City Weekly April 25, 2019 by Copperfield Publishing

C I T Y W E E K LY. N E T

a f ter 50 years film, a grainy ightings s t o o f g i B rom the f â&#x20AC;&#x201D; e u n i t c on thwest r o N c i f i Pac to Provo.

BY LAURA KRANTZ

APRIL 25, 2019 | VOL. 35

N0. 48

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CWCONTENTS COVER STORY DO YOU BELIEVE?

Forever cemented in pop culture lore, the legend of Bigfoot lives on. On the cover: Bigfoot mural by Gerry Swanson, silentswanart.com | Photo by Enrique Limón

CONTRIBUTOR

4 LETTERS 6 OPINION 13 NEWS 19 A&E 25 DINE 32 MUSIC 42 CINEMA 45 COMMUNITY

LAURA KRANTZ Cover story

Described as a project “about Sasquatch, science and society—and why we want so badly to believe,” Krantz’s Wild Thing, a Bigfoot-centric podcast, was named by The Atlantic as one of the 50 best in 2018. The magazine said the podcast “gives listeners a break from reality while staying in the realm of possibility.”

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Elizabeth Warren has a threepoint plan to fix the country. facebook.com/slcweekly

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With Endgame, the MCU gets some semblance of a conclusion.

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COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET

Cover story, April 11, “Attack of the 20,000Acre Inland Port” Stop the port! CLIMATE CHANGE—SLC Via Facebook Cue the hyperbole. CRAIG SCHROERLUCKE Via Facebook Is there a way for locals to invest in the Salt Lake port? If locals were shareholders, they could control the process much better. @AZBROKER Via Twitter Elwood should be a cautionary tale, imo. Utah deal sounds bad, maybe worse. ROBERTO CLACK Via Twitter Great write up by City Weekly on USA’s largest inland port & how it has “wreaked havoc” on an Illinois town. SLC residents are unwilling to simply be overrun by greed—we will continue to stand up for our values. MAYOR JACKIE BISKUPSKI Via Twitter

News, April 11, “Distilling Hope”

Who has the keys to the liquor cabinet? GERALD LARSEN Via Facebook

What a difference 10 years has made on us all here at Ogden’s Own Distillery Inc. Excited to see what the next 10 bring. TIMOTHY SMITH Via Facebook

charge kills someone, that’s a much different crime than if I set out to shoot them on purpose. You can’t just ignore the motive. JOE TEA Via Facebook

Is it full strength? PAUL MATTESON Via Facebook

You’re comparing apples and oranges. Let’s leave political correctness and identity politics out of the courtroom when someone commits murder or assault. MIKE STAPLEY Via Facebook

Soap Box, April 11, Getting Schooled

I read the comment from that kid. That was awesome. I like how he made his point then went back and told them why. DIANE ARMSTRONG Via Facebook

Online news post, April 18, Main Street hate crime update

Good, hate crimes are real. GENO LOPEZ Via Facebook How about we just start with prosecuting violent criminals aggressively rather than try and judge their motives subjectively? MIKE STAPLEY Via Facebook Motive matters a lot. That’s why there’s different laws for manslaughter vs. murder. If I’m cleaning my gun and an accidental dis-

Unless you were attacked leaving a gay bar or night club or it occurs against people during Pride, how do you prove the attacker knew the person was gay or homosexual? And if it wasn’t in any of these vicinities, how would you prove that it was an act based on hatred of their sexuality? MATT MORRIS Via Facebook

Online news post, April 18, “Make the Middle Class Great Again”

We need to bring up the lower classes. There’s way too much focus on the middle- and upper-class people. DIANE ARMSTRONG Via Facebook

We encourage you to join the conversation. Sound off across our social media channels as well as on cityweekly.net for a chance to be featured in this section.

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Contributors KATHARINE BIELE, ROB BREZSNY, BABS DE LAY, RACHELLE FERNANDEZ, MICHAEL D. FERRY, COLETTE A. FINNEY, HOWARD HARDEE, CASEY KOLDEWYN, LAURA KRANTZ, NIC RENSHAW, DAVID RIEDEL, MIKE RIEDEL, KARA RHODES, ALEX SPRINGER, LEE ZIMMERMAN

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Editor ENRIQUE LIMÓN Arts &Entertainment Editor SCOTT RENSHAW Staff Writer KELAN LYONS Music Editor ERIN MOORE Editorial Assistant RAY HOWZE Copy Editor NAOMI CLEGG Proofreader LANCE GUDMUNDSEN

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GUEST

OPINION

Yesterday’s old Royal Typewriter, and Today’s Blogosphere

I remember my first typewriter: a brown Royal Model HH with green keys. What a machine! In my eyes, it was as sexy as a two-tone ’57 Chevy Bel Air. The Royal saw me through high school, college, the Army (where I was a clerk), and 10 years into my newspaper career. When I moved to an apartment, I didn’t have a spot, or the inclination, to store it. Regrettably, it had become a 21st century anachronism and Deseret Industries became its repository. Still, the old Model HH manual typewriter was my entrē into journalism—first, the Lehi Free Press, The Daily Utah Chronicle, The Salt Lake Tribune and now, Salt Lake City Weekly. These past six decades have taken me on a heady ride, and I don’t regret one paragraph I’ve written. Then, as now, journalism’s prime directive was to “get it right … get it first, if possible … and seek the truth.” Today’s a whole new ballgame. Everywhere, I see folks adroitly communicating on miniature QWERTY keyboards with their thumbs. And many, it seems, have become selfstyled “journalists.” Just the other day, I struck up a conversation with “Jeremy”

BY LANCE S. GUDMUNDSEN on the northbound UTA bus on State Street. Skinny as a whippet, he was wearing a green-and-black flannel shirt and traces of acne. His thumbs were working overtime on a smartphone. “I’m finishing up my blog,” he confided. “It’s about the …” and he looked around to be certain other passengers weren’t eavesdropping “… the ‘predominant religion.’” “Did you know President Nelson refused to operate on some guy because he wasn’t Mormon?” he volunteered. “No,” I responded, “it’s news to me.” “Yessiree,” my UTA companion continued. “And that Dallin Oaks has relatives who are Nazis?” I admitted my ignorance, rolling my eyes. “You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve uncovered,” enthused “Jeremy.” “You’re probably right,” I replied—grateful that my stop at 300 South was coming up and wondering exactly who “we” were. “You can read about it on …” and he gave me the blog address, which I promptly forgot. I stepped off the bus bemused, and then troubled. By now, “Jeremy” has finished his blog, and it’s on the internet. “Did you know that Russell Nelson refused …?” one of his readers will text another. “And that Dallin Oaks’ family are ...?” Or—in the best-case scenario—he didn’t post his “expose” at all. Just maybe, sanity prevailed, but I doubt it. According to the Statista blog, the number of American bloggers is expected to reach 31.7 million users next year. So how many people will believe bat-shit-crazy “Jeremy’s” dispatch? I hope not many. Like my old Royal, some blogs are solid as steel, like the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, The Daily Beast and Salon. Some, like Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, are a tad mushy. The Bathtub sometimes comes up with something local, however, like recalling when the late snarky comedian Paul Lynde was arrested in a Salt Lake City gay bar for raising hell. After a few

adult beverages, apparently the “Hollywood Square” wasn’t the least bit funny. He was in town, incidentally, for a taping of the old Donnie & Marie show. As I heard tell, Osmond family matriarch, Olive, wasn’t the least bit amused. When I began professionally writing on my old Model HH, my editors emphasized: n Be accurate. n Be impartial. n Be aware. n Be truthful. Put another way: Don’t screw up the basics; don’t assume; don’t be duped. And seek the truth. Good advice for anyone, writer or not. Just a word about truth: it seems in short supply nowadays, especially in and around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Those who try to uncover truth are dismissed as “enemies of the people” and purveyors of “fake news.” It would be laughable—if not so downright troubling. Truth isn’t elastic (as in “bend the truth”) nor divisible as in “half-truth.” It’s pretty straightforward. And like my old Royal, it sometimes can be noisy—even annoying— compared with the hushed keystrokes of my MacBook Pro. Truth, I find, especially bothers The Establishment, whether it’s the brie-and-chardonnay crowd or the god-andguns gang. But isn’t that the job of journalists: To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable? I’d like to think so. If I’ve learned anything, it’s this: Words are powerful. Not that I crack it open that often, but the Bible in John 1:1 puts it best: “In the beginning, was the Word …” Words. Be careful how you say them … and write them … and read them. CW

Continuing a long newspaper career, Lance S. Gudmundsen currently is a proofreader at City Weekly. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

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CITIZEN REV LT IN ONE WEEK, YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

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STAND AGAINST RACISM

Racism is more than just a word. The impact of institutional and structural racism can’t be underestimated, though it is often hidden and subtle. This week, Salt Lake County’s Council on Diversity Affairs Human Rights Subcommittee and the Mayor’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion offer a Stand Against Racism— No Hate-No Fear panel. “As we lead this 13th annual Stand Against Racism, Y WCA is raising awareness and highlighting the injustices faced by immigrant communities,” the event’s website says. While Utah is generally more welcoming than most to immigrants, our newest residents face threats to their economic stability, physical safety and basic human dignity. Join the conversation. Salt Lake County Government Center/South Building, Ste. S1-950, 2001 S. State, Friday, April 26, noon1:30 p.m., free, bit.ly/2vebiqx.

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POVERTY PUBLIC HEARING

What’s the real national emergency? It’s not at the border. Utah is participating in the nationally coordinated Truth and Poverty Tours. The Real National Emergency: Truth & Poverty Public Hearing doesn’t really blame Donald Trump, though he has worsened the problems. “We are shining a light on the deep suffering caused by systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, and ecological devastation, which is being felt all over the country,” the event’s Facebook page says. Here, you can hear from community leaders about how to move forward. First Baptist Church, 777 S. 1300 East, 801-582-4921, Saturday, April 27, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., free/lunch included, bit.ly/2Xsk14w.

STILL FIGHTING THE PORT

The broad coalition that has been working to put a pin in the ballooning concept of the inland port gather for the Mayday Stop the Polluting Port Gathering “to bring respect and awareness to the land where the developers of the proposed inland port plan to begin construction of the massive 17,000 square-acre industrial project,” its Facebook page says. This May Day, traditionally a workers holiday, the coalition hopes to shed light on the impending disaster—massive population growth, air quality issues and ecosystem devastation. The coalition openly questions the port’s value as an economic stimulus, and says the facility is a threat to air quality and migratory birds. The group hopes to bring solidarity and celebration together for a common cause. Location TBA, Wednesday, May 1, 4-7 p.m., free, bit.ly/2IvRGX A.

—KATHARINE BIELE Send tips to revolt@cityweekly.net

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Tone Deaf Anniversary

Janalee Tobias is an activist with a heart. She endured personal assaults and political maneuvering that would have stopped most citizen crusaders. She fought to preserve the wetlands from a South Jordan development at great personal cost. And of course, she’s a gun nut. She’s the kind of person who took something like milk and cookies to the scofflaws making a stand at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and then, because she’s just a bit naive, she got punked by Sacha Baron Cohen. She likes to call herself a Trump Mormon who carries a concealed weapon. OK, great. But hey, Salt Lake Tribune, wasn’t that just a little tone deaf to run an oped on “How a reasonable person became a pro-gun zealot” on the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting? Maybe you thought that was being fair to “both sides.” You were wrong.

Trust Trumps All

What’s not to love about Utah where trust trumps logic and experience? We’re talking about the Utah Transit Authority, the agency that has done virtually nothing to win the public’s trust and continues its love affair with land developers. The latest has to do with a sleight of hand that took $400,000 from a tax increase meant to improve neighborhood bus routes. Oh no, Trib reporter Lee Davidson found that a deal between UTA and Draper will redirect that money to a train route to the old prison site. Yes, the prison site that only Draper and developers really wanted for their personal use, moving a new and expensive prison to the ecologically fragile Northwest Quadrant. Get ready for nothing, bus riders. UTA is planning a $1.2 billion Trax expansion to Lehi because of “jobs” and of course, pollution.

Power to the Ballot

We can’t wait for our legislators to kill this one, too, because they really, really don’t like democracy. Despite some herculean efforts, the Legislature did not pass a carbon tax in the last session, but it did set aside a bit of money for clean air “efforts.” After all, Utah loves its coal and apparently its bad air. Now, Fox 13 reports that an air quality initiative called the “Clean the Air Carbon Tax Act” has been filed ahead of the 2020 election. The initiative would tax fossil fuels, while earmarking 20 percent of revenues to air quality initiatives and promoting rural economic development. Just to make Utahns happy, existing taxes would go down and the tax on food would be eliminated. There’s talk about legislators making initiatives even harder to get on the ballot—they’re currently the secondmost difficult in the nation, according to Utah Policy. But that’s unlikely to stop voters who are fed up with being ignored.

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NEWS

POLITICS

When the Dems Come Marching In MARC NOZELL VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Red domination be damned, Demoratic presidential candidates flock to Utah leading to 2020 election. BY KELAN LYONS klyons@cityweekly.net @kelan_lyons

Prior to her April 17 SLC visit, Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted presidential candidates bypass Utah “because it isn’t a battleground state.”

