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Chicago rapper King Louie still reigns on Life With LouieLeor Galilon October 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm

Last month drill giant and Chicago rap royal King Louie dropped his first full-length in six years, Life With Louie (Man Up Band Up/Machine Entertainment Group). I hadn’t really reckoned with what that long gap might mean for the world of rap. Louie’s string of early-2010s mixtapes gave rappers around the city (and the world) something to aspire to, and 2014’s Tony in particular will go down as one of the best full-lengths from the first wave of drill, a movement that’s since inspired some of the most exciting MCs to emerge from the UK and NYC. Life With Louie hit me like I’d been stumbling through the desert and finally had my first sip of fresh water from an oasis. Louie saunters through smoky samples (“Mind Yo Business”), bass-heavy collages (“Si Si Senor”), and twilight-calm synth melodies (“Restless”) with the same nonchalant flair. The way he tosses off his neat, blunt verses will convince you that these tracks were built from the ground up to hang on his every syllable. The 25 minutes of Life With Louie fly by, and the King makes the most of that brief run time. Atop the clobbering, spiky bass of “Kisses,” Louie claims he can persuade a car to buy an ignition or sell the ocean to fishes, surreal boasts that in a brief moment light up an already hot track. He’s impressed me plenty of times already, but on Life With Louie he wins me over again and again.

King Louie Do or Die headline; King Louie, DaWreck, and Psycho & Pazzo open. Sun 10/30, 7:30 PM, the Forge, 22 W. Cass, Joliet, $30, $70 reserved balcony, 18+

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Chicago rapper King Louie still reigns on Life With LouieLeor Galilon October 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm Read More »

Displacement and determinationKelly Kleimanon October 27, 2022 at 3:04 pm

Refuge, the wrenching portrait of a Central American woman’s effort to reach the U.S. receiving its midwest premiere at Theo Ubique, is less a play than a ritual with music enacting displacement, loss, and fear—but also love and the determination to go on. So my not understanding the two-thirds of the dialogue delivered in Spanish didn’t interfere with my grasp of the experience, but I did find it alienating, which was no doubt the point: among the first words in English were, “We must not fear what we cannot understand.” It was clear that “Girl,” disguised as a boy, stumbles across the desert border onto the ranch of a man mourning the death of his daughter at the hands, as he thinks, of a migrant. Once he penetrates her disguise, though, he begins to treat Girl as the daughter he lost, despite his friendship with the Border Patrol officer tracking her. Every character struggles with conflicting loyalties, so there’s no easy resolution. And, like every artwork concerned with justice, the people who really need to see it will never do so.

Refuge Through 11/13: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 6 PM, Howard Street Theatre, 721 Howard, Evanston, 773-939-4101, theo-u.com, $45-$55 (optional dinner from Taco Diablo available for $30 per person; must be ordered with reservation)

Having said that: the piece, cowritten, codirected, and music directed by Satya Jnani Chávez, (they collaborated with Andrew Rosendorf on the story, and with Valen-Marie Santos on direction) is stunningly beautiful both visually and aurally. As the Girl, Tatiana Bustamante is appealing without being saccharine, and Bill Kalinak likewise gives the Rancher complexity so we see his humor and his rage as well as his tenderness. The puppets created by Adolfo Romero representing the dog, the wolf, the vulture, and the snake seem as real as any person. (Aida Palma Carpio is credited as the snake puppeteer, while the ensemble shares the work of animating the others.) And the voices are breathtaking. If I left this fine work feeling unsatisfied, that’s probably because the situation being portrayed is so far from satisfactory.

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Displacement and determinationKelly Kleimanon October 27, 2022 at 3:04 pm Read More »

7-year-old boy killed when someone fires through window of home in Humboldt Park. ‘Now he’s an angel.’

A 7-year-old boy was killed Wednesday night when someone shot through the window of a home in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.

The boy was in a bathroom washing his hands when he was hit in the abdomen around 8:20 p.m. in the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue, Chicago police said.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he died, according to police.

