April 2024

EDITOR'S NOTE

Getting down to business

Welcome to the April RN&R!

Have you ever wondered how we decide what to publish in a given month? There are a lot of factors to consider: What’s timely? What’s newsworthy?

What seems to be on people’s minds at the moment? I also rely on our contributors—who come from various walks of life—to keep an ear to the ground and let us know what they see happening in town.

This month, our writers’ recommendations happen to coalesce around a common theme: Unbeknownst to each other, several of them pitched articles that shine a spotlight on local businesses. Collectively, they cast quite a wide net.

First, David Rodriguez proposed a guide celebrating the diverse Wells Avenue taco scene. (The resulting piece, this month’s cover story, makes my mouth water each time I read it.)

Then some of our columnists and reporters noticed new businesses starting up in their respective realms of expertise. Cocktail scribe Michael Moberly profiled the Best Bet Motor Lodge, soon to reopen as a boutique motel. Theater writer Jessica Santina reported on a new performing arts collective. Business columnist Matt Westfield interviewed two ambitious University of Nevada, Reno, graduates who’ve launched an AI startup. And Helena Guglielmino, our new outdoors columnist, got to know an independent gear company whose owners bend over backward to help people access the region’s trails and peaks.

You’ll find other business stories in the news and arts sections, too. Owen Bryant discusses Three Moons, an occult and magic shop that’s becoming a community hub for all things witchy.

Helena interviewed Tia Flores, a Reno artist who travels to a remote village in Peru, teaching women there how to run their own microbusinesses. And new contributor Susan Winters tells a brief history of the enduring Fallon Theatre, still going strong after 104 years.

So, I’m calling this our Unofficial Local Business Issue. I found it inspiring— and I hope you do, too. And if you want to know where to find me, I’ll probably be on Wells Avenue eating tacos.

—KRIS VAGNER krisv@renonr.com

LETTERS

Keep the local post office

Here’s why moving mail delivery from Washoe County to Sacramento and back to Washoe County would be an absolute disaster on so many levels.

Has anybody considered the fact that both California and Nevada have universal mail-in ballots, and that come November, the Sacramento U.S. Postal Service office is going to be—pardon the all-caps—totally SLAMMED?

This next election promises to be the most consequential of our lifetimes, and leaving it to overworked postal employees to ensure that mailed-out California ballots get to Californians, and that Nevada ballots get to Nevadans, is too important to be left to chance.

That’s not to mention the nightmare of getting returned ballots to their respective registrars before whatever arbitrary deadlines pass. Remember, too: It’s not just the weather that will delay timely mail delivery to Washoe County. An out-ofcontrol brushfire or a single overturned big rig can snarl traffic along Interstate 80 as surely as a blizzard.

Finally, savings of $3 million per year is a laughable reason for disrupting a

system that has more or less functioned as designed for many decades. That $3 million could be raised for that purpose in less than a month from Nevada residents alone through a GoFundMe account.

I’d be the first to contribute.

Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263, Cathedral City, CA 92234 • 775-324-4440 • RenoNR.com

Publisher/Executive Editor

Jimmy Boegle

Managing Editor

Kris Vagner

Editor at Large

Frank X. Mullen

Photo Editor

David Robert

Cover and Feature Design

Dennis Wodzisz

Distribution Lead

Rick Beckwith

Contributors

Alicia Barber, Matt Bieker, Maude Ballinger, Lucy Birmingham, Owen Bryant, Brad Bynum, Alan De Queiroz, Zoe Dixon, Loryn Elizares, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Helena Guglielmino, Matt Jones, Matt King, Michael Moberly, Steve Noel, Dan Perkins, Carol Purroy, David Rodriguez, Jessica Santina, Jason Sarna, Brianna Soloski, Delaney Uronen, Robert Victor, Matt Westfield, Leah Wigren, Susan Winters

The Reno News & Review print edition is published monthly. All content is ©2024 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The RN&R is available free of charge throughout Northern Nevada, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $5 by calling 775-324-4440. The RN&R may be distributed only authorized distributors. The RN&R is a proud member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Nevada Press Association, and the Local Independent Online News Publishers. Coachella Valley Independent, LLC, is a certified LGBT Business Enterprise® (LGBTBE) through the NGLCC Supplier Diversity Initiative.

You may see our posters with QR codes in medical offices and hospitals and take the survey on your mobile device while you wait for your appointment. You can also go to nvrdac. org/needsassessment to participate in English or Spanish.

Roger Scimé Reno

This survey will help us advocate for people with rare diseases

In the United States, one out of 10 individuals is impacted by a rare disease. Some of these diseases are exceedingly rare. In Nevada, we must have a clear understanding of the number of residents impacted and the challenges faced by both individuals and families across the state—and your help is needed.

The Nevada Rare Disease Advisory Council (NVRDAC) is actively seeking survey participants, both patients and caregivers, to help identify the extent of the impact in its communities. The results of this anonymous survey, along with a comprehensive statistical analysis of the occurrence, causes and economic impact of rare diseases, will allow the NVRDAC to better advocate for the needs of residents— especially those living in rural and remote Nevada communities.

Our goal is to ensure medical providers in all Nevada communities possess the knowledge and awareness necessary to recognize the symptoms of rare diseases and provide appropriate care, such as consulting with or referring to specialty providers. The NVRDAC will not only explore the consequences of delayed and inadequate treatment on the quality of life for patients, but also the impact on Nevada’s economy. What we learn from those who participate in the survey will help us formulate better recommendations aimed at reducing disability; improving quality of life; and using resources more appropriately.

If you or someone for whom you care has a rare disease, please join me in taking this survey. Also talk about the Nevada Rare Disease Advisory Council with your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. You never know when someone close to you may have a rare disease and appreciate learning of this needs assessment survey.

Christina Beach Thielst Minden

GUEST COMMENT BY

DOUGLAS REYNOLDS

Let’s bring back critical thinking— because our country’s future depends on it

I sometimes feel like I am an actor in a Borat movie, but I was never given a script. A bizarre scene is unfolding around me, and if the other actors were to fall silent and gaze upon me, expecting my line, I’d be speechless.

There seems to be a critical shortage of rational thought in our country. In our hands, we hold access to virtually all human knowledge—but it is peppered with disinformation. A worrisome percentage of the population electively ignores researchable facts in favor of conspiratorial mumbo jumbo. For this segment of America, opinion outweighs truth; facts are dangerous; and blind loyalty to a “tribe”—whether football team or political party—is valued above all.

Arguments derived from sensational headlines or sound bites have replaced the news. These arguments can typically be broken down into three categories:

• They’re in defense of a single interpretation of a cherry-picked passage from an ancient book, predominantly written by anonymous authors who lacked access to modern, scientific knowledge.

stead believe a singular leader to the point where they will actually storm a capitol building? The answer is simple: It’s the steady drip of carefully crafted misinformation, based on cherry-picked examples.

This is illustrated succinctly in Mein Kampf Hitler wrote, “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily.” In other words, cherry-pick a truth; wrap it in a lie; find an emotional tie-in; repeat it enough—and people will believe.

• They’re in defense of one divided ruling, handed down by judges with lifetime job security.

