Backstage at Utah Arts Festival 2014: Josiel Perez, AC Jazz Project bring sizzling timba in first Utah performance

Josiel Perez and The AC Jazz Project, June 28, 9:45 p.m., Park Stage There is a phenomenally talented generation of Cuban musicians, including some who have not yet reached the age of 30, who are demonstrating to the world the truest, most dynamic elements of Cuban music that are far, far away from the nostalgic … Read more

Backstage at Utah Arts Festival 2014: Mountain Heart’s acoustic virtuosity to close out IAMA day at festival

Mountain Heart, June 28, 9:50 p.m., Festival Stage Capping an unprecedented day of Utah Arts Festival activities and performances showcasing the Intermountain Acoustic Music Association and top national performers in folk, bluegrass, and various acoustic musical styles will be two examples of the industry’s best: John McCutcheon (already featured here) and Mountain Heart – a … Read more

Backstage at Utah Arts Festival: Lisa Gastelum’s world of art in circles, dots, rounds, and spheres

Lisa Gastelum Necklace Knotted - Atomic

More than 100 artists in this year’s Utah Arts Festival Artists Marketplace come from outside of Utah. One is Lisa Gastelum of Portland, Oregon, who weaves by hand beads from durable nylon beading thread that are wound around a wood core. She adds these colorful beads to hand-crafted metal work, made from nickel-free sterling, copper … Read more

Backstage at Utah Arts Festival 2014: Australia’s Strange Fruit raises artistic experience to new heights on festival plaza

Twice each evening during the Utah Arts Festival with a soundtrack that includes musical excerpts from Mozart to swing, four performers will act out a universally approachable timeless story of a boy and girl in romance, expressing love, loss, jealousy and joy. However, the quartet of performers will be dancing, flirting and adding comic gestures while atop … Read more

Backstage at Utah Arts Festival 2014: John McCutcheon’s master storytelling, folk musicianship highlights IAMA events

Music sometimes builds the most emotionally appropriate bridges, as we contemplate the fragile nature of our humanity. In the 1990s, Vedran Smailović, a cellist from Bosnia and Herzegovina who now lives in northern Ireland, played music among the ruins during the siege of Sarajevo in the Balkan War. His musical gesture inspired a solo work … Read more

Publik Persona

Salt Lake City, surprisingly, has been a wellspring of third wave style coffee roasters in the past couple of years. Charming Beard appeared in 2012 and Blue Copper Coffee launched in 2013. The latest roaster to dip its toes in the water is Publik Coffee. Matt Bourgeois and Missy Greis, the owners of Publik, opened up … Read more

At Caffe d’bolla, the tao of coffee is always about pursuing beauty, perfection

siphon brewer

Utah’s coffee culture is a work in progress, yet to approach anything close to critical mass despite a fairly respectable number of coffeehouses that, for the most part, have managed to sustain themselves. However, only a handful of cities throughout the United States can make a legitimate claim to a coffee culture that challenges and … Read more