City Weekly January 7, 2021

C I T Y W E E K LY. N E T

SLOPE

ART

Start the year with a look at local artists celebrating skiing

BY SCOTT RENSHAW

J A N U A R Y 7, 2 0 2 1 | V O L . 3 7

N0. 32

CONTENTS FEATURED STORY

SINS OF OMISSION Part III of Project Censored’s annual list of news stories that have evaded the light of day.

By Paul Rosenberg

11

Cover art (see story on p. 15) Carole Wade’s “Apres”

6 OPINION 14 A&E 23 DINE 30 MUSIC 36 CINEMA 37 COMMUNITY

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OPINION

Check out weekly columns Smart Bomb and Taking a Gander at cityweekly.net. facebook.com/slcweekly

DINE

Go to cityweekly.net for local restaurants serving you.

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STAY INFORMED! Want to know the latest on coronavirus? Get off Facebook and check out these three online resources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov World Health Organization: who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 Utah Coronavirus Task Force: coronavirus.utah.gov

STAFF Publisher PETE SALTAS Executive Editor JOHN SALTAS News Editor JERRE WROBLE Arts & Entertainment Editor SCOTT RENSHAW Music Editor ERIN MOORE Listings Desk KARA RHODES

Contributors KATHARINE BIELE, ROB BREZSNY, MIKE RIEDEL, PAUL ROSENBERG, ALEX SPRINGER Production Art Director DEREK CARLISLE Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, CHELSEA NEIDER

Circulation Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO Business/Office Technical Director BRYAN MANNOS Developer BRYAN BALE Display Advertising 801-716-1777 National Advertising VMG Advertising 888-278-9866

Salt Lake City Weekly is published every Thursday by Copperfield Publishing Inc. We are an independent publication dedicated to alternative news and news sources, that also serves as a comprehensive entertainment guide. 15,000 copies of Salt Lake City Weekly are available free of charge at more than 1,800 locations along the Wasatch Front. Limit one copy per reader. Additional copies of the paper can be purchased for $1 (Best of Utah and other special issues, $5) payable to Salt Lake City Weekly in advance. No person, without expressed permission of Copperfield Publishing Inc., may take more than one copy of any Salt Lake City Weekly issue. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the written permission of the publisher. Third-class postage paid at Midvale, UT. Delivery might take up to one full week. All rights reserved.

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SOAP BOX New Year’s Reflections

Love reading City Weekly.

Thanks for keeping us up to date with what’s going on in this great city. @UTAHPRIDECENTER via Instagram

Himalayan Kitchen Struggles to Stay Open

What an amazing man the owner, Surya Bastakoti, is. Heart of gold and loves what he does. The whole staff is amazing. Surya would give anyone the shirt off his back if they needed it. Such good people.

LAURA LAVA JONES via Facebook This place is so delicious. It’ll be the next place we order takeout.

CHELSEA TAYLOR via Facebook

@SLCWEEKLY

@CITYWEEKLY

The city needs to waive parking fees to help encourage people to come downtown. Not just the metered stalls, but also in city owned lots.

JENNIFER GB via Facebook One of the owners delivered food to our house instead of hired staff or GrubHub. They have always personalized their service and are some of the nicest folks in the restaurant industry that I have seen.

KRISTEN STEHEL via Facebook

On Sen. Romney’s tweet against the “egregious ploy” to reject electors Romney lays the gauntlet down with this release: “I could never

@SLCWEEKLY have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”

Sen. Romney, for the win.

What will no-spine Sen. Mike Lee do?

JOHN SALTAS @JOHNSALTAS via Twitter Romney always plays it safe: He’s never been accused of having a spine. He had a safe seat; real balls would’ve been a quixotic primary challenge to Trump last year.

RUSS SMITH @MUGGER1955 via Twitter How is this a gauntlet? He wrote words that will do nothing.

Unless he starts caucusing (or threatening to caucus) with the Dems, his “gauntlet” is mean-

ingless. Don’t give him benefit of a thing until he acts.

DANNY_VANDELAY @ TEQUILADANKC via Twitter If he announced he was going to caucus with Democrats—that would be a gauntlet. This was another letter.

KRISTY @KDROLLIMN via Twitter You need to seriously consider doing what you can, Senator Romney, to derail the treason express that is the Republican Party. Perhaps become an independent—or a Democrat— and help deny McConnell his veto power over the legislative process. Think about it.

MICHAEL B LEHRHOFF @MBLEHRHOFF via Twitter

There is no “win.” Romney is doing nothing but tweeting.

Tweets aren’t action. The only people taking action are the traitors that are continuing to belabor this nonsense. And they don’t care about tweets. If this is your party, Senator, how can you still be a part of it? @RUNNINGMN9 via Twitter If Romney really had conviction (for that matter, any Republican who disavows the direction the party has headed), they’d leave the GOP and become independents.

THE MØØSE THAT RØARED DEER @THEMOOSESPEAKS via Twitter As usual, “Mr. Constitution” is silent ...

MADISONFLY @MADISONFLYPAM via Twitter

THE BOX

What does the “American dream” mean to you?

Katharine Biele Equal opportunity to reach one’s goals, whether that be in education, home ownership, job search or income.

America promises each of its people the opportunity to explore their individuality.

Bryan Bale I think the American dream is rooted in the idea that certain privileges, like land ownership, should not be restricted to royal or dynastic families. It’s what promises us that, with sufficient hard work, anyone can be successful. It’s certainly a compelling ideal, but as I get older,it’s increasingly difficult to discuss the American dream without the caveat “your mileage may vary.”

Scott Renshaw It usually means somebody is trying to sell me on the idea that America is a pure meritocracy, which lolololololololololol.

Carolyn Campbell I would tell myself to never take anything for granted and to enjoy every minute. I would say that interacting with friends in any way possible is a way to help avoid becoming depressed during the pandemic.

Kelly Boyce Debt free, being able to visit friends and family whenever I wanted and never having to wake up to an alarm clock in the morning.

Eric Granato The American dream died decades ago.

Jerre Wroble We still have a ways to go; that’s why it’s called a dream.

B Y J O H N S A LTA S

PRIVATE EY

Shot in the Arm E

My mom does all of that and then some. This past year, she’s been without most of her friends and family. Her passion for bingo, multiple nights per week, ended sometime last March. So did her monthly senior-citizen lunches at the Greek Orthodox church downtown. She’s missed the monthly bus trips to Wendover. She hates that we can’t visit much, but we are all amazed at how resilient she has been otherwise. She said a few months ago that living through COVID wasn’t as bad as other things she’d been through.

For that reason, she refuses to stop driving to the grocery store (“I go early when there’s nobody there. Leave me alone!”) or getting her hair done. She masks up and social distances, though her Greek impulses tug. Those are concessions our family decided to make. We love her, but we don’t want her going crazy, either—and before Grandma shaming, we also shop for her and take care of her home and personal needs. She just needs some freedom, and she doesn’t need a purple flag, a dumb sign or a gun to express it. When we see her, she reminds us that her youth was a tad harder on her than COVID with the rejoinder: “We never complained. All of us were the same. We’d just go play and forget about it.”

A few of her friends have contracted COVID as well as have two grandkids. All are well. She even had an aunt get coronavirus and recover. Yes, my 93-year-old mom has a 99-year-old aunt. She’s not all cavalier about becoming ill—she’s religiously fatalist, not fearful—and therefore consumes her daily dosage of vitamins B, C and D, plus minerals and a multivitamin. She’s not shy to get up in the TV when anti-maskers or virus-deniers make another silly scene. Among her most glorious charms these past months have been her loud, colorful descriptions of Donald Trump.

You don’t want to know.

Like other sane people who live into their 10th decade,

she doesn’t have much tolerance for people who belittle and diminish the sanctity of living. She recognizes their passion for personal liberties because her own father left the Greek island of Crete in 1906 precisely to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities of America, but she thinks they’re damned fools. She knows his stories of life under Ottoman occupation are 10 times scarier than those of frightened people who fear their neighbors because they voted for Democrats or wear masks. The beauty of freedom, though, is that we should all embrace the freedom to be stupid—so long as it doesn’t hurt someone else.

That’s why these next few weeks are so important for her. She’s seriously disgusted by the craven behavior of those among us who think COVID-19 is a hoax, the fault of China. It wasn’t the fault of China that America came late to be proactive in containing the illness. Remember all those folks in St. George defiantly not wearing masks at their rallies? Well, look at Washington County now—more deaths per cases than Salt Lake County, and if my Mr. Newton-math is correct, it now is the sole owner of the silver medal for most deaths per thousand in all of Utah.

Dumb is as dumb does. But not now. The vaccine is here and, despite my mom saying she wants all medical workers to get a vax before her, it’s her time. She’s confused about where to get her vaccine. Everyone’s confused. So, can we just make a place for our seniors to get a shot? That’s my single ask right now in 2021. They gave at the office.

If those maskless marchers don’t value what comes first—the order is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—then move them to the rear. Because those who value life first are the ones who should inherit it—and bless it and pass it on. All she wants is a shot. CW Send comments to john@cityweekly.net

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veryone agrees that 2020 ranks among the worst years of their lives. There were others, though. My 93-year-old mother remembers Pearl Harbor, the secret attack on the U.S. Navy by Japanese airmen. I’ve never researched if life was going well up to Dec. 7, 1941. It certainly led to the bad years that followed, however, ending in atomic bombs being dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So, while it seems in 2020 that we’ve had the longest series of months—“Is it still March??”—the date Dec. 7, 1941, launched a period that also seemed without end.

On that very day, my mom’s younger brother was accidentally shot in the abdomen and was rushed to a Salt Lake hospital. That’s another reason she remembers that day and the main reason she wouldn’t let me have a gun growing up. If not for that accident, I may have gotten my hands on a gun or three, and you might see me today expressing my patriotic bravery at a Freedom rally somewhere. As you know, freedom cannot be expressed properly without a sidearm. Well, not counting sucking from a can of beer and making tracks on Utah backroads, that is. Now, that’s freedom.

Another bad year was 1929, but my mom doesn’t remember that one, only the aftermath. Nearly everything she does to this day is a result of her Great Depression youth.

Does your mom save the un-squeezable itty bits of ketchup leftovers in the fridge so she can add water to make tomato sauce? Is she able to get her local butcher to mark down meat prices 50% (not kidding, and we love her for that!).

