COLUMN: How Angel Reese Outshining Caitlin Clark Flips The Script - Illinois news - NewsLocker (2024)

On Sunday (June 23), the media darling of women’s basketball, the athlete tabbed as the central protagonist in her sport’s revival, got upstaged by the so-called villain.
And it was glorious.
Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky triumphed over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever by a score of 88-87. It was another thrilling chapter in the rivalry between two rookie stars that has propelled the WNBA to unprecedented popularity.“bUt wHy dO ThE ChIcAgO SkY HaTe tHe fE

A decade of Freelance Wrestling: where high-flying moves meet raw talent

“Two thousand sixteen was the year of my first Freelance Wrestling match. [That] was also the year I was gonna hang it up,” said professional wrestler Mustafa Ali in front of fans at the Logan Square Auditorium in April. A circle of local independent wrestlers who just finished a night of putting their bodies on […]
The post A decade of Freelance Wrestling: where high-flying moves meet raw talent appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Intergenerational connection is radical

In my 18 years of teaching college students, I have found that many LGBTQ+ young adults do not realize that older gay, bi, trans, nonbinary, or queer people exist. A significant number believe that they themselves won’t live past 40. Earlier this year, a 20-year-old transgender student began crying in my class as they described […]
The post Intergenerational connection is radical appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Grails’ adventurous rock is for the people

Grails are a band meant to be experienced live. Their recordings serve up a heady shot of 70s-flavored instrumental guitar rock, but when the musicians can be corralled onto a stage (they live in five different places across the U.S.), they reveal a chemistry that can’t be neatly distilled. In an interview with Willamette Week […]
The post Grails’ adventurous rock is for the people appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Advertisem*nt

Swiss group L’Eclair spin pop’s past into funk’s future

Six-piece Swiss ensemble L’Eclair specialize in a style of instrumental funk that sounds unstuck in time. Their smooth, precise breaks evince the far-reaching influence of hip-hop, but their dreamy, hypnotic melodies sound like they might’ve been assembled from the same mythical trove of forgotten private-press recordings that DJ Shadow mines for his kaleidoscopic beats. Last […]
The post Swiss group L’Eclair spin pop’s past into funk’s future appeared first

Etran de L’Aïr bring the world the happy desert blues

Nigerien band Etran de L’Aïr (“Stars of the Air”) aren’t as well-known in the West as Tuareg desert-blues superstars such as Tinariwen, Mdou Moctar, and Bombino. But in their hometown of Agadez, where bandleader Aghaly Migi formed the group in 1995, they’re long-standing legends. They started out playing local weddings and have since drawn international […]
The post Etran de L’Aïr bring the world the happy desert blues appeared first on Chica

Teen on Home Confinement Charged with Murder of Retired CPD Officer

Sixteen-year-old Lazarius Watt, who turned himself in over the weekend, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder for the shooting death of retired Chicago Police Officer Larry Neuman.
During a hearing, a Cook County judge described Watt’s alleged actions as “heinous” and deemed him a danger to the entire neighborhood before remanding him to custody.
Prosecutors said Watt was on home confinement at the time of the murder and violated his electronic monitoring

The music industry can be a harrowing place that chews people up and spits them out, but it remains attractive to plenty of artists pursuing commercial success. R&B songstress Teairra Marí Thomas, who makes music as Teairra Marí, has had her share of ups and downs in the unforgiving universe of labels, hit records, and […]
The post <i>Love & Hip Hop</i> star Teairra Marí gets back to basics appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Advertisem*nt

Experimental composer Whitney Johnson duets with cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl at Kilbourn Park

Whitney Johnson makes music that asks to be excavated. On the Chicagoan’s latest solo album as Matchess, 2022’s Sonescent (Drag City), she sculpts two long-form pieces that patiently evolve into dreamy fantasias. She begins “Almost Gone” with a piercing sine tone that acts as a palate cleanser and a directive for the casual listener: proceed […]
The post Experimental composer Whitney Johnson duets with cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl at Kilbourn Park appeared fi

Heavy shoegaze unit Interlay celebrate their new EP as a Chicago band

Shoegaze’s fog has saturated indie rock over the past couple years, and while I love hearing new bands find their own ways to make out-of-this world guitar ambience with phalanxes of pedals, for every one that succeeds there seem to be a dozen indistinguishable also-rans. Thank goodness for Interlay, one of the few new acts […]
The post Heavy shoegaze unit Interlay celebrate their new EP as a Chicago band appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Review: A Family Affair

An arrogant movie star in his mid-30s with intimacy issues breaks into his assistant’s house and instead finds her mother, a widowed fashion writer living in a waterside mansion. Like magic, they fall in love. This reads like the back cover of a pulp fiction romance novel, where in reality, it’s an A-list rom-com with […]
The post Review: <i>A Family Affair</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.

