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SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 9, YIPPEE!on March 25, 2020 at 9:37 pm

DocRambo

SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 9, YIPPEE!

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SELF-ISOLATION, DAY 9, YIPPEE!on March 25, 2020 at 9:37 pm Read More »

Shop the Green City Virtual Farmers Market during the COVID-19 Pandemicon March 25, 2020 at 9:41 pm

Chicago Eats

Shop the Green City Virtual Farmers Market during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Shop the Green City Virtual Farmers Market during the COVID-19 Pandemicon March 25, 2020 at 9:41 pm Read More »

I bet you’ve never seen St. Augustine, Florida like thison March 25, 2020 at 9:52 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

I bet you’ve never seen St. Augustine, Florida like this

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I bet you’ve never seen St. Augustine, Florida like thison March 25, 2020 at 9:52 pm Read More »

Beware staying glued to your screen for optimal eye healthon March 25, 2020 at 11:12 pm

All is Well

Beware staying glued to your screen for optimal eye health

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Beware staying glued to your screen for optimal eye healthon March 25, 2020 at 11:12 pm Read More »

Beer Preview: Founders 4 Giants IIPAon March 25, 2020 at 11:28 pm

The Beeronaut

Beer Preview: Founders 4 Giants IIPA

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Beer Preview: Founders 4 Giants IIPAon March 25, 2020 at 11:28 pm Read More »

La Armada transform adversity into communityon March 25, 2020 at 11:00 am

La Armada, left to right: Paul Rivera, Albert "Mani" Marte, Casper Torres, Luis Martinez, and Jonathan Salazar - COURTESY THE ARTIST

Heading to a punk club, sharing a drink, and talking about music, politics, and DIY culture are beginning to feel like things that happen only in a parallel universe–it’s hard to imagine that you could do them in this one just a couple weeks ago. The COVID-19 crisis drives home the importance of musicians like La Armada–this Chicago crossover hardcore band not only work hard for justice and equality for everyone but also make music that inspires people to cherish community and keep moving forward when the chips are down.

La Armada’s new four-EP series, Songs of the Exiled, which kicks off March 27 with the two-song Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago, will focus in turn on different cities that shaped them, from their adolescence through the present. The five-piece band formed in the Dominican Republic in 2001 and arrived piecemeal in Chicago around 2008 (following a brief stint in Florida), so they have plenty of experience with displacement and perseverance–and it’s driven home for them the importance of compassion and connection.

I met with bassist Alberto “Mani” Marte and guitarist Paul Rivera on February 27, the Dominican Republic’s Independence Day, and after our interview they went downtown to take part in a demonstration in solidarity with Dominican citizens and expats around the world, protesting apparent corruption in the country’s February 16 elections. Hours after people began casting votes, officials shut down the polls; electronic voting machines malfunctioned in ways that seemed to favor the ruling party (Partido de la Liberacion Dominicana, or PLD), which has been in power for most of the past 24 years.

According to La Armada, the PLD has created an ugly, oppressive environment that has pushed many of their generation, especially artists, to leave the island in search of brighter opportunities. “The political climate when we left the island was very sinister; it was very hostile,” Marte says. “A lot of people left for economic reasons. A lot of people left because they couldn’t find an outlet for something they were working on.”

That migration helped inspire Songs of the Exiled, and so did the long history of Dominican authorities exiling political opponents from the country–most notoriously dictatorial ruler Rafael Trujillo, whose regime killed many of its perceived enemies and drove many more to flee the island. The series title nods to the 1962 book Cuentos Escritos en el Exilio (“Stories Written in Exile”) by Juan Bosch, a Dominican political leader exiled by Trujillo for more than two decades. Trujillo ruled the country from 1930 till his assassination in 1961, and in 1963 Bosch became its first democratically elected president. His term was cut short seven months later by a military coup, and he was sent back into exile. Since then, especially during the 22 years when former Trujillo puppet Joaquin Balaguer served as president, many more intellectuals, artists, and others deemed “politically undesirable” have been forced to leave the country.

