2023
[MAR 26] Greetings all! Let's start off with movie news - nope not the
documentary (yet). The Neil Bogart/ Casablanca Records pic
Spinning Gold officially opens Friday (March 31). Of course there
is publicity in the run up to the release.
Variety has an article,
Yahoo has one, and of curse there is the
Spinning Gold YouTube channel that has a spotlight on
Donna clip. Even Spotify has a couple of songs from the
soundtrack already including
Last Dance by Jeremy Jordan and Tayla Parx.
[MAR 26] Now in documentary news, the film played at CPH:DOX in
Copenhagen this week. Out of that came an
interview with Roger Ross Williams. Then we have a
Daily Beast review from the SXSW showings.
[MAR 26] Boston - save the date! The annual Donna Summer Disco Party
will be Friday June 16 from 6 to 9 pm at City Hall Plaza. They will have
the roller skating rink. :-)
[MAR 26] In Brooklyn Sudano news (that isn't the documentary LOL),
she is in a Lifetime movie called Every Breath She Takes that aired
today, and will re-air on April 1. (You can also see it on demand on
Hulu, SlingTV, Philo and frndly.)
[MAR 26] In Bruce Sudano news,
DailyPopNews.com posted a nice review of Make The World Go Away.
HollywoodDigest.com also posted a nice review. Don't forget his
UK tour
with the Zombies starts in just a couple of weeks.
[MAR 26] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up is a new clip from
Suecase Hall called
A
Donna Summer Sampler. It's a really nice compilation (almost 22
minutes!) showing some of the many sides of Donna. It's
really well done, so check it out. For other clips, let's look at
Some Donna unplugged. So there is
On
The Radio from 1994, the unreleased
So
This Is Lonely, an acoustic version of
Bad Girl,
Anyway At All,
Worth The Wait, and of course the version of
Dim All The Lights from Live & More Encore that starts off "unplucked".
[MAR 19] Happy Sunday all! As you know the documentary played last
weekend at SXSW. That resulted in a couple more reviews - one from
Variety, and one from
Quelle Movies. We also got some promotion from Brooklyn and
Roger Ross Williams on
Deadline.com and
Hollywood Reporter. Look for Love To Love You Donna Summer to
also hit the
Sarasota Film Festival on March 31 and the
Hot Docs festival in Toronto which runs April 27 to May 7.
[MAR 19] In release news, The 40th anniversary edition of She Works Hard
For The Money is officially available for buying or streaming at all the
usual places.
[MAR 19] In Johnnyswim news - Abner is taking a short break from social
media, so Amanda is using this opportunity to cook up a birthday
surprise for him. Check out her
Instagram post and then contribute to her project. She's got a
really cool idea.
[MAR 19] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up - a
fan made video celebrating the documentary. And in honor of the 40th
anniversary release of She works Hard For The Money, let's look at Donna
performing the title track (along with the interview)
on
Johnny Carson. Then we have Donna and Onetta talking about the
creation of the song in the film
Off The
Menu, and She Works Hard For The Money from the
Broadway musical.
And finally
a
video that includes the Unconditional Love Love and an interview
from UK Breakfast TV.
[MAR 12] Happy Sunday all! And Happy Oscar night to the movie fans
out there. Let's start off with movie news this week. Love To Love
You Donna Summer is playing the SXSW Festival as we speak. So far
I have seen 1 review come out of the event and that was from the
Austin Chronicle. Brooklyn is at the SXSW festival, of course,
along with her sister Mimi. Getty Images has a
bunch of photos from the event.
[MAR 12] Johnnyswim fans - they have added the
Catbird
Festival in Bethel NY to their list of concerts. That takes place
August 19 to 20.
[MAR 12] That brings us to YouTube. Since it's Oscar night - let's
look at some movie related clips. First up, Donna singing
Last Dance at the Oscars, followed by
Paul Jabara winning the trophy for Best Original Song. Then we have
Donna singing
Papa Can You Hear Me at the 1984 Oscars. Up next is a compilation of
clips of Donna from the movie
Thank God It's Friday,
No
Ordinary Miracle from the film Let It Be Me (audio only), and
The Power Of One from Pokemon the Movie 2000. And here's a rare
bonus from the Brooklyn Dreams. It's called
You Got Me
Believing (written by Donna and Bruce) and it can be heard over the
end credits of the movie Foodfight. The link goes directly to the song,
but you can watch the whole film on YouTube if you really want to..
I warn you though, the film is not well regarded. The featured review on
IMds gives it only 1 star and I have a feeling that the reviewer would
have given less if they could. LOL
[MAR 4] Greetings all and Happy Saturday! It's a new month so it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick. This
time we are looking at Four Seasons Of Love. That seems pretty
appropriate right now because I swear I have experienced all four
seasons over the last couple of weeks. I think Mother Nature is
off her meds.... LOL
[MAR 4] Let's start with the documentary. That will be
playing at SXSW on March 11, March 12 and March 15 in Austin.
So if you are in that area, check it out. And I am sure that
following those screenings, we will have more reviews.
[MAR 4] In other movie news, Spinning Gold - the story of Neil Bogart
and Casablanca hits theaters on March 31. In preparation, they have
released a second trailer for the film which you can
watch on YouTube.
[MAR 4] And finally in movie news, the film Magic Mike's Last Dance,
which used Last Dance so prominently in the trailer, actually does NOT
use the song at all in the film. The fan who reported that also
was not overly fond of the film itself but, of course, everyone's taste
in movies is different.
[MAR 4] On to the music now - in the category of "how did I get so old?"
LOL She Works Hard For The Money was released 40 years ago.
And like the other albums that have hit the big 4-0 already, there is a
digital deluxe release. You can
read the press release here, but I will tell you now
that the release is the original 9 tracks plus a remix and an
instrumental each for the title track and for Unconditional Love.
Along with the digital deluxe release, Donna's YouTube channel posted a
remastered version of the
She Works Hard
For The Money video. The video is much cleaner and more
vibrant and has none of the issues we had with the state Of Independence
remastered video. The news show Nightline even had a little piece
announcing the digital release for the 40th anniversary. Pretty
cool!
[MAR 4] Bruce Sudano fans... or perhaps I should say UK Bruce fans... he
will be performing with The Zombies in various locations in the UK from
April 18 to May 5. The dates and venues are listed on
Bruce's
website and if you want to go grab your tickets now because some
venues have sold out already. I saw him open for the Zombies here
some time before COVID and it was a good time!
[MAR 4] That brings us to YouTube. Well, why not celebrate She Works
Hard For The Money? First up the title track performed at the
1984 Grammys. Then we have
Unconditional Love at Disney, audio only clips for
Do Believe ( I Fell In Love) and
Love Has A Mind Of Its Own. And finally a video slideshow for
He's a Rebel - one I included because this is the most bizarre
slideshow I have run into. I don't think there is one
Donna-related photo in the whole thing! LOL
[FEB 26] Greetings all! Well, the Berlin Film Festival went well and we
got a bunch of reviews for the documentary out there. Before I get
to what the pros have to say, there were some fans at various screenings
and they said that the theater was packed, that the film was very
moving, and that Brooklyn and team should be very proud. From all
accounts, the documentary is about the woman behind the music as opposed
to being about the music itself. So now in no particular order, here are
some of the reviews that have surfaced already:
Hollywood Reporter,
POV,
Little White Lies,
In Review Online,
Eye For Film, and
Deadline.com.
[FEB 26] I forgot to mention above that one person who saw the
documentary revealed that it used a previously unheard demo of Bad
Girls. Just to clarify - it was not the one that came out on the Deluxe
edition of Bad Girls. There are a couple of photos online from the
Berlin Film Festival - you can access them
here. (And yes, that is Mimi with Brooklyn in one of the
pictures.) Next stop for the documentary is the SXSW festival -
screening times are listed
here. And of course it will start streaming on HBO/HBOMax in May.
(If you don't have a subscription to those services, you can usually
grab a free trial. Or you can subscribe for a month and then turn it
off.)
[FEB 26] There is a new YouTube channel out there called
Donna Summer Discography. It is a fan created channel focusing on
rare and out of print singles and compilations.
[FEB 26] In the everybody is a fan category, I just found out about this
song by Collaborati called
When Donna Sang
Last Dance. The song is about a relationship that started when the
couple danced to Last Dance. There are also some sly references to other
Donna songs sprinkled in the lyrics.
[FEB 26] Johnnyswim fans - the duo is reuniting with Drew Holcomb and
the Neighbors (under the name Goodbye Road) for the
Moon River
Music Festival on September 9 in Chattanooga, TN. The festival is
already sold out (That was QUICK!) but you can sign up for the waitlist.
[FEB 26] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a video
called
How Donna Summer Changed Pop Music Forever. It's about I Feel Love -
of course. :-) Then we have a video of the
released demo for Bad Girls set to a slideshow of photos. And here's
one for all you wig fans - someone on YouTube
recreates the On The Radio wig all while talking about Donna's
career. And if you want to hear something really weird, a guy who
claims to communicate spirits in the afterlife posted a video where he
says that
Donna says her name in her own voice. If you can hear it, you have
better ears than I do! LOL After that, I have to leave you with
something good - how about Donna at the
Royal Albert Hall
in 1987 as broadcast on Capital Radio?
[FEB 19] Happy Sunday all! As you know, the
Berlin Film Festival is happening now with the Love To Love
You Donna Summer documentary due to be shown on Tuesday, Wednesday and
Friday. Brooklyn is there - she posted a photo of herself on
Instagram enroute. There are a few German fans going as well, so
hopefully we'll get some fan reports soon. I imagine we will get
to see a trailer sometime too, but I don't know if they will hold back a
public release of the trailer until closer to the HBO air date.
[FEB 19] Record Store Day hits the UK Saturday April 22. They usually
have some sort of Donna something available, and this year it will be
celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Hard For The Money tour with a 2
lp clear vinyl release of
A Hot Summer Night.
[FEB 19]
GoldDerby.com has picked its top 20 songs of the 70s. Bad Girls is
Donna's contribution to the list.
[FEB 19] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his interview with
NeuFutur.com. In it, he mentions that he is finishing up his new
album called, Talking Ugly Truth, Telling Pretty Lies. (Now that
is an intriguing title. :-) )
[FEB 19] Also in Bruce news, he recently made an appearance at open mic
night at The
Sugar Bar in New York City. The whole show was
streamed on Facebook. Lots of very talented people performed, but if
you don't have over 3 hours to watch the whole thing, then you can
find Bruce at the 33:50 mark with Two Bleeding Hearts - a duet with
Valerie Simpson (of Ashford and Simpson fame!) It's a beautiful song -
make sure you check it out. And then look for a special sneak
appearance by Mary Gaines Bernard at the 2:24:15 mark with a little bit
of On The Radio.
[FEB 19] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's take a
look at some duets today. First up is Enough Is Enough. I could
have picked the version with Barbra. I could have picked the one with
Tina Arena. I could have even found one of the live versions with Mary.
But this time I am sharing the
version with Westlife. Then we have the suet with Liza Minelli,
Does He Love You, Donna with Seal on
Crazy and On The Radio, and Donna with Joss Stone on
Try A Little Tenderness. And finally Donna's duet with Dave
Koz on
A
Whole New World. I know some people might not see that as a duet
since Donna is the only vocalist, but I have always felt that Dave's sax
IS his voice on that song. So I count it as a duet.
[FEB 19] And finally, I am walking for MS again this year. I'll be
walking at Jones Beach on May 20 with as many of my teammates as I can
gather. My
link is here, and if you happen to notice I'm not the captain
this time, it's only because my friend was more organized than I was and
signed up right before I did - so she became captain. (It doesn't matter
- we have always been a rabble! LOL But we get the job done!) Thank you
all for your support - be it financial or just good wishes. You guys
have always been amazing all these years.
[FEB 12] Greetings all and Happy Valentine's Day (a little early).
As you know the documentary about Donna premiere's very soon in
Berlin at the film festival. So I hope that means a trailer for the fill
will turn up very soon. In the meantime, a couple more news
outlets have posted about the documentary. There is no new info, but you
can read the articles at
MixMag.net,
NME.com, and
AmericanSongwriter.com. Also, the documentary was previewed at Sir
Lucian Grainge's pre-Grammy showcase.
HitsDailyDouble.com has a photo with Bruce and Brooklyn at the
event.
[FEB 12] In other news, long time fans Andrea Angeli Bufalini and
Giovanni Savastano have written a book about Donna called Donna Summer:
La Voce Arcobaleno. Da Disco Queen A Icona Pop. As an extra bonus,
there is a preface by Pete Bellotte. It is currently available for
pre-order on the
Italian Amazon website. It is currently ONLY available in Italian,
but I am sure if the publisher has enough demand, it will eventually be
translated into other languages. (And even if it's not - the photos
alone may make it a worthwhile purchase for fans. ;-) )
[FEB 12]
Yardbarker.com has posted its list of the best double albums of all
time. The first one on the list is Bad Girls. :-)
[FEB 12] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce has posted another
live song on Facebook. This one is about getting lonely on the road.
[FEB 12] As you know Bruce just performed for the On The Blue Cruise,
and
Goldmine has posted their report about the line up of
performers.
[FEB 12] Johnnyswim fans - they put a bunch of
merch on sale
last week for Valentines Day. There is still some stuff left, but
it's going fast.
[FEB 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's Valentine's Day
this week, I guess our theme should be love. So let's start with
Whenever There Is Love, followed by
Love Is The Healer. Then we have
Love On And On, and
I Got Your Love.
And of course we can't forget
Love To Love You, and
I
Feel Love. Since today is Superbowl Sunday here, let's throw
in
Stamp Your Feet as a bonus. For those of you enjoying the game
today - I hope it's a good one!
[FEB 4] Greetings all and happy Saturday! I hope my east coast friends
are all staying warm! This sudden blast of cold is quite the shocker
after being so unseasonably warm most of January. So first up -
it's a new month so that means it's time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we are doing A Love Trilogy - not a
bad choice for Valentine's Day. :-)
[FEB 4] Now for the BIG news of the week. Love To Love You Donna
Summer is the name of the bio Brooklyn (and company) has been working on
for....? It feels like forever. LOL It is making its debut at the
Berlinale film festival in Berlin this month. (It runs February 16
to 26.) Then it comes to
SXSW in Austin next month. (That runs March 10 to March 19.) And
then.... look for it to hit
HBO and HBOMax
in May! Now I know not everybody has HBO. But the cool thing is
that you can usually get a free 7 day trial. HBOMax is also currently
one of the channels that is available if you have Amazon Prime. I
also assume that at some point the bio will be available for sale. Tina
Turner has a bio on HBO Max a couple of years ago, and I see that
available for sale or rent now on Amazon. Looks like we will have a
great summer... I mean Summer ;-) to look forward to!
[FEB 4] Also in documentary news, look at the writeups in
Vibe and
RollingStone. May can't come soon enough!
[FEB 4] In other news,
Newsbreak.com has an article about No More Tears (Enough Is Enough).
[FEB 4] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate the new
Summer Fever Pick. First up, a video for
Try Me I Know We Can Make It. Then we have
Wasted (with lots of bubbles that just gave me an idea
for my own photography LOL) from a TV appearance, a live
performance of
Come With Me, and
Could It Be Magic from TopPop. And finally Donna & Barry on
Could It Be Magic just because I will use any excuse to play this!
LOL
[JAN 29] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with Stock Aitken and
Waterman this week. They have been the subject f a UK Legends Of
Pop documentary.
Part one is here and
part two is here. Donna's work with them is covered in part
two, but I recommend watching both while you can. There is a good chance
they could get region locked or out right removed for copyright. In
other SAW content, a viewer poll selected the top SAW tracks - This Time
I Know It's For Real took the top spot. But more importantly when
the TV show ran
the clip, they included some extras - like extra demo vocals that
were not used in the finished track. (You can see the extra vocals in
the SAW documentary too.) AND there is a
podcast on Spotify talking about This Time I Know It's For Real. So
lots of good stuff this week for SAW fans.
[JAN 29] Musical fans - Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is coming to my
home theater - The Gateway in Bellport NY. (I have been going there
since I was a kid, and I have been a season ticket holder for I
can't even guess how many years now.) Tickets are
on sale now for the June 16 to July 16 run. Casting is
something we won't know until much closer to show time. But keep an eye
on their
Facebook page - sometimes in the run up to a show they thrown
in some behind the scenes video of rehearsal or whatever. I will
say that the Gateway theater is pretty small so there really isn't a
terrible seat in the house. Middle is always better than the sides
- but that's true most places. (I already know I'm there June 17
with my mom, so if you see me feel free to say hi. I might even sneak in
some other nights as well. I'm on the verge of early retirement so I
might have some extra time on my hands around then. :-) )
[JAN 29] Bruce Sudano fans -
Vents Magazine gave his latest single, Make The works Go Away, a
really nice write up.
[JAN 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate
Donna's work with SAW this week. First up is This
Time I Know Its For Real live on Live & More Encore. Then we have
Love's About To Change My Heart from Club MTV, the video for
When Love Takes Over You,
I
Don't Wanna Get Hurt from TOTP, and
Breakaway live in Brazil.
[JAN 22] Greetings al! The big news this week is Bruce's new
single/video. It's called Make The World Go Away. You can check it
out on
YouTube and all the usual places. And I highly recommend that you
do. It's got a nice grove to it that just sucks you in. I could
definitely see some radio play in this song's future.
[JAN 22] Also in Bruce news,
he will be
performing on the On The Blue Reunion Cruise (sailing out of
Miami) this coming Saturday January 28.
[JAN 22] In other news,
Collider.com listed 7 musical movies debuting this year.
They included Spinning Gold even though that's not technically a
musical. But it should include a bunch of music from the various artists
on the Casablanca roster.
[JAN 22] In Brooklyn Sudano news... sort of... finally info about
season 2 of Cruel Summer is available. As you know Brooklyn
was in the original 2021 season, and although it was decided
almost immediately that there would be another season, no actual details
have surfaced until now. Unfortunately, they have decided that the
series will be an anthology so that means new cast, new location and new
plot for season 2.
[JAN 22] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some
interviews for a change. First up - a
20 minute segment
from 1987 courtesy of the UK's Sky TV. Then we have the 1978
interview with
Rona Barrett, a
Signed Media
interview from Donna's later years,
Part 1 of a
1994 VH1 interview followed by
Part 2, a
2008 interview for
On Time TV,
and finally a 2003
unedited interview with ET.
[JAN 15] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with an announcement from
Bruce. He has a new single/video coming out Friday January 20
called Make The World Go Away. (It will be available at all the
usual places.) If you are on Facebook, you can see the single's
cover art on
Bruce's page. Go look at it because the cover art all by
itself is powerful. Can't wait to hear the song!
[JAN 15] In the everyone loves Donna category, Barry Manilow had been
touring and one fan who caught the show in Fort Lauderdale reported that
Barry paid tribute to Donna during the show. He started playing
Could It Be Magic and then noted that Donna covered it as a dance song.
(For those who don't know, Barry's original version if a ballad.)
Barry joked that when he first heard Donna's version he wasn't sure he
liked it. But then it went to number 1 and he loved it. LOL
He followed that with his own dance version of Could It Be Magic.
I imagine it sounded
like this - only without a duet partner. (I could play that
clip forever! I'm not even exaggerating. LOL)
[JAN 15] Speaking of people who love Donna - Lisa Marie Presley was a
big fan. She unfortunately passed away this week and I would like to
extend my condolences to her family, friends and fans. Another one
lost too soon. Stampyourfeet put together a
video tribute to Lisa Marie that starts with her comments about
Donna.
[JAN 15] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a
roughly 30 minute piece called The Untold History of Disco. Yes,
it has Donna in it - how could it now? LOL But more interestingly,
it traces the rise and fall of the genre and the legacy it left behind.
Then we have Donna's live version of
Could It Be Magic from 1994. After that is Donna's complete
2005 performance at
Night of The Proms in Belgium and clips from Donna performing with
the Nashville
Chamber Orchestra, (Gotta love donna with an orchestra!) And then
just for fun, we have the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra taking a stab
at
Hot Stuff. (The conductor seems to be having a blast!)
[JAN 08] Greetings all and happy Sunday. SO the beginning of the
year means it's time for websites to start ranking ... well just about
everything. LOL Let's start off with
Rolling Stones' highest rated disco albums of all time. They
put Bad Girls at #3. Let the debating begin. LOL
[JAN 08] Then Smooth Radio ranked the
top 30 female singers of all time ranked in order of pure vocal
ability. (So they say.... get ready for the debate. LOL)
They put Donna at #21 - right between Diana Ross (#22) and Stevie
Nicks (#20). While I disagree (in some cases pretty strongly LOL) with
the order they places these artists, I do have to give Smooth
Radio credit for covering a pretty decent range of time with artists
like Billie Holiday on one end and Beyoncé on the other end.
[JAN 08] Back to Rolling Stone - they have ranked the
200 greatest singers of all time (male and female). And here's
an interesting point the article makes - they are ranking singers and
not voices. So it's less about the voice the artist has/had and
more about what they do/did with it. That would explain (sort of)
how Axl Rose could rank higher than Barbra Streisand. LOL Donna
came in at #122. You notice I keep joking about people debating these
lists, in the case of this article, the debate went further than the
comments section and social media. My local paper posted an
article about reactions to the Rolling Stone article. Mostly it is
complaints about artists who were omitted from the list - with a very
Long Island perspective. (Hey, they left Billy Joel off the list. Billy
Joel is to Long Island is what Springsteen is to New Jersey. LOL) The
article is here, but it is behind a pay wall. I have to admit that I
have a hard time taking most of these lists seriously - so much is
subjective especially when you are trying to compare acts from multiple
eras and from multiple genres. I mean, how can you really compare
Axl Rose to Barbra? Or Loretta Lynn to Ozzie Osbourne? They are SO
different that comparison is pretty much meaningless. But the
debates can be fun.
[JAN 08] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the Summer
Fever Pick, let's take a look at the Love To Love You album.
First up, Donna talking about
Love To Love You.
Then we have a performance of the title track from
The Midnight
Special, a Suecase Hall video for
Whispering Waves, a lyric video for
Pandora's Box, and a lyric video for
Virgin Mary
(which was included on some European versions of the album.) Finally,
here's a bonus version of
Pandora's Box from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (sung by Storm
"Duckling Donna" Lever).
[JAN 01] Happy New Year all! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. There
is really nothing going on this week except for an
article posted on Yahoo looking at Donna's best songs - with the
emphasis on her disco classics.
[JAN 01] Moving on to YouTube, we have a sort of random selection
this week. First up is a video look at
Donna's Billboard Top 200 Albums chart history. Each album is
presented as a graph and it's pretty cool to see "the Bad Girls
era" when Live & More was still on the top 200, Bad Girls joined it, and
then On The Radio joined both - so we had 3 albums going at once.
:-) It was also pretty cool to see a bunch of albums pop back up on the
chart in 2012 - a couple of weeks after Donna went home. Also on
YouTube is the latest from Q - it's the final offering of his Other Side
Of The Rainbow project and it's his
Forever Donna mix of I Need Time. We also have a 1978
appearance on the
Merv Griffin Show promoting Once Upon A Time. And finally we
have a clip I don't remember from Top Of The Pops with Donna performing
State Of Independence.
[JAN 01] Oh, I almost forgot - the new
Summer Fever Pick is up. This month we celebrate Love To Love You.
2022
[DEC 22] Greetings all, and Merry Christmas to those who
celebrate. First up this week is
an article about how I Feel Love changed music. It's not a
long article, but it is interesting.
[DEC 22] In remix news, check out the extended MHP West End 12" mix of
Melody Of Love. Listen carefully - you might spot some extra adlibs
[DEC 22] There's really nothing else going on at the moment
because everybody getting ready for the holidays. So let's share
some holiday stuff. First we have Johnnyswim's
Christmas Live
From The Backyard from a couple of years ago. That was a
special show - definitely worth revisiting. And then last year they did
Christmas In Park
City. And then of course, I have my Donna (and friends)
Christmas playlist that I also shared last weekend. (I added a
couple of clips to the end this week.) I will see you guys sometime
before Donna's birthday - we'll see how the week plays out. :-)
Whichever holidays you are celebrating this week - be safe, be happy,
and don't take for granted the people you love. As I was reminded
this year, tomorrow is promised to no one and you never know which
Christmas will be the last.
[DEC 18] Greetings all, and Happy Hanukkah! Let's start off with movies.
As you may recall, the seemingly endless project, Spinning Gold,
finally hits theaters on March 31. The official trailer is out now on
YouTube for those who want to check that out.
[DEC 18] And in other movie news, the Donna bio that Brooklyn is working
on, is still in the works. I think the last we heard was
this from last year, BUT Brooklyn did post an Instagram story
recently that said "Working hard for my mommy" and it looked like she
was in a room where editing was happening. So even though it's all quiet
on the news front, things are still happening behind the scenes. I know
some people out there were getting discouraged - but come on guys. We
are Donna Summer fans - we should be used to having patience! LOL
[DEC 18] Johnnyswim fans - check out their recent Back Porch Sessions
for Garden & Gun Magazine. In it they sing Bullet, Ring The Bells,
Don't Make Me Wait, and Pass Me A Pint.
[DEC 18] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm going to share my
Christmas playlist this week. Next weekend is Christmas Eve and
Christmas so I haven't decided what I'm doing about the update. It might
be early, it might be late, it just depends on what's going on. I'm
going to aim for Friday, but we'll see. :-)
[DEC 11] Greetings all! Let's jump right into the news. First up,
Pop Matters posted an "advent calendar" article featuring Christmas
Divas. The list is 25 Christmas albums by female artists in a wide
variety of styles. (Everything from Lena Horne to Cyndi Lauper and
more!) Day 11 features Christmas Spirit! Then, the website
Something Else posted an article looking at their top 20 versions of
Lush Life. (Who knew there were so many versions of Lush Life out
there?) Donna comes in at #3 and most of the versions they discuss have
YouTube links so you can actually hear what they are talking about.
Oh and finally BuzzFeed has a quiz asking you to identify various music
icons. They give you a photo and 4 choices. Donna is in there and
the other choices under her picture are Gloria Gaynor (of course!
LOL), Teena Marie , and Thelma Jackson.
[DEC 11] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is hitting the road again.
January 28 he is doing the On The Blue Reunion Cruise out of Miami.
Then, you guy sin the UK get your chance to see Bruce as he hits your
shores on April 18 through May 6 in support of The Zombies. (They always
have a good time touring together.) For dates and venues, check out
Bruce's
website.
[DEC 11] And finally for Johnnyswim fane - our favorite duo still has a
couple more dates left on their
Christmas tour
before they wrap up on December 18 in San Francisco.
[DEC 11] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, I mentioned
last week that the movie Fame filmed their street dance scene to Hot
Stuff, as the song Fame had not yet been written. I actually ran into a
documentary that talks about that (among other things about the movie.
You can
catch it here with the street dance scene starting at about 26:54.
(Or you can rewind to the beginning - there is lots of interesting stuff
for people who are fans of the film.) Then I found something I haven't
seen in awhile - it's a
clip about Donna's cover of Mr. Rogers' song Are You Brave.
(And here is
the song itself.) Also in the land of tributes, here is Donna's
cover of
The Power Of Love (by Luther Vandross). Other rare ones out there
are
Dreamcatcher,
My
Prayer For You, and Donna's original recording of
La
Vie En Rose. (For comparison, here is the
live version she did in Paris about 15 years later.)
[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.
[OCT 30] Happy Sunday all, and Happy Halloween! Since we start a
new month Tuesday, I am posting the
Summer Fever Pick now. This time we are going back to Donna's
first album, Lady Of The Night.
[OCT 30] In Donna news this week,
Grammy.com posted a nice tribute to Donna and her 70s work this
week. And over on
Albumism.com, they are celebrating the 45th anniversary of Once Upon
A Time. (45 years - yes we are old! LOL)
[OCT 30] In Johnnyswim news, the latest episode of of In The Kitchen
With Abner and Amanda is now streaming on Magnolia. This week they focus
on breakfast with (among other things) some enormous croissants
that will make you want to reach through the screen and grab one. (Can
you tell I was hungry when I watched? LOL But they did look REALLY
good!) Also,
Decider.com posted a review of The Johnnyswim Show (their last
series) because that is now available on HBOMax (as well as
Magnolia/Discovery+).
[OCT 30] And if music is more your thing (or you just can't get enough
Johnnyswim LOL), their new EP, Goodbye Road Vol 2 with Drew Holcomb and
The Neighbors is available now at
all the usual places.
[OCT 30] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the new
Summer Fever Pick, let's look at some tracks from Lady Of The Night.
Frist up, the
title track from TopPop. Then we have
The Hostage
from Van Oekel's Discohoek, a lyric video for
Let's Work Together Now, a lyric video for
Domino, and a lyric video for
Wounded,
[OCT 23] Happy Sunday all! This week's update is pretty much a
Johnnyswim update. Their new cooking show has debuted on the Magnolia
Network and of course, on the Discovery+ streaming service.
Episode 1 is available to stream now and in it they make homemade egg
noodles with carbonara and pavlova for dessert. Warning - do NOT
watch the show if you are hungry. LOL New episodes drop on
Fridays, and I have to say that while so far each of the Johnnyswim TV
shows has been different (on the road, home in quarantine, now cooking)
they are really not that different. It's Amanda and Abner just
being Amanda and Abner. So if you liked the other shows, you
will like this one as well.
[OCT 23] Also in Johnnyswim news, they were Live In The Backyard the
other day. Well, the show is called Live In The Backyard, but they
were actually live in their Twin Peaks cabin - which is available to
rent on
AirBnB. The show features guest appearances by Drew
Holcomb and chef Andrew Summern. Catch it when you can on
YouTube.
And yes, they sing the new song with Drew, called What Have We Got To
Lose. And don't forget Goodbye Road Vol 2 comes out October 28 in
all the usual places. The single What Have We Got To Lose is available
now.
[OCT 23] Also this week - Johnnyswim will be performing at
Silobration in Waco once again this coming weekend. Abner has said
they will have a pop up merchandise shop, and as much as they can they
will be making merch on site - their Blood Sweat & Tears
collection. (That's what they call the stuff they sew, silkscreen
or whatever themselves.)
[OCT 23]
StyleBlueprint.com has posted a new interview with Amanda where they
have made her this week's "face of the South." Oh, and yes, we have yet
ANOTHER origin story for the name Johnnyswim. Is this the real
one? Probably not. But it does sound more plausible than some of
the previous stories. LOL (In case you haven't guessed , I
LOVE that they have fun with the origin of the band name!)
[OCT 23] Moving on to Bruce, as you know he is performing at the
iVoted online
festival November 8. I mention this partly so that you will catch
his show online, but also as an excuse to remind all my American friends
to make a plan to vote. Election Day is November 8, but many
places have early voting locations as well. Please take time to
research your candidates and the issues that are important to you
- not just for national level races (such as Senate) but also for
your local level candidates and issues. Those local races often
get overlooked, BUT they have the most immediate effect on your daily
life, and the winners of those races often decide to move up to higher
levels of government. Want a great Congressman, Senator,
President? Make sure you have a great pool of people to choose from...
I'll get off my soapbox now. :-)
[OCT 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's so some concerts
this week. First up -
Brazil, 1995. Then we have
Japan 1991, Jones
Beach 2008, and
Italy 1977.
[OCT 15] Happy Saturday all! Short update this weekend because my Dad's
memorial and such has kept me busy this week.
[OCT 15] Let's start with the UK. Channel 5 ran a show called
Queens Of Pop featuring divas from Aretha to Whitney. For Donna they had
footage of Love To Love You And I Feel Love. According to one fan,
the presenters spoke well of Donna and her success.
[OCT 15] Over here, Billboard Magazine has compiled a list of the
best concept albums. They put Once Upon A Time at #22. (Let
the debating begin! LOL)
[OCT 15] Johnnyswim fans - as you know their new cooking show debuts on
Magnolia on October 21. But the day before than, October 20,
Johnnyswim
will be Live In The Backyard again. Look for merchandise to go on
sale the day before that. Abner has already posted clips of him
silkscreening jackets. Look for the concert live on
YouTube
or
Instagram.
[OCT 15] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up,
Donna's
A&E Biography. And because everybody used to ask about this
song every time Biography aired, here is
Worth The Wait. Then we have part of VH1's
Behind The Music.
(The complete version has vanished from YouTube.) Then there is a
1978 interview
with Rona Barrett, and finally probably one of Donna's
final interviews.
And finally, in honor of my dad, I leave you with Donna's cover of
Netherlands. I'll see you guys next week when we will probably have
lots of Johnnyswim to talk about!
[OCT 9] Greetings all and happy Sunday! I hope my Florida area friends
are doing well after that massive storm!
[OCT 9] Let's start off with Johnnyswim. You might as well call
October Johnnyswim month because the have a lot going on. As I
mentioned last time, they have a new cooking show for Magnolia starting
on October 21. It is called In The Kitchen With Abner and Amanda,
and you can watch the trailer on the
Magnolia website. It looks like it will be just as much fun as
their previous shows on Magnolia.
[OCT 9] Johnnyswim also has a new album coming out with Drew
Holcomb & The Neighbors called Goodbye Road Volume 2. The album
comes out on October 28 and you can pre-order at the
usual places.
But you don't have to wait that long to get a taste of the album - the
first single, what Have We Got To Lose, is
available now to buy
or stream.
[OCT 9] Paul
Jabara fans - expanded 30th Anniversary editions of his albums
Shut Out and
Keeping Time were
released for the first time digitally on September 30. (FYI - both those
links are paid links to Amazon, but you can check the albums out in all
the usual paces.) For those looking for the Donna connection,
Keeping Time includes Paul's version of Last Dance, and
Something's Missing . BUT this is not the version of Something's Missing
that we all know from Paul's Greatest Hits and Misses. This one
does not use her solo verse that was added for the Greatest Hits &
Misses. Shut Out of course has Shut Out/Heaven Is A Disco that has
some guest vocals by Donna. :-) (They also threw in the single
version of Shut Out - also with Donna.) Just a little pro-tip on
Something's Missing - if you are looking for the song title on a
streaming service, both the versions with Donna and without her are
listed the same way. Depending on the service, it's Something's
Missing by Paul Jabara and Donna Summer, or they say it's Paul featuring
Donna. What you want to look at is the duration of the track.
Just Paul is 5:23. Paul with Donna is 5:40.
[OCT 9] And while we are on the subject of Paul Jabara - to celebrate
the release of the expanded versions of Shut Out and Keeping Time,
the powers that be booked a billboard on Times Square on September
30th. Somebody captured the live stream and posted it on
YouTube. Oh, and I almost forgot - Paul's
official website
mentioned that a biography is coming soon. I hope it includes the
story of Paul locking Donna in a bathroom in Puerto Rico to make her
listen to Last Dance. LOL
[OCT 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well in honor of Paul
Jabara and Donna Summer's most famous collaboration, let's look at
the 1979 Oscars with Donna's
performance of
Last Dance, and Paul's
acceptance of the
award. In honor of probably their second most famous
collaboration, here is a fan made video for
Enough Is Enough featuring clips of both Donna and Barbra. And
why not share one of their not as well known collaborations -
Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor. (This version is the extended one.)
Speaking of a sense of humor.... Donna had one. And
here is a video
someone made of clips of Donna being funny or silly. It's 41
minutes long so lots of laughs!
[OCT 1] Happy Saturday all. I'm sorry I missed last week's
update. If you follow me on Facebook, then you know I had an
unexpected death in the family which, as I'm sure you all know, kind of
threw everything into chaos. But my family is learning to adapt to our
new normal and we will be fine, it just takes time.
[OCT 1] So on to the usual site stuff - it's October 1, so it's time for
a new Summer Fever Pick. This
month we look at Donna's musicals.
[OCT 1] In remix news, there is a
2022 Rivers From The Sky mix of MacArthur Park that has a few
different vocals added.
[OCT 1] In the everyone is a Donna Summer fan (or should be LOL)
category, actress/singer Juliette Lewis is a fan and in an
interview in
Far Out Magazine, she talks about loving Donna's music - especially
Hot Stuff. There is even a video included showing her band's cover
version of Hot Stuff.
[OCT 1] Johnnyswim fans - they have yet
another show coming up on the Magnolia Network October 21.
This one will be In The Kitchen with Abner And Amanda, and if you
have ever looked at their
Instagram, then you will know that food is a big deal in the Ramirez
household. It should be a fun show! Also, Magnolia Shows
stream on the Discovery+ service, and now some of them also stream on
HBO Max as well. Right now HBO Max has only 1 season of The
Johnnyswim Show, whereas Discovery+ has both seasons plus Home On The
Road With Johnnyswim.
[OCT 1] In musical news, The Aurora Theater in
Lawrenceville, Georgia is holding auditions for Summer: The
Donna Summer Musical. They have the audition materials available for
download - obviously essential for any of you who want to audition, but
also interesting for the rest of us. :-)
[OCT 1] Bruce Sudano fans - don't forget that he will be performing for
the online iVoted Festival on Election Day, November 8. To get
access to the show, see the
iVoted Festival website. (You don't have to be a registered voter in
the US to access the festival - they have access for both underage
people and others who are ineligible to vote.
[OCT 1] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the Summer
Fever Pick, I have a whole playlist of Donna singing
songs from musicals.
[SEP 17] Happy Saturday all! We start right in with Donna this week. In
anticipation of the upcoming 40th anniversary release of the self-titled
Donna Summer album, The State Of Independence video has been
remastered and posted on the official YouTube channel, and
The Woman In Me has also been remastered and will be released on
October 7. (That link goes to a placeholder where you can ask YouTube to
notify you when the video goes live.) Now before you get
excited.... oh boy. I can't say I'm overly satisfied with the
remaster. On the plus side, they did bring out more of the color,
made the dark tones richer, warmed up the overall tone a bit... so that
is good. It's not really any sharper than it was, but that might
not be possible to fix with the source material they had, so that
doesn't bother me. (There is actually a
Facebook video showing the comparison of a short clip from the
video.) Where things start to fall apart, is visually they changed the
aspect ratio from the original 4:3 to 16:9 to suit most modern screens.
The problem is, that leads to Donna's head being cut off in places. A better option would have been to put a couple of black bars on the ends
of the 4:3 to make it 16:9. Yeah, black bars can be annoying, but
not as annoying as cutting off the tops of people's heads. Ugh.
Then there is the sound. It is badly muffled. And that's probably an
easy fix. Strip the audio and replace it with remastered audio (or even
unremastered audio) from any of the album releases. A fan could
probably even do that. (Suecase Hall, are you listening?
LOL) Oh! And I almost forgot, there is about 12 seconds missing
from the beginning of the video. So while I do appreciate the effort, to
me it fell short of the mark. :-( Here's a link to
the original unrestored video for those who are interested.
[SEP 17] There is a YouTube channel called Celebrity Underrated, and
they just posted an episode about Donna. There's probably nothing
new there for diehard fans, but it's always fun to hear people talking
about Donna. :-) Also on YouTube in the Conversations
with Christian John Wikane, we have
Rahsaan Patterson talking about Donna.
[SEP 17] Moving on to Johnnyswim! As you know, their tour starts
up again on Thursday in West Springfield MA. Now if you thought
they'd actually be done touring at the end of October with Silobration -
well, you probably don't know Johnnyswim very well. LOL Our
favorite duo has just announced a Christmas tour starting November 30 in
Chicago and going through to December 18 in San Francisco.
Dates/tickets are
available here,
AND there are VIP packages available too. As always - if you want
to go, get your tickets EARLY! And watch their
Instagram for announcements, ticket alerts, merchandise
announcements, general tomfoolery... ;-) If you have
never seen Johnnyswim live, - DO IT. It's always a good time.
[SEP 17] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce did a couple of dates this past week,
and a short clip of
Bad Girls from Club Passim has popped up on Facebook.
[SEP 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. What am I in the mood
for today? Let's start with some alternate vocals for
One Of A Kind. (Sounds like something fan mixers might want to
play with. ;-) ) Well that's it - now I just have to listen
to the whole
MacArthur Park Suite. LOL (You realize this is the longest
part of writing the update? I actually do listen to these clips as I
write because I just can't help myself. And OMG I love this bridge! I
always have! ) Ok, that video lead me to a 2 part
compilation of Donna's "best live vocals". They are each a bunch
of clips from various songs in various performances.
Part 1 is here, and
part 2 is here. Lots of great stuff in there!
[SEP 11] Greetings all! I hope you are as well as you can be this sad
weekend. My condolences to the people of the United Kingdom and
the Commonwealth on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. With a
reign of 70 years, there aren't many people left who can remember a time
before she was Queen. Then of course here in the USA, we are
marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. So overall, it hasn't
been a really great weekend....
[SEP 11] Bruce Sudano fans - don't forget he has
3 concerts
this week. Thursday he is in Cambridge, MA, Friday he's in New
York, and Saturday he's in Annapolis. So if you are in (or will be
in) those areas, do check him out.
[SEP 11] Johnnyswim fans have to be a little more patient.
Their shows don't start up again until September 22. But they have
a bunch of
dates going through October 2 in West Springfield, MA, Portland, ME,
Montgomery, NY, Buffalo, NY, Cleveland, OH, Ocean City, MD, Boston, MA,
and New Haven, CT. Then don't forget about Silobration in Waco, TX on
October 29. Keep an eye on Johnnyswim's
Instagram for ticket updates and merchandise announcements.
[SEP 11] I think that brings us too YouTube. Let's just go with the mood
of the weekend. So first up, Donna's cover of
Celebrate Me Home.
Then we have
Riding Through The Storm live,
Smile live,
In
A New York Minute live, and one of Donna's go to songs for when
tragedy strikes -
Amazing Grace.
[SEP 11] Next weekend's update my be late - there is a chance that I
will be away visiting my friend with the new baby.
[SEP 2] Happy Friday all! I took off last weekend because a dear friend
just welcomed a healthy and beautiful 7 pound baby girl and I got to
spend the weekend taking baby photos. (I discovered photographing babies
is a lot like photographing cats - neither will do what you want when
you want them to, but it is still very difficult not to get a cute
picture. LOL) And before anyone asks - I do plan to introduce the
little one to Donna's music. ;-)
[SEP 2] OK on to Donna-land. It's a new month so that means it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick.
This month we are celebrating all the colors that make up Crayons.
[SEP 2] Bruce Sudano fans - if you are in (or will be in the Annapolis
MD area on September 17, go check him out in concert at 49 West
Coffeehouse. It's a free show, but seating is limited. See details
on the
venue website. Bruce is also performing at
Passim in Boston on September 15. You will need to provide
proof of COVID vaccination at this venue. And then he will be at
Rockwood Music Hall in New York on September 16. On November
8, Bruce will be performing yet again for the
iVoted Festival
- an online concert. It's free to access, but you do have to either send
them a selfie with your blank ballot, or a selfie in front of your
polling place to get access. If you are not eligible to vote in the US
then they have other options to gain access. Also, for those of
you who missed out on the cancelled show at Bar Lubitsch last month, it
will be rescheduled.
[SEP 2] Bruce is not the only one on tour, Johnnyswim hits the road
again on September 22 with lots of dates in the Eastern US, and of
course Silobration in Waco TX on October 29. Details are on their
website,
And keep an eye on their
Instagram, Abner loves to post ticket alerts and merchandise
updates.
[SEP 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well, if Crayons is the
Summer Fever Pick, we might as well go back to 2008. First up, a
full concert from
Jones Beach. Then we have a
silly video
of Donna talking about the tour (I love it when Donna is silly!), the
unreleased track
Run With It that was on the original track list for the album,
Stor Dubine's animated video for
Stamp Your Feet, Nathan's video for
Fame The Game, and one of
his tour videos.
[AUG 21] Happy Sunday all! I will almost definitely be out of town
next weekend taking newborn photos (the mom-to-be is issuing an eviction
notice to the little one effective immediately LOL) so next
weekend's update will either be a little early or a little late
depending on exactly when I can leave.
[AUG 21] First up is a time sensitive item for Bruce fans.
He will be playing this Tuesday August 23 at 9pm at
Bar Lubitsch
in West Hollywood.
[AUG 21] Moving on to Donna... BBC2 in the UK ran a Top of the Pops
special with a
tribute to Donna. If you are in the UK (or are good with proxy
servers), you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer for the next 28
days. Now if you are on Facebook an din the Friends Unknown
Group, you can see someone's
recording of the tribute. For those who can't access either,
the tribute is about 6 minutes of clips of Donna performing with a
few pop up captions giving random facts about Donna or the songs. Of
special note - it concludes with Donna's performance of Let It Be on
Jools Holland.
[AUG 21] Moving on to release news - we have the
40th anniversary of the self-titled Donna Summer album coming out
November 4. You have the original tracks (of course) plus 7
extra tracks - Mystery Of Love Le Flex Summer Mystery remix, Love Is In
Control 7" version, State Of Independence 7" version, The Woman In Me 7"
version, Sometimes Like Butterflies, Mystery Of Love Le Flextended
Summer Mystery remix, and Love Is In Control Dance remix. There is also
a new essay by Christian John Wikane. It will be available as CD
or colored vinyl and it is available for
pre-order now.
(Paid Amazon link)
Townsend Music Store also lists a version that has both the CD and
the vinyl versions together. Donna's official YouTube posted a
promo video for the new release too.
[AUG 21] Speaking of the Le Flex mix of Mystery Of Love, that is
available for your listening pleasure now and our own Suecase Hall made
a
fan video for it.
[AUG 21]
Express.co.uk recently posted an article about Donna's death that
draws heavily from the Reelz Autopsy: The Last Days Of show from a
couple of years ago. While I am not a big fan of that Reelz show,
the article may help some people in that it ends with a description of
the common and less common symptoms of lung cancer.
[AUG 21] In other Donna news, Christian John Wikane has a YouTube series
where he posts conversations with various musical artists. He
recently did an
interview with Ruth Pointer, and the other day he posted Ruth's
memories of Donna.
[AUG 21] As you know, Last Dance won the Oscar for Best Original Song in
1979. The other day,
Billboard posted an article about all the nominated songs from that
year noting that 3 of the 5 nominees hat year were all big hits.
The article gives details about each of the nominated songs - including
some chart history. It's a fun little read. :-)
[AUG 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. The Mix-N-Mash channel
has posted a couple of new acapella versions of Donna's songs.
This month they added
I Feel Love,
Dim All The
Lights, and
Sunset People.
(Remixers - go have some fun!) For those of you who are in an
I Feel Love
kind of mood, there is a 1 hour (yes you read that right!) edit of the
song done by LPJ_IS_KOOL. And in the you know it had to happen
category - someone on YouTube named U4RIK mashed
Beyoncé's Summer Renaissance with Donna's I Feel Love.
[AUG 13] Happy Saturday all! First up - a very good friend of mine is
expecting a baby very very soon. And when it happens, I will be
traveling to take photos of the newborn. So if the next update is
late (or possibly the one after that, but I think we are looking at
sooner rather than later), it means I am out of town taking baby photos
for the weekend and will get to the update when I get back.
So don't freak out. :-)
[AUG 13] Let's get the sad news out of the way first. As I'm sure all of
you know (unless you've been hiding under a rock all week), Dame Olivia
Newton John passed away after a very long battle with cancer. She
and Donna crossed paths several times - photos of the 2 of them have
been circulating on Facebook. Both participated in the
Spirit Of The Forest project in 1989, and before that they did
the 1979 Music For Unicef: A Gift Of Song concert. There are lots of
clips of that online, but here's one from
the finale
where both Donna and Olivia are onstage at the same time. My
condolences to Olivia's family, friends, and fans.
[AUG 13] Also lost this week, fan artist Raffaele D'Adamo. He was
the founder of the Friends Unknown group on Facebook and was best known
for his Donna art that he shared freely with fans in the group.
Condolences to all who knew and loved him. It's another reminder
guys, that nobody is promised a tomorrow. So make the most of today.
[AUG 13] In happy news (and yes we need some of that!), Johnnyswim
has a bunch of autumn tour dates coming up. They will be (mostly)
touring the northeast coast of the US at the end of September/Beginning
of October. Check their
website
for dates and cities, and if you plan to attend one or more of the shows
- grab your tickets as soon as you can! They sell out fast. :-)
[AUG 13] I think that's it for this week - Bruce and the Swims are all
on a well deserved family vacation (watch their Instagrams for photos),
so I don't expect much news next weekend either.
[AUG 13] So what do we want to watch on YouTube this week? Well, we
might as well start with Donna's song from
the UNICEF
concert. And here's a
short rehearsal
clip from that show. with a little bit of a German interview at the
end. As long as we are looking at rehearsal footage, here is some
from Divas 2000. (The audio is a little rocky in places.) And here
is a short fun outtake from the
No
More Tears recording session that might make you smile. (It's the
beat him up with a stick part for those who are familiar with the
outtakes.) I got no more rehearsal stuff so let's move on to some
unreleased tracks. I just ran into
Valley Of The Moon again tonight which was fun! And then there
is
Run With It,
Adonai, and the demo for
Begin Again. (A little editing and that song could have been a
dance hit!) And finally - a short clip of
Only Love.
[AUG 7] Greetings all! Let me start with a time sensitive
item for Johnnyswim fans. Tickets for their performance at
Silobration are now on sale. The show is not until October 29, but
get your tickets early because they will sell out. Also, (and I hope
Amanda isn't reading this) Amanda has a milestone birthday coming up on
Thursday. Abner posted in a secret video that he would like to surprise
Amanda with a bunch of videos of fans just saying "I love you Amanda".
If that's something you want to do, the place to upload is
here.
But shhhhh! It's supposed to be a surprise.
[AUG 7] Here's an interesting site I discovered recently thanks to
some Facebook friends. It's
WorldRadioHistory.com and it is an archive of tons and tons of
music public publications going back decades! Just as an extreme
example, when I clicked on Billboard Magazine they had issues going back
to 1894 and no, that is not a typo! When you click on a magazine
title, it brings you to a page of the dates they have, and clicking on
any of those brings you to a PDF file of the issue in question. I
found the site because someone kindly posted the direct link to the
issue of Billboard that had a
celebration of Donna's 20 years in music. (The September 2,
1994 issue to be exact.) The site is a fun playground to explore!
[AUG 7] As you all know by now, Beyoncé used I Feel Love in her
new song Summer Renaissance. I know some of you weren't thrilled with
the language in the album version of the song (too many sexy motherf-----s).
There is now a
clean version out on YouTube that you can listen to instead.
And with a clean version maybe now we can hear it on the radio or TV...
Here's hoping!
[AUG 7] Bruce Sudano fans - he performed a new song in Boulder recently,
and he gave us a sneak peek on Facebook. The song is
Two Bleeding Hearts.
[AUG 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. Last week we celebrated
Live & More Encore, so this week why don't we look at some of the
interviews from then. First up, as much of the
1999
Behind The Music special as I can find on YouTube. It's a
pretty good chunk of the show, but not the whole thing unfortunately.
(You know how it goes - clips come and go.) Then we have Donna's first
appearance on
The View, an appearance on
UK This Morning,
an appearance on
Laat de Leeuw (it's funny!), an appearance on
Queen Latifah's
show, a
short interview from Brazil, Donna on
Oprah, and finally Donna's second appearance on
The View.
[JUL 31] Happy Sunday all! Tomorrow is the start of a new month,
so you know what that means - time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we are
dancing to 1999's Live & More Encore.
[JUL 31] Well I guess the big news this week is from Beyoncé. Her
new album is out now and the last track samples I Feel Love.
The Today Show posted a story about it (as did
weaa.org and many other places), Bruce tweeted: "Big thank
you to Beyoncé, Ricky Lawson and team for kindness and respect for Donna
Summer…" If you want to hear the song,
YouTube has it.
You know, they put I Feel Love on the I Remember Yesterday album as a
nod to the future. 45 years later the song is STILL relevant to
the music scene. Amazing! :-)
[JUL 31] In the land of silly factoid articles, we have an article
called "Is Donna Summer still alive" on
fresherslive.com. The article is exactly what you expect, and
[SPOILER ALERT] the answer to the titular question is "No".
But they will let us know if they get any updates.... maybe they think
she's coming back? Oh the questions I would ask if she did!
LOL
[JUL 31] In fan video/mix news, we have a new
Suecase Hall video that is completely appropriate for the weather
lately - well for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway.
It's Summer Fever the 2022 Heatwave mix which is over 9 minutes of Donna
goodness. :-) The video also ends with a quote onscreen from
Beyoncé from May 17, 2012.
[JUL 31] Musical fans, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical will be playing
on Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Prima in August.
The press release lists the actors playing the 3 Donnas - in the
role of Diva Donna is American Idol's Kimberly Locke. So if
cruises are you thing, and you are a Donna fan, I think you know what
cruise to book. LOL
[JUL 31] Speaking of cruises - Bruce Sudano fans will want to check out
the 2023 On The Blue Cruise January 28 to February 2, sailing out of
Miami. Bruce will be playing that with a ton of other great
artists. Details are on the
cruise's website.
