Have you ever heard a song on TV or in a movie and thought, "Hmmm, I'd sure like to buy that."  I do all the time, only the majority of the time I can't find the name of the tune or even an artist.  I rely on hastily thrown together and rarely updates fan sites for such things and, usually, they're missing some sort of crucial bit of information which prevents me from finding the song.  Except today, that is. 

I first heard this song in an episode of The OC.  I checked every fansite I could find and, even though most of them were great, none seemed to be able to name this song.  It also wasn't on any of the OC Mixes the show would put out every season.  I was heartbroken.  The tune was haunting; a mix of folky guitar with melodc, layered vocals.  I had to have it. 

Flash forward two years to this morning.  I was laying in bed, idly enjoying some Friday Night Lights I had downloaded a few weeks ago.  BAM, the songs pops up again.  This time the fansites were more generous and identified the song as "Eyes" by Rouge Wave (it's great, by the way.  You should all listen to it). 

Anyway, this is a rather long way of suggesting that IMDB or some similar site cataloging movies and TV add a song section to clear up this problem for me and anyone else who likes music.  The soundtracks for these shows are planned out long in advance and there's no reason they couldn't have accurate, up-to-date info.  So, come on, IMDB, help me out? 

New York Magazine - not to be confused with the more literary New Yorker magazine - has a great article on the remnants of the punk scene on New York's St. Marks Place (a street in the East Village area of New York City, for you out-of-towners).  The article follows a few punk kids around for a few days and offers a fascinating look at a culture that had already died and has only been resurrected by those searching for the dead one. 

We're first taught about the various kinds of punks you'll find hanging out on St. Marks at any point during the summer: gutter punks, MySpace punks, hippy punks, etc.  All are essentially homeless (well, all the real ones, anyway), spending their nights squatting and their days drinking and doing drugs.  At one point in the story, one punk is arrested for smoking weed and the big concern among his friends after he's hauled away to jail is the fact that he was the only one who knew where the punk show was that night.  As the article points out, all these wayward kids descend on St. Marks looking for the famous filth and squalor that made the street famous among punks in the 80's.  Of course, now there's a Chipotle on St. Marks and that scene is as dead as Sid and Nancy.  However, the sheer number of punks coming to the street looking for that scene have created it all over again. 

Of course, underneath the clothes, tats and binging, is the music.  The punks interviewed in the article all claim a love of the music, but it seems secondary to their enjoyment of drugs and alcohol.  Perhaps the author of the article chose not to focus on the music or perhaps it isn't really that important to them, and the idea of the scene is a larger concern.  Who knows?  Then again, punk was never really about the music.  Sid Vicious couldn't even play bass, after all. 

Anyway, go read about one of the strangest scenes in the country: Punks Like Them. 

In what is sure to be old news to any hip music consumer, Girl Talk - the handle of DJ Gregg Gillis - has released his latest mash-up masterpiece.  Some fans are calling it a quick fix to appease his growing and rabid fanbase, but from a pure listening standpoint, this is one solid record.  Listening to the record in order is like taking an 80-minute musical journey through all the songs you forgot you liked.  It's far beyond your average mashup, in that each song sampled seems to be better than the original track and in that each layer adds something new to the mix.  As with all great albums, you feel as though you're being told a story.  What that story is, I haven't the faintest, but the album moves up and down in intensity, creating a feeling of forward movement and no, I'm not stoned right now.  Questionable as it may be - Gillis doesn't pay licensing fees for his samples - it's worth a listen if just to see what one creative musical mind can do with other people's songs. 

Download "Feed the Animals" by Girl Talk

Ready for this?  10 Million people have watched this video...

We live in an age when a cat idly tapping keys is more popular than most TV shows.  We live in an age where we can watch someone else's cat idly tapping on keys whenever we want.  We live in an when anyone with an idea, a video camera, a recording device and a modem can become hugely famous overnight.  In other words, we live in an amazing age and I, for one, love it.  Though it's stupid and took no talent, the video above has been watched 10 million times.  Imagine what all of you - people with talent - can do.  _

This moment of idealism brought to you by the good mood I'm currently in._SPLIT__

Upon entering my apartment, my new roommate spotted my guitars. He asked if I play. "A little bit," I said. "Nothing serious. Like chords and a few scales, no real solo potential I'm afraid."

