City Weekly January 19, 2023

“Future Tense,” Jan. 12 News Feature

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@SLCWEEKLY @SLCWEEKLY @CITYWEEKLY

The Business Model Worked

Dear John Saltas, In the 1980s, when you were staying in a basement in Midvale, you told me that you wanted to start a newspaper. You said it would be published weekly and would be free to the public, and I thought: What a terrible business model.

Now, in 2023, with most of the papers in the country out of business or on life support, your newspaper is still going strong. I can’t wait to pick up the next edition. You are to be congratulated on a job well done.

GARY HATFIELD West Jordan

I can smell the body odor of the climate activists through my phone.

The irony is that climate change is one of the root causes of immigration and border issues, and is likely to become more so as the effects ramp up.

Humans, throughout our history, have always been on the move to wherever survival is best accomplished. It’s only in relatively recent history that we created these made-up lines we call borders and then have forced people to stand behind these imaginary lines, even when their lives are on the line.

It will be interesting to see how they justify their own immigration should the tables be turned in their lifetime. We might all be desperate to find a better place to survive at some point as we remake the earth into a place less hospitable for humans.

JENNIFERKSLC

Via Instagram

“Grande Slam,” Jan. 12 News Feature

#RideTheHomelessRails CURTIS_STRANGE Via Instagram

Pleading the Fifth

Our Constitution’s Fifth Amendment protection, Against self-incrimination is a deflection. Our legal system is being misused, And the democratic search for truth abused.

We all have the right not to self-incriminate, But if not guilty, why honesty procrastinate?

“Pleading the Fifth” and “I do not recall,”

For the desperate and arrogant their sad caterwaul.

“Situational amnesia” with lawyers’ consent, A justice travesty for democracy’s descent.

“The mob takes the Fifth,” the infamous did claim, But then with cohort insurrectionists did the same!

The Fifth has a righteous democratic intent, To protect the innocence but not the malcontent.

GEORGE KIBILDIS

Sparta, New Jersey

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THE WATER COOLER

What skill would you like to master?

Bill Frost

Basic math. I was always a grade ahead in English and two grades behind in math. It’s the only reason I didn’t become a rocket surgeon.

Chelsea Neider Painting.

Scott Renshaw

I’ve wanted to play guitar since I was a teenager, but my every attempt at becoming more musically literate has been a spectacular failure. It’s just a language I can’t seem to figure out.

Kelly Boyce

Massage. I wanted to be a massage therapist when I was younger but have broken/torn all my appendages connected to my shoulders and hands, so probably not an ideal position for me. An ideal therapy to help those heal, though!

Benjamin Wood

I have a unicycle and on a scale of 1 to 10, I’m probably at a 3 right now. I’d love to get to the point where I could ride it into town.

Eric Granato

Inner peace.

Paula Saltas

Excel spreadsheets. Baking. Plumbing 101. You know, everyday stuff.

It’s not helpful to conflate climate

BY JOHN SALTAS @johnsaltas

Come Fly With Me

My column last week was a deep reflection (that’s a lie, I never think too deeply) as I bitched about how airlines gouge their customers. This happens on all airlines, I suppose, particularly in peak times like Christmas, Mother’s Day or Thanksgiving.

I t hink Columbus Day is the only holiday that doesn’t spur gouging, since it’s more and more apparent that Americans are ditching their love affair with Mr. Smallpox. Gouging is also a greedy outcome of annual events like the Rose Bowl game that I attended on Jan. 2 of this year.

Most Ute fans drove to Los Angeles facing all kinds of travails from blizzards, heavy traffic and poor radio reception. I can avow that Interstate 15 to Los Angeles must rank as one of the Top 10 beef jerky routes in the whole U.S.A.

The cows that supplied those jerky bags must have needed a lot of water and alfalfa—good thing Utah has plenty of both, right? Wink, wink. There must be a couple thousand cows chopped and diced along the way into those top-to-bottom gas station shelf displays of sticky teriyaki or black-pepper-flavored beef jerky.

Long-haul truckers and Ute football fans don’t often consider that to be a problem. I also believe that if airlines provided beef jerky instead of two crackers and 12 peanuts, they’d have no seat shortages and thus no need to price gouge when opportunities arise.

The Utes lost, of course, in their Rose Bowl game. However, their loss provided wins for smart bookies and Delta A irlines. I well imagine that somewhere, a Delta honcho was rooting for the Utes to earn a Rose Bowl trip knowing that the price of a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles would rise exponentially.

And, as with last week’s column, that’s especially gall-

ing since Salt Lake City International Airport is a prized hub for Delta Airlines. Our local governments and the Utah Jazz love Delta. Tourists and ball teams come to Utah in order to pay top dollar for the same cocktails they consumed back home, dropping big bucks into the Utah economy, and Delta gets airline concourses bought and paid for by booze taxes (and all the rest).

Everyone wins except Utah residents who, no matter where they fly from Salt Lake City, most often pay higher prices than do residents of other Western cities.

Go ahead and try it yourself. Just go to Expedia or some other travel site and play around. You’ll see. Last week, I played with a bunch of domestic flights to other Delta city hubs like Atlanta and Minneapolis, then also to non-Delta hub cities like Chicago. Delta was always the highestpriced airline, even though they don’t always allot a full 12 peanuts. It doesn’t seem right.

Today, I did it again, pricing flights from Salt Lake City to Athens, Greece. You may know that City Weekly annually hosts a trip to Greece, each September. This year, nearly 100 of you will come along with me on two different 11- and 12-day trips (if you want to join or get on our mailing list, just reach me via john@cityweekly.net).

If I were buying now, Delta’s lowest price fare to Athens (via Paris) is over $200 more than United Airlines (via Chicago). It’s $600 higher via Atlanta (a Delta hub) and JFK in New York (a Delta hub). I’m starting to think this Delta hub stuff is one giant George Santos operation.

On the bright side, at least currently, Delta is not booking the same flight that I took last year via Paris. Last year, Delta was booking two connections to Athens through Air France; one had a 65-minute layover, the other was around 4 hours. There were also longer layover options.

However, nearly 20 others and myself chose the short

layover. Every one of us missed that connection on at least four different days. It cost everyone except me up to 12 hours of travel time. Two parties lost not hours, but days. I was routed to Aegean Air instead of Air France, the consequence of which was that my baggage never made it.

I was in Greece with no luggage until Day 8 when Aegean Air and Charles de Gaulle airport employees put down their cigarettes and got off their asses and found my bag. I then had to pay tons extra to get it to where I was staying in Nafplion.

Delta blamed Air France. Air France blamed Aegean Air. Aegean blamed the Paris airport—where my airpods clearly showed what concourse my bag was sleeping in. My angst lies with Aegean for being so nonchalant (“You can pick up your bag when you go back through Paris”—I wasn’t even returning via Paris!) and with Delta for booking a “legal” flight that they knew arrived on time only 30% of the time, as I sadly learned too late.

Indeed, all of the those affected on that route knew before they left Salt Lake that they would not make their Paris connection. I departed Salt Lake about 80 minutes late. I w as shot before I got off the ground.

I believe, lured by short overall travel time to Athens, that Delta was locking up customers who would have flown another airline—after all, they did manage to connect everyone (except me) on later Air France flights. Why not just book them on those flights in the first place? Because we are all just airline sheeple.

When President Reagan deregulated the airlines, it effectively reduced competition, and the remaining airlines reaped billions. Consumers pay through the nose with no consideration for comfort or football fandom. Not even a thought about beef jerky. CW

Send comments to john@cityweekly.net

30% Off!

HITS & MISSES

MISS: Body of Builders

Everyone knows that there are not enough developers in the Legislature—not until they make up 100% of both chambers. And the governor agrees. Well, it’s not so much that we need more developers as we need more development. Lots of it. In his world of dreams, Spencer Cox really believes that more development means more affordable housing. “A lot of the people who argue that regulations are causing inadequate supply don’t appear to have looked at the numbers,” writes the website Shelterforce. In other words, it’s not that simple. It involves demand, location, the workers moving into a city and so much more. Now the Legislature, according to the Deseret News, is looking at greasing the skids for developers to streamline the subdivision process and, as they are wont to do, penalize cities for not acceding to developers’ demands. You can expect to see more free-wheeling construction, but don’t expect it to lower prices or affect homelessness.

MISS: My Ballot, My Choice

Maybe you don’t know this, but many laws are enacted because just one person complained to their legislator. Sometimes it’s more than one, but lawmakers like to show how responsive they are, even if it’s not to their general constituency. So it is with Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), an alternative voting method that’s proved to be both popular and effective in reducing partisan bickering. Who doesn’t like it? Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski, who—BTW—won her election in a field of eight candidates. After a grueling recount, she won by just 21 votes and yes, RCV gave her the majority. That’s what RCV does—it eliminates second and third choices until the winner ultimately has more than 50% of the vote. Utah has been running a pilot program in which 21 municipalities opted into RCV, and the polls showed that the public liked it. While opponents say it’s too confusing, they are simply not giving the voter enough credit. Watch the Legislature to see what they’re cooking up, because they probably like the tradition of negative campaigning that RCV works against.

HIT: Outdoor Diversity

The Salt Lake economy says “thank you” to Outdoor Retailer as it returns to the state that it left in a huff of indignation. Yes, the outdoor tradeshow made a statement when it left in 2017. That was when its members noticed that the Legislature wanted to take over federal public lands for … wait for it … development. But ethics gave way to the bottom line as they fled Colorado for not living up to expectations. The best part of their return, though, is their continued advocacy not only for public lands, but, as KUER 90.1 noted, for diversity and inclusion. “We can no longer afford to show white and male, white and female alone, as if they are the only people recreating in these spaces, because that’s the wrong message to put out,” said the co-founder of Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge. Tell that to our legislative white male majority.

