In the Loop

A federal grand jury has indicted some of the agents that brought White Sox star first baseman Jose Abreu from Cuba to the United States. Not only did he have to leave his family behind, but he was forced to pay his smugglers an astounding $5.8 million for a chance at a better life and a career in Major League Baseball. We talk to Cuban baseball historian Peter Bjarkman about what the indictment reveals about the price Cuban ballplayers pay in order to make it to the United States.

Ka-chunk-chunk! That’s the sound of you driving over one of Chicago’s notorious potholes.  The undercarriage of your car is scraped up, your glasses are askew, your trousers are soaked in piping hot coffee, and worst of all, you’re the only one who saw the whole thing go down. OUCH.  Well, now there’s an outlet for all of your sorrow and your pain.  WBEZ listeners call into Morning Shift to describe the potholes that tripped them up and all the problems that ensued as a result.  We also check in with mosaic artist Jim Bachor, perhaps the only Chicagoan with the power to make you smile when you see a pothole. That’s because Bachor fills them with meticulously crafted marble and glass mosaics depicting simple delights like popsicles, ice cream cones and bouquets of flowers.

Best bookstore in Chicago with a cat? Well, that would be Selected Works Used Books and Sheet Music.  The cat in question is Hodge, a popular fixture among the stacks in the shop on South Michigan Avenue. This feline has such a following that he’s even inspired literature. The Secret Life of Hodge, the Bookstore Cat chronicles Hodge’s fictional adventures as he reads novels, watches YouTube videos and navigates his relationships with two female cats. We talk with the book’s author Suzanne Erfurth.

Israeli singer-songwriter Asaf Avidan has been compared to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and each time he comes to Chicago, he plays to ever-larger crowds.  His unique voice draws fans in, but it’s his lyrics and emotionally charged performances that keep them coming back. Ask him about his latest release Gold Shadow and the solo tour that brought him through Chicago, and he’ll say it’s about catharsis, not selling records.  Avidan joins Tony Sarabia in studio for a stripped-down performance that shows how he bares his soul through music.

After winning the Stanley Cup last year and starting this season in top form, the Blackhawks seemed poised to advance deep into the playoffs. But now, the Hawks find themselves in a precarious spot. If they lose Monday night in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues, they’ll be eliminated in the first round and lose the chance to defend their title. WBEZ sports contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout joins Morning Shift with a preview of Monday’s match-up and a conversation about what’s at stake for Toews, Kane and the rest of the squad. After winning the Stanley Cup last year and starting this season in top form, the Blackhawks seemed poised to advance deep into the playoffs. But now, the Hawks find themselves in a precarious spot. If they lose Monday night in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues, they’ll be eliminated in the first round and lose the chance to defend their title. WBEZ sports contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout joins us with a preview of Monday’s match-up and a conversation about what’s at stake for Toews, Kane and the rest of the squad.

Is your spouse cheating? Are you stuck paying alimony? Are you concerned about who your child is living with? These are all questions for the guest in our latest installment of the Working Shift, where we interview Chicagoans with interesting jobs. This week, Scott Stern a long-time private investigator gives Morning Shift an inside look at a day on his job.

Chicago State University will get a desperately needed $20 million infusion thanks to a bill passed Friday in Springfield. The stopgap measure is expected to keep publicly funded universities in Illinois afloat through the summer, but questions remain about their future. John Miller, president of the University Professionals of Illinois, Local 4100, and CSU student government president Paris Griffin give us the inside scoop.

National Poetry Month will soon come to a close, so we thought it would be a good time to check in with Illinois Poet Laureate Kevin Stein. (Yes, Illinois has a poet laureate). It’s Stein’s job to make poetry more accessible to the public and to study and promote the work of Illinois poets past and present. He’s sort of like an ambassador for poetry from the state of Illinois. Kevin Stein joins us to discuss his work as poet laureate, the history of poetry in our state and what distinguishes Illinois poetry from, oh, say, Indiana poetry. Seriously, there’s a difference.

One testament to Prince’s legacy is how he inspired musical acts that came after him. Music journalist David Drake joins Morning to talk about Prince’s impact on artists like Beyonce, Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, Shamir, Justin Timberlake and more.

You know him as NPR’s television critic, but as a young man, Eric Deggans was a drummer in a band out of Indiana University, and Prince was his icon. Deggans joins host Jenn White to talk about what he loves about Prince’s music and style.