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

[DEC 2] Happy Friday everyone.  Sorry I missed last weekend, but my mom ended up in the hospital unexpectedly. She's home and on the mend now, so things can (hopefully) get back to normal.  Yesterday started a new month and since it is December, you already know what I changed the Summer Fever Pick to.  LOL

[DEC 2] Let's get the sad stuff out of the way first.  As you have probably read, we lost Irene Cara the other day.  You may be wondering what the Donna connection is - well, other than she was one of the artists who was sometimes mistaken for Donna. Well,  if you have ever seen the movie Fame, you will remember they had a big street dance scene set to the title track. The thing is, when they filmed it, the song hadn't been written yet. So all those dancers were actually partying to Hot Stuff.  Rest in peace Irene.

[DEC 2] We also just lost Christine McVie too. (May she rest in peace as well.) Bruce posted a short video tribute of him singing the Fleetwood Mac classic, Don't Stop.

[DEC 2]  In happier news, there are a couple of interesting covers out there.  First is a cover of I Feel Love by Clara Luciani.  It's pretty faithful to the original, although she does sing some of it in French. And then there is the London After Midnight cover of Hot Stuff. That one is a bit.... different.

[DEC 2] In Johnnyswim news, they are on their Christmas tour now.  They have special VIP packages available for the various dates, and they are doing something really fun this time out. They have a portion of the show where they play some videos from their childhood Christmases, and they have invited fans (who are attending the shows) to email them videos of their own childhood celebrations and they will show those as well.  Keep an eye on their Instagram stories. Abner usually posts instructions about where to email your videos.

[DEC 2] Also in Johnnyswim news, they have a new Christmas single out now called Don't Make Me Wait.  ANd if you are looking for swag, they have a couple of deals on their website right now.

[DEC 2] I think that brings us to YouTube.   Let's do some mixes this week. First up - the New Wave XTension of Romeo. Then we have Olivia Newton-John vs Donna in Please Don't Keep Me Waiting For A Last Dance, the MHP extended mix of The Woman In Me,  Jandry's C'mon Darlin' Mix 2022 of (If It) Hurts Just A Little,  and the Millennium Mix of State Of Independence which features clips from Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech.

[NOV 20]  Greetings all! And Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Can you believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday? I have no idea where this year has gone.)

[NOV 20] First up for vinyl fans -  MusicOnVinyl.com has posted that we can look forward to a pink vinyl edition of Crayons on January 13. There are no extra tracks (Not even It's Only Love) but there will be a 4 page booklet. And, this is the first time Crayons has been released on vinyl. (Weird, huh? Even Live & More Encore had a vinyl edition when it came out. I used to refer to that as the large print version for us older fans.  LOL)

[NOV 20] There is a movie coming out in February called Magic Mike's Last Dance.  Can you guess what song features prominently in the trailer?  LOL

[NOV 20] In the everybody is a fan category, check out the album art for the RuPaul Mixtape Vol II.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems to remind me of something....   ;-)

[NOV 20] Johnnyswim fans - the new episode of their cooking show on Magnolia is out. This time they are making tacos (with homemade tortillas) and a watermelon refresher that looks like it would be amazing on a hop summer day.  Look for a guest appearance by Abner's 4 year old sous chef.  :-)

[NOV 20] I'm exhausted tonight, so I'm just going to go straight to the YouTube list. Since Thanksgiving is traditionally the start of the Christmas season here, let me leave you with my Christmas YouTube playlist.

[NOV 13]  Greetings all!  Let's jump right into the news. First up, Vulture.com has ranked all 240 Rock & Roll Hall of Famers from best to worst. Now I should say, their basis for best and worst is the appropriateness of the artist's inclusion in the Hall Of Fame - were they influential to other artists, were they great at what they did, were they the first to do whatever...  That should eliminate a little of the inherent bias in lists like this, where artists get ranked higher or lower just because the author like a particular style of music over another. (But there will still be debates - just watch and see!  LOL) The cool thing is that each artist has a paragraph or so explaining something about the artist or about the way the Hall of Fame operates.  Donna comes in at #72 and her part of the list has a fairly long section about how the Hall of Fame treats women in general.  The whole article is an interesting read, so try not to skip over the artists you have no interest in...

