City Weekly September 5, 2019

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CWCONTENTS COVER STORY GET YOUR GEEK ON!

D&D, cosplay and Stormtroopers, oh my!

Introducing our first-ever Geek Issue.

Cover illustration by Valeriy Kachaev

18

CONTRIBUTOR

4 LETTERS 6 OPINION 11 NEWS 13 A&E 29 DINE 33 MUSIC 43 CINEMA 45 COMMUNITY

BRYAN YOUNG

A City Weekly contributor since 2011, Young is our resident expert on all things geek—whether it’s musing on Jar Jar Bink’s importance in Star Wars canon or laying out ground rules on consent at comic conventions. Want to know why George Lucas owes his career to Robin Hood?

Follow Young on Twitter, @swankmotron, to find out.

.NET

CITYWEEKLY

NEWS

FILM

Don’t Let Go devolves into a formulaic police procedural.

Guv and Tony Hawk talk skateboarding. facebook.com/slcweekly

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News, Aug. 22, “Close Connections: In emails to colleagues, an ex-inland port board member protests a lobbyist’s antics.”

Music, Aug. 22, “Dudes to the Back”

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Good article City Weekly.

Real media and journalism is needed on this inland port fiasco.

JULIE MUSGRAVE SANDERS Via Facebook

WWW.SALTLAKEGREEKFESTIVAL.COM

There are two entirely separate issues here that you’re describing—concert etiquette and the shit women have to deal with on the regular. I worked at a music venue for five years, and have been going to shows at least once a month for the past 15 years. I can think of one instance ever where I saw a man decline a woman’s request to get in front of him due to the height issue. Most men will gladly move out of a woman’s way if it is brought to their attention that they are blocking the view. On the other hand, I can only count a handful of times I’ve seen a tall dude gladly let a short dude in front of him. I don’t point this out to discount the rest of the article, as I agree with your overall message. But I believe the initial issue you’re describing is an etiquette issue (not a sexism issue) that can easily be resolved in most situations just by bringing attention to it.

VINZ CLORTHO Via cityweekly.net

Back Burner, Aug. 15, Strap Tank Brewery opens

Took some family there last weekend. All great food. Fun ambiance. Staff has personality plus. (I am not your food writer; just liked it a lot!)

DAN CRANE Via Facebook

Urban Living, Aug. 15, “Shelter for All”

Babs De Lay, thank you for your kind and uplifting comments. I don’t know about sainthood, but we are definitely guided by the 65 souls who have experienced the end of life with dignity in our home.

Since the NIMBYs are so hypercritical of the term shelter, I would like to clarify that The Inn Between is not a homeless shelter, but rather a medical respite and end-of-life facility.

KIM CORREA, Executive director, The Inn Between

Not above the law

It’s time—past time—to open a formal impeachment inquiry. One-hundred and thirty members of the House have already come out in support. I want to know why the remaining members (including my member of Congress), have yet to come on board. Democrats have had control of the House of Representatives since the beginning of the year and still have yet to hold

Trump accountable for his criminal conduct. In my opinion, time’s up.

President Donald Trump may lie to the American people, but the evidence does not. Mueller’s report found over 100 secret communications between Trump’s team and Russia or individuals tied to Russia. It found that Trump’s own campaign chairman gave polling data to a former Russian intelligence officer. It outlined at least 10 occasions in which Trump obstructed justice, which is a serious crime, to say the least. If you or I did what Trump did, we’d be in jail.

Trump can scream “no collusion” all he wants, but these actions are unacceptable from any American, much less from the commander in chief who is tasked with protecting our national security.

It’s imperative for our representatives to support a formal impeachment inquiry. Every lawmaker should want to hold Trump accountable for his crimes. We need to send a message that welcoming the help of a foreign government—and obstructing justice to cover it up— will not be tolerated.

SAUNSIARAY BROUSSARD, Salt Lake County

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OPINION

Aaron Shamo: Young Man with No Future

While federal prosecutors are giving each other highfives and meeting with their buddies for a celebratory drink at their local watering hole, the parents, siblings and friends of Aaron Shamo are agonizing about the star child who took a very wrong turn in life.

Shamo didn’t just suffer a staggering defeat in court; he is facing a life wherein concrete walls and stainless steel toilets are his only view. He’s a mere 29 years old, but, as it now stands, he’ll never hug his own parents again without supervision, laugh with his nieces and nephews at family dinners, or simply enjoy an evening out with friends. Nor will he be able to attend the funerals of those who were near and dear to him. Even after the 18 months he’s been held in jail, he doesn’t look like the bright-eyed young man arrested in February 2018. In a few more years, he will have changed even more. Ink might cover his body and there will likely be a few scars from scrapes with prisoners who, unlike him, committed some heinous and violent crimes.

Shamo was an enterprising young man, a go-getter, affable friend, an Eagle Scout, and a very clever and innovative businessman. But it seems he chose the wrong business.

Through a long string of surveillance operations, it was determined that his entrepreneurial flair had gone too far.

Prosecutors quickly had the goods. Pill-stamping presses,

BY MICHAEL S. ROBINSON SR. thousands of counterfeit opiate pills, raw ingredients—including Fentanyl from China, and about $4 million in cash and Bitcoin—were found between his own residence and his parents’ home. The federal case wasn’t just about manufacturing; the government alleged that he had been running a nationwide, illicit drug distribution organization, and that was easily proven.

Not so easy was a jury’s determination that Shamo was personally responsible for the death of one of his users.

Ruslan Klyuev, of Daly City, Calif., died with a combination of alcohol, cocaine metabolites and deworming medication (used to cut cocaine) in his system. When 12 verdicts had been read by the jury, there was one count remaining, and the foreman announced that the jury had been unable to reach a verdict on whether Shamo had been responsible for Klyuev’s death. The facts surrounding that death were too complicated, and, while the jury did not find Shamo innocent of that count—a hung jury—it was not able to link the tragedy back to him.

The sentencing hearing is yet to come, but the penalties for Shamo’s actions are so severe that he’ll spend the rest of his life behind bars. Greg Skordas, who represented him, asserted, “The government wanted him to die in prison and they got their wish.”

There’s no question that what Shamo did was illegal and immoral, putting thousands of people at risk, and we’ll never know if his little “business” was directly responsible for ruining lives and ending some. I feel anguish that so many people are driven to addictions and pay such a high price for their bad judgment. In a sense, Shamo was also an addict; he was addicted to plentiful money and what it can buy. Responsibility falls on the maker and the user, and one cannot exist without the other. Like all businesses, illegal drugs are driven by the consumer’s need. The manufactur-

ers and distributors all get caught in the same whirlpool.

But, manufacturing and distributing drugs is a very different kind of crime, since the victims are the ones who make the ultimate choice to become users. Drug abusers are looking for their cheap fix, and the makers and sellers are simply the attractive nuisance—a tragedy in the making. It’s similar to building a swimming pool and not properly protecting it with a fence. When a child ends up in that pool, pale and lifeless, the owner becomes responsible through their own negligence. Shamo manufactured the attractive nuisances and people sought them out. He made a bad choice; they made a bad choice. Both will pay.

But there’s something patently wrong with the picture—the U.S. represents nearly 5% of the total world population, yet its prisons hold almost a whopping 25% of those incarcerated, according to research done by the World Prison Brief. We lead the world—even those countries guilty of the worst human rights violations—in the rampant criminalization of human activity, though the study did note countries such as North Korea, Iran and China might downplay their numbers. Recently, Americans have seen a vast expansion of definitions of terrorism, creating draconian sentences for what might be the most innocuous acts.

That said, I do not believe that the manufacture and distribution of drugs—and the finding of running a “continuing criminal enterprise”—should allow society to cage a young man for the rest of his life. In doing so, the courts themselves become a criminal element. There has to be a better way of dealing with non-violent offenders. CW

The author is a former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He resides in Riverton with his wife, Carol, and one mongrel dog. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

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CITIZEN REV LT IN ONE WEEK, YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

AMAZON FOREST RALLY

As if local pollution and global warming weren’t enough, now we have the Amazon on fire. There goes much of our oxygen—anywhere from 6% to 20% of the world’s production. There have been more than 74,000 fires this year, an 84% increase from the year before. Indigenous people have been warning of the dangers for years, and now at the Amazon Forest Emergency Rally, these “Earth Defenders” are calling for international solidarity. The nonprofit advocacy group Amazon Watch, the National Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and Extinction Rebellion are organizing a Global Day of Action for the Amazon. Main Street and 200 South, Thursday, Sept. 5, 5:306:30 p.m., free, bit.ly/2Lbm7kw.

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HEALTH CARE AFFORDABILITY PANEL

Now, this should be interesting if you want to see the intersection of conservative and liberal thinking in action. Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams participates in the Sutherland Institute’s 2019 Congressional Series on Reining in the Cost of Healthcare. McAdams examines health care affordability and the increasing costs of Americans’ prescription medicines, after which a panel examines how to keep the cost of prescription drugs down. The Sutherland Institute, a conservative political thinktank, is facilitating civic dialogue with these panels. Attendees are required to register, and organizers reserve the right to remove disruptive audience members. Sutherland Institute, 15 W. South Temple, Ste. 200, Friday, Sept.

6, 10 a.m., free, bit.ly/2ZAgm9q.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS TALK

As the Trump administration ages, women’s rights deteriorate. The latest salvo comes as Planned Parenthood exits Title X coverage over a rule prohibiting organizations from referring women for abortion. Patients around the country will be affected as Planned Parenthood serves about 40% of all Title X recipients.

At Protecting Women’s Reproductive Rights for Utah, you hear from Utah Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City; John Mejía, legal director for ACLU of Utah; and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s VP of Public Policy Heather Stringfellow about what is being done to maintain protections. “Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost [D-Salt Lake City] will be giving her Passion Pitch on her efforts to protect abortion access for victims of rape,” the event’s Facebook page says.

Sheraton Hotel, 150 W. 500 South, Saturday, Sept. 7, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., $26$31, bit.ly/2UhDLr2.

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HITS&MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

Sex Ed, or Lack Thereof

Can we talk STDs? We mean officially? We’re asking because it’s obvious that Utah’s sex education isn’t working. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Robert Gehrke tells a story of a friend who teaches sex ed. It wasn’t pretty. The National Conference of State Legislatures makes it clear: “The United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world.” And teens ages 15to-24 represent 25% of the sexually active population, but somehow account for half of all new STDs. Utah is no longer an abstinence-only state because, hey, abstinence doesn’t really work. Still, the Trump administration in deference to abstinence took $213 million from teen pregnancy prevention two years ago. A federal judge restored it last year. But abstinence and parental opt-in are still things here because, as former state school board member Lisa Cummins says, “We’re a pro-family state.” Just not a family planning state.

Unaffordable Solutions

If you’re looking for an apartment in urban Utah, you know it’s pretty much unaffordable. And apparently because cities can’t bring themselves to fund affordable housing, they are now looking at Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to solve the problem.

Once called mother-in-law apartments, ADUs have morphed into tiny houses or other unattached dwellings on a property. The Legislature thought this was a win-win because of the profit motive for little landlords. The Trib looked at what’s happened since rules were loosened last year, but it looks like city requirements might be adding too much to the cost.

There are all kinds of considerations— parking, neighborhoods, height. It could be that not everyone should be a landlord.

Then again, Amazon is offering modular homes for the undiscerning buyer.

Saving the Lake

Hooray for research. This is about saving the Great Salt Lake, which, the Deseret News noted, has been in “historic decline.” That’s bad news as the lake generates $1.3 billion for the economy, not to mention acting as a Pacific flyway for millions of migratory birds each year. At the behest of the National Audubon Society, the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council commissioned a report “that looked at the aftermath of the decline of eight terminal saline lakes around the world with characteristics similar to that of the Great Salt Lake.” The findings were depressing, and stunning. A resolution passed last year, and yet it just “calls on” Utah to act to save the lake. Air quality will surely be harmed by a growing dust bowl. And let’s not even mention the effects of an inland port. Next step: Real action soon.

NEWS

PUBLIC LANDS

Roadless Rule Rollback More than 100 species rely on habitat away from Utah roads and development, according to a new study.

BY LIZ WEBER High Country News comments@cityweekly.net

RAY HOWZE

R

Last spring, Gov. Gary Herbert petitioned the U.S. Forest Service for a state exemption from the almost two-decade old roadless rule. support up to six different native plant species, according to the study. “Roads are a huge vector for invasive [plant] species,” Nelson says. “Plants are finding ecological sanctuary because they’re not competing with invasive species.”

Utah is not alone in its attempt to loosen roadless regulations. Alaska wants to release 9 million acres in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from the rule, which would be the largest exemption in the country, according to Natalie Dawson, executive director of Audubon Alaska. The draft environmental impact statement from the forest service is expected this fall. At roughly 17 million acres, the Tongass is the world’s largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest and refuge for some of the world’s oldest trees. Audubon Alaska, partnered with Defenders of Wildlife, is working to complete its own study on how a roadless rule change would affect wildlife in the area.

On July 16, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a news release stating

Utah’s roadless rule petition would remain pending. According to Ken Rait, a project director with Pew Charitable Trusts, the statement is the first indication about whether the Forest Service will move forward with Utah’s petition. In it, the state argued that the exemption would allow for more proactive forest management practices to reduce wildfire risk. But according to Rait, it failed to articulate an argument for removing the roadless protections outside of the flexibility already allowed in the 2001 ruling—perhaps indicating why the agency could rule differently than it did with Alaska’s petition. “[Utah’s political leaders] see the Trump administration as providing a political window of opportunity to decrease protections in order to expand logging into areas where it currently would not be allowed in national forests,” Rait says. CW A version of this article first appeared in High Country News.

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mining many conservationists fear would follow—threatens to reduce the biodiversity of local species while increasing habitat fragmentation, mortality rates, and sound pollution.

“The wildlife populations are already at risk,” says Peter Nelson, director of the federal lands program with Defenders of Wildlife, the nonprofit conservation organization which commissioned the study.

“We really are talking about pushing these species up against a wall.”

Per the study, the roadless areas included in the regulation loosening are shown to support an average of 24 at-risk species per area. Some habitats were particularly favored by specific species. For example, the Ashley and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forests had the highest populations of atrisk bird species, with certain areas of the Uinta supporting 18 different species.

The study also found at-risk plant species and native plants thrive in roadless areas.

Fishlake National Forest’s roadless areas

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umors of wolverines in Utah have swirled for decades, fed by occasional sightings in the state’s most remote reaches, like the Uinta-WasatchCache National Forest. But the habitat of this reclusive animal, along with that of at least 100 other species—including dozens of native plants and amphibians—is threatened by the state’s quest to weaken federal protections for some of the state’s most remote and undeveloped areas, according to a recent study from the Defenders of Wildlife.

In March, Gov. Gary Herbert petitioned the U.S. Forest Service for a state exemption from the almost two-decade old roadless rule, which would weaken restrictions on logging and road building for more than four million acres of formerly protected Utah national forest land. The report’s results support a common conservation argument: Protected roadless areas disproportionately support high levels of biodiversity, including many at-risk species.

“These areas are uniquely undisturbed by humans,” Karen Beard, wildland resources professor with Utah State University, says. “Once these areas get roads, even if they’re temporary, the pristine nature of the area would be disturbed.”

The study found that roadless protections are crucial to sustaining the health and diversity of more than 100 at-risk species. The presence of roads—with the logging and

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ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, SEPT. 5-11, 2019

JAVEN TANNER

TOM THURSTON

ROBYN VAN SWANK

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

JAVEN TANNER

ESSENTIALS

the

Talk is cheap these days, simply because we’re all jabbering at once. There’s plenty of preaching and pontificating going on, but way too little listening.

