City Weekly June 15, 2023

BY JARED BLACKLEY

SAP

BOX

@SLCWEEKLY @SLCWEEKLY @CITYWEEKLY

Ride With Pride

[Editor’s note: The following letter was sent by members of the Salt Lake City Council to members of Utah’s legislative leadership. It is reproduced here in its entirety.]

To all who represent Utahns in the Utah State Legislature: We are writing to express our deep concern and disappointment about the complaints made by legislators that led to the removal of the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) pride-wrapped bus from the Utah Pride Parade.

UTA provides an essential service for all members of our community, regard-

less of sexual preference, gender identity, income, age or race.

The Pride rainbow stands as a welcome sign to all, especially the most marginalized, that we are safe to ride.

The pressure to exclude the bus from the parade sends a disheartening message to the LGBTQIA+ community and undermines progress toward inclusivity, belonging and acceptance.

Lawmakers asking for an apology from UTA reinforce the message that government systems can decide that some people do not belong; it reminds us of Rosa Parks being expected to give up her seat for a white passenger.

As lawmakers who represent all Utahns, your opportunity is to invest taxpayer funds responsibly and create an environment where all individuals feel safe and valued. And that includes transit.

Rather than being considered a political statement, we applaud UTA’s display of inclusion and use of the bus with pride wrapping—which was privately funded— that would have served as a powerful symbol of support, demonstrating that Utah

embraces diversity and stands against intentional exclusion and discrimination of all kinds.

We must remember the LGBTQIA+ community continues to face unique challenges and often encounters prejudice right here in the Utah cities they love dearly. In the spirit of unity and compassion, we wish the Pride Parade could have been used as a time to focus on the well-being of our fellow citizens and to uphold the values of inclusivity, respect, and love.

By always keeping that in mind, we, as lawmakers in our great state, can effectively embrace our communities’ differences and celebrate our shared humanity.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We have the power to build a community that cherishes the goodness in every individual and helps them feel safe, supported, and valued.

With hope for a more inclusive future,

DARIN MANO (Chairman, District 5)

CHRIS WHARTON (District 3)

ALEJANDRO

“The Holy Firewall,”

Greetings from Salt Lake City, home of Mormonism BS and the infringement of civil rights. Here, you can’t even look at topless ladies without the anti-porn police checking.

Last time I checked, if you wished to view adult sites, magazines and/or DVDs in the privacy of your own home, you were allowed to, as long as you meet legal age requirements set forth by federal laws, rules and regulations—not some religious organization or those who grew up in sheltered homes.

I moved here from Tennessee and have worked in an adult book store. I see [bills like SB 287] as an infringement on First Amendment rights and will not sit back quietly. What people view in the privacy of their homes is their business. People in SLC need to wake up and realize this and take back their God-given freedoms and vote these idiots out of office, including the governor.

PATRICK B. RAMSEY Salt Lake City

THE WATER COOLER

What does Salt Lake City need?

Wes Long

Better water conservation, alternative energy, an infrastructure that is centered around living creatures and not things.

Katharine Biele

How about a real plan for growth and sustainability, a plan to preserve, create and innovate. Right now, it’s anything goes—with money as the driver.

Benjamin Wood

We need another professional sports team, with a venue that’s actually designed for a city. I know there’s a lot of draa-maa! around the Bees, the MLB, the NHL, Ballpark, Daybreak, taxpayer subsidies, etc., but Salt Lake is a real-ass city with a real-ass economy and the Delta Center is a dead zone if you’re not inside it (though some of that blame lies with UDOT for its awful stretch of 300 West).

Scott Renshaw

A Legislature that doesn’t treat its capital city like something shameful that they’d cede to another state if they could.

Kelly Boyce

More water—mainly for pool parties and longer showers but also so we can survive and what not.

Paula Saltas

More diverse restaurants.

PUY (District 2) Salt Lake City

BY CHRISTOPHER SMART

OPINION Trump’s Magic Act

It’s time for liberals, progressives, Democrats, independents and just about everybody else to recognize that we owe the once and future king, Donald Trump, a big thank you and vote of gratitude—where else can you get entertainment like this?

It’s so sidesplitting and hilarious that it belongs in the pantheon of comedy slapstick right alongside It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Dr. Strangelove. He would even make Shakespeare envious, although his work skews more toward King Lear than Much Ado About Nothing. What genius it takes to appeal to both hedge fund managers and coal miners, to yachtsmen and bikers, to white nationalists and bigots.

For some, he appears as A Man for All Seasons, although, for many, he recalls The Madness of King George. In any event, he leaves his audiences on the edge of their seats, as though unable to turn away from a bloody accident accompanied by an organ grinder and a monkey.

Despite Trump’s age, the hits just keep coming. His latest productions, Hush Money for the Harlot, I Have a Secret and Winning Through Intimidation, look to be blockbusters. Reminiscent of escape artist Harry Houdini, Donald’s next act promises to include magic—or at least magical thinking: I’m an Innocent Man.

Pride Bus Drives GOP Lawmakers Over the Edge

Now don’t go thinking our nice, white, Mormon legislators have queerphobia. Not at all. When they flipped out over a Utah Transit Authority bus that was scheduled to run in the Utah Pride Parade sporting an ad that read “Work With Pride,” it was to make sure that state taxpayer-

funded entities follow their “true mission”—and not because they’re bigoted culture warriors.

The bus ad—paid for by two local advertising agencies—ran in the 2022 parade and was in service until June 2 of this year, when all hell broke loose. “This is causing me a whole bunch of drama right now inside my caucus,”

Utah House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, texted to a UTA boss. When asked, he told the Deseret News: “[I]f we have state agencies that continue to go into the areas that are controversial, then all things would be on the table.” Yeah, like their heads.

Think of it: If children saw that bus, they could turn into drag queens. OMG! The “woke” ideology is stamping out good conservative discrimination and pushing the notion that even freaks have rights. What’s going to happen when boys become girls, and girls become boys? Who’s going to do the housework? If men marry men and women marry women, who’s going to have the babies? And if women become men, and men become women, what’s going to happen to our national religion: football? God help us.

LDS Leaders to Faithful: What Would Jesus Do?

The top brass at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done something mind blowing: They are advising the faithful to vote for political candidates who are more Christlike.

Holy smokes! You’re right, Wilson, it’s a real conversation stopper. Utah is a red state, and the vast majority of voters are Mormons who reflexively vote Republican, according to Salt Lake Tribune sports/religious pundit Gordon Monson. “It hasn’t mattered if candidates are inferior to their opponents or completely unsuitable for office. Candidates with an ‘R’ next to their name are in and whoever they are running against are out.”

OK, here’s a test: when you hear the name “Sen. Mike Lee,” do you think of Jesus Christ or a crypto-currency trader? When you hear the name “Rep. Burgess Owens,” do you think of Saint Peter or the peddler of multi-level marketing schemes? When you hear the name of (soon-

to-be-former) “Rep. Chris Stewart,” do you think of Saint Paul or a used-car salesman?

Maybe church bigwigs are aiming too high. What if they just said: Vote for people who aren’t lying hypocrites and who put country ahead of party? You’re right, Wilson, we’re being ridiculous. The whole point of religion is to keep people from thinking for themselves—kinda like the GOP. It is, after all, for their own safety—thinking could get them into some very deep ... um, fertilizer.

Postscript—That’s going to do it for another beautiful week behind the Zion Curtain, where the staff here at Smart Bomb keeps track of gerrymandering so you don’t have to. Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Georgia Republicans are guilty of gerrymandering to keep Blacks out of office, four Utah congressmen—Chris Stewart, Burgess Owens, John Curtis and Blake Moore— say the U.S. Constitution doesn’t say stink about the practice, so you can take your Utah lawsuit, fold it five ways and stick it where the moon don’t shine.

They’re talking about an action brought by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government that alleges voting maps drawn by the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature look like a jigsaw puzzle made by a drunk. In 2018, Utah voters approved the formation of a nonpartisan commission to draw voting maps. But it was summarily neutered by Republican lawmakers.

Tribune soothsayer Robert Gehrke reminds us that the Utah Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to vote in free and fair elections. For their part, GOP lawmakers say that everyone can vote and their ballot does count—just as long as it’s a Republican vote. See, a oneparty state works just fine. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. CW

Private Eye is off this week. Christopher Smart writes a weekly “Smart Bomb” column at cityweekly.net. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

MISS: Walk the Plank

Maybe there’s no such thing as dialogue anymore. The world has become so polarized that ideas have become the stuff of target practice by the fringe elements of our society. Take an otherwise benign proposal to get people thinking about 15-minute cities.

“It is an old, seemingly innocuous idea among city planners: The closer you live to your workplace, shops, schools and other amenities, the better your quality of life will be,” Chris Stanford wrote for The New York Times. The Deseret News headlined it “Strolling into Controversy.” Say what? The UK’s Nick Fletcher, a conservative politician, calls walkable communities an international socialist concept to take away personal freedoms and worsen the epidemic of alienation, the News reports. Even if it were the goal, cities would be hard-pressed to implement such a dystopian plan. The plan is to limit cars in a fight against climate change, a great idea if you accommodate other ways for people to get around. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It can be something good.

HIT: Healthy Debates

You’ve heard it claimed before—America has the best health care in the world. But not only are we not in the Top 10, the United States ranks last compared with six other industrialized nations, according to the Commonwealth Fund. But The Salt Lake Tribune does have Andy Larsen keeping watch over health care costs and how exactly Utah hospitals are handling the public welfare. That’s “welfare” as in health and happiness—not government handouts. Patient rights groups have found that only eight of 20 hospitals studied complied with federal transparency rules for costs. Larsen gives readers resources to navigate a confusing system that could cost from $22,000 to $124,000 for a total knee replacement. State Auditor John Dougall, like any Republican, hopes that shopping for health care will reduce costs. But get real, people often don’t have a choice. “Put simply, it isn’t working, and doesn’t seem likely to work moving forward,” Larsen says. We need a systemic overhaul. If that’s unlikely, it’s only because of a lack of will.

