MUSIC HISTORY UP IN DENTON: It stands to reason that UNT would have a top-notch music library, what with all the top-notch musicians produced by the school. But, as dallasnews.com reports, this library is more like a music history museum. Among the items in the collection are 800,000 recordings, a first edition of Handel’s Messiah, Maynard Ferguson’s handwritten score to Rocky and a smattering of still-playable Edison phonographs. “Quite often, if we don’t have it here, we send people to UNT,” says Library of Congress music specialist Kevin Lavine.

MUSIC BITS: Dallas’ Spector 45 has released its first ever video. The clip is for an unreleased song called “Emulate.” (DC9 at Night) … Dallas rapper Big Hood Boss explains to Quick how he got his nom de plume (quickdfw.com) … The five members of Denton’s Seryn tell the story of how the band came together. (pegasusnews.com)

NEW THEATER REVIEWS: The title of Theatre Arlington’s The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is a pretty straight ahead explanation of the show. Punch Shaw calls it, “a true killer of a comedy.” (dfw.com) … Second Thought Theatre is staging the area premiere of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Hunter Gatherers, in which two couples take part in a very strange dinner party. “In Second Thought’s staging, directed by Jonathan Taylor, the outrageousness goes too far over the top in some aspects, not enough in others. Occasionally, it’s right on target,” Mark Lowry writes. (theaterjones.com) … In Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, the playwright looks back on his days as a writer for Sid Caeser’s TV show. Lawson Taitte says that in WaterTower Theatre’s staging, there are plenty of laughs, but they mostly come after intermission. (dallasnews.com).