The Blackhawks finally made the most-anticipated transaction of their season Friday.
Top forward prospect Frank Nazar was called up to the NHL and will likely make his season debut Saturday against the Devils.
Nazar, who scored his first career goal on his first career shot during a three-game NHL stint at the end of last season, was assigned to the AHL after a just-OK training camp and preseason performance to begin this season.
While in Rockford, however, Nazar has thrived, accumulating 24 points in 20 games. He’s tied for sixth overall in the league in scoring and tops among league rookies.
He has played with immense confidence, and the Hawks have been reluctant to disrupt that rhythm with a call-up, deserved as it may be. But with Rockford coach Anders Sorensen — who already helped Nazar address his shift-to-shift inconsistency, his most notable weakness — promoted to Hawks interim coach, calling Nazar up may actually help him maintain that momentum.
There’s no guarantee he stays up in the NHL permanently now, but his arrival provides a jolt of excitement and intrigue without question.
Defenseman Alec Martinez, meanwhile, was placed on injured reserve due to a neck injury.
Aight Bet are a self-proclaimed “Chicago Hood Core Original” who blend hardcore and hip-hop with the sort of charisma only south-side Chicagoans can provide. The collective’s stomp-you-out beats, slap-you-up lyrics, and seamless juxtaposition of booming rap and hardcore vocals have loads of artistic potential.
The group’s current roster includes Alex Uridel, Alex Haas, Donny Macciaro, Les Foy, Mike Robz, and rapper Moe Cyrus, all seasoned musicians who’ve clocked time as solo artists or members of other local bands (among them extreme-metal outfit Lost in the Current and surprisingly good Korn tribute act Freak on a Leash). Chicago’s hardcore scene can sometimes be very cliquey, and I personally love that Aight Bet’s members have come together from different neighborhoods across the south side and all the way to Gary.
Aight Bet’s music is deliciously heavy, with blistering rhythms and messages to spare. On “The Bag,” they share some choice words for folks who don’t honor their own mental health, delivered with crispy riffs and the sort of uberlocal wordplay that makes it more exciting to follow along: “They’ll be fumblin’ / Jesse White tumblin’ the bag,” Cyrus yelps. “Don’t Be Lyin, Be Lion” and its video hit just as hard, like a shot of espresso mainlined through an enema. If the growing response to Aight Bet is any indication, they’ll blast off into orbit very soon.
Aight Bet are taking over Reggies Music Joint for a pre-Christmas extravaganza that also features veteran hip-hop vocalist and DMV-area DIY champion Enoch 7th Prophet, horrorcore and electronic trap artist Jatan Satan, and local melodic spitter Koziwithak. Get ready for an eclectic, community-forward night of banging, thought-provoking music.
Aight Bet Enoch 7th Prophet, Jatan Satan, and Koziwithak open. Sun 12/22, 8 PM, Reggies Music Joint, 2105 S. State, $10. 21+
You know Fruit LoOops are fun because of the three Os in their name. Imagine yourself on the back half of the greatest sugar high the cereal aisle can provide as you’re excitedly swirling around a toilet bowl shouting “Fruit LoOops!”—that’s how the Cincinnati five-piece’s music hits. Front person Jackie Switzer sings in a manic, stunted style similar to Melt-Banana’s Yasuko Onuki, and they pair it to varying effect with drums, keyboards, synths, and samplers, interrupted by saxophone skronks and less identifiable noises that might sound like a piano getting crushed like a soda can. Fruit LoOops have put out two releases with Bucktown record store and label Torn Light (which came to Chicago by way of the Queen City this spring), most recently last year’s You’re Somebody’s World, and they share with Torn Light an imaginative, knowledgeable free spirit.
Fruit LoOops have spent years gigging with Chicago’s art-rock elite (notably Weasel Walter’s long-running outfit the Flying Luttenbachers) and some of the most exciting genre-shattering weirdos emerging on the national scene, including Philadelphia extreme electronics artist Morgan Garrett and experimental Texas noise punks Sexual Jeremy. To say Fruit LoOops are rock would be reductive: they’re taking rock ’n’ roll into stranger, more turbulent territory, which is exactly where it needs to go to stay relevant. The band’s live shows can switch between the raw, stripped-down aesthetic of punk and the rehearsed technique of performance art, but they’re never pretentious. They’re just fun. At this Hideout gig, Fruit LoOops will share the bill with Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (a newly formed duo of digicore mainstays Mukqs and Cocojoey) and footwork aficionado EQ Why. It’s exactly the brain-busting send-off you’ll need before subjecting yourself to holiday time with family.
