In 1976, the United States of America celebrated two hundred years since it declared its independence from Great Britain.

That summer, I was 11-years-old, and I remember it well. Being anti-American wasn’t really a widespread thing at the time, so the stars and stripes motif was everywhere and the national “malaise” of the late 70s hadn’t really kicked into high gear yet, so patriotism was proudly on display.

I started writing this back in March, but as is sometimes the case, other things take priority and something lower priority like this gets put on the back burner. It’s also not the kind of subject I usually tackle, since most things I write are about Dad at the core, although I have dabbled in some political/current events over the years, but not so much lately.

But a few months ago I did write about sharing Tennessee Titans football with Dad and a melancholy stroll around the soon to be empty stadium now known as Nissan Stadium on the last home game of the 2025 season, so we’ll call this a follow up.

Since the middle of February, rumors began to swirl about a new logo and look for the Tennessee Titans, which is the team I cheer for… not that there has been much to cheer for the past few years, starting with the team itself.

Almost 52 years ago, the CDB packed 2,000 fans into War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, TN for what would prove to be a historical night, the very first Volunteer Jam.

Though it began as a live recording session to record two live tracks for the band’s upcoming ‘Fire on the Mountain’ album, it became something much more, an event in its own right, a ‘happening,’ so much so that it became a mostly annual event from 1974 off and on through 1996, and then revived in 2015.