City Weekly June 22, 2023

TROJAN HORSE

Forget the family pedigree— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should not be the next president of the United States.

Commentary by Michael Lacey

Cover

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BOX

Thanks Trump. Yes, really.

As I write this, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s probably finishing up his morning shave routine and picking the suit he’ll wear to his arraignment, later in the day, on 37 federal criminal charges relating to his possession and handling of “classified information” since leaving office. For this matter, if nothing else, Trump deserves the thanks of a grateful nation.

Wait ... what? Yes, really.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Trump

fan, nor do I entertain much doubt concerning either his guilt or his silliness in pushing the matter well beyond the point where special counsel Jack Smith had to decide between pulling the indictment trigger or cap off his 30-year prosecutorial career as a legal laughingstock.

It’s that silliness, that pushing, for which Trump deserves our thanks.

As a small-time con artist (he’d likely be worth more today if he’d just stuck his inheritance in an indexed mutual fund instead of risking it on weird scams) and B-list entertainer, Trump mistakenly thought that going political dilettante for a few years would endow him with the same kind of immunity/impunity enjoyed by his opponents and predecessors. Turns out that’s not how it works. The American political establishment holds a grudge. So much so that in bringing Trump down, it puts its own members in real legal jeopardy for

perhaps the first time.

It’s not that American politicians aren’t crooks. They are. But traditionally they face few if any, and light if any, penalties for their crimes. That’s probably about to change.

It’s too early to tell if there’s real evidence behind House Republicans’ allegations that Joe Biden and his family members took millions of dollars in foreign bribes, but if the evidence is there, Biden and Trump may well end up sharing a special “Executive Suites” prison wing with their respective Secret Service details.

Once the dam breaks, that wing might require subsequent expansion to make room for bribe recipients like Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and “classified information” mishandlers like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

OK, maybe not those two—some culprits will probably enjoy de facto amnesty/pardon, especially if they’ve

retired from politics and can bring themselves, unlike Trump, to shut up— but being a crooked or corrupt politician seems like it’s about to get riskier. I wouldn’t want, for example, to be a member of Congress who wasn’t a millionaire when elected and who has somehow since attained a level of wealth my government salary doesn’t explain.

If Trump’s presidency and postpresidency does produce that kind of result, I’ll take his supporters’ claims that he’s the greatest president in history a little more seriously than I used to. And maybe even donate to his prisoner commissary fund.

THOMAS L. KNAPP

William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism

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THE WATER COOLER

What urban legend do you believe is true?

Wes Long

The sewer alligators of New York City are an intriguing legend. In all of that area’s history, there had to have been at least one swimming around

Kelly Boyce

That when you chant “bloody mary, bloody mary, bloody mary” into a bathroom mirror on a Sunday morning—you get to go have all the bloody mary brunch specials at your favorite local bars! Works basically every time.

Benjamin Wood

I’ll bust a myth, of sorts, instead: There’s no such thing as “cow-tipping.” Cows don’t sleep standing up.

Bill Frost

That the “local” reality show The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is actually filmed on a soundstage on the moon. Wake up, sheeple!

Mikey Saltas

That every Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (COJCOLDS) ward house is connected via underground tunnels.

Jerre Wroble

There be whales in the Great Salt Lake! (Not true, of course.) A pair of whales allegedly were shipped here by rail in 1873, in hopes that their oil would light lamps. Now, we have a whale breeching in the 9th & 9th.

PRIVATE EYE

The Lame Star State

Idecided to quit Twitter more than a year ago. As I wrote back then, it was a hackneyed departure. During the process of disconnecting my old account, I somehow created a new one. (I sorta recall getting a “Thank You” card from Jack Dorsey for being among Twitter’s earliest users in 2006 or so. Ahh, the fond days of being limited to 140 characters.)

I don’t know the password to the new one, so I can’t delete it. Therefore, I’m technically still a Twitter user. I don’t post tweets. I do, however, comment sometimes that people are idiots, which is the most common use for Twitter, a notion amplified by our former president.

Prior to taking his insecurities and anger to his own Truth Social platform, where he continues to rant and rave about how unfair the entire world is to him, Donald Trump defined how best to profit by acting like a child.

Now, everyone is in on the grift. Not all grifters are born equal, however. I am not shy about giving Trump all the credit due him for being such a masterful grifter. After all, it’s the rare flimflam man who remains adored by the persons from whom he fleeces money.

Others, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, are such false front phonies—no matter what he posts—he manages to mangle his point or be blind to a nuance or hypocrisy within it. He thus suffers scorn—if such an insufferable soul can actually be said to suffer—from Twitter users on many of the world’s continents, who mock him at every turn.

While Cruz is all things mockable—from his looks to his voice to his paunch to his dubious, faux sense of self— he’s not an idiot. A pandering, whining cynic, sure, but he’s not a dummy. He’s highly educated.

Heck, if he were a dummy, he would have chosen another state to misrepresent in the U.S. Senate. As it is,

BY JOHN SALTAS @johnsaltas

Texas suits him just fine, because today’s Texan is not even a shadow of what I grew up imagining a rough and tough Texan should be.

I know this because, thanks to my Mormon-side heritage that is so prone to document all things ancestral, I learned that I had relatives who were associates of either the Crockett or Bowie families. At least I think so, anyway—you know how stories get embellished around the campfire these days.

James Bowie, famous for lending his name to the massive knife that bears his name, plus Davy Crockett (“The King of the Wild Frontier”) as well as William B. Travis died at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio.

Texas was not even a U.S. territory at the time, and San Antonio was a frontier post in the Mexican state of Tejas. To this day, multi-generational residents in the area are wont to point out that if there had only been a wall constructed along the rim of the old state of Tejas, the gringos may never have arrived and thus, the world would have been spared the unflattering usurping of delicious Mexican cuisine into what we today know as Taco Time and Taco Bell.

As tragic as that is, more tragic is that no matter if it were myth or fiction, the fabled ideals those men left behind of the cow poking, tall in the saddle, tough-asnails Texas lawmen—and even the tough oilmen of the past century—has now been obliterated by the likes of angry bird Ted Cruz. Sorry, Texas, but when I think of Texas tough, Ted Cruz forever bending like a willow in soft spring breeze doesn’t do the trick.

Cruz has made it official: Texas is no longer thought of as the home of the Astros, Rangers, Cowboys, Spurs, Mavericks or Rockets. Instead, Texas is just a big lie these days. They can’t seem to do a damned thing well, nor do a damned thing for themselves.

If there’s trouble in Texas, Cruz flies away. So much for the Marlboro man myth of the Texan who could take on anything, even lung cancer. Thanks to Cruz—and seemingly every other Texas office holder, especially including their maladjusted governor—the state that for decades motivated and inspired an entire country is reduced to being viewed as the state of the Whiny Fusspot Snivelers. It’s a real shame. It didn’t have to be that way—I blame Twitter.

If not for Twitter and our adolescent addiction to it, I submit that it’s entirely possible that our country would not have been dragged into being witness to the unholy marriage of ignorance and arrogance, that place where we all currently live. It used to be that Americans took pride in our collective education, our work ethic and our shared values.

But not anymore. A subject that formerly took an effort to grasp or understand—be it Hunter Biden’s laptop or Trump’s personal claims to pilfered papers—are equally reduced to snide comments, too often aimed at individuals and not the problem itself.

Twitter has exposed us to be people barely worthy of the word “citizen.” I miss the good old days, when the bad guy and the good guy exited the swinging saloon doors and had it out face to face. Or they talked over a cold sarsaparilla or a warm beer. But there’s no talking now, just sniveling.

From my hitching post, the man wearing the tallest sniveling hat is Ted Cruz. He’s got plenty of highfalutin company and, yes, I’m guilty as charged. One thing, though, he’s not the best groveler. Not even close.

That crown sits on the head of our own Sen. Mike Lee. CW

Send comments to john@cityweekly.net

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE | @kathybiele

MISS: Booze Blunder

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Legislature to admit it was wrong—especially when it concerns alcohol and all the national hoopla surrounding Utah’s decision to lower the legal blood alcohol level to near zero—0.05 percent. It was the brainchild of Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo, because as a devout member of “the” church, he of course knows all about the scourge of drinking. Problem is, the law doesn’t work, notes Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune. After four years, DUI deaths have gone up. For most, the answer is simple. “The lower limit targets social, moderate drinkers, not legitimately drunk drivers,” a spokesman for the American Beverage Institute told NPR. And nearly 70% of DUI fatalities are due to drivers with a BAC of 0.15 or above. Both former KUTV news anchor Shauna Lake and Salt Lake City Council member Amy Fowler were way over 0.05. Still, Utah likes to be seen as good and pure, even if things aren’t working.

HIT: Digging Deeper

Good journalism is far from dead, but it does hide out in the fox holes of academia and contract projects. Today, we celebrate the University of Utah and the Utah Investigative Journalism Project in their quests for truth in an increasingly thin media environment. Students in a “cold case” class pored over documents and unearthed historical bias in the 1978 murder case of Doug Coleman. “Out of Salt Lake’s three uncleared murders in 1978, two of the victims—Adams and Coleman—were gay men. This in itself was a crime, with ‘homosexuality’ classified as a sex crime. Police received 27 reports of ‘homosexuality’ that year,” the story, published by The Salt Lake Tribune, said. Evidence was long lost and many of the protagonists dead, but the students persisted, creating a compelling, if troubling, story of discrimination and justice denied.

MISS: High on Highways

There seems to be a disconnect between the Utah Department of Transportation and the people it serves. Sure, in our car-centric state, bigger highways are seen as an answer to gridlock—unless, of course, you’re talking about the Cottonwood canyons. There, it’s all about building a gondola to transport skiers to a private resort, the environment be damned. UDOT has not paid much attention to detractors, but it does have other things on its mind. There’s the I-15 and Bangerter Highway expansions, both of which will displace hundreds of homeowners. FrontRunner is still halfbuilt and little expansion is planned in the short term. Mass transit is the Ghost of Christmas Past as traffic, noise and pollution take center stage. CW

WITH BRYANT HEATH | @slsees

Play Ball!

With the NBA and NHL seasons recently wrapping up, and with it still being months away from the start of football, we have officially hit the summer sports doldrums where pretty much nothing is left but baseball and soccer.

Nationally, that might mean lower television ratings for ESPN or sleepy evenings in some of the larger “foursport cities”—where they have a spectrum of professional teams. But here in Salt Lake City, we are in our element. The Bees are buzzing in Ballpark and throngs still attend Real Salt Lake matches, in spite of both team’s middling, mid-season standings.

This year, it hasn’t been the on-field performances that have caught all the headlines but rather the C-suite decision making going on behind the scenes. The Miller family, like most ambitious prospects, are hoping to make the leap from the minor leagues to the majors and secure an MLB team for SLC after choosing to move the Bees to Daybreak when the 2024 season.

