Why does R. KELLY still have a major-label record deal? Or any record deal? How frequently is that being asked in the halls of RCA RECORDS these days? Or anywhere? In case the recent HOLLYWOOD news wasn't enough to get that on-and-off discussion going again, here's CHICAGO MAGAZINE's MARK CARO on reporter/critic JIM DEROGATIS' 17-year quest to shed light on Kelly's treatment of women, which, if even half the allegations are even half true, is horrifying. It should be noted that Kelly has never been convicted of anything. Neither, it should also be noted, has HARVEY WEINSTEIN. Caro's longread serves as a solid profile of a writer who has consistently gone against the tide as both a critic and investigative reporter, cultivating plenty of enemies along the way. It also serves as a crucial reminder of what investigative reporters do, and what they endure. “All I’m doing," DeRogatis tells Caro, is listening to women who want to talk about how they were hurt, allegedly, by this superstar, and nobody else seems to want to listen to them.” Also, someone fired a bullet through a window in his house in 2002, on the day the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES published a major piece on the police investigation of Kelly. Caro's story raises, and doesn't answer, the question of why few reporters and publications have followed up on DeRogatis' reporting over the years. One theory on why several sites passed on his summer 2017 blockbuster alleging that Kelly is essentially running a cult is that the HULK HOGAN/GAWKER verdict has spooked the news business. But three months later, two of the preemiment news organizations in the US were fighting to be first with the Weinstein story. Weinstein's and Kelly's alleged victims are, shall we say, different. Could it be as simple as that? As ugly as that? Will Hollywood's reaction to the Weinstein story change the math for the music business? Or light a fire? MusicSET: "The R. Kelly Files"... Why artists should be charging more for in-demand concert tickets, and why they shouldn't, all in a story about this year's winner of the NOBEL PRIZE in economics... Can you win a Nobel for explaining why music sounds better when you're high?... GOOGLE doodle: SELENA... This man has the #1 album in the US... QUESTLOVE's "The Keith O Challenge," intended as both rebuke to, and edutainment for, rap-fearing KEITH OLBERMANN, is my new favorite SPOTIFY playlist... But this expansive, mind-bending, ever-growing playlist by FOUR TET, now up to 618 songs, could reclaim the title the next time he adds a batch of songs, which might have already happened by the time you read this... RIP IAIN SHEDDEN and DAVE BRY.