YES, THE PEQUOD SETS SAIL TONIGHT: Bill Zeeble reports on the Dallas Opera‘s little ol’ premiere over on the feature side, and, of course, there’s going to be a lot of press attention. But there’s actually a second wave of classical music press headed our way. The Music Critics Association of North America comes here next weekend for its annual confab. That way, the two-dozen-or-so critics get a thoroughly hummable visit to Our Fair North Texas: They check out Jaap van Zweden Thursday at the Meyerson as he leads a litttle Tchaikovsky and Ravel, listen to Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony at Bass Hall on Friday and only then see both Moby-Dick and Madame Butterfly at the Winspear Saturday and Sunday. So — in 10 days or so, we can expect another round of reviews and stories around the country about the operas, the new halls and the symphony conductors. And we can thank the News‘ Scott Cantrell for that.

IT’S THE HAPPY TIME FOR COMIC BOOK NERDS: Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day, and Scott Hinze provides a guide to some of North Texas’ best comic book stores for dfw.com. Besides, there are all those comic-based summer supposed-blockbusters coming up, starting with Iron Man 2 next week.

PICKY-PICKY: The USA Film Festival continues through the weekend at the Angelika at Mockingbird and if you’re thinking you might want to check out a screening or three, be sure take a gander at Stephen’s picks of the litter.

OH NO, IT’S A TREND: I wasn’t wild about [title of show] at Theatre 3 — the coy little musical that’s all about its own coy little creation. The News absolutely loved it, while Front Row loved it but said it does primarily appeal to theater-insiders. Now comes Everyday Rapture on Broadway, the Sherie Rene Scott musical that’s all about being Sherie Rene Scott. And who says theater artists are narcissists?