Ghost emerged in 2008, playing live shows clad in cloaks with their faces covered, their frontman adorned in a demonic pope outfit and skull-painted face. Speculation immediately came from fans and cynics: Are Ghost a gimmick, or something more sinister? In an interview with one of Ghost’s Nameless Ghouls, I attempted to unravel the mystery behind the band. … read more
The Growlers, based out of Costa Mesa, play spooky, slowed-down surf pop. It’s an unexpectedly morose sound, considering their proximity to the beach, great surfing and ample sunshine. This spring sees the band touring through Salt Lake City on March 8, playing Austin’s SXSW, the sold out, two-weekend-long Coachella, and releasing their third album, Hung at Heart. … read more
The music of Andrew Jackson Jihad often casts its gaze upon the darkest parts of humanity. The songs on Knife Man, their most recent album, deal with homelessness, selfishness, laziness, murder, hopelessness and more, but vocalist and guitarist Sean Bonnette doesn’t see his band as the ultimate bummer machine they appear to be. “I consider myself and our band to be pretty optimistic,” Bonnette says. … read more
For the past 17 years, Paul Rachman has made the trek to Park City every January to be a part of what he describes as the film festival “circus” that overtakes the small mountain town. Rachman helped found Slamdance Film Festival in the mid-’90s and currently serves as the Festival’s east coast director. “[It’s] important to me because there is a tight community of people helping each other,” he says. … read more
Julian Carr is a man of many masks—pro skier, entrepreneur, college graduate, published writer and world record holder. He is also a man of dedication and commitment, traits that helped him achieve his success both as a professional skier and as owner of Discrete Headwear. Through all this, he’s still humble and unassuming, grounded in his love and passion for skiing. … read more
UMOCA has become a hotbed for these creative collaborations. Formerly the Salt Lake Art Center, UMOCA has been kicking butt and changing names! … read more
Bode Merrill recently told me about his affection for dubstep and raves. That is the moment I knew he was into drugs. Perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions here and underestimating the amount of head trauma he’s sustained from snowboarding. I decided to do some research into this second theory and found that Bode actually has his very own blog dedicated to one of the nastiest of all snowboarding wrecks—the scorpion. … read more
I was impressed by so many things at The Garage: The staff were prompt and courteous and the food and drinks will have you coming back. … read more
From February 9-12, some of the world’s biggest names in skiing and snowboarding will be returning to Utah. Over the past years, this particular stop has proven successful—breaking attendance records daily and providing Snowbasin with a ton of exposure. In order to learn how this competition found its way to Utah, I met with the guys behind the scenes and spent a day on the hill. … read more
At the beginning of the year, the 801 was bestowed with the honor of being named the gayest city in America by Advocate Magazine. This came as a shock to parts of the country, but, as I explained it to my friends, we have the most gays per capita, and I think all of Salt Lake already knew how gay we are. I thought that since you are surrounded by gays on every side, Professor Princess could help you converse with us LGBTQs and teach you the new Polari: Gaybonics. … read more
If there is a crazy bum in my general area, they’ll usually head straight for me and spark up a conversation. It doesn’t matter if I have a skateboard or not—bums love to talk to me—but the attraction is especially strong with a skateboard. At first, I thought it was something about my personality. I just naturally emitted some scent or aura that drew crazy people to me. Eventually, though, I realized it’s something to do with being a skateboarder. … read more
The line between reality and fiction can get blurry while making a documentary. Having produced and worked on reality-based television series like MTV’s Made and A&E’s The First 48, Damon Russell is no stranger to the drama that occurs when cameras capture real events. When robbery boy and crack dealer Curtis Snow approached Russell to make a movie about his life, he jumped at the chance and spent the next year and a half filming documentary-style footage around Atlanta’s most dangerous neighborhood. … read more
