Win FREE TIX to “Sam Cooke: Where You Been Baby?” @ Sanctuary for Independent Media, 10/29-30/10

“You Send Me”
“Chain Gang”
“(What a) Wonderful World”
“Only Sixteen”
“Cupid”
“Bring It On Home to Me”
“Havin’ a Party”
“Twistin’ the Night Away”
“Another Saturday Night”
“Send Me Some Lovin'”
“Shake”
“A Change Is Gonna Come”

Sam Cooke was a giant of the pop music industry in the ’50s and ’60s and a leader in the civil rights movement. The All Music Guide proclaims, “Sam Cooke was the most important soul singer in history – he was also the inventor of soul music, and its most popular and beloved performer in both the black and white communities. Equally important, he was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of the music business, and founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer.”

Cooke’s superstar career was cut short, however, by his tragic and mysterious death in 1964 at the age of
33.

This weekend the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy is hosting a two-night stand of the new musical theater production “Sam Cooke: Where You Been Baby?”

Written by Michael Monasterial (who also stars as the charismatic Cooke) with music by Bruce Berky, the production is billed as “a rock and roll/gospel fusion musical,” incorporating Cooke’s smash pop and R&B hits along with the gospel classics of his early days with the Soul Stirrers.

Produced by the Kingston-based group Passing the Torch Through the Arts, the musical play is directed by Esther Taylor-Evans with choreography by Abby Lappen. In addition to Monasterial, the play also features performances by Stephen M. Jones, Evelyn Clarke and Dennis Washington.

“Sam Cooke: Where You Been Baby?” will be performed at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy at 7pm on Friday and 8pm on Saturday. Admission is $10.

BUT WAIT… We’re giving away FREE TIX to see “Sam Cooke: Where You Been Baby?” To enter the contest to win a pair of tickets, just post a comment below. Please leave your email address, too. We won’t publish it, but we’ll use it to contact you if you win. The winners will be selected at random and notified on Thursday. Good luck! Congratulations, Jess, Terrible Torben, Juli and Patrick!