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NBA 2K23 Summer League kicked off Thursday night with a matchup between Orlando’s Paolo Banchero and Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr., the No. 1 and No. 3 picks, respectively, in last month’s NBA draft.

The Magic won 91-77 in the first meeting between two of the NBA’s most anticipated rookies, with Banchero notching 17 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Smith had a quieter night in his Rockets debut, finishing with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

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No. 5 overall pick Jaden Ivey made his debut with the Detroit Pistons, scoring a team-high 20 points en route to an 81-78 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Blazers rookie Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 7 pick, had his debut cut short by a shoulder injury that ended his night after just six minutes.

The action continued Friday with several other rookies getting their first action in Vegas.

Which first-year players stood out? Our NBA insiders break down the rookies who stole the show through the first two days in Las Vegas.

NBA summer league 2022: One player to watch on every team

No. 1 vs. No. 3: Banchero and Smith meet for the first time

Banchero came into the NBA draft process billed as the most NBA-ready prospect in the class. Smith, on the other hand, oozes potential but turned 19 less than two months before draft night and was always going to need time to develop. When they took the court against each other Thursday night, both players proved those scouting reports — at least for one night — to be accurate.

Banchero, who looked every bit the 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds he’s listed at, used his size and physicality to get wherever he wanted on the court. He finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists in 25 minutes. He played the way he likely will for Orlando next season: by serving as a de facto point guard in a power forward’s body.

He didn’t always get a lot of separation and has work to do defensively, and he admitted after the game he’s using summer league to get himself into shape, but even in a one-game sample it was easy to see what put him atop the draft.

Smith, on the other hand, is going to take a lot more time — and it showed. He was criticized at times last season at Auburn for not being assertive enough with his teammates in getting the ball, and that happened Thursday night.

But there’s plenty to like about his game. Smith’s high, quick release, combined with his 6-10 frame, has the potential to make him a serious spot-up shooting threat. In time, he could easily put on weight to expand his game like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and other young, projectable wings before him.

He competes hard on defense and has quick feet, which gives him significant upside at that end, as well.

Smith’s development is going to take time, particularly on a very young Rockets team with some inexperienced guards getting the lion’s share of the ballhandling minutes, led by last year’s No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green.

Two other significant rookies also stood out in this game: Houston’s Tari Eason (No. 17 overall) and Orlando’s Caleb Houstan (No. 32 overall).

Eason, a 6-8 forward from LSU, has the kind of rangy build that could make him an elite defensive wing. His 3-point shot, though, is going to take a lot of work to make him into a true 3-and-D player, and he did a lot of extra work on offense in this game that he won’t be doing in regular-season action.

Houstan, a former five-star recruit from Michigan who struggled as a freshman and fell out of the first round, is a very intriguing prospect. He finished with 20 points on 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range in 28 minutes. The 6-foot-8 Houstan is the kind of long, athletic forward who could be a real find for Orlando if he develops into the player he was supposed to be before his lone collegiate season. — Tim Bontemps

Ivey and Duren shine for the Pistons

The Detroit Pistons came away from the NBA draft last month feeling like major winners after adding a pair of lottery picks — No. 5 overall pick Ivey and No. 13 overall pick Jalen Duren — to a budding young core centered around Cade Cunningham, last year’s top overall selection. Both Pistons fans and Cunningham, who watched from the sidelines, got their first glimpse at the duo during Thursday’s opener against the Portland Trail Blazers — from the opening play of the game.

On the first possession of the game, Ivey tossed an alley-oop toward the basket for Duren, who finished a two-handed dunk with authority.

Ivey scored a team-high 20 points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists while showcasing the athletic traits he brings to a Pistons backcourt that has a chance to be dynamic. Ivey zoomed past defenders with a quick first step and barreled toward the basket like a runaway train. However, his summer league debut was still a bit erratic, especially during the first half while he was trying to adjust to the speed of the game. He made some errant passes and ill-advised decisions that led to five turnovers and five fouls.

Stay up to date on the latest NBA free agency and trade news all summer long:

Duren, meanwhile, had been waiting all week for the draft night trade that brought him to Detroit to become official, and he was officially added to the roster the morning before the first game. Although the team kept him on a minutes restriction that limited him to 12 minutes, he made the most of his time on the court. Duren, who does not turn 19 until November, finished with nine points, a rebound and a pair of blocks. His size and vertical ability were so imposing that he looked far from the youngest player in last month’s draft.

There will certainly be growing pains with both rookies, but their debuts provided enough reasons for continued optimism about the future in Detroit. — Jamal Collier

Mathurin leads all scorers for the Pistons

Bennedict Mathurin, the Indiana Pacers‘ highest draft pick (No. 6) since Rik Smits in 1988, looked the part in his first summer appearance Friday against the Charlotte Hornets. Mathurin led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, knocking down three 3-pointers.

Mathurin’s ability to shoot the NBA 3 is the bedrock of his game entering the league. Opponents must respect Mathurin potentially pulling up off the dribble — one of his three makes was off the dribble in transition — which enhances his ability to create space as a driver. Mathurin leveraged that room to get off pull-up jumpers with a similarly smooth stroke.