That’s why an annual event like the Timpanogos Storytelling Conference and Festival—now in its 30th year—is something special. It offers a way to hear stories that are meaningful, enlightening, uplifting and inspiring. It’s an opportunity to listen, and take stock in lessons learned, all within the soothing setting of Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point, where nature provides a mellow mood for a wholly engrossing experience.

The storytellers come from places near and far to entertain. They include Simon Brooks, who arrives all the way from the U.K. to share stories about his country’s ancient environs. Regular festival attendee Donald Davis (pictured), a native of North Carolina, talks about his travels with wit and whimsy. Humorist Bil Lepp displays a penchant for the absurd, segueing from everyday encounters to outrageous observations.

In addition, the conference that accompanies the festivities offers would-be storytellers an opportunity to cultivate their own communication skills and practice performance techniques that allow them to share stories of their own.

Given the fact that the event’s namesake, Mount Timpanogos, is the second highest mountain in the Wasatch Range, it’s little wonder this is a lofty gathering indeed. (Lee Zimmerman) Timpanogos Storytelling Conference and Festival @ Thanksgiving Point, 3900 Garden Drive, Lehi, 801-426-8660, Sept.

5-7, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., $25-$60 for festival day tickets and passes; $50-$205 for conference, timpfest.org

It’s a heady experience for a comedian to reach a point where he’s building part of his set around people’s reactions to a previous set. But that’s exactly what Tennessee native Nate Bargatze was able to do on his 2019 Netflix special The Tennessee Kid, as he provided “updates” on anecdotes from his earlier half-hour special—including the status of a dangerously under-supervised roadside reptile exhibit that turned into a weird phenomenon on Trip Advisor.

But you certainly wouldn’t glean from Bargatze’s stage persona that success has gone to his head. His wonderfully deadpan delivery suggests that he’s organizing his befuddlement with the world into jokes—including discovering the way that horses sleep, and what a wedding looks like in his country family—even as you’re sitting there watching him. It takes a special talent to make his practiced bits sound spontaneous.

It takes a similar talent to venture into territory that’s usually the stuff of hack comedy—like “men and women communicate differently”—and turn it into something wonderfully specific and hilarious. “Marriage fights are great,” he says, “because they’re always dumb. … [My wife and I] got in a fight once over chocolate milk, we didn’t talk for 24 hours. I brought chocolate milk home, and she said, ‘Why did you bring chocolate milk home?’ I said, ‘You’re supposed to have it after you work out.’ She was like, ‘That’s not true,’ and I was like, ‘Well, there was a commercial on TV that probably looked into it more than you did.’”

(Scott Renshaw) Nate Bargatze: Good Problem to Have @ Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, 801-581-7100, Sept. 5-6, 7 p.m., $35-$85, tickets.utah.edu

Sting & Honey visits the tragically comedic and absurdist storytelling of Samuel Beckett in their upcoming production of Happy Days. The play’s plot follows what seems to be a simple story: Winnie, a middle-aged woman, carries on her daily routine and talks to her husband about happier days—all while slowly sinking into the earth.

She starts the play buried up to her waist and ends up buried to her neck.

The production’s director, Javen Tanner, says Happy Days is about the fading of youth and life that begins in middle age. “Her identity is disappearing, it’s fading away, and she’s dealing with that but she deals with it in a way that might be a little foreign to the way we tend to deal with difficult things,” Tanner says. “Today, we tend to try to find something to blame, and Winnie, she’s very different. She just keeps this positive attitude throughout.”

While the play might deal with a seemingly morbid topic like the slow and inevitable encroachment of death, it’s very much a comedy, albeit a comedy in the distinctive sensibility of Beckett—filled with clever wordplay, sexual innuendo, and, of course, the bizarre spectacle of a woman performing while surrounded by a mound of dirt. “The real way to tragedy is through comedy, through things that are funny,” Tanner says.

“Because the funny—it opens up our hearts and prepares us to befit and feel the depth of the tragedy.” (Kylee Ehmann) The Sting & Honey Co.: Happy Days @ Regent Street Black Box, 144 S. Regent St., 801-355-2787, Sept. 6-21, times vary, $23, stingandhoney.org

It was copper-mining and railroads that inspired a steady flow of the first Greek immigrants to head to Utah in the early 1900s. Since then, their culture has contributed to making the state a brighter place. Whether this brightness is owed to the lemon in packed dolmathes or colorful fabric flying during traditional dances, it’s celebrated every year at the Greek Festival downtown.

Father Mario Giannopoulos is one of the festival organizers at the historic Holy Trinity Cathedral Greek Orthodox Church. Since those early Greek immigrants were raising their families in Salt Lake during the city’s infancy, the community “is all about making a better life for us. For all of us,” he says.

As one of the biggest cultural festivals in the state, it’s not that much of a surprise the Greek community energizes the city’s diversity. This weekend-long event plays host to a wide array of traditional music, dance and cuisine for a low admission fee that promises a high delivery of contentment. After all, high aesthetic values are instilled into their time-honored heritage.

What does Father Giannopoulos want guests to understand about Greek heritage? Philotimo—a concept that roughly translates to “love of honor.” Although it encompasses many virtues one should practice for a good life, it most importantly tells us the most profound and urgent moral of all: helping each other. You can expect this wisdom to permeate the festival, but that hot gyro wrapped in foil also awaits. (Miacel Spotted Elk) Salt Lake Greek Festival @ Holy Trinity Cathedral Greek Orthodox Church, 279 S. 300 West, Friday & Saturday, Sept. 6-7, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 8, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., $3, saltlakegreekfestival.com

Salt Lake Greek Festival

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FRIDAY 9/6

The Sting & Honey Co.: Happy Days

FRIDAY 9/6

Nate Bargatze: Good Problem to Have

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THURSDAY 9/5

Timpanogos Storytelling Conference and Festival

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THURSDAY 9/5

A look at what’s in store at the 2019 Utah State Fair.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Y

ou’d never know from the lingering 90-degree temperatures, but we’re on the cusp of fall. While Utah’s various county fairs signal the winding down of summer over the last couple of weeks in August, the Utah State Fair truly marks a transition, as well as being one of the great eclectic family-friendly gatherings Utah has to offer. If it’s been a while since you’ve made your way to a fairgrounds—or maybe you’re a State Fair newbie—here’s a quick overview of what’s in store for you in 2019.

What you get for your admission— and what you don’t: It’s important to keep in mind that several events that take place on the fairgrounds site and during the State Fair dates are not part of the regular admission price, though buying those special tickets will also get you into the Fair.

Utah’s Own PRCA Rodeo is an $18 ticket; the Sept. 14 Demolition Derby is a separate ticket at $22-$26. As for the music headliners … more on them below.

Kid stuff: As you might expect, a whole lot of what goes on at the Utah State Fair is for the young and young at heart, so there’s no reason to worry that kids will get bored. A wide range of carnival rides can all be enjoyed, unlimited, for a single price of $22 for all-day access, or $15 for a special “matinee” wristband that’s valid from gate opening until 6 p.m. The “Animals of Wizardry” showcase at the Grand Building features presentations about owls, bats, spiders and snakes—and even a live dragon—multiple times daily; kids fond of animals will also enjoy the Extreme Dogs Stunt Show, featuring high diving, weave

A&E

LINDA IVERSON

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Fair Play

pole racing and disc catching. Roaming entertainment comes courtesy of mime Chris Yerlig, and magical ventriloquist Jerry Bredeen also performs daily. There’s also a chance for young visitors to learn about the work that brings food from a farm to the family table at the “Little Hands on the Farm” exhibit, including a chance to feed animals, pick apples, gather eggs, groom sheep or even drive a tractor; the Barnyard Friends area also offers a chance to interact with young animals, and maybe even feed a calf from a bottle. If you want to nurture their creative side, participants from 2-12 years old can create elaborate edible artistry and possibly win awards in the Hot Dog Decorating Contest.

Exhibits and shows: If you want to see artists at work, every day there are opportunities in the Promontory Building to watch Native beading, woodcarving, oil painting, ceramics and more as talented people create their work. Fairgrounds buildings also provide the venues for agriculture, horticulture and floral exhibits (Agriculture Building), fine arts (Bonneville Building), photography (Grand Building), cooking demonstrations (Zion Building) and more.

Also, don’t forget that the fair is a place for showing and judging a wide range of animals, including dairy goats, dairy and beef cattle, and lambs.

Live music: More than 40 local music performers—in a range of genres from folk and country to indie rock and blues—get a showcase location on the South Plaza stage from open to close daily, supported by the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) tax. The bigger names come out at night, with three national headliners performing full concerts in the Days of ’47 Arena for special ticket prices that also include Fair admission. On Wednesday, Sept. 11, Bronx-native artist Prince Royce brings his unique mix of Latin rhythms, pop and R&B (7:30 p.m., $35-$55). Thursday, Sept.

12, gives the stage to Academy of Country Music award-winning group Old Dominion on their “Make It Sweet” Tour (7 p.m., $25$59). And anyone who has grown up with

the radio hits of the ’70s and ’80s knows the sound of Foreigner, playing tunes like “Juke Box Hero” and “Urgent” on Friday, Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m., $25-$45).

The logistics of your State Fair day: Parking is available on site for $10 per vehicle, but consider avoiding the traffic hassles by taking Trax, where the Green Line has a stop right at Fairpark. Daily Trax Group Passes (good for four people) are available for just $15. Meanwhile, temperatures could still be in the 90s, so plan for comfortable dress, hats, sunscreen and water bottles.

There’s enough fun to make a full day of it,

The Utah State Fair

so make sure that day isn’t complicated by sunburn and dehydration. CW

UTAH STATE FAIR

Utah State Fairpark 155 N. 1000 West 801-538-8400 Sept. 5-15 $8-$85; special events extra utahstatefair.com

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moreESSENTIALS

COMPLETE LISTINGS ONLINE AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

Mestizo Institute of Arts & Culture presents Abstracción Geométrica, a solo show by painter Joan Pabo Gasca featuring dynamic geometric compositions on canvas, at Sugar Space Arts Warehouse (132 S. 800 West, thesugarspace.com), through Sept. 29.

PERFORMANCE THEATER

We are gearing up for fall plant now for color

Mon-Sat 8-6:45pm • Sun 10-5 • 9275 S 1300 W 801-562-5496 • glovernursery.com

The Adams Family Hale Centre Theatre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy, through Nov. 16, showtimes vary, hct.org Addams Family Reunion Desert Star Theatre, 4861 S. State, Murray, through Nov. 9, desertstar.biz Cinderella Hale Centre Theatre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy, through Sept. 7, showtimes vary, hct.org Happy Days Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, Sept. 6-21, times vary, artsaltlake.org (see p. 13) Hamleton: To Be or Not to Be The Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main, through Sept. 7, Friday, Saturday & Monday, 7:30 p.m., theobt.org New World Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing Wasatch Theatre Company Black Box, 328 Main, Park City, Sept. 5-14, dates and times vary, newworldshakespeare.com Prometheus Bound Westminster College Courage Theater, 1840 S. 1300 East, Sept. 5-7, 7:30 p.m., westminstercollege.edu Saturday’s Voyeur Salt Lake Acting Co., 168 W. 500 North, through Sept. 15, dates and times vary, saltlakeactingcompany.org A Wall Apart The Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State, through Sept. 7, times vary, grandtheatrecompany.com

CLASSICAL & SYMPHONY

The Utah Symphony: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Sept. 6-7, 7 p.m., artssaltlake.org

COMEDY & IMPROV

Danny Ducan The Complex, 536 W. 100 South, Sept. 6, 7 p.m., thecomplex.com Free Kittens Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, Sept. 6, 6 p.m., theurbanloungeslc.com Jake the Snake Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Jesus Trejo Wiseguys West Jordan, 3763 W. Center Park Drive, West Jordan, Sept. 6-7, 8 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Jordan Makin Wiseguys Ogden, 269 25th St., Ogden, Sept. 6-7, 8 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com

Nate Bargatze Kingsbury Hall, 1395 Presidents Circle, Sept. 5-6, 7 p.m., tickets.utah.edu (see p. 13) Rhea Butcher Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com

SPECIAL EVENTS FARMERS MARKETS

Downtown Farmers Market Pioneer Park, 350 W. 300 South, Saturdays through Oct. 19, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., slcfarmersmarket.org New Roots of Utah Neighborhood Farm Stand Valley Regional Park, 4013 S. 700 West, Saturdays through mid-October, 1-3 p.m., slco.org Sugar House Farmers Market Farimont Park, 1040 E. Sugarmont Drive, second Sundays through September, 8:30 a.m.-noon, sugarhousefarmersmarket.org Tuesday Farmers Market Pioneer Park, 350 W. 300 South, Tuesdays, through Sept. 14, 4 p.m.dusk, slcfarmersmarket.org Wheeler Sunday Market Wheeler Farm, 6351 S. 900 East, Murray, Sundays through Oct. 27, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., slco.org/wheeler-farm

FESTIVALS & FAIRS

Avenues Street Fair 2nd Avenue between M and R streets, Sept. 7, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., avenuesstreetfair.org Bark at the Moon The Gateway, 90 S. 400 West, Sept. 7, 5 p.m., bark2019.givesmart.com FanX Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S. West Temple, Sept. 5-7, times vary, fanxsaltlake.com (see p. 21) Salt Lake Greek Festival Holy Trinity Cathedral Greek Orthodox Church, 279 S. 300 West, Sept.

6-8, 11 a.m., saltlakegreekfestival.com (see p. 13) Nitya Nritya Festival Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, Sept. 7-8, times vary, artsaltlake.org Timpanogos Storytelling Festival Thanksgiving Point, 3900 Garden Drive, Lehi, Sept. 5-7, times vary, timpfest.org (see p. 13) Utah State Fair Utah State Fair State Fair Park, 155 N. 1000 West, Sept. 5-15, times vary, utahstatefair.org (see p. 14)

LGBTQ

Beyond a Night of Music Encircle Salt Lake, 331 S. 600 East, every Thursday, 6:30-8 p.m., encircletogether.org TransAction Weekly Meeting Utah Pride Center, 1380 S. Main, Sundays, 2-3:30 p.m., utahpridecenter.org

LITERATURE AUTHOR APPEARANCES

TALKS & LECTURES

VISUAL ART GALLERIES & MUSEUMS

3SMITHS Alice Gallery, 617 E. South Temple, through Sept. 6, artandmuseums.utah.g Abstracción Geométrica Sugar Space Arts

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Journey to the Center of the Great Salt Lake Urban Arts Gallery, 116 S. Rio Grande St., Sept. 6, 7 p.m., steampunkacademy.org Second Amendment Debate University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 383 S. University St., Sept. 5, 5:30 p.m., law.utah.edu

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Dan Haring and MarcyKate Connolly: The Star Shepherd The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Sept. 9, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt: Biased Jewett Center for the Performing Arts, 1840 S. 1300 East, Sept. 11, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com Eliza Beth Whittington: Treat Me Like You Treat the Earth Weller Bookworks, 607 Trolley Square, Sept. 9, 6:30 p.m.,wellerbookworks.com Michael Lavers Pioneer Book, 450 W. Center St., Provo, Sept. 10, 6:30 p.m., rockcanyonpoets.com Noam Dorr: Love Drones The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Sept. 7, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com Shauna Holyoak: Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Sept. 5, 7 p.m., kingsenglish.com Steve Chindgren: The Art of Hawking Sage Grouse The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Sept. 7, 5 p.m., kingsenglish.com Utah Justice League: Their Story is Our Story Weller Bookworks, 607 Trolley Square, Sept. 7, 4 p.m., wellerbookworks.com

Warehouse, 132 W. 800 South, through Sept. 29, thesugarspace.com (see p. 16) Abstraction Is Just a Word, But I Use It UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Jan. 4, utahmoca.org Andrew Dadson: Roof Gap UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Sept. 7, utahmoca.org Anne Fudyma: Synchronistic Space UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Oct. 12, 11 a.m.6 p.m., utahmoca.org De | Marcation Granary Arts, 86 N. Main, Ephraim, through Sept. 27, granaryarts.org Deanna & Ed Templeton: Contemporary Suburbium UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Sept. 7, utahmoca.org [DIS]PLACED Downtown Artist Collective, 258 E. 100 South, through Sept. 15, downtownartistcollective.com Emily Robison: Collections A Gallery, 1321 S. 2100 East, through Oct. 4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., agalleryonline.com I, your glass Finch Lane Gallery, 1340 E. 100 South, through Sept. 20, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., saltlakearts.org League of Reluctant Bicyclists UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Nov. 2, utahmoca.org Love Letters The Gateway, 24 S. Rio Grande St., through Sept. 1, lovelettersmuseum.com Madison Donnelly: Bathhouse UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Sept. 14, utahmoca.org Power Couples Utah Museum of Fine Art, 410 Campus Center Drive, through Dec. 8, umfa.utah.edu Ryan Lauderdale: Glazed Atrium UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Nov. 2, utahmoca.org Spencer Finch: Great Salt Lake and Vicinity Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 S. Campus Center Drive, through Nov. 28, umfa.utah.edu Time + Materials Rio Gallery, 300 S. Rio Grande St., Aug. 30, artsandmuseums.utah.gov Ummah Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through Dec. 15, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., umma.utah.edu Untold Aftermath Finch Lane Gallery, 54 Finch Lane, through Sept. 20, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., saltlakearts.org Yellowstone: Invisible Boundries Natural History Museum of Utah, 301 Wakara Way, through Sept. 15, nhmu.utah.edu Vaha’a Oe Ongo Fonua / Between Two Shores Art Access Gallery, 230 S. 500 West, Ste. 125, through Sept. 13, accessart.org

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or most of my 50-plus years on this earth, most of the things I loved—comic books, genre movies, theme parks, role-playing games—made me a weirdo. You found support in whatever pockets you could, but the world seemed to be built for those a bit less interested in fantasy, a bit less imaginative, a bit less … geeky.

