Donna Summer: She could sing anything, anywhere, with anyone, at any time.
[APR 28] Greetings all! And a belated Happy Passover to those who
celebrated! First up, some people have been getting their copies of the
Japanese Singles Collection. One fan posted an
unboxing video, so you can see what it looks like if you haven't
gotten yours yet.
[APR 28] Forbes posted its list of the
best 30 disco songs. Donna made the list several times.
:-)
[APR 28] And speaking of great songs... Donna's bad Girls album turned
45 this week. (Yes we are all old! LOL) In honor of the
occasion,
uDiscoverMusic posted an article about Bad Girls.
[APR 28] Those of you planning to go to the
Donna Summer Disco Party in Boston this year - the date will be June
27, and it will be at City Hall Square once again. They are advertising
special performances from Mary and Omega Red, with DJ Vince1 taking
charge of the rest of the music for the night. So if you want to
go, start making your plans now.
[APR 28] Bruce Sudano fans - Talkin' Ugly Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies is
now available on cd and vinyl in all your favorite places such as
Amazon. (paid
link) Also, you can still vote in the
Americana Highways
poll for favorite album of March. Voting ends on May 5.
[APR 28] Johnnyswim fans - our favorite duo has been spending this
weekend celebrating the 10th anniversary of Diamonds. Part of that
celebration includes an auction of some artwork on
Johnnyswim.com.
The auction closes tomorrow April 29 at 7:30 PM CST. A portion of the
proceeds will go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. And while you are on
their website, if you are looking for a limited edition vinyl of
Diamonds X, that's the place to get it.
[APR 28] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a new
Suecase Hall video spotlighting Donna's country side. Then in honor
of the 45th anniversary of Bad Girls we have the title track on
The Tonight Show,
Hot Stuff from The Dinah Shore Show,
Dim All The Lights live in 1995,
Sunset People from the 1980 TV Special, the
Bad Girls demo that was used in the documentary, and the
Bad Girls demo from Bad Girls deluxe. As a bonus we also have
Bruce's version of
Bad Girls, and
outtakes from the 1980 TV Special. (I love those outtakes!
LOL)
[APR 21] Happy Sunday all! I just got back from a week visiting with my
little 20 month old friend and I have to say that after a week of Baby
Shark, it was a REAL pleasure to come home to my Donna music! LOL!
(My little friend is cute though - her musical taste will develop.) So I
guess we should start with Johnnyswim. Their latest
Songs With Strangers is up. It's a song called Fireflies that's a
nostalgic look back at home, and it's really nice. Coming up tomorrow
should be Swim Or Die where Abner makes merch - unless they are crazy
busy with the Diamonds anniversary. That is this weekend coming
up, so get ready to party Nashville!
[APR 21] Also in Johnnyswim news -
Diamonds X is available NOW for your
streaming pleasure.
It's got all the original tracks plus a whole bunch of commentary and
two previously unreleased tracks: Hollywood, and Keep Me Around.
[APR 21] Moving on to Bruce... Congrats on getting over
2.5 million views for Talkin' Ugly Truth Tellin' Pretty Lies!
[APR 21] Also catch Bruce (with Randy Mitchell) on
No Depression Session where he gets to perform 3 songs and talk a
little about them. The ones he did are How'd You Get Here, Talkin' Ugly
Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies, and Starting Over Again.
[APR 21] Don't forget,
Americana Highways is still accepting votes for your favorite
albums of March 2024. Bruce is currently killing the competition!
[APR 21] I almost forgot! It was
Record Store Day yesterday, so a number of people grabbed a copy of
Many States Of Independence. It comes as a beautiful blue vinyl
edition.
[APR 21] I think that brings us to YouTube. Why not go with the State of
Independence mixes. So we have the
New Bass Mix, the
DJ Dero Vocal mix,
the N.R.G. mix, the
12" Millennium Mix (with Martin Luther King), the
Murk Club Mix, the
Creation Mix, and the
Jules & Skins Vocal mix.
[APR 12] Happy Friday all! Let's start off this week with a video
that just started making the rounds (in various forms) on social media
today. I'll link you to the
YouTube one because it's longer. It is a video of Donna's
"abandoned" house in Tennessee. Now the first thing you need to
know is that Donna had at least 2 houses in Tennessee over the
course of the years that she lived there. The first one was bought
by Tommy Shaw of Styx a number of years ago. There was a TV show
called Flipping Out that showed the Shaws touring the house in one of
the episodes. And you can see photos of the house from AFTER the Shaws
put their mark on it on the
Nashville Lifestyles site. Donna's other house is the
"abandoned" one. You can see a little bit of the interior of that
house in an interview clip for
CBS Morning News. And you can see
Donna and Amanda in the kitchen here. I keep putting
"abandoned" in quotes because if you watch the video, the house is in
pretty decent shape for an empty house, and it still had power. Yes the
windows are boarded up, but that's what you do with an empty house that
is not destined to be occupied. According to the YouTuber, the house is
going to be demoed and replaced by a housing development. That checks
out because the property shows as being sold to a company at the end of
2022. Plus there are online news stories from 2021 talking about
rezoning the properties on that street. (And no, I'm not going to
provide the address here. Even though it's easy enough to Google
if you really want to, and the family obviously doesn't live there
anymore, I still feel like I'd be doxxing them if I gave out the
address. I know it's silly, but what if one of you has secretly invented
time travel and decides to go back and harass Donna? LOL)
[APR 12] Moving on to Bruce...
