Sharing your birthday with your favourite musician is something special. You experience the day with even more joy because you know that somewhere else the singer you trust is also celebrating his very special day. I've been doing that for 56 years now.
I can't remember when I found out that Rod Stewart celebrates his birthday on the same day as me. I guess it must have been sometime in the 1980s when I started to get more and more interested in him. My mum once said that with my birthday date, it was basically inevitable that I would one day become a fan of Rod Stewart. Okay, theoretically it would also have been possible for me to become a fan of Scott McKenzie, who was also born on the 10th of January. But the way it turned out, it's all right.
Nowadays, I always celebrate my birthday in a special way. One of my regular birthday rituals is that I only and exclusively listen to Rod Stewart music on that day. In my favourite mobile game SongPop, I only play Rod Stewart lists on that day. And I watch at least one Stewart concert that day on the big TV in the living room, with the best sound via my great home cinema sound system.
I remember organising a Rod Stewart theme party many years ago. That evening there was only Stewart music playing, the room was decorated with concert posters and posters and a karaoke show was organised in conjunction with a Rod Stewart quiz. The prize was a signed autograph card, which I provided from my collection. It's a good thing I was able to keep it in the end, though. Because none of my birthday guests could even come close to beating me in the quiz.
My birthday in 2015 was also very special. My father had died shortly before and, to cheer me up after this difficult day, a number of Rod Stewart fans from the UK encouraged me to travel to London for the big party so that I could get back to more positive thoughts after the difficult days. Rod Stewart turned 70 this year and the party was held at his favourite pub in north London. No sooner said than done. I travelled to England and enjoyed a few wonderful days in the city and a fantastic party until the early hours of the morning.
Of course, I always got lots of Rod-related presents for my birthday. Whether LPs, CDs or even books and DVDs. Many Stewart items were presented to me on my special day. But the one I was most happy about was the concert poster from my very first concert in October 1986. It was only last year that the time had come: framed and visually enhanced, the tour poster was handed to me at my front door by the local delivery service on 10 January 2023. I would say it was perfect timing. Why was I particularly pleased about this? Because I've been looking for this poster for years and never got anywhere near the chance to get hold of it. I spent ages trying to get hold of one of these posters somehow. The concert was decades ago. Just as I was about to give up, the opportunity suddenly presented itself out of the blue and I snapped it up.
It's a bit of a shame that the big joint birthday party never happened, but I'm not giving up hope that I'll be able to toast our joint birthday with Rod Stewart in person one day on 10 January. Dreams are allowed and, as we all know, hope dies last.
But I won't be travelling to the Caribbean this year to catch Rod and his family somewhere. Don't worry :) No, I'll be at home, looking forward to my family coming to visit and, as always, enjoying the day with good music and watching a concert on my big TV with sound system.
Martin Heidt, January 2025
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