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

[MAY 5] Greetings all and Happy Cinco de Mayo for all who are celebrating (or who are reposting that old meme with the jar of mayo in a sink.  LOL)  It's the start of a new month so it's time for a mew Summer Fever Pick. This month we are looking back at Live & More Encore.

[MAY 5] So let's start off with Grammy news. As you probably know, I Feel Love is being inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame at the gala being held on May 21. What I didn't realize is that makes Donna the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame AND receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in the same year.  I just wish she was still here to enjoy it.

[MAY 5] In another bit of interesting news, Billboard posted an article about how RuPaul's Drag Race causes songs to increase on-demand streaming of the songs that are used on the show.  In Donna's case, This Time I Know It's For Real got over a 180% increase in streams the day after it was used on the show, and Dim All The Lights earned over a 96% increase the day after it was used.

[MAY 5] Moving on to Bruce, he recently did an interview with Billboard about Talkin' Ugly Truths Tellin' Pretty Lies. Although the album is the primary focus of the interview, the conversation did also touch on the lawsuit with  Kanye West over I Feel Love. RollingStone also picked up on that part of the interview.

[MAY 5] Johnnyswim fans - their New Music Monday video is up. They recorded a video for Hollywood - one of the Diamonds outtake tracks that was brought back for the anniversary release.  Tomorrow is Monday, so if they are not still recovering from the Diamonds events, Abner's birthday, and Luna's birthday (what a packed week!) they should be posting an episode of Say Grace tomorrow.

[MAY 5] I think that brings us to YouTube.  In honor of the new Summer Fever Pick,  let's look at clips from Live & More Encore. First up, the whole VH1 special.  Then we have the video for I Will Go With You, and a live version of the song from Queen Latifah's show.  And then there is Love Is The Healer live on The View, and the Thunderdub mix of the song as well. (That one has extra spoken lyrics.)

[MAY 5] And finally... my annual MS walk is rapidly approaching! Thank you to all who have supported me, both this year and in all the previous years.  If you are interested in donating, my link is here. But I also accept positive thoughts/prayers/good wishes for all who are dealing with this disease.  To quote Christina Applegate, "FU MS."

[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)

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