City Weekly October 27, 2022

ANTECEDENTES LIMPIOS

UTAH'S

ByEricS.Peterson, Silvia Nuila and FrankRegalado

“World vs. Church,” Oct. 20 Opinion

In regards to the Oct. 20 Opinion piece by Keith Burns, I think there’s particular merit to Burns’ point that the recent speech by LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson could ex acerbate the divide between church members and nonmembers. I appreciated that writing.

But I find fault with the narrative that LDS members’ anti-intellectual agenda caused them to cease and desist wearing masks. I’d urge Burns and readers to think more criti cally upon The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat ter-day Saints First Presidency’s own remarks, those being:

“To limit exposure to these viruses, we urge the use of face masks in public meetings when ever social distancing is not possible. To pro vide personal protection from such severe in fections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated.

Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.”

That’s a bit of a far cry from anti-masking.

Lastly, the piece would do well to maintain a less biased tone. I support you if you’re in op position to the religion, but if you’re actually concerned about the dividing of members and nonmembers, start by making greater efforts to connect with the crowd you (seemingly) are at odds with.

There’s merit to the religion’s anti-world views. The human can make significant strides in personal development by ridding oneself of immediate gratification—something the LDS religion emphasizes heavily.

There’s good in the anti-worldly narrative. Highlight and address it to establish common ground.

ANTHONY FELLOWS Salt Lake City

Anti-Utah? Be Pro-Lee

For those unfortunate voters who wish to see the demise of Utah—and aren’t pinning their hopes on a su pervolcano eruption any time soon— Mike Lee’s inane ideas are the right ticket. I just wonder about those “charitable” Utahns (an oxymoron if there ever was one) who fail to see themselves as accessories to the mor bidity and mortality of diabetics, the elderly, asthmatic children, victims of mass shootings and immigrants seeking a better life (from which many Utahns themselves descend, oddly enough).

As to those who clothe themselves in some sort of supernatural version of the Constitution, I would advise them

to not only read it but also to read the Federalist Papers, as well as the writ ings of Thomas Jefferson (and, for that matter, any of the founding fathers).

STEVE IFSHIN Salt Lake City

Correction: The photo of Democratic Salt Lake County Council candidate Ashley Liewer that appeared in the Oct. 20 cover feature, “County Seats,” was sent to us in error. Liewer’s cor rect photo can be seen in the online version of the story at cityweekly.net.

Care to sound off on a feature in our pages or about a local concern? Write to comments@cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE BOX

How would your friends describe you?

Kelly Boyce

A nonstop, sarcastic, fun piece of shit. The perfect amount of slutty and grace with a cute little butt that he shows way too much.

Bill Frost

Loyal, generous, boyishly handsome, star of Ant-Man ... wait, that’s Paul Rudd. My friends would definitely rather hang out with Paul Rudd.

Scott Renshaw

They’d describe me as someone who is playing fast and loose with who should be called “friends.”

Carolyn Campbell

I think my friends would describe me as an eccentric foodie who loves to write articles and read mysteries.

Eric Granato

Most would say I am very caring, funny, loyal and weird.

Benjamin Wood

Difficult to get a hold of, overly obsessed with bicycles, good for the name of that one actor in that one movie, relatively capable of picking up large boxes.

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BY JOHN SALTAS @johnsaltas

Beast or Beauty

Ihaven’t even been home three weeks from the annual City Weekly Greece excursion, and I’m ready to go back.

I’ve felt that way before, longing to be on a perfectly blue sea beach instead of raking half-frozen leaves in my backyard.

This time, it’s a little bit different, though. For the month I was away, I never watched TV. That removed me from the daily local drone of quarrels between the reds and the blues, the lefts and the rights, the self-righteous and the soiled, the conservatives and the liberals, the dumb and the dumber.

I also never read any newspapers. That put me in the category of dumb and dumber right there, and I freely ad mit so. In that information vacuum, it became more clear why we are where we are today as a divided country and people—it’s a damned easy task to remain actively dumb while it’s a very hard job to become even passively smart.

I’m now convinced, dumb as I’ve become, that all the folks running around being dumb or dumber find it an easier path than actually studying a topic or believing that the USA isn’t the jacked-up mess that our politicians want us to believe it is.

In our dumb and dumber world, we allow ourselves to think the opposite of our true selves. We tend to now look in the mirror and not see gray hairs, missing hairs or hairs where they shouldn’t be—but instead we see the handsome Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He was so rock dumb, he didn’t know it, which enabled him to believe his own myth. And yeah, he was handsome—to some—but that only hid his other defects, like arrogance and manipulation.

The trouble with us now—so many of us actually choos

ing to be dumb and dumber—is that we have accepted arrogance and manipulation as positive traits when they are not. We let truth die as we honor liars. We regard com passion as weakness as we dishonor the honorably tough. We make excuses for every bad behavior. We choose our red and blue teams, fully believing the other team is the dumber, not the dumb.

In today’s economy of not really thinking about anything, we’ve blurred the lines of the playing field, which hardly matters when the rulebooks are meaningless as well. That’s left our populace cheering for persons they’d normally despise or becoming full-blown advocates for causes they did not once support. We not only don’t trust our institutions, we don’t trust each other.

It used to be a neighborly rule that if my neighbor need ed a wrench, I would provide it. If I needed gas for the lawn mower, he might provide that. In the wayback days or seasons—say, even five or 10 years ago—it was formerly common for a neighbor to deliver some cookies or accept a beer. Now, that only happens during zucchini harvest.

It’s become hard to know who among my neighbors are the ones who would like to “Mike Pence” me. Therefore, I wave and try to make small talk, but I’m leery about step ping on their lawns.

A few years ago, I drove to an old friend’s home and de livered him scads of tomatoes. Instead of it being seen as an opportunity to mix them with cucumbers, green pep pers, red onion, feta cheese and Kalamata olives, he took it as a signal of solidarity with him and his beliefs. Before I got home, I started getting messages about all kinds of weird conspiracies and generic finger pointing about who the bad guys are and what was going to happen to them.

But he was dumb and dumber long before me, and thus, he didn’t understand that he was pulling the trigger on his

old friend. Or maybe he was and didn’t care.

He’s not gotten my tomatoes since. The thing is, he doesn’t fly a F–k Biden flag or wear a Let’s Go, Brandon hat. It caught me off guard. I’ve never known him to act like a racist or anti-Semite. He’s never been politically active or for-or-against any front-page social causes like Choice or Equality. He doesn’t like the price of gas, and neither do I. We both have no clue what inflation, recession or deficit spending really are. We just think we do.

We used to have so much in common, but now our dif ferences define us along the simplest of lines. One team believes character and ethics matter and that any person found guilty of insurrection against our government should go to jail. The other team believes that voting for Joe Biden is a death-penalty offense and that anything that someone else has, was gotten illegally. It isn’t. We either do all we can to sustain democracy or succumb to the growing chorus be lieving that not only does democracy result in an inefficient and ineffective government, but that an authoritarian form of government—in some circles even returning to monar chical or theocratic rule—is what we must become.

If I weren’t so dumb and dumber these days, I’d ask my old friend that if authoritarianism is so hot, why did millions of people die resisting it in World War II? Or if monarchy rule is the endgame, then why does England have such crappy food? And why, since his team is so Islamophobic, can’t he credit Islamic theocracies for their ruling endurance?

There will be no answers until the day comes when he looks in the mirror and doesn’t see Gaston, but instead, the Beast. The Beast ultimately reformed and ascended to Beauty, just as the last rose petal fell. How many rose pet als do we have left? CW

Send comments to john@cityweekly.net.

HITS&MISSES BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

MISS: Playing Politics

You know the “progressives” are ruin ing America. That’s the message from Gov. Spencer Cox because he is so con cerned about San Francisco. Oh dear, Cotopaxi shut its retail store because of—wait for it—crime! “Utah company sadly learning what happens when pro gressive candidates and policies are left unchecked,” Cox tweeted. Indeed, there’s been lots of press about crime in San Francisco, especially with the recall election of its District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Voter frustration aside, there is more to the story. “In terms of violent crime, San Francisco does have lower rates than other popular cities in the USA,” the brokebackpacker.com reports. And LAP Progressive notes that the so-called “liberal media” has omitted talk of high crime in places like conservative Texas where gun homicides jumped 48% in two years. Meanwhile, Salt Lake City businesses are stung when Outdoor Retailers re act to conservative ideology around public lands in Utah. The retailers want to come back, but Patagonia, the North Face and REI don’t plan to participate.

MISS: Gone Baby Gondola

We will say it again and again—the choices for solving Little Cottonwood traffic are just plain bad, or in reality, a Hobson’s choice. Now Gov. Spencer Cox has come out saying he’s kind of leaning toward a gondola, according to the Deseret News. “Picture looking out a window from a cable car suspended high above Little Cottonwood Canyon, framed by the Wasatch Mountains. It glides along over 8 miles of cable, all the way toward the top of the canyon, with a stop first at Snowbird ski resort, then at Alta.” Well, doesn’t that sound lovely—and exciting? And expensive? And destructive? Yes, so far $50 million of taxpayer dollars has been put aside for the benefit of a couple of private ski resorts. There’s been no thought to reservations or timing traffic flow. Said Brad Rutledge of Wasatch Backcoun try Alliance: “We’re not trying to turn our wilderness, our mountains into an amusement park.” Or are we?

HIT: I Is Senator?

It was fun while it lasted. Sen. Mike Lee has been pushing for an endorsement from his junior colleague, Sen. Mitt Romney, who just can’t bring himself to fall behind a guy who tried to justify overturning the 2020 election. “Well, @SenMikeLee finally got the endorse ment of a U.S. Senator from Utah,” snarked a Tweet from the Lincoln Proj ect’s co-founder. He was referring to a Salt Lake Tribune Op-Ed that seemed to show Lee stumping for himself. Only af ter much mirth on social media did the Trib clarify that the glowing portrayal of the senator came from his cam paign—not from Lee, himself. “This is comical. The instate paper published an Op-Ed by Mike Lee endorsing him self in the third person? What?” said the founder of Talking Points Memo. It was in third person, but apparently not Lee talking about himself.