• They’re in defense of provably false beliefs.

These arguments threaten the future of our nation.

An excerpt of a speech given by 28-yearold Abraham Lincoln is often used by factions to scare us into thinking the other side is bad. If you’ve seen Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland, you’ve heard it: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

But other excerpts of Lincoln’s original speech are even more foretelling of our present day: “(There is) even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts … Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the times.”

This speech revolves around Lincoln’s concerns that, as older statesmen fade away, a new type of politician might be tempted to operate outside of the law and use mob mentality to secure power and glory.

So, what exactly is required to convince people to lose trust in institutions and in-

STREETALK

If your pet was human, what type of vehicle would they drive?

BY DAVID ROBERT

Asked at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park, 1595 N. Sierra St., Reno

This destructive strategy can only be defeated by applying logical, rational, compassionate and critical thought to everything we hear. Unfortunately, people have to make this effort, and, to quote Agent K from Men in Black, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.”

I’d like to insert, “… holding hypnotic screens that elicit evolutionary-based, Homer Simpson-like responses: ‘Ooh, pretty.’”

I implore everyone to become critical thinkers. I’m not asking that you spend every waking hour researching every odd topic. But if a cause inspires you to act, become a critical thinker regarding that cause. Actively and independently seek truthful and logic-based foundations for your arguments when considering any issue, and thoughtfully consider opposing positions.

As much as the official platform of the Republican Party of Texas might want you to believe otherwise, “critical thinking” is not a subversive act. The definition in the Cambridge Dictionary is, “the process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea, without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you.”

Speaking of political parties, if you support either major party, try this critical-thinking exercise: Write down the actual words of a candidate you support or oppose, then ask yourself three questions.

1. If a candidate in the other party said these things, would I still support/oppose them?

2. If I heard a candidate say these things 10 years ago, would I feel the same?

3. If a stranger plopped down next to me and started speaking these same words, would I engage in conversation—or begin scanning the area for men in white coats who appear to be searching for someone?

Douglas Reynolds is a retired concert promoter and marketing consultant. He moved to Nevada in 1977 and lives in the Carson Valley.

Amilia Cerney Digital engagement specialist

I have a 2-year-old blue fawn French bulldog named Juniper. She snorts like a pig and farts a lot. Juniper talks and howls like a human—and always wants to be the center of attention. She really loves hot dogs, so she would drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Reed Barrus Temp worker

My cat, Levi, is a tabby and would drive a BMW for sure! Levi has a self-inflated image and has expensive taste. My cat is meticulous in taking care of himself; he’s very well self-groomed, so he would appreciate the precision German engineering of a BMW car.

Marissa Jauregui Marketing manager

I have two toy schnauzers named Daisy and Jameson. Daisy is feisty, fierce and fabulous, and would drive a pink Porsche. Jameson, on the other hand, is very chill, has flair, is observant and is ecologically aware. Jameson would drive a Mini Cooper.

Davis Herman Investment adviser

Milo is my black cat. He is a rock ’n’ roll hard-ass. He acts like he owns the place. He attacks me for no reason. He’d drive a black Dodge Charger and go cruising down the strip with his green eyes looking for girl cats to pick up.

Miranda Cuellar Rios Nail artist

I have three pets. Guapo is a pug Shih Tzu and would drive a Prius, because he is aware of his carbon footprint. Ice Cube is a Maltese poodle; he is a self-obsessed, manly dog and would drive a big, macho GMC truck. Tito is a super-fit granola “woke” dog and wouldn’t drive a car. Tito is environmentally friendly and would ride a bicycle.

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

| BY JIMMY BOEGLE

What a difference four years makes—and it’s not all for the better

In March 2020, as the world began to shut down because of SARS-CoV-2, newspaper publishers faced an existential dilemma: One of the biggest news stories in a century was unfolding; misinformation was running rampant; and advertisers were cancelling buys in droves.

The owners of the Reno News & Review made the gut-wrenching decision to suspend publication. The RN&R at the time was more focused on print than its digital presence, and the owners didn’t see a path forward in a world where there were few advertisers—and the vast majority of the places where the print issue was normally available were closed, anyway. On March 19, 2020, copies of the final print weekly edition of the RN&R were distributed at the handful of places still open.

In Palm Springs, at the RN&R’s now-sister paper, the Coachella Valley Independent, we handled things differently. The Independent has always been as equally focused on digital as on the print edition, which was and is produced on a monthly basis. Even though 80-plus percent of our advertising had evaporated in a flash, we decided to keep publishing. What was slated to be our 40-page April Music Issue, with a 16,000

copy print run, became a 24-page paper, with a 10,000-copy print run … and an empty roll of toilet paper on the cover (pictured here).

I’ll never forget how weird and unbelievable that time felt—and March 13, 2020, is the day that stands out the most in my mind. That was the day a national emergency was declared due to COVID-19, and it was the day I decided to turn the Independent’s simple weekly newsletter into a daily missive with links to reliable news and information, both local and national, as well as personal commentary. I called the newsletter the Daily Digest, and I did it five or six days a week for months. (Today, it’s called the Indy Digest, and it comes out twice a week.)

All of these memories were flooding into my mind this year on March 13, when I celebrated the anniversary … by going to a sold-out Madonna concert at the new Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif. It was a packed house of screaming, excited people celebrating a pop and culture icon’s career.

startling and amusing. I couldn’t help but compare how much better things are now than they were at the pandemic’s start. But once I started digging a little deeper, I came to the realization that not everything is better—and, in fact, some things are much worse.

The New York Times marked the fouryear anniversary of the national-emergency declaration with a piece headlined “Four Years On, COVID Has Reshaped Life for Many Americans.” This passage was particularly striking:

One common sentiment has emerged. The changes brought on by the pandemic now feel lasting, a shift that may have permanently reshaped American life.

Before the pandemic, Melody Condon, a marketing specialist in Vancouver, Wash., who is immunocompromised, said she had a stronger sense of confidence in other people.

“Unfounded or not, I believed that for the most part, others would take small actions to keep me and people like me safe,” Ms. Condon, 32, said.

some situations.

“What they’re communicating is that they don’t care about my health and my life,” Ms. Condon said. “I have lost so much trust in others.”

Frankly, I feel similarly. I sometimes ponder how much worse things would be if another pandemic arrived now. The growing number of anti-science and uber-privileged “personal rights” folks—riled up by powerful politicians on the right—would simply not take the precautions needed to protect themselves and, more importantly, those around them.

The lockdowns brought out some good in people, yes. But they also shined a light on some of the darkest traits in some people—like selfishness, a sense of privilege, anger and a disregard for the plight of others.

I am very, very happy we’re now in a time of Madonna concerts and being around one another. I’m also happy that the reports of the RN&R’s demise were exaggerated, and that we came back, first online, and later in print as a monthly, with a healthy 25,000 copies being distributed a month.

The juxtaposition between these two March 13s, just four years apart, was somehow both

But now she has encountered people who resist taking a COVID test or wearing a mask in

But I am heartbroken that my opinion of humanity today is lower—much lower, in fact— than it was in March 2020.