Bill-boredom

There are few things that will elicit a stronger negative reaction from Salt Lake residents than the word “billboards.” If you have the unfortunate privilege of commuting on interstates 15 or 80, you’ll unfortunately pass dozens of these unsightly displays, advertising everything from restaurants to real estate agents to medical procedures you never knew existed.

But these monstrosities are not just constrained to the interstate highways, as a fair number of them are integrated into our neighborhoods. I once tried to record all their locations but as the numbers grew to such astronomical quantities, I gave up.

And despite our best efforts to ignore and unsee them, the reason they exist in such abundance is that they, regrettably, sink in. The mortgage interest rate is around 6.0% and, as a person who does not consume any financial news whatsoever, I ask myself how exactly do I know this? Yup, billboards.

Since my noticing them is unavoidable, I’ve made it a pet project to at least spot interesting ones. The above photo shows an unexpected viewpoint of the backside of a series of billboards located on 500 South near 600 West Despite the variability of the messaging when traveling westbound, the uniformity of these signs against the skyline looking the other direction is a bit striking.

Unquestionably, the most famous billboard in SLC is the one located on the southwest corner of 300 west and 500 south, due to the way it obstructs the viewpoint of several units in a luxury apartment complex (lower right photo). My personal favorite, however, is one on 900 South and 800 West that for several months remained unsullied by an ad (lower left).

Invariably though, a vinyl sign recently appeared on top of the billboard’s pure white backdrop, which has me searching for a new favorite. Guess that’s one thing billboard companies and Taylor Swift have in common: If they have a blank space, baby— they’ll write your name.CW

A row of billboards along the 500 South interstate overpass turn their backs on anyone not in a car driving west

Two billboards block the view in Salt Lake City, one from afar and one from right outside an apartment window.

BRYANT HEATH BRYANT HEATH

Utah Opera: The Daughter of the Regiment

For some folks, the very concept of “opera” is tied to tragedy—to soaring arias expressing grief and despair, and plots built around death and loss. That notion ignores a long and rich tradition of more lighthearted opera buffa fare, which inevitably involves business like mysterious parentage, lovers trying to work around obstacles and outrageous misunderstandings.

You’ll find plenty of that kind of material in The Daughter of the Regiment, the 1840 opera by Gaetano Donizetti based on a French libretto. It’s the story of Marie, a young woman who has been adopted by a regiment of French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. She falls in love with Tonino, a soldier from the opposing forces who has saved her life, inspiring complications as Tonino finds himself needing to win the approval of battlefield enemies. But the courtship between Marie and Tonino faces another road block when a connection to Marie’s birth family is found in a wealthy marquise, Marie’s aunt, who resolves to take in the woman who has been raised among coarse soldiers and make her a real “lady.”

If you believe that there might still be more twists and turns ahead before Marie and Tonino live happily ever after, you’re ready to delight in the music and the engaging story. Utah Opera’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment wraps up this week with performances Wednesday, Jan. 18 (7 p.m.), Friday, Jan. 20 (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday, Jan. 22 (2 p.m.) at the Capitol Theatre (50 W. 200 South). Tickets are $15 - $110; visit utahopera.org for tickets and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

Love in the Abstract @ “A” Gallery

Heading into February and its frequent Valentine’s Day theme, it’s important to remember how many different ways there are of thinking about the concept of love. Especially where artistic work is concerned, capturing what “love” is can involve much more than an anatomicallyincorrect representation of a heart, or bucolic scenes of partners at play. Love itself defies easy definition, and exists only as an abstract concept imbued with our own individual meanings. So it seems more than fitting that “A” Gallery’s group exhibition, running through Valentine’s Day week, takes an abstract view of whatever it is that the represented artists happen to be expressing love for at a given moment.

Love in the Abstract is a group show presenting the work of several different artists represented by the gallery. David Adams’ images in acrylic and pastel turn individual blips of color into something resembling close-up, pixelated photos. Andy Taylor’s oil on linen work evokes landscapes through large swathes of color that forces attention onto the finer details. Emily Robinson casts surreal hues onto her portraits of the natural world. And Brent Godfrey (“Quilt” is pictured) explores a wide range of media to cast the real world into the abstract.

Love in the Abstract runs Jan. 20 – Feb. 18 at “A” Gallery (1321 S. 2100 East), with an artist reception on Friday, Jan. 20, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. Regular gallery operating hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Saturday; the exhibition is free and open to the public. Visit agalleryonline.com for additional information on represented artists. (SR)

Depths of Wikipedia @ Wiseguys

The web can be bewildering at times. Social media, YouTube and all things having to do with the internet can take you down a rabbit hole from which there’s often no escape. Take Wikipedia, for example. Granted, you can find just about anything you want to explore—and many things you don’t—on that knowit-all platform. Thankfully, then, Depths of Wikipedia takes audiences to the far reaches of this all-too-popular online encyclopedia. It illuminates the strange and interesting facts Wikipedia has to offer, from the obvious to the obscure.

It originated on Instagram as a personal project in 2020 by Annie Rauwerda, a University of Michigan student whose social-media accounts share excerpts from various Wikipedia articles that specifically pertain to strange, surprising, weird and wacky subjects—including, but not limited to, exploding trousers, Nuclear Gandhi, chess on really big boards and, perhaps most curious of all, certain popes’ sex drives. In addition to the live Depths of Wikipedia comedy show, she’s also hosted a Wikipedia editing workshop, and even launched a newsletter that furthers her fascination. Since anyone can offer additions to a Wikipedia entry, it’s all pretty practical as well as enticing. In fact, Rauwerda says she gets any number of suggestions for topics to feature in her show. Can Encyclopedia Britannica or the World Book Encyclopedia claim the same? It’s safe to say Wikipedia’s popularity outpaces them both.

Depths of Wikipedia Live visits Wiseguys Gateway (194 S. 400 West) at 7 p.m. on Tues, January 24. Tickets for the 21 + show cost $25. Visit wiseguyscomedy.com for tickets and additional event information. (Lee Zimmerman)

Big Shiny Robot Fired From (a) Canon

Fictional universes have rules, but they’re rules that can—and sometimes should—be broken.

BY BRYAN YOUNG comments@cityweekly.net @swankmotron

“I

s that canon?”

It’s a question you often hear in geek circles. You’ll hear it alongside phrases like, “That’s not canon,” “That’s not my canon,” and “This is my head-canon.”

So what is “canon?” Why is it useful in some cases? And why is there too much attention paid to it?

I’ve asked myself this a lot.

In the simplest terms, canon is the rules or history of a particular universe that the creatives making new content have to adhere to. Fandom took the word from religious circles; “canon” comes from Latin and means “a rule or law.” We’d use it to canonize saints or talk about the various gospels dead white folks determined to be the canon of the New Testament.

To be honest, that religious fervor is not unlike what we see in the worlds of fandom today. Many of the fights over what is and isn’t canon seem to center around what we like and what we don’t like. Sometimes the line blurs, and we get things we do like out of the things we hate.

In the Star Wars universe, for example, the canon is anything George Lucas worked on prior to his sale to Disney—the films and The Clone Wars animated TV show—and anything published or produced by Lucasfilm

after April 14, 2014. Anything published before that is where inspiration can be drawn from, but none of the new creatives need to be tied to that. And, honestly, I think this is for the best. Can you imagine if J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson tried making films handcuffed to 20 years of novels that ranged from great—like Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy—to actively terrible?

Why does it matter to creatives? Well, they need to agree to a set of rules and events in the universe in order to tell meaningful stories going forward, and have it all make sense. But that doesn’t mean you have to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

Did you know that parts of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special have been brought into the current canon? Life Day—the holiday created for that hilariously bad TV special—is something celebrated officially in the universe. Boba Fett’s rifle, first introduced on that holiday special, became the signature weapon of The Mandalorian.

Some folks, however, get hung up on what is currently in the canon. In Star

Wars, there are some still upset that the new movies didn’t follow the old Expanded Universe books. Some folks create their own canon by saying things like, “The Skywalker Saga ended with The Last Jedi,” or “The only thing I care about are the books, the rest is history.” And so on.

And that’s fine! I think it’s important to have different interpretations and iterations. We’ve been doing this in comic books for years. Can you imagine the nightmare if the Marvel Cinematic Universe tried to adhere strictly to the comics continuity? Hell, the comics continuity in the Marvel 616 universe alone—the one that includes most of the familiar characters now used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—gets a loose reset every time a new artist and writer team come on board a project. No one complains that the movies don’t exactly follow the comics, but they certainly follow the spirit of the comics.

And really, in the end, that’s what the canon is: The spirit of the thing you’re viewing. Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Marvel, DC, all of it. They’re just interpre-

tations of the thing you love.

Think about it like you would remakes of King Kong. None of the future iterations of that film were shackled to the original 1933 masterpiece. Each generation added to the spirit of the thing by interpreting it in their own way, and that’s okay. Maybe fifty years from now they’ll do the same with Star Wars. Or they’ll just keep breaking through new frontiers of the timeline and show us something new that way.

Regardless of what “the canon” is, though, the most important thing is to be open to the storytelling of the person telling us the story. Forget about all you know. It’s like Yoda said of the cave; the only thing you’ll find there is what you take with you. And if you bring biases and preconceived notions about what “should have been,” only pain will you find.

Try to open your mind to the possibilities. Let creatives do their work. You might find that they’ve taught you something new about the story you wanted, and you’ll find the story you wanted wasn’t the story you needed after all. CW

2023 Preview

A look at some of the most promising feature-film options from this year’s festival program.

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET

Boy, it certainly feels like it’s been a while since Sundance took place inperson. For the past two years, the festival has taken the virtual path, in addition to showing some films at satellite screens around the country. Now, we’re all headed back to the hustle of running around Park City to see a whole host of new works from artists far and wide. While we haven’t had a chance to see these films yet, here are 20 movies that are on our radar.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt

The first feature of what we will hope will be many more from writer-director Raven Jackson that also stars both Moses Ingram of The Tragedy of Macbeth and Sheila Atim of The Woman King? Yeah, we’re thinking that there is truly no better place to start off the festival than with this one. Telling the story of Mack, a Black woman living in Mississippi, it is billed as being an emotional epic built about the free-flowing passing of time that sees years turn to decades, from her youth all the way to adulthood.

Bad Behaviour

We know, movies about movies are all the rage. However, this dark comedy—where Jennifer Connelly plays a toxic former child actress trying to find healing on a retreat where she will consult with her guru (played by Ben Whishaw)—has us hooked. That all this is going on while she is grappling with her strained relationship with her stunt-performer daughter makes it one that seems to offer a fresh take. The feature debut of writer-director Alice Englert, this is a film we hope will be 2023’s great “unlikeable character” study.

Bad Press

Journalism is in a bit of a rough spot business-wise, despite being a crucial public good that holds those in power to account. Bad Press, a documentary feature from directors Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler, zooms in on the story of one reporter at Mvskoke Media in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, whose crucial work is being targeted and undercut by those who would rather do away with a free press entirely.

birth/rebirth

What would Sundance be without horror? It would be incomplete, that’s what, which makes birth/rebirth something we’re looking forward to among these genre flicks. The feature debut from writer-director Laura Moss takes the classic story of reanimation, then gives it a new life of its own by following two women and a young girl who undertake a personal journey that will leave all of them forever changed.

Cat Person

Remember Cat Person, the New Yorker short story that offered a snapshot look at a short relationship between a young college student and a 33-year-old that took over conversations several years ago? We sure do, which makes us curious—if a bit trepidatious—for its film adaptation. Starring Emilia Jones, most known for the 2021 Sundance breakout hit/Oscar-winner CODA, and Nicholas Braun, aka Cousin Greg from Succession, it is one of those stories that we can already sense will be a topic of conversation once more (for better or worse).

Deep Rising

Another documentary about a pressing topic that will remain urgent for this generation and every other, Deep Rising takes us into the oceans to see how a mining startup has begun extracting precious metals for the purpose of making electric batteries. Narrated by Jason Momoa, the latest documentary from Matthieu Rytz (the 2018 Sundance feature Anote’s Ark) asks key questions about how humanity should prepare for a precarious future.

Eileen

For all those who appreciated the unsettling 2016 experience that was Lady Macbeth as much as we did, join us in getting excited for the latest work from that film’s director, William Oldroyd. Starring the always-great Thomasin McKenzie at the titular Eileen, it centers on her mundane life in 1960s Boston and her job at a prison. When she finds herself drawn to a new woman, played by the equally mesmerizing Anne Hathaway, who begins working with her at the prison, the life she has known will never be the same.

Fancy Dance

Let us tell you something about actress Lily Gladstone: Anything she is in, you’re going to want to see. Whether it’s working with directors in the past like Kelly Reichardt or in the future with Martin Scorsese, she is always outstanding. This film from Sundance alum Erica Tremblay sees Gladstone playing an aunt caring for her niece. The two must go on a journey in search of the young girl’s mother who has gone missing in a harsh world where justice is in short supply for Indigenous women.

Bad Behaviour

Deep Rising

Bad Press

Eileen

birth/rebirth

Fancy Dance

Flora and Son

Sometimes, Sundance adds some additional features that weren’t part of the initial program, yet immediately rise to the top of our most-anticipated screenings. Flora and Son is one such film. From writer-director John Carney, whose previous works Once and Sing Street remains melancholic and joyous stories worth seeking out, it takes us once again into a melodic world that centers on a struggling young mother living in Dublin that rediscovers her love of music. If it has even one fifth of the energy of Carney’s past work, count us in.

Infinity Pool

Taking a plunge once more into horror, the latest from Brandon Cronenberg (yes, son of director David Cronenberg) has been bouncing around our heads for a while. His previous film, Possessor, left a real mark and established him as a filmmaker to watch with a voice of his own. His latest tosses the horror icon that is Mia Goth (of the recent X and Pearl) and the charismatic Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman) into a new nightmare where a peaceful island vacation takes a dark turn that threatens to upend both their lives.

Landscape With Invisible Hand

The latest from writer-director Cory Finley, whose previous films Thoroughbreds and Bad Education are each dynamic in their own distinct ways, sees the filmmaker taking on a science-fiction story that follows two teens in a world that has been invaded by aliens. However, this isn’t bad for the wealthy class who can afford access to new technology, whereas the rest of the world is left with nothing. With this story of scheming to survive in a world stacked against you, we are hungry for whatever Finley throws at us.

Passages

Veteran filmmaker Ira Sachs is back with his eighth film to show at the festival, and has us as intrigued as ever. Telling a story set in the vibrant beauty of Paris, it follows a filmmaker who begins an affair with a young woman that upends his relationship with his husband, who then begins one of his own. A story of the mess that is emotion, attraction and love—with all their intersections and disconnections—it raises questions about all our desires. It stars Franz Rogowski as the director, Adèle Exarchopoulos as the young woman, and, once more on this list because we had to include this one as well, Whishaw as the husband.

Past Lives

Here’s a film that ensures this festival is not lacking in the love and romance department. The feature debut of acclaimed playwright-turned-filmmaker Celine Song, Past Lives bottles up moments in time of an enduring relationship between Nora and Hae Sung, who grow close when attending school in Seoul. This is disrupted when Nora’s family emigrates to Canada, but their fates remain intertwined over the decades. With an all-star cast of Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, this has all the makings of a sublime hit.

Shortcomings

The feature directorial debut of actor Randall Park (best known as the Marvel Universe’s Jimmy Woo), this film has a charming cast and a fun premise that makes it one we can’t wait to get our eyes on. Leading this is Justin H. Min, whose poetic previous film After Yang was one of the best from 2022’s festival. This time around, he plays an aspiring filmmaker living in Berkeley, California, where he is stuck in a bit of a rut. This will get brought into focus when his girlfriend moves to New York for an internship and leaves him to figure out what to do with his life.

Sometimes I Think About Dying

If you’ve ever found yourself in the confines of a cubicle and questioning the life path that brought you there, you’re going to want to strap in for this one. Starring Daisy Ridley of a little series known as Star Wars that only ended up wasting her talents, it looks to be an emotionally grounded story of isolation and loneliness. Ridley plays the aimless Fran, who lives in a small town on the Oregon coast without much spark to be found anywhere in her life—which becomes altered when she meets someone new to the area.

The Pod Generation Technology has and will continue to shape fundamental parts of our lives. This may soon include how we bring life into the world, which is where this near-future satire from writer-director Sophie Barthes places us. Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor play a couple hoping to have a child; they get the opportunity via a detachable artificial womb, or “pod.” Disagreements between the couple abound in a film that sets out to skewer our social rules and scratch its own science-fiction itch. CW

Infinity Pool Passages Shortcomings

The Pod Generation

How to Festival 2023

The logistics of getting back to in-person screenings in Park City and SLC

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Park City’s January film festival landscape may never again look exactly the way it did in 2020— the last time folks gathered in person for both Sundance and Slamdance— but at least there’s some semblance of normalcy in the idea of real people trudging through real snow from one real-world venue to another. The festival logistics have changed quite a bit, with virtual screenings now seemingly a permanent supplement to the in-person festival, so it’s worth taking a look at how you can experience festival films, whether you’re staying home or heading out to share the experience with other movie-lovers.

Get an online Sundance account. However you plan on catching Sundance films, you’ll need an online account. As of press time, the mobile app for the 2023 festival was not yet available, but by the opening of the festival, you’ll want to have it handy in order to get on mobile waitlists (see below), find venues and more. If you ordered tickets, that online account should already exist, and you can connect to it on the app.

Be ready for the Park City experience. If you’ve attended the film festival in person in previous years, you know to expect logistical challenges: winter weather conditions, traffic backups on major streets, crowded shuttle buses, etc. For those heading up for the first time, parking should be your major concern. Street parking is extremely limited, as is paid parking in lots like the China Bridge structure in Swede Alley (behind the Egyptian Theatre). Your best bets are the park-and-ride lots set up on Richardson Road (closest to the Prospector Theatre venue) and Ecker Hill (at Jeremy Ranch, just outside of Park City), with shuttle services running daily. After that, make use of the festival shuttles, but be aware that delays are common, especially during morning and evening rush hours and when dayskiers are heading out of town. However long you think you need to get from one venue or another, assume you need at least twice that long, so you don’t end up missing your showtime.

Catch a movie in SLC.

For those who just don’t want to mess with the mountain, there are plenty of opportunities for movies right down here in the valley. In addition to returning venues at the Broadway Centre Cinemas, Rose Wagner Center and Grand Theatre, Sundance has added the Megaplex Theatres at the Gateway to the roster of downtown spots for Sundance screenings. Each of these offers ample

parking (mostly paid lots, with the exception of the Grand for its weekend offerings), or you can take a Trax train or even walk between the Megaplex, Rose Wagner and Broadway.

How to waitlist.

As of press time, most in-person screenings are officially sold out. However, that’s partly a way to account for t he presence of passholders—who can only attend one screening in one place at one time, after all. That leaves the timehonored tradition of the Sundance waitlist, which begins with logging on to the aforementioned app exactly two hours before the scheduled showtime of your desired screening; choose wisely, since you can only be on one waitlist at a time per two-hour window. Once you sign in to a waitlist, you’ll be given a waitlist number—you can connect with a friend, though you’ll each get individual consecutive numbers—to identify your place in the queue. You’ll then need to be at the actual theater venue at least 30 minutes prior to showtime; tickets will then be sold (cash only, $25 per ticket) beginning 15 minutes prior to showtime. Venues vary widely regarding how many waitlist patrons are admitted, but history has shown that early mornings and late nights are the best time to get lucky, as well as at the larger venues (like Park City’s Eccles Center and the Grand Theatre on State Street).

Don’t forget about Slamdance.

Sundance gets all the big publicity, understandably, but Park City will also be hosting the in-person return of Slamdance at its familiar home at the Treasure Mountain Inn on Main Street. Tickets can be easier to obtain for the in-person screenings, and the casual atmosphere can allow for hanging out and chatting with a filmmaker after you’ve just watched their movie. Allow a little time in your schedule for an under-theradar discovery.

COURTESY PHOTO

Factor in time to navigate Park City’s crowded streets.

Chasing The Conqueror

Slamdance documentary Downwind explores the legacy of nuclear testing in the American West

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

It’s fairly common in the world of fiction filmmaking for one movie to be inspired by another. That idea may be less common for documentaries, but in a roundabout way, the Slamdance documentary Downwind might not exist if not for the 1956 Hollywood epic The Conqueror Downwind addresses the legacy of nuclear testing on the American West—including Southern Utah—and those whose lives were impacted by radioactive fallout, including some who became activists for the cause. According to the film’s co-director Mark Shapiro, there was something particularly gripping about the story of The Conqueror, which was filmed in the St. George area in the year following several nuclear tests, and where dozens of cast and crew members—including stars John Wayne and Susan Hayward, and director Dick Powell—subsequently died of cancer.

“John Wayne in particular, he was sort of an iconic symbol of America,” Shapiro says. “He was the allAmerican cowboy, yet this impacted him as well. [Codirector Douglas Brian Miller] had this idea of a lens metaphor, where we zoom in on St. George, then took the camera back so to speak, and through interviews.”

Among those interview subjects was John Wayne’s son, Patrick, who related an anecdote about the tons of red soil that was shipped from Utah to Hollywood to complete filming of The Conqueror on sound stages. “Patrick talks about going over to the studio in California with Geiger counters, and they were still getting readings, within the last 20 years,” Shapiro says.

That story is just one example, of course, of the way fallout has had a lingering effect for decades, and Downwind explores a wide range of those impacts. Among the most significant are those affecting the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation, whose ancestral lands in present-day Nevada were the site of

the majority of testing. “[The site is] cordoned off and excluded from their heritage. There are petroglyphs, things on that land that are sacred,” Shapiro says. “Ian Zabarte [Principal Man for the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation] refers to the test site, and America, as the most bombed nation on Earth. He talks about water, how we are water, and the need for protecting water. When you contaminate it through testing, it goes somewhere.”

As is true of most research projects, there were things the filmmakers knew that got them started, but things they learned along the way that shocked them. For Shapiro, among the most unsettling was how many tests took place, and for how long. “There were 928 detonations,” he says. “A journalist in Las Vegas, Keith Rogers, gave me this book, U.S. Nuclear Tests, a pamphlet the details every test detonated at the Nevada test site. It’s amazing when you leaf through this in black-and-white book: the purpose, the yield range, sometimes more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Most people are well aware of the first tests, but the fact that they had 928. … That number is burned into my memory now.”

The research and interviews for Downwind included many survivors and activists, including Utah journalist Mary Dickson, who has written extensively about being part of the “downwinders” community, as well as actor Martin Sheen. Those voices of activism became a key part of the movie, as Shapiro and Miller really began to understand the way that terrible circumstances

often turn people into reluctant activists.

“We were inspired by the idea that they had decided to change the world,” Shapiro says. “That’s why we felt the people in our film aren’t just reluctant activists; they’re inspirational activists. A lot of them know each other, have met at conferences, or through Zoom. But they all have this thing that happened to them, and continues to happen to them. And they are non-stop. They speak their mind.”

Amplifying the voice of those who have decided to speak their mind is part of the mission of Downwind, yet it’s also a way of re-thinking what it means to be quintessentially “all-American,” and not just in the way associated with an iconic figure like John Wayne. “I’m so proud to be an American, but I think it’s important to take our country to task at times,” Shapiro says. “I wonder about the number of tests that were conducted, and the fact that it’s not really taught in schools.

“Martin Sheen, for example, he loves this country, but it doesn’t mean you can’t take it to task. ‘Patriot’ and ‘activist’ both have negative connotations now, but there are patriots who are progressive and want to see change. … There’s a lot going on in the world, a lot of challenges. It’s important that we all take a pause and recognize that part of being an American is speaking out and speaking your mind.” CW

Downwind premieres at Slamdance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 23, including a panel discussion. Visit slamdance.com/festival/ for more information.

Actor Martin Sheen protests nuclear testing in a scene from Downwind

Error Parent

BY CHASE HUTCHINSON comments@cityweekly.net

In 2020, writer-director Florian Zeller’s harrowing film The Father was released. A work of what was essentially psychological horror where the source of fear came from within the inside of one’s own mind, it featured a magnificent performance from Anthony Hopkins as a man living with dementia. It approached the grim story unflinchingly, capturing a slice of life portrait of what happens when all you hold dear is beginning to slip away forever. All of the ways it empathetically brought into being the experience of not being able to trust your own perception was enhanced by a grace that was felt in every facet of the Award-winning performance by Hopkins.

Zeller’s follow-up that is also a prequel of sorts, The Son, will not be receiving any such recognition. Utterly lacking in any such grace, it is a significant step down that feels as though it was made by an entirely different filmmaker. Obviously, this isn’t the barometer for what makes art valuable, but it is bizarre to look back on this film with the knowledge that it was once considered to be a potential contender for end-of-year awards.

Based on Zeller’s 2018 stage play of the same name, it follows a fractured family facing a crisis that none of them are equipped to handle. Patriarch Peter (Hugh Jackman) is living with his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their newborn son. Peter’s troubled teenage son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) is living with his previous wife, Kate (Laura Dern), though now

wants to come stay with Peter, as he is having persistent struggles and is crying out for help. Peter agrees to this in the hopes that he can offer stability and support, only to rather quickly find himself out of his depth.

Most of The Son takes place in a series of stilted and plainly-shot conversations that are built around the characters speaking past each other without truly listening. Peter, in particular, believes that he must be firm with Nicholas, who has been skipping school. It is a type of “tough love” that is self-servingly toxic and destructive; the overbearing tragedy then comes from how this seems to be the sole way Peter knows how to communicate. After all, this was how he was raised by his own dad, played by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins even makes a scene-stealing appearance that establishes how familial trauma has been passed down across generations.

The longer the film goes on, the more we hear from Nicholas about how he has become lost in life and fearful about his

future. The looming potential for pain begins bearing down on the story with all the subtlety of a freight train.

It must be established that any story grappling with domestic strife and, as we come to realize, the devastating agony of depression, is certainly going to be messy. We all like to believe that we would be able to be there for our loved ones to face their problems head-on together, but life does not always work that way. People are flawed and any excavation of this means laying this issue bare. What becomes the film’s downfall is how the story itself is so messy, melodramatic and blunt in its construction that it renders most everything hollow. While possibly well-intentioned, as the film struggles to reach its final act, it is made unredeemable in how frustrating and manipulative it all is.

At its core, The Son relies on a fraught series of deceptions about Nicholas that are so transparent and tactless that they leave a sour taste in the mouth. We don’t feel like we come to know him beyond the

broad strokes, a choice that shifts from representing the disconnection between him and his parents to being shallow in all the wrong ways. For all the attempts the cast make to inject the story with life, it never finds anything even close to emotional resonance.

Where The Father was compassionate just as it was crushing, The Son is dispassionate and dreary without ever scratching beneath the surface. This story is a tragically timeless one, but the way it is told here fails to do it justice. Its greatest tragedy is that it loses sight of any humanity, merely going through the motions and nothing more. CW

The Son ’s attempts to address a family’s mental-health crisis ring hollow and superficial.

THE SON B Hugh Jackman Zen McGrath Laura Dern Rated PG-13 Available in theaters Jan. 20

Zen McGrath, Laura Dern

Hugh Jackman in The Son

Baby Got Basque

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

One of my resolutions for 2023 was to be more accepting of tapas places. My first experiences with restaurants that claimed to be tapas places wear the moniker as a gimmick, allowing them to serve less food for more money.

I’ve traveled around a bit since then, and realized that the buzz around Mar Muntanya (170 S. West Temple, 385-433-6700, marmuntanya.com), downtown Salt Lake City’s newest tapas bar, is well-deserved. Like all trends, when you get a chance to experience the genuine article, you start to understand a bit more about why the trend became popular in the first place.

My initial interest in Mar Muntanya was piqued when I learned that the Basque cuisine of Northern Spain was its culinary focal point. Coming from this perspective, the tapas style of serving small, sharable plates of food makes sense. When you consider the fact that Mar Muntanya operates on the sixth floor of the new Hyatt Regency hotel next to the Salt Palace Convention Center, everything lines up in a clear picture. A hip concept executed with traditional knowledge of regional cuisine is an impressive addition to a hotel designed to impress the downtown convention-hoppers.

I was on board with the concept when I visited during their updated brunch hours, which are from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and even more so when I made another trip back to check out dinner. The space is lovely— diners are surrounded by warm, rustic colors and a great view of the downtown cityscape. There is patio space, though it’s currently hibernating under a blanket

of that greatest snow on Earth. Once the weather warms up, however, I could see this evolving into one of the coolest patio spots in the city.

Like everything Mar Muntanya prepares, the brunch menu is full of classic favorites reinterpreted with Spanish flair. My wife and I were most curious about the biscuit and gravy ($9), the shrimp and grits ajillo ($15), the short rib hash ($18) and the quince waffle ($13). The Mar Muntanya spin on these familiar favorites was an excellent intro to their overall concept, and the biscuit and gravy was a prime example. It’s a warm, flaky biscuit sliced in half and topped with a thick country gravy that swapped the maple sausage with Bilbao chorizo. It may not sound like much of a tweak, but that dry, crumbly chorizo releases its smoky and spicy flavors into the gravy, which envelops the whole dish in an aromatic, peppery bouquet.

We both liked the short rib hash and the shrimp and grits, but the braise on the short rib made it overpower those lovely Yukon gold potatoes and greens. The shrimp and grits are made from paella broth—a fantastic idea, btw—but though the grits were buttery and smooth, I was hoping for a bit more of the paella kick. A little saffron would have sealed the deal.

On the sweeter side of thing, the quince waffle might be the unsung hero of the brunch menu. It’s a wonderfully dense waffle filled with sugary pearls like unto the Belgian boys, and topped with slivered Granny Smith apples and a dollop of quince jam. Topped with a bit of maple syrup, this is a sugary-sweet and tangytart joy to eat. The quince jam and tart apples are an excellent contrast to the sweetness of the waffle and syrup.

When the sun goes down on the metro area, Mar Muntanya breaks out its dinner menu, which is still replete with small plates though it adds some larger shareables to the party. You can’t call yourself a Utah foodie if you don’t try the funeral croquetas ($8), a dish that I appreciated to

no end. They roll out like a golden-brown stack of mozzarella sticks, except they’re stuffed with a cheesy potato casserole and breaded with crispy corn flakes in a highend nod to one of Utah’s most notable culinary contributions. The thinly sliced pickled Fresno peppers on top add a nice acidic punch to the cheesy, starchy goodness, and the fact that this is on the menu hints at Executive Chef Tyson Peterson’s understanding of local culture.

I also went with the oysters ($15) that come topped with a bit of beef tartare and served with house made còctel sauce and a vibrantly acidic spruce mignonette. This is an excellent contrast to the rich croquetas, and prompted me to wrap the evening up with a lemon natilla ($5). This dessert is a silky-smooth Spanish custard topped with a thin layer of lemon curd and served with a mantecado cookie that is meant to be crumbled on top of the

dessert for a bit of textured crunch. Once again, the sweet side of the menu caught me off guard—this is a spectacular way to finish things off and is a must for dessert fans.

I like that Mar Muntanya will be the face of Utah’s food scene for the convention circuit travelers—you have to respect a place that maintains its hip sensibilities while making cheeky nods about Utah culture in its menu. On top of all the subtleties, the team here goes above and beyond to create a memorable experience for its diners, and I’ll look forward to checking them out again very soon. CW

AT A GLANCE

Open: Wed.-Sun., 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Tues.-Sat., 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Best bet: Wrap up with that lemon natilla Can’t miss: The funeral croquetas are a must

Mar Muntanya likes big tapas and it cannot lie; turns out I do too.

ALEX SPRINGER

the BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Chinese New Year Celebration

The Utah Chinese Association (utahchineseassociation.org) will be hosting its annual Chinese New Year celebration with plenty of traditional food up for grabs. In addition to exploring the wonders of Chinese cuisine while enjoying live entertainment, musicians and artists, attendees can learn how to make Chinese dumplings, which should honestly be a staple in any kitchen. This event marks the first of the big cultural food festivals that we’ll be enjoying throughout 2023, and I’m excited to check them all out again this year. The event takes place on Jan. 21 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Salt Lake Church of Scientology (709 S. Temple).

Sneddon Hof Germanfest

If pretzels and sausages are more your speed, you’ll want to head to Ogden for this year’s Sneddon Hof Germanfest. It’s perfect for those who miss the autumnal Oktoberfest celebrations of a few months ago, or for those who simply love a good sausage party. In addition to all the German cultural heritage you can eat, attendees will have plenty of live music to enjoy—just make sure your October lederhosen still fit. The event takes place on Jan. 21 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Ogden Eccles Conference Center (2415 Washington Boulevard), and advance tickets can be purchased via Peery’s Egyptian Theater (ogdenpet.com).

2023 Chocolate Lovers Train

For the chocolate seekers who also share a love of railroad locomotives, the Heber Valley Railroad will officially kick off its 2023 chocolate lovers train on Jan. 20 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The event includes a 90-minute round trip ride on the Heber Creeper that comes complete with live music, local artisan chocolate and a bit of historical trivia to boot. In addition to regular admission, groups can pitch in for a table for four in the train’s luxury car for a posh experience. The Chocolate Lovers Train also has departures on Feb. 10 and March 10 if you happen to miss this one. Check out hebervalleyrr.com for tickets and more information.

Quote of the Week: “Nothing is more romantic than chocolate.” –Ted Allen

MEAT HOOK FULL

2 Row Brewing 6856 S. 300 West, Midvale

2RowBrewing.com

Avenues Proper 376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Brunch BeerGrapefruit Wheat Ale

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap: Gluten Reduced Kolsch

Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches & Cream Ale

Craft by Proper 1053 E. 2100 So., SLC craftbyproper.com On Tap: Whispers of the Primordial Sea - Smoked Pineapple Lager

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap: Out of Office Pale Ale

Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com On Tap: Orange Stick Imperial Stout

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com

On Tap: Fisher Beer

Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Extra Pale Ale

Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany. com

On Tap: NAIPA (Not Another IPA!)

Kiitos Brewing 608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: In The Pines, on nitro! Bingo: Wednesdays at 7pm

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap: Squeaky Bike Nut Brown

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com

On Tap: Wet Hopped Cider

Offset Bier Co 1755 Bonanza Dr Unit C, Park City offsetbier.com/ On Tap: DOPO IPA

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA

Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com

Prodigy Brewing 25 W Center St. Logan prodigy-brewing.com/

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com

On Tap: ThunderCougarFalconBirdAustralian Sparkling Ale

Red Rock Brewing 254 So. 200 West RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Gypsy Scratch

Red Rock Fashion Place 6227 So. State Redrockbrewing.com On Tap: Munich Dunkel

A list of what local

craft

breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

Red Rock Kimball Junction

Redrockbrewing.com 1640 Redstone Center

On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: Lone Ranger Mexican Lager

Roosters Brewing

Multiple Locations

RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion

SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake

SaltFireBrewing.com

On Tap: Grievance: Scotch Ale aged a year in Laird’s Apple Brandy Barrels

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Delta 88 Porter

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC

Scionciderbar.com On Tap: Reverend Nat’s Abbey Spice 6.9% ABV

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake

ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Prickly Pear Sour Ale

Silver Reef 4391 S. Enterprise Drive, St. George StGeorgeBev.com

Squatters 147 W. Broadway, SLC Squatters.com

Strap Tank Brewery Multiple Locations

StrapTankBrewery.com

Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter

Stratford Proper 1588 Stratford Ave., SLC stratfordproper.com

On Tap: Yacht Rock Juice Box - Juicy IPA

TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com

On Tap: Edel Pils

Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Udder ChaosChocolate Milk Stout on Nitro

Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com

On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer

UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Lovely Lady Nitro Stout

Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com

Wasatch 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC WasatchBeers.com

Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com

Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

OPENING SOON! Helper Beer 159 N Main Street Helper, UT 84526

Apex Brewing 2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191 Moab, Utah 84532

Grand Opening February 10th!

Fishing Expedition

Fisher Brewing moves forward with new beers and packaging

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

In the midst of a new expansion and the acquisition of a dedicated canning line, Fisher Brewing begins to expand its portfolio with new suds and alcohol-enhanced versions of some staples that you may already be familiar with. Here’s a sample of what’s hot at Fisher right now.

Fisher - Piney Brown: This 7.3 percent beer pours a stalwart brown color and with near clarity, showing off garnet highlights. An off-white head of creamy stature caps the beer with great persistence and moderate lace—a solid but expected appearance for American Browns.

Medium aromas of chocolate, toast, nuts and a grassy citrus note emerge from the glass. The balanced nose never allows dominance from one aspect of the beer, but carries the scent in a melded and focused sense.

Flavors become a very direct carryover from the scent. Initial toffee sweetness from malt develops into an overall “malty” taste accompanied by cocoarich chocolates, medium toast, walnuts and a somewhat rich taste of malted milk at mid-palate. The hop flavor of citrus and freshly-cut grasses also develops at the midpoint, and continues a transition to clean grassy/citrusy bitterness to finish the beer. Where I would have preferred more attention from the hops, this beer stands just beyond what English versions prescribe.

A medium mouthfeel to start allows for the creamy carbonation to carry the beer into the mid-palate. but the fleeting carbonation and quickly-drying finish leaves an empty feel. Though drink-

ability is high, I wish that the malty-rich body extended further, and that the citrusy hop flavor and bitterness had greater showing to help round out the beer, along with more dryness in the end.

Verdict: This American Brown Ale is a very easy-drinking, and likely to complement a wide range of food pairings. Clean, crisp and casual, it’s effortless in drinkability and helps to break that IPA rut we tend to get stuck in.

Fisher - Cerveza: This 4.7 percent lager is one of Fisher’s best sellers. Its nearly clear pale straw color—almost golden in appearance—comes with a medium head despite hard pour, and a high amount of carbonation is present based on the amount of bubbles and how quickly the bubbles rise to the surface. A very light malt profile peeks in on the nose, with a hint of rice and white bread; grassy hops are prevalent.

Lightly toasted white bread is the initial note to jump out at my tongue, followed by a hint of yeast and corn. Rice, along with a hint of more corn, strikes me in the middle, as well as a slight pepperiness. It finishes grassy, with a bit of green apple and a slight lingering bitterness. Carbonation tickles rather than delivering a burn, despite the amount of carbonation visibly present. Ultra-light, with a slight drying astringency on the back end.

Verdict: A great lager here featuring lots of pale malts with some nice yeast and just the right amount of sweetness, plus a hint of corn and cream. It finishes very well-rounded, simultaneously crisp and smooth. Though almost indistinguishable from an American lager, it has slightly better malts with just a hint of spice, and drinks not dissimilar to an American adjunct lager.

Fisher’s offerings are still mostly available at the source, with the exception of a handful of bars, pubs and restaurants along the Wasatch Front. The 32-ounce crowlers are still available for people to snag and take home, but the standard can for pre-packaged beers is now 16 ounces. Keep your eyes open for new and existing beers in the coming months as well. As always, cheers! CW

GOODEATS

Complete listings at cityweekly.net

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.

King Buffet

Here’s a buffet whose sheer dedication to variety makes it feel like a transplant from the Vegas Strip. Diners can sample more than 200 items that range from Chinese to Mongolian to sushi. This is the type of restaurant that challenges diners to try everything, making repeat visits easy to justify. It can get pretty packed during the weekend, Disneyland-worthy lines and all, but for those with a serious craving for the lovely, golden brown, sweet-and-sour Chinese food that calls America home, it’s tough to find a place with a heartier selection. It truly is the happiest place in Taylorsville. 5668 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville, 801-969-6666

Cliff Dining Pub

The Cliff combines one of the sexiest city-view patios in our briny borough with Chef Rene Negron’s top-notch sushi menu. Gold stars go to the gracious west-facing patio with a badass heating system making it a go-to for a romantic sunset sushi date during all but the snowiest months. Even better? A full bar, fabulous wine list and live music on weekends. 12234 Draper Gate Drive, 801-523-2053, cliffdiningpub.com

Apollo Burger

The local chain opened its first location on Salt Lake City’s North Temple back in 1984. Since then, the chain has grown to include a dozen locations around the state and as far away as St. George. Of course, the classic Apollo burger is the main draw here. But there’s much more to experience than just the burgers, like the Philly cheesesteak, barbecue beef, Reuben, Greek gyro, chicken souvlaki, corn dog, tuna melt and more. Or, if you’re on a health kick, get one of their hearty salads. Oh, and you’ll definitely want to order the baklava for dessert. Multiple locations, apolloburgersonline.com

Brewvies

When you combine beer and movies in one convenient downtown SLC location, you get Brewvies Cinema Pub. What’s not to love about kicking back with a flick, a frothy pint and some hearty bar grub? The theater offers showings of the latest blockbusters and independent films, plus a separate bar area lined with pool tables, video games and TVs. 677 S. 200 West, 801-355-5500, brewvies.com

Call Me Daddy

Cera Gibson releases most dynamic single yet

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

Cera Gibson is known to be a lot of things: singer, songwriter, performer. She has a large online following, growing every day, where she’s known as a comedian and social commentator who doesn’t pull her punches. Now, with her latest single, she has an additional title: Daddy.

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time Gibson has been referred to as daddy. Her more than 400k followers on TikTok have lovingly nicknamed her Mommy/Daddy— unrelated to her newest single, but it all fits nicely together in the lore of what makes Gibson such an alluring musical artist and content creator.

“I made a video that was in support of they/them pronouns about two years ago where I was making fun of people that are like, ‘English is English, it’s never changed, you can’t go about changing it now,’” she said. “I just started speaking in old English and reciting Beowulf and being like, ‘That’s English too. What’s your argument?’”

Because Gibson didn’t have her pronouns in her bio on TikTok, fans began joking that her pronouns were mommy or daddy, leading to her taking on the mommy/daddy moniker. “I grew up super LDS. I’m not anymore, and there was such a fix ation growing up on my gender and being a certain particular kind of woman,” she said. “I found that in adulthood, I don’t feel very comfortable putting a lot of emphasis on my gender, so I would just be like, call me whatever you want. I really don’t care.”

In her musical career, she’s been known as an “elegant captivating presence,”

while online her presence is “irreverent and ludicrous, with a wry, raunchy demeanor,” according to her website. Her new single, “Daddy,” aims to marry those worlds together. “Interestingly enough, I never intended to utilize comedy in any way,” Gibson said. “During the pandemic, I started my TikTok account, and I was just posting whatever came to mind. For whatever reason, people were super into it and it built me an audience of almost 400,000 people. So now I’m trying to merge them together.”

While her new single and her online persona go hand in hand, it’s actually a coincidence that they did. Gibson wrote the song in 2020, before her TikTok following came to be, and when she had just started dating someone new. “He is this big masculine macho dude, but he’s so sweet and kind,” she said. “He works so hard, and so suddenly I received this inspiration of, ‘I want you to call me daddy,’ but in the sense that ‘I want to be a safe space for you. I want to take care of you so you can let your masculinity down and be a person.’ It’s fun, it’s silly, but it came from a place of wanting to dismantle masculinity.”

It seems like it was meant to be—and at the perfect time, too, because bringing her worlds and careers together is important to Gibson at the moment, as she feels like it will strengthen both. “It’s like I’m having two parallel careers next to each other, and both of them are wonderful and have their own challenges and achievements happening,” she said. “I think for me to be able to sustain it effectively and really give each of them what they need,

she wanted to capture while sounding sultry and sexy. Gibson’s well-controlled vocals are addictive, especially as she goes up into a satisfying falsetto to sing the key word on the track: “daddy.” The song is plain beautiful, calming, and a treat to listen to. If the SLC pop icon keeps putting out high quality tracks like this one, we’re all in for a marvelous ride.

The year just past was a busy one for Gibson. She dropped her EP Uninspired, went on her first tour and put a lot of work into releasing “Daddy.” “I feel like this year just flew by because I had the whole thing planned out ahead of time,” she said. “I’m really having a lot of fun leaning into

we’re in for a treat. “I’m going to be trying to put out a lot more music,” she said, adding that there’s plans for tons more music and touring. Playing live shows especially made her realize how fun it is to get out there and connect with fans.

While “Daddy” is a great song with a killer vibe, Gibson wants to let listeners know not to expect any one particular thing from her, or that she will do the same things over and over. “My music, my content, myself, it all evolves throughout the years of my life,” she said. “I’m not someone that I feel like I need to be tied to a particular brand or a particular genre of music.”

Cera Gibson

Dale Watson @ The State Room 1/24

Dale Watson is the real deal. A dedicated guitar slinger, his allegiance to classic country encompasses the sounds of Bakersfield honky-tonks in true vintage tradition. He takes the role of a sturdy, so-called “Ameripolitan” insurgent, wholly dedicated to authenticity, from his outsider attitude and silver pompadour, to his resonating baritone and twangy guitar. “I realized if I was going to be happy, I’ve got to do what I do and, whether right or wrong, just go with that and don’t compromise,” he once told The Guardian. “I found out any kind of compromise with Nashville was like putting your head on a platter. … I would rather fight for something I believe in than do something I don’t.” That steadfast determination reflects his no-nonsense, blue-collar credence and a decidedly unapologetic attitude. An early song, “Nashville Rash,” reflected his contempt for commercial country radio, a view he reiterated on successive albums Blessed Or Damned and the equally assertive I Hate These Songs. Then again, Watson lives it as he sees it. He started making music as a pre-teen, and later became so enamored with truck-driving songs, he became a long-haul trucker himself. His latest album may be dubbed Call Me Insane, but we suspect he’s anything but. Catch Dale Watson and special guest Matt Hillyer at the The State Room, on Tuesday, Jan 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26 and can be found at AXS.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

Dale Watson

Emilee Atkinson

By Emilee Atkinson

Debuting a short time ago in September of 2022, Bleu Grave have been releasing singles and sharing their mellow melodic jams while working their way around the local music scene. They debuted their first single “More Ghosts Than People” during the same month, and it’s a good introduction to the new band. The bad-ass cover art goes well with the morose and calm track. Pressing play on the track was reminiscent of “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals; it has a signature strumming guitar with low and slow vocals. Fast forward to November, and Bleu Grave officially dropped their next single “Treasure Girl,” which features similar vibes as their first, but with a bit more reverb. Their third official release, “Cabin Fever,” was also out in November; I say “official” because the group has posted many videos on their Instagram and YouTube, including unreleased tracks played during practice/ rehearsal time. One such track, “Squid,” features a video that opens with a spooky cartoon before moving over to the band jamming out, laughing and having a good time. Joining Bleu Grave is another new group called Suppertime. They also posted for the first time in September 2022, but haven’t been on social media much since then, so it’ll be a cool surprise to see what they bring to the table. Catch these local acts on Friday, Jan 20 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $12 before the show and $15 the day of. Find tickets at theboardwalksound.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

Bleu Grave COURTESY PHOTO

Bleu Grave, Suppertime @ Boardwalk Sound 1/20

Joshua James @ Velour 1/21

There’s sure to be some excitement for this show featuring singer-songwriter Joshua James, rescheduled from November 2022; finally, fans of James’ work can see him live in Provo. He has been busy the last few years, pumping out music inspired by many facets of life, and proving time and again that he knows how to create work that is relatable and tugs at your heartstrings. His 2019 release Magical Leaves Red White Black Heat is an emotion-filled album touching on love and loss, acceptance, solitude and commitment. James takes listeners through personal experiences on this album along with some great covers, including “This Land is Your Land” by folk legend Woody Guthrie. In 2020, James dropped two full albums featuring loved ones, Joshua James & Nate Pyfer Discover Responsibility Through Fatherhood and Dreams of Karen, the latter featuring James’ mom, Reesa. No matter what James does, it seems like we can count on him to be as real and vulnerable as he can be each time we hear something new from him. His music also takes inspiration partly from growing up in the midwest, but Utahns get to claim him as our own now that he resides in American Fork. Based on James’ Instagram, it seems like he’s back in the studio creating more earnest and heartwarming music. See James at Velour on Saturday, Jan 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $15 and can be found at 24tix.com. (EA)

Candy, BIB @ Kilby Court 1/21

“Maybe it takes being pounded over the head with blast beats to do it, but we just want people to feel something,” guitarist Michael “Cheddar” Quick told Revolver in 2019. Candy are a hardcore rock group describing themselves as “politically outraged skate kids” who are “shaking up hardcore,” according to the same article in Revolver. The group made their debut in 2017, and have been making strides in the hardcore world since. Their 2019 release Good to Feel features such political outrage and anger—if only they knew what 2020 and on would bring. “I think in general people are desensitized to things that we shouldn’t be,” said vocalist Zak Quiram. “There’s children being kidnapped by our government, hate crimes, sexual assault, people dying every day, and we shrug it off because it’s such a constant thing. It’s pretty sad. But I think the point of music is to make people feel something at the end of the day.” Joining the hardcore skaters is fellow hardcore group BIB, whose music features chugging, hardcore riffs, reverb-soaked vocals and an overall sludgy sound. These two groups will complement each other well as they share the bill at Kilby Court on Saturday, Jan 21 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $15 in advance and $17 at the door. Find tickets at kilbycourt.com. (EA)

Slap Lake City Showcase @ Soundwell 1/19

Juggy (a.k.a. Snacklord) makes it a point to spotlight the next class of music wave makers from the Beehive State. “When I initially put the S.O.S. out there, I had the most submissions that I ever had,” said Juggy, who is a constant on Shade 45’s weekly Heavy Hitters (Mondays at 5 p.m.). “I try to incorporate Salt Lake City artists in my mix every week.” Since its humble beginnings back in 2019, Juggy has managed to morph the Slap Lake City mixtape series into an event that provides a diverse live offering. “I was really blown away about the amount of quality music here. A lot of these guys deserve shine. New artists. OG artists. Every level. Let’s put them on stage now,” Juggy said. Whether you are a fan of the dirt style, beat-up gritty sounds or want to witness quality control flows, pristine clean singing hooks and punchlines that make listeners ooh and aah, Slap Lake City amplifies big and bold sonic targets in unpredictable ways. It’s a place not only for fans of hip-hop, but a spot for people to come out and check what others in the city are doing. Juggy adds, “It’s a labor of love, a platform for artists. In the truest sense, it’s a community event.” To kick off the new year, January’s showcase will feature high-energy performances, nothing short of mind blowing. Doors for the event open at 8 p.m. and the show starts at 8:30 p.m. This 21+ show is free, but an RSVP is needed. Find more information can be found at soundwellslc.com. (Mark Dago)

DJ Juggy has a passion for the local hip-hop scene and putting artists on. Slap Lake City Brings together a fresh line-up of homegrown talent each month in this hip-hop showcase.

Joshua James

Candy

By Emilee Atkinson

Dan Kelly ∞ Fortunate Youth Kush Conversations Vol. 1

By Cole Fullmer - Salt Baked City

Kush Conversation (n): recorded discussions with Salt Baked City’s favorite musicians and artists to discover why they love and consume cannabis.

It’s tough to determine whether music is a gateway to good cannabis, or if cannabis is a gateway to good music. Either way you look at it though, this combination has been fueling flow-state amongst artists and listeners for generations. It’s also fair to say that cannabis reform has been driven by musicians such as Buddy Guy, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley, and Willie Nelson since the War On Drugs began. Now, there’s a new generation of artists like Snoop Dogg, B Real, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, and Berner who are carrying the Bic Lighter, so to speak, and their music is helping us push the plant into a bright legal future.

To help you get to know some of these cannaheroes, let us present to you Salt Baked City’s first ‘Kush Conversation.’ These discussions are meant to discover why an artist loves and uses cannabis. We already know about their career, so let’s take one step further into the mind of a remarkable artist and learn how they use cannabis in their lives, and in their music. We all have a special story about why we first decided to support the plant, or better yet – when we decided to allow the plant to start supporting us.

You probably already know that Dan Kelly is the lead singer of the reggae band, ‘Fortunate Youth,’ but did you also know that he’s a lifelong advocate of cannabis. Well, that’s probably not news either if you’ve listened to his irie sextet band play before. A lot of their lyrics revolve around consuming cannabis and legalizing the plant. Some might say they’re following in the famous footsteps of the Grateful Dead who strongly supported the psychedelic movement in the 60s and 70s. Now, this Hermosa Beach band is trying to do the same for the cannabis revolution today – one smoked out city at a time.

To find out more about Kelly’s

journey, we were lucky enough to sit down with him in the mountains and have a session while he was touring through town. So, sit back and relax. Make sure your favorite herb is ready to go, and let’s get ready to burn one with this rebel.

Salt Baked City: What’s in your jar? In other words, what’s on Dan Kelly’s cannabis menu for today?

Dan Kelly: I’m lucky when I go on the road, and I’m surprised by road candy that comes my way. The Road Gods always provide, let me tell you. This one is OG Kush (Kelly just began rolling a joint). I really like this strain. If your weed doesn’t smell like the dirt it grew in – then it must be a sativa (heavy laughter).

Scan the QR code to continue reading this sticky-icky content from Salt Baked City.

cannabis

ARIES (March 21-April

19)

Good news, Aries! During the next episode in the age-old struggle between the Impulsive You and the Farsighted You, I predict the latter will achieve a ringing victory. Hallelujah! I also foresee you overcoming the temptation to quit a project prematurely, and instead pushing on to complete it. There’s more! You will refrain from knocking your head against an obstacle in the vain hope of toppling it. Instead, you will round up helpers to help you wield a battering ram that will produce the desired toppling.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

You may not have a clear picture of where you’ll be going in the next five years. The detailed master plan that your higher self devised for you before you were born might even be obscure. But I’m here to tell you that in the coming weeks, a new lucidity can be yours. You can summon an acute instinct about which way is forward, if only you will recognize the subtle ways it’s speaking to you. In fact, I believe you will regularly know what move you should make next so as to expedite your long-term evolution. Life will be rewarding you with mysterious step-by-step guidance. Now please write a short statement affirming your intention to love, honor and obey your intuition.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Do you believe in the existence of guardian angels and spirit guides and ancestors who can intervene on your behalf from the other side of the veil? Do you wonder if maybe your invisible friends from childhood show up in your vicinity now and then to offer you support and kindness? Or how about the animals you loved earlier in your life but who have since passed away? Is it possible their souls have never left you, but are available if you need their affection? Even if your rational mind tells you that none of these possibilities are authentic, Gemini, I suspect you will nevertheless be the beneficiary of their assistance in the coming weeks and months. Their influence will be even more potent if you proceed as if they are real.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

Among your potential strengths as a human being are empathy, sensitivity and emotional intelligence. You may or may not choose to develop these natural gifts. But if you do, they can be instrumental in helping you achieve the only kind of success that’s really meaningful for you—which is success that your heart and soul love as much as your head and your ego. According to my astrological analysis, you are moving into a phase of your cycle when you will have extra power to ripen your empathy, sensitivity and emotional intelligence—and thereby enhance your ability to achieve the kind of success that’s meaningful for you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

“Dear Rob the Astrologer: The computer firewall at my youth hostel is blocking your website. I am being told you practice ‘Illegal Folklore and Insurrectionary Fairy Tales.’ What the hell? Can you do anything at your end to get me access to your wonderful horoscopes? Maybe cut back a bit on your Illegal Folklore and Insurrectionary Fairy Tales? Haha. Just kidding. I love that crazy stuff.—Deprived Leo in Ireland.” Dear Deprived: Many of you Leos have lately had problems getting all the Illegal Folklore and Insurrectionary Fairy Tales you need. I hope you will push hard to compensate. In my estimation, you currently have a strong need for dreamy stories that appeal to the Wild Child in you. They’re essential to your mental and spiritual health.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

In his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, Donald Miller acknowledges that fear can be a “guide to keep us safe.” Being afraid may indeed have its uses and benefits. But Miller adds that it’s also “a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.” In my astrological opinion, Virgo, fear will be of service to you—a guide to keep you safe—about 9% percent of the time in 2023. Around 83% of the time, it will be a

manipulative emotion not worth acting on. For the other 8%, it will be neither. Please plan accordingly.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Select two sticky situations in your world that you would love to reinvent. Let other annoyances and glitches just slide for now. Then cultivate a focused desire to do everything in your power to transform the two awkward or messy circumstances. Proceed as if you will have to do all the work yourself—that nothing will change for the better unless you take full responsibility. If you’re absolutely sure this involves other people altering their behavior, consider the possibility that maybe your behavior needs to shift as well.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Three out of four toxic waste dumps in the U.S. are located in predominantly African American or Latino communities. Two million tons of radioactive uranium tailings have been dumped on Native American lands. Three hundred thousand Latino farm workers in the U.S. suffer from pesticide-related sicknesses every year. These travesties make me furious. More importantly, my rage motivates me to mitigate these travesties, like by educating my readers about them and donating money to groups crusading to fix the problems. In the coming weeks, Scorpio, I hope you will take advantage of your astrological potentials by using your anger constructively, too. Now is a favorable time for you to fight fiercely and tenderly for what’s right.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

I predict that love will bring you many “Aha! ” moments in 2023. You can’t fully prepare yourself for them—and that’s a good thing! The epiphanies will be brighter and deeper if they are unexpected. Your motivation to learn the available lessons will be wilder and stronger if you enjoy being surprised. So be ready for lots of entertaining rumbles and reverberations, Sagittarius. The adjustments you will be asked to make will often be strenuous and fun. The inspirations you will be invited to harvest will require you to outgrow some of your previous beliefs about the nature of intimacy and togetherness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Some insects are helpful to humans. For example, ladybugs devour aphids, which are highly destructive to crops. Damsel bugs eat the pests called leafhoppers, and lacewings feed on the pernicious nuisances known as mealybugs. I also remind you that some bugs are beautiful, like butterflies, dragonflies and jeweled beetles. Keep these thoughts in mind, Capricorn, as you contemplate my counsel. Metaphorically speaking, you will have experiences with bugs in the next three weeks. But this won’t be a problem if you ally yourself with the good, helpful and beautiful bugs.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

What are “brain orgasms”? Can you seek them out and make them happen, or do you have to wait patiently for them to arrive in their own sweet time? When they occur, what should you do? Surrender into them with all your welcome fully unleashed? Or should you question whether they’re real, be suspicious of their blessings or dismiss them as irrelevant flukes? I encourage you to meditate on questions like these. That will raise your receptivity to the stream of brain orgasms that life will offer you in the coming weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

My Piscean pagan friend Valie says God is stealthy yet blatant, like a green chameleon perched on a green leaf. After analyzing the astrological omens, I conclude that this is a helpful, all-purpose metaphor for you to use in the coming weeks. I encourage you to be alert for beauty that is hidden in plain sight. See if you can spy the miracles embedded within the ordinary. Ask life to pleasantly blow your mind over and over again. Here’s your phrase of power: open secret.

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.

© 2022

Winter Staging

Idon’t know if it’s due to all the snow we’ve had, or the dread prediction that the Great Salt Lake will be dead within five years and the subsequent dust storms will kill us all, but I’ve already had numerous clients contact me this year wanting to relocate out of Utah. The good news is I have a huge network of real estate agents around the country whom I’ve met and worked with over the years that I can hook them up with or find to help them transition to a new locale.

fruits 42. Tax cheat’s worry 43. Reason why Godzilla got booed while playing hoops? 48. Ones who discriminate against seniors 49. LAPD rank 50. Bearded bully in “Popeye” 51. “What have we here?!” 52. “Shoo!” 56. Spencer of “Good Morning America” 57. Popular home amenity ... and this puzzle’s theme 60. Mideast carrier 61. Wheels 62. ____ Gras 63. Gender-neutral plural pronoun 64. Suffix with Jumbo 65. Drip source in a hospital

9. Possessed 10. Organization whose first seal, created in 1892, depicted a giant sequoia

11. Game with a maximum score of 3,333,360

45. Kind

46. Kutcher

47. Dr.

51. Aware

It’s scary to just “pick up and go” in general if you don’t have a network of friends and family in your planned destination, so having a Realtor as your first friend can lessen some of the fear. A seasoned broker will be able to, in advance, counsel you on types of housing found in that destination and pricing of said housing and provide practical referrals to school data if you have or plan to have kids, utility companies and recycling options, mortgage brokers, great restaurants, transportation options, local festivals and farmers markets.

Some folks will need to sell their home to relocate, while others might opt to rent out their property here in Utah in case they don’t like where they landed and later want to move back into their home or condo.

(Salt Lake City, UT) Identify the dataanalytics problems that offer the opportunities to the organization. Maintain a data lake using AWS EC2, Step Functions, Athena, S3, RDS, Docker & others. Design & develop machine learning pipeline using AWS Step Functions, Lambda, Glue & others. WFH will be considered. 40hrs/week, Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics, Mathematics or related required. Resume to Wrench Artificial Intelligence, Inc. Attn: Daniel Baird, 1387 E 3010 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84106

Last week’s answers

X

SUDOKU

I know a great property manager who’ll help you find trustworthy tenants by checking their credit and criminal history. They’ll sign agreements with you as to what repairs you’ll authorize if something goes wrong and set a limit where you don’t want to be disturbed if, say, a repair costs less than $500. They’ll take out their monthly management fee (maybe 10%, but that’s negotiable) and deposit the rental income into your bank account each month.

The most important thing, if you wish to rent out your home, is to talk to a CPA. If you turn a personal residence into a rental, there’s a certain time allowed regarding capital gains on any profits of a sale, so check first what you should plan for in the future as far as taxes are concerned. And, talk to an attorney to decide if you want to put the property into an LLC and/or your living trust.

You have to stage a home to sell it these days—it’s just standard practice. In winter, make sure to keep snow removed from walkways, keep the windows clean to let in as much light as possible, deep clean your appliances and the home itself and declutter. Don’t overwhelm potential buyers with scents from too many burning candles. Light the gas fireplace for showings (if you have one).

Keep the temperature around 70 degrees, put on mellow music and create a vibe that the home is warm and inviting. Throw a soft lap blanket on the sofa with an open book to convey the impression of comfort. With the market adjusting downward, you have to step up your game to sell. ■

NEWS of the WEIRD

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

Bright Idea

Dog owner Erik Torres, who owns a pet store in Doral, Florida, is facing charges after he brought his Pomeranian—dyed to look like Pikachu—to a Miami Heat game on Dec. 26, WPTV reported. “It made NBA history because nobody’s ever seen a Pikachu dog sitting next to an NBA player before,” Torres said. But Miami-Dade County Animal Services officials were unamused: “No animal should be dyed, regardless of whether there’s an ordinance prohibiting that,” said assistant director Kathleen Labrada. She noted it is “unlawful for any person to possess, sell or otherwise transfer within the county any dyed or artificially colored rabbit or other animal.” Torres is fighting the charge, saying the dog is not for sale, and he used dye that is safe for consumption. He also has no plans to remove the dye.

Nay-chur

In Derbyshire, England, Phil and Jane Carter are used to seeing foxes on their lawn. But, The Telegraph reported, a Dec. 17 visitor to their garden caught their attention. Jane spotted a fox nosing around their turf looking for something to eat while balancing on its front legs—the only legs it had—and yelled at her husband to come see it. “It was fascinating,” Phil said. “It stood bolt upright and ran like a human being on two legs.” He got in touch with experts at the Derbyshire Nature Reserve, who told him the fox was likely born with the disability and had learned to survive. While foxes are usually shy, the special animal hung around for about 45 minutes before it took off “like a rocket,” Phil said.

Precocious

Ashley Lynn, mother of a 9-month-old baby, took to social media this holiday season after her child was gifted a toy remote control, the New York Post reported. Lynn said the baby loved the toy and was “going to town chewing on” it, but then she noticed that when certain buttons were pressed, it made inappropriate comments. One was about a drive-by shooting, and another was a sexually themed joke about priests. “What? What?” Lynn said. “Walmart, explain this. Linsay Toys, explain this.” Lynn reached out to Linsay on Dec. 31 and got a prompt reply, which indicated the toy would no longer be sold. Walmart said the toy was sold by a third-party seller and has been removed for not complying with its “prohibited products policy.”

Update

In late August, News of the Weird shared a story from Yellowstone National Park about a human foot having been found floating in the Abyss Pool, a hot spring. At the time, officials did not suspect foul play. KTLA-TV reported on Jan. 4 that investigators have now identified the person to whom the foot belonged: 70-year-old Il Hun Ro of Los Angeles. Ro’s Kia SUV was found in a parking lot near the spring, and inside were his laptop, a wallet with $447 and a small book of poems—but no suicide note. Geologists did not find any more human remains in the pool, other than “fatty deposits ... floating to the surface over time,” a report indicated. The pool is more than 50 feet deep and has an average temperature of 140 degrees.

Overkill

Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, of Puyallup, Washington, only wanted to rob a business on Christmas Day, NPR reported. But their strategy got them in much more trouble than the original crime would have. Both were charged with attacking power substations, causing thousands of people to lose electricity on the holiday; Greenwood and Crahan admitted they just wanted to empty a cash register at a local business during the outage. The sabotage amounts to a federal crime; Crahan’s lawyer said he plans to enter a not guilty plea.

Duuuude

For the third year in a row, the county in Oregon reporting the highest rate of cannabis sales was Malheur County—which shares a state border with Idaho and is close to Boise. KGW-TV reported that although sales were down in 2022, they still topped out at $104 million, or $3,243 per county resident. Cannabis sales—medical or recreational—are illegal in Idaho, which creates a boon for the Oregon dispensaries along the border.

It’s a Mystery

Public lands officials in Salt Lake City are trying to solve a mystery: Who is placing antennae with solar panels on public property? KSL-TV reported on Jan. 4 that a few of the devices were found about a year ago, but more have been discovered in recent months. The locked battery boxes, solar panels and antennae “have been bolted into different peaks and summits and ridges around the foothills,” said Tyler Fonarow, the city’s recreational trails manager. “It might be related to cryptocurrency and relaying networks and being able to make money off that,” Fonarow speculated. He hopes to educate the public that items cannot be installed on public lands. “We want to stop it now before it becomes a dumping ground for dozens and dozens of more antennas.”

What’s in a Name?

Scott Stallings of St. Simons Island, Georgia, is not that Scott Stallings—which became all too clear when he received a FedEx invitation to the PGA Masters Tournament, the Associated Press reported. Stallings reached out to golfer Stallings, who is from Knoxville, Tennessee, on Instagram: “I’m (100 percent) sure this is not for me,” he wrote. Golfer Stallings said he had been waiting for his invite and thought maybe his wife was pranking him. But Georgia’s Stallings won’t miss out altogether: “We’re going to give him some practiceround tickets and take him to dinner on Monday night for doing the right thing,” the PGA player said.

Oops

The Askern Medical Practice in Doncaster, United Kingdom, wins the award for most Scrooge-like holiday message, the BBC reported. On Dec. 23, the center accidentally sent texts to about 8,000 patients informing them that they have “aggressive lung cancer with metastases.” About a half-hour later, recipients received a second text alerting them about the error. Patient Sarah Hargreaves said she “broke down” when she read the first message: “I had just had a mole removed and was awaiting a result from a biopsy ... so yes, I was very worried.” Carl Chegwin was perplexed: “It’s not often I go to the doctors ... I sat there scratching my head, thinking, ‘I do smoke, do they know something I don’t?’ If it’s one of their admins that’s sent out a mass text, I wouldn’t be trusting them to empty the bins.”

Blame It on the Devil

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, firefighters responded to a house fire on Dec. 27 at a three-story home around 11:30 a.m., MassLive reported. Police officers at the scene talked to a witness, who said a woman named Nikia Rivera had told them, “I’m sorry, I had to do it,” before she left on foot. Later, Rivera, 45, told officers, “That house is haunted. I lit the house on fire. The devil made me do it, there are ghosts in my house.” While no residents or firefighters were hurt in the fire, Rivera was charged with arson and ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.