I would like to see Mathurin develop his plan to attack hard closeouts. He dribbled in after one for a pull-up midrange attempt, the once-dominant NBA strategy that now has lost favor to a side step or one-dribble reset for an open 3-pointer. Mathurin’s athletic repertoire also includes the ability to drive closeouts and the leaping ability that saw him finish a transition lob off the backboard from 2021 Indiana first-round pick Chris Duarte with a powerful dunk.

At the defensive end of the court, Mathurin’s strong fame aids him as an on-ball defender. He could stand to be more active defensively off the ball.

On the other side, Hornets center Mark Williams faced more of a learning curve in his debut. Without a strong pick-and-roll point guard to set him up like he’ll have with LaMelo Ball during the regular season, Williams frequently caught the ball in the middle of the paint and struggled to finish. Williams, who shot 72% during the 2021-22 season at Duke, was 2-of-8 from the field. He did contribute eight rebounds and a pair of blocks in that span. — Kevin Pelton

Agbaji should give Cleveland fans hope for the future

Cleveland’s Ochai Agbaji scored 16 points in an encouraging summer league debut, but it’s how he did it that should have Cavs fans most excited. Twelve of Agbaji’s 16 points came from beyond the arc, and he proved to the NBA world that he could not only knock down catch-and-shoot 3s, but create his own looks from deep too, as he hit this NBA-ready step-back early in the first.

Abgaji looked confident in his debut, and he has good reasons for that — he arrived in Vegas with one of the best r?sum?s of any rookie in his class. The 22-year-old shooting guard not only helped the Kansas Jayhawks win the NCAA title in April, but he was also named a first-team All-American and Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. Those achievements owe a lot to the simple fact this rookie played a ton of college hoops — he was the only senior drafted in the first round this season, and the oldest lottery pick in this year’s draft.

Still, the Cavs are hoping Agbaji’s best days are still ahead of him and that he can help this group improve its offensive efficiency. Last season, the Cavs ranked fifth in the league in defense but just 20th in offense, thanks in part to a mediocre output from beyond the arc.

Agbaji has the potential to become an elite 3-point scorer, and his debut didn’t do anything but support that claim. He took nine 3s in his first game as a pro, making four of them. If he can add some perimeter strength to this Cavs core that already features Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Cleveland’s future is only getting brighter. — Kirk Goldsberry

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The Chicago Blackhawks have been busy over the last couple of days. They have made plenty of trades for draft picks and have added a lot to their organization while also taking a lot away. They made a whopping 11 selections over seven rounds.

Draft day started for Chicago with zero first-round picks. They got in by trading Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators. Amongst other picks, they landed the seventh overall pick. They also got pick 13 in a trade that sent Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadiens.

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The Chicago Cubs aren’t having a really good year at all. They are one of the worst teams in the National League that are only going to get worse before the trade deadline arrives. One of their biggest trade deadline assets, however, is going to give Cubs fans one last thing to smile about.

Willson Contreras was voted in to be the starting catcher for the National League All-Stars at the 2022 MLB All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. He deserves it as he has been one of the best catchers in the National League up to this point.

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“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” Coleridge’s sailor complains in the famous 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner is talking about the plight on his ship, but he may as well be describing the city of New York. That year, a yellow fever epidemic led to an outcry over the city’s drinking water shortage. Foul water was believed at the time to cause not only that outbreak but a host of other diseases. While this didn’t turn out to be so, there was no denying that a municipality whose population was growing exponentially needed a sustainable source. 

Lucy Sante’s diverting new book details the scorched-earth efforts of governmental and business entities to solve the problem while lining their pockets all along the line. Was the cure worse than the illness? Is it right to submerge towns and villages so that a city may rise?

Manhattan is surrounded on all sides by bodies of water, none of it potable. The East and Harlem rivers go directly to the sea and the Hudson combines sea and salt water for many miles approaching the city. Settlers tapped ponds and streams as a solution, but that became untenable as New York was becoming an international harbor. Before the first reservoir system in Croton was even completed in 1842, widespread fires and a cholera outbreak proved it to be inadequate to the region’s needs. The population of 300,000 would triple over the next 20 years. The answer was to go further and further out of town, into the Hudson River Valley. But as Sante writes, “from an upstate perspective, the reservoir system represents at best an imposition and at worst an imperial pillage of the landscape.” 

Sante is a longtime resident of Ulster County, 80 miles up river from NYC. The Dutch settled the area in the 1600s, establishing little towns around dairy farms and other small industries. The sparse population was used by the city as a primary point in justifying the sacrifice necessary to meet desperate municipal requirements. Sante compares it to the trolley problem—a thought experiment in which a car is about to collide with a number of people and the operator can divert to a different track sparing the group, but definitely killing one person. Is it better to do nothing with a clean conscience and accept catastrophe or cause certain harm for the greater good? 

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
The Experiment, hardcover (coming out 8/9), 208 pp., $24.95, theexperimentpublishing.com

Water, as they say, seeks its own level. The six major regional reservoirs, built between 1907 and 1967, were in a constant, desperate race to meet the unquenchable needs of an exploding population. But how could those needs even be quantified? Water was considered for centuries a bottomless resource and akin to a human right. But the costs of building dams and hundreds of miles of pipes, tunnels, and aqueducts were exorbitant. Fights between local and state institutions over what to charge for water delivery were legion and overrun by graft down to the least measurable drop. Meters, for instance, were manufactured by cronies of this or that official, then sold to property owners at exorbitant rates. 