Artistic Director Alexander Van Alstyne - Conductor Laura Jackson

ON NEVADA BUSINESS

A new generation of entrepreneurs

A Reno brother-sister team’s new business is making AI more customized and user-friendly

This month, I am so proud to share a story about a local startup in the hyper-hyped and warp-speed world of artificial intelligence.

I’m not going all technical on you; I don’t have the brains or qualifications to do so. I’m an AI user, but an amateur user, and I’ve been less than impressed with some of the results from my AI queries.

One such query: I was trying to verify a stat I saw in a presentation at the Lithuanian Consulate General in New York a couple of weeks ago; I was there to give a presentation myself the next day. I wanted to know if the statistic that only 2 percent of foreign companies are successful in expanding to U.S. markets, as stated by a Lithuanian expat in New York, was accurate. ChatGPT and Google both gave me all kinds of crap that I can’t use, like “agricultural land usage by foreign entities.” Why? I used the word “landed” in my query about how many foreign small/medium-sized enterprises actually land in the U.S. No kidding—these programs went off about land investment by the Chinese and Saudis.

This month, I’d like you to meet the founders of Forml, the brother-sister team Satchel and Shaine Hirsh, who are building something different than the “generative AI” we’ve heard about and no doubt played with.

According to Shaine, “Forml is a bit different from ‘generative AI.’ Chat GPT, for example, is a generative AI model. It’s been taught to tell stories, answer questions and basically produce language. Many people with megatons of machine learning expertise and resources had to mess with their data, create this model and teach it do those things. But what if someone who didn’t have all those resources wanted to get the benefits of ML (machine learning), too? That’s what Forml does automatically—it uses your data to create customized models that can solve whatever problem you throw at it. Our whole goal is to let anyone fully understand, analyze and get the most out of their data. We’re commoditizing ML and letting people who otherwise couldn’t reap those cool benefits access them in the best way and easiest way.”

The startup, launched right here in Reno, has built an ultra-complex tool, but it’s focused on everyday work for research and business needs from the ground up. One example: It has begun meeting the specific needs of the highly regulated banking and financial-technology sectors.

Satchel and Shaine have connected with impressive early investors who believe in them. They are both University of Nevada,

Reno, graduates—applied math/science majors who studied computer science and engineering in different departments with different professers who saw something special in each of them and put them on their research projects.

Satchel was part of a government funded project, Cerberus, led by Kostas Alexis. The team built an autonomous robot engineered to travel into dangerous spaces for data and retrieval—and won the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Subterranean (SubT) Challenge competition, beating out prominent research centers at universities such as Stanford.

Shaine worked in applied math and machine learning under UNR Prof. Emily Hand. Her focus was in computer vision, visualization and facial modeling.

Both Shaine and Satchel went off to work at startups. She went to work for SpaceX, and he went to Discover and Lendflow, a startup funded by venture-capital firm Y Combinator. This gave them insight into the financial and banking industries’ tech and databases, which were in need of upgrades. When the siblings would catch up, they realized a serious trend in their respective work: Common companies and people (including dumbasses like me) can’t really exploit the true power of AI.

But what if a company had a generative

engine that had all of the AI power, but the database was propagated by a manager or teller at a bank, mortgage company or credit union? It would not spit out some crazy bullshit like Chat GPT is when I want business statistics that I can trust.

This promise is what Shaine and Satchel are building from scratch. The team has spent a year building the database focused on banking and fintech: They’ve found an industry that is in need of advanced machine learning capability, and regulatory and security management—and the investors agree.

They built their MVP (minimum viable product) with the financial and advisory help of Jaidev Shergill, managing partner of Capital One Ventures. That’s a pretty impressive early investor—ask any founder. Since September, they’ve focused on the beta rollout from MVP to full productization, with new pre-seed investment by Boost VC. Its principal, Adam Draper, is the son of legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper, who invested is some of the biggest startups of the ’90s and 2000s.

Shaine and Satchel are building the company and AI at record speed now. They are growing every day, and customers are digging deeper and deeper into the power of their machine. They expect to need another round of cash in the fall

|

MATT WESTFIELD

to grow the tech team and the customer base.

For the founders of Forml, Reno/Tahoe is a no-brainer as a place to build their business. They love the Reno area, with all of its support systems for startup founders, university labs for talent, pro-biz government agencies and “cando” spirit. Then there are the mountains and lakes to play in—it’s all here.

The Forml team envisions growing the Reno office significantly, even though they spend time in the Bay Area on behalf of their investors. They believe UNR’s computer scientists, mathematicians and business students will be recruits who can build Forml into a dominant player.

They said they will focus on markets where non-technical business leaders can actually build machine-learning solutions to their own specifications without having to hire or manage brilliant programmers like Shaine and Satchel. These founders are part of the new Nevada where opportunity is everywhere, and all of the pieces needed to grow and thrive are right here, too.

I will follow this dynamic duo, and you should too. If you are in the banking or fintech industries, you may want to contact them ASAP—but only if you want to be on the leading edge of your industry and in command of the future of your business.

Satchel and Shaine Hirsh, both UNR graduates, are the entrepreneur team behind Forml, a startup that’s making AI more powerful for many kinds of business owners. Photo/courtesy of Forml

UPFRONT

Inside the latest librarytrustee selection process

On March 19, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners selected retired educator Tami Ruf to fill the vacant spot on the county Library Board of Trustees.

Ruf worked for the Washoe County School District as a social studies teacher at Sparks Middle School and Reed High School, and as a librarian at North Valleys High School, until she retired in 2019.

The pool of applicants was unusually large. Among the 87 hopefuls were several members of the local art and music community, and Washoe County Republican Party Chairman Bruce Parks.

As the RN&R’s Delaney Uronen wrote in the January issue, “The Washoe County Library System had a tumultuous 2023, with right-wing organizers bringing people out to complain about drag queen story hour and books with LGBTQ+ and diversity-related themes.” LGBTQ+ allies have been showing up in full force as well, to defend these library programs and materials.

During the March 19 meeting, several applicants and community members spoke. Here are a few excerpts:

Tami Ruf, on libraries: “They are … places where everyone is welcome through the door and encouraged to find what they’re looking for—a place to learn, a place to create, a place to expand your mind.”

Nathan Robison, an engineer and business owner who mentioned that two of his three adult children are gay or nonbinary: “I’m thinking of the many LGBTQ kids who do not have it as easy as mine do, who are neurodivergent or hard to deal with or just weird. They can have a really hard time in school. … There’s a movement out there to pretend, I think maybe wish, maybe even force these types of kids not to exist. I think we should resist that. Library censorship is abhorrent in a free society.”

Janet Butcher: “(The library) is not the place for social engineering. … Nobody is trying to keep anybody out of the library. People are asking to have sexual books with pictures—they want their kids to be exposed to that? Buy the damn books. Expose your kids. But it doesn’t need to be at eye level for children. When they keep talking about this book-banning thing, it’s a lie.”

Ruf’s term on the library board runs through June 30, 2025.

