WHEN DRIVING BY SPRING MILL ROAD and West 116th Street at night, it’s impossible to miss: a towering structure, shining like an ethereal beacon. The inside of the Indianapolis LDS Temple is just as inspiring, but most will never see it. The chapels of the LDS Church (formerly known as Mormon), of which there are 13 in the Indianapolis area, are where ordinary weekly worship happens. The temple is for the extraordinary. Its rooms have distinct purposes: one where devotees endeavor to grow in their knowledge of the faith; one where marriages are sealed “for time and eternity”; one where those concerned with the fate of deceased relatives can undergo proxy baptisms on their behalf; and more. The Celestial Room, though, is not for doing but simply for being. The name suggests it is meant to give a taste of the peace of heaven. Rebecca Connolly, director of communication for the Indiana region of the LDS Church, shares that tables bear Scriptures to aid in introspection and boxes of tissues for when self-realization leads to tears. The stained glass windows display tulip poplars, the Indiana state tree, and circles with the letter X representing the Crossroads of America. Only Latter-day Saints in good standing can enter the temple. (Anyone is welcome to enjoy the grounds, with trees, benches, and a fountain.) Perhaps the rest of us can cultivate such a space in our minds, where we retreat to be still when the tumult of life overwhelms.

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DURING THIS YEAR’S Olympic basketball competitions, viewers witnessed what appeared to be blatant holding and moving screens on nearly every play. But because International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules were in effect, those normally illegal moves were not called by officials. I questioned whether the competitiveness of those games was worse or better than what we typically see in sanctioned NBA and WNBA matchups.

But how exciting were the Olympic men’s and women’s basketball games and the finals? Off the charts—that is, if you are a fan of USA Basketball. Even if you aren’t, the on-court action in nearly every game was fast, exciting, and fantastic.

If the NBA adopted a smattering of FIBA rules, those changes would greatly enhance the play, competition, and entertainment value of NBA games. My suggestions include:

• Eliminate the defensive three-second violation, allowing players to stay in the free throw lane indefinitely, even when not defending an opponent. Removing this violation helps defense but also puts the onus on offense to cut through the lane to open the middle and move the ball effectively around the perimeter of the court to create open shots. It also helps if the center can hit 3-point shots. Getting rid of this violation would not take away layups, just uncontested blow bys or overmatched back downs.
• Limit the number of fouls allowable to five per contest per player, instead of six. This puts more pressure on players to perform better and coaches to work smarter.
• My biggest recommendation is to allow players to be more physical. With a big man allowed to clog the middle and the expectation that defensive players keep their hands and arms vertical—especially when an offensive player initiates contact (which, in my estimation, is an offensive foul that never gets called)—this change would help keep defensive players from getting backed down to the basket, where they have two choices: Allow a score or get called for a foul. Actually playing defense is not a choice in that situation. This would change that.

The NBA is all about high energy offense, while defense is the casualty. If the adage, “Offense wins games; defense wins championships,” is true, then let teams play defense in the paint without getting a foul called. Offense has a distinct advantage in the game with the current rules.

For much of the 1980s, I played basketball at the Jordan YMCA on Westfield Boulevard. At the time, the first court in the old gym was reserved for talented Hoosiers like John Laskowski, Ray Tolbert, and Vicki Hall, among other former high school and college stars who came to play pickup ball.

Those games were self-officiated. If I called a foul, it had to be a good one. Many times, games devolved into a pushing match for inside position or a hack-fest for driving players, with an occasional minor “discussion” over a call.

In retrospect, those games had many of the same characteristics as FIBA-officiated games. We saw lots of holding, moving screens, and slapping, but very few fouls were called. Each game was hotly contested, and the competition was fierce, but we shook hands at the end (fist bumps and high fives weren’t the norm yet). The winners stayed, and the losers called next game.

I enjoyed watching that same style and physicality play out in the Olympic games. Let’s face it, the NBA—and don’t get me wrong, I love watching the NBA—has become desensitized.

When I say desensitized, I’m referring to the plethora of ticky-tacky fouls officials call based on what they see on screens away from the ball for things like reaching and hand checking—the overemphasis on these fouls to get calls that do nothing but slow the game and stop the flow of play.

