SLUG Contributor Limelight
December 31, 2024
Contributor Limelight: Ben Trentelman
Since 2007, Ben Trentelman has contributed countless pieces bolstering SLUG’s media and community coverage — from reviewing films, books and concerts to interviewing local activists. Check out his recent interview with Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter here.
Articles by contributor
Le Salon Des Refusés Vivra: Slamdance Will Live On
“Slamdance is a festival for filmmakers, by filmmakers,” Baxter says. “Once you’re in, you can never really leave.” … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Darla in Space
After learning that she is over $300,000 in debt, Darla discovers a sentient kombucha scoby named Mother that can communicate with her telepathically and give people psychedelic orgasms. … read more
Slamdance Review: Bike Vessel
Bike Vessel is an intimate documentary where director Eric Seals undertakes a bike journey from St. Louis to Chicago with his father. … read more
Slamdance Review: All I’ve Got & Then Some
All I’ve Got & Then Some is a beautifully filmed and inspirational story that just needs to tighten its screws and narrow its path a little. … read more
Slamdance Film Review: Legend of El Cucuy
Legend of El Cucuy tells the story of a family challenging disciplinary parenting norms only to face the wrath of a demon that comes for deviant children in the night. … read more
Book Review: The Curious Case of Traveling Craft Beers
The Curious Case of Traveling Craft Beers follows the story of two friends touring the galaxy in search of self-exploration through humorous science-fiction. … read more
The West View Is You
The West View is here as a reminder to all of Salt Lake City that there is a culturally rich and closely knit community that exists here. … read more
You Deserve This: The Salt Lake Barber Company
The Salt Lake Barber Company prides itself on being able to provide nearly any cut a customer wants, whenever they walk into the shop. … read more
Review: La Machine – Phases and Repetition
I can’t help but imagine these tracks backing a David Lynch film—something along the lines of a black Cadillac racing through the desert night pursued by creepy-looking pale corpses in dark suits. … read more
Local Reviews: Daniel Day Trio – Black on Black
Black on Black is composed of the well-known Trio’s ambiance-enhancing, jazz-infused covers of a wide range of artists and genres. Recorded during a live performance on KRCL, Black on Black possesses every element that you would hope to hear from a live performance.
The Union for Street Solidarity: Compassion for fellow Salt Lakers
The Union for Street Solidarity is a small but growing group of concerned individuals aiding those in need through direct action. … read more
Disciplined Dreamers at Fluid
Fluid Advertising got their start around 1997 as a creative boutique focusing on a range of package designs and more traditional marketing strategies. … read more
Tool @ Vivint Smart Home Arena 10.18 w/ Killing Joke
Despite touring on the new album, Tool only played a handful of new songs. Instead, they spent the bulk of the show playing every song you wanted to hear. … read more
Just Parking and Doing What We Love: Ogden’s Food Truck...
By operating the Ogden Food Truck Rally independently, Steve Ballard is able to make sure that all of the trucks are local. … read more
Put on Your Bow Tie and Ride to Bike Prom...
The Salt Lake Bicycle Collective is gearing up to welcome this season’s riders to Bike Prom, which is moving to the Tracy Aviary. … read more
Cinematic Dreamer? The Utah Film Commission’s Next Level Grant Program...
According to Virginia Pearce, the Director at the Utah Film Commission, it is common for these aspiring filmmakers to understand the technical-skill-driven aspects of making a movie, but the business side can be tricky, particularly the fundraising side. … read more
Pancake and Potato Pioneers: The Hammer Spring Distillers
Hammer Spring makes a grain-based vodka called Hidden Vodka, which JP Bernier attributes to helping pave the way for their craft products. “We realized that there is some benefit to distilling this way, in that you can make it quickly for a decent price,” Bernier says. … read more
From The Garage to Salt Flats Brewing: A Beer-Fueled Journey
With six of their beers canned for mass distribution, Salt Flats Brewing is ready to respond to whichever direction the market goes with beers that will satisfy every palate. What Salt Flats Brewing has to offer was nowhere near my normal Wednesday-afternoon cup of tea, and I was feeling thirsty. … read more
Staying True to the Formula: 24 Years of Millcreek Coffee
After two decades of successful roasting behind him, Millcreek Coffee CEO Steve Brewster is ready for his daughter, President Stacey Maxwell, to take a crack at leading the family business. … read more
Distillery Dreams Do Come True: New World Distillery
New World Distillery hopes to open by the first of December—so cross your fingers that we’ll all soon be sucking down some of their agave spirits! … read more
No Gas for Green Goods: Try Walking to Urban Greens...