—Kris Vagner

Humanitarian mission

Reno artist Tia Flores, just back from a Peruvian village, saw how climate change and COVID affect a vulnerable population

It took a U.S. senator, thousands of dollars, and 42 hours of flying for Tia Flores to return home from Peru in 2020—not to mention weeks of uncertainty and dwindling food and water along the remote Yanayacu tributary of the Amazon River.

Flores is a Reno artist and program director at Sierra Arts Foundation. In 2020, she was in Peru for her third visit to the Ayacucho village, where she teaches local women crafting skills so they can establish their own microbusinesses.

However, COVID-19 shutdowns halted all travel in Peru. The military blocked any movement via river, road or air. Travel to the U.S. could commence only with advocacy for a repatriation flight from the State Department, necessitating a conversation between Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and the Peruvian government. It took three weeks to get Flores home.

This is one of the reasons her family was apprehensive about her returning in 2024––and all future visits, which she promised would only happen every other year from here on out. But after her return from a 2024 trip, as she talked on the red leather couch in the Sierra Arts office, a smile crept along her face.

“I come back, and I think, ‘I don’t know if I can just do every other year—I might have to do every year,’” she said.

Barbara Land, founder of the Nevada

Building Hope Foundation, invited Flores to join her trips to the Amazon in 2018. The group’s mission is to “provide educational support, dance and choreography workshops/ projects, and humanitarian aid” to three remote villages in the Peruvian Amazon: Ayacucho, San Juan de Yanayacu, and Junín.

Land enlisted Flores, leveraging her expertise in sourcing native plants and basket-weaving learned from the Great Basin Basketmakers. Flores—who’s skilled in foraging materials like willow, sage and sweetgrass from the high desert—helped the women in these villages source materials from their own environment to craft sellable goods like jewelry, baskets and artworks, which provide them with an income and a creative outlet.

“They live in the jungle, and they live off the resources in the jungle, but they’re not aware of all the gifts in the jungle,” Flores said.

The people in these villages can only trace their ties to the land back a few generations. Their families fled to this region in the late 1800s to escape the breakout of enslavement and torture brought on by the rubber boom. The Peruvian Amazon Company was the largest of the rubber companies, and its mistreatment of natives is referred to as the Putumayo genocide.

Flores described the women in the San Juan de Yanayacu village she worked with during her 2024 visit as “gifted basket-makers.” However, instead of sourcing palm—the baskets’ primary material—in the surrounding jungle, they were

| BY HELENA GUGLIELMINO

Tia Flores recently returned from a trip to a remote village in the Amazon, where she taught local women crafting and business skills in an effort to help them become financially stable. Photo/David Robert

traveling into the faraway town of San Joaquín to buy supplies.

“Palm that you can make cordage from ... they’ve never been a gatherer of that,” Flores said. “They don’t even know what that particular palm looks like in the environment.” Purchasing materials in the town not only requires the use of limited funds to shop, but paying for gas to power boats—the only mode of transportation between their village and town.

During the 2024 visit, Flores, her travel mates and her guides went into the jungle to investigate materials such as the local palms, as well as seeds that could be used as beads. “Our whole team was doing this … we were gathering seeds, and we were gathering all kinds of stuff,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much fun that was to just really take a deep dive into that environment.”

Environmental and economic strain

At the Sierra Arts office, Flores showed off a stunning red and black seed, with the colors split down the middle. Hard as a rock and a tad smaller than a blueberry, it looked like an artisan ceramic bead, not a product of the jungle. Flores brought kits with earrings clasps, jewelry files and X-acto knives to help the women transform these natural materials into sellable goods.

She said that art is a necessary outlet for the women in these villages, especially now as they are facing incredible hardships due to accelerated climate change and the economic strain still felt from the COVID pandemic.

In the four years since her last visit, Flores can see a dramatic change in the environment and the hardships it has put on the villagers, especially the women.

“One of the things that I realized is, like, four years is a long time to be away from the jungle,” she said. “It’s like shifting landscapes. The environment looks different just because the rivers are narrower; the pathways are not as accessible. You see all this change that’s happening, and then you look at the people who live in that environment. It accelerated their aging. This hasn’t been an easy four years for them. You see it.”

According to the United States Agency for International Development, “Peru is highly susceptible to climate-related natural disasters. … The strong effects of the El Niño Southern Oscillation on the frequency and severity of extreme events and their impacts are increasingly amplified by climate change.”

“When I came back, there was more of a sadness, because their life depends on the river,”

Flores said. “They eat what they catch that day. They don’t catch anything—they don’t eat anything.”

During her 2024 visit, she noticed the receding water due to a record drought. “While the region has faced at least three other intense droughts in the past 20 years, this drought’s scope was unprecedented,” according to a Reuters article from January.

Said Flores: “I mean, their life is so dependent on the river, but they have no control over the environment. (In the United States), it’s like, ‘Wow, I get in my car today and go to the grocery store.’ It’s very easy, because we’re removed from it here.” In these remote villages, “You can’t be removed. It’s in your face.”

People use the river to fish, clean, commute and drink. It’s what connects them to tourists who buy their goods. It’s their lifeblood, and when it shrinks, a major resource is cut from them.

Regional tourism has also diminished. There are several lodges along the Yanayacu tributary that serve tourists exploring the Amazon, but COVID disrupted this travel. Even now, “the tourism hasn’t regained momentum,” said Victor Coelho, manager of the Yaku Amazon Lodge, via email. “We are having a hard time to be as we were before pandemic time.”

Said Flores: “If you do have somebody passing through, they’re more interested in looking at the environment than visiting the people in the villages where they can purchase the goods.”

A lack of money means that Elsa, a woman with whom Flores bonded during previous visits, was struggling to eat. As Flores rehashed the story, she paused. “I’m going to cry,” she said, taking a deep breath. Elsa’s husband developed cancer, which caused him to lose his vision and his ability to complete necessary chores for the couple, like fishing.

“I see her husband,” Flores said. “He’s holding the edge (of their hut’s walls), and he’s just pacing.” Flores doesn’t speak the language, so Land interpreted. “Barbara’s asking her questions, and then you see Elsa get really sad.” Flores took a deep breath. “And then Barbara looks at me, and she said, ‘They have no food. They have no food. They’re hungry.’ I start crying, and then I lose it. I can’t control. I’m, like, freaking sobbing. Barbara comes over and gives me a hug, and she goes, ‘This is why we come here.’”

Flores gave the couple money for food and set up an agreement with a guide/friend to check in on Elsa and deliver money which Flores will regularly wire from America.

Helping Elsa and her husband with food is one example of how Flores tries to bring this community more than art. This year, she brought along another supply to help make life easier: period panties.

“I know it doesn’t have anything to do with the arts,” she said, but menstruation adds more stress to women in the village. They don’t have sanitary products; they rely instead on “rags,” Flores said. “We didn’t know how it was going to be received,” she said, but “they were more than appreciative. You could see it on their face—like, they knew this was going to change their life for them.”

Flores added that bringing art to the villages isn’t just for the potential economic boost. “It’s a necessary outlet for them from their day-today hard life just to be in that creative state and to do that in the company of other women who are in the same boat you are,” she said. “When I worked with the women in San Juan, they were excited.”

Flores added with a wide smile: “So, then the question comes back: Do I wait two years?”