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Party Chairman Rob Anderson warns. “The message needs to be softer,” he says. Echoing Romney, Anderson also recommends that visiting Dems shy away from advocating for budget-busting policies. And he cautions against advocating “socialism”— a politically expedient boogeyman for Republicans running for re-election. “That doesn’t resonate to Utahns,” Anderson says, perhaps incorrectly, since self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders won the 2016 Utah Democratic caucus. “That is a flawed system,” Anderson says of socialism. “It didn’t work for the Soviets, it didn’t work for the Chinese and it didn’t work for the Venezuelans, and it won’t work for the U.S.” Still, if anyone knows the issues important to rural and city-dwelling Utahns alike, it’s Ghorbani. She traveled all across the state—from Farmington to St. George—in her battle for U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart’s seat, a fight she ultimately lost. “There’s a general sense across many people that we’re looking for a politics that reflects a sense of common decency, decorum, a sense of wanting to get people working together to solve some of the big problems that we’re facing,” Ghorbani says. “I think there’s a desire for people who are willing to, in concrete ways, really reach across some traditional political lines.” She says national Democrats’ campaigning here is a useful exercise in and of itself, regardless of what color the state ends up being in 2020. Engaging with all voters, not just those likely to vote Democrat, made her a better, more thoughtful candidate. The move, she says, has also yielded context for her county council decisions. “It is going to inform your world view and make you a better leader,” Ghorbani says. “I believe that that time I spent knocking on doors and talking to people from a variety of political backgrounds, coming at me with a lot of different life experiences, made me a better public servant.” CW

Utah voters that they can win,” she says. As usual, the Beehive State went red in 2016’s general election, but Donald Trump didn’t earn the majority of the votes. Third party spoiler, Mormon and former CIA officer Evan McMullin garnered more than 20%, limiting Trump’s share to about 45%. “Trump just didn’t pull in Republican votes the way a Republican candidate usually would in the state,” Burbank says, laughing when asked if a Democrat could carry the state in November 2020. “I would say it’s very unlikely.” One thing is sure: Utahns love their Republicans. So, City Weekly reached out to three prominent ones who’ve won statewide races—Gov. Gary Herbert, Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Mitt Romney—for suggestions on how Democrats could best appeal to a wide swath of Utahns. Herbert declined to comment, but Lee encouraged Dems to engage with all Utahns, not just those in the capital city. “I hope Democrats remember that Utah is more than just Salt Lake and the tourism industry,” Lee said in a written statement. “Those are very important parts of our state but Utah is also filled with farmers and ranchers and miners, and they deserve to be heard in Washington, too.” Romney focused on the country’s “unsustainable $22 trillion national debt” when asked for advice. “Candidates need to come up with policies to reduce our national debt and get our fiscal house in order so that we stop saddling our country and our children with hundreds of billions of dollars of interest,” Romney said in an emailed statement to City Weekly. “Effective management of Utah’s public lands, which make up two-thirds of the state, should also be a top priority for candidates campaigning here. Utahns deserve more involvement in decision-making and management of these lands.” Utah Democrats aren’t the same as Oregon or California Democrats, Utah Republican

Utah. Burbank expects more Dems will visit and campaign this time around, not just raise money, thanks to Arent’s bill and the sheer number of hopefuls vying for their party’s nomination. “There are so many [candidates] and they’re obviously competing for largely the same dollars and voters,” Burbank explains, meaning would-be candidates who visit oft-ignored states like Utah could gain an edge over their rivals. “If you come here and nobody else does, you might be able to do well in the primary,” Burbank says. Rising Democratic star Shireen Ghorbani believes candidates’ courting voters in deep-red states like ours is a good thing. Ghorbani knocked on doors statewide and campaigned for a full year for federal and local office before being elected Salt Lake County councilwoman earlier this year. Many people told her that a political candidate had never stood on their doorstep and personally asked for their vote. “I do think there is a general sense of feeling neglected out here,” Ghorbani says. “When we have candidates that don’t step foot in Utah, I think it’s hard for anyone to feel like they get us.” Utah Democratic Party Chair Daisy Thomas sees the sheer number of candidates as a plus. “With so many different voices in the race right now, they’re going to appeal to different parts of our population, and that’s just good for us,” Thomas says. More candidates means more ideas on how to tackle important issues like health care reform and strengthening unions. “I think as long as the candidates are authentic and are speaking to real issues, that’s really all that matters,” she continues. “I want candidates who are going to be authentic in who they are … and I want them to be providing solutions, and not just empty rhetoric.” And, Arent adds, Democrats must show they can run a successful race beyond the March primary. “They are trying to convince

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few days before holding a rally in downtown Salt Lake City earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren acknowledged her curious choice to visit a state that hasn’t turned blue in a presidential election since 1964: “Presidential candidates don’t always go to Utah because it isn’t a battleground state,” she wrote in a tweet. “But I’ll be there this week because I’m running to be president of the entire United States. Join us and let’s do this together.” Warren’s visit comes on the heels of former housing secretary and fellow Democrat presidential hopeful Julián Castro’s visit in February. “When candidates come here, they tend to come here to want to raise money,” Matthew Burbank, an associate professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Political Science, says. “There is some big money that can be raised on the Democratic side.” Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, is more blunt. “There are many candidates that come, go straight to Park City, and leave,” she says. But Castro and Warren’s stops were notable because they weren’t just mining donors for campaign contributions. Instead, they gave speeches to enthusiastic hordes, and tried to stand out in a crowded field before, most likely, challenging an unpopular incumbent president perennially mired in controversy. Local votes matter more in 2020 than in years past, thanks to a bill Arent sponsored in the House last legislative session that puts Utah among the 12 states hosting a presidential primary on March 3, 2020, aka Super Tuesday. In 2016, Utah Republicans and Democrats held presidential caucuses before the November general election. Pandemonium ensued. Long lines, ballot shortages and limited parking burdened voters who took time to cast a ballot—in some ways a symbolic gesture since nominees had largely been decided by then. But next March will be different, Arent says, because, “it will give Utah voters more of a voice in who the candidates are for all of the parties.” That incentivizes candidates of all stripes to show their faces in ultra-Republican

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ENRIQUE LIMÓN

Bigfoot from my mind. I’m not crazy. And I’m not alone. From the dawn of human history, we’ve shared stories about creatures outside the bounds of civilization, avatars of the wild: Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s wild companion in the Mesopotamian epic; Grendel, that greedy, loping shadow-stalker of the Danish fens; the Australian yowie; the Himalayan yeti. Bigfoot first appeared under its Salish name, Saskehavas, Sasquatch, in modern literature in 1929. Maclean’s, the Canadian news magazine, described the Sasquatch as “strange people, of whom there are but few now—rarely seen and seldom met … ‘the hairy mountain men.’” Tribal nations of the Pacific Northwest used stories of Sasquatch to educate their children.

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I got myself into this. I spent the last two years researching and reporting a podcast on America’s greatest myth, mainly in an effort to understand why a relative of mine, a well-respected professor of anthropology, became

obsessed with Bigfoot, putting his reputation on the line in his search for the creature. Now I wonder if I’ve jeopardized my own reputation. I’m a serious journalist who has worked for NPR, covering subjects from foreign policy and politics to technology and literature. I’ve explored a wide variety of scientific topics. I believe in logic and rational thought, not spirits or magic. But then I went chasing Bigfoot. For two years. I talked with wildlife scientists, anthropologists and psychologists. I camped and hiked all over the Pacific Northwest. I attended Bigfoot symposiums and lectures and campouts. My eyes rolled (internally) at some people’s stories, and my jaw dropped at others. And in the end, I could never completely eliminate the idea of

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I’m relieved it’s not hate mail—lambasting me for daring to question Bigfoot, or daring to explore Bigfoot, or just daring to have an opinion—but the letter leaves me cringing, embarrassed, asking why, exactly,

brace myself as I open my email: Another note from someone who listened to my Bigfoot podcast, Wild Thing, and felt compelled to write me. Most of the time, it’s a nice fan letter. Every so often, it’s an outpouring of disappointment or an angry diatribe. And then there are letters like this one: “I know they exist—beyond a doubt, I have been physically touched on the shoulder by one on a mini-expedition in northeast Washington state— doing vortex photography and swapping stories with the sheriff’s department of the local county. They are good folk, the Sasquatch people—they are so much more than a Wild Thing in the woods.”

@krantzlm

By Laura Krantz, High Country News | comments@cityweekly.net |

50 years after a grainy film, Bigfoot sightings continue—from the Pacific Northwest to Provo.

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Wild Thing

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LAURA KRANTZ JAKE HOLSCHUH/FOXTOPUS INK

How better to personify the unpredictable nature of the wilderness than with a mysterious, unpredictable wild thing? A creature like us—but not us. By the 1950s, (as U.S. tribes were being removed from reservations and relocated into urban areas) Sasquatch was fully appropriated as Bigfoot, becoming an American icon. Hundreds of books, countless TV shows … and my own podcast. Why? “I think we need [Bigfoot] in a deep-seated psychological way, because of our evolutionary origins,” Robert Michael Pyle, a lepidopterist, naturalist and poet, told me in an interview late last summer. We were walking through a quiet and heavily forested glade in coastal Washington. “I think it goes all the way back to what we came from.” Half-wild creatures have been feeding the human imagination for thousands of years. We have evolved with them, and away from them. In the grand scheme of human evolution, we rarely lived without monsters at the edges. Gilgamesh’s city-state, Beowulf’s mead hall—these exist in opposition to Enkidu and Grendel. We fear the wild, and we miss it. For Bigfoot to exist, even in our imaginations, we need a landscape that can carry him. In a modern world that is so tamed, so pruned and paved, we are losing something that has long been with us and defined us. “Frankly, I think if we lose our connection to the wild,” Pyle says, “we’ll be far less human, less animal.” Our belief in Bigfoot might be a sign of our spiritual health. We live in an era of data and numbers, formulas, algorithms. We fantasize a future of super computers and robots, self-driving cars and delivery drones. Soon, we might never need to leave the house, let alone the city. But what’s the cost of this severed connection with our animal selves? We’d do well to remember that we are not far removed from all life on Earth, even if we like to pretend we are. Bigfoot—that tether to a primitive state—is a reminder that the world is big and wide and wild. In fact, cryptozoology (the study of animals whose existence is unproven) shares a common goal with its vaunted academic cousins: conservation. To search for Bigfoot is to identify and protect biodiversity and habitat. “The raison d’être for any bigfoot research group is the ulterior motive—the important motive—which is conservation and preservation,” John Kirk, one of many, many people I interviewed, told me on a rainy day, at a weekend-long Bigfoot symposium in Willow Creek, Calif. “That’s what I’m doing it for. You have to prove they exist before you can save their habitat.” Kirk, a policeman and the president of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, said he’s firmly in the “Bigfoot exists” camp, but to him, that’s beside the point. “I think habitat’s worth preserving plain and simple, but if you can put a biological rarity into that equation like they did with the spotted owl,” he says. “Goodness gracious me—that’s the only reason I would ever want to show the world [Bigfoot] existed.”

Left: the author and her muse. Above: A tribute to Bigfoot spotted outside of Raymond, Wash. Opposite page: Dr. David Hunt holds up a carved wooden foot nailed to a boot belonging to anthropologist Grover Krantz. Krantz built these faux feet to demonstrate what fake Sasquatch footprints would look like; a collection of Bigfoot books threaten to collapse the shelves at Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek, Calif.

On a cool, sunny weekend early last June, I took a trip to gated private timberland out on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. For months, I’d been hearing about some giant ground nests out there, discovered by the owner of the land, and now being observed and studied by a Bigfoot research group, the Olympic Project. A member guided me deep into the rhododendrons and spruce, well off the beaten path, and halfway down a steep ravine, so I could see the nests with my own eyes. I expected a pile of debris, something that resembled the mess left behind by spring runoff or a pounding storm. So I was wholly surprised by the 10-foot-diameter ground nests, woven as intricately as a bird’s nest, and deep enough to hold a full-grown human. And there were many of them—21 in this area, though I only saw a handful. They looked nothing like a bear bed, and much more like the pictures I’d seen of the type of nests that gorillas make. And for the first time, I found myself more convinced of the possibility of Bigfoot than I’d ever been. The idea energized me; it felt electrifying and full of potential. What if, for all these centuries, people had been seeing this creature out in the forest? What if it really did exist, right under our noses? What would this mean? Some of the world’s great conservationists have been interested in cryptozoology, including the founder of the World Wildlife Fund, Peter Scott, who fought for classification of the Loch Ness monster. Bigfoot enthusiasts are, at heart, naturalists. They love being out in the woods, they love the environment, they love nature and everything that goes along with it. One guy I talked to refers to the search, sometimes called “bigfooting,” as “hiking with a purpose,” part of a general enthusiasm for the outdoors. Like fishermen and hunters (many Bigfooters are both), they are keen to protect wilderness—a place where the unexplained still happens. In October 2017, at a Bigfoot conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Patterson-Gimlin film (the famous minute-long clip allegedly showing a Bigfoot walking away through the woods), I met John Mionczynski, a longtime wildlife biologist who had worked both federal and state agencies. Decades ago, as he was doing a wildlife survey in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, he had a hair-raising encounter. One night, he awoke to the sound of heavy breathing and the shadow of what resembled a bear on the wall of his tent. The creature poked its nose into the side of his tent; Mionczynski tried to scare it off by yelping and hitting it. It ran off, but came back a second time, and then a third. This time, the creature’s silhouette was over the top of the tent and it looked like it was walking on two legs. Mionczynski thought the bear had grabbed onto the branch of the lodgepole pine that stuck out over his tent. So he hit it again. And this time he hit something hard as a rock. “And as soon as I did,” he says, “this shadow came over the top of the tent, and it was a silhouette of a hand that was about twice the

LAURA KRANTZ

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A version of this article originally appeared in High Country News.

For Bigfooters, DNA is the next great hope. Many see it as the key to finding the physical Bigfoot evidence that’s been sorely lacking. The tools available to scientists have become so powerful that they can sequence DNA with just a few skin cells—perhaps the very thing you might find in a giant ground nest out on the Olympic Peninsula. As I stood, mouth agape, staring at those nests last summer, the Olympic Project had already sent samples out to New York University, where a molecular primatologist would analyze them to see if they contained any unusual or unknown DNA. Every week, like clockwork, I’d email the guy, to see if he had results and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping he’d find the genetic material of some unidentified primate. I started spinning out ideas of what this discovery would mean for science, for humanity, for the world. I understood how people became obsessed with Bigfoot because it seemed I’d caught a little bit of that bug, too. And then the analysis came back, with evidence of bats, shrews, humans, bears, deer, coyotes— but no Bigfoot. Nothing to indicate any primate other than human, and any creature other than what was typical for the area. Disappointing, to say the least. So when the primatologist told me that the nest samples were pretty degraded, that they weren’t ideal, I began hoping that newer nests would be found and, with them, evidence of Bigfoot. Yet all is not lost. For me, Bigfoot provided a better understanding of human evolution, DNA analysis, the psychology of belief and the basics of field biology—topics I might not have explored otherwise. Yes, finding a giant, undocumented primate in the North American woods would be unbelievably, gobsmackingly exciting (and likely provide a bit—just a tiny bit—of vindication for all the Bigfoot people out there). On the face of the current evidence, however, I do not think that Bigfoot exists. But that’s not the point. Even Bigfoot people have their doubts. And yet, the fascination persists. Why? Because even if he isn’t real, we really, really need him. I spent the last two years chasing a shadow, suspending disbelief to imagine a world wild enough to hold something as extraordinary as Bigfoot. I didn’t expect to find the idea of Bigfoot so integral to what it means to be human. But that electric, alive feeling I get when I look at the black wall of wilderness beyond the campfire light—that’s Bigfoot. To look at the stars and wonder what’s out there; to gaze into the ocean and imagine its depths; to imagine a better future for our planet, and come up with solutions—that’s Bigfoot, too. If we can’t imagine something like Bigfoot, if we can only envision the obvious answers, the next data point, we risk being mired in our own limitations. And one other thing: No one has proven that Bigfoot doesn’t exist. So keep your eyes open, just in case. CW