MISS: Spring Cleaning

Life is a risk. Ask anyone. But just what risks are the average homeowner willing to take? Perhaps the longestrunning story over toxic cleanups is Daybreak, where Kennecott Utah Copper spent 20 years digging away the tailings that would allow the masterplanned community. Some residents do complain of things from rashes to cancer, but the community persists. Now a developer wants to transform the former uranium mines in Leeds’ historic Silver Reef for 100 homes on 148 acres, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Oh, and that’s uranium, not copper tailings. While there are strong voices proclaiming that a cleanup is possible and safe, opponents say the voluntary process is fraught with problems. Are they problems money can solve or problems money will bury?

Get Into Shape

Ask for directions to somewhere and you’re likely to get two types of responses. One is a strict, quantifiable catalog of distances, directions and streets (“head south on McClelland Street for a quarter-mile …”). The other is a mishmash listing of points of interest, unique sights and travel times (“go about 5 minutes until you hit the red building, then turn left”).

Due to Salt Lake’s street grid, both methods have a commonality: shapes. For the analytical minded, the grid is a Cartesian coordinate system, making distinct connecting paths as you travel from points A to B to C and back to A.

And since the grid network correlates with more frequent intersections, qualitative explainers have an abundance of landmarks—typically indicated by color, size and yes, shape—to choose from. I mean, it is called Temple “Square” for a reason, after all.

However, this is not the only way geometry pops up while cruising around Salt Lake. Whether it’s the hyperbolic triangles of a sun shade on a patio or the trapezoidal barriers forming the new chicanes on McClelland Street near Elm Avenue, shapes of all makes and sizes abound.

Unsurprisingly, schools—where the subject of math is unavoidable—are bursting with them. Even kids in recess at Highland Park Elementary School on 2700 South near Melbourne Street can’t escape basic shapes, as they are imprinted on retaining walls (below, left).

As for uninquisitive adults, driving on roundabouts like the one on Wasatch Drive near the University of Utah Dumke Family Softball Stadium (below, right), may be one of the few times they contemplate geometry nowadays.

But for me, square pyramids—like the ones above the entrance to the Granite Technical Institute on Oak Avenue and Main Street (above photo)—are my favorite. Depending on the angle and time of day, their appearance varies. At street level, it’s just an assortment of shadowed triangles but from above, it looks like you’re in the middle of an oversize game of Tetris.

I could go on (much to the dismay of the math-phobic, I’m sure), but it looks like the bell rang. Class dismissed! CW

A pattern of repeating pyramidal shapes can be seen above the entrance to the Granite Technical Institute.

Left: Geometric shapes decorate a retaining wall at Highland Park Elementary. Right: A circular intersection at the

Mail Pattern Boldness

Author Will Grant explores Western fact and mythology during The Last Ride of the Pony Express

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

At one point in his non-fiction book

The Last Ride of the Pony Express, writer Will Grant—who spent the summer of 2019 on horseback re-tracing the route of the original Pony Express from Missouri to California—attempts to sum up why the mail route has become so iconic in the popular consciousness, despite lasting just over 18 months from 1860 – 1861. “The details don’t matter,” Grant writes. “The immutable essence of the Pony Express is what matters. The spanning of the West by horseback couriers as a bold expression of the frontier psyche is what matters.”

“‘Why do we remember the Pony Express’ is a question that I found very difficult to answer,” Grant says by phone from his home in New Mexico. “It’s very digestible for people, sort of self-explanatory: It involves some swashbuckling young men running horses with the mail.”

As Grant sets out on his own journey in Last Ride, he’s clear about the fact that he’s not attempting to duplicate that “swashbuckling” spirit from 150 years ago. Where those riders took only a matter of days to transfer mail over some 2000 miles, Grant planned to spend months on a route through Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada before reaching California. Along the way, he hoped to learn something not just about a historical event from the Wild West, but about the nature

of the contemporary American West. What he discovered is that there’s still a connection between some Western mythology and the way people still live in the region. “Most clearly, it’s a sense of independence,” Grant says. “I think this sense comes from remoteness, the distance between towns, so the landscape is certainly part of it. But … the people make the West. They are the ones who live there. And a lot of places, it’s still a very organic relationship between the people and the land. There are some ‘role-players’ out there, but for the most part, I felt the demographic of the West is still a product of the land.”

Grant also believes that his encounters with these people couldn’t have resulted in such honest conversations if he hadn’t chosen the particular method of travel that he did, lending him immediate credibility with his interview subjects. “A lot of the rural west is agricultural people, ranches,” he says. “So for a traveling horseman, this is a pretty good environment to travel through. … Because I was traveling by horseback, I was familiar with their way of life, so there was common ground. … I think they wanted a very non-judgmental, straight-faced account of who they are, and what they deal with.”

As much as he was interested in today’s real people, however, Grant was also interested in the way the history of the West has become entangled with mythology— of the Pony Express in particular, and of the West in general. Over the course of his journey, he encounters several museums and monuments to the Pony Express, with the expected mix of fact and heroworship. “Some were pretty interested in the history, really the specifics of where the stations were, and whether this man rode for the Pony Express or not,” he says. “There were certainly people dedicated to … clearing up misinformation. That said, there were plenty of people for whom the mythology was important. My conclusion was that the riders traveled at a slower pace, but a lot of people I encountered really didn’t want to hear that.”

Even while taking a much slower pace than the actual Pony Express riders, Grant came to understand how remarkable that achievement was, as well as why it couldn’t last—simple realities like the distance between water sources in Utah’s West Desert and Nevada. And as a horseman himself, he knew that the amount of riding and pace required “would beat you up. A month of that would be hard work.”

Yet as he traversed a part of the country that at times felt exactly like it would have been in 1860, and at other times radically changed by human intervention, he learned that there were both positives and negatives associated with the mythos of the American West.

“It helps us because it gives us an optimism,” Grant says. “It can provide you with a sense of identity and context for the present. The worst is that we can misinterpret history and fail to make sound decisions about the future. My personal opinion is, romanticizing the Pony Express by thinking they ran their horses all the time is not to great detriment; it’s just horses we’re talking about. But if we misinterpret some of the nature of the settlement of the West, or the character of some of the men manning the stations, then we can get ourselves in trouble. You’ve got to recognize the mysticism. Let’s all make sure we know that those ideas are out there.” CW

WILL GRANT: THE LAST RIDE OF THE PONY EXPRESS

The King’s English Bookshop 1511 S. 1500 East Friday, June 16 5 p.m. Free, but reserved seating recommended via Eventbrite kingsenglish.com

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Gary Vlasic: Fever Dreams

Creeping up on its one-year anniversary, Current Work Contemporary Art has been providing both a consultation service for individuals and businesses looking to support and install contemporary art, and a gallery space with exciting exhibitions to support the work of local and regional contemporary artists. It’s the latter that becomes the focus this week, as Current Work uses the Gallery Stroll week to showcase the work of veteran Salt Lake City artist Gary Vlasic.

Fever Dreams finds Vlasic creating images based on pieces found in fashion magazines; he then enhances the original images with ink, paint and photo transfers. The longtime fixture in the local art community—Vlasic has served on the board of directors of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and NOW-ID Dance Company, as well as having a permanent installation in the Weber County Library in Ogden—describes this series in his artist statement as “feverish pursuits of motion and emotion.” They’re built on the idea of life itself as collage, filled with a deluge of Information Age data and images that we’re required to respond to and make sense of.

Gary Vlasic’s Fever Dreams shows at Current Work (826 S. 500 West, Suite 2) in the Granary District as part of the June Gallery Stroll on Friday, June 16, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.; the exhibition continues through July 7 on an appointment basis. Many additional local galleries participate in the monthly Gallery Stroll, with a full list and additional information at gallerystroll.org. For more information about Current Work and its exhibitions, visit currentwork.art or call 801-230-4410. (Scott

Renshaw)

theESSENTIALS ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, JUNE

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Juneteenth Celebrations

The story of Juneteenth is one of waiting too long for the arrival of good news, so it’s sadly appropriate that it too until 2022 for it to be recognized as a Utah state holiday for the first time. Now that it is finally a day of rest and reflection for many people, there are several ways to celebrate locally.

The biggest such event in Utah is the 34th annual Juneteenth Freedom & Heritage Festival in Ogden, sponsored by the Project Success Coalition. Taking place over several days, but focused on the weekend of June 17-18, the festival includes a showcase two days of concerts at Ogden Amphitheater (343 E. 25th St.), with headliners DJTJ and Nmotion on Saturday, and the George Brown Jazz Ensemble on Sunday. Other festival offerings include a 5-on-5 basketball tournament and 3-point shootout on Saturday, plus Golden Clipper Barber Battle and The Crown Braid Battle on Sunday. Visit projectsuccessinc.org for full schedule of events and additional information.

Meanwhile, The Gateway hosts SLC’s own Juneteenth festivities. The free community event takes place on Monday, June 19 from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., and features a Black-owned businesses expo of vendor booths, plus an art exhibition, food trucks, live music and other entertainment, a barber battle, kids’ activities and live storytelling. Visit atthegateway.com/calendar for additional information.

For something a little different, SLC is one of several cities nationwide participating in reenactments of the 1970s Ebony Fashion Fairs. Head to the International Peace Garden (1000 S. 900 West) at 2 p.m. for a poetry reading and fashion show, plus competition for best-dressed African-American-inspired Fashion Enthusiasts. Visit internationalpeacegardens.org for info. (Scott

Renshaw)

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Broadway at the Eccles: Les Misérables

The line between “opera” and “musical theater” is often an arbitrary one, but it’s hard to argue that the former term isn’t particularly appropriate when applied to Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s stage adaptation of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. The through-sung story is full of grand music, tragic deaths, romance and an epic historical setting—all of it with a theatrical staging that has proved remarkably dazzling to generations of theater-goers. As “Les Miz” approaches the 40th anniversary of its English-language version and holds a status as one of the 10 longest-running Broadway shows of all time, it has lost none of its emotional power.

