT 22] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm in the mood for some Crayons tonight, so here we go. First up is the whole concert from Jones Beach. Donna on the season finale of American Idol, the Queen Is Back promo video, the Today Show Summer Concert Series performance from 2008, a fan video for Driving Down Brazil, and Stor Dubine's video for Stamp Your Feet.

[OCT 15] Happy Sunday all! Where to start? How about the Dan Fogelberg Tribute album? We still have about a month until the whole thing is released, but the Dan Fogelberg official website has posted more info about the album. They have the whole story about the album starting with an overview of how the album came about and then continuing with the stories behind all the individual songs. You can go read the whole thing, but I will summarize the section about Nether Lands.  Donna's involvement dates back to June of 2010 when she expressed an interest in recording that particular song for the tribute. Apparently it was a song she sang along to for years and she credited it for helping to inspire her during some difficult times. When it came to recording the song, they used Dan's original instrumentation taken from the original masters as they figured it would be too costly to recreate it. So what you guys have heard on YouTube is going to be exactly what we are getting only with Donna's vocals.  :-)  And you guys will be amused by this part. Jean Fogelberg (Dan's widow)  was unaware that Donna was still performing and so she was very pleasantly surprised (or maybe I should say she was blown away) when she heard Donna's track and discovered that the Diva could still sing like no ne else! :-D  Then she goes on to mention that since Donna is no longer with us,  Johnnyswim performed the song at the tribute concert this past summer.

[OCT 15] Donna's official Instagram has been updated. It includes photos of some of the old recording tapes and such. Go look - it's very interesting. ;-) And as long as you are on Instagram, check out Bruce's photo with one of the cast members of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.

[OCT 15] Vienna Dohler fans - she has a single out now on Amazon.com called What Are You Waiting For. Go check it out.  :-)

[OCT 15] I think that brings us to YouTube.  I think since we found out Nether Lands will be with the full orcestral track that was used in the original, I want to feature some orchestral Donna. :-) SO let's start with Donna at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2008 backed with an orchestra of course. (This is a play list of 3 videos that cover Donna's entire part of the show.) Then there is Donna at Art On Ice  backed with the Christoph Walter Orchestra, I Feel Love at Night Of The Proms 2005, and then Donna with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra with a "medley." (It's not actually a medley as such, it's a compilation of clips from the show including parts of MacArthur Park,  Smile - which is amazing with the orchestra!, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Amazing Grace, Last Dance, and the beyond amazing symphonic version of I Will Live For Love.) And then just for fun - the Belgrade Philharmonic covering Hot Stuff. (Watch the conductor - he's having a blast!)

[OCT 8] Greetings all and my condolences to the people of Las Vegas.  I'll never understand how someone can just randomly kill or injure a bunch of people for... well, who knows what his reasons were.  :-( On a happier note, Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

[OCT 8] OK on to Donna. TVOverMind.com has published an article featuring the top uses of Donna's songs in movies or TV. They only show 5 selections, but there are video clips for each.

[OCT 8] Bruce fans - he's been busy making the rounds lately. He performed Common Sense on WREG News Channel 3 recently, he also sang a tribute to the late Tom Petty at his concert the other night. You can hear a bit of it on Facebook. Bruce has one more concert on his schedule (at the moment anyway) and that's LA on October 24 at Genghis Cohen. If you are in the area, go check out the show.  :-)

[OCT 8] Johnnyswim fans - the duo is back in the US with more dates starting October 13 and going through to December 19.

[OCT 8] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm in the mood for the Bad Girls album tonight so let's see what YouTube has. Let's start with the less familiar tracks - the long version of Walk Away (set to a slideshow), the Glen Rivera Restructured Mix of Love Will Always Find You, a fan video for an edit of Journey To The Center Of Your Heart, the Razormaid Remix of Our Love, and Sunset People from the 1980 TV special. And you know Ihave to include the 3 biggest hits,right? So we have Dim All The Lights from the 1980 TV Special, Hot Stuff from Dinah Shore, and Bad Girls from Johnny Carson (with the funky glasses  LOL). And as an added bonus, the "unplucked" version of Dim All The Lights presented with a slideshow in memory of Donna.

