News of Death Every city has a place where the downtrodden congregate. In Salt Lake, Pioneer Park is that place. I would see drug use and violence, but on one spring day I saw something new. A man in a chef toque was meditating under a tree. I saw him there daily. My curiosity grew and one day I sat in silence beside him. After awhile he turned and smiled at me with a sublime … [Read more...]
The Colorado City Music Festival blows up!
The Colorado City Music festival For three years now we have brought music to the Utah/Arizona border Community of Short Creek. Historically, the area has been more known for polygamy than it has for music festivals. This year‘s event only sold 230 pre-sale tickets so we were in no way prepared for the awesome rock concert that was about to take place. I knew something big … [Read more...]
Road Trip Adventure: Diary of a Wanderer
I’ve driven the highways of 43 states, sang in endless dive bars, and slept in more WalMart parking lots than I care to remember. I left Utah in 2013, in a van with a bunch of blues musicians, and we worked our way, playing shows all the way to the Georgia coast and back. I haven’t left the road since. I was singing at the Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City, when Richard Markosian, … [Read more...]
Folksinger Tom Bennett Sings for Utah and Clean Air
Six years ago, Tom Bennett was an apostate return missionary drug dealer playing in punk bands in Salt Lake dive bars. Living out his own version of SLC Punk, Tom’s non-stop party days came to an end when he was busted on Trax by undercover narcs. His first offense, Tom was let off easy and when I met him in 2006, and he had just landed a job in a Boys and Girls Center. He was … [Read more...]