OCTOBER 24

Gloria Gaynor is nostalgic for her days as Queen of the Discos (pictured), but she’s not overly excited about the current ’70s flashback. “What seems strange to me is that the clothes are also back in style,” she says in her new autobiography. “My feeling is that I did my time in those clothes—bell-bottom trousers and platform shoes. Never again.” And she did do her time, three weeks at the top of the Billboard chart in 1979, with disco’s greatest hit, “I Will Survive.” Gaynor’s anthem also lends itself to the title of her autobiography (natch), which chronicles her childhood in the nether lands of New Jersey and her rise as one of the National Association of Discotheque Discjockeys’ sanctioned divas. While she admits to partaking in the decade’s popular iniquities (taking more than a few tokes of marijuana) and building a soaring bank account (she dubs herself “seriously rich”), she insists that she has remained humble. Now, Gaynor’s saving all her love for the One who’s loving her as a born-again Christian. Lucky for us, Gaynor reports that God has given her the OK to sing her secular hits along with inspirational gospel songs. She signs copies of I Will Survive from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at Vertigo Books, 1337 Connecticut Ave. NW. FREE. (202) 429-9272. (Tina Plottel)