Britt Robson (AFP/Nicholas Kamm) Game #2, NBA Finals: Los Angeles 102, Boston 108 Series to Date: Boston up 2-0 1. No D in Los Angeles Lakers After watching the last 2 and a half quarters live and then the entire game on tape, I’ve got to say that for all my babble about the superiority of the … Read more
Let’s not get too hung up on labels like "Rising Stars." At age 48, with 17 discs of wildly varying merit to his credit (I’m one of the precious few who loved his ’80s meld of jazz and hip hop), saxophonist Greg Osby is less a rising star that an established albeit iconoclastic member of … Read more
Same Old Man indeed. This is between Hiatt’s 15th and 25th release — depending on how you count best-ofs, live recordings, and groups like Little Village — and the reliability factor remains high. He’s an ersatz curmudgeon, a faux eccentric, a dilapidated Everyman with an undeniably big heart and an equally undeniable knack for songwriting. … Read more
John Hiatt is an ersatz curmudgeon, a faux eccentric, a dilapidated Everyman with an undeniably big heart and an equally undeniable knack for songwriting. He can jangle a slant-back country blues song or ambush you emotionally by confessing for redemption. He’s got elements of a Nashville pro and a guy who’s listened to a lot … Read more
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson) Los Angeles 88, Boston 98 Series thus far: Boston 1-0 1. The Buck Stops With Pierce I firmly believe that Boston’s postseason prospects took a dramatic leap forward when Paul Pierce went off for a monster performance in Game 7 of the Eastern semis versus Cleveland. Up to that point, the Celtics … Read more
Anyone who has watched the two NBA conferences from November to April this season, and then watched the respective conference matchups in the postseason, would be hard-pressed to deny that the Lakers should be favored in the final series that begins this evening in Boston. But let’s begin by being counter-intuitive and considering the reasons–the … Read more
Stone has always struck me as a latter-day Gladys Knight, a lady who sings like she knows her way around the church and the high-rise and the rural South, who’s comfortable to a fault with conservative soul trappings, not realizing that her best moments come when she steps beyond the mix and indulges her supple … Read more
(Photo by Evan Gole/NBAE via Getty Images) For casual basketball fans who stop by only in the postseason to get their taste of the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers made their four-outta-five domination of the defending champion (now ex-champion) San Antonio Spurs exceeding simple to understand. MVP Kobe Bryant played exceptional basketball, particularly on the … Read more
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images Eastern Conference Finals, Game #4: Boston 75, Detroit 94 Series record: Tied 2-2 1. The "Little 3" I’m not the first one to unimaginatively pervert the "Big 3" sobriquet for tonight’s no-show troika of Celtic stars, and the way they are playing, I certainly won’t be the … Read more
Irvin Mayfield and Ellis MarsalisLove Songs, Ballads and StandardsBasin Street Records Trumpeter Irvin Mayfield has often been an artist who wears his heart on his sleeve. This sentimental exuberance has helped put the panache in Los Hombres Calientes, made his breakup concept CD, How Passion Falls, especially vivid, and has fueled his tireless efforts (as … Read more