EDITOR'S NOTE
The ‘RN&R’ carved me a niche In this, our 30th anniversary issue, RN&R staffers, current and former, have shared memories and stories from the paper’s lifespan. One of the running themes in these accounts: “The RN&R took a chance on me, and it changed my life.” Ditto. For me, 2004 was a doozy. I had a baby. My brother died. My marriage collapsed. I moved to a new city and set out to attempt to get my life on some sort of stable course. In November, Brian Burghart hired me to be the RN&R’s arts editor. We both knew I was underqualified. I was 33, and while I’d worked for my college newspaper 10 years beforehand, I’d spent more of my post-college years working in restaurants than newsrooms. I hoped that I could make a case for myself as the kind of person you might want to hire based on potential alone. I had a steep learning curve to climb; Brian held the ladder. He provided a crash course in journalism. He eviscerated my drafts. He talked me out of the meandering, academic shlock I’d been accustomed to writing. The Strunk & White’s rules-of-composition poster hanging on his office wall convinced me that, for a writer, clarity and structure were not restrictions, but tools worth mastering. I was soon churning out words that people might actually want to read. Long before my time, the RN&R had established itself as a news outlet that reported on a small city’s art scene like it mattered—and positioned itself to keep that art scene in the public eye, to help it grow and flourish. Something about that arrangement just clicked for me. You see, in addition to being an entry-level editor and a really good waitress, I was also a threetime art-school dropout. I had spent enough hours in graduate seminars to 2
|
RN&R
|
be able to speak the language of the art world’s more exclusive echelons—but I really didn’t want to. These conversations weren’t about getting to the creamy middle of things. They weren’t about delving into the stories of the many people who commit to life in an industry that offers no promise of financial security; these conversations were about keeping art sealed in an ivory tower of abstruseness, in order to uphold its monetary value. Don’t get me wrong—I acknowledge that without such a process to uphold monetary value, there would be no art world. But still, I just never could get my blue-collar heart to give a damn about those parts of the conversation. So suddenly, there I was, newly empowered to be part of the solution to this problem I’d always had with the way the art world talks about itself. My work was cut out for me. I would try, over and over, to get my finger on just why and how a subject as potentially esoteric as art seems so important. I would attempt to discuss it in a way that could resonate with art-world insiders and ordinary people in the same breath. I had found my niche, one that I’d previously had no idea existed—“Nevada arts writer.” I don’t want to sugarcoat this—the 19-year journey between that moment and this one has been as circuitous as any. I moved to the Bay Area for a few years (though I did keep contributing to the RN&R while I was gone). I made some semblance of a “living” in journalism, which was usually not enough to support a child. I supplemented my income teaching elementary school and college classes, and I kept waiting tables on and off until I was 44. But those stars that aligned for me in 2004 stayed aligned. I still live in that niche. The RN&R took a chance on me, and it changed my life. —KRIS VAGNER krisv@newsreview.com
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
LETTERS
December 2023 | Vol. 29, Issue 10
Thanks for the impressive outdoors writing
I arbitrarily chose Maggie Nichols’ article “Fall Colors” (RN&R, October 2023) to read with one of my English as a second language students. I wound up being wonderfully impressed by the quality of the writing. I’m not sure if it will get this 64-year-old out of his chair (I keep falling down on the ice), but I can still be deeply impressed by the use of the language. Greg Wall Carson City
Trump should be disqualified
Some states are trying to test in court whether Donald Trump can be disqualified from another term in office according to the 14th Amendment. This is absolutely the right course of action to pursue. Every storied democracy that has ever existed on this planet—most notably Athens and Rome—pre-emptively banished political bad actors from the public scene so they could not infect the body politic with their heinous ideologies and methods ever again. A candidate already found guilty of civil fraud should not legally be able to run for any office of public trust. Dump Trump now! Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross, Utah
Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263, Cathedral City, CA 92234 • 775-324-4440 • RenoNR.com
Publisher/Executive Editor Jimmy Boegle Managing Editor Kris Vagner Editor at Large Frank X. Mullen Photo Editor David Robert Cover and Feature Design Dennis Wodzisz Distribution Lead Rick Beckwith Contributors Alicia Barber, John Barrette, Matt Bieker, Maude Ballinger, Lucy Birmingham, Brad Bynum, Max Cannon, Zoe Dixon, Loryn Elizares, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Helena Guglielmino, Matt Jones, Matt King, Sheila Leslie, Michael Moberly, Maggie Nichols, Steve Noel, Dan Perkins, Jessica Santina, Jason Sarna, Robert Victor, Matt Westfield, Leah Wigren The Reno News & Review print edition is published monthly. All content is ©2023 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The RN&R is available free of charge throughout Northern Nevada, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $5 by calling 775-324-4440. The RN&R may be distributed only authorized distributors. The RN&R is a proud member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Nevada Press Association, and the Local Independent Online News Publishers.
STREETALK What’s an anniversary you celebrate each year?
BY DAVID ROBERT
Asked at The Discovery museum, 490 S. Center St., Reno Sukumar Gargya Physician
GUEST COMMENT
BY DARCY PATTERSON
Narcan should be in every first aid kit Naloxone, more widely known under its brand name, Narcan, is all the rage in harm reduction these days. It’s been around since the 1960s and is used in medical settings frequently to reverse the effect of opioid overdoses. As a registered nurse, my introduction to Narcan was in the hospital. It is given to newborns to reverse respiratory depression from opioids given to a mother in labor. Later, I had an experience that proved Narcan’s worth is immeasurable, that life itself can be held inside one spray. On March 1, 2017, my daughter, Kirsten Yamaoka, died of a heroin overdose. She was 21, and it was her birthday. She was found in her car in Idlewild Park, all alone. She was a beautiful young lady who suffered from substance abuse and mental health issues. If my beautiful daughter would have had access to Narcan, she could have been spared death. Our family could have been spared the kind of grief that never ends. Narcan has been available by prescription for many years. This year, it was made available over the counter. Narcan needs to be a part of everyone’s first aid kit. A lot of people reason that they don’t know anyone who uses drugs, so they have no reason to carry it. I understand their hesitation, but I would ask such people to carry it anyway. Why? Because you may be able to save someone’s child. Let me share another story: A young man sat next to me at a training. The presenter said that there are now Narcan boxes throughout our community, at locations including Idlewild Park, Ridge House and Hampton House. The man had overdosed on opioids at a motel he’d been staying at, and he was revived by an employee, who sprayed Narcan in his nose to reverse the overdose.
The dose of Narcan that saved Sam’s life came from one of the Narcan boxes that my group, Wake Up Nevada, had distributed around town. If it had not been there, Sam would have died, and his child would no longer have their dad. Now Sam is in recovery, working and caring for his child. We also distribute free test strips for fentanyl and xylazine in our Narcan boxes. Fentanyl is sometimes mixed in with recreational drugs, and people are sometimes unaware that they are even in possession of it—or ingesting it. Xylazine, a tranquilizer for big animals such as horses, also called “tranq,” has also been mixed with illegal drugs. It can reduce the effectiveness of Narcan in reversing an opioid overdose. Everyone who calls this town home should have Narcan. Substance use knows no boundaries, and overdoses occur throughout our community. We are fighting for our loved ones, neighbors and community members. We are all somebody’s someone. Anyone can make a difference. Here is a challenge to reach out and help. Reach out to Wake Up Nevada to ask what you can do. Educate yourself about fentanyl and xylazine on the CDC’s website. Learn more from Join Together Northern Nevada or one of several other local groups that provide education on fentanyl and xylazine and hold Narcan trainings. Be kind to someone who may be hurting—they are somebody’s someone.
We celebrate the anniversary of our first climb as a family to the top of Mount Rose. We do an annual Fourth of July hike. It’s a celebration of living in this area and of enjoying nature. On the first hikes, I carried my daughters as infants on my chest. It’s about a 12-mile round trip and takes about five to six hours. When they got old enough, they hiked up to the summit on their own.
Kay Ko
Educational instructor
I came to the U.S. on June 2, 1992, from Tokyo, Japan. I think of this date every year, and I treat myself to a little Italian cake. When I first came and was at UNR, I became very ill, and my roommate called her mother, who was Italian-American, and she brought me food to get well. She brought a meatball a size that I had never seen before. The food made me feel better and showed me the heart of American people. So each year, I get a little Italian cake to remind me of the generosity I received.
Kate Ringi
Alpha Omega philanthropy chairperson
The anniversary I celebrate is beating ovarian cancer. I was diagnosed in 2014, when I turned 13. I have had two surgeries and many follow-up appointments. I celebrate my anniversary by going out and spreading the word and info about ovarian cancer.
Sean Markus Electrician
We as a family celebrate the anniversary of our two drunk uncles, who in 1972, went to the Calaveras (Calif.) County Fair. They drank a lot of beer and bid on a pig. Well, they won, and what do you do with a pig? They brought it home and decided to have a barbecue. They invited the whole family, and we have a barbecue each year to celebrate the two drunk-ass uncles and their pig.
Riley Gross Darcy Patterson is the administrator of Wake Up Nevada, a group that wants to eradicate overdoses and promote harm reduction in our communities. She can be reached at Wakeupnv.com, rndarcy@yahoo.com and @rndarcywakeupnv on Instagram. The opinions given in this article are Darcy’s own and do not represent any other entity.
Early learning instructor
I celebrate the anniversary of my dog, Beau. He’s a Jack Russell-beagle mix. He has been my constant companion over the years, as I’m an only child. He’s my sibling. I adopted him 11 years ago. He’s a crazy, energetic dog, and I love him.
RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
3
LEFT FOOT FORWARD
| BY SHEILA LESLIE
So long, Reno: I’ll miss the community but not the development trajectory After 46 years, I’m leaving Reno, the city where I’ve spent two-thirds of my life. I’m moving primarily to live closer to my grandchildren, but I’ve also grown frustrated over the lack of a collective vision for Reno’s future that doesn’t feature hundreds of thousands of new residents supported by whatever the developers decide is best. When I arrived as a fresh college graduate in 1977, it was a difficult adjustment after growing up on the central California coast and attending college at a liberal state school in Sonoma County. Reno was so conservative. The winters were so cold and snowy. The University of Nevada, Reno, offered me free graduate school in return for teaching entry-level Spanish, and I figured I’d get the master’s degree and then head back home. But like so many California transplants, I settled in and found my people. I learned to ski and enjoyed walking through the silent streets after a big snowfall. In those years, it still seriously snowed all winter long in town. I discovered I didn’t want a career teaching Spanish and studying obscure medieval literature and eventually found fulfilling work in the nonprofit sector, starting the first Food Bank in Nevada. When my mentor,
May Shelton, advised me to think about leading and unattractive. Housing is unaffordable. Our the Children’s Cabinet, a new public-private parks and recreational amenities haven’t kept partnership focused on children and families, up with population growth. And the Spaghetti I said yes. Later, I moved to the district court Bowl remains a nightmare. to develop an array of specialty courts for defenFar too many local elected officials act like dants with behavioral health concerns. arrogant royalty, lashing out at the peasants In 1998, when no other Democrat was who dare to question their actions. They’ve willing to run in a swing Assembly district managed to destroy a section of our beautiful representing what we now call Midtown, I riverfront, despite widespread outrage from said yes again, bolstered by my family, friends people who loved the big trees and undeniable and colleagues who were charm of Riverside Drive. eager for someone with a “Far too many local The City Council won’t human-services backallow accessory dwelling elected officials act ground to serve alongside units on my street, where like arrogant royalty, the lawyers, teachers and there’s an abundance of righteous “job creators.” street parking, and lots lashing out at the I ended up serving 14 are one-third of an acre, years in the Legislature instead busily approving peasants who dare to with some of the smartest luxury apartment question their actions.” massive and best people I’ve ever complexes and promoting known. an invisible business “disDuring these decades, Reno changed, of trict,” which consists mainly of empty lots. course. As a progressive, I embrace change And why, oh why, didn’t Reno use American that transforms lives in a positive way. UnforRescue Plan dollars to buy up and refurbish tunately, in recent years, and especially since downtown motels for people in need of basic the advent of Teslaville, I’ve watched Reno housing, as Clark County did? Sure, we have a deteriorate. Despite innumerable attempts to massive shed jammed with cots; a new, small “clean up” downtown, it’s still rather seedy campground featuring individual pods; and
Holiday Jazz: Music of the Season Sunday, December 3, 2023
The Theatre Reno 2:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Tickets: renojazzorchestra.org
4
|
RN&R
|
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
plans for building on-site transitional housing at the Cares campus, but rehabbed motel space could have filled an ongoing, huge gap in housing for the most vulnerable. Instead, we are treated to a City Council that constantly bickers, conducts secret investigations, and engages in futile finger pointing. There are many things I will miss about Reno, though. Listening to the hawks calling in the morning and the owls conversing at night in my quiet neighborhood just a mile from downtown. Stepping outside and breathing in the morning’s crisp, cool mountain air, even in the heat of summer. Inhaling the indescribable scent of the roses by my mailbox, no doubt planted by the same UNR botany professor who gave me black walnut trees, a Japanese horse chestnut, and one of Reno’s finest tulip magnolias. I’ll miss my neighbors, my friends, my extended family and the people who repeatedly trusted me with their vote. I’ll miss the staff and readers of the Reno News & Review, many of whom have told me how much they’ve appreciated the views this column expresses. Thanks for the memories, Reno. I hope your voters start electing leaders who value you more than the developers’ promises that never materialize. You deserve better.
Writers wanted! We're accepting applications for freelancers: • Columnists • News writers • Feature writers Interested? Send writing samples and an explanation of why you'd be a fit to krisv@renonr.com!
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
| BY JIMMY BOEGLE
The ‘RN&R’ is celebrating 30 years—but we need your help to reach 31 The issue you’re holding in your hands marks one of the biggest accomplishments of my career—guiding the RN&R back into print and to its 30th birthday. However, my euphoria over this incredible milestone is tempered by realization that things will need to change in order for the RN&R to reach its 31st birthday, at least in its current form. This time last year, I was quite optimistic about the RN&R’s future. We’d published seven great editions since our return to print. We were more or less breaking even on the financial side, thanks to just-enough advertisers, both new and returning, and increasing levels of reader support. Other potential advertisers were expressing interest in the RN&R, and saying they hoped they could return to our pages in their next budget cycles. Today, I am far less optimistic. In fact, I am worried. While reader support continues to grow, advertising revenue has actually decreased a bit, while our expenses continue to rise. The vast majority of those would-be advertisers didn’t find room for us in their next budget cycles—even though our circulation and readership are unparalleled in Northern Nevada, and we’ve worked to keep our rates as low and business-friendly as possible.
To be blunt, I am losing faith that we can get But in order for this all to work, we are the advertising we need to continue in print, going to need your help. and to keep our current levels of content and On the ad side: If you own a business that may coverage. However, we’re not giving up—and benefit from being an RN&R advertiser, please here’s what we’re goreach out and advering to do to keep the tise. If you work for a “To be blunt, I am losing RN&R going strong. business, encourage faith that we can get the First off, we’re the decision-makers to going to go into 2024 advertising we need to advertise. If you’re a with a stronger, recustomer of a business, continue in print, and to newed and refocused tell them you’d love to advertising push. see them advertise in keep our current levels We’re beefing up the RN&R. of content and coverage. our digital offerings, On the nonprofit and I’m going to do side: If you want to However, we’re not giving everything I can to let assist us, please let businesses and orgaup—and here’s what we’re me know; my email is nizations in this area jimmyb@renonr.com. going to do.” know how great of an (To those of you who advertising option the have already contactRN&R is, both in print and online. ed me: I’ll be in touch very soon.) Sometime in Second: I’ve used a great deal of ink in this early January, we’ll have a meeting for anyone space discussing our move to become a nonand everyone who is interested in helping the profit. While I’ve been working on this behind RN&R; watch our website, social media and the scenes, it’s been slow-going, because the January print edition for details. day-to-day operation of the newspaper has come The brightest version of the RN&R’s future first. But that’s changing now, and we’re going does not include being owned by any company to start our big organizational push in January. or individual, myself included; it involves be-
RenoNR.com
ing owned by the community that’s known and loved the publication for 30 years, protecting it and empowering it. Under community/nonprofit ownership, the RN&R can attract revenue streams we don’t currently have, including grants and tax-deductible donations, while continuing to earn revenue from advertising and membership/subscriptions. The amount of money it takes to publish the Reno News & Review, as it stands now, is tiny, as far as nonprofits go; it’d take around $250,000 a year, give or take. While we haven’t been able to earn that much revenue as a for-profit, the amount should be quite achievable for a nonprofit, community-owned RN&R—and if we could raise even more money, we could hire yet more journalists and strengthen our coverage of the community. I never intended on being the owner of the Reno News & Review—but being the owner and publisher for the last two years has been the honor of a lifetime. I was nearly in tears reading over our 30th anniversary package (which you can find on Page 13). But it’s becoming increasingly apparent the RN&R has gone as far as it can as an independent, for-profit news source—and for it to survive, the community is going to need to step up.
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
5
A.V.A. BALLET THEATRE AND THE RENO PHILHARMONIC PRESENT
No one knows what founders go through except other founders. … We get it! Come to the free November BA founders workshop and roundtables. Light refreshments served. 9 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 9 @ the UNR Innevation Center, 450 Sinclair St., Reno
BizAssembly.org
www.PIONEERCENTER.com | 775-434-1050
6
|
RN&R
|
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
ON NEVADA BUSINESS
| BY MATT WESTFIELD
Local startup Trybe focuses on the benefits of extreme endurance Every few months, I try to feature a local founder and their startup—so I’d like you to meet Keaton Lynn and his company, Trybe. At first glance, Trybe (trybesummits. com) seems like a cool little lifestyle biz that attracts people to places like the Sierra for a weekend jaunt that tests confidence, willpower, endurance and high-level thinking—but it is so much more. The company has already begun scaling and testing in foreign markets, with all of the challenges of managing international programs locally. And this has all happened within about 24 months. The physical and mental challenges this company espouses are fantastic for helping founders and young teams bond and push each other. I’m an endurance athlete, and it’s always great to surround myself with others willing to push themselves harder than they ever believed was possible. I have always pushed to work myself harder than those around me, at work and at play. On the bike, I believed I could outclimb you; on the field, I thought could outrun you, whether that was true or not. In today’s business climate, we all need an edge—in vision, in innovation, in value, in timing. Body, mind and soul working together—that’s a key attribute of athletes and founders. It’s what separates us from everyone else. Trybe started when Keaton Lynn lost his tribe. “When you go from being a teammate on a collegiate sports team, to operating alongside premier members of our military, and then suddenly (not doing either of those things), you lose your identity,” he said. “You lose the teammates you do it for. People deserve a community of people to share ideas, help each other and achieve success together.”