The relocation will undoubtedly have massive effects—none more apparent than for the folks that live on Richards Street just north of Merrimac Avenue, who have had a front porch view of the back of the scoreboard for decades (above photo). For them, the din of PA announcers, roaring crowds and occasional fireworks will undoubtedly be exchanged for that of excavators, cranes and power tools in a short time.

But seeing the re-imaginings of the area generated through the city’s Ballpark NEXT Design Competition makes me optimistic about the Ballpark neighborhood’s future. And since the winning entries are non-binding for the city, I’d like to offer my own pitch for inclusion in the final design: a Little League playing field like the one they have for Crown Colony Baseball in Holladay at Kings Row Drive and Rebecca Circle (lower left).

It’s a single field of about two acres embedded in the neighborhood with magnificent views of Mount Olympus—something I feel could be easily replicated in Ballpark. Rather than follow the lead of Jackson Park (lower right), let’s keep playing ball in Salt Lake City! CW

The view of Smith’s Ballpark—current home of the Bees— from the homes on Richards Street near Merrimac Avenue.

Left: The Crown Colony Baseball Field in Holladay.

Right: No love for America’s pastime at Jackson Park.

Jukebox Heroes

Relative Space shapes the songs of teen artist-on-the-rise Kjersti Long into a dramatic stage musical.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Anyone familiar with musical theater knows the concept of the “jukebox musical”—shows that build a narrative around pre-existing hits by artists like ABBA (Mamma Mia!) or Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons ( Jersey Boys). But what do you call it when you’ve got a show, like the new Relative Space, where those pre-existing songs are the largely-unknown work of a 16-year-old singer-songwriter?

In the words of Relative Space’s bookwriter, Utah playwright Melissa Leilani Larson, “It’s like a jukebox musical, but as the artist is on her way up.”

That artist is Kjersti Long, whose family relocated to Utah from the New York metropolitan area in 2022, and who wrote many of the songs that became part of Relative Space when she was in her early teens. Kjersti already has a record contract, and some of her music is scheduled for release as singles. But for others, it wasn’t clear what their best home might be until Kjersti’s father, Jeremy, introduced them to family friend—and Tony Award-nominated Broadway producer—Van Dean.

“[Dean] said, ‘This is such a cool story. … You need to tell it through theater,’” Kjersti says. “I thought, ‘Wait, these are 10 really separate songs. [And] we’re in the pop/rock scene, we’re not going to tell this through a Broadway play.’”

“What [Dean] know is, my whole family is in theater here in Utah,” adds Jeremy, who serves with Dean as one of the show’s

producers. “I’ve been around it, I know what good theater is. We just never really thought we’d go down that road.”

Once the idea was in place, Jeremy reached out to Larson, who developed a story involving the mothers and daughters in a family, across generations, dealing with mental-health issues and the associated challenges and stigmas. But there was still the question of building that story around Kjersti’s songs. “These songs go together, but how do they go together,” Larson says. “We have these hits, and we want to put them in an order, so how do you assign dramaturgically how these events happen? … How do you do this [subject matter] on stage without it being preachy or didactic?”

On top of the unique structure of building Relative Space around these songs, there’s another distinctive component to the show compared to most musicals: Kjersti herself performs the songs live, rather than the actors playing the characters. Though she’s quite experienced and comfortable as a performer, she says that the experience of Relative Space does require a different approach than playing a concert.

“Usually, I like to run back and forth on stage,” Kjersti says, “but I don’t have that much space, so I won’t move as much.

[Also,] theater people care a lot about their diction. In the rock world, no one is listening for that.”

Kjersti also discovered that, as much as she didn’t think about these songs when writing them as part of a narrative, the process of incorporating them into Relative Space opened up layers of interpretation that she hadn’t previously considered herself. “There’s one song in there, ‘Burn It Down,’ that was written as a relationship break-up song. [Larson] put it in the play in an area where it’s actually a fight between a mother and a daughter. And if you listen to the lyrics, it fits. It can fit in any kind of context where there’s a fight.”

Multi-layered songs are an accomplishment for an artist of any age, and Kjersti understands the temptation—as a marketing hook or as a way to shape a media story—to focus on her being a “teen prodigy.” But if it helps get the work out there, she has no problem with it; “As long as they’re listening to the music and it’s impacting them, awesome, think about my age. It doesn’t matter much,” she says.

And that emphasis on simply getting the songs and their message out into the world extends to the prospect of Relative Space becoming enough of a success that, someday, it could be performed some-

where without her as the singer of the songs. “My goal is to get my music out there so that people can enjoy it,” Kjersti says. “Whether that’s me or someone else singing it, awesome.”

That prospect, though, does depend on Relative Space connecting in its initial incarnation. Jeremy Long believes that the audience for musical theater has expanded in recent years to reach younger people, and it’s possible that as Kjersti’s own musical career blossoms, her involvement could attract interest. But this is a different kind of show, one that had a different kind of development process, and tries different things on stage.

“It is a gamble,” Larson says. “But I feel like, though, with every show, there’s a level of that. You just have to try the whole thing, and see if it works. There’s a theatrical dance component—does the choreography work? Does it work to have a musical where the actors don’t sing? We just have to try it and see.” CW

RELATIVE SPACE

Liahona Theater for the Community 2464 W. 450 South, Pleasant Grove June 22 – July 1 $15 - $30 relativespacemusical.com

COURTESY PHOTO

Singer Kjersti Long in rehearsals for Relative Space

DaveyFest

It’s hard to believe it’s already been more than a decade since the death of local actor/writer/musician

David Ross Fetzer inspired the creation of his namesake foundation, dedicated to the support of emerging artists. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the DaveyFest short film festival showcasing works whose creation was funded in part by the foundation, and the organization is taking the opportunity to honor the entire scope of that time span.

The centerpiece remains the program of new short films, with the lineup including Summer’s End (by Adam & Grant Conversano), Cairn (by Gia-Rayne Harris & Joshua Nathan), Dark Moon (by Katie Mathews), Sound to Sea (by Ryan Craver) and The Sound of Coins Hitting Brass (by A. Stephen Lee). The weekend’s events also include two full programs of supported short films from previous years, and a program of Davey Foundation-supported films and filmmakers that have been accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. Kicking it all off will be two films directed by Foundation board member Kenny Riches: the short Isip the Warrior, written by Fetzer and featuring Almost Famous’s Patrick Fugit (and Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin); and the 2012 romantic drama Must Come Down (pictured), co-starring Fetzer.

The 2023 DaveyFest takes place June 22 – 25 at Brewvies Cinema Pub (677 S. 200 West), with program showtimes at 7:30 p.m. Thursday – Friday, 3:30 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $35 for full festival passes, $10 per individual program. Visit daveyfest.org for tickets and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

COURTESY PHOTO

theESSENTIALS ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, JUNE 22-28, 2023

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Utah Shakespeare Festival

We can sometimes take for granted the remarkable showcases for creative work available to us in Utah, from the Sundance Film Festival to Ballet West to the Utah Symphony and many more. And it can be even trickier when one of those showcases isn’t smack dab in the middle of downtown.

But year after year, the Utah Shakespeare Festival has remained a singular experience, both for the works offered to the public and the unique setting in which they’re presented, including the open-air Englestad Shakespeare Theater.

The 2023 Utah Shakespeare Festival is no exception, presenting a season of Elizabethan-era classics and contemporary favorites that could fill a week in Cedar City. On the Shakespeare side, this year brings Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the lesser-known Coriolanus and Timon of Athens. Beyond the Bard, there’s even more great stuff: the farcical comedy of The Play That Goes Wrong; a unique adaptation of a literary classic in Jane Austen’s Emma: The Musical; Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking drama A Raisin in the Sun. Attendees also get a chance for behind-the-scenes seminars about arts like costume design and prop creation, plus seminars and introductory orientations for those looking to learn more about or discuss the presented plays.

The 2023 Utah Shakespeare festival runs June 21 – Oct. 7 (individual plays’ run dates will vary) and multiple locations in Cedar City. Tickets are $25 - $85 depending on venue and production, with a surcharge for performances of Jane Austen’s Emma: The Musical. For full schedule of performances, to purchase tickets and for other event info, visit bard.org. (SR)

COURTESY PHOTO

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Utah Arts Festival

After a few tumultuous years of figuring out what the Utah Arts Festival would look like post-COVID, festival director Aimee Dunsmore has a clear sense for what matters, and what needed to change. Most significantly for 2023, that means scaling back from a four-day time frame to a Friday – Sunday schedule. “Production costs have continued to skyrocket,” Dunsmore says, “so how do we continue to provide the same level of programming, and reduce costs?

Thursday has always been our lowest attendance day. Also [there was] feedback from artists, [who said] ‘I’m not sure I’d come back if it’s a four-day event.’ And it did help to save money, to reinvest in programming where we need it.”

That programming includes the ongoing Emerging Artists program—now part of the main festival artist marketplace—as well as increasing accessibility with ASL interpreters and new interpreters for the visually impaired. But the focus remains on a wide range of arts experiences, including live performances and the annual Fear No Film short film festival, all with an eye towards greater representation. “We want people to see themselves in the festival, and not see the same artists every year,” Dunsmore says. “I do think, little by little, we’re making progress with that.”

The 2023 Utah Arts Festival runs June 23 – 25 at Library Square (210 E. 400 South), Friday and Saturday noon – 11 p.m., Sunday noon – 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 - $16 single-day for adult, $8 children 6-12, three-day passes $40 and individualday VIP admission available for $50. Proof of ticket purchase serves as fare for UTA service on festival dates. Visit uaf.org to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)

NAXOLONE SAVES SOMEONE FROM AN OPIATE OVERDOSE Heroin Pain Pills Oxys NAXOLONE IS LEGAL AND IT SAVES

TROJAN HORSE

COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL LACEY comments@cityweekly.net

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—a Democratic candidate for president polling at roughly 20% against Joe Biden, according to CNN—is a man whose entitled shadow crossed my desert footprints in deepest Baja Mexico in 2001. We were both ensnared by whales. At the time, I was the founding editor of what would become Village Voice Media, which consisted then of some 17 papers whose editors and writers won over 3,800 writing awards, including a Pulitzer.

More to the point of this article, I was on track to log 30 consecutive years of journeys throughout Baja California in Mexico with family and friends. This led to research and interviews with advocates, scientists, politicians, environmentalists and ordinary Mexicans steeped in the fabled leviathan, culminating in an awardwinning series.

But what I witnessed of RFK Jr.—or “Bobby”—in Baja during a struggle over the fate of Mexico’s charming gray whales was alarming. He was an imposing Trojan horse, a legacy politician whose innards were teeming with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) lawyers, paralegals, factotums and environmentalists, not to mention the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

“NRDC—it’s not well known or the greatest name in the world, because it was chosen by a bunch of lawyers,” Linda Lopez, membership vice president of NRDC told our reporter Jill Stewart. “But we had a huge name in Bobby Kennedy, who is an attorney for our board. When we put his cover letter into our package … it made people feel totally confident in us.”

