City Weekly March 14, 2024

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Luck of the Irish

On the calendar, one of the most popular days of the year is March 17—St Patrick’s day. This, of course, is for good reason— it’s one of the few times each year when people are allowed to let off some steam, drink too much and just generally be jolly. This year, however, I’d want people to consider the St. Patrick’s holiday in a new light based on a brief history. Did you know that Ireland was first invaded by the Anglo-Saxons (English) in May 1169 and that the occupation lasted roughly 750 years until 1921?

When independence was struck with England, the island was divided in two. The north stayed a part of the United Kingdom and was ruled under what we might call “separate but equal” government, which continues to this day. During that same time period, the Irish suffered a famine, with the largest per-capita fatalities in the history of the world.

From 1845 to 1852, about 1 million people fled and 1 million people died—or about two-thirds of all Irish. This included my family, which arrived here in 1887. Another half-million Irish came in the earlyto mid-1900s.

When my family arrived in America, many signs on businesses read “no blacks, no Jews and no Irish.” But in just 50 years we had John F. Kennedy elected as president.

After 100 years, we have a Supreme Court filled with Catholics and a Chief Justice in John Roberts, who has two adoptive children from Ireland.

So why don’t you know this? Because the strength of the Irish is a sensibility

which is, by my estimation, the foundation of this country and what we should all aspire to. At the heart of the Irish culture is the concept of “craic.”

Good craic is the use of language to draw attention to the humor of everyday situations. In doing so, it breeds authenticity, democratizes all ideas and keeps people humble to the absurdity of life. It is the foundation for which the framers created our First Amendment.

If America is a tapestry of people, the Irish are the thread that holds us together. This year, I hope you celebrate with green beer. I hope you get too drunk and have the night of your life.

I also hope that the next morning, a little hungover, you will carry a little of this sensibility along with you, keeping in mind the true lesson of St. Patrick’s day: Making people like you will get you further than always trying to be right.

BRENDAN RYAN Salt Lake City

“Lyman’s Devilish Deal,”

March 7 Private Eye

Phil Lyman wants to get plastic surgery to permanently attach his ATV to his body.

STAY_SEEJ

Via Instagram

You only need a pardon if you’re guilty.

HOGWILD752

Via Instagram

Good for Phil Lyman! Woke shit needs to be called out for what it is—the creation of division in America.

MARIAFERLAND

Via Instagram

Care to sound off on a feature in our pages or about a local concern?

Write to comments@cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE WATER COOLER

What books have you re-read?

What are you reading now?

Scott Renshaw

Currently reading The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. As for re-reading, there are too many books I haven’t read yet to think about that.

Wes Long

I try to return to The Neverending Story by Michael Ende and Ordinary People by Judith Guest from time to time. They remain my two absolute favorite works of fiction.

Katharine Biele

I don’t normally re-read books. There are too many waiting in the wings. But I have re-read Fantasyland—How America Went Haywire by Kurt Andersen, because I need to know how and why. I am about to start Plainsong by Kent Haruf. I want to read it after the high praise it got from the Political Gabfest.

Eric Granato

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Currently reading Polysecure.

Bryan Bale

I re-read the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. The book I completed most recently was Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Jerre Wroble

I re-read Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle after many decades. It’s held up pretty well.

OPINION

BY ERIN MOORE comments@cityweekly.net

Theme Park-ification

In David A. Banks’ 2023 urban theory book, The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America, the author tells a story about a bar in a small-ish city that feels very familiar. In his hometown of Troy, New York, Banks describes a local dive bar that is bought by the locally famous owner of a string of businesses that got their start with the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery and Wine Bar.

“The name was plucked from one of the building’s many tenants over the years—a candy shop that had opened in 1863,” Banks writes. “Had they named the place after the most recent tenant, it would have been called the Troy Insurance Agency and Wine Bar.”

But the dive bar acquired years later was Bradley’s Tavern, previously owned by an actual person named Bradley. And the new owners changed nothing much about the dive bar that they exclaimed was already “perfect,” except for adjusting its name to “The Bradley.”

That change, Banks writes, “shows how places, people, and things of the past go from active to static—from a reallife person possessing the tavern you frequent to a place that is interesting because it used to be a place like that.”

It’s hard not to think of several versions of this scenario right here in Salt Lake City. Like when the Bar X group—celebrity resident Ty Burrell and his family members—bought Cotton Bottom Inn, a popular haunt for skiers and snowboarders to get burgers and pints after a day up the canyon. A Fox13 article from 2020 describes their remodel as modest: “On the inside, vintage signs and pictures of previous honors reflect the bar’s rich history,” with the original tables and bar left intact, along with the cook of 23 years.

The bar’s new name? The Cotton Bottom.

There are other local examples: Franklin Avenue on Edi-

son Street, a new restaurant in an old building that calls back to the street’s old name. Across the street in another old brick building, The Mayor Voss, a trendy new bar which calls back to the area’s Black history and an iconic leader from that past.

Also see: The entire Granary District, where industrialchic businesses invite a detached romanticism—it’s fun to drink a craft beer surrounded by 100-year-old brick, less so to consider the manual labor that used to be done there. In modern cities, we are always being advertised to: The billboards on the freeway and ads on our phones look the same; the new apartment buildings with leasing signs look the same; the amenities they offer, variations on the same. We crave real experiences, real places. People in business and real estate know this, and sell the sturdier, more picturesque, maybe even already popular parts of our cities back to us, with tweaks that tap that desire for realness.

The past and all its symbols—real, aged exposed brick, reclaimed wood, rust-iron girders, the grime embedded into your local dive since it opened in ’48—are the crème de la crème for tapping realness in a modern world where authenticity feels elusive.

And can you blame anyone for picking the business in the restored industrial building over the one in the beige stucco five-over-one that shot up in months?

This is also why places that already have that organic patina of age and realness, like Bradley’s Tavern, aren’t safe from the vintage rebrand. Interesting places with history can be super old or relatively new, like a strip mall momand-pop taqueria, a crusty all-ages venue down an alley, or a greasy spoon with shadowy ownership (Publik Ed’s, née Big Ed’s, anyone?). We like these places as they are. They get popular—and when they get popular, investors see opportunity in that neighborhood. Money changes hands, renovations start and finish, and your old favorite spot is now some version of The Spot, with other new or rebranded spots popping up around it.

Call it gentrification, or have fun with it and call it the “theme park-ification” of cities—everything calls back to a theme, everything must feel like an experience. And what

do we do with our experiences? We post them online, we make them into content.

When brunch is as much about eating as it is posting about it on your Instagram grid, or when a weekend running around town and grabbing drinks with friends becomes a personalized life tour for TikTok, savvy businesses will do their best to make their real life place appealingly postable. A place with a vintage vibe—or the manufactured grime and quirks of some established place—looks authentic, and it adds a sense of realness to your grid, to your life.

You may be wondering why this matters. Who cares if a few old buildings become semi-corny, fake-old eateries, pubs and “speakeasys?” It matters because what’s lost when investment sniffs out a popular neighborhood is not just the original vibe that made it good to begin with, but also smaller-scale economic empowerment.

As Banks puts it in his book, “instead of a single person owning one bar, a local celebrity is adding a down-market product to his portfolio of high-end establishments.”

The bad part, besides this collecting of cultural placesas-real estate,, is also that when a place gets popular and attracts investment, the rent goes up. When the rent goes up, smaller businesses can’t always afford to stay, and what comes in their place are the only businesses that can—corporate chains.

The Aster apartments downtown interestingly included a restoration of the historic flower shop, Cramer House, as part of their development. It will soon house two bars, a pub called Carmer House and a cocktail bar called The Florist. So, add “historically housed bar” to your list of fun apartment amenities.

These developments look and act like historical preservation for preservation’s sake, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that it’s just a shiny gimmick, meant to get our attention. It’s attention that is at the core of The City Authentic, which heavily informs these observations (go read it!). And it’s attention that is also at the core of how Salt Lake City is being built, remodeled and rebranded right now. CW

Private Eye is off this week.

Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

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HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE | @kathybiele BY BRYANT HEATH

MISS: Hard Pass

They know better, if not best. That’s the message from the high-and-mighty to their lowly vassals on the west side of Salt Lake. West-siders can’t catch a break, living in a divided city, often in food deserts, and held up by noisy, lumbering trains. First, there’s the expansion of Interstate 15, which offers more pollution and traffic to west-side neighborhoods. Happy to help, the Utah Department of Transportation came up with the idea of adding an underpass connecting the east and west. Residents could walk or bike through it, despite the creepy prospects of homeless encampments and, of course, crime. When the underpass was dissed by some neighbors, an overpass emerged as a choice. City council members seemed to love the idea, saying anything is better than nothing. Really? Can’t officials ask the neighborhoods for better ideas?

It’s not just about connecting east and west; it’s about bringing them together. Baltimore, for instance, came up with a systemic plan to include speed, safety, transit and reliability. Utah came up with an underpass.

MISS: Power of Attorney

It’s not enough that the Legislature excised Salt Lake County’s voting power into four congressional districts. Now they’ve decided to shackle the district attorney because, you know, he’s a Democrat and probably planning a socialist takeover. Lawmakers want him to report “billed time in 15-minute increments to a legislative committee,” according to a KSL TV 5 report. Why? They say to “protect their investment” in the yet-to-come hockey arena and Major League Baseball stadium, which will both sit in crime-ridden neighborhoods. After all, you need to arrest all those nonwhite folks in that area to keep everyone else safe. Arresting people may be one answer to crime, but not necessarily the best. And never mind that DA Sim Gill was elected— and re-elected—by the people. The Legislature apparently didn’t stifle the democratic vote enough.

HIT: Vox Populi

Everyone should listen to KUER 90.1 FM’s “What 6 Utah Republicans think of their 2024 presidential choices.” Sure we’re polarized, but actually listening to what people think can open doors to possibilities. The panel included young to middle-age voters, some Utah natives and others who had traveled widely. They were not all Trumpers, although the conservative vibe came out clearly. One woman said she used to vote because of an echo chamber of conservative ideas. “Everything I thought was the Republican Party wasn’t the Republican Party I knew.” A young man said he no longer cares if a politician is a “bad person” as long as that person has good policies. You may not like everything you hear from this panel, but it will give you faith that not every Republican voter takes the Twitter road to Fox News. CW

All Roads

At the end of each year’s Utah legislative session, I am always reminded of Fox 13 government reporter Ben Winslow’s recurring quip that “all roads lead to the Capitol.” Although that may be true in a figurative sense—with budgets, bills and all the bickering—in a literal sense, that is not the case.

By my count, there are 17 roads that put you in close proximity to the state’s halls of power, most of which possess names that are as uninspiring as the legislators themselves. A couple of explorers get a shoutout (Columbus, Cortez and De Soto Streets) as does the adjacent Marmalade neighborhood (Apricot Avenue)—oh, and don’t forget our state’s generic namesake, State Street. But by the time planners landed on East Capitol Boulevard and West Capitol Street, you can tell they just flat ran out of ideas.

