Only once in the past decade (hail hail, 2013!) has more than one black artist been voted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME, and only twice in that span has more than one female artist made it through the nominating and voting process. "I don't think that's a real issue," the Hall's co-founder and outgoing chairman, JANN WENNER, said Wednesday when asked about his institution's record with women and people of color. "People are inducted for their achievements. Musical achievements have got to be race-neutral and gender-neutral in terms of judging them." Which sounds lovely until you remember that the world itself isn't race- and gender-neutral, and pop and rock never have been (and have you been watching KEN BURNS' COUNTRY MUSIC?), and, seriously, take another look at those results. Is that where color-blind and gender-blind judging gets us? Is it possible to walk into the Hall and look at all those plaques and not ask questions? Why TOM WAITS and why not CHAKA KHAN? Is it possible to not think about race and gender when selecting your nominating committee and your voters? Is it wise? Is the Hall not a curated experience anyway, and could it use a little more curating? Is it time for a change, and is that change at hand? Wenner, who became chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 2006 (inductees his first full year: GRANDMASTER FLASH, the RONETTES, PATTI SMITH, REM, VAN HALEN, that was a good year), is stepping down in January. He'll be replaced by IHEARTMEDIA's JOHN SYKES, who I know and greatly admire, and who I don't expect to walk in and turn the Hall inside out but who I hope will begin to think about its culture in new and different ways. Congratulations, John. And, if I may, this is a particularly apt year to be thinking about the METERS. And any year is a good year to be thinking about these women. Just between you and me... LIZZO, who has released three albums and two mixtapes going back to 2013, has been declared eligible for a BEST NEW ARTIST GRAMMY nomination in 2020 and I am not complaining, not even a bit. My eyebrows are slightly raised, however, at the official eligibility of JUICE WRLD, who had a top-10 pop hit and a major label album eligible for the 2019 Grammy Awards (they seem to have forgotten to nominate him then) and CARLY PEARCE, whose debut album reached #4 on Billboard's country album chart two years ago when, apparently, no Grammy voters were looking... MARY HALVORSON gets a MACARTHUR FOUNDATION Genius Grant... The songs of BILLY JOEL get a TV series... More than three-quarters of US internet users stream music, while globally, about a quarter of music fans use stream-ripping apps to illegally copy music... The early stuff isn't always better... Sending good vibes to GINGER BAKER... RIP CHARTWELL DUTIRO and JO-AN ANDERSON FOX.