In 2019, the geeks have practically inherited the earth, from the omnipresence of the digital world to the box-office behemoths based on super-heroes and galaxies far, far away. In Utah, the annual FanX convention has become one of the state’s largest events—not surprising, considering the 2014 designation by the real estate website Estately that Utah was the “nerdiest state in America.” We can’t get enough of fantastical worlds; love of those worlds can practically define who we are.

City Weekly’s first-ever Geek Issue is a celebration of the people and organizations that make Utah such a distinctive haven for those with a geek sensibility. Within you’ll find an interview with FanX’s founder, profiles of people who have turned their nerdy loves into livelihoods and personal stories about letting the geek flag fly, along with a look at the many different local gatherings of fan communities. There’s no more need to feel like a weirdo. Your tribe welcomes you.

The panelists of Geekshow Podcast feel the impact of creating a true community. n a basement recording studio, a group of friends gathers on a Saturday afternoon in July to nerd out, and to record that nerding out for posterity—and for the entertainment of listeners. It’s the home of X96 radio personality Kerry Jackson, who serves as a sort of ringmaster for the crew of Geekshow Podcast, a celebration of fandoms in all their many forms that has become a fixture not just in Utah, but nationally and internationally.

If you close your eyes and try to picture the room where such a geeky bull session might take place, you’ll probably be visualizing something pretty close to Jackson’s basement. Shelves on every wall are filled with action figures and models, many (if not most) still in original packaging; any space not occupied by those shelves is for movie posters. It’s practically a museum of all the pop-culture stuff people have been—until fairly recently—mocked for loving.

Around the recording table, Jackson gathers with his fellow panelists—Shannon Barnson, Leigh George Kade, Rebecca Frost and producer “Quad T” Tony Eccles—to deal with preliminary business before they get down to recording; comedian Jay Whittaker, one of the regular Geekshow crew, was unable to make it due to flight delays returning from gigs in Texas. They’ll record three episodes on that day, and the order in which they might choose to record them is complicated by the fact that the San Diego Comic-Con is going on at that very moment, and they might want to include breaking news. You can’t be a Geekshow Podcast without acknowledging the information coming out of America’s largest pop-culture

gathering—and after all, being part of a bigger geek community is what this thing is all about. It’s practically a family. And it’s a family that, like all families, sometimes has to deal with heartbreak.

The origins of Geekshow Podcast trace back 20 years, to an informal gathering that would occasionally take place during X96’s morning Radio From Hell show, where Jackson is one-third of the regular host team with Bill Allred and Gina Barberi. On some days when Allred was on vacation or otherwise not present for the show, Jackson would invite several of his friends onto Radio From Hell—including Barnson, TV critic Scott Pierce and film critic Jeff Vice—to turn the broadcast into a conversation about comic books, movies, TV, games and the like.

“We’d have different rotating people now and then, [Kade] would occasionally come on when he could,” Jackson recalls. “Gina loved it because she got to leave early.

And we’d talk about the shit we talked about in my basement, but on the radio.”

As geek culture rose in visibility in the early 2000s with popular Spider-Man and X-Men movies and the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jackson approached X96’s marketing department to talk about the possibility of turning their occasional morning conversation into a more regular radio show. While management wasn’t interested, someone Jackson describes as “a kid in the IT department” made an alternate suggestion. “He said, ‘You should do a podcast,’” Jackson says. “I said, ‘What’s a podcast? And when is it on?’”

With a tiny budget, Jackson and company decided to give it a try. “I didn’t think anything of it, was just happy to be hanging out with my friends and talking about my favorite shit,” he says. “About a year later, we took [download numbers] to management , and asked, ‘Is this something the company could sell and make money off?’ They said, ‘This podcast was such a great idea that we had. I’m glad you took that idea and ran with it.’ But they kind of half-assed it, didn’t give us any more budget. And radio salespeople … had to learn to sell it on their own. It just kind of languished while we were owned by Simmons [Media, X96’s parent company before a sale to Broadway Media]. I don’t think they really grasped what they had until it was too late.”

Back in the basement, the Geekshow crew rattles through their regular range of arcane topics—a Netflix show starring Stranger Things’ David Harbour titled Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster Frankenstein; comic-book publisher apps—but are willing to talk about their own

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MIKE ANDERSON

my dad and my brother all died—and that was the same year that Jeff Vice died. I had to take care of all of the expenses. They came together and helped me out. And I just want to thank everyone again. I hope people know how much love and support we get from people.”

Listeners of the show also sent financial support after Martin’s passing. “We’ve covered a memorial here, we’ve covered a celebration here, we covered funeral costs, and a service for Jimmy’s family in Atlanta,” Kade says. “And that was all covered by fans, and there was enough money left over that we’re able to donate to a good organization [SpyHop] that would have meant a lot to Jimmy.”

Jackson reads a letter from a listener, following up on an interaction the listener had with them three years earlier. The writer recalled reaching out to the Geekshow crew after the death of her brother from cancer: “I remember Leigh saying that some day I’d be able to share Star Wars with my then 6-month-old son, and that I would receive so much joy in watching him play with Uncle Ryan’s toys. I just wanted you to know that today was that day. He found Uncle Ryan’s lightsaber and proceeded to do lightsaber battles all over the house. I had to share this with you guys. Thanks for what you do, and know that you are loved.” Jackson’s voice breaks with emotion as he reads.

“In my mind, when I feel like I’m going to get overwhelmed with sadness about something that we lose,” Kade says, “I remember that it’s the things we share with those people that keeps them with us. It’s the movies we shared together, the TV shows we got together to watch.”

“That’s what makes the family,” Eccles adds. “Maybe they are blood relations, probably not. It doesn’t matter.

We all come together over the things that we love, and create experiences together.”

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munity. If I go to a convention, or a store that celebrates this thing that I like, I’m going to find that sense of community and that physical interaction that we don’t have in the digital world.”

And celebrating the things that unite them in joy is what the Geekshow crew is all about, not “gatekeeping” and deciding which fans are “real fans” and which shows or movies are the only ones worth caring about.

“There’s a guy I butt heads with constantly over whether Star Wars is better than Star Trek, and I’m just like, ‘Dude, just be glad they’re there,’” Kade says. “For that matter, let’s be happy that Babylon 5 is there, let’s be happy that Farscape is there. These aren’t shows that I watch, but I’m so happy they’re there. Because if that makes you happy, then we should celebrate those things for a few minutes.”

That sense of celebration, and the authentic friendship between the panelists, are part of what has given the Geekshow Podcast a feeling of family. When the Geekshow family has been hurting, the more far-flung parts of their community—which Jackson says includes regular listeners from Scotland to Japan—have rallied to their support.

In 2015, Geekshow suffered a loss when founding panelist Jeff Vice died of cardiac arrest after a massive asthma attack at the age of 48. Then, in June of this year, panelist Jimmy Martin—who had been Vice’s co-host on the locally-produced Big Movie Mouth-Off—died at the age of 37 after an accident in his home. The Geekshow Podcast Facebook page was filled with expressions of love and support, all for someone the majority of them had never met, but felt like he was part of their tribe.

“I’ve had personal tragedy that they’ve come together and helped me out with,” Barnson says of the Geekshow fans. “Five years ago, within less than a year, my mom,

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origins as geeks and the feeling of isolation they experienced. Jackson recalls growing up in small-town Utah, and getting beat up for wearing his Star Trek T-shirt to school. Finding even one friend with whom you could share those passions was a big deal. For Jackson, it was the one non-Mormon kid in his small-town Utah neighborhood in the 1970s, with whom he could bond “over Groucho Marx, Mad Magazine and Star Trek;” Kade remembers scoping out a house on his paper route that had a Star Wars AT-AT walker in the yard, “to see if there was a cool kid my age who lived there. And sure enough, there was, and we were best friends.”

“You had to seek these people out,” Jackson says.

“There was no internet. You’d just casually see someone doodling the Enterprise or an X-wing in their notebook, and you’d go, ‘Oh yeah, I know the code.’”

For many geeks in their Gen X age cohort, it took the opening of local comic-book stores to create a place where these far-flung people could gather and find friendships.

“It used to be if you wanted to have that big nerdy conversation,” Barnson says, “it was at the comic-book store.

That was my first inkling of a geek community.”

“Those were the cathedrals,” Kade adds, “and church was every Wednesday [when new comics were released].”

Then came the internet, which all the panelists acknowledge has been both blessing and curse for fandom as a wider community. “We have this double-edged sword of the internet,” Kade says, “where it brought us all together, and I can talk with friends in Taipei or Australia about this thing that we love. At the same time, it can be very toxic. You get this group that decides they hate Rey in Star Wars, so they rally and have this huge clarion call to lash out against this thing. That’s why we’re seeing this resurgence of the physical geek com-

Clockwise from left: Rebecca Frost, Kerry Jackson, Tony Eccles, Jay Whittaker, Shannon Barnson and Leigh George Kade.

Dan Farr, founder of FanX, sat down for an hourlong conversation about the beginnings and success of the event, and the challenges that have faced it over the past two years.

CW: Before the first event, what did you see in Utah that told you this was a place that had that kind of community to support its own pop-culture convention.

Dan Farr: I am married to a fangirl, nerd girl. I didn’t really understand why she wanted to buy Star Wars figurines and put up posters around the house. I always enjoyed the movies, I enjoyed Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, watched all of the Star Trek movies, but I wasn’t the guy that went and bought a T-shirt because I loved the show. I didn’t get into it at that level. I saw the way my wife was, and I’d heard anecdotes that when certain movies like the Harry Potter movies were released, Utah theaters were the top theaters for those movies. I just saw the evidence for that excitement. …

Originally, I started pitching to a company that would tour around and do those shows, “Why don’t you do one in Salt Lake?” They said, “Well, we sent someone out there and looked, there’s a nice venue for it, but we just don’t think it’s on the list yet of cities for us to do this.” So basically, my wife and I started talking, and some friends I started talking to, and said, “You know what? Let’s go for it.”

What do you remember of your reaction when you got a sense for how big the first Salt Lake Comic Con was going to be?

We were thinking there was maybe an off chance that we could get to 20,000 people just starting out, but let’s plan reasonably, maybe 10,000 people. What we did have that was very fortunate, is that people started buying tickets right away, which isn’t typical. People like to wait until the last minute, and if they’re still open that weekend, they’ll go to the event; some promoters [for other conventions] would see 50-75% of their tickets sold on site. For us, to have so much early adoption was big. We started announcing a few more guests because we were confident that we’d have people there. Then as we announced more guests, more tickets would sell. Then we announced William Shatner, and it really blew up, probably doubled our ticket sales in a couple of weeks. … It was the perfect storm that built, right up to the week of the convention.

G.D. McCOY

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Salt Lake’s geeky convention founder shares his thoughts on the event’s highs and lows.

Logistically speaking, was the first event so successful that you actually weren’t really prepared for it?

I hear stories about other promoters, their favorite thing is to see people standing in a line to get in. And I just care too much for the attendees to think of that happening. It really bothered me to have people standing in the heat and the lines to get in. It was your best dream come true, and your worst nightmare.

What stood out to you in terms of the fan reaction to the first event?

This has happened later on, because at the first one I could walk around and not really have people know who I was. Since that time, I get stopped all the time, for people to thank me about what it’s meant to them, just those cherished memories, different experiences. There was a dad who’s got a newfound relationship with his daughter, where he sews the costumes for her. Now that’s their time together, coming to the convention. …

I hear stories about people saying, “I didn’t think I fit in.

People didn’t really understand what I was interested in.

But I found a family here, to share the love of cosplay, or love of comic books, or whatever it may be.” For me, when I first looked at this idea, I figured it would be like the circus coming to town: The circus comes, and then it goes. I had no concept of the community that would build up around it. No idea that there would be people who work on costumes for months or a year preparing for it, looking forward to that event. For me, that’s probably been the biggest awakening, how happy people are when they’re having this experience.

When the first event was a success, you dove right into having another event the following spring. Why did you decide to get so ambitious so quickly?

Well, there were a lot of factors that went into it. Because it was so successful, we had a great time doing it, and we realized the fans had a great time. And we didn’t want to wait another year. So we just gave it a shot, and said “Hey, let’s do another one in the spring and see what happens, let’s go for it. It may be bigger, it may not, we’re OK with that.” So we just went full speed at it. I think because the novelty was still there, and the excitement.

Was there ever a time, as the legal battle over the “Comic Con” name with San Diego Comic-Con was playing out, that you wondered, “Are we going to come out on the other side of this?”

That process has been a huge financial strain on us. We’ve been able to power through it, but we’re up to $3 million we’ve paid out to attorneys, and that’s all money that we would have liked to invest back into the event. My personal resources have taken a huge hit in the process. … I’ve always had the confidence that we’re going to get through this, but there’s definitely been times, financially being on the ropes a bit, and emotionally, it’s a huge emotional toll.

I don’t enjoy conflict. I’m somebody who will try to work anything out before jumping into conflict with people. …

I’ll have some people tell me, “I hate that event [San Diego Comic-Con] now.” I don’t want to hear it, or encourage anybody. If they want to go there and have a good time, and have that be the Holy Grail for them, I don’t want to foster any negativity against it. It’s not worth it.

Last year, there was controversy with how FanX responded to someone raising concerns about inappropriate behavior by a guest. In hindsight, how do you feel that your organization responded, and is there anything you wish you would have done differently?

