On this day back in 1667, the Italian monk and non-Euclidean geometrist Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri was born. The great composer, Johann Christian Bach was born in 1735. He was the only clearly Classical of the Bach boys. Here is his Concerto for Flute in D Major:

Scottish poet Robert Fergusson was born in 1750. Romantic landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich was born in 1774. Composer Anton Diabelli was born in 1781. (He’s important but not enough so to quote.) Opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was born in 1791. Here is a bit from his opera Le Prophete:

One of the three great Russian novelist with the last name Tolstoy, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was born in 1817. The very famous French playwright who Shaw hated, Victorien Sardou was born in 1831. Jack Daniel was born in 1846. Guess what he did for a living. Outlaw Jesse James was born in 1847.

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck was born in 1902. The great composer John Cage was born in 1912. Here is one of his many wonderful pieces for prepared piano:

Check out my article Cage Does Cage!

Historical novelist Frank Yerby was born in 1916. The great songwriter John Stewart was born in 1939. Here he is doing his hit “Gold”:

And Freddie Mercury was born in 1946. Here is “Bohemian Rhapsody” sort of live:

Economist Paul Volcker is 86 today. Comedian Bob Newhart is 84. The ur-Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin is 74. Actor Raquel Welch is 73. The great director Werner Herzog is 71. The singer-songwriter Al Stewart is 68. Here he is performing “Year of the Cat”:

And comedian Michael Keaton is 62.

The day, however, belongs to singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III who is 67. Truly, I could have picked 10 people with birthdays today. But I picked Wainwright for my friend Will who really likes him and really hates these birthday posts. Here he is (Wainwright, not Will) doing “Something’s Out to Get Me”:

Happy birthday Loudon Wainwright III!