Chicago Craft Beer Weekend, March 26-28on March 25, 2021 at 4:59 am

The Beeronaut

Chicago Craft Beer Weekend, March 26-28

Chicago Craft Beer Weekend, March 26-28on March 25, 2021 at 4:59 am Read More »

Are Bradley, Illinois voters getting the truth in the mayoral race?on March 25, 2021 at 4:47 am

Politics Now

Are Bradley, Illinois voters getting the truth in the mayoral race?

Are Bradley, Illinois voters getting the truth in the mayoral race?on March 25, 2021 at 4:47 am Read More »

Bulls continue stumbling, but front office remains patient at deadlineon March 25, 2021 at 3:04 am

It’s a mindset that started last season for Zach LaVine.

It was then that the Bulls guard admitted he would like to be part of an organization that valued his opinion on roster decisions and thought enough about him to at least keep him in the loop.

A year later and an All-Star Game now on the resume, LaVine’s stance hasn’t changed much. If the Bulls are planning to make a move before Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline, LaVine would appreciate an opinion. He’s definitely not going to be the one to go and tell executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas how to do his job, but a heads up would be nice.

“It’s just not who I am,” LaVine said Wednesday. “I don’t know if that will change or not in the future. But just who I am, I try to let my play speak on the court. Obviously if somebody comes up to me, I’ll be very honest and give my opinion. But I’m not going to go out of my way and try to tell somebody how to do their job. That’s just not in my nature.

“If something happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it wasn’t meant to be.”

If the 103-94 embarrassing loss to Cleveland at the United Center was any indication of the direction the Bulls should be leaning, the front office might want to flip the switch to sell mode. However, very little was happening as of late Wednesday night.

Rumors surrounding the Bulls were of course hovering. There remained interest in New Orleans point guard Lonzo Ball – an interest that began when Ball was still a Laker, as reported by the Sun-Times. There was still hope of possibly ridding themselves of the remainder of Otto Porter’s contract. Lauri Markkanen and Tomas Satoransky were in play as trade chips as well.

But as far as substantial heated talks? Not yet.

One NBA executive reiterated to the Sun-Times that Karnisovas might be one of the more difficult VPs to read, which could be a strength that benefits the Bulls as the deadline ticks down. Either way, there was nothing imminent in an obviously fluid situation.

Enough so that coach Billy Donovan couldn’t even say if the 19-24 Bulls would be sellers or buyers.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t say we’ve identified it either way, buyers or sellers, as much as we’ve identified as, you know, we’re looking just to constantly try to improve the team,” Donovan said. “And I think in saying that it’s something where we’ve gotta be patient and be in for the long-haul, so to speak. And I think the decisions that Arturas and [general manager] Marc [Eversley] will make will be decisions that are not gonna be just immediate decisions for this year, but how does it impact us long-term?

“It’s good cause obviously you’re dealing with guys’ contracts, what does a guy’s contract look like? How many years does he have left? Would he be willing to re-sign? … I think all those things Arturas will definitely evaluate. But I think any decision that is gonna be made would not be so short-sighted that it would just be focused on the next two months, but how does it impact the organization going forward, I would say would be the best way to look at it.”

What wouldn’t happen is Karnisovas being reactionary based on one poor performance against the Cavs. And poor it was. Another 15 turnovers, too many fouls, and a poor shooting night from outside (8-for-28 from three-point range).

“I think [Karnisovas is] probably going to look at the season in its totality of the 40-plus games we’ve played,” Donovan said after the second-straight loss. “I wouldn’t anticipate this game is all of a sudden going to trigger some kind of reaction.”

Bulls continue stumbling, but front office remains patient at deadlineon March 25, 2021 at 3:04 am Read More »

Cubs will have fourth minor-league option on right-hander Adbert Alzolayon March 25, 2021 at 2:30 am

PEORIA, Ariz. – Right-hander Adbert Alzolay will have a fourth minor-league option in 2021 after an arbiter ruled in the Cubs favor this week. Alzolay has been competing with right-hander Alec Mills for the fifth-starter job this spring.

