Jerry Krause is the villain of “The Last Dance.” Social media has had a ball sharing their thoughts about the former ChicagoBulls general manager after seeing how Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson have felt about him for the past 30 years.
As I mentioned previously, I figured to pass the time in home exile by reviewing a few more beers, preferably local ones that deserve a shout-out. I started off with a trip to find more local cans, but got distracted by a national brand’s “hard coffee.” Now I’m back on track.
Wild Onion Brewery has been brewing in Lake Barrington, IL since 1996. A few years later, they opened their Onion Pub. This was a bit of a reversal from the trend in the 1990’s of starting with a brewpub, then branching into commercial production. They have gone through several flagship beers, but Drago, their Russian Imperial Stout, has become a seasonal mainstay since being introduced in 2012. In just the past few yers, Wild Onion has begun expanding the Drago line with variations like Vanilla, coffee, and coconut. This year, they have a bourbon barrel-aged Drago, which made a surprisingly strong showing at Josh Noel’s “March Madness style” tastings of local BA stouts (Chicago Tribune). Until I can get invited to these taste-offs, I’ll have have to go through a whole can by myself.
My can label notes the beer is 11% abv, while the base beer is listed at 9.2%. It’s stamped with a packaging date of March 11, so we’ve got a freshie this time instead of a cellar queen. The company description mentions that it’s aged 8 months in oak bourbon barrels, but doesn’t say which bourbon, so we’ll suppose it’s blended from several different barrel brands.
It didn’t matter if I used the photo with the flash or not, the beer was a pretty solid black once poured. A very thin ring of foam disappeared almost instantly. The beer has an expected warming smell of bourbon, and that’s just a part of a complex group of impressions: strawberries concentrate, upholstery leather, and some tobacco.
The taste is very rich and quite mellow. It’s got some sweetness, but not as much as some of the more pastry oriented big stouts. Instead, the malt is well balanced between sugar and roastiness, very well settled.
This beer shows that it has been worked on continuously for some time. It invites slow sipping, but would also be a good go-with for a cheese and sausage snacks (okay, I’ll say it: charcuterie). And best of all, it helps take the edge off of over a month of self-isolation.
Fresh Beer Events, occasional bacon, but always spam free, opt out any time.
Meet The Blogger
Mark McDermott
Writer, trivia maven, fan of many things. I thought to learn all there is to know about beer as a way to stay interested in learning. It is my pleasure to bring Chicago’s craft beer scene to you.
Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of ChicagoMusic to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.
My favorite way to discover an obscure Chicago band is to stumble upon a release I hadn’t known existed at a thrift shop or record store, then research the artist–and if I can, I contact them to get the full story. I did all three to learn about uber-musicianly jazz-fusion group the Ashby Ostermann Alliance, whose 1979 demo cassette I found at the Village Discount on Western and Milwaukee. (It’s my most-visited thrift store in the city, since it’s closest to my pad of many years–I’ve missed it during the stay-at-home order!) Upon investigation, I was happy to find that the boys had recently re-formed, cut a reunion album, and put up a website–and I was bemused to hear that they barely recall the existence of this demo.
Keyboardist and horn player Dennis Ostermann was born in Chicago in 1951 and raised in Brookfield and Lombard. The band’s other namesake, guitarist Vince Ashby, was born in Charleston, Illinois, in 1957. Ostermann started on piano at ten, though at that age he was mostly studying French horn, and Ashby began piano lessons at five, switching to guitar at 13. Between them they loved classical music, complex rock (Deep Purple, Brian Auger, Keith Emerson’s bands), and jazz-inflected crossover groups (Return to Forever, the Mahavishnu Orchestra). They met through Ashby’s brother Kevin while Ostermann was attending Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and performing with his group MotherFox. “I remember the first time I met Vince–he had a Sunn Sceptre with a sunburst Les Paul in an old dirty barn pointing west, blowing out decibels that were entertaining to the neighbors two or three miles away,” says Ostermann. “I thought it was going to be something interesting, and it was.”
The Ashby Ostermann Alliance began in 1977 with a jam session in that barn in Charleston that included Ashby, Ostermann, bassist John D’Arco, and drummer Bubba Bryant (who left before the group started gigging). The tunes “Nightstorm” and “Universal Melody” began to take shape there, and late that year Ashby moved to Chicago to pursue the group. Cicero native Jim Massoth, who’d been playing saxophone with pianist Marshall Vente, was also in Ostermann’s group Jazmin, and Ostermann introduced him to Ashby. Musically the band began to jell, but the lineup was still unstable. D’Arco played only a couple gigs before moving on–they had to audition several bassists before finding Indianapolis native J.T. Bromley in late ’78.
Ashby, Ostermann, Massoth, and Bromley became the core of the AOA, which went through drummers the way Spinal Tap went through keyboardists (and drummers, come to think of it). Eventually Ostermann found the bright side in the situation, deciding that the constant turnover “kept things fresh”–he didn’t have much choice, since in their seven-year original run AOA had at least a dozen different drummers (including acclaimed jazzman Paul Wertico, before his 17-year stint in the Pat Metheny Group). Their first proper gig was in a coffeehouse at the College of DuPage, where they shared the bill with Jim Belushi. Early in their history, they also played other universities, including Morton College in Cicero and Trine University in Angola, Indiana, as well as more conventional music venues such as B’Ginnings (in Schaumburg), Kimball Street Bridge Club (in Elgin), and famous Chicago reggae hotspot the Wild Hare & Singing Armadillo Frog Sanctuary. (I’d never known the Wild Hare’s whole handle till now, and it might be the best venue name I’ve ever heard.)