Does she have a napkin, butter, cream, syrup and sugar stash from the packets unused at restaurants? Does she always eat only half a meal and save the other half for later?

@johnsaltas

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HITS&MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

HIT: Trib’s Exclusive COVID Report

The Salt Lake Tribune did indeed launch its Sunday edition with a barnburner of a story about the state’s so-called COVID-19 strategy. Dubbed an “exclusive,” the paper detailed the internal battle between the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget and the Utah Department of Health, uncovered through public records requests.

If anything, the story highlighted the conflict between protecting the public and protecting the economy. It’s something then-Gov. Herbert and incoming Gov. Cox have yet to figure out, although it appears they leaned heavily into the economy. If you felt former GOMB Director Kristen Cox’s angst as the state simply reacted to rising COVID cases, then it should be apparent that a state, if a national, strategy would have helped. As for the Trib, we’ll see if they can keep up the “exclusive” pace. For now, the reading public is still trying to digest its digital roll-out.

MISS: The Disinformation War

Poor Burgess Owens. Apparently, there is no way to teach the man math, or the lessons of American democracy. Utah’s newly minted congressman plans to join other right-wing nuts challenging the Electoral College, because he can’t fathom how Joe Biden got more votes in 2020 than Barrack Obama in 2008. Then, Obama got a total count of 69.5 million votes, standing as the largest tally ever won by a presidential candidate—until now. Biden, admittedly no Obama, got 81.2 million popular votes and 306 Electoral votes to Trump’s 74.2 million and 232. Owens might just consider why. The election brought out voters like never before—because of the love or hate of Trump. Let’s take Burgess back to 2016, when Hillary Clinton got more popular votes than the Trump-man, who was arguably helped by a campaign of disinformation and won the Electoral College. And yet, her supporters did not disparage or dispute the process. This is not about believing the election was rigged; it’s about understanding that it was not.

MISS: Conspiracy Culture

Meanwhile, the conservative conspiracy rage threatens not only public safety but more importantly logic, education and science. In November, conspiracy theorists tried to get into a Provo hospital to “prove” that COVID was a fake, KUTV 2News reported. And the Deseret News, in its inaugural Sunday digital edition, ran an in-depth story about “the Great Reset,” an initiative of the World Economic Forum, which, because it calls for global cooperation, sparked fear and certainty that change will bring about the End Times and of course, socialism writ large. The University of Utah’s philosophy department delved into “The strange world of COVID-19 conspiracy theories,” as history professor Robert Goldberg said the problem is that “a significant portion of Americans” see professionals and collaboration as suspicious. With Utah culture steeped in magical thinking, conspiracies are likely to grow with every challenge the public faces.

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

COVID and the Navajo

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Navajo Nation disproportionately, much of it due to the barriers to health and opportunity. By June 2020, 277 Navajos had died from the virus. University of New Mexico professor Jennifer Nez Denetdale will examine the impact of the pandemic on the Navajo Nation at The Navajo Nation and the COVID-19 Pandemic With Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Ph.D. “As the first-ever Diné (Navajo) to earn a Ph.D. in history, Denetdale is a strong advocate for Native peoples and strives to foster academic excellence in the next generation of students interested in Indigenous studies,” organizers say. Space is limited. Virtual, Saturday, Jan. 9, 11 a.m., free. http://bit.ly/2KFBHcg

Racism Documentary

The film Cincinnati Goddamn was released just as 2013’s Black Lives Matter movement began to gain traction. While it investigates the city’s complicated history with anti-Black racism and police brutality, the message is clearly more far-reaching and includes perspectives from all sides of the conflict. “Join the Worthington Community Relations Commission and the Wexner Center for the Arts for a documentary and discussion focused on racism and the power of grassroots activism,” organizers say. This Documentary Discussion About Racism and Grassroots Activism presented by the Worthington Community Relations Commission will be a conversation with filmmakers April Martin and Paul Hill and a link to view the documentary in advance.

Virtual, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 5 p.m., free. http://bit.ly/3pGGPeZ

Children and Homelessness

In 2017, 35 percent of the homeless in Utah were families with children. That means 281 homeless families and 164 unaccompanied youth, according to the Fourth Street Clinic.

“Homelessness has a huge impact on children, interfering with healthy development and ability to succeed in school,” they say. Join the Coalition of Religious Communities at Solutions for Child Homelessness to learn about ideas to reduce child homelessness. They will also preview the upcoming 2021 legislative session. Topics include why Utah needs to do more to reduce family homelessness, how recent improvements to federal housing credits increase the value of state investments in affordable housing, and how Medicaid can be used to fund outreach and case management for families that have experienced homelessness. Facebook Live, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 10:30 a.m., free. http://bit.ly/3hxduk0

Legislative Previews

You never know what those Utah legislators are up to and, even when they’re in session, you may still be in the dark. Join the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters at The Annual Legislative Forum to hear from four legislators about what’s coming. Virtual, Sat. Jan. 9, 10 a.m., free. http://bit.ly/3aX4K5E. If you miss that one, join the United Way’s Legislative Preview featuring 10 legislators including the House speaker and Senate president. Virtual, Thursday, Jan. 14, 12 p.m., free. http://bit.ly/34X2OX2

—KATHARINE BIELE

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SINS OF OMISSION Part III of Project Censored’s annual list of news stories that have evaded the light of day.

By Paul Rosenberg

T

UNDERREPORTING OF MISSING AND VICTIMIZED BLACK WOMEN AND GIRLS

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In October 2019, “The Atlanta Black Star shed light on perhaps the most prolific offender against Black women and girls in recent history, Jason Roger Pope, who has been indicted on charges relating to human trafficking and child sex crimes,” Project Censored wrote. “Pope, a white South Carolina promoter and popular disc jockey better known as DJ Kid, has made claims suggesting he may have participated in the trafficking, assault and/or rapes of nearly 700 African American girls— primarily underage—right up until his arrest in August 2019.”

The arrest didn’t come out of the blue.

“Pope has police records going as far back as 2011 relating to sexual misconduct with minors.

Yet, outside of a few local news outlets, the corporate media has been silent on Pope’s crimes.”

Blacks are also over-represented as victims of sex trafficking, according to statistics from Human Trafficking Search: They account for more than 40% of confirmed victims compared to 13.1 percent of the population.

While there is some coverage from small independent sources, “this gap in coverage of missing Black women and girls has gone widely underreported,” Project Censored noted.

It cited two exceptions (one from ABC News, another from CNN). “But, broadly, U.S. corporate media are not willing to discuss their own shortcomings or to acknowledge the responsibilities they neglect by failing to provide coverage on the search for missing and victimized Black women and girls.”

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Black women and girls go missing in the United States at a higher rate than that of their white counter­parts. And, that very fact goes missing, too.

“A 2010 study about the media coverage of missing children in the United States discovered that only 20% of reported stories focused on missing Black children despite it corresponding to 33% of the overall missing children cases,” Carma Henry reported for the Westside Gazette in February 2019.

But it’s only getting worse. “A 2015 study discussed in the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice found that the disparity listed in the 2010 study between the reportage and the reality of missing Black children had increased substantially,” Project Censored noted. In fact, the ratio is now 35% of missing children cases vs. just 7% of media stories.

That discussion appeared in a paper that made two other pertinent points: First, that Black criminal perpetrators are over-represented in the media, while Black victims are underrepresented, and second, that “because racial minorities are identified as criminals more often than not, non-minorities develop limited empathy toward racial minorities who are often perceived as offenders.”

“Media coverage is often vital in missing person cases because it raises community awareness and can drive funding and search efforts that support finding those missing persons,” Project Censored noted.

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his is the third and final installment of Project Censored’s annual list of most significant news that’s somehow not fit to print. As noted in previous installments, censorship in an authoritarian society is obvious, from a distance, at least. There is a central agent or agency responsible for it, and the lines are clearly drawn.

That’s not the case in America, yet some stories rarely, if ever, see the light of day. The media erasure is part of a system of targeting and marginalization. While journalists everyday work hard to expose injustices, they work within a system where some injustices are so deeply baked in that stories exposing them are rarely told and even more rarely expanded upon to give them their proper due.

That’s where Project Censored comes in. Since 1976, its role has been to “explore and publicize the extent of news censorship in our society by locating stories about significant issues of which the public should be aware, but is not, for a variety of reasons,” wrote its founder Carl Jensen on its 20th anniversary.

Thus, the list of censored stories that’s the centerpiece of its annual book, State of the Free Press 2021, doesn’t just help us to see individual stories we might otherwise have missed. It helps us see patterns—of censorship and suppressed stories, and how those stories fit together.

In Part I, published in City Weekly’s Dec. 24, 2020, issue, the Top 10 list noted the lack of coverage about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), the targeting of journalists and activists by Monsanto “Intelligence Center,” and how the U.S. military has become a massive contributor to climate crisis.

Part II, published in City Weekly’s Dec. 31 issue, highlighted the lack of media coverage of congressional investments and conflicts of interest, how the growing gap between richest and poorest Americans is impacting longevity, and how a shadow network of conservative outlets is undermining faith in local news.

If the previous and the following Part III summaries leave you hungry for more, Project Censored has all that and more waiting for you in State of the Free Press 2021.

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THE PUBLIC BANKING REVOLUTION The year 2019 marked the 100th anniversary of the United States’ first publicly owned state bank, the Bank of North Dakota (BND), and in October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Public Banking Act, authorizing up to 10 similar such banks to be created by California’s city and county governments. In response, the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles both announced plans to do so. It was the culmination of a decade-long effort that began in the wake of the Great Recession that’s also been taken up in nearly two dozen other states. Beyond the benefits North Dakota has reaped in the past, such banks could have greatly assisted in responding to COVID-19’s economic devastation and could yet help fund a just transition to a decarbonized future, along the lines of a Green New Deal.

Yet, despite California’s agenda-setting reputation, Project Censored notes that, “No major corporate media outlets appear to have devoted recent coverage to this important and timely topic.”

“The Bank of North Dakota was founded in 1919 in response to a farmers’ revolt against out-of-state banks that were foreclosing unfairly on their farms,” Ellen Brown, founder of the Public Banking Institute wrote for Common Dreams. “Since then, it has evolved into a $7.4 billion bank that is reported to be even more profitable than JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, although its mandate is not actually to make a profit but simply to serve the interests of local North Dakota communities.”