While the Cubs were going to have to monitor Alzolay’s innings regardless of the decision, the additional option year would allow the team to start him at the alternate site in South Bend and option him to Triple-A during the season without having to put him on waivers.

Alzolay’s option decision may now open another potential roster spot should Alzolay not break camp with the team. Non-roster invitee Shelby Miller, who has had a strong spring, may now have an even better case to make the team.

Manager David Ross has held firm this spring that players who deserve to be on the big league roster will be on the Major League roster, but for a young player like Alzolay who has had a taste of success in the big leagues, he’s not thinking of being anywhere except Chicago.

“‘We love to compete,” Alzolay said earlier this spring. ”So I feel like everyone is doing their part to go and compete for that spot, and then it’s just up to the organization what they want to do. But my personal opinion, yes, I feel ready to be a starter.”

“I remember sending him down last year and he was like, ‘What are you talking about?,’ Ross said. “He believes in himself, which you want every player to believe in themselves and that’s a great thing. … I think that speaks to how these competitors’ mindset work. They feel like they belong. He’s had success and has built on that and is growing. So I’m glad he believes he belongs on the team. I believe he’s going to be a really good Major League pitcher.

Romine slowly progressing, Opening Day in doubt

With each passing day, it appears more likely that catcher Austin Romine won’t be ready in time for Opening Day. Romine has been sidelined with a right knee sprain and hasn’t played in a game since March 6. The Cubs’ catcher signed a one-year deal in the offseason to be Willson Contreras’ primary backup.

Romine has been doing some light baseball activities, but has yet to begin agility work, running the bases or on-field hitting. The Cubs are pleased with the work done by catcher PJ Higgins this spring both with his ability to call games and his versatility. Higgins would be next in line if Romine is unable to start the regular season.

“It’s still slow,” Ross said. “It’s getting better every day. The reports [are that] he feels better. I think there’s still some hesitancy on rotating on that knee and swinging. But he is throwing, he’s in the weight room I think he’s able to do a few things, but the last thing you want is that swelling to come back in there and so the trainers have a plan with him.”

Cubs minor leaguer tests positive for COVID-19

A Cubs minor league player tested positive for COVID-19, Ross announced on Wednesday. According to the Cubs’ manager, all players and staff tested negative for coronavirus. Players in Minor League camp have been separated from the players in Major League Camp this spring as part of MLB’s health and safety protocols.

Earlier this month, reliever Pedro Strop was forced to be away from the team after breaking COVID protocols by eating inside a restaurant.

Cubs will have fourth minor-league option on right-hander Adbert Alzolayon March 25, 2021 at 2:30 am Read More »

Call of the wild: Great outdoors is great escape in pandemicon March 25, 2021 at 1:47 am

Call of the wild: Great outdoors is great escape in pandemic

For those venturing off the beaten path, be advised — it’s a little crowded out there.

By nature’s standards, anyway, as the great outdoors has become the great escape.

Hiking trails, parks and other open spaces were packed in 2020 with a cooped-up population searching for fresh air during the coronavirus pandemic. Locked down, shut in or just fearful of crowds, people took up hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, camping, tennis and golf — to name several — in significant numbers.

“It’s both heartening and a little bit mind-blowing to think how things are going this year,” said Richard Hodges, the Nordic director at White Pine Touring in Park City, Utah. “It’s been really fun — a lot of work, but really fun. All we’re doing is trying to get people outside to go play in the snow.”

Outdoor enthusiasts are certainly stepping outside to play in whatever environment — when pandemic restrictions permit it, of course, and in accordance with stay-at-home guidelines. But the numbers illustrate that many are heeding the call to the wild:

— 8.1 million more Americans went hiking in 2020 compared to ’19, according to a report from the Outdoor Foundation, the philanthropic wing of the Outdoor Industry Association.

— 7.9 million more went camping last year.

