It was an evening of music by Petty by many—and more. The State Room hosted an all-star lineup for a sold-out 30th Anniversary celebration of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024 in Salt Lake City. A menagerie of singers and musicians from The National Parks, Neon Trees, Fictionist, and The Hollering Pines joined other great local artists to perform Wildflowers in its entirety and then rocked the night away with other Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hits.
Wildflowers was Petty’s second solo album (without the Heartbreakers) and a 15-song classic that yielded a few radio hits. Nate Pyfer (Pinguin Mofex) delivered a crowd-pleasing version of “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” a now-familiar Petty classic. Robbie Connolly (Fictionist and The Killers) gave us a rip-roaring rendition of “You Wreck Me,” probably the most enduring radio chart-topper on the album.
There’s a difference between a cover band that imitates an original work and a cover song that reinterprets a seminal piece of music and takes it someplace new. Friday night’s Wildflowers tribute ensemble achieved both. Led by Paul Jacobsen and his amazing house band, the evening started with Scott Shepard (Book on Tapeworm) who offered us a bewitching version of the title track.
It’s when we got to the record’s deep cuts when the troupe shined (the hits pretty much speak for themselves.) Some stand-out performances included David Burchfield’s (David Burchfield and the Fire Guild) “It’s Good To Be King.” On a side note: Burchfield and guitarist and pedal steel extraordinaire Dylan Schorer played a memorable set the night before at The Commonwealth Room’s Cosmic Hootenanny.
Dominic Moore shook the rafters with “Honey Bee” while Debra Fothereringham nailed the ethereal folk essence on “Don’t Fade On Me.” Karl Strange (The LoveStrange) delivered a searing rendition of “Cabin Down Below” and Mick Rudolph (Seaslak) rocked “House In The Woods.”
The first set ended with Ryan Innes’s soulful version of “Wake Up Time,” an underappreciated tune, lost at the end of a lengthy album. Innes used his powerhouse voice to bring the song center stage. That’s the beauty of a well-chosen cover. Artists can breathe new life into an old song. As the song’s lyric goes: “You might find the forest there in the trees.” Innes certainly uncovered the song’s complex emotional timbers.
After a short intermission, the ensemble returned to rock the night away with a barrage of singalong Petty classics. The master of ceremonies and show organizer, Paul Jacobsen, took lead vocals on a spirited version of “The Waiting.” The packed house of eager listeners marveled at Goldmyth’s take on “Don’t Do Me Like That.” Stuart Maxfield (Fictionist) got us all singing with “Refugee.” Another highlight among many was Porter Smith (Lantern By Sea) and Marie Bradshaw’s (The Hollering Pines) psychedelic performance of “Don’t Come Around Here No More.” Bradshaw also soared on “Learning To Fly.” Former Hollering Pines drummer and master singer/songwriter Daniel Young sent the venue’s disco ball spinning on “Running Down A Dream.”
In all, the crew played 15 songs from Wildflowers and another dozen Petty hits. The whole ensemble, nearly 30 artists, crowded the stage for the finale with a couple of hundred adoring fans joining in the chorus of “Free Falling.”
The evening featured an overload of talent with great contributions from Michelle Moonshine, Joey St. John, Brady Parks, Tyler Glenn, Peter Breinholt, Libbie Linton and a host of others.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the contributions of the all-star band. The 7-piece troupe of musicians, all from different bands, embraced the herculean task of learning all 27-plus songs and arranging them to suit the various performance styles within the rotating cast of lead singers. So thank you to Paul Jacobsen, Aaron Anderson, Dylan Schorer, Braden Campbell, Scott Wiley, Brian Hardy and Debra Fotheringham for living up to the cliche “the hardest working band in showbiz.”
The magical evening was led and held together by the band leader (ringleader?) Paul Jacobsen who thoughtfully introduced musicians and shared song backstories. Not only did we enjoy an evening of great music, we got to see so many of our locally-based artists showcase their talents.
Jacobsen also led last year’s incredible Neil Young tribute and I hope he continues the tradition. Hey Paul. Here are some suggestions for tribute or anniversary shows we’d love to see you arrange. Next year Born to Run turns 50 (Born in The USA is 40 this year). Let it Be turns 55 (Let it Bleed is 55 this year). Blood on the Tracks turns 50, Jagged Little Pill will be 30 (American Idiot just turned 20.) And there must be some occasion to pull together an evening of music by Fleetwood Mac.
And as always, a huge shout out to The State Room for hosting such incredible music.
Who: An All-Star Lineup
What: Wildflowers and Heartbreakers: The Songs of Tom Petty
The victim is the youngwife of a prominent and wealthy physician. There are suitors, insinuated affairs, missing jewels and even a Persian prince. It sounds like an Agatha Christie novel, but it all happened in Salt Lake City. Just after midnight on February 22, 1930, the brutally disfigured body of Dorothy Dexter Moormeister, 32, was found on the western edge of Salt Lake City. She had been repeatedly run over with her own car. Dorothy’s husband was Dr. Frank Moormeister, a wealthy physician and abortionist for the local brothels. Dr. Moormeister was much older than his wife, who had a wild social life and actively solicited the attention of other men.
