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Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

I’m part Polish, but in 18 years of the Secret History of Chicago Music, I’ve somehow never covered a polka musician. By certain generous estimates, around 1,900,000 people of Polish descent live in the Chicago metropolitan area—it’s the largest such community in the United States and the second worldwide only to Warsaw. Polka originated in the early 19th century in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic), and during its long history it’s been wildly popular in many countries and on several continents. But here in Chicago, it’s powerfully associated with the city’s Polish enclaves. 

Polka relies on accordion or concertina, and depending on its region of origin, it might also employ fiddle, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, tuba, bass, or drums. It tends to use upbeat rhythms in 2/4 time, and it’s usually music for couples dancing. Chicago polka is its own thing, with roots in the postwar years, and generally has slower tempos (for easier rug cutting) and a more improvisational bent. It spawned two substyles: the “Chicago honky” and the fuller-sounding “Chicago push.” This week’s SHoCM subject, Walter “Li’l Wally” Jagiello, played a major role in creating this modern polka sound.

Singer, drummer, and concertina player Walter E. Jagiello (aka Władysław Jagiełło) also performed as “Mały Władziu” and “Mały Władzio”—both of which mean “Li’l Wally” in Polish. He was born in Chicago’s East Village neighborhood on August 1, 1930, near the Polish Triangle—the symbolic heart of the city’s oldest Polish settlement. The son of Polish immigrants, Jagiello often said “he came out of his mother’s womb singing,” according to his wife and business partner, Jeanette, who was quoted in his Chicago Tribune obituary in 2006.

At eight years old, Jagiello would get hoisted onto picnic tables to belt out tunes at Sunday Polish gatherings in Caldwell Woods near Milwaukee and Devon. He earned his nickname “Li’l Wally” while still actually a little kid, but even as an adult he only grew to five foot six. When Jagiello was ten, future polka concertina legend Eddie Zima, himself still in his teens, hired him to sing in his orchestra, which played up and down “Polish Broadway”—the busy Division Street strip between Ashland and Western, reputed to have been home to more than 50 Polish clubs in its heyday.

Jagiello never went to high school—instead he became a bandleader at 15, when Stanley Korzeniak, owner of the Lucky Stop Inn on Division, booked him for a gig and insisted he start his own group. Jagiello had already made a habit of sneaking out to see concerts at night: “I’d leave the window open a few inches,” he told Reader contributor Carl Kozlowski in 1999. “When I got back, if the window was closed, I knew I was in trouble.” But while his parents may have figured out he wasn’t abiding by his bedtime, they didn’t realize he was a neighborhood star. “They thought I was a crook because I always had all this money,” Jagiello said.

Jagiello had his first recording session in 1946, at which point he was still singing entirely in Polish. He released the tunes via his own small label, Amber Records, which he’d founded when he was 16. (Poland is associated with amber because of the large deposits in the Baltic Sea, some of which have been carried into the country by rivers and glaciers.)

Jagiello more than earned his other most famous nickname—the Polka King—by building his own cottage industry devoted to the music. He bought an office building on South Kedzie, built his own studio on the premises with help from Motorola engineer Jim Hogan, and acquired vinyl-pressing equipment from the Finebilt company of Cincinnati, Ohio. He gigged all over the midwest, usually with a trio of concertina, trumpet, and drums; for bigger shows he’d bring in clarinet, bass, or violin. He usually called his band some variation on “the Harmony Boys” (the Happy Harmony Boys, the Lucky Harmony Boys Orchestra, et cetera), but backing musicians came and went constantly—most of them worked day jobs in factories and couldn’t commit to extended runs.

Jagiello bought a new studio in Florida and kept touring and recording, albeit at a slower pace. He’d return to Chicago to gig, but as the city’s Polish enclaves began to decline, he started booking suburban banquet halls instead. “I still come back two or three times a year to show all the club owners I’m still alive, and to show the other bands how it’s done,” Jagiello told Kozlowski. “Other musicians are always spreading rumors that I’ve died, gotten sick, or have dropped my price. . . . Polka’s a competitive scene.”

“He would come to Chicago about once a year, play at some banquet hall like the White Eagle out in Niles,” Hedeker said. “So in 1999, we set up this show at Zakopane Lounge, which is on Division there, and the idea was the Polkaholics were going to be his backing band. I thought, ‘Wow, his vocal with our way of playing polka would be super cool. It would give us so much legitimacy right there!’ That’s what I thought anyway.”