Americana Highway is asking readers to vote for their favorite
albums from March 2024. Bruce is on the list of choices. :-) You
can vote for him and up to 2 others on their website until May 5.
Bruce was doing really well in the poll when I last looked. :-)
[APR 12] Johnnyswim fans - the latest episode of
Say Grace
is up. This week Amanda made granola. Monday should be Songs With
Strangers I believe - IF they have time to do it. Abner and Amanda are
gearing up for the 10th anniversary celebration of Diamonds in just a
couple of weeks, so they are a bit busy at the moment. :-)
[APR 12] Speaking of Diamonds - Johnnyswim is putting out a new vinyl
edition of that album that includes an archival interview from 10 years
ago where they talked about what they hoped the album would mean to
everyone in 10 years. This will be a limited edition release. Only 1000
will be printed and the first 500 will be autographed. It will be
offered to people going to the show at the Ryman first. So if you are a
ticketholder to that show, watch for an email with details. The rest of
us should just stay tuned. The new vinyl is pretty! Abner posted a video
of it on his
Facebook.
[APR 12] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with a fun one
from
Ms Mojo listing 20 songs that people think are by someone else. I
Will Survive is on the list, as is Don't Leave Me This Way. LOL (Those
are by Gloria Gaynor and Thelma Houston if you don't know. Oh and mark
my words if you watch The Masked Singer - the Clock is Thelma.
That's my guess and I'm sticking to it.) Moving on to the land of fun
videos, someone on YouTube posted a video for a
DIY version of Donna's Four Seasons Of Love album cover. Also in the
land of fun videos. I love the animated videos of Stor Dubine and since
I haven't posted them in awhile, let me share them now:
Does He Love You,
I Got Your Love, and
Stamp Your Feet.
[APR 06] Greetings all and happy Saturday! Let's start off this
week with Bruce. He finished up his Italian dates and is now doing the
On The Blue New Horizons Cruise to be followed next week with
dates in
Fort Lauderdale and Clearwater.
[APR 06] Also in Bruce news, he did an episode of the
Caropop podcast.
They talked about a whole bunch of things, and Bruce even mentioned
Donna MAYBE getting into the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame. (Fingers
crossed!)
[APR 06] In Johnnyswim news, they are gearing up for the
10th anniversary
of Diamonds at the end of this month. They still have some of their
Take The World packages available, and they have added a little extra to
that package. There are also still some regular tickets to the Ryman on
the 29th.
[APR 06] In other Johnnyswim news, they skipped New Music Monday this
week because they are prepping for the shows at the end of the
month. They should be due for an episode of Say Grace on Monday,
but that may be on hold until after the Diamonds celebrations. But that
would make this a really good time to check out their
previous
videos. Or if you have MAX, go check out The Johnnyswim Show
(2 seasons of that - plus Home On The Road, plus In The Kitchen with
Abner and Amanada) streaming there (and on Discovery+/Magnolia).
[APR 06] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a
1975 radio ad for Electronic Industries Association. (I never
heard that one before!) Then we have
another short with Donna talking about The Carpenters, Donna's 1979
appearance on 20/20, Donna on the
Eddie Rabbit TV special, a
1989 interview for ABC News, and finally almost 9 minutes of
I
Feel Love goodness. :-)
[APR 06] I'll be going away next weekend for about a week so I'm not
sure if the update will be a little early, or really late. So don't
worry if I miss a week. :-) (And if any house robbers are reading
this - I may be going away, but my house will not be empty. The
rest of the family is staying home to wait on my pets and guard my Donna
collection. LOL)
[MAR 31] Greetings all! And Happy Easter to those who celebrate.
Tomorrow starts a new month, so it's time for the new Summer Fever Pick.
For April we will be experiencing some
Mistaken Identity.
[MAR 31] As you probably know, March is Women's History Month. So
SiriusXM's 70s on 7 wrapped up the month with a countdown of the
top 20 female vocalists as voted on by their listeners. Donna came
in at #5 behind Fleetwood Mac (on the list because of Stevie Nicks and
Christine McVie), Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton John, and Karen
Carpenter. You can probably still find that on the SiriusXM app.
[MAR 31] Donna was also spotted this week on
uDiscoverMusic.com in a article that tells the story behind She
Works Hard For The Money.
[MAR 31] In remix news, fan mixer Q has made a new Mellow mix of
I'm A Fire.
[MAR 31] Bruce Sudano fans - check out his new interview with
Vents Magazine. And Florida - don't forget that Bruce has a
couple of
dates coming up in your area.
[MAR 31] Johnnyswim fans - the last episode of Swim Or Die is up now on
YouTube, and tomorrow look for their next New Music Monday at 1PM
Pacific Time.
[MAR 31] Here's a family member I don't get to talk about often ... This
week, Linda Gaines was inducted into the
New England Music
Hall Of Fame. Congrats Linda!
[MAR 31] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's look at clips related
to the Summer Fever Pick. First up, a 1991
concert from Japan (with the blonde wig!) Up next is the video for
Work That Magic, a liveandmore video for
Fred Astaire, another liveandmore video for
Get Ethnic, a tv performance of
Heaven's Just A Whisper Away, and the club mix of
When Love Cries.
