72 shot, 11 fatally, this weekend in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 26, 2021 at 12:13 pm

Seventy-two people were shot — eleven fatally, including a 17-year-old boy — in Chicago this weekend.

A man was shot and killed as he stood in front of a 24-hour convenience store Saturday evening on a busy street in Chatham on the South Side.

About 8:15 p.m., Theodore Smith standing outside the store in the 500 block of East 79th Street when someone walked up to him with a gun and shot him in the chest, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The 44-year-old was rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The man was an employee of the store and was smoking a cigarette when he was shot, a person at the scene told the Sun-Times.

Chicago police work the scene where a 44-year-old man was shot and killed in the 500 block of East 79th Street, in the Chatham neighborhood, Saturday, July 24, 2021.

On Saturday, a teenage boy was killed and another seriously wounded in a shooting in Englewood on the South Side.

The teens, 15 and 17, were in the backyard of a home about 1:15 a.m. in the 6800 block of South Peoria Street when someone opened fire, police said.

The 17-year-old was shot in the chest and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He hasn’t been identified.

The other, 15, was struck in the stomach and taken to the same hospital in serious condition, police said.

At the same time, a man was shot to death in a drive-by in Austin on the Northwest Side.

The 37-year-old was standing on the sidewalk with a group of people about 1:15 a.m. in the 1700 block of North Moody Avenue when someone inside a blue-colored vehicle fired shots, police said.

He was shot in the head and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t identified him.

Another teen was fatally shot Friday night in South Shore.

About 7:30 p.m., Janarrow Deberry was near the sidewalk in the 7000 block of South Merrill Avenue when someone opened fire, striking him multiple times, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

Deberry, of Plainfield, was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.

At least seven other people were killed in shootings over the weekend.

Chicago police work the scene where 5 men were wounded in a shooting in the 4800 block of West Race Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, Sunday, July 25, 2021.

In nonfatal shootings, five men were wounded in an attack early Sunday in Austin on the Northwest Side.

They were gathered in the backyard of a home about 12:30 a.m. in the 4800 block of West Race Avenue when a male suspect entered and opened fire, police said.

The men, 23, 30, 36, 48 and 50, suffered gunshot wounds to the lower body, police said. They were transported to Stroger and Mt. Sinai hospitals, where they were stabilized.

Two people were shot, including a 17-year-old boy, Saturday in the Englewood neighborhood.

The pair were standing in the street about 12:45 a.m. in the 7100 block of South Ada Street when someone inside a black-colored vehicle fired shots, police said.

The teen boy, 17, was struck in the leg and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition, police said. A man, 21, was also shot in the leg and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition.

At least sixty others were wounded in citywide gun violence between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.

Sixty people were shot, 10 fatally, last weekend in Chicago.

72 shot, 11 fatally, this weekend in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 26, 2021 at 12:13 pm Read More »

Jumaane Taylor steps into leadership role for Rhythm WorldKyle MacMillan – For the Sun-Timeson July 26, 2021 at 12:00 pm

Jumaane Taylor is staking his claim as Chicago’s new top tapper.

The 35-year-old dancer, choreographer and teacher has been named artistic director of the 30th-anniversary edition of Rhythm World, the Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s (CHRP) annual festival of all things tap, which this year will feature a dozen teacher-performers and draw 200 or more students and hundreds of tap fans.

Besides being one of the oldest such summer tap festivals in the country, New York Times dance critic Brian Seibert, author of “What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing” and a lecturer at the event, calls it the most “robust.”

Rhythm World

When: July 26-Aug. 15

Where: 7 p.m. July 28, Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park, 600 E. Grand; 7 p.m. Aug. 7, DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56^th Place; 7 p.m. Aug. 14, Edlis Neeson Theater, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago

Tickets: July 28, free; Aug. 7, $30; Aug. 14, $30 and $85

Info: chicagotap.org

Rhythm World, which took place virtually last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will run three weeks — July 26-Aug. 15 — for the first time with weekly mainstage performances and informal jam sessions and a host of workshops and classes.