For more inspiring street names, you must look elsewhere in the city where a fair number of sections have been rededicated to both national heroes and noteworthy locals. Of course, there are the civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (600 South) and Rosa Parks Blvd. (200 East) as well as labor leader Cesar Chavez Blvd. (500 South). Like their counterparts in most other cities, those streets are located in prime real estate downtown for maximum exposure.

A more recent addition has been Harvey Milk Blvd. (900 South) near Liberty Park, which was dedicated in 2016. That street switch garnered some national attention due to the fact that a pioneering gay leader could be commemorated in—gasp!—Utah. Locally, the renaming went mostly uncontested at the time.

Not to say there aren’t some street names that have generated controversy in recent years. John Stockton Drive (300 West) and Karl Malone Drive (100 South) have recently become a bit of a lightning rod due to their off-court conduct, which has been off-putting to a swath of fans. Unfortunately, naming rights of roads seem a little more fixed than arenas, and calls for changing back the streets bordering the arena have stalled out.

But the names I get excited about are those that reflect people who made impacts in certain areas of the city. A section of Harvard Avenue outside Calvary Baptist Church in the Ballpark neighborhood was recently dedicated to the Rev. France Davis, who served as pastor there for more than 45 years. Similarly, in South Salt Lake—across from the Utah Tibetan Association— you can find Dalai Lama Way (2950 South), which was christened just a few months ago (pictured below).

I guess it’s not too surprising that there are so many of these referential streets here.

Salt Lake City itself is named after a pretty impressive landmark, after all. CW

Love Letters

Romance writers agree: The genre is changing in ways that defy stereotypes.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW

scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Even if you don’t read romance novels, you probably think you know romance novels. From the Harlequin books of the 1980s through the bodice-rippers prominently featuring Fabio (or Fabio-adjacent) cover images, it’s a genre that has inspired stigma and stereotyping— of the books themselves, of those who read them, and of those who write them.

Romance fiction is, however, the single most lucrative individual category in adult fiction book sales, accounting for $1.44 billion in revenue in 2022. As demonstrated by the recent Salt Lake City opening of Lovebound Library, a bookstore devoted to romance books, there’s a sense of Utah as a thriving marketplace of romance readers. It’s also teeming with local writers of romance fiction—all of whom make it clear that the genre is evolving in ways that might challenge preconceptions.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a basic appeal for many readers and writers in the comfortable familiarity of love stories. Los Angeles-based writer Aminah Mae Safi, who has written four romance novels and several short stories, says that “as a kid, I was always the opposite of the Fred Savage character in The Princess Bride: ‘Please be a kissing book.’ I think I’ve always loved love stories; that has been deeply embedded in the way I experience stories.”

For some local romance authors, however, the desire to challenge the tropes of the genre was a motivation for writing in that genre. Rachael Bush—who currently serves as president of the League of Utah Writers—recalls that she actually hated the kind of romance novels that she saw her cohort reading when she was younger.

“I had friends who would just voraciously consume the Harlequin romance series,” Bush says. “I tried to enjoy

CREDIT

them, and I thought they were absolute garbage. Because there was not consent on the page. Of course, when I was trying to read these as a teenager, I didn’t understand why I had a problem with it. … The whole premise of ‘she said no, she really means yes,’ these alpha males taking things from [the heroine], always made me feel very uneasy. I wanted more from a story than that.”

If there’s one thing that romance writers seem to agree on, it’s that romance fiction has evolved to offer much diversity and complexity—from a greater focus on consent, to increased representation of people of color, to more LGBTQ romance stories. “In recent years, it has become beautifully more inclusive,” Safi says. “To be able to say that romance is for everyone—who gets to fall in love, who gets a happy ending. It’s not perfect, but it is really heartening to see different kinds of people writing romance; who gets to read this and explore this has opened up.”

Keyra K. Allred, co-president of the Romance Chapter of the League of Utah Writers, adds, “Within the league, with the romance chapter in particular, we try and hit those subjects hard. We encourage consent. In our anthologies, we don’t accept certain actions taking place within the stories. We need to be a safe space for both writers and readers to come to. While we acknowledge that certain experiences are true, we kind of focus more on consent, on queer voices, on voices of color, indigenous voices. It’s been a huge boom in the last few years.”

Today’s writers also enjoy finding a satisfying balance between indulging in the tropes of the romance genre— the stuff that brings readers in the first place—and offering a twist on those tropes. Safi, who also teaches creative writing, notes, “When I teach this, I teach this in the way that I was taught about music: Great music builds on patterns, and brings an element of surprise. The fact that the form exists allows you to do some really interesting things. The readers expect those rules, so it’s not about breaking every rule. It’s knowing which rules to break, and why.”

Melissa Schack, Romance Chapter co-president with Allred, notes as an example, “I’m fond of genre-bending. My first book is an enemies-to-lovers historical romance, but the heroine is a serial killer. … I like flipping tropes where the male and female switch.”

Despite all the variety in the form, however, writers of romance fiction still face the frequent perception that their work isn’t “serious,” in much the same way that other kind of art directed largely at women often isn’t treated as serious. According to Schack, “People are dismissive about romance writing. I’ve told people I’m a romance writer, and they wave it off like it isn’t important. Yet, I’ve found some of the most important fiction is the kind for entertainment. People are more comfortable learning life’s lessons through fiction.”

“I’ve had this conversation with people who are quoteunquote ‘serious writers,” Rachael Bush says. “Okay, congratulations for being a serious writer. Does that mean I’m not a serious writer, because I’m writing a story about two people getting together over great odds? They can never explain it.”

“I love stories, I love to be immersed in them,” Bush adds. “Life is stressful, life is hard, and love is fantastic.” CW

theESSENTIALS

St. Patrick’s Day

March will now forever be associated with the start of the COVID pandemic—including the fact that the St. Patrick’s Day events of 2020 were among the first events to be cancelled as a result. Four years on, we’ve now experienced a return to mostly-normalcy, including enjoying the wide variety of ways that locals can get their Irish on during this St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Chief among the local events is the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Siamsa (“party”) on Saturday, March 16 at The Gateway mall (400 W. 200 South), sponsored by the Hibernian Society of Utah. The parade begins at 11 a.m. at the south end of the mall and continuing down Rio Grande St. The siamsa runs from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., featuring plenty of traditional Irish music acts (including Pladdohg, Murphy and the Giant, Shanahy, An Rogaire Dubh), dancers (Harp Irish Dance, Taylor Nicole Academy of Irish Dance and more), traditional Irish food, and vendor booths and entertainment for all ages. You can also head down to Zion Bank Stadium in Sandy, where the 2024 Hurling and Gaelic Football National Championships will be hosted locally, with an Irish fest on March 17. Visit irishinutah.org for additional information.

Of course, St. Patrick’s Day is also often associated with the bending of the elbow, and plenty of local taverns—including Irish-themed locations like Piper Down, Flanagan’s on Main, Leprechaun Pub and more—will be hosting special activities, food and entertainment for the weekend (see Back Burner, p. 20). However you choose to celebrate, do so responsibly, and with Irish spirit in your heart. (Scott Renshaw)

Bored Teachers Comedy Tour

In a general sense, the idea of a bored teacher may seem like something of an oxymoron. After all, there are plenty of topics to teach these days, and given the current trends in terms of what’s acceptable in the classroom and what’s not, that alone would seem enough to keep an instructor primed and perceptive. Of course, dealing with goof-offs who are absolutely oblivious to the lessons they’re supposed to learn could reduce even the most astute educator to a state of bleary-eyed indifference. Happily then, some are sounding off, courtesy of teacher/comedians who relay their classroom catastrophes and share those insights with audiences in need of insights about what it actually takes to teach these days. Through skits and standup, they describe the trials and tribulations of what it takes to command a classroom, while also dealing with the pitfalls of their profession. As one of these comics says, “If you show me a teacher who loves their job all the time, all year, I’ll show you someone who’s doing something illegal.” Hmmm. That seems a bit of an imagebuster, but anyone who’s ever attended a parent-teacher conference—or worse yet, has been reprimanded due to a disruptive kid—knows that most educators deserve more than the proverbial shiny red apple. No worries, though: This is one school project that earns some exceptionally high marks.

The Bored Teachers Comedy Tour comes to Delta Hall at the Eccles, at 7:30 pm on Saturday, March 16. Tickets cost $35 - $55; visit arttix.org to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (Lee Zimmerman)

Downy Doxey-Marshall: Bloom and Laura Sharp Wilson: Gilding the Lily: A Choreography

As we see spring creeping up just around the corner—in the literal sense, if not in the Utah sense—our sensibilities start turning once again to seeing new life sprout on bare trees and peek through snow-covered landscapes. That makes it a perfect time for Finch Lane Gallery to present a joint exhibition of two local artists with themes of emerging greenery.

Downy Doxey Marshall’s Bloom finds blossoms bursting out on fascinating canvases (“Weeping Cherry” is pictured). The colors range from bold slashes of red to subtle pastels, swirling into patterns that don’t always appear at first glance. Like the new life of spring itself, the images take time to emerge, and feel all the more delightful for the effort.

Laura Sharp Wilson’s Gilding the Lily: A Choreography employs different materials and techniques in bringing viewers closer to the natural world. The artist has identified an upbringing in rural New Jersey as an inspiration for the particular pictures of vines, trees and flowers that appear in this show, as she investigates, according to the exhibition’s press release, “the distance most humans currently have from the natural world.

Both shows run at Finch Lane Gallery (54 Finch Lane) now through April 19, with a Gallery Stroll opening exhibition on Friday, March 15 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., as well as a closing reception during the April Gallery Stroll on April 19. The gallery is open Monday and Wednesday – Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Tuesday 9 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. Visit saltlakearts.org/programs/exhibitions for additional exhibition details and artist bios. (SR)

HILARY REITER

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

March Madness

The craziness of racism, antisemitism and l’amour fou marks three new releases

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

The American Society of Magical Negroes BBB

Writer/director Kobi Libii concocts the kind of satirical premise that easily could have tipped over into pedantic self-importance, but emerges with a deft enough touch to end up both entertaining and urgent. The prospects for Aren Mbondo’s (Justice Smith) career as a visual artist appear to be vanishing, when he is approached by Roger (David Alan Grier) to join the titular secret society—a group of Black people dedicated to the proposition that solving White people’s problems and making them comfortable is the best way to keep their own lives safe. There’s a charming romanticcomedy angle in Aren’s relationship with a coworker (An-Li Bogan) of his first White “client” (Drew Tarver), and a great (though under-used) character in Rupert Friend’s disconnected-fromreality tech CEO. But Libii understands how to keep the focus on the tension between the Society’s goals and the idea that White people don’t have an inalienable right not to be uncomfortable, even figuring out how to provide a climactic thesis-statement speech that doesn’t feel like a climactic thesis-statement speech because it’s so well-integrated with comedic chaos. It does feel like Libii doesn’t fully exploit the opportunities for actual magic in his premise—perhaps for budgetary reasons?—and pokes kind of obviously at examples of the trope in The Green Mile, Driving Miss Daisy and others. The result is still an engaging way to walk a tightrope between its two contrasting ideas: not making White people feel bad, while still asking them to listen. Available March 15 in theaters. (PG-13)

