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I’ll admit I was warned. Still, I couldn’t beat the price, and I really needed to get to Fort Worth. So, I paid for round- trip tickets on a national bus line, the Greyhound. No amount of warning could have prepared me. Of course, if people had given me more advice and less “Well, (snort) have fun with that,” I think I would have been much better off.

The Springville Museum of Art will be accepting entries for this year’s Quilt Show July 9-11. The entries will be juried and accepted quilts will be on display at the museum July 17 to Sept. 2. The exhibit is sponsored by the Museum alongside the Utah Valley Quilt Guild.

Nestled between a conglomeration of businesses on the border of Orem and Provo lies a small café that epitomizes the melting-pot paradigm of true urban living. The Cybergate Café is the brainchild of three distinct personalities with passions of their own.

Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson performs barefoot at UVUphoria on June 11, 2009. Her crowd-pleasing favorites were a hit that engaged the crowd, which included recently appointed UVU president Matthew Holland and family.

It’s time for the fourth annual Celebrity vocal competition at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre. This Utah County tradition is performed prior to outdoor movies shown all summer long and is a great opportunity for Utah vocalists to shine. Competitors perform to live music by This Is Your Band, a Salt Lake based karaoke band.

Northplatte Records, the label of local favorites such as RuRu, Desert Noises, and Joshua James, recently signed another band: The Vibrant Sound. Their fresh and catchy tunes will have the audience dancing at the Velour during their CD release party on June 27 at 8:00 p.

Traffic tickets are a multi-billion industry. Often, tickets have little to do with highway safety, but everything to do with money. Police officers are often given ticket quotas and rated based on whether they meet this quota. Also, traffic courts that are supposedly fair and unbiased rely on the funds that we pay in traffic tickets in order to function.

The Wasatch communities of Heber and Midway are the perfect place to embrace nature, do a little shopping and perhaps have a little romantic getaway a local hotel. But there is another reason to head up to the mountains: Peter Breinholt is performing a concert on June 29 to benefit the Wasatch Community Foundation.

The newly-founded Grassroots Shakespeare Company is a rare treasure of Utah Valley theater. Created and peopled by local college students, Grassroots uses the techniques that acting companies used in Shakespeare’s day to create plays that are “fast-paced, funny, intriguing, and simple,” according to grassrootsshakespeare.

David Tinney, prolific Utah Valley director/choreographer and the theater department’s Artist in Residence, made his directorial debut at the Hale Center Theatre in West Valley on June 13 with the classic musical, Hello, Dolly! Tinney’s resume is long and impressive.

For fans of local music, date night just got moved to Tuesdays. Each week for the rest of the summer, Utah’s finest singer-songwriters will gather at the Tahitian Noni Gardens to play the Hammer Hands LIVE Playlist Concert Series. The lineup is different every week, but will always include the talented and charismatic Shaun “Hammer Hands” Barrowes, the driving force behind the series.

Disney’s classic Beauty and the Beast, which was adapted into a live musical in 1994, opened last weekend at the SCERA Shell, beginning Utah Valley’s outdoor theater season. UVU’s own Emily Smith will star as Belle, returning to SCERA after playing another Disney princess – Cinderella – several years ago.

Give your ears a break from all of the lectures and professors this summer, and skedaddle on over to the Avalon on June 13 to see Ben Kweller live in concert. Not yet had the pleasure of hearing Kweller’s music? Download some songs from his new album, Changing Horses, and prepare to meet your new favorite summer artist.

Chadder’s, a fast-food fixture in American Fork for the past two years, has expanded a second location to Provo, and is bringing in droves of new customers. Chadder’s boasts food made with the highest-quality ingredients. There is no risk of being served a hamburger made from beef-like substances, the makings of which are unknown even the suppliers.

Valentine’s day is coming up on Saturday, and until then students are sure to be bombarded from every avenue with hearts, naked babies with wings, chocolate, and flowers. For some, this week is an ethereal time, devoted to love. And you know we love love. For others, Valentine’s day is just a reminder that you’re alone, with happy couples shoving their collective joy in your forsaken face.