“When we thought about what we wanted to do with this series, [the title] slipped off the tongue,” Rivera says. “It was a no-brainer because of the book, because of the relationship between that word [“exile”] and that time period in the Dominican, and because of the similarity of that time period to the time period when we left–which was starting to fall into the same thing.”

The Songs of Exile series also marks a new beginning for La Armada. Last year they underwent the first lineup change in their nearly 20-year history, when lead singer Javier Fernandez stepped away from the band–his departure pushed the remaining members (Marte, Rivera, drummer Luis Martinez, and guitarist Jonathan Salazar) into a reckoning.

“We had to readdress the approach to the band, and on a more existential level: who we are, what we want to do, and is it worth it,” Rivera says. “We’re in our mid-30s–we’re not 20 anymore. We grew up together as friends before anything, so when something so drastic happens, you do question things. But the four original members of the band are still very much on the same page. We wholeheartedly believe in what we do and the music we create.”

After deciding to keep going, they recruited vocalist Casper Torres, a Puerto Rico native who, like the members of La Armada, came to the U.S. as part of a band (in this case hardcore four-piece KDC, who settled in Buffalo, New York). He’d already spent plenty of time touring with La Armada as an unofficial sixth member of the group.

La Armada debuted their new lineup on a European tour last summer, but they were still reevaluating their mission. They brought those questions into the songwriting and recording processes. “What shaped us?” Marte asks. “Ten years in the Dominican, two years in Florida, ten years in Chicago, and Casper coming from Puerto Rico. All those years, all those people we met, all those relationships we made got us where we are today. So what better topic to talk about?” To that end, they planned each part of Songs of the Exiled as an homage to a particular city.

Chicago has no shortage of hardworking musicians, but La Armada’s dedication stands out. In their early days, they were deeply involved with Santo Domingo’s hardcore and metal scene, where they say a shortage of instruments didn’t prevent fans from holding musicians to high standards–Marte and Rivera recall audience members calling out bands for even tiny mistakes. “We would have a show with ten bands and one bass, one guitar, and one drum kit, and we’d have to share the gear,” Marte says. “I think that scarcity, not really having anything, and trying to perform correctly every day, it stuck with us and it shaped us.”

La Armada brought that mentality to the States. Marte arrived in Florida in 2004, and the rest of the band eventually followed, with members often sharing apartments while going through the immigration process and establishing new lives. They kept in touch with old friends in the Dominican diaspora while making new ones in stateside DIY scenes, and after moving to Chicago, they built strong connections within the local Caribbean and Latinx communities as well. The journey wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t quick. “It took us about ten years to get to ‘OK, now we’re here. We’re stable, we’ve got jobs, we’ve got our gear, we know some labels, we know some fellow musicians. Let’s do it!'” Marte says.

Chicago’s hardcore scene can feel compartmentalized, but as La Armada have revved up their activity, they’ve drawn fans from different age brackets, genres, nationalities, and neighborhoods. “Maybe we’re playing with a bigger band, and we end up playing the Metro,” Rivera says. “That same night we could pack our stuff and go play Pilsen or Little Village, and nobody that was at the Metro would even know.” But when La Armada can bring those crowds together, Marte and Rivera agree, “It’s magical.” More and more often, they’ve booked shows (often at Cobra Lounge) intended to bring various segments of the local metal and hardcore fan base–white and Latinx, young and old, north side and south side–all into the same room. “When we play shows, we try to bring the best of the underground from different scenes,” Marte says. “We want to blow your mind.”

La Armada’s following has grown outside Chicago as well, as they’ve released three full-lengths (most recently 2018’s Anti-Colonial Vol. 1) and a handful of EPs and splits, and toured with the likes of Sick of It All, Propagandhi, and Death by Stereo. Their lyrics address police brutality, the use of technology to control the flow of information, and similar subjects; at shows, they often use their between-song patter to invite the audience to consider the impact of racial injustice, the rise of modern-day fascism, and the continuous stain of colonialism.

