Cleveland Rocked–Cubs 7 Cleveland 1Mike Bangharton August 12, 2020 at 2:39 am

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Cleveland Rocked–Cubs 7 Cleveland 1

Cleveland Rocked–Cubs 7 Cleveland 1Mike Bangharton August 12, 2020 at 2:39 am Read More »

Joel Grey (virtually) headlines PorchlightPaloozaCatey Sullivanon August 11, 2020 at 4:20 pm

Back in early March, Broadway icon Joel Grey, 88, was finalizing his plans to visit Chicago for Porchlight Music Theatre’s silver anniversary gala. With a 60-plus year career on Broadway, Grey–one of only a handful of actors to win an Oscar and a Tony for playing the same role–was moving full throttle into spring, wandering New York to take photos for his latest book, prepping for coming projects and, as ever, creating art whenever and wherever he found it. Porchlight’s annual event, packed with live performances and a retrospective of Grey’s extraordinary career, was on track to be a blowout showstopper fueled by the presence of a genuine, megawatt musical theater legend.

And then, of course, COVID-19 shut the industry down, leaving theaters like Porchlight bereft of their fundamental raison d’etre.

These days, like most of us, Grey doesn’t get around much anymore. COVID-19 emptied out his building, leaving Grey the sole tenant who didn’t flee New York for less congested areas.

“Since COVID, everyone has departed. I’m the only one left in my building,” he said. “I don’t go out really. I Zoom with my core posse, about six people. I don’t like it. Zoom isn’t like being together in person.”

But thanks to Porchlight, Grey is getting out and putting on a show. Sort of. At least he is doing so in the that-ain’t-quite-it-kid manner that “going out” and “putting on a show” have become under the draconian fist of COVID-19.

Porchlight’s postponed gala kicks off on Friday, August 21, albeit online. The three-night PorchlightPalooza culminates Sunday, August 23, when Grey–who won the 1967 Tony for creating the role of the Emcee in John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret and the 1973 Oscar for playing the Emcee in Bob Fosse’s movie version–will collect Porchlight’s Icon Award. It’s all free. Raffle prizes (tickets are $50 each, three for $100) include a meal with superstar chef and gala cochair Rick Bayless and his restaurateur wife Deann, as well as a visit to cochair Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra’s Mettawa Manor.

Grey has shaped the course of Broadway over the past six or so decades, his resume offering bullet points of the industry’s history beyond Cabaret–George M. Cohan in George M!, Amos in Chicago, the Wizard of Oz in Wicked, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes, codirector (with George C. Wolfe) of the 2011 Broadway production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s 2018 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. But while Grey’s resume is expansive, his advice is not.

“Really, I have no advice for the kids. Like everybody else, I don’t know when we’ll be back or how we can survive being out indefinitely. I myself am totally flummoxed and worried. Like everyone else. Because what we’re walking through, what we’re walking into–it’s the unknown,” he said from his home in New York.

PorchlightPalooza is a musical attempt to defy the unknown by celebrating a business that’s been cataclysmically damaged by the one-two punch of COVID and the federal government’s long-standing apathy toward providing any kind of serious, foundational support for theater.

Some 50 artists are working on the gala, said Porchlight artistic director Michael Weber. There will be performances from past Porchlight shows as well as medleys celebrating Grey’s work, and segments showcasing Chicago’s emerging musical theater talents.

Friday, August 21, is devoted to a retrospective of Porchlight’s quarter-century in Chicago. Saturday, August 22, will showcase new talent and honor longtime theater benefactors Elaine Cohen and Arlen D. Rubin. Grey will take center stage (from his home) Sunday, August 23, for a Q and A with “legendary anchorman” (per his tongue-in-cheek intro on WBEZ’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me) Bill Kurtis. Among those who wrote or called in to honor Grey via the benefit: Tonya Pinkins, Chita Rivera, Bernadette Peters, Raul Esparza, Susan Stroman–like Grey’s resume, the list is impressive.

