Catalyst, Utah's magazine for holistic living, ends its print run after 38 years — and considers its digital future

Catalyst magazine has been a staple among Utah’s alternative publications — an idiosyncratic mix of personal growth, environmental commentary and the most eclectic events calendar available.

With its December issue, though, Catalyst was ending its 38-year run as a print publication — with plans to transition to an online format, while its founding editor, Greta Belanger deJong, retires.

I talked to deJong and others involved in Catalyst’s crossover to digital publication, who talked about keeping the magazine’s eclectic spirit alive in a new publication format. The article is here, at sltrib.com.

Violinist rock star Lindsey Stirling talks about making a Christmas special when she can't go on tour

Things I knew about Lindsey Stirling before I interviewed her: She went to Brigham Young University, so she has a sizable fan base in Utah, and she has made a career out of playing violin in rock and pop arrangements.

Things I learned about Lindsey Stirling when I interviewed her over Zoom in December: She has this long shock of blonde hair that she always gathers over her right shoulder — because the violin goes under her chin on the left side. And I learned that’s she’s fun and super nice.

Read the article that resulted from that interview, about Stirling’s Christmas special, here at sltrib.com.

Michael McLean talks about 'The Forgotten Carols,' the holiday story he's been tinkering with for 29 years — and now has been captured in a movie

Michael McLean was pleased as punch that someone from The Salt Lake Tribune was finally doing a story about “The Forgotten Carols,” 29 years after he started performing it.

In defense of my paper, back in 1991, “The Forgotten Carols” was McLean’s one-man show, performed on the road in high school auditoriums and gyms, not something we were likely to cover, with all the national Broadway touring shows and professional theater troupes in Utah. And by the time he expanded it — first as a two-person show, then a trio, and eventually as a stage musical — I’m sure the thinking was to see “The Forgotten Carols” in an announcement and think, “That old thing?”

I was happy to rectify the long omission, in part because McLean was such a fun person to interview. Also because, according to McLean, the current version of “The Forgotten Carols” — the story of a good-hearted but possibly addled old man who brings unexpected holiday joy to a taciturn nurse —  is the best it’s ever been. And it’s now a movie, opening Friday, Nov. 20, in theaters around the region.

Here, at sltrib.com, I talk to McLean and Christy Summerhays, who directed the film, about the story’s long history, how it’s touched audiences over the years, and what it means finally to have evidence that “The Forgotten Carols” exists.

Don't know when a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready, but the state of Utah has a plan for distributing it

The COVID-19 vaccine could be ready to be distributed as soon as mid-December, if all goes well.

States across the country are preparing for how to get the vaccine out to the people — and who should get it first. The state of Utah went over its plan with reporters on Nov. 18, and here’s how I wrote it up for sltrib.com.

Here’s what else I’ve written about COVID-19 in recent weeks:

• Here’s what hospitals have had to do to juggle workloads, patient demand and other issues to keep everybody healthy during the current surge in cases.

• Here is an FAQ about how Gov. Gary Herbert’s Nov. 8 statewide mask order is supposed to work.

• Dr. Joseph Miner, the director of the Utah Department of Health who was sidelined during most of the COVID-19 pandemic because of personal health issues, is retiring at the end of the year.

• Salt Lake County announced it would close its four downtown Salt Lake City arts venues, leaving the Utah Symphony, Ballet West and musician/composer Kurt Bestor to scramble its holiday performance plans. Meanwhile, Macy’s City Creek unveiled its candy windows, maintaining a holiday tradition that goes back to 1972 — and is one of the few Christmas bright spots downtown this year.

• And, as always, read all of my colleagues’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic at sltrib.com/coronavirus.

The Piano Guys celebrate 10 years of merging pop and classical music, by releasing a new album.

If you know The Piano Guys — the instrumental pop-classical group that got its start in St. George, Utah — it’s probably from one of the group’s viral videos. They usually show pianist Jon Schmidt and cellist Stephen Sharp Nelson in some gorgeous location, performing their signature mix of pop and classical melodies.

