What’s New

The NBA’s two biggest offseason questions — the futures of Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell — have been answered.

But while the Brooklyn Nets seem on track to run it back with their current core intact, the drama at Barclays Center is far from over.

Will the Durant-Nets partnership survive the rest of the season after such a public airing of grievances this summer? Will Ben Simmons, who still has yet to debut for his new team since being traded to Brooklyn before the February trade deadline, make an immediate impact?

The Nets, just like last season, will surely keep making headlines. So will the Los Angeles Lakers, who welcome a new fiery point guard into the mix. Can Russell Westbrook, buried in trade rumors all summer, now coexist with Patrick Beverley in the same backcourt?

Our NBA Insiders are examining the questions they want to see answered throughout training camp and the start of the 2022-23 season, including what lies ahead for the defending champions’ youngsters, key players returning from injury for the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls and MVP contenders who played big minutes at EuroBasket.

KD? Kyrie? Simmons? Will all be well in Brooklyn?

Where it stands:

Kevin Durant: Rescinded his trade request on Aug. 24.

Kyrie Irving: Opted into the fourth year of his contract on June 27.

Ben Simmons: Has not played since the 76ers’ Game 7 loss in the 2021 East semifinals.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the Nets have a few questions hovering over them heading into the season.

Durant remains in the fold — for now — and Brooklyn is confident its offseason drama can give way to winning basketball. The organization has revolved around Durant since the moment he signed three years ago, but it’s unclear whether the relationship will survive the entirety of the season, let alone the four years remaining on his deal.

We have heard next to nothing this summer about Simmons, who will have been out for 16 months when the Nets begin their season in Brooklyn against the New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 19.

The Nets announced in May that Simmons had successful microdiscectomy surgery, shortly after the Nets’ suffered a first-round sweep against the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. Brooklyn expects Simmons to “make a full recovery prior to the start of training camp.”

More so than just about any NBA team, the Nets are defined by a series of ifs. But if Durant, Irving and Simmons are all available and on the court this season at Barclays Center, the Nets are capable of becoming the title contender they were projected to be in 2021-22.

2 Related

Simmons is, in theory, the perfect player to play alongside Durant and Irving. Simmons is a 3-point shot generating force who, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, has assisted on 996 3-pointers in his career, the second most in the NBA from 2017-18 to 2020-21, trailing Russell Westbrook.

A lineup of Simmons, Durant, Irving, Joe Harris and Seth Curry, while light defensively, could be a devastating offensive unit if Simmons is out there creating open looks. Per Second Spectrum tracking, 371 players have attempted 150 wide-open 3s over the last five seasons. Harris, Curry and Durant all rank in the top four on such attempts.

— Tim Bontemps and Nick Friedell

What’s next for Russ, Pat Bev and the Lakers?

Where it stands:

Last year’s woes: In his debut season with the Lakers, Russell Westbrook had his worst offensive season since 2010.

Adding Pat Bev: The Lakers traded for Patrick Beverley on July 6 to share time with Westbrook at point guard.

New agent: Westbrook fired his longtime agent Thad Foucher of Wasserman over “irreconcilable differences” on July 15.

The Lakers may be headed for an awkward first day of training camp. There’s clear history between Westbrook and offseason trade acquisition Beverley, even though Westbrook’s attendance and towel assist at Beverley’s introductory news conference suggests both guards are ready to squash any past beef.

After hearing his name in trade rumors all summer, it doesn’t look like Westbrook will be going anywhere, judging by LeBron James tweeting that he “can’t wait for him to go off this season!!” and comments from new coach Darvin Ham expressing support for the 33-year-old guard.

Assuming a trade doesn’t materialize, it’s up to Ham and his staff to revive the superstar trio of Westbrook, James and Anthony Davis after it failed to mesh during last season’s 11th-place finish in the Western Conference. (Ham is also tasked with maximizing Westbrook when the ball is in James’ hands.)

LeBron’s tweet aside, how will the dynamic between him and Westbrook evolve? (Remember that awkward summer league moment when the two sat on opposite ends of the court?)

This type of atmosphere is nothing new for Westbrook, who throughout his career has been fueled with motivation from perceived slights or criticism. Trade rumblings have, for now, been replaced by chatter suggesting he and Beverley can’t coexist in the Lakers’ backcourt.

— Ohm Youngmisuk

Lonzo Ball and Khris Middleton injuries: Where does each stand in their recovery?

Where it stands:

Ball: Suffered a knee injury on Jan. 14 — not expected to return for the start of the season.

Middleton: Suffered a knee injury on April 20 and underwent wrist surgery in early July — expected to return around the start of the season.

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Knicks vs. Grizzlies, 7:30 p.m.Mavericks vs Suns, 10 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 21

Celtics vs. Heat, 7:30 p.m.Nuggets vs Warriors, 10 p.m.

*All times Eastern

Both the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks avoided making major changes this offseason, each believing their full, healthy rosters can compete in the East.

If Middleton had not slipped on a drive to the basket during their first-round series against the Bulls — resulting in a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee that forced him to miss their final 10 playoff games — Milwaukee believes it would have been on its way to another NBA Finals.

