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The Chicago Reader is published in print every other week and distributed for free to the more than 1,100 locations on this map.

The latest issue

The latest print issue of the Reader is the issue of June 9, 2022, the Pride Issue.

You can download the print issue as a free PDF.

The next print issue will be the issue of June 23, 2022, the Summer Theater and Arts Preview issue.

Subscribe

Never miss a copy! Paid print subscriptions are available for 12 issues, 26 issues, and for 52 issues from the Reader Store.

Please consider donating.

Chicago Reader print issue dates

The Chicago Reader is published in print every other week. Issues are dated Thursday. Distribution usually happens Wednesday morning through Thursday night of the issue date. Upcoming print issue dates through December 2022 are:

6/23/20227/7/20227/21/20228/4/20228/18/20229/1/20229/15/20229/29/202210/13/202210/27/202211/10/202211/24/202212/8/202212/22/2022

Download the full 2022 editorial calendar is here (PDF). See our information page for advertising opportunities.

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“It’s an invitation,” says Aaron Hughes, cocurator of “Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations,” an exhibition currently on display at the DePaul Art Museum. Marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, the exhibit examines the similarities between survivors of torture at the U.S. military prison with survivors of police torture here in Chicago. 

The installations, paintings, and sculptures are an invitation, as Hughes puts it, “To be with the work. To be with the research. To be with the questions. That invitation that we have been continuously invited into by survivors, by those most impacted. All our work is part of sharing that invitation.” 

And it’s strange: while one might expect a show about police torture, U.S. imperialism, and violence to be cold and hard to look at, the two-floor exhibition is indeed inviting. I have visited it three times so far, moving quietly through the rooms, looking at walls emblazoned with the names of police torture survivors, gazing up at pastel drawings of flowers pressed neatly into the corner of one room. 

It is not easy to sit here with the stories of brutality inflicted upon these survivors, but something continues to beckon me back. The work, the stories, even the quiet hum of survivor interviews piped through an installation on the first floor seems like an opening, a gesture to sit and stay awhile. Each time I exited the doors of the DePaul Art Museum, I found myself promising myself that I’d be back. 

The exhibition is the outgrowth of a ten-year collaborative partnership between Hughes and cocreator Amber Ginsburg. Together, Hughes and Ginsburg created the Tea Project, a performance and installation partially inspired by the words of one Guantánamo survivor who, in the epilogue of his book, said he would like to have tea with all of the people he wrote about. Thinking of a cup of tea as a site of connection with the possibility to transcend cultural and national divides, Ginsburg tells me, “We really started as within the anti-war movement, driven through Aaron’s experience of being a veteran and that being, in his words, a radicalizing experience.” 

“Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo”
Through 8/7: Wed-Thu 11 AM-7 PM, Fri-Sun 11 AM-5 PM, closed Mon-Tue; DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton, 773-325-7506, artmuseum.depaul.edu. Artists Dorothy Burge and Vincent Wade Robinson are in residency and working in the museum’s event space during open hours through June 29; upcoming public events at the museum include a release party and poetry reading for the exhibition’s catalog on Thursday July 14. Go to resources.depaul.edu for more information.

Bringing together Hughes’s military background with her everyday experiences as “a citizen in America during an ongoing war,” Ginsburg and Hughes began to look “for moments of beauty.” But this was not simply an aesthetic practice of beautification, but rather one of deep, committed research and community building. It was in this process of seeing the “many instances of creative making along the way,” that Ginsburg and Hughes came to the idea of an exhibit that highlighted the devastating, intricate connections between the U.S. military practices of torture with domestic ones, as seen through police torture here in Chicago. 

As they talk, Ginsburg and Hughes reference “creative acts of resistance to state violence.” I ask them to clarify—what do they mean by that? So often one of the critiques lobbed at artists, makers of all genres, is that their art does little to materially affect the outcomes of harm. Hughes explains, “We use that term to describe a spectrum of creative acts. [For example,] the gesture of making a mark on a Styrofoam cup in complete isolation and that mark being seen as a threat to a massive prison, and yet people continue to make those marks and make flowers and poetry, it’s creativity despite.”  

Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes’s Teacup Archive, 2014-ongoing includes white styrofoam cups with designs etched on them based on similar cups used and drawn on by Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp detainees. Credit: Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes/Courtesy DePaul Art Museum

Hughes’s comment draws attention to the fact that, as of 2017, survivor-made art from Guantánamo is no longer allowed outside of the prison. He tells me that he believes this is because the art was considered “a threat to the logic of that system of incarceration and confinement and torture.” To further illustrate this point are two empty frames on the second floor of the exhibition, where paintings by Sabri al-Qurashi were intended to hang. The artwork’s inability to make it to the DePaul Art Museum, despite the organizers’ best efforts, is proof “that people that survive Guantánamo and survive police torture here in Chicago and survive the carceral system here in Illinois: many of them still live in a state of being un-free. And, you know, our work is connecting the dots so we can seek liberation together. And art is a way to imagine that,” says Hughes.

Ginsburg draws my attention to another subject the exhibition explores: legal advocacy. She remarks, “The one other area that I would add that has been very inspiring to us is also the kind of legal advocacy as a creative legal resistance. Really emulating that in the exhibition are the two reparations banners looking across at each other.” Here, Ginsburg is referring to two floor-to-ceiling banners on the second floor positioned on opposite walls titled Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Guantánamo Torture Survivors and Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Chicago (Burge) Police Torture Survivors. Constructed in 2012 by attorney and organizer Joey Mogul, the banners draw a speculative legal framework of reparations for torture survivors. In 2015, Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Chicago was animated through the actual approval of a reparations ordinance in the Chicago City Council. This piece of art, like so many others in the exhibit, has real-life ramifications.

Nothing illustrates this to me more, though, than what happened the last time I visited the exhibition. Through an open door I saw Dorothy Burge, one of the artists featured in the exhibit, smoothing squares of blue fabric on a table. Burge is a quilter and an activist, and her quilted portraits hang from the ceiling of each room, hovering over quotes from torture survivors painted on the walls. Though I was feeling shy, I entered and introduced myself to Miss Dorothy, who immediately invited me to an online workshop she was scheduled to lead: guiding participants through the process of making quilt squares emblazoned with positive messages for torture survivors. Behind her stood Vincent Wade Robinson, a police torture survivor himself, who along with Burge is an artist-in-residence at the museum this month. 

Miss Dorothy led me back through the exhibit I just pored over, and showed me photographs of her grandnieces and nephews who are the subjects of some of her quilts. She showed me a photograph of a survivor of Guantánamo standing in a wrecked building and told me how much the photo reminded her of the wreckage of Cabrini-Green when it was demolished. She pointed to the purple and green portraits she’s made of incarcerated people and told me that two of the subjects have since been freed. As we parted ways at the entrance, she again invited me to attend her workshop. I am reminded of Aaron Hughes’s words: that the show is an invitation. The invitation seems beautiful, difficult, and urgent. Most of all, I realize that it is alive and breathing, a hand outstretched for me to come back, sip (metaphorical) tea, and listen.

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“It’s an invitation,” says Aaron Hughes, cocurator of “Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations,” an exhibition currently on display at the DePaul Art Museum. Marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, the exhibit examines the similarities between survivors of torture at the U.S. military prison with survivors of police torture here in Chicago. 

The installations, paintings, and sculptures are an invitation, as Hughes puts it, “To be with the work. To be with the research. To be with the questions. That invitation that we have been continuously invited into by survivors, by those most impacted. All our work is part of sharing that invitation.” 

And it’s strange: while one might expect a show about police torture, U.S. imperialism, and violence to be cold and hard to look at, the two-floor exhibition is indeed inviting. I have visited it three times so far, moving quietly through the rooms, looking at walls emblazoned with the names of police torture survivors, gazing up at pastel drawings of flowers pressed neatly into the corner of one room. 

It is not easy to sit here with the stories of brutality inflicted upon these survivors, but something continues to beckon me back. The work, the stories, even the quiet hum of survivor interviews piped through an installation on the first floor seems like an opening, a gesture to sit and stay awhile. Each time I exited the doors of the DePaul Art Museum, I found myself promising myself that I’d be back. 

The exhibition is the outgrowth of a ten-year collaborative partnership between Hughes and cocreator Amber Ginsburg. Together, Hughes and Ginsburg created the Tea Project, a performance and installation partially inspired by the words of one Guantánamo survivor who, in the epilogue of his book, said he would like to have tea with all of the people he wrote about. Thinking of a cup of tea as a site of connection with the possibility to transcend cultural and national divides, Ginsburg tells me, “We really started as within the anti-war movement, driven through Aaron’s experience of being a veteran and that being, in his words, a radicalizing experience.” 

“Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo”
Through 8/7: Wed-Thu 11 AM-7 PM, Fri-Sun 11 AM-5 PM, closed Mon-Tue; DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton, 773-325-7506, artmuseum.depaul.edu. Artists Dorothy Burge and Vincent Wade Robinson are in residency and working in the museum’s event space during open hours through June 29; upcoming public events at the museum include a release party and poetry reading for the exhibition’s catalog on Thursday July 14. Go to resources.depaul.edu for more information.

Bringing together Hughes’s military background with her everyday experiences as “a citizen in America during an ongoing war,” Ginsburg and Hughes began to look “for moments of beauty.” But this was not simply an aesthetic practice of beautification, but rather one of deep, committed research and community building. It was in this process of seeing the “many instances of creative making along the way,” that Ginsburg and Hughes came to the idea of an exhibit that highlighted the devastating, intricate connections between the U.S. military practices of torture with domestic ones, as seen through police torture here in Chicago. 

As they talk, Ginsburg and Hughes reference “creative acts of resistance to state violence.” I ask them to clarify—what do they mean by that? So often one of the critiques lobbed at artists, makers of all genres, is that their art does little to materially affect the outcomes of harm. Hughes explains, “We use that term to describe a spectrum of creative acts. [For example,] the gesture of making a mark on a Styrofoam cup in complete isolation and that mark being seen as a threat to a massive prison, and yet people continue to make those marks and make flowers and poetry, it’s creativity despite.”  

Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes’s Teacup Archive, 2014-ongoing includes white styrofoam cups with designs etched on them based on similar cups used and drawn on by Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp detainees. Credit: Amber Ginsburg and Aaron Hughes/Courtesy DePaul Art Museum

Hughes’s comment draws attention to the fact that, as of 2017, survivor-made art from Guantánamo is no longer allowed outside of the prison. He tells me that he believes this is because the art was considered “a threat to the logic of that system of incarceration and confinement and torture.” To further illustrate this point are two empty frames on the second floor of the exhibition, where paintings by Sabri al-Qurashi were intended to hang. The artwork’s inability to make it to the DePaul Art Museum, despite the organizers’ best efforts, is proof “that people that survive Guantánamo and survive police torture here in Chicago and survive the carceral system here in Illinois: many of them still live in a state of being un-free. And, you know, our work is connecting the dots so we can seek liberation together. And art is a way to imagine that,” says Hughes.

Ginsburg draws my attention to another subject the exhibition explores: legal advocacy. She remarks, “The one other area that I would add that has been very inspiring to us is also the kind of legal advocacy as a creative legal resistance. Really emulating that in the exhibition are the two reparations banners looking across at each other.” Here, Ginsburg is referring to two floor-to-ceiling banners on the second floor positioned on opposite walls titled Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Guantánamo Torture Survivors and Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Chicago (Burge) Police Torture Survivors. Constructed in 2012 by attorney and organizer Joey Mogul, the banners draw a speculative legal framework of reparations for torture survivors. In 2015, Speculative Reparations Ordinance for Chicago was animated through the actual approval of a reparations ordinance in the Chicago City Council. This piece of art, like so many others in the exhibit, has real-life ramifications.

Nothing illustrates this to me more, though, than what happened the last time I visited the exhibition. Through an open door I saw Dorothy Burge, one of the artists featured in the exhibit, smoothing squares of blue fabric on a table. Burge is a quilter and an activist, and her quilted portraits hang from the ceiling of each room, hovering over quotes from torture survivors painted on the walls. Though I was feeling shy, I entered and introduced myself to Miss Dorothy, who immediately invited me to an online workshop she was scheduled to lead: guiding participants through the process of making quilt squares emblazoned with positive messages for torture survivors. Behind her stood Vincent Wade Robinson, a police torture survivor himself, who along with Burge is an artist-in-residence at the museum this month. 

Miss Dorothy led me back through the exhibit I just pored over, and showed me photographs of her grandnieces and nephews who are the subjects of some of her quilts. She showed me a photograph of a survivor of Guantánamo standing in a wrecked building and told me how much the photo reminded her of the wreckage of Cabrini-Green when it was demolished. She pointed to the purple and green portraits she’s made of incarcerated people and told me that two of the subjects have since been freed. As we parted ways at the entrance, she again invited me to attend her workshop. I am reminded of Aaron Hughes’s words: that the show is an invitation. The invitation seems beautiful, difficult, and urgent. Most of all, I realize that it is alive and breathing, a hand outstretched for me to come back, sip (metaphorical) tea, and listen.

Read More

The Chicago Reader is published in print every other week and distributed for free to the more than 1,100 locations on this map.

The latest issue

The latest print issue of the Reader is the issue of June 9, 2022, the Pride Issue.

You can download the print issue as a free PDF.

The next print issue will be the issue of June 23, 2022, the Summer Theater and Arts Preview issue.

Subscribe

Never miss a copy! Paid print subscriptions are available for 12 issues, 26 issues, and for 52 issues from the Reader Store.

Please consider donating.

Chicago Reader print issue dates

The Chicago Reader is published in print every other week. Issues are dated Thursday. Distribution usually happens Wednesday morning through Thursday night of the issue date. Upcoming print issue dates through December 2022 are:

6/23/20227/7/20227/21/20228/4/20228/18/20229/1/20229/15/20229/29/202210/13/202210/27/202211/10/202211/24/202212/8/202212/22/2022

Download the full 2022 editorial calendar is here (PDF). See our information page for advertising opportunities.

Read More

Good people, smooth drinks, and a great atmosphere. What could be better during the summer in Chicago? Not much, by our standards. Being Pride month, there’s no better time to celebrate at and support the many locally owned gay bars throughout the entire city of Chicago. From local dives to sports bars, casual spots to clubs, we’re taking a closer look at the best gay bars throughout the city, what makes them the perfect places to celebrate Pride 2022, and any and all of the fun activities they have going on this June! 

157 E Ohio St #2, Chicago, IL 60611

Picture in Email, Credit “April Speaks to Dogs” – GMB pic?

First up on our Tour-de-Chicago-Gay-Bars is Second Story Bar. This tucked-away bar sits near the corner of Ohio and St. Clair St, and is a classic, cash-only dive bar. Instead of blaringly loud music and flashing lights, you’ll find stiff drinks, a quaint space, and a small crowd that’s perfect for making friendly conversation. As we inch our way back to normalcy this summer, the best way to start celebrating Pride is by meeting some new friends over a classic cocktail, and your new go-to place for that will be Second Story. 

5024 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL 60640

Not only is Big Chicks an iconic Chicago gay bar, but it’s absolutley loaded with history. The original bar that was in place of Big Chicks dated back to 1944, and was historically filled with straight men with hard exteriors. After a few coats of paint, some art, and TLC to the original patrons, owner Michelle Fire (electric name, BTW) turned Big Chicks into what it is today: a place for “men and men, women and women, and men and women” (source). That being said, you don’t to be gay, or conform to one sexual identity for that matter, to go out and have the time of your life at Big Chicks. 

3356 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60657

To most of Chicago, Roscoe’s Tavern is the OG gay bar. Dating back to the late 80’s Roscoe’s has evolved from a small spot, only occupying one half of a store front, to what it is now: an eclectic corner bar with huge open windows, a gorgeous patio for perfect summer days, and a regular host of some of the city’s best drag shows. Not only is the atmosphere lively, but the classic cocktails will have you buzzing too (literally). On this drink menu, you’ll find blueberry mojitos, prickly pear margaritas, and their signature River Deep, Mountain Highball made with Roscoe’s very own hyper-chilled, “ultra carbonated” club soda. You’ll be sipping and celebrating all night. 

3349 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60657

Sidetrack. Is. Huge. With that said, how does partying with 1,000 of your closest friends sound? Sign me up. Sidetrack, located in Northalsted, has a story that encompasses the meaning of truly creating a safe place for everyone to simply have a good time. Spanning eight store fronts, Sidetrack has multiple bars and even a rooftop deck to enjoy good vibes and good times with friends. This June, they’re also celebrating their 40th Anniversary, and you can catch this party on the 16th and 17th! 

3733 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60613

Craft beers, pool tables, and sports on all the TVs? Yep, we’re talking about the North End. This sports bar is the perfect place to stop in for a drink, a game, and another disappointing Bears season. One of the best things about the North End is that while there is a full drink  menu, you can BYOF (bring your own food)! At the North End, you’ll find daily drink specials and an LGTBQ+ friendly and safe atmosphere to bring the city together on the one thing everyone can agree on: how disappointing Chicago sports are. 

4923 N Clark St 1st floor, Chicago, IL 60640

If you’re around Andersonville this Pride month, be sure to check out the SoFo Tap. This certified bear bar has everything you need for a sunny summer afternoon-turned-night- TouchTunes, a roomy patio to soak up the sun, and an expansive drink menu with daily specials like tangy signature margaritas and Big Ass long islands for $5!!). If you’re looking for some activities other than drinking, SoFo Tap hosts weekly trivia, doggy days so you can include your furry friend the next time you head out for the afternoon, and Bearaoke, which just sounds like a better version of karaoke, in my opinion. 

5355 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640 

I’m fully convinced that Atmosphere is one of the best party spots in the city. Stripper bingo, Trivia Tuesdays, and theme nights (count me in for 80’s night) make the ambience consistently full of energy. The best nights of the week, though, to head out to Atmosphere are Fridays and Saturdays, when the enticing male dancers entertain and elevate the crowds from 10 PM to 1 AM. Sip on a delicious cocktail, grab a few shots, and wear some durable shoes because one trip to Atmosphere will have you dancing the night away and asking yourself, “why the hell haven’t I been here before?”. 

Featured Image Credit: Second Story Bar

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Ever heard of Poké? This traditional Hawaiian dish means “slice” or “cut crosswise into pieces” in Hawaiian and has become a hit dish in the American mainland. It’s kind of like deconstructed sushi or the Chipotle of sushi, where diced fish or other protein is served over rice with your choice of toppings and sauces, and eaten with chopsticks (if your skills are up to par). So, if you’ve never tried this delicious dish or simply want to find a new tested spot for a good bowl, check out one of these essential Poké spots in Chicago! 

916 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

A new addition to the beloved Time Out Market, Lono is our new favorite for a zesty, refreshing bowl. Inspired by childhood experiences visiting family in Oahu, Owner Ty Fujimura’s Lono Poke pays tribute to the authentic Hawaiian poke you find at markets in the beachside town of Haleiwa.

Guests can forget basic build-your-own bowls popularized during the fast-casual poke craze a few years back: Lono Poke’s dishes combine glistening cubes of fresh fish and premium white rice with flavorful toppings like crisped shallots, snappy seaweed and signature “Ono” sauce for a genuinely delicious taste of Hawaiian culture and the true Aloha spirit. Are you ready to try — hands down — the best poké in Chicago?

1100 W Madison St. Chicago, IL 60607

The folks at Poke Poké only use chunks of the highest-quality tuna, salmon, shrimp, and tofu for your meal. Customize it with a variety of sauces and toppings. Create something new or try one of their signature items like the Tsukiji Bowl or Osaka Bowl.

303 W. Madison St. Chicago IL 60625

Feeling Little, Big, or Kahuna? No matter what size you choose, you’ll understand why many consider this the best poké in Chicago the moment you take a bite. Start with a base of rice, cauliflower rice, or mixed greens. Then add your protein of ahi tuna, salmon, chicken, shrimp, or tofu. Choose your fruits and veggies like edamame, ginger, jalapeno, pineapple, and more. Finally, select a sauce and you’re ready to poke!  

I’m so excited to try healthy, tasty, NEW food at the @HighTidePoke that’s now open near my work! 😄❤️😄🍣🍍🍚#food #lunch #sashimi #Chicago pic.twitter.com/WLy4marGsN

— Molly C Loar (@MobileMollusk) June 8, 2017

203 N Lasalle Street, Unit 150. Chicago, Illinois 60601

Stop into this aesthetically-pleasing location for some authentic poke. Try one of their signature bowls like the Salmon and Ahi Supreme featuring white rice, salmon, marinated ahi, onion cucumber, pineapple, green onion, spicy mayo, unagi, fried onion, and sesame seeds starting at $15.99. Or create your own bowl to make it epic in 5 easy steps.

1220 W Taylor St. Chicago IL 60607

You know the drill. Build a bombass poke bowl in a snap. Choose a base. Mix and match your proteins. Add some fresh veggies or fruit. And sauce it up. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the Octopus for your protein and the “three-way affair” for your sauce (which is a little sweet, fruity, and spicy!). 

1467 N Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60622

One word: fresh. Build your bowl with black or white rice or a spring mix. Then add ingredients like carrot, cucumber, edamame, guacamole, sweet potato, pickled radish and beets, onion flakes, lime, or sesame seed. Top it off with a delicious protein, and a sauce, and you’re in poke heaven. 

Featured Image: Lono Poke

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Former National Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette and potential top-10 NBA draft picks Ausar and Amen Thompson headline the 2022 field for The Basketball Tournament.

The 64-team TBT bracket, which was released Wednesday, features a record 71 players with NBA experience as well as 29 college alumni teams.

For the first time in the event’s history, the TBT will have games played outdoors as one of its regionals is being hosted at historic Rucker Park in New York City. The other seven regional cities include Omaha, Nebraska; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Wichita, Kansas; Syracuse, New York; Charleston, West Virginia; Cincinnati; and Dayton, Ohio.

“This year’s field is electrifying,” TBT founder and CEO Jon Mugar said. “Nine years ago, we set out to be the home for high stakes, open-to-all basketball, pitting people against one another from all walks of life. This year’s field demonstrates how far we’ve come. It is exceptionally diverse and talented. I can’t wait to see what team wins six straight games.”

1 Related

The teams will compete for the $1 million, winner-take-all championship prize.

Fredette, the former BYU guard who led the country in scoring in 2011 and won consensus National Player of the Year honors before being selected 10th overall in the NBA draft, is headlining The Money Team.

“I’m going to get out and play again and have fun,” Fredette told ESPN. “My brother [general manager TJ Fredette] is part of getting the team together. It should be a lot of fun to get back out on the court again and play competitive basketball.”

After playing for the Shanghai Sharks in China in 2021, Fredette opted to stay home this winter and spring as he and his wife welcomed their third child. He is joining a team that reached the quarterfinals last season and features the likes of Trevor Booker, Jeremy Evans, Charles Jenkins and Jordon Crawford.

“I feel pretty good,” Fredette said. “I stayed working out the entire time. I’ll always work out, keep working on my game. I’ll be excited to play in front of some fans, playing with some guys I really like.”

Fredette played in the TBT in 2018, leading the tournament in scoring – including a 41-point effort to help Team Fredette advance.

“It’s always great,” he said. “At this point, it’s just about trying to win. Just doing whatever it takes to advance. I was fortunate last time to have a really great tournament, be the leading scorer. That’s cool, but it’s about surviving and advancing. It’s about trying to win these games and move forward. Get toward that one million.”

Fredette’s The Money Team is the 1-seed in the Dayton region. Other 1-seeds include YGC (Rucker Park), Gutter Cats (Omaha), Heartfire (New Mexico), Florida TNT (Xavier), Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse), AfterShocks (Wichita State) and Best Virginia (West Virginia).

The TBT began in 2014, when Notre Dame Fighting Alumni won the first championship. Overseas Elite won the next four titles before their streak ended in 2019 at the hands of Carmen’s Crew, a team of Ohio State alumni. Marquette-centric Golden Eagles Alumni won in 2020, with Syracuse-focused Boeheim’s Army taking the title last season.

Boeheim’s Army will defend its title this summer by adding first-time TBT players Tyler Ennis, Rakeem Christmas and Marek Dolezaj — all Syracuse alums — to a group that already included five-time TBT champion D.J. Kennedy and four-time champion DeAndre Kane.

As ESPN reported earlier this month, projected 2023 lottery picks Amen and Ausar Thompson are headlining Team Overtime, a squad put together by the sports media company Overtime. The Thompson twins suited up for Overtime Elite this past season, as did Jazian Gortman, another projected draft pick who will play for Team Overtime in the TBT. It will mark the first time NBA draft-eligible prospects will participate in the TBT, although the team also features several pro veterans, including former San Diego State star Malcolm Thomas. Overtime is the 6-seed in the Omaha region.

