FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represents and maintains the heritage and legacy of a spectrum of the most beloved English language songs from the world’s popular music songbook. It not only celebrates these established songwriters, but is also involved in the development of new English language songwriting talent through workshops, showcases and scholarships. There are many programs designed to teach and discover new English language songwriters. Nile Rodgers serves as the organization’s chairman.

The Hall of Fame was formed in 1969, and in 2010 an exhibit was put on display online inside the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The Hall has no permanent place of residence, and because the awards are not televised, there would be no other digital recording of the event for posterity.

There are numerous examples of collaborating songwriters being inducted in unison, with each person being considered a separate entrant. The inaugural year featured 120 inductees, many of whom had a professional partnership, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein. Burt Bacharach and Hal David followed in 1972. Betty Comden and Adolph Green were selected in 1980, and Lieber and Stoller were inducted in 1985. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inducted in 1989 along with Gerry Goffin and Carole King as well as Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Motown‘s Holland-Dozier-Holland team were honored the following year. Elton John and Bernie Taupin were among those chosen in 1992, and the pop music group the Bee Gees had all three brothers inducted in 1994. In 1995, Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe as well as Gamble and Huff were inducted. John Denver was inducted in 1996. The Eagles’ Glenn Frey and Don Henley were co-inductees in 2000. Queen was the first rock band to have all their band members inducted in 2003. Five members of Earth, Wind & Fire were in the class of 2010. Four members of Kool and the Gang were honored in 2018.

Through 2019, 461 individuals were inducted into the SHOF.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony was postponed until 2022. The Songwriters Hall of Fame president and CEO, Linda Moran, chose to move the event so that a proper celebration could take place. New 2020 inductees would include Mariah Carey, Chad Hugo, the Isley Brothers, Annie Lennox, Steve Miller, Rick Nowels, William “Mickey” Stevenson, Dave Stewart and Pharrell Williams. Additionally, Jody Gerson of Universal Music Group will be given the Abe Olman Publisher Award and Paul Williams is set to receive the Johnny Mercer Award. On March 8, 2022, the ceremony was officially announced to take place on June 16, 2022, at its longtime location, the Marriott Marquis New York’s Times Square. 

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

I know why the colors of a rainbow refract in the order they do (ROYGBIV), but why do rainbows bend, and why is red always on the bottom? Also, is there really an end of a rainbow (with a pot of gold)?The first definition of a rainbow (by Descartes) was based on tracing the path of a light ray falling on a transparent sphere. If the Sun is at the horizon, the rainbow is an arc of 180 degrees, but it cannot appear if the Sun is high in the sky. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (ROYGBIV) are the colors of a rainbow, but these are not necessarily the sequence of colors an observer sees. Since the color sequence of a rainbow is the result of refraction, the color order depends on the viewer’s angle of perception. As for the end of a rainbow, it seems always to elude us. However, here at The Old Farmer’s Almanac, we firmly believe that there’s a pot of gold waiting for the person lucky enough to find a rainbow’s end.

Advice of the Day

The more you smoke (or sunbathe), the more wrinkled your face is apt to be.

Home Hint of the Day

To clean gold jewelry, fill a small container with dishwashing liquid and 1 teaspoon of ammonia. Soak the jewelry in this strong solution for a few minutes, then clean with an old toothbrush. Rinse and pat dry.

Word of the Day

Cat NightsThis term harks back to the days when people believed in witches. An old Irish legend says that a witch could turn into a cat and regain herself eight times, but on the ninth time, August 17, she couldn’t change back, hence the saying: “A cat has nine lives.” Because August is a “yowly” time for cats, this may have prompted the speculation about witches on the prowl in the first place.

Puzzle of the Day

What goes up the hill, down the hill, and yet stands still?A road

Born

• Amerigo Vespucci (merchant & navigator) – 1454
• Edwin Forrest (Shakespearean actor) – 1806
• Will Geer (actor) – 1902
• Samuel Barber (composer) – 1910
• Mickey Spillane (author) – 1918
• Yuri Gagarin (first human to travel in space) – 1934
• Raul Julia (actor) – 1940
• Mark Lindsay (musician; member of Paul Revere & the Raiders ) – 1942
• Bobby Fischer (champion chess player) – 1943
• Charles Gibson (journalist) – 1943
• David Hume Kennerly (photographer) – 1947
• Juliette Binoche (actress) – 1964
• Emmanuel Lewis (actor) – 1971
• Lil’ Bow Wow (rapper, actor) – 1987
• Sunisa Suni” Lee” (Olympic gymnast) – 2003

Died

• Charles Bukowski (poet) – 1994
• Fernando Rey (actor) – 1994
• George Burns (comedian & actor) – 1996
• Chris LeDoux (country musician) – 2005
• Brad Delp (musician) – 2007
• Doris Granny D” Haddock” (political activist) – 2010

Events

• Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine de Beauharnais in Paris—he arrived two hours late for the wedding– 1796
• President James Monroe’s daughter, Maria, became the first daughter of a president to be married in the White House– 1820
• A patent for artificial teeth was granted to Charles Graham of New York– 1822
• Abraham Lincoln announced he was running for his first political office. He failed for his bid for a seat in the Illinois legislature– 1832
• First Japanese Ambassador to U.S. arrived in San Francisco, CA– 1860
• Battle of U.S.S. Monitor and U.S.S. Merrimack (renamed C.S.S. Virginia) ended in a draw– 1862
• First V-8 Ford was built by Ford Motor Company– 1932
• The Hundred Days began. President FDR pushed sweeping social and economic reforms of the New Deal through Congress within the next 100 days– 1933
• Journalist Edward R. Murrow accused Sen. McCarthy of misleading the U.S. public and persecuting Congressional witnesses– 1954
• Celebrity premiere of East of Eden, the film version of John Stienbeck’s novel– 1955
• Barbie doll debuted– 1959
• The first animal to return from space was a dog whose Russian name translated as Blackie, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 9– 1961
• The Smothers Brothers’ television show was cancelled after they refused to censor a comment made by Joan Baez. She wanted to dedicate her song to her husband, David, who was about to go to jail for objecting to the draft– 1969
• Work began on the 789-mile Alaskan oil pipeline, the largest private construction project in U.S. history– 1975
• Health and Welfare Canada banned saccharin as a food additive– 1977
• Anne M. Burford was forced to resign as head of the EPA following a dispute with Congress over the agency’s enforcement of toxic waste regulations– 1983
• Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and Carole Bayer Sager were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame– 1987
• President George H. W. Bush’s nominee for defense secratary, John Tower, lost Senate ratification vote– 1989
• Chris Bertish, a South African surfer, paddleboarded across the Atlantic solo. The 4,050 trek took him 93 days.– 2017

Weather

• Twelve-inch snowstorm in narrow band from Louisville, Kentucky, into Virginia and North Carolina’s mountains– 1960
• Southern Indiana received up to 9 inches of snow– 1994

COURTESY www.almanac.com