In 2021, Keaton invited eight friends to sleep on air mattresses on the floor of his living room in Reno for a weekend of sauna time, ice baths, yoga, community dinners and a main event called a “monster mash”—a multi-modality event with activities like biking, running, swimming, paddling, calisthenics and cognitive fitness challenges. The team of college friends laughed, suffered and challenged each other. Since that weekend, Keaton has run beta tests of Trybe, figuring out how to incorporate the best techniques, education and flow for what has become a health-performance company. “When you start something to solve a problem for yourself, (and we) now have 100% customer feedback from hundreds of people saying how much our summits have changed their lives, you start to tell yourself, ‘Maybe there’s something here,’” he said. Trybe uses five tenets to push the direction of the company: Attitude, Community, Habits, Resilience and Nature. They use physical and cognitive tools to provide experiences for individuals and high-performing teams. An experience could be an hour-long sleep talk to 1,000 employees, or a 30-person, full-immersion, four-day summit combining multiple modalities and expert coaches such as Keaton’s partner, U.S. Navy SEAL Andrew Roemhild. Trybe can help first responders tackle the increased workload and “operator syndrome” with specially tailored programs including breathwork and cognitive fitness. For athletes, Trybe focuses on performance and leadership to show up when it matters. The company looks at how to become better today, and also perform 40 years from now. As difficult it is for us to accept, humans need to do hard things. The ice bath isn’t necessarily
Think Free!
QUALITY ASSURANCE
Rahi Systems, Inc. in Reno, NV seeks Quality Manager: Manage the design processes for all functions to build a Quality Management System in compliance with the ISO 9001:2015 standard. Mail res (must reference Job Code #41601) to Rahi Systems, Attn: HR, 48303 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538.
about the improvement in physical performance one may experience after consistent submersions; it’s more about the wall that person surmounted in order to experience something uncomfortable—and the translation that has on their family, their work or difficult decisions. When groups or corporate teams work together on a stressful activity, the benefits achieved are so powerful that they can’t always be put into words. Amanda, my international program manager, attended a Trybe summit last summer—completely unrelated to my mentoring of Keaton and Trybe over these last couple of years. When I asked her about her experience, here’s what she said: “The Trybe experience is incredibly unique and empowering. While I learned a lot about workouts and breath work, I learned more about what I was capable of. I cannot wait to do another Trybe retreat and to bring my friends with me.”
In addition to programs tailored specifically to individuals, groups or companies, Trybe now runs multiple public summits each year; the next one takes place Jan. 18-21 in Vero Beach, Fla. Closer to home, from Feb. 16-19, Trybe will hold a summit in Kirkwood, Calif., specifically for people with a backcountry-skiing background. Upon arrival, attendees will take a snow cat to the secluded cabin and custom saloon. Before the morning ice plunge, a chain saw will cut the ice over the frozen lake at the foot of the main cabin. After ski instruction and avalanche-safety learning tools, the summit culminates with a team cognitive and navigation exercise in the backcountry. Tired after all that? Learn how to deregulate with breathwork and a sauna experience, both led by Keaton. Trybe is a company that stands by its name: It’s a community of likeminded people who all rely on each other to survive and thrive. Learn more at trybesummits.com.
RENO’S BEST CONCERT VENUE Siamsa: A Celtic Christmas Dec 6
G3 Reunion Tour: Satriani, Johnson, Vai Feb 2
Pink Martini: Tons of Tinsel Holiday Tour Dec 7
Bad Friends Feb 3
The Nutcracker Dec 13 & 14
Bert Kreischer Feb 16
Chris Isaak: It’s Almost Christmas Tour Dec 15
Juanes Feb 17
Daniel Tosh Dec 16 Christmas in Space: A Stellar Holiday Cirque! Dec 19–31 Anthony Jeselnik Jan 13
December 19–31
Chris Distefano Feb 9
Colter Wall Feb 24 Lukas Nelson+POTR Feb 25 Tesla: Time to Rock! Tour 2024 Mar 23
Steel Panther Jan 19
Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen Mar 24
Hannah Berner Jan 27
Nate Smith Apr 26
For complete show lineup, visit GrandSierraResort.com/Shows RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
7
UPFRONT
NEWS
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
Philanthropy made easy
As justification for firing Karalea Clough, TMCC officials ruled she was guilty of violating 10 college or state policies. Photo/David Robert
Charitable giving dropped in the U.S. in 2022—and it dropped again this year. But local aid groups are still trying to help people meet their basic needs, and many of them have specific requests that won’t break your bank. There are hundreds of ways to help people in our community this holiday season. Here are three to start.
UNR’s Pack Provisions food pantry is seeking cash donations At the University of Nevada, Reno’s Pack Provisions food pantry, an average of 350 students per week pick up fresh produce, non-perishable food items and hygiene products. Through the end of the year, UNR and Pack Provisions aim to raise $25,000 to help keep distributing necessities to students who need them. How to help: Make a donation at www.unr.edu/student-engagement/ support-services/pack-provisions.
Reno Family Eye Care is seeking used eyeglasses
Reno Family Eye Care is hosting a glasses donation drive for the Lions Club, which will organize the glasses based on prescription and distribute them on mission trips providing eye care in underserved countries. As a thank you, this optometry office will give you a glasses-care kit when you donate. How to help: Drop off used eyeglasses at Reno Family Eye Care, 6360 Mae Anne Ave., Suite 1, through Dec. 31.
Catholic Charities, Reno Bike Project seeking kids’ used bikes
Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada (CCNN) and the Reno Bike Project are teaming up to collect bikes of all sizes, shapes and colors for children of all ages for Christmas. All bikes donated through Catholic Charities before Dec. 25 will be donated to the Reno Bike Project for refurbishment and distribution. Families in need of a bike can contact Reno Bike Project programs manager Andy Perkins at 775-323-4488. How to help: Drop off bikes at St. Vincent’s Thrift Stores or a Neighborhood Donation Center (ccsnn.org/pages/ thrift-stores). —Kris Vagner 8
|
RN&R
|
Internal memos: TMCC computers vanished Some of the hundreds of missing machines were purchased during the last few years Internal inventory-control memos obtained by the Reno News & Review confirm that hundreds of computers and electronic tablets were lost by Truckee Meadows Community College during the last several years, and the items have been purged from the institution’s inventory lists. State regulations require any machines with a hard drive—termed “sensitive equipment” because of the confidential information they often contain—be subject to special inventory controls so they can be tracked, and their locations on campus are always known. Documents show that TMCC for years failed to follow those procedures, and this year couldn’t locate hundreds of desktops, laptops and e-tablets. Missing items also include a computer server purchased in 2022 for $4,735, now listed in the college’s inventory control system as “worn out/written off.” Some of the never-found 375 computers catalogued in the memos were laptops
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
loaned to students who allegedly failed to return them, according to the documents; other machines lacked any tracking data at all. Many of the unaccounted-for computers were listed as residing in the campus Information Technology Office, but weren’t there and couldn’t be found elsewhere, according to the documents. TMCC uses the memos as a way to remove unaccounted-for assets from annual inventory lists so that auditors don’t continue looking for them year after year. Some of the memos note that “many” of the missing computers were due to be replaced anyhow. But an RN&R crosscheck of items listed on the memos against the college’s purchase and inventory data revealed that many machines listed as missing were just a few years old, including some that were purchased last year. For example, one memo from the Information Technology department dated Sept. 6, 2023, listed 25 computers and e-tablets that “were not found or returned” and were to be written off as a loss. That memo notes that “most of (the
computers) are very old” and would have been replaced anyway in keeping with the college’s five-year equipment cycle. But the RN&R’s cross-check revealed that of the 25 machines, two were purchased in 2021, 14 in 2020 and six in 2019. The remaining two machines had no data available. Those 25 missing machines alone represent a loss of more than $27,000, based on purchase prices noted in TMCC documents. Of nine computers listed in another IT memo dated Sept. 6 and described as “worn out/written off” and “disposed of” in the central inventory, records show that four were purchased in 2022, and two were purchased in 2019. No data was available for the other three. Many of the lost computers listed in the memos have sequential TMCC inventory numbers, indicating they arrived in the same shipment, according to the inventory clerk who was tasked with looking for the missing computers earlier this year. “(The computers) with sequential numbers came in together, and that makes me wonder if they went out the door together without even getting out of the carton,” said Karalea Clough, an inventory control clerk and mailroom supervisor TMCC officials fired Nov. 27. Administrators and others accused her of a litany of policy violations starting in March. The alleged offenses centered on Clough’s interactions and communication with other college employees, not her inventory duties. In a state whistleblower complaint, filed in May, Clough alleges that college administrators retaliated against her in an effort to cover up their own incompetence in managing inventory, and the possible theft of many of the untracked machines. “They wanted to cover their behinds, but I wanted to do my job and find those computers,” Clough said. “That’s all I ever wanted to do.” A RN&R story in September documented that TMCC’s Information Technology department for years failed to attach required inventory control tags to hundreds of computers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. In emails sent in 2022 and obtained by the RN&R, college employees and administrators noted that thousands of desktop, laptop and tablet computers could not be located and were not tagged or being traced as required by state policy. In one instance, according to the emails, an IT department employee in 2022 suggested a college inventory technician just scan a roll of inventory tags instead of finding the computers they represented.
TMCC declines comment
TMCC spokeswoman Kate Kirkpatrick told the RN&R in August that “any suggestions of a policy violation or missing equipment are unfounded.” Even though the incident with the inventory tag roll was documented in widely shared TMCC internal emails, Kirkpatrick called the anecdote a “rumor.” At the time, the officials told the RN&R that out of 2,092 pieces of untagged equipment mentioned in TMCC emails obtained by the newspaper, all but 96 units have been inventoried and tagged, and the remaining 96 units are in the process of being tagged. TMCC officials thereafter declined to answer any further questions about the missing computers, because “the matter is intertwined with an ongoing, confidential personnel” situation—Clough’s suspension and subsequent termination. Beginning in March, documents show, college administrators were building a disciplinary case against the inventory clerk. Clough said most of the unaccounted-for computers were assigned to the college Information Technology section and that IT employees for months stymied her repeated efforts to track down the untagged machines. Nine IT employees subsequently accused Clough of “bullying” them, according to TMCC documents. In May, Karin Hilgersom, TMCC’s president, took away from the central auditing system (and Clough) the responsibility for tracking the college’s computer inventory. Hilgersom transferred the job to the IT department, the unit that lost track of the equipment in the first place. In August, while Clough was on medical leave, college officials notified her that she was being investigated for 24 alleged violations of state and college rules and policies. She was placed on indefinite administrative leave. In October, she met with a lawyer tasked to investigate the allegations. News stories show that attorney, a retired state employee who
most recently was a vice president at Western Nevada Community College, earlier in his career defended TMCC and the University of Nevada, Reno, against lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and/or retaliation. Clough was fired a month later. “In the space of a few months, I went from being evaluated as an employee who exceeded expectations to being terminated,” said Clough, who worked in state jobs for 17 years. She was promoted at TMCC on July 1, 2022—six months after being hired by the college’s auxiliary services—and received an excellent performance evaluation in January, records show. “(The college) spent a lot of money, time and effort to get me fired when what they should have been doing was looking for those missing computers and figuring out what really happened to the hundreds that vanished,” she said. As justification for firing her, TMCC officials ruled Clough was guilty of violating 10 college or state policies. The violations included disgraceful conduct; “insubordination or willful disobedience”; discourteous treatment of employees and/or supervisors; misuse of authority; “causing discord among others”; and “using insulting, abusive or profane language.” Clough said she will appeal her firing, is filing a Title IX federal civil rights complaint against TMCC, and is considering a wrongful-termination lawsuit. She also is fighting the college’s repeated efforts to have her state whistleblower complaint dismissed. In its rush to fire her, Clough said, TMCC violated its own policies and procedures that require “progressive discipline.” “There is a step-by-step disciplinary process they are required to follow, but they skipped right to dismissal,” Clough said. “I haven’t done anything criminal; there aren’t any complaints about my work. I didn’t threaten anybody and I wasn’t violent. … I’m a grandmother who was doing the best I could to do my job.”
Some of the never-found 375 computers catalogued in the memos were laptops loaned to students who allegedly failed to return them, according to the documents; other machines lacked any tracking data at all. Photo/David Robert
Testing drugs for opioid contaminants is catching on—out of necessity
On Nov. 15 in Idlewild Park, Darcy Patterson re-stocked a box with harm-reduction supplies for the taking, including Narcan—an antidote to opioid overdoses—and test strips for fentanyl and xylazine. Patterson is a registered nurse, as well as a grieving mother who lost her daughter to a heroin overdose, and the administrator for Wake Up Nevada. (See this issue’s Guest Comment for her perspective on distributing and destigmatizing Narcan.) She distributes approximately 200 test strips per week. It’s become common for street drugs—including cocaine or pressed pills meant to look like Xanax, Adderall or other prescription medications—to be cut with fentanyl. Xylazine, a large-animal tranquilizer, is also showing up in street drugs. Patterson said she’s particularly alarmed by xylazine, as Narcan cannot reduce an overdose. Testing street drugs for these two contaminants is becoming a common practice. Patterson said that students often ask her for test strips for raves, concerts and parties. On Nov. 3, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen announced she has signed onto the bipartisan Fentanyl Safe Testing and Overdose Prevention Act, which would ensure that states cannot prohibit fentanyl and xylazene test strips under the Controlled Substances Act, which was passed in 1970 and categorizes test strips as illegal paraphernalia. For a list of locations where test strips are distributed for free in Reno and other Nevada cities, visit the Nevada State Opioid Response website at nvopioidresponse.org. —Kris Vagner; photo by David Robert RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
9
NEWS
| BY KRIS VAGNER Bradley Reger, pictured here on his property in Susanville, Calif., in 2010, has been indicted on five counts of sexual abuse of minors. He’s suspected of abusing many others, and is awaiting trial in Sacramento. Photo/courtesy of Zack Winfrey
Decades of alleged abuse A California man charged with sexually abusing minors is thought to have many Reno victims A California man charged with five counts of criminal sexual activity against minors is suspected to have hundreds of victims worldwide, including many in Reno, according to people close to the case. Bradley Earl Reger, 67, of Susanville, was indicted on July 20 by a federal grand jury, charged with illicit sexual activity abroad, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and coercion and enticement, with the alleged crimes occurring between 2006 and 2014, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California. 10
|
RN&R
|
Reger, who had worked as a licensed nurse practitioner since at least 1986, “has been heavily involved in various Christian schools, summer camps, youth groups, and church missions. He has held positions as a teacher, camp counselor, church deacon, youth group leader, and owner of affiliated nonprofit organizations,” according to the press release. He also owned and operated several ambulance and flight ambulance businesses, including Mountain Lifeflight of Nevada, which he operated from Susanville. Court documents allege Reger of sexually abusing more than a dozen patients between the ages of 12 and 22 “under the guise of con-
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
ducting purported medical examinations at his medical clinic in Susanville, CA, and in hotel rooms and camp sites all over the world.” A Homeland Security Investigations report lists more than 30 countries it says Reger has traveled to and says that Homeland Security and the FBI have interviewed several victims who’ve described abuse occurring in Poland, Ukraine and the Philippines. Court documents also state: “These victims, who have been separately interviewed, tell similar stories of (the) defendant isolating them, choosing some of them for special treatment, groping their genitals, and giving them invasive and long hugs after conducting sexually abusive ‘exams.’” The RN&R spoke with Morgan Stewart, an attorney with the firm of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, who is filing a lawsuit against Reger. “At this point, we are filing for, I think, 18 clients,” Stewart said during a phone interview. “(The case has) a wide variety of defendants, largely because he used so many different angles to abuse victims through various church organizations. He would take victims across state lines and out of the country, so we’ve got a sex trafficking allegation in there. … It’s a significant complaint. There are a myriad of issues, and we clearly have a significant amount of notice of reports to law enforcement over the years against him.” The Susanville Police Department initiated criminal investigations of Reger in 2003, 2006 and 2007, based on multiple allegations of sexual abuse of minors, wrote FBI Special Agent Russell Quiniola in an affidavit. To his knowledge, “none of these investigations resulted in criminal charges against Reger.”
A victim goes public
Zack Winfrey, a 31-year-old Sacramento man—“Victim 1” in court documents—has relinquished his anonymity in the hope of encouraging more victims to come forward. He explained why he believes that Reger must have abused many victims in Reno. Reger traveled through Reno on countless occasions, escorting groups of boys on the way to out-of-state camps. Winfrey, who grew up in Susanville, said that as a pre-teen and teen, he was among Reger’s charges on many occasions. “There was a lot of Reno travel and stay that had nothing to do with being a point between trips,” Winfrey said, adding that Reger would
bring groups of boys to the Ultimate Rush bungee-jumping attraction or the go-kart track at the Grand Sierra Resort, on overnight stays at the Courtyard by Marriott on South Virginia Street, “or just, like, shopping days with Brad.” “I’ve heard stories about people in the early 2000s trying to report him to Reno authorities and not getting (anywhere),” Winfrey said. “I know dozens of his victims lived there.” A records request to the Reno Police Department yielded no documents on Reger. The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office replied to RN&R’s records request by saying, “there are no responsive documents to your request.” In 2018, Winfrey aired his frustration and grief in an explicit and heart-wrenching blog post, detailing Reger’s alleged abuses. He talks of later wrestling with substance abuse and a compromised sense of self-worth. Searching out victims and helping to build the case against Reger has become Winfrey’s primary pursuit. “It’s just my life—it’s my full-time job,” he said. “The first eight months of this investigation, we had to keep it a secret, not tell anybody, not do anything. And that almost drove me insane, just sitting around doing nothing.” Court documents have now been unsealed and can be found on the Brad Reger Trial News website, which also links to news articles about Reger and resources for victims of sexual abuse. Winfrey said that after the isolated feeling of having to stay mum about the investigation, he’s gone in “10,000 percent the opposite direction. It’s overwhelming and exhausting, but I’d so much rather have it this way than how it was in April,” he said. He hopes that more victims will come forward—and there’s something he would like them to consider. “I think one thing that’s important in a case like this, a sex-abuse case, is that there are different levels of abuse,” Winfrey said. “Some people were abused a number of times more than others. Some people were abused in quote-unquote ‘worse’ ways than others.” For some, he added, “the immediate thought is, well, ‘What happened to me wasn’t as bad, so I’m not important. I don’t matter as much to this,’ or … ‘I shouldn’t even worry.’ My thing is—it’s not a contest. … If you were victimized, you were victimized, and you need to be kind to yourself and treat yourself like a victim.” Reger is in custody without bail at the Sacramento County Main Jail; he has pleaded not guilty. His nursing license was revoked in October. His next court appearance is currently scheduled for Jan. 18. The FBI has requested that anyone who believes they or their minor dependents have been abused by Reger complete a questionnaire, which is available in five languages, at fbi.gov/RegerVictims, or call 800-225-5324.