Grey’s history in Chicago goes back more than 70 years. In the early 1950s, he joined his father Mickey Katz for The Borscht Capades, which played at the old Blackstone Theatre (now the Merle Reskin Theatre of DePaul University). The show was in the storied tradition of Yiddish vaudeville, or, per Grey, “like the Ice Capades but with Borscht.” Later, he came to Chicago with touring productions, living here for months at a time during “sit-down” tour stops. Grey lists the usual attractions that stay with visitors: “The architecture was amazing. The food. The lakefront. The museums and all the theater. I always thought of Chicago–like San Francisco–as being my second home.”

On screen, Grey cut his showbiz teeth in the hyper-macho world of TV cowboys, doing guest spots on Maverick, Lawman, and Bronco before escalating up the rungs of Broadway, eventually landing the Emcee role in Cabaret, and cementing his status as a star in his own right.

The role was a ground-demolishing departure from the heteronormative land of primetime, and from anything Broadway had seen before: Grey’s Emcee was neither male nor female, gay nor straight. The character was rather an omnisexual, otherworldly trickster that hovered on an invisible razor wire between memory and reality, good and evil. It was also a massive risk in an industry that counts on mainstream tourist dollars to sustain it.

“Whenever you confront the public with something different and maybe dangerous, you have to walk a fine line,” he said.

He walked a fine line IRL as well. Grey came out publicly as gay in his memoir, Master of Ceremonies, which he released in 2016. He spoke on book tours and promotions about figuring out as a preteen that being outwardly attracted to men was dangerous, an invitation to shunning and violence as well as possible career suicide. As he told Playbill, “Being gay was not an option,” not if you wanted a career. He and fellow actor Jo Wilder were married for 24 years, raising Jennifer (of Dirty Dancing fame) and James Grey and divorcing in 1982.

Grey has a few words for his younger self, and by extension, to anyone grappling with issues of gender and sexuality.

“I’d tell my kid self it’s going to get better. But it’s going to be hard,” he said.

For now, Grey is working on another book of photography, this one examining things in his loft. He was working on directing a benefit staged reading of Paul Osborn’s 1938 play On Borrowed Time, which Grey starred in as a nine-year-old at the Cleveland Playhouse. Two River Theater’s streaming benefit for the Actors Fund was canceled last week after an outcry on social media about the cast’s lack of diversity.

Porchlight’s benefit will offer Grey a chance to offer his thoughts on the cancellation as well as his extraordinary career. It will also, hopefully, generate some coin for the last remaining Equity musical theater in Chicago that produces its own shows.

“My mood is concerned and I’m trying not to push it into scared,” Weber said. “But we don’t see yet when we’re going to be able to come back and there’s no money coming in, except from the support of people who like what you do and are willing to help keep you floating until you can do it again. Everyone at Porchlight has taken a pay cut. We’ve lost staff to other industries. We’re not replacing them now. What we’re trying to do is keep engaging, as best we can,” Weber said.

Roughly 50 people are working on the Porchlight benefit, and of those, about 30 are getting some kind of payment, Weber said. Others–including Kurtis and Rick and Deann Bayless–are donating their time as well as opening their homes to winners of the fundraising raffle. Weber said pretaped musical numbers are choreographed, rehearsed, and performed with masks, face shields, and social distancing.

“From the time I was nine, I only wanted to be in theater. That was it,” Grey said. “What do I miss most now? Well, people. Like everybody else. But we’re all trying to do what we can.” v

Joel Grey (virtually) headlines PorchlightPaloozaCatey Sullivanon August 11, 2020 at 4:20 pm Read More »

When a Riot Takes Downtownon August 11, 2020 at 10:21 pm

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When a Riot Takes Downtownon August 11, 2020 at 10:21 pm Read More »

Big Ten, Pac-12 cancel football seasons, hope to play in the springAssociated Presson August 11, 2020 at 9:56 pm

The Big Ten and Pac-12 called off their fall football seasons on Tuesday because of concerns about COVID-19, taking two of college football’s five power conferences out of a crumbling season.

Five months after the first spikes in coronavirus cases in the U.S. led to the cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournament, the still raging pandemic has begun tearing down a sport that generates billion of dollars for the schools that compete in it. Despite pleas from players, coaches and President Donald Trump in recent days to play on, 40% of major college football teams have now decided to punt on a fall season.

The Big Ten’s announcement, that it was postponing all fall sports and hoping to make them up in the second semester, came first Tuesday afternoon. An hour later the Pac-12, the Big Ten’s Rose Bowl partner, called a news conference to say that all sports in its conference would be paused until Jan. 1, including basketball.

“This was an extremely difficult and painful decision that we know will have important impacts on our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and our fans,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said. “We know nothing will ease that.”

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference are still moving forward with plans to conduct a season as college football’s lack of centralized leadership has left every conference to decide for itself.

The Big Ten’s announcement came six days after the conference that includes historic programs such as Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State had released a revised conference-only football schedule that it hoped would help it navigate a fall season with potential COVID-19 disruptions.

The decision was monumental but not a surprise. Speculation has run rampant for several days that the Big Ten was moving toward this decision. On Monday, coaches throughout the Big Ten tried to push back the tide, publicly pleading for more time and threatening to look elsewhere for games this fall.

“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said in a statement. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.”

Warren took over as commissioner from Jim Delany at the start of this year. A former longtime executive in the NFL, Warren walked into an unprecedented problem for college sports.

During an interview on the Big Ten Network, Warren was pressed on whether the decision was unanimous across the conferences and if Big Ten teams could still try to play a fall season, as some coaches suggested Monday. Warren declined to answer.

“We are very disappointed in the decision by the Big Ten Conference to postpone the fall football season, as we have been and continue to be ready to play,” University of Nebraska leadership said in a statement.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the Buckeyes would have preferred to play.

“I wish we would have had a little more time to evaluate,” Smith told the Big Ten Network.

Over the last month, conferences have been reworking schedules in the hopes of being able to buy some time and play a season. The Big Ten was the first to go to conference-only play, doing it in early July.

The Pac-12 followed two days later and eventually all the Power Five conferences switched to either all or mostly conference play.

The first Football Bowl Subdivision conference to pull the plug on a fall season was the Mid-American Conference on Saturday, and then the Mountain West did the same on Monday.

But those conferences don’t have the revenue, reach and history of the Big Ten, which seemed positioned to pour resources into trying to protect its athletes from getting and spreading COVID-19.

The Big Ten touts itself as the oldest college athletic conference in the country, dating back to 1896 when it was called the Western Conference, and its schools have been playing football ever since. It became the Big Ten in 1918 and grew into a football powerhouse.

The 14 Big Ten schools span from Maryland and Rutgers on the East Coast to Iowa and Nebraska out west. Not only has it been one of the most successful conferences on the field, but off the field it has become one of the wealthiest.

The Big Ten, with its lucrative television network, distributes about $50 million per year to its members.

The Pac-12’s members are in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Big Ten, Pac-12 cancel football seasons, hope to play in the springAssociated Presson August 11, 2020 at 9:56 pm Read More »

Hermosa Cultural Center to Bring Virtual Events to ChicagoNishat Ahmedon August 11, 2020 at 4:16 pm

As an unfortunate rise in case numbers push more events to be canceled or adapted to adhere to social distancing guidelines, virtual events are seeing a rise throughout the country. Chicago is no exception from these new standards. The Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, located in Hermosa, plans to bring a host of virtual events to Chicago.

Located at 4048 W. Armitage Ave., the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center was founded in 1971 with the mission to “preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and Latin America, with a unique emphasis on its African heritage.” The center was named after Segundo Ruiz Belvis, a Puerto Rican abolitionist who also fought for Puerto Rico’s independence.

Photo Credit: Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center Facebook Page

The cultural center has lined up workshops and events to cover the rest of this month and the next. Starting with a performance this Sunday, August 16th, percussionist Joe Rendón, along with his band, will perform in the third event in a series of performances highlighting Chicago’s Latin jazz scene.

