I like Dwight Yoakam's music. Like it a whole bunch. So do a lot of people. So it makes me wonder, why does he need to keep riding that Bakersfield theme in so many commercial directions? Hellfire, it makes me mad. He's not from Bakersfield, never lived there, and his only connection to the city is having sung a song -- one he didn't write nor did Buck Owens -- titled "Streets of Bakersfield." You would think he owned the copyright to all things Bakersfield. Why I really hate his Bakersfield-grab is because whenever I mention to anyone how I was a journalist covering Bakersfield's country music scene back in its heyday as a reporter for the daily newspaper, the response is always, "Oh! Dwight Yoakam." Not often, not more often than not, but 100 percent always, "Oh! Dwight Yoakam." Not Merle Haggard, who was born in Bakersfield. Not Buck Owens, who came to Bakersfield in 1951 and stayed. Not Red Simpson, Billy Mize, and so on. And it's from every age group, even from people from my age group who you would think had more awareness. "Oh! Dwight Yoakam, my ass!"