HIKING
| BY MAGGIE NICHOLS Hidden Valley Regional Park offers glorious city and mountain views. Photo/Maggie Nichols
Find Hidden Valley With warm western sun and views of snow-capped peaks, this in-town gem is a top pick for winter hikes On these short days, when the sun sets before dinnertime, it’s natural to pine for the extended evenings of summer. The Sierra to the west is blanketed in snow for those who crave wintertime fun in the form of skiing, snowshoeing and sledding. But if it’s a taste of springtime in midwinter you crave, Hidden Valley Regional Park holds the key in its open, western-facing slopes. A part of Washoe County’s Parks and Open Space, Hidden Valley Regional Park is a 480-acre area of high desert landscapes, 65 acres of which are developed. With very few trees of significant size in the expansive trail network, and its location on the westward side of the Virginia Range facing Reno, this park is hot in the summer—but offers a welcome level of warmth on mild winter afternoons. Not only is this a boon for trail lovers; it’s also a great spot for all kinds of outdoor fun, thanks to a host of amenities found at the base of the park. The primary entrance to Hidden Valley Regional Park is on its north end. Follow Pembroke Drive heading east into the neighborhoods, and you’ll see a brown sign indicating where to turn right onto Parkway Drive, which continues right through the main gate into the park. Those coming from the south can enter via a more circuitous route through the other end of this neighborhood, taking Mira Loma Drive and eventually reaching the park’s secondary access point from Mia Vista Drive.
Both entrances have their own developed playground areas, numerous picnic tables scattered about, and information about the trail system within the park. However, the northern entrance has many additional amenities, including the Vista Picnic Pavilion area, which can be reserved for groups of up to 100 people. It features several barbecue stations, a large lawn, a horseshoe pit and proximity to bathrooms with running water. Tennis and pickleball courts provide additional recreational opportunities for visitors. The Link Piazzo Dog Park offers canine entertainment with its fully fenced space for furry family members to roam. It even has separate areas for small and large dogs to make friends more easily. The Clarence K. Bath Memorial Horse Arena is also located here. One of eight public horse arenas managed by the county, this large, rider-focused space can be reserved for equestrian events, supported by 45-foot-long grandstands and an announcer’s stand; on days it isn’t reserved, it can be freely used by the public. With such easy trailer parking and excellent access to local public lands, Hidden Valley Regional Park and the trail system within it are great for equestrian trail access. Bicycles are also welcome on all the trails, though all motorized vehicles are prohibited. Hikers and trail runners are a common site throughout the park, and dogs are welcome on leashes. At both the north and south entrances to the trail network, a map of the surrounding hills and general information about its use is prominently
displayed at kiosks. If you’d like to stick to an official trail, take a photo of the trail map with your phone, or print the PDF version before heading out. Five formal dirt trails are noted on the Hidden Valley Regional Park trail map, but unofficial—and unmaintained—footpaths snake across the landscape. Many of the lower trails are wide and flatter—though not totally flat. The South Park Loop weaves a meandering circuit of just under a mile near the southern access point to the park, while the Inner Loop covers exactly one mile of mostly easygoing terrain, starting at the northern access point. The 2.4-mile Perimeter Loop encircles the entire lower portion of the park, including all the facilities at the northern entrance, as well as those at the southern terminus. For an added challenge, the Highland Loop, best accessed from the north parking area, is a more challenging, single-track trail heading up and across the park’s higher elevations. It involves ascending some of the steepest park terrain—and crossing spots with a very narrow trail and loose or slippery footing—to complete a nearly 2 1/2-mile circumnavigation that includes sweeping vistas and miles of views. Unofficial trails crisscross everywhere, and the mapped trails aren’t always marked. However, in this wide-open landscape, getting lost is nearly impossible. If you so choose, you can head up small canyons, finding some of the very few trees along the trail, and possibly un-melted snow on north-facing inclines, or ice trapped in winter creek beds, all while scrambling along some highly variable terrain. Linking between sanctioned trails is easy with this network of pathways. In good weather, and with the right level of physical ability and proper preparation, it’s even possible to follow trails to the very top of the ridge, summiting the peaks of the Virginia Range and dropping down into the next valley east of Reno. No matter where you go, Hidden Valley Regional Park affords expansive views of the surrounding landscape. At certain high points and overlooks, you may find yourself at eye level with red-tailed hawks and ravens riding the thermals. No matter which trail you choose, you’ll be treated to a panorama of Reno, with snowy Mount Rose and the Carson Range providing a seasonal backdrop. And on a mild winter afternoon, it can almost feel like spring. If you’re searching for an excuse to get out of the house (that isn’t holiday shopping), a site (or sight) to impress your out-of-town family or friends, or simply a place to keep your inner hiker or biker happy in the cold season, Hidden Valley Regional Park is that spot. RenoNR.com
Microsoft Online, Inc. currently has the following openings in Reno, NV (opportunities available at all levels, e.g., Principal, Senior and Lead levels). To access job posting, visit website address listed. Program Manager; Business Program Manager; Operations Program Manager; Technical Program Manager: Dvlp a scalable & effective technical strategy to support the rhythm of the biz & org goals. Telecommuting permitted ≥50%, but <100%/wk. http://bit.ly/MSJobs-Prog_Mgr Multiple positions available. Some positions req travel and/or permit telecommuting. For details (if applicable), including job descriptions & min reqs, salary range & benefits info, and how to apply, access job posting using website address listed. EOE.
The last one showering shouldn’t be left in the cold! GO TANKLESS.
FREE
Quotes Tank Options & Tankless
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
11
Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight For December, 2023 This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north, but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.
ASTRONOMY
| BY ROBERT VICTOR
N
December’s evening sky chart. Illustration/Robert D. Miller Castor Capella Pollux
Aldebaran
Vega
Deneb
Betelgeuse
E
1 Rigel
8
W
Jupiter 15
22
Altair
29
Saturn 8 15
1
22
29 Mercury 15 8
1
Fomalhaut
Evening mid-twilight occurs when the Sun is 9° below the horizon. Dec. 1: 47 minutes after sunset. 15: 48 " " " 31: 47 " " "
S
December skies
Stereographic Projection Map by Robert D. Miller
The month brings the Geminid meteor shower—and the start of winter Only 37.6 years to go! Halley’s Comet, according to calculations by NASA/JPL, is expected to reach its aphelion, or greatest distance from the sun, at a location farther than the most distant planet Neptune, on the evening of Dec. 8, 2023. The comet then begins its journey back toward the inner solar system. On July 28, 2061, it will reach its perihelion, or closest approach to the sun, inside the orbit of Venus, and will reach its closest approach to Earth on the very next day. The comet will be visible to the unaided eye in July-August 2061. Urge your young friends and family to plan to see it! The annual Geminid meteor shower, usually the strongest of the year, is timed ideally in 2023, with the moon just two days past new and absent during the shower’s peak nights. Expect the greatest numbers of 12
|
RN&R
|
meteors from about 10 p.m. local time on Dec. 13, until the first light of dawn on Dec. 14, and again on the following night. Meteors can occur anywhere in the sky, but the trails of Geminids from asteroid Phaethon, traced backward beyond where they became visible, should radiate from a common point in the starry background, near Castor in Gemini. Winter begins on Dec. 21 at 7:27 p.m., as the sun stands directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, giving Northern Hemisphere residents their lowest midday sun and shortest day. The four brightest “stars” at dusk in December are brilliant Jupiter, in the east-southeast to southeast; Mercury, very low in the west-southwest in month; and two stars of zero magnitude: Vega, in the west-northwest to northwest, and Capella, ascending in the northeast. Objects that are first magnitude or brighter include Saturn, in the south-southwest to south-
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
west, with Fomalhaut, mouth of the Southern Fish, to its lower left; Altair and Deneb, completing the summer triangle with Vega; and Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, rising north of east. On Dec. 2, Aldebaran is at opposition as Earth passes between that star and the sun, so the star is up all that night. Late in the month, the stars Betelgeuse and Rigel of Orion (identified with the vertical line of three second-magnitude stars marking his belt in between) appear low in the eastern sky at dusk, with Castor and Pollux rising farther left, in the northeast. Jupiter gleams at magnitude -2.8 to -2.6 at dusk. In Aries, Jupiter shifts 1.4° west-southwest until Dec. 30, when it ends retrograde. A telescope reveals its disk 48” to 44” (arcseconds) across, and four bright satellites discovered by Galileo in 1610. Saturn glows near magnitude +0.9 at dusk in December. Against stars of Aquarius, Saturn progresses 2.1° east-northeast, away from 4.3-magnitude Iota in Aquarius. Telescopically, Saturn’s rings appear 38” to 36” in east-west extent, while 10.2° to 9.2° from edge-on. Mercury begins December at magnitude -0.5 very low in the west-southwest at dusk; binoculars help find it in twilight. Mercury reaches greatest elongation, 21.3° east of the sun on Dec. 4, and for a few days around Dec. 7 hovers 4° up in mid-twilight. Mercury fades to magnitude 0.0 by Dec. 11, and to magnitude +0.8 by Dec. 14. Mercury retrogrades Dec. 12Jan. 2, shifting as much as 1.4° westward daily. Faint solar system bodies: Uranus, of magnitude 5.6 to 5.7 and retrograding nearly 0.9° in December, is 14° to 13° east-northeast of Jupiter, 11° to 12° west-southwest of the Pleiades, and 2.3° to 2.8° southwest of the 4.3-magnitude star Delta in Aries. Neptune, of magnitude 7.9 and ending retrograde in Pisces on Dec. 6, is 24° to 22° east-northeast of Saturn, and 1.6° to 1.4° west-southwest of the 5.5-magnitude star 20 in Pisces. Finder charts for Uranus and Neptune for binocular users appear at www.abramsplanetarium.org/msta. The brightest “stars” at dawn in early December are Venus in the southeast; Sirius, the Dog Star, in the southwest to west-southwest; Arcturus, in the east; Vega, rising in the northeast; and Capella, in the northwest. Find Spica within 5° of Venus on Dec. 1 and 2; otherwise use the Big Dipper’s handle to “follow the arc to Arcturus and drive a spike to Spica.” Regulus, heart of Leo, is high in the south-southwest at dawn as December begins. Early in the month, look for the spring arch topped by two stars 4.5° apart, Pollux and Castor of Gemini. To the Twins’ lower right is Capella. To the lower left
of the Twins are Procyon and Sirius. Below the Arch are Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, and Orion’s Betelgeuse and Rigel. Rigel is the first of all these bright stars to set. Look after Vega rises and before Rigel sets, and you can see 11 stars of first magnitude or brighter, not counting Castor of magnitude +1.6, and the planet Venus. Venus, of magnitude -4.2 to -4.0, rules the morning! Don’t miss the conjunction of the moon and Venus on Dec. 9. Venus progresses east by 1.2° per day, while its gibbous phase fills out from 68% to 78% in December, and its disk shrinks from 17” to 14”. Mercury, brightening to magnitude +1.0 by Dec. 30, appears to the lower left of Venus, by 22° on Dec. 30, and by 20° on Dec. 31. Mars, low in bright twilight and fainter at magnitude +1.4, is 5° to 6° below Mercury those two mornings, requiring binoculars. Both improve visibility in January. The waning gibbous moon, in the morning sky, appears 5° east of Pollux in Gemini on Dec. 1 and within 6° east of Regulus in Leo on Dec. 4. The waning crescent moon appears within 2° of Spica in Virgo on Dec. 8, and within 4° of Venus on Dec. 9. The last chance to view the old moon will be in morning twilight on Dec. 11, as a 2 percent crescent low in the east-southeast to southeast, 25° lower left of Venus. On Dec. 19, the moon is just past first quarter phase, when it is 90° east of the sun and appears half-full. The moon’s position against the stars of Pisces tonight is close to where the sun will appear three months from now, near the beginning of spring. On Dec. 21, the 75 percent waxing gibbous moon appears 6° to the upper right of bright Jupiter. On the following night, the 83-percent moon will appear 8° to Jupiter’s lower left. On Dec. 23, binoculars will help spot the Pleiades in the glare of the 91 percent moon. Look in the same field, 4° to the moon’s lower left. On Dec. 24, note Aldebaran, eye of Taurus and “follower” of the Pleiades, within 9° to the lower right of the 96 percent moon. On Dec. 25, use binoculars to spot 1.7-magnitude Elnath, or Beta in Taurus, 1-2° to the upper left of the 99-percent moon. The moon is full on Dec. 26 at 4:33 p.m. From a location with unobstructed views, try to see the sun and moon simultaneously shortly before sunset that evening, and shortly after sunrise on Dec. 27. The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar is available by subscription from www. abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar. Each monthly issue consists of a calendar page illustrating events, and an evening sky map. For $12 per year, subscribers receive quarterly mailings, each containing three monthly issues. Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps to produce an occasional issue. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the beauty of the night sky and other wonders of nature.
On Nov. 17, 1993, three Reno journalists—Mike Norris, Bill Martin and Larry Henry—published the first-ever issue of the Nevada Weekly. Right there and then, Reno joined the ranks of cities with alternative newsweeklies—courageous, authoritychallenging, status-quo-questioning, truth-telling media outlets that prioritize local politics and arts. In 1995, the Nevada Weekly became the Reno News & Review. Throughout the ’90s and 2000s, altweeklies enjoyed their heyday nationally. Today, there are fewer of us, and some that remain are now online-only or (as in the RN&R’s case) monthly in print. The road hasn’t always been easy—the COVID pandemic almost took the life out of us—but the RN&R is still here, and we’re still independent. To celebrate our Big 3-0, founders, owners, staffers, former staffers and readers weighed in on what it’s been like to be part of the RN&R’s history. Several editors told stories about the blood, sweat, tears and ungodly numbers of hours it’s taken to keep the news coming out. Some sent in tales of the adventures they had along the way. Others shared moments of triumph. Several remembered the colleagues who kept them going. And, of course, the RN&R community sent in a good number of stories remembering the unshakable integrity of Reno legends Dennis Myers and Bruce Van Dyke. —Kris Vagner
Best-ever calendar editor in the Biggest Little City
By Larry Henry, Nevada Weekly cofounder, now in Fayetteville, Ark. I will always be grateful to the many people who worked hard to make the paper a success. One who exemplified that is Kelley Lang. Among other duties, Kelley made sure the events calendar was updated and accurate. On a weekly basis, the stories and photographs on the cover and inside the paper received attention, but in truth, a lot of readers picked up the paper each week because of how good the calendar was. We would not have survived without Kelley and people like her.
From an original founder: We nailed it
By Mike Norris, Nevada Weekly co-founder, now in Dallas Bill Martin, Larry Henry and I were happy to help bring a voice to Reno different from and alternative to the usual corporate journalism. We feel we achieved the right voice for Reno, as attested to by this longstanding publication. We’re very pleased to see that it has endured so long, in a time of fast-changing media, and we encourage everyone to read it.
A road we’re proud to have taken
By Deborah Redmond and Jeff von Kaenel, former owners, Sacramento In January 1995, we received a call from Bill Martin and Larry Henry, owners of the Nevada Weekly in Reno, telling us that they
were shutting down the paper, effective immediately. Were we interested in taking it over? We were. The next month, News & Review purchased the assets of Nevada Weekly, and the Reno News & Review was born. We moved up to Reno to help launch the new paper. When we arrived, we were inspired by the dedication of the staff and their commitment to using journalism to make a positive impact on the community. Jeff met with hundreds of people during those first few months and learned from them about the tremendous need to hear other voices and to get perspective on controversial issues; he was told that there was a good-old-boy network in Reno that controlled many aspects of community life. There was a strong desire for independent journalism in Reno. The RN&R quickly earned a healthy readership by challenging many of the area’s establishments—including city and state governments, the Reno Gazette-Journal and the casino industry. The RN&R also put a spotlight on the area’s growing arts community, publishing weekly film reviews, theater reviews, food reviews and arts stories. DJ Bruce Van Dyke covered cool culture in Reno in his column, “Notes From the Neon Babylon.” Bob Grimm wrote hundreds of movie reviews. The Best of Northern Nevada annual competition helped readers share their feedback about their favorite people, places and things in Northern Nevada. In 2015, longtime editor Brian Burghart received recognition for creating a nationwide database documenting fatalities at the hands of the police, Fatal Encounters. We were also blessed to work with longtime news editor
Dennis Myers, the most hard-working and best political reporter in Nevada, who worked doggedly to uncover important stories until the day he died in 2019. Prior to COVID, the circulation of the RN&R was almost equal to that of the daily Reno Gazette-Journal. But in March 2020, when the COVID-19 shutdown was announced, RN&R’s advertising dried up almost overnight. We were forced to suspend print publishing, but we continued with an online presence, overseen by award-winning editor Frank X. Mullen, who came out of retirement to cover what he said was “the story of a lifetime,” the COVID-19 pandemic. Frank was one of the most prolific and dedicated editors we’ve ever worked with, winning an award in 2021 for his investigation into the unmarked graves
of around 200 children at the Stewart Indian School. The paper had many hard-working editors over the years, including Brian Burghart and Jimmy Boegle; Larry Henry, the editor when we came to Reno; and Brad Bynum, our editor when the paper halted print publication. We had wonderful art directors, including Don Button, Andrea Diaz-Vaughn and David Jayne, and photographer David Robert. The paper would never have survived without the efforts of John Murphy, longtime publisher, and Bev Savage and Gina Odegard, whose advertising sales kept the paper alive for many years. We worked with many other dedicated people, too numerous to mention here. We are incredibly proud that we were a part of the early history of the RN&R, and we are so happy to see that legacy continuing on under the inspired ownership of former editor Jimmy Boegle’s Coachella Valley Independent, and the leadership of another former RN&R editor, Kris Vagner. Readers, please support independent journalism in Reno. It contributes to public awareness and engagement, puts a spotlight on voices that might not otherwise be heard, and contributes to the overall vibrancy of the greater Reno community. In September 2021, Frank Mullen, along with then-RN&R owners Deborah continued on Redmond and Jeff von Kaenel, held an art auction fundraiser for the paper at a next page West Reno home. Photo/courtesy of Deborah Redmond RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
13
was a good idea. And they understood that completion raises the bar for everyone. What good is an exclusive “scoop” if your publication is the only print outlet in town? The consensus was that as long as the new rag’s coverage was fair and accurate, the RGJ had nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, the suits in the glass offices hoped the weekly would be short lived. It wasn’t. Editions of the RN&R rolled off the presses week after week and quickly appeared on the desks of reporters and editors at the daily. As predicted, the paper occasionally did stories about the inner workings Longtime news editor Dennis Myers was “the most hard-working and best of the RGJ. Articles political reporter in Nevada, who worked doggedly to uncover important stories included the tale of a until the day he died in 2019.” publisher who held a seat on the board of The rise of the fledging directors of a major casino company that the weekly, as seen from my daily covered; stories about the newsroom’s frequent rounds of layoffs and buyouts; and desk at the daily a report on an incident in which Pinkerton By Frank Mullen, agents fanned out through the Gazette’s editor at large and former editor building after 3 a.m., rubbing cotton swabs across employees’ desktops to test for In the winter of 1993, when the first issue molecular traces of illegal drugs—presumably of the Nevada Weekly hit the stands across secreted in the sweat of the people who Northern Nevada, the scribblers at the Reno worked at those desks in the daytime. (There Gazette-Journal had mixed reactions. was plenty of sweat in the newsroom, but no The daily newspaper’s reporters, in general, traces of contraband were found.) welcomed the newcomer to the local media It was the stuff Gazette-Journal reporters landscape. Gazette-Journal executives, knew but couldn’t write about. And the mindful of a corporate culture that loathed RN&R’s reports were usually fair and accurate. competition in any of its markets, worried the When the RGJ broke a great story, the upstart alternative weekly would bleed dollars from weekly reported that, too. the RGJ’s advertising revenue. As the decades flew by, the weekly paper At the time, I was an assistant city editor (often in the person of the late Dennis Myers) at the Gazette-Journal. Some managers sometimes scooped the RGJ. We’d take the grumbled that the fledgling newspaper (later hit—and then go out for beers with our rivals. renamed the Reno News & Review) wasn’t The Gazette-Journal’s newsroom hosted a needed in Northern Nevada. Reno, they weekly ritual. Each Thursday, the latest RN&R argued, was too small to support it. It didn’t would arrive, and reporters would pore over it make them feel any better that the trio who cover to cover. The top editors would, too, but founded the paper—Mike Norris, Bill Martin they hated to see anything critical of the RGJ and Larry Henry—were experienced and or spot a piece about something we missed but respected writers who knew the state and its should have reported. They would often howl issues. In addition, they fretted, Norris and Henry were Gazette-Journal alums who might and say words they did not learn from their mothers. take aim at the way the local daily did its job. My last editor at the RGJ was among the But RGJ reporters thought holding best howlers and cursers. She would hold their employer accountable for the way it out the latest RN&R, point to a story and let covered the community and did business 14
|
RN&R
|
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
loose a tirade that often included the words “bullshit!” and “those bastards.” A few weeks before I took a buyout at the RGJ in 2013, I discovered that my editor and the RN&R editor had been discretely dating. Yet she continued to put on the weekly show in the newsroom, blasting her beau and his publication with the zeal of a small-town preacher describing hellfire. One has to keep up appearances, I suppose. Happy 30th birthday, RN&R!
Remembering Dennis Myers: The late news editor’s work ethic—and love—still ring strong
By Jeri Chadwell, former special projects editor The newsroom was too quiet after Dennis Myers died. He may not have talked very much or very loudly, but it was still too quiet in the space where he’d been a fixture for many years, before I’d even joined the ranks of working journalists, and where everyone present was lost deep within their own sorrow. Inside of my head, all of the lessons I’d
absorbed from my friend and mentor seemed unable to find purchase. A flood of recollections came in from the people whose lives Dennis touched. Still, nothing filled the silence left in the wake of the day-to-day sounds of him—like his answering the phone and saying only, “News,” with no niceties, or the scratching of his green-ink pen taking notes for a story of his own or leaving notes on one of ours. The silence was so loud I couldn’t hear the way Dennis’ love and lessons were echoing even then through the actions of everyone around me. Today, I’m so glad I kept a copy of Volume 25, Issue 30, of the News & Review that memorialized my beloved friend and mentor. It’s a perfect issue, from the letters to the editor to the regular contributors’ columns and cartoons, to the gorgeous design that maximizes space for text (something he’d have particularly appreciated). Dennis might have caught a few copy errors in that Sept. 5, 2019, issue, but I have no doubt he would be pleased with the people whose contributions to it reflect his singularly gentle, succinct and thoughtful heart and who bared their own hearts in its pages. I wish for all of us that we’d had longer to
THREE DECADES OF THE RN&R: READER COMMENTS ‘Fatal Encounters’ police shooting database was a desperately needed resource
The Fatal Encounters database (a national database of police shootings started by thenRN&R editor Brian Burghart in 2012, when he realized no official entity kept such a list) has been a significant data contribution that has led to a better understanding of how many people have truly died during interactions with law enforcement in the United States from 2000-2022. My own brother, Thomas Purdy, was hog-tied by Reno police in 2015 during a mental health crisis at the Peppermill. He thought someone was trying to kill him. He asked security for help. They called the Reno Police Department, who arrested him for trespassing and hog-tied my unarmed, non-combative brother. He was dumped at Parr (the Washoe County Detention Facility) to be asphyxiated by four deputies while still hog-tied. He begged for medical attention, but sadly, there was no affirmative right to medical care during a police interaction. The FE database has been a source for me in finding and connecting with other impacted families. It also got me curious and thinking about data myself: How many veterans have died during interactions with police? With encouragement from Burghart, I’ve been collecting that data since May 2021. We hear about a few national stories of people killed during interactions with police, but the database gives a name to local victims like Micah Abbey, Jacob Lair, Kenny Stafford and the 67 victims listed for Washoe County in the database who simply become the police narrative of the evening news for one night and were then forgotten. —Annemarie Grant, Quincy, Mass.
receive Dennis’ input in real time, but it gives me joy when I reread the memorials written about him, and then see the people who wrote them doing things that would make him proud, things that would pique his interest and get him asking questions. I like to look back on the stories Dennis wrote and see where those topics land in our current discourse. I like to look at what the people who informed his weekly submissions to the paper are doing now. I like getting to see his influence on myself and others every day. Just recently, I read that Sheila Leslie, who wrote the paper’s “Left Foot Forward’’ column for years, is leaving Reno. Her presence will be missed in this community. I’ll always recall what Sheila wrote in Dennis’ memorial issue about his “unfiltered voice reflecting his personal sensibilities and his uncanny ability to analyze the political noise of the day and still remain upbeat and optimistic about our country and its people.” I recall what he wrote only weeks before about Sheila, who as a state senator had been the sponsor “of Senate Joint Resolution 15, which became ballot Question Two of 2014” that asked Nevada voters if the longstanding net proceeds tax cap of 5 percent on mining written into the Nevada Constitution should be removed. There are so many of us who recall having received Dennis’ thorough, green-inked edits on stories for the paper or his thoughtful holiday presents wrapped in plain green paper. I received more than my fair share of each of these gifts. But by far the greatest gift I received from Dennis Myers has been the opportunity to get to know his granddaughter, Ali Myers Dean. Ultimately, it took Ali to show me that there was no silence welling up to fill the space left by Dennis—only a need to look closer and reflect upon the gift he was in each of our lives, including a life I knew basically nothing about before his passing. I knew of Ali Myers Dean, but I’d never met her until Dennis’ memorial service at the McKinley Arts and Culture Center. If you haven’t gotten the chance to know her, I can tell you Ali’s a lot like Dennis. She’s kind, courageous, intelligent, independent and a very private person. Ali lives in Lansing, Mich. When she’s not working, she volunteers her time as a board member and the secretary of a nonprofit called Punks With Lunch Lansing. It offers meals to the hungry, community support programs and harm-reduction services like the distribution of Narcan overdose-reversal kits and safe consumption supplies. Ali says it can sometimes be strange to consider the celebrity of her grandfather and
hear the perspectives of all of the people whose lives he touched, but she doesn’t begrudge others’ experiences with or love for Dennis. “He definitely became a bit of a celebrity in his own regard over the years,” she said. “But to me, he was just the ‘grandsir’—who had the weird request of being called ‘grandsir’ because it was a more distinguished version of grandpa.” Ali recalls Dennis sending her Wonder Woman comics and having lengthy correspondence with him over email. For years, she’s taken her daughter, Bean, to pass out sack lunches to people in need during Punks With Lunch events. Ali has the word “love” written in Dennis’ handwriting tattooed on her arm. “Because that’s what I think of when I think of him,” she said. “A lot of people probably think of this kind of dweeby guy who would tell really good stories, but, to me, he was safety and home. It’s really moving to see him looked up to as this public figure, because I look up to him, too. I just got to see a little bit of a different side.” Here’s to all of the sides of Dennis Myers each of us got to know. And here’s to all of you who look up to him and miss him to this day. We’re in good company—and that’s why we should look to one another to hear his voice when we miss him. Look to the kind words he spoke, the good work he did and his lessons that stick with us. Here’s a hot tip, though, for those of you who find yourselves just wanting to hear Dennis’ voice and see his face: Go to the website for the show Nevada Newsmakers (www.nevadanewsmakers.com). From there, you can search the archives to pull up episodes where Dennis was the guest of host Sam Shad.
The ‘RN&R; seduced me before I was old enough to drive
By Brad Bynum, former freelancer, arts editor, managing editor and editor Remember before ever you sit down to write that you’ve been a reader long before you were ever a writer. You simply fix that fact in your mind, then sit very still and ask yourself, as a reader, what piece of writing in all the world (you) would most want to read. ... The next step is terrible, but so simple I can hardly believe it as I write it. You just sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. —J.D. Salinger, Seymour: An Introduction Over the years, to innumerable interns, journalism students and greenhorn freelancers,
THREE DECADES OF THE RN&R: READER COMMENTS Thanks for taking a chance on me
Happy anniversary to the RN&R! Big thanks to a mighty little paper for giving me a chance as a young writer in the ’90s, in the R.V. Scheide era. This (former) Mormon girl made friends and a few enemies at the Mustang Ranch and the Moonlite BunnyRanch, tried out a bit of snark in print, and learned the early joys of remote work with a dial-up internet connection. I was lucky to profile writers and poets including Gary Snyder, Teresa Jordan and Gary Short, and to review new books that tapped into the stranger and/or saner aspects of the West. My time at the RN&R gave me the inspiration to pursue my own writing career in New York, and later, partly as a result of covering the first environmental humanities conference in Reno (with naked tree-huggers on the front page who might still own up to it today), to extend my work into this field later in life. I hope even my academic writing gets some added juice from my time at the paper. Keep up the great work, especially in these trying times! —Heidi Hart, Winston-Salem, N.C. I’ve said that the key to writing well is to “remember that you were a reader before you were a writer.” Usually, I remember to mention that I borrowed that line from Salinger. He was writing about fiction, but it applies to journalism as well. Journalists shouldn’t invent stories, but they should write prose they’d want to read. Just like artists should make what they want to see, and musicians should make what they want to hear. I bring that up now, because, despite writing for the Reno News & Review in various capacities for more than 20 years, when I clear my mind and ask myself, “What does the RN&R mean to me?” I don’t picture myself writing stories, or editing pages, or coaching freelancers, or approving cover designs, or working late deadlining a big issue. No, I picture myself reading. I picture myself as a teenager, sometime in the late ’90s, sitting in the Truckee Bagel Company shop near Galena High School, devouring the newspaper while nibbling a sesame bagel with strawberry cream cheese. That’s right, I nibbled the bagel, but I devoured—I scarfed—the newspaper. It’s hard to imagine now just how important the RN&R was to a disaffected Reno teen like me back in ye olde 1990s. This was before social media, and the internet was still in its infancy. And, back then, Reno was a different place. It was, to put it politely, a hick town. There wasn’t much of interest here for creative young people. There was no Holland Project, and the casinos were geared toward adults. It was the kind of town that smart people, creative people, ambitious people and weird people just left. The kids I knew wanted to leave. The young adults I knew who had
already left were happy they had. It was so much better in Portland. But the RN&R didn’t fit that narrative. When I read the RN&R, I didn’t see a podunk paper about a podunk town. The RN&R staked a claim: Here was a forum for progressive voices that held the casinos and the smarmy politicians accountable. Here was a paper that knew bike lanes were important. (This was the 1990s, and that was a controversial opinion.) Here’s a newspaper where the writers said “fuck,” and they thought marijuana should be legal. Here’s a paper that reflected a city that takes its arts seriously. There were good bands here. Good artists. Good theater companies. Good restaurants. Great bars. And good writers. I remember laughing out loud while reading Bob Grimm’s movie reviews and Bruce Van Dyke’s columns. I remember reading Brian Burghart’s restaurant reviews—anybody else remember when Brian was the restaurant reviewer?—and Jimmy Boegle’s editor’s notes. I remember reading editorials that made me think about local issues in a way that I never had before. I remember feeling proud that such good writing existed in my town. I imprinted on the RN&R like some sort of baby animal in search of a mother. (Please forgive the “imprinted” pun.) The RN&R made me want to write for the paper. It made me think Reno was a town that would someday have a fantastic arts scene. And that’s partly because the RN&R covered the arts here, and empowered local artists to develop. The RN&R made me think Reno had potential. The RN&R convinced me that Reno was a place to live and to create.
RenoNR.com
|
| December 2023
continued on next page RN&R
|
15
continued from page 15 Over the years, as the city has changed and so have I, I’ve come slowly to regret my decision to stay here. The RN&R seduced me into loving Reno, and, for that, I’ll never forgive it.
A feisty weekly miracle: The first female ‘RN&R’ editor-in-chief waxes nostalgic
By Deidre Pike, former contributor and editor, now in Arcata, Calif. My stint at Nevada Weekly, the RN&R’s precursor, started in 1993 when editor Larry Henry assigned me a theater review and told me how to write it. In 2001-2002, I spent a heady year as editor-in-chief. In 2011, I wrote my last RN&R column, titled “Leaving Reno,” about my move to O‘ahu for a tenure-track job teaching journalism at the University of Hawai‘i. I was a cocksure college kid when I started writing for the paper. I didn’t know a damn thing. “Life is long and full of twists and turns,” I tell college journalists. These days, I teach journalism and advise The Lumberjack student newspaper at Cal Poly Humboldt in Way Northern California. Yup, I am that cringy college professor who tells stories from Back in the Day to illustrate lessons learned. Here are a few: Journalists get shit done. In 1995, I was a journalism major at the University of Nevada, Reno, and news editor of the Nevada Sagebrush. New RN&R editor R.V. Scheide assigned me a cover story about a Nevada Gaming Control employee charged with hacking gaming machines. Scheide said he needed 2,000-ish words in four days. He said I could do it. His faith in me fueled 106 hours of intense reporting and writing. I combed newspaper clips at the library. I made calls from my Sparks bedroom, interviewing Gaming Control sources and trying to reach the hacker, out on bail, in Vegas. I called every person with his last name in the phone book. Yes, phone book. Only privileged few then possessed what people called “email.” Four days later, I turned in my first RN&R cover story. I was on the road to fortune and fame with a check for $100. Tits up. In the 1990s and 2000s, altweeklies were progressive tabs most often run by snarky, hyper-educated white guys. Think David Carr, the brilliant editor of Washington City Paper. At the end of 2001, in dire, post16
|
RN&R
|
Beekun on the cover of the paper with a story written by local news legend Guy Richardson. Foto took Nadiah’s picture on a skateboard and playing basketball. The goal was to smush readers’ biases to smithereens. Foto won a Nevada Press Association award for his cover portrait of Nadiah. Were biases smushed? Good question. Embrace advocacy. A journalist’s job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, to quote fictitious booze slinger Mr. Dooley. It’s OK, I advise college journalists, to take a feisty position. Be transparent about it. Are we often preaching to the Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the RN&R was, for the only time in its choir? Sure. Hell history, run entirely by women editors, who decided to get a friendly, female, Muslim face on the cover ASAP. Nadiah Beekun was happy to oblige. yeah. Somebody’s gotta educate the allies. Sept. 11, no-advertising-revenue straits, I I tell students about the 2004 election was promoted from news editor to be the season when then-editor D. Brian Burghart RN&R’s first female editor-in-chief. The boss put President George Bush on the cover with didn’t hire a new news editor, so I did both devil horns and a forked tongue for my cover jobs with the help of editorial superheroines story “No More Years.” Admittedly, Horny Adrienne Rich and Carli Cutchin. The three Devil Bush might not be the best example of of us reveled in a news environment free from how to exercise freedom of the press. Image mansplaining. We juiced our ovaries all over ad hominem, though fun, does not an effective the paper, exploring birth control, girl skaters, argument make. Better to imagine alternatives, “Music With Mammaries,” women who were to challenge the corporate capitalist narrative religious leaders and “Getting Women Off the with stories about public transportation and Streets.” creative housing solutions. One of my favorite Carli cooked up an idea to re-create the cover stories explored the political idea of “American Gothic” painting for the 2002 anarchy as an alternative form of consensus Election Guide. David “Foto” Robert, governance for communities. photojournalist and our token male, took pics Bottom line, youngsters: Enjoy your First of stoic lesbians smoking weed, pitchfork in hand, in front of a school bus with the headline “Confused? Curious?” For coverage of Nevada’s Ballot Question 2, the so-called “Marriage Protection” act, our office bride-tobe put on her poofy white dress and gussied it up with a military helmet and an automatic weapon. Damn, that was a good cover. Don’t be boring. Design matters. Headlines matter. Whether you’re making social media or a print publication, gather engaging words and images. A couple months after Sept. 11, we put a photo of a Reno Muslim Nadiah
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
Amendment freedoms of speech and the press while you still can. Dictator-hopeful Trump thinks journalists are disgusting. Mistakes happen. Some confessions: In flood coverage, I misreported the flow of the Truckee River by a power of 10. Our high school intern caught the mistake. I once misidentified a police officer by the wrong last name throughout an entire profile of said officer. I didn’t catch a misspelled word on the paper’s cover. I tell my students that brain farts and typos happen. We correct our errors and move on. A print newspaper is a glorious miracle with tons of original content created on deadline. Who does this? Not academics. Don’t get me started. Journalists get shit done.