With the support of a USDA grant, SLCgreen has teamed up with The Green Urban Lunch Box, Utahns Against Hunger and Salt Lake Community Action Program’s Real Food Rising to establish Urban Greens Market, five pop-up markets that provide fresh and local produce within walking distance to community members. … read more
Ride, Swap, Ride: The Ogden Bike Collective Bike Swap
Upon entering the collective’s small building, located on a quiet neighborhood street, it is immediately clear that the Ogden Bike Collective is community driven. … read more
Review: Let’s Learn: S.T.E.M.
If you’ve paid any attention to what kids are being taught in school these days, you should be well aware of S.T.E.M. programs, which focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. … read more
Dear West Jordan, This Is Your Community: Miguel Galaz
Miguel Galaz has been working to teach youth about art for the last few years in afterschool programs as a teacher at the Mana Academy, and going out to work on interactive projects in the community. When a close friend was working to turn an old building that had hosted a number of restaurants
Jagermeister Music Tour
After only minor threats from the bouncer doing searches at the door, I was going to make sure that I had my photo pass. If I were seen taking pictures without it I would be forcibly removed (to put it lightly). … read more
Chris Cornell @ The Depot
Chris Cornell 4.25.09 The Depot with The Crash Kings H Having never been to The Depot before, I’ve got to admit that I was stunned by the huge open space, multiple screens showing the stage and multitude of hipsters in pre-torn jeans. Any place that you have to march up a number of stairs to
Bob Weir & Ratdog @ The Depot
Yeah, BO is a naturally occurring phenomenon at shows, but when it already smells like post-show body funk during my pre-show drink, we have a problem. There is also something to be said about any show involving a former member of the Grateful Dead that does not allow smoking. … read more
Plan-B Theatre-Radio Hour: Alice
Disney’s interpretation of Alice In Wonderful added enough fluff to make the twisted story easy to swallow for generations to come. Matthew Ivan Bennett, who wrote the Radio Hour adaptation, had something else in mind—something much more twisted, more graphic, and much more intense. … read more
Puscifer @ Capitol Theatre
Arriving at the Capitol Theatre, I knew that I was in for something other than a “typical Tool show.” The pat-down at the door was the same, and the other people waiting in line were the same, but the upscale sit-down venue caused an overall sense of mystery and curiosity among my fellow patrons. Puscifer is the newest project of Tool and A Perfect Circle front man Maynard James Keenan. … read more
Primus @ The Rail
Going into this show I had no idea what to expect. I’d already seen Primus at the Snocore Music Tour in 1998 and they put on a great show with a random line up of punk, ska, and reggae bands. Several years later they’re wrapping up a their tour with another random group whipping the ass of the mainstream scene, Gogol Bordello. Both bands seem to be composed of crazy people and attract crazy fans. … read more
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience @ The Depot 05.21
I wasn’t sure what to think. If it’s an “experience,” doesn’t that usually mean that it’s a cover band? Well, this experience is led by Jason Bonham, the son of the late John Bonham, the actual drummer from Led Zeppelin. So is he cashing in on his dad’s cred? … read more
Who Likes Short Shorts? Film Festival @ The Post Theatre...
There are no clear rules in short films, so what do you look for when watching one: story, art, length? The Who Likes Short Shorts Film Festival, which began screening submissions from local filmmakers in fall of 2010, features short films focusing on wide ranging subjects in all genres. … read more
The 48 Hour Film Project Awards Ceremony 06.30
You want to make a movie, but you have nothing: no one cast, nothing written and you have 48 hours to do it. Go. … read more
A Perfect Circle, Red Bacteria Vacuum @ Kingsbury Hall 08.01
I don’t know why I’m always thrown off seeing a rock show in a venue such as Kingsbury Hall or the Capitol Theatre. Something about the glitz and glamour in contrast to the dingy concert tees and occasional bout of body odor throws my concert sensors off for some reason. … read more
Heart Pharmacy @ Bar Deluxe 09.17
On Sept. 17 Ali Sarijlou’s one-man show known as Heart Pharmacy stopped at Bar Deluxe. Although Sarijlou is currently based out of San Diego, he has Salt Lake City roots and a big local following of Ali and his music. … read more
From Water Tower to Wind Power
Trolley Square has become one of the finest examples that can be found in Salt Lake City of rebirth, or bringing the new and the old together to create something amazing. … read more
Sundance New Frontier Opening @ UMOCA 01.24
Most of the exhibits were interactive and allowed participants to influence the outcome of a particular piece or to be lead in the direction of an artist’s ideas and motives. Check out the photo gallery. … read more
Finding A Sweet Cape To Go With Those Heels: Damn...