[MAR 24] Happy Sunday all! Let's start off this week with I Feel Love.
It was just announced that this song has been officially (and FINALLY)
inducted into the
Grammy Hall Of Fame! This is the first time since 2021 that
any songs (or albums) have been inducted into the Hall Of Fame and this
year's inductees will be honored at a gala/concert on May 21 in Los
Angeles.
[MAR 24]
Singersroom.com has compiled its list of the 15 best disco
songs. Of course Donna is on the list - albeit a bit lower than I would
have put her. ;-)
[MAR 24] Bruce Sudano fans - he is currently in Italy and still has a
couple more
concerts coming up this week. Then he's off to Florida to play
a few shows there. Meanwhile, check out his latest, Talkin' Ugly Truths
Tellin' Pretty Lies which is available in all the places you can get
music.
[MAR 24] Johnnyswim fans - Their latest
Songs With
Strangers posted Monday. It's a song called Bright Side. Tomorrow
they will post a new episode of Swim Or Die where Abner is making
posters that will be available for purchase tomorrow. As always,
their videos (and the merch) drop at 1 PM Pacific time.
[MAR 24] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up is actually a
clip of Liza Minnelli promoting her album, Gently. But she talks
about singing with Donna fairly early on in the interview. Then we
have a fan video of
With Your Love using footage of Donna singing the song combined with
clips from Thank God It's Friday. In honor of the Hall Of Fame - we have
a
VH1 piece on Donna where David Bowie talks about Brian Eno's
reaction to I Feel Love. And of course we have to look at
The Story Of I Feel Love. (Gotta love the quote from Pete where he
says "we never really thought about it being anything special - just a
track on an album." The song has a lot of longevity for "just a
track..." LOL)
[MAR 24] And finally - just a reminder to you guys, I am walking for MS
again this year. If you'd like to donate, my
link is here. But if money is tight, I'll be happy if you spare a
moment to send out good thoughts/prayers for the people who are dealing
with MS. You guys are awesome. :-)
[MAR 17] Happy St Patrick's Day all! Let's start with the confusing
news. LOL So we were expecting a 3 disk (2 CDS and 1 DVD) release
of Japanese singles this month. That got cancelled.
Now CDJapan is listing the Japanese Singles Collection as a 4 disk
set (3 CDs 1 DVD) with a release date of April 24. Let's see what
happens. :-)
[MAR 17] In other release news, Anyway At All has hit the various
streaming services as an EP with the Endless Summer Medley and the
Masters At Work 86th St Radio Edit of I Feel Love. Look for that
in all the usual places you find music to download. And while you
are looking for that, you can also find new mixes of She Works Hard For
The Money for Peloton. There are 4 DJ John Michael Peloton mixes -
the original remix, the extended remix, the instrumental and the club
version.
[MAR 17] Moving on to Bruce Sudano. He has announced a couple of
performance
dates in Italy for this month. If you are in the area (or will be)
go check him out - I'm sure he will be spotlighting songs from the new
album.
[MAR 17] We also have a few new articles out. Look for an interview with
Bruce on
JustListenToThis.co.uk, an interview in
Extra Music Magazine (in Italian), and Bruce posted a question and
answer from Blog Della Musica on
Instagram. (I didn't find the whole interview yet, so that may
be coming soon. ) Bruce is also going to be on
Radio Popolare
on Wednesday March 20 at 3PM (local time).
[MAR 17] In Johnnyswim news, this past Monday they posted the latest
episode of
Say Grace where Amanda cooks chicken and grapes. Tomorrow
should be an episode of Songs With Strangers. videos usually drop
at 1pm Pacific time.
[MAR 17] That brings us to YouTube. In honor of the new digital
releases, we have
The Endless Summer Medley,
Anyway At All live on Leno, the
I Feel Love MAW 86th St mix, and the DJ John Michael Peloton mix of
She Works Hard For The Money. There is also a channel called
Blue Raja that has posted a bunch of Donna instrumentals. And
finally,
something silly I ran into.
[MAR 9] Happy Saturday all! I guess we should get the bad news out of
the way first. As you know we were expecting a
Japanese Singles collection release this month. According to
CDJapan, that release has now been cancelled (although not all vendors
have realized this yet.) While no reason for the cancellation is
given, I'd assume that it's a rights issue and they couldn't get all the
necessary clearances. But that is just a guess.
[MAR 9] Moving on to the good stuff... :-) The
International
Press Academy recently held their awards and they gave Brooklyn an
Honorary Satellite Award for her directorial debut with Love To Love You
Donna Summer.
[MAR 9] In Bruce news, Talkin' Ugly Truth Tellin' Pretty Lies has been
added to the Soul Jazz and Blues playlist on
Spotify (among others :-) ) and
Make The World go Away has hit 1 million views on YouTube.
[MAR 9] Bruce's album is still getting media attention too. Look for an
article on
Foxy Lady Ascolta (it's in Italian but Google can translate it if
you need to),
KTLA has a review, and
Vents has a review too.
