Utah: land of Mormons, fresh powder &… great vintage?! Yes, it’s true! Next time you’re in Salt Lake City, be sure to get a good lunch, & then hit up the vintage clothing & furniture stores in the area. It’s worth it. Here are a few of my favourite places (& happiest scores!).
It turns out that not everything in the desert is dead, dying, or on its way there. (Shocker, I know.) Based out of the Vegas desert, up-and-coming band, Imagine Dragons, rehydrates the indie pop-rock genre with its synth-driven pop-rock sound.
Its members pulled from all over the states, Imagine Dragons’ lineup now includes Ben McKee (bass), Wayne Sermon (guitar), Theresa Flaminio (keys), Dan Reynolds (vocals), and Daniel Platzman (drums). Some of them have been classically trained (McKee dropped out of Berklee College of Music less than one semester shy of graduation), while others have honed skills on their own. In the end, each element (and member) offers something solid to their sound as a group. There is nothing lacking or overflowing.
ChinaShop was able to steal the band for a bit (no gags or rope required) before they went on to play another show during the Sunset Strip Music Festival.
Road trips: the great, trusty pastime of the poor and the restless. Me, I’ve journeyed across this land more times than I can count. Before I was even old enough to drive, I traversed state after state with the aid of the cheap, but terrifying Greyhound, and now I can do it for realsies. For those of us in the States, few experiences compare to the mind-boggling variety of beef jerky, fireworks, truck-stop stimulants, and the rest of the endearing roadside oddities one encounters while driving cross-country.
It’s always a little sad when good things come to an end, even when that end signals new beginnings.
Last weekend, Salt Lake City’s Dark Arts Festival celebrated a decade of operation with its final installment, the three-day Alumni Festival that featured performers who’ve appeared at the event over the past ten years. Clint Catalyst, a good friend and man of many hats, hosted the DAF back in 2002 and was invited to join the party. He recruited goth-rock veteran Paris Sadonis [Premature Ejaculation, EXP, etc.] and me along for the ride. We cooked up a very special, butoh-inspired performance piece, piled into Clint’s hatchback, and set out for the land of goths and mormons to help The Dark Arts festival commemorate ten years of all things dark and arty.