Fond memories of grueling work, wild times and stories that mattered
By D. Brian Burghart, former editor I haven’t been privy to the planning for this 30th anniversary issue of the Nevada Weekly/ Reno News & Review, but I know a bit about how journalists think, so I imagine there will be some thumb-sucking pieces about how impactful this newspaper has been, because writers in general and journalists in specific want to believe they made a difference. Take it from me: There were many people who worked at that paper who constantly thought about the newspaper’s place in Reno’s history. It was serious shit. I mean, did you ever meet Mike Norris or Dennis Myers? I wasn’t one of them. I stayed at that paper from 1993 until 2016—on and off—because it was a blast. I feel obligated to say, sure, there were parts of the job that sucked: low pay, the grind of deadlines, the mendacity of humans, excuses, excuses, excuses. But that’s stuff you get used to. It’s like adding a space after a period; you don’t even think about it. I remember the first time I heard of the Nevada Weekly. Mike Norris and Larry
THREE DECADES OF THE RN&R: READER COMMENTS A risk that paid off
Giving prominent blather space to dear Bruce Van Dyke was a risky proposition with trouble written all over it, but it paid off in spades. It was the cherry on top of each issue. Thanks, RN&R. —Steve Funk, Reno
Henry called me at my duplex in Stead and offered me $25 a week to do their nightclubs grid. The “clubs grid” was their method of showing all the live music that was happening in the region. They called me because I had a passing knowledge of QuarkXPress, the design application, from a magazine editing class. The job changed, but the pay didn’t. I worked more than 80 hours per week for that 25 bucks for … I can’t even remember how long. Don’t get me wrong; I was not alone in that office. I’d never seen commitment like I saw when we were trying to get that paper off the ground. I was also tending bar at San Pauli so I wasn’t broke, and Norris, Henry and Bill Martin generously gave me stock certificates in lieu of pay. Please forgive me as I just begin regurgitating anecdotlets. Thirty years of memories are impossible to relate in any kind of detail. Even if that’s only one memory a week, well, we were up to shenanigans almost every single day. It’s odd to include a recitation of happy memories with a difficult one, but I wrote a cover story, my first “true crime” story, about some murders that happened at U-Haul on Virginia Street. It was a horrific crime that took place in January 1994. I did my usual thing: discovered every detail in the public record, interviewed everyone I could and looked at the nightmarish photographs. My boss at the time wanted me to spin the story to focus on one of the killers’ low IQ results— he was up for the death penalty. The thing was, the murderer spoke English as a second language, and the IQ test was administered in English. He wasn’t low IQ, and I couldn’t bring myself to write it as though he was. I got fired. The editor, R.V. Scheide, and I eventually forgave each other, and we’re still good friends today, but it was a crucial lesson about that organization. I later witnessed the murderer’s execution, and those scars never healed. Of all the great covers that appeared on that fishwrap, the “butt” cover stands out in my mind. The story was “Invasion of the Tree Huggers,” and it was about a writers’ conference at Truckee Meadows Community College that focused on the environment. Photographer Don Dondero loaded Scheide, myself and Carmen Price into his Cadillac, bought us some peppermint schnapps, and drove us to Galena Park, where there were about two feet of fresh snow. We disrobed and tiptoed around to find a line of trees, which we wrapped our arms around, while Dondero shot too many iterations of the image. I don’t recall how many distribution points that cover got us kicked out of, but Dondero said it was the greatest photojournalism he ever did.
I think the Sherrie Doyle story was the first names of the people who sacrificed so much story I worked on with Jimmy Boegle after to make this paper exist won’t get cut, but I he became editor. A source I’d worked with don’t know who else will remember them. on other stories, Beth Miramon, came to me Bruce Van Dyke, Don Dondero and Dennis and basically laid out the documents showing Myers are fondly remembered. Still, there she’d given a city councilperson some $40,000 were others throughout the years who might in loans for her election efforts (and whatever get missed: Connie Phylis, Tracy Panzarella, else she wanted to spend it on). I can’t Reid Walley, Karl Larson, Jeff von Kaenel, remember how many felony counts she was Deborah Redmond, Don Button, David Jayne, charged with, but I do remember Doyle made Erik Espe, Wishelle Banks, Deidre Pike, Carli me sit and wait for her for four hours to do the Cutchin, Miranda Jesch, David Robert, Bob “hard” interview. Let me pass along this piece Wilkie, Eric Marks, Bob and Michael Grimm, of advice to public servants: If a reporter waits Kat Kerlin, Jeri Chadwell, Peter Thompson, four hours for you past a scheduled interview Erik Holland, Brad Bynum, Bob Speer, Jill time, you’d Kaiser, best slip out Melinda the back door. Welsh, Anne Man, the Lesemann, Christmas Laura parties, the Compton, Biggest Brad Little Best Summerhill, of Northern Kelley Lang, Nevada Jennifer parties, Friday Northcutt—I nights at the can’t begin Blue Lamp to think of (then Chewy all the people and Juggs, who deserve then the Green mentions for Room). The their serious arts festivals, contributions Nada Dada and to Reno’s Burning Man. cultural Sheesh, the lynchpin. arts scene and John the artists who Murphy fueled it. Our and I made Best Of artists! beautiful The music music and how we together for covered it. I a long time. Even though Don Dondero’s February 1996 cover photo shoot for an environment-themed writers’ conferece involved copious quantities of remember one Who could peppermint schnapps, it’s one that still sticks out in people’s memories. time I played forget all the roadie for freelance Phat Couch. We drove my 1964 Mercury Park writers and columnists, distribution drivers Lane to Sacramento. We snapped the drive and managers who got the paper out every on the distributor on the way home, about week, all the incredibly creative designers Auburn. A tow truck driver showed up just who made it look great, and, of course, all a few minutes later and said he’d drive us to the salespeople who had to try to explain why Reno for $100. We all rode in the backwardwe’d use the word “fuck” in a newspaper towed car, blasting rock ’n’ roll and smoking children might see? cigarettes. The thing was, the tow truck driver In researching this little remembrance, I had punctured the gas tank, and we were came across the first website I wrote in HTML spewing gasoline the whole way home. That while I was on family leave for the birth of story produced one of my favorite lines I ever my kid, Hunter. There are lots of pre-RN&Rwrote: “(Scott) Loring follows up his inquiry internet stories on there that aren’t available with a joke so foul that, after floating it past anywhere else. Some of the links are broken, everyone I talked to in the next few days, I like the links to the memories in my mind, but decided it was unsuitable for a fucking family I know some people will find some proof here newspaper.” of how impactful this newspaper has been, and I can’t imagine that a recitation of the that we did indeed make a difference. RenoNR.com
Working with Bruce Van Dyke was the best
By Bob Grimm, film reviewer I’ve been with the RN&R for 28 of its 30 years, writing the silly movie reviews. At the ripe old age of 27, I started faxing my reviews to the editors (they would later introduce me to the wonders of email), begging for a shot. I wanted Reno to have a local movie reviewer they could hate, and judging by many of the letters I’ve received throughout the decades, I think I succeeded. At the time I started reviewing films, movie reviews were still really “stuffy.” I wanted to write in a conversational way, like some dude barking at the screen from the back of the theater, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style. Having recently gone back and read some of my older submissions, including my very first (a scathing review of Wes Craven’s A Vampire in Brooklyn), I see that I haven’t changed much. I’ve worked with a lot of editors, too many to list, during my stretch. (Actually, I must list one here, the incomparable Jimmy Boegle! Thanks for bringing us back, Jimmy!) Many of my favorite writers and contributors are no longer present in the paper, including my beloved brother Mike’s now-dormant comic strips (“The Last Days of Roland & Cid” and “Apoca Clips” … hey, Mike, you need to start doing “Apoca Clips” again!) and perhaps my most favorite editorial column ever, “Notes From the Neon Babylon.” If I have anything I am most thankful for in regards to this publication, it’s that it got me closer to the author of “Neon Babylon,” my dear, departed friend, the absolutely brilliant and hilarious Bruce Van Dyke. Until my reviews started showing up in this paper, my relationship with Bruce was mostly work. I was a part-time DJ for him and had graduated to selling ads for his KTHX radio. My communications with him were brief (“Hey Grimm, I need you to do an overnight.” “Hey Bob, go make a cold call!”), but when he started to notice the reviews in the paper a few pages away from his own column, he invited me to share the airwaves with him on KTHX. For a few years, I got to sit in a room with Bruce and talk movies with him on Friday mornings—and those were some of the most fun times of my professional career. We were able to use his radio show as not just a platform for our banter, but to promote the paper itself, and I think those morning segments really helped to bring the paper into the limelight. We were also big fans of each other’s writing. Bruce would, sometimes, call me out continued on next page
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
17
continued from page 17 of the blue just because he was cracking up at some goofy line I put in one of my reviews. I would do the same when I’d catch some of his mind-blowing comedy in his column. He really was an amazingly insightful humorist and would often write things that he and only he could come up with. So, yeah, more so than my own wonderful, ongoing experience with RN&R, I just wanted to take this moment in time to celebrate the mighty BVD. For me, his contribution to this paper stands among its most prominent, most important and most scathingly hilarious. What a privilege it was to work alongside him— and know him. He will always be one of my heroes.
Photographing from the front row
I then presented photos of the mad-scientist rockabilly group The Atomics and their onstage whiskey baptism; Gunshot Licker, with the cow-punk slinky lead singer/ guitarist Stacey Tolle; and the Old West, with cadaverous, undertaker-looking, fierytwanging-guitar-playing Johnny Fingers. Larry said, “OK, you’re in,” and assigned me to shoot a local politician who was having domestic trouble. Larry and Brian said to photograph him up his nose. “What?” I thought. This was the antithesis of the type of photography that I was used to. Welcome to photojournalism! Larry was the first of six editors I was to work with over the years. Next was Jimmy Boegle, who is now the owner and publisher. Jimmy showed me the ropes of photojournalism, as he was a graduate from Stanford University. He took me from being a contributing photographer to being RN&R’s photo editor. Business cards and all! Thank you, Jimmy. He and I attended an Elton John concert at the Lawlor Events Center. This was the night I first heard term “shutter monkey,” which Jimmy said lovingly referring to photographers. I’ve fondly embraced this moniker. (Wait for my book, Confessions of a Rock ’n’ Roll Shutter Monkey.) Deidre Pike was a sweetheart of an editor; she pushed my photographic creativity and encouraged me to write more. She told me to write “like I was just telling someone a story.” She and I once worked on a story at the Moonlite BunnyRanch with owner Dennis Hoff. It was beyond surreal—like a Fellini film. After spending the evening observing
By David Robert, photo editor “A photographer walks into a bar.” It sounds like the beginning of a joke, right? But it was actually the beginning of my career in photojournalism. In the spring of 1998, I was photographing Reno’s burgeoning music scene on a Friday night. I strolled into the old Blue Lamp bar on Sierra Street to shoot the infamous band Phat Couch, with its colorfully flamboyant lead singer, Steve Foht, and groovy, crazy band. I ran into Brian Burghart, whom I had worked with back in the late ’80s at Eddie’s Fabulous ’50s casino and who was now the associate editor of the RN&R. He saw my camera and said, “Hey, we need a photographer at the RN&R.” I gave him my number and thought nothing more of it. On the following Monday, Brian called and asked to see my portfolio. I gathered up my “pretty” pics of landscapes, architecture and glamor portraits, and met Brian and then-editor Larry Henry (editor No. 1) at the Center Street office. Larry said, “These photos are great, but what did you shoot last weekend?” Eagerly, I pulled out a stack of photos of Phat Couch’s The beloved Bruce Van Dyke—late radio DJ and founder of KTHX boozy, debaucherous and later other stations—wrote the “Notes From the Neon Babylon” show with the wild, column for many years, a delicious cocktail of smarts, snark and a love of local culture that still inspires us. Photo/courtesy of Steve Funk neo-hippie audience. 18
|
RN&R
|
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
THREE DECADES OF THE RN&R: READER COMMENTS Dennis Myers’ exposure of a legislator’s racist writings
One of the most significant and dramatic impacts of the Reno News & Review on our entire state occurred when the publication ended Ira Hansen’s short run as speaker of the Assembly in the Nevada Legislature. In 2014, Republicans surprised everyone by winning the governor’s race, the Assembly and the Senate, taking full control of Nevada government for the first time since 1929. A few days after the election, the euphoric right wing of the Assembly Republicans elected two-term Sparks Assemblyman Ira Hansen over minority leader Pat Hickey, a moderate. Then-RN&R news editor Dennis Myers, whose friend Andrew Barbano had been writing for the Sparks Tribune for decades, recalled reading Tribune columns by Ira Hansen and decided to investigate them. Problem was, they weren’t available online and only existed on microfiche. So Dennis spent days at the University of Nevada, Reno, archives poring through Tribune newspapers by loading up thin sheets of film on a backlit view screen and reading 800 columns that Hansen wrote over a 13-year period. Dennis broke his blockbuster story in the Nov. 20 edition of the Reno News & Review, just days after Hansen’s election as speaker. He reported that Hansen had written dozens of derogatory pieces on women, gays, Blacks and other people of color, and that he kept a Confederate flag on his wall when he wrote his columns, saying: “I fly it proudly in honor and in memory of a great cause and my brave ancestors who fought for that cause.” Dennis unearthed dozens of other incendiary quotes like, “The relationship of Negroes and Democrats is truly a master-slave relationship, with the benevolent master knowing what’s best for his simple minded darkies. For American blacks, being denied choice and forced to attend the failing and inferior government school system is a form of involuntary servitude. Let's call it what it truly is—educational slavery.” And: “Considering only about 2 percent of adult males are homosexuals, the numbers show why homosexuals have been historically regarded as such a threat. Male homosexuals are grossly disproportionate in child molestation cases, and the youth orientation of male homosexuality drives this trend.” Other stories soon appeared throughout the state, like Ray Hagar’s story in the Reno Gazette-Journal noting that no prominent Republican had called for Hansen’s ouster. One day after the RGJ story, Kyle Roerink’s story in the Las Vegas Sun quoted Gov. Brian Sandoval as saying Hansen’s comments were “abhorrent.” That same day, The Washington Post ran a story that brought Nevada’s public embarrassment to the national arena. In those pre-Trumpian days when Republicans tried to shed the bigot and racist mantle, more and more Nevada Republicans like Sen. Dean Heller denounced Hansen. All of them cited the Reno News & Review’s reporting. For the next week, I remember obsessing over additional print, TV and radio stories featuring the controversy, and the building crescendo of voices from both parties calling for his ouster. About 10 days after Dennis’ story was first published, Hansen’s resignation as speaker made national news, with the Reno News & Review receiving due credit for breaking the story. —Bob Fulkerson, Reno
the behind-the-scenes goings-on at the Bunny Ranch, we joined pimpmeister Hoff and some of the “girls” for dinner at a Carson City Chinese restaurant. The restaurant’s owner’s wife was shooting looks like deadly daggers at her husband as he fawned over his flirtatious guests. Next up was Brian Burghart, the man who had kicked off this whole debacle for me. Brian said to me, “Do as I say, and we will win awards.” And awards, we won: 30-plus awards for photography from the Nevada Press Association, national awards for photography and design, general excellence for the paper overall, and far too many other awards for the RN&R to name here. Brian and I had many, many adventures together, like the time we were at a charity event, and a “McMascot” was there to add some color to the proceedings. Brian interviewed him for the 15 Minutes section of the paper and tried to get him to say whether he was indeed the real “McMascot.” The poor clown kept dodging Brian’s questions and was clearly flummoxed, as his answers became increasingly dodgy. He claimed to be the only true version of the character in the country—doubtful. That was some good comedy. Also, for a “24 Hours in Reno” story, Brian stayed awake for 24 hours wandering the city to see what was open and what was shakin’. I followed him around with my camera. I think that after hour 18, I scuffled off home to bed. I left the RN&R in 2008 and opened up my business, Biggest Little City Photography. The pandemic shut down the paper version of the RN&R, but when Jimmy bought the paper in January 2022, the “band” of sorts was put back together, and the paper soon returned to print. I came home to the RN&R with my next editor, Nevada Newspaper Hall of Famer Frank X. Mullen. Frank not only heroically held the paper together, but also reawakened the journalistic influence in me. Frank and I became fast friends and have headed off on many adventures, including our recent, precarious trek through the High Rock Canyon. It’s been a real treat to work with Frank, who has decades of award-winning journalistic experience and is always willing to share it with me and the writers. Accomplished art maven Kris Vagner (with whom I had worked with and collaborated with in the mid-2000s at the RN&R) is now the managing editor. Kris and I, too, have had some adventures, like the time we observed the creation of gigantic teapots (think Alice in Wonderland) in a kiln up in the freezing high desert in the middle of winter. Very cold weather, very hot kiln. At the RN&R, I’ve photographed everyone from the person on the street to movie stars
and from presidents to porn stars (clothed). (I’m sure that there is a joke in there about presidents and porn stars.) Yes, it’s been a long, beyond-strange trip, and I’m looking forward to many more years at the RN&R.
A couple of decades in ‘a front-row seat’
Kelley Lang, former arts editor and longtime calendar editor Thirty years is a long time, but it seems like yesterday when I wrote my first articles for the Nevada Weekly, in 1994. I was a journalism student at the University of Nevada, Reno, who needed to get some “real world” experience. The gig didn’t last long, and neither did the paper. A year later, the Nevada Weekly was sold to publishers Jeff von Kaenel and Deborah Redmond and renamed the Reno News & Review. In 1997, I got my first job working at the RN&R as an editorial assistant, which eventually evolved into the calendar editor position, a role I would occupy for the better part of my 20-odd years with the newspaper. I took event announcements that had been submitted to the calendar and condensed them down to the basics every week. It wasn’t a high-profile job like news editor or columnist, but I was content staying behind the scenes and playing a supporting role over the decades—from the early days when the RN&R was the plucky, new kid on the block through the latter years when it had grown to be a respected, award-winning newspaper. I had a front-row seat, watching the area’s politicians, activists and other movers and shakers, as well as local gadflies and other colorful characters, as they’d stop by the office to talk about important issues or just shoot the breeze with the editors. I had the opportunity to interview people from various walks of life and write about almost anything ranging from archaeological digs to swingers’ conventions. But the best part of the job was working with so many talented, creative and interesting people who made up the editorial, sales, office management and distribution departments of the newspaper over the years. We were all a part of this long, strange trip that almost came to an end in 2020. But thanks to our loyal readers and supporters, and the efforts of a few tenacious souls who kept the publication alive during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the RN&R has managed to make it to this milestone. Congratulations, Reno News & Review. May the next 30 years be as brilliant as your first.
