John Lennon's 70th Birthday

It's an ode to John Lennon -- Google style. On his 70th birthday, Google doodle has a very special John Lennon video doodle with the famous Beatles song Imagine playing on Google's homepage logo. It is also, in our knowledge, the very first video Google doodle to replace Google's corporate logo on Google's homepage worldwide.

Courtesy of Yoko Ono Lennon/Bag One Arts, Inc.
Source: http://www.google.com/logos/2010/lennon10-hp.gif

Here is another one:

Source: http://www.google.com/logos/2010/lennon10-res.gif

YouTube logo:

Source: http://s.ytimg.com/yt/img/doodles/lennon-vfl0oZe3g.png

Just log on to Google.com and click on the play button to play a 32-second audio clip from John Lennon's Imagine song on today's Google doodle on Google's homepage.



John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles. Lennon and Paul McCartney formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager, his first band, The Quarrymen, evolved into The Beatles in 1960. As the group began to undergo the disintegration that led to their break-up at the end of that decade, Lennon launched a solo career that would span the next, punctuated by critically acclaimed albums, including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine".

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, his writing, his drawings, on film, and in interviews, and he became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him. His songs were adapted as anthems by the anti-war movement. He took a sabbatical from the music business in 1975 to devote time to his family but reemerged in 1980 with a comeback album, Double Fantasy, but was murdered three weeks after its release.

Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceed 14 million units, and as performer, writer, or co-writer he is responsible for 27 number one singles on the US Hot 100 chart.a In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. [Read more on Wikipedia]

Lennon rehearsing "Give Peace a Chance" in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1969

Napoleon Orda's Birthday

Source: http://www.google.com/logos/orda10-hp.gif

Napoleon Orda (February 11, 1807 – April 26, 1883) was a Polish-Lithuanian musician, pianist, composer and artist.

Napoleon Orda was born in the village of Varacevičy in the Pinsk district of Minsk guberniya (now Ivanava Raion, Brest voblast, Belarus) in his father's manor. His father Michał Orda was an impoverished noble and the marshal of the powiat of Kobryn. After finishing Svislach gymnasium in 1823, he started mathematical studies at the Vilno University. However, his university career came to an end on August 27th, 1826 when he was arrested by the Russian secret police for taking part in an secret student society "Zarane", which was active in Svislach and Belastok gymnasiums. Although he was released soon afterwards, he was expelled from the university and was not allowed to continue his studies. [Read more on Wikipedia]

Orda on a 19th century lithograph

100th Anniversary of Django Reinhard's Birthday

Source: http://www.google.com/logos/djangoreinhardt10.gif

Jean "Django" Reinhardt (French pronunciation: [dʒɑ̃ɡo ʁenɑʁt]; 23 January 1910 - 16 May 1953) was a Gypsy jazz guitarist.

One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42" and "Nuages" (French for "Clouds"). [Read more on Wikipedia]