City Weekly December 5, 2019

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2 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT A NON-HORMONAL, INVESTIGATIONAL DRUG? THE SKYLIGHT CLINICAL STUDY IS SEEKING ELIGIBLE CANIDATES.

CWCONTENTS COVER STORY TRANS IN UTAH

How ‘gender-affirming’ philosophy is helping transgender Utahns become their true self.

Cover illustration by Derek Carlisle

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4 LETTERS 6 OPINION 9 NEWS 14 A&E 20 DINE 25 MUSIC 36 CINEMA 38 COMMUNITY

CARL SEGERSTROM

News, p. 9 Segerstrom grew up in a small mining and timbermilling town. He developed a deep relationship with nature through hikes in Yosemite National Park and daily life in a community dependent on natural resources. He currently serves as an assistant editor at High Country News.

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Utah Repertory Theater Co. ceases operations. facebook.com/slcweekly

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Cover story, Nov. 21, “The Kids Are Not Alright”

I know what would help— an inland port!

BRITTNEY HEMINGWAY Via Facebook Fine the shit out of those rolling coal assholes.

HEATH BERRY Via Facebook

OPEN YEAR ROUND 3500 South 900 East | 801.487.4131

What’s funny and sad, is that a lot of policies that would be considered democratic, are actually popular among most people when they are a direct ballot measure. In Utah, we voted for medical marijuana, expansion of Medicaid, and balanced redistricting processes.

Yet we are still considered a red state ... it’s like people are at odds with their own interests. You’ll run into people who vote red but don’t want their social security or welfare benefits taken away. Fucking weird. Most people would probably want clean air, clean energy, and so forth ... yet Republicans in Congress overall don’t seem to want to do shit about it.

BLAINE LAFRENIERE Via Facebook We are on the doorstep of our usual winter inversion season, and the forecast predicts inversion to begin next week. The timing of City Weekly’s lead article is spot on in regards to our air pollution problem. @UTAHPHYSICIANS Via Twitter

We locals are used to [inversion], and go about our days as usual, but maybe we shouldn’t. Poor air quality is an issue that affects us all, and individual actions by people like you and me have the biggest impact. Sitting in a lecture hall at the University of Utah, my class-

mate wheezes through her breath. She just went to the doctor and they told her she has to take steroids for her asthma.

After class she tells me that her asthma has only gotten worse, especially during the winter months.

Air pollution is not only a problem for people with respiratory issues but also for the elderly, children and any resident living within the bounds of the air polluted valley—which is most of us.

If this still doesn’t concern you, let me tell you something that might.

Particulate Matter 2.5.

This is just one of the hazardous pollutants emitted from automobiles, small businesses and commercial industries in Utah, and it is so microscopic that it can get deep into our lungs and bloodstreams. This leads to adverse effects like shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat and even premature death by aggravating respiratory and cardiovascular issues. According to the American Heart Association, “between 1,000 and 2,000 Utahns die prematurely annually because of air pollution.” For the sake of our health and environment, we must take action.

Start by carpooling, biking or taking public transportation. If you want to take a larger step, invest in a fuel-efficient vehicle. And please, if anything, stop idling! In our homes we can buy energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, replace

2-stroke with 4-stroke engine snowblowers, use natural gas instead of wood stoves and fireplaces and buy less solventladen products. Finally, let’s continue to advocate for the clean air we deserve. Stay aware and up to date on air quality forecasts and helpful tips at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality website. Although winter air pollution seems like an expected annual occurrence, this does not have to be the case. It starts with looking out the window and knowing that what we see can be changed by our individual efforts.

KAILA BALCH, Salt Lake City

Dine, Nov. 21, “Putting the ‘Fun’ in Funeral Potatoes” They’re to die for!

PAUL MCGILL Via Facebook

Self-regulation

Ben McAdams’ bill that passed, and protects people cheated by financial fraud, fails to consider people who have been cheated by members of his own profession: lawyers.

MARK FAUX Via CW comments

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OPINION

Trump in a Miniskirt: Cheering for the Bad Guys You might find it difficult to visualize President Donald Trump in a miniskirt, spandex leotard and halter top, jumping up and down and waving his pom-poms while the crowd cheers. But try. Although he might not be your typical rah-rah-girl, aside from his usual, inflammatory, deceitful rhetoric, there are definitely times when he gets dolled-up to perform his enthusiastic field appearances like a professional—rallying those other demagogues like they’re the home team, and basking in the kudos that, mostly, will follow.

Luckily for him, praises are amazingly easy to extract from the worst of the world’s bullies, who, though castigated by all legitimate world leaders, are impervious to the cries of “foul.” While wise Americans understand that this is just the par-for-the-course hype that rouses mindless crowds, even a few thinking folk are sucked in by the intensity of the moment and the wave of excitement that characterizes crowd psychology. History’s infamous cheerleaders have all done it—Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, to name a few.

Each game day, Trump notices a look of fear in his makeup mirror. Will he be successful, getting the worship of another amoral, world thug with his little show? These people are murderers and oppressors, yet POTUS lives for the reward of his sycophants. A smile of approval is his reward.

What could create a warmer bond than that honor-amongthieves afterglow, when authentic critics, embarrassed to the core, are hiding, in silence, underneath the covers? Such times have been quite predictable. Anytime one of Trump’s

BY MICHAEL S. ROBINSON SR. monster-heroes does something really bad, Trump jumps into his rah-rah-rah routine, sometimes even running into the end zone and dancing the haka with the quarterback.

Viewing the phenomenon from a strictly statistical standpoint, Trump loves the teams with the most personal fouls. And we all know who they are; they’re the world leaders who tenaciously cling to their power with the understanding that, once they step down, prison comes next.

Putin is certainly one of them; so is Kim; and the alreadyindicted Netanyahu is the Middle East’s own monster.

What’s the matter with this picture? Certainly, it is less than heartwarming to see a 350-pound orange, mophaired oaf wearing spandex, and there’s no cheerleader outfit—pleats or no pleats—that can cover up the evidence of 100,000 cheeseburgers. But Trump’s unsuitability to miniskirts is the least of the problem. Despite his highlycrippling bone spurs, he seems to jump pretty high when his “teams” are running with the ball—times when the U.N. Security Council is suffering a giant migraine.

While the rest of us are horrified by the action of these tyrants, Trump dons his star-spangled outfit for Kim’s military-might parades, and does a telephonic high five each time North Korea’s leader proclaims his love of POTUS. It’s no concern that the medium- and long-range missile tests are fizzling in the ocean just miles from our ally’s shores.

Nor is there any question that he considers Turkey’s Erdoğan a winner.

Trump’s even done some (relatively-hushed) posthumous cheers for Saddam Hussein, whom he reveres as a great leader, understanding that only a tyrant’s terror and bloodshed could have kept Iraq’s tribally-fractious country intact. Trump, of course, is Putin’s ultimate bosombuddy, cheering him on through the annexation of Crimea and the recent attacks on the sovereignty of Ukraine. True to his cheerleader role, Trump doesn’t shout for the weak, the poor and the oppressed. (He even stopped to apply a bit of rouge as he threw his Kurdish allies under the bus.)

While some of his rallies are a bit more covert, Trump’s

unabashed, obsequious pandering to the felonious Netanyahu—Trump’s brother-by-another-mother—deserves the Nobel Prize for Sycophancy.

The U.S. relationship with Israel has always been questionable, but especially since Trump’s rise to power. The internationally-sanctioned two-state solution means nothing to him. If anyone doubts our president hates Muslims, it’s certainly confirmed by his May 2019 move to relocate the American Embassy to Jerusalem, a place of religious sanctity for Muslims and Jews. Consistent with Netanyahu’s flagrant disregard for the Arab heirs of the Holy Land, Trump’s move was the virtual pouring of salt into Palestinian wounds—a further endorsement of the Israeli president’s wholesale violation of human rights (rahrah!) and just another step in marginalizing Israel’s Arab population, which lives in what can only be described as a concentration camp.

Israel’s Arabs are, effectively, captives-for-life, sequestered in a compound devoid of economic opportunity, deprived of the freedom to travel, and totally at the mercy of the Israelis for their highly-restricted access to water and electricity. His cheers continue as the Palestinians are torn to shreds by barrages of Israeli airstrikes. After all, they’re being punished for a good reason: They are demonstrating for freedom, so Trump considers the mayhem a simple tit-for-tat.

Not to say that, among cheerleaders, there aren’t some feeling and conscientious human beings. But Trump doesn’t root for underdogs; he only likes those who are ruthless enough to win. Consistent with his narcissistic absence of conscience and his incessant need for praise from the powerful, his cheerleading activities are hurting our world, marginalizing those who most need our help, and stoking the world’s most corrupt leaders. 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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HITS&MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

The Tax Masquerade

Let’s talk population. It’s something cities see as a housing challenge, that climate activists see as pollution potential and that governments see as prime taxable real estate. This brings us to Utah’s tax reform frenzy and how to masquerade it as a win for the state’s child-centric citizens. The latest iteration calls for a “dependent exemption” that takes the tax credit from $565 to $2,500 per child. Families without dependents will see their taxes rise. This, according to a KUER 90.9 FM report, is an attempt to make up for federal tax reform that lowered that exemption and had larger families paying more. Now, why would the feds be lowering it? As the country becomes more urban, population is outpacing capacity. But before you get too defensive of Utah kids, you should note that tax reform likely will suck money from their education, and if they need to eat unprocessed food, well, that will get taxed, too.

Recycling Miseducation

In the Trumpian era, we don’t know whether to love or hate China. But if you’re thinking of recycling something, you might want to blame that nation. For whatever reason, China decided not to take our massive plastic waste. Now, residents of Draper and Midvale have to worry about what to do with their paper, too. “For years, residents across the Salt Lake Valley have approached their blue bins with a somewhat aspirational nature, recycling whatever they hoped or believed to be recyclable—and often contaminating the waste stream in the process,” The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The wishing and hoping isn’t getting us very far, and do we really want to turn back to landfills? It’s up to cities to encourage waste reduction, maybe ban those single-use plastic bags, and make recycling a budget priority.

Alive and Well

It might not be Medicare for All, but the ACA (dare we say Obamacare?) is alive and well in Utah.

The problem is that many people don’t know they’re eligible, largely because of politics and the deliberate confusion that follows. Republicans are still promising the death of the Affordable Care Act. And health care bills from either the GOP or the Democrats have gone nowhere fast. A recent KSL Channel 5 report noted that Utah enrollments have already surpassed last year’s, and premiums for 2020 decreased an average of 4%. In Utah, the average plan went from $509 in 2019 to $456 in 2020. Despite the lack of marketing, there are nonprofits like Take Care Utah that will help people enroll. So don’t give up. The U.S. might spend more on health care than other wealthy countries, but you don’t have to.

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

GET COUNTED

The 2020 Census is going to be challenging not only because of the numbers, but because the politics are blocking the way. Census 2020: Latinx Community Town Hall is hoping to dispel the concern and open the way for all residents to be counted. “Whether you are documented or not, everyone living in our city counts. Your privacy is protected and your participation is anonymous,” organizers of the League of United Latin American Citizens Quetzalcoatl Young Adult Council say. The Census is not about tracking individuals but rather about ensuring fair representation in all communities, and adjusting federal funding to provide resources for education, housing, health care, transportation and more. Join LULAC for a frank discussion with your friends and family.

Glendale Public Library, 1375 S. Concord St., Thursday, Dec. 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m., free/pizza, bit.ly/2R6CS4Y

STRIKE FOR CLIMATE

Well that does it! Almost 70% of U.S. adults don’t think the federal government is doing enough to protect the climate and environment. But the people in charge are largely incapable of moving forward.

Clearly a quarter of all national carbon emissions come from fossil fuels, and the Trump administration has auctioned off a stunning 621,454 acres in Utah for oil and gas development. This makes the Global Climate Strike-SLC all the more critical.

“In our shrinking window of time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must take action to protect public lands from irreparable harm,” the event’s Facebook page says. Utah Capitol, south steps, 350 N. Main, Friday, Dec. 6, 2-4 p.m., free, bit.ly/2q4go9T

WRITERS REBEL

How do we speak truth to power? Rebellion often starts with the written word. In 2018, the U.K.-based Extinction Rebellion grew into an international movement using non-violent civil disobedience “to halt mass extinction and minimize the risk of social collapse.” Now, inspired by London’s Writers Rebel, Utah writers and performers offer “a unique literary event to demand radical action on the accelerating climate and ecological crisis,” according to Writers Rebel SLC’s event page, artists read their poetry in support of this rebellion for 10 minutes each. It’s a demand for radical action—something that hasn’t happened with wishing and hoping. Performers will sell their works and have an opportunity to be published by the Poetry Club. Urban Arts GalleryUtah Arts Alliance, 116 S. Rio Grande St., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6-8 p.m., $5 suggested donation, bit.ly/34AdmsL

—KATHARINE BIELE Send tips to revolt@cityweekly.net

L I T E R AT U R E

Adam, a Wyoming schoolteacher, helps the Mortensen family kill and butcher a Hereford cow. The Mortensens own the last remaining ranch within Afton town limits. Their neighbors sold and developed the surrounding property during the housing boom of the past decade.

In This Land, Christopher Ketcham roams the West in search of both, and misses a lot in between.

DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 9

A version of this piece appeared in High Country News.

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C

ast a stone anywhere in the open spaces of the West, and there’s a decent chance it’ll hit something that offends your conscience. Love wildflowers? Bemoan the destruction cattle wreak on the range. Cherish wildlife? Weep at wolves gunned down on ranchers’ behalf.

Find fulfillment in lush forests? Suffer the stumps of industrial logging. Respect ancestral ties to land? Deplore the rigs and recreators despoiling it.

Christopher Ketcham tromps around the region in his new book, This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption

who actually live here are either on the take for industry, doing the bidding of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or just too dumb to stand up for the natural world around them.

This simplistic view erases the experience of regular people, the kind of people who might not have time to worry over the wolf as housing prices climb—the kind of people who might love the range and care about its future, but are also trying to keep the family business running; the federal biologists who might love the habitats they work in, but can’t afford to blow the whistle lest they lose their jobs and risk missing their college loan payments. These stories, the everyday stories of this land, are full of compromise, heartache and internal strife.

But they just don’t fit into the narrative Ketcham is selling.

Near the end of his book, Ketcham lays out a simplistic vision of a West where people and their machinations are removed from federal lands and the “wild,” whatever that is, is left to its own devices. “Sometimes I’m glad my job as an investigative reporter is mainly to lay demolitions under the corrupt structures, blow them up, walk away, and let you folks deal with the rubble,” he writes. Despite his bombast, Ketcham doesn’t drop any new bombs.

Instead, he merely scratches away at wellworn craters. In doing so, he reduces the West to a battlefield, when it has always been so much more. CW

BY CARL SEGERSTROM High Country News comments@cityweekly.net @carlschirps

Ketcham plows right past any nuanced discussion of the Egan Range project, simply writing it off as a favor to cattlemen who will benefit from the removal of the trees.

In fact, a healthy debate exists over the merits of this project, one of many intended to reverse the growth of piñon and juniper stands as they overtake sagebrush habitats across the Great Basin. Obscured by Ketcham’s vitriolic prose is the fact that range managers and wildlife scientists alike have hearty disagreements over the wisdom of such removal projects and whether this ecosystem is out of balance due to fire suppression and grazing. Those discussions, and many others, are overwhelmed by Ketcham’s desire to set clear battle lines, context and compromise be damned.

In overlooking the nitty-gritty details of public-land management and not even attempting to reconcile how and why communities exist in rural areas, Ketcham crafts an image of the West as a landscape of heroes and villains—and does this complicated region a great disservice. Ketcham has no time for mundane questions, such as how people make a living in places like Colville, Wash., or Kanab, Utah, or how they might cope with the collapse of extractive economies in places like Farmington, N.M., or Gillette, Wyo. He also gives no voice to the dispossessed Indigenous peoples whose former lands now make up his unspoiled wild places. To Ketcham, who comes to the West to escape another villain—“Homo urbanus iPhonicus … in my native habitat of New York City,” it appears that the people

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More than Heroes and Villains

are Ruining the American West, and throws predictable stones at environmental degradation. Through litanies of wrongdoing, Ketcham makes a pugnacious argument against despoilers of public lands, chronicles the many failures of federal oversight, and harangues corporate softening of the environmental movement.

These screeds aren’t without merit. For the most part, they are based on facts and include apt descriptions of environmental destruction and corruption. But the arguments and examples Ketcham provides are often reductive. Complex resource issues are reduced to destruction versus preservation. Federal employees are either the few brave whistleblowers Ketcham talks to or a legion of enablers paving the way for the industrialization of wilderness. Ketcham’s West becomes a landscape for the preservation and enjoyment of those with the physical capacity and leisure time to seek it out, not a place to live on or make a living in.

This Land begins with Ketcham watching a bulldozer plow through stands of juniper and piñon pine in the Egan Range of northern Nevada. Seeing the gnarled trees subjugated to the machine sends him clutching his copy of Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang and contemplating eco-sabotage to halt the Bureau of Land Management project. The scene pulls on the reader’s heartstrings, as do many in the book. Ketcham has a knack for impassioned scene-setting, indulging the senses in his descriptions of each landscape he bears witness to. But, much like the dozer,

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LUCAS FOGLIA

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DEREK CARLISLE

The Journey of Becoming You Story and photos by Peter Holslin | pholslin@cityweekly.net |

FINDING THE WORDS

DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 11

Seeking out good health care can be a daunting task for many transgender individuals—and one of the biggest challenges is overcoming the stigma that makes them feel like they shouldn’t be seeking out that help in the first place. From 1980 until 2013, the American Psychiatric Association classified gender dysphoria as a “gender identity disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, pathologizing the condition in a handbook that sets national standards for clinicians, insurance companies and policymakers.

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can be lifelong journeys for those seeking to live their truth.

“We feel very passionate about taking care of this very vulnerable patient population,” Cori Agarwal, the program’s director, tells City Weekly. “This is a group of people who struggled their whole lives—gender dysphoria, being born in the wrong body essentially, is really hard. Through their childhood, through their adolescence, through their early years, it’s a battle for them to find doctors that listen to them and who know how to take care of them properly.”

Transgender patients at the U have invested heavily—emotionally, physically and financially—to seek out surgeries and medication that will aid them through their transition. They’ve overcome enormous obstacles and trauma just to arrive in the hospital room. It’s often a matter of life or death that they have the body that fits with who they are.

But even with great support, some emphasize that the process of transitioning is never easy.

In an interview with City Weekly at a bustling downtown coffee shop, Josie towers over everyone in the room, standing tall at 6-foot-2. She’s wearing a purple blouse, her long fingernails painted in colorful pastel designs, her red hair flowing past her shoulders and her nose pierced with a tiny, ruby-red stud.

Since coming out as transgender on Aug. 28, 2016, she says she’s been spat on, kicked, hit and refused service at clothing stores and restaurants. But people have also approached her with questions, curious to know more. After living in the closet for more than 40 years, she’s now an open book, eager to carve out a career as a public speaker under the motto “Real Talk with Josie.”

“I’ve known my entire life I was a girl,” she says. “I’ve never understood why I had a penis and why I developed as a boy and my brain always told me I was a girl.

It was always an internal fight.”

She was given a male name at birth (she asked that City Weekly leave her birth name or “dead name” out of this article, as she has since legally changed it) and grew up in a sprawling Christian family in Montana. Their free time centered around church, and as Josie got older, she tried her best to uphold the standards of masculinity imparted to her by her mother.

She got married and had kids. She enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was deployed to far-off locales in the 1990s, helping out with hurricane relief in Florida, and taking fire from militants while offloading onto landing zones from moving aircraft in Somalia. These were the years of the dysfunctional “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, in which service-members risked their lives for their country but also risked being kicked out of the military if they happened to get outed as LGBTQ. As the years went on, Josie finally had enough.

“I started researching a little bit, trying to figure out who I was,” she says. “I kinda knew the word transgender, but didn’t know what transgender was.”

Josie (who doesn’t offer her last name in interviews for safety reasons) was meeting with Jeremy B. Myers, chief of the Division of Urology at University Hospital, who works as part of a grassroots hospital initiative called the Transgender Health Program. Josie was about to be the first patient in Utah to undergo a vaginoplasty, a complex procedure in which reconstructive surgeons use tissue from the penis to create a vagina for a transfeminine patient.

“I wanted to make sure that they knew what they were doing,” Josie says.

Surgical procedures to help peoples’ bodies align with their gender identities have been around since the early 20th century. But it’s only been in the past few years that legal changes, medical advances and rising cultural visibility for the trans community have allowed for a growth in comprehensive health care options. At the U, the Transgender Health Program has risen to the top of the field, providing a range of medical services that play a central role in what

‘AN INTERNAL FIGHT’

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hen Josie Jesse sat down for a consultation with a surgeon at the University of Utah Hospital last year, she had some questions.

Well, actually—she had a lot of questions.

“I looked at him and I said, ‘You might want to take a seat,’” Josie, a 46-year-old transgender woman who lives in the South Jordan community of Daybreak, recalls. “He goes, ‘No, I’m OK.’ Well, about 25 minutes later, he finally sat down. And it was a little over an hour later that we finally finished.”

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How ‘gender-affirming’ philosophy and multidisciplinary care at the University of Utah’s Transgender Health Program helps patients feel whole.

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12 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

Cori Agarwal Many insurance providers have long rejected coverage for medications and procedures like “top surgery”—i.e., removing a transgender man’s unwanted breasts and recreating the nipples and skin to give the chest a more masculine character.

Procedures like these are often denied on the grounds that they are merely “cosmetic,” even though transgender patients consider them vital for their mental and physical health.

In 2015, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National LGBTQ Task Force conducted a national survey and found that 40% of the respondents attempted suicide at some point in their lives—an average that’s nine times greater than suicide attempts in the general U.S. population. A third of the respondents also reported having at least one negative experience related to being transgender while seeking treatment from health care providers. Nearly a quarter didn’t seek out health care when they needed it out of fear of being mistreated or discriminated against.

“When a trans person needs a doctor, they often put it off as long as possible,” says Ian Giles, founder of the Orem-based nonprofit Genderbands, which provides grants to members of the trans community to help them offset the costs of transition-related medical procedures.

“When they cave, they typically spend a very long time Googling and asking their friends and online groups where to find a trans-friendly doctor,” Giles, a nonbinary transman who uses they/them pronouns, explains. “Often no names are given. Sometimes you get lucky and get a name. Even luckier if insurance will cover it. Then there’s the making of the appointment—the trans person could get misgendered on the phone based on their voice or name and might have to explain name discrepancies in old medical records. Or even worse, they have to explain why they are making the appointment and are barraged with questions when this doesn’t make sense.”

Another big challenge, though, is just knowing what words to use. For some, it takes years for them to get the information and clarity they need to figure out what they’re going through.

“I didn’t have the vocabulary that most people are exposed to,” Jason Lindow, a 28-year old high school teacher who grew up in the tiny Utah pioneer town of Spring City, tells City Weekly. As a teenager, Lindow knew he was attracted to women. He presented masculine by wearing boy’s T-shirts and jeans. He first heard the word “lesbian” when he was 18, and identified that way, until he began his own transition as a transgender man about three years ago, after being inspired by two trans students at the school where he teaches.

“Getting to know them and then sitting with my own journals and photo albums, my own feelings, I became aware of the word I’d been really looking for to describe how I’d been feeling,” Lindow says. “I was 26, and I started looking into what options I had for transitioning.”

MOVING FORWARD

The first gender-affirming medical procedures emerged in the early 1900s. The German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, born in 1868, was an early champion of LGBTQ rights, and he studied transgender patients’ struggles as part of what at the time represented groundbreaking research on sexuality and gender.

Josie Jesse

Hirschfeld’s most iconic patient was Lili Elbe, a Danish artist later immortalized in the 2015 film The Danish Girl. Elbe was born with male genitalia but spent 20 years presenting as a woman, and she sought a medical transition through a series of procedures to remove the testicles and later—in surgeries overseen by a different doctor—to implant ovaries and a uterus.

The surgeries were sadly not successful: Elbe died of heart failure as a result of the uterine transplant in 1931. Hirschfeld, who himself faced enormous controversy for his work, was forced into exile by the Nazis and eventually died of a heart attack in 1935. The term he coined to describe gender dysphoria, “transvestite,” is now considered outdated and offensive; much of the way the LGBTQ community thinks and talks about the topic has evolved enormously since those early years.

But these efforts nevertheless served as a beginning for what’s become a decadeslong process in advancing ways to provide medical care to the trans community.

“I think people, even back in the ’30s, were thinking about this and they were trying to come up with ways to help people who had these issues with gender identity,” says Isak Goodwin, a plastic surgeon at the U, who works alongside doctors Agarwal, Myers and James Hotaling on the Transgender Health Program’s vaginoplasty procedures. “Now, we have much more of a public dialogue about gender identity and I think that has really helped facilitate moving forward.”

LEARNING THE ROPES

The idea of a Transgender Health Program first took root not long after Agarwal arrived at the University Hospital in the late 2000s. A plastic and reconstructive surgeon, she has specialized over the years in repairing and reconstructing body parts for cancer survivors, burn victims and other patients seeking relief from damage or disfigurement.

One day, a patient approached Agarwal about the possibility of doing top surgery—a procedure that involves an overlapping set of techniques and skills. Agarwal didn’t know anything about it at the time, and soon she found that top surgery was part of a still-emerging field of what she and other surgeons refer to as “gender-affirming” surgery (a term they feel is more pro-patient compared to other antiquated terminology).

“People were doing it, but only a couple in the country and they weren’t sharing their techniques,” Agarwal says during an interview at the University Hospital Starbucks on a recent, characteristically busy afternoon for the in-demand surgeon.

After researching the procedure, Agarwal was able to successfully operate on the patient. As the years went on, she would sit down for consultations with more and more trans patients, who would request that she perform top surgeries for them as well. Eventually, she built a reputation as an expert, doing intensive research and teaching the procedure to medical students in live surgeries conducted at institutions like Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

But she also realized that specializing in just one thing wasn’t enough.

‘WE NEED A PROGRAM’

In recent years, celebrities like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner have brought more visibility to trans issues. The medical field has gradually gotten more receptive

Jason Jess Lindow

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DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 13

For the first month after her surgery, Josie recovered with the help of a network of friends in her cozy corner of South Jordan. They signed up to drive her to appointments, take care of her laundry and bring food. Now, more than a year later, Josie is pleased with how her vagina came together on the operating table.

