TODAY IS

It's Friday the 13th, if that matters.

Darius Rucker of "Hootie and the Blowfish" fame turns the big 5-0 today.

• I always thought of him as being T away from being a trucker.
• These days, he's even more Hootie.
• In recent years, he's gone country. But to be honest, it wasn't that much of a transition.
• Wonder if he uses a blowfish to put out his birthday candles?
• These days, he's less Hootie and more Blowfish... whatever that means.

Dennis Rodman turns 55 today.

• During his basketball-playing days, he was called "The Worm." I never got that, but apparently the early birds did.
• I believe is a national holiday in North Korea.
• He's our unofficial ambassador to North Korea and an official pain in the... neck.
• His nickname back in his NBA playing days was "the worm," which explains why he doesn't like fishing or early birds, only North Korean dictators.

Julianne Phillips -- the first Mrs. Bruce Springsteen -- turns 56 today.

Stevie Wonder hits number 66 today.

• No cheap jokes at his expense this year. Although, to be honest, I am going to give him the same tie I gave him last year.
• He can sing his birthday song to himself.
• Kept waiting for him to go from Stevie to just plain Steve... never happened.
• Always a tricky day for Stevie. He reads what's on his cake and gets
• frosting everywhere.

Apple Pie Day -- The saying: "As American as apple pie" really meant something in the 1700s, when the dessert became so popular that Yale College started serving it at every supper, a tradition that continued for more than a century.