SLUG Contributor Limelight
April 28, 2010
Contributor Limelight: Team Ramrod
Chris Proctor and Jeremy Riley (a.k.a. Team Ramrod) have been busting ass and slaughtering everything in their path with SLUG for nearly a year. Proctor, the brains of Team Ramrod, is an all-around literary genious with superb writing skills while Riley, the brawn, holds it down with his trusty camera. Transforming into a two-man coverage machine, much like Robocop but instead of killing things with guns and weapons, they use their words and photos to destroy all in their way. They both have used their extreme knowledge and deep roots in the snowboard community to help plan and execute the stellar coarse at SLUG Games Prom Jam this past February. If you see a flash of bright light, a dreamcatcher flying through your plane of vision and some mumbled words, you can be sure Team Ramrod has kicked your ass and taken your name.
Articles by contributor
Reviews: Dawes – Stories Don’t End
Perhaps the single factor that sets this album apart from Dawes’ first two releases is the level of production. … read more
Local Reviews: Johnny Utah
Johnny 3:16 is a massive collaborative effort with over 15 emcees and producers lending Johnny Utah a hand on the album, including well-known locals Linus Stubbs, Yoga Flame Kane and Brisk One. The wide variety of beats keeps your ears from glazing over. … read more
Local Reviews: Chivers Timbers – Freedom + Stability
Chivers Timbers’ debut release is a 10-track ode to lo-fi rock n’ roll with a little reggae infusion. The album blends together sounds that were heard more prominently in the early ‘90s—the acoustic guitar taking the lead while the electric provides harmonics in the background.
Local Review: Reaper The Storyteller – Trilogy
Reaper the Storyteller Trilogy Self-Released Street: 05.11 Reaper the Storyteller = Outkast + The Roots + 2pac The mantra that Reaper the Storyteller imposes on himself is no lie. His subject matter is the stuff of true substance. Oftentimes, hip hop focuses on inflating the ego, smoking dank weed and fucking mad bitches. The
Local Review: Omeed the Nag – Status
Omeed has a nice Aesop Rock sort of gritty feel to his voice, but he does this half-rap-half-sing-song thing that sounds silly. Status isn’t a bad album, but it sounds no different and no better than the same cookie-cutter hip hop that we’re all so tired of. … read more
Local Review: Like, Listen To – East of the Sun...
Like, Listen To = Iron and Wine + Andrew Bird
… read more
Local Review: Benjamin Dara – Single Flame
Benjamin Dara Single Flame Self-Released Street: 02.18 Benjamin Dara = Dispatch + Enya + Jack Johnson Benjamin Dara’s debut release begins with a music-box-like piano riff, leading into a mystical arrangement of synth strings and distorted drums accompanying his vocals as he sings, “The moon up high, the eye in the sky, the clouds, the
Review: Blitzen Trapper – VII
Blitzen Trapper = The Eagles + Pavement + Fleet Foxes … read more
Local Reviews: Young Mindz
With The Milky Blaze, Young Mindz aren’t saying anything that wasn’t said 15 years ago. The opening track, “Young Mindz,” features monotonous letter-for-letter chanting of the group name, lyrics about hyping the crowd, dissing other rappers and the usual self-promoting themes. … read more
Local Reviews: Dani Lion
Dani in the Clouds is a fast-moving and euphoric first release from recently formed pop duo Dani Lion, consisting of producer Daniel Fischer and singer Lauren Hoyt. … read more
Shawn Woods – The Self-Made Athlete
Woods is fast—he knows it—and he’s beginning to smell success. SLUG met with him while he trained for Bobsled and Skeleton at the Athletic Republic world headquarters in Park City … read more
The Bee @ The Leonardo 10.10
By founding The Bee, a series of storytelling competitions, Giuliana Serena and Francesca Rosa have filled a void of literary events in Salt Lake City. … read more
Local Reviews: B-Side
This debut album from B-Side (Bryant Masina) is well produced and his concepts sound fully formed. His cadence flows nicely over the beats, which are just as much R&B and reggae as they are hip hop. … read more
Burtons The B Movie Premiere
The Burton Tour, sponsored by Corona, Amp, Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboard Canada Mag, made its fourth stop in snowboard Mecca, Salt Lake City, Utah on October 6. The action started in front of the Gateway Megaplex at 5:30 with an autograph signing including Burton pro’s Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Gabi Vitteri, and Utah’s very own Jeremy Jones. See more photos Here … read more
Dinobots “Never Gonna Get It” Premiere at Westminster
The Dinobot premieres their first video “Never Gonna Get it” at Westminster … read more
Satch’s Put That In Your Pipe and Jib It!