“There’s a historical context to it, like the colonization of Puerto Rico, but there’s a modern aspect to it that we try to address too, onstage,” Rivera says. “OK, so the United States is an empire, but a lot of the choices we make are based on marketing. Do you realize the influence that a Canadian company like Barrick Gold has in a country like the Dominican Republic? Do you know the damage that’s being done today in supposedly free markets, where everybody is supposedly hunky-dory? There’s a lot to unpack.”

Not every fan is on board with these lessons, and La Armada have had to deal with the “keep politics out of music” crowd (especially at metal shows), but most folks listen with open minds. “More than ever, people want us to be outspoken,” Marte says. “People want us to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice, and they want to feel like we have their back.”

La Armada walk the walk too: they’ve worked to raise awareness and funds for a variety of organizations, including the ACLU and Puerto Rican community kitchen La Cocina Huracanada (which opened after Hurricane Maria in San Juan rock club El Local and supplied meals for displaced people). They’ve also supported local groups such as No Cop Academy and anticolonial solidarity coalition Chicago Boricua Resistance.

They also continue to challenge themselves as musicians, increasingly injecting Afro-Caribbean rhythms into their ripping hardcore, punk, and metal. Marte (whose father is a salsa musician) says that the members of La Armada, like most teenagers into punk and metal, initially rejected their parents’ culture–but time and distance have shifted their perspective, and they no longer take Dominican music for granted. “Once you’re an immigrant in this country, and you feel the isolation, and you feel that sometimes you don’t fit, you start looking back at the way you grew up and your culture, and what your parents taught you,” Marte says. “Music is such a big part of Caribbean culture. You don’t even realize it, but when you’re here, you’re like, ‘Oh, all these merengue songs, all of these salsa songs.’ And that’s played a big part in how we’ve written our songs over the past couple of years.”

The bandmates hint that the forthcoming Songs of the Exiled EPs, scheduled to arrive every three months throughout 2020, will contain more Afro-Caribbean influence. But the music on Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago is mostly an ode to the local hardcore that drew them to the city, including 90s stalwarts MK-Ultra and Los Crudos. Marte and Rivera say that “Gun Nation,” which addresses violence and gun control, and “Plagued,” an abstract meditation about becoming an adult and defining your values, were shaped by the band’s years in Chicago. “This is our lens through which we view the rest of America, and there’s good and bad, like anywhere,” Rivera explains.

During this public-health crisis, the state of the world is changing by the minute, and the only thing that seems certain is that things will get worse before they get better. But judging by La Armada’s track record, they’ll do everything humanly possible to weather the storm and come back swinging–and with any luck, their activism will also be able to lift up others along the way. What keeps them motivated in the face of adversity? “Despite what a lot of people would think, there are a lot of people–good people–working with their boots on the ground, working every day to improve the system and make things more efficient,” Marte says. “The problem is they don’t get the resources and exposure they need to effectively do their work. And that’s why we’re here today.” v

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La Armada transform adversity into communityon March 25, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

The Chicago Underground Quartet bottle their lightning againon March 25, 2020 at 3:30 pm

Clockwise from top: Chad Taylor, Jeff Parker, and Rob Mazurek, who cofounded the Chicago Underground collective in the mid-90s, and Josh Johnson, who plays in Parker's New Breed Band and joined the quartet for the new album - COURTESY ASTRAL SPIRITS RECORDS

Experimental jazz is not a stadium-packing pop genre. But you wouldn’t know that from the enthusiasm of the shoulder-to-shoulder capacity crowd stuffed into the narrow space along the bar at Dorian’s on a Sunday earlier this month. Programming director Joe Bryl spun a set of classic spiritual jazz from the likes of Brother Ah and Infinite Spirit Music, and then the crowd cheered as Jeff Parker‘s New Breed Band took the stage. Parker is something of a legend, not just in the jazz world but beyond; he’s a key member of postrock collective Tortoise, and he’s worked with the likes of Joshua Redman and Meshell Ndegeocello. But rather than taking the spotlight, he seated himself in the most poorly lit spot. He wasn’t much more than a shadow as his guitar released languidly spiky notes from the dark like magic.