Tank Note

For the die-hard Utah Jazz fans out there like myself—who are already decked out head-to-toe in the god-awful, highlighter yellow rebrand color—we don’t need a reminder that the new NBA season is finally upon us.

But for all the non-fans that tend to refer to athletics as “sportsball,” here’s a primer to the upcoming season that should allow you to smoothly glide over basketball small talk with your co-workers without having to watch a second of the sport.

First off, gone are most of Utah’s former players. The French center Rudy Gobert got sent to Minnesota in a very favorable, onesided trade for the Jazz, whereas our shining young star Donovan Mitchell was sent pack ing to Cleveland.

Pretty much immediately after the block buster trades, signage depicting our former players, such as the giant Donovan Mitchell outside the University of Utah Orthopae dic Center (Foothill Drive and Wakara Way, above photo) started to come down.

However, nostalgic fans can still find some vestiges of the past, like the large mural of Mitchell that remains at The Gate way (100 South and Rio Grande Street) and a painted team collage on the north wall of Blue Gene’s (239 South and 500 East).

Why are the Jazz intentionally trading away all our star players to field a bad team this year? Two words: Victor Wembanyama. He’s a 7-foot-3-inch French prospect who can block shots as well as Gobert but can also shoot three pointers like Steph Curry and is slated to enter the NBA next season.

And in this wacky world of the NBA, in or der to better your chance of drafting Wem banyama next year, the worse of a team you need to be this year. This race-to-the-bot tom strategy by teams is often referred to as “tanking.” And tanking is what I commem orated with my annual Utah Jazz run this year, crisscrossing through the East Cen tral and Lower Avenues neighborhoods (below photo).

So “Tank Note” Jazz fans, and pray to the NBA draft gods that this year’s pain will be rewarded. CW

Leanne Morgan

Leanne Morgan never shied away from sharing the problems and perplexities of life as a stayat-home mom of three somewhat challenging children. Now, some 22 years after launching a career in comedy, her admiring audiences take her at her word. Her tumultuous tales have landed her prominent placement in Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival, and development deals for her own sitcoms with ABC, Warner Bros., TV Land and Sony Television. In the process, she’s garnered over 1.5 million fol lowers across social media, all in addition to the 50 million plus views on YouTube for “So Yummy,” her popular stand-up special.

Her degree in Child and Family Studies from the University of Tennessee may have helped on background, but she really got her start as a housewife who hosted home jewelry sales parties, but chose to talk instead about breastfeeding, hemorrhoids, Jell-O recipes and her kids’ calamities. Nevertheless, her employ ers were apparently impressed, and asked her to speak at their sales rallies. Leanne then heeded her audiences’ advice and ventured out into the comedy club circuit. That led to appearances on The View and

Nick at Nite’s Funniest Mom, and tours with a group called The Southern Fried Chicks. Her current 100-city jaunt is dubbed “The Big Panties Tour” for a reason: No one else could fill Leanne’s panties.

Live at the Eccles presents Leanne Morgan/ The Big Panty Tour Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Delta Performance Hall of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater (131 S. Main Street). Tickets cost $4.25 - $44.25; go to my.arttix.org. (Lee Zimmerman)

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Pygmalion Productions: Roe

It has been a dark year in 2022 for reproductive rights, with the Supreme Court decision nullifying Roe v. Wade—but it has also been a galvaniz ing one. And it has become a moment to reflect on the groundbreaking activists who fought for reproductive choice, learning about human stories that might have taken on the status of myth.

This week, Pygmalion Productions presents a one-afternoon-only staged-reading perfor mance of Roe, playwright Lisa Loomer’s 2019 theatrical exploration of two women at the heart of the landmark Supreme Court case— plaintiff Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”) and attorney Sarah Weddington—in the years fol lowing the decision, in a narrative that investi gates the complex history of abortion as a legal matter. It also cuts through rhetoric in a way that sheds light on the kind of passionate divi sions that have always been part of America.

The event showcases a cast of profes sional actors and community leaders, including Jeanette Puhich, Deena Marie Manzanares, Vicki Pugmire, Daisy Blake, Darby Mest, Andy Maizner, Tom Cowan and more. Proceeds from the show will go to support Planned Parenthood. Director Teresa

Sanderson says of the performance, “I feel an urgency. Like we need to to be shouting this from the rooftops. … I don’t think many people know this story. They think they do, but to hear it from each individual perspective is fas cinating and part of our history.”

Roe comes to the Rose Wagner Center Black Box Theatre (138 W. 300 South) on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at arttix.org. Visit pygmalionproductions.org for additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

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The Price is Right Live!

The Price Is Right has proved to be right for audiences for more than 60 years. Television’s longest-running game show, it’s outlasted changes in trends, tastes and entertainment evolution. After making its bow on NBC in 1956, it became the first game show to be broadcast in color. When it debuted with an interactive format on CBS in 1972, it began choosing contestants from its audience members, who eagerly await the invitation to “come on down” and compete on Contestants’ Row. Once there, they guess the price of priz es, ranging from appliances and home furnish ings to vacations, and maybe even a new car! (That’s our announcer’s voice there.) Spin-off games including Plinko, Cliffhangers, The Big Wheel and, of course, the fabulous Showcase drive players to near delirium while hoping to win those prize packages.

Over the past 14 years, a touring, nontelevised version of the show has taken it to America’s hometowns, allowing local folks to gobble up those goodies to the tune of over $12 million in cash and prizes. While buy ing a ticket doesn’t increase the odds of being selected, one can sign up to be a

contestant by arriving at the registration area three hours prior to showtime. What better reason to get up, than to “come on down!”

The Price Is Right Live! Visits the Delta Performance Hall in the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater (131 S. Main Street) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 Tickets cost $25 - $55; go to my.arttix.org. NOTE: Contestants must be 18 years or older. (LZ)

ADAM GRIMM

Putting It Together, Together

Songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally on the teamwork of creating Shucked!

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

At first, the interviews with songwrit ers Brandy Clark and Shane McA nally were scheduled individually. When various nuisances got in the way— car trouble in one case, technical difficul ties in another—it worked out best to speak with them jointly. And it’s hard to imagine that for these two creative partners, there was any better way.

Clark and McAnally have collaborated for years, most recently on the new musical Shucked , which gets its pre-Broadway pre miere at Pioneer Theatre Company before a planned New York run. The comedic tale set in rural America is an ideal setting for the two veteran country music hit-makers, who previously collaborated on a musical based on the vintage cornpone-comedy TV series Hee Haw. While each has been a suc cessful composer and lyricist in their own right, they form a musical songwriting team that works a little differently than the traditional model of dedicated lyricist and dedicated composer.

“Shane has always said it best. We see

the world the same,” Clark says. “We like what each other does, and we like it enough that we can say what we don’t like. We fin ish each other’s sentences, lyrically and musically.”

One of the key components to their part nership that both songwriters agree on is that having an external perspective from a trusted collaborator can help you out of that place where you start to feel that ev erything you’re doing is repetitive. “We know our own tricks,” McAnally says. “In my head it will feel like something doesn’t work. But Brandy will say, ‘No, that’s it.’”

Similarly, Clark adds, “I don’t always trust myself musically because I’m tired of myself. Shane gets it; I can cheat myself out of great things. When I do it front of him, I think, ‘Eh,’ and he’ll say, ‘I really feel some thing.’”

For Shucked , the third leg of their collab orative stool is Tony Award-winning writer Robert Horn (Tootsie), with whom they also worked on Moonshine: The Hee Haw Musi cal . According to McAnally, their working relationship has also evolved to a different level of trust in one another. “We started out years ago where Robert had an outline and said, ‘This is where songs should go,” he says. “As the years went on, we realized our greatest strength as a team was that we all speak the same language. He writes in the same cadence that Brandy and I write songs. So we’ve found a lot of advantages to all sitting together at the origin of a song.”

“Robert is a very generous collaborator,” Clark adds. “When we hear a line in his text that we think could be a great song, he’ll be the first to say, ‘Go ahead and take it’— which happened in Shucked where he had a line, ‘independently owned and operated,’ and that’s a song now.”

The experience of working on a musical previously taught them about the form, but it also taught them a lot about how they shouldn’t change their own songwriting to fit the Broadway mold. “In the beginning, I

think we thought we needed to be different kinds of songwriters for this,” Clark says. “We’ve tried to write ‘musical songs,’ and it doesn’t work.”

“The reason we were hired to write this,” McAnally say, “was because of what we do.”

Still, there are unique components to crafting songs for a theatrical presenta tion. McAnally notes that it’s a unique ex perience to hear the songs for the first time with full orchestration; “it always knocks the wind out of me,” he says. And Clark observes that the “team sport” nature of a theatrical production leads to a tremen dous respect for what the individual ac tors can bring to the interpretation of the songs.

In the case of this production of Shucked , too, there’s the reality that the “out-oftown” tryout is a chance to observe the work in its full up-and-running form, learning from crowd response whether the desired response is coming in the right places, or even if additional songs might need to be added to flesh out the story. “Once you let the audience in, that’s where you see what you have,” Clark notes.

“We get to see an audience reaction to what’s on the page,” McAnally says. “But it’s different when things are moving than

when it’s just someone reading [in a work shop form]. It’s a little scary to think about distracting from what’s already there. A lot of shows depend on the staging, and we have to make sure it doesn’t get in the way.”

Still, the experience of being in Salt Lake City, and building the first production of the show together, is one the creators don’t want to miss out on in favor of looking ahead to the next phase for Shucked. “[With Moon shine], I had a lot of expectations,” McAnally says. “When will this go out of town, when will it go to Broadway. I’ve just enjoyed this time, and working with all the people. That’s what I see as the win. Making the show is the magic. As excited as we are to be headed to Broadway, once it does, that’s it. It will never be like this again.”

The cast of Shucked! performs a preview concert at Pioneer Theatre

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CLEAN SLATES

How to get an eviction off your record in Utah.

The following story was supported by funding from The Economic Hardship Reporting Project and reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in part nership with Salt Lake City Weekly.

Have you ever been evicted? Do you wish it never happened? Thanks to a new law in Utah, you might be able to make it disappear from your le gal record.

Tens of thousands of Utahns over the years have been evicted from their apartments and homes. It’s not a crime to get evicted. It’s not a crime to miss rent because you lost your job or ran out of money paying medical bills or fixing a broken car. It’s not a crime if you miss rent because you are just trying to get through difficult times.

