RESISTANCE IS FUTILE HOW UTAH ENDED UP WITH A BORG CUBE FOR A FEDERAL COURTHOUSE By David Ross Scheer
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CWCONTENTS COVER STORY RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
How Utah ended up with a Borg cube for a federal courthouse. Cover photo by Scott Frances
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JERRE WROBLE,
Editor They say you can’t keep a good woman down, and that is certainly true for our fearless leader, who this week moves on to bigger and better things. A glutton for punishment, Wroble served as editor from 2009 to 2013 and came back for seconds in January, 2015. Her vivacious personality and keen eye for detail will be missed. Third time’s the charm, Jerre?
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LETTERS Remember Me
As to John Rasmuson’s “Final Words” [Opinion, April 7, City Weekly], here’s a verse from old graves in New England: “Remember me as you pass by As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, you soon shall be. Prepare for death, and think of me.”
GUY HOLM
Salt Lake City
Men Also Struggle With Abortion
I read Giuliana Serena’s cover story, “Voices for Choice,” [March 23, City Weekly] and found it a very human treatment of some of the ways women arrive at the decision to get an abortion. But as is almost always the case in any discussion of abortion—for or against—it leaves something out. Sometimes a woman’s (difficult, painful) decision to have an abortion is one she and an engaged, supportive partner have reached together. I have yet to hear any discussion of abortion honestly address the impact of such an experience on the father involved. I recognize that all too often, the man who contributed to the pregnancy wants nothing to do with or is completely detached from the abortion—he abdicates his responsibility in the matter. But sometimes, the father is supportive and committed and wants to do everything he possibly can to make
WRITE US: Salt Lake City Weekly, 248 S. Main, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Email: comments@cityweekly.net. Fax: 801-575-6106. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Preference will be given to letters that are 300 words or less and sent uniquely to City Weekly. Full name, address and phone number must be included, even on emailed submissions, for verification purposes. sure the mother’s OK as she goes through this … and, at least in my experience, he gets completely neglected in the process. When I was in this situation, my then-girlfriend and I had only been together for less than two months when she told me with tears in her eyes that she was pregnant. We were both scared and a bit freaked out. We found that being pro-choice is far simpler as an abstraction than it is when you are the one having to actually make the choice. We talked it over. I thanked her for including me in the decision and told her I didn’t feel it was my place to dictate to her how we would handle it, but that we could talk about it until she had a clear idea what she thought was best for her, and I would support that with everything I’ve got. Ultimately, we opted to abort. I drove her to the procedure, but I was made to wait in the waiting room instead of holding her hand and supporting her like I wanted to. Afterward, I was allowed to sit with her in the recovery room. I paid for the procedure. When she was ready to leave, we left. Not once in the entire process did anyone ask if I was OK. Not even my girlfriend, that day or at any point thereafter, ever asked how I was handling the decision we made. I hadn’t processed my feelings enough to recognize how much it was upsetting me, so I also never talked to her about it (although I did ask her how she was handling it at various times). If openly discussing abortion experiences is the way to remove the stigma surrounding it, that conversation
ought to recognize how men are affected as well. A lot of relationships end after an abortion (mine did, and to me the abortion played a role in that), but if people talked about it more openly perhaps that wouldn’t be the case. I haven’t told my family, but I have finally shared it with a few select friends, mostly elsewhere because my ex lives here and it isn’t my place to expose her to people’s reactions to the news that we aborted a pregnancy at the beginning of our relationship. I’m not over it. I doubt I ever will be. I think about the decision we made every day of my life. We made the right decision under the circumstances, but I never want to face that decision again. Finally speaking honestly about it, even with just a few people, I’ve noticed that I no longer feel haunted by this destructive force undermining my relationships and my sense of my own future.
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The End of Coal by 2036
It’s the end of the coal business in Utah (and the world), but this funeral for coal will not be a quick cremation, so much as a slow cooking. Southern barbecue takes 12 hours. Coal may take two decades to be fully cooked. But, the smart money says you definitely can stick a fork in it—the coal business is done. According to economists, the banking industry and big investors, within 20 years, coal will be the buggy whips and IBM Selectric typewriters of the 21st century and Utahns who earned a decent living from coal production and shipment are going to be very sorry they fought against extended unemployment benefits, universal healthcare and government-paid job retraining. Let’s consider the financial facts against coal. First there is China, which today buys and burns an astounding half of the world’s coal for its energy production. Now, 50 percent of anything is really a huge market. Hershey is America’s largest chocolate company, but they only have 44 percent of the market. So China being 50 percent of the coal buying market is something we really need to respect. You know that big new port on the west coast we conservative taxpayers are hoping to sink $51 million into? That’s so Utah can get rich sending Carbon County coal to the country we say needs all that energy from coal so it can continue stealing our manufacturing jobs. But wait. What’s this? Breaking news for 2016? China believes climate change is real and is ramping up its non-fossil energy production? Yes. China has gone all in on new wind and solar research and manufacturing. Even before bringing huge new alternative facilities on-line, they already have reversed their coal growth trend and have cut coal use by 4.5 percent since 2012. It’s still at a whopping 64 percent of their electricity production, but the Chinese central government is
B Y S TA N R O S E N Z W E I G
motivated to change quickly and it doesn’t have to put up with that congressional gridlock silliness. So, it is retiring coal-fired power plants right and left to fix global climate change and local air quality problems. Also, even with all the coal it will still burn, recognize that China won’t need to import our coal in the near future because it has 47 percent of the world’s coal energy reserves. So, China is building infrastructure to reduce its coal use by 20 percent within six years and already owns more coal than it now needs. If you were a Wall Street investor, would Utah coal mining and shipping be where you want your money tied up? Let’s ask the pros. According to an April 23, 2016, report from Keith Williams, Wall Street Financial Analyst for the renowned investment website, Seek i n g A lpha .com, “The end of coal started with dramatic reductions in gas prices and environmental regulations to stop mercury and other emissions resulting from burning coal. With 26 U.S. coal bankruptcies and the Dow Jones coal sector index down 76 percent between 2009 and 2014 (with Dow Jones industrial average up 69 percent in the same period), and the last two years being even more challenging, it is clear that coal is in structural decline … Whichever way you look at it, coal must be exited rapidly, so the coal industry must now address this. Any company suggesting that coal will recover should be avoided.” There you have it. Wall Street thinks investing in coal is stupid. Of course, that doesn’t mean elected officials won’t spend our 51 million conservative dollars to build a stupid port anyway. If we can agree to spend $14 million to sue America for land lawfully owned by all Americans, or argue over a pipeline to bring water from productive farmers to a desert so we can greatly increase a water-wasting, lawn-tending population, we surely can build a West Coast port we don’t
6 | MAY 5, 2016
need, even if California will sue us. Nor does it mean we won’t continue to re-elect current big spenders to continue to do questionable things. I won’t list all the questionable things Utah elected officials do. You know them already, because I read your angry posts and tweets about how, for instance, the Legislature thinks porn is a health crisis, while cannabis therapy instead of death from opioids is not. But, take heart. I see bright daylight for our elected officials at the end of the dark coal-mine tunnel. In Alaska, state government, recognizing that fossil energy is in trouble, is providing job retraining to Alaska citizens. In Texas (Texas!), government is helping workers migrate from oil fields to become wind and solar power installers. Elected folks who see the handwriting on the wall are making intelligent mid-course corrections. In Cottonwood Heights, the City Council has listened to constituents and utilized the proverbial eraser on a pencil. They just hired a former Salt Lake County superstar as its new public works administrator and canceled its controversial contract for snow removal and road repairs. I am so proud of these people and, if Cottonwood Heights can do it, so can the rest of Utah. To Gov. Herbert, Senate President Niederhauser and Speaker of the House Hughes, take that $51 million deep water port money off the table before we do something that is not only damaging to our economy, but embarrassing. Use that money to set up a retraining program for our coal economy brothers and sisters. If Alaska and Texas can do it, we can, too. It’s easy and popular to listen to the will of the people. If you need local help, just ask the Cottonwood Heights officials. CW
IF YOU WERE A WALL STREET INVESTOR, WOULD UTAH COAL MINING AND SHIPPING BE WHERE YOU WANT YOUR MONEY TIED UP?
Readers can comment at CityWeekly.net
What do you do to offset your carbon footprint? Scott Renshaw: Walk where I can walk. Take the train where I can take the train. But the bottom line is: not nearly enough.
Enrique Limón: Harshly judge my jerk coworker who keeps disposing of their Styrofoam receptacles in the recycling bin. Styrofoam!
Jackie Briggs: I try to walk to places I need to be whenever I can. It’s lead to great things—like a beer bottle being thrown at me, a miniature rose offered to me and several unsolicited comments on my attire.
Stephen Dark: I’ve been driving a Ford hybrid for a while now, which uses both gas and a battery for power. It’s so quiet when you turn the ignition, it’s like the car hasn’t started. However, my eldest daughter is applying for her driving permit, so I’ve decided to switch to a stickshift Volkswagen GTI so neither of us drive with our cell phones nearby.
Andrea Harvey: I would like to say I still recycle everything that can be recycled, but since I moved here from Oregon, it’s been a lot more difficult. I do, however, walk and use public transportation rather than driving, and also I yell at my boyfriend whenever he’s idling, despite him calling me a Portland hippy when I do so.
Mason Rodrickc: I walk a lot, I save my farts for both me and my girlfriend to share under the covers, I don’t do my dishes very often and I mop with my cat. I think I’m making a real difference.
Jeremiah Smith: Cycle and recycle. We also just xeriscaped our yard. The weeds growing in those areas are doing their part to scrub the carbon out, too.
Randy Harward: I let Jesus carry me, so there is only one set of footprints in the sand.
Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net
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BY KATHARINE BIELE
FIVE SPOT
RANDOM QUESTIONS, SURPRISING ANSWERS
@kathybiele
Not a ‘Funding Priority’
It’s always interesting to see what the Legislature considers a funding priority. Apparently, clean air is not one of them. Last year, our lawmakers rejected limits on wood-burning stoves because, you know, probably a couple of people use them for heat. The smoke contains more than 100 chemical compounds and one fireplace emits more particulates than 90 sports utility vehicles, according to UCAIR. This year, the Legislature opted out of funding a mere $500,000 lawn mower exchange program which has been wildly popular. The Department of Environment Quality notes that using a lawn mower for an hour creates the same air pollution as driving a passenger car for 169 miles, and the exchange program reduced pollution by 3.6 tons last year. The Standard-Examiner editorialized that the state decision was bad. Indeed, the state has shown a general disdain for clean air.
Overdose Prevention
Speaking of the Legislature, no, they didn’t approve medical cannabis this year. But you may remember that in 2014 they approved the use without prescription of naloxone, a drug that can save lives if administered during a overdose. That’s because Utah has one of the highest overdose rates in the nation. For whatever reason, Utahns just love their opioids, and often abuse them. More people die of overdoses or poisonings than from firearms, falls or motor vehicle crashes, says Jennifer Plumb of the University of Utah Department of Pediatrics. So, without a legal pass on the use of cannabis, opioids are still the go-to drugs for people in pain or with various other ailments—including addiction. This month, the Cottonwood Heights Police Department became the first in Utah to carry naloxone, according to a KSL Channel 5 report.
Conflicts of Interests
Appearances are everything, but Utah politicians don’t seem to care. City Weekly and The Salt Lake Tribune have both reported on Rep. Brad Wilson’s Sunflower Crossing development near the Draper prison, although Wilson insists he didn’t get any benefit by being on the relocation commission. On the other hand, neither he nor Senate President Wayne Niederhauser exactly publicized their real estate holdings during the relocation process. Wilson talks about his conflict-of-interest form and how people can search online for information about him. But is that really transparency? Is that really ethics in practice? The Legislature has a large number of developers. In fact, the Trib has said that 22 percent of bills originated from legislators with some vested interest. Maybe that doesn’t make them criminals. But it does tarnish their so-called reputation.
KYLE SIPPLE
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HITS&MISSES
Meet Kesler Ottley, 23, born and raised in Salt Lake City. He is an avid traveler, and a full-time freelance photographer—who has shot everything from weddings to nature—and has even toured the country with the band Sites.
Why do you take pictures?
I picked it up in 2011. I desperately needed a new hobby. I was home one weekend and found my grandpa’s camera that he had given to me years back and just started using that to take photos. That’s when it all started. It wasn’t until about a year and a half ago when I started doing it professionally.
What do you want to say with your photos? And how do you do that?
I love traveling and being in new places. There’s also people out there who would love to but just don’t have the time or the finance to fund trips to these places. So it’s the ability to let those people live vicariously through me in a way. I think a message that I try to send to people especially the photos I take in Utah, is to show people who live here that there are beautiful places literally less than 1o minutes away from us that are under-appreciated. Like all the canyons and the hikes that we have.
Whose work has influenced you the most?
When I first started taking photos, my buddy Kyle and I just influenced each other, but his work definitely pushed my work a lot. So, I’d say Kyle, and there’s also a ton of photographers like Braden Olsen, Zack Graff, Garin Wood and Dominic Starley.
When you go out to shoot, how much of it is planned and how much of it is impulsive?
Almost all of it is impulsive. Just wherever we’re headed, sometimes we stop along the way and take pictures of things, places or people. It’s never planned unless we’re going to shoot for someone or a wedding.
Is there anything you wish you knew before you started phpotography?
Yeah, I wish I would’ve known that it was an expensive hobby. I’ve had to spend a lot of money on this and it’s pretty expensive, but that would be the only thing.
What motivates you to continue this career path?
I think it’s just the fact that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Ever since I started taking photos, it’s like a high that I get off of going outside and taking photos, capturing moments and things like that.
—AMEDA TARR comments@cityweekly.net
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Most politicians seem dumb as doorknobs and the current lot even more than usual. But are they really? Have there been any serious studies comparing politicians’ personality traits or intelligence to that of the common population? —Knut Borge, Oslo, Norway
Surely no discussion of dumb politicians can be complete without reference to dearly departed George W., who left behind not just a tanked economy and one or two intractable military misadventures but volumes worth of great lines—you’ll recall “Is our children learning?,” etc. Bush also memorably described looking into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and getting, quite romantically, “a sense of his soul.” I bring it up because we’d need to give a lot of lawmakers some very thorough eye exams to even begin to answer your question. Are politicians dumb? Who the hell knows? I suspect you’d find that results vary, as with most folks, but that what expresses itself in politicians as apparent dumbness might often reflect a certain kind of savvy. Sure, we had a good laugh when Oklahoma’s Jim Inhofe brought a snowball onto the Senate floor last February as evidence that global warming is a hoax—but keep in mind that Inhofe is well funded by the fossil-fuel industry, and represents a constituency notable for climatechange skepticism. You think he’s dumb? He’s too busy counting campaign money to care. It’s important to consider not just politicians’ public statements, which may be pure theater, but the whole “fruit salad of their life,” as Ben Carson recently and so perfectly put it. And there’s another knock on your theory, Knut—Carson seemed like a blathering idiot during the debates, but the guy was a brilliant neurosurgeon by every account. He’s as good a demonstration as you’ll find of the theory of multiple intelligences, originated by Harvard professor Howard Gardner: Carson would seem to have what Gardner calls visual-spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences by the bushel, but far less of the verbal-linguistic kind. So: n Intelligence is a hazy, multifaceted construct that can be tracked in any number of ways. n There’s not exactly a surfeit of meaningful data on intelligence as regards politicians as a class. n Let’s not put too much stock in their public behavior, which can’t be assumed to reflect their actual beliefs. Of course, it’s still tempting to speculate. One guy who’s succumbed is psychologist Dean Keith Simonton, who in a 2006 study endeavored to estimate IQs for all American presidents, up to and including W. For most presidents, Simonton worked from personality assessments by their biographers; he anonymized the data and submitted it to a panel of independent judges, using various analytical tools to validate the results. Now, let’s keep in mind that 1. to the extent IQ scor-
BY CECIL ADAMS SLUG SIGNORINO
STRAIGHT DOPE Politicians’ Intelligence
ing is meaningful, it’s mainly as a diagnostic of intellectual or emotional impairment, not a system for ranking healthy people’s intelligence, and 2. the guy is essentially guessing what the presidents’ IQs were anyway. That said: Simonton found Bush to be “definitely intelligent”—with an estimated IQ around 125, or “in the upper range of college graduates in raw intellect”—but below average relative to other presidents. Compared to all 20th-century presidents (and I’ll note I suggested as much in a 2001 column), “only Harding has a lower score.” The rest were markedly above the national average, which hovers around 100; 28 presidents were given a “genius”-level score, typically defined as anything north of 130. What else could one use as a proxy for brain power? Educational attainment obviously doesn’t equate to raw intelligence, but at the very least it seems like an OK thing for a politician to have some of. Modern American legislators do well by this standard: current members of Congress have pretty much all achieved bachelor’s degrees—94 percent of representatives and 100 percent of senators, as compared to just about a third of the population at large. More than half of senators hold law degrees, 82 members of the House have MAs, etc. But does this even matter? Scholars have historically assumed a link between political leaders’ education and their effectiveness, but in a paper last year in the Journal of Politics, researchers looked at the track records of 20th-century U.S. congresspeople and found that the ones with college degrees didn’t have any more success—in terms of getting bills passed and holding onto their seats—than the ones without. “The idea that education is a marker of leader quality,” the authors concluded, “is far from the empirical regularity it is made out to be.” You also asked about personality traits. Here I’ll point you toward a 2012 piece in the Atlantic that described certain people marked by “lack of remorse and empathy, a sense of grandiosity, superficial charm, conning and manipulative behavior and refusal to take responsibility for one’s actions.” Politicians, right? Well, the author was talking about psychopaths; one neuropsychologist quoted here identifies former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, for instance, as a perfectly “plausible psychopath.” By this estimation, far from being an impediment to a career in politics, psychopathy could in fact optimize one for it. But then I guess we already knew that.n
Send questions to Cecil via StraightDope. com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.
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MAY 5, 2016 | 11
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12 | MAY 5, 2016
NEWS The Brain Drain
A look inside Mayor Biskupski’s first 100+ days BY COLBY FRAZIER cfrazier@cityweekly.net @ColbyFrazierLP
B
ill Haight knew there was a chance that his 27-year career in Salt Lake City’s Information Management Services Department could come to an end when Jackie Biskupski settled into the mayor’s office. As director of the department for the past nine years, Haight says his position was “at-will,” meaning that any mayor at any time could show him the door, for no reason. And that’s exactly what happened in January, when Biskupski, in what was then an effort to clean house of city officials who she says didn’t match up with her vision, fired Haight, D.J. Baxter, who oversaw the Redevelopment Agency, and Debra Alexander, director of human resources. These firings, in addition to the departures of three other department heads, have emerged as the defining characteristics of Biskupski’s first 100 days in office, say members of the city council and one of her most vocal supporters during the election, who now says he “made a mistake” in supporting the mayor. “It turns out this has been a case of ‘watch out what you hope for’ because things have taken a huge turn for the worse,” says former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson. “I think Mayor Biskupski had no idea what she was doing, what she was getting into; she hadn’t even learned anything about her own job and she came in very irresponsibly, in my own view, in terminating some incredibly competent, hard-working people, whose historical knowledge simply can’t be replaced.” While Biskupski realizes that the personnel changes have sparked criticism, she says the departures were necessary to ensure that her top level lieutenants shared her vision for the city. “It’s really no different than any other leadership role,” Biskupski tells City Weekly. “If you’re a coach, you’re going to bring in your assistant coaches that understand where you’re coming from and are supportive of your vision.” Although six of the department head positions at the city turned over, Biskupski says she retained more than 100 other appointed employees who worked for the city prior to her arrival.
