Jackson Free Press

On Feb. 23, the James Beard Foundation announced its 2016 America's Classics awards. Among the five restaurants that will receive this award, Bully’s Restaurant (3118 Livingston Road, 601-362-0484) is one. The JBF gives the award to restaurants that have "timeless appeal and are cherished for quality food that reflects the character of their community," the foundation said in a press release.

Tyrone Bully and his father, who are both trained masons, built the restaurant from the ground up. It serves dishes such as oxtail, macaroni and cheese, and sweet potatoes, and Bully's serves regulars that include police officers, city council members and state legislators.

Also on a James Beard Foundation note, chef Jesse Houston, who owns Saltine Oyster Bar, has been nominated for Best Chef: South, which is one of the highest awards in the American food world. The foundation will announce the finalists on March 15.

Congratulations go to Jesse for his nomination and Bully's for its award.

The 8th Annual JFP Chick Ball is raising money to help the Center for Violence Prevention start a rape crisis center.

It's not that Gov. Phil Bryant has a problem with gay people. In fact, he might tell even tell you that he knows some gay people. He just doesn't want it done on state property.

This week, for the first time same-sex-loving people could apply for federal benefits under a key U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down earlier this summer.

However, Bryant, who is commander-in-chief of the Mississippi Guard when they're not federalized, has said because Mississippi has a state constitutional ban against gays marrying, same-sex couples would not be able to apply for federal benefits on property the state owns, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Mississippi and Texas are the only states that have decided to bar gay couples from accessing for their constitutionally protected rights. (It's unclear whether Bryant will also block gay couples from exercising their constitutional right to bear arms by not letting them apply for concealed-carry permits or hunting licenses).

As a result of the Mississippi decision, gay people would have to travel to a federal facility (e.g. Meridian's Naval Air Station or Keesler Air Force Base on the Coast) to apply for their rights.

Today, the Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union took Bryant to task for the decision, calling the move "a slap in the face to legally married lesbian and gay service members."

"They should not have to travel when similarly situated heterosexual couples don't have to travel," Bear Atwood, the ACLU's legal director, told the Jackson Free Press this afternoon.

Government officials in 13 other states where gay marriage is also banned — including Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida, Michigan and Georgia — have decided to honor the sacrifices of its service members and process their benefits applications.

This week's new releases, regional picks, and even a correction...

It's convenient to presume that Mississippi will bleed red on Election Day, but if that's true, then a fair question follows. Why would Donald Trump waste time and resources stopping in Jackson, Miss., this evening for a $1,000 per ticket fundraiser and rally?

Polling done in Mississippi this presidential year might help explain why. An April Mason-Dixon poll only favored Trump to Hillary Clinton by three percentage points, a slim margin for a candidate who won the primary election in Mississippi with an 11-point advantage over Ted Cruz, Politico reports. A second poll, conducted by Magellan Strategies and commissioned by Y'all Politics, revealed a larger gap between the two candidates, with Trump leading by 13 percentage points.

One question in the Magellan poll gave Mississippians three options: Trump, Clinton or Undecided. Fifty-four percent chose Trump; 39 percent chose Clinton; and 7 percent were undecided.

FiveThirtyEight gives Clinton only a 14-percent chance of winning Mississippi's six electoral votes, but that number is a result of the weighted analysis of only two polls: the Mason-Dixon and Magellan polls.

November has the potential to be a competitive election, depending on which poll you believe, and as NewsMax pointed out: "The last time a Democrat presidential candidate won the state was Jimmy Carter in 1976," but it's likely too early to confidently project a solid winner.

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Since starting at the Jackson Free Press in May, I have been involved in producing 15 issues. For some of them I didn't do a lot, but others I can flip through and see the work I put in on most of the pages inside. It's very cool having a physical product for our efforts each week and see people carrying it around, but it's even better to be proud of what we're doing—not just printing words and images into a paper, but being a force that strives to make Jackson a better place.

And now, we're upping those efforts on the Internet with our new website, including these fancy blogs for staff members and anyone who wants to create one.