The new India Arts and Cultural Center is in full swing

Attendees celebrated “Holi—A Multicultural Festival of Colors” on Sunday, March 24, at Horseman’s Park in Reno with splashes of bright-colored pigment. The event was organized by a new nonprofit, the India Arts and Cultural Center in Northern Nevada.

“We are a large group of population … about 10,000 families in Northern Nevada, but generally you don’t see any Indian people anywhere,” said Lali Parasa, the group’s founder. “I’ve been living in Reno for 24 years, and I always wanted to create a space for the Indian community and share our culture, share our ethnicity, the beautiful dance art forms that we have and different things.”

The group offers weeknight classes in language, meditation and Bollywood and classical dance at Horseman’s Park. Parasa stressed that all of these classes are open to anyone.

“India has 28 or 29 different states, and every state has a different culture, a different kind of food; the people dress differently; the people speak a different language,” Parasa said. “We are a good group of people, and we just want people to come and enjoy—be part of our culture.”

The next IACCNN event is a Regional New Year’s celebration on Saturday, April 13. Details are expected to be posted soon at www.facebook.com/IACCNN.

—Kris Vagner

Photo by David Robert

Tia (right) bonded with a woman named Elsa (left) on her trips. Elsa’s husband was suffering from cancer, and the couple couldn’t obtain food as a result.

Navigating Parkinson’s in a ‘neurology desert’

As the population ages, diagnoses increase—and advocates cite a lack of local care

Dr. Mindy Lokshin, a Reno life coach who used to work as a family physician, has multiple family members with Parkinson’s disease. All of them live in other states, and as she watched them navigate their diagnoses and begin to access care options, she realized that in Northern Nevada, such options were less plentiful.

“Those places have resources we don’t,” Lokshin said in a phone interview.

In 2021, she and a few locals—mostly people who have the disease or care for someone who does—launched the Parkinson Support Center of Northern Nevada. It started as a website, then added support groups. Early in the group’s existence, Lokshin and her peers conducted focus groups to find out what people with Parkinson’s, their families and their caretakers most need.

The answers, according to Lokshin: “When we first get diagnosed, we want to have someone we can call, kind of like your AA sponsor, someone to … get a cup of coffee with and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on with me. Is that normal? What should I do?’”

Saying that she’s “not into reinventing wheels,” she modeled the group after a similar organization whose programs she admires, the Parkinson’s Association of San Diego.

Dr. Mindy Lokshin runs the Parkinson Support Center of Northern Nevada, a nonprofit that aims to help fill the gaps in information and care for the estimated 5,000 people in Northern Nevada who live with Parkinson’s. Photo/courtesy of Mindy Lokshin

also project: “Additional factors, including increasing longevity, declining smoking rates, and increasing industrialization, could raise the burden to over 17 million.”

Lokshin described a typical course of action for a Northern Nevadan who’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s: “They get shipped around doctor to doctor; they finally get a diagnosis. They’re handed the pills, and they’re told, ‘See you in six months.’ … And they feel like they’ve dropped off a cliff.”

That’s because there’s a shortage of neurologists in the region.

“I think most neurologists are comfortable making that diagnosis,” said Dr. Danny Truong, a neurologist who moved to Reno in 2023 and began practicing at Renown Health in September. He said that often, once a person learns they have Parkinson’s, a general neurologist will take care of them for a few years. Then, once the disease progresses and becomes more complex, they’re likely to seek out a specialist.

“Our mentors are volunteers, people with Parkinson’s or their care partners,” Lokshin said. “We have six right now and a few other people going through the training. The mentors get matched with people newly diagnosed, or their care partners wanting help.”

A shortage of doctors

Parkinson’s disease affects the part of the brain that controls the body’s movements. It can cause difficulty with posture, balance, speech and swallowing. In Northern Nevada, more than 5,000 people live with Parkinson’s, according to the PSCNN’s website. Nationwide, it’s about a million, according to the national Parkinson’s Foundation.

Parkinson’s itself is not the only problem. The supply and demand equation for care is far off balance, and it threatens to get even worse.

According to a 2018 paper from the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, the disease, while not communicable, is “the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world”—fast enough to call it a “pandemic.” Between 1990 and 2015, according to the paper, the number of people around the globe with Parkinson’s doubled to more than 6 million. The authors attribute this increasing prevalence to an aging population. They project that the number could double again, to more than 12 million, by 2040. They

Truong has completed a one-year movement-disorders fellowship-training program in Texas, which qualifies him as a specialist in Parkinson’s and other movement disorders. As far as he knows, he and Renown’s Dr. Christopher Way are the only two fellowship-trained Parkinson’s specialists in Reno. Historically, he said, many local patients have sought care in California—in San Francisco, Davis or Los Angeles.

“Before I started, there was a long wait list,” Truong said. “My schedule, definitely, within the past four to five months, it filled up. I don’t have any empty spots in the next couple weeks.”

Added Lokshin: “Some people even call Nevada a neurology desert.”

Unequal access

As often happens when there is a shortage of care, certain groups get short shrift.

“I am sure that there are hundreds of people with Parkinson’s in our Hispanic community who are not getting diagnosed,” said Lokshin.

Dr. Truong pointed out that patients on Medicare (the federal health insurance system for people 65 and older, which currently enrolls more than 550,000 Nevadans) encounter a stumbling block.

“Once people are on Medicare, they cannot qualify for any financial assistance for medications that are not the generic forms,” he said. “There are medications that are incredibly good, but once you get into Medicare, they can range from $50 a month to $500 a month. These are medications that have been out for five, 10

| BY KRIS VAGNER

years. They have very good clinical evidence. And in my experience, people have done really well on it”—but for 80 to 90 percent of his patients, he estimates, these treatments are simply too expensive.

That’s just the people who are seeing a specialist. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research reported in 2023 that, due to various barriers, nearly half of Americans with Parkinson’s don’t even see a neurologist.

New legislation

In Nevada, steps are being taken at the legislative level to address the critical gap in care and information. On June 12, 2023, Nevada Senate Bill 390 passed unanimously, “authorizing the Department of Brain Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to establish and maintain a system for the reporting and analysis of certain information on neurodegenerative diseases.”

In the long run, a statewide reporting system could eventually help alleviate the shortage of doctors, said Dr. Truong. “Unless people speak out and make the need known, other people won’t recognize it. It is a definite necessity—to be involved in advocacy and in legislation.”

Meanwhile, the PSCNN does what it can and has long-term plans to expand, ideally one day transitioning from a remote organization to one with a permanent office.

“We offer a phone line, which is mostly me answering it these days,” said Lokshin. “I’m hoping to get other people, because we’re all-volunteer. We don’t have any paid staff.

“We offer a lot of educational programming,” she added—often in the form of a national expert doing a webinar for a Northern Nevada audience over Zoom, and sometimes in the form of Lokshin doing local outreach.

“I’ll give a talk to anyone … any place we can get the information out so that it normalizes (Parkinson’s),” she said. “So, when you see someone shuffling along and having troubles getting through a door, you won’t yell, ‘Come on guy, move!’ This is just what happens. … We just want to normalize the disease, because it is so common, and people feel so isolated and all alone. And our tagline is: ‘No one should have to face Parkinson’s disease alone.’”