One of these men, Charles Peter, was a prime suspect in her death. He had allegedly urged Dorothy to divorce her husband and fleece him in the settlement. Additionally, the doctor had once loaned Peter a large sum of money and, as partial payment, taken from Peter a valuable pendant.
The Moormeister’s 1929 Cadillac, found at the crime scene. Hotel Utah 1910. Photo courtesy Marriot Library
The pendant was among the jewelry missing from Dorothy’s body. Another suitor, Prince Farid XI, who had met the Moormeisters during an excursion to Paris, was rumored to have been in Salt Lake City at the time. There were letters discovered afterwards intimating that Dorothy had designs to run away with him.
A map of the murder scene, published by The Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 23, 1930.
On the night of her murder, Dorothy was seen entering the Hotel Utah at around 6 p.m. She left a short time later with two men and another woman. Dr. Moormeister claimed to have gone out to see a movie alone during this time period. The autopsy revealed traces of absinthe in Dorothy’s stomach. A search of her letters also revealed that she had been hiding money in various safety deposit boxes around town and had drafted some recent changes in her will but had not signed them officially.
However, despite all the intrigue and a massive effort by county investigators who even brought in a private detective who was popularly considered the “Sherlock Holmes” of his time, the killer was never revealed and brought to justice.
EXTRA!
Author Andrew Hunt, a historian and novelist, made the Moormeister Murder the backdrop for the first book in his noir series about rookie Sheriff’s Deputy, Art Overman, a squeaky clean family man and devout Mormon. Hunt’s book, City of Saints, is the first in a series of mystery novels set in the 1930s and won the 2011 Hillerman Prize.
WHAT: The last known whereabouts of Dorothy Moormeister
WHERE: The Hotel Utah (Now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building), 15 E. S. Temple, SLC
Interested in learning more about Salt Lake’s past? See what our city used to look and feel like here!
Famous steakhouse franchise STK recently cut the ribbon on a brand new Utah location, just east of downtown SLC’s Delta Center.
The Atmosphere
STK leaned into Utah culture with its famous ultra-hip club vibe, with this location featuring murals of Arches National Park and other familiar landmarks among the chain’s signature neon lights, abstract architectural details and modern art.
The Menu
The event offered a sneak peek into nearly every section of the STK SLC Menu, beginning with brunch bites and a variety of appetizers showcased on the first floor.
If brunching at STK, expect quality renditions of classic favorites, such as savory steak and eggs, extra-loaded avocado toast with egg, jalapeno and pumpkin seeds, and a chicken and waffles I’d put up against just about anywhere else’s.
This appetizer menu invites diners to think outside the typical steakhouse box, offering tuna tartare tacos and beef carpaccio atop a uniquely seasoned tortilla chip, alongside reimagined favorites, from short rib quesadillas to classic beef sliders. Those looking for classic luxury for special occasions can also find a full raw bar on the menu, ready to satisfy your oyster or ceviche cravings.
Upstairs, a tomahawk carving station made absolutely clear the star of the show: steak itself. Expert butcher chefs cut generous slabs of rare-cooked, off-the-bone ribeye for each guest, then ushered us down the line to garnish with our butter of choice (lobster butter, truffle butter to complement our sides of truffle mashed potatoes, or miso umami butter), melted tableside with a blowtorch.
For non-red-meat carnivores, the carving station also highlighted a lighter-fare dish with the restaurant’s miso-glazed Chilean Sea Bass.
All in all, if you’re after the Vegas nightlife vibes and a diverse steakhouse menu for your next night out with friends, STK is ready to host with a fresh vision for downtown SLC.
For Tom and Cara Fox, there’s something irresistible about the lively buzz and welcoming ambiance of European markets and cafes, so they decided to create something equally delightful in the heart of Holladay with The Fox Market, which opened their doors officially last week. Tom and Cara—principals of The Fox Group, a premiere home builder and interior design firm—were inspired by the charming spots they visited while traveling in northern Europe. “There, markets and cafes are more than just places to drink and eat, they are social hubs, places for time spent with friends, family and neighbors,” Cara says. “Amongst all the bustle, there is a sense that everyone belongs.”
With that in mind, the couple transformed a humble Meier’s Chicken establishment into a neighborhood haven, “a little European oasis that celebrates local crafts, people and purveyors,” Cara says.
The remodel was a labor of love. The couple reimagined the once-bland exterior with striped awnings, iron lanterns, elegant French-style windows and European box planters filled with topiaried trees. Inside, a classical-yet-whimsical decor—with its black-and white checkered floor, marble-topped bistro tables and antique cabinets—is filled with the fragrance of fresh-baked breads and pastries emanating from the boulangerie. At every turn, patrons discover specialty culinary offerings, from locally sourced meats and dairy items to Utah-made ice cream, teas and chocolates mingling with salads-to-go, a fresh-flower cart, a soda/drink bar and more.