"What's your song?" he asked.

"My song?" I said. I didn't quite get what he was talking about.

"Yeah, your song. Everyone who only plays a little bit of guitar has a song they play when they pick one up. It's to make it look like you're better than you are. Mine is 'Sweet Home Alabama.'"

That's when i realized that he was right, we crap guitar players do all have songs we play to impress people. It's normally a song with a mix of easy picking and open chords. It's not very hard but it's always recognizable and always sing-along-able. My song is "Comfortably Numb."

So, what's yours, crap guitar players of Indaba? Confess in the comments.

I have a confession to make: I don't own a record player.  Well, not that I use anyway. I have an old, old one sitting in the attic of my parents house but the last time I used it the George Harrison record I listened to was brand new.  Now, for a while I've promoted the revival of vinyl as our main tangible music form since it delivers the highest level of audio performance.  That's just a fact, but a fact that I cannot go home and experience myself.  So I put it to you, Indaba, help me buy a record player.

I'm looking for a good mid-level model.  Something that will deliver true audio without any unnecessary add-ons that will only increase the price.  Does anyone out there have a suggestion for me?  I'm looking to buy one soon so make haste and email me at Streeter@IndabaMusic.com with advice.  Thanks, Indaba.  I know you'll come through for me. 

Sirius radio, as many of you probably know, is the paid satellite radio system that has become ubiquitous in rental cars.  XM radio served the same purpose but is in the process of being combined with Sirius to create a monopoly.  Now, in this case, I don't think a monopoly is necessarily a terrible thing since their programming was largely the same.  However, monopoly or not, Sirius hasn't become the cash cow its investors once hoped it would be.  It's popular, sure and, being a frequent guest on one of its shows, it is certainly doing well enough, but it still lags behind television and the Internet in terms of widespread use.  So, here is my proposal for Sirius: build a navigation system. 

If Sirius used some of their excess satellite space from XM to create a navigation system and packaged it with their radios, it would create a double-feature that doesn't exist in the marketplace now.  Nobody would want to buy a satellite radio and an expensive navigation system if there were a unit that combined the two.  Hell, give the navigation away for free while you're at it.  They could corner the market for a low monthly subscription fee and I, for one, would buy one (if I had a car, that is). 

So think about it, Sirius.  Nobody is questioning the fact that your music delivery system is tops but people can get the same music for free on terrestrial radio.  A navigation system would ensure that your product had no equal in the marketplace. 

I'll take that check whenever you've got it, thanks. 

I wanted to hate it.  I really did.  From the second the DJ said, "Up next we have Fall Out Boy with their cover of 'Beat It' my brain screamed sacrilege.  Aside from Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal," I hadn't heard a decent Michael Jackson cover and I certainly wasn't expecting to hear one from Fall Out Boy.  But, alas, I couldn't help but enjoy it. 

Certainly, most of the credit goes to MJ for an amazing song to begi with, but Fall Out Boy really did a great cover.  They kept the essential elements that made the song great to begin with but changed it enough to give it their own unique spin.  I really liked it and I really hated myself for it. 

But that got me thinking about cover songs.  Now, I love cover songs. They're my favorite sub-sub-genre of music, easily.  Something about hearing a song I dig done in a different style makes me happy.  I have some favorites - Manfred Mann's cover of "Blinded by the Light" jumps to mind - but then i remember something curious I heard a few months ago.  On her debut album Lily Allen, the British singer, did a cover of one of her own songs!  Genius!

The song is called, "Smile" and it's insatiably catchy.  It heads up her album and then, three minutes later you're on to a new track.  But later, 12 later to be precise, you hear "Smile" again.  Where the first track has an upbeat-heavy reggae feel, the second incarnation of the track sounds like Phil Specter produced it with his famous Wall of Sound: a faster beat, fuzzy vocals, horns and staccato guitar.  It sounds like Ms. Allen found a time machine and recorded the track in 1962.  It's really wonderful; better than the original in my opinion. 

So I'm forced to ask the question, why don;t more artists do this?  A song can sound great many ways, why let other people figure out those ways and profit from it?  Why not just do it yourself, like Lily Allen did?

