MADONNA FRIDAY: FUTURE LOVERS/I FEEL LOVE FROM THE CONFESSIONS TOUR

My favorite opening number to my favorite concert of all time. Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour was an absolute feast for the eyes and ears and it opened with a bang. Future Lovers also was a standout track on her amazing Confessions On A Dance Floor album and the perfect song to set the tone for the tour and, as an added bonus, Madge mixes it seamlessly with the classic Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder track I Feel Love. I Feel Love is the precursor to all modern EDM/dance music that we know and love, so it was a no brainer. The mix is brilliant and her entrance to the stage is something to see. The concert film (available on iTunes HERE and SOOOOOO worth purchasing/renting) actually does a great job capturing the feel of the live show. Check out Future Lovers/I Feel Love below and have a happy Madonna Friday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS GRACE JONES

Grace Jones has been giving us life since the days of Studio 54, and today she turns 67! The model/singer/actress/fashion icon and all around crazy person is one of the last surviving and thriving icons of the glittery disco era still kicking it with the avant garde. Jones was born May 19, 1948 in Spanish Town, Jamaica before moving to New York at 13. From there she took the modeling world by storm, eventually moving into a career as a singer, then an actress. She appeared in such films as the camp classic horror Vamp, the Bond film A View To A Kill, Conan The Destroyer and Boomerang. Her biggest hits include her silky disco cover of La Vie En Rose, her ode to butt sex Pull Up To the Bumper and the amazing and classic Slave To The Rhythm. This bitch is FIERCE! Below are some fun videos of Grace, including her performing Slave To The Rhythm for The Queen of England at her Jubilee celebration while.....well.....just watch. She was 64 at the time. Keep that in mind. The last video is of what I consider to be Grace's masterpiece, Williams Blood, a song about the history of her family from her 2008 album Hurricane, written with Wendy & Lisa.  Anyhooo.......Happy birthday, Grace!!!

NEW BETH DITTO (WITH THE SHOES) - SUPERNATURE

Cerrone is a very famous French  disco drummer, composer, record and producer. His main success was during the 70s and he is highly regarded and influential in that time and genre. Recently there have been several remix projects of his music and Beth Ditto and The Shoes have taken part in The Best of Cerrone Productions with the bonus track remix of Cerrone's most famous hit Supernature. Beth nails it, as per usual, and the result is pure disco, EDM heaven. Listen below.

NEW MUSIC: GIORGIO MORODER FT. KYLIE MINOGUE - RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

Legendary producer Giorogio Moroder (Donna Summer, Irene Cara, Blondie) is coming back with a new album this year called 74 is the New 24. Clever. The first single from that upcoming project is a dico-fied ditty with none other than Kylie Minogue herself. Who better to sing on a dance track than one of the sexiest modern day disco divas? It's a tasty confection that will have you shaking your groove thing. Take a listen to Right Here, Right Now and try not to move to it. You can get the song on iTunes. There's no release date yet for 74 is the New 24.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: ABBA

I've totally been on an ABBA kick this week, so here we go. Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Ani-Frid, also known as ABBA, were, believe it or you're stupid, and ARE one of the biggest selling groups in the history of music. The Swedish pop sensations have sold over 375 million records world wide. Yes, OVER 375 MILLION!!! That makes them the eighth biggest selling recording artists in music history. Suck on that. They STILL sell 2 to 3 million records a year and haven't even recorded new music as a group since 1982. Their greatest hits album, ABBA Gold, alone has sold 28 million copies world wide, making it one of the biggest selling albums of all time. They've inspired countless covers, cover bands, and even the musical Mamma Mia!, based on their songs. Their music was also heavily featured in the Australian films Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Not too bad for four quiet kids from Sweden. ABBA is arguably more popular than ever, especially in the US where the official craze never hit like it did everywhere else. Although, they did ring up several top ten hits and a #1 with the classic Dancing Queen. ABBA are clearly influential in many forms of pop music (like Madonna's sampling of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) for her song Hung Up) and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 for their enduring legacy on popular music. There's no doubt we'll be hearing their songs for generations to come. I mean, they're just so damn fun!! Here are a few of my fave clips from ABBA. The beautiful and reflective Eagle; the wonderfully sad and hopeful The Name of the Game; the insta-classic Dancing Queen; their first international hit, the exuberant Waterloo; and the disco sexiness of Voulez-Vous. Enjoy and remember that "you can dance, you can jive" bitches!