Artisan products extend beyond food. Hand-carved cabinets display organic beauty products, jewelry, dresses, bags and gifts. “We also gift wrap,” Cara says. Further back behind large conservatory windows, curated furnishings, antiques, rugs, handmade quilts, bedding and lighting delight shoppers, who are surrounded by original art on nearly every wall.
“With so many talented people out there doing their crafts, it’s about getting their products out, seen and available,” Cara says. “It’s about gathering and coming together.”
If You Go…
The Fox Market, 4708 Holladay Blvd., Holladay @the_fox_market
Local culinary vanguard Caputo’s has been providing Utahns with the best flavors from around the world since they opened their flagship market in 1997. But the food nerds just couldn’t come to terms with letting customers leave with precious meats and cheeses in their hands without teaching them a thing or two about where they came from. So, in 2000, they started educating the Beehive State’s jello-totting, soda-lovin’, fry-sauce-frenzied residents on the wonders of the food world. From in-depth chocolate tasting classes, to French cooking courses, to Wine and Whiskey 101 lessons, the acclaimed experts at Caputo’s have curated a unique and accessible avenue for culinary education.
Included in the Kit: Southern items: Pecorino Fiore Sardo cheese, Nocellara olives, Taralli crackers, Nduja Salami, Sabadi Modican chocolate Central items: Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Fennel Pollen salami, Amedei chocolate Northern items: Sottocenere cheese, Speck prosciutto, Guido Gobino Cremino chocolate
In an attempt to increase my food IQ, I purchased a virtual Tour of Italy class for myself and my family as a Christmas gift, and I can confidently say I’ve achieved ‘Favorite Child’ status. After receiving our kit, which included 11 hand-picked meats, cheeses, chocolates and olives, we gathered ‘round the kitchen island, joined the zoom meeting, and popped open a bottle of Chianti. The 90-minute class was led by Caputo’s Senior Manager & Director of Education Adrianna Pachelli, and to my surprise was full of both local and international students. The course was a serious test of our self-restraint as Pachelli admonished us to taste one item at a time, but the generous amount of each product ensured we had plenty to snack on while we listened to her extensive and quick-witted explanation.
Each item took us through different regions of Italy, where we covered cheeses that are at-risk of extinction, chocolate-makers shattering glass ceilings, and the rich traditions of olive-making. Discussing food through a geographic lens is particularly useful in connecting each product with the people that make them. “In essence, we want folks to see that cheeses vary by region, that some areas smoke their cured meats, chocolate is made using unique processes depending on location, and that food is as diverse as people,” says Pachelli. Throughout the class we chimed in on our favorite pairings, mused about our own food traditions and connected with each other over this special shared experience. Pachelli says it best: “For me, the Tour is a celebration of the human experience and what it means to invite people to your table.”
Four Takeaways
The course was a great introduction to Caputo’s lesser-known products, but it was also an opportunity to reflect on food history and culture. Here’s my four takeaways from our Tour of Italy.
The Chocolate Industry is (surprise, surprise) Incredibly Misogynistic
Nibbling on an indulgent dark chocolate bar by gourmet Tuscan chocolate brand Amedei, Pachelli lamented about the founder Cecilia Tessieri’s uphill battle in a male-dominated field. The world’s first female master chocolatier, Cecilia spent decades mastering her craft and eventually entered a bar into the Academy of Chocolate where she initially placed very highly. After questionable reevaluation, and no doubt complaints from her male colleagues, the Academy faulted her bar on an ingredient technicality and the award was taken. Undeterred Cecilia returned to the Academy in 2005 and won the organization’s first ever ‘Golden Bean’ award. Since then, she has gone on to win multiple international awards and Amedei has become one of the industry’s highly regarded bean to bar chocolate companies.
Eating With Intent Will Help Save Endangered Culinary Traditions
Industrialization, climate change and hyper capitalization have put thousands of delicious foods at risk of extinction. Case and point: Pecorino Fiore Sardo cheese, a lightly smoked hard cheese made from sheep’s milk in Sardinia. Dating back to the Bronze age, the production of Fiore Sardo has remained unchanged—a labor-intensive process that requires patience and near constant attention by the cheesemaker. As industrial producers have moved in, the artisanal cheese makers have struggled to compete, and the tradition runs the risk of extinction. As we savored this special cheese, Pachelli reminded us of our role as consumers, and how our buying decisions have the ability to rescue endangered traditions. For more information on at-risk foods, visit Slow Food USA which keeps a living catalog of foods facing extinction.
Chocolate and Whiskey are a Pairing Made in Heaven
Chocolate and wine? No thank you, I’ve since discovered the best pair for an indulgent confection is whiskey. Both share a lot in common, like their range of flavors and textures, meaning you can mix and match to your heart’s content. Pay attention to the barrel type the whiskey matures in to inform your choice!
