05/30/08
Hey gang. Plenty of stuff going down this weekend, and since we're heading into June, it's going to be like that every weekend. So let's do this: - Tonight at 8 p.m., Plan-B Theatre's The Tricky Part debuts at the Rose Wagner, 138 West 300 South. The play examines a man's adult journey to confront an older man he shared a sexual relationship with as a teenager. 
- Tonight at the Urban Lounge, 241 South 500 East, Joan of Arc headlines a gig that also includes Future of the Ghost and Vile Blue Shades. - Tonight at Usana Amphitheater in West Valley...
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05/29/08
Last night I dropped by the Hog Wallow for the first time in forever to enjoy a lovely evening on the joint's primo patio and to take in the sounds of up-and-coming Portland band Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags. I literally only listened to the band since it was so nice to sit outside by the backyard waterfall, but the band sounded great, thanks in no small part to the presence of a pedal-steel guitar. If you get the chance to roll to Logan tonight, you can catch the band at the White Owl. Why do I love the pedal-steel so much? Well, that crying guitar sound can make even the cheesiest mainstream country songs bearable. It can make the most basic thud-rock band sound...
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05/28/08
There's nothing like a show from an old favorite to put a guy in a swell mood, and to bring some of the SLC's aging hipsters together. Enter The Breeders, the alt-rock crew led by Kim Deal and, to some extent, her twin sister Kelley, who headlined a half-full show at The Depot last night. The crowd was a little disappointing—what's up, aging hipsters? Tuesday night too rough for ya?—but the joy the Deals bring to the stage quickly made me forget about that. That gigantic grin on Kim's face, familiar to Pixies fans for a couple decades now, was permanently plastered on her face Tuesday through 90 minutes of poppy alt-rock mayhem.
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05/27/08
Okay, I listed three shows in the headline, but for any Kim Deal fans—whether she's with the Pixies, The Amps or The Breeders—there are NO other options tonight beyond the Breeders headlining gig at The Depot, 400 West South Temple, with The Montana Boys and Future of the Ghost opening. 
The new Breeders album, Mountain Battles, is the band's first set in several years—Deal was busy doing the reunion tour thing with the Pixies—but it's exactly what a Breeders fan could hope for: disjointed rhythms, some insistent pop hooks and Deal's otherworldly voice, all delivered by the girl next door (and her sister,...
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05/23/08
Just got back from hanging out at radio station KODJ for a fried chicken cooking contest, a face-off between DJ Steve Harmon's grandmother's recipe and that of Franck's, Mark Eaton's bistro next to his Tuscany restaurant. Here's a picture of Harmon's chicken: 
The four judges split their votes between the two dishes; Salt Lake Trib columnist Robert Kirby and I picked the traditional recipe of Harmon's grandmother, but were ultimately overruled with a tie-breaking vote by a guy named Gator who apparently wandered in off the street halfway through the contest. Both bites of chicken were way tasty. You can make Harmon's yourself; get
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05/22/08
If any of you got that fIREHOSE reference in this blog item's title, extra credit for you. And while I'm not referring to Mike Watt and Co., there is good news for fans of rootsy guitar-bass-drums combos tonight. Langhorne Slim is a guy who leads a New York band of the same name, and they rock the soul, rock and folk tip with style. Check out the Langhorne Slim MySpace page for a taste. They play tonight at Urban Lounge, 241 South 500 East, in Salt Lake City, along with Builders and the Butchers. Here's a look at Langhorne Slim on stage: 
- Over at
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05/21/08
Part of my gig here at Salt Lake magazine is running around and making nice with various folks from the arts community, "representin'" as the hip-hop nation puts it. And such was the case last night when I rolled to the welcome party for Melia Tourangeau, new Utah Symphony/Utah Opera president and CEO. It was a lovely affair despite its locale of Downtown Disney, er, The Gateway. The new Tucanos Brazilian Grill, located at the same spot as another, now-defunct Brazilian grill (but don't mention that to the Tucanos guys—they're superstitious), sponsored the evening, and I was told they went through literally thousands of pounds of meat for the wing-ding, plus untold pounds of salads and desserts that were served...
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05/20/08
First things first: If you're looking for something to do tonight, Kilby Court, 741 South 330 West, is the place to be. What will you get? How about some tasty Southern-tinged indie-rock courtesy of the damn fine Ha Ha Tonka, who are playing with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (nice name, eh?). Check out what Ha Ha Tonka looks like when they're NOT rockin' out: 
For those of you looking to do some advance planning to sate your nightlife appetite, consider the Young@Heart Chorus, coming to town June 10 for a show at the Capitol Theatre. You might know...
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05/19/08
The M.I.A. concert last night at The Depot , 400 West South Temple, was as stylistically eclectic, mind-blowingly colorful and utterly odd as you'd expect after listening to the British-by-way-of-Sri Lanka rapper/singer's albums. 
Wearing a neon orange top, platinum blonde wig and omnipresent shades, M.I.A. was a relentlessly energetic performer. Her stage show was one of the more ornate I've ever seen at The Depot. A giant screen covered the back of the stage, and it projected vibrant, shimmering red, yellow, green surrealistic imagery and film clips through the show. Flags with M.I.A.'s face were strung from balcony to balcony...
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05/16/08
Seriously, gang, this weekend is completely nuts in terms of worthy activities. I'm going to hit as many things as I can, you should do the same. Let's do this: - Even though the M.I.A. concert is Sunday night at The Depot, 400 W. South Temple, I'm hyping it first A) because the Sri Lankan/British hip-hop-meets-electronica-meets-funk artist is easily the best thing going on all weekend, and B) because you'll want to pace yourself through the rest of the wicked-fun weekend so you're ready to get a serious groove on at Sunday's show. 
Go check out the M.I.A. site and give a listen....
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05/15/08
I've been on a bit of a streak lately in terms of attending events that are a little different from my typical night out. In just the past two weeks, I've checked out modern dance, the Utah Symphony, some musical theater, an opera, a sketch-comedy show, an all-ages club rock show and the first potluck of the season. So why not continue tonight with "300 Plates, the annual fundraiser and exhibition of the Art Access gallery. You can, too, and here's the deal: From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Art Access space at 230 South 500 West #125, you can check out and bid on a series of paintings by 82 established and aspiring Utah artists. Each painting is done on an 11" X 10" recyled metal printers' plates, and the bidding on each...
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05/14/08
When I first saw the relatively sparse crowd at the Kids in the Hall show last night at Kingsbury Hall, I was prepared to come in today and chastise the hipster population of Salt Lake City for missing its first-and-probably-last chance to see the Canadian comedy legends live and in person as a group, rather than on separate Sundance junkets or TV appearances. Thankfully, the Kids' skills, and the unabashed joy they displayed performing together (even for a smaller-than-normal audience) made me forget all about the people who weren't there, and revel in the shared experience of laughing—hard—for about 90 minutes straight alongside 1,000 or so fellow Kids fans.
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05/13/08
First things first: if you live in or near Salt Lake City and have any sort of sense of humor whatsoever, get yourself to Kingsbury Hall, 1395 East President's Circle, at the University of Utah tonight for the Kids in the Hall show. The brilliant Canadian comedy troupe has reunited for a tour featuring all-new material (and some of those familiar characters) and it's sure to be one of the comedic highlights of the year. Be there, or I will squish your head! 
DON GIOVANNI vs. DAVID ARCHULETA Part of the appeal of my gig as Salt Lake mag's arts and entertainment editor is expanding my horizons...
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05/12/08
A couple of exciting announcements for some of us. - NPR personality/author/all-around hilarious dude David Sedaris is coming to Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City Oct. 20, and tickets for his appearance go on sale today at all ArtTix outlets. - Word from Coldplay's record label is that the British band will play at the EnergySolutions Arena on Nov. 22. No word yet on when tickets will go on sale, but check with LiveNation, the tour's sponsor. The shows close in date to the Salt Lake concert go on sale around mid-June.
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05/12/08
It's a relatively calm Monday night on the town tonight. I'll be hitting the Utah Opera's Southern-style take on Don Giovanni at the Capitol Theater, 50 W. 200 South, at 7:30 p.m., so check back tomorrow for a review. 
Over at The Paladium, 600 N. 400 West, it's the Southern-rock-tinged sound of Blind Melon headlining. I know you're thinking to yourself, "Wait a minute—isn't the singer dead?" Yup, original singer/reason we liked the band in the first place Shannon Hoon died in 1995. Now the rest of the guys have found a new singer, Travis Warren, to try...