If you happened to be at Brighton Resort on January 9, you probably came across the aptly named Put That In Your Pipe and Jib It competition at the top of the Majestic lift. … read more
The Northface Masters 2010: Stop 1
After two long days of suspension due to crappy weather, the 3rd annual Northface Masters kicked off on a beautiful morning on Monday, January 25. If you’ve never heard of it, the North Face Masters is one of the first big-mountain snowboarding competition tours meant to help bring back what some riders feel is the root of snowboarding, riding deep pow and hucking yourself off cliffs. The Masters fills a huge competition gap in snowboarding, with less than a handful of other big-mountain competitions in the United States today.
… read more
Jazz Jam 2010 @ Brighton
Last Saturday was the 2nd Annual Jazz Jam up at Brighton, and if it was going to be anything like last year, I was excited to go. Even though it wasn’t sunny and warm like last year, the setup was still the good’s and despite the blizzard, somewhere around 60 or 70 people came out to jam and get a Jazz jersey. The jam kicked off around 11:30 just as the snow and wind came down like the hammer of Thor. … read more
2010 Reel Rock Tour @ Tower Theater
On Wednesday September 29, 350 rock-climbing enthusiasts packed themselves into the Tower Theater for a showing of 6 rock-climbing films—First Round First Minute, The Hardest Move, Origins: The Hulk, Down and Out and Under, Fly or Die and the Swiss Machine. … read more
2011 WInter Dew Tour: Men’s/ Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Championships
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}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page:The Winter Dew Tour wrapped up their three-stop tour at Snowbasin Resort in Ogden, Utah this Sunday. The scene this year was hectic to say the least and I am constantly in awe at how big these events get year after year. … read more
Jared Mees & the Grown Children @ Urban Lounge 3/24
By the time Jared Mees and his “Grown Children” reached Salt Lake City, they had been touring for nearly a month. Having just come off a couple of shows in Colorado the day before, and the Urban Lounge being more or less empty, I prepped myself for a slow, emotionless performance. Not so. This Oregon-based quintet seemed to exude energy throughout their entire performance.
… read more
A-Trak @ Complex 05.10
Alain Macklovich a.k.a. A-Trak has been a busy man. One month ago, he left Coachella after playing a wild set with Duck Sauce mate Armand Van Helden and met up with Kid Sister and the Gaslamp Killer to kick off the Magic 8 Ball Tour. Serving partially as a pretext for A-Trak’s most current stage design, the tour spanned south from coast to coast twice, ending up in Salt Lake City last Tuesday. … read more
Trickonometry Film Premiere
On a sunny Saturday afternoon on the north side of Salt Lake, I pulled up to the Skate 4 Homies warehouse to the sight of more than 30 kids playing games of S-K-A-T-E and waiting for the doors to open for the premier of Technique skate shop’s 2011 skate film, Trickonometry. … read more
5050 BMX King Of The Mountain Dirt Contest @ Powder...
For the third year in a row, motocross fans from across the country flocked to Powder Mountain Resort for the Powder Mountain Motocross event. This year, 5050 BMX was on site with some of the best BMX dirt jumpers from around the world for their first annual King Of The Mountain dirt contest, a few of them from our very own state of Utah. … read more
Atmosphere @ The Complex 08.20
Atmosphere’s following has seemingly doubled in Utah since the hip hop duo played at In the Venue in 2009. On August 20, they packed The Complex full as they toured with Evidence and DJ Babu (originally from Dilated Peoples), Blueprint and Prof for their Family Vacation Tour. … read more
The Art of Flight (Snowboard)
X-Dance Screening: Thursday, Jan. 12 @ 7:30pm
After the success of That’s It, That’s All, some doubts began to surface as to whether Travis Rice and company’s second film, The Art of Flight, was going to live up to the hype. … read more
Blue Scholars, Bambu, Grynch and DJ Inphared, Burnell Washburn @...