In selecting festival artists like Ivery Wheeler of Los Angeles and Kaleena Miller of Minneapolis, Taylor said: “I’m thinking about: Who is really putting it down on the floor? Who is really respecting the dance?”

The lifelong Chicagoan is taking over the festival in the tumultuous aftermath of an open letter posted on Facebook in June 2020 to CHRP and its co-founder, Lane Alexander, and signed by Bril Barrett, founder and director of the Chicago-based M.A.D.D. Rhythms tap collective and some 900 other members of the dance community. In that letter, Barrett responded to an email he had received from Alexander and disputed points that he said Alexander made about Black Lives Matter protests.

Taylor sees the whole dustup as an old disagreement over the beginnings of tap turning ugly and personal, and he has received calls from dancers across the country trying to understand what is going on. “It’s like we’re watching a boxing match on pay-per-view,” he said. “It’s tricky but I’m trying to be open-hearted and understanding to it all.”

The origins of tap, a percussive kind of dance commonly performed with metal taps affixed to the heel and toe of the shoe, are debated, but its roots can be traced to such sources as African-American Juba dancing, Irish step dancing and English clog dancing.

In August 2020, Emmanuel Neal was named CHRP’s interim managing director, a change the organization said emerged from a 2019 five-year strategic plan that incorporates a leadership transition. Although Alexander now has the seemingly lesser title of director of institutional advancement, a CHRP spokeswoman confirmed he is still running the company.Taylor said he reports to Alexander.

Jumaane Taylor instructs young students in a tap dance class at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts.

Taylor, who spent most of his childhood in Hyde Park, began taking tap lessons at the Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre, when he was 6 or 7. It has trained some of the best tap dancers from Chicago, like Ted Levy, who has worked closely with Savion Glover and will be honored at the festival.

Why was he drawn to tap vs. another art form? “I wish I knew,” Taylor said. “It’s so magical. My mother wanted to sign me up the year before I actually signed up, and it wasn’t until I saw young dancers doing tap that I became attracted to it. It looked so natural to me.”

He took part in every Chicago tap activity he could find as a youth, including summers at the Rhythm Festival’s festivals, where choreographer/tap dancer Derick K. Grant was able to watch what he called Taylor’s “constant progression.”

One summer around 2005, Grant recalled seeing Taylor perform a solo to Nina Simone’s version of “Love Me or Leave Me Alone,” and said he will never forget it. “The amount of freedom he had as a young person — he was laughing the whole time and reaching for things that I hadn’t even considered,” Grant said. “I just thought this kid is different. He was just so in the music.”

Tap dancer/choreographer Juumane Taylor grew up in Hyde Park and began taking tap lessons at the Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre when he was 6 or 7.

Grant was set to serve as director and choreographer of “Imagine Tap!” and approached Taylor about taking part. The 2006 show at the Harris Theater featured singers as well as 18 tap and breakdancers, all of whom rehearsed in New York.

Taylor said he has had opportunities to move to New York, but has preferred to stay in Chicago, where he has built a career, putting an emphasis, among other things, on a renewed connection between tap and jazz bands.

“That’s a scene,” Seibert said, “that has high standards for musicianship and you can’t fake it. The kind of jazz musicians he is playing with know the real from the fakers, and he’s the real thing.”

In addition to performing, Taylor teaches at Roosevelt University and the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, mentoring young dancers just as he was mentored. The Red Clay Dance Co., an African American ensemble based at 808 E. 63rd., has approached him about leading a weekly tap class in its academy this fall, but up to now he has struggled to build diversity among his students and to generate interest in tap in and around the neighborhood where he grew up.

“That’s definitely is the goal,” he said, “but that’s been more difficult. But hopefully through Red Clay and other entities we can get more of the South Side youth and a more multicultural attendance in tap class.”

Kyle MacMillan is a local freelance writer.