In 1980 the AOA secured management from Diane Daniel, and they started gigging much more frequently, at Chicago clubs (Tuts, Wise Fools Pub, On Broadway, Biddy Mulligan’s) and all over the suburbs and beyond (Harry Hope’s in Cary, the Uprising in Dekalb, Durty Nellie’s in Palatine, the Great Escape in Carbondale, Crows Mill School in Springfield, Charlotte’s Web in Rockford, and many more). The AOA never strayed far from their home base in Chicago, but they pummeled the local college circuit too, playing the likes of Northwestern University, McHenry Junior College, Harper Community College, UIUC, and Northern Illinois University. They got booked twice for ChicagoFest, first in 1981 (Ashby says they almost got cited for inciting a riot when they attempted an encore) and again in ’82 (sharing the bill with Tito Puente). They also hit Summerfest in 1982 and ’83, Waukegan Fest in ’82 and ’83, and the Festival of Lights in Aurora in ’82.
The AOA recorded the 1979 demo at a studio in Lombard whose name they no longer remember, and on December 8, 1980–the day John Lennon was shot and killed–they started sessions for what till recently was their only album. They tracked the self-titled LP (released on their own Divide label, whose name combined letters of Ashby, Ostermann, and Daniel’s first names) in three days for around $1,800 at Hedden West in Schaumburg with legendary producer Iain Burgess. At that point, their drummer was Ty von Jenef, who’s since passed away.
Both the demo I have and the self-titled 1981 LP feature versions of the the spacey, near-psychedelic “Mongol Sunrise” and the complex pieces “Nightstorm” and “Tidebreaker”–which show off Ashby’s sick tone and virtuosic playing and Ostermann’s serious jazz chops. The Windy City had a vibrant jazz-fusion scene in the 70s and early 80s, with the likes of Streetdancer and Proteus (the AOA gigged with the latter, and both have been SHoCM subjects over the years). The Ashby Ostermann Alliance led the pack, in this writer’s opinion, but by 1984 the group were all but done. “Things began to die down, lives change,” says Ostermann. The members soon “decided to pursue other interests.”
Massoth now produces and engineers at Crystall Recorders Studios in Lombard, and he’s still active on the Windy City music scene. Ostermann went on to perform with Juggular, and in 2013 he produced a CD with his band Brailledog in 2013 (Bromley appears on the album, as does present-day AOA drummer Scott Kohler). Currently he’s mostly a church musician and records with his group the Gojo Ensemble. In 1985 Ashby produced an EP called Hollywood Remains, and in 2009 he released the country-rock CD Kinda Sorta Maybe under the name Buck Buick & the Wildcats. In 2016, with the 40th anniversary of the AOA’s formation coming up, he was inspired to get the group back together for a reunion, and after the four original core members recruited Kohler to drum, they recorded new and previously unreleased tunes from their heyday at Ostermann’s studio in Batavia. That material is collected on the 2018 album Unfinished Business, released on the band’s own And Conquer label, the successor to Divide (get it?). The AOA sound like they’ve picked right up where their debut record left off 37 years ago, so this SHoCM tale has a happy ending! v
In 2012, Gossip Wolf reported on a 2009 supersession involving Chicago cosmic garage band Disappears (at the time singer-guitarist Brian Case, guitarist Jonathan van Herik, bassist Damon Carruesco, and drummer Graeme Gibson), noisy drone duo White/Light (guitarist Matt Clark and electronicist Jeremy Lemos), and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. The resulting recording was tentatively scheduled for release on Shelley’s Vampire Blues label in fall 2012–which turned out to be off by about eight years. This week, Vampire Blues finally dropped the self-titled album, mixed by John Congleton, via Bandcamp. Its double-drummer drone improvisations and thumping space punk a la Spacemen 3 often swing with a heavy dub sound that foreshadows Disappears’ evolution into Facs.
Gossip Wolf last heard from electronic-pop trio Weatherman when they released a charmingly intimate self-titled EP in 2017. Drummer Jason Toth says that two and a half years ago, he and singer-keyboardist Annie Higgins left Chicago for a “tiny medieval village” in France, where they’re “recording and releasing new music under Annie’s name as AM Higgins.” Last week, they dropped the ruminative “Who Can Say?” on Soundcloud–it features former Weatherman bandmate Joshua Dumas on keyboards plus bass and vibraphone from Casey Foubert, who’s recorded with Pedro the Lion and Sufjan Stevens.
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Chicago electronic producer Sam Bik charmed Gossip Wolf last year with his debut 12-inch as Ahero, Ultima Flux, on his own Faceway label–its lively, cinematic sound blends ghostly vaporwave sonics and go-for-broke synth-pop hooks. Since then he’s dropped another Ahero album (February’s Spirit) and used the alias Talk to Me to release relatively straightforward retro-pop songs. On Monday, Talk to Me put out the dazzling full-length Drop Shadows, whose exultant single “Kingdom Come” should be on everybody’s playlists. v
Who knew being a hermit was this lonely? When you need to feel the warmth of your community — from a socially safe distance — refer to this finely curated list of events to host or virtually attend with your besties, family, or twice-removed-friends-from-Facebook.
Prior to jumping into any of these fun events, be sure to choose your medium wisely.