[JUL 31] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well, since Live &
More Encore is the Summer Fever Pick, we might as well start off with
the full show.
(MacArthur Park still brings me right back to that night - I have a big
grin on my face right now just remembering it!) Then we have
rehearsal footage
with Tina Arena, and rehearsal footage of
I Don't Wanna
Work That Hard. Up next is the video for
I
Will Go With You,
Love Is The Healer
live from Divas 2000,
Part 1 of the
interview Donna did for VH1 while rehearsing the show, and
part 2 of
that interview. Finally, as a bonus, we have the Studio 54 version
of Love On And On.
[JUL 23] Happy Saturday all! I hope you are doing well with the crazy
heat that seems to be hitting so many places lately. Who knew Hot
Stuff was actually a weather forecast? LOL
[JUL 23] Rolling Stone has published it's list of the
top 200 dance songs. Yes, Donna made the list. She 's
there with Last Dance at #200, and again with I Feel Love at #1.
As much as I feel like Last Dance should have been higher up, I am
amused that Donna acts as the bookends to the list. :-)
[JUL 23]
SmoothRadio.com posted an article with facts about Donna. Long
time diehard fans won't find anything new there, but it's a nice quick
overview for someone who is more of a casual admirer.
MSN has a similar sort of thing done as a slideshow. (The title is
pure clickbait though.)
[JUL 23] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, Beyoncé has
a
new album coming out July 29. It's called Renaissance, and
reports say that the closing track, Summer Renaissance, samples I Feel
Love. Donna, Giorgio and Pete are all listed in the credits.
[JUL 23] In the land of unusual covers, a band called Me First and the
Gimme Gimmes did a cover of
On
The Radio that... is nothing like Donna's version. LOL
This has much more of a rock beat to it. I think it's one of those
things you guys will either love or hate. I have to say that I
always find it interesting to hear a completely different take of a
song. Sometimes you find something that is unexpectedly wonderful, and
sometimes you find things that make you wonder if you are living in an
insane asylum! LOL
[JUL 23] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce did a session with LR Baggs at
SoundCheck Nashville. He did 3 songs for them: Things Are
Changing, Shadowland, and Fatal Love. They are done as an acoustic
session with Bruce and his guitar with Randy Mitchell and his guitar.
Catch all 3 videos on the
LR Baggs site.
[JUL 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. Tonight I couldn't decide
what I was in the mood for, so I randomly searched for Donna and this
1995 concert
from Brazil popped up. So let's hang around Brazil for awhile (no
passport needed!)... Next up is Donna on the
Jô Soares show from 1995, Donna
live in Brazil in
1992, and of course a fan video for
Driving Down Brazil. As a bonus, I have
I Feel Love
from the Brazilian production of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.
[JUL 17] Greetings all and Happy Sunday! I am back from vacation and
trying to find out all the Donna stuff I missed.
[JUL 17] Let's start off with Donna Summer Ave. in Boston. You guys all
probably saw the street sign being held by various family members at the
Donna Summer Disco Party in Boston last month. well, now the sign is up
for real on the corner of Parker Hill and Huntington. If you are a
local, go check it out, or if you aren't in Boston, check out the photo
on the Mission Hill Main Streets
page on Facebook.
[JUL 17] Fans of the song Starting Over Again will want to look at this
article on
WideOpenCountry.com. The article gives a brief history of the song -
but ignore the article tile asking who sang it better. The author
actually gives no opinion on that and just sticks to the facts.
[JUL 17] In remix news, Q has continued his Other Side Of The Rainbow
project with his Novelty Mix of Melanie. Check it out on
YouTube. (It's a nice mix and a very cute video!)And if you
missed any of his previous offerings, just explore his channel - he's
posted them all.
[JUL 17] Bruce Sudano face - Bruce is hitting the road again! Look
for dates in
mid-September in Cambridge, New York, and Annapolis. If you need
something to hold you over for now, Bruce was live on his couch again on
Facebook with a new song called
Under The Gun.
[JUL 17] Johnnyswim fans - check out their new posts on YouTube:
Hanging My Heart On You and
Bullet. Both were taken from their last Live From The Back Yard
concerts.
[JUL 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. Lets celebrate the
Summer Fever Pick this time. So first up is the
1991 concert from
Japan. It's the whole show with a very blonde Donna. Then we
have the official video for
Work That Magic - this one is remastered so it may be better quality
than you usually see. Up next is
Heaven's Just A Whisper Away (my favorite from that album!), a
Suecase Hall video for
When Love Cries, and another one for
Let There Be Peace. (Sadly that's a song that never loses its
relevance. There is always somebody fighting somewhere... sigh)
[JUL 7] Happy Thursday all! I'll be away starting Saturday, so you
get an early update - not that there is a lot new since Sunday.
[JUL 7] Johnnyswim fans - I know this will come as no surprise to you,
but they will be performing at
Silobration in Waco, TX again this year. It runs the weekend
of October 27 to 29 and tickets will go on sale to the general public on
July 14. I believe you get early access on July 12 if you sign up for
Magnolia perks. Should be a really good time - Drew Holcomb will
be there as well, and of course Chip and Joanna Gaines will be there.
And you know they are all good friends, so they will probably having
more fun than should be legally allowed! LOL
[JUL 7] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, on The Today
Show the other day, hosts Hoda and Jason sang a bit of Bad Girls.
[JUL 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since I'm going away,
let's do songs with place names (none of which I am visiting next week.
LOL) So we have
In
A New York Minute, and
Georgia On My Mind live in concert. Then we have
To
Paris With Love, and
Tokyo - both
are audio only studio versions. Up next is a fan video for
Driving Down Brazil, and an acapella version of
Don't Cry For Me Argentina from a TV appearance. And now I'm
off to get ready to head off to
Another Place And Time. ;-)
[JUL 3] Greetings all and happy Birthday to Canada and to the USA.
Happy July to everyone else! Since it's a new month, you know it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick. This month it's time to go blonde and
celebrate Mistaken Identity.
;-)
[JUL 3] Let's start off this week with an article celebrating the 45th
anniversary of I Feel Love. (Yikes! I'm old! LOL) The article is
on
The Quietus and features an interview with Pete Bellotte.
Far Out Magazine also has an article out celebrating the song, and
so does
UltimateClassicRock.com.
[JUL 3]
Boston Globe finally has an article about Parker Hill Ave in Boston
being renamed to Donna Summer Ave. (I say "finally" because even
the Globe admits that there have been a few things going on in the US
and abroad that have dominated the news cycle.) They ended the article
with the best line: "England has its queen. We
had ours, and she lived on Donna Summer Ave." :-)
[JUL 3] Just a little fun note - if you have been listening to the radio
this weekend, the various oldies stations that play Casey Kasem's
American Top 40 have been running the countdown from June 30, 1979.
That was a good one - Donna was at #2 and #3 with Hot Stuff (down from
#1) and Bad Girls (up from #5). Casey made a big deal out of the fact
that the whole top 5 was female acts AND that Donna had 2 songs in
the top 3. (That was a new chart record - Donna was the only woman at
that time with that distinction. Ans only a couple of men had pulled it
off by then too.) If you have SiriusXM you might be able to catch
the show on demand on 70s on 7. (I have so many fond memories of lazing
in bed on a Sunday morning listening to Casey on the radio counting down
the hits.)
[JUL 3] Johnnyswim fans - you may remember that awhile back our
favorite duo did an EP with Drew Holcomb called Goodbye Road. Well, they
announced on Instagram that a Goodbye Road part 2 is now in the works.
So that is something to look forward to!
[JUL 3] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's July 4,
let's start off with this one:
Freedom (The Power To Be Myself), and then we have another lost
track,
We're Gonna Win. This one isn't a lost track, but it speaks to me
today -
The Power Of One. And another that speaks to me lately:
Begin Again.
And finally God
Bless America. No wait... all those I Feel Love articles? I
HAVE to add an
I
Feel Love link here too. LOL
[JUN 26] Happy Sunday all! This is a pretty quiet week.
Either people are resting up from their big Donna party in Boston last
week, or they are out protesting recent political events here in the US.
(Google it if you don't know. I won't get into it here because politics
almost always makes me cranky! And besides, this should be a happy place
to escape reality for awhile.)
[JUN 26] So, in the land of Donna,
Amazon is selling
an "adult celebrity coloring book" of Donna. 40 pages for you to color!
But before you run over there to buy it, it's got only 2 reviews and
both are bad. LOL If the cover is anything to go by, you could
just turn your favorite photos of Donna into "drawings" in
Photoshop or a similar program and then color those to your heart's
content. (It's not overly hard to do - there are probably a million
YouTube videos showing you how it's done.) Actually I just checked the
pictures posted with one of the reviews... The 1 star reviews do
now do the awfulness justice! LOL Seriously - if you want to
color, make your own pages. LOL Oh and in the interest of full
disclosure - my Amazon link is a paid one. But I will be really
disappointed if I actually make any money from that link!
LOL Check it out for laughs only.
[JUN 26] For something more fun, an article from last year has
been a recent topic on the forums. It's an article on
PopSmarts.com examining Donna's vocal range. I can tell you Donna
had an awesome voice. This article will explain with all the appropriate
technical terms exactly why Donna's voice was amazing. Music nerds
will love it. :-) (And when I say nerd - I mean it as a term
of endearment. I myself am a proud nerd in many different
categories. LOL)
[JUN 26] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's see, I just stumbled
upon this extended clip of
Donna performing with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. This is
the same show that gave us the symphonic version of I Will Live For
Love. This clip is about 15 minutes of pieces of that show,
including parts of some hits, an extended Amazing Grace, and of course I
Will Live For Love. From there dive into a YouTube free fall
to Donna's performance of
Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl, and then her cover of
Nature Boy also at the Hollywood Bowl. Next YouTube suggested a
Photoshop video, but we'll skip that and go to
Anyway At All performed on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. Then we have
Donna on
American Idol's 2008 finale, and
MacArthur Park from a 2004 episode of American Idol. And then
just because I like it, Donna and Barry having to much fin with
Could It Be Magic. :-)
[JUN 26] Oh and just a heads up on the next few site updates. I
think next weekend will probably be on time even though it's a holiday
weekend here (and my Dad's birthday - Happy 82nd Dad!) But then the
following weekend I am going on vacation with friends so if I don't do
an update early (we'll see how much news there is) then the
weekend of the 10th will be skipped and you will see something sometime
the following weekend - or right after the weekend. So if you don't see
me on the regular schedule - don't freak out! :-) (And if
any house robbers are reading this - my house will not be empty while
I'm away. I have other family members staying home to guard my Donna
treasures! Plus my attack cat who will definitely shed all over
you! LOL)
[JUN 19] Greetings all! Happy Father's day to all the dads out there!
And Happy Juneteenth to my American friends!
[JUN 19] Let's start with the bad news first for Johnnyswim fans.
A couple of members of the touring team have
come
down with COVID. So... Boston and New Haven have been rescheduled.
Boston will now be on October 1 and New Haven will be October 2.
Tickets that were previously purchased will be honored for the new
dates, but of course if you can't make the new dates for any
reason, contact your original point of purchase for a refund.
Speedy recovery to all those affected!
[JUN 19] Before COVID struck, Johnnyswim preformed Devastating on Good
Morning America this past Thursday. You can watch it on the
GMA website.
[JUN 19] In the land of Donna Summer,
QuizForFan.com has posted a 10 question Donna Summer quiz. It's good
- not too easy and not too hard. And after you do that one, they have a
couple of other Donna quiz/games linked on the same page. (Give them a
shot - the lyric ones use some deep cuts so they can be challenging.)
[JUN 19] In the Donna is everywhere category, The
NY Post published an article about Nile Rodgers in which he shares a
few stories about songs her worked on. He also tells a story about
hearing Donna's recording of Love To Love You for the first time. Also,
in this category, a recent episode of the TV Show First Lady has Betty
Ford crashing a pool party where she gets wasted while jamming to Last
Dance.
[JUN 19] And now the news you were expecting - Donna Summer Day in
Boston! That was this past Thursday and it looks like a great time was
had by all! There were many highlights - Donna's sisters were
there (more on that in a second), various other family members were
there including O'Mega Red and Taihisha, lots of fans were there...
There was dance music playing all evening long, people dancing, AND
Parker Hill Avenue, the street Donna grew up on, became Donna Summer
Avenue! That is so cool! Bruce posted a
photo on Facebook of the surviving Gaines girls holding up the
street sign. I would challenge you to name the sisters, but since they
are all labeled in the picture, it wouldn't be much of a challenge.
LOL
[JUN 19] As I said, the Gaines girls were all there for the party, and
Mary performed. You can see a video of
Last Dance, a video of
MacArthur Park, a video of
On
The Radio, and a video of
No
More Tears on YouTube, and there are other videos on Facebook.
This is where it gets tricky - lots of people posted things and I am
going to try to link a few here that are (currently) listed as public as
opposed to videos restricted to people on the friends list. So,
Taihisha shared short clips of
On The Radio (and
part 2 here), and a clip of
No More Tears, plus some photos. There are a ton of other clips
online posted by fans and family - BUT in many cases you needs to
be friends with the posters. Mary posted a couple of videos herself, and
if you are in her group, a couple of fans posted things there. (Actually
if you are in that group - look for a long live video posted by Gina. It
has O'Mega Red performing and Mary's whole set.) Linda posted some stuff
on her wall, and so did Dara - so if you are friends with either one,
check out their feeds. And moving off of Facebook, WGBH radio
posted a few
photos on their website, and News7 Boston posted a
short article.
[JUN 19]
Boston Magazine's contribution to the Donna Summer festivities
is this article answering the question, "What is the greatest Boston
summer jam of all time?" The author (who is definitely one of us! )
picked the ENTIRE Live & More album. (The original 1978 one, just in
case there is any confusion.) He also mentions that his favorite
event in Boston is the Donna Summer Disco Party. (Can I marry this
guy? LOL)
[JUN 19] So with that.. let's head over to YouTube and celebrate that
very same Live & More album. First up,
concert clips from the album,
videos and photos, and a
commercial for the album. Then we have the 1979
concert from
Japan - no, it's not the same as the album but it does have a number
of the songs we got on Live & More plus the then new songs of Hot Stuff
and Bad Girls.
[JUN 12] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off this week with a
Billboard article listing the top 34 disco songs of all time - as
selected by Giorgio Moroder. It's pretty solid list, but I notice
that the top 6 all seem to have one thing in common... I wonder what
that could be? ;-) (Spoiler alert - the top 6 are all Donna
songs.)
[JUN 12] Hey Boston - don't forget that you have the annual
Donna Summer Disco Party on Thursday (June 16)! Mary will
perform, O'Mega Red will be there, and so will other members of Donna's
family. Go check it out - it's a free event!
[JUN 12]
AmoMama.com posted an article about Donna and Bruce. Long time
fans won't find anything new, but it's a fun read.
[JUN 12] Speaking of Bruce, he just posted a
new song on Facebook this week. This one is Beautiful Love (and it
is beautiful!) Long time Bruce viewers will note that he left the couch
and moved to the piano this time.
[JUN 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. It's Tony Award night here
in the US, so let's look at Donna and musicals. Let's start
off in Germany where Donna did
Hair,
Godspell, and
The Me Nobody
Knows. Then we have songs Donna wrote for her own musical
projects:
My Life, If
There Is Music There,
No Ordinary Love
Song, Begin
Again (all from Ordinary Girl), and
I Will Live For
Love (Dream-a-lot's Theme). And finally, 4 years ago this weekend we
got to see these 3 divas perform
Last Dance from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. (Fun facts -
"Disco Donna" Ariana DeBose is this year's Tony host, "Diva Donna"
Lachanze is nominated again this year for Lead actress in a play, and
"Duckling Donna" Storm Lever is currently touring with Six The Musical.
)
[JUN 5] Happy Pride Month all! Let's start off with Johnnyswim
this week. They have just announced a bunch of
new tour dates.
So after they wrap up this outing on June 18, they start all over again
on July 28 and run to the end of September. (Well, so far. LOL)
Check out the list, and if you are interested in attending any of the
shows, get your tickets as soon as possible. Johnnyswim always sells out
fast.
[JUN 5] Johnnyswim has also posted a couple of new videos on YouTube
recently. First is
Heaven Is Everywhere (from their Live From The Backyard album
preview), and the other is
Baby Take A Number (also from the Live In The Backyard album
preview.)
[JUN 5] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his live video from Parker
Playhouse of
September In Your Eyes.
[JUN 5] In musical news, the 2022 North American tour of Summer: The
Donna Summer Musical closes tonight in Portland, ME. Happy trails
to the company and thank you for keeping the legacy alive!
[JUN 5] Boston - don't forget that you have the 8th annual Donna Summer
Disco Party coming up on June 16 - less than 2 weeks away! It will
be at Copley Square from 6 to 9 PM. It is a free event and you will have
DJ Vince 1 spinning the tunes, a special performance from Mary,
and of course appearances from O'Mega Red and other members of Donna's
family. If you are/will be in the area - go check it out!
[JUN 5] And that brings us to YouTube. I feel like looking at the
Billboard charts this week. Did you know, Donna had at least one (and
lots of times more) dance hit in every decade from the 1970s to the
2010s? Let's look at a random hit from each decade. (Just note -
the video clips I pick may not be from the same year the songs were
hits.) Looking at the
Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, we start off with the 1970s with
about a million tracks LOL, but I will pick
Hot Stuff/Bad Girls from 1979. (One cool thing about this chart is
that sometimes more than one song gets counted as a single entry.)
Then for the 80s we have another long list of hits. I'll pick
She Works Hard
For The Money from 1983. The 90s have more than you might expect
too. I'll pick
Love Is The Healer
from 1999 just because I love it, but you know,
I
Feel Love also had a comeback in 1995. For the 2000s I pick
Fame The Game from 1999 (also because I love that one. And for
the 2010s, I pick
To Paris With Love from 2010 because that was a new recording. Other
hits from the 2010s were remixes - for obvious reasons.
[MAY 29] Greetings all! It's Memorial Day Weekend here in the US which
is the unofficial start of the summer season here. It's also a big
party weekend and I ask that while you guys are partying, take a moment
to remember the reason for the holiday and send some thoughts/prayers to
the soldiers who never came home, and the families they left behind.
[MAY 29] It is also almost the end of the month, so I have opted to
update the Summer Fever page. For the
month of June, we are celebrating Another Place And Time.
[MAY 29] As I told you last week, the Spinning Gold film made its
debut at Cannes. A clip of "Donna Summer" (Tayla Parx) has
turned up
on
YouTube.
[MAY 29] In the Donna is everywhere category, she was a question
on Jeopardy recently. In the category of "Super sexy lyrics of the 70s",
One of the answers (for those who don't know - Jeopardy gives you
answers and you have to come up with the question) was "This disco queen
sang, 'Dim all the lights sweet darling cause tonight it's all the way.'
" None of the contestants buzzed in. That's it, I'm officially
disappointed in the human race. LOL
[MAY 29] There is a
limited edition box set coming out in mid-June showcasing 100
years of music at the Hollywood Bowl. It's a exceedingly eclectic
mix of music styles and artists. Donna's 2008 performance of Last Dance
is one of the tracks (listed in the Pop/Rock category.) It's a bit
pricey if you are just looking for the one Donna Summer track, but if
you are someone who loves the Hollywood Bowl, then this is a fascinating
look at the history of that venue.
[MAY 29] On May 17, USA Today posted an article with 10 "flawless
songs that outlasted the disco era" to remember Donna. There
are no real surprises on the list - other than they were able to narrow
it down to just 10 songs. ;-)
[MAY 29] Here's one for the Live & More fans - someone put
together a
video with clips and photos from the Live & More concert. It
makes me wish (once again) for a video of the whole show!
[MAY 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week, let's celebrate
the new Summer Fever Pick. I think the best place to start is with
the
30th anniversary mega-mix. Then we have the rarely seen videos
for
When Love Takes Over You, and
I
Don't Wanna Get Hurt. Up next is
Love's About To Change My Heart from the Arsenio Hall Show,
This
Time I Know It's For Real live in 1994, and
Breakaway live in 1992. And finally some
random video clips (including behind the scenes footage) set to the
remix of Breakaway.
[MAY 22] Happy Sunday all! I guess the first thing we should look
at is the film, Spinning Gold. As you may recall, that is a film
about Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records. They have been working on it
for so long that I feel like Neil hadn't even been born yet when they
started. LOL Well, the movie is officially complete and is making
its debut at the Canne's Film Festival.
Variety
has an interview with Tim Bogart (Yes, Neil was his father) and some
photos from the movie. Of special interest to you guys, they do
have a photo of Tayla Parx as Donna. They also have a video
clip of KISS from the movie. If you want to keep up with all
things Spinning Gold, the team has a
Facebook page. I would imagine as time goes by, we'll see some
more clips made available. (And hopefully a release date for the
public!)
[MAY 22] In remix news, there is an unreleased (so far) mix of Sometimes
Like Butterflies tucked away in a vault somewhere. The interesting thing
about it is that the vocals are different! You can hear about a
minute of the
mix on YouTube. I want this mix! I want those vocals!
LOL
[MAY 22] Boston - dust off your dancing shoes!
Donna Summer Day is back on June 22 from 6 to 9 PM at Copley Square.
DJ Vince 1 will be playing the tunes, there will be appearances by
O'Mega Red and other family members, and this year Mary Gaines Bernard
herself will be performing! The event is free, family friendly,
and from all reports, a heck of a lot of fun! And one of these years I'm
going to get there. :-)
[MAY 22] Photographer Harry Langdon
posted a new video for May 17 with some rare photos of Donna.
[MAY 22]
Far Out Magazine has posted an article about I Feel Love on its
website. The article credits the song with creating New Wave.
And USA Today posted an article with
10 of Donna's songs that outlasted disco.
[MAY 22] In the land of tributes, long time fan and singer, Nick Petrone,
recorded a song ten years ago called Woman Of Faith. Yes, you
guessed it, it's about Donna. :-) This year in honor of the
10th anniversary of Donna's passing, he out out a couple of remixes of
the song. You can
hear the mixes and the original here. If you like what you
hear, Nick's music is available in all the usual places. He has links on
his Woman Of Faith page.
[MAY 22] In sad news, Vangelis, the composer of State of
Independence, the score for Chariots of Fire, the score for Blade
Runner, and many other things,
has passed away at the age of 79. My condolences to his
family, friends, and fans.
[MAY 22] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a Suecase Hall
video for
There will Always Be A You (in tribute to Donna). Then we have
Miami: The Box with Donna performing Melody Of Love, Last
Dance, and Could It Be Magic live. Also "new" this week are
Jeremy from TopPop, and an audio only clip with the 92KTU
Studio 92 mix from Donna Summer weekend in March 1982. And 2
songs I have been playing a lot this week,
Sand On My Feet, and
Be
Myself Again. And finally for fun, I have a cover of I Feel
Love by someone named Damien Riehl. He made a choral version of
the song where he did all the parts himself. I found it fun to
listen to, and whether you like it or not, you have to appreciate the
dedication it took to create it.
[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)
[FEB 27] Greetings all! Believe it or not, I am going to start off with
a quote from one of the Harry Potter films. As the kids walk back
to their train at the end of film #5 with the full knowledge that
Voldemort is indeed back, Harry says (and I may not have it exactly
right word for word but this is the gist of it) "Although we have a
fight ahead of us, we have something that Voldemort doesn't - something
worth fighting for." As I watched the news all week and saw brave
Ukrainians fighting to save their country, that quote just kept going
through my mind. To those in harms way - stay safe and stay
strong. Hopefully peace can return soon. And to the Russian people
who have stood up and denounced the actions of their government (at
great personal risk) - thank you for your bravery. You may feel like
your voices are not heard, but they are.
[FEB 27] Ok, for all of us looking for a momentary escape from the chaos
of the world, let's move on to the land of Donna and family. We'll
start with Johnnyswim who
hit the road
again in less than a month. (I bet that first show will be ON FIRE
since they have been forced off the road for so long.) The duo is
currently making some merchandise to take on the road with them, and
they are planning a Live From The Backyard concert with music from the
upcoming album. They haven't given a date yet, but there will be
exclusive merch for that too.) Watch
their Instagram for more announcements.
[FEB 27] Bruce Sudano fans - he is also
hitting the
road again starting April 1. (Live music is back!) Check
Bruce's Instagram to hear him list the dates he's playing.
(Sorry - it's all Southeast US at the moment. The rest of us have to be
patient! But while we are being patient - listen to the radio. Fatal
Love has been picked up by a few stations!)
[FEB 27] You can catch Bruce on the podcast
Hip
To The Scene. They talk about a few things, but the starting theme
is about how to stay optimistic in hard times. (The host's style
is a little annoying, but there is good conversation there.)
[FEB 27] Mary Bernard fans - keep an eye on her
Patreon. She and her daughter are working on another story video.
[FEB 27] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, they played Hot
Stuff at the end of the show on Monday after they had spent part of the
beginning of the show talking about WikiFeet (which is a site dedicated
to celebrity feet. I guess that's proof that you can find anything
at all on the internet if you are nuts enough to look for it! LOL)
On a side note, one of their guests that day was Ariana DeBose - the
Tony-nominated Disco Donna from Broadway. :-) She was plugging her
latest film, Westside Story for which she was already won a Golden Globe
and is nominated for an Oscar. I knew when I saw her on
Broadway that she was going places! :-)
[FEB 27] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start off with
Let There Be Peace, my go to song when the world goes insane.
Then we have
Riding Through The Storm,
New York Minute,
Freedom,
Stamp Your Feet, and
Celebrate Me Home.
[FEB 20] Happy Sunday all! And since it's the last night of the
Winter Olympics, I'd like to say congrats to all the athletes who
participated and to those who get to use music in your sports - always
pick a Donna Summer tune. It's good luck. ;-)
[FEB 20] UK fans - mark your calendars.
Record Store Day
is April 24 and this year there will be a 40th anniversary limited
edition PICTURE disc of the Donna Summer album.
[FEB 20] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his Facebook live from the couch
performance (in a hat) of
Fatal Love for Valentines Day. Don't forget, he
hits the road
starting April 1. If he's coming to your area be sure to check out
the show - and if you have a Super Bruce bobblehead, bring it along. LOL
[FEB 20] Johnnyswim fans - as you know, they are
hitting the road starting March 24. And since the new album
won't be out by then, Abner has announced that they will do an acoustic
Live From The Backyard where they will sing all the songs from the new
album so that people can get to know the new music before they go to a
concert. And of course any time we are talking about a Live From
The Backyard, we are expecting new limited edition merchandise.
Keep an eye on their
Instagram for details.
[FEB 20] Also in Johnnyswim news,
ReleventMagazine.com has a short article about the new single,
Heaven Is Everywhere.
[FEB 20] Before we get to YouTube, I have a personal announcement. I am
once again walking for Multiple Sclerosis. My walk happens
Saturday May 21 and holy cow my team may be able to walk in person
again! (Well barring any unforeseen circumstances.... I'm
looking at you COVID variant # whatever. Keep your pandemic
tendencies in check for once!) Anyway, if you would like to donate,
my page is here. And once again I will have little thank you
gifts for my donors. This year I made keyrings commemorating the
tenth anniversary of Donna ascending to the next plane of existence. You
guys have always been awesome about my fundraiser and I appreciate every
one of you!
[FEB 20] On to YouTube! Since it's the Olympic closing ceremony
tonight, let's do some sports related clips. That means Donna singing at
Art On Ice. :-) (Yeah, I know I'm favoring figure skaters,
but unfortunately Donna never sang with bobsledders, or cross country
skiers, or at a curling match. Which is just as well, because that
would have been really weird.... ;-) ) First up,
Donna promoting
Art On Ice in a interview. (Most of it is in German,
including an interpreter speaking over Donna. But you can pick up a few
words in English from Donna from time to time.) Then we have
a half hour clip
from the Art On Ice Show featuring She Works Hard For The Money,
On The Radio, Dim All The Lights, La Vie En Rose,
Smile, Enough Is Enough, Last Dance, and Hot Stuff.
Then there is a separate clip for
Macarthur Park.
[FEB 13] Greetings all, and Happy Valentine's Day! First up this week -
Donna was at the Olympics! Well, her music was. LOL The
American ice dance team of Hawayek and Baker performed their rhythm
dance routine to Love To Love You and Bad Girls. While I would
have just given them the gold medal on song choice alone LOL, the
judges had them in 11th place going into tonight's free dance.
[FEB 13] Also in the Donna's music is everywhere category, Bad Girls was
used in the season finale of the TV show Claws.
[FEB 13]
uDiscoverMusic.com
has posted a list of the best albums from 1980. They picked 71
albums (which seems like a pretty random number) and The Wander was
placed at #22.
[FEB 13] As you know, we are looking forward to a documentary
about Donna later this year. A fan put together his own "trailer"
for the film made from clips readily available on YouTube. He did
a nice job! You can
watch it on Twitter.
[FEB 13] Johnnyswim fans - we have a new single to enjoy! It is
called Heaven Is Everywhere and it can be streamed in all the
usual places.
You can also watch the
video on YouTube.
[FEB 13] Bruce Sudano fans - as you know Bruce has his latest single out
now called
Fatal Love. Of course a new single means publicity, so catch
Bruce's latest interview on
VentsMagazine.com. There is also a video interview from
JamTV on YouTube. The questions are in Italian, but all
Bruce's answers are in English with Italian subtitles. In it he
talks about his music and about the upcoming Donna documentary.
[FEB 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. For Valentine's Day we need
some love songs. :-) So let's start in the obvious place
with
Love To Love You from TopPop. Then we have the videos for
Whenever There Is Love,
I
Will Go With You, and
Love Is In Control. Then we have Donna talking about and
performing
Science Of Love for SiriusXM, the live performance of
Someone To Watch Over Me from Live & More Encore, and of
course we can't leave out
I
Feel Love!
[FEB 6] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with an article
about I Feel Love from
Cheatsheet.com.
[FEB 6] Bruce fans -
Vents Magazine has a little write up about Bruce's new single/video,
Fatal Love.
[FEB 6] Johnnyswim fans can look forward to a new single this Friday ,
February 11. The song is called Heaven Is Everywhere, and you can
pre-save it
on Apple Music and Spotify.
[FEB 6] And yes, that brings us to YouTube (already). First
up this week is a vaulted track - the original mix of
Love On And On. Let's keep going with rare tracks. We have
Freedom (a liveandmore video),
Run With It
(from Crayons),
Adonai (from the vault),
Addiction
(put together by a fan from a couple of clips Nathan DiGesare released),
Valley Of The Moon (from the vault), and
That's The Way
(from The Journey. OK, that one's not so rare, but I haven't played it
in quite awhile. LOL)
[JAN 31] Tomorrow starts a new month, so you know what that means. It's
time for a new Summer Fever Pick
and this month we will be dancing to the self-titled album, Donna
Summer.
[JAN 30] Greetings all, and happy snowy day to my Eastern US peeps
digging out from yesterday's blizzard.
[JAN 30] First up this week - Bruce's brand new video for Fatal Love
(starring Honey The Cat and Super Bruce LOL) is available now and
it's a fun one. (Well of course it is - look who stars in it.
LOL) It debuted on
RockCellarMagazine.com, but you can also catch it on Bruce's
YouTube channel. (Like and subscribe if you haven't already!)
[JAN 30] Brooklyn Sudano fans - catch her in
NBC's Grand
Crew. I know she was a guest star in episode 4, but I'm not
sure if she is scheduled to be in any of the upcoming episodes.
[JAN 30] Moving on to Donna.... did you know this year is the 45th
anniversary of I Feel Love? That bit of info makes me want to sing
" I feel oooo-ooo-old." LOL Anyway,
Juno.co.uk has an orange vinyl of I Feel Love coming around February
21. The flip side is going to be Love To Love You.
[JAN 30] I don't think I can call this news because it's no exactly
new... LOL So back in the olden days when Donna was still a young
unknown in Germany, she did lots of different projects - as you do when
you are a young unknown. Someone on the forum found out that she did
backing vocals for a group called Twenty Sixty Six And Then on
their album Reflections On The Past. You can hear her at the end of
Time Can't Take It Away and
discogs.com says she's on
I
Want To Stay but I don't hear that. Anyway, Viet Marvos was
associated with this band, and Donna did work with him sometimes back
then.
[JAN 30] I think that brings us to YouTube and this week we have a
few new mixes starting off with Q's latest from his Wanderer series,
Walk
On (Q's Don't Look Back Mix). He's thrown a funky beat on it that
has made some people reconsider their original opinions of the song. And
then we have a Barry Harris 2022 mix of
Love Is In Control, the Kike Summer Extended version of
Love Will Always Find You, and a
Madonna/Donna mashup of Vogue and Hot Stuff. It's more Hot
Stuff than Vogue - sorry Madonna fans. LOL
[JAN 23] Greetings all! Let's start off with a mysterious upcoming
release. A couple of outlets are advertising a new vinyl
release of Love To Love You due out in February.
PopMarket.com is one of the places listing it, but none of the
places has any details other than it's vinyl and an import (and on the
expensive side.)
[JAN 23] Bruce Sudano fans: look for the premiere of his video for Fatal
Love on Tuesday on
RockCellarMagazine.com. I'm sure Bruce will share a direct link to
the video on his social media accounts. (He said we can expect to see
Super Bruce and Honey The Cat. LOL) And don't forget that Bruce is
hitting the
road again April 1 (COVID permitting of course.) Check his
sites for dates, and of course don't forget to check with the venues for
any show you attend - different places have different requirements
regarding vaccination status and/or testing. Know before you go!
[JAN 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up we have
Showtime At The Apollo with Donna hosting. It's posted in 3 parts:
Part 1 (Donna sings Heaven's Just A Whisper Away), Part 2 (no
performance - just hosting duties), and part 3 (also no
performance - just hosting). The same YouTuber has posted a number
of clips of Donna playing Aunt Oona
including this one of the cast just having fun at the end of the
show. (I think that one is my favorite because it's just a bit of fun at
the end that has nothing to do with the plot.) Then we have 2 clips of
Donna performing Hot Stuff at the American Music Awards.
The first is a nice clean copy of the video, BUT they replaced the
audio with the studio recording.
The second's video isn't as crisp, but it has the original live
audio. Then we have
an
instrumental of I Feel Love. That should be fun for the remixers to
play with, but I have to tell you it's nowhere near as good
without Donna's vocals if you are just listening. Finally we have
Last Dance from a 1994 performance at Viña del Mar.
[JAN 16] Happy Sunday all! I hope 2022 is treating everyone well so far.
There's not a lot going on this week. Johnnyswim is working on their
upcoming album (due out later this year, but with singles coming out as
early as next month is I recall), and Bruce is gearing up to hit the
road (COVID permitting of course. Ahhh, remember the good ole days
when you could count on tour dates without having to think that they
could be cancelled at a moment's notice because of pandemic
precautions?)
[JAN 16] I do have a little musical news. Summer: The Donna
Summer Musical is still touring the US (with the usual caveats that some
date have been postponed due to COVID) and of course each stop has
its own publicity. In anticipation of the Augusta, GA performance
(which has been postponed until May 31),
the Augusta Press has published an interview with Duckling Donna,
Amahri Jones-Edwards.
[JAN 16] The musical has posted new videos on its YouTube channel. The
first features features members of the company trying to
describe the show in one sentence. The other has members of
the company
picking their favorite songs.
[JAN 16] Oh and congrats to original Disco Donna, Ariana DeBose. As you
may know, after doing the musical on Broadway, she made a couple of
movies including the acclaimed remake of Westside Story for which
Ariana has picked up a bunch of nominations AND awards - including a
Golden Globe. Way to go! :-)
[JAN 16] In remix news,
RedHouse
is putting out a new mix of MacArthur Park on January 22. This one
is supposed to be very different from the one he did before, so that
should be fun! Reshouse also asked me to pass on his thanks to everybody
who has checked out his mixes. He said he had lots of fun making
them and he hope you all liked them. This is his last Donna mix
and going forward he's looking to put out some original tracks and
covers, and he hopes you all continue to give a listen.
[JAN 16] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, one of my
favorite ballads -
Heaven's Just A Whisper Away live in Chile. Then we have
She Works Hard For The Money from the 2008 Today Show Concert Series
and a promo video for
Could It Be Magic. We also have the complete broadcast of the
1980 TV Special - this one is a real blast from the past because it
includes the commercials that aired back then too. And finally we
have another reaction video - yeah I know these videos are breeding like
cockroaches! LOL But this one is a little different because
they picked a real deep cut -
Sally Go Round The Roses.
[JAN 9] Greetings all! Let's start off with Summer: The Donna Summer
Musical. As you know it is
currently touring the US, and in honor of the performances in
Tampa,
ABC's Morning Blend interviewed Brittny Smith (Diva Donna) and you
can see a few clips of the touring cast. There are plenty
more dates/cities on the schedule so catch the show if you can. If you
already have tickets to a show somewhere, just keep an eye on the news
for your local venue. COVID has caused some cancellations or
delays here and there for all shows - not just this one. And as
always, if you are affected by a cancellation, contact the box
office for info on refunds or replacement tickets. (Won't it be so
nice when we don't have to worry about COVID any more?)
[JAN 9] If you are looking for more of a peek at the musical touring
company,
the official tour montage is on YouTube.
[JAN 9] UK's Retro Pop had a year-end top 20 poll and I'm A Rainbow
Recovered and Recoloured came in at #9. They called it "a fitting
celebration of [Donna Summer's] incomparable legacy."
[JAN 9] Johnnyswim fans - the Magnolia Network is now airing on many
cable providers. (If you had the DIY channel, then you have
Magnolia in its place now.) Episodes of The Johnnyswim Show air on
Saturdays. Today Series 1 episodes 1 and 2 aired at 7 and 7:30 PM
Eastern. And of course you can always catch the shows on demand on
The Magnolia app or Discovery+.
[JAN 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up this week,
Donna
live in 1987 at The Royal Albert Hall. It's audio set to a
slideshow of photos from the show. Then we have a short video from
the
guy who edited Donna's autobiography and a clip of
State Of Independence from Top Of The Pops that I never saw before.
And here's a few for all you remixers out there - the instrumentals and
backing vocals for
Once Upon A Time,
Back In Love Again,
It's Not The Way,
She Works Hard For The Money, and
Protection. (That last one keeps more of the vocals than the
others.)
[JAN 2] Happy New Year all! May this be the year we finally kick
COVID to the curb! Since it's a new month, it's time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we
are looking at I'm A Rainbow.
[JAN 2] Before we get to the news - Happy almost-birthday to
Brooklyn Sudano who celebrates later this week.
[JAN 2] So as you know, this past Friday was both New Year's Eve and
Donna's birthday. And if you were watching Dick Clark's New Year's
Rockin' Eve, they were celebrating their 50th anniversary with clips
from past shows. They included a clip of
Donna's 2004 performance of Last Dance.
[JAN 2] In honor of Donna's birthday,
Albumism.com posted a short tribute featuring some classic Donna
video clips and a playlist of 10 of Donna's hit tracks. and on YouTube,
Marchi Dj Oficial posted a
tribute video for Donna's birthday.
[JAN 2] In remix news, fan mixer Q has debuted another mix in his
series of I'm A Rainbow mixes. This one is his
Tribute to Bellotte mix of A Runner With The Pack.
[JAN 2] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - if you are in her private Facebook
group, you can catch the video she posted on Patreon a couple weeks ago,
AND you can see the live video she posted on Donna's birthday.
[JAN 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some Rainbow tracks.
First up a Suecase Hall Valentine's video for
True Love Survives. Then we have another Suecase Hall video,
this one for I'm A Rainbow (Junior's Shiny Rainbow mix), a mashup
video of live clips for
Romeo, Q's celestial vox mix of
To
Turn The Stone, a lyric video for
I Need Time, and in honor of Brooklyn's birthday - a Suecase
Hall video for Brooklyn (Ladies On Mars Child Of Rhythm mix).
[JAN 2] OH! I almost forgot. If you have the 1977 calendar from
the Four Seasons of Love album lying around somewhere, you can use it
for this year too!
2021
[DEC 26] Greetings all! I hope everybody who celebrates had a nice
Christmas, and that everyone else had a nice weekend. First up
this week, Mark Tara has a radio show airing on Canadian Radio
about Donna's I'm A Rainbow album. The show is an episode of
Rainbow Country which is syndicated so you will catch it on different
stations at different times until January 3. Or you can listen to the
2 hour podcast online here. Mark has interviews with Ladies On Mars,
and Michael Neidus of Demon Music Group. Mark is a huge
Donna Summer fan, so he knows the right questions to ask. :-) It
is definitely worth a listen!
[DEC 26] Bruce Sudano fans - catch Bruce on tour in 2022. He
had already announced some dates with The Zombies, and now he's added a
few more dates in April with Jesse Terry. For a complete list of shows
and a links to get tickets, see
Bruce's
website.
[DEC 26] Here's one to make you laugh. As many of you know, recently
pictures of Donna and Kelly Rowland have been circulating on social
media with people losing their freaking minds about how much they look
alike. (Personally, I don't see any more than a slight resemblance, but
whatever.) The funny thing was
an article I ran into that was talking about all the fuss about the
pictures. What struck me was the second sentence: "Fans have
demanded that a 1979 photo of the 'Last Dance' legend be cast as the
Destiny's Child alum." So they are saying that fans want a
PHOTO of Donna to be cast as Kelly Rowland? LOL Maybe the editor was
enjoying some holiday cocktails on the job..... Having said
that, the idea of Kelly Rowland (the woman, not her photo) should be
cast as Donna (the woman not the photo LOL) has been floating around
Donna fan circles for ages now - long before Twitter found these
two photos.
[DEC 26] I think that's all I have for you this week. So let me leave
you with some YouTube clips. First up is
DayOne Reacts
to Donna's Solid Gold performance of O Holy Night. (Yes, she was
as impressed as I think all of us were when we first saw it. )
Then we have Donna (and others)
ringing in 1977,
Donna singing
You're So Beautiful on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2004, and
Last Dance and On
The Radio from Merv Griffin's 1993 New Year's Eve special. We
also have a
lstdnce tribute video in honor of Donna's birthday, and a slideshow
set to
Donna singing Happy Birthday live.
[DEC 26] I will see you all next weekend. Let me take this opportunity
to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year! If you are out
celebrating this year, please don't drive if you've been drinking, and
don't drink if you plan to drive. And if you plan to be out with other
people, please take all the necessary precautions against COVID.
It's getting bad out there again. And Donna - if you are
reading this somehow (do they have computers in heaven? LOL)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I miss you!
[DEC 18] Happy Saturday all. Well... absolutely nothing happened this
week. Nope not a thing. Well... unless you count
this. :-) When you click that link you will find the
press release for the upcoming Donna documentary project directed by
Oscar winner (and Donna Summer fan) Roger Ross Williams and another name
you might be slightly familiar with: Brooklyn Sudano. ;-) This is
the project we have been hearing about for awhile - the project some of
you may have even contributed to. Go read the press release - this
is going to be amazing! If you are not excited after you read the
press release, and you are a Donna Summer fan, then I suggest you check
yourself for a pulse! LOL (And if you don't have one - by all
means, call out sick from work Monday.) 2022 is starting to look good to
me!
[DEC 18] Johnnyswim fans - our favorite duo was Live From The Backyard
(well, living room) the other day. It's a holiday concert that you
can
watch on YouTube. They are also performing at The Silos
tonight, and with that comes an
interview for the Waco Tribune-Herald. And of course new
episodes of The Johnnyswim Show debuted on Magnolia/Discovery+
yesterday. By the way, Magnolia hits cable providers in January,
so if you haven't been able to stream any of Johnnyswim's shows yet, you
will be able to get them on cable TV soon. (You will have a lot to catch
up with too - Home From The Road and 2 seasons of The Johnnyswim Show.)
[DEC 18] Mary Gaines Bernard fans: after a break, Mary is back on
Patreon with a new story. This time she has a special guest - her
niece Taihisha - and they are talking about going to "Dona Summer
University." The story should come over to Facebook soon, so keep
an eye out for that if you are in
her group. (And if you are not, ask to join!)
[DEC 18] Since this will be the last update before Christmas, let me
take this opportunity to wish you all Happy Holidays! And on
YouTube this week, let me leave you with my
Christmas playlist for 2021. I will see you all at some point
between Christmas and Donna's birthday. The update might not fall on
Sunday but there will be one before the following weekend. :-) Be
safe everyone!
[DEC 12] Greetings all! Johnnyswim fans - you have an early
Christmas present coming! They will be Live In The Backyard (actually
live from Park City, Utah this time) on Tuesday. You can catch it on
Instagram or
YouTube. They didn't mention the time yet, other than it will be in
the evening. Just keep an eye on their Instagram for more info. And of
course it wouldn't be a Johnnyswim concert without new limited edition
merchandise. Look for a bunch of stuff on sale TOMORROW starting
at 9AM EST on
their website.
[DEC 12] While we are talking all things 'Swim, our favorite duo has an
album coming out next year with the new single coming out early in
the year. You can get a sneak peek on The Johnnyswim Show streaming on
Magnolia/Discovery+. New episodes debut on Fridays. (Oh and watch out
for Amanda and Abner trying their hand at Donna's diva walk. LOL)
[DEC 12] Bruce Sudano fans:
MusicLetter.it has posted an article about Ode To A Nightingale. It
is in Italian of course, so if that's not your language you might want
to make use of Google Translate. He was also live on Facebook the other
day for Farm Fresh Radio. You can
watch that here. And keep an eye on The Johnnyswim Show - Bruce has
already made 1 cameo appearance there this season so far.
[DEC 12] Moving on to the Diva herself....
Vice.com has posted an article about how to get into Donna's music.
Obviously my regular readers need no help there, but it is a fun read
and a great way to get some of your friends to take a look at Donna's
music. The article breaks up Donna's music into 7 different styles and
provides a playlist for each. There are a lot of deep cuts
included, so it's definitely worth a look. And in remix news SummerFevr
has posted his Cruel To Be Kind mix of
Love's Unkind on Soundcloud.
[DEC 12] Moving on to YouTube, check out the new Suecase Hall
video for the Ladies On Mars Buenos Aires remix of
Don't Cry For Me
Argentina. I also ran into a nice copy of
Donna's induction
into the Rock Hall Of Fame - this is her complete segment with
chapter markers so you can jump around and watch the parts you
want to. Next up we have Donna's whole segment from
Don Kirschner's
Rock Concert in 1977, then Donna promoting Thank God It's Friday on
The Midnight
Special, followed of course by
Last Dance. (I don't know why those clips aren't presented as
one unless it's because of time restrictions.) Then we have
an interview from a different episode of The Midnight Special where
Donna can't stop laughing at the end, and finally we have a short
profile as part of the
Grammy's Greatest
Divas series.
[DEC 5] Happy Sunday all! It's December so you know what that means -
the new Summer Fever Pick is
Christmas Spirit! (Still my favorite Christmas album ever!)
[DEC 5] Starting off in the land of remixes, Q is back again with his
Talk Of The Town mix of People Talk. (The video that goes with
it is pretty cool too!)
[DEC 5]
BBC.com just posted an article looking at why Donna was "one of the
original rock stars." The article was inspired by the new release
of I'm A Rainbow, but takes a look at her career as a whole. It's a good
read.
[DEC 5] We have lots of Johnnyswim activity this week. First up,
they have a new single out called
A Hard
Year's Christmas. And then if you have Discovery+ or Magnolia
you can watch the first 2 episodes of season 2 of The Johnnyswim Show.
Among other things, you get to watch them make the hard choice to push
back their tour until Spring. And, catch their interview on
GardenAndGun.com about their holiday traditions.
[DEC 5] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up is a good clip
of Donna on
The Tonight Show in 1978 with the interview and both performances.
That brought me to a
2000 ET piece promoting Divas 2000, and a clip from a show I haven't
seen since it aired - Donna on
Marsha Warfield's 1990 talk show. (Unfortunately it's just a
short clip and I'm pretty sure that show was a half hour or more.) Then
we have a
2004 interview from the UK promoting The Journey, and finally
a
2008 ET piece promoting Crayons.
[NOV 28] Greetings al! And Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! (And
even to those who don't!) First up this week in the Donna's music is
everywhere, the new movie House Of Gucci uses bits of On The
Radio, Bad Girls, Love To Love You and I Feel Love. I haven't seen
the movie yet, but I'd say it's got a pretty good soundtrack even if
reviews for the film itself are mixed.
[NOV 28] In the land of remixes, this one just popped up for
Ordinary Miracle of all songs.
[NOV 28] And in the land of covers, we have the David Morales/ Elle Cato
version of I Feel Love
available on YouTube.
[NOV 28] Johnnyswim fans - look for their new single, A Hard Year's
Christmas on December 3 at the
usual
places.
[NOV 28] Bruce Sudano fans - if you find yourself in need of actual CD
copies of Bruce's music, he's got a
CD bundle for sale on his website that includes 6 of his albums: Ode
To A Nightingale, The Burbank Sessions, With Angels On A Carousel,
Spirals Vol 1 and Vol 2, and 21st Century World. It's a great deal
for $60. (And of course he has the CDs available separately, along
with Super Bruce bobbles, magnets, and stickers.
[NOV 28] I think that brings us to YouTube. As many of you
probably know by now, legendary Broadway icon Stephen Sondheim
passed away the other day. As it so happens, Donna covered one of
his songs on tour one year. The song is Send In The Clowns and
this clip is a Suecase Hall video for the song. Let's follow
that with Donna's live cover of
Celebrate Me Home, her live cover of
The Impossible Dream, her live performance of
A
Song For You, and finally Donna's recorded cover of
Netherlands.
[NOV 21] Happy Sunday all! And an early Happy Thanksgiving to my
American friends!
[NOV 21] First up, I'm A Rainbow Recovered & Recoloured is officially
released. You can stream it in all the usual places such as
Amazon (paid
link). You can get physical copies too, but (at least in the US)
you have to be a bit patient with the shipping. Don't forget the CD
comes with a booklet with lines notes by Christian John Wikane.
[NOV 21] For more I'm A Rainbow goodness, check out Mark Tara's
syndicated radio show,
Rainbow Country. He's interviewed Ladies On Mars and Michael
Neidus from Demon Music for an episode that will debut December 28.
Each interview will be about a half hour plus music.
[NOV 21] In a blast from the past,
Number1Albums.com posted an article about 10 years ago about Live &
More.
[NOV 21] In musical news, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is officially
on tour now. They've been having tons of fun in Pittsburgh and now
they are heading to Utica, NY on Tuesday. They've been posting
a bunch of photos on their
Instagram, and if you head over to the
official website, you can catch up with all the tour dates, meet the
cast, and even buy some merchandise.
[NOV 21] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him
on tour in
2022 first in the UK with the Zombies, followed by a few dates in
the US with them. Bruce also did a set for the Philly Folk Song Society
recently. He posted the set
Live From The Couch on Facebook, or you can catch the whole show on
YouTube
- Bruce comes in at 1:17:12 (which is where my link should bring you.)
[NOV 21] Bruce also did an interview for Inspired With Patrick L Riley
for CrewTV. You can watch the teaser on
Instagram, If you want to catch the show, you can get CrewTV
on Apple TV, Roku, Google Play and
the web. I
think it airs Mondays at 6 PM and repeats until the next episode is
available. The show is not free however - you need to have a paid
subscription to the channel.
[NOV 21] Johnnyswim fans - catch them Live at The Silos in Waco on
December 13. They will be singing Christmas music (of course!) Oh
and Abner has been working on new merchandise, so be on the lookout for
an announcement about that. (He posted video on Instagram of him
sewing patches onto caps.)
[NOV 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's go with a
Thanksgiving theme... well sort of. First up is Donna's appearance
on the Thanksgiving episode of Queen Latifah's talk show. First is the
interview and Love Is The Healer, then there is the duet of
Bad Girls. Up next is a pre-Thanksgiving appearance on
The View. Then we have Summer: The Musical at the
Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018. And for laughs, we have a
clip from Family
Matters that might reflect how some of us feel after a big
Thanksgiving Day feast. LOL And one more
clip from that episode just because you don't usually find the Hard
For The Money ending on YouTube and it always cracks me up.
[NOV 14] Greetings all! And a belated Happy Veterans' Day to all the
veterans out there! Thank you for your service.
[NOV 14] First up, the I'm A Rainbow Recovered and Recoloured Bookpack
is available from
Amazon (paid link) starting November 19. The streaming version
will also be fully available then.
[NOV 14] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, Lady Gaga plugged
her movie House Of Gucci with a
TikTok dance to I Feel Love. Then on Twitter someone shared
a clip of Patti Labelle using a bit of Bad Girls with Lady
Marmalade.
[NOV 14] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his
new video for Cosmic Ride. It features the return of Super
Bruce as you have never seen him before. LOL (There must have been
a really fun photo shoot somewhere! ) Also, if you grab a copy of the
latest issue of Goldmine magazine, you will see Bruce gets a nice
shout out in the Indie Spotlight article. (It's not available online
yet, you have to grab an actual copy of the magazine.)