Middleton, who also underwent offseason surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist, is expected to be ready near the start of the regular season. The Bucks are known for their cautious approach toward injuries, so expect Milwaukee to prioritize Middleton getting healthy for the stretch run and playoffs, even if that means tackling the beginning of 2022-23 without its All-Star.

The Bulls’ season, meanwhile, took a turn for the worse much earlier than their division rivals.

On Jan. 14, Chicago was 27-13 and the top seed in the East before Lonzo Ball’s left knee injury. It sputtered to a 19-23 finish and five-game first-round defeat without him. Ball had arthroscopic surgery in January, but each attempt to ramp him up for game action near the end of the season resulted in a setback.

As recently as during the summer league, Bulls Vice President Arturas Karnisovas acknowledged Ball’s health is improving but “probably not at the speed we would like” and the team is doubtful he’ll be ready for the start of the season. The organization has remained vague about Ball’s status and how long his knee issues will linger.

— Jamal Collier

Are the Warriors’ youngsters ready to step up?

Where it stands:

Jonathan Kuminga: Showed flashes of adapting to Warriors’ system late in his rookie season; averaged 16.9 minutes per game in 2021-22.

Moses Moody: Led the Warriors in scoring during summer league in Las Vegas (16.3 points per game).

James Wiseman: Suffered a knee injury in April 2021 and missed all of last season.

Last season, the Warriors enjoyed the perk of slowly bringing along their younger players during their run to the NBA title.

Kuminga and Moody were given small and sporadic opportunities as rookies, filling in for injured players throughout the season and even getting some chances to start. Golden State’s depth let second-year player Wiseman take his time recovering from a meniscus injury in his right knee that ended up forcing him to miss the entire 2021-22 season.

The champs no longer have that luxury.

The departures of Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, Nemanja Bjelica and Damion Lee will undoubtedly force Golden State’s three youngsters to assume expanded roles.

The Warriors want to see Kuminga use his athleticism to his advantage, most notably his skills as a slasher and finisher. Toward the end of last season, he flashed an ability to draw contact and get to the free-throw line, evidenced by a 10-for-12 showing at the stripe in a blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers in late February and a 7-for-10 effort against the Memphis Grizzlies in late March.

Golden State envisions Moody as a strong 3-and-D floor-spacer who can utilize his 7-foot-1 wingspan on the defensive end. As a rookie, Moody shot 36.4% from deep on over two attempts per game.

What exactly Wiseman can do is still a question mark. He lacks the sample size of his younger teammates, but Wiseman did have a solid summer league and offered glimpses of how the Warriors want to use him: as a prototypical rim protector who alters shots and grabs rebounds. On offense, he’ll mostly live near the rim, but the team won’t discourage him from letting it fly from beyond the arc on open attempts.

— Kendra Andrews

How will EuroBasket impact Giannis, Luka and The Joker? Should teams be worried about wear and tear?

Where it stands:

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Played 108 total minutes in four games for Greece.

Luka Doncic: Played 164 total minutes in five games for Slovenia.

Nikola Jokic: Played 124 total minutes in five games for Serbia.

More than two dozen NBA players represented their countries in the latest installment of EuroBasket — FIBA’s European continental championship — including three members of last year’s All-NBA First Team: Antetokounmpo, Doncic and Jokic — all of whose teams were eliminated before the semifinals.

The extra mileage on star players heading into the season could be a concern, particularly with this year’s addition of qualifying games for next summer’s World Cup as part of the lead-up to EuroBasket. But the track record of these stars suggests it hasn’t been an issue in the past.

Monday through Friday, host Pablo Torre brings you an inside look at the most interesting stories at ESPN, as told by the top reporters and insiders on the planet. Listen

Jokic last represented Serbia in the summer during the 2019 World Cup. He returned to play all 73 of the Denver Nuggets‘ games in 2019-20, which culminated in a run to the Western Conference finals during the bubble. After Denver was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, Jokic has gotten an extended break following back-to-back MVP wins.

The last time EuroBasket was played in 2017, Doncic helped establish his NBA potential by leading Slovenia to the gold alongside MVP Goran Dragic. He subsequently became the youngest EuroLeague MVP ever. Because Slovenia did not qualify for the last World Cup, Doncic next took the court for his country in last summer’s Olympics. Although enough time passed after that competition for Doncic to enter training camp heavier than his normal playing weight — which shouldn’t be the case this time around — he showed plenty of stamina taking the Dallas Mavericks to this year’s West finals.

Giannis missed the last EuroBasket due to a knee injury, but played in the 2019 World Cup. He returned from that competition to win a second consecutive MVP, averaging a career-high 29.5 PPG in 2019-20 (since surpassed last season). Giannis too enjoyed a longer-than-usual summer after the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the second round despite his heroics.

— Kevin Pelton

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The Chicago Cubs were off on Thursday. This was a well-deserved off day that came after a sweep of the New York Mets on the road. It is one of the more impressive series wins that the Cubs have had all year long as they swept one of the best teams in the league.

It is obvious that the Cubs are not a very good team otherwise nobody would be surprised that they swept a team in September. However, it is also a sign of a team that is playing well despite having nothing to play for in terms of the standings.

The Mets were the second to last team that the Cubs will face this season with a record over .500. That is why they have a path to a really strong finish here in 2022. They are mostly playing against teams that are equal to them based on records.

With that in mind, most of these teams don’t have the recent success over the last few games to feel good about themselves like the Cubs do. It could be a time when the Cubs continue to play well and finish the year very strong.

The Chicago Cubs have an easy schedule to end this crazy 2022 season.

It starts this weekend with a series at Wrigley Field against the Colorado Rockies. They will play against that 62-81 team for three games. Following that, they are going to hit the road for a couple of series.

It will start down south when they face the 59-85 Miami Marlins. It is three games against them before four games against the very lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. Those all could end up being some fun games for the Cubs at this point in the year.

Then, following another off day, the Cubs will have a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. They are 80-63 which makes them the last team over .500 that the Cubs will face this season. Of course, based on the Cubs’ success against the Mets, you can’t count them out of that series either.

Following that tough series, the Cubs have six straight games (three at home and three on the road) against the Cincinnati Reds who are 57-86. You would think that the Cubs have a good chance in a lot of these games as of right now.

Now, it is fair to look at the Cubs’ record of 61-82 which is right around all of these teams. They are one of the worst teams in the league. Regardless, it is possible that the Cubs keep their hot play from the Mets series going against these bad teams.

There are a lot of reasons to believe in the Cubs against the bad teams. We have seen some good pitching lately along with some good play from guys like Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ, and Willson Contreras amongst others.

The future is uncertain but finishing this season strong would certainly help them. The offseason following a year like this is certainly going to be interesting.

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Seattle-born choreographer Mariah D. Eastman has called Chicago home for the past few years, and describes her philosophy as a desire to “play with creating unusual sequences of movement with shapes that normally wouldn’t be considered to work well together.” In 2020, Eastman started the annual Holiday Dance Carol, where dancers traveled around various neighborhoods to perform in front of people’s homes, a la Christmas carolers. This weekend, a more serious subject comes into focus in Navigating the After, premiering tonight at 7:30 PM at Dovetail Studios (2853 W. Montrose) and continuing tomorrow at 7:30 PM. Based on anonymous interviews conducted with survivors of sexual assault, the piece features four dancers and aims to give shape to the many forms of recovery, “from the initial grieving process to wrestling with the identity of a survivor.” Eastman herself is a survivor, and notes that she went through the Title IX process at her alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University, to have her assailant expelled; he was later jailed for the assaults he committed against Eastman and other women. Tickets are $15 at eventbrite.com; representatives from organizations that work with survivors, such as &Rise and Self-Reclaimed will be on hand with information and to collect donations. (KR)

Governors State University’s Center for the Performing Arts (1 University Drive, University Park) presents the world premiere of Red Summer, a musical piece connecting the race riots of 1919 with current injustice. Written by MPAACT cofounders Shepsu Aakhu and Shawn Wallace, along with Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member Andrew White, the story centers on two soldiers—one Black, one white—returning from World War I and finding themselves in a city growing thanks to the Great Migration, but also facing the cataclysmic effects of a global pandemic, economic downturn, and racial and ethnic tensions. The show previews tonight at 7:30 PM and continues through 9/25; schedule information and tickets ($30.74-$57.24) available at govst.edu. (KR)

Reader contributor Joshua Minsoo Kim encouraged us this issue to “embrace analog” by attending the Chicago Film Society’s Celluloid Now showcase, a multi-day, multi-venue festival celebrating filmmakers who use analog filmmaking (think 8MM film and cameras) to push experimentation and go in new directions. Tonight’s program, 16mm Visions, brings short films from over 16 directors to the Constellation (3111 N. Western), starting at 7:30 PM. Fittingly, all of the films tonight were created in 16mm, and the staging at the Constellation will allow for a natural boxy projection along with space for good sound—which bodes well for Kioto Aoki’s six minute film 6018Dance, designed to be accompanied by live cello. Read more from Kim here, and learn more about the festival (and purchase advance tickets) here. (SCJ)

Tonight at the Promontory (5311 S. Lake Park West), actor Pat Whalen is hosting the 46th installment of his pop-up talk show, Good Evening with Pat Whalen. In 2016, former Reader staffer Brianna Wellen described the show as the “love child of Conan and The Daily Show: the bits are quick and silly, the coverage has a political bent, and there’s almost always a musical guest.” Of note, she said, was the show’s surprising mix of guests, and this installment certainly delivers. This performance brings to the stage hip-hop artist Brittney Carter, comedian Felonious Munk, and Governor JB Pritzker. This is an all-ages event that kicks off at 8 PM. Tickets are $15. (MC)

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Seattle-born choreographer Mariah D. Eastman has called Chicago home for the past few years, and describes her philosophy as a desire to “play with creating unusual sequences of movement with shapes that normally wouldn’t be considered to work well together.” In 2020, Eastman started the annual Holiday Dance Carol, where dancers traveled around various neighborhoods to perform in front of people’s homes, a la Christmas carolers. This weekend, a more serious subject comes into focus in Navigating the After, premiering tonight at 7:30 PM at Dovetail Studios (2853 W. Montrose) and continuing tomorrow at 7:30 PM. Based on anonymous interviews conducted with survivors of sexual assault, the piece features four dancers and aims to give shape to the many forms of recovery, “from the initial grieving process to wrestling with the identity of a survivor.” Eastman herself is a survivor, and notes that she went through the Title IX process at her alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University, to have her assailant expelled; he was later jailed for the assaults he committed against Eastman and other women. Tickets are $15 at eventbrite.com; representatives from organizations that work with survivors, such as &Rise and Self-Reclaimed will be on hand with information and to collect donations. (KR)