Just the idea that water usage should be monitored was used by political parties of every stripe. Liberals might argue that charging poor people for their water was an undue burden, but without measuring or conservation, the city was wasting millions of gallons a day. Astoundingly, Sante cites the fact that in 1999 around 65 percent of apartment buildings in the city were still unmetered. 

Meanwhile, upstate, “the ghosts of the drowned villages continue to haunt the public imagination via roadside markers and twice-told tales,” Sante writes. 

As with every piece of Sante’s writing I’ve read, the prose is crystalline and the pages are richly illuminated with maps, adverts, and period photography—often from her own extensive collection of vernacular materials and ephemera. The visual matter serves to further accentuate the intractable issue at the heart of this book: how to help an urban population without utterly destroying a rural one.

Sante doesn’t have a solution. As a writer, historian, and dweller of the area in question, her part is to observe and describe. She’s aided in her task by photographer Tim Davis, who spent the summer of 2020 documenting the landscapes and inhabitants in and around these man-made bodies of water. Davis’s evocative pictures fill the ten-page epilogue to the book, prompting Sante to wonder, “Is it because we know the reservoirs are artificial that their very beauty can appear confected?”

What’s utterly real is that 300 years later, New York City’s crisis is familiar to the majority of the planet’s inhabitants. Our trolley is hurtling towards a crash. The question is how many we take out before coming to a complete stop.

Read More

“Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” Coleridge’s sailor complains in the famous 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The mariner is talking about the plight on his ship, but he may as well be describing the city of New York. That year, a yellow fever epidemic led to an outcry over the city’s drinking water shortage. Foul water was believed at the time to cause not only that outbreak but a host of other diseases. While this didn’t turn out to be so, there was no denying that a municipality whose population was growing exponentially needed a sustainable source. 

Lucy Sante’s diverting new book details the scorched-earth efforts of governmental and business entities to solve the problem while lining their pockets all along the line. Was the cure worse than the illness? Is it right to submerge towns and villages so that a city may rise?

Manhattan is surrounded on all sides by bodies of water, none of it potable. The East and Harlem rivers go directly to the sea and the Hudson combines sea and salt water for many miles approaching the city. Settlers tapped ponds and streams as a solution, but that became untenable as New York was becoming an international harbor. Before the first reservoir system in Croton was even completed in 1842, widespread fires and a cholera outbreak proved it to be inadequate to the region’s needs. The population of 300,000 would triple over the next 20 years. The answer was to go further and further out of town, into the Hudson River Valley. But as Sante writes, “from an upstate perspective, the reservoir system represents at best an imposition and at worst an imperial pillage of the landscape.” 

Sante is a longtime resident of Ulster County, 80 miles up river from NYC. The Dutch settled the area in the 1600s, establishing little towns around dairy farms and other small industries. The sparse population was used by the city as a primary point in justifying the sacrifice necessary to meet desperate municipal requirements. Sante compares it to the trolley problem—a thought experiment in which a car is about to collide with a number of people and the operator can divert to a different track sparing the group, but definitely killing one person. Is it better to do nothing with a clean conscience and accept catastrophe or cause certain harm for the greater good? 

Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
The Experiment, hardcover (coming out 8/9), 208 pp., $24.95, theexperimentpublishing.com

Water, as they say, seeks its own level. The six major regional reservoirs, built between 1907 and 1967, were in a constant, desperate race to meet the unquenchable needs of an exploding population. But how could those needs even be quantified? Water was considered for centuries a bottomless resource and akin to a human right. But the costs of building dams and hundreds of miles of pipes, tunnels, and aqueducts were exorbitant. Fights between local and state institutions over what to charge for water delivery were legion and overrun by graft down to the least measurable drop. Meters, for instance, were manufactured by cronies of this or that official, then sold to property owners at exorbitant rates. 

Just the idea that water usage should be monitored was used by political parties of every stripe. Liberals might argue that charging poor people for their water was an undue burden, but without measuring or conservation, the city was wasting millions of gallons a day. Astoundingly, Sante cites the fact that in 1999 around 65 percent of apartment buildings in the city were still unmetered. 

Meanwhile, upstate, “the ghosts of the drowned villages continue to haunt the public imagination via roadside markers and twice-told tales,” Sante writes. 

As with every piece of Sante’s writing I’ve read, the prose is crystalline and the pages are richly illuminated with maps, adverts, and period photography—often from her own extensive collection of vernacular materials and ephemera. The visual matter serves to further accentuate the intractable issue at the heart of this book: how to help an urban population without utterly destroying a rural one.

Sante doesn’t have a solution. As a writer, historian, and dweller of the area in question, her part is to observe and describe. She’s aided in her task by photographer Tim Davis, who spent the summer of 2020 documenting the landscapes and inhabitants in and around these man-made bodies of water. Davis’s evocative pictures fill the ten-page epilogue to the book, prompting Sante to wonder, “Is it because we know the reservoirs are artificial that their very beauty can appear confected?”