If it Tastes Good to You, It’s Right
I always have a tinge of trepidation when taking courses like these, like maybe my palette is not refined enough or I’ll blurt out my favorite cheese and meat pairing only to be met with stunned silence. My anxieties aside, the folks at Caputo’s invite curiosity and experimentation, and never look down their nose at us pedestrian eaters. Some of my favorite moments in the class occurred when Pachelli invited us to grab honey out of our pantry and drizzle it on the cheese, or give in to our inner child and dunk crackers in wine. Forget hoity-toity etiquette and eat how you want.
Caputo’s offers a variety of online and in-person classes every month, check their website for the latest schedule.
I have always been a communal dinner kinda girlie.At my first-ever grown-up dinner party in my own place, I popped a whole roasted chicken into the center of the table with some pan sauce and a Lebanese garlic dip and let everyone have at it. We started out using utensils and ended by pulling meat off the bird with our fingers. Everyone there still talks about how good it was. We demolished everything. In the spirit of communal dining, this month’s food crush is the full Tasting Platter at Mahider, an authentic Ethiopian restaurant in Salt Lake City. They serve various traditional Ethiopian dishes, both vegan and with meat, “using recipes passed down through the generations.” The Taste of Mahider platter comes with Doro Wot, Siga Wot, Alicha Wot and all the vegan greens, pulses and purees. The giant, brightly colored platter arrives at the table with dolloped portions spaced out for each person, and the earthy spices hit your nose all at once. The bigger the group, the bigger the platter. All together, you’ll get to try 12 dishes, including a light tomato and jalapeno salad and a crumbly fresh cheese.
Everything is served on top of a spongy, platter-sized flatbread called Injera. Made from teff flour and fermented like sourdough, it is best described as a tart, crepe or dosa-like bread that is smooth on one side with holes dotting the surface from the ferment. Injera takes the place of rice, bread, plate and the delivery method to get food to your mouth. There is no flatware on the table. You’ll scoop up stews, purees and braised meats with torn-off Injera. The bread soaks up everything and makes each bite that much more flavorful.
Remember that all the preparations that don’t explicitly have meat in them are vegan. You can even get a separate “vegan-only” platter, which makes this my spot for taking mixed-food-preference friends for dinner. The meat eaters will be happy. The vegans will be satisfied. And everyone will walk away full. I also love that you’ll get a sampling of dishes made with red lentils, yellow lentils, split peas, and garbanzo beans on every platter. This is my spot as a wholehearted bean lover and mildly reformed vegetarian.
I recommend visiting Mahider with a group of four people or more. Start with the Lentil Sambusa, then get some Ethiopian red wine to go with your tasting platter. Eat slowly. Discuss your favorite dishes. Mix and match portions. Laugh at how much fun it is to eat with your hands. End with Buna, the Ethiopian-style black coffee. And enjoy gathering ‘round the communal table. And see if you don’t develop a crush as well
Photo by Adam FinklePhoto by Adam Finkle
The Secret is in The Spice — Ethiopian Berbere Spice Blend
While talking about Ethiopian food, let’s make a quick note about Berbere, one of the Ethiopian staple spice blends. Much like the euphonious “curry,” which can be a dish, a spice blend, a plant, or a catch-all for food cooked in a spicy gravy, Berbere can mean several things. It can be a spice blend, a type of chile, and a catch-all for a series of herbs or spices that aren’t well-known internationally (yet). Generally speaking, Berbere, the spice mix, is blended with chile peppers, coriander, ginger, garlic and fenugreek. But every family has their own recipe. And I expect the same is the case at Mahider. Ethiopian food is well-spiced with lingering warmth rather than big mouth-searing heat.
Some of my favorite dishes include:
Doro Wot—Fall-off-the-bone chicken legs simmered in a rich and spicy stew with berbere, caramelized onions, garlic and served with Ayib, a fresh cheese similar to ricotta, but more crumbly. The rich cheese cuts the heat from some of the other dishes. Since we are all used to eating chicken legs out of hand, this is a good foray into eating all the other dishes with fingers and Injera.
Gomen—Chopped collard greens steamed with garlic spices. Believe it or not, this is my favorite dish from the entire platter. The greens are bitter and stewed down until they are soft. I love scooping up some of the collards along with a bite of one of the meat stews to balance out the richness and spice.
Shiro Wot—Roasted chickpeas, pureed and then simmered with garlic, tomatoes, and onion. When it is done cooking, it is more sauce than stew. But what a sauce!
Siga Wot—Cubed beef with caramelized onions, berbere, and other spices slow simmered into a stew. This is the most dense dish on the platter and is worth eating with the fresh tomato/jalapeno salad that comes with it.
Lydia Loveless is touring in support of her album, Nothing’s Gonna Stand In My Way Again. And on January 31st at The State Room, nothing did. She and her band hit us with a wall of sound and a 17-song whirlwind performance of indie-rock numbers. This is Loveless’s sixth full-length album, and arguably, her finest work.
Over the past decade Loveless has fine-tuned her sound and found her groove. New songs dominated the setlist without eclipsing her more vintage material. She started us off with a trifecta of fresh tunes with “Song About You,” “Do The Right Thing,” and “Sex and Money” before taking us back to 2016 with “Bilbao.”