Love Lies Bleeding BBB

Where writer/director Rose Glass tried to walk a line between horror and psychological thriller in her 2019 debut feature Saint Maud, here she fully embraces exploitation cinema with more than a touch of the surreal. In 1989 New Mexico, Lou (Kristen Stewart) is running a small-town gym

where she meets new-girl-in-town Jackie (Katy O’Brian), an aspiring bodybuilder. The two quickly begin an affair, which is complicated by steroids, the FBI, Lou’s gun-running criminal dad (Ed Harris) and the abusive husband (Dave Franco) beating Lou’s sister (Jena Malone)—though not necessarily in that order. Glass and co-writer Weronika Tofilska aren’t shy about getting graphic with either the sex or the violence in their story, and they fill the periphery with grimy details like Anna Baryshnikov as a brown-toothed girl obsessed with Lou, and Harris’s stringy-haired creep having an obsession with big bugs. It’s all over-the-top absurdist fun—up to and including the roid-rage hallucinations experienced by Jackie, which sometimes seem to bleed over into the real world—and that makes it a bit less effective when Glass tries to play the plot machinations for straight suspense, or when Stewart’s earnestly intense performance seems to belong in a different movie. When both filmmakers and audience can surrender to the scuzzier aesthetics, it’s much easier to pick up what Love Lies Bleeding is laying down. Available March 15 in theaters. (R)

One Life BBB

At the outset, the true story of Nicky Winton feels like it might be something akin to Schindler’s List if Oskar Schindler had already been a saint at the outset—a narrative about atrocities without much of a character arc to pursue—but director James Hawes’ drama eventually carves out its own unique tale about the aftermath of a largescale rescue effort. It opens in 1987 England, with Winton (Anthony Hopkins) going through old mementos and flashing back to 1938, where as a young stock broker (Johnny Flynn), he travels to Prague to begin arranging transport to England of refugee children from Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Those flashback sequences do find Winton already a socialist do-gooder, and the focus on logistics doesn’t exactly lead to high drama (although Helena Bonham Carter does get a great small role as Winton’s mother). The better material comes in Hopkins’ portrait of a man whose moral compass is so driven by his mantra that “it’s never enough, is it” that he finds himself focused on where his efforts fell short, rather than on those he could save. The tear-jerker of a finale works as a reminder that those with the strongest sense of justice will always be thinking about the “more” they should have done, perhaps requiring others to remind them of what they have accomplished. Available March 15 in theaters. (PG) CW One Life

Love Lies Bleeding

The Foilies 2024

Recognizing the worst in government transparency

BY ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION AND MUCKROCK comments@cityweekly.net

We’re taught in school about checks and balances between the various branches of government, but those lessons tend to leave out the role that civil ians play in holding officials accountable. We’re not just talking about the ballot box, but the everyday power we all have to demand government agencies make their records and data available to public scrutiny.

cover an egregious pattern of ignoring or willfully violating the law.

At every level of government in the United States (and often in other countries), there are laws that empower the public to file requests for public records. They go by various names—Freedom of Information, Right-toKnow, Open Records or even Sunshine laws—but all share the general concept that because the government is of the people, its documents belong to the people. You don’t need to be a lawyer or journalist to file these; you just have to care.

It’s easy to feel powerless in these times, as local newsrooms close and elected officials embrace disinformation as a standard political tool. But here’s what you can do, and we promise it’ll make you feel better: Pick a local agency—it could be a city council, a sheriff’s office or state department of natural resources—and send them an email demanding their public record-request log, or any other record showing what requests they receive, how long it took them to respond, whether they turned over records and how much they charged the requester for copies. Many agencies even have an online portal that makes it easier, or you can use MuckRock’s

The Foilies are our attempt to call out these violations each year during Sunshine Week, an annual event (March 10-16 this year) when advocacy groups, news organizations and citizen watchdogs combine efforts to highlight the importance of government transparency laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock, in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, compile the year’s worst and most ridiculous responses to public records requests and other attempts to thwart public access to information, including through increasing attempts to gut the laws guaranteeing this access—and we issue these agencies and officials tongue-in-cheek “awards” for their failures.

Sometimes, these awards actually make a difference. Last year, Mendocino County in California repealed its policy of charging illegal public records fees after local journalists and activists used The Foilies’ “The Transparency Tax Award” in their advocacy against the rule.

This year marks our 10th annual accounting of ridiculous redactions, outrageous copying fees, and retaliatory attacks on requesters—and we have some doozies for the ages.

The Not-So-Magic Word Award: Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia

Public records laws exist in no small part because corruption, inefficiency and other malfeasance happen, regardless of the size of the government. The public’s right to hold these entities accountable through transparency

Of course, this kind of oversight can be very inconvenient to those who would like a bit of secrecy. Employees in Virginia’s Augusta County thought they’d found a neat trick for foiling Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

In an attempt to withhold a bunch of emails they wanted to hide from the public eye, employees in Augusta County began tagging their messages with “No FOIA,” as an apparent incantation that staff believed could ward off transparency. Of course, there are no magical words that allow officials to evade transparency laws; the laws assume all government records are public, so agencies can’t just say they don’t want records released.

Fortunately, at least one county employee thought that breaking the law must be a little more complicated than that, and this person went to Breaking Through News to blow the whistle.

Breaking Through News sent a FOIA request for those “NO FOIA” emails. The outlet received just 140 emails of the 1,212 that the county indicated were responsive, and those released records highlighted the county’s highly suspect approach to withholding public records. Among the released records were materials like the wages for the Sheriff Office employees (clearly a public record), the overtime rates (clearly a public record) and a letter from the sheriff deriding the competitive wages being offered at other county departments (embarrassing, but still clearly a public record).

Other clearly public records, according to a local court, included recordings of executive sessions that the commissioners had entered illegally, which Breaking Through News learned about through the released records. They teamed up with the Augusta Free Press to sue for access to the recordings, a suit they won last month.

They still haven’t received the awarded records, and it’s possible that Augusta County will appeal. Still, it turned out that, thanks to the efforts of local journalists, their misguided attempt to conjure a culture of “No FOIA” in August County actually brought them more scrutiny and accountability.

Government officials retaliated against a public records requester by filling her mailbox with noodles.

The Poop and Pasta Award: Richlands, Virginia

In 2020, Laura Mollo of Richlands, Virginia, discovered that the county 911 center could not dispatch Richlands residents’ emergency calls: While the center dispatched all other county 911 calls, calls from Richlands had to be transferred to the Richlands Police Department. After the Richlands Town Council dismissed Mollo’s concerns, she began requesting records under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

The records showed that Richlands residents faced lengthy delays in connecting with local emergency services. On one call, a woman pleaded for help for her husband, only to be told that county dispatch couldn’t do anything—and her husband died during the delay. Other records Mollo obtained showed that Richlands appeared to be misusing its resources.

You would hope that public officials would be grateful that Mollo uncovered the town’s inadequate emergency response system and budget mismanagement. Well, not exactly: Mollo endured a campaign of intimidation and harassment for holding the government accountable. Mollo describes how her mailbox was stuffed with cow manure on one occasion, and spaghetti on another (which Mollo understood to be an insult to her husband’s Italian heritage). A town contractor harassed her at her home; police pulled her over; and Richlands officials even had a special prosecutor investigate her.

But this story has a happy ending: In November 2022, Mollo was elected to the Richlands Town Council. The records she uncovered led Richlands to change to the county 911 center, which now dispatches Richlands residents’ calls. And in 2023, the Virginia Coalition for Open Government recognized Mollo by awarding her the Laurence E. Richardson Citizen Award for Open Government. Mollo’s recognition is well-deserved.

The feds heavily redacted an email about reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance.

Our communities are indebted to people like her who vindicate our right to public records, especially when they face such inexcusable harassment for their efforts.

The Literary Judicial Thrashing of the Year Award: Pennridge, Pennsylvania, School District

Sometimes when you’re caught breaking the law, the judge will throw the book at you. In the case of Pennridge School District in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Judge Jordan B. Yeager catapulted an entire shelf of banned books at administrators for violating the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

The case begins with Darren Laustsen, a local parent who was alarmed by a new policy to restrict access to books that deal with “sexualized content,” seemingly in lockstep with book-censorship laws happening around the country. Searching the school library’s catalog, he came across a strange trend: Certain controversial books that appeared on other challenged-book lists had been checked out for a year or more. Since students are only allowed to check out books for a week, he (correctly) suspected that library staff were checking them out themselves to block access.

So he filed a public records request for all books checked out by nonstudents. Now, it’s generally important for library patrons to have their privacy protected when it comes to the books they read—but it’s a different story if public employees are checking out books as part of their official duties and effectively enabling censorship. The district withheld the records, provided incomplete information and even went so far as to return books and re-check them out under a student’s account in order to obscure the truth. And so Laustsen sued.

The judge issued a scathing and literarily robust ruling: “In short, the district

altered the records that were the subject of the request, thwarted public access to public information and effectuated a cover-up of faculty, administrators and other nonstudents’ removal of books from Pennridge High School’s library shelves.”

The opinion was peppered with witty quotes from historically banned books, including Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alice in Wonderland, The Art of Racing in the Rain and To Kill a Mockingbird. After enumerating the district’s claims that proved to be inaccurate, he cited Kurt Vonnegut’s catchphrase from Slaughterhouse-Five: “So it goes.”

The Photographic Recall Award: Los Angeles Police Department

Police agencies seem to love nothing more than trumpeting an arrest with an accompanying mugshot—but when the tables are turned, and it’s the cops’ headshots being disclosed, they seem to lose their minds and all sense of the First Amendment.

This unconstitutional escapade began (and is still going) after a reporter and police watchdog published head shots of Los Angeles Police Department officers, which they lawfully obtained via a public records lawsuit. LAPD cops and their union were furious. The city then sued the reporter, Ben Camacho, and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, demanding that they remove the headshots from the internet and return the records to LAPD.

You read that right: After a settlement in a public records lawsuit required the city to disclose the headshots, officials turned around and sued the requester for, uh, disclosing those same records, because the city claimed it accidentally released pictures of undercover cops.

But it gets worse: Last fall, a trial court denied a motion to throw out the city’s case seeking to claw back the images; Camacho and the coalition have appealed that deci-

sion and have not taken the images offline. And in February, the LAPD sought to hold Camacho and the coalition liable for damages it may face in a separate lawsuit brought against it by hundreds of police officers whose headshots were disclosed.

We’re short on space, but we’ll try explain the myriad ways in which all of the above is flagrantly unconstitutional: The First Amendment protects Camacho and the coalition’s ability to publish public records they lawfully obtained, prohibits courts from entering prior restraints that stop protected speech and limits the LAPD’s ability to make them pay for any mistakes the city made in disclosing the headshots. Los Angeles officials should be ashamed of themselves—but their conduct shows that they apparently have no shame.

The Doobie-ous Redaction Award: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Drug Enforcement Administration

Bloomberg reporters got a major scoop when they wrote about a Health and Human Services memo detailing how health officials were considering major changes to the federal restrictions on marijuana, recommending reclassifying it from a Schedule I substance to Schedule III.

