Tomorrow is my birthday, which prompted me to look at Wikipedia to see what notable events have occurred on the day I was born. And from that list comes this musical tribute.

Chad Everett “Nights On Broadway” (Bee Gees)
Tomorrow is St. Chad’s Day in the Church of England. I never knew there was a St. Chad, but that’s what I get for growing up Catholic. This was the only cover I had by somebody named Chad. And yes, that’s Chad Everett of Medical Center fame.

Martin Denny “Caravan” (Duke Ellington)
The god of exotica/lounge music died on March 2, 2005. Generally I try to avoid observing the date of somebody’s death because I prefer to celebrate the lives of people I admire. But it’s a good excuse to post a Martin Denny song. This is a good one to listen to on headphones as all the odd percussion skitters from one side of your head to the other.

Johnette Napolitano and Danny Lohner “The Scientist” (Coldplay)
It’s Chris Martin’s birthday tomorrow. I’m pretty indifferent to Coldplay so I think of him mostly as Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow. After Coldplay appeared on the Grammys I was surprised by the hatred several of my friends have toward them.

Mata Hari “For No One” (The Beatles)
In honor of Mikhail Gorbachev’s birthday we have this Russian Beatles cover. When I first heard it I thought the guy was singing in Russian. He’s not, he just has a really thick accent.

Gorby’s Wikipedia bio includes this little tidbit:

That same year (2007), he visited New Orleans, Louisiana, a spot hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, and promised that he would return in 2011 to personally lead a local revolution if the U.S. government had not repaired the levees by that time. He said that revolutionary action should be a last resort.

An old Russian guy leading an army of angry black people? While I certainly hope New Orleans gets rebuilt I’d love to see Gorby dropping by to storm the barricades.

The Bigfellas “Mr. Blue Sky” (Electric Light Orchestra)
On March 2, 1949 the first automatic street light was installed in New Milford, Conn.

When Mayor Daley The Elder was elected to his first term as mayor of Chicago one of his first acts was to install street lights every thirty feet or so on every street in the city. He figured that everybody would see that he was getting things done. He kept getting reelected until he dropped dead.

Now the night is brighter than day and if you’re in the suburbs you can always orient yourself by looking for that eerie orange glow of Chicago. It was a little unsettling when I went to college in central Missouri because the night sky was so big and bright. I had never really grasped the glory of the stars growing up because of all the light pollution.

BTW this song sounds wonderful played on banjo and spoons.