Jagiello might have approved of the Polkaholics in principle, but he didn’t care for their sound. “At practice, as soon as we start the first song, he yells, ‘No, no, no, no, no!’ He was kind of a control freak,” Hedeker said. “He basically neutered us. He said, ‘What’s wrong with your guitar?’ I said, ‘It’s distortion.’ ‘I don’t want that!’ . . . It was very much like that [Chuck Berry] movie, Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll—except I’m not Keith Richards!” 

The Polkaholics weren’t prepared to deal with the expectations of an old-school bandleader either. “We spent that whole summer trying to learn as many of his songs as we possibly could, and then at that practice he changed the key on everything,” Hedeker recalled. “It was just a waste of time!”

The concert turned out to be a good time, but not for the reasons Hedeker expected. “So we do the show the next night, and I can’t even tell you how pumped up I was for that show—opening for Li’l Wally was like a dream come true,” he said. “As we were playing our set, he was at the bar and all these people were buying him shots. So by the time he comes on, he was just tanked! So it was quite an event, but musically, it wasn’t all that great, really.”

It might take a Polkaholic to see Jagiello as punk rock, but there’s no arguing that he threw his whole heart and soul into the music he loved. If there’s any justice in the world, he’ll be remembered forever—and not just by the International Polka Association Hall of Fame.

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Like many of us, Salvador the inventor has a lot of gadgets. Instead of accessing TikTok with his smartphone, he has an admittedly more retro and cartoonlike system, featuring giant levers and light-bulb colander hats to go with his tape deck and phonographs. His aesthetic is steampunk hoarder melded with cottagecore quaintness, but the end result of his stuff is the same—it’s a place to store his memories. Salvador likes to relive certain aspects of his life, the beautiful moment of falling in love, the excitement of youth when you imagined you could save the world . . . but also the sadder moments, like the strain of a song at the edge of a memory, or the heartrending loss of one’s partner. 

MemorabiliaSat 11/19 7:30 PM and Sun 11/20 3:30 PM, BateyUrbano, 2620 W. Division, reservations through Brown Paper Tickets, $20

Played by La Vuelta Ensemble’s cofounder, Jean Carlos Claudio, and directed/cocreated by their fellow cofounder, Raquel Torre, this show has been a long time in the making. Claudio says, “In 2017, I had a bad injury that really set me back. I couldn’t do much of anything, circuswise, so I started writing ideas for performances I could do once I recovered.”

But the genesis of their company goes back even further. Claudio and Torre formed La Vuelta in 2014 and have performed many shows around North America, from Puerto Rico (their original home), to Argentina, before settling in Chicago. “Our artistic partnership actually precedes our romantic relationship. Jean Carlos and I became close friends and later partners while working together for a circus company back in Puerto Rico more than ten years ago. Then when we started La Vuelta . . . we would cocreate, codirect, and costar on almost everything,” explains Torre. 

The theater ensemble has a focus on physicality through clowning, acrobatics, and juggling. This creative duo has developed both together and independently through their ensemble work as well as through their separate studies and careers: Claudio as a graduate of the full-time circus program at the Actors Gymnasium, and Torre through her post-graduate work performing, directing, and choreographing around town (working with UrbanTheater Company, Filament Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, the Gift Theatre, Opera-Matic, and Rough House Theater). 

Torre describes the perks of working with her life partner in a professional capacity. “Because so much of Memorabilia is sourced from Jean Carlos’s life—for example, the melodica song, Bratsch’s ‘La Noce’, was the song Jean used to play during my mime act, way back in the day—it’s definitely a plus to know the performer intimately, especially for the vulnerable clown presence Jean Carlos has.”

But producing this show in their neighborhood of Humboldt Park is a dream that has been a long time in the making as well, she explains. “UTC has been one of our biggest supporters in Chicago . . . It’s the space we feel at home in and where it felt right to produce Memorabilia. As a Latinx-focused company, we share similar values and curiosities in terms of what it means to produce community-rooted work that is not euro-centered. We hope to perform Memorabilia in many places, but UTC will always be our home base.”

“La Vuelta” means to spin and twirl, to take a walk around, to return, and when Claudio is in character as their clown self, they do just that. They are that rare combination of a skilled clown and a powerful circus artist, able to balance these not necessarily opposing skills by vacillating with perfect timing between audience interactions, and acrobatic feats. 