[MAR 9] Johnnyswim fans - for New Music Monday they shared a song called
Keep Me Around written in their early days. There is actually a
video from 15 years ago with them singing part of the song. And if
you head to Instagram, you can watch Amanda singing
I
Could Be A Florist. This Monday keep an eye out on YouTube for the
next installment of Say Grace.
[MAR 9] I think that brings us to YouTube. Since this is Oscars
weekend, let's start with some clips of Donna at the Oscars. First
up, Donna singing
Papa Can You Hear Me in 1984, and the
tribute to Ethel Merman from the same show. (Look for Donna to
come out at 3:53.) Then we have Donna's performance of
Last Dance from 1978, and
Paul Jabara accepting the trophy for the song. For something
completely different, the
Get To The Hook podcast talks about the lawsuit against Kanye and
"The Lawsuits That Changed Music."
[MAR 3] Happy Sunday all! It's a new month, so you know it's time for a
new Summer Fever Pick. This month we
are celebrating Another Place And Time.
[MAR 3] Let's start today with Johnnyswim because tickets for their show
at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville next month are on sale now! And they
will sell out fast! There is also new limited edition merchandise out.
Check out
Johnnyswim.com for either merch or tickets (or both!) And then
tomorrow look for a New Music Monday video to drop on YouTube.
[MAR 3] Bruce Sudano fans - Talkin' Ugly Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies is
officially out now - at least the streaming version. Catch that at all
the usual places (Amazon, Apple, Spotify, etc). The CDs and vinyls are
available for pre-order. And of course there is a new video out too. The
title track is available to
watch on YouTube now. It's a fun video - among other things,
Bruce plays chess with himself. (Which is probably cheating to be
honest... LOL) And I know I've said this before, but if the album
cover looks familiar it's because it was taken from one of Donna's
paintings.
[MAR 3] Leading up to the album release, Bruce posted a
video on Facebook where he tells the story behind the track, Two
Bleeding Hearts, and another video where he talks about
the album cover.
[MAR 3] Of course a new album gets reviews! See what
Goldmine,
CrypticRock.com, and
Americana Highways have to say.
[MAR 3] You can also see Bruce on the National R&B Celebration -
On The Sofa with Esther. That is available
on Facebook.
[MAR 3] Moving on to Kanye news... it's official. He's being sued by
Donna's estate. There are a bunch of articles out there, but
Rolling Stone actually has a couple of quotes from Bruce, and
Billboard has a couple of quotes from the estate's lawyers. And
people, THIS is why if you are going into entertainment as a profession
you need to hire a lawyer even before you hire a manager!
[MAR 3] And finally this week - as many of you know, Mary has a
Facebook group for the fans. Well recently (and I don't even know how
this could happen), some random person nobody knew became moderator of
the group. That person blocked a bunch of posts and a bunch of
members.... Now Mary's daughter is left to sort out the mess. (Thank you
Shani!) So if you were in the group and you got booted out - reapply. If
you applied and got rejected, reapply. If you posted something that
vanished, don't take it personally and repost it if it is still
relevant. It's a family over in that group and it's a crying shame
that someone broke in and messed up the place.
[MAR 3] That brings us to YouTube. Let's look at some videos to
celebrate the Summer Fever Pick. So first up is the
Another Place And Time Megamix. (Don't freak out about the Minnie
Mouse vocals in the beginning, they don't last too long. LOL) Then we
have the
CD+G version of the title track,
Breakaway live
from São Paulo,
This Time I Know It's For Real from Letterman, and the video for
When Love Takes Over You.
[FEB 25] Happy Sunday all! Let's start with the Japanese Singles
collection coming to
Amazon (paid link) on March 1. It looks like a 2 cd plus 1 dvd set
along with booklet. Then we have a
1989 profile on Donna, a SAW
Legends Of Pop feature on Donna, and
Pete Waterman speaking about Donna the day after she passed away.
[FEB 25] In other release news (of a sort), Donna's official Instagram
posted a "new" clip of Donna at the piano singing
My Baby Understands. If you saw the documentary, you will recognize
that this clip was filmed at the same time as the one they used of Two
Kids Playing In An Alleyway. :-)
[FEB 25] As some of you have probably heard, Beyoncé came out with a
country song. In fact, she is being hailed as the first African-American
woman to hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Why this matters on a Donna Summer page is that because of the attention
Beyoncé is getting for this, some people have figured out that Donna was
the first African-American woman to co-write a number 1 country single.
That song was, of course, Starting Over Again that was taken to #1 by
Dolly Parton back in 1980. The
NY Post published an article the other day talking about this.
It's nice to see Donna getting her props. :-)
[FEB 25] Larry Flick (you remember, "There are divas and then there is
Donna Summer") wrote a beautiful
article on substack the other day remembering Donna. It's a piece
about their friendship and it reads as a wonderful love letter to Donna.
This one should definitely be on your "to read" list. :-)
[FEB 25] Back in Kanye news again.... The saga of his song Good (Don't
Die) is not over yet. Having pulled the song because of
allegations of unauthorized samples (and yes I'm trying to write this in
an innocent until proven guilty kind of way LOL) ,
Spotify has put the song back. I suspect some lawyers are
going to be earning some serious money soon. Ugh. I would also
like to point out that while I don't think there is a huge amount of
money in streaming (for the artist that is...), there is some money
involved. So take that info and act as you see fit.
