In West African culture, a griot is a musician and storyteller who holds all of the keys to the history of his people. It is the griot’s place in society to share that history through music, entertainment and poetry. The kora is a 21-string instrument that is the chief instrument accompanying a griot. Foday Musa […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “So In Love” by Patti Page
Patti Page was different things to different people. To some, she was the first cross-over country star whose plaintive country hits reached an even wider audience by crossing over into the pop charts (“The Tennessee Waltz”), to others she was a sugary-sweet singer who recorded a lot of dross (“Doggie In The Window”), and yet, […]
Song Of the Day – “If I Had My Way” by Peter, Paul and Mary
They were the original prefab group, put together by their manager much in the same way that The Monkees were. But instead of a casting call, Albert Grossman knew exactly what he was looking for to form his folk group…two bearded guys (one on stand-up bass, one on guitar) and one woman, preferably a blonde, […]
Song Of The Day – “The Magdalene Laundries” by Joni Mitchell
“Turbulent Indigo” was Joni Mitchell’s last great album. That’s not to say that all that followed wasn’t any good, it’s just that “Indigo” was her last consistently good album from beginning to end. Coming in on the heels of a trio of experimental records on the Geffen label – “Dog Eat Dog,” “Chalk Marks In […]
Song Of The Day – “Year Of The Cat” by Al Stewart
So, 2013 is not the year of the cat…it’s the year of the snake, but that’s just the hook that led me to choose this fine tune as the first Song Of The Day of a new year. Besides, the Chinese New Year is still a few months off in the distance…so, Happy Rosh Hashanah […]
Song Of The Day – “Rock On” by David Essex
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Rock On” by David Essex It was the era of T. Rex’s Electric Warrior, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and Lou Reed’s Transformer. Glam rock was all the rage as were Roxy Music, Mott The Hoople and The New York Dolls. And there was also a new brand […]
Song Of The Day – “Wings” by Tim Buckley
My sister is seven years my senior, and growing up she was my biggest musical influence introducing me to artists and albums I would have never otherwise discovered at such a young age. And so it was back in 1972 when she brought Tim Buckley’s album “Goodbye And Hello” home when I was eleven years […]
Song Of The Day – “Requiem For John Hurt” by John Fahey
I buy most of my music these days on line. I either purchase from Amazon where I can take advantage of free shipping, eBay where I can score clean copies of used records or directly from record labels like Polyvinyl and Third Man Records. Earlier today I got a rush and went down to a […]
Song Of The Day – “I Love Blues” by Wes Montgomery
Perhaps one of the greatest guitarists in Jazz, right up there with Django Reinhardt, Grant Green, Charlie Christian, Gabor Szabo and George Benson! Wes Montgomery only walked this earth for a short time, but he left behind a lasting legacy of recordings that never fail to astound. Montgomery hailed from Indiana and idolized the guitar […]
Song Of The Day – “Blues Is A Woman” by Lou Rawls with The Les McCann Trio
Most people remember Lou Rawls for his silky-smooth vocal delivery and his disco era hit “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” but by the time he had that hit in 1976, Rawls had already been recording albums, and yes many hits, for 14 years. Chicago-born Rawls got his start by replacing Sam Cooke in […]
