JUSTICE AND INDEPENDENCE '07

Fresh from his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, John Mellencamp is back in the news.

First off, he's announced another batch of tour dates, keeping him on the road into December along with Los Lobos. The itinerary includes a Dec. 15 show at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

"These shows are all about the music and the songs -- that's the essence of what we'll be bringing," Mellencamp said in a statement. "The bands and I are really looking forward to getting out there and performing some new songs and, of course, a lot that are familiar to everybody. It'll be a fantastic experience for the audience and all of us."

Last but certainly not least, Mellencamp has posted a video on his official Web site and MySpace page for a new song called “Jena.” It's about Louisiana's controversial "Jena Six" case in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white student.

The grainy, black-and-white video mixes footage of Mellencamp and his band in the studio along with images pertaining to the Jena Six case and the 1960s civil rights movement.

As Mellencamp's musical hero Woody Guthrie once sang, "there's mean things a-happenin' in this world."

And music has the power to make things better.