HUMPDAY SEXY SONG: DIM ALL THE LIGHTS - DONNA SUMMER

One of the sexiest songs of all time, Donna Summer originally wrote Dim All The Lights for none other than Rod Stewart! At the last minute she changed her mind and decided to record it herself, eventually reaching #2 on the Hot 100 in late 1979. Dim All The Lights, from her massively successful Bad Girls album, is the only hit single that Summer had written all by herself. The song starts off with a sexy, slow groove and eventually leads into a sustained, heavenly high note (the longest held note, at 16 seconds, by a female artist in Top 40 history) and a disco groove. DATL has its share of risque lyrics as well, like in the bridge, "Do what you want. You can use me all up. Take me bottom to top. Don't leave even one drop. No, no, no. Do it tonight. You know the moments so right. Turn my brown body white. Come on dim all the lights." You little vixen!! For sure one of the sexiest songs of Donna's career, and that is saying something, and one of the sexiest songs to ever hit the Hot 100, here is Dim All The Lights. Hump a victrola.

MADONNA FRIDAY: DEEPER AND DEEPER

Madonna's Erotica album, as I have noted before, is often thought of as all sex and no substance by those who didn't ever bother giving it a try, yet one of her most effective dance singles ever came from the underrated masterpiece, Deeper and Deeper. Released as the second single from Erotica in December 1992, Deeper and Deeper is a straight up call to the dance floor, hearkening back to Vogue, Causing a Commotion and Express Yourself. The song also, in part, follows Madonna's pattern of including a Spanish influence on her albums with the breakdown in the middle featuring acoustic flamenco guitar and castanets. Ole'! And DO NOT forget that Deeper and Deeper also references Vogue at the end of the song with the "Let your body move to the music. Let your bodY go with the flow" refrain. YAAAS! The video for the song, directed by Bobby Woods, features many of Madonna's friends including Sofia Coppola, Udo Kier, Debi Mazar and has Madonna, playing a character inspired by Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick, dancing in a nightclub, partying with friends and eating bananas. Ha! CAMPTASTIC! Madonna also debuted a new look: No eyebrows! She looks fierce, y'all!!! Deeper and Deeper climbed to #7 on the Hot 100 and was her 15th #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US. Critics have called it one of her best Disco inspired singles ever. So, here is your dance-happy Madonna Friday song, Deeper and Deeper. Enjoy and Happy Madonna Friday!

HAPPY MONDAY SONG: TAKE YOUR TIME (DO IT RIGHT) - S.O.S. BAND

I mean......this song is A-MAH-ZING!! Right on the verge of the "Disco is Dead" movement of the late 70s/early 80s, S.O.S. Band released a disco song that was so undeniably good that no one could resist it. Granted, there is some funk in there too, but let's all face facts, she's a disco number, girl. Take Your Time (Do It Right), released March 18, 1980, shot up the R&B chart (Then the Soul Singles chart) to #1, hit #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and #3 on the Hot 100. Even though this is the only real hit S.O.S. Band ever had, I would say it's a pretty good one to one-hit-wonder it on. I'm sure you agree. Listen below and shake your groove thing. You can do it. Take your time. Do it right. Enjoy and Happy Monday!!!

ROBIN GIBB, ONE THIRD OF THE BEE GEES, DEAD AT 62

Wow. First Donna Summer and now Robin Gibb. Robin was one third of the amazingly successful group the Bee Gees, along with brothers Barry and Maurice. Maurice and Robin were actually twins! Barry, who sang lead vocals on most of the big hits, is the only remaining member of the Bee Gees. Robin also had several solo hits in the UK and Europe. Sadly Robin had been fighting colorectal cancer for quite some time and passed away yesterday. Robin was actually the lead singer of the group in the beginning, the 1960s, but shared lead with Barry on their monster dicso hits. Of course, Robin and his brothers place in the history books is firmly planted and never going anywhere. They helped define a decade. Enjoy these hits.