What’s utterly real is that 300 years later, New York City’s crisis is familiar to the majority of the planet’s inhabitants. Our trolley is hurtling towards a crash. The question is how many we take out before coming to a complete stop.

Read More

Looking for something to do this weekend and beyond? Here are some ideas for you.

FRI 7/8

Ray Borchers’s “Coasting on None”opens tonight at T.F. Projects (1513 N. Western, Unit 104), the private showroom of local artist and odd man Tony Fitzpatrick. Borchers is known in the music community for Sharpie-rendered T-shirts of cult icons such as Eazy-E and Gina X. More recently, she’s been working with her partner Collin Bunting on a line of handmade and block printed clothing and textiles called “boy names,” which is sold at the Buddy store in the Cultural Center (78 E. Washington). In her T.F. Projects debut, Borchers will show collage-like paintings made over the past six months that feel like sanguine fever dreams. Tonight’s reception happens from 5-8 PM, but the paintings are available to view by appointment through 8/15. If you can’t make the opening, schedule a visit by calling 773-850-9702. (MC)

Albany Park Theater Project celebrates its 25th anniversary season and its first live performance in two years in Homecoming, a piece drawing upon the company’s favorite stories from past shows about the diverse community they call home. APTP combines youth and adult artists in collaborative work primarily illustrating the experience of young immigrant and BIPOC people in Chicago; along the way, they’ve created work about education (Learning Curve), loss (Ofrenda), food (Feast), and the experiences of being undocumented (Home/Land). They’ve performed downtown at the Goodman several times, but appropriately enough, this show is in their home space, the Laura Wiley Theater (named for the late cofounder of the company) at Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway). Homecoming runs through 7/23; tickets are pay what you can with a suggested price of $35 at aptpchicago.org. While tonight’s 8 PM opening and several of the other performances are already sold out, you can put yourself on a waiting list for open tickets by filling out this form. Performed in English with Spanish titles. (KR)

Chicago is officially in festival season! We encourage you to read Reader senior writer Leor Galil’s report on attending outdoor festivals under the long shadow of COVID-19, which also includes a guide to some music scheduled for the upcoming weeks. And tonight, two music-focused festivals kick off. Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig previewed this weekend’s Square Roots festival, which starts this evening at 5 PM (on Lincoln between Montrose and Wilson), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days); check out the Square Roots website for performer details and lists of vendors. And further south, West Fest Chicago starts tonight (5 PM, on Chicago Ave. between Wood and Damen), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days). A full schedule of live music is available at West Fest’s website. Both festivals are open to all ages and a suggested donation of $10 for adults will be requested upon entry. And if you’re looking for a musical evening but not ready to embrace street fairs, there are plenty of concerts scheduled for tonight around the city, including Daniel Villarreal’s show at 8:30 PM at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport)—you can learn more about the Chicago percussionist through contributor Sandra Treviño’s profile here. (SCJ)   

SAT 7/9

Every second and fourth Saturday, Garfield Park celebrates local food and entrepreneurs at its neighborhood market hosted by the Hatchery (135 N. Kedzie). This weekend is extra special, though, because the market is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Not only will there be the usual array of west-side vendors selling local produce, flowers, and handmade items, but there will also be free cake and lemonade, a T-shirt giveaway, a cooking demonstration by health educator Ramona L. J. Baptiste (aka “Chef in the Hood”), and a live performance by Anointed Voices, the choir at East Garfield Park’s Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church. This is a free, all-ages event that runs from 10 AM-2 PM. (MC)

From noon-5 PM, the organizations Únete La Villita, ChiResists, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Good Kids Mad City, and Treatment Not Trauma team up to host Healing in the Park. This is a free intergenerational day of activities in Humboldt Park (1400 N. Humboldt) that centers BIPOC communities impacted by gun violence, police brutality, state surveillance, and other systemic injustices that threaten physical and mental wellness and interpersonal relationships. Expect everything from art and music workshops to a healing station, mental health screenings, and mutual aid opportunities (including free food!). Childcare will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to wear a mask and bring a picnic blanket. For a complete schedule of events, check out Únete La Villita’s Instagram. Otherwise, prepare to meet up by the Little Cubs Field section of the park at Hirsch and Kedzie. (MC)

More homecoming themes: the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet collaborate on the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, created by an all-female team, including choreographer Amy Hall Garner (who was featured in the Joffrey’s Winning Works choreographic competition in 2011, and whose As the Wind Blows had its world premiere with Hubbard Street in March); writer Karla Estela Rivera, executive director for Free Street; and children’s book illustrator Elisa Chavarri, whose watercolor illustrations will come to life onstage in this 45-minute family-friendly piece, performed by Joffrey Studio dancers and students of the Joffrey Academy of Dance. The story follows Rita’s adventures as a hurricane forces her and her mother to move from their quiet island to a big city. Feeling lost and disconnected from her painting, she learns how to find the beauty of her new home with the help of friends. It’s presented today and tomorrow at 11 AM and 6 PM at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park  (600 E. Grand), and then moves on to performances next weekend at Harrison Park (1824 S. Wood), Thu 7/14, 6:30 PM; Hale Park (6258 W. 62nd), Fri 7/15, 6:30 PM; and Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway), Sat 7/16, 3 PM. Performances are free and no registration is required, but you can check for updates for changes to the schedule due to weather, etc. at joffrey.org. (KR)