Governors State University’s Center for the Performing Arts (1 University Drive, University Park) presents the world premiere of Red Summer, a musical piece connecting the race riots of 1919 with current injustice. Written by MPAACT cofounders Shepsu Aakhu and Shawn Wallace, along with Lookingglass Theatre ensemble member Andrew White, the story centers on two soldiers—one Black, one white—returning from World War I and finding themselves in a city growing thanks to the Great Migration, but also facing the cataclysmic effects of a global pandemic, economic downturn, and racial and ethnic tensions. The show previews tonight at 7:30 PM and continues through 9/25; schedule information and tickets ($30.74-$57.24) available at govst.edu. (KR)

Reader contributor Joshua Minsoo Kim encouraged us this issue to “embrace analog” by attending the Chicago Film Society’s Celluloid Now showcase, a multi-day, multi-venue festival celebrating filmmakers who use analog filmmaking (think 8MM film and cameras) to push experimentation and go in new directions. Tonight’s program, 16mm Visions, brings short films from over 16 directors to the Constellation (3111 N. Western), starting at 7:30 PM. Fittingly, all of the films tonight were created in 16mm, and the staging at the Constellation will allow for a natural boxy projection along with space for good sound—which bodes well for Kioto Aoki’s six minute film 6018Dance, designed to be accompanied by live cello. Read more from Kim here, and learn more about the festival (and purchase advance tickets) here. (SCJ)

Tonight at the Promontory (5311 S. Lake Park West), actor Pat Whalen is hosting the 46th installment of his pop-up talk show, Good Evening with Pat Whalen. In 2016, former Reader staffer Brianna Wellen described the show as the “love child of Conan and The Daily Show: the bits are quick and silly, the coverage has a political bent, and there’s almost always a musical guest.” Of note, she said, was the show’s surprising mix of guests, and this installment certainly delivers. This performance brings to the stage hip-hop artist Brittney Carter, comedian Felonious Munk, and Governor JB Pritzker. This is an all-ages event that kicks off at 8 PM. Tickets are $15. (MC)

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It was a hot, late summer Saturday, and my son and I had come to the Chicago Botanic Garden for an outdoor playdate with some friends. To our surprise and delight, the band Mucca Pazza was performing there that afternoon as part of a series of events called Flourish, a celebration of the garden’s 50th anniversary. We walked quite a bit to see them play, all the way to a new event space within the garden called the Rookery. The area features a series of interactive living castles sculpted out of willow saplings by artist Patrick Dougherty, placed across from a pond. The whole picturesque scene was the perfect background for the explosion of sound, color, and joy radiating from Mucca Pazza, a punk marching band formed in 2004 and composed of “30-odd members” playing all kinds of brass, string, and percussion instruments, influenced by the likes of Bach, Charles Mingus, Rush, and Duke Ellington. 

At this point a beloved Chicago institution, Mucca Pazza’s animated presence has graced local traditions, such as the yearly Lula Cafe Halloween Parade in Logan Square, and historical occasions, such as the opening of the 606 trail in the spring of 2015. Their energy is contagious, their music transporting, their moves engaging, and their looks fascinating. A jumble of color, fun patterns, and details from head to toe, their style could be defined as marching-band-meets-crayon-box-meets-mid-oughts-new-ravers. 

Mucca PazzaUpcoming shows and music at muccapazza.com

“The mismatched, colorful look of Mucca Pazza has been part of the band’s look since the beginning and also feels like an analogy for who we are: colorful, joyful, mixed up, and still stylish and ready to party,” says guitar player and band member Charlie Malave, 39. “We want to spread joy. We believe that radical joy is a powerful force for good. We want our audiences (and ourselves) to have a positively transformative experience. We also want to make good music. Music, clowning, and mismatched outfits might just seem silly, but we take silly very seriously, because when you do that you make a fertile ground for joy to grow,” Malave adds.

Some of the directives for Mucca Pazza’s “un-iforms,” as Malave calls them, are “that pants have stripes, but you can also wear a skirt. It should be a marching band uniform, nothing military. It should make you feel good. There should be a marching band hat.” With that in mind, each band member does their thing. “Our band is a great mix of humans with different style and taste. For some, Mucca is an opportunity to be more flashy than they normally would. But for others, it’s just an extension of the type of weird that they normally are,” says Malave. 

“Flourish: The Garden at 50”Through 9/25: daily, 10 AM-6 PM, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe, chicagobotanic.org for information about upcoming events

Band cheerleaders Rawson Vint and Sharon Lanza particularly stood out with their bright outfits, silly humor, and free-spirited choreography. “As part of the cheer section, I try to base my look on every intramural sports uniform. I’m going for ‘confused-but-excited-for-tryouts,’” says Vint. Lanza was sporting a red vintage T-shirt that read “I [heart] a scientist,” a matching red pleated miniskirt and rainbow knee socks. Trombone player Melissa McNeal also opted for a striking pair of (mismatched) knee socks. For her, joining the band was a dream come true: “From the instant I first saw Mucca Pazza, way back at the Abbey Pub in the early oughts, I knew these were my people—and I began a years-long scheme to join them in their weird. My success in pulling that off is one of the brightest joys of my life,” she says.

Charlie Malave seems excited for what the future holds for them: “We’re recording a new album; we’re coming up on 20 years of being a band in 2024. For that milestone we’re hoping to do a European tour and a big family reunion. And hopefully the band can live on for at least another 20 years beyond that!” Hopefully they’ll still be playing the Lula Cafe Halloween Parade, and hopefully Lula Cafe will still be serving freshly baked cookies at the end. Longevity does seem to be a feature of Chicago’s most cherished enterprises. 

Slideshow: photos by Isa Giallorenzo (click through below)

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It was a hot, late summer Saturday, and my son and I had come to the Chicago Botanic Garden for an outdoor playdate with some friends. To our surprise and delight, the band Mucca Pazza was performing there that afternoon as part of a series of events called Flourish, a celebration of the garden’s 50th anniversary. We walked quite a bit to see them play, all the way to a new event space within the garden called the Rookery. The area features a series of interactive living castles sculpted out of willow saplings by artist Patrick Dougherty, placed across from a pond. The whole picturesque scene was the perfect background for the explosion of sound, color, and joy radiating from Mucca Pazza, a punk marching band formed in 2004 and composed of “30-odd members” playing all kinds of brass, string, and percussion instruments, influenced by the likes of Bach, Charles Mingus, Rush, and Duke Ellington. 

At this point a beloved Chicago institution, Mucca Pazza’s animated presence has graced local traditions, such as the yearly Lula Cafe Halloween Parade in Logan Square, and historical occasions, such as the opening of the 606 trail in the spring of 2015. Their energy is contagious, their music transporting, their moves engaging, and their looks fascinating. A jumble of color, fun patterns, and details from head to toe, their style could be defined as marching-band-meets-crayon-box-meets-mid-oughts-new-ravers. 

Mucca PazzaUpcoming shows and music at muccapazza.com

“The mismatched, colorful look of Mucca Pazza has been part of the band’s look since the beginning and also feels like an analogy for who we are: colorful, joyful, mixed up, and still stylish and ready to party,” says guitar player and band member Charlie Malave, 39. “We want to spread joy. We believe that radical joy is a powerful force for good. We want our audiences (and ourselves) to have a positively transformative experience. We also want to make good music. Music, clowning, and mismatched outfits might just seem silly, but we take silly very seriously, because when you do that you make a fertile ground for joy to grow,” Malave adds.

Some of the directives for Mucca Pazza’s “un-iforms,” as Malave calls them, are “that pants have stripes, but you can also wear a skirt. It should be a marching band uniform, nothing military. It should make you feel good. There should be a marching band hat.” With that in mind, each band member does their thing. “Our band is a great mix of humans with different style and taste. For some, Mucca is an opportunity to be more flashy than they normally would. But for others, it’s just an extension of the type of weird that they normally are,” says Malave. 

“Flourish: The Garden at 50”Through 9/25: daily, 10 AM-6 PM, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe, chicagobotanic.org for information about upcoming events

Band cheerleaders Rawson Vint and Sharon Lanza particularly stood out with their bright outfits, silly humor, and free-spirited choreography. “As part of the cheer section, I try to base my look on every intramural sports uniform. I’m going for ‘confused-but-excited-for-tryouts,’” says Vint. Lanza was sporting a red vintage T-shirt that read “I [heart] a scientist,” a matching red pleated miniskirt and rainbow knee socks. Trombone player Melissa McNeal also opted for a striking pair of (mismatched) knee socks. For her, joining the band was a dream come true: “From the instant I first saw Mucca Pazza, way back at the Abbey Pub in the early oughts, I knew these were my people—and I began a years-long scheme to join them in their weird. My success in pulling that off is one of the brightest joys of my life,” she says.

Charlie Malave seems excited for what the future holds for them: “We’re recording a new album; we’re coming up on 20 years of being a band in 2024. For that milestone we’re hoping to do a European tour and a big family reunion. And hopefully the band can live on for at least another 20 years beyond that!” Hopefully they’ll still be playing the Lula Cafe Halloween Parade, and hopefully Lula Cafe will still be serving freshly baked cookies at the end. Longevity does seem to be a feature of Chicago’s most cherished enterprises. 

Slideshow: photos by Isa Giallorenzo (click through below)

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While it has been an ugly season in terms of their record, the Chicago Cubs undoubtedly have a bright future ahead. The rebuild that seemed doomed for many years could be a lot quicker than most anticipated.

The young talent at the major league level is already showing early returns and the top prospects in the organization seem poised to make more debuts by the end of this season or the start of the 2023 year.

If you look at the Cubs’ performance this year, you have to dig a bit below the surface to find the real takeaways from this season. While the Cubs are near the bottom of the league in terms of record, looking at some of the team and individual stats tells a different story.

They are middle of the pack in terms of hits per game and they are among the league’s best in stolen bases. The ERA of their starting pitchers has been above league average this year as well. The signs of an up-and-coming team are showing.

