September 11

Having September 11 for your birthday is like having anti-Christmas Day for your birthday. Don’t worry; all those kids born on December 7th got the day back eventually, too. And if you’re having trouble getting people in a party mood today, take comfort that there are other birthday kids today…

But I have to admit, my mind’s wandered to 9/11. That day, I alternated between watching the news like everyone else and retreating into myself, listening over and over to “Don’t Panic,” the first track of Coldplay’s “Parachutes.”

Well, the world’s gotten better, and Coldplay is, of course, much bigger. Bassist Johnny Buckland’s celebrating his birthday today, and it looks like the band’s taking the day off, before they resume their England dates with Jay-Z, which still blows my mind. .

Jay-Z opening for Coldplay; that’s just…

Ludacris is sitting pretty on his birthday, too. I mean, he's got three oriental restaurants in Atlanta, so you know he's getting a free cake with his birthday dinner, at least. The dude just gave away twenty cars to strangers; what do you get the man for his birthday? I mean, besides better movie scripts:

I mean, seriously, man; stay away from any movie involving video games. I know, you don’t want to play Skinny Black too many times, but… Do some cop procedural show; we’re due another CSI any season now….
Or, better yet, stick to comedy.


Let’s finish this with a birthday shoutout to Richard Ashcroft of the Verve. He wrote “Bittersweet Sympony” – unless you ask the Rolling Stones’ lawyers, who say that a sampled riff of an orchestral cover of “The Last Time” constitutes composition of the song. The rest of “Urban Hymns” was a great listen, but the Verve was always eclipsed by that song – and Richard Ashcroft’s ambitions. This August, the Verve broke up for the third time again, supposedly because of Ashcroft’s wish for a solo career.

At any rate, “Bittersweet Symphony” still hits the spot when I need to scrape myself off the pavement and keep trudging through the day. A song like that is a great gift to the world, so thanks for that , Mr Ashcroft….