If tap is more your family’s jam, then Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm Worldmay fill the bill. The company, led by artistic director Jumaane Taylor, brings back their festival celebrating the art of tap with workshops and performances at five different venues in the city through 7/24. Tonight at 7 PM, they’re at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (740 E. 56th) for a free performance featuring Maria Majors and Anthony Russo of Saint Louis’s STL Rhythm Collaborative/moSTLy TAP, CHRP vet Sean Kaminski, Victoria Jones of Las Vegas (founder of the Las Vegas branch of M.A.D.D. Rhythms), and music by the Eric Hochberg Trio. For reservations and information on the rest of the festival’s schedule, see chicagotap.org. (KR)

SUN 7/10

What could be better than a summer morning of local produce, neighborhood vendors, and . . . making paper cranes with local art duos? You’ll get a chance to do all these things at today’s Hyde Park Farmers Market (9 AM-1 PM in the Hyde Park Bank parking lot at 54th St. and S. Lake Park Ave. West), as the Hyde Park Art Center hosts a booth featuring artists Stan Shellabarger and Dutes Miller, who will show you how to make paper cranes that will then get used in their work Burnt (which is currently on display in their exhibition “Loving Repeating” at the Center). (SCJ)

Today is the last day of the “bite-sized” but still delicious Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. Most vendors will be set up by Buckingham Fountain, near Jackson and Columbus, with several food trucks lining Columbus both north and south of Ida B. Wells. From 11 AM-9 PM, you can enter for free and take your pick of local food and drink vendors to nosh with. And to make it easier this year, cash and credit cards will be accepted by all food vendors and no food tickets will be sold or required. A full list of participating restaurants is available at the city’s website, along with set times for today’s musical performances (highlights include DJ Selah Say at 2 PM and DJ Duane Powell at 4:30 PM on the Goose Island Stage, as well as Local H and the Drive-By Truckers performing at 6 and 7:15 PM respectively on the main stage). (SCJ)

The annual RHINO Poetry journal will be released this month, as the Evanston-based organization behind the print publication celebrates over 46 years of publishing poems, flash fiction, and fostering a community of writers centered in a niche somewhere between academia and emerging poetry scenes. This year, RHINO is hosting a free online release party, featuring readers published in its pages, including Dot Dannenberg, Kiyoko Reidy, Makshya Tolbert, and Miguel Barretto Garcia. The event starts at 2 PM and registration is required here (at which point you’ll receive Zoom information). (SCJ)

MON 7/11

This week’s Monday Night Foodball features “a menu that begs to be enjoyed on the spot,” according to Reader senior writer Mike Sula. Chef Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine brings her Trinidadian fare including curried roti, pineapple chow, and pholourie to the weekly pop-up event tonight at Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie). Limited walk-in orders will be possible starting at 5 PM, but as always with the Foodball, it’s a good idea to pre-order for pick up. (SCJ)

TUE 7/12

This is the last week to catch Lost Illusions at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State). In this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel of the same name, 19th-century rural rube and aspiring poet Lucien is lured to Paris by a lover who soon abandons him. A friend connects him with opportunities as a journalist, where his need for money begins to conflict with his conscience. He quickly realizes the myriad ways “truth” is something he can hock to the highest bidders, kicking off multiple high-octane storylines that are related in luscious color with intense romanticism. Yes, it’s a French language film with a lot of laurel wreaths on the poster, but as Reader freelancer Noëlle D. Lilley points out, it’s also a “unique and still-relevant period piece” about money’s influence on the journalism industry that proves to be a very “fun ride.” Today it’s screening at 5:30 PM and other showtimes are listed at Siskel Film Center’s website. Tickets are $12. (MC)

WED 7/13

During the summer, there’s never a dull day in the Chicago Public Library system, especially for kids and teens. This year, the Douglass branch (3353 W. 13th St.) YOUmedia team partners with Vocalo to kick off a four-part series on writing, recording, producing, and editing for podcasts and radio. From 2-4:30 PM today, high school-aged teens will learn recording best practices through an audio scavenger hunt that calls attention to all kinds of sounds regularly happening around us. Then participants will regroup to share their findings and discuss how these sounds can be used in audio storytelling. All equipment will be provided, and while registration isn’t necessary, it’s highly recommended so organizers know how many students to expect. This workshop is free and does not require committing to the subsequent three classes. (MC)

The organizations Love & Protect and Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project team up today to host community healing in the form of a Free Them All Seed Quilt art making event. No prior art skill are necessary, as activists and artists will be on hand to help guide participants in sashiko embroidery, paper making, working with seeds, and writing messages on a large handmade quilt that will eventually be installed outside the Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln. This event will be held outside of Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) and happens between 4:30 and 7:30 PM. Free to attend, but please register at Eventbrite. (SCJ)

Every Wednesday until the end of August, the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) hosts Veggie Bingo. From 6-8 PM, participants have the chance to win a bounty of fresh produce and other tasty odds and ends from local partners such as honey, hot sauce, pickles, and more. It’s $10 for entry, which includes one bingo card, but you can buy additional cards in advance or in person for $4/each or $10/three. (Did we mention there will be hot dogs for sale, too?) Each week benefits a different garden facilitated by NeighborSpace, a local nonprofit that encourages urban land stewardship through community gardens. To attend Veggie Bingo, you must be 21 or older, and proof of vaccination is required. While this event takes place on the Hideout porch, masks are strongly encouraged inside the venue. (MC)

