Author: Britt Robson

  • For Die-Hards Only: Vegas In Mid-July

    Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images The best way to sucker me into watching something like the Wolves-Mavs Summer League tilt in Vegas last night is to give me another deadline upon which to procrastinate. That was the situation, and thus here are my thumbnail takes on a meaningless game that may still have a tea leaf…

  • Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis

    Joe Fornabaio If you regard this Willie-Wynton matchup as a strange bedfellows mating of country and jazz, you’re missing the forest for the trees. These two iconic masters have far too much in common for any genre differences to disrupt their stylish little party, a series of live performances recorded at Lincoln Center in January…

  • Bill Maher

    Maybe the best thing about Maher is his refusal to be pigeonholed, his keen negotiation of the difference between unorthodoxy and hypocrisy. He’s variously proclaimed himself a libertarian and voted for Ralph Nader for President (after supporting Bob Dole in 1996), aligned himself with PETA and NORML, and was the first to bring Ann Coulter…

  • Kevin Mahogany Sings Big Joe Turner

    Mahogany’s resemblance to Turner is more physical than vocal. While matching Big Joe’s large, expansive frame, Mahogany is more dulcet crooner than blues shouter, closer in spirit to another vocalist he feted four years ago on his Mahogany Music label, Johnny Hartman. But Mahogany did play a Turner-Jimmy Rushing composite in Robert Altman’s film, Kansas…

  • The Hold Steady

    After their last local gig in a venue that actually had rows of seats bolted to the floor, they’re back at First Ave. where they’ll always belong, riding the crest of Stay Positive, yet another startling, snarling confessional of clean and dirty secrets set to anthemic guitar riffs, all girded by their thoroughly charming, drunken…

  • Anthony Cox, Phil Hey & Chris Lomheim

    Here’s a gig that lets you strain the brandy or fine single malt over your tongue while you swell with pride for living in a place with such a vibrant local jazz scene. Cox is an internationally renowned bassist who had Billy Higgins and Dewey Redman on his first record and happens to call the…