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width of mine with an opposed thumb and hair between the fingers. Bears don’t have that kind of a paw. And it was bigger than a bear’s paw and it didn’t have claws, it had fingers, with an opposed thumb.” Mionczynski lived to tell the tale, but the encounter has puzzled him ever since; despite all his professional and scientific training, it eluded any explanation he could come up with. Over two years, I spoke with dozens of people like him, like me—rational, logical people who subscribe to the laws of physics and biology, who have experienced something beyond their understanding, and just have to figure it out. They keep going out into the woods, hoping to catch another glimpse, to make more astute observations, to get a better sense of what is and what isn’t. They are keen observers of the natural world. They run workshops to train Bigfoot newbies on how to recognize animal sounds and scat, to collect wildlife DNA and make casts of tracks. Bigfoot makes outdoor enthusiasts of people who might never have taken an interest. If the natural world needs anything right now, it’s more people taking an interest. Does it matter how they get there? As all wild things should, Bigfoot represents possibility and imagination— the tools of human progress. In the 1960s, Peter Higgs published a paper about an invisible substance that permeates all of space and has a particular effect on physics particles. The idea seemed so bizarre, so outlandish, that it was initially rejected. And yet, 50 years later, Higgs’ ideas on quantum physics resulted in the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle. Imagination, not logic, did that. Even the pursuit of crazy ideas like Bigfoot can yield interesting discoveries. Back in 2012, an Oxford professor by the name of Bryan Sykes was perfecting a technique for getting DNA from hair. He began to wonder whether all the reported sightings of strange, hominid creatures around the globe might be evidence of a small, surviving populations of ancient human relatives, such as Neanderthals or Denisovans. So Sykes asked people to send him hair samples from possible Bigfoot, yeti and other cryptozoological creatures. From nearly 100 samples, he extracted DNA from about 30. Most of the tufts turned out to be normal—bears, canines, raccoons, cows, sheep, people. But two samples made him take notice: They partially matched DNA found in the jawbone of an ancient polar bear, a species from 40,000 years ago. Sykes thought that this might have been the DNA of an unknown species of bear. He was wrong, but the excitement over that idea helped fund subsequent work by Charlotte Lindqvist, a bear geneticist at SUNY Buffalo. She learned that what were thought to be two subspecies of bear in the Himalaya were genetically distinct, and that one of them descended from a very ancient line of bears. Real or not, Bigfoot helped us achieve a better understanding of a critically endangered species we didn’t know much about.

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Bigfoot and the Beehive A timeline of sasquatch sightings in Utah.

lthough the majority of alleged Bigfoot sightings are in California, Oregon and Washington, Utahns are no strangers to glimpsing the mythical beast. You cannot, after all, spell “sasquatch” without “Utah.” According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), there have been 69 such sightings in the Beehive State dating back at least as far as the 1960s. Apparently, the hairy monster can’t resist our mountains. Or he’s a Mormon. Here are a few notable examples from the past few decades: Summer 1964: A pair of teenage campers taking a nighttime stroll in Cottonwood Canyon hear a “low guttural growl” they don’t think comes from a person or cougar. Whatever it is ends up hiding in their cabin’s outhouse before throwing open the door and running through the undergrowth. The next day, the boys find red-brown hair in a nearby wooded area. July 1977: Two couples from Davis County reportedly see three hairy Bigfoots walking and running on two legs, romping about in a meadow. “They could not have been bears or other animals,” Sgt. Fred Rosenberg tells the Davis County Clipper. “We don’t know what they were but they were something that we have never seen before.” A Harry and the Hendersons family vacation, mayhaps? August 1977: Big game hunter Jay Barker tells Ogden’s Standard-Examiner he and his companions saw a “gorilla-like” 10-foot-tall creature that walked on back legs, leaving “paw-like” imprints. A state conservation officer says it sounds like a grizzly bear, but when he gets to where Barker saw the brute, he finds a rabbit carcass that had been “skinned as by a human.” February 1980: A Clearfield man sees a 600-pound behemoth run across a highway near the Weber River. Earlier that month, others reported spotting something similar around the same area. Apparently, that space is a hotbed for sasquatch activity. The BFRO has listed 10 sightings in Weber, the most of any county in the state. Maybe sasquatch are the only Utahns drawn to the Great Salt Lake’s stench. July 1994: Boy Scouts in Summit County see a muscular, tall figure cloaked in darkness under some trees on the trail toward Baker Lake. In the most Utah-centric Bigfoot sighting in history, the person who filed the report said they suspected the creature was a bigfoot, not a man, because it didn’t say hi to the scouts. August 2001: A couple fishing near Beaver, Utah, spots something that’s covered in dark brown hair. Initially thinking the creature was a bear, the couple are in awe when the critter walks into the woods, indifferent to the spectators’ presence. Their dog, just as confused as its human companions, doesn’t even bark. Here’s hoping the pup just thought it was fellow doggo Clifford. October 2012: In one of the more famous Bigfoot sightings thanks to conspiracy theorists’ pivoting to video, a camper spies a large, hairy figure squatting in the Provo Canyon woods. As the filmer whispers softly to his fellow hiker, the creature stands, striking a decidedly human-like pose. Scared, the humans make a mad dash to their car, leaving their tents behind. December 2012: Two months after the sasquatch squatter video, another Provo Canyon hiker spots a bipedal bigfoot walking on a hillside. Taking a break from its menacing scowl, the beast crouches down before throwing something at the filmer. According to a YouTube video, this is the first time an alleged sasquatch has been filmed throwing something. If it’s a pioneer bigfoot, it’s come to the right place. January 2019: Once again, people see a furry beast in Utah County, this time on the foothills northeast of Provo. “Was it a bear? Maybe. That’s plausible. Was it a person? Also plausible,” one witness tells Fox 13. “Was it something else? I think that’s also possible. Who knows?” In other words, it could be anything. A shark? Jesus’ return? The Utah Jazz mascot? March 2019: Using a portable telescope, a few Utahns watch a big, dark figure trot up one of the Wasatch Range’s mountains during a snowstorm. Considering the elevation is almost 9,000 feet, the creature is either a very in-shape human, a massive animal or yet another sasquatch that calls the Provo area home. Perhaps this bigfoot clan has a kid at BYU. CW —Kelan Lyons

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So much of today’s world revolves around the digital. To what extent does that apply to the highly charged, deeply complicated and yet constantly relevant topics of love and sex? Utah Repertory Theater Co.’s Love and Sex in the Digital Age aims to experiment with the question. The piece is a conglomeration of two initially separate plays, Round2 and Exposure. Instead of character or story overlap, the two attempt to create a cohesive play across the intermission through themes of connection and disconnection. Natalia Noble and JayC Stoddard—playwrights for Round2 and Exposure, respectively—say jointly via email, “One of the things the shows really explore, the thematic through-line, is the seductive, and yet false idea of instant connection. This thought that all we have to do is click on some stranger, and make that human connection we all crave. The funny thing is that the reality is quite the opposite.” The performance plays with the idea that while so much has changed in the fields of love and sex, there is much that has remained the same. In order to explore the central themes, attendance at Love and Sex in the Digital Age is limited to audience members who are 18 or older. “Although marketing has been clear that we will be baring our bodies, it’s the exposure of the soul of the show that will resonate and stick with them long after the lights have gone out,” Noble and Stoddard say. (Casey Koldewyn) Utah Repertory Theater Co.: Love and Sex in the Digital Age @ Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, 801-355-2787, April 25-27, 7:30 p.m.; April 28, 3 p.m., 18+, $10, utahrep.org

Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival Celebrating a culture rich in history, the annual Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival offers activities for all ages. The event begins with a welcome by the Kenshin Taiko group of the Japanese Church of Christ and highlights Contested Histories, a collection of Japanese historical artifacts presented by the Japanese American National Museum. Following a discussion, visitors can view a pop-up display including photographs and artwork handmade by Japanese Americans while incarcerated in American internment camps during World War II. In addition, visitors can experience an authentic immersion in Japanese heritage with a kimono fashion show, traditional tea ceremony, noodle-eating contest and the ever-popular cosplay contest. Exploring Japanese culture through anime and manga, the contest is a vibrant showcase of characters, with prizes for best costumes and performances. A variety of martial-arts groups are scheduled to demonstrate throughout the day, with special guests including Sil Lum Kung Fu Kwoon performing the traditional lion dance and members of the Zen Bu Kan School of Japanese Swordsmanship offering an exciting show. Festival participants since 2005, the awardwinning One Voice Children’s Choir shares their beautiful harmonies in a one-of-a-kind performance as well. “There will be 60 children in the choir,” founder and director Masa Fukuda says. “And we will be performing three or four songs in Japanese, along with recognizable pop songs.” In addition to the entertainment, enjoy a variety of Japanese food and merchandise, along with free activities for kids, including games, face painting and crafts. (Colette A. Finney) Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival @ Japantown Street (100 South between 200 and 300 West), April 27, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., free parking available at Salt Palace entering from 300 West, nihonmatsuri.com

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In the classic folk tale “One Thousand and One Nights,” Aladdin had the power to grant wishes to anyone who freed him from his magic lamp. When Disney turned that timeless yarn into an Oscar-winning animated movie and later a blockbuster Broadway musical, audiences, investors and accountants found their wishes coming true as well. Credit the talents of the Tony and Academy Award-winning songwriters Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, who between them have been responsible for penning such hit musicals as Beauty and the Beast, Sister Act, Chess, Aida and The Little Mermaid. Released in 1992, Disney’s Aladdin became the highest grossing film of the year, no small achievement for an animated film. After spawning the successful stage version, the musical quickly went on to break box office records and enchant audiences worldwide. “It’s about keeping all the stuff that everyone loves from the movie,” Tony-winning directorchoreographer Casey Nicholaw writes in an email. “And, in order to get it on stage, giving it a musical-comedy heart.” The stage version includes several Academy Award-winning songs from the film (among them the No. 1 pop hit “A Whole New World”) and others written especially for the stage. “Coming to the show is like opening up, in a sense, a treasure trove—or a ‘Cave of Wonders,’ if you will—of material that was intended for the animated movie,” Menken adds. “And it’s now being brought to life on stage!” (Lee Zimmerman) Disney’s Aladdin @ Eccles Theatre, 131 S. Main, 801-355-2787, April 25-May 12, dates and times vary, $55-$160, artsaltlake.org

SATURDAY 4/27

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When Kirk Wallace Johnson first heard about the strange tale of Edwin Rist—the classically trained flute player whose fascination with tying authentic Victorian-era salmon-fishing flies led him to steal priceless tropical bird specimens from a British natural history museum—he had no idea that it would become a multi-year odyssey in which he would become as much a participant as a reporter. “I had a choice,” Johnson says. “Do I just write a book that says ‘and he got away with it,’ or do I decide to channel my own obsession into trying to find these [missing birds] myself?” Johnson’s investigation into what became of these lost specimens—many collected in the 1850s by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, a man often lost to history who developed the theory of natural selection at the same time as Charles Darwin—anchors The Feather Thief. The book also explores the history of trade in rare feathers and the contemporary subculture of fly-tying enthusiasts attempting to re-create “recipes” using feathers from endangered species. Yet it might be most compelling as a profile of the author himself, an Iraq War veteran whose frustration working with refugee-relief nonprofit groups transferred into his work on this project. “By the third or fourth year of this investigation, where I’m now waist-high in the manuscript and I’m wrestling with the conclusion that I may never find these [birds], that’s where it began to sink in that I’d kind of backed myself into another unsolvable problem,” Johnson says. “There was joy in trying to solve both of those problems, and mixed success on both fronts.” (Scott Renshaw) Kirk Wallace Johnson: The Feather Thief @ The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, 801-484-9100, April 25, 7 p.m., free, kingsenglish.com

Utah Repertory Theater Co.: Love and Sex in the Digital Age

FRIDAY 4/26

Broadway at the Eccles: Disney’s Aladdin

THURSDAY 4/25

Kirk Wallace Johnson: The Feather Thief

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THURSDAY 4/25

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Independent Bookstore Day finds locally owned stores still thriving. BY MICHAEL D. FERRY comments@cityweekly.net

espite widespread predictions of their imminent demise a decade ago, independent bookstores around the nation continue to thrive. Stores in Utah have seen an increase in sales and popularity despite competition from e-books, larger booksellers and online retail giants. As Independent Bookstore Day approaches on Saturday, April 27, indie booksellers are thrilled that they hold a special place in our hearts, but they aren’t necessarily surprised by their success. “Bookstores and books hold our future, our history and our culture,” says Anne Holman, general manager of The King’s English Bookshop. “They hold everything that we believe in.” Although many might consider reading to be a solitary activity, Holman points out that “books actually lead to discussion, new ideas and a sense of community.” She mentions that one of the reasons The King’s English has been successful for more than 40 years is because they promote and contribute heavily to the community. “The King’s English was one of the first businesses in Utah to begin the Buy Local First initiative, which was also one of the first in the country. For every dollar that we make, we pay a portion of that to local employees, a local accountant, local services, and local taxes. Everything we make stays in Utah. People recognize that focus and want to support that.” Holman feels strongly that being an active member of the community is important to any small business. Utah booksellers agree that unique and exciting events are also important to their success. The King’s English hosts regular author events and book signings for local authors as well as occasional big names. Recently, the bookshop hosted Marcus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, who was in town to promote his new book Bridge of Clay. Children’s storytime is another tradition at The King’s English, every day at 11 a.m. “We are on our third and fourth generations of kids growing up with The King’s English,” Holman reports. Another local bookstore, Marissa’s Books and Gifts in Murray, has also seen an increase in business in recent years. Owner Cindy Dumas echoes the importance of contributing to and participating in the community. “We donate books to schools

ENRIQUE LIMÓN

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and libraries in the area, and we try to provide children’s books at a very low cost so that these are affordable and accessible to everyone,” Dumas says. “People recognize our contributions, and we also receive many donations of used books, which we are able to resale. They help support the bookstore because we support the community.” Two things are immediately apparent about Dumas: She is passionate about books, and she has a keen mind for the unique challenges booksellers face. Marissa’s Books and Gifts has been in business for just more than five years, and Dumas has led the expansion to a larger location and implemented many innovative approaches. She buys larger orders of books than most booksellers to keep costs low. Marissa’s Books also entered an impressive float in the Days of ’47 Parade in Salt Lake City for the first time last year in order to reach and connect with a local audience. “We were in front of tens of thousands of local eyes and even on television,” Dumas says “People mention it all the time when they come into the store.” Marissa’s Books also recently hosted a successful 25-cent book sale. “We sold about 30,000 books over the course of the weekend,” Cindy reports. “I don’t know the blueprint for a successful bookstore, but I know that it’s not just opening the doors.” At Marissa’s Books & Gifts, the first thing visitors notice when they enter is the sheer

A history of The King’s English displayed at the bookshop

number and selection of books. Fortunately, each section of the store is carefully organized and curated to help customers find exactly what they are looking for. Perhaps the most remarkable offering is a large children’s section featuring many new books at just $2 each. Dumas is also excited about the upcoming launch of the store’s website, which she anticipates will be a unique and meaningful experience for customers buying books online. What can people do to support independent book stores beyond buying books? Holman and Dumas offer answers. “Shop local first and support your library. Meet your neighbors and have conversations about books,” Holman says. Dumas agrees: “Give back to the community when you can,” she recommends. “We can use volunteers for our next 25-cent book sale in the spring, and we accept donations of books year round. We really need sci-fi all the time.” Business ingenuity, creative advertising and connections to local customers are important to the efforts of these local bookstores. But those who care about these businesses should never forget the dedication and passion of the individual booksellers themselves. All it takes to see the results of their labors is a look inside. CW

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Wood sculptures by David LeCheminant (“Spitfire” is pictured) are on display in Icons at Finch Lane Gallery (54 S. Finch Lane, 801-596-5000, saltlakearts.org), through June 7, in conjunction with Horacio Rodriguez’s Un(Invited) Collaborations with my Ancestors.

PERFORMANCE THEATER

The Children Good Company Theatre, 260 25th St., Ogden, through May 12, goodcotheatre.com Aladdin Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, through May 12, artsaltlake.org (see p. 19) Enter the Hex The Hive Collaborative, 591 S. 300 West, Provo, through May 11, Fridays & Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., thehivecollaborative.com Freezin’: Let It Go Already! Desert Star Theater, 4861 S. State, Murray, through June 8, desertstar.biz King Lear Wasatch Theatre Co., 124 S. Van Buren Ave., through May 4, newworldshakespeare.com Love and Sex in the Digital Age Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, April 25-27, 7:30 p.m.; April 28, 3 p.m., artsaltlake.org (see p. 19) Matilda Hale Centre Theatre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy, through June 15, hct.org Park City Follies Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main, Park City, through May 5, parkcityshows.com The Rapture Happens at Midnight An Other Theatre Co., 1200 S. Towne Centre Blvd., Provo, Fridays & Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., through May 4, anothertheatercompany.com Silent Dancer Salt Lake Acting Co., 168 W. 500 North, through May 12, saltlakeactingcompany.org Singin’ in the Rain The Ziegfeld Theater, 3934 S. Washington Boulevard, Ogden, through May 18, theziegfeldtheater.com Steel Magnolias Hale Centre Theatre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy, through June 1, hct.org Tuck Everlasting Hale Center Theater Orem, 225 W. 400 North, through May 30, haletheater.org

DANCE

Ballet Senior Show Marriott Center for Dance, 330 S. 1500 East, May 1, 6 p.m., tickets.utah.edu Samba Fogo: Fogo Vivo (Living Flame) Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, April 25-27, 7:30 p.m., sambafogo.com Imagine Ballet Theatre: The Secret Garden Peery’s Egyptian Theater, 2415 S. Washington Blvd., Ogden, April 26, 7:30 p.m.; April 27, 2 & 7:30 p.m., egyptiantheaterogden.com

CLASSICAL & SYMPHONY

Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City Libby Gardner Hall, 1375 E. Presidents Circle, April 29, 7:30 p.m., tickets.utah.edu Brown Bag Organ Recital First United Methodist Church, 203 S. 200 East, Wednesdays at noon, firstmethodistslc.wordpress.com Murray Symphony Hillcrest Junior High, 178 E. 5300 South, Murray, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., murray.utah.gov Salt Lake Choral Artists: Mendelssohn’s Elijah Libby Gardner Hall, 1375 E. Presidents Circle, April 27, 7:30 p.m., saltlakechoralartists.org Utah Symphony w/ Pablo Villegas: Concierto de Aranjuez Browning Center, 1901 E. University Circle, Ogden, April 25, 7:30 p.m.; Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, April 26-27, 7:30 p.m., utahsymphony.org

COMEDY & IMPROV

Carlos Mencia Wiseguys West Jordan, 3763 W. Center Park Drive, West Jordan, April 25, 7 p.m.; April 26-27, 7 & 9:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Kevin James Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, April 28, 7 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Kyle Kinane Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, April 25, 7 p.m.; April 26-27, 7 & 9:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Laughing Stock Improv Comedy The Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main, Fridays & Saturdays, 10 p.m., theobt.org Open Mic Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Wednesdays, 7 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Shawn Paulsen Wiseguys Ogden, 269 25th St., Ogden, April 26-27, 8 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com

LITERATURE AUTHOR APPEARANCES

Kirk W. Johnson: The Feather Thief The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, April 24, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com (see p. 19) Rebecca M. Robinson & Stephen E. Strom: Voices from Bears Ears: Seeking Common Ground on Sacred Ground The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, April 26, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com

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APRIL 25, 2019 | 23

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24 | APRIL 25, 2019

moreESSENTIALS Dr. Bonnie K. Baxter & Jaimi Butler: The Great Great Salt Lake Monster Mystery The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, April 27, 2 p.m., kingsenglish.com Heather B. Armstrong: The Valedictorian of Being Dead The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 South, April 27, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com

LITERARY EVENTS

DANCING TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE A FUNDRAISER BENEFITING SOUTH VALLEY SERVICES • Learn basic belly dance steps & how you can prevent domestic violence at this afternoon workshop! • $25 suggested minimum donation • No dance experience or coordination needed • Bring cash for raffle tickets to win fantastic prizes! COME HAVE FUN AND SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE!

When: Sat. May 4th, 1 PM

Where: Sorenson Unity Center 1383 S 900 W SLC

Megan Sybor Belly Dance For questions contact bellydancebymegan@gmail.com

Independent Bookstore Day The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, April 27, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., kingsenglish .com (see p. 20); Weller Book Works, April 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., wellerbookworks.com Match: Igniting Creativity through Literature Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, May 1, 6:30 p.m., umfa.utah.edu Panel Celebration of Ellen Meloy Weller Bookworks, 607 Trolley Square, May 1, 7 p.m., wellerbookworks.com Poetry Series feat. Adam Tavel Adamson Alumni House, Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East, April 26, 7 p.m., westminster.edu Utah Poetry Festival Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East, April 27, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., westminstercollege.edu

SPECIAL EVENTS LGBTQ

Fluff Night Club Try-Angles, 251 W. 900 South, April 26, 7 p.m., clubtryangles.com Sage Utah Health and Wellness Fair Utah Pride Center, 255 E. 400 South, April 27, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., utahpridecenter.org Utah BurlyPicks Burlesque Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 100 South, April 26, 8 p.m., metromusichall.com

FESTIVALS & FAIRS

Day of the Child: A Día del Niño Celebration Natural History Museum of Utah, 301 Wakara Way, April 27, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., nhmu.utah.edu Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival Japantown Street, 100 South between 200 and 300 West, April 27, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., nihonmatsuri.com (see p. 19) Sabroso Taco & Music Festival Utah State Fairpark, 155 N. 1000 West, April 27, noon-9 p.m., sabrosotacofest.com Tulip Festival Thanksgiving Point, 3003 N. Thanksgiving Way, Lehi, through May 4, thanksgivingpoint.org

TALKS & LECTURES

The Planet We Call Home: Taking Action for the Environment Ogden Nature Center, 966 W. 12th St., April 29, 6 p.m., ogdennaturecenter.org Richard Lambert: Senator Reed Smoot and American Public Lands and Rivers Park City Library, 1255 Park Ave., April 26, 4 p.m., parkcitylibrary.org

VISUAL ART GALLERIES & MUSEUMS Bill Reed: Emotionscapes Local Colors of Utah Gallery, 1054 E. 2100 South, through May 14, localcolorsart.com Bonnie Susec & Susan Beck: Landscapes Calm and Desperate Alice Gallery, 617 E. South Temple, through May 3, artsandmuseums.utah.gov David LeCheminant: Icons 54 S. Finch Lane, through June 7, saltlakearts.org (see p. 22) Erik Jensen: Pixelations Utah Cultural

COMPLETE LISTINGS ONLINE AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

Celebration Center, 1355 W. 3100 South, West Valley City, through May 28, culturalcelebration.org Heidi Jensen: Sit Comfortably in a Darkened Room and Think of Nothing UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through May 4, utahmoca.org Horacio Rodriguez: Un(Invited) Collaborations with my Ancestors Finch Lane Gallery, 54 S. Finch Lane, through June 7, saltlakearts.org (see p. 22) The International Tolerance Project Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through June 23, umfa.utah.edu Karen Millar Kendall: A Collective Tapestry Downtown Artist Collective, 258 E. 100 South, through May 19, downtownartistcollective.org Leekyung Kang: Almost Real Sugar Space Art Warehouse, 132 S. 800 West, through May 15, facebook.com/sugarspaceslc Lenka Clayton: Under These Conditions UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through May 11, utahmoca.org Mike Simi: Gettin’ By UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through May 11, utahmoca.org New West Modern West Fine Art, 412 S. 700 West, through June 8, modernwestfineart.com Pale Blue Dot Urban Arts Gallery, 116 S. Rio Grande St., through April 28, urbanartsgallery.org Richard Gate: Anthology Granary Arts, 86 N. Main, Ephraim, through May 10, granaryarts.org The Race to Promontory: The Transcontinental Railroad and the American West Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through May 26, umfa.utah.edu Star Wars/Heroes and Villains Urban Arts Gallery, 116 S. Rio Grande St., through June 2, urbanartsgallery.org salt 14: Yang Yongliang Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through June 2, umfa.utah.edu Shady Acres UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through May 25, utahmoca.org Sharon Alderman & Patricia Kimball Phillips Gallery, 444 E. 200 South, through May 10, phillips-gallery.com Transcontinental: People, Place, Impact Rio Gallery, 300 S. Rio Grande St., through June 16, artsandmuseums.utah.gov

ENRIQUE LIMÓN

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

AT A GLANCE

Open: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m Best bet: Bring your stretchy pants and get ready to chow down Can’t miss: The Utah wonder otherwise known as Chinese Buffet Crab Casserole

APRIL 25, 2019 | 25

you’d like to close out. Pricing is a flat rate of $8.95 for lunch and $12.95 for dinner, both of which are reasonable rates for the ability to eat as much food as you want. The basic layout includes an obligatory station of universally accessible buffet staples like pizza, onion rings and chicken wings as well as a fully decked-out salad bar. It’s not long, however, before all

| CITY WEEKLY |

My most recent visit was on a Sunday night. The restaurant was packed—it’s one of the most frequently visited Chinese buffets in the state. Initially, I thought this would have an impact on my wait time, but it only took about five minutes for my friend and me to get a table. King Buffet runs their operation a bit like bars do—they seat you, take your drink order and then let you run wild until

he American buffet, bright and fragrant with the scent of endless opportunity, is one of our country’s most significant contributions to food culture. It doesn’t matter where you stand on the foodie spectrum, an all-you-can-eat buffet is a guilty pleasure at worst or an exercise in pure gastronomic freedom at best. When Chinese American restaurateurs started to merge their menus with the buffet business model, they not only added more nuance and healthy competition, but also bridged a gap between American ideology and immigrant culture. Even today, restaurants such as King Buffet (multiple locations, kingbuffetutah.com) capture all the opportunity, diversity and old-fashioned consumerism America is known for. Plus, they have a goddamn chocolate fountain.

Make no mistake—it’s weird as hell. But it comes with a subtextual understanding that something warm and gooey can melt your heart regardless of what you grew up eating. Perhaps this is why seeing such seemingly discordant food work together for a unique shared experience is so memorable. We often get told that certain people, ideas, philosophies or backgrounds just don’t work together. It’s a recipe for the neat, orderly perspectives that don’t have any patience for the cacophonous reality of inclusion because it’s much easier to demand to be accommodated than it is to be accommodating. If this constant push and pull is eating at you, then may I suggest eating at a place like King Buffet? The feeling of liberation that comes from assembling a plate of mozzarella sticks, chicken yakitori and octopus seafood salad makes it much easier to visualize a world where all of us weirdos can coexist on the same plate together. CW

King Buffet exemplifies the American melting pot in more ways than one.

about half the price, with the exception being any sushi roll that is battered in tempura. The non-fried rolls are fine, but this is the one area that I would suggest avoiding anything fried. Unless you snag a few pieces when they bring out a fresh roll, the exterior can become a bit chewy and unpleasant. It’s easy to hop back and forth between the sushi bar and the buffet, and if you happen to be making your inaugural visit, this is what I suggest. King’s biggest draw might be their seafood selection. In addition to the aforementioned crawfish and mussels, you can find garlicky crab legs, boiled prawns and shrimp with cocktail sauce. The item that weirded me out so much that it was on my plate before I had time to think it over was a cheesy casserole baked with chunks of imitation crab meat. A quick Google search led me to pages of recipes that attempt to recreate this—it’s appropriately called Chinese Buffet Crab Casserole, which leads me to believe that it’s a dish originally conceived by some unrecognized talent within the annals of Chinese buffet history. As deep in casserole country as Utah is, this is the dish that best exemplifies the cultural blender on display at King Buffet. The melty cheese with a little crunch from toasted bread crumbs collides with the imitation crab meat in an unexpectedly complementary way.

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

The King and I

of this familiarity starts to dovetail with a strange wonderland of baked mussels topped with melted cheddar cheese and crawfish boiled to angry red perfection. It’s a culinary landscape that shouldn’t work by traditional standards. According to the unwritten rules of dining out, you shouldn’t be able to toss your lo mein with pieces of nigiri and scoop it up with a slice of pizza. Let me tell you, when you chase that particular dragon, it’s not long before you start to question whatever social structure is currently trying to shoehorn you into its paradigm—but do so at your own risk. Since King Buffet has two other sections dedicated to a Mongolian grill and sushi in addition to its buffet proper, a bit of individual menu planning can go a long way. I’d suggest picking one of these three sections and sticking to it for the duration of your visit. The Mongolian grill consists of a sizable raw bar where you assemble your favorite meats, veggies and noodles and hand them off to one of the grill masters for finishing. It’s tasty but time consuming—if you’re going for variety, I’d suggest leaving this behind so you can focus on the less timeintensive areas. On the other hand, it’s perfectly valid to make this place your one and only stop. Then there’s the sushi bar. I’d argue that it’s just as good as any allyou-can-eat sushi joint in town for

the

BACK BURNER BY ALEX SPRINGER @captainspringer

Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival

AS SEEN ON “ DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES”

Serving American Comfort Food Since 1930

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| CITY WEEKLY |

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ant

The Nihon Matsuri Japan Festival (nihonmatsuri.com) is one of our most comprehensive cultural heritage events. According to their website, Nihon Matsuri was organized “to share and educate the larger Utah community about Japanese and Japanese American culture, history and traditions,” while also passing these traditions “to younger Japanese Americans and to help them identify with their heritage.” Two stages of live entertainment feature kimono modeling and taiko drumming, a traditional tea ceremony and an exhibit spotlighting Utah’s Japanese history. The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple serves up bowls of their famous ramen, and attendees can try their hands at making mochi. The festivities ensue on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Japantown Street (the stretch of 100 South between 200 and 300 West). For more information, see p. 19.

Sabroso Taco & Music Festival

Merging a Warped Tour-style music lineup with craft beer and locally made tacos, the Sabroso Festival makes its way to Utah for its sixth year. The lineup includes headliners The Offspring along with Sum 41, The Vandals, Black Flag, Strung Out and Dwarves for some old-school punk action. It’s also a great place to load up on beer and tacos—a mixture of national and local breweries and taquerías are on hand for sampling, and a few rounds of Lucha Libre wrestling round out the show. The Sabroso Festival takes place on Saturday, April 27, at the Utah State Fairpark (155 N. 1000 West) from noon to 9 p.m., and tickets can be purchased at sabrosotacofest.com.

Beer, Blues and Brats

The Crossroads Urban Center (crossroadsurbancenter.org) has been providing Utahns in need with a chance to improve their quality of life since 1966, and for nine years it’s been hosting a Beer, Blues and Brats benefit party to help keep it running. This year’s benefit takes place at Mountain West Hard Cider’s event venue The Garten (417 N. 400 West) on Sunday, April 28, from 1 to 4 p.m. Not only is it a great way for guests to support the organization’s mission, but the event also features brews from Epic Brewing Co., handmade brats by the meat wizards at Beltex Meats and live music by Controlled Burn and the JT Draper Band. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door, with group rates available. Tickets can be purchased via Crossroads Urban Center’s website. Quote of the Week: “Luck exists in the leftovers.” —Japanese proverb Back Burner tips: comments@cityweekly.net

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Craft becomes the state’s first Utah-beer-only pub. BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

e’ve written quite a bit lately about local craft breweries. We’re currently in the midst of a beer explosion, the likes of which have never been seen before by local suds-lovers. The variety of brands and styles available in the state has eclipsed even pre-Prohibition levels. As a result, a new concept in beer pubs has emerged—one that exclusively serves up the best of what Utah has to offer. Simply called Craft by Proper (1053 E. 2100 South, craftbyproper.com), this new Sugar House pub’s concept is simple: If it’s brewed in our state, it’s welcome on the menu. Craft, which opened April 19, is part of the Proper Brewing Co. umbrella of restaurants, which includes Avenues Proper, Proper Burger and Stratford Proper. Even though Proper had already established themselves in the beer-brewing community, they quickly became known as local pioneers in offering up their competitors’ beers alongside their own. “Now it’s a

pretty common thing,” says Eleanor Lewis, Craft’s marketing director. “Nobody was pouring their competitor’s products before Avenues Proper opened up in 2013. We’re proud to see that it’s now common practice among Utah brewers.” Andrew Tendick, Craft’s co-owner, has been around since the early days of the Proper’s inception and looks at Craft as a way to honor their initial plan. “It’s a chance to expand on our original concept,” Tendick says. “We like to foster a collaborative environment as opposed to a competitive one, and there’s no better way for us to highlight our local beer scene.” Craft seems to be a sign of the times. Going back four or five years, could this localonly concept have worked? “To the extent that we’re doing it?” Tendick asks. “I don’t think it would have been possible five or six years ago, especially without the diversity we have now. It’s the variety that will drive Craft’s success.” And there will be plenty of variety. Look for 36 combined tap handles from two separate bars, and combine that with 80 to 90 bottle and can options ranging in size from 12 ounces to 750 milliliters. “We want to keep things rotating all the time,” Lewis adds. “As soon as one beer kicks, we want to put another, equally diverse beer in its place, so the customer has a new experience every time.” Those diverse beer experiences will come from all over Utah, not just the Wasatch Front and Back. Goods from breweries

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BEER NERD

that tend to get overlooked due to geography will also find a place at Craft. “A lot of the smaller regional breweries are selfdistributing and can have a difficult time getting their product into Salt Lake,” Lewis explains, “but when they do arrive, they’ll find a spot as soon as they walk in the door.” Craft has a clean, modern feel that reflects the needs of Utah’s diverse beer-nerd population. The sporty beer nerd has screens for sports programing; the hipster beer nerd gets a local, non-touristy vibe; and 1980s beer nerds like myself can claim pinball,

Eleanor Lewis and Andrew Tendick of Craft by Proper (bottom left)

arcade games and a seat at the bar to contemplate that next great Beer Nerd column. If you’re coming for food, you’ll only find basic snacks; Craft relies on local eateries and whatever food delivery app that happens to be on your device. Remember, this is about the craft—of beer. Parking can be limited at times, so keep that in mind. As always, cheers! CW

A LA MAISON by

GOODEATS Complete listings at cityweekly.net

NOW ACCEPTING MOTHER’S DAY RESERVATIONS

Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom-and-pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves. Publik Ed’s

The unique & authentic french experience has arrived 1617 S 900 E | 801-259-5843

This cozy close-to-campus eatery stocks a selection of Publik favorites alongside refashioned Big Ed’s classics. No deep fryer means tots galore—tots with cheese and chili, tots with special sauce, just plain tots. There are burgers, both veggie and beef, a full coffee menu, all-day breakfast, and beer, which, due to a weird loophole in Utah law, can be served through a “beer hole” in this all-ages establishment. The best menu item? Hands down, the chili. Five dollars gets you a steaming bowl topped with cheddar, crème fraîche, and some craving-worthy pickled onions and jalapeños. 210 S. University St., 385-522-2487, publikcoffee.com

Banbury Cross

ANTICA SICILIA

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Bruges Waffles & Frites 705 S. 700 E. | (801) 537-1433

LUNCH • DINNER • COCKTAILS

18 MARKET STREET • 801.519.9595

APRIL 25, 2019 | 29

This 9th & 9th joint has created a space where passionate pizza fans can gather for authentic, woodfired pies without buttoning up the atmosphere too much. The interior evokes a casual-but-hip setting, and the giant communal table dominating the space makes diners remember why pizza was invented in the first place—to unite all walks of life in warm, cheesy harmony. For simple perfection, go for the margherita; for a bit of spice, gravitate toward the sausage pepper. 925 E. 900 South, 385-4443530, pizzanono-slc.com

Contemporary Japanese Dining

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Pizza Nono

Consider yourself lucky to live in a city where the french-fry experience has been elevated to that of a true indulgence. Not content to let fries be a greasy sidekick to a waffle or sandwich, Belgians long ago began finessing their potato presentation, from selecting and cooking spuds to serving them in paper cones to the addition of sauces and condiments, all of which have helped the humble fry make the leap to an exalted frite. The crisp golden frites at Bruges Waffles & Frites are cooked to perfection and served with housemade dipping sauces, including mayonnaise, aioli, greens, lemon pepper dill, fry sauce, curry, the Zensation, Brasil, Zango, Andalouse, Samurai and Afterburner. In other words, they’re a star attraction. Multiple locations, brugeswaffles.com

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Award Winning Donuts

Want to win friends and influence people? Just hit the drive-thru at Banbury Cross, order a dozen of the day’s freshest doughnuts and bring ’em to the office. A promotion, salary bump or corner office will soon be yours. That’s because, since 1986, Utahns have found the pastel yellow boxes filled with Banbury’s scrumptious raised and cake doughnuts simply irresistible. Ditto with their old-fashioneds, maple and chocolate bars, cinnamon crumb, strawberry frosted, cinnamon rolls, muffins, orange rolls and apple fritters. People who bring in these sinful delights to share with co-workers are just plain popular— beloved, even. 705 S. 700 East, 801-537-1433, facebook.com/banburycrossdonuts

VOTED BEST ITALIAN!

REVIEW BITES A sample of our critic’s reviews

30 | APRIL 25, 2019

| CITY WEEKLY |

JERRE WROBLE

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

NOW OPEN Fav Bistro

SO GRILL KOREAN BBQ AND SUSHI 111 W. 9000 S. Sandy, Ut | 801.566.0721

I’ve become a bit enamored with the breakfast traditions commonplace across Asia. Thai-influenced options here include khao tom ($7), a rich rice soup served with chicken, egg and ginger; the combination baptizes the senses in a heady mix of savory flavors. As any good breakfast menu is incomplete without something for the sweet tooth, Fav’s Thai coconut pancake ($7) is a worthy entrant into the pancake hall of fame—pleasantly huge and cooked with coconut flakes inside the batter. There’s also a super thin, sugary crust on the outer layer, which is a subtle but effective textural nod to the Belgian waffle. If you’re there for lunch or dinner, start things off with a crispy noodle wrap ($12), with a filling consisting of crispy noodles, bean sprouts and crushed peanuts, the sum of which is an extremely fun-to-eat, flavor-packed appetizer. The dish that originally put Fav Bistro on my radar was their steak massaman poutine ($21): the superb, creamy massaman at Fav gets layered on top of sliced flat iron steak and thick-cut French fries, imparting its smoky, peanut-flavored sauce to the whole plate. Reviewed Feb. 21. 1984 E. Murray Holladay Road, 801-676-9300, asooksri.com

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STEVE CONLIN

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32 | APRIL 25, 2019

MUSIC

Live Music

friDAY 4/26

trod upon cd release

with the green man 7 & longside saturday, 4/27

Facing the Music

City Weekly’s new music guru shares how Live Music she’ll get back her Utah groove. BY ERIN MOORE music@cityweekly.net @errrands_

LEILANI WOLFGRAMM with mountain tribe

TUESDAY 4/30

open mic night

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friDAY 5/3

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t’s a very strange experience to move away from home for a while, and an even stranger one to come back and accept a job where you have to report on local goings-on like you never left. This is my way of acknowledging this weirdness for everyone to see, before I introduce myself. I’m Erin Moore, new music editor at City Weekly. A few things about me: I like talking about music and getting into the grooves of what makes it what it is—the people, the circumstances, the instruments and processes involved. I also like Salt Lake City, my surrogate hometown, which brought me up the way I wasn’t—and couldn’t have been—raised in the rural Utah town I’m actually from. So, I fearlessly admit that I’m back, and I have a lot to acquaint myself with. Below I present a list of points of interest, and parts of the community I’ve really missed. Bands, Bands, Bands: First and foremost, I need to go to as many shows as possible. This means hitting up touring acts at bigger venues like The Urban Lounge and Metro Music Hall, but also making regular visits to the smaller ones, too. Diabolical Records opened its doors and started putting on small shows in its shop the first summer I lived in SLC alone, and my late-summer sojourns to the shop shaped the kind of music I like today. Since I left, two similarly minded venues have popped onto the scene: The Beehive (666 S. State) and Gold Blood Collective (1526 S. State). The Beehive hosts all-ages shows for touring bands across the genre spectrum at both its State Street location and local shape-shifting venue The Underground, and it’s also the home of recently opened, all-vegan restaurant Mark of the Beastro (this vegan is excited about that as much as the music). Gold Blood doubles as a storefront selling its own branded merchandise and BMX-related goods and is currently expanding to include a larger venue space, opening Saturday, May 4. I also plan to look into the collection of local music archived in Salt Lake City Library’s HUM collection as a way to catch up quickly on the best stuff I haven’t yet heard.

The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne being his Wayne Coyniest during last year’s Ogden Twilight kickoff A Tale of Two Twilights: I had fun telling stories about many aspects of the Utah experience to my Midwestern pals this last year. Many of them had never heard of Mormons or our liquor laws. Imagine that! Another unbelievable tale I’d tell: The times I got to see wellknown artists like Grimes, Solange, The Roots, and Death Cab for Cutie for only $5, and later, $10. Since I’ve been gone, the Twilight Concert Series has moved back to the Gallivan Center. I didn’t get to see how the move affected the festival last year, and I’m interested to see how it goes this summer. I also plan on making my first visit to Ogden Twilight, which was distinguished with a Best Festival Glow-Up award during last year’s Best of Utah. Their lineups are always solid, and since the series starts earlier than its SLC counterpart, taking some train trips up north to enjoy the early summer nights this June sounds like a great way to expand my horizons. Tale of Another Twilite: There is no bar in SLC quite like Twilite Lounge. It has that reputation as the bar you end up at at the end of the night, whether you like it or not. But there are some good things about Twilite—the cheap cans of Rainier that flow at the cash-only bar, the free jukebox stocked with old goodies and new, local goodies alike. Wednesday nights are also one very good thing about Twilite: The Jazz Jagz can always be found plucking out low, moody songs gently and with deep care at the back of the bar, in front of the old electric fireplace, under low light. It’s one night where Twilite feels like a warm place, a place to peacefully begin an evening. Of late, Tessi Smith of PK Opal and Batty Blue has worked with David Payne (of Red Bennies), the Jazz Jagz and Hoofless, among other local groups, to bring in a more diverse set of acts for Wednesday nights at Twilite. I’m sure they’re bringing in some great names—including accomplished musicians and local figures-about-town—to sit in that back spot, and I can’t wait to settle into a booth and watch them play. Provo, Pearl of Utah County: Provo has long been a cradle of good music and fruitful musicians. Many move up to Salt Lake as time goes on, but when they leave, others remain, and folks always seem to be materializing with new talent to show off. Stephen Cope (of Officer Jenny) runs Studio Studio Dada in Provo and records not only their own music but that of other local artists and bands, too (Quiet House, Sen Wisher, Choir Boy). And of course, there are also the bigger venues, such as Velour, that feature local acts all week long. It’s my goal not just to catch up on what’s happening in Salt Lake City, but to pay as much attention to what’s going on down in Utah County, too. Feel free to help keep me informed (and keep me in check) by emailing music@cityweekly.net. CW

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APRIL 25, 2019 | 33

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SATURDAY 4/27

The Cactus Blossoms, Jack Klatt

To borrow an old cliché, everything old is eventually new yet again. If so, the Cactus Blossoms’ Jack Torrey and Page Burkum ought to adopt that as their mantra. You’re Dreaming—their JD McPherson-produced, major label debut—introduced the duo’s timeless harmonies and seasoned songcraft. The fact that they’re siblings—albeit with distinctly different last names—didn’t escape notice either; critics lauded them as the next Everly Brothers and noted a sound that suggested some sort of rockabilly revival. Indeed, the pair finds an ideal middle ground between a sway and a swagger, bringing them additional comparison to Dwight Yoakam and Roy Orbison. Even so, their music isn’t strictly of a vintage variety; the delivery is crisp, clear and brimming with contemporary credence. Little wonder that their latest effort—the descriptively titled Easy Way—finds the Minneapolis-based duo expanding their amiable approach, garnering continued critical kudos. All those archival references aside, The Cactus Blossoms are decidedly distinct and too talented to simply rehash old references. That’s one reason why the new album debuted at the top of the charts and why appearances at Nashville’s revered Ryman Auditorium and the Newport Folk Festival proved so significant as well. Pardon the pun, but The Cactus Blossoms are clearly in full bloom. (Lee Zimmerman) The State Room, 638 S. State, 9 p.m., $18, 21+, thestateroompresents.com

SUNDAY 4/28

Thank You Scientist, Kindo, In the Presence of Wolves

Thank You Scientist have certainly named themselves accurately. The New Jersey septet mixes prog, ska, latin, jazz and arena rock like they’re chemicals in a beaker, and the results are unpredictable and sometimes explosive. This stylistic alchemy quickly garnered TYS plenty of acclaim and caught the attention of prog-rock veteran Claudio

Thank You Scientist

NATE RYAN

Saturday, May 4th

BY NAOMI CLEGG, NIC RENSHAW & LEE ZIMMERMAN

Sanchez, who was so impressed by their 2012 debut Maps of Non-Existent Places that he signed the band to his fledgling Evil Ink label in 2014 and enlisted them as the opening act for Coheed and Cambria the next year. 2016’s Stranger Heads Prevail further cemented the band as a force to be reckoned with, as songs like “Mr. Invisible” and “Psychopomp” drove the album to scrape the bottom of the Billboard 200—no easy feat for such a markedly strange act. Thank You Scientist is currently on the cusp of their third studio effort, a double album called Terraformer. With an absurdist Tim and Eric-style video announcing the album’s June release and advance single “FXMLDR” featuring a nearly minute-long saxophone solo, fans can rest easy knowing these scientists don’t plan to stop experimenting anytime soon. Thank You Scientist is currently embarking on their last U.S. tour in support of Stranger Heads Prevail. New York jazz-fusion outfit Kindo (formerly The Reign of Kindo) and Philadelphia proggers In The Presence of Wolves open. (Nic Renshaw) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8 p.m., $16.50 presale; $20 day of show, theurbanloungeslc.com

MONDAY 4/29

The 1975, Pale Waves, No Rome

The four members of The 1975 have almost two decades’ distance from their high-school days, yet these 30-somethings might be best described as a “boy band,” if a boy band can play heavily textured, angsty, soul- and synth-infused glam-pop. Actually, that does

The Cactus Blossoms sound pretty accurate for a boy band, yeah? The Manchester foursome started playing in high school circa 2002 but didn’t get their big break until 2013, when they released their self-titled debut album, which hit No. 1 on the U.K. charts. They roused a furor, and gained international recognition, with their 2016 record I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It. Shortly after that release, Noisey called The 1975 “the most hated and loved band in the world,” describing them, amidst a collective buzz about their work, as both “underrated and overhyped.” Their fans certainly seem to have been at work—a Wikipedia page describes I Like It When You Sleep as “a masterpiece, a great gift from four British guys.” This blurb can’t adequately describe the absurdity and excess that is The 1975—complete with multipage manifestos, Coachella performances and sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, a heroin addiction and subsequent rehab stint on the part of lead singer Matty Healy—and on the one hand, they’re just a bunch of boys who think too much of themselves. On the other hand, they’re doing something no one else is—and doing it near-flawlessly. Fellow Manchester-born emo-pop faves Pale Waves and London-based Filipino alt-pop artist No Rome open. (Naomi Clegg) UCCU Center, UVU, 800 W. University Pkwy., Orem, 7 p.m., $45-$60, all ages, uccucenter.com

The 1975

JORDAN HUGHES

Harry Lee Blues Band

LIVE

SARAH STURGES

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34 | APRIL 25, 2019

THIS WEEK’S MUSIC PICKS

COMPLETE LISTINGS ONLINE AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

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APRIL 25, 2019 | 35

LIVE

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 WED

APRIL

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Lizzo, Tayla Parx

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SUN

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TUESDAY NIGHT BLUEGRASS JAM WITH PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS 7PM

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I don’t know if I’m up to the task of writing about Lizzo—but then again, I don’t know if anyone is. The rapper and singer, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, has been killing it since she was 14, when she started a three-person group called the “Cornrow Clique” with best friends in her native Texas. After playing in several self-started indie hip-hop and soul-pop groups, she split out on her own with debut 2013 album Lizzobangers. In 2015, she released her first major-label EP, Coconut Oil (Nice Life), a set of six songs that writer Vanessa Okoth-Obbo described for Pitchfork as an “ode to body positivity, self-love and the trials of getting to the point where you believe you deserve it.” Unapologetic self-love is a Lizzo hallmark: “Ima do my thing/ no apologies,” she sings, joyfully, on “Scuse Me,” so “scuse me while I feel myself.” That philosophy, rooted in Lizzo’s confrontation with and rejection of the negative body image she had as a young girl, extends to her stage, where her group of back-up dancers (and of course, there must be backup dancers, because this is a celebration), the Big Grrrls, are all plus-sized. Lizzo’s brand of gleeful, brazen hip-hop and soaring soul is only getting better with time, like in “Juice,” a single-from her third studio album: “I was born like this, don’t even gotta try/ I like chardonnay, get better over time/ Heard you say I’m not the baddest, bitch, you lie,” she proclaims. Look forward to more excellence from the album, Cuz I Love You, released April 19, at her

Ben Kweller

Lizzo performance this Tuesday. (NC) The Union Event Center, 235 N. 500 West, 8 p.m., $29, all ages, theunioneventcenter.com

Ben Kweller, MainMan, Modern Love Child

With his shock of red hair and youthful zeal, Ben Kweller sometimes comes across as the unassuming lovechild of Carrot Top and Lucille Ball. OK, that’s a weird reference, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that Kweller’s career has been remarkably exuberant over the last 25 years. After nine albums, both for major labels and under his own aegis, and nearly as many EPs, he’s established himself as a prime indie auteur, whether working on his own or in collaboration with others. His efforts began with a cool pop band dubiously dubbed Radish in the mid to late ’90s, and over the years he’s interspersed his own efforts with the sometime trio called The Bens (featuring fellow Bens, Folds and Lee) and a songwriting collaboration with the group Guster. Mostly, though, he’s managed to grab ongoing attention on his own, thanks to his highly melodic trappings as a singersongwriter and steady road presence. Still, it’s been awhile since his last release. Go Fly a Kite came out in 2012, but we’re told a new disc— one supposedly bearing the worrisome title Circuit Boredom—is due soon. Kweller’s upcoming concert also features ethereal funk outfit MainMan and alt-rock wunderkind Modern Love Child, a fine mix for connoisseurs of cool. (LZ) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 7 p.m., $18 presale; $20 day of show, 21+, theurbanloungeslc.com

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JOANNA BURNS

CONCERTS & CLUBS

FRIDAY 4/26

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

There’s nothing like a Broadway play, a hit movie or both when it comes to selling someone’s story. Consequently, credit both the 2005 stage musical and subsequent 2014 film Jersey Boys with bringing Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons back to center stage and reminding everyone of that endless series of songs that dominated the hit parade during the better part of the 1960s and ’70s. Not that any reminder was really needed; Valli himself was responsible for nearly 40 smash hits, first with the group and then later on his own. The list of his classics is an embarrassment of riches: “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Sherry,” “Rag Doll,” “Walk Like a Man,” “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night),” “My Eyes Adored You” and “Grease” are but a few of Valli’s many milestones. The common connection is Valli’s piercing falsetto, a signature sound that offers the impression his undergarments are clinging perhaps a wee bit too tight. Whatever the reason, that voice still serves him well—even today, at the ripe old age of 84, he remains a regular on the concert circuit with the group’s current incarnation. Whether you consider them a blast from the past or just better choices of Jersey boys than, say, Tony Soprano, Valli and company offer good reason for celebrating the seasons. (Lee Zimmerman) Maverik Center, 3200 S. Decker Lake Drive, West Valley City, 8 p.m., $29-$137, maverikcenter.com

THURSDAY 4/25

FRIDAY 4/26

LIVE MUSIC

Christian Mills (Hog Wallow Pub) Green River Blues + Crook & The Bluff + Lovely Noughts (Urban Lounge) Kin Lodge + Taste Buds + The Botanicals (Velour) Moodlite + Cera Bison + Currents (Kilby Court) Mountain Country (Rye) Movements + Boston Manor + Trash Boat + Drug Church (The Complex) Rosegarden Funeral Party + Violator + Glume + Ani Christ (Metro Music Hall) Sydnie Keddington (Lake Effect) Verbal Kombat (Liquid Joe’s)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Dueling Pianos: Drew & Jordan (Tavernacle) Dueling Pianos (The Spur) Dusty Grooves All Vinyl DJ (Twist) Hot Noise + Guest DJ (The Red Door) Jazz Jam Session (Sugar House Coffee) Jazz Joint Thursday (Garage on Beck) Synthpop + Darkwave + Industrial + Goth w/ DJ Camille (Area 51) Therapy Thursdays feat. Taiki Nulight (Sky) Tropicana Thursdays feat. Rumba Libre (Liquid Joe’s)

40 oz. to Freedom (Sublime Tribute Band) (The State Room) Catch Fish (HandleBar) Che Zuro (The Yes Hell) Colt.46 (Outlaw Saloon) DMX feat. DJ Juggy (The Complex) Fox Brothers Band (The Westerner) Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (Maverik Center) see above Hellbound Glory (ABG’s) Joe Friday (Brewskis) Lady Lamb + Renata Zeiguer + Alex Schaaf (Kilby Court) Lark & Spur (Price Civic Auditorium) Live Local Music (A Bar Named Sue) The Midnight + Violet Days (The Complex) Major Tom & The Moonboys (Garage on Beck) Matt Calder + Swantourage (Lake Effect) Matthew Dear + Le Voir + Mooninite (Urban Lounge) Michelle Moonshine & Co. (Hog Wallow Pub) Mountain Country (Gracie’s) Paper Elephant + Dad Bod + Mortigo Temp (The Ice Haüs) Riding Gravity (Liquid Joe’s) Robot Dream (Gracie’s)

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40 | APRIL 25, 2019

CAMPFIRE LOUNGE

DEREK CARLISLE

BAR FLY

Ryan Innes + Jay Warren (Velour) Sounds Like Teen Spirit (The Spur) Talia Keys (Harp and Hound) Will Baxter Band (The Bayou)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

All-Request Gothic + Industrial + EBM + and Dark Wave w/ DJ Vision (Area 51) Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) DJ Juggy (Bourbon House) DJ Sneeky Long (Twist) Dueling Pianos feat. Troy & Jules and Dave & JC (Tavernacle) Funkin’ Friday w/ DJ Rude Boy & Bad Boy Brian (Johnny’s on Second) Funky Friday w/ DJ Godina (Gracie’s) Hot Noise (The Red Door) New Wave ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Top 40 All-Request w/ DJ Wees (Area 51)

KARAOKE

Areaoke w/ DJ Kevin (Area 51) Karaoke (Cheers to You SLC) Karaoke (Willie’s Lounge)

SATURDAY 4/27 LIVE MUSIC

Aux. Intl. feat. Le Pumz (Metro Music Hall) Blue Divide (Brewskis) The Cactus Blossoms + Jack Klatt (The State Room) see p. 34 Colt.46 (Outlaw Saloon) Fox Brothers Band (The Westerner) Hellbound Glory (Garage on Beck) Hooda Fugawi (The Ice Haüs) Howling Giant + Mosida (Kilby Court) Korene Greenwood (Harp and Hound) Kyle May (State Road Tavern) Leilani Wolfgramm (The Royal) Live Local Music (A Bar Named Sue) Live Trio (The Red Door) Mythic Valley (HandleBar) The Nightcaps (The Spur)

The Number Ones feat. David Halliday (The Bayou) Pinetop Inferno (The Yes Hell) Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Hog Wallow Pub) RIITUAL 4 Year Anniversary Party feat. Youngsta + Khiva + MorzFeen + Cult 45 (Urban Lounge) Rodie & The Band (Johnny’s on Second) Ryan Innes + Marmalade Chill (Lake Effect) S2_Cool + Jumpmonk Teilani (Velour) Spazmatics (Liquid Joe’s) Swantourage (Gracie’s) Swmrs + Beach Goons + Destroy Boys (The Complex) Walker Hayes (The Depot)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) Dueling Pianos feat. Troy & Drew and Dave & JC (Tavernacle) DJ Brisk (Bourbon House) DJ Latu (The Green Pig) DJ Soul Pause (Twist) Gothic + Industrial + Dark ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Scandalous Saturdays w/ DJ Logik (Lumpy’s Highland) Sky Saturdays w/ Crespo (Sky) Top 40 + EDM + Alternative w/ DJ Twitch (Area 51) DJ Mr. Ramirez (Lake Effect)

KARAOKE

Areaoke DJ Kevin (Area 51) Karaoke (Willie’s Lounge) Karaoke w/ B-Rad (Club 90)

SUNDAY 4/28 LIVE MUSIC

IAMX (Metro Music Hall) Jessica Malone + Fat Apollo & The Cellulites (Gracie’s) Live Bluegrass (Club 90)

I have a soft spot for Campfire Lounge—it’s where I tried my first Moscow Mule a few years back, a pit stop in a long evening that also involved smuggled vodka and a sweaty show in a basement below a thrift shop a few hundred feet away from the bar. Campfire Lounge also happens to be smack between the coffee shop where my writing group meets and my bus stop, which means I really have no excuses for not entertaining my inner Raymond Carver. The establishment is one of the few SLC bars where you can actually lounge, given their spacious, lantern-festooned outdoor patio replete with two firepits and deer-and-pine-tree-patterned trim. The kitschy campfire theme is continued on the menu, which I can honestly appreciate—is there any better food than campfire food? I chose a cider and bourbon ($7.50), a whiskey, ginger beer and apple cider concoction that was pretty great in its simplicity. After I ordered my drink, I was excited to spot a Conservation Corps sweatshirt. “Ah, someone else who knows what it’s like to cut down trees for 10 hours a day,” I thought, and introduced myself, only to be rebuffed: “I bought it at a thrift store,” said the corps imposter. Oh, well. It is a very soft sweatshirt. To sate my post-writing-group hunger, I got a Campfire Dinner with bratwurst ($7), a pile of sausage, potatoes, carrot and zucchini served authentically in tinfoil. The food was excellent, and cheap—although it probably would have been even better after a long day of tree-chopping—and as I perched on the patio, eating and writing bad poetry, I overheard a fellow chatting about his fly-fishing practice, which, I think, perfectly sums up the place. (Naomi Clegg) 837 E. 2100 South, 801-467-3325, campfirelounge.com Michelle Moonshine (Garage on Beck) Patrick Ryan (The Spur) Thank You Scientist + Kindo + In the Presence of Wolves (Urban Lounge) see p. 34 Twiztid feat. Mista Ice Pick + Shadow D & Red Ninja (The Complex)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dueling Pianos (The Spur) Open Blues Jam (The Green Pig) Sunday Night Bluegrass Jam w/ Nick Greco & Blues on First (Gracie’s) Sunday Night Sinners Club (Quarters Arcade Bar)