THU 7/14

At 5 PM, the See You Soon Event Space inside the Kimball Arts Center (1757 N. Kimball, Unit 203C) is screening Tonika Johnson’s Folded Map Project, a film about Johnson’s multi-layered art work where she examined “map twins”—people who lived at the same address on the north and south or east and west sides of the same streets—to reveal how Chicago has been shaped by systemic racism. What started as a photo project that documented the differences in environments (what architecture is common, how clean are the streets, and so on) evolved into interviews that reveal not only discrepancies in housing costs but also how one connects with one’s neighbors and learns or decides to embody community. Following the film, Johnson will lead a conversation and an activity based on it. This event is free and open to anyone, and it includes light refreshments. (MC)

The Chicago Independent Venue League curated tonight’s entertainment for the Millennium Park Music Series (201 E. Randolph), so you know this one’s a banger. Performers include gleeful indie soothsayer Tasha, renowned soul/jazz group Mario Abney & the Abney Effect Brass Band, and Ric Wilson—or “Disco Ric,” as some fans affectionately know the abolitionist rapper. Things kick off at 6:30 PM, but you’ll want to get there early to stake out a great spot with your lawn chair or blanket. (MC)

Walkabout Theater Company ponders the apocalypse through a window in Still a Quiet Afternoon, presented tonight through 7/16 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater (1700 N. Halsted) as part of the LookOut series. Co-created by Guilherme Kirchheim, Tara Ostiguy, Desiré Graham, Katie Mazzini, and Gabriel Thom Pasculli, and performed by Mazzini and Pasculli under the direction of Kirchheim and Ostiguy, the piece combines myth, poetry, and song as an elderly couple watches Troy burn outside their windows. They begin time-jumping through various disasters, trying to find the balance between protective reverie and confrontation with the urgency of the times. The show has been in development for the past three years, including a residency at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy, and a work-in-progress presentation with Prop Thtr’s RhinoFest. Curtain is 8 PM and tickets are $15 at walkabouttheater.org. (KR)

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Looking for something to do this weekend and beyond? Here are some ideas for you.

FRI 7/8

Ray Borchers’s “Coasting on None”opens tonight at T.F. Projects (1513 N. Western, Unit 104), the private showroom of local artist and odd man Tony Fitzpatrick. Borchers is known in the music community for Sharpie-rendered T-shirts of cult icons such as Eazy-E and Gina X. More recently, she’s been working with her partner Collin Bunting on a line of handmade and block printed clothing and textiles called “boy names,” which is sold at the Buddy store in the Cultural Center (78 E. Washington). In her T.F. Projects debut, Borchers will show collage-like paintings made over the past six months that feel like sanguine fever dreams. Tonight’s reception happens from 5-8 PM, but the paintings are available to view by appointment through 8/15. If you can’t make the opening, schedule a visit by calling 773-850-9702. (MC)

Albany Park Theater Project celebrates its 25th anniversary season and its first live performance in two years in Homecoming, a piece drawing upon the company’s favorite stories from past shows about the diverse community they call home. APTP combines youth and adult artists in collaborative work primarily illustrating the experience of young immigrant and BIPOC people in Chicago; along the way, they’ve created work about education (Learning Curve), loss (Ofrenda), food (Feast), and the experiences of being undocumented (Home/Land). They’ve performed downtown at the Goodman several times, but appropriately enough, this show is in their home space, the Laura Wiley Theater (named for the late cofounder of the company) at Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway). Homecoming runs through 7/23; tickets are pay what you can with a suggested price of $35 at aptpchicago.org. While tonight’s 8 PM opening and several of the other performances are already sold out, you can put yourself on a waiting list for open tickets by filling out this form. Performed in English with Spanish titles. (KR)

Chicago is officially in festival season! We encourage you to read Reader senior writer Leor Galil’s report on attending outdoor festivals under the long shadow of COVID-19, which also includes a guide to some music scheduled for the upcoming weeks. And tonight, two music-focused festivals kick off. Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig previewed this weekend’s Square Roots festival, which starts this evening at 5 PM (on Lincoln between Montrose and Wilson), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days); check out the Square Roots website for performer details and lists of vendors. And further south, West Fest Chicago starts tonight (5 PM, on Chicago Ave. between Wood and Damen), and continues Saturday and Sunday (noon-10 PM both days). A full schedule of live music is available at West Fest’s website. Both festivals are open to all ages and a suggested donation of $10 for adults will be requested upon entry. And if you’re looking for a musical evening but not ready to embrace street fairs, there are plenty of concerts scheduled for tonight around the city, including Daniel Villarreal’s show at 8:30 PM at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport)—you can learn more about the Chicago percussionist through contributor Sandra Treviño’s profile here. (SCJ)   

