bootsykowan's Blog

I never look at Reality competitions.  However, just looked up and the program had changed to "She's Got the Look" and it happened to be that belly dancer contestant.  If all the contestants could belly dance then it would be a real competition.  She wins hands down forever.  I love belly breathing, belly dancing, belly babies.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/s
ammydavis.html

Sammy Davis Jr.
(1925-1990)
By Beth Weiss
Son of a black vaudeville star and a Puerto Rican dancer, Sammy Davis Jr. became a world-class actor, singer and dancer. At the age of four he starred in a short act called "Will Mastin's Gang, featuring Little Sammy."

In 1932 he made his debut in the Warner Brothers film Rufus Jones for President. Davis played the part of Rufus, a little boy who dreams of becoming President one day. He continued appearing with the Will Maustin Gang throughout the 1930s.

In 1943 he was drafted to serve in a Special Forces unit during World War II. Davis' autobiography Sammy: An Autobiography, describes in detail the racial prejudice he encountered during his years in the army. This racial prejudice continued throughout his career and lifetime. After the war he was supposed to be cast with Elvis Presley, another war veteran, for Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones. At the last minute the casting was changed, however. Presley later confided to Davis that the change of casting was racially motivated.

Despite these challenges, Davis' career flourished. In 1946 he recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" with Capitol Records. A few years later he opened for Frank Sinatra at the Capitol Theatre in New York. Sinatra and Davis continued their friendship for many years.
Soon after, Davis landed a tour with Mickey Rooney and appeared with Bob Hope in a benefit show. The three performers appeared together at Circo's in Hollywood and on the Colgate Comedy Hour. Davis appeared solo at the Capacabana in New York, and was discovered by Decca Records in 1954. He released two albums with Decca Records: Starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and Just for Lovers.

Davis' career took off in the mid-50s. He appeared on Broadway with the Will Mastin Trio (formely the Will Mastin Gang) in 1956 in Mr. Wonderful. He made solo appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. He performed in The Benny Goodman Story (1955) and Porgy and Bess (1959). His "Rat-Pack" group of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford starred with him in Ocean's Eleven (1960), Sergeants Three (1962), and Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964). Davis also starred in two serious dramas of Anna Lucasta (1958) and A Man Called Adam (1966). He appeared again on Broadway in 1964 in a musical version of Clifford Odets drama Golden Boy. In 1972 Davis made a No. 1 hit on the Top 40 charts with "Candy Man."

In 1954 he almost died in a car accident where he lost his left eye. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor enlightened him on the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Davis converted to Judaism after reading Paul Johnson's A History of the Jews in the hospital. One paragraph about the ultimate endurance of the Jewish people intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three centuries of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush."1

As an African-American, his later affiliation with Judaism sometimes caused him personal anguish. The Jewish community never fully embraced him as a member. After his marriage to Swedish actress May Britt and involvement in the Republican Party, the African-American community ostracized him.

Sammy Davis Jr. continued performing well into the 1980s, despite heavy drinking and drug use which contributed to his poor health. In the early 1980s he performed in two Cannonball Run films with Dean Martin. In 1989 he performed in the movie Tap with Gregory Hines and then traveled on tour with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
He died from throat cancer in 1990.

Notes:
1. Slawecki, Chris M. "The Life and Times of Sammy Davis Jr." All About Jazz. February 2001. p. 2.
 
Sources:
1.Biography.com
2. Hollywood.com
3. Jewhoo.
4. Slawecki, Chris M. "The Life and Times of Sammy Davis Jr." All About Jazz. February 2001.

http://www.morethings.com/video/RufusJones.mpg

What about it OLD BITCHES?  Maybe single moms can raise their sons to rap this way? Then Bros can have their Hos?  Music to my ears;)   Entertainment to Save Our Planet, Sweetie.

Why doesn't our military rock'n'roll the Middle East. Israel can help. I saw it during the days of "shock'n'awe". The Muslim kids loved it. Bush only allowed it to happen once, then he stopped it. We can have Elvis Presley contests in the Middle East. We can do it. We are the most powerful country in the world aren't we? We can bring high school kids to the Middle East and show them how to rock'n'roll. Old fashioned boogie woogie. I remember even at the Zionist camp how the white Jewish gals loved to dance with the Black waiters. I saw that USA soldier on the military vehicle rock'n'roll and the cute little Muslim kids loved it. I saw it JUST once in Iraq. I guess the OIL Barons stopped that real fast. If we're powerful why don't we get people educated about our wonderful King Elvis. Then there's Chuck Berry. Why doesn't the Commander-In-Chief want to export USA kingship. Even King David knew how to rock'n'roll in the Middle East a couple of thousand years before King Elvis. Ask an Israeli about all this. You can call him affectionately, King Dudu in Israel. The CEO of our private industry security in the Middle East can participate too. If it's a democracy, that's the first sign of a democracy. Get our partner Japan to help too.

Just by the names what's the difference?  Isn't this all Rap?  I think of Rap as anti & counter everything.  The trombone song in THE MUSIC MAN is the elegant RAP for me.  Then again I don't have a fine musicians ear.  I'm trying to understand the difference between soul, gospel, blues, country, rockabilly, hillbilly, all the subdivisions of rock, swing, jazz.  Somehow, I've sort of nailed it down to boogie woogie as a standard to compare a lot of it  with. 

Is it a matter of notation or a matter of lyrics?  Is there such a thing as Rap notation? 

It seems to me that original blues was all about the depressed personality of being victimized.  I just started listening to cd's on the original fieldhand,laborer's blues.  I believe the white slave owners demanded that their free labor had to sing so they could monitor them?  Probably also the beginning of Gospel since the white slave owners were about 95% God-fearing folks who loved poor people.

Wasn't it Bennie Goodman that updated the military strut to boogie-woogie?