Listen: from my understanding, birthdays are celebrations of the passage of time; and are a time to look behind at things past and at the future of things yet to come. So it is with this pending birthday that I want to bestow onto you, my faithful listeners, some musical gifts of things past (in this case, some of my favorite nuggets from the past year or so). As the saying goes, it’s better to give than receive, right? Here are some of the highlights from this week’s show:

The title of this week’s World Music Show blog refers to the title track to the latest CD by Paul Simon. Part of the lyrics are: “Life is what you make it, so beautiful or so what.” I don’t know about you, but every now and then, I need a reminder like that. Like many, I get bogged down in the day to day activities of life. Sure it’s summer, but with two young kids and two jobs, I often get caught in that web of stopping to notice the cool and absurd things about life.

The Challenge: Come up with a musical playlist for your dream Date Night. Classical Music Host Bobbie Barajas went with seven hot and sultry pieces, while Hour with the Guitar Host Grete Dollitz went all in with one gorgeous romantic piece. We wondered what Ian Stewart, host of the World Music Show, would come up with.