Uproar Festival 2013: Rockstars and Wannabes 09.02 @ USANA Ampitheater

Typically anchored by fairly recognizable and boring headlining acts like Disturbed or Shinedown, this year those acts consisted of the strange combination of Circa Survive, Coheed & Cambria, Jane’s Addiction and the legendary Alice In Chains – strange mix, but finally compelling enough for me to begrudgingly make it to an Uproar date. Make no mistake, though, I’ve got a lot of generic bullshit to tear apart before we get to the good stuff.  … read more

Dead Dog Song, Choreographer’s Dream, Puppeteer’s Nightmare @ Ladies’ Literary Club 09.06

I first saw the nascent dead dog song at loveDANCEmore’s Arrivals/Departures exhibit at the Rio Gallery, where viewers were free to come, watch and leave as they pleased. Anderson has nourished this piece to where it transcends the unicity I saw in the Rio Gallery iteration: She rooted this dance into the Ladies’ Literary Club structure and, once again, has exhibited that dance plays out differently beyond traditional stages. … read more

Salt Lake Comic Con @ The Salt Palace 09.07

Unless you just flew in from the darkest reaches of Romulan space, you may have heard about a little convention our fair city had last week, a convention that shattered records and expectations and huffed new life into the suffocating lungs of local geekdom. Dan Farr Productions’ Salt Lake Comic Con was a blazing fucking success by all accounts—especially financially—and has set the stage for Salt Lake to become a new mecca for the culture. … read more

Film Review: Emerica’s MADE – Chapter One

Banner for Emerica's Made: Chapter 1 skate video.

The video flashes the names of the three main skaters before showing an unfamiliar face. It introduces Jeremy Leabres, a half-white, half-Philipino maniac. Leabres is relatively unknown and up to this point, I had no idea he would have a part. When a kickflip to 50-50 on a 12-stair hubba is someone’s fourth trick—you know they mean business.  … read more

Guerilla Girls Lecture @ UMFA 09.12

For nearly thirty years, artist activists The Guerilla Girls have been a thorn in the side of the art establishment, working methodically, humorously and anonymously to cast light on the dismal fortunes of women and minority artists. Two of the groups’ founding members, Kathe Kollwitz and Frida Kahlo, guided Utah audiences through the Guerrilla Girls story. … read more

Jimmy Cliff @ The Depot 09.15 with Cool Jordan, Ethan Tucker

Album art courtesy of Jimmy Cliff

As I am ever the hopeless-romantic, the iconic image of Jimmy Cliff as the outlaw Ivanhoe “Ivan” Martin with the ready, go stance with guns drawn plays into my love for the rebel. My true appreciation for Cliff began with seeing him star as an aspiring reggae artist who turns outlaw (Martin) in the legendary film Harder They Come. … read more