The contact, patience, and athleticism are there, which is important for a young squad. There is strong veteran leadership from the clubhouse leaders.

The team’s energy and culture have remained strong throughout a tough season. All of these point to success down the line if they keep building.

These fundamentals are important for building a competitive team. Looking at the key position players going forward, names like Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Willson Contreras (hopefully), Ian Happ, and Christopher Morel are all five-tool players who have all had excellent seasons.

While there have been ups and downs for all of these players, they have given the team a good foundation to build around. Happ and Contreras have especially become stars after a couple of down years. Both have changed their approach to make more contact and put together better at-bats.

The pitching, especially lately from the starters, has been surprisingly solid. What looked like a middle to bottom tier rotation has been a strength of the team with quality contributions from newcomer Marcus Stroman to lead the way.

The young guys, mainly Keegan Thompson and Justin Steele, have exceeded expectations. Steele especially has looked sharp in the second half of the year and could be a future top-of-the-rotation starter if he develops another pitch.

While Wade Miley and Kyle Hendricks have had disappointing years due to injury, Drew Smyly and Adrian Sampson have filled those spots very nicely in the rotation. Even some of the Triple-A players who got called up played well when asked, especially Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski as of late.

There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the Chicago Cubs in 2023.

Of course, we cannot forget about the plethora of minor league talent that is on deck. The hype around Pete Crow-Armstrong was insane this year and Brennan Davis has looked good since coming back from injury.

Guys like Matt Mervis and Kevin Alcantara have risen up rankings due to their great seasons and the pitching prospects have all been doing amazing. Caleb Killian deserves some extra praise as he has seen some major league time this season.

This is not a fluff piece on a bad team but rather a statement of realization that the team is not quite as bad as things would seem. There are still a lot of unanswered questions going into the offseason.

Some of the players have just been outright bad this year. Still, the Chicago Cubs just swept the NL East-leading New York Mets on the road. A lot of players are getting hot in the home stretch of the season which will help carry momentum into next season.

With another offseason for the young players and prospects, an added ace to the rotation, and a restocking of the bullpen after the deadline depletion, this team could be in the hunt for a playoff spot next season in a weaker division.

It has been an ugly season but the positives that have been seen from the Chicago Cubs give real hope for the upcoming years.

Where it was once seen as a long and grueling rebuild ahead, it is now a team that is on the rise with a lot of young talent waiting in reserve. Fans should be excited for this team after all that has happened in recent years.

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Some might think of slow cinema—admittedly a nebulous designation at best—as dry. The films of Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based Tsai Ming-liang are often termed with that polysemous classification and thus may be considered as such. 

Though his films embody the technical definition of that word (another descriptor applied to his films, “minimalist,” also means to lack embellishment), there’s a benevolent irony to the fact that they’re usually quite wet. That is to say, in most of them either steady rainfall or another slaver tends the otherwise arid proceedings, at once a welcome interloper in its waterlogged enrichment and a manifestation of unrelenting heaviness inside and out.

In Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), which takes place in an old movie palace in Taipei, rain pours down outside as various characters inside the theater watch (or don’t) the last 90 minutes of King Hu’s titular 1967 wuxia film Dragon Inn. Though the characters are free to enter and leave at will, the rain serves as a partition of sorts, keeping both them and the viewers inside the damp and grimy theater, set to close after this final screening. 

More than two years ago, there was a 12-film Tsai Ming-liang series (ten features and two shorts), undertaken by local independent programmer J. Michael Eugenio, at the University of Chicago’s Doc Films. In the months leading up to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic here in the U.S., all but one film of the series was screened. The last, Face (2009), was likely the last film many Chicago cinephiles saw in a theater for a good long while; walking out of it like the characters in Goodbye, Dragon Inn, one was deluged by the sudden onset of reality and that which would define it for the next few years.

The plan was to bring Tsai to various film organizations in Chicago, the first stop on a tour that would find the filmmaker in New York City and Washington, D.C. Alas, that trip was canceled, and for two-plus years we languished in a real-life scenario not unlike something from one of Tsai’s films. (Indeed, his 1998 film The Hole, which was rereleased in virtual theaters amid lockdown, centers on characters impacted by a sickness called the “Taiwan virus,” which causes people to go mad and seek refuge in tight, dark spaces.)

On September 12, however, the festivities resumed, with a screening of Goodbye, Dragon Inn at the Gene Siskel Film Center. This coming Monday his 2013 film Stray Dogs will screen at 8 PM, then his most recent feature, Days (2022), a week later at the same time. 

Films from Tsai’s Walker series—Journey to the West (2014) and No No Sleep (2015), two among the several projects that feature Lee as a Buddhist monk walking slowly in various spaces—will screen at Northwestern University’s Block Cinema, Friday, September 30, 6:30 PM, with Tsai and Lee Kang-sheng (a Taiwanese actor who has appeared in all of the director’s features and may be considered his muse) appearing in person for a post-screening discussion moderated by Dr. Jean Ma, professor of film and media studies at Stanford University.

The Chicago premieres of his short film Light and feature Your Face (both 2018) will screen at Doc Films on Saturday, October 1, 6 PM, again with Tsai and Lee in person. University of Chicago professor Paola Iovene will moderate that postshow discussion. Finally, the director will give an artist lecture back at the Film Center on the following Monday, October 3, at 6 PM, rounding out almost a full month of Tsai-related screenings and events. The tour will continue to New York City and Washington, D.C., as planned, as well as Boston.