[NOV 14] Some sad news today,
Jeff Wald passed away yesterday. Some of you will remember that he
was Donna's manager for awhile in the 70s. My condolences to his
friends and family.
[NOV 14] I think that brings us to YouTube. I have a random
collection of clips that fell my way this week. First up, Donna in
Family Tree back in 1974. (Yeah, it's not her voice. I'm sure there
is a reason they didn't use her voice - maybe some sort of legal thing
or something.) Then we have a reaction video to
MacArthur Park and one for
No
More Tears. Continuing, we have Donna on
Solid Gold performing All Systems Go. (I haven't seen that one in
ages!), the story of
I
Feel Love from UK TV, and the full
Live & More Encore VH1 special.
[NOV 6] Greetings all! It's November (already ugh!) so it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick. This
month we are celebrating The Wanderer.
[NOV 6] Bruce Sudano fans - we have a few new things out there this
week. And the very first one I am going to mention was written by
Bruce himself. It is an essay on how songwriting shaped his life and you
can find it on
Muse by Clio.
[NOV 6] Bruce also did a couple of podcasts to promote his album.
He did an episode of
Music Is My Life for Berklee Online, and he did an episode of
Rock Of Nations on Spotify.
[NOV 6] UK Bruce fans - catch him on tour this coming February
with The Zombies. He's toured with them before and it's always a
fun time. :-) For dates, locations, and tickets, head over
to Bruce's
site.
[NOV 6] Moving on to Donna remix news.... many of you may remember that
the early 2000s were a great time for fan mixes. One of the more popular
fan mixers working then was Q. And then he gave it up for awhile.
But Q was inspired to comeback with a Celestial Vox Mix of To Turn The
Stone. He's billing it as the first of his Other Side Of The
Rainbow remix project. Check it out on
YouTube.
[NOV 6] In cover news, you might remember that Redhouse released a
cover of If There Is Music There. Well they have followed that up
with a cover of MacArthur Park. (And let's be clear - it's a cover
of Donna's version of the song and not a cover of the Richard Harris
version. LOL) You can check out either cover on the
Redhouse Recordings website.
[NOV 6] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm just gonna go where
YouTube takes me this time. Let's start off with a nice clip of
MacArthur Park live from 2004. That brings me to a compilation
of Donna's
best live vocals part 1, and her
best live vocals part 2. From there we go to
Donna on Oprah, then Suecase Hall's
video remembering Donna, and finally Donna's appearance at the
2005 Night of the
Proms in Belgium.
[OCT 29] Happy Friday all, and Happy Halloween! I'm pet-sitting for a
friend this weekend so I thought I'd better sneak the update in early.
:-)
[OCT 29] First up, we have another new mix out there! This one is
the Jean Tonique Remix of Back Where You Belong. This sounds A LOT
different from the original. I kind of like the slow groove to
this one. You can check it out on
YouTube and all the other usual places.
[OCT 29] This isn't a new clip, but it's the first time I saw it -
Broadway star Andre De Shields reminisces about the Studio 54 era and
listening to Donna's Four Seasons Of Love in the club.
[OCT 29] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is all over the media again
this week. :-)
RockWrite.Blogspot.com has a brief review of Ode To A Nightingale in
an article about the latest new releases.
RoadieMusic.com has a review of the single Cosmic Ride - that
site has a couple of language options. So if the article appears in one
you don't know, just click one of the flags for another option.
(English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.)
And then
mythaxis.com has a really interesting article about Bruce's
songwriting.
[OCT 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week's clips come
straight from that last Bruce article I posted. So first up is I'm
A Rainbow (lyric video). Then we have
Starting Over Again (live on Eddie Rabbitt's TV special), a demo for
So
This Is Lonely, and
Worth The Wait live in concert. Fun fact about Worth The Wait
- Donna only ever performed it in concert in the 90s. A&E did an
episode of Biography on Donna that included clips from that particular
tour. Worth The Wait was one of the songs they aired a clip of.
Every time A&E reran that show, I'd get a bunch of emails asking me what
that song was. Every time! (Here's a bonus audio only
version of
Worth The Wait taken from the concert I was at. The part where
Donna and the audience starts leaving was because Donna's jacket got
caught in whatever she was sitting on and she couldn't stand up - it
took me years to find out why people were laughing. The show was at a
theater that did staging in the round and at that point in the show, the
stage had rotated so that I was behind Donna and couldn't see what was
happening,)
[OCT 24] Greetings all! First up for all the Facebookers out there
- as you know Donna has an official
Facebook page curated by her family. When you go there is has the
blue "verified" checkmark and it states that it is her official page.
But here's the thing, there is another recently created page out there
called Donna Summer Fanpage, It tries hard to look like the official
page with the same graphics, but it has no "verified" checkmark.
That would not be an issue except for the fact that this fanpage account
has messaged at least one fan, posing as Donna herself, offering a free
ticket to show next time she's in town, blah blah blah. And all this is
a prelude into asking for donations (to be sent as gift cards no less)
to "support orphanages around the world". There are lots of alarm
bells ringing there - not the least of which is that Donna is not in a
position to be posting on Facebook or having concerts... well not in
this plain of existence anyway. The family has been made aware of
fanpage, and if you have received one of these direct messages, please
consider reporting it to Facebook. And please don't make
donations to anyone unless you are sure of who they are and where the
money is going. :-)
[OCT 24] On to the news! For those eagerly anticipating the
I'm A Rainbow Recovered & Recolored, you can get a taste at
juno.co.uk. They have long samples of the 10 tracks that
appear on the limited edition transparent blue National Album Day vinyl.
[OCT 24] Next up is Bruce. We have a
review (in Italian) on xtm.it of Ode To A Nightingale. Then we
have a video interview (in English) on
Boomerocity.com also about Ode To A Nightingale (among other
things), and an
audio interview with omny.fm where Bruce gets to talk about the
Casablanca years (among other things.)
[OCT 24] In the land of covers, the band
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs has covered Hot Stuff. I
don't think the cover will be to the taste of most diehard Donna fans,
but it does show that the song really is a rock and roll song.
[OCT 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. Next weekend is
Halloween so let's look at some of Donna's potential Halloween costumes.
Let's see there is the prostitute (Bad
Girls), the waitress (She
Works Hard For The Money), the 1930s era singer (My
Man Medley), a wanderer (The
Wanderer), a couple of different characters (Sunset
People),
Donna as Aunt Oona, and whatever you want to call this look (Supernatural
Love). And as a bonus, here is a clip featuring
Donna in her Kabuki makeup for the Another Place & Time album.
[OCT 17] Greetings all! Let's see, we can start with BBC
Sounds, for National Album Day, they made a mix of 80s female artists -
in particular, Whitney Houston, Kim Wilde, Janet Jackson, some woman
named Donna Summer ;-) and Alison Moyet. And yes, I did say
80s, so Donna's part is drawn only from her 80s output. You can
check it out here. (Donna comes in at about 36:00)
[OCT 17] While we are talking mixes, Eric Kupper remixed Reba McEntire's
version of Does He Love You. Some clever fan mixer took that mix
and replaced the vocals with Donna and Liza's. You can hear that
on YouTube.
And then if you want a laugh, someone unearthed an
old promo piece
Liza did to promote her and Donna's original recording of Does He
Love You. (I think they had a lot of fun making it!)
[OCT 17] Also in remix news, Suecase Hall has been busy with the
new I'm A Rainbow mixes. He's added Junior's Shiny Rainbow mix of
I'm A Rainbow to his collection of fan videos.
[OCT 17] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, The Voice
used Enough Is Enough in the competition this week. You can
see it here.
[OCT 17] Moving on to Bruce... he's got another interview out about Ode
To A Nightingale. This one is in
Blog Della Musica, and it's in Italian so if that's not your
thing, Google Translate will do a decent job of converting it to
English. (Someone will have to let me know how it does converting
text to languages other than English.) Also, you can now stream all the
songs from Ode To A Nightingale on
Bruce's YouTube channel.
[OCT 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's look at
some of the original versions of the I'm A Rainbow tracks. First up, a
Suecase Hall video for
To Turn The Stone.
Then we have a lyric video for
Highway Runner,
the actual original
People Talk (with the rap break), the actual original
True Love Survives, the released version of
I
Need Time, and
I'm A Rainbow.
[OCT 10] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with I'm A Rainbow. The new
release is due out October 29 now - hopefully that date stands!
(I think it should.) As you know the mix for Leave Me Alone
was released recently, and now our own Suecase Hall
has made a video
for it. But there is another new mix out there as of
Friday -
Junior's Shiny Rainbow Edit of I'm A Rainbow. At this rate we
may have the majority of the album before it's even officially released!
LOL
[OCT 10] In the everyone wants to dance to Donna category, someone has
made a line dance
for Dim All The Lights. (I guess line dancing isn't just for
Country music anymore! LOL) It would probably look pretty
cool if they had a bunch of people doing it - line dancing always looks
a little weird to me if it's only 1 or 2 people doing it.
[OCT 10] Moving on to Bruce. As you know, his EP Ode To A Nightingale is
out now at all the usual places. To promote it, Bruce has done an
interview with
MusicMap.it. The article is in Italian, so if that's not your
language, Google
Translate does a pretty decent job of converting it to English.
(Your mileage may vary with other languages.) One thing
Bruce mentions in the interview is that he would like to return to live
performing and he's hoping to organize a tour of Italy some time in the
future. (Obviously, everything depends on how the pandemic
situation is going. Such weird times we are in!)
[OCT 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think this week I'm
gonna go with the theme of work. So of course we have to start
with the obvious -
She Works Hard For The Money (live in Disney). Then we have
I Don't Wanna
Work That Hard (my personal theme song at my job! LOL),
Working
The Midnight Shift,
Lady Of The
Night,
Bad Girls (yes those girls are working!),
Fame (also a job), and
End Of The Week.
[OCT 2] Happy Saturday all, and Happy October. A new month means a new
Summer Fever Pick and this time we are
dancing to the toot toots and beep beeps of Bad Girls.
[OCT 2] Let's start off with the upcoming release of I'm A Rainbow-
Recovered and Recolored. It looks like we won't get that until October
29. Originally it was listed for October 8, but most places I see have
changed to October 29.
[OCT 2] It's been a busy week in Donna land this time. We have a couple
of new articles celebrating Donna's music. First up,
The Guardian has come up with its list of Donna's top 20 songs.
And while I am sure nobody will 100% agree on the Guardian's list (I mean
come on, we are Donna fans - we don't even 100% agree with each other on
the best songs/albums! LOL), there are some interesting choices. I
mean any list that includes deep cuts like True Love Survives and Grand
Illusion is worth looking at. It's probably no surprise to learn that
they rank I Feel Love as #1. Speaking of which, that brings me to
the second article from
Xtra Magazine that is specifically about I Feel Love. And finally
with I'm A Rainbow expected this month, it only makes sense we'd have an
article about that.
GScene.com
did an interview with Michael Neidus from Demon Music to talk about that
album and Donna's other "post-Disco" recordings. And finally,
BBC America mentions I'm A Rainbow in their Pop Culture Pulse
article.
[OCT 2] In the Donna's music is everywhere (well sort of),
Dancing With The
Stars used Hot Stuff for one of the dances. Unfortunately, somebody
else was singing.
[OCT 2] Moving on to Johnnyswim.... Abner has teased that they would
like to do a Live From The Backyard concert some time this month. Stay
tuned to their social medial for more details.
[OCT 2] Bruce Sudano fans - his EP, Ode To A Nightingale came out
digitally yesterday in
all the usual
places. And if you are old school and want a CD copy, head over to
Bruce's
website. If you have not heard the album yet, get yourself
over to any of the usual digital sites and listen! You will NOT be
disappointed! I just finally bought my copy today and now I'm on a
Cosmic Ride with the EP on repeat as I work on the site. :-)
[OCT 2] Moving on to Summer: The Donna Summer Musical - the full touring
cast has been officially announced on Facebook, although it was on the
musical's website last week. If you are planning to see the show (or
even if you are not - yet) check out all the talented people bringing
Donna's story to life in November. Then head over to
YouTube to
watch a Zoom interview with the 3 touring Donnas.
[OCT 2] That brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate Bad Girls!
First up, the title track on
The Tonight Show
(with those really cool glasses. LOL) Then we have a killer
live version of Hot Stuff from the 1980 TV Special, Dim All
The Lights from
Live & More Encore,
Sunset People also from the 1980 TV Special, the 12" version
of
Walk Away (audio only), the
demo for Bad Girls, and because I need to add a ballad, an audio
only version of
There Will Always Be A You.
[SEP 26] Greetings all, and Happy Birthday Bruce Sudano!
[SEP 26] In honor of Bruce's birthday, we'll do his news first. As
you may know, he did a Facebook live set for Scenes the other day. You
can still catch the
video on Facebook. Then make sure you check out the review of
In Shadowland on
IndiePulse Music. The video for that song and for the new
single Do Be Do (Day Trippin) are available to stream on
Bruce's YouTube channel. (Like and subscribe!) And both of
those songs will be on the upcoming EP, Ode To A Nightingale which is
coming out October 1. (OMG that's this Friday - where did
September go?)
[SEP 26] Speaking of October.... we are expecting Donna's I'm A
Rainbow Recovered and Recolored on October 8. (Well depending where you
are - Amazon US says October 29. You know how that goes.) But
to keep us all going until the album is out, the estate has released yet
another mix. This one is the Ladies On Mars Independence remix of Leave
Me Alone and you can stream it now in all the usual places, including
YouTube.
[SEP 26] In other mix news, ShyBoy has made a
mashup of Fame (The Game) and Madonna's Vogue. It works pretty
well! (And I love the cover art they made for it!) There is also a
mix out there by Eric Kupper of Reba McEntire's cover of
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia. Why do I mention it here?
Go listen to it and see.... it will only take you about 3
seconds before you find yourself singing "I feel looooooove".
LOL
[SEP 26] Moving on to Johnnyswim... they have added new dates to
their tour in Charlotte NC, Indianapolis, Memphis, Harrisburg PA, and an
extra date in Atlanta. For all the latest, keep an eye on
Johnnyswim's
website and/or sign up for their newsletters.
[SEP 26] And finally Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is BACK! The
national tour that got cancelled for COVID is back on starting in
November. Dates and ticket info are on the
musical's website. The 3 Donnas will be played by Brittny
Smith (Diva Donna), Charis Michelle Gullage (Disco Donna), and Ahmahri
Edwards-Jones (Duckling Donna). Welcome to the family ladies!
For additional cast info, check out the
musical's website. It is so nice to have live theater back!
[SEP 26] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's Tony night and
the musical is back, let's celebrate its Broadway run. So first up
is a
promotional compilation. Then we have the cast's
performance at the Tonys, the cast performing outside in bitter cold
for the
Thanksgiving Day parade, LaChanze singing
Friends Unknown, and Ariana DeBose and La Chanze singing
MacArthur Park in a live clip from the show. There is also a
news clip from Cleveland featuring the original touring cast and
featuring Mimi talking about the musical. ANd you may remember Donna's
daughters got to introduce Summer: The Musical at the Tonys. The only
clip I found of that is part of a
larger video Suecase Hall made celebrating the show. You see
all 3 daughters at about the 48 second mark. If you feel really
adventurous, there is a "clickbait" video about Summer The Musical. It
does have spoilers if you haven't seen the show yet. And for a
special bonus, I have Donna's demo for
Begin Again which would have been part of Ordinary Girl.
[SEP 19] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off this week with
Rolling Stone's Top 500 Greatest Songs of all time. It's a pretty
eclectic list of songs from the rock era and I guarantee you that 500
songs will provide 500 reasons for music fans to debate. LOL
Donna makes the
list at #52 with I Feel Love. (For those who are curious -
Aretha made the top spot with Respect.)
[SEP 19] The big news this week if Bruce's new single,
Do
Be Do (Day Trippin'). This one is a fun lyric video and I'm
pretty sure there is a cameo by Honey the cat's paws. LOL
If you like what you see - subscribe to Bruce's channel.
Celebrating the new release are 2 new articles. One is in Italian
from
Jam TV. The other is
Americana Highways which includes an interview about the
upcoming Ode To A Nightingale album.
[SEP 19] Speaking of Bruce, he was like live for O Museum with Handsome
Bill. You can
watch the show on
YouTube now.
[SEP 19] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some really early
tracks this week. First up a clip called
Black Power.
(This one includes clips of Donna from the actual TV show, but since the
whole performance didn't make the TV show, the video is padded out with
clips from other things so we get the whole song.) Then we have
the rare single
If
You're Walking Alone/ Can't Understand. (This is audio only with a
photo of the single.) Then we have
Sally Go Round The Roses and
So
Said The Man. And finally, the recently discovered
Time For Change and
Something I'd
Like To Say.
[SEP 13] I have breaking Johnnyswim news for you. Today they announced
that the fall tour will be postponed until spring. This is
not a decision they made lightly. They really want to be able to do
things right, so rather that deal with all the restrictions that are
happening now, they'd rather tour later when things should be safer. The
last thing they want is to become a spreader event. So if you have
tickets to the fall tour, they will be honored for the new dates EXCEPT
for Nashville. The Nashville show is moving to the Grand Old Opry
House, so if you have tickets for that show, get a refund from your
point of sale (probably Ticketmaster). Then you will get an email with a
code to use to get tickets for the new venue/date. New dates for
the shows are as follows: March 27 - ST Louis, March 28 -
Minneapolis, March 29 - Chicago, March 31 - Knoxville, April 1 -
Cincinnati, April 2 - Columbus, April 4 - Boston, April 5 - New
Haven, April 6 and 7 - New York, April 11 - Raleigh, April 13 -
Nashville, April 15 - Atlanta, April 18 - Houston, April 19 - Dallas,
April 21, OKC, April 22 - Kansas City, April 23 - Denver, April 27 - San
Francisco, April 28 - Los Angeles. The dates are on
Johnnyswim.com
but they are not fully updated in that the old dates are still listed as
well as the new ones. How much you want to bet that making the
decision to postpone will be an episode of the upcoming season 2 of The
Johnnyswim Show? ;-)
[SEP 12] Greetings all! Let's start out with the latest from the
upcoming I'm A Rainbow release. Just the other day they released
the Ladies on Marc "Child Of Rhythm" Extended Remix of Brooklyn.
You can check it out on
YouTube .
[SEP 12] Also in Donna news, we have a new article on
uDiscoverMusic.com talking about the "best" Donna Summer songs.
They mostly go with hits, with a couple of deeper cuts thrown in for
good measure. And of course the list is mostly from the 70s with
just a couple of 80s tracks thrown in. It's very heavy on Bad Girls
tracks. :-)
[SEP 12] In Bruce Sudano news, he's performing for O Museum tonight at 6
and that will be followed by a
Zoom green
room Q&A at about 7:15. If I don't, or you see this too late,
I believe they record the Zoom meetings and post them on the website
later. And while you are waiting for the new single, check out the
videos he already has posted including a lyric video for
September In Your
Eyes that he just recently posted.
[SEP 12] Also in Bruce news, his new single Do Be Do (Day Trippin) is
out on Friday, so be sure to keep an eye on his
YouTube channel for that. (Or better yet, subscribe and click
the bell for alerts when new things come out.)
[SEP 12] Moving on to Johnnyswim, we have 2 new articles out
there. The first is on
AtwoodMusic.com and it discusses the new single Devastating.
The other one is on
AmoMama.com and is about Amanda making a career in music. Also
Abner posted a video on Facebook teasing the start of season 2 of
The Johnnyswim Show. And before you say - wait, season 2 is
already out... there are 2 different shows. The first one they did
was Home On The Road. Then The Johnnyswim Show was a different show
covering their time home in the pandemic. I would think season 2
would cover them getting ready to go back out on the road and what you
do with school age kids (and their chickens!) when you can go back
on the road.
[SEP 12] I was just sent a
radio interview with Susan Munao from earlier this year and in it
she does talk about Donna a bit.
[SEP 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think this time we
will look at that uDiscoverMusic article and spotlight some of the
deeper cut tracks they included in their "best of" list. So we
have
Sunset People (from the 1980 TV Special),
Our Love (lyric video),
Lucky (lyric video),
There Goes My Baby (official video), and
Walk Away ( the 12" version audio only).
[SEP 5] Greetings all, and happy Labor Day to my American friends. Can
you believe the summer season is over? Anyway, a new month means a
new Summer Fever Pick and this month we
are celebrating my first Donna album - Live & More.
[SEP 5] First up, you all know My Life from Live & More Encore.
Well there is a studio demo out there now - the
Junior Vasquez Private Collection mix long edit.
[SEP 5] Beat
posted an article online celebrating black female vocalists of the
70s. Of course Donna is on the list - and she is in very good
company. (Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Chaka Khan and a
whole bunch of others.) They don't say anything we don't already
know, but it's nice to see her in such illustrious company.
[SEP 5] In Bruce Sudano news - don't forget that he will be
livestreaming
a live concert for O Museum one week from today. Then on
Friday September 17, he's got a new single coming out. So mark
your calendars! (Silly me, I forgot it's 2021 - mark your calendar
apps! lol)
[SEP 5] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with a
quote from Donna
about the voice. And now let's have some clips of Donna
showing off her voice - the sexy
Love To Love You voice, the power of
MacArthur Park, the rock and roll edge of
Cold Love, the trippiness of
Grand Illusion, the softness of
Sand On My Feet, Donna in character as Hattie Mae in
Slide Over Backwards, her "unplucked" Rod Stewart voice in
Dim All The Lights, the torch singer voice on
Lush Life and the silly Donna goofing around with the Brooklyn
Dreams on
Hollywood Knights.
[AUG 29] Happy Sunday all! As you can see, my area survived Hurricane
Henri just fine (in fact is was pretty much a bust here.) But right now
I am thinking of the people in the path of Hurricane Ida. That one
looks like it will be catastrophic and I am hoping everyone in its path
is safely evacuated or hunkered down in the safest place you can find.
[AUG 29] Let's start with Donna. The latest single from the
upcoming I'm A Rainbow Recovered & Recoloured is Brooklyn (Ladies on
Mars "Child Of Rhythm" Remix) and you can hear it in all the usual
places including
YouTube. Personally, I like the music, but I am still not a fan of
sped up vocals. But that's just me - the ballad freak. LOL
[AUG 29] In the Donna is everywhere (sort of) category, the songwriter
Jimmy Webb (MacArthur Park), did a livestream on Facebook recently.
Bruce shared a
piece of it where Webb talks about a change Donna made to MacArthur
Park. Bruce said that Donna would have loved what he said.
[AUG 29] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, Burger King has
been running an
ad for it's spicy chicken sandwich. Now I haven't tried the
sandwich, so I have no idea if it really is "hot stuff" it is, but I do
like Burger King's taste in music. (Although nothing beats the time
McDonalds adopted She Works Hard For The Money and made a whole bunch of
remixes for the ads! By the way - this is not a comment on the
food - only on the music. LOL)
[AUG 29] Johnnyswim fans - the final episode of The Johnnyswim Show is
now streaming on Magnolia/Discovery+. In this episode you will see how
they wrote the new single, Devastating. Speaking of which, check
out the video for
Devastating on YouTube. It is made up of a lot of clips of
Amanda and Abner's life together so far including a whole bunch of clips
from their wedding.
[AUG 29] Also in Johnnyswim news, as you know they have been
posting videos to social media after each episode of The Johnnyswim Show
airs. As you know, last week's episode of the show focused on all the
adults helping Joaquin make a movie called Water Spies (which included
no water and no spies. LOL) Johnnyswim has posted his movie
on Facebook
(and Instagram) for anyone who wants to see it. It looks like a
fun time was had by all.
[AUG 29] Moving on to Bruce news. He will be performing at a
livestream benefit for O Museum in Washington DC on
September 12.
Tickets are available here, or you can
livestream
it here.
[AUG 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, the
long lost
interview clip from Tom Snyder's old talk show. (It's the show
that gave us performances of The Wanderer and Cold Love). And then
because I happened to hear Love Is In Control on the radio today and the
friend I was with didn't even know the song (I know, right?
LOL),let's so some clips from the self-titled album. So first up is the
video for Love
Is In Control. Then we have a Suecase Hall video for
Mystery Of Love, the video for
The Woman In Me, the video for
State Of Independence, and a live performance of
Livin' In America.
[AUG 21] Happy Saturday all! First things first, I am expecting
Hurricane Henri to make landfall in my area sometime tomorrow morning so
there is a good chance I may lose power for a time. (Last time we lost
power for 8 days - but that was partly due to someone at the power
company forgetting to turn on our part of the street after they made
repairs.) Anyway, I will be perfectly fine here but there is a chance
next week's update will be late. I'll be checking in on
Facebook with my phone after the storm. Those who followed me in
2012 when we had Hurricane Sandy may remember that my posts got sillier
and sillier the longer I was out of power. LOL
[AUG 21] On to business... Let's start with Johnnyswim. Of course
the next episode of The Johnnyswim Show is streaming on
Magnolia/Discover+ and this one is about them filming a movie in their
backyard written and directed by their 5 year old son. It's a fun
episode. Oh! And check out Amanda's t-shirt in that one. Donna fans will
recognize it! But they have more than that going on. Also in
the fun category, they did a little feature for
Good Housekeeping's YouTube channel called Celebrity Spin.
It's sort of a truth or dare type thing where they answer random
questions. A little teaser for you.... they talk about the time
Abner mooned Donna. Oopsie. LOL
[AUG 21] That isn't all going on in Johnnyswim-land. They have a new
album coming out later this year and the first single will be out August
25. It is called Devastating and it will be available at
all the
usual places. Check out the cover image they chose - talk
about your perfectly timed photos!
[AUG 21] In Bruce Sudano news, his new EP is due October 1, also at
all the usual
places, and also with an interesting cover image. He shared
the track list on Facebook: Cosmic Ride, Fatal Love, Ode To A
Nightingale, In Shadowland, Do Be Do (Day Trippin'), Not Your Hero, and
All Hands. Of course,
In Shadowland is already out on YouTube. So go check it out there,
and subscribe to Bruce's channel.
[AUG 21] In some silly Donna news,
Pink News picked up an old story about a Marvel Comic movie idea
called Dazzler, that would have had Cher and KISS vs Donna and
Village People. Cher would have been the Witch Queen and Donna would
have been Queen Of Fire. It's funny to read about now. If they had
actually ever made the thing I think it would have become either a
hysterically funny camp classic or an unmitigated career-ending
disaster. LOL There is a PDF of the movie treatment. You can
download it here.
[AUG 21] Moving on to something saner (although really, ANYTHING is
saner than that Dazzler thing LOL), in the land of covers there is
a performer called REDHOUSE who has made a cover of If There Is Music
There. It comes out on Friday (August 27) and keep an eye on
his
website for the appropriate links. It will be interesting to
hear his take on it - as far as I know this is the first cover of any of
the Ordinary Girls songs.
[AUG 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with a gem I
never saw before until it turned up on Facebook. (Don't worry, this IS a
YouTube link.) It is Donna promoting
Monday Night
Football in 1994 with a variation of She Works Hard For The Money.
(It almost makes me sorry I don't watch football. Although if I had
known about this then, I would have! LOL) Now the same YouTuber
that posted this treasure has also been experimenting with remastering
and enhancing some other Donna videos in 4k. So far he has done
Sunset People
and Bad Girls
from the 1980 TV special, and
She Works Hard
For The Money from the 1984 Grammys. And in honor of the
upcoming hurricane, let me leave you with
Riding Thru The Storm.
[AUG 15] Happy Sunday all! I'm going to start off with a throwback
to earlier this summer when Boston held Donna Summer Day at Copley
Square. I was just sent a
video promoting the event featuring Officer Kim Tavares from the
Boston Police. Watch it to the end - Officer Kim could totally moonlight
as a singer if she wanted to.
[AUG 15] Speaking of Boston, New Kids On The Block and Bel
Biv Devoe held a concert there recently and they sneaked in a little
Hard For The Money in tribute to our girl. :-)
[AUG 15] In Johnnyswim news, the latest episode of the Johnnyswim
Show is now streaming. In this one you get to see them silk-screening
merchandise for one of their Live In The Backyard events. If you
are on Facebook, you can also catch Abner's silly video for the last
episode (which was about getting chickens if you recall.) The
video is
the Hen Debutante Ball. lol
[AUG 15] Bruce Sudano fans, check out the press release for his
new single on
EINPresswire. Then head over to YouTube to watch the video for
In Shadowland if you haven't already - or even if you have.
;-) If you like w hat you see, subscribe to his channel and click
the bell so you get notifications when Bruce posts new content.
(That will also help your YouTube feed - you will get suggested videos
based on channels you have subscribed to.) Did you know that as I write
this, Bruce only has 880 subscribers? That's nuts because I know he has
WAY more fans than that. Let's see if we can het him into the 4 digit
category at least. :-)
[AUG 15] Finally, in sad news this week, Singer-Songwriter Nanci
Griffith has passed away. While she had written songs for many different
artists, Donna Summer fans will probably know her most for the recording
of
From A Distance she did with Donna and Raul Malo for the 1996 album,
One Voice. My condolences to her family, friends and fans.
[AUG 15] That brings us to YouTube. You know, I've already shared
From A Distance this week, so let's stick with Donna's collaborations
with others. So first up is Donna with Joss Stone on
Try A Little Tenderness. Then we have
No
More Tears with Westlife, Donna with Seal on
Crazy, Donna with Mac Davis, Dolly Parton and Tom Jones on a
gospel medley, Donna with the Brooklyn Dreams on a
Motown Medley, and of course, Donna with Barry Manilow on
Could It Be Magic.
[AUG 6] Happy Friday all! (Yes my schedule is a bit weird this
week so I am fitting in the update while I can. :-) ) So today's
big news is Bruce Sudano's new single and video, In Shadowland.
It's gotten a really positive review on
Music-News.com, and while they have posted the video there, I
recommend clicking through to
YouTube itself for a bigger video and for the lyrics posted in the
description. I don't want to spoil anything other than to say the
song has a really nice vibe to it similar to the Rainy Day Soul album,
and the video has a story to tell in a sort of dream-like way. (Sorry,
no Super Bruce or Honey the Cat. LOL )
[AUG 6] In Johnnyswim news, since today is Friday there is a new episode
of The Johnnyswim Show available to stream on Magnolia/Discovery+.
I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but from
Amanda's Instagram post it looks like we will see Abner's growing
obsession with the chickens he didn't actually want to get (at first).
LOL
[AUG 6] In other Johnnyswim news, if you have Apple Music, you can hear
the duo on
episode 24 of Color Me Country Radio.
[AUG 6] In Donna news, she got mentioned in a couple of articles this
week. An
article about Tony Armstrong included songs that were the soundtrack
of his life (so far). The first one talked about was I Feel Love.
The Pratt Tribune had
an op-ed piece about disco that name checks Donna near the end, and
a piece from Far Out Magazine about Blondie's Heart Of Glass
mentions that Debbie Harry loved Donna. (I knew there was a reason I
liked her! LOL)
[AUG 6] I don't know if you want to call this Donna news or Bruce news,
but Bruce did a short segment with Bernie Keith on BBC Radio where
they talk about the infamous vault and the new I'm A Rainbow release.
Some of you can listen on the
BBC
website. Those who are locked out by region restrictions
(North America for sure, and probably almost anyone outside the UK) can
catch it on
YouTube. And I think Bruce understand us fans pretty well
judging by what he said in the beginning. LOL We must drive
him absolutely nuts sometimes! (Let me clarify that - I'm not
saying he doesn't like us... it's more like a family thing. It's like
you have a spouse or kids or parents and you love them to death, but yes
they make you absolutely nuts sometimes with the things they do!
LOL)
[AUG 6] I think this brings us to YouTube. Well.... the vault has been
mentioned, so let's go there! (Well, to the few things that have escaped
anyway. ) So we have
Ordinary Miracle (that only ever came out on a hard to find movie),
Freedom,
Adonai,
Walk Hand In Hand,
My
Life (Junior Vasquez mix), and the ballad version of
I
Will Live For Love.
[AUG 1] Greetings all and happy Sunday. Congrats to all the Olympians
competing in Tokyo. Whether you medal or not, just getting to the
Olympics is a huge achievement in and of itself - despite what media
coverage might make you think.
[AUG 1] Well it's a new month so you know what that means - time for a
new Summer Fever Pick. This month we
explore the fairy tale high we get from Once Upon A Time.
[AUG 1] First up this week, we have new single from the upcoming I'm A
Rainbow release. This one is the Oliver Nelson mix of You To Me. It is
available to buy/stream at all the
usual
places.
[AUG 1] Billboard recently posted an article called
8 Times MTV's Impact Was Seen At Awards Shows. Donna was credited as
the first performance that was clearly influenced by MTV when she
performed She Work Hard For The Money on the Grammys.
[AUG 1] Bruce Sudano fans - don't forget he has a new single coming out
next week called In Shadowland which he describes as "an illusionary
song and video." So you know what that means, right? There will be a
video too. :-)
[AUG 1] Johnnyswim fans - episode 4 of The Johnnyswim Show is streaming
now. In it you get to find out how they came to raise chickens during
their quarantine time. Also in Johnnyswim news, check out their
Instagram page where they have
posted a video of Amanda and her friend making charcuterie boards
for the family.
[AUG 1] Moving on to YouTube... let's go with some tracks that might
inspire athletes. First up
Stamp Your Feet. Then we have
One Of A Kind (I actually did hear that played after a sporting
event a long time ago), the unreleased
Run With It, the also unreleased
Begin Again,
She Works Hard For The Money (or for the NO money lol),
The Power Of One, and finally,
Looking Up.
[JUL 24] Happy Saturday all! First up this week is Johnnyswim.
Episode 3 of their new series is available on Discovery+/Magnolia. Watch
Abner
tease the episode on the Johnnyswim Instagram page. And check
out our favorite duo talking about the Magnolia Network launch on
FirstCoastNews.com.
[JUL 24] Bruce Sudano fans - don't forget he has a new song coming
out August 6 -
In
Shadowland.
[JUL 24] That brings us to YouTube. (Yes, already - it's a quiet week.)
Let's cover some of the lesser viewed official music videos. First up,
the one that inspired this list,
When Love Takes
Over You. Then we have
Work That Magic,
All Systems Go,
The Woman In Me,
Love Is In
Control,
Unconditional Love, and
Romeo. (Donna isn't seen in that last one - it only uses movie
clips. I'm sure a clever editor could fix that.... ;-) )
[JUL 18] Greetings all! Let me give a special shout out to my
European friends who are dealing with that crazy flooding. I hope you
are your loved ones are all safe. And another shout out to my
North American friends who are going through the insane heatwave -
yikes! Stay safe! I don't know - excessive heat in some
places, storms in others, flooding, a pandemic.... I get the feeling
Mother Nature is a bit cranky these days.
[JUL 18] On to the news! First up, the word on the upcoming Donna bio
film that the estate is working on, is that they have a very rough cut
put together so far. Now they are looking at what else they want
to add. So progress is definitely being made. (That doesn't mean a
release date is imminent. It just means they have enough stuff to put
together and now they are seeing where the holes are, and what they need
to fix. It's sort of like writing a novel - you make a first
draft, then the editor reads it and shows you everything you did wrong.
Then you fix that and the editor reads it again and shows you everything
you did wrong this time... And hopefully several rewrites later,
you have a decent book. LOL)
[JUL 18] Johnnyswim fans - the Magnolia Network is up and running on
it's own app or on Discovery + and with that comes Johnnyswim's SECOND
series for the network. Their Home On The Road series was fully
available as soon as Discovery+ launched, and now their second series,
The Johnnyswim Show, is partially available to watch. The first
series followed the Johnnyswim team in their adventures on the road, and
the new one follows their adventures in lockdown. The first 2 episodes
are available now (and you get to watch them learn how to film
themselves and how to throw their Live In The Backyard concerts).
New episodes debut weekly on Fridays. (I'm trying to figure out
why if the first series was called Home On The Road, the second wasn't
called Home Off The Road? LOL)
[JUL 18]
TheList.com has posted an interview with Johnnyswim about the new TV
show. And if you head to
Johnnyswim's Instagram, you can see Abner's Mom make their favorite
meal (as seen in episode 1 of The Johnnyswim Show), Ropa Viejo. (Looks
yummy!)
[JUL 18] If you are in Mary's
Once Upon A Diva group on Facebook, then you can catch her live
video from this weekend. And if you aren't in the group, then why
not join?
[JUL 18] In the land of things that just make me laugh, apparently
Minecraft players have the option to dress their little 8-bit characters
in the "Donna
Summer Rainbow Tissue Dress". It's the dress that you see on
the back of the Live & More album. It sort of loses something in
8-bit though. LOL
[JUL 18] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with this
really cool find I was sent the other day - it's a minute of Donna
singing Lady Of
The Night. She's wearing a fur coat and standing in a parking garage
and that clip is new to me! Too bad it's not the full song.
I had the opportunity to talk to someone this week about Donna songs
that resonate with me, so let me find clips for those songs. First
was
Mimi's Song (as performed on The Tonight Show). Then I talked about
On
My Honor (this is a lyric video),
MacArthur Park (live in Belgium 2005),
Sand On My Feet (live in 2008),
Be
Myself Again (live in 2008), and
Netherlands (a Suecase Hall video). And yes, I did tell this
person about Christmas Spirit too LOL , but I will save those
songs for December for you. I probably could have listed a lot more
songs, but who wants to hear me talk THAT long. ;-) You know what
though? This is a very ballad heavy list (no surprise there for those
who know me!) so let me leave you with
Crayons
because I do love that one too. :-)
[JUL 11] Happy Sunday all! We're going to start with Bruce
this week. He has a new album coming out soon called Ode To A
Nightingale, and the first single
will be out
August 6. The single is called In Shadowland.
[JUL 11] Bruce did the
My
Backstage Podcast recently. In it he talks about the new album (and
you get a little sneak peak). He also mentions that the tour of
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical will hit the road in the US starting in
November. the Brazilian tour will also be back, but he didn't have a
date for that yet, and there will be a production in London at some
point as well. The usual caveats apply - everything depends on how
the COVID situation plays out. Here in the US things are opening back up
(fingers crossed, knock wood, you get it) but I know other places
are not so lucky thanks to the new variants out there.
[JUL 11] Johnnyswim fans - the
Magnolia
Network officially launches on Discovery + and the Magnolia app this
week. So tune in and watch Johnnyswim Home On The Road if you
haven't already. (And watch it again if you have!) Also, keep a
close eye on our favorite duo - they too have an album coming out soon.
Keep an eye on their
Instagram for updates.
[JUL 11] Brooklyn Sudano fans - you know you can catch her on Hulu
in Cruel Sumer, but now you can also catch her in My Wife And Kids.
Hulu just picked up that series, and you can see Brooklyn in seasons 4
and 5.
[JUL 11] And finally, in sad news Italian singer, dancer, actress, TV
host, Raffaella Carra has passed away. Donna fans will probably
best know her for this 1989 clip of the song
Lovin You performed with Donna. My condolences to Raffaella's
family, friends and fans.
[JUL 11] That brings us to YouTube. Let's do some duets this time.
Of course we have to start with
Heaven Knows (with the Brooklyn Dreams of course!). Then we
have Donna with Barbra Streisand on
Enough Is Enough. This one is just the raw vocals from the recording
session. Up next is
A
Whole New World with Dave Koz - it's not your traditional type of
duet as Donna sings and Dave plays his sax. But it's still beautiful.
Next is Donna with Darwin Hobbs on
When I Look Up, then Donna with Paul Jabara on
Something's Missing. (Something IS missing... both Paul and
Donna. Sigh.) And finally, (you know I have to do this, I love this clip
so much! LOL) - Donna with Barry Manilow on
Could It Be Magic.
[JUL 3] Greetings all and Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends, and
Happy Independence Day to my American friends.
[JUL 3] On to the news.
Stacker.com posted an article called Donna Summer: The Life Story
You May Not Know. Basically the site did some research and came up
with 25 facts about Donna that casual fans might not know. (I'm sure
there is nothing there that will surprise anybody here. LOL)
[JUL 3] Last week was the Donna Summer Party in Boston and Omega Red
posted a video celebrating the event. (Before you say it - no,
they didn't use any music from the event in the video. I assume that's
so YouTube wouldn't kill it for copyright reasons.)
[JUL 3] Moving on to Brooklyn Sudano - she appeared on the
Typology podcast recently, where they spent the hour trying to pin
down her Enneagram type. (For those who don't know, Enneagram
types are a way of examining people's personality traits. Googling
will get you more detailed info and even show you how to take free tests
to determine your type if you want. )
[JUL 3] And speaking of Brooklyn, her show Cruel Summer was the
subject of a recent article on
Gruntstuff.com. The article is notable because it looks like it was
Google translated from some other language. Read it and you'll see
what I mean. Anyway, the show is coming to Amazon Prime August 6 for
people outside North America. For those checking it out for the first
time - pay attention to every detail and enjoy the ride. :-)
(And then feel very old when you find out they had to teach the young
actors how to use a walkman because they had no idea. The
show's Instagram pas a video of a bunch of the main actors
interacting with things from the 90s.)
[JUL 3] In Johnnyswim news, I just found an article on
TheList.com called The Untold Truth Of Amanda Sudano. I'm not
really sure how it's "untold" truth as everything they list comes from
interviews Amanda gave at some point. Maybe they should call it the Told
Truths? LOL
[JUL 3] Oh, by the way, the new Magnolia Network starts streaming on
Discovery+ and on the Magnolia app July 15. It will hit cable in
January. So if you are looking to see Johnnyswim's show - head to
Discovery+.
[JUL 3] I think that brings us to YouTube. It's a bit of a mixed bag
this week. First up is a Suecase Hall video for the new version of
I
Believe In You. Then we have a 2008 video of Donna on
CBS This Morning. As I recall it was very popular when it aired.
After that is Donna singing On The Radio and Starting Over Again on the
Tonight Show. (Listen to Bruce talk about Starting Over Again
on Border Crossings
here.)
And of course since it is Independence Day this weekend, we have to have
Donna singing
God Bless America and
The Star Spangled Banner.
[JUL 1] Greetings all! It's a new month so it's time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we
get nostalgic with I Remember Yesterday.
[JUN 27] Happy Sunday all! Well the big news this week is the
release of I Believe In You (Figaro Sound Version). It is the
first track off the upcoming I'm A Rainbow Recovered and
Recoloured and you can find it in all the usual places you find singles.
You can also listed to it on
YouTube. It's very different from the original which probably
means you will either love it or hate it! LOL Personally, I think
it's pretty cool. :-) It makes me eager to hear what they did with
the other tracks.
[JUN 27] Speaking of I'm A Rainbow,
Instinct Magazine posted an article about the new release. There
isn't much there we don't already know, BUT they do have larger versions
of the cover art - front and back. And I know some of you are in
love with those photos! Then over in Italy, the
Italian version of Billboard has an article written by super fan
Andrea Angeli Bufalini. The article is in Italian (of course) but
you can get Google to translate it.
[JUN 27] The other big event this week was Donna Summer Day in Boston.
They had dancing instead of roller skating this year because they were
using a smaller space. (That seems to be a thing this year with
events - they are all a little different than usual, since at the
planning stages nobody was quite sure what pandemic restrictions would
be in place.)
Boston Globe has an article about the event, and if you are on
Facebook check out some of the Donna Summer groups there. You will find
photos. And if you are in Mary's group, you will find her photos and
videos because she was there. (So weird - no masks in sight. I almost
forgot that people have faces! LOL)
[JUN 27] In the Donna is everywhere category, she was an answer on the
game show Beat Shazam. The game is basically a musical quiz show
with teams competing to see who can answer the name of the songs the
quickest. In the category of Divas, Donna was represented by her song
Bad Girls.
[JUN 27] And in the Donna's music is everywhere category, there is an
internet show called
Stars In The House hosted by Broadway's Seth Rudetsky and his
husband James. They usually host these Zoom reunions of starts
from various TV Shows, Broadway Shows, etc. For Pride, they dropped the
idea of a remote gathering and instead hosted a live-streamed Concert
For America: Pride Edition. They
closed the
show with Last Dance as sung by Broadway star Shoshana Bean.
(By the way, all the Stars In The House episodes are fundraisers for the
Actor's Fund. )
[JUN 27] In Johnnyswim news, I finished reading their book,
Home On The Road.
I really enjoyed it! I mentioned last week that they wrote 2 stories
about how they came up with the name Johnnyswim. There are
actually THREE real official final stories about how the band got its
name. #3 might be the most creative one yet. LOL May I
suggest that the next book be called How We Got Our Name, and it would
be a compilation of all the stories they have told thus far, plus any
new ones they come up with. Maybe the kids can help? LOL
[JUN 27] On to YouTube. I ran into Donna's Walk Of Fame Ceremony
recently and it was nice to watch again. So I'll share those with you
this week. So here is
part 1,
part 2,
part 3 and
part 4. And finally,
footage of her star right after she passed in 2012.
[JUN 20 Again!] Holy cow, I can't believe I forgot to mention this!
Donna Summer Day in Boston is back again this year - June 24 6 to 9 PM
at Copley Square. Bring your roller skates!
[JUN 20] Happy Father's Day all! Let's start off with a "new"
release. I'm A Rainbow is being reissued in October as a CD and as
a clear vinyl edition. Now this isn't like the other releases we've been
getting where they take the albums we already know and love, spruce them
up with liner notes, spiffy packaging, beautiful colored vinyl, etc....
They have taken this one a step further. As the original album was
never really finished, they've decided to revisit it and present a
finished version for 2021. Now this isn't what we would have
gotten in 1981. The songs have been reimagined by today's producers and
remixers - some of whom might not have even been born in 1981. (Ok, that
made me feel old! LOL) The album has been slimmed down to 10
tracks - all remixed, and then there are a few bonus mixes added for
good measure. The new artwork is amazing and colorful - which is
what an album called I'm A Rainbow deserves.
RetroPop magazine has an article about the release, and
Resident-Music.com has photos of the vinyl and the CD. The lead
single is slated to be I Believe In You (Figaro Sound version) and you
can expect to see that June 25.
[JUN 20] Remember the Neil Bogart biopic, Spinning Gold that has been a
work in progress since... um... it feels like since Neil was born, but I
may be exaggerating a little. LOL But seriously, people started
talking about it before Donna passed, and it looks like now it is
finally moving forward again with some
new casting announcements. One of those announcements is they
they have found their Donna Summer. She will be played by a young
singer/songwriter/actor named Tayla Parx.
[JUN 20] Brooklyn Sudano fans - season 1 of Cruel Summer wrapped
up this past Tuesday, and what an ending that was! It answered all the
questions it needed to, but then opened up a new question that hopefully
they will explore in the just announced season 2. Yup, the show has been
renewed for another season. Now, we haven't heard yet what a
second season will mean. Will they continue the story with the 2
girls, or will they explore some of the other characters. Will they
stick with the same time period, or will they move forward a bit? Will
all the characters be welcomed back, or only some of them? Or will
they start from scratch with new characters and a new story. The
only thing confirmed so far is that they will continue to use the
non-linear form of story-telling.
[JUN 20] Johnnyswim fans - make sure you are subscribed to their
newsletter. It is
the best way to find out about new concert dates - especially since
their upcoming tour is not quite set in stone yet. Just the other day,
they added a second show in New York.
[JUN 20] And don't forget that Johnnyswim has a book out called
Home On The Road.
I started reading it last night and now Amanda and Abner owe me a couple
of hours of sleep. LOL (I had a bit of trouble putting it down.)
I'm about a third of the way through the book and it's been
Amanda and Abner taking it in turns to explain how they met, how
they got engaged, etc. A couple of highlights so far - they have
the actual official story of how they got the name Johnnyswim. (For
those who are counting, I think this is actual official story #947.
LOL Update: I read a bit more and they have another actual official
story about how they got their name - so story #948? LOL And I
still have more book left to read!) And Amanda provided the answer to the question she gets a lot
- what was it like to be the daughter of Donna Summer. Her answer is
perfect and you will have to read the book to hear it. :-)
[JUN 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate the
version of I'm A Rainbow we are all familiar with as we await the new
version. So first up is a fan video for the
title track. Then we have
Romeo live in Spain,
Don't Cry For Me Argentina from a TV appearance, a Suecase
Hall video for
True Love Survives, a Disconet video for
Highway Runner, and a lyric video for
I Need Time. And finally as a special bonus,
To
Turn The Stone from Summer: The Donna Summer Musical cast album.
[JUN 13] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with Johnnyswim. Their
book, Home
Sweet Road, is available now. To celebrate, the couple did a
.... well it was going to be Live In The Studio concert, but then they
changed it to Live In The Livingroom. They did a new song, some
old songs, and they read from their book. You can check it out on
YouTube.
[JUN 13] But that's not the big Johnnyswim news. The real news is that
they are going back out on the road this fall! The dates are
here, and
if you want the inside scoop on new dates, etc, you need to sign up the
Johnnyswim's newsletter. You can do that on their
website.
Live shows are back!!!
[JUN 13] All Media Broadcasting has posted the "Ultimate Stock Aitken
Waterman Top 40". Donna appears in 3 of the 4 parts. In
Part 2
you can see her at 16:55 With Love's About To Change My Heart at #26.
In
Part 3, you see her at 33:12 with I Don't Wanna Get Hurt at
#12. (It looks like they recut the music video for that so it now
includes footage of Donna singing the song mixed in with the original
video footage. ) And finally in
Part
4 you can see Donna at about 44:00 in the number 1 spot with This
Time I Know It's For Real. This clip also includes a bunch of
people talking about Donna after the video ends. I should mention
that this list was voted on by fans and is definitely geared towards the
UK. (The chart data that gets quoted here and there is all UK chart
data.) Now if you want to see the entire list of songs without having to
watch the whole videos, just zip to the end of each part and you can see
a list of all the songs covered in each part.
[JUN 13] Speaking of Donna, I finally got to read the
33 1/3 Once Upon A
Time Book by Alex Jeffrey that came out last month. It was
pretty interesting. It's broken into chapters that analyze the
Cinderella story the album tells, and puts it in context of other
Cinderella stories, what was going on in Donna's life at the time
the album came out, what was going on in society when the album came
out, and of course this is all viewed through the lens of the author's
personal experience of listening to the album. As I said, it was
very interesting to read. You may find yourself agreeing with the
author, or you may find yourself disagreeing with the author. But
I can pretty much guarantee that after you read the book, you will want
to pull the album out again and listen to it start to finish.
[JUN 13] Brooklyn Sudano fans - the finale of Cruel Summer is on
Tuesday. And to get you in the mood, check out this interview with
Brooklyn on
YouTube. And UK fans - Cruel Summer will hit Amazon Prime for
you on August 6. (2 tips for you guys when you watch: pay
attention to everything and try to avoid spoilers!)
[JUN 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think to celebrate
live shows coming back, we should take a look at some live concerts.
First up, one I actually watched last night -
Live & More
Encore 1999. (What memories that brings back!!) Then we have
Crayons from
2008,
Mistaken Identity 1991,
Brazil
1995, Japan
1987, and Italy
1977.
[JUN 6] Greetings all, and Happy Pride Month! I think it's actually safe
to celebrate this year! :-)
[JUN 6] Johnnyswim fans - there book comes out in 2 days, but
that's not all. They are announcing a TOUR as well. Look for that
announcement in 2 days. If you head over to
their website and sign up for their newsletter, the dates will come
right to your email box. Abner has said on Instagram, that they
are creating special merchandise for the concert (like they do with the
Live From The Backyard events) that you can buy in advance to wear to
the shows. Concert season is back!
[JUN 6] In the Donna is everywhere category (or at least her style is),
River City Fashion paid tribute to Donna's iconic looks last year
(in an article that I only just found out about). The article
talks a bit about Donna's style and then features photos of a model
dressed in outfits inspired by Donna's looks.
[JUN 6] Brooklyn Sudano fans - the penultimate episode of Cruel Summer
debuts Tuesday. We should be getting some more answers to the
questions that have been haunting viewers since the show began.
Questions like: Who is lying?, What secrets are being hidden?,
What is the significance of the snow globe they showed last week?, Why
isn't Brooklyn in more scenes and will she sing again? And the most
important one - can this show have a satisfying conclusion while still
leaving room for a (potential) season 2? We'll find out soon!
[JUN 6] On to YouTube. I guess for Pride it's only appropriate that we
play a couple clips of Donna playing Gay Days in Orlando back in 2007.
(Sorry, the quality if these is not going to be all that great.
They were all filmed by fans - in the rain no less.) First up is
MacArthur Park. Then we have
On
The Radio, and
Last Dance. This one has a bit of
She Works Hard For The Money and Last Dance and the fireworks at the
end. And this one is
Hot Stuff, but the sound is absolutely horrible. And just to
make up for the bad sound, here is Donna live for the
Night of the Proms in Belgium 2005 (it's so much easier to listen
to! LOL) And since part of Pride is dressing up for the parades -
well, here you go. Donna and Prince Poppycock dressed up for
America's Got Talent.
