The only member of the Grateful Dead who I respect, Phil Lesh, is 73 today. The shockingly great Sly Stone is 70. And Ry Cooder is 66. Lightnin’ Hopkins would have been 101 today, but he didn’t even come close. A damned good day for musicians.

It is also Judd Hirsch‘s 78th birthday. I’m not much of a fan, but I enjoyed Taxi when I was a kid. The once great and still very good David Cronenberg is 70. The great comedy writer Madelyn Pugh would have been 92, but she stopped functioning at 90.

A big happy birthday goes out to the only liberal member of the Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is 80 years old today. The sad thing is that she will probably not be on the court much longer. I suspect she will step down in the next couple of years to make sure that a Democrat will get to replace her. Even still, like all Supreme Court replacements for the last 30 years (except, of course, Ginsburg herself): the replacement will be more conservative than the justice he or she replaces.

I like having Ginsburg on the court. It reminds me of the days before America was a plutocracy. Here is Lightnin Hopkins performing “Baby Please Dont Go” just for her: