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In March 2020, Theatre L’Acadie opened a production of Tennessee Williams’s The Two Character Play the same week the city locked down for the COVID-19 pandemic: sibling actors, mad and maddening, tilt on the edge between fantasy and reality with a backstory of undefined trauma. Two years later, we return to nearly the same scenario—two characters, claustrophobic make-believe, submerged psychological wounds—in Callie Kimball’s Things That Are Round (directed by Erin Sheets). But true to our participation in the long-present pandemic, we never get to leave the living room—nevertheless, pandemonium.

Things That Are Round Through 8/28: Wed-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California, theatrelacadie.com, $20 suggested donation

A dentist in her middle years, Tetherly (Capri Gehred-O’Connell) seeks a nanny for her son Dylan. Erstwhile paralegal and aspiring opera singer Nina (Laura Jasmine) is no Mary Poppins, but she’ll do just about anything for cash paid in advance. “He’s so easy,” wheedles Tetherly, wielding wads of hundred-dollar bills. There’s just one catch: Dylan is imaginary, also deaf—NBD, right? 

What could be the world’s easiest babysitting assignment becomes a daily game of inventing reality in combative dialogues between tense Tetherly and nasty Nina, who, despite the odds, become friends—if friends who pay friends are friends. Gehred-O’Connell’s Tetherly is high-pitched as a drill; Jasmine’s Nina is petulant and practical—she saves her imagination for making money out of molehills. In the confines of Tetherly’s living room, which is stacked with the cardboard boxes and plastered with the Post-it notes of a life approached provisionally, patients, partners, and practical matters become as insubstantial, invisible, and inaudible as Dylan. The truth is not beautiful; the beautiful is not true, but shared fantasies (and/or finances) become the basis of real relationships. 

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

I can’t rattle off a list of my most beloved guitarists, despite being a so-so guitar player myself, but I can quickly tell you my top ten bassists. One of my favorites has played with famous musicians across many genres, but most folks don’t even recognize his name. As far as I know, my first exposure to the great Richard Davis came through Van Morrison’s landmark 1968 LP, Astral Weeks, with its seamless blend of R&B, pop, blues, folk, and jazz that Morrison called “Celtic soul.” Even my untrained adolescent ears could hear something in Davis’s playing that jumped out at me—his throbbing, luscious double bass seemed to guide the music, and later I learned that he was the de facto bandleader on the sessions. 

Much later, I learned that Davis came up in the Windy City and built important groundwork for his career here. That’s enough for me to claim this brilliant bassist—an exactingly trained virtuoso as well as a telepathically intuitive improviser—for the Secret History of Chicago Music.

Davis was born on the south side on April 15, 1930, and grew up singing bass harmonies in his family’s amateur vocal trio. There were lots of records in their home, and Davis remembers using a windup Victrola in the basement to listen to Lucky Millinder’s “Big Fat Mama,” Lil Green’s “Romance in the Dark,” Billy Eckstine’s “Jelly, Jelly,” and Avery Parrish’s “After Hours.”

Davis picked up the bass at age 15, fairly late in life by the standards of a future professional musician. “I was just enthralled by the sound,” he recalled in a 2013 interview published last year by Allegro, the digital publication of the New York chapter of the American Federation of Musicians. (Davis joined the union in 1955.) “The bass was always in the background, and I was a shy kid,” he said. “So I thought maybe I’d like to be in the background.” 

Davis was lucky enough to attend DuSable High (49th and Wabash), which has since become famous worldwide for producing a staggering array of professional music legends. The hard-as-nails Captain Walter Henri Dyett served as the school’s music director from 1935 to 1962, and his teaching techniques were borderline military-style strict but also hugely successful—he’d previously led the Eighth Regiment Infantry Band of the Illinois National Guard. 

By the time Davis attended DuSable, its alumni included Nat “King” Cole, Dinah Washington, Gene Ammons, and Von Freeman. Among Davis’s contemporaries under Dyett’s tutelage were rock ’n’ roll architect Bo Diddley, free-jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins, bassist Ronnie Boykins, and celebrated sax players Johnny Griffin, John Gilmore, and Eddie Harris.

Davis didn’t have the easiest time studying under Dyett. “He had crude methods but it was out of what you’d call tough love,” he told Jazz Inside magazine. “He told me to sit down once and said that I’d never play the bass, and I did exactly what he probably wanted me to do: I said, ‘I’ll show you one day.’ And 20 years after I graduated, he was still prodding me, making me do things. That’s a teacher.” 

Davis was also extremely driven in school to begin with: “I couldn’t afford lower than 100 percent, because I was black and I had two strikes against me already,” he said. “With that kind of discipline and with the discipline of Walter Dyett, I had nowhere to go but to the top.” Dyett also pushed Davis to study both jazz and classical bass, a versatility that would help him reach the peak of his field. 

After classes in high school, Davis began taking lessons with Chicago Symphony Orchestra bassist Rudolph Fahsbender, another hard-nosed educator. That mentorship lasted nine years, including Davis’s time at the VanderCook School of Music, where he earned a bachelor’s in music education in 1952.

Because Dyett’s classes were known (even in their day) for producing future stars, bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Lionel Hampton sometimes recruited students directly from DuSable. Dyett had taught Davis about older jazz bassists such as Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford, and Slam Stewart, and this inspired him to start gigging in orchestras and dance bands in the early 50s. During this time, at a burlesque house in Calumet City, Davis made the acquaintance of pianist Sonny Blount, soon to be known far and wide as cosmic innovator and galactic being Sun Ra. 

“The first time I met Sonny, my buddies brought him to my house, and he said, ‘I’m not gonna take you to the moon because you’re not ready yet,’” Davis told Allegro. “And I said, ‘Who is this guy?’” Ra planted the seed in Davis to see music “on a global level,” and that far-reaching vision would be a central theme in the bassist’s future work.

That was the year Dyett’s lessons bore a new kind of fruit when Davis became a teacher himself. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison he took the title “Professor of Bass (European Classical and Jazz), Jazz History, and Combo Improvisation.” His new school and town were overwhelmingly white (a situation Davis wasn’t used to), and he served as an anti-racist advocate on several fronts. He advised the university’s efforts to improve its ability to attract and retain students of color, and he served as its diversity liaison in faculty hiring. He also led Madison’s Institutes for the Healing of Racism—he founded the nonprofit in 2000 and hosted its meetings in his home till 2017.

In 1993, he launched the Richard Davis Foundation for Young Bassists, which employs an all-star staff of veteran teachers to instruct musicians ages three to 18. In 2014, Davis won a Jazz Masters fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He retired from the university in 2016, and as recently as that year he was playing in Paris as part of a Coltrane tribute led by fellow out-jazz icon Archie Shepp. 

Now in his 90s, Davis remains in Madison, teaching on the side and continuing his work with the Foundation for Young Bassists (its most recent event was in April of last year). “I practice when the mood hits me, depending on what I want to get done,” Davis told Allegro, sounding like a Zen sage. “I’m also always practicing when I’m with my students.” 

Here’s hoping Davis can continue his important work—but even if he decides to relax into his well-deserved retirement, his status as one of the world’s most soulful and virtuosic bassists is already unassailable.

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The Black Ensemble Theater continues its four-play season with My Brother Langston, written and directed by Rueben D. Echoles. The 90-minute play zooms into the life story of American poet Langston Hughes (Chris Taylor) with original dialogue, song, dance, and of course, readings of some of his most well-loved poems. 

My Brother LangstonThrough 9/18: Fri 7 PM, Sat 3 and 7 PM, Sun 3 PM, Black Ensemble Theater, 4450 N. Clark, 773-769-4451, blackensembletheater.org, $55

The acting in My Brother Langston is strong, especially from the supporting cast, as they take on the roles of numerous characters and figures in Langston’s life such as his stepbrother Gwyn (Nolan Robinson), fellow poet Countee Cullen (André Teamer), his Nana (De’Jah Jervai), and even Zora Neale Hurston (Reneisha Jenkins). The play’s inclusion of music from cherished Black artists such as Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington successfully pulls the audience into the complexity and thrill of the Harlem Renaissance, the era in which Hughes begins to make a name for himself as a poet. (Adam Sherrod leads the four-piece band.)

