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Donna Summer: She could sing anything,
anywhere, with anyone, at any time.
[JUL 27] Greetings all! Let's
start off with the Boston Roller Disco party again. :-) The Boston
Globe posted an article about it, and if you are on Facebook, the Boston
Arts Festival posted a bunch of photos from that night. (If you are
lucky, you may even spot yourself.) There are also a number of photos on BostonMagazine.com.
[JUL 27] In release news,
Amazon UK (and some other vendors) are showing the 80s albums as being
available for download starting September 1. The label releasing them is
Crimson which is part of the Demon Records Group - the ones remastering all
the 80s stuff. The speculation is that these September 1 listings are
placeholders for the upcoming remasters and as such are subject to change. I
guess we will see when Demon puts out a press release. :-)
[JULY 27] Johnnyswim fans, yes
they are STILL on
tour (and will be most of the year, so find a time and place where you
can go see them), and they are planning to put out a Christmas EP this
year. That release will be accompanied by a Christmas tour. By the
way, if you go to a show - check out the merchandise. Some shows have
special posters available, and most shows have a few limited edition white
vinyl copies of their album, Diamonds.
[JUL 27] And while we are
talking about Johnnyswim, let me point you in the direction of a couple of
new interviews. The first is on StAugustine.com,
and the other is also at StAugustine.com.
(Can you guess which city they were playing? LOL)
[JUL 27] I think that brings us
to YouTube. First up is a Donna tribute story from Trez
Gregory, a live version of In
A New York Minute, a tribute video to Take
Heart, a mix called Do
You Wanna Get Down, a tribute set to The
Way We Were, and Bad
Girls live from Belgium. And then this has only a little Donna
content (you hear her music), but there is a 15 minute clip from a 1978
broadcast of 60
Minutes about Disco music. Specifically it's about
recording a record and then promoting it.
[JUL 20] Happy Sunday everyone!
Are you Bostonians all rested up from the skate party the other night? For
those of us who couldn't be in Boston for the big roller disco party tribute
to Donna, a couple of sites have posted highlights, including The
Fab Empire, My
Fox Boston, and YouTube.
There is even a clip of Donna's nephew Omega
Red performing Angel - the song that features Donna's
vocals. If you happen to be on Facebook, check out the Donna Summer
groups because people are posting their videos.
[JUL 20] In the everybody loves
Donna category, Gloria Gaynor will be doing a Disco
Mania cruise next year and her performance will include a tribute to
Donna.
[JUL 20] Giorgio Moroder fans -
check out his interview on the Chicagoist.
Donna only gets a very brief mention in this one since they are mainly only
talking about his current work.
[JUL 20] Johnnyswim fans, the
pair are STILL on
tour, and of course that means more promotion. :-) So check out
their Last.fm
interview, and their Glide
Magazine interview.
[JUL 20] That brings us to
YouTube. First up is a new
tribute by our friend Suecase Hall, The
Queen Is Back from Ottawa Bluesfest, 14 minutes of Donna with the Nashville
Chamber Orchestra from 2006, She
Works Hard For The Money from RAI, and finally a 2009 acoustic cover
of Bad Girls
from Bruce Sudano.
[JUL 13] Greetings everyone.
:-) Let's start with this little
article. For those who don't feel like clicking, apparently the Demon
Music Group has acquired the rights to the Geffen and Atlantic albums, and
the first one up for re-release (in an expanded format no less!) Is Another
Place And Time because supposedly it has the most bonus material. I do know
there were a boatload of remixes for those songs and it would be nice to get
them all in one collection. :-)
[JUL 13] For those of you
who like to follow the charts, this
blog has compiled Donna's Top 20 hits from 1974 to 1999 im a whole bunch
of countries. The information is presented as an image, so those of you out
there with visual issues that make you reliant upon screen readers will have
to get a little human help.
[JUL 13] Boston- are you up for
a party? On Friday July 18 from 6 to 10 PM City Hall Plaza will be
transformed into a FREE
roller disco party tribute to Donna. They will be playing Donna mixes of
course! and there will even be a couple of drag performers modeling some of
Donna's looks. If you don't have skates of your own, there will be some
there to rent. It sounds like a lot of fun!