“The state of North Dakota has six times as many financial institutions per capita as the rest of the country, and it’s because they have the Bank of North Dakota,” Sushil Jacob, an attorney who works with the California Public Banking Alliance told The Guardian. “When the great recession hit, the Bank of North Dakota stepped in and provided loans and allowed local banks to thrive.”

As a result, “North Dakota was the only state that escaped the credit crisis,” Brown told Ananya Garg, reporting for Yes! magazine. “It never went in the red, [had] the lowest unemployment rate in the country, the lowest foreclosure rate at that time.”

“There are two ways in which a state bank can fund state investment for a greener future,” Eric Heath wrote in an op-ed for The Hill. “First, the bank can provide loans, bonds and other forms of financing for investments to the state government and private organizations on better terms than those available in regular markets.”

Some such projects might not even be considered. This is not because green investments are unprofitable, “but because their profits slowly accumulate and are widely shared across a community,” Heath explained. “Second, a public bank will improve a state’s fiscal health. By holding state deposits as assets, the bank’s profits can be returned to state coffers to fund direct state investment. Additionally, the activity of the state bank—which will prioritize investing state assets and extending credit within the state for the benefit of the state—will improve the state economy,” just as has happened in North Dakota.

A new surge of interest in public banking came out of the Standing Rock movement’s Dakota Access Pipeline protests. While individuals could easily withdraw from doing business with fossil fuel-financing banks—Wells Fargo, in this case— governments have no such similar options to meet all their banking needs.

In short, “From efforts to divest public employee pension funds from the fossil fuel industry and private prisons, to funding the proposed Green New Deal, and counteracting the massive, rapid shutdown of the economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, public banking has never seemed more relevant,” Project Censored wrote.

It’s a time-tested practical solution the corporate media refuses to discuss.

RISING RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

As early as 2003, 30 nuclear units were either shut down or at reduced power output during a deadly summer heat wave in Europe.

But almost two decades later, the corporate media has yet to grasp that “nuclear power plants are unprepared for climate change,” as Project Censored notes. “Rising sea levels and warmer waters will impact power plants’ infrastructure, posing increased risks of nuclear disasters, according to reports from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Truthout from September 2019,” they explain. Yet, “Tracking back to 2013, corporate news media have only sporadically addressed the potential for climate change to impact nuclear power plants.”

“Nuclear power is uniquely vulnerable to increasing temperatures because of its reliance on cooling water to ensure operational safety within the core and spent fuel storage,” Christina Chen wrote for NRDC. In addition, Karen Charman, reporting for Truthout, noted that “nuclear reactors need an uninterrupted electricity supply to run the cooling systems that keep the reactors from melting down,” but this will be “increasingly difficult to guarantee in a world of climate-fueled megastorms and other disasters.”

Sea level rise—combined with storm surges—represents the most serious threat.

That was the focus of a 2018 report by John Vidal from Ensia, a solutions-focused media outlet, that found “at least 100 U.S., European and Asian nuclear power stations built just a few meters above sea level could be threatened by serious flooding caused by accelerating sea-level rise and more frequent storm surges.”

There have been more than 20 incidents of flooding at U.S. nuclear plants, according to David Lochbaum, a former nuclear engineer and director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The most likely [cause of flooding] is the increasing frequency of extreme events,” he told Vidal.

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Yet, in January 2019, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, decided to weaken staff recommendations to reassess the adequacy of hazard preparations. In dissent, Commissioner Jeff Baran wrote that NRC would allow power plants “to be prepared only for the old, outdated hazards typically calculated decades ago when the science of seismology and hydrology was far less advanced.”

“As of September 2019, 444 nuclear reactors are operating in the world, with 54 under construction, 111 planned and 330 more proposed,” Charman reported.

“Many of the world’s new nuclear plants are being built on the coasts of Asian countries, which face floods, sea-level rise and typhoons,” Vidal wrote. “At least 15 of China’s 39 reactors in operation, and many of the plants it has under construction, are on the coast.”

“Nuclear stations are on the front line of climate change impacts both figuratively and quite literally,” leading climate scientist Michael Mann told Vidal. “We are likely profoundly underestimating climate change risk and damages in coastal areas.”

REVIVE JOURNALISM WITH A STIMULUS PACKAGE AND PUBLIC OPTION In late March, Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, including direct payments of $1,200 per adult and more than $500 billion for large corporations. Before passage, Craig Aaron, the president of Free Press, argued that a stimulus package for journalism was also urgently needed.

“In the face of this pandemic, the public needs good, economically secure journalists more than ever,” separating fact from fiction, and holding politicians and powerful institutions accountable,” Aaron wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review.

Aaron’s organization, Free Press, placed journalism’s needs at $5 billion in immediate emergency funds, “less than half of 1% of a trillion-dollar recovery package” and asked that “Congress put a foundation in place to help sustain journalism over the long term.”

Aaron presented a three-pronged plan: First, “Doubling federal funds for public media,” not for Downton Abbey reruns, but “earmarked specifically for emergency support, education, and especially local journalism.” For example, “The Los Angeles Unified School District teamed up with PBS SoCal/KCET to offer instruction over the airwaves while kids are out of school, with separate channels focused on different ages.”

Second, “Direct support for daily and weekly newsrooms,” which have lost tens of thousands of jobs over the past three decades. “Direct, emergency subsidies of say $25,000 per newsgathering position could make sure reporters everywhere stay on

the local COVID beat,” he wrote. “Just $625 million would help retain 25,000 newsroom jobs.”

Third, “New investments in the news we need…. for a major investment in services that provide community information [and] to support new positions, outlets and approaches to newsgathering, [which could] prioritize places and populations that the mainstream outlets have never served well.”

Arguing that a “resilient and community-centered media system” is necessary to get through the pandemic, Aaron concluded, “Now is the time to act. We need significant public investments in all corners of the economy, and journalism is no exception.”

In an article in Jacobin, media scholar Victor Pickard advanced a more robust proposal, for $30 billion annually (less than 1.4% of the coronavirus stimulus package, Project Censored noted).

“On the question of cost, we must first remind ourselves that a viable press system isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity,” he wrote. “Similar to a classic ‘merit good,’ journalism isn’t a ‘want,’ but a ‘need…. Democratic nations around the globe heavily subsidize the media while enjoying democratic benefits that put the U.S. to shame.”

Writing for The Guardian, just after the McClatchy newspaper chain bankruptcy was announced, Pickard noted that, “For many areas across the U.S., there’s simply no commercial option. The market has failed us.” And thus, “With market failure, journalism’s survival requires public options.”

The need was fundamental. “All foundational democratic theories—including the First Amendment itself—assume a functional press system. The fourth estate’s current collapse is a profound social problem,” he writes.

And he suggests a broad range of funding possibilities: “We could raise funds from taxing platforms like Facebook and Google, placing levees on communication devices and repurposing international broadcasting subsidies. Other sources include spectrum sales and individual tax vouchers. We could leverage already-existing public infrastructures such as post offices, libraries and public broadcasting stations to provide spaces for local news production.”

Project Censored concurred, writing, “While corporate news outlets have reported the ongoing demise of newspapers and especially local news sources, they have rarely covered proposals such as Aaron’s and Pickard’s to revitalize journalism through public funding.”

This is Week 3 of a three-part feature. Author Paul Rosenberg is an activist turned journalist who has written for the Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Al Jazeera English, salon.com and numerous other periodicals. He has worked as an editor at Random Lengths News since 2002. Send comments to editor@ cityweekly.net.

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JANUARY 7, 2021 | 13

of ice art covering nearly an acre and weighing more than 25 million pounds. The icy edifices include thrones, slides and tunnels, as well as areas lit by synchronized LED lights to add another level of imagination to the creations.

Ticket prices vary depending on day of visit, ranging from $9.99-$12.99 for children 11 and under, and $13.99-$19.99 for adults. Midway Ice Castles opening and operating dates are always weather dependent, so visit icecastles. com for additional information and to make reservations. Give your seasonal doldrums a kick in the pants with a few hours where ice is particularly nice. (Scott Renshaw)

The circumstances of 2020 found a lot of people wanting to get out into the open air through outdoor activities. Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran to finding yourself on long walks, you’ll find something fascinating when author and longdistance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis makes a virtual visit through the Park City Library on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at noon as part of the library’s “Action Book Club” program.

Davis has become best know through her association with the Appalachian Trail, which she hiked to completion for the first time in 2005, and eventually in 2011 set the fastest known time (since broken) for hiking the Appalachian Trail. In addition, she has written guidebooks on hiking in the North Carolina area, and served as a board member for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Her achievements have brought her recognition as National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year and a featured spot in the IMAX documentary America’s Wild, as she

against bulldozers. Featuring interviews with Sleight himself, as well as fellow activists like Tim DeChristopher, the film also includes rare, never-before-seen footage of Glen Canyon as it was before the creation of Lake Powell You can join Utah Film Center’s livestream screening of The Unfinished Fight of Seldom Seen Sleight on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. at utahfilmcenter.org. Like all Utah Film Center events, it’s free, but your support of the organization’s activities is always welcome. Join in for a fascinating bit of Utah history, and a profile of an even more fascinating local character. (SR)

Utah Symphony: Mendelsohn’s “Scottish” Symphony

has completed long-distance hikes including the Pinhoti Trail, the Mountains to Sea Trail, Western Australia’s Bibbulmun Track, Iceland’s Laugavegur Trail and Spain’s G11—the latter two while in the later months of a pregnancy.

In her 2018 book The Pursuit of Endurance, Davis discusses the hows and whys behind her relationship with long-distance hiking, including training methods and lessons learned along her many trails. She brings that gift as a storyteller to her Zoom conversation this week, which will include both readings and tales of her journeys, and an opportunity for guests to ask questions. Visit ParkCityLibrary.org/calendar for link to the webinar. (SR)

Art finds inspiration in a wide variety of places— from elation to grief, from love to death. In the wake of one of the most challenging years most of us have faced in our lifetimes, it seems fitting for Utah Symphony to turn for its first virtual performance of 2021 to a pair of works with literal ruins as their inspiration, in a musical exploration of what comes next after things are destroyed.

