NOISE

Joshua Radin, whose acoustic folk-pop has set the mood during actor pal Zach Braff's Scrubs and The Last Kiss, isnt the only indie musician to score on screens both small and silver.

The Shins, "New Slang" (Oh, Inverted World, 2001) Though they received Natalie Portman's blessing—"You gotta hear this one song. It'll change your life!"—their inclusion on the Garden State soundtrack in fact changed The Shins" lives.

Death Cab For Cutie, "The Sound of Settling" (Transatlanticism, 2003) The Killers, The Walkmen, and Modest Mouse all appeared on The O.C., but when Seth Cohen fave Death Cab rocked the Bait House, Newport Beach became the geek-rock go-to destination.

Rilo Kiley, "Portions For Foxes" (More Adventurous, 2004) Dark imagery (blood, loneliness, corpses) plus a sunny beat equals a perfect fit for Grey's Anatomy.

The Weakerthans, "Aside" (Left and Leaving, 2000) The greatest song the underappreciated Canadians ever wrote, appearing over the closing credits of the greatest Jane Seymour movie ever filmed, Wedding Crashers.

Metric, "Dead Disco" (Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, 2003) In which little indie flick Clean results in big cred for the feverish, dance-happy Emily Haines.

Elliott Smith, "Needle in the Hay" (Elliott Smith, 1995) Black comedy The Royal Tenenbaums reaches its blackest during son Richie's attempted suicide, set to Smith's chilling ode to drugs and doom.

Wilco, "How to Fight Loneliness" (Summerteeth, 1999) Jeff Tweedy knows a thing or two about the titular emotion, and few could identify more than Winona Rider's Susanna in Girl, Interrupted.

The Flaming Lips, "She Don't Use Jelly" (Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, 1993) The Peach Pit After Dark was ground zero for many a band"s pop-culture acceptance (Barenaked Ladies, anyone?). Praising Wayne Coyne and Co., Steve put it best: "I've never been a big fan of alternative music, but these guys rocked the house!"

On Monday, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland made it official, confirming The Police's long-rumored 2007 reunion tour, which includes a June 15 stop at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Though Vegas ticket info had not been announced at press time, seats for most dates run from $50 to $225, but we say if you can possibly afford it, prepare to pony up!

Based on the band's unremarkable appearance at Sunday’s Grammys, you might be asking why. Certainly, something punkier – say, "Truth Hits Everybody" – could have better demonstrated The Police are a match for their edgy, younger selves, and that reconfigured second verse-turned-nebulous bridge in "Roxanne” was definitely cause for concern that Sting's smooth-jazz tendencies will creep in. Might a lute solo be far behind?

But Monday’s Los Angeles press appearance – aired live on VH1 Classic – went a long way toward allaying those fears. Predictably ragged but righteously raw, the trio tore up "Message in a Bottle," "Can’t Stand Losing You," a pairing of tunes "Voices Inside My Head" and "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," and a more intense version of "Roxanne."

Sting says he's not quite sure why he's back on board. Here's hoping it's to prove wrong everyone who's ever called him soft.

Looking back, what are your thoughts on the first record that you did?

Oh, man; I loved it. I loved the Peep This record. It was something that I did, like, right in the house. You know, we didn't have a whole lot of money to go through the record, so we just did it and then jumped on the road with it and sold about 300,000 copies. It was a great start, but I definitely, definitely like the Unpredictable record.

What artists have you seen in concerts over the past few decades that are influencing how you're approaching your live set?

Man, I seen Prince, I seen Michael Jackson, I've seen The Rolling Stones, I've seen Kanye West, I seen Snoop—I seen everybody you could possibly imagine. So now that you see everything that those people do, there'll be little elements that we'll snatch from and just kind of pop here and pop there; and that's what's going to solidify the performance as one of those ones where you go, "Wow, I dug that." ... But it's definitely a show where we keep it loose. We leave enough room that if we wanted to get down and just let the band cook for a minute, or just, you know, get your vibe on, we can do that.

In preparing for your role in Ray, did you discover certain musical talents that you didn"t know about?

It really stretched me in the way of that when I couldn't see, I really dug down deep to get those notes, and it kind of opens up something like, "Wow, it's simple now." I was approaching it as a feel or a vibe where Ray Charles was really about the music, the real music. If it was in 5/4—you know, one, two, three, four, five, one, two—I mean, you really felt that. There were like 30 musicians on the set who could really play, so we would play, man. I mean, we would go at it, and so it really taught me how to dig in.