But having an eviction on your record can be as bad as having a crime on your record. It can hurt your credit score, making it harder for you to get a loan for a car or to get into your dream home. And your rental application for a nice new apartment might get re jected if the landlord sees you have an eviction on your record—even if it happened years ago.

But state law allows Utahns to expunge (see side bar) an eviction from their records; in other words, evictees can wipe the slate clean as if it never hap pened. Even better? There’s no cost to do it.

How long does an eviction stay on your record? It will stay on your rental history for seven years! And it will stay in the court record permanently if you don’t have it erased.

There is no cost to have it erased, but it still is a legal process. This guide will help explain it in simple terms. For additional help, the contact information for free eviction resources is included at the end of this article.

It’s helpful to think of the process as having three important stages: the “before,” “during,” and “after” stages. So, let’s begin.

Before Expungement

Before we begin filling out paperwork, you probably have some questions. So let’s hear them.

“Can my eviction be erased?”

That depends—not all Utah eviction records can be erased. If you were evicted because your landlord said that you broke apartment rules, the record can not be erased.

For example: if you were smoking, had people stay at the apartment without permission from the land lord or didn’t keep your place clean—these are the kinds of rules that you can get evicted for.

The same goes for breaking the law. If you were evicted because the landlord said you broke the

ByEricS.Peterson, Silvia Nuila and FrankRegalado

law—even if the case never went to court—you can’t get the eviction erased.

“How do I qualify to have my eviction erased?”

If you were evicted for not paying rent, you qualify. If you stayed past your lease—meaning the lease said you had to leave in January and you didn’t leave until February or later—then you also qualify to have the eviction erased. In these cases, it doesn’t matter how old the eviction was.

“Is that it?”

No, you also must have already paid your debt to the landlord who evicted you. This is called “satis faction of judgment.” If you haven’t paid the money owed, then you can’t get your eviction erased. So, satisfy that judgment!

“I already paid off my old debt—am I good to go?”

You’ll need to prove that you paid off your debt. If you paid off your old debt and have receipts or other documents to prove it, make sure you know where those records are. The court may also have proof that you paid your debt and satisfied your judgment.

You can visit the Utah Courts’ Self Help Center by visiting utcourts.gov/selfhelp, or by calling 888683-0009. Ask if they can check your eviction court record to see if the court docket says the judgment was satisfied. They can also tell you which court and judge to send the paperwork to.

For those who qualify, there is no cost to expunge eviction records.

During expungment proceedings, landlords are given 60 days to object. If they do, the record cannot be expunged.

“OK, I think I’m ready to start the paperwork.”

Wait—just one more thing to keep in mind: It’s im portant the paperwork you file has an address where you can receive mail. So pick a secure mailing ad dress for the eviction removal paperwork. You can put an e-mail address, but you’ll also want a mailing address on the paperwork to be safe.

If you’re nervous that giving your address is going to mean bill collectors come after you, you can use an address of someone close to you that will hold onto the mail for you. But make sure it’s someone you can depend on, like your mom or dad—maybe not your boyfriend or girlfriend, unless it’s serious (and con gratulations, by the way).

OK, now we’re ready to start the paperwork.

During Expungement

Here are the forms you’ll need to start the process of removing the eviction from your record. (Find them online through the Utah Courts website— utcourts.gov):

The first is a civil cover sheet . This is your basic ap plication to the court. It’s two pages long. On Page 1, you fill in your information on the left as the “Plain tiff/Petitioner.” A petition is a written request to the court, so requesting an expungement means you are the petitioner. On the right side of the page is the side for the landlord, or the “Defendant/Respondent.”

At the bottom of the first page and on the second page is a lot of information that doesn’t matter to you. Go to the bottom right corner of the second page and put a check next to “Expungement Petition.”

Your next document is the “Petition to Expunge Eviction .” This is a simple two-page document with one question and one signature line, asking the court to erase the eviction.

The other document is an “Order on Petition to Expunge Eviction .” This document you leave blank, and the court will fill in the details when you send it to them, and they make a decision.

You send a copy of these documents to the court.

You also must send a copy of the documents to your landlord. You need to send the papers to your landlord so that they have the opportunity to challenge the

expungement if they decide to. That leads to the last piece of paperwork.

You need to file a “Proof of Service ” with the court. This is just proof for the judge that the landlord was served the paperwork.

“How do I serve my past landlord with the eviction ex pungement paperwork?”

Serving a paper means the legal document is de livered reliably to the other party—in this case, the landlord. That means you have someone hand-deliver the paperwork to the landlord. This someone could be a friend (as long as they are over 18, aren’t part of your case, aren’t a registered sex offender and don’t have a protective order against them), or you could pay your county sheriff or a process server to deliver the paper work to the landlord.

You can also just mail the paperwork to the land lord. But if you do, it must be certified mail with a return receipt requested. That way, the landlord has to sign for the letter upon receipt. The court will need to see the landlord’s signature as part of your proof of service.

When the Civil Cover Sheet, the Petition to Ex punge, the Order on Petition and Proof of Service have all been filed with the court and served on the landlord then it’s time to … wait.

Under the law, the landlord has 60 days to decide if they want to file an objection to your petition. Basi cally, they get a couple months to decide if they want to tell the court that your eviction record should not be erased.

Unfortunately, under the law, if the landlord says no to the expungement, that ends the process right there and the record won’t be wiped clean.

But if there is no objection, the judge will approve the expungement.

Remember, the court needs to be able to get in touch with you. You should have given them an email and a good mailing address for yourself, or of someone who will keep an eye out for mail from the court for you.

It is possible the judge may want you to appear in court. They may have a question about your petition or proof that you satisfied your judgment.

It’s more likely, though, that if the landlord has no

objection, then the judge won’t need to see you in court and can just approve the expungement on their own without you being present.

After Expungement

“OK, so my record was expunged! Is that it?”

Not quite. When it’s expunged , you will be notified. You need to hold onto that record! So keep proof that your eviction was expunged. That is your proof that you have a clean slate. You need that because when the court wipes the record, credit reporting agencies will have 90 days to remove your eviction record from their files.

But it’s possible that smaller apartments might not clear the records. If you do apply for an apartment and the landlord claims you were evicted, you will need proof of your expungement to show them that you have paid your past debt.

“So the eviction is gone from my record. But what if the landlord asks me straight up if I’ve been evicted before?”

If your case has been successfully expunged, it’s like it never happened. You are legally allowed to tell anyone that you have never been evicted.

Where to find more help

Utah Courts Self Help Center : For help filing docu ments. utcourts.gov/selfhelp, 888-683-0009

Utah Housing Coalition : Can help walk you through the process and find legal and other help. Online at utahhousing.org or call 801-364-0077.

THE LEGALESE OF EXPUNGEMENT

Civil Cover Sheet: Your basic application to the court to ask for expungement.

Expungement: Erasing your eviction record.

Satisfaction of Judgment: Paying your old evic tion debts so you can expunge your eviction.

Petition: A written request, asking the court to do something.

Proof of Service: Document showing you sent your petition to your landlord. It could be in the form of a certified mail receipt.

MUSIC

CINEMA

A&E

ANTECEDENTES LIMPIOS

Como borrar los registro de desalojo de su historial de antecedentes en Utah.

POR ERIC S. PETERSON, SILVIA NUILA AND FRANK REGALADO

La siguiente historia fue apoyada por Economic Hard ship Reporting Project y reportada por Utah Investiga tive Journalism Project en colaboración con Salt Lake City Weekly.

¿Ha sido usted desalojado alguna vez? ¿Desearía que esto nunca hubiese ocurrido? Gracias a una nue va ley en Utah, usted podría borrar esto en su histo rial de antecedentes.

Decenas de miles de Utahnos a lo largo de los años han sido desalojados de sus departamentos y casas. Ser desalojado no es un crimen. No es un crimen no pagar su alquiler debido a que perdió su empleo o porque se quedó sin dinero por pagar costos médi cos o por reparar su auto. No es un crimen dejar de pagar su alquiler debido a que usted está pasando por momentos difíciles; pero tener un desalojo en su his torial puede ser tan malo como tener un crimen en él. Le puede afectar su crédito, dificultándole obtener un préstamo para auto o para comprar la casa de sus sueños. Y su solicitud para rentar un lindo aparta mento nuevo podría ser rechazada si el propietario notase que la presencia de un desalojo en su histo rial—Aunque esto hubiese ocurrido años atrás.

Pero las leyes del estado permiten a los Utahnos borrar (ver dentro de la barra lateral) un desalojo de su historial; en otras palabras, los desalojados pu eden dejar limpia esta lista como si nunca hubiese ocurrido. ¿Mejor aún? Hacerlo no tiene costo.

¿Cuánto tiempo permanece un desalojo en su histo rial? ¡Permanecerá en su historial de alquileres por siete años! y permanecerá permanentemente en los registros de la corte si usted no hace que los borren.

Borrarlos no tiene costo, pero aun así es un proceso legal. Esperamos que esta guía ayude a explicarlo en términos simples. Por ayuda adicional, al final de este artículo hemos incluido información de contactos para procesos gratuitos de desalojo.

Ayuda pensar en el proceso como tener tres pasos importantes. Las etapas son ¨Antes¨, ¨Durante¨ y ¨después¨. Así que ¡Empecemos!

Antes de que Sean Borrados

Antes de que empecemos a llenar documentos, es probable que tenga algunas preguntas. Así que escu chémoslas.

“¿Se puede borrar mi desalojo?”

Ello depende—no todos los registros de desalojos de Utah pueden borrarse. Si usted es desalojado porque su arrendador afirma que violó las normas del departamento, el antecedente no podrá ser ocultado.

Por ejemplo: si usted estuvo fumando, alojó perso nas en el departamento sin autorización del propi etario o no mantuvo limpio su local. Este es el tipo de normas por las cuales usted podría ser desalojado.

Lo mismo ocurre si quebranta la ley. Si usted es de salojado porque su arrendador dijo que usted violó la ley—aunque el caso nunca haya sido llevado a la corte—usted no podrá borrar su desalojo.

“¿Cómo califico para que mi desalojo sea ocultado?”

