August 21, 1935 is sometimes referred to as the birthday of Swing. It was on this date that the Benny Goodman orchestra, after traveling across the country, opened their engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, California. They started the night playing it safe with stock arrangements but when they started playing their special arrangements, the kids went wild. These were the numbers they had been listening to on the Let's Dance radio program. On the show today I have a few of the original recordings from Let's Dance and from the Palomar from the next evening August 22. Also, we will be listening to a whole broadcast from the Goodman orchestra broadcasting from the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Next week I will be playing some recordings by some of the other big bands between the years of 1934 and 1936 when Swing was becoming the popular music of the day. Please visit this podcast at http://bigbandbashfm.blogspot.com