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In memory

of robert morrison See Arts&Culture, page 12

e h p n U i t Poor air quality from wildfires affects athletes of all kinds serving northern nevada, tahoe and truckee


EMail lEttErs to rENolEttErs@NEwsrEviEw.CoM.

Letter of the law

Planet for rent

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. The 80th session of the Nevada Legislature will convene on Feb. 4, just about a month from now. Journalists around the state are gearing up to cover the session and watching with interest as legislators busily submit bill draft requests for the measures they’d like to see passed this session. As of press time, 968 bill draft requests had been filed and were available for review on the Nevada Legislature’s website—and the total number of bills submitted was nearing 200. Many folks are aware that Nevada recently made history during this election cycle and its aftermath by becoming the first in the nation with a majority female legislature. Fewer know what kinds of bills Nevada legislators—male and female— hope to tackle in the upcoming session. Here are just a few to keep an eye on. Senate Bill 14 would reclassify appointed executive-level board members as “civil officers,” expanding the governor’s ability to remove them for their posts for misconduct. Senate Bill 7 would add the distinction of “knowingly” to current law concerning sex trafficking, making the “knowingly sex trafficking a child” a category A felony, punishable by life in prison and up to $20,000 in fines. Assembly Bill 3 would allow the Department of Taxation to increase the number of marijuana licenses available in a city at the request of that city’s government, basically making it possible for the current limits on the total number of dispensaries in the state to be sidestepped. Other hot topics this session will include health care, education and prostitution. It’s going to be exciting. Stay tuned for legislative coverage from us— and don’t be afraid to engage on your own. If there’s a bill you care about, go to the legislature and testify on it! Maybe I’ll see you there.

The last inhabitants were real pigs. They trashed the place. Used up most of the fuel oil, overfished the ponds, peed in the pools and really messed up the climate control systems—as well as the wonderful garden. And they were always fighting amongst themselves, as well as leaving toxic waste all over and scaring the neighbors. Security deposit waived if you give the place a coat of paint, but you will still need first and last millennium deposit. Property should be available in a few short decades. All inquiries confidential. Contact G.O.D. Property Management Systems. Craig Bergland Reno

—Jeri Chadwell

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Interior complaints Re “Interior design” (news, Dec, 27): I read your political news avidly. On environment, you are often acute. Not so much here. First key question: Why would Catherine Cortez Masto give “her blessing to Heller taking over at Interior,” when he stands for everything she and fellow Democrats believe should be upheld from the Obama administration? Second key question: Who in their right mind would imagine that “the Nevada Department of Wildlife, which was once a hunting and fishing agency . . . became an environmental agency.” Look at who runs it. Third key question: It is not enough to say Nevadans are “for” monuments. Which monuments do Nevadans support, and administered by which agencies and/or Native American constituents? Do Nevadans really care about Navajos and Utes in Utah, or Paiutes/Shoshones in Nevada? Fourth question: If gender and sexual discrimination is in the Interior mix, is this to be understood as a problem before or after the Trumpers took over Interior, or is it just a continuing problem?

Jessica Santina, Todd South, Luka Starmer, Bruce Van Dyke, Ashley Warren, Allison Young Our Mission: To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Editor Brad Bynum Associate Editor Jeri Chadwell News Editor Dennis Myers Special Projects Editor Matt Bieker Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Contributors Amy Alkon, Kris Vagner, Bob Grimm, Andrea Heerdt, Holly Hutchings, Shelia Leslie, Josie Glassberg, Eric Marks,

Creative Services Manager Christopher Terrazas Art Directors Maria Ratinova, Sarah Hansel Publications Designer Katelynn Mitrano Web Design & Strategist Elisabeth Bayard Arthur Ad Designers Naisi Thomas Sales Manager Emily Litt Office Manager Lisa Ryan RN&R Rainmaker Gina Odegard

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Fifth question: how can one distinguish Heller’s views on the environment from Zinke’s, or from the crazies who run the state of Utah? I actually don’t understand these sentences: “Heller has been harshly critical of the creation of national monuments, aligned himself with Cliven Bundy, and tried to hold down the size of wilderness areas. Still, it may be difficult for Trump to find a Republican who agrees with him on Interior issues.” Cheers for the New Year. Michael Cohen Reno

Fortress U.S.A. Unless you have what you want, and own it outright with no payments, you don’t have the American dream. The United States doesn’t own its country. Because of trillions in dollars of debt, we are owned by numerous other countries. How can we possibly build a wall or take in migrants? Who will feed and house them, and see to their ailments? Certainly not us. We don’t have any money. I suggest we take drastic measures. Close all our borders, bring all our soldiers home, make and build all our own things, grow our own food and so forth, at least until we completely own our own country again. Helen Howe Sun Valley Editor’s note: It is true that other nations “own” a hefty amount of the United States, if we mean financial instruments, not land. But most of it is owned by U.S. allies or trading partners. The top five are Japan, China, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. They all hold a significant portion of U.S. debt and have no desire to foreclose. In 2013, Japan’s finance minister urged the U.S. to avoid default on its debt in order to protect the U.S. investments of Japan and other countries. Foreign U.S. holdings bind other countries to us. But—and this is

Advertising Consultant Myranda Thom Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Bob Christensen Distribution Drivers Alex Barskyy, Corey Sigafoos, Gary White, Joe Wilson, Marty Troye, Timothy Fisher, Vicki Jewell, Olga Barska, Rosie Martinez, Adam Martinez President/CEO Jeff VonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Director of People & Culture David Stogner Director of Dollars & Sense Debbie Mantoan Nuts & Bolts Ninja Norma Huerta Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Hansen Accounts Receivable Specialist Analie Foland Sweetdeals Coordinator

Skyler Morris Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins N&R Publications Editor Michelle Carl N&R Publications Associate Editor Laura Hillen N&R Publications Editorial Team Anne Stokes, Caroline Harvey Marketing & Publications Consultants Steve Caruso, Joseph Engle, Elizabeth Morabito, Traci Hukill, Celeste Worden Cover design Maria Ratinova

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the part that is always overlooked—the U.S. “owns” more of other countries than they hold of the U.S. TitleMax reports that the United States “is owed a lot more money than it owes. Despite substantial debts that America owes to countries like China and Japan, they owe us money as well.”

Correction Re “Side hustle,” (Foodfinds, Dec. 20): Our story misquoted the price of picon cocktails, which are $4.50 during happy hour and $5, otherwise. For $11, the restaurant also offers a special version using the original recipe from the Noriega Hotel in Bakersfield. We apologize for the error, which stated that regular picon cocktails are $11 outside of happy hour.

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opiNioN/strEEtalk sHEila lEsliE NEws taHoE fEaturE arts&CulturE filM food MusiCBEat NigHtCluBs/CasiNos tHis wEEk adviCE goddEss frEE will astrology 15 MiNutEs BruCE vaN dykE

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By matt bieker

What’s your New Year’s resolution? asKeD at Greater nevaDa FielD, 250 evans ave.

John ProPster Retiree

My New Year’s resolution is to try to be positive and to build bridges instead of walls. I’m just tired of all the bickering, man. It’s time to get over all that. Let’s work together and solve our problems.

elvir a Dia z Community organizer

My New Year’s resolution is to just really enjoy what I have. I’d like to enjoy the people who surround me, and the family that’s still around me, so I can have the best year ever with the things that I have and the people I have with me.

James Garcia Business owner

It’s 2019, for crying out loud Everywhere, there are indications of growing political power for women. But that seems not to interfere with fanatical ideologues, some wielding state power and some wielding religious conviction, who are determined to curb women’s rights. The New York Times has been running a series of editorials on the erosion of the rights of women: “You might be surprised to learn that in the United States a woman coping with the heartbreak of losing her pregnancy might also find herself facing jail time. Say she got in a car accident in New York or gave birth to a stillborn in Indiana: In such cases, women have been charged with manslaughter. In fact, a fetus need not die for the state to charge a pregnant woman with a crime. Women who fell down the stairs, who ate a poppy seed bagel and failed a drug test or who took legal drugs during pregnancy—drugs prescribed by their doctors—all have been accused of endangering their children.” Nevada women are protected from some such zealotry in prosecutors, at least until the political winds shift. In the 1990s, Washoe Medical Center took a urine sample from a newborn infant and detected amphetamines and methamphetamines. Knowing they could not charge for abuse of the fetus, prosecutors engaged in a creative use of the state’s child endangerment law by argued that during the moments between the child’s birth and the cutting of the umbilical cord, the mother was endangering the child by feeding him or her meth during those brief seconds. Both a lower court and the Nevada Supreme Court (Sheriff, Washoe County, Nevada vs. Encoe) blocked this

scheme, ruling that it exceeded the legislative intent of the endangered child statute, particularly given the fact that the Nevada Legislature had recently considered and rejected a proposed law that would have addressed cases like the Washoe Medical Center incident: “The legislature is an appropriate forum to discuss public policy, as well as the complexity of prenatal drug use, its effect upon an infant, and its criminalization.” But Nevada is only one state, and numerous jurisdictions have prosecutors who are not so constrained, as the Times notes. In addition, certain religions continue trying to use state power to impose their doctrines on believers of other faiths and those without faiths. They want laws that represent Catholic, Mormon, Baptist views of abortion to govern citizens in religions that have varying abortion stances that allow the procedure in different ways and times, such as Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, Judaism, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, National Association of Evangelicals, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ and United Methodist. Imposing one faith cohort’s tenets on all citizens may happen in Iran, but it should not happen in the United States. It becomes tiresome for advocates of women’s rights to keep fighting these battles. Yes, there are principles that we do not give up on, but sometimes principles are in conflict. The right of a secular society to treat all believers and nonbelievers fairly is a principle, too, and it cannot be made to fit into the same lawbooks that would encode the doctrines of some churches against others. Ω

Well, I’m starting a company, so it’s just to get everything kind of going and kind of work out the kinks from last year. This is our second year. Last year was our first year. It’s a beekeeping company, so we sell natural cosmetics, obviously, honey, wax, all that stuff.

Keely Donnelly Student

It’s to be better at saving money and not spending it on frivolous things. I’m really bad at saving, and I’m a student, and I’m going to have a lot of debt.

steven Boswell Managing director

Well, it’s the usual one, right? It’s to be healthier and make better decisions. It’s just eating healthier and getting more exercise and making sure I’m alive to see my kids graduate from high school.

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Michael croft

Author, literary editor

4 Week Writers’ Workshop for Novel excerpts · short stories · Creative Non-fiction · Genre Writing Small Group · Limited Spaces · Jan 14 through Feb 4th.

Pen and Word Scholarship Available

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by SHEILA LESLIE

A better year ahead? Let’s allow ourselves to dream that our leaders will exceed our expectations in the New Year. Maybe Nevada’s elected Republicans will locate their moral courage in 2019 and break the silence of their complicity. History won’t be kind to those more afraid of a primary than of their grandchildren’s harsh judgment for backing an ignorant, narcissistic, dangerous man unfit to lead our country. Nevada GOP leaders can look to four female Kansas GOP legislators who switched parties in December, choosing their state and constituents over the Republican Party. One said she “just can’t stomach trying to ‘fit in’ any more to a party that grieves me so each and every day.” I hope America will recover its humanity and stop separating children from their families at the border. We must prevent more deaths of children like little Jakelin Caal Maquin, who left her impoverished Guatemalan village with her father to seek a better life only to die in the custody of our border patrol. No more pouring out

Get

water jugs left by volunteers in the unforgiving Arizona desert. No more hieleras detaining immigrants in freezing steel boxes. No more excuses for failing to pass comprehensive immigration reform that protects Dreamers and creates a rational pathway to citizenship. I hope Democrats in Congress will hold Republicans accountable for their incessant attempts to ensure no one but the rich can afford health care. As Republicans delight in a new ruling by a federal judge in Texas who found the Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional, 17 million Americans must worry once again whether they will have access to affordable, quality health care in 2019. Republicans insist they want to protect pre-existing conditions, even as they press forward with plans to destroy a system which doesn’t come close to what every other industrialized country has already accomplished: universal health care. Gradually expanding population groups covered by government-run insurance

short!

Time for our annual micro

The

plans is a practical way to achieve universal coverage. The ACA included this strategy in its original design, expanding Medicaid to cover poor, childless adults. In 2019, Democrats in Congress should steadily and thoughtfully work towards expanding Medicare and Medicaid to cover more people. We don’t need 50 different pilot programs in the states. Health care demands a national solution. Democrats in the Nevada Legislature should be bold in 2019 as well. There is no shortage of issues to work on, especially with a Democratic governor and a majority female Legislature. Leaders should prioritize needs and set a strong agenda including background checks, stronger gun safety laws, mental health reforms to save money and lives, affordable housing for those most affected by businesses enriched by tax subsidies. There are plenty of policy debates that need to be fostered—pollution of public lands and waterways by the mining industry or the uselessness of the archaic death penalty.

fiction

competition!

’s 95-word fiction contest

Write a miniature story that’s exactly 95 words long.

Stories must be received before Jan. 16, 2019. Email submissions to contest@newsreview with the subject line “Fiction 2018.”

I’m hoping the entire Legislature and Governor-elect Sisolak will remember that the role of government isn’t to make it easier for business owners to make money. Government is there to serve the people, not corporations. Bloated projections of theoretical economic return don’t help seniors displaced by a spiking demand for housing or those supporting a family on a minimum wage. Let’s encourage businesses to emulate corporations like Patagonia, whose leaders decided to use the $10 million windfall from the Republican tax cut to invest in grassroots groups fighting climate change. Years ago, Patagonia’s local leadership demonstrated similar corporate values when they resigned from the Chamber of Commerce to protest the Chamber’s support for the Oil-Dry corporation’s attempt to desecrate the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony’s Hungry Valley land by producing kitty litter from open pit mines. Let’s all resolve to live our values in 2019. Maybe we’ll have a better year. Ω

Here’s an example: Lieutenant Nishiyama’s unit searched for Viet Cong soldiers in a village near the Laotian border. As expected, they found nothing. No hidden enemies. A solitary, elderly woman was cooking rice. The smell made Nishiyama homesick. Nishiyama called to the translator: “Tell her I’ll trade two packs of American cigarettes for a bowl of that rice.” It was delicious. “Ask her for more.” “She’s not poor enough? You’ve got to eat all her food?” “What? There’s enough food here for a dozen men.” Nishiyama looked at the woman. “Hey Captain, we better search this property again.” *This year’s story example is based loosely on a story told by Vincent Okamoto in Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s 2017 documentary series The Vietnam War.

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by Dennis Myers

DeaDline

On Jan. 8, 2009, congressional pages brought the electoral votes from the 2008 election into the U.S. House chamber so they could be counted in a joint session of Congress.

Supposedly as a result of the government shutdown,  the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) expired at  midnight on Dec.31. However, Congress wasn’t shut down, so it was  free to renew the act—and still is. VAWA was enacted in 1994. It was set to expire on  Sept. 30 but was given a short extension until Dec.  7, then another until Dec. 21. It is not known what  problem the Republican leadership has with VAWA,  but in September a letter signed by 46 Republicans  was sent to GOP leaders asking for the law to be  reauthorized in full that month. The law provides substantial funding to investigate and prosecute domestic violence, allows civil  suits when prosecutors fail to act and requires  restitution.

Q-1 backgrounD checks promiseD Attorney General-elect Aaron Ford said last week  he will implement the 2016 ballot measure that his  predecessor Adam Laxalt did not. “The number one issue I heard from Nevadans is  moving forward with the background check ballot  initiative,” Ford said to a fund raising mailing to  his supporters. “My predecessor refused to carry  out the will of Nevada’s voters, but I’m committed  to implementing thorough background checks for  people buying firearms in our state.” Policy wonks will be watching to see how Ford  does it. The ballot measure specifically prohibits  the use of state background checks and mandates  FBI background checks. The initiative was never  implemented because the FBI would not perform the  checks and the state could not. Why is Ford sending out fundraising mailers? He  can’t face the voters again until 2020 at the earliest,  but he said he still had the need to raise funds: “But  I’m going to have deep-pocketed special interest  groups fighting me at every step of the way, starting  day one. That’s why I’m reaching out to you. I want  to give my Victory Fund a boost to help combat  whatever comes my way at the start of my term.”

revisionism A Las Vegas appearance by Donald Trump in the early  weeks of his presidential candidacy is coming back into  public attention. “I know Putin, and I’ll tell you what—we get along  with Putin,” Trump said at a libertarian convention  in 2015. USA Today paired that Trump quote with this one,  from 2017: “I don’t know Putin, have no deals in Russia.” That second one was a Trump tweet posted 18 days  after he was sworn in as president, when there was  rising comment about the alleged Russia connection.

lunD recognizeD The 1915 Lund Grade School House in the White River  Valley of White Pine County has been listed on the  National Register of Historic Places. The Reno City Council reportedly wants it   torn down.

—Dennis Myers

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Electoral gamble Democrats risk that it won’t happen again presidential electors were invented by the founders to prevent the voters from making an unsuitable choice for president. In 2017, instead of preventing the election of a demagogic, racist, lying, admitted sexual predator, the presidential electors appointed him president after he lost the election. The founders’ protective feature of the elector system failed. It failed because of alterations politicians have made in the system the founders designed. The founders invented one system. We now use a different system, one designed by state legislatures to subvert the founders’ design. Consider the following such alterations, in italics. As the founders made it, voters elect but electors appoint. It is a power that has been used five times, never for the reasons intended by the founders. A “faithless elector” today is usually one who does not vote to appoint in accordance with his or her political party. The founders did not want electors to represent political parties. But the political parties have used their lawmaking power at the state level to take control of presidential electors, who are now nominated at state party conventions.

“Faithless electors” who do not vote as their political party requires is a misnomer, because electors were created by the founders precisely to override the public’s vote if they felt it necessary. They cannot do that if they are bound by political party pledges or state law to a specific outcome. Nevada’s secretaries of state have claimed the right to remove electors if they fail to vote in concert with the public vote, while other states do not interfere with that legal process. The permissibility of displacing an elector has never been tested in the courts. The closest is a case on whether political parties can require a sworn pledge by electors to vote for the party candidate (the U.S. Supreme said it could), but not on whether the electors are free to vote as they want or whether states can bind them. “Certainly under that [original] plan no state law could control the elector in performance of his federal duty,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote. Significantly, a Nevada state law (Nevada Revised Statute 298.080) requiring presidential electors to “proceed conformably to the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the United States” was repealed in 2013.

As previously noted, the founders made it so voters elect but electors appoint. The electors were to be free, unbound agents who appoint a president and have the power to appoint a different president than the public elects. The founding generation used versions of proportional voting, not winner-take-all, as we do. The notion that winner-take-all is written into the U.S. Constitution—a notion expressed by the late William Raggio, a 2000 Nevada presidential elector—is not correct. After the constitution was ratified, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia allocated electors by district, and some other states used versions of districts. Winner-take-all came later, as vote-bait, a way of boosting a state’s attractiveness to candidates, which the founders also frowned upon. “State attachments and state importance have been the bane of this country,” said constitutional convention delegate Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania. Once a few states went winner-takeall, others were forced to follow suit to remain competitive. As James Madison put it, “The district mode was mostly, if not exclusively in view when the Constitution was framed and adopted; & was exchanged for the general ticket [winner-take-all] & the legislative election, as the only expedient for baffling the policy of the particular States which had set the example.” Madison proposed outlawing winner-take-all. Political leaders in some states support or oppose the elector system (there is no such thing as an electoral “college”—the founders required electors to meet separately and in their own states, not collegially, to prevent cabals and vote-trading) because it benefits or does not benefit their states, though the founders warned against that kind of parochialism. A state government is just an administrative unit.

one-party system When Hillary Clinton won the election and lost the presidency, the Democrats had only themselves to blame. Every time the vote of the public was overridden by electors, a Democrat was the victim—Andrew Jackson, Samuel Tilden, Grover Cleveland, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. No other party has every been so treated by the electors, yet Democrats have done little to solve the problem. In 2009, when Democrats took


both houses of Congress by historic majorities, they did nothing about electors, though they had lost the presidency to an unelected appointee just eight years earlier. Donald Trump’s election revived interest in dealing with the problem. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “2016 was a year for unexpected events—not least of which was the amount of attention paid to the Electoral College, and that … resulted in a bumper crop of legislation related to it” in 2017. In 2017, Democrats in the Nevada Legislature—who took majorities in both houses after two years of GOP primacy—considered but rejected a measure under which Nevada would join the Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote, currently approved by 12 states—four small states, four medium states and four large states. The measure received one hearing and died. Assembly Democratic floor leader Teresa Benitez Thompson said a 2019 bill drafting request has been submitted dealing with presidential electors. We searched the BDRs for “elector” and “presidential electors” but got no hits. Thus, the system remains the same, and the Democrats remain vulnerable to losing future appointments. There is a popular belief that the presidential elector system is good for small states, but Nevada was assiduously ignored by presidential candidates until this century, and now it is not the elector system that attracts them. Under the current polarized political environment, most states are locked up early

for one candidate or the other. Nevada, as one of 12 swing states, now gets presidential candidate visits it never got before. That would be true if there were no elector system. As the National Popular Vote website put it, “The only states that received any attention in the 2012 general election campaign for president were states within 3 percent of the national outcome.” The same held true in 2016. Candidates target or ignore states based on how to win, not on their electors. Interestingly, one of the founders—delegate John Francis Mercer of Maryland—argued that elected officials could enrich themselves, though it is an appointed president—Donald Trump—and members of his family who are allegedly doing so. “Elective governments also necessarily become aristocratic because the rulers, being few, can and will draw emoluments for themselves from the many,” Mercer said. “The governments of America will become aristocracies.” Trump is being sued by Maryland and D.C. for allegedly violating the Constitution’s “emoluments” clause, which forbids federal officials from accepting gifts or payments for services or labor from U.S. states or foreign states. Maryland and D.C. have been prevailing in court on various issues, but Justice Department officials—who for some reason are representing Trump—are trying to slow the case to a crawl with a flurry of procedural motions. In the first 18 years of this century, appointed presidents have served during 10 of them. How healthy can it be for a democracy to be led so often by presidents the public rejected? Ω

The elector system didn’t get Nevada anything.

In 1876, an Electoral Commission created by Congress (shown here) chose Republican Rutherford Hayes over Democrat Samuel Tilden, who had won both the popular and electoral votes.

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tahoe

by Terra Breeden

Charlie Wiedenhoft pours German beer in huge servings at Himmel Haus.

