City Weekly August 22, 2024

A Stitch in Time

New yarn shops and community groups fuel a knitting renaissance in

By Noel Sims

Salt Lake City

S AP

BOX

“Central Casting,”

Aug. 14 Online News

So the citizens proposed reusing a historic building and grade separating the railroad, and UTA decides to not do any of that and build a glorified office building for a train station. You would think that they would have a better idea.

This is not an alternative to the Rio Grande Plan. It’s an attempt to squash it with mediocrity

THEEMPERORSARTIST Via Instagram

The current Salt Lake Central station was supposed to be a central station, but UTA rerouted the Red Line, making the Courthouse station a secondary central station.

JENNIFERKSLC Via Instagram

I think the Rio Grande Plan has lots of merit. But as someone who lives literally three blocks away, I am already dreading the disruption of potential construction and I’d like details on how long the construction would really take.

I get that it may feel like a short-term inconvenience for a long-term gain, but how long are we talking here? And does the Rio Grande Plan have a realistic shot of being realized?

GLEASONMADE Via Instagram

They gotta be raking in cash for building all this new trash rather than reusing what we have. Is it a tax thing or like a money laundering thing or like what is going on?

We just keep knocking things down

to build big, ugly buildings out of bad materials that end up sitting vacant and unaffordable. Someone is making cash from this and I wanna know who.

RAMENBANKS Via Instagram

Rio Grande Plan would be a better first move of having the train box and then figuring out an updated/new headquarters for the Utah Transit Authority.

I’m all for the mass timber building, but let’s get a better timeline of projects that will have a bigger impact on the Salt Lake area.

BRANMEVANS Via Instagram

Swing and a miss. Rio Grande is much more appealing.

PARTTIMEHASSELHOFF Via Instagram

Definitely not an alternative to the Rio Grande Plan.

IAMTHEOTHERPLANET Via Instagram

This plan is so much worse and boring/ ugly compared to the Rio Grande Plan.

STARTEDFROMTHEBOTTEMA Via Instagram

Not enough [transit] riders for anything of this scale.

MARIAFERLAND Via Instagram

This isn’t an “alternative,” though. It doesn’t address any of the problems with the current Central station: grade separation, east-west divide, land disuse. Rio Grande Plan is letting you copy their homework and you’re still choosing to fail the class.

JACOBKJ314 Via Instagram

Rio Grande Plan sounds way better.

KENDEEBOT Via Instagram

Care to sound off on a feature or about a local concern? Write to comments@cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media.

THE WATER COOLER

What clothing stores did you shop at when you were in high school?

Katharine Biele

Keith O’Brien? Actually not many because we had to wear uniforms. Ahhh the good ol’ days—not!

Carolyn Campbell

There was nowhere else like Castleton’s, ZCMI, Auerbach’s, and Adrien ‘n Emile.

Scott Renshaw

California department store called Mervyns—which I’m shocked to discover still exists—for non-school clothes; going to private Catholic high school meant a lot of the other clothing decisions were a lot simpler.

Eric Granato

Pib’s and Penny’s

Benjamin Wood

I was American Eagle head to toe, with a smattering of Aeropostale thrown in.

Christa Zaro

Benetton at the King of Prussia Mall

Paula Saltas

5-7-9. What a horrible body shaming name nowadays. Now they could call it 5-7-9 squared.

Wes Long Kmart, Ross, and JCPenney.

OPINION

BY CHANDLER PETERSON

Quiet Cutting

The Utah-based Western Governors University (WGU) is an online university where students can earn an undergraduate or graduate degree in a number of pathways, like nursing, teaching, business administration or IT. Described as the “University of You,” WGU touts online learning and flexibility as cornerstones to adult education.

However, according to several employees who have posted on social media and a leaked presentation describing the “Future of Work” at WGU, the university is reportedly asking employees within 50 miles of its Millcreek campus to return to in-office work by October 1. What’s more, employees outside the 50-mile radius are being asked to relocate to Salt Lake City by August of next year.

When asked if this were true, multiple WGU employees confirmed that they attended impromptu meetings where their immediate supervisors informed them of the new mandate. Employees told me that those who do not return to the office will either be ineligible for career advancement or face termination.

As a former WGU employee, who worked in their IT department for 7 years, I am shocked at the recent news. I can attest to the hybrid environment workers enjoyed—per their supervisors’ discretion—before COVID-19. This was a practice in place long before I joined WGU, when Robert Mendenhall was the CEO.

This hybrid approach allowed employees to work remotely in the state, and some were allowed to move out of the state to work abroad. But now those same employees are facing a hefty relocation expense if they want to keep their jobs.

I have reached out to different connections at WGU, and it is apparent this recent mandate has sent shockwaves among the workers. They shared their concerns with me that this

mandate is instead a disguised layoff.

It would not be the first reported incident of what is being called “Quiet Cutting” in the corporate world. AT&T recently mandated that 9,000 of its employees return to the office and one telecommunications manager eerily described it as a layoff disguised in sheep’s clothing.

A similar “invitation” was reportedly issued at Dell, where 50% of its workers opted to remain remote at the cost of future career advancement.

According to a leaked document given to Business Insider last year, Amazon reportedly announced to its workers that a failure to return to their offices will block employees from receiving promotions. Another report from Business Insider detailed accounts of enraged Apple employees, after threats of disciplinary action were issued for those who failed to return to the office—it was further reported that Apple went as far as tracking badge access records to monitor office attendance.

Return-to-office mandates have been a recurring tool from CEOs ever since 2013, when then-Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer banned her 11,700 employees from working from home. HP’s then-CEO Meg Whitman followed suit months later when she banned work from home for more than 300,000 employees, facing backlash from corporate celebrities like Richard Branson.

This trend spells out a future where the possibility of remote work is in danger for American workers. CEO behaviors across the country indicate that remote work will be exclusive to executives or their nearshore resources, the same resources that enable leadership to rehire talent at low salaries in developing countries. These decisions also affect the environment and roll back any progress made in reducing CO2 emissions on a local and national level. In all of the aforementioned cases, there are thousands of employees returning to the roads, increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere—heating the planet.

And then there’s the risk of increasing the spread of infection as workers are forced into shared spaces. According to the CDC, the trend in positive COVID tests, hospitalization rates and COVID fatalities are all on the rise once more. If there is an increase in COVID infections and hospital-

izations, what will that translate to when thousands of employees are crammed together? Will Utah be headed for another pandemic?

Is there anything that can be done when CEOs want it their way? Fortunately, there is. Namely, workers ought to organize in a rank and file strategy.

The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in their 2023 report suggested that union workers earned 14% more than their nonunion counterparts. According to a 2019 Economic Policy Institute report, as the number of union members dropped in the last 30 years, the share of total income going to the top 10% of wealthy Americans went up. Let me put it this way—when there are less union members, the rich get richer and, well, you know the rest.

Utah has one of the lowest union membership rates in all of the country. This needs to change. Workers need better working conditions, fair pay and dignity in the workplace. They have nothing to lose and only stand to gain by organizing. A worker ought to ask themselves, ‘what will happen if I don’t? What’s next?’

Say you want to organize in your workplace. What should you do? Take a page out of the book of WGU workers who are organizing right now. Contact the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) at workerorganizing. org and sign up for free organizer training. Talk to coworkers about the troves of benefits from joining or creating a union. Form an organizing committee and host regular meetings where workers come together to share their concerns and experiences in the workplace.

Organizing is a difficult task and requires work, but to quote Theodore Roosevelt: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty ... I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

The path to organization is not the path of least resistance, but it is the path to a better workplace and a better world for all. CW

Private Eye is off this week. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE |

MISS: Nuke ‘Em

Everyone has an opinion about nuclear power, whether it’s for energy or national security. To be clear—no one has really figured it out yet. We do know all the downsides, and advocates will tell you not to worry your little brain because disaster is on the horizon. Disaster 1: climate change. Nuclear plants could save us from the coal we’re still hanging onto and clear the air—mostly. Disaster 2: China and Russia are expanding their influence and might just want to start a war, so nuclear weapons should be ready to go. Here’s the thing. Utah lawmakers are visiting Idaho to learn about mini-nuclear plants. They see nuclear power as a panacea, ignoring the costs, delays and dangers. And alternatives in their infancy get short shrift. A 2021 Al Jazeera article talks about how it can go “horribly wrong” while gaining high-profile champions. As for Disaster 2, The Salt Lake Tribune has been highlighting the human costs of underground nuclear testing. All this while downwinders’ compensation through the RECA Act has expired—even though the radiation victims haven’t.

HIT: Slow Ride

While Salt Lake City deals with housing affordability, homelessness and traffic congestion, there is at least a glimmer of hope for a physically divided city. The west side of the city has been pretty much an urban hellscape if you consider people trying to walk or bike anywhere—they just don’t feel safe. The city is working on improved curb, gutter and lighting along with raised sidewalks and pedestrian bridges. To say this has taken a long time is an understatement. Residents approved a bond in 2018, but work is just bearing fruit now. The city is currently studying Fairpark as part of its Livable Streets program—slowing traffic on neighborhood streets. Instead of speeding through the west side, maybe people will stop or at least slow down to take notice of their city.

MISS : Behind the Curtain

In 2013, the Electronic Frontier Foundation coined a prescient phrase: Transparent is the New Black. “Secrecy in government is fundamentally antidemocratic … Open debate and discussion of public issues are vital to our national health. On public questions there should be ‘uninhibited, robust, and wide-open’ debate.” That was from the 1971 SCOTUS case New York Times v. the United States. It was about the Pentagon Papers, but citizens shouldn’t think secrecy only happens in the highest halls of government. In Utah, the Smith Entertainment Group wants to hide plans for a sprawling sports district. Maybe it just doesn’t want pushback from those who think skyscrapers shouldn’t necessarily breach the atmosphere. In the past, exceptions have been made at a staff level, but the public is now invited to weigh in—unless the City Council decides you don’t need to know.

Salt Lake’s Great Divide

High-frequency bus lines can’t be routed through freight rail crossings. If you’ve never ridden the bus (shade), that probably doesn’t mean much to you. And if you categorically will never ride the bus, go ahead and skip this column and enjoy your next traffic jam. Remember, you’re not in traffic, you are traffic.