The social-distancing measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 weren’t yet in place, but Parker already had words for the man most responsible for the severity of the U.S. crisis. In the middle of the set, he leaned over to the mike and said, with his usual nonchalance, “This song is called ‘Go Away.’ It was written for Donald Trump, because I want that motherfucker to go away.” Then he launched into the intricate bop hook while bassist Paul Bryan played a killer funk line behind him and Josh Johnson stepped away from his keyboard to blow a skronking sax solo. The high point of the set, “Go Away” was funny, cool, and weird–a crowd-pleasing rave-up and a knotty experimental exploration at the same time, with Parker chanting “Go away!” with great enthusiasm on the chorus.

Parker lives and works in Los Angeles now, but his career famously started in Chicago. He’d come to Dorian’s on a short stateside tour supporting his wonderful new album, Suite for Max Brown, which he’s dedicated to his mother. But he’s also got an even newer record: Good Days (Astral Spirits) features Parker and two of his longest-term collaborators, drummer Chad Taylor and cornetist Rob Mazurek. In 2001 they all appeared on the album Chicago Underground Quartet, one of Parker’s favorites in a discography hundreds deep. And on Friday, March 27–after 19 years that have taken all three musicians to new cities and even new continents–they’ll finally release the Chicago Underground Quartet’s second album.

Parker first came to town in 1991, after dropping out of music school in Boston in his mid-20s and getting a job at Tower Records on Clark and Belden just as it opened. His parents wanted him to complete his degree, but he wanted to try to make a career as a working musician. “I knew that if I’d finished, I would just end up being a music teacher, and I didn’t want that,” he says ruefully. “I know myself, and I know I would’ve thought, ‘I don’t have any gigs. I’ll go and be a substitute teacher.’ And then the next thing, it’s 20 years later. That definitely would have happened, if I had finished school.”

Parker was already interested in experimental and creative music when he arrived in Chicago, but he gigged wherever he could, playing weddings and straight-ahead jazz gigs. It was on one of the latter, an early-90s date led by legendary Chicago jazz drummer George Fludas, that Parker met Mazurek.

In 1981, when he was just 16, Mazurek had been thrilled to see Sun Ra at the Chicago Jazz Festival. But when he moved to Chicago from Naperville in 1983, he left his avant-garde tendencies behind, instead playing what he calls “classic mainstream jazz” around the city. By the time he met Parker, he was getting bored, and the guitarist didn’t have much trouble converting him to the “out” side. “It was really meeting Jeff in the early 90s that piqued my re-interest in more so-called avant-garde musics,” Mazurek says. “Sun Ra, Art Ensemble, Paul Bley, late Coltrane, various electronic music from Xenakis to Autechre.”

In early 1996, shortly after Parker joined Tortoise, he and Mazurek set up a regular workshop at the Green Mill for musicians to rehearse new material together without an audience. There, Parker says, Mazurek began “to write some compositions that he didn’t think would sit so well” with the players on his straight-ahead jazz gigs.

One of the regulars at the workshop was Taylor. He’d started gigging in Chicago in the early 90s, when he was 16, inspired in part by a high school friend, Chicago bassist Matthew Lux. It was Lux who told a young Taylor that he had to stop listening to Kenny G. “Matt was like, ‘No no no no, we’ve got to get you on the right track,'” Taylor says. Lux soon started him on a diet of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey.

For a while Taylor tried to hold down a day job while playing gigs at night; in the mornings he was a lifeguard for the indoor pool at the Standard Club downtown. His roommate, bassist Joshua Abrams, would look over at him and see him literally frowning in his sleep. “Josh told me, ‘Chad, you just can’t do this anymore.’ And of course I was scared. How am I going to make a living. But he said, ‘Just quit the job and put all your energy into music. The music will support you.’ And sure enough, that’s happened.”

Taylor knew Mazurek because they’d played together in a band with bassist Dennis Carroll in the early 90s. He knew Parker through Lux, who also worked at Tower. The three had long been mutual admirers. Since 1992 Taylor had been in and out of town, partly to study jazz drumming at the New School in New York, but in 1997 he settled in Chicago–not long after the workshop at the Green Mill had evolved into a loose band with rotating membership.