POLITICS While personnel changes have earned the mayor criticism and headlines, Biskupski says that notable accomplishments have been made during her short time at the city’s helm. In January, Biskupski says she worked hard to lobby the Legislature to cough up $27 million over the next three years to help provide services for the city’s swelling homeless population. “That was a big win on Capitol Hill that I’m extremely proud of,” Biskupski says. When that work was finished, Biskupski says she once again turned her attention toward vetting her top-level employees, and making appointments—a process that is ongoing. On April 26, Biskupski announced that interim Chief of Police Mike Brown had officially been selected as her chief, and six other department heads were rehired for their positions. As time passes, though, members of the city council wonder when Biskupski intends to find replacements for key positions that remain vacant, including in the Redevelopment Agency and departments of community and economic development, public services and information technology. “We do call it ‘the brain drain’ with what’s happened in Salt Lake City,” says James Rogers, the council chair, who represents District 1. Lisa Adams, who represents District 7, says that Biskupski’s decision to cast aside top-level managers, many of whom had dozens of years of experience, has taken its toll on the city. Prior to the announcement on April 26 that Brown and several other department heads were being retained, Adams says uncertainty ruled the day in most every major department. While Adams says the first few months of Biskupski’s tenure have been “rocky,” and she hasn’t hesitated to criticize the mayor for her personnel moves, Adams says that for the sake of the city, the mayor needs to be successful. “I really want this to work,” Adams says. “I want success here, but I’m worried that if it takes too long to figure things out, citizens will start to feel it if things aren’t running the way they need to be run. Every week that goes by that we don’t have leadership in those positions, it worries me.” As Biskupski swept out longtime city employees, she moved to replace some of them with her former colleagues at Salt Lake County. The results have been mixed. Biskupski’s pick to replace public services director Rick Graham, who was fired after 35 years on the job, was April Townsend, associate director of finance and operations
for the Salt Lake County library system. Townsend lasted less than a month, resigning to continue pursuing her doctorate degree. Jeff Niermeyer, a 25-year veteran of public utilities, who served as director for nearly a decade, also left the city as Biskupski took the reins, though he was not fired. Biskupski’s proposed replacement for Niermeyer was Mike Reberg, who was head of county animal services. Just before his public vetting before the city council, Reberg withdrew his name for consideration, citing criticisms from the council and a national engineering group, which focused on his lack of experience. These firings also cost taxpayers some serious coin. In severance and benefits packages for the departing employees, Adams says, the city paid out nearly $1 million, which was
“It turns out this has been a case of watch out what you hope for.”
-Fmr. Mayor Rocky Anderson
not budgeted and therefore had to be drained from the city’s rainy day fund. Anderson, who fundraised on behalf of Biskupski, lent his voice and authority to her radio advertisements and railed against former mayor Ralph Becker on everything from construction of bike lanes to the prevalence of a city spokesman commenting on the mayor’s behalf, says his enthusiasm for Biskupski was a misstep. “I clearly made a mistake,” Anderson says. “If I’d have had any idea that she was going to terminate such amazingly talented, hard working, effective people at the top of crucial city departments, I never would have supported her.” On Anderson, Biskupski says she believes the former mayor’s strong words are rooted in his personal relationships with some of the employees who were let go. And the seeming abundance of criticism over the personnel changes, which Biskupski says are commonplace at the state and federal levels when new administrations take over, have been amplified because she’s a woman. Biskupski says female leadership is not the norm in Salt Lake City, where she is the second female mayor, and is also openly gay. “With those parts of my identity, you’ll always have people who are going to be naysayers, who question my ability to lead simply because of those two things,” Biskupski says. CW
NEWS The Challengers
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cate that a woman should have the right to make that choice. But people [in the party] want me to come out and say I’m pro-choice, and I’m not going to say it.” Swinton hopes the election doesn’t focus on that particular issue, and says he hopes that those voters who might have a problem with his stance will be comforted to know that he is strongly in favor of access to contraception and prenatal care. No matter who emerges victorious in the June 28 primary, they’re going to have a huge uphill battle against incumbent Lee. Snow says that she is focusing her campaign on the millennial generation. “We have more millennials in Utah per capita than in any other state, about 46 percent of our citizens who are of voting age are millennials, and many—if not most—just aren’t voting. We need to engage them and the only way to do that is to nominate a candidate that excites them, and I’m going to excite them a lot more than a conservative Democrat will.” Swinton, meanwhile, says he is planning on spending a lot of time in rural Utah, where he believes his message will resonate with voters who are sick of Washington, D.C., politics. “Washington needs a marriage counselor, I’ve spent a career helping people who hate each other come to terms, deal with their differences, and find solutions and compromise. Compromise isn’t a swear word, you know.” One thing Swinton and Snow agree on: They both believe that if the Republicans nominate Donald Trump, it could provide the opening they need in November. “If there’s going to be a chance for a Democrat to win statewide in Utah, it’s going to be right here, right now, in 2016” Snow says. CW
Rose Wagner
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panded coverage to mental health services like marriage and family counseling. “So many insurers just won’t touch my industry,” he says, “even though the services we provide are so vitally crucial for so many.” Swinton has been in the race since last summer, while Snow announced her campaign in March. Swinton was widely expected to easily win the required 60 percent at the Utah State Democrat Convention on April 23 to win the nomination and avoid a primary fight, but Snow’s campaign picked up steam at the end, winning her 45 percent and holding Swinton to 55 percent. Snow’s surprise success was largely thanks to an op-ed Swinton penned for The Salt Lake Tribune in September of 2015, which was circulated at the convention among the Democratic delegates. In the op-ed, Swinton described himself as a “conservative Democrat,” and joined the national conservatives’ call for an investigation of Planned Parenthood. Snow says those statements, and Swinton’s call for Planned Parenthood funding to be redirected elsewhere, are two of the reasons she decided to run. Swinton acknowledges the op-ed has hurt his campaign, saying, “I’ve certainly taken a lot of heat for this. I jumped on the bandwagon [with Gov. Herbert, Rep. Jason Chaffetz and others] because I felt Planned Parenthood could better show that they’re not using federal funds for abortions. My pro-life stance is deeply rooted in me; I’m not going to hide from that. But I do feel a woman should have the right to choose in the circumstances of rape, incest or life-of the mother. Those are circumstances where I saw in my previous role as a victim-advo-
STAGE KISS
“It’s in my blood,” licensed marriage and family therapist, Jonathan Swinton, says about running for office.
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On her website, Misty Snow says she is “a true progressive that will always stand up for working people.”
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wo Democrats are challenging Mike Lee (R) for his Senate seat in November. Misty Snow and Jonathan Swinton will square off in a primary election on June 28, trying to convince Democrats from Logan to St. George that they are the one who could topple Lee. City Weekly sat down with both candidates to get a sense of how they might do that. Along with working as a cashier at Harmons, Misty Snow is an activist for LGBT rights whose message is modeled on the strongly progressive tone of Bernie Sanders’ campaign. “I think there are a lot of people who feel like Congress and the Senate don’t represent them because there aren’t a lot of working-class people there,” Snow says. “We look at our representation and all we see are all of these millionaires, and lawyers, and business-owners, and bankers. There needs to be more representation for actual people.” Snow has based her campaign on workers’ rights issues. “I want to do whatever I can to help the working-class of America. I want to see the minimum wage raised to a working wage, and I think it can be done,” she says. “There’s a lot of popular support for raising wages, and I think if we implement it over a few years, and then attach it to inflation thereafter, it can be done. It also shocks me that we don’t have paid maternity leave in this country for mothers; we are the only country in the world [with a developed economy] without it.” Snow continues, “You would think it would be the easiest thing to do politically because every single person out there knows someone who has given birth. I think we could win on a lot of these issues.” Jonathan Swinton works as a marriage and family therapist and is focusing much of his campaign on access to healthcare. “We’ve got to rein in the pharmaceutical industry and the ballooning costs of medications that are desperately needed,” Swinton says. “The people who are hit the hardest with pharmaceutical needs often have the least amount of money, like the elderly. I see us, as Americans, as having a responsibility to take care of one another. I don’t think a single-payer system would be as simple or as good as some people think it would be. The Congress has a Republican majority, so we need to be looking for a pragmatic approach that will get bipartisan support.” Swinton says he would also like to see ex-
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14 | MAY 5, 2016
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Take a step back—way back—and take your eyes off your phones to experience a bit of your historic past at the kick-off Open House for 2016 Archaeology and Preservation Month. Expect hands-on activities like corn grinding and face painting for kids and families during this educational and entertaining path into Utah’s dynamic 10,000-year-old history. Throughout the month of May, organizations across the state will host more than 40 special events to help celebrate Utah’s amazing natural beauty and historic preservation. Salt Lake Community College, South Campus, 1575 S. State, 801-245-7254, Saturday, May 7, noon-3 p.m., free, open to public, History.Utah.gov
SILVER TEA FUNDRAISER
Hats and gloves and pretty dresses abound at the Woman’s Board 100th Anniversary Silver Tea. The first Silver Tea was held May 10, 1916, when the Woman’s Board, just 25 members strong, raised $33 at the tea for the college. It is now the board’s most popular fundraising effort. Over the years, the Silver Tea has raised some $40,000 for student scholarships. The entire family can take part in a silent auction, flowers and plants sale, children’s crafts and afternoon high tea. All proceeds go toward Westminster student scholarships. Behnken Field House Tea Garden, Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East, 801-832-2735, Saturday, May 14 , 1-4 p.m., $35 per adult, $15 per child (12 and younger), WestminsterCollege.edu/SilverTea
NATIVE ARTS EVENT
You can learn about part of Utah’s rich Native American traditions during the 10th Anniversary of the Amazing Earthfest. The collaboration between the Western National Parks Association, the Amazing Earthfest and the Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts will bring beautiful and unique Navajo rugs and fine jewelry to Southern Utah straight from the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. There will be presentations on rug care and informative weaving demonstrations. A special reception will celebrate the historic friendship between J.L. Hubbell and renowned artist Maynard Dixon. The reception will include a Best-of-Hubbell exhibition and sale, a Navajo rug talk and more. Hubbell Trading Post Navajo Rug and Jewelry Show, Kanab City Library, 374 North Main, 702-860-2341, free, Tuesday, May 10, noon-8 p.m.; Amazing Earthfest, Kenab, 435-6443735, free, May 8-14, AmazingEarthfest.com
—KATHARINE BIELE Send events to editor@cityweekly.net
S NEofW the
That’s Entertainment! One notably hypersuccessful YouTube channel (700,000 subscribers) features Mr. Lauri Vuohensilta of Finland pulverizing various objects (such as a bowling ball) in a 100-ton hydraulic press. “I think it’s built into every person—the need to destroy something,” Vuohensilta says. That channel is free of charge, but other entrepreneurs have created 24-hour pay-per-month websites and apps offering similarly specialized programming, e.g., “Zombie Go Boom” (actors taking chain saws to things; $5 a month), “Hungry Monk Yoga” (posing in orange robes while teaching martial arts; $15 a month), and “Lather Fantasies” (clothed people “excessively shampooing each other’s hair”; $20 a month). (An April Wall Street Journal report noted that the “lather” channel “sounds kinkier than it actually is.”)
BY CHUCK SHEPHERD
of order” sign on it, raising still another question about the efficacy of the crime.) In February the Minshull Street Crown Court sentenced the pair to 40 months each in prison. (Bonus: In court, Shelton helpfully corrected the legal record by reminding officials that the pair’s crime was actually “burglary” and not, as written, “robbery.”)
WEIRD
Recurring Themes Restaurants in Tokyo continue their vigilance for unique, attention-demanding animal themes to attract diners. Eateries showcasing tableside cats, rabbits, owls, hawks and even snakes have tried their hands, with the latest being Harry, offering food and drink—and 20 to 30 teacup-size hedgehogs for diners to fondle while awaiting meal service. The equivalent of $9 brings an hour of cuddling rights.
Smooth Getaway The December burglary of the Halifax bank in Sale, England, drew attention even though the hour was just after midnight—because Jamie Keegan and Marc Shelton (both age 33) had tried to haul away an ATM, but it fell out the back of their van, producing calamitous noise (and sparks in the road). (Also, the ATM had an “out
n In January, four units in an apartment house in midtown Detroit were accidentally burned out by a tenant attempting to kill a bedbug that had bitten him. He had tried to light it up, but by the time the flames were extinguished, he was badly burned, his and three adjacent units were uninhabitable and two dozen others had suffered water damage. n Sex ’n’ Veggies: Emergency surgeons at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Costa Rica removed an 18-inch-long “yuca” (cassava root) from the posterior of a 55-year-old man in April after one of the two condoms encasing it ruptured inside him. A photograph in San Juan’s Diario Extra showed that the yuca had been carved into a phallic shape. Apparently, the man avoided what could have been catastrophic internal injury. n Funeral directors who mix up bodies (either accidentally or, in some cases, fraudulently) are not uncommon, but Thomas Clock III of Clock Funeral Home at White Lake (Whiteside, Mich.) was charged with a bit more in April. Not only did Clock allegedly fail to bury the ashes of the late Helen Anthony in December (interring an empty box instead), but when the family asked for a specific burial date, Clock allegedly told them that no workers were available and that the family would have to dig the cemetery plot themselves—for which Clock helpfully advised using a “post hole digger.” (And they did.)
Thanks this week to Sergio Brusin and Gary DaSilva, and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.
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n The two most recent instances of suspects who claimed that the drugs or paraphernalia found in their genitals during police searches were not theirs (but were only being stored there for other people) were Tiffany Flores, 23, arrested in Fellsmere, Fla., on April 5 with a crack pipe in her vagina, and Deondre Lumpkin, 23, arrested in Largo, Fla., on March 22 with crack cocaine “concealed beneath his genitals” (though he did admit owning the marijuana found in his car).
More DIY Masters Randy Velthuizen had lived in the house in Everson, Wash., for 20 years, but in April, he accidentally set it afire while attempting to kill weeds with a blowtorch. It was an uninsured total loss. “It just made downsizing a hell of a lot easier,” Velthuizen says.
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Fine Points of the Law In some states, as News of the Weird has reported, visitors with the barest “right” to occupy property (e.g., invited in for one night but never left) cannot be evicted except by court order, which might take weeks to obtain. In April, owners in Flint, Mich., and Nampa, Idaho, were outraged that nothing could be done quickly to remove squatters from their vacated houses. (The Nampa squatter produced a “lease” that, though fraudulent, was enough to send the sheriff away.)
n The most recent suspect to have the bright idea to try biting off his fingertips (to avoid identification) was Kirk Kelly, wanted in Tampa for violating probation and picked up by police in February in Akron, Ohio. While being detained in Akron, he had begun to chew the skin off his fingers. Even if he had succeeded, he was easily identified as Kirk Kelly because of his body tattoos (“Port Tampa” and “813”—Tampa’s area code).
MAY 5, 2016 | 15
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16 | MAY 5, 2016
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RESISTANCE IS FUTILE HOW UTAH ENDED UP WITH A BORG CUBE FOR A FEDERAL COURTHOUSE
SCOTT FRANCES
SCOTT FRANCES
By David Ross Scheer • comments@cityweekly.net
THE MOSS COURTHOUSE (FOREGROUND) WITH THE NEW COURTHOUSE BEHIND THE U.S. DISTRICT COURTHOUSE OF THE UTAH DISTRICTOF THE 10THCIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
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with the term expresses a distrust of reason as a guide to life. If the popularity of the “Borg cube” reference is any indication, the exterior form and materials of the courthouse has triggered a strong visceral reaction in a substantial number of locals. If any proof is needed that architecture can create powerful symbols, here it is.
CHOOSE THE ARCHITECT, NOT THE DESIGN
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MAY 5, 2016 | 17
One hundred eleven years ago, the design (if not the location) of the first federal courthouse in Salt Lake City created little controversy. At the time, there was widespread agreement about the design of courthouses and other public buildings in our country. The ideals of the American Republic were usually represented by stylistic references to buildings of the Roman Republic of 2,000 years ago, a practice begun by Thomas Jefferson in his design for the Virginia State Capitol in 1788. The Frank E. Moss U.S. Courthouse in Salt Lake City, completed in 1905, was built in this tradition, with its imposing colonnade towering over Main Street. Originally known as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, the venerable structure was renamed in 1990 for the late U.S. Sen. Frank E. Moss. Soon after it was completed, the idea that modern society was not well represented by imitations of ancient architecture began to gain support among architects and the public. The search for new architectural ideas began and continues today.
But of all the labels attached to the courthouse, the one that appears to have stuck is the “Borg cube,” referring to the fearsome adversary of Captain Picard and his crew on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is revealing that this reference should prove so popular. The Borg, you will recall, traveled in a ship in the shape of a cube that contrasted dramatically with the sleek form of the Enterprise. They were not individuals but members of a “collective,” like bees or ants. They were visibly parts of a machine, disfigured by the addition of various technological prostheses—most prominently around an eye, one of the “windows to the soul.” Their threat to those outside of the collective was that they would be “assimilated”—that is, become Borg and lose their individual identities. The Borg embody a type of dystopian future myth in which the individual is eradicated by an impersonal society. In one sense, they recall George Orwell’s novel 1984 that evoked the insidious rise of totalitarianism and its subjugation of the individual to the will of the state. This resonates with many Utahns’ distrust of the federal government, a collective Utahns fear will “assimilate” them by such means as imposing universal health care and educational standards. The Borg myth resonates with another Utah preoccupation as well. The Borg are the product of reason run amok. The cubic shape of their spaceship symbolizes this unbridled reason. Their “collective” demonstrates the danger of allowing reason to rule morality, taking the utilitarian maxim “the greatest good for the greatest number” to its supposed logical conclusion. In the Borg myth, it is not totalitarianism but reason that eradicates the individual. Labeling the courthouse
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A
rchitecture normally receives very little public notice in Salt Lake City. Whatever else one may say about it, however, the new federal courthouse got the public’s attention. When it opened in 2014, response was massive and critical. The Salt Lake Tribune and KSL Channel 5 received a wave of letters and posts in response to articles about its opening. The overwhelming consensus was that the building was “ugly.” A few commenters on KSL’s website were more creative, comparing the building to “a big swamp cooler,” “a gigantic air conditioning condenser” and “the Justice Dumpster.” These comments draw attention to the courthouse’s most prominent aspects: its free-standing cubic form and metallic materials that evoke a piece of technology. Others saw a symbolism that confirmed their opinions of the federal government and the justice system: Moderated2: “Is this where the NSA charges you after they tapped your phones, PCs, email, etc.?” Seeker3: “This gives the Federal Government more of the image that it does not need. Bizarro World.” Stmghowell: “…the nauseating horror of the outside appearance is an explicit representation of the stupefying inefficiencies of the modern-day courtroom system and the brutal injustices that can occur there.” Architects, on the other hand, were largely approving. In 2015, the courthouse was given a prestigious Honor Award by the American Institute of Architects. News of this award gave rise to a renewed flood of public comments that took aim at the art and architecture establishment. One commenter wrote, “This is the state of modern art. Something that is truly ugly and has the artistic shelf life of day-old bread is praised by elites for being some kind of masterpiece. Art no longer inspires. People design a giant gray box, fill it with art work that looks like kids splattered paint on a canvas, and then congratulate themselves on how good they did by giving themselves awards. We need true artists that inspire again.”