Si usted fue desalojado porque no pagó su alquiler, usted califica. Si usted permaneció más tiempo que lo establecido en su contrato—esto indica que si su contrato decía que usted tenía que irse en enero y usted no se fue hasta febrero o después—entonces también calificará para que su desalojo sea borrado. En estos casos, no importa el tiempo que transcurrió de su desalojo.

“Es esto así?”

No, usted también deberá haber pagado su deuda con el arrendador que lo desalojó. Esto se llama “sat isfacción de deuda.” Si usted aún no hubiese pagado el dinero adeudado, entonces no podrá hacer que borren su desalojo. ¡Así que pague su deuda!

“Ya he pagado mi deuda antigua—¿Es eso todo lo que necesito?”

Deberá demostrar haber pagado su deuda. Si usted pagó su deuda anterior y tiene recibos u otros doc umentos para demostrarlo, asegúrese de saber en donde están. La corte podría tener prueba de que usted pagó su deuda y cumplió con la orden del juez.

Puede visitar el Centro de Autoayuda de la Corte de Utah utcourts.gov/selfhelp, o llamando al 888-683-

0009. Pregunte si ellos pueden revisar en los regis tros su orden judicial de desalojo para ver si el expe diente de la corte dice que la deuda fue pagada. Ellos también pueden decirle a cuál corte y juez enviar los documentos.

“OK, Creo que estoy listo para empezar el trámite.” Espere—tan solo algo más para tener en mente. Es importante que los documentos que usted presente tengan una dirección en la que usted pueda recibir correos. Así que elija una dirección segura de correo para el papeleo de borrado del desalojo. Usted puede colocar una dirección de correo electrónico, pero también necesitará una dirección física allí, tan sólo por seguridad.

Si le preocupa que el dar su dirección pueda causar que los infames cobradores de deudas le persigan, usted puede usar una dirección de alguien cercano a usted que le guarde el correo. Pero asegúrese de pod er contar con alguien como su mamá o papá—quizá no su novio o novia, a menos que sea serio (felicita ciones de paso).

OK, ahora estamos listos para empezar el trámite.

Durante el Proceso de Borrado

Aquí están los formularios que necesitará para empe zar el proceso para borrar el desalojo de su registro. El primero es una carátula de cobertura civil. Esta es su solicitud básica para la corte. Tiene dos páginas de largo, en la página uno, usted llenará su información en el lado izquierdo como el ¨demandante o peticio nario.¨ Una petición es una solicitud escrita para la corte. Así que solicitar el borrado significa que usted es el peticionario. En el lado derecho de la página está el lado para el ¨arrendatario, o el demandado¨.

Al final de la primera página y también en la segunda página hay mucha información sin importancia. Vaya a la esquina inferior derecha de la segunda página y coloque una marca al lado de “Petición de Borrado.”

Ahora su próximo documento es “Petición para Borrar un Desalojo.” Este es un documento simple de dos páginas con una pregunta y una línea para

firma, pidiendo a la corte borrar el de salojo.

El otro documento es una “Orden de Petición para Borrar un Desalojo.” Este documento debe dejarse en blanco para que la corte llene los detalles cu ando usted se los envíe y ellos tomen una decisión.

Usted deberá enviar una copia de es tos dos documentos a la corte. También deberá enviar una copia de estos docu mentos a su arrendador.

Usted deberá enviar los documentos a su arrendador para que éste tenga la oportunidad de oponerse al borrado si decidiesen hacerlo. Eso conduce al úl timo papeleo.

Necesita presentar un “Registro de Notificaciones ” con la corte. Esto es tan solo prueba para el juez de que el arrendador recibió los documentos.

“¿Como entrego a mi arrendador ante rior los documentos de borrado del desa lojo?”

Entregar un papel significa que el documento legal es entregado de manera confiable a la otra parte- en este caso, el arrendador. Eso significa que usted enviará a alguien a entregar los documentos al arrendador en la mano. Este alguien puede ser un ami go (en la medida que sea mayor de 18 años, que no tengan participación en su caso, que no sea delincuente sexual registrado y que no tenga una orden de restricción en su contra), o usted puede pagarle al alguacil de su condado o a un servidor de la corte para que entreguen los documentos al arrendatario. Pero si lo hace, debe ser por correo certificado con un cargo de recibo. De esa manera, el arrendatario deberá firmar por el re cibo de la carta. La corte querrá ver la firma del arrendador como parte de su prueba de la notificación.

Cuando la Carátula de Cobertura Civil, la petición de Borrado, la or den de Petición y Prueba de Servicio se hayan llenado con la corte y se hayan entregado al arrendador es entonces momento de… esperar.

Por ley, el arrendador tiene 60 días para decidir si quiere presentar una objeción a su petición. Básicamente, ellos tendrán un par de meses para decidir si quieren decirle a la corte que los regis tros de su desalojo no deben borrarse.

Desafortunadamente, por ley, si el arrendador se opone al borrado, eso terminará el proceso allí mismo y los antecedentes no serán borrados.

De no haber objeciones, el juez aprobará el borrado.

Recuerde, la corte necesita poder co municarse con usted. Usted debe darles un e-mail y una buena dirección suya o de alguien que estará atento al correo

de la corte dirigido a usted.

Es posible que el juez le pida presen tarse en la corte. Podrían tener alguna pregunta acerca de su petición o podría pedirle prueba de que usted ha pagado su deuda.

Es más probable, sin embargo, que si el arrendador no tuviese objeciones, el juez no necesitará verlo en la corte y podría simplemente aprobar el borrado por sí mismo.

Después del Borrado

“OK, ¡Mis antecedentes fueron borra dos! ¿Es eso todo?”

Realmente no. Cuando haya sido borrado, usted será notificado. ¡Usted debe sujetarse de ese historial! Así que mantenga pruebas de que su desalojo fue borrado. Esa es su prueba de que no tiene deudas. Necesita esto porque cu ando la corte borre sus antecedentes, las agencias de reporte de crédito ten drán 90 días para retirar su historial de desalojo de sus archivos.

Pero es posible que departamentos más pequeños no borren sus registros. Si usted presenta una solicitud para un departamento y el arrendador le indica que usted tuvo un desalojo, necesitará demostrar su borrado para demostrar les haber pagado su deuda anterior.

“Está bien, el desalojo ha sido retirado de mi historial, pero ¿qué ocurre si el ar rendador me pregunta en la cara si es que tuve un desalojo antes?”

Si su caso ha sido ocultado con éxito, es como si nunca hubiese ocurrido. Ust ed puede legalmente decirle a cualqui er persona que nunca fue desalojado.

¿Dónde encontrar más ayuda?

El Centro de Auto Ayuda de la Corte de Utah: Especialmente por ayuda para presentar documentos. utcourts.gov/ selfhelp, 888-683-0009.

Coalición Utah Housing: Puede ayudarlo en el trayecto del proceso y encontrar ayuda legal y otras. utah housing.org, 801-364-0077

DEFINICIONES

Carátula de Cobertura Civil: Su solicitud básica para pedir el borrado en la corte.

Borrado: Borrado de sus antecedentes de desalojo.

Satisfacción de Deuda: Pagar sus deudas anteriores del desalojo para que pueda borrar su desalojo.

Petición: Una solicitud escrita, pidiendo algo a la corte.

Cargo de Recibo: Documento mostrando que entregó su petición a su arrendador. Puede ser un recibo de entrega certificada por correo. n

A&E

Plant-Based Posh

The Grand America’s Gibson Lounge cultivates a plantforward perspective on nighttime dining.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

It’s been a little bit since I’ve checked in with Utah’s plant-based scene, which has really done nothing but impress me to this point. We’ve got everything from diner-style comfort food to traditional French cuisine to desserts and ice cream; it’s definitely a broad spectrum to ex plore. When I heard about some of the new autumn-inspired changes to The Gibson Lounge in the Grand America Hotel (555 S. Main Street, 801-258-6000, grandamerica. com), I was surprised to see so many plantbased options on the menu.

I’ve checked out the dining options at The Grand America a few times in recent years, and thus far they’ve got an excellent track record. Laurel, which I wrote about previously, impressed me with its fancy European menu that doesn’t once break the $30 cap for an entrée. My first few vis its to the Gibson Lounge were for afternoon tea with my wife and daughter, which is always a memorable experience. For this visit, I sought out the Gibson Girl Lounge, the demure and slightly secluded counter part of the Gibson, which welcomes guests directly adjacent to the lobby.

The Gibson Girl Lounge maintains a quirky speakeasy kind of vibe. Instead of windows, the wall space is dominated by paintings, sculptures and other swank decorations. Seating is intimate, lighting is low, and it’s an excellent foil to the hustle and bustle of the lobby lounge. Since both lounges share the same menu, you can plan your trip accordingly; the Gibson is perfect for a giggly visit where you can gawk at the lovely chandeliers, but the Gibson Girl is where you want to go to get away from it all.

Regardless of which lounge earns your favor, you can see that half of the menu— that includes desserts—is plant-based. Not only that, but they’re plant-based versions of some classic gastropub fare. You’ve got some cauliflower wings ($13) tossed in spicy Buffalo sauce and served with vegan blue cheese dressing, there’s an Impossible cheeseburger ($21) with all the trimmings, and—my personal favorite—the oyster mushroom calamari ($15).

As a guy who eats pretty much anything, I really like seeing plant-based interpre tations of dishes traditionally served with meat, so I was impressed when these deepfried oyster mushrooms arrived. They defi nitely looked the part—the mushrooms were cut into tiny rings and served with some creamy aioli and sliced lemons on the side. At first glance, it would be impossible to tell the difference between this plate of food and the fried calamari from your favorite Italian joint. The crispy fried ex terior and chewy interior were also dead ringers for the meat-based dish, especially when you hit them with some lemon juice and give them a dunk in the aioli.

While I admire the novelty of turning a meat-based dish into plant-based one, I also don’t think its merit should be based on how well it recreates—it’s got to stand on its own. This is happily the case with the plant-based menu at Gibson. Their menu is tasty, creative and full of surprises.