Jumaane Taylor steps into leadership role for Rhythm WorldKyle MacMillan – For the Sun-Timeson July 26, 2021 at 12:00 pm Read More »

Criticize US, but don’t despairon July 26, 2021 at 12:44 pm

Retired in Chicago

Criticize US, but don’t despair

Criticize US, but don’t despairon July 26, 2021 at 12:44 pm Read More »

Massive Oak Brook Mansion Built By Frank Thomas Sells For 4th Timeon July 26, 2021 at 12:21 pm

Getting Real

Massive Oak Brook Mansion Built By Frank Thomas Sells For 4th Time

Massive Oak Brook Mansion Built By Frank Thomas Sells For 4th Timeon July 26, 2021 at 12:21 pm Read More »

Off-duty cop shot at in UptownSun-Times Wireon July 26, 2021 at 11:21 am

An off-duty police officer was shot at Sunday night in Uptown on the North Side.

The officer, 37, was sitting in the passenger seat of a car in the 1200 block of West Ainslie Street when someone outside pointed a handgun at him and fired about 11:30 p.m., Chicago police said.

The officer was not hit and no one else was injured. The gunman ran off and no one was in custody.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating.

Off-duty cop shot at in UptownSun-Times Wireon July 26, 2021 at 11:21 am Read More »

Chicago Cubs: ESPN analyst believes some crazy trades will happenVincent Pariseon July 26, 2021 at 11:00 am

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JULY 24: Kris Bryant #17 of the Chicago Cubs is congratulated by Anthony Rizzo #44 and Javier Baez #9 after Bryant hit a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the third inning at Oracle Park on July 24, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) — SAN FRANCISCO, CA – JULY 24: Kris Bryant #17 of the Chicago Cubs is congratulated by Anthony Rizzo #44 and Javier Baez #9 after Bryant hit a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the third inning at Oracle Park on July 24, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The Chicago White Sox were on Sunday Night Baseball this week against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was a fantastic night for the Southsiders as they won the baseball game over the Brewers with some big things ahead down the stretch. However, late in the game, one of the game’s announcers made some comments that might interest Chicago Cubs fans. We all know that they are going to be sellers at the trade deadline but the question is about how far they take it.

Buster Olney is well connected in Major League Baseball. He is the announcer that brought up what some teams across the league might do before Friday’s trade deadline. The first thing that he mentioned is that the Boston Red Sox is the team that he believes lands Anthony Rizzo. He followed that up by naming Kris Bryant and Javier Baez as potential targets for the New York Mets.

First, we can start with Rizzo. He is one of the players that is believed to be someone the Cubs want long-term. There are rumors that the Cubs are going to try really hard to get it done before the deadline. However, if they don’t figure anything out, they would be smart to part ways with him instead of losing him for nothing. The Boston Red Sox, as Olney suggests, would be a perfect fit as they could really use an upgrade at first base.

Kris Bryant and Javier Baez being connected to the Mets is very interesting. They are each in different types of rumors as well. Baez is one of the players that, like Rizzo, the Cubs want to get extended before the deadline. Kris Bryant is as good as gone in the eyes of most people. If neither of them is extended by the looming deadline, they should really move them both.

ESPN announcer Buster Olney believes that Anthony Rizzo will end up on the Boston Red Sox. He also mentions Kris Bryant and Javier Baez as potential New York Mets.

— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) July 26, 2021

The Chicago Cubs might have some big changes coming to their organization.

The Chicago Cubs are going to look very different after next weekend is over. Some of the players that helped deliver a World Series championship for the first time in 108 years are going to be gone. The way things have gone over the last three years has been sad for Cubs fans but that is what happens when you don’t hit or pitch well at different times.

Some people might not like it but rebuilding would be the best thing possible for the Cubs. If they can get anything of value for the stars on expiring contracts, they would be off to a good start as they look towards the future. We will see if any of Buster’s predictions come true this week.

Chicago Cubs: ESPN analyst believes some crazy trades will happenVincent Pariseon July 26, 2021 at 11:00 am Read More »

PBS doc traces how Chicago changed Buddy Guy, and how Buddy Guy changed the worldRichard Roeperon July 26, 2021 at 10:30 am

In 1957, Buddy Guy was broker than broke and had gone three days without eating when he wandered into the 708 Club on 47^th Street and joined a jam session, even though he was so weak he could barely stand. As Guy tells the story in the PBS “American Masters” documentary “Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away,” somebody called Muddy Waters, who lived just a few blocks away.

