I love when this happens

I'm kind of a big music junkie. There are genres that I typically stay away from, but I can handle myself around a lot of music. I think it comes from my mom. She had a big collection of records, including Juice Newton, Simon and Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, all kinds of stuff.

One thing about listening to music as much as I do is that there has always been a few songs I remember that I can't figure out the artist. Over the years, I've solved a few with the help of some friends and some extremely knowledgeable employees at a few record stores. A very patient clerk in San Francisco helped me find "Lowrider" by War after listening to my very twangy rendition. I was so stoked to grab the Greatest Hits cassette and cruise back across the bay in my VW Beetle, blasting that song as loud as my crappy tape deck would go. A tall, skinny (at the time), country-assed white kid driving a tired VW Beetle with "Lowrider" cranked all the way up was probably an interesting site to see. Even in San Francisco that must've been funny, and between you and I, those folks don't shock easy.

Anyway, up until recently there were a couple songs that I had always wanted to find since I was a kid, but had been unsuccessful until recently. With the help of a few 'name that tune' websites, I managed to find out "New Frontier" by Donald Fagen. I remember that one when I was 11 years old, hearing at a friend's house on MTV. I remember the video was a Keith Harring-inspired sort of animated thing, and I thought it was the coolest song in the world. Of course, I heard it a few times from then until last year when I found out what the song was. Once I found it, I put it on my Rhapsody playlist, and it's still there today.

I found my latest one today. I've been on a big funk kick lately, and this song straddles the fence between funk and disco. It has one of the coolest beats I've ever heard, and I couldn't understand a single lyric. Jack FM plays it every now and again, but never when I'm in front of my computer with their player open so I can see what the current song is. For some reason, they can't seem to keep their Recently Played Songs list up to date within 24 hours, so they're no help. I figured I'd try firing up Sirius on the Soul station and Jack FM's player at the same time and hope I got lucky. Surprisingly, it came on Sirius within an hour. How great is that?

If you're a serious music junkie, I have to recommend that you get Rhapsody or an equivalent. Try to get one of those car stereos that displays the track info of the current song (and find a radio station that transmits it). Don't be afraid to ask your music junkie friends. There are lots in Nashville. Check out a few websites (lazyfrog.net and adtunes.com are my recommendations). If you see a giant white guy in a white lowrider, you can stop and ask him. Of course, if you hear it in a mall or somewhere like that here, chances are that no one in your immediate vicinity is going to know who it is. Plus, my wife hates when I stop in the middle of a store and try to get people to help me figure out who sings the music playing at the moment. I tried that in Kohl's before I figured out New Frontier, and she didn't much appreciate it.

Oh, the song...

Dazz, as performed by Brick