Oklahoma’s long been known to its residents as the birthplace of a bunch of really cool – and some not so cool – musicians. Exhibit A, of course, are the Flaming Lips, who every New Year’s Eve hold a concert in downtown OKC and every Halloween march through the streets of downtown with a thousand torch-carrying fans dressed as skeletons. Then, of course, there are the All-American Rejects and Hinder, neither of whom are my particular cup of tea but hey. I’ll try not to judge your crappy taste in music. There are also a plethora of amazing local bands, musicians, and cool places to hear live music. So it’s rather cool that the University of Central Oklahoma is opening up its Academy of Contemporary Music in the heart of OKC’s main entertainment district. I continue to hope that it will be things like this, rather than things like, say, Sally Kern, that create Oklahoma’s reputation going forward.