Fruit LoOops EQ Why headline; Fruit LoOops and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter open. Sat 12/21, 8:30 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $12, $10 in advance. 21+
Reader Recommends: CONCERTS
Upcoming shows to have on your radar.
Chicago Reader staff writer Micco Caporale (they/them) is an award-winning journalist and Korn-fed midwesterner bouncing their way through basement shows, warehouse parties, and art galleries.
They’re interested in the material, social, and political circumstances that shape art and music and the subcultures associated with them.
Their writing has appeared in outlets such as Nylon, Pitchfork, Buzzfeed, In These Times, Yes! Magazine, and more.
When not nurturing their love affair with truth, beauty, and profanity, they can be found powerlifting.
Caporale lives in Chicago. They speak English and you can reach them at [email protected] and follow their work on Twitter.
Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang Credit: Hans van der Linden
For 34 years, master percussionists Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake have carved out a space of temporal grace in an ever-changing world with their winter solstice concerts. Even the fiercest lovers of winter can struggle with Chicago’s months of increasing darkness and welcome the return of the sun, and these performances, which celebrate and uplift the growing length of our days, are works of nondenominational spirituality that offer a breath of fresh air from the commercialism of the holiday season. That such a tradition has continued uninterrupted for nearly three and a half decades (they livestreamed the 2020 edition) and has even grown is itself a small miracle.
This year there are five events: three sunrise duos held at Links Hall (for which Zerang was once a curator and producer) and two larger evening bills at Constellation. On Saturday night, Chicago-based avant-garde indie-folk guitarist Bill MacKay (of Black Duck and BCMC) will join Zerang for the first evening concert; Drake will play in a duo with internationally renowned New York bassist and composer William Parker. The second evening will feature the world premiere of a new piece by Parker called Chicago Shout. Parker is a master improviser and jazz historian who’s played with luminaries such as Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, and Peter Brötzmann, and he frequently contributes to the Chicago scene. For this occasion, he’s pulled together a large ensemble of local musicians, including Drake, Zerang, saxophonists Ari Brown and Isaiah Collier, vocalist Zahra Glenda Baker, trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay, pianist Jim Baker, and bassist Joshua Abrams. This year the winter solstice proper—the moment when the planet’s tilted axis points most directly away from the sun—falls on Saturday, December 21, at 3:21 AM Central Standard Time. Our ancestors observed the longest night of the year and celebrated the promise of brighter days ahead in varying ways. Our descendants may very well carry on the tradition—it’s a reminder that dark times come, but they also pass. In the spirit of jazz and improvisational music, these performances call on artists and audience members alike to be fully mindful in the present moment, come what may, and to find inspiration and resilience in collaboration.
Hamid Drake & Michael Zerang winter solstice sunrise concert Sat 12/21 – Mon 12/23, 6 AM, Links Hall, 3111 N. Western, $38
Hamid Drake & William Parker, Michael Zerang & Bill MacKay Sat 12/21, 8 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $30, 18+
Hamid Drake & Michael Zerang with William Parker and ensemble This group performs Parker’s composition Chicago Shout with a lineup that also includes vocalist Zahra Glenda Baker, trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay, pianist Jim Baker, saxophonists Isaiah Collier and Ari Brown, and others. Sun 12/22, 8 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $30, 18+
Owen Ashworth, who makes music as Advance Base, has long been a standard-bearer for Christmas music in indie pop. He started writing the occasional Christmas-themed song with his former project Casiotone for the Painfully Alone in the 2000s. With Advance Base, which he launched in the early 2010s, he’s blossomed his love of Christmas music into a Chicagoland concert tradition that’s lasted nearly a decade—during the first part of the COVID pandemic, he switched to YouTube broadcasts. Ashworth’s original Christmas songs often emphasize the loneliness of the holiday season and the pain of disconnection. On “Christmas in Nightmare City,” a newly sober narrator struggles through a dry holiday; on Casiotone’s “Cold White Christmas,” a young adult navigates the complexities of family estrangement.