[JUN 13] In the Donna Summer
FANS are everywhere category, the Garden
Roses website apparently employs a fan who added the "Disco
Queen" rose to the catalog in Donna's honor. They are said to be a very
bright orange/scarlet color and if the photo is accurate, they really are
really eye-catching!
[JUL 13] And in Gloria Gaynor
news 9you will see why in a second) - she's got an autobiography out called
I Will Survive, and in support of that she has been doing interviews
and things. One, in the Examiner,
concludes with a nice little memory of Donna. (And now you see why I
mentioned it.)
[JUL 13] I think that brings us
to YouTube. First up is an interesting mashup of Donna, Ke$ha, Beyoncé and
Madonna called Love
To Blow You Baby. If you are reading this at your job - save
that link for home. It's not work-friendly. Then we have MacArthur
Park from the HBO special, the JCRZ mix of Driving
Down Brazil, I
Feel Love from the Midnight Special, and the video for Fame
(The Game). Oh wait - and one more video that was just uploaded - Stamp
Your Feet set to soccer (football) highlights. :-)
[JUL 6] I hope everyone is
enjoying their weekend. :-) This week's update starts off with
.. what else? The Grammy Museum Exhibit of course. :-) A few
people have already attended and all I can say is thank god the gowns are
behind glass because I think some of you would have slobbered all over them
by now. ;-) Now, the museum doesn't allow photos to be taken of
the exhibit - which is pretty normal museum policy. It's just like how no
concert venues will allow you to record the shows, and yet YouTube is full
of concert videos. So you know where this is going, right? If you are on
Facebook, you may have already seen some of the photos that aren't being
taken. (Check out the Donna groups - you will find the fans who aren't
taking pictures. ;-) ) If YouTube is more your style, then there is this
video that wasn't shot, and of course I have no photos
on my site. (Wait, was that a hyperlink? How did that happen? ;-)
) Now for those who just want the important highlights, I
counted 9 gowns and 2 wigs. There is a bunch of other cool stuff too, but I
know there is a certain obsession with clothes and PARTICULARLY wigs on the
forum.
[JUL 6] Let's move on to the
land of remixes. Now playing on Soundcloud is the Division
4 Radio Edit of She Works Hard For The Money. It sounds
like they used the vocals from Live & More Encore.
[JUL 6] In the land of covers,
there is a cover of Hot
Stuff that is unlike any version of that song I have ever heard. It
is described on YouTube as the Peruvian Folk version of the song.
[JUL 6] Johnnyswim fans,
they've been working with Lincoln cars on their Dream Ride campaign. Check
out the video they made with Lincoln here.
[JUL 6] I think that brings us
to YouTube. First up, this unreleased
gem (which just happens to fit with the July 4 holiday), then there is
the Danny Howells mix of I
Feel Love paired with lots of club footage, the 1983 HBO
special (taken from VHS), the Patrice Relaxamix of Love
To Love You, and She
Works Hard For The Money from the Grammys.
[JUL 1] It's the first of the
month so you know the drill. The Summer Fever Pick changes.... this time to
Love To Love You Baby. :-)
[JUN 29] Happy week of
celebrations! I know a lot of you were doing Pride celebrations this
weekend, We have July 4 here in the US coming up along with Canada Day for
our northern neighbors. And of course the most important celebration of them
all - the opening of the Donna Summer exhibit at the Grammy
Museum on Wednesday! If you missed that announcement the other
day, just scroll down for the press release. :-) If you
are looking for a tiny little sneak peek, the museum posted this photo on
their social media accounts:
[JUN 29] In cover news, I have
mentioned previously that Aretha Franklin is working on an album
of covers that will include Last Dance. She's promising to
"give you what you are expecting and what you are not expecting."
That is an intriguing promise. They are hoping for a September
release, but that is subject to change since they only recorded about half
the songs so far.