[MAY 30] Happy Sunday all! And I hope my American friends are enjoying
the holiday weekend. (And if you are, or even if you aren't, take a
minute to remember the reason for the holiday. Thank you to all
the service people, vets and especially to those families who made the
ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.)
[MAY 30] I'm going to start off this week with Brooklyn's show
Cruel Summer because I told you last week that last week's episode was
the season finale. Apparently I was reading the wrong sites. LOL
There are actually THREE more episodes left - and thank god for that
because I still have a bunch of questions I need answered! (Like -
when is Brooklyn's character gonna break out the karaoke machine again?
LOL) And according to the articles I've read fans will be on the edge of
their seats until the very end. :-)
[MAY 30] In Donna news,
MusicRadar.com is doing a series of articles on the greatest synth
sounds of all time. #3 on their list is I Feel Love and they have
lots of techy stuff about how to recreate the sound.
[MAY 30] Vinyl collectors - mark your calendars! On July 9 we are
looking at a Demon Record colored vinyl release of The Wanderer,
Cats Without Claws, All Systems Go, Another Place And Time, and Mistaken
Identity.
RetroPopMagazine.com has the announcement along with photos of the
albums. As always, the colored vinyl looks gorgeous!
[MAY 30] Memorial Day weekend is traditionally a time when radio
stations count down summer songs, and
SiriusXM's
Studio 54 channel is no different. They counted down the top 54 Disco
songs as voted by the listeners. . Bad Girls came in at #8, I feel
Love at #6... and at #1? None other than Last Dance! :-) If
you are a subscriber, you can catch the countdown on demand on the
SiriusXM website.
[MAY 30] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, there is a song
called
Mr. Haze by Texas. It uses samples of Love's Unkind. (That's pretty
cool - that one doesn't usually get much attention outside the
Donna fan community!)
[MAY 30] Since June 1 is just around the corner, I'll post the new
Summer Fever Pick now and it is Four
Seasons Of Love. I think that's an appropriate choice. I don't know
about the rest of you, but around here Mother Nature has been a little
weird and I swear I've experiences all 4 seasons just this week!
LOL
[MAY 30] And I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start off
with God Bless
America and
The Star Spangled Banner. Then we have
Amazing Grace
live in Nashville,
Celebrate Me Home live in Japan, and finally
Let There Be Peace.
[MAY 23] Happy Sunday all! Next weekend marks the official start
of the summer season here in the US, and things are starting to
open up more around here (and I hope it's getting better all around the
world too.) So I suggest we all put on our dancing shoes, blast
some Donna tunes and celebrate until we just can' dance anymore. (At my
age, that probably won't take too long. LOL) Oh and let me
apologize now the the recent flood of typos on the site. My spellcheck
was accidentally turned off and I didn't realize it until now. So
now you all know what a crummy typist I am. (My brain can spell -
just not my fingers! LOL)
[MAY 23] In the land of Donna, I forgot to mention that I got my
copy of 33 1/2 Once
Upon A Time last week. I've been busy so I haven' t had time to do
more than read the intro - but it looks fascinating. The book
itself is a small paperback (about the size of my hand) with about 120
pages of text. From what I can tell. it looks like an academic
look at the Once Upon A Time album. Think back to school when you
would discuss famous books in class - I think this is sort of the same
idea. I'm looking forward to sitting down with it later.
[MAY 23] In the Donna is everywhere category,
Pitchfork.com has an article about the Sparks album No. 1 In Heaven
that includes a discussion of Donna's I Feel Love.
[MAY 23]
Rolling Stone just published an interview with Warren Ham who you
may remember was part of Donna's touring band at one time. (You can see
him in the Hot Summer Night concert.) In it he talks about a lot
of things including his time with Donna. (He also talks about his
time with Cher - I know some of you guys are Cher fans too.)
[MAY 23] Johnnyswim fans - Their book
Home
Sweet Road comes out June 8. In honor of that, the duo is
thinking of doing a Live From The Livingroom event where they will sing
and maybe read some excerpts from the book. They are looking at
the first week of June, but they don't have a specific date set.
Keep your eyes on their
Instagram.
[MAY 23] Bruce Sudano fans - I forgot to tell you last week that he is
giving you the chance to win a Super Bruce Bobblehead. Details are on
his
YouTube channel, but I'll tell you now that the first step to win is
to subscribe to his channel. (Click the bell too so you are notified
when he posts something new.) And if you haven't already
subscribed to Bruce's channel, why not? Don't be like my dad who
just clicks random (and usually weird) things on YouTube and then
doesn't know how to find them again. Subscribe to the stuff you like so
you can always find it again!
[MAY 23] Brooklyn Sudano fans - the season finale of Cruel Summer debuts
on Freeform on Tuesday night (Wednesday if you watch it on Hulu.)
Brooklyn's character has been more involved in the last couple of
episodes (she has a really impressive scene in the last one in
particular) so I expect to see her in the finale as well. And for
those who have been following the storyline, a
recent interview with one of the stars confirms that while answers
to the main plot will be gives, there will still be things to explore in
potential future seasons. So here's hoping that the series is
renewed and we get to see plenty more of Brooklyn (maybe even with her
karaoke machine! LOL)
[MAY 23] I think it's YouTube time. In honor of the Once
Upon A Time book, let's look at some music from that album. First
up, a
promo video for the title track. (I feel like that aired on
The Midnight Special at one time, but I might be misremembering.) Then
we have
Fairy Tale High/Faster And Faster live in Japan,
A
Man Like You live on the Midnight Special,
I
Love You live on The Tonight Show, an alternate version of
If
You Got It Flaunt It, and a liveandmore video for
Queen For A Day. Finally, since it was 9 years ago today that
Donna was laid to rest, I want to mark the occasion with one
of Donna's final public performances of
Last Dance. We still miss you Donna.
[MAY 16] Greeting all! My second COVID shot is done and I celebrated by
sleeping ALL DAY yesterday. (That's not an exaggeration, the shot really
did knock me on my butt! ) But today I am feeling energetic enough
to celebrate all things Donna on the eve of the 9th anniversary of her
passing. In honor of that, Suecase Hall has made a new tribute
video to Donna that you can
watch here.
[MAY 16] In the Donna is everywhere category this week, We have
Series 3 episode 3 of Pose being heavily influenced by Donna (look and
music). And then episode 3 of the Netflix series Halston features
a scene set in Studio 54 where you can here Spring Affair. It just
goes to show that Donna's music will always be with us.
[MAY 16] Bruce Sudano fans, Bruce posted his video for
Walking Down The Road on Facebook the other day, and in his post he
teased a new song and video from a new project coming in about a month.
:-)
[MAY 16] Brooklyn Sudano fans - last week (FINALLY) featured some more
Brooklyn and she even got to sing. (Wait don't get too excited - it was
just karaoke. It's not like she hired a band and took over the whole
show or anything. LOL) BUT - it did make me figure out
everything finally. Those of you who have been watching, see if
this makes sense to you. Jeannette was completely complicit in Kate's
kidnapping because it was part of her master plan to get to someday sing
karaoke with Brooklyn Sudano.... (And if that's NOT the actual
answer to the mystery, then I will be really mad. LOL) But
seriously, episode 6 debuts Tuesday on Freeform (Wednesday on Hulu) and
I believe there are only supposed to be a total of 7 episodes, to they
better start answering some questions SOON. The teaser for episode
6 does show Brooklyn, so we will get to see more of her this week.
If you haven't been watching the show yet, start binge watching now to
catch up!
[MAY 16] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well, I have to start
off with this one -Donna and Barry having way too much fun with
Could It Be Magic. Unfortunately this is only a small pieces of
the original, the longer versions seem to have vanished (for now).
And speaking of videos that won't last long, there is this
full length video from Broadway. Then another favorite of
mine, the ballad for
I Will Live For Love. And looking to tomorrow, I have another
Suecase Hall
video with celebrities remembering Donna, and finally 2 songs
that I feel Donna left for us as a way of saying goodbye -
Omega Red's Angel
and her cover of
Netherlands.
{MAY 16] And finally - my
MS walk was officially yesterday, but since it is virtual again this
year I can do it any time I like so hopefully the weather will allow me
to walk next weekend. My usual walking buddy will be back and I won't
need to sleep off the COVID shot anymore. I'll see if I can film
something fun for the occasion. :-) Thank you to all who
contributed - and even though WalkMS might not count the December 2020
donations as going towards this walk, I do count them. :-)
You guys ROCK!
[MAY 9] Happy Mother's Day all! Let me start off with an
announcement for next week's update. I'm scheduled for my second COVID
vaccine on Friday, and the word is that sometimes the second shot hits
you harder than the first. So if this shot knocks me on my butt,
then the update will be late. But no matter how I react to the
shot - at least I will be that much closer to normal life! :-)
[MAY 9] Speaking of things returning to normal - Broadway is scheduled
to reopen later this year, along with tons of local theaters. So
keep an eye on your local theater community news. Some of you will
find that you won't just get the joy of seeing any show, but you may
find that Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is heading your way.
:-)
[MAY 9] Brooklyn Sudano fans - Cruel Summer is still doing really well.
I only wish I could just binge it instead of having to wait a week for
each new part of the story! LOL I did get an alert in my email
about the show from a source speculating on whether there was going to
be a second season. Basically, all the article said was "We don't
know and nobody associated with the show is talking." In my
opinion, I don't think we could possibly know for sure if there will be
a second season until we find out how the first season ends. And I
will put forward my predictions on the ending right here. Either the
butler did it, or the ship sank, or Rosebud was the sled. (Or
perhaps I am mixing up my story endings? :-) )
[MAY 9] Johnnyswim fans - Don't forget they have a book coming out
June 8 called Home Sweet Road. You can pre-order an autographed
copy on
BooksAMillion.com. And if you go to the
Random House website, you can read an excerpt from the book. Also,
Rolling Stone picked their new song, Best Thing Ever, as one of their
Country Music Picks for the week of May 3.
[MAY 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up
an
interview clip with Donna and her parents. Then we have
Mimi's Song
from the Music For Unicef concert, an audio clip for
Brooklyn,
State Of Independence live from the Hot Summer Night Concert,
a Suecase Hall video for
Part Of My World (featuring Brooklyn & Amanda), and a
video
celebrating Summer: The Musical featuring Donna's daughters'
introduction at the Tonys.
[MAY 2] Happy Sunday all! First things first - it's a new Month,
so it's time for a new Summer Fever Pick.
This month we celebrate A Love Trilogy.
[MAY 2] Let's start off with The Oscars. In a very strangely
formatted show (Thanks COVID), they took a break in the middle to to do
a music trivia quiz. In it they played a clip of a song and asked
someone in the audience to guess if the song was an Oscar winner, a
nominee or none of the above. They played a snippet of Donna
Summer, and the celebrity audience member got it wrong - but that led to
Donna being name checked several times. :-) You can watch
the segment on
Pitchfork.com - and as a bonus you can watch Glenn Close dance to Da
Butt. LOL
[MAY 2] Bruce Sudano fans - he did a Facebook Live concert for Farm
Fresh Radio. You can still catch it on
Facebook if you missed it.
[MAY 2] Johnnyswim fans - our favorite duo has a
new video out
now for the song Best Thing Ever (from the Netflix film A Week Away.)
I have to say, the more I hear the song the more nostalgic I get for the
times when we could go out and have fun on a beautiful summer day. I
really hope those days are coming back SOON!
[MAY 2] And finally for Brooklyn Sudano fans - Freeform's Cruel Summer
is
Freeform's biggest multi-platform premiere ever. So far 3
episodes have aired, and I am totally sucked into the mystery of these
characters. Now I will say that Brooklyn hasn't had much to do yet, but
don't wait for her episodes to tune in because you will be hopelessly
lost if you do. This a show you have to see from the beginning and
pay close attention to.
[MAY 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of our Summer Fever
Pick, I think we'll head back to 1976. First up is
Try Me from American Bandstand. Then we have
Could It Be Magic from German TV,
Come With
Me live in Venezuela, and a TV performance of
Wasted with lots of bubbles. LOL
[APR 25] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with a time sensitive item.
Bruce Sudano fans will want to check out his Facebook Live
tomorrow (Monday April 26) at 3PM ET on
Farm
Fresh Radio's Facebook page. You can even try asking about
Honey the cat in the comments. LOL
[APR 25] Brooklyn Sudano fans - her new show Cruel Summer is now
available on Hulu (well the first 2 episodes are so far), and new
episodes will be on Freeform on Tuesdays at 10 or Hulu on Wednesday. I
got to check out the show this week and it looks VERY interesting - if
you are into the whole suspense/mystery genre. I will warn you
that this is the sort of show that you have to pay attention to. In a
nutshell, the series is the story of 2 teenage girls. When it starts
out, one is a nerdy girl with braces, and the other is the cool girl.
The cool girl gets kidnapped and is missing for a couple of months, and
the nerdy girl is accused of being complicit (sort of) in the
kidnapping. The story unfolds over the course of 3 years and this
is why you have to pay close attention - they jump from year to year
sometimes in just one scene. For instance there was a scene of the
nerdy girl in her bedroom. You watch her put something down in 1993 and
the camera follows her hand, then it pans back up and you see 1994 girl
looking at herself in the mirror, the camera pans again and it's 1995
girl in the room. It probably sounds confusing just from what I'm
writing, but if you watch it's pretty easy to tell which year you are in
because the events of the story cause significant changes to the
characters. It also looks like the episodes will each concentrate on the
point of view of one character. The first one was from the point of view
of the nerdy girl, the second was from the point of view of the cool
girl. And tonight Brooklyn posted a clip on
Instagram from episode 3 which makes me feel like that one may be
from the point of view of the boyfriend. A word of warning for
those tuning in just to see Brooklyn - she hasn't had much to do yet.
I'm sure that will change as the story unfolds. BUT - don't wait until
she has a big episode to tune in - you will be hopelessly lost!
[APR 25] Speaking of Brooklyn, new shows come with lots of publicity. So
check out this article called "10 Things You Didn't Know About Brooklyn
Sudano." (Although if you look at entry #1, I'm sure most of us
will say it's only 9 things - or less LOL that we didn't know.)
And then there is
an article about where you have seen the Cruel Summer actors before.
[APR 25] I think that brings us to YouTube. I have an eclectic mix
this time of clips that have come my way. First up is Donna on one
of Mac Davis' TV specials singing
Last Dance. (Yes, I am cheating - that's on Vimeo. LOL)
Also from one of Mac Davis' shows - Donna singing
A
Song For You. Then we have
Songs That Changed Music: I Feel Love. And finally a "missing"
episode of
Dick Clark's Live Wednesday with Donna as the guest. I say
"lost" because I remember looking forward to seeing the show back in the
day and then for some reason I didn't get to. I feel like maybe it
was pre-empted by baseball in my time zone. Or something like that.
The link is for the whole show. Donna performs twice - MacArthur Park
and Last Dance. And finally, a look back at
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical at the Tony's (and more) courtesy of
Suecase Hall.
[APR 25] I should have announced this sooner - but time seems to be
getting away from me. (I blame the pandemic! LOL) I am
walking for MS again this year. The official walk date is May 15,
but it will be a virtual event again this year. If you would like
to donate,
my link is here. And if you already donated back in the beginning of
the year when I launched the 2021 page in the hopes of getting some of
Facebook's matching donations - THANK YOU. (You guys were far more
generous than Facebook..... ) I will have some little thank you trinkets
to hand out. I haven't decided what yet, but there will be something.
:-)
[APR 18] Greetings all! First things first - if next week's update
is late, don't freak out. I am (FINALLY) getting my COVID vaccination
next weekend! (Very excited about that!!) Anyway, I know sometimes
there are nasty side effects, so if I end up feeling awful then the
update will be delayed. On the other hand, if I feel fine, then I will
be celebrating with lots of Donna tunes! LOL
[APR 18] In the Donna is everywhere category, She was part of a
Jeopardy question (or maybe I should say answer seeing how the game is
played) recently. The $1000 clue in a duet category was "She joined Neil
Diamond on 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' and sang 'No More Tears (Enough
Is Enough)' with Donna Summer." The correct response of course is Barbra
Streisand.
[APR 18] In musical news, look for Summer: The Donna Summer
Musical to hit
Proctors in Schenectady, NY December 7 to 12, 2021. That is,
of course, assuming that their projections are correct and they can oped
at full capacity by December. I would say, start looking for more
announcements like this. With the vaccines becoming more available
all the time (at least here in the US - I hope everywhere else as well!)
I think we will see more live entertainment become available.
[APR 18] Brooklyn Sudano fans - don't forget her new show,
Cruel Summer, debuts on Tuesday April 20 on the Freeform cable
network, and then the next day on Hulu. If you follow
Brooklyn on Instagram (or even
Amanda - she joined her sister for the Cruel Summer premiere) then
you saw how they handled the big press premiere in LA. They
put everybody in hotel rooms with balconies that faced out to a
courtyard (or roof?) with a giant screen where they projected the first
episode. I thought that was a really creative way to handle an event
like that in COVID times.
[APR 18] Mary Gaines Bernard Fans - look for her to post a new story on
Patreon on Wednesday April 21. It will eventually show on on
Facebook as well. :-)
[APR 18] I think that brings us to YouTube. Remember a few weeks
ago someone had posted the various tracks that make up
MacArthur Park? Well that same user has done it to one extent or
another for
Bad Girls,
Love
Is In Control, and
Love To Love You. The links I gave you all go to playlists for the
songs. Remixers - go have fun! Oh - I also see the drums for
Hot Stuff. I'll make this a playlist too in case I find more.)
[APR 11] Happy Sunday all! Let's jump right in with one for all
you fashionistas out there. i-D.vice.com recently posted their
list of Donna's
7 most iconic outfits. (They seem to be very fond of 1979.)
[APR 11]
VinylMePlease.com is selling a blue vinyl copy of Bad Girls that was
remastered from the original source tapes. A fan who purchased it said
the sound quality is absolutely amazing, and the blue vinyl is gorgeous.
His only real complaint was about the quality of the cover - the front
is a bit washed out, and the back is darker than it should be. He said
you can also see pixels if you look closely enough. The inner red
sleeves with the lyrics are printed on a heavier paper than usual, but
they do stick out of the main sleeve just a bit. But it sounds to
me like he is so impressed with the sound quality of this release that
any issues with the cover are irrelevant. :-) His exact quote was"
Donna's vocals almost seem live now like you are listening in the booth
with her."
[APR 11] Former "Diva Donna" from the musical, Ariana DeBose did a
brief AMA (ask me anything) on Twitter today. In it she was asked
what her favorite Donna Summer song is - the MacArthur Park Suite, and
she was asked if she could have lunch with any of the characters she's
portrayed, who would she pick. Her choice was Donna Summer. :-)
[APR 11] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm in the mood for
some covers tonight. First up,
Nights In White
Satin live. Then we have
Pearls live in Westbury NY,
Georgia On
My Mind (audio only),
Natural Woman live (audio only), Superstar live at the
Hollywood Bowl (accompanied by Richard Carpenter), and
Nature Boy
live at the Hollywood Bowl.
[APR 4] Happy Easter to all of you who observe it. Happy Sunday to
everyone else! First up - it's a new month so it's time for the
new Summer Fever Pick. Spring is in
the air, so it's time for Love To Love You Baby. :-)
[APR 4] On to Donna.... The
Grammy website posted an article celebrating women singers who
shaped dance music. Of course you know they had to talk about I
Feel Love. :-)
[APR 4] Johnnyswim fans - our favorite duo has something sneaky up their
sleeves in honor of the 1 year anniversary of their first Song with
Strangers. It just might be... more songs with strangers.
;-) Watch their
Instagram for more info.
[APR 4] Brooklyn Sudano fans - don't forget her new series Cruel
Summer debuts on April 20 on Freeform (or the next day on Hulu).
[APR 4] Musical theater fans... Here in the US, things are starting to
look hopeful. There is talk of theaters being allowed to open this
fall (if not sooner) with the appropriate pandemic protocols in place.
Broadway in Boston has already started selling subscriptions for a
season slated to start this coming November. Included in their
lineup will be Summer: The Donna Summer Musical slated for February 22
to March 6, 2022. Obviously this could all change depending on how
things go with the pandemic, but I feel like we actually might have a
light at the end of the tunnel!
[APR 4] And that brings us to YouTube. In keeping with the
holiday, let's look at Donna's spiritual songs. First up,
Amazing Grace.
Then we have a
gospel medley from the Mac Davis Show,
How Great Thou
Art, Forgive
Me,
Riding Thru The Storm, and
He's A Rebel.
[MAR 29] Greetings all. First things first - I just bought a new
computer so that's why this update is late. I had the update all written
out, and then I couldn't publish. I found out that the problem was that
I am a dumbass. LOL
[MAR 28] On to the news. Johnnyswim was live in the backyard the
other day. You can now watch it on
YouTube.
[MAR 28] Spring cleaning season is here and
The Atlantic posted a playlist to keep you motivated while doing the
work. Donna made the list with a surprising choice - Pandora's Box.
Not many casual fans would know that one. :-)
[MAR 28] Bruce fans - check out his interview with
Glide Magazine.
[MAR 28] And because I need to get back to beating my head against a
wall with the new computer - this will bring us to YouTube. Let's
do some interviews to keep things easy. First up
A&E's Biography. Then we have
another documentary here, and the
Signed Media
interview here. Fingers crossed - I'll be back to normal next
weekend!
[MAR 21] Greetings all! Let's start off with a reminder that
Johnnyswim will be
Live
In The Backyard this coming Tuesday (March 23). They are going with
a 90s Spring Break theme, so look for some beachy limited edition
merchandise to hit their
webstore
tomorrow morning. They will have cups, shirts, hats, etc all starting
tomorrow at 8AM PDT. Get there early if you want to buy - their stuff
sells out fast!
[MAR 21] And speaking of Johnnyswim, they wrote a new song called The
Best Thing Ever that will be in the Netflix release, A Week Away that
debuts Friday March 26. The soundtrack is already available
on streaming services like
Spotify. (Hey the new song sounds like it would fit in with Live In
The Backyard!)
[MAR 21] In honor of the Grammy Awards,
CMT.com posted its list of 5 Essential Historic Country Music Grammy
Moments. Right off the bat, they start with Donna and Kenny Rogers' duet
of Grammy nominated songs. :-)
[MAR 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a video I haven't
seen for awhile - the edited version of
Donna hosting
American Bandstand. (Bandstand was a 1 hour show, but at one
point VH1 started airing half hour edits of the shows under the title
The Best Of American Bandstand.) Donna was the only person other than
Dick Clark to ever host. That was 1978. She also did the show as a
guest in 1976 where she sang
Love To Love You and Try Me, and she was on the Christmas 1984
Episode where she did Supernatural Love and I'm Free, which you can see
in the VH1 edited
version of the show. She also sang some Christmas songs on
that show, but that video seems to have disappeared off YouTube for now.
Donna also did aninterview with
GMA and Dick
Clark in which they showed a clip of Donna hosting Bandstand t hat
didn't make the edited VH1 version.
[MAR 14] Happy Sunday all! And Happy Pi Day. (This concludes the math
portion of the update. LOL) On a personal note, I was
finally able to schedule appointments for COVID vaccinations for me and
my parents, so I feel like there might be a light at the end of this
long quarantine tunnel! Maybe some live shows this summer? Is it too
much to hope for?
[MAR 14] On to the news! On the Donna front, we have a couple of
webpages that turned up recently. The first is on
Amo Mama and is a biography of sorts focusing on Donna's
family. It give a little background on Donna, then it talks about Bruce,
and then each of the girls. I don't think there is much there that most
of us didn't already know, but it's a fun read anyway. The other
page is on
Who's Dated Who, and it's just what you'd think from the site name.
There isn't much there, and at least some of what is there is just silly
gossip. The fun of this site is the 6 degrees of separation
search. Type in any celebrity name and the site will see if it can
find connections between Donna and that celebrity. Naturally (if
you are me LOL), you type in a ridiculously improbable celebrity
name in the hopes of stumping their computer. You'd be surprised
at what it comes up with sometimes. And as long as we are talking
silly things.... some of you might have seen some animated photos of
Donna on Facebook. There is a site that does that. It's the
Deep
Nostalgia app on the My Heritage website. It's meant for uploading
old photos of your deceased ancestors to give you an idea of what they
were like when they were alive. It's sort of a creepy version of the
moving photos from the Harry Potter films. It's fun to play with,
but I wouldn't use it on a photo of anybody I cared about just because
it is kind of creepy.
[MAR 14] Ok - let's move on to something that's not silly. As you
know, Bruce was on
Plymouth Rock TV's Sunday Story Tellers last week. Those
shows to become available on demand eventually. The latest episode
they put on demand was from about 2 weeks ago I think, so we may see
Bruce's episode up next weekend.
[MAR 14] Also, Bruce was interviewed by Dave Marsh this morning on
SiriusXM channel 106 on Kick Out The Jams With Dave Marsh. If you
have SiriusXM,
you can probably catch a replay on demand on the Sirius XM website next
week. They have previous episodes posted on demand now, but the
most recent one was from last Sunday.
[MAR 14] Bruce's fellow Brooklyn Dream, Joe Bean Esposito, was
interviewed recently by
New Jersey Stage. It's a pretty good overview of his entire career
and yes, he does talk about working with Donna. LOL
[MAR 14] Johnnyswim fans - catch them live in the Backyard on March 23
at 5:30.... I just realized that that they said PST, but I believe that
should be PDT now? They are going with a Spring Break theme, and I
know they are working on new merch for the show. :-) Keep an eye
on their
Instagram for updates, and of course the show will be aired on both
Instagram and
YouTube.
[MAR 14] You can also catch Johnnyswim doing an AMA on the
Magnolia Network's Instagram. And they FINALLY give the true story
of how they came up with the band name! (Or did they? LOL)
[MAR 14] Oooo- BREAKING NEWS on YouTube! Harry Langdon literally just
published a video on
The Wanderer photoshoot.
[MAR 14] So that does bring us to YouTube finally. I'm feeling the
need for live music, so let's have some concerts this time. First up,
Crayons 2008. Then we have
Brazil 1995,
Mistaken Identity 1991,
Spain 1990, and finally an
audio from Japan
1979 that is longer than the usual video that's been on YouTube
forever. This audio is 1:17 instead of 45 minutes.
[MAR 6] Greetings all! It's pretty quiet this week so let's start off
with a new remix. This one is the 2021 Impassioned Lockdown mix of
Love To Love You made from the original multitracks.
[MAR 6] In the Donna is everywhere category,
Broadway World posted an article in honor of Women's History Month
about Broadway shows based on real women in history. And Yes Summer: The
Donna Summer Musical was on that list. Which brings me to item #2
- this week Jeopardy featured this question (wait... I mean
answer. You know how the game works. LOL ) "In the roles of Diva
Donna, Disco Donna and Duckling Donna, 3 actresses played this 1970s
singer in a 2018 show." Apparently the 3 contestants gave 3 different
answers - Cher, Mama Mia and finally the correct answer, Donna Summer.
[MAR 6] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - she has a new video up on
Patreon. This one is called Prankster Duet. If you don't have
Patreon, you will be able to see the story on the
Facebook group probably next weekend. :-)
[MAR 6] Bruce Sudano fans - look for him on The Sunday Story Tellers
Series tomorrow night at 6pm on the Plymouth Rock TV channel on Roku,
Distro TV, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV and the PRTV app for iOS and Android.
Also catch Bruce in the new video from Christian John Wikane where he
asks 8 people to talk about their greatest challenge. The
video is
here and Bruce is the second guest in the video.
[MAR 6] Johnnyswim fans: check out their latest interview for
Relevant Magazine talking about their life during lockdown.
[MAR 6] That brings us to YouTube. Let's have a few laughs this week.
First up, a 20 min
compilation of
clips with varying levels of humor. Then we have a
2008 clip of Donna (and Bruce) being silly, Donna on
Regis & Kathie Lee having fun, a
Vimeo clip with
Donna being VERY silly, and Donna with Barry Manilow having way too much
fun with
Could It Be Magic.
[FEB 28] Greetings all! Tomorrow starts a new month, so we have a new
Summer Fever Pick. This time we go back to
Lady Of The Night. Also, here in the US, February is Black
History Month and March is Women's History Month. Since Donna fits
into both categories, it is your assignment to spend the rest of
today and tomorrow listening to all your favorite Donna songs. ;-)
[FEB 28] We have a couple of new YouTube documentaries on Donna that
were posted recently. One is
Why Are They
Iconic: Donna Summer, and the other is
The Tragic Tale
Of Donna Summer. Diehard fans are not going to find any new
info there - particularly if you read Donna's autobiography. (And
if you haven't, Amazon
has it available for the Kindle at a normal price, or as a hard
cover at many wildly different prices.)
[FEB 28] Brooklyn Sudano fans - her new TV series Cruel Summer debuts on
April 20 on the Freeform network. It will be also on Hulu, with new
episodes airing there the day after they debut on Freeform. You can read
more on
IndieWire, and on
TVLine. (The latter also has a video trailer.)
[FEB 28] Bruce Sudano fans -
Vents Magazine has an article about Bruce's latest single, It Don't
Take Much. Also, keep an eye on
Bruce's
Instagram. He posted a contest recently and said to stay tuned for
more.
[FEB 28] Johnnyswim fans - catch them in
EW.com's article on the Magnolia Network. The article also features
a video with a short clip from Amanda & Abner's second series - At Home
With Johnnyswim which then flows into a conversation between our
favorite duo and Chip & Joanna Gaines.
[FEB 28] Here's a silly thing for you. If you haven't done it yet,
stream episode 3 (Charleston) of Home On The Road with Johnnyswim with
the subtitles ON . (That's available on Discovery+). Here's the thing.
Someone somewhere put the wrong subtitle file on the episode, so instead
of seeing what Johnnyswim is saying, you see the subtitles from some
gardening show. And that creates some interesting juxtapositions at
times. For instance, as Abner talks about the venue they are
scheduled to play, the subtitles say something to the effect of "this
used to be a big compost heap..." LOL I'd love to find the
gardening show and see if it has the Johnnyswim subtitles.
[FEB 28] OK, I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate
our Summer Fever Pick this time. So first up, an excellent quality
clip of
Lady Of The Night from a European TV appearance. Then we have
another great clip for
The Hostage,
also from European TV. After that we have a lyric video for
Wounded, another one for
Let's Work Together Now, and one for
Virgin Mary. And finally a bonus lyric video for
Can't Understand.
[FEB 21] Happy Sunday all! Last time I mentioned the Donna Summer
documentary that's in the works. Well, Brooklyn posted an Instagram
story on her account where she talks about the documentary and how she
and the family would love for the fans to be a part of it. So she
reiterated the call for film, photos, memorabilia, stories about
how Donna impacted your life, etc. If you have things you would like to
share, send an email to thedonnadoc@gmail.com
explaining just what you have. :-) And then they will get back to
you. Brooklyn's post is gone now (because that's how Instagram
stories work - they vanish after awhile), but you can follow Brooklyn on
Instagram so you don't miss any future posts. (I will warn
you, Brooklyn is not as prolific on social media as her younger sister
is. It's possible that makes her smarter than all of us.
LOL)
[FEB 21] Mary Gaines Bernard is also working on a project with the help
of her daughter the Marvelous Xe. To find out more about that, you gotta
join the
Facebook group! :-)
[FEB 21] Johnnyswim fans - Their
Love In The
Backyard concert is now available on YouTube for your viewing
pleasure. You can also catch their watch party for Home On The
Road with Johnnyswim (now streaming on Discovery+). That is broken into
3 parts and is basically just Amanda & Abner's Quaran-Team (who do all
their live in the backyard stuff) watching the show and commenting on
things as they go along. In between they answer a few questions and sing
a few songs. For each episode (there are 6) they give you a
countdown so you can hit play the same time they do. Catch
part 1 here,
part 2 here
and part 3 here.
Now whether you stream the watch party or now, when you watch the show
on Discovery+, look for a guest appearance by Bruce Sudano in the Long
Island episode (#5). There is also some discussion about Donna in
that one so Donna fans will be interested too. :-)
[FEB 21] One bit of info that slipped out during the watch party is that
their next series of At Home With Johnnyswim (which takes place during
lockdown) is expected to come out July 15. That's when the
Magnolia network officially launches on cable, so check with your cable
provider for more details. (Or if you have cut the cord - just go with
Discovery+. I was surprised when I signed up for the trial just
how many channels are in the Discovery network. This is a streaming
service I might actually keep!) Oh, I almost forgot, there are a couple
of t-shirts available at
Johnnyswim.com
to celebrate the watch party.
[FEB 21] Also in Johnnyswim news, they have a book coming out on June 8
called Home Sweet
Road: Finding Love, Making Music & Building A Life One City At A Time.
It's a collection of stories, photos, poetry, recipes (they are major
foodies! LOL) and more from their live on the road. It's
available for pre-order at places like
Amazon now. And
there will be autographed copies available on
Johnnyswim.com
at some point.
[FEB 21] Bruce Sudano fans - his new single, It Don't Take Much
(starring Honey the cat LOL) is now #124 on the BDS Building
chart. If you haven't checked out the video yet, it's on
YouTube.
[FEB 21] And speaking of YouTube... let's see what Donna goodies I'm in
the mood for tonight. Well it snowed here the better part of the
last couple of days, so every thing I see around me is white. Let's do
some tracks that go with that. So of course there is
White Christmas. Then there is
White Boys from Hair, and Donna's cover of
Nights In White Satin. Umm.... then I guess we can go
with
Dim All the Lights (because she's turning her brown body white? Yes
It's a stretch LOL), and
Reflections
from Divas 2000 (because it did snow that morning - I had to drive to
the train station in it. LOL) And I have to end with
Enough Is Enough because I'm pretty sure I said that after the 3rd
or 4th time I shoveled out my driveway! LOL Is it Spring yet??
[FEB 12] Happy Friday all! I'm back early this week because I have
some news for you (and because I plan to be watching Johnnyswim Live In
The Backyard on Sunday - more on that in a bit.)
[FEB 12] Some of you have seen this on Facebook or the Fan Club site
already, but I am now officially authorized to make this
announcement:
"The long awaited authorized documentary of one of the greatest
vocalists is in production, and we are looking to you for help!
Donna Summer is calling on her loyal fanbase to check those attics, dust
off those boxes and dive into any treasured materials you may have been
holding onto for a moment just like this!
We have been working with Donna’s family to uncover untold treasures
that will bring this film to life, but now we need YOU to show Donna’s
story in a way that has never been done before!
Donna’s fans were family to her – her extensive journals speak to this –
which is why we are asking you to help us portray the amazing, sometimes
even life changing experiences that this legendary performer’s shows
could have on those who were there at the time, and you can do this by
sharing your beloved personal materials of Donna Summer including:
*Donna Summer performance footage/photos/ticket stubs/t-shirts/vintage
merchandise
*Photos / home videos of you / your friends at a Donna Summer show
(snap-shots, S8mm film, VHS video, etc.)
*You in a present day video telling us what Donna meant to you and how
her music influenced you
*Ephemera/posters advertising the performances
*Newspaper clippings from your local print publication
highlighting/advertising the shows
Please contact us if you may have something to contribute to this
project but do not send any photos or videos initially -- only send us a
short note telling us what you have available, including the show date
and a general description of what you have (example: “June 17, 1978 at
the Universal Amphitheater, 8mm silent footage shot and owned by
myself.”)
Please make clear what year(s) the material was shot, what format it was
shot in, and the format it is currently in. (i.e. 8mm, 16mm, digital,
etc.)
Send the descriptions of your photos, audio, and/or films to us at
thedonnadoc@gmail.com, and we will follow up about reviewing your
material. Thank you, and stay in touch!"
This came to me from a gentleman named Daniel who is working with
Donna's family and who is definitely interested in making this
documentary great. So if you have anything that you think might be
of interest, please email a LIST of what you have to
thedonnadoc@gmail.com. Once
they figure out what is out there and what they can use, they will be in
touch with individuals with info on how to send them the actual stuff.
:-)
[FEB 12] So let's get back to Johnnyswim
Live In The Backyard, or as they are calling it this time, Love In
The Backyard. The merchandise is already available for sale on
Johnnyswim.com
as of this morning (and some things are sold out already - you have to
be quick with them! LOL) The concert itself is Sunday at 6:30 PST
and should make for a nice COVID era date night. Just picture a quiet
romantic dinner at home followed by a Johnnyswim concert right there in
your living room. :-) Also, don't forget you can catch the entire
season of Johnnyswim Home On The Road on Discovery+ on Friday February
19. Watch their
Instagram for more details.
[FEB 12] Bruce Sudano fans - his new video is out right in time for
Valentine's Day. The song is It Don't Take Much (Because I Do) and stars
animated Bruce with his animated band the Brucettes. It's an homage to
his animated cat Honey, and features appearances by the Super Bruce
Bobblehead, and the magic chair from Keep Doin' What You're Doin'.
You can catch the video along with an article about the song on
Parade.com. Oh - if you actually have a cat, don't make my mistake.
I watched with one of my cats and now I think she's getting ideas.....
sigh
[FEB 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. It's Valentine's
weekend.... since Donna doesn't have any songs about chocolate, then I
guess we have to go with the theme of love. Gee, I wonder if she
recorded any songs about that? LOL So we have
I Feel Love
from The Midnight Special,
I
Love You from Johnny Carson, Donna's cover of
The Power Of Love,
No Ordinary Love
Song (written for Ordinary Girl),
To Paris With
Love, I Will
Live For Love (the ballad), and of course we have to include
Love To Love You
Baby, this one live in 1977. Happy Valentine's Day all!
[FEB 7] Greetings all! It's another snow day here in NY - I guess that's
Mother Nature's way of making me exercise? (That snow doesn't shovel
itself! LOL)
[FEB 7] Let's start off with Johnnyswim. On Sunday the 14th, they
will be Live In The Backyard for a Valentine's Day concert, and Abner
has already started teasing the merchandise. Something about mixtapes? I
guess we'll find out later in the week. :-) You can catch
the show on
YouTube (which has the better quality feed) and
Instagram. Merchandise will be on
their website
probably Friday or Saturday, and the show is Sunday at 6:30 PST (and
then on demand on YouTube thereafter.)
[FEB 7] That's not the only Johnnyswim news. As you know the first
episode of their TV Show for Magnolia is available on the
Discovery+
streaming service. But you don't have to settle for just one
episode. On February 19, Discovery+ will air all the episodes and
Johnnyswim plans to have a live watch party on Instagram. Now
here's the thing - Discovery+ is $4.99 or $6.99 per month (depending on
if you want to deal with ads or not) - but you can also get a 7 day free
trial. So, if you time things right, you can watch Johnnyswim for
free and then still have time to explore Discovery+ to see if you want
to keep it.
[FEB 7] Also in Johnnyswim news, they hooked up with Acura to perform
some songs for a virtual watch party. I shared 1 clip last week, but
there were several performances and Acura had put them all together in
one video now/ You can
see it here.
The duo also appeared on the
PreachersNSneakers podcast where they talked about a number of
things - including a SECOND upcoming show for Magnolia.
[FEB 7] Bruce Sudano fans, the new issue of Goldmine is out and in it is
an article where Bruce lists the 10 albums that changed his life.
Bruce posted it on his
Instagram, or you can grab a copy of the magazine in stores.
[FEB 7] Moving on to the Donna is everywhere category - RuPaul's Drag
Race did a disco themed episode recently and of course Donna was
mentioned. Someone collected the relevant parts of the show and posted
them on Vimeo.
The photos they showed are pretty cool and I loved listening to Ru work
all the disco song titles into his intro. I wasn't very happy with the
contestant who tried to explain the difference between Diana Ross and
Donna though. I think someone needs to lock him in a room with some
Donna music until he is fully educated! :-)
[FEB 7] The
Ten-Minute Record Reviews vlog has a review of Love To Love You
Baby. The reviewer gives a ton of background info before he gets
into the actual review. (Spoiler alert - he gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
:-) )
[FEB 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of cleaning up
after 2 snowstorms in a week's time, I'm going to go with a theme of
work. So of course we have to start with
She Works Hard For The Money, this one live on a TV show. Then
we have a liveandmore video for the Womack rework of
Working The
Midnight Shift,
I
Don't Wanna Work That Hard from Live & More Encore,
Work Than Magic (the official video), and
Riding Through The Storm from Live & More Encore.
[JAN 31] Happy Sunday all! Tomorrow starts a new month, so it's
time for the new Summer Fever Pick.
This month we are taking a look at musicals. (Ah... musicals. Remember
the good old days when you could go to a show and watch people perform
live? I hope they come back again soon!)
[JAN 31] On to the news. Bruce Sudano fans - look for his new video for
The Promise out on YouTube now, and
Rock Cellar Magazine's article about the video. Also look for
the March issue of
Goldmine Magazine
in stores starting tomorrow. It will have a feature on Bruce. :-)
(If you are in the part of the US looking at a big snow storm
today/tomorrow - then look for the magazine AFTER you have a chance to
dig out! LOL)
[JAN 31] Johnnyswim fans - They just did
The Relevant Podcast the other day. On it they talk about their
upcoming TV Shows for Magnolia. (Jump to about 41:30 if you are only
looking for their part of the podcast.) They also did a performance for
Acura's Virtual
Watch Party - filmed in their backyard of course. :-) So
if you saw them setting up stuff in the yard on Instagram - that's what
it was for. :-) On and don't forget they have a new Live In The
Backyard coming up on Valentine's Day. Look for special limited
edition merchandise to go with that show to hit their website a day or 2
before the show.
[JAN 31] And that brings us to YouTube. Since we are expecting a
big snowstorm here later, I'm going to go with a winter (ish) theme,
starting of course with
Winter Melody. Then we have
Cold Love from the old Tom Snyder Show, and a few from Donna's
appearance for Art On Ice:
Smile,
On The Radio,
Enough Is Enough,
La Vie En Rose,
and She Works
Hard For The Money. And then
one special one in honor of the Summer Fever Pick - from a show not
covered on that page. :-)
[JAN 24] Greetings all! Fair warning - I will NOT be posting any Bernie
Sanders and his mittens memes on this site. I don't know if that makes
you disappointed, or relieved LOL but there has to be
one spot on the web that he hasn't taken over! :-)
[JAN 24] Let's start off with Johnnyswim. They will be live in the
backyard again on February 14 - Valentine's Day at 6:30 PM PST.
Keep in mind that they usually have exclusive merchandise for their
backyard shows, so keep an eye on
their website
and
Instagram. (The merch sells out quickly so you have to grab it when
you see it!) And of course the show itself will be on Instagram
and
YouTube.
[JAN 24] The Guardian posted its list of the
best 10 remixes. Right off the bat they start with the 1982 I
Feel Love Mega Mix.
[JAN 24] Brooklyn Sudano fans - you may remember that she is going
to be part of Freeform's upcoming series, Cruel Summer (set to air later
this year.) UK fans will be able to catch it on Amazon Prime as
the service has
just acquired the rights to the show.
[JAN 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. I don't know about the
rest of you, but where I am it's pretty cold, so I want to play some
tunes to warm up and get the blood flowing! LOL So you know
we have to start with
Hot Stuff
(live in 1979!) Then we have
Stamp Your Feet
on Letterman, Love
Is In Control (the official video),
Love's About To
Change My Heart ( the video),
With Your Love
(video edit), and
Could It Be Magic (live with Barry Manilow).
[JAN 17] Happy Sunday all! So last week I gave you links to
MacArthur Park with just the vocals and one with just the piano. There
is more out there. :-) Here is
just the bass,
and a video with
just the strings. Fanmixers - go have some fun!
[JAN 17] There was a 2009 audio documentary about Donna done by
the BBC called Feelin' Love, The Donna Summer Story. Someone has
put it up on YouTube in parts. So here is
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3,
Part 4,
Part 5, and
finally Part 6.
[JAN 17] NPO Radio 2 in The Netherlands has a podcast about Donna on
their website. There is just one problem - I believe you have
to be in the Netherlands to actually be able to play it. When I
click it, I get a short message in Dutch that I believe is telling me
that the clip is region restricted. But if you are in the
Netherlands (or have some sneaky proxy trick you want to try), give it a
listen. :-)
[JAN 17] Bruce Sudano fans - look for a feature about him in the March
issue of Goldmine.
That will hit stores on February 1. In the meantime, go check him
out on Facebook where Bruce has been
live on his couch again. This is another new song he's working
on. Unfortunately the video cuts off abruptly.
[JAN 17] Mary Bernard fans, if you are in her
Facebook group, then you can watch the story that was posted on
Patreon last weekend. It's an interesting story about fan mail....
If you are not in Mary's group, then apply to join it! (The
technical side of the group is handled by Mary's daughter, so sometimes
it takes a little while for them to get to the membership requests. Just
have a little patience if you are on the waiting list. :-) )
[JAN 17] I think that brings us (back) to YouTube. As my American
friends know (and quite possibly my international friends as well) - on
Wednesday we swear in a new President. (Hopefully without any
drama!) Anyway, I thought it would be fun to look back at Donna's
previous Presidential performances. First up - Donna performing at
the
1985 inauguration for President Reagan. Then we have Donna's
performances at the Nobel Peace Prize concert for President Obama.
She did
She Works Hard For The Money,
Bad Girls/Hot Stuff, and of course,
Last Dance. And then I'm going to throw in a link to
Begin Again just because I really feel like we need to do that.
Between the pandemic, the economy, and the divisiveness of the political
situation, I'm looking tor a great big reset button! (Hey wait -
has anybody tried that yet? Unplug the country for 30 seconds and
then plug it back in again? It works for gadgets, maybe it will work for
the country? LOL)
[JAN 10] Happy Sunday all! Well, this week has been a .... bad dream?
Continuation of 2020? Bruce reposted his
American Sunset
video on Facebook, and you know.... that song fits more now
than it did just a few months ago. Anyway... after a week like
this, I think we can all use a little escape into the land of Donna.
[JAN 10] Let's start off with Mary. She just posted a new story on her
Patreon that will show up on the Facebook group next week. This
one is a story of some memorable fan mail and yes, you will be amazed at
what people send. To access the story now (and get early access to
future stories), sign up for
Mary's
Patreon. Or join the
Facebook group and join the "family". :-)
[JAN 10]
Eurweb.com posted an article about Love To Love You and Time
Magazine's coverage of it at the time.
[JAN 10] Here's a gem for you - MacArthur Park. But not just any
version of the song. This is
just the vocals!
Along with that, we have a
track with just
the piano. Aside from the fact that it is very interesting to
hear the various pieces that make up the whole, I can totally see some
fan mixers having a blast with these. :-) I should also tell you
that the piano is for the whole suite, but the vocals are just MacArthur
Park, but with some extras that weren't used. :-)
[JAN 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a
Suecase Hall video of
Enough Is
Enough/Let There Be Peace. Then we have
In A New York
Minute, The
Impossible Dream,
Love Is The
Healer,
Riding Through The Storm,
Amazing Grace,
and finally the symphonic version of
I
Will Live For Love.
[JAN 3] Happy New Year all! And good riddance to 2020! LOL
First up for the New Year (and new month) - the new Summer Fever Pick.
This month we are playing with our Crayons. :-)
[JAN 3] I want to start off with Johnnyswim this week because if you
have Discovery +, you will be able to see some of the programming for
the new Magnolia Network starting tomorrow. Some of that
programing includes a 1 episode preview of "Home On The Road With
Johnnyswim". The show covers Johnnyswim doing a 3 month
cross-country tour filmed what seems like a lifetime ago.
(Concerts? What are they? LOL) Read more at
Deadline.com.
[JAN 3] Moving on to Donna,
Albumism.com posted a playlist the other day in tribute to Donna on
what should have been her 72nd birthday. Also, SiriusXM's 70s on 7
station had a countdown of the listener's picks for the top 300 songs of
the 70s. Now, I haven't been able to find a written list of the
songs yet (probably because they were counting down all weekend) but I
do know that Last Dance was on the list somewhere. I heard them play it
the other day. :-)
[JAN 3] In the land of remixes, we have the Joey The Hatt 2021 mix of
Come With Me,
the MHP mix of
MacArthur Park (listen for extra adlibs in that one!), and the Ivan
Sash mix of The
Woman In Me.
[JAN 3] That brings us to YouTube. This week's theme is random stuff
I've run into over the last couple of weeks. First up is a British
guitarist analyzing Donna's
Hot Summer Night
performance of Last Dance. He gets into a lot of technical
reasons about why Donna is such a great singer. :-) Then we have
This Time I Know
It's For Real from a Norwegian TV show, and Donna on The
Tonight Show performing
On The Radio and
Starting Over Again. Those of you who have heard Bruce talk
about Starting Over Again will recognize this as the performance that
made Dolly Parton get in touch to see if she could record the song. And
finally we have
Last Dance from American Bandstand's 33 1/3 Anniversary show.
(Those last 2 clips bring back a lot of happy memories of stalking the
TV listings for any sign of Donna. LOL)
2020
[DEC 27] Greetings all! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday week -
whether you celebrated or not.
[DEC 27] First up this week, photographer Harry Langdon is now selling a
few of his Donna photos. Check out his
YouTube video
for a look at the ones available and for more info.
[DEC 27]
Zora.com has compiled a list of the 100 most iconic albums by
African American women. Bad Girls is on that list! You have to
scroll down quite a bit because the albums are listed chronologically,
and they start in 1950. But don't just read what they say about
Donna - there is a TON of great music on that list! Then
The Atlantic has an article about the 2020 Disco Revival.
[DEC 27] Moving on to the land of remixes - we now have a
Groovefunkel mix of Heaven Knows that comes right from the original
multi-track recording. (I really like the way they did the video too -
with some trivia, and the full credits at the end. Plus those wave forms
for the various parts are hypnotic to me. LOL) Then we have the
Tom Moulton mix of Love To Love You on his Unreleased Remixes Vol 3.
And for those of you who want to make some remixes of your own, the
studio acapella track for Hot Stuff has turned up on YouTube.
[DEC 27] I think that brings us to this week's trip to YouTube.
This time we are ringing in the New Year. Actually considering when
these clips were recorded, we are ringing in several different New
Years. LOL First up - a brand new
video from our
own Suecase Hall that celebrates Donna and 2021. Then we have
Try Me and
Could It Be
Magic, from New Year's 1977,
On The Radio and
Last Dance from Merv Griffin's 1993 New Year show, and
You're So
Beautiful from Dick Clark's 2004 show. Of course it it also Donna's
birthday on New Year's Eve, so of course we need to hear (and sing)
Happy Birthday.
And finally, I have the edit of
Begin Again
just because after the raging dumpster fire we call 2020, I think we all
need to begin again! :-) Happy New Year everyone! May 2021 bring health
and happiness - and a return to some sort of normalcy I hope!
[DEC 20] Greetings all. This should be the last update before Christmas,
so let me take the time to wish you all a very happy holiday season.
Yeah, I know with COVID this may not be the holiday we had hoped for,
but better times are coming!
[DEC 20] There isn't a whole lot going on right now - I think it's just
the usual end of year quiet. But something just popped up recently
on Facebook related to Donna and the musical Hair. There was a
25th Anniversary concert fundraiser celebrating Hair back in 1988 at the
UN and Donna was there along with Paul Jabara. Clips of this event
have surfaced on YouTube. The show is uploaded in parts, so in
Part 1
you have Donna and Paul (at about 16:05) making an appeal for the
charity (helping children with AIDS), and introducing one of the songs.
In Part 2,
look for Donna and the tribe at about 20:50 singing Aquarius.
(It's so weird to hear her sing it in English - I am so used to her
German version!) And finally in
Part 4
they have the big finale of Let The Sunshine in (starting at about
21:00). Little by little all the evening's performers come out for what
becomes a big celebration onstage. You can see Donna in the front
row on the left pretty clearly at 24:33. Oh, by the way - does anybody
happen to recognize the dress Donna is wearing? You've all seen it
before - although Donna's makeup was a bit different in the famous
photos of her wearing it. ;-) Also - kudos to the Facebooker
who found these clips. It's a great find!
[DEC 20] Related to the clips above, I found a little
AP article about the benefit. It doesn't say too much, but it's a
good companion to the clips above.
[DEC 20] And as long as we are celebrating Hair, we have some
clips of Donna
with the German cast back in the day, and a video by Suecase
Hall for
Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.
[DEC 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. And I'm just going to share
2 things with you this week. First is my YouTube
playlist of Donna Summer Christmas songs (with a few bonuses thrown
in). And the second thing is Johnnyswim's Live From The Backyard
#4 - Another
Johnnyswim Christmas.
And then let me just leave you with this:
[DEC 13] Greetings all! I'm going to start off with Johnnyswim
this week because, they have
new limited
edition merchandise coming out tomorrow morning at 8 AM PST. I
think they might even still have a little Live From The Backyard stuff
left.
