Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “A Lot Of Livin’ To Do” by Sammy Davis, Jr. It’s the wham of Sam, from the musical Bye Bye Birdie. Without Sammy Davis Jr., there wouldn’t have been a James Brown or Prince. He was clearly the most talented of the Rat Pack by a mile…could sing circles around Frank and Dino…and had the moves and comedic talents to make him the total entertainment package. He was in a word, a dynamo! Davis was born into a family of vaudevillians, and he began his career dancing as part of the family act at the age of three. Over the years, he gained popularity as a standout in the act...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dance At The Gym” from the Original Soundtrack of “West Side Story” – Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim Broadway musicals don’t get any better than this! You can keep your Andrew Lloyd Webber with his one song per musical, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim were the real deal! And their musical, West Side Story, has never been bettered. West Side Story was one of the first musicals where dance played as important a role in story development as dialog. The choreography was expertly done by Jerome Robbins, who also choreographed the Broadway stage version. Robbins was fired from the production before it wrapped due to it going over budget. The...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#613 in the Series) is Bobby “Blue” Bland, Two Steps From the Blues Released in 1961, the Bobby “Blue” Bland masterpiece, Two Steps From the Blues is generally considered to be a classic in the blues genre and a must-have disc on your own personal desert island.  While this recording is not an original “album” in the strictest sense of the word since in keeping with a common practice of the day it is actually a compilation of singles, it is a perfect, soulful, bluesy, passion-filled representation of an iconic bluesman at the absolute peak of his powers. Not your prototypical blues artist, Bobby doesn’t play an instrument like Buddy Guy or...