[OCT 1] Greetings all!  And a special shout out to the people of Puerto Rico. We have not forgotten you!

[OCT 1] Okay, I think we should start with a new song! I have mentioned before that Donna recorded a song called Nether Lands for the upcoming Dan Fogelberg tribute album.  Well, we have an official release date - November 17 and it is finally available for pre-order on Amazon and Amazon UK. No sould clips are up yet for most of the tracks, but I'm sure those will come soon. In the mean time, check out the lyrics to the song and Dan Fogelberg's original recording just to give you an idea of what the song is like. I predict tears when we hear Donna's version.... :-) I do want to say that this album has been a LONG time coming.  I went back through my archives and found a November 2011 mention from Dan Fogelberg's website when they were talking about that year's crop of potential Rock Hall Of Fame inductees:  "Our personal pick is Donna Summer - she was a big DanFan and is one of the artists who have donated their time and talent to the tribute CD. Her track is going to give you goosebumps; it's a song she credits with helping to get her through a really tough time in her life. Go, Donna!"

[OCT 1] On a related note, there was a Colorado Music Hall Of Fame Concert this past August at Fiddler's Green that included a number of the artists  on the Dan Fogelberg tribute album. Because, of course, Donna is no longer with us, they tapped someone else to perform Nether Lands. I think you just might be familiar with the duo who sang in Donna's place. They go by the name of Johnnyswim.  :-D The event was filmed and the Fogelberg website is talking about a DVD coming some time in the future.

[OCT 1] Well, you know I have to mention the upcoming Summer musical, right? Well there is nothing new about the musical itself this week, but Bruce had an interesting Instagram post. In it he's wearing a new hat with the photo caption Old Merch -New Merch and the hashtag #musical. In other words, I think we are looking at some new swag.  :-) (Good! I need something new to wear at my next MS Walk!)

[OCT 1] I got so excited about the new song and the musical, I forgot to mention - it's October 1 so that means it's time for the new Summer Fever pick! This month we go back to the beginning with Lady Of The Night.

[OCT 1] Do you wanna dance?  DJ Rico Berringer has posted a number of his mixsets on Mixcloud and  yes, you will find some Donna tunes mixed in there. He is one of us you know.   :-)

[OCT 1] Ok, so let's move on to Bruce. He's been a busy boy lately! First up is his interview in the October issue of Daeida Magazine. (I'm sure you guys remember their other fabulous interviews with others in Donna's circle.) You can read the whole issue for free online. And to see Bruce performing, check out the Facebook of When Cinderella dies filmed at The Station, or you can see the same song on YouTube performed for Today In Nashville.

[OCT 1] Vienna Dohler fans - she recently performed at set at City Winery. You can hear 2 of the songs at the RAW website. (And you DO want to hear them!  :-) )

[OCT 1] Paul Jabara fans - can you believe it's been 25 years since he left us? (And if any of you are wonderling who Paul Jabara is, I will smack your young whippersnapper head and then start playing Last Dance for you.  LOL) Anyway, to commemorate Paul's life, a new version of PaulJabara.com has been launched with an official press release to announce it. (You know, I wonder if when Donna got to the next world, Paul found her and locked her in a bathroom there to make her listen to his latest song idea.  :-)   I'd like to think so!)

[OCT 1] I think that brings us to YouTube and I think to celebrate the new Paul Jabara website we should have some Paul and Donna stuff.  So let's start with liveandmore's video for Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor (Paul featuring Donna), liveandmore's video for  Shut Out ("to get off my bummer I play Donna Summer!", stampyourfeet's video for Donna's half of Something's Missing (released as a duet between Donna and Paul but almost certainly recorded separately), Last Dance (Donna performing it at the Oscars the night it won the award for Best Original Song), Enough Is Enough live at Coney Island and just for fun, Paul's video for Ochos Rios.