Obviously, I think about this a lot. When you’re going through a difficult time, sometimes you don’t see the purpose of it. For us, the Community Council that’s come out of this, and also our relationship with the Attorney General’s office where people will have that hotline available to them, I think those two things would not have come about … I wouldn’t have even thought there would be a need for it. I have to say, I personally feel like I was blissfully unaware that there were people who had experiences at a level that they felt uncomfortable. I think the biggest issue people felt is that we as show-runners were somehow shielding people, or creating an opportunity for that behavior. If we had the Community Council, I can’t say that we wouldn’t have come up with the same response we gave, but if it came from an outside party rather than me, it would have been stronger than me giving that response, so that it never came across that I was playing favorites with someone. … There’s been a lot of awareness that’s come out of this, so hopefully people in general have a better knowledge of respecting boundaries.

How do you feel about the fact that some people who previously were attendees or guests, at least so far, don’t feel like they’re comfortable back at FanX yet?

I hate thinking that people feel like they can’t participate.

Clearly, if there’s people that feel unsafe there, that’s a big problem. That’s huge. … I feel like we do have channels for people to express their concerns. Or, their feelings may be more in regard to the fact that we had that situation to begin with, and that’s why they don’t feel good about coming back. But hopefully, people who are seeing what we’re doing feel that we are sincere and that we’re making efforts that will make a difference.

Seven years in, generally speaking there’s been a lot of success. What is the next step, the big dream for the future?

I think the lawsuit has hindered our ability to be what I feel like we’re destined to become. We still have the appeal ongoing; if the appeal is successful, that’s going to open up a lot of pathways to grow the convention the way it should. … I’d like to see it expand within the downtown area even on a bigger level. Or potentially go to a four-day convention. I think we have a lot of potential.

Each event we’ve gotten better, so I think we’ve got a lot of room to grow.

Is there a fan group that you have discovered that you maybe didn’t know existed before launching this event?

I’ll tell you, I’m a fan of the fans. I love seeing that starstruck moment when someone is meeting a hero of theirs. I still do the Halloween haunts, and people would see all the stuff I have, and say, “Wow, you must be a big fan of Halloween.” No, I’m a fan of entertaining people, and Halloween became an excuse for doing that. And that was part of the motivation for doing the convention.

Editor’s note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.

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FANX

Salt Palace Convention Center 100 S. West Temple Sept. 5-7 fanxsaltlake.com

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• Consider Your Food Options, and Your Budget. It’s never cheap to eat at big events. Fortunately, you have options beyond the eats in the Salt Palace itself, including the food court at City Creek and the range of food trucks that generally line West Temple. Consider eating at off-peak times to avoid long waits, and be sure you’ve planned for the cost.

• Support Local Artists. Celebrity guests and booths full of cool merchandise are understandable draws for FanX attendees. Just don’t miss out on the Artist Alley, full of local (and national) artists creating comics, paintings and other amazing work, often celebrating some of your favorite pop-culture characters.

• Expand Your Horizons. Most people go to the panels and guest Q&As for stuff they already know and love in detail. FanX is also a great opportunity to get your geek on about games, books, movies and more that you didn’t know about previously, in a way that might inspire you to dig deeper. Or catch one of the panels that involve challenging conversations about representation of women, people of color, LGBTQ and disability in popular culture.

• Be Considerate. Everyone is there to have fun, and you can make it that much easier. Be patient with volunteers. Take care when moving through crowds, especially if you’re in cosplay that takes up a lot of space. If you spot another cosplayer whose attire makes you want to snap a photo, ask politely. And always, ALWAYS, nobody should be touched without their consent.

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fter seven years and (now) a dozen events, FanX has become a kind of Utah institution. While some attendees have been coming since Day 1, there are always newcomers learning the ins and outs of a massive pop-culture event. With the understanding that everyone’s idea of a great convention is going to be different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all way to do FanX, here are a few tips on optimizing your experience.

• Create a Tentative Schedule for Each Day You’ll Attend. Sure, showing up and seeing where the winds carry you is one way to do things; it also tends to be a way to ensure that certain things never happen. Scout through the schedule online or via the convention app, and prioritize which events featuring the bigname guests or subject-specific panel discussions you simply must see. Can you get from the panel that ends at 11:50 a.m. in time for the guest event that starts at noon? Have you slotted a time to grab something to eat? It’s best to know ahead of time.

• Be Prepared to Improvise. Sometimes, panel discussions fill up; it’s just the nature of a popular, well-attended event.

Have a plan B, whether it means changing the time you planned to go browsing on the show floor, or considering another panel that was a slightly lower priority.

• Make Use of ZipQ. Depending on what kind of ticket you purchased, you have the ability to schedule a certain number of slots in a reserved, near-the-front seat for events in the Main Ballroom with the ZipQ system. The kiosks are located on the main level of the convention center. While VIP get unlimited use, Gold or multi-day passholders get only one or two, respectively, over the course of the three days—so choose wisely.

• All of your favorite card games, board games, minis & more!

or anyone who has grown up with more than 40 years of Star Wars, the white armor of Imperial Stormtroopers has been a symbol of enforcing villainy (and also maybe the need for more marksmanship training). But for nearly half of that time, one group of Star Wars fans has attempted to claim that image as a symbol of kindness and charity—or, as Erika McKinney, public relations officer for the Utah-based Alpine Garrison of the 501st Legion puts it, “bad guys doing good.”

The 501st Legion traces its national origins back to 1997, when a South Carolina-based Star Wars enthusiast named Albin Johnson and a bunch of his friends started cosplaying in homemade stormtrooper armor, first going under the name of Vader’s Fist. According to McKinney, the group started showing up at movies together, and Johnson launched a website which became a home for photos of other homemade stormtrooper costumes around the country. Membership swelled to the point that 200 members of the 501st marched in the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, in which George Lucas was the Grand Marshall.

McKinney herself has been a member of Utah’s Alpine Garrison (ut501st.com)—now in its 16th year, one of the many national and international chapters of the 501st— since 2014, but traces her Star Wars fandom back much further than that. “I’ve been a huge Star Wars fan my entire life,” she says. “When Star Wars came out in ’77, my dad took us five times in a row. My husband and I, our first date was Episode I.” While the group started specifically focused on the classic white stormtrooper armor, the 501st has come to encompass cosplay as a wide variety of characters generally associated with the villain side of the Star Wars universe—officers, Imperial Guards, Sith Lords and more. McKinney notes that

KIARA MCDEVITT

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Don’t be fooled by the armor—the 501st Legion are the good guys.

her own characters include Asajj Ventress, from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, and that there can be a variety of reasons for choosing a specific costume or character for a specific occasion. “Some costumes are very comfortable,” she says.

“Some, you don’t want to walk in a parade in. Some stormtroopers can’t sit down. Does a mask bother you? If so, you might want to choose something that has makeup and a hood.” There are even practical considerations where some costumes have peripheral vision concerns, making it necessary for an out-of-costume “handler” to assist the costumed character with stairs and other potential obstacles.

What is consistent for the group, however, is a focus on public service, including working with groups like Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and Primary Children’s Hospital. According to McKinney, depending on the time of year, the Alpine Garrison might participate in an event every week. And that’s leaving aside special occasions like “May the 4th Be With You” day, when there could be more than a dozen events. “Some people call it ‘The Gauntlet,’ trying to do all of them,” McKinney says.

It might seem counter-intuitive to have a now-iconic representation of power-hungry evil out doing charity events for children, but McKinney sees nothing strange about it. “I grew up always wanting to be a bad guy,” she says. “I can’t tell you how many times, when we’ve gone to a hospital, a child will walk right up to a stormtrooper and give them a hug. Everybody loves a stormtrooper. Everybody loves Darth Vader. There’s no fear. Maybe our scariest characters aren’t actually that scary.”

McKinney is aware that some people think there might be a financial obstacle to getting involved in a group of this kind, if you’re not someone with the funds or know-how to create your own costume. But she encourages people not to worry whether there’s a way for them to participate. “A good way to get started is as handlers, or cadets, with no costume,” she says. “Come and help someone in a costume, and you’ll meet people and make friends. …

If they don’t know how to build [costumes], we’re here, we know how to help you. We have armor parties.”

As for the events themselves, they’re often more than opportunities to dress up.

“Sometimes we can get really busy with life, and have the worst days,” McKinney says. “You go to a troop event, and just forget about everything. Your heart gets so full.”

Perhaps you can’t judge a hero by their armor.

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Natasha Ence turns the storytelling of being a role-playing game master into a career.

Natasha Ence, top left, runs an online gaming session.

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to help you cooperate, you’re going to strengthen a relationship,” she says. “I’ve always said that role-playing games are like a form of therapy. Playing them allows you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and consider things from someone else’s perspective.”

Ence designs her games to broaden that diversity and strengthen empathy in her players, whether they realize it or not. And she plays to that concept, righting wrongs in fiction and real life through the use of the games, taking elements from established universes and twisting them in subtle ways to help teach subtle lessons to players.

While Ence believes hers could be a valid career path for burgeoning storytellers, she also adds a caveat. While she estimates that she spends about 60 hours a week on this job, and much of it is spent gaming, there is also the logistical work that comes with running a small business. “I’m writing and I’m producing work,” she says, “but I do panels and travel and do taxes and invoicing, and keeping my website up to date, and all of these other things that you don’t think of when you decide you want to be a professional game master.”

She has enough demand to hire more game masters, but doesn’t want to. “Then what would happen,” she says, “is I would transfer to the back end and I would end up just hiring and managing people and dealing with HR issues, and that’s not what I want to be. So, I decided to keep my operation small, and I’m happy there.”

For those who want to book Ence for a game, she has options to work with any budget and time availability. Some of her gigs are one-shots, like special events or birthday parties.

There are games one could play online in a bespoke chatroom with her, stretching a fourhour game into a week so you can sneak in a few minutes here or there. She has regular openings, as well as a waiting list for her more established games that are played online.

She’s not limited to Dungeons & Dragons, either, running any system in any setting. And her prices are affordable. “I try to match my prices to what it would cost you to go see a movie and buy concessions,” Ence says, with a typical rate coming in at $15 per three-to-four-hour online session. More than that, she’ll even turn a gaming session into prose for a small fee.

But Ence doesn’t play just for money, either. “I still play for fun,” she says. “I just love it. I play with different friend groups for social aspects, and others to just deconstruct mechanics of games and how they tell stories. It’s just part of me.”

And really, that’s the sort of person you want running a game for you.

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atasha Ence remembers being 7 years old when she played her first roleplaying game. Her father thought Dungeons & Dragons would be a little too intense for her, so he introduced her to Traveller, a science fiction role-playing game that came out in 1977 and is one of the more complex RPG systems out there. Together, they played everywhere.

“I remember taking all of these different road trips with my dad where we would play Traveller in the car. We used the little cup holder as a dice tray,” Natasha, now 25, says. “It was great” The role-playing adventures that began all those years ago haven’t ended for Ence, but they certainly sent her down her career path. Today, she’s a professional game master (or GM). Ence is based in Utah, and juggles dozens of clients and games—both in person and online—under the banner of Tales off the Table (talesoffthetable.com), the business she started to bring gaming to those who couldn’t find a group or game master of their own.

This wasn’t exactly the career she expected to find herself in. She wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do, but her love of gaming fostered a love of storytelling, which is why she went to college to study literature, teaching and creative writing. In 2017, Ence was in graduate school working on her Master’s degree in creative writing and was teaching literature, writing and introductory English. She began looking around for something that could combine her love of gaming and her degree. That’s when Tales off the Table was born.

“Role-playing is more popular than ever,” Ence says, and it’s hard to argue. The most recent edition of Dungeons & Dragons is the best-selling version of the game ever, and Ence has some theories as to why that demand for social storytelling games is on the rise. For one, it’s part of pop culture. “Almost every comedy or retro show will have a Dungeons & Dragons episode or a roleplaying game episode where they bring it in. Community did this. Stranger Things did it. Big Bang Theory did it. It’s becoming more widely recognized as a thing, so there’s naturally more curiosity about it. It’s to the point where I can go to the salon, and my hairdresser knows what Dungeons & Dragons is.”

There’s also the element of parents like Ence’s who grew up on these games bringing their kids into the fold. Dungeons & Dragons has only been around since 1974, so the culture is just now seeing second and third generations that grew up on the game.

Role-playing isn’t just popular, though; Ence feels that it’s important. It builds communities and relationships, and seeing that idea play out with strangers through her business is a rewarding prospect to her. “Any time you’re playing a game that’s designed

NATASHA ENCE

By Bryan Young

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MTV FILMS

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WARNER BROS.

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Feed your Geek

A rogue’s gallery of pop culture-inspired dishes to keep you running at 1.21 gigawatts.

DEREK CARLISLE

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

I

The Penguin Brothers

Proper Burger

As we can all heartily agree, Kathryn Bigelow’s early ’90s surf opera Point Break is the greatest action movie of our time. Proper Burger threw a beefy gauntlet down when they named their take on the classic pas-

Bruges Waffles and Frites

Every sharpshooter and gunslinger in the first-person-shooter video game genre knows that a good arsenal is the key to victory. Those who like to drool over their collection of Lancer Rifles, Gjallarhorns and BFG 9000s can find a few firepowerinspired sandwiches at Bruges Waffles and Frites. The Machine Gun ($10) locks and loads with a spicy lamb sausage and a few ammo belts worth of their famous twicefried frites, and the Muzzle Loader ($12) chambers some house-made Flemish stew made from beer-braised beef in a baguette barrel for maximum flavor firepower. Imagine your hunger is a horde of the undead or an away team of hostile aliens, and lay into it with these two trigger-happy sandwiches.

Multiple locations, brugeswaffles.com

Dog Haus

The Pie

Itto Sushi

Vertical Diner

Sandy’s tasty hive of buns and aioli is home to a sausage creation that screams its way onto your radar like the twin ion engines of the fighter ship for which it’s named. The Thai Fighter ($7.49) recruits a spicy Thai currywurst as its decorated pilot and arms it with arugula, pickled jalapeños and basil aioli for a green laser blast of Eastern flavor. All of the dog fighters standing at attention within the restaurant’s fighter bays are meals in and of themselves, and that buttery toasted bun that launches them into battle is so much more than a secret weapon. Dining at the Dog Haus definitely qualifies as a sojourn into the dark side, so be warned—or forever will it dominate your destiny. 10261 S. State, doghaus.com

If hard-boiled Tarantino crime thrillers are more your thing, you can dive into the sleek Japanese ambiance of Itto Sushi and order up the Kill Bill ($12.95, pictured) in honor of Beatrix Kiddo. It’s a Hanzo katana of a sushi roll that includes thinly sliced jalapeño and Sriracha alongside tuna, tempura shrimp, lime, tobiko, avocado and eel sauce. The atmosphere alone evokes the climactic showdown at the House of Blue Leaves in Kill Bill Vol. 1, and the obsessive attention to detail within the roll is evocative of Tarantino’s filmmaking. Multiple locations, ittoutah.com

Speaking of hard-boiled crime thrillers, the AMC series Breaking Bad has made a huge impact on the geek community, and set the stage for much of the prestige television drama that we have been so privileged to enjoy. To honor the show’s beloved and maligned anti-hero Walter White, the pizza maestros at The Pie unveil a specialty pie known as the Heisenberg every fall. It’s a pie that celebrates both complex physics teachers-turned-drug dealers and Oktoberfest by loading up with slices of smoked bratwurst, caramelized onions, sauerkraut and green apples. It’s a bit easier to love than Breaking Bad’s sociopathic leads, and it’s an ongoing testament to the show’s lasting influence on pop culture. Multiple locations, thepie.com

With that dark cinematic trailer and Joaquin Phoenix donning the greasepaint and green hair of Batman’s most famous arch-nemesis, I know that the bulk of DC fanboys and fangirls are immensely stoked about the Joker’s upcoming filmic reinvention. For those who want to celebrate the film and the actor bringing the Joker to life, Vertical Diner offers a plant-based burger known as the Joaquin Phoenix ($10). It’s a spicy black bean and veggie burger topped with tempeh bacon, dill pickle slices and ranch dressing, and it’s every bit as surprising as the method actor himself. CW 234 W. 900 South, verticaldiner.com

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On its own, a cookie ice cream sandwich ($5) from The Penguin Brothers is a softball of sweet nostalgia. But when you venture into their secret combinations—bonus points for all you Book of Mormon nerds out there— you see items like the chocolate and mint Luigi’s Mansion and the honeycomb-infused Golden Snitch. You’re welcome to create your own combo of cookie and ice cream, which is good fun on its own, but I recommend checking these two signature dishes out for a taste of how these dough bros expertly balance flavor and texture with the right amount of geek-friendly whimsy. Multiple locations, thepenguinbrothers.com

trami burger after Johnny Utah, the film’s cocksure lead played by Keanu “Our Internet Boyfriend” Reeves. As a native Utahn, I’d had my share of pastrami burgers, and I can safely say that the Johnny Utah ($8.49) at Proper Burger is every bit as brazen, cocky and effortlessly sexy as our favorite deep cover FBI agent. It’s the in-house smoked turkey pastrami that makes this burger special—it retains all of its black pepper smokiness, but the leanness of the meat makes it less of a gut bomb when the whole thing has been consumed. Trust me, this burger will take you to the edge … and past. 865 S. Main, properburgerslc.com

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t’s easy to neglect eating when you’re cowl-deep in FanX festivities. Of what use is physical nourishment when there is a veritable smorgasbord of intellectual and emotional nourishment primed for consumption throughout the weekend?