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FaceTime: You can always use FaceTime for all 32 of your Apple folk to gather around.
Skype: For groups up to 50, Skype is an ideal video chatting service. There’s even screen sharing available!
Google Hangouts: Maybe your group is smaller to the tune of 10 people? You may want to consider Google Hangouts.
Zoom: You’re probably very familiar with Zoom if you’re working from home… (Cue: are you on mute?) Zoom is free for 40-minute increments of video chatting (unless you sign up for a subscription).
HouseParty: Create a room with all of your friends via HouseParty! With an app and a Google Extension, HouseParty is all the rage for all the get-togethers.
Happy Hours
It’s five o’clock somewhere! With alcohol and liquor sales soaring, you’re sure to have something in the fridge for a virtual happy hour with friends. Spice up your virtual happy hour with games — like the Uno app!
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Hot Tip: If you’re missing any favorite cocktails from your top restaurants and bars, many of them offer baskets for purchase. See these make-at-home cocktail kits from Three Dots and a Dash, The Whistler, or any from this wide-ranging list!
Recap Clubs (AKA Book Club for Podcasts, Netflix, etc)
Happy Hours may not be your thing — but given the current circumstances, you have most likely consumed a lot of media. From books and podcasts to Netflix and Hulu, you’ve seen it, read it, and heard it all. Make good on all that consumption with a recap club (i.e. a book club that talks about all forms of media — not limited to books!).
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Video Games with Discord
Confined with video games? Want to show your skillz while you crush your high scores? Considering that you already have a pretty stacked list of video and online games, step up your gaming with Discord. Discord is the tried and true method for connecting with friends and strangers through the world of online gaming!
Netflix Party
There’s an extension for that! For real, you can download a Google Chrome browser extension to binge-watch popular favorite shows with your friends — from a safe distance! Gather your friends and family to watch any of these Netflix shows — and share your ideas (virtually!).
You can agree that cancel-culture has gone way too far. Virtually unite with fans and attend your favorite musicians’ concerts — all in the comfort of your PJs. Although there might not be as many rave bunnies in your kitchen, you’ll be able to enjoy the world of music from your beloved musicians for this quarantine. There are a variety of concurrently updating lists. For more mainstream music, check out Billboard’s site. For indie, folk, jazz, and even orchestra, NPR has been updating their list as well.
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Workout Sessions
Nama-stay in your house! Salute the sun and your friends with a workout session. Crush your goals — together — with all the free fitness apps. Blast those glutes and sculpt your shoulders with your favorite instructors and your trusty friends – from a safe distance.
Hot Tip: For those who need a reward for the workout, plan a Happy Hour afterward!
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Photo Credit: Google Arts & Culture Facebook
Art and Culture with Google (AKA Museums!)
Night at the Museum — every night! Share your screen with Google’s Art and Culture site (and app!), you’ll be able to explore museums across the globe with your friends (from your bed). Plus, the Art and Culture app from Google is so interactive that you’ll be able to name dinosaurs based on fossils and even identify famous artwork from their respective artists. You’ll be an art critic in no time!
So you might not know what day it is, much less what time it is; however, if you’re feeling nostalgic for your favorite coffee brews with your best coffee friends, be sure to organize a good ol’ fashioned video chat. And if finding a time to virtually meet is challenging, be sure to use a scheduling app (Doodle, anyone?).
Hot Tip: for those who want to support their local baristas and coffee shops, be sure to order your coffee with pick up from Heritage or free delivery on beans from Intelligentsia!
Share a Meal
With at-home meal kits from your favorite Chicago restaurants, you and your friends can recreate your favorite meals from your beloved restaurants — at home! Select a meal kit for delivery or pick up, turn up your video chat with friends, and break some bread. No fear — brunch is here!
Hot Tip: from Alinea and The Purple Pig to brunch from Homeslice, you’re sure to feel satisfied, connected, and supported.
Don’t let quarantine confine you and your friendships!
We know you miss the salon. Luckily, you can play around with pampering yourself thanks to Chicago beauty shops selling their products online. These beauty stores help you maintain your hair, skin, and body during quarantine.
Culture Connection 360 is a one-stop-shop for all holistic self-care. They sell everything from natural body wash, essential oils, tea, and more. We’re doing a lot of chillin’ at home these days and bought a hair wrap to keep our tresses tamed until salons open back up.
Oak Park rejoice. Natural hair care is still available at Elevate Hair and Beauty Boutique. Products and gift cards are available online. Check out their Instagram to learn more about their products.
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Spend $30 or more and receive free delivery in Oak Park.
Aveda lovers: this is your spot. While we can’t go to Matisse to get the beautiful creative color and deep conditioners they’re known for, we can still shop Aveda products and gift cards online.
Aveda haircare, skincare, and body care products galore. Salon Echo has got us covered on Glymed Skin Care and Raw Skin Care products that are 100% certified organic.
Shop online or give them a call for free 1-day shipping.
Starship Salon is offering a plethora of vegan and cruelty-free, self-care products. From hair masks and styling lotions to stress-relieving body lotions; they are keeping us stocked. Gift certificates are available as well.
Two months ago, Chicago kitchens were bustling. However, the city’s shelter-in-place has forced many eateries to reimagine their dining experience. Now you can pick up, curbside, at Michelin-starred restaurants… in your pajamas. So here’s our roundup of top spots offering amazing fare for takeout.