The gunshot appeared to come from the alley behind the home, where police found several shell casings, according to Deputy Police Chief Ron Pontecore.

Investigators don’t believe anyone in the home was the intended target, he told reporters Wednesday night, but it was not known what sparked the gunfire.

“When it’s a young child like this, an innocent child, it’s entirely tragic,” Pontecore said.

Asked what he would tell the shooter, Pontecore replied, “Own up to what you did, we have a very distraught mother.”

He said detectives were looking at private security video footage.No one was in custody.

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Chicago Bears promote OL from practice squad as injuries mount

Chicago Bears promoted an offensive lineman this week

The Chicago Bears are putting more faith in undrafted free agents this season. The Bears offensive line is banged up before their Week 8 game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears will be facing a ferocious pass rush without their center, Lucas Patrick, who had to be carted off the MNF game with a toe injury. He’s expected to be placed on the injured reserve this week. Patrick wasn’t the only offensive line injured this week.

According to the Bears’ Week 8 injury report, right tackle Larry Borom did not practice on Wednesday. His injury is listed as a concussion. Borom played in all of the Bears’ 71 offensive snaps against the New England Patriots Monday night. It’s unclear when he suffered the injury.

According to Chris Emma with 670 The Score, it’s expected that Riley Reiff would take Borom’s place against the Cowboys if Borom cannot play. On Tuesday, the Bears also made a roster move at the offensive line position to help bring depth to the unit.

According to the NFL’s transaction wire, the Chicago Bears promoted Dieter Eiselen to the 53-man roster Tuesday. Eiselen has been with the Bears since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2020. According to Spotrac, Eiselen will have a base salary of $705,000 for the 2022 season. $430,837 of that will count against the Bears’ cap this season.

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High school football: Taft’s Stephen Carrera returns from devastating Fourth of July fireworks accident

Taft sophomore Stephen Carrera’s life changed in an instant over the Fourth of July holiday.

“I was trying to light a firework and it didn’t light,” he said. “So when I tried lighting it one more time, it just blew up in my hand. … I didn’t feel anything because I was in such shock. Me looking at my hand, the first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, am I ever gonna play football again?'”

That was an open question for others as well,

Taft coach Zach Elder headed to the scene as soon as he heard the news. By the time he arrived, Carrrera had already left in an ambulance.

“A couple kids on the team were there and they’re like, ‘His whole hand’s gone,'” Elder said. “So we had no idea what’s going on. So yeah, there was a real question mark.”

But then a few days later, Elder went to visit Carrera in the hospital. The news was less grim; though the middle and index fingers of his right hand would have to be amputated, Carrera’s hand was spared.

It was still a devastating injury. But you wouldn’t have known it from talking to Carrera.

“He’s the only kid who was [able to be] upbeat about it,” Elder said. “If I lost two fingers, I wouldn’t be talking to anyone. This kid’s watching movies and telling jokes. I think it just says a lot about the person he is, the character he has. He’s got a tremendous, upbeat personality and he’s vibrant. He took what I think everyone would see as a [negative] and tried to put as positive a spin as he could.”

The injury put Carrera’s season on hold while he adjusted to his new life, including — as a natural righty — learning how to write with his left hand (he is starting to write right-handed again too).

As the third in a line of brothers who came through the Taft program and someone who had played football since kindergarten, the idea of giving up the sport he loved was hard to take.

Initially, Carrera said, “I thought my chance of coming back to football was zero. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to play ever again. But just seeing how young I am — and since I’m young, I heal better and faster.”

So he started working about four weeks after the accident. At summer camp, Carrera practiced with the Eagles, doing non-contact work including conditioning and agility drills.

“When they did contact, I’d just go on the side and do more agility to get myself better,” he said.

Through it all, his teammates had his back.

“They kept pushing me through everything and just comforting me after this injury,” Carrera said. “I wouldn’t be able to do all this without them.”

Finally, Carrera was cleared to return to action for Week 6 this season as part of a running back-by-committee approach. In his second game back, Carrera had 13 carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Clark.