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18 | MAY 5, 2016
SCOTT FRANCES
SCOTT FRANCES
SCOTT FRANCES
THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE COURTHOUSE TOOK 20 YEARS
Today, there are many ideas about what a public building should look like, just as there are many ideas about the state of American society and the direction it should take. Due to this diversity of ideas, a modern public building can no longer be a simple profession of faith in our founding principles. Today’s best public buildings illuminate some idea of what these principles mean now. Public buildings that are not banal are almost guaranteed to be controversial, and an architect who wishes to avoid banality must be something of a political philosopher. The social context of public buildings is not the only thing that has changed about them since the early 20th century. Physically, a modern courthouse is a very different animal than a traditional one like Moss. Modern technology makes buildings more convenient and comfortable. The trade-off is that such technology takes up more space and places more constraints on a building’s layout. Whereas traditional courthouses had heavy masonry walls with relatively small windows, a modern one has a steel or concrete frame enclosed by a lightweight curtain wall. This allows much larger openings and more daylight. (In fact, increasing the amount of daylight in the new courthouse was one of the first things the judges asked for after years of working in the relatively dark Moss building.) The number and diversity of activities that take place in a modern courthouse are far greater than before, adding significantly to the challenge of laying out the building. Last but not least, security has become a major factor in the design of all public buildings. The combination of social and technical challenges in modern courthouse design poses a conundrum when it comes to choosing an architect, as few architects are equally accomplished at both kinds of thinking. The General Services Administration (GSA) is the agency responsible for the federal government’s non-military buildings. It is a mammoth organization that owns and operates around 9,600 buildings totaling nearly 400 million square feet. Given its vast portfolio and the complexity of modern buildings, the GSA used to give priority to technical competence in choosing its architects. The result, according to Ed Feiner, a former chief architect of the GSA, was a large number of uninspiring buildings. After becoming GSA’s chief architect in 1981, Feiner decided that federal buildings should showcase the country’s highest ideals through their design. In 1995, he initiated the Design Excellence program, changing the
way the GSA chooses its architects. Under Design Excellence, a list of about five is created for each project based on their individual design talent, according to Feiner. Each of these architects is paid a nominal fee to assemble a design team and come up with a design for the project at hand. The designs are judged by a group of respected architects and GSA employees familiar with the project. The winning design is chosen, again according to Feiner, for the overall approach each designer takes, and this architect is awarded a contract for the project. Feiner emphasizes that the purpose of this selection process is to “choose the architect, not the design.” Since the requirements of a building project often change over the course of the design process, a submitted design will probably not be built. However, he believes that having the right architect ensures that a good building will result regardless of changes that might occur. As we will see, adaptability certainly proved to be an essential trait for the architect of the Salt Lake City courthouse. Putting the individual designer at the center of the selection process has important consequences. By winning the competition, the architect gains the GSA’s approval of his or her design judgment before the project begins. This puts the architect in a strong position to set the project’s direction and make subsequent decisions. For the Salt Lake City federal courthouse, this process resulted in the selection of Thomas Phifer of New York City. Phifer had worked for many years in the firm of Richard Meier, a world-famous New York architect widely admired for his modernist designs. Since this stylistic preference was apparent in Phifer’s winning design as well as in his previous work, it was a given at the outset that the Salt Lake City courthouse would have a modern appearance. But this alone does not account for the building we see today. A little history of the project is needed to understand how the building came to be what it is.
THE 20-YEAR PROJECT
Designing and constructing the Salt Lake City courthouse took almost 20 years. The design competition that resulted in Phifer’s selection took place in late 1996. He and his fellow competitors were asked to design an annex to
IT WAS GIVEN AT THE OUTSET THAT THE SALT LAKE CITY COURTHOUSE WOULD HAVE A MODERN APPEARANCE.
NAYLOR, WENTWORTH LUND ARCHITECTS
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JUDGES AND THE GSA DECIDED THAT THE SECURITY REQUIREMENTS COULD ONLY BE MET IF THE COURTHOUSE HAD THE BLOCK TO ITSELF.
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LIGHT IS A SYMBOL FOR THE IDEALS OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
MAY 5, 2016 | 19
There must be another reason why this design was chosen. The reason lies with the architect. Once Phifer had the entire block to work with, the cube was his preferred design, according to several people. For a modernist like him, the appeal of this design is its pure form. The separation from the surrounding buildings created by the security setbacks allows the form to be seen in the round. The preference among modern architects for simple geometric shapes originated with one of the patron saints of the movement, the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. In his seminal book, originally published in 1923, Toward an Architecture, he wrote: “Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and tangible within us without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage and the metaphysician.” This summarizes a central tenet of modernist aesthetics still shared by many contemporary architects all over the world. But while this helps explain the architect’s proposal, it does not account for its acceptance as the design of the building. Architects need the support of their clients to carry a design to completion. Although the GSA hired Phifer and funded the project, their mandate—according to the GSA project manager Al Camp—is to serve the judges. These men and women were the true clients for the courthouse. Crucially for the outcome, the chief judge at the time and cochair of the committee working with the architect was Judge Tena Campbell. Along with Judge Samuel Alba, Campbell represented her colleagues in guiding the design. She says that while the two of them consulted periodically with other judges, they made most of the day-to-day decisions. By the account of several people involved in the project, Campbell’s judgment and personal relationship with Phifer were in large part responsible for the latter’s ability to realize his vision. In an interview with City Weekly, she referred to Phifer as a “Picasso architect,” indicating her respect for and deference to his design sensibility. Having
SCOTT FRANCES
NAYLOR, WENTWORTH LUND ARCHITECTS
LIGHT IS ENLIGHTENMENT
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the Moss courthouse, not a separate building. Working with the Salt Lake City firm of Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects, Phifer came up with the winning design that inserted itself sensitively into the context of the old courthouse and Market Street. It featured a building comparable in size to the Moss courthouse, joined to it by a covered atrium (see first right). Its controversial aspect was that it required demolishing the Odd Fellows Hall, although it proposed to keep the façade of that historic building. Soon after Phifer and his team were hired, a problem appeared with their winning design. It called for keeping some of the federal district courtrooms in renovated parts of the Moss building. According to Ross Wentworth of Naylor Wentworth Lund, the layout of the old courthouse made it impossible to meet certain security requirements. The design team was asked to come up with a new design (see far right) that housed all of the courtrooms inside the new structure. The new design featured a larger but still low-rise annex building, now separated from the Moss by an open plaza. A problem remained, however, with the proximity of the new building to the street and to nearby buildings. According to Alan Camp, the GSA’s project manager for the new courthouse, large setbacks were mandated around all new federal courthouses. This is to prevent a bomb-carrying vehicle from approaching the building, as happened tragically in Oklahoma City in 1995. Camp says that these setbacks could be modified if the federal district judges agreed. For reasons that are not clear, it took a considerable amount of time to reach a decision to maintain the setbacks. In the meantime, Wentworth says, the design was developed to a fairly high degree of detail. The second design finally went the way of the first, and it was, as they say, back to the drawing board. After a few false starts, the judges and the GSA decided that the security requirements could only be met if the courthouse had the block to itself. It took several years of negotiations and congressional intervention before the historic Shubrick Building at the corner of West Temple and 400 South was finally acquired, which caused the closure of many of the businesses located there, including the popular nightclub, Port O’Call. The former City Weekly offices, located on 400 South, were vacated and the paper relocated to Main Street. During this time, the Odd Fellows Hall was moved to a new location across the street, also with federal financial assistance. Phifer’s team started again with a clean slate in 2005—nine years after winning the commission. The team proposed three designs. When asked why the cube design was chosen, several people mentioned the efficiency of the form—a cube encloses a given volume of space with a minimum of wall area, assuming flat walls. This saved money in construction and reduces the cost of heating and cooling compared with the other designs. While true, this has a whiff of rationalization about it. The walls as built were made more expensive by a custom-fabricated system of shading louvers. A larger wall area could have been built for the same amount of money with less expensive construction. Relatively efficient heating and cooling was achieved through a variety of means, but the inherent nature of the design—a glass cube—was an obstacle to be overcome, not an argument in its favor. The efficiency argument is not convincing.
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THOMAS PHIFER AND PARTNERS
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THESE TECHNICAL SPECS SHOW HOW THE METAL LOUVERS ON EACH SIDE OF THE BUILDING ARE POSITIONED TO MAXIMIZE THEIR USE OF SUNLIGHT ON THE INTERIOR OF THE COURTHOUSE seen his previous work, she knew in advance that he would design a modern building and thought it made sense to “let him do what he does best.” With Phifer and other members of the design team, she and Judge Alba toured many courthouses around the country, gathering ideas for their building. They were especially struck by the effects of sunlight in some of the buildings and decided that theirs would provide as much daylight as possible. She says that Phifer was very receptive to this request as well as others the judges made: wood floors, a spiral staircase, using different types of wood on different levels, water pools and other features. Campbell is very pleased with the completed building. The light, she says, affects her mood and makes the building an “easy place to work [in].” Jurors, in particular, are much more comfortable in the new building, she says. This is due in large part to amenities such as video screens in the jury box and well-appointed jury rooms, but also speaks well of the design team’s—and the judges’—attention to detail. Campbell is candid about the importance of security concerns. She recalls with obvious discomfort how, in the Moss courthouse, she and other judges could find themselves riding in the same elevator with someone they had just sentenced to prison. It took some time, she says, for her to understand that the security setbacks could not be created if other buildings remained on the block. Nevertheless, she believes that the courthouse is neighborhood-friendly, thanks to planters, trees and steps that are a traditional feature of courthouses. Daylight is indeed the predominant theme inside the building. While it may appear solid from the outside, the interior is bright with expansive views in every direction. Light is brought into the center of the building by an atrium and glass floors. An installation of suspended hexagonal mirrors by artist James Carpenter that hangs in the atrium varies the light and reflects it outward. Phifer sees light not only as beneficial for the work of the courts, but as a symbol for the ideals of the justice system. “Light is enlightenment,” he says, “a metaphor for showing the way, for justice.” He believes this is true of the exterior as well. He likes the way the walls “hold the light” and change with direction and the times of day and year. Making a glass building in Salt Lake City that doesn’t alternately roast and freeze its occupants was no easy feat. In the hands of an architect like Phifer, however,
this seeming liability became an opportunity to add richness to the simple form. The surfaces of the cube are subtly varied by metal louvers and glass treatments. The vertical louvers are angled differently on the four sides to deflect the sun. They are assembled in panels of varying width, covering more or less glass depending on the direction they face and the sensitivity of each interior space to sunlight. From a distance, they form a screen that lends the building its metallic appearance. Come closer and they become lacy columns that vary in width over the height of the building. From up close or inside, they are opaque or transparent depending on the angle from which they’re viewed. The glass is treated with fritting (opaque ceramic dots fused with the glass) that reduces the amount of sunlight that enters the building. The dots are spaced closely— reflecting the most light and heat—on walls receiving the most sun and are more widely spaced on others. The variations in the louvers and fritting create areas that appear darker or lighter from a distance. Look carefully, and you can see from outside the locations of the lobby, the hallways, the courtrooms and the offices. Perhaps the best effect can be seen from across the street, where the louvers appear to wrap a box of sky reflected in the glass. So a Borg ship this is not, although this perception of it remains significant.
NEW SYMBOLS NEEDED
Architecture can be a mirror in which people see reflected their own views and attitudes. Those who see the courthouse as the Borg ship probably approach the building with ideas about the government or the justice system they are looking to confirm. On a passing encounter, the building obliges—its pure geometric form, its isolation, its relative uniformity and its industrial materials—combine to reinforce an image of the government as remote, impersonal and threatening. But look closely, or better yet, go inside, and an entirely different impression emerges. What at first looked solid becomes transparent, what at first appeared dumb becomes articulate, what at first seemed inhuman becomes humane. One sees that the building does not lack humanity—quite the opposite— but that it takes some time and attention to appreciate it. But should a public building demand such an effort in order to be understood? Most buildings today do not require or reward such an effort. They
FEDERAL COURTHOUSE SPECS OFFICIAL NAME: U.S. District Courthouse of the Utah District of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
DESIGN ARCHITECT: Thomas Phifer and Partners, New York City
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECTS: Naylor Wentworth Lund Architects, Salt Lake City
GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Okland Construction, Salt Lake City YEAR COMPLETED: 2014 CONSTRUCTION COST: $186 million DURATION OF CONSTRUCTION: 38 months TOTAL SQUARE FEET: 410,000 NUMBER OF STORIES: 10 (above grade) DIMENSIONS: 208 feet wide x 208 feet long x 210 feet tall NUMBER OF JUDGES: Four active district court judges, six senior district judges, four full-time magistrate judges, one part-time magistrate judge
NUMBER OF COURTROOMS BUILT: 10 ADDITIONAL COURTROOMS POSSIBLE: 4 CASES PER YEAR: 1,100 civil, 900 criminal OTHER AGENCIES LOCATED IN THE COURTHOUSE: U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Probation
TO GET A TOUR OF THE BUILDING: Contact the Office of the Clerk, 801-524-6100
Sources: GSA.gov and the Office of the Clerk
now we are asking important questions about the kind of society we want, the flaws that need to be addressed, the means of achieving our goals. We are engaged as citizens, not merely as consumers of stock images. This is what architecture can do if allowed to go beyond the repetition of trite imagery. It is also important to bear in mind that this building will be part of downtown Salt Lake City for a long time. The Moss courthouse has been in use for over a century. Our thinking about it will change over time as the city grows up around it. Perhaps Salt Lake City is growing in other ways as well, becoming more outward-looking, more cosmopolitan. If so, this building will someday appear to us as a harbinger of what is now our future and will one day be our reality. Architecture also bears witness to its time and place. The decisive role security concerns played in its design makes the Salt Lake City courthouse a visible sign of our anxious times. The isolation from its surroundings is a tangible result of the bombings of the Beirut marine barracks, the Nairobi embassy, the Murrah building and World Trade Center. It is a reminder of—and almost an inadvertent memorial to—these tragedies. Under the circumstances, a fortress-like building would be a logical response. The courthouse appears to be just such a building until it is experienced more closely. Then, the daylight, the transparency, the thoughtful accommodation of the judicial process and the finesse of its construction bespeak our confidence in the civilization we have built. CW
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David Scheer earned his architecture degree from Yale in 1984 and has been a practicing architect for more than 30 years. He’s published articles as well as a book, The Death of Drawing: Architecture in the Age of Simulation, about the effects of digital technologies on how architects think. UTAH HERITAGE FOUNDATION
THE HISTORIC SHUBRICK BUILDING, WHICH WAS DEMOLISHED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW COURTHOUSE
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communicate like billboards. Their messages are clear and quickly grasped; here you buy food, here you go to school, here you work, here you live. We have standard images of what each type of building should look like and most buildings conform closely to those images. The history behind the neoclassical design of the Moss courthouse has been largely forgotten; it has become a sign that says, “Here is the court system,” or, “Here is the government.” The new courthouse is not a billboard; it does not announce its function. Perhaps this is a failing—why not speak the language everyone understands? But what do these building-signs really tell us? In relying on stock images, they don’t get us to think about what they represent. When Jefferson inaugurated neoclassicism as our national style, he knew, and his more educated fellow countrymen knew, what that style signified: the historical example of a great republic that they hoped America would grow to become. But even if people today understood the reference, would we still look to ancient Rome as our ideal? It was a slave-holding society that ruled the world by military force and imposed its language and culture on every people it conquered. To many Americans, this sounds uncomfortably like a past we as a nation are trying to overcome. We need new symbols, new points of reference, that capture our current aspirations. The new courthouse attempts to do this. It says, in effect, that the future we seek will be governed by a humane rationality. It proposes a technological utopia—a society that harnesses technology to accomplish ethical as well as practical ends. And it affirms that the United States still promises utopia, albeit a different one than Jefferson imagined. This vision will not appeal to everyone. Some will recoil at the iconic representation of government power. Others will find hypocrisy in a universal, rational form representing an unequal, discriminatory society. Still others will object to the rationalism, or the faith in technology that the building expresses. But
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ESSENTIALS
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FRIDAY 5.6
SATURDAY 5.7
The concept of a play within a play isn’t new. Wasatch Theatre Co.’s production of Stage Kiss, written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Mark Fossen, however, feels like a love letter to terrible theater. The first-act play within Stage Kiss is a horrible 1930s melodrama. And in Act 2, the play is an equally bad meet-cute between an Irish lad and Brooklyn prostitute. Stage Kiss itself, though, is an entertaining and hilarious romp of life imitating art and art imitating life. The actor identified only as She (April Fossen) hasn’t auditioned for a role in 10 years, after taking time off from the stage to get married to her husband (David Hanson) and raise her daughter Angela (Ali Kinkade). While it’s a rough tryout— especially having to kiss young Kevin (Tristan Johnson)—the play’s director Adrian Schwalbach (Anne Cullimore Decker) casts her as Ada Wilcox. Playing opposite her is He (Daniel Beecher) as Johnny Lowell, who just happens to be an exlover. Their icy initial confrontation quickly melts as they fall back in love on- and off-stage, complicating both of their lives. For anyone who loves theater, this play will tickle the funny bone. Yet it’s also surprisingly moving. Fossen in particular commands the stage, and has electric chemistry with Beecher. Stage Kiss is a thoughtful reminder to live in the present and leave memories in the past. (Missy Bird) Wasatch Theatre Co.: Stage Kiss @ Rose Wagner Center Studio Theatre, 138 W. 300 South, 801-355-2787, through May 14, Thursday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; May 8, 2 p.m., $20. ArtSaltLake. ArtTix.org
If every holiday had a geek equivalent, then Free Comic Book Day would be their Thanksgiving. On the first Saturday of every May, comic book readers gather around their favorite store and pick up special comics, free of charge to read and take home. The event was started back in 2002 as a way to get new and younger readers to visit independently owned comic book shops, both to boost sales to those local businesses and turn a new generation on to reading through a different medium. This year is the 15th anniversary, and will feature 50 different titles from almost every American publisher. Every major comic book publisher, as well as dozens of independent companies, produces free “one-shot” comics as part of their participation. Some, like DC and Marvel, tell stories that lead into upcoming storylines or character developments, like when The New 52 was launched or to tie-in with an upcoming film like this week’s Captain America: Civil War. Other companies release stand-alone stories, like Bongo Comics, which produces The Simpsons comics, or Image Comics, which will introduce new characters. On a local level, it’s given shops like Dr. Volts and Black Cat Comics a bigger sense of community, as people will line up before they even open to converse with fellow fans, and then pour into the shop to snag their favorite titles. Many shops will feature big discounts; some will even have special guests, podcasts or cosplayers there to take pictures with or do a meet-and-greet. Visit the event’s website to see which local shops near you are participating this year. (Gavin Sheehan) Free Comic Book Day @ various retail locations and public libraries. FreeComicBookDay.com
Wasatch Theatre Co.: Stage Kiss
Free Comic Book Day
ENTERTAINMENT PICKS MAY 5-12, 2016
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SATURDAY 5.7
Utah Opera: The Marriage of Figaro The Utah Opera brings one of the most popular works of all time to the Capitol Theatre with a five-performance run of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. The short plot synopsis of this comedy has Figaro upset that his boss is hitting on his fiancé; Figaro, the fiancé and the boss’ wife then figure out a way to get revenge. The longer version—including the various subplots and tie-ins to another opera, The Barber of Seville—could take up pages. But don’t worry too much about the plot. Enjoy the fact that a musical genius found a way to give each character their own unique sound within an overarching theme. The evening will be pan-European, since it’s an opera written by a German, sung in Italian, based on a French play, and although originally set in Spain, for this performance, it’s set in England. In popular culture, The Marriage of Figaro plays a prominent role in the classic 1950 Bugs Bunny opera-centered cartoon, Rabbit of Seville. Bugs uses “Figaro Fertilizer” to grow flowers on Elmer Fudd’s head. The cartoon ends with Bugs carrying Elmer up a flight of stairs and dropping him into a wedding cake labeled, “The Marriage of Figaro.” The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitle translations projected above the stage. Opening night is Saturday, May 7, and the run closes with a Sunday matinee on May 15. (Geoff Griffin) Utah Opera: The Marriage of Figaro @ Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, 801-3552787, May 7, 9, 11 & 13, 7:30 p.m.; May 15, 2 p.m., $10-$89. UtahOpera.org
SUNDAY 5.8 David Cross
When you look at David Cross, if you don’t immediately think of him as Arrested Development’s Tobias Fünke, you’ll most likely say to yourself, “Oh yeah, he was in that one thing; he’s really funny.” Aside from his role in Arrested Development, and being the co-creator of Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk, Cross has been consistently working in comedic roles since the early ’90s, while maintaining a stand-up career as an “alternative” comedian, even when it wasn’t cool to be one. His list of film and television roles is a testament to his comedic chops. Recently, Cross and Odenkirk were able to bring back Mr. Show for a widely praised short Netflix run in 2015, as well as starring in the third season of IFC’s The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Currently you can find him in episodes of the second season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and as the voice of Crane in Kung Fu Panda 3. Cross has three albums to his name, his most recent being 2010’s Bigger and Blackerer, and a phenomenal documentary called Let America Laugh, which showed some of the tougher times for a touring comedian as he opened for the band Ultrababyfat in summer 2002. Cross takes over Kingsbury Hall for his one-man show, Making America Great Again! The show features brand new material, primarily aimed at peeling apart Donald Trump’s campaign, and how his controversial speeches and follies are actually the biggest keys to his success. Knowing Cross’ previous work, we’re confident it’ll be foul, uncomfortable, unapologetic and funny as hell. (GS) David Cross @ Kingsbury Hall, 1395 Presidents Circle, 801-581-7100, May 8, 8 p.m., ages 6+ only, $35. DavidCrossTour2016.com
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VISUAL ART
CityWeekly
The Medium Is the Message
COURTESY UMOCA
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Nicholas Courdy explores mash-up culture and erotica in Metaphornography. BY BRIAN STAKER comments@cityweekly.net @Stakerized
B
y now, postmodernism is a phenomenon that is familiar to us all. Mashups, remixes and appropriations (“samples”) in every medium from music to visual art have become so common that it’s almost a cliché. Emerging local artist Nicholas Courdy has been using appropriations of images from noted works throughout art history, recombining artists like Edgar Degas and Keith Haring, or Salvador Dalí and David Hockney, juxtaposed in digital collages to imply relationships between the artists’ work, and the cyclical nature of art history. The Palestinian-American graduate of the Painting and Drawing program at the University of Utah’s Department of Art & Art History is in the middle of a one-year artist residency at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, and his exhibit Metaphornography opens in the museum’s A.I.R. (Artist In Residence) space on Thursday, May 6. Courdy’s new work in Metaphornography seeks to advance his artistic practice by borrowing from cinematic sources as well as static images from fine art. The exhibit features video projections as well as TV monitors displaying content in various ways. His digital collage juxtapositions utilized a finely tuned compositional aesthetic, but these video works make things much more frenetic. Exploring the nature of desire, the video clips range from B movies to Betty Boop cartoons. Erotic scenes cut to a bomb exploding in the background of a classical painting cut to video static, creating a sense of hyperactive dystopia which, unlike his earlier work, emphasizes the effects of technology. Snippets of music from Debussy to low-brow movie soundtracks, chopped up with the Ginsu knife of sampling, add to the disorientation. He explains the effect he is aiming for: “The hope is to create a space of overstimulation, where the viewer is compelled to find areas of focus.” Focus is the one thing that’s most difficult for the viewer to achieve, as the constantly changing work sends your eyeballs careening like a pinball. “The show’s title, Metaphornography, emerged from my process of creating the narrative vignettes that comprise a majority of my work,” he says.
