by Streeter

Hey Indaba, happy Monday.  Welcome to our weekly shop talking session.  Now, I must admit I've been using this post selfishly from time to time to get recommendations for various instruments and equipment.  This time, however, I promise it will be my last.  I recently made a drunken and, perhaps foolish, choice to trade my acoustic guitar - a very crappy Indiana, whatever that company is - for a swivel TV stand.  It seemed like the right move at the time and don't get me wrong, I love my swiveling TV, but now I miss my acoustic guitar.  I want to get a new one but I'm also not a fantastic guitar player meaning A) I don't need a fantastic guitar and B) I don't deserve a fantastic guitar.  So, here is what I'm asking of you today: Could you guys suggest a decent acoustic guitar for somewhere between $200 and $500?  I like steel strings and fretboards that you can glide over.  So, what say you, Indaba?  Can you help a wanna-be musician out just one more time?

Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Karaoke means, translated from Japanese, "empty orchestra."  However, that term barely hints at how wonderful the act of singing karaoke is.  As we know, it's HUGE in Asia, where people take it very seriously.  In America it is more of a drunken sing-along / comedy competition where the singer tries at once to pick a song everyone will sing with and also to entertain his or her friends with funny antics.  I've spent many an evening screaming into a microphone in the hopes of making my friends laugh while also putting on a funny show. 

But when it comes to karaoke there is only really one choice to be made: what song to sing.  Of course, you will want to pick one that is roughly in your range, one that you already know the words to and one that everyone else knows as well.  You see, the more people singing along, the less accurate your singing needs to be.  I post this here because I need a new song to sing.  For a few years now I have been using the same rotation of songs and it's about time I changed it up a bit.  I've been fond of Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual," and Sum 41's "Fat Lip."  I've even done this one, which might be the greatest karaoke song of all...

Yes, that is quite a song (and a video to match!).  But I'm bored of my rotation and I'd like you guys to suggest some new ones for me to do.  If you need a rough approximation of my range, I can do that Meatloaf song relatively well.  As a reward for helping me out now, I will post a video of myself singing the song at my next karaoke outing for you guys to "enjoy."  Help?