Currently, the Schedule I classification for marijuana puts it in the same league as heroin and LSD, while Schedule III classification would indicate lower potential for harm and addiction along with valid medical applications.

Since Bloomberg viewed but didn’t publish the memo itself, reporters from the Cannabis Business Times filed a FOIA request to get the document into the public record. Their request was met with limited suc-

To deter public access, some agencies claim outrageous fees for redacting documents.

cess: HHS provided a copy of the letter, but redacted virtually the entire document besides the salutation and contact information. When pressed further by CBT reporters, the DEA and HHS would only confirm what the redacted documents had already revealed—virtually nothing.

HHS handed over the full, 250-page review several months later, after a lawsuit was filed by an attorney in Texas. The crucial information the agencies had fought so hard to protect: “Based on my review of the evidence and the FDA’s recommendation, it is my recommendation as the Assistant Secretary for Health that marijuana should be placed in Schedule III of the CSA.”

The Failed Sunshine State Award: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida’s Sunshine Law is known as one of the strongest in the nation, but Gov. Ron DeSantis spent much of 2023 working, pretty successfully, to undermine its superlative status with a slew of bills designed to weaken public transparency and journalism.

In March, DeSantis was happy to sign a bill to withhold all records related to travel done by the governor and a whole cast of characters. The law went into effect just more than a week before the governor announced his presidential bid.

In addition, DeSantis has asserted his “executive privilege” to block the release of public records in a move that, according to experts like media law professor Catherine Cameron, is unprecedented in Florida’s history of transparency.

DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign in January. That may affect how many trips he’ll be taking out-of-state in the coming months, but it won’t undo the damage of his Sunshine-slashing policies.

Multiple active lawsuits are challenging

The police department in Richmond, Virginia, charged $7,873 for the release of routine documents.

DeSantis over his handling of Sunshine Law requests. In one, The Washington Post is challenging the constitutionality of withholding the governor’s travel records. In that case, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement official last month claimed the governor had delayed the release of his travel records. Nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight filed a lawsuit in February, challenging “the unjustified and unlawful delay” in responding to requests, citing a dozen records requests to the governor’s office that have been pending for one to three years.

“It’s stunning, the amount of material that has been taken off the table from a state that many have considered to be the most transparent,” Michael Barfield, director of public access for the Florida Center for Government Accountability (FCGA), told NBC News. The FCGA is now suing the governor’s office for records on flights of migrants to Massachusetts. “We’ve quickly become one of the least transparent in the space of four years.”

The Self-Serving Special Session Award: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

By design, FOIA laws exist to help the people who pay taxes hold the people who spend those taxes accountable. In Arkansas, as in many states, taxpayer money funds most government functions: daily office operations, schools, travel, dinners, security, etc. As Arkansas’ governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders has flown all over the country, accompanied by members of her family and the Arkansas State Police. For the ASP alone, the people of Arkansas paid $1.4 million in the last half of last year.

Last year, Sanders seemed to tire of the scrutiny being paid to her office and her spending. Sanders cited her family’s safety as she tried to shutter any attempts to see

her travel records, taking the unusual step of calling a special session of the state Legislature to protect herself from the menace of transparency.

Notably, the governor had also recently been implicated in an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act case related to these kinds of records.

The attempt to gut the law included a laundry list of carve-outs unrelated to safety, such as walking back the ability of public-records plaintiffs to recover attorney’s fees when they win their case. Other attempts to scale back Arkansas’ FOIA earlier in the year had not passed, and the state attorney general’s office was already working to study what improvements could be made to the law.

Fortunately, the people of Arkansas came out to support the principle of government transparency, even as their governor decided she shouldn’t need to deal with it anymore. Over a tense few days, dozens of Arkansans lined up to testify in defense of the state FOIA and the value of holding elected officials, like Sanders, accountable to the people.

By the time the session wound down, the state Legislature had gone through multiple revisions. The sponsors walked back most of the extreme asks and added a requirement for the Arkansas State Police to provide quarterly reports on some of the governor’s travel costs. However, other details of that travel, like companions and the size of the security team, ultimately became exempt. Sanders managed to twist the whole fiasco into a win, though it would be a great surprise if the Legislature didn’t reconvene this year with some fresh attempts to take a bite out of FOIA.

While such a blatant attempt to bash public transparency is certainly a loser move, it clearly earns Sanders a win in the Foilies— and the distinction of being one of the least transparent government officials this year.

The Creative Invoicing Award: Richmond, Virginia, Police Department

OpenOversightVA requested copies of general procedures—the basic outline of how police departments run—from localities across Virginia. While many departments either publicly posted them or provided them at no charge, Richmond Police responded with a $7,873.14 invoice. That’s $52.14 an hour to spend one hour on “review, and, if necessary, redaction” on each of the department’s 151 procedures. This Foilies “winner” was chosen because of the wide gap between how available the information should be, and the staggering cost to bring it out of the file cabinet.

As MuckRock’s agency tracking shows, this is hardly an aberration for the agency. But this estimated invoice came not long after the department’s tear-gassing of protesters in 2020 cost the city almost $700,000. At a time when other departments are opening their most basic rulebooks (in California, for example, every law enforcement agency is required to post these policy manuals online), Richmond has been caught attempting to use a simple FOIA request as a cash cow. CW

For more of this year’s Foilies winners, visit cityweekly.net.

The Foilies (Creative Commons Attribution License) were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Director of Investigations Dave Maass, Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Legal Fellow Brendan Gilligan, Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton) and MuckRock (Co-Founder Michael Morisy, Data Reporter Dillon Bergin, Engagement Journalist Kelly Kauffman, and Contributor Tom Nash), with further review and editing by Shawn Musgrave. Illustrations are by EFF Designer Hannah Diaz. The Foilies are published in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia.

Keep On the Silverside

Sugar

House’s beloved deli hits its stride.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

The cutthroat nature of the restaurant business often sees new, exciting concepts get cut down before they have a chance to realize their potential. With this reality constantly looming over the local dining scene, it’s hard for a new place to be open long enough to get their bugs worked out. There are plenty of restaurants that fit this description right now, but I was quite impressed with Silverside Deli during my last visit. I’ve been here a few times since it opened in spring 2023, and it’s clear that this Sugar House deli has hit its stride.

It’s easy to assume that opening a sandwich shop or deli is an easy concept to pull off—after all, it’s just stuff between two slices of bread, right? If you’re going to make a deli that has any chance of survival, however, you better be cranking out something you can’t get anywhere else. This is where Silverside Deli really succeeds. The menu includes some options you’ve likely seen at other delis around town, but Silverside’s head chef Dash Howell puts his gourmet spin on each sandwich.

For a case study of what I mean, let’s consider the unassuming turkey sub ($15). I can’t tell you how many turkey sandwiches I’ve had from sandwich shops and grocery stores alike, but I can tell you that the turkey sub at Silverside blows them all away. It’s the perfectly textured hoagie

roll and the well-seasoned sliced turkey that create the foundation for this sub. Turkey is a tricky protein to feature front and center, as it’s not the most flavorful, but that thick stack of sliced gobbler is as close to perfect as you can get.

On top of that, you get a generous swipe of mayo, the creaminess of which is bolstered by the olive-and-pickled-pepper cream cheese spread. I like a turkey sub swimming in mayo, and that’s exactly what you get here. In the produce section, this sub gets some thinly sliced onion— just enough to provide a hint of flavor without overpowering the sandwich— shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced tomato and vinegary banana peppers. The veggies are tossed with some olive oil and a honey balsamic glaze and stuffed into the hoagie roll, making for a delightful mix of flavors and textures. My only small gripe is that after a while, this veggie-andsauce combo can make the sandwich a little soggy if you’re getting it to-go.

Their roast beef sandwich ($15) is on the menu through March, and it’s yet another reinvention of a classic deli fixture. The arugula, fried onions and horseradish sauce make this one stand out, though all that tender, thinly-sliced roast beef doesn’t hurt any. It’s all stacked between two thick slices of white bread swirled with rye—classic deli from top to bottom right here.

On the hot sandwich side of the menu, Silverside has gleefully thrown its hat in the fried-chicken sandwich ring. They’ve got a spicy chicken ($14) and a honey buffalo chicken ($14). If you want to simply dip your toe into the spicy chicken spectrum, the honey buffalo chicken is the way to go. They like to go big with their sandwich stuffings at Silverside; my honey buffalo chicken sandwich arrived with two enormous pieces of their panko-crusted fried chicken thighs that were barely contained by the ciabatta roll. This

is an excellent take on both buffalo wings and the hot chicken sandwich, as you’ve got a cool, creamy ranch sauce to temper the heat along with some thick-sliced pickles for good measure. Those who do want to leave scorch marks on their tongue will want to get the spicy chicken sandwich at the fire spice level—this’ll give you plenty of burn for your buck.

Other luminaries on the sandwich menu include an eggplant parmigiano ($15) that does a great job of transferring this classic Italian dish into a sandwich; it’s the rosemary vodka sauce and the cherry pepper relish that really send this over the top. I am also a fan of the chopped cheese sandwich ($14), an unapologetic mixture of a cheesesteak sandwich and a patty melt with plenty of grilled onions and pepper.

For those Silverside fans who have managed to sample everything on the menu, it’s worth checking out the deli’s monthly mystery sandwich ($14). You won’t find a description online, and the Silverside team is forbidden to say anything about this menu item, so don’t bother asking. It’s a “buy the ticket, take the ride” kind of deal, and far be it from me to spoil the fun. All I’ll say is that these monthly mysteries have had an excellent track record from yours truly.

From the gourmet sandwiches to the expertly prepared sides—their Cajun fries are near-perfect examples of the French fry discipline—Silverside Deli is pulling out all the stops and having a blast in the process. Mixed with the prompt service and bustling community of regulars, Silverside embodies everything you want from a neighborhood deli. CW

2 Row Brewing

6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com

Avenues Proper

376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Midnight EspecialDark Mexican Lager

Bewilder Brewing

445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap: Low Hanging PhruitNew Zealand Pilsner

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

On Tap: Boho Extra Dry 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: Liquid Lunch - IRANW India Red Ale

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

LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Sinday - Pale Ale

Level Crossing Brewing Co., POST

550 So. 300 West #100, SLC LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Down the Road - West Coast IPA

Moab Brewing

686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap:  Bulliet Bourbon barrelaged Brown

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

On Tap: Orange & Cardamom Resolutions Cider 6.9% Abv

Offset Bier Co 1755 Bonanza Dr Unit C, Park City offsetbier.com/

On Tap: DOPO IPA

BEER + PIZZA = <3

SUN-THU: 11am - 10pm • FRI-SAT: 11am - 11pm

550

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

On Tap: Gungan Sith LordDark Lager

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap:  La Playa-Mexican Style lager

Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Pink Boots IPA

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: Cowboy Lite - Smoked Pilsner

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

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

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: Pink Boots Hibiscus IPA

Roosters Brewing

Multiple Locations

RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Cyclops Irish Stout

SaltFire Brewing

2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake

SaltFireBrewing.com

On Tap: Oatmeal Stout with vanilla beans

Salt Flats Brewing

2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com

On Tap: Luau Rider - Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout

Scion Cider Bar

916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com

Ogden Beer Company 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com

On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA

Park City Brewery 1764 Uinta Way C1 ParkCityBrewing.com

On Tap: Jalapeno Ale

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

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

On Tap: Cached Out Hefeweisen -- Now available to go!

