I am lucky enough to have attended the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January. The first weekend, there was a test of wills between me and the kindest and cruelest folk from the film world. Here’s a quick memorable moment from my not-snowy-enough adventure.
I ended up staying in Park City with a former Moab local, who happened to also be housing Shawn King, the drummer for Denver-based band DeVotchKa. The band was scheduled to play three shows at the Egyptian Theater as a tribute for the indie hit “Little Miss Sunshine,” a film they scored twenty years ago and shaped the trajectory of the band.
On Sunday, I walked with Shawn to a pop-up event themed around the film through icy wind and uphill underpasses. The rest of the band arrived, but before we entered staff told us we each had to make a Instagram post with the iconic yellow bus on our personal accounts to enter, despite the fact that DeVotchKa made the music! Eventually we just took our grumbles to the Egyptian Theater green room and had some burgers. That night, I saw their tremendously multitalented act juggle genre like nothing, and said my goodbyes to Shawn and the band that next morning.
I am grateful for the time I spent with the band and Shawn, not only due to the clever conversations we had around my buddy’s dinner table, but also because of the lessons learned on that day we were harassed by an ad team. And to the people involved with the pop-up, here is my thought of you: be a person, not someone beholden to the posting of a hashtag.
Oscar Niehaus contributes his thoughts on film, music and other cultural scraps to the Sun – thanks, Oscar!
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