There is a timelessness to Loveless’s sound that blends multiple music styles with a raw, poetic lyricism. When they played “Out On Love,” the song triggered a neurotransmitter in my brain that transported me back, momentarily, to 1987 and Fleetwood Mac’s Tango In The Night. It sparked a similar vibe. Some of my other favorite songs from the evening were “Head,” “Poor Boy” and “Verlaine Shot Rimbaud.” How many artists find inspiration for a song from two 19th century French poets caught up in a toxic relationship?
Sipping on PBR, Loveless and her band finished the mid-week performance with “Wine Lips.” I was hoping they would play “Portions For Foxes,” a 2023 duet by Loveless and Jason Hawk Harris. But, I guess I’ll have to catch another opportunity to see that tune performed live.
Jason Hawk Harris opened the evening. The Bloodshot Records artist borrowed the bassist and drummer from Loveless’s band to bring his music to life. He started us off with the hymn-like “Jordan and the Nile,” and immediately commanded the attention of the crowd with his captivating country-roots sound. The Austin-based, and classically-trained Harris recently released his sophomore album, Thin Places, so he had plenty of well-crafted material to fill the 8-song set and still leave us wanting more.
Harris provided plenty of honky-tonk to go along with his hard luck songs like “Shine A Light,” “Cussing at the Light,” and “I’m Alright.” He ended his set with “I’m Afraid,” a hard-driving country-rock number about an unexpected boogie-man. With just a guitar, keyboard, bass, and drums, Harris added great production value to his gospel-country sound.
Long ago, shortly afterthe 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, meteorologist and avid skier S. D. Green told a Salt Lake Tribune reporter that Utah’s snow and skiing were superior to Lake Placid. He attributed his claim to the “natural advantages” found here and planted, possibly, seeds for the Utah Olympic movement.
On Dec. 4, 1960, a young Salt Lake Tribune editor named Tom Korologos coined the phrase “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” riffing on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tagline. We all know that P.T. Barnum was the king of Blarney, but this boast would prove to be true. (Could we trademark it if it weren’t?)
As weather forecasting technology advanced, scientists were able to actually prove that, yes, Utah truly has the Greatest Snow on Earth. And, if you ski, you know the thrill of a Utah powder day—you have even more reverence if you’ve experienced East Coast ice sheets or West Coast “Sierra Cement.” Our great snow is not a myth—it’s a reality we experience every winter.
Snow is made up of millions of tiny flakes. To understand snow, you must understand the flake, and we don’t mean ski bums in the bars. Jim Steenburgh, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Utah, has devoted an entire book to the flake, Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth.
Utah snow is great, Steenburgh says, because of its lower water content and the pattern of its fall. Wetter snow is heavier and falls faster; dry snow falls slowly and has time to become more complex. Snow that’s less than 7% water is considered light, and heavy is over 11%, and creates the Sierra Cement that falls on California and Nevada’s Sierra Range. Man-made snow is really, really dense, with an average of 24-28%. Utah snow, however, has an average density of 8.4 percent. Take that California. (Wait, is that why they all want to move here?)
But the key to our amazing snow is a quick-change temperature fluctuation common to Utah snowstorms. Often a storm starts when it’s warmer, which creates a water-dense base layer, and as the temperatures drop, lighter snow follows.
This is called “right-side up” snowfall (vs. “upside-down” snowfall). The fluffy stuff stays on top and skiers and boarders can float down the slopes (ideally right side up).
All, however, is not great. Utah temperatures are warmer now than recorded just a few years ago. Warmer winters mean more dust in the air and create “snirt,” brown and dirty snow. It’s a word that sounds as gross as the thing it represents. “The role of dust is one that most don’t think about when it comes to the snowpack,” explains Steenburgh.
Dense dust in the atmosphere creates darker snow. Like wearing a dark-colored knitted sweater, the darker snow absorbs the sun’s light rather than bouncing off a clean, white snowpack. One study found that snirty snow accelerates melting by 25%.
And, as the temperatures rise, it doesn’t take a scientist to figure that more weather events will start as rain instead of snow, so we’ll have denser water-packed snow and suddenly our sneering jokes about Sierra Cement suddenly won’t be as funny anymore.
And it’s also gloomy for those who don’t use the snow as a playground, but simply marvel at its quiet loveliness.
As Steenburgh says, “The beauty of the snow is in the eye of the beholder and no science can prove that.”
The all-star lineup that brought us an amazing tribute to Neil Young’s Harvest last year are back at it for a 30th Anniversary celebration of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers. Singers and musicians from The National Parks, Neon Trees, Fictionists, and The Hollering Pines will join a host of other great local artists to perform Wildflowers in its entirety, then rock the night away with other Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers hits.
Wildflowers, released in 1994, was Tom Petty’s second solo record sans the Heartbreakers. The album, a 15-track opus cataloging Petty’s mid-life crisis (failing relationships, substance abuse, emotional drift) produced the familiar heartland-rock hit singles “You Wreck Me” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” The title track, not released as a single, also received significant radio airplay and remains an enduring favorite from Petty’s massive catalog. A solo project, Wildflowers nonetheless featured Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench on several tracks.
