James Brown was proud to be an American. Courtesy: Heinrich Klaffs/Wikicommons. One of the more annoying aspects of the United States in the 21st century is that the political right, by which I mean the people who have been drifting farther to the right until they’ve made Francisco Franco…

John Mellencamp, courtesy. Today, the day this column runs, I am old. OK, to be fair, I was old yesterday, too. It can be argued I was born old. But today is my 40th birthday so I’m especially old, in that way only an odometer birthday can drive home. Plus,…

Neil Diamond. Wednesday is Tishrei 10, 5783, which was Yom Kippur. I’m not Jewish. I’m not anything, really, as I tend to not really be a joiner and most groups would rather not associate themselves with me. Thus, I’m not going to make myself look foolish and probably offend…

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Sweet Carolines. Today is Mother’s Day. This presents a wealth of column opportunities. I could list songs about mothers, by mothers of other musicians; all sorts of stuff. But I didn’t do that. Rather than pick one of those boring ideas, I put…