Diners of all stripes will be happy with the plant-based menu, but there are also plenty of options for fans of meat-based cuisine. The Reuben ($21) and the raclette cheese burger ($21) are excellent options for lunch or dinner, but the dish that really caught my attention was the pappardelle and short ribs ($21). The short ribs have been braised and incorporated into a lovely ragu, which tops a generous pile of wide pappardelle noodles. Add a little sprinkle of pecorino cheese and you’ve got a rustic baller of a dish that warms you up from the inside out.

For dessert, the plant-based recommen dation is the lemon tart ($9) with its toasted meringue—it’s packed with citrusy flavor and is a great way to cut through the rich ness of the menu’s savory side. Those that want to add richness to their plate will want to saunter over to the not-plant-based choco late cake ($12). Sure, it’s got an unassuming name, but when a slab of devil’s food cake made with cacao-forward Guanaja chocolate topped with a chocolate fudge frosting hits your table, you sit up and take note.

From my initial impressions, the Gib son Lounge is continuing the tradition of reasonably-priced fine dining that the Grand America is known for. Pair that with a friendly atmosphere and some truly gor geous furnishings, and you’ve got a spot that will suffice for a quick dinner with friends before hitting the town or for a re laxed evening filled with small plates and drinks. On a larger perspective, it’s also adding some more diversity to Utah’s al ready stellar plant-based food scene—in addition to all of the great local joints of fering plant-based menus, a hip nightspot inside Utah’s most prestigious hotel is a big win for plant-based food fans. CW

AT A GLANCE Open: Mon.-Sun., 4 p.m-12 a.m.

Best bet: The oyster mushroom calamari Can’t miss: A slice of chocolate cake for dessert

onTAPonTAP

2 Row Brewing 6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com

Avenues Proper 376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Less- West Coast IPA

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap: Gluten Reduced Kolsch

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

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

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

On Tap: Do Less - West Coast IPA

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap: Red Butte Bitter on Nitro

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

On Tap: Breakfast Baptist Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com

On Tap: Fisher Beer

Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Extra Pale Ale

Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

On Tap: Pico Rico

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

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

LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Wet El Do-Rye-Do Pale Ale

Ales & Allies Game Night Tues at 6pm!

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap: Squeaky Bike Nut Brown

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

On Tap: Wet Hopped Cider

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

On Tap: DOPO IPA

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com

On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA

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

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

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com

On Tap: East Side Paradise - Rice Lager

Red Rock Brewing 254 So. 200 West RedRockBrewing.com

On Tap: Gypsy Scratch

Red Rock Fashion Place 6227 So. State Redrockbrewing.com

On Tap: Munich Dunkel

Red Rock Kimball Junction Redrockbrewing.com 1640 Redstone Center

On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: FRESHIES IPA

Roosters Brewing

Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion

SaltFire Brewing

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

On Tap: Dirty Chai Stout

Salt Flats Brewing

2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com

On Tap: Top Gear Imperial Pilsner

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com

On Tap: Reverend Nat’s Providence 10.2% ABV

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

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Prickly Pear Sour Ale

Silver Reef

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

Squatters

147 W. Broadway, SLC Squatters.com

Strap Tank Brewery

Multiple Locations StrapTankBrewery.com

Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout / Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter

Stratford Proper 1588 Stratford Ave., SLC stratfordproper.com

On Tap: Lake Effect Gose

TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com

On Tap: Edel Pils

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

On Tap: Kingslayer- Pilsner

Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com

On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer

UTOG

2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com

On Tap: Trail Rye’d - Amber Rye Ale 5% abv

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

OPENING SOON!

Helper Beer 159 N Main Street Helper, UT 84526

Apex Brewing 2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Autumn

Customs

One fall beer ritual returns, while another is born.

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

Epic - Big Bad Baptist (Breakfast Baptist): Big Bad Baptist season is back. Epic Brewing’s Imperial stout franchise returns in 2022 with six new variants popping up over the next three weeks. The Breakfast Baptist is one of the first to debut, with whiskey barrel-aged maple syrup and a big dose of Blue Copper Coffee.

This pours a very dark brown with ruby hues around the edges. The beer is thick and oily, coating the glass like many Impe rial stouts. The smell is composed of dark espresso roast coffee with decadent baking chocolate evening it back out, plus a light amount of hops. Espresso-milk chocolate is a good summarization.

This is where the fun begins. I consumed this one cold to warm, so initially the dark coffee played the lead. A couple minutes, later the cocoa and milk chocolate re ally stepped up to balance things out. The maple flavors are light, and seem to jive well with the barrel treatment. Coffee bit terness lingers on into the finish until you take your next drink—not overbearing, but it was there. The 11 percent ABV is wellhidden, but it creeps up on you towards the end. This beer was thick and creamy, such that its lower carbonation coupled with its viscosity help it feel like a melted chocolate milkshake (no lactose added). I think the amount of yeast and other sediment keeps this down a little.

Overall : I didn’t expect much going into this beer, but I was pleasantly surprised. No single component was overdone. This was very smooth and enjoyable, like any

good barrel-aged, coffee, chocolate, maple stout should be. It’s a no-brainer to pursue.

TF - Estate Comet : This beer was con ceived of by Assistant Brewer Jacob Cobb. He opted to go old school with this new IPA, which features Comet hops, a workhorse in brewing since the early days of craft beer.

It pours a light to medium golden amber; a one-finger white head boasts great reten tion and lots of lacing. An aroma of mild biscuit and caramel malt, light citrus and dank hops, orange citrus and tropical fruit emerges, with a pleasant light spiciness.

Flavor is mild sweet caramel malt, cit rus and dank hops, orange citrus, mango, hints of light stone fruit and light pine; it finishes with citrus rind bitterness, then, as the flavor fades, an odd toasted bran flavor pops up, followed by a quite astrin gent and long-lingering rind bitterness. It’s medium-bodied with nice creaminess—an interesting roller coaster of flavors in this one. It starts out smelling and tasting a bit laid-back with light unobtrusive malt and light citrus hops plus a hint of dankness and pine, then you get that odd grain taste that is actually very appealing and ephemeral, before finishing very bitter with little herbal flavor to support the bit terness. With the long pine finish and mildmannered malt, this would ordinarily be a slight miss for me, but I could not stop tast ing this one.

Overall : The initial flavor is nice, if de ceptively mild in hop bitterness, then the bitterness sneaks up, while other flavors are revealed. Very nicely done balance of subtle, hoppy depth from this one, rang ing from dank/herbal to tropical and spice notes throughout. Maybe nothing god-tier overall, but the variety—alongside the 7.2 alcohol balance—puts the drinkability at an incredible level. This can be enjoyed casually and without much thought, while still offering plenty to the palate.

While the standard Big Bad Baptist has made its way into 16-ounce cans, these variants are still in their traditional 22-ounce bottles and available every damn day at the brewery. TF’s IPAs are always a hot commodity, and tend to walk out the door at a pretty steady clip. Don’t delay on this one. As always, cheers! CW

MIKE

RIEDEL

MIKE

RIEDEL

BY ALEX SPRINGER @captainspringer

International Halloween Fest

The Utah State Fairpark (155 N. 1000 West, utah statefair.com) will be hosting an International Halloween Festival this Saturday. It’s a gathering to celebrate Halloween traditions from outside the United States, which will include some tasty international food from local eateries and trucks, along with a display of Día de los Muertos ofrendas for those who celebrate. From the look of things, this event will have plenty of cool things for the whole family to do, including trickor-treating with vendors, craft demonstrations and lots of games. This spooky good time will take place on Oct. 29 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

ComCom Kitchen Expands

The downtown commissary kitchen known as ComCom Kitchen (67 W. 1700 South, comcomkitchen.com) has been a home to many up-and-coming eateries for years now. If you’ve enjoyed some late-night snacks from Feed Me or some fresh nigiri from Ghost Sushi, ComCom Kitchen should be mentioned in your prayers of gratitude. Recently they opened a second location in Millcreek (894 E. 3900 South, Ste. C) so we can enjoy even more local eateries with a flair for the unconven tional. Likewise, if you are trying to get your own foodbased business off the ground and need a commercial kitchen to use, it’s worth checking in with ComCom to see if there’s any space.

Island Fin Poké Co. Opens

The national restaurant chain called Island Fin Poké Co. recently celebrated the grand opening of its first Utah restaurant. Island Fin will start off with a downtown SLC location (613 E. 400 South, Ste. D, islandfinpoke. com), and they’ve already announced plans to open two more locations in the near future. It feels like we had a lull when it comes to new poké restaurants, but the desire for rice bowls made with sushi grade fish or tofu. From the looks of the menu, it looks like Island Fin will be pretty heavy on the build-your-own bowl deal, with plenty of options to choose from.

Quote of the Week: “Halloween was the best holiday because it was all about friends, monsters and candy rather than family and responsibility.” –Margee Kerr

Without Turning Away

Till turns an ugly American moment into a chance to look violent racism in the face.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

For just a moment, it feels like director Chinonye Chukwu’s Till might let us off the hook. In the wake of the brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) while visiting cousins in 1955 Missis sippi, the body has been returned to Chi cago, to be identified by his mother, Mamie (Danielle Deadwyler). As the sheet is pulled back, Chukwu obscures the body with the rail of another gurney in the morgue; per haps we’ll be spared the horrible sight that greeted Mamie. Then, the camera moves ever so slightly upward, bring the bloated, beaten corpse into full view—not just for a brief glimpse, but long enough that the viewer has to decide whether to look away.

In a sense, that filmmaking choice in Till echoes the one that Mamie made, choosing to bring the image of Emmett’s disfig ured body into the public consciousness and becoming a driving force behind the first post-Reconstruction federal civil rights legislation in 1957. But it’s also part of a scene that becomes a focal point of the quiet intensity that characterizes both the protagonist and Chukwu’s film as a whole. While the general earnestness of the story might come off a bit flat at times, it draws an emotional force from the reality of hav ing to look the body of Emmett Till full in the face.

We do also get to look him in the face as a living, fun-loving teenager before

those horrifying events, as Chukwu and co-screenwriters Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp emphasize the close relation ship between Emmett and his war-wid owed mom. It’s important, though, that Till doesn’t suggest some idyllic world from which Emmett was torn. The very first scene, of Emmett and Mamie singing along together in the car to The Moonglows’ “Sin cerely,” dissolves into dissonant strings and a look of dread on Mamie’s face as she ponders the impending Mississippi trip.