[SEP 23] Happy Saturday all! All good thoughts and wishes are going out to those places ravaged by the recent hurricanes - the islands can't catch a break.  And also to the people of Mexico who are dealing with 3 recent earthquakes. Mother Nature is on a real rampage these days.  :-(

[SEP 23] Let's start off with Summer: The Donna Summer Musical opening in La Jolla in November. Broadwayworld.com has an article about the musical including a cast list. There are 3 actresses playing Donna at different stages in her life - one of whom is a Tony winner. The article includes this very interesting line:  "Told through the dramatic lens of her final concert, SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical presents the complexities and conflicts the iconic songwriter and singer faced in her meteoric rise - and descent."  Playbill.com also has a shorter article with the same info (but less background info on the key players). I'm getting excited! Any of you who are going to the show - feel free to send in your reports! I'll be more than happy to post them here on the site.  :-)

[SEP 23] Bruce Sudano fans - we have a couple of new videos for you. First up is a Facebook video of  Bruce and Neon Moon on WDXV's Blue Plate Special.  Bruce is the first half of the show.  The other video is the official video for When Cinderella Dies.  PopMatters debuted the video with an accompanying article by Christian John Wikane.

[SEP 23] Johnnyswim fans - the duo is on tour right now, and in support of their visit to Germany, daserste.de has posted an article and a couple of videos. The article is in German of course and just gives a little background on Johnnyswim. But there is a performance video on the top of the article of the two of them performing First Try.  And if you check the links on the side of the page, there is one that brings you to an interview/profile piece. That is also mostly in German. Johnnyswim speaks in English but a translator plays over them so you have to listen really carefully to  hear Amanda and Abner themselves. 

[SEP 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some official videos this week. First up is the promo video for Could It Be Magic. Then we have the official video for Unconditional Love, the video for Work That Magic, the video for When Love Takes Over You, the video for The Woman In Me, the video for Love Is In Control, and a promo video for Winter Melody.

[SEP 17] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with a little chart news. Currently the iTunes Dance Albums chart has On The Radio sitting pretty at #8. (Of course that chart updates frequently, so it may be elsewhere by the time I finish this update. )

[SEP 17] Speaking of rankings, SiriusXm had a countdown of the  top 30 divas of disco. Donna came in at #1 followed by Diana Ross in the #2 spot. (I find that interesting because even though I know Diana has had a long and varied career, I think of her as more of a pre-disco diva.)

[SEP 17] The New York Times has an interview with Giorgio Moroder in honor of the 40th anniversary of I Feel Love. In it, he gets to talk about Donna.

[SEP 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's Emmy night here, let's do some TV stuff.  And to do that right, I have to cheat and go to Daily Motion first to see Family Matters: Aunt Oona and Family Matters: Pound Foolish - both featuring Donna as "Aunt Oona from Altoona". These are both full episodes. Then on YouTube we have Lifetime's Intimate Portrait of Donna, A&E's Biography of Donna, VH1's Behind The Music on Donna, and Donna's 1980 TV Special.

[SEP 8] Greetings all and happy Friday. (Sunday isn't going to be good for me this weekend - stuff to do, so here I am now.) First up - I think the world is ending. Ok, that might be a bit extreme, but the west coast is dealing with wildfires, the Houston area is under water, Mexico just had an earthquake, a bunch of islands were torn apart by mega-hurricane Irma, (one in particular, Barbuda, is about to get hit again by another hurricane) and Florida is about to take a direct hit from that same storm this weekend. Yikes! Mother Nature is on a rampage!  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in all the affected areas. You will get through this! Stay strong! And Florida - if you are in an evac zone and are just sitting home reading this - GO! You saw what happened to the islands Irma hit and you saw what Harvey did to Texas. Seriously - GO NOW! The update will still be here when you get settled someplace safe.  Florida Keys, I am especially looking at you - GET OUT NOW!