For those of us who do rely on public transportation—and those who might one day be persuaded to try—it matters that freight rail prevents efficient and convenient routes. And it’s an aspect of the Rio Grande Plan that hasn’t gotten enough attention.

To briefly catch everyone up: Salt Lake City is divided in half by Interstate 15 and the Union Pacific (UP) railroad. Only a few east-west corridors traverse the freeway and fewer still are grade separated relative to the rails.

A group of citizen advocates have an idea to fix this: bury the railroad and restore the Rio Grande depot. Other cities have done it, with great success, but the proposal faces daunting challenges and a hefty upfront cost that most of Utah’s suburban driving majority can’t wrap their heads around.

UTA prefers to invest in its Salt Lake Central Station on 600 West, and last week released draft renderings of how that lackluster site might be improved. The plans are respectable, but absent from them is any attempt to close UP’s surface crossings.

Which brings us back to bus service. If you want people to ride transit (and we do), it’s critical that routes be direct and frequent. It’s no accident that two of the highest-ridership bus routes are the 200 and 217, which run 15-minute frequencies on mostly straight lines down State Street and Redwood Road, respectively.

My bus is the 9, a high-frequency route on 900 South. It’s great, but if it went in a straight line, the connection to Trax in Central 9th would make it the fastest option for getting downtown, faster than driving, and even more people would ride it.

But the 9 can’t take 900 South across the tracks, so instead it jogs south on 300 West over to the 1300 South overpass and meanders through Glendale before finally getting back to my home in Poplar Grove. For another example of this, check out the route for the 1, or notice how the 2 and the 17 don’t bother going west at all.

The west side is developing and the city needs direct routes on 300 North, 200 South, 800 South, 900 South and 1700 South or, at minimum, the option of using those streets. Without a plan for grade separation, we’re limited to squeezing everything onto 600 North, North Temple, 400 South, 1300 South and 2100 South.

The good news is that, one way or the other, Salt Lake’s primary train station is going to be made more inviting and functional. But for a truly holistic solution to the city’s transportation network, we need more than a pretty building on 600 West. CW

Family Portrait

Rose Wagner performing arts companies collaborate on Pictures at an Exhibition: ReFramed

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

For 13 years now, the resident performing arts companies at the Rose Wagner Center—Plan-B Theatre Company, Pygmalion Theatre Company, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, SB Dance, Repertory Dance Theatre and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition—have worked together on an annual one-nightonly end-of-summer showcase. For the first time, however, that collaboration is taking on a more literal meaning in 2024.

Whereas in previous years, the individual companies have worked mostly independently on short pieces that may have been thematically connected, this year’s Pictures at an Exhibition: ReFramed brings all six organizations together to work on a single new production. Inspired by Modest Mussorgsky’s 1874 piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition, it’s an original theater piece—with dance and live piano music— set in a museum, written by local playwright Melissa Leilani Larson.

“Over the years, we’ve talked a lot about, ‘Wouldn’t it be fantastic to create one piece together,’” says Jerry Rapier, artistic director of Plan-B Theatre Company. “But it always seemed a little large, like we didn’t have quite enough time, given all of our individual schedules, to pull it off. Last year, we determined when we dropped the Rose Exposed title, [2023’s] Mix Tape was our transitional format to this, so we could take a year to plan a full joint production, all working from a single script. We really didn’t know what that would look like.”

What it would look like did evolve, at least in Larson’s understanding. “When the assignment first came to me, my understanding at first was [that] I’d be writing a short play for Plan-B and Pygmalion, then some cartilage between the other companies’ work, like the Tony Awards, writing jokes between presentations,” she says. “Then as I was working on it, those two ideas kind of came together.”

The idea of anxiety over presenting a creative work was ultimately built into the show’s concept. In keeping with the historical reality of many of the artistic works by Viktor Hartmann that inspired Mussorgsky’s piece now being lost, this Pictures at an Exhibition: ReFramed is set at the opening of a museum exhibit that isn’t quite ready to go yet. Larson—a selfprofessed “museum nerd”—loved the idea of the setting, and how it fits into the idea of what this joint production has always been about.

“But the structure of the story of the museum aligns, because it’s about a visitor walking through the museum,” Larson says. “Mussorgsky’s piece was about celebrating the work of his artist friend, so it’s about sharing art. And you have this meta level of sharing art, about sharing art, about sharing art.”

They’re also having fun, however, with the idea of art being ephemeral. As noted, many of the Hartmann works no longer exist, and images of existing work are sometimes of low quality. While RirieWoodbury’s Daniel Charon developed video projections to accompany the show, he and Larson hit on the idea of art works in a gallery sometimes feeling disappointing, either because they’re smaller than you expect or because you have to view them from a distance. “We’re riffing on the idea of small pictures from far away,” Rapier says. “The overall focus is, of course, to celebrate the art and the music, but also to help people celebrate art, and what it takes to give yourself over to art.”

While all of the participating companies were able to weigh in on which parts of

the Mussorgsky suite they would set their contributions to, it’s still not easy to herd all the cats of six companies, each with their own schedules and other rehearsals—as well as day jobs, in many cases—to coordinate. “We don’t have all the rehearsal time in the world with [the dancers],” notes Pygmalion’s Fran Pruyn, who directs the production. “We don’t see all the dancers until [a week before the show]. … You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to coordinate, and from the viewpoint of dealing with professional artists, it isn’t. Odd things are going to happen, and I’m equally convinced that they’ll be able to roll with it.”

Rolling with it—in terms of having a trust in the process—is a huge part of what can allow a project like this to succeed. Rapier believes that everyone involved showed that trust in Larson’s script, even when many of these artists aren’t used to working from a script. “Everyone realized [Larson] was really the storyteller to trust. When she sent the first draft of the script

out, there were very few notes.”

Whether it all ultimately comes together is something that, as Rapier notes with a laugh, they’ll only know “around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 24.” Yet despite the challenges, this process of sharing art—and sharing the experience of presenting it—is one that all of the artists involved value.

“Honestly, every year, we’re like, ‘Should we do this anymore?’” Rapier says. “Then, as we’re all gathered together with the audience, as a team, we think, ‘Why would we ever stop doing this?’” CW

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: REFRAMED Rose Wagner Center Jeanne Wagner Theatre

138 W. 300 South Saturday, Aug. 24 8 p.m. $15 arttix.org

Viktor Hartmann’s “Paris Catacombs,” an image from Pictures at an Exhibition: ReFramed

theESSENTIALS ENTERTAINMENT PICKS,

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

AUGUST 22-28, 2024

Utah Renaissance Faire

Like a snake shedding its skin, any event that gets popular and successful enough is bound to outgrow its location. That’s the happy situation facing the Utah Renaissance Faire, which has relocated for 2024 from its previous home at the Bastian Agricultural Center Polo Field in South Jordan to the Mt. Nebo Botanical Farm in Juab County.

These immersive events have continued to boom in popularity throughout the country, as lovers of recreating medieval and Renaissance-era Europe have visited other events and brought that spirit to their hometowns and home states, as Utah Renaissance Faire founder Rich Thurman did more than a decade ago. The headline entertainment includes the Knights of Mayhem, the Utah-based organization that demonstrates full-armor jousting in all its punishing glory, while armored combat league Invictus showcases combat using maces, axes and other period weaponry. Musical performances include headliners The Harp Twins, a Chicago-based duo performing both nights. And the grounds will otherwise be filled with entertainment like puppeteers and jugglers, demonstrations of period crafts like weaving and woodcarving, plus plenty of food options. Dress in your character attire and join the other guests getting into the spirit of a bygone era.

This family-friendly event takes place Friday, Aug. 23 and Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Mt. Nebo Botanical Farm (3700 N. Highway 91, Mona), 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. daily. Tickets are $18 adult/$13 ages 7-18 with advance purchase, $20 at the gate; special rates and bounce-back tickets for Saturday are available for school groups. Visit utahrenfaire.org for tickets and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho has a richly-deserved reputation as a comedian, actress, author, entrepreneur and outspoken social advocate, as well as being an American Comedy Award winner and five-time Grammy and Emmy nominee, frequently cited by the media as one of the most influential female stand-up comics of the modern era. She’s broken ground in turning cultural taboos on their proverbial head, forging a path that allowed others to follow. Her film and television roles and her various HBO and Netflix specials have found her courting controversy—but in a sense, that’s only furthered her fame.

Yet, that familiarity factor aside, one never knows what to expect when Cho takes center stage. She frequently pokes fun at her Korean-American heritage, and when she starred in her own sitcom, the pioneering Asian-American-centric AllAmerican Girl, some 30 years ago, the show was cancelled in part due to accusations the she was stereotyping. “They had to wait for an entire generation of AsianAmericans to be born and grow up without any memory of me,” she insists in her typical self-effacing manner. Nevertheless, she’s never reluctant to talk about her struggles with substance abuse, her relationship with her mother, her bisexuality, an obsession with gay men and certain other stereotypes. In this, Cho’s still a champ.

Margaret Cho’s “Live & Livid Comedy Tour” comes to Wiseguys @ The Gateway on Fri, Aug. 23 and Sat, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. nightly. Tickets for this ages 21+, R-rated special event cost $35; visit wiseguyscomedy.com for tickets and additional event information. (Lee Zimmerman)

Stephen Lottridge: The Book of Bauer

The history of the American West is filled with stories of people taking advantage of its untapped resources, and what’s left behind when that exploitation of resources runs its course. Just as mining left behind ghost towns, it also left behind places that had to be abandoned because of the toxic consequences of mining activities. One of those stories is the tale of Bauer, Utah, from which the final residents left in 1979. It was a place that author Stephen Lottridge called home when he was a teenager circa 1950-1951, and it’s a story he shares from a first-person perspective in The Book of Bauer.

While Bauer is now just graffiti-covered buildings, it was once home to workers and their families who got rent-free housing from Combined Metals. In The Book of Bauer, Lottridge recalls anecdotes from his time there with his parents and siblings, forced to create their own entertainment in a place that wasn’t designed to keep kids happy. Nor was it a place particularly interested in the safety of its residents’ drinking water, as Lottridge shared in an interview with Utah Public Radio’s Tom Williams in March of this year. “You couldn’t drink it and you couldn’t cook with it,” Lottridge said. “You’d risk showering with it, but we’d keep our eyes closed and our mouths closed.”