So what's my story? I was born in Utah to Oregonian parents, moved to Mississippi for high school and decided to stick around for college—I went to Millsaps and loved it. Then I went to graduate school in Boston and lived three blocks from Fenway Park for two years. Boston was big and wonderful and I loved so much of it, but it was difficult to feel connected to the community in a meaningful way. So when the time came to move back to Mississippi (this time, for my fiancé-now-husband's enrollment in medical school), I was actually excited.

I touched on a lot of the reasons why in my first editor's note, but when I went to the Sal & Mookie's/Parlor Market collaboration PM Pizza on Monday night, I was reminded all over again how great our city is becoming these days. To me, the event is a perfect example of why I'm glad to be back in Jackson. First of all, Liz Lancaster (who does marketing for Mangia Bene) is a great friend of mine and a fellow Millsaps alum, and I just love seeing young people (especially intelligent former Majors with open hearts and minds) become the movers and shakers in this town. Liz and everyone at both restaurants did an amazing job for the event.

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Second, the community. Walking over from the JFP office, I immediately found the table of my people, and throughout the night several more people or groups came in and came over for hugs and happy greetings. Everywhere I looked I saw people I either knew well or recognized. I love living in a capital city that still manages to create those moments.

There was also an influx of players from the local kickball league, which my table immediately wanted to know more about and get involved with. A friend who is moving out of the country for a year said multiple times how great Jackson is and how jealous she was that all of us could do events like PM Pizza and local kickball leagues. This person is moving to Paris, y'all, and she couldn't stop talking about how great Jackson is.

Third, the food. Ohhh, the food. I was there …

News on Morningbell and new releases...

Over the weekend, various media outlets—irresponsibly in our opinion—published unsubstantiated rumors that Mayor Chokwe Lumumba was murdered, but with no evidence attached.

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's son, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, gave the following statement to R.L. Nave of the Jackson Free Press this morning responding to comments of Hinds County Supervisor Kenneth Stokes and others that his father was murdered:

"We know that our father was loved and appreciated by many and a number of people both in Jackson and around the world have inquired into the manner of his death. At this time, there has been no information provided to the family other than that provided at the time of his death by the doctors. The family will explore all possible causes of his death."

We urge other media outlets to act responsibly and not publish rumors before evidence is provided. This can have a very harmful effect and spread fear among a citizenry already traumatized by our mayor's death.

Meantime, we expect these reports to be Exhibit A in many media-ethics discussions in the years to come.

Two current titans in hip-hop are headed for Jackson.

Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz are currently on tour in support of their collaborative album, "Collegrove," a portmanteau of the neighborhoods where the two rappers grew up, 2 Chainz's College Park near Atlanta and Lil Wayne's Holly Grove in New Orleans, La.

The tour stops in Jackson on Wednesday, Oct. 26, for a performance at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Building at Jackson State University (1400 John R. Lynch St.). The concert coincides with JSU's homecoming weekend and also features a performance from Jackson-native rapper Silas, who garnered national media attention last year with his single, "Gullah Gullah Island."

Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $65, and VIP tickets are $100. To purchase tickets, call 800-745-3000 or visit jsums.edu.

Note: This story has been updated with a total donation figure that Lee's backers gave to federal Republican candidates since 2008. The new paragraph is bolded down below.

In the WAPT-Clarion-Ledger debate, Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. alluded to the fact that he is a real Democrat when he unloaded on opponent Jonathan Lee in his closing statement. This is clearly a continuation of some Jacksonians' belief that Lee is a "Rankin County Republican," a meme we've heard off and on for months now.

We have factchecked both parts of that allegation to the best of our ability and will address them both below.

First, Rankin County

Lee's campaign materials make him sound like a life-long Jacksonian. His website states:

Jonathan was born, grew up and lives in Jackson. Jonathan was born and raised in Jackson into a family with deep ties throughout the community. The son of two Lanier graduates and part of a family whose roots span three generations in Jackson’s Georgetown community, Jonathan learned early what it meant to be proud of one’s city.

Jonathan called all of Jackson home – from growing up on Meadow Lane to getting picked up by his grandmother (“Big Mama”) after school who lived in Georgetown. After graduating from high school, Jonathan attended Mississippi State University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s in Business Administration.

The part that is left out of that description is that Lee's family moved to Rankin County in 1988 when he was 11. He later graduated from Northwest Rankin High School and did not live in Jackson again until 2009 when records show that Lee and his wife moved into Jackson from Rankin County. When asked, he does not deny that he has lived less than four years in Jackson as an adult.