Now that he has tossed his hat into the presidential ring, methinks it is worthwhile to explore his myth, and not just his troubling anti-vax positions—certainly that as well as his record at the environmental nonprofit Riverkeeper, his activity in Cape Cod and, yes, his family.

I have junior’s receipts. He willingly sacrificed hundreds of jobs for Mexicans— in a notoriously impoverished desert—to wage a phony worldwide campaign on behalf of the charismatic gray whale.

All Kennedy had to do was: lie about the facts; ignore the science; screw the Mexicans out of employment; sweet talk Hollywood celebrities into hanging out with a Kennedy; and cynically attack a business—harvesting salt from shallow evaporative ocean ponds—while posing as a great white hope helicoptering in to sort it out for the befuddled brown locals.

To put a cherry on it, Kennedy and his posse promised green jobs to an entire village … and then abandoned the residents in the aftermath of the public relations triumph by the whale-charmed environmentalists.

Whale Tales

Gray whales make one of the longest migrations of any mammal when they depart Arctic waters for three calving lagoons in Baja California, Mexico. Stunningly, the mothers and their calves approach small Mexican fishing skiffs (pangas) and allow humans to ogle them and, what’s more, allow themselves to be stroked and petted.

It is a National Geographic-worthy moment of contact between whales and those humans whose predecessors nearly hunted the grays to extinction. Of the three, Laguna San Ignacio offers the most significant and gratifying interaction.

In 2001, our West Coast papers in New Times Inc. ran a series on the gray whales. It was in these articles that we documented RFK Jr.’s perverse propaganda campaign.

A Japanese company proposed to install a salt harvesting operation inland from the waters of Laguna San Ignacio—a simple matter of letting the ocean evaporate in onshore holding pens, then raking off the salt left behind. There is virtually no ecological footprint. We know this because an identical salt harvest, run by the same company, occurs 92 miles north of Laguna San Ignacio in Guerrero Negro.

Guerrero Negro has had no impact upon the whales. In fact, the brine that accumulates in the salt ponds provides feeding grounds for migrating birds. Serious birders know this.

But RFK Jr. was not interested in the facts. He was in the forefront of a global crusade to stop salt harvesting in Laguna San Ignacio. Critically dismissed was the fact that the salt plant would have created 200 jobs for Mexicans with middle-class incomes in one of the poorest parts of Baja California.

The salt workers in Guerrero Negro have new trucks, respectable housing. They can pay for their children to go beyond high school. They have health insurance, vacation time, profit sharing and discounted groceries from a company store. But RFK Jr. portrayed Mitsubishi—the company that owned the salt operation in Guerrero Negro and had proposed a similar effort in Laguna San Ignacio—as whale killers.

A rather silent partner, the Mexican government, would have the final say on whether or not the salt venture went forward. And conveniently for Kennedy’s agitprop, dead whales were washing up on the shores of Baja beaches.

Between 1999 and 2000, hundreds of deceased whales washed up on the Pacific shoreline of America and Mexico. Despite Kennedy’s propaganda, the die-off had nothing to do with Mitsubishi’s salt works. As recounted by New Times’ Patti Epler, scientists discovered that the whale’s food supply in Alaska—amphipods—had declined at the same time that the gray whale numbers had reached the species’ carrying capacity. There wasn’t enough food.

Forget the family pedigree—

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should not be the next president of the United States.

Emaciated whales began their migration south undernourished. Starved whales died in record numbers. These inconvenient facts were ignored by Robert Kennedy Jr. and his environmental cohorts.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) sent out 30.4 million mailers and collected $7 million. Membership increased from 175,000 to 450,000 based upon the false allegation that the Japanese-owned salt plant was the villain in whale mortality.

A boycott of Mitsubishi began. The International Fund for Animal Welfare spent millions and placed full-page ads in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal

Between them, the NRDC and IFAW spent a combined $15.5 million and mobilized 2 million people globally. American school children protested, “Stop killing Namu.” Kennedy flew dignitaries, politicians, dogooders and movie stars like Pierce Brosnan and Glenn Close into Baja.

In fact, this appeared to be the crux of the issue: Kennedy and the NRDC sought not to protect the gray whales but rather, to protect the pristine landing strip where celebrities were flown in for glamping, whale watching and donations.

When the president of Mexico stopped the salt project, the media erupted. “A decision Mexico never expected to make,” said The New York Times. “Changed the shape of environmental policies in Mexico,” declared the Boston Globe. “Handing a stunning victory to environmentalists,” wrote the Washington Post. “The most significant victory of their generation,” summed up Cox News Service.

It was all based on lies. The whales were in no danger from salt.

The endangered were actually those who resided in the threadbare Mexican village of Punta Abreojos. As recounted by our journalist, Susan Goldsmith, this is the scope of that village—at the end of a 37-mile dirt road, there is one phone in the tiny community. When it rings, the person who answers it leans out of the door and yells there is a call for so-and-so.

Robert Kennedy Jr. and the NRDC vigorously courted the villagers’ support. Kennedy reportedly dove for abalone with the locals. And the villagers were promised “green” jobs to replace the salt plant jobs they were about to lose.

Kennedy and NRDC hatched a scheme to vastly expand the villages’ modest harvesting of an oyster hatchery. But neither Kennedy nor the honchos at NRDC are watermen … unless you count yachting. Someone thought the new oyster operation should have solar/wind-generated power. And probably there would be excess power for the community of Punta Abreojos.

It was all so “organic,” “alternative,” “progressive.” And then reality bitchslapped the gringos. Here is how Kennedy and the NRDC blew it.

“They promised jobs that wouldn’t affect the environment—alternatives to the salt plant,” said Angela Garcia, village resident and daughter of a fisherman.

The NRDC publicized the killing of the salt plant in their magazine and promised more good deeds. “Now that the plant has

been canceled, the environmentalists have assigned experts to spend some months in Punta Abreojos and other nearby settlements to help raise local living standards,” said NRDC’s Jacob Scherr. “We not only saved a lagoon, we saved a town.”

The big idea was a vastly expanded oyster-farming business. “Because the shellfish harvest from the Pacific is declining and natural resources are being strained, NRDC and IFAW believe creating a sustainable fishery such as oyster farming is a promising alternative that has the potential to employ 85 to 100 adults—a significant portion of the working population of Punta Abreojos…” claimed NRDC.

But as Goldsmith reported: “Those familiar with the shellfish business in Mexico aren’t optimistic about Punta Abreojos’ chances for shucking the oyster market open and sucking out profits. Because of overfishing problems throughout Mexico, lots of others in Baja California Sur have had the exact same idea; currently there are 10 new oyster hatcheries in the state, and the federal government has approved environmental impact studies for another 14 in the same area. So much competition is certain to hinder the economic viability of Punta Abreojos’ oyster farm as well as the project’s employment prospects.”

Critically, Kennedy and his green allies only invested $100,000 in the oyster dream and it went nowhere.

Dynasty Destiny

“But RFK Jr. was not interested in the facts. He was in the forefront of a global crusade to stop salt harvesting in Laguna San Ignacio. Critically dismissed was the fact that the salt plant would have created 200 jobs for Mexicans with middleclass incomes in one of the poorest parts of Baja.”

Kennedy’s pitch was a simplistic narrative about a corporation that was evil because it was a corporation. As if people didn’t buy food at Safeway, cars from General Motors, clothes from Target, homes from Del Webb. And he is repeating the same theme in his bid for the White House, running against corporate-state alliances.

But this isn’t actually why he’s running.

RFK Jr. is running for president because his name is not Smith or Jones, but Kennedy. He is a conniving, cheese-eating rat despite being draped in the purple vestments of epic privilege. RFK Jr. fits right into the whooparee that is a presidential campaign with equal parts Mark Twain farce and Donner party tragedy.

This year the spotlight is on Donald Trump, the earworm that no embarrassment can hush, and Joe Biden, the proud father of Hunter and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, laptop. Biden’s eldest, Beau—before succumbing to cancer— served as Delaware’s Attorney General. This entitled the Bidens to be considered for inclusion into that most American corruption: Familial Political Dynasties.

Can you get your arms around how much twaddle it takes to diddle voters into believing that everyone in a particular family, including cousins and red-headed stepchildren, cannot pick up a shovel or a wrench but rather must be given a gavel instead?

But consider the evidence. I give you: the Adamses; the Harrisons; the Tafts; the Rockefellers; the Roosevelts; the Romneys; the Bushes; the Clintons; the Udalls; the Cuomos; and Louisiana’s very own Longs.

This is not to say these weren’t interesting hombres. For the record, no one was more charming to read about—nor live under—than Huey Long. Huey, Earl, Rose, Russell, Julius, George, Gillis William, Speedy O., Jimmy D., Gerald, Blanche, John S. Hunt, Catherine Small and William “Bill” Jackson—each and every one of these Longs was capable of election oratory with a chaw full of red beans and rice.

And let’s not deny that the Kennedys leave quite a wake in this regatta of familial coupling. As a clan, they have more christenings than a rabbi has bris ceremonies. The sheer numbers in every family photo repudiate the very thought of contraception.

More notable family members include:

Joe and Rose Kennedy, John and Jackie Kennedy, Robert and Ethel Kennedy, Edward “Ted” and Joan Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph P. Kennedy II, Robert Kennedy Jr., Patrick J. Kennedy, Robert Sargent “Bobby” Shriver III, Mark Kennedy Shriver, Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., Arnold Schwarzenegger (by marriage), Joseph P. “Joe” Kennedy III.

Every single one of these potato heads ventured into public service. Four Kennedys

—Guerrero Negro

Pacific Ocean

Evaporation Ponds—

believed they should be president—John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Edward Kennedy and now Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This is kaleidoscopic pageantry on a galactic scale. RFK Jr. is one more entitled chappie born not to work, but rather to lead. Even William Faulkner never described such a family.

As if his own history were not problematic enough, Kennedy has announced that his campaign manager will be Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich.

When you google search “Kucinich,” some of the top links include: Washington Post—“Dennis Kucinich was mocked in his presidential bid”; The New Yorker—“Why Dennis Kucinich won’t be missed”; The Ringer—“The kooky career of Dennis Kucinich”; The New Republic—“Is Dennis Kucinich Serious?”

This is like going to the state fair and seeing a sign pointing to a dark alley: “Right this way for the Bearded Lady and the Hairless Boy.” The most outstanding part of RFK Jr.’s resume is that he is a former heroin junkie.

