SKETCH SUNDAY, SQUATTERS PUB BREWERY, Sunday, Oct. 27, 5-9 p.m., Free
A mingling of artists and art lovers, live music, and some of the tastiest beer in town on tap just a few steps away? It’s like the Sketch Sunday event was made for me! The relatively new event organized by Tim Lawlor and artist Janell James, Sketch Sunday takes over the upstairs room at the downtown Squatters for a throwdown that’s part-social, part-art auction. Invited artists, typically around 12 of them, gather at a center table and create original works of all sorts, using pencils, pastels, charcoal, paint–you name it. Finished pieces go up for sale on the “Art Wall,” and sell for as little as $10, and at most $50. Entry is free, so art fans can casually roam the room, sipping a brew and noshing some pub grub with no commitment to buying. Although, if attendees are anything like me, they’ll find it hard to leave without at least one piece. The October edition of Sketch Sundays will feature artists Tony Poulson, Jon Johnson, Kristi Lauren, Malia Deshotel, Jen Melcomian, Sue Martin, Maura Naughton, Jeffrey Hale, Michelle Condrat, Kelly Green, Sandi Olson and Britt Nay. The Stucco Dogs will be providing the tunes. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday night.
Plan-B Theatre Company kicks off its season full of works by playwright Eric Samuelsen with Nothing Personal, an intense exploration of the descent of America’s idea of justice in a post-9/11 world where things like “enhanced interrogation techniques” are widely seen as acceptable.
Yeah, not exactly a light and fluffy launch of the season, but definitely a thought-provoking one, creatively crafted by Samuelsen. He uses the jailing for contempt of court of Clinton-era scandal character Susan McDougal at the hands of prosecutor Kenneth Starr as a jumping-off point to address America’s ever-increasing comfort with injustice, as long as it’s in the name of “protecting America.”
The McDougal case, while certainly appalling, seems almost quaint compared to the progression of scenes Samuelsen creates addressing torture at the hands of Americans during the so-called War on Terror. He uses McDougal’s victimization at the hands of the zealous moralist Starr to show the effects of things like sleep deprivation and solitary confinement, and McDougal’s delusions in prison turn into scenes invoking U.S. interrogators waterboarding and torturing prisoners in search of information about Al-Qaeda.
It’s a complex structure, but Samuelsen’s script rewards the audience with great dialogue and a succession of thoughtful ideas delivered by both McDougal (April Fossen) and Starr (Kirt Bateman). Joined by Dee-Dee Darby Duffin as a prison guard with a subtle but vital presence to the proceedings, both Fossen and Bateman succeed in keeping the audience engaged through the dialogue-heavy, largely action-free production.
Fossen’s role is the more physically demanding, crawling on the floor and being repeatedly chained up, while Batemen’s Starr circles the stage, shark-like as he attacks McDougal’s resolve from every conceivable angle. Together, they and Samuelsen’s script keep the audience rapt through 80 intense minutes.
You won’t be comfortable watching McDougal struggle through her ordeal, but you’ll leave thinking about big questions that deserve all the reflection they can get. That counts as a job well done by everyone involved with Plan-B’s production.
Nothing Personal runs Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 3. For showtimes, tickets and more information, visit the Plan-B Theatre Company website.
(Photos by Rick Pollock, courtesy of Plan-B Theatre Company)
Some bands lose something as they move from the intimacy of a small club to larger venues.
It’s safe to say that is not the case with noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells, whose bombastic sound always seems larger than the room, no matter what size it is. That was certainly true Tuesday at The Complex, where Sleigh Bells filled the largest venue they’ve played in SLC to date, and did it in style.
The show had everything one would expect in a Sleigh Bells show. Booming beats? Check. Insistent hooks? Got ’em. Chant-along singing? Yup.
There were some new things since last time the band visited. Singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist/producer Derek Miller added a guitar player to the production on their last go-round in Salt Lake City, and this time they added a live drummer to help bring the songs to life. Also new? About a third of the set that came from the band’s brand new third album, Bitter Rivals.
Those songs aren’t a dramatic departure in their recorded form, and they fit perfectly alongside tunes from the band’s first two albums, Treats and Reign of Terror. In concert, Sleigh Bells’ songs flow so easily in and out of each other that it’s basically one long, bass-heavy aural attack, led by a mesmerizing high-energy frontwoman.
Krauss bounced around the stage, banged her head to the beat and pumped up the crowd from show-opener “Minnie” through the final encore song, “A/B Machines.” In between, Krauss, Miller and Co. evenly divided the show’s 15 songs among their three releases, and that approach proved wise. Older songs like “Comeback Kid,” “True Shred Guitar” and “Kids” pumped up the crowd, and while many in attendance might not yet be familiar with songs from Bitter Rivals, released just a few weeks ago, songs like “Tiger Kit,” “You Don’t Get Me Twice” and the title track sounded great, too.
The hour-long set ended with a one-two punch of “Riot Rhythm” and “Infinity Guitars,” which led into an encore of “Young Legends,” “Sing Like a Wire” and “A/B Machines.”
It was fast. It was loud. It was visually stimulating thanks to a hyperactive light show and Krauss’s stage moves. Good stuff all around. I’m curious to see how big the room will be next time around.
SLEIGH BELLS, THE COMPLEX, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 8 p.m., $20
Sleigh Bells rise from bombastic novelty to alt-rock superstars can be tracked as easily as the different venues they’ve played in their previous Salt Lake City stops. The trek supporting debut album Treats featured a short, powerful stop at Urban Lounge. Sophomore album Reign of Terror was even noisier and crunchier than their debut, they played the larger Depot, and singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist/producer Derek Miller brought some extra instrumental muscle along with them. The duo just released their third (and best) album, Bitter Rivals, and while it maintains Sleigh Bells’ distinct bass-heavy sound and Krauss’s breathy-one-minute, shouting-the-next vocal style, it’s far more poppy a proposition than their previous work. That’s a good thing, because as fun as the shows were in past visits, the non-stop aggression got a little repetitive. The new songs should mix in nicely as Sleigh Bells plays their biggest Utah room to date at The Complex. Doldrums open the show.
SUICIDEGIRLS BLACKHEART BURLESQUE, IN THE VENUE, Sunday, Oct. 20, 8 p.m., $25
It wasn’t that long ago that Salt Lake City seemed to spawn a new burlesque troupe on a weekly basis. That era is apparently over, but that doesn’t mean fans of both sexes don’t still enjoy intricate and often funny dance productions by beautiful women. Take, for example, the SuicideGirls, the long-running online community of “alternative beauty and indie culture” that has spun off video productions, soundtrack albums and, yes, touring burlesque shows like the one arriving in SLC on Sunday (of all nights), SuicideGirls: Blackheart Burlesque. After nonstop touring through the early ’00s, this is the first new SuicideGirls live jaunt in six years, and includes tongue-in-cheek homages of Kill Bill, Game of Thrones, The Big Lebowski, Dr. Who and other pop-culture ephemera. And of course, look at that picture–Boba Fett!
DARK STAR ORCHESTRA, THE DEPOT, Thursday, Oct. 17, 9 p.m., $28
It’s easy to be skeptical of any so-called “tribute” band, given the fact that pretty much every city has a group dedicated to the catalog of, say, Neil Diamond, The Ramones or AC/DC. But having seen Dark Star Orchestra a few times, I would never label the band known for recreating entire Grateful Dead shows as just another tribute act. DSO matches the Dead live experience as much as possible, replicating Jerry and Co.’s equipment on stage, varying the lineup to match different Dead eras and embracing the original’s love of improvisation. For serious Deadheads, the show makes for a fun game of guessing which long-ago gig DSO is replicating on a given night. And for those of us far more casual about our Dead fandom, they provide just a damn fun night at the club, a chance to dance with a slew of happy hippies. Sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered. This time through SLC, the band brings new bassist Skip Vangelas along for the ride.
Daniel Nailen 