The Scene
Nightlife, culture, and what’s worth your evening. Atmospheric dispatches plus reviews and recommendations across screen, sound, and live performance — for the second drink, not the first.
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Lovers Rock
Sade in 2000, spare and warm and unhurried; a record that asks for low lamps, a mellow red and someone…
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What a Diff’rence a Day Makes!
A 1959 ballad record of rare warmth from Dinah Washington; play it low after dinner and keep the floor clear…
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Sunday at the Village Vanguard
A live trio record of rare closeness from a small New York room in 1961; play it late, at club…
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Carrie & Lowell
A hushed, close record about a mother and a stepfather; play it whole, late and low, and keep the room…
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Casablanca
A 1942 wartime romance from Michael Curtiz; watch it whole with Bogart and Bergman, and stay for the talk afterward.
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Songs of Leonard Cohen
A spare, intimate debut; play it at dusk, low, and let Suzanne and So Long, Marianne do their quiet work.