Photo Credit: Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center Facebook Page

In a partnership with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the cultural center is setting up and hosting a line up of virtual performances and art workshops for teens, with the first Teen Art Tuesday being a drumming class on 6 pm, August 18th. Michael Rodríguez and youths from the cultural center’s Afro-Latin percussion program will be featured for the class. The students involved with the cultural center’s youth programs will perform with Humboldt Park-based group, Los Pleneros de Don Segundo, on August 25th.

September’s programming has an Afro-Latin performance featuring musicians from both past and present programs under the musical direction of Michael Rodríguez and Adrian Ruiz slated for the first of the month. In a team up with the Museum of Contemporary Art, founder and leader of Chicago-based classic salsa band Conjunto Borikén, Nathan Rodriguez, will have a show on September 22nd.

Photo Credit: Lonesome Rose Facebook Page

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As aforementioned, all these shows and events will be virtual given that the center is closed to the public for now but Omar Torres-Kortright, Executive Director of the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, hopes to include some outdoor programming in the fall to bring more in person experiences to the city. When the pandemic hit, the center closed and lost its primary source of revenue but thanks to the government’s Paycheck Protection Program, funding from foundations, and an influx of donations, the cultural center was able to stay afloat. To keep up with the events and to watch them, follow the cultural center’s social media pages to catch the live broadcasts!

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Featured Image Credit: Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center

Here’s Our Dream Riot Fest HeadlinersAlicia Likenon August 11, 2020 at 7:57 pm

Table of Contents

2020 has been wild, y’all. Pretty much every major event has been canceled including our beloved Riot Fest. The 3-day September festival is something every former punk rock and emo kid looks forward to. While we won’t be crowd surfing or throwing punches in a mosh pit like it’s 2003 (so many germs), at least we can look forward to next year’s lineup. BUT if we had our way, here’s who’d be on our Riot Fest roster this year.

Riot Fest Headliner — Photo Credit: blink-182 Instagram Pagb

blink-182

As long as the grass is green and the sky is blue, blink-182 will be at our faux Riot Fest. They’re the dudes who wrote a little song called, “Family Reunion” with lyrics so raunchy, they’d make your grandma blush. They’re also just hella fun on stage. It’s like you’re watching a couple of guys jam out in a friend’s basement. Plus, Travis Barker absolutely crushes it on the drums. So there’s that.

Coheed and Cambria

This progressive rock band gets our vote, mainly because of lead singer Claudio Sanchez’s incredible storytelling and haunting voice. Most of the band’s releases are concept albums based on a sci-fi storyline called, “The Amory Wars,” a graphic novel series created by Sanchez. Many fans have dissected each song and re-read every book to fully grasp the terror and wonder of this captivating tale.

GWAR

We might get hate for this but GWAR is the epitome of entertainment. From the intricate costumes to the insane theatrics, this heavy metal crew does NOT shy away from some of the grossest, most vile stuff you can imagine. It’s all part of their act and unless you have an open mind, you might want to skip this one. Or if you’re intrigued, check out the Scumdogs of the Universe.

Beastie Boys

No! Sleep! Til Brooklyn! …and… You gotta fight! For your right! To paaaarty! If you just sang that out loud, then you already know why they made this list. Considered alternative-hip hop royalty, the Beastie Boys toured with Madonna and clocked seven platinum albums during their reign. Here’s another crazy fact: they actually coined the term “mullet” in 1994 with their song Mullet Head. The more you know!

The Wonder Years

This pop-punk sextet from Philly were once newcomers to the Riot Fest scene but after some explosive sets filled with flinging arms and legs in the pit, The Wonder Years have cemented their name as a band with one of the most energetic performances a person can experience. Led by the powerhouse persona of Dan “Soupy” Campbell, The Wonder Years are a band that tackles grief, loneliness, and all the tell-tale perils of growing old to the tune of thrashing drums, raging guitars, and heartwrenching lyrics.