For the Reader in 2005, Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote about Goodbye, Dragon Inn that it’s “a Taiwanese Last Picture Show, a failed heterosexual love story, a gay cruising saga, a melancholy tone poem, a mordant comedy, [and] a creepy ghost tale.” Its myriad characters span the theater staff (a bashful female ticket taker with a limp, whose meanderings around the theater to find the elusive projectionist, played by Lee, give us the most visibility into the decrepit structure) and the film’s audience, from two elderly men intently watching the film to other, younger viewers (save an actual toddler, whose attention is rapt) less so.

The romantic notion of the dark movie theater is redirected from what’s going on onscreen to the goings-on of several male audience members who watch each other rather than the movie. (The latter almost becomes its own character, as its dialogue composes the majority of that in the film.) Tsai hadn’t initially intended to make Goodbye, Dragon Inn but came across the theater while scouting locations for What Time Is It There? (2001); he learned from its owner that attendance was down and it was mostly being used as a cruising spot for gay men. Something that one might expect to happen in a Tsai Ming-liang film occured in real life first, a discretely humorous coincidence that enhances its tender wit. 

In Stray Dogs, a man (Lee) and his two young children are houseless in Taipei, where the father works holding signs advertising luxury housing developments. While he does so his children roam the streets, gravitating toward a grocery store where the motherlike figure—who appears sporadically at first and then more frequently—works. She soon (again? One is unsure if this is their real mother) becomes a fixture in their lives, the four residing in a dilapidated house with stark white walls flecked with black crud. Like the urban settings in most of Tsai’s films, it’s stunning in its aesthetic beauty despite its apparent dilapidation.

The film’s title is evoked literally in a pack of stray dogs wandering around a derelict area that features a mural painted onto a building’s wall; the aforementioned motherlike figure brings expired meat to them. But the title applies to the characters as well: the father, whose job makes him a human billboard going largely unnoticed by the masses (a plot point reminiscent of Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s vignette in the 1983 film The Sandwich Man); his kids exploring freely with no parental oversight; and the motherlike figure, who may or may not be the children’s actual mother and who is played by three actresses (suggestive of Luis Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, which featured two actresses as the same character), and even symbolized by an anthropomorphized cabbage. Whoever she is, she trudges about in the pouring rain to help the kids after their father goes on a bender. 

Tsai’s most recent feature, Days, begins with Lee’s Kang sitting in a barren room watching the rain outside his window and then languishing in a bath. Not much later, Non (Anong Houngheuangsy), a Laotian immigrant working in Thailand, laboriously rinses produce and fish in a bucket. These are but mere moments of how the two spend their time. Kang seeks treatment for his neck pain (this part of the film links it tenuously with Tsai’s 1997 film The River, in which Lee’s character has the same mysterious ailment) while Non goes about his day-to-day life somewhat aimlessly.

The two come together in a hotel room, where Kang solicits Non for an erotic massage. Illness and unconventional sex are present in several of Tsai’s films (like The River) but never so tenderly as here. The fleeting moment of release between the men is underscored by Kang gifting Non a music box playing the theme to Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight. Where Tsai has made many films in which Lee is a Buster Keaton type, with a similarly imperturbable stone face, this film instead evokes Chaplin in its attenuated sentimentality. Gay sex aside, the broad strokes of Days aren’t too far off from how Chaplin sought to consecrate the human condition vis-à-vis the Tramp. 

Light, a short companion piece to Your Face, takes place in Zhongshan Hall, a locale in Taipei with personal significance to Tsai (he volunteered there as a student) and historical significance to the country, as it’s where Japanese forces surrendered at the end of World War II, concluding a half-century occupation of Taiwan. This is an exceedingly minimalistic work, made up of shots of various spots in the hall upon which natural light falls beautifully. It’s a rather simple endeavor but one that Tsai does exceptionally well; it achieves something similar to what I imagine a compilation of the exterior shots in Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries might be like. 

Tsai Ming-liang at the Gene Siskel Film CenterThrough October 3164 N. Statesiskelfilmcenter.org/tsai

The longer film, also shot in the hall, has the distinction of being the first film Tsai has made with a musical score. After meeting Ryuichi Sakamoto, he asked the Japanese composer if he could have a look at the film, after which the latter sent Tsai some files. Your Face came to fruition after a 2017 VR film, The Deserted, had made him want to film close-ups after working in such a protracted tableau. The film consists of 13 vignettes of Taipei citizens whom Tsai encountered on the streets. 

Participation varies, from some of the subjects sitting in relative silence, the movement and expressions on their faces accounting for the action of their section, to those with stories to share. Relationships are a hot topic among the people who speak; one woman does tongue and facial exercises, a man performs a short musical number on a harmonica. The film concludes with Lee, who recalls stories about his father and being in school. It’s almost jarring to see the actor in such a relaxed context, as he disappears so naturally into Tsai’s films that it’s sometimes difficult to separate him from the characters.