“These works contain a slew of visual metaphors and deal with romantic themes. The process of creating these videos involved consuming a large amount of digital media, and, through the process, I have been able to explore a rich array of content that I may not have normally explored, one example being sexploitation films of the ’60s.” Courdy also found some not-entirelysurprising shifts in the portrayal of erotica from those vintage films to the present day. “I became interested in how the advancement of media capturing technologies also advanced the explicitness of eroticism or erotic media, or vice versa,” he says. “The juxtaposition of these things became the structure for the exhibition … [they] mirror my perspective of the current Internet landscape, and how social media has allowed digital media consumption to fuel romantic fantasies or desires.” What does this work say about romantic and sexual desire, and its relationship to pleasure in art? It’s a truism that visual art has, throughout history, been a maledominated arena that has objectified women, and that objectification has been exacerbated by new media. But the art of collage is also the art of selection; one with some degree of artistic intention at play. Courdy’s aspiration to combine high-and-low aesthetics appears to be an attempt to visually consume everything in an act of erotic and aesthetic gluttony vomited—or, perhaps one might say, ejaculated—onto the screen. But the repetition is also machinistic: One fantasy interrupts the last, and they are never consummated. Some of the videos are literally framed within the borders of artworks, and that reminds us that what he is doing is grounded in the history of art. “The foundation of my
An untitled collage from Nicholas Courdy’s Metaphornography
work is really built upon the idea of appropriation which the postmodernists, notably Duchamp, gave us,” he says. But he takes the postmodern aspect of appropriation a step further, into the contemporary idea that everyone can be an artist. “I’ve employed something I call ‘compilation aesthetic.’ A bulk of my work appropriates content from the public domain and uses it to create something new—meaning anyone with access to the Internet could find these same elements and make something of their own,” he says. “It’s also a sort of silent collaboration with the people who have given their content to the public domain, or lost the copyright through time.” If it’s easy for anyone to appropriate and recombine images, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the results will be inspired or imaginative. The “quick-draw” nature of Courdy’s work may make it appear on the surface to be somewhat facile or random, but that impression might belie the subtlety of the interactions. His work is remarkably stylish and technically masterful. It’s too early to tell Courdy’s potential, but the ambition and scope of this exhibit is highly admirable. CW
NICHOLAS COURDY: METAPHORNOGRAPHY
Utah Museum of Contemporary Art 20 S. West Temple 801-328-4201 May 6-July 23 Opening reception May 13, 6-9 p.m. UtahMOCA.org
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THURSDAY 5.5
Pygmalion Theatre Co.: Remington & Weasel There are hundreds of potential land mines in the world of higher education—and, for a while, it feels as though L.L. West’s Remington & Weasel is determined to cover them all. Surrounding the central premise of a free-spirited film-studies professor named Chris Remington (Tamara Johnson Howell) facing a faculty review led by colleague Alex Weedle (Alexandra Harbold), there are hot-button issues like preferential treatment for athletes, sexual harassment, social media cycles of outrage and counteroutrage and the depressing realities of academic institutions obsessed with public image. But, while the script occasionally bites off more than it can chew, Pygmalion Theatre Co.’s production finds an effective focus in the complex relationship between Remington and Weedle. With strong central performances by Howell and Harbold—making use of the text’s intriguing non-specificity regarding gender or sexuality—Remington & Weasel nails the way that the messy politics of The Ivory Tower gets in the way of people doing their best just to connect as teachers, and as people. (Scott Renshaw) Pygmalion Theatre Co.: Remington & Weasel @ Rose Wagner Center Black Box, 138 W. 300 South, 801-355-2787, May 5-6, 7:30 p.m.; May 7, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m., $20. ArtTix.ArtSaltLake.org
PERFORMANCE THEATER
COMEDY & IMPROV
CLASSICAL & SYMPHONY
Chamber Orchestra Ogden Concert & Auction Union Station, 2501 Wall Ave., May 7, 6:30 p.m., ChamberOrchestraOgden.org
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David Cross Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, 801-581-7100, May 8, 8 p.m., Tickets. Utah.edu (see p. 22) MARCUS Wiseguys Ogden, 269 25th St., Ogden, 801-622-5588, May 6 & 7, 8 p.m., WiseGuysComedy.com Ron Funches Wiseguys Downtown, 194 S. 400 West, 801-532-5233, May 6-7, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., WiseguysComedy.com Laughing Stock Improv The Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main St., 801-355-4628, Fridays & Saturdays, 10 p.m., LaughingStock.us
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Appropriate Good Company Theatre, 260 25th St., Ogden, through May 15, Thursday-Saurday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m., GoodCoTheatre.com The Count of Monte Cristo Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East, 801-581-6961, May 6-21, Monday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; FridaySaturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday matinee 2 p.m., PioneerTheatre.org The Marriage of Figaro Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, 801-533-5626, May 7, 9, 11 & 15, 7:30 p.m.; May 15, 2 p.m., UtahOpera.org (see p. 22) Peter and the Starcatcher Hale Center Theatre, 3333 S. Decker Lake Drive, West Valley, 801-9849000, through May 18, Monday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday matinees, 12:30 p.m. & 4 p.m., HCT.org Remington & Weasel Pygmalion Theatre Co., Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, 801-3552787, through May 7, 7:30 p.m.; May 7 matinee, 2 p.m., PygmalionProductions.org (see above)
Stage Kiss Wasatch Theatre Co., Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, 385-468-1010, through May 14, Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 2 p.m., ArtSaltLake.org (see p. 22)
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MAY 5, 2016 | 25
26 | MAY 5, 2016
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moreESSENTIALS Utah Symphony: An Evening of Mozart Chamber Music St. Mary’s Church, 1505 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City, May 5, 7:30 p.m., UtahSymphony.org
LITERATURE AUTHOR APPEARANCES
Kenneth Oppel: The Nest The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, 801-484-9100, May 5, 7 p.m., KingsEnglish.com Kimberly Griffiths Little: Banished Weller Book Works, 607 Trolley Square, 801-328-2586, May 5, 6:30 p.m., WellerBookWorks.com Cameron Dayton: Etherwalker Weller Book Works, 607 Trolley Square, 801-328-2586, May 6, 7 p.m., WellerBookWorks.com Richard Paul Evans & Jenna Evans Welch: Michael Vey 5 Barnes & Noble, 330 E. 1300 South, Orem, 801-229-1611, May 6, 7 p.m., BarnesAndNoble.com Kathy Garver: Surviving Cissy Barnes & Noble Sugar House, 1104 E. 2100 South, 801-463-2610, May 7, 1 p.m., BarnesAndNoble.com Asha Dornfest: Parent Hacks: 134 Genius Shortcuts for Life With Kids Viridian Center, 8030 S. 1825 West, West Jordan, May 10, 7 p.m., ViridianCenter.org Matthew J. Kirby: Island of the Sun The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, 801484-9100, May 10, 7 p.m., KingsEnglish.com
FESTIVALS & FAIRS
TALKS & LECTURES
Movie, Music & Memory: Alive Inside Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. 300 South, May 9, 6:30 p.m., JFSUtah.org
VISUAL ART GALLERIES & MUSEUMS
A Call to Place: The First Five Years of the Frontier Fellowship Rio Gallery, 300 S. Rio
CHECK OUT ALL OF OUR EVENT PHOTOS AT CITYWEEKLY.NET/PHOTOS
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UPCOMING EVENTS
MAKE IT LOUDER
SATURDAY, MAY 14
PROPER PALOOZA
SATURDAY, MAY 14
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URBAN FLEA MARKET
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SATURDAY, MAY 14
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AT LIBERTY PARK
AT 857 S. MAIN ST
SUNDAY, MAY 15
9AM-3PM
AT 600 S. MAIN ST
| MUSIC | CINEMA | DINING | A&E | NEWS |
Tulip Festival Ashton Gardens, 3900 N. Garden Drive, Lehi, through May 7 (closed Sundays), 9 a.m.-8 p.m., ThanksgivingPoint.org Holi Festival of Colors Krishna Temple, 965 E. 3370 South, May 7, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., FestivalofColorsUSA.com Urban Bird Festival Tracy Aviary, 589 E. 1300 South, 801-596-8500, May 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., TracyAviary.com
Grande St., 801-245-7272, through May 30, VisualArts.Utah.gov A Real Rockwell?: Cover Art from the Saturday Evening Post Main Library Special Collections, Level 4, 210 E. 400 South, 801-5248200, through May 31, SLCPL.org Abstract Expressions Evolutionary Healthcare, 461 E. 200 South, 801-519-2461, through June 11, EvolutionaryHealthcare.com Ace Kvale: Himalayan Cataract Project Gallery MAR, 436 Main, Park City, 435-649-3001, through May 13, GalleryMAR.com Aeron Roemer: A Place Far Away from Here Mestizo Institute of Culture and Arts, 631 W. North Temple, Suite 700, through May 13, Facebook.com/MestizoArts African Journey: Photography by Gabby McBride Salt Lake City Main Library Level 2 Canteena, 210 E. 400 South, 801-524-8200, through May 22, SLCPL.org Brian Snapp: House of My Brother/House of My Sister Finch Lane Gallery, 54 Finch Lane, 801596-5000, through June 10, SaltLakeArts.org Cara Despain: Seeing the Stone CUAC, 175 E. 200 South, 385-215-6768, through June 1, CUArtCenter.org Connie Borup/Don Athay Phillips Gallery, 444 E. 200 South, 801-364-8284, through May 13, Phillips-Gallery.com David Maestas: Peaceful Chaos UTah Artist Hands Gallery, 163 E. 300 South, 801-355-0206, through May 18, UTAHands.com Debbie Valline/Perda Atkinson Local Colors of Utah, 1054 E. 2100 South, 801-363-3922, through May 13, LocalColorsArt.com Drips, Splashes & Puddles: Paintings by James Haymond Anderson-Foothill Library, 1135 S. 2100 East, 801-594-8611, May 5-June 16, SLCPL.org Fat Phobia Art Access Gallery, 230 S. 500 West, 801-328-0702, through May 11, AccessArt.org History of Photography: Recent Work by Laurel Caryn Alice Gallery, 617 E. South Temple, 801-245-7272, through May 6, Heritage.Utah.gov Ian Booth: Kazakhstan: Tselina/Building the Virgin Lands Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, 20 S. West Temple, 801-328-4201, through May 7, UtahMOCA.org Jena Schmidt: Believe & See “A” Gallery, 1321 S. 2100 East, 801-583-4800, May 6-June 4, AGalleryOnline.com Jim Jacobs: Append Finch Lane Gallery, 54 Finch Lane, 801-596-5000, through June 10, SaltLakeArts.org Lewis J. Crawford: Constructs Finch Lane Gallery, 54 Finch Lane, 801-596-5000, through June 10, SaltLakeArts.org
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HSL
Heavenly, Sensational and Luscious
DINE FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT @CITYWEEKLY
Briar Handly and his crew set up HSL in SLC.
S P E ND $30 & GET $5 OFF
BY TED SCHEFFLER comments@cityweekly.net @critic1
Exp. 6/30/16
JOHN TAYLOR
I
t’s hard to believe that Park City’s Handle restaurant is well into its second year already. It still seems so new to me. But, yes, Handle has taken root and its owners— Briar Handly, Melissa Gray and Meagan Nash—have now ventured into the Salt Lake City dining scene with the opening of their new restaurant, called simply HSL. I’ll delve into what HSL is shortly. But first, let’s focus on what it isn’t. It isn’t Handle 2.0—a clone of the successful Park City formula. “We want our customers to know that HSL embraces the same level of service and creativity of Handle, but HSL is an entirely new experience,” says executive chef Handly. This is a totally different and unique restaurant, from top to bottom and front to back. Do you remember Vinto? Well, HSL occupies the space that was previously Vinto on 200 South, but with the exception of a single high-back curved booth, virtually no trace of it remains. The new design is a collaboration of co-owner Gray (who also designed Handle) and Cody Derrick of CityHome Collective. The Italianesque look of the former tenant has been replaced with rust-colored floor tiles, olive- and sage-hued furniture and natural wood tables, all of which help create a soft, warm ambiance. Walls were knocked down, and the space has been opened up considerably, making it feel larger and airier than Vinto did. You may want to belly up to the long bar on the right, because Handly and his partners have snatched up some world-class talent, which includes the excellent mixologist Scott Gardner, along with Ryan Wenger, who serves as HSL’s wine director. During one visit to Handle, I enjoyed the first mezcalbased cocktail I’ve ever actually been able to swallow—a delicious creation of Gardner’s. The secret ingredient was an herb popular in Mexico: epazote. By the way, look for Gardner’s own bar, Water Witch, opening in the near future at the Central Ninth Market. In addition to the aforementioned staffers and a terrific team of servers, Chef Handly has stacked his kitchen deck with über talents such as Craig Gerome as chef de cuisine, executive sous chef Tim Smith and the amazing Alexa Nolin serving as pastry chef. That is some serious star power.
Lovers of fresh, locally procured foods—especially vegetarians—will appreciate the vegetables, grains and seeds portion of the menu in particular. Take the seeded cracker ($6), for example. Sounds simple, right? Well, not so much. The gluten-free cracker utilizes ancient seeds such as buckwheat, amaranth, chia, sorghum, teff and millet; while the cream cheese mouse is whipped up with heavy cream, lemon zest, thyme, dehydrated garlic and onion and mascarpone cheese. Blue Sky Perennials, Frog Bench Farms and Badlands Ranch grow the micro greens and herbs for the dish, dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette and Maldon sea salt. “The dish is homage to my Grammy Britton on my mom’s side—a riff on an hors d’oeuvre we had as kids for every family gettogether during the holidays,” Handly says. Frankly, I’ve never given cauliflower a lot of thought; I can take it or leave it. But you won’t want to leave a smidgen of HSL’s cauliflower dish ($11) behind. It’s a plate of lightly browned cauliflower florets in a snappy General Tso’s sauce and tossed with spicy Fresno chile slices and crunchy kohlrabi. Or, give the root vegetables ($16) a try: veggies “from the ash” of the kitchen’s plancha with ancient grains, golden raisins, harissa and kale. In addition to cocktails, sake and beer, the wine selection that Ryan Wenger assembled is especially appealing. With a list that ranges from Gruet Brut (New Mexico) and Ribolla Gialla (Slovenia) to Clos La Coutale (Cahors, France), Innocent Bystander Moscato (Australia) and a number of domestic jewels from Sonoma, Willamette, Mendocino, Napa and the like, this is not your standard cookie-cutter wine list. We enjoyed a very versatile Picpoul Chapelle du Bastion from France ($10 per glass; $45 per bottle) alongside a large bowl of steamed clams ($21) with thick slices of rustic homemade bread smeared with brandade—an emulsion of olive oil and salt cod—in a divine natural broth with torn
HSL’s beef cheek burger fresh herbs, such as dill and basil. I can never pass up an order of beef tartare, and I’m sure glad I didn’t do so at HSL. It’s ultra high-quality dry aged beef, minced and served raw atop housemade lavosh with capers, egg yolk, torn herbs and cornichons ($15)—a generous, sharable dish. And while we’re on the topic of beef, there’s a magnificent new burger in town. When I think of mega-tender beef, I’m thinking of beef cheeks. And, that’s exactly what HSL’s beef cheek burger ($15) is made with. Slices of home-baked brioche buns envelop 7 ounces of medium-rare ground beef cheek topped with American cheese (also housemade) and caramelized onions, with duck fat-cooked fingerling potatoes on the side. This is a burger to be reckoned with. Since Chef Handly and his crew are committed to using the freshest ingredients, the menu at HSL changes virtually daily. Some items are relatively permanent, others not. For example, on one visit, barramundi was on the menu, served with radishes, sugar snap peas, asparagus and orange oil ($28). On another visit, it was gone. I’m pretty sure, however, the bodacious beef cheek burger isn’t going anywhere. And absolutely leave room for dessert because creations like Chef Nolin’s Solstice Ecuador Chocolate Cremeux ($10) on brioche with brown butter caramel, buttermilk and parsnip ice cream are simply spectacular. What does HSL stand for to me? Heavenly, sensational and luscious. CW
HSL
418 E. 200 South 801-539-9999 HSLRestaurant.com
3370 State St. in Chinatown | (801) 486-8800 | HoMeiBBQ.com
THIS BE GOOD
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FOOD MATTERS BY TED SCHEFFLER @critic1
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Book your private party with us up to 40 people
So Long, Siegfried
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Siegfried Meyer—founder of Siegfried’s Delicatessen (20 W. 200 South, 385-3551912, SiegfriedsDelicatessen.com)—following a terrible motorcycle accident. He passed away on April 21 after suffering severe head injuries the day before. City Weekly senior staff writer Stephen Dark was a close friend to Siegfried, and wrote a very touching tribute to him (“Farewell to Siegfried, the Bratwurst King”) at CityWeekly.net. I encourage you to read Stephen’s piece and to visit Siegfried’s for a juicy bratwurst and a side of spaetzle in his honor.