Elders had warned us of a great white family offspring who speaks with forked tongue and subsists on hasty pudding and appears at microphones clad in Vineyard Vines. Back in 2015, Jerry Oppenheimer published a book, RFK Jr.: Robert Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream, which claimed that Junior “was a serial cheater who proposed to second wife Mary Richardson while still married to first wife Emily Black.”

This adultery “lifestyle” was recounted by People magazine’s Tierney McAfee.

The candidate appears as a child of preppy inbreeding, a dark spirit of button-down collars and unbuttoned zippers, a false god who traffics in the pieties of the supreme virgin called Mary.

He venerates her by sleeping with anyone named Mary … or Anne … or Buffy. He

manages to do this despite the slight mien of a chipmunk.

The folklore surrounding this horn-dog is so severe that the examples of collateral damage include an ex-wife who killed herself in the family compound after a procession of sexual conquests by her exhusband. Coverage by The New York Post at the time was an American tabloid triumph.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s estranged wife, who battled her husband’s rumored philandering by turning to alcohol and prescription drugs, hanged herself in a barn on their Westchester estate yesterday.” (May 16, 2012).

A friend of the ex-wife recounted: “I remember being seated at dinner next to Bobby around 10 years ago that she was also at—it was the first time I had met either of them—and he put his hand on my thigh under the table. We hadn’t even spoken to say hello. He was such a dog that way.”

Bobby Kennedy’s latest merit badges have been earned from virulent anti-vaxxer campaigns questioning COVID prevention. He stakes out conspiracies, questioning scientific verities with his theories about contaminated trading blankets.

I grew up when little kids caught polio and ended up in iron lungs, unable to breathe on their own, with a tiny mirror above their heads so they could see who they were talking to. The Salk vaccine put an end to this ghoulish crippling.

I believe in vaccines.

I know Robert Kennedy Jr. He’s no Jack Kennedy.

Credit and Blame

While I know Kennedy from back in 2001 during the gray whales wars in the desolate reaches of Baja California in Mexico, Laguna San Ignacio is a relatively low-key chapter of his life in terms of public awareness. But his trail since then, like a snail’s, is no less slimy.

Robert F. Kennedy, Edward Kennedy and now Robert F. Kennedy

Kennedy retained Wegner on his personal staff, and numerous senior members of Riverkeeper resigned.

In 2017, Kennedy himself resigned from Riverkeeper, claiming his responsibilities kept him away from his children. In his resignation letter, he described himself as the co-founder of Riverkeeper. He took credit for shuttering Indian Point nuclear power plant.

Boyle reacted with his own nuclear meltdown in the Daily Mail. “Kennedy built up his reputation (as an environmentalist) based on my actions and my thoughts,” Boyle told the press. “He’s a very deceitful, dishonest man … It’s very difficult to rewrite history when the man who made it is still alive … I started the battle about Indian Point back in 1964. I wrote an article about it in Sports Illustrated. I was invited to speak before a congressional committee, which I did … I intervened in the licensing procedures for Indian Point Two and Point Three. That goes back at least 50 years, so what Kennedy said is a lie. It’s one falsehood after another.”

Boyle continued: “The idea that he cofounded Riverkeeper, which is somewhere in his letter, is nonsensical. He co-founded nothing. He founded nothing. He lives in a fantasy world. And it’s a good thing for the environment that he’s out of it because he’s done a great deal of damage to the environment with his various postures.”

After Baja, RFK Jr. made a name for himself in upstate New York involving the cleanup of the Hudson River. He became a high-profile member of the wildly successful Riverkeeper organization, an outfit committed to cleaning up the significant pollution in the Hudson River.

You might say that he backed into the job. In 1983, he was employed in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was busted for heroin possession. But Kennedys do not go to jail (see: Edward Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne, Chappaquiddick Island, July 1969). Instead, RFK Jr. was offered community service with Riverkeeper in 1984.

Riverkeeper originated as the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association when they confronted a vast array of industries polluting the water. These activists were led by founder Robert H. Boyle, who wrote the book, The Hudson River, A Natural and Unnatural History. Boyle was also a senior staffer at Sports Illustrated.

There is no question that Riverkeeper made a substantial impact upon the epic waterway and the fishery. But there are plenty of questions about RFK Jr. Perhaps the largest issue revolved around a felon.

William Wegner, like RFK Jr., is a falconer. He studied ornithology at the State University of New York at New Paltz. But he’d also been sentenced to five years in prison for running a smuggling ring. He brought exotic bird eggs from Australia and sold them for thousands of dollars.

He pleaded guilty to wildlife protection laws and tax fraud. He caught five years. Kennedy’s position on behalf of his fellow falconer was that everyone deserves a second chance. He suggested that he, Kennedy, had gotten a second chance.

Riverkeeper’s founder, Robert Boyle, told The New York Times the difference was Kennedy had not committed an environmental crime while Wegner’s bird smuggling was clearly an egregious crime against nature.

If this feels harsh, Kennedy himself managed to underscore Boyle’s evaluation in 2005. Writing in The New York Times, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described himself to readers: “As an environmentalist, I support wind power, including wind power on the high seas. I am also involved in siting wind farms in appropriate landscapes, of which there are many.”

And then Kennedy pivoted. The company, Cape Wind Associates, undertook a proposal to build an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., professed environmentalist, strongly opposed Cape Wind because the turbines “… would be seen from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.”

In other words, the windmills would be visible from the Kennedy compound, though he failed to mention this in his attack on green energy. Perhaps RFK Jr. would have supported Cape Wind if the turbines were located closer to Newark.

Cape Wind had to abandon the project, reportedly due to “… an opposition group funded largely by wealthy waterfront homeowners.”

In 2014, Kennedy married Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Cheryl Hines. When the couple threw a party in 2021, their guests were instructed to be vaccinated against COVID. Kennedy blamed his wife for the contradictory stance. “I guess I’m not always the boss in my own house,” he told Politico.

Trust funder, heroin junkie, lawyer, false prophet of COVID, homewrecker, serial adulterer, chipmunk caricature, whale alarmist, Janusian-faced windmill denier, Democratic candidate for president of the United States.

Is that the organ from The Phantom of the Opera I hear?

Michael Lacey is the former executive editor of Village Voice Media. He lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and is currently engaged in an epic First Amendment battle with the federal government over the former classified listings giant, Backpage. com. You can read more about his fight at FrontPageConfidential.com

“Four Kennedys believed they should be president— John F. Kennedy,

Jr.”

Continued from p. 20

Cussin’ Up a Storm

Head to Old Cuss Cafe in South Salt Lake for your next vegetarian comfort food fix.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved a good Yellowstone trip. After a full day of appreciating frothing geysers, muddy paint pots and random wildlife sightings, spending the evening shopping amid all the deliberately rustic shops in West Yellowstone was a great way to unwind. Something about all those lacquered bears carved from tree stumps, fringed leather jackets and turquoise jewelry really drive home the fact that you are far from the metropolitan rat race.

For those who need a similar shot of nostalgic, DIY rusticism but don’t have the time to jaunt up to a national park, consider checking out Old Cuss Cafe. Old Cuss is many things all at once: a vintage, locally-sourced art and clothing store; a coffee shop with a keen eye for quality; and a plant-based cafe open for breakfast and lunch. It had been on my radar for a bit, but I recently had a full day of work downtown and decided to swing by for a hearty breakfast to get things started on the right foot.

It’s located in a hip little strip mall just off Main Street, but the wave of nostalgia is inescapable when you enter the space for the first time. Rows of locally-made clothes hang on the walls, along with plenty of excellent artwork and oldschool antiquities. One would think that this additional merchandise would harsh

the vibe of a city coffee shop and cafe, but it really doesn’t. Despite its gruff-sounding name, Old Cuss is really quite comfortable and welcoming.

Their menu is straightforward enough, but each dish is packing some kind of flavorful surprise to keep things interesting. At the moment, everything on the Old Cuss menu is plant-based, but we can expect to see some local dairy and eggs making their way to the menu soon. I started things off with the Breakfast Dagwood ($14), the Old Cuss signature breakfast sandwich, and there is plenty to like about this. My current breakfast sandwich bracket has been pretty locked as of late, as I didn’t really see much competition for my top five. However, after spending the morning with this little bit of genius, I have to say that number one spot might just be up for contention.

First off, they use a buttery—but not butter-y, since it’s plant-based—homemade biscuit as the chassis for the whole affair. I go back and forth on the English muffin vs. biscuit debate as far as breakfast sandwiches go, but a really flaky, hot and structurally sound biscuit usually takes the win for me, and that’s what you get here. Instead of egg, you have a nicely grilled square of tofu—a classic move for a plant-based sando—some vegan cheese that melts in all the right ways … and then there’s this mushroom jam.

We need to talk about the mushroom jam. Of all the savory jams I’ve had—bacon, tomato, etc.—I’ve felt that there was some kind of obligation to make them sweeter than they had to be. Jam kind of lends itself to that interpretation, I suppose. In this case, it’s a jam that doesn’t try to dilute all that savory mushroom flavor with pectin and sugar. I’m not saying that sweet jam doesn’t slap when you put it on a biscuit, but what I am saying is that the Old Cuss team has invented spreadable mushroom gravy. Many have tried to add the biscuits-and-gravy component to a breakfast sandwich only to

have the entire situation dissolve into a gloopy mess. The secret is mushroom jam and it’s delicious.

Though the Breakfast Dagwood had me rethinking the entirety of my breakfast sandwich schema, I also have to give some love to the home fries take on French fries as a side dish. Why there aren’t more attempts to make French fries adopt the crisp, peppery flavor of home fries is beyond me. They don’t always have to be little nubbins of new potatoes, everyone! They can be French fries! The potato continues to be one of our most versatile root vegetables!

I couldn’t leave without trying one of the sweeter options on the menu, and the horchata waffle ($10) caught my eye. Its homemade waffle batter incorporates just enough cinnamon to earn the horchata in its title, and it comes hot and crispy right off the waffle iron. It’s got some fresh berries, maple syrup and a bit of creamy not-butter-butter, and it’s an excellent specimen of what a waffle should be.

As Old Cuss is much more than the sum of its parts, we can always look forward to some of the cool events they’ll be hosting in the next few weeks. In addition to having some new vegetarian options on the menu, they’ll be hosting a night market and burger night on June 30, complete with local vendors, tasty plant-based burgers and a few milkshake varieties for good measure.

Admittedly, I didn’t quite know what to expect when I visited Old Cuss Cafe, but I think that’s a big part of its charm. You go in for a cup of coffee, and end up learning that home fries have every right to be picked up and eaten by hand and that mushroom gravy can definitely be a spreadable condiment. CW

ALEX SPRINGER

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: Mango Goze

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: Pink Boots Imperial Red Ale

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC

FisherBeer.com

On Tap: Rotating 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: Irish Red

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

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: Finger Pickin’ Pilsner

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: Hellion Blond Ale, an ode to Ellie, manager at Shades on State

Live Music: Thursdays

Shades On State 366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Hellion Blond Ale, an ode to Ellie, manager at Shades on State

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 Other Side of IPAs

Two hopped-up ales that challenge the palate.

