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New Orleans punk band Special Interest have been blowing wigs back since 2018, when they dropped their debut record, Spiraling, a chaotic romp through hard-hitting social themes and wildly divergent musical directions. On “Young, Gifted, Black, in Leather” the sentiment is self-explanatory, yet the mighty wails of vocalist Alli Logout peel back new layers of meaning in an iconic ode to Blackness, wrapping a sample from a vintage Nina Simone interview in modern sounds, kink, and a fury born of oppression.

Special Interest’s tunes are sometimes punk, sometimes industrial, sometimes glam, and always so endearingly rough around the edges that you don’t mind them pushing you around. Their new record, Endure (Rough Trade), shines free of rules or boxes; it’s quintessentially punk, though you can turn a corner and find yourself in the middle of a thumping disco set with electronic dance beats smacking you upside the head. Their lineup also includes synth and drum-machine player Ruth Mascelli, bassist Nathan Cassiani, and guitarist Maria Elena, whose fusion results in tunes that feel simultaneously stripped-down and full. Logout’s lyrics overflow with socioeconomic angst, let-your-hair-down debauchery, alienation, and rage—and hit all points in between. Endure is scornful, horny, and pulsating in its acceptance of and resistance to our fates, whatever they may be. “Midnight Legend,” which features rapper Mykki Blanco, is a delightful surprise and a bouncy good time. With Special Interest, you can always expect the unexpected, but you’d better believe they’re doing it for them—it’s a treat that we get to witness them kick ass.

Special Interest CB Radio Gorgeous and Conjunto Primitivo open. Wed 11/30, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $18, 21+

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New Orleans punk band Special Interest have been blowing wigs back since 2018, when they dropped their debut record, Spiraling, a chaotic romp through hard-hitting social themes and wildly divergent musical directions. On “Young, Gifted, Black, in Leather” the sentiment is self-explanatory, yet the mighty wails of vocalist Alli Logout peel back new layers of meaning in an iconic ode to Blackness, wrapping a sample from a vintage Nina Simone interview in modern sounds, kink, and a fury born of oppression.

Special Interest’s tunes are sometimes punk, sometimes industrial, sometimes glam, and always so endearingly rough around the edges that you don’t mind them pushing you around. Their new record, Endure (Rough Trade), shines free of rules or boxes; it’s quintessentially punk, though you can turn a corner and find yourself in the middle of a thumping disco set with electronic dance beats smacking you upside the head. Their lineup also includes synth and drum-machine player Ruth Mascelli, bassist Nathan Cassiani, and guitarist Maria Elena, whose fusion results in tunes that feel simultaneously stripped-down and full. Logout’s lyrics overflow with socioeconomic angst, let-your-hair-down debauchery, alienation, and rage—and hit all points in between. Endure is scornful, horny, and pulsating in its acceptance of and resistance to our fates, whatever they may be. “Midnight Legend,” which features rapper Mykki Blanco, is a delightful surprise and a bouncy good time. With Special Interest, you can always expect the unexpected, but you’d better believe they’re doing it for them—it’s a treat that we get to witness them kick ass.

Special Interest CB Radio Gorgeous and Conjunto Primitivo open. Wed 11/30, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $18, 21+

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Thanksgiving has come and gone in the United States. It is always a big day for the National Football League as there are three standalone games for everyone to enjoy. Chicago Bears fans might be noticing something that is going on in the NFC North right now.

Two of the four teams in the division were in action on Thanksgiving. The Detroit Lions hosted the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field in the first game of the afternoon. Following the Dallas Cowboys beat down of the New York Giants, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the New England Patriots.

In that first game involving the Lions, there were some shocking results. The Bills, who are widely considered to be one of the best teams in the NFL, needed overtime to beat the Lions who are one of the league’s bottom feeders and have been for a while.

In the nightcap, the Vikings took care of the New England Patriots and are now 9-2. This is a very interesting time in the division as the Vikings are clearly the best team in the group. They will win it with ease.

The Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions might be ready to own the NFC North soon.

The Green Bay Packers, although they still have Aaron Rodgers for now, are really starting to fall off a cliff. They might be headed in a new direction in relatively short order.

With that in mind, it is hard to see the Minnesota Vikings keep up this level of play far beyond the 2022 season. Their defense is not very good and they rely a lot on their offense. How long can Kirk Cousins keep this up?