Sake tasting • Sushi classes 2335 E. MURRAY HOLLADAY RD 801.278.8682 | ricebasil.com
Chef Cycles for Children
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Bambara (202 S. Main, 801-363-5454, Bambara-SLC.com) executive chef Nathan Powers is on a mission to support No Kid Hungry and the organization’s aim to put an end to childhood hunger. To do his part, the avid cyclist will bike 300 miles in California—from Carmel to Santa Barbara—June 27-29. The event is called Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry, a peer-to-peer fundraising endurance event featuring award-winning chefs like Powers fighting hunger outside the kitchen. Some 200 chefs and restaurant industry professionals will be riding along with Powers. Every dollar donated can feed a hungry kid up to 10 meals. To support Nathan Powers and to help end childhood hunger, visit ChefsCycle.org and donate.
Go to devourutah.com for pick up locations.
MAY 5, 2016 | 29
Food Matters 411: tscheffler@cityweekly.net
| CITY WEEKLY |
Quote of the week: Lips however rosy must be fed. —French Proverb
Pick up the NEW issue of Devour Utah
Those who know me also know what an avid motorsports fan I am. So, I was thrilled to hear that our own world-class racing facility, Utah Motorsports Campus, has entered into a partnership with Rodizio Grill (RodizioGrill.com), which will provide the food services and catering there. A new restaurant called Rodizio Grill at the Track will replace the former Clubhouse at UMC. Says Rodizio Founder and President Ivan Utera in a press release, “I’ve been a track supporter and patron since its inception; the track has been like a second home to me.” In addition to Rodizio at the Track offering the full Rodizio experience, the Fast Track Café will offer Rodizio cuisine in an express format while the Moab Café by Rodizio Grill will feature Brazilianstyle hot dogs, burgers and such.
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Rodizio in the Fast Lane
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properbrewingco.com 857 S Main Street, Salt Lake City | (801) 953-1707 | @properbrewingco
BEER, WINE & SPIRITS
The Art of Ruinart
A visit to France’s first Champagne house BY TED SCHEFFLER tscheffler@cityweekly.net @critic1
T
ly from Chardonnay. These wines see no oak; they’re fermented in temperature-regulated stainless steel tanks and undergo full malolactic fermentation (which converts tart malic acid into a softer-tasting lactic acid). They then age in the bottles stored in the cool, chalk-lined Ruinart caves for up to three years. Ruinart bottles themselves are unique in shape: plump, round-shouldered vessels that are a tribute to historic 18th-century Champagne bottles. Ruinart Blanc de Blancs shouts “Chardonnay!” with its intense fresh fruit aromas and white peach flavors with hints of jasmine. This is truly a graceful and elegant Champagne. As with their Blanc de Blancs, Chardonnay is at the heart of Ruinart Rosé Champagne ($80), which is blended with Pinot Noir to give the wine its pomegranate-orange coloring. Tropical fruits burst from the bottle upon uncorking, while fresh red berry flavors dance on the palate in an effervescent tête-à-tête. This
beautiful, festive Rosé Champagne pairs well with mild meats such as prosciutto di Parma, veal and milk-fed lamb. The vintage Champagnes from Ruinart are designated by the word “Dom.” The most recent vintage cuvée is Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs 2004 ($132). This wine is stunning, made entirely from Grand Cru Chardonnay grapes. It has a strong mineral backbone, silky mouthfeel, floral and baked bread aromas and citrus notes on the tongue. The 2004 vintage is a terrific accompaniment to lobster, crab and light-but-sophisticated seafood dishes. Finally, for a mindblowing (and budgetblowing) bottle of bubbly, splurge on Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé Champagne 2002 ($299). Toasted brioche notes, smoke, pastry cream, strawberries, blood-orange and white peach flavors make this staggering Champagne Rosé more of a meal than a beverage, but it’s a great partner for game birds, too. CW
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OR LICENSE!
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CELEBRATECINCO DE MAYO
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here are a number of myths and some monkey business regarding the invention of the French sparkling wine now known as Champagne. The French Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638-1715) typically gets credited for inventing it, and he did contribute to the production of what would, decades later, come to be known as Champagne. However, during Pérignon’s time, French sparkling wine was red, made from Pinot Noir. Likewise, Pérignon is often credited with the quote “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!”—which was supposedly his reaction upon first tasting the sparkling wine. In fact, wine historians say that the quote first appeared in a 19th-century print ad.
A lesser known Benedictine monk— also with an important place in Champagne’s history—was Dom Thierry Ruinart (1657-1709), who was a colleague of Dom Pérignon, as well as Louis XIV. Ruinart, too, was infatuated with the vin de mousse (“wine with bubbles”) that the aristocrats of Paris enjoyed. Again, this was very different wine from what we now know as Champagne, which wouldn’t become the dominant style until the mid-1800s. Twenty years after Dom Ruinart’s death, in 1729, his nephew, Nicolas Ruinart, founded France’s very first Champagne house: Maison Ruinart. This March—some 287 years following its founding—I had the opportunity to visit Maison Ruinart myself. To say that I left impressed is a vast understatement. As we strolled the crayeres (caves) 38 meters below the city of Reims with Ruinart’s communications director, Véronique Péle Steinsulz, I came to appreciate the depth of quality that makes Ruinart Champagne so special and unique. For starters, it’s all about Chardonnay. Every cuvée here begins with Chardonnay; it’s the soul of Ruinart wines and the thread that runs through all of them. The grapes are harvested primarily from the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims terroirs around Reims. Ruinart’s best-known Champagne is Blanc de Blancs ($75), literally “white from whites,” a non-vintage wine made exclusive-
DRINK
A TASTE OF MEXICO IN SLC SINCE 1993 885 E 3900 S | (801) 269-1177 WE CATER!
Downtown
FREE PARKING VALIDATION FOR GARAGE TO THE RIGHT OF CANCUN CAFE
123 E 200 S | (801) 355-0343
Cottonwood Heights
1891 Fort Union Blvd | (801) 942-1333 MYCANCUNCAFE.COM
MAY 5, 2016 | 31
Millcreek
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Beer & Wine
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WHY WAIT?
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Serving American Comfort Food Since 1930 -CREEKSIDE PATIO-86 YEARS AND GOING STRONG-BREAKFAST SERVED DAILY UNTIL 4PM-DELICIOUS MIMOSAS & BLOODY MARY’S-LIVE MUSIC SAT & SUN 11AM-2PM-
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“In a perfect world, every town would have a diner just like Ruth’s” -CityWeekly
AS SEEN ON “ DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES”
“Like having dinner at Mom’s in the mountains” -Cincinnati Enquirer
4160 EMIGRATION CANYON ROAD | 801 582-5807 WWW.RUTHSDINER.COM
REVIEW BITES
JOHN TAYLOR
A sampler of Ted Scheffler’s reviews
Rice Basil’s Key Lime Calypso Rice Basil Sushi Bar & Asian Fusion Cuisine
Catering available 20 W. 200 S. • (801) 355-3891 Open Mon-Wed: 9am-6pm Thu-Sat: 9am-9pm
s e r ve d 7 : 0 0 - 1 1 : 0 0 a m M o n d ay - S a t u r d ay
✦ Established 2004 ✦ No Coupon Neccessary... Every day, same
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Patio Seating
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SelicIatSessTen &GReU T A D stauran t erman D
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It’s easy to miss, since it’s tucked away and part of a larger commercial building, but Rice Basil is well worth discovering. While the word “fusion” generally doesn’t hold much culinary appeal for me, fusion dishes account for only a small portion of the menu, which is dominated more by sushi and classic Japanese entrées. The jalapeño hamachi appetizer featured a stunning presentation: served on a square black stone tile, each piece topped with thin-sliced radish, jalapeño and a tiny parsley leaf; alongside was the chef’s special yuzu sauce, six tiny dots of citrus mayo, fresh ginger and wasabi. Another sensational appetizer is the tuna tartare, served on avocado slices atop Pringles potato crisps, garnished with microsprouts. For cooked dishes, the saba shioyaki is hard to top: two whole skin-on grilled mackerel fillets, served on a bed of assorted sauteed vegetables. Even the ramen was a beautiful thing. Swimming in a very respectable pork broth were fish cake slices, generous portions of tender marinated pork belly, a hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, seaweed and julienned scallions. For all of you lovers of sushi and modern Asian cuisine, there’s an important new player in town. Reviewed March 17. 2335 E. Murray-Holladay Road, Holladay, 801-278-8682, RiceBasil.com
LOW PRICE! 694 East Union Square
SANDY www.brittonsrestaurant.com
801-572-5148 Open 7 Days a Week! 7am - 3pm
1 3 N E I G H B O R H O O D L O C AT I O N S FAC E B O O K . C O M / A P O L L O B U RG E R
MAY 5, 2016 | 33
Best Family Diner
GOODEATS
Complete listings at cityweekly.net Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to momand-pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves. South Jordan • 10500 S. 1086 W. Ste. 111 • 801.302.0777 Provo • 98 W. Center Street • 801.373.7200 www.IndiaPalaceUtah.com
The menu here is so extensive, you might need some time to settle on which dishes to order. In addition to typical Mexican items (tacos, tostadas, burritos and such), there are specialty items like flautas, taquitos rancheros and seafood offerings such as crab enchiladas, camarones a la crema, fish tacos and more. The bar offers a complete selection of cocktails, wine and beer, too. 889 E. 9400 South, Sandy, 801-553-1505
Karma Indian Cuisine
In the heart of Sandy, Karma emphasizes sustainable, organic and fair trade spices, produce and fine ingredients. For a starter, try the Bombay Fries—spiced potato shoestrings with cilantro and lemon with mango compote. Entrées range from the chicken tikka salad (tandoori chicken, leafy greens, cucumber, onion and lemon), to classic meat dishes, like lamb vindaloo or chicken curry. 863 E. 9400 South, Sandy, 801-566-1134, EatGoodKarma.com
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34 | MAY 5, 2016
La Costa Restaurant
Kobe Japanese Restaurant
VIETNAMESE • CHINESE • VEGETARIAN LUNCH • DINNER • CATERING • TAKE OUT
When you think Asian cuisine in Salt Lake City, think Kobe Japanese Restaurant in Millcreek, which offers sushi, sashimi, rolls and nigiri on the city’s East Bench. There’s an early bird special from 5 to 6 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, and Japanese Night on Thursdays. Wine, beer, sake and green tea are available to sip. Try the green tea or red bean mochi ice cream for dessert. 3947 S. Wasatch Blvd., Salt Lake City, 801-277-2928
La Caille
MON-THURS 11A M- 9PM FRI/SAT 11A M-9:30PM | SUN 11A M-8PM 7640 SOUTH STATE ST. MIDVA LE, UT 801-889-4090 | PHO33UTA H.COM
If you have guests from out of town, take them to La Caille, a stunning jewel of a restaurant tucked into the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, complete with beautiful grounds perfect for wandering. French for “the quail,” La Caille features French cuisine in an exquisite dining atmosphere. Begin your meal with escargot, ratatouille or lobster bisque. For the main course, go with the roasted venison loin with a red wine demi-glace, rack of Morgan Valley lamb with rosemary jus or bouillabaisse. For dessert, finish up with pumpkin tiramisu, bananas Foster flambé with caramel rum sauce, or chocolate cake served with rosemary-infused grapefruit and fresh whipped cream. 9565 Wasatch Blvd., Sandy, 801-942-1751, La-Caille.com
La Cocina
La Cocina in Cottonwood Heights is a Mexican restaurant with food just spicy enough to liven things up, but mild enough to enjoy. The seafood enchiladas and carne asada fajita burrito are popular with regular customers. Also try the tostadas and shredded beef tacos, along with chips and salsa to beat the band and great chile verde. Be sure to stop by for the free (non-alcoholic) margaritas on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays after 4 p.m. 6965 S. 2300 East, Holladay, 801-943-7790, LaCocinaMexican.com
Koko Kitchen
Koko Kitchen is a small, friendly neighborhood restaurant specializing in Japanese and other Asian fare. There’s no table service; just order at the counter and pick up your food when it’s ready. There’s fresh sushi and sashimi, teriyaki dishes, yakisoba, tonkatsu and surprisingly good, housemade kimchi. Sit outside and enjoy your meal on the patio during warm weather. 702 S. 300 East, Salt Lake City, 801-364-4888
Koyo Restaurant
The sushi is good, but this restaurant specializes in cooked fare such as tempura, donburi, teriyaki, sukiyaki, yakisoba, teppanyaki dishes, tonkatsu and such. Definitely try the beef sukiyaki and the tender shrimp tempura. Be sure to wear clean socks so you can kick off your shoes and sit at one of the low-profile tatami room tables. 2275 E. 3300 South, Salt Lake City, 801-466-7111, KoyoSLC.com
The Kathmandu
At The Kathmandu, you’ll discover a broad range of Nepalese and Indian cuisines, including tandoori specialties from the tandoor oven. Specialties from Nepal include aloo kauli, banda govi and quanti masala. From India, you’ll enjoy flavorful dishes such as chicken vindaloo, aloo tikka masala, baigan bharta, lamb jalfrezi and fish curry. Be sure to order extra tandoor-baked breads like naan, roti, bhatura and poori. Don’t miss the popular all-you-can-eat lunch buffet Monday through Saturday. 212 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City, 801355-0454; 3142 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, 801-466-3504, TheKathmandu.net
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wednesday, May 18- tuesday, may 31
burger week National Burger Day is May 28 and City Weekly wants to have some fun as we kick off the summer months! We have over 30 participating burger joints, bars, and restaurants joining in on the action. It’s simple. During City Weekly’s Burger Week, we’ll have a Burger Board for you to take to each restaurant you try. Eat a burger at one of the restaurants below to get your board stamped. Did we mention prizes? The more places you try, the more stamps you earn, the better chances you have to win!