[DEC 13] Speaking of Live From The Backyard, if you missed their last
Christmas themed show, then you missed something really special. The
last one was Christmas themed, and there was a space in the middle that
was just ... transcendent. It was emotional and touching, and
something that just needs to be experienced. Lucky for you, the
show is still on
YouTube for you to watch. Donna Summer fans will want to pay
attention at the 1:30 (ish) mark because Amanda shared a couple of
Christmas memories from when she was a kid.
[DEC 13] In chart news, Donna has hit the
UK iTunes Top 100 with Last Dance at #60 on the December 13
chart. It shares the chart with a heck of a lot of Christmas
songs, so I am declaring Last Dance a Christmas Song now. LOL
(Hey if Ronnie Spector can be Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, then
why can't Donna have the Last Dance under the tree?)
[DEC 13]
TheArtsDesk.com has a list of vinyl Christmas gift ideas - The
Wanderer 40th Anniversary set made the cut. :-)
[DEC 13] Also in Donna news (well, maybe not news to the diehard fans
LOL),
CheatSheet.com has posted the stories behind She Works Hard For The
Money and it's video.
[DEC 13] Bruce Sudano fans -
AmericanaHighways.org has included Spirals Vol 2 in their list of
Reader's Favorite Albums from 2020.
[DEC 13] Bruce will be part of the iVoted concerts again on January 5 in
support of the Georgia run off election for the Senate. Check out the
iVoted website
to see how to get access to the show - and no, you don't have to be a
Georgia voter to watch. (They are listing Bruce's show as a
rebroadcast, so I assume that means they are just restreaming his
performance from November.)
[DEC 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the iTunes
chart, let's start off with
Last Dance
live on the Midnight Special. (One of the first performances of that
song.) As long as we're dancing, let's keep going but with a
relatively recent spin. So next up is
My
Life from the VH1 special, a video for
To
Paris With Love, the original mix of
Love On And On,
Stor Dubine's video for
I Got Your Love,
and
Love is The Healer live on The View. And just for fun, a bunch
of college kids
dancing a choreographed routine to Donna's music in a shopping mall.
[DEC 4] Happy Friday all! The new Summer Fever Pick is up and of course
you know that it is Christmas Spirit!
[DEC 4] Let's start off with Johnnyswim. As you know, they have
their
Live
In The Backyard Christmas concert tomorrow night. That means
that their digital
merchandise table is live NOW. There are new shirts, a hoodie
and a Levi's jacket - hand screened by Johnnyswim themselves. All
the money goes to a good cause - keeping the live concerts going! :-)
Oh, and don't forget that the concert merchandise is only available for
72 hours.
[DEC 4] Also in Johnnyswim news, as of today, their new Christmas EP,
Another Johnnyswim Christmas, has hit all your favorite places to
stream or buy
music, including
Amazon.
[DEC 4] In Donna news, there is a book coming out May 6 called Donna
Summer's Once Upon A Time which is (yes you guessed it) all about that
album. It is available for
pre-order now at
Amazon. There is also a book called I Feel Love: Donna Summer,
Giorgio Moroder, and How They Reinvented Music. Look for that on
May 1 and you can also
pre-order it at Amazon. (Both books are available as
paperbacks only - sorry eReader fans.)
[DEC 4] In Bruce Sudano news, he's posted a beautiful video for Morning
Kisses on Facebook. It's a beautiful video created by Rueben at
Noksound - the same guy who did American Sunset. I expect it will find
its way to YouTube one of these days. :-)
[DEC 4] Also in Bruce news, he's posted a couple of other new Facebook
videos this week.
The first one (live at the piano instead of on the couch is a
tribute to John Prine.) Then the next day he posted another song he is
working on called
Doobie Doo. And on YouTube there is a video of
Bruce talking
about Donna.
[DEC 4] I think that brings us to YouTube. I can't resist - we
have to do some Christmas songs. :-) So here is
The Christmas
Song live on GMA,
O Holy Night
from Solid Gold, a lyric video for
Rosie Christmas,
and a lyric video for
Christmas Spirit.
And finally one weird video of the MacArthur Park Suite.
Someone has made a video for the suite by combining various clips of
people dancing. There are clips from what looks like The Nutcracker,
there is some Irish step dancing, a whole bunch of people dancing
in a mall (flash mob or performance?), some precision marching,
what looks like an outdoor flash mob, another group of Irish step
dancers, and it ends with something that looks like the stage
moves more than the dancers? It's a very strange video. :-)
[NOV 29] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with the Bad Girls red and
blue vinyl edition that was due out Friday. It's online release
now been delayed until the Spring because
Culture Factory is using it for their Record Store Day. (Which means
right now, you'd have to find it in an actual store. Wait? Are there
still actual record stores? LOL)
[NOV 29] Mary Bernard fans - she has a new story video coming out on the
Once Upon A Diva Facebook group next week, but if you go join
her on
Patreon, you can see it NOW. (And you will be helping to
finance these videos.) The new video is the story about the time
that..... oh wait, I can't tell you. :-) But I will say that
Mary's stories are still set in the early days.
[NOV 29] In musical news, the site for the Brazilian production of
Summer: The Musical has a couple of videos posted with I Feel Love,
MacArthur Park, and Hot Stuff. I see the dialog is in Portuguese
and the music is in English. Someone will have to let me
know how that works out for the Brazilian audiences. Knowing that
some songs (and not necessarily hits) are used to tell parts of the
story, does that make it harder to follow the story when it's in 2
languages?
[NOV 29] Johnnyswim fans - we have a busy weekend coming up. Their
Christmas album drops on Friday December 4. They have their
Live
In The Backyard Christmas concert on December 5, and there will be
special merchandise available that weekend ONLY. (That's how they
finance the shows - through the sales of merchandise.) If you have never
watched them Live In The Backyard, I'm telling you that they do an
amazing job. They could seriously advise other acts on how to do online
shows.
[NOV 29] Bruce Sudano fans - check out the short article on
SongFacts.com about Bruce's song, For The Sake of Humanity.
That's off of Spirals Vol 2 which you can buy/stream at all the
usual places. Or you can head to
Bruce's site and grab an actual CD copy. You can also grab a Super
Bruce bobblehead, or some stickers or magnets. Lots of that stuff is on
sale until midnight Monday (November 30).
[NOV 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since I ate too much
over the holiday to even want to think about moving LOL, let's do
some ballads. Let's start with
Celebrate Me Home. Then we have
Heaven's Just A
Whisper Away live on The Word,
Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby (audio only),
There Will Always Be A You (audio only),
Sand On My Feet (live), and
Anyway At All live on The Tonight SHow.
[NOV 22] Greetings all and Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!
Where should I start? Well, since it's 2020 and it seems to be the year
of weird things happening, let's go with
this new mashup.
Somebody managed to mashup Donna's Hot Stuff with... wait for it... Ozzy
Osbourne's Flying High Again. Not a combination you would exactly
expect, but it's actually not terrible. But I can't help but
wonder what those guys blowing up disco records in 1979 would have
thought? LOL
[NOV 22] In other weird news... reporter Andrew Marr did an
interview recently in the UK where he said that he interviewed Putin
at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. (If you remember - there was a big
controversy at the time because Russia wasn't exactly the most
gay-friendly place, to put it mildly.) Anyway, this journalist happened
to run into Elton John shortly before the Putin interview. Elton, tasked
Marr with the job of giving Putin a Donna Summer album and a kiss from
him. He did not say if he actually did as he was asked or if he
chickened out. LOL
[NOV 22] Moving on to more normal things,
Jazziz.com has a nice little piece celebrating the song I Remember
Yesterday. And in cover news, Kelly Clarkson recently performed a
cover of
She Works Hard For The Money on her show. (And I don't think I
will ever get used to the virtual audiences some shows are using!)
[NOV 22] And in Wanderer news, Pete Bellotte
did an interview
with Phil Marriott in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the
album.
[NOV 22] In musical news, Summer : The Musical is slated to run at the
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust February 16 to 21, 2021. I am
assuming that is subject to change depending on the COVID situation.
[NOV 22] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his 5 questions on
DittyTV.com, then his interview with
Cashbox Canada.
[NOV 22] Johnnyswim fans - check out their latest release,
Pass Me A Pint
from their upcoming Christmas album. You can also watch them
perform it
live from their garage on Instagram. Also, they are planning another
Live From The Backyard concert on December 5. No special guests this
time - just a Christmas party at the Johnnyswim home. And be on
the look out for new merchandise for the show. They always come up
with something, and I think they are working on making some stuff
themselves again. (Looked like maybe screen printing this time....
last time it was tie dye.)
[NOV 22] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's
Thanksgiving this week, let's do a throwback to when the
cast of Summer:
The Musical performed live for the Macy's Parade in 17 degree
weather. (That's -8 for those of you who use Celsius.) I'm
still stunned you can't see any chattering teeth! LOL Johnnyswim
also did a Macy's Parade but their was 2016. Catch them
here on the
rehearsal interviews,
here on an
audience home video, and
here on
the actual parade broadcast. Then we have Donna on the
Queen Latifah Show talking about Thanksgiving (and performing), and
another Thanksgiving interview on
The View.
[NOV 14] Happy Saturday all! Not a lot going on this week, but Congrats
to Bruce! A whole bunch of stations have added tracks from Spirals Vol 2
to their playlists. And he's #88 on the Billboard BDS chart! (It's
the bobblehead - nobody can resist the bobblehead! LOL)
[NOV 14] In Johnnyswim news.
WideOpenCountry.com has an article about their upcoming show on the
Magnolia Network.
[NOV 14] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - as many of you know, she has a
Facebook group for Donna Summer fans or perhaps I should say family,
as she does consider us members of the family. It's a private
group so your membership request has to be approved - so be patient if
you join and it takes a little while for you to get approved. (Mary's
daughter handles that techie stuff and she's busy in her own right too.)
In this group. Mary posts videos with stories from her time with Donna,
and she sometimes goes live to chat with us crazies. What came out of
the last chat is that at some point, Mary would like to hit the road and
do small pop up concerts for the fans. So hopefully we can get
this COVID situation under control and stuff like that can happen.
[NOV 14] I think that brings us to YouTube. Hmmmm.... I haven't done any
duets in awhile. Let's go there. First up, Donna with the Brooklyn
Dreams doing a
Motown Medley on the Midnight Special. Then we have Donna and
Mary on
Enough Is Enough, Donna with Joss Stone on
Try A Little
Tenderness, with Darwin Hobbes on
When I Look Up,
with Seal on
Crazy, and with Paul Jabara on
Something's
Missing. And finally, (I can never resist posting this one!)
Donna with Barry Manilow on
Could It Be Magic.
[NOV 8] Happy Sunday all! It's been quite a week here in the US and the
good news is that I can stop reminding people to vote for at least
another year! LOL We had a record number of voters this
year and the highest turnout in terms of the percentage of eligible
voters since 1900. I guess it takes more than a pandemic to
silence the people. :-)
[NOV 8] I know some of my American friends feel like Christmas has come
early - and actually, it sort of has! Johnnyswim has a new Christmas
album coming out and they are teasing us with the first track now. It is
Little Drummer Boy, and you can buy/stream it at your
favorite music sources.
[NOV 8] In the Donna is everywhere category, she got name checked in a
recent episode of The Connors. Some characters were playing poker, and
when one lost, she asked for her money back because she worked hard for
it. Another player replied, "Hey we all work hard for the money Donna
Summer. Next time you'll be more careful."
[NOV 8] Bruce Sudano fans - check out
this piece he posted on the eve of election day.
[NOV 8] I think that brings us to YouTube. Here are some of the
songs I have been drawn to this week (in no particular order)....
Love Is The Healer
from Divas 2000,
Georgia On My
Mind in concert from 2004,
A
Whole New World with Dave Koz,
Enough Is Enough with Barbra,
Crayons live
in 2009, the unreleased
Run With It,
the recently remastered
Looking Up, and of course,
God Bless America.
[OCT 31] Greetings all and Happy Halloween. I have an announcement to
make.... the year 2020 is being extended another 6 months!
Did I scare you? (Seriously, ghosts and goblins have nothing on
2020 for scariness! LOL)
[OCT 31] Before I get to the news, I just want to remind my American
friends to GO VOTE! (Well, unless you already did.) If you
have an absentee ballot and haven't mailed it yet - DON'T! Take it to a
ballot drop box, or bring it to your polling place on election day. It
is TOO LATE to use the US Mail. And if you already voted and are
in a position to, help someone else vote. Bring somebody to the polls
who doesn't have transportation, bring snacks or water to the voting
lines in your area, teach a first time voter how to fill out the ballot
or use the machines correctly, bring a boom box and play some
Donna tunes for the people waiting online... just use your imagination,
you can come up with something. :-) (Do they still make boom
boxes? ROTFLOL)
[OCT 31] On to the world of Donna. If we flashback to 2012
for a second, the Republic of Togo issued a
series of stamps honoring Donna.
[OCT 31] Since masks/face coverings seem to be a part of our lives for
the foreseeable future, you might as well get some cool ones.
Amazon has a bunch of
Donna Summer masks up for sale. One caveat though - most of them
have ridiculous prices and/or high shipping fees. They are also
not eligible for Prime shipping. But some of them are really cute.
[OCT 31] In musical news - Summer: The Musical is back in Brazil for the
2021 season at
Teatro Satander in Sao Paulo. It will be playing January
14 to April 18 and if you had tickets to the cancelled performances from
this year, the theater will be emailing you to set up new tickets for
you. If you see the show next year, let me know how you like it and what
safety protocols they had to use.
[OCT 31] Bruce Sudano fans - check out Bruce's
acoustic
performance of American Sunset in support of the Biden/Harris
2020 ticket. Also, he will be performing online on election day
for the iVoted.com festival. The site finally posted the
official schedule and Bruce is slated to perform at 3:20 PM Eastern
time. (Sigh.... and I am working then...)
[OCT 31] Johnnyswim fans - episode 3 of Live In The Backyard is
available for you to watch on
YouTube. It got a really nice write-up on
AtwoodMusic.com. And the pair is already planning on doing another
one - if I recall Abner said maybe after Thanksgiving. I think they want
to do a Christmas theme. Listen, if you haven's watched any of the
live in the backyard shows yet - you NEED to see at least one.
They do such an amazing job with the lighting, sound, set design, etc
that I really believe they could teach classes for other artists.
(Plus their music is amazing and they always make the shows fun events.)
[OCT 31] Speaking of Christmas - Johnnyswim is doing another Christmas
album. Look for that next weekend!
[OCT 31] Donna's second grandchild, Savanna has been written up
on
OxfordStories.net for her work as an artist and designer.
[OCT 31] I think that brings us to YouTube. Being Halloween, and seeing
as how Donna never really did anything scary, let's do some videos
that show Donna in a costume. First up is
Breakaway (with behind the scenes clips). You can see Donna getting
into the APAT cover makeup. Then we have Donna doing
Last Dance with Prince Poppycock,
She Works Hard For The Money from Disneyland's 30th anniversary
(Donna in her waitress costume),
Sunset People from the 1980 TV special - look for a few different
looks in that, and finally clips from
Family Matters Pound Foolish. For a little audio fun, here is
Donna performing
Hot Stuff on Bette Midler's Hulaween event.
[OCT 31] Oops I forgot to mention - the new month starts tomorrow, so I
have posted the Summer Fever Pick
tonight. This month we are celebrating the excitement of Love & More
Encore!
[OCT 24] Happy Saturday all! First up Johnnyswim is live from the
backyard TOMORROW October 25 at 6:30 PST. Their
digital
merchandise table is open for business as of 8AM this morning and
will only be up for a total of 72 hours. Don't forget that once that 72
hours is up, those Live In The Backyard items will disappear forever.
And also keep in mind that it is the merchandise dales that pay for the
otherwise free concerts. :-) Catch Live In The Backyard streaming
on
YouTube, or watch the other 2 episodes in preparation for tomorrow
night.
[OCT 24] Bruce Sudano fans - his EP, Spirals Vol 2 is officially
released as of yesterday. Had over to
Bruce's site to grab a CD (or other cool stuff), or head over to
your favorite music supplier to grab a download.
[OCT 24] A new album means new promotion, so check out Bruce on
Goldmine Magazine's podcast. Then go read the review on
AmericanaHighways.org, and then the interview on
AmericanSongwriter.com. If you do Facebook, check out
his video over there too.
[OCT 24] Don't forget that Bruce is performing live on the web for
IVoted.com.
The show is free, but to get tickets you have to send a selfie of
yourself with your blank absentee ballot, or outside your polling place.
(If you already voted, or you are not eligible to vote, they list other
ways to get your free access to the show. Oh - and some states will NOT
allow you to take photographs within a certain distance of a polling
place, so be aware of that. )
[OCT 24] In remix news,
Boston University News Service reviewed the Kygo mix of Hot Stuff.
It's an interesting review - they like the mix only because they like
the original song, but they don't like that to them the mix dilutes the
power of the original. Go read it, you will see what I mean.
[OCT 24] That brings us to YouTube. I feel like we need some
positive songs.... so let's start with
Love Is The Healer live on The View. Then we have the video
for
Love Is In Control, a slideshow for
Love Will Always Find You, a liveandmore video for
Let There Be Peace, a liveandmore video for
Smile, and finally
Riding Through The Storm from Live & More Encore.
[OCT 24] And finally for my American fans - we are in the home stretch!
Make your plan and vote! I am going bright and early tomorrow morning to
cast my early vote. Keep in mind that turn out has been really high at
many early voting sites - even in my usually quiet area, they had a line
around the block this morning LITERALLY! (Which is why I didn't
vote today - I failed to plan adequately.) So wear your masks, bring
your hand sanitizer, bring some friends, and plan to be there awhile.
Have snacks and water with you if you feel you will need those - maybe a
folding chair too. Will it be inconvenient? Yeah... but nothing
compared to the "inconvenience" suffered by the people who got us the
right to vote in the first place. So VOTE! Oh yeah - bring some
tunes with you in your phone or whatever - that always helps pass the
time. :-)
[OCT 17] Greetings all! Are you all having a Wanderer
lovefest? I hope so because the 40th Anniversary edition of The
Wanderer hit
stores yesterday. :-) If you're still waiting for your
copy to arrive, head over to
Spotify to give it a listen. :-)
[OCT 17] Johnnyswim fans - they are performing
Live In The Backyard on Sunday October 25. Last week they announced
that one of their special guests will be Katelyn Tarver. Yesterday
they announced their other special guest - Hanson. Keep an eye on
their
Instagram - I'm sure there will be a merchandise announcement.
[OCT 17] While you are waiting for the concert, check out Amanda on the
Motherly podcast. (Please note - the interview with Amanda was taped
BEFORE quarantine.)
[OCT 17] Congrats to Bruce Sudano! His video for
Keep Doin' What You're Doin' broke 100k views on YouTube. (It's the
Super Bruce - everybody wants to be him. LOL)
[OCT 17] Bruce's new EP - Spirals Vol 2: Time & The Space In
Between will be out October 23 - that's next week! :-) You
can pre-save it on your
favorite streaming service, or you can head to
Bruce's website and order a CD. (Or some Super Bruce merchandise...)
[OCT 17] Looking for something to do October 29? The Palm Canyon Theater
will be livestreaming clips from their production, I Know What You Did
Last Donna Summer, along with commentary from the cast and crew. The
show is a parody of slasher films set to the beat of Donna Summer.
Sound weird to you? It does to me too, so I will try to check that
out for myself. I love weird! LOL
[OCT 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, we have a
new fan video from Suecase Hall for
Looking Up. (The original version, not a remix.) And now because I
am about to watch a musical on TV, I'm going to do Donna's musical
songs. First up,
White Boys from Haare (Donna's vocals set to scenes from the film).
Then we have
O
segne Gott mein Seel from Godspell (audio set to a slideshow),
Donna's cover of
Don't Rain On My Parade, her cover of
Someone To Watch Over Me, and from the vaulted Ordinary Girl,
No
Ordinary Love Song.
[OCT 17] And finally, for my American friends - make a plan and VOTE!
[OCT 10] Happy Saturday all! I guess we can start with remix news. The
Figo Full Sound Mix of The Wanderer is out on YouTube now.
It's longer than the previous mix. :-)
[OCT 10]
MusicRadar.com has an article listing 5 Quincy Jones songs you need
to hear. #3 on the list is Love Is In Control. :-)
[OCT 10] We have some musical news (fingers crossed!) The
Starlight Theater in Kansas City has announced it's
Summer 2021 schedule and Summer: The Musical is listed for July 23
to 25. With any luck next summer we'll all be able to go back to
the theater (or concerts, or movies...)
[OCT 10] Johnnyswim fans - they will be live in the backyard on October
25 and they have announced that they will have 2 special guests. The
first is Katelyn Tarver. The second... is a mystery until next
week. That Abner loves to be a tease! LOL
[OCT 10] Bruce Sudano fans - his single American Sunset got
a nice write by by
TooMuchLoveMagazine.com. It also got a write up on
IndieMusicReviews.net. And don't forget - Bruce will be
performing on Election Day on
iVotedConcerts.com. Check the site to see how to gain access
to his (and/or other) performance.
[OCT 10] Which brings me to my usual rant to the American fans.
Election Day is November 3, but many places have started their
early voting already, and many people who requested them have already
received in their mall in ballots. You need to make SURE you have a plan
to vote! Educate yourself on the issues and candidates (if you haven't
already) and then cast your vote! If you are voting by mail - get it in
early because we all know the post office is a bit... slow... at the
moment. And if you are in a state that allows you to - track your
vote online to see that it is received.
USA.gov/voting
has lots of general info on how to vote, and links to the local election
offices for each state or territory. My state (NY) doesn't start early
voting until October 24, but you can bet I will be there bright and
early with mask and hand sanitizer at the ready!
[OCT 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. I feel in the mood for
some ballads today, so let's start with
Be
Myself Again live in 2009. (It took me a LONG time to be able to
play that one again after Donna left us.) Then we have the song that
started it all for me -
Mimi's Song live on The Tonight Show. Then some others I like
a lot:
Anyway At All live on the Tonight Show,
Heaven's Just A Whisper Away live,
Sand On My Feet live 2008, the unreleased ballad version of
I
Will Live For Love, and Donna's final gift to us,
Netherlands.
[OCT 4] Happy Sunday all! It's October already so now it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick. This month put on your blonde wigs because
we're looking at Mistaken Identity.
:-)
[OCT 4] Let's see, where should we start this week? Let's go with remix
news. As you know The Wanderer 40th Anniversary edition comes out
on October 16. And we have another new mix out from the release.
This one is the Figo Sound Radio Mix of The Wanderer. It's kind of
cool. You can hear the audio on
YouTube,
but there is an actual video that goes with it too. It WAS on YouTube
for awhile, but you can still find it on
Donna's Facebook page.
[OCT 4] In other remix news, the Kygo mix of Hot Stuff is doing really
well. It is in the top 10 in Germany, and here in the US is just debuted
at #1 on the
Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart. :-)
It is also #9 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart, #15 on the
Dance Digital Dongs Streaming chart, and #18 in Overall Digital Song
Sales.
[OCT 4] Bruce Sudano fans - check out
IndiePulseMusic.com's write up on American Sunset. Then head
over to Bruce's Facebook to see a
video for Shelter Island.
[OCT 4] Johnnyswim fans - they will be live in the backyard again on
Sunday October 25 at 6:30 PM Pacific time. I'm sure between now and then
they will announce some surprises and some exclusive merchandise, so
keep an eye on
their
Instagram.
[OCT 4] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week
singer/songwriter Mac Davis passed away. Donna was a guest on his
variety show in the late 70s and we are left with these 2 clips:
Donna performing
A
Song For You, and a
gospel medley with Mac Davis, Dolly Parton, Tom Jones and of course
Donna. Then we have a 2003
interview for Fresh Air (audio only). On that one, only the first
half hour is Donna. And finally, in honor of the Summer Fever Pick, we
have a 1991
concert from Japan starring Donna in her blonde wig. :-)
[SEP 27] Greetings all! It's been a pretty quiet week. I will say
though that Donna's latest remixes have been seeing some chart action.
The Hot Stuff mix was as high as #1 on the
ITunes Dance chart, although currently it sits at #8. And on the
iTunes world chart
it was #4 but now it's down to #22. I have to say the iTunes
charts are fun to watch because they are so volatile. You never
know from one hour to the next where something will be in the charts!
[SEP 27] Happy belated birthday to Bruce Sudano! Bruce fans on
Facebook can
watch a video about the inspiration for Bruce's latest song, Keep
Doin' What You're Doin'.
[SEP 27] I mentioned last week that Bruce has some new
merchandise for sale on his website. If you are outside the US
and would like to purchase something form his site, send an email to
brucesudanomerch@gmail.com.
[SEP 27] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - as you know, she started a
Facebook group for fans, and this weekend she just posted a new
video story about her time with Donna. She also started a
Patreon account which is just starting to get rolling. It looks like
the plan is to debut Mary's story videos there and then bring them over
to Facebook. This might be a really good option for those people
who don't like Facebook. So far only 2 of us have signed up to be
Patreon supporters, so it's a little lonely over there. Come keep us
company! :-)
[SEP 27] I think that brings us to YouTube. I feel like doing some
old interviews. So this week we have a
1978 interview
with Rona Barrett, a
1978 interview
with Johnny Carson, a
1981 interview
for the Midnight Special, an
early 80s
interview in German with footage of the filming of the State Of
Independence video, a
Mike Douglas
interview about Love To Love You, and a
1986 Good Morning
America interview with Dick Clark.
[SEP 27] And finally a note to my American friends - early voting has
started in some places already (or vote by mail is available now in some
places) and in other places it will be starting soon. So please,
if you haven't already, make sure you are registered to vote, educate
yourself on the issues and candidates, and then make a plan to get out
there to vote! Make your voice heard! And since the polls are likely to
be very busy this year, I highly recommend voting early if your state
allows it. Oh and I know everybody like to focus on the Presidential
race, but it is just as important to focus on your local candidates as
well. Those people have just as much (if not more) direct effect
on your everyday life as the President does.)
[SEP 20] Happy Sunday all! I guess the best place to start is in the
land of remixes. First up is the
Le Flex Sunset
Remix of Nightlife. It's got a completely different vibe from
the original. And then with way more fanfare, we got the new Kygo mix of
Hot Stuff complete with music video starring Madelyn Cline and Chase
Stokes from Outer Banks. The Hot Stuff mix hit #1 on the iTunes
Dance Chart and #10 on the iTunes Top 200. :-) You can
read about the mix on
kticradio.com. (Oh and if you like behind the scenes things -
EDM.com has some pictures from the Hot Stuff video shoot.)
[SEP 20] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his new song and video
Keep Doin' What
You Are Doin'. Note - this video features the return of Super Bruce
who was last seen in
The Mountain.
The song is available to stream at the
usual places
(Spotify, etc), and it got a write up on
BSidesBadlands.com.
[SEP 20] Speaking of the return of Super Bruce - he is now a bobblehead
that you can buy. He is also available as a magnet, a pin and a
sticker. And of course if music is more your thing, autographed
CDs of Spirals vol 1 are still available for sale, as well as cd and
vinyl for 21st Century World. Grab any (or all!) of those on
Bruce's website. (And yes, I ordered a bobblehead just because
it makes me laugh.)
[SEP 20] Johnnyswim fans - they posted their cover of
Dear Theodosia (taken from their latest Live In The Backyard event)
on YouTube as a stand alone video.
[SEP 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. I have an eclectic mix
of clips this week - stuff that just fell in my lap. First up, the
JRX 2020 Lockdown
remix of Hot Stuff. Then we have Donna's live cover of
Natural Woman
along with Donna's spoken intro about "twins". (Those of you who
saw the shows where she did it know what I mean. Everyone else - prepare
to be entertained. :-) ) Then we have Donna's performances of
Last Dance and On
The Radio for Merv Griffin's 1993 New Year's Eve Special. And
finally we have Donna's cover of
Georgia On My
Mind.
[SEP 12] Happy Saturday all! Wanderer fans (in North America) -
the US Amazon store
now has the pink vinyl available for pre-order. Now if Amazon
isn't your thing,
Barnes and Noble has it listed too, along with
ImportCDs.com. I am told that Import CDs will slap a customs
fee on anything shipped out of the US.
[SEP 12] So, The Wanderer isn't the only album coming out soon in
colored vinyl. In November we can expect to see Bad Girls in
beautiful blue and red translucent vinyl. :-)
FNAC.com has the images posted already.
[SEP 12] Johnnyswim fans: our favorite duo filmed episode 2 of their
Live In The Backyard concert series and you can now watch it on
YouTube. During the show, they debuted the video they made
(and directed themselves) for Til We Get Back Again. You can also watch
that on
YouTube.
[SEP 12] Bruce Sudano fans: Bruce has
a new video out
for his new song American Sunset from his forthcoming EP, Spirals vol.
2. It is very much a song for the times we find ourselves in now.
Bruce got to talk a little about the song to
American Songwriter.
Song Facts also talks about the song. And of course you can
find the new song on all of your
favorite music
sources. :-)
[SEP 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week... well, it's been
a weird week (like every week in 2020 LOL). I feel like we need some
songs of encouragement. So we'll start with
Riding Through The Storm. Then we have the unreleased
We're Gonna Win, the also unreleased ballad for
I
Will Live For Love, a performance of
Carry On, and of course I can't leave out
Stamp Your Feet. And as a bonus, here's a live performance of
Amazing Grace. I saw Donna do that one a couple of times in
concert in response to terrible events. (In particular I remember her
doing it in Boston to honor the victims of the bombing in the London
Underground.)
[SEP 6] Happy Sunday all! I hope my American friends are enjoying the
holiday weekend! So let's start off with The Wanderer. One of the
new mixes is available for sale now - the
Figo Sound mix of
Looking Up (and the
extended version
as well.) The mix was
posted first on Facebook as a lyric video, but then Suecase
Hall got his hands on it and made a fan video which you can
see
on YouTube. :-) By the way - if you have Spotify, you
can find the new mix there as well too. It's so nice to see The
Wanderer tracks getting so much love these days. I've always
looked at that album as an old friend. :-)
[SEP 6] Bruce Sudano fans - catch Bruce performing on a live
webcast Election night (November 3) for the
I Voted
concert series. That will be so much more fun to watch than the talking
heads on TV trying to analyze the election results. (You know how they
are - "With 0.0001% of the votes counted, we can confidently predict
that one of the candidates will win. And the others will lose."
LOL)
[SEP 6] Johnnyswim fans - as you already know, episode 2 of live from
the backyard is slated for September 10. And they have just announced
that Chip and Joanna Gaines will be among their special guests. Also,
(and this is important) there will be special merchandise available for
the show including tie-died shirts, crew jackets, and other special
surprises. The
merchandise "table" opens Wednesday September 9 at 8 AM PST and will
remain open for 72 hours. It is the sales from the merchandise
that finance these backyard concerts, so if you want to keep
seeing the shows make sure you grab some merchandise. :-) Also
note - the shirts were tie dyed by hand by Johnnyswim - so when you
watch the show Thursday, see if they ever got the dye off their hands.
ROTFLOL
[SEP 6] I think that brings us to YouTube. I have a sort of random
mix of clips that came my way this week. First is the Suecase Hall video
for
Grand Illusion. Then we have a Donna vs Michael Jackson mix called
Bad Girls (Can't
Let Them Get Away), an
acapella
recording of Bad Girls (which is Donna and the backing singers
with the music mostly removed from the track), an acapella recording for
Love Is In
Control, the Groovefunkel
alternate vocal
mix of Last Dance, and finally a
1999 commercial
for McDonald's featuring She Works Hard For The Money with alternate
lyrics recorded just for the campaign. Did somebody say McDonna's?
LOL
[AUG 30] Happy Sunday all! The new month starts on Tuesday, so I
am posting the new Summer Fever Pick
now. We are welcoming the fall with Another Place And Time. (On a side
note - what the heck happened to summer? Even in quarantine, time
flies!)
[AUG 30] Okay, on to Donna. First up, BBC radio 4 posted the episode of
Great Lives: Jessie Ware on Donna Summer. It runs for about a half
hour and includes commentary from Pete Bellotte. (That's extra cool
since we don't get to hear from him often. They also use some clips from
archived BBC interviews with Donna, and they have commentary from the
Danielle Smith, author of an upcoming book called Shine Bright: A
Personal History of Black Woman In Pop. It sounds like it might be an
interesting book. :-)
[AUG 30] North American fans - good news about the forthcoming
anniversary edition of The Wanderer. The CD version is available for
pre-order from
Amazon.com. As of right now, they don't have the vinyl
available, but that is something to keep an eye on. The release date for
the CD is October 6 - same as in the UK.
[AUG 30] We may be looking forward to a Kygo mix of one of Donna's
songs. He did an
interview recently where he mentioned that he was doing a project
that he wasn't sure he could talk about yet, and his hint was that it
would be for the Queen Of Disco. When one of the hosts Googled "Queen Of
Disco" (don't get me started on that! LOL) and guessed "Donna Summer",
Kygo said "Maybe..." Oh yeah... it's her! LOL
[AUG 30] Spotify users - there is a new playlist out there called
Donna Summer: Top Tracks. It kicks off with Love's About To
Change My Heart (from our Summer Fever Pick!) and includes
an eclectic bunch of tracks from Love To Love You all the way up to
Crayons. There are some mixes, some remasters , some hits, and some deep
cuts. At 57 tracks, this playlist will keep you company for a long time!
:-)
[AUG 30] Johnnyswim fans - they are live in the backyard again on
Thursday September 10 at 6 PM PST. They are planning to have at least
one special guest, and there will be exclusive merchandise only
available for 72 hours starting the day before the show. Even better -
they are hand tie-dyeing the shirts THEMSELVES. If you follow them
on Instagram, you will see in their stories some of the adventures in
tie-die. Their backyard concerts have been lots of fun so be sure
to tune in on either
Instagram of
YouTube. (The YouTube feed is much higher quality though.)
[AUG 30] Also in Johnnyswim news, look for a new video for one of their
Songs With Strangers EP soon. Our favorite duo sneaked off for an
afternoon to shoot and direct their own video for Till We Get Back
Again, and they will debut it during their upcoming Live In The Backyard
broadcast. I can't wait to see how it turns out!
[AUG 30] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate our Summer
Fever Pick. First up,
This Time I Know
It's For Real and
I Don't Wanna Get
Hurt from Top Of The Pops. Then we have an
ABC News feature
to promote Another Place And Time, and an appearance on
Arsenio Hall
also to promote the album. And finally, there is the rarely seen
official video for
When Love Takes
Over You.
[AUG 23] Greetings all! Well, we now have order links for The
Wanderer 40th Anniversary edition. It is available in vinyl or CD
at Amazon UK
(which is unfortunately NOT shipping to the US at this time.)
Resident-Music.com also has it (and that looks like it will ship to
the US but I didn't look up the shipping costs) and
TownsendMusicStore.com also will ship to the US... but shipping
costs almost as much as the item itself! LOL I'm sure as we get
closer to the October 16 release date there may be other options for
purchase, or Amazon UK may start shipping overseas again. In the
meantime use the Townsend Music link above, or this
Facebook link to see what the vinyl looks like. (It looks
really nice, although the pink vinyl is paler than I expected.)
[AUG 23] In the Donna is everywhere ... or not.. category, there is a
kebab place in the UK called
Doner Summer.
And there is an item on the menu called the Bad Girl Berlin. :-)
I have no idea how the food is (the menu looks good) but if you
find yourself in Leeds or York, go check them out.
[AUG 23] Johnnyswim fans - guess what? The duo are planning to be live
in their backyard again on September 10. They are also planning
some surprises for that night. Keep an eye on
their
Instagram for updates.
[AUG 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate The Wanderer
this week in honor of the upcoming pink vinyl. :-) So first up is
the
official video for the title track. Then we have the new Le
Flex Poolside mix of
Grand Illusion, the live version of
The Wanderer from Tom Snyder's talk show,
Cold Love from the same show, and a stampyourfeet video for the
studio version of
Cold Love that incorporates clips from Art On Ice. And finally
we have liveandmore's video for
Grand Illusion that uses footage from the Whenever There Is Love
video to really great effect and a Suecase Hall video for
Running For Cover that makes great use of both the 1980 TV Special
and A Hot Summer Night.
[AUG 16] Happy Sunday all! I can't believe summer is almost over
and we had to waste so much of it in quarantine. So listen, if
there is any other virus out there looking to cause a quarantine - I am
hereby decreeing that you can only do so in horrible weather when nobody
wants to go out! LOL (Wouldn't it be nice to have god like
powers like that? LOL)
[AUG 16] So on to Donna. :-) BBC Radio 4 has a
series called Great Lives where they spend a half an hour talking about
- well whoever the subject is that week. They cover everybody from Maya
Angelou to Mussolini and everything in between so there is a decent
variety of subjects. Anyway, on Tuesday August 25 at 4:40 PM UK
time, they will feature Donna. Here's the best thing.... unlike
BBC television, BBC Radio is not locked into UK residents only. So
we here in North America (and I am assuming most other places as well)
can listen in live online. And shortly after the broadcast it will be
available to stream on demand. So check out the
BBC
4 website.
[AUG 16] In the land of politics, the Vote Proud campaign
here in the US is using Enough Is Enough to help bring out the LGBTQ+
vote. The ad has gotten enough attention that
BroadwayWorld.com has an article about it (and a link to the video)
,
Variety has an article about it (also with the video), and so does
CNN. And this is probably a good time for what may be the first of
many public service announcements for my American friends. (Everybody
else - skip ahead. lol) Election Day is rapidly approaching
and this year... well this is probably the weirdest year I've ever lived
through. Between the post office being all messed up and the
pandemic, voting may be more difficult this year. But don't let that
discourage you! As a citizen, it not just your right, but your
RESPONSIBILITY to educate yourself on the issues and VOTE for the
candidates you feel will do a good job. So if you are not already
registered, go register now. If you are planning to vote by mail - do it
as soon as you possibly can in your state, and if you are planning to
vote in person, see if your state allows early voting and do that to
avoid some of the lines.
[AUG 16] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, I Feel Love
is used in the latest commercial for
Amazon Alexa.
(Watch it until the end. :-) )
[AUG 16] Johnnyswim fans - as you know, our favorite duo performed live
in their backyard the other day to celebrate Amanda's birthday.
You can catch the show
here on YouTube.
[AUG 16] Bruce Sudano has also been performing live on the
internet. He filmed a short clip for Ditty TV that you can
see on Facebook. And he also did a half hour set for the
Philadelphia Folk Festival which had to go online this year.
Now if you bought a ticket and watched online last night like I did, you
will know there was a problem with the feed. That has been
corrected for the archive which is
available on line - probably only to ticket holders though. If
you want to catch the archived performance,
use this link then scroll to about 9:25 - well, unless you want to
check out all the other talented acts too. :-)
[AUG 16] Mary Bernard fans - as you know she and her daughter created a
Facebook Group for the diehard Donna Summer fans where she can share
stories from all those years of touring. She posted another video
just the other day, so group members should check that out if they
haven't already. And those interested in joining the group should check
out
Mary's public page for info.
[AUG 16] I think that brings us to YouTube. All these live
performances this week puts me in the mood for more concerts. So
let's see some of Donna's concerts. First up the
Crayons tour
at Jones Beach, NY 2008, then we have
Brazil in 1995,
the Mistaken
Identity tour in Japan 1991, and live in
Japan 1979.
[AUG 8] Happy Saturday all! If you are looking for some music to play
while you check out the update, Try
this megamix from De Manger. I was playing it while writing this.
:-)
[AUG 8] Let's start with The Wanderer's 40th anniversary. :-)
To celebrate, a special anniversary edition of the CD is coming out with
extra mixes plus liner notes by Christian John Wikane. There will
be new interviews with Pete Bellotte, Harold Faltermeyer, Bruce, Tom
Kelly , Figo Sound and Le Flex. Plus they are throwing in some archived
interviews with Carmen Grillo and Donna. The mixes include 2 Figo
Sound mixes of The Wanderer, 2 Figo Sound mixes of Looking Up, 2
Le Flex mixes of Nightlife and the Le Flex Grand Illusion mix we've
already heard. :-) (All the ones with 2 mixes are
basically an extended version and a radio edit of the mixes.)
RetroPop Magazine has an article about the release. Oh and you
vinyl hounds will like this.... the album will also be released in a 2
LP pink and black vinyl set. (I bet it will be gorgeous!)
:-) Look for that October 20. Order links are not available yet,
but I assume you can get it from all the usual sources.
[AUG 8] SIriusXM's Studio 54 Radio is celebrating it's 9th birthday on
August 15. In honor of the occasion, they will be counting down
the listeners' Top 54. If you want to vote, the
list of choices is here. You can vote ONCE between now and
August 12, then tune in at 4PM on August 15 to see how your songs
placed. :-)
[AUG 8] Johnnyswim fans - first of all, don't forget that they are
doing a live concert from their backyard on
Instagram and
YouTube on Tuesday August 11 to celebrate Amanda's birthday.
There will also be special
merchandise
available on that day AND if people tune in and buy the shirts, they
will keep doing these shows. One note, if you have the
choice of which service to use for the stream - YouTube is the higher
quality one. And no time has been posted yet, so stay tuned to
their Instagram for an announcement on that. I know the last one they
did ran a little late for the east coast, so I think they were going to
try for an earlier time. But they also have kids to feed and get
to bed, so who knows?
[AUG 8] As you know, Johnnyswim is slated to have a show on the new
upcoming Magnolia Network. (The network was supposed to debut this
fall, but it has been pushed back due to the COVID virus situation. So
stay tuned for a new date for that.) Anyway,
CountryLiving.com has an article teasing the various shows slated to
air on Magnolia and the article features a video from Johnnyswim singing
Home inter cut with clips of the Ramirez family at home.
[AUG 8] I think that brings us to YouTube. I feel like doing some
Donna medleys tonight. So first up, her country
medley with Eddie Rabbit. Then we have a
gospel medley with Mac Davis, Dolly Parton and Tom Jones, a
Motown medley with the Brooklyn Dreams, the
1980 Grammy medley with Kenny Rogers, the
My
Man Medley from her 1980 TV Special, and a short
hits medley from 1999.
[AUG 1] Happy Saturday all! Sorry last weekend's update was late. I had
some technical difficulties with the upload. This week let's start
with the new Summer Fever Pick which is
All Systems Go. :-)
[AUG 1] Something else new this week is... the
Le Flex Poolside
mix of Grand Illusion. This the first of 4 mixes that are
being released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Wanderer.
(Yes we are all old! LOL) Now I am going to give you one
small tip for when you play this mix. When I first heard it, I
thought it was the weirdest thing ever. And then after about 10 seconds,
I realized that I had another open tab in my browser that was playing
something else at the same time. Oops! LOL (It's not so
weird when you play only one thing at a time. )
[AUG 1] In this day and age of everyone wearing face masks, you might
want to make a statement with yours. If you head to
RedBubble.com, they have a ton of Donna Summer masks. (Like
lots of the t-shirts out there now, these are not authorized by the
estate.) Now as someone who has had to become a connoisseur of
face masks (I work in a pharmacy), I bought a RedBubble one for a friend
and the fabric is comfortable, but there is no metal piece to tighten it
over your nose, so it might be prone to slip. The earloops are not
adjustable either, but you can buy the adjuster beads online if that is
an issue. (If you are crafty, you can probably also add some
bendable metal for the nose too. And of course as with most face masks
these days, you have to be patient with the shipping.
Seriously.... I never thought I'd have to become an expert in face
masks. 2020 is weird!
[AUG 1] Moving on to Johnnyswim. August 11 is Amanda's birthday so the
duo have decided to celebrate with another live streamed concert from
their backyard. :-) They will stream it on their
Instagram and
YouTube accounts and I can tell you from my experience
with the last one that Youtube is a much higher quality stream. They
haven't picked a time yet, so stay tuned to the Johnnyswim Instagram
page for more details as they come. Abner is already
promising surprises. :-)
[AUG 1] And that brings us to YouTube. This week, let's celebrate
the Summer Fever Pick. First up is the official video for
All Systems Go.
Then we have the official video for
Dinner With Gershwin, then an interview done on the set of the
original
unused video for Dinner With Gershwin, a
1987 UK interview
promoting the album,
All Systems Go live in the UK,
Dinner With Gershwin from a TV appearance,
Jeremy live in Japan, and
Love Shock from a TV appearance.
[JUL 26] Greetings all! I hope your weekend is going well. :-)
First up this week, the 2017 documentary, Donna Summer: Hot Stuff is now
available on Amazon
Prime Video here in the US. A bunch of people (including Mary) are
interviewed, but I need to warn you that stuff filmed in English will
air in English, and stuff filmed in German will air in German. So
if you are like me and are not so good with German, you will want to
make sure you turn on the English subtitles.
[JUL 26]
Attitude.co.uk has posted a review of the Hot Summer Night CD/DVD.
They call it a real gem and give the show a 4 out of 5. :-) There
is another review posted at
The Second Disc, and you can also watch
an unboxing video here on YouTube.
[JUL 26] Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you. Do you
remember the 1980 movie Fame, with Irene Cara? Well I was watching this
show on YouTube called
Stars In The
House that featured a reunion of some of the key people from that
movie. And they talked about filming a couple of the dance numbers
where they actually hadn't written the music yet. So they used other
music to stand in for the missing songs. So the big scene where
the cast danced in the street to Fame was actually filmed with the cast
dancing to Hot Stuff. There is another number called Red Light
(where the kids are all auditioning) and they used Bad Girls to stand in
for that. :-)
[JUL 26] Bruce Sudano fans - this week Bruce performed a live set
for BandsintownOutskirts. He posted
a copy of his setlist on Facebook, followed by videos for the
new song
All Hands, and his cover of
Tighter And Tighter dedicated to his friend (and former bandmate)
Pepe. He also posted a lyric video for
Shelter Island.
[JUL 26] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's look at some
more interview type things this week. First up, Donna talking
about songwriting on
Platinum Hit. Then a
funny late night
interview that touches on songwriting, Donna talking about the
creation of Love
To Love You, and an interview about
Disco's deeper meaning from 2010.
[JUL 19] Happy Sunday all! I don't know about where you guys are, but by
me it is HOT this weekend. So it's nice to have a little something to
keep me busy in the air conditioning. This is where I mention that my
Hot Summer Night DVD/CD came the other day. :-) I got mine
from Amazon UK and
yes, it is region free so the DVDs play here in North America too. (And
everywhere else as well, for all my friends who live everywhere else.)
You can also get the vinyl there. I opted not to because I am trying to
minimize the amount of stuff I have as I get older, but I have seen
photos and the purple vinyl is GORGEOUS. Now as for the DVD, the sound
is good and the picture seems a little improved from what exists on
YouTube. Of course the original source material was analog, so you
can only go so far with it. They kept it in the 4:3 aspect ratio,
so expect it to play with black bars on the sides of today's TVs.
(Unless you are one of those weirdos who like to stretch the screen so
it fits even though it makes all the people look strange. LOL)
One thing you will notice if you are like me and wore out the original
VHS release, there have been a few cuts made. The original running time
is about 1:17 and on the DVD package it is listed as about 1:12.
So that's roughly 5 minutes worth of cuts and from what I can tell it's
mostly in Donna's dialog/shenanigans. For instance, if you have
seen the show before you will remember hat Donna fiddles with a radio on
a dressing table before On The Radio. That's gone in this DVD release.
Before Forgive Me there was some dialog including the bit about "Do
stars drink out of silver goblets?" That's gone too. And the
dialog before her hits medley is gone, so goodbye Scarlett O'Hara joke.
(If you are new to this particular concert and have no idea what I am
talking about - go check
YouTube, the
jokes are all still there.) I leave it to all of you to decide for
yourselves if the cuts are good, bad or indifferent.
Now on to the packaging - the CD/DVD set come inside a nice little hard
covered booklet. The first page inside is a sleeve that holds the CD and
the last page inside is a sleeve for the DVD. The pages inside
include the track list, credits, lots of stills from the concert and the
rest is another wonderful article by Christian John Wikane that includes
comments from director Brian Grant and choreographer Arlene Phillips.
The article covers both the concert (and talks about each song
individually as well as about the show as a whole), and it also talks
about the music video for She Works Hard For The Money. There is a lot
of interesting stuff in there. :-) And of course, for me,
this set is like revisiting a dear old friend. The VHS copy was
how I first saw a full Donna Summer concert, and I
played it to death. :-)
[JULY 19] Ok, moving on.... Johnnyswim fans - their new EP, Songs With
Strangers, is out NOW at
Amazon and all the
other usual places. :-) To celebrate the release, the pair held a
YouTube/IG live concert in their backyard. (Wouldn't you have LOVED to
be one of their neighbors? :-) ) You can catch it on Youtube. It's
in 2 parts because of technical difficulties .
Part 1 is here
and ends rather abruptly. (People watching it live saw the YouTube
stream freeze. Instagram continued and people watching there got
to hear them decide to take an intermission to reboot everything. ) And
then part 2 is
here and includes a little bit of the after party. It's
possible they may decide to do something like this again. :-) Oh
and as long as we're talking Songs With Strangers,
Vacancy-Mag.com has posted a review. And if you head over to
Johnnyswim.com
you can pre-order the vinyl album or grab some Johnnyswim merchandise.
[JULY 19] Bruce Sudano fans - check out this new interview with
him on
PennyBlackMusic.co.uk. It's a pretty extensive interview and ends
with the great news that the first video and single from Spirals vol 2
will be out in late August. :-)
[JULY 19] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some
interviews this week. First up a
UK
interview from the 80s that has the video for I Don't Wanna
Get Hurt tacked on. Then there is a
1987 UK TV AM interview (and here is
the clip with the mic issue they mentioned. BTW - that's how a pro
handles a problem. :-) ) Moving on we have
TV
AM from 1991,
UK
This Morning from 1999, a BBC interview from 2004, and
finally a fun one from
Chicago, 2008 that I don't remember seeing before.
[JUL 12] Greetings all! If you ordered the new release of A Hot
Summer Night, then your copy should be on the way if you don't have it
yet. Mine is still in transit, but I've heard that the notes are
interesting, the packaging is good and if you get the DVD, the video
format is still the old school 4:3. I'm really looking forward to the
DVD - it will be like revisiting an old friend. :-) By the way, if
you use Spotify, you can find the audio for A Hot Summer Night
here.
[JUL 12] Remix fans...
here's an odd thing for you. Someone mashed Bad Girls with a song by
Danzig called Mother. The song Mother is a really hard rock song, but
the remix works surprisingly well. is it something I would add to my
music collection? Probably not, but it's worth listening too once or
twice. And I have to give full credit to the remixer for coming up
with such an interesting idea.
[JUL 12] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is live on his
Facebook couch again. This is a new song he's working on
called Ugly Truth And Pretty Lies.
[JUL 12] Ok Facebookers - I told you awhile ago that Mary Bernard had
something up her sleeve. Well, she's put together a private group on
Facebook just for the fans... I mean Donna family. :-)
Here's her
video on Facebook making the announcement. And if you join the
group, there is another video where Mary explains how she ended up
in LA with Donna all those years ago.
[JUL 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start off with
the Hot Summer
Night concert so we have something to compare the new release to.
:-) Then we have Hard For The Money on Musikladen - note the familiar
dress :-) and
Romeo from another TV show. Then for something COMPLETELY different,
there are a couple of clips from an old German TV show called Hits A Go
Go. Back in 1974 Donna would sometimes perform with a group called
The Family Tree and this group sometimes did backing work on Hits A Go
Go. There are 2 clips that I have seen so far where you can spot
Donna. First is this one
featuring Lucio Battista. At about 3:15 you can see Donna (on
the right) and other members of Family Tree take the stage. Then
there is a
clip with Dobie Gray where members of Family Tree are scattered
around the set and you can spot Donna at about 1:30. There may be more
clips out there, but "Family Tree" is a tough search term to work
with. lol
[JUL 5] Happy Sunday all! I hope all my American friends had a nice
holiday weekend. And I hope my non-American friends had a nice
regular weekend too. :-)
[JUL 5] Bruce Sudano fans - he's got a new video out for Back In The
Neighborhood. You can watch it, and read an article about Spirals Vol 1
on
BigTakeOver.com. You can also read an article promoting the video on
Menafn.com.
[JUL 5] Ever wonder what TV shows or movies have used Donna's
music? Check out
WhatSong.com. The list starts back in 1981 with Highway Runner, and
ends just about a week or so ago with Bad Girls on Doom Patrol.
[JUL 5] If you are into reaction videos, there is one on YouTube with
a
guy reacting to I Feel Love. The guy is completely blown away!
:-)
[JUL 5] That brings us to YouTube. First up a new
"mix" of Lush Life, where basically most of the music has been
removed so for the majority of the song all you hear are Donna's vocals.
Then in honor of July 4th we have
Livin' In America live,
God Bless Anerica live, and
The Star Spangled Banner live. And then, one more that I
posted recently, but I want to post it again anyway - Suecase Hall's
video for
Let There Be Peace/Enough Is Enough inspired by the global protests.