— 3.4 million more participated in freshwater fishing.

The foundation’s research also reflected a decline in inactivity for most age groups and across all income levels. There was a 52.9% surge in outdoor participation, an increase from 50.5% in 2018 and 50.7% in 2019.

The upward trend in hiking doesn’t come as a surprise to Sandra Marra, the president and CEO of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

From nearly day one of the pandemic, a myriad of hikers have been trekking along the Appalachian Trail, which encompasses about 2,200 miles (3,540.6 kilometers), traverses through 14 states and sees about 3 million-plus visitors a year.

Word of caution before going: Check the weather reports and dress accordingly. And don’t park on someone’s property, even if the trailhead lots are full.

“What’s happened is a whole bunch of people that never really recreated outdoors like this, suddenly discovered the fact there are these easily accessible trails not that far from their backyard,” Marra explained. “That’s wonderful. But we’re finding a lot of people are out there not prepared for just how rugged this trail is. It’s not a walk on the bike trail in the middle of the city.”

Daily walks — “constitutionals” in another era, perhaps — are on a rapid rise, too. No numbers needed to reflect that — just meander down any block or street in any city or any country.

In New York City, when the weather is good, people are out in droves — conjuring images of Edith Wharton characters strolling the promenade. It just so happens there is an Edith Wharton Walking Tour in New York. For now, it’s limited to an online stroll through the Gilded Age.

Golf remains on the upswing, too, according to an engagement study by the National Golf Foundation. There were almost 502 million rounds, which was the most since 2006 and the biggest yearly increase since 1997 — the season Tiger Woods captured his first major championship. The number of active, on-course golfers in the U.S. grew by half a million in 2020, the study found, up to 24.8 million.

The sport also grew by double digits around the world. Golf Australia said participation has increased by up to 15% since the lockdowns went into effect, with golf memberships up by 30% in the 24 to 39 age group.

Already popular in Sweden, the number of rounds increased a whopping 42%. And the first 18-hole course open to the public in Spain, Golf Olivar de la Hinojosa, saw an increase of 30% in the number of rounds played. Gregorio Gonzalez-Irun Velasco, the general director of a company that oversees Golf Olivar and another golf course in the Madrid community, said golf schools and driving ranges have been operating near capacity for some time.

Tennis courts were popular as well with nearly three million first-time players, according to data cited by the United States Tennis Association through the Physical Activity Council’s Participation report. In all, more than 21.6 million Americans took the courts in 2020.

“It’s evident that many people recognize tennis as the ideal social-distancing sport,” USTA CEO Mike Dowse said in a story on the tennis association’s website.

Tennis is not alone. Hiking, anyone?

“This is the new future for us. The new reality,” Marra said. “There’s huge opportunity to build a whole new generation of land stewards.”

AP Sports Writers Dennis Passa, Steve Douglas, Samuel Petrequin and James Ellingworth contributed to this report.

Call of the wild: Great outdoors is great escape in pandemicon March 25, 2021 at 1:47 am Read More »

Grocery store worker narrowly escaped gunman’s noticeon March 24, 2021 at 10:51 pm

BOULDER, Colo. — An employee of the Colorado supermarket where a gunman killed 10 people watched as the assailant opened fire and narrowly escaped his notice while joining with other bystanders in a desperate scramble to get away.

Emily Giffen, 27, was smoking outside the store Monday during a break when she heard multiple loud pops that she knew were not fireworks. She said she saw a man running across an intersection suddenly fall over and another man approach him in a crouch and fire several rounds at close range.

“I don’t know how he didn’t see us,” she said of the suspect, who walked right by her before she ran into the King Soopers store and out the back. Newly fallen snow made people trip and slip as they tried to escape, she said, showing a large bruise on her arm that she said happened when someone stepped on her.

“I just really am having a hard time understanding why me and my friends deserve to die,” she said, wondering why the gunman chose to target the Boulder store specifically. “It doesn’t seem personal, so I don’t quite get why we pulled that lottery ticket.”