“Function-wise, it’s absolutely amazing,” she says, flashing a wry smile. “I’ve told several of my guy friends, ‘I’m so sorry. You have no idea what you’re missing out on.’”

The experience raises an important question—what next? When you take enormous risks to finally become the person you really are, the world can open up in ways that can be beautiful but also extremely daunting.

“It’s scary for a lot of people, because suddenly the rules and the box that we all live in—it’s gone,” Andi Crenshaw, a local transgender woman and drag performer, says. “It’s just freedom as far as the eye can see, and they’re like, ‘Well, what do I do with all this freedom? Who am I going to be? What kind of woman am I? Am I punk? Am I sophisticated? Am I classy? Am I a little slutty?’ There’s so much more, because before you were just unhappy.”

Josie says there have been times during her transition where she’s felt lost as she’s plotted a way forward. But she has a bright future to think about, and even with the challenges it seems she’s where she wants to be.

“I still don’t really have the words to describe the feeling of being whole, being complete,” Josie says. “I still stand in front of the mirror naked at times and just cry, because I finally just see me.” CW

Josie keeps a list of dates marking her transition filed away in her mind. April 3, 2016, for instance, was the day she decided to live and begin her transition, rather than lose her life to suicide. A few weeks later, on her birthday, she took her first hormone treatment. She officially came out as transgender to her friends and family that August. The following spring, a year to the date when it all began, she appeared before a judge to secure her legal name and gender change. In August 2017, a year to the day after coming out, she got breast augmentation surgery. Then she got the vaginoplasty in April 2018.

“I like to say that she’s a pioneer, in a true Utah way,” Goodwin says.

The four surgeons spent a year-and-a-half in training for the procedure. Agarwal and Goodwin are specialists in plastic surgery; Myers and Hotaling masters of urology. Together, they share a foundational knowledge of anatomy and the prin-

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

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‘MORE THE SAME THAN WE THINK’

ciples involved in reconstructive procedures. But prior to Josie’s operation, they hadn’t done the surgery themselves. So they read numerous academic papers on the topic and fanned across the country to train with other specialists, who welcomed them into operating rooms to observe and take notes.

According to Goodwin, the procedure involves creating space for a vaginal canal in the area between the prostate and the rectum, and deconstructing the penis to use its various structures to mirror the functions of a vagina. The process is made easier with hormone therapy, but it also reflects similarities shared by the male and female sexual organs.

“We’re all way more the same than we think, in that we have structures that are the same structure, just some are bigger and some are smaller,” Goodwin says.

“For example, the male scrotum is homologous with the female labia majora, and the head of the penis—the glans of the penis—is homologous with the head of the clitoris.”

On average, the surgery takes between five to seven hours. In our interview at the coffee shop, Josie whips out her phone to show off pictures from her own operation. The images are as squeam-inducing to an outsider as you could imagine— there’s a lot of blood, a lot of unfamiliar medical equipment. Testicles sit on a tray, unattached to a human body. Genital parts are shown at various, highly sensitive angles. For Josie, going through processes like these is akin to what happens when a moth transforms into a butterfly.

“If you ever understand the metamorphosis, it’s actually a very ugly, painful process inside that cocoon,” she muses.

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to transgender patients’ needs as well: In 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lifted a long-held policy that barred Medicare from providing coverage for trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming medical issues. But members of the trans community often still rely on internet research and word-ofmouth to find good doctors, and only a handful of research- and university-based medical institutions provide comprehensive care.

“It was very difficult for the patients to find us,” Agarwal recalls, as more attention started drawing to the services coming together at the U. “We started to say, ‘We need a program.’”

Three years ago, the U authorized Agarwal and her fellow medical practitioners to create a name for the Transgender Health Program. The program has yet to open an official office or headquarters, but a core group of about 15 doctors, surgeons and other health care providers work alongside a network of dozens of other professionals to provide a range of services for adults and kids, including hormone therapy, laser hair removal and affirming surgery.

The program has a coordinator, Ariel Malan, involved in outreach efforts. A “patient navigator,” Elliot Camarillo, helps guide new patients to the services they need. The U also puts on free seminars every month at the Utah Pride Center about different aspects of transgender health. The next one, happening Thursday, Dec. 19, covers hormone- and voice therapies.

“I think of it like grassroots—the patients came to us and then we came to the administration,” Agarwal says. “There’s a need for this full, multidisciplinary care for people. We need hormones. We need primary care. We need adolescent care.”

Patients who have worked with the program say they feel empowered and dignified from the care they’ve received. Eli Blevins, a transgender man originally from Tennessee, says he marked down the calendar date on his phone for his top surgery in May 2018 with the note, “Time to get something off my chest!” The day after the surgery, he surrounded himself with pillows to ease the waves of muscle pain that came during the recovery. Now, he’s making plans to get a chest tattoo.

“It’s kind of funny, because the tattoo is going to cost more than the top surgery,” he says.

Still, there’s been more to learn. And last year, surgeons Agarwal, Goodwin, Myers and Hotaling broke new ground by conducting Utah’s first vaginoplasty.

Eli Blevins

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14 DECEMBER 5, 2019

Southern Utah Dickens Festival Charles Dickens’ ghost story A Christmas Carol is as much of a holiday staple as decorating evergreen trees and gingerbread houses. And for those who can’t get enough of this classic story, the St. George Dickens Festival offers a chance to step back into late 19th-century London just in time for Christmas.

This festival represents a crossover between your standard holiday market and a pop-culture con for fans of the works of Charles Dickens.

Each of the nearly 200 vendors sell handmade and Christmas-themed goods and food in full Victorian-era clothing, operating in booths decorated to mimic the shops and streets of London in the late 1800s.

Visitors can also wander the halls to experience continuous family-friendly live entertainment such as musical acts and mini-performances of scenes from Dickens’ novels. In addition to this formal entertainment, the “streets” of the festival will feature the larger than life Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future from A Christmas Carol, carolers, pickpocketing orphans and a visit from Queen Victoria herself.

Father Christmas also stops by each day of the festival. While any child is welcome to go and sit on this Santa’s lap, a photo and/or a video costs $25-$65. Organizers do not allow personal cell phone and other cameras for such photos at this event. (Kylee Ehmann) Southern Utah Dickens Festival @ Dixie Convention Center, St. George, 1835 S. Convention Center Drive, 435-668-9969, through Dec. 7, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., $6-$8, dickenschristmasfestival.com

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

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Salt Lake Acting Co.’s now-annual kid-friendly holiday productions provide a rare place for children to experience age-appropriate material in a real professional theater setting. They also give the creative team a unique opportunity to tailor their skills to a different kind of audience.

In Pete the Cat—which takes the groovy feline from the popular book series co-created by illustrator James Dean and places him in an entirely original story, with Pete going to live with a human family—actor Jacob Weitlauf plays the title character. He notes that the just-under60-minute show presents a physical challenge— on stage for almost all of the high-energy musical production. He also must tailor his performance to younger viewers.

“Every time you’re on stage, you keep the audience in mind,” Weitlauf says. “The actor is there to advocate for the character. [Director Penelope Caywood’s] responsibility is to be the advocate for the audience. She has worked in children’s theater for quite a while, and it’s a great help having her there, knowing how from a kid’s perspective how they absorb material.”

Weitlauf is particularly enthusiastic about his first SLAC holiday show, because it’s a chance for him to give back a little of the gift he received as a kid experiencing live theater. “I got into theater as a young child after seeing a performance of a piece of children’s theater while I was in elementary school,” he says. “It’s cool to know that I have the opportunity to inspire young potential artists.” (Scott Renshaw) Pete the Cat @ Salt Lake Acting Co., 168 W. 500 North, Dec. 6-30, dates and times vary, $16-$26, saltlakeactingcompany.org

Sinbad is what you would call an “old school” comedian. He doesn’t rely on profanity, he eschews controversy and he’s mostly familyfriendly. And taking a stage name from a mythological character is even older-school.

Back in the 1980s and ’90s, the now 63-year-old entertainer formerly known as David Adkins was seemingly everywhere, starring in films (Necessary Roughness, Jingle All the Way, Houseguest), on HBO comedy specials, and in television appearances ranging from sitcoms (A Different World, The Sinbad Show) to variety programs (It’s Showtime at the Apollo, Soul Train, Celebrity Jeopardy!) to those dreaded reality shows. Add to that a book of essays (modestly titled Sinbad’s Guide to Life: Because I Know Everything), a professional association with Apple and a budding music career.

He was even considered a role model of sorts.

He once told a reporter, “Black men are already responsible; [we] already take care of our duties, but nobody emphasizes that. I hear all this bad talk against men and their children. I just got so tired of it.” Not surprisingly, his wholesome approach garnered him an NAACP Image Award, a Kid’s Choice Award nomination and inclusion in Comedy Central’s list of the Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.

Nevertheless, Sinbad has been out of the spotlight for several years now, his absence due to a combination of factors—medical issues, financial struggles and the whims of a fickle entertainment industry. So whether we call this tour a comeback or simply the next chapter of his career, we’re happy he’s still sailing smoothly with his stand-up. (Lee Zimmerman) Sinbad @ Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Dec. 6-7, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $25, wiseguyscomedy.com

While it’s all too natural this time of year to focus solely on Judeo-Christian celebrations like Christmas and Hanukkah, it’s also important to remember that other cultures in the community celebrate their own festivities as well. Diwali, for instance, is a five-day celebration that’s among the holiest of holidays in India, Nepal and other nations with Buddhist and Hindu populations.

Taken from the Sanskrit word meaning “row or series of lights,” it’s marked by lighting lamps, lanterns and candles that represent the eternal glow that accompanies knowledge and wisdom.

The timing of Diwali is very specific as well. It begins after the conclusion of the summer harvest and ends with the new moon, traditionally the darkest days of the Hindu calendar. The main Diwali observation occurs on the third day of the festivities, and is designated as the official holiday.

As in years past, Salt Lake City’s Main Library hosts the local observation, offering locals a perfect opportunity to experience a tradition that dates back several centuries. Sponsored by the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple of Utah, the India Cultural Center of Utah, Rajas and Shreyas Kamat, Guru and Renu Bandiatmakur and First Utah Bank, the event features music, dance, snacks and the ceremonial lighting of the lamps known as diyas (pictured).

While it’s all too easy to get caught up in commercialism, and to succumb to holiday happenstance, it’s also nice to reflect on sacred seasonal sacraments. Light one up—a diya, that is—and give in to the meditative mood. (LZ) Diwali Celebration @ Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Dec. 7, 2-5 p.m., free, events.slcpl.org

Salt Lake Acting Co.: Pete the Cat

Sinbad

Diwali Celebration

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n recent years, American public opinion has seen a drastic shift toward a majority belief that sexual orientation is an innate characteristic—in the words of Lady Gaga, that we’re born this way. Yet for social scientist Patrick Grzanka, the fascination lies not so much in the actual origins of sexual desire, but what people believe about those origins, and how those beliefs translate into behavior, or correspond to other beliefs.

“People are less homophobic than they were in the past, and one hypothesis links believing people are born that way to antihomophobia,” Grzanka says. “But if everybody believes in ‘born this way’ ideology, why are there still homophobes? … If everybody thinks that, but I’m still getting samples where levels of homophobia are above the midpoint, what the hell is going on?”

Grzanka—an associate professor of psychology at the University of TennesseeKnoxville—has been studying beliefs about sexual orientation for a decade, working toward publishing a book about what he calls the “Born This Way Wars.” He delivers a Bastian Foundation Diversity Lecture on the topic this week at Westminster College.

The origin of Grzanka’s interest in the topic traces back to his own coming out in graduate school. “I found myself both drawn to biological answers to sexual orientation, and alienated by those same answers, which removes agency,” he says. “At the same time, people in the popular culture were echoing that biology, even though it couldn’t be proven, was driving sexual desire, so gay people deserved civil rights. … As a young person thinking about what it meant to be queer in the first part of the 21st century, the nexus of biology and politics seemed quite fraught.

What if the actual origins matter less than what people think it is? Proof is less consequential than deeply-held beliefs. That’s what animates people’s actual lives.”

Grzanka’s research attempts to identify those other factors that can influence people’s attitudes toward LGBTQ people, beyond their belief that homosexuality is a “born this way” situation. Not surprisingly, factors like the respondent’s own sexual orientation, gender and age were signifi-

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Born This Way?

Patrick Grzanka studies not where sexual orientation comes from, but why our beliefs about it are more influential than the science.

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16 DECEMBER 5, 2019

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cant variables, but Grzanka dug deeper to focus on factors like the “outgroup homogeneity effect” (the phenomenon of tending to believe that people belonging to a category other than your own are all alike) and informativeness (the tendency to think that knowing a single characteristic about a person, such as sexual orientation, tells you everything you need to know about that person).

“Really quickly as you got into these interviews, this is as much about people’s lives and their feelings about sex,” Grzanka says. “It’s still about science, but those things can’t be divorced.”

Yet he’s also deeply fascinated not by the actual results of research into a genetic foundation for sexual orientation, but by how people have interpreted those results. Grzanka points to the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision that paved the way for gay marriage in the United States, and the amicus brief that was filed by the American Psychological Association. While the brief focused on research demonstrating that sexual orientation was not changeable by external factors, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion for the majority translated that into a belief that sexual orientation was innate. It was an example of what Grzanka describes as “the tolerance trap: You were born with it, so we can’t judge you for it.”

“I’m less concerned when, or if, or how, the biogenetic origins of sexual orientation will be finalized,” he continues, “then the question of how this came to be so central to our understanding of who sexual minorities are, and what rights they may or may not deserve.”

Patrick Grzanka

By not taking for granted that “born this way” is settled science, Grzanka also realizes that he’s setting himself up for tension within the gay community. In his presentation, he notes the case of actress Cynthia Nixon, who publicly stated that “for me, becoming gay was a choice.” While scientific research continues to explore complex questions of where, if at all, sexual orientation has a genetic basis, scientists themselves are cautious about qualifying results they worry will be misinterpreted, and members of the gay community suggest, according to Grzanka, that “to let straight people believe otherwise [than that sexual orientation is innate] is dangerous.”

“This is not a book that’s going to make me a lot of friends,” he says. “A lot of queer people are like, ‘Is this the manifestation of your sublimated self-hate?’ My answer is wholeheartedly, absolutely not. I’m not going to come out as a Log Cabin Republican at the end of the book. The negative reaction to the kind of questions I ask continues to encourage me to do the work. Because if the elusive, uncharted biology of sexual desire is so threatening, then it holds social power.” CW

PATRICK GRZANKA: THE “BORN THIS WAY WARS”

Bastian Foundation Diversity Lecture Westminster College Gore Auditorium 1840 S. 1300 East Thursday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., free westminstercollege.edu

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In conjunction with the Ogden First Friday Art Stroll, WB’s Eatery at The Monarch (455 25th St., Ogden, wbseatery.com) presents work by local artists including Matthew Choberka (pictured), Jared Steffenson, Alexis Furlong and more, Friday, Dec. 6, 6-9 p.m.

PERFORMANCE THEATER

Amahl and the Night Visitors & A Christmas Carol The Grand Theatre, 1575 S. State, Dec. 5-6, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 7, 2 p.m., grandtheatrecompany.com American Psycho the Musical Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, through Dec. 15, dates and times vary, artsaltlake.org Bank Holiday The Hive Collaborative, 591 S. 300 West, Provo, through Dec. 23, dates and times vary, thehivecollaborative.com The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Cottonwood Heights Theater, 7530 S. 2700 East, Dec. 7, 4 & 7 p.m.; Dec. 9, 8:30 p.m., cottonwoodheights.utah.gov A Christmas Carol Hale Center Theater Orem, 225 W. 400 North, through Dec. 23, dates and times vary, haletheater.org A Christmas Story: The Musical Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main, Dec. 3-8, dates and times vary, broadway-at-the-eccles.com Elf The Musical Scera, 745 S. State, Orem, through Dec. 14, dates and times vary, scera.org It’s a Wonderful Life Radio Play Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W. Center St., Provo, through Dec. 21, dates and times vary, provo.org The Lord of Misrule Wasatch Theatre Co., 124 S. 400 West, Dec. 6-7 & 13-14, 7 p.m., wasatchtheatre.org Pete the Cat Salt Lake Acting Co., 168 W. 500 North, Dec. 6-30, dates and times vary, saltlakeactingcompany.org (see p. 14) Seussical Hale Centre Theatre, 9900 S. Monroe St., Sandy, through Jan. 18, dates and times vary, hct.org

DANCE

Ballet West: The Nutcracker Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Dec. 7-23, dates and times vary, artsaltlake.org Julie Moffitt Ballet School: The Nutcracker Ballet Peery’s Egyptian Theater, 2415

Washington Blvd., Ogden, Dec. 5-7, times vary, egyptiantheaterogden.com Salt Lake Dance Center: The Night Before Christmas Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. 300 South, Dec. 7, 1 & 7 p.m., artsaltlake.org Sphere: Phase One Rose Wagner Center Black Box, 138 W. 300 South, Dec. 5-7, 7:30 p.m., artsaltlake.org Thank You Theobromine The Chocolate Conspiracy, 774 S. 300 West, through Jan. 5, 6-11 p.m., thankyoutheo.com Wofa Wontanara: Let the Rhythm Move You Rose Wagner Center Black Box, 138 W. 300 South, Dec. 9-10, 7:30 p.m., artsaltlake.org

CLASSICAL & SYMPHONY

Celtic Woman: The Best of Christmas with the Utah Symphony Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m., utahsymphony.org Utah Symphony: A Broadway Christmas with Ashley Brown Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts, Ogden, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.; Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Dec. 6-7, 7:30 p.m., utahsymphony.org Utah Symphony: Here Comes Santa Claus!

Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, Dec. 7, 11 a.m. & 12:30 p.m.; Dec. 23, 7 p.m., utahsymphony.org Vivaldi by Candlelight First Presbyterian Church, 215 N. Quince St., Dec. 7, 8 p.m., utahdiplomacy.org

COMEDY & IMPROV

Alex Velluto Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Andrew Schulz Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Dec. 8, 7 & 9:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Front Row Film Roast: A Christmas Story Brewvies Cinema Pub, 677 S. 200 West, Dec. 7, 9 p.m., frontrowfilmroast.com Jay Whittaker Wiseguys Ogden, 269 25th St., Dec. 6-7, 8 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com

moreESSENTIALS Jordan Makin Wiseguys West Jordan, 3763 W. Center Park Drive, West Jordan, Dec. 6-7, 8 p.m., Open Mic Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Wednesdays, 7 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com Random Tangent Improv Comedy Draper Historic Theatre, 12366 S. 900 East, Saturdays, 10 p.m., randomtangentimprov.org Sinbad Wiseguys SLC, 194 S. 400 West, Dec. 6-7, 7 & 9:30 p.m., wiseguyscomedy.com (see p. 14)

SPECIAL EVENTS FARMERS MARKETS

Winter Farmers Market Rio Grande Depot, 270 S. Rio Grande St., Saturdays through April 18, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., slcfarmersmarket.org

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15% off total purchase of guitar, amp & case 801. 601.1166 | Cottonwood Heights, Utah | 1881 East Fort Union Blvd.

DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 19

Christmas Stories with Glenn Beck Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, Dec. 7, 8 p.m., tickets.utah.edu Patrick Grzanka: The ‘Born This Way’ Wars: Sexuality, Science, and the Future of Equality Westminster College Gore Auditorium, 1840 S. 1300 East, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., westminstercollege.edu (see p. 16) Rod Decker: Utah Politics: The Elephant in Room Marriott Library, 295 S. 1500 East, Dec. 8, 3-5 p.m., lib.utah.edu

Abstraction Is Just a Word, But I Use It UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Jan. 4, utahmoca.org Anne Fudyma: Process/Proceed Marmalade Library, 280 W. 500 North, through Dec. 8, slcpl.org Annual Glass Show and Market Red Butte Garden, 300 Wakara Way, through Dec. 17, glassartguild.org A Living Legacy: Celebrating Native American Heritage Month Alice Gallery, 617 E. South Temple, through Jan. 10, artsandmuseums.utah.gov De | Marcation Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through Jan. 12, umfa.utah.edu Downtown Artist Collective Holiday Market Downtown Artist Collective, 258 E. 100 South, through Dec. 22, downtownartistcollective.org Ellen McAllister: Inkroots Anderson-Foothill Library, 1135 S. 2100 East, through Jan. 2, slcpl.org Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 W. 3100 South, West Valley City, through Jan. 6, culturalcelebration.orfg Found and Small Works Art at the Main, 210 E. 400 South, through Jan. 11, artatthemain.com Greater Merit: The Temple and Image in South Asia Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 S. Campus Center Drive, ongoing, umfa.utah.edu Jim Frazer: Earth Maps Main Library Lower Urban Room, 210 E. 400 South, through Dec. 27, slcpl.org Katie Willes: Reflections on the Inner Child Local Colors of Utah Gallery, 1054 E. 2100 South, through Dec. 17, localcolorsart.com Lou Ann Reineke: Viewfinder Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, through Jan. 10, slcpl.org Nancy Friedemann-Sanchez UMOCA, 20 S. West Temple, through Jan. 13, utahmoca.org Ogden First Friday Art Stroll Multiple locations, Ogden, Dec. 6, 6-9 p.m., ogdencity.com (see p. 18) Pompeii: The Exhibition The Leonardo, 209 E. 500 South, through May 3, dates and times vary, theleonardo.org Power Couples Utah Museum of Fine Art, 410 Campus Center Drive, through Dec. 8, umfa.utah.edu Small Treasures Art Access Gallery, 230 S. 500 West, Ste. 125, through Dec. 13, accessart.org Statewide Annual ’19: Mixed Media & Works on Paper Rio Gallery, 300 S. Rio Grande St., through Jan. 10, artsandmuseums.utah.gov Traveling While Black Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. 300 South, through Dec. 31, saltlakefilmsociety.org Ummah Utah Museum of Fine Arts, 410 Campus Center Drive, through Dec. 15, umma.utah.edu

Buffalo

Wild Boar

| CITY WEEKLY |

TALKS & LECTURES

GALLERIES & MUSEUMS

Home of Utah’s Exotic Burgers!

Elk

1 to 5 Club: Coffee Night Jitterbug Coffee Hop, 855 S. 700 East, second Wednesdays, 6:30-8 p.m., utahpridecenter.org Beyond a Night of Music Encircle Salt Lake, 331 S. 600 East, Thursdays, 6:30-8 p.m., encircletogether.org Men’s Sack Lunch Group Utah Pride Center, 1380 S. Main, Wednesdays, noon-1:30 p.m., utahpridecenter.org TransAction Weekly Meeting Utah Pride Center, 1380 S. Main, Sundays, 2-3:30 p.m., utahpridecenter.org

VISUAL ART

Ostrich

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

LGBTQ

Jeremy Pugh: 100 Things to Do in Salt Lake City Before You Die Barnes & Noble University Crossings Plaza, 330 E. 1300 South, Orem, Dec. 7, 2 p.m., barnesandnoble.com Katherine Eban Sundance Resort, 8841 N. Alpine Loop Road, Sundance, Dec. 7, 11:30 a.m., sundance.com Samantha Leonard: Groomed: Shining a Light on Childhood Sexual Assault Weller Book Works, 607 Trolley Square, Dec. 7, 7 p.m., wellerbookworks.com

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

7th Annual Utah Winter Faire Legacy Events Center, 151 S. 1100 West, Farmington, Dec. 6-8, times vary, utahwinterfaire.com Christkindlmarkt SLC This Is The Place Heritage Park, 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave., through Dec. 7, christkindlemarkt-slc.com Craft Lake City Holiday Market The Monarch, 455 25th St., Ogden, Dec. 7, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., craftlakecity.com Southern Utah Dickens Festival Dixie Convention Center, St. George, 1835 S. Convention Center Drive, through Dec. 7, 10 a.m.9 p.m., dickenschristmasfestival.com (see p. 14) Diwali Celebration Main Library, 210 E. 400 South, Dec. 7, 2-5 p.m., events.slcpl.org (see p. 14) Gingerbread Festival & House Competition Bountiful Davis Art Center, 90 N. Main, Bountiful, Dec. 7, noon-4 p.m., bdac.org Holiday Festival Utah Olympic Oval, 5662 S. Cougar Lane, Kearns, Dec. 8, 6-10 p.m., utaholympiclegacy.org Park Silly Holiday Bazaar Sheraton Park City, 1895 Sidewinder Drive, Park City, Dec. 6-8, parksillysundaymarket.com

COMPLETE LISTINGS ONLINE AT CITYWEEKLY.NET

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

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| CITY WEEKLY |

20 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

Mad About Bulgogi

Come on, get happy at South Jordan’s The Angry Korean.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

JOHN TAYLOR

T

hose of us who make a hobby of going out to eat tend to forget that the food on our plate is the product of a monumental group effort and easy to take for granted. It’s not often that we get a chance to peek behind the curtain to see what makes our favorite restaurant tick. I was lucky enough to witness such a moment during my first visit to The Angry Korean (11587 S. District Main Drive, Ste. 300, 801307-8300, facebook.com/theangrykorean) shortly after Chef Peter Kim and his team opened their brick-and-mortar store.

My wife, daughter and I decided to stop there for dinner since I had been stalking them on social media ahead of the grand opening. We ordered some plates of beef bulgogi ($12.99) that we shared with our daughter—she’s become quite the fan of the Korean noodles known as japchae, I’m proud to announce. The bulgogi was exactly what we were hoping for. Thin slices of marinated steak cooked over an open flame and tossed into a bowl of rice, cabbage, japchae and a sunny-side-up egg. As we dove into our bulgogi, we couldn’t help but overhear a man sitting at a nearby table start to complain to his server that the meal didn’t meet his apparently astronomic standards. Scraping the last bites of our food from their sleek metal dishes, we were perplexed. How could someone who just had the same food as we did be that upset? When Chef Kim came out to address the customer’s concern, he was genuinely apologetic and offered to comp the meal. This wasn’t a stunt to save face

or get a good Yelp review—it was a genuine moment of vulnerability from a chef whose restaurant wasn’t even a month old.

Moments like this reveal the soul of a restaurant, and the way the chef and his staff handled this hiccup spoke volumes. After the offended customer left, my wife and I introduced ourselves to Chef Kim and told him how much we all enjoyed our meals and that we hoped he’d have more positive customers than negative ones. I’ve checked in a few times since, and now that the restaurant is nearing its one-year anniversary, it seems like that has definitely been the case.

During our most recent visit, the place was packed to the point where we had to wait a few minutes for a table. They’ve made a few welcome adjustments to the menu and the service has tightened up since that first visit.

Between that first plate of bulgogi and this visit, I had since popped in for lunch to try their Korean cheesesteak sandwich ($12.99, pictured). This is perhaps the dish that best exemplifies Chef Kim’s Korean fusion concept. He’s a fan of combining traditional Korean recipes and techniques with con-

4150 S, REDWOOD ROAD TAYLORSVILLE 801.878.7849

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temporary American cuisine. The Korean cheesesteak blends the bulgogi beef that has been marinating in a secret brew of spices with gooey American cheese and caramelized onions, and it’s a concentrated umami bomb. It’s drunk—almost too drunk—with its own richness. I like to ask for a bit of housemade kimchi with this beast so it can cut through that unctuous inebriation with its spicy, vinegary attitude.

Most recently, I ventured to try the Korean Junkyard Fries ($11.99) and the braised pork belly steamed buns ($8.99). The Junkyard Fries are another example of Kim’s culinary intuition. He’s got all that lovely bulgogi beef, so why not whip up a batch of housemade beer cheese and slather it on top of a golden pile of steak fries? This dish comes with its own acidic support system of pickled jalapeños and green onions, making it a bit more balanced than the cheesesteak. It’s hard to not look at this heap of cultural unity without shedding a tear or two. Here, you have the depth of Koreanstyle grilled meat with the universality of the golden French fry, consecrated with a

thick lather of beer cheese. I’m also a fan of the steamed buns—I have a soft spot in my heart for the process of steaming dough instead of baking it. The marshmallow-y texture lends itself nicely to the velvety and slightly crisp pork belly and sweet pickles.

It’s been satisfying to pop in and out of The Angry Korean over the past year and see that the only direction it’s going is forward. There are plenty of places that have successfully bridged the gap between Korean and American food, but none of them do it with the amount of savvy that Chef Kim brings to the table. It just goes to show that kindly working with the pissy customers that come in and out of our lives tends to pay off in the end. CW

AT A GLANCE

Open: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 5 p.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

Best bet: The beef bulgogi Can’t miss: The Korean cheesesteak

ALL YOU CAN EAT KOREAN BBQ

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DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 21

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DINE IN • TAKE OUT • CATERING

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CALL 801-319-8677 FOR DETAILS DUTCH OVEN AND OUTLAW GRILL

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20 W. 200 S. • (801) 355-3891 Open Mon-Wed: 9am-6pm Thu-Sat: 9am-9pm siegfriedsdelicatessen.com

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

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-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-

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BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER @captainspringer

Miracle Pop-Up Bar

STORE

★★★★★

GIFT CERTIFICATES TO UTAH’S FINEST | DEVOURUTAHSTORE.COM

Always one for getting into the spirit of the season, The Vault bar at Hotel Monaco (15 W. 200 South, 801-595-0000, monaco-saltlakecity.com) is hosting its Miracle Bar pop-up for the second year running. The folks at Miracle Bar will transform The Vault into their very own winter wonderland, complete with unique cocktails inspired by the Yuletide season. The drink menu includes the Snowball Old-Fashioned with caramelized pecan bourbon and spiced molasses and the “Yippie Ki Yay Mother F*****r!” made with Barbados and Trinidad rum. We can only guess that your visit to the Miracle Bar will be just as exciting as a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza.

Pizzeria Tasso Opens GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE!

The city of Holladay is welcoming a new wood-fired pizza joint called Pizzeria Tasso (4734 S. Holladay Blvd., 801-810-9426, facebook.com/pizzeriatasso).

To welcome new guests to their new space, Pizzeria Tasso is offering free margherita pizzas with the purchase of a drink at its grand opening Saturday, Dec. 7, at 5 p.m. The new restaurant is a venture from Zeke and Rob Badger, who operate a mobile pizza catering service based out of Holladay. Their spot on Holladay Boulevard isn’t a bad place to try one’s luck as a restaurateur, either. It’s a fun, walkable neighborhood, and a new pizza place will be a welcome addition.

Breakfast with Santa

Contemporary Japanese Dining LUNCH • DINNER • COCKTAILS

18 MARKET STREET • 801.519.9595

Those curious about whether they’re on the naughty or nice list can get the inside track—and a tasty breakfast buffet—at Gardner Village (1100 W. 7800 South, West Jordan, 801-566-8903, gardnervillage.com) this month. Jolly old St. Nick visits Gardner Village’s Mill Plaza on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. until Dec. 27 and 28—no doubt to load up on some free breakfast, the cheapskate. While he’s there, however, children get the chance to visit the Bearded One and unfurl their holiday wish lists. Tickets are available at gardnervillagetix.com.

Celebrat i

26

ng

22 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

the

year

s!

Quote of the Week: “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.”

—Buddy the Elf Back Burner tips: comments@cityweekly.net

ninth & ninth

F.I.T to Be Tried

Take a walk on the healthier side of craft beer.

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

W

F.I.T. Light Lager: It pours a profoundly clear golden hue with a fine, small head of white foam that lasts for a minute or two before disappearing. The first aromas feature light, grainy malt with notes of flowery noble hops, grass and hay and earthy yeast. The taste similarly represents light malt with a subtle hoppy character and a dry finish, followed by notes of grain, noble hops, grass and hay, faint spiciness, earthy yeast and stewed hops. It’s well-attenuated, with a crisp, yet restrained, bitterness.

The mouthfeel is smooth, dry and tingly, with pleasant carbonation and good body for the style. This one is mildly astringent,

with an aftertaste of more earthy yeast and grassy hops.

Overall: A solid American lager with a satisfying aroma and flavor for the style.

F.I.T. beers dial in at 4.0% and boast a measly 97 calories and 5.6 grams of carbs; thanks to new enzymes, you can now reduce the amount of sugars in your beer without having to severely water them down. The F.I.T. Brewery sample pack can be found at Smith’s, Fresh Market, Harmons, Whole Foods, Maverick, 7-Elevens, Walmart, Target and other independent locations. I’m feeling thinner already. As always, cheers! CW

NOW OPEN!

Lunch Buffet 11:00 am -2:30 pm Mon-Sat. Dinner 7 days a week Sundays 12-8 pm

Award Winning Donuts

3376 South 5600 West WVC 801-987-8404 nepalichuloslc.com

705 S. 700 E. | (801) 537-1433

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Authentic Nepali/Himalayan & Indian Cuisine

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e are now officially in the season of excess. All the food and drink that your doctor has warned you to avoid is suddenly fair game, and we both know you’re going to take full advantage of all the treats out there. Sadly, reality will return come Jan. 2, when it’s back to our normal routines. Generally, when you start your “resolutions,” beer goes out the window.

However, I might have found a workaround, and it comes to us from our friends at Shades Brewing. The Shades team has spent the better part of a year developing a new brand called F.I.T. Brewing. As the name suggests, these beers are geared toward the more health-conscious craft beer drinker. Designed to be calorie- and carbohydrate-light, this new line might just

be what the doctor ordered.

F.I.T. Blonde Ale: You’ll first notice a brilliant, crystal-clear golden color with a lingering, moderate white head. The aroma has subtle notes of sourdough bread, lightly toasty, plus some cereal and a touch of fruity yeast. The hops are grassy, yet fairly subdued. One-dimensional malt sweetness hits your palate, with flavors of wheat toast and corn, followed by a light to moderate perceived bitterness. The finish is where the hops are more pronounced—long after the swallow and mostly herbal in nature.

Overall: Beautiful appearance, nice aroma for the style, but you’re going to take a hit in the malt department, mostly due to the fact that the sugars are cut in half.

F.I.T. Brut IPA: It pours a crystal-clear straw color, with fine bubbles in the head and just a touch of rockiness. The aroma has a pretty strong kick of citrus with some guava; I’m also getting a touch of cracker hanging out in the nose as well. The malt profile leaves a touch of crackers on the tongue, but very little in the way of caramel sweetness. The hops are all citrus-peel driven, which creates a slight tartness due to the lack of sugars. The finish, as you can imagine, is bone dry.

Overall: This is a crushable and balanced beer. The hops it uses give off an impression of sweetness that balances the dryness extremely well. It’s one of the few brut IPAs that actually lives up to its name.

SHADES BREWING

BEER NERD

| CITY WEEKLY |

low-carb and gluten free options along with a kid-friendly mini menu IT’S A MONDAY Double Pepperoni & Double Cheese Pizza $6.99

TACO TUESDAY Your choice of any 2+ Tacos $2.50

WING WEDNESDAY 75¢ Wings Minimum order of 5

THIRSTY THURSDAY Pint of Beer or Tall Boy w/shot $5.00 12oz. Can of Roha Thursday $3.00

525 N 300 W, SLC (across from Marmalade Library) | diversioneatery.com |

SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH Food menu Available from 11am to 2pm $3.00 Mimosas All Day $6.00 Boozie Coffee All Day

@diversion_social_eatery

DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 23

Burger Bowls | Pizza | Tacos | Filled Portabellas Full Bar | Big Screen TVs | Board Games | Catering

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

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

| CITY WEEKLY |

24 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

REVIEW BITES

JOHN TAYLOR

A sample of our critic’s reviews

Feldman’s Deli

National chains were as close as Utahns could come to the traditional Jewish delis on the East Coast, until Janet and Michael Feldman moved here from New Jersey to open Feldman’s Deli. After the way my first bite of a Feldman’s Sloppy Joe ($15, pictured) made me weak in the knees, it was easy to tell that we’re dealing with people who know what they’re doing. It’s essentially two sandwiches beautifully merged into a half-pound, triple-decker miracle; your top floor is where Feldman’s corned beef and coleslaw hang out, and your bottom floor is reserved for the pastrami and Thousand Island dressing. Even after it’s taken you 10 minutes to eat one half of this monstrous sandwich, the second half doesn’t get soggy and fall apart when you’re ready to dive in for more. Feldman’s is also an excellent place to experience Jewish staples like soul-warming matzo ball soup ($5.50), flaky potato knishes ($5) or freshly-made bagels ($2.50). Here’s hoping that the fast-food chains keep overlooking the magic that traditional Jewish delis like Feldman’s can produce. Any time I want a real sandwich, I know right where to go. Reviewed Oct. 17. 2005 E. 2700 South, 801-906-0369, feldmansdeli.com

CONCERT PREVIEW

A Vision of Collaboration

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

www.theroyalslc.com

Sound & Vision pairs musicians with filmmakers for music video production.

 Bar | Nightclub | Music | Sports  CHECK OUT OUR GREAT menu nfl football

WATCH ALL THE GAMES HERE

NFL JERSEY GIVEAWAYS

BY ERIN MOORE music@cityweekly.net @errrands_

SUNDAYS MONDAYS & THURSDAYS

great food and drink specials Wednesday 12/4

karaoke & Bingo

G

YOU Never KNow WHO WILL SHOW UP TO PERFORM

Reggae

JAKO REYES

Thursday12/5

Lord Vox

1/2 off nachos & Free pool

friDAY 12/6 Dimebag Darrell Memorial Show "Abbott Brothers Tribute" A Balance of Power, Knee Deep, Truce In Blood, Always 2 Late, Chronic Trigger

saturday 12/7

Parrot Nation The Ultimate Jimmy Buffet Tribute Band

Live Music

Sunday 12/8

Dragged Under, Seven Second Memory Live Music Tuesday 12/10

with special guests

Sunday 12/20

Coming Soon

Royal Bliss  Bar | Nightclub | Music | Sports  ALL SHOW TICKETS AVAILABLE AT SMITHSTIX OR AT THE ROYAL

DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 25

Wednesday 13, davey suicide, society one

| CITY WEEKLY |

The Urban Lounge 241 S. 500 E. Thursday, Dec. 12 7 p.m.

Donation of $5 encouraged, proceeds to Mental Healthy 21+ theurbanloungeslc.com

5 amfs & long islands

SOUND & VISION

I-ternal roots

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

music. Durian Durian, for one, is a local band whose two main vocalists, Nora Price and Emily Snow, are also well-trained dancers.

Price and Snow swap vocal duties while one of them dances; sometimes they dance together in tender pieces, delicate and poised, that convey so much emotion.

Fellow performer on the evening’s bill Randin Graves also has a foot in the world of visual media. A multi-instrumentalist with experience on guitar, keys, the Japanese koto and, most significantly, didgeridoo—for which he is a world-renowned artist—the soloist often puts his expertise in rock, electronic, folk, reggae, funk and jazz to use in film scores, though he’s done work for video games, theater and dance performances as well. They’ll be joined

by MiNX, a duo made up of Ischa and Raffi, who incorpate vaudevillian costumes and props into their performances, their matching close-cropped haircuts making them twin on stage.

Another duo, The Waldron Brothers, takes the stage with an expertise long-crafted. The two members, actual brothers Jimmy and Matthew Waldron, have been playing together and with other family members for most of their lives, but solidified themselves as a duo in 2017. The indie rockers have one EP, 2018’s VCR, and a number of singles under their belt, putting them well in line with the other rock band on the bill for the evening, Lord Vox. The psychedelic and mystical yet down-to-earth trio that make up Lord Vox released a self-titled EP of their own earlier this year, and have been blasting peoples’ ears off at shows around the city frequently since then.

With such a grab bag of local talent, there’s something for everyone at this event, and with the visuals that are the creative product of the film and music combo, it’s more than just your average show.

It’s not every night you get to see the results of five unique collaborations between strangers. CW

$

at the Royal

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

etting a music video together can be a hard task for some artists to achieve— especially local ones just focused on getting their music out there all the time.

Music videos often seem to come after some time has passed, after the artist has established themselves somewhat.

Enter Sound & Vision, a local showcase devoted to connecting local artists with local filmmakers, allowing both to benefit from the collaborative process of being randomly placed together. At the Urban Arts Fest in September, Brian Higgins of local nonprofits Create Reel Change and Mental Healthy placed the names of local filmmakers in a hat, out of which the music-makers fished one of them out at random.

Their goal then was to get going on creating a music video together.

After months of hard work, they’re ready to show off their movie magic at The Urban Lounge on Thursday, Dec. 12, and perform some rousing sets, too.

Not only is it an innovative new opportunity for local bands, artists and filmmakers to make new, exciting work—one that, with all luck, will become an annual event—it’s long been a dream of Higgins’. Working primarily in the film world, with festivals like Demonchaser and Dark Christmas under his belt, as well as “transmedia” projects surrounding mental health, he wanted to experiment with film and music.

“I’ve always loved the art of the music video,” he explains. “It’s a place where egos are put aside and true collaboration can happen.”

Without the music world connections, though, he was stuck.

A chance meeting with local music and film enthusiast Russell Roots, of the Utah Film Society, changed that. “Meeting Russell at the Utah Arts Fest breathed new life into the idea,” Higgins says.

After slugging a number of coffees together and chatting about the idea, it became evident to them both that Higgins’ vision could become a reality.

Roots, like Higgins, is motivated by exploration, citing his love of well-produced, visually and sonically stunning shows like those he grew up watching at The Ridglea in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, or dearly loved shows like those of Godspeed! You Black Emperor. “I’ve always been looking for opportunities to do something similar with local artists in SLC,” he says.

They decided to focus on a wide range of ambitious and active local talent, with the hope of providing them with the opportunity to put their music into visual content. Five artists, of very different genres and sensibilities, have also been paired up with Utah filmmakers, among them Josh Samson (a multimedia artist who just finished up a display at Illuminate last month), Larry D. Curtis, Alec Lyons of Spyhop, up-and-coming Lehi native Mikael Hiatt and the rather experimental Justus Page.

A few of the five acts who will perform both on stage and on screen—their short sets will be capped with the song that they made the video for, which will be projected behind them on stage—already have an investment in the visual as a part of their

LIVE

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THURSDAY 12/5 Kim Petras

“All I Do Is Cry” is the kind of song I think of when I think of Kim Petras: pop that builds an emotional weight on top of melodramatic, femme vocals. It’s a dark kind of pop. In 2017, Petras told Paper about what influenced her forthcoming album, Clarity: “Living on Hollywood Boulevard for awhile, struggling in L.A., songs that match where I go out at.” There’s the energy of a bygone, halcyon era in Petras’ pop, pitched at the intensity that makes you want to just lose it. While we had to wait until 2019 for the excellent Clarity, there were plenty of unmistakably iconic singles in those two years. February 2018’s “Heart to Break” was a “wow” moment for Petras, and the following February she and Sophie released “1, 2, 3 Dayz Up,” which was like “are you kidding me?” levels of powerful. But it’s undeniable that 2019 has been Petras’ year to shine. Clarity came along in June, and she released the completed version of Turn Off the Light Oct. 1. That was 29 Petras tracks after the string of 2018 singles. It’s an impressive discography that only popped off last year. The original track that launched Petras, though, is “I Don’t Want It At All,” which, although it has turned out to be one of her more forgettable tracks, is only because her work has gotten so much better since. (Parker S. Mortensen) The Depot, 13 N. 400 West, 7 p.m., $28.50–$138.50, 21+, depotslc.com

THURSDAY 12/5– SUNDAY 12/8

Martha Reeves and The Vandellas

Seventy-five years before Martha Reeves was born, as recorded music became more accessible, there was heated discussion about what cultural effects the medium might have. Artists worried about taking a wild, breathing thing like live music and transforming it into a stationary object.

Wasn’t music supposed to be social?

Wouldn’t a new emphasis on perfectionism in recorded music de-emphasize human elements like charisma, passion and interaction? These concerns were never answered so much as brushed away by the medium’s popularity. As artists became acquainted with recording studios, they engaged with them not as just vessels for a recorded performance, but their own unique canvas. Whereas live music was once the primary form and recorded music its pale compromise, the opposite became true. In the case of Martha Reeves and other Motown artists of the time, these records were capturing Olympic-level performances.

Hitsville, U.S.A.—Motown’s headquarters— was sometimes open 24 hours a day, full of eager singers, songwriters and jazz-trained musicians competing to record the next big hit. So, to call recordings from Martha Reeves like “Dancing In the Street,” “Heat Wave” and “Jimmy Mack” the best of the best is not hyperbole, but recognition of real

Kim Petras conditions they were made in. A half-century after those recordings, Martha still performs, and she brings to these songs a new sense of earthiness and grit that never existed in the recordings. So what made these songs art in the first place—the performance on the recording or the living artist interpreting it? (Alex Murphy) Egyptian Theatre, 328 S. Main, Park City, Dec. 5–7, 8 p.m.; Dec. 8, 6 p.m., $39–$59, all ages, egyptiantheatrecompany.org

Martha Reeves

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28 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

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Anamanaguchi

FRIDAY 12/6

SATURDAY 12/7

TUESDAY 12/10

At first listen to singles like “Between Something and Nothing,” which is still their most well-known track, The Ocean Blue sound like any of the other 1980s New Wavers, like The Church or Echo & The Bunnymen. But they have more in common with acts like House of Love and The Mighty Lemondrops, the latter of which they toured with extensively early in their career, after the successful release of their 1989 self-titled debut album. That album’s success is even more remarkable considering that it was released just one year after they were signed—which happened while they were in high school. This also explains their longevity over the years, churning out other successful albums—like 1991’s Cerulean—all the way into the early 2000s, culminating in eight full-lengths and one EP. After taking a break through the aughts, 2013 marked a comeback moment with the release of full-length Ultramarine, featuring two original members along with two who’d been on since the millennium. It’s the kind of album every older band dreams of pulling off after years apart—the new technology is audibly evident, but one can tell they’re using it to their ends, to maintain their particular sound. They’ll be joined by a local group making a comeback of their own after a few years off shows: Sculpture Club, centered around Choir Boy bassist Chaz Costello, returns to the stage with their punchy postpunk expertise, featuring a new-ish lineup and we can only guess what other developments. (Erin Moore) Metro Music Hall, 615 W. 200 South, 7 p.m., $20–$25, 21+, metromusichall.com

It’s been six years since Endless Fantasy, Anamanaguchi’s last and only second stand-alone studio album. Anamanaguchi have, since the late 2000s, felt synonymous with and fairly inextricable from the chiptune sound. A track like “My Skateboard Will Go On,” with its remix of Vampire Weekend’s Contra album art, is a time capsule of chiptunes at the turn of the decade: idyllic and happy, with just the right amount of unanchored sap for life and memories of video games. Now we have [USA], which the band says is a response to the band’s own wavering sense of identity, one they’ve garnered over the years as an American band working in a very Japanese aesthetic (the band did a 2016 collab with Hatsune Miku), especially in a time when Soundcloud culture began wearing kanji thoughtlessly, eventually birthing an era of aesthetically obsessed lo-fi beats.

In an interview with Paper, lead songwriter Ary Warnaar described [USA]: “It’s important to note, especially since the album is called [USA], it certainly is not about the United States of America.” Instead, “this album is definitely about being never able to make our way back [to who we were before],” Warnaar explained. As an on-again-off-again Anamanaguchi fan, it’s interesting to hear them unravel the new work; bare chiptunes feel out of place in 2019. The best part of [USA] are the parts that in no way lean on what feels like what Anamanaguchi “is” or “was.” It will be interesting to see how they navigate this new work live, alongside Arizona-based opener Default Genders, who earlier this year released the dazzling Main Pop Girl 2019.

(PSM) Kilby Court, 741 S. Kilby Court, 7 p.m., $18-$20, all ages, kilbycourt.com

Alex Cameron is not the first musician to use an alter ego. Prince had Camille. David Bowie had Ziggy Stardust. Beyoncé had Sasha Fierce. Sometimes these alter egos and name changes are practical attempts to sidestep frustrating contractual obligations, but, as is the case with Cameron, they can also exist to explore complicated ideas or emotions that aren’t easily broached without using irony or exaggeration as a distancing mechanism.

Over three albums, Cameron has stepped into the shoes of a slew of down-on-their-luck characters, all of them sleazy, washed-up and upsettingly selfish. And while he has no problem making these characters truly miserable—in “Real Bad Looking’” he is “the drunkest, ugliest girl at the bar,” who leaves a baby out in the car while she gets her drink on—he also writes about them with a sincere humility. The unique combination of derision and empathy that he applies to his characters finds its perfect match in his arrangements of plastic, orchestral yacht-rock, which straddles a fascinating line between dreamy and pathetic.

On his latest album, Miami Memory, Cameron is apparently no longer in character, even though the tone of false machismo is often still there. It suggests that while his subjects were fictional, the ideas and emotions he explored with them were entirely real.

Some of his more vulgar punchlines don’t land as well when they’re not coming from a fake sleazeball in a leisure suit, but the music—produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado—is more stunning than anything he’s done yet. It’s without question the most sentimental music with a line about “eating your ass like an oyster” that you’ll hear this year. (AM) Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 9 p.m., $15, 21+, theurbanloungeslc.com

The Ocean Blue, Sculpture Club

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30 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

FRIDAY 12/6

CONCERTS & CLUBS

ALYSSA GAFJKEN

Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker

THURSDAY 12/5 LIVE MUSIC

The Allusionist (Urban Lounge) Bearcat Mazuma & The Hotsy Totsies (Gracie’s) Bernie & The Wolf + Rebel Rebel + Horrible Penny (Kilby Court) Decent Animals + Unholy Ghosts + Slick Velveteens + Jeffry Steck (Metro Music Hall) Johnny Utah (Hog Wallow Pub) Kim Petras (The Depot) see p. 26 Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (Egyptian Theatre) see p. 26 Matt Calder + Harry Lee & the Back Ally Blues (Lake Effect) Party with The Pundits (The State Room) Reggae at the Royal feat. Skank Roots Project (The Royal) Rick Gerber (Rye)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Dueling Pianos: Drew & JD (Tavernacle) Dueling Pianos (The Spur) Dusty Grooves All Vinyl DJ (Twist)

Hot Noise + Guest DJ (The Red Door) Jazz Jam Session (Sugar House Coffee) Jazz Joint Thursday (Garage on Beck) Re: Fine (Downstairs) Synthpop + Darkwave + Industrial + Goth w/ DJ Camille (Area 51) Therapy Thursdays feat. Elephante (Sky) Tropicana Thursdays feat. Rumba Libre (Liquid Joe’s)

KARAOKE

Cowboy Karaoke (The Cabin) Karaoke (Willie’s Lounge) Karaoke w/ DJ Benji (A Bar Named Sue) Karaoke That Doesn’t Suck w/ Mikey Danger (Chakra Lounge) Live Band Karaoke (Club 90)

FRIDAY 12/6 LIVE MUSIC

Brandi Carlile + Tanya Tucker (Vivint Smart Home Arena) see above Crook & The Bluff (Garage on Beck) The Clairvoyants Christmas (Dejoria Center) The Dimebag Darrell Memorial Show (The Royal)

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Over the last few years, Brandi Carlile has ascended from niche favorite to mainstream powerhouse. After releasing seven albums of thoughtful pop-rock concerned primarily with love, acceptance and emotional inferiority, her 2018 record By the Way, I Forgive You was nominated for six Grammy awards—the most for any woman last year. The three she won—Best Americana Album, Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance—kept Carlile in her alt-country lane. But when By the Way went up against Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Post Malone, Janelle Monáe, Cardi B and Kacey Musgraves for Album of the Year, it elevated Carlile to the rarefied air of bona fide American celebrity. Not bad for a chicken farmer and 38-year-old mother of two, more famous in the past for her LGBTQ activism and bespoke suits. By the Way, I Forgive You is a radical breath of countrified fresh air, a record about truth, gratitude and healing delivered at one of the most divisive moments in recent American history. Combine it with Carlile’s recent work in country supergroup The Highwomen and you have an icon unfolding right in front of our eyes—perfect for a double bill with country renegade Tanya Tucker, who’s enjoying a straight-talking renaissance of her own in 2019. “To not squander the opportunity I’ve been given is an evolution,” Carlile told The Guardian of her and Tucker’s arena tour, which is reaching bigger audiences than either of them ever have. “It’s a call to action. It’s me saying, ‘We still have a chance to turn it around.’ I don’t have a Messiah complex, but I do want people to hear that message.” (Nick McGregor) Vivint Smart Home Arena, 301 W. South Temple, 8 p.m., $33-$127, all ages, vivintarena.com Dubwise + Enigma Dubz + Funkmod + Durandal + Illoom (Urban Lounge) Hearts of Steele (Outlaw Saloon) JD McPherson + Joel Paterson (The State Room) Lake Effect (The Spur) Live Local Music (A Bar Named Sue) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (Egyptian Theatre) see p. 26 Meander Cat (Hog Wallow Pub) Melancholy Club + Harbor Patrol + Over Under + My Boyfriend’s Terrible Band (Kilby Court) Mel Soul (The Yes Hell) The Ocean Blue + Sculpture Club (Metro Music Hall) see p. 28 Paddy Teglia (Harp and Hound) Salt Rock City (Club 90) Southbound (The Westerner) Union Blues (Ice Haüs) Will Baxter Band + Los Hellcaminos (Lake Effect)