Plunge in South Lake dive bars South Lake Tahoe is synonymous with entertainment and nightlife. The Heavenly gondola whisks guests to the top of the mountain. The Village buzzes with shops and bars and high-rise casinos cater to those feeling lucky. But negotiating throngs of tourists (and finding parking) can put a damper on any winter getaway—and the ritzy Village doesn’t have that “peel off your ski boots and order a shot of whiskey” kind of ambiance. After a day on the slopes, there’s nothing more satisfying than a stiff drink in a cozy tavern and, luckily, South Lake Tahoe has no shortage of local watering holes. Check out these dive bars for an authentic après ski experience with live music, cheap drinks and eats. Nestled in a residential neighborhood near Heavenly’s California Base, Himmel Haus, 3819 Saddle Road, is an authentic German beer hall known for its laid-back vibe and impressive beer selection. With over 50 varieties of German and Belgian beers, the hardest part is choosing whether you want an imported bottle or a massive, three-liter “das boot” glass. Après ski food and drink specials are served Monday through Friday between 2 and 4 p.m. Don’t miss trivia night on Wednesdays, starting a 9 p.m., for a brain game that gets harder with every stein. Teams of up to six players compete for beer prizes, and tie-breakers are decided the old-fashioned way—with a dance-off or stein-hold contest. Rojo’s Tavern, 3091 Harrison Ave., has been a South Lake fixture since 1975—and not much has changed in the years since. Voted the 2018 Best Dive Bar in Tahoe, this rustic bar is frequented by locals who come for the hearty food, 8   |   RN&R   |   01.03.19

PHOTO/TERRA BREEDEN

strong drinks and friendly staff. Karaoke nights are a favorite, which Rojo’s hosts four nights a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 10 p.m. to close. If you can’t carry a tune, try Wii Bowling on the big-screen TV, Cards Against Humanity or Giant Jenga on Monday game nights, also from 10 p.m. to close. When it comes to Whiskey Dicks, 2660 Lake Tahoe Blvd., the name says it all. This uncouth establishment’s motto is “at least our drinks are stiff.” Visitors will find a large bar, dance floor, shuffleboard, PingPong, a pool table and an enviable collection of ’50s pin-up posters. On Saturday nights, Whiskey Dicks hosts free shows featuring live bands and a dance party. With a daily happy hour between 4 and 8 p.m., just don’t expect to leave standing upright. With a whopping seven, full-sized pool tables, Classic Cue, 1965 Lake Tahoe Blvd., isn’t just popular for being the only billiard hall in town, or even for the eclectic crowd you’ll find there at any given hour. This dive bar is famous for its Monday $1.50 fish tacos and beer specials, which lure ski bums from all over town. On Thursdays, Classic Cue ups the ante with an open mic night starting at 9 p.m. that draws local musicians and is open to all newcomers. If you can classify a dive bar as “charming,” then Emerald Bay Bar and Grill, 888 Emerald Bay Road, fits the bill. This small establishment is dog-friendly. It has an outdoor fire pit, and the low-key vibe is perfect for meeting new friends and spurring intimate conversations. It has daily food and drink specials and serves some of the best bar food in town. The kitchen stays open until 11 p.m. for late-night diners. Check out the free live music on Friday nights, when homegrown bluegrass bands hold jam sessions and keep the crowd strutting and stomping ’til midnight. Ω


a

s Shannon Palladino’s feet pounded the rocky terrain of the Steamboat Ditch Trail, she noticed an unusual rhythm in her run. At first, she thought it might have been the song of her favorite bird, the American goldfinch. Or maybe it was the rushing of the Truckee River running alongside her. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed that this change of rhythm was coming from deeper inside her. It was a flareup of her exercise-induced asthma, a result of the wildfire smoke filtering into Reno from November’s Camp Fire, the most destructive fire in California history. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently raised its standards for exercise in poor air quality conditions by 100 points on the Air Quality Index (AQI)—a decision that could affect student-athletes across the country and at the University of Nevada, Reno. The AQI for a region can be found at airnow.gov.

What is aQi? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversees the AQI, which is an index for reporting daily air quality, updated hourly at monitoring stations across the country and reported online. The higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern. The index ranges from one to 500 and measures five criteria for air pollutants: particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide,

s

e h p u in t

by ad ria bar ich and hil ey do bb

Poor air quality from wildfires affects athletes of all kinds nitrogen dioxide and ozone. Particulate matter as a result of wildfire smoke is the most detrimental to respiratory health, as well as the most pertinent to the Truckee Meadows, since it is the largest cause of wildfire air pollution. Generally, AQI levels of 101-150 are unhealthy for sensitive groups—and people may not realize they fall under this category. “When anyone’s exercising or exerting themselves, they’re considered a sensitive group, whether or not you’re a kid or an adult,” said Brendan Schnieder, an air quality specialist for the Washoe County Health Department. Therefore, anyone from a rugged Tahoe hiker to a casual dog walker is at risk. The act of getting outside and exercising puts people in the same category as asthmatics and other people affected by lung conditions. “No matter if you’re running a marathon or doing really hard practice for several hours, you’re a sensitive group—meaning that air quality and pollution will impact you more than someone who is inactive, because of how much more you are breathing in deeply,” said Schnieder. The National Institutes of Health reports that the average person takes approximately

15 breaths per minute, taking in roughly three gallons of air. As a person exercises, muscles require more oxygen and produce more carbon dioxide. As a result of this increased demand, a person exercising takes in 40 to 60 breaths each minute, roughly 26 gallons of air. This means that a person exercising takes in up to four times as much air, along with any pollutants that may be in it. But, again, the problem is that many people are not aware they are at risk. “When air quality is poor, it can not only irritate your eyes, nose and throat, but it can also cause shortness of breath,” said Schnieder. “It can even affect your heart and cardiovascular system. As for long-term effects, we don’t have much of an idea.” There is a lack of research on the longterm effects of wildfire smoke inhalation— but wildfire smoke continues to negatively affect Northern Nevadans as they are exposed to increasingly poor air quality.

reno—a hazy situation This is especially pertinent to the fire season in Reno and the surrounding area. As reported by the National Interagency Fire Center, the

“up in the air” continued on page 10

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“up in the air”

UNR sports medicine physician Mark Stovak

PHOTO/ADRIA BARICH

continued from page 9

season can range from April to November, with December to March only considered minimal risks. The American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2017” report ranks Reno as 10th in the nation for short-term particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) pollution. PM 2.5 is a product of combustion and is hazardous to health. The “2.5” in PM 2.5 refers to the size of particulate matter suspended in the air—less than 2.5 microns in width. There are about 25,000 microns in an inch. Not only can PM 2.5 cause eye, ear, nose and throat irritation, but it can get into the lungs and bloodstream. For some individuals, this can result in heart attack and even death. According to archival EPA data from 2017, many cities experience high AQI numbers. However, for many of these, ozone is the primary pollutant on the majority of days when the AQI exceeds 100. For example, in terms of unhealthy days, there were 107 in Los Angeles, California, and 33 in Phoenix, Arizona. Both these readings are the result of high ozone levels. In Reno, only two days with an AQI over 100 were a result of ozone. Seven days were a result of PM 2.5 pollution, and this can have negative health effects. Furthermore, the top 10 U.S. cities with the worst air quality are all on the West Coast. This creates a disparity when decisions about air quality measurements are made on a national level, because wildfire smoke disproportionately affects the West Coast. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire protection, 10 of the top 20 most destructive fires in California history have occurred in the past three years, with the recent Camp Fire topping the list. According to the National Weather Service, northwest winds funnel wildfire smoke directly into the Truckee Meadows. With the rate of California fires rapidly increasing, and with Reno being the recipient of a significant amount of smoke from these fires, this is an indication that Reno’s air quality could get much worse, not better. As of Dec. 26, Reno experienced 18 days of unhealthy air quality—landing in the EPA’s “orange” category for AQI. Of these unhealthy days, PM 2.5 was one of the primary pollutants.

Lowering the bar raises the stakes The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports makes decisions regarding air quality policy for collegiate athletics. This is a 23-member committee, with six spots reserved for men and six for women. It also includes a primarycare physician, coach, athletic trainer, sports psychologist, dietician, strength coach, lawyer and representatives from each NCAA division. What the committee fails to represent are 10   |   RN&R   |   01.03.19

members of the West Coast—the part of the country that experiences the worst air quality. Currently, there are only two members on the committee from Western schools. Kim Terrell of the University of Oregon and Mark Stovak, sports medicine physician for University of Nevada, Reno Athletics, are the only representatives of the smokiest region of the country. Poor air quality affects the Western states more than any other region. Therefore, in a vote to change the air quality limits, the West was underrepresented. When the NCAA changes a policy or recommendation, a committee refers to existing studies and data for guidance. Unfortunately, the lack of data surrounding long-term exposure to poor air quality did not provide the NCAA with evidence to maintain or lower air quality recommendations; therefore, the committee voted to raise the air quality limits for practice and competition. “It’s difficult because it is all long-term,” said Stovak. “We just don’t have data for [athletic exposure to poor air quality] during wildfire season. It’s just not easily observed.” However, the NCAA guideline is just a recommendation. Individual institutions take it into consideration when determining their respective limits. As an example, UNR Athletics recommends that all athletes should limit outdoor activity (suggesting that athletes reduce activity to 50 percent) at AQI 150. Athletic competition is postponed between AQI of 121-150 until conditions improve. Boise State, in Boise, Idaho, has a policy similar to Nevada’s. “Boise State’s policy does not differentiate between levels for practice and competition. If the AQI reaches 200 during practice or competition, everyone is required to practice indoors,” said Keita Shimada, an athletic trainer for Boise State. On the East Coast, Zachary White, an assistant athletic trainer for Syracuse University’s football team in Syracuse, New York, was unaware of an air

quality policy at his school. Upon further investigation, he found that there was no policy at all. “The University has never had a policy set in place to address air pollution like that of you all on the West Coast,” said White. “Environmental policies that are more concerning to us are severe weather, such as heavy snow falls and low temperatures, as well as high temperature and humidity in the summers.” This difference in priorities due to geographical locations further illustrates the need for equitable representation from across the country when it comes to making decisions regarding athletes’ safety.

burning indictment Poor air quality episodes expose anyone exercising outdoors to pollutants. Athletes are exposed to air pollutants at higher rates than other groups— because they perform at high levels and practice outdoors, and often for long periods of time. “On days when the air quality is bad, I feel the short-term impact for a few days after, and on the days when the AQI is above 120 or so, I really think it could potentially lead to longer-term health impacts,” said Palladino, a student-athlete on UNR’s women’s cross country team. “For someone like me, who has exercise-induced asthma, there’s definitely a chance of that becoming worse with increased exposure on those days when the air quality is not great.” Some believe the solution lies in learning more about the long-term effects of exposure to poor air quality and creating policies reflective of that research, both for collegiate athletes and the general public, as well. “What it comes down to is that we know poor air quality is unhealthy, but there’s really no proof that it’s going to harm the average person long term,” said Stovak. “So, we’re not willing


to cancel events at a much lower level without proof that in the long run there is going to be a lot of harm.” However, for those on the playing field, there is often a different sentiment. “I think the standards should be tighter than they are, and the NCAA released standards that are, at least for the sport that I know, unhealthy and a serious mistake” said Kirk Elias, women’s long-distance coach for Nevada Track and Field. Elias has experienced times where athletes were uncomfortable due to the air quality on smoky days when the AQI was between 75 and 80. When his athletes were not comfortable running outdoors on these days, he sent them to cross train indoors, where the air had been filtered. The current policy is informed by a 2001 study from the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study itself states that there has been little research examining the relationship between exercise and inhaling particulate matter. But the article makes no mention of anything related to wildfire smoke, save for one mention of fires lit in the homes of those in developing countries. It makes indirect mentions to smoke and only references it in terms of smoking or smoke control. It is unknown what studies were used in the NCAA’s previous, more conservative guidelines. Other than the study included in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, there is little published research on the long-term effects of

athletes’ exposure to poor air quality, let alone wildfire smoke specifically. As a coach, Elias said he does not allow the lack of research to interfere with the safety and long-term health of his athletes. Instead, he bases his decisions on how athletes feel on smoky days and moves their practices indoors accordingly. “It’s real simple. I’m not going to make athletes practice in conditions that they become uncomfortable with,” he said. As a part of a long term plan to address the issue, UNR has proposed an indoor practice facility. The indoor fieldhouse would feature a track, football field and other amenities that would be used by collegiate and intramural athletes alike. Details regarding the air filtration system of the new facility have not been publicly released.

Blazing ahead The writers of this story believe the first step to solving the problem of athletes’ exposure to poor air quality is to admit a problem exists. The contributors of this story—Adria Barich and Hiley Dobbs—are students at the University of Nevada, Reno. They completed this project as a part of a medical reporting class. Barich is a senior studying journalism with a minor in communications who runs and reports on sports. Dobbs is a Canadian student-athlete who studies

public health. The reporters believe when West Coast schools have nearly 20 days with poor air quality in a single year, the damage can be much worse than a month of lost practice days. With the potential to negatively affect the heart and cardiovascular system, poor air quality it is more akin to a public health crisis. With wildfires Kirk Elias, Nevada Women’s annually blazing Track and Field coach across much of the Western U.S., we need to prioritize awareness of the effects of exposure to poor air quality. The NCAA raising its recommendation for air quality paints the issue as not only trivial, but as an inconvenience. The destruction of wildfires extends deeper than the ashes they leaves behind; it’s time to acknowledge that the poor air quality resulting from them could be a serious health concern and deserves to be treated as such. Ω

“it’s real simple. i’m not going to make athletes practice in conditions that they become uncomfortable with.”

LocaLLy roasted

at 1715 s. WeLLs aVe. magpieroasters.com

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in memory of

robeRt morrison by Tamara scronce

12   |   RN&R   |   01.03.19

e

very adult I know has stories about a special teacher who inspired them, a teacher who believed in them, a teacher who made a difference. Robert Morrison is that teacher for dozens upon dozens, maybe even hundreds of students. With the news of his passing, it has been stunning to consider and realize that as incredibly influential as he has been in my life, he has been that important to so many others. I have encountered scores of people recently who have Tamara Scronce and Robert fantastic stories about Bob Morrison in July 2007, playfully to share. He was central to recreating Grant Wood's 1930 this place, to who we are as painting, "American Gothic." courtesy/ Dean Burton a community—on and off the University of Nevada, Reno campus, and throughout Northern Nevada and Northern California. It is hard to imagine him not being here. He was our common denominator; Bob always showed up—to everything. Not only did he show up, he participated. An artist lecture or gallery talk would not have been the same without Bob there to ask difficult and pointed questions from the back row. It did not matter how large or small the event, how well publicized or esoteric, if it involved art he was there. His continuous presence reverberated throughout our community, across generations of artists and students. He bonded us all together. I had the immense privilege of studying under Professor Morrison when I was an undergraduate student at UNR back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. In 2000, he was instrumental in my coming home to Reno after graduate school to be hired as an assistant professor of art. Once back, I had the honor of co-teaching with him sideby-side in sculpture, as well as having the pleasure and immeasurable sense of pride that came from participating with him in a number of art exhibitions. Bob was my mentor in every sense of the word. He was my teacher, guide, counselor, trusted advisor, supporter and dear friend. I was in my early 20s when I first encountered him in a drawing class. I was absolutely horrible at drawing in that first class. My drawings were weak. In fact, they stunk. I was young, shy, intimidated and clueless. Despite all of that, without wincing (or laughing), he took me seriously. He engaged me in conversation and critique, and he pushed me hard to challenge myself. He invited me again and again to reevaluate the way I thought, and, of equal importance, the way I saw. His presence was indomitable.


With his Danish complexion, light eyes and reddish beard, he looked the way I imagined a tall and lean Van Gogh would look. He was smart, funny, encouraging, demanding, superbly peculiar and so elegantly and eloquently brilliant—very, very brilliant. Without exaggeration, I can say that my world was forever changed by encountering him in that first unlikely class. I soon enrolled in every class he instructed—figure drawing, watercolor and, ultimately, sculpture—where I found my place. He gave me the courage to become a full-fledged art student and declare a major in art, and after I graduated, he pushed and encouraged me to leave home to pursue graduate school. He believed in my potential as an artist, and he encouraged me to believe in myself. His teaching is what inspired me to become a teacher.

He was central to this place, who we are as a community... Artist Joseph Beuys said, “To be a teacher is my greatest work of art.” Teaching was indeed a work of art in the hands of Bob. In the university art studios, he was not content with merely instructing students to acquire drawing, painting and/or sculpting skills. He insisted that we understood the bridge between making and thinking. He demanded that we apply ourselves, not only manually through labor, but creatively and intellectually, always at the highest level. He operated under the premise that critical thought is an essential aspect of the creative process. Nowhere was this more evident than in his critiques. Every assignment from Bob was followed by an in-depth critical analysis of each individual piece. And his critiques were like no

others. They were a combination of project evaluation and art lecture. I can’t remember a time when Bob lectured down to students; rather, he treated each of us with extreme seriousness and showed respect for what we had created. He generously delivered lectures about ourselves and about how our work fit into the bigger scheme of the art world and culture in general. He brilliantly wove together careful and hard-hitting scrutiny of our work with contemporary, historical, literary and philosophical references. His critiques were intellectually demanding and rigorous. No doubt much of this was over our heads at any given moment, and all of it could be wildly intimidating, but that did not deter him. Bob trusted we would eventually “get it.” Countless people’s experiences mirror my own. Robert/Bob/ Professor Morrison greatly affected our individual worlds. Truly we are better human beings and better artists for having known him, studied with him, worked with him— even briefly. Many of us wandered into his classes not knowing what to expect. He led by example, showing us how and why to believe in and care deeply about art and the mysterious, unpredictable and elegant ways it communicates ideas. He invited us and gave us permission to be artists, whether for a semester or for the duration of our lives. We carry his generosity of spirit and brilliance with us, forever changed by the things he said and did and the incredible art he made. It is a struggle to imagine the world without him here. Our collective hearts ache that we do not have more time to spend talking, listening, laughing, learning and making art with him. He is, and will always be, sorely missed. Bob’s influence will live on in all of us. Ω

Because of the incredible number of students’ lives Professor Morrison touched throughout his long career, a memorial scholarship is being established at the University of Nevada, Reno in his memory. The scholarship will benefit future art students at UNR. Online contributions can be made here: https://bit.ly/2CImT5C.

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by BoB Grimm

b g ri m m @ne w s re v i e w . c o m

SHORT TAKES

1

“What shampoo do you use? i’m going for that wavy look.”

All wet The latest DC effort, Aquaman, is middling fun for about 20 minutes before it becomes one of the worst films of 2018. It’s the typical DC garbage can of a film and proof that Warner Brothers has learned next to nothing when it comes to making a good comic book movie since Christian Bale took off the cowl (Yes, Wonder Woman was good—the lone exception). Jason Momoa returns as big, tattooed, beefy Arthur, the dreamy son of a Lost City of Atlantis queen (Nicole Kidman) and Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison), a lowly lighthouse keeper. Fett finds the queen washed up on the rocks and takes her home, where she promptly eats his goldfish. (What a laugh riot! She ate his pet fish!) She gives birth to Arthur, and the origin story part of the movie is well on its way. We see a few more moments in the fish man’s young life. Arthur is bullied in an aquarium, where he gets a tiger shark all riled up to the point that it almost breaks through the glass and kills his entire elementary school class (That would’ve made for an interesting twist). Momoa eventually shows up in full party mode, and it looks like we could be on our way to some goofy fun. Alas, like Zack Snyder before him, director James Wan doesn’t know how to keep a leash on his epic, and this things goes bonkers in a bad way. After teaming up with Princess Mera (Amber Heard), she of the Little Mermaid hair, Aquaman goes on some sort of intercontinental trek to find a lost trident, with haphazard locations constantly being captioned at the base of the screen (Rome, The Sahara Desert, The Valley of the Brine, Atlantis, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., etc.). The search for the powerful trident that will make Arthur king of Atlantis is but one of the many, many insipid plotlines. There’s also King Orm (Patrick Wilson, looking like he placed last in a Colorado Rockies mascot costume contest)—Arthur’s halfbrother and a full-time asshole—who is trying to claim the Atlantean throne and threatening war with the Surface People (that would be us). Orm has some 14

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sort of alliance with pirates led by the one who will become Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Black Manta is one of Aquaman’s main adversaries in the comics, but here he is basically a side note, with Wan straining to make the character meaningful among all of the chaos. The movie has a formidable enough villain in Orm, but Wan feels the need to make Manta a factor, hence, the nearly two and a half hour run-time of this movie, with way too much going on for it to make any sense at all. As for Manta, I thought Steppenwolf was the worst looking DC villain of all time. Manta looks like a reject from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters rather than something fitting a big budget Aquaman movie. Visually, this is yet another movie that thinks it’s Avatar, and that’s never really a good thing. So, you get a lot of blue intermixing with fluorescent colors. (I did like the Great White sharks with horse saddles on them.) It’s yet another Warner Brothers DC movie with spasmodic, cheap looking CGI sneaking into many of the action scenes. An embarrassed looking Willem Dafoe shows up as Vulko, Arthur’s mentor, and is saddled with the film’s silliest line (“The king has risen!”). Dolph Lundgren gets another late 2018 role (after Creed II) as another underwater king who just sort of stands around as his special effects hair waves in the water. Julie Andrews has a “fall asleep and you will miss it” voice cameo. Aquaman can’t decide if it wants to be Avatar 2, or The Mummy Returns … again! or I Got Muscles, Attitude and I’m Underwater 5 or Creed III: I’m Old and Wet Now. The undeniable charms (and, admittedly, glorious hair) of Momoa can only go so far in this unholy mess. When it comes to comic book movies, as evidenced by the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Marvel still reigns supreme. Ω

Aquaman

12345

Bohemian Rhapsody

Rami Malek gives it his all as Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen, in the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. That, and a competent recreation of Queen’s Live Aid domination, are just about the only good things you can say about this mostly embarrassing effort to memorialize an incredible person and his sadly short life. The movie basically takes Mercury’s legacy, completely screws with his life’s timeline and makes up a bunch of unnecessary events to pad its 135-minute running time. Malek, acting through a big set of fake teeth made to capture the look of Mercury’s four extra incisors, is decent in the role. He actually sang on set, his voice blended with a Mercury soundalike to keep the movie from being a completely lip-synched affair. There’s a movie happening between those musical sequences, and that movie is terrible, a messed-up bit of fakery that prompts a lot of unintentional laughter. There’s a great, truthful movie to be made about the life of Freddie Mercury. Bohemian Rhapsody doesn’t even come close to being that movie.

3

Green Book

Director Peter Farrelly gives us Green Book, essentially a remake of Driving Miss Daisy with the roles reversed and starring Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and the Academy Award winning actor from Moonlight (Mahershala Ali). It’s a feel good movie about race relations that goes light on the grit and heavy on the sentiment. Based on a true story, Mortensen plays Tony Lip, an Italian bouncer at the Copacabana who finds himself temporarily without a job while the club is being renovated. His next gig installs him as a driver and bodyguard for Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), an African-American classical pianist who is touring a jazz trio in the early 1960s Deep South. There is nothing in their dialogue that is anything remotely original or surprising, but Farrelly is lucky to have these two guys in the car. Without them, this film would be a total slog. Mortensen, who has had his share of dramatic and action roles, gets a chance to show off some comedic timing. He also put on over 40 pounds for the role. Mahershala is good as Shirley, so good you wish the script matched the majesty of his work. Seamless special effects make it look like he can play a mean piano. The movie is average at best, delivering a relatively good time while feeling quite dated. I expect a little more heft from a movie with this subject matter.

3

Mary Poppins Returns

Casting Emily Blunt as the iconic title character in Mary Poppins Returns, a sequel 54 years in the making, proves to be a stroke of genius. Casting Lin-Manuel Miranda in the role of Jack, a copycat character modeled after Dick Van Dyke’s Bert in the original classic, well, not so much. Blunt plays the role with her own sensible spin, not by any means copying what the great Andrews did over half a century ago, but nonetheless giving us a practically perfect variation on the infamous nanny. Miranda sports the same cockney accent (not nearly as gloriously, wonderfully bad as Van Dyke’s) and plays a lamp lighter in London instead of a chimney sweep. His part of the film feels like a giant missed opportunity because, while he can sing and dance up a storm, he isn’t funny. Van Dyke was funny. The result is a movie that has a lot of charm and some amazingly good sequences—with Blunt powering us through. But while I might’ve been sitting on the fence as the film headed into the final turn, my attitude went full positive when none other than the man himself, Dick Van Dyke, shows up as a helpful banker. He not only shows up but gets on top of a desk

and dances better than anyone else in the movie. It’s only a few seconds but, I’m telling you now, they are some of the best seconds any 2018 film has to offer—pure nostalgia heaven.

4

Roma

5

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Four years after his Oscar-winning Gravity, director Alfonso Cuarón returns with a decidedly different film in Roma. Working on a much smaller, but no less effective-scale, Roma is a moving tribute to the female servant he grew up with during the early ’70s in the Mexico City suburb of the movie’s title. Cuarón, who claims 90 percent of the movie is based on his childhood memories, tells the story from the female servant’s point of view. Renamed Cleo for the movie, and played by Yalitza Aparicio in an astonishing, heartbreaking performance, Cleo is the glue holding the family she tends together as their philandering patriarch, Antonio (Fernando Grediaga) abandons them. The movie covers about a year in the life of the family, and it’s a slow build. Much of the movie happens in slow pans. It isn’t very wordy, and it adheres to a certain level of reality that can be taken as mundane at times. It’s daringly simple and somehow simultaneously majestic. There are some grand scale moments. A sequence depicting a violent student uprising is visceral and taut. A neartragic event on a beach is frighteningly real and totally fills the screen. Roma continues what it is turning out to be a breakthrough year for Netflix, which has given the movie a limited big screen release along with making it available for streaming. This, along with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by the Coen brothers, is proof that the streaming service has become a giant purveyor of original cinema goodness.

While Tom Holland’s live action Spider-Man remains in limbo due to that infamous Thanos finger snap, Sony Pictures ups the ante on the Spidey franchise with the eye-popping, all around ingenious Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse, one of 2018’s greatest cinematic surprises. While there have been awesome superhero movies and terrific movies based on comic books, this very well might be the best “comic-book movie” ever made. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is trying to adjust to a new, upscale school after winning a scholarship. He’s away from his big city friends and getting some guff from his well-meaning police officer dad (Brian Tyree Henry), who wants him to appreciate the chance he’s been given. Miles’s uncle (the ever busy Mahershala Ali) keeps him grounded, encouraging him to continue as a graffiti artist. On one of their painting excursions, Miles is bitten by a strange spider and then—well, you know. He eventually crosses paths with the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Chris Pine). And, as the plot would have it, parallel universe portals open and allow in a whole fleet of different SpiderMen, Spider-Women, Spider-Pigs and Spider-Robots. That group is comprised of Peter B. Parker (the invaluable Jake Johnson), Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), Spider-Ham (a mishmash of Spidey and Porky Pig voiced by John Mulaney), Peni Parker and her robot (Kimiko Glenn) and, best of all, Nicolas Cage as the blackand-white Spider-Man Noir. So Miles is one of many Spider entities on hand to go up against Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), whose corporation is responsible for the time hole rip allowing all of his adversaries into his corner of the universe. Like any good comic book, the movie is stacked with action, plot threads and many twists and turns.


by Todd SouTH

Juicy’s Giant Hamburgers serves a double cheeseburger and fries with two third-pound patties.

Big deal Juicy’s Giant Hamburgers, with its 1982 South Lake Tahoe origin and subsequent relocation to Wells Avenue, is de rigueur when discussing burger options in Reno. The new-ish South Reno satellite of the Wells shop is living up to the original’s reputation, with a menu that is straight-up and to the point. The standard cheeseburger is a thirdpound patty ($6.85), with a quarter-pound “junior” available for smaller appetites ($5.75). I dove into the double cheeseburger ($8.85), a pair of third-pound patties with American cheese melted into the meat, beefsteak tomato, thick-sliced white onion, broad leaf green lettuce and a mayo and mustard blend on a grilled, sesame seed bun. Getting my ample maw around the beast was a challenge, but so worth it. The burgers are double-wrapped in sturdy paper, with a diagram on the wall demonstrating how to contain the juiciness via burger origami. Don’t be fooled, because there’s no keeping that slippery sucker from dripping down your arms. Napkins are your friend. The patties are hand-formed from fresh ground beef, decently seasoned and cooked mediumwell unless otherwise specified. Ask for medium-rare, and you’ll get it. Sour pickle and jalapeño slices are available at the condiment bar, along with ranch dressing and other add-ons. Despite the burger focus, my friend’s “killer chicken sandwich” ($9, plus ortega chiles for $1.35) was absolutely, completely killer. The chicken breast was pounded and well-seasoned. The combination of lettuce, tomato, onion, smoky bacon and lightly spicy chiles was fantastic. A grilled cheese on sourdough ($4.50) was just that, American cheese melted between a couple slices of nicely browned

Photo/allison young

bread. The BLT ($5.80) featured four strips of crispy bacon, tomato and lettuce on a schmear of mayo. The quality of the peppery, smoky bacon really came through, though I don’t know why I’d order this in a joint with much better options. The veggie burger ($7.70) was surprisingly good. The seasoned vegetable protein patty had decent texture and was an acceptable substitute. The burgers are great, but the fries are bomb ($2.70 for a large). They’re not too thin, not too thick, a deep golden brown and uniquely crispy. These days I avoid most fries for dietary reasons, but it would be a crime to visit Juicy’s without ordering these gems. The housemade beef and bean chili ($4.10 for a small) with cheddar and onion is adequate, but it’s a crime to drown those perfect fries in it ($5.60). A cup of coleslaw ($2.80) was a cup of shredded carrot and white and purple cabbage, with sweet and tangy dressing on the side. I’d like a bit more vinegar and salt, but it’s not bad. A hand-dipped strawberry milkshake ($5.75, also available in vanilla, chocolate and mocha) was thick and good, though a bit pricey for the size. Service was quick, and you can order online for pick-up or delivery. I’ll be back in person to get it hot and fresh, and dig in to the ready supply of jalapeño and pickles. Ω

Juicy’s Giant Hamburgers

3981 S. McCarran blvd., 828-2441

Juicy’s giant hamburgers is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. learn more at juicysgianthamburgers.com.

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by MaTT BiekeR

Tuning in Under the Radar In 2010, Dallas Phillips got a call from his friend David “Fez” Duffie to come play an open mic night at Captain Jon’s, a restaurant located on the shore of Lake Tahoe. Phillips hadn’t played in years but decided to haul his keyboard, bass and tenor sax down to the waterfront for an impromptu performance. “I was just going around onstage playing different instruments, and Fez pulled me aside and said, ‘Dude, stop moving around the stage, pick an instrument and be that dude.’” Phillips stuck with the sax, and for the past eight years, he and his fellow band members have been playing gigs around the Truckee Meadows as Under the Radar. The current lineup includes Phillips, Duffie on bass, Richard Jon on guitar, Mike Badinger on drums and Doug Klotz on keyboard. Their blues/jazz sound draws on the collective influence of bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Van Morrison and Santana. The emphasis on funk and jazz is a refreshing outlet for the members, most of whom come from musical families with varying levels of professional experience. “That’s what attracted me was that it was something different,” said Jon, who’s been playing guitar since he was a child. “I’ve been so rock and blues and doing the acoustic thing, that when I heard this jazz, I was like—I’ve always loved jazz. From the first time I heard Miles Davis, that was it.” While they don’t call themselves a cover band, listeners are sure to hear some familiar ’70s jams in their setlists— sans vocals. “I was a sax guy, so we didn’t really think about singers,” Phillips said. “I always liked playing the singing part of it on my sax, so that’s kind of how we started off.” 16   |   RN&R   |   01.03.19

ma ttb @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m

Under the Radar provides an instrumental ambience to bars and restaurants around the Truckee Meadows. PHOTO/MATT BIEKER

Their emphasis on familiarity and conscious choice to remain instrumental meant Under the Radar found a niche in venues like the Rue Bourbon or Midtown Wine Bar in Reno, or bars and restaurants in Tahoe and Carson City. The bandmates enjoy providing live ambience with a little nostalgia thrown in for the drinking crowd. “We didn’t want to be playing the classic rock stuff that a lot of other bands play because what we hear time and time again is, ‘I haven’t heard that song in decades … and it’s so good to hear that,’” Phillips said. The band’s name has also served as somewhat of their work ethos over the past decade. While some of the members, like Mike Badinger, who tours full-time, have made careers out of music, the others balance their corporate jobs with as many shows as they feel comfortable playing. “Because we have these other lives, we don’t want to do more than, like, 25 gigs a year,” Phillips said. “I think it’s been 27, 28 gigs this year … If you’re doing it too much, then it takes away the fun and the novelty of doing it. That yin and yang kind of starts disappearing.” After almost a decade of gigging, however, the members of Under the Radar have tight standards for their performances, opting for quality of shows over quantity. “We try to be a very tight band,” Phillips said. “We don’t just looseygoosey start up and try and work our way through it and kind of end at different notes or whatever. We try and be a very professional band.” That said, they have a full calendar of shows to start 2019 and plans to develop more original material in the future. Under the Radar will be playing in Truckee at Bar of America, 10040 Donner Pass Road, on Jan. 4 and 5 at 9:00 p.m.; and Northstar Resort, 5001 Northstar Drive, also in Truckee, on Sunday Jan. 6 at 2:00 p.m. Ω

Under the Radar has complete has complete show listings at reverbnation.com/undertheradartahoe.


5 Star Saloon

132 West St., (775) 329-2878

THURSDAY 1/3

FRIDAY 1/4

SATURDAY 1/5

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

Dance party, 10pm, $5

Dance party, 10pm, $5

SUNDAY 1/6

MON-WED 1/7-1/9 Karaoke, 9pm, W, no cover

40 MIlE Saloon

Zeta, Boss’ Daughter, 8pm, Tu, no cover

1495 S. Virginia St., (775) 323-1877

alIBI alE WorKS

The Sextones, 9pm, no cover

10069 Bridge St., Truckee, (530) 536-5029

BoomBox Jan. 3, 9 p.m. Crystal Bay Casino 14 Highway 28 Crystal Bay 833-6333

Comedy

Bar oF aMErICa

Under the Radar, 9pm, no cover

Under the Radar, 9pm, no cover

CEol IrISh PuB

Coney Dogs, 9pm, no cover

Cole Adams, 9pm, no cover

10040 Donner Pass Rd., Truckee, (530) 587-2626 538 S. Virginia St., (775) 329-5558

CottonWooD rEStaurant

10142 Rue Hilltop, Truckee, (530) 587-5711

Mark Sexton, 6:30pm, no cover

Eric Daniel, 6:30pm, no cover

DaVIDSonS DIStIllErY

DEaD rInGEr analoG Bar Roxxxy Andrews, 9pm, $10-$20

239 W. Second St., (775) 470-8590 599 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City, (530) 583-3355

hEllFIrE Saloon

3372 S. McCarran Blvd., (775) 825-1988

thE hollanD ProjECt 140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858

Karaoke Night, 9pm, no cover

DJ Chapin, 10pm, no cover Greg Austin, 8pm, no cover Praying, Acid Casualty Reality Test, Ummm Jr, 7pm, $5

Trev$tone, Yung Newport, Higher Learning, Killjake, Lil Dyl, 8pm, $5

Yipee!, Dale, Bug Bath, 7pm, M, $5 Open mic with Monsterbug Productions, 9pm, W, no cover

180 W. Peckham Lane, Ste. 1070, (775) 686-6737 71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652

Traditional Irish session, 7pm, Tu, Wed. Night Showcase, 7pm, no cover

Black Out Party with DJ Matthew Ray, 10pm, $TBA

jIMMY B’S

juB juB’S thIrSt Parlor

Bluegrass Open Jam Session, 6pm, M, Ike & Martin, 7pm, Tu, no cover

Ritual (gothic, industrial, underground) w/DJs Draven, Rusty, Potter, 9pm, $3-$5

FaCES nV

Fat Cat Bar & GrIll

Post shows online by registerin g at www.newsr eview. com/reno. D eadline is the Frida y before public ation.