[FEB 25] Moving on to Bruce. He performed at Folk Alliance last week,
and one of the songs he did was Starting Over Again. You can see the
video on Facebook and make sure you listen to his introduction to
the song.
[FEB 25] Also in Bruce news, his album Talkin' Ugly Truth Tellin' Pretty
Lies is out on March 1. (It's also available for pre-order at
RecordStoreDay.com.) Check out his
video plugging the album on Facebook.
[FEB 25] In Johnnyswim news, their latest Songs With Strangers is up on
YouTube. It's a song called
Good Enough For Me. Tomorrow they should be posting a new
episode of Swim Or Die where they make merchandise which will be
available on their website.
[FEB 25] That brings us to YouTube. First up Q's Reflected remix
of Reflections.
Then we have Donna singing
Starting Over Again, and a short clip of
her in the studio singing the same song. Up next is the
My Man Medley/The Way We Were live in Japan, Donna on the
Rosie O'Donnell Show, and finally, a video looking at the
Kanye situation.
[FEB 18] Happy Sunday all! Let's get the annoying stuff out of the way
first. Kanye West. As you know, he has been accused of using
Donna's I Feel Love without permission. Well, since that came out
last week, Spotify has removed the song in question, and
so has Apple. (Actually Apple deleted the whole album for a time,
but I wonder if they had to do that to remove the track?)
[FEB 18] So in fun news, some of the
Grammy red carpet footage with Bruce and the girls turned up. They
were asked about a potential biopic and Bruce said they were actually
looking into a doing a limited series instead because that would give
them more room to explore Donna as a musician and as a person.
There are no emojis big enough to represent the grin on my face at the
thought of a limited series!
[FEB 18]
Record Store Day 2024 is coming up on April 20 and this year's Donna
release will be a vinyl called Many States Of Independence. This
is a 12" single with 8 mixes of State Of Independence. You can see the
full list on the Record Store Day website.
[FEB 18] Moving on to Bruce - he just released his acoustic version of
Bad Girls with his Italian band. Catch the video on
YouTube, and the single in all the usual places (Spotify, Apple,
Amazon, etc). And don't forget, his new album, Talkin' Ugly Truth Tellin'
Pretty Lies is due out on March 1 - which is right around the corner.
[FEB 18] In Johnnyswim news, individual tickets for their upcoming show
at the Ryman
on April 29 are on sale now. Grab them while you can! They will sell
out fast! This is part of the Diamonds 10th anniversary celebration, and
most of the VIP tickets are sold out already.
[FEB 18] They have also released a new single - Como Fue (which they did
on a new music Monday) backed with Tomar El Mundo (which is the new
Spanish version of Take The World.) And yes, I'm showing my age
when I say one song is backed with another. LOL You can find both
tracks in all the usual places you get your music. Oh and a bit of
trivia for you - the cover art features Abner's parents on their wedding
day. (Abner looks so much like his dad!)
[FEB 18] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up Donna's
acoustic versions of
On
The Radio and Bad Girls. Then we have an unreleased song,
So
This Is Lonely, the rehearsal footage of
I
Don't Wanna Work That Hard, and
Worth The Wait live.
[FEB 18] And finally - I am doing my MS Walk again this year. If you are
interested in donating,
my link is here.
[FEB 11] Happy Sunday all! Let me start with one time sensitive item for
Johnnyswim fans before I move on to Donna. They are celebrating the 10th
Anniversary of Diamonds this year in Nashville on April 27 to 29. Now
regular tickets for these events are not on sale yet, BUT there are VIP
packages on sale NOW that are selling out fast. All the packages get you
access to all 3 shows and each package has some amazing perks to go with
them. (A tour of Nashville guided by Johnnyswim anyone? )
Check out the packages here, and if you are interested don't wait to
make your purchase! They will all be sold out before you know it.
[FEB 11] On to Donna and you all know the big news is that she was given
her long overdue Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Now, that was not
televised as those awards were given out at a special ceremony the day
before the Grammy Awards. (Although, all the winners of the Lifetime
Achievement and other Special Merit Awards were announced on the main
broadcast. Having said that, camera phones are everywhere, and yes there
is video footage from the Saturday ceremony. Bruce
posted the footage of him and his daughters accepting Donna's award
on YouTube. There has also been a video filmed by Brian Edwards (that
also includes the video that was shown at the awards ceremony)
circulating all over Facebook. LPJ_IS_KOOL has posted
that video on his YouTube channel.
[FEB 11] If you want to see photos from Grammy weekend, Getty Images has
some from
Special Merit ceremony, and some from the
Grammy red carpet. I would like to point out that on Grammy
night, Amanda wore one of her mom's dresses. And at the Special Merit
Awards, Brooklyn wore one. Now I just want to clarify that the
dress Brooklyn wore was altered, so it looks a little bit different on
her than it did on Donna. The neckline was adjusted a but and she wears
it shorter than her mom did. But it IS Donna's dress. That had been
confirmed multiple times. The family was also interviewed on the red
carpet - I know some people saw it on the LA feed, but I haven't found
any interview on YouTube yet. Oh, and if you want to see the
program for the 2024 Grammys, you can
view it
here. There is a page in there for Donna.