For a mere $24, you can indulge in a three-course feast, courtesy of EL Ideas. Each meal includes a potato leek soup as well as their signature french fries and frosty. The chefs offer 3 basic options: a meaty, veggie, or splashy dish. Their menu rotates frequently but items include a traditional French cassoulet stew, a braised celery root and wild mushrooms with white beans cassoulet, or a seafood bouillabaisse. Order directly on their website. Bon appétit!
Craving something incredible? Entente’s team is, “back in the kitchen, making magic,” which means your taste buds are about to be very happy. With a few clicks on Tock, breakfast lovers can order butter croissants or toasted cinnamon kouign amann, each comes with a bag of Sparrow Coffee for $30-$55. Family meals include chicken tikka masala, southern fried chicken, or jerk chicken for $70 each. Entrees come with generous side dishes and desserts which make for a great value. But if you’re feeling extra, add on caviar and wine.
Time to pull out the sweatsuit for this one. Alinea is known for a “fun, emotional, and provocative,” experience which also happens to describe most of our exes. But there’s a good chance you’ll end up in a long-term relationship with food after ordering takeout from here. For $42.50 per person, you can treat yourself to Duck Cassoulet. Or maybe you’re more in the mood for Osso Buco & Risotto alla Milanese for $34.50. Both meals require reheating at home which means some assembly is required.
If you haven’t ordered Acadia to-go yet, do yourself a favor and scope out the goods on Toast. They have a nice-sized menu with decent prices like an $18 Stonington Maine lobster roll, a $14 house burger, $22 pappardelle, and more. Michelin-starred offerings at fast-casual prices? Yes, please.
Chef SangTae Park has been on the restaurant scene for many years but just nabbed a Michelin star in 2020. His omakase restaurant is offering up a single item: The Chirashi Don. For $55 you’ll get 14 pieces of top quality sashimi over sushi rice with a side of signature miso soup. Place an order by phone (312) 265-1610 or text (630) 464-4204 at least one day in advance.
Stuck home with a roommate? Go halfsies on a $70 family meal from Temporis. The hardest part will be choosing between braised beef short ribs with jasmine coconut rice or seared Faroe Island salmon with spring pea risotto. Both dishes include arugula salad and “awe-inspiring” brownies. Tack on $11 brussels sprouts or $24 truffled mac and cheese because, well, there are no rules in quarantine.
When will tractor trailers of the state’s FCS programs be packed and ready for the season? All four coaches share their thoughts on what’s ahead. (Photo by Barry Bottino)
Recent months have produced snow on Halloween, temperatures in the 60s on Christmas Day and more snow the week following Easter.
Weather is just one aspect of college football that coaches can’t control. Injuries and the often unpredictable bounce of an oblong football are others.
Yet, nothing comes remotely close to the unprecedented uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prairie State Pigskin asked the state’s FCS head coaches where things stand in the midst of a spring in which the world has been altered in ways most never imagined.
Moreover, with the vast majority of players at home taking online classes, working out remotely and meeting virtually with coaches and teammates, each coaching staff is attempting to plan for more unknowns of the approaching summer with at least one eye on fall.
“The short answer is yes, we’re developing a few parallel paths, if that makes sense. We’re thinking through a quote-unquote normal summer, then some version of an abbreviated summer, [or the possibility of] no summer,” said second-year Eastern Illinois head coach Adam Cushing.
Third-year Western Illinois head coach Jared Elliott said, “We’ve talked about it as a staff. I’ve got a plan for a June 1 return, a July 1 return . . . we’re just trying to take it one mark at a time.
“I’m of the mindset of ‘let’s take this a month at a time and sort it out as we go’. We do have a plan in place for all the different scenarios and that does include us not having our kids all summer.”
Brock Spack (photo courtesy goredbirds.com)
Illinois State’s Brock Spack was one of the first Midwest coaches to call off spring ball.
“We’re fortunate in that our team is more experienced than we were a year ago,” said the 12th-year Redbird coach. “Of course we would like to have had spring practices.”
Nick Hill, the 35-year-old beginning his fifth year as Southern Illinois head coach said recently on Facebook Live, “I tell our guys all the time I’m not a doctor. I’m not in these meetings. I’m going to take the lead of the people that are leading our state, the public health officials and when they tell us we’re clear and safe to go play football, then we’ll resume and go do that and we’ll have our team prepared the best way possible.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll have a football season, but that too is unknown at this time. For summer training, it’s all unknown right now.”
A national view of football
That uncertainty is everywhere. In a story earlier this month for The Athletic, Nicole Auerbach wrote, “The NCAA has also been in communication with the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) as it tries to figure out what the return-to-play protocol must include. AFCA executive director Todd Berry said Friday that it’s important for the coaches to be part of the discussion because efforts to ensure player safety require more than just strength and conditioning staffers.”
Todd Berry
Berry, who was the Illinois State head coach from 1996 to 1999, told Auerbach, “We’re all spoiled that we’re used to having all our players in condition when they report. But there is a progression there to teach bodies to prepare for contact. That is not something you can just do in shorts.”
Auerbach further wrote, “Berry has already reminded coaches that, whenever the season starts, they may not have as much of the playbook installed for Week 1 as they normally do. Preseason camps will be more focused on preparing players’ bodies physically. He also has pointed out that Divisions II and III currently operate on four-week models; they do not have their athletes on campus throughout the summer like Division I does.”
Spack said he’s heard that the AFCA has pushed for “OTA mini-camps that are NFL-like without pads” for the summer.
