Honk For Tibet

[Protest] It's sometimes easy to forget about the troubles people suffer when they're on the other side of the world, that's why a band of local Tibetans here in Salt Lake have started taking their protest of the Chinese violence in their homeland, to the streets of SLC. Today a group chanted "Free Tibet Now!" outside of the KUTV 2 building on Main Street today, right next to the Gallivan Center Trax stop.

The groups bore signs protesting the violent crackdown on Tibet's recent protests of it's 57 year occupation by China. Violence in Lhasa, has forced a repressive curfew, and exact numbers of injured or dead haven't been determined, although Tibetan Association leaders in the United States have heard unverified claims that thousands of protesters have been arrested and that 70 have been killed.

Lob Sang, one of the Salt Lake City protesters admits that he has heard of draconian tactics in play back in Tibet. "When protesters would get hurt, they would go to the hospitals, so they [Chinese police] started arresting anyone coming into the hospitals."

In Salt Lake, the Tibetan community has staged this latest protest, of many, they hope will help bring more attention to the crisis. Young Tibetan children laid on the ground outside the Channel 2 News station, covered in fake blood and wearing cardboard cut-outs of the symbol of the Olympic Games (referencing China's sponsorship of the upcoming Summer Olympics) while the rest of the crowd waved Tibetan flags and shouted facts about the casualties of the more than half a century plus Chinese occupation of their home country.

There presence may be small in Utah, but they are loud "There may be only 150 or 200 of us here in Salt Lake," Sang says. "But we are part of a much wider demonstration. We may be small, but we must do our part." (Eric S. Peterson)

New Wave Artifacts Unearthed

[SLC Punk-ish] Below the City Weekly offices on Main Street, even below Sam Weller's Books and the new Keys on Main, a long-defunct basement nightclub (at one time The Iron Horse, among other post-'70s incarnations) now houses Weller's leftover book inventory. The stairwell, which which we rarely see day-to-day because the door is usually locked shut, still has that nightclub look--including these flyers for a show by '80s new-wavers The Suburbs, with locals 004 opening. Guessing this show happened in the early-to-mid '80s, and tickets were sold at ye old Cosmic Aeroplane. Revel in nostalgia, SLC Punkers:

(Bill Frost)

I Learned It By Watching You

[Protest 2] Holly's post regarding tomorrow's planned body-bag parade helps call into question the efficacy of scare tactics employed by seemingly well-meaning agencies fighting the good fight against tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. I quit smoking nearly two years ago, but whenever I see a commercial depicting someone with a voice box, an intricate map of clogged lungs or other gross attempts to defame nicotine, I want to run down the street to Chevron for a pack of Marlboro Lights. Seeing a bunch of body bags will make me think of death, but I'll probably be more concerned with the ongoing slaughter in Iraq and Darfur than with how many cigarettes my co-workers smoke on the roof. There must be a better way to disuade kids from smoking. Didn't we learn anything from the failed Drug-Free America tactics? I mean, this commerical could easily be followed with footage of stoned skateboarders putting the empty pool to better use:



(Jamie Gadette)

Upstairs (Hic), Downstairs

[Downtown] Rumors are swirling that The Tavernacle will be leasing the space just downstairs from City Weekly's offices--the space which, for a few weeks, has been being gutted. The rumor is that it will be a restaurant and the best thing about it is that the restaurant will have a liquor license.

Not only will this help enliven one of the only remaining interesting blocks on downtown Main Street, but will make our Friday afternoon tippling so much more convenient.

Perhaps we could even get Tavernacle bartenders to name cocktails after the paper. Here are some ideas to get them started:

The City Weekly
4 oz. Patrón
dash soda
Serve tequila neat; use soda to blot any resulting stains on CW's nice, clean carpet.

The Private Eye
1 bottle VO
1 bottle NyQuil
Administer NyQuil and/or VO as desired. Write column. Repeat weekly.
(Brandon Burt)

Big Love, Small Hands

[Sightings] Main Street one recent lunchtime: Numerous pedestrians stopped to ponder the ankle-length, high collar purple dress and piled-high blonde hair of a lady undoubtedly belonging to the alternative lifestyle--or so Big Love and Salt Lake Tribune's Brooke Adams would have us believe--of polygamy. She was accompanied by an older woman in a long blue dress, a little boy and two men who looked distinctly rural in their dungerees and plain shirts. The younger woman went up to her husband and, in the most genteel of gestures, lightly cupped the inside of his left buttock. The foursome paused before entering one of our best known local eateries to snap some pictures. "You've got to make memories along the way," said grandma. (Stephen Dark)

A Bomb! A Bomb! Oh My!