LEARN TO POLE DANCE! Pole fitness is a fun and sexy way to exercise For all sizes, genders, and ages 18+ No dance or fitness experience necessary
Sign up at verticalbarrereno.com 1350 STARDUST ST. SUITE B ★ RENO
RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
19
ARTS
| BY DELANEY URONEN Elaine Parks chats with a viewer about one of her ceramic wall sculptures at the Northwest Reno Library. Photo/Kris Vagner
Discomfiting desert forms Elaine Parks conveys the sensibility of remote Nevada landscapes in uncanny sculptures When ceramicist and sculptor Elaine Parks moved to Tuscarora, Nev., from Los Angeles in 1999, there were 15 or so residents living in the remote desert community. Some were drawn to the area by the Tuscarora Pottery School, others by a sense of freedom and possibility. Today, she said, there are maybe two residents who split time between the Elko County locale and elsewhere, herself included. Parks first visited the area in 1998 while traveling for her master’s degree, which she 20
|
RN&R
|
earned from California State University, Los Angeles. Of the transition from growing up in one of the country’s most populous cities to one of its least, Parks said, “I guess I wanted a real contrast. I grew up going out to the desert around Apple Valley (Calif.) my whole childhood, so I wasn’t unfamiliar with being a desert rat. “I’ve always been really interested in nature. And then here I was. … You could see past civilizations all over, but they weren’t there
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
anymore. … I think that has seeped into my work very deeply.” This is the first winter that Parks will not be traveling back and forth between Tuscarora and Los Angeles (or Tuscarora and Reno, where she now lives full time) in almost a quarter-century. Instead, her ceramic works, like those featured in Fossils and Bones, her current exhibition up through Jan. 14 at the Northwest Reno Library, bring the marrow of the remote Nevadan desert to Reno.
As the current population of Tuscarora dwindles, evidence of past life is ever present in this hotspot of eternal return. “You cannot go walking without finding something, even if it’s a button from those days,” said Parks, speaking of the town’s silver-rush-era history. Before it drew white and Chinese prospectors to the region during a 20-year mining boom in the late 19th century, the area that is now Tuscarora was used by Shoshone and Paiute peoples. Parks said the desert sometimes reveals arrowheads, and even evidence of older epochs—via mineral remnants that indicate Paleolithic or Mesolithic occupation. “In the desert in particular, because you can see so far, things aren’t hidden,” said Parks. “Things might be buried, but when spring comes in, they heave up out of the ground, and there’s a new crop of stuff—rusty things, marbles, buttons. They’re kind of part of the landscape.” This desert manages to reshape materials of the distant and not-so-distant past until they resemble something of the ecosystem. Even inorganic materials, like discarded foam, might be easily mistaken for rocks after the desert takes them in and sculpts them through natural weather processes, Parks said. “Things get less clear, more fuzzy out there in particular,” she said. This has allowed her to “see haziness clearly … things aren’t quite so black and white, like where this kind of thing belongs or what it is. … It’s sort of like living in an unexplained gray area.” Parks’ artistic practice mimics these processes that turn the legible fuzzy. She works on her ceramic works for up to 20 or 30 hours, an investment she feels imbues the final pieces with a sense of the organic, and perhaps even makes them sort of artifacts in their own right. “You can see my hand in it, but I do spend a lot of time making sure when I join one part to another that those transitions are very natural and organic,” she said. “They don’t look constructed so much as grown.” The influence of this desert’s ambiguity is readily apparent in the ceramic sculptures that comprise Fossils and Bones. While the works are inspired by and resemble organic materials, closer examination will reveal that these pieces are not replicas of any one thing. Vertically extending structures composed of individually stacked ceramic segments conjure strong associations to something spinal—but, no, they’re not quite spines, either. More tubular pieces oscillate in their appearance between something like fossilized coral, sun-bleached bones or the cellular.
The exhibition’s vaguely organic forms yield an intense sense of familiarity but resist being pinned down into taxonomic classification. The resulting effect is one of overall uncanniness that Parks said can inspire anxiety in some viewers. “Some people were so definite: ‘Oh, that’s a fish. Oh, that’s a spine,’” she said. “They were almost hurrying to name it, like it made them uncomfortable to not have that answered. It’s almost like there’s some fear. Which is OK.” This power of her ceramic sculptures to resist identification and inflict discomfort by way of the uncanny is productive, Parks said. “You take a second look, and maybe it sticks in your brain a little longer. If you can name it right away, then you can put it away—you’re done. So maybe this keeps it from being finished.” Fossils and Bones, an exhibit by Elaine Parks, is on view at the Northwest Reno Library, at 2325 Robb Drive, through Sunday. Jan. 14. This article was produced by Double Scoop. Full disclosure: Parks is a member of Double Scoop’s board of trustees.
Both of the sculptures in the top photo are titled “Bone Stack” and are made mostly from clay. Many of Parks’ sculptures resemble materials and forms from nature, such as “Coral Forms” (above), which is made of clay. Photos/Kris Vagner RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
21
ARTS
| BY ZOE DIXON Swifties gathered at the Virginia Street Brewhouse on Nov. 10 for The Taylor Party, a nationwide series of DJ dance parties. “Since Taylor Swift is so good at creating a strong fanbase, there’s this sense of comradery as people enter the venue,” said Allie Robertson, the event’s DJ. Photo/ Eric Marks are perfect for Swifties. “They would never just play ‘August’ or ‘Illicit Affairs’ in any random club, but I know Swifties would appreciate belting those out,” Robertson said. “The crowd of Swifties is way more engaged, because everyone already comes with this preconceived notion that they’re going to have a good time. Since Taylor Swift is so good at creating a strong fanbase, there’s this sense of comradery as people enter the venue.”
A model for empowerment
Swifties united Taylor Swift’s unstoppable fandom is going strong in Reno—and everywhere else Loud bass music rattled the glitter on the floor. Sparkly high heels jumped up and down. Women of various ages (but few men) chanted lyrics in unison. The Taylor Party is a dance party like no other. The event, which has around 50 dates coming up nationwide, came to Reno’s Virginia Street Brewhouse on Nov. 10, and Swifties, or Taylor Swift fanatics, were ecstatic to attend this wonderland of a party. “I’m here to have fun and dance my ass off,” said Jamie Clark, who has been a fan of Swift for 15 years. “I have casually listened to her my whole life, but have gotten more into her in the past three months,” said Elizabeth Fletcher, a 19-year-old student at the University of Nevada, Reno. “I feel like she makes something that everyone can enjoy, with so many different genres.” 22
|
RN&R
|
Forever fangirls
“This crowd is a pretty enthusiastic one,” said Nicky Clark, the host of the evening from JMAX Productions, as she explained what goes into planning the event. “The company that organizes these parties sends DJs out to different clubs. As a promoter, we operate different shows like this one—Shrek Rave, Emo Night, and Disco Party. They’re all part of a company that we buy the party from, so they send the people, and we find a place for it.” The Taylor Party is an event by TSN Parties, a Pittsburgh-based company that is not officially connected with Taylor Swift or any of her business ventures. They have other events, too, like Western Dreamland: A Country and Disco Party; Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa Rave; and Sapphic Factory. The Taylor Party was born after its Swiftie founder, Josh Bakaitus, threw a Taylor Swift-themed birthday party at a venue for his Swiftie wife. It was so popular that he started to make these events a regular occurrence.
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
“One day, Josh messaged me on Instagram and asked if I liked Taylor Swift and if I wanted to DJ at these parties,” said Allie Robertson, the DJ for the Reno event. “It was like this serendipitous thing, because I’m obsessed with Taylor Swift, and the other DJs are like the same type of people as me. It was this super-niche demographic for me that worked out so perfectly.” Robertson has been amazed by Swift since the first concert she saw when she was 13 years old. Once she got into DJing during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she learned that the profession included more than good musical taste: She needed to learn technical details so she could travel the country playing music for Swifties nationwide. Robertson aims for high energy levels among the crowds by dancing like she would with her own friends. Since she is a part of the demographic to which the event caters, she knows how to play the songs she knows
Members of this fandom often cite the relatability of Swift’s lyrics as a driving force behind their connection to her music. “I feel like she speaks to a lot of real female experiences, and there’s a lot of empowerment to that,” said Cassie Stewert, a 29-year-old bartender. “She relates to a lot of people and makes us feel things.” Others attended because they respond to the emotions Swift’s lyrics bring out. “I was in a really bad first marriage when 1989 came out,” said Mai Floyd, a 31-year-old photographer from Sparks. “When I was in a low place, I would go drive and listen to that album on repeat. With the re-release, I’m trying to replace all those bad memories with good ones, just like Taylor Swift is doing now.” Yet others admire Swift for her business sense—especially after she re-recorded her first six albums (four of which have so far been re-released), tagging each song she re-released as “Taylor’s Version” to regain ownership of songs to which she had lost the rights. “She’s also a businesswoman—she knows how to do her shit,” said Amber McAllester, a 29-year-old sales rep, as she danced. “She’s very smart when it comes to marketing, but she also sees things that are wrong with the industry and stands up for herself.” The Taylor Party has approximately 50 dates coming up nationwide. In Reno, an event called Enchanted Ball, part of the “22 & Good 4 U” event series celebrating Taylor Swift, is scheduled for 9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 2, at Cypress Reno, 761 S. Virginia St., in Reno. Tickets are $15-$20, and the show is 18+. For more tickets or more information, find the event on Eventbrite.
ART OF THE STATE
| BY JESSICA SANTINA Eric Heiselt, left, and Mark Taxer in the 2022 Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert.
Make the yuletide gay The Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus is a multi-demographic fan favorite When Steven Meyer left the soon-to-bedefunct Nevada Opera in 2011, he found himself without a creative outlet. Meyer had been singing with the Nevada Opera since he was 16 and had even stepped in for a while to help run it. After the opera’s demise, Meyer’s friend, Ted Owens, called him with a proposition. “Ted was the artistic director with the
Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus. He called me up and said, ‘I really need more singers—would you please come and sing?’” Meyer said. “I went to one rehearsal, and I was like, ‘OK, this could be fun.’ Here I am, 11 years later.” Founded in 2009, the NGMC began as a chorus of 16 men who performed at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Reno. It had a small but loyal following, but it wasn’t until
Owens, a music professor at Truckee Meadows Community College, took over in 2011 that NGMC started to take off. Meyer, who greatly respected Owens, went on to become president of the organization and, eventually, its executive director. Though Owens recently stepped down, Meyers credits him for making NGMC the success it is today. In the last 12 years, the chorus has continued to grow its membership and fan base. Though it has had as many as 45 people perform at once, Meyer says it averages around 25 singers and regularly packs houses. Last year’s holiday concert at Nightingale Concert Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno, filled 540 seats. You don’t have to be a gay man to sing in the chorus. “As I said in a radio interview, you can be a banana, and you can join our group if you can sing in the male voice register,” Meyer said. “As long as you’re an ally, you can join us, and we’re always recruiting.” NGMC presents its own major programs twice a year—around Memorial Day weekend and during the holiday season—and it makes additional appearances at local events (like parties, the Sparks Hometowne Christmas Parade, Reno Aces games and even a women’s roller derby) and accompanies other performing groups, such as the Reno Chamber Orchestra and Reno Wind Symphony. Until fairly recently, the group performed in traditional style, with holiday shows mostly composed of classic and sacred favorites sung in your standard choral line. But audiences increasingly began asking for updated musical selections and a bit more pizzazz. “Our audience really wanted more entertainment value, not just a stand-and-sing chorus, especially after COVID, when people could watch a choir online,” he said, adding that more than 800 people watched NGMC’s
livestreamed concert in 2020. “They wanted to see dancing, and they wanted action, and they wanted to laugh.” Under Meyer’s direction, NGMC retooled, adding songs with broader appeal, guest artists, dance numbers and more flexible venues. NGMC’s upcoming holiday show, “A Holly Jolly Holiday Spectacular,” will take place Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, at the new Proctor Hug High School’s state-of-the-art, 400seat theater. It will feature both secular and nonsecular tunes, with a few specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, under guest music director Dominique Christian Dale Gonzales. The Conservatory Dance Theater will perform dance numbers with the chorus, and assistant music director Aaron Long will provide piano accompaniment. Even the ushers will be special guests—local titleholders from the Miss USA pageant. All of NGMC’s shows, Meyers emphasized, are family friendly. “We’re definitely trying to give the audiences what they want,” he said. “Our biggest thing is to try and knit the community together and be one of the LGBTQ faces for the public and build bridges.” Considering the recent outcry concerning the transgender and LGBTQ+ performers slated for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it’s worth noting that even when NGMC performed exclusively at a church, it has always received a warm reception. “I don’t know of any resistance,” Meyer said, adding that the chorus has performed at several area churches of varying denominations. “They’ve all been very open and accepting. … It’s just wonderful how people accept us with open arms.” The Nevada Gay Men’s Chorus’ “A Holly Jolly Holiday Spectacular” will take place at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, at Proctor Hug High School, 3530 Sullivan Lane, in Sparks. Tickets are $25; $20 for seniors; and $10 for students. For tickets or more information, visit NevadaGMC.org.
Bruce Van Dyke Radio 6-10am daily: BVD in Xville
His full morning shows on KTHX-FM circa 1993-96
10a-6a: BVD's 4000 handpicked-for-Jive tunes from Shpongle to James Brown with vintage Bruce voice breaks from Xville at the top of every hour.
jiveradio.org/bvd
"Alexa, play: bruce van dyke radio" RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
23
FILM
| BY BOB GRIMM Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon.
Half of a good movie Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ feels over-edited and incomplete; Eli Roth turns his ‘Grindhouse’ trailer into bloody ‘Thanksgiving’ mayhem Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, the director’s take on the military career and love life of the legend, feels like half of a movie—but that half of a movie is pretty good, thankfully. Joaquin Phoenix steps into the title role, and while his performance still includes some of the usual offbeat/weird takes for which he is known, this is one of his more restrained performances. He actually makes Napoleon Bonaparte look semi-normal; he has a few rants, but he’s mostly a quiet and sensible gent. I’m guessing a lot of twisted moments wound up on the cutting-room floor. There’s internet buzz, fueled by Scott himself, suggesting there is a four-hour cut of the film that will eventually hit Apple TV. (The one in theaters is a little more than 2 1/2 hours long.) Napoleon Bonaparte is a grand figure, and Phoenix flavors his characterization with some wacky, childish and eccentric personality traits at times, yet it all seems a bit “edited.” Perhaps a true fleshing out of Scott’s vision will bring it all home. Phoenix must have done some crazy stuff for the cameras. Come on … it’s Napoleon!
3
12345 24
|
RN&R
|
The guy had to be nuts! Phoenix plays by the standard biopic rules for much of the running time—wear the hat, ride the horse, rouse the troops, etc. He’s good, but this calls for something great. That said, this theatrical cut certainly has its moments, and it’s peppered with the sort of visual ambition that has propelled Scott’s career since the ’70s. There are art-direction moments that are among the best in 2023; this is just not the movie event for which a lot of us were hoping. The battle at Waterloo stands out, as does a sequence involving frantic soldiers and horses falling through ice, with their blood creating bright red clouds underwater. Scott does a good job of showing the chaos of the French legal system, including the coups and, most notably, the sad beheading of Marie Antoinette. The film has Napoleon in attendance for her death, but I don’t think that’s historically accurate. (Actually, there’s probably a lot of stuff in this movie that’s historically inaccurate.) Vanessa Kirby gives a fine performance as Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sometimes-disinterested eventual queen. Their relationship squabbles provide some of the film’s best drama, as well as a few good laughs. Rupert Everett is especially memorable as the Duke of Wellington, the British commander who, along with the Prussians, handed Mr. Bonaparte his eventual defeat at Waterloo, and exiled him to a lonely island death. Everett’s cold, calculated
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
approach to the role might be the film’s most fully realized performance. In this day and age of extended cuts and theatrical limited television series, I want to see more. I want to see more of Napoleon going crazy in the off hours. I want to see more of Josephine’s story before her marriage and after her exile. I want more of Napoleon hanging out on a fly-infested island, still walking around in his funny hat. And most importantly, I want to see some of Napoleon’s infamous visit to a waterpark with Bill and Ted, where he consumed copious amounts of ice cream. (Oh, wait … that actually didn’t happen. He never did meet Keanu Reeves.) The final verdict is still out on Ridley Scott and his Napoleon. It’s Ridley’s fault that I am being greedy, because he dangled the director’s cut carrot yet again. Here’s hoping this first cut is nothing but a sampler of a grander, crazier vision to come. Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez released their cult-classic double-feature, Grindhouse, and the project featured some glorious, disgusting fake trailers. Two of those trailers, Machete and Hobo With a Shotgun, were eventually made into full movies, while another, Thanksgiving—a contribution from horror director Eli Roth—was rumored to become a full movie for years. More than 16 years later, it’s finally happened, and Roth’s Thanksgiving is pretty faithful to its fake-trailer origins, while being a solid, satisfying and grossly funny contribution to the slasher genre. Roth isn’t reinventing the wheel with this one, but he is providing a lot of gory fun for those of us who like our holiday-themed splatter-fests. The passage of time since Grindhouse has allowed Roth to include a new element—that being the riots on Black Friday, when shoppers work themselves up into a frenzy over big deals
3
Gina Gershon and Patrick Dempsey in Thanksgiving.
and free toasters, often resulting in bloodshed. Thanksgiving uses this unfortunate cultural phenomenon as the springboard for this movie’s killer, somebody who dresses up as a pilgrim and hunts people responsible for a Black Friday catastrophe that resulted in deaths in the sleepy town of Plymouth, Mass. The kills are creative and often quite disgusting, in that sort-of harmless, gory movie kind of way. There are plenty of nods to the original fake trailer, including the infamous trampoline sequence and a mascot having a hard time during a parade. The movie does play like a Scream movie at times, but Roth manages to keep it deranged enough to feel fresh. This is Roth’s best horror film since the original Hostel came out in 2005. (He’s made some stinkers since, including the awful Hostel sequel and the terrible The Green Inferno.) It’s good to see him having fun in the genre again—and it’s great to have a worthy addition to the holiday slasher-film sub-genre. Please Don’t Destroy, the comedy troupe consisting of Martin Herlihy, John Higgins and Ben Marshall—routinely the best thing about Saturday Night Live thanks to the troupe’s brilliant short films—gets its first feature-length movie with Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. The movie has a lot of good laughs stretched over a plot that wears a bit thin in its second half, but the movie is good-natured and funny enough to be worth your while, especially if you are familiar with PDD. Things start strong as we see the boys reporting to work at the Scheel’s-like megastore Trout Plus, where Ben’s angry father (the one and only Conan O’Brien, killing it in the role) longs for his son to take life seriously and stop feeding bread to the turtles. While Ben seeks fatherly love, Martin is preparing for an adult baptism to impress his girlfriend (Nichole Sakura), and John combats loneliness. While surfing nature porn, John discovers that a relic he has in his possession contains a map to the Treasure of Foggy Mountain, which eventually results in the boys going on a wilderness trek. The camping stuff is funny enough, but things get a little tired when they encounter a cult led by SNL’s Bowen Yang. Despite the plot going a little off track, the laughs remain consistent—in the same, silly way their SNL shorts provide humor. The guys revel in nonsense, and it’s hard to watch them for any length of time without giggling. That said, a film where they’d just stayed at Trout Plus and dealt with daily life, or a movie with them getting lost in the woods without the treasure hunt and cult stuff, might’ve been preferable. Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is now streaming on Peacock.
