I can't say I was ever close with JAY FRANK, but we crossed paths during my MTV NETWORKS days, when I was at URGE (and later RHAPSODY) and he was, among many other job descriptions, CMT's digital music guru. I remember him as a whip smart, get-to-the-point music guy, as a b.s. detector nonpareil and, because this is how MTV NETWORKS works, as family. That was the culture. If you were there for any length of time, you were family. His death Sunday at age 47 hits hard because of all of that and more. If you work anywhere near music, there's a good chance you crossed paths with him, too, somewhere along his path from THE BOX to YAHOO MUSIC to CMT to DIGSIN to UNIVERSAL MUSIC, where he was SVP of global streaming marketing. Or from reading his books. Maybe you realized, years later, that he was right about all that digital stuff he was talking about when you were still wondering whether streaming music would ever amount to anything. A decade ago, he was telling pop songwriters and anyone else who would listen that attention spans were shortening, that online listening was changing what pop fans were looking for and that, for example, song intros were becoming a thing of the past ("a liability," in fact, as he wrote in his first book). It was becoming more and more important for songwriters—like Frank himself—to get to the point right away. He wrote this in 2009. Remember that the next time someone in 2019 tries to musicsplain how streaming is changing the very sound of pop in that exact way among others. He saw it first. Way way first. He also, I now know, had a particular love of uncool music, which makes me wish I had known him better. RIP... PITCHFORK opened the doors last week and now the 2010s rankings, listicles and thinkpieces are starting to trickle in on the music web. We'll be collecting the most interesting ones here in our MusicSET "Alright Alright Alright: The 2010s in Music," and we'll continue to do so for the next year or so, or however long it takes for everyone to have their say. And, no, you don't have to refer to it as the Conceptronica Decade if you don't want to... "Why would they do that?," LAURIE ANDERSON asked Friday about New York public radio station WNYC's decision to cancel JOHN SCHAEFER's long-running NEW SOUNDS show (along with much of the rest of the station's music programming) by the end of this year. Memo to New York cultural programmers: If Laurie Anderson (and she was far.from.alone) doesn't understand what you're doing, reconsider what you're doing... Also canceled in New York: five (!!!) rappers scheduled to perform at the ROLLING LOUD festival, at the request of the NYPD... DOLLY celebrates 50 years at the OPRY... RIP also: HENRY "GIP" GIPSON, KADRI GOPALNATH, KENNY DIXON and TOMMY UDO.