With that in mind, let me give you a hand.

I’ve compiled a list of geektastic local dishes that will keep your bellies happy without distracting you from your favorite fandom.

These are the places that serve up edible bits of pop culture to keep your nerd flag from flying at half-staff while you navigate the convention.

Delivering Attitude for 40 years!

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1 COUPON PER TABLE | NOT VALID W/ ANY OTHER OFFERS OR DISCOUNTS | DINE- IN ONLY EXPIRES 9/30/19

150 South 400 East, SLC | 801-322-3733 www.freewheelerpizza.com

SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | 29

cHINESE & jAPANeSE CUISINE

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4150 S, REDWOOD ROAD TAYLORSVILLE 801.878.7849

After 30 years, Squatters continues its pioneering local brewing legacy.

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

W

hen Jeff Polychronis and Peter Cole founded Squatters Pub Brewery in 1989, Utah’s craft beer scene was all-but-nonexistent. Yeah, you had the Schirf Brewing Co. (Wasatch) operating in Park City, but the most densely-populated grid in the state had literally no options.

Cole and Polychronis had no idea that they would be the first to ignite a flame that would continue to engulf the state over the next three decades.

It wasn’t easy back in the late ’80s to convince the state, Salt Lake City and financial institutions that this relatively new brewpub concept would fly in a state where alcohol was frowned upon. The duo would have to settle on the outskirts of downtown Salt Lake City; back then, that was considered to be anything west of West Temple.

“The sidewalks were crumbling and the street lighting was poor, and there was

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Still Good For What Ales You

practically nothing out there,’’ Polychronis says, “but we felt growth was moving that way, and luckily our hunch was right.”

Cole (pictured, left) and Polychronis (pictured, right) would eventually establish the Salt Lake Brewing Co. in the old Garden Hotel Building, cementing its place not only in Utah’s beer history, but also America’s brewing history, becoming one of only 250 operating breweries in the U.S. “It wasn’t an easy thing to convince our bank, or our friends for that matter, that this brewpub thing that we experienced in the Northwest would fly here,” Polychronis says. Their perseverance eventually paid off, and the two pals managed to create an enduring craft beer legacy that includes dozens of national and international awards—and, of course, the iconic St. Provo Girl Pilsner. “We’re proud that we managed to develop a family of great people over the years, and I’m really proud of the role that Peter and I were able to play in the development of west downtown,” Polychronis adds.

To help celebrate this monumental 30th anniversary achievement, Squatters hosts a huge birthday bash on Sunday, Sept. 8. And as a special bonus, a Rum Barrel-Aged Doppelbock clocking in at 12.3% ABV will be released.

It will be presented in a special 750 milliliter bottle to mark the occasion. The artwork on the bottle is an original piece by nationallysyndicated and locally-revered political cartoonist Pat Bagley. VIP ticket holders receive a bottle of this limited run brew featuring “Lady Li-Beer-Ty” at the party.

There are more special beers as well. All ticket holders have the unique opportunity to sample limited-edition collaboration beers from Squatters and 11 participating breweries. Local beer and cider makers such as Fisher Brewing, Bohemian Brewery, Hopkins Brewing Co., Red Rock Brewing, Hoppers Brew Pub, Level Crossing Brewing Co., Mountain West Cider, Proper Brewing

Co., RoHa Brewing Project, Uinta Brewing, T.F. Brewing and Roosters Brewing Co. are scheduled to provide some of their own beers for the party. A Smoked Helles with fresh peaches is available from Uinta head brewer Patrick Bourque and Squatters’ Ryan Stambaugh, alongside a Cucumber Kettle Sour from Roosters head brewer Jacquie King and Squatters’ quality director Dave McKean. More collaborative beers will be announced as the party gets closer.

Here’s to 30 more years (and beyond) of Squatters beer. And as always, cheers! CW

SQUATTERS 30TH ANNIVERSARY

147 W. 300 South Sunday, Sept. 8 Noon – 5 p.m. $30-$105 squatters.com

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thursday, October 17

7 pm - 10 pm at La Caille 9565 Wasatch Blvd. Sandy, UT VENDORS INCLUDE:

For tickets and a full list of vendors go to devourutah.com/promotions

Live Music featuring Steve Haines 321 S Main Street | 801-363-8888 londonbelleslc.com

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tickets include multi-cultural cuisine and craft beverages from Utah’s best ethnic restaurants, distilleries and breweries

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BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER @captainspringer

Pasta-da!

Happy kids make happy moms and dads.

Eat Local Week

AS SEEN ON “ DINERS, DRIVE-INS AND DIVES”

Serving American Comfort Food Since 1930 -CREEKSIDE PATIO-89 YEARS AND GOING STRONG-BREAKFAST SERVED DAILY UNTIL 4PM-DELICIOUS MIMOSAS & BLOODY MARY’S-LIVE MUSIC ON THE PATIO-SCHEDULE AT RUTHSDINER.COM“In a perfect world, every town would have a diner just like Ruth’s” -CityWeekly

“Like having dinner at Mom’s in the mountains” -Cincinnati Enquirer

4160 EMIGRATION CANYON ROAD | 801 582-5807 | WWW.RUTHSDINER.COM

From Saturday, Sept. 7, to Saturday, Sept. 14, it’s time to celebrate all the wonderful food grown in our own back yard. Eat Local Week is once again upon us, and the folks at Urban Food Connections of Utah and the SLC Downtown Alliance have prepared a week’s worth of creative food events designed to promote awareness for local eats. In addition to events like the Wasatch Community Garden’s Tomato Sandwich Party at the Grateful Tomato Garden or the Local Spirit Tasting at Caputo’s, Eat Local Week issues a challenge to only eat food that comes from farms or producers within a 250mile radius. It’s a fun way to get to know our local growers and artisans, and you’d be surprised at how much of the groceries you regularly buy are produced locally. For more information and a full schedule of events, go to slcfarmersmarket.org.

italianvillageslc.com

5370 S. 900 E. MURRAY, UT 801.266.4182 HOURS MON-THU 11a-11p • FRI-SAT 11a-12a / SUN 3p-10p

Zoo Rendezvous

There aren’t many opportunities one gets to feed a rhinoceros, but attendees of Hogle Zoo’s Zoo Rendezvous have the chance to do just that. The event isn’t just about feeding exotic animals, however. It’s about celebrating a Utah institution with food from more than 20 local restaurants, and craft drinks from local breweries and distilleries. Proceeds from the event benefit Hogle Zoo, and those interested in contributing a bit more can check out silent and live auctions that take place during the evening. The Zoo Rendezvous takes place on Thursday, Sept. 5, from 6-10 p.m. at Utah’s Hogle Zoo (2600 E. Sunnyside Ave., hoglezoo.org)

Campos Coffee Cupping Class

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As part of Campos Coffee Roastery & Kitchen’s (228 S. Edison St.) recent updates, the local establishment has launched a series of educational classes hosted by their coffee experts. On Friday, Sept. 6, from 3-4:30 p.m., the Campos team hosts a guided tasting tour of the various coffees they’re currently brewing along with some upcoming brews for the fall season. If you haven’t seen what the team has done with the place, this is a great chance to get a load of their new classroom-sized kitchen and rooftop patio. Although it’s a free event, and RSVP is necessary. Check out the listing on eventbrite.com for more information.

Quote of the Week: “Let things taste the way they are.”

—Alice Waters Back Burner tips: comments@cityweekly.net

ninth & ninth

CONCERT PREVIEW

Inside the Sound

MUSIC 4760 S 900 E, SLC 801-590-9940 | facebook.com/theroyalslc

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Envelop SLC 660 N. 300 West Friday, Sept. 13 8 p.m. $25, all ages envelop.us

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As his set began, I was relieved to find it was a smooth blend of fuzzy, bass-heav y noise and ambient, shimmery guitar—all qualities I like, and ones I could definitely give way to for half an hour. As the songs journeyed along, sliding into one another the way noise songs do, the lights shifted and changed, going from those original pinkish-blues to fiery oranges and reds, and later to greens.

People kept filtering in late, and by the time the trickle stopped, the room was nearly full. Ages and types of attendees varied, but I was definitely one of the younger people there. As the set went on, many moved the pillows beneath their heads to lie down. Others did spontaneous yoga poses. Since I’ve got a bad back, and sitting up without support for long periods isn’t my favorite, I slipped into a few poses myself. Despite the music pressing—quite physically in the case of the loud bass—on all sides, I had a hard time focusing. But that’s just me and my potential attention disorder. As the set ended and reached a soft climax, my head was on the ground, legs crossed in Fire Log position, and I began to feel like I was slowly tumbling through nothing. It broke as the song ended, and silence flooded my ears like black mud, and the yogis and sleepers alike clapped.

Envelop offers an exciting new way to engage with music for the music lovers of Salt Lake City. With a multitude of great acts coming up, there’s something for everyone to indulge in. Upcoming listening sessions vary from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours to the ambient, trippy electronica of Tipper’s Surrounded, and from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s piano-driven async to a night of multiple selected works by Marvin Gaye. There’s even a dance night planned for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. The next scheduled event is a listening session of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and like the rest of the planned evenings, is a chance to engage with time-tested music in a truly new and inventive way. CW

zeecee keely elysium

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overs of noise and ambient music— or just meditative, deep listening in general—will be excited to find out about a new venue in SLC that seeks to foster a peaceful, immersive place to indulge in sound. San Francisco-based nonprofit Envelop has finally settled on a place to open a new venue locally at 660 N. 300 West in Marmalade, after operating several successful pop-up events throughout late 2018 and early 2019 around Salt Lake City.

My introduction to the venue and its mission was rather abrupt.

They contacted me on a Saturday at the end of August, asking if I’d be interested coming to their opening night’s show—which was that evening. Still mostly ignorant about what it was, and worried about being late to my 8 p.m. bar shift, I said yes. I can’t say no to being put on a list, and it’s not every day you get invited to an “immersive audio venue.”

It was a sticky, infuriatingly hot day that wasn’t getting any cooler when I pulled onto the small, modest Marmalade street that Envelop is tucked into, just before 7 p.m. Sweating, hoping that the inside of this large, dark building was air-conditioned, I made my way through the outside lot and around the side of the building where I found the main entrance. It was indeed air conditioned, and at the door I was welcomed and encouraged to ditch my shoes in a nearby cubby and indulge in the snacks and refreshments laid out on a table. Ah, there was La Croix and I was allowed to bring it in to the dark immersion room that beckoned. I padded up a low ramp and entered.

As the tangerine La Croix bubbled down my throat, I took in the space, which was very dark and lit only by a circle of 10 ceiling-high columns made up of some kind of metallic mesh, inside of which glowed strips of color-shifting LEDs. It smelled densely of something like palo santo or copal: soothing, hypnotic, clean. The lights hummed between blue and pink, making me feel like I was swimming in dusk and banishing all remaining thoughts of the blazing sun outside. Gentle intermission music of birds and frogs and insects cut across the room from all sides as the immersive audio setup went to work. Within the circle of columns and light were pillows arranged in a circular pattern, too. Taking a video from my position on a cushion near the entrance and adding it to my Instagram story—with the caption, “About to get immersed”—got me responses from friends such as, “Where the fuck are you?” and “Are you in a cult?”

Not a cult by any means, the opening set was introduced by the opening musician and co-founder Christopher Willits, who explained the goal of the space as being one where a visitor could be fully transfixed by and appreciative of the audiovisual experience, with only lights and sound from all sides to focus on. Willits explained that his piece—a “spatial audio album,” Sunset—moves from warm to cool, and is a soundtrack to the day’s end as much as it is the metaphorical process of letting go. It follows his 2017 release Horizons, both out via the Ghostly International label, which is home to such notable experimental acts like HTRK, Com Truise and Tycho.

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The National, Alvvays

Since the early 2000s, the term “adult alternative music” has come to represent bland, stodgy Muzak with a thin veneer of hipness, cranked out to fill the cars of equally bland and stodgy 30-something office drones. For almost as long, the music of The National has been making an incredibly strong argument for a redefinition of that term, crafting songs meant COMPLETE LISTINGS ONLINE AT not to soundtrack the tedium of adult life, but to capture the thorny, complicated emotions that bubble under that tedium—to capture, BY PARKER S. MORTENSEN, as their own song “Mistaken for Strangers” NIC RENSHAW & LEE ZIMMERMAN puts it, a “fall into the un-magnificent lives of adults.” Frontman Matt Berninger’s powerful, amount of sound being The National velvety baritone is their most immediately apparent asset, but the thrust upon them by rest of the band’s understated yet potent take on post-punk finds and the band. Salt Lakers examines an entire spectrum of emotions within Berninger’s trade- will have the chance to subject themselves to Sunn O)))’s sonic invasion mark melancholia, and has propelled nearly every one of their albums when the band stops by Metro Music Hall. Earplugs are optional, but since 2005’s Alligator to critical adoration. The National’s live show is heartily advised. (NR) Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 100 South, 7 p.m., almost as acclaimed as their studio work—they were ranked by Rolling $28 advance, $30 day of show, 21+, metromusichall.com Stone as one of the top 50 live bands in 2013—and they come to the Ogden Amphitheater as part of the 2019 Ogden Twilight Concert Series. They are supported by Canadian indie-pop staples Alvvays, whose acclaimed 2017 album Antisocialites has given them the last- Squeeze, X ing mark of promise. (Nic Renshaw) Ogden Amphitheater, 343 E. If you weren’t around in the late ’70s, or you don’t remember the late 25th St., Ogden, 5 p.m., $20 advance, $25 day of show, all ’70s, or for some reason you chose to forget the late ’70s, here’s an excuse for a repeat visit: Two of the most enduring outfits born out of ages, ogdentwilight.com that oft-maligned musical era are still going strong, and sounding just as good as they did back in the day. That’s a high bar for any band, but Squeeze and X easily measure up. Having endured the usual breakups Sunn O))), Papa M, Big Brave, Eagle Twin and makeups so common in the world of rock ’n’ roll, both of them From the goofy, over-the-top camp of Gwar, to the trippy, flower- boast legacies well worth revisiting. Indeed, each outfit offers a stash of power jamfests of Phish, to the blood-sweat-and-gasoline lunacy of the songs that are as compelling now as they were originally. Chris Difford Butthole Surfers, some artists are best experienced live. Seattle drone- and Glenn Tilbrook—the pair responsible for penning such pop classics metal outfit Sunn O))) (with a silent O)))) is just such a group. Their as “Tempted,” “Black Coffee in Bed” and “Pulling Mussels (from the patiently constructed, meticulously textured blend of sludge and ambi- Shell)”—still helm Squeeze, and given the fact they were once hailed ent can be a rewarding experience on record, especially on albums like as the Lennon & McCartney of their generation, it’s enough to note Black One and last year’s Life Metal, but simply sitting there with head- that their legendary partnership survives. For its part, X tours with phones on, you could be forgiven for some confusion as to why these its original lineup consisting of John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom guys are one of the hottest names in underground metal. That’s because and D.J. Bonebrake, and their fiery post-punk insurgency is as fiery as Stephen O’Malley, Greg Anderson and their cohorts made their name by ever. Front persons Doe and Cervenka were a formidable duo then, and offering a truly unique and powerful live experience, in a genre with no they remain so now. So don’t think of this superb double bill as some shortage of great live acts. The band members stand shrouded in a thick nostalgia trip or oldies encounter. Catch them while you can, and enjoy fog, obscure their faces with black robes and turn their exercises in tex- what you might have missed. (Lee Zimmerman) Snow Park Outdoor ture and ambience into exercises in sheer volume, pummeling the audi- Amphitheater, 2250 Deer Valley Drive, 6:30 p.m., $50-$85, ence with an amplitude so extreme that some report suffering severe deervalleymusicfestival.org headaches and nausea as a result of the sheer Sunn O))) Squeeze