[FEB 11] Half the fun of watching the Grammys this year was watching
Amanda's and Brooklyn's Instagram accounts. (And it is unfortunate that
the stories go away after awhile.) You never saw any of them on camera
during the Grammy broadcast because they were way up in the high seats.
Some posts that are still there though are
Brooklyn's post with a bunch of photos, and
Amanda's post where she talks about how her mom never displayed her
awards.
[FEB 11] In other Donna news, She is on the cover of the February
edition of
Arte Magazine in Germany.
[FEB 11] In less fun news, Kanye West has been accused of sampling songs
without permission. Apparently Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have issued a
cease and desist for use of a sample from a Black Sabbath song, and
today Donna's estate posted that I Feel Love was used despite them
actually denying permission to use it. Bruce posted this on his
Facebook page, and it was on Donna's Instagram stories as well. (It's
also being reshared all over Facebook - if you are in any of the Donna
groups you won't be able to miss it.) You can read more at
Stereogum.com,
Deadline.com,
Billboard.com and probably a whole bunch of other places.
Genius.com has a clip from the song in question, Good (Don't Die).
[FEB 11] Let's go back to Johnnyswim again. They are
performing in
Los Angeles on Valentine's Day and it looks like the show will be
streamed on
VEEPS.com. You have the option to buy a "ticket" to the show for
14.99, or you can buy a monthly subscription that gives you access to
all the other things VEEPS offers. Also they will have a new video up on
YouTube tomorrow. This time it will be an episode of Say Grace, so
prepare to start drooling over the food! LOL
[FEB 11] Moving on to Bruce... On February 16, he is releasing his
acoustic version of Bad Girls. He posted a reel on Facebook to
announce it.
Check that out here.
[FEB 11] I think that brings us to YouTube. Let's start with the
official video for
I Feel Love because that is the song in the news right now. Then we
have
Macarthur Park live in 1978,
Last Dance from 1978,
Hot Stuff from Dinah Shore,
Love To Love You Baby,
She Works Hard for The Money live at the Grammys, the videos for
This Time I Know It's For Real and
I
Will Go With You, and
Dim All The Lights from Live & More Encore. And if you are wondering
why I picked those clips - well all of them (and more) were used in the
video the Grammy Awards showed when they gave Donna the Lifetime
Achievement Award. :-)
[FEB 2] Happy Friday all! It's a new month so that means it's time for
the new Summer Fever Pick. This month
we are looking at All Systems Go. (And if the groundhog was right
this morning, we are All Systems Go for an early Spring this
year!)
[FEB 2] It's pretty quiet this week probably because it's Grammy Week.
As you know, Donna will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the
non-televised Special Merit ceremony tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon.
Hopefully she (and the other recipients) will get a mention on the
Grammy Awards Sunday night. UMG congratulated their winners on the
UMG Instagram page.
[FEB 2] In the Donna's music is everywhere category, Hot Stuff was used
prominently in the Netflix show, Griselda.
[FEB 2] Johnnyswim fans - on Monday they posted the new song
Alchemy for New Music Monday. Go check it out now it you
missed it. I think they are due for another New Music Monday this
week... (January had 5 Mondays, so they had an extra one.) An
don't forget you can see them
live in Los
Angeles on Valentine's Day where if you are lucky, you might get to
hear the new songs live. You will also be able to grab some of the merch
they made in their Swim or Die video.
[FEB 2] I think that brings us to YouTube. It's Grammy week, so let's go
with that. First up, Donna opening the 26th annual Grammy Awards
with
She Works Hard For The Money. Next up is Donna winning Best R&B
Vocal Performance for
Last Dance, Donna and Andy Gibb presenting
Record Of The Year, and of course Donna's
medley of Song Of The Year nominees with Kenny Rogers.
[JAN 27] Happy Saturday all! Let's start with Donna.
iHeart
Radio is doing their music awards on April 1. They are asking fans
to vote for their favorites in the various categories and Love To Love
You Donna Summer is nominated for Favorite Onscreen. You can place up to
50 votes per day, and it will let you put in all 50 for the same thing
at the same time if you want to.
[JAN 27] In the land of Donna Summer is educational now (LOL), actress
Da'Vine Joy Randolph told
The Daily Show that she listened to Donna's interviews to learn how
to do a Boston accent for her role in The Holdovers.
[JAN 27] Bruce Sudano fans - catch him
on tour
with The Zombies April 11 and 12 in Florida. I've seen him on the
bill with The Zombies before and it's always a fun show.
[JAN 27] Bruce also added his live on the couch version of Better Than
This to his YouTube channel. So if you didn't catch it on Facebook,
catch it on
YouTube. Also, keep an eye out for new videos. Bruce posted on
Instagram that they are filming something.
[JAN 27] Johnnyswim fans - Monday is right around the corner, so you
know what that means - a new
YouTube video. Last week they did Swim Or Die which featured Amanda
and Abner making a ton of new t-shirts, etc some of which is still
available for sale on their
website.
(Some stuff sold out already - you gotta be fast!) I believe this week
should be New Music Monday (unless they take a week off because there
are 5 Mondays in January.) Usually new videos drop at 1PM Pacific
time.
