Buzz Blog

Hello to all you boot-snapping, board-polishing, goggle-adjusting, cocoa-sipping, powder-thriving, been-planning-to-hit-the-slopes-since-August enthusiasts. --- Overnight, a great many prayers of skiers, boarders and greedy resort owners were answered by our shitty weather system, which means if you're reading this post on the weekend it was thrown up on the Web, you're either browsing it through ort new iPhone app at an overpriced lodge or at home while you're winterizing your car. In lieu of a 337 update, I'd like to request that someone post over all of these in the downtown area.

If you hadn't caught wind of the news yet, Slowtrain officially announced that it's closing up shop. All this week, it's been shut down and going over inventory for the massive sale that's due to happen. My first instinct was to bitch and moan that our city is so full of cheapskate thousand-airs (some of whom I know are music fans) who couldn't be bothered to invest in a business and keep downtown alive, but let's be honest, that's been the story for years and it's not going to change. Instead, I have to depressingly shake my head in disappointment that another locally owned music store has died off. It's not the first, as I've seen some of the best from my youth go away such as Starbound, Salt City and MODified, to name a few, and given the progression of tech and our endless need to make everything audio digitized it probably won't be the last. But this one resonates more because it felt like a neighborhood store. Whether or not you were a fan of Slowtrain or the ownership, you couldn't deny that it felt like a welcoming store catering to the local community -- as opposed to the overstocked-warehouse vibe Graywhale has become known for in recent years, or the always-under-lock-and-key feeling you see at Randy's Records on occasion. This was that genuine local feeling that so few stores have anymore and it sucks to see it go. Go buy something from the store before it shuts down for good after Christmas.

Moving onto events, tomorrow will be the next installment of Craft Sabbath. If you visited it last month, then you know it was hectic and crowded as it was moved to the basement floor ... not what I would call the greatest space in the Main Library; in fact, it sucked! Whose idea was that? With any luck, it will return to the main promenade floor outside all the shops. Say hi to our booth and pick up some local crafts.

This coming Wednesday, we'll see the return of the I Am Equal Project as it returns home to SLC for another round of photo taking. The project has been traveling around the country and Canada, both to spread its message of equality and to set the world record for the biggest photo mosaic ever. The project will be setting up shop at the SLC Photo Collective (200 S. 561 West) from 3-9 p.m. and is welcoming the entire public to come participate. Oh, by the way, it is ABSOLUTELY FREE to do so. If you support the message and want to be a part of the world record, head on over and do it.

Then this Friday, the Kayo Gallery will be hosting a very special kind of art show: “Perspectives – Art & Autism.” Every single artist on display is currently living with autism, and have sought out art as a way to express themselves while coping with the disorder. This will be a single-night event for the public to check out before the next Stroll artists go up, and all the art is for sale. Go check it out! 

All throughout the following week, we'll see a major artistic event in the form of Salt Lake Design Week. Several major cities across the country have their own versions of this and now SLC will be starting its own on Nov. 14. Events for this five-day extravaganza include competitions, open-studio crawls, design labs and workshops, an awards ceremony and many other surprises. Many of them free to the public and cheap for designers to take part in. For more details and a complete list of events, check out its main Website.

Next Tuesday, over at Squatters Pub will be the Ullr Ball, an event hosted by Save Our Canyons to celebrate the new winter season. Along with showing Powerwhore's latest film Breaking Trail, the evening will include food from the pub, music by Holy Water Buffalo and Matteo, a raffle for top ski products and a ski and board wax station for anyone who has gear. If you love the season and the sport, this will be right up your alley.

And then finally, next Friday, Nov. 19, Trolley Square becomes the host for the next fashion event, Fashion Soiree. The third annual event hosted by The Hive Gallery will take over the “conservatory” at Trolley (that big open area on the south end) from 6-9 p.m. and will feature six specific designers: Sophie St. Claire, Jordan Halversen, Andrea Black, Ingrid Kapfhammer, Jenny Vance and Amparo Nakaqawa. And look at that, another event totally free to attend. Man, our city is just giving away free stuff these next two weeks.

Speaking of the next two weeks and the blog ... we'll check out another all-locals concert, interview one of our more creative tattoo artists, dive into another brewery and its history, check out the next dance performance, look into a local recording studio and sit down with a prominent member of the Salt Lake Film Society. At least, that's what we'll plan on doing for now. Who the hell knows, as we get closer to the holidays? As always, we'll see what happens.

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