Giffen made the comments Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press as families mourned the dead and multiple law enforcement agencies pressed ahead with what they said would be a monthslong investigation. They revealed no new details but said a statement would be issued later in the day.

The 21-year-old suspect, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was in jail and scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday on murder charges. No lawyer was listed for Alissa in court records.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people paid their respects at a growing makeshift memorial near the supermarket, adorning it with wreaths, candles, banners reading “#Boulderstrong” and 10 crosses with blue hearts and the victims’ names.

Several community vigils were planned to honor the victims. The Boulder Police Department invited the public to show support for Officer Eric Talley, who was killed, by witnessing a police procession Wednesday as his body was taken from the coroner’s office to a funeral home in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

Red and blue lights flashed along a parkway as dozens of officers from Boulder and neighboring departments stood at attention. When the hearse passed, the officers saluted as one shouted, “Attention!” One person held an American flag.

Talley, 51, was the first officer to arrive at the scene. He had seven children, ages 7 to 20.

The other victims were Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jodi Waters, 65.

Olds, Leiker and Stong worked at the supermarket.

Kim Cordova, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents more than 30 store employees, said they did their best to get customers to safety.

“They grabbed everybody they could, and they brought them to the backroom or to other areas of the store to hide, or got them out through the back dock,” Cordova said.

On Facebook posts and in an interview, Giffen said her friends deserved better, not to die at work while doing their jobs.

“This guy, he went hunting in a barrel full of fish. Nobody was prepared to fight back. No one was even prepared to hide,” she said. “It’s just the fear like, where do you, where do I ever feel safe?”

Giffen, who said she has worked at the King Soopers for three years, described a close-knit community where she chats with customers and remembers their bagel orders from when she worked at a nearby bagel place.

On the neighborhood-based social media app Nextdoor, Giffen watched as people asked about her co-workers by name, listing them one by one to find out if they were all right.

“It was so beautiful to see all of these people who live right here with me actually acknowledge individual people’s names,” she said. “They don’t just know us as their employees. We’re a part of their community.”

The attack was the nation’s deadliest mass shooting since a 2019 assault on a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 22 people. It was also the seventh mass killing this year in the U.S., following the March 16 shooting that left eight people dead at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, according to a database compiled by the AP, USA Today and Northeastern University.

It follows a lull in mass killings last year during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Colorado suspect bought a Ruger AR-556 pistol — which resembles an AR-15 rifle with a slightly shorter stock — on March 16, six days before the attack, according to an arrest affidavit.

Authorities have not disclosed where the gun was purchased.

According to two law enforcement officials, Alissa was born in Syria in 1999, emigrated to the U.S. as a toddler and later became a U.S. citizen. He would need to be a citizen to buy a gun. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

An AR-15-style gun was recovered inside the supermarket and was believed to have been used in the attack, said a law enforcement official briefed on the shooting who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The law enforcement official said the suspect’s family told investigators that he had delusions and that they believed he had some type of mental illness. The relatives described times when Alissa told them people were following or chasing him, which they said may have contributed to the violence, the official said.

___

Beaty reported from New York. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long in Washington, Jim Anderson in Denver and AP staff members from around the U.S. contributed to this report. Nieberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Grocery store worker narrowly escaped gunman’s noticeon March 24, 2021 at 10:51 pm Read More »

Guilty pleas, sentencings begin in feds’ summer rioting cases, but investigations still ongoingon March 24, 2021 at 11:26 pm

Ten months after historic unrest and looting swept across Chicago’s downtown and into its neighborhoods, a judge on Wednesday handed down what appears to be the first federal prison sentence to stem from what a defense attorney called “difficult times” in the city.

Though D Angelo D. Chester, 32, was not accused of participating in the violence or property damage that began May 30, he is among a handful of defendants whose cases feature some connection to the unrest and are now working their way through the federal court system.