Blue Scholars have visited Salt Lake City a handful of times and have since gained a considerable following for an underground hip hop act in a city dominated by any genre other than. … read more
Salty Peaks’ Eighty Seven Movie Premiere @ Tower Theatre 11.02
On November 2, hundreds of snowboarders and snowboarding fans gathered at the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City for the long awaited premiere of Salty Peaks’ first, full-length snowboard film titled Eighty Seven. … read more
Deer Tick, Guards, The Trappers @ Urban 11.09
On November 9, hundreds of Deer Tick fans packed into the Urban Lounge for a sold out show with Guards and Salt Lake City’s own The Trappers opening. … read more
The Grouch, Zion I, Eligh, Evidence, DJ Fresh and DJ...
On December 6, the 5th Annual How the Grouch Stole Christmas tour came through Salt Lake City, bringing Zion I, the Grouch, Eligh, Evidence and DJ Fresh to the Urban Lounge for a night of some of the best underground hip hop. … read more
Steve Aoki, Datsik, Dirtyphonics, Aiden Chance @ Complex 01.24
On January 24, Steve Aoki’s DEADMEAT Tour, promoting his newest album, Wonderland, stopped in Salt Lake City at the Complex for a long night of some solid electronic dance tunes. … read more
A Therapy Session with Eligh
A few days before the show on March 24 at Urban Lounge, I got a chance to sit down with Eligh over the phone to chat about the album, his first solo headlining tour with Amp Live and his long standing relationship with hip hop. … read more
Blitzen Trapper and The Parson Red Heads @ The State...
Americana ensembles The Parson Red Heads and Blitzen Trapper visited Salt Lake City on March 22 for a sold out show at the State Room. When I got to the State Room, I noticed that I, as a beard grower and flannel shirt wearer, was contributing to the majority. The average age of the attendees confirmed my conviction that Americana is for old people, and by “old,” I mean early to mid-thirties. You know, old people. … read more
Hanni El Khatib @ Urban Lounge 04.13
Khatib has been met with almost immediate success in his newfound full-time music career and I’m not going to argue why. The guy knows how to write songs and he and his band mates can perform them even better. … read more
Kevin Avery Book Signing @ The King’s English 04.13
Kevin Avery spent four years compiling notes, conducting interviews and organizing the biography and some choice writings of his childhood literary hero, Paul Nelson, one of folk music’s most important critics of the 20th Century. … read more
The Jezabels, Yukon Blonde @ Kilby 10.10
On Oct. 10 the crowd at Kilby Court was treated to two well known international bands: Vancouver/B.C. based, Yukon Blonde, and the Australia-based Jezabels. Both bands have earned best-of credentials in their home countries, and have earned spots in American festivals like South By Southwest, Coachella and Lollapalooza. To see them both in one night at a venue the size of Kilby Court was a blast. … read more
Blitzen Trapper Take to the Hills with VII
With VII, Earley takes the listener from the open highways of American Goldwing and into the deep and dark woods of Oregon, both musically and lyrically. This is true as well considering the cover art for the album, done by Blakely Dadson, which depicts a colorful train pulling through a black forest landscape. … read more
The Stones Throw Soul Tour with Peanut Butter Wolf @...