Lee, who is 35 now, took over as president of his father's company when he was 24, according to his campaign materials. He told the Jackson Free Press that he stepped down from the company, which he never owned, in December 2011, meaning that he ran it for about 10 years.

Candidate Lee ran into a Rankin-related controversy last year after a commenter posted on the Jackson Free Press site that he was still driving a Maroon SUV with a Rankin County plate. In response to an Aug. 10, 2012, query about it, Lee emailed the Jackson Free Press:

This particular rumor has been shopped around various media outlets all week. The vehicle I assume that they are referring to is my company vehicle. My personal vehicle is registered in Hinds County, a fact easily verified.

MPI is owned by an entity chartered and located in Rankin County. It was where our distribution company was originally located. In fact, MPI has only been located in Jackson for 19 years. For those 19 years MPI has paid property taxes, inventory taxes, and school taxes in Jackson, Miss. The parent company is still located in Rankin county …

The budget for Jonathan Lee's campaign to become next mayor of Jackson has officially topped $400,000 since the start of 2013.

In a report filed Tuesday, May 14, 2013, with the City Clerk's office, the treasurer for Jonathan Lee's political action committee "Friends of Jonathan Lee" says the Lee campaign raised $66,459 since April 11, putting his calendar year-to-date total at $401,019.12.

The report says Lee has also spent $372, 762.08 total, and $65,815.41 of it since April 11, 2013.

The report, which you can read here, shows that Lee received several large donations in the past month, including a $2,500 donation from Guy H. White of Ridgeland and a $2,000 donation from Emmerson Asset Management, LLC. He also received $1,000 donations from The District Land Development Company, Bennchmark Construction Corp., Fondren Place Apartments LLC, Integrated Management Services and private citizens Susan McNease of Jackson, Steven Speights of Jackson, Samuel Lane of Jackson and Deshun Martin of Jackson.

Lee's opponent in the May 21 runoff, Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba, also filed his report on time (yay!). His report indicates that his campaign has just topped the $100,000-mark, year-to-date, with $31,957 of that coming after April 11, 2013.

Lumumba has received large contributions in the past month, including a $5,000 from Adekuule Adekuubi (trust me, we are digging trying to figure out who these people are), $2,000 from Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. (an engineering company out of Baton Rouge, La.), $1,500 from himself, $1,300 from New England Contractors LLC (a Jackson business) and $1,000 donations from Adam Shakoor of Detroit, Mich., Herbert Irvin of Jackson, Mississippi Boys Hoops Inc. of Jackson, attorney John Walker of Jackson, J&J Wholesale of Clinton and attorney Winston Thompson of Jackson.

Ward 4 City Council hopeful De'Keither Stamps also filed a report, which you can read here.

Stamps report says he received a total of $4,940 between April 28 and May 11, 2013, from himself, coffee roastery engineer Nikdra Ford and Honeysucker and Honeysucker Inc. He spent $1,931 at A2Z Printing, and split the rest of his spending between Wal Mart, Raceway, Spaceage Marketing and Printing and Poll Watchers. He reports $277 cash-on-hand.

See, it's not hard to follow the law.

Residents of Jackson's Fondren and Belhaven neighborhoods are cautioning their fellow neighbors to be vigilant amid what they're calling a crime spree of house burglaries.

Jeff Good, who lives and owns businesses in Fondren, sent out the word on Facebook. "We obviously have a group of criminals stalking our neighborhood (and Belhaven) and breaking in. We have all seen the myriad of postings ... looks like we are averaging 3 - 4 a day, all in the mid-morning/early afternoon (9 - 1 p.m.)," Good wrote.

Good added "the current list of suspect cars are a older model two-door white Honda Accord sedan with a spoiler on the back (that is a raised fin on the trunk of the car... like a race car would have. Another vehicle is grey Chrysler 300."

It's hard to quantifiably determine whether there's been any spike in crime. Overall house burglaries were down between Oct. 6 and Oct. 13, as well as in the last 28 days and year-to-date through Oct. 13, JPD data show. Any spree that commenced after Sunday of this week will not show up until next week's crime report is published.