Federal authorities say investigations into the rioting continue. This month prosecutors leveled a rarely filed charge against James Massey, of Chicago, accusing him of using a facility of interstate commerce to incite a riot during the unrest in August. They also last month charged three people with setting fire to a CTA van on May 30.

A Chicago man has been arrested and charged in federal court with inciting a riot last August in Chicago.

Meanwhile, a recently unsealed search warrant affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows how federal authorities tried to identify two people involved in setting fire to a cosmetics store on the South Side through cellphone data.

Prosecutors accused Chester of running from Chicago police officers who spotted him at 78th Street and South Kingston Avenue at 9:24 p.m. on June 3 — 24 minutes after the 9 p.m. curfew Mayor Lori Lightfoot set as a result of the rioting. During the chase, the officers said they saw Chester reach into his waistband and throw away what turned out to be a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

Chester’s criminal history includes state-court convictions for gun crimes in 2015 and 2017, court records show. Federal prosecutors also said that, six weeks before Chester’s latest arrest, he had been given three years of probation in an aggravated sexual abuse case that involved a “brutal sexual crime against an 8-year-old child.”

Chester pleaded guilty in December to being a felon in possession of a firearm. And in an in-person hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Blakey gave Chester more than three years in prison, finding that the risk of Chester committing another crime is significant.

Defense attorney Ralph Schindler Jr. briefly mentioned last summer’s unrest when he noted that Chester’s crime occurred “shortly after the Chicago riots” and amid the “difficult times in Chicago back then.”

A handful of guilty pleas are also set to occur in the coming weeks in other riot-related cases. Brandon Pegues, who is accused of fleeing police only to fall and drop a gun he was not allowed to have May 31 in the 800 block of South Financial Place, is set to plead guilty Thursday. Gustavo Luna-Barrios, accused of trying to flee police after leaving a looted auto parts store only to be caught illegally with a gun June 1, is set to plead guilty Tuesday.

In one of the more high-profile cases related to the Chicago rioting, Matthew Rupert, of Galesburg, also has a change-of-plea hearing set in federal court in Minnesota for April 7. Rupert allegedly traveled to Minneapolis, and then to Chicago, to loot and riot. He was arrested here May 31.

Not every case is necessarily on track for a guilty plea, though. Defense attorney Amanda Penabad on Tuesday filed a motion challenging the case against Adam Walton. Prosecutors said police saw Walton leave a looted Old Navy in Marshfield Plaza and flee early on June 1. When he returned for his vehicle, they said he told officers there was a gun in the car, even though he has multiple previous convictions, records show. An officer wrote in a police report that he saw the gun in the vehicle’s center cup holder.

Penabad said the officer later clarified that he only saw the gun after he moved a large pile of merchandise out of the way, meaning it was not in plain view. She also said Walton denied that he told officers about the gun, and “without that statement, the officers had no probable cause to believe a weapon was in the vehicle.”

Other suspects are still at large. Among them are two people who authorities say were involved in the arson of an Ulta Beauty cosmetics store in the 4100 block of South Pulaski Road on May 31. In a recently unsealed search warrant affidavit filed last August, an ATF special agent noted that a neighboring Carter’s store had an open wifi router that might have connected to the cellphone of a suspect in the Ulta.

The feds hoped to search data held by Google generated by devices in a geographical area around the Ulta store during 10-minute and 12-minute time periods during which surveillance footage put the suspects in the store.

ATF spokeswoman Kimberly Nerheim said Wednesday the suspects have not been charged and the investigation is ongoing.

Guilty pleas, sentencings begin in feds’ summer rioting cases, but investigations still ongoingon March 24, 2021 at 11:26 pm Read More »

NHL referee Tim Peel’s firing ignites discussion over biases in NHL officiatingon March 24, 2021 at 11:03 pm

As a frequent distributor of crushing hits, Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov is no stranger to interacting with NHL referees.

And while Zadorov realizes he inevitably does “sometimes…cross the line” and deserve some of the penalties he receives, there are plenty of other occasions where he disagrees with those all-too-familiar refs’ decisions.