3
LIQUID CONVERSATIONS
Once you get a taste
| BY MICHAEL MOBERLY
Lacie and Doug Flannery, transplants from Chicago and owners of the new Mt. Rose Wine Co. at the Summit Reno, are hooked on Reno. Photo/David Robert
Meet the owners of the new Mt. Rose Wine Co. I often tell people that once you get a taste of Reno, it’s hard not to want that full bottle. Among the people who exemplify this are the owners of Reno’s newest wine bar, bottle shop and tasting room, Lacie and Doug Flannery. Their Mt. Rose Wine Co. is located at the Summit Reno mall, nestled sweetly at the base of Mount Rose like a beacon of après-ski. I sat down with the new owners on their opening day to discuss why they chose Reno as their new home—and the inspiration for their new business. “Once we sold our wine bar in Chicago, we knew we wanted to move out West,” said Lacie. The couple wanted to find a new home between California and Oregon’s wine countries. “We had been coming here for years, and we could not believe this perfect little pocket of a community exists,” said Lacie. But it wasn’t just the proximity to some of the world’s finest vines that brought them here. “We want to ski in the morning and have our business in the afternoon,” Doug said. The Flannerys have leaned into Reno’s laid-back vibe and love of nature, attributing to our community a European style of worklife-leisure balance in comparison to many places in the U.S. But Lacie and Doug are driven by more than just a desire to live that sweet West Coast lifestyle; a true passion for wine is the light behind their eyes. They’re
especially interested in sharing their love for small-production wines. “We built trust with our previous wine shop by having unique and fun things by the glass, but also not just taking our tastes into account,” Doug explained as he walked me through their vision for their eight rotating wines by the glass. “We are the staff; you will get to know our faces.” I often am skeptical of new folks coming to town and opening a bar right away. I want to make sure new business owners understand the values and tastes of our community. But Lacie said something that made me have a bit more faith in their vision: “We are in no hurry. We want to be here; want to be a part of our community, not just feed off of it.” One example: Doug served in the U.S. Navy for 31 years, and when approached to support the Northern Nevada Veterans Alliance, he and Lacey jumped at the opportunity. “We are at the point in our lives that we want to have those ties and to give back to our community,” he said. With plans for wine-tasting events, and an arm of their business that takes people on curated wine adventures, the Flannerys are diving into the Northern Nevada wine scene head-first. “We are transplants who should have lived in Reno all along,” Lacie said with a smile. Learn more at mtrosewineco.com. RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
25
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN
Happenings
BEST 3 THINGS
The Nog Off returns to Shanty Dolan’s at 211 Keystone Ave., in Reno, at 5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 2. Guests can enjoy music, raffles, food from the Silver Rush Grill food truck, and a photo booth. Toy donations are encouraged. Buy tickets ($30 in advance, or $40 at the door) at Shanty Dolan’s, and follow along for updates on the bar’s Instagram: www.instagram. com/shantydolans. Craft Wine & Beer, at 22 Martin St., in Reno, is hosting a Vintage Market from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 16. Guests can grab a drink from the main shop and head to Craft’s back room to peruse gift items from a selection of vendors who specialize in vintage clothes, books and accessories. Learn more at www. craftreno.net. The Chocolate Nugget Candy Factory is hosting a Winter Wonderland celebration at 611 Highway 395, in New Washoe City, from 3 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 16. This free-admission event is family-focused, and guests are encouraged to bring cameras, because Santa Claus will be in attendance. From more information, find the details on Eventbrite.
Thali, located in the West Street Market, serves up a hearty, hard-to-resist Samosa chaat— crispy samosas, two to a bowl, smothered in chana dal and topped with yogurt and tamarind chutney. Photo/David Robert
Openings
Midday nosh Brunch treats beyond bacon, scrambled eggs and toast
The Pete’s Meat BBQ food truck, equipped with state-of-the-art smokers, recently celebrated its grand opening, offering Texas-style craft barbecue to the Reno/Sparks area. Visit petesmeatbbq. com to learn where the truck will be will be serving meals in December. Popular local breakfast and lunch spot Squeeze In has announced that it will be ringing in 2024 with a new restaurant in Fernley, specifically at the Fernley continued on next page 26
|
RN&R
|
| BY MAUDE BALLINGER
I’ve never been a breakfast person. The so-called “most important meal of the day” is so not my thing. My brain is barely online by 9 a.m., and forcing myself to endure a paste of overnight oats, a bowl of cereal or a power bar before the sun is up simply because “science says so” has to be one of the most pleasure-devoid, utilitarian ways to think about food. Ergo, praise be to brunch—those hearty meals predicated by the question, “What sounds good today?” Oh, the romantic anticipation of a beautiful meal, smack dab in the middle of the day, when I get to enjoy my food in fully conscious bliss. This month’s best three things are only available during the first half of the day, and they stray from the standard bacon, eggs and toast. In fact, each of these three menu items is beautifully prepared and exceptional in quality, making for a delicious, worthy pause that I hope everyone can take amidst the holiday pandemonium.
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
What: Samosa chaat Where: Thali, 148 West St., Reno; available 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday Price: $7.99 Contact: 775-470-5898; www.thalireno.com When I think of Thali, I think of flavor. Thali’s expertise in spices and commitment to organic, sustainable ingredients has made the West Street Market hotspot a local favorite since 2016. While I adore the bottomless dinners, I recently visited for lunch and was utterly delighted by the samosa chaat: a bowl of two crispy samosas (savory pastries filled with spiced potato, onion and peas) smothered in chana dal (chickpea curry) and topped with yogurt and tamarind chutney. Breaking off a piece of crispy samosa and scooping it with a spoonful of the curry was an experience—the warm spices, cooling tang of the yogurt and pop of sweetness from the chutney created an irresistible flavor bomb. Next time, I will order an extra side of yogurt and naan to make the most of the bowl until the very last bite.
What: Turkish eggs Where: Claio, 3886 Mayberry Drive, Suite D, Reno; available 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Friday-Sunday Price: $19.75 Contact: 775-657-8554; claiorotisserie.com A decade ago, weekend brunch for me included a search for who had the cheapest bottomless mimosas. Now, it means food worth leaving the cozy respite of my apartment. Claio, without a doubt, offers just that. Claio, Perenn Bakery’s sister concept, focuses on “Greek-ish” inspired fare and recently began offering brunch. While the entire menu looks fabulous, I opted for the Turkish eggs—a plate laden with a pillow of silky labneh (Greek yogurt’s Mideastern cousin) topped with fried eggs, crispy chickpeas, blistered cherry tomatoes, melted Aleppo pepper butter, herbs and spices. I ordered it with the Israeli bagel, a bready, oval-shaped confection that became the conveyor of each unique bite. The Turkish eggs are a great example of a choose-your-own-adventure type of dish where each bite can be a bit different, and seemingly more delicious than the last. On your way out, be sure to get a pastry for later—the twice-baked baklava croissant is implausibly delicious. What: Verdis chilaquiles Where: Los Chilaquiles, 3380 S. McCarran Blvd., Reno; available daily 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Price: $14.99 without added protein Contact: 775-622-8966; www.instagram.com/ loschilaquilesbreakfast Chips as a meal? Sign me up. Chilaquiles—tortilla chips tossed and pan-friend in salsa—is one of my favorite brunch foods, and Los Chilaquiles does them well. I love the verdis, which features a bright, zesty green sauce topped with crema, queso fresco and the option to add a choice of protein—I typically go for eggs over-easy, as the runny yolk adds to the texture of the dish. There are many different chilaquiles options at Los Chilaquiles, all of which are served with the most perfectly seasoned black beans and cheesy mushroom potatoes. The attention to detail and presentation are notable, as most everything is served on beautiful Mexican clayware, and drinks—like horchata—are served with a fresh flower garnish. From the quality and quantity of the food, to the friendly service, a meal at Los Chilaquiles is worth every penny.
WINE
| BY STEVE NOEL
continued from Page 26
Ty Martin, owner of Craft Wine & Beer, shows some examples of “natural” wine. While the term carries no legal weight, it typically means that the grapes are organic, and the wine contains no additives. Photo/David Robert
Kwanzaa
Founded in 1966 by American activist, author and professor Maulana Karenga, this holiday is based on African harvest festivals and was created to reaffirm and restore African heritage. This celebration lasts seven days and involves song, dance, storytelling and a candle-lighting ceremony that represents the seven principles of Kwanzaa. If you are celebrating Kwanzaa with wine, I recommend a wine from South Africa. There are many high-quality producers there, and many of these wineries, or “wine farms,” as they are known there, are owned and operated by members of South Africa’s Black community. Two wine varieties that are really outstanding from South Africa are chenin blanc and pinotage.
Winter solstice
Toast the season Wine suggestions for every December holiday Happy holidays! I find it odd that some people get offended by the phrase “happy holidays”; after all, it allows people to convey their best wishes when we are not sure which, if any, of the winter festivals a person celebrates. During the time between Thanksgiving and the new year, many of us celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice— and/or even Festivus. The good news is, whichever winter holidays you celebrate, there is a wine with which to enjoy them. I spoke with Ty Martin, the owner of Craft Wine & Beer in Reno. “Few customers come into the store specifically looking for a holiday themed wine,” he said. “However, they are looking for a special wine to share with friends and family while celebrating the holidays.” Here are some of my ideas for fun holiday wine selections.
Hanukkah
Hanukkah is observed for eight days and nights, making for lots of great wine opportunities. If you celebrate Hanukkah, or have friends who do, I recommend drinking a wine from Israel. Israel has been producing some
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN
really nice wines in recent years, including conventional and kosher ones. In order for a wine to be kosher, a Sabbath-observant Jew must supervise the entire winemaking process, from crushing to bottling, and any additives must also be certified kosher. Most wine varieties from Israel are classic French varieties that were introduced there by Baron Rothschild back in the late 1800s.
Christmas
Christmas offers a lot of options for wine, thanks to Christmas parties, and celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Many of us have our own special memories and traditions around Christmas—I know I do, and many of my memories are wrapped around Old World visions of Santa Claus. These traditional Santa memories transport me back to jolly old England, France or Germany. While I wouldn’t drink it every day, around Christmastime, I like to drink mulled wine, because of its Old World Christmas fair. There are a few readymade mulled wines, but I recommend you make your own. There are many different recipes to fit anyone’s tastes, and I dare you to drink some without the Christmas tune “Here We Come A-Wassailing” popping into your head.
If you are more spiritual than religious and celebrate the cycles of the Earth, I’m sure you will be celebrating the winter solstice. This year, it occurs on Dec. 21. This marks the time when days start to get longer, and the themes of rebirth and renewal are celebrated. I believe the best wines to celebrate this are natural wines. “I am seeing more people coming into the store asking about natural wines,” Martin told me. “However, there are no official regulations on what the term ‘natural wine’ means.” In other words, any wine producer can label their wines as “natural,” regardless of how they are made, but typically, a wine labeled “natural” will be made from organic or bio-dynamically grown grapes, fermented with no added yeasts, and processed with no added elements like sulfur.
Village Marketplace, 1480 Highway 95A North. The location marks the seventh Nevada location—with more planned—in this independent chain that originated on Main Street in Truckee. Learn more at squeezein.com. Coffeebar has opened its newest location in the Northstar ski resort at 3001 Northstar Drive, in Truckee. The expansion marks the ninth Coffeebar location in Nevada and California. The newest location features the café’s signature items such as locally roasted coffee drinks, tea, pastries, breakfast burritos and frittatas; www.coffeebar.com. Truckee’s newest ramen spot, RAKKAN Ramen, has opened at 10001 Soaring Way, Unit 160, serving all plantbased broths. “We’re thrilled to bring the authentic flavors of Japan to the North Tahoe food scene,” said Ryohei Ito, the CEO and founder of the international chain, which started in 2011 in Tokyo. “The team put so much effort into every aspect of the restaurant. We are happy to invite the Truckee community to try the rich flavors of traditional ramen cuisine.” Get details at rakkanramen.com.
Festivus
Created by author Daniel O’Keefe, Festivus is celebrated on Dec. 23 as an alternative to the commercialism of the Christmas season. Festivus became widely known after it was the subject of an episode of Seinfeld in 1997. It is both a form of playful consumer resistance and a parody of other holiday festivals. I feel Festivus is a holiday of the people—and should be celebrated with a wine of the people. Take a stroll down your supermarket wine aisle, and grab the biggest box of wine they have, or something that comes in a gallon-sized jug. Tell everyone it is a parody of a fine holiday wine. Feel free to follow my holiday wine suggestions, or better yet, follow Ty’s advice: “At the end of the day, one should choose a wine that feels a little special. … Mostly, it should be something that makes you smile, and something that you really want to share.” RenoNR.com
Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino, at 111 Country Club Drive in Incline Village, has debuted its “Bubbles by the Lake” Sunday brunch under the direction of Istvan Erdos, the new executive sous chef of Lone Eagle Grille. The menu offers a three-course brunch with lakeside views, for $70. For more information, visit www.loneeaglegrille. com/restaurant-menu. Have local food, drink or restaurant news or information? Email me at foodnews@renonr.com. —Maude Ballinger
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
27
MUSICBEAT
| BY MATT BIEKER Sharon Hickox, a musical therapist at NMTS, often works with patients struggling with mental ailments—including inmates at the Washoe County Detention Facility. Photo/David Robert
Healing sounds Note-Able Music Therapy Services, treating health issues for a decade-plus, now also serves inmates The healing power of music is often spoken of metaphorically. Going to see our favorite band, listening to the album we’ve been waiting months for, or jamming with some friends in the garage are all simply “good for the soul,” and not necessarily a prescription for any specific ill. But at Reno’s Note-Able Music Therapy Services (www.nmtsreno.org), music is used in a clinical, scientific setting to help treat neurological conditions, behavioral health issues and physical disabilities. “We are using music very intentionally to address social, physical and mental health needs in our community,” said NMTS founder and executive director Manal Toppozada. Toppozada came to Reno with a master’s degree in music therapy in 1999, when music therapy services in the city were virtually nonexistent. Her first initiative took place outside of a formal health care setting: She started a band. “I started a music class for people with disabilities,” she said. “I put up a few fliers, and on the very first day of the class, I had about two dozen people show up … hauling amplifiers and guitars. Over the next couple of months, they named themselves the Note-Ables.” The Note-Ables became a musical-education initiative and performing group for musicians with disabilities, scheduling public performances throughout the year. As interest in the group grew, Toppozada recognized the need it filled in a traditionally underserved community, and in 2003, she filed for the Note-Ables to become an official nonprofit. “I hired my first music therapist, and we 28
|
RN&R
|
just realized that this community had this really deep need for creative expression, and this need to be heard and seen,” she said. “They have so much to say and so much to offer, and music is the perfect vehicle for us to offer that through.” In 2012, the Note-Ables changed its name to Note-Able Music Therapy Services to reflect the shifting goals of the organization and its broader mission. While the Note-Ables band still exists and performs, NMTS incorporates adaptive musical therapy services via in-house classes and also contracts with local health care facilities. NMTS now employs 11 full-time staff and is on track to treat more than 3,000 people this year—but treating that many people doesn’t just involve teaching them to play an instrument. Instead, NMTS’ approach to music therapy exploits the still-mysterious cognitive link between music and the human brain for medical purposes. “We take all of the science that we’ve learned about how our brains process music, and we apply it to working with people who have Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, strokes, to help with motor function, cognition and speech,” Toppozada said. “For people with Parkinson’s, you can actually share and work with somebody for 12 weeks, and you can help them improve the cadence of their gait, their speed, the fluidity, and all of those things can help reduce the shuffling and some of those issues that lead to falling. I can help people be independent for longer in their lives.” The inherent qualities of music like repetition and rhythm are uniquely suited to help people with physical disabilities, because music is interpreted differently in the brain than speech or movement. Toppozada even mentioned working with stroke victims who cannot speak but, through treatment, are eventually able to sing—a
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
powerful revelation to patients and their families. But the power of music isn’t just limited to physical challenges. Sharon Hickox, a musical therapist at NMTS, often works with patients struggling with mental ailments like addiction, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In treating these populations, music’s social and emotional components are especially useful. “With addiction, we do some song sharing where people have songs that have meant something to them, and we talk about the lyrics,” Hickox said. “A lot of times, there are songs that people listen to when they were high and stuff— so how do we reconcile? How do I listen to that song in a different way in my new life?” For the past four years, Hickox and other therapists have spent time treating a community disproportionately affected by addiction, mental-health disorders and behavioral problems, in a setting that’s far from conducive to healing—the Washoe County Detention Facility. In 2019, as part of Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam’s request to bring more educational and therapeutic resources into the jail, NMTS was contracted to provide music therapy to inmates struggling with mental health problems. These patients are housed in a different unit from the general population and often exhibit antisocial proclivities as a result of their conditions. “We do twice-a-week music-therapy sessions there, regardless of any holidays,” Hickox said. “They like to do song-sharing a lot. We can’t connect to the internet, but they get to choose songs. … We start with a song, and they have to talk about why they chose that song, what it means to them.” In addition to NMTS’ twice weekly appointments with both the men’s and women’s units, the inmates also have the option to take part in what’s become a tradition—an annual Christmas performance. “Nothing feels like Christmas in jail,” Hickox said. “So if we can be working on these Christmas tunes … we will have given the people all along the way a sense of Christmas that they wouldn’t have necessarily had.” Hickox leads groups of nearly a dozen inmates in practicing Christmas songs they’ve chosen to perform, complete with instruments like drums, bells and guitars. This year’s performance will happen on Dec. 19. Other inmates at the jail usually attend, and so do members of the Sheriff’s Office staff—many on their days off. The point of the performance is not musical aptitude. To Hickox and NMTS, the value of the sessions is in helping inmates with real-world skills that provide structure and levity to their
time behind bars—like socialization, cooperation, goal-setting and habit-forming. “It’s just a little example of trying to (help) 12 people who have not necessarily been the most cooperative with others in their life’s journey,” Hickox said. “We’re going to be respectful with everybody’s ideas. It’s a democracy. They get to use their brains; they get to feel valued and get to do something that’s a little bit hard, but they can do it.” Lt. John Stewart, a 10-year veteran of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, said that ever since the implementation of music therapy, the inmates are more likely to wash and clean their cells more regularly, and avoid fighting; they’re generally more compliant, so that they may retain access to music therapy. “It’s neat to see the mental health population communicate and participate in something and not just (stay) locked behind doors,” said Stewart. “They’re engaged. They’re not fighting. They’re not yelling. They’re not kicking doors. They’re listening. Some of them have written lyrics to music. And it’s really just neat to see them have something to be happy about. It’s difficult to be in this environment. It is a very negative environment.” Stewart is quick to note that the jail often lacks the infrastructure and resources to adequately help inmates with mental health and behavioral conditions. The NMTS program creates a motivating factor to help diminish dangerous behavior, which leads to better outcomes for the safety of inmates and jail staff alike. But it also provides a rare positive experience to help inmates recognize destructive patterns and adjust their behavior, hopefully leading to better decisions outside of the penal system as well. “We have to understand that they’re a vulnerable population, and most likely this isn’t the best place for them,” Stewart said. “But a lot of times, there’s no other place for them to go, and so what happens is they get stuck in that system where something happens in the community, and they get arrested, and they come here as a pretrial detainee. Those deputies who work day in and day out with them, they’ve seen the change in how they act. … What I can tell you is that everybody that’s involved with the program or actually works in those units thinks it’s a success.” Working with the Sheriff’s Office is one example of NMTS’ grander goals to serve Northern Nevada. With the recent purchase of a new 70,000-square-foot facility, Toppozada, Hickox and the rest of the staff plan to offer an expanded range of in-patient care they hope can become a national model for how music can heal a community. “Really, our ultimate goal is to have no barriers so that anyone can access music therapy,” Toppozada said. “You can be deaf. You can be unhoused. You can be incarcerated. It doesn’t matter. If you’re a human being, you respond physiologically to music on some level.”
