Happy Birthday to Mr. Martin. Today would have been the legendary artist’s 94th birthday. I am pretty sure it is okay for us to use this iconic title, since we are still releasing his music more than half a century later.

To celebrate the legacy of Dean Martin, Capitol/EMI released two collections of his classic tracks, ‘Dino: The Essential Dean Martin’ and ‘Classic Dino: The Best of Dean Martin’, on June 7th. The platinum-certified ‘Dino: The Essential Dean Martin’ has been expanded from a single disc to a two CD package that includes 36 of Martin’s top hits and signature songs, as well as a previously unreleased studio version of “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody.” The second part of the Dean deal, ‘Classic Dino: The Best of Dean Martin’, gathers 14 of his best known songs on one disc, including “That’s Amore,” “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head” and “You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You.”

In case you haven’t seen our recent Dean Martin posts, both of these musical packages can be yours for free. Well, without charge only if you take the time to write up a little anecdote. We will fill you in briefly on the two Martin giveaways to catch you up to ShockYa speed. One involves a story honoring your father and the other revering the sultry ways of Dean Martin. For more specifics on the contest, check out the original posts.

We can’t reiterate enough how important it is for the youngsters to tune into music from centuries other than that of the 21st. Your contemporary music spawned from tunes of the past, so show them a bit more justice.

By Lonnie Nemiroff