Set in early 1800s France, it follows the story of Jean Valjean (Nick Cartell), a man imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, and whose escape from parole sets in motion a pursuit by the relentless inspector Javert (Preston Truman Boyd) over the course of nearly 20 years. He also becomes involved in a student uprising, as Valjean’s adopted daughter Cosette falls in love with young revolutionary Marius. As the events spin toward war and final confrontations, the show offers up a series of instantly-memorable songs: “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?” “One Day More,” “On My Own,” “A Little Fall of Rain” and many more. It’s spectacular, yet intimately human.

The current touring production of Les Misérables stops in at the Eccles Theater (131 S. Main St.) June 20 – July 2. Limited seats remain for the 15-show run as of press time; visit arttix.org for tickets and additional event information. (SR)

MATTHEW MURPHY AND EVAN ZIMMERMAN

Water, Water Everywhere

A record-breaking winter gave the Great Salt Lake a boost, but only a change in how Utahns use water will save it.

BY JARED BLACKLEY comments@cityweekly.net

On Nov. 18, 2022—following several early-season snowstorms and weeks of consistently cold weather—Alta, Snowbird and Snowbasin all opened for the winter ski season, two weeks earlier than originally planned. And by that point, three other Utah resorts had already started running the lifts.

Brianhead, a more than three-hour trip south of Salt Lake City, was the first to open on Nov. 4—the earliest opening in its history and the fourth earliest in the state’s history overall. Throughout Utah, there was optimism that the 2022-2023 winter would be a wet one.

It wasn’t until Nov. 23, however, that the effects of those early storms were noticeable at the Great Salt Lake. The previous day it had, for the umpteenth time in the past couple of years, reached a new historic low—bottoming out at an estimated 4,188.2 feet above sea level.

At that point, the water level was so low that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge at the Saltair boat harbor could no longer make an accurate measurement.

But how wet the winter ended up being, of course, exceeded all expectations. Several ski resorts shattered total snowfall records. Alta had, by most measurements, the most snow of any resort in the lower-48, topping out at 903 total inches for the year, blowing past its previous record by nearly 13 feet.

According to data from the Utah Division of Water Rights, the amount of liquid water contained in the snowpack was more than 30 inches—almost twice the annual average—and a number of areas, including those that directly affect the Great Salt Lake, were at more than 40 inches.

“We are in uncharted territory,” Kim Wells, the communications director for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), wrote in an email. “We have never seen this much snow since snowpack measuring began.”

A s of early June, about three-quarters of that snowpack had melted. A limited amount of flooding, washed-out roads and landslides have come with it, but the state’s reservoirs—with the notable exception of Southern Utah’s Lake Powell—are mostly full or expected to be full within a few weeks. Though most of the state remains classified as “abnormally dry” by the National Drought Mitigation Center, it is a dramatic improvement from this point in time last year, when virtually all of Utah was listed in “severe drought.”

This abundance of water has boded well for the Great Salt Lake, and not a moment too soon. Since its lowest point in November, it has risen over 5 feet to an elevation of 4,193.8 feet above sea level. Boats have begun returning to the harbors, which have been completely dry for the last couple years.

Data from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (DFFSL) show that saline levels in November—when the Great Salt Lake was at its lowest level—were at a record high of about 185 grams per liter. At that level, brine shrimp—which are the most saline-tolerant species on earth—tend to go into a so-called “survival mode.”

Activity slows. Reproduction levels drop. The millions of

migratory birds that stop at the lake to feed and/or breed on their remarkable journeys find less to eat. The brine shrimp industry at the Great Salt Lake, which accounts for approximately 40% of the world’s brine shrimp aquaculture, suffers.

According to the DFFSL, a healthy saline level in the autumn—when the brine shrimp harvest occurs—is between 120 to 160 grams per liter. And After the record-breaking winter and subsequent rise of lake levels, saline levels are currently around 140 to 145 grams per liter.

In many ways, the lake is rebounding, and there are a number of reasons to be hopeful. But any optimism should be tapered by prudence. “Utahns would be remiss to hope for wet years as a strategy to preserve the Great Salt Lake,” said Sarah Null, an associate professor of watershed sciences at Utah State University.

Null’s statement reflects the opinion of most researchers. One would be hardpressed to find an expert on the subject who suggests that getting the lake back to a healthy water level is going to be easy.

One record-shattering winter is not going to do it and the conditions are unlikely to consistently repeat. The recent months have been an “anomaly,” said biology professor Bonnie Baxter, director of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College.

“We literally need another couple years with this ridiculous amount of snow—in a row,” she said. “And that’s very unlikely.”

Saline Solutions

Scott Paxman is the general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District. In an effort to ensure its reservoirs are filled in a way that minimizes the risk of flooding and uncontrolled releases, he said the district—the second largest in the state—has delivered approximately 700,000 acre-feet to the Great Salt Lake since March (one acre foot is equal to 325,850 gallons).

“The deliveries have been approximately 2.4 billion gallons of water per day,” Paxman said.

Data from the USGS gauges located near the Great Salt Lake on its three main tributaries—the Weber, Bear and Jordan Rivers—report total inflows of more than 1.2 million acre feet since February. Nearly two-thirds of all water in the Great Salt Lake comes from these tributaries, while 30% comes from direct precipitation and 3% from groundwater.

The increased inflow has helped to stabilize saline levels that were rapidly approaching a breaking point. Ben Stireman—the Sovereign Lands Program Administrator with the DFFSL—said there are a number of factors that determine how much saline levels fluctuate, but those levels are generally lowest in the spring.

A s water is diverted away from the lake for consumptive uses, and as the summer heat causes water to evaporate, saline levels increase.

“It is tough to predict where salinity levels will be in the fall,” Stireman said, “because it is based on how much water evaporates over the course of the summer. In a typical year, salinity raises about 35 grams per liter.”

continued on p. 22

Matt Yost, an agroclimate extention specialist at Utah State University, said that farmers should be incentivized to optimize their water use, but not necessarily to stop irrigating their land entirely. “A [land] fallowing program should consider the comprehensive cost and impact and try to compensate for that,” he said.

Scott Paxman, general manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, said his team preemptively sent roughly 2.4 billion gallons of water to the Great Salt Lake every day this spring to get ahead of runoff flooding in northern Utah.

The inference is that, even though the lake is currently at a saline level considered to be healthy for brine shrimp, it will likely climb back outside of that range by the end of the year.

Because the Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake—meaning that rivers flow into it but not away from it— water leaves mainly through evaporation. And according to the USGS, an average of 2.5 million acre-feet of water evaporate from it each year. When the lake first reached a new all-time low—in July 2021—that level was 4,191.3 feet above sea level. Between that time and November 2022 (or 16 months), it fell by another 3.1 feet.

Those trends suggest that a dry summer and fall— which Utah has experienced for most of the past two decades—could leave the lake levels only slightly improved heading into 2024. Null said that over the past two decades, Utah has experienced one wetter-thanaverage year for every five drier-than-average years.

“Wet years are amazingly helpful,” Null said, “and we should leverage them to deliver as much water to the Great Salt Lake as is possible.”

Compared to July of 2021, the Great Salt Lake is up roughly 2.5 feet. But assuming the trend of five dry years to every one wet year continues, the lake could set a new all-time low within two to three years—unless, that is, a significant amount of water is supplied to the Great Salt Lake by a means other than Mother Nature’s bounty.

In 2016, Null was part of a team of experts at Utah State University who used a hydrological model to compare the difference between past and current annual depletions at the lake and its historical fluctuations in elevation. Although the lake rises and shrinks naturally due to climatic conditions, the researchers concluded that there has been “no significant long-term change in precipitation and water supply from mountain tributaries since the pioneers arrived in 1847” and that “water development and river diversions … have produced a persistent reduction in water supply to the lake.”

Most experts agree that a healthy lake level falls somewhere between 4,198 and 4,205 feet in elevation. But to reach that point, the way most Utahns view water use needs to change.

Zachary Frankel is the executive director of the Utah Rivers Council and one of the most vocal critics of water policy in Utah. In a Zoom call in the fall of 2022, he said Utahns use almost 300 gallons of water per person per day, which is “twice the national average and almost three times as much as Phoenix or Las Vegas.”

And the way Utahns pay for water, he said, is a big part of the problem. “Utah is the second-driest state in the nation,” Frankel said. “It doesn’t make much sense that we have the cheapest water.”

Use More, Pay More

During the 2022 state legislative session—which leaders hailed as the “year of water”—a team of researchers and experts was established to assess the policies that lawmakers have enacted in regard to the declining water levels at the Great Salt Lake and to suggest additional policy options prior to the 2023 legislative session. This team, which called itself “Strike Force,” consisted of experts from the University of Utah, Utah State University and several governmental agencies.

According to the team’s assessment, more than 90% of Utahns pay water rates that are subsidized by revenues unrelated to water use, such as property and sales taxes and business valuations. And some of the biggest water users in the state—churches, universities and municipal golf courses—are largely exempt from paying property taxes, meaning they don’t share in the taxpayer burden of those water subsidies.

The Strike Force noted that a tiered water-pricing system—in which those who use large quantities of water are charged at higher rates—is viewed by economists as a “Pareto improvement,” or public policy that is beneficial to society without harming anyone.

But water lobbies have consistently pushed back on any change to water pricing, saying it would increase transaction and financing costs for water districts—the smallest of which tend to work on a tight budget—as well as negatively affect the state’s bond ratings. Though environmental groups and conservative groups, such as the Utah Taxpayers Association and Libertas Institute, agree that a tiered water-pricing system makes sense, the Legislature has not enacted the change.

Both the economic impacts and public health risks of a dry lake have been well documented. A report prepared for the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council in 2012 estimated the economic significance of the Great Salt Lake to be $1.3 billion dollars annually. Some estimates put the annual dollar value today at closer to $2 billion.