[JUN 29] Johnnyswim fans - they
are still on tour,
and as I keep saying, get your tickets early because they keep selling
out. :-) The pair did an interview with The
Tennessean to promote tonight's show. Check it out - you can find out
what it's like to smack David Letterman with a broken guitar string. (Accidentally
of course!) :-)
[JUN 29] I think that brings us
to YouTube. First up is Patrice's Non-Stop
Hit Mix 2 - over an hour of Donna tunes! Then there is his Ballad
Collection (another hour of tunes!) , Donna on Oprah,
and Donna on Regis and
Kathie Lee (with her dishes LOL). Then in honor of July 4 we have God
Bless America, and The
Star Spangled Banner.
[JUN 24] This just in.... On
July 2 the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles will unveil a new temporary exhibit
called.... (you are gonna love this!) ... Donna Summer: Four Seasons
Of Love. The exhibit will run until Spring 2015 and will
include things like gowns, set design sketches by Donna, handwritten lyrics
and notes, rare photos, some of Donna's art. I'm gonna quote the
entire press release in a second, but I want to say first that if any of you
west coasters are going and would like to share a report - I'll be happy to
publish it! Now let me just stop doing my happy dance long enough to
cut and paste the press release:
|
The GRAMMY Museum Presents
Donna Summer: Four Seasons of Love
Produced By Brian Edwards & Rick Dohler
on behalf of Bruce Sudano, The Sudano Family
and
The Estate Of Donna Summer
LOS ANGELES (June 24, 2014) – On July 2,
2014, The GRAMMY Museum will unveil its latest temporary exhibition Donna
Summer: Four Seasons of Love. Located on the Museum’s fourth
floor, this unique exhibition will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes
look at the iconic career of five-time GRAMMY Award-winner Donna
Summer. This will be the first exhibition highlighting the
career of the legendary “Queen of Disco.”
“Donna Summer galvanized a diverse group of
music fans and she was able to give credibility to a genre of music
that had many skeptics,” said GRAMMY Museum executive director Bob
Santelli. “We are honored to tell her story and help
demonstrate why Donna Summer is not only the undisputed ‘Queen of
Disco,’” but also one of the most successful female artists of all
time.”
On display through Spring 2015, the exhibit,
(produced by client relations rep Brian Edwards and Summer’s
son-in-law Rick Dohler, on behalf of Bruce Sudano and the Sudano
Family) will feature artifacts from The Estate Of Donna Summer
including:
- Gowns and
costumes designed by Summer;
- Set design
sketches, also created by Summer;
- Handwritten
lyrics and notes;
-
Never-before-seen photographs spanning Summer’s entire career;
- Several
hand-painted pieces from Summer’s critically acclaimed Summer Fine
Arts Collection;
- And more
Donna Summer rocketed to international
superstardom in the mid-1970s when her groundbreaking merger of
R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and avant-garde electronica
catapulted underground dance music out of the clubs of Europe to the
pinnacles of sales and radio charts around the world. Maintaining an
unbroken string of hits throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, most of
which she wrote, Summer holds the record for most consecutive double
albums to hit #1 on the Billboard charts (3) and first female to have
four #1 singles in a 12 month period; three as a solo artist and one
as a duo with Barbra Streisand. Donna Summer was the first artist to
win the GRAMMY for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (1979,
"Hot Stuff") as well as the first-ever recipient of the
GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording (1997, "Carry On").
In 2004, she became one of the first inductees,
as both an Artist Inductee and a Record Inductee (for 1977's "I
Feel Love") into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.
Summer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18,
2013, less than a year after her death on May 17, 2012.
“In 1978, Donna received the GRAMMY Award for
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, her first major industry
award,” said her husband Bruce Sudano. “Donna’s
relationship with The Recording Academy was very special to her. On
behalf of our daughters Mimi, Brooklyn and Amanda, and the extended
family, we are truly honored to have the GRAMMY Museum host this
amazing tribute to Donna’s legacy.”
www.donnasummer.com
Museum admission is $12.95 for adults;
$11.95 for senior citizens (65+); and $10.95 for students with I.D.