Stephen Lottridge discusses and signs The Book of Bauer at Ken Sanders Rare Books at The Leonardo (209 E. 500 South) on Saturday, Aug. 24 from 6 – 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Visit kensandersbooks.com for additional event information. (SR)

Players for Real Salt Lake practice in June at their training facility in Herriman. The team is ranked near the top of the league heading into a final run of regular-season matches.

ON THE RUN

REAL SALT LAKE IS IN TOP FORM AS THEY END THE SEASON AND PREPARE FOR THE PLAYOFFS.

BY CONNOR SANDERS COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET

With a rare weekend off during the Major League Soccer (MLS) season, one might have expected some of the players training at Real Salt Lake’s academy to let their foot off the gas a bit.

On this brilliant June morning, the team was leading the Western Conference in goals and sat comfortably in third place. The laurels were begging to be rested on. But as the players scrimmaged at the foothill of the Oquirrh mountains, it was clear no one was taking the day off.

MLS All-Star and MVP candidate Cristian Arango seemed to pop open all over the field when his team had the ball. Young standout Diego Luna braced himself into a low stance to push an attacking player off the ball and deftly flicked it with his left foot to a teammate. Emeka Eneli, initially viewed as a reserve coming into the season, seemed to be in perpetual motion throughout the scrimmage, chasing down attackers and building up attacks from the back. At the center of it all stood coach Pablo Mastroeni, a grizzled former U.S. Men’s

National Soccer Team (USMNT) player who sensed something special about this group, even after their first few preseason matches.

Despite losing key players and remaking his assistant coaching staff in the offseason, Mastroeni’s careful orchestrating of the roster has led RSL to the heights of the MLS standings.

“The word I keep coming back to—to have success in any organization or any sports club—you need ‘alignment,’” Mastroeni said post-scrimmage. “I feel very good about the collaboration that we have and the understanding that we’re always trying to find the best practices.”

The desire to do things for the betterment of the club is evident from the heads of the front office to the reserve players, he added.

“And when you get to that place in any business, in any club, and any team, in

any family, I think that’s where you find success,” Mastroeni said.

It’s been a while since that idyllic June morning in Herriman. RSL now stands firmly in the playoff race and is going all in on the push to win the MLS Cup this season. But with a final stretch of games ahead before the playoffs begin, the team has work to do before their dream of lifting the cup can become a reality.

Best Offense in the West

The real separator from the team that leads the West in goals this season and the team that limped into the playoffs last year with a negative goal differential is the attack.

Last season, RSL scored a respectable 48 goals. By July 24, they had scored their 50th goal in a 5-2 drubbing of Atlanta United—and still had 12 MLS games to go on the schedule.

First and foremost it’s been the return, in full, of Colombian star Cristian “Chicho” Arango. Arango suffered an injury that kept him out of the stretch run

and playoffs last season, but came back with an absolute vengeance. He leads the league in goals scored (17, which is also RSL’s single season goal-scoring record) and is tied for fifth in assists (11).

Mastroeni decided to name Arango captain after Damir Kreilach left the club as a free agent in the offseason. This pushed Arango to come into the season in great shape and with an added sense of responsibility.

“With [Kreilach’s] absence, it only made sense to me that the type of mentality we need carrying this thing forward is a guy like [Arango], where he’s a quality player, a great person, but a fantastic leader. And so it kind of picked itself,” Mastroeni explained.

Arango is by far the best striker RSL has had since Álvaro Saborío, and is an enormous upgrade from what Rubio Rubin and Daniel Musovski gave the club last season. Knowing that Arango can get a goal no matter what the game state is or how much time is left makes it much easier for the other attacking players—

“I just feel like we’re a team that can actually control games this year, and I saw that in the pre-season.”

—Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni

like Luna, Gomez and Matt Crooks—to focus on fulfilling their respective roles.

“When your leader in [Arango], the leader in the locker room, is also the best player on the field, and performing at the level that he is, it inspires the rest of the group and builds confidence,” Mastroeni said.

A big upcoming challenge will be replacing the production of fellow Colombian Andrés Gómez, who had a ridiculous 13 goals and 7 assists before reportedly being sold for a club record $11 million to French club Stade Rennais, according to the El Show RSL podcast. Most eyes were on Luna to break out in his second season (and he’s been excellent, earning an MLS All-Star appearance), but Gómez absolutely exploded in his sophomore season.

This gets pretty technical, but in the offseason, Mastroeni and his staff decided they needed to commit a third defender back during build-up play to force opponents to narrow their press.

That creates acres of space in the wide areas, where they’d get the ball to Gómez and, time after time this season, he turned the defensive left backs into dust.

The talents of RSL’s front four—Arango, Gómez, Luna and Crooks—are very complimentary. Crooks excels at making simple, one- or two-touch passes to put the other players in space. Gómez is a demon in 1-vs-1 situations, Arango is the ultimate poacher and Luna fills in all the spaces with his creative dribbling and dangerous crosses.

Replacing Gómez is a big ask, but RSL sporting director Kurt Schmid immediately reinvested the money from his sale into Portugese No. 10 Diogo Gonçalves to try and do just that. Gonçalves shredded the Danish league last season with FC Copenhagen. He finished in the 85th percentile of carries per 90, according to Football Reference, and just the 11th percentile for passes attempted. Or, in English, Gonçalves prefers dribbling past people to passing. That is what made Gómez so special.

RSL also signed 20-year-old winger Dominik Marczuk, who was voted the Young Player of the Season in Poland last year, as well as 27-year-old Australian winger Lachlan Brook as a depth option.

Losing Gómez definitely hurts, but MLS has established itself as the launching pad for budding South American superstars. This is the cost of doing business, and RSL has been doing a lot of good business lately. The front office sold Mexico youth international Fidel Barajas to Mexico’s “Chivas” team for north of $4 million after just 17 appearances—a club record, before Gómez.

Moves on the Margins

An underrated part of MLS roster construction comes down to depth. It’s a long season and players will inevitably get injured or suspended. Last season, that’s what Mastroeni asked of Emeka Eneli. When the team needed a “stopgap” right back or defensive midfielder, Mastroeni said, they turned to the rookie from Cornell.

“To be honest, we kind of had it penciled in as the same kind of role this year,” Mastroeni recalled. “Well, what happened was [Nelson] Palacio went off with the Olympic team and wasn’t available to come into preseason. So then we just paired [Eneli] with Braian Ojeda because those are the only two pivots that we had in preseason, and they formed this unbelievable partnership.”

Eneli is second on the team in minutes played and tied for first in starts. His breakout has been crucial after deep lying playmaker Pablo Ruiz tore his ACL before the season.

“Whenever a coach has confidence in you, it just raises your performance that extra level because he picks the team,” Eneli said. “So, if he’s selecting me to be out there day in and day out, he obviously sees something in me, sees what I can bring to the team, and that just boosts my confidence. It makes me want to kind of repay that favor of him.”

The other breakout performer has been new addition

Remember that whole discussion earlier about Mastroeni and his staff forcing teams to press narrowly to free up Gómez for 1v1 situations? Well, Katranis is the other beneficiary of this new approach.

Lightning quick and with a nose for goals, Katranis is exactly what RSL has been missing from its fullbacks over the last few years. He is in the 98th percentile among MLS fullbacks in goals per 90 this season and 89th percentile in assists per 90, according to Football Reference (he’s wildly outperforming his xG and xA, but c’mon, that’s dork talk).

The New Coaching Staff

Much was made about the club and Mastroeni’s decision to rework his entire supplementary staff last offseason, but that choice has been an essential part of the team’s success, Mastroeni said.

New additions Anthony Pulis and Nate Miller have been well aligned with Mastroeni’s vision for each game. Pulis focuses on the team’s defensive gameplan while Miller handles the offensive side.

Bringing in these new voices has helped the players to learn more effectively.

“I just feel like we’re a team that can actually control games this year, and I saw that in preseason,” Mastroeni observed. “Obviously, a game is a game, and there’s so many variables that go into winning games, but as far as controlling games and dictating the game on our terms, whether it’s with the ball or without the ball, that gives me confidence going to every game that we have a chance to win, regardless of who we’re playing.”

Mastroeni deserves a lot of credit too. He nailed the decision to stick with Eneli, squeezed every last drop out of Gómez before his departure, and empowered Arango with the freedom and responsibility to carry the team. Getting players from all of these different backgrounds to buy in is, perhaps, the most difficult part of the job.

“[Mastroeni]’s definitely a hard coach, even from day one when I came in, and especially this preseason. I think he was pretty hard on me, but it’s helped me grow a lot,” Eneli reported. “When a coach gives that much time to me and to the players, it just brings another level out of them. Like, it’s not only a relationship on the field, but off the field.”

Mastroeni credits the front office for building such a balanced roster.

“I think if you go just with the superstar route, it’s going to cost you a lot of money, and a lot of times you don’t reap

the benefits of longevity with a group because one player’s in, the next player’s out,” Mastroeni said of the roster’s balance. “If you go with a bunch of young players, chances are you’re not going to have success on Saturdays because we’re playing against experienced guys.”

What’s Next

Despite the electric performance so far in MLS competition, RSL bombed out of the Leagues Cup, a tournament with Mexico’s Liga MX and other MLS teams. This could be viewed as some cause for concern, especially given that there’s only 12 matches left in the season and some new faces to integrate into the group.

However, RSL sits firmly in 3rd place in the West, and they’ve got a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way, starting with home matches against bottom feeders San Jose on Aug. 24 and New England on Aug. 31. After those two, there’s only four home games left on the schedule before the playoffs begin at the end of October.

This is shaping up to be a nice runway for the new signings to get their legs under them and prepare for a deep playoff run.

While there are still many questions to be answered, one thing is for certain: this RSL group plays hard for each other and likes each other, as was so evident on that June morning in Herriman.

“When you have belief in your teammates and you’re good friends with your teammates—you know, nobody dislikes anybody on the team—I think that really can propel a team,” Eneli said. “The chemistry we have right now is just fantastic. The way we play, you kind of just know where each other is going to be, what other teammates are going to do.”

Before the team headed their separate ways for the long weekend, the players, coaches and other staff gathered for a team barbecue. They teased each other and roared with laughter as they waited for the food.

