SLUG Contributor Limelight
January 3, 2019
Contributor Limelight – Bianca Velasquez
In July 2018, Bianca Velasquez joined SLUG’s ranks as Editorial Assistant. She principally helps to coordinate and organize editorial coverage with a go-getter spirit. Velasquez cherishes representing community members through SLUG’s content and has a knack for storytelling in her own right. With respect to her recent favorite features, she cites those she wrote about Josie Cordova’s To Space, Comrade! video game and Tucker White’s short-story triptych, The Magic Building. This month, Velasquez has penned an interview feature with filmmaker and local Film Fatales leader Diana Whitten (pg. 18), which regards women in the film industry. Velasquez has also been a Volunteer Coordinator for our latest Brewstillery beer-and-spirits event and values SLUG events like Localized. With all of her energy and willingness, we love having Velasquez on Team SLUG!
Articles by contributor
Rum, Don’t Walk to ACME Bar Co.’s Tropical Paradise
ACME Bar Co. cultivates a tropical escapist paradise in Salt Lake City through its Tiki theme and wide offering of rum-based drinks. … read more
Feline Fine: Get Your Cat-feine Fix at Tinker’s Cat Cafe
Lisa Totzke opened Tinker’s Cat Cafe in 2017 and has since facilitated 408 adoptions of vaccinated, microchipped, spayed and neutered cats. … read more
Art Access’ 300 Plates Celebrates 20 Years
This year’s 300 Plates places Art Access’ mission at the forefront, connecting the event to the important work of increasing accessibility in our community. … read more
Sweet Vinyl Bakeshop’s Booze-Infused Desserts
After much experimentation, Sweet Vinyl Bakeshop produces alcohol-infused cupcakes through collaborations with local brewers, distillers and kombucha makers. … read more
Moudi Hob: To Lead With Love
True to their name, love sits at the core of each of Moudi Hob’s endeavors, as with their beloved Mediterranean restaurant, Laziz Kitchen. … read more
Salt City Grillz Boutique: Everybody Wants To Look Fly
Salt City Grillz Boutique is now the first and only custom teeth grill studio where SLC patrons can order their very own set to smile about. … read more
Drinks, Dancing and Drag: Four New Libation Stations to Try...
For you day-drinking drifters and after-hours cocktail devourers, a whole new world of spirited opportunities awaits you. … read more
Around the World In 7 Grocery Trips
The Salt Lake Valley is overflowing with locally owned markets that take you around the world from your very own kitchen. … read more
Clever Octopus: Creativity and Sustainability
“Craft thrift store” Clever Octopus provides affordable art supplies, classes and community for beginners and tenured artists alike. … read more
A Salt Lake City Tour-de-Seltz: 5 Local Options for Your...
Against big-name seltzers, local breweries Epic, Shades, Uinta, Squatters and Grid City can provide fodder for your steamy seltzer summer. … read more
Ride or Die: The Diary of a Newly Minted Peloton...
SLUG Managing Editor Bianca Velasquez offers up her experiences as a new Peloton owner—the good, the bad and the sweaty. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez
Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez offers a well-rounded look into the evolution of Spain and how that impacted the world around him. … read more
River Jude August: Gender Actualization in Utah
River Jude August serves as a leader in the effort to defend gender-expansive rights, championing social justice, growth and change. … read more
Gift Ideas from Indie Utah Businesses: Yellow Yarrow Apothecary
With seasonal stress looming over us, refuge can be found in Yellow Yarrow Apothecary’s products that aid in relaxation and self-care. … read more
Gift Ideas from Indie Utah Businesses: Gloss + Shimmer
As if Morgan Rhyan of Gloss + Shimmer’s work isn’t potent enough, it’s also empowered by a mission to provide accessible art to everyone. … read more
Gift Ideas from Indie Utah Businesses: Davin Abegg Design
When brainstorming gifts, consider giving a gift that says “I like your face” with a commissioned portrait from Davin Abegg Design. … read more
Review: The Coathangers — The Devil You Know
Needless to say I am “hooked” on The Coathanger’s The Devil You Know. It got me like a Little Ceasar’s pizza—hot n’ ready for more. … read more
Antojitos: Latin American Street Foods
Antojitos translates literally to “little cravings,” which is an appropriate way to introduce the following local businesses that left us craving more. … read more
Annelise Duque: Discovering What’s Between Heritage and Selfhood
Annelise Duque creates and photographs scenes that lead you into memories that you thought you may have forgotten, but are now reminded of. … read more
Review: Tempers – Private Life
Tempers = U.S. Girls + La Femme + Cigarettes After Sex + Depeche Mode + New Order … read more
Review: Shopping – All or Nothing
All or Nothing is a 10-track burst of energy that comes and goes like a speeding car chase down an emptied water canal in a late 80s heist movie. … read more
Mcycle: Spinning You Into Control
Indoor cycling at Mcycle, co-owned by Megan and Richmond Tyrrell, might be your fitness fix that helps you “get” Lizzo’s music. … read more
Women to the Front: The Legacy of Women’s Suffrage through...
Women to the Front acknowledges and sheds light on the intersection of equality, gender and activism through the lens of 15 artists. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Tahara
Speaking to the potential of toxicity in friendships that take place early in life, Olivia Peace’s Tahara encourages the safety of autonomy. … read more
Slamdance: Ask No Questions
Viewers must approach Ask No Questions as a investigative documentary instead of another conspiracy-theory proposal. The film begins with the account of a CNN reporter who, with her cameraman, captures the scene of what is televised as a Falun Gong “religious public suicide” in Beijing at Tiananmen Square. … read more
Existimos Collective: Helping The QTBIPOC Community Feel Seen
The heart of Existimos’ mission is to provide a solution to a stark lack they identified in Utah’s art community and created a space by QTBIPOC for QTBIPOC. … read more
Scriip: Making it a little easier to tell your story
In January of 2018, Skye Emerson and her team started working on Scriip, an easy-to-use, affordable, accessible and modernized screenwriting resource. … read more
Mestizo Institute of Culture and the Arts: Rejuvenating What It...
The Mestizo Institute of Culture and the Arts celebrates 16 years of advocating for underrepresented communities in Salt Lake City. … read more
Art | Art and Fashion | LGBTQ+
Ann Chen: Writing History in Her Own Script
Ann Chen displays her penchant for hand-lettering, typography and graphic design on the cover of this month’s Local Design issue. … read more
South Salt Lake Arts District’s Creative Industries Zone: In the...
Within the intention behind the Creative Industries Zone, having these brewers and distillers reside within the area accomplishes a major part of the plan. … read more
Serving SLC’s Service Industry One Small Miracle at a Time
At 29 years old, longtime food servicer Matthew Pfohl experienced a physical and financial trauma that helped inspire the idea behind One Small Miracle. … read more
Studio Ramiii: CLC Artisan
Beginning in January of this year Studio Ramiii has been taking our earlobes by storm with their handcrafted, carefully curated, polymer-clay earrings. … read more
Haylee Morice: CLC Artisan
Artist Haylee Morice has refined her strengths for digital, watercolor, colored-pencil, oil-paint and surrealist still-life images. … read more
Localized: The Ugly Boys
Pride is a common theme for the Ugly Boys—taking pride in what they create and putting the sweat into their music are their driving forces. … read more
The Monarch: Ogden’s Art-Scene Metamorphosis
Like many large projects, Thaine Fischer had many hoops to jump through to be able to embark fully on this mission to create what The Monarch is today. … read more
DE | MARCATION
The DE | MARCATION portfolio is a snapshot of what that looks like today within Utah art photography, all while combating boundaries that exist as walls. … read more
Kilby Court’s 20th Anniversary Block Party with Death Cab for...
As Salt Lake celebrates Kilby Court’s 20th year, it is easy to reflect on how Kilby fosters a myriad of first-time moments. … read more
Localized: Umbels
It’s rare to find band members who can be at the same speed, but it seems that everyone in Umbels enjoy the same reasons for being in the band. … read more
SLC Staycation: Bike Edition
Luckily, there are many bikeable local amenities to enhance your tour of downtown SLC. … read more
Localized: Martian Cult
Vocalist Jared Asplund and bassist Elowyn LaPointe were led down a path of synth-heavy music and dystopian storytelling to form Martian Cult. … read more
TF Brewing is Ferda People
Walking into Templin Family Brewing (T.F. Brewing) feels like walking into an old friend’s living room with your buddies behind the bar. … read more
FICE Gallery Art Shows
Every month, FICE hosts an art show that changes the space into one that the featured artist envisions. This month, FICE hosts local artist February Filth. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Behind the Bullet
Behind the Bullet tells the stories of Christen McGinnes, Will Little, Kevin Leonard and Taylor Dwyer, four people who, throughout the film, tell us how they have lived with the consequences after pulling the trigger. … read more
SLUG Mag’s Time Warp – 30th Anniversary Party
As a salute to the last 30 years, SLUG Magazine is hosting a celebration to bring together all of those who have helped make SLUG the strapping, savings-account-owning 30-year-old it is today. … read more
Changing the Narrative – Diana Whitten of Film Fatales Utah
Vessel is one part of Whitten’s repertoire as a director, and she is also an influencer within the organization Film Fatales, whose Utah chapter she established. … read more
New Year’s Eve Party in SLC: Bar X or Beer...
Looking for something to do on New Year’s Eve? Bar X and Beer Bar will each be hosting NYE parties—no need to choose, you can go to both! Join this guy December 31st, from 8 p.m.–1 a.m at Beer Bar and from 10 p.m.–1 a.m. at Bar X. … read more
What the Tuck?: Tucker White of Chthonic Releases a Book!
The aim for Tucker White is not to become the traditional sense of a “writer,” but to sit down and unveil the story hidden in the nooks and crannies of his subconscious by writing through improvisation. … read more
A Priest, a Minister and a Rabbi Walk Into a...
In the fall of next year, Congregation Spirits will open their doors, and the Euclid, Rose Park, Fairpark and other local neighborhoods will be welcome to come together to take part of the service. Neves says, “It is a beverage-production campus … We are building an urban winery and brewery with extra equipment on it.” … read more
To Space, Comrade! Josie Cordova’s Arcade Endeavor
The night that Cordova unveiled To Space, Comrade! I was sitting in the back of Twilite Lounge. A typical night out at the bar developed into an experience that both inspired and struck the audience. … read more
We’re Going to Need a Bigger Goat: The East African...
The ranch near the SLC airport is raising and breeding ground for the goats of The East African Refugee Goat Project of Utah, an organization brought together by East African refugees and our very own community members, with the purpose of providing affordable halal meat to East African communities. … read more
The Thrill of a Thrift: CLC Vintage Vendor
The Thrill of a Thrift bridged the generation gap between mother and daughter. Shivani Lindmeir and her mother, Miss Nancy, found common ground on the speckled floors of thrift stores. … read more
Gold Ridge Design: CLC Vintage Vendor
Through innovation and hard work, Will Simmons of Gold Ridge Design can upholster any item—from modernized couches to transformed, ’60s-diner RV interiors. … read more