MUSICBEAT
| BY MATT KING Dave Masud and the rest of the Vampirates will embark on a 10-day, 10city tour, ending with a Dec. 10 show at Alturas Bar. Photo/David Robert
Life goes on Dave Masud’s new single “Chrysalis” explores both grief and joy Music is one of the most powerful things in our world. It can help people heal after immense tragedy—or be a vehicle for expressing pure happiness. Local multi-instrumentalist Dave Masud knows the power of music well, as he’s used his solo work to heal from the loss of his mother, celebrate the birth of his daughter, and tackle other emotional challenges. You may know Masud from his drumming and hardcore vocal chops in Vampirates, but his solo music career spans other genres. His debut EP False Island, released in July 2022, saw Masud tackling alt-rock on “Boop,” poppy-acoustic on “Jenni’s Song” and even beautiful harp on the appropriately titled track “Harp.” Masud has returned to solo music with “Chrysalis,” an emotionally charged crunchy-rock song that deals with intense feelings of loss—and overwhelming feelings of happiness. During a recent phone interview, he talked about how life events have worked their way into his music.
“For the last album, False Island, I wrote most of it while I was navigating my mom’s passing,” Masud said. “She had a stroke, and we had about two years of hospitals and rehabs and retirement homes and all the shit nobody ever wants to go through. It was a really tough time, and losing her just hit me harder than anything ever in life. Then my daughter was born, and in seeing her, I could see so much of my mom in her—just in her eyes and her mannerisms—and all of a sudden, it was kind of like getting a part of my mom back. That’s really what the song (“Chrysalis”) centers on, kind of feeling like you’ve lost a love, but then being reminded that love is there, it’s always there, and it’s just kind of constantly changing form.” Some lyrics from “Chrysalis”: “The light has been reborn inside your eyes / I stood in disbelief as love transcended the grief.” He compared how it felt to write “Chrysalis” with how it felt to write the songs on False Island. “With my last album … I also lost my brother to suicide in the midst of (dealing with my mom),” Masud said. “The music was definitely
a big part of helping me get through and just kind of process everything that was happening. Right when I was going into the studio to record False Island last year was when I found out that my wife and I were expecting, so on that album, it’s pretty dark subject material throughout most of it—but then at the end, it has kind of a positive upswing, reflecting finding out that I was going to be a dad. “With ‘Chrysalis,’ there’s still that bit of the lingering subject matter—still dealing with those dark times and stuff—but it’s now being overshadowed by just pure joy, and having a daughter. I think the song represents a transition from that really tough time into a much more positive, happy present.” “Chrysalis” was created rather quickly, Masud said. “I kind of slowed down on writing stuff a little bit since my daughter was born last year, but once she was born, and we were back on our feet a little bit, I was able to pick my guitar back up,” Masud said. “I started writing this song, and it just kind of came together all at once. I think I wrote and recorded the demo in one night. Sometimes I’ll spend a really long time on a song, and it just takes forever to come together, and then other songs, it just kind of just falls out. It’s those ones that just kind of come together right away that tend to be the best ones, in my opinion.” Masud enjoys experimenting with genres and moods from song to song; to him, being a solo musician is about creating songs that are “most representative” of him. “As far as genres go, I just can’t really make up my mind what it is I’m doing,” he said. “I pull from so many different influences. When I was a kid, I started off with jazz, and then found punk rock and metal, and I still listen to so much of everything. I have this tendency
to write one song that’s a hardcore song, and another song that is more melodic pop, and from what I hear, that’s not the right way to do it. I guess I’m supposed to be making individual artist profiles for each of the genres; that’s what all the business professionals are saying to do these days. Whatever is coming out of me that day is what the song is.” When Masud released False Island, he gathered a group of friends and members of the music scene for one live show. As he returns to finding more time for music, he plans to create more material that will justify playing more shows. “The band consisted of Zack Ryan and Kodeus McKinley from Donkey Jaw, Bun Chettaraj from Sucka Punch, and Chris Fox from Vampirates and Boss’ Daughter,” Masud said. “We just did the one show, because it was only seven songs, a really short set, so I didn’t really think that it was right to go around booking a bunch of shows. … I think I play four or five different instruments live, so I definitely spend more time setting up than actually playing with the amount of material that I have right now. I’m trying to fill in the catalog a bit more. I’d like to do another EP, and then once I have more material and something that can fill in a whole set a bit better, I plan on playing live a bit more with that same lineup.” But first, Masud is gearing up for a mini-tour celebrating Vampirates’ 20th anniversary. After shows in nine different Oregon and Washington cities in nine days, the tour will conclude with a show at Alturas Bar on Dec. 10. He insists that his solo work will always be distinctly different from his hardcore punk project. “Most of the stuff I write is a bit more simple musically,” he said. “These are always kind of just intended to be my own thing.” Vampirates will perform at 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 10, at Alturas Bar, 1044 E. Fourth St. in Reno. Admission is $10, and attendees must be 21 or older. For more information, visit vampirates. org. For more information on Masud’s solo work, visit davemasud.bandcamp.com
• Bob Grimm’s movie reviews every Monday • More theater reviews • Western lit book excerpts • Free online archives going back to 2000 All of this, and much more, can be found online— only at RenoNR.com!
RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
29
JONESIN' CROSSWORD
| BY MATT JONES
THE LUCKY 13 Jonathan ‘Jonny’ Louis Studio/touring drummer Jonathan “Jonny” Louis has been a rockin’ drummer in the Reno music scene for more than a decade. His tight groove and furious beats have helped him find gigs both in the studio and on the road; he plays for a number of local projects, like Acid Box and Frankly Fictitious, and has a solo career. Earlier this year, he released Power. Passion. Drums! a nine-track collection of rock jams. To listen, visit jonathanlouis.bandcamp.com. What was the first concert you attended? The band Boston at the Atlantis Casino with Michael Sweet of the band Stryper on vocals. He was filling in for the then-recently deceased Brad Delp. I was fortunate enough to be close to the front. I was about 12 at the time. I must have looked too young to be there. What was the first album you owned? Aside from my parents’ CD collection, I would say the first album I remember owning was either Boston’s Greatest Hits or Who’s Next (deluxe edition) by The Who.
“Free-Flowing”—it’s that time again! By Matt Jones Across 1. Way to travel from Victor Hugo to Voltaire 6. 1962 Crystals hit “___ a Rebel” 9. Toast site 12. ___ Frisé (poofy breed) 13. Bus. numbers 15. ___ B. Wells (civil rights icon) 16. Suck it up? 17. Superior to 18. ___ & Bradstreet (credit-rating firm) 19. Like scratch-andsniff stickers 20. The “real me”, maybe 22. Arctic reindeer herder 23. Append 24. Ugly Betty actress Ortiz 25. Ice cream stripe 29. Outdated name in a Beatles title 30. Summer 2023 phenomenon that takes about five 30
|
RN&R
hours to complete 33. “You’ve changed my mind” 36. Vocal range featured by The King’s Singers 38. Sit and mope 41. Big name on a cup? 42. Genetic blueprint 43. In trouble, perhaps 45. Expresses disapproval 46. “See ya” 48. Lack 50. Euphoria network 51. Nickname of an ex in a big 2023 memoir 52. Like some Navy rescues 53. Key below X 54. Good thing to feel? 55. Zombielike 56. Rooibos or oolong 57. Conductor ___-Pekka Salonen 58. Harassed Down 1. Philippines’ second-largest |
island 2. Neighborhood near Dodger Stadium 3. Movin’ Out choreographer Twyla 4. Lead, for one 5. Linear 6. What poblano peppers passably pack 7. Some mushroom payoffs, in most Mario games 8. 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year Amar’e 9. Commander’s superiors? 10. Full-grown animals 11. Sought, as an office 12. Sci. locale with microscopes 14. Tore 21. Footnote material 25. Action film adventurer Williams 26. Returns something late, maybe 27. Call routing
December 2023 |
systems 28. Five-in-a-row board game created in 1978 31. Often-imitated 1976 movie character 32. Docs that use endoscopes 34. Check beneficiary 35. Silica gel pack warning 37. Actress Phylicia of Creed 38. In order to 39. Lacking the know-how 40. Crazy Horse, for one 44. Cringe-inducing things, in recent slang 45. Singing D&D classes 47. Mode of The Incredibles 48. Apply haphazardly 49. Essen article © 2023 Matt Jones Find the answers in the “About” section at RenoNR.com!
RenoNR.com
What bands are you listening to right now? I am currently listening to Dream Theater, because Mike Portnoy is back, and I am ecstatic! Additionally, I have been listening to obscure ’80s cock rock (perhaps the PG term is hard rock), along with progressive ’70s rock. What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? Trap, EDM and music made without guitars. It trips me out, man! Don’t get me wrong; I still listen to music people suggest to me, whether or not it’s comfortable. Discovering and listening to new music or unfamiliar music is so good for the mind of a musician. What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live? I would love to see Iron Maiden live. I feel ashamed that I haven’t. If we are talking about a defunct band, then the answer is Pink Floyd with Roger Waters and David Gilmour. What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? Any ’60s and ’70s pop tune with Hal Blaine on drums. For very specific guilty pleasures, I would say I love to blast and jam out to “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle and “Everytime We Touch” by Maggie Reilly.
| BY MATT KING
What’s your favorite music venue? The Cellar Stage at Alturas! That’s where the good stuff is happening. Major shoutout to Dennis McDonald for helping me get my footing in Reno’s professional music scene during the Studio on 4th days. I got my first paycheck playing music from him in 2013 or so. Now, Dennis, along with Patty and J-Rock, are doing great things at the Cellar Stage. The Cellar Stage has amazing sound and is a great place to go see local musicians cut their teeth. What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head? “Helpless hysteria, A false sense of urgency, trapped in my phobia, possessed by anxiety” from Dream Theater’s “Panic Attack.” It’s quite the sly nod to what (the band) Muse sounded like back then and explains the feeling of anxiety very well. What band or artist changed your life? How? I will quote myself from 2018, because I cannot say it any better than I did back then: “It wasn’t until I played ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ (by The Who) on the video game Rock Band that I truly appreciated, and was blown away at, how unorthodox (Keith) Moon’s drumming was.” You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? I would ask Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead: “Man, how do you stay inspired to constantly grow as a musician? It’s already been a Long Strange Trip, and I am only in my late 20s.” What song would you like played at your funeral? “Starless” by King Crimson. It is a peaceful song with lyrics that make me think of sweet bliss as, over eons, my decaying body becomes part of the stars from where it originally came. Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Live at Leeds by The Who. What song should everyone listen to right now? Everyone should go out and seek a song that corresponds to how you are feeling as you currently read this, or seek a song that corresponds to how you want to feel.
15 MINUTES
| BY DAVID ROBERT
Andrea Corral Garcia Coordinator for Smoke Free Truckee Meadows Andrea Corral Garcia is the grassroots coordinator for Smoke Free Truckee Meadows (SFTM), a campaign to provide smoke-free workplaces for workers in casinos and other places where there’s secondhand smoke; the effort is spearheaded by the Nevada Cancer Coalition. What is the scope of the problem? How many people are affected by smoke in their workplaces? The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which passed in 2006, prohibits smoking in most indoor public places and indoor places of employment. However, places like casinos, bars, etc., where many Nevada employees work, were exempted in this act. Currently, there are no smoke-free casinos in Washoe County—100 percent of the existing casinos allow smoking. Bars that don’t serve food can have smoking, but we’re happy to say some have opted to be smoke-free for the benefit of their customers and employees. Plus, they’ve told us smoking would kill the vibe. Around 40,000 people, many of them women and minorities, are exposed to secondhand smoke and vape fumes while at work just in the Truckee Meadows. There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and the ventilation systems many casinos have installed may make the air smell like flowers, but they don’t protect employees’ health. People who work in other types of hazardous environments are provided adequate protection, but people working in hospitality are not. What steps need to be taken in order for the Truckee Meadows to become smoke-free? Local governments can choose to become smoke-free, and here in the Truckee Meadows, we have been working with Reno, Sparks and Washoe County to pass local ordinances. Nearly 80 percent of Washoe County residents support making casinos and bars smoke-free, so it’s what our community wants. While we are working specifically in this community, we also partner with the Nevada Tobacco Control and Smoke-free Coalition to advocate at the Legislature for a statewide, indoor smoke-free law. What pushback have you had trying to get your message out? Billboard companies have said that our message is not in the scope of their business and won’t let us buy space. There is a false perception that smoke-free busi-
nesses will hurt revenue for these businesses and will therefore hurt our local economy. This isn’t the case. Businesses here in the Truckee Meadows and in other areas that have gone smoke-free have not seen losses. In fact, after going smokefree, many businesses gain customers who currently avoid them because of the smoky air. What kinds of responses have you had from casinos to your efforts? Despite data showing no harm to revenue, thousands of dollars that could be saved in health care costs, and the potential for healthier and more productive employees, casinos have resisted moving toward smoke-free environments. While most Washoe County residents support smokefree environments, most local casino owners do not live in our community. What would you say to people who consider smoking an integral part of casino or bar culture? Smoking is not an integral part of casino or bar culture in other communities. It’s not part of our community culture, either, so there’s no reason for it. This effort is not trying to take something away from people who smoke. It’s trying to protect people in their places of work—a protection tens of thousands of others take for granted every day. What can people do to help? You can sign our petition to stand up for smoke-free, as well as join the Facebook page CEASE Nevada, which stands for Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects. You can email your Reno and Sparks City Council and Washoe County Commission members to share your story and ask them to support smoke-free. You can attend meetings and make public comments to share your story and support smoke-free. We can help identify meetings and help you share your story. You can also join the Nevada Tobacco Control and Smoke-free Coalition and support any upcoming statewide efforts.
Are you a fan of the Reno News & Review? If so, we want you! We are in the process of planning the future of the paper. Whether you’ve been a RN&R fan for years, or you discovered us when we rebooted postpandemic, we want your input. We’re working to make sure the RN&R never goes away again. As the Gannett daily continues to wither away, our coverage is more important than ever before. We’re currently in the process of analyzing the best path forward for the RN&R— including a possible conversion to nonprofit status. That’s where you, our super-fans, come in: We want to better understand where the RN&R fits into your life. What do you like about it? What could we do better? And how are you willing to help us secure a sustainable future?
Can you help? Email jimmyb@renonr.com!
RenoNR.com
| December 2023
|
RN&R
|
31
AN EXHIBIT THAT TAKES CENTER STAGE. N E P O W O N | O N E R O T WHEN HOLLYWOOD CAME Celebrate Reno’s iconic stage show! The Nevada Historical Society commemorates the 45th anniversary of MGM’s Hello Hollywood, Hello! show with a spectacular display of costumes, photographs, sketches, and memorabilia.
BECOME A MUSEUM MEMBER FOR FREE ADMISSION TO ALL STATE MUSEUMS. Visit NVMuseums.com for museum locations, exhibits, & events. 32
|
RN&R
|
December 2023 |
RenoNR.com
NVHISTORICALSOCIETY.ORG