1951 - John (Cougar) Mellencamp
I have loved John Mellencamp since his first hit "Hurts So Good". Most of his albums have used Kenny Aronoff, who is one of the most fantastic "straight ahead" drummers... I think that Mellencamp owes a certain amount of his success to this guy who created such a strong back-beat for his songs.

"Pink Houses"



1952 - Vladimir Putin
Former President of Russia, now the Prime Minister of Russia. He represents the new Russia and is immensely popular. During his tenure the gross domestic product of Russia has increased over 70% and the poverty rate has been cut in half. At the same time his record on human rights is sketchy and it seems that he is circumventing the constitutional term limits by hand picking Dmitry Medvedev to be President while he operates as the de-facto president under the title "Prime Minister".




1955 - Yo-Yo Ma
This Chinese-French cellist was a child prodigy and has done a lot to revitalize the Classical Music genre. Recently he has contributed to many successful movie soundtracks, such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and "Memoir of a Geisha". He is probably the most well known classical musician at the moment.

A. Dvorak- "Silent woods"




1967 - Toni Braxton
This singer-songwriter has won 6 Grammy Awards. Who could ever forget her hit "Un-Break My Heart"? the dance version of this was so pervasive that we changed the words to "Un-eat My Nerves".

"Spanish Guitar"



1976 - Rachel McAdams
This is definitely a star on the rise. This Canadian actress is able to play many different kinds of roles. She has stared in "Mean Girls", "The Notebook", "Wedding Crashers" and "Red Eye" - which is an awesome suspense thriller, Cillian Murphy is so creepy!

"Red Eye"

Tags: 80's music, actress, americana, cellist, child prodigy, cillian murphy, classical music, dvorak, grammy awards, john cougar mellencamp, kenny aronoff, mean girls, pink houses, rachel mcadams, red eye, russia, silent woods, singer-songwriter, spanish guitar, the notebook, toni braxton, un-break my heart, vladimir putin, wedding crashers, yo-yo ma
Current Mood: good
Current Music: The Guggenheim Grotto - Wonderful Wizard