In my opinion, the main reason to adopt some of these FIBA rules is to give the players final say in how they play. Let the game be decided and settled by the athletes instead of the officials. And really, isn’t that all we ever want out of basketball anyway?

The post Naysayer: Hey, NBA! Let’s Get Physical, FIBA-style appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

• Book a private golf simulator bay with a 15-by-10-foot 4K HD screen.
• Renting an e-bike and hopping on the Cultural Trail a block away is an easy date night. (Get the picnic basket add-on.)
• You can even take a wood-burning or glass-painting class.
• Grabbing a drink and taking in the skyline from the patio is always an option.
• All craft cocktails have local ingredients, like the Indy Fashioned with Hotel Tango bourbon.
• Ask what the seasonal slushie is before you order, though. Peckish? Go for the Spare Tire Rolls.
• They host Colts away game parties. Make a reservation.

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INDIANA SUMMERS are no time to slow down. True Hoosiers don’t spend their August weekends lounging in the sand, soaking up sun. We prefer to play in the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust beneath the Saturday and Sunday night lights. SPF? Try RPM. And the only “ray” you’ll see from behind your visor is the guy from two towns over trying to pass you on the back straightaway. Gender and age don’t matter as long as you can get behind the wheel and hit the gas. And whether your entry has a sharp color scheme plastered with sponsor decals or you just cobbled together a mess of steel and blank sheet metal, with a little luck, anyone can be a hometown racing hero for one summer night.

…

The Speedrome
Indianapolis

At the Speedrome, the racers of tomorrow start in junior Faskarts—go-karts with cages made to resemble the adults’ Late Models. But the glee of hoisting a trophy—like Koehan West, seated on the No. 33K kart at right—is the same no matter the age and is readily shared among friends. 

Alexa and Kenzie Hughes accompany Koehan in his car.

Billy Pittman is buckled in, gloves on, ready to drop the visor and stand on the accelerator in his junior Faskart.

Paragon Speedway
Paragon

The Saturday-night lights in Morgan County are shrouded in the dust kicked up by sprint cars, Bombers, Hornets, Late Models, and Super Stocks at Paragon Speedway. The high-banked, 3/8-mile dirt oval can barely contain speedsters like Dayton, Ohio’s Matt Freeman in his No. 90 Hornet.

Clayton’s Kenny Fields (with his daughter) in his No. 11F Super Stock.

Anderson Speedway
Anderson

The tight turns of the tiny 1/4-mile bullring short track at Anderson Speedway keep drivers leaning on the wheel, tapping on the brake, and wary of door-to-door traffic. It’s intense enough to wear out even the most energetic young drivers, like 12-year-old Ryder Van Alst, resting beside his No. 35 Late Model.

At small-town raceways, it’s all-hands-on-deck when it comes to dialing in the car during the scant amount of time between the qualifying heat and the late-night feature. Just ask driver Andrew Teepe’s daughter, pacifier in mouth, working the wrench on Dad’s stock car.

Lincoln Park Speedway
Putnamville

Built in 1968, Lincoln Park Speedway sits in the middle of downtown Putnamville. This is where race fans come to watch 410 non-wing sprint cars kick up the Putnam County clay. Without the top wing, these cars have less downforce and are therefore a little bit harder for the driver to control, especially when careening sideways through a turn in the dirt. Roger Arthur (standing) and Jimmy Arthur (kneeling) know the importance of traction on the dirt track.

Joe Boyll understands the value of letting off steam between events.

Megan Cavaness, a local who has been racing here since she was 11, always keeps at least one hand on the steering wheel.

Circle City Raceway
Indianapolis

A newcomer to Indiana’s race scene, Circle City Raceway opened on October 1, 2020, the result of a partnership between the Marion County Fairgrounds and Speedrome owner Kevin Garrigus. Just because the 1/4-mile dirt oval is fresh doesn’t mean the drivers are afraid to tear it up in front of 5,000 fans.

Mike Moody raced cars for 20 years before taking a break to go to college for mechanical engineering. Now retired, he drives a souped-up Monte Carlo “mainly for a good time.” 

A veteran of local oval and dirt tracks before the age of 20, driver BJ Shaw takes a pre-race break in his trailer. Shaw dreams of driving in the Indianapolis 500 someday.

Katie Grigsby, showing off her No. 54B ride at the Circle City Raceway, competes in both the Bomber and Super Stock races.