Kevin Perry, department chair of the U’s Atmospheric Sciences, spent several years setting up grid points every 500 meters on the exposed lakebed and tested more than 3 tons of soil in his lab on campus. He identified a number of harmful heavy metals and other toxins within the crust, and every single measurement of arsenic he recorded exceeded toxicity levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The longer the lakebed remains dry, the more fine dust it will create and the more likely it is that windstorms will sweep the toxic dust into the air. That dust will be carried into the neighboring communities along the Wasatch Front—where the majority of Utahns live and breathe. Those who inhale in the dust into their

lungs increase the risk of chronic diseases such as skin, lung and bladder cancers.

“Our air quality has significantly improved over the last 20 years,” Perry said. “The [exposed shoreline of the] Great Salt Lake poses a threat to those improvements. If we don’t do something about it now, we could be forced into federally mandated mitigation measures,” which would cost the state billions of dollars.

In another point of emphasis made by the Strike Force team, it was recommended that policies enacted by lawmakers focus on human water use and that to fill the lake to the minimum healthy elevation level of 4,198 feet above sea level in 10 years, an average of 2.4 million acre-feet of water per year would need to flow into the lake through its main tributaries.

The average inflows between 2000 and 2022 were roughly 1.6 million acre-feet per year. In addition, the team estimated that the conservation of approximately 300,000 acre-feet per year will be needed to prevent further decline to water levels to compensate for inflows that may be below average.

That means the gap between the average annual inflows and the amount estimated to be needed in order to fill the lake to healthy levels within 10 years is 760,000 acre feet. Given that the lake’s three main tributaries are considered “fully appropriated,”—that is, every drop of water is spoken for before it reaches the Great Salt Lake—the question is, from where will this water come?

Drops in the Bucket

In March, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it would be donating, in perpetuity, 20,000 acre feet of water rights annually to the Great Salt Lake. This amount is approximately enough water to fill Little Dell Reservoir, between East and Parleys canyons.

But, to put the enormity of the water deficit at the Great Salt Lake into perspective, the LDS Church’s contribution is only 2.6% of the estimated additional water needed to reach the lake each year in order to bring it to healthy levels within a decade.

“It’s a drop in the bucket,” Brigham Young University ecologist Ben Abbott told the Associated Press, “but it’s also a big drop.”

During the 2022 legislative session, a number of water-related bills were passed, but two items specifically stood out in regard to the decline of the Great Salt Lake—HB33 and the creation of a Water Enhancement Trust. HB33 expanded the definition of “beneficial use” of water and changed who is able to hold in-stream water rights. Prior to this legislation, beneficial use of water in Utah was designated for things such as agricul-

ture, mining and municipal purposes. Storage in the Great Salt Lake did not meet the criteria of a “beneficial use,” but it now does.

And rights holders now have the option to lease their water to the state—while still retaining those water rights—and allow unused water to flow to the Great Salt Lake.

The Water Enhancement Trust was launched with $40 million to help pay for those leases. The National Audubon Society and Nature Conservancy were entrusted to manage that trust.

Both items were hailed as historic. Former Rep. Joel Ferry, R-Box Elder— who sponsored HB44 and later that year became head of Utah’s DNR— stood in front of the Utah House and proclaimed that his bill was “one of the most significant pieces of water legislation that we will see during our time here at the Capitol.”

But the idea was mostly met with skepticism among water rights holders, who viewed the plan as a “water grab.” According to the Utah Division of Water Rights, there are more than 700 irrigation and canal companies operating within the Great Salt Lake basin. Water that is potentially leased to the Great Salt Lake would have to travel many miles, through a maze of different canals and municipalities, with little to no way of measuring or ascertaining whether the water is being diverted elsewhere and used before it reaches the Great Salt Lake.

So far, it appears no one has signed up for the leasing program.

Marcelle Shoop is the executive director of the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust. She suggested it was too early to evaluate the success of the program, as many of the plans for the trust, including the development of an advisory council, were finalized in January of this year.

“We are in the process of pursuing water transactions,” she said. “[We are] talking with water rights holders and working on transactions that are in process but not ready to be discussed at this time. When transactions are finalized and the parties to those transactions are ready, more information can be shared.”

Matt Yost, an agroclimate extention specialist at Utah State University, was also a member of Strike Force. He noted that agriculture optimization—or using less water to grow the same crop yield—should be a priority.

The initial idea of HB33 was that during dry years, water rights holders could let their land go fallow and lease those water rights through the trust. But Yost said that deficit irrigation and fallowing could have a negative impact on rural communities. Not only does fallowing the land decrease water in aquifers, he said, it can have many unintended consequences that affect the broader agricultural industry, including financial institutions, farm equipment suppliers and livestock firms.

“A fallowing program should consider the comprehensive cost and impact,” Yost said, “and try to compensate for that.”

The state Legislature must have taken note. In 2023, HB277 was enacted to ensure that a farmer who optimizes his methods—and thereby cuts his or her water usage—is no longer at risk of losing the part of his or her legal allotment that is not used. This surplus water could still be leased through the trust, and the land could still yield crops.

The Strike Force estimates that the leasing program could eventually yield up to 300,000 acre feet of water per year and that a reduction in agricultural consumption by 15%—through optimization—could bring an additional 180,000 acre feet per year. But even if these lofty goals are reached, another 280,000 acre feet of water inflows would still be needed annually to bring the lake level back to the minimum healthy level within a decade.

Of the Water Enhancement Trust’s initial $40 million allotment, $10 million was earmarked specifically to “restore and protect wetlands.” If the remaining $30 million is entirely used to pay for leased water and the estimated yield of 300,000 is the goal, that means an average of $100 could be paid per acre foot. And to sustain that level of payment, the trust would, of course, need to bring in at least $30 million per year in donations or new taxpayer funding.

Shoop said there are many factors that “go into analyzing the value or price of a water transaction, including geographic location, quantity, local market and supply, transferability of water from one location to another, among other considerations.” She did not offer a range of the estimated market value of these leases.

The past legislative session saw numerous tweaks to existing water laws, as well as an increase in funding for agricultural optimization of $200 million. The majority of that appropriation, Yost said, will be spent on improving water delivery systems, such as lining or piping canals and modernizing irrigation systems.

The session also saw the creation of a Great Salt Lake commissioner, who is tasked with designing a more holistic strategy for the “long-term health” of the lake. Government agencies and scientific experts tend to silo their work. The task of the commissioner— or lake “czar”—is to make that work more collaborative.

On his first day on the job, the newly appointed commissioner, Brian Steed, told reporters that he hopes the general public will avoid “fatigue” from the efforts to bring the Great Salt Lake back to healthy water levels, but that the message to save and conserve water is here to stay.

Only time can answer whether or not Utahns are up to the task. CW

Protect Your Loved Ones

Masters of Al Pastor

The West Valley taco favorite El Morelense comes to South Jordan.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

Anyone who calls themselves a true believer in the church of tacos will have a story about their favorite al pastor experience. For me, it was my first experience, when a friend who spent his LDS mission in Mexico took me to an al pastor joint in Taylorsville. The place isn’t around anymore, but I remember the feeling of seeing those tiny little street tacos lined up in a basket. It was the grilled pineapple that really kicked things off for me—that pop of grilled sweetness that cuts through that concentrated pork flavor.

I’ve had plenty of tacos al pastor since then, and my affection for this beloved Mexican street food was recently rekindled when I saw that El Morelense recently expanded to South Jordan. Local taco fans and frequenters of the Latino Mall in West Valley will no doubt recognize the name; El Morelense has been a fixture at this shopping center for years.

Its menu has all your Mexican street food faves, but its claim to fame is the al pastor. This traditional method of preparing tacos is characterized by the inverted cone of marinated pork skewered by a trompo or vertical spit. During its revolutions, the heat from the vertical

oven makes the outer edges of this glorious meat cone crispy, thanks to the juices that languidly drizzle their way down to the bottom.

When you enter the new South Jordan location of El Morelense, the al pastor meat cone maintains its commanding presence. Honestly, it’s hard to pay any attention to the menu with this monolith of marinated pork rotating hypnotically behind the counter. Based on the reverence that this meaty structure commands, it’s no surprise that you should start with anything al pastor.

The tacos ($3.50) are the cornerstone of El Morelense’s menu, and at that price, you should order no less than four. Once they’ve shaved off those tender strips of juicy marinated pork onto your tortillas, and added a citrusy sliver of pineapple, head over to the salsa bar and load up.

I’ve been to a lot of places that seem to get “salsa bar” confused with “salad bar” and max out their counter space here, but they keep it tight at El Morelense. You’ve got your green tomatillo salsa and your creamy avocado salsa, but then you’ve got your salsa roja, which is for fans of adding a spicy kick to your meal. You’ve also got the traditional condiments of chopped onion, pico de gallo, pickled carrots and lime wedges—all good stuff to enhance your taco experience.

The al pastor at El Morelense is topnotch for a few reasons, and I think chief among them is the textural contrast. The best al pastor I’ve had makes sure their pork has a good mix of the crispy outer layer and the juicy inner layer. When you watch these pros slice your al pastor, you’ll see they do so with even diagonal cuts that allow for equal distribution of both layers. This ensures you get a nice bacon-y crispness with some pork belly tenderness.

For when you want to absolutely gorge yourself on al pastor, your best option is probably the al pastor fries ($14.25). Anyone who’s ever had loaded fries at a Mexican restaurant before will recognize the composition of this dish: lots of golden fries topped with a pile of protein, melted cheese and some type of crema condiment. Once you dig into this tasty heap of flavor, however, you really get a heavy dose of that delicious pork al pastor. This is the logical next step for those who have become fans of the tacos, and are craving something a bit more substantial.

Though I could go on about the al pastor at El Morelense, there are plenty of other options for those craving traditional Mexican favorites. Their tortas are perfectly serviceable and overstuffed; I liked their milanesa ($12.99) with its tender, breaded pork chop and creamy avocado. I also tried their carne asada alambre ($11.75), which spoke right to my heart. This is a traditional dish that takes a big scoop of protein, tosses it with plenty of melty cheese and gives you a half dozen small tortillas for taco construction. The carne asada is excellent, but I should note that you can also get one of these with their famous pork al pastor

Whether you’ve been frequenting their West Valley location for years or just saw their new digs pop up in South Jordan, El Morelense is a major player in Utah’s Mexican food scene. They’ve set their sights on perfecting that mouth-watering al pastor methodology, and it’s paying off big time. When that street taco craving hits, El Morelense is one of the best local joints to help you indulge. CW

HopkinsBrewi ngCompany

1048 E 2100 S Sugar House

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

Avenues Proper 376 8th Ave, SLC

avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Blizzard Wizard - Hazy Pale Ale

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC

BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap: El Guapo – Coffee Vienna

Lager

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

Chappell Brewing

2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115 chappell.beer

On Tap: Climax Cream Ale - nitro

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

On Tap: That’s a Knife - Australian Cold IPA

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap: Tropical Fruit Storm Pale Ale

Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC

EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Biotransformer IPA

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC

FisherBeer.com

On Tap: Rotating up to 17 Fresh Beers!

Grid City Beer Works

333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Cask Nitro CO2

Helper Beer 159 N Main Street Helper, UT 84526 helperbeer.com/

Hopkins Brewing Co.

1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

On Tap: Don’t Use Jelly - Tangerine IPA

Kiitos Brewing

608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

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

On Tap: Kolsch

Happy Father’s Lager’s Day Fest: 6/18

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap: Golden Sproket Wit

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

On Tap: Pomme Paloma

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

On Tap: DOPO IPA

Ogden Beer Company 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

On Tap: It’s Complicated Sour

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC

ProperBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Cloud Chaser - Kölsch with Strawberry and Watermelon

Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191

Moab, Utah 84532

On Tap: Angus McCloud- Scottish Ale

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: Humpback Chub River

Water IPA (Collab Beer with Moab Brewing)

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations

RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Identity Crisis Session West Coast Hazy Cold IPA – the name says it all!

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

On Tap: Deep Dive Series - Steam Beer

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com

On Tap: Kiss Whoever You WantPride Month IPL

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

On Tap: Art + Science Fruitful PetNat 8.6% ABV

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake

ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Limited Release Prickly

Pear Sour Ale, “Sounds Gay, I’m in” 6.5%

Live Music: Thursdays

Shades On State 366 S. State Street SLC

Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Mexican Lager

Karaoke: Wednesdays

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

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

squatters

On Tap: Salt Lake Brewing Co. Mr. Melling’s Nitro Cream Ale

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

On Tap: Squatters & Pink Boots Collab Healthy Boundaries Black IPA, 5%

Strap Tank Brewery Multiple Locations StrapTankBrewery.com

Spirit World Saison - Grid City Collaboration Sour Saison/ Wine Hybrid Utah Smog - Fruited Sour Cocktail (orange, raspberry, sweet cherry and pineapple)

Stratford Proper 1588 Stratford Ave., SLC stratfordproper.com

On Tap: Yacht Rock Juice Box - Juicy IPA

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

On Tap: Beechwood Rauchbier (NABA ‘23 Silver Medal Winner)

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

On Tap: Hot Girl Summerlavender honey wheat

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

On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer

UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com

On Tap: Love Punch for us –Tropical Hefeweizen-5% ABV. Pride beer! A portion of proceeds are donated to Project Rainbow

Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com

Wasatch 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/wasatch

On Tap: Wasatch Salt Lime Cerveza (SLC)

Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com

Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

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

The Sticky and the Wine-y

Unique flavor combinations mark two new local beers

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

Epic Biotransformer: This beer was originally born from a collaboration between Melvin Brewing and Epic. The goal was to make a “sticky-icky” beer full of cannabis-esque qualities, and it was popular enough that Epic decided to move this from a small-batch beer to a full-production release. Let’s get into it.

It pours a dark amber with orange tones and some considerable hop haze across the body, with enough effervescence to produce a thick layer of dirty white suds over top. The nose is made up of some real pungent pine aromatics, backed by a blend of citrus fruit and tropical produce. This is not distinctly dank or weedy to me, but definitely coming across as resinous; it as the sticky pine presence all up in there, with a bit of sugary grapefruit. Some faint malt sweetness makes itself known, as well as a touch of alcohol strength, which is nice and sharp on the olfactory senses.

Huge pine resins dominate the taste up front, with citrus and tropics to follow, mostly some candied grapefruit and sweet mango. There is a sharp zap of bitterness mid-palate, and such a long-lasting resinous linger to this one. Again, it’s not particularly dank like Mary Jane here, but damn solid hop juice, for sure. I get a bit of malty bread tucked in the back, along with a touch of caramel sweetness. They definitely hit on the sticky-icky component—bold hop flavor, sticky, and good. There’s a moderate heft in the body, with ample carbonation offering up a nice creamy consistency. You get something big and bold in the bitterness, with a sharp feel and long-lasting resinous linger. It finishes out a touch dry and very, very sticky on the palate.

Verdict: I was hoping for a bit more

dank here as advertised, but this one definitely delivers on the sticky. A real intense bitterness with super-fresh hop flavors and a proper malt balance allow for some good drinkability; it’s a nice offering in my book, and I would have itagain.

Uinta - Port O’ Call: This beer was originally released in 2015 as part of Uinta’s Crooked Line Series of beers. This version of the port wine barrelaged Belgian Dark Ale was brought back to help celebrate Uinta’s 30th Anniversary.

It pours an almost opaque, dark mahogany color, with moderate amounts of visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and moderate dark amber highlights. The beer has a three-finger tall foamy tan head that slowly reduces to a large patch of mottled medium thick film. Moderate aromas of dark fruit (plum and currant), dark malts and sweet caramel pop up, with light to moderate aromas of port wine and oak. These are followed by light aromas of Belgian yeast with a hint of banana and clove.

Upfront, there is a slightly stronger than moderate flavor of dark malts, with a moderate amount of dark fruit (plum and currant) and caramel sweetness. Moderate to strong flavors of sweet port wine and vinous notes combine with light-to-moderate flavors of Belgian yeast, with just a hint of spiciness. Light flavors of banana and clove come in towards the finish. Light to moderate amounts of bitterness fade away quickly, leaving a light sweetness lingering. It’s medium-to-full-bodied, with moderate amounts of gentle carbonation. Smooth, almost creamy.

Verdict: Very enjoyable, with some alcohol and sweetness but not cloying. This is easy to drink, though I would recommend slowly sipping this one. The port barrel aging really adds to this beer in a complementary fashion, and I love the creamy mouth

The first time around, Port O’ Call was released in corked and caged 750ml bottles; this version is now in 16-ounce cans at Uinta. Biotransformer is also in 16-ounce cans at the brewery, however, at DABS stores you’ll find it in 22-ounce bottles. As always, cheers! CW

MIKE RIEDEL

MIKE RIEDEL

2496 S. WEST TEMPLE, SLC

BEER + PIZZA = <3 SUN-THU: 11am - 10pm • FRI-SAT: 11am - 11pm

BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Taste of Heber Festival

Our neighbors to the east will be hosting a Heber-centric restaurant festival called A Taste of Heber this weekend. During the event, several local restaurants that call Heber home will be serving up samples of their signature dishes for everyone to enjoy. On top of that, the event will host a barbecue competition and feature plenty of live local music. Anyone who has visited Heber’s Swiss Days knows that this little mountain town knows how to throw a party, and it will be fun to see what hidden culinary gems Heber has to offer. The event takes place on June 17 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Heber Valley Airport (2365 W. Airport Road).

Savor the Summit in Park City

During the following weekend, it’ll be time to showcase what Park City restaurants have to offer with Savor the Summit 2023. Set along Park City’s historic Main Street, Savor the Summit is a singular social dining experience. To secure your spot, you’ll want to check out the list of restaurants featured by the Park City Restaurant Association (parkcityrestaurants.com) and book a reservation at your favorite. Each participating restaurant has its Savor the Summit menu available for perusal to ensure you get the meal of your dreams. Savor the Summit takes place on June 24 starting at 6 p.m.

Cinnaholic Opens

Those craving cinnamon rolls on a plant-based diet are in luck, as Cinnaholic recently opened a location in Vineyard (596 N. Mill Road, Suite 105, cinnaholic.com). This California-based bakery chain boasts some decadent plant-based desserts, along with a build-your-own format. So, if you’re craving a peanut butter-frosted cinnamon roll topped with bananas, your wish is their command. In addition to their signature cinnamon rolls, Cinnaholic offers cookies, brownies and edible cookie dough that you can order by the scoop. Most locations feature local coffee as well, so whether your pick-me-up of choice is caffeine, sugar or both, this place should have you covered.

Quote of the Week: “Cinnamon bites and kisses simultaneously.” –Vanna

Bonta

Hook vs. Heart

Pixar’s Elemental nails its fantastical setting, but misses on its emotional subtext.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

For most of its nearly-30-year history of making animated feature films, Pixar has reliably taken a two-pronged approach to their construction: Let’s call it The Hook and The Heart. The Hook refers to the marketing-friendly high concept that provides the universe for the story, one that could generally be summarized as “what if [fill-in-the-blank] were just like people,” with that blank being filled in over the years by toys, bugs, cars, emotions, merfolk, souls, etc. And The Heart refers to the thematic ideas for which The Hook becomes a clever delivery system— about family relationships, growing up, facing change, and so forth. At their best, the Pixar films have found a perfect pairing of form and content, creating fun, visually-rich worlds that allowed the emotional material to sneak up on you. Elemental fits squarely into that successful Pixar template, beginning with “what if the four ancient elements of fire, water, earth and air were just like people,” and using that as a launching pad for a narrative addressing the second-generation immigrant experience. But as gifted as the animators remain at creating their worlds, there’s something that feels unfinished and clunky about Elemental’s storytelling. The earnest desire to explore an idea with some

cultural specificity gets lost in half-finished ideas and overly-familiar animation tropes.