“If we’re allowed to do that, I’ve got ways to incorporate that into our routine,” Spack said.
Where do we go from here?
Again, football coaches are natural planners who like to control as many aspects of their programs as possible. But it’s a fine line when it comes to the coronavirus.
Adam Cushing (photo by Barry Bottino, Prairie State Pigskin)
“Another huge variable is even if there’s an abbreviated or no summer, what are the NCAA rules going to be with that? We can plan all we want, but the NCAA could come in and say that we have more or less contact than we’re anticipating because it is unprecedented,” Cushing said.
Cushing, a Chicago native and Mt. Carmel High School graduate, added, “We don’t want to plan to the point that it’s a waste, but we want to have enough in place that whenever we get the NCAA and government guidelines and university guidelines that we will be able to fill in those blanks really quickly. We’ve got a really solid, sound structure on those parallel paths, but that’s where we’re at for now.”
Elliott said, “Whatever the NCAA decides, it’s going to be a shortened period of time if we don’t have our kids back in the summer. We have to have a very clear plan of how to get our kids ready to play football, not only from a schematic standpoint but also from a health and safety standpoint. Conditioning [is vital] because we can’t put these players into a higher risk of injury.”
Strength in support staff
The role of each program’s support staff has never been larger.
“The longer that it goes that we can’t bring the team back [together], the more important your strength staff becomes,” Elliott said. “Now it’s a race against the clock as to how much time you have to get your guys prepared to play Division I football. I think we have a good plan in place for that balance of getting the kids ready to play football at that level but yet not overdoing it where you’re putting extra stress on them where they’re going to get hurt.”
Cushing is also involving others in this decision making, but is careful not to overwhelm his staff.
Nick Hill
“It’s not full staff consumption because it’s going to occupy time. It’s me and our director of football operations, a really big (picture) thinker named Jesse Walton, and our strength and conditioning coach (Joe Orozco) who is obviously a critical part of this thing. I’ve involved the coordinators some,” Cushing said.
Spack said, “Summer is intense with lifting and conditioning. But you’ve got to be careful. You can’t have a lot of overuse injuries in this situation. You don’t want these kids to pay the price for something that was out of their hands. You can’t go full-blown conditioning and full-blown practice. You can’t do that because you won’t have anyone left whenever you play in the fall.”
Hill said, “When they tell us that start date, they’re not going to push it back for any teams that say, ‘Hey, hang on, our guys weren’t in good enough shape. We need an extra week.’ They’re just not going to do it.”
An additional eight ‘noncountable’ hours
The NCAA announced April 16 that it will allow all Division I sports eight hours per week for virtual “noncountable” activities like film review, team meetings, chalk talks, etc. This allowance began April 20 and is scheduled through May 31, though could later be extended.
Head coach Jared Elliott (Photo by Barry Bottino, Prairie State Pigskin)
“I’ve talked to so many guys, at all different levels all across the country, and we’re all asking each other what we’re doing. Everyone is kind of doing the same thing. There’s only so much you can do,” Elliott said. “That is one piece that we as coaches have been arguing, almost fighting for.
“First it was that we were given four weeks of those virtual meetings, but it’s good that they gave us eight hours a week to be able to continue to work with our players and stay connected with them. That’s been my biggest insistence since this thing started. There’s got to be structure and you’ve got to stay connected to your kids. If you don’t, that’s going to delay the return of players even more so. If we don’t come back in August and have four weeks to get ready, we’d better have some time right now where we’re able to stay connected and maintain the structure they need just for the safety side of it. I’m glad that they’re allowing us to do that.”
Hope springs eternal … into summer, fall
“It’s going to be very, very interesting, but I’m still hopeful, I think all of us are in the sports world,” Elliott said. “I’m very hopeful and optimistic that we’re going to play, but what is it going to look like? That’s the unknown. Is it a shortened season? Is it going into the conference games? Is it delayed, do we push the start date back? Who knows, but I do think having a plan in place for all those different scenarios is needed.”
Spack said, “I’m hopeful. Let’s hope this virus goes away and we’re allowed to go back to work and to train. But the NCAA will tell us what we can do. How many hours do we get? How many days? What we can do, what we can’t do. It’s difficult to guess as to what they’re going to put out there for us.”
Blog co-authors Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun bring years of experience covering collegiate athletics. Barry has covered college athletes for more than two decades in his “On Campus” column, which is published weekly by Shaw Media. Dan has written four books about the state’s football programs–“NIU Huskies Football” (released in 2013), “EIU Panthers Football (2014), “ISU Redbirds” (2016) and “SIU Salukis Football” (2017).
The impact of coronavirus on Chicago real estate has been devastating
Yeah, you wouldn’t think there is any silver lining to this coronavirus plague for the Chicago real estate market but I can find at least one change with a positive spin. But first let’s focus on the far more noticeable negative aspects of our current predicament.