The Parkinson Support Center of Northern Nevada is hosting a fundraiser, “An Evening of Music and Motion,” at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, at 5 p.m., Thursday, April 18, featuring a celebrity panel discussion at 7 p.m. with Vanessa Williams, Rasheda Ali (whose father, Muhammad Ali, lived with Parkinson’s for more than 30 years), Dr. Deanna Brown Thomas (activist and daughter of James Brown) and professional off-road racer Shelby Hall. Learn more about the event at drivetowardacure. com/music-and-motion-reno-2024, and learn more about the PSCNN at www.pscnn.org.

Keep Reno magical

Three Moons Trading Co. is becoming a hub for all things weird and witchy

Reno has quite a community of magicminded people and businesses. There are a handful of metaphysical shops that cater to the weird, witchy or otherwise whimsical souls in this town—including Three Moons Trading Company, which opened in Midtown last October. In the months since, the store has established itself the community, offering a variety of goods including books, in-store made candles, rocks, incense and jewelry—and business has been booming.

Owned and operated by couple Christa and Wraiven Donaldson, Three Moons manifested out of the ether, as fortune would have it. During some divination sessions (think tarot cards or rune stones), Christa and Wraiven jokingly asked if they should open a metaphysical store—and each time, the answer was an emphatic yes.

But opening a business is a meticulous process. They first had to research what owning and operating a metaphysical shop entails. Much of it rides on where the shop is located, and every place is a little dif-

ferent. The couple also had to figure out what they wanted to offer to the community. Basics like books and tarot cards were a given, and they also placed great value in education. They polled the community, asking what people would be looking for in a metaphysical store.

“We had it planned for about a year before we opened,” said Christa. “And then once we actually opened, we found out that the community is a lot bigger than just our tiny little pagan community.”

Their community is, as Wraiven explained, “for lack of a better term, the ‘outcasts’ or the ‘weird people.’ And I put that in quotes, because I don’t consider us weird or outcasts, but that’s what society might deem us as.”

The owners found that not just “witchy” people, but those from all walks of life, were coming in for various needs, whether it be a book, incense or just a safe space to hang out.

“We’ve had people come in just because, ‘I’ve had a really bad day; I’m going to come sit in here,’” Wraiven said. “Please do! Get your energy aligned however you need to, to

| BY OWEN BRYANT

“There is no right or wrong with magic,” said Christa Donaldson, co-owner of Three Moons Trading Co. However, tips and ideas for how to practice it are readily available.

Photo/David Robert

make yourself feel better.”

Said Christa: “We’re not just a retail shop. Honestly, on your first time in, I don’t even have any intention of you coming in and buying anything. Take in the space. Read the energy. You’ll come to love this place.”

Three Moons offers workshops open to all—for example, classes about the sabbats, the cardinal pagan holidays.

“We also do a ‘Magic and Meet,’ because we want to have more community come in,” Wraiven said. “So just come in; let’s meet, talk about magic, maybe do a little magic.”

Three Moons works in tandem with Circles of the High Sierras Temple, an interfaith pagan temple and spiritual community located next door to the shop. Together, these organizations teach people about the basics of magic.

“There is no right or wrong with magic,” Christa said. “Always follow your intuition. But it’s a way to give you a focal point if you need one.”

Participants can learn about circle casting, cleansing rituals, the elements and other basics that give people a good entry point into the world of magic. The shop also offers children’s workshops, campouts, pantheon-related rituals and crafting circles.

Three Moons works with Our Center to advocate for LGBTQ+ causes, and the owners have donated goods and sponsorships to arts groups like Good Luck Macbeth Theatre (where, full disclosure, I serve on the board of directors) and Silver State Storytellers. They’ve also partnered on events with neighboring Polo Lounge.

“We’re trying to get more out there. There’s only so much time, but we’re trying to make sure we’re helping the community as much as possible,” Wraiven said.

Christa added: “I just want everyone to know that whether you’re a witch or not, you’re always safe at Three Moons and at Circles of the High Sierras Temple. There is no judgment here.”

Three Moons Trading Company and Circles of the High Sierras Temple are both located at 1515 S. Virginia St., in Reno, in the South Virginia Plaza. Upcoming events include “Three Moons Baneful Magick Course III: Curses and Casting Correctly” from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday, April 6. Admission is $20, with multi-class discounts. For additional event information, visit Three Moons Trading Company on Facebook or at threemoonstrading.com.

This members-only facility was founded on the idea that golfers should have a sanctuary where they can golf 9, 18, even 36 holes any time of day without needing to compete for tee times.

Don’t feel like golfing? Enjoy our competition-grade pool table and luxurious massage chairs, or watch your favorite sports team in our lounge area. As a member, the club is yours!

Whether you’re practicing on the virtual driving range, playing a simulated round before a big tournament, or enjoying one of the many mini games provided, The Office Golf Club has it all.

Founders, Tyler and Cosey McElroy are no strangers to golf in the Reno/ Tahoe area. The two spent many years working in the golf industry, recognizing the cult-like following of the sport. One winter, as snow was on the ground at the local courses they decided to build a make-shift simulator in their friend’s garage. As word of the “garage” spread, Tyler and Cosey saw an opportunity—and The Office Golf Club was born. The two wanted to create a casual yet competitive members-only atmosphere that serves as a golf haven to its members.

Ready to join? Email theoffice.golfclub@gmail.com Act soon, as memberships are limited.

A breath of relief

Quantifying Reno’s 2023 respite from wildfires and smoke—and a look at what 2024 may bring

Brooke Jensen was happy to say her sister hasn’t needed her inhaler for a while.

Jensen, 17, a Bishop Manogue High School student, said the inhaler had become a necessity for her sister on smoky days in previous years—she couldn’t leave the house without it.

That’s just one example of the difference between the summers of 2020 and 2021, and the summers of 2022 and, especially, 2023: A noticeable decrease in wildfires left the air clearer and forests healthier.

With a new summer comes a new fire season, so we checked with experts to learn what’s changed—and what we can expect.

According the Truckee Meadows Fire District (TMFD)—which covers areas from North Tahoe all the way to Pyramid Lake—49,700 acres burned in 2020, while in 2021, 539 acres burned. Over the next two years, the numbers dropped considerably: In 2022, approximately 25 acres were burned, according to a TMFD report, while in 2023, it was just over six acres, said Adam Mayberry, the TMFD’s communications manager.

“Down in Reno, fire seasons have a lot to do with what happens in the spring,” said Tim Brown of the Desert Research Institute. Photo/David

Robert

Brown mentioned three more factors leading to the decrease in fires: “There was a fair amount of moisture that came up from the Southwest monsoon system over the Great Basin. We didn’t have a lot of lightning, and people were just pretty good about being safer in preventing fires.”

Human impact

A majority of wildland fires in Nevada are caused by humans.

“In the last three years, roughly 64 percent of fires were human-caused on BLM-managed lands,” said Jacob Chadwick, an information officer with the Bureau of Land Management.

Mayberry noted that the human role in wildfires can’t be discounted.