Various segments of the writer’s life are on the table—from his childhood, complex parental relationships, friendships, his sexuality, and terrifying encounters with racial violence and prejudice. Consistent throughout Hughes’s life experiences is his desire to be heard. His pen is his microphone—a point of connection with humanity at large, a vessel for the hopes and dreams of his fellow Black Americans. This intrinsic desire that Hughes holds is something that Echoles’s writing conveys well. 

This is a very good play and I have no doubt that audiences will enjoy it. My main critique is that I struggled to connect emotionally with the principal character. While I walked out of the theater knowing significantly more about various aspects of Hughes’s life, I kept asking myself: Who really was Langston Hughes? Perhaps that is too simple of a question for such a complex (yet beloved) figure.

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For some ride-share drivers, safety is a top concern. Andy Thomashaw worked as an Uber driver until a few weeks ago when he was carjacked and robbed at gunpoint by one of his passengers. He said it took Uber three days to respond to the incident. That’s when Thomashaw learned he would have to pay for damages with his own money.

“Ride-share drivers don’t know where their pickup is going to be until they accept the ride and they don’t know where they’re going with the passenger until they pick up the passenger,” Thomashaw said. “There’s really no way for the ride-share driver to know who [the passenger] is and that’s very wrong and unsafe.”

Since the incident, Thomashaw said he fears for his life as a ride-share driver and doesn’t plan to do it again. 

Under state and federal law, app workers are not awarded the same legal protections as employees because they’re classified as independent contractors, which is generally defined as a self-employed person who can set their own payment rates. App workers, however, don’t get to decide how much they get paid—the app companies do. 

Crane said the coalition is seeking support from state officials to pass legislation that would allow independent contractors to unionize and create more protections for app-based workers. 

“We’re looking for government officials to realize that these companies need to be looked at under a fine-tooth comb,” Crane said. “We need better representation from a government level and from a union representative.”

“Having just got through a global pandemic, now more than ever, it is not enough to thank an essential worker,” state senator Ram Villivalam, a former union organizer whose district includes northwest Chicago and surrounding suburbs, said in a statement to the Reader. “We must enact policies that will positively impact their lives. Gig workers, like all working people, deserve fair wages and dignified working conditions.” 

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Have you checked out the new Chicago Winery River North location? If not, here is another reason to pay them a visit: a brilliant Scandinavian restaurant, Liva, is coming to Chicago Winery this fall! Deriving its name from the Scandinavian word “liv” meaning “life” and evoking a sense of the passage of time and the joy of the journey, Liva will be a chef-driven, community-inspired restaurant for locals and visitors alike.

Powered by First Batch Hospitality, the mastermind behind our beloved Chicago Winery itself, Liva is set to open this October at Chicago Winery in the city’s River North neighborhood, presenting working winery concepts set against metropolitan backdrops with restaurants, private event spaces and tasting rooms.

“Like a great dinner party, the best gatherings start in the kitchen,” said Executive Chef, Andrew Graves. “I am excited to share dishes that not only represent my journey as a chef, but also inspire great conversations around the table. Whether for two or 20, our menu is meant to be shared and paired – with wonderful wines.” Chef Graves’ recent kitchen credentials include time at the world-renowned restaurant Alinea, where he trained under Grant Achatz.

Whether joining the restaurant for a date night, a business meeting with colleagues or a celebration with family and friends, Liva’s communal setting, creative menus and beverage and wine selections set the tone as the perfect gathering place, all set against the backdrop of a working winery.

Carefully curated by Chef Graves, the modern-American menu will focus on market-driven ingredients sourced close to home. Highlights include charcuterie and cheese board selections with housemade accoutrement. Allow Chef Graves to be the expert when ordering a “Chef’s Whim”, which will showcase a variety of meats, cheeses and vegetables offering guests a fun way to share and graze between friends.