Years and years was firmly planted on my couch watching MTV.  This was back when hey played videos, too, and I was enjoying some sort of top twenty show.  The VJ then announced that a new band had entered the countdown with a song called "Mmm Bop."  The video began and I took in the scene: a three-person band backed up a by an ugly guitar player, a little kid drummer and acute chick singer/pianist.  Of course, that band was Hanson and the singer was certainly not a chick.  I wouldn't find out until later on, after commenting to one of my friends about this cute girl singer I saw on TV.  I think I could be forgiven for mistaken Taylor Hanson for a girl, especially in those early days when he really, really, did look like one.  Anyway, that embarrassing incident passed and I haven't made the same mistake again...until a few days ago.

I was at the gym, running on the eliptical (like all jacked guys do) when a video for a bad called Tokio Hotel came on.  I first noticed the guitarist, who wore a stiff brim baseball hat from which flowed feet of nappy dreadlocks.  White person dreadlocks have never been my favorite style, but then I noticed the singer.  She was a rail-thin, tall, brooding girl, with wildly teased out emo hair and a slender, cute face.  If she was actually a girl it would have been better, too.  I had been fooled again by a girlish boy!  This time, the Internet answered my question when I saw a banner ad featuring the "adorable Billy Kaulitz from Tokio Hotel."  "Huh," I thought, "she's named Billy.  Weird."  A quick stop at wikipedia confirmed it; the she was most certainly a he. 

So, after two embarrassing incidents over the past decade I must insist something be done about this.  I cannot continue to mistake he's for she's, especially not in the company of my friends who rarely let that sort of misstep go un-made-fun-of.  Here is my proposal: if you're a girlish looking boy in a band you should be made to wear some sort of identifying mark that says as much in your first video.  Perhaps you could wear the blue baby booties the hospital gave you when you were born around your neck.  Or maybe you be shown enjoying a Three Stooges movie.  Perhaps you might even want to take it out, just for a second, to put any rumors to rest.  I hate to be so drastic but at this point, any steps to keep me from mistaking boys for girls are welcome. Also, maybe chill on the makeup. 

Someone once called evolution the single best idea anyone has ever had.  That very well may be true. But by it's very teaching, the idea of evolution must have evolved from some simpler form of the idea, no?  In fact, almost everything in the world has evolved to where it is by some combination of trial, error, refinement and application.  Band names are no different.  I've done some extensive research - *cough* Wikipedia *cough* - to uncover some of the best Band Name Etymologies. You can view the full list here, but allow me to pick out a a few favorites. 

Ace of Base - I, along with the rest of the world, assumed the name was a cute little play on the notes of the lower register (the bass).  However, it turns out the band's first studio was in a basement that they considered themselves masters of.  They are, therefore, Aces of the Basement, or Ace of Base. 

The Beatles - Everyone knows that story of how the name came to John Lennon in a dream, right?  Well, they went through a ton of variations on that name before landing on the one we know and love today.  But before they were any of those, they were The Quarrymen, which someone pointed out, is a much, much better band name that the terribly pun-ny "Beatles."

Bee Gees - The popular story is that the band was named for the phrase the ' Brothers Gibb.'  However, it's actually much sweeter than that.  They named the band after two guys who helped them out early on: Bill Goode and disc jockey (not software mogul), Bill Gates

Nine Inch Nails - I post this one not for the great meaning behind the name, but for the lack thereof.  According to leader Trent Reznor, he chose Nine Inch Nails because it could be abbreviated easily and for no other reason.  Now, I was pretty good friends with a serious Nine Inch Nails fan growing up and he swore - swore - the name somehow referred to the length of the nails Jesus was crucified with.  He even went to the store to try to buy 9" nails, only to find out that that size is not made anywhere. 

+44 - Out of the ashes of Blink 182 rose +44, which was founded by two former members, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker.  The story goes that the notion of a side project between the two first arose while they were in England.  And what better way to pay tribute to land that birthed such a good idea as naming the new band after the International Dialing Code for that country? 

The Rolling Stones - There is often confusion regarding which came first: the band, the magazine or the Bob Dylan song.  The answer is, none of them.  The term comes from a 1948 song by bluesman Muddy Waters.  Never has one song given rise to such an array of culturally significant entities. 

Steely Dan - Perhaps the funniest name on the list, the band is unabashedly named after a dildo.  Wonderful.