As thousands of happy fans arrive for FanX's fall 2019 edition, let's talk about toxic fandom

The first week of September means it’s again time for FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, which will draw some 100,000 lovers of fantasy, horror, science fiction and superheroes to the Salt Palace Convention Center to see celebrities, buy stuff, cosplay as their beloved characters, and commune with their tribe of like-minded geeks.

But what’s a party without a pooper. The fan world finds itself dealing with a small subset of fans who are toxic, who spew hate at the people who create the things these fans say they love.

I talked to some astute observers of fan culture about toxic fandom, and what might be done to reduce its effects. Please enjoy the article — and there’s a reward if you make it to the end: A full list of the celebrities scheduled to come to FanX this week.

How a story about Johnny Depp, cologne and Utah blew up into a controversy

Sometimes a story can change radically in a day.

Take, for example, what happened when Parfums Christian Dior rolled out a new ad campaign for its men’s fragrance, “Sauvage.” The ad stars Johnny Depp, features a lot of Native American cultural references — from Link Wray’s “Rumble” to a Rosebud Sioux dancer — and the red rocks of southern Utah. (It was filmed in Grand and San Juan counties.)

I wrote a story that posted Thursday about the commercial, linking to the video of it and a behind-the-scenes video with Depp and Dior’s Native American advisers. The story quoted some of Dior’s press notes, ad copy so flowery it would make Don Draper envious.

Friday, the story blows up, with commenters on Twitter objecting to the cultural appropriation of Native American iconography — and the fragrance’s name, the French word for “savage,” long used as an insult against Native Americans. I start writing a second story, and while I’m doing that, Dior pulls the ad of YouTube.

One doesn’t wake up in the morning expecting Johnny Depp to take over your life. But here we are.

Murals are popping up on more public spaces in Salt Lake City — and we have a map to help you find them

Mural art has grown in the Salt Lake City area, as in most places, from the outlaw work of graffiti taggers to a legitimate art form encouraged by business and civic leaders.

I talked to artists and officials about the proliferation of murals in Salt Lake City and its suburbs. But the real fun was when I tracked down and photographed dozens of murals, and — with the help of the Tribune’s Christopher Cherrington and Christopher Samuels — compiled them into an interactive map so people can locate them easily.

We’re asking for contributions from readers to add to the map. Read the article to find out how you can help.

Weller Book Works at 90: A bookstore family talks about surviving the past, and planning for the future

The Salt Lake City bookstore Weller Book Works — first known as Zion Bookstore, then Sam Weller’s Books — has endured, survived and thrived for 90 years. That’s worthy of a celebration, and the Weller family will throw a party Saturday, Aug. 17, at the store in Trolley Square.

Here, I interviewed three generations of Wellers — store owners Tony and Catherine Weller, Tony’s 103-year-old mom Lila (who still works there), and Tony and Catherine’s daughter (and heir to the store), Lila Ann, 22 — about where the store has been and where it’s going.

There’s also an interactive timeline, created by my Tribune colleagues, that spans the store’s 90 tumultuous years.

Read it all here on sltrib.com.

For artists of all kinds, Cedar City is more than a Shakespeare festival

For a city of 33,000 people, Cedar City has an unusual number of artists, of both the visual and performing variety.

Credit the Utah Shakespeare Festival, which kicks off its 58th season next week, for fostering an atmosphere of artistic talent. Credit also the redrock landscapes and Southern Utah University for helping create a small-town, do-it-yourself vibe for a proliferation of arts groups encouraging each other year round.

I spent a little time in Cedar City recently, and talked to artists and supporters who help make “Festival City USA” into an artists’ haven. Here’s my story for sltrib.com.

(Alongside that, read this story in sltrib.com about Cedar City’s SimonFest, and the troubles it’s run into with the state of its former namesake, playwright Neil Simon.)

The Golden Spike marks 150 years, with music and prayers and history re-enacted.

In case you missed it, Friday was the 150th anniversary of the "Golden Spike," the completion of the first transcontinental railroad.

I got to cover the festivities at Promontory, Utah, where the sesquicentennial was celebrated with music, prayers, dignitaries and a whole lot of train lovers.

Here’s the story at sltrib.com.

Salt Lake City's funky all-ages venue Kilby Court turns 20 years old

Nobody drives past Kilby Court and stumbles on it by accident. It’s a funky building, an old garage, at the end of a secluded courtyard just south and west of downtown Salt Lake City. People who get there want to be there.

Over the last 20 years, a lot of up-and-coming bands — like My Chemical Romance, Dashboard Confessional, Rilo Kiley and Death Cab for Cutie (which headlines a celebratory “block party” on Saturday, May 11) — have made Kilby Court a mandatory stop. A lot of local bands have opened for national acts, a big break many bands never get.

Read about Kilby Court’s “super garage, punky vibe” and how it got that way, in sltrib.com.

Ahead of the Golden Spike's 150th anniversary, a story of a rail depot artist's nearly lost paintings.

Two paintings by John A. McQuarrie, showing moments in the history of the transcontinental railroad, will be part of an exhibition opening Friday, May 3, at Anne Jespersen Fine Arts in Helper, Utah. The exhibition is one of many events in Utah marking the 150th anniversary of the driving of the "golden spike." (Images by John A. McQuarrie, courtesy of Zions Bank.)

John A. McQuarrie may not be a familiar painter to you, unless you spend a lot of time in old railroad depots. His works can be found at stations in Salt Lake City, Houston, Sacramento, Mesa, Palo Alto and Salinas.

A pair of large works McQuarrie apparently did as studies for a larger mural will go on display at an art gallery in Helper, Utah, starting Friday night, May 3. The exhibition is one of the events in “Spike 150,” the state of Utah’s massive celebration of the sesquicentennial of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah.

How those paintings were found — and, at the same time, nearly destroyed — is a great yarn, one I got to hear and relay into this story in sltrib.com. Enjoy.

A filmmaker and a police detective share their views on the mystique and the reality of serial killer Ted Bundy

America has produced a lot of serial killers, but none stirs up our national imagination more than Ted Bundy,, who acknowledged killing 30 women from the late ‘60s through the 1970s in Washington, Utah and other states — until he was finally captured in Florida, where he died in the electric chair in 1989.

A new movie, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile,” starring Zac Efron, examines Bundy’s charisma, largely through the viewpoint of someone on the receiving end: His longtime girlfriend (Lily Collins). It premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival (here’s my review), and debuts on Netflix on Friday, May 3.

I talked to the movie’s writer-director Joe Berlinger about America’s fascination with Bundy. I also talked to a Utah detective who helped close one of the last cold cases involving one of Bundy’s victims.

Read the story here at sltrib.com.

FanX, spring 2019: A superhero with autism, and women cutting through the fanboy stereotype

FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention is back for its spring edition at the Salt Palace Convention Center, and I’ve been covering some of the things happening there. Here are two stories, from sltrib.com:

• A look at “Focus,” a new comic book created by an anthropologist to raise awareness of autism, by showcasing a superhero whose autism is part of his superpower.

• I talked to several women authors and creators about female fandom, and how the gap between women and men is gradually being bridged .