Proper Brewing/Proper Burger

857 So. Main & 865 So. Main properbrewingco.com

Proper Brewing: SLC Pils - Pilsner

Proper Burger: Salted Caramel Porter - Porter Brewed with Caramel and Salt

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

On Tap: YRJB - Juicy IPA

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

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

On Tap:  Celestial Lineage, Kölsch. 4.6%

Strap Tank Brewery, Springville

596 S 1750 W, Springville, UT StrapTankBrewery.com

On Tap: Bananza Hefeweizen

TF Brewing

936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com

On Tap: Kiss From a Gose

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

On Tap: The Griffen- Citrus Wheat Ale in collaboration with the 419th at Hill AFB

Top of Main Brewing

250 Main, Park City, Utah topofmainbrewpub.com

On Tap: Top of Main’s Hop Carousel Rotating IPA

On Tap: Scion Dead End Sweet - 6.5% ABV

Second Summit Cider 4010 So. Main, Millcreek secondsummitcider.com

On Tap: Imperial, Dry cider with English apples

Shades Brewing

154 W. Utopia Ave, S. Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Foggy Goggle Winter Lager

Live Music:  Thursdays

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

On Tap: Hellion Blonde Ale

Silver Reef

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

Squatters Pub Brewery / Salt Lake Brewing Co. 147 W. Broadway, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ squatters

On Tap:  Salt Lake Brewing Co’s O’Caden Irish Red Ale

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

On Tap: Wasatch Apricot

Hefeweizen – Fruited Wheat Beer

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’s Mother Urban’s Parlor Blonde Ale

Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com

Zolupez

205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden

Zolupez.com

Warming Ways

Spicy or boozy, these beers will keep you cozy.

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net

@utahbeer

Level Crossing - Eternal Pursuit: This dark strong ale was aged for 12 months in Ruby Port Wine and High West Rye Whiskey barrels. It pours a deep, clear copper-ruby color, with almost no head to speak of—just a thin ring of offwhite foam that skims the edges, leaving behind a gentle cascade of light spotty lace. Those whiskey and port barrel flavors are right there in the aroma, and merge well with those of the base dark ale. Notes of dark fruit, caramelized sugars, cocoa, molasses, vanilla, burnt oak and herbal hops all have a place here.

The flavor, meanwhile, just has a rich and flavorful sweet booziness to it that is hard to beat. Like the nose, the taste has a lot of sweetness—cocoa, caramel, darker molasses, ripe citrus fruit, herbal hops, candied sugars and vanilla all combine to give this fairly complex profile that just coats the mouth with a warm and sticky sweetness. The finish is very dry and tannic, with an oaky feel that lingers. The mouthfeel is fullbodied, thick and chewy-feeling in the mouth, with a bit of sharpness that zips down the tongue. You can feel that 8.8 percent alcohol up to a point, but it never gets stinging, simply offering beefy warmth to the body that adds a bit of extra oomph to all of these flavors.

Verdict: I liked this latest addition to the Red Feather Cambium Series—a lot The whiskey and port barrels’ character matched up beautifully with the rich, fruity sweetness of the Belgian ale to make a decadent mélange of flavors that just bombed the mouth with richness.

Yikes, they do barrel-aged beer the right way here!

Uinta-Chile Limón: This new lager is made with chilis, lemon and salt. It pours a clear golden color, with a onefinger head of off-white foam. The head has a decent level of retention, fading over time to leave just a trace of foamy lace on the sides of the glass. The aroma of the brew is quite subdued, with some light lemon peel, along with a decent hit of chili pepper and some toasty grain. At the same time, there is a good showing of floral and herbal hops, producing an overall nice, inviting smell.

The taste is surprisingly malty and a little sweet. The lemon is dominant but lively on the palate. Spicy and sweet. The spice from the hops mingles perfectly with the lemon and makes that wonderful sweet & spicy taste. The mouthfeel is excellent, with firm bubbles to add to the prickliness of the chilis. The peppers tingle a bit with bitterness, but this finishes sweeter. That sweet finish is more shandy than pilsner, IMO, but it is not cloying. The nose remains abundantly fruity and enticing throughout the drink; in factm the scent of the lemon and pepper is like perfume to me. The sweetness in the finish has to be from the lemon rather than the malt, and it is forgivable.

Verdict: You will notice some scratchiness on the back of your throat from the chilis. You may also notice the malt comes to a roundness, and the finish cleans itself up in a way from the peppers that keeps this from drinking like a soda. It has a refreshing, lemonade-like drinkable quality. The more I drank it, the more I liked it.

At 5.0 percent, you will be finding this lager on draft and in cans throughout the state. The sample of Chile Limón that I enjoyed came in a huge 20-oz. “tall boy” can. Eternal Pursuit’s 16-oz. can provides plenty of liquid to help you find your happy place, and it can be found at both Level Crossing locations. As always, cheers! CW

MIKE RIEDEL

MIKE RIEDEL

BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

2024 Saint Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl

Those after a social pub crawl need look no further than Lucky’s Saint Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl, taking place in downtown SLC on March 16. This is the grand dame of Saint Paddy’s Day festivities, featuring a crawl list of 10 local watering holes that will be offering drink specials throughout the event. Check-in starts at 4 p.m. at either London Belle (321 Main Street) or Twist (32 Exchange Place). From there, revelers can visit distinguished local pubs such as Boomerang Bar, Gracie’s, Quarters Arcade Bar and Shades on State. After the pub crawl, your ticket gets you into after parties at International Bar and Sky SLC. For those about to crawl, we salute you.

Saint Patrick’s Day at Piper Down

The weekend of Saint Patrick’s Day is already upon us, so why not pay a visit to Salt Lake’s own Irish pub? The folks at Piper Down (1492 S. State Street) have released their Saint Patrick’s weekend schedule, and it’s looking to be a doozy this year. From March 15 - 17, visitors can enjoy live music from the likes of Finch and the Magpies, Folk Hogan and Red Headed Step Twins. In addition to this live entertainment, Piper Down will host a cadre of Heathen Highlanders who promise to mix things up throughout the weekend. All this is complemented by Piper Down’s traditional Irish pub menu, and plenty of beer on tap.

Flanagan’s Saint Patrick’s Day Celebration

If you’re in Park City for Saint Patrick’s Day, Flanagan’s on Main (438 Main Street) is where you’ll want to celebrate. This old-world Irish pub will be open starting at 11 a.m. on March 17 with live music starting at 2 p.m. As Flanagan’s has a restaurant space separate from its tavern, families can swing by for some traditional Irish pub fare before the adults head back for some green-tinted revelry. Throughout the day, the Flanagan’s team will be hosting plenty of giveaway opportunities, a few raffles and some Flanagan’s Irish swag throughout the festivities. Whether you like your bangers delivered by a live band or served up with some mash, Flanagan’s has got you covered.

Quote of the Week: “I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” –Winston Churchill

salt

lake CITY WEEKLY

BY WES LONG wlong@cityweekly.net

“On Friday, Dec. 20, while many of us were staring at the clock on our computers waiting to go home, a federal judge, seemingly out of nowhere, deemed Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional,” announced managing editor Rachel Piper on Dec. 24, 2013. “I was blindsided ... Even though I work in news, there was no thought in my mind that this was something that could happen so quickly.”

Indeed, Judge Robert J. Selby’s ruling jolted proponents and opponents of marriage equality alike. And while Selby’s order would be stayed the following month amid appeal efforts from Gov. Herbert’s administration, the Dec. 20 ruling lent additional joy to the holiday season for many people.

“Hundreds of gay couples who had been waiting for this moment—for months, for years, for decades—were not so slow to react,” Piper noted. “County clerk offices were crushed with people applying for licenses and getting married on the spot—and the response isn’t letting up.”

Such an outpouring of joy was a welcome tonic to the tumult of events that punctuated City Weekly’s 30th year. Hate and antigovernment groups were on the rise again— as noxious as the fumes from the Stericycle incinerator, neither of which were taken seriously by state leadership. Utah’s GOP leaders were instead getting their hackles up over Count My Vote’s proposed changes to the fringe-friendly caucus system and looking to raise penalties for cockfighting.

The paper had covered the government shutdown thanks to the grandstanding of Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz; Boy Scout leaders toppling a 170 million-year-old rock formation in Goblin Valley State Park; rancher Cliven Bundy initiating an armed standoff with law enforcement in Nevada, and then-San Juan Commissioner Phil Lyman illegally riding an ATV into Recapture Canyon to spurn its closure by the BLM.

“We live in an age of discourse with blinders on,” lamented A&E editor Scott Renshaw on March 6. “We lock ourselves into a world in which we’ve decided that only those who agree with us about everything have anything to teach us.”

Opportunities to learn and grow made an impression on some and were lost on others, as in the occasion of Mormon feminists organizing for female ordination, the cessation of downtown carriage rides after the death of

Jerry the horse, and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams’ efforts to unite the patchwork of unincorporated areas in the valley.

The city gained a new courthouse and bid farewell to the historic Farmers and Stock Growers Bank (125 S. Main) and the Flower Patch building (500 S. State), which had stood in lone defiance of Grand America developer Earl Holding for years. The Tribune was laying off many in a recessionary digital age, but alt-publications like SLUG, Utah Stories and City Weekly flourished.

Our paper released many unique entries, like Betsy Ross’ moving feature on the death of her son from painkillers, Stephen Dark’s depiction of prostitutes seeking to leave the life, Carolyn Campbell’s look at notorious sperm-swapper Tom Lippert and Stephen Speckman’s profile of Utah volunteers in Haiti. Satirist D.P. Sorensen made his exit after 20 years, as did veteran writer/ proofreader John Paul Brophy. Colby Frazier made his debut on our pages, and Katherine Pioli took charge of the recreation section.

Back at the county clerk offices, Piper informed readers that “an amazing, joyful scene” had taken place as a line of people wrapped around two floors to obtain marriage licenses. “Couples were wearing matching colors; many had children in tow ... Christmas carols were sung, and people had dropped off donuts and coffee for those waiting in line. After the [initial legal] stay was denied, a cheer erupted at the clerk’s office, a wave of relief washing over the crowd.” Moments like that make all else that we do worth it.

Remembering Vol. 30: In the AG’s Office

“John Swallow has centered his campaign on his defense of Utah’s public lands and his efforts to defeat ‘Obamacare.’ But according to a tape-recorded conversation ... he has another plan he’s been less vocal about— taking the agency that investigates consumer-protection complaints away from the jurisdiction of the Governor’s Office and putting it under the control of the Attorney General’s office.”