[JUL 2] The new Summer Fever Pick is
up! This month we are celebrating Cats Without Claws. :-)
JUN 28] Happy Global Pride Day everyone! (Although with the pandemic,
this may be the weirdest Pride month ever... as well as the weirdest
everything else this summer! LOL)
[JUN 28] So this is interesting.... this week (and some of you may have
seen this already), a fan named Casper found a previously unheard early
recording of Donna's! It is a 1972 recording credited to Cool Union
Drive. The A side is a song called
Time For Change
which if you listen to it, you will recognize it as an early version of
Walk Hand In Hand! The flip side is called
Something I'd
Like To Tell You and the writing credits are listed as Brodersen/Pierre.
Donna did used to use the name Gayn Pierre back around that time, so it
is POSSIBLE she is the cowriter. The other writer is Patrick
Brodersen. Another interesting thing - the woman pictured on the single
sleeve, is Donna's sister Linda Gaines. The photo is one she did for a
Black Is Beautiful campaign back in Germany. Over on Facebook,
someone got in touch with Patrick Brodersen's son, and it's easier if I
just quote what was posted: "The song started out as a promo
single for the 'junge union', the youth organisation of the German
conservative party CDU. The CDU traditionally sports black as its colour
and to cast a black singer, at the time for Germany somewhat untypical
and exotic, was supposed to appeal to a young audience. Germany had no
race segregation as there were almost no persons of colour here. It was
recorded in the early to mid seventies when my father worked for the CDU
as a graphic designer. He was a guitarist and song writer as well and
somehow convinced the team around the later chancellor Helmut Kohl to
record the song. Donna was cast when her engagement with the Hair
musical ensemble in Munich was finished and she looked for other
engagements. What you hear here is the original voice track on a
complete new arrangement recorded a few years later in Hannover with the
band Eloy as session musicians. My father had the rights to the track
and the recordings, produced the new version and published it on a few
samplers. I still got the 36-track reel somewhere and probably some very
old two tracks.
I have no recollection to Donna Summer herself but i can remember the
Eloy musicians rooming in in our house during the recordings, I was 12
then. The rest of the story was told to me by my parents. One nice touch
to the story: on the original single cover it says Donna Summer, but the
picture was of her sister, who was, as they say, more conventionally
beautiful. The original single sported the slogan 'black is beautiful',
again, a German like my father in the seventies had probably very little
understanding of the political significance of that slogan and neither
had any of the big wigs in the CDU it seems. Well, who am i to judge, by
the way, no need to flame him either, he is dead."
So thank you Casper for sharing this great find!!!
[JUN 28] I feel like everything after previously unknown is going
to be anti-climatic, but let's keep going anyway. LOL In
Johnnyswim news, our favorite duo did a
podcast for Relevent in which they get to talk about Songs With
Strangers and their upcoming TV Show on the Magnolia Network. (You
can jump to about 44:25 if you only want to listen to the Johnnyswim
part.)
[JUN 28] Bruce Sudano fans - check out the video of
Bruce talking about Casablanca with Christian John Wikane.
[JUN 28] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's look at clips
from the early years. :-) First up is
Can't Understand (credited to Donna Gaines). Then we have
O
Segne Gott Mein Seel from Godspell,
Black Power from a German TV show, an
ad
for Afri-Cola, and
The Flesh
Failures from Hair.
[JUN 21] Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!
[JUN 21] Johnnyswim has popped up in the news a couple of times
lately. The first is part of a CMT list called "On
Juneteenth discover these African-American artists in country music and
beyond". Johnnyswim is represented by their video for Home. (A
note for my non-American friends who might be wondering - in a nutshell,
Juneteenth is an American holiday celebrating the end of slavery.
And yes it is a bit more complicated than that,
so
Wikipedia is your friend, and then Google if you are interested in
learning even more. :-) )
[JUN 21] For those looking for a bigger Johnnyswim fix, check out
the
Dream Big podcast for a half hour of Johnnyswim goodness. :-)
On a side note, they mention in the podcast that they have been together
for 15 years! How is it possible THAT much time has passed? LOL
[JUN 21] Facebookers... Mary Gaines Bernard has teased an
upcoming... something? Keep an eye on her page she said there are some
great stories coming our way. :-)
[JUN 21] Here's an unusual poll for you guys. In Boston there is (was?)
a statue of Christopher Columbus that has become controversial.
There is serious talk of replacing it with something else so
Boston.com published a poll asking readers what should replace the
statue. Donna is one of the choices on the list and you can vote
for her if you want. (I did, but I honestly believe that if they
do replace the statue, it will be with an historical figure rather than
a contemporary one. But wouldn't it be cool to have a statue of
Donna? :-D )
[JUN 21] That brings us to YouTube. Since yesterday marked the first day
of summer (well, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere), let's
celebrate Summer! First up, one that just screams summer to me -
Sand On My Feet. :-) Then of course we have to have
Summer Fever - this one is live in Brazil. And of course the
summer of 79 was defined for me by
Hot Stuff,
Bad Girls, and
Dim All The Lights. Then 20 years later my summer was defined
by
I Will Go With You. I don't know what song will define this summer
for me, but I can say that this week I have been really drawn to this
unreleased gem -
Run With It.
[JUN 14] Greetings all! Let's start off with Donna this week.
First up, a
1982 interview on Soundcloud. Then we have a new
Suecase Hall
video combining a little Enough Is Enough, a little Voices Crying
Out, A lot of Let There Be Peace, and a ton of images from all the
recent Black Lives Matter protests. It's powerful stuff! :-)
We are living in historic times. (And not just because of the most 2020
thing ever - murder hornets... lol)
[JUN 14] Johnnyswim fans, while our favorite duo has been off the road,
they have picked up a new hobby -
cooking videos! Yes, you can watch Amanda and Abner make beef
Bolognese, a roast chicken, macarons, Palestinian chicken, and
croissants (so far). Warning - do NOT watch these videos if you are
hungry! LOL
[JUN 14] Bruce Sudano fans - check out the essay he wrote for
Americana Highways about "Corona Time". Then go check out his
songwriting tips mini-lesson on the
Grammy Museum website.
[JUN 14] And I think that brings us to YouTube. This week let's look at
some Summer/Sudano collaborations. First up, the unreleased
gem, Worth The
Wait. Then we have Donna's version of
Starting Over Again, the demo for
Bad Girls,
Anyway At All from the Tonight Show, and as a bonus, Bruce's
cover of
Bad Girls.
[JUN 7] Greetings all and Happy Sunday! Also, Happy Pride Month!
(For those who have lost track due to quarantine - yes! It is June!
LOL) And to all the peaceful protesters out there - (worldwide! Holy
cow!) You guys ROCK! And you are making history. And in these dark times
of pandemic, economic disaster, intolerance, hate, and violence, you are
a ray of hope for the future, and you are being heard.
[JUN 7]
TheGuardian.com is counting down the top 100 UK #1 singles since the
beginning of the charts. Currently I Feel Love sits at #4.
[JUN 7] A blog post written in March from
VindicateMJ.wordpress.com has recently surfaced and it has some
interesting SPECULATION about Donna's relationship with David Geffen.
It's worth a read, but take it with a grain of salt.
[JUN 7] A
2008 interview from the Crayons tour has been recently reposted on
YouTube. And something else interesting - a
promo clip
for the 1994 "Complete CD" has surfaced as well.
[JUN 7] Bruce Sudano fans: As you know he did an interview for Pop
Matters recently. Now pieces of that interview have been posted in
video form on YouTube on the
Conversations With Christian John Wikane channel. :-) Also,
check out
American Songwriter's review of Spirals Vol. 1.
[JUN 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think this week we will
celebrate the Summer Fever Pick. First up we have the
title track live
at Disney. Then we have the video for
Unconditional Love, the extended version of
Stop Look & Listen,
Klyk's Smooth mix of Tokyo, a clip of a
1983 interview in Rome (in Italian), Donna's 1983 appearance
on Johnny Carson, and finally Harry Langdon's discussion of the
Hard For The
Money photoshoot.
[MAY 30] Happy Saturday all! Yes the update is a little early -
mainly because I had time tonight and I felt the need to escape from the
real news cycle for awhile. (How much death and mayhem can you
watch before you get completely depressed?) Let's start off with the
Summer Fever Pick for June. This month it's She Works Hard For The
Money. Coincidentally, June is my annual evaluation at work, so
boss if you are reading this, She (ME) Works Hard For The (no) Money!
LOL
[MAY 30] In the Donna is everywhere category, in episode 8 of the TV
series Mrs. America there is a scene where the actress playing Gloria
Steinem enters a hallway in slow-mo and they play I Feel Love.
Better yet, there is no dialog running over the song.
[MAY 30] Also, catch an appearance by Donna in a documentary called
The Secret
Disco Revolution.
[MAY 30] Johnnyswim fans - they have completed yet another
Songs With
Strangers. This one is called Running and it is the last song on
their upcoming Songs With Strangers album. It's been a fun run and they
got some great songs out of it!
[MAY 30] Bruce Sudano fans - catch his interview with Christian John
Wikane on
PopMatters.com. It's a nice long interview peppered with video
clips and great new photos courtesy of Sekou Luke Studios.
[MAY 30] That brings us to YouTube. This week let's play some
songs that have been on my mind lately. A couple of them are audio only,
but I think you will like them anyway. First up,
Mistaken Identity
and Let There Be
Peace. Then we have
Love Is The
Healer, a cover of
The Impossible Dream, the Ordinary Girl track
Begin Again,
the ballad of I
Will Live For Love,
State Of
Independence with clips o f MLK, and
We're Gonna Win. And a bonus clip from Johnnyswim,
Let It Matter.
[MAY 24] Happy Sunday all! I hope my American friends are enjoying their
Memorial Day weekend. And please, whatever your plans include, take a
moment to remember the reason for the holiday and say a little thanks
for the service people and their families who made the ultimate
sacrifice.
[MAY 24] Let me start off with Bruce this week because he is doing an
Instagram Live Lunch with Mike Montali tomorrow at 1 PM EST. He also
did
Thumpin' Thursday with Hollar which you can watch now on Facebook,
and he also did
Sittin' In With The CAT which you can also listen to online now.
[MAY 24] Brooklyn Sudano fans - catch her in the
Freeform TV Series Cruel Summer. (It used to be called Last Summer.)
The show is described as a thriller that takes place over 3 summers in
the 90s and each episode is told from the point of view of one of the
two main characters to keep viewers guessing as the plot moves along.
Look for that to debut in 2021.
[MAY 24] In the Donna is everywhere category, there is a Hulu original
series called High Fidelity. The main character owns a record store and
somebody noticed the album covers for The Wanderer and for Cats
Without Claws in the record store. :-) (That reminds me of the
times I spotted The Wanderer in some old Cosby Show repeats. Or the
Donna poster in the Fact Of Life repeats. :-) )
[MAY 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. In keeping with the holiday
weekend, we have Donna singing
The Star Spangled Banner,
God Bless America,
Amazing Grace, and
Let There Be Peace.
[MAY 17] Happy Sunday all. Can you believe 8 years has gone by since I
had to write the site update that I never wanted to write? In some ways
it seems like it was so very recent, but at other times I feel like it
was decades ago. Sigh...
[MAY 17] Let's get the bad news out of the way first. The tour of
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical has officially closed according to
BroadwayWorld.com. Now the musical's website only says that
this season has been cancelled - which is dates through September 2020.
So there is a CHANCE it could return in 2021, but if it does I expect
they will recast it. Also, keep in mind that the musical is available
for licensing so that local theaters could theoretically mount their own
productions. Honestly, while it's sad that the tour has closed,
I'm not surprised. Before this COVID situation is sorted, I'm afraid we
will lose a lot more Broadway and touring shows. Heck - even the
moneymaker Frozen announced that it's Broadway run is over. Anyway,
Happy Trails to the Summer touring company and thank you for being part
of our Donna family even if it was only for a short time.
[MAY 17] GQ Magazine posted an article called
16 Donna Summer Songs That Changed The Way We Dance. It's a pretty
eclectic list that is arranged chronologically. It starts off with
Aquarius which is not something most writers even consider. Of course it
also stops with This Time I Know It's For Real which I am sure will
annoy fans of the material that came later. LOL
[MAY 17] In Bruce news, he posted a short little song on Facebook from
his couch (well, I think it's from the couch - he just moved it outside.
lol) It's called
No End In Sight.
[MAY 17] Over in Johnnyswim land... they are hanging out with strangers
again and writing songs. The new one is called
And We
Remain, and the accompanying video showing the creation of the song
is also up. I think this whole Songs With Strangers thing may be the
best thing to come out of this quarantine. Every song they write
this way just shows that it's not as important WHAT life throws at you,
as it is what you DO about it.
[MAY 17] Harry Langdon has posted
a
new video about his photo shoots with Donna. This time he talks
about the On The Radio sessions. Fun fact - the cover photo was the
result of a second session they planned at the last second.
[MAY 17] I think that brings us to YouTube where we have some new and
old clips. First up, Suecase Hall has posted
a
video featuring Donna's music and a whole bunch of celebrity quotes
from 2012 remembering Donna. Then Rikymira1 posted
a video
celebrating Donna's whole musical career from Haare to Angel.
Moving on, we have a song that I had on repeat on the drive to work
today,
Netherlands. (Maybe it's the quarantine plus the date, but I
was really feeling that one today.) Then we have Omega Red (ft
Donna) with
Angel, Bruce Sudano with
See You When I Get There, and Johnnyswim's
Let It Matter.
And then I can't leave you depressed... so here is one of my favorite
FUN clips with Donna:
Could It Be Magic performed live with Barry Manilow. I dare you to
watch it and not smile. :-)
[MAY 17] And finally - my annual MS Walk was officially yesterday.
Since we are in quarantine around here, the walk was made into a virtual
event. So I put on my Donna gear, grabbed a safe "friend" (you will see
lol) and did some sort of walk that
you can see on
YouTube. I want to thank all of you for your support! You guys
are AMAZING - especially this year when I know so many can't work.
I have little trinkets to mail to you as my way of saying thank you - I
promise I will sanitize them before I mail! LOL (Oh and I also did
a real walk yesterday of about 4 miles. If you are my Facebook friend
and saw my post last night - that's how I got sunburnt! )
[MAY 10] Greetings all and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
[MAY 10] First up - you guys remember the Hot Summer Night With Donna
concert from 1983? It's back - or at least it will be on July 10!
You can get it as a CD/DVD combo or you can pop for a purple vinyl
edition. Either way, it comes with a booklet with new interviews
with Bruce, director Brian Grant, choreographer Arlene Phillips, and
executive producer Len Epand. It's currently available as a
pre-order from Amazon
UK, but heads up to my fellow North Americans: they currently won't
ship here. BUT....
SuperDeluxeEditions.com will. :-D
[MAY 10] In musical news, Summer: The Musical's Nashville performances
have been rescheduled to July 6 to 11, 2021. Ticket holders should
have already received an email, but if you didn't - log into your
TPAC.org account to see what your options are regarding
rescheduling, etc. You MUST respond by May 26, or you will be locked
into your rescheduled date. Also, both Detroit and Kansas City have been
suspended. I think Detroit is planning to reschedule at some
point, I'm not sure about Kansas City though. If you haven't heard
from them already, contact the venues or ticket sellers for more info.
[MAY 10] Bruce Sudano fans, he's put out a lyric video on Facebook for
When This Is Over. Also keep an eye on his Facebook page for other
cool things. The other night he teamed up with the Philadelphia
Folk Society for an online concert in which he did all the songs from
the new EP, Spirals, and a couple of other songs as well.
[MAY 10] In Johnnyswim news, their Songs With Strangers project got a
write-up on the JulieXplores.com blog under the title
Johnnyswim Saves 2020. :-)
[MAY 10] Moving on to the land of remixes, there is a new one out there
for This Time I Know It's For Real
the JQ Bango
Dance Remix.
[MAY 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well, in honor of the
Hot Summer Night DVD/CD/Vinyl coming this summer, I think we should look
back at the concert as originally released. As it happens
the whole thing
is on YouTube. Not included in the original broadcast, but
included on the Blue Live Lady album that came out way back when is
Enough Is Enough.
The audio for that is also on YouTube. Then we have a TV performance of
She Works Hard
For The Money which features one of the Hot Summer Night costumes.
Up next is the official video for
Unconditional Love with Musical Youth, a 1990
live performance
of Romeo, and finally
State Of Independence live at the 2005 Night of the Proms.
[MAY 10] And finally next weekend is my official Walk MS Event,
although instead of getting us all together at the beach, we are doing a
virtual walk in quarantine. I'll have a video next week of my walk
- and yes I really am walking somewhere. If you would like to
donate,
my link is here. If you already donated - THANK YOU! And
if you just want to show some moral support and walk too, pick a place
and walk next weekend - even if it's just in random circles around your
living room. (So what if the neighbors think you are weird.
LOL)
[MAY 3] Greetings all and Happy May! A new month means a new
Summer Fever pick, so this
time we will be dancing to the tunes on the Donna Summer album.
[MAY 3] Let's start off with the musical. Summer: The Musical's Tampa
dates have been rescheduled to July 2021 (yes, 2021). The
shows in Miami, FL and Greenville, SC have been cancelled. If you
have tickets to any of these events, you may have already been contacted
by the box offices. If not usually how this works is that tickets for
postponed events will be honored on the new dates. Now for the cancelled
dates they usually give you the options to get a refund, exchange your
tickets for tickets too another show (or a gift certificate) or to make
a donation out of your tickets. Check with your venue for further
guidance.
[MAY 3] Also in musical news, the Brazilian cast of Summer recently
surprised Brian Edwards on Zoom with a
live from
quarantine version of Last Dance. :-)
[MAY 3] Moving on to Johnnyswim. They now have all 4 Instagram live
videos up on YouTube for their Songs With Strangers tracks.
Better than that though, all 4 tracks are available to stream on Spotify,
Amazon, Soundcloud, etc, etc, and there are plans to make them
into an album in the coming weeks. They also have some t-shirts
available to preorder commemorating each song. All the profits
will go to charity: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Crew
Nation, Convoy Of Hope, and Michael Hernandez Kidney
Transplant. Check out
Johnnyswim.com
for more info.
[MAY 3] That brings us to Bruce. He and his couch are live on Facebook
again with a new one called
American Sunset.
[MAY 3] Some of you Brooklyn Dreams fans might remember that they teamed
up with Kenny Vance to become Professor LaPlano & The Planotones in the
movie American Hot Wax. Well, the guys have gotten back together again
along with special guest Vini Poncia on a song called Brave Companions.
You can check it out on
YouTube,
ITunes/Apple Music, and
Google
Play music. Proceeds from the songs will go to the First
Responders Children's Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. And
before you ask - they still sound great together!
[MAY 3] Ok in the everybody loves Donna category, there is a song out
there called Gloomy Sunday - Donna Summer To The Rescue. Give it a
listen on
Soundcloud.
[MAY 3] And that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the Summer
Fever Pick, let's do some tracks from the self-titles album. :-)
First up the official video for
Love Is In Control - see if you can spot the baby bump that became
Amanda. :-) Then there is the video for
State Of Independence, and some
video from the recording of the song. (It's only the all-star choir
- no Donna.) There is a video for
The Woman In Me,
and the live performance of
Livin' In America
from Reagan's inauguration.
[APR 26] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with the musical, as I
feared, the shows scheduled for Tampa, FL have been suspended. If
you have tickets for any of those shows, contact your ticket vendor for
further instructions. :-(
[APR 26] Moving on to Johnnyswim. Tonight the DIY Network is airing a
show called "Magnolia Network: A Look Ahead". It's supposed to be
on at 8PM and Midnight here on the East Coast, and then I imaging it
will be on demand thereafter. As you probably remember, Johnnyswim
will have a show on the network this fall, and you can expect to see a
preview of that on the show tonight. :-) And you can also check
out
People.com's article on how Amanda and Abner hooked up with Chip &
Joanna Gaines.
[APR 26] And while we are in Johnnyswim-land, our favorite duo has
launched a website,
TheSongsWithStrangers.com, in which they link all things related to
their Songs With Strangers project. So right now they have
the Soundcloud links to all 4 songs (the latest is Still Wonderful), and
YouTube links to the first 3 Instagram Live events that led to the
songs. Those are really long videos, that's why it takes them awhile to
show up. Not linked there just yet is the
music video for
the first song, Wait, which you can find on YouTube. If you want a
chance to participate in Songs With Strangers (or if you just want to
watch it happen live), head over to the
Johnnyswim Instagram page. Abner posts an announcement usually
a day or two before the event. They usually happen on Thursdays
around 12 - 12:30 ish. Of course that is subject to change - last week
they switched to Wednesday. And once the live thing starts it will go on
for 4, 5 ,6 hours - or whatever it takes. :-)
[APR 26] That brings us to Bruce. He's been live on his couch on
Facebook again. The first video is a new song called
When This Is Over.
The other video is just as timely. It's a rather pointed commentary
on a certain political leader in the vein of "if you are gonna
dish it out, you better be able to take it." LOL
[APR 26] I'm sure you all know that you can find Bruce's new EP, Spirals
Vol 1, Not A Straight Line To Be Found, on Spotify (and other music
places.) Well, Bruce has created a playlist of some of his
favorites called
"Do you hear what I hear ? #1" Go give it a listen when you get a
chance. (Well, unless you are too busy playing Spirals....
;-) )
[APR 26] That brings us to YouTube. Since tomorrow is my
birthday, let's have a virtual party! You have to bring your own snacks
and beverages, provide your own venue, and the dress code is Quarantine
Casual. LOL (Oh and no gifts - unless you want to
donate to fight MS. But seriously no pressure on that because I know
times are hard.) I will provide the playlist though. :-) Let's
start with this rare
Melody Of Love
West End video mix that I haven't seen for ages. Then we have the video
for
Fame The Game, a stampyourfeet video for
Crayons,
MacArthur Park from LME (because I have such fond memories of that
show!), the whole
Mistaken Identity concert from Japan (because I haven't watched
footage from that tour in awhile), and the whole
Crayons concert
from Jones Beach (you know I haven't seen a show there since Donna
passed...). ANs as a bonus, I know this isn't a party song but it's the
performance that started me on this fan journey -
Mimi's Song
from The Tonight Show. After that - either play what you want from your
own collections or just go into a YouTube freefall and see where the
clips take you. :-)
[APR 19] Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is well in these
strange times.
[APR 19] Let's start off this week with Bruce. His EP, Spirals Not
A Straight Line To Be Found Vol 1, is officially out and available at
all your favorite music sources. Now if you want an actual CD, head over
to BruceSudano.com
and you can order a copy for $10. It might even be autographed!
Bruce signed a bunch in anticipation of his Blue Cruise Event that got
cancelled due to COVID. One of the places you can hear the new songs is
on
Bruce's YouTube channel. If you like what you hear, leave him a
comment.
[APR 19] Also, there is a
Facebook video (probably on his famous couch lol) in which
Bruce talks about the EP and the cover art. In it he mentions a very
interesting little detail.... Spirals Volume TWO will be out in 3
months. :-)
[APR 19] And of course with the new EP there is new promotion.
Americana Highways gives Spirals a very favorable review, and Bruce
did an hour long podcast called
Go Beyond Here. It's a little different from other interviews
in that the host is a medium, and she starts off by connecting Bruce
with his late mother, and then they get to talk about the more typical
subjects - the album, Bruce's career, etc.
[APR 19] Let's move on to Johnnyswim. In one of the more interesting
ideas to come out of this quarantine, they are using Instagram live to
write songs with strangers. The latest in this series is A Little
Bit Sorry and you can find it on
Soundcloud. Now if you head to YouTube you can see the WHOLE
Instagram live sessions for
Wait (almost
6 hours!) and
Til We Get Back
Again (7 and a half hours!)
[APR 19] Moving on to the Donna's music is everywhere category, on a
recent episode of
The Masked Singer, the Kangaroo performed Hot Stuff. You will
have to click the link to see how that went down. I don't want to
provide any spoilers for those who haven't seen the episode yet.
[APR 19] In remix land, there is a new I Feel Love mix out there called
the
JQ
Ultra Feel It mix. This one is a lot different from any other I Feel
Love mix I have heard. I suspect it is one people will either absolutely
love, or absolutely hate with no in between. LOL
[APR 19] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think we need some
feel good songs. :-) Let's start off with a lost Ordinary Girl song
called Begin
Again. (Yes, it starts off slow and stays that way for awhile, but
when it kicks in you WILL smile!) Then we have the original
Love On And On,
To
Paris With Love,
I Got Your Love,
Adonai, and finally
Someday. (Can
you tell I've been listening to rare tracks this week? LOL)
[APR 11] Greetings all! Happy Passover or Happy Easter or just happy
anything you want to celebrate in these weird times. :-)
[APR 11] Let's start off with the Encore boxset this week. We have
a couple of reviews out there now.
Attitude wrote a nice article which can be summer up by saying that
they give the set a 5 out of 5. :-)
The Second Disc also posted a favorable review that takes the time
to go album by album, putting each in the appropriate context of Donna's
career.
[APR 11] The Professor Of Rock YouTube channel featured a video recently
called The Power
Of Donna Summer celebrating Donna's career. There is some
interesting stuff in there - particularly where they show her influence
on other artists. :-)
[APR 11] There is an EP out there by an artist named Agnes called
Nothing Can Compare. Two of the tracks feature a VERY familiar voice
speaking in the recording. The first is
Not Dangerous. You can hear Donna speaking right at the very
beginning. :-) The other is
Interlude (I Like To Sing), and you can hear Donna speaking at about
the 44 second mark.
[APR 11] Moving on to Bruce Sudano - he's put out an audio only
YouTube video for
The Mountain (although personally I enjoy the quirkiness of the
original superhero video. lol) He also posted a video on
Facebook for
Alone (from The Burbank Sessions). You can also catch him (on his
famous couch!) in a
multi-artist
video put together by Neale Eckstein. It's a cover of The Band's
classic, The Weight, and basically about a billion people got together
virtually from the comfort of wherever they are quarantined, and they
put this song together. It's really cool - I can't wait to see
more artists collaborate this way too. It just goes to show that a
quarantine can't keep creative people down for long! :-) Oh and by
the way - don't forget that Bruce's new EP hits all your favorite music
places on April 17 - Spirals, Not A Straight Line To Be Found.
[APR 11] In Johnnyswim news, I told you last week that they did an
Instagram live thing where they wrote a song with strangers. Well they
had so much fun doing it, that they went and did another one the other
day. This one is called 'Til We Get Back Again. Check it out on
Soundcloud. And if you are not following their
Instagram, you should be. :-)
[APR 11] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since this is a
religious weekend for many, and let's face it nobody is going to church
with this stupid virus going around (at least they SHOULDN'T be going
out to church), let's have a little Donna church this week. First up,
Forgive Me live. Then we have
Riding Through The Storm from Live & More Encore,
Amazing Grace live, a fan video for
How Great Thou Art, and a Suecase Hall video for
Rejoice and the Gospel Medley she did with Dolly Parton, Tom Jones
and Mac Davis.
[APR 4] Happy Saturday all! First things first - we have a new
Summer Fever Pick. This time it
is I'm A Rainbow - the album that was shelved by Geffen in favor of the
Quincy Jones album.
[APR 4] Just a quick note about the Encore box set. I had one fan
receive a copy that had one duplicate CD, so instead of disk 1 and disk
2 of one of the bonus collections, he had 2 of disk 1. So once
again, I would like to remind everyone to do a quick inspection of your
disks when your box set arrives just to make sure everything is fine.
While it will take hours and glorious hours to play all the CDs, it only
takes a few minutes to take them all out and make sure all the disks you
are supposed to. If you run into an issue, then contact the
Demon record group. (And be patient for a reply, who knows how the
COVID virus is affecting their business operations?) Oh and keep in mind
that I am not expecting too many people to have issues. They made 1500
of these box sets and I have only heard of 2 problems so far - but
better safe than sorry. And the earlier any problems are found,
the easier it will be to get the problem fixed.
[APR 4] And while we are talking about Encore, it debuted at #30 on the
UK Physical Albums Top 100 for the week of April 3 to 9. Not
bad at all for an expensive limited edition set! :-)
[APR 4] Moving on to Summer: The Musical. Baltimore - your dates
have been changed to August 18-23, 2020. If you already had tickets for
the old dates, they will be honored for the new dates, and you can
expect an email from the box office with more info.
[APR 4] We also have some
new
dates for the musical: September 8-13, 2020 in Austin, TX and
September 15-20,2020 in Dallas, TX. It is also playing in
Kansas City, MO July 7 - 12, 2020 - but I'm not sure if that is a new
date, or I just forgot to add it to my master list below. We also still
have dates scheduled for the month of May - hopefully those can go on as
scheduled, but we will have to see how this pandemic situation plays
out. You know, I bet the first shows that go on after the quarantine is
over will be wild. Performers will be eager to go out there and do their
thing again, and audiences will just be ecstatic to be out having fun
again. :-)
[APR 4] Johnnyswim fans: they have a new song on Soundcloud that has an
interesting story behind it. They did an Instagram live event
where they wrote a song with strangers. They listened to people giving
their accounts of how the current quarantine is affecting their lives,
and from that they came up with lyrics and a melody. They started at
noon and by midnight they uploaded a fully written and produced song.
The song
is called Wait - go check it out.
[APR 4] Bruce Sudano fans: check out his interview with
TheHypeMagazine.com in which he talks about his upcoming EP. It's an
audio thing that lasts about 13 minutes, so go give it a listen.
[APR 4] Bruce has also been busy on Facebook. He's posted 3 videos from
his couch this week. The first one was on
Wednesday - a song called The Best Of A Bad Situation, then on
Thursday he posted a cover of I Wish It Would Rain, and on
Friday he posted his tribute to the late Bill Withers.
[APR 4] And getting back to Donna - as you probably know, photographer
Harry Langdon has a YouTube channel and last week he posted a video
talking about the Bad Girls photo shoot. This week he added one taking
about the She
Works Hard For The Money photo shoot. Oh and if you comment on
any of his videos - Mr. Langdon does read them all - he even responds
when he can. :-)
[APR 4] I think that brings us to YouTube. So let's do
something in honor of the Summer Fever Pick. First up is a fan
video by Suecase Hall for
the title track.
Then we have a live performance of
Romeo,
a TV performance of
Don't Cry For Me
Argentina, Summer2k's re-edit of
End Of The Week,
an audio only file of one of my favorite Rainbow tracks,
I Need Time,
and from Summer: The Musical,
To Turn The Stone.
[MAR 29] Happy Sunday all! Just a quick note for Pittsburgh before
we get started - your dates for Summer: The Musical have been suspended.
If you have tickets for those shows, contact your point of sale for more
info. Baltimore - your dates haven't been affected YET. But
I am thinking it will happen. :-(
[MAR 29] As long as we are in rescheduling mode, let me move on to
Bruce. He was scheduled to perform in Baton Rouge with The Zombies
on April 9. That date has been changed to October 11. Tickets are
on sale now, but if you already have tickets to the April 9 date,
they WILL be honored for the new date.
[MAR 29] And continuing with Bruce news, he did an interview with
Medium.com in which he talks about a number of things - including
his new single
The Mountain. He also
posted a brief clip on Facebook from his couch to inspire
everyone in these weird times we are living in now.
[MAR 29] Now on to the Diva herself..... :-) The big news for the
week is that the Encore boxset is out! And many of us in the US
who ordered from the UK actually already got our sets in the mail
already! (Usually, the overseas shipping means we have to wait a
few extra days for something to arrive.) SuperDeluxeEdition posted
an unboxing video
for those who want to see it. Now before I go any further, if you
have your boxset already (and haven't already done so), drop everything
and take every single CD out of its sleeve and look at it. My set
is fine, but one fan found that one of his sleeves had a piece of
plastic in it instead of a CD. It's going to take a long
time to actually listen to all the CDS, but at least take time to make a
quick visual inspection so if there is an issue you can get it resolved
quickly.
Now, on to my impressions. First of all, the box is the same size
as a vinyl record sleeve - only considerably thicker of course!
LOL And it's pretty heavy. :-) It's also a really sturdy box
(not to mention good looking), so it will keep the contents nice and
safe. When you open it up, the first thing you see is a gorgeous
hardcover book that has a foreword by Giorgio Moroder, pages for each
album with the covers and credits for each, a HUGE retrospective written
by Christian John Wikane, quotes from various people about Donna, and of
course comments from Bruce at the end. Then you have the CDs - stacks of
CDS! Each album in a sleeve that looks as close to the original LP
artwork as possible. (Which means that Bad Girls no longer says
"Over 70 minutes of music" across the album cover! LOL) And
then inside each sleeve is another sleeve that mimics the paper sleeves
the LPs had. So if the LP had paper sleeves with lyrics, liner notes,
etc - those are there with the CDs. But here is the really cool
thing - at least for me. When I picked up a handful of the CDs,
and just held them.... how can I explain it? It was partly awe that I
could hold Donna's whole career in my hands, partly a reconnection with
old friends, and... I don't know. It was just a really moving experience
to hold them all. And of course the set came at just the right
time when so many of us are limited in where we can go, and who we
can see in these uncertain times. It brought back that old feeling that
I've had so many times before - no matter how bad things are, as long as
there are some Donna tunes to keep us company, we'll find a way through.
Which brings me to this... Bruce wrote a footnote for the book. I won't
quote the whole thing here, but I will share the last few lines:
"Her voice was anointed. The sound of her voice alone could heal
you, but it was wrapped in a package of completeness. It was her whole
spirit that you were feeling in the sound of her voice. The fact that
the sound of her voice still keeps her present in people's lives - by
bringing them joy, giving then hope, helping them forgive, letting them
know that they are loved, giving them the strength to carry on - that is
a life well-lived. That is Donna accomplishing her purpose in life. I'm
sure she's rejoicing in heaven."
[MAR 29] In other Donna news, photographer Harry Langdon has a YouTube
channel and in a
recent video he talks about the Bad Girls album shoot. He's
promising more videos in the future that will discuss the other album
cover sessions (On The Radio, The Wanderer, She Works Hard For The
Money, Cats Without Claws, etc.)
[MAR 29] Over in the UK,
Record Collector Magazine's April edition has an article by Pete
Bellotte about the music he made with Giorgio and Donna. (Sorry guys,
it's one of those magazines you have to buy to get to read. They don't
put it up online for free.)
[MAR 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. So there has been a clip of
Donna preforming Come With Me (and a couple of other songs) live in 1977
floating around for ages. Well, not somebody has either found a really
clean copy, or they were able to clean up what was already there, and
now we have an
amazing copy of it out there. Go look - you will love it! (And stick
around for the My Man Medley - never heard her do Some Of These Days
quite like that anywhere else.) Let's see, from there let's check out
Donna's version of
A
Song For You, then
Be
Myself Again live, and
Anyway At All live on Leno. Let's bring the tempo back up
again with one we probably need to here right now:
Carry On. And
finally, Love Is
The Healer live from Divas 2000, and the unreleased
Begin Again.
[MAR 20] Happy Saturday all! I hope everyone is well and staying
healthy! There's not a lot to talk about this week with most of the
world confined to their homes and/or jobs. But lucky for us, Bruce has a
ready made studio on his couch and he hooked up with Americana Highways
to stream a concert from his couch. (Bruce, who knew you were so
far ahead of the curve with this live on the couch thing? LOL) You
guys can watch it on
Facebook, and yes it is sideways.
[MAR 20] And now is a good time to remind you that his new EP, Spirals
Vol. 1: Not A Straight Line To Be Found, is due out on April 17 from all
your favorite music sites including
Amazon.
[MAR 20] Also a reminder that the massive Donna Summer box set, Encore,
is coming out March 27. That should give us something to do while
we are social distancing!
[MAR 20] And speaking of social distancing.... every year for the past
decade or so, I've done a fundraising walk to fight MS in May.
This year was going to be no different... until COVID19. Now instead of
walking with a ton of people at Jones Beach, the walk is going virtual.
The MS Society had given us free reign to interpret that as we like, so
I am going to try to do something fun on video for you - even if I end
up walking in circles in my back yard. Hopefully Donna Summer
music will play a part in that. (I've seen videos muted for copyright
violations before so I have to keep my fingers crossed that I can use
music.) I posted my fundraising link on Facebook ages ago and some of
you have already donated. To you guys - THANK YOU from the bottom of my
heart. If there are others who want to donate,
this is my link - but please understand, THERE IS NO PRESSURE!
Times are hard these days, and I know some people are not able to work.
I'll be happy if everyone just manages to stay healthy!
[MAR 20] That brings us to YouTube, and I would like to start with this
clip of
Donna performing with Kenny Rogers at the Grammy Awards. Kenny
passed away this morning and I dedicate this clip to his memory. My
condolences to his family, friends and fans.
Moving on we have this clip of Donna singing
Riding Through
The Storm (because it just seems appropriate these days), then
we have a clip with
some footage
of the original Dinner With Gershwin video that was never released, and
my favorite clip of
Could It Be Magic with Donna and Barry having way too much fun
together. :-) And finally there is an awesome compilation of
clips of Donna
just being funny because we all need to laugh!
[MAR 20] Oops! I almost forgot! I posted this link on Facebook but I
want to give it to you non-Facebookers too. I have been trying to
digitize some of my paper Donna collection, so to that end I have made
PDF files out of the press kits that I have. I have them in
my Google drive for anyone who wants them. And yes, I know the 4
Seasons Of Love order sheet is in the wrong press kit. But I found it
shoved in there and since I don't have a 4 Seasons press kit, it can
just stay there. LOL
[MAR 15] Just a quick update to let Brazilian fans know that their
production of Summer: The Musical has been suspended until April 5.
Contact the
venue for information about ticket refunds or exchanges. Stay
healthy everyone!
[MAR 14] Happy Saturday all! I got sick of cleaning the house, so I
thought I'd do the site update instead. (And yes, I have scrubbed every
pixel down with disinfectant, so the site should be perfectly safe.
;-) ) To all my readers who are in quarantine (either mandatory or
voluntary) - hang in there! Don't panic, and whatever happens never ever
lose your sense of humor. (How many of you sang that last line in your
head as you read it? LOL)
[MAR 14] Johnnyswim fans: if you have tickets to any of their upcoming
shows, their tour with Lauren Daigle has been suspended through the end
of April. Most (if not all) of the cancelled dates have already been
rescheduled and your tickets will be valid for the new dates.
(That goes for both the show tickets and the VIP tickets.) They have a
graphic on Facebook with the new dates, or you can check out
their website.
[MAR 14] Bruce Sudano fans: As you know he was going to be at
Tin Pan South
Songwriters' Festival this month - that festival has been
postponed until later this year. That is due in part to the Corona virus
and in part to the tornados that slammed the Nashville area recently.
Keep an eye on their website for updates. Bruce is also
scheduled to perform with the Zombies in Baton Rouge on April 9.
If you are planning to go to that show, just keep an eye on the news or
on the theater's
Facebook page. So far that theater is still operating, but that
could change as the virus situation develops.
[MAR 14] Moving on to the North American tour of Summer: The Musical...
well, it opened in Toronto and now the musical website is saying that
engagement is now suspended. Also suspended are Schenectady, NY
and Dayton, OH. If you have tickets to any of the suspended shows,
please contact the place where you got your tickets (box office, or
online ticket agency). If you have tickets to a show that has not
been suspended yet, just keep an eye on the
musical's website or the venue's website. Depending on how this
virus situation goes, more dates may have to be suspended. And
hopefully they will be able to reschedule the suspended shows at some
point. (Probably next season, as I am sure all the theaters have this
season's shows 100% locked in.)
[MAR 14] Speaking of the musical,
The Star has an article about the show to promote it - before they
had to cancel it. :-( And
BroadwayWorld.com has a review of the show.
[MAR 14] Moving on to Donna, CheatSheet.com asks the question,
Did Donna Summer ever have a #1 Hit? Fortunately we don't have to
run over there and educate them, because they answered their own
question in an article spotlighting Donna's 4 journeys to the top of the
Billboard Hot 100. :-)
[MAR 14] I guess that brings us to YouTube. So let's escape this
dystopian novel we are all living and and run to the land of Donna. I
did full length concerts on the last update, so let's do some full
length interviews this week. So here is the
1995 A&E
Biography (and a live performance of
Worth The Wait. Every time that bio aired, someone would email
me asking about that song. Good times! LOL) Then we have a
1978 interview
with Rona Barrett,
part 1
and part 2 of
a 1994 interview, the
Signed Media
interview that turned up recently, the
Pop Star conversations interview that just popped up last week, and
part 1 and
part 2 of a
1980 interview. Also just so you know, the VH1 Behind The Music and the
Lifetime Intimate Portrait shows are not currently on YouTube. If you
search for them, you will find them listed, but each actually links to a
copy of the A&E Biography.
As a special bonus here is one of
my
favorite Johnnyswim songs (go catch them live when they hit the road
again), and
here is Bruce's latest (which I feel like is getting lost in all the
virus hysteria.) Go see him live if you can too. Oh and for an extra
bonus -
here is the song I referenced at the beginning of the update
featuring Paul Jabara and Donna. Go ahead, sing along! :-)
[MAR 10] Happy Tuesday all. Sorry the update is late, but
things got a bit hectic around here this weekend. So let's start
off with Donna. Stereogum is continuing their list of Number Ones and
now they are up to Enough Is Enough.
Read all about it here.
[MAR 10] We also have a "new"
interview with
Donna from Pop Star Conversations. We also have one that's
been around for awhile about
State Of
Independence.
[MAR 10] Speaking of interviews, we have a
short one with
Mimi about the dresses that were donated to the Rock Hall Of Fame.
Mimi's part starts at about 1:12.
[MAR 10] Moving on to the Musical, as you know it is now playing in
Brazil. I am told by a fan who saw it that they translated The Queen Is
Back and White Boys into Portuguese. If you want a little taste,
the show posted I
Feel Love on YouTube. And there is an
interview with the 3 Brazilian Donnas posted here.
[MAR 10] Moving on to Bruce, as you know he has a new single out called
The Mountain.
Vent Magazine did a story about it, and he performed it live
recently. You can see the
live video on Facebook.
[MAR 10] And finally, Mary Gaines Bernard fans will want to check out
this
Facebook video of her performing her sister's songs live in concert.
[MAR 10] That brings us to YouTube. With all the freakout on the news
about the Corona virus, and people trying to stay away large groups of
other people, I thought it was a good time to feature some full length
concert videos. (Hey, if you are going to stay in anyway, you might as
well make it fun!) So put on your dancing shoes and check out Donna
live in Italy 1977, Donna
live in Japan
1979, 1983's
Hot Summer Night concert, Donna
live in Spain
1990, Donna live
in Brazil 1995, and finally
live here on Long
Island in 2008. I'll be back on the weekend - stay healthy everyone!
[MAR 1] Happy March everyone! And you know a new month means it's time
for a new Summer Fever Pick. So
for March we are rocking to the sounds of The Wanderer.
{MAR 1] Let's start off with Bruce this week. As you know (if you follow
his social media at all) he put out a new single Friday (complete with
video) called The Mountain.
Music-News.com has an article about the song along with the video.
Go check it out. The song is a serious message, but the video is pretty
fun! (Hey Bruce, does this mean you will be putting out an action
figure? LOL) And of course you can buy/stream the song at all the
usual places like
Amazon.
[MAR 1] In musical news, Summer: The Musical hits Brazil on March 5.
Youtube has a video promoting the show and it it looks like the
costumes and staging are very different from the Broadway show. If
anybody catches the show who has seen the Broadway production, let me
know if there are any other changes.
[MAR 1] Also in musical news, the touring is wrapping up in North
Carolina tonight where they got this really nice review on
Triangle Arts & Entertainment.
[MAR 1] That's going to bring us to YouTube. In honor of the Summer
Fever pick, let's go with some Wanderer tracks. First up the
official video for the title track and then a
live performance of that same song from the Tom Snyder Show. Then we
have stampyurfeet's take on
Cold Love, and his alterego liveandmore's take on
Grand Illusion. (The Whenever There Is Love footage works well!)
[FEB 23] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off this week with an
article about I Feel Love courtesy of
La Nacion. The article is in Spanish, so if that's not your
language, then Google Translate might be your new best friend. :-)
[FEB 23] You remember how Target was using the Sam Smith cover of I Feel
Love in their holiday ads? Well, Marks & Spencer have done a little
better. They are using DONNA'S
I Feel Love
in their ad. :-) (No offense to Sam Smith - but given the
choice of Donna or ... well anybody else, I'll take Donna. LOL)
[FEB 23] Moving on to Summer: The Musical,
BroadwayWorld.com has an interview with the touring Bruce, Steven
Grant.
[FEB 23] Bruce Sudano fans, look for his new single The Mountain this
Friday. I know I'm gonna be waiting for it!
[FEB 23] Johnnyswim fans: the duo is
back out on
tour again this time at bigger venues with Lauren Daigle. They
are bopping around the US and Canada together until July 19 so check the
dates and if you see one (or more) that work for you - get those tickets
NOW! The tour is selling out fast!
[FEB 23] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of I Feel
Love being the popular advertising song lately, let's start with that.
Only instead of playing one of the regular live clips, let's go with the
Rollo & Sister Bliss Monster Mix. Then we have the same song,
but this time it's the
MAW promo. And of course I can't leave out the
Patrick Cowley mix. Oh wait - I have one more that I've always
loved - it's the
I
Feel Chased mix featuring I Feel Love and Giorgio Moroder's The
Chase.
[FEB 16] Happy Valentine's Day chocolate is 50% off weekend all!
lol Let's start off with Stereogum's series on The Number
Ones. On last week's update I mentioned that they had an article
about Hot Stuff. Well, you know that they had to follow that up (a few
days later) with Donna's next #1 -
Bad Girls. I'm thinking the next article (with Donna that is)
in the series should be No More Tears in a few weeks. And then I think
we're done unless Stereogum decides to look at other charts at some
point.
[FEB 16] In musical news, Summer: The Musical is playing in Chicago
right now, and the
Daily Herald has a short interview with "Disco Donna" Alex Hairston
to promote the show.
ChicagoNow.com also has a short article to promote the show - but
this is more a profile of Donna herself than a discussion of the show.
[FEB 16] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is heading out to the Durango
Songwriter Expo this weekend. Mark my words - there will probably be
some live on the couch videos afterwards. You can't put a whole bunch of
creatives together and not have have everyone coming out inspired to do
something. :-)
[FEB 16] I think that brings us to YouTube. I guess since it was just
Valentine's Day and Donna is the First Lady Of Love, we should have some
clips about love. So let's start with
Love To Love You live, and Donna's
discussion of the song. Then we have
Love Is The Healer
live on VH1 Divas 2000, the video for
Love Is In Control, the original mix of
Love On & On, Stor Dubine's video for
I
Got Your Love, and of course no list like this is complete
without
I
Feel Love - live in 1977.
[FEB 9] Happy Oscar Night all! It's a pretty quiet week, but we do have
a new article in Stereogum's series on Number Ones. This one is
a look at Hot Stuff which took that top spot on June 2, 1979.
[FEB 9] Then we have
a blog entry from a couple of years ago that I don't remember
running into before. This one is from Jeremy Gloff, and he talks
about how he became a Donna Summer fan. It's a good read - go check it
out.
[FEB 9] Remember that movie Spinning Gold about Neil Bogart that's been
in the works.... ummm... forever? LOL Things might be getting a
little weird. Production was scheduled to start July 16, 2019. Now if
you go to the
IMDB website (which in all fairness can be edited by anyone, and so
may not always be 100% accurate - just like Wikipedia), the movie's
status has been updated to "Post-production." But then if
you look at the Trivia section, it says that the production was shut
down after 3 weeks leaving many workers and suppliers unpaid. Now it's
hard to find any recent info on this movie online, but I did find an
article (in French) from
Journalmetro.com which is based in Montreal. With the help of
Google Translate, what I got is that they started filming in
Montreal on July 15 and then they ran out of money by July 24 and didn't
pay a lot of the technical staff. So naturally production stopped.
(Yeah, if my job stopped paying me, I'd stop working too!) They were
trying to work out something so that production could resume, but I
couldn't find out if that actually happened or not. So who knows
if this thing will ever be completed?
[FEB 9] Johnnyswim fans: Check out their new video,
Long Gone - Backstage At The Ryman, filmed unplugged at the famous
Ryman Auditorium.
[FEB 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. It's Oscar night, so
let's make it a Sunday of movie songs. So of course we have to
start with
Last Dance which won Paul Jabara the Oscar for best Original
Song back in 1978. Then in 1984 Donna sand Barbra Streisand's nominated
song -
Papa Can You Hear Me. Up next is
A
Whole New World from Aladdin - a 1993 Oscar winner covered by Donna
and Dave Koz in 2007, and
The Way We Were which won the Oscar in 1974 and was covered by Donna
on tour 1977-79. Other movie songs are
The Power Of One from Pokemon: The Movie 2000,
Whenever There is Love from Daylight (1996),
Romeo from Flashdance (1983), and
Ordinary Miracle from Let It Be Me (1996).
[FEB 2] Happy Groundhog Day all! Our local guy predicted an early
Spring.... I guess it makes sense since we've barely had any winter at
all so far. :-) It's a new month so you know what that
means. It's time for a new Summer Fever
Pick and I'm sure this one will make all the Bad Girls out there
happy. :-)
[FEB 2] In box set news,
Instinct Magazine has an article about the Junior Vasquez mix of My
Life that will be on the Encore set.
[FEB 2] In the Donna is everywhere category,
SundayPost.com posted an interview with Barbra Streisand in which
she talks about some of her favorite artists. Donna made that list.
:-) Barbra says: "She was a Disco Queen but boy could she sing
just about everything. What an amazing voice and she was as good with a
slow, moody number as she was belting out a great dance number. One of
my favourites."
[FEB 2] Bruce Sudano fans, Bruce posted this clip of him performing
Coney Island Days in 2018.
[FEB 2] That brings us to YouTube. And in honor of the Summer Fever
Pick, I think we should look at some Bad Girls tracks. First up is
this classic Tonight Show
performance of Bad Girls from 1979 (with the glasses! lol)
Then we have
Hot Stuff live on the 1980 TV special,
Dim All The
Lights from Live & More Encore, an
instrumental of Lucky,
Sunset People from the 1980 TV special, an acapella version of
There Will Always Be A You, the 8:31 version of
Walk Away, and the Summer2k Insomnia mix of
Can't Get To Sleep At Night.
[JAN 27] Just sneaking in with one little (or big depending on your
point of view) update on the upcoming Encore box set.
SuperDeluxeEdition.com has the scoop - art and track list!
[JAN 26] Happy Sunday all! Big news this week....
Amazon UK is
listing a new box set due out on March 27. The set is called
Encore and it will be a 33 CD set all of Donna's studio albums
(starting with Lady Of The Night up through Crayons). Also
included ate both Live & More albums, On The Radio and a whole bunch of
"non album singles" and extended mixes. One of the tracks includes will
be the first time ever commercial release of Junior Vasquez's mix of My
Life. And that's not all. (God, I sound like an infomercial now!
LOL) The disc will be in mini replica sleeves, there will be a 40
page 12x12 book with a new 25,000 word essay by Christian John Wikane, a
foreword by Giorgio Moroder, tributes from 25 industry legends, and the
album label copy info. This thing just screams collectible! :-)
[JAN 26] Moving on to the musical, Sao Paulo Brazil, you get to see the
show
March 5 to June 28. If I am interpreting the Portuguese right, it
looks like Amanda Souza is playing the young Donna (Duckling
Donna), Jeniffer Nascimento is Disco Donna, and Karin Hils is Diva
Donna. Welcome to the family ladies! Get used to your audiences
dancing in the aisles. :-) You can read a longer article about the
show
here.
[JAN 26] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is live on
his couch again on Facebook. This is #27 and is a new song
Bruce is working on that will probably resonate with anyone who has been
in a relationship. :-)
[JAN 26] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, in honor of the
box set we have the studio version of
My
Life. Then we have the rare track,
Sometimes Like Butterflies, another b-side called
Tearin' Down The Walls, another one called
Face The Music, the original
Love On And On, Donna's cover of
Someday, and finallyDonna's "duet" with Dave Koz on
A
Whole New World.
[JAN 19] Greetings all! First let me say CONGRATS! to Summer: The Donna
Summer Musical. The tour just played its 100th show. And it's still got
plenty more to go, so catch it when they come to
your
area. :-)
[JAN 19] Collectors: We have a new limited edition yellow vinyl pressing
of She Works Hard For The Money due out on March 27. It is available for
preorder at Amazon
now, and it is the same album you know and love - it's just
yellow. :-) (Too bad they couldn't add the red lines too...
I'm so demanding! LOL)
[JAN 19] There is an
interview
on YouTube with photographer Bruce Talamon and Earth Wind & Fire's
Verdine White. At one point talks about a photo session with Donna
that directly led to his first national magazine cover. The Donna part
starts at about 19:05 - my link should bring you right to it.
