September 3

I’m apologizing in advance for today’s column. Some days give me more to work with than others. Today was kind of slim pickings.
If you’re new, welcome; if you’re not, welcome back. And if you have a birthday today, here’s a couple of people you share it with:

To most of the US, Jennifer Paige is a one-hit wonder, via 1998’s “Crush.” Her greatest hits CD came out in 2003; fortunately, she had better success in Europe, so there's more than one song on the disc.

She's officially crossed the pond, and is working on her first non-English release.

For those who prefer slashing guitars and Cookie Monster vocals, turn your ears Norway way. Terje “Valfar” Bakken, vocalist and player of every instrument in the band Windir, took the black metal sound that predominated the local scene and took it in other, majestic directions. He distanced himself from the black metal title (and scene), even though his 1999 album is considered a classic by metal snobs of all stripes. He died of hypothermia in 2004, but his music continues to find new fans.

Tomo Milicevic, guitarist from 30 Seconds to Mars: also Eastern European, also celebrates a birthday today, also hardcore. In his native Bosnia, as a teen, he was standing on the street corner, looked down, and laughed when he saw that someone had shot him in the leg. At the hospital, he asked for the bullet as a souvenir, but was denied…
Here’s the 13-minute epic video for “From Yesterday”:



Rina Koike is a Japanese child actress, currently doing the rounds in Sentai shows. Mostly, she’s known for her portrayal of Sailor Luna in the live-action Sailor Moon TV series. Apparently, Sailor Moon’s cat advisor Luna gets transformed into a nine-year-old schoolgirl with fuzzy blue ears.

For those of you thinking, “WTF was that?” this is only the tip of the iceberg. I love finding stuff like this. There is so much bizarre stuff from the land of the Rising Sun that you, too, will come to understand the meaning of the phrase, “That’s SO Japan!”
This, by the way, is Japan, level 1.

If you know a birthday somebody that I should write about, e-mail me at TheLeroyGrey@gmail.com. Thanks, and happy birthday, whenever you are...