So wrote Eric Peterson in May 2012, beginning this paper’s coverage of Swallow that reached a head in our 30th year. Peterson was the first reporter in this valley to draw attention to Swallow’s connections to special interests, particularly those making campaign donations. When a House Inves-

tigative Committee caught Swallow’s trail following allegations that he facilitated a bribe of then-Nevada Sen. Harry Reid on behalf of businessman Jeremy Johnson, the scandal took on troubling proportions.

“According to House-contracted investigator James Mintz,” Peterson wrote in December 2013, “Swallow’s deceptions have been as recent as mid-December, when Swallow gave a City Weekly reporter [Dark] details of his relationship with Timothy and Jennifer Bell, who contributed to Swallow’s campaign but later changed the record of their support from $15,000 to $1,000.”

Texting Dark prior to the December hearing, Swallow claimed “I did not know Mr. Bell prior to the [fundraising] event. When I learned Mr. Bell was a plaintiff in a case that the state was involved in (on the same side, not on opposite sides), I discussed it with the Attorney General and he took final responsibility for the case.”

Investigators showed Swallow had lied about his connection to the Bells, who had indeed thrown a fundraiser while simultaneously awaiting action on their behalf from then-AG Mark Shurtleff and Swallow as part of a lawsuit against Bank of America. Dark and Peterson reported that Swallow had numerous exchanges with the Bells beyond the one event. House investigator Mintz subsequently determined the actual cost of the fundraiser was neither $15,000 nor even $1,000, but more than $28,000, and that Swallow’s campaign was trying to cover up such connections and donations.

“The conflict of Swallow’s role in advocating for the Bells with Bank of America seems also to have been the cause of Shurtleff deciding to drop the state’s case against the national bank,” Peterson wrote. Shurtleff ceased the state’s case against the bank after the Bells received a favorable outcome, leaving roughly 5,000 other Utah homeowners high and dry.

The episode illustrated that the air of “pay for play” hung heavily within the AG’s office under both Shurtleff and Swallow. Further digging by investigators, our reporters and the Tribune’s Robert Gehrke and Tom Harvey raised additional questions about Swallow’s alleged use of dummy corporations, fabricated evidence handed to investigators, allegations of bribery and “lost” hard drives and emails. Swallow maintained his claims of innocence but ultimately resigned

after less than a year in office. Both he and Shurtleff were arrested in 2014. Shurtleff’s charges were dropped in 2016 and in 2017, Swallow was acquitted.

The scandal was but another embarrassing entry in Utah’s sleazy doings, as illustrated by Sister Dottie S. Dixon—aka Charles Lynn Frost (1954-2021)—for our March 27 issue, to the tune of “My Favorite Things”:

“Swallow and Shurtleff / the Olympics bribing / Enid and Joe and their Waldholtz conniving / Sheldon Killpack and his driving so drunk / being bad Mormons can really suck. / Horny Kevin Garn and his hot-tub carousing / foot-in-mouth Buttars, his brain unarousing / Ethics and standards—oh not in this space / time quickly passes in this holier-than-thou place.”

In the Itinerary

“One of the many ways the Internet is revolutionary is that you can easily get recommendations on hotels, dining, activities, entertainment and more,” noted Kathleen Curry and Geoff Griffin in a May 2013 blog post. “Fifteen years ago meant relying on friends, family, a travel agent or tour guide to point you in the right direction.”

The duo wedded the conveniences of the Internet with the personal touch of an earlier time in their travel writings for City Weekly. Curry, with a background in travel, and Griffin, an attorney-turned-writer who covered sports on our pages, were uniquely suited for such a niche. With their blogging under the “Travel Tramps” and A&E banners, they had been valued voices in the CW choir since the mid 2000s.

“We were already running a travel podcast and doing travel segments on X96 Radio from Hell,” they recently recalled. “City Weekly gave us the excuse—OK, we’d have gone anyway—to explore regional glamping, Utah bed and breakfasts, Park City spa stays, recreational trips, weekend getaways, beach breaks, wherever you can fly nonstop out of SLC, and the ‘Ultimate Geek Tour’ in honor of Kerry Jackson at X96.”

Now empty nesters, Curry and Griffin are still exploring the globe. They are busy working on such “lofty” goals, in Griffin’s words, as “racking up credit card points, maintaining hotel and airline elite status, and continuing to spend their retirement savings (and children’s inheritance) traveling the world.” CW

Mix Master

J.P. Whipple shows his talent for music, lyrics and an array of genres

BY SOPHIE CALIGIURI comments@cityweekly.net

Underneath the ordinary endeavors into music criticism, there is a governing belief that sprinkles itself quietly throughout music-driven conversations: You can be a good musician, or a meaningful lyricist, but good luck entertaining both skill sets. It’s the prototypical JackOf-All-Trades-Master-Of-None rationalization, i.e.: “Bob Dylan’s a poet, but I hate his squalling voice,” or “Kurt Cobain was an obvious lyrical talent, but a clearly lousy guitarist.” This noiselessly accepted philosophical kernel leads to a more dire circumstance: the loss of both art forms— the written lyric and the musical medium—via the near refusal to put the two in conversation with one another, unless in an effort to place them at odds.

The answer to this silent yet deep seated ailment comes in the form of J.P. Whipple, local inimitable musician involved in three projects, including solo work (performing under the moniker J.P. Whipple, aka Barefoot John Whipple), Tycoon Machete (a band consisting of Whipple on banjo/ guitar/vocals, Erin Stout on bass, Sean McCarthy on synthesizer, and James Perry on drums), as well a duet with Tycoon Machete’s Stout (The Erin & John Show).

The long and winding road that led to Whipple being so deeply submerged in the art of music began with an acute fascination with creating a psychedelic-based band, but he “wound up doing folk songs with an acoustic guitar, because I could.” What started as a methodology to stay tapped into music without rigging a stage

up with cumbersome instruments and sound equipment, turned into a realization that would shape one major facet of Whipple’s songwriting.

“I went up to Alaska, and had a pretty hard time, and came back with a real appreciation for the blues,” Whipple said.

“That music struck me as this real, honest and powerful low-tech emotional transfer from an artist to you. You can really feel that what came through on very limited recording equipment straight to wax was just pure heart and soul. That kind of changed my worldview, as far as music went, and I started to drift towards that.”

Coming into his own as a solo, rootsbased act did not mean a divergence from his original, psychedelic-soaked route. Rather, his solo work remains a project that informs and explores different, but equally enticing, elements than the traditional psych-based band. “Now, lately, I have technology and synthesizers and all of these wonderful toys, so I’m kind of going back towards psychedelia, but informed with slide guitar and slide banjo,” Whipple said.

This genre-blending (and -bending) has become the tell-tale heart of Tycoon Machete. The band is currently working on a concept album—with Whipple at the lyrical helm—which “becomes this metaphor for today’s world: these kind of media-savvy people that are just terrible, but they accumulate all this wealth and power, because it’s the United States and you can ride a long way on a wave of bullshit. So I am trying to write songs to that theme,” Whipple said.

Not entirely in contrast, but not entirely congruently, he said, his “roots music tends to be about the relationship between people and the earth, and it’s very primal that way. It talks about land, or storms, or weather, or drought. Which I find useful now, because people don’t necessarily connect with that anymore, so it’s nice to play music that does.”

What ties these two projects neatly to-

gether, though, is the steadfast steering of equal parts successful melody-making, and lyrical insights created in tandem. As Whipple says, “a lot of the time, I will write from whatever music that is being created, and just let the words kind of come out. And then it starts to make sense after a while. Or it doesn’t make sense. Music is a language, so certain words are going to sound right with a melody and other words are not, and I think a good song is one that actually works with that. We build words to sound like what we’re describing. A lot of words are like that. They sound a lot like the emotion you’re expressing.”

Stringing emotions together across time is the perpetual pursuit of making music that becomes not just an earworm that beats across your brain, but converses with itself. Understanding both a song’s melodies and its lyrics is something that Whipple comprehends not just of music, but of sound and time, and how the two interchange.

“Music is always on the moment. It’s al-

John Whipple

ways an artform that is expressed through time, and that to me means that through music, we try to tune our bodies, our soul, our minds, and our spirits to a moment that we are creating,” he said. “And it’s really important, for me at least, to have this understanding and communication with this moment, and to feel that moment, and be a part of the harmony or the dance to have the moment being consumed and being used to harmonize with the world or the universe.”

And what does this do? It adds layers to an artform that has the power to capture evanescent experiences. Further, as Whipple sees it, “[it] adds depth to this very fractured-phrase, short-sentence, headline-oriented time in the world.” Coupling lyrical achievement to not strictly accompany, but feel out a piece of time, is altogether possible and certainly encouraged, if you are of the same rare artistic breed as J.P. Whipple. Find his and Tycoon Machete’s work on Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, live (!), or any social media you frequent. CW

DAVID SEELIG

MUSIC PICK S

Journey, Toto @ Maverick Center 3/15

It may seem like an episode of the show Quantum Leap, but a double bill featuring classic rockers Journey and Toto could be considered something akin to time travel. Still, lest anyone consider either of these outfits solely of the vintage variety, it’s well worth remembering that the music produced by these two bands continues to resonate well beyond any initial incarnation. Journey, of course, was one of the architects of the AOR (album-oriented radio) format, courtesy of such perennial favorites as “Wheel in the Sky,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Open Arms,” “Lovin’, Touchin’ Squeezin’” and “Separate Ways”— songs that helped establish an anthemic approach that had lighters flickering in stadium darkness before cellphones were used for that task. Toto rode to fame on the fact that its members were all session aces and, as a unit, they had served as the backing band for practically everyone from Boz Skaggs to Steely Dan. That was before they were filling the airwaves with their own infectious hits, such as “Hold the Line,” “Africa” and “Rosanna.” Each offered an astute example of what can result when melody and musicianship find common ground. Granted, the nostalgia factor adds to the enticement, but it also serves as a reminder of an era when radio ruled—and for good reason. It’s a fond Journey…with Toto, too! The Journey Freedom Tour with special guest Toto comes to the Maverick Center at 7:30 p.m on Friday, March 15. Tickets cost $95.50 - $115.50 Go to ticketmaster.com (Lee Zimmerman)

THURSDAYS

FRIDAY, MAR 15

DJ NO FILTER

SATURDAY, MAR 16

RELLE THE DJ

SHARK SUNDAYS POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY TANNER

MONDAYS

REGGAE MONDAY WITH DJ NAPO

TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

CozyUpOn Our HeatedPatio! Our HeatedPatio!

