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

[JUL 19] Greetings all! I guess we can start off this week with some album reviews. PopRescue.com specializes in album reviews and they've done 5 of Donna's - all generally positive. They take each album and go song by song and then talk abut the album as a whole.  After you read the Donna reviews, explore the rest of the site. They have tons of reviews for many different artists. I'm sure you will find some of your other favorites represented as well.

[JUL 19] Kelly Rowland has once again expressed interest in playing Donna in a bio-pic. She was asked about it at a July 9th event and she said she would love nothing more than that role.

[JUL 19] Bruce Sudano fans, if you are looking for merch this is the time! He has t-shirts on sale for $25 and the Spirals 2 cd bundle on sale for $25, for a Christmas in July event until July 28.  Note: the t-shirt sale price won't show up until you put the item in your cart.

[JUL 19] In Johnnyswim-land this week,  they were recently in London in preparation for One Day hitting the West End this fall.  They posted a video on Swim Team of some of their  London adventure. They also put Songs With Strangers episode 3 on Swim Team.

[JUL 19] I think that brings us to YouTube.  This week we are once again celebrating A Love Trilogy - only this time we are looking at the album through the eyes of fanmixer Q.  So we start off with  his I Know Certain mix of Try Me I Know We Can Make It.  Then we have his Come With Me 2000 edit,  his Stallion Meets The Sun mix of Could It Be Magic,  and finally his Not Wasted Anymore mix of Wasted.  Finally as a bonus for those who like AI, there is an AI song called Wait Out In The Rain by AI Donna Summer.  Some fans have been having fun picking out what years AI samples for the vocals.  Personally, not a fan. AI will never replace a human creator.  Plus I am offended that they reference YELLOW icing instead of green.  LOL   I will give the creator credit though for actually stating that the song is AI.  Too many times, people try to pass off AI slop as real.

[JUL 11] Happy Saturday all!  We have a couple of things happening in Donna-land this week.  First, Arte TV ran their I Feel Love documentary the other day.  You can find it here, BUT.... it is region locked, so the link will not work for everyone.

[JUL 11] With the July 4 weekend, radio stations here were doing special programming, counting down summer songs, etc. SiriusXM 70s On 7 was no exception. Their countdown was  the top 125 American artists of the 70s as voted on by listeners. (They played 2 songs by each artist so that there were 250 songs in honor of 250 years of the USA.) Donna came in at #32 and you can find the whole list on their Facebook page. (Find the post asking what band you were surprised didn't make the list, then look at the comments for the list of artists.)

[JUL 11] Yahoo recently put together a photo gallery of  Donna at home - it's all photos from the 70s that you have probably seen before. But it's nice to have them in one spot.

[JUL 11] Johnnyswim fans - if you need another reason to join Swim Team - how does exclusive merch sound? They recently acquired a couple of vintage clothing pieces and then put their own Johnnyswim artwork on it.  They ended up with 4 one of a kind pieces available to Swim Team members only that sold out immediately.

[JUL 11] Bruce fans - he just teased us the other day that his first solo album, Fugitive Kind, will be available for streaming soon.  That album came out originally in 1981 and features backing vocals on some tracks by some known singer named Donna Summer.  LOL It only took 23 years before he released his second solo album, but he's been making up for lost time ever since.

[JUL 11] I think that brings us to YouTube.  This week we are celebrating the Summer Fever Pick, A Love Trilogy. So we start off with the video for Try Me (I Know We Can Make It).  Then we have a live video for Wasted,  and Come With Me and Could It Be Magic from Don Kirchner's Rock Concert. And yes, you guessed it - we have Donna and Barry Manilow doing Could It Be Magic. (Any excuse to post that!  LOL)

[JUL 5] Greetings all and Happy Canada Day, Happy Independence Day, Happy National Disco Day, Happy Air Conditioning Appreciation Day, Happy Taylor Swift Wedding Day and Happy anything else you want to celebrate this weekend.  :-)  It's a new month so you know that means we have a new Summer Fever Pick this week.  This month we are dancing to A Love Trilogy.

[JUL 5] First up, BBC Radio4 has a show called Desert Island Tracks where they pick someone each episode to pick 8 of their favorite tracks that they would presumably like to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island.  (I'm thinking you'd want awesome party tracks to lure rescuers to your island, but maybe I'm overthinking things?  LOL) Anyway, a recent episode featuring Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) aired recently and one of his picks was I Feel Love.  (He also picked the Muppets Mah Na Mah Na - and anybody who can go from Donna Summer to Muppets is my kind of weird!  :-) ) This is the link to the show.  Now fair warning, when I click play it gives me a 404 page error. So either BBC4 has the link wrong, or it's region locked and throwing the wrong error at me. But on the main page you can still read which songs he chose.