Sideline Cancer, the 2-seed in the Xavier region, is looking for its third consecutive quarterfinal appearance. They bring back scorer Marcus Keene, but also add former South Dakota State star Mike Daum and longtime NBA veteran C.J. Miles.

Other players with NBA experience expected to play in this year’s TBT include Zhaire Smith (Air Raiders), Omari Spellman (Eberlein Drive), Antonio Blakeney (Florida TNT), Semaj Christon (Zip ‘Em Up), Justin Patton (Omaha Blue Crew), Jacob Pullen (Purple & Black), Kosta Koufos (Red Scare), Xavier Munford (The Money Team), Jacob Evans (Nasty Nati), Markel Brown (Stillwater Stars) and others.

The championship team earns $1 million in a winner-take-all title game to be televised on ESPN. This summer’s championship game will be played at Dayton on Aug. 2.

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Her name is Odesza.

Charles Wong’s bright red, 14-foot, 500-gallon mobile road pit comes from Texas, and so does the barbecue she smokes—at least in terms of method and material.

But the flavors and textures of his brisket banh mi and smoked crab rangoon come from other lands. “I’ve always wanted to marry the Asian flavors I grew up with with smoke,” says Wong, who’s been been smoking new-school barbecue since 2015 under the name Umamicue. “Every cuisine has some kind of barbecue.”

Wong and Odesza have pop-ups and catering events booked every weekend until September, but this Monday, June 27, they have a very particular engagement in Irving Park when they play Monday Night Foodball, the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at the Kedzie Inn.

Odesza, in the wild. Credit: Charles Wong

Odesza herself may or may not make an appearance—I’m petitioning for the sweet narcotic haze of smoked meat to haunt the streets and alleys of Irving Park. But those brisket banh mi will be there, and so will the crab rangoon, bulging with white and post oak-smoked molten cream cheese. Wong’s also frying up brisket-stuffed egg rolls, which will also make their way into a Texas-style bowl of buncha, the same symphonically textured and flavored, herbal-cool-hot noodle dish Bourdain and Obama shared in Hanoi—this time given extra-dimensional mojo with smoked lemongrass pork patties. For you plant-fed organisms, smoked Impossible patties and egg rolls, and fish-free nuoc cham are available.

“To me barbecue is about bringing people together,” says Wong. “It’s a universal language. We don’t have to speak the same verbal language—you can just look, see, smell, and be able to tell: ‘Hey, that’s delicious.’” That’s why Wong has enlisted Jennifer Pham of @cocktailswithnuky (and also Celebrate Argyle and Haibayô) to create the night’s cocktail, a Ginger Soda Chanh, with your choice of poison—gin or vodka—and calamansi, muddled ginger and sugar, and mint.

You can procure that from Jon Pokorny at the bar, starting at 5:30 PM. And you can order your Umamicue from Wong right here, right now, via Tock.

There will be some limited availability for walk-ins too, and while I can’t guarantee Odesza will be available for selfies, she will be certainly be smoking for your pleasure in her secret Lincolnwood lair. If she doesn’t make it this time, look for her when Umamicue returns to the Kedzie in September with a cast of collaborators that, if you’re any kind of Foodball fan, you will know and love.

Meantime, check out the full Monday Night Foodball summer schedule, restarting after an Independence Day break:

7/11: Dawn Lewis of D’s Roti & Trini Cuisine

7/18: Mazesoba from Mike “Ramen Lord” Satinover

7/25: Asian stoner snacks from SuperHai

8/1: Keralan food from Thommy Padanilam of Thommy’s Toddy Shop

8/8: Indonesian home cooking with Waroeng and friends

8/15: Dylan Maysick of Diaspora Dinners

8/22: Vargo Brother Ferments

8/29: the triumphant return of Funeral Potatoes

9/5: Labor Day break

9/12: TBA

9/19: Global Asian barbecue with Umamicue and friends

Kedzie Inn
4100 N. Kedzie
(773) 293-6368
kedzieinn.com

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