[JAN 19] Bruce Sudano fans - his upcoming EP now has a new title. It
will be called Spirals Vol 1 and he said not a straight line is to be
found. (I'd also like to note that anything called Vol. 1 is bound to be
followed by a Vol.2 :-) ) This is the EP that will have
In The Garden Of
November, and
With Him. The EP is due out this Spring and if you head over to
Bruce's
Facebook page, you can see some shots of him and Steve Addabbo
working in the studio.
[JAN 19] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some interviews because
I ran into a few good ones I hadn't watched lately while looking for
something else. So first up, a 1994 interview in 2 parts.
Part 1 is here
and part 2 is
here. Then we have a 1984
interview with
Paula Yates and a 1986
GMA interview with Donna and Dick Clark. And finally, here is a clip
of State Of
Independence that I don't remember seeing before.
[JAN 12] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with Johnnyswim. They have
announced a Valentine's Day show in Los Angeles.
Tickets are
available NOW for those who want to go. (And, yes you want to go if
you can. :-) )
[JAN 12] Moving on to Donna, we have a new
article from Stereogum celebrating MacArthur Park. We also have an
old
interview posted by Paste Magazine from 1982 promoting the Donna
Summer album. That one is audio so you get to hear Donna's voice.
:-)
[JAN 12] We have a couple of ummmm.... unusual things this week as week.
Let me start with the prayer candle. There is a company out there called
Kitschup Creations that makes celebrity prayer candles. Basically, they
are prayer candles that would ordinarily depict a saint, but these
depict various celebrities as saints. And yes, there is
one for Donna.
[JAN 12] Then in another head-scratcher I found this week, someone
posted an
"afterlife interview" with Donna on YouTube. The premise of
the channel is that this woman uses a medium to contact her dead son and
in some videos they get the son to put them in touch with famous people
who have passed away. Whatever you think of the "interview",
personally I think it is proof that you can find literally ANYTHING on
the internet - whether you want to or not! LOL
[JAN 12] Ok time for some sane stuff on YouTube! lol First up is
actually a Daily Motion video of
She
Works Hard For The Money taken from the Nobel Peace Prize concert
(and decorated with a border of portraits of Donna). Then on YouTube we
have (from the same Nobel concert)
Bad Girls/ Hot Stuff, and
Last Dance. For something a little different, we have
There Will Always Be A You as an acapella version. (Obviously
somebody stripped the music off the original recording, but it's pretty
cool to hear.) And then for those of you interested in
Donna's vocal range, someone on YouTube broke it down with clips
from various songs. It's interesting in a music geek sort of way.
:-)
[JAN 5] Happy New Year all and Happy Birthday to Brooklyn Sudano!
[JAN 5] It's been a really slow week since everybody has been off
celebrating the holidays, but we do have
Albumism's tribute to Donna in honor of her birthday.
[JAN 5] In musical news, the tour wraps up its stay in Seattle tonight
and then opens in Tempe, AZ on Tuesday. So catch it you can.
:-)
[JAN 5] Oh yeah, I almost forgot - the new
Summer Fever Pick is up. This time we
are dancing to Once Upon A Time.
[JAN 5] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some clips in
honor of the Summer Fever Pick. First up, the
title track live in Japan. Then we have
audio of the single versions of Rumour Has It, Once Upon A Time and
Winter Melody. (Yes, I know Winter Melody is from a different
album - call it a bonus. LOL) After that we have Working
The Midnight Shift set to clips of an old movie featuring office
workers, and finally,
I
Love You love from 1978.
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical
performance dates
2019
10/1 to 6/2019 Rochester, NY
10/8 to 27/2019 Cleveland OH
11/5 to 24/2019 Hollywood, CA
12/3 to 29/2019 San Francisco, CA
12/31 to 1/5/2020 Seattle, WA
2020
Note: Due to the COVID19 outbreak, as of May 2020 the tour
has closed for the season. The official website says no more
shows through September 2020, and as of now I'm not sure the status
of 2021. I believe if those shows happen, they will recast with a
new company. Please check with your venue for more info.
1/7 to 12/2020 Tempe, AZ
1/15 to 26/2020 St. Louis, MO
1/28 to 2/9/2020 Denver, CO
2/12 to 23/2020 Chicago, IL
2/25 to 3/1/2020 Durham, NC
3/10 to 22/2020 Toronto, ON (Canada) - suspended
3/24 to 29/2020 Schenectady, NY - suspended
3/31 to 4/5/2020 Dayton, OH - suspended
4/7 to 12/2020 Pittsburgh, PA - suspended
4/19 to 19/2020 Baltimore, MD - CHANGED to August 18 to 23, 2020
4/28 to 5/3/2020 West Palm Beach, FL - suspended
5/5 to 10/2020 Tampa, FL - CHANGED to July 13 to 18, 2021
5/12 to 17/2020 Miami, FL - cancelled
5/19 to 24/2020 Greenville, SC - cancelled
5/26 to 31, 2020 Nashville, TN - CHANGED to July 6 to 11, 2021?
6/2 to 7/2020 Philadelphia, PA - cancelled
6/9 to 21/2020 Detroit, MI - cancelled
6/23 to 28/2020 Atlanta, GA - cancelled
7/7 to 12, 2020 Kansas City, MO - cancelled
7/14 to 19/2020 Minneapolis, MN - cancelled
7/22 to 8/2/2020 Washington DC - cancelled
8/4- to 16/2020 Boston, MA - cancelled
8/18 to 23, 2020 Baltimore, MD (rescheduled from April 2020
and now cancelled)
9/8 to 13. 2020 Austin, TX - cancelled
9/15 to 20, 2020 Dallas, TX - cancelled
2019
[DEC 29] Happy Sunday all! Can you believe New Year's Eve (and more
importantly, Donna's birthday) is just a couple of days away? So this
will be your final reminder that Mary Gaines Bernard is doing her annual
tribute to Donna at the Old School Square Pavilion in Delray Beach, FL
on Tuesday night. Ticket info is
available on the
Old School Square Website. Here is a
little taste from a previous year just to show you why you need to
go to see the show.
[DEC 29] I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Johnnyswim added a new
little baby Swim to the family. Well, they have finally announced
her name and she is Paloma Grace. And if you hang around
Johnnyswim's Instagram, you will see pics of little Paloma, her
brother Joaquin, and her sister Luna. You can also check out their
Touring Toddler page as well.
[DEC 29] You might remember that a couple of weeks I posted interviews
from Signed Media. I thought there was more out there and hoped
they would post it.... there is more. They just posted a new clip of
Donna talking about
the creation of
Love to Love You Baby. It's about 7 minutes long and worth watching.
:-)
[DEC 29] That brings us to YouTube. It's Donna's birthday in a
couple of days, so let's have some fun! First up, (to set the
tone) Foggy
Day/Never Lose Your Sense of Humor with Paul Jabara. Then we have
Donna being silly
in 2008, a
funny interview from the 90s, Donna and Barry Manilow having way too
much fun with
Could It Be Magic (I can't even tell you how much I love this
clip!), Donna and her sisters
fooling around on
stage in 1983, and then..... ummm....
this. lol (And
then there are so many funny things from concerts I wish had made it to
YouTube - like maybe one really good version of the red Ferrari story,
or Donna as "Hattie Mae" introducing Mary's solo number....) And of
course I have to include Donna's
cover of Happy Birthday. It wouldn't be New Year's Eve without it!
[DEC 29] And since I will be in bed New Year's Eve (thanks a lot work!
lol), I will leave you with this now. You can click for a bigger
version.
[DEC 21] Happy Saturday all! Let me take this opportunity to wish you
all a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy anything else you
feel like celebrating. :-) (Click image below for larger
version.)
[DEC 21] Let's start with some musical news. If you are going to see
Summer: The Musical in either San Francisco or Seattle, then you will
get to see Storm Lever back in the role of Duckling Donna. (You will
recall that she played the role on Broadway.) She's just filling in
temporarily though. Olivia Elease Hardy will be back for other
locations.
[DEC 21] in Bruce Sudano news, he was interviewed on BSS Radio's
Interviewing The Legends this week. If you missed it (like I did)
you can
catch it in the show's archives (like I did LOL).
[DEC 21] Don't forget that Mary Gaines Bernard is doing her annual
celebration of Donna's music and legacy on December 31 at the Old School
Square Pavilion in Delray Beach, FL. Ticket info is
available on the
Old School Square Website. If you are going to be in that area - GO!
You will be happy that you did.
[DEC 21] On to Donna herself. An interview just turned up on YouTube
where Donna talks about State Of Independence. They call it
The Story Behind
The Song. It's about a 5 minute piece from Dutch public television.
But it is presented in English with Dutch subtitles. It's really
interesting - give that a play when you can. :-)
[DEC 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. We're going to do a holiday
play list this time starting with a YouTuber reacting to Donna singing
The Christmas
Song. Spoiler alert: he was impressed. :-) Then we move
on to an actual
Christmas playlist I made with clips of Donna, a couple of
Johnnyswim Christmas clips, and one from Mary too.
[DEC 13] Greetings all! Let's start off with the musical. Summer: The
Musical was the subject of the latest Lifetime Broadway Balances America
segment of their morning show the other day. It will be repeated
on December 31, or you can just
catch it on
YouTube right now. Just so you know there are interviews with
the touring Donnas and some rehearsal footage, but the actual
performance clips they used are from the Broadway production.
[DEC 13] In honor of the musical's tour hitting San Francisco,
MercuryNews.com has a list of "21 Cool Facts" about Donna.
There is nothing there that will be news to us diehard fans, but casual
fans may pick up some trivia they didn't know.
[DEC 13] In other Donna news, there is a
new clip on Soundcloud from 1979. You know the part in Live &
More (1978) where Donna introduces the band in the middle of I Feel
Love? Well, this is the 1979 variation of that where her backing girls
are going by the name Oreo, she is backed by the Peter Graves Orchestra,
and there are some fun jokes and interesting vocalizations. Even though
this is not a full song, you want to listen. It's a lot of fun to hear.
:-)
[DEC 13] For those of you interested in the charts, both I Feel
Love and the Bad Girls Gigamesh remix have been on the
Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Song sales chart recently. Both
peaked on November 16 - I Feel Love was #5 and Bad Girls was #19. You
guys realize that in a couple of weeks, we start a new decade, right? We
need to get something to chart so we can add to Donna's list of decades
with chart action. :-)
[DEC 13] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, Dancing With The
Stars used Last Dance for the opening number on the finale. It was a
pretty long number for a TV show. You can
watch it on YouTube.
[DEC 13] For those of you in Florida (or who can be in Florida on New
Year's Eve) - don't forget that Mary Gaines Bernard is doing her annual
tribute concert to celebrate her sister Donna. She will be at the
Old School Square Pavillion in Delray Beach, FL. Ticket info is
available on the
Old School Square Website. Facebookers who want a taste of
what to expect should
check out this video Mary posted.
[DEC 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up is a cleaned
up version of the
Work That Magic video. Then let me go into my archives and see
what else is interesting... Oh here is a
French
documentary about Donna. Now here is the thing - every clip
where Donna speaks is shown as is with French subtitles. But every clip
with someone else speaking has a translator speaking over the English
dialog. You can sort of hear the English, but it's
challenging. Then we have the short clip from 1999 where Donna did
a bit of Love To
Love You for the first time in YEARS. And finally for a not so
random clip, here is Donna singing
Amazing Grace. I dedicate it to the Gaines family who so recently
experienced a tragic loss, in the hopes they will find some comfort in
faith, family and friends.
[DEC 13] I'm not sure which day I will be back for the next update. This
one was early because my weekend is shaping up to be busy. (I'm cat
sitting again - Facebook followers can expect more cat pics on my feed!
LOL) One thing I do know is that I will have a special Christmas
picture for you next time. :-)
[DEC 8] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with the musical which is
currently playing in San Francisco. Some of the cast will be
playing at a
charity gala tomorrow (Monday December 9} at Marines Memorial
Theater in San Francisco at 7:30 pm. The event is hosted by the
Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation which is a non-profit that raises funds
for AIDS services, hunger programs, and youth programs in the San
Francisco Bay area. Oh and I almost forgot - St. Louis - your
tickets are
on sale now for January 15 to 26.
[DEC 8] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his new interview with
All Access in which he talks about the upcoming EP (among other
things). Then head over to Facebook to see Bruce's
latest video where he sings a new song about the Edward Snowden
situation. (For my international readers who might not know about Edward
Snowden -
Wikipedia has an article that will give you the background. )
[DEC 8] Moving on the Queen herself, there is a new book out now on
Amazon by Craig Halstead called
Donna Summer: All The
Top 40 Hits. It's a detailed chronological listing of songs that hit
the top 40 in at least 1 major market (so it's not just US figures) and
it includes dates, catalogue numbers. etc. There is also a list of the
"almost top 40s" which are songs that peaked between 41 and 50 in one or
more of the major markets, a points based list of the top 30 singles and
top 20 albums over all, and a trivia section. Go check it out!
:-)
[DEC 8] That brings us to YouTube and we are going to start with
an interview
that just surfaced on YouTube from Signed Media. Allow some time for
this one - it's about a half hour long with no filler. :-) Then
check out this
other video (from the same interview session) where Donna talks
about Aretha, Madonna, Beyonce and Diana. (That one is only about
3 and a half minutes.) I feel like maybe there is more to this interview
that is still yet to be seen. There is no date on the clips (well,
other than the date it was uploaded to YouTube) but I would guess
somewhere between 2009 and 2011. (The company that filmed it is
based in Hamburg so For comparison, here is Donna
performing with David Foster October 1, 2011, and here is
Donna performing
live in Berlin 2009. And then I really want to add this 2008 clip of
Donna performing
I
Feel Love because, I KEEP hearing that Target ad with Sam
Smith's I Feel Love and even though his cover is fine, I hear those
first notes and then am immediately disappointed it's not Donna.
:-(
[DEC 1] Greetings all and Happy December! Of course since it's a
new month, it's time to change the Summer
Fever Pick, and if you think it would be anything but Christmas
Spirit this month... well then you must be new here. :-)
[DEC 1] First things first - CONGRATS to Johnnyswim! Amanda and Abner
have just welcomed their third child! Full details have yet to be
announced, but if you head over to the
@Johnnyswim Instagram and click on their story called #3, you will
get a brief glimpse of the new little Swim. (If you see Abner talking
about Black Friday deals, then that's the right video. And then if
you are like everybody else on Instagram, you will go back through all
the recent Johnnyswim photos to see how Amanda hid her belly. LOL)
[DEC 1] Moving on to the business side of Johnnyswim - they are having
Black Friday sales on their site thru Cyber Monday. It's 25% off most
things and they have "Mystery Boxes" where for $50 you get $100
worth of random Johnnyswim merchandise. (Yes they do ask for your
size, so your items will fit. :-) )
[DEC 1] Bruce Sudano fans - he has
another concert date lined up. This one is April 9 at the Manship
Theatre in Baton Rouge, LA opening for the Zombies. If you are in
that area (or will be) go check out the show! Now if you need a little
Bruce fix right now - check his Facebook live on the couch video for
In A Stormy Season.
[DEC 1] In musical news, Lifetime Channel's Lifetime Morning Show
is doing their 6th season of Broadway Balances America, and coming up on
December 10th (and 31st) at 7:30 AM, they will feature Summer: The Donna
Summer Musical. If you can't catch it on TV, keep an eye on their
YouTube channel. Previous episodes are posted there (along with a
bunch of their other segments.)
[DEC 1] Moving on to the Queen herself, Donna got a mention when
Kelly Rowland
appeared on Andy Cohen's show. Rowland would love to do a
Donna Summer biopic! So somebody needs to make that happen!
LOL
[DEC 1] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with one that has
been making the rounds a lot lately -
Addicted To You. This is actually a fan mix made from 2 clips
released by Nathan DiGesare a couple of years ago. Let's see where
YouTube takes us from there.... next up Donna on
David Foster & Friends with Seal. Up next is a video by
Suecase Hall
remembering Donna, Donna on
Oprah, Donna
with Rona Barrett in 1978, and finally a
2004 interview
promoting The Journey.
[NOV 24] Happy Sunday all and Happy (almost) Thanksgiving to my American
friends! Let's start off with Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. The 3
touring Donnas made an appearance on Access Daily this week to perform
Hot Stuff. It unfortunately didn't air everywhere due to the
impeachment hearings, but the show did tweet out the clip of the
performance, so you can
see it right here. :-) Then you can catch Diva Donna
Dan'yelle Williamson on the
West Of Broadway Podcast. The tour closes tonight in Hollywood
then the cast gets a much deserved break for the Thanksgiving holiday
before they get San Francisco up dancing on December 3.
[NOV 24] Speaking of the musical, the
Brazilian production has announced 2 of its Donnas: Karin Hils
and Jeniffer Nascimento. Welcome to the family ladies!
[NOV 24] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - don't forget she is doing her
annual concert on December 31 to celebrate her sister's life and
career. It is, as always, at the Old School Square in Delray Beach, FL.
Be there! :-)
[NOV 24] Bruce Sudano fans: his single The Garden Of November had
debuted this week on Ditty
TV. For those who don't know, Ditty TV is a streaming music TV
station that you can watch on your computer, smartphone, smart TV, TIVO,
Roku, etc.
[NOV 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think in light of
all the stuff we Americans will be eating Thursday, we're gonna need a
little exercise! So this week let's dance with Donna. Let's warm
up with some robot moves on
I
Feel Love. Then we have
She Works Hard For The Money live at the Grammys, then we can
pick up the pace a little with
Romeo live, then kick it into high gear with a classic performance
of
Hot Stuff. (Bonus points if you have a leopard print skirt to wear!
LOL) By that time you will need to catch your breath, so the slow to
fast pace of
Last Dance should help you out. :-) Of course if you
don't want to dance and would rather just look at some eye candy with
your music - there is always Donna performing
Enough Is Enough with Westlife. ;-)
[NOV 17] Greetings all! I guess we can start with the musical this week.
You guys in Brazil will be happy to learn that you will get to see
Summer: The Musical some time next year.
ABroadwayEAqui.com.br has an article announcing a casting call for
the show, so hopefully we will be hearing more soon. :-)
[NOV 17] Moving on to Bruce - he's got a video now for his new song, In
The Garden Of November. Check it out on
AmericanHighways.org.
[NOV 17] In Johnnyswim news, new dates are on sale now for their
tour with Lauren Daigle. Check out
their website
for ticket info, and maybe even to score some VIP meet & greet
passes.
[NOV 17] Now here's someone I don't get news about often enough -
Brooklyn Sudano. :-) She's scored herself a pilot for a show called Last
Summer which will be a thriller from Freeform. You can
read more about it here, but it is described as a story that
takes place over 3 summers about 2 girls - one who is abducted and one
who transforms from awkward outlier, to most popular girl in town, to
most despised person in America. Each episode will be told from the
point of view of one of the girls. It sounds interesting - can't want to
check it out. :-)
[NOV 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start off with a
mix that people have been talking about lately -
Love On & On the
original mix. Next up is the lost song
Ordinary Miracle, a live acoustic vaulted track called
So
This Is Lonely, the Ordinary Girl song,
No
Ordinary Love Song, Donna's live cover of
Georgia On My Mind, and finally the unreleased Crayon's track,
Run With It.
[NOV 10] Happy Sunday all! And happy Veteran's Day to all the vets out
there! Thank you for your service. :-) Let's start off this week
in the land of covers. I mentioned last time that Sam Smith has recorded
I Feel Love and that this cover would be used in Target's holiday ads.
Well, the holiday ads have started and holy cow, I have heard I Feel
Love about a million times already! (And I don't even watch a lot of
normal TV. LOL)
[NOV 10] In musical news, Summer: The Musical is playing the Pantages
Theater in Hollywood until November 24. If you are out that way go check
it out. And everybody can
check out this video celebrating opening night in Hollywood.
[NOV 10] Bruce Sudano fans - check out this clip he posted on Facebook
of
True Believer filmed at the LOLA concert this past week. Brooklyn
Dreams fans can spot Eddie Hokenson on the stage too. Rounding out the
crew are Steve Addabbo and Andrew Zehnal.
[NOV 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the Summer
Fever Pick, let's look at some of the songs from I Remember Yesterday.
First up,
Can't We Just Sit Down live. Then we have
Love's Unkind live,
Take Me live,
I
Remember Yesterday live, and of course
I
Feel Love live. And finally we have the alternate studio version of
Can't We Just Sit Down that turned up unexpectedly on the remastered
album a couple of years ago.
[NOV 3] Greetings all! It's a new month so you know that that means -
time for the new Summer Fever Pick. This month we look back to
I Remember Yesterday.
[NOV 3] Ok, Bruce Sudano fans check out his new single In
The Garden Of
November available at all the usual places (Spotify, ITunes, Amazon,
etc). If you want to catch him live, he'll be in New York City
November 5, Washington DC on November 6, Stamford, CT on November 7 to
10 and then next year he'll be On The Blue Cruise in Miami, FL April 1
to 8. Ticket info for all of those shows is
here. And you can watch a
Facebook video of him listing al the dates. And speaking of Facebook
videos, Bruce was live from the couch with In
A Stormy Season.
[NOV 3] Moving into the land of covers, there is a new cover out there
of I Feel Love by Sam Smith. According to
Rolling Stone, it will be used in Target's holiday campaign. (The
article also includes the song so you can check it out for yourself.)
[NOV 3] I think that brings us to YouTube. I was sent a couple of
clips in my email this week, so I'm gonna start with them and see where
that leads me. First up an interview for
Entertainment Las
Vegas Style (including some performance clips), Donna and
Bruce Roberts talking about (and performing)
Whenever There is
Love from 1996, that lead me to Donna on
Arsenio Hall
in 1989, which lead me to
Anyway At All
on Jay Leno, and that lead me to
Try A Little
Tenderness with Joss Stone in 2005. And finally in honor of the Sam
Smith cover, I think we should take a look at the original
I Feel Love.
(Do your best robot dance as you play it! LOL)
[OCT 27] Happy Sunday all! To my friends in California in the fire
zones - please stay safe! Fire is nothing to mess around with!
[OCT 27] Let's start with Bruce this week. I have already mentioned that
he is playing with Dave Navarro in
Washington DC November 6. He is also playing at Lola (Coney
Island Baby NYC) in New York City (with friends) on November 5 (Election
Day - do NOT forget to go out and vote!) at 9PM with proceeds
benefitting
HeadCount - a non-partisan group that promotes voter
registration/voting. (Seriously, did I mention that you need to go out
and VOTE?) You can
get ticket info here, and if you have an "I Voted" sticker,
you get a free CD. The venue is 21 and over which I am sure is not a
problem for the vast majority of my readers. :-)
[OCT 27] Moving on to Johnnyswim where we have some BIG news! Some
of you may know Chip and Joanna Gaines from their show Fixer Upper. Well
they've been friends with (and fans of) Johnnyswim for quite awhile now.
And now they are starting their own network called Magnolia. The first
show announced for the new network is a 6 episode original series called
Home On The Road. The show will follow Johnnyswim (and family and crew)
as they tour North America. Look for that some time in October
2020. Read more about the show
here, and watch a teaser on
Instagram. And read a little more
about Johnnyswim here.
[OCT 27] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's see if we can make a
Halloween theme. First up is
She Works Hard For The Money featuring Donna in costume as a
waitress. (It also features various Disney characters - I leave it up to
you if that counts as people in costumes. ;-) ) Then we have
Sunset People and Bad Girls from the 1980 TV Special. That features
Donna in a few different costumes. Up next is
Donna with Prince Poppycock on America's Got Talent, then
Slide Over
Backwards with Donna dressed up as her alter ego Hattie Mae,
some
Another Place & Time footage featuring Donna in the
famous kabuki makeup, and finally the two episodes of Family Matters
with Donna -
Aunt
Oona and
Pound Foolish. Oh wait - we also have
this strange clip.
LOL (Fair warning - for some reason my Firefox browser won't play it,
but Chrome does. So if you have an issue, give another browser a shot if
you can.)
[OCT 27] And finally, since Halloween is this week, I have this message
for you - and yes you can click it for a larger version:
[OCT 20] Greetings all! Lets start off this week with Donna Summer Day
in Cleveland. Another article popped up this week about it, and it
includes video of Mimi in the Rock Hall Of Fame with both dresses that
were loaned to the hall. The first one if the one from Four
Seasons Of Love, and I'm sure I have seen Donna in the second one - and
someday it will come to me where! LOL Check it out at
WKYC.com - oh and the clips they show from the musical are from the
Broadway company.
[OCT 20] I mentioned last time that Bad Girls is being used in the new
Charlie's Angels trailer. Well, the song is also listed in the of
the soundtrack album
as well. :-) Look for t hat November 1.
[OCT 20] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his interview with
Song Facts. It covers Bruce's whole career from his early days
learning to write songs with Tommy James up to the work he's doing now.
And don't forget that Bruce is performing (along with Dave Navarro) at
the Mansion on O Street in Washington DC on November 6. If you
want to go, you can
reserve
your seats here.
[OCT 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. Last week I gave you a
list of clips by rikymira1 exploring Donna's whole career, but one part
was missing. Well part 4 is back covering the 80s. You can
see it here. And if you missed the other parts, explore rikymira1's
YouTube channel. They are worth a look! And since I'm in a Live & More
Encore sort of mood tonight, let's check out some clips from the turn of
the millennium. First up is a
medley from a 1999 German TV appearance. Then we have the
music video for
I
Will Go With You,
My
Life from the Live & More Encore concert, Donna on
Queen Latifah's show singing Love Is The Healer, Donna on
Oprah singing I Will Go With You, and finally
MacArthur Park and
Last Dance from the Today Show concert series. (See if you can
spot yourself if you were there. :-) )
[OCT 13] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with the musical this week.
As I write this, Summer: The Musical is playing in Cleveland, OH which
you might recognize as also being the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame. Put those 2 fact together and you wind up with
Donna Summer Day at the Rock Hall where Mimi presented 2 of
Donna's dresses to the museum. By sheer coincidence, one of those
dresses is the one you see on this month's Summer Fever Pick. :-)
They didn't say what the other one was, so if any of you decide to visit
the museum, let me know. :-)
[OCT 13] Also in musical news - there is
new merchandise available on the website. They have a Last Dance
hoodie, a national tour poster, and a Hot Stuff enamel pin. And I
can't remember - is the metallic Hot Stuff mug new? The ornament is gone
- at least for now.
[OCT 13] In the Donna's music is everywhere category - the Netflix show,
The Politician, used I feel Love in episode 4. (I have to check that
show out - I have heard good things about it.) Also, there is a new
Charlie's Angels film coming out and they are using a
mix of Bad Girls in the trailer. (It starts about halfway in... and
these are not the Angels I remember from the 70s. LOL)
[OCT 13] And speaking of remixes.... a new one has surfaced for
Whenever There Is
Love. It's called the Warren Rigg Vocal Mix.
[OCT 13] Moving on to Bruce. Yes, he and his guitar have been hanging
out on the couch (and on Facebook) again making videos. The first
is his version of
I Cast All My Cares Upon You. The next is
a mashup of a new song Bruce is working on and a cover of The
Letter. And of course we still have his video
With Him out there on YouTube. If you haven't seen that, go check it
out. And if you like it, share it! The more views it gets, the easier it
is for Bruce to get gigs - which means the easier it is for us to see
him live! :-)
[OCT 13] I think that brings us to YouTube and this week I have
something unusual for you. A very dedicated fan (using the YouTube
handle rikymira1) put together a massive 6 part tribute to Donna
that covers her whole career - starting in the 60s and going right up to
2011. I can't even imagine how long it took to put this all
together! So here we go:
part 1
(starts with Hair),
part 2
(starts with I Remember Yesterday),
part 3
(starts with Last Dance), part 4 is missing but it would cover the
80s, part 5
(starts with When Love Cries), and then there is the
final part
(starting with The Power Of One). Standing ovation for the effort (and
love!) that went into this tribute. :-)
[OCT 6] Greetings all! It's a new month so it's time for a new
Summer Fever Pick. So this time
we ring in Autumn with the Four Seasons Of Love.
[OCT 6] I guess we can start with the musical. As you know, the Summer:
The Musical tour started in Rochester.
Broadwayworld.com has a review of the show. And the
Akron Beacon Journal has an article about Summer's costume designer.
[OCT 6] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him live November 3 at the
Philadelphia Folksong Society at 7PM. For details and tickets,
check out
Eventbrite.com. In the meantime, you can also check out Bruce's
latest Facebook video.... well he didn't call it live from the couch,
but it looks like he's on the couch. LOL It's a song called
For The Sake Of Humanity. (It's a very timely message.)
[OCT 6] Mary Bernard fans - she will be celebrating Donna's birthday
again this year with a concert in DelRay Beach FL on December 31 at the
Old School Square Pavilion. For more info and to get tickets,
head on over here. :-)
[OCT 6] Last time I mentioned that Bob Esty had passed away.
The Hollywood Reporter has posted his obituary on its website, as
has
BroadwayWorld.com, and
5Mag.net.
[OCT 6] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, someone put
together a 3 minute song that's a mix of samples from
50 songs from
1979. It's really clever and really good. I can't even imagine
how long it took to get it right. :-) And yes, of course Donna is
in there. Oh and it's not just audio samples - they actually used
clips from all the various videos too.
[OCT 6] That brings us to YouTube. So let's celebrate our new Summer
Fever Pick. First up is a liveandmore video for
Autumn Changes. Then we have a slideshow set to
Summer Fever,
Spring Affair on Soul Train, and
Winter Melody from the same Soul Train appearance. There is
also a rare video for
Winter Melody, a live clip of
Summer Fever, and a performance of
Spring Affair from a rather odd looking TV show. (Donna's
performance is fine - I'm trying to figure out what the hosts are
sitting on and why they have a monkey....)
[SEP 29] Happy Sunday all! This week we start off with sad news. A
couple of weeks ago I posted a GoFundMe for
producer/arranger/songwriter Bob Esty to cover his hospice expenses.
Well, unfortunately Bob has succumbed to his illness. My deepest
condolences to his family, friends and fans. Bruce posted a nice
tribute to Bob Esty on his
Facebook page.
[SEP 29] Moving on to Donna. You guys will like this. :-)
Groovefunkel has posted a new mix of Last Dance. It's called the
Groovefunkel Alternate Vocal Remix. (Yes you read that right -
ALTERNATE vocal!) You can listen to it on
YouTube, or
you can download it on the
Groovefunkel website.
[SEP 29] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, the TV show
Dancing With The Stars Premiered a couple of weeks ago and one of the
contestants did the cha cha to
She Works
Hard For The Money. (I linked you to the part of the video where she
starts her performance. But they have some rehearsal footage as
well if you want to see it.)
[SEP 29] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - I don't know how I missed posting
this before but, Mary has
posted a video with highlights of her show, "once Upon A Time:
A Donna Summer Celebration".
[SEP 29] In musical news, I heard from a fan that Summer: The Musical is
coming to Toronto March 10 - 22, 2020 at the
Princess Of Wales
Theater. Now, it's not on the theater website yet, but it's not
uncommon for subscribers to get info in the mail before it hits the web
for the general public.
[SEP 29] Disco fans: our buddies Andrea and Giovanni have published a
book about Disco called "La Storia della Disco Music." (Yes, that's in
Italian. :-) ) You can expect lots of Donna in the book and if you
are a Facebook person, you can check out
their page to keep up with all the news about the book.
[SEP 29] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the late Bob
Esty, let's look at some vintage Once Upon A Time clips. First up,
the title track. Then we have a fan video for
Faster & Faster,
a fan video for
Rumour Has It, an extended version of
I
Love You, a fan video for Queen For A Day, and even though
it's not from Once Upon A Time, I have to include the video for
Last Dance. Rest in Peace Bob Esty. (And say hi do Donna for us.)
[SEP 22] Greetings all! Can you believe it? Summer is already over and
autumn is here. Ok, let's start off with Bruce this week. He's got
a new EP, Stories Of Our Lives Vol 1, coming out next spring, but lucky
for us he released a track from it already. The song is called With Him,
and it comes with a very powerful video. The song is about a bad
breakup told from the point of view of the person scorned.
Read more about it and check out the video here.
[SEP 22] In the Bruce's music is everywhere category... you might
remember a song called Hollywood Knights that Bruce recorded with the
rest of the Brooklyn Dreams. (It's on
YouTube if
you need to refresh your memory.) Well, it's been sampled in a song
called
Good Day that has been used in a McDonald's
McCafe commercial.
[SEP 22] Johnnyswim fans - guess what, there are
new tour dates! Starting
February 20 they are hitting the road with Lauren Daigle for a tour that
will go until July 18. Tickets are already on pre-sale, but if you sign
up for Johnnyswim's email list you can get advance notification of
ticket on sale dates and you might even be able to score some VIP meet
and greet passes. :-)
[SEP 22] Moving on to Summer: The Donna Summer Musical... as you know,
the touring production is gearing up for their first performances in
Rochester, NY starting September 29. So of course there is going
to be some promotion in the media.
Playbill.com has a video of various members of the company talking
about Donna's music, the show, etc. They also have a video of
"Disco Donna" Alex Hairston performing Hot Stuff and talking about
her role. (Please note, she is not in costume for this performance.)
[SEP 22] The Lifetime Channel has a morning show called
The Balancing Act. They have a segment called Broadway Balances
America that will launch September 30 and will go behind the scenes of 4
Broadway touring companies. They will feature Summer on December
10 and 31 (how appropriate!) at 7:30 AM. If you want an idea of
what Broadway Balances America is like, they have a play list of
past year's episodes on YouTube.
[SEP 22] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the changing
seasons, let's start with
Autumn Changes. Then we'll do some long form TV stuff in honor
of it being Emmy night as well. So first up for that is the
1980 TV Special,
then we have the
Hot Summer Night Special for HBO, live in
Lloret de Mar Spain, and finally a live
concert from Japan.
[SEP 15] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with Summer: The Musical. As
you know the company is getting ready to hit the road. They recently
gave a preview rehearsal performance for the media and of course al the
usual places covered it.
Broadwayworld.com has photos,
Playbill has some photos, and
Broadway.com has some video on their YouTube channel. Please
note - as they are in the rehearsal space, they are not using the set or
the full costumes/wigs.
[SEP 15] Johnnyswim fans - they will be performing at
Silobration October 18 to 19 in Waco, TX. They also have a few
more upcoming
dates in October in Georgia and South Carolina.
[SEP 15] Earlier this year, The Guardian posted
Giorgio Moroder's top 20 songs. Of course Donna is on that
list - and if you didn't guess that I Feel Love would be on the top of
that list, well then I guess you are new here. LOL
[SEP 15] I'm sure most of you guys know who Bob Esty is. He's an
arranger, producer and songwriter who worked with a whole bunch of
people - including Donna of course. (And if you want to know more about
him, read his interview with Sebastiano on
DonnaSummer.it.) Anyway, this summer he was diagnosed with
metastatic gastro-intestinal cancer and now he's been admitted to
hospice care. :-( One of his friends has set up a
GoFundMe to raise money for Bob's care. If you would like to
contribute,
here is the link.
[SEP 15] I'm sure a lot of you also know who John Billings is too - at
least if you ever saw Donna perform live in the later part of her
career. He's the blonde bass player who used to have really long hair.
(Donna dances with him during Randy's lead guitar solo in Hot Stuff
- go watch Live & More Encore and you'll see.) Anyway, if you are
going to be in Nashville
September 17, you can catch John at Wine Down Nashville talking
about his life in music with Donna and others he has worked with over
the years. And if you go - make sure you say hi to John. He's a
really nice guy.
[SEP 15] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with an
interview with John Billings where he talks about being in Donna's
band, and a clip of
Hot Stuff from Live & More Encore. Then we have
Bob Esty talking about working with Donna. Moving on, we
have an interesting slow mix of
The Woman In Me - the Ivan Sash slowdance edit and one for
Sentimental - the DJ Jay C Special Tough Extended Mix). And finally,
On
The Radio from Live & More Encore. I post this because a photo from
that concert recently turned up on Facebook and people were having fun
spotting themselves in the audience. And I remember when this clip came
out ahead of the TV special, people were having fun spotting themselves
in this too. So if you were there that night - see if you can see
yourself. :-)
[SEP 8] Greetings all! Let's start off with Johnnyswim. You
may remember that they had a Live From The Garage video for Say What You
Will. Well, now that recording is
available for sale (or stream at all your favorite music services.
(iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc)
[SEP 8] As you know, Johnnyswim was slated to play in Charleston on
September 3. Because of the hurricane, that show was rescheduled to
October 24, but you can still read the promo printed by
CharlestonCityPaper.com.
[SEP 8] And if you are following Johnnyswim's Touring Toddler sites,
Joaquin and friends have a new recipe up for
Fruit Galette. (You think he'd come over and cook for me? LOL)
[SEP 8] Moving on to Donna. In the land of remixes, we have one on
YouTube for
I
Will Go With You labeled "Exec Ears Only." If you listen to
it, you will find that the vocals are a bit different in places than
what we are used to. :-)
[SEP 8] That brings us to YouTube. First up, I clip I'd half forgotten
about featuring the
making of the
video for State Of Independence. Just note that the interview
that goes with it is in German. Then we have Donna in the studio
working on Last Dance, and Donna in the studio
working on Summer Fever. That interview is also in German, but then
dubbed over in French. Then we have the
all-star choir from State Of Independence in the studio and a
rehearsal of
Enough Is Enough and
I
Don't Wanna Work That Hard from Live & More Encore.
[SEP 1] Happy Labor Day weekend to my American friends and Happy Sunday
to all! Consider this your respite from all the terrible news this
weekend - mass shooting in Texas (can this crap STOP already? Congress -
DO something! Thoughts and prayers are not working!) And then of
course we have a major hurricane currently demolishing the Bahamas
before it heads to Florida? Georgia? The Carolinas? Please stay
safe everyone! (On and when I said "demolishing" - that wasn't an
exaggeration. The pictures I've seen are heartbreaking."
[SEP 1] So moving on to fun stuff.. it's a new month so we need a new
Summer Fever Pick. And this time it's
A Love Trilogy. (I think we can all use a little love these days, right?
:-) )
[SEP 1] Let's start with Johnnyswim (who are STILL
on tour until
at least October 5.) They have a show scheduled for Tuesday September 3
in Charleston, SC. Well, they HAD a show scheduled for that date.
Because of the hurricane (and the mandatory evacuation that goes with
it), the show is being rescheduled to Thursday October 24. All tickets
previously purchased for September 3 WILL BE HONORED for October 24. If
there are any questions at all, please contact the box office. In
the meantime - stay safe!
[SEP 1] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him and Larry Mitchell Saturday
September 7 at Friday's Creek Winery in Owings, MD from 6:30 to 9:30.
(Somebody should buy him a glass of red at sunset. ;-) )
[SEP 1] Moving on to Donna, last week I had some YouTube clips of rare
Donna songs, one of which was The Planet Is Alive. That was
recorded for a special about the Pope in 1987. Well YouTube's Suecase
Hall got inspired to update the video to fit with today's situation - in
particular the fires in the Amazon rainforest. He did a beautiful
job - see it here.
Of course that got more people interested in the song, so here is what I
have learned. It was originally recorded in 1985 by Sarah Vaughan under
the title Let It Live for an album called The
Planet
Is Alive... Let It Live! Writing credits for the song are listed as
Music by Lalo Schifrin and lyrics by Gene Lees. If you want to
here her version,
YouTube has it.
[SEP 1] In the land of remixes, we have a mix of
I
Will Go With You that's listed as an Exec-Ears-Only demo.
Listen to the vocals carefully - there are some differences! Then we
have a mix called Come On Baby which samples a little of
If It Hurts Just A Little.
[SEP 1] I think that brings us to YouTube. This first one is a special
request - although I did cheat a little. He requested the song,
but I picked the video of the song - this one is a fan video of
Let There Be Peace and I would like to dedicate it to ALL who need
to hear it. And let's take that as sort of a theme and continue with
Riding Through The Storm from Live & More Encore, then we have
another Suecase Hall video. This one puts
The Way We Were with Take Heart. Moving on we have
Smile live and
Amazing Grace live (Donna's standby for just about anytime she
wanted to recognize a tragic event in concert. I remember seeing her in
concert in Boston the day they had the bombings in the London
Underground. She sang Amazing Grace for the people of London.) And let's
throw in
Love Is The Healer just because I think love really can be the
healer. (Plus you probably need to dance after those other tracks.
LOL)
[AUG 25] Happy Sunday all! Big news today - the cast for the touring
production of Summer: The Musical has finally been announced.
Broadwayworld.com has the
cast list here,
Playbill.com has it too, and
Broadway.com has a closer look at our 3 new Donnas: Dan'yelle
Williamson as Diva Donna, Alex Hairston as Disco Donna, and Olivia
Elease Hardy as Duckling Donna - including a
video introduction to our new Donnas. You can also head to the
musical's website to see headshots and info about all of the cast.
Welcome to the family everyone!
[AUG 25] Johnnyswim fans - as you know they played Live On The Green the
other night in Nashville, and
Luminationnetwork.com has photos from the event.
[AUG 25] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since we now have the
touring cast for SUmmer, let's take a look back at the Broadway cast.
First up - the cast performing at the Tony Awards.
This first clip
is unusual because it is filmed from the audience and is not exactly the
way we saw it on TV at home. (Watch the cameramen moving around the
actors to get the shots we saw.) For comparison, here is the
TV
clip of that same performance. Then we have some random
promotional show clips, LaChanze singing
Friends Unknown, the cast at the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (it was crazy cold out that day and
they still killed it!), and finally some
rehearsal footage. (Unfortunately clips from The Tonight Show and
the Today Show are no longer currently online or I'd link those too. )
Just for fun, here's the real Donna singing
I
Got Your Love with animation by Stor Dubine.
[AUG 19] Happy Monday all! I'm gradually getting back on track with the
updates. :-) Let's start off with the musical. The tour of Summer:
The Donna Summer Musical kicks off in Rochester in just a little more
than a month. Tickets for those shows are on sale NOW via Ticketmaster
and the box office. For ticket info for that and the other stops
on the tour, check out the
musical's website.
[AUG 19] Since nothing much is happening this week, let's go back to
2015 where we get to hear Pete Bellotte (among others) talk about
I Feel Love.
[AUG 19] That brings us to YouTube. Let's do a deep dive into
Donna's back catalog with some rare tracks. (Note, most of these will be
audio only.) Let's start with
Dreamcatcher from the Naturally Native album,
The Planet Is Alive (from a 1987 video about Pope John Paul II),
Tearing Down The Walls (the flip side to Dinner With Gershwin),
Ordinary Miracle from the soundtrack to Let It Be Me,
Sometimes Like Butterflies (flip side to Love Is In Control),
My
Prayer Is For You from the album Sing Me To Sleep Mommy, and
A
Whole New World from the Dave Koz album At The Movies.
[AUG 14] Happy Wednesday all! I'm back from vacation, and yes I did take
a little Summer with me. :-) Let's start off in the land of covers
- well sort of. (Does it count as a cover if one of the original
duet partners is the same one from the original recording?) Anyway,
Barbra Streisand performed Enough Is Enough in Chicago recently and she
got Ariana Grande to sing the Donna part with her. You can see
clips here. Fair warning - it's a little annoying to watch because
it's 2 and a half minutes of clips strung together which makes it kind
of choppy. This
Facebook video is from further away and is a little shaky, but
it's the full song. :-)
[AUG 14] You guys remember that Spinning Gold movie about Neil
Bogart/Casablanca that's been a work in progress for ages? Well
they have announced
more casting for the film, including Sebastian Maniscalco as Giorgio
Moroder.
[AUG 14] Bruce Sudano fans: Don't forget that you can see him live
this Saturday (August 17) at the
Philadelphia Folk Festival.
[AUG 14] Johnnyswim fans: Catch the duo
on tour
until October 5 in various places on the East coast. (Although
that could change at any time - they do like to sneak in new dates when
they can. :-) ) And then go check out their
Touring Toddler YouTube channel where they have a couple of new
videos featuring the itty bitty Swims (and friends). :-)
[AUG 14] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some full shows
this week. First up, Donna
live on Long Island in 2008. Then we have her
live in Brazil in 1995,
live in Chile 1994,
live in Spain in 1990,
live in Costa Mesa (A Hot Summer Night) in 1983,
live in Japan
1979, and
live in Italy in 1977.
[JUL 28] Happy Sunday all! Let me start with an announcement about the
site. There will be no update next weekend because I am going away on
vacation with friends. And I'm not sure if the one scheduled for
August 11 will be on time or a little late. What I do know for sure is
that it's a road trip so at some point if you see crazy women in a
car blasting Donna tunes - that's probably us. :-)
[JUL 28] So since I won't be here next weekend, let's update the
Summer Fever Pick tonight. For August
we are celebrating Donna's first US release - Love To Love You Baby.
[JUL 28] Let's start with Bruce. He's
live on his couch again (in funky colors this time lol)
with a new song he's working on called Can't Hit A Moving Target.
[JUL 28] Johnnyswim fans - last week you got to hear them on
part 1 of the Typology podcast. Well,
part 2 is out now and Johnnyswim is joined by their manager Jay
King. Also, the littlest Swims are featured on
The Touring
Toddler Blog where Johnnyswim and company talk about handling
airports with young kids.
[JUL 28] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with a clip that
was recently brought to my attention - a
really clean 1977
video of Donna performing Come With Me, Could It Be Magic and the My
Man Medley. Then in honor of the Love To Love You album, we have
the title track
live on the Midnight Special, and we have audio of Donna's
version of
Pandora's Box and the
version from the
musical (as performed by Storm Lever). And for fun, here's a really
short clip of Donna
rapping Love To Love You in 1999 - the first time she had performed
any part of that song in many years! Ok, so I will see you all after
vacation! :-)
[JUL 21] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with Bruce. If you are
in/near Owings, MD (or can get there), catch Bruce
September 7 at Friday's Creek Winery at 6:30 PM. (Maybe you can
share a Glass Of Red & The Sunset? ;-) )
[JUL 21] Moving on to Johnnyswim. Our favorite duo has done a podcast
called Typology with Enneagram guru Ian Morgan Cron. The
first part is out now for your listening pleasure. Part 2 should be
out this week. Now for those of you asking , "what the heck is
Enneagram?" - well, in a nutshell it's an analysis of personality
types. I think there are 9 different types and the people who follow
this are usually looking to promote self awareness and development.
If you are interested in learning more, Google is your friend.
[JUL 21] In Donna land, there's not much going on (other than that
Mother Nature seems to have really taken a liking to Hot Stuff here this
weekend lol), but a
classic article turned up talking about how Enough Is Enough came
about. It was one of many such articles that came out when Donna
passed that some of us may have overlooked at the time in our shock and
grief.
[JUL 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. And since it's been so
freaking hot here this weekend, I'm going to look at some cooler songs
starting with
Cold Love. Up next are
Winter Melody and
Autumn Changes. And let's throw in a couple of Christmas songs for
good measure...
White Christmas and
The Christmas Song.
[JUL 14] Greetings all! I guess we should start with Johnnyswim.
The duo have announced 3 new acoustic dates - August 29 in
Jacksonville, FL, September 3 in Charleston, SC and September 13 in
Amagansett, NY (just a short drive from their beloved Georgica Pond!)
For more info, check out
Johnnyswim.com.
[JUL 14] Speaking of our favorite touring couple, their album Heart
Beats made
Leo Weekly's list of the 8 albums you needed to listen to before the
Forecastle Music Festival.
[JUL 14] In the Bruce's music is everywhere category, Hollis Brown
talked to
Glide Magazine about their latest album Ozone Park. One of the
songs, Forever In Me, was written by Bruce for the band.
[JUL 14] I think that brings us to YouTube. Oh let's do some rare
tracks this week. First up - the unreleased
Valley Of The
Moon. (Obviously it's a mix because you can definitely hear some I
Feel Love in there. :-) ) Then we have the studio version of
My
Life, the unreleased
Adonai, the very hard to find
Ordinary Miracle,
the not as hard to find
Dreamcatcher,
the demo for
Begin Again, an acoustic performance for BBC Radio of
So
This Is Lonely, a clip of Donna singing
La
Dolce Vita on an airplane, and the live
Worth The Wait.
[JUL 7] Happy Sunday all! California - you need to stop partying so
hard! You are literally making the ground shake! ;-) No, but
seriously I hope everyone is OK and that Mother Nature stops the
shaking.
[JUL 7] Let's start with a new show called A Year In Music available on
AXS TV. The show starts tonight actually with Downtown Julie Brown
hosting an episode dedicated to 1977. (Hmmm... they don't mention I Feel
Love in the trailer, but seriously that was the best thing to come out
of that year. Not that I am biased or anything.... lol) For
more info and to see where AXS TV is available in your area,
check out their website.
[JUL 7] In the everyone loves Donna category, Dionne Warwick did a
Facebook live thing with SiriusXM in which she talks a little about
Donna. (However she is not a huge fan of the song Enough Is Enough - or
at least she's not a fan of Barbra singing it.)
[JUL 7] That brings us to YouTube. Let's start with the correct link to
that bonus cover of
Lucky by Paul Ybarra I posted last week. (Yeah, I messed that up.
Some of you did a little more research anyway and found out that he has
a few more Donna covers too. But Lucky is my favorite.) Moving on to
Donna, well since we just celebrated July 4 let's start with
God Bless America,
The Star Spangled Banner, and
Livin' In America. And then we have some clips of Donna from the TV
Show Family Matters - "Aunt Oona" singing
Last Dance,
"Aunt Oona" in the
shrinking chamber, "Aunt Oona" and the regulars dancing to
Hard For
The Money, and the only clip I could find of "Aunt Oona" singing
Rejoice.
(I just signed up for Hulu and discovered they have that show. So of
course the first things I watched were Donna! lol)
[JUL 1] Greetings all! The new Summer
Fever Pick is up. This month we go back to the early years with Lady
Of The Night. By the way, Happy Canada Day, and (early) Happy July
4th!
[JUN 30] Greetings all! Happy World Pride!
[JUN 30] Let's start with a little Donna news. Hot Stuff hit #1 on the
Billboard charts 40 years ago last week (June 24 to be exact.)
MPRNews has a
tiny story about that.
[JUN 30] You guys probably remember
Daeida Magazine.
It's been a Donna friendly publication forever and has had some really
good interviews with people who worked with Donna, like Harold
Faltermeyer. Keep that site bookmarked because they are planning
something for Donna's birthday. David didn't say exactly what they are
planning, but I know whatever it is will be worth the wait. :-)
(Also when you get to the YouTube clips below - David is the one who
pointed me to an awesome Lucky cover that I am throwing in as a bonus
clip.)
[JUN 30] If you have ever wondered about the sources used for some of
Donna's remixes.... well
here is an article that might explain why original source material
may not always be available. Apparently Universal Music Group had a fire
back in 2008 and they lost a whole bunch of masters and things dating
from the 1940s on up. Now Donna isn't mentioned specifically, but
the article is an interesting look at how UMG is (or was) prioritizing
its search for replacement copies of the lost material. It's also an
interesting look at the label's dealing with the artists in the
aftermath of the fire and it shows how we may never truly know exactly
how much music as lost.
[JUN 30] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him live at the 58th annual
Philadelphia Folk Festival August 15-18, 2019. Details are on the
festival website. Now if a cruise is more your thing, Bruce will
also be playing the On The Blue Cruise April 1-8,2020 with lots of other
great bands. Those details
are
available here.
[JUN 30] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up is a rare
treasure. It's an
interview with Donna filmed backstage at the filming of the original
(UNRELEASED) video for Dinner With Gershwin. There are even a few
clips from that unreleased video. :-) Then we have
Don't Cry For Me Argentina - this one is from Regis & Kathie Lee,
but I vividly remember Donna bringing down the house at Carnegie Hall
with that one when she performed for GMHC. :-) (I'm pretty sure
they filmed that show - I'd love to know who has that video!) Then we
have one for the ladies out there (and maybe some of you men too):
The Man I Love (My Man Medley). And moving on to the theme of love,
we have
Love Is The Healer live on The View, the
I Feel Love video from 1977, and Klyk's extended mix of
I Got Your Love.
I think we should throw in
Stamp Your Feet
this week too. (Sometimes you just have to make a big ass sound!)
And I can't leave without adding
I'm A Rainbow
to this week's list. :-) And one final bonus that was brought to
my attention this week - Paul Ybarra's cover of
Lucky.
It's a REALLY nice down-tempo version of the song (and for those who are
interested - he didn't change any pronouns.)
[JUN 30] I'll be back hopefully tomorrow night with the new Summer Fever
Pick.
[JUN 23] Happy Sunday all! Boston - did you have fun the other night?
:-) The annual Donna Summer Roller Disco Party happened on Friday and
fortunately the rain let up so the party could actually go on without
anybody drowning. :-) If you have Facebook, you can read
some of the posts
here. I imagine in a couple of days we'll see some more photos and
things from the event. Now if you want to see something from
before the event - check out this
interview with Robert "Omega Red" Grant - the guy behind the party.
:-) (On a side note - he filmed all the prep for the interview as well
as the interview itself. So if you are interested in the behind the
scenes of radio interviews - check it out.)