“I think what we always had from the beginning was the mentality, the intensity and the energy,” Eneli added. “Whenever you have that, then you can accomplish anything. When I saw that in preseason, I knew that we had something special. And then once we got the tactical work down and the chemistry together, match that with the intensity, the energy, our mentality, then we really believe, like, ‘Oh, this is something special.’ We can really accomplish something this year. And so, hopefully, we go on and do that.”

CW

Greek left back Alexandros Katranis.

Lisa Sewell (bottom row, center) is the organizer of a weekly knitting group at Coffee Garden.

A STITCH IN TIME

NEW YARN SHOPS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS FUEL A KNITTING RENAISSANCE IN SALT LAKE CITY

BY NOEL SIMS COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET

Every Friday morning, patrons of Coffee Garden (878 E. 900 South, SLC) will find that the long table in the center of the café is reserved. Beginning at 7 a.m., the table is occupied by a group of talented knitters, working on elaborate sweaters and shawls while they chat and sip coffee.

This knitting group has been meeting at Coffee Garden since “the last century,” Lisa Sewell, the group’s organizer, told me. Beginning in the ‘90s, the knitters would gather at 6 in the morning on Fridays so that attendees could get to work on time. But now that many regulars have retired and can sleep in, the start time has been pushed back an hour. The knitters have been such a consistent presence at Coffee Garden that when the café moved to its current location in 2006, the owners installed the extra long table that has been reserved for them every Friday morning since. As the years have gone by, the group has grown. Other knitters who happened to walk into Coffee Garden on a Friday morning have found themselves drawn to the long table by the excitement of seeing another knitter in the wild and stuck around.

“People just show up,” Sewell said. “Knitting brings people together.”

Sewell invited me to join the group and meet some of the regulars, but I couldn’t drag myself out of bed early enough, so I arrived at 8:30 a.m. In some ways, the group was what I expected. The table was mostly female, mostly white and mostly retired, or close to it. But I was surprised that there were men, surprised that we talked about bike races and the corporatization of Pride, and surprised that Sewell was wearing a Metallica Tshirt—although upon closer inspection, I noticed that it actually said “Metallicat” and featured a feline playing guitar.

While I timidly began working on a simple striped sweater—only my second knitting project ever after a pair of socks—Sewell and the other knitters expertly worked new stitches into their

projects. Some worked simple repetitive rows, quickly and mostly without looking. Others varied the movement of their hands and needles to create intricate patterns—gaps making the fabric look like lace or stitches that layer and intertwine to give a rippling texture.

The yarn they used was beautiful (and definitely more expensive than my own).

One shawl in the works blurred smoothly from a peach to a deeper sunset pink. As each project around the table progressed, it was clear that the beautiful yarn and impressive skill was only half of what went into them. The knitters also took inspiration and advice from one another, weaving their spirit of community into their work.

Like Sewell’s Coffee Garden group, the rest of the variegated knitting community in Salt Lake City shares a passion for the craft and makes a point to practice it together. And soon after she picked up her first pair of needles, Sewell became a pillar of that community.

She did not begin knitting for knit-

ting’s sake. She was in a play in college in which her character sat knitting on stage and instead of merely playacting, she actually learned some of the basics. Her interest waned when the play closed, but it was sparked again when she found some needles and yarn in her parents’ basement after she graduated college in the early 1980s.

“I never looked back,” she recounted.

Sewell’s generation of knitters was different from previous ones. They wanted to work on faster projects and had access to a range of vibrant, funky yarns. They knit trendy hats and scarves instead of thick, scratchy sweaters.

These playful projects made knitting more popular. Meanwhile, Sewell developed an appreciation for the traditional techniques that generations had meticulously passed down. She studied knitting books and taught herself complicated methods like Fair Isle, a technique originating from a small island north of Scotland that uses two different colors in the same row to create a range of patterns.

As yarn shops began to pop up in the Salt Lake City area during the ‘80s and ‘90s, in response to the new wave of knitting, Sewell noticed that many of the shop owners did not have the same foundation in traditional knitting techniques that the older generation of knitters did. So she began to teach. Since the ‘90s, she has been teaching classes in local yarn shops. A “technician at heart,” she loves to help knitters build confidence in their skills. She also served for a year as the president of the Salt Lake Knitting Guild, a membership organization that is still active today and which organizes knitting meet-ups and workshops.

Sewell is still teaching today, too. But the shops she once taught in are closed. The last yarn store within city limits, Blazing Needles, closed after the pandemic, while a few others remain in outlying towns like Park City.

She now offers classes, as well as retreats, through her website, BasqueKnitter.com.

The internet has provided a lifeline to knitting in Salt Lake City after its shops went out of business. Not only has it provided another platform for merchants, but it has also gotten a new generation of knitters hooked on the craft.

Dyed in the Wool

Megan Nilsson, a freelance motion graphics designer and the owner of Cricket’s Fibers (an Etsy shop selling hand-dyed yarn), moved to Salt Lake City a year ago. She began knitting in fourth grade.

“I was embarrassed for a bit,” Nilsson said. “It was like, ‘I’m in middle school. Why am I knitting?’”

It felt to Nilsson like knitting was for people much older than her who made clothing long since out of fashion. But things changed in college when she discovered Ravelry, a popular online knit and crochet pattern database.

Through Ravelry and knitting influencers on Instagram, Nilsson discovered that knit garments could be youthful and trendy—and that there was a world of knitters also in their twenties.

The internet was also essential when Megan was starting her own business. After encountering natural dyes during a study abroad program in Iceland, she began to experiment with creating yarn that she would want to knit with and found that natural dyes could not produce the vibrant, almost neon colors she wanted. So Nilsson tried acid dye and it was the perfect match.

After making yarn only for herself for a while, she decided to see if anyone else would be interested in the bright, multi-colored fibers that she loved, and began selling her yarn through Etsy.

“I wanted to share the yarn I like with other people who might like it too,” Nilsson explained.

Etsy is her primary way of making sales, but Cricket’s Fiber yarn can also be found on consignment in some of the Salt Lake area yarn shops.

While the internet helped prove to Nilsson that knitting could be cool and helped her start her business, it couldn’t provide her with a community. In Boston, where she lived before moving to Salt Lake City, she found it difficult to connect to people. But knitters that she met at a Tuesday night knitting circle at Yarn on the Corner—a knitting shop in Sandy—were some of her first friends in Utah.

“It was super inclusive,” she said of the group, where knitters of all ages packed chairs around a table in the shop’s backroom to work on their projects. “It’s so exciting to share the excitement of knitting with people who get it.”

Both newcomers like Nilsson and Salt Lake City knitting veterans like Sewell agree that knitting together is essential.

“It’s great for anyone to find knitting through any avenue,” Sewell said of the internet’s role in the knitting world. She is excited to see a new generation of knitters that will keep the art alive in the future, but she also emphasized how important it is for budding knitters to have access to an in-person community like the one flourishing in Salt Lake City.

“Knitting is three-dimensional,” Sewell stressed. “You can’t learn everything from a two-dimensional screen.”

High Fiber

Since the last yarn shop closed, Salt Lake City’s knitting community has mostly consisted of a constellation of informal knitting groups like Sewell’s. But soon, the city will once again have a dedicated shop where knitters can buy carefully-selected yarn, learn from each other and find a community to inspire and support their creativity. In fact, they will have two.

“Most knitters dream of owning their fantasy knitting store,” Kellie Daniels told me. So when she decided that she needed a change from her career in alumni relations at Brigham Young University, she decided that she would open a yarn store in Salt Lake City—even if it was “not the most practical business idea.”

Daniels agreed that knitting is a way of finding community and that knitting with others is “integral” to the craft. When she was learning to knit, it was in Salt Lake shops like Blazing Needles, where her passion developed.

“I was sad that the places I learned to love to knit were not there anymore,” she said of the departed shops. Her hope is that her own store, Knitting Hive, “will create the kind of community that I was welcomed into.”

The shop, located at 2005 E 2700 South, held a soft opening on Aug. 21 and will have its grand opening on Sept. 7. Another shop, Handwork, is set to open one week earlier on Aug. 31, at 329 Pierpont Ave. The owner, Whitney Swinyard, also hopes that her shop will be a place of community building for knitters.

Both Swinyard and Daniels are prioritizing inclusivity at their shops. They want to make fiber arts accessible to people with all backgrounds, skill sets and budgets by stocking their shelves with yarn at a wide range of prices and hosting events that welcome all of SLC’s knitters.

Daniels is planning to put on a “crafty and queer” night as well as “nosh and knit” events, with food from Feldman’s Deli, which is located just a few doors away from Knitting Hive. Swinyard will also host regular maker nights and her shop will feature a free yarn library—similar to neighborhood Little Free Libraries—so that anyone in the city who wants to knit can find supplies.

“Salt Lake City is kind of bursting with makers,” Swinyard said, explaining that she is excited to be one of two local yarn shops opening soon.

“I want to cultivate a community where yarn shops recommend and support each other,” she said.

“I think it’s great that knitters will have options.”

Local knitters themselves are excited as well.

“Salt Lake City is ripe for these two shops,” Sewell noted. “It’s nice to see a new generation step up and create spaces for the knitting community here. … We’re all in it for the love of knitting and to support other knitters.” CW

“Knitting brings people together.”—Lisa Sewell (not pictured)

“Salt Lake City is kind of bursting with makers.”—Whitney Swinyard

Kellie Daniels plans to open Knitting Hive in September.

DINE

Buzzworthy Broth, Rizzworthy Ramen

Ramen Ichizu is heating up Central Ninth.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

Iknow I speak for all local noodle fans when I say that we have been blessed with a bounty of ramen riches. We’ve had some solid ramen game ever since Tosh’s Ramen first opened, but lately, each new spot that opens its doors is throwing a gauntlet down and trying to outdo its predecessors in tasty new ways. The most recent darling among local ramen fans is Ramen Ichizu, a new venture from Chef Mike Harrison of Park City’s Hana Ramen Bar. This buzzy new fixture in the Central Ninth neighborhood has people swearing up and down that it’s the best ramen you can get this side of Tokyo.

As Tokyo is where Chef Harrison mastered his techniques, it makes sense that his recipes have made such a splash here in SLC. Harrison studied under Master Chef Takeshi Koitani of Tokyo’s Rajuku Ramen School, which has graduates all over the world. This means that everything you get at Ramen Ichizu is made in-house daily, and that includes the noodles. Everything is made to Chef Harrison’s specifications—which is why there’s a vibrant “house rules” sign above the bar that forbids substitutions and takeout orders.