Even in Chicago circa 1955, the two encoun ter race-based suspicion while shopping in a department store. And as the trip looms, Mamie gives Emmett “the speech” about how to behave among racist white people in order to avoid trouble—something con temporary parents are still having to do to protect their Black sons.

It would have been understandable if a version of this story had then chosen to em phasize the murder itself as a centerpiece moment, but that’s not on Chukwu’s agen da; in the dark of night, she shoots the ex terior of a house from a distance, the cries of anguish from Emmett somehow becom ing more unsettling for what we don’t see.

Instead, Till makes the story about Mamie’s

response to that horror, and Chukwu cen ters Deadwyler’s performance whenever possible. That’s most evident in the scene where Mamie testifies at the trial of Em mett’s murderers, where Chukwu doesn’t cut away one time while both the prosecu tion and the defense question her, allowing the sense of Mamie’s isolation in this mo ment to amplify both her tears and her re fusal to snap when the defense insinuates that Mamie might have wanted Emmett dead for insurance money.

That moment could certainly play as ex cessively “actor-ly”—it’s easy to imagine it being the clip that gets played during the rundown of Oscar nominees—and Dead wyler does face a challenge in finding both the grieving mother and the budding ac tivist in Mamie. For all the big emotional breakdowns, however, Deadwyler’s work might be strongest before Emmett’s death, as she lives in perpetual anxiety for Em mett’s well-being in a place built to con sider him disposable. As effectively as Till conveys the idea that almost all activists become so reluctantly, it also captures liv ing as a parent with that perpetual shadow of fear that you’ll be one of those people pushed into that spotlight.

It is perhaps inevitable that a subject as serious as Till ’s will involve some filmmak ing that leans toward the overly reveren tial, and Chukwu does lay on Abel Korze niowski’s score a bit thick at times. There’s also clunky expository stuff like Mamie telling her Mississippi driver, “Thanks, Mr. Evers,” receiving the response, “Call me Medgar.” But the tone and pacing mostly work here, including the willingness to lin ger on Mamie’s encounter with Emmett’s corpse, filled more with gentle touch than with disgust. She sees not a grotesquerie, but her son—just as Mamie asked the world to do 67 years ago, and as Till asks us to do now.

TILL BBB

Danielle Deadwyler Jalyn Hall

ORION PICTURES

Danielle Deadwyler and Whoopi Goldberg in Till

A&E

Just Us Two

Singer/songwriter duo Darling and Debonair wrap up busy year

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net

If we’re lucky, we’ll end up with a few great friendships in our lifetime—true friends who end up being there for years, through all of the ups and downs. Many friends will come and go, but when you find the good ones, you have to hold on to them. For singer/songwriter duo Darling and Debonair, their long friendship is the reason they work so well together musi cally.

Thom Darling and Claire Debonair have been singing together since about 2007. For 15 years, the duo have been jamming and writing amazing music, demonstrat ing a palpable connection musically that’s evident seeing them perform together.

At the heart of that connection is trust and comfort. Darling mentioned that writ ing with Debonair has been much easier for him than other experiences in the past. “One of my favorite things is when we’re co-writing, because that’s something we did not do when I started. It was definitely just kind of trying to write on my own and then share these things with my friends,” he said. “And now that we effectively can co-write songs together, it turns into a whole other type of dynamic where you might get discouraged if it’s just yourself and you can’t get the turn of phrase right. But to have this other creative force just spun up next to you makes it so that you can take a moment and these songs will just come together a lot faster. And I guess it’s not even necessarily about how fast it is, but things slot together, the puzzle comes together in a way that just feels like it takes less effort. And that has really been built upon just years of trust.”

Being in a full band can be difficult be cause there are so many moving parts, and potentially different views and ideas. Dar ling and Debonair have found that it’s been so easy with each other that they’ve rarely

run into issues creatively.

“There are weird deal-breakers with bands, and it’s hard to find the right fit, I think,” said Debonair. “And we have just been doing this for so long that I feel so lucky, like I hit the jackpot right from the bat. I didn’t have to look very far. It was just right there. And because our friendship is so deep that we can trust each other and we can communicate with each other on a lev el that I think really encourages and is con ducive to progress. We don’t get hung up on weird feelings, or I can deliver some hard feedback and we can just talk and commu nicate with each other so well that I think that really sets us up for a lot of success.”

Although these two have been creating music for so long together, they just re leased their debut album in April of this year, Just Us Two. They have released mu sic separately in the past, but this is their first work as a duo that has been officially released.

Putting together an album is a challenge in itself, but Darling and Debonair kicked it up a notch, live-tracking each song. The duo wanted to challenge themselves, and especially letting go of perfectionist ide als and letting the creativity flow. “That was the hardest thing. Because the songs were there, we have been playing together for years, but we just kept holding out and holding out for this thing,” said Darling. “And so letting go of all that was hard, but I think was what essentially got us to actu ally progress.”

Darling and Debonair recorded songs that they’ve been playing live for years, but there’s still nervousness and hesitation go ing in and live-tracking everything, with the pressure in getting everything right in one take. “We practiced so much. I mean, we had to be very tight, because there was not a margin for error. And I think that was the most intimidating thing for me,” said Debonair.

Taking on the challenge of recording a song in one take was a way to prove that the duo are good together, and a way to show off their exquisite chemistry. “It was a show of our musicianship and kind of a calling card that we could use to promote ourselves,” said Debonair. “Like, ‘Hey, ven ue-owner, here’s our album. This is exactly what you’re going to get when we show up.’ We’re not hiding behind anything. And we put ourselves out there in a vulnerable

way.”

In addition to their debut album, Dar ling and Debonair were able to work with the Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative to put on a unique show, as the group choreographed original dances to the duo’s songs. “It was so cool. I loved every bit of that. I would love to work with them again,” said Darling. After a busy year, Darling and Debonair are going to step back and take a bit of a break during the holiday season. Between releasing the debut album, playing live shows and the ballet collaboration, they’re ready for some rest. “It’s left me feeling a bit overworked just because I’m still doing day-job stuff. So I’m realizing that in order to sustain this, I kind of just have to take a

break,” said Darling.

The two have big plans for 2023, so lis teners should stay tuned. In the meantime, October is the six-month anniversary for Just Us Two, and Darling and Debonair hope fans are enjoying it. “I think we have a really good intention with our music. I think we have things to say that can help people,” said Debonair. “I want our listen ers to know that we love them and appreci ate them and if our music helps them, that’s the whole goal.”

Stay in touch with Darling and Debonair on their Instagram, @darlinganddebonair, and check out their music via streaming services and their website darlinganddeb onair.com. CW

BRIAN SMYER

Darling and Debonair

Witch Perfect @ Why Kiki 10/27

Halloween events are some of the best of the year. Spooky season is a time for scary movies, cozy sweaters, warm drinks and, of course, amazing drag shows. Why Kiki hosts the hysteri cal and spooktactular award-winning program, Witch Perfect, a live parody of the Halloween classic Hocus Pocus featuring Emmy-winning stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race. From various sea sons, Witch Perfect stars Tina Burner as Winifred, Scarlet Envy as Sarah and Alexis Michelle as Mary. These queens fiercely portray the iconic and beloved Sanderson sisters using music from the movie, but it also features hits from pop icons like Madonna, Britney Spears and Cher. The presentation wouldn’t be complete without the epochal “I Put a Spell on You,” which will of course be included. Laughter is sure to abound at this event Tina Burner is the reigning National Comedy Queen, and knows a thing or two about put ting on a good time. The combina tion of three hilarious drag queens and one of the most beloved cult-classic Halloween movies will be a perfect ending to spooky season. There are two showtimes on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ event are $30$120 and can be found at whykiki. ticketleap.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

By Emilee Atkinson

Snail Mail @ The Complex 10/28

Lindsey Jordan, AKA Snail Mail, made her debut at just 17 with her album Lush in 2018. The album explored themes of confidence, vulnerability, power and delicacy, impacting listeners hard and making a name for the art ist early on. Her sophomore album Valentine released in late 2021, and is a formidable fol low-up to her striking debut. Jordan took her time writing this album, creating it with preci sion and building on the foundation of her pre vious work, delivering a deeper understanding of heartbreak. “I think songs need time to breathe, and you need to be inspired,” Jordan told Document in September. “I try to make sure that any time I’m working on music, my head is clear. I have to get really in touch with my intuition; my instincts are the ones that created this project, and I don’t really want to know anybody’s opinion ’til I’m done.. The pandemic also gave her more time to focus on writing the album. “When the pandemic hap pened, it was kind of cool creatively. I was like, time is slowing down and I have the grace to sort of work longer: to write a little and take a break, look at what I’ve done, work on it some more, take a break,” she said. Tour dates immediately following the release of Valentine ended up being postponed due to Jordan undergoing vocal cord surgery, but luckily she recovered and trained herself to sing again in time for an extensive 2022 tour. Snail Mail will be at The Complex on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. Tickets for this all-ages show are $35 and can be found at complexslc.com. (EA)

Snail Mail

TINA TYRELL

MUSIC PICKS

By Emilee Atkinson

Vision Video @ Aces High Saloon 10/30

Gothic post-punk quartet Vision Video are stopping in Salt Lake amid releasing their sophomore album Haunted Hours. Their website states their music is “dance music for the end-times,” and it’s evident on their latest work. Songwriter/guitarist Dusty Gannon shared that their single “Cruelty Commodity” focuses heavily on political unrest in the U.S. “‘Cruelty Commodity’ is a song about our reflec tions on the effects of the evangelical ultra-right wing during the BLM protests and how the Right has effectively brought a form of violent hate-filled rhetoric to the main stream in America. It always strikes me as really bizarre that these people espouse Christian morals and ethics in word, but act in complete opposition to those ideals,” said Gannon. “The song is inspired by that grotesque moment when Trump was speaking to the press, bible in hand in front of St. John’s Church, moments after people were just tear gassed for demonstrating minutes prior. I think these people realize their time is coming to a close ideologically and are therefore lashing out as much as they can to try and keep a hold on their siphoning power and influence in this world. This song is a death knell of their ideology.” The album explores more than just the band’s experiences; the title track on the album channeled the true story of a fan’s husband’s untimely passing. This track ended up being one of the most accessible and relatable songs Video Vision has put out. Catch the quartet at Aces High Saloon on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $15 and can be found at 24tix.com. (EA)

