The Donna Summer Tribute Site

 

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Donna Summer

Last update: March 17, 2024

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

 

 


[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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Quote Of The Week:

[MAR 17]

 "When I'm on a creative binge you can't be around me. I'll walk around with my Dictaphone, be writing lyrics on pieces of paper. Everything is about the song I'm writing."

--  Donna Summer, Blues And Soul November, 1999

Summer Fever Pick
March 2024:

Summer Fever Pick

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