Or maybe you saw them on “The Tonight Show” in 2012, performing their cover of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” where they used every part of the piano — not just the keys, but the strings and the soundboard.

The Piano Guys are turning 10 this year, and are marking the occasion with a new album, called “10.” Here’s an interview with Schmidt, Nelson, producer/videographer Paul Anderson and music producer/songwriter Al van der Beek, conducted via email, that I wrote up for sltrib.com.

The walk-through art installation 'Dreamscapes' will close, to move into a larger space

“Dreamscapes” is an art installation, the work of more than 100 artists using recycled materials, that allows people to walk through, experience all kinds of interesting views, and take selfies and post them on social media.

The installation, presented by the Utah Arts Alliance, opened in March 2019. It closed this March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and reopened in June with some exhibits removed for safety reason and replaced with new ones.

“Dreamscapes” also became a home for the experimental theater group SONDERimmersive to stage its latest interactive production, “The Carousel.” The show takes its audience — four people at a time, all socially distanced and masked — to meet a series of characters through the maze-like installation.

“Dreamscapes” will close Nov. 29 in its current space in The Gateway shopping center (in the space once filled by a Gap store). The plan is to build a new, bigger “Dreamscapes” across the street, in a space that once held an Abercrombie & Fitch. (“The Carousel” also will close after its performances next week.)

Intermountain Healthcare announces a merger, and names a children's hospital campus for the Miller family

Covering the COVID-19 pandemic has turned me, by accident, into a sometime reporter of Utah’s health care industry (though nothing close to The Salt Lake Tribune’s health reporter, Erin Alberty). In the last month, that has meant writing two stories about Intermountain Healthcare, Utah’s largest hospital system.

• In late October, Intermountain announced it was merging with Sanford Health, which dominates the Dakotas and also has several hospitals in Minnesota.

• This week, Intermountain broke ground on a second location of Primary Children’s Hospital — this one in Lehi. The campus will be named for the Larry H. and Gail Miller family. Gail Miller committed $50 million early this year to build the children’s hospital in Lehi.

Utah sociologist talks about 'Raising Them,' her book chronicling the first years bringing up a child without assigning a gender identity

My interview with Kyl Myers, a Utah-based sociologist who wrote the new book “Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting,” is a story nearly three years in the making.

In April 2018, I caught a story in The Cut, one of the blogs in the New York magazine universe, about parents who were raising their children without assigning a gender identity. One of the families most prominent in the story were Myers and her husband, Brent Courtney, who were chronicling the raising of their child, Zoomer, in a blog and an Instagram account.

I sent a message to Myers, asking if she would sit for an interview with her hometown paper. She said no.

But she didn’t forget me. Last month, she had a publicist contact me, asking if I’d be interested in doing the interview now that her book was out. I was, and we had a lovely Zoom interview where we talked about her family, her sociology work, and what’s next for Zoomer.

Read that interview here, at sltrib.com.

A tribute to Connie Coyne, the quintessential journalist, who befriended and mentored generations of reporters

Connie Coyne was the prototypical crusty journalist — a raucous, occasionally gruff, but completely dedicated reporter and editor who spent nearly two decades applying her skills and mentoring younger writers at The Salt Lake Tribune, from 1993 to 2010.

Coyne died earlier this month, at the age of 76. Here is her obituary, which I had the honor to report and write for sltrib.com.

Ballet West's tricks for a socially distanced dance performance: Limited casts, married dancers.

Salt Lake City’s premier dance troupe, Ballet West, was determined to get a show on the stage of the Capitol Theatre, so artistic director Adam Sklute set up some strict rules: No more than eight dancers onstage at any time, similar space limits in the rehearsal space, everybody in masks — and the only couples dancing had to be married to or living with each other.

That’s how Ballet West’s November production, headlined by Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs,” happened. Read my interview with Sklute and two choreographers who premiered new works in the show, in this story at sltrib.com.