“There are countless ways people accidentally start fires: escaped campfires, fireworks, target shooting, using power equipment, discarding smoking materials, dragging chains along the roadways, and certainly some arson,” Mayberry said.

In January of this year, Californian Kevin Barcus was convicted of third-degree arson for having started 82 small fires near Gerlach, according to a press release from the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office. In September 2023, a game warden noticed smoke while patrolling, leading her to Barcus, who was living in his van in northern Washoe County.

gether and not engage in outdoor activities that can spark fires during hot and dry conditions,” Mayberry said. “I do think public education of our residents, given all the wildfires we’ve been surrounded by, has also contributed to less fires.”

Anticipating the 2024 fire season

After a slow start to the winter, precipitation-wise, the Sierra Nevada has an average snowpack. As of March 25, the California Department of Natural Resources reported the Northern Sierra snowpack was at 115 percent of normal, while the Central Sierra snowpack was at 99 percent, and the Southern Sierra was at 91 percent—for an overall total of 102 percent.

Not bad—but it’s nowhere near the record snowpack of 2022-2023.

“This raises concerns about the snowpack in two ways: Will the snow line be at a higher elevation? And will there be a lot more rain events on top of snow?” Brown said. “If that happens, a potential consequence of the spring runoff season is that we’ll have a lot more water.”

Safe disposal can prevent fires

The TMFD recommends not disposing of large amounts of harvested vegetation through regular trash services or burn piles. Instead, the department offers specific days at fire stations where citizens can bring green waste for free. The spring green waste disposal days are Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14, in Washoe Valley and Lemmon Valley.

Of course, a lot of the smoke that settles in the Truckee Meadows comes from fires elsewhere in the west, especially Northern California. The fire season was diminished mostly due to a historically wet 2022-23 winter, along with cool spring temperatures and frequent showers.

What went right in 2023

The major winter snowpack from 2022-23 inhibited fire activity in the forested areas of the Sierra. While many smaller fires were recorded, they were easily controlled because of the high moisture content of the burnable material.

“At lower elevations such as Reno, fire is fueled more by grass and brush than by forests,” said Tim Brown, director of both the Western Regional Climate Center and the Program for Climate, Ecosystem and Fire Applications at the Desert Research Institute. … If there is a reduced snowpack in the forested area, then that leads to stress on the trees, which can increase fire potential. Down in Reno, fire seasons have a lot to do with what happens in the spring.”

Although July 2023 was above normal in temperature, there weren’t extremely long heatwaves, which helped reduce fire activity.

Barcus was found burning vegetation, with soot and ash on him, according to the press release.

“It’s critically important that we all work to-

Throwing away oily rags or fireplace coals can be risky, as drying rags may release heat, and coals can reignite easily. Before discarding them, soak fireplace coals in water, and mix oily rags with water and detergent for three days. The TMFD distributes free ash cans each year in the late fall for proper disposal.

| BY HELENA GUGLIELMINO

Geared up

The trail advocates who run the Gear Hut consignment shop work to make outdoor sports accessible and affordable

There are a lot of factors that can keep people from accessing outdoor sports. Along with time, safety and transportation, there are also financial and social burdens, plus a lack of information.

Leah Wzientek and her husband, Rusty Donlon, own Gear Hut, a consignment shop that sells outdoor gear. I was talking to her about the shop’s monthly trail cleanups at

Huffaker Hills Trailhead—an event she says is dog-friendly, kid-friendly and “very entry-level”—when I mentioned that they do a lot to make nature accessible to people who might not be outdoorsy.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I think we’ve had people who show up who have never really hiked before, but come out and try this and (realize), ‘Oh, this is cool. ... I live in such a special place.

Volunteers picked up trash during an event led by Gear Hut at Huffaker Hills Trailhead on a warm Sunday morning in September 2023. Leah Wzientek said that during a typical cleanup event, 12 to 15 people usually attend and remove four to five large bags of litter. Photo/courtesy Gear Hut

We have all these (hiking) options.’”

Despite challenges—“My car got crashed into last night at our event, and my toddler’s sick, and Rusty’s in Mexico, and I’ve been on the phone with insurance, so my brain is cuckoo”—Wzientek’s eyes remained bright behind her glasses as she talked, seated criss-crossapple-sauce on the beige, felted bench at the back of the store, with her back resting on used camping tents.

Christina Thayer, Washoe County’s trail program coordinator, insisted that my outdoors reporting should take me to Gear Hut. “I’m constantly impressed by how much work they do year-round,” Thayer said. “I love this young couple’s enthusiasm for trails and their education of the community ... They constantly advocate for trails and etiquette.”

Gear Hut was born in 2018, inspired by the couple’s frequent visits to outdoor hubs. Though neither Wzientek nor Donlon had retail or entrepreneurial experience, their outdoor experience gave them the knowledge they needed.

“Personally, I like to say I’m mediocre in a lot of things,” Wzientek said—before noting that she enjoys hiking, climbing, paddling, backpacking, and skiing.

This jack-of-all-trades mindset is what she thinks makes Gear Hut a good jumping-off point for beginners. “One of the goals with the store is to have people who have never done something before come in,” she said.

In Northern Nevada, we have access to nearly every outdoor opportunity, from cross-country skiing to mountain biking and birding. However, Nevada residents do not participate equally. According to the 2016-2021 Nevada Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan from the Nevada Division of State Parks, “One cause for concern is that outdoor participation remains largely wealthy … with one‐third of participant households earning $100,000 or more per year.”

A new backpacking tent can cost well over $200. “I think if you go to a mainstream ski shop or a mainstream climbing shop, you are going to get specs thrown at you,” Wzientek said, adding that these conversations can lead to sales associates recommending top-of-the-line gear, like a $700 ultra-light tent, that a beginner might be pressured into purchasing. Considering there are four necessary pieces of gear for backpacking, a beginner could easily get roped into spending $1,500 just to get started.

“If you’re trying something for the first time, you kind of want to make sure it works for you

and you enjoy it before you dive into those financial commitments,” Wzientek said.

She admitted that even she feels intimidated walking into gear shops to buy climbing gear. “If I did have a question, I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable asking it,” she said. “So, we always want to put out the vibe of, ‘Ask 100 percent, because, no judgment.’ We all started somewhere.”

Beyond financial burdens and a lack of information, social barriers also can prevent outdoor engagement. Gear Hut’s solution is to hosts events such as trailhead cleanups and skills clinics.

“Yesterday, we did a mindset talk about finding community—how you show up to things, impostor syndrome, and that fact that everybody started somewhere, and we all grow,” Wzientek said. This particular event, hosted at the shop, allowed beginners and advanced enthusiasts of all different activities to come together, a mingling that normally doesn’t happen.

“Just because you’re a fantastic and experienced gravel rider, maybe you don’t hike as much,” Wzientek said. “And this person loves hiking, and you guys can find these common grounds in other places and learn from each other. That’s cool.”