They called themselves the Chicago Underground, and they released a series of records with various personnel: the first, 1998’s Playground (Delmark), is credited to the Chicago Underground Orchestra. Recorded throughout most of 1996, it features Mazurek, Parker, Taylor, trombonist Sara P. Smith, and bassist Chris Lopes. Taylor and Mazurek also formed the Chicago Underground Trio, with Noel Kupersmith on bass; their albums often involved Parker as a guest artist. When Kupersmith didn’t show up to practice one day, Taylor and Mazurek started playing without him. “It wound up being, you know, amazing!” Taylor says, and that configuration became the Chicago Underground Duo. Then in 2001 the trio decided to release a record with Parker billed as an official member.

Chicago Underground Quartet (Thrill Jockey) is a classic album–though it would also turn out to be the quartet’s only recording for almost 20 years. It dips in and out of jazz traditions with the rolling, itchy ease of Parker’s opening guitar figure on “Tunnel Chrome,” the first track. “I’m on probably 200 albums at this point, you know,” Parker says. “And I don’t like most of them. I don’t like my playing on any records. But the Chicago Underground, I think I played pretty well.” You can hear Mazurek’s straight-jazz influences on “Four in the Evening,” which is as mellow as Chet Baker. But then on the next track, “A Re-Occurring Dream,” he’s spitting and squalling like a strangled duck while Parker plays brooding, dissonant lines. And on the next, “Welcome,” the band channels Coltrane while Taylor provides thunderous free-jazz backing on the drums, against which the other members clank and spit toward nirvana.

New Breed Band keyboardist and saxophonist Josh Johnson, a Chicago native and Los Angeles resident, says the record was one of his early loves, as a fan and as a musician–he first heard it as a teen in the mid-2000s. “I hadn’t really heard anything like the Chicago Underground Quartet, that combined a lot of the elements that I hear in jazz. It had so many things I was interested in, so many disparate interests, but musically all combined in a way that feels very effortless.”

Over the next two decades, the quartet’s members worked on a range of projects, separately and together. By the early 2010s, Kupersmith had dropped out of music to become a plumber in Milwaukee. Parker moved to LA in 2013, and in 2016 he recorded The New Breed, an album dedicated to his father that uses beats and samples he’d been collecting and thinking about since his Chicago days. From 2000 till ’07, Mazurek lived in Brazil, where he formed the Sao Paulo Underground with percussionist Mauricio Takara and keyboardist Guilherme Granado (and had the opportunity to record the sounds of electric eels for some of his compositions). In 2005 Mazurek started the Exploding Star Orchestra, a large ensemble dedicated to investigating Chicago’s avant-garde traditions; the initial lineup included Parker and Lux. After several years back in Chicago, in 2015 he moved to Marfa, Texas, where he started a music festival called Desert Encrypts. A live album from the 2018 festival, Desert Encrypts Vol. 1, features Taylor on drums alongside Mazurek, pianist Kris Davis, and bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten.

Taylor left Chicago for New York in 2001, then moved to Philadelphia in 2016. He continues to make a living as a free-jazz drummer, somewhat to his surprise. In regular times, he tours two weeks out of the month–mostly in Europe, where the pay is better–and in 2018 he released his first solo album, Myths and Morals (Eyes & Ears). “I’ll be on about 17 recordings coming up,” he says. “Not all of them I’m proud of. But quite a few of them are great. I feel very blessed.”

Taylor played in Parker’s trio with Chris Lopes on the 2012 release Bright Light in Winter (Delmark). He’s also continued to work with Mazurek semi-regularly, including in the Chicago Underground Duo and on the 2014 album Pharoah & the Underground (Delmark) with saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. But by the time of the initial Good Days sessions in 2018, Taylor says, it’d been around 15 years since he’d played with Mazurek and Parker in the same group.

Josh Johnson (second from right) replaces Noel Kupersmith in the current version of the Chicago Underground Quartet, with Rob Mazurek, Jeff Parker, and Chad Taylor. - COURTESY ASTRAL SPIRITS RECORDS

The three of them hadn’t made any plans to record, but LA producer Chris Schlarb–a longtime fan of the Chicago Underground–brought them together. While organizing a session for his band, he asked Taylor to play drums. Schlarb knew he wouldn’t have the budget to pay Taylor his usual rate, so he offered to give Taylor free studio time to record a new Chicago Underground Quartet record.