“He’s been a nice little spark in the backfield of late,” Elder said. “He runs hard, he’s tough as hell, clearly. … Every time he gets the ball, he’s making the most of it.”

An 0-5 start peppered with close losses dashed Taft’s hopes for an IHSA playoff berth. But by finishing third in the Red North, the Eagles qualified for the Prep Bowl playoffs. They open the postseason by playing Brooks at Lane on Thursday.

Carrera is glad for whatever action comes his way now that he’s seen how easily football could be taken away from him.

“Me coming back [after] having this injury … anything is possible,” he said.

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Bears sign former standout Northern Iowa WR to their practice squad

The Bears signed a former Northern Iowa wide receiver

The Chicago Bears made some important changes last week at wide receiver. The team cut Ihmir Smith-Marsette after a few awful performances in the regular season. The elevated Isaiah Coulter to take Smith-Marsette’s place. That left room for a wide receiver to be signed on the practice squad. The Bears have added a former Northern Iowa wide receiver to take that spot.

According to the NFL’s transaction wire for October 26, the Bears signed Daurice Fountain to the practice squad this week. Fountain was named the offensive MVP in the 2018 East-West Shrine game. He was taken in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by the Indianapolis Colts. Fountain was with the Kansas City Chiefs from May 2021 until the team released him on Oct. 24th. He was teammates with current Bears wide receiver Byron Pringle last season.

Fountain has appeared in eight games during his three years in the NFL. He has caught two passes for 23 yards since he joined the league. At Northern Iowa, Fountain had over 2000 yards receiving and 23 touchdowns during his four years.

Here are some highlights of Fountain during his senior season:

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What we’ve learned about the Heat, Celtics, 76ers and the NBA’s East eliteon October 27, 2022 at 1:00 pm

For a generation, being a quality Eastern Conference team has meant guaranteed passage into the NBA postseason.

Unlike its Western counterpart, where good teams routinely have been left out of the playoff picture, the East — since the Charlotte Hornets reentered the league in 2004, bringing the NBA to its current 30 teams — has seen a below .500 team make the playoffs eight of those 18 seasons and a four-win gap between the average fourth-best team in each conference, and a five-win gap between the average eighth-best team.

Those days, however, are over.

Teams will routinely have stretches like the one the Toronto Raptors are enduring to open 2022-23: seven consecutive games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat (twice), Philadelphia 76ers (twice) and Atlanta Hawks.

“The East,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said with a smile, “is not for the faint-hearted.”

Over the first week of the season, ESPN was in attendance for six games featuring six of the seven teams in ESPN’s win-loss projections: the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.

Here is what we learned about each contender as they begin to navigate what should be a season-long gauntlet to the playoffs.

When asked to break down Boston’s early season play, several league scouts and executives pointed to Brogdon’s immediate impact.

“He’s exactly what they needed,” one East scout said after watching Boston play.

Brogdon, whom the Celtics acquired from the Indiana Pacers in a trade this summer, has shown an ability to create offense after attacking the heart of the defense, all while being able to hold up as part of Boston’s defensive schemes.

Case in point: In the first quarter of Boston’s season-opening win over Philadelphia, Brogdon grabbed a defensive rebound, pushed the ball upcourt and hit Grant Williams for a 3-pointer on one possession, then caught a ball on a swing in the corner, attacked James Harden and got rim to the rim for a layup on the next.

For all of the understandable focus on Stephen Curry‘s offensive brilliance during the Golden State Warriors‘ six-game triumph in the NBA Finals, the truth is the Celtics lost that series not because they failed to contain Curry and the Warriors’ weapons, but because the Celtics’ struggled to put up points of their own. Boston’s 105.6 offensive rating in the Finals would have tied the Detroit Pistons for 28th during the regular season.

Only Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could be relied upon to create shots for themselves. Adding another high-level creator in Brogdon, who averaged 19.1 points and 5.9 assists last season for the Pacers, takes a significant burden off of their All-Stars’ shoulders. His 3.3 assists per game so far is twice as many per game as the man he’s replaced in Boston’s rotation, Payton Pritchard, averaged during last year’s playoff run.