(ages 6 – 22) and members of the military. GRAMMY Museum members and
children 5 and under are admitted free. Located at 800 West Olympic
Boulevard, Suite A245, Los Angeles, CA 90015, with an entrance off of
Figueroa Street, the Museum resides within the L.A. LIVE campus, at
the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street in downtown
Los Angeles. For more information, please call 213.765.6800 or visit www.grammymuseum.org.
For exclusive content, join the organization's social networks as a
Twitter follower at www.twitter.com/thegrammymuseum
and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thegrammymuseum.
About The GRAMMY Museum
Paying tribute to music's rich cultural history,
this one-of-a-kind, 21st-century Museum explores and
celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative
process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the
history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music —
the GRAMMY Award. The GRAMMY Museum features 30,000 square feet of
interactive and multimedia exhibits located within L.A. LIVE, the
downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment and residential district.
Through thought-provoking and dynamic public and educational programs
and exhibits, guests will experience music from a never-before-seen
insider perspective that only The GRAMMY Museum can deliver. |
[JUN 22] Happy Sunday
everyone. :-) Let's start off with one more photo from the mural
celebration in Boston last week, courtesy of the Boston
Globe. (It also made their photos of the week page.)
[JUN 22] Remix fans, our very
own fanmixer Q has returned with his mix of Our
Love.
[JUN 22] Johnnyswim fans: there
is a nice interview in the
Saratogian, and another in the Boston
Herald. And don't forget, the pair are on tour, so check out the
list and if they are coming to you - grab your tickets
EARLY! :-)
[JUN 22] Bruce Sudano fans,
check out his new song, Alone, on YouTube.
And stay tuned, because later this summer Bruce will be taping something for
Voice Of America. Also check out these new dates (opening for the
Zombies):
8/13 John Burns Park - Massapequa, NY
8/14 Birchmere Music Hall - Alexandria, VA
8/16 Paramount Hudson Valley - Peekskill, NY
8/16 Westhampton Beach PAC - Westhampton Beach, NY
[JUN
22] Vienna Dohler fans - check out her new songs on YouTube, Bruise
and You And I.
Both are original songs. :-)
[JUN
22] That brings us to YouTube. First up is an hour
megamix of Donna music by Patrice, an extended mix of Adonai,
Donna on Tavis Smiley,
and a half hour
profile on Donna .
[JUN 15] Happy Fathers' Day to
all the dads out there!
[JUN 15] First up some sad
news. Casey Kasem, the legendary voice behind American Top 40, passed away
today. I have very fond memories of listening to him count down the
top hits every week (especially since so many times, Donna was on the
countdown.) My condolences to his family, friends and fans, and to quote the
man himself - keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.
[JUN 15] Moving on to Donna, as
you know the Dreambuilders Youth Project completed a mural of Donna at her
former high school. This past Friday, they unveiled the mural with a special
reception. You can see BNN News' report on the mural on Vimeo,
and you can see a few photos on the Dreambuilders Youth Facebook
page. There was also a performance by Rainere Martin who plays
Donna in shows like Legends In Concert. She has posted a number of clips on
her YouTube
channel.
[JUN 15] ARTE in France ran a
special on Donna the other night. Some of you may be able to see it online
here. It is a region-restricted video, and I can tell you right
now it doesn't work in North America.
[JUN 15] Cultura.nl
has an interview with the person who painted the flames on Donna's Rotterdam
costume. It's in Dutch, so if that's not your language, you need to find a
cute guy (or girl - whatever floats your boat) from the Netherlands to
translate. ;-)
[JUN 15] The Disco
Soul Gold blog has an interview with Jeanette Wilson - someone who used
to work with Donna as a stylist/personal assistant.
[JUN 15] If you want to hear a
cool tribute to Donna, check out Bad
Girl by Kevin Saunderson & Inner City. Note that the title is singular
- it is not a cover of Donna's song. This is a new song that pays tribute to
Donna.
