“It’s pretty safe to assume that there’s two things that Salt Lake is known for — that, of course, is the church and The Heavy Metal Shop,” said Patrick Carnahan, who’s worked at the second of those since 1991.
The store and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Carnahan said, are “similar and they’re very different. They’re similar in the way that it’s a place people congregate, a place people find sanctuary.”
For the music community, both in Utah and across the country, The Heavy Metal Shop (at 63 Exchange Place in downtown Salt Lake City) has become a go-to record store, concert venue and gathering place for 35 years — largely because of its owners, Kevin and Angie Kirk.
“They treat everybody like family,” Carnahan, a burly man with intimidating facial hair, said as he teared up several times. “Doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from of what your background was.”
That community, that family, is mourning for Angie Kirk, who died from a sudden illness on March 5. She was 59.
The family was on a trip to the Disneyland resort in California in February, when Angie fell ill and went to the hospital. A blood test found a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. She died three weeks after she first felt sick.
Kevin Kirk is now left to take care of their two young grandchildren, ages 9 and 12, for whom he and Angie had custody from their son, Kelly. And the community the Kirks have created through the shop is rallying around him, a chance to give back to a family who has been a “port in the storm” for many in the heavy metal music scene — and, more generally, as a place for all types of music lovers to visit.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City’s famous Heavy Metal Shop, shown closed due to the pandemic in April 2020.
Angie’s legacy
“It’s pretty cliché when they say behind every great man is a greater woman,” Carnahan said. “But that was definitely Angie.”
Kirk said he met Angie when he…