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CAPTAIN AMERICA
To Be Continued
CINEMA
Captain America: Civil War serves up fun and focuses on perpetuating the MCU brand. BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw
D
Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen and Sebastian Stan in Captain America: Civil War this is exactly where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is both brilliant and frustrating. The African warrior-king Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the brand-new teenage Spider-Man (Tom Holland) both join the fray for various reasons, pumping up the sense of discovery; Holland in particular lends an appealingly goofy nervous energy to every one of Spidey’s fights with various Avenger opponents. Yet Civil War can’t help but feel at times like a commercial for those characters’ upcoming stand-alone features, with expository pauses required to introduce them. Even more than most of its MCU predecessors, Civil War feels bloated with its sense of serving a larger corporate interest than this particular story. There’s certainly a level on which it’s silly to gripe that a comic-book movie—based as it is in serialized storytelling—keeps pulling from the previous movies and pointing toward the future ones. As long as they continue to deliver well-crafted characters and a sense of fun, they’ll thrive. It just might never be possible to achieve greatness, at least as long as the central purpose of any given movie is making sure that the cycle remains unbroken. CW
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
BBB Chris Evans Robert Downey Jr. Scarlett Johansson Rated PG-13
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TRY THESE Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) Robert Downey Jr. Tom Hiddleston Rated PG-13
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) Chris Evans Sebastian Stan Rated PG-13
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) Robert Downey Jr. Chris Hemsworth Rated PG-13
MAY 5, 2016 | 37
Iron Man (2008) Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow Rated PG-13
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need that governing hand. And Captain America (Chris Evans) leads those who are skeptical that any institution wouldn’t ultimately begin to use the Avengers to serve its own agenda. A similar moral quandary about the consequences and responsibility for titanic super-battles also fueled the recent Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and while the action at times stops dead in Civil War to allow characters to articulate that policy debate, it is at least more clearly articulated than in BvS. These characters have been fleshed out over the course of several movies now, with their relationships defined both by shared experiences and unique personalities. The script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely never seems to stack the deck against one side or the other in this conflict, building to the point where the potential rift between Cap and Iron Man feels as consequential as any grand slugfest full of exploding thingamajiggers. Of course, there are grand slugfests full of exploding thingamajiggers, and they’re an interesting mix of old-school action like an extended car chase, and the centerpiece showdown between a dozen team-vs.-team superheroes on a German airport tarmac. The latter is loads of fun—even if the Russos aren’t nearly as deft at navigating the terrain of multiple theaters of battle as Joss Whedon was in the two Avengers films—particularly at finding new individual showdowns featuring participants like Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). The biggest impression, however, may be made by two brand-new characters—and
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uring one of the occasional lulls between battles royale in Captain America: Civil War, the synthetic humanoid Vision (Paul Bettany), in a conversation with the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), contemplates the growing number of nighapocalyptic catastrophes during the eight years since Tony Stark announced his superhero identity in Iron Man. The United Nations has proposed an accord whereby the Avengers would be placed under international rule, rather than playing by their own rules as freelance villain-fighters, and Vision is among those who think this oversight is needed. Perhaps, he suggests, the growing number of “enhanced” individuals is its own invitation to more threats, in a self-perpetuating cycle. He’s certainly on to something, and in a more meta-aware sense than the philosophical battle at the center of the movie over who watches the watchmen. Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, at this point, a self-perpetuating cycle. The movies aren’t just connected to one another, with plots that inform one another; each one exists to make sure the next one can as well. Which isn’t to say that they haven’t done an impressive job over those eight years of making that process generally satisfying. While the title may suggest this is a Captain America movie—and the directing team of Joe and Anthony Russo returns from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier—this is, for all practical purposes, Avengers 2.5. With international pressure mounting for that institutional control over the Avengers’ actions after massive collateral damage in their previous battles, various team members respond to the situation differently. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) leads the faction that, whether for pragmatic or emotional reasons, thinks the Avengers
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NEW THIS WEEK
APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD BBB Once again, it takes a movie made in another country, and another language, to remind us of the eccentric delights that are still possible in the realm of conventional hand-drawn animation. Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci adapt Jacques Tardi’s graphic novel about an orphaned girl named April (Marion Cotillard) in an alternate-reality 1940s Paris where great inventors have all disappeared before they could bring the coal-fired Victorian era into modernity. The result is a vividly realized steampunk-y landscape of massive cable-cars and steam-powered automobiles, mixed with weird but engaging details like a mansion that can walk away to defend itself from attack, and ominous, seemingly sentient storm clouds. The narrative may be overly complicated—the reveal of the principal antagonists is both somewhat obvious in hindsight, and completely ridiculous—but it gets a boost from a resourceful heroine who is also a talented scientist, and animation that brings both the characters and the world to quirky life. It makes one pine for an alternate reality where a different kind of technology was a lot less prevalent. Opens May 6 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (PG)—Scott Renshaw
LOUDER THAN BOMBS BB Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s first English-language film may be set in upstate New York, but it’s still fairly, well, Norwegian: somber, chilly and seething with unspoken emotions. Alas that those emotions—which are all the film is about—are more elusive and abstruse than is satisfying. Here we meet the family left behind when conflict photographer Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert, in a few flashbacks) is killed—not on assignment, but in an automobile accident close to home. It’s three years after her death, and in concert with a gallery retrospective of her work, her colleague Richard (David Strathairn) publishes an appreciation of her work that features a secret about her, which prompts a familial crisis for Isabelle’s husband, Gene (Gabriel Byrne), over how he will finally reveal this secret to their youngest son, teen Conrad (Devin Druid), a withdrawn loner; elder son Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) is already clued in. None of Isabelle’s men are coping well in her absence, but while moping may be understandable, it’s difficult to excuse all the bad behavior their inarticulate grief manifests as. Trier’s endless sympathy for them has the opposite of the intended effect. Opens May 6 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)—MaryAnn Johanson
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR BBB See review p. 37. Opens May 6 at theaters valleywide. (PG-13)
SING STREET BBB.5 Disclaimer alert: A musical directed by John Carney (Once), set in Ireland and built on affectionate skewering of 1980s MTV aesthetics might as well be custom-designed to my specifications. In 1985 Dublin, 15-year-old Connor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) responds to life upheavals—a new school, his parents’ fighting and a crush on mysterious older girl Raphina (Lucy Boynton)—by starting a band. The resulting songs are clearly far more sophisticated than a gaggle of spotty teens could craft, as Carney and cosongwriter Gary Clark provide an infectious collection of original tunes inspired by everything from Duran Duran to Hall & Oates. And Carney has loads of fun playing with the way Connor and his bandmates experiment with their “look” based on whatever new music style grabs their fancy. It’s also built on charming relationships, though—and while the central romance is sweet, there’s even more appeal in Connor’s connection with his older brother/ musical mentor/life coach Brendan (a wonderful Jack Reynor). The story may meander whenever it’s not focused on the music, but Sing Street is simply lovely at conveying the beautiful foolishness of being young, in love and moved to create. Opens May 6 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (R)—SR
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THE INVITATION BBB There’s a great slow-burn thriller here, and a great meditation on coping with grief, but those components collide in a way that keeps the whole thing from being great. The set-up finds Will (Logan Marshall-Green) reluctantly attending a dinner party thrown by his ex-wife, Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (Michiel Huisman) after two years out of touch, in the same Hollywood Hills home where their young son died in a tragic accident. The suspense elements accumulate around Will’s suspicion that the party has a creepy ulterior motive, and director Karyn Kusama proves effective at building unease without overt scares. There’s also solid material in the script—improbably by the R.I.P.D./Ride Along team of Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi— about the competing urges in grieving people to survive or to surrender. But unlike the similarly themed The Babadook, The Invitation can’t fold its psychology of post-traumatic recovery as neatly into its straightforward genre elements. It’s artfully
SPECIAL SCREENINGS BELLE AND SEBASTIAN At Main Library, May 7, 11 a.m. (NR) BROKEN BLOSSOMS At Edison Street Events Silent Movies, May 5-6, 7:30 p.m. (NR) CLIFFHANGER At Main Library, May 11, 2 p.m. (PG-13) DECODING ANNIE PARKER At Main Library, May 10, 7 p.m. (NR) INFINITELY POLAR BEAR At Park City Film Series, May 6-7, 8 p.m. (R) THE MAJESTIC At Brewvies, May 9, 10 p.m. (R) SON OF SAUL At Park City Library, May 5, 7 p.m. (R) TOUCHED WITH FIRE At Park City Library, May 8, 8 p.m. (R) TRAPPED At Rose Wagner Center, May 11, 7 p.m. (NR)
CURRENT RELEASES
THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY BBB.5 Haute couture fashion: work of art, or consumer product? Andrew Rossi takes a terrifically entertaining look at how thin the line is between those two aspects in a documentary focusing on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2015 fashion-themed China: Through the Looking Glass show, as curator Andrew Bolton works on the actual show and fashion industry icon Anna Wintour organizes the accompanying star-studded fundraiser. He finds fascinating material in both halves of the story, and just as Frederick Wiseman was able to do in National Gallery, Rossi emphasizes the nuts-andbolts reality of bringing any kind of art to the public, with all the complications and compromises that process entails. Leave aside some distracting tangents focusing on the already over-profiled Wintour, and First Monday captures that certain amount of flash that invariably helps the medicine of Art go down. (PG-13)—SR
more than just movies at brewvies
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38 | MAY 5, 2016
Information is correct as of press time. Film release schedules are subject to change.
crafted enough for its third act to be viscerally effective, and promising enough to be faintly disappointing that it doesn’t pack a bigger emotional punch. Opens May 6 at Tower Theatre. (R)—SR
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CLIPS
MOVIE TIMES AND LOCATIONS AT CITYWEEKLY.NET MOTHER’S DAY B Garry Marshall’s popular pseudo-franchise of holiday-themed comedies has become as irritating as contemporary pseudo-holidays. Once again, we get loosely-connected stories surrounding a holiday theme, including a divorced mom (Jennifer Aniston) struggling with her exhusband’s re-marriage, and a widower (Jason Sudeikis) still grieving while trying to parent his daughters. And once again, those stories are edited together so miserably that all emotional impact is lost in all the interruptions. Its studied pose at being modern and inclusive is undercut by some truly horrifying “jokes,” and it’s a reminder that someone thinks it’s hilariously original for a grocery store clerk to scream out a price check when a guy buys feminine hygiene products. A couple of well-crafted performances can’t prevent this movie from taking every sentimental notion about the institution of motherhood and stomping them to dust. (PG-13)—SR
KEANU BB.5 Fans of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s sketch show won’t be surprised to learn that their movie feels like a sketch—a funny one, but less so the longer it goes on. Two ordinary men, Rell (Peele) and Clarence (Key), pretend to be hardcore gangstas in order to retrieve a kitten stolen from Rell by a mid-level drug lord. Now, li’l Keanu is adorable, and it’s funny to see grown men cooing over a kitten. But the cat could be a computer disk or a bag of money, and the standard-issue plot would barely change. The real thrust of the humor is timid Clarence and irresponsible-butgenerally-law-abiding Rell acting like experienced drug slingers. The returns on this gag diminish as it’s repeated, kept afloat by Key and Peele’s chemistry and their skill at playing satirical versions of black stereotypes. (R)—Eric D. Snider
RATCHET & CLANK .5B “Based on the best-selling videogame” should be a warning, not an enticement. Yet here is Ratchet & Clank, inspired (though no actual creative inspiration came anywhere near infecting this movie) by the PlayStation videogame series that debuted in 2002. Is Ratchet (voice of James Arnold Taylor)—a sort of halffox, half-cat alien biped called a Lombax, reminiscent of popular videogame hero Sonic the Hedgehog, though I’m sure that’s pure coincidence—destined to save the galaxy, even though he’s a foolhardy screw-up with almost nothing to his name besides maybe some undisciplined smarts and outsized aspirations to grandeur? Of course he is, with the help of robotic sidekick Clank (David Kaye). Toss in some Strauss musical cues from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and you have a movie that might think it’s meta but is nothing more than meh. (PG)—MAJ
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GREEN ROOM BBB.5 Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s crackling siege thriller delivers plenty of lowdown genre intensity, but the characters don’t exist simply to be dispatched in creatively unpleasant ways. Four members of a punk band face terrifying consequences when they accidentally witness a murder in a skinhead bar, and the owner (Patrick Stewart) can’t allow them to complicate his operation. Much of what follows takes place in a single room, and Saulnier builds claustrophobic horror with false starts and bold risks to avoid a sense of stasis, and uses wince-inducing bits of graphic violence for maximum impact. But he also takes an unconventional approach to character development, building on the band members’ initial sense that they’ve been living an edgy life. This is a horror movie about realizing that you may think you’re hardcore, but there are things out there that are much harder. (R)—SR
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THEATER DIRECTORY SALT LAKE CITY Brewvies Cinema Pub 677 S. 200 West 801-355-5500 Brewvies.com
PARK CITY Cinemark Holiday Village 1776 Park Ave. 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com
Broadway Centre Cinemas 111 E. 300 South 801-321-0310 SaltLakeFilmSociety.org
Redstone 8 Cinemas 6030 N. Market 435-575-0220 Redstone8Cinemas.com
Century 16 South Salt Lake 125 E. 3300 South 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com
DAVIS COUNTY AMC Loews Layton Hills 9 728 W. 1425 North, Layton 801-774-8222 AMCTheatres.com
Cinemark Sugar House 2227 S. Highland Drive 801-466-3699 Cinemark.com Water Gardens Cinema 6 1945 E. Murray-Holladay Road 801-273-0199 WaterGardensTheatres.com Megaplex 12 Gateway 165 S. Rio Grande St. 801-304-4636 MegaplexTheatres.com Redwood Drive-In 3688 S. Redwood Road 801-973-7088 Tower Theatre 836 E. 900 South 801-321-0310 SaltLakeFilmSociety.org WEST VALLEY 5 Star Cinemas 8325 W. 3500 South, Magna 801-250-5551 RedCarpetCinemas.com Carmike 12 1600 W. Fox Park Drive, West Jordan 801-562-5760 Carmike.com Cinemark 24 Jordan Landing 7301 S. Bangerter Highway 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Cinemark Valley Fair Mall 3601 S. 2700 West, West Valley City 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Showcase Cinemas 6 5400 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville 801-957-9032 RedCarpetCinemas.com SOUTH VALLEY Century 16 Union Heights 7800 S. 1300 East, Sandy 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Cinemark Draper 12129 S. State, Draper 801-619-6494 Cinemark.com Cinemark Sandy 9 9539 S. 700 East, Sandy 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Megaplex Jordan Commons 9400 S. State, Sandy 801-304-INFO MegaplexTheatres.com Megaplex 20 at The District 11400 S. Bangerter Highway 801-304-INFO MegaplexTheatres.com
Cinemark Station Park 900 W. Clark Lane, Farmington 801-447-8561 Cinemark.com Cinemark Tinseltown USA 720 W. 1500 North, Layton 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Gateway 8 206 S. 625 West, Bountiful 801-292-7979 RedCarpetCinemas.com Megaplex Legacy Crossing 1075 W. Legacy Crossing Blvd., Centerville 801-397-5100 MegaplexTheatres.com WEBER COUNTY Cinemark Tinseltown 14 3651 Wall Ave., Ogden 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Megaplex 13 at The Junction 2351 Kiesel Ave., Ogden 801-304-INFO MegaplexTheatres.com UTAH COUNTY Carmike Wynnsong 4925 N. Edgewood Drive, Provo 801-764-0009 Carmike.com Cinemark American Fork 715 W. 180 North, American Fork 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Cinemark Movies 8 2230 N. University Parkway, Orem 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Cinemark Provo Town Center 1200 Town Center Blvd., Provo 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Cinemark University Mall 1010 S. 800 East, Provo 800-326-3264 Cinemark.com Megaplex Thanksgiving Point 2935 N. Thanksgiving Way 801-304-INFO MegaplexTheatres.com Water Gardens Cinema 8 790 E. Expressway Ave. Spanish Fork 801-798-9777 WaterGardensTheatres.com Water Gardens Cinema 6 912 W. Garden Drive Pleasant Grove 801-785-3700 WaterGardensTheatres.com
CHECK US FIRST! LOW OR NO FEES! Thursday, May 5
The Range
TV Girl
Urban Lounge
L.A. Guns
“Sunlight Limited” an evening of ballet and rock music
Kilby Court Liquid Joe’s
Australia’s Thunder From Down Under Peery’s Egyptian Theater
8th Annual Beat Society Thu, May 5, 2016 - 8:00 pm Urban Lounge
Thu, May 12 The Fallout
Big Wild Thu, May 12 Urban Lounge
Fri, May 13
Saturday, May 7
Mayer Hawthorne
The State Room
Givers
Dead Winter Carpenters
The Complex
Sunday, May 8
Kilby Court
The Gonzalo Bergara Quartet The State Room
Fillbusta
Kilby Court
The Thermals Urban Lounge
Monday, May 9
Explosions in the Sky The Depot
Tuesday, May 10
Chris Pureka Kilby Court
Tha Dogg Pound Liquid Joe’s
The Waifs
Lucius
The Complex
Tortoise
Urban Lounge
Jason CoZmo Presents Viva La Diva The State Room
Sat, May 14
Make It Louder Festival Gallivan Center
The Body
Kilby Court
4th Annual WYOmericana Caravan Tour The State Room
The State Room VISIT CITYWEEKLYTIX.COM FOR MORE SHOWS & DETAILS!
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TV
Ali Wong delivers a Baby Cobra; Grace & Frankie and Chelsea are back. Ali Wong: Baby Cobra Friday, May 6 (Netflix)
Stand-Up Special: Ali Wong is one of the funniest comedians you’ve probably never heard of—and she’s definitely the most pregnant one you’ve ever seen in her own stand-up special (Wong was seven months along when Baby Cobra was filmed in Seattle). You may have noticed her in a few passable movies (Savages, Dealin’ With Idiots), and some truly painful TV shows (Are You There, Chelsea? and the legendarily stoopid Black Box), but she’s been seemingly on the verge of becoming a breakout comic for years. I’m not saying the knocked-up/debut Netflix special hook was timed and calculated for maximum media buzz but, really, what else are babies good for? If that just tweaked your tweakables, you’ll squirm over Wong’s take on feminism; maybe stay away from Baby Cobra.
United Shades of America Sundays (CNN)
New Series: W. Kamau Bell’s late-night talk show, Totally Biased, was a good introduction to the comedian’s unique angle on race relations—until FX essentially killed it by
First Impressions Tuesday, May 10 (USA)
Series Debut: If you compiled a list of things we don’t need on TV, somewhere near the top would be “Freddie Prinze Jr.” and “amateur celebrity impressionists” (No. 1 will always be “Jay Leno”). So leave it to USA, who were making such quality dramatic inroads with Mr. Robot and Colony, to give us First Impressions, a Prinze Jr.-hosted impersonation competition with “mentor” Dana Carvey, and “coaches” like Steve Carrell, Kevin Nealon, Jon Lovitz and … oh, goddamnit … Jay Leno. Who was the soon-to-beunemployed USA programming wiz who said, “You know what Millennials like? Endless Christopher Walken impressions and comedians from the ’90s! It’ll blow up on SnapFace and InstaVine!”?
Series Debut: Chelsea Handler shut down her E! talk show, Chelsea Lately, almost two years ago, and now she’s finally back with … something. Not much is known about Chelsea, Netflix’s first attempt at a semi-daily, topical series; as of this writing, the debut episode hasn’t even been recorded yet. The few leaked facts: Chelsea will stream Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with material taped 12 hours prior; there will be 90 episodes a year, lighter than the typical late-night talker grind; Handler won’t always be stuck in a studio, as she plans on shooting across the U.S. and internationally; she won’t be tied to the old E! topics of celebrity culture, instead taking on politics, education, sports, alternative lifestyles and, most likely, celebrity culture more scathingly than she could ever get away with on basic cable. Whatever Chelsea will be, it’s going to be on Handler’s terms only—that kind of power in the hands of someone so funny, smart and selectively vicious warrants a look. Listen to Bill Mondays at 8 a.m. on X96 Radio From Hell, and on the TV Tan podcast via iTunes, Stitcher and BillFrost.tv.
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MAY 5, 2016 | 41
M-Sat 8-7 • Sun 10-5 • 9275 S 1300 W • 801-562-5496 • glovernursery.com
Chelsea Wednesday, May 11 (Netflix)
Let us deliver Spring to you
Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (Netflix)
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Season Premiere: The debut season of Grace & Frankie, while uneven, at least established a better benchmark for oldster comedy than the theatrical crap cannon of insufferable hacks like Nancy Meyers (Something Complicated’s Gotta Give on the Holiday or whatever). The story of lifetime frenemies Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin), whose husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) leave them for each other, careened from hilarious to heartbreaking and back again wildly, but never felt anything less than genuine, and the supporting cast (including Ethan Embry and June Diane Raphael) added nicely to G&F’s already considerable charms. Tighter scripting might elevate the series’ second go-around to the critical-darling level of Transparent but, at the very least, Grace & Frankie is The Odd Couple reboot we actually deserved. Oh, and Sheen and Waterston are uh-dor-a-ble.
relocating the show to FXX. But Bell is really onto something with United Shades of America, a kind of reverseBourdain travelogue series wherein he visits the leastdesirable destinations in ’Merica and attempts to start dialogues with its least-desirable subcultures. United Shades’ debut episode, in which Bell went impressively face-to-hood with the Ku Klux Klan, was a ratings and social-media-buzz hit, and the San Quentin-set second installment didn’t disappoint, either. Sadly, he probably won’t run out of racist enclaves anytime soon, but watch the funny/frightening United Shades of America now, hard.
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Grace & Frankie Friday, May 6 (Netflix)
Woo! Cue Boo!