[JUN 15] I think that brings us
to YouTube. Let's start with Pete Waterman's tribute
to Donna (with help from his new 16 year old artist, James
Graham). It features Love's About To Change My Heart re-imagined as a
ballad. I would have loved to hear Donna try it like that at least
once. Then we have the entire John
Walsh Show with Donna, Chaka Khan and Grandmaster Flash. (That was taped
over the course of 3 days - watch the audience change for each guest.
LOL) Also check out Donna singing Let
It Be, a rehearsal
segment for Divas 2000, and an audio only video for the Rollo
& Sister Bliss mix of I Feel Love.
[JUN 8] Greetings
all! :-) Let's start with some timely info. On June
13, as I'm sure many of you know, the Jeremiah E Burke High School in
Boston is holding an event to celebrate Donna, and to unveil the mural
they made in her honor. You can read more about the event and see the
mural here.
[JUN 8] There is a report on
Facebook that the Demon Music Group has signed a deal to remaster and
reissue the post-Casablanca albums. Now it's way too early for release
dates or even details about the releases, but all I can say is that it will
be nice to see the Geffen albums get a little love for a change. (Not to
mention Another Place And Time, and Mistaken Identity!)
[JUN 8] Here's one to make you
laugh. Imagine Donna Summer showing up on the same list of musical artists
as AC/DC, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, etc? Well she did. But it was a list
of artists banned in the former Soviet Union in the 80s. You can see
the whole list here.
(Hmmm, my top 2 divas are both on the list. IS that a good thing or a bad
thing? LOL)
[JUN 8] Ok Johnnyswim fans, I'm
going to say it again - if you plan to catch one of their
shows, get those tickets early! They are still selling out everywhere
they go. If you need a fix now though, check out these recent articles
from TheUnion.com,
the SFExaminer,
and LAist.com.
[JUN 8] I think that brings us
to YouTube. First up is Philippe's video remix for How
I Feel. (That was a song from the musical The Me Nobody
Knows, for those of you who can't place it.) Then we have Supernatural
Love (plus interview) from Soul Train, some live footage from Rotterdam,
2001, She Works
Hard For The Money live from the Tonight Show, and finally a clip of
Dinner
With Gershwin.
[JUN 1] Happy Sunday everybody.
It's June 1 so that means 2 things. First of all, it's time for the new
Summer Fever Pick. This month it is Lady
Of the Night. Of course June 1 is also the start of LGBT
Pride month, so I expect that there will be lots of Donna playing at events
everywhere. :-)
[JUN 1] There's nothing
really going on at the moment, as far as Donna is concerned anyway.
But I do want to pass along some info from the Fan
Club. Apparently there was a glitch with a few of the recent merchandise
orders. The issue has been fixed and the missing orders are going out this
week. Also - and this affects EVERYBODY (in a good way!) - the fan club
merchandise will be redesigned some time this summer. So if you want
the original designs, you better order soon because once the new designs are
out, the old ones will be retired.
[JUN 1] So let's move on to
Johnnyswim. :-) They have a new video for Home.
It very nicely captures the spirit and energy of the song. You can see it on
the YouTube link I posted, but if you watch VH1 or CMT, keep your eyes open
for it there too. :-)
[JUN 1] The
Seattle Times has a short but good interview with Johnnyswim to promote
last night's concert.
[JUN 1] And don't forget that
Johnnyswim is currently on
tour. I keep saying this (but only because it's true) if they are coming
to your area, grab your tickets as soon as you can because the duo are
selling out everywhere and you do not want to miss the chance to see them
live. And if you haven't grabbed your copy of Diamonds
over at Amazon
or iTunes,
well then I just don't know what to do with you. ;-)
[JUN 1] That brings us to
YouTube. First up is some rehearsal stuff from the Enough
Is Enough sessions, a video for I
Remember Yesterday, a Stampyurfeet video for the dance version
of La Vie En Rose,
rehearsal footage of I
Don't Wanna Work That Hard, and the video for Fame
(The Game).
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