Today In Music News: Kelly's Not Gay, Kid Rock Is Touring With Skynyrd, Diplo and Switch Become Major Lazer

• I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Ruth http://fendisite.com

• I liked Raul a lot. He's first rate too.

• I've been listening to JF since my Dad wore out the vinyl copy of "Light My Fire" during my pre-adolescence. Sure, he's great. Gifted player, unfortunately, his time has passed. If anyone doubts Raul Midon's brilliance, I direct you to the YouTube clip of his first national TV appearance a few years back on Letterman's show. When was the last time you heard an audience erupt into spontaneous applause during the middle of a song? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzaClXAt3aY

• Dear Liles, In difference with You, I know (WELL) both Jose Feliciano and raul Midon, and please... Don't compare they ! Jose Feliciano is an incredible artists and more guitarist, the most incredible guitarist of this world, He can do anything in any field and styles, from flamenco, hard classical, american folk, pop, blues, brazilian bossa-nova, rythm-Jazz, latin bolero folk, rock just to hard rock! FingerStyle, Plectro, with 10 wizard fingers (with both left and right hands) but more... he has invented a NEW (and impossibile to see in other, a spoke like professional guitarist) to accomplish any pop-rock song in his personal style a blend with flamenco-classical technich fuse with blues with 5 fingers where high notes are played contemporary with bass notes with differents fingers! And anything for him is impossible Please, perhaps a little bit more know of a so hard classical indtruments like the guitar is recommended for You, whre people like segovia or Feliciano studies for 14 our at days is more to hard to do respect a man like Raul Midon then not has more not to inventive to use a guitar like a drummer... is another thing, right just to make a show in a theatre but not like a guitar player.. that's another completley thing... and please go to see a Jose Feliciano concert or some video to seee then.. yes.. Jose plyas alsto a guitar also like a drum when he want... but You know well.. Jose plays more than 30 instruments... so nothing is hard for him,.. if he has won 5 times best Pop-Rock Guitarist of America from Guitar Player and contemporary voted in Jazz and classical field in 70s.. and people like Santana just few days ago in Puerto rico concert has defined him the genius of a guitar and again if has thousand guitar players in the world then consider him impossible to imitate.... probably is because all these people don't understand nothing of guitar! Right?

• Liles, My point in the list about the Bacharach and Jolson entries (The Jolson's song is perfect for these times) is two things 1. great songs are back and 99% of musicians should probably not write their own music anymore, 2. and all music is great - no narrow genres. I didn't mean to disparage Feliciano, I meant to celebrate him. I'm a guitar player of 40 years, and I was really excited about his entry. I'm not against the Observer only. Our Daily is useless, and they know my opinion - we've had conversations over the years that are both personal and public, and I've printed a lot of criticism of them; and KERA is not doing enough for local artists either. Dallas's mainstream media - TV and radio is collectively useless stooges for corporate art. And love Hollywood art more than Texas art. Also I hope you saw all the people from DFW on the list. There are a lot of gifted musicians with some great songs from our area. The art revolution I have advocated for the last 16 years, is for the best of indie musicians and against the abuses of corporate art. For and against. PS my zine is free - there is no advertisements in it. I'm making nothing supporting other artists and musicians, many times over.

• On a whim I Googled your name, Tommy boy. I found it interesting that you have a Wikipedia page. But the most revealing thing about you is this from your Wikipedia page, "Hendricks is also an infamous poster to Usenet with thousands of posts, which are often taken from or related to Musea. He is regularly accused of trolling and starting flame wars with his rants about the arts and music business. His posts are sometimes a bit off-topic." Flame on, Tommy! Flame on!

• So you bitch in your post so you can just basically advertise your "zine"? That's so retarded. Don't you know published media is going the way of the dinosaur? Why don't you try and do what all these other guys do who aren't The Observer, which is basically what you do, but they put it out in a BLOG!!!

• OK, Tom. I looked at your list, and I must say that it is comprehensive and thought-provoking. It stands, however, in direct conflict with your initial assertion. If this is "a new century and time for something new", why are you preoccupied with who does the best Burt Bacharach, Al Jolson and Stan Getz covers? And why all the "awards" given to dead composers? How is any of that new or different? All of that stuff is from the last century. And how could you possibly have a category based on the "Best Instrumental by a Blind Musician"? Are you serious? How many blind musicians are there in Dallas? (And is Jose Feliciano the only blind musician you know of? Have you ever heard Raul Midon? Midon is a far more inventive guitarist and instrumentalist than Feliciano ever was. In addition, the arrangements on Marcus Roberts' "Deep In the Shed" are far more challenging and interesting than anything JF ever put out. IMO, anyway.) But are we really discussing a musician's output framed within the context of their physical "limitations"? For real? Tom, I like the fact you give a shit. I like the fact you would like to see the overall musical landscape change and take a turn for the better. We agree on that much. This much I know to be true: things aren't going to change by assigning blame to a single weekly newspaper in Dallas, and things aren't going to get any better merely by focusing on what this (or any) paper may or may not choose to cover. The press does not define enigmatic culture - the people do. There are PLENTY of new and interesting artists in DFW, and there always have been. Keep an open mind. Now, more than ever, we need constructive solutions and positive reinforcement. Negativity isn't going to change anything for the better.

• Liles How about over 100? This is a new century and time for something new. This list is AFAIK the first list of best new music from every corner of the world from two sources; myspace, the world's biggest and best record company, and youtube the world's biggest and best short film company. Weekly on behalf of my 16 year old zine,Musea I check youtube and myspace to find what I think is great music. Most musicians don't make it. Many are good musicians that can't find a good song. That's not good enough. I need innovation, good technique and a great song to make this alt list. There are over 100 here with about 90% of them I think could be hits. The others are just as good, but are instrumentals or good in some other way than a hit song would be. All of this is good music, and much of it is innovative. I have even allowed some music groups, if that song is good enough. What you will fine is a real honesty, passion, and fun in all of these solid songs. Music is new and exciting again - not disneyfied, trendy, shallow, badly written, clone music. Musea's Worldwide Favorite Music LIST "100 Plus Favorite Music from Youtube and Myspace" http://musea.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/100-plus-best-music-from-youtube-and-myspace/ The list is getting a lot of attention from everywhere. Someone complained that there was too much good music here. Well just pick a category or two that look interesting. I say that if you will look at up to three and react fairly, you will find at least one new favorite that you like. Now putting these 100 plus on 10 CD's would be 10 golden albums IMO.

• Tom, after reading this column for a few months now I was under the assumption that "Today In Music News" was mainly mainstream music. I could be wrong, but I read this everyday. There is a lot of great content on DC9 and The Observer for great local bands as well as many local music blogs like Gorilla vs. Bear, Bona Fide Darling, Subservient Experiment, etc. that I've discovered through DC9's blog roll. You might want to check them out too.

• Tom, was wondering if you might provide us with a roster of artists who are deep and without trend-affiliation. It's not up to the Dallas Observer to exclusively handle the dissemination of information regarding new music in DFW. If you have a problem with the music, take it up with individual artists. If you have a problem with the paper, offer a constructive alternative solution.

• Did you happen to catch any of the multiple reports form this weekends NX35 fest on this site? Tond of quality acts were profiled right here. Supporting a great, new local festival isnt exactly shallow and sadly it isnt trendy, a-hole...

• All the better to keep you commenting, Tom.

• Dallas Observer is very good at reporting what is shallow and trendy.

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