-
Durant Durant
NBA fans, meet your new superstar, Kevin Durant. If that last sentence seems a little strange, then it’s because Kevin Durant has been presented to basketball fans as a superstar for two years now. He was Player of the Year in college, won Rookie of the Year last season. From Day 1 in the NBA,…
-
Rollins’ Road Shows
Sonny Rollins is called “jazz’s greatest living saxophonist” so routinely that it is almost a nickname and probably a curse. Yet his new recording, Road Shows, Vol. 1 (Doxy/Emarcy), is another affirmation of his greatness and may be a sign that the curse is lifting. The recording is a compilation of highlights from Rollins’ live…
-
Black Coaches, Now What?
When Coach Mike Tomlin leads his Pittsburgh Steelers on the field Sunday evening for Super Bowl XLIII, he will be the third African American to coach in the big game in two years. In 2007, two black coaches, Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears, led their teams into…
-
Redman’s Compass, Ever Steady
When saxophonist Joshua Redman arrived on the jazz scene 18 years ago, it marked a new phase in a healthy jazz revival that has propelled the music into Lincoln Center and other upper reaches of institutionalized culture. Redman’s latest release, Compass may, again, signal a new and important phase in jazz. The release is Redman’s…
-
A Pointed Difference
The NFL playoffs reach their semi-final round this weekend, and after two surprising early rounds a lot of eyebrows are still stuck on the ceiling. It’s not as if someone snuck some habanero peppers in the guacamole; the results of the games have been that surprising. The Arizona Cardinals, a team that has been so…
-
Believe in the Magic
Very quietly, the Southeast Division is making an uprising in the NBA. Long thought to be the weakest of the six divisions, all five teams are turning heads. In the last week, the two worst teams in the division, the Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards, have pulled stunning upsets. Last Sunday, the Wizards downed their…
-
You Lose Some, You Win None
Jan. 9, 2009—Eight of the 12 playoff teams start their sprint for the Super Bowl this weekend, but for me the real action is with the 20 teams licking their wounds as their players clear out their lockers, and say goodbye until spring mini-camp or preseason in July or, in some cases, forever. It’s neither…
-
Best of 2008: Martin Johnson's Picks
OM, SWEET OM:I took my first yoga class 16 years ago and never looked back. I loved the combination of strength training with length training. It made me think about my relationship to gravity in healthy ways. One of the first instructors was black, and I recall doing sun salutes to Mary J. Blige, and…
-
Disaster in Detroit
No matter what happens on Sunday, the Detroit Lions have made history by losing their first 15 games this season. Things don’t look good for week 17 either. They play at the Green Bay Packers; they haven’t won there in 17 years. 0-16 would be a truly historic level of awfulness—it’s a wonder they didn’t…
-
Still This Man's World
After 40 years, I still vividly recall the first time the music of James Brown stopped me in my tracks. I was 8 years old and wandering up the long hallway in our apartment on Chicago’s South Side. I heard the funky sounds of “Say it Loud, (I’m Black and I’m Proud)” coming from my…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