[JAN 27] I think that brings us to YouTube. First up, a clip I
never saw before of Donna presenting at the
American Music Awards. This one is from 1976 when Donna
was only really know for Love To Love You. Then we have a 1976
clip of Donna performing
Lady Of The Night on TV, the video for
Try Me I Know We Can Make It,
Could It Be Magic from The Midnight Special, and a 1976 performance
of
Love To Love You Baby.
[JAN 21] Happy Sunday all! I guess first up is an article out of the UK
from
Far Out Magazine called Donna Summer's 5 Favorite Donna Summer
Songs. It looks like they got the list from a 2018 article from
LongIslandWeekly.com which in turn was pulled from an interview they
did in 2008.
[JAN 21] You Radio is an on demand radio streaming service with a ton of
different stations to choose from. They have one that is
exclusively Donna Summer music. And unlike other services where a
"Donna Summer radio" would give you songs by Donna and other similar
artists, this one really is ALL Donna.
[JAN 21] In the land of AI is taking over everything (god help
us), there are a couple of AI Donna clips out there on YouTube.
Now I have experimented with AI visually in Photoshop and have found
that the results can be less than stellar. So I wasn't expecting much
from these clips when I listened to them. The first is
I
Will Survive and to me it sounds like what AI thinks would happen if
Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor had had a child together...
LOL The other AI cover is
Padam Padam. That one isn't bad actually. But having said that, I'm
really not into the whole "let's use AI to make new material from a dead
artist." AI is fun to play with, but it can never recapture that
special spark that makes an artist who they are. (And yes, I know that
when AI takes over, that will put me on the hit list from our robot
overlords. LOL)
[JAN 21] Moving on to Johnnyswim. Tomorrow is Monday, so look for a new
YouTube
video from them at 1PM Pacific time. This will be an episode of
Swim Or Die and will feature them making new merchandise. The
merchandise will drop on their website the same time the video goes
live, so if you see something you like, you can grab it. And
speaking of stuff you can buy, They have handwritten lyrics
available for
sale that will ship in time for you to give them as Valentine's Day
gifts. You pick the song, and if you want it written by Amanda or
Abner. I think that's a cute idea for a couple that has a special
Johnnyswim song. Oh! And I almost forgot - they will have signed
copies of Diamonds available for the 10th Anniversary of the album.
But here's the cool thing. They will be signing a bunch of empty album
jackets that will then be sent back to the factory to be filled and
sealed. So the autograph will exist under the plastic, making it a true
collector's item. Keep an eye on their site/socials for details.
[JAN 21] In other Johnnyswim news, Amanda and Abner are on the January
17 episode of a podcast called
50 Fires: Money and Meaning. In it they discuss... money.
LOL (Obviously - it's in the title of the podcast. LOL) But more
specifically, it's about their attitudes to finances and how you make
that work in a relationship because let's face it- n two people have
exactly the same ideas when it comes to finances.
[JAN 21] Moving on to Bruce Sudano... (the holidays are over and
everybody is busy now! YAY!) So as I have mentioned before, his
new album comes out March 1. It's called Talkin' Ugly Truth, Tellin'
Pretty Lies and there is a
trailer for it on YouTube now. Also on YouTube, we have a
blast from the past with the Joe, Bruce and 2nd Avenue track,
We Can Have It All. (Be sure to read the description for the story
behind that.) This is the first time the video for the song has been
made public.
[JAN 21] Bruce was also on a podcast recently called
Out In The Hamptons. Go listen to the whole thing, but one
interesting little tidbit that came out was that Bruce has recorded his
own version of Bad Girls and that will be released on February 16.
Bruce also talks about a bunch of other things - the Donna documentary,
the anniversary of Heaven Knows, the new album...
[[JAN 21] And finally, Bruce has some new representation. He is signed
with
Black Oak Artists now, so if you are looking to book him that's
where you go. Hopefully that means more shows this year!
[JAN 21] That brings us to YouTube. This week I have a bunch of long
form clips. First up is Donna live in
Japan from 1979. This is an audio only clip is NOT the same as the
1979 Japanese
TV
video - it's actually much longer than the video and is taken from a
different performance. Then we have a 1995
VH1 8-Track Flashback featuring Donna, a
55
minute medley of Donna's hits, and a new upload of Donna's
2008 concert at Jones Beach.
[JAN 13] Happy Saturday all! So we are still getting articles about
Donna's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Star Tribune has one,
ThatGrapeJuice.net has one, and
DJMag.com has one, just to name a few. Now I want to be absolutely
clear on this - the Lifetime Achievement Awards are handed out the day
BEFORE the Grammy Awards. So all we will see on the main broadcast is a
brief mention between awards.
[JAN 13] Bruce Sudano fans - he was live on the couch on
Facebook again this time with his most recent single, Better Than
This. Look for Bruce's new album, Talkin' Ugly Truth, Tellin'
Pretty Lies, on March 1. You can read a little about the album on
BroadwayWorld.com. You can see the
cover image
here. (And yes, you do recognize that painting. we last
saw it at the
Christie Auction of Donna's stuff.
[JAN 13] Fans of Bruce's older music will be interested in the
Goldmine interview with Bruce and Joe Bean Esposito marking the 45th
anniversary of Heaven Knows.
[JAN 13] In Johnnyswim news, as you know they have taken on a number of
projects. All of them will be on YouTube and all of them will fall
on Mondays. So the first Monday of the month is New Music Monday.