BAYLI, Magdalena Bay @ Soundwell 11/1

Buzzy, cutting-edge pop artist BAYLI opens for pop duo Magdalena Bay on their fall/winter U.S. tour. Under the men torship of legendary producer Rick Rubin, BAYLI entered her solo career with an exciting jumpstart. The Brooklyn native has amassed a dedicated following with her anthemic singles as well as her 2021 debut EP stories from new york. In 2022, BAYLI has been pumping out more tracks leading to her second EP, includ ing “TELLY BAG.” This summer anthem lives at the intersection of culture and her own personal experience, and her rejection of labels and perspective as a Black, queer woman have allowed her to leave her mark on culture through exploring topics, such as addiction and sexuality. Her set will be an exciting precursor to the headlining act, Magdalena Bay, an L.A.-based pop duo sharing their latest release Mercurial World (Deluxe). This recent release–a reimagined version of their 2021 debut Mercurial World—was entirely written, produced, performed, mixed and mastered by Magdalena Bay, and now features some new songs, remixes, alternative versions of album tracks, orchestral arrangements and some surprises for fans. “The Deluxe is a mish mosh of sorts, an amalgamation of new songs that didn’t originally fit the flow of Mercurial World, of reimagined versions of existing album tracks by us and some talented remixers, plus some special secrets,” the band explains. “When we started working on the Deluxe, we wanted it to flow like the original album did. These secrets tie the record together in a cool way, we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.” Catch this stunning pop performance at Soundwell on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $20 and can be found at soundwellslc.com. (EA)

Jessie Reyez, Armani White @ The Depot 11/2

Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Jessie Reyez tours following the release of her sophomore album Yessie, a col lection that captures the human experience in a unique and relatable way. On the record, Jessie clears the air to an exlover and releases any lingering emotion she carries while declaring her independence—shown as scenes of beautiful rage, dying flowers symbolic of the relationship, and fluid dancing in the music video. Reyez has also made a splash with several live performances. She debuted her break-up ballad “Mutual Friend” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this year, and recently performed at NPR’s Tiny Desk. Renamed “El Tiny” from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 this year, Tiny Desk cel ebrated Latinx Heritage Month with Reyez and several other Latinx performers. This dynamic performance showcased her prowess and high energy, a good precursor to her live shows. Rapper and singer/songwriter Armani White joins Reyez with his new and popular music. His track “Billie Eilish” went viral earlier this year, earning millions of streams and becoming a breakthrough for the young artist. “It always feels really good when you put so much hard work into something and it pays off,” White told HipHopNMore in August. “I’m not just talking about the ‘Billie Eilish’ moment but the entire career moment. Like we’re finally cracking the ground and making a lot of noise. Something that we’ve been fighting and fighting for so long. Then you have these tangible moments that really mat ter.” Catch these dynamic artists at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at The Depot. Tickets for the all-ages show are $47-$99 and can be found at livenation.com. (EA)

OLIVIA MEAD

JOHN JAY

Vision Video

Jessie Reyez

NEWS of the WEIRD

People With Issues

Police in Smithfield, Utah, responded to a domestic violence call on Oct. 8 that didn’t turn out how they expected, KUTV reported. Rachelle Clingo Walker, 35, told officers that her husband had struck her during a psychotic episode, but Walker’s husband had video that portrayed a different story. In the video, Walker can be seen “trying to bring out the victim’s ‘other per sonality’ by speaking in incantations,” the report noted. She’s shown gripping his arm “tighter, cutting into his hand with her nails.” When the husband tells her to stop, Walker grabs a pair of scissors and holds them “above her head in an intimidating fashion,” not allowing him to escape. He finally got away from her, and she called police. Walker was arrested for aggravated assault, unlawful detention and other charges.

The Continuing Crisis

Electric cars, trips to space, Twitter— it’s never enough for serial entrepreneur Elon Musk. Now, Reuters reported, the joke’s on buyers who snapped up 10,000 bottles of Musk’s new perfume, Burnt Hair, in just a few hours—at $100 a pop. “With a name like mine, getting into the fragrance business was inevitable—why did I even fight it for so long!?” Musk wondered on Twitter. The perfume is described on The Boring Company’s website as “the essence of repugnant desire.” “Just like leaning over a candle at the dinner table, but without all the hard work,” it boasts. The scent won’t start shipping until September 2023, so you can cross it off your Christmas list for this year.

Awesome!

Ray Ruschel may not be the fastest or strongest defensive line man on the North Dakota State College of Science football team, but he brings his best game and more to the team, the Associated Press reported. Ruschel, 49, works as a night-shift mechanic at a sugar beet factory. He decided to enroll at the college to study business management, and he learned he was eligible to try out for the football team—reviving his high school career of more than 30 years earlier. Ruschel’s coach gives him high marks: “His personality ... he’s just a really likable guy with an ambition not to leave any stone unturned,” said Eric Issendorf, who’s one year younger than Ruschel. With about a dozen plays per game, Ruschel has helped his team secure a 4-1 record for the season, and they’re hoping for a national championship.

Ewwwww

On Sept. 13, ophthalmologist Katerina Kurteeva, who practices in Newport Beach, California, shared with her Instagram fol lowers a troubling video, Oddity Central reported. Dr. Kurteeva documented the removal of “forgotten” contact lenses from an elderly patient’s eye—23 of them, to be exact. Some of them were so old they had turned green. “They were essentially glued together after sitting under the eyelid for a month,” she wrote. “Don’t sleep in your contact lenses!” she warned.

Armed and Clumsy

On Oct. 6, Burlington (North Carolina) police officers responded to a call around 7 a.m., the News & Record reported. A home owner told them that as he walked from his car to his front door, an armed man approached him and tried to force his way inside the house. The two struggled, and a gunshot grazed the victim’s chest, but he wasn’t seriously injured. The victim was able to slam the door on the suspect —or, more precisely, on the suspect’s hand. As investigators processed the scene, they found a glove with a severed finger inside, which they used to identify Vernon Forest Wilson, 67. He was booked on multiple charges in Alamance County and held on $250,000 bond.

BY

ANDREWS McMEEL

Questionable Judgment

Youth pastor Cory Wall of the Fairview Baptist Church in Greer, South Carolina, misstepped in a big way on Oct. 5 when he distributed “I (heart) hot youth pastors” stickers to the young members of his congregation, Only Sky reported. After some social media backlash, Wall admitted that his “joke” was a “mistake,” but his church was more reticent about the incident: First, the church sent a private email to members saying it had discussed the matter with Wall and he “understands this should not have been shared with the students.” When that wasn’t enough, Fairview issued a public statement on Oct. 9, allowing that the sticker was “offensive to some” and confirming that Wall had been placed on administrative leave. Upset congregants are reportedly praying for more.

For the Man Who Has Everything

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus took the opportu nity of a meeting at Konstantin Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Oct. 7 to present Russian President Vladimir Putin with a birthday gift, the Associated Press reported. Putin turned 70 years old that day, so naturally, Lukashenko presented him with a gift certificate for a Belarusian tractor. (Tractors are a source of pride in that country’s industry.) Lukashenko told reporters that he uses a similar model in his own garden; Putin, however, did not comment on the gift. Instead, he addressed issues such as conflict between ex-Soviet nations, fighting terrorism and illegal drugs.

Least Competent Criminal

In Seminole, Florida, 56-year-old Paul James Sinclair sum moned his inner 8-year-old on Oct. 10 as he attempted a bank robbery. Sinclair, according to The Smoking Gun, entered a Chase branch with his hand under his shirt making “the shape of a gun with his finger,” arrest records said. He advised teller Desiree Stefanik not to “push any buttons” as he waited for her to hand over the loot. Sinclair got away with only $120 and was arrested shortly after the incident.

Latest Religious Messages

One can only imagine the heavenly eye-rolling that must be ensu ing. The Signatry, a Christian foundation based in Overland Park, Kansas, is funding a $100 million media campaign designed to redeem Jesus’ “brand” from the damage done by his followers, Religion News Service reported. The program will include a website, billboards (“Jesus let his hair down, too”), an online store with free stuff for those who forgive someone or welcome a stranger, and the creme de la creme: a Super Bowl ad. “Our goal is to give voice to ... those who are ready to reclaim the name of Jesus from those who abuse it to judge, harm and divide people,” said Jon Lee, a principal at Lerma, the Dallas ad agency driving the “He Gets Us” campaign. He hopes people who see the ads will consider whether Jesus might be relevant to themselves.

The Passing Parade

The South China Morning Post reported on Oct. 7 that a new health fad is trending among elderly Chinese: crocodile crawling.

Hundreds of people in eastern China, who call themselves the Crocodile Group, dress in matching uniforms and chant rhythmic slogans while they crawl, single-file, on their hands and feet around a jogging track. Afficionados say the exercise helps with back pain. “I previously had problems with a herniated disc,” said Li Wei, the group’s coach. “After doing this for eight months, I don’t feel any pain anymore.” One doctor explained that the movement is similar to pushups, except you’re moving forward.

weekly

Growing Like A Weed

By Cole Fullmer

Utah’s medical cannabis industry could be described as a rapidly growing weed. Pharmacy doors have been open for over two-years now, and that means an entire industry spanning cultivation, processing, and pharmacies has been created to service the nearly 60,000 patients who have registered in the state.

Since Federal cannabis laws still remain in effect, interstate commerce is not permitted for legal cannabis companies around the country. This means, states with legal cannabis programs must be reliant on their own industry to produce cannabis for their patients or adult-use consumers.

Currently, there are 23 different companies providing products and services for Utah’s growing patient population. Eight of those companies are cultivating cannabis, 14 companies are turning state grown cannabis into various products, and one independent lab is testing these products before they land in pharmacies around the state.

At the beginning of 2022, the Center for Medical Cannabis reported there were a total of 451 pharmacy agents (budtenders) working at the 14 pharmacies found throughout the state. The Department of Agriculture reported there were 344 registered employees holding cultivation positions, while another 349 were working in processing labs. That’s a total of 1,144 planttouching, tax paying employees in Utah created by weed.