Torre explains why she thinks circus works so well in Claudio’s performances. “In Memorabilia, circus also allows us to capture the fantastical element of our memories, in which we always imagine the past grander than it really was. Most of the circus elements in the show exist in the memories Salvador shares, so we don’t really know how much is 100 percent true. We all do that, retell stories bigger than they were.” Claudio does this with seemingly effortless appeal, striking a magical balance of just enough connection to convey their vulnerability and charisma, and just enough motion (hand balancing, tossing diabolo, acro dancing) to transport the audience to the rich inner world of Salvador. 

As the story unfolds, we learn more about Salvador’s life. He’s having trouble recalling some memories, for example. He gets a little turned around and confused fidgeting with his gadgets every day, and yet he’s lonely and relies on them to get by. It’s a bit heartbreaking to take that journey with him, but a poignant journey it is. Salvador means “savior” in Spanish, so Claudio made the connection between the character’s name and the action of saving memories: a connection inspired by the tragic loss of his own grandmother to Alzheimer’s.

“He’s afraid of losing his memories, so he wants to store them like you’d store objects you’re not actively using but think they might be useful later,” says Claudio. “The tragedy is that in his search to preserve, he’s actually damaging his brain and provoking more forgetting. And while he’s wanting to remember important memories, he’s also repressing other crucial ones.” 

It’s perhaps ironic for a show that explores the importance of human connection to come out of the isolation of the COVID-19 shutdown. But on opening night, the sold-out audience responded enthusiastically to the whimsical tragicomedy of La Vuelta’s Memorabilia. The company plans to tour the piece beginning in December after this short run at UTC’s Batey Urbano venue concludes Sunday.

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Like many of us, Salvador the inventor has a lot of gadgets. Instead of accessing TikTok with his smartphone, he has an admittedly more retro and cartoonlike system, featuring giant levers and light-bulb colander hats to go with his tape deck and phonographs. His aesthetic is steampunk hoarder melded with cottagecore quaintness, but the end result of his stuff is the same—it’s a place to store his memories. Salvador likes to relive certain aspects of his life, the beautiful moment of falling in love, the excitement of youth when you imagined you could save the world . . . but also the sadder moments, like the strain of a song at the edge of a memory, or the heartrending loss of one’s partner. 

MemorabiliaSat 11/19 7:30 PM and Sun 11/20 3:30 PM, BateyUrbano, 2620 W. Division, reservations through Brown Paper Tickets, $20

Played by La Vuelta Ensemble’s cofounder, Jean Carlos Claudio, and directed/cocreated by their fellow cofounder, Raquel Torre, this show has been a long time in the making. Claudio says, “In 2017, I had a bad injury that really set me back. I couldn’t do much of anything, circuswise, so I started writing ideas for performances I could do once I recovered.”

But the genesis of their company goes back even further. Claudio and Torre formed La Vuelta in 2014 and have performed many shows around North America, from Puerto Rico (their original home), to Argentina, before settling in Chicago. “Our artistic partnership actually precedes our romantic relationship. Jean Carlos and I became close friends and later partners while working together for a circus company back in Puerto Rico more than ten years ago. Then when we started La Vuelta . . . we would cocreate, codirect, and costar on almost everything,” explains Torre. 

The theater ensemble has a focus on physicality through clowning, acrobatics, and juggling. This creative duo has developed both together and independently through their ensemble work as well as through their separate studies and careers: Claudio as a graduate of the full-time circus program at the Actors Gymnasium, and Torre through her post-graduate work performing, directing, and choreographing around town (working with UrbanTheater Company, Filament Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, the Gift Theatre, Opera-Matic, and Rough House Theater). 

Torre describes the perks of working with her life partner in a professional capacity. “Because so much of Memorabilia is sourced from Jean Carlos’s life—for example, the melodica song, Bratsch’s ‘La Noce’, was the song Jean used to play during my mime act, way back in the day—it’s definitely a plus to know the performer intimately, especially for the vulnerable clown presence Jean Carlos has.”

But producing this show in their neighborhood of Humboldt Park is a dream that has been a long time in the making as well, she explains. “UTC has been one of our biggest supporters in Chicago . . . It’s the space we feel at home in and where it felt right to produce Memorabilia. As a Latinx-focused company, we share similar values and curiosities in terms of what it means to produce community-rooted work that is not euro-centered. We hope to perform Memorabilia in many places, but UTC will always be our home base.”