Nevertheless, Good and other residents are erring on the side of caution. Precinct 4 Commander James McGowan wrote Good back about how residents could keep themselves and their property safe. Good posted McGowan's response on Facebook:

"Call the Police Department immediately at 911 for any suspicious activity (people and vehicles). Call 911 first and report the information as detailed as possible. Anyone going door to door should be immediately reported. If you have windows and doors with no curtains, do not leave laptop computers other items where they can be easily seen by someone walking up to the door.

"We have increased patrol in the Belhaven and Fondren. Directive Patrols are being done in Belhaven, Fondren, Eastover and all througout Precinct Four. There were and always will be at least 10 officers on each of the 10 beats we have in Precinct Four, plus at least one Sergeant out on the streets. We have the Direct Action Response Team, the newly reconstructed Jackson Police Department Reserve Unit, Quality of Life officers and other units in our area patrolling.

"If you see a suspicious person or vehicle, please call 911 immediately. Call us first.

"We are looking for several vehicles in reference to recent burglaries (both auto and house burglaries). We are looking for a grey Chrysler 300, a white 1992ish Chevrolet Silverado, and a honda vehicle that has been described as an accord type of vehicle. The main thin is continue to be aware of your surroundings and the neighborhood. If it looks suspicious, call 911. There is and always will be a 10 beat officers working along with at least one sergeant.

"Get tag numbers, use your cell phone to take a picture of the suspect and suspect vehicle."

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Mississippi Tea Party vice chairman Mark Mayfield appeared in a Madison County court for his alleged participation with a story to that continues to roil the Mississippi Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Mayfield, an attorney in Jackson, was arrested today along with an unnamed suspect, but charges were not released, the paper reported. (Clarion-Ledger political editor Geoff Pender later tweeted from court that Rick Sager, a soccer coach in Laurel, is the other individual arrested)

Mayfield may be familiar to readers of the Jackson Free Press for his participation in a 2012 interview in which then-president of the Central Mississippi Tea Pary Janis Lane said that America took a wrong turn when women gained the right to vote.

Mayfield quietly exited the interview as Lane began her anti-woman rant, but he had some harsh words for sitting U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran.

In response to a JFP question about whether Congress's core function is to bring federal dollars to their home districts, Mayfield said:

"They sure think it is. We've got a senator up there right now—Thad Cochran—who's just as guilty as anybody. He's probably the worst one up there in terms of pork-barrel legislation."

Mayfield said he was apolitical for much of his life "until I saw the direction we started taking with the bailouts, the stimulus, TARP, Obamacare--you name it--this endless, mindless overspending and over-borrowing."

He added that he believed certain Tea Party principles could attract more African Americans, among them, he said: "Jobs and economic development. Things like giving voters a choice on where to send their kids to school. They don't have to keep sending them to a failing public school. We want to give them the option of sending them to a successful charter school or perhaps look at vouchers where they can send them to a successful private school."

McDaniel's camp has maintained that the state senator had nothing to do with the blogger who allegedly photographed Cochran's bedridden wife, Rose, and released a statement about the arrests of Mayfield and Sager.

"As we have said since day one, the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Cochran is out of bounds for politics and is reprehensible. Any individuals who were involved in this crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McDaniel said

Mayfield later posted bond, the Ledger reported.

Only 8 percent of registered voters participated in yesterday's local Democratic runoff elections.

With such low participation, it undoubtedly helped community activist Kathy Sykes, who had wide support among progressive grassroots groups and fellow activists. It's also a majority black district. Sykes is African American; her opponent, attorney, Sam Begley is white. In unofficial county results, Sykes defeated Begley with 54 percent of votes to Begley's 46 percent. Begley wrote on Facebook last night saaying while he appeated to "come up short," he has a responsibility to his supporters to canvass the boxes to "confirm the correct result." The winner of that contest will face Republican Pete Perry in November.

Meanwhile, another community activist, David Archie had less success in his bid for Hinds County Board of Supervisors against incumbent Darrel McQuirter. Before the runoff, McQuirter seemed vulnerable considering that on Aug. 4, he won 44 percent of the votes against Archie and former Supervisor Al Hunter, both of whom have battled McQuirter in past elections. It seemed conceivable that Hunter's supporters would prefer Archie, but in the end McQuirter received 57 percent of votes.