We’ve been dealing with this for at least 6 weeks now and the data seems to be settling down – but settling at a much lower level of activity than is normal for this time of year. For the week ending April 11:
Detached Homes
New listings were down 62% from last year to 217 homes
Contract activity was down 56% to 145
Inventory in absolute terms was down 13% to 2795 homes
However, in relative terms inventory was actually up from 9.8 weeks of supply to 19.3 weeks – a higher number than last week
Attached Homes
New listings were down 61% to 343 homes
Contract activity was down 67% to 176
Inventory in absolute terms was down 9% to 4951 homes
Inventory in relative terms was up from 10.2 weeks of supply to 28.1 weeks – also higher than last week
It should be be a good time to be a buyer. There does not seem to be much, if any, impact on market times – yet – but with inventory levels so high I would imagine that longer market times and lower prices are inevitable in the short run. However, in the longer run I think the inventory levels are going to adjust because of the dramatic decline in new listings. Most of the current inventory was put on the market before all hell broke loose so the sellers have already committed to the process to some extent. But as properties sell and listings expire that number is going to shrink in both absolute terms and relative terms though I have no idea how long that’s going to take.
How Coronavirus Has Changed The Buying And Selling Process
The real estate industry has certainly been shaken up by recent events. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts the iBuyer business has basically disappeared overnight. Also, independent of any government directives, some/ many home buyers and sellers are really skittish about going into other people’s homes or having strangers come into their homes. I think that has a lot to do with why new listings are down and why contract activity is down. Perhaps these people are optimistic that things will get better soon so they hope to wait out the virus. But if we go down the road with this monster another month or two people may just resign themselves to forging ahead despite the risks.
In the meantime, the real estate industry is trying to adjust the best they can. Realtors are shooting more videos and creating more of the 3D virtual tours for their listings. In addition, more of the initial showings are happening virtually via FaceTime, Zoom or Facebook Live. Also, with Zoom at least, you can record the showing so that if one of the buyers is not available at the scheduled time they can watch it later. I think once this becomes a more accepted practice we might hang onto this convenient approach.
I also hear about another unusual practice where buyers and sellers will actually sign a contract before the buyer has seen the home in person but it is contingent upon the buyer seeing it at a later date. Redfin claims that in a recent week 12% of their offers were written this way and a recent NAR survey revealed that 1/4 of realtors had a buyer put a contract on a home without seeing it. We’ve done this before and I’m not crazy about it. These deals can easily go off the tracks when the buyer realizes that the photos/ video didn’t do the home justice – but not in a good way. I would caution our sellers from entering into an arrangement like this.
I’ve heard that appraisals have also become problematic lately as a result of a one-two-three punch. First, a lot of appraisers don’t want to go into people’s homes. Second, a lot of home sellers don’t want appraisers in their home or they are requiring the appraisers to follow considerable precautions. Third, the industry has been inundated with a tidal wave of refinances. All of this is combining to push appraisals up to 4 weeks out.
At least partly in response to this appraisal backlog three federal regulatory bodies decided that under certain circumstances it would be OK for lenders to complete the appraisal up to 120 days after closing. That’s not a typo. I’m sure there are a lot of nuances to the program but it looks to me like they are going to check the barn door after the horse has left.
But one good thing has come from all of this. You are now allowed to close on a home in Illinois without having to physically sit down next to other people at a table. The sticking point has always been the requirement that a notary be in the room with the buyers in order to confirm their identity. However, the office of Illinois’ secretary of state issued guidance in conjunction with the stay at home order which allows a notary to perform this function remotely via camera. This change was long overdue so here’s your silver lining.
#RealEstate #ChicagoRealEstate #Coronavirus
Gary Lucido is the President of Lucid Realty, the Chicago area’s full service real estate brokerage that offers home buyer rebates and discount commissions. If you want to keep up to date on the Chicago real estate market or get an insider’s view of the seamy underbelly of the real estate industry you can Subscribe to Getting Real by Email using the form below. Please be sure to verify your email address when you receive the verification notice.
After 20 years in the corporate world and running an Internet company, Gary started Lucid Realty with his partner, Sari. The company provides full service, while discounting commissions for sellers and giving buyers rebates.
My Breast Cancer Journey Part 21: My Twin Sister is One Month Into Surgical Recovery & Is Headed Into More Chemotherapy (amid the global outbreak of COVID19)
My twin sister and her 14-year-old black lab, Bailey, recovering at home!
This blog post is the 21st in a series about my (and my twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. The 1st post is about my first mammogram ever; the 2nd post is about my consultation at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the 3rd post is about my stereotactic core biopsy at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the 4th post is about my diagnosis with “Stage 0” DCIS breast cancer; the 5th post is about my in-person DCIS diagnosis at Mayo Clinic, beginning thoughts on my surgery timeline, and discovering that my twin sister might have breast cancer, too; the 6th post is about my twin sister’s invasive ductal carcinoma clinical stage 2A breast cancer diagnosis; the 7th post is about my breast MRI and two ultrasounds to investigate “suspicious” spots on my right breast and liver; the 8th post is about my second DCIS diagnosis following a week of MRIs, ultrasounds, and biopsies at Mayo Clinic; the 9th post is about preparing for my twin sister’s chemotherapy appointments, including details about her egg banking procedure in the city; the 10th post is a summary of my sister’s ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and visit to the emergency room; the 11th post is a summary of my double mastectomy surgery plan scheduled to occur on December 3rd, 2019 at Mayo Clinic’s Methodist Campus Hospital in Rochester; the 12th post is about my twin sister’s first chemotherapy infusion at Mayo Clinic; the 13th post is about foobs, photo shoots and nipple tattoos (my plastic / reconstructive surgery plan); the 14th post is a recap of my successful double mastectomy and immediate direct-to-implant reconstruction operation; the 15th post is about my surgical recovery and day full of follow-up appointments at Mayo Clinic in Rochester; the 16th post is about my one-month-post-surgical-follow-up appointment and preventative baseline ovarian cancer screenings at Mayo Clinic; the 17th post is about a suspicious rash I developed a month after my surgery called “pigmented purpura,” my consultation with a gynecological oncologist about ovarian cancer prevention, and my sister’s fifth chemotherapy infusion; the 18th post is about the end of my twin sister’s six neoadjuvant chemotherapy infusions (TCHP); the 19th post was about my twin sister’s double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery plan (amid the global outbreak of COVID19); and the 20th post was about my twin sister’s double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.
