I missed wishing Ira Gershwin a happy birthday Sunday. But I guess that’s appropriate, because when I heard about it on yesterday’s installment of The Writers Almanac, what first came to mind wasn’t his birthday, but rather his death day.

Back when I still lived in New York, I was always alert for the death of a songwriter, because I knew that whenever a composer died, ASCAP—the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers—would rent out a Broadway theater and host a memorial, a celebratory concert that was free and open to the public.

Ira Gershwin’s was just one of the many I attended. Here’s the program that ASCAP handed out at the event:

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