The other Hinds County supervisors' runoff ended with Bobcat McGowan, a county employee, defeating Eric Stringfellow, a public-relations professional and former Clarion-Ledger columnist. McGowan seemed to have solid backing among some local black talk-radio talking heads, but didn't do media interviews, including with the JFP.

Finally, Hinds County race of interest, veteran legislator Rep. Mary Coleman defeated Robert Amos for central-district rep to the Mississippi Transportation Commission.

Here are the totals for Hinds County from the county's website:

 TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONER (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 110 OF 113 PRECINCTS COUNTED 97.35%) Robert Amos. . . . . . . . . . 2,274 20.80 Mary H. Coleman . . . . . . . . 8,614 78.80 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 44 .40 HOUSE DISTRICT 70 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 17 OF 18 PRECINCTS COUNTED 94.44%) Samuel Lee Begley. . . . . . . . 953 46.02 Kathy Sykes. . . . . . . . . . 1,114 53.79 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .19 SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 2 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 29 OF 29 PRECINCTS COUNTED) David L. Archie . . . . . . . . 2,001 42.64 Darrel McQuirter . . . . . . . . 2,688 57.28 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .09 SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 5 (VOTE FOR) 1 (WITH 26 OF 27 PRECINCTS COUNTED 96.30%) Bobby "Bobcat" McGowan . . . . . . 1,221 53.93 Eric Stringfellow. . . . . . . . 1,035 45.72 WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 8 .35 

The Campaign for Southern Equality and Mississippi-native Rev. Susan Hrostowski filed a lawsuit against several state officials, saying that House Bill 1523 is unconstitutional, late last week.

The lawsuit states that House Bill 1523 violates the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution and asks the U.S. District Court to enjoin the bill from becoming law on July 1. New York-based attorney Roberta Kaplan, who won same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt in this state, will represent the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit names the governor, attorney general, the executive director of MDHS, and the state registrar for vital records as defendants. Several floor debate comments from the 2016 legislative session about the bill are used in the initial complaint. The complaint draws the distinction between Mississippi's Religious Freedom Restoration Act and The Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.

"Critically, the Mississippi RFRA does not single out any particular religious belief or creed and privilege it above all others..." the complaint says. "HB 1523, however, starkly departs from this tradition and practice by providing additional rights and benefits and by extending well beyond those available under RFRA, but only to individuals or entities that espouse one of three specific beliefs: (a) that '[m]arriage is or should be recognized as union of one man and one woman,' (b) that '[s]exual relations are properly reserved to' a marriage between one man and one woman, or (c) male and female 'refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth.'"

The ACLU and the Mississippi Center for Justice have both filed lawsuits, asking the courts to rule House Bill 1523 unconstitutional, and Kaplan filed a motion to re-open the case that legalized same-sex marriage in Mississippi, due to HB1523's passage. The Campaign for Southern Equality's lawsuit is the third lawsuit filed against House Bill 1523 and the fourth legal challenge.

After the Washington Post released a 2005 video recording of Donald Trump and Billy Bush having a lewd conversation about permissible ways to treat women, several former Trump supporters backed away from their endorsements. Among these politicians were Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and two Alabama members of Congress.

Mississippi political leaders, however, did not back off their endorsements. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves did tweet his disapproval with Trump's remarks on Oct. 8.

"As a dad of girls, @realdonaldtrump's remarks on video are reprehensible and outside the bounds of decency. I hope his apology is sincere," Reeves tweeted on Oct. 8.

Trump issued an apology in a short video later, but defended the discussion as "locker room talk" in the second presidential debate on Sunday.

The Mississippi Democratic Party released a statement in response to Trump's views on sexual assault last Friday.

"It was revealed this afternoon that the Republican presidential nominee continues to hold astonishing views about how he can get away with sexual assault. Yet, not a single Republican statewide or legislative leader has called his actions deplorable," the statement says. "America deserves better leadership than this, and voters should remember his words when they vote on November 8th."

Following the debate, Gov. Phil Bryant did not back off his endorsement of Trump, and on Facebook, he said issues like repealing Obamacare and appointing judges to the U.S. Supreme Court were at stake in the election.

