A “spring tonic” used to be a home remedy that was supposed to cleanse your system. As grannies would say, it was “good for what ails you.” This spring, I think I’ll take my tonic the tasty way — with gin.   

Cocktails before breakfast! What could make that better? How about complimentary cocktails before breakfast made by one of the country's top mixologists? That Black Paloma I enjoyed on the mezzanine of the Hotel Monteleone last Friday before heading up to the rooftop for fresh bagels with vodka-cured lox was just one of the excellent perks of Tales of the Cocktail.  

A.C. Newman should be studied by science in an attempt to discover the secret of his dual creative successes as the primary spark plug for The New Pornographers and as a solo artist. The Porns' fifth album, 'Together,' continues the band's unparalleled string of studio excellence while furthering the concrete-instrument-and-arrangement approach of 2007's baroque Pop and inexplicably misunderstood 'Challengers.'