The menu will also feature stunning large format shareable entrées – think Whole Branzino, impressive butcher cuts and more; a myriad of proteins like venison and grilled shrimp; as well as unique takes on seasonal vegetables like roasted squash and radishes. Chef Graves will also make all pastas from scratch, including three unique options on his opening menu.

In addition to the craveable savory menu, Liva is pleased to offer an exciting range of cocktails. Sourcing inspiration from around the world and using seasonal ingredients, cocktails will be available to enjoy in the dining room or at the striking u-shaped bar that seats up to 25 guests. On trend and with an ear to the ground, Liva will also offer a nitro brewed espresso martini on tap.

“Liva’s bar program aspires to bring a creative take on cocktails by incorporating seasonal ingredients and at times, we will draw inspiration from the winery team to create wine centric offerings,” says Bar Manager, Roger Landes. Landes is a beverage specialist with years of experience in the Chicago bar scene, Landes’ work history includes the extensive opening cocktail program at The Loyalist in Chicago’s West Loop, and Rick Bayless’ Bar Sotano.

To complement food and drink offerings, Liva will feature a genuine, warm and inviting atmosphere. Whimsical wallpaper coverings have been added to the restaurant space to suggest distinct vignettes, including the bar, main dining room and tasting bar. Throughout the space, which seats a total of 175 people, guests will find rich, warm jewel tones with pops of color.

Guests dining at Liva will also notice the use of arches in the design that nod to historic Chicago architecture and provide a striking view of the working winery from the main dining room. A fireplace will keep conversations romantic and cozy. The restaurant will also feature a four-season outdoor patio on the main floor, available for dining outdoors year-round.

The team aims to demystify the sometimes ostentatious world of wine, beverage and food. The goal is to provide a feeling much like a visit to a friend’s home. With an eye on genuine hospitality, the team will engage guests on in-house selections and pairing recommendations. The service will be both warm and approachable.

Liva will open for dinner in late-October, Sunday – Wednesday from 5:00 – 10:00 p.m.; Thursday 5:00 – 11:00 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 5:00 p.m. to midnight – a late night menu will also be offered on Friday and Saturday from 10:00 p.m. to midnight.

Founded by Brian Leventhal and John Stires, First Batch Hospitality champions a new, accessible approach to wine and winemaking. The hospitality group presents working wineries set against metropolitan backdrops, complete with private event spaces, restaurants and tasting rooms. With locations in Brooklyn, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois, First Batch Hospitality is proud to tailor its concepts to represent the local creativity and exemplary hospitality of the neighborhoods they call home.

Featured Image: Liva

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Yes, we’ve seen our fair share of baseball this summer, and football is right around the corner. But, with the NBA season inching closer and closer every day, we can’t help but shift our focus to some Chicago Bulls news.

The updates from the Bulls are less frequent and impactful than some Bears news we’ve seen recently. However, we’ve still been blessed with some bits and pieces of Bulls news this summer to fill the basketball-void. So, #SeeRed fans, let’s jump right into everything Bulls.

Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t rule out playing for the Bulls in the future 👀

“I’m committed to the Bucks. Down the line, you never know. Maybe I play for Chicago.”

(🎥 @foxkickoff ) pic.twitter.com/RyKMfb5Zk9

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) August 15, 2022

Greek Freak to Chicago?

Okay, this first bit of Bulls news has us pinching ourselves out of some daydreams, but we’ll play along with the headlines.

About a week ago in an interview with Fox 32 Chicago Sports, Giannis Antetokounmpo gave reporters a surprising answer when asked if he would ever consider playing for the Bulls down the road.

““I think anybody you asked that question that plays basketball if he said “no,” he would be a liar. It’s a team that won multiple championships. It’s a team with one of the greatest players if not the greatest player to ever play this game. So it’s a no-brainer. Everybody would love to play for Chicago. Down the line, you never know, maybe I’ll play for Chicago. But right now I’m committed to Milwaukee.”

