In 1995, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared every April 23 to be World Book Day, and encouraged us to celebrate by reading. The date was chosen as the anniversary of the deaths of both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare. However, in actuality neither man actually died on that date -- they only appeared to thanks to calendar discrepancies.

Nonetheless, we love books here at Rocks Off, and so do many of the great bands in the world. Sometimes they love them enough to name a whole album after their favorite.

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Today is the 51st birthday of Izzy Stradlin, who most simply remember as the rhythm guitarist in Guns N' Roses. But if that's all you know about him, it's really sad, because a lot of what made GN'R the band it was was due to Stradlin's inspired writing. His dedication to fusing punk and Rolling Stones-esque rock is what managed to turn a project that could have just been another hair band in the '80s to one of the most significant acts ever.

It's partly his own fault, this relative anonymity. Stradlin has always been a low key guy, and in later years has been damn near reclusive. In a band with Slash and Axl, pretty much anyone would fade into the background. He found life on the road too hard to keep himself drug free, not to mention the ever increasing madness of Rose, and he quit the band during its 1991 tour.

Since then he's done some mildly successful solo work, and even helped craft songs for both Velvet Revolver and the Axl-only Guns. He seems perfectly content to be involved in rock and roll as long as he doesn't have to go out on the road. Stradlin remains a brilliant songwriter and a talented guitarist, but nobody ever talks about his lead-vocal contributions to Guns. Y'all musta forgot about...

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Today is International Children's Book Day, celebrated every April 2 on the birthday of Little Mermaid author Hans Christian Andersen. It's a day to honor the joy of reading to your children (which I do with Lovecraft because, well, I'm kind of a bad person), and some wonderful musicians have gotten into the act of creating works for young readers. They include...

10. Shel Silverstein
Behind Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic) is probably the greatest author of rhyming stories for kids. He was also an accomplished songwriter, penning "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash, which became the Man in Black's only Top 10 single on the Billboard charts. He was also the man behind Loretta Lynn's hit, "One's On the Way," and Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone."

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As resident Houston Press astrolabe polisher, chirurgeon and goth expert, the world of old horror-movie actors falls under my purview. My heart is given most to Boris Karloff, because any man who can rock horror and narrate the Grinch is more badass than any of us will either be. That said I want to take a moment to celebrate Lon Chaney, Sr., the man who brought some of the greatest silent film monsters ever to life.

He was well-suited to the task. Chaney's parents were both deaf, and growing up in a silent house turned him into a tremendous pantomime talent. He initially went into theater, but a scandal involving his wife (she tried to commit suicide by drinking mercuric chloride) him off the stage and into film.

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In 2010, writer and producer Javed Mohammed decided to get the ball rolling on World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film. The internationally recognized holiday annually celebrated on March 15 is meant to spotlight the peaceful contributions followers of Islam make to society, and to art especially. In a time when Islam is still viewed very suspiciously by many Americans, this is definitely a good thing to be attempting.

You see, almost all of the Muslims you're going to run into in the course of your life are going to be perfectly normal folks who treat their religion exactly the same as you do. This includes musicians. Especially musicians.

You know how Alice Cooper is a devout born-again Christian but basically spends all his time singing about demons and murder? It's exactly like that in the Muslim world as well.

So today I thought I'd introduce you to some musical Muslims to do my part to spread Mr. Mohammed's dream. Here are five musical genres to which Islam is clearly contributing for the better.

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Ira Jefferson "Jack" Beers Jr.

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot down by Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being driven through the streets of Dallas. Two days later, Oswald himself was killed at the hands of nightclub operator Jack Ruby as he was being transferred to a county jail.

There have been dozens of reasons put forth as to why Ruby suddenly decided to kill Oswald. Conspiracy theorists propose the idea that it was all part of a plot to kill Oswald before a more far-reaching plot could be uncovered. Ruby himself stated that he had done it to redeem Dallas and to spare the Kennedy family the pain of returning for a trial.

This was probably a legal ploy. The whole thing may honestly have just been a sudden, violent whim for a man with a history of mental illness and with phenmetrazine running through his system.

Whatever the cause, Ruby was convicted of Oswald's murder on March 14, 1964, and sentenced to die for the crime. He later appealed for a new trial, but succumbed to lung cancer before it could take place. He left behind him a murky, nebulous chapter of American history, and that influence stretches to the realm of song. Our playlist this week is dedicated to him.

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On this day in 1994 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that parodies, commercial or non-commercial, do not violate copyright law. 2 Live Crew had applied for permission to parody Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman," but were refused. They made the song anyway, and after a quarter of a million copies were sold, Acuff-Rose Music sued Crew and Luke Skyywalker Records for infringement.

The Supreme Court disagreed (inadvertently enshrining 2 Live Crew in law libraries everywhere when Justice David Souter included the complete texts of the lyrics in his majority opinion), and ever since then mocksters have been completely free to appropriate songs in the name of humor. Today, presented in no particular order, we celebrate songs that are lawyer-proof thanks to Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.

Author's Note: Weird Al has been purposely excluded from this list due to his obvious unfair advantage.

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Do you like cookies? No? Well at least now we know who the hidden aliens are and can send Roddy Piper to deliver fisticuffs and quips about the surplus of ass-kickings inversely proportionate to the scarcity of bubble gum.

Seriously, though, cookies are awesome, and it was on this day 101 years ago that the world was granted the alpha cookie, the Oreo.

Back before the National Biscuit Company went street and shortened its name to Nabisco, it ripped off another cookie called the Hydrox to begin its reign as American's best-selling biscuit of all time with the Oreo.

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It's likely that all you know of The Proclaimers is their single American hit, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)." Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. After all, that song is completely awesome, and if it's good enough to send off David Tennant from Doctor Who, then it is good enough for the likes of us, by golly.

Seriously, watch that video I linked to. You'll grin like an idiot throughout the whole thing.

The Scottish band started by twin brothers Charlie and Craig Reid, both of whom turn 51 years old today, is an international success outside of the United States. They've released nine albums since 1987, with two Top 10 singles on the UK charts, and their 2002 Best of compilation went platinum as well. You know who doesn't have two Top 10 singles on the UK charts? Freakin' Bauhaus and Eric Clapton as a solo artist, that's who.

So today we thought it might be nice to introduce some people to other songs that make The Proclaimers a band that deserves more of your attention. Much love to the Scottish lasses who helped me put together the best and nothing but.

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Scott Dudelson via Flickr

Deerhunter singer Bradford Cox

Like all good people, I want to kick cancer in the dick, but I will say one thing for the bastard: When you're as widespread and horrible an attack on the human body as cancer is, you at least leave behind you a network of survivors, support groups, foundations and so on for people to participate in a shared experience. A horrible one, but at least you can find others who will understand totally what you're going through and how they dealt with it.

You can't say the same for someone afflicted with, oh, I don't know, Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome. There's no lobby in Congress fighting for you, there's not a Friends of Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome chapter nearby and you are pretty much on your own.

This problem is why the last day of February is observed as Rare Disease Day.

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