"Tonight, Donald Trump focused on issues important to the American people -- securing our borders, rebuilding our economy and repealing and replacing Obamacare. Bill Clinton was correct when he called it the craziest thing in the world. It was good to see most of this debate centered on things that are important to Americans," Bryant said in a Facebook post on Sunday. "Hillary Clinton spent the evening proposing the same policies that have failed for 30 years, including appointing liberal judges to the Supreme Court who would advance the Left's agenda rather than respect the Constitution. Most conservatives understand this election is about the United States Supreme Court and the future of our country."

Thus far, no state political leaders who formally endorsed Trump have swayed in their support of the Republican presidential candidate. The deadline for Mississippians to register to vote was on Saturday.

Gov. Phil Bryant is still against Medicaid expansion, but says he's now willing to sit down with hospitals about other ways to cushion the blow from massive funding cuts when certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect.

In a statement issued jointly with the Mississippi Hospital Association, Bryant said he and hospitals "have come together in good faith to work out a possible solution to our funding issues."

Under the ACA, certain hospital funding mechanisms would sunset and be replaced by other revenue streams, primarily state Medicaid expansion. However, Bryant hates Obamacare so much he's refused to talk about covering an extra 300,000 low-income Mississippians with an expanded Medicaid plan.

Chris Anderson, CEO of Singing River Health Systems in Gulfport, said the Medicaid expansion question is "dead end" with Bryant so hospitals will have to work with the governor's administration to find alternate funding sources.

Anderson and other hospital execs are encouraged that Bryant now appears willing to come to the negotiating table.

JFP News Editor R.L. Nave is at City Hall for the special council meeting to set the date of the special election for the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's seat (made interesting because several members may run for the seat.)

Nave tweeted that Councilman De'Keither Stamps and Quentin Whitwell wanted the election April 15, but Tony Yarber and Margaret Barrett-Simon wanted April 8, so it didn't conflict with tax day. Melvin Priester Jr. served as the tie-breaker.

Council also set a special election runoff for two weeks after the special election.

The qualifying deadline for mayoral prospects will be March 19.

Earlier today, Nave broke the news that a campaign is coming together to draft Lumumba's son, Chokwe Antar, to run for mayor.

The Council also announced that Lumumba's body will lie in state in City Hall Friday, March 7, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the public; and 7 to 9 p.m. for family only.

As if presenting to a jury, Melvin Priester Jr. paced in front of a bank of TV cameras as he made his opening argument — for his candidacy for mayor of Jackson.

Priester broke with several other candidates whose announcements came at Jackson City Hall and held his first official campaign event at his law office in north Jackson.

"Who I am isn't at city hall. Where I'm from isn't at city hall. What I believe, who I'm with, what we want to do to change this city isn't based at city hall," Priester told media and supporters this afternoon.

Priester said he wanted to continue to build Jackson, which includes renovating his law office on Executive Place as well as promoting the development of Jackson's Midtown neighborhood.

Priester was the third candidate to reveal intentions to seek the mayor's seat today; a fourth, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, will hold a news conference at 5:30 p.m. inside city hall due to rainy weather.

Here's the new releases for this week...

Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse (Contemporary R&B)

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (Alternative Singer/Songwriter)

Robyn / Röyksopp - Do It Again (Downbeat)

Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart (Club/Dance)

Sam Smith - In the Lonely Hour (Pop)

Cher Lloyd - Sorry I'm Late (Pop)

Bruce Robison / Kelly Willis - Our Year (Americana)

Ben Frost - A U R O R A (Experimental Electronic)

Owen Pallett - In Conflict (Alternative/Indie Rock)

Napolian - Incursio (Left-Field Hip-Hop)

Amy LaVere - Runaway's Diary (Americana)

Various Artists - Sound of Siam, Vol. 2: Molam & Luk Thung 1970-1982 (Thai Pop)

They Might Be Giants - Idlewild: A Compilation (Alternative/Indie Rock)

Kiss - Kiss 40 Years: Decades of Decibels (Arena Rock)

Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like a Bell (Indie Pop)

Popstrangers - Fortuna (Alternative/Indie Rock)

Crowbar - Symmetry in Black (Heavy Metal)

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