Mark your calendars for 2025 folks! That’s when Giannis enters free agency.

Lonzo’s Status

One not-so-minor detail surrounding the Bulls this offseason involves their starting point guard Lonzo Ball and his rehab from surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Ball’s operation occurred back in late January, and initial expectations had him returning towards the end of the 2021-22 season. Unfortunately, that never happened, and after the team acquired veteran Goran Dragic at the beginning of July, some questions surfaced on the progress of Ball’s rehab. 

Early in the summer, we saw some pieces of Chicago Bulls news claiming that Ball was progressing, but not, “at the speed that we would like,” according to V.P. Arturas Karnisovas.

Fortunately, the latest talk surrounding Ball and his knee seem to indicate a more positive trend. As of late, Billy Donovan claims Ball is moving in a, “very very positive direction”. On that note, it’s likely we’ll see him return to action sooner than we would have thought based on Karnisovas comments, but we’re still treating his status as TBD. It’s more likely than not that the Bulls slow down his recovery timeline as an extra precaution.

A BIG Add

In addition to acquiring Dragic, the Chicago Bulls signed 28-year-old big man Andre Drummond to a two-year deal this summer as well. The second year of his deal is a player option, and if he performs as well as he did after joining the Nets last year, we sure hope he takes it.

After being dealt to Brooklyn in the James Harden trade, Drummond averaged 11.8 points and 10.3 rebounds for the Nets in the 24 regular season games he was with them. His consistency on the court should bode well for the Bulls upcoming season.

Bulls Release The Sched

Our last piece of Chicago Bulls news should get everyone hyped for the season: the schedule drop! 

Last week, the league sent NBA Twitter into a frenzy when teams started releasing their schedules for the upcoming year. The Bulls schedule includes 14 nationally televised games in total. The team kicks off their season with a five-game Eastern Conference stretch that starts in Miami. Our first home game will take place on Saturday, October 22 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is our third game on the schedule. 

After that, just one week later, we’ll face the 76ers at home for our first nationally televised game on NBA TV. You won’t want to miss that one, Bulls nation. It could turn into a big Andre Drummond revenge game! #SeeRed

Featured Image Credit: Chicago Bulls’ Instagram

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They say West Loop is the Best Loop, and that definitely applies to the dating scene. Since this part of the city is laden with hot 20- and 30-somethings, the streets are constantly buzzing. Here, you’ll find some of the most popular and notable restaurants in the city, dozens of bars, shops, and things to do at every turn. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever been to the West Loop and not seen someone who has the potential to be my future husband (here’s to you, guy who walks his Frenchie down Randolph).

And just in case you’re planning a date in a different neighborhood, check out our 2022 revamped dating guides for Logan Square to Lincoln Park, too. Oh, and there are more to come.

180 N Morgan St, Chicago, IL 60607

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a million more times: going out in the West Loop doesn’t count unless you stop at Federales. The energetic atmosphere here makes it the perfect spot for drinks with friends, a work happy hour, OR a first date! We likely all know plenty of couples who’ve met at Feds or have met someone ourselves that we, at one point, thought could’ve been the one (I’m still holding on to one of those nights).

When you take a date here, you’ll probably indulge in guacamole and shrimp tacos, and continue to bond over throwing the ice molds from your Casamigos shot at the bell. Hey, if Chance the Rapper can hit the bell, why can’t you?

1364 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607

What’s better than a regular dinner date? Cooking together! While you might be a little uncomfortable going to a stranger’s or having a stranger come to your place for the first time, there’s another option – Gyu-Kaku! This nationally known Japanese BBQ place brings ease and great flavors to one of the cutest first date ideas: cooking together.

Over the open flame in the middle of your table, you and your date will work your way through preparing a multi-course meal consisting of various meat and veggies. The great thing about Gyu-Kaku is that the marinating is done for you, all you have to do is sear and enjoy! If you do feel okay spending your first date in either of your apartments (which is totally fine), Gyu-Kaku also offers their raw, marinated meats to go. 