As the sun begins to set on another summer night, Elizabethtown’s Mike Bechelli climbs into the cab of his Crate Late Model, ready to race for the win. 

Bloomington Raceway
Bloomington

Opened in 1923, Bloomington Raceway has entertained fans for more than a century. Cutting the wheel, sliding sideways through each turn, and accelerating into the straightaway, drivers can’t help but get dirty in their pursuit of checkered glory. 

Logan Calderwood came all the way from Goodyear, Arizona, to take in the spectacle on a Hoosier tire between heats in his 410 Sprint. He’ll face Bowling Green’s Daylan Chambers (below), who’s not afraid to get dirty.

Kokomo Speedway
Kokomo

The Kokomo track has been lighting up the summer Sunday night sky since 1947. The 1/4-mile, semi-banked oval is a stop on several national tours for sprint cars, Late Models, midgets, and Auto Racing Club of America stock cars speeding toward that coveted checkered flag.

Garrett Jameson (in his No. 0 car) and his brother Bradley (below) spend their summers chasing one another in their Dirtcar Modifieds around tracks all over the region. They consider Kokomo their “home track” and relish racing in front of their hometown fans. While their cars may roll out of the double-decker trailer gleaming, they generally come back caked with mud from a hard-fought battle.

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MARTY DAVIS is known as “the butterfly lady.”  Every summer, she raises monarchs for a cause near and dear to her heart, the annual butterfly release on the last day of Camp Healing Tree, which is Sunday, August 18, this year. “Butterflies are such magical creatures, just beautiful, and there’s so much symbolism there,” Davis says.

The three-day camp is administered by Brooke’s Place, which provides counseling and support for children ages 7–17 grieving the loss of a loved one. Brooke’s Place is named for Brooke Wright, whose father Tom died when American Eagle Flight 4184 crashed in Roselawn, Indiana, in 1994.

Davis, now 67, knows the pain of traumatic loss. When she was 12, her father died by suicide. “I was a bereaved child,” she says. “I never had the kind of support the camp offers to children today.”

Anne Ryder, a former TV journalist who now teaches at Indiana University, is also “part of the club no one wants to be in.”  When Ryder was 15, her mother passed away.  Later, she lost her son at 5-and-a-half months gestation age.

Ryder has helped Davis raise butterflies for years and shares her own journey with grief during the camp’s closing memorial service honoring loved ones. “The message is, ‘It gets better,’ but there will be things that bring grief back,” she says. “It’s OK to cry and to look for signs everywhere that love never dies … and if you pay attention, you’ll find comfort, usually in nature.”

Camp Healing Tree director Val Hagerty says the closing ceremony, which includes reciting the names of participants’ loved ones before the butterflies are released, is powerful.  She says some of the butterflies land on campers before taking to the sky. “The emotion is like, This is my person coming to say hello or touch me,” Hagerty says. “It’s just a special moment to have that connection again with a person that’s gone.”

While the annual release usually includes anywhere from 50 to 100-plus butterflies, this year there are just 11. That’s despite Davis spending many more days in search of monarch eggs on milkweed plants, their only food source.  She can’t help but wonder if climate change has something to do with it.

Wendy Caldwell with the Monarch Joint Venture in Minnesota says it’s hard to know. While the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists monarchs as “vulnerable,” Caldwell says the population can vary from place to place. “In my part of the world, we see monarchs daily and feel good about it,” she says. But she also notes that ongoing threats—including “the variables of climate change, pesticide use, and loss of habitat”—are real.

Davis says she’s done all she can to keep her 11 transitioning butterflies healthy and ready for takeoff. But whether it’s 100 monarchs taking flight or 11, there’s still power and hope in their journey.  

These monarchs belong to the migratory generation that will travel 2,000 miles to the mountains of Central Mexico, where they’ll winter, and return to the southern U.S. in late March/early April to breed, lay eggs, and die, providing life for the next generation.

It’s a journey not lost on those sending them off. These beautiful creatures are delicate and fragile but also strong and determined. Ryder says their transition from egg, to caterpillar, to chrysalis, and finally to butterfly is the perfect metaphor for death. The monarch “is in its darkest place before it busts out its wings,” she says, “which is the miracle of camp: busting down the doors that grief brings.”

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I’m positive that by now, everyone has witnessed Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever in action. How could you not? Even the most casual sports fan can’t miss the impact Clark has on her sport. I say “her sport” because it is her sport right now, and everybody else is just playing in it.

It’s being called the Caitlin Clark Effect, much like the Michael Jordan Effect and the Larry Bird Effect. Whatever you call it, Clark reigns supreme in the public/media eye for now. And why not? There is even a name for the increased revenue she’s brought the WNBA— Caitlin-nomics.

Opponents love to see her come to town because their arenas sell out. Courtside seats cost in the thousands. Las Vegas set a new attendance record of 22,000 to watch Clark and the Fever get blown out by 20.

She is setting rookie records weekly and recently recorded the first ever triple-double for a rookie in a July home win over the mighty New York Liberty. The Fever were on a roll leading up to the break in their season for the Olympics. Clark led all players in fan votes (700,735) for the All-Star team. Teammate Aliyah Boston came in second (618,680).

But despite all Clark’s accolades, records, interviews, commercials, and shoe deals, one player does not a team make. Other Fever players are present on the court and, despite their lack of publicity, form the core of this WNBA team.

So, let’s start with fellow All-Star Boston. She is the Fever’s original building block. Her talent gave the fledgling team credibility during last year’s late-season push, and now her play contributes a solid inside presence and defensive stability.

The more I watch her and Clark work together on the pick and roll, with Clark dumping down to a rolling Boston for an easy deuce, I see why Boston was a No. 1 draft pick, a collegiate All-American selection, and Player of the Year when she was with the University of South Carolina. She is a powerhouse.

She’s much more effective scoring off the dribble, attacking her defender, rather than off the block. Plus, when given the time to line her feet up, she’s a capable 3-point shooter, at 40 percent, and is nearly a 50-percent shooter from the field. She’s not an automatic double-double yet but is working her way there quickly.

Then there is the third Fever All-Star, point guard Kelsey Mitchell, an exceptional scorer to say the least. This Ohio State grad and second overall pick by the Fever in the 2019 draft is a tough, gritty player who can fill up the hoop quickly. She came into this season as third in franchise history in points scored, third in field goals made, and second in 3-point field goals made.

Her outside prowess allows her to drive to the basket with ease, in part because of her ball-handling skills. In a recent road win, she singlehandedly brought the Fever back from the jaws of defeat by popping in 16 points in the second half after going scoreless in the first half. She raised her 3-point shooting from 40.5 percent to over 51 percent while leading the Fever in scoring at 16.6 PPG.

NaLyssa Smith was a 2022 No. 2 selection and lived up to the pick by making the All-Rookie team. She also participated in the WNBA All-Star Skills Challenge, averaging 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds. She shot 41.9 percent from the field in the 22 games she started in as a rookie.

Smith is flourishing in her role as the team’s blue-collar worker. She’s a “do whatever it takes for the team to win” kind of player, which is a valuable commodity for any squad, currently pulling down eight rebounds per game and disrupting opponents’ inside plans with her defense.

Watching her play and on-court interactions with her teammates improve as the season progresses has been compelling; she has an uncanny ability to shed her defensive person and get “lost” in the offense, only to pop down the lane wide open for a pass from Clark and an easy two. Smith is also scoring well this season, averaging over 11 points per game and 1.3 assists.

Coming off the bench is veteran forward Katie Lou Samuelson, the 2019 fourth overall pick by the Chicago Sky. She has a well-traveled career so far, with the Fever being her fifth WNBA team. She plays over 18 minutes per contest, and she brings a calm experience to the lineup. She’s not a big scorer anymore (5 PPG), but she certainly was a scorer when she played for UConn.

Erica Wheeler is another savvy veteran off the bench. Originally undrafted out of Rutgers, Wheeler is in her second stint with Indiana after playing elsewhere for two seasons. Her assist to turnover ratio is nearly 2 to 1, and she shoots a high percentage (88.9 percent) from the charity stripe, which increases her value in late-game situations.

Moving on to guard Lexie Hull, the sixth pick in the 2022 draft. Now in her third season with the Fever, Hull played in 26 games her rookie season and prior to that was a pivotal member of the 2021 Stanford national championship team. Her emphasis this season is on defense, but she is a more than capable ball handler when Mitchell and Clark are on the bench.

For some local talent, Grace Berger, the seventh overall pick in 2023 out of Indiana, is coming on strong. The four-time All-Big Ten selection is averaging just less than 4 points per game so far and grabbing two rebounds per contest.

As one can see by looking at the draft positions of the Fever roster over the past four years, this team is jam-packed with youthful talent, and it is just a matter of time before they begin to win more consistently.

The victory over the Liberty recently provided a key win over one of the WNBA’s elite teams. As it stands now, that home win was only the second over a team with a winning record.

Caitlin Clark will be Caitlin Clark. She’ll get what she’ll get and set records in the process. But for the Fever to attain greatness—which is within their grasp—the players behind the player that propelled them to being a household name must also be pretty darn talent. And lest we forget, they are.

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ESTABLISHED IN 2011, the Choice Scholarship Program allows parents to use state funds to opt out of the public school system and send their kids to a participating parochial or nonreligious private school. As another academic year dawns, here’s a quick review.

INDIANA’S VOUCHER PLAN IS GROWING BRISKLY. Enrollment in the Choice Scholarship Program ballooned in 2023–24 to 70,095 students, a 31-percent increase over the previous school year and the largest year-over-year jump ever. The money the state handed out for vouchers also increased massively, reaching $439 million in tuition grants to parochial or other private schools. That’s a 40-percent increase over the previous year.

VOUCHERS AREN’T THE ONLY FINANCIAL AID ON OFFER. Parents can also avail themselves of education savings accounts and tax-credit scholarships. The Indiana Education Scholarship Account Program, which went into effect in July 2024, allows students with disabilities (and their siblings) to use dedicated scholarship money for approved educational programs, therapies, and other education-related expenses. Also, a School Scholarship Tax Credit is available to those donating to scholarshipgranting organizations.

SIMILAR PROGRAMS HAVE TAKEN HOLD IN OTHER STATES TOO. According to EducationWeek, as of June 2024, 29 states plus the District of Columbia offer some form of financial assistance to parents to facilitate school choice. The first was established in Milwaukee in 1990.

THE GROUP OF HOOSIER STUDENTS WHO QUALIFY NOW INCLUDES … PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THEM. When voucher programs initially gained traction around the country, they were often presented as a way to create more educational options for low-income families stuck with whatever public school their kids were assigned to. This was also the argument originally presented in Indiana. But in 2023, the Indiana General Assembly repealed most student qualification requirements (including previous enrollment in a public school) and allowed even higher-income families to get vouchers. For the 2024–25 school year, the salary cap for a family of four rose to $230,880. In other words, it’s now possible to have private school tuition underwritten with public funds, even for children who already attend a private school and whose family’s income is well above Indiana’s household median of $66,800.

THE “GIVING DISADVANTAGED FAMILIES CHOICES” MOTIVE FOR VOUCHERS HAS BECOME HARDER TO DEFEND. The Indiana Department of Education describes the typical Hoosier voucher student as a white, elementary school–age girl from a four- or five-person household with an income of almost $100,000. White students make up 64 percent of voucher users, up about 2.5 percent from the 2022–23 school year. The number of Black students with vouchers dropped half a percent over the same time span to 8.9 percent, while the number of Hispanic voucher-using students declined from 19 percent to 17.3 percent.

THE NUMBER OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS THAT ACCEPT VOUCHERS IS ALSO INCREASING. The Indianapolis-based pro-voucher group EdChoice reports that during the 2023–24 school year, 357 private schools participated in the program statewide. That’s a near-doubling of available learning facilities since the program was instituted in 2011. The two private schools receiving the most students and funds from the voucher program, both of which happen to be in Indianapolis, are Heritage Christian School (883 students and $5,697,076) and Roncalli High School (854 students and $5,651,614). Fourteen schools joined the program in 2023–24, the biggest expansion of any year since the program’s inception. Critics worry because private schools don’t have to meet the same reporting or transparency standards as public schools. Democratic state lawmakers tried to prevent voucher funds from going to private schools that discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community on religious grounds but were unable to overcome the state’s Republican supermajority.

VOUCHERS TYPICALLY DON’T COVER PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPENSES IN THEIR ENTIRETY. The calculation of a particular student’s voucher is based on family income. During the 2023–24 school year, the average award amount was $6,264, while the average price of private school tuition and fees was $7,749.

THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS USING VOUCHERS IS STILL FAIRLY LOW, BUT THEIR RANKS ARE SLOWLY GROWING. According to the Indiana Department of Education, only about 6 percent of all Indiana students use vouchers. Almost 87 percent of Indiana’s K-12 population attended public schools in the 2023–24 academic year, roughly half a percentage point less than the 2022–23 year. That percentage is expected to shrink again when 2024–25 numbers are in.

CONTROVERSY SWIRLS AROUND THE PROGRAM. The state still maintains that as many Indiana families as possible should be able to avail themselves of choices in education. Opponents point out that every voucher handed to a parent is essentially money out of the pocket of the public school system they rejected. Also, the latest state numbers indicate that use of the program is growing most rapidly in segments of Hoosier society that arguably need it the least. During the 2023–24 school year, almost 8,000 voucher students hailed from households earning between $150,000 to $200,000 annually. The number of students from households taking in more than $200,000 rose almost tenfold, from 354 in 2022–23 to 3,700 in 2023–24. The number of children from those two brackets accounted for more than half of the program’s total growth of 16,720 students in 2023–24. During that same timeframe, the number of voucher families making less than $100,000 grew by only 14 percent.

The post Speed Read: Spoiled For Choice appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

[See image gallery at www.indianapolismonthly.com] Last weekend, photographer Ted Somerville and I traveled to the Windy City for Lollapalooza  to document the marquee Midwest music festival. Taking place August 1–4 in Chicago’s Grant Park, Lollapalooza 2024 featured some of the music industry’s biggest names, including Chappell Roan, Future and Metro Boomin, Megan Thee Stallion, SZA, and more.

After making our way to Chicago on Thursday, August 1 (with a pitstop for brunch at S&G Waffle Shack in Gary, Indiana), Ted and I arrived at Grant Park around 3 p.m. CST, just in time to catch a stunning set from South African R&B star Tyla. A 2024 Grammy award winner for Best African Music Performance, Tyla established the vibe for a two-day stretch at Lollapalooza dominated by dynamic female artists.

For the second half of Thursday, I experienced my favorite stretch of Lollapalooza 2024, beginning with a booty-shaking set from British group Jungle. With hits like “Back on 74,” “Casio,” and “I’ve Been in Love,” the band is a must-listen for all fans of ear-grabbing grooves.

I then made my way over to Lollapalooza’s T-Mobile stage to catch the tail end of Chappell Roan’s performance. Having become a regular atop the music charts in recent months, the Missouri-born pop star drew what might have been the largest crowd of the weekend, with a packed field of fans singing along to her songs. To close out the first day, I stayed put for a headlining performance by Megan Thee Stallion, who demanded every bit of the audience’s attention with her potent blend of song and dance.

Ted and I retreated to our friends’ house in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood for the evening, returning to Grant Park on Friday morning after grabbing some grub at old-school tavern Pizza Lobo. Following a solid set of indie pop from up-and-coming artist Blu DeTiger, I made my way to the T-Mobile stage once more, where I spent the rest of my Friday. I caught two more stellar R&B performances, first from Victoria Monét and then from SZA. The 2024 Grammy award winner for Best New Artist, Monét strutted her stuff while belting out standout songs like “On My Mama” and “We Might Even Be Falling in Love.” Later that evening, “Kill Bill” hitmaker SZA delivered an excellent performance of her own, treating fans to a career-spanning set highlighted by her clear sense of comfort in front of tens-of-thousands of fans.

Following another night of much-needed rest, Ted and I took one more trip to Grant Park for what would be our final day at the festival before heading back home to Indy. Saturday’s lineup was filled with a myriad of sounds, making for a fun day of exploration. To kick it off, I caught a standout set from Tennessee rocker-on-the-rise Briston Maroney, who reflected on his Lollapalooza appearance being a dream come true. From there, I enjoyed sets from electronic artist Nia Archives, indie singer-songwriter Ethel Cain, alt-rock mainstays Deftones, and esteemed rapper Killer Mike. To close out the day, I decided to check out Future and Metro Boomin, performing together as part of their We Trust You Tour. The rap duo showed up 30 minutes late and gave a rather uninspiring performance, but sometimes you just catch ’em on an off day.

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