Events like this provide talented local artists the opportunity to perform well-known songs in new and interesting ways. I’m looking forward to seeing a couple of dozen of the Wasatch Front’s finest singers and musicians together on stage as they pay tribute to a rock legend at The State Room on Friday, February 9, 2024.
Who: An All-Star Lineup Tom Petty Tribute Show
What: Wildflowers and Heartbreakers–The Songs of Tom Petty
As a document of Salt Lake’s mid-’80s punk-rock underground, this darkly funny film is not accurate enough for the scene’s survivors and a face-slap to the conservative Reagan-era types who had no idea mohawked, slam-dancing punks full of anarchistic rage were roaming the night, saying “Hell no” to saying “‘No’ to drugs,” breaking things and fighting everything and everyone, even (and often) each other. The 1998 feature, by Judge Memorial High School alumnus James Merendino, peels back Salt Lake’s squeaky clean sheen, revealing a motley crew of characters based—at times controversially—on real SLC punks of the era.
There are fights. There’s gunfire. Robberies. Wanton acts of abandon. Characters collapse into mental and physical illnesses, all catalyzed through heedless descents into drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll, right here in sleepy Salt Lake.
Stevo (Matthew Lillard), left, and Heroin Bob (Michael A. Goorjian) in a scene from SLC Punk! shot in what is now Big D Construction’s office building at 404 W. 400 South, SLC. Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
“Back in 1985, I was living in Salt Lake City, and, at 14, I was already different, already bizarre,” Merendino recalls. “I was bored and I was very much an outsider. I was a Catholic in a Mormon state. I was the geeky guy in the cafeteria who was always getting his ass kicked. I began listening to punk music because it appealed to me, and gave me an identity to help me survive the horrors of high school.”
Punk was a response to the failures of the ’60s starry-eyed idealism that led to the top-down restructuring of economies in Europe and America. Merendino’s Utah experience is not uncommon and made Salt Lake fertile soil for the punk movement as embodied by Stevo’s (Matthew Lilliard) diatribe at his parents in one of the film’s most memorable scenes.
Stevo’s hairstyles change radically throughout the film. Photo Courtesy of Everett CollectionPhoto Courtesy of Everett Collection
“Mom, don’t talk to me about self-destruction,” Stevo shouts, his blue mohawk waving. “And don’t start blaming yourself either. It ain’t how you raised me… It’s the future baby. Take a good look, I am the future. I am what you so arrogantly saved the world for. You saved the world for guys like me. Guys who are going to send it straight to hell!”
Salt Lake played host to the most well-known punk bands of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. They stopped in town on the way to Vegas or Denver to play in Salt Lake at wild venues like Speedway Cafe, The Painted Word, the Indian Walk-In Center and punk crash pads like Hell House.
Mark (Til Schweiger) and Mike (Jason Segel). Schweiger, a German actor, helped get the film released in Germany. Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
When we interviewed him, Merendino suggested that we were calling too early and that the film does not hit 25 years of age until next year. And that’s true to a degree: the film debuted in the U.S. at Sundance on Jan. 22, 1999, with a U.S. release on April 16. But German investors pulled some strings and the film opened there early, on Sept. 24, 1998, thanks to the presence of the German actor Til Schweiger—whose Euro trash drug-dealing character, Mark, is one of the film’s more engaging, if not necessarily likable, characters.
Years later, the impact the film made on the scene it depicted is hard to quantify. Not just in Salt Lake City, where the film’s name still brings nods of recognition, but also in punk circles around the country (and the world). The film tackles punk rock with elements of reality. It does that with specific references to Salt Lake—the Utah State Capitol, the Great Salt Lake, the University of Utah, Memory Grove Park and West Side industrial districts—that provide either color, backdrop or plot points. (For example, the gang tries to sink a stolen car in the Great Salt Lake.) All the fights in the film? Yeah, they’re dramatized, but they’re heightened representations of the real contradictions and the clashes among tribal groups.
Jason Segel as the deceptively not-so-straight-laced character Mike in SLC Punk! Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
Anarchy in the SLC?
SCENE: A beat-up pickup truck pulls onto a quiet corner in Salt Lake’s Avenues. In the distance, we see the LDS Temple and the Utah State Capitol. Two rednecks in wranglers and ball caps climb out and chug down Budweisers, tossing empties onto the quiet street. Stevo narrates:
“The thing about me and Bob and pretty much all of us was, we hated rednecks more than anything else, period. Because rednecks, for us, were America incarnate. And America…Well. F*** America.”
Stevo and his sidekick, Heroin Bob, emerge from the shadows. They ambush the men, with fists, legs and Bob’s metal pipe, laying them out. Victorious, they run toward the camera, laughing maniacally and disappear into the night.
Heroin Bob (Michael A. Goorjian) and Stevo (Matthew Lillard) in a scene shot at Milly’s Burgers in Sugar House. Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
It’s scenes like this that cause blowback. The main beef: Writer and director Merendino liberally adapted storylines based on the exploits of actual figures in the SLC punk rock scene. Some names, like the colorful Sean Fightmaster, were used outright in the film and factual events were only lightly burnished for narrative effect.
As Merendino told Billboard in 2019, “[Stevo and Bob] are named after two people who were actually pretty big figures in the punk scene and I got their permission to use their names. One is Stephen Egerton from The Descendents. He grew up in Utah, and was in a band called Massacre Guys. But the story’s not based on them in any way, I just liked the names. Heroin Bob’s stories are drawn from experiences I had with a guy named Chris Williams, who’s now an Episcopalian priest and a great guy. He didn’t actually overdose. He’s the one who came into school with a shaved head and he looked like Travis Bickle; he really looked good with a mohawk.”
Still, there’s some consensus that the film is important both as a representation of the international punk scene and mid-’80s Salt Lake. Merendino is aware of the praise. And the criticism. He’s self-effacing about it all. “Like many filmmakers, I only hear negative reviews.”
Finding Stevo
Regardless of the tribal battles over the film’s authenticity and its, at times, too-close-to-home scenes, SLC Punk! set the stage for some of the actors, whose memorable early-career performances would lead to varying degrees of stardom.
(Stevo) Matthew Lillard crowd surfs to the stage in the film’s representation of the many ’80 underground punk clubs. Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
Take, for example, the on-screen successes of Matthew Lillard (Stevo) and Jason Segel, who played clean-cut, preppy Mike, with a violent temper. While there are many local actors and crew members scattered throughout the credits, Lillard and Segel came to the film through a national casting call that included interest from well-known actors like Jack Black, Vin Diesel, Jared Leto and, whoa, the late Heath Ledger.
One of the greatest challenges in the production was finding the right actor for the role of Stevo because of his large amount of screen time and role as the film’s narrator.
“We couldn’t move forward until we found exactly the right person,” says Merendino. “We read a lot of people. Matthew Lillard came in and he was the most interesting person to come to audition, mostly because I think he said he didn’t understand the script. It messed with my head because he forced me to pitch my own movie to him. It made him stand out. He said, ‘OK, well, let me go now. And now that I understand where you’re coming from, let me come back in and just nail this.’ He came back the next day and he was just awesome.”
SLC Punk’s Not Dead
Merendino’s noticed over the years the tendency for SLC Punk! to get referenced in a variety of pop cultural contexts, many found close to home.
Proper Brewing Company’s SLC Pils Photo Courtesy of Proper Brewing Company, SLC
SLC Dunk!, for example, is a podcast dedicated to Utah Jazz basketball, affiliated with the SB
Nation media family. After a lot of uploads in 2022, the pod seems less populated today. Credit, though, for the clever title in the first place.
SLC Punkcast is a much longer-running podcast, dedicated to “new songs, old songs, great albums, influential individuals, live shows and guilty pleasures.” The show is hosted by Dustin and Eric and has topped 320 episodes.
Merendino says that friends let him know about new homages “All the time.” Take, for instance, Proper Brewing Company’s pilsner ‘SLC Pils!’
“I guess though it’s ironic to call it SLC Pils because in the movie the guy Bob overdoses, he’s murdered by or inadvertently killed by pills. Wow. Well, I don’t know that they made that connection, but…When I posted pictures of it on my Facebook page, a lot of people came in saying, ‘That’s not cool!’”
Merendino says one platform, unimaginable at the time of the film’s release, has birthed some attention-grabbing content: TikTok. Merendino says TikTok is actually one of the main ways he stays connected to the film, which he seldom watches anymore.
“There are these TikTok edits where, you know, kids on there repurpose shots from the movie and make little homages and their own edits, which I find actually more interesting now than the movie itself.”
Flashback: The Speedway Cafe
Jerry Leidtke in 1984 photographed by Christian Werner
Salt Lake City upped the punk reaction to the Reagan era. The extra sheen of squeaky-clean Mormonism bred an especially virulent antibody to the cultural vaccine: a raucous and edgy underground manifestation of punk rock ethos.
“As an old guy, I look back at the ’80s and I see why we were so angry,” says local chef Jerry Liedtke. “Reagan was working with the Taliban, the CIA was working with Pablo Escobar, there was talk of a draft, Russia had nukes pointed at us. So we took a lot of drugs and there was a good amount of hooliganism, but here in Salt Lake, it was different because you’d have these Mormon kids and straight-edgers, who didn’t do drugs, in the scene, too.”
Liedtke and his partner Kestrel went legit and now operate the Tin Angel Cafe in the Eccles Theater. But he came up in the heat of the punk scene in SLC and ran with a punk crew called the “Fry Gods.” The music and mayhem were centered around a host of small and medium-sized ad hoc all-ages clubs like the Palladium, DV8, The Bar and Grill, Maxims and the Pompadour, to name a few.