They did that on January 1 with the new song
Frank Gehry. This past Monday, they posted the cooking video
Say Grace where Amanda made fried chicken and mac and cheese. ( Fair
warning on that one - if you have one of those smart home speakers that
answers to Alexa.... well, Amanda set timers for her cooking a couple of
times n the video using one of those speakers, and the one at my house
heard her on the video and tried to set the same timers. LOL Sure Alexa
heard Amanda, but that bitchy little speaker in my office has trouble
hearing me when I tell her to turn on the lights! LOL ) Next
Monday will be Songs With Strangers. I think they filmed that yesterday
to post on Monday. And then the 22nd they will do Swim Or Die which is
where they make merchandise. They have already posted on their
Instagram stories that they received the blank shirts, etc and the
equipment they need to print them and they have started the work.
The first batch will include shirts that say "Johnnyswim is my
girlfriend's favorite band". They plan to roll out the merchandise
online January 22 and they will have some at their Valentine's concerts
as well.
[JAN 13] Johnnyswim is also working on a couple of special songs for
Valentine's Day. They are doing their own version of the Cuban song Como
Fue, and Abner is trying to translate Take The World into Spanish.
[JAN 13] I think that brings us to YouTube. This week let's celebrate
the Summer Fever Pick. So first up we have a
stampyurfeet video for the title track - featuring lots of cats.
LOL Then we have
Supernatural Love from a 1984 appearance on French TV, the
extended mix of Eyes, the official video for
There Goes My Baby,
I'm Free from a TV appearance, and a 1984 performance of
Forgive Me.
[JAN 5] Greetings all and Happy Friday! And Happy Birthday Brooklyn! So
yes, it's Friday. That's earlier than usual for the weekly update...
Hmmm? Could there be NEWS? Nah... LOL But seriously,
it was announced today that Donna is being (FINALLY) honored by the
Recording Academy (aka the people who hand out the Grammys) a Lifetime
Achievement Award during Grammy week. Now, the Grammy Awards
themselves are given out on Sunday, February 4, but Donna's honor is
part of the Special Merit Awards that are given out the day before on
February 3. You can see more info on the
Grammy site.
Rolling Stone also has an article, as does
UDiscoverMusic.com, and of course
Billboard. And I am quite sure there will be more articles as
the hours go by. :-) I can already tell you that my Facebook
feed is jam packed with posts celebrating the news. Gotta love
that! What a great start to 2024 - which, incidentally, is the
50th anniversary year of the release of Lady Of The Night. I think I
will spend tonight playing my Donna tunes! (Ok, that's not too different
from other Friday nights... but I will have a bigger grin on my face
this time. LOL)
[JAN 5] The other big news this week is Johnnyswim. Now you guys all
know that they are no stranger to hard work - in fact they tour so much
that I was convinced at one point that there was no way they could
possibly remember where their house is. LOL Well, their big news
isn't a tour (yet), but they have a lot coming up. First of all,
after an 8 year break, they have reinstated New Music Monday. The
first one is up now and it's a song called
Frank Gehry. Look for New Music Mondays on the first Monday of
every month.
[JAN 5] You can also look forward to more Johnnyswim cooking with Say
Grace, The Test Kitchen. These will be shorter "more chaotic" cooking
segments. They are also reimaging Songs With Strangers. You may
remember that during COVID, they would write songs based on a
conversation they'd have with someone who was a stranger. It was a
really creative idea that generated some great songs, so they are going
to do that again. You can sign up for a chance to be one f those
strangers on the
Songs With Strangers website.
[JAN 5] Johnnyswim is also back to creating exclusive merchandise. Once
a month they are going to turn their driveway into a "clothing factory"
to produce new merchandise. And I will warn you right now, when
you see new merchandise you like - GRAB it! That stuff always sells out
fast!
[JAN 5] And finally, can you believe it is the 10th Anniversary of
Diamonds? (Yeah, I know 10 years doesn't sound like much to us older
Donna Summer fans who are currently celebrating 50, 40, 30, etc
anniversaries of albums. But 10 years is a big deal too.) In April,
Johnnyswim will be releasing a special edition vinyl of the album, and
there will be a big celebration in Nashville from April 27 to 29.
So you guys all know what you have to do now. Subscribe to Johnnyswim's
YouTube channel to catch all the new videos, and follow their
Instagram for announcements and fun stuff.
[JAN 5] I think that brings us to YouTube. Well, in light of the
Lifetime Achievement Award, I think we should look at Donna's Grammys.
She had 18 nominations and 5 wins. So in chronological order, she
picked up trophies for
Best R&B Vocal Performance Female for
Last Dance, Best Rock Vocal Performance Female for
Hot Stuff, Best Inspirational Performance for
He's A Rebel, Best Inspirational Performance for
Forgive Me, and Best Dance Recording for
Carry On. (You can look at all
Donna's nominations on the Grammy site.) And as an extra bonus, here
is Donna performing the
song of the year nominees with Kenny Rogers, and Donna opening the
Grammys with
She Works Hard For The Money. (*Fun fact - back when I started
this website - when it was just an experiment on AOL to see how hard it
would be to create a webpage - the first bit of news I posted was that
Carry On was nominated for a Grammy.)
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