Tuesday's Tunes: If It Kills Me (acoustic)

One of my favorite artists to listen to, especially in the summer, is Jason Mraz. I had the pleasure of catching him in concert last year at an outdoor venue, and Mraz and his band were just phenomenal.

One tune in particular stood out: "If It Kills Me", a great combination of a catchy melody and angsty but whimsical lyrics. Check out an acoustic version of the song below:

Tuesday's Tunes: With or Without You (live)

This week is an oldie but a goodie, U2's "With or Without You", live from the venue formerly known as the Boston Fleet Center, circa 2001. I associate the band with a lot of good Boston college-time memories, I hope you enjoy:

Hsieh hsieh cookies

In this year's offering of Girl Scout cookies, there was a new offering called Thanks-A-Lot: shortbread cookies with fudge on the bottom and the word "Thank You" in different languages.

So guess what it means in Mandarin Chinese when you translate saying my last name twice?

Tuesday's Tunes: Ben Folds

I still remember when a friend of mine in high school let me borrow his Ben Folds Five cassette tape and their song "Brick" was playing on the radio. These were back in the days when almost I listened to was Top 40 and J-pop...those were interesting days.

Most recently I had the pleasure of catching Ben Folds in concert at Boston's House of Blues, which just confirmed his quirky genius, musical prowess and all around funny guy. He has a penchant for swearing, but it compliments beautifully the often exposed and painful nature of his lyrics. He often writes about the difficulties of "growing up" and entering adulthood, so the humor helps takes some of the edge off topic without trivializing it.

Ben Folds - Still Fighting It

Ben Folds Five - Brick

Tuesday's Tunes: Gungor - Beautiful Things

Things are a little hectic this week, so this is going to be short and sweet: the following video was sent to me by my good buddy Pat, a combination of great lyrics and melody with a distinctly indie vibe, Michael Gungor's vocals on this track are intimate, gentle yet powerful, and totally worth checking out:

Gungor - Beautiful Things (acoustic)