The 70-minute program consists of two major works. Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen was created near the end of the composer’s life, in 1945, and is believed to have been inspired in part by the destruction of multiple symphony and opera houses during the bombing at the end of World War II, including the Munich Hoftheatre. A few days after completing Metamorphosen, Strauss wrote in his diary, “The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the 12-year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the

BRITANNICA

Jennifer Pharr Davis

What can turn an old-school conservative into a radical environmentalist? It might be watching the place where you grew up submerged under water, as happened to Ken Sleight when Glen Canyon was buried under the newly-created Lake Powell in the 1960s. The destruction of such a place of natural and archaeological beauty confounded him. As he observes in the trailer to the documentary The Unfinished Fight of Seldom Seen Sleight, “Would you flood the Sistine Chapel?”

Chris Simon and Susette Weisheit’s 45-minute documentary—an official selection of the Wild & Scenic Film Festival and DocUtah—explores the legend and the truth behind Ken Sleight, long-assumed to be the inspiration for the activist troublemaker Seldom Seen in his old friend Edward Abbey’s book The Monkey Wrench Gang. Capturing Sleight now in his 90s and still making good trouble, The Unfinished Fight of Seldom Seen Sleight looks at the circumstances that radicalized him into someone who would make himself into a human barricade

SAGELAND MEDIA

AJ MELLOR

There’s still a long, cold stretch of winter ahead as we blaze into this new year, and it’s going to be easy to start feeling house-bound.

Outdoor, family activities in the Utah winter are few and far between, but if you’ve never before taken the opportunity to experience the Midway Ice Castles, this tenth anniversary year might be the ideal time to bundle up the whole crew for a magical experience.

The concept was born when Utah resident and founder Brent Christensen built an ice cave for his daughter at their Alpine home, and the spot became a minor tourist attraction. In 2011, Christensen took that idea to Midway, and has since expanded it to additional locations in Colorado, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. Each ice castle is hand built by artists who grow thousands of icicles daily, harvest them and sculpt them into existing ice structures. The process takes two months to complete, resulting in a work

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

The Unfinished Fight of Seldom Seen Sleight

Midway Ice Castles

VIKING PRESS

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ESSENTIALS

the

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, JANUARY 7-13, 2021

greatest criminals, during which Germany’s 2,000 years of cultural evolution met its doom.”

The program closes with Felix Mendelsohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”), which was itself inspired by a visit to the Holyrood ruins in Scotland ca. 1829. Its triumphant feel evokes a sense of victory over devastation—an idea that we can all certainly get behind right now.

Israeli conductor Asher Fisch makes his Utah Symphony debut leading these two works, bringing to bear his expertise in the Romantic and post-Romantic eras in German composition. Availability begins Jan. 9 through Feb. 7 on a pay-what-you-can basis (minimum $20), at utahsymphony.org. (SR)

A&E

Stephanie Hock Skiing Joy

Start your year with a look at local artists celebrating skiing.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

ago—the California native turns out a wide variety of work that has found him representation in galleries from coast to coast, and even appearing in the cult classic film Donnie Darko. “And Exploration” (pictured) finds Kelly using a vintage image of a happy skier as the centerpiece for a recent piece.

Carole Wade: The Park City resident has turned the resort town into the stuff of much of her work, from the shops of Main Street to the all-seasons activities that draw so many visitors. Wade transitioned to painting from a successful career as a graphic designer, and her acrylic works evoke her adventurous spirit in their bold strokes and bright colors. Honors have included the Best in Show designation at the 2011 Park City Kimball Arts Festival, and juried shows in Cape Cod and Arizona. Her 2019 painting “Apres” (pictured) finds skiers in a moment of repose, an example of the wide range of experiences that can capture an artist’s fancy once folks are putting on—or taking off—their ski gear. CW

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A

s we head into the optimism of this new year, people are taking advantage of the opportunities they have to enjoy the things they love. For many in Utah, that includes getting out to local ski resorts—an activity that inspires not just the activity itself, but the imaginations of local artists.

Park City’s J Go Gallery features multiple works by artist who find inspiration in the entire ritual of skiing—rid-

ing a lift, taking that thrilling run, enjoying the aftermath.

Here’s a look at just a few of the individuals creating such work; visit jgogallery.com for more.

Stephanie Hock: Utah State University graduate Stephanie Hock took a little time to find her rhythm as a painter, according to her artist biography. Two years after graduation, Stephanie met her husband, who gave her three tubes of paint as a wedding present. He encouraged her to find her artistic voice, and through workshops and artist mentors, she finally did, and now shows in several galleries. Hock says, “I’m fascinated with how art tells the story of people. It continues to be a favorite theme in my work: watching individuals or groups of people unposed, living their lives.” “Skiing Joy” (pictured) is one of several works in which Hock uses the local ski culture as the background for that thematic exploration.

Jay Kelly: Collage artist Jay Kelly describes his work as similar to that of a DJ processing existing bits of music to create an entirely new song. Employing vintage torn paper coated in resin—a style he developed around a decade

Jay Kelly And Exploration

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Slope Art

Carole Wade Apres

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’ve seen plenty of new years come and go, and I think I’m like most people when it comes to approaching a new spin around the sun. I’ll make some goals, select some habits I’d like to improve and have a good month of self-improvement … before hopping right back into my comfy traditions of too much fried food and not enough exercise.

After the barrage of soul-crushing defeat that 2020 flung at us, however, I can’t remember a time when I’ve felt so motivated to be a force for good in the new year.

Don’t get me wrong, things are still bad.

Plague? Check. Racial injustice? Check.

Government indifference? Check. But after the psychological, emotional and physical damage that has been dealt to everyone, 2021 seems bedazzled with possibilities.

Before setting those lofty goals for selfimprovement and social responsibility, however, don’t forget to take some time to heal.

Right now, we’re all a bit raw and scraggly, and it’s not going to do any good to tear into 2021 half-cocked. Now is the time to think about all those little things you sacrificed in 2020—dining out with friends, reading

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Let’s (cautiously) let the healing begin

tion, and I plan on remedying that this year.

Since I can’t help but think about summer in the middle of winter, I’m hoping that come summertime I’ll be able to enjoy some downtown nightlife at Gracie’s Pub (graciesslc. com); their rooftop patio is an excellent place to ruminate on the metropolitan social scene over a plate of bacon jalapeño poppers and a Kentucky mule. It also happens to be within walking distance of Monkeywrench (instagram.com/monkeywrench_slc), which is a great chaser to a platter of pub food.

Of course, a new year on the local food beat means checking out the new and notable places along the Wasatch Front and beyond—and God willing, most of them will make it through the pandemic in one piece.

I’m particularly looking forward to checking out Bricks Corner (brickscornerslc.com) for Detroit style pan pizza, a thick-crusted variation on the world’s most perfect food that I have yet to experience. Let’s not forget the grand reopening of The Cotton Bottom (thecottonbottom.com)—it’s been far too long since I’ve had a good garlic burger, and I’m intrigued to see how the new management handles this local favorite. And I have yet to check out The Captain’s Boil (thecaptainsboil.com), O Crab Cajun Seafood (ocrabcajun.com) and Hook and Reel (hookreel.com) for some hot, steamy crab boil action.

While I’m on the subject of Utah’s current and future restaurant scene, here’s hoping that some of the people behind the great restaurants forced to close this year will come back swinging. They got a raw deal, and it was gut-wrenching to see places like Pallet, Cannella’s, Barrio and over 400 others forced to throw in the towel because we couldn’t get our shit together.

There will always be a scar, and 2021 may end up being a total fluke, but I hope that we as individual and communal lovers of our hospitality industry can let the healing begin sooner rather than later. CW

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Hi, 2021!

Please Don’t Suck

books in coffee shops, drinking cocktails at your favorite bar or club, just being able to physically interact with whatever community was your own—and visualize doing those things again. We’re still in the shit, but there is just enough light at the end of the tunnel to start planning your escape.

My eventual improvement plan includes taking my wife out for some fine-dining debauchery. We’ve set aside some cash and plan on blowing it on the chef’s tasting menu places like Mint Sushi (mintsushiutah.com) and the cioppino Toscano at Valter’s Osteria (valtersosteria.com). Hell, we might even get one of those tomahawk steaks from La Trattoria Di Francesco (latrattoriadifrancesco.com). We don’t typically go for the expensive stuff, but once we can have a date night or two that aren’t spiked with the looming threat of COVID-19, we’re not going to miss an opportunity to indulge just a tad.

I’m also in dire need of resocialization; I’ll take this opportunity to apologize to every grocery store clerk that got some mumbled, dead-eyed response from me when they asked if I wanted paper or plastic. To that end, I’m planning on spending more time practicing my pinball skills or playing through Metal Slug 3 at Quarters Arcade Bar (quartersslc.com). They’ve also been great at hosting events that cater to my geeky nature, so I’m planning on spending a bit more leisure time within this neon-drenched local haunt.

The same goes from the coffee shops that have hosted numerous lunch breaks with a book—I know the downtown location of Publik (publikcoffee.com) has closed due to the pandemic, but I desperately hope it reopens. Their seasonal drinks are always on point, and their ample seating meant I could find a spot to sit no matter how busy it was. I also haven’t spent enough time at Watchtower (watchtowerslc.com) since they moved to their new Main Street loca-

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

2 Row Brewing 6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com On Tap: Feelin’ Hazy

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com On Tap: Bougie Johnny’s

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

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com On Tap: Raspberry Sour

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com On Tap: GULB 2020

Squatters 147 W. Broadway, SLC Squatters.com

Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

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

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com On Tap: Fresh Brewed UPA

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com On Tap: Jacob’s Classic: West Coast IPA

Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com On Tap: Big Bad Baptist

Red Rock Brewing Multiple Locations RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Secale

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com On Tap: Red Ale

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com On Tap: Major Wit

Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com On Tap: Extra Pale Ale

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion

Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com On Tap: Rye Pilsner Hoppers Grill and Brewing 890 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale HoppersBrewPub.com

SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com On Tap: Apollo 18 NEIPA

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

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Barrel-Aged Lowrider

Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: Holiday Amber Ale

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Peach Cobbler

Strap Tank Brewery Multiple Locations StrapTankBrewery.com Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com On Tap: Dunkel Lager Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: Udder Chaos Chocolate Milk Stout Toasted Barrel Brewery 412 W. 600 North, SLC ToastedBarrelBrewery.com Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Mandarina Kolsch Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com Wasatch 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC WasatchBeers.com Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

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low and herbal in the mouthfeel, though the carbonation is just about spot on.