BY MIKE RIEDEL COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET @utahbeer

Salt Flats - 2 Hops 2 Furious: This is Salt Flats’ take on the Belgian IPA style—basically the same as your typical European IPA, with that unique Belgian yeast spiciness. It pours a dark gold and mild amber, and its brilliant clarity shows off those goldenrod highlights beautifully through a sparkly glow. A creamy, off-white head races to the surface to cap the beer with a tall column of foam. It smells surprisingly toasty and biscuity, as the scent of savory bread crust leaps right out. Then comes a waft of perfume, caramel, fruit and spice, as the layers of complexities unfold one by one.

As in the nose, a sip moistens the palate with the savory malt taste of melanoidin-rich toasted bread and biscuit-type sweetness that’s lightly reminiscent of shortcake and caramel. Like cashews, the brazen malts melt on the early palate and allow for freshly zested oranges, tangerines and lemons to wash over the middle. Lightly tropical and floral notes allow the taste of apricots and mangoes—both of the over-ripened variety—to abound; just ahead of the rose hips, coriander, cardamom, chamomile and tea-like herbs that round out is flowery taste. Finishing spicy and bitter, the ale leaves the palate with a mildly soapy impression. Medium-dry on the palate, the beer’s hearty malt structure and creamy-type carbonation sides with what’s expected of American IPA, but lacks much of the more expressive carbonation of Belgian ale.

Verdict: A very good take on a Belgian IPA, featuring restrained Belgian yeast notes with a brash West Coast IPA hop character.

Epic - We Can Brew It Ale: This beer features the Pink Boots Society’s 2023 hop blend. A portion of the sales from this beer will go towards the Pink Boots Society, a fermentation industry group that supports women and LGBTQ+ members in North America.

It pours a deep reddish-brown hue with an off-white head on top that sticks around for a while and leaves sticky rings of lacing. Tons of sediment floats around in there. A heavy dose of citrusy hops in the aroma combines with a bunch of caramel malt and a bit of soft pine. Maybe even a hint of apple? You get a bit of alcohol, but not an extraordinary amount, while the nose lets you know that you’ll be getting a bold flavor profile.

That flavor is somewhat sweet and caramelly up front, moving to a grapefruit taste in the middle, which turns into a fairly citrusy bitterness in the back. The front is almost barleywine-like in its sweetness, with hints of apple and pear combining with the caramel malt. This is a short-lived flavor, however, as the hops take over and make for a flavorfully bitter beer. The bitterness is certainly not over the top, and I’m finding that the sweetness up front does a pretty good job of balancing this beer out. It has plenty of grapefruit citrusy hops to make for this interesting combination.

The alcohol could actually go fairly unnoticed, except for a bit of a twinge in the middle and the breath; at 8.0 percent ABV, this is a feat of brilliance. The other flavors keep it the alcohol in check very nicely, but also allow it to be known. It finishes dry and hoppy, making for a bitter but citrusy lingering aftertaste, still with that hint of soft herbal spices.

Verdict: This is a very enjoyable beer, as it has those nice, sweet, almost American barleywine qualities to it, but also has a nice amount of hops that balance the beer out with a citrusy, grapefruit kind of taste.

We Can Brew It Ale is available in 16-ounce cans for the first time, and you’ll find them at Epic. 2 Hops 2 Furious is on draft and in 12-ounce cans, and can be found at all Salt Flats locations, as well as select grocery/convenience stores. 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

Rooftop Summer Dinner Series at Mar Muntanya

The team at Mar Muntanya (170 S. West Temple) is kicking off their summer dinner series starting on June 25 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. For their inaugural event, Chef Tyson will be busily preparing a communal feast that features a roast Iberico suckling pig, some Bouchot mussels, West Coast oysters and plenty of Chef Tyson’s paella. Mar Muntanya has always been fond of using local ingredients for their menu, so guests can also expect to see plenty of local farmers’ market produce on hand. No dining event would be complete without an awesome wine pairing, and craft cocktails will also be available.

Utah Arts Festival Big Deal Brunch

June brings us the creative confab known as the Utah Arts Festival, and those who want to close out the festival in style will want to check out the Big Deal Brunch. This is the perfect way to wrap up your Arts Festival experience. Grab some tasty brunch, drink a mimosa and hit the festival one more time to decide if that cuckoo clock made from reclaimed wood truly needs to be hanging on your office wall. This year’s brunch takes place on June 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the festival’s hospitality patio, and tickets can be purchased at uaf.org.

El Cholo Comes to Sugar House

Sugar House will soon be the site of a new El Cholo (elcholo.com), and it’s kind of a big deal. El Cholo is considered by many to be the first Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, with its first location opening back in 1923. It now operates six restaurants in the Southern California area, and its seventh will open in the heart of Sugar House later this summer. You can already check out the space they’ve secured on 2166 S. 900 East, and it’s not a bad spot at all. The family-owned restaurant is boasting 9,000 square feet of space, along with roof and patio seating. You can bet I’ll be anxiously awaiting the grand opening this summer.

Quote of the Week: “Mexican food is one of the best culinary experiences that people can have.” –Karla Souza

Protect Your Loved Ones

Cruising State

The eateries along State Street open up a cultural slice of Utah life.

BY ERIN MOORE

State Street is a 17-mile-long, six-laneswide roadway that travels the length of the Salt Lake Valley from the Capitol south through Draper. Until Utah had its interstates, State Street was the main drag in and out of town. It remains mostly untouched by the development and urban densification that’s changing much of our city. Its long expanse is still crammed with landmarks and signs, old-school retailers and services, plus tried-and-true restaurants, dives and markets. For years, hot-rodders and bored teenagers spent their weekend nights cruising State Street to meet up with friends and impress members of the opposite sex in passing cars. So, take a trip down memory lane and discover many culinary gems worth pulling over for.

Arempas

Longtime Salt Lakers will remember the days when the only line down State Street at 1 a.m. was for pizza, and how annoying it was to have no other option. Arempas changed that, becoming an indispensable option in the late-night food game. The Venezuelan eatery deals in humongous fried empanadas and bursting arepas in both meat and veggie varieties, and savory sides like fried plantains or yuca. 350 S. State, SLC, 385-301-8905

Mahider

If you’re not lucky enough to have grown up eating Ethiopian food, or you’re not yet among the converted, get your life changed with a handful of injera and a scoop of intoxicatingly spiced lentils, or cabbage, or collard greens, or meats, or anything, really, from one of their delightful diverse combination platters. Shareable and crazy affordable, take the whole family, or all your roommates, or all your coworkers here for a truly delicious and communal dining experience. 1465 S. State, SLC, 801-975-1111

Aces High Saloon

This metalhead haunt is actually an incredibly welcoming place for anybody, whether you’re there for a show or grubbing on vegan-friendly brunch on a weekend (veggie dogs for breakfast? Yes, it hits the spot). They also host the occasional karaoke night, so if you’ve ever wanted to try covering Rob Zombie or Danzig, this is the spot to do it. 1588 S. State, SLC, 801-9068908, aceshighsaloon.com

Karim Bakery

Once you’re inside and staring down into the pastry case, you’ll get why this little bakery is worth looking out for. Karim Bakery’s baklava is considered some of the city’s best by anyone who loves the nutty, mildly sweet little treats, and you won’t

doubt them once you try for yourself. And while you may want to start with dessert here, their savory options are perfect for when you want lunch to feel special. 2575 S. State, South Salt Lake, 801-645-4533, orderkarimbakery.com

Fresh Donuts & Deli

Easy to pop in and out of on your way to work, this modest little shack deals in fresh donuts indeed—the simple, pure smell of sugar and fried dough hits you like a childhood memory the minute you walk in the door. The donuts are light and pillowy, perfectly glazed and affordable—they’re perfect for bringing into work when everyone needs a little mood lifter. There’s nothing like a donut for that, after all. 2699 S. State, South Salt Lake, 801-467-8322

Sabor Latino

A commercial for this spot would involve three kids in the back of the car shouting over one another, “I want pupusas! No, I want empanadas! No! I want tamales!” And the car pulling over and the whole fam piling out into Sabor Latino, a holy grail of Latin flavors from Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala. Sabor Latino does all of these dishes and more—like arepas, tequeñoes and pastelitos—ample justice. 3053 S. State, South Salt Lake, 801-487-2009, saborlatinoutah.com

Chinatown Market

Look for the looming red gate that welcomes you into the Chinatown Market. Besides the market itself, which is huge and stuffed to the brim with absolutely any asian foodstuffs you could want, the whole plaza is filled, mini mall-like, with K-pop dance studios and restaurants alike—traditional Chinese noodles at One More, hot pot at Hero Hotpot, Korean fried chicken at Chick Queen are just a few of the offerings. 3390 S. State, South Salt Lake, 801-906-8788, chinatown-supermarket. com

Tandoori Taqueria

Few would argue that Mexican food and Indian food are two of the tastiest cuisines on the planet , so it makes sense that they belong together. At this Southern Utah-born fusion joint, that’s just what happens. At Tandoori Taqueria, fluffy naan is your tortilla and tomatillos get the chutney treatment, and the spices of these two great cultures come together beautifully in your tacos. 3540 S. State, South Salt Lake, 801-590-9473, thetandooritaqueria.com

Pho Saigon Noodle House 2

This spot in the bustling center of Murray’s portion of State Street is super special. Pho Saigon Noodle House goes beyond just pho and banh mi, offering exciting dishes like Banh Xeo, Vietnamese crepes stuffed with sweet marinated meats. There are a dizzying amount of stir-fry, noodle dishes, soups and salad options, too, which means there’s all the more reason to come back and try something new over and over again. 4907 S. State, Murray, 801-590-8277

Bumblebees BBQ and Grill

Bumblebees BBQ on State has dared to ask the question, “what if Korean BBQ was on fries?” From this question came the Kpop fries, which consists of Korean BBQ, fresh cut fries, cheese, spicy mayo, sriracha and chopped green onions. Don’t miss out on other inventive treats though, like their “Kor-ispy” chicken sando, chicken “puffs,” and tendres. 7962 S. State, Midvale, 801-561-0608, bumblebeesbbq.com T

Tandoori Taqueria COURTESY PHOTO

New, Normal

Asteroid City revisits Wes Anderson’s fascination with adapting to messy change.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

Every time a new Wes Anderson movie emerges, it feels like we have to re-litigate the same arguments about his work: that it’s too precious and sterile, that it’s all about quirky and mannered performances, that it lacks heart and soul. I’ll simplify my own response to these complaints with a single word—“bollocks”—before turning to the possibility that Asteroid City is, at least in small part, Anderson’s own response to them.