Live Music

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 13

THEORETICAL BLONDE

SATURDAY, MAR. 16

THURSDAY, MAR 14 RIVER SPELL

TUESDAY, MAR 19

FRIDAY, MAR 15 HRAVEN FARM

WEDNESDAY, MAR. 20 ANDY CROSBY

Elephante @ Soundwell 3/16

Elephante, aka Tim Heng Wu, embodies the melodic side of electronic music. His take on the subgenre is perfect to listen to while on a road trip or dancing away on a summer night. Wu’s melodies and vocals feel dreamlike and wistful, such as his released singles “Troubled,” “Come Back for You” and “Have It All.” One could say that Wu’s journey into music is a dream come true: He graduated from Harvard, and was working at one of the top consulting firms in the country before creating music full-time. This unconventional journey strengthens the messages throughout his music; for example, his EP Glass Mansion shot straight to #1 on iTunes’ U.S. Dance chart in 2018, and delves into a deeper message about the fragility of success. He described the EP on the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying that the song is about “realizing that no matter how beautiful and strong what we build is, it’s ultimately fragile and one stone could bring it all down. It’s about coming to peace with the fact that it all might never be finished, and that’s okay. It’s about realizing that our Glass Mansion isn’t the answer to all our problems, and it’s about the journey of finding grace and happiness in a half-built home.” We love a relatable and humble DJ and producer like Elephante! Come listen to Elephante’s music at Soundwell on Saturday, March 16. Doors open at 9 p.m.; general admission costs $15. Go to tixr.com (Arica Roberts)

J-RAD COOLEY BAND

HENSKI

CHRISTOPHER A. DANIEL

Elephante

SAINT PATRICK’SLineUp

MARCH 16

12-3:30

4-6 6-9 9-2AM

12-3:30

4-6 6-9 9-2AM

MISI & RICHY MURPHY & THE GIANT RED SHOT PONY DJ STYLE

MARCH 17

MISI & RICHY MURPHY & THE GIANT

RED SHOT PONY

DJ GEOVANTE

By Emilee Atkinson

LOAFA Album Release/Glow Stick Party @ Boardwalk Sound 3/16

Going to an album-release show is a special experience. You get to hear something before everyone else, and have a great time doing it. Alt/punk rock band LOAFA—a dynamic and exciting group that has no shortage of energy when performing live—are gearing up for their debut album Identity Crisis to be shared with the world for the first time. You can find them shredding live at shows around Provo, and smashing watermelons out on the Salt Flats. In January, the band released a new single, “Overdrive,” which will hopefully make an appearance on the album, and also hopefully the entirety of the album will be just as good. “Overdrive” is fast-paced and high-energy, the exact type of song for when you need a pep talk but don’t have a friend handy to give you one. It has an addicting call-and-response aspect to it that will be [chef’s kiss] to hear live. Not only that, the show is also a glow stick party. Don’t lie, you got a little bit excited reading that. Even though glow sticks are technically for children (and ravers probably?), they’re still whimsical fun for everyone. Come jam out with LOAFA and guests Bella Grace and Cool Blooded on Saturday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Grab tickets at theboardwalksound.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

Flyana Boss, Josh Levi @ Kilby Court 3/18

Being “discovered” on TikTok is probably becoming a cliche at this point, but there’s truly some incredible talent on there that deserves a chance to shine. Hip-hop duo Bobbi LaNea Tyler and Folayan Omi Kunerede, aka Flyana Boss, are two of those brilliant minds. Their most popular song, “You Wish,” is immediately recognizable for a few reasons. One, their lyricism and delivery of those lyrics is off the charts. Two, the duo was creating some of the funnest and most interesting videos to go along with their performance of the song. With cameras pointed at them, they’ll run through a variety of locations while spitting rhymes about Google offices, random streets and hell, even Costco. These two are so chock full of musical genius, style and charisma that it’s hard not to put their songs on repeat. “...We didn’t know it was going to be like this,” Folayan said to Allure last August when “You Wish” blew up on the app. “We didn’t know our whole life would change,” LaNea added. “TikTok has helped every song we’ve released. ‘You Wish’ is just like an astronaut on its own—it’s just out of this world.” If you’re looking for some out of this world vibes, head out to see Flyana Boss with guest Josh Levi on their Bosstanical Garden Tour Monday, March 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $20 and can be found at 24tix.com. (EA)

Dorian Electra @ The Complex 3/20

There are a multitude of hyperpop figures nowadays, but Dorian Electra’s approach to Zeitgeist rock is fascinating. Their latest LP, Fanfare, focuses on a maximalist sound, but that doesn’t mean that edge is gone. Rather, instead of creating brand new soundscapes, they’ve tinkered with familiar sounds just enough to trigger listeners’ nostalgia while also putting their own twist on it. Fanfare never feels uncharacteristic or uneven. “Everything that I do, in this record especially, is all about embracing contradiction and hypocrisy, critiquing things and then getting right up and doing that exact thing,” Electra told People magazine. “People might say [Fanfare is] a critique, and I would be like, ‘No, it’s also a celebration.’” What’s not to love? Dorian Electra is over the top. One could say that this album is all performance art, that it is meant to make us question the sincerity of the supposedly artists we follow and listen to by putting out all the safest, on-the-nose themes over instrumentals that have lost some of their bite. Who cares? All the songs on this record, by and large, rule. Dorian has the musical chops of a solid hitmaker. They really know how to leave you wanting more and keep you pressing repeat. Hellp, Uffie and Izzy Spears open. Catch these acts on Fanfare The World Tour at the Complex on Wednesday, March 20. Doors at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $27.50 and can be found at thecomplexslc.com (Mark Dago)

Dorian Electra

@MEDIA.SEASEASYD

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

I will never advise you to dim the flame of your ambition or be shy about radiating your enthusiasm. For the next few weeks, though, I urge you to find ways to add sap, juice, and nectar to your fiery energy. See if you can be less like a furnace and more like a sauna; less like a rumbling volcano and more like a tropical river. Practically speaking, this might mean being blithely tender and unpredictably heartful as you emanate your dazzling glow.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Some spiritual traditions tell us that the path to enlightenment and awakening is excruciatingly difficult. One teaching compares it to crossing a bridge that’s sharper than a sword, thinner than a hair and hotter than fire. Ideas like these have no place in my personal philosophy. I believe enlightenment and awakening are available to anyone who conscientiously practices kindness and compassion.

A seeker who consistently asks, “What is the most loving thing I can do?” will be rewarded with life-enhancing transformations. Now I invite you to do what I just did, Taurus. That is, re-evaluate a task or process that everyone (maybe even you) assumes is hard and complicated. Perform whatever tweaks are necessary to understand it as fun, natural and engaging.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Do you have a relative your parents never told you about? If so, you may find out about them soon. Do you have a secret you want to keep secret? If so, take extra caution to ensure it stays hidden. Is there a person you have had a covert crush on for a while? If so, they may discover your true feelings any minute now. Have you ever wondered if any secrets are being concealed from you? If so, probe gently for their revelation and they just may leak out. Is there a lost treasure you have almost given up on finding? If so, revive your hopes.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

Cancerian poet Pablo Neruda once wrote this to a lover: “I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.” That sounds very romantic. But what does it mean?

Well, the arrival of spring brings warmer soil and air, longer hours of sunlight and nurturing precipitation. The flowers of some cherry trees respond by blooming with explosive vigor. Some trees sprout upwards of 4,000 blossoms. Maybe Neruda was exaggerating for poetic effect, but if he truly wanted to rouse his lover to be like a burgeoning cherry tree, he’d have to deal with an overwhelming outpouring of lush beauty and rampant fertility. Could he have handled it? If I’m reading the upcoming astrological omens correctly, you Cancerians now have the power to inspire and welcome such lavishness. And yes, you can definitely handle it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Speaking on behalf of all non-Leos, I want to express our gratitude for the experiments you have been conducting. Your willingness to dig further than ever before into the mysterious depths is exciting. Please don’t be glum just because the results are still inconclusive and you feel a bit vulnerable. I’m confident you will ultimately generate fascinating outcomes that are valuable to us as well as you. Here’s a helpful tip: Give yourself permission to be even more daring and curious. Dig even deeper.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Unexpected mixtures are desirable, though they may initially feel odd. Unplanned and unheralded alliances will be lucky wild cards if you are willing to set aside your expectations. Best of all, I believe you will be extra adept at creating new forms of synergy and symbiosis, even as you enhance existing forms. Please capitalize on these marvelous openings, dear Virgo. Are there parts of your life that have been divided, and you would like to harmonize them? Now is a good time to try. Bridge-building will be your specialty for the foreseeable future.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Many of you Libras have a talent for tuning into the needs and moods of other people. This gives you the power to massage situations to serve the good of all. Are you using that power to its fullest? Could you do more to harness it? Here’s a related issue: Your talent for tuning into the needs and moods of others can give you the capacity to massage situations in service to your personal aims. Are you using that capacity to its fullest? Could you do more to harness it? Here’s one more variation on the theme: How adept are you at coordinating your service to the general good and your service to your personal aims? Can you do anything to enhance this skill? Now is an excellent time to try.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Psychologist Carl Jung said, “One of the most difficult tasks people can perform is the invention of good games. And this cannot be done by people out of touch with their instinctive selves.” According to my astrological assessment, you will thrive in the coming weeks when you are playing good, interesting games. If you dream them up and instigate them yourself, so much the better. And what exactly do I mean by “games”? I’m referring to any organized form of play that rouses fun, entertainment and education. Playing should be one of your prime modes, Scorpio! As Jung notes, that will happen best if you are in close touch with your instinctual self—also known as your animal intelligence.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Can Sagittarians ever really find a home they are utterly satisfied with? Are they ever at peace with exactly who they are and content to be exactly where they are? Some astrologers suggest these are difficult luxuries for you Centaurs to accomplish. But I think differently. In my view, it’s your birthright to create sanctuaries for yourself that incorporate so much variety and expansiveness that you can feel like an adventurous explorer without necessarily having to wander all over the earth. Now is an excellent time to work on this noble project.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

You picked Door No. 2 a while back. Was that the best choice? I’m not sure. Evidence is still ambiguous. As we await more conclusive information, I want you to know that Door No. 1 and Door No. 3 will soon be available for your consideration again. The fun fact is that you can try either of those doors without abandoning your activities in the area where Door No. 2 has led you. But it’s important to note that you can’t try both Door No. 1 and Door No. 3. You must choose one or the other. Proceed with care and nuance, Capricorn, but not with excessive caution. Your passwords are “daring sensitivity” and “discerning audacity.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

My second cousin has my same name and lives in Slovakia. He’s a Slovakian-speaking chemical engineer who attended the Slovak University of Technology. Do we have anything in common besides our DNA and names? Well, we both love to tell stories. He and I are both big fans of the band Rising Appalachia. We have the same mischievous brand of humor. He has designed equipment and processes to manufacture products that use chemicals in creative ways, and I design oracles to arouse inspirations that change people’s brain chemistry. Now I invite you, Aquarius, to celebrate allies with whom you share key qualities despite being quite different. It’s a fine time to get maximum enjoyment and value from your connections with such people.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

My Piscean friend Jeff Greenwald wrote the humorous but serious book Shopping for Buddhas. It’s the story of his adventures in Nepal as he traveled in quest of a statue to serve as a potent symbol for his spiritual yearning. I’m reminded of his search as I ruminate on your near future. I suspect you would benefit from an intense search for divine inspiration—either in the form of an iconic object, a pilgrimage to a holy sanctuary or an inner journey to the source of your truth and love.

