City Weekly September 26, 2024

THE

Bigger Picture

An unlucky and forgotten Utah painter’s life is a lesson on caring for local art.

BY WES LONG

S AP

BOX

Hearts and Minds

Psychedelics are making a comeback in mainstream culture and are being posed as the beginning of a revolutionary new era of mental health treatment.

There is talk that this is the revival of the times of the 1960s hippie counterculture movement, flower power and dropping acid on a Sunday afternoon. And while some of that may be true, the current research findings on therapeutic use and benefits is shifting the conversation.

“Microdosing” is the practice of taking a small amount of psychedelics where the

user does not experience any hallucinogenic effects.

This method has become a trend in the last handful of years among certain subcultures like professionals in the tech world and artistic communities, who are microdosing to improve focus, increase productivity and enhance creativity. It had become a staple in the wellness and althealth communities as a part of mindfulness practices to improve overall life satisfaction and fulfillment.

According to Dr. Peter Grinspoon for a Harvard Medical School blog, “One recent study used a naturalistic, observational design to study 953 psilocybin microdosers compared with 180 nondosing participants for 30 days, and found ‘small to medium-sized improvements in mood and mental health that were generally consistent across gender, age, and presence of mental health concerns’.” Dr. Grinspoon cautioned “the jury is still out” on microdosing; others are finding that psychedelics can alter individual brain cells and help rewire the brain after a single treatment.

Psilocybin is a psychedelic compound produced by almost 200 species of mushrooms. It has shown to be useful in the treatment of depression, end-of-life anxiety, PTSD and smoking cessation. Studies have shown that individuals with treatment-resistant illnesses like depression have seen success rates of 80% or above. This is astounding when compared to the success rate of antidepressants, which is less than 50 percent.

MDMA is being used to study the effects of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy on individuals suffering from PTSD. Organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies who are doing their own studies have shown that MDMA-assisted therapy can help patients process traumatic memories and reduce PTSD symptoms. Although the research is still in the early stages, the therapeutic value is promising.

Consequentially, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted “Breakthrough Therapy” designations to substances like psilocybin and MDMA, expe-

diting their development for therapeutic use due to their potential to offer substantial benefits over existing treatments. There is undoubtedly a growing interest and curiosity regarding the therapeutic use of psychedelics. As research continues, it seems likely that the cultural perception will change.

There is much groundwork to be laid in terms of legalization, regulation, safety and efficacy. But with so much buzz around the benefits of psychedelics, it’s hard to lead with any sort of cautious optimism. And with one in 25 Americans currently living with a mental illness, it’s no surprise people are motivated to seek out these mystical-type experiences that are said to bring peace and meaningfulness to our human experience.

KIMBERLEE COOK Salt Lake City

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THE WATER COOLER

If you were gifted a Cybertruck, would you dare be seen with it?

Scott Renshaw

Oh, I’d be fine being seen with it, provided I was seen setting fire to it—which, given everything I’ve read, shouldn’t be particularly difficult.

Benjamin Wood

Absolutely not. I’d try to resell it as soon as possible and even then I’d feel bad about releasing such a monstrosity out into the world.

Wes Long

My concern would be more directed to the evident ill will my would-be gifter harbored toward me.

Katharine Biele

Just long enough to set it out for the highest bidder and then donate the proceeds to a good cause.

Bryan Bale

I’d never enter a sweepstakes to win a Cybertruck, but if I were to somehow obtain one free of charge, I’d probably drive it for a while. How long would it be before I sell it? I suppose that would depend on who gave it to me.

Bill Frost

I’d drive it straight into the Great Sears Lake downtown to see if it floats. If not, future archeologists would have a laugh.

OPINION

BY CHRISTOPHER SMART

No biological chil-

dren? You lowlife!

Hey Wilson, you got any children? No? In that case you’re not fit to be president—of anything. You see, it’s like this: People without children, even if they’ve adopted a brood, are, well, what’s the right word ... icky ... trashy ... scummy lowlifes.

They are “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.” That’s according to J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president. He forgot to mention Taylor Swift is in that category, but he’s still got time.

It’s worse than you think, ‘cause even though Vice President Kamala Harris has two stepchildren, she’s a lowlife, too, explained Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas and former Trump spokeswoman. It’s a frightening anti-children ideology held by sad, pathetic people. Look at Kamala, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (two adopted children) and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) who run the Democratic Party. No children. Holy hell.

The Founding Fathers could never have imagined it, otherwise they would have put something in the Constitution like this: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice and insure domestic Tranquility, do ordain that all people will have children or else ...”

Why People Stay and Leave Zion, aka Utah

People love Utah and aren’t leaving. People who used to love Utah are looking for the exits. The Salt Lake Tribune took a look at why some people stay and why others don’t—toxic air, lawmakers and hypocrisy make people want to leave, according to the report. Community, outdoors, and climate make people want to stay.

The staff here at Smart Bomb determined that we should take a deeper dive on what folks think:

1—Staying: We just love the gerrymandering here.

2—Leaving: Skiing and the parks are too crowded.

3—Staying: We love that this state is a theocracy.

4—Leaving: We can’t take another losing Jazz season.

5—Staying: We love that the state liquor stores are closed on Sunday.

6—Leaving: We hate Mike Lee and Burgess Owens.

7—Staying: Because state government doesn’t interfere with the Great Salt Lake.

8—Leaving: Before the “sports/entertainment” district ruins downtown.

9—Staying: Because of the “wholesome” people who love Donald Trump.

10—Leaving: Because of the “wholesome” people who love Donald Trump.

Undecided Voters and the Fate of the Nation

Hey Wilson, did you ever get the sinking sensation that undecided voters aren’t exactly the sharpest bunch? Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are about as different as night and day. How could they possibly be undecided?

Trump is Mr. Masculine Tough Guy. Harris is a strong, articulate woman. Trump lies like a rug. Harris has to explain why groceries are so expensive. Trump led an unsuccessful coup against the United States. Harris was the California Attorney General and a U.S. Senator.

Here’s what some undecided voters said:

—“I like Trump because he tells it like it is, but his ties are too long and his hands are small.

—“I like Kamala but she smiles too much. And that laugh. Ugh.”

—“Trump was cuckoo for saying Haitians eat dogs and cats but he’s a good golfer and we need presidents who can golf.”

—“Kamala would bring a woman’s touch to the White House but her husband is creepy. I don’t trust him.”

—“Trump is a good businessman but he’s gone bankrupt a whole bunch of times.”

—“Kamala made the price of groceries and gas go up but she’s got much better hair than Trump.”

Sad to say, Wilson, but the fate of the country is in their hands. Start packing. They say Canada isn’t so bad—and they speak English there.

Postscript—That’s a wrap for another totally insane week here at Smart Bomb, where we keep track of the equinox so you don’t have to. Wilson, did you know the ancient Greeks believed that on the autumnal equinox the Goddess Persephone returned to the darkness of the underworld to be with her husband Hades?

The pagans called the September equinox Mabon, after the Welsh god of Celtic mythology. According to legend, Mabon was stolen from his mother, Modron, three days after birth, plunging the land into sorrow and darkness. For us Americans and a lot of folks in Europe and elsewhere, the 2024 presidential election threatens to plunge us into darkness—at least that’s how it feels.

The Nov. 5 election is coming at us like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You can say what you want about Stonehenge and the druids but they didn’t have nasty, lyin’ websites, influencers and two-year election campaigns. In fact, they didn’t have elections at all.

Trump might like that but he probably wouldn’t fit in too well. What would he sell druids anyway, Bibles? Not exactly. They might go for his gold sneakers—the “Never Surrender High Tops.” Any druid could be the toast of Stonehenge with a pair of those babies. Or maybe they wouldn’t be caught dead in them. CW

Private Eye is off this week. Christopher Smart writes the weekly “Smart Bomb” column, available online at cityweekly. net. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net.

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE | @kathybiele BY BENJAMIN WOOD

HIT: Party Lines

We know that there were lots of primary voters unhappy about being shut down by the Legislature. But maybe, just maybe, Eagle Mountain Republican Rep. Stephanie Gricius was right and a committee was not the “appropriate” place to air GOP grievances. The Government Operations Committee withdrew its first agenda item—Presidential Primary Elections—seemingly because the written comments were already pretty nasty. Six speakers were slated to testify—including one from the Utah Democratic Party—but everyone knew there’d be bitching about the recent chaos during GOP caucus meetings. Some legislators thought people would accuse caucuses of minimizing competition and removing candidates from the ballot. Still, primaries aren’t really a state issue—yet. The GOP closes its primaries and the Democrats’ are open to unaffiliated voters. There is a group that wants fully open or “jungle” primaries, but even as an initiative, there’s a long way to go before that happens.

MISS: Lost in the Mail

Your fall planting headquarters

As long as we’re on voting, let’s talk about mailed ballots. Polls show that some 84% of Utah voters like them. However, don’t discount legislators and failed candidates who are just sure in their hearts that you can’t trust the post office and that someone at some time is messing with the ballots before, during or after they are counted. Donald Trump has vacillated on them, but the national GOP seems OK, so far. Mailed ballots increase turnout, as seen in presidential and midterm elections. Utah is one of the few red states that went to all-mailed ballots and has stood as a model for the nation. That hasn’t stopped legislators like Morgan Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland, who warns that she’ll try again to force voters to opt in to mailed ballots. Rural Utahns will be the ones first harmed by a change.

MISS: Land Grab

It’s hard to know if a PR campaign will influence the U.S. Supreme Court in the way that expensive gifts and travel perks do. That hasn’t stopped Utah from trying. The Utah Attorney General’s Office says people aren’t educated about our public lands, 18.5 million acres of which are maintained by the feds. And the millions of dollars it will take to sue those bureaucrats is worth it, according to the Governor’s Office and legislative leadership. It still chaps lawmakers that the feds have closed roads and favor conservation over grazing and recreation. How Utah would manage the lands is unclear at best. The state has its own bureaucrats to deal with that. But if Utah officials want the public to be educated, they might direct them to the Public Lands Project of the League of Women Voters of Southeast Utah. It may be too much reading, though, for the Supreme Court. CW

Seeing Red(wood)

The West Valley City Council took a lot of heat as it prepared to vote on a rezone of the Redwood DriveIn and Swap Meet property. That vote finally took place last week, clearing the way for a planned development of nearly 300 homes.

Change is never easy, and this particular issue has plucked the nostalgic heartstrings of longtime residents while imposing a legitimate challenge on swap meet vendors. But nostalgia is a poor strategy for city planning and in this case, the City Council absolutely made the right call.

First, the drive-in business model is dead. In the same vein as Blockbuster and Media Play, the way Americans consume media has shifted and the old ways are no longer viable. There are a lot of factors behind this (I could spend an entire column on how Daylight Saving Time drew first blood) but one need only look around at the dwindling number of outdoor movie screens to see the writing on the wall.

Second, this is private property. The owner has been upfront about wanting to sell and even if the Council had rejected the rezone, there’s no mechanism to stop the owner from shutting down the swap meet. A buyer was most interested in converting the space into a residential neighborhood, which is just good business sense in a state struggling with a housing shortage.

Third, the property is enormous, roughly equal to one of Salt Lake City’s notoriously huge downtown blocks. If you picture the Gallivan and everything around it—the One Utah Center, the Wells Fargo building, a Marriott hotel, a parking garage, several food and beverage businesses—you could fit all of that in the Redwood Drive-In and still have room to spare.

Fourth, the worst way to build new housing is by sprawling out in the middle of nowhere where residents are forced to drive. The best way to build new housing is by clustering in the center of everything and adjacent to transit. Many of the people angry with West Valley have never ridden the 217 bus, but it just so happens to be one of the most important transit corridors on the Wasatch Front. One day, we may very well see a Trax line running up and down Redwood, and the success of transit demands as much housing— whether “affordable” or not—and commercial density as possible.

In urbanist terms, the Redwood Drive-In is a “missing tooth”—a gap in the city fabric that undermines economic performance and walkability. It sits empty most of the time, offering little support to adjacent businesses while its acres of bare asphalt bake in the hot sun.

I share the hope that swap meet vendors find a new location (perhaps SLCC, just two miles up the road, which has a lot of empty parking on weekends) and I look forward to seeing the overall vibrancy of West Valley improve as more people find the housing they need on Redwood Road. CW

All Hail the Scarecrow

Autumn festivals are abundant this season

BY BRANDI CHRISTOFFERSEN comments@cityweekly.net

Scarecrows, in one form or another, have been in the United States for centuries. They can be traced all the way back to pre-colonial days, when the Native Americans used “bird scarers” to protect their crops.

However, the contemporary idea of the scarecrow can be linked to the 19th century, when homesteaders began to settle the Midwest and the Great Plains. German immigrants made human-looking objects they called “bootsamon”—or bogeymen—to frighten birds and other animals away from their fields. These creations would be dressed in overalls, long-sleeved shirts or coats, and stuffed with straw or hay. A hat and red kerchief were also common accessories, and have become trademarks of the creatures. Today, the scarecrow has become an unofficial mascot of the autumn season. The jovial entities can be found on front porches, in entryways, along corn mazes and pumpkin patches and presiding over local events.

Here in Northern Utah, many Utah communities and towns celebrate the changing of leaves and the reaping of the fall harvest with annual festivals and events. Here are some of our favorite celebrations that include the socalled “bootsamon.”

USU Scarecrow Walk (extension.usu.edu/botanicalcenter/events/scarecrow-walk, 80 E. 725 South, Kaysville; Sept. 28 – Oct. 6, dawn to dusk)

The entire family will enjoy this fun-filled stroll through the USU Botanical Center. Marvel at the vibrant fall colors in the Varga Arboretum and demonstration gardens, while you search for decorated scarecrows tucked along the path. A prize will be awarded for the most popular scarecrow at the end of the 10-day celebration.

The festivities will kick off on Saturday with a 5K walk/ run at 9 a.m. A fall jubilee will begin at 10 a.m., and includes live music, food trucks and a kids’ area. The event is free to the public. Added Bonus: Leashed pets are welcome, and on the 28th, there will be a pet costume contest.

Thanksgiving Point Scarecrow Festival (thanksgivingpoint.org, 3900 N. Garden Drive, Lehi; Oct. 14 – 19, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Held at the Ashton Gardens, this is one of Thanksgiving Point’s most popular annual events, where dozens of imaginative scarecrows hide amongst the expansive

A&E

50-acre nursery. Each scarecrow is decorated and submitted by members of the community. The six-day festival is included with the price of a regular garden admission, and is free for Thanksgiving Point members. Added Bonus: Extra fun will be taking place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with live music, food vendors and activities.

McPolin Scarecrow Festival and Walk (eventbrite.com, 3000 State Rte. 224, Park City; Scarecrow Festival: Oct. 5, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. / Scarecrow Walk: Oct. 6 – 28, dawn to dusk)

Come out to the McPolin Farm on Oct. 5 for an afternoon of mayhem and fun. Show off your creativity and build your own scarecrow, to be displayed along the trail for everyone to admire. Two types of tickets are available: event and non-event. Non-event tickets are $20 and include straw for stuffing, a scarecrow support and a display packet. Participants should bring whatever they want to decorate their scarecrow with to make it original and their own—including “a head, clothing, shoes, props, scissors and any other funky accessories.”

Then, from Oct. 6 - 28, visitors to the McPolin Farm can search for their favorite scarecrow as it hangs along the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail. The trail is paved, and perfect for strollers and bikes. Added Bonus: You can build your scarecrow at home and put it up whenever you choose. However, you do need to be registered for a space and nametag.

Bluffdale City Scarecrow Walk (bluffdale.gov, along the Jordan River Parkway, Bluffdale; now – Oct. 31)

This is the city’s second year hosting this event and boy, has it grown! “This year we invited local businesses, schools, and city departments to decorate scarecrows,” said Amanda Luker, Communications Specialist for the City of Bluffdale. “It has been so fun seeing what groups are doing this year.”

This event is part of the Get to the River (GTTR) Festival by the Jordan River Commission, with grants provided by the GTTR sponsors. “We are honored that the committee awarded us grant money for our events this year, including the Scarecrow Walk,” Luker added

You can find the scarecrows along the Jordan River Parkway, and you can access the trail through the following trailheads: Arrow Trailhead (Jordan Basin Lane), Springview Farms Trailhead, Jeff Anderson Memorial Park and Jordan Narrows Trailhead. Luker reports an added bonus: “Along with the Scarecrow Walk, we also are doing a rock hunt. We have hidden specially painted rocks by a local resident, Jodi Dahl, along the parkway. If you find one you can bring it to City Hall and get a prize! We will be hiding the rocks till the end of September.” CW

The Bluffdale City Scarecrow Walk

theESSENTIALS ENTERTAINMENT PICKS,

Artepaño: Chicano Prisoner

Kerchief Art

Art emerges from every possible kind of circumstance—and sometimes, it’s from the need to create something individual and personal in a place where you can feel lost in an institution. Nearly a century ago, incarcerated Latinx people in American penitentiaries took to turning their bandanas into creative works

Artepaño: Chicano Prisoner Kerchief

Art presents the most diverse collection ever of an artform in which 15” x 15” white handkerchiefs, available for purchase in a prison commissary, are subsequently designed using colored pencil, ink, and, occasionally, paint. According to Dr. Ben V. Olguín, a contributor to the exhibition catalogue, “Paños represent a vast gallery of archetypes, icons, stock figures, Chicana/o/x tropes, and barrio vernacular styles that emphasize verité, or naturalistic, depictions of underclass realities, desires, and visions alongside playfully figurative ones involving caricatures. While paños usually are meant for private consumption, they have become renowned for their artistry and range of visual narratives, which situate these artworks alongside signature barrio art forms such as graffiti, tattoos, murals, lowrider art, and older forms that include underground zines and Chicano music.” The exhibition features 71 such pieces, including from the private collection of Reno Leplat-Torti and works on loan from the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum at Utah State University (650 N. 100 East, Logan) presents Artepaño on display now through Feb. 1, 2025, Tues. - Thurs. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Fri. 10:00 a.m - 8:00 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Visit artmuseum.usu.edu for additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

FanX

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a decade since the founders of what was then called Salt Lake ComicCon took a chance on the idea that Utah was as nerdy as we all suspected it was. Hundreds of thousands of attendees and plenty of A-list guests later, the FanX event has become an institution, packed with colorful costumes and a broad celebration of pop-culture fandoms.

The 2024 installment continues the tradition of high-profile guests from television, movies, animation, games, books, comics and more. Among the scheduled attendees this year are: the Lord of the Rings hobbit quartet of Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan; a Thelma & Louise reunion of Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis; legendary actor/comedian Dick Van Dyke; The Terminator stars Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn; Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton and Wil Wheaton; C3P0 himself Anthony Daniels; the Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman pair of Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner; Adventure Time’s Finn, Jeremy Shada; and dozens more. Plus, there are panel conversations about every corner of the fandom universe, gaming tables, costume contests and the massive vendor floor of original art, collectibles and ephemera.

FanX Salt Lake takes place at the Salt Palace Convention Center (90 S. West Temple) Sept. 26 (1:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.), Sept. 27 (11:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.) and Sept. 28 (10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.). Day passes are $20 - $50, with full event passes beginning at $65; photo ops are extra. Visit fanxsaltlake.com for full event schedule, to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)

Kevin Nealon

Kevin Nealon’s dry wit defined his particular persona during his nineyear stint on Saturday Night Live. Aside from anchoring the ever-popular “Weekend Update” segment, he created his breakthrough character “Subliminal Man” while also teaming with Dana Carvey as part of the demonstrative fitness freaks Hans and Franz, whose determination to “pump you up” became a rallying cry to those they deemed weak and puny. Unsurprisingly, he earned an Emmy nod as part of the SNL writing team. He later parlayed those accomplishments into solo success, earning kudos for his part on the Showtime series Weeds, which was honored with a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. His Showtime comedy special Whelmed … But Not Overly also reaped its share of critical acclaim, while his big screen performances in the films Just Go with It, And They’re Off, Anger Management, Eight Crazy Nights, The Wedding Singer, Happy Gilmore, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Daddy Day Care spread his fame even further, as did his guest roles on such popular television programs as Hot in Cleveland, Franklin & Bash, Monk and Curb Your Enthusiasm. So too, his first book, Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me? proved that sarcasm and cynicism could somehow be seen as both endearing and enduring. There’s nothing subliminal about that.

Kevin Nealon performs four 21+ shows at Wiseguys Downtown (194 S. 400 West) at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 - 28. Tickets cost $35, $110 for VIP. Go to wiseguyscomedy.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

From Our Friends At

Picture This

Lee provides a fittingly monumental film tribute to a groundbreaking war correspondent.

BY MARYANN JOHANSON comments@cityweekly.net

I

’d vaguely heard of World War II photographer Lee Miller before Lee, but only as hazy background noise. Why isn’t she better known? She should be so ubiquitous in the legend of the war as to be downright cliché. She produced some of the first photographic images of liberated German concentration camps. She was responsible for a series of photographs taken in Hitler’s actual apartment, just after his suicide, that ... well, not to spoil for anyone not already aware (I wasn’t!), but they were a huge middle-finger to der Führer, and notions of Nazi superiority.

Anyway, now we have the tremendous Lee to begin righting this wrong. In no way does this movie do full justice to the enormous audacity of her life, which stretched from New York (she was American) to Paris to Cairo and beyond: work in the 1920s as a fashion model; spending the early ‘30s as a fashion photographer and muse/friend/ collaborator with artists including Man Ray and Jean Cocteau; as a surrealistic artistic photographer herself. Instead, Lee covers mostly just the less-than-a-decade of her WWII war correspondent work. Miller was so incredible a character that this movie barely scratches the surface of her. And still, it is an important film.

Lee unfolds in retrospect, as if to emphasize that with a personality such as hers—as a woman who defied norms and pushed boundaries—it is only when looking back that we can fully understand her, from a perspective that has perhaps started to catch up with hers. “I was good at

drinking, having sex and taking pictures,” Miller says as the movie opens, “and I did all three as much as I could.” She is speaking in 1977 to an anonymous interviewer played by the lovely Josh O’Connor, appearing at intervals throughout the film; the subtleties of his performance only become obvious in retrospect, at the brutally incisive ending. Miller doesn’t much seem to care one way or the other about sharing her story, which slots right into the nofucks-given attitude we come to see that she fully embodied with her entire life. She wasn’t trying to break new ground. She was just living as full a life of purpose and passion as possible, in ways that the world wasn’t quite ready to allow women to do.

Kate Winslet bears a passing physical resemblance to Miller, but much more vitally, brings the necessary ballsiness as a woman who faced sexism at every turn yet forced it to work for her—because what other choice did she have? Miller was, we learn, accredited as a war correspondent, then constantly limited in the access she was allowed. But would a male journalist ever have conceived

of—or had the entrée necessary for—capturing poignant yet quietly defiant imagery of nurses drying their freshly-laundered unmentionables in the sunny windows of their sparse, harsh barracks? Of course not. Lee brings us moments like this repeatedly, reminding us that because Miller was denied the opportunities that men got, she was forced to find untold stories to tell. And she did so with huge impact.

Film is about moving pictures, of course, but Lee deploys still images such as those Miller took—some of the re-creations here are actually ones Winslet took on the set with period cameras—to powerful effect. Director Ellen Kuras, a veteran cinematographer with a lot of episodic TV under her belt but directing her first fiction feature, understands the power of a simple image, which feels like a rare thing in our cinematic era of overly-stuffed CGI. The filmmaking here is old-fashioned not only in a good way, but in a way that underscores the story it’s telling.

In maybe the best way, Lee is an homage to Miller’s work in that it is solid and work-

manlike in its execution while also bringing a fresh perspective. But it’s also just fun filmmaking, with additional terrific performances by Andrea Riseborough as Audrey Withers, the then-editor of British Vogue; Marion Cotillard as Miller’s friend, French socialite Solange D’Ayen; Alexander Skarsgård as Miller’s husband (in this era), surrealist artist Roland Penrose; and especially Andy Samberg, truly unrecognizable in his lack of goofiness and genuine sexiness as Miller’s war-photographer colleague David Scherman. An unexpectedly yet well-deserved dramatic breakthrough by an artist previously underappreciated feels like the perfect little touch for an underdog movie such as Lee to sneak in. CW

LEE BBBB Kate Winslet Alexander Skarsgård Andy Samberg Rated R Available Sept. 27 in theaters

Kate Winslet in Lee

“The Resurrected Christ Instructing Nephites,” is one of only three known surviving works by early Utah artist William Armitage.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

UNLUCKY AND FORGOTTEN UTAH PAINTER’S LIFE IS A LESSON ON CARING FOR LOCAL ART.

BY WES LONG WLONG@CITYWEEKLY.NET

Some people just can’t catch a break. And for some unlucky few, misfortune trails them even after they have shuffled off from their mortal coil.

Take William Joseph Armitage, for example. An academically trained artist from London, he relocated to Salt Lake City in 1881, but demand for his skill was limited. By 1885, Armitage tried his luck in San Francisco, alternately living in town on meager means with his son Arthur or at a cottage adjacent to the old Cliff House resort on Lands End. Wishing to finish a painting he was working

on at the resort in 1890 before his planned return to Utah, Armitage was “attacked with a coughing and choking,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Nov. 15, “lasting several minutes and resulting in death.”

And still this man, even as he was subsequently remembered by the Deseret News as “an amiable and talented gentleman,” had yet to find full respect in this world—right to his grave.

Following his funeral service at the old Fifteenth Ward building in Salt Lake City, the mourners escorted Armitage’s hearse down South Temple for

burial, only to be met by a steamroller moving in the opposite direction, its engineer neither stopping or slowing down before the procession.

“The horses that drew Grant Bros.’ costly hearse were the first to take fright and plunged over the terrace that divides the thoroughfare,” reported the Salt Lake Times on Nov. 20. “The coffin that had been placed within the glassy confines with such marked solemnity was tossed around from one side to another, wreaths were relentlessly torn and crushed and it is the sole matter of congratulation that the dead was not hurled to the ground.”

from page 17

Finally stopping the steamroller before anyone was injured, the anonymous engineer apparently incensed the crowd further by responding to the close call with “a toothly, heartless smile.”

Such disrespect seemed to be a recurring theme in William Armitage’s life, only to be compounded further in subsequent generations by the mishandling of his work and the occasional natural disaster—for if fire didn’t erase his creations, the dumpster would.

“At the time of his death in that California city in November of 1890,” remarked art historian Robert S. Olpin in a 1988 lecture at the University of Utah, “any precise knowledge of the Armitage life and works seems to have disappeared with the artist’s own passing, and this early Utah painter is today a very shadowy figure whose works have largely been lost.”

After carefully combing through every available printed and living resource, City Weekly is pleased to dispel even a few of those shadows by providing some long-overdue attention to a unique talent. Who knows? Maybe some surviving examples of his work will be rediscovered somewhere in the world as a consequence.

That would be a start, anyway.

Probationary Period

William Armitage was born Feb. 16, 1820, in the Deptford area of southeast London to Thomas Armitage and Mary Wier. Little is known of his familial background, or the circumstances of his artistic beginnings, but his name appears in the student admittance sheet of the Royal Academy of Art School for Dec. 7, 1836, as a teenage entrant. While art was a well-established profession in Victorian England, there were numerous avenues the aspiring artist could pursue if one wished to become a professional, from courses at local stu-

“It is sad to see so much labour with a result so inadequate ... The picture may obtain more popularity in the provinces than it can possibly win in the metropolis.”

—The Illustrated London News

Reviewing an 1863 painting

by

William Armitage

Vern Swanson acquired Armitage’s “Abraham Instructing Isaac” at auction and donated it to the Springville Museum of Art.

dios and tutelage in workshops to private instruction at home. The most important and exacting of them all, however, was the Royal Academy (RA)— one of the few formal art teaching schools in London at that time.

Open to anyone, free of tuition and without age limits, competition to get into the Academy was indeed tough.

“To be considered for admittance, potential students had to submit a drawing or series of drawings of a classical Greek sculpture,” RA Librarian Adam Waterton explained via email. “If the Keeper (director) of the Schools and the Academicians felt that the drawing showed potential, the student was admitted as a Probationer.”

Waterton explained that after achieving probationary status, a prospective student would then spend another three months drawing from casts of classical sculptures held in the RA schools.

“If their drawings were considered good enough after three months they were admitted as full students,” he said. “The period of study in the 1830s was around six years.”

Armitage exhibited his painting “Queen Esther” at the RA’s summer exhibition of 1840, reappearing within available public record in 1849 when he exhibited “Jesus Wept” before the British Institution, a private art society. Showcasing another work there in 1852 entitled “Christ Mocked,” the Art Journal nevertheless sniffed its disapproval: “The work is deficient in force, character, and minor indispensable qualities.”

After marrying Rosa Bleeze (1828-1911) in the early 1850s, it is unclear precisely when Armitage converted to Mormonism, although his wife’s baptismal records date to the summer of 1852. They ultimately had eight children together and moved around London frequently.

Listed in the 1861 census as a “teacher of drawing,” Armitage almost assuredly took up pupils

either in a formal school setting or as a private instructor on top of his exhibitions and sales. Primarily a painter of religious and mythological subjects (with a smattering of portraiture and nature studies), he still had a difficult time of finding an appreciative audience.

The Illustrated London News, for instance, panned Armitage’s enormous 1863 painting on the Apocalypse of St. John by comparing him unfavorably with the artists John Martin, Francis Danby and Edward Armitage (no relation).

“It is sad to see so much labour with a result so inadequate,” the reviewer pronounced. “The picture may obtain more popularity in the provinces than it can possibly win in the metropolis.”

With his eldest daughter Annie the first of the family to depart for America in 1872 (with help from the Latter-day Saint Perpetual Emigration Fund), the others appeared to be engaged with their church unit in London’s Wandsworth area, with Armitage operating as a church elder and for a time as his branch’s Sunday School teacher.

By May 2 of 1881, however, William and Rosa, along with two of their sons, were among the list of passengers sailing from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Wyoming

Leaving London’s population of almost 4 million, the Armitages were off to give Salt Lake City’s “province” of 21,000 a try instead.

Local Color

Beginning with William Major and William Ward in the 1850s, Utah’s fine art scene developed in the following decades with great difficulty, despite the patronage of both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Salt Lake Theatre.

The respective arrivals of artists like C.C.A. Christensen (1831-1912), Dan Weggeland (18271918), Alfred Lambourne (1850-1926) and George

Art historian

Swanson

Ottinger (1833-1917) were influential, but still there remained inadequate exhibition space around town and insufficient funds from locals to fully support the profession. Consequently, none of these men could paint full-time, all being obliged to work in additional trades and take on odd jobs.

This was a frequent concern across the pages of Ottinger’s personal journal, remarking in one passage that Utahns “as a general thing like pictures and admire them but they have no money to spend for them,” with the exception of the rich— who did not generally show up. Well-connected in Salt Lake City and involved with earlier efforts to establish fine arts in Utah, Ottinger was inclined to lend a hand to others of his profession.

“Mr. William Armitage, an artist and drawing master from London, has come to reside in our city as a teacher of drawing—he may manage to make a living,” Ottinger confided to his journal in May of 1881. “I am afraid the future will be a hard experience for him, not harder than he has had in London if all be true that I have heard. I have interested myself in his behalf as much as possible, introducing him to the manager of the University and urging him and the board of Regents to organize drawing classes in their institution, as well as finding a few pupils in a private way for him.”

By the end of that month, Armitage was receiving students in oil, drawing and watercolor instruction through Charles R. Savage’s Art Bazaar. By the fall, he was simultaneously teaching classes at the University of Deseret and at Rowland Hall as well as preparing what would be an award-winning set of works for the biggest artistic venue of the year—the Territorial Fair.

“I am afraid the future will be a hard experience for him, not harder than than he has had in

London if all be true that I have heard.”

—Utah artist George Ottinger Writing in his personal journal on the arrival of William Armitage at Salt Lake City.

Praising Armitage’s entry, entitled “He Shall Wipe away all Tears,” in the Salt Lake Herald-Republican, the reviewer “Xenophanes” remarked that “In [the depicted woman’s] face the artist had thrown his soul; he had not painted, but created it: leaving it full of feeling, almost flesh and blood.”

His portraits of John Thaxter White (1858-1933) and the father of a local Studebaker Wagon agent received similarly high marks from both patrons and the awarding committee.

Armitage thus entered upon his best-documented period, being among the founding members of the short-lived Utah Art Association and painting well-received works for individuals and institutions alike. Under the sponsorship of the Art Association, an historic exhibition was carried out at the McKenzie Reform Club Hall on First South in the winter of 1881, showcasing local artistic talent as well as rare treasures from Salt Lake collectors.

To the delight of the Salt Lake Daily Herald on Dec. 23, the showcase was “much finer than was in any way anticipated,” becoming more popular as it went on until its close on Jan. 21, 1882.

“It is important to note that this exhibition was the first freestanding exhibition of Utah artists in the brief history of the territory,” wrote Vern Swanson, Robert Olpin and William Seifrit for the book Utah Painting and Sculpture (1997), “that is, the first exhibit organized, designed, installed, and managed by the artists themselves, utterly independent of the [territorial] fair, retail businesses, or any other organization or activity.”

But due to a prolonged and nearly fatal illness, Armitage could not savor the success of the exhibition, and his artist friends raffled off some of his

paintings to support him. Exhibiting work at various venues around town—most notably in whiskey wholesaler George Meears’ storefront window space called “The Easel”—Armitage was one of many artists seeking opportunities to bring their work to the public’s attention.

The Armitage style, as Olpin explained in 1988, “was essentially a late neoclassical approach to figures and composition more in tune with the 18th century work of the Anglo-American Benjamin West than that of contemporary Victorian English practitioners.” He favored an “eclectic” approach to pose and composition, often employing the theatrical “Grand Manner” of heroic action and/or suffering.

From what can be judged by his surviving output, Armitage was less a naturalist and more academic in his approach, in keeping with his Royal Academy training.

Surviving Works

Obtaining the plumb commission of painting interior pictures with Dan Weggeland for the Logan Temple in 1883, Armitage departed for the northern Utah city and turned a room within the historic Cache County Courthouse (199 N. Main St, Logan) into his temporary studio.

“Logan is a charming spot,” he later told the Salt Lake Herald-Republican on Oct. 3, 1884, “it reminds me more of the quiet old English villages than any place I have been in. If there were a little more money in circulation, I know of no city where I should prefer to live.”

At the Logan Temple, he provided two large

William Armitage, with wife Rosa Bleeze, in his only known photograph.

An 1897 reproduction of Armitage’s “Savior on the Mountain” by Dan Weggeland.

paintings of Jesus Christ (both lost to a 1917 fire), and from his makeshift studio, he produced two of the three Armitage paintings whose whereabouts are still known today.

One came at the instruction of LDS Church President John Taylor, reproducing the historical event of “Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians,” while the other is a depiction of a scene from The Book of Mormon entitled “The Resurrected Christ Instructing Nephites.” Both later found their separate ways into the interior decorating scheme of the Salt Lake Temple—which may be the sole reason both have survived.

Following these high-profile jobs, Armitage took three of his works to the 1885 Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco and received a diploma for his efforts. He showcased another work there the following year and appeared to live primarily in San Francisco until his death (with the exception of a reappearance to Salt Lake City directories in 1888 when he returned to the Armitage home on Third North and First West).

Arriving too late to be fully included among Utah’s artistic pioneers and too early to be grouped with its second generation, Armitage was nevertheless remembered as skilled by those who knew him. While his time in Utah only spanned a handful of years, he made enough of an impact that artist Minerva Teichert (1888-1976), in a 1968 interview with a Brigham Young University student, could assert that Armitage was “a grand old man who knew more about art than all the rest of them.”

So why do so few of his works survive today?

“It happens,” Vern Swanson told City Weekly in a recent interview. Swanson, an art historian and the former director of the Springville Museum of Art, points to the French artist Charles Bargue (1825-1883) as a typical example of a non-prolific artist whose work is known by only a limited number of pieces.

Was Armitage’s output limited?

It’s hard to say. We have, after all, only been able to catalog roughly 35 separate works of his from available sources. Then again, plenty of his paintings likely passed along unmentioned by the press and outside of auction houses. Fires have also played their part, as with the losses

of Savage’s Art Bazaar in Utah and the Cliff House in California.

But carelessness is likely the biggest contributor.

Holding On

Upon hearing that Armitage’s 1869 work “Abraham Instructing Isaac” came up for auction twice in 2008, Swanson sprang into action and purchased it himself, subsequently donating it to the Springville Museum’s permanent collection. “I was very, very fortunate,” he said.

Swanson knows how precious such works can be, having received many reports over the last 50 years of his career involving paintings in public schools and buildings that have been thrown into dumpsters and furnaces rather than being preserved. Swanson wonders just how many works of art—particularly by Utah’s early, more archaic painters—have been lost over the years as a result.

One such memory that lingers with him involved a picture archive undertaken by the old Salt Lake City Library to document visual art from across the state. With the move to a new building in 2003, Swanson recalled, the library staff had no room for the sizable picture archive. But before anything could be digitized, the entire collection was summarily thrown away.

“It hurt Utah’s art history considerably,” Swanson said of the loss. Consequently, he remains wary about how Utah handles and appreciates its creative works. “I don’t trust everybody with art,” Swanson concluded.

And even if accumulated hazards and heedlessness have conspired with the steady erasure of time to blot out much of what we can know and appreciate about artists like William Armitage, perhaps Utahns can benefit from the cautionary tale of his life—just not in the ways one might think.

William Armitage, after all, spent a lifetime doing what he loved, creating beauty in his own manner—and that by most standards would be measured as success. The real tragedy is how such works are treated after they leave the artists’ hands. And there are countless artists of varying shapes, sizes and mediums today who could benefit from our relearning this lesson. Before it’s too late. CW

DINE

Common Folk

Downtown’s Copper Common continues to evolve.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

When I’m not out and about keeping tabs on our local food scene, I can usually be found scarfing down horror movies. With October nearly upon us, horror nerds like me have started to spend their weekends at the Broadway Theater, which is playing host to the Tower of Terror, Salt Lake Film Society’s annual celebration of all things horror.

After catching this year’s inaugural film—Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th— it dawned on me that I hadn’t been to Copper Common since the glow-up it had undergone a few years ago. There’s nothing quite like a celluloid slasher to put me in the mood for some well-curated bites and drinks, so my friends and I migrated slightly eastward after the credits started to roll.

If you also like to frequent the Broadway Theater, chances are you’ve noticed both Copper Common and its sister The Copper Onion on the same block. Both restaurants are credited to Ryan Lowder, one of Utah’s most influential restaurateurs. Boasting a stellar culinary pedigree that found him working under chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and cooking in renowned establishments throughout Spain, Lowder was named one of the country’s best new chefs by Food & Wine Magazine in 2012.

While The Copper Onion represents a true milestone in Utah’s culinary evolution, it’s by no means Lowder’s only claim to fame. In 2014, Lowder opened the Asian-inspired Plum Alley, which un-

derwent its own set of growing pains and eventually metamorphosed into Copper Common. Its concept remains the same as that of Plum Alley—a small-city restaurant and bar with big-city style.

As it was a Friday night when we arrived, Copper Common had a decent crowd seated and enjoying their evenings. The menu selections aren’t terribly flashy, which is a flex in and of itself. If you know you’re good at what you do, there’s no need to brag.

Our group was a mixed bag, so we hopscotched around the menu until we had a half dozen oysters ($3.75 each), some house focaccia ($7), a plate of crab beignets ($16), a braised pork sandwich ($16) and a CC Burger ($12) on our table. Drinks were also abundant; Copper Common is known for its craft cocktail menu, and a few standouts were the Tokyo Drifter ($16) and the Southgate ($14). It was a whiskey night for sure.

There aren’t many places in Salt Lake City where I’d feel comfortable with oysters (no shade intended, but we’re a landlocked desert, and fresh seafood is hard to come by). Copper Common is one such place, and you can get either East Coast or West Coast oysters when you drop by. They’re served with a nice acidic mignonette sauce, and a few slurps of these will do wonders for waking up your taste buds. We were all pleasantly surprised with how good the house focaccia was. We weren’t necessarily expecting it to be bad, but its toasty texture and compound butter came very close to stealing the show. The crab beignets were a nice foil to the freshness of the oysters as they’re presented with contrasting layers of richness. These little golden-brown beauties look a bit more akin to hush puppies, though they retain the buttery texture that make beignets so magical. They’re topped with a heavy dose of pecorino cheese and served sitting atop a spread of buttermilk dress-

ing. The crab flavor is subtle, imparting a bit of its shellfish sweetness to the beignets’ interior. Each beignet is a fantastic little pop of flavor and texture, and the buttermilk dressing ramps up the dish with a complementary creaminess. The two mains that we tried are unassuming enough for pub food, but both the burger and the braised pork sandwich have a lot going for them. I appreciate a burger that doesn’t get crazy with toppings—Copper Common is too cool for such theatrics—and this one arrived with nothing more than some aged gouda and pickled onion. The burger itself has been prepared au poivre, which provides a nice crusted black pepper finish to the patty. It’s a textbook pub burger, but the subtleties of the gouda, black pepper and pickled onion make it something special to Copper Common.

Moving on to the braised pork sandwich, the first thing you notice is just how tender that pork is. With each yielding bite, you get plenty of the chimichurri and arugula, which lend a nice herbaceous quality to the sandwich. The caperchili aioli packs a nice amount of spice, and the soft hoagie roll does an excellent job of soaking up any excess flavors. It would be difficult to choose between this sandwich and the CC Burger, as they’re both doing something slightly different— though they do it very well.

I like to extend an outing to the movies into a prolonged event, and having Copper Common right next to one of my favorite movie theaters helps make that possible. I’ll likely be seeing a bit more of this classic downtown nightspot as I continue to make my way through the SLFS Tower of Terror this year. CW

Crab beignets at Copper Onion

ON TAP

A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

2 Row Brewing

73 West 7200 South, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com

On Tap: Lollygaggin’ Farmhouse Ale

Avenues Proper

376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com

On Tap: I am the VVitch Seasonal Golden Ale with Pumpkin and Spices

Bewilder Brewing

445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap:  Cerveza De Mayo for Bewilder.

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

On Tap: California Steam Lager, American Heritage Lager NEW: Oktoberfest Märzenbier

Bonneville Brewery

1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

Chappell Brewing

2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115 chappell.beer

On Tap: Pie Hole; Strawberry Rhubarb Tart Ale

Craft by Proper

1053 E. 2100 So., SLC properbrewingco.com

On Tap: I am the VVitch Seasonal Golden Ale with Pumpkin and Spices

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap:  Ay Curuba! Curuba Sour

Epic Brewing Co.

825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Imperial Pumpkin Porter; Barrel-aged Imperial Pumpkin Porter

Etta Place Cidery

700 W Main St, Torrey www.ettaplacecider.com

On Tap: All-American Blend Cider, Lemon-Lime-Grapefruit Session Mead

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com

On Tap: A rotation of up to 17 Fresh Beers!

Grid City Beer Works

333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Cask Nitro CO2

Helper Beer

159 N Main Street, Helper, UT  helperbeer.com

Hopkins Brewing Co.

1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

On Tap: Tall Timber - Northwest Session IPA

Kiitos Brewing

608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

On Tap: Chinchillin’ Cerveza; Anniversary Ale: The Sevens Unleashed (Coming Sep. 21)

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

On Tap: Vienna-Style Lager

Follow us on Instagram: @ levelcrossingbrewing

Level Crossing Brewing Co.,

POST

550 South 300 West, Suite 100, SLC LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Bat Country Blonde Ale FREE yoga every other Saturday. 10:15am

Moab Brewing

686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap:  Arnie (Co-Lab with 2 Row brewing): cream ale base with Lychee black tea and fresh pasteurized lemon juice.

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

On Tap: Barrel-aged Gin and Tonic hard cider

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

Ogden Beer Company 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenBeerCompany.com

On Tap: 11 rotating taps as well as high point cans and guest beers

Park City Brewery 1764 Uinta Way C1 ParkCityBrewing.com

On Tap: GNAR Juice - 5.0% Hard Seltzer, infused with electrolytes from Gnarly Nutrition

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

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

On Tap: 302 Czech Pilsner

Proper Brewing/Proper Burger 857 So. Main & 865 So. Main properbrewingco.com

On Tap: I am the VVitch Seasonal Golden Ale with Pumpkin and Spices

A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191, Moab properbrewingco.com

On Tap: I am the VVitch Seasonal Golden Ale with Pumpkin and Spices

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

Red Rock Kimball Junction 1640 Redstone Center Redrockbrewing.com

On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: Brewers Select: Miso’s Soup Baltic Porter

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Roosters Ogtoberfest

SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com

On Tap: Lupulin Dew - Wet Hop Pale Ale

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Prickly Pear Kolsch

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com

On Tap: Scion Provençal 6% ABV

Second Summit Cider 4010 So. Main, Millcreek https://secondsummitcider. com

On Tap: Oktoberfest Cider

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Slushies; Harvey Wallbanger Sour Ale

Shades On State 366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Salud Mexican Lager; Spring Fever Grapefruit Radler

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

Squatters Pub Brewery / Salt Lake Brewing Co.

147 W. Broadway, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ squatters

On Tap: Salt Lake Brewing Co. –Snakebite IPA Squatters and Wasatch Brewery 1763 So 300 West SLC UT 84115 Utahbeers.com

On Tap: Bulletproof Zest Lemon Kolsch

Small Batch Series Release: Polyandry Pilsner - Fri 9/13

Strap Tank Brewery, Lehi 3661 Outlet Pkwy, Lehi, UT StrapTankBrewery.com On Tap: “The Sundering”

BEER NERD

Malty vs Hoppy

Huge flavors with differing methods of technique

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

Salt Flats - Open Road Series (BarrelAged Scotch Ale): One of the nice things about having a brewery and distillery under one roof is the ability to infuse the two libations in a relatively short amount of time. For this barrelaged project, the brewers were able to take possession of the whiskey barrels instantly after they were emptied of their bourbon. The result is a fresh infusion of flavors from barrels that require no rehabilitation from being in dry storage.

This Scotch ale pours a virtually clear, deep crimson color with foam that appears to be dissolving as it’s poured into the provided stemware. The initial aromas are more from the base beer than the barrel aging—dark fruits (prune), brown bread—but hints of vanilla and spicy booze soon emerge. Even as the glass becomes barely cool to the touch, the aromas don’t intensify much. Though not aggressive, the char and booze of the barrel leap out right away on the taste, with the caramel malts rushing up behind to push everything through the finish. The delicate essence of dark fruit and an almost vanilla sweetness dances in the aftertaste. Flavors balance out over a few sips, though the malty underbelly remains for a while. Some cookie and caramel slowly poke through, but there is no edge, no warts to this at all. At 9.8 percent ABV, it’s very clean with a subtly smooth viscosity, and a latent swell of restrained warmth in the finish.

Verdict: A textbook take on a Scotch ale. The barrel aging adds enough bourbon flavor without dominating the whole beer.

collaboration between TF and Neon

Rodeo (a creative conference that celebrates music, art and culture) is a “modern-style” IPA brewed with pilsner malt, corn, rice and a new (to me) hop called Pacific Sunrise out of New Zealand.

This golden IPA looks to be unfiltered— mostly clear with a sizable, puffy head that hangs on for days. Hops are brilliant insofar as they can impersonate all sorts of aromas/flavors like citrus, flowers, herbs and tropical fruits, but when it comes to New Zealand hops, I want to smell and taste those spicy, diesel-y, melon-and-earthy notes. This aroma delivers exactly that unapologetic pungency.

The aroma and flavor both pop, as hints of melon, wet grass, pine forest and shreds of bitter citrus pith hit first. It’s everything a hop-head craves, without being too flashy or over-thetop about it. And that sticky, diesel-y, slightly tropical taste plays to the lightly corny/malt sweetness that accompanies it. The 6.3 percent ABV is by no means excessive, nor is this a big, intimidating beer despite the overwhelming expressions from the Pacific Sunrise hops. It drinks effortlessly.

Verdict: TF Brewing is so consistent, it’s almost boring as a reviewer. Pretty much every beer they put their name to has been solid; you won’t find a more reliable option, and their hoppy beers are especially bulletproof.

Some people may find these New Zealand hops difficult to wrap their taste buds around. The “diesel” flavor to which I often refer does in fact come across that way, and it also pushes out a fleshy melon flavor and aroma. I’m curious to hear what others think of them.

You can find Neon Rodeo at TF to enjoy at the brewery or to take home. Barrel-Aged Scotch Ale comes in a practical 12-ounce can. I find high alcohol beers benefit the drinker more when they’re offered in a smaller package like this. Look for it at Salt Flats Brewing, both Garage Grill locations and beer pubs around the Wasatch Front and Back. As always, cheers! CW

Templin Family - Neon Rodeo: This

the BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Lehi Baker Competes on Food Network

Season 10 of Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship recently premiered, and we’ve got some local skin in the game. Carly Robertson, owner of Sugar High Confections (sugarhighconfections.com) in Lehi is one of the ten bakers participating in the televised competition. Sugar High Confections is located near Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, and it specializes in custom cakes, cookies, cupcakes and other treats. Its menu is also very keto-friendly, providing plenty of sweet but low-carb treats. She and her other competitors will spend each episode creating seasonally spooky treats for the show’s judges. We’re always proud to have a Utahn repping for us on TV.

Fillings & Emulsions West Valley Closes

In a recent social media post, the team behind Fillings & Emulsions announced that they would be closing their West Valley location at 1980 W. 3500 South. Though the Main Street location will remain open, it’s always a bummer when one of our most beloved bakeries shows signs of a struggle. Owned and operated by Chef Adalberto Diaz—also a Food Network alum—Fillings & Emulsions has pushed our local baking scene into new territory. The bakery’s famous macarons, cheesecakes and savory meat pies are well-known to anyone with a fondness for local baked goods. We’re hoping that this closure will help the whole team realign for plenty of great pastryrelated goodness to come.

By the Bucket Closes

I also got word that the Sugar House spaghetti restaurant By the Bucket has closed its location on the corner of 700 East and 2100 South. The restaurant did a few years in business, and lasted longer than most people thought it would. I wrote about this restaurant back in 2022, and I remember enjoying the food for what it was: just a crap ton of mid-range spaghetti, and plenty of garlic bread to boot. Though I will always have fond memories of By the Bucket, it’s an idea that perhaps arrived too late in our cultural timeline. There was a time when a bucket of spaghetti would have seemed like a good deal, but alas … those salad years are far behind us.

Quote of the Week: “When faced with something I fear, I tend to eat spaghetti.” –Mark Helprin

So Long, Summer

Local musicians share their summer highlights.

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

The Alpines: “Wrapping up our second summer of live shows, it’s wild to think how far we’ve come. We’ve leveled up in venues, performances, and material, and are rocking a solid 3-hour set of original tunes with a complete DIY setup. Our confidence is up, and so is the fun. Mistakes happen less often, and are no big deal when they do, as we know how to roll with it. This lets us focus on what really matters: entertaining the crowd, cutting loose and putting on an unforgettable show. We’ve had a blast discovering which songs get the crowd hyped and which of our wild dance moves get everyone on their feet.”

Scott Lippitt: “My most sizzlin’ summer slice of music was seeing Goldensuns, SEGO and Warpaint at the Complex in late May. Three of my favorite bands all in one night. Sound quality was pristine, the crowd was friendly and engaged, and the music was rocking. Plus, Chase from Goldensuns gave me a T-shirt with the logo of their single “Shook,” and it’s my favorite t-shirt now. (And also one of my most-listened-to songs of the year... I mean, I have the shirt, I gotta listen to it every time I wear it!)”

Loom: “We had the opportunity to play at Snowbasin for their Summer at Snowbasin series on June 23. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, as it was a hot day, and we were new to the venue. Upon arrival, we were instantly electrified with excitement, as the view from the stage was nothing

short of majestic. Looking out directly on some of the most beautiful and staggering mountains in Utah injected an energy into our performance that is impossible to replicate, which certainly showed in our playing and improvisation. Right out of the gate, we launched out of one of our originals, ‘What I Mean,’ into a powerful 12-minute jam reflecting the texture and majesty of the setting. After the jam peaked into a cathartic and powerful bliss, we looked at each other, smiling ear to ear, filled with gratitude for where and how we were playing. Needless to say, we won’t be forgetting that set any time soon, and we chose to release that rendition of ‘What I Mean’ on streaming platforms soon after. Check it out to get a taste of the vibes on that beautiful summer day at Snowbasin!”

Lisa & the Missing Pieces: “The best part of the summer was the connection, support and love (and cake!) we had at our release party! But there were many other amazing moments. This one stands out: the skies opened and it POURED just before we

played the patio at Gracie’s. It was an impressive storm that left a beautiful sky and a palpable calm. When the rain abated we set up. Put us about 15 min. behind, but not bad given the size of the storm. As we started the first set folks drifted back out to the patio—into this clean, fresh air—to listen. We met a couple from Atlanta, two young women who were there to hang out together, a group of guys who looked like they came off the golf course. As the night went on, more and more people took up seats to vibe with us and hang out. So many people were interacting with each other, brought together by experiencing this storm and feeling the love; even when they didn’t know each other before that first set. One of our songs, ‘Make It Better,’ is about making the world a better place by being with, listening to and connecting with each other. When we played that song, the crowd exploded in cheers! Perhaps because they were—on this patio, on this clear evening—living that. It was amazing and will stay with me.”

Horizon: “Our favorite show was at Soundwell in June. We opened for a K-pop group, North Star Boys (NSB). They were so fun to meet, and it was a whole new world for us to have a line of girls waiting all day for their chance to meet the NSB. They had VIP entry and an afterparty where the fans could meet all of the band members. We got so many amazing fans coming up to us asking about our music and asking for autographs, which was surreal. We also recorded three songs to finalize our EP coming out in October. We did all three songs in two days, which was stressful but it worked out in the end. We have loved meeting new bands and going to their shows to make connections. When you get down to it, music is all about community and connecting. Our guitarist Dom got an opportunity to be a guest on a local podcast from some of those connections. We experimented with new content ideas and had so much fun recording videos for them. Overall, this summer was a huge success for us, and we can’t wait to see where we will be next summer!” CW

Ideal

THURSDAYS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

DJ CELLY CEL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

DJ RELLE

SHARK SUNDAYS

POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY TANNER

MASHPAD MONDAYS

$2.25 PINTS AND FREE POOL!

TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

BEST BAR IN UTAH!

GREAT FOOD

MUSIC PICK S

Butcher Babies, Ded, Dropout Kings, Fox Lake, Hollow Am I @ Metro Music Hall 9/26

For the past decade or so, Butcher Babies have consistently been at the top of lists of the best bands with bad-ass frontwomen. Founding vocalists Carla Harvey and Heidi Shepherd (the latter a Provo native) brought their intense screaming vocals to dozens of hits over the years, creating a dedicated fanbase. Earlier this summer, however, the band announced that Harvey would no longer be with Butcher Babies. “As you may have already guessed, it is confirmed that Carla Harvey and Butcher Babies have officially parted ways,” the group posted online in July. “Carla has been an integral part of our journey, bringing her unique talent, passion, and energy to the band. We are grateful for the incredible memories we’ve made together and the impact she has had on our music and our fans. We will miss her greatly and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.” Despite the loss of one of its founding members, they seem to be going strong with an extensive tour this fall. With Shepherd as the lone remaining vocalist, things will definitely look and sound a bit different, but they’ll still be bringing that face-punching metal sound to each show. They have an exciting lineup coming on the road with them including nu metal groups Ded and Dropout Kings, along with rock band Fox Lake and SLC’s own Hollow Am I. Come rock out on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $30, and can be found at 24tix.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

AND 2 EACH 3 BUTTON KEY FOBS

MUSIC PICK S

Jonathan Richman @ Kilby Court 9/27

Whether he meant to or not, Jonathan Richman became one of the most influential figures in alternative rock. Leading his band The Modern Lovers, he recorded a seminal, self-titled and proto-punk album in 1971-72. Though The Modern Lovers wouldn’t be released until 1976—punk’s heyday—the album inspired a generation of indie- and punkrockers. But by the time of the record’s release, Richman had moved on to what would become his signature style, a winsome and observational kind of pop. That music would be characterized by songs with titles like “Hey There Little Insect” and “Ice Cream Man,” plus oddball covers of the kiddie classic “Wheels on the Bus” and the like. Richman scored some mainstream exposure when he played the Greek chorus character in the Farrelly Brothers’ 1998 comedy There’s Something About Mary, but his guileless and idiosyncratic approach to music has kept him something of an underground (if celebrated) figure in popular music. His most recent studio album is 2022’s Want to Visit My Inner House? Jonathan Richman featuring Tommy Larkins on the drums comes to Kilby Court on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.; tickets for the all-ages show are $25 and can be purchased via 24tix.com. (Bill Kopp)

Jonathan Richman

Descendents @ The Union 9/28

Descendents essentially wrote the blueprint for American pop-punk bands with their first studio album Milo Goes to College. Released in 1982, this influential, brief record (clocking in a little over 22 minutes) was lightning in a bottle—loud, fast and fun. While pop-punk is one of those generally enjoyable and quite harmless sub-genres that gets “serious music types” hot under the collar for some reason, Descendents create anthems. “When we started writing songs, I think we started to get a Beatles influence creeping back into it and so we started writing melodies,” vocalist Milo Aukerman told Thrasher Magazine . “So I think it’s kind of like if you took Black Flag and merged them with the Beatles, that’s how you might describe our sound and that’s kind of where we come from.” Also on the bill is Buzzcocks, whose Spiral Scratch EP truly is ground zero. The four songs on this gem are all original diamonds, and the band played them like virtuosos. I read somewhere drummer John

Maher had picked up the sticks six months prior to the recording, yet his playing is ace; he plays the parts of the kit different amounts “off,” to give the songs more of a sensation of speed. Listen to this record now. Grumpster opens as well. Catch all of these acts at The Union on Saturday, Sept. 28. Doors at 6 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $39.50 can be found at ticketmaster.com. (Mark Dago)

BUKU @ Plumhouse 9/28

As we head into colder nights, the party stays on. After finishing a European tour this summer, BUKU (aka Robert Balotsky) will grace us with a percussion-filled electronic music set. Since 2013, he’s established himself in the scene, and is still steadily growing in his career. OGs will remember his EP Front to Back, released eight years ago—and now, under Liquid Stranger’s bass label WAKAAN, BUKU has released 2020’s What You See EP and 2021’s Scorched Earth EP, which are notably characterized by his breakneck tran-

sitions and heavy-hitting synths. DJ Craze described BUKU in an interview on “Into the AM,” saying, “Buku is a big one right now. He morphs dubstep elements into trap and it fucking works. It’s not testosteronedriven, and it’s not too jumpy, it’s on the level of perfect.” Salt Lakers are already in love with Liquid Stranger—a solid comparison to BUKU’s sound—so come hear for yourself the way BUKU can somehow manage to make laid-back bangers while also transporting you to stranger dimensions. The venue is an intimate warehouse, so you’ll stay plenty warm amongst friendly people as you headbang away. BUKU plays at Plumhouse (733 S. 400 West) on Saturday, Sept. 28. Doors open at 11 p.m. Tickets cost $25 at the door. Check out the Instagram @plumhouseslc for more event information. (Arica Roberts)

Aoife O’Donovan @ The State Room 9/30

Aiofe O’Donovan’s always maintained an assertive identity, first as lead singer of the alt-bluegrass band Crooked Still, and later as part of the Grammy-winning supergroup I’m With Her. And while she’s made dozens of guest appearances on albums by others, she clearly excels on her own, courtesy of three critically acclaimed studio albums. “We

are passengers traveling through the afterworld,” she coos on the song “Passengers,” one of several standout selections from her most recent album, Age of Apathy, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album . Indeed, it’s that thoughtful attitude and intriguing approach that distinguish her sound. She shares a folklike finesse, and though it comes across as somewhat precious at times, it also boasts a seductive sensibility that leaves her listeners enthralled. So while it’s tempting to define her as a nu-folk diva, her passion and prowess clearly set her apart. It’s no surprise, then, that her talents were tapped for A Prairie Home Companion, and that she was also offered opportunities to perform with such prestigious ensembles as the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, and, perhaps most notably, our own Utah Symphony. That’s all in addition to having her songs featured in films and on such popular televisions series as Private Practice and True Blood. In other words, consider her a superstar of special status. Aoife O’Donovan’s All My Friends Tour with special guest Hawktail comes to The State Room at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30. Tickets cost $55 - $74 (plus taxes and fees) at axs.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

BUKU

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Here comes Hating and Mating Season. I want to minimize the “hating” part and maximize the “mating” part, so I’ll offer suggestions: 1. To the degree you can, dissolve grudges and declare amnesty for intimate allies who have bugged you; 2. Ask partners to help you manage your fears—do the same for them; 3. Propose to your collaborators that you come up with partial solutions to complicated dilemmas; 4. Do a ritual in which you and a beloved cohort praise each other for five minutes; 5. Let go of wishes that your companions would be more like how you want them to be.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Many fairy tales tell of protagonists who are assigned seemingly impossible missions. Perhaps they must carry water in a sieve or find “fire wrapped in paper” or sort a heap of wheat, barley, poppyseed, chickpeas and lentils into five separate piles. Invariably, the star of the story succeeds, usually because they exploit some loophole, get unexpected help, or find a solution simply because they didn’t realize the task was supposedly impossible. I bring this up, Taurus, because I suspect you will soon be like one of those fairy-tale champions. Here’s a tip: They often get unexpected help because they have previously displayed kindness toward strangers or low-status characters. Their unselfishness attracts acts of grace into their lives.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

You are in a phase with great potential for complex, unforeseen fun. To celebrate, I’m offering descriptions of your possible superpowers: 1. The best haggler ever; 2. Smoother of wrinkles and closer of gaps; 3. Laughter in overly solemn moments; 4. Unpredictability expert; 5. Resourceful summoner of allies; 6. Crafty truth-teller who sometimes bends the truth to enrich sterile facts; 7. Riddle wrestler and conundrum connoisseur; 8. Lubricant for those who are stuck; 9. Creative destroyer of useless nonsense; 10. Master of good trickery; 11. Healer of unrecognized and unacknowledged illnesses.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

Tanzanite is a blue and violet gemstone that is available in just one place on earth: a five-square-mile region of Tanzania. It was discovered in 1967 and mined intensively for a few years. Geologists believed it was tapped out. But in 2020, a self-employed digger named Saniniu Lazier located two huge new pieces of tanzanite worth $3.4 million. Later, he uncovered another chunk valued at $2 million. I see you as having resemblances to Saniniu Lazier in the coming weeks. In my visions of your destiny, you will tap into resources that others have not been able to unearth. Or you will find treasure that has been invisible to everyone else.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Marathon foot races are regularly held worldwide. Their official length is 26.2 miles. Even fast runners with great stamina can’t finish in less than two hours. There’s a downside to engaging in this herculean effort: Runners lose up to six percent of their brain volume during a race, and their valuable gray matter isn’t fully reconstituted for eight months. Now here’s my radical prophecy for you, Leo. Unless you run in a marathon sometime soon, your brain may gain in volume during the coming weeks. At the very least, your intelligence will be operating at peak levels. It will be a good time to make key decisions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Is there a greater waste of land than golf courses? They are typically over 150 acres in size and require huge amounts of water to maintain. Their construction may destroy precious wetlands, and their vast tracts of grass are doused with chemical pesticides. Yet there are only 67 million golfers in the world. Less than one percent of the population plays the sport. Let’s use the metaphor of the golf course as we analyze your life. Are there equivalents of this questionable use of resources and space? Now is a favorable time to downsize irrelevant, misused and unproductive elements. Re-evaluate how you use your space and resources.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

On the morning of January 27, 1970, Libran songwriter John Lennon woke up with an idea for a new song. He spent an hour perfecting the lyrics and composing the music on a piano. Then he phoned his producer and several musicians, including George Harrison, and arranged for them to meet him at a recording studio later that day. By February 6, the song “Instant Karma” was playing on the radio. It soon sold over a million copies. Was it the fastest time ever for a song to go from a seed idea to a successful release? Probably. I envision a similar process in your life, Libra. You are in a prime position to manifest your good ideas quickly, efficiently and effectively.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

You have passed the test of the First Threshold. Congratulations, Scorpio! Give yourself a kiss. Fling yourself a compliment. Then begin your preparations for the riddles you will encounter at the Second Threshold. To succeed, you must be extra tender and ingenious. You can do it! There will be one more challenge, as well: the Third Threshold. I’m confident you will glide through that trial not just unscathed but also healed. Here’s a tip from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Those who do not expect the unexpected will not find it.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

What development are you so ready for that you’re almost too ready? What transformation have you been preparing for so earnestly that you’re on the verge of being overprepared? What lesson are you so ripe and eager to learn that you may be anxiously interfering with its full arrival? If any of the situations I just described are applicable to you, Sagittarius, I have good news. There will be no further postponements. The time has finally arrived to embrace what you have been anticipating.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Capricorn screenwriter and TV producer Shonda Rhimes has had a spectacular career. Her company, Shondaland, has produced 11 prime-time TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton She’s in the Television Hall of Fame, is one of the wealthiest women in America, and has won a Golden Globe award. As you enter into a phase when your ambitions are likely to shine extra brightly, I offer you two of her quotes. 1. “I realized a simple truth: that success, fame, and having all my dreams come true would not fix or improve me. It wasn’t an instant potion for personal growth.” 2. “Happiness comes from living as your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

I have performed in many poetry readings. Some have been held in libraries, auditoriums, cafes and bookstores, but others have been in unexpected places: a laundromat, a bus station, a Walmart, a grocery store and an alley behind a thrift store. Both types of locations have been enjoyable. But the latter kind often brings the most raucous and engaging audiences, which I love. According to my analysis, you might generate more luck and fun for yourself in the coming weeks by experimenting with non-typical scenarios—akin to me declaiming an epic poem on a street corner or parking lot. Brainstorm about doing what you do best in novel situations.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

I have two related oracles for you. 1. During the unfoldment of your mysterious destiny, you have had several homecomings that have moved you and galvanized you beyond what you imagined possible. Are you ready for another homecoming that’s as moving and galvanizing as those that have come before? 2. During your long life, you have gathered amazing wisdom by dealing with your pain. Are you now prepared to gather a fresh batch of wisdom by dealing with pleasure and

Software Engineer @ Mastercard International

(Salt Lake City, UT) F/T Partcpate in team priortiztn discssns w/h Prdct/Busnss stakeholdrs. Estmte & own dlvry tasks (dsgn, dev, test, dplymnt, configrtn, documntatn) to meet the busnss rqrmnts.

Reqs a Mstr’s deg or frgn eqvlnt in Comp/ Elctrcl/ Elctrnc Engg, Mngmnt Informatn Systms, Comp Scnc, or rltd & 2 yrs of exp in job offered or as a Sftwre Engnr, IT Engnr, Sftwre Dvlpr, Techncl Lead, Prgrmmr Anlyst or rltd. Altrntvly, ER will acpt a Bchlr’s deg & 5 yrs of prgrssvly rspnsble exp. Qlfyng exp mst inclde at lst 1 yr w/h each of the following: JAVA/ J2EE; SPRING/SPRING BOOT FRAMEWORK; SPRING DATA; HTML/XHTML; JSON/XML; APACHE TOMCAT/ TOMCAT; OS, WINDOWS/LINUX; ECLIPSE/IntelliJ IDE; CI/CD TOOLS, DOCKER, KUBERNETES, GIT; SONAR; OPEN API, REST API; ALM TOOLS/JIRA; Databases: SQL, ORACLE/MYSQL. Rate of pay: $144,955 - $184,000. ER will acpt any suitbl combnatn of edu, training, or exp. Telecommtng and/or WFH may be permissble prsuant to cmpny polics. Snd resume to Ashlee Nageli, Ashlee. Nageli@mastercard.com, 434 W ASCENSION WAY, Salt Lake City, UTAH 84123. Ref MC157-2024.

broad n/work in the US. Optimize the end-to-end RF dsgn, propagation modeling & prediction for deployment of Macro Cell deployment. Determine eqpmt & power configurations. Work w/ eNB/RAN & UE teams on RF solutions incl modifications to RF link budgets to meet operation reqmts. Perform site candidate evaluations, selection, & site walks. Reqs: Bach’s deg (or foreign equiv) in Comp Sci, Electronic Engg, N/work & Communication Mgmt & Services, or a closely related field. 3 yrs of relevant LTE RF Dsgn working exp in job offered or as Testing Engineer/Team Lead. 3 yrs’ exp using/w/ each of the following (which may have been gained concurrently): -Cellular/Mobile Technology in 4G/LTE; -3GPP & 3GPP2 specifications; -Drive test data collection & data processing; -QxDM/QCAT, Wireshark, & Logcat; -Analysis & site d/base maintenance - Windcatcher/ Actix/Accuver; & -JIRA, HP, QC Client, & BugReporter. Employment is contingent on successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check, which may incl a drug test. Rate of pay: $115,000.00. Benefits info available at careers.dish.com. Apply at careers.dish.com. May also apply by emailing resume w/ (Ref: [2024-87769] to tasharedservices@dish.com . The posting will be active for a min. of 3 days. The active posting will continue to extend by 3 days until the position is filled.

urban LIVING

For the Birds

Ipromise this is the last column about high-rises here for a while. As an avid bird-watcher, I know what a danger skyscrapers are to our avian friends, due to reflections and lights at night. Most folks don’t realize that Utah is in multiple migratory bird flyways—including the Pacific and Central Flyways—which are crucial to so many species of birds that fly to and from our state each spring and fall.

Birds stop in Utah to rest up and refuel on their journeys north to Canada and south to Mexico, Central and South America each year, many stopping in and around such water sources as Gunnison reservoir, Utah Lake, the freshwater arm of the Great Salt Lake and Bear Lake. There are tens of thousands of them that pass through our state like avocets, stilts, curlews, phalaropes, sandpipers but also finches, waxwings, sparrows, juncos, hummingbirds, crows, raptors, etc.

Sadly, it is estimated that up to a billion birds die every year from flying into buildings and skyscrapers at full speed of 20 to 30 miles per hour, because they see a reflection of trees or greenery that looks safe, or reflections of clouds that appear harmless in the day or are attracted by light.

In 2023, a Eurasian eagle-owl escaped from the Central Park Zoo and became the darling of New Yorkers, who looked to the skies to see “Flaco” land on window sills, rooflines and decks around the city.

For a year he was dubbed the “Manhattan Mascot” by his fans, until he crashed earlier this year into a glasswrapped building and died. And more than 1,000 birds died in one night in Chicago, flying into McCormick Place, which had been all lit up.

Luckily, there are two international trends that are helping to save our bird friends, but I’m not sure any of these good intentions and changes to building materials are being sufficiently pursued here in Utah.

Citizens in other areas around the world have gotten some cities to recognize this threat to birdlife.

We can help by turning off building lights at night, as that’s when most birds migrate. Developers and owners of buildings downtown love to light up their structures at night and some even add color themes—all of which change bird behavior and cause bird deaths.

In Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth, they have turned off more than half of the building lights downtown each night, saving thousands of birds from a violent death and conserving electricity. Also, there’s a new glass material for high-rises in wide use which contains patterns unseen from the street but are noticeable enough to incoming birds that it helps them avoid potential in-flight crashes.

It’s about time the major cities in our state start reviewing codes and permits for

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1. Morse code symbol

5. Suffix meaning “lover”

10. 1950s poem with the phrase “pingpong of the abyss”

14. Penne ___ vodka

15. ___-Leste (U.N. member since 2002)

16. Like some arguments

17. French businessman with a politically controversial namesake cosmetics company

19. Sextet halved

20. ___ Hawkins Dance

21. Historic Tampa neighborhood known for its cigar factories

23. Little nitwit

26. Came down

27. “Apres ___, le deluge ...”

30. Succulent plant

31. “Danny and the Dinosaur” author ___ Hoff

32. Bronx-born member of Congress, familiarly

33. Pork ___ (convenience store snacks)

35. Therefore

39. NHL Hall of Famer Steve who led the Detroit Red Wings to three Stanley Cups and is now their general manager

41. Element #39 (one of four named after the same Swedish village)

44. Flying start?

45. Mario character hatched from an egg

47. Dr. behind Beats headphones

48. Consumed

51. Dramatist Coward

52. Japanese flag symbol

53. Sword-and-___ (period film genre)

56. Fencing swords

58. Peruvian-born 1950s singer with a Guinness-certified five-octave range

60. Car wash step

64. Decisive defeat

65. Tropical plant with oils used in perfume

68. Land area

69. Tougher to come by

70. Sacha Baron Cohen persona

71. 1/168th of a week

72. “___ it goes”

73. Drains energy

DOWN

1. Makeup of a week

2. Edison’s middle name

3. Winter transport

4. “Rumour ___” (hit song by Adele)

5. Hrs. accrued for vacation, in many workplaces

6. “Drank water too fast” sound

7. “Really looking forward to it!”

8. “Stay” singer Lisa

9. Baseball misplays

10. Drink popular with fall leaf-watchers

11. Former senator Hatch

12. Rider-___ (popular tarot deck)

13. Christopher who played Doc Brown

18. Prepare, as leftovers

22. Light beam

24. Film director Kazan

25. “The Daily Show” correspondent Chieng

27. Past and future portrayer of Kamala on “SNL”

28. Move like molasses

29. Cake decorator

34. Computer admin

36. Clears

37. Expert

38. Albatross, in some literary works

40. Open-top car

42. “From hell’s heart I stab at ___” (“Moby-Dick” quote)

43. Factory that makes mosaic pieces

46. Minimal poker draw

49. Letter after sigma

50. Pet-loving “Tiny Toon

61. Disney feline

62. Tiny cut

63. Carton purchase

66. “Metroid” console

67. Miracle-___ (garden product)

Last week’s answers

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

Adventures” character

53. Dark-skinned wine grape

54. Old Exxon competitor with a torch logo

55. Pacific island nation that had one sprinter in the 2024 Olympics

57. George Eliot’s “___ Marner”

59. Actor Alda

NEWS of the WEIRD

Inexplicable

When Las Vegas police responded to a call in the wee hours of Aug. 27 about someone lying face-down on the ground outside a funeral home, they might not have expected the most obvious explanation: They found a dead body amid the landscaping, with a casket nearby on a rolling cart. KTLA-TV reported that a door to the funeral home was open, and flower petals were scattered on the floor leading out of the door. Investigators learned that the body was that of a person who had been the subject of a viewing the previous day, and surveillance video showed a woman breaking in and moving the casket outside. Police arrested Patricia Sierra, 47, the next day and charged her with grand larceny, burglary and disturbing human remains; she couldn’t explain her actions, she said, because she had consumed six beers and blacked out. Sierra remained in jail on $11,000 bond.

Ewwwww!

n How else do you celebrate Labor Day in Michigan than participating in a ranch dressing chugging contest? Fox 17-TV reported that Zach Orvis of Belding, Michigan, won the first-ever competition at The Harmful Roester restaurant by downing 24 ounces of the creamy delight in 10 seconds, beating 11 other contestants. “I’ve seen people pour about that much on their salads, so what’s the difference?” Orvis said. “I don’t feel sick at all.” Orvis won a $100 gift card and a free order of allyou-can-eat wings every week until spring 2025.

n People in the Netherlands spend more than 900 million euros on drugs each year. How do we know this? KWR, the research institute for drinking water businesses, analyzed sewage samples. NL Times reported on Sep. 12 that the researchers looked for residue of cocaine, speed and ecstasy between 2015 and 2022 in Dutch sewage treatment plants. “We are assuming a fairly conservative estimate,” KWR researcher Thomas ter Laak said. “This provides insight into the size and consumers of the Dutch illegal drug market.”

Nine Lives

Nicci Knight of Newby, North Yorkshire, England, was enjoying a vacation in Turkey when her neighbors let her know they had found her cat, Ted, drowned in their pond. “I had to break the news to my husband and our four children, and we were all absolutely devastated,” Knight said. The BBC reported on Sept. 6 that Knight arranged for her pet to be cremated and went on with the holiday. But four days later, her cat sitter, who had been looking after the family’s other cat, called her and said Ted had just walked through the cat flap on the door. Knight realized she had “paid 130 pounds to cremate someone else’s cat.” After returning home, she collected the cremains, which had been labeled “Not Dead Ted.” The family has not been able to trace the owner of the drowned cat; they believe it was probably a stray.

Overreaction

A man suffered two brain bleeds, multiple skull fractures and multiple facial bone fractures, Las Vegas police said, after a convenience store clerk beat him with a bat for taking too much nacho cheese sauce. On Sept. 3, KSNV-TV reported, officers were called to the store where the man was lying on the ground and bleeding. The person who called 911 asked the clerk, Myron Bullie, to call for help, but he responded, “I’m not going to call 911. He better have learned a lesson.” Bullie told police he had warned the victim about taking too much cheese, but the victim said he wasn’t leaving without it. Bullie is being held on $10,000 bond at the Clark County Detention Center.

The Passing Parade

On Sept. 10, as Delta Flight 295 taxied toward takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Airbus A350 headed for Tokyo clipped the tail off a smaller plane, the Associated Press reported. No one was injured on either aircraft, but passengers had to deplane and be rebooked on later flights. Jason Adams, who was aboard the regional jet headed to Louisiana, posted to X about the collision: “Well that was terrifying. ... Very jarring, metal scraping sounds then loud bangs. We’re fine. No fire or smoke,” he wrote.

Great Art

The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseilles, France, is offering special visiting hours to naturists—people who shun clothing—until Dec. 9, Canoe.com reported on Sept. 2. Nude patrons will be welcome one evening a month to see the exhibition “Naturist Paradises,” which is described as a “journey of discovery of the very first naturist communities, first in Germany and Switzerland, then in France,” according to the museum. Although nudity is welcome, the museum will require visitors to wear shoes “to avoid getting splinters,” an official said.

Wait, What?

Earlier this year, social media star and model Suellen Carey—who lives in the United Kingdom—shared her wedding with her many followers, the Daily Star reported on Sept. 12. The ceremony was unconventional, as Carey married ... herself. She called her lifestyle “sologamy”—or she did, until she recently divorced herself, even after several rounds of couples therapy.

“It’s crucial to know when to end a cycle,” Carey posted. “Even commitment to oneself can have its challenges, such as dealing with the expectation of being perfect for yourself all the time.” She said she felt lonely in her self-marriage and her own company was “exhausting.”

We can only imagine.

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com