This Color Club concert stands out from Ashworth’s typical holiday fare because it’s also the record-release show for the first Advance Base studio album in six years, Horrible Occurrences (Run for Cover). Ashworth has an unerring ability to capture life’s fleeting but defining moments, and on Horrible Occurrences he’s in rare form as he explores the interconnected lives of the people of a fictional city called Richmond. It’s a town that’s faced plenty of tribulations—a serial killer, paralyzing skateboard accidents, strange disappearances—and darkness haunts even the album’s brief glimpses of beauty and connection, which include safe returns home from the local liquor store and in-jokes about shoplifting tampons.
Ashworth’s vivid storytelling is underscored by his trademark synths, which move between horror-movie ominous and subtly angelic. Even his newest Christmas song is caught in this tension. In “The One About the Rabbit in the Snow,” a bartender walks home during a snowstorm, guided by a memory of Christmas lights—but it’s not quite clear if they ever arrive. As the dread creeps in, the narrator keeps singing to themself, which feels like a beautiful encapsulation of Advance Base’s MO. This world can be a tragic place, but as long as we have music, we have something to hold the darkness at bay a little while longer.
Advance Base Karima Walker opens. Fri 12/20, 8 PM, Color Club, 4146 N. Elston, $18.54, 18+
The speed was there right from the start. Even as a young Pop Warner football player, Talyn Taylor could fly.
“His coach always said he ran like his hair was on fire,” said Venus Taylor, Talyn’s mom. “He was so fast, but it was almost like he didn’t know how to control it.”
The Geneva senior eventually learned how to harness his speed and developed into one of the best high school wide receivers in state history, shattering school records and wowing college coaches all over the country.
“He’s the total package,” Vikings coach Boone Thorgesen said. “That isn’t me saying that. It’s what coaches from Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama and Georgia were teling me. Talyn reminds them of NFL receivers because he can play outside and inside and he’s so tough to guard.”
Taylor, the 2024 Sun-Times Player of the Year, led the Vikings to a second-place finish in the Class 6A state playoffs. He had eight catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in the loss to East St. Louis in the title game.
The Georgia recruit matched up against another SEC-bound player, East St. Louis cornerback Charles Bass.
“Bass is a tremendous player, a great player,” Thorgesen said. “Talyn made him look like any other kid. He’s a special talent.”
It was a magical season for the Vikings, beating rival Batavia and advancing to the state title game. But it almost didn’t happen.
“[Talyn] had the opportunity to go to IMG [Academy in Florida] twice,” Venus Taylor said. “It was really important to him to stay. He wanted to be a part of doing something special at Geneva with his friends.
“This season meant so much to everybody. Those guys went and did work when no one was looking so many times. That chemistry and that friendship carried over on the field. That’s why they had such a magical season. Not only were they well-coached and had good athletes, but they had bonds and friendships and things they wanted to accomplish together.”
Taylor finished the season with 84 receptions for 1,617 yards and 24 touchdowns. He averaged 19 yards per catch, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and totaled 2,208 all-purpose yards.
Naturally quiet and humble, he admitted that aside from his speed, his route running sets him apart.
“I can be fast and smooth at the same time,” Taylor said. “And I’m a big student of the game. I like coaching and criticism.”
Geneva had routes in the playbook that only Taylor could run. Even as a sophomore, he was a standout receiver, but this year he was at a different level.
“He got attention from defenses as a sophomore,” Thorgesen said. “Junior year, he was double-teamed and started getting pressed off the line. Senior year, he got the same treatment, but he had elevated his game to the point that it didn’t matter. Nothing bothered him.”
Geneva’s Talyn Taylor, center, watches as the Vikings play Batavia.
Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
Geneva wasn’t ranked in the preseason, largely because of questions about first-year starting quarterback Tony Chahino, who wound up being a strength.
“We’ve been best friends since middle school,” Taylor said. “It was his time to step up. He’s been working years for this, and he proved who he is this season.”
Chahino threw for 3,600 yards and 49 touchdowns and is now getting college interest. Taylor’s decision to stay has had an incalculable impact on his teammates and his town.
“He made all of us better,” Thorgesen said. “It means everything that he stayed. Everyone that has ever had anything to do with Geneva felt so much pride at making the state title game. All the kids in the community look up to him.”
It’s common for parents to look at high school teams as an avenue for personal goals, a scholarship or a stepping stone to the pros. At their best, high school sports bring communities together. That magic happened this season in Geneva.