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All-Request Gothic + Industrial + EBM + and Dark Wave w/ DJ Vision (Area 51) Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) DJ Chaseone2 (Lake Effect)

DJ Luva Luva (Downstairs) DJ Sneeky Long (Twist) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) Funkin’ Friday w/ DJ Rude Boy & Bad Boy Brian (Johnny’s on Second) Funky Friday w/ DJ Godina (Gracie’s) Hot Noise (The Red Door) New Wave ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Top 40 All-Request w/ DJ Wees (Area 51)

KARAOKE

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SATURDAY 12/7 LIVE MUSIC

Anamanaguchi + Default Genders (Kilby Court) see p. 28 As I Lay Dying + After The Burial + Emmure (The Complex) A Stairway In The Sky (Beehive) Atliens + Yookie (The Complex) The Elders (Ice Haüs) Hearts of Steele (Outlaw Saloon) JRC Bday Bash feat. local talents (Metro Music Hall)

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The Kinks Tribute Night feat. Sleepy Passenger + Static Replica + Boys Ranch + 90s TV (Urban Lounge) Live Local Music (A Bar Named Sue) Live Trio (The Red Door) Luke Benson feat. The Pour (Hog Wallow Pub) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (Egyptian Theatre) see p. 26 Music and Art Collective feat. Rising Blue (Commonwealth Room) Parrot Nation (The Royal) Rage Against The Supremes (The Spur) Ronnie Milsap (Dejoria Center) Salt Rock City (Club 90) Silver Tongued Devils (Johnny’s on Second) Southbound (The Westerner) Spazmatics (Liquid Joe’s) Spirit Machines (The Yes Hell) Sydnie Keddington + Marmalade Chill (Lake Effect) Timmy The Teeth (Garage on Beck)

Tony Holiday & The Soul Service (The State Room)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Dance Music (Chakra Lounge) DJ Juggy (Downstairs) DJ Latu (The Green Pig) DJ Mr. Ramirez (Lake Effect) DJ Soul Pause (Twist) Gothic + Industrial + Dark ’80s w/ DJ Courtney (Area 51) Dueling Pianos (Tavernacle) Scandalous Saturdays w/ DJ Logik (Lumpy’s Highland) Top 40 + EDM + Alternative w/ DJ Twitch (Area 51)

KARAOKE

Karaoke (Willie’s Lounge) Karaoke w/ B-Rad (Club 90)

SUNDAY 12/8

32 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

The southwest part of SLC has been charming me lately, and on a drive to Level Crossing Brewing Co., I was even more charmed. New businesses with fancy murals on the sides of their buildings mix with old SLC spots and their nostalgic signs. Level Crossing is one of these new places in the area, but their building is hard to spot among the new ones. Long, low and dark colored, it’s low-key and unassuming. Upon heading in, though, I was met not only by the friend I was meeting, but by a brightly-colored mural on the far end of the room, with stark lines making up an orange, pink and yellow Utah horizon. My friend Cody was already at the bar, settled in with a lager called Jazz Loon. Apologizing for my lateness (I don’t often travel far from my downtown home), I ordered a rye IPA called Suss It Out, and tucked in. I looked around the bar, as it is my job to do, and noted that in front of the mural there was a rusty 1950s-vintage pickup truck. Cody informed me that off the truck bed was a stage, and that he’d seen a folk band on it once. To this I responded, “Of course it was a folk band.” Who else would play on a wooden stage coming off a truck bed? No band played there while we hung out, but it was an easy place to sit and slowly drink our high-ish percentage beers, snack on the chips that came with Cody’s grilled cheese (standard bar fare is a check mark here, folks), since I didn’t have time to eat and didn’t want their vegan pizza (which was topped with Daiya, a vegan cheese no self-respecting vegan actually likes).

But who needs pizza when you’ve got heady beer to fill you up and give you those sweet, sweet calories? Not me, most of the time. (Erin Moore) 2496 S. West Temple, 385-2705752, levelcrossingbrewing.com

LIVE MUSIC

Chris Lane (The Depot) Gary Tada and the SLC Blues Allstars (Gracie’s) Hilltop Hoods + Adrian Eagle (Metro Music Hall) Krampusnacht 2019 (HandleBar) Live Bluegrass (Club 90) Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (Egyptian Theatre) see p. 26 Michelle Moonshine (Garage on Beck) Patrick Ryan (The Spur) Wulf Blitzer + Threar (Urban Lounge)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE Dueling Pianos (The Spur)

KARAOKE

Karaoke (Tavernacle) Karaoke (Willie’s Lounge) Karaoke w/ DJ Benji (A Bar Named Sue)

MONDAY 12/9 LIVE MUSIC

Buddy Wakefield (Rye) The Dead South (The Depot) Dead Crown Avoid (Kilby Court) John Sherrill (The Spur) Tony Holliday & the Velvetones (Lake Effect)

DJ, OPEN MIC, SESSION, PIANO LOUNGE

Industry Night Mondays w/ DJ Juggy (Trails) Live DJs (Tinwell) Monday Night Blues & More Jam hosted by Robby’s Blues Explosion (Hog Wallow Pub) Monday Night Open Jazz Session w/ David Halliday & the JVQ (Gracie’s) Open Blues Jam w/ West Temple Taildraggers (The Green Pig) Open Mic (The Cabin)

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Open Mic Night (The Royal) Tuesday Night Bluegrass Jam w/ Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Gracie’s) Tuesday Night Jazz (Alibi)

TUESDAY 12/10

WEDNESDAY 12/11

LIVE MUSIC

LIVE MUSIC

CONCERTS & CLUBS

the place to be for

Alex Cameron + Jack Ladder + Emily Panic (Urban Lounge) see p. 28 Choir Vandals + Corner Case + The Laser Yes (Kilby Court) Daniel Torriente (The Spur) Matthew Bashaw + John Sherrill (Lake Effect) Waterparks (The Depot)

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY B Y R O B

B R E Z S N Y

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

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

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “My greatest asset is that I am constantly changing,” says Sagittarian actress and activist Jane Fonda. This description might not always be applicable to you, but I think it should be during the coming weeks. You’re primed to thrive on a robust commitment to self-transformation. As you proceed in your holy task, keep in mind this other advice from Fonda. 1. “One part of wisdom is knowing what you don’t need anymore and letting it go.” 2. “It is never too late to master your weaknesses.” 3. “If you allow yourself, you can become stronger in the very places that you’ve been broken.” 4. “The challenge is not to be perfect. It’s to be whole.” P.S. And what does it mean to be whole? Be respectful toward all your multiple facets, and welcome them into the conversation you have about how to live.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You can’t escape your past completely. You can’t loosen its hold on you so thoroughly that it will forever allow you to move with limitless freedom into the future. But you definitely have the power to release yourself from at least a part of your past’s grip. And the coming weeks will be an excellent time to do just that: to pay off a portion of your karmic debt and shed worn-out emotional baggage.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’ve got some borderline sentimental poetry to offer you in this horoscope. It might be too mushy for a mentally crisp person like you. You might worry that I’ve fallen under the sway of sappy versions of love rather than the snappy versions I usually favor. But there is a method in my madness: I suspect you need an emotionally suggestive nudge to fully activate your urge to merge; you require a jolt of sweetness to inspire you to go in quest of the love mojo that’s potentially available to you in abundance. So please allow your heart to be moved by the following passage from poet Rabindranath Tagore: “My soul is alight with your infinitude of stars. Your world has broken upon me like a flood. The flowers of your garden blossom in my body.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Try saying this, and notice how it feels: “For the next 17 days, I will make ingenious efforts to interpret my problems as interesting opportunities that offer me the chance to liberate myself from my suffering and transform myself into the person I aspire to become.” Now speak the following words and see what thoughts and sensations get triggered: “For the next 17 days, I will have fun imagining that my so-called flaws are signs of potential strengths and talents that I have not yet developed.”

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DECEMBER 5, 2019 | 35

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An interviewer asked singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen if he needed to feel bothered and agitated in order to stimulate his creativity. Cohen said no. “When I get up in the morning,” he testified, “my real concern is to discover whether I’m in a state of grace.” Surprised, the interviewer asked, “What do you mean by a state of grace?” Cohen described it as a knack for balance that he called on to ride the chaos around him. He knew he couldn’t fix or banish the chaos—and it would be arrogant to try.

His state of grace was more like skiing skillfully down a hill, gliding along the contours of unpredictable terrain. I’m telling you PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “It’s no fun being in love with a shadow,” wrote Piscean poet Edna about Cohen’s definition, Leo, because I think that’s the state of St. Vincent Millay. And yet she indulged profusely in that no-fun grace you should cultivate right now. I bet it will stimulate your activity, and even capitalized on it to create a number of decent, if creativity in ways that surprise and delight you. morose, poems. But in alignment with your astrological omens, Pisces, I’m going to encourage you to fall out of love with shadows. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The coming weeks will be an excellent time to channel your passions Poet Juan Felipe Herrera praises the value of making regular into solid realities: to focus your ardor and adoration on earthly plea- efforts to detox our cluttered minds. He says that one of the best methods for accomplishing this cleansing is to daydream. You sures and practical concerns and imperfect but interesting people. give yourself permission to indulge in uncensored, unabashed fantasies. You feel no inhibition about envisioning scenes that ARIES (March 21-April 19): In composing this oracle, I have called on the unruly wisdom of you may or may not ever carry out in real life. You understand Vivienne Westwood. She’s the fashion designer who incorporated that this free-form play of images is a healing joy, a gift you give the punk aesthetic into mainstream styles. Here are four quotes by yourself. It’s a crafty strategy to make sure you’re not hiding her that will be especially suitable for your use in the coming weeks. any secrets from yourself. Now is a favorable time to practice 1. “I disagree with everything I used to say.” 2. “The only possible this art, Virgo. effect one can have on the world is through unpopular ideas.” 3.

“Intelligence is composed mostly of imagination, insight, and LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): things that have nothing to do with reason.” 4. “I’m attracted to In accordance with current astrological omens, here’s your people who are really true to themselves and who are always trying meditation, as articulated by the blogger named Riverselkie: “Let your life be guided by the things that produce the purest to do something that makes their life more interesting.” secret happiness, with no thought to what that may look like from the outside. Feed the absurd whims of your soul and create TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I’m drowning in the things I never told you.” Famous make-up with no audience in mind but yourself. What is poignant to you is artist Alexandra Joseph wrote that message to a companion with what others will be moved by, too. Embrace what you love about whom she had a complicated relationship. Are you experiencing yourself and the right people will come.” a similar sensation, Taurus? If so, I invite you to do something about it! The coming weeks will be a good time to stop drowning. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): One option is to blurt out to your ally all the feelings and thoughts “I swear I became a saint from waiting,” wrote Scorpio you’ve been withholding and hiding. A second option is to divulge poet Odysseus Elytis in his poem “Three Times the Truth.” just some of the feelings and thoughts you’ve been withholding According to my reading of the astrological omens, you might be and hiding—and then monitor the results of your partial revela- in a similar situation. And you’ll be wise to welcome the break in tion. A third option is to analyze why you’ve been withholding and the action and abide calmly in the motionless lull. You’ll experihiding. Is it because your ally hasn’t been receptive, or because ment with the hypothesis that temporary postponement is best you’re afraid of being honest? Here’s what I suggest: Start with not just for you, but for all concerned.

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian playwright August Strindberg didn’t have much interest in people who “regurgitate what they have learned from books.” He was bored by stories that have been told over and over again; was impatient with propaganda disguised as information and by sentimental platitudes masquerading as sage insights. He craved to hear about the unprecedented secrets of each person’s life: the things they know and feel that no one else knows and feels. He was a student of “the natural history of the human heart.” I bring Strindberg’s perspective to your attention, my dear one-of-a-kind Aquarius, because now is a perfect time for you to fully embody it.

the third option, then move on to the second.

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Stayin’ Alive

The survival adventure of The Aeronauts gets bogged down in backstory.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

36 | DECEMBER 5, 2019

AMAZON STUDIOS

C

ritics spend so much time complaining about movies with thinly-drawn characters, that The Aeronauts presents a bit of a conundrum: Is it possible to spend too much time drawing those characters? Certain genres provide widely varying examples of where the sweet spot lies, so there’s never going to be a simple formula.

But there are times when you’re watching a movie deliver a certain visceral intensity, and you realize that every time it pauses to fill in a bunch of blanks in the characters’ lives, you’re tapping your foot waiting to get back to the good stuff.