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GRAHAM MACINDOE

Exotic Burgers

THURSDAY 9/5

SATURDAY 9/7

FRIDAY 9/6

ROB O’CONNOR

NFL Sunday Ticket

RONALD DICK

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TUESDAY NIGHT BLUEGRASS JAM WITH PIXIE AND THE PARTYGRASS BOYS 7PM-10PM MORE BLUEGRASS WITH TOURING ARTISTS THE SWEET LILLIES 10PM-1AM

SEPTEMBER 11

NATE ROBINSON TRIO 7PM PATIO 10PM INSIDE IF POOR WEATHER

326 S. West Temple • Open 11-2am, M-F 10-2am Sat & Sun • graciesslc.com • 801-819-7565

SATURDAY 9/7

The Moss, Dad Bod, Indigo Waves, Drew Danburry

Listening to The Moss is like feeling the breeze of a room temperature fan—but that’s not a drag! Room temperature is comfortable, and so is breezy surf rock. The Provo group’s sound isn’t ska, like at all, but sometimes midsong you might imagine it’ll break down that way purely from its laid-back energy. Instead, the whole project wails and sways, mining soft riffs for serotonin. Their first full album bryology dropped this July, and it finally shows off the almost giggly nature The Moss have been developing in their one-offs and on their Sara James EP. They demonstrate this brighter side of themselves on the stage at Kilby Court, where they share the stage with Dad Bod, who’ve released an EP this year along with a smattering of singles. Three members of the four-piece are brothers, sharing facial features to the point that seeing them creates an eerie sense of white dad homogeneity. Dad Bod have been injecting some funk into their sound lately with the singles “Enough” and “Some Kind of Confidence” a track that’s even a little jazzy. The 2019 Dad Bod EP is probably a signal of what their upcoming full-length should sound like—a sharp but languid Connan Mockasin-esque meandering, music perfect for fall walks. Provo band Indigo Waves bring their upbeat, Mac DeMarco-rooted pop rock, and local opener Drew Danburry, who’s managed to continue writing and producing music since the early aughts, revs the crowd. A classic Kilby show like this, made up of a flurry of like-minded locals, should be a great kickoff to all the upcoming September shows. (Parker S. Mortensen) Kilby Court, 741 S. Kilby Court, 7 p.m. $7 advance, $10 day of show, all ages, kilbycourt.com

Summer Cannibals

WEDNESDAY 9/11

Summer Cannibals, Corner Case, Durian Durian

What’s most remarkable about Summer Cannibals’ fourth and most recent album, this year’s Can’t Tell Me No, is that it wasn’t supposed to exist. After working on the actual planned album for a year, guitarist Jessica Boudreaux received a death threat from someone involved with the album who violently claimed ownership of the songs and creative work. Boudreaux and the band made the decision to abandon the record, and asked label Tiny Engines for two additional weeks to write and record a whole new album. Bordreaux told The Grey Estates in an interview that, “I didn’t want to let anybody or anything take away another year of this band’s life, because all that time is a lot of time. We lost a lot of momentum in the three years since our last record.” That last album was 2016’s Full of It, which is a pleasant indie rock record with some tracks that have stood the test of three year’s time. To use Spotify as a metric: “Simple Life” and “Say My Name” are still in the band’s Spotify Top 5. Quickly catching up is the title track to Can’t Tell Me No, and no offense to Full of It, but the constructive rancor of Can’t Tell Me No is just more interesting. The two-week time constraint instantly brings a rougher sound, but the full-throated dedication to releasing a full, 11-song album to break free of an abuser is hard to shake. Local band Corner Case opens, followed by Durian Durian’s dance synth act. (PSM) The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 8 p.m., $12, 21+, theurbanloungeslc.com

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FRIDAY 9/6

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For some artists, attaining elite status as a blistering blues guitar slinger would be more than enough to sustain a career. But at age 35, Texas-bred shredder Gary Clark Jr. has exerted significant effort strengthening the other parts of his repertoire. Not content fusing blues, rock ’n’ roll and soul, he’s incorporated elements of hip-hop and reggae into his sound. Able to hold his own on stage with B. B. King, Buddy Guy and The Rolling Stones, Clark has recently focused on strengthening his recorded output, shifting the conversation surrounding his skills from “What a showman!” to “He’s a hell of a singer-songwriter.”

On 2019’s This Land, Clark flexes his major-label bona fides not by producing a slick, guest-star-studded record, but by channeling the dissonance of the American blues into a fire-breathing slab of political rock. On the title track, Clark ruminates over life on his new Texas ranch, where racism seethes on the parched surface: “Paranoid and pissed off/ Now that I got the money/ Fifty acres and a model A/ Right in the middle of Trump country.” On “The Governor,” Clark dishes on America’s racially skewed justice system; on “Feed the Babies,” he honors his mother and reflects on his own filial duties now that he’s a father. “Highway 71” mixes dub vibes, trap beats and analog electricity, while “Dirty Dishes Blues” channels Clark’s love of acoustic pre-war blues. Across This Land, Clark updates the genre’s original M.O. with a punk sneer and an askance hip-hop slant. “The home of the brave doesn’t mean the same thing for everybody,” he told Rolling Stone in February. “[But] I’m not gonna let what’s happening in the country right now overshadow that there is great in this world. There’s love here. We just can’t let people take that away.” Los Coast opens. (Nick McGregor) Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre, 2280 E. Red Butte Canyon Road, 7:30 p.m., all ages, sold out as of press time, redbuttegarden.org FRANK MADDOCKS

JOHNNYSONSECOND.COM

Gary Clark Jr., Los Coast

THURSDAY 9/5

FRIDAY 9/6

LIVE MUSIC

LIVE MUSIC

The Body + Sympathy Pain + Portal to the God Damn Blood Dimension (Urban Lounge) Church + Hayden Neumesiter + Trex Kreiger + Kid Yokai (Metro Music Hall) Coral Creek (Gracie’s) Fat Paw (Hog Wallow Pub) Free Throw + Chris Farren + Youth Fountain + Macseal (Kilby Court) Jetboy (Liquid Joes) Midnight Palm (Rye) The National + Alvvays (Ogden Amphitheater) see p. 34 Scott Pemberton Band (The State Room) Steve Lindeman & Friends (Gallivan Center) Tom Bennet (Lighthouse Lounge)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

DJ Birdman (Bourbon House) DJ Juggy + Nick Shoulders (Lake Effect) Dueling Pianos (Keys on Main) Dueling Pianos (The Spur) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) Jazz Jam Session (Sugar House Coffee) Jazz Joint Thursday (Garage on Beck) Reggae at the Royal (The Royal) Synthpop + Darkwave + Industrial + Goth w/ DJ Camille (Area 51) Therapy Thursdays feat. Arty (Sky) Thursday Night Karaoke w. Todd Krause (Union Tavern)

Cat Ghost + Mini Golf + Jacked Johnson + Andrew Maguire Art Project + Eichlers (The Underground) Cherry Thomas (Harp and Hound) Danny Duncan (The Complex) Dubwise w. Syn .Aesthetic + Amritaji + illoom (Urban Lounge) Gary Clark Jr. + Los Coast (Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre) see above Jason Roy Sawyer + Mike Albee (The Yes Hell) Jerry Joseph (Garage on Beck) Mannequin Pussy + Destroy Boys + Ellis (Kilby Court) Marmalade Chill + DJ Juggy (Gracie’s) Rick Gerber (Legends) Salt Rock City (Club 90) Standards & Substandards (Lighthouse Lounge) Steve Grimmett (Liquid Joes) StoneFed (Hog Wallow Pub) Sun O))) + Papa M + Big Brave + Eagle Twin (Metro Music Hall) see p. 34 Whiskey Rebellion + DJ Jskee (The Spur) Wild Country (Outlaw Saloon)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

All-Request Gothic + Industrial + EBM + and Dark Wave w/ DJ Vision (Area 51) Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) DJ Chaseone2 + Matt Calder (Lake Effect) DJ Dance Party (Club 90) DJ Drew (Sky)

DJ E-Flexx (Downstairs) DJ Rude Boy + Bad Boy Brian (Johnny’s on Second) Dueling Pianos (Keys on Main) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) New Wave ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Top 40 All-Request w/ DJ Wees (Area 51)

SATURDAY 9/7 LIVE MUSIC

BBX (Lighthouse Lounge) Brooke “Madame” Mackintosh (Dejoria Center) Desert Oceans + Breezeway + The LNRS (Ice Haüs) Ginger and the Gents (The Yes Hell) Jerry Joseph + Thunderfist + The Socialists + Sad State of Society + Electric Space Jihad + No Sweat and Tears (Garage on Beck) Justin Utley (Metro Music Hall) Korene Greenwood (Harp and Hound) Lash LaRue (PayDay Pad) Live Local Music (A Bar Named Sue) Los Hellcaminos + DJ Jskee (The Spur) Man Down + Threar + Zodiac Killer + Ape Shit (Beehive) The Moss + Dad Bod + Indigo Waves + Drew Danburry (Kilby Court) see p. 36 Salt Rock City (Club 90) Skyler Madison (Downstairs) Squeeze + X (Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater) see p. 34 Spazmatics (Liquid Joe’s) Spot & Waldo (HandleBar)

DRINK UP

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER!

9.7 THE ELDERS

9.8 OPEN BLUES & MORE JAM

9.11 CRISTIAN MILLS

9.12 MORGAN SNOW

9.6 STONEFED

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9.5 FAT PAW

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TAP ROOM

ERIN MOORE

BAR FLY

Static Replica + Color Animal + Major Tom (Urban Lounge) Sydnie Keddington + Marmalade Chill (Lake Effect) Wild Country (Outlaw Saloon)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) Dueling Pianos (Keys on Main) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) DJ Booyah (Button Down) DJ Chaseone2 (Gracie’s) DJ Dance Party (Club 90) DJ Latu (The Green Pig) DJ Mr. Ramirez (Lake Effect) Gothic + Industrial + Dark ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Sky Saturdays w/ Bangarang (Sky) Top 40 + EDM + Alternative w/ DJ Twitch (Area 51)

Michelle Moonshine (Garage on Beck) Patrick Ryan (The Spur) Sin City Soul (Park Silly Sunday Market) Snyderville Station (Park Silly Sunday Market) Zapp (Liquid Joes)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dusty Grooves (Twist) Irish Sessions (Sugar House Coffee) Twist Jam Band (Twist)

KARAOKE

Karaoke (Cheers To You) Karaoke (Highlander) Karaoke (Tavernacle) Karaoke Night w. Krazy Karaoke (Union Tavern)

MONDAY 9/9 LIVE MUSIC

SUNDAY 9/8 LIVE MUSIC

American Culture + 90s TV + Lord Vox + Muzzle Tung (Urban Lounge) Live Bluegrass (Club 90) Lumberjack Fabulous (Legends)

David Bromberg (The State Room) Lynn Jones (The Spur) Morgxn + Castlecorner (Kilby Court) Rocca + Rat Bags + Heaven’s Serenity + Schwacksters (The Rad Shack) Yip Deceiver + Ugly Boys + Ivouries (Urban Lounge)

After years of driving past it, a quiet Monday night came where I ended up in the ivycovered Sugar House bar with the charming neon sign that glows “Tap Room.” My companion for the night suggested we go to “that bar in Sugar House that’s in the old Este, because I’ve heard they have a big, cheap whiskey menu.” Having got used to spending nights out at shiny downtown bars like Copper Common, we’ve both got our nice shirts on, which garners some stares when we walk into the old-fashioned pub, where bingo night is happening and baseball caps are on many a head. But that’s also just something that happens in Sugar House, I think. During my days as a Westminster student, I recall thinking that the small campus vibe lent something of a small-town nosiness to the community. Passing the staring students and sneaking past the bingo players that line the bar, we see that the rumors are true about their whiskey selection. Not being a whiskey drinker myself, I pick an Oskar Blues beer, their Old Chub Scotch Ale, while my friend orders a Japanese whisky called Toki. The Scotch Ale turns out to be dark and sweet, like a stout.

His Toki tastes like a Rye whiskey, though my whiskey knowledge is scanty at best. We work on the drinks away from the bingo ruckus on the cool, quiet patio, and decide to go back for more, though it’s much of the same: for him, an actual Rye which I don’t really like; for me, another Oskar Blues, their dependably tasty Mama’s Little Yella Pils. I have a feeling that my friend’s new favor for this affordable whiskey menu will hover in his mind at least, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he proposes a visit to Sugar House again for that asset alone. (Erin Moore) Tap Room, 2021 E. Windsor St., 801-484-6692

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE DJ Sneeky Long (Twist) Monday Night Open Jazz Session w/ David Halliday & the JVQ (Gracie’s) Open Mic (Outlaw Saloon) Open Blues Jam (Green Pig)

TUESDAY 9/10 LIVE MUSIC

Brothertiger + Divorce Court + Dad Bod (Kilby Court) City Jazz (Gallivan Center) Die Antwoord (Depot) John Sherrill + Lynn Jones (Lake Effect) King of Heck + Pillars + Silent Miles (The Underground) Riley McDonald (The Spur) Whistling Rufus (Sugar House Coffee)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Groove Tuesdays (Johnny’s on Second) Open Jazz Jam (Bourbon House) Open Mic Night (The Royal) Tuesday Night Bluegrass Jam w/ Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Gracie’s) Tuesday Night Jazz (Alibi)

WEDNESDAY 9/11 LIVE MUSIC

Burly University (Prohibition) Fabien Casual + Swift Omega + Little Grim + Lyfe on Mars (Metro Music Hall) Lane Norberg (Lake Effect) Mark Knopfler (Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre) Matt Wennergren (The Spur) Sean of Treachery (The Loading Dock) Silence In The Snow + Division of Doubt + Glume (Kilby Court) Summer Cannibals + Corner Case + Durian Durian (Urban Lounge) see p. 36 Western Settings + Jeff Dillon and the Revival + Walking Opinion (The Underground)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dark NRG w/ DJ Nyx (Area 51) DJ Chaseone2 (Lake Effect) Dueling Pianos (Keys on Main) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) Top 40 All-Request w/ DJ Wees (Area 51)

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42 | SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | CITY WEEKLY |

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Dis-Topian Fiction

Visions from a not-soimprobable future where Disney owns everything.