CNN Fails To Grant Credentials To Black-Owned Media Ahead Of Biden-Trump Debate

CNN continues face backlash after failing to grant credentials to Black-owned media outlets ahead of tonight’s debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The highly-anticipated debate is taking place at the CNN studio in Atlanta this evening. However, 800 media outlets around the world was granted credentials, but there is zero representation from Black-owned press, according to EBONY.
The Atlanta Black Star released the denial for media credentials which stated, “Due

UNCF’s AMI Gala Raises $700K, Celebrates Black Excellence

Target received the “A Mind Is…” Gala Corporate Award. Left to right are: Maurice E. Jenkins, Jr., executive vice president for field development, UNCF; Kenya Joyce Hatch, area development director, Chicago, UNCF; Fred Mitchell, vice president of development for UNCF’s Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions; Jalah Hood, Target Scholar; Ron Brown, vice president of Community Impact, Target; and Lisa Rollins, regional development director, Workplace, UNCF (Credit: Ven Sherrod).

Kidneys from Black donors are more likely to be thrown away

Corey Mayes at his New York home on Feb. 10, 2023, after receiving a kidney transplant. Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images− a bioethicist explains why
by Ana S. Iltis, Wake Forest University
As one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., kidney disease is a serious public health problem. The disease is particularly severe among Black Americans, who are three times more likely than White Americans to develop kidney failure.
While Black people constitute only 12% of the U.S. populat

Rep. Jamaal Bowman Loses Democratic Primary In New York

Photo: Getty Images
Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost the primary election for New York’s 16th District on Tuesday (June 25), according to NBC News.
Bowman, a critic of Israel and a member of the progressive “squad” of lawmakers of color, was defeated by Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
On Tuesday night, Bowman conceded defeat while speaking to his supporters.
“This race was never about me and me alone. It was never about this district and this district alone

This Week In Black History June 26 – July 2, 2024

JUNE 261899—Black inventor William H. Richardson redesigns the baby car­riage. While the idea for the baby car­riage is nearly 300 years old, Richard­son’s patent, filed at the Boston patent office, included several new features including a special joint which allowed the bassinet to be turned to face the mother or whoever was pushing the carriage. Many of Richardson’s designs are still in use today. [There is some authority that Richardson’s patent was actual

“Slouching towards being a white cube”

At the heart of Weatherproof are two bold, young artists eager to agitate, serving up brief yet blistering exhibitions that affirm the vitality of Chicago’s do-it-yourself gallery scene. Weatherproof is a passion project turned curatorial umbrella and gallery led by Milo Christie and Sam Dybeck, presenting unusual contemporary art in an Albany Park office and […]
The post “Slouching towards being a white cube” appeared first on Chicago Reader.

DIY nights at the library

Chicago Public Library’s (CPL) Little Village branch is offering free live music and crafts throughout the summer, with organizers and performers both aiming to engage with the community and expose attendees to a diverse array of local talent and artistic activities. The Little Village branch’s Craft and Concerts series, hosted over four weeks in July […]
The post DIY nights at the library appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Bad Johnny’s wood-fired Roman-style pizzas return to the next Monday Night Foodball

Whenever John Pragalz makes a margherita pizza, a tiny, flour-dusted, apron-clad gremlin appears on his left shoulder and begins jabbering in the Neapolitan dialect: “Ci hai tradito!,” it spits into his ear, chopping its forearm up and down. “Che porco dio, questa pizza margherita e’schifosa! Che cazzo!” Pragalz isn’t fazed. With the casual disdain of […]
The post Bad Johnny’s wood-fired Roman-style pizzas return to the next Monday Night Foodball