The story opens with the arrival in Element City of the Lumens: Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) and his pregnant wife Cinder (Shila Ommi), among the first Fire People to arrive in the land already inhabited by the Earth, Water and Air People. Years later, they’ve created a successful store in a thriving Fire People sub-community, with their young daughter Ember (Leah Lewis) in line to inherit the family business. Then the arrival of Wade Ripple (Mamadou Athie), a Water Person building inspector, threatens the possibility that the Lumens’ store might be shut down, sending Ember on a mission to save it, out into the world beyond the one she’s known her whole life.

That world is, not surprisingly, full of wonderful detail, and it’s the place where Elemental proves most consistently successful. Though there are noticeable echoes of Zootopia in the bustling, colorful metropolis with its segregated society, director Peter Sohn and his creative team carve out a unique sensibility with the design of their physical spaces. And technically, they do remarkable things with the juxtaposition of materials, most notably

the reflection of flame in surfaces like glass and water. As an experience to look at, Elemental almost always impresses, having plenty of fun with jokes like Water People spectators at a sporting event starting a quite-literal “wave.”

As an experience to think about, though?

Less so. It’s not so much that Elemental feels more than slightly reminiscent of Pixar’s recent Turning Red in its focus on a girl struggling against the culturally-specific expectations of her immigrant family; it took a long time for feature animation to branch out into more diverse experiences, and there are many shades to play within that framework. It’s more that the creative team keeps dipping a toe into related topics without really being willing to explore them in depth: providing only token references to the kind of bigotry that might lead immigrants to remain in comfortable enclaves; alluding to microaggressions, yet using the notion as a punch line; suggesting an evolution and strengthening of society that comes from folding in the experience of other cultures, then letting that concept disappear like an unfired Chekhovian gun. Too many set-ups in Elemental just don’t pay off, even when the opportu-

nity to do so is just sitting there. There’s plenty of frustration as well in the elements-cross’d romance between Ember and Wade, which feels stated more than earned. That’s no fault of the voice performances, as Lewis and Athie both do terrific work—the former at capturing a free-floating and undefined frustration with her circumstances, the latter at making Wade’s emotionalism engaging rather than over-the-top as a manifestation of cultural differences in expressing feelings openly. Elemental has the potential to cover a lot of thematic ground, but it keeps doing an incomplete job of delivering the knockout punch for every idea it introduces. After all this time, Pixar still knows how to craft The Hook. This time around, unfortunately, while its heart is in the right place, The Heart too rarely is. CW

ELEMENTAL BB ½

Leah Lewis Mamadou Athie Ronnie Del Carmen Rated PG Available June 16 in theaters

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS DJ FRESH(NESS)

SATURDAYS POKER @ 2PM DJ DELMAGGIO

SHARK SUNDAYS POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY JARED AND TANNER

MONDAYS REGGAE MONDAY WITH DJ NAPO

TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

Building Connections

Indie singer/songwriter Jay Ssandri releases new summer hits with a sense of community

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

It’s no secret that music brings people together. It can bridge gaps between age, class, race—you name it. For young singer/ songwriter Josafat Chavez, a.k.a. Jay Ssandri, bringing people together is a big part of his musical career. “I am committed to building connections and relationships within my community and beyond,” he said.

While music has a long and important history in Ssandri’s life, he didn’t start thinking about writing music until he was about 17 years old. Heavily inspired by Ed Sheeran’s The A Team, he decided to pick up a guitar and see what he could create. “It really just grabbed my attention,” he said of The A Team. “There were a couple of songs that I really just loved to sing, and I wanted to replicate it. I didn’t want to just sing along to it; I wanted to have something to accompany myself. That year I asked my parents for a guitar, and luckily they were able to get me one.”

The hope, as Ssandri continues to put out new music, is that people can relate to his music, but also understand how long his journey has been to get where he’s currently at. “I grew up really, really shy,” he explained. “My singing was always behind closed doors. Never sang in front of family or anything. It wasn’t until 2019 when I released a cover of a song and that was really the first time my family heard me sing.”

MUSIC

Jay Ssandri

Recording equipment can be pricey; even with today’s technology, it can cost a pretty penny to get your music made. Ssandri’s first song, “January,” was recorded on an Xbox microphone and his phone, but completing that song as best he could fueled him to do more. “I just put it out because I just felt like I needed to put it out,” he said. “Or else I wouldn’t have been where I am right now with four songs out now.”

Ssandri has put out a few singles so far in 2023, but one of his most exciting has been “Change of Pace,” a song he dubbed the perfect road-trip anthem. The idea came to him while helping a friend move from Utah to Florida. “I came up with an idea for the first verse, the ‘Heaven knows I’ve been searching for tomorrow / God might only know where it might lead,’” he said.

According to Ssandri, “Change of Pace” was designed to take listeners out of their day-to-day routines to seek new adventures and thrills. It does so perfectly with

its luscious mix of acoustic and electric guitar instrumentation and Ssandri’s soulful vocals. It’s easy to imagine cranking up the volume on this one while flying down the highway on a hot summer evening.

In addition to “Change of Pace,” Ssandri dropped a brand-new track this month called “Alive,” another incredible showing of his voice and passion. Ssandri sings with the affection and dedication of a seasoned professional who’s come a long way from those Xbox microphone/phone recording days. While “Change of Pace” is a road trip must-have, “Alive” is a song you can send to a loved one. It has beautiful visions of mountains, rivers, sunshine and that feeling of coming to life when you find love.

Ssandri’s goal is to keep releasing singles on a regular basis, leading up to an EP that will hopefully be ready this fall. His first few songs were arranged by himself, but he’s since found a producer in Argentina who will continue to help with his new

music. “The arrangement of the songs [is] definitely a combination of mine and his interpretations, and I think that’s very nice to have,” he said.

With his fears being overcome, he wants to help bring people together in the community and build lasting connections. “I love music and I love finding new artists to listen to,’ he said. ‘I just feel like there’s not too many that I’ve heard from at least, come out of Utah. Utah’s definitely a growing place, and with that I want to see Utah more in the spotlight in the music scene as well.

“If I’m growing enough, and if I can do anything to help my city grow, other artists grow, I mean, you really can grow together because you’re expanding your audience—and it’s just for the love of it,” he said.

“Change of Pace” and “Alive” are streaming everywhere now. Be on the lookout for more beautiful and distinctive tracks from Jay Ssandri in the future. CW

SAVANNA FRAZIER

Manager, R&D for Stryker in Salt Lake City, UT to direct teams to ensure they work effectively & build collaborative relationships w/product development & manufacturing ops to improve speed to market of new products. Requires Bachelor’s or foreign education equivalent in Mechanical, Biomedical, Mechatronics or Materials Engineering plus 8 years’ project management or engineering experience in new product introduction in a regulated environment. Will also accept Master’s plus 6 years. Position requires up to 10% domestic & int’l travel. Submit resume to hrpractices@stryker.com.

Reference Position #1131.

Younique, LLC in Lehi, UT seeks Sr. Category Mngr, Skin Care & Lips to develop marketing plans & lead product innovation for the Skin Care & Lip categories. Req: BA in Communication, Marketing, Business Mgmt or rltd, + 7 yrs exp w/category mgmt in consumer goods. Exp must include 5 yrs exp w/each of the following: Driving incremental sales & profitability through new product & product portfolio mgmt strategies; Implementing new processes that help maximize efficiencies to drive continuous improvement in product-related KPIs, including sales performance, success rates, freshness index; Exp must include 3 yrs exp w/each of the following: maintain portfolio of new products w/in existing & new categories, existing products, line ext & limited-time offerings; managing & developing product positioning &product categories; international marketing; Exp must include 1 yr exp w/each of the following: product development process & packaging; beauty & personal category. Req 5% travel to meet w/suppliers.

Send CV to bnilsson@youniqueproducts.com.

Fork Fest @ Art Dye Park 6/16-17

As we steadily march into summer, more and more epic music festivals and events emerge. It’s hard to hit all of them, but it’s well worth it to consider all of the options. In mid-June, Fork Fest comes out to play with a heap of Utah natives in the lineup; it’s probably one of the biggest showcases of locals in the state. This annual event is a favorite for Northern Utahns, featuring 32 bands across three stages on top of a smaller acoustic stage. In addition, you can expect plenty of food vendors, art installations and a vendor village featuring local artisans. Kicking off Friday, June 16, you’ll get a warm welcome from Little Moon, Book on Tape Worm, Kyle Henderson, Stuart Wheeler and Stephanie Mabey. As Saturday, June 17 rolls around, you’ll get even more local talent with nearly 30 Utah bands playing in one evening. At the top of the bill, Fork Fest has The Aces, the alternative pop band from Provo that has been seeing great success in the last few years, gaining millions of streams on their work and making Utah proud. Their latest release, I’ve Loved You for So Long, just dropped on June 2, and is a fantastic entry to their catalog. Joining The Aces are Cardinal Bloom, 19 Miles Per Hour, Cinders, 26Fix and Cactus Tree, just to name a few. Come check out one of the biggest showcases of local talents in the state on Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17. Tickets for the all-ages shows are $37 for two-day passes in advance and $42 day of. Twoday VIP passes are also available at $67 in advance and $72 day of. For a full list of bands and times go to forkfest.org. (Emilee

Atkinson)