“I can say a lot [about NHL officiating], but I don’t want to get fined,” he said Wednesday. “It’s been ups and downs this year. Some games it was good, some games it was bad. It depends what referees you get.”

As of a few hours before, one referee — Tim Peel — was no longer on that list.

The NHL fired Peel after he was caught on a hot mic while officiating Tuesday’s Predators-Red Wings game. Minutes after calling a phantom tripping penalty on Preds forward Victor Arvidsson early in the second period, Peel was heard saying, “It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty against Nashville early in the…” before the mic cut out.

“There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention,” NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said in a statement.

Peel has long held a reputation as one of the league’s worst referees, so much so that Yahoo Sports ran a regular column in 2013 and 2014 listing his routine gaffes. His admission of premeditated officiating Tuesday was simply the final straw for his career.

Nonetheless, Peel is just one of 43 referees the NHL has used this year. The Hawks, for example, had only encountered him twice (Feb. 2 and 4 against the Hurricanes) in their 33 games. So his removal from the circuit is unlikely to significantly change officiating league-wide.

It would take a far more comprehensive effort by the league to change how the other 42 referees conduct their business. But that would first require acknowledgement that certain Peel-like biases exist within the other 42.

Data indicates they do. NHL referees generally balance, whether consciously or subconsciously, the number of penalties they call on both teams in a game, regardless of those teams’ behaviors.

Over the past three seasons, the correlation between each team’s penalties taken and penalties drawn each year is a staggering 0.67. This season, it’s 0.66. That means undisciplined teams — or at least teams frequently called for penalties — also get a lot of penalties called on their opponents, and vice versa.

Put another way, the 10 most disciplined teams in the league this year — which includes the Hawks — have taken 3.01 penalties per game, but referees have called only 3.24 penalties on their opponents. The 10 least disciplined teams have averaged 3.95 penalties per game, but referees have called 3.75 on their opponents.

“You’ve got to call the game,” Preds forward Matt Duchene said on a Nashville radio show Wednesday. “I’ve always been frustrated when I see even-up calls or stuff like that. If one team is earning power plays, you can’t punish them because the other team is not.

“I hope that’s not something that goes on with more officials [than Peel], but there’s definitely nights when you’re skeptical of it.”

Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton declined to comment Wednesday on the Peel controversy. But just three weeks ago, Colliton offhandedly pointed out another frequent bias in officiating — favoring veterans over rookies — after a Brandon Hagel hooking infraction jumpstarted the Lightning’s comeback over the Hawks on March 7.

“We’d love to not take a penalty there,” Colliton said then. “Someone else probably doesn’t get called on that one. These young guys don’t typically get the benefit of the doubt in those situations.”

Similar discussions about artificially balanced penalty totals, player-over-player preferences and other referee biases occurred all around the hockey world Wednesday.

Whether or not those discussions ultimately lead to changes, Peel’s shock-factor comment stirred a pot that clearly needed stirring.

NHL referee Tim Peel’s firing ignites discussion over biases in NHL officiatingon March 24, 2021 at 11:03 pm Read More »

The Mix: ‘Window Plays,’ MLK concert and more cool things to do in Chicago March 25-31on March 24, 2021 at 10:00 pm

That drama in the window

For a new definition of “storefront theater,” check out “Window Plays,” presented by the performance art company Stop Motion Plant. The free live theater event features work by nine artists performed behind storefront windows in the Andersonville neighborhood with audiences strolling from play to play. The two- to five-minute plays are performed on a loop for 90 minutes. Mask-wearing and social distancing will be required. “Window Plays” is presented with staggered start times beginning at 7 p.m. March 26-27 and April 2-3. For reservations and more information, visit tinyurl.com/windowplaystickets.

