It’s my birthday this weekend, on Sunday, April 13th. (I’m 52.) I’ve been taking a little break: just reading and puttering around up here in Wellfleet, and scrupulously avoiding any serious brainwork or controversial posts (I love the rough-and-tumble of a good debate, but the little grey cells needed a rest). So here’s another undemanding item.
April 13th is a particularly excellent day to have as your birthday (especially if you are lucky enough, as I was, to be born on a Friday the 13th). Because it’s such a plum, I share it with an elite and eclectic roster of the notable and the notorious. Here are a few:
- Guy Fawkes, 1570
- Thomas Jefferson, 1743
- F.W. Woolworth, 1852
- Butch Cassidy, 1866
- Arthur Travers “Bomber” Harris, 1892
- Alfred Mosher Butts, inventor of Scrabble, 1899
- Philippe de Rothschild, 1920
- Samuel Beckett, 1906
- Harold Stassen, perennial US presidential candidate, 1907
- Eudora Welty, 1909
- Howard Keel, Broadway star, 1919
- Madalyn Murray O’Hair, godless heathen, 1919
- Don Adams, Agent 86 from Get Smart, 1923
- Lanford Wilson, playwright, 1937
- Seamus Heaney, author and Nobel laureate, 1939
- Paul Sorvino, actor, 1939
- Jack Casady, Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna bassist, 1944
- The great Lowell George, guitarist and Little Feat founder (peace be upon him), 1945
- Al Green, singer, 1946
- Christopher Hitchens, 1949
- Max Weinberg, Bruce Springsteen’s drummer, 1951
- Garry Kasparov, 1953
- Ken Nordine, 1953
This guest-list would have made for quite a party.
13 Comments
So you would hang around with the chess player, Butch Cassidy, Scrabble Butts, all the musically inclined ones, and razz those that delve in religion or not.
call me-i just want to see the fireworks
Happy birthday
Jeanie Oliver
http://www.jeanieoliver.blogspot.com
Happy birfday!
April is a splendid month in which to be born! My own b-day is this coming Friday, and my father’s is close behind on the next Tuesday, with my youngest brother’s two days after that!
(In the interest of full disclosure, I was originally shooting for the 4th of July, but apparently you have to reserve that date years in advance. When they asked me what my second preference was, I just said, “Make it sometime in April.”)
Paul Sorvino, eh? His daughter’s hot.
Happy, slappy birfday.
Kevin
Birthdays… these things happen too frequently. Have a good one.
Thank you all!
hey Mac !
Enjoy yr brissday bro ! I hope you find the year ahead a geat one too!-
Love to all-Pat
Yo Malcolm,
happy B day !!
hope u had a grand wknd up in the cape!!!
Happy Birthday, Malcolm.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Thanks once again to you all! (And a happy birthday to you, Charles.)
Hey,
Happy birthday! I’ve got some tracks for you if you can get that esteemed bunch together:
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/04/0413.htm
Cheers,
Duncan
Wait, you share a birthday with Hitchens and Kasparov? Are you kidding?
If so, where’s the kung fu master?
Are you sure you don’t believe in astrology? :))
(good one Duncan!)
Yes, that’s an interesting site, Duncan, though rather a disappointing selection of tunes, for the most part (including that all-time stinker, “Honey”, from 1968).
Thanks, Salim — but yes, I’m pretty sure…
Happy (slightly belated) Birthday, you old fart! So tell me, how often is it you’re still working on your tax returns by the time your birthday rolls around? That would really suck.
– M