Chicago Record Report: June 2024

Aatmaa, Cataclysm Chicago couple Ashwin and Shara Deepankar started this dark, moody alt-rock project early in the pandemic, because they hoped a creative outlet would make for a good coping mechanism. The pensive, exploratory rock on their debut album sounds intimate even when Shara’s powerful vocals sound like they could fill an arena. The Brides, […]
The post Chicago Record Report: June 2024 appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Talking comedy between sets with Adam Burke

Adam Burke had an hour between Laugh Factory sets to talk to me. The 48-year-old Chicago comedy iconoclast and I exited the noisy theater and began walking down Broadway, on the lookout for a quiet bar for an interview. It was a chilly Friday night in late May, the first truly nice night of the […]
The post Talking comedy between sets with Adam Burke appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 21

Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 21. June 27, 2024
The post Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 21 appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Corduroy, clown style

In a 1967 letter to his editor Annis Duff, author Don Freeman made an assertion that feels like it makes sense, even if it technically makes no sense: “Buttons and bears do go together, somehow.” He was certainly onto something, and the sentient plush at the center of Amber Mak’s production of Barry Kornhauser’s book-to-stage […]
The post <i>Corduroy</i>, clown style appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Slapstick rom-com, Asian American style

Wai (Wai Yim) is the flamboyant, brash host of a YouTube show called Hornyscope; David (Hansel Tan) is his buttoned-up friend, who works as a teacher but wants to be an actor. Both men are frustrated by the limitations that being Asian and gay in America has put on their prospects. When David accidentally wanders […]
The post Slapstick rom-com, Asian American style appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Mikahl Anthony’s debut album holds more than a decade of history

During the back half of hip-hop’s iconic blog era—roughly 2012 through 2016—the Chicago music community experienced what many refer to today as a renaissance. One of the city’s key sound architects at that time was the collective THEMpeople, whose members included Sean Deaux, theMIND, Renzell (aka Lboogie), Via Rosa (later of Drama), and Saint Louis […]
The post Mikahl Anthony’s debut album holds more than a decade of history appeared first on Chicago Reader

Michuu Restaurant serves exceedingly rare Ethiopian dishes

Late last month, the Ethiopian entrepreneur and TikTok influencer Mensur Jemal arrived in town on business. With more than a million and a half followers, he’s well-known to expat Ethiopians, especially if they, like him, are among the Oromo, the largest of the country’s 80-some ethnic groups. In fact, when Jemal was walking downtown, he […]
The post Michuu Restaurant serves exceedingly rare Ethiopian dishes appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Shadow bodies dancing under the sun

An ambitious project is unfolding at the South Asia Institute (SAI). As part of this year’s programming for Art Design Chicago, “What Is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art in Chicago” is a journey from the past into the future, unearthing the marks left by South Asian artists in Chicago. South Asian culture […]
The post Shadow bodies dancing under the sun appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Braeden Long, youth rock scene photographer

In May, photographer Braeden Long published the first issue of A Document of a Chicago Music Community, a photo zine about the city’s vital youth-oriented indie-rock scene. Between February and April of this year, Long took film photos at the Hallogallo Raveup (a sporadic mod-inspired dance party at Fallen Log), Friko’s big headlining show at […]
The post Braeden Long, youth rock scene photographer appeared first on Chicago Reader.

Forging a path to forgiveness down Little Bear Ridge Road

The characters at the center of Samuel D. Hunter’s plays aren’t rude, per se. They’re more what you might call post-courteous—people whose battles against the clock, their inadequacies, and/or their loathing, self-directed or otherwise, leave nothing left in the tank for feigned interest in small talk or social grace for the sake of it. So […]
The post Forging a path to forgiveness down <i>Little Bear Ridge Road</i> appeared first on Chicag

A half century of poetic possibilities

When the Chicago Poetry Center (CPC) first arrived on the scene in 1974, poets were expected to imitate the classics and follow convention; anything more experimental was quick to meet an editor’s trash bin. Fifty years later, the diverse landscape of American poetry is thanks in part to CPC’s tireless efforts to broaden our poetic […]
The post A half century of poetic possibilities appeared first on Chicago Reader.