The Aeronauts begins with a premise that promises a lot of high-risk excitement: the real-life 1862 scientific expedition in which proto-meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) took off in a hot air balloon to prove theories about predicting weather. For his balloon pilot, he recruits Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones, playing a fictionalized amalgam of other early female aviation pioneers), whose previous flight resulted in the death of her husband. Over the course of a single day, they attempt to break a record for the highest altitude that any human had reached at that time, with all of the accompanying dangers of venturing that far into the unknown and unexplored.

The reunion of the two The Theory of Everything co-stars provides a solid chemistry to the dynamic which initially gives Jones a lot more to work with as the daredevil entertainer whose theatrics for the assembled witnesses to history agitate Redmayne’s pragmatic scientist. There’s actually a fascinating subtext built into those early

scenes, as The Aeronauts provide a sense of the way financiers of Glaisher and Wren’s flight turned it into a spectacle to which they could sell tickets. And it’s interesting watching Wren demonstrate an instinctive sense for giving the people what they want, because that’s also what the guys with the money want.

Once they’re airborne, the narrative turns its focus on the many challenges faced by the two aeronauts, and this is where director/co-writer Tom Harper is at the top of his game. At times, it feels like a Victorian-era spin on Apollo 13, with our protagonists left to their own wits to resolve the problems that emerge when they’re caught in an unexpected storm, or when the high altitude freezes their gas release apparatus, threatening to send them ever higher. On a big screen, these scenes are dizzyingly effective; those with a fear of heights might shrink into their seats at the sight of Wren being forced to scale the outside of their balloon along the rope netting. Whenever The Aeronauts is squarely about being a survival adventures

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built on resourcefulness and maybe a touch of dumb luck, it’s exhilarating.

The problem is it’s not about that nearly as much as it is about all of the stuff that leads those two characters to the point where they face imminent death. Harper repeatedly flashes back to the difficulties faced by Glaisher and Wren, respectively, and it’s pretty rote stuff—Glaisher upset at being mocked by his scientific peers over his belief that weather can be understood scientifically, and Wren coping with the guilty aftermath of surviving the flight that took her husband’s life.

There’s even an occasional digression into Glaisher’s attempts to impress and please his father (Tom Courtenay), who has begun to slide into dementia. There’s nothing exactly wrong with these scenes, but they’re almost always a sluggish distraction from the great material about whether or not Glaisher and Wren can make it back from their 35,000-foot ascent.

It is, of course, ultimately significant that we grasp why Glaisher might be willing to

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones in The Aeronauts

risk his life—or at least hypoxia and frostbite—for his experiments, and why Wren might feel a need for redemption. But for a relatively recent point of comparison, consider Robert Redford as the stranded, nameless mariner in All Is Lost, a movie that understood how the nuts and bolts of staying alive are enough to keep viewers engrossed without a catalog of motivations. As good as The Aeronauts is when it’s soaring above the clouds, it’s also a reminder that sometimes, life is motivation enough. CW

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2. Like a U.S. senate term 3. Legendary soprano ____ Patti 4. Defense in a snowball fight 5. Went back and forth 6. Woodworking tool 7. Bay window 8. Folks 9. Reaction to a bad pun 10. The first "O" in YOLO 11. A few lines on one's Twitter profile, say 12. Post-OR destination 13. Played the first card 21. Like Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" 22. Costa Rica's ____ Peninsula 25. Tack (on) 26. Most common Korean surname 27. Santa ____ winds 29. "Star Trek" officer who famously kissed Kirk in 1968 31. ____ demon 32. Listen here!

35. Fried rice legume 37. Wite-Out seller 38. Common way to exit a haunted house 39. Curve with rising action 40. "No Scrubs" singers 41. "Yoo-____!"

42. "Barf!"

44. Ate noisily, as soup 45. Familia member 46. Morale-boosting mil. event 48. Kind of room or center 49. Style of yoga in a heated room 51. Org. in "Breaking Bad" 54. Put out, as a fire 56. Frau's mister 57. Kid's game with a rhyming name 58. Get out of Dodge 59. Like Benadryl: Abbr.

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Financial Analyst: Heritage Financial Place Inc. in Midvale, Utah. Req’d Bachelor’s Degree in Financial planning related and 24 months of experience in finance industry. Resume to: Heritage Financial Place Inc, 6955 S. Union Park Center, Ste. 250, Midvale, UT, 84047. Reference # 19255.

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Light the World

PARTLOWRENTS.COM

You might have wondered this time last year why people were standing in a long line at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building outside the Nauvoo Café. No, they weren’t trying to get those scarce tickets to the Christmas concerts at the LDS Conference Center or stand in line for green Jell-O salad. Utahns were queuing up to use a church-operated vending machine that wasn’t even dispensing Pepsi. At the big, red boxes, people can use credit cards to purchase items costing $2 to $320. They include food, clothing, hygiene supplies, sports equipment and even livestock. Partner charities—like UNICEF, WaterAid and Church World Service— supply the items and receive 100% of the donations.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created the vending machines two years ago and has collected more than $2.7 million in donations. The “Light the World” vending machines are now available at Downtown Summerlin shopping center in Las Vegas; Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii; University Place Mall in Orem; Writer Square in Denver; Christmas in the Park in San Jose, Calif.; TriNoma Mall in Manila, Philippines; Water Tower Plaza in Gilbert, Ariz.; Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City; Manhattan New York Temple in New York City; and the Hyde Park Visitors’ Centre in London.

Customers can walk up and buy items for the Utah Food Bank, glasses for kids, art supplies for elementary students—or a chicken. Maybe someone you know has given you an animal donation instead of a tacky Christmas sweater? If you buy a chicken for a family, it provides eggs for them, or if you purchase a goat, it provides milk. After you’ve decided, the machine dispenses a CD-sized packet as proof of purchase. The choices are many and the machines are about the size of eight Coke machines placed side-by-side—you can’t miss them.

While traveling around the globe, you might bump into weird vending machines.

There are local artists’ art dispensers in North Carolina (Art-O-Mat), live crab vending machines in China and Japan ($3.50 each), bait banks for worms throughout the U.S., and Hello Kitty vending machines in Malaysia. But again, this is the season to give, rather than get. Smith’s sponsors Angel Trees at many of its locations where you can pick up a card and purchase items for a child’s holiday. So track down a red Light the World box, find an Angel Tree or go online and make a donation to better the planet and your soul. n

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1. Org. implicated in the Snowden leaks 4. Shutterbug's setting 9. Before it merged with Exxon, its tagline could have been "You can't spell [this answer] without [circled letters]" 14. Take part in an auction 15. Site of some Chicago touchdowns 16. Chilling 17. Lumberjack's tool 18. Florida senator Marco 19. Verbally 20. Hasbro brand whose tagline could be "You can't spell [this answer] without [circled letters]" 23. Inner tube?

24. Blinking and sweating, in poker 25. Assumed name lead-in 28. Amounts to fry 30. Entered gradually 33. Spanish Mrs. 34. Whole bunch 36. Lakshmi of "Top Chef" 37. Anheuser-Busch brand whose tagline could be "You can't spell [this answer] without [circled letters]" 40. Gender-neutral possessive 43. One poker chip, perhaps 44. ____ mai (Asian dumplings) 47. Like some diets 50. Moves a little unsteadily 52. Animal seen on every carton of Ben & Jerry's ice cream 53. Duck with soft feathers 55. Symbol gotten on a PC by typing CTRL + ALT + E 56. Food brand whose tagline could be "You can't spell [this answer] without [circled letters]" 59. Novelist Joyce Carol ____ 62. Outside the city 63. Part of a tuba's sound 64. Choreographer Twyla 65. Stick out like ____ thumb 66. Brian who composed "The Microsoft Sound," which, ironically, he wrote on a Mac 67. Toyota model whose tagline could be "You can't spell [this answer] without [circled letters]" 68. Choreographer Cunningham 69. ____ Jones industrial average

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WEIRD

Curious Tradition Animal Help Now, a group that assists in “animal emergencies,” has gathered almost 160,000 signatures on a petition to repeal legislation allowing “Possum Drops” in North Carolina. In a number of communities in the state, the custom of putting an opossum in a transparent box, suspending it in the air and then slowly lowering it to the ground is a feature of New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Organizers in Brasstown told the Raleigh News & Observer they ended its Possum Drop after the 2018 event because it’s “a hard job to do, and it’s time to move on,” but they maintained that the tradition does “absolutely nothing to harm” the animal. Animal Help Now, however, is continuing its campaign against the state statute that makes it legal for people to treat opossums however they wish between the dates of Dec. 29 and Jan. 2.

Bright Ideas Maybe they’re betting no woman will reveal what she weighs in public, but the Fusion Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is offering women free drink credits based on their weight. For example, a woman who weighs 150 pounds would receive about $18.50 in free cocktails. Anil Kumar, spokesman for the club, told Insider that while they have a scale behind the bar, they will also accept a woman’s word about what she weighs. “They can just write the weight on a paper and give it to the bartender discreetly,” he said.

“Very simple, no strings attached. We wanted the ladies to surprise their partners and friends that it’s good to gain weight!”

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Over the past five years, 12 separate bundles of cash, totaling nearly $45,000, have turned up on sidewalks in the quiet, beachside English village of Blackhall Colliery, posing a mystery for local Detective Constable John Forster. “These bundles are always ... discovered by random members of the public who have handed them in,” Forster told 9News, although he did admit he suspects some bundles have not been turned over to police.

Officials have no evidence of a crime committed related to the bundles, usually containing about 2,000 pounds apiece. After a period of time, if no one claims them, the folks who discovered the bundles will get to keep them.

Compelling Explanation Police and firefighters in Liberty, Ohio, were called to the Liberty Walmart on the afternoon of Nov. 16 to find a car on fire in the parking lot, reported WFMJ. Owner Stephanie Carlson, 40, told them there was a can of gas in the trunk and she had lighted a candle to get rid of the smell, but she later admitted she had poured gas on the seats and started the fire with a lighter because the car was dirty and there was a problem with the front wheel.

The car belonged to her husband, who said he had been looking for her all day, and also told officers she had allegedly been found huffing mothballs and paint thinner recently. Police took her into custody and found a lighter and mothballs in her purse; she was charged with arson, inducing panic and criminal damaging.

Suspicions Confirmed After the death of their uncle, Sifiso Justice Mhlongo, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, Thandaza Mtshali and Thobeka Mhlongo ran into trouble trying to settle a claim on his life insurance. According to The Daily Star, Old Mutual required confirmation the man had died and delayed payment because they were waiting for “additional assessments.” So on Nov. 19, the women went to the funeral home, retrieved their uncle’s body and took it to the company’s local office. “They said they had paid the money into our bank account and we wanted to be sure,” Mtshali said, “so we left the body at their office and went to check at the bank.” When they had their money, they returned the body to the funeral home, and Mr. Mhlongo now rests in a family burial plot. Old Mutual pronounced the incident “most unsettling,” and promised a full investigation, but Muzi Hlengwa, spokesman for the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa, said the matter was far from over: “The rituals that were supposed to be done to move the body from one place to another were not done. The soul of that man is still left at the Old Mutual, so they will have to cover the costs of performing these rituals.”

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Crime Report When Martin Skelly, 41, was arrested on Nov. 16 in a Clearwater, Fla., McDonald’s for possession of methamphetamines, he told officers he did not have any other contraband. But during his intake at the Pinellas County Jail, a deputy found a “small bag of crystal powder substance wedged deep within [his] belly button cavity,” Fox News reported, which later tested positive for meth.

Skelly, who is 5-foot-9 and weighs 380 pounds, received two additional charges for introducing contraband into a correctional facility and narcotics possession.

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Yeah, No If you’re passing through the seaside city of Fukuoka, Japan, here’s a tip for a cheap hotel: A night in room No. 8 at the Asahi Ryokan will cost you just $1. And your privacy. In return for the low rate, your entire stay in your room will be livestreamed on YouTube. Hotel manager Tetsuya Inoue told CNN on Nov. 20 that while the world can watch the room’s guests, there is no audio, so conversations and phone calls can remain private. Also, the bathroom is out of camera range. And, of course, guests can turn out the lights. “Our hotel is on the cheaper side,” Inoue said, “so we need some added value, something special that everyone will talk about.”

Babs De Lay

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n A 16-year-old boy was detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Nov. 17 after an agent saw him hiding in brush about a mile north of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry near San Diego.

Authorities said the teenager had a remote-control car with him, along with two large duffel bags stuffed with 50 packages of methamphetamines, weighing more than 55 pounds and worth more than $106,000. Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco told The San Diego Union-Tribune that authorities believe the car was used to carry the bundles across the border, making many trips through the bollard-style fence from the south side and driving to the teen on the north side. The boy was charged with drug smuggling and held in juvenile hall.

People Different From Us Bodybuilder Kirill Tereshin, 23, a former Russian soldier also known as Popeye, underwent surgery in Moscow in mid-November after doctors told him that the petroleum jelly he had been injecting into his biceps to increase their size might result in the amputation of his arms. Surgeon Dmitry Melnikov told Metro News: “The problem is that this is petroleum jelly. [Tereshin] injected this so thoroughly that it spread in the muscle and killed it.” In this first of four surgeries, doctors removed 3 pounds of dead muscle and 3 liters of jelly that had formed into a solid lump.

The injections were causing Tereshin high fevers, pain and weakness. Following the operations, doctors have told Tereshin, he will have arm movement but his arm muscles will be diminished.

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