112 N Green St, Chicago, IL 60607

Dear coffee lovers turned romantic lovers, if you haven’t already, meet Sawada. The first coffee shop in the US of Hiroshi Sawada offers a menu of espresso and matcha-based drinks that you won’t find anywhere else in the city. This industrial-style shop is a coffee lover’s dream, complete with the scent of always freshly brewed drinks wafting through the air. If your date gets competitive, you’ll find warm wood-paneled walls, glistening string lights, and a ping pong table.

While you converse and uncover each other’s quirks and favorite colors, why not sip on an aromatic latte, then split a Doughnut Vault donut as you plan your second date? Is there anything more dreamy than getting to know a perfect match over a cup of coffee on a chilly fall day? I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift has written songs about this. 

813 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

The drink of pure romance? Wine, of course! At Joe’s Imports on Fulton Market, the wine list is curated by wine Director Joe Fieley’s personal travel and experiences. Here, you’ll find wine from unique places all over the globe, like Israel and Romania, making it the perfect spot to dive into something new together.

A date at Joe’s Imports also guarantees an intimate setting where you and your date can nibble at smaller snacks or share larger meals, all while sampling what could be the wine that brings you two even closer. Think about it, on each anniversary of your first date, you can start the tradition of hunting down that special bottle and reminiscing on the place where it all started: Joe’s Imports. 

942 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607 

New to the West Loop is Texan Taco Bar. Opened by Parlor’s owners Michael Bisbee and Tim Hendricks, this spot elevates traditional TexMex food with specialty tacos and hand-squeezed margaritas. A first date, at least by my standards, usually isn’t complete without a few drinks, and tequila will definitely bring that warm and fuzzy feeling in your stomach that’ll have you chatting away in no time. As of food, Texan Taco Bar has plenty of shareable like Texan Queso and Nacho Bites, and a huge dessert menu to splurge on something sweet to wrap up what was hopefully a perfect first date.!

Featured Image: Federales

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In March 2020, Theatre L’Acadie opened a production of Tennessee Williams’s The Two Character Play the same week the city locked down for the COVID-19 pandemic: sibling actors, mad and maddening, tilt on the edge between fantasy and reality with a backstory of undefined trauma. Two years later, we return to nearly the same scenario—two characters, claustrophobic make-believe, submerged psychological wounds—in Callie Kimball’s Things That Are Round (directed by Erin Sheets). But true to our participation in the long-present pandemic, we never get to leave the living room—nevertheless, pandemonium.

Things That Are Round Through 8/28: Wed-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Facility Theatre, 1138 N. California, theatrelacadie.com, $20 suggested donation

A dentist in her middle years, Tetherly (Capri Gehred-O’Connell) seeks a nanny for her son Dylan. Erstwhile paralegal and aspiring opera singer Nina (Laura Jasmine) is no Mary Poppins, but she’ll do just about anything for cash paid in advance. “He’s so easy,” wheedles Tetherly, wielding wads of hundred-dollar bills. There’s just one catch: Dylan is imaginary, also deaf—NBD, right? 

What could be the world’s easiest babysitting assignment becomes a daily game of inventing reality in combative dialogues between tense Tetherly and nasty Nina, who, despite the odds, become friends—if friends who pay friends are friends. Gehred-O’Connell’s Tetherly is high-pitched as a drill; Jasmine’s Nina is petulant and practical—she saves her imagination for making money out of molehills. In the confines of Tetherly’s living room, which is stacked with the cardboard boxes and plastered with the Post-it notes of a life approached provisionally, patients, partners, and practical matters become as insubstantial, invisible, and inaudible as Dylan. The truth is not beautiful; the beautiful is not true, but shared fantasies (and/or finances) become the basis of real relationships. 

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This story was originally published on April 13, 2016.

LOS ANGELES — The clock ticked toward midnight Wednesday. The sold-out stands had emptied hours earlier.