Software Developer (Draper, UT) Research, design, & develop mobile application or specialized utility programs. Analyze Cupbop’s needs & software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints. Confer with managers to obtain information on limitations or capabilities for projects. 40hrs/wk, Offered wage: $61,693/year, Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related required. Resume to CUPBOP CO Attn: Yeiri Kim, 12184 S Business Park Dr #C, Draper, UT 84020

Holy Gorgeous

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints has 335 temples around the world. Some are fully functional, while others are either under construction or, like the one at Temple Square, are being remodeled.

After a temple is built or remodeled, for a short time, the general public can tour the building until it is formally dedicated and blessed. After that happens, only card-carrying members of the faith can enter the holy space.

The church recently announced it purchased one of the most cherished pieces of their history the faith has ever known—the Kirtland Temple in Ohio. It was previously owned by the Independence, Missouri-based Community of Christ. Both church groups trace their roots back to Joseph Smith.

ACROSS

1. “Billions & Billions” author Carl

6. Return-postage enclosures, for short

11. What Wednesday’s child is full of

14. Act out

15. Origami bird

16. Airline’s base

17. Southern restaurant chain with an “Index” indicating the severity of a storm

19. Royal sphere

20. Card game with four different colors

21. Hurry along

22. Crony

24. Role

26. Bob Saget’s bailiwick, on a show he hosted from 1990-1997

30. Sweater material

32. Pesto bit

33. Super Bowl LVIII halftime headliner

36. Ceiling fixture

37. “Based ___ true story”

38. Spectacular play in football or baseball

43. Suffix after mountain

44. Bad spell

11. Oval on a staff

54. “The Devil Wears ___”

Fall in Love with a New Rental Home!

THIS WEEK’S

The Kirtland Temple will not be used as a private Latter-day Saint space, but will be open to the public for tours as a historic building as of March 25. This former house of prayer was dedicated in 1836 and is now seen as a National Historic Landmark. It was built using local sandstone and native timber from surrounding forests.

In St. George, a new temple—the Red Cliffs Utah Temple—had its open house until March 3. I was able to tour it before it closed to the public and was frankly blown away by the simple elegance of the interior and the homage to local surroundings.

When you approach the grounds, you might think you’re in Egypt as the palm trees planted on each side of the walkways leading to the building give a Middle Eastern feel. Of course, per Mormon design, there are lovely fountains out front as well.

The building itself is made of a pinkish, precast concrete complimenting the colors of the sandstone mountains surrounding the area.

There are drop-dead gorgeous art glass motifs running throughout, with massive stained-glass images of local succulents, bearclaw poppies (only found in Utah), and Indian paintbrush, designed and fabricated by Holman Studio.

The stone and tile patterns complement the layered structures of the local mountains, and the exterior is capped with a running braid of raised cottonwood leaves. The interior wallcoverings feature simple but elegant paintings of swirls of local vines and flowers and leaves.

Oddly enough, due to expansive soils on the site, the temple had to be placed on a deep stone-pier foundation, with imported soil, to move the temple out of the existing water table.

There are now 17 operating temples in Utah with four under construction in Saratoga Springs, Layton, Taylorsville and Orem.

The church reports that the Salt Lake Temple downtown at Temple Square won’t be completed until 2026.

After it was damaged by an earthquake, church leaders decided to undertake a complete renovation and seismic upgrade for the temple itself and to redesign Temple Square to create a better visitor experience. n

45. Angler’s basket

46. Takes things easy

49. 1990s puzzle game set in an island world

51. A-1, for one

53. Adoption org. of sorts

57. “Succession” surname

58. Relative by marriage

60. “Maggie May” singer Stewart

61. Memorable period

63. One of the bald Stooges

66. Car wash appliance, briefly

67. Completely wiped out

68. Lemon section

69. ___ of Horus (Egyptian symbol)

70. Malory’s “Le ___ d’Arthur”

71. Serious

DOWN

1. Close, as a hole or a deal

2. Refrigerator manufacturer

3. Attempt to get

4. Anti-moonshine org.

5. Wilco lead guitarist ___ Cline

6. Superintendent’s responsibility

7. “Get ___!”

8. Relative of a skillet

9. Dinner centerpiece?

10. Enter through the cracks

12. Possessive pronoun

13. Subside

18. Parrot

23. Gator or Power follower

25. Affectedly elegant

27. Rhames of the “Mission: Impossible” movies

28. 1/16 of a pound

29. “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley

31. “Grey’s Anatomy” locales

33. Hot desking sharers

34. Cake variety at a supermarket bakery

35. Belmont event

36. Predicament

39. In said fashion

40. Handyperson

41. Hypo measurements

42. Newssite section

47. Former CollegeHumor cast member ___ Yang

48. Overhead stadium equipment

49. Rap pioneer with a 2004 Grammy nomination for “Ride

Wit Me”

50. 33 Across hit

52. Like catacombs, usually

55. Queen Elizabeth’s preferred dog breed

56. Thrown in

59. Astonishes

61. The night before

62. Manzarek of The Doors

64. “Teach ___ Fly” (2009 single for Wiz Khalifa)

65. ___ Bandits (“Home Alone” burglars)

WEST

News You Can Use

Legend says that if the seven ravens who protect the Tower of London (six, plus one spare, as decreed by King Charles II) ever leave the landmark, the tower will crumble and the Kingdom of England will fall. So it’s no surprise that the tower has a ravenmaster, and 56-yearold Michael “Barney” Chandler has just been installed in the job, the Associated Press reported. Chandler is a former Royal Marine who said, “We don’t know if (the prophecy is) true or not, because we’ve never let the number drop below six—and it’s not going to happen while I’m here.” As the sixth holder of the post, Chandler will be in charge of four other Beefeaters who look after the ravens. “You never know what they’re going to do,” he said. “They’re all totally different, personality-wise.” His favorite is Poppy, who hops up to him to accept a treat of a dead mouse now and again. Spoiler alert: The birds’ feathers are trimmed so they can’t fly away.

Bright Ideas

n On Feb. 19, neighbors in an apartment building in Wejherowo, Poland, became alarmed as a 19-year-old man tried to lead a full-grown horse up the stairs to his third-floor home, Radio Gdansk reported. Police were called to the building and determined that the mare, worth about $3,800, had been stolen. She was returned to the owner, and the horse thief was charged with theft; he faces five years in prison.

n Details have recently emerged about an incident in Willow Springs, Missouri, in November, the Springfield News-Leader reported. The Howell County Sheriff’s Office had investigated after a man in his 60s, who was a paraplegic, lost his feet while brush-hogging. “It was a poorly executed plan,” said Lt. Torey Thompson. He said it was clear almost immediately that the accident had been staged: The cuts were very clean, the feet were nowhere to be found, and tourniquets had been applied to both legs. Allegedly, the victim had help from a man from Florida, who cut off the feet with a hatchet to help him commit insurance fraud. However, since the unnamed man never filed the claim and he was so severely injured, the sheriff’s office declined to charge him. And the missing feet? “A couple of days later, we got a call that a relative found them in a bucket obscured by tires, so we went and got them,” Thompson said. Mystery solved.

Expectations: Unmanaged

At an event billed as “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” on Feb. 24 in Glasgow, Scotland, children and their parents were so underwhelmed that the police were called, The New York Times reported. The event, which promised Willy Wonka-themed chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and “optical marvels,” turned out to offer just a few jelly beans and a nearly empty warehouse. Stuart Sinclair, who paid about $44 per ticket to bring his kids to the show, said it amounted to “maybe 20 chairs, a couple of tables and a half-inflated bouncy castle.” Jenny Fogarty, who was hired to play an Oompa Loompa, said she was given a 15-page script the night before and that “the wigs were very cheap.” The organizer canceled the event on Saturday afternoon; it was unclear who had called the police. The event organizer, House of Illuminati, said ticket purchases would be refunded.

Saw That Coming

You might have missed the first-ever Florida Man Games in St. Augustine on Feb. 24, but it’s never too early to plan for next year. United Press International reported that hundreds of people paid $55 each for a ticket to watch Floridians compete in a mullet contest and a “Florida sumo” event where competitors tried to spill each other’s beers. Other events included a pork butt eating contest, a race that simulated stealing a bike, and an “evading arrest obstacle course.” One winning team walked away with the $5,000 prize. “We understand that Florida is weird,” said Pete Melfi, organizer of the event. “We embrace it.”

The Golden Age of Air Travel

n On Feb. 13, as a Delta flight soared from Amsterdam to Detroit, maggots began falling from an overhead compartment onto passengers below, The Guardian reported. Philip Schotte, who was on the flight, said attendants traced the source to a bag stowed above and found a rotten fish wrapped in newspaper. They removed the offending item, and the pilot announced that the plane would be returning to Amsterdam. Apologizing, Delta said the passengers were placed on another flight and the plane was removed from service for cleaning. Passengers were also given 8,000 air miles, hotel room compensation and a $30 meal ticket. But who’s hungry?

n Sri Lankan Airlines was forced to ground one of its Airbus A330 planes for three days after a rat was spotted on the aircraft, United Press International reported on Feb. 27. The rodent was seen during a flight from Lahore, Pakistan, to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Workers sprayed the plane with poison, and technicians checked the wiring to make sure there had not been damage done by chewing.

Try the Decaf

Brandie Gotch, 30, of Peoria, Arizona, told police that her children were being bullied by other kids, and she had reported it to the school and law enforcement, but nothing happened. So on Feb. 27, she took matters into her own hands, CBS5-TV reported. With her four children in her Silverado, Gotch drove to a local park, where she allegedly approached a group of kids and started yelling at them. Police said Gotch grabbed a 14-year-old boy by the hair and yanked his head back and forth as she yelled at him, then grabbed a stick from her truck and chased him, yelling, “I am going to kill you and run you over!” She then jumped back into her truck and drove it toward the group of kids, running over a girl’s ankle in the process, although she told police she didn’t think she hit the girl. “I hope I didn’t,” she said. Her own children told police they were bouncing all over the truck during her jaunt through the park. Gotch was charged with six counts of endangerment, four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of attempted firstdegree murder.

Leap Day Fun

n In Rye, New Hampshire, Lillian Edin recently celebrated her 25th birthday—although she is 100 years old. “I feel 25, until I start trying to walk,” Edin said of the occasion, according to WMUR-TV. “I can’t believe I’ve lived this age. I really can’t.” She was feted with lunch and cupcakes.

n A brother and sister who were both born on Leap Day, but four years apart, are getting to celebrate their unusual birthday for the first time. Omri Demchak, 8, and his sister, Scout, 4, celebrated with more than 50 people at the coffee shop their parents own in Brooklyn, New York. Most years, the family celebrates Omri’s birthday on Feb. 28 and Scout’s on March 1. Mom Lindsay Demchak said neither of the leap kids was due on the special day. “It was truly serendipitous,” she told the New York Post

n Issue 12 of France’s La Bougie du Sapeur (The Sapper’s Candle) has hit the newsstands, the BBC reported—which is kind of a big deal because it is printed only on Feb. 29, every four years. The first edition was in 1980. Editor Jean d’Indy said the 20-page tabloid is “put out by a few pals. We meet in a bar and toss around ideas over drinks. We have a lot of fun, and if the reader does, too, that’s the icing on the cake.” It has a print run of 200,000, costs about 5 euros, and is not available online.

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