[SEP 8] Ok let's start with the bad news in Donna land. Last week I reported that her Ultimate Collection was on the UK Top 100 Album chart. This week it has fallen off.  :-( Well, it was nice while it lasted.

[SEP 8] We have a small update on the Donna Summer Musical playing in La Jolla later this year. They have cast Jared Zirilli in the role of Bruce. You can find out more about him at his website.

[SEP 8] Johnnyswim fans - the pair have announced more US tour dates throughout October, November and December. And they are bringing special guest, Striking Matches, with them.

[SEP 8] Bruce Sudano fans - catch Bruce live September 27 at the City Winery in Nashville, September 29 at Levitt Shell in Memphis, and October 6 and 24 at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles.

[SEP 8] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, the audio for The Power Of One,  Heal Them from a telethon appearance, Stor Dubine's video for Stamp Your Feet, Donna and Giorgio performing Carry On, Don't Rain On My Parade live, Riding Through The Storm from Live & More Encore (this one isn't on YouTube - you have to deal with a commercial first), and finally an Ordinary Girl demo called Begin Again.

[SEP 8] And finally, for all of us out of harm's way (so far) who would like to help - Charity Navigator has a list of organizations that are providing assistance and it gives you info on each so you can see how well they use the money.

Hurricane Harvey (Texas, etc)

Hurricane Irma (Caribbean and coming to Florida)

And if I can just offer my two cents to the survivors of the hurricanes - it's been 5 years since we had Superstorm Sandy here. I have spent that whole 5 years watching my best friend working through the red tape of FEMA and other relief agencies in an attempt to her her home rebuilt.  It literally took her 4 years and 11 months from the day of the storm until she could move back in. What I have learned is this - you have to be persistent, patient and organized! Keep copies of EVERYTHING and if you have the opportunity to get an dedicated caseworker - DO IT. That person can show you programs you never would have learned about on your own. Seriously - rebuilding is like having another full time job. Oh, and watch out for crooks - after a disaster, they race out of the woodwork like a swarn of ravenous cockroaches. (Be especially wary of crooked "charities" that appear overnight, and thieving "contractors" who will take your insurance money and run without building a damn thing.)

[SEP 3] Greetings all! And Happy Labor Day Weekend to my American fans. It's a new month and so it's time for a new Summer Fever Pick. This time we take a look at Donna's work in musical theater.

[SEP 3] OK how does some chart news sound? Over in the UK, Donna's Ultimate Collection is back on the top 100 albums chart. It debuted at #85 last week and is now at #79. I think we can credit all the recent interest in I Feel Love for the chart news.  :-)

[SEP 3] Arizona - look for a concert salute to Donna's music on February 23 at the CPAC Community Performing Arts Center. The show features Crystal Stark and her band performing Donna's hits. You can see a sample of her work on YouTube.

[SEP 3] Johnnyswim fans - don't forget that Johnnyswim is taking their show to Europe in the second half of this month. Check out the dates and places on their website.

[SEP 3] I think that brings us to YouTube.  Let's do a few covers this week. First up, Could It Be Magic  on German TV from 1976,  Nights In White Satin live in concert, Natural Woman live in concert,  Superstar live at the Hollywood Bowl, Send In The Clowns (audio only), Anything For You live in Spain, Let It Be (fan video by stampyourfeet), Masquerade on TV from Venezuela 1977, and finally Pearls live in concert.

[AUG 27] Greetings all and a special shout out to Houston and all the other communities being devastated by Hurricane Harvey. The photos I am seeing are just unbelievable and the storm isn't even really over yet. They are still expecting an unprecedented amount of rain to fall over the next few days. If you are anywhere near that area please stay safe! And if anyone wants to help the victims of the storm, NBC has posted a list of some organizations that are helping out. Texas - know that all my best wishes, good thoughts and prayers are heading your way. You will get through this - you are TEXANS! :-)

[AUG 27] In the Donna is everywhere category, she gets name checked in a LA Times article about Sunset Blvd. It's an interesting read about some of the musical history of that street. (And yes, when I read it, Sunset People started playing in my head.  LOL)

[AUG 27] Bruce Sudano fans - there is a nice long interview with him on PopMatters by our very Donna fan, Christian John Wikane.  :-)

[AUG 27] Johnnyswim fans - they have a new video they did for Crate And Barrel talking about their home (and how they got their stuff at Crate And Barrel.)

