Jazz artists cover pop songs is nothing new, but a contemporary rock star who does jazz is hard to find. With her raspy vocals and piano chops, Fiona Apple does justice to “Why Try To Change Me Now.”

Tran Thai Hoa has never been an interpreter. He is an appreciator. With his latest release, he pays homage to Tinh Khuc Tien Chien (pre-war ballads) rather than reinvigorating them. No crime in that.

He reuses some of the formulas in the past that worked for him. Doan Chuan and Tu Linh’s “La Thu” gets a similar bluesy vibe he has recorded before, but it still sounds luscious with his charming voice. On the tango-flavor “Bong Chieu Ta” (Nhat Bang) and paso-double “Dung Buoc Giang Ho” (Hoang Trong), he proves once again that his vocals have rhythm for ballroom styles, even though his feet have none, as we have witnessed on Thuy Nga’s Celebrity Dancing.

With intimate arrangements, Tran Thai Hoa wraps his harmless pipe around the timeless tunes such as Vao Cao’s “Cung Dan Xua,” “Suoi Mo,” “Truong Chi,” Doan Chuan and Tu Linh’s “La Do Muon Chieu” and “Goi Gio Cho May Ngan Bay” like a latex condom. He plays safe, never breaks out of his comfort position and only sticks to what he could perform best. Then again, nothing’s wrong with getting pleasures out of protected sex. Of course, it’s not as stimulating, but still enjoyable.

Songwriter Tung Giang who penned “Toi Voi Troi Bo Vo” died on Thursday in California. He was 69. Read more here.

I ain’t gonna lie, Hammer still grooves me with joints like “Dancing Machine,” “Turn This Mutha Out,” “Pray” and of course the mega hit “Can’t Touch This.” Thepressplayshow.com & Mick Boogie Present: Hammertime: Past, Present & Future mixtape brings back the good ‘ole days. I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow so I could pump up the joint while grilling.

Damn, even Lil Wayne is making a record about “Kobe Bryant.” I like LeBron’s aggressive attack, but I have to give consistency to Kobe who never seems to have a bad game. Without a doubt, the Lakers will win the championship this season. Kobe is just unstoppable.

In P.J. O’Rourke’s humorous opinion:

Facebook destroyed “cruising the burger stand.” You could have two Corvettes and drive them both at the same time and not look as cool as you could make yourself look on Facebook. Corvettes come with a lot of accessories, but not Photoshop. And what with e-mailing, tweeting, texting and cell phonery, boys and girls could meet each other at the speed of light.

Iggy Pop turns to jazz standards because he ”just got sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars.” Although he takes inspiration from Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, Préliminaires feels more like European pop than jazz. He flips “Les Feuilles Mortes,” one of the most covered jazz ballads, into a nihilistic French romance. On “King of the Dogs,” the only track that comes close to jazz, his low, raspy vocals drown out by the New Orlean jazz band. Dare I say that the Godfather of Punk ain’t got no chops for jazz? Prove me wrong, Mr. Iggy.

Seventeen-year-old Simona Halep is blessed with a pair of 34DD cans and a talent for tennis. Even though her fans, mostly men, beg her not to, she is getting her big, natural breasts reduced. I am sure her boobs have to do with her 264th ranking in the world, but I not so sure if she could advanced into the top 20 after the reduction. While I am in no business of telling her what to do with her body, I challenge her to keep both. With hard work and determination, she could pull it off. Check her out!

How can you tell when an egg is done boiling? I am not sure if you know this trick already, but I just learned it the other day from a my mom’s friend (who learned it from her father) when I boiled a few dozens of hột vịt lộn (balut). For the obvious reasons, you don’t want to undercook or overcook hột vịt lộn.

Before getting to the trick, let me declare that I finally gain back my love for hột vịt lộn. For a period of time, I gave up on hột vịt lộn because of the westerners’ influence and how they have made such a big wuss out of it. A white guy once told me that he couldn’t eat hột vịt lộn because it looks like abortion. That image haunted me for a while. What help me get back to the groove are salt, pepper, lime juice, tons of hot sauce and shots of Patrón. I still can’t eat hột vịt lộn without those ingredients, especially the liquor.

Let’s get back to the egg-boiling trick. My mom’s friend said that if you could pick up the egg with a pair of chopsticks than the egg is ready. Three of us tried it and we all dropped it back into the pot. Half an hour or so later, I picked it up again and I didn’t drop it. It’s a very nifty trick, but I doubt that it would work with many westerners.

Her recent release, Desire, continues to show that Tierney Sutton is a gifted interpreter. She knows how to reinvigorate recognizable songs without losing their authenticity.

The classic “Love Me Or Leave Me” has been covered numerous times by great jazz singers like Lena Horn, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, yet Sutton still isn’t shy away from making it both whimsical and wistful. “Cry Me a River” also gets a sarcastic reinterpretation, which is Sutton’s signature style of singing words while suggesting the contrary. On the slow tempos, “Long Daddy Green” and “Then I’ll Be Tired of You,” Sutton’s phrasings demonstrate her deep appreciation for the passionate lyrics.

In addition to Sutton’s vocal artistry, the key success behind Desire is the backing of the hypnotic rhythm section, which consists of Christian Jacob on piano, Trey Henry/Kevin Axt on bass and particularly Ray Brinker’s pulsating rhythmic on the drums. Check out his double-time chops on “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”