Whiskey Preachers, 9pm, no cover

275 E. Fourth St., (775) 324-1917 432 E. Fourth St., (775) 409-4431

Carson Comedy Club, Carson City Nugget, 507 N. Carson St, Carson City, (775) 882-1626: Josh Nasar, Fri-Sat, 8pm, $15 Laugh Factory, Silver Legacy Resort Casino, 407 N. Virginia St., (775) 3257401: Rob Little, 7:30pm, $21.95; Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, $27.45; Quinn Dahle, Tu-Wed, 7:30pm, $21.95 LEX at Grand Sierra Resort, 2500 E. Second St., (775) 789-5399: DJ Sandhu, 6:30pm, $15-$20 The Library, 134 W. Second St., (775) 683-3308: Open Mic Comedy, W, 9:30pm, no cover Pioneer Underground, 100 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-5233: DJ Sandhu, Fri, 9pm, $12-$18; Sat, 8:30pm, $12-$18; Comedy Collective, Fri, 6:30pm, $10-$15

No Deal, 9pm, no cover

One Ton Dually & Vague Choir, 8pm, $TBA

Weird Year, 11pm, Tu, $TBA

lauGhInG PlanEt CaFE

Jazz Jam Session Wednesdays, 7:30pm, W, no cover

941 N. Virginia St., (775) 870-9633

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THURSDAY 1/3

FRIDAY 1/4

SATURDAY 1/5

LIVING THE GOOD LIFE NIGHTCLUB THE LOFT

Magic Fusion, 7pm, 9pm, $22-$47

Magic Fusion, 7pm, $22-$47 Magic After Dark, 9pm, $32-$47

Magic Fusion, 7pm, 9pm, $22-$47

MIDTOwN wINE Bar

DJ Trivia, 7pm, no cover

One Way Street, 8pm, no cover

So Sul, 8pm, no cover

Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

1527 S. Virginia St., (775) 800-1960

MOODy’s BIsTrO, Bar & BEaTs

DJ Coolwhip Jan. 4, 10 p.m. Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. 789-2000

10007 Bridge St., Truckee, (530) 587-2626

PaDDy & IrENE’s IrIsH PUB

906-A Victorian Ave., Sparks, (775) 359-1594

Acoustic Wonderland Sessions, 8pm, no cover

235 Flint St., (775) 376-1948

Grace Hayes, Matt Bushman, Johnny Rolling, Matthew Howlett, 8pm, $5

MagNicoSynth! First Friday Funk Fest, 9pm, no cover

THE POLO LOUNGE

DJ Bobby G, 9pm, no cover

’80s Night with DJ Bobby G, 9pm, no cover

T-N-Keys, DJ Bobby G, 9pm, no cover

Steel Rockin’ Karaoke, 8pm, no cover

Live music, 8pm, no cover

PONDErOsa saLOON

106 S. C St., Virginia City, (775) 847-7210

Magic Fusion, 7pm, M, Tu, W, $22-$47 Bingo w/T-N-Keys, 6:30pm, Tu, no cover Passing Thru Duo, 7pm, W, no cover

Los Pistoleros, 10pm, $TBA

10096 Donner Pass Rd., Truckee, (530) 582-9219

1559 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-8864

Magic Fusion, 4:30pm, 7pm, $22-$47

Karaoke with R&B Productions, 9pm, no cover

PasTIME CLUB

PIGNIC PUB & PaTIO

MON-WED 1/7-1/9

One Way Street, 8:30pm, no cover

1480 N. Carson St., Carson City, (775) 841-4663 1021 Heavenly Village Way, S. L. Tahoe, (530) 523-8024

SUNDAY 1/6

Karaoke, 7pm, M, no cover

rED DOG saLOON

Open Mic with Doug Tarrant, 7pm, W, no cover

76 N. C St., Virginia City, (775) 847-7474

sHEa’s TaVErN

The Sextones Jan. 4, 9 p.m. Alibi Ale Works 10069 Bridge St. Truckee (530) 587-2626

715 S. Virginia St., (775) 786-4774

Black Crosses, Me Time, Rebel Holocrons, Mandala Circus, 9pm, $5-$6

sPLasH rENO

Manila Luzon, 10pm, $5

Trivia Night with Bradley James, 8pm, karaoke, 9:30pm, W, no cover

211 N. Virginia St., (775) 433-1090

First Friday Funk with Margaret’s Funk Band, 8pm, no cover

Country Western Night Karaoke, 9pm, W, no cover

wasHOE CaMP saLOON

Live music, 7pm, no cover

340 Kietzke Lane, (775) 686-6681

VIrGINIa sTrEET BrEwHOUsE 3155 Eastlake Blvd., New Washoe City, (775) 470-8128

wHIskEy DICks saLOON

2660 Lake Tahoe Blvd., S.L. Tahoe, (530) 544-3425

Weapons of Mass Creation, Eazy Dub, The Grimtones, 8:30pm, $5-$7

Crazy Town, Local Anthology, Melting Elk, 9pm, no cover

HELP THE VICTImS OF THE CAmP FIRE IN PARAdISE ANd BuTTE COuNTY $ D ON ATE TO HE L P THE V IC TIM S

DO N A T E T O y S T O C H I LDr E N

There are many worthy organizations raising money. Please donate to the organization of your choice. If you’d like to “give to a fund that’s going to be in this for the duration, then the foundation is your answer.” -Alexa Benson-Valavanis, CEO of North Valley Community Foundation, as quoted in the CN&R. To donate to the NVCF, go to www.nvcf.org.

Ashlee’s Toy Closet in Sparks, NV is collecting new toys for children affected by the Camp Fire. You can donate new toys, books or clothes at The Laughton Company offices, 140 Washington St. Ste. 100 Reno, NV 89503 or make financial donations here https://www.facebook.com/donate/351226489019537.

TH ANK y OU TO O Ur HErO ES! Thank you to the firefighters, EmS personnel, first responders of all varieties, nurses, neighbors in Chico and Paradise, and all of the many people, businesses and organizations helping evacuees and the Butte County community during the Camp Fire.

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THURSDAY 1/3

FRIDAY 1/4

SATURDAY 1/5

SUNDAY 1/6

MON-WED 1/7-1/9

2) Cook Book, 10pm, no cover

2) Cook Book, 10pm, no cover

2) Cook Book, 8pm, no cover

2) All In, 8pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) After Dark Band, 8pm, no cover

2) After Dark Band, 8pm, no cover

1) DJ MoFunk, 10pm, no cover

1) DJ Chris English, 10pm, no cover

1) BoomBox, Late Night Radio, 9pm, $25-$30

2) Coburn Station, 10pm, no cover

2) Peter Joseph Burtt & the King Tide, 10pm, no cover

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Spectacular, 7pm, $19.95-$49.95

1) The Unbelievables Christmas 1) The Unbelievables Christmas Spectacular, 5:30pm, 8pm, $19.95-$59.95 Spectacular, 3pm, 7pm, $19.95-$59.95

ATLANTIS CASINO reSOrT SPA 3800 S. Virginia St., (775) 825-4700 1) Ballroom 2) Cabaret

CArSON VALLey INN

1627 Hwy. 395, Minden, (775) 782-9711 1) Valley Ballroom 2) Cabaret

2) After Dark Band, 7pm, no cover

CIrCUS CIrCUS reNO

Daniel Tosh Jan. 4, 8 p.m. MontBleu Resort 55 Highway 50 Stateline (775) 588-3515

500 N. Sierra St., (775) 329-0711 1) El Jefe’s Cantina 2) Cabaret

CrySTAL BAy CASINO

14 Highway 28, Crystal Bay, (775) 833-6333 1) Crown Room 2) Red Room

eLdOrAdO reSOrT CASINO 345 N. Virginia St., (775) 786-5700 1) Theater 2) Brew Brothers 3) NoVi

GrANd SIerrA reSOrT

Karaoke Pizza Baron, 1155 W. Fourth St., Ste. 113, (775) 329-4481:Wacky Wednesday Karaoke with Steve Starr & DJ Hustler, 9pm, no cover The Point, 1601 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-3001: Karaoke, Thu-Sat, 8:30pm, no cover Spiro’s Sports Bar & Grille, 1475 E. Prater Way, Ste. 103, Sparks, (775) 356-6000: Karaoke, Fri-Sat, 9pm, no cover West 2nd Street Bar, 118 W. Second St., (775) 348-7976: Karaoke, Mon-Sun, 9pm, no cover

2500 E. Second St., (775) 789-2000 1) Grand Theatre 2) LEX 3) Crystal Lounge

HArd rOCk HOTeL ANd CASINO 50 Hwy. 50, Stateline, (844) 588-7625 1) Vinyl 2) Center Bar

1) Stampede Country Night Thursdays, 8pm, no cover

2) DJ Coolwhip, 10pm, $20

2) DJ Precise, 10pm, $20

2) DJ/dancing, 9pm, no cover

2) DJ/dancing, 9pm, no cover

2) Jamie Rollins, 6pm, Tu, W, no cover

1) The Unbelievables Christmas Spectacular, 2pm, 5:30pm, $19.95-$49.95

HArrAH’S LAke TAHOe

2) Buddy Emmer and guests, 8pm, Tu, no cover

15 Hwy. 50, Stateline, (800) 427-7247 1) South Shore Room 2) Casino Center Stage

MONTBLeU reSOrT

1) Tosh.Show in the Snow: Daniel Tosh and special guests, 8pm, $59-$79

55 Highway 50, Stateline, (775) 588-3515 1) Showroom 2) Blu 3) Opal

NUGGeT CASINO reSOrT

1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks, (775) 356-3300 1) Celebrity Showroom 2) Nugget Ballroom

PePPerMILL reSOrT SPA CASINO 2707 S. Virginia St., (775) 826-2121 1) Terrace Lounge 2) Edge 3) Capri Ballroom

SILVer LeGACy reSOrT CASINO

407 N. Virginia St., (775) 325-7401 1) GEH 2) Rum Bullions 3) Aura 4) Silver Baron

1) The Weekday Preachers, 7pm, no cover

1) David Johns and the Comstock Cowboys, 8pm, $17

1) David Johns and the Comstock Cowboys, 8pm, $17

1) The Weekday Preachers, 8pm, no cover

1) The Weekday Preachers, 8pm, no cover

4) Live music, 9pm, no cover

4) Live music, 9pm, no cover

1) Everett Coast, 6pm, no cover

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1) Everett Coast, 6pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

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FOR THE WEEK OF januaRy 3, 2019 For a complete listing of this week’s events or to post events to our online calendar, visit www.newsreview.com. FIRST THURSDAY: Explore the Nevada Museum of Art’s galleries at this monthly social event featuring live music by Rocky and Friends and specialty refreshments. Thu, 1/3, 5pm. $10, free for NMA members. Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St., (775) 329-3333.

FIVE-DAY WINTER ART CAMP: Teaching artists will provide an hour of performing arts, a half-hour snack break and an hour and a half of visual art to kids ages 6-10. The camp will be held Monday-Friday. The morning session starts at 9am. The afternoon session starts at 1pm. Mon, 1/7-Wed 1/9, 9am & 1pm. $125. Lake Mansion, 250 Court St., 826-6100 ext. 2, www.artsforallnevada.org.

FOUR SEASONS BOOK CLUB: The book club will meet to discuss A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Sat, 1/5, 1pm. Free. Sparks Library, 1125 12th St. Sparks, (775) 352-3200.

GENEALOGY OPEN LAB: Beginner,

jan/03

: RENO LATIN DANCE FEST

The Latin dance festival returns for its 11th year, offering workshops in various dance styles taught by professional instructors, night parties with hours of social dancing and an evening dance showcase where dance couples and teams from all over the nation show off their moves. The four-day event kicks off on Thursday, Jan. 3, at Silver Legacy Resort Casino, 407 N. Virginia St., and Circus Circus Reno, 500 N. Sierra St. Tickets are $40-$350. Visit www.renolatindancefest.com.

EVEnTS

ABWA’S MONTHLY LUNCHEON MEETING: Reno Tahoe Express Network, a league of the American Business Women’s Association, holds its monthly event featuring a guest speaker, a raffle drawing and networking with businesswomen from many different types of businesses. Thu, 1/3, 11:30am. $20-$25. Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, 3800 S. Virginia St., www.abwa.org/ chapter/reno-tahoe-express-network.