[JUN 23] OK - who remembers a project called Spinning Gold? It was to be
a movie about Neil Bogart and Casablanca starring Justin Timberlake
(among others.) Well, it's been so long since we've heard anything
about it that I was fairly sure that it was shelved. Well, the
project is NOT shelved - in fact they start production in July.
Justin Timberlake isn't in it anymore, but they have Broadway actor
Jeremy Jordan playing Neil. You can check out most of the rest of the
cast
here, but I'll warn you now all they say about Donna is that a "top
young singer" will be cast in the role.
[JUN 23] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his
full length
interview for the ArtistFirst Radio Network. And then if you want to
hear some music check out Bruce live on the couch:
It Took A Long Time To Get Here.
[JUN 23] Johnnyswim fans - they have added Live On The Green in
Nashville to their list of dates. The event runs from August 29 to
September 1. Check out the
event
website for the full lineup, schedule and ticket info.
[JUN 23] That brings us to YouTube. First up is a rare clip of
Donna singing
Last Dance on Dick Clark's Live Wednesday 1978. If I recall, that
episode was actually pre-empted by the World Series baseball game. (Or
something like that. I remember being excited that Donna was going
to be on Prime time TV and then it didn't air - at least not by me.
(Remember kids, that was back in the olden days when we couldn't get
OnDemand streaming and none of our dinosaurs had wifi. LOL)
Speaking of Dick Clark and 1978, here's the edited version of Donna
hosting
American Bandstand. (Wouldn't it be cool if the whole version of
that show came out one day?) Then we have Donna's
1978 interview
with Rona Barrett,
A
Man Like You like on the Midnight Special (1978),
Last Dance (and Donna talking about TGIF) from the Midnight Special,
and
I
Feel Love from that same show.
[JUN 16] Happy Sunday all and happy Father's Day to all the dads out
there! Let's start with the musical today. Summer: The Musical has
added Durham, NC (February 25 to March 1, 2020 at the Durham Performing
Arts Center) and Washington DC (July 22 to August 2, 2020 at the
National Theatre) to the national tour. For tickets to those (or
any other stop on the tour) head to
the
musical's website.
[JUN 16] In the Donna is everywhere category... there is a museum in the
Netherlands called the Philips Museum. It's dedicated to the
history of the Philips company from it's early days in the late 19th
century making lightbulbs, through it's growth into a major company that
makes a heck of a lot more things - including Philips Records. In
one display, they show off a record player and to round out the display,
they have a couple of record albums displayed with it. One of those
albums is Bad Girls. :-)
[JUN 16] Bruce Sudano fans - he just posted a new lyric video on
Facebook for his song
Your World Now (from 21st Century World).
[JUN 16] Johnnyswim fans - the duo are still out there on the road
working their butts off.
Check here for
dates and check out
their
Instagram for pics from the tour. Also, on their
Touring Toddler YouTube channel, they have added a couple more
videos of Joaquin and friends exploring a couple of cities on the tour.
[JUN 16] That brings us to YouTube. It's Father's Day so let's go with
that theme tonight. First up, Donna singing
Papa Can You Hear Me. Then we have an interview with
Donna and her parents. Then we have a couple of clips of Donna with
Bruce (the father of her kids)...
On
The Radio (unplugged) and
Worth The Wait (live).
[JUN 9] Greetings all! First things first - if you donated to my MS Walk
this year, you can expect a little package from me in the near future -
maybe as soon as tomorrow depending on how far away from you you live.
[JUN 9] First up - NME has posted their list of the
20 Best Disco Songs of all time. It's a rather unusual list - they
don't automatically throw in Gloria Gaynor or the Bee Gees. They
actually take a deeper look into the genre. And the list starts
with - you guessed it - I Feel Love. :-)
[JUN 9] Stereogum has just a list of
8 Memorable Covers of The Queen Of Disco, Donna Summer. Some
of them may be ones you are already familiar with like Blondie's version
of I Feel Love, or Dusty Springfield's Sometimes Live Butterflies.
But here's one I never expected - Shooter Jennings cover of Born To Die.
I have to wonder how a country boy found such a deep early Donna cut?
:-) You can
read more about the project here. Or you can
read the movie treatment here (in PDF format.)
[JUN 9] Now here is something a little..... um... different. Apparently
back in 1979 Casablanca and Marvel thought about collaborating on a film
project (that ultimately never happened.) The plan was to
simultaneously release a film, album and comic all based on a character
called The Dazzler. Among other interesting casting choices (Bo Derek,
Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, KISS and Village People), the
film would have has Cher (as the Witch Queen) facing off against Donna
(the Queen Of Fire).
[JUN 9] On to something more serious for all you Bruce Sudano fans.
Bruce is live on his couch again - this time with a work in progress
called
See You When I Get There. I think it's a song we can all
certainly relate to, about missing those we have lost.
[JUN 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since tonight is Tony
night, let's look back at Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. So
here is the cast performing at
last year's awards. And here they are performing at the
Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then we have some
rehearsal clips,
some show clips, a clip of LaChanze singing
Friends Unknown, and a short clip of
Last Dance.
[JUN 2] Happy Sunday all - and Happy Pride Month! It's a new month so
it's time for a new Summer Fever Pick.
This month we look at Donna's musicals. And if you have seen that page
before, go see it again because there have been a few updates since the
last time it was posted.
[JUN 2] So there is no Donna news at all..... nope none at all....
UNLESS - you could could a track escaping from the vault!
:-D Cast your mind back to 2008 when we were all eagerly awaiting
the release of Crayons. The original track list included a song called
Run With It. By the time the album actually came out, that song
had been replaced with Fame (The Game). Well, this week somehow Run With
It sneaked out of the vault and now
we can all hear
it.
[JUN 2] Boston - don't forget you have the 6th annual Donna Summer
Roller Disco Party coming up on the 21st. They always have tons of great
music and lots of fun for the whole family, so if you will be in the
Boston area that day, check it out.
[JUN 2] In the Donna is everywhere category - well, in name at least -
designer Fabrizio Viti is now designing handbags. His first one is
called the
Donna bag, after our Donna. :-)
[JUN 2] In the I wish Donna was still here category, A YouTuber
named Steve posted a video mini-tour of the Harpeth Hills Cemetery in
Tennessee. The majority of the video is focusedon the Sudano
plots. If that is something you'd like to see,
it's here. Of
course if you are not into seeing the grave, then move on to the next
item for something more fun. :-)
[JUN 2] Once upon a time, some crazy webmaster (well she wasn't a
webmaster then the web wasn't invented yet! LOL) - well, she used
to record interviews and things off the TV since vcrs weren't a thing
yet either. (Yes, I am OLD! lol) As it so happens, this webmaster
found one of those tapes and by some miracle it actually still plays!
She digitized it this week and you can hear the result on
SoundCloud. (If that link doesn't work for you, try this one to
my Google drive. I think there might be a region problem with
Soundcloud.) There are a few interview clips in that file including the
rebroadcast of the first time I ever saw Donna on the Tonight Show.
Also includes are clips from The History Of Rock & Roll, most of
the interview with Tom Snyder (the show where the videos of Cold Love &
The Wanderer came from), WNBC's Saturday Night Special, and another
Tonight Show. All were recorded in 1981, but the Tonight Shows
were originally broadcast before that.
[JUN 2] And I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the
Summer Fever Pick - let's do some Donna songs from musicals. First
up,
Someone To Watch Over Me (from Crazy For You),
If
There Is Music There (from the unreleased Ordinary Girl), and
My
Life (also from Ordinary Girl.) Then we have
Don't Rain On My Parade (from Funny Girl),
der Wasserman (from Haare), and
I
Will Live For Love (from the unreleased Dreamway Express).
[MAY 26] Happy Sunday all! It's Memorial Day weekend here in
the US which is the official start of our summer (or do I mean Summer?
;-) ) season here. It is also a time to remember all the military
personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their
country. To the families of the lost - I say thank you, and you will not
be forgotten.
[MAY 26] On to the news. In the Donna's music is everywhere, TV host
James Cordon did one of his carpool karaoke segments recently - this
time with
Celine Dion. At about the 2:15 mark Celine spontaneously
bursts out with a couple of bars of On The Radio. Some of you may
remember that James Cordon also did
a
segment with Barbra Streisand a while ago where they did a little
Enough Is Enough.
[MAY 26] Bruce Sudano fans - he's feeling better and celebrating that
with a new edition of Live On The Couch. It's a new song called For The
Sake Of Humanity and you can see it on
Facebook.
[MAY 26] Moving on to Johnnyswim - they performed on The Today Show the
other day and you can watch it online. The song they did was
Bridges from the new album Moonlight. And don't forget, the duo is
still on tour
so make sure you catch them while you can!
[MAY 26] Also in Johnnyswim tour news - as you know they set up a new
Instagram and blog called The Touring Toddler to share their experiences
touring with the kids. Well, they just added a
YouTube channel too featuring Joaquin and Friends in their
adventures in the various cities on the tour.
[MAY 26] That brings us to YouTube. Let's do some interviews for a
change. First up, Donna and Dick Clark on
Good Morning America 1986. Then we have Donna's
interview with Alan Thicke, clips from Donna's 1979 appearance
on 20/20,
a late 80s
interview with Jacob Dahlin, Donna's 1989
interview with
Arsenio Hall, a 1978
interview with Johnny Carson, and a 2008
interview for On
Time TV.
[MAY 19] Happy Sunday all! Can you believe it's been 7 years since we
lost Donna? 7 years! Where does the time go? I posted this on
Facebook on May 17 and I'll post it here for you now. It's my favorite
clip of Donna. She's live with Barry Manilow singing
Could It Be Magic and it looks like they are having so much fun! I
can't watch it without smiling! I have tried to keep it my policy to
remember Donna with smiles instead of tears. I think that's better for
me personally, and I think Donna would definitely approve.
:-)
[MAY 19] Speaking of May 17.... David Foster recently did a Facebook
Live where he was asked about Donna. You can
watch it here (skip to about the 28 minute mark if you only want to
hear the Donna part). For those who can't see it, basically he says she
was a great friend of his for 32 years and that he believes was the only
non-family member to speak at her funeral. But even he hadn't been told
about her illness because she kept it to just immediate family. He said
she went out on her own terms and that he still thinks about her all the
time.
[MAY 19] On YouTube,
The Honest Vocal
Coach takes a look at Donna's live version of Last Dance - one of
Donna's final performances. Her impression summed up in one line:
"Absolutely awesome - that is how you do it!"
[MAY 19] In the Donna is everywhere category,
the LA Times did a profile on photographer Bruce Talamon last
December. In it, he mentions that a session he did with Donna in 1977
became one of the most important ones of his career. (They also show a
photo from the session.)
[MAY 19] Moving on to the musical, Summer picked up 10 NAACP Theater
Award nominations. ( I believe the NAACP Theater Awards have a different
eligibility timeframe than other awards such as the Tonys. That's
why these nominations came now instead of last year.) The awards the
show is up for are: Best Choreography, Best Costumes, Best Ensemble
Cast, Best Music Director, Best Playwright, Best Director of a Musical,
Best Producer, Best Lighting, Best Set Design and Best Sound.)
Congrats to the company of Summer and good luck!
[MAY 19] That will bring us to YouTube. This week I am going to
take a trip down memory lane. Let's start with
Mimi's Song from The Tonight Show - the performance that started it
all for me. Then we have the
1980 special
- the first time I saw Donna in anything other than a guest shot on a
talk show. Next is
Cold Love and
The Wanderer from Tom Snyder's show - the only time I ever saw
Wanderer songs performed live back when the album came out. Next is the
1983
A
Hot Summer Night With Donna - the only full concert I ever got to
see until the mid 90s. (That VHS got a lot of play for many years!
LOL) Then we have the
1995 A&E Biography - the first long form TV profile I saw, and then
we jump ahead to 1999's Live & More Encore. Her performance of
MacArthur Park still makes me grin like a fool. :-) We follow
that with Love Is
The Healer from Divas 2000 where Donna stole the show! And
finally, I did my MS Walk this week at Jones Beach. And every time I go
there I can't help but remember all the times I saw Donna perform at the
amphitheater. So this last video is Donna's
2008 Jones Beach
show from the Crayons tour. (You know, I haven't seen a show there
since... they haven't had anyone I particularly wanted to see...
:-( )
[MAY 19] Finally, as I mentioned above - my MS Walk was yesterday and
you guys ROCK! You contributed over $1000 to fight MS, and I thank
you from the bottom of my heart! I have a few little trinkets to send
out as thank yous, and I will get to that soon. :-)
[MAY 12] Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! He's a
fun fact for you - Donna Summer is the mother of 13. No that's not a
typo. But I'm also cheating. The mother of 13 is
a horse named Donna Summer who has given birth to 13 racehorses over
her breeding career. (Rumor has it - she can't sing a note...
lol)
[MAY 12] If you want some tunes to keep you company while you check out
this update, head over to Mixcloud where DJ Tom Ragu has put together a
104 minute mix of all Donna Summer (the diva, not the racehorse. ;-)
)
[MAY 12] Calling Boston - the annual Donna Summer Roller Disco
Party will be held on June 21 in City Hall Plaza. (Can you believe it's
the 6th annual one? ) They have DJ Vince 1 scheduled to play all your
favorite Donna and disco tunes. O'Mega Red (the host of the event) will
be performing in tribute to Donna, and of course you never know which
members of Donna's family you might run in to. It's always a big
fun street party! If you have Facebook, you can
follow the event here.
[MAY 12] Bruce Sudano fans - well, Bruce has planned to be at
Fridays Creek Winery yesterday. But, unfortunately he caught
whatever respiratory thing is going around, so the show had to be
postponed. (Instead of A Glass Of Red and the Sunset, maybe it's a
glass of Nyquil and the sunset? LOL )The new date has yet to be
announced - in the meantime, feel better Bruce!
[MAY 12] Johnnyswim fans - they are
STILL touring!
And if you want to see something really fun (and different), check out
their new
TheTouringToddler instagram page. Among other things, they currently
have a video of Joaquin giving a backstage tour of the Ryman Auditorium.
(Look closely - Johnnyswim has inherited one of Donna's old touring
cases!) The tour is an "instagram story" so it won't stay up long.
[MAY 12] My annual Walk MS event is next weekend and thanks to your
generosity I will be wearing my new Donna shirt! If you still want to
donate, my link is
here. I am also asking that everybody pray to whatever
God/gods/spirits/imaginary creatures/whatever you believe in that we
have nice weather on Saturday. My team is CVan and CVan herself if
coming up for the walk. She did it last year and it poured rain on us!
This year we are hoping to stay dry! LOL (And while you are at it
- put a hex on my employer who is making my partner in crime work that
day! She usually walks with me so we can harass people with our cameras
together!)
[MAY 12] On to Youtube! What so we want to watch this week? Oh let's go
back to 1979. So will start with a
concert in Japan. Then we have the
1980 TV Special
(it was filmed in 1979 so it counts. LOL) Moving on there is
Donna's 1979 performance of
Bad Girls on Johnny Carson, a 1979 performance of
Last Dance,
Mimi's Song from the 1979 Music For Unicef concert, and a fan video
for
Journey To The Centre Of Your Heart.
[MAY 5] Greetings all! It's a new month so it's time for a new Summer
Fever Pick (a couple of days late...) This month we celebrate all
the colors of Crayons! Oh and
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
[MAY 5] Bruce Sudano fans, don't forget that you can catch him live at
Fridays Creek Winery this Saturday May 11 in Owings, MD. Doors
open at 5PM and who knows? If you ask nicely, he might share A
Glass Of Red and The Sunset with you. ;-)
Tickets are available here.
[MAY 5] Johnnyswim fans - yes the pair on on their annual tour and yes,
you better get
your tickets before they sell out! But they have something new going
on too. There is a
new blog
and
Instagram page called TheTouringToddler where Amanda shares her tips
on touring with the kids (and where you can see more cute pictures of
Joaquin and Luna). So if you are a parent looking for tips on how to
travel with your little ones without going insane - check it out.
[MAY 5] And speaking of Johnnyswim - last week's New Music Monday clip
was
Say What You Will - live from the garage of course. :-)
[MAY 5] That brings us to YouTube and this week I am going to do
something a little different. This week I am featuring unusual covers of
Donna's music. First up, a choral cover of
MacArthur Park by the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. (As an added nice
touch - they have a woman there signing the song as well.) Then we have
an actual ASL cover of
Last Dance from Long Beach Pride 2012. Moving on to a different
style, we have a classical instrumental cover of
I Feel Love by Cherry Mint Koala, we have a salsa version of
On
The Radio by Lucy Grau, we have a jazzy cover of
Hot Stuff by Judith Owen, we have a (mostly) orchestral cover of
Hot Stuff by the Beogradska Filharmonija, we have a "techno
acoustic"
I
Feel Love cover by violinist Vanessa Mae, and finally an
electronic cover of
Love To Love You
by Ry Jays. I don't expect you guys to fall in love with all (or even
any) of these covers, but I just find in fun to occasionally explore
other people's takes on Donna's songs.
[MAY 5] Finally - my MS Walk is rapidly approaching! If you would
like to donate, there is still time! My link is
here. Thanks to all who have already supported me, and to those who
have always supported me over the years!
[APR 28] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with the musical.
Summer will be playing in Nashville May 26 to 31, 2020 at the Andrew
Jackson Hall. So dates are still being announced. :-)
[APR 28] Johnnyswim fans: check out their album review at
PopDust.com, and also check out the podcast they did with
Relevant. And of course, Johnnyswim is
still on tour.
If you want to see them live - grab your tickets as soon as possible
because they WILL sell out. (I saw that so many times, I swear that will
be on my tombstone one day. LOL)
[APR 28] Bruce Sudano fans: he will be back performing in the US on
Saturday May 11, 2019 from 5 to 9 PM at Friday's Creek Winery in Owings,
MD.
Tickets are available here.
[APR 28] Now on to the diva herself! As I am sure you know (unless you
are in denial about your age, like I am LOL) Bad Girls turns 40
this year.
Albumism.com is celebrating the anniversary with a retrospective
about the album. (I celebrated by playing the whole album start to
finish on a loop while I painted my screen porch this week. I have to
say, Bad Girls sounds just as good today as it did in 1979. :-) )
Now if they would just get rid of that red "over 70 minutes of music"
bar on the CD/Digital artwork.....
[APR 28] This is an old listing from 2013, but one of Donna's former
residences was up for sale back then and there are pictures and
videos online from the real estate listings. So if you want to get an
idea of what the house looked like in 2013, check out
this article,
this video, and this
shorter second video. I probably don't need to say this, but I
will anyway - the house sold. If you are in that area, please don't
bother the new owners by trespassing.
[APR 28] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's do some mixes
this time. We'll start off by cheating and going to Soundcloud for
the Angelo Ferreri mix of
I Feel Love. Then it's back to YouTube for an audio only clip of the
Groovefunkel mix of
MacArthur Park. (I give those guys bonus points for adapting the
font from the Mary Tyler Moore Show in their opening ident. :-) )
Then we have
I
Will Go With You (Groovy G Club mix), the Swinging In Summer mix of
Someday,
I
Got Your Love Klyk Extended Dance Mix, and the Razormaid Remix
of
Our Love/Sunset People.
[APR 20] Greetings all! Happy Passover! Happy Easter! Happy Earth Day!
And happy anything else you might be celebrating!
[APR 20] First up this week - Johnnyswim's Moonlight is out and ready
for you to buy or stream from your favorite music outlets! I downloaded
my copy last night and I'm playing it (again) while I work on this
update. (And no, I haven't picked a favorite track yet. At the moment
I'm kind of partial to Bridges, but I might gravitate to something
completely different tomorrow. LOL) And if you want to switch
things up a little, take a break from the album and play the New Music
Monday versions of the Moonlight songs filmed in the Ramirez garage
(presumably while the kids were napping or otherwise occupied. lol) The
latest entry is
Souvenir.
[APR 20] So the new release brings us some iTunes chart news. As I
write this, Moonlight is #7 on the top albums chart, and #1 on the top
Singer/Songwriter albums chart. :-) (Diamonds is there too
at #19, along with Georgica Pond at #32, Heartbeats at #68, and Goodbye
Road at #107.) On the Singer/Songwriter song chart, The Last Time and
Say What You Will are #24 and #25 respectively, and Souvenir is #42,
Lost In Translation is #48, Flowers is #49, Long Gone is #52, Back
To You is #56, Same Old Thing is #63, Home (from the
Diamonds album) is #83, Moonlight is #86, Toughing Heaven (from
Georgica Pond) is #93, Ring The Bells (from the Goodbye Road EP) is
#104, First Try (from Georgica Pond) is #130, Amanda is #156 and Take
The World (from Diamonds) is #183. I think I got them all? :-)
(Oh, and thanks Amanda and Abner for spelling JOHNNYSWIM in all caps. It
makes it much easier to scan the charts. LOL) You know, I remember
seeing Johnnyswim at a local winery here on Long Island one time when
they were playing a bunch of sets over the course of a whole evening. At
one point Donna and Bruce walked in with some friends. And I will never
forget Donna asking me, "Are they good?" (Of course she knew they were
good - but she wanted a non-mom opinion. lol) I wish she could be
here now to see how well Amanda and Abner are doing. She would be so
proud - and rightfully so!
[APR 20] Oh and of course you all know that Johnnyswim is
still on tour.
(I swear they LIVE on the road! LOL) If you want to see then live
- and I can assure you, you will hate yourself if you don't go see them
live - grab your tickets as soon as you can because they tend to
sell out quickly. Also, give them a follow on
Instagram. You will see lots of cute pics of their kids, and also
they sometimes toss in a surprise for fans - early chances for tickets,
or ticket upgrades..... you never know. And Amanda and Abner, if
you are reading this I have just one suggestion for this tour -
WESTHAMPTON . ;-)
[APR 20] Donna collectors (with deep pockets) we have a fan out there
who has found himself in a situation where he needs to sell off a couple
of his treasures. One of them is a Bible that she actually used to carry
around with her everywhere. It is inscribed with her signature and a
message to the fan. As I write this, we have about 6 days left on the
eBay auction, so go
check it out. I feel sad that he needs to sell it, but I also know
that if there is anybody out there who can give this Bible a good home,
it will be one of you guys. If you check out his other auctions, you
will also find a signed She Works Hard For The Money poster.
[APR 20] Bruce Sudano fans in the UK - don't forget he's only got a few
more dates coming up. So if you want to see him live, you better go
grab some tickets now!
[APR 20] I think that brings us to YouTube. I'm going to start with a
couple of clips that were just brought to my attention and then see
where they lead me. (It's fun to just do a YouTube freefall once in
awhile!) So first up is a performance of
This Time I Know It's For Real from some TV show with a very
enthusiastic audience. Then we have the Harder & Faster remix of
Hot Stuff. And then this one is a little.... unexpected. It's a
reggae remix of Donna's Let It Be cover. I give that one points
for creativity, but since I'm not really much of a reggae fan I don't
think it's a mix I personally will revisit often. But hey, your mileage
may vary. :-) So those clips made YouTube suggest
Donna's country music medley, and that threw me to
Netherlands. After stopping to play that a few times in a row,
I let myself be led to
Donna's Motown Medley, and then a stampyurfeet video for
Take Heart. And I think I'll leave off there or I will be on YouTube
all night.
[APR 20] Finally, my MS Walk is May 18. If you would like to
donate, my link is
here. As usual I have some thank yous to send to my donors. I still
have pens from last year and this year I have added buttons with both my
team's logo and Donna's logo. (Well, one of her logos. :-) )
They are the very same buttons I intend to hand out to the rest of the
team to wear. (They WILL wear them if they know what's good for them!
LOL) And one very cool thing I saw in the news recently is that there is
a new medical breakthrough that should help treat people with MS. I'd
like to think that your generosity through the years has in some way
helped make this new breakthrough happen.
[APR 14] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with the musical. First of all,
the
Summer: The Musical website has finally listed all the tour dates
(so far). New to the list this week, Schnectady, NY (March 24 to 29/2020
at Proctors), Tampa, FL (May 5 to 10/2020 at the Straz Center),
Philadelphia, PA (June 2 to 7/2020 at the Academy Of Music), Detroit, MI
(June 9 to 21/2020 at the Fisher Theater) and Minneapolis, MN (July 14
to 19/2020 at the Orpheum Theater).
BroadwaWorld.com has a short article announcing the tour. (Oh and on
a side note - the new show taking over the Lunt Fontanne in NY is Tina -
another diva musical. :-) )
[APR 14] Bruce Sudano fans - he's still got a couple more dates left to
play in the UK and he's added a November date in Washington DC. For
venues and ticket info, check out
Bruce's site. And if you want to see some of the interesting venues
Bruce has been playing, check out his
Instagram.
[APR 14] Johnnyswim fans - their new album is out FRIDAY! Bust
since you probably want a fix right now, head over to YouTube to check
out their
New Music Monday videos. The last one was for Flowers (from the
upcoming album, Moonlight). I wonder which one they will post tomorrow?
:-) And of course, the pair are still
on tour
and packing the house wherever they go.
[APR 14] I think that brings us to YouTube. You know, this year marks
the 40th anniversary of the Bad Girls album - the anniversary of the
release date falls on April 25th to be exact. So let's celebrate those
songs. First up a live performance of the
title track from 1979. Then we have
Dim All The Lights from Live & More Encore (starting with the
"unplucked" version), an audio of the uncut long version of
Walk Away,
Sunset People from the 1980 TV Special, an audio of
There Will Always Be A You, and wait, I think there is one more
song.... a hit... What was it called again? Oh yeah,
Hot Stuff (live from 2003 I think or maybe 2004).
[APR 7] Greetings all! Let's start with the musical again. Seattle - you
can see Summer: The Musical from December 31, 2019 to January 5,
2020 at
The
Paramount. (December 31 seems somehow appropriate! :-) ) And
Rochester, NY, you get to see the show October 1 to 6, 2019 at the
RBTL Auditorium Theater. The schedule is filling out nicely!
:-)
[APR 7] The 30th Anniversary boxset release of
Another Place & Time is out. You can check out the review from
Attitude magazine here.
[APR 7] Bruce Sudano fans - catch Bruce live in the UK now! He's got
about a half a dozen more dates this month, so check out
the list and hit a place near you.
[APR 7] Also - you can hear Bruce speak about Giorgio Moroder in a new
BBC World Service documentary about Giorgio. You can listen to it on the
BBC website for
the next month. (And yes, the link works outside the UK because it's
audio only.) Oh and surprise - they grabbed some clips of Donna talking
about her time with Giorgio too.
[APR 7] Moving on to Johnnyswim (who are still
on tour by
the way), this week's New Music Monday was a song called
The Last Time from the upcoming album, Moonlight. You WANT to hear
it! :-) (And I can't want to see what they pick for tomorrow.)
Also, check out their interview on
1010 WINS.
[APR 7] I think that brings us to YouTube. I think in honor of the
Another Place And Time anniversary box set, we should do some APAT
clips. First up a clip with some
behind the scenes footage from the album photo shoot. (watch for
Donna being silly. LOL) Then we have audio of
Love's About To Change My Heart (Pete Hammond 12" mix),
DJ
Moch's APAT Tribute Megamix,
This Time I Know It's For Real from Live & More Encore,
Love's About To Change My Heart live on Arsenio Hall, and
I Don't Wanna Get Hurt from Top Of The Pops.
[APR 7] And on a final note, my walk to fight MS is May 18. If you
would like to donate,
my link is here. I even ordered a new Donna shirt to wear this year.
But you won't see it if I don't reach my goal! :-)
[MAR 31] Happy Sunday all! First up - the April
Summer Fever Pick is up. This month we
are Live & More (Encore)!
[MAR 31] We have more dates for the musical. From December 3 to
19, 2019 it will be in San Francisco at the
SHN Golden Gate Theater.From April 14 to 19, 2020 it will be in
Baltimore, MD at the
Hippodrome. And on May 19 to 24, 2020 it will be in
Greenville, SC at the
Peace Center.
Hey, and if you are a performer and think you have the chops to be one
of the Donnas (or even one of the other roles) in the touring
production,
Playbill has posted an audition date and location. (You have to be a
member of Actors' Equity if you want to audition.)
[MAR 31] Johnnyswim fans - this is a good week to be a fan! First of
all, New Music Monday is back. This past Monday they posted
Bridges live from their garage. They followed that up a couple of
days ago with an audio stream of
The Last Time (featuring Michael MacDonald). On Wednesday they were
live at Paste
Studios - a performance you can see on YouTube. And then on Thursday
they were live at
Billboard - that one is on Facebook. Don't forget that the pair are
on tour
most of the summer, and the new album, Moonlight, comes out April 19 at
all your favorite music places.
[MAR 31] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the new
Summer Fever Pick, let's play some tracks from Live & More Encore. First
up is what was then a brand new song,
Nobody. Then from Ordinary Girl, we have
My
Life and
If
There Is Music There. And from the infamous "unplucked" section -
I
Don't Wanna Work That Hard. And finally on an unrelated note,
apparently today is National Crayon Day. So in honor of that, we
have
Crayons live in Brooklyn.
[MAR 24] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off with the musical. I
have created a section on this page with a list
of known dates and locations so far. I'll update that as more
performances are added. :-) And speaking of updates to that list -
this week sees the addition of
Chicago,
Pittsburgh,
Boston, and
Atlanta.
[MAR 24] On to Donna herself. If you have Facebook and follow
Nathan DiGesare, you might have run into this
interesting post. And in case this link doesn't still work (or if
you don't have Facebook), Nathan said: "Best part of my musical
journey has been the honor of working with Donna Summer...a friend that
has left us too soon. We wrote many songs together, but I Will Live For
Love was my favorite. I remember like yesterday working on this vocal
with Donna in my studio. As it came to the final chorus, she would look
and give me a happy smile. We played it over and over that evening
knowing that God gave us something special...a beautiful song. This
performance with the Nashville Symphony was truly the intent and style
we envisioned when writing." And then he linked to this
awesome clip
that I'm sure you have all seen of Donna performing with the Nashville
Symphony. (I always KNEW that song as written to be a ballad! LOL)
He also added an even more interesting
dropbox link.
[MAR 24] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him performing in the UK through the
month of April with Colin Blunstone. Check
his site for a list of dates and venues.
[MAR 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of
I Will Live For
Love, let's look at some ballads this time. First up,
A
Song For You from a TV appearance. Then we have audio for
Sometimes Like Butterflies,
La
Vie En Rose live in Paris,
Sand On My Feet live in 2008, and a fan video for
Netherlands.
[MAR 24] And finally - once again I am walking for MS. If you would like
to donate, my link is
here. And I will have thank yous to send to my donors after the walk
is over on May. :-)
[MAR 17] Happy St. Patrick's Day all! And to the people of New
Zealand... I have no words that are adequate for what you are going
through. But please know that good people everywhere stand behind you.
And I hope that some day we figure out how to stop these sort of
mass-killings from happening.
[MAR 17] In musical news, Summer The Musical will be performed at
ASU Gammage in Tempe , AZ January 7 - 12, 2020.
[MAR 17] In the Donna is everywhere category, Grand Analog has a song
called
Donna Summer.
[MAR 17] Johnnyswim fans - don't forget that the duo is on tour and
those tickets are going FAST. Check the list of
dates and places
here.
[MAR 17] Check out Bruce Sudano's lyric video on Facebook for
September In Your Eyes from The Burbank Sessions. That should help
tide us all over until the new music comes out. :-)
[MAR 17] That brings us to YouTube. Let's do some really early stuff
this week. Let's start with the audio for
Sally Go Round The Roses and
So
Said The Man. From Haare we have video of
The Flesh Failures (jump to about 2:33 to see Donna), and audio of
Der Wasserman. From a rare early TV appearance we have
Black Power - this particular clip combines the actual footage of
Donna with some other stuff to fill out the whole song. (In the TV
show the song mostly played behind the scene that was going on.) And
from Godspell we have an audio clip of
O
segne Gott meni Seel.
[MAR 10] Happy Sunday all! I guess we can start with the musical. Summer
will be in
Denver, CO at the Buell Stage January 28 to February 9, 2020.
And it will be at the Fox Theater in
St Louis, MO January 15-26, 2020.
[MAR 10] Bruce Sudano fans - mark your calendars for November 4. That's
when Bruce will be playing at the O Mansion in Washington DC.
Also, Bruce has been spending lots of time in the studio lately, so you
know what that means - new music on the way!
[MAR 10] I'm sure many of you remember a few weeks ago that I was
talking about an episode of the REELZ Autopsy series that was
about Donna. The show has found its way to
YouTube for
those of you who didn't get to see it. I highly recommend watching
some of your favorite Donna clips afterwards to put your mind in a
better place. At least if you are watching the show now, you are going
in with the knowledge that they will be discussing Donna's death -- that
fact was a very unpleasant surprise for those of us who watched it when
it first aired. We were all just expecting a regular artist profile
along the lines of Behind The Music, etc.
[MAR 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week we have a
new mix: the JQ Trance mix of
Could It Be Magic. Then we have an audio only
concert from 1977
featuring one of the earliest performances of Last Dance, a
1995 concert
from Brazil, and finally, my favorite clip of
Could It Be Magic with Donna and Barry Manilow. (If that REELZ
Autopsy show depressed you, this clip should make you smile!)
[MAR 2] Happy Saturday all! It's a new month so it's time for the new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we are
going blonde for some Mistaken Identity. ;-) (Ok, maybe I'll just
be blonde in my head...)
[MAR 2] We have new dates for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. It will
be playing
March 31 to April 5, 2020 at the
Schuster Center
in Dayton Ohio. It's also coming to the
Playhouse Square in Cleveland, OH October 8 to 27, 2019.
[MAR 2] Mary Gaines Bernard fans - don't forget that she is performing
Friday March 8 (THIS FRIDAY!) at the
Lyric Theatre in Stuart, FL. And in case you are looking for a
little taste of what Mary's show is like, check out this
YouTube promo. :-) I wish I could be there!! (Quick
somebody get me the winning lottery numbers so I can ditch this whole
job thing. LOL)
[MAR 2] Bruce Sudano fans should also save March 8. On that day he
will be a guest on TGIF With Tom & Laura on BBOX radio from 1 to 2 PM
Eastern. And yes, you CAN
listen online!
If you do Facebook, you can check out the show's
page here. (If you like what you hear - be sure to let Tom & Laura
know! :-) )
[MAR 2] If you are looking for fine art prints of Donna (and have deep
pockets)
1stdibs.com has a few things available for sale. If you have a more
modest budget, Amazon has a Donna Summer
adult coloring book.
Of course, if you have access to Photoshop (or something similar),
you can make your own coloring book with the images of your choice.
:-)
[MAR 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. In honor of the new
Summer Fever Pick, let's do some Mistaken Identity clips. First up
is a blonde Donna
live in Yokohama. Then we have Donna
live in Brazil from 1992. Then in the land of shorter clips, we have
Friends Unknown live,
Work That Magic from European TV, a fan video for
Fred Astaire,
Heaven's Just A Whisper Away from the Apollo, and a fan video
for
Let There Be Peace. And finally, I shared this
mystery video
last week. It has nothing to do with Mistaken Identity and I'm
pretty sure it won't stay on YouTube long, so check it out while you
can. It's a full length thing so leave yourself plenty of time to
view it. ;-)
[MAR 2] And finally - I am doing my annual MS Walk at Jones Beach
again this year on May 18. If you would like to donate,
my link is here. I still have lots of pens from last year to
hand out to my donors, and who knows.... maybe I'll come up with
something else to share with you as well. :-) You guys have
always been awesome about supporting my walks and I really do appreciate
it!
[FEB 24] Happy Oscar night all! Some of you may have run into a couple
of tabloid-ish stories about Donna coming out of the UK press this
week. It's all because REELZ is repeating their Donna Summer
episode of "Autopsy: The Last Hours of..." tonight. I will not be tuning
in. I hated it when it first ran, and I'm sure rewatching it would just
piss me off again. LOL (Besides it's Oscar night - I think it's a
law that people have to watch at least part of the awards. LOL)
[FEB 24] In honor of Oscar night,
EW.com has an article listing the 19 best Oscar musical
performances. And yes - Donna made the list with Last Dance.
:-)
[FEB 24] In musical news, the
Washington Post has an article about the recent invasion of jukebox
musicals on the Broadway stage. They discuss a number of the
recent, current and upcoming musicals and while noting that Summer has
some flaws, they seem to get why people like the show.
[FEB 24] Johnnyswim fans - keep checking their
tour list!
They are adding new shows including a just announced date in New York
City. If you see your city on the list - GRAB YOUR TICKETS IMMEDIATELY!
They will sell out fast!
[FEB 24] Bruce Sudano fans - Bruce is
live on the couch again on Facebook. This time he's performing a
classic Brooklyn Dreams tune.
[FEB 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's go with a movie
theme this time. So first up is Donna performing
Last Dance on the Oscars, followed by her performance a few years
later of
Papa Can You Hear Me. Then we have
The Power Of One from the Pokemon 2000 movie,
Ordinary Miracle from Let It Be Me,
Whenever There Is Love from Daylight,
Down Deep Inside from The Deep, Highway Runner from Fast Times At
Ridgemont High, and
Romeo from Flashdance. And finally a
surprise mystery
video that will probably not last long on YouTube. This one is not
movie related. :-)
[FEB 17] Happy Sunday all! This week the news is Johnnyswim. As
you know, last week they released the video for their new song
Bridges. This week they've released the official stream for
the new song,
Flowers. :-)
[FEB 17] As you know, Johnnyswim is
touring this
summer with dates starting March 29 and ending (so far) September 8.
These dates include appearances at the Moon River Festival in
Chattanooga, TN which is now SOLD OUT. This is why I always say that if
you want tickets to see Johnnyswim, you better grab them as soon as they
are available for sale. Those tickets do not stick around long!
(And if you have never seen Johnnyswim live, then you really have no
idea what a treat you are missing!)
[FEB 17] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up - the
alternate version of
Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over). (For those who don't know
where that came from - it randomly appeared on a remastered I Remember
Yesterday. Since it wasn't promoted as an alternate version, I'm
thinking that Universal didn't realize they used a different master.)
Let's keep going with some rare tracks. Next up is
Sometimes Like Butterflies, the b-side to Love Is In Control,
then Face The Music - the b-side to Supernatural Love, and
Tearin' Down the Walls - the b-side to Dinner With Gershwin. Then
there is the lost track
Walk Hand In Hand which has only been released on one or two of
compilations over the years. Then we have the alternate version of
People Talk (with the rap in the middle) and the original demo of
True Love Survives.
[FEB 10] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with the musical. You guys
in the Hollywood area will be able to see it November 5 to 24 at the
Hollywood Pantages. Right now tickets are available to season
subscribers - keep checking their website to see when tickets for
individual shows become available. West Palm Beach, FL - you
will get the musical too, but you have to wait until
April 28 to May 3, 2020. (Yes, I said 2020.) That will be at the
Kravis Center and tickets are not on sale yet. Season ticket renewals
don't start until March then they will sell new season tickets before
they sell individual shows. (If I was there, I'd get the season
subscription - they have a great lineup!)
[FEB 10] Johnnyswim fans - the music
video for Bridges is out now! :-) It's a really cool
video - but I can't describe it in a way that does it justice. Just go
watch it! (And that song is going to be a great addition to their live
shows!)
[FEB 10] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since it's Grammy
night, let's show some clips of Donna at the Grammys. First up,
the
duet medley with Kenny Rogers. Then we have
She Works Hard For The Money performed at the Grammys, and
Donna winning the Grammy for
Last Dance. Then in honor of Valentine's Day this week, we have
Love To Love You on the Midnight Special, the video for
Love Is In Control,
Love Is The Healer live on The View, and a video for
To
Paris With Love. (That's 4 decades of love if you weren't paying
attention. ;-) )
[FEB 2] Happy Groundhog's Day all! The groundhog here is predicting an
early spring. He better be right because I can easily find a recipe for
groundhog stew. LOL It is also a new month, so it's time for the
new Summer Fever Pick. This
month it's time to dance to Another Place And Time.
[FEB 2] As you may know, this year marks the 30th anniversary of Another
Place In Time. And while we all sit here feeling old about that, a 30th
Anniversary boxset has been announced for a March 29th release.
Amazon UK has the
CD boxset which is 3 discs. The first is the album itself and the other
2 are packed with various mixes. The website has the full list.
Banquet Records is also showing a 2 disk vinyl set also available
March 29.
[FEB 2] We have musical news! Miami - you will get to see Summer: The
Donna Summer Musical at the Adrienne Arsht Center on the very fitting
dates of May 12 to May 17. For more details, check the
venue's website. I'm not sure if that will be the official
touring company or if they just licensed the show themselves, but either
way it will be a good time. (And if you need some swag to wear to the
show, the
official
musical site is still selling things. :-) )
[FEB 2] Calling The Netherlands - Carolina Dijkhuizen has just started a
Thank God It's Donna tour. For info and dates, check out
this site.
[FEB 2] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him Friday March 8 on BBOX Radio from
1 to 2 PM (ET) on the TGIF with Tom & Laura show. One of the
hosts, Tom Ragu is a long time Donna fan and a comedian, so it ought to
be a fun show. :-) You can tune in at
BBOXradio.com/listen
or at
bboxradio.dreamhosters.com/player-live.html. And you can connect
with the show on
Facebook.
[FEB 2] That brings us to YouTube. Let's celebrate our Summer Fever
Pick! First up is the video for
This Time I Know It's For Real, and the video for
Love's About To Change My Heart. Then we have a short clip of
APAT footage that includes some behind the scenes footage of the
photo sessions, a playlist for the
CD+G decode of the APAT songs, an
Another Place & Time megamix, the video for
When Love Takes Over You, and the video for
I Don't Wanna Get Hurt which does NOT include Donna.
[JAN 27] Happy Sunday all! It's a pretty quiet week, but let's start off
with Bruce. He's got a video up on his Facebook page of a recent
performance of
Bad Girls.
[JAN 27] Johnnyswim fans - their new album Moonlight is due out on April
19. And don't forget that the
new tour starts
May 3. Grab your tickets early if you want to go because
Johnnyswim tends to sell out FAST! (You have been warned! LOL)
[JAN 27] And that brings us to YouTube. Let's so some long form profiles
on Donna this week. First up is the
2004 Lifetime Intimate Portrait. Then we have the
1995 A&E Biography. And to go with that, we have a live clip of
Worth The Wait. And then there is 1999's
VH1 Behind The Music. To go with that one we have
Junior's Sound Factory Mix of My Life and a SoundCloud file of
No Ordinary Love Song.
[JAN 20] Happy Sunday all! I'm going to start with Johnnyswim this
week. Their new album, Moonlight will be released on April 19 at
all the usual music vendors. With the album is a new single called
Bridges that you can get now - also at all the usual music places.
There are also links on the Johnnyswim website to preorder vinyl, or
bundles including the vinyl, the cd, and other merchandise. But that's
not all - there is also a tour! They have dates listed from early May to
mid-June so far. And they are working on booking more places. SO if none
of the cities listed is close to you, just keep checking back.
Head to
Johnnyswim.com for details on all of the above. And while you
are there, sign up for their newsletter if you haven't yet. Doing so
will get you access to perks like presale codes for concert tickets.
:-) Also, check out YouTube to hear the new single
Bridges.
[JAN 20] Moving on to Donna... let's talk briefly about that REELZ
special from last week. The show was billed as "Donna Summer :
Disco Queen". It was actually an episode of their series "Autopsy: The
Last Days Of...". They ran a marathon of that series the night they
debuted the Donna show and strangely Donna's episode was the only one
that didn't make it clear that the show was about the death of a
celebrity. So.... I know there are some of you that still have a
heard time dealing with Donna's loss. If I would have known what the
show was, I would have given you a heads up so that you would have been
prepared. (Hell, I would have liked to have been more prepared myself
when I tuned in!) Now if you saw the show and know what it's all about -
fell free to skip ahead to the next entry of the update. For those who
didn't (or couldn't) see it, let me give you a short recap.
Ok, so first of all you have to know that REELZ is tabloid TV for the
most part. So a show like Autopsy is looking for scandal. Of
course, it's a lot harder to make something like lung cancer seem
scandalous especially when you compare it to something like drug
overdose, homicide, etc. But they get points for trying, I guess.
LOL So what we have is a forensic pathologist laying out facts and
speculations based on available info. Supplementing him was a
psychologist, and then some Donna Summer experts - Josiah Howard
(author of a Donna biography), Joe "Bean" Esposito (of the
Brooklyn Dreams), Robert "Omega Red" Grant (Donna's nephew and the guy
behind Donna Summer Day in Boston every year), and Peter Muhldorfer
(Donna's ex boyfriend - referred to in her autobiography by a
pseudonym.)
Now the set up of the show is that they spend a few minutes in the
beginning just giving an overview of Donna's career. (Literally - a few
minutes. I think it was 5. ) They combine footage of the
pathologist explaining various things (real info about cancer,
speculation about Donna's specific situation) with clips from interviews
with the Donna experts, and clips of actors re-enacting certain moments
in Donna's life - including her deathbed. (Yikes!) The show is
broken into various segments where they discuss some aspect of Donna's
life and try to link it to cancer somehow. And then they drop a sort of
cliffhanger just before going to commercial. (Literally after a
discussion about how Donna was insecure about her appearance as a kid,
they ended the segment with the question "Did Donna's quest for success
and acceptance lead her on a path to destruction and early death?".
Seriously? How can I explain this? The show kind of reminds me of those
click bait articles you find on the web. You know the type - "Learn the
shocking secret behind blah blah blah" and when you actually click
it, you go through multiple screens to find out that there is nothing
particularly shocking. LOL
Anyway they talk about various things. There is some real info about
lung cancer in general - how it spreads, what the usual prognosis is,
how cancer patients tend to lose weight, etc. But then they speculate on
the specifics regarding Donna. Was smoking a factor? They note
that she was a non smoker most of her life, but also mention that she
worked in a lot of smoky clubs back in the days before they banned
smoking in public buildings. They did a lot of talking about
Donna's weight and how she gained weight in her later years. But then
after doing that, they decide that weight is no factor in lung cancer.
(So then why bring it up? Guess they needed to pad the hour.) They
talked about Donna's history of depression - not as a contributing
factor to the cancer but as a clue as to how Donna might have handled
the diagnosis (and as an excuse to reenact the 70s suicide attempt.)
They also talk about 9/11 and the possibility that the dust in the air
was a contributing factor. (My opinion on that is that it's something
you can never definitively prove one way or the other BUT if the
discussion ends up shining a light on the cancers that the first
responders and recovery workers have experienced and gets them help,
then let's keep talking!)
In the end after a lot of drama that really goes nowhere (because
really, lung cancer isn't scandalous!) they decide that probably the
main factors in Donna's cancer were smoky clubs and genetics, and that
she spent the end of her life privately with her family - EXACTLY THE
WAY SHE WANTED TO.
I did not record the show. It aired twice (so far) and because of
the time it came on, I missed the first half of the first airing and I
was so mad at the tabloid aspect of the show that I spent the second
half yelling at the TV. (My mother actually tuned in to see what I was
yelling about! LOL) When I watched the second airing, I was
taking notes so that kept me more focused. (So I was able to listen
instead of yell! LOL) Honestly - Donna deserves WAY better.
And I find it interesting that REELZ was reportedly deleting negative
comments about the show from their Facebook page. (Apparently a number
of fans were upset that the REELZ website wasn't upfront about the fact
that it was an episode of Autopsy, and posted words to that effect.)
[JAN 20] So let's put REELZ and Donna's final days out of our heads and
look at a real profile of or favorite Diva. About a year ago
Slate's Hit Parade podcast did an episode about Donna. That
one is a true overview of Donna's career. It's over an hour long, but
it's worth a listen. We also have an article from
Pop Dose from 2006, but it's an interesting look at the
Wanderer singles.
[JAN 13] Greetings all! Don't forget that tomorrow we have the REELZ
special at 9pm (ET). You can check the
REELZ website or
your local listings to find out where to find REELZ in your area. (I
found that for me, the REELZ site gave the wrong channel number and I
was better off just checking with my cable company's website.)
[JAN 13] And that brings us to YouTube. Since the temperature
around here is about to drop like a rock, I think we should counter that
with some
Hot Stuff - from a UK TV appearance (and yes, it goes into Bad Girls
lol). Then we have the
Spring Affair/Summer Fever medley live from Brazil. (As a bonus the
clip also has Heaven Knows and Melody Of Love.) And we have
Sand On My Feet live in New Hampshire (featuring the sunset from
Donna's balcony), and the full concert from
Jones Beach
in 2008 (a venue that always brings happy memories of music on the beach
on a warm summer (or Summer) night. :-) )
[JAN 13] Florida - don't forget that Mary Gaines Bernard is performing
her tribute to her big sister at the
Duncan Theater in Late Worth, FL on January 16. Be there! :-)
[JAN 13] Johnnyswim fans - our favorite duo has a new album coming out
soon. They have been teasing it on social media all week. Check their
instagram feed for the video tease and make sure you click each of
the pics to see the song titles. Or you can watch the video on their
website and then sign up for their newsletter (if you haven't
already.) And I believe we will see the teasing stop tomorrow in
favor of an official announcement. :-)
[JAN 13] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him next weekend at the
30A Songwriter's Festival in South Walton, Fl. And check out
his new video on Facebook for
Common Sense. When you watch it, pay very close attention to
the lyrics. They become more relevant every single day.
[JAN 13] And I think that brings us to YouTube. First up a
full length concert from Brazil 1995. (You will love how much
fun she has in some places in the show! :-) ) Then we have the
video for
Fame, and my favorite clip - Donna with Barry Manilow on
Could It Be Magic. ANd for fun, here is Mary featuring Andrew
Christian on
Heaven Knows from her recent show in Aventura, FL.
[JAN 6] Happy Sunday all! And happy belated birthday to Brooklyn
Sudano! Reminder - we have the REELZ special on
Donna coming up on January 14. (So nice to have something to look
forward to on TV again. :-) )
[JAN 6] Let me wrap up the musical coverage (at least until the
tour starts or the West End production starts.) Grosses for the final
performance week (December 30) were $1,094,723 so it ended with a bang.
:-) You can see the
cast's final bows on Facebook. And if it's still there, check out
Storm Lever's takeover of the
Broadway World Instagram feed. (Just look for her name in the
stories bar. It was there as I typed this, but Instagram stories do tend
to disappear after awhile.)
[JAN 6] I wanted to take this opportunity to put Summer's run into some
sort of context. Because it opened so late in it's season, I'm going to
look at both the 2017-18 season and the 2018-19 season - and of course,
just the musicals. Over those 2 seasons we have had 17 musicals
open so far (by my count.) Only 8 of those are still open and some
of those are VERY recent like Kong Kong, Cher, and The Prom.
Looking at the ones that closed, Summer had a pretty good run with 289
regular performances. Going from the lowest to highest number of
performances we have both Getting The Band Back Together and
Rocktopia with 40 performances each. Then we have Escape To
Margaritaville with 124, the revival of Carousel with 181, Head
Over Heels with 188 (that one just closed today), Springsteen On
Broadway with 229, then Summer with 289, Spongebob Squarepants
with 327, and Once On This Island (also closing today) with 458.
That leaves the following shows still open: The Band's Visit which
opened November 9, 2017, Frozen which opened March 22, 2018
(that's Disney's hot property so it may run forever lol) , Mean
Girls which opened April 8, 2018, the revival of My Fair Lady which
opened April 14, 2018, Pretty Woman which opened August 16, 2018,
King Kong which opened November 8, 2018, The Prom which opened
November 15, 2018 and Cher which opened December 3, 2018. And of
course there is still plenty of time for more to open for the 2018-19
season. So in a nutshell, I'm pretty happy with Summer's run -
especially since they are taking it on the road. Yeah, I would
have preferred it to run forever lol but I think this was a pretty
decent run. :-)
[JAN 6] Moving on to the Diva herself. :-) As you know
Donna's birthday was the 31st and that means fans were celebrating - i
ncluding those who work in the media. :-) So the
Daily Beast posted a really nice tribute,
Albumism reposted their profile of Donna, BBC Radio 2's
Sounds Of The 80s played a Donna Summer Mastermix, and a journalist
named Luis Lapuente came out with a book called Historia De La Música
Disco which of course mentions Donna. There is an
article about the book here, but be advised that it is in Spanish.
[JAN 6] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his rendition of
Things Are Changing from his Threefer Madness show at City Vineyard.
[JAN 6] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's watch some New
Year's Eve clips . We have
You're So
Beautiful from Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve 2004,
Could It Be Magic
and
Try Me from the 1977 New Year's Rockin' Eve, Donna on Merv Griffin's
1993 New Year's Eve special, and Donna and company singing
Auld Lang Syne at midnight on the 1976-77 New Year's Rockin' Eve.
[JAN 1] Happy 2019 all! It's a new month so it's time for the new
Summer Fever Pick. This month we look at All Systems Go.
:-)
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