It’s been one month since my twin sister’s double mastectomy with reconstruction operation at Mayo Clinic’s Methodist Campus Hospital in Rochester, which was awesome. Her operation took place a day before Mayo Clinic shut down all “elective” surgeries! We’re fairly certain her operation, given it was for breast cancer, would have happened regardless, but we are praising the Lord that her operation was completed before coronavirus caused the entire world to implode!
Because of all of the “shelter in place” rulings all across the world due to COVID19, my sister’s surgical recovery has looked MUCH different than mine! All of her follow-up appointments with doctors and surgeons and oncologists have been virtual phone calls and video chats–she hasn’t been back to the hospital or doctor’s office for one meeting or follow-up appointment! All in all, my sister has done a great job recovering at home! Here are the highlights of my sister’s one month of surgical recovery:
Instead of seeing doctors at Mayo in person, my sister’s husband played doctor at home! He removed her drains (whoa!), changed all of her bandages, and took care of her “battle scars” in the weeks following her surgery under the virtual directions of doctors and nurses. He gave her showers and made sure her heart rate didn’t go above 100BPM. My mom and sister and I helped as well by helping with the bandages, keeping her company, giving her medicine, and taking photos of her incisions and reconstruction to send over to the doctors via the Mayo Clinic Patient Portal.
Mentally, my sister keeps herself busy by reading through the entire Bible in 30 days with the YouVerion “30 Day Shred” plan. She’s also beenplaying SimCity on her phone, resting, and taking leisurely walks. She’s chatted on the phone and Zoomed with friends around the world as well! She really misses her work as a lawyer but has been on FMLA leave for 4 weeks. She’ll be back to working from home in a couple of weeks. She’s also not missing much in society because everyone has been sheltering in place anyway.
Physically, my sister’s breast reconstruction looks great! It’s a bit more swollen on the left side due to the removal of a few sentinel nodes that came out on that side and not the right, but over time, the swelling should go down and everything should be perfectly symmetrical. She’s been wearing a compression bra too to keep the swelling down, and we’ve been shopping for sports bras with extra compression that we can wear for workouts in the future. One of our doctors recommended front-zip sports bras, so we are trying some of those from Lululemon and Under Armour!
During my sister’s Bible-read through, she got to the book of Joshua during the same week we watched a sermon by Christine Caine about the book of Joshua at Hillsong OC!
Gearing up for 10 more months of chemotherapy
My sister finished her last round of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (TCHP) in February. She lost about 40-60% of her hair during chemotherapy treatment while using the Paxman Cold Cap, and she lost some eyelashes, too. It’s been eight weeks since her neoadjuvant chemo wrapped up, and her hair has already started to grow back all over her head and her eyelashes are coming back in, too!
We are all thankful my sister’s surgery removed all of her cancer!, but because there was some cancer remaining in her left breast at the time of surgery–a 1.1cm spot and a 9mm spot of 20% cellularity that were initially attached to the original ~4cm tumor–she will need 14 more infusions of chemotherapy starting every three weeks on May 22nd: a new, targeted regimen called T-DM1. Clinical research trials prove T-DM1 after surgery reduces the risk of recurrence of invasive breast cancer by 50% as compared to trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone, so my sister’s oncologist prescribed her with this! My sister’s oncologist calls this “chemotherapy light” because the side effects are minimal compared to what she’s already been through with TCHP.
In addition to 10 months of T-DM1 (14 infusions 3 weeks apart starting in May), my sister will also take a daily dose of Tamoxifen for 3 to 5 years to minimize her risk of recurrence (Tamoxifen manages the amount of estrogen in her system). T-DM1 will be 14 treatments: 1 treatment every 3 weeks. T-DM1 infusions only last 2 hours (her TCHP treatments lasted 6 hours each)! Side effects of T-DM1 are that it can cause teensy bit of neuropathy, fatigue, and diarrhea. T-DM1 can also be a bit rough on the heart, so she will have ultrasounds on a regular basis–every three months–throughout her treatments to ensure her heart is pumping normally!
T-DM1 doesn’t cause hair loss!, and my sister’s hair has already started coming back on the top of her head, which is amazing! In addition to T-DM1, my sister will start Tamoxifen daily. Tamoxifen is meant to reduce the risk of recurrence for the estrogen-receptor-positive part of my sister’s breast cancer as it blocks estrogen from binding to estrogen receptors on cells in the body. Side effects can include hot flashes; a 1/100 risk of blood clots, which can be recognized through any signs of trouble breathing or swelling legs; and a 1/1000 risk of uterine cancer. Uterine cancer always presents itself with a symptom of abnormal uterine bleeding, which my sister and her doctors will watch out for.
Next steps!
On Thursday 5/21, my sister has a blood test and echocardiogram at Mayo Clinic to gear up for her first infusion of T-DM1. She’ll meet with her oncologist on Friday 5/22 before her first infusion of T-DM1, which will last approximately 2 hours. We are hoping for no side effects, no adverse reactions, and complete 100% effectiveness of Tamoxifen and T-DM1 so cancer never comes back again!!!