That’s not to say that it’s a defensive, “I am so sincere and heartfelt” act of metafilmmaking, but more that it doubles down what his films have almost always been about. He tells stories about people who have set up regimented, carefully-composed lives for themselves, dealing with the introduction of chaotic change to their lives: the celebrated oceanographer facing the possible end of his career in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; the family and community members reacting to impetuous young love in Moonrise Kingdom; the meticulous concierge facing encroaching fascism in The Grand Budapest Hotel Asteroid City throws several paradigm shifts of post-World War II America—the atomic age, Method acting, television—into a blender, and emerges with typically hilarious and poignant study of how hard it is to pivot to a new reality.

He does so with a nesting-doll structure for the artifice of his narrative. A television host (Bryan Cranston) introduces us to the idea that “Asteroid City” is, in fact,

CINEMA

a play created by writer Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) in 1955. We see plenty of the play itself, which focuses on an American desert town where folks are gathering for an annual competition of young teen inventors, among them recently-widowed war photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) and his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan), and popular movie actress Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) and her daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards). But we also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of that play’s creation, from Earp meeting and casting the actor playing Augie, to the personal difficulties facing the play’s director, Schubert Green (Adrien Brody).

Most of the comedy in Asteroid City centers on the scenes from the play, specifically in the aftermath of an actual alien visitation. Maya Hawke does lovely, flustered work as an elementary schoolteacher trying to keep her quarantined class of students on task when all they want to do is talk about the alien (and maybe even write a song about it); Augie and Midge begin to form a connection across the space between their respective motor-park bungalows. Anderson wrestles oddball mo-

ments out of the setting, the situations and the characters, providing regular bursts of deadpan humor.

And, as he always does, Anderson folds that humor into something deeper and richer. Within the world of “Asteroid City,” he’s poking at the kind of post-war optimism that gave rise to the student science contest, but wasn’t quite ready for how certain developments were going to change their world—symbolically in the person of the alien visitor, but also in the mushroom clouds from nearby nuclear testing and in the not-particularly-responsible real-estate development of the arid desert southwest. Even Augie’s inability to tell his children about the death of his wife and Midge’s professional insecurities feed into this notion of people who don’t know quite what to do when the ground beneath them feels unstable.

Asteroid City’s Rosetta Stone might be a late scene when Schwartzman’s actorplaying-Augie, Jones Hall, flees the play’s theater during a moment of artistic crisis, and encounters the actress (Margot Robbie) who was supposed to play Augie’s wife in scenes that were ultimately cut

from “Asteroid City.” He has a little slip of the tongue, however, and refers to her as “the wife who played my actress,” turning their subsequent scene—in which the actress replays the dialogue that would have deepened the relationship between the two characters—into one where the veneer between artist and art gets even thinner. The behind-the-scenes scenes in Asteroid City remind us of the real people and real emotions behind the movies, plays and television that we enjoy, and that they’re not simply dioramas constructed to please the eye. Anderson keeps reminding us that the things we want to be neat and tidy are always messy, and that life—and the art that wants to show us something about that life—is all about figuring out how to make peace with that mess. CW

ASTEROID CITY

BBB 1/2

Jason Schwartzman

Scarlett Johansson

Edward

Norton

Rated PG-13

Available June 23 in theaters

FILM Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks in Asteroid City

DATE & TIME

SATURDAY JULY 15th 12pm-8pm

ENTRY ONLY $15 TICKET EXPERIENCE $35 TICKET

Entrance to event, access to vendors, silent disco & live entertainment

UTAH'S LARGEST CANNABIS EVENT

AT UTAH'S LARGEST INTERACTIVE ART EXHIBIT

CANNABIS + ART + MUSIC

WITH SOME OF UTAH'S BEST ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS

INSPIRED BY CANNABIS AND PSYCHEDELICS

LOCATED AT

Dreamscapes and the adjacent Utah Arts Alliance massive one-story event space inside the Shops at South Town.

10450 STATE STREET • SANDY, UT

Entry To Dreamscapes Silent Disco Experience* ($22 Value) *Limited

Event T-Shirt (First 1500 paid tickets) ($25 Value)

+ + +

1 Raffle Ticket (Priceless)

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT SILENT DISCO

Located inside of Dreamscapes* and vendor area. Put on headphones and choose between 2+ live djs as you explore the interactive art exhibit!

*silent disco inside Dreamscapes is only available the day of the event and limited.

tickets and more info

Being a Human

Josaleigh Pollett looks to create work that isn’t inspired by traumatic events

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

Back in 2020, singer/songwriter Josaleigh Pollett released No Woman is the Sea, a beautiful, yet heart-wrenching album that she wrote during one of the most tumultuous times in her life. She considers this album her “divorce record,” written during the time she was going through a break-up and had a ton of emotional baggage.

In the Garden, By the Weeds, however, is a completely different body of work, created with an entirely different approach. The theme centers around regrowth, starting fresh and healing. It also centers on everyday aspects of life, rather than the challenges we all inevitably have to experience at one point or another.

“The approach to this record is so different from anything I’ve done before,” said Pollett. “This new record was really kind of an exploration in writing about the more mundane and day-to-day things, and trying to not base my ability to write a song on traumatic things happening.

“How about if we just find what’s the basis for just being a regular person?” Pollett asked herself. “How can I find inspiration in that, and still be able to write about it, without relying on my life to blow up every three years and then I write an album about it?”

Not only was Pollett’s mindset going into this album completely changed, the way it was put together was brand new to the singer/songwriter and her bandmate, Jordan Watko. “A lot of it has just been because I haven’t put any hard deadlines on myself, or put any strict schedules togeth-

er,” she said. “It’s just the two of us, and we recorded everything at our homes, so it never had to be anything more stressful than that. It’s been a very chill, sweet way to make a new record instead of the panic that I used to feel.”

In the Garden, By the Weeds is a beautiful sonic journey that’s soaked in the peacefulness that Pollett and Watko felt during the production of the album. You’ll feel completely at ease as soon as you press play. The opening track, “YKWIM,” is light and airy, featuring soft acoustic guitar and delicate effects in the background, creating an atmosphere that feels so full, despite there not being a ton happening at the moment musically.

It’s an album you can listen to anytime; you don’t have to be in a certain mood to enjoy what’s happening. “Very much both thematically and sonically, the goals for this record were holding a lot of nuance of everyday things that happen,” Pollett said. “It’s a lot of, I’m pulling weeds outside because I have to, going on a lot of walks and dealing with the day-to-day feelings of just being a human at this time, while also processing these big, huge nebulous existential life questions.”

One of the main hopes for Pollett with this album is that it fosters a sense of peace and belonging for people. “I like to think of that as, there’s this garden, and there’s weeds in the garden, and the weeds belong there,” Pollett said. “They are supposed to be it; they are not unnatural. The unnaturalness to them is just how we feel about them. It’s not necessarily that they don’t belong next to the vegetables and the flowers.”

While some of the songs on the album were written during/reference the pandemic, they aren’t consumed by the dread and complete uncertainty that was happening during that time. “There’s a song that explores asking if that was another earthquake or just the garbage truck, because that was a feeling that I experienced for several weeks at one point in the early pandemic,” Pollett said, referencing the track “Earthquake Song” on the album. “A lot of those feelings carried through from that point, because I know for so many people that the pandemic just really shook the foundation of what we understood the world was like.”

MUSIC

In the Garden, By the Weeds will be streaming everywhere July 14, and this release will mark a change for Pollett’s career going forward. In the past, Pollett has always written in a very reactionary way; very much, “You did this thing, and here’s how I feel about it,” she explained. She describes how this album is the most selfreflective she’s ever been in her work, and how she’d like to not write from such an emotionally-charged place in the future.

“Writing this record and putting out this record and the way I talk about this record feels so different, and it feels so much more connected to me as a person than I have felt about my music in the

past,” she said. “I definitely think of it as this shift of, this is more making the really intentional music instead of just, ‘I wrote a song yesterday, here it is.’ Right now, it’s like, I have an idea and I really want to explore it, and I want to make it into something that captures this feeling in a lot of different ways,” she said.

More than ever, the future is looking bright for Pollett. As she continues to flourish, so too does her music. “I hope that I can continue to grow in that direction where I am making this art for a very specific reason for me. I don’t want to be haphazard about it. I want to be very intentional with it.” CW

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

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

TUESDAYS

Pure Prairie League @ Egyptian Theater 6/21-23

For many, the mention of Pure Prairie League brings one song in particular to mind, the easily entreating “Amie,” a radio staple of the early ’70s. In retrospect, Pure Prairie League clearly played a significant role in the origins of the genre now known as Americana. Named after a fictional 19thcentury temperance union featured in the 1939 Errol Flynn western “Dodge City,” the group was personified by Norman Rockwell’s hapless cartoon cowboy, a fixture on each of their album covers. Formed by singer/songwriter Craig Fuller, who later left to front Little Feat, the group had a revolving cast of musicians, which, at one time, included a young Vince Gill. They also recruited some all-star contributors for their best-selling album Two Lane Highway, including Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris and Don Felder of the Eagles. Even after their heyday in the mid to late ’70s, the band still soldiered on into the ‘80s, fueled by their top ten hit “Let Me Love You Tonight.” A final album, aptly titled All In Good Time, appeared in 2005, adding impetus for keeping the band brand alive. As that signature song states, “Don’t you think the time is right for us to find / All the things we thought weren’t proper could be right in time…” In this case, why not? Pure Prairie League performs an all-ages show at the Egyptian Theater at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 22 - Friday, June 23. Tickets cost $35 - $59 ($5 more half hour before show time.) Visit tickets.egyptiantheatrecompany.org (Lee Zimmerman)

Pure Prairie League MICHAEL J. MEDIA GROUP

MUSIC PICK S

By Emilee Atkinson

No Such Animal

No Such Animal, Hollow Hill, Say It Back @ Boardwalk Sound 6/24

There are few more comforting ways to spend an evening than chilling out with a great crowd and amazing local bands. Orem-based alt-rock outfit No Such Animal has been putting out some incredible hits since 2022. They’ve amassed an incredible following in such a short amount of time, but hearing their songs like “Witches in Salt Lake City” and “Painted Faces,” it’s hard not to become an instant fan. The group has an incredible hard rock sound that’s easy to dive head-first into. The young band sound like seasoned professionals; the production on their music is insane, paired with clever lyrics and lively vibes, you won’t want to stop listening. Joining No Such Animal are Hollow Hill, another alt-rock group who have started 2023 off strong with a fresh EP called Lost But Not Forgotten. This five-song collection is on the slower side, featuring scaled-back yet beautiful acoustic tracks. Hollow Hill can definitely rock like the best of them, but it’s nice to hear these stripped back intimate tracks. Rounding out the bill is another group with the same genre vibes as the previous acts, Say It Back. The quartet has had some amazing releases since last year, including their latest “Never the Rain.” Don’t miss this incredible local lineup on Saturday, June 24 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $10 and can be found at theboardwalksound.com.

