Once upon a time there was a little girl and a little boy. They met Once by accident. They met twice by accident. They met thrice on purpose. And they lived happily ever after.

This year’s TIME “100” finalist was nominated for eight Grammy’s in the last two years, has had nine different songs chart on Billboard’s Rhythmic Top 10 and two years ago, in November and December, had seven different singles hit the Billboard Hot 100 list. Can you guess who he is?

It’s T-Pain — the man responsible for bringing back the worst type of Auto-Tune.

Are the muses mad at us? Was it something we said (or sung)? It’s as if they saw us getting complacent with our talented Winehouses, alternative Radioheads and soulful LaBelles and thought to themselves, “Hey, you know what would be fun? Let’s turn all the great singers into drug addicts, kill the King of Pop and add Auto-Tune into the mix.”

With their 1930s musical Babes in Arms, composers Rodgers and Hart were certainly aiming to put on a show in the longstanding image of American culture, evoking an innocence and naivety that brings to mind the small town feel of Americana. However, it is doubtful whether they had the danceable, feedback-drenched tunes that reverberated through the wooden walls of Cornell’s Big Red Barn in mind. Instead, the three bands that performed Monday night, Blissed Out, Ho-Ag and Health, boasted the noise and sophistication that is telling of a new America, one that is loud and proud, and in your face.

This Sunday evening, Maroon 5 will journey to Ithaca with Fitz & the Tantrums as part of the band’s Back to School Concerts series. Sun Assistant Managing Editor Jasmine Marcus ’10 interviewed Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine and heard all about the group’s upcoming album, got the scoop on a new video game starring lead singer Adam Levine — and secured a tennis date.

As a music lover and college student there often comes the time when one must make the painstaking decision whether to journey to see a concert or not. When and what music makes it worth it to trek away from Ithaca and give college a pass?

St. Vincent took the Castaways stage by storm last Thursday night, infecting the crowd with her overwhelming enthusiasm and lovable charm. A newcomer to Ithaca, St. Vincent became acquainted with Finger Lakes region while her fans were also experiencing something fresh: an introduction into the singer’s captivating musical world.

With Halloween fast approaching, one may want to exercise greater prudence with academics in order to ensure that the debauchery of everyone’s favorite holiday does not destroy them on all counts. Those thinking in line with this maxim were doubly rewarded on Friday night, with the rare opportunity to see talented musicians play during a study break at Willard Straight Hall. They were even granted the dusky orange glow of the clock tower, which graced us with a rare change in color. Johnny Lingo was the occasion, and his speedy rhythm proved it to be one worth attending.

Sometimes it almost seems as if The Man has a sense of irony.

On July 17, Amazon.com pulled copies of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 from its new, fancy-schmancy electronic Kindle readers. These digitized books were apparently “illegal copies” that the website had inadvertently offered for sale. The company quickly refunded readers for the misunderstanding (and cognitive dissonance). Ha!

The mainstream is dead. Long live the individual! While this is a tired and clichéd line, it holds true. In a decade of musical ups and downs that started with the birth of a technological revolution and ended with the death of a King, there has been one constant trend: a general shift away from all-encompassing music that aims to attract a broad audience towards music that treats consumers as individuals. The cause of this phenomenon is technology. With the rise of mp3s and portable media players that can now hold up to 160GBs of music, coupled with the rise of the Internet and immediate information, technology has made music a personalized experience where you can isolate your tastes and easily find music that fits what you want.

Put Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and Pink Floyd all into a tiny room, strip away all their charisma, take away the good equipment, bring down their level of talent a bunch of notches and kidnap the good sound director, and you’ll have last Saturday night at Castaways.

The three performing bands — Dirac, Solstice and Revision — all name these greats as their influences on their respective MySpace pages, but I’m sure, somewhere, John Lennon’s cremated pieces have reassembled to roll in his metaphorical grave.