We are also praying for a cure, vaccination, and effective treatments for COVID19. In addition to wanting COVID19 to disappear completely because it sucks, we also are praying for COVID19 to disappear because, even though T-DM1 won’t suppress my sister’s immune system as much as TCHP did, we’d rather not have COVID19 floating around the world while my sister is going through chemotherapy treatments.
Here we are on a Zoom Bible study discussing everything my sister has learned during cancer treatments!
Going back to work!
“I love my job and I feel the happiest when I’m working, so I can’t wait to get back to work!,” she told a few friends and me via a Zoom Bible study this weekend. “It hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be to take some time off of work, because it’s allowed me to slow down and focus on myself and my health and on God.”
“What have you learned most about God’s character during all of your cancer treatments?,” one of our friends asked her via Zoom.
My sister paused thoughtfully, then told us that the most important thing she’s learned is that nothing she can do will change God’s will for her life. That means that during this season, God’s will is for her to battle breast cancer through surgery and chemo treatments. She also said she’s discovered the true meaning of surrendering her life to Jesus–surrender that gives her a deep feeling of peace–God’s peace that surpasses understanding. She said:
“It was when we were driving back to the city after my sister’s diagnosis appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester last September that I realized I had breast cancer. I hadn’t been diagnosed yet, but after listening to my sister’s doctor explain what breast cancer is and why it was so good hers was DCIS and she didn’t have a lump yet, I knew I had cancer of some kind. My doctors in the city had found a lump in my breast the month before but told me it was nothing and told me to come back in a year. As I looked out over the farmland and fields as we drove away from Rochester, I thought about the lump in my breast and knew that, even though my doctors in the city had sent me away, that there was a chance I might have Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and that I could be dead in a year.”
She started to cry.
“But it was in that moment looking out over the fields that I realized: Even if I had Stage 4 metastatic cancer and was going to die, it was going to be okay, because I was going to be with Jesus.”
She smiled a big smile as she finished her story through tears as all of us on the Bible study Zoom call started crying. That’s the bottom line: Jesus loves my sister, has her life in His capable hands, and is working out His good and perfect plan for her life–granting her His peace all along the way, as painful as the journey might be.
I am trying to be kind to myself because I know COVID19 is causing a lot of stress and anxiety in people around the world. Beyond that, I am still physically recovering from my surgery and emotionally from everything that unfolded last fall with diagnoses and treatments and surgeries. And then my twin sister is going through some intense treatments in the midst of the most ridiculous global pandemic the modern world has ever seen. All of this is pretty stressful.
But God is bigger than all of it, He loves us, and we know His plans are perfect!
Stay tuned for updates as my sister enters her next round of chemo on May 22nd–and thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging words!!!!! 🙂
This blog post is the 21st in a series about my (and my twin sister’s) preventative breast cancer screening journey that began when we were 30 years old in July 2019. The 1st post is about my first mammogram ever; the 2nd post is about my consultation at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the 3rd post is about my stereotactic core biopsy at Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic; the 4th post is about my diagnosis with “Stage 0” DCIS breast cancer; the 5th post is about my in-person DCIS diagnosis at Mayo Clinic, beginning thoughts on my surgery timeline, and discovering that my twin sister might have breast cancer, too; the 6th post is about my twin sister’s invasive ductal carcinoma clinical stage 2A breast cancer diagnosis; the 7th post is about my breast MRI and two ultrasounds to investigate “suspicious” spots on my right breast and liver; the 8th post is about my second DCIS diagnosis following a week of MRIs, ultrasounds, and biopsies at Mayo Clinic; the 9th post is about preparing for my twin sister’s chemotherapy appointments, including details about her egg banking procedure in the city; the 10th post is a summary of my sister’s ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and visit to the emergency room; the 11th post is a summary of my double mastectomy surgery plan scheduled to occur on December 3rd, 2019 at Mayo Clinic’s Methodist Campus Hospital in Rochester; the 12th post is about my twin sister’s first chemotherapy infusion at Mayo Clinic; the 13th post is about foobs, photo shoots and nipple tattoos (my plastic / reconstructive surgery plan); the 14th post is a recap of my successful double mastectomy and immediate direct-to-implant reconstruction operation; the 15th post is about my surgical recovery and day full of follow-up appointments at Mayo Clinic in Rochester; the 16th post is about my one-month-post-surgical-follow-up appointment and preventative baseline ovarian cancer screenings at Mayo Clinic; the 17th post is about a suspicious rash I developed a month after my surgery called “pigmented purpura,” my consultation with a gynecological oncologist about ovarian cancer prevention, and my sister’s fifth chemotherapy infusion; the 18th post is about the end of my twin sister’s six neoadjuvant chemotherapy infusions (TCHP); the 19th post was about my twin sister’s double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery plan (amid the global outbreak of COVID-19); and the 20th post was about my twin sister’s double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. To keep tabs on new posts, sign up for the “A Daily Miracle” email list at this link.
Sister Christian is a blogger, reporter, editor and follower of Jesus Christ seeking to find little miracles each and every day. She especially loves finding Jesus in art, music and culture. Learn more about her on Twitter @adailymiracle, and on Facebook as “A Daily Miracle.” Send an email to [email protected] with any comments, concerns or suggestions!
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