[NOV 13] In other article news,  there is an op-ed piece out there in the Daily Northwestern about the lasting impact of Donna Summer.  The article was inspired by Beyoncé's  Summer Renaissance.

[NOV 13] And speaking of Summer Renaissance, the NY Times has a podcast talking abut that song and also about Donna, I Feel Love, and the Donna Summer album. Warning - there is a link on the page to get a transcript of the podcast.  Don't bother clicking it. When I tried it, I got the transcript for a completely different episode.  LOL

[NOV 13] If you are looking for something silly, There is a video on YouTube that compares the heights of  100 classic female singers. They have decided that  Donna (when played by Kelly Rowland dressed up in Donna drag) is 5 feet 7 inches tall.  But of course all long time fans know that Donna is actually over twice the height of a skyscraper... for proof, look at the  inside gatefold of Once Upon A Time.  ;-)

[NOV 13] In Johnnyswim news, the latest episode of In The Kitchen Abner & Amanda is available to stream on Discovery+/Magnolia.  This week they made Ropa Vieja and Frijoles - Abner's favorite meal.  It features a special appearance from Abner's mom, Marisol. And I know I say this every week - but do not watch the show when you are hungry. (Or when you are eating junk because you worked late. McDonalds, Burger King, etc will NOT compare favorably with one of their home cooked meals! LOL )

[NOV 13] I think that brings us to YouTube.  And while I was searching for something good to start us off, I ran into this re-upload  of Donna and Barry's Could It Be Magic. This one is the unedited version, some of the other uploads out there are missing a little.  I just LOVE that clip, so I couldn't resist sharing it (again). So now I am going to abandon what I was originally searching for and I'm going to have a little fun. So here is a rare one - The Wanderer live.  Then we have Unconditional Love at Disney with Donna singing to and with a bunch of kids. (Sharp eyes just might spot Mimi in there.  :-) ) And then we have Reflections from Divas 2000 and Love Is The Healer from the same show.  (And yes I cheated - those last 2 are on Vimeo.) And finally, since it was Veteran's Day here the other day, Donna performing There Goes My Baby  surrounded by a bunch of sailors.   To all the veterans out there - thank you for your service.

[NOV 6]  Happy  Sunday all! Tuesday is Election Day here in the USA, so to all my friends out there who are eligible to vote and haven't already -  make sure you get out there and make your voice heard!  (If you don't, then you don't get to complain about the results! And let's face it, we are Americans, we will complain no matter who wins.  LOL)  And don't forget, Bruce is performing on the iVoted Festival webcast Tuesday.  Check out the festival website for details.

[NOV 6]  In Donna news, the 40th Anniversary of  the self-titled Donna Summer album is out now. [Paid Amazon US  link] It is also available to stream at all the usual places.  And of course you can still see the official lyric video for the LeFlex mix of Mystery Of Love on YouTube.

[NOV 6] In honor of the release of Donna Summer, RetroPop posted a short article on their website featuring comments from Bruce.  They have said there is also a longer feature in the actual magazine itself.

[NOV 6] In other Donna news, the movie Spinning Gold (about the rise and fall of Casablanca Records) FINALLY has a release date.  (It's about time. I think they have been working on it for like 150 years now.  LOL) Look for it to hit theaters on March 31, 2023.

[NOV 6] Johnnyswim fans - they will be performing at the Tokens Show (now called No Small Endeavor) at the Ryman in Nashville on November 20.  And don't forget that their Christmas tour starts November 30 in Chicago.  Abner has said it will be more of an intimate experience with just Abner and Amanda accompanied by their friend and collaborator, Jonathan Berlin.

[NOV 6] And of course the latest episode of of In The Kitchen With Abner and Amanda is now streaming on Magnolia. This week they are making dinner with Osso Buco over Polenta. The standard warning applies - don't watch when you are hungry!  LOL

[NOV 6] I think that brings us to YouTube.  Let's do something a little different. Let's look at the 5 songs that had the lowest peak position on the Billboard Hot 100.  (And they are still darn good songs!)  So peaking at #85 in  1989 is Love's About To Change My Heart. Then Try Me I Know We Can Make It peaked at #80 in 1976,  I Will Go With You peaked at #79 in 1999, When Love Cries peaked at #77 in 1991 and finally, Supernatural Love peaked at #75 in 1984.

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