Overall: Talk about session material. The super-soft roastiness builds on the palate toward the end of the pint, but never stops being smooth, easy and balanced. You get just enough character to do justice to the color, yet not enough to belie the style’s name, a “Black Pils.” It’s nice to enjoy a lager with low hop flavor and bitterness.

Uinta - Two Tabs: This triple-dryhopped New England style IPA poured a round apricot-hued body with a thick and creamy white cap, peaking at about a half inch high—good head retention and thick webs of lace instantly, with sheets down the glass below. Citrus hops are the biggest thing , with both the bittersweet and the fruity aspect of oranges and grapefruit.

Hints of floral and pine hops emerge, as well as a bit of stone fruit. Mango comes to mind later, with hints of cracker and bready grains.

Hops run the show again with a moderate strength. Oranges, mango, grapefruit and apricot come first, followed by floral, pine, herbal and dank hints. The malts bring whispers of cereal, bread and cracker, with a medium overall sweetness bringing on some of that candied orange peel. A silky and smooth light-medium body with a high level of carbonation, it offers creamy softness on the palate, then ends with a zesty citrus oil bitterness lingering on the taste buds.

Overall: This NEIPA plays it kind of down the middle for the style. This is an IPA with citrus and hints of floral, pine and stone fruit from the hops, with a medium sweetness and some malt influence, clean and balanced. Only an effete snob would poopoo the generous hop bill that’s at play here.

Two Tabs is part of “small batch limited release” series. The 7.3 percent alcohol means you won’t be seeing it at grocery stores; better off looking at a pub or better yet, Uinta Brewing Co. Though Thunder Mountain’s 5.0 percent ABV puts it in the grocery store’s alcohol range, this is a seasonal release that will last a few weeks in Proper’s 16-ounce cans that can be found at their SLC brewery. As always, cheers! CW

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I

think it’s safe to say that 2020 has left most of us with a bad taste in our mouths.

Between earthquakes, hurricane force winds, wildfires, elections and something called COVID-19, a good cleanse seems to be in order. I don’t think it was done with any conscious purpose, but it seems as if craft breweries are looking to disassociate themselves with notions of the past, and concentrate more on the positive vibes that hopefully await us in the coming months and years. This week’s beers are part of a fresh beginning—no game changers here, but you can tell the perspectives coming from these individual breweries are pointing towards a hard reset in tone and taste.

Proper - Thunder Mountain: To start us off, we have a beer that was designed to be to style, and the crew at Proper has succeeded quite well. It looks black at first glance, but closer introspection shows a perfectly transparent deeper-than-deep red, spot on for the style. Medium cocoacolored head is retained well, leaving occasional lace inside my pilsner-style glassware. Aromas starts off slightly nutty, with light cocoa shavings over a smooth, bready core. The result is light in effect, but shining enough with the scents of what may be carafa malts.

The taste is beyond smooth, drinking at first like a line-drive moving fast to that signature Schwarzbier light roasted flavor.

It opens to even more smooth lager malt with nutty, dirty and cocoa accents, but always centered on drinkability. There may be a smidgen of caramel, but for the most part, it’s just a barely-black lager. Hops are

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NBA-Approved Restaurants

ESPN recently announced a list of NBA-approved restaurants in each state, and only three places made the cut for Utah. Red Iguana, Valter’s Osteria and Manoli’s are officially sanctioned by the National Basketball Association for use by basketball players visiting the state. According to NBA guidelines, approved restaurants must have an outdoor space or private room that doesn’t share air space with the rest of the restaurant, secure exits and entrances for players and servers that wear face masks. The NBA guidelines seem pretty straightforward, so I’m surprised more places didn’t end up on the list—but, if you want to get a chance peek at some NBA ballers, try hitting up one of these places on game day.

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Rio Grande Café Moves

Though the Rio Grande Café was forced to close due to damage sustained during the March earthquake, the team recently set up shop near the University of Utah. The new location (258 S. 1300 East) occupies the space that used to be Porcupine Pub and Grille, Rio Grande’s sister restaurant. It’s bittersweet news to be sure; we’re glad that The Rio Grande Café, which has been in operation since 1981, has a new home, but it’s also tough to see Porcupine close down. Diners can expect the same tasty menu of Mexican favorites in the new location, and it’s a welcome addition to the U of U area.

Toro Ramen Opens

The Fort Union area in Midvale recently welcomed Toro Ramen (7194 S. Union Park Avenue, Ste. A, 801996-3365, facebook.com/Toro-Ramen) to its everexpanding ranks. Their selection of ramen looks to be traditional—chashu pork with tonkotsu, miso and shoyu broths are on the menu in spades. I’m personally excited about the appetizer menu, which includes staples like gyoza, steamed buns and karaage with slightly more unusual fare like takoyaki which are spherical, deepfried bites of octopus goodness. Toro Ramen is also sporting a dessert menu that is cheesecake exclusive— looks like there are green tea, mango and strawberry cheesecakes for diners to choose from. Sounds perfect after a big bowl of spicy karai ramen.

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GOODEATS Complete listings at cityweekly.net Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom-and-pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves.

King Buffet Here’s a buffet whose sheer dedication to variety makes it feel like a transplant from the Vegas Strip. Diners can sample more than 200 items that range from Chinese to Mongolian to sushi. This is the type of restaurant that challenges diners to try everything, making repeat visits easy to justify. It can get pretty packed during the weekend, Disneyland-worthy lines and all, but for those with a serious craving for the lovely, golden brown, sweet-and-sour Chinese food that calls America home, it’s tough to find a place with a heartier selection. It truly is the happiest place in Taylorsville. 5668 S. Redwood Road, Taylorsville, 801-969-6666

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Celebrat i

Brewvies When you combine beer and movies in one convenient downtown SLC location, you get Brewvies Cinema Pub. What’s not to love about kicking back with a flick, a frothy pint and some hearty bar grub? The theater offers showings of the latest blockbusters and independent films, plus a separate bar area lined with pool tables, video games and TVs. 677 S. 200 West, 801-3555500, brewvies.com

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Cliff Dining Pub The Cliff combines one of the sexiest city-view patios in our briny borough with Chef Rene Negron’s top-notch sushi menu. Gold stars go to the gracious west-facing patio with a badass heating system making it a go-to for a romantic sunset sushi date during all but the snowiest months. Even better? A full bar, fabulous wine list and live music on weekends. 12234 Draper Gate Drive, 801-523-2053, cliffdiningpub.com

Apollo Burger The local chain opened its first location on Salt Lake City’s North Temple back in 1984. Since then, the chain has grown to include a dozen locations around the state and as far away as St. George. Of course, the classic Apollo burger is the main draw here. But there’s much more to experience than just the burgers, like the Philly cheesesteak, barbecue beef, Reuben, Greek gyro, chicken souvlaki, corn dog, tuna melt and more. Or, if you’re on a health kick, get one of their hearty salads. Oh, and you’ll definitely want to order the baklava for dessert.

Multiple locations, apolloburgersonline.com

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MUSIC KARAOKE

More notes from the SLC music scene on 2020 (and 2021).

FRIDAYS

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DJ FRESH(NESS)

BY ERIN MOORE music@cityweekly.net @errrands_

W

ith 2020 behind us and 2021 now here, there’s still a lot of reflecting going on in our music community.

Read on for a few thoughts from a few more of its members below.

I used to be one of the main bookers for S&S, and I’d usually attend around three shows a week. Since we had to shut down, I spent a lot of time trying to find new, safe ways for people to see live music. We did bike concerts, parking lot shows, and more—all totally new live music scenarios for us. Unfortunately, I was furloughed, so I’m not booking anymore. It sucks feeling disconnected from a community I was so active in, but I know things will start up again, and I hope I can be a part of that.

What did you miss most in 2020?

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Obviously, I’ve missed live music, but I’ve also really missed the people I run into when seeing live music. I’ve made so many friends from going to shows, and this made me realize how incredibly valuable those relationships are for me. Going to a local show at Urban Lounge, then walking to Twilite for Doom Lounge and seeing all your same friends—it always gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

Mike Fuchs, musician (Goldie & the Guise, Fuck Light Disco, Passive Tourist), freelance recording engineer How did 2020 change your relationship with music?

This year ... reaffirmed that I am in bands because I love the people in them. I love collaborating with them to help get the sounds out of their heads and into the speakers. I love spending time with them, and that is more important than whatever music we end up making. Being immunocompromised, everything I was writing and producing went on indefinite hold. It removed me from … making music as an object for consumption by an audience. It made me realize that as a gigging musician, I have allowed myself to be exploited by clubs, bookers and people that want the product of a music community without wanting to put the effort into maintaining one. It made me realize that I had allowed the idea of being a producer of a good to get in the way of why I play music in the first place. And this time away has allowed me to reconnect with making music for myself.

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I guess the world obviously felt different, and I wanted to take time to figure out how I should be different, too. Jason [Rabb] and I have been trying to adapt at the library with HUM-TV, and now maybe a HUM podcast or radio show. In a more personal way, [at] the beginning of the pandemic and through the summer I only felt I could work on small ideas. It felt wrong to write about music the way I used to. Or be a person to speak and take up noise when more important things needed the microphone. I did work on some things I’m proud of remotely.

I submitted music to an art show, had a dance score [featured in] a drive-in screening. So, learning again to be less precious with releasing or posting work. Always moving forward. “Now only.”

What are your plans for 2021?

I have two albums of songs for Ben and Sen I want to record and release. Maybe some ephemeral ways of streaming by shortwave radio in places or recommended locations to play things that I release. Safe collaborations, remote or otherwise.

WES JOHNSON

Ben Swisher, musician (Ben Swisher, Sen Wisher), music and art event organizer at SLCPL How did 2020 change your relationship with music?

HARDELL MEDIA

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Faye Barnhurst, former local booker at Sartain & Saunders How did this year change your relationship with music?

COURTESY PHOTO

WEDNESDAYS

New Year Reflections Pt. 2

ALLANAH BEAZLEY

JOHNNYSONSECOND.COM

Norbert Bueno, musician/producer and President at Social Antidote.

What do you anticipate for the New Year?