SHOWS

Eels @ Metro Music Hall 6/16

For anybody who needs to put Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett in context, I recommend his autobiography, What the Grandchildren Should Know. His father, a renowned scientist who pioneered the many-worlds theory, died young (Everett found his body); his sister committed suicide; and his cousin died on 9/11 on a hijacked plane. That he creates art from pain is astounding. What’s more amazing, he is able to create tunes that change peoples lives. Well, that is what I hear when I throw on Souljacker or Beautiful Freak. “It’s kind of a song-by-song thing—whatever the story is in each song. I’m not really making one big bold statement about anything as an album,” Everett told Billboard in 2022. “I think it’s up to the listener to decide.” Eels’ 14th LP, Extreme Witchcraft, dropped in 2022. The inspired dynamic duo of the Everett/Parish production relationship is on full display here, as the album really does offer something for everyone to enjoy. If you find yourself working back through the Eels catalog: Electro-Shock Blues is a masterly-record, Blinking Lights is a treasure trove magnum opus and Shootenanny and Hombre Lobo are gorgeous sounding collections of songs. Everett is one of those musicians who make you realize you have ear muscles, like an animal hearing a good noise in the woods. Multifaceted performer and dope emcee Austin Antoine opens. Catch the Lockdown Hurricane tour (presented by KRCL 90.9) as it rages through Salt Lake City on Friday, June 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $35 at 24tix.com (Mark Dago)

Featured Album Featured Album

MUSIC PICK S

By Emilee Atkinson

Annie DiRusso @ Kilby Court 6/17

The title of indie/rock artist Annie DiRusso’s latest EP is something many of us have probably thought in the last few months: God, I Hate This Place. The scathing-yet-introspective five-track adventure starts out with the song “Emerson,” and DiRusso doesn’t hold back. She sings, “Baptized by a pedophile in a church that reeks of oak and death / My parents raised a happy child in the house at the bottom of Emerson / Now every time I go home / All I do is sleep / I don’t know what kind of twisted hold my childhood bedroom has on me.” The song is slow, but has fuzzy guitar laid over DiRusso’s vocals, with wailing solos throughout. The singer/songwriter was born in NYC, but is now based in Nashville, wearing both influences on her sleeve. “I feel a lot of emotion from a distorted guitar, so I think that’s pretty reflective on the EP,” DiRusso told Nashville Scene in May. “I highlight more heavy and emotional moments with that sound.” In addition to this heavy soundscape she creates with distorted guitar, DiRusso also wanted to focus on being completely blunt and truthful with her lyrics. “That feeling of hearing something and being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I felt that so many times, but I would never say it out loud,’” she said. “That was a huge moment for me, of just realizing that honesty and vulnerability is the most important aspect of songwriting, and saying things that I’m scared to say out loud.” Come feel your feelings with DiRusso on Saturday, June 17 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $18 in advance and $20 day-of. Grab tickets at kilbycourt.com. (EA)

Temples @ Urban Lounge 6/20

When you see a photo of British psych band Temples, you may think you’ve gone back in time. The quartet’s aesthetic is straight out of the ‘70s—the hair, the wardrobe, all of it makes Temples feel like a band out of time. Their newest album, Exotico, is heavy on the psych aspects as you’d expect, but also has a fun summer vibe perfect for hot days relaxing by the pool. This feeling is amplified by the music video for their new song “Oval Stones,” which features the group on a beach with palm trees stretched tall in the background. Directed by guitarist/lead singer of the group James Bagshaw, the song and video takes listeners on a journey of nostalgia. “‘The Oval Stones’ video is about being nostalgic and reminiscing,” said Bagshaw. “The video has snapshots of our own gigs and days off on tour which we have many fond memories of! Often we find when we are driving we talk about all kinds of things and it’s a good excuse to take a drive down memory lane.” Exotico is garnering pretty favorable reviews, but that’s to be expected with big names on the production side like Sean Ono Lennon and Dave Fridmann (who has worked with the likes of The Flaming Lips). Come take a psychedelic journey with Temples on Tuesday, June 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $25 in advance and $30 day-of at urbanloungeslc.com. (EA)

JOEL

EELS

Annie DiRusso

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Aries-born Vincent van Gogh’s painting Potato Eaters shows five people in a dark room barely illuminated by lamplight. Seated around a small table, they use their hands to eat food they have grown themselves. Vincent wanted to convey the idea that they “dug the earth with the very hands they put into their bowls.” I don’t expect you to do anything quite so spectacularly earthy in the coming weeks, Aries, but I would love to see you get very up close and personal with nature. I’d also love to see you learn more about where the fundamental things in your life originate. Bonus points if you seek adventures to bolster your foundations and commune with your roots.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera emerged from his mother’s womb in 1886. But some observers suggest that Rivera’s soul was born in 1920: a pivotal time when he found his true calling as an artist. During a visit to Italy, as he gazed at the murals of 15th-century mural painters, “he found the inspiration for a new and revolutionary public art capable of furthering the ideals of the ongoing revolution in his native land” (in the words of art historian Linda Downs).

I will be extra dramatic and speculate that you may have a comparable experience in the coming months, dear Taurus: a rebirth of your soul that awakens vigorous visions of what your future life can be.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Among her many jobs, my triple Gemini friend Alicia has worked as a deep-sea rescue diver, an environmental activist, a singer in a band, a dog food taster, an art teacher for kids and a volunteer at a sleep lab researching the nature of dreams. Do I wonder if she would be wise to commit herself to one occupation? Not really. I respect her decision to honor her ever-shifting passions. But if there ever comes a time when she will experiment with a bit more stability and constancy, it may come during the next 11 months. You Geminis are scheduled to engage in deep ruminations about the undiscovered potentials of regularity, perseverance and commitment.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

As religious sects go, the Shakers are the most benign. Since their origin in the 18th century, they have had as many women as men in leadership roles. They practice pacifism, disavow consumerism and don’t try to impose their principles on others. Their worship services feature dancing as well as singing. I’m not suggesting you become a Shaker, Cancerian, but I do hope that in the coming months, you will place a premium on associating with noble groups whose high ideals are closely aligned with your own. It’s time to build and nurture your best possible network.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

For years, Mario A. Zacchini worked at a circus as a “human cannonball.” On thousands of occasions, he was shot out of a cannon at 90 mph. “Flying isn’t the hard part,” he testified. “Landing in the net is.” His work might sound dangerous, but he lived to age 87. Let’s make Mario your role model for a while, Leo. I hope he will inspire you to be both adventurous and safe, daring but prudent. I trust you will seek exhilarating fun even as you insist on getting soft landings.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

One of my favorite astrology teachers, Stephen Arroyo, notes, “Most people have a strong opinion about astrology, usually quite extreme, even though 95% have never studied it whatsoever.” Of course, astrology is not the only subject about which people spout superficial ideas based on scant research. Viral epidemiology is another example. Anyway, Virgo, I am asking you to work hard to avoid this behavior during the rest of 2023. Of all the zodiac signs, you have the greatest potential to express thoughtful ideas based on actual evidence. Be a role model for the rest of us! Show us what it means to have articulate, well-informed opinions.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Meditation teacher Cheri Huber wrote a book called Be the Person You Want to Find. This would be an excellent title for your life story during the next 10 months. I hope you will soon ruminate on how to carry out such a quest. Here are two suggestions: 1. Make a list of qualities you yearn to experience in a dear ally and brainstorm about how to cultivate those qualities in yourself; 2. Name three highintegrity people you admire. Meditate on how you could be more like them in ways that are aligned with your life goals.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Now is a good time to take stock of how you have fared in the Dating and Mating Games through the years. Why? Because you are entering a new chapter of your personal Love Story. The next two years will bring rich opportunities to outgrow stale relationship patterns and derive rich benefits from novel lessons in intimacy. An excellent way to prepare is to meditate on the history of your togetherness. PS: The term “fate bait” refers to an influence that draws you toward the next turning point of your necessary destiny. Be alert for fate bait.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Sagittarian actor Samuel Jackson loves the color purple. He insists on it being featured in his films, and he often wears purple outfits. In Black Snake Moan, he plays a purple Gibson guitar. In the animated movie, Turbo, he voices the role of a purple racing snail. In his Star Wars appearances, he wields a purple lightsaber. Now I am endorsing his obsession for your use. Why? First, it’s an excellent time to home in on exactly what you want and ask for exactly what you want. Second, now is a favorable phase to emphasize purple in your own adventures. Astrologers say purple is your ruling color. It stimulates your natural affinity for abundance, expansiveness and openness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

People who understand the creative process say it’s often wise to stay mum about your in-progress work. You may diminish the potency of projects if you blab about them while they’re underway. I don’t think that’s true for all creative efforts. For example, if we collaborate with partners on an artistic project or business venture, we must communicate well with them. However, I do suspect the transformative efforts you are currently involved in will benefit from at least some secrecy for now. Cultivate the privacy necessary to usher your masterpiece to further ripeness.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Musician Frank Zappa (1940–1993) was a freaky rebel, iconoclastic weirdo and virtuoso experimenter. Everything normal and ordinary was boring to him. He aspired to transcend all categories. And yet he refrained from taking psychedelic drugs and urged his fans to do the same. He said, “We repudiate any substances, vehicles or procedures which might reduce the body, mind or spirit of an individual to a state of sub-awareness or insensitivity.” Zappa might have added that some substances temporarily have a pleasing effect but ultimately diminish the life force. In my estimation, Aquarius, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to re-evaluate your relationship with influences that weaken the vitality of your body, mind or spirit. It will also be a favorable period to seek new modes of lasting liberation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

If you are at a festival or fair where you could win a lot of money by smashing watermelons with your head, I hope you won’t do it. Same if you imagine you could impress a potential lover by eating 25 eggs in three minutes: please don’t. Likewise, I beg you not to let yourself be manipulated or abused by anyone for any reason. These days, it’s crucial not to believe you can succeed by doing things that would hurt or demean or diminish you. For the foreseeable future, you will be wise to show what you do best and express your highest values. That’s the most effective way to get what you want.

ACROSS

1.  Sounds from a shiverer

5.  Admin. aide

9.  Alpha ____ Alpha (sorority since 1908)

14.  Remini of GSN’s “People Puzzler”

15.  The Batcave, for Batman

16.  “I need to speak with you, please”

briefly

17.  “____ additional cost!”