13TH ANNUAL LAKE TAHOE BACKCOUNTRY DEMO EVENT: Alpenglow Sports once again partners with Alpine Meadows for the two-day festival showcasing alpine touring, telemark and split board. The event is free, but participants must possess a valid lift ticket or season pass purchased from Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows along with a drivers license and credit card to participate. Sat, 1/5Sun, 1/6, 9am. Free. Alpine Meadows, 2600 Alpine Meadows Road, Olympic Valley, www.alpenglowsports.com.

ANNUAL JAZZ EDUCATION NETWORK CONFERENCE: The 10th annual conference features four full days of performances, workshops, panel discussions, research presentations and live clinics. Wed, 1/9, 9am. Visit website for details. Grand Sierra Resort, 2500 E. Second St., jazzednet.org/conference.

A VISUAL TOUR OF LAKE TAHOE’S WINTER TRAILS: Author Mike White and awardwinning local photographer Mark Vollmer will present a slide show of Tahoe’s winter wonders. Copies of White’s book, 50 of the Best Snowshoe Trails around Lake Tahoe, will be available for purchase and signing. Sat, 1/5, 1pm. Free. Galena Creek Visitor Center, 18250 Mount Rose Highway, (775) 849-4948.

CABIN FEVER SERIES: Kids ages 4-6 can learn about nature in the winter. Each session will feature a short lesson, a story, an indoor activity and a guided outdoor exploration. Parent attendance is required. Call to register. Mon, 1/7, 10am. $5 per session or $30 for series. Ranch House, Wilbur D. May Center, Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, 1595 N. Sierra St., (775) 785-4153.

AFTERNOON BOOK CLUB: The group meets to discuss A Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny. Wed, 1/9, 2pm. Free. Northwest Reno Library, 2325 Robb Drive, (775) 787-4100.

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DOWNTOWN ICE RINK: The ice skating rink is

01.03.19

open for the season through Jan. 21. Visit Greater Nevada Field’s Facebook page for schedule. Thu, 1/3-Wed, 1/9, 10am. $6$12. Greater Nevada Field, 250 Evans Ave., (775) 334-7000, www.facebook.com/ GreaterNevadaField.

intermediate and advanced family researchers are all welcome to attend this open lab. Learn how to build your family tree and discover your ancestors. Fri, 1/4, 11:30am-2pm. Free. Elizabeth Sturm Library, Truckee Meadows Community College, 7000 Dandini Blvd., (775) 674-7600, www.tmcc.edu.

GUIDED HIKE: Enjoy a guided hike through Galena Creek Park with a local specialist. Please bring appropriate clothing and plenty of water. If there’s enough snow, this will be a snowshoe hike. The hike intensity varies, depending on the audience. Sat, 1/5, 10am. Free. Galena Creek Visitor Center, 18250 Mount Rose Highway, (775) 849-4948.

HAROLD AND LILLIAN: Artemisia MovieHouse presents a screening of this 2011 documentary/biography directed by Daniel Raim. Harold and Lillian Michelson eloped to Hollywood in 1947, where they became the film industry’s secret weapons. Movie fans know their work, even if they don’t recognize their names. Working largely uncredited in the Hollywood system, storyboard artist Harold and film researcher Lillian left an indelible mark on classics by Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski and many more. Sun, 1/6, 6pm. $5-$9. Good Luck Macbeth Theatre Company, 124 W. Taylor St., artemisiamovies.weebly.com.

MYSTERY SLEUTHS: If you love mystery books, join this group and solve some popular mystery stories. Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month. Call the North Valleys Library for this month’s title. Wed, 1/9, 5:45pm. Free. North Valleys Library, 1075 N. Hills Blvd., (775) 972-0281.

NEVADA WOLF PAC MEN’S BASKETBALL: The University of Nevada, Reno men’s basketball team plays the San Jose State Spartans. Wed, 1/9, 8pm. $25-$63. Lawlor Events Center, 1500 N. Virginia St., nevadawolfpack.com.

STATE CAPITOL GUIDED TOUR: Docents from the Nevada State Museum will lead guided tours every Saturday. Tours include the interior and exterior of the building and nearby memorials. Tours are available for up to 20 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Sat 1/5, 10:30am & 1:30pm. Free. Nevada State Capitol, 101 N. Carson St., Carson City, (775) 687-4810, ext. 237.

WINTER FIREWORKS: Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows holds a winter fireworks show every Saturday through March 30 (depending on weather conditions). Shows start at 5:30pm at KT Deck. Sat. 1/5, 7:30pm. Free. Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, 1960 Squaw Valley Road, Olympic Valley, squawalpine.com.

WINTER SPEAKER SERIES—EMILY HARRINGTON & MICHELLE PARKER: Alpenglow Sports will premier the third show in the Winter Speaker Series, titled “Skiing Ecuador’s Volcanoes: A Story of Failure and Redemption,” presented by professional rock climber Emily Harrington and professional freeskier Michelle Parker. They will recount their failed attempt to climb and ski two volcanoes in Ecuador in 2015 and their tale of redemption as they reattempt to ski Cotopaxi in November 2018. Raffle tickets and drinks will be available for sale. All proceeds will go to benefit the Humane Society of Truckee Tahoe. Thu, 1/3, 7pm. Free. Olympic Village Lodge at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, 1901 Chamonix Place, Olympic Valley, alpenglowsports.com.

WINTER WONDERLAND WALK: Learn about hibernation, migration, climate and how snowflakes form during this two-mile walk along the Carson River. Advance registration available online. Sat, 1/5, 1pm. Free. Riverview Park, 600 Marsh Road, Carson City, www.carson.org/ccpr.

LEGO CLUB: Kids can build self-led creations through hands-on learning with LEGO Education materials. Participants 9 and under must be accompanied by a caregiver of at least 13 years of age at all times. Thu, 1/3, 4pm. Free. Carson City Library, 900 N. Roop St., Carson City, (775) 887-2244.

LET’S TALK COYOTES—SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION: This PowerPoint presentation will explore the coyote’s status in Nevada, its social, dietary and reproductive tendencies, and if it truly represents a threat to livestock, wildlife, pets and humans. Sun, 1/6, 1pm. Free. Galena Creek Visitor Center, 18250 Mount Rose Highway, (775) 849-4948.

aRT CARSON CITY COURTHOUSE GALLERY: Americana with Cadmium Orange. The Capital City Arts Initiative presents work by artist Gig Depio. Thu, 1/3-Fri, 1/4, Mon, 1/7-Wed, 1/9, 8am-5pm. Free. Carson City Community Center, 850 E. William St., Carson City, www.arts-initiative.org

DAVIDSON’S DISTILLERY: Bikeriders. Black and white photographs of HarleyDavidson enthusiasts by Dave Muskin. The show runs through Jan. 7. Thu, 1/3Mon, 1/7, 11am. Free. Davidson’s Distillery, 275 E. Fourth St., (775) 324-1917.

E. L. WIEGAND GALLERY, OATS PARK ART CENTER: Miya Hannon: Underfoot. Installations and mixed-media works through March 23. Artist’s talk and reception for the artist on Jan. 19, 5-7pm. Thu, 1/3-Wed, 1/9. Free. E. L. Wiegand Gallery, Oats Park Art Center, 151 E. Park St., Fallon, (775) 423-1440, www.churchillarts.org.

KIRK ROBERTSON GALLERY, OATS PARK ART CENTER: Lahontan Valley Fine Arts Invitational. Recent works by Churchill County artists, through March 23. Thu, 1/3-Wed, 1/9. Free. Kirk Robertson Gallery, Oats Park Art Center, 151 E. Park St., Fallon, (775) 423-1440.

NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART: After Audubon: Art, Observations and Natural Science; Anne Brigman: A Visionary in Modern Photography; Art of the Greater West (through Jan. 6); Bethany Laranda Wood: The West at Hand; History of Transportation: A Mural Study by Helen Lundeberg (through Jan. 6); James Turrell: Roden Crater; Laid Bare in the Landscape; The Lasting World: Simon Dinnerstein and The Fulbright Triptych (through Jan. 6); Paul Valadez: Selections from the Great Mexican-American Songbook; Trevor Paglen: Orbital Reflector. Thu, 1/3-Wed, 1/9. $1-$10. Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St., (775) 329-3333, www.nevadaart.org.

TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE: Whose Art is it Anyway? The Truckee Meadows Community College Main Gallery presents this group art exhibition by Rose Barry, Tenessa Melvin, Mona Al Saglab and Luke Ramsdell. The exhibit will be on display through Jan. 16. Thu, 1/3-Wed, 1/9. Free. Main Gallery, Truckee Meadows Community College, 7000 Dandini Blvd., (775) 673-7111.

MuSIC BAROQUE MASTERS SERIES: TOCCATA—Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will begin the 2019 season with Baroque chamber music masterpieces, featuring soloists from within the orchestra. Sat, 1/5, 3pm. First Methodist Church, 209 W. First St., Reno; Wed, 1/9, 7pm. $0-$40. Trinity Lutheran Church, 1480 Douglas Ave., Gardnerville, (775) 298-6989, toccatatahoe.org.

PLAY FOR A DAY: Join conductor Laura Jackson and musicians from the Reno Phil for an afternoon of music making. Arrangements of orchestral favorites are available for players of all levels. The afternoon will include rehearsals, sectionals and a concert. All proceeds benefit the Washoe County School District’s Music Education programs. Sun, 1/6, 2pm. $30. Billinghurst Middle School, 6685 Chesterfield Lane, (775) 323-6393, renophil.com.

STEEP CANYON RANGERS: The Grammy Award-winning, North Carolina-based

bluegrass band performs. Tue, 1/8, 7pm. $20-$35. Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St., (775) 329-3333.


by AMY ALKON

Foul pay I went out with a feminist who was all into women’s empowerment, but when the bill came, she made no effort to chip in. Please explain this type of feminism. Is it somehow possible that she didn’t notice the check? While this appears to be a glaring example of self-serving selective feminism, research suggests there’s sometimes a more charitable explanation for absurdly contradictory beliefs and behavior. Though most people believe that there’s a single consistent you (or me) with stable beliefs and preferences, this actually seems to be an illusion. In fact, if there’s one thing that’s consistent about humans, it’s how inconsistent we all tend to be and—it gets better—how consistent we are in vigorously denying that. Cognitive scientist Colin Martindale theorized back in 1980 that we have a number of “subselves”—sub-personalities with varying beliefs and priorities—that go active or sink into the background depending on the context at hand. In other words, whichever goal is front and center in your mind—like “Fight patriarchal oppression!” or “Take this totally adorbs patriarchal oppressor home to bed!”—drives how you think and behave. Research by neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga suggests Martindale was right. Gazzaniga’s findings also led him to the conclusion that our mind has a janitor of sorts— a psychological one he calls “The Interpreter”—that tidies up in the wake of our inconsistencies by creating justifications for them. These, in turn, allow us to view ourselves as consistent and rational—instead of laughably hypocritical, like a feminist who, when the check comes, stares skyward, all “Wow! That is one of the most well-preserved examples of the early-’90s popcorn ceiling!” However, again, more charitably, everybody these days is confused about who’s supposed to pay on dates (and when and what it all means). To suss out where this woman is coming from, you need more information, and to get that, you’ll need further interaction—on the phone or in person. Sure, she could be a hypocrite riding the patriarchal free dinner train—or maybe she finds it icky to split the check and figured she’d get the next one.

