today.nukz.net: Almanac September 2

John Zorn (born September 2, 1953 in New York City) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer. He has had experience with a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore punk, classical, extreme metal, klezmer, film, cartoon, popular, and improvised music. Zorn brings these styles to his work, which he refers to with the label avant-garde/experimental. Zorn has stated: "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person - the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there."

Events

44 BC – Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
44 BC – Cicero launches the first of his Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.
31 BC – Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium – off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
421 – Galla Placidia, wife of the Emperor Constantius III, becomes a widow for the second time when he dies suddenly of an illness.
1649 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
1666 – The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul's Cathedral.
1752 – Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury is founded.
1792 – During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic Church bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
1806 – A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457.
1807 – The Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.
1811 – The University of Oslo is founded as The Royal Fredericks University, after Frederick VI of Denmark and Norway.
1833 – Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio is founded by John Jay Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.
1856 – The Tianjing Incident takes place in Nanjing, China.
1859 – A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service.
1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1864 – American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta, Georgia, a day after the Confederate defenders flee the city, ending the Atlanta Campaign.
1867 – Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijo. The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko. Since her death in 1914, she is called by the posthumous name Empress Shoken.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces take Napoleon III of France and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.
1885 – Rock Springs massacre: in Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 White miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.
1898 – Battle of Omdurman – British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.
1901 – Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
1935 – Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: a large hurricane hits the Florida Keys killing 423.
1939 – World War II: following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
1945 – World War II: Combat ends in the Pacific Theater: the Instrument of Surrender of Japan is signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
1945 – Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
1946 – The Interim Government of India is formed with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice President with the powers of a Prime Minister.
1957 – President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.
1958 – United States Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan in Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.
1960 – The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.
1963 – CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1970 – NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
1990 – Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
1992 – An earthquake in Nicaragua kills at least 116 people.
1998 – Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed.
1998 – The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide.

Births

1661 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (d. 1733)
1675 – William Somervile, English poet (d. 1742)
1753 – Marie Joséphine of Savoy, Italy-born queen consort of France and wife of King Louis XVIII of France (d. 1810)
1778 – Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (d. 1846)
1805 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (d. 1851)
1810 – William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (d. 1897)
1820 – Lucretia Hale, American journalist and author (d. 1900)
1830 – William P. Frye, American politician (d. 1911)
1838 – Liliuokalani of Hawaii, Queen of Hawaii (d. 1917)
1839 – Henry George, American economist (d. 1897)
1847 – Roger Wolcott, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1900)
1850 – Eugene Field American writer (d. 1895)
1850 – Albert Spalding, American baseball player and co-founder of the A.G. Spalding sporting goods company (d. 1915)
1850 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (d. 1919)
1852 – Paul Bourget, French novelist and critic (d. 1935)
1853 – Wilhelm Ostwald, Baltic German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1932)
1854 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer and political activist (d. 1910)
1857 – Thomas Groube, Australian cricketer (d. 1927)
1862 – Franjo Krežma, Croatian violinist (d. 1881)
1865 – Simeón Ola, Philippine general (d. 1952)
1866 – Charles Vintcent, South African cricketer (d. 1943)
1877 – Frederick Soddy, British chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1956)
1878 – Ion Dragoumis, Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary (d. 1920)
1878 – Werner von Blomberg, German field marshal (d. 1946)
1879 – An Jung-geun, Korean assassin of Ito Hirobumi (d. 1910)
1883 – Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, "The Red Archduchess" (d. 1963)
1884 – Dr. Frank Laubach, American Christian missionary (d. 1970)
1886 – Warren Brittingham, American soccer player (d. 1962)
1894 – Joseph Roth, Austrian novelist (d. 1939)
1901 – Andreas Embirikos, Greek surrealist poet (d. 1975)
1901 – Adolph Rupp, American college basketball coach (d. 1977)
1911 – Romare Bearden, African American painter (d. 1988)
1912 – Ernest Bromley, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
1913 – Israel Gelfand, Russian mathematician (d. 2009)
1913 – Bill Shankly, Scottish football manager (d. 1981)
1914 – Tom Glazer, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 2003)
1915 – Benjamin Aaron, American labor law expert (d. 2007)
1915 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (d. 2010)
1917 – Laurindo Almeida, Brazilian guitarist (d. 1995)
1917 – Cleveland Amory, American author (d. 1997)
1918 – Allen Drury, American novelist (d. 1998)
1919 – Marge Champion, American actress
1923 – René Thom, French mathematician (d. 2002)
1924 – Daniel arap Moi, 2nd President of Kenya
1925 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
1927 – Milo Hamilton, American Hall of Fame sports broadcaster
1928 – Horace Silver, American jazz pianist and composer
1929 – Hal Ashby, American film director (d. 1988)
1929 – Victor Spinetti, Welsh actor (d. 2012)
1931 – Clifford Jordan, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1993)
1934 – Sam Gooden, American singer (The Impressions)
1934 – Chuck McCann, American voice actor
1934 – Grady Nutt, American humorist (d. 1982)
1935 – D. Wayne Lukas, American horse trainer
1936 – Andrew Grove, American computer chip manufacturer
1936 – Károly Krajczár, Hungarian Slovene teacher, writer and collector of ethnological objects
1937 – Len Carlson, Canadian voice actor (d. 2006)
1937 – Derek Fowlds, British actor
1937 – Peter Ueberroth, American sport executive
1938 – Mary Jo Catlett, American actress
1938 – Clarence Felder, American actor
1938 – Giuliano Gemma, Italian actor
1940 – Jimmy Clanton, American singer
1941 – David Bale, South African–born American animal rights activist (d. 2003)
1941 – Graeme Langlands, Australian rugby league footballer
1941 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish quiz show judge and Member of the European Parliament (d. 2003)
1941 – John Thompson, Jr., American college basketball coach
1943 – Rosalind Ashford, American singer (Martha and the Vandellas)
1943 – Glen Sather, Canadian ice hockey player and executive
1943 – Joe Simon, American singer
1944 – Janet Simpson, British track and field athlete (d. 2010)
1946 – Luis Avalos, Cuban actor
1946 – Billy Preston, American keyboardist (d. 2006)
1946 – Walt Simonson, American comic book artist and writer
1946 – Dan White, American assassin (d. 1985)
1946 – Joe Yamanaka, Japanese singer (Flower Travellin' Band) (d. 2011)