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05/09/08
Just a quick hit here, gang, 'cause I've been hanging at the Mountain West Conference on the Arts the past couple of days and I have a furious bought of editing to get done. But before that, I must make mention of the show I went to last night, a much-needed rock show featuring Eisley, a Texas quintet I've been calling "the next big thing" for about six years now, since I saw them at SXSW in Austin in 2002. 
If you read my preview yesterday, you know I think the group of sisters, brothers and cousins (all named DuPree) is remarkably adept at writing sophisticated pop-rock songs, especially considering they were all teenagers or younger when I first heard them. As they've gotten older,...
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05/08/08
Anyone who's followed my writing—here at Salt Lake mag or at my previous gig writing about music for the Salt Lake Tribune—knows that I've been singing the praises of Texas-based Eisley, a killer pop-rock combo consisting of ridiculously talented siblings and cousins, led by the three harmonizing DuPress sisters: Sherri, Chauntelle and Stacy. Here's a pretty cool shot.
I first saw Eisley six or seven years ago at Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas, one of the hundred or so music venues in effect during the annual South by Southwest Music Conference. They were opening for then-buzz-band Polyphonic Spree, and I got to the show early to be sure to get in....
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05/07/08
Boy bands. They're back, according to this weekend's Salt Lake Tribune and my friends in the publicity department of Warner Brothers. And for argument's sake, I'm going to buy in. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I've spent a large part of my professional career trying to steer people toward better music, music with some soul, music with that oft-sought-after "edge." But, as every smart music-biz professional knows, there will always been new teenagers looking for a troup of well-choreographed, ridiculously coiffed Cute Boys to slap on the wall. There's no fighting nature. Enter V Factory, a new boy-band featuring Mapleton, Utah's own Jared Murillo. He was one of the featured dancers in the first two...
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05/06/08
I'm currently listening to The Slip, the new Nine Inch Nails album that main man Trent Reznor made available free to fans. If you go visit the Nine Inch Nails Web site right now, you can get a free copy for yourself, and send it to three friends, too. If this is the new direction of the music industry, sign me up! 
As if that weren't good enough news for fans of the industrial-electronic-rockers, how about this: Nine Inch Nails headlines West Valley City's E Center Sept. 3. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 11 a.m. at all Smith's Tix outlets and the E Center box office for $45 and...
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05/06/08
So I checked out a little media event yesterday at the Bambara bar, where they "celebrated" the new 1.5-ounce-per-shot liquor law by creating a juniper and sage-flavored martini. The drink was okay; I'm not a huge gin fan. The media on hand was somewhat amusing in their ignorance of drinking in Utah, and the bartender couldn't tell me how much the price of a shot was going to increase, but it was good times. When isn't having a martini at 10 a.m. a good idea, right? Plenty going on tonight for the town's music fans. Check it: - Tonight at the Paladium, 600 North 400 West, bass freak Victor Wooten headlines. You know him from his many years playing with Bela Fleck's Flecktones....
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05/05/08
Tonight, in addition to enjoying a lovely shot of Hornitos or Patron Silver (or your tequila of choice), head on down to Zanzibar for the Blue Devils Blues Review, hosted by Bad Brad Wheeler. Good times guaranteed. 
I'm heading downtown to check out the first cocktails under our new liquor laws—they went into effect this morning—and I'll report on how different the taste is with a 1.5-ounce martini vs. a 1-ounce martini. Stay tuned, imbibers.
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05/02/08
There is a ton of stuff going on this weekend, enough to make us all forget that it insists on snowing in MAY. Gotta love spring in the mountains. Let's do it: - Tonight at the Grand Theatre, 1575 South Main St. in SLC, it's opening night for Big River. And The Producers continues at Pioneer Memorial Theater at the U. - Tonight at Bar Deluxe, 666 South State in SLC, it's the retro-rockabilly of Devil Doll. 
- Tonight at
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05/01/08
A couple of bits of exciting news today, kiddies. Let's start with the show at The Hotel tonight. Hip-hop heads know Rob Swift as the pioneering DJ who not only possesses some of the nimblest fingers in the game; he led his former four-DJ crew The X-Ecutioners to major-label stardom, collaborations with rock bands like Linkin Park and regular TV appearances. Now Swift has started a new three-man team, Ill Insanity, and he's on the road delivering the old-school beat-juggling he's famous for, alongside fellow turntablists Precision and Total Eclipse. The Hotel, 155 W. 200 South, show has doors opening at 9 p.m. Ill Insanity will also do an...
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