Keeping it Rio This girl I’ve been dating for two months is soon going to Brazil for three months. We aren’t officially committed, so it seems unfair to ask her to be monogamous. We plan to stay in touch, but I don’t want to hear about her with other dudes, and selfishly, I don’t want to stay home, all celibate like some war bride. It’s very considerate of you to suggest three months sexually off leash, as she is traveling to the ancestral homeland of male supermodels, where a chunk of the GNP is dependent on Carnival—a weeklong drinking, samba and sex fest. The problem is jealousy, one of our guard dog emotions. Evolutionary psychologist David Buss explains that jealousy rises up automatically to help us fend off “potential mate poachers” and prevent a mate from “defecting.” Because it’s set on “auto,” it can be hard to override. That said, though you don’t have a committed relationship with this woman—let alone an “open” one—you might be able to make use of a psychological tactic of people in sexually open relationships. It’s called “compersion”—taking pleasure in your partner’s getting pleasure, even if it’s from some other, uh, provider. Granted, this is probably about as realistic for most people as their Ubering to a party via unicorn. However, it dovetails nicely with my fave quote about love, from sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein: “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” Float the idea of planned cooperative ignorance, and ask her to think on it for a few days. (People often have more reasoned responses to hot-button issues when they aren’t expected to reply pronto.) Also, it doesn’t hurt that she’s the one wintering where stone-sober women are tempted to stop men on the street with “Excuse me, but would you mind if I licked black beans off your ridiculously chiseled abs?” Ω

ERIK HOLLAND

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., No. 280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com).

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Free will astrology

by ROb bRezsny

For the week oF January 3, 2019 ARIES (March 21-April 19): No one has resisted

the force of gravity with more focus than businessman Roger Babson (1875–1967). He wrote an essay entitled “Gravity — Our Enemy Number One,” and sought to develop anti-gravity technology. His Gravity Research Foundation gave awards to authentic scientists who advanced the understanding of gravity. If that organization still existed and offered prizes, I’m sure that researchers of the Aries persuasion would win them all in 2019. For your tribe, the coming months should feature lots of escapes from heaviness, including soaring flights and playful levity and lofty epiphanies.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The night parrots of

Australia are so elusive that there was a nearly six-decade stretch when no human saw a single member of the species. But in 2013, after searching for 15 years, photographer John Young spotted one and recorded a 17-second video. Since then, more sightings have occurred. According to my astrological vision, your life in 2019 will feature experiences akin to the story of the night parrot’s reappearance. A major riddle will be at least partially solved. Hidden beauty will materialize. Long-secret phenomena will no longer be secret. A missing link will re-emerge.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Millions of years ago,

Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and North and South America were smooshed together. Earth had a single landmass: the supercontinent Pangea. Stretching across its breadth was a colossal feature, the Central Pangean Mountains. Eventually, though, Europe and America split apart, making room for the Atlantic Ocean and dividing the Central Pangean range. Today the Scottish Highlands and the Appalachian Mountains are thousands of miles apart, but once upon a time they were joined. In 2019, Gemini, I propose that you look for metaphorical equivalents in your own life. What disparate parts of your world had the same origin? What elements that are now divided used to be together? Re-establish their connection. Get them back in touch with each other. Be a specialist in cultivating unity.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): 2019 will be an excel-

lent time to swim in unpolluted rivers, utter sacred oaths near beautiful fountains and enjoy leisurely saunas that help purify your mind and body. You are also likely to attract cosmic favor if you cry more than usual, seek experiences that enhance your emotional intelligence and ensure that your head respectfully consults with your heart before making decisions. Here’s another way to get on life’s good side: Cultivate duties that consistently encourage you to act out of love and joy rather than out of guilt and obligation.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Here are four key ques-

tions I hope you’ll meditate on throughout 2019: 1. What is love? 2. What kind of love do you want to receive? 3. What kind of love do you want to give? 4. How could you transform yourself in order to give and receive more of the love you value most? To spur your efforts, I offer you these thoughts from teacher David R. Hawkins: “Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.”

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Most living things

begin in the absence of light,” writes Virgo author Nancy Holder. “The vine is rooted in the earth; the fawn takes form in the womb of the doe.” I’ll remind you that your original gestation also took place in the dark. And I foresee a metaphorically comparable process unfolding for you in 2019. You’ll undergo an incubation period that may feel cloaked and mysterious. That’s just as it should be: the best possible circumstances for the vital new part of your life that will be growing. So be patient. You’ll see the tangible results in 2020.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Many plants that

modern Americans regard as weeds were regarded as tasty food by Native Americans. A prime example is the cattail, which grows wild in wetlands. Indigenous people ate the rootstock, stem, leaves and flower spike. I propose that we use this scenario to serve as a metaphor for some of your potential op-

portunities in 2019. Things you’ve regarded as useless or irrelevant or inconvenient could be revealed as assets. Be alert for the possibility of such shifts. Here’s advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The slow, gradual,

incremental approach will be your magic strategy in 2019. Being persistent and thorough as you take one step at a time will provide you with the power to accomplish wonders. Now and then, you may be tempted to seek dramatic breakthroughs or flashy leaps of faith; and there may indeed be one or two such events mixed in with your steady rhythms. But for the most part, your glory will come through tenacity. Now study this advice from mystic Meister Eckhart: “Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart, and finding delight in doing it.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian

polymath Piet Hein wrote a poem in which he named the central riddle of his existence. “A bit beyond perception’s reach, / I sometimes believe I see / That life is two locked boxes / Each containing the other’s key.” I propose that we adopt this scenario to symbolize one of the central riddles of your existence. I’ll go further and speculate that in 2019 one of those boxes will open as if through a magical fluke, without a need for the key. This mysterious blessing won’t really be a magical fluke, but rather a stroke of well-deserved and hard-earned luck that is the result of the work you’ve been doing to transform and improve yourself.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What themes and

instruments do people least want to hear in a piece of music? Composer Dave Soldier determined that the worst song ever made would contain bagpipes, cowboy music, tubas, advertising jingles, operatic rapping and children crooning about holidays. Then he collaborated with other musicians to record such a song. I suspect that as you head into 2019, it’ll be helpful to imagine a metaphorically comparable monstrosity: a fantastic mess that sums up all the influences you’d like to avoid. With that as a vivid symbol, you’ll hopefully be inspired to avoid allowing any of it to sneak into your life in the coming months.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In Canada, it’s illegal

to pretend to practice witchcraft. It’s fine to actually do witchcraft, however. With that as our inspiration, I advise you to be rigorous about embodying your authentic self in 2019. Make sure you never lapse into merely imitating who you are or who you used to be. Don’t fall into the trap of caring more about your image than about your actual output. Focus on standing up for what you really mean rather than what you imagine people expect from you. The coming months will be a time when you can summon pure and authoritative expressions of your kaleidoscopic soul.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the 18th century,

Benjamin Franklin was a founding father who played a key role in getting the United States up and running. He wasn’t happy that the fledgling nation chose the bald eagle as its animal symbol. The supposedly majestic raptor is lazy, he wrote. It doesn’t hunt for its own food, but steals grub obtained by smaller birds of prey. Furthermore, bald eagles are cowardly, Franklin believed. Even sparrows may intimidate them. With that as our theme, Pisces, I invite you to select a proper creature to be your symbolic ally in 2019. Since you will be building a new system and establishing a fresh power base, you shouldn’t pick a critter that’s merely glamorous. Choose one that excites your ambition and animates your willpower.

You can call Rob Brezsny for your Expanded Weekly Horoscope: (900) 950-7700. $1.99 per minute. Must be 18+. Touchtone phone required. Customer service (612) 373-9785. And don’t forget to check out Rob’s website at www.realastrology.com.


by DENNis MYERs

Retiree

it’s somewhat laissez-faire. You’re supposed to be able to figure it out. I’m not that smart. Sorry.

Howard Rosenberg retired last summer after 51 years as an art professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, movie critic at KTVN for a couple of decades, 12 years as a Nevada regent and four years as a Washoe County School Board member. He will be teaching a foursession class for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in February.

You’re going back into the classroom a bit for Capra.

PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS

Seen any good movies lately? As a matter of fact, no. I’ve seen some mediocre movies. I was looking forward to Vice. I really was. I expected Christian Bale to do something, and it came out as a one-note performance, as Dick Cheney, but by the same token, it scared the hell out of me. I think it’s a performance of quiet menace, is the only way I can describe it. Amy Adams is fantastic as his wife. She comes off as an actress of excellence as the character [Lynne Cheney]. … The best film I’ve seen in a long while—and a lot of people will disagree with me—is Bohemian Rhapsody. I really enjoyed it. I knew nothing at all about Freddie Mercury except that he dressed outrageously, but that’s par for the course in those kinds of bands. The film had a beginning, a middle and an end. I could follow it. And what’s driving me nuts—even with Vice—they went back and forth, back and forth. The only way I could tell where I was is what color Dick Cheney’s hair—or what little he had of it—was.

So they don’t make movies like they used to. I sound like my parents now. But they’re not good.

There’s a saying these days that the best movies are on television. I’m not sure, Dennis. The thing that’s good about television is that it is an hour or an hour and a half. Sometimes two hours, but you’d have to really work at it to get it there. I can remember Frank Capra saying to my students one year that “For a film to be over 90 minutes, there’s got to be a good reason. The time has to fly by. If it doesn’t, something’s wrong with you, the film-maker.” And I tend to agree with that. Plus, the good part about television movies is they have an order that they follow, because you’ve got to tell the people what it is that they need to know so they understand what’s going on. In movies,

We’re going to do “Capra/Capraesque” for OLLI. That’s the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute up at the university. And there’ll be four films in February [on succeeding weeks]. … What I’m going to do is I’m going to show, to start, It Happened One Night, which was the first really major, major success that Capra had that really worked the way that he hoped that it would. Now, 20 years later, they made a film called Roman Holiday. Had nothing to do with Capra, but it is the same story that Capra told in It Happened One Night. Then, the next week we’re going to show Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which is terribly apropos today, and finish off the class with Dave, the Kevin Kline film, which isn’t Capra but it is Capraesque. And we’ll be able to discuss things in between. What I’m looking forward to is that the majority of my students while I was teaching were young people. This is older than that, I’m told, so that they’re going to remember. At the same time that we’re going to be looking at things, they’ll tweak those memories.

Is this the start of something, where you’ll be doing Wellman or Ford and so on? I don’t know.

Ω

by BRUCE VAN DYKE

Sales pitch What if a current TV show ended every week with the host saying, “You’ve made this a special day, just by your being you. There’s no person in the world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” Pretty corny, right? No way that would fly in today’s jaundiced, cynical world. And yet, that’s exactly how Fred Rogers signed off every week. As a kid in the ’60s, I didn’t get a chance to hang with Mr. Rogers in his ’hood, who came along a bit later. I did, however, get a chance to party with the outrageous and insanely ridiculous Soupy Sales. If Soup had been shrewd enough to sell sweatshirts back then, my brother and I would have effing lived in them. We went totally apewire for Soupy and his dogs Black Tooth and White Fang and all the madness that went down in his playhouse. (I would guess

that Soupy’s place had a big part to play in the mind of young Paul Reubens, who would then go on to create his own playhouse scene in the 1980s as Pee Wee Herman.) Over the holidays, I was waxing nostalgic with friends about our fave shows as kids, and we eventually realized that, with the magical power of YouTube, we could probably revisit some of them. Made courageous by wine, we dove into the Web Swamp, curious to see if our old pals were actually as good as our somewhat suspect memories insisted. (After all, a lot of this stuff is 55-60 years old, and a lot what we remember as really terrific was, unfortunately, pretty lame.) Sure enough, there was all kinds of Soupy avail, and god bless him, his zany jive was still pretty darn funny, and, at times, even hilarious.

“Maybe you had to be there” is certainly a fair warning here, but goddammit, there was one clip of Soupy messing around with giant dog White Fang that absolutely blew my mind it was so freakin’ good. And nobody, but nobody, could blast Soupy with a pie to the face like Fang (pie facials as a splattering Art Form!). Speaking of pies to the mug, none other than Ol’ Blue Eyes was a big fan of Soup’s, and he told Sales he would love to drop in sometime but only if he got the pie treatment. So one morning, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and Trini Lopez showed up at Soupy’s Playhouse. The pie fight that ensued was somewhat legendary, to put it mildly. A lot of whipped cream on the set that day! Ω

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