No, seriously. Everything.

BY MARYANN JOHANSON comments@cityweekly.net @maryannjohanson

| CITY WEEKLY |

SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | 43

n Woody the Cowboy n Princess Elsa n Kermit the Frog n Belle n Luke Skywalker n Lizzie McGuire n Bruce Banner/The Hulk n Minnie Mouse n Darth Vader n Snow White

that a “showdown” between it and Disneyowned Star Wars was in the offing.

“Of course fan culture has long been divided between fans of Wars and fans of Trek,” Whedon says. “But there is absolutely no truth to the suggestion that Disney will be creating crossover stories between the two properties pitting characters from each franchise against one another. That’s completely absurd.”

Disney stock rose on stock exchanges around the world on the news, reaching new highs on the NYSE and the Hang Seng ... *** Tweet: “Han Solo is totally gonna friggin’ kick Captain Kirk’s ass! You saw it here first!”

Tweet: “You guys: Mirror Universe Rey. I’m just sayin’ ... ” Tweet: “Like, what if the Force was with baby Spock?” *** Online passport renewal The new collaboration between the U.S. Department of State and The Walt Disney Co. requires you to choose a complementary avatar for your new passport, to be displayed on the cover and to help you navigate customs and immigrations queues worldwide (national participation pending in some countries).

Please choose one: Your choice will be confirmed via online personality test results. With whom do you most identify? CW

| MUSIC | CINEMA | DINING | A&E | NEWS |

force tonight, aren’t they?”

“They sure are Bob. Oh look, here’s William Shatner, the voice of both the Muppets lovable curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf.

Mr. Shatner! How are you feeling tonight, at this momentous event?”

“I ... think it’s just great. Disney ... is a stunning ... creative force ... in the world today.”

“They are truly bringing us entertainment visions that we never could have anticipated, aren’t they?”

“They ... sure are ... Bob. And just you wait ... to hear ... what’s ... coming next.” *** Press release—Embargoed until Tuesday, March 2, 2027, 9 a.m. Disney Standard Time After months of detailed negotiations and weeks of heated rumors, The Walt Disney Co. is delighted to announce that its acquisition of Paramount Pictures from the newly-bankrupt Viacom means that the Star Trek universe of movies, television series, comics, novels, videogames and other entertainment properties beloved by millions around the world for their optimism and forward-looking attitude have now come under the umbrella of The Mouse.

“The Disney family is beyond thrilled to welcome the United Federation of Planets into our embrace,” said Disney chairwoman Ivanka Trump, though a spokesperson, today in Burbank. “The crews of the Enterprise, the Discovery, Deep Space Nine and all the rest are sure to live long and prosper under our care.”

Disney head of creative Joss Whedon was quick to shut down speculation that the multibillion-dollar corporation’s procurement of the franchise—launched by Gene Roddenberry in 1966 on the nowdefunct NBC television network—meant

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

DEREK CARLISLE

“H

ey, so you wanna go to the Disneys tonight?” “Ugh, I dunno, I’m beat. Is there even anything good on? Hey, Alexa, what’s on at the Disneyplex? ... Alexa?”

“Oh, hey, didn’t you hear? They bought out Amazon today. You have to call her Ariel now.”

“What? LOL! OK. Hey, Ariel, what’s on at the Disneyplex?”

“Now playing at Disneyplex Sylvan Park Four: Home Alone: The Next Generation at 7:10 and 9:50; Iron Woman 4 at 7:25 and 10:15; Toy Story 8: Woody’s Revenge at 7:35 and 9:55; Skywalker Saga: The Journey Begins at 7:45 and 10:15; and DisneyNature Presents The Littlest Glacier in IMAX at 8:30 only. Now playing at Disneyplex Belle Meade Five: Indiana Jones and the Gutenberg Bible Adventure at 7:05 … ” “That’s enough, Ariel!”

“I hear the glacier one is a real heartbreaker ... ” “Yeah, not sure I’m in the mood for that tonight. Maybe we can hang here and DisNetflix?”

“We were still in the middle of bingeing Game of Gnomes ... ” “I dunno, that seems to be going nowhere. I was kinda thinking we could start that Boba Fett–meets-Thor thing?”

“Oh, c’mon, since they made Boba a good guy it’s all gone downhill, don’tcha think?”

“I guess ... Maybe I’ll just read. Hey, Kindle, what’s in my queue?”

“It’s not Kindle anymore, you have to call it Kanga now.”

“Goddammit ... ” *** “And we are here live on the red carpet of the all-star gala premiere of The Muppets on the Road Again for the Very First Time in London’s glamorous Leicester Square. It’s an exciting evening, isn’t it, Adaeze?”

“It sure is, Bob. I remember when all the so-called pundits—” “Film Twitter.”

“That’s right, Bob. When Film Twitter said it couldn’t be done, that the beloved Muppets just wouldn’t work as Pixar CGI characters—” “No felt, no peace!”

“Haha, Adaeze, the protesters are out in

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

| NEWS | A&E | DINING | CINEMA | MUSIC |

44 | SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | CITY WEEKLY |

CINEMA CLIPS MOVIE TIMES AND LOCATIONS AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

NEW THIS WEEK Film release schedules are subject to change. Reviews online at cityweekly.net THE CAT RESCUERS BBB There are half a million abandoned and feral cats in New York City; this charming documentary introduces us to four volunteers who spend their own time and money trying to fix this inhumane situation in their own little corners of Brooklyn. Kickstarterbacked, this movie is, in many ways, the very epitome of the notion that we have to be the change we want to see in the world, in its depiction of a small-scale example of how the human relationship with nature damaged it, and the little things that can be done to make it all right again. Small acts go a very long way, but even the most devoted of cat lovers have limited financial and emotional resources, and so the movie gently advocates for the government support that could solve the problem for good. It’s all a tiny, delicate metaphor for the reshaping of attitudes we humans will need to make on a planetary scale, and the effort we’ll need to expend to clean up our enormous messes. It is a task, we might glean from The Cat Rescuers, that is not impossible, and not unrewarding. Opens Sept. 6 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (NR)—MaryAnn Johanson FIDDLER: A MIRACLE OF MIRACLES BB.5 Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock managed to take a bunch of individual stories—Sholem Aleichem’s 19th-century “Tevye the Dairyman” tales—and turn them into a beautifully cohesive narrative in Fiddler on the Roof. Director Max

Lewkowicz isn’t quite as successful in his documentary about the beloved musical. Gathering interviews with the surviving creative team, as well as actors who have worked on productions over the years, Lewkowicz tracks Fiddler from its origins through its 1964 Broadway premiere, exploring the legacy that, as a postscript notes, has had a production up somewhere in the world every day since its debut. The resulting film is rich with anecdotes—about director/choreographer Jerome Robbins, songs cut from previews, etc.—but it bounces around so much that it rarely pulls together into something more than that. While there’s interesting material to be found in everything from Fiddler as early feminist statement to the different political world into which the 1971 film version emerged to the ongoing relevance of its refugee story, that’s not the same as having several provocative chapters feel like they belong in the same book. Opens Sept. 6 at Broadway Centre Cinemas. (NR)—Scott Renshaw IT: CHAPTER 2 [not yet reviewed] Now adults, the “Losers Club” gathers once again to face the evil presence in Derry, Maine. Opens Sept. 6 at theaters valleywide.

(R) VITA & VIRGINIA BB.5 Sometimes there’s no winning when it comes to a period-piece biopic. Play it straight, and it can come off stuffy and stagebound; go for something stylized, and it can feel forced and distracted.

Director Chanya Button is more in the latter camp in adapting Eileen Atkins’ play, based on the correspondence between writers Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) and Vita SackvilleWest (Gemma Arterton) chronicling their romantic affair in the 1920s. The narrative emphasizes the differences between the two women—Woolf the troubled, almost ethereal member of a bohemian artistic set, Sackville-West a scion of privilege who had multiple lovers—in a way that gives Debicki’s haunted performance more room to flourish than Arterton’s portrayal

of a flighty libertine. Yet while there’s some rich material in the risk Woolf takes in opening herself up, Button’s direction seems more concerned with visual flourishes—hallucinations by Woolf during her breakdowns; turning the women’s letters into monologues directly to the camera—and the modernist touch of an electronic score than with plumbing psychological depths.

It might not be a rote chronology of events, but that doesn’t make it engrossing. Opens Sept. 6 at Megaplex Theaters Jordan Commons. (R)—SR

SPECIAL SCREENINGS BEST OF FEAR NO FILM 2019 At Main Library, Sept. 10, 7 p.m. (NR) THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM At Park City Film Series, Sept. 6-7, 8 p.m. & Sept. 8, 6 p.m. (PG) SLC PUNK!: 20TH ANNIVERSARY W/ DIRECTOR JAMES MERENDINO At Rose Wagner Center, Sept. 11, 7 p.m. (R)

CURRENT RELEASES AFTER THE WEDDING BB.5 In Bart Freundlich’s gender-swapped English-language remake of Susanne Bier’s 2006 drama, Michelle Williams stars as Isabelle, manager of an orphanage in India whose trip to New York for a donation from media tycoon Theresa (Julianne Moore) winds up uncovering secrets involving Theresa’s husband (Billy Crudup) and their newlywed daughter Grace (Abby Quinn). A lot of the angst behind those secrets is more distracting than enriching, and it’s disappointing to see some sloppy handling of mental health issues. But Williams’ performance is beautifully tangled in knots of uncertainty; she does as much with a cluck of the tongue as Moore does with Capital-A Acting involving drunken rants and ugly-crying. Like Bier, Freundlich stumbles when trying to make the premise’s inherent melodrama feel deathly serious; it’s still worth watching Williams, who simply doesn’t know how to take an on-screen moment for granted. (R)—SR ANGEL HAS FALLEN BB.5 The … Has Fallen movies have been so resolute in their throwback patriotic machismo that it’s disorienting to get a whiff of the red meat-less meal this installment serves up as Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is implicated in an assassination attempt on the president (Morgan Freeman), and goes into hiding to clear his name. There are more than a few whiffs of The Fugitive, and the action is simple and straightforward while serving up a fairly obvious conspiracy. The story also leans into the physical and psychological costs of becoming a human weapon, emphasized by Nick Nolte’s solid role as Banning’s survivalist/ Vietnam vet dad. Plenty of things—and people—get blown up or shot up real good, but instead of making Banning’s antagonist

some non-American extremist, here the threat is America’s own history of endless warfare. (R)—SR

DON’T LET GO BB David Oyelowo deserves mainstream success if he wants it, but while Don’t Let Go starts with a perfectly good premise, it soon turns into a formulaic police procedural with the most obvious, easily-guessed resolution. LAPD detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo) is surprised to get a phone call from his recently-murdered niece, Ashley (Storm Reid), calling from three days before she and her parents were killed. Uncle Jack eventually takes advantage of the time warp to try to prevent the murders, but not before spending a combined seven or eight minutes (or so it feels) staring agape at the caller ID. Writer-director Jacob Estes (Mean Creek, The Details) quickly loses interest in his sci-fi/fantasy conceit and defaults to disappointingly mundane dirty-cop, this-conspiracy-goes-all-the-way-to-the-top detective tropes that don’t do anyone any favors. Oyelowo is magnetic, though, even when stumbling around panicked and dumbfounded. (PG13)—Eric D. Snider

GOOD BOYS BBB A decade-plus on from the distasteful celebration of toxic male teenhood that was Superbad, here’s a supergood, unexpectedly sweet celebration of modern ascendant malehood. Three sixth-grade boys (Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams and Brady Noon) spend a day ditching school to vie against older teen girls (Midori Francis and Molly Gordon) in a complicated plot involving drones, the mildest sort of party drugs and trying to reach a grade-school “kissing party.” Mostly it’s about worrying that, at the tender age of 11, one might become a “social piranha,” about securing consent to engage in any physical contact with another kid, and about ensuring that nothing one is doing constitutes bullying. These kids today, with their physical and psychological boundaries! “We’re not kids, we’re tweens!” they declare, staking a claim on a developmental stage that we adults never even realized existed. (R)—MAJ

READY OR NOT BBB Samara Weaving plays Grace, a young woman who has married the heir (Mark O’Brien) of a board- and parlor-game empire, only to learn that she’s expected to play a wedding-night “initiation” game—one that if you lose, you die. Co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have stylish fun with their spooky house setting and Weaving’s appropriately freaked-out heroine, and display an effectively dark sense of humor. But at its core, this is an unapologetic smack in the face of one-percenters, painting their gains as earned entirely from their willingness to destroy others; even platitudes about “family” and “tradition” become hollow excuses for self-preservation. Some opportunities for tension-building are sacrificed for expository chatter, and tension sags in the final half-hour. But what Ready or Not lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in a gleefully grotesque middle finger at homicidal rapacity. (R)—SR

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I don’t know if the coming weeks will be an Anais Nin phase for you. But they could be if you want them to. It’s up to you whether you’ll dare to be as lyrical, sensual, deep, expressive and emotionally rich as she was. In case you decide that yes, you will, here are quotes from Nin that might serve you well. 1. It’s easy to love and there are so many ways to do it. 2. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. 3. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. 4. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. 5. It was while helping others to be free that I gained my own freedom.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “When you’re nailing a custard pie to the wall, and it starts to wilt, it doesn’t do any good to hammer in more nails.” So advised novelist Wallace Stegner. I hope I’m delivering his counsel in time to dissuade you from even trying to nail a custard pie to the wall—or an omelet or potato chip or taco, for that matter.

What might be a better use of your energy? You could use the nails to build something that will actually be useful to you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I hid my deepest feelings so well I forgot where I placed them,” wrote author Amy Tan. My Scorpio friend Audrey once made a similar confession: “I buried my secrets so completely from the prying curiosity of other people that I lost track of them myself.” If either of those descriptions apply to you, Scorpio, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to secure a remedy. You’ll have extra power and luck if you commune with and celebrate your hidden feelings and buried secrets.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The ama are Japanese women whose job it is to dive to the sea bottom and fetch oysters bearing pearls. The water is usually cold, and the workers use no breathing apparatus, depending instead on specialized techniques to hold their breath. I propose we make them your inspirational role models. The next few weeks will be a favorable time, metaphorically speaking, for you to descend into the depths in quest of valuables and inspirations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Renowned Cancerian neurologist Oliver Sacks believed that music and gardens could be vital curative agents, as therapeutic as pharmaceuticals. My personal view is that walking in nature can be as medicinal as working and lolling in a garden. As for music, I would extend his prescription to include singing and dancing as well as listening. I’m also surprised that Sacks didn’t give equal recognition to the healing power of touch, which can be wondrously rejuvenating, either in its erotic or non-erotic forms. I bring these thoughts to your attention because I suspect the coming weeks will be a Golden Age of non-pharmaceutical healing for you. I’m not suggesting that you stop taking the drugs you need to stay healthy; I simply mean that music, nature and touch will have an extra-sublime impact on your well-being.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you visualize what ancient Rome looked like, it’s possible you draw on memories of scenes you’ve seen portrayed in movies.

The blockbuster film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott, might be one of those templates. The weird thing is that Gladiator, as well as many other such movies, were inspired by the grandiose paintings of the ancient world done by Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912).

And in many ways, his depictions were not at all factual. I bring this to your attention, Leo, in the hope that it will prod you to question the accuracy and authenticity of your mental pictures.