It didn’t always used to be that way. When patients first walked through pharmacy doors during 2020, product selection was slim and undeveloped compared to other existing markets. Although cultivation, processing, and pharmacy licenses had been awarded in 2019, it would take some companies up to two years before they started operations and hired employees.

The joy that came from supporting legal cannabis was about the only benefit patients were getting when walking into Utah’s pot-shops the last twoyears. Much like black-market dealers, patients were given two options when shopping for meds in Utah – take it or leave it. Now, things have changed, and an industry once restricted to the shadows is now beginning to light up Utah – and more importantly – its patients with quality medicine.

Although the staff at Salt Baked City has had the luxury of being legal cannabis consumers since pharmacy doors first opened in Utah during March of 2020, that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about our black-market days. Buying cannabis didn’t used to be so easy, and it’s even safer to say that the selection of cannabis products has quite literally exploded with quality and new possibilities.

Here are some statistics reported by the Center for Medical Cannabis in October:

The number of active patients decreased by 1% to 53,956 patients in July, then increased 4% to 56,309 patients in August. Most medical cannabis states evolve to adult-use states when at least 1% of the population becomes registered patients. Go get your card Utah!

In August, 839 active Qualified Medical Providers (QMP) were participating in the program.

22 new QMP’s joined the program in August.

In July, persistent pain was the most common qualifying condition for medical cannabis, followed by PTSD Vape Cartridges and vape pens were the most commonly sold products, followed by cannabis flower in July.

To dive deeper into the weeds and Utah’s medical cannabis program – make sure to visit www.saltbakedcity.com for more news and information.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

Gotorealastrology.comforRobBrezsny’sexpandedweeklyaudiohoroscopesanddailytext-messagehoroscopes. Audiohoroscopesalsoavailablebyphoneat877-873-4888or900-950-7700.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Of all the rich philanthropists in the world, Aries author MacKenzie Scott is the most generous. During a recent 12-month period, she gave away $8.5 billion. Her focus is on crucial issues: racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, pandemic relief, upholding and promoting democracy and addressing the climate emergency. She disburses her donations quickly and without strings attached, and prefers to avoid hoopla and ego aggran dizement. I suggest we make her your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. May she motivate you to gleefully share your unique gifts and blessings. I think you will reap selfish benefits by exploring the perks of generosity. Halloween costume sug gestion: philanthropist, Santa Claus, compassion freak.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

What animal best represents your soul? Which species do you love the most? Now would be a good time to try this imagina tive exercise. You’re in a phase when you’ll thrive by nurturing your inner wild thing. You will give yourself blessings by stoking your creature intelligence. All of us are part beast, and this is your special time to foster the beauty of your beast. Halloween costume suggestion: your favorite animal or the animal that symbolizes your soul.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

During the tyrannical reign of Spain’s fascist government in the 1930s, Gemini poet Federico García Lorca creatively resisted and revolted with great courage. One critic said Lorca “was all freedom inside, abandon and wildness. A tulip, growing at the foot of a concrete bulwark.” I invite you to be inspired by Lorca’s untamed, heartfelt beauty in the coming weeks, Gemini. It’s a favorable time to rebel with exuberance against the thing that bothers you most, whether that’s bigotry, injustice, misogyny, creeping authoritarianism or anything else. Halloween costume suggestion: a high-spirited protester.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

If the trickster god Mercury gave you permission to do one mischievous thing today and a naughty thing tomorrow and a rascally thing two days from now, what would you choose? Now is the perfect time for you Cancerians to engage in rogu ish, playful, puckish actions. You are especially likely to get away with them, karma-free—and probably even benefit from them—especially if they are motivated by love. Are you inter ested in taking advantage of this weird grace period? Halloween costume suggestion: prankster, joker, fairy, elf.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Everyone’s mind constantly chatters with agitated fervor— what I call the ever-flickering flux. We might as well accept this as a fundamental element of being human. It’s a main feature, not a bug. Yet there are ways to tone down the inner commo tion. Meditation can help. Communing with nature often works. Doing housework sometimes quells the clamor for me. The good news for you, Leo, is that you’re in a phase when it should be easier than usual to cultivate mental calm. Halloween cos tume suggestion: meditation champion; tranquility superstar; gold medalist in the relaxation tournament.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

“Education is an admirable thing,” said author Oscar Wilde. “But it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” What?! That’s an exasperating theory. I don’t like it. In fact, I protest it. I reject it. I am especially opposed to it right now as I contemplate your enhanced power to learn amazing lessons and useful knowledge and life-changing wisdom. So here’s my message for you, Virgo: What Oscar Wilde said does not apply to you these days. Now get out there and soak up all the inspiring teachings that are available to you. Halloween costume suggestion: top student.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

For Halloween, I suggest you costume yourself as a character you were in a past life. A jeweler in first-century Rome? A midwife in 11th-century China? A salt trader in 14th-century Timbuktu? If you don’t have intuitions about your past lives, invent one. Who knows? You might make an accurate guess. Why? Because now is an excellent time to re-access resources and powers and potentials you possessed long ago—even as far back as your previous incarnations.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

I guess it would be difficult to create a practical snake costume for Halloween. How would you move around? You’d have to slither across the floor and the ground everywhere you go. So maybe instead you could be a snake priest or snake priestess—a magic conjurer wearing snake-themed jewelry and clothes and crown. Maybe your wand could be a caduceus. I’m nudging you in this direction because I think you will benefit from embodying the mythic attributes of a snake. As you know, the creature sheds its old skin to let new skin emerge. That’s a perfect symbol for rebirth, fertility, transformation and healing. I’d love those themes to be your specialties in the coming weeks.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

“I need my sleep,” proclaimed Sagittarian comedian Bill Hicks. “I need about eight hours a day and about 10 at night.” I don’t think you will need as much slumber as Hicks in the coming nights, Sagittarius. On the other hand, I hope you won’t scrimp on your travels in the land of dreams. Your decisions will improve as you give yourself maximum rest. The teachings you will be given while dreaming will make you extra smart and responsive to the transformations unfolding in your waking life. Halloween costume suggestion: dancing sleepwalker; snoozing genius; angel banishing a nightmare; fantastic dream creature.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Recently, my mom told me my dad only spoke the Slovakian language, never English, until he started first grade in a school near Detroit, Michigan. Both of his parents had grown up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but immigrated to the United States in their youth. When I related this story to my Slovakian cousin Robert Brežny, he assured me it’s not true. He met my dad’s mother several times, and he says she could not speak Slovakian. He thinks she was Hungarian, in fact. So it’s unlikely my dad spoke Slovakian as a child. I guess all families have odd secrets and mysteries and illusions, and this is one of mine. How about you, Capricorn? I’m happy to say that the coming months will be a favorable time to dig down to the roots of your family’s secrets and mysteries and illusions. Get started! Halloween costume suggestion: your most fascinating ancestor.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

An Aquarian friend told me, “If a demon turned me into a monster who had to devour human beings to get my necessary protein, I would only eat evil billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.” What about you, Aquarius? If you woke up and found you had transformed into a giant wolf-dragon that ate people, who would you put on your menu? I think it’s a good time to meditate on this hypothetical question. You’re primed to activate more ferocity as you decide how you want to fight the world’s evil in the months and years to come. Halloween costume suggestion: a giant wolf-dragon that eats bad people.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

Do you value the feeling of wildness? Is that an experience you seek? If so, what conditions rouse it? How does it feel? Does it have a healthy impact? Are you motivated by your plea surable brushes with wildness to reconfigure the unsatisfying and unwild parts of your life? These are questions I hope you will contemplate in the coming weeks. The astrological omens suggest you have more power than usual to access wildness. Halloween costume suggestion: whatever makes you feel wild.

BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK

URBAN

DELAY

Scary Changes

To many, change is scary. And big chang es are coming to Salt Lake neighbor hoods since the city council voted to loosen zoning laws and ease ordinances.

After years of debate, grumblings and public input, citizens will find that boarding houses are a thing again, the west side Tiny Home Village has been approved, builders will not be required to carve out as much parking for their projects as in the past and the Ball park area will be getting zoning changes.

Ballpark has been a mess of development without long-range planning, which has caused a pattern of more cars than foot traf fic, big box stores (Walmart, Lowe’s) and large apartment buildings taking up land. But the recent changes will create a “Ballpark Station Area Transit Station Area zone,” which the city is calling the “Heart of the Neighborhood.”

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It will reportedly reconfigure the Ballpark Trax station to improve access from the west and make it easier to navigate for pedestrians on 1300 South, with new and improved cross ings and added green space around Smith’s Ballpark stadium. Mind you, no one is sure the Salt Lake Bees will still be there in a few years, but for now, it’s a landmark to build around and improve the neighborhood experience.

There are 45 pages of parking ordinances created in 2019 that are being updated to in clude new minimums and maximums for the parking spaces required of new construc tion, electric vehicle parking, more accessible parking (the capital city is not known for an abundance of handicapped/accessible park ing), bike parking, off-street loading areas and drive-thrus.

Shared housing was big in the 1800s and 1900s as an affordable housing alternative, and boarding houses will now be allowed in all Transit Station Areas [TSA], in downtown, in the Sugarhouse Central Business District and in several other zones, with a minimum bedroom size of 100-square-feet per person, 24-hour on-site management and security cameras, except in bathrooms.

Another item that spooks homeowners— changes to RMF-30 zoning, which is tradition ally a lower-density, multi-family residential district. This would eliminate the minimum width of a lot (currently the rule is 80-feet wide) for multi-family dwellings. This poten tially allows for more accessory dwelling units [ADUs] and tiny homes to be added to current properties that formerly didn’t have a wide enough lot to put in an addition.

RMF zoning exists mainly on the city’s east side, and this change would allow for more density—something NIMBYs are opposed to as a change in their ’hood. The downside is that a home could be torn down and replaced with multi-units, meaning potentially more traffic and parking problems. A huge part of the discussion for changes to this zoning is a “housing loss mitigation”—people don’t want homes torn down and replaced with multiunits. This adds to loss of place and gentrifi cation as we see neighborhoods decimated by aggressive developers throughout the city.

Time to take off your masks and rip off the bloody bandages, Salt Lake. Life here and around the state is changing fast, and if you don’t pay attention, you’ll end up falling into an open grave! n

DOWNTOWN