Apr 23 2022
There was a star danced, and under that was I born.-William Shakespeare It is believed that the great William Shakespeare was born on this day, April 23, 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, England, and also died on April 23 in 1616. Shakespeare is often referred to as “The Bard of Avon,” and is possibly the most famous …
Apr 16 2022
Today is the birthday of singer & songwriter Bobby Vinton, born on April 16, 1935 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. His is perhaps best known for his cover of Tony Bennett’s 1951 song “Blue Velvet,” a song which was an inspiration for David Lynch’s movie Blue Velvet. Some of his other hits include “Roses Are Red,” “Blue on Blue,” “There! I’ve …
Apr 08 2022
Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa (黒川 紀章) was born on April 8th, 1924 in Kanie, Aichi, and was a founding father of the Metabolist movement of architecture. The idea of the 1960’s post-war Metabolist movement was to create megastructures that honored organic and biological growth. One of his most unique designs is the Nakagin Capsule Tower, which houses both …
Apr 06 2022
The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg) No foam-born Venus blown ashore on a shellShe crawled straight from the mouthof the whale turned her back on the map of her journeyfreed the geese that led herto her unknown home. As for the terrorthat overwhelmed hershe’s put it behind her so let waves rise, mound themselves …
Apr 01 2022
Today is the birthday of the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who was born on April 1, 1920 in Qingdao, Shandong, China, where his parents were Japanese Methodist missionaries. He grew up working in his dad’s photography shop and his knowledge of photography helped land him a position in Aerial Photography in the Imperial Japanese Army around the year 1939. In …
Mar 27 2022
“I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.”-Frank O’Hara Frank O’Hara was born on March 27th, 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was known for being a leader in the non-formal “New York School” of art, which included a group of New York writers and artists active in the ’50’s and …
Mar 26 2022
“My music is built in—it’s already natural. I don’t play with the meter.” – Gregory Corso Speaking of birthday love for Beat poets, today is the birthday of the author Gregory Corso, who was born in New York City on March 26, 1930 and passed away on January 17, 2001 at the age of 70. He …
Mar 25 2022
Singer/songwriter Aretha Franklin was born on March 25th, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, then the family moved to Buffalo, New York when she was two. When she was about five years old, the family moved to Detroit where she was raised. She grew up around music; her mother, Barbara Franklin, was a piano player and vocalist, and …
Mar 24 2022
Today is the birthday of the American poet Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti,. He was born March 24, 1919 in Bronxville, New York. In 1953, he moved to San Francisco with his wife, Selden Kirby-Smith. There, he and Peter D. Martin of City Lights magazine started City Lights Bookstore, and thus began Ferlinghetti’s central role in the rising of the Beat movement as the store …
Mar 08 2022
Happy Women’s Day! A legend in his own time, Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was mythology and comparative religions professor at Sarah Lawrence College when it was an all female school for privileged young women. The handsome, charismatic Campbell had his students swooning in the aisles until he finally married one. “A guy chases a girl until she …