Year 459 (CDLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ricimer and Patricius (or, less frequently, year 1212 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 459 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Joseph James "Joe" Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American martial artist, stand-up comedian, actor, writer and color commentator. He is best known for playing Joe Garrelli on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, commentating for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, hosting the NBC reality show Fear Factor and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey. His paternal grandfather was Irish and the remainder of his ancestry is Italian.
In 1981, at age fourteen, he became a practitioner of Kenpo Karate before transitioning to Taekwondo. He eventually gained a 2nd dan black belt. A four-time state champion in Massachusetts, in 1987 he was the USA Taekwondo U.S. Open Champion. In 1996, he began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado, eventually earning his brown belt. In addition, he holds a brown belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu under Eddie Bravo.
He also practiced and competed in kickboxing.
In 1994, he co-starred on the Fox comedy Hardball as Frank Valente, the young, ego-centric star player on a fictional professional baseball team. From 1995 to 1999, he co-starred on the comedy NewsRadio. He portrayed Joe Garrelli, the electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in the Kevin James movie Zookeeper. He is slated to play himself in an upcoming action-comedy starring Kevin James called Here Comes the Boom, set to be released in the summer of 2012.
Murray Perahia KBE (born April 19, 1947) is an American concert pianist and conductor.
Murray Perahia was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to a family of Sephardi Jewish origin. According to the biography on his Mozart piano sonatas CD, his first language was Judaeo-Spanish or, Ladino. The family came from Thessaloniki, Greece. His father moved to the United States in 1935.
Perahia began studying the piano at age four with a teacher he says was "very limiting" because she made him play a single piece until it was perfect. He says his musical interests blossomed at age 15 for reasons he can't explain, and he began to practice seriously. At 17, Perahia attended Mannes College, where he studied keyboard, conducting, and composition with his teacher and mentor Mieczysław Horszowski. During the summer, he also attended Marlboro, where he studied with musicians Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals, among others. He played duets for piano four hands with Serkin, who later made Perahia his assistant at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, a position he held for over a year.
Radu Lupu (born November 30, 1945) is a Romanian concert pianist. He has won a number of the most prestigious awards in classical piano, including first prizes in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
Lupu was born in Galaţi, the son of Meyer Lupu and Ana Gabor. He began piano as a six-year old (with Lia Busuioceanu), making his public debut at age 12, in a concert featuring his own compositions. After completing high school in Galaţi, and graduating from the Popular School for the Arts in Braşov, Lupu continued his studies at the Bucharest Conservatory with Florica Musicescu (who also taught Dinu Lipatti), and Cella Delavrancea. In 1961, he was awarded a scholarship to the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, where he studied with Galina Eghyazarova, Heinrich Neuhaus (who also taught Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels), and Stanislav Neuhaus.
Lupu's concert appearances and recordings for Decca, though not frequent, consisting of a limited repertoire, have been consistently acclaimed. Although trained in the Russian pianistic tradition, he is particularly noted for his interpretations of the great 19th century German and Austrian composers, especially Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the 18th century. He is also noted for performances of works by the Czech Leoš Janáček, and the Hungarian Béla Bartók.
Alfred (Fred) Joseph Joyal (born August 21, 1954) is an entrepreneur who partnered with Gary Saint Denis in 1986 to form the successful dental referral service, 1-800-DENTIST. Today he serves as the CEO of Futuredontics, Inc., which operates 1-800-DENTIST as well as several other brands, and is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on dental consumer marketing.
Joyal was working as a junior copywriter at an advertising agency when he was asked to co-found Futuredontics by his eventual partner, Gary Saint Denis. The company began as a very small organization that served a handful of dentists within Los Angeles. Gradually, it grew to serve all of Southern California, and eventually all of the United States. Joyal has stated that his mission in building 1-800-DENTIST was to provide a consistent flow of screened patients to member dentists while encouraging millions of consumers to visit the dentist on a regular basis. “Up to that point, finding a dentist had mostly been a word-of-mouth process,” he said. “Our goal was to set up a trusted resource for consumers who want a real introduction to a qualified dentist with services that match their needs, rather than just an ‘I know this guy’ recommendation.”