Cleveland Cavaliers: What is the solution at small forward?

Even though Darius Garland has been out for all but the first half of Cleveland’s first game due to a left eye injury, the Cavaliers have looked like the contender they were billed to become after dealing for All-Star Donovan Mitchell, who slid into Cleveland’s offense with three straight 30-point games.

Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have, as expected, walled off the paint. And Kevin Love has remained a walking 3-pointer coming off the bench.

The lingering question surrounds the small forward spot in Cleveland’s starting and closing lineups next to Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and Allen.

WednesdayNets-Bucks, 7:30 p.m.Lakers-Nuggets, 10 p.m.

FridayPacers-Wizards, 7:30 p.m.Pelicans-Suns, 10 p.m.

*All times Eastern

Initially, Caris LeVert, who had a strong preseason, got the nod. But while LeVert has taken on a bigger creation role with Garland out, averaging 6.3 assists per game, he’s shooting 3-for-24 on 2-pointers and opposing scouts and executives question whether his lack of defensive ability is the right fit next to Mitchell and Garland.

Meanwhile, Isaac Okoro, the fifth pick in the 2020 draft, has shot 3-for-12 from the field and missed all six triples he’s attempted. Dean Wade is the closest approximation to what Cleveland got from Lauri Markkanen last season, but Wade is still working his way back from a preseason ankle injury.

While Allen and Mobley are Cleveland’s anchors, when the Cavs face the elite, big, star wings in the East — Tatum, Brown, Harden, Jimmy Butler and Khris Middleton — there isn’t a clear answer for how they’ll attempt to slow them down. It’s a situation worth monitoring up until the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

Miami Heat: How Bam goes, they go

Through the first week of the season, Miami is struggling to contend with Bam Adebayo, right, off the court. Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images

As the Heat hosted the Celtics, and then the Raptors twice, a familiar trend emerged: Miami would build a lead with star big man Bam Adebayo on the court, then almost immediately give it back when he went to the bench.

In Friday’s loss to Boston, Adebayo was plus-20 in a game Miami lost by seven points. He was plus-5 in each of the two contests against Toronto on Saturday and Monday, games the Heat won by three and lost by eight, respectively.

Across those three games, Adebayo was off the court for a total of 35 minutes, 40 seconds. In those minutes, the Heat were outscored by 42 points.

That pace is untenable over an 82-game season, but with P.J. Tucker now in Philadelphia, Miami’s front line is a work-in-progress.

“Everybody is trying to catch a rhythm, trying to figure it out,” Adebayo said after the loss to Boston.

The impending return of second-year big man Omer Yurtseven, who has been out with an ankle injury to begin the season but is with the team on its current three-game West Coast trip, should help. Yurtseven’s return would allow Heat coach Erik Spoelstra to sit Dewayne Dedmon, who had a net rating of minus-25.5 through four games.

It’s easy to forget, given the Bucks cruised to the East’s third seed last season, that starting center Brook Lopez missed virtually the entire regular season because of back issues.

If the first week of the season has shown anything, however, it’s that the veteran big man, who is in the final year of his contract, looks more than ready to go.

In last week’s season-opening win against Joel Embiid and the 76ers, Lopez provided an immediate reminder of why his singular combination of immense size — he’s listed at 7-feet and 280 pounds — and outside shooting touch is so integral to Milwaukee’s success.

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Against the 76ers, Lopez hit four 3-pointers, blocked two shots and was a big part of Milwaukee holding Philadelphia to just 88 points.

“This morning, if you would have told us we were going to score 90 points and we’re going to win the game, I’d probably [have said], ‘No way,'” superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said after the Philadelphia victory.

“But at the end of the day, this is our goal. We want to be one of the best defensive teams.”

Having Lopez next to Antetokounmpo provides a massive wall for opposing offenses to navigate — he recorded six blocks and was a game-high plus-21 in Milwaukee’s comeback win over Brooklyn on Wednesday — while Lopez’s floor-spacing creates room for Antetokounmpo to work at the other end.