Denis Lavant—who is to French filmmaker Leos Carax what Lee is to Tsai—appears in Journey to the West (2014), the fifth in Tsai and Lee’s Walker series. The films center on Lee as a Buddhist monk who slowly walks across various spaces around the world, in this instance Marseilles. The films were inspired by Tsai’s obsession with seventh-century Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who inspired a novel published during the Ming dynasty, Journey to the West, from which this film takes its name. 

Along with slow cinema, the long, static takes are often remarked upon about Tsai’s films, as natural to their formation as Lee’s presence. Here awareness of such shots is heightened as Lee’s red robe-clad monk walks at a literal snail’s pace in various directions across a frame, the camera unmoving. Passersby sometimes acknowledge him, while some ignore him. Lavant, however, begins trailing him, walking at the same pace and mimicking his movements.

No No Sleep (2015), the seventh Walker project, takes place in Tokyo at night. Lee’s monk again moves amid the space slowly, though partway through the focus becomes a night train as it speeds, in stark contrast to the monk, across the cityscape, photographed to illuminate the bright neon colors inherent to the environment. Soon we find the monk at a spa, where he’s joined by Masanobu Ando, star of Kinji Fukusaku’s Battle Royale. The two don’t speak and eventually part ways, the rest of the film focusing equally on both of the men after they come to reside in what appears to be a micro-hotel of some sort. Where, in Journey to the West, the camera was at a studied distance from Lee and Lavant, it here takes a bold leap toward Lee in one provocative sequence with a gorgeous close-up of his face sheathed in red light.

Ultimately, the apparent dryness of Tsai’s films is but a facade, a layer under which a body of water—perhaps, like in one of his films, a river—is waiting to be found. “For me, water means a lot of things,” Tsai has said. “It’s my belief that human beings are just like plants. They can’t live without water or they’ll dry up. Human beings, without love or other nourishment, also dry up. The more water you see in my movies, the more the characters need to fill a gap in their lives, to get hydrated again.” The screenings and events in this series will furnish one similarly. 

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It’s day one of the Chicago House Music Festival and Conference, which runs through Sunday 9/18. Today’s the symposium portion of this free four-day event. At the Logan Center for the Arts (915 E. 60th), there will be a slate of panels focused on the history, culture, and business of house music: the House Music Entrepreneur’s Journey (5:30-6:30 PM), Comeback or Come Up? House Music in 2022 (7-8 PM), and a Fireside Chat with veteran dance music executive Patrick Moxey (8:30-9:45 PM). Participants are industry veterans such as DJs, producers, label owners, and music journalists including The TRiiBE cofounder and editor-in-chief Tiffany Walden. The rest of the weekend will involve music, music, and—did we mention music? Check out DCASE’s website for a complete schedule, including a headliner performance by Ten City on Friday night. (MC)

If you have an urge to s-t-r-e-t-c-h tonight, there’s two unique yoga classes to keep in mind. At 6 PM in Washington Square Park (901 N. Clark), instructor Gary Alexander teaches an outdoor basic yoga class for all levels . . . and your dog! Leashed and calm pooches are welcome to participate; bring a mat and no registration required. At the same time a little further north, DANK Haus German American Cultural Center (4740 N. Western) hosts instructor Janina Dunklau, as she offers a multi-level yoga class in both German and English: all levels of both yoga and German language knowledge (or lack thereof) are welcome. It’s $5 to join in the fun, and the class takes place outside on the center’s outdoor terrace. Check out Facebook for more information. (SCJ)

Cheese, glorious cheese! If you’re enamored with the stuff, and want to learn more about how it’s made, check out tonight’s Intro to Cheese class at the Palmer Square specialty cheese shop Beautiful Rind (2211 N. Milwaukee). This hour-long workshop will tell you a little cheese history, give you tips on how to care for your cheese and feature a tasting of five different styles. If you can’t make it in person, there’s virtual option (information for that will be given to you after booking tickets). It’s $35 and bring extra to buy some more dairy goodness when you’re done! Sign up for class at Tock. (SCJ)

A 1986 commercial for cheese; the theme song is based on a song from the musical Oliver!.

Are there any concerts tonight? Of course—it’s Chicago! Here’s a few shows featuring musicians that we’ve previously written about . . . Tonstartssbandht, the psych/postrock/art-rock duo of brothers Andy and Edwin Mathis White plays Sleeping Village (3734 W. Belmont), with local band Charlie Reed opening; show starts at 9 PM and advance tickets are available. Reader contributor David Anthony told us this week about Chicago punk band Alkaline Trio’s return to the stage for a sold-out concert tonight at Metro (3730 N. Clark); if you didn’t catch tickets for that, you can see them on Friday night as part of this weekend’s Riot Fest at Douglass Park (advance tickets are here). On a more experimental note, the Instigation Festival returns to Chicago this weekend to bring together improvisors from New Orleans, Chicago, and beyond. Festival shows this weekend inhabit Elastic Arts Foundation (3429 W. Diversey, second floor), Constellation, and Hungry Brain. Tonight’s show at Elastic features small groups including musicians Doug Garrison, Helen Gillet, Jason Marsalis, Dan Oestreicher, Mars Williams, and more. It’s $15 at the door and the first set starts at 8 PM. If you can’t make it in person, Elastic provides a livestream (donations welcome); go to Elastic’s website for details. (SCJ)

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