Disco

What a difference a couple of decades make.On July 12, 1979, a Chicago disc jockey named Steve Dahl took the field before a double-header at Comiskey Park to show the world just how much rock fans hated disco. After ranting a bit about how disco represented everything evil and anti-rock in the world, he piled several hundred disco records on the field and burned them, as the fans chanted lustily.Barely four years after K.C. & the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight" had topped the charts, disco was officially the enemy.

It has been a decade and a half since the Village People had its last hit record. The 1979 bonfire of thousands of disco records after a baseball game at Comiskey Park in Chicago is now ancient history.Yet disco songs have been turning up with striking regularity of ++ late in movie soundtracks and beer commercials. Gloria Estefan performs "Everlasting Love" and "Turn the Beat Around" on her current album of purported pop standards, and both songs have been big hits. Donna Summer and Barry White (yes, that Barry White)

Back when disco raged through the nation's strobe-lighted, mirror-balled dancehalls, Esther Phillips sang, "What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours." For Mike Veeck, it took 22 years. Thursday night, on the anniversary of baseball's biggest marketing blunder, the promoter finally apologized for Disco Demolition Night. Cue Love's Theme. Veeck, now a marketing consultant for the Florida Marlins, asked Harry Wayne Casey, better known as KC of KC and the Sunshine Band, to accept his apology on behalf of the entire disco world.

When Donna Summer answers the phone at her Nashville home, her greeting is gravelly. The "hello" sounds almost muffled. It's around 9 a.m., and apparently her voice hasn't awakened yet. She won't be home too long, anyway, because there's more road work to do. For weeks, she's been traveling the country, doing a round of morning shows, daytime talk shows, a little radio. Surely you've heard by now that the woman known in the '70s as the First Lady of Love and the Queen of Disco has published a memoir called Ordinary Girl: The Journey.

This story was originally published Oct. 6, 1980. The owners of a popular downtown disco thought they had received a rare visit Saturday from rock star Bruce Springsteen -- but hours later, after serving an impersonator and two companions more than $150 in drinks and champagne, they discovered it was a hoax. Before the evening had ended, the disco's owners had called the police because only a portion of the bill had been paid, and one man was arrested. The ruse began about 6 p.m. Saturday when an "agent" for Mr. Springsteen telephoned Girard's disco to say that the rock star was in town and planned to visit the establishment in the 1100 block of Cathedral Street.

Donna Summer With her sassy lyrics and brassy sound, Donna Summer rose to the top during the disco era, winning Grammys and racking up hits. Her singles "Bad Girls" and "She Works Hard For the Money" became anthems for women in the '70s, and after the debut of Crayons in May, she hopes to get a whole new generation grooving to her music. The Queen of Disco takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pier Six Pavilion, 731 Eastern Ave. Tickets are $29-$75. Call 410-783-4189 or go to piersixpavilion.

Fans of Annapolis native and longtime local leading man David Bosley-Reynolds can catch his Olympian performance as Zeus along with his dual role as solid businessman Danny Maguire in Toby's Baltimore Dinner Theatre's area premiere of "Xanadu. " Always charismatic — beginning with the Chesapeake Music Hall, the Annapolis dinner theater that closed in 2004 — Bosley-Reynolds' memorable performances included his nuanced characterization of Jud in "Oklahoma," his Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz," his Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" and his Fred Graham in "Kiss Me Kate" — the final Music Hall performance.

GOOFY GIMMICKThe Chicago White Sox had a blast on Disco Demolition Night, in 1979. Each fan who brought disco records to Comiskey Park paid only 98 cents to watch a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. Between games the records were blown up with dynamite. Chicago had to forfeit the second game after rowdy fans ran onto the field after the explosion.Sports Illustrated for Kids WeeklyMeet Chamique HoldsclawChamique Holdsclaw is a 6' 2'' guard-forward. She can do it all: dribble, drive, shoot, pass and rebound.

Flash back to the '70s, with emphasis on the flash. That's one way of describing the "Limelight Gala" at The Hippo. Several hundred guests crammed the nightclub to see four "disco divas" strut their stuff and belt out their hits from that era - all to raise money for Light Health & Wellness, a nonprofit that helps Baltimore youth and families who are affected by HIV/AIDS. The cause is particularly near and dear to one of those "divas," Debbie Jacobs-Rock, the organization's executive director.