18.  Cookie brand introduced in 1975

20.  Cookie brand introduced in 1969

22.  Hold protectively

23.  Talk radio tuner

27.  Pirouetting, say

28.  ____ Jones

31.  Self-satisfied

32.  Mercury or Sun, e.g.

36.  “Diary ____ Wimpy Kid”

37.  Reason why one might eat 18-, 20-, 53or 57-Across, appropriately?

39.  “Law & Order” spinoff, for short

41.  Shades of embarrassment

42.  SALT weapon

44.  ____ Lopez opening (classic chess tactic)

45.  George Eliot’s “____ Marner”

49.  New Orleans blues musician who wrote the 1973 hit “Right Place, Wrong Time”

52.  Mena of “American Beauty”

53.  Candy brand introduced in 1978

57.  Candy brand introduced in 1976

60.  Degreaser’s target

61.  1990s House majority leader Dick

62.  Farewell in Firenze

63.  Poker payment

64.  Raskolnikov’s lover in “Crime and Punishment”

65.  In stitches?

66.  It’s rigged!

DOWN

1.  Vino choice

2.  What an investor hopes for

3.  Go off on

4.  Discredited, as a theory

5.  Emmy winner Woodard

6.  Onetime Swedish auto import

7.  Liu of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

8.  Moderate pace

9.  Casey in the National Radio Hall of Fame

10.  Oscar and Edgar, e.g.

11.  Certain lap dog, informally

Bug Bites

They’re baaaack! A plague of those creepy crawly Mormon crickets are chewing their way through Elko, Nevada, and they’re headed our way. Twenty years ago, almost 2.5 million acres in Utah were infested with them, and Tooele County was one of the worst-hit areas.

Native Americans long valued these ugly bugs for their nutritional value, herding them to gather, roast and grind into a flour of sorts, making edible cakes that pioneers called “desert fruitcakes”.

12.  Major leaguer

13.  Your browser might block them

19.  Hagen in the American Theater Hall of Fame

21.  Kagan and Ferrante

24.  “Don’t worry about me”

25.  “____ Wiedersehen!”

26.  Airport near JFK

28.  Westernmost capital in mainland Africa

29.  Japanese port near Sapporo

30.  How dogs kiss

33.  Secretly add to an email thread

34.  Broke a fast

35.  2009 World Series MVP Hideki

37.  Hist. or Eng.

38.  TV spinoff that saw the return of Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows

39.  Punk rock’s Vicious

40.  Device owned by many a Blockbuster patron

43.  Safer of “60 Minutes”

46.  Blank portion of a manuscript

47.  “Isn’t that true about me?”

48.  Longtime colleague of Ebert

50.  2003 #1 hit with the lyric “Shake it like a Polaroid picture”

51.  Wyo. neighbor

52.  Watch covertly

54.  Minute parts: Abbr.

55.  “Night” author Wiesel

56.  Cole ____

57.  Austrian affirmatives

58.  Suffix with ranch

59.  K-O connection

Last week’s answers

If you’re not a native Utahn, you may not have heard the famous tale of the 1848 cricket invasion. The newly arrived Latter-day Saints had barely been in the Salt Lake Valley for a year and had worked hard and fast to plant and raise crops. The late harvest that first year was bleak, and spring the following year had late frosts that destroyed the second planting season.

Sometime during their second summer here, black swarms of these scarylooking bugs appeared. These creatures travel in huge bands and will eat all plant material in their path. They crawled and chewed their way to the gardens of the Saints, threatening to wipe out major food sources.

The story goes that the settlers prayed for a miracle and, sure enough, a huge flock of seagulls came and ate all the bugs, saving the crops. What is now known as the “Miracle of the Gulls” is mostly factual, and it’s why the seagull (actually the California gull) is the state bird of Utah. These particular gulls are a desert bird and have been in Utah for centuries. They certainly didn’t eat all the crickets, and crop damage also occurred due to drought conditions in the state during those years.

Operations Manager(Draper, UT) Review financial statements, sales or activity reports, or other performance data to measure productivity or goal achievement or to identify areas needing cost reduction. Direct & coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products. Prepare staff work schedules & assign specific duties. 40hrs/ wk, Offered wage: $37,918/year, Bachelor’s Degree in Business / Entrepreneurship or related & 1 yr of experience as Operations Manager or related required. Resume to CUPBOP CO Attn: Yeiri Kim, 12184 S Business Park Dr, #C, Draper, UT 84020

SUDOKU X

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

White folk aren’t known to eat bugs. And I’ve never seen any historical records that Utah pioneers regularly ate these crickets—but frankly, they should have! Sun-dried and ground up, cricket flour is 60% protein, 10% carbohydrates and roughly 3,000 calories per kilogram.

Nowadays, you can buy “3 Cricketeers” dark chocolate candy bars, Cricket Crunch Bars, Chocolate Chip Cricket Cookie Mix with Cricket Flour, as well as dried edible “Crick-ettes” flavored with salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion or bacon and cheese. Entolife brand dried crickets from Maine are flavored with chocolate and coffee or sriracha.

Silly pioneers! We could have had our famous Utah funeral potatoes with dried bugs mixed in, or even added crickets to our official state snack, Jell-O. (As an aside, Jell-O became the official state snack in 2001, when Bill Cosby visited the Utah Senate and encouraged lawmakers’ support).

They may be part of the food chain, but they are smelly and bug-ly! n

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED PARTLOW RENTALS:

Ewwwww!

A visitor at Wonderland amusement park in Toronto, Ontario, was filled with more than wonder as he rode the Leviathan roller coaster on May 16, the Toronto Sun reported. Hubert Hsu of Toronto said as his coaster car neared the top of one of the ride’s loops, it collided with a bird—possibly a pigeon. “I looked down and saw blood on my hands and my face,” Hsu said. “There was a feather on my hand, and feathers on the girl next to me’s shirt. It seemed like the coaster car hit the bird and then it sort of exploded on us.” Hsu said attendants gave them a roll of industrial brown paper towels, and he ended up washing up in a restroom. “The kids who work in the park seemed like they had no idea what to do, and that might be an issue,” he added.

It’s Come to This

Two Louisville, Kentucky, roommates got into a heated dispute at their home on May 20, The Charlotte Observer reported, over an unlikely subject: Hot Pockets. Clifton Williams, 64, was charged with second-degree assault after he allegedly shot the victim. Williams “got mad he ate the last Hot Pocket and began throwing tiles at him,” police said. When the victim moved to leave the home, Williams retrieved a firearm and shot the man in the posterior. He remains in the custody of Louisville Metro Corrections.

Clothing Optional

n After crashing his truck into a Volusia, Florida, utility pole around 2 a.m. on May 21, completely severing it, 39-year-old Kevin Gardner did the obvious thing: He took off all his clothes and started banging on the front door of a home nearby. ClickOrlando reported that when officers arrived at the home, Gardner had injuries on his face and legs. The truck was registered to him, but he said it had been stolen ... and that he’d had seizures and didn’t remember anything. A breath test revealed an illegal blood-alcohol content, and Gardner was held on multiple charges.

n In Georgia, residents can now use a digital driver’s license, which can be uploaded to Apple Wallet and

allows users to leave their IDs in their bag or pocket at TSA checkpoints. But, as United Press International reported, snapping a selfie for the ID comes with a few rules. “Attention, lovely people of the digital era,” the Georgia Department of Driver Services posted on its Facebook page on May 23. “Please take pictures with your clothes on when submitting them for your Digital Driver’s License and ID. Cheers to technology and keeping things classy!” Put your shirt on.

You Had One Job

Residents in Halethorpe, Maryland, are frustrated with the progress of a new bridge on U.S. Route 1, WBAL-TV reported. They’ve been waiting for months for the bridge to fully open, but a tiny error stands in the way. The bridge crosses over CSX railroad tracks, which require a minimum of 23 feet of vertical clearance, and it was built 1 1/2 inches too short. CSX has halted the remaining construction to complete the bridge, according to a Maryland Department of Transportation engineer. “I understand you get hiccups, but ... this is not a hiccup. This is a mistake. Somebody needs to be held accountable and it needs to be taken care of,” said resident Desiree Collins. “You have engineers. This should not have happened.” The State Highway Administration now estimates completion in late 2023 or early 2024.

News You Can Use

Beer. Need we say more? OK, there’s more. Researchers examining paintings from the Dutch Golden Age have discovered that artists preparing their canvases often used discarded material from local breweries, the Associated Press reported. They found traces of yeast, wheat, rye and barley, which would have been spread as a paste over the canvas to prevent the paint from seeping through. Scientists believe the Danish Academy of Fine Arts bought leftover mash from breweries and used it to ready canvases for artists such as Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and Christen Schiellerup Kobke.

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Big-D Corporation (dba Big-D Construction) seeks Superintendent (Salt Lake City, UT) Read & understand work orders, budget, change orders, safety stdrds, plan specs, shop drawings, submittals, manufacturer’s literature; complex instructions, corresp., memos, blueprints, contract docs & specifications, & CPM schedules; Assist in documentation of project site & construction activities in writing & photos. Manage quality, production, logistics & coordination, ensuring subcontractor completes assigned scope of work & assume responsibility for productivity of crafts, efficient use of materials & equipment, & contractual performance of project. Travel up to 100% of time to various unanticipated construction sites throughout Utah during project lifecycle. Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities. Email resume to careers@big-d.com, Ref. 20230427UT.

Resource Engineer (RE41) needed by Raser Technologies Operating Company, LLC (dba Cyrq Energy) in Salt Lake City, UT to monitor geothermal production behavior & wellbore scale tendencies & forecast well workover using geothermal power plant/injection well data. Travel reqd 1-2x/mo. to production sites within US. Mail resumes: HR, 15 W South Temple St., Ste. 1900, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Ref code in response.

Engineer II, Tooling sought by ICU Medical, Inc. in Salt Lake City, UT: Support initiatives for new product tools & tool changes. Domestic travel req. <5% of the year. $106,579/yr.

Send resume to Ana Robles: humanresources@icumed.com

Must reference: UT0810FM.