Kid Congo Powers: The Rock n’ Roll Beat

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds.

Still an avid collector, Powers cites record collecting as essential to forming a band. He says, “I think you need some weight behind what you are doing—in a rock n’ roll band, that is.” He points out that by knowing the linage, one can see where other groups get their inspiration and how their language is created, like how The Stooges’ “Shake Appeal” is inspired by Little Richard. … read more

Jupiter Suit: Playing for Change

Jupiter Suit band performing live (black and white)

Zach Marquez, 18 years old, is just the right mix of confident and cautious, ambitious and humble. He doesn’t want to be famous for the reasons you think. You see, last November, while I was watching these beautiful women from around the world compete in a fucking swimsuit competition, Marquez was thinking of any way he could possibly help the devastated people of the Philippines. Marquez is not most of America.  … read more

Mastering Martinis: Shaken, Not Stirred

I saw the Mastering Martinis class listed on the website for the University of Utah’s Lifelong Learning Classes and knew I had to be there. You’re not supposed to drink the fist martini—they expected you to sample it and put it back in the shaker with varying degrees of vermouth. Baffling. If you put a drink in front of me, I’m going to drink it. With that hiccup behind me, the rest of the class went smoothly.  … read more

Touché Amoré @ In The Venue 02.07 with Drug Church, Seahaven, mewithoutYou

Touche Amore band members posing in front of a wall.

 While Seahaven may be given the swoon award for the evening, true showmanship goes to mewithoutYou. Their opening song “My Exit” started with lead singer Aaron Weiss contorting like a schoolgirl singing aloud to Shakira in the mirror. Tugging at his jacket, eventually taking it off and putting it on several times through out their set further conveyed the eccentric mindset. Then there was Touché Amoré. … read more

SIA Denver or Bust

Just imagining all of the boring shit the world needs people to buy is enough to make a person want to puke—there is a tradeshow for nearly everything. Luckily for SIA (SnowSports Industries of America), the industry is winter sports, the people are fun to talk to and the product is even better. This was SLUG’s 2014 trip to The SIA Snow Show in Denver, Colorado. … read more

Ring Rats Anonymous: UCW Zero Live TV Taping @ UCW Arena 02.08

A few new faces, a few old ones, a ton of surprises and a rope match? It’s all inside Utah’s best pro wrestling promotion! The evening began with Derrick Jannetty announcing the dissolution of his tag team partnership with Martin Casaus and issuing a challenge to the self-proclaimed UCW-Zero superhero, Kid Kade. … read more