Ray Manzarek, Founding Member of The Doors, Passes Away at 74 Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away today at 12:31PM PT at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74. At the time of his passing, he was surrounded by his wife Dorothy Manzarek, and his brothers Rick and James Manczarek. Manzarek is best known for his work with The Doors who formed in 1965 when Manzarek had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with poet Jim Morrison. The Doors went on to become one of the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, selling more than 100-million albums worldwide, and receiving 19 Gold, 14...

  Saturday Night Live Says goodbye to Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and  Jason Sudeikis. It’s starting to turn into a tradition… last season’s finale was a musical number that said goodbye to fan-favorite Kristen Wiig. This year music again was used as a way of tipping the old chapeau to three additional favorites, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis.  Someone’s going to be wearing big shoes this fall. I hope they can fill them. Bill Hader departure had been made official earlier in the week. Jason Sudeikis’ was expected as he was not even planning on staying past the presidential election.  Fred Armisen’s leaving also cannot be considered a surprise.  Seth Myers is taking over the Late Show...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Bloop Bleep” by Gary McFarland Gary McFarland towed the line between samba infused light jazz and orchestral mood music. He was a vibist from California who was known as much for his vibe playing as he was for his arranging and orchestrations for others. After serving in the army where he took up trombone, trumpet and keyboards, McFarland settled on the vibes and began fronting an orchestra that backed the likes of Anita O’Day, Bill Evans and Stan Getz. He also recorded notable sessions with Bob Brookmeyer and Gary Burton. McFarland began to make a name for himself as an artist after recording a 1963 album with Bill Evans called The...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Karn Evil 9 1st Impression” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer There was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’m not talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hadrosaurus, or even your garden variety Pterodactyls. These dinosaurs wore coats of proggy sounds typified by 20 minute epic-length, multi-movement suites of music. These were dinosaurs that went by names like King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Genesis, PFM, The Moody Blues and Yes. There was no pretention in what they were doing, yet many of them were very, very pretentious. And if you were a rock fan of the 1970s, you ate it up. You loved it. There was nothing better. But a funny thing happened...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Undo The Right” by Willie Nelson “If you can’t say you love me say you hate me / And that you regret each time you held me tight, If you can’t be mine forever then forsake me / If you can’t undo the wrong, undo the right.” Totally brilliant in its simplicity! And so is this demo recording made for Pamper Music, the music publishing company owned by Ray Price and Hal Smith. Only Willie Nelson could put this song over so matter of fact, and that’s why he is not only considered one of the greatest songwriters of all time, but also one of the greatest song stylists bar none....

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#858 in the Series) is Telekinesis, Dormarion (Merge Records) It is May 3rd, and I’m just saying it right now. This will be the album of the summer. Hailing from Seattle, Telekinesis (Michael Benjamin Lerner’s one-man show) has just rocked my life with the new album Dormarion. Sometimes I struggle with writing the same thing about all the bands I like. They’re all good for pretty much the same reasons: folksy, rootsy, soulful, rooted, vintage, twangy, jangly, whatever. Telekinesis is different, and not necessarily my usual fare. But man is it good. They’ve got driving, bright acoustic guitar, a bit of gravel in the voice, an oh-ohoh-oh right away. Right away I know...

Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Just Dropped In” by Tom Jones Tom Jones just released his 40th album this week called Spirit In The Room. It was released last May in England and has finally gained a release stateside. It is also the second “mortality” album he’s released in a row. The “mortality album” occurs when a rapidly aging heritage artist is matched with a hip (younger) producer, who in this case is Ethan Johns. (Johns was also at the helm for his last “mortality album” Praise And Blame.) The producer acts as a mentor to the artist and who curates the record by choosing the songs that not only will give the artist credibility with...

  Phil Lucafo’s One Block East, the first solo album from one of the founding members of the legendary country-rock band Heartsfield is finally here! Phil was responsible or partly responsible for many of Heartsfield’s better known songs such as “The Only Time I’m Sober Is When You’re Gone,” “Pass Me By,” “Gypsy Rider,” “I Like It A Lot” and “Rock and Roll Farm.” “The Only Time I’m Sober Is When You’re Gone” was just recently covered by a new band called Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters featuring Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and Ministry’s Alain Jourgensen. Yes, all these years later and Phil and co-writer Perry Jordan’s song is indeed still relevant. One Block East  features some Indie Folk-Rock/Pop songs...

Earl Pionke, known even more around the Chicago music scene as “The Earl of Old Town” has died. He passed away this afternoon April 26th at 2:30 PM. For years Mr. Pionke owned the popular “Earl of Old Town” pub in Chicago that spawned the careers of many future household names such as John Prine, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc and many many more. The news of Mr. Pionke’s passing was announced by his close friend Marina Jason: “It is with deep sadness that I must report that Earl J.J. Pionke died this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. There will be no funeral services as Earl requested that his body be donated to the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois. The family...

  “If You’re Not Moving Forward Then You’re Going Backwards.” That saying has long been vibrating off many of our eardrums. Yes, it’s even bounced off ours here at “Cool Album of the Day” when those eardrums weren’t vibrating with good music.  Hence we officially announce the formation of our independent record label branded “Cool Album Productions.” Our first release with be April 30th with the first solo album titled One Block East from former Heartsfield lead guitarist, songwriter, lead vocalist Phil Lucafo. More releases are plan and will be announced in the future. Phil Lucafo was responsible or partly responsible for many of Heartsfield’s better known songs such as “The Only Time I’m Sober Is When You’re Gone,”...