Sirius Satellite Radio’s Channel 77, Broadway’s Best, regularly runs a daily program called “Showtime!” where they play cast recordings from start to finish or as they call it, from Overture to Finale. They run the shows nightly Mondays through Saturdays at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific) and special “matinee” shows on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 2pm Eastern (11 am Pacific). This is a great chance to listen to cast albums from various shows to see if they might be ones you want to buy or shows you might want to try and see. And thanks to the Sirius 3-Day Free Trials, you can experience a couple days worth of shows for free.

On Wednesday, August 13th, 2008, Broadway’s Best on Sirius Channel 77 will be featuring the movie cast album of Mamma Mia! featuring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan. They will be running it for both the matinee presentation at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific) as well as the evening broadcast at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). It’s a great chance to hear the song from the movie as they appear on the cast album (which are different from the performances in the movie.) Even the newly added song to Mamma Mia!, “When All Is Said And Done” features some new lyrics that were not featured in the version used in the movie. You’ll be able to hear here at no cost with a free Sirius trial. (more…)

Last night, Dolly Parton tied with Corey Hart as big name performer/act I’ve seen the most times in concert. Her performance at Humphrey’s By The Bay in San Diego, brings the total of times I’ve seen Dolly Parton in concert up to a total of four times. While four doesn’t sound like a lot, but for me, most artists, I’m quite content to say I’ve seen them once and that’s enough.

Corey Hart is an especially significant act for me because one of his concerts was the very first time I ever went to a concert. I first got to see him way back in early 1986 when his tour of Canada promoting his “Boy In The Box” album finally hit Calgary. I loved the energy and it was just an amazing experience to see. I kind of lost touch with Corey Hart and his music after having moved to Southern California in summer of 1986 until the mid 1995 when I joined an ABBA mailing list of all things and met an Australian online, Luke Rogers, who posted a profile and stated Corey Hart was another artist he really liked and that became a catalyst to striking up a conversation with him.

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SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced that Channel 3 for a two week period beginning July 7th, 2008 will be become the ABBA Channel. To tie in with “Mamma Mia! The Movie” being released this month, SIRIUS is getting in the act in making sure you have access to an all ABBA channel to get your fix of ABBA songs as well as songs from both the original cast recording and movie cast recordings of Mamma Mia.

The limited engagement channel will also feature stories and insights from ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus about their many pop classics which have influenced recording artists for over three decades. ABBA Radio will also feature celebrity fans sharing their favorite ABBA music and personal stories, including stars from “Mamma Mia! The Movie” Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Catherine Johnson, film director Phyllida Lloyd and producer Gary Goetzman, as well as Dionne Warwick, Alanis Morissette, songwriter Desmond Child, Joan Rivers, Brooke Shields, Andy Bell from Erasure, Randy Jones from the Village People, the cast of the Tony Award®-winning musical Spring Awakening, ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson, Per Gessle of Roxette, Nancy Sinatra and Martha Stewart.

Benny Andersson of ABBA in press release issued by SIRIUS said, “Thanks to ABBA Radio on SIRIUS, both new and longtime fans have a place to experience the original music of ABBA, together with the new songs produced for the soundtrack to Mamma Mia! The Movie, in a distinctively innovative way. ABBA Radio allows for our early songs to join the new ones in harmony on SIRIUS’ national platform, and engage all generations of listeners.” (more…)