That leaves both the Lions and Bears who are both trying to ascend. The Lions are still looking for their long-term quarterback (it is probably not Jared Goff) but they have a lot of other nice young pieces in play that are starting to show that they play smart and hard.

As for the Bears, they are starting to see that Justin Fields is a star that can make big plays. It might not be long before these two teams are the ones running the division. It should be a lot of fun to watch.

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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team have had a very interesting 2022 season. They were 3-3 after going 0-2 to start which made it obvious that this year wasn’t going to end in the College Football Playoff. However, they have won five straight and are looking for a strong finish.

They have their rivalry game against USC on Saturday which is a great test to end the regular season. They already shook up the landscape of the College Football Playoff a few weeks ago when they defeated Clemson and now they are trying to do that to USC.

Unfortunately, there is a new story developing that might really annoy Notre Dame fans. As of the most recent College Football Playoff ranking, LSU is ranked at number five which is just outside the four that would play in the tournament. They only trail Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and TCU for the top spots.

Of course, this would annoy Notre Dame fans because of the fact that Brian Kelly is their head coach. He surprisingly left Notre Dame ahead of their bowl game last season to join LSU. It was a wild move that left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths.

Notre Dame fans wouldn’t be happy with this potential CFB playoff scenario.

LSU is one spot ahead of USC which is Notre Dame’s next opponent. This is notable because the Tigers have two losses as opposed to USC’s one loss.

On Saturday, LSU hosts Texas A&M which should be a win for them. The problem is that Michigan plays Ohio State as well so one of them is going to drop out. That will bump LSU into a playoff spot by the time the rankings come out.

The good news is that LSU will then play Georgia in the SEC Championship game the following week. There will be a lot of Notre Dame people rooting for Georgia to beat LSU so that they can be eliminated from making the playoff.

Brian Kelly is an outstanding recruiter and coach so you know that they are only going to get better but Notre Dame fans are never going to enjoy it. It will surely be interesting to see how it all plays out.

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The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica (formerly Mako Sica) sound profoundly different from each other, but these two local ensembles share a commitment to using improvisation to tap into ideas they would never find any other way. The Gilgamanians are percussionist Michael Zerang and shortwave-radio operator Don Meckley. This is the duo’s first concert, but their history stretches back 40 years. In the early 1980s, they enlisted Daniel Scanlan, who played guitar, violin, and cornet, to found the electroacoustic improv group Liof Munimula. Their concerts were as legendary for the bristling abstraction of their music as they were for their vast and improbable array of equipment—in Meckley’s case that included one-of-a-kind inventions such as the radiotar (a shortwave radio tuned with a hinged guitar neck) and the hydro-kalimba (a row of cords or pipes that dripped water onto “keys” cut into a miked cafeteria tray) as well as a 40-foot antenna that enabled him to tap into a world’s worth of broadcast sounds. Liof Munimula disbanded in 1997, but Meckley and Zerang reunited after learning that Scanlan had died in 2018 in a Florida nursing home. While the Gilgamanians’ current setup is decidedly more portable than that of their earlier ensemble, the fluctuating mixtures of vibrations, textures, and caught-and-released sounds on their debut CD, this year’s Escape From Dark Matter (Pink Palace), are as hallucinatory as anything they did back in the day. 

Singer, bassist, and guitarist Brent Fuscaldo and trumpeter, mandolinist, and guitarist Przemyslaw Krys Drazek first convened as Mako Sica in 2007. Third members have come and gone, and in recent years they’ve initiated an open-door policy that has dramatically diversified their sound. Beginning with their 2018 double LP, Ronda (Astral Spirits/Feeding Tube), made with master percussionist Hamid Drake, they’ve invited eminences from the worlds of free jazz and experimental music to join them in improvising unspooling grooves and eerily atmospheric melodies. At this show violinist Mark Feldman, drummer George Marich, and Cheer-Accident bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Thymme Jones will join them to celebrate the release of their new CD, Formless (Feeding Tube). This is also the first time they’ve played out since changing their name from “Mako Sica” (the Lakota term for the South Dakota Badlands) to “Maku Sica,” which Fuscaldo says is intended to show respect for the people to whom the original name belongs.

Gilgamanians, Maku Sica Tue 11/29, 8 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, $15, all ages

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The Gilgamanians and Maku Sica (formerly Mako Sica) sound profoundly different from each other, but these two local ensembles share a commitment to using improvisation to tap into ideas they would never find any other way. The Gilgamanians are percussionist Michael Zerang and shortwave-radio operator Don Meckley. This is the duo’s first concert, but their history stretches back 40 years. In the early 1980s, they enlisted Daniel Scanlan, who played guitar, violin, and cornet, to found the electroacoustic improv group Liof Munimula. Their concerts were as legendary for the bristling abstraction of their music as they were for their vast and improbable array of equipment—in Meckley’s case that included one-of-a-kind inventions such as the radiotar (a shortwave radio tuned with a hinged guitar neck) and the hydro-kalimba (a row of cords or pipes that dripped water onto “keys” cut into a miked cafeteria tray) as well as a 40-foot antenna that enabled him to tap into a world’s worth of broadcast sounds. Liof Munimula disbanded in 1997, but Meckley and Zerang reunited after learning that Scanlan had died in 2018 in a Florida nursing home. While the Gilgamanians’ current setup is decidedly more portable than that of their earlier ensemble, the fluctuating mixtures of vibrations, textures, and caught-and-released sounds on their debut CD, this year’s Escape From Dark Matter (Pink Palace), are as hallucinatory as anything they did back in the day. 

Singer, bassist, and guitarist Brent Fuscaldo and trumpeter, mandolinist, and guitarist Przemyslaw Krys Drazek first convened as Mako Sica in 2007. Third members have come and gone, and in recent years they’ve initiated an open-door policy that has dramatically diversified their sound. Beginning with their 2018 double LP, Ronda (Astral Spirits/Feeding Tube), made with master percussionist Hamid Drake, they’ve invited eminences from the worlds of free jazz and experimental music to join them in improvising unspooling grooves and eerily atmospheric melodies. At this show violinist Mark Feldman, drummer George Marich, and Cheer-Accident bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Thymme Jones will join them to celebrate the release of their new CD, Formless (Feeding Tube). This is also the first time they’ve played out since changing their name from “Mako Sica” (the Lakota term for the South Dakota Badlands) to “Maku Sica,” which Fuscaldo says is intended to show respect for the people to whom the original name belongs.

Gilgamanians, Maku Sica Tue 11/29, 8 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey #208, $15, all ages

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. 

Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.

Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.

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Once upon a time, Chicago Bears fans were desperately hoping to see their front office make a serious move for a quarterback.

During the 2021 NFL Draft, in which the Bears held pick no. 20, fans waited patiently to see if then-general manager Ryan Pace was going to move up and get this franchise the quarterback they had long waited for.

At the beginning of the draft, we essentially knew the first three picks — all quarterbacks. It would go Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and then Trey Lance, just like that — one, two, three. And in the blink of an eye, three quarterbacks were gone.

But, in many Bears fans’ minds, the second-best quarterback prospect was still on the board. Then, at pick no. 11, the Bears made the move to go up and draft Justin Fields out of Ohio State. Finally, it appeared as though the Bears would have a legitimate franchise quarterback — and a dual-threat talent, as well.

There were some outlets, including our own NFL Spin Zone, that thought New York should have gone with Fields. But, because of their mistake drafting Wilson, the Bears and their fan base were left elated.

The New York Jets’ current quarterback situation with Zach Wilson and Mike White should make Chicago Bears fans even more thankful for Justin Fields.

This weekend, the Bears take on the Jets in what should have been a battle between 2021 draft picks, Fields and Wilson. However, due to Wilson’s extremely poor play this season and a mishandling of his teammates’ emotions last Sunday, the second-year quarterback has been benched.

Sure, it could be the best thing that ever happened to Wilson. But, during the “here and now,” it looks to be a mess. The Jets are winning, but they’ve been winning in spite of Wilson, and not because of him.

On the flip side, the Bears may be losing games, but their future feels so much brighter because of Fields. If it weren’t for Fields, the Bears would be borderline unwatchable.

The Fields breakout has been inspiring to watch. It’s been uplifting, even amidst a season full of losses so far.

As we all think about what we’re most thankful for in the year 2022, Bears fans can be especially thankful that the Jets decided to pass on maybe the best quarterback prospect of that 2021 class, allowing the Bears to make that move in going up and getting Fields.

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