SAT 7/9

Every second and fourth Saturday, Garfield Park celebrates local food and entrepreneurs at its neighborhood market hosted by the Hatchery (135 N. Kedzie). This weekend is extra special, though, because the market is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Not only will there be the usual array of west-side vendors selling local produce, flowers, and handmade items, but there will also be free cake and lemonade, a T-shirt giveaway, a cooking demonstration by health educator Ramona L. J. Baptiste (aka “Chef in the Hood”), and a live performance by Anointed Voices, the choir at East Garfield Park’s Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church. This is a free, all-ages event that runs from 10 AM-2 PM. (MC)

From noon-5 PM, the organizations Únete La Villita, ChiResists, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Organized Communities Against Deportations, Good Kids Mad City, and Treatment Not Trauma team up to host Healing in the Park. This is a free intergenerational day of activities in Humboldt Park (1400 N. Humboldt) that centers BIPOC communities impacted by gun violence, police brutality, state surveillance, and other systemic injustices that threaten physical and mental wellness and interpersonal relationships. Expect everything from art and music workshops to a healing station, mental health screenings, and mutual aid opportunities (including free food!). Childcare will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to wear a mask and bring a picnic blanket. For a complete schedule of events, check out Únete La Villita’s Instagram. Otherwise, prepare to meet up by the Little Cubs Field section of the park at Hirsch and Kedzie. (MC)

More homecoming themes: the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet collaborate on the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, created by an all-female team, including choreographer Amy Hall Garner (who was featured in the Joffrey’s Winning Works choreographic competition in 2011, and whose As the Wind Blows had its world premiere with Hubbard Street in March); writer Karla Estela Rivera, executive director for Free Street; and children’s book illustrator Elisa Chavarri, whose watercolor illustrations will come to life onstage in this 45-minute family-friendly piece, performed by Joffrey Studio dancers and students of the Joffrey Academy of Dance. The story follows Rita’s adventures as a hurricane forces her and her mother to move from their quiet island to a big city. Feeling lost and disconnected from her painting, she learns how to find the beauty of her new home with the help of friends. It’s presented today and tomorrow at 11 AM and 6 PM at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros Park  (600 E. Grand), and then moves on to performances next weekend at Harrison Park (1824 S. Wood), Thu 7/14, 6:30 PM; Hale Park (6258 W. 62nd), Fri 7/15, 6:30 PM; and Eugene Field Park (5100 N. Ridgeway), Sat 7/16, 3 PM. Performances are free and no registration is required, but you can check for updates for changes to the schedule due to weather, etc. at joffrey.org. (KR)

If tap is more your family’s jam, then Chicago Human Rhythm Project’s Rhythm Worldmay fill the bill. The company, led by artistic director Jumaane Taylor, brings back their festival celebrating the art of tap with workshops and performances at five different venues in the city through 7/24. Tonight at 7 PM, they’re at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center (740 E. 56th) for a free performance featuring Maria Majors and Anthony Russo of Saint Louis’s STL Rhythm Collaborative/moSTLy TAP, CHRP vet Sean Kaminski, Victoria Jones of Las Vegas (founder of the Las Vegas branch of M.A.D.D. Rhythms), and music by the Eric Hochberg Trio. For reservations and information on the rest of the festival’s schedule, see chicagotap.org. (KR)

SUN 7/10

What could be better than a summer morning of local produce, neighborhood vendors, and . . . making paper cranes with local art duos? You’ll get a chance to do all these things at today’s Hyde Park Farmers Market (9 AM-1 PM in the Hyde Park Bank parking lot at 54th St. and S. Lake Park Ave. West), as the Hyde Park Art Center hosts a booth featuring artists Stan Shellabarger and Dutes Miller, who will show you how to make paper cranes that will then get used in their work Burnt (which is currently on display in their exhibition “Loving Repeating” at the Center). (SCJ)

Today is the last day of the “bite-sized” but still delicious Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. Most vendors will be set up by Buckingham Fountain, near Jackson and Columbus, with several food trucks lining Columbus both north and south of Ida B. Wells. From 11 AM-9 PM, you can enter for free and take your pick of local food and drink vendors to nosh with. And to make it easier this year, cash and credit cards will be accepted by all food vendors and no food tickets will be sold or required. A full list of participating restaurants is available at the city’s website, along with set times for today’s musical performances (highlights include DJ Selah Say at 2 PM and DJ Duane Powell at 4:30 PM on the Goose Island Stage, as well as Local H and the Drive-By Truckers performing at 6 and 7:15 PM respectively on the main stage). (SCJ)

The annual RHINO Poetry journal will be released this month, as the Evanston-based organization behind the print publication celebrates over 46 years of publishing poems, flash fiction, and fostering a community of writers centered in a niche somewhere between academia and emerging poetry scenes. This year, RHINO is hosting a free online release party, featuring readers published in its pages, including Dot Dannenberg, Kiyoko Reidy, Makshya Tolbert, and Miguel Barretto Garcia. The event starts at 2 PM and registration is required here (at which point you’ll receive Zoom information). (SCJ)

MON 7/11

This week’s Monday Night Foodball features “a menu that begs to be enjoyed on the spot,” according to Reader senior writer Mike Sula. Chef Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine brings her Trinidadian fare including curried roti, pineapple chow, and pholourie to the weekly pop-up event tonight at Kedzie Inn (4100 N. Kedzie). Limited walk-in orders will be possible starting at 5 PM, but as always with the Foodball, it’s a good idea to pre-order for pick up. (SCJ)