I’m excited to see new projects come to life. I know a lot of us musicians have been working on new content. It’ll be a long time before we can experience what we used to, but we’ll have a lot of new hybrid experiences, and that is what I’m excited and hopeful for.

Do you have plans for 2021?

I have a new project coming out called STAKX that I’m excited for. This project is a mix of everything I’ve done over the last 10 years, and is really true to myself.

Corey Fox, owner of Velour Live Music Gallery What positives did you find from 2020?

It was short-lived, but I’ll have to admit that when the shutdown first happened, it felt like the first time in 20-plus years that my mind was able to slow down and rest. I’ve run venues since 1997, so my mind is always thinking months in advance, piecing together the complicated booking puzzle. Although there has still been a lot of problemsolving to do, it has been nice to slow down and have time to look at the big picture.

What’s your dream show to go to after the pandemic is over?

I think I could really use an intimate Velour show with Book On Tape Worm and our friend Shayla Smith (of Flannel Graph) from Montana. Both are magical artists that tend to bring a good portion of the crowd to tears (in a good way). I think we could all use that after the last year. CW

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Fur Foxen

Fur Foxen Release Self-Titled Album

UTAH’S #1 GASTROPUB!

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To start the new year out right, SLC duo Fur Foxen are bringing their music to new life with a self-titled follow-up to their debut album The Death Of. But there’s no death here, only a slice of life. The duo of Steph Darland and Amber Pearson lean heavily into the “chamber” vibes between them on this newest, which released Jan. 1. Pearson’s cello sings in a homely, reedy tenor alongside Darland’s strong, steady leading vocals throughout the collection of meandering Americana tracks and modest ballads.

Though the album starts out with indie-golucky tracks like “Daniel,” for the most part Fur Foxen’s self-tag of “whisky-drenched” is more apt from song to song. The follow-up “Where you are” introduces warm, vintage guitar that suits the dual vocals of Darland and Pearson, voices that sound cobbled together in what is perhaps a purposeful production move. A lot of the album, in fact, sounds cobbled together—not in a bad, messy way, but rather in what feels like an intentionally disheveled way, which comes out sounding like intimacy. Fur Foxen indeed feels like a trusted, easy-drinking whisky, the kind that warms you up without scorching your throat, and is easy to share with friends. They even have a “Whisky Waltz,” which sways gently between melancholy and acceptance as Pearson and Darland harmonize about heartbreak. “Two. The Sea,” meanwhile, bobs along with all the burbling energy of a live set on a stage just a few feet above a clustered audience. “How I got to Memphis” is a stab at the classic country love story, a romance complete with electric organ. And while these and all the other songs on the album have heart thanks to Pearson and Darland, they have their flesh in part thanks to the contributions of guests Carson Wolfe, Todd Johnson and Nolan Noska. Americana and folk are enduringly classic, but Fur Foxen prove with this release

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that they have a confident take of their own that stands out in the crowd. Stream it on Spotify, and visit furfoxen.com to keep up with the duo.

Hive Live Presents Badfeather

The locals-only musical showcase is going strong into the New Year, with Soundwell hosting local funkadelic outfit Badfeather. A visit to the past is a welcome reprieve from 2020, and Badfeather’s take on glittery post-disco, funk and psychedelic rock will make sure that it’s a groovy way to usher in 2021, too. Though their last release was back in 2016 with the full-length album Signal Path, the songs on that album have held up since then, because Badfeather specializes in the never-ending jam (“Beautiful Heart of Darkness,” “Zero Full of Holes’’).

However, they also succeed on the neverending meander front, with country-aligned tracks like “Babbling Riverside Blues.” These, taken alongside the sensuality of classic rock tracks like “Moxia” or the ‘70s sensibilities of “Sweat,” or even the absolutely funkfueled “Flight Pattern” and “Brand New 2nd Hand Suit,” show that Badfeather has a firm grasp on all parts of the ’70s as an era that was rich in all rhythms, all blues and all other kinds of bombastic tunes. So if you also have a keen appreciation for all the genres mentioned here, trust Badfeather to fill your Thursday evening up with them.

Unlike other Hive Live events, Badfeather are the only band playing on Jan. 7, so buckle up for everything they have to offer. Like all events at Soundwell, Hive Live will be a limited-capacity event, welcoming groups of up to six who will be seated together and distanced from other groups. Masks are required of all attendees, along with all staff at the event. Doors are at 7:30 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.; tickets are $10 presale and $12 day of show. Head over to soundwellslc. com for more info and to purchase tickets.

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Marqueza

Marqueza Drops Surprise EP

Cool Banana

Sunfish and Courtney Lane at Kilby Court

Cool Banana Returns to the Urban Lounge

Just in time for a new year full of hope, Cool Banana is bringing the party back to one SLC stage with an upcoming performance at the Urban Lounge. If you’ve never seen the band—who used to be staples at the venue and elsewhere around town before the pandemic hit—you don’t know about their unforgettable hijinks. But you won’t forget them if you go to this show, which will find them treating the audience to an exclusive performance of themselves and themselves only—an exclusivity that will lend itself finely to Cool Banana’s penchant for executing playful intermissions between songs. Led by the creative—and wily—forces of a few local musical powerhouses by way the elusive local animator VHS Vic, Josh Brown (of 90s TV) and Jeremy Devine (of an unaccountably large number of local bands), Cool Banana offers shows that always feel more like a variety show than a musical set. Their signature synthesis of garage rock and jazzy piano makes them unique in the lineup of Utah bands, and whether those are your favorites kinds of music or not, Cool Banana knows how to charm an audience into their whimsical realm—usually with the help of campy props like their collection of plush toys, blankies, costumes, masks and basically anything else goofy, childish and fun. What better kind of break do we need from the most serious of years than a set like this one? Stop into the Urban Lounge on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. for the show, which is only $10. As with all indoor Urban Lounge shows in the past year, shows in the new year still include social distancing between groups, required masks and social distancing when away from one’s table and credit card transactions only. Find tickets, more info and other future show listings for January at sartainandsaunders.com.

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Of the many up and coming bands in SLC, Sunfish feel like one with a lot to offer once they figure themselves out. The super-youthful four-piece spent the bulk of 2020 putting out singles, from the slow-building melodrama of their latest (“The World’s So Small”) to the pure rock ‘n’ roll energy of “New Mistake” and “Whatever”—tracks that threaten to spin out of control, though they don’t quite. This is all a departure from their attempt at being a jam rock band with their 2019 EP Learning To Swim, and so any firm concept of what a live set from Sunfish could be like is an elusive one. However, the four boys have spunk, and will be well worth seeing when they take the stage at Kilby Court with fellow local Courtney Lane, who’s been on the show circuit for longer, so has surer potential to be a stunner. Lane’s voice and preferred piano are all soul, but 2020 singles like “Shadow Puppets” lend a ghostly moodiness to Lane’s style that could perhaps be described as gothic soul.

Lane’s stage presence mirrors their musical style—with dramatic makeup, starkly pale hair and intimidating black outfits, Lane displays as all thorns even as their music reveals a fragile and soft vulnerability. Like the boys in Sunfish, Lane is a young member of the scene, with a lot to offer, and perhaps will play a role in what SLC music looks like in the coming years as their talent (and powerful voice) grows. Head over to Kilby Court on Friday, Jan. 8, where doors will be at 6 p.m. and tickets are $15. As is now the norm, all showgoers and performers must remain masked from the time they enter the show until they leave, and only six groups per show are allowed, with up to four people per group. Visit sartainandsaunders.com for tickets and more info.

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Fans of one of SLC’s finest pop players were probably excited when, just after Christmas, Marqueza suddenly released the EP White Elephant. At just three songs in length, the release features a surprising rock bent that really suits Marqueza’s dramatic vocals, but which departs starkly from the way Marqueza usually does things—vocalizing over dreamy, synth- and beat-driven music, like they did on their 2020 release Salty. But before you go thinking that Marqueza is abandoning electronic music for rock ‘n’ roll, know that this “new” release is actually an old one. Before Marqueza became a synth maestro, they were in a rock band, just as so many young musicians are before finding their own way.

Throughout high school and college, Marqueza worked with band members Jeff Andrus, Sean Roylance and Spencer Rich on the recordings that have now been released as White Elephant. Says Marqueza about the album’s origins, “I only recently stumbled upon them again and realized that these were the beginning of my songwriting, so I got the support of the old band and put them out under my name. This is baby Marina when I started in rock!”

The songs on the album don’t sound too far off from the quality of work Marqueza’s crafted as an adult musician, and songs like the middle track “Underwater” especially stand out as well-paced and balanced, from the instrumentation to Marqueza’s voice, which always has a distinct flair. Would Marqueza ever revisit this style again? The answer is a definite yes, but, they also note, “I think my main thing is that every genre I’ve ever experimented in affects and influences my current sound. So even though I don’t necessarily make rock these days, it definitely comes out when I’m making certain beats, or especially when I’m performing. I’m not totally bent on anything, I feel very genre-fluid and always experimenting!” While different from the music Marqueza makes now, White Elephant is still Marqueza all over. Listen for yourself on Spotify or buy at marqueza.bandcamp.com.

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FILM REVIEW

CINEMA

A Change is Gonna Come

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

W

ho gets to be called a real activist? It’s one of the questions that has pulled at the seams of progressive movements as far back as you can imagine, and certainly has challenged fragile alliances even in the present day. There are those who want to push hard, and those who want to push gently, and the tension between “militants” and “compromisers” sometimes feels nastier than the tension between progressives and conservatives.

Kemp Powers’ play One Night in Miami… uses a favorite theatrical premise—speculating on what happened during an actual historical meeting between famous figures—to dig into that question with respect for multiple possible answers. And while director Regina King doesn’t always nail her attempt to make it feel like more than a filmed play, the terrific cast gives the passionate arguments enough of a spark to make it solidly intriguing.

The gathering at its center takes place in Miami in February 1964, in the aftermath of young Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) winning his first heavyweight title. Clay is on the verge of joining the Nation of Islam and becoming Muhammad Ali, guided by his spiritual advisor Malcom X (Kingsley BenAdir), and the two men celebrate in a local hotel with two friends who have also come for the event: football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and singer Sam Cooke (Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr.).