Complex celebrations

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s season continues with the world premiere of “In Any Event,” a new work by choreographer and former HSDC dancer Penny Saunders. Created during a time when gathering for events was curtailed, the 30-minute filmed piece explores the complex interpersonal dynamics inherent in celebrations such as birthdays, wedding, funerals and more. “With intermingling storylines and layered histories, these gatherings can be intense and complex collisions of viewpoint, rather than the easy celebrations that they appear to be,” says Saunders. The film streams at 7:30 p.m. March 25 and 27 and 2 p.m. March 28. Each performance is followed by live, interactive conversations with Saunders and members of the creative team. Visit hubbardstreetdance.com.

Patio tunes

Last summer (and into the fall), FitzGerald’s kept the music going on its pleasantly cool and socially distanced outdoor patio, now set to reopen on March 31. Talent buyer Donnie Biggins has loaded the spring with a stellar lineup of local artists and even a few touring acts. First up at 7 p.m. March 31 is a club favorite: the pop sounds of Expo ’76. Also in the coming weeks are Mariachi Sirenas and Comparza (April 1), Toronzo Cannon & the Chicago Way (April 3), The Lawrence Peters Outfit (April 4), Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials (April 6) and much more. Admission is free for all shows. For more information, visit fitzgeraldsnightclub.com.

Meditative moment

The University of Chicago and Japan Society present an evening of Buddhist ritual chanting with “Shomyo no Kai — Voices of a Thousand Years.” The two-dozen monks of Shomyo no Kai were to have performed in the Rockefeller Chapel but due to Covid-19 will now perform in the An’yo-in Temple, one of the oldest temples in Tokyo. The monks perform traditional shomyo, one of the earliest forms of vocal music, along with a new work, “Moonlight Mantra (Tsuki no Kogon)” by Japanese composer Yu Kuwabara. The concert streams at 7 p.m. March 30 followed by an artist Q&A; available on demand to April 30. Tickets: $15. An online workshop with the monks ($5) takes place at 7:30 p.m. April 8. Visit tickets.uchicago.edu.

Marching forward

The Chicago Sinfonietta’s annual MLK Tribute Concert features works by African American composers celebrating the advancement being made in the march for diversity, equity and inclusion. Among the works are Joel Thompson’s “breathe/burn: an elegy,” which features as soloist cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing; Jeff Scott’s “Sinfonietta of Dreams,” a piece inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and William Grant Still’s orchestral arrangement of Florence Price’s joyful “Dances in the Canebrakes.” Streams at 3 p.m. March 28. Tickets: $45. Visit chicagosinfonietta.org.

Live from the Ryman

Brandi Carlile performs at the March 14 Grammys.

Brandi Carlile hasn’t performed a full band concert since before the pandemic but it’s no doubt she’ll be in fine form when she performs a livestreamed concert from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium at 7 p.m. March 28. She’ll perform favorites from her own songbook and just might dig into her friend John Prine’s catalog. Recently during the Grammy Awards’ “in memoriam” segment, Carlile saluted Prine with a touching acoustic version of “I Remember Everything,” the title song from his final album. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Rainey Day Fund and Fanny’s School of Music with the remainder supporting Carlile’s band and crew. Tickets: $25 concert only, $48 concert and a copy of Carlile’s memoir “Broken Horses” due out April 6. Visit brandicarlile.veeps.com.

Virtual stage

Steppenwolf Theatre’s new play development initiative, SCOUT, presents a free reading of Omer Abbas Salem’s comedy “Mosque4Mosque,” directed by Arti Ishak. Streams at 2 p.m. March 28. Visit steppenwolf.org. … Metropolis Performing Arts Centre’s “On the Air” features theatrical productions of spine-tingling classic radio plays. Streams March 27-April 4. Tickets: $20. Visit metropolisarts.com. … BoHo Theatre presents a reading of Amy Berryman’s “The New Galileos.” Streams at 7:30 p.m. March 24. Tickets: $5. Visit bohotheatre.com. … The Off Broadway hit “Dixie’s Tupperware Party” raises funds for Season of Concern Chicago with streaming shows through March 28. Tickets: $35. Visit dixie-chicago.streamallytix.com. … American Blues Theater presents a reading of Shannon Prichard’s “Sanctuary City” at 7 p.m. March 26. Tickets: pay-what-you-can. Visit americanbluestheater.com.

