When it comes to February 29, there’s a surprising amount of rock history

It’s February 29th, the quadrennial extra day that makes one of the most dreary months all that more insufferable. It does, however, lend itself to some interesting history notes when it comes to rock history. To wit:

• Mark Foster of Foster the People is having a birthday. By loops around the sun, he’s 40. By actual birthdates, he’s just 10.
• Ja Rule turns 48–or 12, if you prefer.
• Saul Williams is 52–or 13.
• 1968: The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band won Album of the Year, Best Cover and Best-Engineered and Recorded album at the Grammy Awards
• 1972: John Lennon’s US immigration visa expired. The beginning of a three-and-a-half year attempt to boot him from the country. Bloody Nixon.
• 1977: Two members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were knocked out during a fight between them and the metropolitan boxing team in London. The latter were holding a dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. Did they really want to mess with a bunch of boxing cops?
• 1980: The glasses Buddy Holly was wearing when his plane went down in an Iowa cornfield on February 3, 1959, were found in a Mason City file.
• 1992: The first gig of U2’s Zoo TV tour was held in Lakeland, Florida.
• 2012: Davy Jones of The Monkees died in his sleep in Florida at the age of 66. It was a heart attack.
• 2016: The Rolling Stones announced that they would play a gig in Cuba.