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Culture Club: It’s Love in Stereo @ Red Butte Garden...
Once upon a time, I saw Boy George at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Toward the end of the concert, a pair of his Culture Club collaborators joined George onstage. It was the first sign in years that a Culture Club reunion was not only possible, but entirely probable. … read more
The Price of a Photograph: The Witness
Vivienne Franzmann’s The Witness is more complex than your average family-conflict play: It explores themes of race, class and privilege within family. … read more
Project Service is Service
Jessica Rodriguez is the president of Latinos in Action at Cyprus High School, a local chapter of the national organization that empowers young Latino students toward educational and career success. When Rodriguez saw that some of her peers were denied the Presidential Service Award due to their undocumented status, Project Service is Service was born. … read more
An Evening in Brazil: Dustin Gledhill and Lucas Pullin
For one night, the sounds, sights and flavors of Brazil will feel a little closer to home with Taste of Brazil, a program featuring Julliard Performance Conservatory graduates Dustin Gledhill on piano (of Hive Riot fame) and Lucas Pullin on guitar performing the music of 20th-century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos at The Forge Collective on Aug. 6 at 7:30 p.m. … read more
The Audacity of Radical Themes: Steve Drewett of Newtown Neurotics
Emerging during the second wave of the British punk revolution in 1979, The Newtown Neurotics were formed by frontman and guitarist Steve Drewett and boast songs that have openly radical themes commenting on equality, oil depletion, misogyny and unemployment, long before such rhetoric had made its way into mainstream discussion. … read more
Somewhere Out in the Dark: The Psychedelic Furs with The...
I love The Furs, but they hadn’t released new material since the 2004 single “Alive (For Once In My Lifetime)” and had set lists that were dominated by the same material—so, going into Saturday night’s show at The Complex, it was the opening act, The Church, that I was really looking forward to seeing. … read more
Studio Elevn Celebrates Four Years of Unapologetic Creativity
Before having such a versatile space, Studio Elevn was a much smaller workplace, limiting the artistic freedom of those who wanted to create. Now, they have a complete, multiple-floor, New York City–style loft, perfect for any size of project or special event. … read more
Luke Bell: The Country Gentleman
When it comes to country music, it’s all about the song, the story, the emotion and, for the lack of a better word, the soul. That’s the thing that can’t be faked. So, when the real thing comes along, it is like a punch to the gut. That’s how I felt when I first heard Luke Bell, who comes to play Salt Lake City at The State Room on Aug. 2. … read more
Damn These Heels Film Review: From Afar
Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas’ Golden Lion–winning feature debut is a terse and gripping story of two men and their relationship’s shifting dynamics of power, affection and closeness. … read more
Damn These Heels Film Review: Set the Thames on Fire
In what may well be the most WTF-worthy film of the festival, Ben Charles Edwards’ Set the Thames on Fire is a beautifully dark fairy tale that calls to mind the films of Terry Gilliam and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Taking place in a dystopic shadow of London, which has been drowned by the slow rise of the River Thames, Set the Thames on Fire introduces itself as “an agony in three acts.” … read more
Damn These Heels Film Review: Closet Monster
Like the title implies, Closet Monster is a film about the deep, dark fears that are born somewhere in our childhood. In the case of the film’s main character Oscar (Connor Jessup) however, these repressed anxieties are attached to his own homosexuality. It’s a well-illustrated look at the sexual confusion that many young people face, especially when negative stereotypes continue to perpetuate among those they care about. … read more
Nostalgia, It’s Not What You Think It Was: A Flashback...
For the better part of a decade, Salt Lake City was home to a thriving underground goth scene. It was goth before goth was pigeonholed into being something defined by Hot Topic or mainstream media. … read more