While Middleton remains sidelined following offseason wrist surgery, Lopez’s play was a reminder that if the Bucks have their four core players healthy — Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Lopez and Jrue Holiday — it’s going to be hard to pick against them in a seven-game series.

Through their opening five games, one word could be used to describe the 76ers: disjointed.

A team expecting to contend for a championship losing four of its first five games is bad enough, but what makes it even more concerning is how the losses are mounting.

Against Boston and Toronto, it was the 76ers getting routed in transition, outscored by a combined 53-19 margin in fast-break points across the two games. Against Milwaukee, it was a 5-for-24 effort from 3-point range while Joel Embiid went 6-for-21 overall and didn’t make a shot in the second half. Against San Antonio, Rivers admitted afterward that the 76ers didn’t play hard enough against an underdog opponent.

James Harden and the 76ers are off to a 1-4 start. John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

While individual players have performed well offensively — someone has scored at least 29 points in all five games, including Embiid going for 40 against San Antonio and both he and Tyrese Maxey scoring 31 against Toronto — there hasn’t been a game where this group has clicked.

Considering the four leading scorers (Embiid, Maxey, James Harden and Tobias Harris) all played plenty of games together during last year’s regular season and playoffs — Philly had the eighth best offense in the NBA after trading for Harden — the early offensive issues have been an odd development.

It’s what also makes the calls for more time to mesh — something Rivers, Embiid and Harden have stressed this season — confusing.

“It’s a fairly new team and it’s going to take time to get everyone on the same page,” Embiid told reporters after Saturday’s loss to San Antonio. “But we’ll be fine.”

In moments like these, it’s worth remembering that the 2013-14 version of the 76ers — the first “Process” team — won their first three games, including one against the Heat with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

That team finished the season 19-63. In other words: The season isn’t settled one week in.

But, let’s just say the 76ers should be feeling awfully lucky that the Phillies are in the World Series and the Eagles are the NFL’s lone unbeaten team.

Toronto Raptors: Why every game will be a fight

Here are the scoring margins in each of Toronto’s first four games:

A three-point win over Cleveland.

A four-point loss to Brooklyn.

A three-point loss to Miami.

An eight-point win over Miami that was a three-point game with less than two minutes left.

Such is life for the Raptors. Toronto will all but certainly be among the league’s elite defensive teams, but without a clear go-to scoring option there will be plenty of times when this group struggles to put up points.

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The result? Plenty of exciting clutch-time basketball — and plenty of late-game stress — for Raptors fans.

That’s not to say Toronto is uncomfortable in those types of environments. The team’s first two victories this season, over Cleveland and Miami, saw Toronto engineer fourth-quarter comebacks after slowly wearing down their opponents.

“We know we’ve got to guard, and create some offense out of our defense,” Nurse said after Monday’s win in Miami.

But nothing about how the Raptors play is easy. Unlike many of their competitors in the East, they lack the kind of go-to offensive option that can generate offense by themselves when the game slows down — though Pascal Siakam has been fantastic thus far, and should once again be a contender for an All-NBA spot if his opening week has been any indication.

But when Toronto is at its best, like during Wednesday night’s win over Philadelphia, the Raptors are winning by turning their opponent over and getting out in transition. Against Philadelphia, the Raptors turned 13 76ers turnovers into 21 points and held a 29-17 edge in fast-break points, including going 10-for-10 from the field in transition.

As a result, they won without ever getting in the kind of shot-for-shot situation that would’ve potentially tipped the scales in Philadelphia’s favor.

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Eng. MngrVesuvius USA Corp is seeking an Eng. Mngr., Adv. Refractories Division at Chicago Heights, IL office. Manage eng design of capital investmnt projs, ensuring design, equip, & processes are suitable for the refractory industry. Reqs: Bach in Mech. Eng. or a rel. field & 2 yrs exp in job offrd or rltd occ to incl 2 yrs exp w/ the devlpmnt of equip for Adv Refractories casting & heat treatment; 2 yrs exp in design facilities & machines for adv refractories in 3D CAD; 2 yrs exp in resolvg techncl probs & recom productn improvmnts for THC operatns; & 2 yrs exp in resolvg techncl probs & recom productn improvmnts for Mono mixing using Eirich mixers. Incumbent must be willing to travel 50% on international & domestic trips lasting 1-2 weeks in duration. Emplyr will accept any combo of edu, trn’g, & exp. Exp may be gained concurrently. Interested applicants should e-mail their resumes to Janice Thompson, HR Director Advanced Refractories NAFTA, at [email protected] & ref “Engineering Manager, Advanced Refractories Division” in the subject line.