Stones Throw founder, Peanut Butter Wolf, took the audience back to 1974 and beyond with some vintage soul tracks paired with live visuals from a projector of the bands’ sets. … read more
The Jibyard
The Jibyard is Utah’s premier indoor rail park and ski/snowboard training facility. Though it’s only been open for a little over six months, the brainchild of founder Brad Geiger and co-owner Mike White have been rapidly gaining recognition in the local shred scene. Both Geiger and White have been actively participating in the ski/snowboard industry
Nikita Chickita
Brighton resort was the place to be Feb. 20 where the Nikita Chickita all-girls snowboard competition, sponsored by Skullcandy, ShredBetties and Nikita (of course), took place at the lower Majestic terrain park. With over 40 riders competing for a $2000 total prize purse for the Pros and a 1-year Nikita flow-sponsorship contract up for grabs for the Ams. These riders were stoked and ready to show some of the best female snowboarding around today. … read more
SLUG Games: Beat the Pro
If you happened to be a pro snowboarder or skier at Park City Mountain Resort on March 6, then it was your unlucky day as the best unknowns from around the valley were standing by to take you down in the second annual SLUG Games Beat the Pro, presented by Scion and Yudu. … read more
Fresh Changes at PCMR
For the 2010/2011 season, Park City is making some big changes to their new Three Kings park. This season, Park City has invested a lot of time, and probably money, to bring you a newly renovated park located where Pick ‘n’ Shovel park was last season. Three Kings will feature two more runs full of rails, boxes, logs, jumps and a few things you’ve only dreamed of. If that doesn’t get your gear all wet, here is a little bonus: Park City has added lights throughout the entire new park! … read more
Ruckus Inc.
Benji Pierson, a.k.a. Ruckus, moved to Jackson Hole, Wyo. from his hometown of Seattle with little more than some art supplies and turntables. Making ends meet by DJ-ing parties, weddings, his own radio show and then working as a lifty at the local mountain, he started on his now-promising art career. Nearly a decade later, Pierson’s art has been featured on skis, snowboards, jackets and several prestigious snowboard and ski magazines. … read more
Who Dat?: Ryan West
I first met Ryan West when we both worked at Salty Peaks. I just thought he was another kid who had moved to Salt Lake City to snowboard or just say he worked at a snowboard shop, like most of the people that worked there. After we made a company trip to the DC Mountain Lab, it became clear that he knew what he wanted. As most of us sat in the hot tub and drank, he was out on the hill trying to get shots of this coveted area that few have had the privilege to shred. … read more
Construction to Destruction: Not for the Faint of Heart
It’s hard to believe that the eleventh installment of the SLUG Games has already come and gone. To end the series this year, SLUG Magazine brought you Construction to Destruction, a bone-crushing, face-melting jam of pure destruction housed at none other than Brighton Resort on March 5. … read more
Superbike Slides with Tate Roskelley
Tate Roskelley is a rare breed. You’re more likely to see him riding his bike backward down a stair-set or manualing a chain than you are to see him in a skate park. Despite all of his abnormalities, this Utah native has his feet firmly planted in the professional BMX industry with his own signature frame, the Volume Drifter, and mind-blowing full-length video parts and online-edits with companies like Volume and Demolition. … read more
Summer of Death: Pajama Jam Recap
On July 16, SLUG Magazine’s Summer of Death skateboard contest series celebrated its twelfth anniversary with the Pajama Jam, presented by Quiksilver and Natty Light. This year, the tradition continued at the Skate 4 Homies warehouse and we couldn’t have been more excited with the park that Todd Ingersoll and friends built. … read more
CLC Artist: AJ Wentworth
While AJ Wentworth attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City in 2009, he worked at a local deli and made raw chocolate bars in his spare time. It didn’t take long for students at his school to start asking why he wasn’t selling the homemade chocolate, and what started as a hobby turned into a way to make four to five hundred dollars in a weekend at school. From there it became a passion. … read more
The SLC Photo Collective and You