Now, ushers, security guards and cleaning crews swept mounds of purple and gold confetti, streamers and balloons into white trash bags. But Kobe Bryant remained on the court.

In a black Los Angeles Lakers hoodie, sweatpants and a pair of his sneakers, the 37-year-old gathered his family — his wife and two young daughters — on the Staples Center hardwood, and posed for pictures beside the team’s half-court logo.

As shutters snapped and flashes popped, Bryant smiled, lingering in the place where he had delivered the most perfect farewell, one so fitting and surreal that it too will linger in the vivid memories of those who watched it almost impossibly unfold.

In the final game of his storied 20-season career, Bryant scored 60 points and hit the winning shot with 31.6 seconds left. He scored 15 of the Lakers’ final 17 points. He outscored the opponent by himself (23-21) in the fourth quarter.

And, to round out the storybook ending, Bryant led the Lakers to a 101-96 victory against the Utah Jazz in his 1,346th and final regular-season game, punctuating a season-long farewell tour with a performance that even he couldn’t fathom.

“It’s hard to believe that it happened this way,” he said after notching the sixth game of 60-plus points in his career. “I’m still in shock about it.”

In October, Bryant’s first shot of the preseason in Hawaii hit the side of the backboard, foreshadowing a season of struggle.

Kobe Bryant gave his fans a farewell performance to remember. He scored 60 points in his last game as a Laker. Harry How/Getty Images

The tribute videos, standing ovations and chants still poured in, even though Bryant kept misfiring, earning comparisons to Willie Mays with the New York Mets and Johnny Unitas with the San Diego Chargers, stars in their twilight who had become shells of their former selves.

Bryant’s 20th season ultimately amounted to a living wake, but unlike some aging icons, he never retreated from the spotlight. Instead, he remained the Lakers’ sole focus, especially as they clung to him for relevancy during their worst season in franchise history (17-65).

And he was never more the focus than Wednesday, starting with the fact that Bryant attempted a career-high 50 shots, his most since taking 47 in 2002.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Bryant became the first player since Rick Barry in February 1967 to attempt at least 50 shots in a game.

Bryant took 58.8 percent of his team’s 85 shots, the highest percentage of his team’s shots that he has ever taken in a game, even more than when he scored 81 points. In essence, Kobe’s final game was so Kobe. He has always been a gunner, firing away as much as he pleases, even excessively.

And he has had an ultra green light during this season, but never more so than in his finale, and he took full advantage. “My teammates were just continuing to encourage me, [telling me] ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot,'” Bryant said.

Bryant played as if he were trying to drain every shot from his basketball soul, satisfying fans who didn’t spend thousands to come see him pass anyway. He said his nerves affected him some, but to keep his emotions in check, he had planned to follow his typical game-day routine, busying himself by focusing on the matchup.

“It didn’t work out that way,” he said with a laugh. “There were so many people to talk to and items to be signed and pictures to be taken. I just gave myself up to that. I just said, this is fine, this is cool. Just let it go, let it ride. Just enjoy it. It was fun.”

Several times, Bryant’s sentiments nearly overtook him, such as when he put on his socks, shoes and jersey or ran out of the tunnel. “OK, you’ve got to block that out because none of that makes a difference whatsoever if you come out here and completely lay an egg,” he told himself. “So you have to concentrate and focus and then you can be nostalgic all you want later on tonight and tomorrow.”

In terms of his tomorrow, Bryant said he plans to work out, if only to avoid falling into bad habits. He’ll work out of his corporate office, where he is ferociously hell-bent on building Kobe Inc. into an empire that one day overshadows his mythical basketball legacy.

Many Lakers fans and others no doubt will want to see him play basketball again, somehow. They might catch a glimpse on social media, he says, but he affirmed that he’ll never play in the NBA again. His body simply can’t take any more.

The fact that he walked off the court Wednesday is almost as miraculous as his point total. After all, his past three seasons were cut short by injury, and even Bryant admitted there were times this season when his body failed him to the point where he worried he might not reach the finish line.