[JUL 5] BBC Radio2 ran a program called 50 American Music Icons at the BBC. Donna was #41 on the list and they showed a medley of hits taken from a 1994 episode of the Danny Baker Show.  That is currently available on the BBC iPlayer - but that is definitely region locked.

[JUL 5] Reminder the French/German channel Arte is airing a Donna/Giorgio documentary called I Feel Love on July 8 at 22:10 local time. So tune in if you can.

[JUL 5] Johnnyswim fans, they have been moving more things to the Swim Team page. The latest additions are  episode 2 of Songs With Strangers and episode 2 of Swim or Die.  And don't forget that their musical, One Day, is moving to London's West End in November.  Tickets are already on sale.

[JUL 5] I think that brings us to YouTube.  In honor of July 4 let's start with Donna singing the national anthem, and God Bless America.  Then we have a Suecase Hall video for Livin' In America.  And here's Livin' In America again - the inaugural performance with  short interview clip and a peek at rehearsal.

[JUN 28] Happy Sunday all and Happy Pride to all the cities having their parades today.  (OK, you can have a Happy Pride even if your parade wasn't today.  LOL)  Let's start with Donna and the deal with Primary Wave. There have been a bunch of articles about the deal, but most are little more than press releases. This Forbes article explains what Primary Wave does better than other articles I have read.

[JUN 28]  Also in the land of articles, Parade just posted one calling Bad Girls one of the most defining hits of the disco era.

[JUN 28] In Bruce news, he did an interview with JamTV.it.  Now, it is an Italian website, so the guy doing the interview is speaking only in Italian. Bruce, however, speaks English with Italian subtitles.  Of course they are talking all things Sketch Book. They also touch on Bruce's life in Italy, and talk a little about the proposed biopic/series about Donna.  There is also another linked video where Bruce talks about Michael and Jermaine Jackson.

[JUN 28] Bruce also posted an AI video for Beyond The Winter Sky on Facebook this week.

[JUN 28] I think that brings us to YouTube.  This week I think I'll share some full concerts. So we have (of course) Live & More Encore and A Hot Summer Night.  Moving to shows from outside the US, we have Art On Ice,  one from Italy in 1977,  a 90s show from Mexico,  a 1979 show from Japan, and finally back to the US for a 2008 show from New York.

[JUN 21] Greetings all and Happy Father's Day to all the dads and father-figures out there!  Let's start with Donna. The French/German TV channel called Arte will be airing a documentary about Donna and Giorgio called I Feel Love.  It will air on July 8 at 22:10. Or it looks like it will stream online starting July 7 at 23:00.  (That is German time for all of you in other areas trying to catch the stream. It might end up being region locked - if that is the case, a VPN could be your friend if you find yourself locked out.)

[JUN 21] In Johnnyswim fans - their musical, One Day, has announced that it will be running at the Garrick Theater in London's West End starting on November 17.  There is no end date listed, so I'm thinking it will just run until people stop buying tickets.  The 2 main characters will be played by the same actors who played the roles in Edinburgh.  :-)  Playbill (among others) has the announcement,  and of course the One Day Musical website has the latest info and a link to buy tickets.  The musical got great reviews in Edinburgh so if you are in the London area (or will be when the show is running) go check it out.

[JUN 21] In other news, Johnnyswim is slowly migrating some of their YouTube series to Swim Team. The latest video to migrate over is an episode of Say Grace where she makes appetizers for dinner.

[JUN 21] I think that brings us to YouTube.  First up, a couple of clips featuring Donna's dad one an interview from about the time she got her Star on the Walk Of Fame, and the other is the A&E Biography from 1995. Then we have a Suecase Hall video for Donna's Oscar performance of Papa Can You Hear Me.  And finally in my Father's Day theme, we have a track by Bruce called It's Her Wedding Day - the ultimate dad song.   :-)

[JUN 14] Greetings all!  I guess we should start  with the big news of the week.  Donna's estate has partnered with Primary Wave Music.  This is a company that specializes in publishing and brand management for artists (or their estates.)  The deal with Donna's estate covers her recordings, name and image/likeness rights. They are teamed with a bunch of iconic artists like Whitney Houston, Prince, Olivia Newton John, Stevie Nicks, and the list goes on.  I'm thinking this will take some of the burden of managing Donna's estate off the family. The company can weed out the stupid requests (because you KNOW there are always going to be stupid requests  LOL) and then consult with the family with the actual serious requests.  Hits Daily Double also has a short article about the partnership, as does Billboard, and a bunch of other places.  Here's hoping for great things in the future!

[JUN 14] I told you last week that the Lung Cancer Research Canter was having  a fundraiser in Nashville honoring Donna. Well, they raised $185000 so far and there were a bunch of familiar names and faces on hand. The event was chaired by Susan Munao,  Michael and Stormie Omartian presented a special recognition to the Sudano family which was accepted by Mimi and her daughter Vienna.  Bruce was in Milan, but he sent a message for Mimi to read.  You can read all about it here. You can also watch a NewsChannel5 interview with Susan Munao.

[JUN 14] American Songwriter posted an article just today about Donna's hit, She Works Hard For The Money.  It's nothing most of us don't already know, but it's fun to read anyway.

{JUN 14] Johnnyswim fans - expect an announcement soon probably regarding One Day The Musical in London's West End.  The musical's website currently has a countdown timer posted until the big announcement.  And Johnnyswim posted that One Day was the  highest grossing play ever at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.  hen they posted a photo of a piece of paper that just said "London".  I can put 2 and 2 together.  LOL

[JUN 14] Also, if you are in Swim Team, they have posted a Say Grace afternoon tea video, and they have reposted a New Music Monday  video for Keep Me Around.

[JUN 14] Bruce Sudano fans - check out Off Topic's review for Sketch Book. Yes, it's in Italian, but you know what to do.   :-)

[JUN 14] I think that brings us to YouTube.  First up, a Paul Rein remix of the vaulted track Adonai.  Then we have a 2026 bootleg mix of Now I Need You.  It's always nice to see someone exploring some of the deeper cuts instead of just the hits. Speaking of which, Glenn Rivera's restructured mix of Happily Ever After was recently reissued.  Moving on to the land of unusual covers, the Polyphony Choir posted their performance of I Feel Love. It's kind of cool, but also strange to hear the song reimagined as a choral piece - especially the acapella beginning.  They also posted their version of MacArthur Park. Apparently the songs were part of a disco concert they did.  And finally, there is an MTV interview out of Brazil I don't remember seeing before from 1995.  It's short and it has some performance clips thrown in.

[JUN 7]  Happy Sunday all!  I'm gonna start with something a little weird.  There is a song called Lovin' You that Bruce wrote with Michael Omartian.  It ended up being recorded by Rafaella Carra and there is a video on YouTube of Donna performing it with Rafaella.  Bruce mentioned on Facebook the other day that there is/was a demo of that song recorded by Donna, but he has no idea where it is.  It's a long shot, but I know that some of you guys have secret things.... know people... whatever... and you MIGHT have encountered this demo somewhere.  If someone has the demo or knows where it is, get in touch (with me or with Bruce) and we can get it back in his hands.  Like I said, I know it's a long shot, but you never know...

[JUN 7] Moving on, as you know the Casablanca box set is coming out in October and is available for pre-order in many places.  If you haven't ordered it yet, make sure you look at a few sellers because sometimes you can catch  a deal at one that you won't find at another. (Someone on the forum mentioned RoughTrade having a good price, but someone else said that they have had issues getting orders shipped from them.  So shop around a little before you buy.)

[JUN 7]  Here's a really cool thing. The Lung Cancer Research Center is doing a fundraiser in Nashville on June 9. It's called Here Comes The Summer and it is honoring Donna.  It still stings that we lost Donna so soon, but  I've always believed that if anything good can come from her loss, then bring it! If her name can raise money so other people can be cured, then I'm all for it.

[JUN 7] American Songwriter has posted an article called Four Songs From 1979 You Probably Forgot You Heard. Um... maybe I'm old (ok not maybe  LOL), but I remember all 4 quite well because they were played on the radio all the time.  (I Will Survive, Hot Stuff, Escape (The Pina Colada Song), and Ring My Bell.) There is only one, though, that I have in any of my playlists to this day.  Can you guess which one?  LOL

[JUN 7] Moving on to Bruce, he's shared a couple of Facebook reels this week.  The first is Irene Blackman talking about working with Bruce, and about working on Train In The Distance. The other, which was just posted today, is Bruce live on the couch singing In A Stormy Season.

[JUN 7] In Johnnyswim news, well first, they have added episode 1 of Swim Or Die to the Swim Team page. (That's a video of Abner making custom merch in their driveway.)  They are also featured in an article in Relevant Magazine about all the interesting projects the duo has been working on lately.  (I swear Johnnyswim could change their name to Energizer Bunny because they just keep going and going and going...   LOL) On a side note, Abner posted on Instagram that their son Joaquin has a band now and they recorded an EP.  Wasn't Joaquin a baby just yesterday? Crazy how fast these kids grow up!

[JUN 7] That brings us to YouTube. It's Tony Awards night here, celebrating all things Broadway so let's run with that. First up is a playlist I made of Donna performing songs from musicals - some of hers and some covers.  Then we have the cast of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical performing Last Dance at the Tonys, a Suecase Hall video celebrating the musical (look for Donna's daughters introducing Last Dance, among other things), a Behind The Scenes feature on the touring show, and finally, the full musical is posted for those who are interested.  :-)

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