TUE 7/12

This is the last week to catch Lost Illusions at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State). In this adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel of the same name, 19th-century rural rube and aspiring poet Lucien is lured to Paris by a lover who soon abandons him. A friend connects him with opportunities as a journalist, where his need for money begins to conflict with his conscience. He quickly realizes the myriad ways “truth” is something he can hock to the highest bidders, kicking off multiple high-octane storylines that are related in luscious color with intense romanticism. Yes, it’s a French language film with a lot of laurel wreaths on the poster, but as Reader freelancer Noëlle D. Lilley points out, it’s also a “unique and still-relevant period piece” about money’s influence on the journalism industry that proves to be a very “fun ride.” Today it’s screening at 5:30 PM and other showtimes are listed at Siskel Film Center’s website. Tickets are $12. (MC)

WED 7/13

During the summer, there’s never a dull day in the Chicago Public Library system, especially for kids and teens. This year, the Douglass branch (3353 W. 13th St.) YOUmedia team partners with Vocalo to kick off a four-part series on writing, recording, producing, and editing for podcasts and radio. From 2-4:30 PM today, high school-aged teens will learn recording best practices through an audio scavenger hunt that calls attention to all kinds of sounds regularly happening around us. Then participants will regroup to share their findings and discuss how these sounds can be used in audio storytelling. All equipment will be provided, and while registration isn’t necessary, it’s highly recommended so organizers know how many students to expect. This workshop is free and does not require committing to the subsequent three classes. (MC)

The organizations Love & Protect and Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project team up today to host community healing in the form of a Free Them All Seed Quilt art making event. No prior art skill are necessary, as activists and artists will be on hand to help guide participants in sashiko embroidery, paper making, working with seeds, and writing messages on a large handmade quilt that will eventually be installed outside the Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln. This event will be held outside of Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) and happens between 4:30 and 7:30 PM. Free to attend, but please register at Eventbrite. (SCJ)

Every Wednesday until the end of August, the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia) hosts Veggie Bingo. From 6-8 PM, participants have the chance to win a bounty of fresh produce and other tasty odds and ends from local partners such as honey, hot sauce, pickles, and more. It’s $10 for entry, which includes one bingo card, but you can buy additional cards in advance or in person for $4/each or $10/three. (Did we mention there will be hot dogs for sale, too?) Each week benefits a different garden facilitated by NeighborSpace, a local nonprofit that encourages urban land stewardship through community gardens. To attend Veggie Bingo, you must be 21 or older, and proof of vaccination is required. While this event takes place on the Hideout porch, masks are strongly encouraged inside the venue. (MC)

THU 7/14

At 5 PM, the See You Soon Event Space inside the Kimball Arts Center (1757 N. Kimball, Unit 203C) is screening Tonika Johnson’s Folded Map Project, a film about Johnson’s multi-layered art work where she examined “map twins”—people who lived at the same address on the north and south or east and west sides of the same streets—to reveal how Chicago has been shaped by systemic racism. What started as a photo project that documented the differences in environments (what architecture is common, how clean are the streets, and so on) evolved into interviews that reveal not only discrepancies in housing costs but also how one connects with one’s neighbors and learns or decides to embody community. Following the film, Johnson will lead a conversation and an activity based on it. This event is free and open to anyone, and it includes light refreshments. (MC)

The Chicago Independent Venue League curated tonight’s entertainment for the Millennium Park Music Series (201 E. Randolph), so you know this one’s a banger. Performers include gleeful indie soothsayer Tasha, renowned soul/jazz group Mario Abney & the Abney Effect Brass Band, and Ric Wilson—or “Disco Ric,” as some fans affectionately know the abolitionist rapper. Things kick off at 6:30 PM, but you’ll want to get there early to stake out a great spot with your lawn chair or blanket. (MC)

Walkabout Theater Company ponders the apocalypse through a window in Still a Quiet Afternoon, presented tonight through 7/16 at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater (1700 N. Halsted) as part of the LookOut series. Co-created by Guilherme Kirchheim, Tara Ostiguy, Desiré Graham, Katie Mazzini, and Gabriel Thom Pasculli, and performed by Mazzini and Pasculli under the direction of Kirchheim and Ostiguy, the piece combines myth, poetry, and song as an elderly couple watches Troy burn outside their windows. They begin time-jumping through various disasters, trying to find the balance between protective reverie and confrontation with the urgency of the times. The show has been in development for the past three years, including a residency at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy, and a work-in-progress presentation with Prop Thtr’s RhinoFest. Curtain is 8 PM and tickets are $15 at walkabouttheater.org. (KR)

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hornets reserve guard Scottie Lewis underwent surgery to repair a broken left leg he sustained during an NBA Summer League practice session in Las Vegas on Thursday.

There is no timetable for his return, but the team said Friday the surgery was successful and that Lewis is expected to make a full recovery.

The surgery was performed at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, according to a team news release.

Lewis, who played collegiately at Florida, signed a two-way contract with Charlotte last season and appeared in two games for the Hornets and 32 games for the team’s G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm. He averaged 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 30.5 minutes per game with the Swarm.

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