Paramore

Who remembers the iconic orange-yellow hair? Or the revengeful lyrics of Misery Business, that went something like “Whoa, I never meant to brag but I got him where I want him now.” Lead singer and rocker queen, Hayley Williams, certainly knows how to hold her own on the Riot Fest stage and that’s why she (and the other band members) deserve a spot in this lineup.

Fall Out Boy

Of course, we need some Illinois love on this list! Our very own local legends got their start in Wilmette around 2001. They rose to emo-pop stardom with catchy hits like Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down, and Dance, Dance. FOB was a TRL favorite and has toured all over the world for almost two decades. And they show no signs of slowing down—they released their seventh album titled “Mania” in 2018.

Best Pizza Places in Chicago — Photo Credit: Uno Instagram

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New Found Glory

This pop-punk band has some epic hits but My Friends Over You certainly takes the cake. The upbeat anthem propelled NFG to stardom many moons ago. Since then, they’ve released 10 albums, toured the globe, and continue to bring the nostalgia with every performance.

At UrbanMatter, U Matter. And we think this matters.

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Featured Image Credit: The Wonder Years Facebook Page

Chicago Bears: Why Jimmy Graham, Cole Kmet change everythingRyan Heckmanon August 11, 2020 at 11:00 am

Chicago Bears (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

While many Chicago Bears fans question the signing and drafting of Jimmy Graham and Cole Kmet, respectively, these two will change everything.

This past free agency period began with man fans laughing at the Chicago Bears for signing Jimmy Graham to a 2-year, $16 million deal. Graham, formerly an All Pro, is often labeled “washed up” at this stage in his career.

The Bears then drafted Cole Kmet out of Notre Dame at no. 42 overall, which many thought was a bit of a reach. It didn’t matter. Ryan Pace was going to address the tight end position, one way or another. Whether or not people agreed with his moves was irrelevant. The Bears were coming off arguably their most miserable season in franchise history at the tight end position.

Going into the 2020 season, the Bears have totally revamped this spot, also adding veteran Demetrius Harris who will primarily be a blocking tight end. As for Graham and Kmet, though, these two will change things in a big way for the offense. One specific stat proves this point.

Per JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago, speaking on a recent Bears Barroom podcast, the Bears ran the ball nearly 76 percent of the time when lined up in “12 personnel” last season.

For those who may not know, “12 personnel” is when the offense rolls out two tight ends. This type of grouping features more blocking, thus many teams will use it to run the ball more often than not.

The Bears have completely revamped the TE corps for 2020. Expect much more 12 personnel sets as the TE position is very important in the success of this offense. Just look at TE production in KC/Philly

— Greg Gabriel (@greggabe) July 28, 2020

However, the Bears didn’t have much of a pass-catching threat at tight end last year. So, when they decided to line up in “12 personnel,” defenses had to know they were going to run it. Again, they ran it three quarters of the time when lined up in this fashion. How could defenses not expect a run?

Now, when looking at Graham and Kmet, the Bears actually do have guys who can catch the football. Is Graham going to stretch the field? Absolutely not. Is Kmet expected to come in and be Travis Kelce? Not quite.

But, what we do know about these two is their strong ability to catch the football. They both give the Bears quarterbacks options to throw to when in this personnel grouping. By now, everybody knows not a single Bears tight end eclipsed 100 yards receiving all season in 2019. Graham’s 447 receiving yards last year look pretty tasty by comparison.

We also know that Matt Nagy is committed to establishing the run and (hopefully) not abandoning it. If he is seriously committed to this aspect (which he should be) then he will likely use “12 personnel” quite often.

The only difference, now, is that he has guys who can disguise as blockers initially off the snap and then head into their routes once the play is in development. The Bears now have the ability to commit to the run while also putting guys out on the field who pose a receiving threat at tight end.

In 2020, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears ran the ball closer to 55-60 percent of the time in “12 personnel.” This small tweak will allow either Nick Foles or Mitchell Trubisky to open up the offense much more than it was a year ago.

We can talk all day long about how poor the offensive line played or even how bad Trubisky looked at times, but the one thing that both didn’t have working in their favor was even an average threat at tight end, in terms of catching the ball.