Path Digital Advisors, LLC in Chicago, Illinois is looking for a Machine Learning Data Engineer. Job duties: Apply data mining, data modeling, natural language processing, and machine learning to extract and analyze information from large structured and unstructured datasets; design and build the company’s data pipeline by integrating several data sources together; perform data analytics and create the company’s data dashboards in Tableau using SQL and Tableau software; visualize, interpret, and report data findings; use machine learning to model data to assist in improving current products, user experience and retention; use the computer for data analysis and solution for business problems; ensure optimal data delivery architecture is consistent throughout ongoing projects. Requirements: Master’s degree in Engineering. Knowledge of Machine Learning; Natural Language Processing; Reinforcement Learning; Deep Learning including Convolutional Neural Networks, Structuring Machine Learning Projects, and Sequence Models; Big Data Management; and Investment Portfolio Management. Proficient in Python, SQL, R Coding Languages and Tableau. Apply at https://path.bamboohr.com/careers/76.

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Technical Support AnalystsChicago, IL: Develop Company KPI’s and a process for tracking and reporting them. Provide recommendations on consolidating, changing, or adding financial software tools. Analyze trial data and determine if there our opportunities for better conversion rates. Work from home permitted. Send res to: Barchart.com, Inc. [email protected].

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John McCowen brings the contrabass clarinet into extraordinary territories

John McCowen has made a career of transforming the contrabass clarinet into an instrument all his own. Born in Carbondale and now based in Reykjavik, Iceland, the composer got involved with music as a hardcore vocalist in the mid-2000s, then spent several years playing saxophone and flute with stoner outfit Tweak Bird before turning his focus to the clarinet. In 2009, he was introduced to Eric Mandat, a professor at Southern Illinois University who specializes in extended clarinet techniques, and they started a musical relationship that extends to this day. McCowen would bring recordings of his own playing to private lessons with Mandat, who would then notate them. McCowen’s formative musical education began there, and would continue when he attended Mills College to study with avant-garde jazz luminary Roscoe Mitchell, an experience that has bolstered his constant desire to innovate.

Some of McCowen’s best early recordings can be heard on 2017’s Solo Contra (released by Chicago’s International Anthem label). Its three tracks act as a dialectic: “Fur Korv” is a contemplative drone, with every breath and key press deeply felt, “Chopper HD” is a noisier exploration of multiphonics, and “Berths 1-3” traverses both modes. Even when McCowen performs with another musician, as he did with Madison Greenstone on 2018’s Mundanas I-V (Edition Wandelweiser), his restraint highlights their instruments’ full capabilities rather than the musicians’ individual contributions. That album’s five tracks demonstrate mesmerizing patience and rigor while methodically showcasing the different tonal colors that the clarinet can provide. Last year’s Robeson Formants (Superpang) feels similarly educational; McCowen merges his contrabass clarinet with sine tones, and the composition becomes an exercise in hearing how the emerging sounds overlap. 

McCowen’s most recent album, September’s Models of Duration (Astral Spirits/Dinzu Artefacts), is also his most accomplished. Two “Duration” pieces home in on his clarinet’s rumbling rhythmic pulses, while “Foggd” and “Hoskin” are blistering in their quietly abrasive multiphonics. McCowen will play works from the record at this Chicago Cultural Center performance, presented by local arts organization Lampo. After experiencing their striking austerity in a live setting, concertgoers might just walk away with a wholly new impression of the contrabass clarinet.

John McCowen Sat 10/29, 3 PM, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Rooms, second floor north, 78 E. Washington, free, all ages

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