May 28
Robert Plant at the Brooklyn Bowl
Time to show a whole lotta love — that’s right, stamp our passports because we went there! — for this rock god turned frontman for the Sensational Space Shifters. Their spacey, jammy, folky blues are a great base for Plant’s late-career voice, brined in five lifetimes of hard-rockin’ experience. 8p, $76.50, vegas.brooklynbowl.com
May 7
Walter Mosely at UNLV
Great choice to deliver the first Jim Rogers Contrarian Lecture — in this case an against-the-grain talk about higher ed. Not just because Mosely’s written some 40-odd books, including the celebrated Easy Rawlins mysteries. No, look closely at the picture: That’s one badass ring he’s wearing. Contrarian credentials sealed. 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org
May 22
Simon Majumdar at The Writer’s Block
Majumdar’s nicely plated memoir, Fed, White and Blue: Finding America With My Fork, chronicles his attempt to eat his way from immigrant to citizen as he explores his new country’s food cultures. 7p, free, thewritersblock.org
May 23
Guys Sing Dolls at Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center
Men (from Phantom, Les Miz, Million Dollar Quartet and more) sing songs written by women, including Carole King, Adele, Cyndi Lauper and Peggy Lee. A hint, fellas: This has “date night” written all over it. 2p & 8p, $35-$40, thesmithcenter.com
May 28
Oscar Goodman on Jimmy Chagra at The Mob Museum
Imagine Oscar Goodman orating legalese for six hours. That speedy, self-confident yawp — six hours! That was the fate of jurors hearing closing arguments in the trial of Vegas drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, defended by Goodman in a sensational murder case. Chagra’s gone, but Oscar’s still here to headline a talk about his “case of the century.” 7p, $26, themobmuseum.org