Dear Dickheads – July 2013

I read the article on Salt City United in your June issue and my jaw dropped open. The author was clearly biased, or maybe too wrapped up in her shitty version of gonzo journalism and identity issues to see these assholes for what they truly are: a bunch of has-been nobodies trying to keep the “hardcore dream” alive by transferring their daddy issues and bully mentality to a different stage/stadium. … read more

SLC Bike Collective: It’s not about the Bike

James Kirk (center) leads a Monday night class, teaching SLC Bike Collective frequenters Max Gallant (L) and Luke MacFarlane (R) about headset removal and installation.

Hailey Broussard has five kids, and, until 2008, taking care of them was her sole occupation. “I knew how to be Betty Crocker, and little else,” she says. She does not consider herself a cyclist, though she now spends every weekday leading mountain bike trips and wrenching on dummy bikes in a classroom of kids. As the youth director of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective, Broussard’s job revolves around bikes, but she and others at the Collective argue that the bicycle is part of a larger equation. It is a vehicle for getting around and a vehicle for building a connected and complex community. … read more

Gallery Stroll: Mission Accomplished – UAA Main Street Goes Out In Style

Utah Arts Alliance on Main Street.

The announcement: “The Utah Arts Alliance announces ‘Mission Accomplished’ …” That mission: to bring life and creativity back to Main Street. Now making way for the Utah Performing Arts Center (UPAC), the UAA Main Street Gallery can and should feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in what they have helped inspire.  … read more

Beer Reviews

I don’t have to tell you all that it’s been a brutally hot summer. As we enter the most intense part of the summer’s heat, you may think it’s time to push aside the more flavorful beers in your arsenal in lieu of lighter, more “refreshing” beers. You could do this, but why sacrifice taste when you can have your beer and drink it, too? … read more

Written in Random: Parquet Courts

To me, “songwriting” usually evokes an image of deadbeat longhairs dinkin’ around on their instruments and crushing PBR cans one after the other, as any vestiges of the “creative process” dissipate into trite stereotypes of punk or indie musicians. Parquet Courts, however, generate images of notebooks and struggle. Guitarist and vocalist Austin Brown says, “[Andrew Savage (guitar/vocals) and I] both just write a lot … Through the practice of writing, sometimes, on those good days, I can sit down and a song will come out or a lyric will come out that I can feel inspired by later.”  … read more

Urban Flea Market: Salt Lake’s Sunday Gem

(L–R) Michael Sanders and Kate Wheadon raise a kitschy mug for the occasion of the Urban Flea Market’s five-year anniversary.

If you’re guilty of spending glaze-eyed hours perusing Etsy and Pinterest, the time has come to attend the real-life, local version of online shopping—and you won’t even have to hashtag vintage. The Urban Flea Market—held one Sunday a month, May through October from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.—has everything from antique goods to bohemian clothing,