I’ve been excited about this place ever since I heard about it, but I had a bit of an awkward first impression that prolonged my subsequent visits a bit. After verifying online that they were open for lunch, I made my way over. When I opened the door, the staff told me they were closed and sent me on my way. I shrugged this off, of course; it’s a new place, and things like this happen amid the chaos of opening a restaurant.

My next visit during lunch hours was more successful—the place was indeed open, and sufficiently packed, so I grabbed a spot at the bar. The foundational menu at Ramen Ichizu is based around shoyu and shio broths, though you can also get vegan ramen ($17) and the spicier tantan ramen ($18) depending on what you want your ramen journey to look like. I am always a fan of getting as many things as possible in my ramen, so I went with the Tokusei Shoyu ($22) with a side of gyoza ($9).

This hefty bowl of ramen starts with the shoyu broth and house-made ramen noodles, then gets topped with thin slices of pork and chicken, some dimpled wontons, a luscious soft-boiled egg and plenty of scallions. Once you get a whiff of that rich, slightly malty aroma wafting outward from these gorgeous depths, you know you’re in for something special. Ramen is one of those dishes that has the potential to strike a perfect balance between flavor and textures, and I gotta say, the stuff they’re slinging at Ramen Ichizu is damn near perfect in every way. For starters, the broth alone contains a multitude of nuanced flavors. You get the bone broth richness, the complementary saltiness from the soy and a multitude of other facets that are difficult to name, because they are as diverse and vibrant as the stars in the sky. It’s the kind of broth that rewards patience; fill your spoon with a mouthful, and savor it

as you would a fine wine. The noodles are also excellent—just the right amount of toothsome, with a nice hearty flavor.

The additions to the ramen go very nicely with the whole package; I love that the soft-boiled egg gets a marinade before hitting the ramen. This is part-andparcel with traditional ramen recipes, but I’ve experienced so many places that just pop in a hard-boiled egg from the fridge, that I am grateful to see this happening. The meat was tender and flavorful, and the wontons were equally delightful.

I had finished my bowl of ramen before I even realized that the gyoza had not yet arrived. The server explained that they can take a long time to prep, but I happened to overhear an exchange in the kitchen that made me think my order got lost in the shuffle. They arrived after I settled my bill—again, a bit of an awkward service moment—and they were decent. I appreciated that they included the crispy lattice from pan frying, but perhaps it’s not fair to judge them after plowing my way through that stellar bowl of ramen.

My overall experience at Ramen Ichizu was a mixed bag. I was unfortunate enough to experience a few off-kilter slips when it came to service, which I understand can happen to the best of people in the best of places. However, watching those missteps unfold in the shadow of a blackboard that explains how you should eat your ramen kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

I will need to ponder my ramen orb a bit more, but at the moment I do think that Ramen Ichizu is serving up one of the best—if not the best—bowls of ramen locally. It captures everything you love about ramen, then expands your schema on the subject in delicious new ways. CW

Tokusei Shoyu

2 Row Brewing

73 West 7200 South, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com

On Tap: Lollygaggin’ Farmhouse Ale

Avenues Proper

376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Limited Pride release, “Gei Effect”: a mango and pineapple Gose, 5%

Bewilder Brewing

445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap:  Cerveza De Mayo for Bewilder.

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

On Tap: California Steam Lager, American Heritage Lager

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

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

On Tap: Pie Hole; Strawberry Rhubarb Tart Ale

Craft by Proper 1053 E. 2100 So., SLC properbrewingco.com

On Tap: “Proper Yasuke” dark rice lager 5%, Mamachari Strawberry Serrano kombucha (NA)

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap:  Ay Curuba! Curuba Sour

Epic Brewing Co.

825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Blood Orange Wheat

Etta Place Cidery

700 W Main St, Torrey www.ettaplacecider.com

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

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com

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

Grid City Beer Works

333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Cask Nitro CO2  Helper Beer

159 N Main Street, Helper, UT  helperbeer.com

Hopkins Brewing Co.

1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

On Tap: Old Merchant Cream Ale

Kiitos Brewing

608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

On Tap: Hyperwave West Coast IPA [Available Friday, Aug. 16]

Level Crossing Brewing Co.

2496 S. West Temple, S.Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Sinday Pale Ale Insty: @levelcrossingbrewing

Level Crossing Brewing Co., POST

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

On Tap: You-Tah Coffee Uncommon is back! FREE yoga every other Saturday. 10:15am

Moab Brewing

686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

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

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

On Tap: Pineapple Ginger hard cider

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

Ogden Beer Company

358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenBeerCompany.com

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

Park City Brewery 1764 Uinta Way C1 ParkCityBrewing.com

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

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

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

On Tap: 302 Czech Pilsner

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

Proper Brewing: Limited Pride release, “Gei Effect”: a mango and pineapple Gose, 5%

Proper Burger: “Whispers from Santa Maria” Helles lager with peach and jalapeno

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

On Tap: “Bermuda Blonde” keylime blonde ale 5%

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

Red Rock Brewing 254 So. 200 West RedRockBrewing.com

On Tap: Gypsy Scratch

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

Red Rock Kimball Junction 1640 Redstone Center Redrockbrewing.com On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: 19th Flow Session IPA

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Pineapple Sour Seltzer

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

On Tap: Chipotle Lager

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

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com On Tap: Art & Science Mt. Good - 7.5% ABV

Second Summit Cider 4010 So. Main, Millcreek https://secondsummitcider. com On Tap: Pineapple Mango 6.5%

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Slushies; Harvey Wallbanger Sour Ale

Shades On State

366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Salud Mexican Lager; Spring Fever Grapefruit Radler

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

Squatters Pub Brewery / Salt Lake Brewing Co. 147 W. Broadway, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ squatters On Tap: Salt Lake Brewing Co. Hop Head Red

Squatters and Wasatch Brewery 1763 So 300 West SLC UT 84115 Utahbeers.com

On Tap: Bulletproof Zest Lemon Kolsch

Strap Tank Brewery, Lehi 3661 Outlet Pkwy, Lehi, UT StrapTankBrewery.com

On Tap: The Baroness (Munich Helles); Leviathan (Vienna Lager)

Strap Tank Brewery, Springville 596 S 1750 W, Springville, UT StrapTankBrewery.com On Tap: German Pilsner

TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com On Tap: Coconut Guava Berliner Weisse

Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: American Light Lager

Top of Main Brewery

250 Main, Park City, Utah topofmainbrewpub.com On Tap: Top of Main Brewery –Off The Tree Juicy IPA

Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer

UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Golden Grant 5% ABV. Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com

Wasatch Brew Pub 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ wasatch

On Tap:  Top of Main Brewery –Big U Pilsner Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com

Zolupez

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

BEER NERD

A Series of Hoppy Events

Two limited run IPAs with a hoppy punch

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

This week, we feature beers that are part of a rotating series. This means that they’re often experimental and produced in limited runs. Both IPAs feature newer hop varieties with which many beer nerds may not be familiar. Look for them at their individual breweries.

Saltfire - A Series of Singularities (Styrian Wolf): This single-hop IPA features a Slovenian hop variety that can have intense fruity and floral notes, including flavors of sweet tropical fruits and complex aromas of mango, coconut, lemongrass, elderflower and even a touch of violet. The body here is an unfiltered amber hue—the one that, for whatever reason, I associate with IPAs. Just over a finger’s worth of sticky white head forms on top after a quick pour. Boatloads of floral aromas burst from the glass. It’s both herbal and grassy, and sticky notes of pine and resin go hand in hand with its unfiltered look. A twist of lemon peel furthers its citrus quality.

Pine needles and pithy grapefruit waste no time pasting themselves to the back of the palate, where an intense flash of bitterness asserts itself. It’s more raw, leafy and earthy, with plenty of lingering power. On the exhale comes a soft and comforting chewy breadiness. You have to dig through its raw and bitter quality to find it, however. Its botanical quality plays a role throughout, and that’s something I enjoy. I’m left sticky-lipped after each sip, and I appreciate it for that. Its 7.3 ABV body was not nearly as full as I expected, and could use some fleshing out to better support its bitterness.

There’s a soft creaminess in the middle, with an assertive dryness in the finish.

Verdict: Tasty, as expected, but a somewhat different take than I anticipated—more of a west coast IPA that is radiant and bitter. That said, it’s relatively hefty for the style, and definitely not something I’d be interested in drinking all night. The malt bill is also a bit of a let-down, but it’s one I can live with. All hopheads should absolutely consider this one worth a look, although I’d hesitate to place it near the top of its class.

RoHa - Brewer’s Select (In the Shade): This IPA was made with Elani, El Dorado and Rakau hops. It pours a frothy, foamy pearl-white head over a mildly hazy straw-yellow body, with moderate unfiltered sediment. Cracker and pale malt meet a touch of biscuit caramel, and an earthy, spicy, grassy and soft fruit hop profile with a moderate bitterness.

Cracker and caramel appear upfront in the tastes, with a modest sweetness complemented by notes of earthy spice, dried fruit, floral and grassy hops with a moderate bitterness. The balance is fairly even, with a more pronounced body and sweetness from the malt profile than is common for the style. The more unique hop notes of fruit and floral essence call attention to the heightened body, complimenting it well. Despite the variations to the 6.8 ABV profile of this beer, it does not detract far from the expected malt and hop flavor range, as it drinks clean and somewhat dry, like a Pilsner would.

Verdict: I found this West Coast pilsner uncharacteristically balanced in favor of the malt, with a decent malt body and sweetness to counter the expected level of bitterness from the hops. This generates a milder dryness, without dragging down the drinkability. As for the hops themselves, they fit the style well, but I did not find them too different from the hops used in traditional Czech Pilsner beers, providing a touch more sweetened fruit and floral notes to effectively compliment the enhanced body and call it out.

As always, cheers!

BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Harmons West Valley Reopens

The Harmons location in West Valley (3955 S. 3500 West) officially reopened after undergoing some serious renovations and upgrades. Working with a store that was first opened in 1971, Harmons recently unveiled their newest location, and it has all the bells and whistles. In addition to functioning as a supermarket, this location has expanded its deli section with many more ready-to-eat options. Lots of salad bar space and a large dining area will make shoppers and diners want to pay this place a visit. Harmons has always been savvy at reinvigorating their brand, and this new, souped-up location is no exception.