If you’ve attended any worthwhile events in Salt Lake over the past few years, chances are you’ve had your mug taken in one of Dave Brewer’s photobooths. Brewer’s high-quality work has led to features in a number of publications and, after building an extensive portfolio from action sports to product photography to studio portraits, Brewer set his viewfinder on giving back to the photo community that has treated him so well. This July, Brewer opened the SLC Photo Collective. … read more
Eighty Seven
Dennis Nazari and his crew at Salty Peaks have played a pivotal role in the progression and growth of the snowboard industry in Utah. After nearly twenty-five years of slinging boards out of the small space on 3300 South, Salty Peaks is releasing their first full-length snowboard film entitled Eighty Seven. The title refers to the year Salty Peaks was founded, and in addition to paying homage to the shop’s history, it also showcases the shop’s current talent. … read more
Summer of Death: Roughside of the Trax II
On September 24, the Roughneck crew came out to Salt Lake City from their San Franciscan homeland once again for SLUG’s 2nd annual Summer of Death: Roughside of the Trax skate contest. Roughside of the Trax, the Salt Lake version of Roughneck Hardware’s BART Tour, takes skaters along our city’s Trax line to street spots in a contest format. … read more
Ozzy Henning: Master of Style and Finesse
At Park City Mountain Resort, there’s one snowboarder that stands out from the rest, and his name is Ozzy Henning. Henning’s riding has been raising eyebrows around the Salt Lake Valley for nine years, both on a skateboard and a snowboard. Henning looks more at home on a board than he does on his own two feet, and that says a lot when one considers his extremely technical style. … read more
Localized – December 2011
On Friday, Dec. 17, head down to the Urban Lounge (21+) to enjoy the lyrical stylings of Mark Dago and the live experience of Scenic Byway and DJ Chase One Two. As always, $5 gets you in. … read more
SLUG Games: Dawn of the Shred
On January 14, the 12th Annual SLUG Games went undead with Dawn of the Shred, presented by Budweiser, at Brighton Resort. No skier, snowboarder or snowblader was safe from the fury as hoards of local talent ran rampant through the course built by Brighton’s superior Zombie Response and Terrain Park crew. … read more
Local Reviews: The Beginning At Last
The Beginning At Last are a quartet who combine the basic musical styles of metal and hip hop. The resulting sound on No Music No Life is pretty much what one would expect: scratching vinyl over trilling distortion and synth lead over bellowing shouts. … read more
Localized – YZE, Burnell Washburn and Linus Stubbs
This month’s Localized showcase is going to be a night of real hip hop. Linus Stubbs is an accomplished DJ and producer who lets his beats do the talking. Burnell Washburn is young, but his career is on the upswing and his ambition is undeniable. Opener YZE is a top-shelf emcee/producer who puts on a show you won’t want to miss. Catch them all at the Urban Lounge (21+) on May 11 at 10 p.m. As always, $5 gets you in. … read more
Voilé and the Splitboard: Pioneers of the Backcountry
In 1991, Brett Kobernik brought an idea to Mark Wariakois, founder of Voilé, to combine the snowshoe and the snowboard into a single revolutionary tool for accessing and shredding the thousands of acres of snow not found within the boundaries of any ski resorts. That tool is known today as the splitboard. … read more
Localized – Daisy & The Moonshines, Folk Hogan and L’Anarchiste
Come out to Urban Lounge on Saturday, Aug. 18 to catch the multi-faceted rock n’ roll of Daisy & The Moonshines and the upbeat folk punk of Folk Hogan. L’Anarchiste will kick off the $5 show at 10 p.m. for all you 21-plus music lovers. … read more
Local Reviews: Def Letter
Def Letter is Salt Lake’s own MC Dumb Luck and veteran DJ Linus Stubbs. Social Introduction is a very literal title for this album, as it is Dumb Luck’s premiere headliner. The album screams the white-boy angst of early Slim Shady with 20 tracks of high-speed life-struggle raps. … read more
Local Reviews: Jay William Henderson
The Sun Will Burn Our Eyes EP is the first solo release from Band of Annuals’ lead singer, Jay William Henderson. Instrumentally, Henderson favors the acoustic guitar backed by tremolo keys or electric guitar, slide guitar and the earnest whines of the steel pedal. … read more
Articles by contributor
The Jibyard
The Jibyard is Utah’s premier indoor rail park and ski/snowboard training facility. Though it’s only been open for a little over six months, the brainchild of founder Brad Geiger and co-owner Mike White have been rapidly gaining recognition in the local shred scene. Both Geiger and White have been actively participating in the ski/snowboard industry