“La Vuelta” means to spin and twirl, to take a walk around, to return, and when Claudio is in character as their clown self, they do just that. They are that rare combination of a skilled clown and a powerful circus artist, able to balance these not necessarily opposing skills by vacillating with perfect timing between audience interactions, and acrobatic feats. 

Torre explains why she thinks circus works so well in Claudio’s performances. “In Memorabilia, circus also allows us to capture the fantastical element of our memories, in which we always imagine the past grander than it really was. Most of the circus elements in the show exist in the memories Salvador shares, so we don’t really know how much is 100 percent true. We all do that, retell stories bigger than they were.” Claudio does this with seemingly effortless appeal, striking a magical balance of just enough connection to convey their vulnerability and charisma, and just enough motion (hand balancing, tossing diabolo, acro dancing) to transport the audience to the rich inner world of Salvador. 

As the story unfolds, we learn more about Salvador’s life. He’s having trouble recalling some memories, for example. He gets a little turned around and confused fidgeting with his gadgets every day, and yet he’s lonely and relies on them to get by. It’s a bit heartbreaking to take that journey with him, but a poignant journey it is. Salvador means “savior” in Spanish, so Claudio made the connection between the character’s name and the action of saving memories: a connection inspired by the tragic loss of his own grandmother to Alzheimer’s.

“He’s afraid of losing his memories, so he wants to store them like you’d store objects you’re not actively using but think they might be useful later,” says Claudio. “The tragedy is that in his search to preserve, he’s actually damaging his brain and provoking more forgetting. And while he’s wanting to remember important memories, he’s also repressing other crucial ones.” 

It’s perhaps ironic for a show that explores the importance of human connection to come out of the isolation of the COVID-19 shutdown. But on opening night, the sold-out audience responded enthusiastically to the whimsical tragicomedy of La Vuelta’s Memorabilia. The company plans to tour the piece beginning in December after this short run at UTC’s Batey Urbano venue concludes Sunday.

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The early part of the 2022-23 NBA season has been a welcomed fresh start for a number of surprise players looking to add some hardware to their r?sum?s.

While there is still plenty of season left, a handful of players have hopped into the driver’s seats for the NBA’s biggest accolades so far.

After a down season riddled by injuries in 2021-22, Luka Doncic has jolted to an early lead in this year’s MVP race with career-best and league-leading offensive stats, and is doing it all with seemingly less help from the rest of his Dallas Mavericks team than in previous years. Still, Doncic will have some stiff competition to fend off down the stretch with the likes of Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo putting up some eye-catching numbers themselves.

Meanwhile, it’s still early for this year’s rookie class, but it’s looking like a tall task for any other first-year player to catch Paolo Banchero in the Rookie of the Year race. Banchero put up at least 20 points in each of his first six games, which included a stretch of back-to-back 30-point performances.

The Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year awards all feature close races so far, but there is time for other contenders to hop into the conversation and for current contenders to separate themselves as well.

Here’s a look at who the ESPN experts believe have already made a case for the NBA’s biggest accolades this season:

Who is your way-too-early pick for MVP?

Nick Friedell: Luka Doncic. He carries the Mavericks every night and seems to have less help around him than he did last season. He also figures to have the narrative on his side this year given that Giannis Antetokounmpo already won the award in 2019 and 2020.

Kendra Andrews: Stephen Curry. The one knock against him is that the Warriors are struggling to produce wins as a team, sitting just outside of the play-in picture at 12th in the West. But there is no denying the level at which Curry has started the season. He has scored at least 30 points in 10 of his 14 games played this season, including 50 in a loss to Phoenix on Wednesday. Earlier this month, Curry was the oldest player to register consecutive 40-point games since Michael Jordan in 2002.

2 Related

Ohm Youngmisuk: Antetokounmpo looks like he’s on a mission. He scored 30 or more points in six straight games — including 44- and 43-point performances. But the most important statistic was the Bucks starting the season 9-0.

Tim MacMahon: Doncic has a slight lead over Antetokounmpo, who has missed a few games, which isn’t a major issue in the long run, but it’s a quarter of the season so far. Meanwhile, Doncic is more dominant than ever, leading the league in scoring (34.4 points per game) with career-best efficiency (60% true shooting).

Andrew Lopez: Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics had quite the curveball thrown at them to start the season, but they haven’t missed a beat with Joe Mazzulla at the helm. Tatum has been a big part of that, averaging a career-best 31.1 points per game. No Celtics player has ever averaged 30 points per game over an entire season. Tatum doing that and keeping the Celtics near the top of the East gives him the early nod here.

Who is your way-too-early pick for Defensive Player of the Year?

Friedell: Jarrett Allen. The Cavs are rolling, and Allen at center is a major reason. He’s a force down low and has become a focal point of one of the most impressive teams in the league.

Andrews: Milwaukee is leading the league in defense right now, and at the center of it all is Brook Lopez. Lopez is leading the league in total blocks with 35, and his presence in the paint is impacting the way opponents have to play the Bucks. Opponents are taking just 21.2% of their shots at the rim against Milwaukee, which is the lowest in the league, according to Second Spectrum Tracking. And of those shots, they’re hitting just 64%.

Youngmisuk: Lopez is on a helluva run. He already has nine games of two or more blocks, including three games with five or more blocks. He leads the league in blocks with 35 and could very well hold on to this lead.

LeBron James is on track to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leader in regular-season points this season. We’ll have complete coverage all year long.

o Game-by-game points trackero A lack of shooters is affecting LeBrono LeBron, KD and the sign of changeo LeBron’s chase for other milestones

MacMahon: Lopez. The Bucks have the stingiest defense by a significant margin, and Milwaukee has a few candidates in Antetokounmpo, perimeter stopper Jrue Holiday and Lopez. I’ll go with Lopez in part because Milwaukee was in the middle of the pack defensively last season when he barely played because of injury. The Bucks allow only 96.9 points per 100 possessions with Lopez on the floor — the lowest among their dominant defensive trio.

Lopez: The Bucks are first the NBA with a 104.9 defensive rating — more than three points better than second-place (LA Clippers, at 107.4). The Bucks could have three Defensive Player of the Year candidates in any given season — Antetokounmpo, Holiday and Lopez — but let’s give love to Lopez for his start to the season. Lopez is second in the league in blocks per game (2.5) and top five in stocks (44 combined steals and blocks).

Who is your way-too-early pick for Rookie of the Year?

Friedell: Paolo Banchero. He’s making the Magic relevant again, matching the kind of numbers that only Shaquille O’Neal put up as a rookie in a Magic jersey. He’s the guy. There is no other option if he stays healthy.

Andrews: Banchero, almost no contest. He’s averaging 23.5 points per game after six consecutive 20-point games to start the year, and registering at least 30 points in his past two games. He’s proving he was the correct No. 1 overall pick in the draft, and can be the centerpiece the Magic have been waiting for.

Youngmisuk: There’s so much to be impressed about with Banchero. From starting his career by scoring 20 or more in his first six games to back-to-back games with 30 or more points in each, Banchero looks like the runaway Rookie of the Year. Only injury can seemingly slow him down as an ankle injury sidelined him recently.

MacMahon: Banchero, and this one is pretty easy. He’s leading all rookies in scoring and rebounding, and he ranks second in assists. He’s more than living up to being the No. 1 overall pick and looks the part of the long-term franchise centerpiece the Magic so desperately need. Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin is the only other real challenger in the Rookie of the Year race so far.

WednesdayCeltics-Hawks, 7:30 p.m.Warriors-Suns, 10 p.m.

FridayBucks-76ers, 7:30 p.m.Knicks-Warriors, 10 p.m.

*All times Eastern

Lopez: Banchero is running away with this award. He started the season with six consecutive 20-point games, which is tied for the third most to start a career in NBA history behind only Elvin Hayes (10) and Wilt Chamberlain (56). Banchero has very much looked the part of the No. 1 pick in the draft while averaging 23.5 points per game early in the season.

Who is your way-too-early pick for Most Improved Player?

Friedell: Lauri Markkanen. The Jazz have been the biggest surprise in the league early in the season — and Markkanen is a huge reason. The 25-year-old took the momentum he gained from leading Finland in EuroBasket and has been rolling early in the season averaging a career-high 21.3 points and 8.4 rebounds a game.

Andrews: Even after spending just half of a season with the Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton‘s play and numbers started to jump from the first half of the year. And now getting to start the season with Indiana, he’s primed to keep growing. He’s already averaging 20.6 points per game with a career-best 49.2% shooting percentage and is leading the league in assists (10.4).

Youngmisuk: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA has forced his way into the discussion for Most Improved Player. We already knew how good he is, or so we thought. Gilgeous-Alexander has taken his game to another level to start the season, averaging 32.3 points per game. He was seventh in scoring through his first 11 games. While he has increased his scoring every subsequent season from the previous year, this year’s jump has been dramatic. He has increased his scoring average by six points per game and is shooting career highs of 54.6% from the field and 90.6% (up from 81%) from the line. But he’s also getting it done on defense, too, averaging career highs of 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks. We’ll see if he can keep this up and if Oklahoma City will give him the opportunity to play in enough games to win this award or if they tank toward the end of the season.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

MacMahon: Desmond Bane, who actually owns the Most Improved Player trophy from last season, which Ja Morant won but gifted to his Memphis backcourt mate because he believed Bane deserved it. Bane has followed that up by making another massive leap, putting himself in the early All-Star conversation. Bane came into the league as a pure catch-and-shoot threat but now has developed into an all-around scorer. The majority of his 3s come off the dribble now, and he’s shooting at a 45.1% clip from long range.

Lopez: With a full season in Indiana under his belt, Haliburton is starting to take off. Haliburton is averaging 20.6 points and a league-best 10.4 assists per game. He’s also shooting a career-best 42.4% from 3-point range on seven attempts per game. Ever since he was dealt to Indiana last season, Haliburton has thrived and this year in the full-time point guard role, he’s looking even more comfortable.

Who is your way-too-early pick for Sixth Man of the Year?

Friedell: Malcolm Brogdon. On paper, the fit between Brogdon and the Celtics was there from the beginning. The key for Brogdon was to stay on the floor and be a calming veteran influence the group needed. So far, so good. Brogdon has been solid, averaging almost 14 points per game and helping the Celtics get off to a nice start.

Andrews: Brogdon has been a dream fit for the Celtics, especially their second unit. The one concern for Brogdon is his health. He missed Boston’s past two games because of a hamstring injury, but if he can stay on the court and maintain his production level he could take this award.

Youngmisuk: Brogdon has been a great fit coming off the bench, providing some scoring, playmaking and defense for the Celtics. If he can stay healthy, Brogdon should be a finalist for the award.

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MacMahon: Bennedict Mathurin is the early Rookie of the Year runner-up. He leads all bench scorers in scoring (19.9 points per game) and has done it efficiently (63% true shooting) with a blend of acrobatics and long-range marksmanship. Cleveland’s Kevin Love, who ranks among the league leaders in plus-minus, deserves strong consideration, too.

Lopez: Dallas forward Christian Wood got off to a hot start to the season with three consecutive 20-point games. Wood has put up three double-doubles off the bench so far and has been the Mavericks’ third-leading scorer this season behind Doncic and Spencer Dinwiddie, putting up 16.7 points per game. He has also been the team’s second-leading rebounder, trailing Doncic, at 7.5 a game. The Mavericks lost the two games Wood missed this season to the Magic and Wizards. With him on the court, they’re 8-4.

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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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Clear backpacks lean against one another like a line of fallen dominoes. Inside each of the bags is a collection of specially curated books. As a caregiver’s murmurs break the silence of the Oak Park Library children’s section, the top of a child’s head peeks above the bookshelves.  

Sitting behind a plastic barrier that faces the library’s aquatic-themed entrance, Hallothon Patnott pulls out a large children’s book. As the resident children’s librarian, Patnott specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and allies. He greets everyone who approaches the counter with a gentle tone. 

“I always knew I wanted to be a children’s librarian,” Patnott said.

Pattnott is open about his own transition. He grew up in Holland, MI, where the possibility of other gender identities was not discussed among his family or in his environment. He came to Chicago to get his master’s degree in library and information science from Dominican University. 

For Patnott, the importance of creating a safe learning environment for children and caregivers using the library is underlined by his own lack of resources while growing up. 

“I’m from a really small conservative town. I didn’t have access to any of the books or resources that would have told me that trans people exist,” Patnott said. “I don’t think I even really knew that trans people existed, particularly not trans men, until well into college.”

Once some of his friends started coming out, understanding of his own gender identity as a transgender man finally clicked for Patnott, he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s something that I could be.’”

In states where school districts are banning LGBTQIA+ literature, proponents of those bans often argue that students are too young to learn about topics like gender and sexuality. 

Ricky Hill, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, says spaces like Oak Park Library can be important referral points for families seeking gender-affirming care. 

“I believe that currently, public libraries are under attack. Anything I can do to bring queerness into those spaces in a really visible way is very important,” said Hill.

Hill works directly with the Chicago LGBTQIA+ community and sees those members who are directly impacted by accessing queer resources.

”Libraries are one of the most important community information hubs,” they said. “Libraries aren’t just for reference materials, they are places where people just come to spend time. A lot of people who are either unhoused or transient show up in those spaces; young people show up in those spaces quite a bit.”

The Oak Park library provides such a space. During after school hours, students gather outside, run in and out of the building, and seem to know the librarians well as they greet them. The building is a hub for locals to socialize and complete homework.

Patnott works at his desk surrounded by filled with books selected by the staff. Kait Lavo

The library also offers kits for caregivers of children visiting the library in search of resources to understand a child who may have just come out to them. 

“There are ways that explore your identity, it can be playful, beautiful and fun,” he said. “The resource kits aim to help caregivers facilitate conversations about gender identity with their children in an age-appropriate way. Some kits are designed to be used with a group of kids in a classroom setting, or used at home.”  

One book, From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, which is not among the list of banned books in states around the country, is especially important to Patnott.  He uses it as a tool in his gender workshops.

“It’s this really beautiful story about a genderfluid child, who is a shapeshifter, and their mom,” Patnott said. “They are starting school for the first time and they’re excited and really nervous.” 

The story focuses on showing kids how to celebrate themselves—and also serves as a good example of a parent supporting their child as they explore their gender. During gender workshops, he pairs the book with locally made costumes, puppets, and masks that let the children become shapeshifters themselves.

That kind of programming can significantly change the lives of LGBTQIA+ children and build the foundation of their support systems, Hill said. 

Some of the LGBTQ+ book selections from the children’s section of Oak Park Library

Clear backpacks lean against one another like a line of fallen dominoes. Inside each of the bags is a collection of specially curated books. As a caregiver’s murmurs break the silence of the Oak Park Library children’s section, the top of a child’s head peeks above the bookshelves.  

Sitting behind a plastic barrier that faces the library’s aquatic-themed entrance, Hallothon Patnott pulls out a large children’s book. As the resident children’s librarian, Patnott specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ youth and allies. He greets everyone who approaches the counter with a gentle tone. 

“I always knew I wanted to be a children’s librarian,” Patnott said.

Pattnott is open about his own transition. He grew up in Holland, MI, where the possibility of other gender identities was not discussed among his family or in his environment. He came to Chicago to get his master’s degree in library and information science from Dominican University. 

For Patnott, the importance of creating a safe learning environment for children and caregivers using the library is underlined by his own lack of resources while growing up. 

“I’m from a really small conservative town. I didn’t have access to any of the books or resources that would have told me that trans people exist,” Patnott said. “I don’t think I even really knew that trans people existed, particularly not trans men, until well into college.”

Once some of his friends started coming out, understanding of his own gender identity as a transgender man finally clicked for Patnott, he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s something that I could be.’”

In states where school districts are banning LGBTQIA+ literature, proponents of those bans often argue that students are too young to learn about topics like gender and sexuality. 

Ricky Hill, a research assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, says spaces like Oak Park Library can be important referral points for families seeking gender-affirming care. 

“I believe that currently, public libraries are under attack. Anything I can do to bring queerness into those spaces in a really visible way is very important,” said Hill.

Hill works directly with the Chicago LGBTQIA+ community and sees those members who are directly impacted by accessing queer resources.

”Libraries are one of the most important community information hubs,” they said. “Libraries aren’t just for reference materials, they are places where people just come to spend time. A lot of people who are either unhoused or transient show up in those spaces; young people show up in those spaces quite a bit.”

The Oak Park library provides such a space. During after school hours, students gather outside, run in and out of the building, and seem to know the librarians well as they greet them. The building is a hub for locals to socialize and complete homework.

Patnott works at his desk surrounded by filled with books selected by the staff. Kait Lavo

The library also offers kits for caregivers of children visiting the library in search of resources to understand a child who may have just come out to them. 

“There are ways that explore your identity, it can be playful, beautiful and fun,” he said. “The resource kits aim to help caregivers facilitate conversations about gender identity with their children in an age-appropriate way. Some kits are designed to be used with a group of kids in a classroom setting, or used at home.”  

One book, From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, which is not among the list of banned books in states around the country, is especially important to Patnott.  He uses it as a tool in his gender workshops.

“It’s this really beautiful story about a genderfluid child, who is a shapeshifter, and their mom,” Patnott said. “They are starting school for the first time and they’re excited and really nervous.” 

The story focuses on showing kids how to celebrate themselves—and also serves as a good example of a parent supporting their child as they explore their gender. During gender workshops, he pairs the book with locally made costumes, puppets, and masks that let the children become shapeshifters themselves.

That kind of programming can significantly change the lives of LGBTQIA+ children and build the foundation of their support systems, Hill said. 

Some of the LGBTQ+ book selections from the children’s section of Oak Park Library

Pianist, organist, and bassist Richard Gibbs comes from a mighty gospel lineage, and he recently released his first album under his own name, Just for Me (the Sirens), though he’s been performing publicly for nearly five decades. The disc is a tribute to two incredible women who were close to him. One is his mother, Inez Andrews, who sang with the Caravans and became a widely acclaimed soloist. Andrews also wrote a version of the traditional spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” that influenced Aretha Franklin’s performance on the 1972 album Amazing Grace. Gibbs had his own connection to the Queen of Soul—he accompanied her for 20 years.

On Just for Me, Gibbs’s sparse arrangements and spirited delivery connect to gospel’s Chicago origins. He also passes on this legacy to his son, Richard Gibbs III, who plays bass and organ on one track. Gibbs is an inspiring composer too, and his song “Whisper a Prayer” feels of a piece with the album’s many gospel standards, most of them associated with Andrews or Franklin. 

Erwin Helfer and Lluis Coloma with Cliff Dubose, Richard Gibbs, and Bishop Dwayne MasonThese shows are billed as “blues, boogie, and gospel keyboard parties.” Sat 11/19, 7 and 9:30 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, Szold Hall, 4545 N. Lincoln, $24, $22 members (early show sold out), all ages

Gibbs will perform this weekend as part of what’s billed as a “blues, boogie, and gospel keyboard party” at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He talked to me about the people and experiences that shaped his debut album, speaking from his home in Bronzeville, just a few blocks from where he grew up.

But anyway, having the bass, I would mimic the Jackson Five. I was just a musical kid having fun, but once I had the feel for the bass—I didn’t know I had it upside down because Criss was so great, I would watch what he was doing and mimic what he did. I went to my mom’s recording sessions and there were two guys, [bassists] Larry Ball and Richard Evans, and those guys were phenomenal. Gene Barge was my mom’s producer, so he would bring in [guitarists] Phil Upchurch, Byron Gregory, Cash McCall—I was just around these guys, and I was always watching, always a sponge.

I felt I was so prepared for it, because my mom wrote “Mary Don’t You Weep” on Amazing Grace. So when you write on a record that big, that’s played in your house forever. I got whuppings to that album. I did my homework to that album. I went to sleep to that album, I woke up to it, I knew everything there is to know about that album. 

So that was my audition when I started with Ms. Franklin. She would call out songs—“Mary Don’t You Weep,” “Amazing Grace”—she just went all over the album. The first half of the rehearsal, we made it through that with no problem. And then during the break she asked me, “Do you ever play secular?” I said, “No, not really.” But I added, “I think I could, though.” She just said, “Oh, OK.” 

So we got back in rehearsal, finished the rehearsal, and at the end she said, “Come back into the kitchen.” I went into her kitchen and she was like, “Here are your first 12 dates. This is what you’re going to make. And get two tuxedos.”

She would say, “OK, I’m changing number three. I’m going to change five and put seven in the place of four.” So while we’re playing the overture and they’re saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Aretha Franklin”—we had a songbook of over 300 songs in our piano book, drum book, every book—so we would play the overture and H.B. would say, “OK, three is out, change seven to four.” 

In all actuality, it should work. She’s the queen. She earned the right to do that and have people who can respond to what she was saying. And for me, it went all the way back to my mom. If my mom wanted to put a measure of two there, she didn’t know it was a measure of two—that’s what she felt like, and Mr. Barge made it work. With Ms. Franklin it was all about making it work.

Most of these guys eat ivory for breakfast, they play so much piano. A lot of good musicians still come out of Chicago. They are still sowing, just like Marvin Yancy and Gene Barge sowed into me and hopefully I sowed into Jason. Gospel in Chicago is good.

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