Drinking the Lemonade LIVE Music thursday, may 5
CINCO DE MAYO DJ LEMONT 8PM
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BY KIMBALL BENNION comments@cityweekly.net @KimballBennion
B
eyoncé fans: Up until now, you and my kind—white, male, getting older, owners of multiple homemade Fugazi T-shirts in high school—have mostly avoided each other. I’m here to tell you that we’re coming. You’ll start spotting us at the football stadiums you fill up to see her perform. Awkwardly dancing. Arguing with our friends about which half of Lemonade is better, and giving each half a cute nickname like “the revenge half” and the “redemption half.” It’ll be weird, but please be kind. Just put yourselves in our situation for a second. We have of course known what Beyoncé is for some time now. The horns to “Crazy in Love” are branded onto our eardrums just like every other man, woman and child in America. But before last week, we were aware of her like most people are aware of calculus. It’s there, it’s important to many people, but we were comfortable living our own lives without knowing delving too deep. Then Lemonade comes out, and somehow we get roped in. I’m still unclear as to how it happened. Maybe we caught it on HBO. Maybe we heard Jack White was somehow involved. Maybe we tuned in to the Super Bowl halftime show in February, thinking we were going to see Coldplay, and then instantly forgot about them once Beyoncé showed up and unleashed her single “Formation” onto the world. It’s not like being an innovator in her field is anything new to the H-town native, but for years the Beyhive and those outside of it have existed. Even her 2013 self-titled release, while a critical and commercial bombshell (not to mention the invention of the “surprise release”), was mainly an event for you, her already loyal fans. Lemonade quickly broke down those barriers. It takes the ingredients that make Beyoncé the powerhouse she already is, but presents her as more vulnerable, political, personal and flawed than anyone has ever seen her before. Keep in mind that over the past 18 years, Beyoncé lived her life in front of the entire world while simultaneously keeping its gaze into her personal life at arm’s length. In examining what makes Beyoncé who she is, her talent for strictly controlling her own image is just as important as her talent as a performer. With Lemonade, she burns it all down. She unapologetically embraces her personal and ancestral history while facing down the burdens of injustice that come with it. She even lays low her own husband, he of 99 problems fame. “What’s worse, looking jealous or crazy?/ Or like being walked all over lately?/ I’d rather be crazy,” she sings in the fantastic “Hold Up.” Somehow, by the end of the album, she’s left standing in the ashes, having regained possession of her identity and her family. Can you blame us for being as floored as we are? Beyoncé has sung at two presidential inaugurations. Coming down from that
Beyoncé stratosphere in such a publicly raw way caught everyone off guard, especially those of us who were content to observe from afar. Beyoncé and her A-list of collaborators, it turns out, know how to speak to us record-store snobs just as much as to you. You need proof? “Hold Up”—and this is all true—started out as a tweet from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig that tweaked the chorus of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps,” which was then added to a verse written by Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty. These are all names we drop to prove that we’re keyed in to the latest, coolest music. And Beyoncé just turned them all into a Beyoncé song. For years, we’ve taken for granted that good music and popular music were mutually exclusive. I’m not sure why. We tend to have a weird aversion to music that invokes … what’s the word? Joy? Trailblazers and risk takers, we told ourselves, toiled away underappreciated because all but we few had the palates sophisticated enough to detect them. Pop music, we’d say, is formulaic and predictable. If anyone tells you they predicted Lemonade, they’re lying. The truth—and it’s hard for people like me to admit it—is that pop is the genre in which the most politically relevant, innovative and unpredictable music of the past few years has been produced. The upheaval caused by streaming forces artists to prove to us that they’re still worth buying. That leaves the artists who can afford to take the biggest creative risk able to sell the most records. No surprise, but Lemonade is only on sale on iTunes or through the upscale Tidal streaming service. But here we are, dearest Beyhive, forking over our money and openly praising Beyoncé right along with you. Music that good can force people to break all kinds of habits. CW
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MAY 5, 2016 | 43
Hip-Hop It’s Patio Season! Pioneer
Zigga is happy to live and rhyme in Salt Lake City.
32 Exchange Place • 801-322-3200 www.twistslc.com • 11:00am-1:00am
WHERE SOPHISTICATED MEETS CASUAL
Holladay’s Premier Martini & Wine Bar
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44 | MAY 5, 2016
CLAUDIO OLIVARES
Tuesdays at 9 - Karaoke that doesn’t suck! Quality drinks at an affordable price Saturday and Sunday Brunch til 3:00 Great food daily 11am - 12:15am Music Wednesday thru Saturday
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MUSIC
Live Music Friday & Saturday 6pm - 9pm
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6405 S 3000 E | 801.943.1696 | ELIXIRUTAH.COM
BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer
M
ost up-and-coming rappers don’t initially think of Salt Lake City as a place with a viable hip-hop scene. Rather than sticking around to help define the fairly open SLC rap market, they move to bigger hubs like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York where the rap market is firmly established. While the logic of this seems sound, the untapped territory of defining local rap is drawing out pioneering artists like Midvale’s Zigga (born Zane Dennison). “It’s a blessing to live in Salt Lake,” Dennison says. “It’s cool to make your own statement for a place.” Dennison spent his childhood in Oakland, Calif., developing an interest in jazz music and poetry while he was still young. As a teenager, Dennison’s family moved to Utah where he felt like he could explore his musical talents more fully. “Here in Utah, you have a little bit more freedom because there’s more to do economically without turning to drugs and gangs—that’s not the reality in some California neighborhoods,” he says. While the local burgeoning hip-hop scene is still wide open, the work and responsibility of building a fan base, seeking out new opportunities to perform and raising three children weighs heavily on Dennison. “The biggest thing is balance,” he says. “My music career was blossoming right when I started having kids. The good thing is that every one of those things are rewarding.” The benefit of being able to find his own sound is contrasted by the hard work of forging a path. Collaboration is also important to Dennison, and his upcoming mixtape Cherubs and Scarabs features local rappers Dine Krew and Swell Merchants. “It takes a community to change things,” Dennison says, “One of
Zigga the things that people liked most about my first mixtape is that I had so many collaborations with other artists. It’s always better to get people involved than it is to be exclusive.” Cherubs and Scarabs is a fascinating collision of beats and arrangements of West Coast rappers like Dr. Dre and the machine-gun wordsmithing of East Coast rappers like Jay-Z. Yet, Dennison only uses those influences as a platform from which to build his own style, one that is heavy on jazz instruments and stream-of-consciousness wordplay. “As an artist, you have to be able to adapt,” he says, “I choose different beats and live instrumentations because I want to sound genuine.” Perhaps the most successful part of Dennison’s newest mixtape is that it doesn’t sound like the work of someone who is following in the artistic footsteps of others. Dennison raps with a style all his own, and the local references mixed with his jazz-inspired arrangements make for a unique listen. For those who don’t want to wait for the album’s June 22 release, Dennison runs “Wired Wednesdays,” from his Soundcloud page, where he’s been previewing one song from Cherubs and Scarabs every week. Currently, he’s released the powerful “Blvcc Chervbs” and the trippy party anthem “Molly Water,” along with several others that will give fans a taste of the upcoming release, which will be available on iTunes and Spotify. The rapper has already created a vast arsenal of songs, but he shows no signs of stopping. In addition to the June release of his new mixtape, he plans to appear at one of SLUG magazine’s “Localized” shows at Urban Lounge, and he’s also started focusing on building his brand through merchandising. “Merchandise is huge now,” Dennison says. “Developing a brand is where I see the most potential.” For those young hip-hop artists who happen to find themselves in Utah, keep in mind that there is a rap scene here, but its full potential has yet to be explored. “It’s rare to find a market like this,” Dennison says. “How many opportunities do you have to be the pioneer?” CW
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MAY 5, 2016 | 45
WWW.TAVERNACLE.COM
It’s just not fair. In bands, singers and guitar players get all the attention, causing woe for drummers, whose beats drive the music. It’s the same in hip-hop: Rappers often outshine the producers, no matter how much they try to give the beat-masters props. That’s why local producer DJ Juggy is doing the hip-hop equivalent of giving the drummer some love with the Utah Beat Society, pulling together a lineup of 11 local producers including Briskoner, Finale Grand, Vivedend, Linus Stubbs, Dusk, Dumb Luck, Chance Lewis, Melvin Junko, Rich Strott, Rick One and himself, with Salt Lake City rhyme-sayer Calhoon hosting the festivities. “Tonight, it’s all about the beat makers,” says Fisch Loops. “It’s just showcasing original production, rather than a simple DJ night, where producers who make their own music get to showcase their sets.” With the focus on beats, you betta do some practice twerks before the show, or you’re gonna pull something. (Randy Harward) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8:30 p.m., free, TheUrbanLoungeSLC.com
FRIDAY 5.6 Deicide
Florida death metal cornerstone Deicide is led by charismatic Christ-basher Glen Benton, a notorious antagonist who branded an inverted cross into his forehead. Benton seemed to delight in getting under the skin of conservatives (look up his scary-hilarious phone calls with self-professed exorcist Bob Larson on
Wildrido Vargas
RANDY HARWARD
201 East 300 South, Salt Lake City
Eighth Annual Utah Beat Society
YouTube) and herbivorous animalrights nuts, alike—the latter group being allegedly responsible for detonating a bomb during a 1992 show in Stockholm. Anti-religious shenanigans aside, Deicide is counted as one of the founders of brutal American death metal and have been active nearly three decades. Their most recent album, In the Minds of Evil (Century Media), was released in 2013. Season of Suffering, Hypernova Holocaust, Dezecration and Sonifera open. (Marc Hanson) Metro Bar, 615 W. 100 South, 8:30 p.m., $20 in advance, $25 day of show, JRCSLC.com
Wilfrido Vargas
Dominican Republic-born Wilfrido Vargas— trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader, also known as a producer and arranger—has been a key figure in spreading merengue music around the globe. Merengue involves mostly horns and percussion in a rousing ensemble sound, somewhat similar to conga music, and it’s migrated from Latin American countries to the United States and beyond. The style has undergone a few mutations, and Vargas is one of the bandleaders who adds guitars into the mix. Incredibly prolific, he has released several dozen albums since the ‘80s, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Performance in 1990. Here’s a chance to see a master practitioner of the style—and, of course, get out and dance. (Brian Staker) Club Karamba, 1051 E. 2100 South, 9 p.m., $30, KarambaSLC.com
Fisch Loops (right)
SATURDAY 5.7 Dead Winter Carpenters
The area north of Lake Tahoe knows the dead of winter. In addition to the ski resort, it’s not far from where the Donner Party met their gruesome end. Dead Winter Carpenters is an alt-country band from North Lake Tahoe, Calif., that blends progressive bluegrass with old-style country, folk and roots rock. Although the title of their last release is Dirt Nap EP, this movable party (search YouTube for them on the Gondola series), unlike the Donner company those many winters ago, shows no sign of diminishing. Naturally, their new album, Washoe, features heavily in their set lists on this year’s tour. The Puddle Mountain Ramblers open. (BS) The State Room, 638 S. State, 9 p.m., $15, TheStateRoomSLC.com
» Dead Winter Carpenters RYAN SALM
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BY BRIAN STAKER, RANDY HARWARD & MARC HANSON
THURSDAY 5.5
SONY MUSIC ENT.
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The Thermals, Summer Cannibals
48 | MAY 5, 2016
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In the early 2000s—before there were hipsters, and before Portland became Portlandia—there was The Thermals, the City of Roses’ entrant in the lo-fi indie band sweepstakes. They even got signed to Sub Pop—the Northwest’s imprimatur of cool since the ‘90s—for their debut release, More Parts Per Million (2003). They also shared a drummer with M. Ward’s group, upping their cool quotient. Fast-forward over a decade, and their latest collection, We Disappear (Saddle Creek) turns up on another label with indie cred, after having sojourned through a few with Kill Rock Stars, another class outfit. Fun pop-punk rules! Their neighbors, four-piece indie band Summer Cannibals, took their name from a song by Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith, and they are prepping their own new album, Full of It, due on KRS next month. Find out tonight if it’s as great as the last one, Show Us Your Mind (New Moss). Chalk opens. (BS) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8 p.m., $12 in advance, $14 day of show, TheUrbanLoungeSLC.com AVAILABLE IN BLACK OR WHITE 6.5” 2 WAY SPEAKERS 150 WATTS RMS
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MONDAY 5.9
Explosions in the Sky, Disappears
You might have seen experimental instrumental band Explosions in the Sky several years ago at the Twilight Concert Series. If not, here’s another chance, without having to deal with the Pioneer Park throngs—although, when The Depot gets full, it can be elbow-to-elbow as well. The Austin, Texas, band recently released its seventh studio album, The Wilderness (Temporary Residence Limited), and it’s touted as being rather understated for a band that, typically, can be a little overwhelming. Chicago band Disappears joins them on the bill. Their idiosyncratic mutation of rock music—which briefly involved Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley a few years back—experiments in several different directions of their own, and are probably the perfect tour mates for Explosions in the Sky. (BS) The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, 8 p.m., $23, DepotSLC.com
Explosions in the Sky NICK SIMONITE
SUNDAY 5.8
JASON QUIGLEY
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BLACK SHEEP Bar & Grill ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP MIOCIC
SATURDAY, MAY 4TH VS.
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TUESDAYS
$150 TACOS + $300 CUERVO
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1520 W. 9000 S. WEST JORDAN | 801.566.2561 | THEBLACKSHEEPBARANDGRILL.COM
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SATURDAY 5.7
CONCERTS & CLUBS
WEARETHERHOADS
X96 Big Ass Show: Death Cab for Cutie, The Offspring and more
Long a favorite of local modern/alternative/ indie rock fans, the X96 Big Ass Show is now old enough to get drunk. They grow up so fast. The lineup, as usual, is strong, with big-ass headliners like Seattle indieemo-whatever band Death Cab for Cutie (left) and The Offspring, who were poppunk before pop-punk was co-opted by the scene-hair set. Younger bands Awolnation, Nothing But Thieves and The Strumbellas provide strong support. Hey! I wonder if there’s a fan out there who’s attended every one of these concerts and is also newly of legal age… (Randy Harward) Usana Amphitheatre, 5150 S. 6055 West, 4 p.m., $20-$60, Usana-Amp.com
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Margaritas • Palomas • Corona Familiar Tacos • DJ Street Jesus • No Cover Win Tickets to RSL vs. Portland and New York
50 | MAY 5, 2016
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LET’S PATIO!
CINCO DE MAYO
19 East 200 South | bourbonhouseslc.com
SPIRITS • FOOD • GOOD COMPANY 5.5
MORGAN SNOW
5.11
DYLAN ROE
5.6
PIXIE & THE PARTYGRASS BOYS
5.12
JEREMIAH AND THE RED EYES
5.7
MICHELLE MOONSHINE TRIO
5.13
STONEFED
5.14
STONEFED
3200 E BIG COTTONWOOD RD. | 801.733.5567 THEHOGWALLOW.COM
E S U A C • Y T I N U M M O C • T R E C N O
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WATCH ALL RSL AWAY GAMES AT A BAR NAMED SUE SUE’S STATE LOCATION FREE SHUTTLE TO ALL R S L HOME GAMES NEXT SHUTTLE: SAT., JUNE 18 PORTLAND @ RSL
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DOROTHY
Also featuring: Emery, Mac Lethal, Burnell Washburn, Broke City, Jessica Frech, Penrose, Brogan Kelby, Hand Practices, Miss DJ Lux, DJ Juggy, & DJ Jarvicious
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MAY 5, 2016 | 51
PRESENTED BY:
LUDOVIC ETIENNE
Mayer Hawthorne
BIG REDD PROMOTIONS PRESENTS
DA I LY L U N C H S P E C I A L S POOL, FOOSBALL & GAMES
6TH AVENUE STREET BAND $5 TICKETS | 8PM | 21+
SATURDAY, MAY 7TH
BENEFIT FOR BIG JIM
HELP BATTLE CANCER TOGETHER 12:00 PM | 21+
Soul singer/producer/DJ Mayer Hawthorne had no formal musical training, but upon moving to Los Angeles a decade ago, the Ann Arbor, Mich., native caught the ear of Peanut Butter Wolf, and was signed to Wolf’s Stone’s Throw Records, which released his debut, A Strange Arrangement, in 2009. His sound is reminiscent of oldschool soul musicians like Marvin Gaye and the songs of Holland-Dozier-Holland. Ever the stylish dresser, Hawthorne this year released his sixth effort, Man About Town (Vagrant), whose title track is as selfdescriptive as you can get. (Brian Staker) The Complex, 536 W. 100 South, 8 p.m., $24.85 in advance, $28 day of show, TheComplexSLC.com
A RELAXED GENTLEMAN’S CLUB
FRIDAY, MAY 6TH
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WEDNESDAY 5.12
CONCERTS & CLUBS
In an effort to be the best in Salt Lake’s brunch game, RYE has decided to focus our aim on the a.m. hours. Effective February 29th, RYE will be open Monday-Friday from 9am-2pm Saturday and Sunday from 9am-3pm. What this means for you: even more house-made breakfast and brunch specials, snappier service-same fresh, locally-sourced fixins. Come on in. www.ryeslc.com
MAY 4:
NO
8PM DOORS FREE SHOW
COV ER E V ER!
MAY 5:
8PM DOORS FREE SHOW
MAY 6:
4242 S. STATE 801-265-9889
9PM DOORS
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TH
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MAY 13: TORTOISE 8PM DOORS
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MAY 7: BEATLES TRIBUTE NIGHT 8PM DOORS $3 MAY 8: THE THERMALS MAY 9:
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BLAAK HEAT
DEAD THINGS HEAVY DOSE SUNCHASER 8TH ANNUAL
4141 So. State Street 801.261.3463
May 14: Max Pain & The Groovies May 16: Prince Tribute Night May 19: Sticky Fingers May 21: Mike Love May 23: Baroness May 25: Le Butcherettes
May 26: Chelsea Wolfe May 27: Built To Spill May 29: Subhumans June 20: Ceelo-Green Aug 16: Kurt Vile Full lineup at theurbanloungeslc.com
SHOTS IN THE DARK
R O V E! C O N VE R E
BY JOSH SCHEUERMAN @scheuerman7
Green Pig Pub
31 e. 400 s. 1 (801) 532-744 / facebook.com greenpigpub
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MAY 7 9PM
Meredith Hernandez, Sam Mathews, Vadisignativs
cinco de mayo party
SUNDAY & THURSDAY & SATURDAY
sol tribe that captain 1/2 off nachos & Free pool
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MONDAY
STARTS @ 9PM
liquid mary janes, amfs & long island iced teas
Live Music
Friday 5/6
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Robin Brown
POT OVER $1,750 CASH!
saturday 5/7
ken "ducky" derby
GROOVE TUESDAYS
rubber ducky river race for charity @ 3pm
CODY BINX AND FRIENDS
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WEDNESDAY
KARAOKE STARTS @ 9PM
kentucky bourbon | food & drink specials
Monday 5/9
Ryan and Jolene Dougherty
Violeta Gaitan, Laura Rodriguez
hosted by robby reynolds & friends
open mic night
YOU Never KNow WHO WILL SHOW UP TO PERFORM
ANNUAL
COMING SOON 5/20
Cinco De Mayo Party
"taste of the Royal"
celebrating the royal's 3 year anniversary w/ food, drinks, and music Acoustic performances by:
$10 bucket O' beers
165 E 200 S SLC I 801.746.3334
Marshall Grimsley, Xandra Reynaud, Thomas Hollman
5/21
moonshine bandits
ALL SHOW TICKETS AVAILABLE AT SMITHSTIX OR AT THE ROYAL
MAY 5, 2016 | 53
tony holiday i vocal reasoning
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May 5
Tuesday 5/10
the royal blues jam
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CONCERTS & CLUBS
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WEDNESDAY/SUNDAY
THURSDAY 5.5 LIVE MUSIC Wednesdays 7PM-10PM
1st Sunday of Every Month 12PM-3PM No Cover
LIVE JAZZ DINNER
LIVE JAZZ BRUNCH
$5 Cover
Crazy Eyes + The Watches + Blade (Diabolical Records) DJ Courtney (Area 51) Eighth Annual Utah Beat Society (The Urban Lounge) see p. 46 Hot Noise & Guest DJ (The Red Door) Joe McQueen Quartet (Garage on Beck) L.A. Guns (Liquid Joe’s) Latin Jazz Allstars (Gracie’s) Morgan Snow (The Hog Wallow) TV Girl + Wounded Youth + ‘90s Television (Kilby Court)
May 4: Geoffrey Miller Band June 5: TBD
FOOD & DRINKS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
WEDNESDAY THE CRAFTY CREW CRAFT CLASSES 7PM MAY 4TH: PATRIOTIC WREATH MAY 11TH: PLANT PEOPLE
OPEN MIC, SESSION & PIANO LOUNGE Dueling Pianos (The Tavernacle) Jazz Jam Session (Sugar House Coffee)
TO REGISTER GO TO THECRAFTYCREW.ORG
FRIDAY 5.6
THURSDAY
THURSDAY, MAY 5TH CINCO DE MAYO PARTY & “SHARE HOPE” FUNDRAISER
LIVE MUSIC
W/ THIS IS YOUR BAND
LIVE BAND KARAOKE FREE! 9:00PM NO COVER!
FOOD SPECIALS, FREE GIVEAWAYS, FREE “PHOTO BOOTH”
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MAY 6TH:
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‘70s Old School Jam feat. Big Budah + DJ Sam Smith (The Complex) DJ Juggy (Gracie’s) Cryptic Wisdom + Dayseeker + Jack The Ripper + Whiteout (Billboard-Live!) Deicide + Season of Suffering + Hypernova Holocaust + Dezecration + Sonifera (Metro Bar) see p. 46 Javier Rosas (California Night Club) Joe McQueen Quartet (A Garage on Beck) Pixie and The Partygrass Boys (The Hog Wallow) The Night Spin Collective (Area 51) Ritual + Voices of Ruin + Silent Sorcerer + Thalgora + Unceremonial (The Loading Dock) Susan + GABI + Second Hat (Kilby Court) Tommy Trash + Kittens + Madeaux (The Complex) Wilfrido Vargas (Club Karamba) see p. 46
Dueling Pianos (The Tavernacle) Retro Lounge Club Night (Maxwell’s)
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Allies Always Lie CD Release + Adashore + Aether + The Conscience + Kingdoms (The Loading Dock) Chaseone2 (Gracie’s) The Classic Crime (Kilby Court) Dead Winter Carpenters + The Puddle Mountain Ramblers (The State Room) see p. 46 Hotel Le Motel + Heavy Stone (A Garage on Beck) Joy Spring Band (Sugar House Coffee) Michelle Moonshine Trio (The Hog Wallow) Kingdom of the Holy Sun + Vinyl Tapestries (Diabolical Records) The Rocket Summer (In The Venue) X96 Big Ass Show feat. Death Cab for Cutie + The Offspring + more (Usana Amphitheatre) see p. 50
OPEN MIC, SESSION & PIANO LOUNGE Dueling Pianos (The Tavernacle) Retro Lounge Club Night (Maxwell’s)
KARAOKE
UCCTV 1st Golden Melody Singing Competition (Chinatown)
SUNDAY 5.8 LIVE MUSIC
Eidola + Oranges + VIS + RVLS + Visitors (Metro Bar) Eric Anthony (Gracie’s) Filibusta (Kilby Court) In The Whale + Shawn James and The Shapeshifters (Club X) Irish Session Folks (Sugar House Coffee) The Thermals + Summer Cannibals + Chalk (The Urban Lounge) see p. 48
KARAOKE
Karaoke Bingo (The Tavernacle) Karaoke with DJ Benji (A Bar Named Sue on State)
MONDAY 5.9 LIVE MUSIC
Explosions in the Sky + Disappears (The Depot) see p. 48 The Local Focus (Kilby Court)
OPEN MIC, SESSION & PIANO LOUNGE Duel School (The Tavernacle)
KARAOKE
Karaoke w/ DJ Benji (A Bar Named Sue)
TUESDAY 5.10 LIVE MUSIC
Chris August (Hub 801) Chris Pureka + Alyssa Pyper (Kilby Court) Tha Dogg Pound (Daz/Kurupt) (Liquid Joe’s) Mayer Hawthorne (The Complex) see p. 52
KARAOKE
Karaoke with DJ Thom (A Bar Named Sue on State)
WEDNESDAY 5.11 LIVE MUSIC
The Aces + GABI + Tess Comrie (Kilby Court) Dylan Roe (The Hog Wallow) Homebody + Fossil Arms + DRTGRBZ (Diabolical Records) Jazz at the 90 (Club 90)
OPEN MIC, SESSION & PIANO LOUNGE Dueling Pianos (The Tavernacle)
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ESCORTS
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Š 2016
LITTLE MUSCLE
BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK
ACROSS
1. One of the Smurfs 2. One for the money? 3. Commencement, e.g. 4. Most excessively flattering 5. Delta competitor: Abbr. 6. "The Count of Monte Cristo" actress Landi 7. Sum 8. Bookmarked thing 9. Hive dweller
49. Be melodramatic 50. Doctored 51. ____Kosh B'Gosh 55. Miss 56. "How could ____?" 57. "Downton Abbey" maid 59. Pig ____ 60. 12/31, e.g. 61. Six, in Sicilia
Last week’s answers
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.
DOWN
10. Passed out on the table? 11. "Life ____ short ..." 12. Ian Fleming genre 13. Marriott competitor 18. Sleuth, in slang 22. Plus 24. Bay Area sch. 25. Jazz's Fitzgerald and others 26. Statement of confidence 27. Feature 28. Potent puff 29. Cereal "for kids" 32. Ogre 33. Squeeze (out) 34. Easily shaped 35. Torah holders 36. Like the color of salsa de tomate 37. Longtime "Project Runway" judge Michael 39. Alternatively, online 40. Former car-financing co. 44. Grp. that meets after school 45. Some razors 46. Dwellings 47. WWII ship sinker 48. Smart-alecky
Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9.
1. Go after 7. Rubber ducky's spot 10. DirecTV requirement 14. 20 Questions category 15. Mine find 16. Cable sports award 17. With 23-Across, use some elbow grease ... or a hint to solving 38-, 46- and 59-Across 19. "Right back ____!" 20. Part of ACLU: Abbr. 21. Ocean 22. Off the ground 23. See 17-Across 27. New York prison famous for a 1971 riot 30. Kind of screen for a TV 31. Tender spots 32. Lugosi of horror films 34. "____ my words" 38. What the person running the kissing booth said when the next paying customer was a marsupial? 41. Emoji holder 42. When many ballots are cast: Abbr. 43. Annual Jan. honoree 44. Everyone's bets 45. Trees with soft wood 46. Apply Jedi mind tricks in order to get out of jury duty or wield a lightsaber in order to crack open a beer? 52. First U.S. president with a Twitter account 53. "This ____ stickup!" 54. "____ told often enough becomes the truth": Lenin 58. "I can only ____ much" 59. Spouse made completely out of raw rubber? 62. Sunrise direction 63. "____ been thinking ..." 64. Nobel laureate Mandela 65. Eye woe 66. Beatty of "Superman" 67. Sleep en la tarde
SUDOKU
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CROSSWORD PUZZLE
T BEA
PHOTO OF THE WEEK BY
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Sparkle Sparkle E
#CWCOMMUNITY
INSIDE /
Those in search of a Mother’s Day gift should check out Stroud’s gold-dipped roses.
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Stroud Jewelers
COMMUNITY BEAT PG. 59 INK PG. 60 POETS CORNER PG. 60 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY PG. 61 UTAH JOB CENTER PG. 62 URBAN LIVING PG. 63
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veryone needs a little bling in their life. If you’re in the market for something truly special, check out Stroud Jewelers, which has been in business for nearly 30 years and will celebrate its 15th anniversary at its current location in May. The family owned business caters to those seeking quality and craftsmanship in their jewelry. “A piece of jewelry is like a building or a home,” manager Zealand Stroud Stroud offers unique items like university themed says. “To last for years, it has to watches for new college grads or team fans. be built correctly. Our [pieces] become an heirloom—something Customer Olivia Reece likes the family that can be passed down for generations.” feel of the business and the uniqueness of Stroud prides himself on creating a bouthe jewelry. “They offer more than just the tique, niche feel for the shop. “We aren’t ordinary,” she says. The shop also offers a trying to compete with big-box stores,” wide range of prices, so customers with any he says. While there’s nothing wrong with budget will be able to find something they those stores, he continues, they just don’t love. have the same commitment to carrying Franzi Kobel, a sales associate and unique stock or high-quality pieces. In adgemologist, has been working at Stroud dition to his passion for jewelry, Stroud is Jewelers for two years and adores it. “I excited to be part of the Sugar House comlove looking at cool gemstones with cusmunity. “We moved here right as all the tomers and explaining all their propernew development was beginning—it’s been ties,” she says. Kobel graduated from the great to watch as things change and imGemological Institute of America and prove,” he says. loves that she gets to apply her educaStroud believes his jewelry store is spetion every day at her job. Like her, all of cial because of the employees’ education Stroud’s employees are well-educated backgrounds and the quality of the jewabout different metals and stones, and elry for sale. “We manufacture our own can provide customers with all the injewelry, including custom orders, and we formation they need to pick or design the also carry some very unique designers,” perfect piece. n he says. “Some local, some international, but we’ve selected all of them because they’re all special in an artistic way.” The shop has begun embracing tech905 E. 2100 South nology as well as traditional craftsman801-485-7464 ship in fulfilling custom orders. “We do Tuesdays: noon-6 p.m. a lot of 3-D modeling,” Stroud says. A Wednesday-Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. jeweler working on an order can come Saturday: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. up with any design and create it on a 3-D StroudJewelers.com printer.
MAY 5, 2016 | 59
The shop also offers services like jewelry cleaning, repairs and watch sizing.
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-michaels/miguel in moab Send your poem (max 15 lines), to: Poet’s Corner, City Weekly, 248 South Main Street, SLC, UT 84101 or e-mail to poetscorner@cityweekly.net.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY B Y R O B
B R E Z S N Y
Go to RealAstrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) “Silence is not silence, but a limit of hearing,” writes Jane Hirshfield in her poem, “Everything Has Two Endings.” This observation is apropos for you right now. There are potentially important messages you’re not registering and catalytic influences you can’t detect. But their apparent absence is due to a blank spot in your awareness, or maybe a willful ignorance left over from the old days. Now here’s the good news: You are primed to expand your listening field. You have an enhanced ability to open certain doors of perception that have been closed. If you capitalize on this opportunity, silence will give way to revelation.
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) On Cracked.com, Auntie Meme tells us that many commonly held ideas about history are wrong. There were no such things as chastity belts in the Middle Ages, for example. Napoleon’s soldiers didn’t shoot off the nose of the Sphinx when they were stationed in Egypt. In regards to starving peasants, Marie Antoinette never derisively said, “Let them eat cake.” And no Christians ever became meals for lions in ancient Rome’s Colosseum. (More: tinyurl.com/ historicaljive.) In the spirit of Auntie Meme’s exposé, and in alignTAURUS (April 20-May 20) Your ability to accomplish magic is at a peak, and will continue ment with the astrological omens, I invite you to uncover and corto soar for at least two more weeks. And when I use that word rect at least three fabrications, fables and lies about your own past. “magic,” I’m not referring to the hocus-pocus performed by illusionists like Criss Angel or Harry Houdini. I’m talking about real SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) feats of transformation that will generate practical benefits in Poet Charles Wright marvels at the hummingbird “who has to eat your day-to-day life. Now, study the following definitions by writ- 60 times his own weight per day just to stay alive. Now that’s a life er Somerset Maugham, and have faith in your ability to embody on the edge.” In the coming weeks, Scorpio, your modus operandi them: “Magic is no more than the art of employing consciously may have resemblances to the hummingbird’s approach. I don’t invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love and imagina- mean to suggest that you will be in a manic survival mode. Rather, tion are magic powers that everyone possesses, and whoever I expect you’ll feel called to nourish your soul with more intensity knows how to develop them to their fullest extent is a magician.” than usual. You’ll need to continuously fill yourself up with experiences that inspire, teach, and transform you. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) According to author Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian word toska SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) means “a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a “Anybody can become angry,” said Greek philosopher Aristotle. sick pining, a vague restlessness.” Linguist Anna Wierzbicka says it “That is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the conveys an emotion that blends melancholy, boredom and yearning. right degree, and at the right time, for the right purpose and in the Journalist Nick Ashdown suggests that for someone experiencing right way, that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” toska, the thing that’s yearned for may be “intangible and impossible I’m pleased to inform you, Sagittarius, that now is a time when to actually obtain.” How are you doing with your own toska, Gemini? you have an exceptional capacity for meeting Aristotle’s high Is it conceivable that you could escape it—maybe even heal it? I think standards. In fact, I encourage you to honor and learn all you can you can. I think you will. Before you do, though, I hope you’ll take from your finely honed and well-expressed anger. Make it work time to explore it further. Toska has more to teach you about the wonders for you. Use it so constructively that no one can complain. previously hidden meaning of your life. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) To celebrate your arrival at the height of your sex appeal, I’m CANCER (June 21-July 22) “Gandhi’s autobiography is on my pillow,” writes Cancerian poet resurrecting the old-fashioned word “vavoom.” Feel free to use Buddy Wakefield. “I put it there every morning after making my it as your nickname. Pepper it into your conversations in place of bed so I’ll remember to read it before falling asleep. I’ve been terms like “awesome,” “wow” or “yikes.” Use a felt-tip marker to reading it for six years. I’m on Chapter 2.” What’s the equivalent make a temporary “vavoom” tattoo on your beautiful body. Here phenomenon in your world, my fellow Crab? What good deed or are other enchanted words you should take charge of and make an righteous activity have you been pursuing with glacial diligence? intimate part of your daily presentation: verve, vim, vivid, vitality, Is there a healthy change you’ve been thinking about forever, but vigor, voracious, vivacious, visceral, valor, victory and viva! not making much progress on? The mood and the sway of the coming days will bring you a good chance to expedite the process. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) When he was a boy, Mayan poet Humberto Ak’abal asked In Wakefield’s case, he could get up to Chapter 17. his mother, “What are those things that shine in the sky?” “Bees,” she answered mischievously. “Every night since then,” LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In the 16th century, European explorers searched South America Humberto writes, “my eyes eat honey.” In response to this in quest of a mythical city of gold known as El Dorado. Tibetan lyrical play, the logical part of our brains might rise up and say, Buddhist tradition speaks of Shambhala, a magical holy kingdom “What a load of nonsense!” But I will ask you to set aside the where only enlightened beings live. In the legends of ancient Greece, logical part of your brain for now, Aquarius. According to my Hyperborea was a sunny paradise where the average human life understanding of the astrological omens, the coming days will span was a thousand years and happiness was normal. Now is an be a time when you need a big dose of sweet fantasies, dreamy excellent time for you to fantasize about your own version of utopia, stories and maybe even beautiful nonsense. What are your Leo. Why? First, your imagination is primed to expand. Second, equivalents of seeing bees making honey in the night sky’s dreaming big will be good for your mental and physical health. pinpoints of light? There’s another reason, too: By envisioning the most beautiful world possible, you will mobilize your idealism and boost your ability PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) “Sometimes, a seemingly insignificant detail reveals a whole to create the best life for yourself in the coming months. world,” artist Pierre Cordier says. “Like the messages hidden by spies in the dot of an i.” These are precisely the minutiae that you VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) “Anytime you’re going to grow, you’re going to lose some- should be extra alert for in the coming days, Pisces. Major revthing,” said psychologist James Hillman. “You’re losing what elations may emerge from what at first seems trivial. Generous you’re hanging onto to keep safe. You’re losing habits that insights could ignite in response to small acts of beauty and you’re comfortable with, you’re losing familiarity.” I nominate subtle shifts of tone. Do you want glimpses of the big picture and these thoughts to serve as your words of wisdom in the coming the long-range future? Then be reverent toward the fine points weeks, Virgo. From an astrological perspective, you are in a and modest specifics.
WI L L D E S I G N & BUILD TO SUIT
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62 | MAY 5, 2016
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It’s a Seller’s Market I
just got back in the office from a meeting with a 94-year-old ex-realtor because I had an offer on her condominium. She lives in assisted living and I always bring her cookies from Ruby Snap, which she adores. I’ve been in the real estate business for 32 years and she, too, was in it for decades. We both lived through markets where interest rates on home loans were 18 percent (mid-1980s) and seller’s markets in the ’80s, ’90s and 2007. And we had to laugh because we are currently experiencing yet another seller’s market. What’s a seller’s market? In real estate, it’s a phenomenon when the inventory of homes and condominiums is very, very low and there’s nothing to buy. It’s like walking into the men’s section of GAP and only finding three pairs of green khakis size 44/34, you’re a 30/28 and want blue denim. Why is it a seller’s market? There are many reasons: 1. after the crash of 2008, people were terrified to ever move again; 2. demand is higher than supply because Utah is seeing a huge growth in jobs and businesses moving in (most counties); 3. investors have been buying up short sales and foreclosures like mad throughout the state since the 2007 crash as rental inventory, and 4. parents have been seeing an influx of grown children moving back into their homes because affordable rental housing is hard to find. Oh, and speaking of rental housing, my property manager friends ensure me that we are really low in rental possibilities, too, in Salt Lake City. Luckily, the flux of students moving in and out of rentals around the semester endings and beginnings allows for more units coming and going than the overall vacancy rate of 3 percent (meaning 97 percent of rentals are rented). What happens to buyers in a seller’s market? They are ran over, beaten up and walked on. To win the game, buyers will need to be aware that any “good” property that hits the market will generally have multiple offers within a day or two. Unless you can pay all cash for a property, you better be pre-approved with a local lender. The more earnest money (think “deposit”) you’re willing to throw up-front at the sellers, the better. Having your financials in order and having that pre-approval letter in your fist to wave at the seller is absolutely mandatory. And write a letter to the sellers to accompany your offer. Include a photo of you and the dog, or you and the kids. In multiple offer situations, you’ll have to present your “highest and best” bid, and sometimes just the photo of that eighttoed cat of yours might win you the house. n Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff
Julie A. Brizzée
Julie “Bella” Hall
Realtor 801-784-8618 bella@urbanutah.com Selling homes for 3 years
Loan Officer 801-747-1206 julie@brizzee.net www.brizzee.net
Granting loans for 29 years in Happy Valley- NMLS#243253
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Your home could be sold here. Call me for a free market analysis today.
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MAY 5, 2016 | 63
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LIBERTY PARK Perfect 2 bdrm w/ dishwasher and counter bar dining! Track lighting, cat friendly, off street parking! Only $745
URBAN L I V I N
WE SELL HOMES & LOANS TO ALL SAINTS, SINNERS, SISTERWIVES
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| CITY WEEKLY • BACKSTOP |
64 | MAY 5, 2016
THE BACKSTOP For Rates Call: 801.413.0947
WORDS VOICEOVER WORKSHOP in SLC Learn to earn voicing commercials & more. www.voscott.com/workshops.html
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NEW WINDSHIELDS DREAM GARDEN Making your
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Installed starting at $107. in shop. 77
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AWINDS HIE L DRE P L ACE ME NT.CO M
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385-212-8482 | bleubirdgardens.com
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WE PAY CASH
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OGDEN 763 W. 12th St 801-564-6960
HANDEE SERVICE
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MATRIX MASSAGE
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Narcotics Anonymous 801- 252-5326 English 801-332-9832 Spanish WWW.UWANA.ORG
REFLEXOLOGY
385-222-3799
OPEN: MON-SAT • SUN BY APPT. 4449 SO. COMMERCE DR, MURRAY (DIRECTLY EAST OF MC D ONALD’S) www .
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LIBERTY PARK HOUSE 2 bedroom $1450 Duplex Newly Remodeled 1br $950 - 801-533-0234
GOT WORDS?
sales@cityweekly.net or call 801-413-0947