Arempa’s Expands to South Jordan

Our friends at Arempa’s (arempas.com) are steadily expanding their arepa empire south. Their most recent location is in South Jordan (1557 W. 11400 South, Ste. A). It includes their roster of classic arepas, each of them overstuffed with tasty fillings like shredded chicken and avocado or black beans and melty cheese. On top of that, fans of Venezuelan eats can get their cachapa, patacon, empanada and tequeño fix on in the SoJo area. It’s right next to the second location of El Morelense, so that little strip mall on 114th South is getting all kinds of Latin flavor; we love to see local spots like these flourish.

Never-Ending Pasta Returns to Olive Garden

If there was ever a reason to visit Olive Garden, it’s the never-ending pasta bowl. This gluttonous treat has been on hiatus since 2022, but I just got word that the international Italian food chain will be bringing this beloved event back Aug. 26 – Nov. 17. Longtime fans of this event will be pleased to know that it’s the same price as it was back in 2022 ($13.99), and it will include the same options for pasta, sauce and optional add-ons like meatballs or sausage for $5 extra. And yes, you get all the salad and breadsticks you want with the deal. What a time to be alive.

Quote of the Week: “When in doubt, eat pasta.” –Vince Vaughn

Family Ties

Complicated relationship dynamics drive three new features.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Between the Temples BBB

Director/co-writer Nathan Silver and co-writer C. Mason Wells mix a little quintessential Sundance quirk into their throwback New Hollywood vibe, resulting in a dramedy that’s enjoyable, awkward, and enjoyably awkward. Jason Schwartzman plays Benjamin Gottlieb, a cantor for an upstate New York synagogue who has lost his will to sing—and much of his will to live—after the death of his wife. While nursing his sorrows in a bar, he runs into Carla (Carol Kane), his widowed childhood music teacher, who decides to re-embrace her Jewish heritage by preparing for the bat mitzvah she never had. Harold & Maude provides the most obvious touchstone, and Silver aims for an aesthetic that evokes grainy 1970s film stock and jagged editing rhythms that capture the chaos of Benjamin’s life. The narrative does get a little over-stuffed with business at times, as though the writers are looking for individually funny scenes—like a visit to a Catholic Church, or an illfated J-Date encounter—even if they don’t particularly serve the central relationship. Schwartzman and Kane do have a nice chemistry, though, building to a shabbat dinner where the overlapping dialogue and increasingly frantic pacing build to an impressive crescendo. Maybe it’s a little on the messy side, but then again, the kind of movies to which it’s paying homage were never about being neat and tidy. Available Aug. 23 in theaters. (R)

Good One BBB

son bails on the trip. What follows has been compared to the work of Kelly Reichardt—not surprising, given the part of the premise that resembles Old Joy—with a subtle, observational vibe rather than big, dramatic plot points. Donaldson emphasizes the way Sam’s feminine energy affects the dynamic of the trio, while also making it clear that she’s the most competent and level-headed of the three of them. My initial reservations were that such qualities gave Sam too little of a character arc, but the realizations Sam comes to over the course of the trip, particularly about her father and how much he can be trusted with her hard truths, feel even more insinuating without being underlined. Collias offers up a lead performance that’s charismatic without ever being showy, finding a simple strength in deciding that the sob stories of the men in her life don’t have to drag her down. Available Aug. 23 at Broadway Center Cinemas. (R)

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat BB½

BOU FULL

Here’s Exhibit A in why I don’t like to insta-react to Sundance screenings: It took a little time for me to fully wrap my head around what writer/director India Donaldson was aiming for in this restrained character study. That central character is 17-year-old New Yorker Sam (Lily Collias), who’s taking a holiday-weekend camping trip that’s initially planned to be with her remarried-with-a-toddler father (James Le Gros), her dad’s long-time friend/underemployed actor Matt (Danny McCarthy) and Matt’s own teen son, but takes on a different dynamic when Matt’s

In the age of streaming-service limited series adaptation of novels, it’s worth asking why some books are turned into feature films when their premise just doesn’t lend itself to that approach. This adaptation of Edward Kelsey Moore’s novel by director/ co-writer Tina Mabry (with a script co-credited to a pseudonymous Gina Prince-Bythewood as “Cee Marcellus”) follows a trio of Black women friends— Odette (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), Clarice (Uzo Aduba) and Barbara Jean (Sanaa Lathan)—from their teenage years in 1960s Indiana until the verge of their 50s, as they deal with health scares, relationship difficulties and grief. The three main actors are predictably solid, as are their younger counterparts (Kyanna Simone, Abigail Achiri and Tati Gabrielle, respectively), digging into the melodramatic storylines in a way that doesn’t feel simplistic or exploitative. The problem is that this is a concept based on the idea of decades spent building a history together, something that’s much easier to accomplish in the pacing of reading a book; here, the filmmakers have to race from one plot development to the next, and back and forth in time, in a way that doesn’t give those developments any time to breathe or build an emotional resonance. This is a story that begs for an episodic structure, so that individual life milestones can have their moment of focus, and the way these women support one another through those milestones can be the story, rather than moving immediately to, “Okay, now it’s my turn to have a crisis.” Available Aug. 23 via Hulu. (PG-13) CW

On the Grid

Grid City Music Festival celebrates the whole of South Salt Lake City

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

I

f you’re a lover of local art, music and delicious brews, boy do we have great news for you. The Grid City Music Festival is back for another year of all of the above across several days, and you won’t want to miss out on any of it. There aren’t too many events like this one, so you don’t want to experience FOMO until the event comes back next year for another round.

Grid City Beer Works is a lovely brewery in South Salt Lake that brings excellent food and alcohol selections to the area, as well as a space to hold events and just hang out and have a good time. “The brewery wanted to have its own music festival,” co-owner of Grid City and festival organizer Drew Reynolds recalled of the event’s origins. The festival grew to involve more breweries and venues in the area, bringing more folks to see what South Salt Lake has to offer.

“Although it has the Grid City title on it, it’s not necessarily just for Grid City Beer Works. I’m kind of trying to make the city of South Salt Lake get more recognized,” Reynolds added.

You’ll be able to see 62 beautifully-designed murals throughout the city, and 54 local bands on seven different stages across three days of fun. “The Zone,” as it’s called, has plenty to see, and luckily

it’ll be easy to reach these different locations with the free Fun Bus returning this year to shuttle event-goers to the different spots in “The Zone.” “You can literally just go from brewery to brewery, and … venue to venue, and basically enjoy free music and drink libations and really have a good time,” Reynolds said.

The Fun Bus will take you to all of these fun locations where there are plenty of free events, but if you truly want to support the festival, the afterparties at The Commonwealth Room are where it’s at. These ticketed events are worth every penny, however, with acts like The Pour, J-Rad Cooley, The Plastic Cherries, Triggers and Slips, The Pickpockets and Pompe ‘n Honey. While you’re out exploring the festival, you can pick up a passport on Saturday to fill up with stamps, and if you bring that into The Commonwealth Room you’ll get a free commemorative glass to immortalize your time at the Grid City Music Festival.

The hopes are to get as many folks to these after-party shows at The Commonwealth Room as possible, because sponsorships only go so far. If you’re a lover of the local music/arts scene, now is your time to share that love. Reynolds mentioned that these after parties are going to have a sort of “carnival” feel to them, with things besides music like palm-reading, spinning pottery, podcasting and all kinds of other artisans offering their goods.

The Grid City Music Festival is about showing off what the city has to offer, but it’s also about appreciating the amazing talent we have in our hometowns. “I’m really psyched about really focusing on these musicians and these people who, most of them have two, three jobs and they’re trying to make it in the music biz. And we pay all the musicians, and we want them to

enjoy it too,” Reynolds expressed.

The festival is a great time for music-lovers, but it also gives local bands a chance to see each other play and perform when they may not have time normally. “I love our local music scene, and Grid City is 110% behind it,” said singer/songwriter/ guitarist Terence Hansen, who will be at the festival. “I am really looking forward to hearing some of my favorite local bands and discovering some new ones!”

The hope is that Grid City Music Festival can come back each year, with more bands for attendees to discover and chances to patronize great local businesses in the

area. “We just don’t throw enough parties. And I think this is a good time to party and celebrate Salt Lake City,” Reynolds said. “You have to come and support it if you want to keep it happening,” he added. “It’s not just about Grid City, it’s about that whole area and the great businesses that are there and great business owners.”

Come out and enjoy a great evening with even greater art, music and drinks starting Friday, Aug. 23 through Sunday, Aug. 25. You can buy individual tickets for the weekend or double up for some good deals. For more info head to gridcitymusicfest.com. CW

THURSDAYS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 DJ NO FILTER

SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 RELLE THE DJ

SHARK SUNDAYS POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY TANNER

MONDAYS

REGGAE MONDAY WITH DJ NAPO

TUESDAYS GROOVE

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

BEST BAR IN UTAH!