My friends are proud, and I now have a more clear idea of what it takes for them to maintain that. To me, they are heroes. These are a few of the films being screened at Damn These Heels! that I feel finely demonstrate heroism and strength. … read more
Damn These Heels! 2012
The Damn These Heels! Film Festival kicked off with the screening of Gayby, a hilarious flick by Jonathan Lisecki about two longtime friends who overcome their mutual life doldrums and relationship dumps to have a baby together, which deals with sexual stereotypes and roles. … read more
Hulk Alter You! @ Salt Lake City Main Library 07.26
This experimental film mash-up combines mixed and matched scenes from The Incredible Hulk, Altered States, and Youth Without Youth to demonstrate recurring themes in science fiction and horror films. Kurt Forman and Edgar Aceneaux focus on elements that they have found to be consistent in several different films, such as personal relationships and fear, societal conflict, transformation, and, lastly, reconciliation and absorption. … read more
Saturday’s Voyeur 2012 @ Salt Lake Acting Company 07.27
This is my fourth or fifth year in a row checking out the Salt Lake Acting Company’s yearly satire on Utah living and politics, and after sitting through another Jell-O shot filled night, I was not disappointed. This year, they took a slightly different approach than previous years when they have focused almost entirely on headlines from the year. We found ourselves following the narrative of Nephi Jensen, a lowly LDS accounts auditor, as he comes to grips with his relationship wants, his work needs and his religious must-do’s. Nephi is joined by other LDS office building employees, members of Quorum of the 12 and even Mr. Mitt Romney himself. … read more
Down-To-Earth, Down South at the DocUtah Film Festival 09.05-09
Only in its third year, DocUtah has the down-to-earth feel that I think every festival should have. From the directors of the festival to the filmmakers and audience, I felt like everyone was simply there to enjoy a shared film experience. … read more
Shooting Star
Buck, a 297-pound Saint Bernard, was at one point the largest dog on record. His head has been mounted respectfully on the wall of the oldest bar in Utah, The Shooting Star Saloon, since 1962. … read more
Rock n Roll Academy: Rock Out 4 Life
Playing music should be fun—it shouldn’t feel like you are doing chores or homework. At least that’s how Dave Payne and Mike Sartain feel about things. “We teach students how to enjoy music for the rest of their lives,” says Payne. At the Rock ‘n’ Roll Academy the list of rules is short. The most striking of them is “Mandatory Pleasure and Happiness.” … read more
Jump Out with SheJumps.Org
“We strive to motivate and inspire women to form a healthy relationship with the sports.” Claire Smallwood, SheJumps’ Executive Director, says about the company’s activities. SheJumps.org is a nonprofit organization, funded by grants and donations, which started out as a blog in 2005 written by Lynsey Dyer and Vanessa Pierce. The idea behind the blog was to create a forum for women to celebrate and bond over their relationships with the sports and wilderness they loved. … read more
2014 Tumbleweeds Film Festival 03.14-16
This year I was once again presented with the opportunity to check out the festival, this time, with a much older and wiser young lady to accompany me. I am glad to say that we did feel the warm embrace of my fellow parents, and Alice, a bond with her own, slightly larger and less stinky peers, as we set out to enjoy free pizza and a new world of cinematic exposure for kids in SLC that has no rival. … read more
Love Utah Give Utah: One Day, Hundreds of Non-Profits and...
If you have ever worked for a nonprofit organization, you know what it is like to scrape by and fight for something that you believe in—something that may not benefit you, but will be a great service to others. … read more
Designing Behind the Scenes
In the event of the designers of the world suddenly disappearing, what would things look like? How would they work? Everyday items, like phones, toasters and bathmats, which we all unassumingly use daily, would cease to exist in the user-friendly and attractive nature that we currently enjoy them. This is where Salt Lake Design Week comes in: to show us what it actually takes to design a building, snowboard or bathmat. … read more
Greasy Wrenching for Kids at the SLC Bicycle Collective’s Earn-A-Bike...
The Bicycle Collective is a full community bike shop with virtually every tool one could ever need to keep a bike up and running. The Collective promotes cycling as a clean and healthy mode of transportation and, according to Catharine Scott, the Coordinator of the Earn-A-Bike Program, teaches kids about the benefits of riding bikes and gives them access and knowledge to fix their own bikes.
How I Learned To Love My Vasectomy
A large group of kids paraded around my house, and in their wake, they left a path of destruction—juice boxes were strewn about, toys littered the yard, and my pleas for compliance were met with the proverbial 5-year-old middle finger. … read more
Let’s Ride: An Evening with Bike Party
The Salt Lake bike scene has been on a steady incline for the last several years, becoming abundant with bike lanes, flat Downtown terrain and a local government with an interest in the safety of cyclists. SLUG joined Bike Party coordinators Phil Sarnoff and Colin Quinn-Hurst as they set out for one of their monthly rides around the city with a large group of cycling partygoers. … read more