“I was like, what? Um . . . maybe?” Taylor says, his voice rising incredulously. “To be honest, I thought Jeff was not going to be into it. But he was. And we made it happen.”

The original Chicago Underground Quartet was a working band that gigged together and practiced all the time. Good Days arose from an impromptu session with little rehearsal. With Kupersmith retired, Taylor and Parker decided to bring in Johnson. The recording was so casual, and organized so quickly, that Johnson wasn’t sure whether he’d be playing saxophone or keyboards till he showed up. When he did appear, Parker recalls, Mazurek looked at him in confusion and said, “Where’s your bass?” Parker laughs. “Me and Chad are like, ‘No man, he plays keyboards.'”

You wouldn’t know from listening to the album that the performers weren’t clear on the instrumental configuration until everyone showed up. As they did on the first Chicago Underground Quartet album 19 years before, they stroll around the universe of jazz like they’re walking through their backyard. Taylor’s soul-funk composition “Batida” gives Parker a chance to play some badass spaced-out blues licks. Parker wrote “Good Days,” which first appeared on Bright Light in Winter, for Mazurek, but the cornetist couldn’t make that session; finally able to record the tune, he turns in a searching, wounded solo over Johnson’s ambient keyboard washes. In a complementary turn, Mazurek wrote “Strange Wing” (a commission by the 2016 Novara Jazz Festival) with Parker in mind. It’s a mellow fuzak groove that drifts unexpectedly toward free spiritual exploration and back again.

Part of what’s so engaging and inspirational about Good Days is that it feels like such a natural continuation of the band’s freewheeling spirit–something that easily could’ve ended up being lightning in a bottle, never captured again after the 2001 album. “The collaboration is the same beautiful open situation as when we started,” Mazurek says. “Of course we are more mature as musicians and humans now. The intention is always strong.”

Experimental jazz isn’t a path anybody follows expecting to be comfortable. In a lot of ways, it makes more sense to stop and get a job as a plumber, with a steady income and maybe health insurance. “It’s certainly a challenge to live a creative life,” Mazurek says. But Taylor, Mazurek, and Parker have kept at it, creating art that’s surprising and meaningful and generally awesome. “The main thing I love about [Taylor and Mazurek] is they’re both just so open,” Parker says. “Both of those guys will try anything musically.”

The last song on Chicago Underground Quartet is a Mazurek composition called “Nostalgia.” At first, it sounds about like what you’d expect from a piece called “Nostalgia”–slow, ambient, romantic, with some cheesy synth warbling. Then, after about a minute and a half, Taylor drops in a crisp transition on the drums, seemingly setting a new beat but actually transitioning the track into disintegrating, chaotic spasms–drums, guitar, and horn chitter across empty space at one another until the nostalgia overtakes them again. The track goes back and forth like that–romantic evocations of a lost past alternating with fragmented cries to the future–until the music fades out altogether.

There’s a couple minutes of silence, and then the band comes roaring back for a ten-second blast of an amphetamine bop head. It’s an exuberant end to an exuberant record, as well as a declaration that jazz–and music making in general–is about right now, even when it’s also about the past. It’s as though the quartet knew they had more to play, and that they’d be ready to take up the tune again–even if it took them almost two decades to do it. v

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The Chicago Underground Quartet bottle their lightning againon March 25, 2020 at 3:30 pm Read More »

These Are the Best New Albums Released in 2020 So Faron March 23, 2020 at 4:50 pm

If you’re sick of binge-watching all your favorite Netflix and Hulu shows, you can always turn on some good music. Although most of us are quarantined, we still have new albums coming out almost every day. Below are some of the best albums that have been released so far in 2020.

Suddenly by Caribou



Five years after the release of his popular Our Love album, Dan Snaith is back with Suddenly. It is a mash-up of different influences such as new-age jazz and hip hop.