GREAT FOOD

MUSIC PICK S

Shaq’s Bass All-Stars @ Granary Live 8/22

Shaq is back in town! In case you missed his performance at Sky SLC earlier this year, he’s gracing us with another dubstep performance this weekend. Yes, you read that correctly: NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal—aka DJ Diesel—throws down bass sets as heavy as his vintage dunks. Check out his full album Gorilla Warfare if you don’t believe it. This time, Shaq will be accompanied by the DJ duo Yellow Claw going back-to-back with Flosstradamus as part of the “Bass All-Stars” tour. Dutch duo Yellow Claw (Jim Taihuttu and Nils Rondhuis) are known for their mix of trap, hip-hop, dubstep, hardstyle and moombahton, and are worthy of the title “All-Star” having been successful in the EDM game for over a decade. Check out their 2015 album Blood for Mercy as well as their newest album, Never Dies, released in 2020. Flosstradamus (Curt Cameruci) is a Chicagonative DJ and producer who has also been a long-time trap and hip-hop EDM artist. With this lineup, expect the Granary District to be busy and loud. It’s fun to see these outer areas of downtown grow and become hubs for the arts and community. Don’t miss out on “the biggest DJ in the world,” and don’t miss out on supporting local artists Fransis Derelle, Bastion and Mvdness. Doors open at 6 p.m. for this all-ages event hosted by LNE Presents. Tickets cost $30 at granarylive.com (Arica Roberts)

MUSIC PICK S

Khruangbin @ Granary Live 8/24

Khruangbin deserve their plaudits as a truly inspirational three-piece of talent. Laura Lee, Mark and DJ create lovely, original music that is difficult to pigeonhole. Eastern surf/ dream pop? Sci-fi Santo and Johnny? Psyche-funk-rock, possibly? But with large chunks of 1970s TV test card library music as influence? Whatever the method, the band makes music for themselves—and happen to now find themselves in the spotlight. “When we started Khruangbin, it wasn’t about trying to be a certain type of band,” Laura Lee told Exclaim in April. “While, especially in pop, you could probably advise a formula, I think when you’re seeking unique, integrous originality, you almost have to make your own.” They’ve dialed in their formula so perfectly, and it’s a great formula. They’ve managed to pull off the dream of every guitarist: Fit a band around your desire to simply play genrecrossing instrumental guitar music, sometimes just an entire track of solos, and actually get people to listen to it. And like all bands/artists specializing in laid-back grooves, they may be only one advertisement away from being regarded as seriously uncool. That would be a pity, as their live performances and musicianship deserves a better fate. While I love the material the band creates on their own, their work with Leon Bridges showed that adding an additional element can really pay off. Khruangbin absolutely hit the spot for me, whatever “the spot” is. Peter Cat Recording Co. opens. Catch them on the “A La Salsa” tour at Granary Live on Saturday, Aug. 24. Doors at 6 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $57.50 can be found at tixr.com (Mark Dago)

Khruangbin DAVID

MUSIC PICK S

Bikini Kill @ The Union Events Center 8/25

Do you want revolution—girl style, now? Well, I’ve got news for you: It’s swiftly on its way to the greater Salt Lake area on Aug. 25. Legendary riot grrrl punk rock outfit (or swimwear?) Bikini Kill will bring a summer storm to Utah on their highly anticipated headlining tour following the spring release of Kathleen Hanna’s highly regarded memoir Rebel Girl. Famously putting the “F” and “U” in the Feminist Punk scene, the band brings unbridled energy, activism, and a tasteful pink and black color palette to an alternative scene that sometimes feels like it is in dire, maybe even desperate, need of a feminist and queer makeover. With innumerable hits and an overall impressive discography under their belt, Bikini Kill is representative in equal measure of a specific, important previous time in music history, and this volatile, contemporary moment we find ourselves in. The Salt Lake City all-ages show will be a triple bill, with support from Cheap Perfume and Blisster. Doors open at 6 p.m., music begins at 7 p.m., and tickets can be found at theunioneventcenter.com. (Sophie Caligiuri)

Pink Martini ft. China Forbes @ Red Butte Garden 8/27

Founded in 1994 by Thomas Lauderdale, Pink Martini has carved out a unique niche for itself in the world of music. The large and ever-expanding group combines many genres of music— from pop to classical to ethnic styles—and delivers it all in an exuberant, engaging and multilingual manner. A Pink Martini concert experience is a musical travelogue, taking the audience on a trip that celebrates the varied musical character that defines humanity. Key to Pink Martini’s appeal is the fact that the group—which features up to a dozen instrumentalists and an equal number of singers—presents music in many languages other than English. The group began in Portland, Oregon in 1995; over the years, members have come and gone, but Pink Martini’s vocal and instrumental firepower allows the group to tackle most anything it wishes. The group has 14 albums to its credit, with titles displaying that variety: Non Ouais!: The French Songs of Pink Martini (2018) and Besame Mucho (2019) are among their recent collections. Pink Martini often collaborates with outside vocalists as well, including Rufus Wainwright and The Dandy Warhols’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor. Unsurprisingly, the group’s music has been featured in a wide array of television programs and movies, including Better Call Saul, Sherlock, Parks and Recreation, Nurse Betty and many others. Pink Martini comes to Red Butte Garden Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets for this all-ages show are $52 at etix.com. (Bill Kopp)

CHECKOUT THE ROOFTOP PATIO!

Bikini Kill

X @ The Depot 8/28

X marks the spot, and in the case of the band called X, the spot is the stops they’re making on their current sojourn. The band’s iconic line-up—singer Exene Cervenka, bassist and vocalist John Doe, drummer D.J. Bonebrake and guitarist Billy Zoom—are carrying their revered reputation forward courtesy of a tour and new album, both dubbed Smoke & Fiction Having set the standard for America’s punk ethos almost 40 years ago, they’ve recast themselves as anthemic rockers with a penchant for early Americana. Not that they’ve mellowed, by any measure; Cervenka and Doe remain one of rock’s most dynamic duos, the single most charismatic couple since Paul Kantner and Grace Slick piloted the Jefferson Airplane to its highest heights. Even a cursory listen to such iconic X albums as Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun, More Fun in the New World and their homage to the city that birthed them, Los Angeles, makes the case that X is indeed one of the most important bands to emerge from California’s counterculture underground. On their website, the members were asked what audiences might expect now. “It’s the best time for X right now,” Cervenka replied. “We’re just gonna keep doing it, and we’re never gonna be able to stop.” Bonebrake concurred: “All I can say is the band sounds better now than it did 30 years ago.” Clearly, this is a band that operates at an “X-treme.” X brings their “Smoke & Fiction” Tour to The Depot on Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $35.25 - $53.50 at concerts.livenation.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

Pink Martini

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Some centenarians testify they have lived more than a century because they smoked cigarettes, drank a lot of booze and ate a steady diet of junk food. Should the rest of us adapt their habits? Of course not. The likelihood of remaining healthy while following such a regimen is infinitesimal. Just because a few lucky people miraculously thrived like that is not a sound argument for imitating them. I bring this to your attention, Aries, because the coming weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade your commitment to healthy habits. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to love your body better, this is it.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Taurus stage magician Doug Henning had lavish ambitions. They served him well as he became a star performer in theater and on TV. “If I produce a 450-pound Bengal tiger,” he said, “it’s going to create a lot more wonder than if I produce a rabbit.” That’s the spirit I invite you to embrace in the coming weeks, Taurus. The cosmos is authorizing you to expand your understanding of what you can accomplish—and then accomplish it. Dream bigger dreams than you have previously dared.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

The color of planet Earth is predominantly blue with green, brown, and white mixed in. And for people all over the world, blue is more often their favorite color than any other. Why? In part because blue typically evokes peace, tranquility, security, and stability. It’s often used in therapeutic environments, since it makes us feel more at ease about expressing our feelings. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Gemini, because you are entering a blue phase of your cycle. It will be a favorable time to harvest the benefits of relaxing and slowing down. You are more likely to feel at home with yourself and accept yourself just as you are.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22)

Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, born under the sign of Cancer, says that 95 percent of our buying choices originate in our subconscious minds. Behavioral psychologist Susan Weinschenk believes 90 percent of all our decision-making is unconscious. But I propose that in the coming weeks, you increase the amount of conscious awareness you bring to sorting out your options. Cosmic energies will conspire in your favor if you do. You will receive unexpected boosts and generate creative enhancements if you resolve to rouse more lucid analysis and careful thoughtfulness.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22)

A wealthy hedge fund manager named Raj Rajaratnam paid Leo singer Kenny Rogers $4 million to perform at his epic birthday party. But the night turned nightmarish for Rogers when Rajaratnam insisted that he sing his hit song “The Gambler” over and over again. Finally, after 12 repetitions, Rogers refused to do more. I wonder if you, too, might soon have to deal with a situation that’s too much of a good thing. My advice: Make sure all agreements between you and others are clear and firm. Get a guarantee that you will receive exactly what you want, and don’t do more than you have promised.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Now and then, zoologists decide that classifications of species need to be revised. For example, three subspecies of soft-furred, teardrop-shaped hedgehogs in Southeast Asia were recently elevated to distinct species of their own—no longer considered subspecies of Hylomys suillusbut , but now named H. dorsalis H. maxi, and H. peguensis . I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because I suspect that you, too, are ready for an upgrade to a new category all your own. It’s time for you to claim greater sovereignty. You will be wise to define how distinctive and unique you are, to distinguish yourself from influences that are superficially like you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

When mega-famous artist Pablo Picasso was asked how he felt about NASA landing people on the moon in 1969, he said, “It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it, and I don’t care.” I invite you to use his statement as one of your mottoes in the coming weeks. Now is an excellent time to identify the experiences, influences, events and people about which you have zero interest. Once you do, I predict you will have a rush of revelations about the most interesting experiences, influences, events, and people you want in your future.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu made an observation that could serve as your watchword in the coming months. “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,” he wrote, “while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” In my astrological opinion, Scorpio, you are now primed to embody and express these states with unique intensity. If you embrace the inspiring challenge of loving deeply and being loved deeply, you will reach new heights of strength and courage.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Many musical instruments must be constantly adjusted to stay in tune. This usually means the note A above middle C vibrates at 440 cycles per second—with all other notes tuned in relation to it. Having sung in bands for years, I have seen how guitarists, bass players, violinists and even drummers have to continually attend to their tuning during performances. Imagine the finesse it takes to keep an entire orchestra of many instruments in tune with each other. I suspect that one of your jobs in the coming weeks, Sagittarius, will have similarities to this kind of management and coordination.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Dancing is always good for you, but it will be extra healthy and energizing in the next four weeks. I hope you will be inspired to dance as often as possible, even if you just do it alone in your kitchen or bedroom while listening to music that moves you. Do you need rational explanations for why this is a good idea? OK, here are the hard facts: Dancing reduces stress, raises serotonin levels, enhances well-being, and is excellent physical exercise. Here’s another motivational reason: Dancing literally makes you smarter. Scientific research clearly says so Furthermore: In the near future, you will be in a playful, sexy, exuberant phase of your astrological cycle.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

“Quo signo nata es?” is Latin for “What’s your sign?” Did anyone in ancient Rome ever say that? Probably not, since it’s a modern idiom. However, astrology was very popular in that era. According to scholar Rhianna Padman in her essay “Astrology in Ancient Rome,” Romans “believed that the specific positions of celestial bodies at the moment of a person’s birth could greatly impact their life and character.” Back then, Thrasyllus of Mendes was a prominent astrologer who became a key advisor to Emperor Tiberius. Anyway, Aquarius, I bring “Quo signo nata es?” to your attention so as to inspire the following assignment: Update all your old favorite things. Put new spins on symbols and ideas that have served you for a long time. Take the best parts of your traditions and transplant them into the future.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

The coming weeks will be a time to declare amnesty about matters affecting your close alliances. Dissolve grudges, please. Tussle less, play more. Relax your demands and expectations—nicely ask your companions to relax theirs. If possible, forgive others and yourself for everything; failing that, forgive as much of everything as feels right. You might even convene a ritual in which you and your intimate collaborators chant the following affirmation: “We are gleefully free to reimagine and reinvent the ways we fit together!”