The coming weeks will be a favorable time to get fuzzy and PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the 13th century, the Italian city of Bologna was serious about incorrect memories into closer alignment with the truth, and to guarding the integrity of its cuisine. In 1250, the cheese guild shed any illusions that might be distorting your understanding issued a decree proclaiming, “If you make fake mortadella of reality.

DOWN

1. Slammer 2. It may be blonde or pale 3. Like some relationships 4. Sorkin and Spelling 5. Heroic sagas 6. Small bite, say 7. First name in 1950s comedy 8. Like marshes 9. Bottles of it are often labeled “Superiore di Cartizze” 10. “____ I a stinker?” (Bugs Bunny catch-

46. Grammy winner India.___ 47. Shoe designer Blahnik 50. Like most urban land 51. “Well, golly!”

53. Group led by Master Splinter, initially 54. News item never seen by its subject 55. Newbie 58. Beast that rhymes with zoo 59. UFO crew

Last week’s answers

SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | 45

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you throw a pool ball or a bronze Buddha statue at a window, the glass will break. In fact, the speed at which it fractures could reach 3,000 miles per hour. Metaphorically speaking, your mental blocks and emotional obstacles are typically not as crackable.

You might smack them with your angry probes and bash them with your desperate pleas, yet have little or no effect. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you’ll have much more power than usual to shatter those vexations. So I hereby invite you to hurl your strongest blasts at your mental blocks and emotional obstacles.

Don’t be surprised if they collapse at unexpectedly rapid speeds.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Of all the children on the planet, 3% live in the U.S. And yet American children are in possession of 40% of the world’s toys.

In accordance with astrological omens, I hereby invite you to be like an extravagant American child in the coming weeks. You have cosmic permission to seek maximum fun and treat yourself to zesty entertainment and lose yourself in uninhibited laughter and wow yourself with beguiling games and delightful gizmos.

It’s playtime!

phrase) 11. Fame 12. Leonidas’ kingdom 13. Hardly strict with 18. Unlikely entrant in a Westminster show 21. ____ cradle (device that demonstrates the third law of motion) 22. POTUS for 12 years 23. Massage 27. Frat party recyclable 28. No longer having in stock 30. Physics unit 32. U.K. military award 33. TV’s “Murder, ____ Wrote” 35. It’s not true 36. Not seen by the theater audience 37. It might accompany “Heh, heh, heh” 40. Nonnative speaker’s subj.

41. “Your” of yore 42. Suggest 43. “This Is Where ____ You (2014 movie) 44. Posts someone’s personal information online, in slang

| COMMUNITY |

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The coco de mer is a palm tree that grows in the Seychelles. Its seed is huge, weighing as much as forty pounds and having a diameter of 19 inches. The seed takes seven years to grow into its mature form, then takes an additional two years to germinate.

Everything I just said about the coco de mer seed reminds me of you, Capricorn. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’ve been working on ripening an awesome seed for a long time, and are now in the final phase before it sprouts. The Majestic Budding might not fully kick in until 2020, but I bet you’re already feeling the enjoyable, mysterious pressure.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): John Muir (1838–1914) was skilled at creating and using machinery. In his 20s, he diligently expressed those aptitudes.

But at age 27, while working in a carriage parts factory, he suffered an accident that blinded him. For several months, he lay in bed, hoping to recuperate. During that time, Muir decided that if his sight returned, he would thereafter devote it to exploring the beauty of the natural world. The miracle came to pass, and for the rest of his life he traveled and explored the wilds of North America, becoming an influential naturalist, author and early environmentalist. I’d love to see you respond to one of your smaller setbacks—much less dramatic than Muir’s!—with comparable panache, Aries.

1. “Come to ____!”

5. Conclusion 8. Far from abundant 14. “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” singer Fitzgerald 15. Author who becomes the kind of author he was when a “t” is tacked on to the end of his name 16. It’s about 80 miles SW of Buffalo, NY 17. “Misrepresent” or “mist,” in the dictionary 19. Karen and Summer 20. “Stormy” or “stout,” in the dictionary 22. Weather system borders 24. Seeing-____ dog 25. Org. that complements the IMF 26. Actress Kirsten of “Spider-Man” 27. Acknowledge applause 29. TBS show since 2010 31. Albert Pujols stat 32. German, in Germany 34. “Homage” or “homicide,” in the dictionary 38. “Personally ...”

39. Dachshund doc 42. The “HD” in HDTV, briefly 45. Ty Cobb and Willie Mays, positionally: Abbr.

46. Sect featured in “Witness” 48. Agcy. that won the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize 49. Singer with the 2017 #1 R&B album “Ctrl” 51. How some papers are presented 52. “Noteworthy” or “notice,” in the dictionary 56. Beatles song with the lyric “There’s one for you, nineteen for me” 57. “Geometry” or “geranium,” in the dictionary 60. Exact retribution for 61. Wrath 62. Kind of trap 63. Tried out 64. It’s used for kicks 65. Burden

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “No Eden valid without serpent.” Novelist Wallace Stegner wrote that pithy riff. I think it’s a good motto for you to use in the immediate future. How do you interpret it? Here’s what I think.

As you nourish your robust vision of paradise-on-earth, and as you carry out the practical actions that enable you to manifest that vision, it’s wise to have some creative irritant in the midst of it. That bug, that question, that tantalizing mystery is the key to keeping you honest and discerning. It gives credibility and gravitas to your idealistic striving.

. . . your body will be stretched on the rack three times, you will be fined 200 gold coins, and all the food you make will be destroyed.” I appreciate such devotion to purity and authenticity and factualness. And I recommend that in the coming weeks, you commit to comparable standards in your own sphere. Don’t let your own offerings be compromised or corrupted. The same with the offerings you receive from other people. Be impeccable.

ACROSS

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

Go to realastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes.

Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

DICTIONARY

BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9.

B R E Z S N Y

© 2019

SUDOKU

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY B Y R O B

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

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46 | SEPTEMBER 05, 2019

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE FAMILY COURT OF THE THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COUNTY OF GREENVILLE DOCKET NO.: 2019-DR-23-2593 T __ L _ B__, Plaintiff, vs.Gabriel Michael Bottoms, Birth Father Defendant AMENDED SUMMONS IN THE INTEREST OF N_ H_ B__ and B__ R__ B__, minor children under the ages of eighteen years TO THE DEFENDANT(S) ABOVENAMED: You are hereby summoned and required to answer the Complaint in this action, a copy of which is served upon you, and serve a copy of your Answer to the Complaint upon the subscriber at 1212 Haywood Road, Bldg.

300, Ste. D, Greenville, South Carolina, 29615, within thirty (30) days after service hereof, exclusive of the day of such service.

If you fail to answer the Complaint within that time, the Plaintiff will apply to the Court for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

TO THE DEFENDANT(S) UNDER THE AGE OF FOURTEEN, AND THEIR GENERAL OR TESTAMENTARY GUARDIAN, IF ANY: You are further summoned and notified to apply for the appointment of a Guardian ad litem to represent you in this action within thirty (30) days after service of this Summons and Notice upon you. If you fail to do so, the Plaintiffs herein will apply to this Court for the appointment of some suitable and proper person to represent you in this action.

Raymond W. Godwin, Esq. (SC Bar #2162) PO Box 354 Greenville, SC 29602 (864) 241-2883 • (864) 255-4342 (fax) ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS Dated: June 25, 2019

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FANTASTIC MASSAGE

Next summer, many of us will be glued to re-broadcasts of the Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. As an aside, some of us will be wondering if Utah will host the Winter Olympics again. Last year, Salt Lake City received approval to bid once more for the games. We liked having the world visiting our state. KSL Channel 5 reported that the 2002 Games “were among the most lucrative ever staged and official state estimates of the economic impact showed $100 million in profits, $4.8 billion in sales, 35,000 job years of employment and $1.5 billion in earnings for Utah workers during 2002.” Because the cost of putting on the athletics showcase is insanely expensive, promoters are looking to hold future games at host cities that already have the infrastructure in place. I always thought Utah was a perfect selection for the games because 1. It has such great winter sports areas already, and 2. It has a bazillion missionaries and returned missionaries who speak most of the languages of the world.

The callout for volunteers was amazing and posts filled up almost instantly with eager Utahns.

The only Olympics I’ve ever attended were the 2002 Games. Much of the competitions happened in our mountains near the capital city, but skating was inside at the then-Delta Center, hockey at the Utah Olympic Oval and opening and closing ceremonies at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

There were other venues scattered around to share the economic love in many Utah cities. It was not too hard to get tickets to watch crazy people fly down tubes at the luge, jump off a ramp to (hopefully) land on two boards 800-plus feet later in the Nordic ski jump or sweep ice in front of 40-pound stones in curling.

We’d do well hosting Summer Games, too. We’ve got many indoor venues, lakes and rivers and, well, mountains. For the first time ever, athletes will compete in 2020 for medals in climbing in three disciplines: bouldering, sport and speed climbing. The national governing body for rock athletes, USA Climbing, was relocated to SLC last year, and athletes are training around town and in our mountains. Bouldering is climbing on real or fake rocks without ropes. In sport climbing, anchors are fixed to the rock, climbs are less than 30 meters, are super steep and you’re timed on speed and difficulty of the climb. You’ll be hearing more about this and other newly added events (karate, skateboarding and surfing) as our athletes compete in events before the big show in Japan. n Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff.

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An upscale neighborhood near the Ibis Golf and Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., is all a-flutter over some unwelcome guests: dozens of black vultures. The Palm Beach Post reports that a New York family can no longer visit the $700,000 vacation home they bought earlier this year because the birds have defecated and vomited all around it, leaving a smell “like a thousand rotting corpses,” claimed homeowner Siobhan Casimano. Homeowner Cheryl Katz put out fake owls with moving heads and blinking red lights for eyes to scare off the birds, but she said the vultures “ripped the heads off.” Katz had to summon police when the vultures became trapped in her pool enclosure and attacked each other: “Blood was everywhere,” she told the Post. Katz and other homeowners blame the invasion on a neighbor who feeds wildlife, supplying bags of dog food, roasted chicken and trays of sandwiches for their enjoyment. Neighborhood association president Gordon Holness told the Post the neighbor has been issued a warning, but the migratory birds are protected by federal law.

BY T HE EDITO R S AT A ND RE WS M cMEEL

negotiated a price for the Highlander, which he said would be used for “evangelism,” then asked for a test drive—and never came back, the Daily Post reported on Aug. 19. He later sold the vehicle to a spare parts dealer for about $1,650. According to police, Ehindero confessed he stole the car to repay a loan from a microfinance bank in Lagos after tithes and offerings from his congregation were insufficient. “When the pressure from the microfinance bank became unbearable for me, the devil told me to steal a vehicle from the car dealer to sell and use the proceeds to repay the loan. I regret my action.” Ehindero and his accomplices were arrested in Ondo State.

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WEIRD

Spoiled A young man identified only as Akash, in Yamunanagar, Haryana state in northern India, received a brand-new BMW from his parents for his birthday, reported Fox News on Aug. 12. But Akash, who had nagged his parents for a Jaguar instead, told police the BMW was “a little small for him and his friends inside.” So he pushed the new vehicle into a river, where it sank into deep water and had to be pulled out with a crane. “The youth was arrogant and kept insisting that he be given a Jaguar,” police said. “We could only afford to give him a BMW,” said his father.

“We never imagined he would do anything like this.”

The Devil Made Him Do It Jeremiah Ehindero, 41, pastor of Jesus Miracle Church in Sango-Ota, Nigeria, blamed the devil for his trouble with the law after stealing an SUV from a local Toyota dealership. Ehindero

Snowflakes Falling Everywhere Ex-cons, juvenile delinquents and drug addicts are getting new monikers in San Francisco, thanks to the Board of Supervisors’ new “person-first” language guidelines. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, someone just released from prison will be a “justice-involved person”; a repeat offender will be a “returning resident.” People on probation will be “persons under supervision.” The under-18 criminal crowd will be known as “young people impacted by the juvenile justice system.”

Those suffering from addiction will be “people with a history of substance use.” Words such as “convict” and “inmate” “only serve to obstruct and separate people from society and make the institutionalization of racism and supremacy appear normal,” the board’s resolution reads. “Referring to them as felons is like a scarlet letter,” Matt Haney, board supervisor, said.

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SEPTEMBER 05, 2019 | 47

What’s in a Name?

Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel brought the town of Dildo, Newfoundland and Labrador, continent-wide attention in midAugust when he gifted the community a Hollywood-style sign installed on a hill above the town. Soon, Canadian adult toy company Our Pleasure posted a video to Facebook featuring some of its products in front of the sign and at other locations around the town, reported The Telegram, inciting anger among some residents. “They went too far with this,” said Andrew Pretty, a member of the town’s local service district committee. “They had one picture right next to the playground ... it’s not right.”

Our Pleasure owner Cathy Daniels described the video as “more of a fun video,” but townspeople don’t see the humor. They are circulating a petition asking Our Pleasure not to use photos of Dildo for its advertising and social media campaigns.

Crime Report An attempted burglary in Oronoco Township, Minn., unfolded in an unusual manner on Aug. 15. Police responded to a burglary in progress call to find that alledged thief Kirsten Hart, 29, had scuffled with a 64-year-old woman before making off with pill bottles, debit and credit cards, $150 cash and a fake $1 million bill. Hart had run out of the house with part of her shirt ripped off, which led a passing motorist to ask if she was hurt and needed a ride. Hart accepted, climbing into the trunk of the car, according to KIMT. The driver later told police he realized something wasn’t right but panicked and drove off. Police also said they found iPads stolen from a local STEM school in Hart’s car. She and an accomplice face multiple charges.

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Strange Obsession Washington State Highway Patrol Sgt. Kyle Smith stopped along Highway 518 near Seattle on Aug. 13 to see if a car parked on the shoulder needed assistance. Instead, according to the Associated Press, he observed the driver inside with eight mobile phones, neatly arranged in a blue foam square, all playing Pokemon Go. Smith did not issue a ticket to the driver, but he did warn him to put the phones away and move along, as the shoulder is meant only for emergency stops.

Bright Idea Dave Schmida, 21, of Sturbridge, Mass., set out on Aug. 12, determined to get rid of a hornet’s nest three stories high under a corner of his family’s roof. He first tried spraying the nest with Raid, but when that didn’t work, he got creative. As his brother Matthew recorded video of the extermination, Dave lit up a Roman candle and pointed the fiery balls at the nest, reported the Worcester Telegram. The first two or three missed their mark, but when his ammunition connected with the nest, it burst into flames, killing the wasps but setting the eaves on fire as well. Schmida rushed up to a nearby window and used a fire extinguisher to put the flames out. “I would say mission accomplished,” he said, even though there is now a small hole in the house.

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Second Thoughts Maybe his conscience got the better of him. On Aug. 13, according to WTAE, a man in a wheelchair approached a teller at a First National Bank on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The man, thought to be in his 60s, handed the teller a note demanding cash, but then “suddenly abandoned his robbery attempt and exited the bank,” a police statement read. Police and FBI agents were on the lookout for the reluctant robber, but there were no photographs or video of him to aid them.

Creme de la Weird In Stockholm, Sweden, an unnamed man attending a traditional crayfish party on Aug. 20 at the Skansen Aquarium was delivering a speech while standing on a rock in a restricted area. As he spoke, he rested his arm on a glass barrier—until the crocodile who lives in the tank “jumped up and grabbed his lower arm,” Jonas Wahlstrom, owner of the aquarium, told CNN. But that isn’t the weird part of the story. The dastardly crocodile in this story was formerly owned by ... Fidel Castro. The croc was one of two given to a Russian cosmonaut in 1970, who took the animals to Moscow. Wahlstrom eventually brought them to Stockholm.

The croc “lost its grip after 10 seconds,” Wahlstrom said, leaving the victim with injuries to his lower arm and hand.

TEACHERS!

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