Walking Like We Do by The Big Moon



This indie-rock band presents their second studio album inspired by Frank Ocean and James Blake. Definitely listen to “Your Light,” their breakout hit that is completely infectious.



Big Conspiracy by J Hus

Momodou Lamin Jallow brings us thought-provoking songs in his new album Big Conspiracy, with songs like “Must Be” and “Deeper Than Rap.”



Color Theory by Soccer Mommy

At only 22 and on her second studio full-length album, Sophia Allison brings us original and personal songs that remind us of early Death Cab for Cutie.



3.15.20 by Childish Gambino

Having received raving reviews by critics as the first truly outstanding album of the decade, Childish Gambino’s new album touches on many important issues we are seeing in the world today, making it incredibly relevant.



Circles by Mac Miller



Mac Miller’s unreleased album, Circles, is a mix of rock, soul, rap, jazz, and folk and is considered to be one of his finest posthumously. Listen to “Good News” and “I Can See.” RIP to a legend.

After Hours by The Weeknd

The Weeknd continues to evolve and reinvent himself, which is why his new album will be adored by his current fans but also will capture new audiences.

Silver Landings by Mandy Moore

Mandy Moore continues to show she can change with the times and creates even more catchy pop songs in her newest album, Silver Landings.

Every Bad by Porridge Radio

This extremely nuanced album makes it stand out from other indie rock bands that are similar to Porridge Radio but still give us that familiar sound we want.

Storm Damage by Ben Watt

Ben Watt has created some great songs with witty lyrics in his new album. Take a listen to “Hand,” “Summer Ghosts,” and “Festival Song.”

Featured Image Credit: Mac Miller

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These Are the Best New Albums Released in 2020 So Faron March 23, 2020 at 4:50 pm Read More »

Top 10 Essential Hulu Movies You Should Already Be Watchingon March 25, 2020 at 7:26 pm

As the days start to blend together, sometimes, sometimes all you want to do is curl up and watch a good movie on Hulu to escape from reality for a bit. Here are the best movies to watch on Hulu to get you through your self-isolation.

Photo Credit:

Good Will Hunting

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won Best Original Screenplay for their breakthrough film. Will Hunting (Matt Damon) plays a troubled math genius who is forced into therapy with Sean (Robin Williams). Even though the film is more than 20 years old, it remains a must-watch enduring drama with relatable characters.



hulu movies
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

A Quiet Place

John Krasinski directed and starred in A Quiet Place and proved that he is a master storyteller. The movie follows a family struggling with grief as they try to survive a post-apocalyptic dystopia. The family is tracked by monsters who hunt based on sound, so they must live in silence. The emotional tensions will have you on the edge of your seat.

hulu movies
Photo Credit: Lucky Chap Entertainment

I, Tonya

The movie chronicles the infamous finger skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), who vehemently believes that life just didn’t treat her fairly. While Tonya isn’t all that likable, we do get to see into her past and witness the abuses she suffered at the hands of her mother and husband to gain a better understanding of her. I, Tonya’s tone and humor make this film a must-watch.



hulu movies
Photo Credit: Apollo 11

Apollo 11

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing in 1969, Todd Douglas Miller delivered this documentary to take us about to the moment when man first walked on the moon. Apollo 11 weaves together the restored footage and provides an intimate look into the historic accomplishment.

hulu movies
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

To get your heart pumping, check out the 2018 installment to the Mission: Impossible franchise. It is full of action, plot twists, and a dynamic team that will keep you guessing the whole time. During this film, we finally get to see into the mind of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). Mission: Impossible has never been better!



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Photo Credit: Up in the Air

Up In The Air

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a Human Resources employee who focuses on helping companies downsize. He travels to the US for his work and is followed by an idealist (Anna Kendrick). The story chronicles the character’s pride, empathy, and fear.

Photo Credit: Skeleton Twins

The Skeleton Twins

The cast includes Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Luke Wilson, and Ty Burrell, but despite what you might think, the movie is not a comedy. While it has its humorous moments, it depicts the extreme lows of depression and how two broken people can attempt to heal themselves.