“This was not just for Talyn,” Venus Taylor said. “It was for everybody.”
The complete list of Sun-Times Football Players of the Year
A couple from the United States was shot and killed while visiting the western Mexican state of Michoacan, which has been overrun by a wave of violent crime.
State prosecutors said in a statement Thursday that the couple – identified as Gloria A., 50, and Rafael C., 53 – was traveling in a pickup truck in the municipality of Angamacutiro on Wednesday when they were shot and killed.
The woman died at the scene and the man died from his injuries shortly after at a local hospital, the statement added.
It was not immediately clear why the couple, who were married, were targeted.
A spokeswoman for state prosecutors told Reuters that the woman, who had obtained U.S. citizenship, and the man, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents, had family and a home in Angamacutiro.
Police officers patrol in Michoacan state, a part of the western part of Mexico hit hard by organized crime.
ENRIQUE CASTRO/AFP via Getty Images
Spiraling violence, much of it linked to drug trafficking, has seen more than 450,000 people murdered in Mexico since 2006, when the government launched an offensive against organized crime.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, has ruled out launching a new “war on drugs,” as the controversial program was known.
She has pledged to follow her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy of using social policy to address the causes of crime.
Gangs and drug cartels have long infiltrated, intimidated or bribed local officials into working for them, often going so far as to take a cut of the municipal budget or use local police forces to warn them or protect them from federal raids. Sometimes, police officers themselves profit from the drug trade.
Speaking out about cartel corruption can have deadly consequences. Earlier this year, a business leader in Tamaulipas state was shot to death after he complained in TV interviews about cartel extortion. Just weeks before that, a prominent businesswoman who had made similar complaints was murdered in the northern border state of Baja California.
Lucia Suarez Sang
Lucia Suarez Sang is an associate managing editor at CBSNews.com. Previously, Lucia was the director of digital content at FOX61 News in Connecticut and has previously written for outlets including FoxNews.com, Fox News Latino and the Rutland Herald.
Family says kindergartener shot in Oroville school shooting may not walk again
Family says kindergartener shot in Oroville school shooting may not walk again
00:32
PALERMO — One of the two kindergarteners injured in a Northern California school shooting in early December may not regain the use of his legs, the family told CBS Sacramento on Thursday.
The family said that Elias Wolford, 5, suffered damage to his spinal cord. Wolford’s aunt Tawnee Preisner said doctors told her that Wolford was able to move his legs when he was first admitted to the hospital, but that movement was lost after his first surgery and has not yet returned.
“He has lost movement. We are hoping that it would come back and it was just swelling. We knew that there was some spinal damage, but we were all hoping, but at this point, it looks like he is not going to regain it with the swelling going down,” Preisner said.
Wolford and Roman Mendez, 6, were both shot at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Butte County on December 4, 2024.
Six-year-old Roman Mendez (left) and 5-year-old Elias Wolford (right) were wounded during a shooting at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Butte County on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Butte County Sheriff’s Office
Wolford was shot in the stomach while Mendez suffered two gunshot wounds that resulted in internal injuries. Both of the young victims had been hospitalized in critical condition but were deemed stable five days after the shooting.
The suspect was identified as 56-year-old Glenn Litton. A California Highway Patrol officer found Litton later that day with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a gun next to him. He was declared dead shortly after.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Litton was found to have a lengthy criminal history and attended another Adventist school as a child in the nearby town of Paradise.
Richard Ramos
Richard Ramos is a web producer for CBS Sacramento who was born and raised in Sacramento. He graduated with a BA in Journalism from CSUS.
Investigators track movements of suspect before and after UnitedHealthcare CEO killing – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Investigators say they have discovered evidence suggesting Luigi Mangione knew UnitedHealthcare was hosting its annual investor conference in New York City before the shooting. Police say they’re also learning more about what Mangione allegedly did right after the shooting. CBS News correspondent Lilia Luciano has the latest.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Georgia woman seeks to unmask violent intruder with “Batman’s voice” – CBS News
Watch CBS News
“48 Hours” explores a puzzling 2021 attack on a Georgia woman inside her home on New Year’s Day. Morgan Metzer says she was awakened by a masked intruder who pounced on her and began violently beating her. Investigators started digging and quickly found a telling clue.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