MADONNA FRIDAY: IN MEMORY OF DONNA SUMMER. FUTURE LOVERS/I FEEL LOVE

Truly one of my favorite parts of any concert I have ever seen, Madonna opened her 2007 Confessions Tour with this amazing mashup of her Future Lovers with Donna Summer's I Feel Love. FLAWLESS!!! Quite an entrance by the Queen in this one too!! I saw this show at Madison Square Garden and when Madonna appeared I went nuts!! Everyone did! What a great way to pay tribute, especially for this particular song which wouldn't exist if not for I Feel Love, to the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. It's very rare that Madonna pays homage like this, so you KNOW she must love her some Donna Summer. Long live the Queen of Disco. Watch and love and enjoy this wonderful Friday. LOVE!!

R.I.P. DONNA SUMMER. YOU ARE A LEGEND

Donna Summer, the undisputed Queen of Disco, has died. She was 63. Donna began her long and illustrious career way back in 1968 with a production of the musical Hair which took her to Germany and lead to he meeting her future super producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellote. Together they ruled the 1970s and disco with countless hits like Bad Girls, Hot Stuff, MacArthur Park and her very first mega-hit Love to Love You, Baby. Summer transitioned smoothly from the disco backlash to have one of her biggest hits in 1983 with She Works Hard for the Money. She continued recording and scoring hits on the dance charts throught the 90s and 2000s, with her last full length album, Crayons, released in 2008 and hitting #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and giving her a #1 Dance Club Play song Stamp Your Feet. Donna's voice, strong and clear, is one of the most recognizable and strong voices in pop music history and will surely be heard until the end of time. I don't remember that last time I attended a dance that didn't end with Last Dance ushering everyone out of the room. What a sad, sad day. I spent many, many hours dancing around my room to Donna Summer, even recently, and she will be greatly missed the world over. Here are a couple of wonderful songs to remember and celebrate the life of a legend, the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer.

IT'S DISCO THURSDAY!!!

So I have been reading a fascinating book about disco and how it was influenced by AND had influence on women, African Americans, and gays. Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture by Alice Echols is a great read if you are interested in how music can shape society. Very cool. Anyway, it's got me thinking about how much I love disco and hearing some of those songs when I was...um....as a thought of a gay-by waiting to be born into the universe. So here are some of my all-time fave disco songs. I love the 70s. So kitschy!!!

FLASHBACK: MORE, MORE, MORE - THE ANDREA TRUE CONNECTION

Truly one of the sweetest sounding songs about doing porn ever. Awwwww. More, More, More became one of the most enduring songs of the disco era without most people even knowing it was about porn. "But if you want to know how I really feel. Just get the cameras rolling. Get the action going." Oh, my. If only they'd thought about it, they could have figured it out pretty easily because Andrea True, the track's singer, was a bona fide porn star. True (going by various names including Inger Kissin, Andrea Travis, Catherine Warren, Singh Low and Singe Low) came to New York from Nashville as a teenage to become a movie star. She didn't quite meet that goal, but did end up on film. Winning!!! She appeared in more than 60 hardcore films from the 70s to the early 80s. Winning???? In 1976 True asked her friend Greg Diamond, a record producer, to fly to Jamaica, where she was doing an ad for a real estate business, to record some music. He brought the music for More, More, More and Andrea wrote some lyrics. The rest is sexy history. Originally only released to discos, the song was too big to be held down and was released commercially in the summer of '76. It hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 in the UK. True never quite replicated the success, though her song NY, You Got Me Dancing hit #27 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in '77, and she went back to making porn. That didn't last too long because, now in her late 30s, she was a little long in the tooth for the industry. She lost her ability to sing due to a goiter that developed on her vocal chords, and that was that. More, More, More had a resurgence in the late 90s when Canadian group Len sampled it for their hit song Steal My Sunshine and again when it was used as a promo for a season of Sex and the City and in a retrospective which you can watch HERE. But nothing quite beats the sight of Andrea herself working a 70s short-suit on Top of the Pops. Check her out below in all her disco-whorieness. AMAZY!! The song is still perfection if you ask me. Even if you don't. When is Porn-Pop coming back?