Events, Activities, and Entertainment Venues in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Utah music fans know Stonefed. 400+ bar gigs, a state-wide television broadcast, multiple festivals and several live radio shows have made them hard to miss. The dance-jam band has been playing for almost a decade, making new fans and pleasing old ones each and every time. The Daily Utah Chronicle writes: “No matter how you put it, Stonefed is unique. Comparisons are hard to make, yet Stonefed, Galactic and Maceo all have a common trait – high energy.”
http://www.myspace.com/stonefed1
Zack Parrish with the Huckleberries plays bottleneck-style blues standards on national steel guitar and sings with a reedy, no-nonsense voive. He sports a handlebar mustache and dances with broad angular moves, attracting a crows wherever he plays.
http://www.myspace.com/thehuckleberriesslc
June Madrona is a folk band based out of Olympia, Washington. They create songs that will make you laugh, cry, and dance all in less than 4 minutes. I recently got to talk with lead singer, Ross Cowman, and melodica player, Micah Ellison, about how they came together, their Europe tour, campfires, secret music projects, and Clint Eastwood.
http://www.kilbycourt.com/shows.html
http://profile.myspace.com/junemadrona
Nicolaas Zwart began recording as Desolation Wilderness in 2005, mapping a course without compass or sextant. The tools are vibraphone, tape delay, glockenspiel, electric guitar. A synthesizer, too. Voice plays its role, though Desolation Wilderness speaks volumes through audio themes without words. The themes of Desolation Wilderness are rarified and also mundane, the usual in common with literature, art and the midway at Coney Island. If Lawrence Ferlinghetti went on a rabbit run to that midway with popgun in hand, Desolation Wilderness would be his ringtone.
In this cinéma vérité-style pseudo-documentary, a group of draft dodgers and counterculture youth are banished to the desert, where they are detained and made to play a bizarre game resembling capture the flag. Almost forty years later, Punishment Park resonates eerily with our contemporary political climate. Directed by Peter Watkins (1971), this film is rated “R” for violence and language. Rocky Anderson, former mayor of SLC and executive director of High Road for Human Rights, will conduct a post-film discussion.
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, Washington by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, their lineup has centered around Brock, Green and Judy. Guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) joined the band in May 2006, along with percussionist Joe Plummer (formerly of the Black Heart Procession) and multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, to work on the album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Guitarist Jim Fairchild joined the band in February of 2009.
The band has attained significant mainstream success since being signed to Sony’s Epic Records in 2001 and have been one of the leading bands in the commercialization of indie rock, beginning with The Moon & Antarctica and Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which have been certified gold and platinum by the RIAA respectively. They have gone on to sell over three million records since. Elements of Modest Mouse’s early sound have been likened to or inspired by that of Pixies and numerous other alternative rock and space rock bands. Their name is derived from a passage from the Virginia Woolf story “The Mark on the Wall” which reads, “I wish I could hit upon a pleasant track of thought, a track indirectly reflecting credit upon myself, for those are the pleasantest thoughts, and very frequent even in the minds of modest, mouse-coloured people, who believe genuinely that they dislike to hear their own praises.”
Debuting in 1971, Bonnie Raitt immediately emerged as a critical favorite, applauded not only for her soulful vocals and thoughtful song selection but also for her guitar prowess. 
Continuing her run as a critic’s darling throughout her illustrious career, Raitt has recently put out her 18th album, which marks another brave and exhilarating step in a legendary body of work that has resulted in multiple Grammys and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With all that she has accomplished, Bonnie Raitt has become an institution in American music.
Taj Mahal has always shown a keen musical intellect and curiosity about the potential of the blues, and over the years he has boldly taken it to new places: to reggae, to sunny Calypso, to India, and even to its deep roots in West Africa. With a career spanning more than four decades, the full breadth of Taj Mahal’s talent and ambition is an awesome spectacle when witnessed live.
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With the Heartless Basturds
When the Avett Brothers play, you hear a deep love for music. Their songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies. But, the heart and the energy with which they are sung, get people to start talking, and are the reasons why so many sing along. North Carolina’s Avett Brothers play acoustic music that has roots in traditional folk and bluegrass, but also captures the high spirits and no-boundaries attitude of rock & roll — which is appropriate, since rock is where Scott Avett and Seth Avett cut their teeth as musicians.
http://www.redbuttegarden.org/theAvettBrothers
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Kathleen Kruze from Connecticut brings her Original Folk/Blues and Jazz stylings to salt Lake city in collaboration with vocalist, keyboardist and composer Kim Nolan of Salt Lake City for a return invitation showcasing their unique talents. Soulful harmonies and heart-felt ballads are the signiture of their ecclectic sound. A state-of-the-art light show will complement their performance. Not to be missed!
http://www.onemindstudio.com/current.html
Part of the Gallivan Center Twilight Series. Iron and Wine is the stage name for Sam Beam, a Florida native whose lo-fi demos caught the attention of Sub Pop honcho Jonathan Poneman. Beam’s first studio album, ‘Our Endless Numbered Days,’ garnered great press and considerable exposure through 2004, with music appearing in such films as ‘Garden State’ and ‘In Good Company.’