Such concerns arose after the Lakers played the Dallas Mavericks earlier this season, Bryant said. Despite all the physical therapy and treatment he received on a daily basis, his body still felt terrible, still ached and stiffened up.

He wondered then, “Maybe this is Father Time and this is just what happens. That was a very tough moment for me,” Bryant said. “I didn’t know if I could pull myself [together].”

He missed games to rest. He played limited minutes in others. Late this season, he was so heavily wrapped in heat packs on the bench that he looked mummified.

The ultimate goal: help him escape his last game unscathed so that he can walk off on his own.

“It’s surreal,” he said of leaving the court for the last time. “It’s hard to describe. It’s almost like you’re in a fog and everything is moving extremely slow yet extremely fast. You’re trying to look and take it all in. You’re trying to observe and you’re not quite sure where to look to just take it all in. Very difficult to do. But it’s like a dream.”

Bryant had told his young daughters that he used to put up big numbers like that quite often. “Really?” they asked him. “YouTube it,” he told them.

Wednesday didn’t mark the perfect ending, because, for him, perfect would’ve been a sixth championship. But the Lakers are stuck in the NBA’s basement, so all he could do was try to put on a show, which he did in glorious fashion, once more.

As he sat on the dais before a packed news conference, with 450-500 media credentialed for his final game, Bryant donned his jersey. It seemed like he didn’t want to take it off, to move on and leave his lifelong obsession behind, but he laughed at the notion. “I just figured, tonight I’d come in here early since I know you [media] have deadlines and stuff,” Bryant said. “It’s not like I have to ice. What takes a long time is I have to ice, I have to stretch, [receive physical therapy]. [But] what am I doing that for? The treadmill tomorrow? I figured I’d come in here a lot faster and get going.”

Then Bryant paused. He spoke about how his teammates sprayed him with champagne when he came into the locker room after the game. ‘”That’s only for championships,” he told them, “but all right.”

He could smell the champagne on his jersey, just as he could in past Junes when the Lakers were dominant. Then Bryant admitted it. He wasn’t ready to move on. “Taking it off is going to be very strange,” he said.

When he sank a 20-footer in the final minute to give the Lakers a 97-96 lead, the crowd erupted, delirious that Bryant gave them one more clutch shot. His final point came at the free throw line, just as his first point did in New York on Nov. 5, 1996.

Bryant played all but 4.1 seconds in his final frame, checking out to another ovation and more deafening roars. After hugging teammates and former teammates, a sweat-soaked and worn-down Bryant came to half court and addressed the crowd. “You know, I can’t believe how fast 20 years went by,” Bryant said. “This is crazy.”

Video tributes had featured Jack Nicholson and Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson, Kevin Durant and LeBron James, and Magic Johnson called Bryant the greatest Laker ever.

After all that, Bryant told the fans how much he appreciated them remaining loyal through his career. He told them how much it meant to only play for the Lakers, a team he loved ever since childhood. “What can I say?” Bryant said with a huge smile. “Mamba out.”

Then, hours later, Mamba returned. On one side of the court, Bryant autographed the commemorative No. 8, signing, simply, “Kobe.” On the other side, he signed the commemorative No. 24 with “Laker for Life! Kobe 24.”

He took pictures, shook hands, hugged and said goodbye. Bryant received numerous farewell gifts throughout the year, but none topped what the Lakers gave him — an entire season to do with what he pleased.

To return the favor, Bryant’s poor play often helped his team lose, giving the Lakers a better shot at keeping their top-three protected first-round draft pick this summer. It marked the oddest irony of this season-long spectacle, this yellow brick road that stretched from October to April and ended on spring night in downtown Los Angeles, where Staples Center rocked as if good days were here again, where thousands of fans gathered outside as if a championship had been won.

At 12:20 a.m., with Wednesday faded into Thursday, the newest ex-Laker left the court, but not before he knelt down and slapped the Lakers’ logo, twice. He had given the team and this city scores of memories, as well as more than half his life, and now he had given everyone a farewell gift of his own — a night to remember forever.

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