MONDAY 4/29 LIVE MUSIC

Amanda Johnson (The Spur) Lil Pump + Lil Skies (The Complex) The 1975 + Pale Waves + No Rome (UCCU Center) see p. 34 The Midnight Babies + Soul Correction + Pick Pocket (Urban Lounge) Turnover + Turnstile + Reptaliens (The Complex) Will Baxter Band (Lake Effect)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Industry Night Mondays w/ DJ Juggy (Trails) Monday Night Blues & More Jam hosted by Robby’s Blues Explosion (Hog Wallow Pub) Monday Night Open Jazz Session w/ David Halliday & The JVQ (Gracie’s) Open Blues Jam w/ West Temple Taildraggers (The Green Pig) Open Mic (The Cabin)

TUESDAY 4/30 LIVE MUSIC

Amanda Lynn Jones (Lake Effect)

Ben Kweller + MainMan + Modern Love Child (Urban Lounge) see p. 36 Brent Cowles (Kilby Court) Lizzo + Tayla Parx (The Union Event Center) see p. 36 Stella Schorer + Roz Harding + Jane Stewart + Raavyn and Reeves (Velour) Sydnie Keddington (In the Venue)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Groove Tuesdays (Johnny’s on Second) Hip Hop Organics (Metro Music Hall) Locals Lounge (The Cabin) Open Jazz Jam (Bourbon House) Open Mic (The Wall at BYU) Open Mic Night (The Royal) Tuesday Night Bluegrass Jam w/ Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Gracie’s) Tuesday Night Jazz (Alibi)

WEDNESDAY 5/1 LIVE MUSIC

Beach Fossils (The Depot) The Dip (The State Room) Dave Bowen Orchestra (Gracie’s) Hot Mulligan + Belmont + Kayak Jones + Fredo Disco + Future Teens (Kilby Court) Sales + Nicotine (The Complex) Steve Lindeman Quintet (Gallivan Center) Terror Jr + Kossisko (Urban Lounge)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dark NRG w/ DJ Nyx (Area 51) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) Energi Wednesdays feat. Delta Heavy (Sky) Live Jazz (Club 90) Open Mic (Velour) Roaring Wednesdays: Swing Dance Lessons (Prohibition) Top 40 All-Request w/ DJ Wees (Area 51) The Freakout w/ DJ Nix Beat (Twist)

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CINEMA

Starting a Revolution

Writer-director Van Ling on his unlikely involvement in the Greek Independence epic Cliffs of Freedom. BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

an Ling realizes that he’s not the likeliest person to bring a story about the 19th-century Greek War of Independence to the screen. An American of mostly Chinese descent, he says, “I’m about as removed from the Greek experience as anyone could be.” While he has been in the movie industry for 30 years—mostly in visual effects, including working with director James Cameron on blockbusters like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Titanic—he had never directed a feature film before. And it would be a story that focused on a female protagonist. Yet Ling was instrumental in the process of getting Cliffs of Freedom from an idea by Greek-American writer Marianne Metropoulos into production. Although built on real events, it tells the fictionalized story of Anna Christina (Tania Raymonde), a young woman in a Greek village circa 1820 who becomes part of the “Friendly Society” Greek resistance to the occupying Ottoman Empire, even as a romance develops between her and an Ottoman captain (Jan Uddin) working from within against tyrannical rule. It’s an epic-scale story told on a modest budget, but Metropoulos had encountered nothing but 15 years of “no” while trying

to sell the concept to producers. In 2010, producer Casey Cannon brought an early version of the script to Ling, hoping to get some feedback on solving story problems. “I would say, ‘Maybe you could have them do this, or this could happen.’ Casey would come back with, ‘Can you write that down for us?’ Then, ‘Can you write the scene for us?’ Within a couple of years, I’d done a full page-one rewrite.” Still, Ling wasn’t being considered for the director’s chair until an attempt at resourcefulness turned into an opportunity. When the producers of Cliffs of Freedom realized that era-appropriate costumes and props didn’t really exist in Hollywood prop houses—because nobody had done a story set in Greece in this era—they knew they would have to create everything from scratch and looked for a way to amortize that cost over another production. So in 2014, Ling came up with a pitch for a TV series that would be set during this period, and he spent four days shooting test-reel footage in California. That footage impressed Metropoulos and the other producers enough that as Cliffs of Freedom found its way out of development purgatory and to a green light, they asked Ling to direct it. “I always thought I’d love to try my hand at directing some things,” Ling says. “Being involved as a writer was a great creative thing, trying to figure out character issues and story issues. But I always thought, ‘This is a Greek story, there should be a Greek director.’ It’s very proud history, with a lot of passion. But I had to get in that mind set because I was writing it.” Although much of his high-profile Hollywood experience had been on big-budget films, Ling didn’t find it hard to work on a production that would demand the look of big historical epic with a cost-effective approach. “If you start with a giant production, you can get pretty spoiled,” he says. “But Jim Cameron started off doing Roger Corman films, where he had to use ingenuity where he couldn’t use money. I found that it’s true whether you’re making a big-budget

Tania Raymonde (center) stars in Cliffs of Freedom

film or a small-budget film, you’re having to solve story problems. … It’s a matter of trying to do the scope that’s necessary for the film but do it most efficiently.” You certainly wouldn’t get a small-budget feel from a cast that includes, in supporting roles, Academy Award-winner Christopher Plummer, Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone and Titanic’s Billy Zane. “I’d like to think that it came down to the script,” Ling says. “I wear a silicone band that says, ‘All the visual effects in the world can’t hide bad storytelling.’ It’s got to be a solid story. Fortunately, that appealed to Christopher, and Patti, and Billy, who is Greek, by the way. Also, I hope in talking to me, taking a risk on a first-time director, hopefully they were able to get what I wanted to do.” At the center of the story, is its fictionalized heroine, Anna Christina. Centering a woman was a key part of Marianne Metropoulos’ original vision, which Ling suggests was an attempt by Metropoulos at “making some statements” about the patriarchal culture in which the story is set. Yet Ling also researched many of the real-life events that inspired this narrative, including a mass-suicide of women who refused to be taken captive by Ottoman soldiers. “I wanted to look at what happens if you start with what it was like [for a woman in that time], and how can that change?” he says. “Can she start off as this dutiful daughter, then become a symbol for all the guys to rally around that doesn’t have to do with her gender? It isn’t just about the bravery of soldiers, but about the strength and bravery of women.” CW

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CINEMA CLIPS MOVIE TIMES AND LOCATIONS AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

NEW THIS WEEK Film release schedules are subject to change. Reviews online at cityweekly.net AVENGERS: ENDGAME [not yet reviewed] Aw, Thanos, you done pissed off the wrong superheroes. Opens April 26 at theaters valleywide. (PG-13) FAMILY BBB Twelve-year-old Maddie (Bryn Vale) has it rough. When she makes the cheerleading squad, she’s assigned to the bottom of the pyramid; other kids moo at her as she gets into position. Maddie’s parents don’t understand why other kids don’t like her, but her Aunt Kate (Taylor Schilling) does. Eyeing the cape Maddie has chosen to wear, Kate tells her, “If you want to run around looking like the Burger King, kids are going to make fun of you.” Kate, babysitting Maddie for a few days, is a no-nonsense business-type—single, doesn’t like kids and doesn’t like herself. Naturally, by movie’s end, she undergoes a big personality change. Think of Family as Bad Santa lite: no anal sex jokes, but plenty of ridicule of the weak and feeble, even as the tough and ruthless realize they hate themselves. What makes Family different from most comedies of its ilk—heartless adult becomes less heartless—is the prevalence of Juggalos and a not-unsympathetic view of their philosophy. I can’t tell you why Juggalos are so plot-centric, but it’s a hoot, and the twist makes Family better than it deserves to be. Opens April 26 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)—David Riedel

HER SMELL BBBB Tales of artists spinning out of control are nothing new, but writer-director Alex Ross Perry creates something as jagged and uncomfortable as it is surprisingly emotional. Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss, who starred in Perry’s Queen of Earth), is the frontwoman for once-successful punk band Something She— with bassist Marielle Hell (Agyness Deyn) and drummer Ali van der Wolff (Gayle Rankin)—that’s barely hanging together thanks to Becky’s erratic behavior. Perry structures the narrative as five vignettes spanning approximately seven years, and that device allows for a perfect focus on pivotal moments in Becky’s descent and attempt at redemption. What’s astonishing about Moss’ performance is that she creates both the manic, unpredictable Becky and her chastened, almost hollowed-out counterpart with a clarity that makes it clear both are the same person. It’s far from a one-woman show—Deyn and Rankin are terrific as they try to navigate Hurricane Becky—but the story’s power comes from watching Becky find an identity that isn’t about hiding behind a persona and finding faith in other people. Opens April 26 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)—Scott Renshaw PETERLOO B On Aug. 16, 1819, in Manchester, England, government troops massacred peaceful protestors at a rally against increasing poverty in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars and protectionist Corn Laws, calling for Parliamentary reform and an expansion of voting rights. Unfortunately, there’s more drama in this factual description of the historical background of Peterloo than there is in the film itself. The good intentions of legendary filmmaker and rabble-rouser Mike Leigh do not a compelling narrative make, and this isn’t a story. It’s a series of costume-drama cosplay reenactments, dramatized reconstructions of speeches and informal debates among campaigners and—worst of all— stilted infodumps intended to educate viewers about this Very Important Historical Event. Peterloo’s clear destiny is for it to be shown in schools as a change of pace from the typical teacher’s

lecture. Those kids will find this as dull as dirt, too. Opens April 26 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (PG-13)—MaryAnn Johanson

SPECIAL SCREENINGS WOMAN AT WAR At Park City Film Series, April 26-27, 8 p.m.; April 28, 6 p.m. (R) THE RIVER AND THE WALL At Main Library, April 30, 7 p.m. (NR)

CURRENT RELEASES AMAZING GRACE BBBB It’s too bad this documentary of the recording of Aretha Franklin’s landmark 1972 gospel album wasn’t available on VHS when I was young; I could have watched the Lord’s work and been redeemed. Amazing Grace looks like work: multiple takes of different tracks, sweat mopped from fiery brows, the audience moved to its feet time and time again. In the end, it shows the commitment demanded to reach a state of joy—and the music captured here (and on the record) is pure joy, even as Franklin exudes professionalism and concentration. The haphazard camera work becomes part of the film’s charm (read stories about technical difficulties producer Alan Elliott encountered finishing Sydney Pollack’s movie), and each time the camera lingers on Franklin, you’ll get that much closer to your personal version of the divine. (G)—DR THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA BB.5 Horror filmmaking can be so sloppy and predictable that it’s tempting to mistake competence for quality. In 1973 Los Angeles, widowed social worker Anna (Linda Cardellini) discovers that a centuries-old homicidal spirit has attached itself to her two children. The screenplay hints at a metaphor for the pressure on single mothers after an emotional trauma, but it’s quickly discarded. Fortunately, first-time feature director Michael Chaves handles his creepy set pieces with a great sense for drawing out

audience tension past where you’d typically expect a jump-scare. The third act turns into one extended supernatural siege, with a spiritual healer (Raymond Cruz) trying to protect Anna’s family. Your mileage might vary depending on whether you expect more from horror than a solid dose of booga-booga. (R)—SR

HIGH LIFE BBB When Claire Denis decides to do genre fare, she doesn’t mess around. This strange science-fiction odyssey opens with Monte (Robert Pattinson) apparently living alone on a deep-space vessel with his infant daughter, Willow. The narrative eventually flashes back to explore how Monte ended up there, as well as what became of other passengers. Suffice it to say that it’s a story of damaged people in close quarters, with a mix of sometimes-brutal violence and not-entirely-healthy sexuality. There’s something missing in the characterizations during the flashback sequences, making it hard to grasp the human element in these trapped people, though Juliette Binoche certainly tries to pack a whole lot of crazy into relatively little time. Yet there’s still a surprising redemption angle when the focus is on Monte’s interaction with Willow, as a hard man finds something worth living—or at least staying alive—for. (R)—SR

PENGUINS BBB Disneynature movies have a formula; their effectiveness is all about the execution. This one follows Adélie penguins of Antarctica— specifically, a protagonist called Steve—through one year of their life cycle: migration to coastal mating grounds, raising chicks and heading back out to sea in the winter. Ed Helms strikes a nice balance of warmth and low-key humor in his narration of the typically impressive up-close footage (stick around during the credits to see how directors Alastair Fothergill and Jeff Wilson get those shots). While some of the humor is as broad and clunky as the music cues, the storytelling is effectively simplified in a way that gets young viewers invested. It’s cute, educational and only occasionally makes you wish it would talk to you like a grown-up. (G)—SR

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Whether or not you believe in magic, magic believes in you right now. Will you take advantage of the fancy gifts it has to offer? I guess it’s possible that you’re not interested in seeing deeper into the secret hearts of those you care for. Maybe you’ll go “hohum” when shown how to recognize a half-hidden opportunity that could bring vitalizing changes. And you might think it’s not very practical to romance the fire and the water at the same time. But if you’re interested, all that good stuff will be available for you. P.S. To maximize the effects of the magic, believe in it.

to the prompts of these unexpected openings, you will rouse a partially dormant aspect of your genius, as well as a half-inert stash of creativity and a semi-latent cache of imaginativity.

1. Nickname for Miriam 5. President between Washington and Jefferson 10. ____ degree 13. Supermodel from Somalia 14. The Washington Post, CNN, etc. 15. Manhattan area north of TriBeCa 16. "Girls" actress 18. "Lemme ____!" 19. "Oh, that's a shame" 20. Something people love to reach out and take? 22. Code-cracking org. 25. ____ Aviv 26. Line that ended with Nicholas II 27. "Schitt's Creek" actress 32. "That makes perfect sense now!" 33. Ye ____ Shoppe 34. Answer from fans of 16-, 27-, 44- or 58-Across when asked "What is it about her that you like?" 42. Hans Christian Andersen, by nationality 43. Elaine ____, first female AsianAmerican cabinet member 44. "New Girl" actress 50. World's smallest island nation 51. A.L. West team, on scoreboards 52. Fútbol stadium cry 53. On deck 55. ____ Belt 57. ____ Bell 58. "Private Benjamin" actress 63. Hwys. 64. Strand at a ski lodge, maybe 65. Garfield's frenemy 66. Flashlight inserts, perhaps 67. Babes in the woods 68. Will's opposite

DOWN

49. In good shape 50. Commercial lead-in to Sweet 54. Cry to kick off the weekend 55. Erupted 56. Popular self-help website 59. Mozart's "L'____ del Cairo" 60. Bustle 61. Triumph 62. ____ neutrality

Last week’s answers

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15. It may involve dips, in two different senses 17. What many grandparents do 21. Blues legend Waters 22. Longtime CBS police procedural 23. Pageant wrap 24. Precisely, after "to" 28. Fashion line? 29. ____-um (gnat) 30. Common street name 31. Work from Keats or Shelley 35. For two, in music 36. Eloise creator Thompson 37. Put the kibosh on 38. Pres. Obama's signature achievement 39. "You might think so, but ..." 40. Iona College athlete 41. Evidence left by a moth 44. Mexican revolutionary played by Brando 45. There are eight in a cup 46. Cookies that flavor some ice cream 47. Came home feet first, maybe 48. Mountain retreats

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APRIL 25, 2019 | 45

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Do you know the word “sfumato”? Its literal meaning in Italian is “smoked.” When used to describe a painting, it refers to blurred borders between objects or fuzzy transitions between areas of different colors. All the forms are soft and hazy. I bring this to your attention because I suspect the coming weeks will be a sfumatolike time for you. You might find it a challenge to make precise distinctions. Future and past might overlap, as well as beginnings and GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1815, the most ferocious volcanic eruption in human his- endings. That doesn’t have to be a problem as long as you’re willing tory exploded from Mount Tambora in what’s now known as to go with the amorphous flow. In fact, it could even be pleasurable Indonesia. It flung gas and ash all over the planet, causing weird and useful. You might be able to connect with influences from weather for three years. Sunlight dimmed, temperatures plum- which you’ve previously been shut off. You could blend your enermeted, skies were tumultuous, and intense storms proliferated. gies together better with people who’ve been unavailable. Yet these conditions ignited the imagination of author Mary Shelley, inspiring her to write what was to become her most SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): notable work, Frankenstein. I suspect that you, too, will ulti- “You have a right to experiment with your life,” declared author mately generate at least one productive marvel in response to Anaïs Nin. I agree. You don’t necessarily have to be what you started out to be. You can change your mind about goals that the unusual events of the coming weeks. you might at one time have thought were permanent. I suspect you could be at one of these pivot points right now, Sagittarius. CANCER (June 21-July 22): For more than 40 years, Cancerian musician Carlos Santana Are there any experiments you’d like to try? If so, keep in mind has made music that blends rock and roll with Latin and African this further counsel from Nin. It’s possible “you will make misrhythms. In the early years, his creations sold well, but by the takes. And they are right, too.” mid-1980s his commercial success declined. For a decade, he floundered. His fortunes began to improve after a spectacular CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): meditation session. Santana says he was contacted by the arch- You have one main task to accomplish in the coming weeks, angel Metatron, who told him how to generate material for a Capricorn. It’ll be simple and natural if you devote yourself to new album. The result was Supernatural, which sold 30 million it wholeheartedly. The only way it could possibly become comcopies and won nine Grammy Awards. I mention this, Cancerian, plicated and challenging is if you allow your focus to be diffused because I suspect that you could soon experience a more modest by less important matters. Ready for your assignment? It’s but still rousing variation of Santana’s visitation. Are you inter- articulated in this poem by Rupi Kaur: “bloom beautifully/ danested? If so, the next seven weeks will be a good time to seek it gerously/ loudly/ bloom softly/ however you need/ just bloom.” out—and be very receptive to its possibility. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When the forces of the Roman empire occupied the British Isles LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Expergefactor” is an old English word that has fallen out of from the years 43 to 410, they built 2,000 miles of roads. Their use. In its original sense, it meant something that wakes you up, methods were sophisticated. That’s why few new roads were like an alarm clock or thunderstorm or your partner’s snoring. built in England until the 18th century, and many of the same But I want to revive “expergefactor” and expand its meaning. In paths are still visible and available today. In this spirit, and in its new version, it will refer to an exciting possibility or beloved accordance with astrological omens, I recommend that you goal that consistently motivates you to spring out of bed in the make good use of an old system or network in the coming weeks. morning and get your day started. Your expergefactor could be This is one time when the past has blessings to offer the future. an adventure you’re planning or a masterpiece you’re working on or a relationship that fills you with curiosity and enchant- PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): ment. In my astrological opinion, the coming weeks will be an “I’m not enigmatic and intriguing enough,” writes a Piscean excellent time to identify and fine-tune an expergefactor that blogger named RiddleMaster. “I really must work harder. Maybe I’ll start wearing ankle-length black leather coats, billowing silk will serve you well for a long time. scarves imprinted with alchemical symbols, and wide-brimmed hats. I’ll listen to Cambodian folk songs and read rare books in VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): We live in a cultural moment when satire, sarcasm, cynicism ancient Sanskrit. When someone dares to speak to me, I’ll utter and irony are prized as supreme emblems of intelligence. If you cryptic declarations like, ‘The prophecies will be fulfilled soon say that you value sincerity and earnestness, you risk being enough.’” I understand RiddleMaster’s feelings. You Pisceans considered naive and unsophisticated. Nevertheless, the cur- need mystery almost as much as you need food. But I believe you rent astrological omens suggest that you will generate good should set aside that drive for a few weeks. The time has come for fortune for yourself in the coming weeks by making liberal use you to show the world who you are with crisp candor. of sincerity and earnestness. So please try not to fall into the easy trap of relying on satire, sarcasm, cynicism and irony to ARIES (March 21-April 19): express yourself. As much as is practical, be kindly frank and The day after Thanksgiving typically features a spectacular shopcompassionately truthful and empathetically genuine. (P.S. It’s ping orgy. On Black Friday, stores sell their products at steep discounts and consumers spend their money extravagantly. But a strategy that will serve your selfish aims quite well.) the creators of the game Cards Against Humanity have consistently satirized the tradition. In 2013, for example, they staged a Black LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Most people don’t find their creativity,” mourned Libran author Friday “anti-sale,” for which they raised their prices. The coming Truman Capote. “There are more unsung geniuses that don’t weeks will be a favorable time for you to try something similar. Is it even know they have great talent.” If that describes you even a possible you’re undercharging for your products and services and little bit, I’m happy to let you know that you’re close to stumbling skills? If so, consider asking for more. Reassess your true worth upon events and insights that could change that. If you respond and seek appropriate rewards.

ACROSS

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

Go to realastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

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First, we had horse-drawn buggies. Barns and carriage houses dotted the Wasatch Front (there are still a few left). Then came cabs to pick folks up from train stations and airports, and buses to carry folks throughout the state and beyond. For years, Yellow Cab held a monopoly on picking up passengers at Salt Lake City International Airport. Then came Uber and Lyft. Now, downtown SLC has witnessed bike-taxis, plus Lime and Bird e-scooters pop up in abundance. When I attended Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, the only way in and out without a car was by Greyhound. I hated those bus trips. They were long and smelly, and often, the bus was full of “Chester the Molester” characters. The drivers seemed to go out of their way to find towns to stop in and passengers to pick up during the middle of the night. And today, there’s FlixBus. I’m unclear on how this company makes money, but hey, let’s try it! This European firm came to the U.S. last year and now has entered the Utah people-moving market, offering super-cheap fares to SLC, Provo, Cedar City and St. George. From now through Friday, May 3, you can get a one-way ride on their buses for $4.99 plus a $2 fee, and roundtrip is less than $10. If you want to go debauch in Las Vegas, the bus drops you off on the Strip in front of Caesars Palace. A bonus is that the seats are big, and there’s free Wi-Fi, TV shows, movies and even audiobooks available for the whole trip. The initial get-youhooked fares go up to just under $20 after May 3—still a steal. One last transportation update: The behemoth-to-be International Center at North Temple and 5600 West will soon be the main UTA bus hub to take riders south to the existing Trax station on the Old Bingham Highway. A planned Trax extension at Herriman Towne Center will extend the westide route farther south. UTA and UDOT are asking for public comments on the idea of building an express bus service along the growing westside Mountain View Corridor. (A rapid transit bus route was originally proposed.) You can see the route at udot.utah.gov/mountainview and make email comments to mountainview@utah.gov. You can also call 1-800-596-2556. Trust me, with the new mega-airport nearing completion next year and the new state prison and inland port coming our way, 5600 West is going to be a transportation corridor like Utah has never seen. n

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WEIRD Family Values The Carter County (Tennessee) Sheriff’s Department had some strong leads in the death of Edith Betty Ralph, 75, on April 6, but none stronger than the behavior of John Christopher Ralph, 51, Edith’s son, who had been living with her and had repeatedly complained to friends and family that she was “driving him crazy.” “The night of Mrs. Ralph’s murder, John asked co-workers to take pictures of him at work saying that if anything happened to his mother he would need an alibi,” according to the sheriff’s department. ABC News reported that Edith was found deceased due to severe head trauma and several gunshot wounds. John was stopped at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, ready to board a flight for Amsterdam. He was held on a $1 million bond.

Nothing Better to Do Traffic on a street in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles came to a virtual stop as two cars engaged in a legendary standoff over a parking space on April 1. Fox News reported that Mariah Flores, who was positioned across the street, documented the entire two-hour dispute on Twitter, as the “black car” and the “silver car” jockeyed to parallel park in one open spot along the sidewalk. As horns honked and tensions mounted, a “plot twist” changed the whole dynamic: The owner of a third vehicle, parked in front of the empty space, left, leaving room for both black and silver to park. The drivers quickly settled their vehicles in the spaces but then sat in their cars for some time. “Like are they afraid of each other or is it just awkward now?” Flores wondered. Finally, the driver of the silver car emerged, prompting Flores’ comment, “SILVER takes the gold.”

The Aristocrats! When you purchase a new home, you need new stuff to put in it. So it was for Andrew Francis Lippi, 59, of Key Haven, Fla. Lippi purchased an $8-million private island, Thompson Island, off Key West in early April, which includes a large estate previously owned by philanthropist Edward B. Knight. But on April 6, Lippi was charged with felony grand theft for stealing $300 worth of home goods from Kmart, including two coffeemakers, eight lightbulbs and a bed skirt. His method was clever: He bought the items, then returned their boxes with other things packed inside, according to the Miami Herald. (For example, a basketball was in the Keurig box.) Lippi, speaking to the Herald, denied the charges and said, “Basically it has to do with a commercial dispute. ... It’s very complicated and I’d rather not get into it.” He’s scheduled to appear in court on April 18.

What’s in a Name? The Smuggler’s Inn on Canada View Drive in Blaine, Wash., sits just a stone’s throw from the Canadian border. Fittingly, on April 4, a Canadian court charged its owner, Robert Joseph Boule, 69, with 21 counts of “inducing, aiding or abetting” seven people who tried to illegally enter Canada between May 2018 and March 2019. Boule had remarked to CBC News in the past that it wasn’t unusual to see people with night-vision goggles sneaking across the border at night. He remains in custody in Canada. Send tips to weirdnewstips@amuniversal.com

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People Different From Us Kaz James, 37, from Salford, Greater Manchester, England, has known since he was a child that he was different from other people. “I didn’t ever feel like a human. I always felt like a dog that was really out of place,” James told Metro News. He first started to understand his peculiarity when he gained access to the internet at 17 years old. “I was known by my friends for ... grabbing hold of the collar of their shirt in my teeth and biting or licking them, very canine-type behaviors,” James said. Today, he eats out of a dog bowl and owns three custom-made dog suits—one a $2,600 fur suit shipped from Canada. “(M)y behaviors were quite dog-like in childhood, probably from the age of 6,” he said. “No one ever talked about it. It was never mentioned.”

n Lauren Jenai, 47, co-founder (with her ex-husband) of CrossFit, has struck up a new romance with an old flame: Franklin Tyrone Tucker, also 47, who resides at the Stock Island Detention Center in Florida, where he awaits trial for first-degree murder and armed robbery. Jenai sold her CrossFit shares for $20 million after her divorce and now lives in Portland, Ore. She and Tucker, childhood friends, reconnected on Facebook before Tucker’s arrest, and she has risen to his defense, offering to put up his $1-million bond (which was denied in January) and hiring private investigators for his case. She has not been able to see Tucker in person, but they were enjoying video visitation—until, by Jenai’s admission, she “got a little risque ... I was touching my boobs.” Her account was suspended, so she began using her mother’s account, but it happened again: “My boobs popped out at some point, it happens.” Tucker and Jenai are scheduled to wed in prison, and she told the Daily Mail she won’t ask him to sign a prenup: It feels “a little inappropriate. ... I trust him. I love him. My house is his house.”

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... and Too Much Money to Do It With A wealthy San Francisco philanthropist, Florence Fang, 84, is being sued by the city of Hillsborough over the “Flintstones” home and grounds she has created in the suburb. The oddly shaped house was built in 1976, and Fang bought it in 2017. Today, it’s painted purple and red, features a large “Yabba Dabba Do” sign near the driveway, and Fang has added dinosaur and mushroom figurines, along with Fred Flintstone himself, to the yard. “We don’t like it when people build things first, then come in and demand or ask for permission later,” huffed Assistant City Attorney Mark Hudak, who told KTVU Fang built without the proper permits and the property is subject to code violations along with offending the neighbors’ aesthetic sensibilities. But Angela Alioto, Fang’s attorney, said the home is Fang’s “happy place.” Fang doesn’t live in the home but uses it for entertainment and charitable events. “She’s had an incredible life, and I think it’s wonderful that, at 84 years old, she has found something that makes her so happy,” Alioto told The San Mateo Daily Journal.

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New World Order In Raleigh, N.C., residents of The Dakota apartment complex are stepping out a little more confidently after management engaged the services of a company called PawzLife. The Raleigh News and Observer reported on March 22 that residents were growing disgusted with the amount of dog feces on the sidewalks and green spaces around the complex. So management turned to a high-tech solution: Residents who own dogs are required to bring them to a “pup party,” where PawzLife collects their DNA with a simple saliva swipe and creates a “unique DNA profile” for each dog. The company then visits the neighborhood to pick up any stray poop, and owners whose dogs are a match with the poop DNA are fined $100 per offense. PawzLife owner Matthew Malec said, “We are just trying to make the Earth a little bit better to live on.”

Julie “Bella” Hall

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48 | APRIL 25, 2019

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