An “American Masters” documentary premiering at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WTTW-Channel 11 and available on the PBS Video app.

Guy stepped outside, “and there was this red station wagon and out steps Muddy … saying, ‘I heard you were hungry.’ ” Waters gave Guy a salami sandwich, they went back inside, and Guy picked up his guitar — and from that point forward, Buddy Guy discarded the notion of calling his father for a train ticket back to Louisiana and decided he would stay in Chicago and would grind it out for days, weeks, months, years, whatever it would take.

Just as long as he could play the blues.

Versions of the salami-sandwich story have been told for years, and the life and times of Buddy Guy have been chronicled up and down and this way and that for decades (including in Guy’s memoir, “When I Left Home: My Story”), but this latest edition in the terrific “American Masters” catalog serves as a reminder of the incredible impact the 84-year-old Guy has had on modern American music since the middle of the last century, and how he was born and raised in Louisiana and never forgot his roots — but became married to the blues in Chicago.

“The Blues Chase Away the Blues” takes us back to Guy’s upbringing in Lettsworth, Louisiana, with beautifully rendered illustrations augmenting his recollections of falling in love with music and the joy he felt when his father bought him a guitar with just two strings on it for a couple of bucks. In high school, Guy would play his guitar at the gas station where he worked for the entertainment of customers, but when he was hired to play a local club, he was too shy to sing to a crowd and was fired. Still, he had come to love the blues — and in 1957, when a friend told him he should go to Chicago because the city was teeming with joints where you could hear the blues for free, Guy took the train to Chicago and began soaking up the local music scene.

The rest, eventually, became history, but there were many years when Guy was working days as a tow truck driver and playing in the clubs at night for little or no money. Guy hooked up with the legendary Chess Records, but brothers Phil and Leonard Chess wanted Guy to tone down his louder-than-loud sound and be more of a session player than a front man. But when Buddy Guy played live, his freewheeling style killed. He’d play with his teeth, he’d hit the guitar with a drumstick, he’d walk into the crowd or even outside and onto the sidewalk while still playing. John Mayer calls Guy “a sonic tsunami,” while Carlos Santana says he was “like a tornado or a hurricane.”

Buddy Guys tells stories from his colorful, influential life in the “American Masters” documentary “The Blues Chase the Blues Away.”

“The Blues Chase the Blues Away” weaves in archival footage with vignettes titled “The Blues According to …” with the aforementioned Santana and Mayer, as well as Willie Dixon, Kingfish and Eric Clapton offering their own unique definitions of the meaning of the blues. We follow Guy’s career through its many ups and downs, as he’d go years without a record contract but then would be playing with the Rolling Stones and Stevie Ray Vaughan, raking in Grammys and even playing the White House at Barack Obama’s request. It’s a great American story of a great American life, and “The Blues Chase the Blues Away” does that story justice.

PBS doc traces how Chicago changed Buddy Guy, and how Buddy Guy changed the worldRichard Roeperon July 26, 2021 at 10:30 am Read More »

Man shot while driving in BronzevilleMohammad Samraon July 26, 2021 at 6:28 am

A man was driving Sunday night when he was shot in Bronzeville on the South Side.

The victim, 29, was driving about 11:45 p.m. in the 200 block of West 47th Street when someone opened fire, striking him in the neck and back, Chicago police said.

The man lost control of his car and jumped a curb where he came to a complete stop, police said.

He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said. His name was not yet released.

No one is in custody. Area One detectives are investigating.

About an hour earlier, a Chicago police officer shot a person in the leg in the 4500 block of South Drexel Avenue.

Details of what led up to the shooting weren’t immediately available. A gun was reportedly recovered at the scene.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) said in a tweet it’s investigating the incident. Anyone with information related to the incident is encouraged to call (312) 746-3609 or visit chicagocopa.org.

Man shot while driving in BronzevilleMohammad Samraon July 26, 2021 at 6:28 am Read More »