(Emilee Atkinson)

MUSIC PICK S

By Emilee Atkinson

Fly Anakin @ Soundwell 6/25

Fly Anakin is the hip-hop definition of “coming correct.” See also: a rapper who is a dope emcee. Richmond, Va.-raised Frank Walton, a.k.a. Fly Anakin, can spit with the best of them, and doesn’t seem like he is going to run out of things to say anytime soon. His catalog stretches past the better part of a decade now, and his discography includes 25 previous projects. “I used to give myself 30 days to make a project and, if it was good, just put that shit out,” he told Pitchfork last year. “That’s how I got my chops up. But Frank needed to be respected.” Frank, his “debut” album, was released via Lex Records in 2022 doesn’t cater to any mainstream whims, just ill beats and rhymes. Every track sounds like its own individual work of art, but with repeated listens, they converge into something else. With production from heavyweights Madlib and Evidence (among others), Frank is consistent to the very last song—38 straight minutes of pen-to-paper storytelling. His new effort, Skinemaxxx (Side B) is slated to be released on July 28. Now, Side B is the second half of his latest, with Side A dropping earlier this year. It will feature guests ANKLEJOHN and BbyMutha as well as London-based singer-songwriter Demae on the lead single “Things Change.” Birdy Music, Gloco, Wes Burke and Ferrari $moke open the show. Sounds by DJ Juggy. Catch these acts at Soundwell on Sunday, June 25 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $15, and can be found at tixr.com (Mark Dago)

The Used, Pierce the Veil @ The Complex 6/28

The Used make their triumphant return to their home state of Utah this month with fellow rockers Pierce the Veil in this epic showing of early ’00s emo/hardcore fanfare. It’s hard not to think of these two bands when thinking of these genres that were hugely popular in the early aughts. The Used has plenty of hits from back then that still hold up today; the songs will bring back memories for those of us who were there, or make new fans for those hearing it for the first time. The Utah natives are back with fresh music in 2023, with a full album called Toxic Positivity. The new music is a formidable addition to their catalog; it keeps elements from their emo aesthetic while sounding fresh

for the modern day. The production and mixing on the album is top-notch, while bringing plenty of hardcore, heavy driving instruments to headbang to. Circa 2012, it was hard not to find fans of metalcore wearing Pierce the Veil shirts. They were always designed with intense, brightly-colored art featuring that distinctive metal font that’s always a teensy bit hard to read—but you looked so damn cool wearing it. Pierce the Veil have their first full album since 2016 out this year, and it has everything fans of the band could want: intense subject matter, heavy instrumentation and the occasional screaming vocal. With new music coming from these favorites of the last couple decades, this show won’t be one to miss. Check them out on Wednesday, June 28 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $120 and can be found at thecomplexslc.com. (EA)

Charlie Puth @ USANA Amphitheater

6/28

Pop singer Charlie Puth has made a name for himself online with his wacky antics when it comes to making music. He takes everyday sounds, plugs them into music editing software and somehow makes a bop out of it. He can be found on TikTok doing this all the time; one of the songs that he did this with even made his last album. “Light Switch” was created as described above, and it’s cool to hear a track that was inspired by something as mundane as a light switch. The lyrics aren’t about a light switch specifically of course, but the music was inspired by it, and he formed the lyrics to fit the theme. “You turn me on like a light switch / When you’re movin’ your body around and around / You got me in a tight grip / You know how to just make me want you.” It’s a clever and fun way to let listeners see how he creates music, while using a simple notion to inspire something fun and vibrant. Puth also collaborates with some huge names in the music industry. You can find him on tracks with the likes of Elton John, Jung Kook of BTS, Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter. Hearing Puth with so many different artists showcases his versatility and makes you wonder who he’ll end up singing with next. Head out to see Puth at USANA Amphitheater on Wednesday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from about $76$100 and can be found at livenation.com. (EA)

Fly Anakin

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

When I was still an up-and-coming horoscope columnist, before I got widely syndicated, I supplemented my income with many other jobs. During one stretch, I wrote fortunes for a line of designer fortune cookies that were covered with gourmet chocolate and sold at the luxury department store Bloomingdale’s. The salary I got paid was meager. Part of my compensation came in the form of hundreds of delicious but non-nutritious cookies. If you are offered a comparable deal in the coming weeks and months, Aries, my advice is to do what I didn’t do but should have done: Ask for what’s truly valuable to you instead of accepting a substitute of marginal worth.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

My mentor Ann Davies said that of all the signs of the zodiac, you Tauruses are most likely to develop finely honed intuition. At least potentially, you can tune in to the inner teacher better than the rest of us. The still, small voice rises up out of the silence and speaks to you clearly and crisply. Here’s even better news: I believe you are entering a phase when your relationship with this stellar faculty may ripen dramatically. Please take advantage of this subtly fabulous opportunity!

Each day for the next 14 days, do a relaxing ritual in which you eagerly invite and welcome the guidance of your deepest inner source.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

New College in Oxford, UK, has educated students since 1379. Among its old buildings is a dining hall that features beams made of thick oak trees. Unfortunately, most oak wood eventually attracts beetles that eat it and weaken it. Fortunately, the 14th-century founders of New College foresaw that problem. They planted an oak grove whose trees were specifically meant to be used to replace the oak beams at New College. Which they are to this day. I would love you to derive inspiration from this story, Gemini. What practical long-term plans might you be wise to formulate in the coming months?

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

In the Northern Hemisphere, the astrological month of Cancer begins with the sun in its greatest glory. Our home star is at its highest altitude, shining with maximum brightness. So then why is the sign of the Crab ruled by the moon? Why do the longest days of the year coincide with the ascendancy of the mistress of the night? Ahhh. These are esoteric mysteries beyond the scope of this horoscope. But here’s a hint about what they signify for you personally. One of your assets can also be a liability: your innocent openness to the wonders of life. This quality is at the heart of your beauty but can also, on occasion, make you vulnerable to being overwhelmed. That’s why it’s so important that you master the art of setting boundaries, of honing your focus, of quaffing deeply from a few cups instead of sipping from many cups.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

The coming weeks will be a delicate time for your spiritual unfoldment. You are primed to recover lost powers, rediscover key truths you have forgotten and reunite with parts of your soul you got cut off from. Will these good possibilities come to pass in their fullness? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on how brave you are in seeking your healing. You must ask for what’s hard to ask for. You’ve got to find a way to feel deserving of the beauty and blessings that are available. PS: You are deserving. I will be cheering you on, dear Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Whether or not you have been enrolled in a learning institution during the past 12 months, I suspect you have been getting a rigorous education. Among the courses you have almost completed are lessons in intimacy, cooperation, collaboration, symbiosis and togetherness. Have you mastered all the teachings? Probably not. There were too many of them, and they were too voluminous to grasp perfectly and completely. But that’s OK. You have done well. Now you’re ready to graduate, collect your diploma and apply what you have learned.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

History has provided contradictory reports about Isabeau of Bavaria, who served as Queen of France from 1385 to 1422. Was she a corrupt, greedy and indecisive fool who harmed France’s fortunes? Or was she a talented diplomat with great skill in court politics and an effective leader during the many times her husband, King Charles VI, was incapacitated by illness? I bring these facts to your attention, Libra, hoping they will inspire you to refine, adjust and firm up your own reputation. You can’t totally control how people perceive you, but you do have some power to shape their perceptions— especially these days.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

The next four weeks will be an excellent time to create and celebrate your own holidays. I recommend you dream up at least four new festivals, jubilees, anniversaries and other excuses to party. Eight or more would be even better. They could be quirky and modest, like Do No Housework Day, Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day or Write Bad Poetry Day. They could be more profound and impactful, like Forgive Your Parents for Everything Day, Walk on the Wild Side Day or Stay Home from Work Because You’re Feeling So Good Day. In my astrological opinion, Scorpio, you should regard playful fun as a top priority. For more ideas, go here: tinyurl.com/CreateHolidays; tinyurl.com/NouveauHolidays; tinyurl.com/InventHolidays.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a god who stole fire from his fellow gods and gave it to humans to help them build civilization. His divine colleagues were not pleased. Why? Maybe they feared that with the power of fire, people would become like gods themselves and have no further need for gods. Anyway, Sagittarius, I hope you’re in a fire-stealing mood. It’s a good time to raise your whole world up to a higher level—to track down and acquire prizes that will lead to major enhancements. And unlike what happened to Prometheus (the other gods punished him), I think you will get away with your gambits.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Let’s discuss magical doorways. Each time you sleep, you slip through magical doorways called dreams. Whether or not you recall those adventures, they offer you interesting mysteries utterly unlike the events of your daily life. Here’s another example: A magical doorway opens when an ally or loved one shares intimate knowledge of their inner realms. Becoming absorbed in books, movies, or songs is also a way to glide through a magical doorway. Another is when you discover an aspect of yourself, a corner of your being, that you didn’t know was there. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect the coming weeks will present an extra inviting array of magical doorways.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Psychiatrist Myron Hofer specializes in the mother-infant relationship. Among his findings: The first emotion that a newborn experiences is anxiety. Struggling to get out of the womb can be taxing, and it’s shocking to be separated from the warm, nourishing realm that has been home for months. The bad news is that most of us still carry the imprint of this original unease. The good news, Aquarius, is that the coming months will be one of the best times ever for you to heal. For optimal results, place a high priority on getting an abundance of love, support, comfort and physical touch.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

Curious blends and intriguing juxtapositions are in the works for you, Pisces—or at least they should be. Improbable alliances might be desirable because they’re curative. Formulas with seemingly mismatched ingredients might fix a glitch, even if they never succeeded before and won’t again. I encourage you to synergize work and play. Negotiate serious business in casual settings and make yourself at home in a wild frontier.

ACROSS

1.  Rock bottom

6.  Lightweight boxer?

11.  Hankering

15.  “Taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase”: MLK

16.  How some legal rights are made

17.  Kind of food or music

18.  “And the 1992 Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance goes to ... Dan Ca_t_ll_ne_a!! For his work on ____!”

