By Eunice Charles
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil; September 29, 1944) is an American composer, best known for his television theme music for various shows, including The White Shadow; Law & Order; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Law & Order: Criminal Intent; The A-Team; The Byrds of Paradise; NYPD Blue; Renegade; The Rockford Files; L.A. Law; Quantum Leap; Magnum, P.I.; Hill Street Blues, and Mammoth. He was also the producer of the Van Halen III album by the band Van Halen.
Post’s first credited work in music was cutting demos using two singing sisters, Terry and Carol Fischer. With Sally Gordon, they went on to become The Murmaids. Their first single, “Popsicles and Icicles” (written by David Gates), was a number 3 hit song in January 1964.
Post also provided early guidance for the garage rock band The Outcasts while in recruit training in San Antonio, Texas. He was the songwriter and producer for both songs on the band’s first single, released in 1965, and also arranged a local concert where they served as the back-up band.
He won his first of five Grammy Awards at age 23 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on Mason Williams‘ “Classical Gas“, a number 2 hit song in 1968. He is also credited as the record producer for Williams’ LP that included that song, The Mason Williams Phonograph Record.
Billed as the Mike Post Coalition, their track “Afternoon of the Rhino” became a sought-after Northern soul track. The single peaked at number 47 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1975.
Post also worked with Kenny Rogers and produced the first three albums he recorded with his country/rock group Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (between 1967 and 1969). Post also produced Dolly Parton‘s hit album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs in 1981. In 1997, he produced Van Halen‘s Van Halen III album.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
The feast day of St. Michael, the archangel and overcomer of the Devil, is a Christian celebration based on the ancient Celtic calendar. Its main importance in people’s lives was that of a seasonal signpost in the year. In the British Isles, crops were harvested and the surplus sold by late September, so this became the time when farmers would pay their yearly rents to landowners. Everyone ate goose at Michaelmas to bring prosperity, and many farmers included “a goose fit for the lord’s dinner” with their rent payments. Great market fairs occurred just before the feast day, and the large crowds these attracted made it convenient to hold elections at this time. Michaelmas is also a “Quarter Day.” The ancient Celtic people divided the year into four major sections, or quarters, and then divided each of these in half to make an eight-part year that reflected the natural progression of the seasons. Foods traditional for Michaelmas include new wine; goose; cakes of oats, barley, and rye; and carrots. Some groups in the United States, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch, have kept Michaelmas, or “Harvest Home,” traditions alive.
Question of the Day
Which area of the United States has the most thunderstorm activity?
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Sunrise/Sunset
Puzzle of the Day
Soon as I’m made, I’m sought with care, for one whole year consulted. That time elapsed, I’m thrown aside, neglected and insulted. (What is being described?)
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Actor Ian McShane in 1942 (age 83)
Astronaut/former Senator/former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in 1942 (age 83)
Ex-Polish leader & Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa in 1943 (age 82)
Musician Mike Post in 1944 (age 81)
TV personality Bryant Gumbel in 1948 (age 77)
Musician Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad, also Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band) in 1948 (age 77)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in 1954 (age 71)
International Association of Athletics Federation Hall of Fame member Sebastian Coe in 1956 (age 69)
Comedian Andrew Dice Clay in 1957 (age 68)
Musician Les Claypool (Primus) in 1963 (age 62)
Actor Ben Miles in 1966 (age 59)
Musician Brad Smith (Blind Melon) in 1968 (age 57)
Musician Devanté Swing (Jodeci) in 1969 (age 56)
Actor Chrissy Metz in 1980 (age 45)
Actor Zachary Levi in 1980 (age 45)
Musician Dallas Green in 1980 (age 45)
Actor Kelly McCreary in 1981 (age 44)
Musician Josh Farro (Paramore) in 1987 (age 38)
NBA star Kevin Durant in 1988 (age 37)
Musician Halsey in 1994 (age 31)
Actor Nicholas Galitzine in 1994 (age 31)
Musician Julien Baker (boy genius) in 1995 (age 30)
HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
In 1789, the U.S. War Department organized the country’s first standing army — 700 soldiers who would serve for three years.
In 1936, in the U.S. presidential race between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Alf Landon, the Democratic and Republican parties used radio for the first time. FDR won his re-election bid in a record vote in November.
In 1965, Communist North Vietnam announced that U.S. pilots taken prisoner would be tried as war criminals.
In 1988, Stacy Marie Allison, a construction worker from Portland, Ore., became the first American woman and the world’s seventh to climb Mount Everest.
In 1992, Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced he was returning to the LA Lakers less than a year after he retired because he had AIDS. A month later, Johnson announced his retirement for a second time.
COURTESY www.almanac.com
