Here we are. Profile #3000. Let's take a bow... and a breath. We deserve it, don't we?

So who gets to headline such an important profile? For #1000, we picked George Gershwin, a worthy candidate and a perfect score. For #2000... wait a minute. We really painted ourselves into a corner there. #2000 is Ira Gershwin, George's brother. Does this mean third brother Arthur is gonna be #3000? No offense to Arthur or anything, but...

Let's paint ourselves out of the corner. Aaron Copland is not a Gershwin, but, just like George, he is often hailed as one of the greatest, most influential American composers. (So why did it take us 3000 profiles to get to him?) He's been called "The Dean of American Composers" and played a huge role in making music more populist and accessible.

So here we go, a worthy profile #3000. And at least we painted ourselves out of the corner, which should make the process of selecting #4000 that much easier.

If we ever get there, that is...