Happy Birthday, Peter Schickele!

The, er, discoverer of P.D.Q. Bach, the last and least of the post-Johann Sebastian generation of Bachs, was born this day in 1935 in Ames, Iowa.

Aside from the music of P.D.Q. Bach that he has "rescued" and recorded, I regularly damn Schikele for the many ear-worms he has planted in my head with his mixed theme pieces such as the "Unbegun Symphony", "Eine Kleine Nicht Musick" and "Bach Portrait". To this day, I cannot hear the opening strains of Brahms' Third Symphony without half expecting the orchestra to suddenly break into "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-Di-Ay".

Nonetheless, Schickele is both a brilliant musician as well as a very funny man and I encourage you to listen to his CDs, radio programs and concerts whenever you get the opportunity. As Bill Cosby used to say, "If you aren't careful, you might learn something."