Mary Houlihan is a Chicago freelance writer.

The Mix: ‘Window Plays,’ MLK concert and more cool things to do in Chicago March 25-31on March 24, 2021 at 10:00 pm Read More »

‘Light switch’ flipped when Carlos Rodon was non-tendered: ‘It was a wakeup call’on March 24, 2021 at 10:39 pm

GLENDALE, Ariz. — His mechanics have been fixed, his arm feels healthy and he is mowing down hitters in Cactus League games and making it look easy.

Oh, to being on the other side of a long and arduous journey.

It’s early, and not even left-hander Carlos Rodon knows how long he’ll sustain this – he has pitched nine scoreless innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts and four hits allowed this spring – but he’s looking more like the pitcher drafted third overall in 2014 than the one who labored in two starts and two relief appearances battling shoulder soreness last season before getting non-tendered when it was over.

“Tommy John surgery [in May, 2019 for Rodon] is a long road,” Rodon said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “I’m not trying to be traumatic about it because a lot of people in this game have Tommy John surgery. But there were days when I thought, “Am I ever going to throw again? When you can get on a mound and do what you do again, it’s emotional, right? Because it’s a major surgery and all you know is baseball. You live and breathe baseball. And when the game is taken away from you for a year, it’s hard.”

So was being non-tendered by the Sox. It sent off an alarm in Rodon’s head and “motivated” him.

“It was a wakeup call,” he said.

He responded at home by eating better and working out two hours a day.

“Nutrition has a lot to do with your body,” said the thick-bodied Rodon, who didn’t shed much weight but looks thinner in his face and is more toned. “You’re not going to put cheap gas in a sports car. You’re going to use premium.”

Rodon praises wife Ashley’s contribution to a better diet. It helped that the coronavirus forced them to eat out less.

“When everything went down I saw a light switch flip for him,” Ashley said, recalling when Rodon was non-tendered on Dec. 2. “And he was so determined.

“When he got non-tendered we were so rigid with [eating better] and he was so great about it, and it’s kind of crazy what a difference it made with how he felt, and his energy. And you can see how good he looks. He is in phenomenal shape.”

And looking better throwing in a healthier downward direction toward the plate under the watch of first-year pitching coach Ethan Katz.

“My direction to home plate hasn’t been good in a while,” said Rodon, who is keeping his back foot, not his toe, grounded on the rubber. When he drove off his left toe he landed on the right big toe of his other foot and that led to throwing across his body.

Core velocity belt drills “reinforces you to stay in that back leg grounded,” keeps him square and cleans up his lower half, Rodon said.

“Helps with a lot of things,” Rodon said. “Command for sure, more consistent and repeatable delivery.”

And less stress on the arm.

“My body feels good and that’s a true statement,” Rodon said.

After the non-tender, the Sox came back with a one-year, $3 million offer for their 2019 Opening Day starter to return. He considered a change of scenery with another team but accepted.

“I’m not going to lie, yeah I thought that could be good,” he said. “But it’s hard to leave a team, being a part of the rebuild and part of this group so long when things are great, you know?”

How many innings and starts will he contribute in 2020 to a team with deep postseason goals? Rodon has made 41 starts over the last four seasons.

“Good question,” Rodon said. “As many as I can give. What will keep me healthy for the next several years, I’m not sure, what an innings limit would look like.”

His only thought right now is his next start against the Brewers Friday.

The first three outings “were confidence builders.”

“I know these games don’t count,” Rodon said, “but you’re still pitching against an opposing team. It builds confidence going into the season. I’m very optimistic.”

‘Light switch’ flipped when Carlos Rodon was non-tendered: ‘It was a wakeup call’on March 24, 2021 at 10:39 pm Read More »

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