Prologue material for each man sets the stage for where they find themselves as they gather, and it’s here that King tries to establish some energy before events get mostly locked into one location. We get to see Cooke performing

AMAZON PRIME

A meeting of four famous men digs into the nuances of activism in One Night in Miami…

for a disinterested-bordering-on-hostile, mostly white crowd at the Copacabana, Clay showboating in a warmup fight, Brown meeting with a casually racist fan (Beau Bridges) in his hometown and Malcolm expressing his growing disillusionment with the Nation of Islam leadership. All the context is fine, and clearly designed by Powers in his screenplay version to open up the narrative, but it’s always clear that the main event is going to be once all four characters are in the same room.

And the sparks do eventually fly after the preliminaries are out of the way, mostly stemming from Malcom’s desire for visible Black celebrities like Brown and Cooke use their public platform to be more vocal in support of civil rights goals. Powers’ text pokes around in a lot of uncomfortable corners, like the virtues of working within The System vs. trying to blow that system up, or even the idea that lighterskinned Blacks like Malcom might become more militant out of a kind of defensiveness. King stages most of these debates in simple shot-reverse-shot format—with a notable exception of depicting a flashback to a Sam Cooke performance that captured Malcolm’s imagination—allowing the actors to dig deep into their own motivations, as well as those they’re assuming in the others.

It’s a phenomenal quartet of performances, each bringing something different to the ensemble. Ben-Adir’s Malcom gets the front-and-center role as instigator, and the actor incorporates both a righteous sense of purpose and an uncertainty about his own next steps into the portrayal. Odom seethes through Cooke’s sense that Malcom’s accusing him of being an Uncle Tom, even as he wrestles with finding the right words for his own protest anthem.

Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Aldis Hodge in One Night in Miami…

Hodge’s low-key work as Brown might be the best of the bunch, finding a ferocious intelligence in the athlete who sees acting as the real avenue for changing perceptions.

And while Goree’s performance might be the least subtle of the bunch, his impersonation of Clay/Ali is so pitch-perfect that is immediately becomes the standard against which all others should be judged.

It is perhaps unavoidable that the second half of One Night in Miami… feels like a series of actorly monologues and back-and-forth debates, despite trying to mix up the locations by sending characters every once in a while to the roof of the hotel, or to a convenience store. Not every play works perfectly in a cinematic translation, and this one has its aesthetic bumps. Yet it’s a thought-provoking enough text that bringing it to a broader audience is its own justification, on top of providing such plum acting roles. There’s no easy answer to who gets to call themselves a real activist, but watching these characters ask the hard questions makes it fascinating to consider. CW

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BBB Kingsley Ben-Adir Aldis Hodge Leslie Odom Jr. R Available Jan. 8 in theaters, Jan. 15 via Amazon Prime

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.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a mystical symbol of the hidden structure of creation. At its heart, in the most pivotal position, is the principle of beauty. This suggests that the wise teachers who gave us the tree did not regard beauty as merely a luxury to be sought only when all practical business is taken care of. Nor is it a peripheral concern for those who pursue a spiritual path.

Rather, beauty is essential for our health and intelligence. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to take a cue from the Tree of Life. During the next 12 months, give special attention to people and things and experiences and thoughts TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Taurus actor George Clooney is worth $500 million. Yet his and feelings that are beautiful to you. Meditate on how to nurdazzling opulence is puny compared to that of Taurus entrepre- ture them and learn from them and draw inspiration from them. neur Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune exceeds $100 billion.

It’s my duty to inform you that you will probably never achieve SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) either man’s levels of wealth. Yet I do hold out hope that in the According to motivational speaker Les Brown, the problem for next 12 months, you will launch plans that ultimately enable many is not that “they aim too high and miss,” but that “they aim you to have all the money you need. 2021 will be a favorable too low and hit.” I’m conveying this to you just in time for the Reach time to formulate and set in motion a dynamic master plan for Higher Phase of your long-term astrological cycle. According to my analysis, you’ll generate good fortune for yourself if you refine financial stability. and expand your personal goals. Here’s a key detail: Don’t borrow anyone else’s standards of success. Home in on your own unique GEMINI (May 21-June 20) One of your main themes for the next 12 months comes from soul’s code, and give it fuller, deeper, wilder expression.

Leonardo da Vinci. He wrote, “To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Learn how to SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” If you One of my primary pleasures in reading books is to discover use da Vinci’s instructions as a seed for your meditations, you’ll thoughts and feelings I have never before encountered. That’s stir up further inspirations about how to make 2021 a history- exciting! But it’s hard to force myself to keep plowing through an making epoch in the evolution of your education. I hope you will author’s prose if it’s full of stuff that I already know about from treasure the value of “learning how to see” and “realizing how my own life or from books, movies and other art. Russian author everything connects to everything else.” They should be at the Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels fit the latter description. I realize that many people love his fiction, but for me, it is monumentally obviroot of your intention to learn as much as you can. ous and boring. What about you, Sagittarius? Where do you go to be exposed to thrilling new ways of looking at the world? Judging CANCER (June 21-July 22) An extensive study by psychiatric researchers suggests that well from the astrological omens, I conclude that this quest will be more than half of us experienced a potentially disabling trauma especially fun and crucial for you in the coming months. in childhood. You’re in the minority if you didn’t! That’s the bad news. The good news is that 2021 will be a time when you CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Cancerians will have more power than ever before to heal at least “I only want people around me who can do the impossible,” said some of the wounds from your old traumas. You will also attract Capricorn businesswoman Elizabeth Arden. In that spirit, accordextra luck and help to accomplish these subtle miracles. To get ing to your astrological potentials, I hereby authorize you to pursue the process started, make a list of three practical actions you can two “impossible” goals in 2021. The first comes to you courtesy of fashion writer Diana Vreeland, who wrote, “There’s only one take to instigate your vigorous healing. thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration.” Your second “impossible” goal is from actor Juliette Binoche, who said, LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Leo author Isabel Allende says, “We are in the world to search “My only ambition is to be true every moment I am living.” for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each love that ends we collect a new AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) wound. I am covered with proud scars.” I appreciate Allende’s Your past is becoming increasingly irrelevant, while your future point of view, and understand that it’s useful, even inspirational, is still a bit amorphous. To help clarify the possibilities you could for many people. But my path has been different. As a young harvest in 2021, I suggest suspending theories about what your man, I enjoyed my endless quest for sex and romance. It was life is about. Empty yourself out as much as you can. Pledge to thrilling to keep leaping from affair to affair. But as I eventu- reevaluate everything you think you know about your purpose. ally discovered, that habit made me stupid and superficial about Then, meditate on the following questions: 1. What experilove. It prevented me from having to do the hard psychological ences do you truly need and passionately long for—not the work necessary to continually reinvent intimacy—and become experiences you needed and longed for in the past, but rather eligible for deeper, more interesting versions of love. I bring those that are most vivid and moving right now. 2. What are the this to your attention, Leo, because I think 2021 could be your differences between your fearful fantasies and your accurate time for a personal rebirth that will be made possible by deep, intuitions? How can you cultivate the latter and downplay the former? 3. What are your nightly dreams and semi-conscious interesting versions of love. fantasies telling you about how to create the most interesting version of the future?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Occultist Israel Regardie (1907-1985) was an accomplished author and influencer. To what did he attribute his success? I’ll PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) let him speak for himself: “Nothing in the world can take the Author Gunter Grass wrote, “Writers know that sometimes place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common things are there in the drawer for decades before they finally than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unre- come out, and we are capable of writing about them.” I would warded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world universalize his thought in this way: Most of us know that posis full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination sibly useful ideas and dreams are in the drawer for years before alone are omnipotent.” I hope you will write out this quote and they finally come out and we know how to use them. I believe this tape it to your bathroom mirror for the duration of 2021, Virgo. will be an ongoing experience for you in 2021, Pisces.

NEED MORE SPACE?

ARIES (March 21-April 19) The pandemic has made it challenging to nurture our communities. In order to make new connections and keep our existing connections vibrant, we’ve had to be extra resourceful. I hope you will make this work one of your holy quests in 2021, Aries.

In my astrological opinion, you should be ingenious and tireless as you nurture your web of allies. Your assignment during our ongoing crisis is to lead the way as you show us all how to ply the art of high-minded networking.

Paula Metos Saltas | Realtor | 801.573.6811 | Paula@ChapmanRichards.com ®

Happy New Year Thank you for your business!

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URBAN L I V I N

G

WITH BABS DELAY Historic Landmarks Commission member and Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

2021 Outlook

‌1‌ 3.Light beige ‌‌14.Pillow cover ‌‌22.Back muscle, for short ‌‌One-eighty 23. ‌‌26.“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” duo ‌27.“I could ____ horse!” ‌‌28.Diana with a record-setting swim around Manhattan in 1975 ‌‌29.Manhattan, por ejemplo ‌‌30.Attachment to a fishing rod ‌31.Epic ____ ‌‌32.Lab noise? ‌‌33.Utah resort town ‌‌Passion 34. ‌‌35.British city after which the Big Apple is named ‌‌40.Change the color of again ‌‌41.“Do or do not. There ____ try”: Yoda ‌43. ‌Observer ‌‌44.Unit of bacon ‌‌46.Egyptian ____ (spotted cat breed) ‌47.NBA official ‌‌50.One may have ‘50s decor ‌51.Old enough ‌‌52.Lightbulb units ‌‌53.They’re often under fire ‌‌54.Part of TNT

‌‌55.Lake in the Sierra Nevada range ‌‌56.See 58-Across ‌57.Goes to great heights ‌‌58.Bubble-blowing tool ‌‌61.Banks on a runway ‌‌____-Mart 63. ‌64.“There ____ God!” ‌‌65.Make public ‌‌66.Emmitt Smith’s 175, for short

Last week’s answers

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

DOWN ‌1.Bay Area research sch. ‌‌2.Sweet companion? ‌‌3.“Waiter, there’s a fly ____ soup!” ‌‌4.Dietary restriction ‌‌5.Staples of annual reports ‌‌6.Gathering of lei people? ‌7.Mideast leader ‌‌8.Years in the Roman Empire ‌‌9.Hoda of “Today” ‌‌10.“Be with you soon” ‌11.Less specific ‌‌12.Take ____ the chin