[AUG 27] I think that brings us to YouTube. I feel like seeing some full concerts tonight, so here we go. First up is Italy 1977. The we have Japan 1979, A Hot Summer Night from 1983, Japan 1987, Spain 1990, Brazil 1992, Belgium 2005, and Jones Beach 2008.

[AUG 20] Greetings all! What a week its been - terror attacks, so-called free speech rallies, heck tomorrow's eclipse probably signals the end times or something. (Don't eclipses usually?  ;-) ) Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone that the hate groups and terrorists out there are vastly outnumbered by the kind and decent people out there. They are just noisier and more violent - and they have to be in order to get anyone to notice them, So when you see terrible things in the news - try to look past the bad and see what the good people are doing. There is always someone there to help victims or to stand up for what's right. Don't let the bad things in the world lead you to despair. As long as the good people stand together, evil cannot prevail. To quote someone we all know - Love is the healer.  :-)

[AUG 20] On to Donna!  First up some great news - the Donna Summer Musical  playing this November in La Jolla has been EXTENDED an extra week. Now it runs from November 7 to December 17 and  tickets for the new dates are on sale  now.  It must be a hot seller if they feel they can extend the run another week.  :-) The musical gets a mention in the San Diego Tribune.

[AUG 20] Giorgio Moroder did an interview for the On Rotation podcast in which he talks about I Feel Love (and Donna of course.)  Giorgio doesn't show up until about 16 minutes in.

[AUG 20] Bruce Sudano fans - live from the couch is back! This time Bruce treats us to a new song called Can't Go Home Again.

[AUG 20] Johnnyswim fans - go check out their video for First Try on YouTube. Or you can catch it on the Rolling Stone website and read the accompanying article.  :-) (Little Joaquin puts in appearances throughout the video too. :-) )

[AUG 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. And in light of all the stuff going on in the world these days, I think we need to put a little love out there. So let's start with Love Is The Healer (on The View), Whenever There Is Love  from Regis & KathieLee, and Love Is In Control (the official video). Then we have State Of Independence (from the HBO special),  Crayons live at Coney Island, The Impossible Dream live from Spain, and finally the beautiful symphonic version of I Will Live For Love.

[AUG 13] Greetings all and a special shout out to Charlottesville. Hang in there guys - the hate mongers are vastly outnumbered by the rest of us and I am a firm believer that karma will get them in the end.

[AUG 13] On to happier things! There isn't much going on in the world of Donna this week, but Johnnyswim has a new video coming out for First Try. (If you have been to one of their concerts, then you know that this is a favorite for fan sing alongs!)  The video will debut on Rollingstone Country between 9 and 11 AM CST. You can get a taste on Facebook here and a tinier taste here.  :-)

[AUG 13] In Bruce Sudano news, he has announced 2 new dates. The first is September 29 at Levitt Shell in Memphis, TN,  and the other is October 6 at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles. His live on the couch series of videos is on vacation so he reposted this live video of Bat Shit Crazy. (Who knew couches need vacations?  Now I have a mental image of a sofa sunning itself on a beach somewhere.  LOL)

[AUG 13] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some interviews today.  First up is a compilation piece called Up Close. Part 1 is here and part 2 is here. Then we have a BBC interview from 2004, On Time TV from about 2008, a 2007 radio interview where she talks about 9/11's effect on her, Donna on Say It Loud, a 2008 interview for Curtain Call, and finally Donna on Nightline's Playlist from 2008.

MEMORIAL NEWS PAGE

OLD NEWS ARCHIVES