[Bomb Scare] When a bomb scare fills the streets of downtown Salt Lake City with people, it makes for an exciting Tuesday. But when it's covered by the very media involved, it's the same old story.

Apparently, all it takes to get people on the streets of down town Salt Lake City is … an empty bag, a couple choice words and a camouflage T-shirt. Well, at least an empty bag that may or may not contain an explosive device, such as a bomb. On this Tuesday afternoon, the Wells Fargo building was evacuated because of such a bomb threat. By 3 pm streets were filled with office workers and police officers, yellow tape and sirens. It was like a street fair without the food. A street fair with assault rifles and a bomb squad. Kind of like a street fair in, say, Columbia, except there they actually blow things up.

Soon after the news of the bomb threat had spread to the taco stand on State and 200 South and the Wells Fargo building and a half-block radius around it had been evacuated, the cameras came out and were rolling.

Behind the Gallivan Center, with the sound of a news helicopter overhead, they (the media, including me) encircled the police department’s spokesman and then began asking biting and incisive questions like, “Was he considered dangerous?” All Detective Jared Wihongi knew at the time was that it didn’t seem to be a bank robbery, the suspect may have been mentally unstable and he was wearing a camouflage T-shirt with a cartoon character on his chest.

It all started, according to Wihongi, at around 2:45 pm when a 30-something white male walked into the Wells Fargo building with a bag and said something like: “I have a bomb.” After police took the suspect into custody at gun point, the bomb squad came on the scene. Geared up for Armageddon, the armored crew dealt with the potential threat that was waiting inside of the building.

Among the crowd of cameras circling Wihongi were the folks from KUTV 2. They had come all the way from…their offices in the Wells Fargo building. They too had been evacuated. Luckily, though, they brought their trusty cameras and microphones with them when they ran from their desks. They were ready to catch all the action. So, I guess, the news came to them.

As for City Weekly and staff, apparently the width of Main Street and our windows were not enough to keep the staff safe from a potential explosion. So, we absconded to the safest place we could find, a bomb shelter of sorts: Port O’ Call.

By around five, after several beers, it was discovered that, yes, the bomb scare had been a hoax. Alas, the crowds that for once made downtown feel like, er, a city had been swept back into their air-conditioned high-rises never to be seen again. (Jonah Owen Lamb)

Pissin' in the Wind

[CITY] The last few days over on Mullentown.com discussion has been rather lively about our crybaby Salt Lake City mayor for life, Rocky Anderson. By way of review, Mullentown.com is my personal blog, and not to be confused for the whole other wild and free voice I get to express here at CW Blog.

I heard Rocky a good bit on radio and TV last week, with reporters going all ga-ga over the prospect he might run for a third term. That's only if the November election comes down to the two candidates he finds most distasteful--Jenny Wilson (who happens to be my stepdaugher) and Dave Buhler. Wilson is currently leading in early polls, followed by Buhler. Neither of them is Rocky's hand-picked candidate. That would be Republican businessman Keith Christensen, who has raised more than a half-million dollars but can't seem to find a political base.

Rocky was going on, as always, about the good work he's done for the city. He says he spends plenty of time here doing the heavy lifting as mayor. I'm guessing, though, if he needs a couple of campaign issues to run on should he decide to jump in the race I'll suggest this one:

You know all those Main Street planter boxes Rocky lobbied the City Council for a few years ago? He finally got them in place. They're beautiful all right--sprouting colorful annual flowers and sprucing up an otherwise grim stretch of urban decay.

Only problem is, they smell like piss. Someone is using them as a public urinal. Who? Homeless guys? Drunks stumbling out of Murphy's late at night? Who knows? I've never actually seen anyone taking a leak on them, but I know what my nose knows. It's especially enticing to walk past a planter box at 3 in the afternoon on a 100+ degree day, if you get my drift.

Our mayor is prancing around New York right now, protesting Bush and Cheney and giving interviews to leftie talk shows. If he could just give an order to drop a few urinal cakes in the planter boxes, all might be well on our little patch of Main Street paradise. (Holly Mullen)

Air Space Case

This week's Private Eye inquiry from City Weekly honcho John Saltas:

Mayor Rocky Anderson wants to sell airspace above a certain stretch of Main Street to protect against construction of a sky bridge walkway. Is that the only section of Salt Lake City air space worth protecting?

Original column here. Comment away below ...