Photo Credit: Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

This film follows the inspiration for the woman behind the character of Wonder Woman. The drama is an emotional story that shows a married couple (Luke Evans and Rebecca Hall) who decide to enter into a polyamorous relationship with a student (Bella Heathcote). The husband, Professor Marston, creates Wonder Woman to celebrate the femininity of the two women he loves.

Photo Credit: Big Fish

Big Fish

Directed by Tim Burton, the movie tells the story of Will Bloom (Billy Crudup), who is about to become a father but remains exasperated by his own father, Ed Bloom (Albert Finney). His father never lets the truth get in the way of a good story, but it has caused their relationship to be strained. This heartfelt father-son movie is sure to tug on the heartstrings.



Photo Credit: Free Solo

Free Solo

The 2018 winner for Best Documentary records Alex Honnold’s attempt to become the first to free solo El Capitan. This dangerous journey means Alex climbs with no ropes, equipment, or even a partner. You’ll be treated to breathtaking shots and insight into Alex’s desire to live life to the fullest or die doing what he loves.



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Chicago Bears: Top reason Nick Foles will start in Week 1on March 25, 2020 at 11:00 am

Chicago Bears (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Chicago Bears (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

With all the speculation, there is one major reason why Nick Foles will be the Chicago Bears opening game starter.

Ever since the Chicago Bears traded for quarterback Nick Foles, there has been speculation among fans and pundits over who will be the starter for their first game. Will the Bears go with the experienced veteran, or ride with Mithell Trubisky, the No. 2 overall pick in 2017 who has yet to live up to expectations? Well, there may be one major reason why signs point to Foles.

Look, it’s fair to say the team has invested a significant amount in both Foles and Trubisky. In Foles, the Bears have tied up a decent amount of money and a fairly significant fourth-round draft pick, with which Ryan Pace has historically done some of his best work. In Trubisky, there is the personal investment that comes with staking your reputation on a player to such a degree that you trade up to select him over to superstars like Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

Pride can be a hell of a drug and can influence your decisions in ways that seem irrational. On the other hand, when you fork over that kind of compensation for Foles, the presumption is you didn’t do so for a backup.

However, despite all of that, there is one major reason why with each passing day, the likelihood is Foles will open the season as the Bears’ starter. Here’s why:

COVID-19. Yes, the pandemic that is permeating every aspect of our lives could be the single-most influential factor in determining the quarterback depth chart. You may think that sounds a little hysterical to say, but hear me out.

At this time, the odds that NFL teams will have any sort of meaningful offseason program together seem to be dwindling by the day. The league has already canceled physicals, likely jeopardizing the rest of free agency and potentially the draft. With news that the Olympics will likely be postponed by a year, there is a real risk the season could be delayed. Certainly, there is a strong possibility that any offseason will be extremely limited.

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Since it is quite possible teams won’t have the luxury of OTAs, a full training camp, and preseason to evaluate their team, the Bears could be in a position where they have to make a decision based on what they know at this moment.

So what do they know? Well, for starters, they know Trubisky has been inconsistent at best and according to his head coach, needs to get much better at reading defenses and understanding coverages. He said as much at the NFL Combine. However, that’s difficult to do when you’re not seeing live repetitions, but rather, simply studying film. Mitch has never had an issue with putting in the hours in the classroom. He’s been lauded for his work ethic. What he needs to do is translate that work into results on the field, which becomes difficult to do if you can’t get on it.

Foles, on the other hand, is a known quantity. Whether it’s the new coaching staff of Bill Lazor and John DeFilippo or Matt Nagy, they all have experience with Foles and know he can run Nagy’s offense. They’ve seen him do it in person, and on the biggest stage, the game has to offer.

Next: Bears hoping to catch lightning in a bottle

As they inch closer to the start of the season, if Mitch hasn’t had the chance to demonstrate on the field that he made meaningful improvement this offseason, it is easy to imagine a scenario where Nagy feels more comfortable rolling with the player who knows can do the things he will ask, rather than the player he hopes figured it out over the summer.

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Chicago Bears: Top reason Nick Foles will start in Week 1on March 25, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »