Binge This Week: Our staff’s latest suggestions

Leave it to the Brits to make science cool. Whether you’re looking to have fun while learning or to learn while having fun, this long-running BBC Radio 4 series is for you. Every week, The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast tackles a big topic with humor and irreverence. Listening feels like being a fly on the wall at a really entertaining dinner party, where everybody is smarter or funnier than you. The show’s hosted by comedian Robin Ince and sexy particle physicist (and former rock star) Brian Cox. Episodes have delved into black holes, space archaeology, UFO sightings and the science of laughter. Last month, Jane Goodall discussed chimpanzee research. And since you’re wondering, the podcast’s title refers to the theorem about giving monkeys typewriters and them eventually writing something like Hamlet. bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b00snr0w. –C. Moon Reed X-MEN

While we wait for Marvel to integrate its mutant heroes into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney+ is adding older adventures to its streaming service, including Days of Future Past and the 1990s animated series. Disney+

THIS WEEK

( H u l u / C o u r t e s y )

Podcast

Infinite Monkey Cage

Upload

Film

Palm Springs

Perhaps it’s because we’re living through a pandemic, and every day feels pretty much like the same, exact 24 hours as the one before, but there’s something about watching Andy Samberg’s latest film that feels a little … relatable. Every time they fall asleep, strangers Nyles (Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) wake up to experience the same day over, but together, the two find a way to make the monotonous slog a little more bearable. There’s never been a better time to watch a movie about being in an infinite time loop. Hulu. –Leslie Ventura

MUSIC

Maxine Jones & Ton y Terry

The Space has emerged as a leading venue in pandemic-era Vegas entertainment thanks to its livestream capabilities. Tony Award-winning singer John Lloyd Young of Jersey Boys fame performs via pay-per-view on July 25, but one night earlier it’s Maxine Jones, an original member of En Vogue and a key contributor to the R&B quartet’s megahits “My Love (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” and “Free Your Mind.” She teams with soul singer Tony Terry for a livestream with proceeds benefiting Jones’ Maxstar Urban Arts Foundation. thespacelv.com/livestream, 7 p.m., $10. –Brock Radke

YOUTUBE MUSIC Google is taking aim at Spotify with substantial improvements to its YouTube-branded music streaming service. YouTube Music allows video versions of songs—fan-uploaded live clips, for example—in regular playlists (they play audio-only). And you can upload your own MP3 fi les, too. music.youtube.com

OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

( A m a z o n P r i m e / C o u rt e s y )

TV

UPLOAD

version of The Offi ce, Greg Daniels has steered some of the most infl uential and hilarious TV comedies of our era. Prime Video’s sci-fi dramedy Upload isn’t quite in their class, but it is an audacious watch that rewards binge viewing. Set in a believable near-future in which dying people can transfer their consciousness to an Elon Musk-ish simulated “afterlife,” Upload nevertheless has lots to say about the closely surveilled, ad-targeted digital world we live in now—and, miraculously, Daniels makes it funny. Also, Upload’s leads—Robbie Amell and Andy Allo—are just plain charming. Season 1 on Prime Video. –Geoff Carter

BOOK

THE FOOD LAB As co-creator of Parks and Recreation and the U.S.

You’ve been cooking at home for months now, and you want to take your culinary skills to the next level. Enter James Beard Award winner The Food Lab, a massive tome by J. Kenji LópezAlt, of the popular Serious Eats blog. Over the course of 900-plus pages, López-Alt gets into the science of recipes by breaking down their ingredients. Want to up your fried chicken game? He devotes pages to oil, batter and frying technique. Ditto for the section titled “Five Rules for Better Burgers.” These are recipes you make every day, just seriously better. –Genevie Durano

Back in the box

The Strip

Chatting with Kenny Davi dsen , one of the few Vegas performers with a regular gig right now

By Brock Radke

ecause of his regular gigs at the B Tuscany’s Piazza Lounge and Neonopolis piano bar Don’t Tell Mama—popular places for nonticketed live entertainment—Kenny Davidsen was one of the first Las Vegas entertainers to get back to work when some restrictions were lifted and the state moved into Phase 2.

Now that bars have been forced to close again, his schedule has been reduced from three weekly shows to one, Friday nights at the Tuscany. Don’t Tell Mama is shuttered after doing sparse business for about six weeks.

“They did a really good job of taking care of us and making sure we felt safe,” Davidsen says of the Downtown bar, which relocated from Fremont East to Neonopolis last year. “There was tons of plexiglass on the piano, and I was at least six feet away from any [open mic] singers. Anyone making a request would write it down and put it under the partition, then I’d use hand sanitizer and grab it. And all the staff was wearing masks all the time.”

He said one busy Saturday night at Don’t Tell Mama saw up to 40 people, but typically there were between 15 and 20 patrons on the Wednesday and Saturday nights he performed there.

A Brooklyn native, Davidsen came to Las Vegas in 2011 and has been hosting his Bow Tie Cabaret show with multiple guest stars at the Tuscany’s bustling lounge for more than seven years. Since the Piazza Lounge is an extension of the off-Strip resort’s Tuscany Gardens restaurant, it has been able to maintain operations even while bar venues have shuttered for the second time.

Plexiglass has been added to the small stage at the lounge, and even though the circumstances are much different for the four-piece band, Davidsen sounds happy to be singing and playing piano again.

“The first night was weird, but after that it was fine, once we got used to it,” he says. “The Tuscany stage is small, so having us spread out like that is actually very comfortable. When my bass player came back for the first time, he said, ‘Welcome to the Kenny Davidsen Bow Tie Cabaret and penalty box.’”

Davidsen’s months-long break from live performance was his lengthiest span away from the stage in 19 years. Returning to work has been a different struggle for the many different types of casino workers that power Southern Nevada’s economy, but for entertainers who have built their lifestyle around live performance, it has been harrowing.

“For me, I feed off an audience. Even trying to do something virtual like Facebook Live at home, I just couldn’t get into it,” Davidsen says. “I can’t see my audience or feel their energy, so that didn’t compute to me. A lot of my colleagues have done that online stuff, and I applaud them and I’m glad they could do it.”

Davidsen has an extra layer of anxiety attached to his work life right now because his parents, ages 79 and 80, live with him. He needs to work, and he needs to stay safe.

Above all, Davidsen says he’s grateful to have caring employers providing him the opportunity to return to work as soon as possible. But he’s worried about the many other Vegas performers who have no idea when they’ll return to work and to the lifestyle they love.

“It’s not easy,” he says about getting back onstage with the constant flood of anxiety. “When I get to the gig and see my bandmates and those familiar faces, all of a sudden that feeling of being down in the dumps changes. It’s like, you’re one of my closest friends and I get to play music with you now, so that is a great feeling and a positive energy. But … the uncertainty of not knowing when things might get back to normal is taking a toll on people.”