The epicenter of the scene was the Speedway Cafe, a truly subterranean venue buried underneath the viaduct at 500 South and 500 West. Liedtke’s punker cousin Paul Maritsas co-owned the Speedway with the aptly named metalhead Jay Speed. Young Liedtke got the coveted job of running the beer room. Punk and hardcore legends like Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, The Stench, the BoxCar Kids, GWAR and many more sweated it out on the stage, and Liedtke had a front-row seat. The Speedway closed in the early ’90s but its legacy and impact on Salt Lake’s music scene remain.
The Sequel (or Spin-off)
Photo Courtesy of Everett Collection
When Merendino was typing up a script for a sequel to SLC Punk!, he had some pretty big ideas. The script was going to follow the lead character Stevo, with shooting locations “around the world.” He estimated that the film would cost around $7 million as envisioned, a figure that he had no chance of raising at that time.
Fans of the original film asked about a sequel enough that they convinced Merendino to tackle the project, even if at a lesser price than the already-modest cost of the original. He turned to crowdfunding to add to the coffers and was able to secure just enough cash from the old-head fans to proceed with a stripped-down follow-up, much of it shot in and around Ogden, beginning in 2014.
Released in 2016, Punk’s Dead: SLC Punk 2 drew mixed critical reaction, which rolls off of Merendino. Discussing it today, Merendino says, “It turned out how it turned out. I like it. And some other people do. A lot of people don’t. That’s okay with me, you know, that’s the nature of art.”
Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) stars as the scene-stealing punk rocker Crash—the most well-drawn character in the film, portrayed with gusto by Baker. On the other side of the fame conversation, several of the star-level folks who appeared in the original (Segel, Lillard, etc.) didn’t take part in the rebooted version, and there are moments in the film in which you sense that Merendino was padding out the run time, with lengthy concert segments shot for the film given plenty of space in the second half of Punk’s Dead.
In talking to Merendino about the work, there’s the sense that he’s okay with leaving where it lies, even if there was a different story that he wanted to tell. Faced with creating a different version of his original idea, or letting it go, he says, “At the last minute, I ended up sort of making it more of a spinoff.”
Three new lead characters carry the film, while actors and their respective characters from the first film were written into smaller support roles and cameos.
“Had it been a real sequel, it would have been about Stevo. And that was the subject of the script I originally wanted to do, but I just couldn’t afford to do that.”
Where Are They Now?
James Merendino (Writer/Director)
Merendino continues to write and direct films and television, including the sequel to SLC Punk!, called Punk’s Dead (2016). Merendino later created the series Great Kills (2023), a dark comedy about a small-time, Staten Island hitman, released on Tubi.
Michael Goorjian (“Heroin” Bob)
Over the years, Goorjian has guest-starred in numerous network television comedies, dramas and procedurals. He wrote a science-fiction novel titled What Lies Beyond the Stars, and he directed, wrote and starred in the film Amerikatsi (2022).
Jason Segel (Mike)
Segel’s career took off after landing big parts in high-profile shows like Judd Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) and How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014). Segel now stars as a therapist in the Apple TV+ series Shrinking (2023), for which he won an Emmy.
Summer Phoenix (Brandy)
Phoenix is a musician (piano/keyboards) and has made a return to acting, starring in the thriller directed by Amy Redford, What Comes Around, released August 2023.
Matthew Lillard (Steven “Stevo” Levy)
Lillard has since appeared in dozens of films and TV shows. Lillard starred in the third season of Twin Peaks (2017), co-starred with Christina Hendricks on the NBC series Good Girls (2018–2021), plays an undercover FBI agent in the Amazon Series Bosch and appears in the live-action movie adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023).
Francis Capra (Young Bob)
This prolific child actor went on to star (as an adult) in the TV series Veronica Mars, as well as a subsequent film of the same title, and the film Shadows (2022)
James Duval (John the Mod)
Duval, known for his later roles in Go (1999) and Donnie Darko (2001), continues to star in numerous independent films.
Adam Pascal (“Mod” Eddie)
Pascal works as an actor on screen and stage, singer and musician, starring in multiple recent Broadway productions like Something Rotten! and Pretty Woman: The Musical.
Til Schweiger (Mark)
The German actor and filmmaker notably appears in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds (2009) and is slated to appear in an upcoming Guy Ritchie movie, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Devon Sawa (Sean the Beggar)
Sawa continues to act in film and TV—particularly adjacent to the horror genre—reprising his role in Punk’s Dead, starring in the thriller TheFanatic (directed by Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst) and the horror comedy Black Friday, appearing in an episode of HBO’s Hacks and filling recurring roles in the SyFy show Chucky.
Annabeth Gish (Trish)
Gish has had a long career on both the big and small screen. She is known for her recurring roles in Mike Flanagan’s horror series on Netflix, including The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Jennifer Lien (Sandy
Lien has retired from acting, after starring in Star Trek: Voyager.
Christopher McDonald (Mr. Levy)
McDonald has had a full career as a TV, film, theater and voice actor. McDonald appears in Hacks on HBO Max as Marty, a Las Vegas casino owner and the Marvel series Secret Invasion on Disney+