20.  Reagan Cabinet member

21.  Whichever

22.  Stew holder

23.  Guy

24.  “And the 1959 Venice Film Festival award for Best Actor goes to ... James _t_w_r_!! For his role in ____”

29.  Place where people pick lox?

30.  NASA approvals

31.  “___ said …”

32.  Boo-boo

33.  Dec. 31

34.  “And the 2021 Hollywood Critics Association award for Best Actress goes to ... Kri_t_n Stew_r_!! For her role in ____”

38.  Beirut’s land: Abbr.

39.  Part of YOLO

41.  Take advantage of

42.  “And the 2003 Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series goes to ... Chri_ tina Appl_g__e!! For her role in ____”

46.  Director DuVernay

48.  They can be red or read

49.  Swindle

50.  Lager alternatives

51.  Tolstoy’s Karenina

52.  “And the 1979 Grammy for Best Comedy Album goes to ... _tev_ M_r_in!! For his album ____”

57.  Legendary Himalayan creatures

58.  Tulsa sch.

59.  Fathers and sons

60.  Scratchy voice

61.  Job positions at some awards shows (or what’s needed to complete the clues for

18-, 24-, 34-, 42- and 52-Across)

66.  God who becomes a goddess when an “r” is removed

67.  Frothy order

68.  Cowherd’s stray

69.  “Auld Lang ____”

70.  Drub

71.  Came to

DOWN

1.  Modern digital asset, in brief

2.  “That hits the spot!”

3.  Fizzle out

4.  “We’re headed for overtime!”

5.  Thick-skinned heavyweight

6.  Spotify genre

7.  Implied

8.  Checks for errors

9.  Prefix for “five”

10.  Fabric measures: Abbr.

11.  Welcome, as a new year

12.  “The BFG” author Dahl

13.  Cunning

14.  “Enigma Variations” composer

19.  “Bro!”

23.  ____ box

24.  Adidas founder Dassler

25.  More recent

26.

Tokyo Olympics

48.  Knocks to the floor

50.  Madison Ave. cost

52.  Actor Lew of “All Quiet on the Western Front”

53.  Tuckered out

54.  “The gloves are off!”

55.  Lack of musical ability

56.  Nintendo’s The Legend of ____

61.  HQ of the LDS church

62.  Like “alumna”: Abbr.

63.  Alter ____

64.  Former Indiana Pacers star Smits

65.  “Capisce?”

Last week’s answers

BABS

Growing Pains

We love our cars, don’t we? As our state grows, so does our need to address traffic around the state. To help plan for future transportation improvement, six groups—the Cache Metro Planning Org. (CMPO), Dixie Metro Planning Org. (Dixie MPO), Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG), Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC)—are sponsoring a state survey to find out about how, when, where and why you travel in and around the state.

You may have heard that UDOT is turning the Bangerter Highway into a full-blown freeway. Currently, there are new freeway-style interchanges planned for 2700 West, 13400 South, 9800 South and 4700 South, which will eliminate stoplights at four more intersections on the current highway. UDOT argues this is needed because roughly 60,000 drivers use the road daily, but double that is expected by 2040 as the southwest corner of the valley continues to explode with commercial and residential growth.

UTA plans to add double-track sections to the FrontRunner commuter rail line over the next six years (and eventually electrification) to increase service frequency. And more lanes will be added to Interstate 15 from Farmington’s Shepard Lane to Salt Lake City’s 400 South.

HR Coordinator (Company Offices in Washington, UT, & Centerville, UT) Assist with companywide job descriptions. Recruit, screen, interview applicants. Onboard new employees. Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Business Administration or Human Resources required. Travel between company locations in Washington, UT, & Centerville, UT. Mail resume to CW LAND CO, Attn: HR, 1222 W Legacy Crossing Blvd., Centerville, UT, 84014

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.

The transportation department has presented a few options for I-15. They’re looking to have five standard freeway lanes in each direction, and between two and four express lanes that can change direction for morning and afternoon commutes. Residents along the I-15 corridor may lose homes, businesses and park spaces in the Guadalupe, Fairpark, Rose Park, Poplar Grove and Woods Cross areas. This opens up a huge debate between property owners and the government, because if home and business owners don’t want to sell, they could lose their land in a public seizure, which is supposed to give fair market value for those properties.

In 1926—when the numbered system of U.S. highways was created—the corridor we call I-15 was known as US 91, and for much of its path, 1-15 has followed the old US 91. Construction on I-15 began in 1957, with a segment of the interstate between Los Angeles and Las Vegas opening to traffic in 1966.

In the 1960s, the north-south section built in Davis County led to Layton becoming a new commercial hub. It made a huge difference in growth in Centerville, Farmington and Kaysville.

Interstate 15 construction continued through the 1970s, with a final segment completed in 1990.

As Utah grows, the state will need better transportation options. The six groups sponsoring the survey are asking random folks to participate and describe how, where and when they travel each day.

Participants are also entered into a drawing for a $250 gift card. Find more info at guidingourgrowth.utah.gov

THIS

WITH

DELAY Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

It’s Come to This

In Japan, people who are just being freed from COVID mask-wearing mandates feel they’ve lost their ability to do a simple thing: smile. Sky News reported that 20-year-old Himawari Yoshida, among many others, has enlisted the help of a “smile instructor,” Keiko Kawano. “I hadn’t used my facial muscles much during COVID,” Yoshida said. One-onone sessions cost about $55. Kawano has students stretch the sides of their mouths and hold up a mirror to smile into. “Culturally, a smile signifies that I’m not holding a gun, and I’m not a threat to you,” Kawano said.

Can’t Possibly Be True

When Corinea Stanhope, 36, of Powell River, British Columbia, Canada, found a dead deer on her property, she and her grandfather set up a trail camera, hoping to catch some interesting wildlife attracted to the carcass. Instead, Fox News reported on June 6, Stanhope reported capturing something quite different: “two witches holding a carcasseating ritual. ... Grandpa said he’d got naked people on the camera, and I said, ‘No you didn’t.’ So he showed me,” Stanhope said. She said the two people showed up shortly after sunset and appeared to be wearing long wigs. “You can’t really tell from the photos, but the hoof was brought right up to her mouth. I don’t know if she was kissing it, smelling it or eating it, but to touch a decaying carcass like that makes me feel sick.” Stanhope hopes the incident was a prank; she decided not to contact police because there was no crime committed.

It’s Good To Have a Hobby

Rocketry enthusiasts gathered near Alamosa, Colorado, over the Memorial Day weekend to ... enthuse about rockets, but one person’s rocket got away from them in a most inconvenient location: a hotel room at the Comfort Inn, according to the Alamosa News. “There was a malfunction with the motherboard in the rocket which caused the motor to catch on fire,” explained Alamosa Fire Department Deputy Chief Paul Duarte. The resulting explosion caused “enough pressure in the room to dislodge the drywall and panels in the ceiling to fall.” The 4-foot-8-inch rocket had to be disarmed by firefighters to mitigate any further risk. Duarte didn’t believe the guest was injured in the incident. Hotel clerks didn’t expect any charges to be filed.

This Is Not How We Sonic

As the debate about appropriate hot dog condiments (Relish? Mustard? Ketchup?) rages on, a worker at an Espanola, New Mexico, Sonic threw a new hat into the ring when he customized a patron’s order a bit more than she liked on May 30. Fox News reported that as the woman bit into her hot dog, she encountered a plastic bag with a white powdery substance inside. She contacted police, who tested the powder and found it to be cocaine. It seems that as Jeffrey David Salazar, 54, was preparing her order, he allegedly dropped his stash; video surveillance showed that Salazar began to frantically search the area “as if he had lost something.” He admitted to police that he had bought the coke from someone in the restaurant parking lot.

Least Competent Criminal

A phone repair store in Miami Gardens, Florida, was the target of a robbery in the early hours of June 3, NBC6TV reported. The suspect, 33-year-old Claude Vincent Griffin, employed a brilliant disguise: He wore an ill-fitting cardboard box over his head as he smashed the glass countertop and reached into a case, grabbing 19 iPhones and $8,000 in cash. Naturally, it’s hard to see through cardboard, so Griffin at one point removed the box and revealed himself to a surveillance camera. The store’s owner, Jeremias Berganza, did some sleuthing around the area after the robber left the store and found him at a nearby liquor store, drinking with friends. Griffin was charged with grand theft, burglary, cocaine possession and resisting an officer.

Tone Deaf

The Woolshed nightclub in Adelaide, Australia, is in apology mode after running a sketchy promotion offering free drinks based on bra size, 9News reported on June 4. The campaign promised one free drink for an A cup, two drinks for a B cup, etc., and included hanging bras up in the bar. “The bigger the better,” a social media post read. Patrons weren’t impressed: One woman said she would choose to go somewhere else. The Woolshed apologized and said future promotions would be reviewed by senior management to ensure an “inclusive environment” for all patrons.

Going in Style

Go As You Please, a funeral company in Edinburgh, Scotland, is hoping to “break the taboo” of talking about final arrangements, Sky News reported, by offering custom-made coffins. For instance, general manager Scott Purvis said, the company created a coffin that looked like a Dyson vacuum box for someone whose history included repairing vacuum cleaners. “Most of our coffin designs come from having honest conversations with the person when they are still alive,” Purvis said. Other designs they’ve made include a pint of Tennent’s lager and a Greggs sausage roll.

Clothing Optional

At a Lancashire, England, gas station on May 23, Quinn Kelly stepped into the store for a snack and was shocked as he came out to see a man filling up his tank while completely nude—except for boots. Stuart Gilmore, 44, of Manchester was “casual about it,” Kelly said. He said Gilmore is a “naturist” and “goes around naked to spread positivity and has been doing it for a few years,” according to Fox News. “I don’t take any notice when people take photos,” Gilmore said. “I don’t do it for attention. I’m doing it to promote naturism and the benefits,” which he said include improved mental health.

Cheesy

If you happen to be traveling along Twentynine Palms Highway in California before June 11, make sure you make a pit stop at the “biggest, cheesiest roadside attraction to ever grace America’s beloved highways and byways.” KTLA-TV reported that a niche pop-up store was created by the makers of Cheez-It crackers for just one week—but what a week! Visitors can fuel up with the “world’s first and only Cheez-It Pump” that pumps bags of the treats into your vehicle, or find rare flavors and other memorabilia. You’d have to be crackers not to go!

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

A pair of Dutch tourists hiking in mid-May in the Alpujarra mountain range in Granada, Spain, got a rude reception from a mountain goat, the Daily Star reported on June 6. The Iberian ibex, who was presumably aggressive because it was mating season, knocked a 64-year-old woman off a cliff, where she tumbled about 65 feet and landed on a ledge with both wrists broken. The goat also knocked the other person unconscious. Rescue workers, hampered by weather, took almost a week to recover the fallen hiker, who suffered hypothermia along with her broken wrists.

Awesome!

Elephants at the Houston Zoo are a limber group, thanks to the yoga practice they begin learning soon after they’re born, Chron reported on June 5. In fact, Tess, 40, can lift her 6,500-pound body into a handstand. Adult elephants do the sets of exercises twice a day to help keep their joints moving and are rewarded with fruit or bread, said Kristen Windle, the zoo’s elephant manager. “We want them to constantly be learning new things,” she said. “They are really smart and they want to be constantly working and learning.”