FRIES

BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK

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

ACROSS ‌1.Taking advantage of ‌‌6.Plumbing problem ‌10.Northeastern octet ‌‌15.McGregor with the Twitter handle @ TheNotoriousMMA ‌‌16.“... on second thought, pass” ‌17.“As I’d’ve expected!” ‌18. ____ cum laude ‌19.“You ____ kiddin’!” ‌‌20.Prefix with phobia ‌‌21.Motto that translates to “Out of many, the actress who played Punky Brewster”? ‌‌24.“I figured it out!” ‌‌25.Wide shoe spec ‌‌26.Made tons and tons of food in a wok? ‌‌36.Scarecrow material ‌37.12-time NFL Pro Bowler Junior ‌‌38.“Seinfeld” uncle ‌‌39.Company that launched Pong ‌‌42.1970s heartthrob Garrett ‌‌43.Spanish 101 verb ‌‌45.Leaned on kids to spill the beans? ‌48.Junk ____ ‌‌49.Suffix with market or musket ‌‌50.With 63-Across, a fast-food employee’s classic query ... or this puzzle’s theme ‌‌58.Portia de Rossi, to 56-Down ‌‌59.Home of 60% of the world’s people ‌‌60.Screenplay structure ‌‌62.Gasteyer of “Mean Girls” ‌‌63.See 50-Across ‌67.Put (down) ‌‌68.Below zero: Abbr. ‌‌69.Something that may be found in a belt ‌‌Flub 70. ‌‌71.Dr. with Grammys ‌‌72.Cowboys, at times ‌‌73.Org. concerned with cyber threats

© 2021

SUDOKU

| COMMUNITY | | CITYWEEKLY.NET |

30 | JANUARY 7, 2021

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

The No. 1 question people ask me about real estate is: Will housing prices go up or down in 2021? Followed by: Should we buy or sell?

To me, the answers are easy. During the past 10 years, Utah has had more growth per capita than any other state. More folks are moving here than leaving, and even without a pandemic, we are low in inventory of rentals, affordable housing, condos, homes, multiplexes and mansions. Add on COVID-19 with people wanting (or being encouraged) to stay home, it makes for fewer properties available for purchase.

Real estate agents sold more homes in Utah than in 2019—and sold them for more money, too. Our National Association of Realtors has us at 10% over 2019 in Summit, Wasatch and Cache counties—up over 50% from the previous year.

On Dec. 31, 2020, I was still frantically trying to find a home for some buyers in their price range. Just for shits ’n’ giggles, I pulled up all residential properties for sale in Salt Lake County (homes, townhomes, condos, twin homes and mobile homes) in any price range. In recent years, there would have been a few thousand homes for sale at the end of the year. There were 634 homes for sale—total.

To put that number in perspective, certainly there are more than 634 people/families looking for a place to buy as a home or investment right now, and there are almost 10,000 Salt Lake Board of Realtors members trying to help them. Now you understand why homes are flying off the market with multiple offers within hours or a few days!

Not only is it extremely tough for buyers to find a home right now, it’s equally challenging for real estate agents to make a living, too.

Since most members of the Board of Realtors are only part-timers, the fact is that 10% of members sell about 90% of the listings.

By the way, should you be thinking of changing careers to become a real estate agent, let me lay some facts on you. First, real-estate school costs around $600 for the required 120 hours of classes need to take the state test. Once you pass the test, it’s a few hundred bucks to get your license from the state, and twice that to join the Board of Realtors, and another $50 or so each month for MLS fees. Then, you’ll need cards, an ad budget and key boxes. Some brokerages might offer to pay much of the costs if you sign away your soul to work for them for a period of time until you pay the man off.

Bottom line: Prices on all properties are going to go up in 2021. I’m being conservative and predict a 10% jump in values in the next 12 months. Don’t stop looking because you think the market will loosen up—it won’t! CW Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff.

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Best of 2020

S NEofW the

Coping Seattle dad and self-described travel enthusiast Steve Simao attracted a following after his daughter, Annisa, called him out on her TikTok account for his purchase of a pair of first-class leather seats taken from a Delta MD90 Jetliner, complete with an air safety card. Simao, who is vice president of sales at Windstar Cruises, found the seats on eBay in November, reported The Washington Post, and has had fun scratching his itch to travel with them ever since, sending his daughter videos of her mother “bringing food to the (tray) table and him just sitting there enjoying it,” Annisa said. Delta CEO Ed Bastian has taken notice and given the three Simaos round-trip, first-class tickets to anywhere in the United States. Hawaii is high on their list.

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

Pairs With a Nice Chianti The Design Museum in London has included a “DIY meal kit” featuring steaks that could be grown from a diner’s own human cells among the nominees in its Beazley Designs of the Year exhibit. Developers of the Ouroboros Steak envision that an individual will be able to harvest cells from their own cheek and feed them with serum derived from donated blood that has expired, Dezeen reported. After about three months, the steaks would be fully grown. “People think that eating oneself is cannibalism, which technically this is not,” said Grace Knight, one of the designers.

Researcher Orkan Telhan added, “Our design is scientifically and economically feasible but also ironic in many ways,” he added.

WEIRD

Florida A woman who would not leave a St. Petersburg, Florida, Mobil gas station was arrested for trespassing on Oct. 14, The Smoking Gun reported. Melinda Lynn Guerrero, 33, was also charged with providing a false name to law enforcement after she repeatedly said her name was “My butt just farted.” Officers were familiar with Guerrero from a series of arrests over several years, and her last name is tattooed on her back. They noted she may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Revenge An unnamed man in Cairns, North Queensland, Australia, posted notices offering a $100 prize to the person able to best impersonate Chewbacca from Star Wars, but the contest turned out to be a hoax designed to harass the woman who dumped him. The posters listed the woman’s phone number and invited contestants to call and deliver their best Chewbacca roar. The woman, identified only as Jessica, told 9News: “I’m getting phone calls at really strange hours of the night. ... I thought it was quite funny, actually, a good joke.” However, she drew the line when the ex abandoned his car, without tires, in the driveway of her home, blocking her in. “The police ... are going to do something about it,” she said.

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Scheme Residents in the upscale neighborhoods of Woodway and Edmonds, Washington, have been visited recently by people carrying official-looking documents who knock on doors, tell homeowners they own the property and “they’re there to repossess the home and want the people to vacate the premises,” Edmonds police Sgt. Josh McClure told KIRO. The group identifies itself as Moorish Sovereign Citizens, McClure said, who “believe that they own all of the land between Alaska and Argentina.” So far, the people have cooperated with police and left after being told they are trespassing.

The Last Straw After four of his neighbors complained to police about “Lawnmower Man’s” loud and excessive use of his riding mower, Pasco County (Florida) Deputy Michael O’Donnell arrived at Robert Wayne Miller’s home on Dec. 24 to assess the situation.

But Miller, 57, wasn’t cooperating. When O’Donnell approached the property, which displayed “No Trespassing” signs, Miller revved the engine of the mower in response. Then O’Donnell tried to get him into the patrol car so he could issue a citation, but Miller refused. “I’ve had four people come out and tell me that they can’t take it anymore,” O’Donnell told Miller. Dwaine White, who lives across the street, told The Washington Post that the mower isn’t even capable of cutting grass. “He’ll run that tractor all night, and it echoes all over the neighborhood,” White said. Finally, Lawnmower Man went inside his home, where he was ultimately arrested for disturbing the peace and not complying with a law enforcement officer’s command. If convicted, he could spend 18 months in jail and pay a $1,500 fine.

Creepy Srinivas Gupta, a businessman in Koppal, India, and his wife, Madhavi, were building their dream home when she died in a tragic car crash in 2017. But in many ways, she is still with Gupta—especially now that he has installed a life-size wax statue of her in the home. Madhavi’s likeness is in a seated position, clothed in a pink sari and gold jewelry. “The planning for the house was all done by her and we couldn’t imagine entering this new house without her,” Anusha Gupta, one of the couple’s daughters, told CNN. At a housewarming party on Aug. 7, friends and relatives posed with Madhavi on a couch and posted photos to social media. The family says they will keep the statue in their courtyard: “She used to enjoy the outdoors,” Anusha said.

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com

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Must-See TV Police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, arrested Robert Lee Noye, 52, on Feb. 17 and charged him with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment after his victim told them Noye kidnapped her and forced her to watch the 1977 historical miniseries Roots“so she could better understand her racism,” The Gazette reported. He allegedly told her if she did not sit for the entire nine-hour series about slavery, he would “kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago.”

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A 2020 Metaphor An Amazon delivery driver in Nuthall, Nottingham, England, is out of a job after Sharon Smith, 53, discovered him defecating in her back garden in late July. Smith said she saw the man run toward her garden and went to investigate. “I asked what the heck he was doing,” Smith told Metro News, “and he just remained pooing whilst asking me what my problem was—the cheek of it.” The driver told police he wasn’t feeling well and was desperate, and he didn’t realize he was in a private garden. Smith agreed to not press charges as long as he cleaned up the mess and his employer was informed; Amazon promised a gift voucher as a goodwill gesture.

Babs De Lay

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Creme de la Weird Kazakh bodybuilder, actor and self-described “sexy maniac” Yuri Tolochko announced his marriage to his beloved, a sex doll named Margo, on Instagram on Nov. 25 and shared with his followers their wedding video, in which the joyous couple, wearing a tuxedo and a full-length wedding dress, exchange vows and welcome friends and loved ones to a reception after the ceremony, The Sun reported. The groom identifies himself as pansexual and able to fall in love with “a character, an image, a soul,” and said the two became engaged a year ago, after he rescued her from some unwanted attention in a nightclub. “Couples need to talk less and connect more,” Tolochko said. “Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation.”

Frontiers of Farming Cockroach farms are not new in China, where the bugs have long been used in Chinese medicine, but a new facility near the eastern city of Jinan is gaining attention as a way to deal with food waste while producing organic protein supplements for animal feeds.

In four industrial-size hangars, Australia’s ABC News reported, rows of shelves are filled with food waste collected from restaurants through an elaborate system of pipes. A moat filled with roach-eating fish surrounds each building to keep the roaches from escaping. “In total there are 1 billion cockroaches,” farm manager Yin Diansong said. “Every day, they can eat 50 tons of kitchen waste.” Said project director Li Yanrong, “If we can farm cockroaches on a large scale, we can provide protein that benefits the entire ecological cycle.”

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