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Graham and Kmet will allow the Bears to line up like this with much more success this year. Hopefully it not only keeps defenses honest and allows the run game to improve, but also for the tight ends to contribute to this offense in a big way.

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Chicago Bears: Why Jimmy Graham, Cole Kmet change everythingRyan Heckmanon August 11, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Chicago Bears could benefit from canceled college football seasonPatrick Sheldonon August 11, 2020 at 12:00 pm

Chicago Bears (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears might benefit from a canceled college football season.

We are now within five weeks of the Chicago Bears playing a meaningful football game again. As we inch closer to the start of the NFL season, we have grown accustomed to Week 1 being precipitated by a slate of college football games to wet our collective whistles.

Unfortunately, the news out of the NCAA world seems to strongly suggest that there will not be a college football season, as the Big Ten has, at least according to one contested report, voted to cancel its season. If true, presumably, other conferences would quickly follow suit.

However, while it would be incredibly disappointing, it could also be a benefit to the Bears, so perhaps there is a silver lining to the bad news.

So how could the Bears benefit? I’m glad you asked. Like everything in football, it comes down to the quarterback position.

While fans are getting revved up for the battle between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles, the reality is the Bears will most likely be in the market for a quarterback in next year’s draft. Unless Trubisky becomes who Pace thought he was, the Bears absolutely must draft a quarterback.

While we don’t know where they will be drafting, the fact that there won’t be a college football season could give them additional options.

Of course, this is all predicated on a giant condition — and that is that the Bears competently scout the position. But if they can, and with Matt Nagy involved in the process, there is reason to believe they will be better, they should be in a pretty good spot.

You see, heading into this year, there were a number of quarterbacks who were incredibly intriguing. In fact, we highlighted a number of them a while back. However, players like Trey Lance, Jamie Newman, Brock Purdy, and KJ Costello are all quarterbacks who had a lot of hype coming into this year.

However, teams were likely looking for each of them to validate their 2019 seasons with as good or better 2020 seasons. Without that ability, some teams may be scared off from drafting these quarterbacks too high (though Lance is the exception). That could allow one or more of them to drop to the second round when a solid 2020 season would assuredly have put them squarely in the first round.

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This would be huge, especially if the Bears put together a decent season and end up drafting outside the top 15. Again, if the Bears can competently scout the position — and that is a big if — they may stumble into a franchise quarterback when they otherwise may not have had that chance.

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Chicago Bears could benefit from canceled college football seasonPatrick Sheldonon August 11, 2020 at 12:00 pm Read More »

Chicago Blackhawks: Looking at Vegas Golden Knights rosterVincent Pariseon August 11, 2020 at 1:00 pm

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(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Golden Knights have a fantastic roster that the Chicago Blackhawks need to be ready for.

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to be playing the Vegas Golden Knights in round number one. They surprised the hockey world when they upset the Edmonton Oilers in the play-in qualifying round. It was a brilliant series for them as they defeated the team with the NHL’s two leading scorers. Now, they move on and have to play a very good Vegas team. This is a team that rolls out four good forwards lines, three good defensive pairs, and has two elite goalies.

The Golden Knights have been one of the best teams in the National Hockey League since joining. They went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season where they were defeated by the Washington Capitals. This year, they made it to the playoffs to extend their streak of making the playoffs to start their history. They have Stanley Cup aspirations once again.

They won every single game they played in the round-robin which is why they were able to draw the 12th seed Blackhawks in the first round. They looked very good at doing it too because they are a deep team that is well-coached.

If the Golden Knights are going to go to the Stanley Cup Final this year, they need their lineup to play to their potential from top to bottom. They have good players all over the place and that is what is going to be the biggest issue for the Blackhawks. This is a very different animal compared to the Edmonton Oilers because Vegas is a much deeper team. This is a look at the positions for them:

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Chicago Blackhawks: Looking at Vegas Golden Knights rosterVincent Pariseon August 11, 2020 at 1:00 pm Read More »