
Donna Summer: She could sing anything, anywhere, with anyone, at any time.
[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)
MEMORIAL NEWS PAGE
OLD NEWS ARCHIVES
|