1947 – Richard Coughlan, English drummer and percussionist (Caravan)
1947 – Jim Richards, New Zealand racing driver
1948 – Nate Archibald, American basketball player
1948 – Terry Bradshaw, American football player
1948 – Christa McAuliffe, American schoolteacher and astronaut (d. 1986)
1949 – Moira Stuart, British journalist
1950 – Rosanna DeSoto, American actress
1950 – Michael Rother, German guitarist and keyboardist (Neu!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia, Cluster)
1950 – Yuen Wah, Chinese actor and stuntman
1951 – Jim DeMint, American politician
1951 – Jon Feltheimer, American film executive
1951 – Michael Gray, American actor
1951 – Mark Harmon, American actor
1951 – Mik Kaminski, English violinist (Electric Light Orchestra)
1952 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
1953 – Ahmad Shah Massoud, Afghan commander (d. 2001)
1953 – John Zorn, American composer, arranger and saxophonist
1956 – Angelo Fusco, Northern Irish Provisional Irish Republican Army member
1956 – Mario Tremblay, Canadian hockey player and coach
1957 – Tony Alva, American skateboarder
1958 – Olivier Grouillard, French racing driver
1959 – Guy Laliberté, Canadian founder of Cirque du Soleil
1960 – Eric Dickerson, American football player
1960 – John S. Hall, American poet and spoken-word artist
1960 – Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian politician
1960 – Rex Hudler, American baseball player
1960 – Hideo Yoshizawa, Japanese video game designer and executive, General Manager at Namco Bandai Holdings
1961 – Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
1962 – Jon Berkeley, Irish author and illustrator
1962 – Eugenio Derbez, Mexican comedian and actor
1962 – Prachya Pinkaew, Thai film director
1963 – Sam Mitchell, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Keanu Reeves, Canadian actor
1965 – Lennox Lewis, British-born Canadian boxer
1965 – Partho Sen-Gupta, Indian filmmaker
1966 – Dino Cazares, Mexican-born American guitarist (Fear Factory)
1966 – Marcello Cuttitta, Italian rugby player
1966 – Massimo Cuttitta, Italian rugby player and coach
1966 – Salma Hayek, Mexican actress
1966 – Olivier Panis, French race car driver
1966 – Tuc Watkins, American actor
1967 – Andreas Möller, German footballer
1968 – Kristen Cloke, American actress
1968 – Cynthia Watros, American actress
1969 – Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, American singer
1969 – Stéphane Matteau, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Stephen Peall, Zimbabwean cricketer
1971 – Kjetil André Aamodt, Norwegian alpine skier
1971 – Pawan Kalyan, Indian actor
1971 – Tommy Maddox, American football player
1971 – César Sánchez, Spanish footballer
1971 – Shauna Sand, American actress and Playboy Playmate
1971 – Tom Steels, Belgian cyclist
1972 – Robert Coles, English golfer
1972 – Matthew Dunn, Australian swimmer
1973 – Jason Blake, American ice hockey player
1973 – Indika de Saram, Sri Lankan cricketer
1973 – Katt Williams, American comedian, actor and rapper
1974 – Steven Johnson, Australian racing driver
1974 – Inari Vachs, American adult film actress
1975 – MC Chris, American rapper
1976 – Phil Lipscomb, American bassist (Taproot)
1976 – Erin Hershey Presley, American actress
1976 – Aziz Zakari, Ghanaian sprinter
1977 – Frédéric Kanouté, Malian footballer
1977 – Amanda Marcotte, American feminist blogger
1979 – Tomer Ben Yosef, Israeli footballer
1979 – Alex Chu, Korean singer
1979 – Ron Ng, Hong Kong actor
1979 – Brian Westbrook, American football player
1980 – Dany Sabourin, French-Canadian ice hockey goaltender
1980 – Hiroki Yoshimoto, Japanese racing driver
1981 – Fariborz Kamkari, Iranian film director-producer
1981 – Chris Tremlett, English cricketer
1981 – Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
1982 – Joey Barton, English footballer
1982 – Mandy Cho, Hong Kong actress
1982 – Jason Hammel, American baseball player
1983 – Mark Foster, English rugby player
1983 – Rich Boy, American rapper
1984 – Danson Tang, Taiwanese actor, model and singer
1984 – Jack Peñate, English singer
1986 – Kyle Hines, American basketball player
1986 – Rob Ramsay, Canadian actor
1986 – Gelson Fernandes, Swiss footballer
1987 – Scott Moir, Canadian ice dancer
1987 – Spencer Smith, American musician (Panic! at the Disco)
1988 – Javi Martínez, Spanish footballer
1988 – Ishant Sharma, Indian cricketer
1988 – Ishmeet Singh Sodhi, Indian singer (d. 2008)
1989 – Marcus Morris, American basketball player
1989 – Markieff Morris, American basketball player
1989 – Alexandre Pato, Brazilian footballer
1990 – Marcus Ericsson, Swedish racing driver
1992 – Alberto Masi, Italian footballer
1993 – Montana Cox, Australian model
1996 – Sungha Jung, South Korean guitarist

Deaths

490 BC – Pheidippides, Greek hero (b. c. 530 BC)
421 – Constantius III, Roman Emperor
459 – Simeon Stylites, Christian Pillar-Saint
1031 – Saint Emeric of Hungary
1274 – Prince Munetaka, Japanese shogun (b. 1242)
1397 – Francesco Landini, Italian composer (b. 1325 or 1335)
1540 – Emperor Dawit II of Ethiopia (b. 1501)
1680 – Per Brahe, Swedish soldier and statesman (b. 1602)
1688 – Sir Robert Viner, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1631)
1690 – Philipp Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (b. 1615)
1764 – Nathaniel Bliss, English Astronomer Royal (b. 1700)
1765 – Henry Bouquet, Swiss-born British army officer (b. 1719)
1768 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b. 1703)
1790 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (b. 1701)
1813 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1763)
1820 – Jiaqing Emperor of China (b. 1760)
1832 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian astronomer (b. 1754)
1834 – Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer (b. 1757)
1865 – William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (b. 1805)
1872 – Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher (b. 1783)
1877 – Constantine Kanaris, Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician (b. 1793)
1896 – Nat Thomson, Australian cricketer (b. 1839)
1898 – Wilford Woodruff, American fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1807)
1910 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (b. 1844)
1921 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
1921 – Anthony Francis Lucas Croatian-born American oil pioneer (b. 1855)
1927 – Umegatani Totaro II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 20th Yokozuna (b. 1878)
1934 – Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1884)
1934 – Russ Columbo, American singer, violinist and actor (b. 1908)
1934 – James Allan, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1860)
1937 – Pierre de Coubertin, French founder of the modern Olympic Games (b. 1863)
1941 – Lloyd Seay, American stock car driver (b. 1919)
1942 – James Juvenal, American rower (b. 1874)
1942 – Tom Williams, Irish republican (b. 1924)
1944 – Bella Rosenfeld, Russian-born American wife of Marc Chagall and subject of many of his paintings (b. 1895)
1945 – Mason Phelps, American golfer (b. 1885)
1948 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and spy (b. 1883)
1953 – Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch rower (b. 1875)
1953 – Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV, U.S. general (b. 1883)
1962 – William Wilkerson, American founder of the Hollywood Reporter and the Flamingo Hotel and nightclub owner (b. 1890)
1964 – Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
1964 – Alvin York, American soldier (b. 1887)
1965 – Johannes Bobrowski, German writer (b. 1917)
1969 – H? Chí Minh, President of North Vietnam (b. 1890)
1971 – Robert Mensah, Ghanaian football goalkeeper (b. 1939)
1973 – Carl Dudley, American film director (b. 1910)
1973 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (b. 1892)
1976 – Stanislaw Grochowiak, Polish writer (b. 1934)
1978 – Fred G. Meyer, American businessman, founder of Fred Meyer, Inc. (b. 1886)
1979 – Otto P. Weyland, American military figure (b. 1903)
1984 – Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (b. 1908)
1985 – Abe Lenstra, Dutch footballer (b. 1920)
1985 – Jay Youngblood, American professional wrestler (b. 1955)
1991 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
1992 – Barbara McClintock, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
1994 – Roy Castle, British entertainer (b. 1932)
1996 – Paddy Clift, Zimbabwean cricketer (b. 1953)
1997 – Rudolf Bing, Austrian-born British opera manager (b. 1902)
1997 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (b. 1905)
1998 – Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
1998 – Allen Drury, American novelist (b. 1918)
2000 – Elvera Sanchez, Puerto Rican dancer (b. 1905)
2000 – Curt Siodmak, German-born American screenwriter (b. 1907)
2001 – Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon (b. 1922)
2001 – Troy Donahue, American actor (b. 1936)
2002 – Dick Reynolds, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1915)
2004 – Joan Oró, Catalan biochemist (b. 1923)
2004 – Eleni Zafeiriou, Greek actress (b. 1916)
2005 – Bob Denver, American actor (b. 1935)
2006 – Bob Mathias, American athlete and congressman (b. 1930)
2006 – Willi Ninja, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1961)
2007 – Max McNab, Canadian National Hockey League executive (b. 1924)
2007 – Franz-Benno Delonge, German game designer (b. 1957)
2007 – Rajae Belmlih, Moroccan singer (b. 1962)
2008 – Bill Meléndez, American character animator (b. 1916)
2009 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, India (b. 1949)
2011 – Roberto Bruce, Chilean journalist (b. 1979)
2011 – Felipe Camiroaga, Chilean character animator (b. 1966)
2012 – Sun Myung Moon, South Korean religious leader & founder/leader of the Unification Church (b. 1920)