Today’s Birthdays:
Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 84.
Actor Chuck Norris is 82.
Playwright David Rabe is 82.
Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 82.
Actor Katharine Houghton (Film: “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”) is 80.
Actor Richard Gant is 78.
Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 75.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 75.
TV personality/businesswoman Barbara Corcoran (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 73.
Actor Aloma Wright is 72.
Blues musician Ronnie Earl (Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters) is 69.
Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 69.
Alt-country/rock musician Gary Louris is 67.
Actor Shannon Tweed is 65.
Pop/jazz singer Jeanie Bryson is 64.
Actor Sharon Stone is 64.
Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 62.
Magician Lance Burton is 62.
Actor Jasmine Guy is 60.
Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 59.
Music producer Rick Rubin is 59.
Britain’s Prince Edward is 58.
Rock singer Edie Brickell is 56.
Actor Stephen Mailer is 56.
Actor Philip Anthony-Rodriguez is 54.
Actor Paget Brewster is 53.
Actor Jon Hamm is 51.
Rapper-producer Timbaland is 50.
Actor Cristián (kris-tee-AHN’) de la Fuente is 48.
Rock musician Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) is 47.
Actor Jeff Branson is 45.
Singer Robin Thicke is 45.
Actor Bree Turner is 45.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 45.
Contemporary Christian singer Michael Barnes (Red) is 43.
Actor Edi Gathegi is 43.
Actor Thomas Middleditch is 40.
Country singer Carrie Underwood is 39.
Actor Olivia Wilde is 38.
R&B singer Emeli Sandé (EH’-mihl-ee SAN’-day) is 35.
Country singer Rachel Reinert is 33.
Country musician Jared Hampton (LANCO) is 31.
Actor Emily Osment is 30.
Crap. Is that really 20?
Setting the curve, as usual.
I'm starting to wonder if this is symptomatic of a deeper problem.
I mean, once you know who the guitar players are, you know I'm going to get most of them, right? Norman Blake, Tom Sholz, Ronnie Earl. And I'm a musician, and I have had deep ties to Seattle since middle school, so Jeff Ament. And the greatest living producer, the guy who did a limited series with Paul McCartney - Rick Rubin? That one's pretty obvious. Edie Brickell? Okay, maybe that's an outlier, but even if I hadn't been a fan of hers and the New Bohemians before MTV broke them huge, I'd have known her as Paul Simon's wife. As for Dean Torrence, anyone who's waxed as grandiloquent as I about Brian Wilson is going to know Jan and Dean.
Then there's Shannon Tweed, and any man who was in high school in the 80's is going to know Shannon Tweed from her Playboy centerfold. Ditto for Sharon Stone.
We won't even mention Chuck Norris.
Or maybe I'm some sort of weirdo. I dunno.
You sometimes throw me off with your musician knowledge. Some days you know everyone listed, some you miss folks that I know. Musicians are the reason for your higher target.
Well, partly it's the rules. There have been a bunch of musicians I've had to pass on, despite the fact I know and in many cases have their work, but for whatever reason I don't know what they look like so I couldn't pick them out of a lineup. Or I know the band, but not the members. I'm a fan of the Jayhawks, but don't know the names or faces of the members, so I couldn't identify Gary Louris. I know Jerry Horton is the guitarist for Papa Roach, but I have no idea what he looks like. So it can be hit and miss.
Also, any artists from the past twenty years that are famous enough to make the list I'm probably not going to know. Carrie Underwood was a fluke, because I saw her and Taylor Swift open a show for Brad Paisley years ago (and at the time, Carrie Underwood was the more famous of the two). But the new artists I listen to anymore are so far out of the mainstream that I doubt they'd make it onto your list.
Because I'm a church musician, I know a lot of the names of the CCM artists that make the list, and in many cases I've played and am intimately familiar with their songs. But I don't know their faces most of the time.