Noisy

urban LIVING

Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

Pay Your Broker?

If you haven’t heard, real estate practices in the U.S. have a new layer of disclosures for buyers and sellers that will affect not just clients and customers, but brokers and agents as well.

The new rules are a result of a lawsuit and subsequent out-of-court settlement between the National Association of Realtors and the Department of Justice, regarding anti-competitive actions by some realtors that have now impacted all of us.

Basically, here’s the new rules:

1. If you’re a buyer, you will need to either sign with a licensed real estate agent to represent you specifically in buying property, agree to be represented by the seller’s agent as well in a transaction (known as “limited agency”) or represent yourself. You’re welcome to wander into open houses anytime, but once you want to make an offer you must sign in writing to agree to one of those three options. This hasn’t changed—agency disclosure is required in writing by law, but:

2. As a realtor, I must get a buyer agency contract, in writing, with any buyer I choose to work with (and who wants to work with me) which states how much that buyer agrees to pay me for my services. This is a big change in that formerly—prior to Aug. 17 of this year—commissions were negotiated at the time of the seller’s listing contract and then advertised on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) what a seller was willing to pay to a buyer’s agent/broker if a sale took place.

The commission was always (and is always) negotiable. A common commission for many brokers is 6% of the sales price, which has generally been split 50/50 between the buyers and sellers’ real estate agents/brokers at close of escrow.

3. There are now a half-dozen new forms that disclose how much a buyer’s agent/broker can ask to get paid, including a whole new real estate purchase contract to utilize. On that contract, which is new to this ageold form, is a section that allows for a buyer to ask that the seller pay for the buyer’s agent/broker’s commission … or not.

Basically, in a normal real estate transaction, a buyer must have some skin in the game to buy a property— like a down payment (unless they are a veteran, as VA loans have zero down payment) and mortgage closing costs. Now, a buyer must pay their buyer’s agent or request that the seller pay the commission or split the cost of commission between the buyer and seller.

The National Association of Realtors is the largest trade organization in the U.S. Not all real estate agents are realtors, though, as it’s a membership organization requiring dues, education and adherence to a Code of Ethics.

You’ll want to talk to your agent/ broker if you’re actively buying, selling or both as to how this will impact your investment plans, to review the new rules and decide what your realtor’s value is to you in the process. n

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1. Like some mixed drinks

6. Tree goo

9. Airline based in Sweden

12. Orange, e.g.

14. A.L. Central team, on a scoreboard

15. Sicilian volcano

16. Xenomorph leader of sci-fi filmdom, for instance

18. Depilatory brand with “short shorts” ads

19. Offer temporarily

20. Coffeehouse dispenser

21. ___ Online (long-running MMORPG)

23. “Black-ish” dad

24. She’s portrayed both Queens Elizabeth (I on TV and II on film)

26. Rakish cads

28. Listen to

29. Work in a haunted house, say

31. Lot purchase

32. Do some sums

35. Type of incandescent headlamp bulb

40. Up to now

41. Stimpy’s costar

42. “Norma,” for instance

43. ___ dire (court examination)

45. Fortnite dance or action

47. Greeting in Gelsenkirchen

51. Director Jean-___ Godard

54. “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Gr‚ce)” rapper

55. Title for a judge, for short

56. AZ city

57. 1949 mil. alliance

58. All tied up

61. Certain prayer leader

62. Rodent in a maze

63. Twelve-book Trojan tale

64. “Ich bin ___ Berliner” (JFK quote that’s a misquote on his part)

65. Pull up a chair

66. Family nickname

DOWN

1. Burn

2. Bathroom floor worker

3. Wandering

4. Vanmate of Daphne and Velma

5. Good times

6. Play segment

7. Pub purchase

8. Shadow effect from a partial eclipse

9. Flight unit?

10. Crunchyroll offering

11. Clear plastic wrap

13. “So excited!” noise

15. Bookkeeping record

17. Addresses in a browser

22. Bend the truth

24. Color subtleties

25. Trevor who video-interviewed Kamala

Harris in October 2020

27. Part of OPEC, for short

29. Barnyard pen

30. Kind of stick or ball

31. Network getting a U.S. remake of U.K. panel show “Have I Got News For You”

32. When most children begin sixth grade

33. James Van ___ Beek

34. Coded strands

36. Nose hair tools

37. Architect Saarinen

38. Minnesota state bird

39. Choose

43. Snake’s secretion

44. Number of one-syllable U.S. state names

45. “Ghostbusters” character Dr. ___ Spengler

Last week’s answers

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to

9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic.

46. High-IQ group, supposedly

47. Bottled-up type?

48. Taste found in mushrooms

49. Mythical giant like Atlas

50. Half of “Good Mythical Morning”

52. Start of a gym motto

53. Drug store aisle 56. Dish list

59. Grammy-winning guitarist Steve 60. Mid-afternoon drink

NEWS of the WEIRD

But Why?

Lalita Kayi, 50, was recently discovered on July 27 in a forest about 280 miles from Mumbai, India, the BBC reported, chained to a tree. Kayi initially told her rescuers that her husband had shackled her to the tree and “left her in the forest to die without food or water.” But police and her doctor say the American woman tied herself to the tree. After treatment in a psychiatric hospital, Kayi admitted that she is not married and was distressed because her visa and money were running out. Her doctor, Sanghamitra Phule, said Kayi’s condition is improving and she has been in touch with her family in the U.S.

Do. Not. Insult. The. Chef.

Georgetown County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s officers were called to a home on July 28 on reports of an assault in progress, Fox59-TV reported on Aug. 1. Deputies were told that the fight started while siblings Anthony Harper and Hope Harper were cooking chicken. Hope Harper allegedly asked her brother “why he didn’t season the chicken ... so it could crust up,” the report said. When Hope called Anthony a “dumb dog,” he pushed her into a table and punched her. Someone else in the home fired a 9mm handgun into the ceiling, hoping to stop the brawl, but no—Hope retrieved a steak knife and started swinging it at her brother. Next, their grandmother swatted Hope with a broom until she backed off. But Anthony, his chef cred cruelly questioned, picked up a can of Raid bug spray and sprayed Hope on the neck and face until she grabbed the can and sprayed him back. Each of the siblings is pressing charges against the other; both were released on bond.

Fine Points of the Law

Evans Lee Jr. of Atlanta passed away on Oct. 26, 2022, the Atlanta Black Star reported on Aug. 6. Because he left no will, Georgia law called for the nearest living relative to ask the probate court to make them an administrator, which is just what Randy Watson, 48, did. The problem: Watson was not related to Lee. Georgia’s probate court does not require proof of being a rightful heir to an estate, so Watson became the executor, filling in false details on Lee’s death certificate and listing Watson as the decedent’s son. In response, Lee’s nephew, Trahan Brown, was later granted a court-ordered paternity test that confirmed Watson was not related to the dead man. But before the court could reverse Watson’s executorship, the man had cleared out most of Lee’s belongings, sold off his home and collected his urn of ashes. “There was never an opportunity to go in the home, clean the home, none of that,” said Brown’s wife, Renee. Authorities have now opened an investigation into Watson and the funeral home.

Feeling Eel

About 150 people in and around Tokyo were stricken ill, and one person died, in late July after eating grilled eel sold at a department store, the Associated Press reported on July 30. The eel was prepared by a local restaurant chain and sold in the grocery area of the Keikyu department store, officials said. Roasted eel is considered a tonic against the summer’s extreme heat; more than 1,700 servings of the dish were sold at the shop.

Field Report

Visitors to downtown Orlando, Florida, might be used to seeing pigeons on the rooftops—but not this kind of pigeons. ClickOrlando reported on Aug. 6 that giant, brightly colored, inflatable pigeons are about to be installed on several of the city’s rooftops. Creative City Projects, an arts group, is bringing the birds in the hope of drawing more visitors downtown. At 21 feet long and 16 feet high, the neon pigeons are expected to “foster a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness of all living beings in an urban environment,” said Ashley Papagni, a city spokesperson.

It’s Good To Have a Hobby Handyman and electrician Steve Wainwright, 61, of Cambridgeshire, England, needed a project in his retirement, Metro News reported on Aug. 1. “I felt a bit lost,” he said. “I looked at my tape measure and I thought, ‘I wonder if I can build this 10 times its size?’” And he could—even with a giant retractable measuring tape. Wainwright’s wife suggested a 10x lipstick, so he obliged, then went on to build pencils, keys, clothespins and a three-prong plug. He notices a difference in reactions between men and women; men love his creations, and women say, “What on earth are you going to do with that? Where are you going to put that?” he said.

Haute Dog

CBS News reported on Aug. 7 that fashion house Dolce & Gabbana is going to the dogs. The designer has launched a perfume for dogs called “Fefé” in honor of Domenico Dolce’s poodle. A 3.4-ounce bottle will set you back $108, and the company claims veterinarians approve of the alcohol-free scent. But apparently not all veterinarians. Federico Coccia, a vet in Rome, isn’t a fan: “Dogs recognize themselves by smells, they recognize a person by smell. ... This world of smells should not be changed,” he said. He also noted that some diseases are made apparent by their odors, and the perfume could mask those. Dog owner Francesca Castelli agrees: “It seems to be a very exaggerated process of humanization,” she said. Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com

Business Development Manager sought by ATM Real Estate Solutions, LLC (Draper, UT). Must have a minimum of 2 yrs’ exp in bus. dvlpmt. Must have specific knowl in mktg investors from the French-Canadian community seeking turnkey investment solutions incl finding investments properties, lending & financing real estate projects. Must have knowl of the French-Canadian bus. protocols to negotiate & explain investments together w/ financing to the target mkt. Please mail resumes to ATM Real Estate Solutions, LLC - Attn.: Michael J Burns, 405 E. 12450 S., Ste E, Draper, UT 84020.

Stapp Construction Inc is currently hiring an IT Manager & Developer in

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