🤳 Our phones are listening to our conversations

Could reading our minds be next?! [READER]( The Daily Reader August 22, 2023 The story I’m about to tell is real. Nothing has been changed. It happened exactly as I will describe. My wife and I were driving in our car, heading north to Michigan for a much-needed vacation. We were listening to Stevie Wonder (Fulfillingness’ First Finale, which just may be [my favorite record of all time]( and I started thinking how every generation has music it loves in a deeply personal way because it connects them to a moment they wish they could live again. Only this time they would know stuff that they didn’t know then, so they could handle things better. It’s that way with my Gen Xer friends who are rhapsodizing about their favorite hip-hop songs from back in the day (what with hip-hop celebrating its [50th anniversary](. And with my kids and their millennial friends who are lining up to see Beyoncé. And my fellow boomers who packed Wrigley Field to see Bruce Springsteen. And I thought: this phenomenon must hold true for people who loved jazz back in the 50s. I thought about that photograph, A Great Day in Harlem, taken by Art Kane for Esquire, of [a few dozen great jazz musicians]( who happened to be in New York City that day. In my mind, I saw the picture. The musicians were arranged on the sidewalk and steps of a tenement in Harlem, with a bunch of neighborhood kids sitting in the front row. There was Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Mary Lou Williams, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, and Lester Young. And so on . . . And I thought—there must be some ancient hipsters who get teary-eyed looking at that picture, as they think about all the time that’s passed since they saw these musicians playing in a club in the Village. Or wherever. Just then my reverie broke with the most pedestrian of thoughts—what’s going on with Instagram? So I went to my page and what was the first thing I saw? Art Kane’s photograph. A Great Day in Harlem. I kid you not, people! It was the top post in my feed from an Instagram account that I follow called [The Jazz Estate](. The caption began . . . “Sixty-five years ago today, freelance photographer Art Kane called together as many jazz soloists as he could for a photograph . . .” I just sat in disbelief, staring at the photo. As much as I love Dionne Warwick—and I love her very much—I’ve never been one to believe in psychic connections. But this was freakin’ mind-blowing. I mean, get out the reefer! I realize our phones listen to our conversations. So if you’re telling someone about how much you love Hoka shoes—as I tend to do—next thing you know, your Facebook page will feature an ad for Hokas. But cell phones reading our minds? Even Zuckerberg hasn’t figured out how to do that, though he’s probably trying. When Stevie’s record ended, I put on the Allman Brothers. And I thought about that scene in The Exorcist where “Ramblin’ Man” is playing in the background as two characters converse in a bar. Immediately, I went back to Instagram. To see if there was a photograph of The Exorcist or, at least, Bill Friedkin, the film’s director (who recently died). Alas: nothing. Apparently psychic connections are a little like Halley’s Comet—they only come around once in a lifetime. 🎙Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( 🎙 [What Ben's Reading] [Razorblade Tears]( by S.A. Cosby. Great action novel about two ex-cons who track down the men who murdered their gay sons. [J. Patrick Patterson]( on [Horace Nowell]( and the art of preserving newspaper boxes [Ben Joravsky]( on the Northwestern hazing scandal [Best of the Ben J. Show]( Rummana Hussain of the Chicago Sun-Times: [Why do so many men hate Barbie?]( The Reader’s [Leor Galil]( on [the Lolla game]( Alderperson Rossana Rodriguez: It’s time to [treat our trauma](. [Review: BAM!]( This smart adventure-dramedy is a love letter to Chicago. by [Andrea Thompson]( | [R]( → [Material as memory]( A duo show at Middle Child Gallery centers the intimacy of fabric. by [Annette LePique]( | [R]( → and engaging]( The Writer at Steep is didactic, but doesn’t let you look away. by [Catey Sullivan]( | [Read here]( → [Pittsburgh indie rocker Merce Lemon observes life with thoughtful honesty]( by [Tasha Viets-VanLear]( | [Read here]( → First Tuesdays with Ben & Maya September will mark Mayor Brandon Johnson's first 100 days in office. On September 5, join senior Reader writer Ben Joravsky and journalist Maya Dukmasova as they discuss the progress of his administration toward building a more just and equitable Chicago. 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