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

[MAY 15] "Go forward and don't look back. Celebrate, live love, laugh - love Donna"

[MAY 15] Greetings all.  I don't even know where to start - it's just been that kind of day today.  I guess the comic book is as good a place as any to start.  It is officially out on Amazon now, and yes you can even get a Kindle edition - but I recommend using  a Fire tablet or the cloud reader if you buy it that way so you get the images in color.  I got my copy the other day and it's not bad. It's only 25 pages, so there isn't really any new info that most diehard fans don't already know. I will tell you that neither the artwork they use for the hard cover edition, nor the art they use for the paperback/Kindle covers are any reflection of what the inside artwork looks like.  The drawings of Donna are mostly based on famous photos  of her and they don't necessarily use pictures that go with the era they are discussing. But that's just the nitpicking of a diehard fan.  LOL If you click the Amazon link above, they do have the option to "look inside" the book and see the first few pages.

[MAY 15] Johnnyswim fans - their tour is ongoing!  In June they are making up dates they had to postpone for COVID. Then new dates have been added for the end of July/beginning of August.

[MAY 15] Bruce Sudano fans - Vents Magazine has posted its review of Bruce's latest single, Ode To A Nightingale.

[MAY 15] This coming Saturday is my MS Walk, and you guys have been awesome as always! I just wanted to tell you why I walk (well, other than the fact that I really do need the exercise.  LOL)  I have a friend who was diagnosed, and I saw her go from "what's this weird thing going on with my eyes" to "It's MS!" So I started walking for her. And the funny thing is that once you know one person with MS (or any other condition actually) your eyes are opened up and you find out that a lot of other people you know (or know of) have it too. So I walk for them too. And since 2012 I also walk in Donna's memory - in memory of her generous and giving nature.  It just happened to work out that my local walk MS usually falls around May 17.  So once again this year (for the first time since this stupid pandemic started!) I will once again be sporting a Donna shirt, and walking at Jones Beach with my team and dozens of other teams in the hopes that we can make a difference for those who have this terrible and often unpredictable disease.

[MAY 15] And that brings me to May 17. That's Tuesday.  This year will be 10 years since Donna moved on to that other plain of existence.  (There HAS to be another plain of existence because a universe without Donna Summer is too terrible to contemplate.)  I can hardly believe it's been 10 years. In some ways it feels like we just lost her 10 minutes ago and in other ways it feels like it's been 10 thousand years.  I know many of us will be spending the day with Donna's music, but I would also like to ask you to do one other thing to mark the day.  Just do an act of kindness that day in Donna's memory.  What you do, I leave to your own imaginations, opportunities, and resources, but if you can, do SOMETHING. It can be big, it can be small, but just try to bring a little bit of light into the world. God knows we could use some!

[MAY 15] On to YouTube...  I think you can guess the theme. First up we have a couple of Suecase Hall videos: Celebrate Me Home and Take Heart/ The Way We Were.  Then we have Omega Red featuring Donna on Angel and Donna's cover of Netherlands. Those last two I am sure Donna left us as her way of saying goodbye.  And finally, I can't leave you down. Donna would never have approved of that! So I share my very favorite live clip of Donna. It is Donna with Barry Manilow having way too much fun performing Could It Be Magic.  Barry Manilow's team shared that for the first time the day Donna passed away.  It was a wonderful gift that always makes me smile - even on a bad day.

[MAY 8] Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! First up this week for the vinyl collectors out there, there is a limited edition (1000 copies only) release of Love To Love You on 180 gram vinyl.  Beyond the vinyl, there seems to be nothing new or different about the release - it's still the same tracks with no bonuses.

[MAY 8] Here's an unusual one - for the 10th anniversary of Donna's passing, Tidalwave Productions is releasing a tribute comic book. (Well they say it's coming out on the 10th anniversary, but they are really releasing it on May 15. )  It will be available in hardback, paperback and digital editions and should be available at all the usual places.  I just pre-ordered my copy at Amazon now.  I will say that I prefer the regular cover graphics to the hard back special edition graphics, but your mileage may vary.  :-)

[MAY 8] In the Donna is everywhere category, there is a new musical for Mrs. Doubtfire on Broadway.  The cast appeared on the Today Show to perform Make Me A Woman. This is the point in the show where the male lead decides to transform himself into a female nanny so he can spend time with his kids.  (If you never saw the movie this show is based on - go stream it. Robin Williams was great in the title role!)  Anyway, he enlists the help of some friends to transform him into a woman. All of the ideas they come up with involve various iconic women like Cher, Princess Diana, Jackie O... you get the idea. One of their icons is Donna Summer.  :-)  It's a fun song.

[MAY 8] Moving on to Bruce.  American Songwriter posted an article on Bruce's latest single - Ode To A Nightingale. Included with the article is the premiere of the video. There is also a video on YouTube of Bruce singing True Believer at one of his recent concerts.

[MAY 8] In Johnnyswim news, they have discovered the land of YouTube shorts and have posted a few on their YouTube channel.  They have posted a number of things there recently including a bit of a cover of Harry Styles' As It Was, and a bit of their own song Holla Holla Holla. Also, someone else on YouTube posted  Slow/Touching Heaven from the Harrisburg concert last month.

[MAY 8] I think that brings us to YouTube.  In honor of Mother's Day, let's have some videos with Donna and her kids.  First up is Mimi's Song from the Music For Unicef concert followed by State Of Independence (both featuring appearances by Mimi.) Then we have the This Time I Know It's For Real video (with an appearance by Brooklyn and Amanda at the end) and Donna singing Hot Stuff on the Sharon Osbourne Show (special appearance by Brooklyn).  We also have an audio only clip of a young Brooklyn and Amanda singing Part Of Your World with their mom in concert.  And finally an interview with Donna and her mom an dad.

[APR 30] Happy Saturday all!  Tomorrow is May 1 so you know what that means - time for a new Summer Fever Pick!  For May we will be dancing to All Systems Go! That's fitting because I am All Systems Go for my MS walk in just 3 weeks. Thanks to your generosity, we have raised over $1300 this year so far. You guys ROCK!  I'm very excited for the walk this year because it is the first time since COVID that we will be able all walk as a group together.  I imagine that it will be a big party at Jones Beach this year.  :-)

[APR 30] On to the news! It looks like there is now an official Donna Summer account on TikTok. There is no content there yet, but it is something you TikTokkers will want to keep an eye on.

[APR 30] Johnnyswim fans, as you probably know, they have a short break before their tour resumes in June with the make up dates for shows that COVID postponed.  But if you need a live Johnnyswim fix now, well check out their latest Live In The Backyard....  which wasn't actually filmed in the backyard.  It was filmed at the Orpheum Theater at what was originally the last show of the tour.  It is Johnnyswim's entire live set in front of an enthusiastic crowd, and as a special bonus you get Katelyn Tarver's opening set as well.  (If you are not familiar with her work, give her a listen! I'm sure you will enjoy her set.  :-)  )

[APR 30] In musical news, The Donna Summer Musical is hitting Dallas tomorrow, and so DallasVoice.com has an interview with dance captain, Francisco Risso.

[APR 30] I think that brings us to YouTube.  In honor of the new Summer Fever Pick, let's look at songs from All Systems Go.  First up, the title track from Solid Gold.  Then we have Dinner With Gershwin from Top Of The Pops,  Jeremy live in Japan, and Love Shock from Jacob's Stege. And finally, an interview clip that included clips from the original unused Dinner With Gershwin video.

[APR 24] Happy Sunday all! Of course the big news is that yesterday the 40th anniversary  picture disk if the self-titled Donna Summer album hit stores for Record Store Day.  I understand it was selling pretty well in at least some stores, and if you want to see if a store near you has it, RecordStoreDay.com can provide  a list of places in your area that carry the title, but they do recommend calling first to make sure they haven't sold out.  I also understand that copies have turned up on eBay already as well.

[APR 24] If you are looking for a blast from the past, I recently re-encountered a 1976 article from Interview magazine that they had reposted on their website when Donna passed away.

[APR 24] Bruce fans - he is still on tour until May 10. (Well for now, he may book some other dates this summer.)  He posted a video on Facebook of his performance of Ode To A Nightingale from his show in Decatur.

[APR 24] Johnnyswim is still on tour until  June 18 (so far at least. Before the pandemic I swore they were on the road so much that they probably didn't remember where their house is.  LOL)  If you follow their Instagram, you can see highlights from the various stops on the tour. And they are still doing Merch To Go.  The merchandise shop opens up on the day of the show, so you can buy your t-shirts or what have you in advance and then just pick them up at the merchandise table when you arrive.  No more waiting in a big mob at the merch table to grab some swag! (Well, unless you want to - that option is still available to you too.)

[APR 24] Ok, I think that brings us to YouTube.  This week let's look at some random clips that have attracted my attention recently. First up, Donna (and Neil Bogart) on The Merv Griffin Show in 1978. Then we have Science Of Love from SiriusXM's Artist Confidential, Sand On My Feet live in New Hampshire  (my god those earrings are huge!  LOL),  and  Donna's performances on Don Kirschner's Rock Concert.  This version of the My Man Medley is different from what we usually hear - it's more down tempo which makes it more interesting to me.  And finally, in honor of Barbra's 80th birthday (80? Really? ) we have the live acapella rehearsal of Enough IS Enough.

[APR 17] Greetings all. Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate!

[APR 17] Starting off with Donna this week - fans of the self-titled album will be happy to know that RecordStoreDay.com has a 40th anniversary picture disk listed as being released on April 23.  It's nice to see the albums getting some love for their anniversaries, but this whole 40th thing is making me feel old!  Can we just say the albums are all 10 years old instead? LOL

[APR 17]  We have a couple of new mixes out there. First is I Feel Love (Moreno J Deeper Love Remix). And the second is Q's End Of The Week (Time To Party mix).  It is his latest song for his The Other Side Of The Rainbow remix project.  This has a very different vibe from the original. And the third is more of a mashup than a mix.  Suecase Hall made a video that combines live footage of Donna singing Aquarius (in English!) with a series of clips set to They Can't Take Away Our Music (from the Shout It Out collection of songs).  It's a video with a message.

[APR 17] In the Donna is everywhere category, she was the answer to... wait, I should say she was the question to a Jeopardy clue this week.  The clue in the category of Rock Art  was: "Lithographs by this late disco queen include Jazzman and Hard For The Money." The question (of course) was , "Who is Donna Summer?" and yes the contestant got it right!

[APR 17] Moving on to Bruce. As you know he's on tour. And of course touring means promotional appearances.  So check out Bruce on WDVX's Blue Plate Special Live from Saturday April 16.  He was on WBIR-TV on the 15th, and you can watch that here.  And finally, he performed All Hands for WSMV4.  Facebookers can also catch a performance of Bad Girls filmed at The Station.

[APR 17] Also in Bruce news, check out the show  9-1-1 on Fox tomorrow (Monday). They will be playing Keep Doin' What You're Doin'  at some point in the show.

[APR 17] Johnnyswim is also in the news this week. We have a video interview from Click2Houston.  Then there is a print interview on AmericanSongwriter.com. (Minor trigger warning for Donna Summer fans who are still in mourning.) The same website has also posted a review of the new album.

[APR 17] That brings us to YouTube. We're going to start with this video you may have seen with Fil from Wings Of Pegasus talking about Donna's voice in 1999.  If you have never seen Fil's channel before, he does videos where he seriously analyzes the voices of various singers. In this particular video he looks at how Donna's voice was different in 1999 than it was in 1977 and he compares performances of Last Dance to make his point.  It's really interesting to watch and I love the fact that he can't help but smile so many times while Donna is singing.  This video has inspired this week's YouTube list which I call "Then vs Later."  So we'll start with Last Dance like he did: 1977 (one of Donna's first performances of the song), 1999 (the one Fil was specifically looking at) and  2010. (Some think this was recorded on 2011, but no, this specific performance was recorded in 2010 for release in 2011.) Next is I Feel Love in 1977,  then in 1999, and in 2008. And then let's look at Hot Stuff in 1979, then in 1999,  and finally in 2008.

[APR 10] Happy Sunday all!  Let's start off with Johnnyswim. As you know, they had to postpone some shows due to COVID. Well, the good news is that everyone is healthy and the remainder of the tour is going on as scheduled.  The shows that had to be postponed (Columbus, New York, New Haven and Boston) already have new dates in June.  Tickets for the original dates WILL be honored for the new dates, but if for some reason you can't make it on the new date, contact the venue for info on refunds/exchanges.

[APR 10]  In other Johnnyswim news, their new album is out NOW and available at  all the usual places. Of course no new album comes without some promotion, so check out Abner and Amanda on KTLA live, and read the interview on AtwoodMagazine.com.

[APR 10] Bruce Sudano fans - you know Bruce is also out on the road this month.  Check out this review from the Clearwater show from RockAtNight.com.

[APR 10] Moving on to Donna... TheRinger.com has a podcast called Black Girl Songbook.  Chapter 27 is called  Donna Summer Deserves that debuted March 31. It's really interesting. It gives you a nice overview of Donna's career and  pays special attention her legacy. It's a very nice piece by someone who understands Donna's contribution to  music.

[APR 10] FarOutMagazine.co.uk has an article  about the song Bruce Springsteen wrote for Donna... and not they don't mean Protection (although that gets mentioned.)  They are talking about Cover Me which was originally intended for Donna.

[APR 10] And that brings us to YouTube. This week let's enjoy some chart success.  Looking at Billboard's Hot 100, Donna had 4 hits that went to number 1.  MacArthur Park spent 1 week at the top in 1978.  Then came Hot Stuff ( 3 weeks), Bad Girls (5 weeks) and Enough Is Enough (1 week) - all in 1979.  Special shout out to I Feel Love. It only peaked at #6 in 1977, but it spent more weeks in the Hot 100 than any of Donna's other songs.

[APR 10] Finally, just a reminder that I am walking to cure MS again this year. My fundraiser is still going and if you want to contribute, my link is here.  For those who  have already contributed, THANK YOU! I will be sending out my little tokens of appreciation some time after the walk on May 21.

[APR 2] Happy Saturday all and happy April. As you know, a new month means a new Summer Fever Pick. This month we are looking at Cats Without Claws.

[APR 2] Let's start off with the bad news for the week. If you have Johnnyswim tickets for this week in Columbus, Boston or New Haven - those shows have been postponed. Unfortunately, Abner tested positive for COVID this morning. Look for an announcement about new dates soon. Speedy recovery Abner!

[APR 2] Let's follow the bad news with some good news. The new Johnnyswim album comes out FRIDAY (April 8). You can grab a copy at all the usual places.  And check out their interview from WGN News.

[APR 2] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is currently out on tour now and he added some new dates.  Checkout his Instagram for posts from the road. You can also catch him on Facebook singing a little bit of The Rascal's People Got To Be Free.

[APR 2] In Donna news, Culture Factory is selling a cd of I Remember Yesterday that looks like a mini vinyl record. It's really cute!

[APR 2] In musical news, HanoverTheatre.org has posted an interview with Charis Gullage (Disco Donna), while Telegram.com posted an interview with Amahri Edwards-Jones (Duckling Donna).

[APR 2] And speaking of Summer: The Musical, congrats to Broadway's Disco Donna, Ariana DeBose.  She picked up the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Westside Story.  She made one heck of an inspiring acceptance speech that unfortunately (like just about everything else from that night) was overshadowed by the slap heard 'round the world.

[APR 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, the promo "Selected Cuts From Once Upon A Time" is available to listen to on YouTube.  Then in honor of the new Summer Fever Pick, we have a Suecase Hall video for Cats Without Claws, There Goes My Baby from Italian TV, and Supernatural Love and I'm Free from Soul Train.  Finally for you remixers out there, someone posted the instrumental and backing vocals for It's Not The Way.

[MAR 27] Greetings all and happy Oscar night!  In honor of the occasion, our own Suecase Hall made a video compiling Donna's Oscar moments (among other things.) You can watch it on YouTube.

[MAR 27] Johnnyswim fans - they are on the road NOW! Keep an eye on their Instagram for  some behind the scenes glimpses.  They are doing a really cool thing this year. They have "Merch To Go".  At the venue there are QR codes everywhere you can scan and then buy what you want on your phone. You get a text when your order is ready and you can grab it during the show or after the show, whenever you want.  No waiting online! Even better, you can go to johnnyswimmerch.com BEFORE the show and place your order then.  Then you can just grab your stuff when you get to the venue. Now one word of warning - an item may show up as "sold out" online, but that doesn't necessarily mean it really is sold out. There might just be a very limited quantity left and you might get lucky by going to the merchandise table. Now you can also look at merchandise for future shows as well, but you won't be able to buy until the actual day of the show. It's a really great idea!

[MAR 27] Bruce Sudano fans - his tour starts on Friday, April 1.  If you do Facebook, you can see his video promoting the shows.  In the meantime, you can still grab his latest album, Ode To A Nightingale, which was just reviewed on RockAtNight.com.

[MAR 27] In musical news, Summer :The Musical is playing Nashville tonight and the Tennessee Tribune interviewed Brittny Smith (Diva Donna) in honor of the performances.

[MAR 27] Speaking of the musical, Broadway's Disco Donna, Ariana Debose, is up for an Oscar for Westside Story tonight. I'm really hoping she gets to take home the statue.  :-)

[MAR 27] I think that brings us to YouTube.  Well, since Suecase Hall covered Donna's Oscar moments, I think I'll celebrate some of Donna's other awards ceremony moments.  First up, her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (I'm still highly annoyed they didn't do this while she was still here to enjoy it!) Then we have Donna an the AMAs in 1979,  Hot Stuff from the 1982 AMAs,  the medley with Kenny Rogers from the 1980 Grammys,  She Works Hard For The Money from the 1984 Grammys,  and Donna winning the Grammy for Last Dance. And finally as a bonus, we have the Broadway cast of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (LaChanze, Ariana Debose, Storm Lever and company) performing at the Tonys.

[MAR 20] Happy first day of Spring all!  This week we start with Johnnyswim who were Live From the Backyard again the other day. They did the rest of the songs from their upcoming self-titled album and you can watch it on YouTube. They have also released their new single Desmond's Song. It comes with a video that you can also watch on YouTube. RatedRnB.com also has a short article about the song. And don't forget - the pair is hitting the road again (FINALLY) with their first concert this Thursday in Memphis.

[MAR 20] Bruce Sudano fans -  catch his new lyric video for All Hands on YouTube.  He is also hitting the road soon. Bruce's first show will be April 1 in Orlando.  You can also catch an interview with him on BronxNet's YouTube channel and read an interview with him on EssentiallyPop.com.

[MAR 20] In musical news, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical's national tour just celebrated their 100th performance.  Congrats to the whole company! And I have a fan review of one of the Boston shows for you. Remember Ken's Korner? It was a periodical editorial by Ken Allan who as you might remember is very shy about expressing his opinions. (Or not!  LOL)  Anyway, you can read his take on the touring production of the musical right here.  (And if you scroll down from that review, you can see some past contributions.)  One thing too note, Ken also saw the show on Broadway so he is in a position to tell you about any differences he noticed.  Welcome back Ken!

[MAR 20] That brings us to YouTube. This week is a really random collection of things I have run into recently, but I want to start off with Spring Affair just because it's the first day of spring!  Moving on, we have Rahsaan Patterson talking about Donna (yes he is a fan  lol),  then we have the TV show Pose using Once Upon A Time, an ad for Flora by Gucci and an ad for Lexus using I Feel Love, and a video with a native German speaker reacting to English-speaking celebrities speaking German. Donna is the first up and apparently she speaks German with a Dutch accent. Who knew? And finally we have a video that just makes me ask WHY? It's Love Is In Control, but they slowed is way down for some odd reason.  I figured I shouldn't be the only one walking around scratching my head in confusion, so I am sharing it with you guys.  LOL

[MAR 13] Greetings all and Happy Sunday! Let's start Johnnyswim. They were Live From The Backyard the other day with half of their upcoming album, and they will be live again this Thursday March 17. There will be merchandise available for sale on their website.

[MAR 13]  Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce has been Live On The Couch again on Facebook.  Just the other day he performed In A Stormy Season (which is extremely fitting these days). He also reshared his lyric video for Dawn Of Hallelujah Day - probably because we can all use a little hope these days.  :-)

[MAR 13] In Donna news.... and some of you may feel the need to skip this entry, a new YouTube video just turned up of Donna's final resting place.  If you want to see it, it's here. But again, I understand that some of you won't want to see.

[MAR 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up,  an oldie but a goodie  -  Donna and Giorgio at the mixing session for Live & More.  Let's go with a studio theme. So up next is an interview with studio footage  from Four Seasons Of Love,  footage of the all-star choir from State Of Independence, and studio of Donna and Barbra in the studio for Enough Is Enough.  And finally we have some behind the scenes footage from the making of the State Of Independence video.

[MAR 13] And finally, just a reminder that I am doing my annual Walk MS event.  A number of you  have already donated, and I think you SO MUCH!  If you are interested in donating, my page is here - but no pressure. I know that times are hard these days.

[MAR 5] Happy Saturday all!  This is just a  quick update because my weekend is shaping up to be busier than I thought.  :-)  First up this week, since the musical was playing Boston and Donna was a Boston native, the Boston Globe posted an article about Donna's younger  days.  There are quotes from Donna's sister, Jeanette, members of The Crow, and one of Donna's old teachers.

[MAR 5] In remix news,  long time fanmixer, Q, is back with his fifth installment of his project: The Other Side Of The Rainbow.  This one if True Love Survives (Q's Only Love Will Last Forever Mix).  It's available on YouTube for your listening pleasure.

[MAR 5] Johnnyswim fans - they will be Live From The Backyard TWICE before they hit the road.  They are planning shows for Thursday March 10 and Thursday March 17 and the plan is to perform all the songs from the upcoming album - that way people will know the songs and can sing along on the tour stops.  Usually new merchandise drops for a limited time a day or so before the concert, so keep an eye on their website.

[MAR 5]  That brings us to YouTube. In honor of the new Summer Fever Pick (and Women's History Month and even Black History Month) we have She Works Hard For The Money. The video for that was the first video by a black woman to be in regular rotation on MTV (back in the olden days when they actually played music.  LOL)  Then we have the second s ingle off that album, Unconditional Love, and the Grammy winning He's A Rebel (Best Inspirational Performance in 1983).  Moving on we have Donna's live version (with a funny intro) for  Natural Woman, and her live version of The Impossible Dream.  And finally, we have Donna's live version of Amazing Grace because I really feel like if she were still here and doing shows, she'd be performing that and dedicating it to all of the people in the world who are suffering these days, be it from the pandemic, or the war. I was at her concert in Boston in 2005 - the day the London Underground was bombed. She added Amazing Grace to her set that night and dedicated it to the people of London.  And when she did it - it wasn't just another song in a set. It was a prayer.

[MAR 2] Happy March everyone! It's time for the new Summer Fever Pick. This month She Works Hard For The Money (she meaning ME if my boss is reading this!  LOL)

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