In April 2023, the couple adopted the Huffaker Hills Trailhead and open space (which includes Rattlesnake Mountain) from Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB) to conduct monthly cleanups. They once hauled out as much as 80 pounds of dog poop in one day. These cleanups, like other events, are a perfect space for beginners—even people who don’t normally hike or consider themselves “outdoorsy”—and advanced enthusiasts to form a community. It’s a great way to get outside, particularly if you are looking for new parks, trails and open spaces to explore within the region while meeting others of varying levels of outdoor knowledge.

Because Gear Hut is an independent shop, Donlon and Wzientek have complete control over programs and events at their store. “I feel like in a lot of other establishments, good ideas get run over, and things never happen,” Wzientek said. “As a small business, I can do what I want. If I want to host skills clinics, we’re doing it.”

Gear Hut is located at 318 Broadway Blvd., in Reno. Upcoming events include the Caffeine, Carbs and Cleanup at Huffaker Hills Trailhead on Alexander Lake Road in Reno from 9 to 11 a.m., Sunday, April 14. To learn more, visit gearhutreno.com.

Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful offers opportunities for businesses to organize cleanups at local parks, trails and neighborhoods, or along the river through its Adopt-a-Spot and Neighborhood Cleanup Program. Learn more at www.ktmb.org/adoptaspot.

Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight

For April, 2024

This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north, but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.

April’s evening sky chart.

Illustration/Robert

D. Miller

easily fit within the same binocular field, while the 35% crescent moon stands in the southeast. On April 5, Mars is within 10° to the lower left of the 15% moon, while Saturn appears 3.6° to Mars’ lower left. On April 6, in brighter twilight, the very low moon (7%) forms a compact gathering with Saturn and Mars. The planets that morning are 3° apart, within 3° and 6° to the moon’s upper right. From lower left to upper right that morning, the gathering of the moon, Saturn and Mars will fit within a 6° field.

Mars and Saturn will nearly match in brightness over the next few months, near first magnitude. Mars is slowly brightening, until a peak near its closest approach to Earth in January 2025. Saturn will fade at first, as its rings change from 4° from edgewise on April 9, to 1.9° at a temporary minimum in late June. By the end of April, Saturn will appear 13° to the upper right of Mars. Mercury will be just then emerging, 17ˆ to Mars’ lower left.

The major solar eclipse: It will be seen on Monday, April 8, as total from within a track crossing Mexico, the United States from Texas to Maine, and eastern Canada. The event will be seen only as a partial solar eclipse from nearly all of the rest of North America, including here.

April skies

The month brings a major solar eclipse, a rare comet and beautiful celestial gatherings

April highlights include a major solar eclipse; a comet visible through binoculars; beautiful gatherings of the moon, planets and stars; two close planet pairs; and the annual large gathering of bright stars in the western sky at dusk.

On the first days of April, as darkness falls, note bright Jupiter in west, and the second-magnitude star Hamal, brightest star of Aries, within 14° to the planet’s lower right. Using binoculars, look for a fuzzy spot, perhaps of fifth magnitude, in the same field as Hamal. It’s comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, in its return to the inner solar system after nearly 71 years. Comet P-B is shifting position by 1.2° each day in relation to the starry background. Look to the star’s upper left, in the same binocular field, April 1-3.

Also near Jupiter and in the same binocular field is the 5.8-magnitude planet Uranus.

Look above and slightly left of Jupiter, by 3° on April 3. On April 9, Uranus will be only 2° directly above Jupiter, and on April 15, it’s just 1° to Jupiter’s upper right. Uranus will appear only 0.5° north (to the upper right) of Jupiter on April 20, but by then, the pair will be only 1° above the horizon at the end of evening twilight.

A bit less than an hour before sunrise, we can follow the planets Mars and Saturn, low, just south of east, all month. We’ll also catch the waning moon during April’s first week, and again after the full moon of April 23. On April 1, the 57% moon appears in the Teapot of Sagittarius. This southernmost moon reaches its high point directly south only 21° up, right at sunrise as seen from the vicinity of Reno. That’s 6° lower than the lowest midday sun of the year on the first day of winter, Dec. 21. During April 1-10, Mars and Saturn appear closer together each morning. On April 3, they’re 5° apart and

To avoid serious and possibly permanent harm, anyone who wishes to directly view the partial eclipse must use a viewing device that meets safety standards to greatly reduce the sun’s brightness, in visible light as well as invisible infrared and ultraviolet radiation. For descriptions of the standards, the viewing devices, and a list of reliable vendors, visit eclipse. aas.org/eye-safety. Without such a device, you can observe the eclipse indirectly, by projecting images using a colander or pinholes, or standing under a tree looking at projected images on the ground or the side of a building.

From Reno, the first contact of the moon’s disk with the sun’s occurs at 10:19 a.m., as the moon begins to cover the right side of the sun. If the solar disk is imagined as the face of a clock, and viewed through a safe solar filter, then a tiny part of the moon’s silhouette will first be seen at the 4 o’clock (lower right) position. The coverage increases until maximum eclipse at 11:20 a.m., when the lower 46 percent of the sun’s diameter and 36 percent of the disk area are covered. The fraction of the sun hidden will then decrease until last contact, at 12:23 p.m., when the last tiny bit of the moon departs from the sun’s disk just below the 9 o’clock (left) edge of the imagined solar clock face. At sunset on the evening on April 8, eclipse day, the moon will still be within 4° of the sun and not visible. At mid-twilight on the next evening,

| BY ROBERT VICTOR

April 9, about 40 minutes after sunset, the moon’s age will be an easy 32 to 33 hours, well-placed 18 degrees from the sun. Look for the beautiful 3 percent crescent that evening, 11° to the lower right of Jupiter. It announces the beginning of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar, and the end of the daytime fasting of Ramadan. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, perhaps near its peak at magnitude of 4.5, appears through binoculars within 6° to the upper left of the moon on April 9. As dusk deepens on April 10, the 8 percent moon appears 5° to the upper right of Jupiter, and 7° below the Pleiades star cluster. Later that night, the comet passes the descending node of its orbit, crossing southward through Earth’s orbital plane. On April 11, the moon is 7° above the Pleiades and within 10° to the right of Aldebaran and the Hyades cluster. On the 12th, the moon will appear very close to Elnath, the tip of the northern horn of Taurus, the Bull.

As darkness falls on April 13, the moon will be near the feet of Gemini, and the comet will be just 3° below Jupiter. On the nights of April 14 and 15, the moon skips past Castor and Pollux, and the bright stars of Gemini, and on the nights of April 17 and 18, the moon leapfrogs over Regulus, heart of Leo, the Lion. On the evening of April 20, the comet passes perihelion, 72.6 million miles from sun, but will be setting around the end of twilight. On the 22nd at dusk, the nearly full moon appears very close to Spica. Use binoculars to spot the star just south of the moon. At dusk on the 23rd, the full moon appears 13° to the lower left of Spica.

A week before the end of April, all the bright stars of winter are still easily visible in the western sky—but they’re poised to pull their annual disappearing act in the next several weeks.

To follow the moon until the end of the lunar month, which began with the solar eclipse, we shift our viewing time back to dawn, and we see the waning gibbous moon 5° west of Antares, heart of the Scorpion, on Apr. 26. We also see the summer triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb approaching overhead these mornings, with Arcturus in the west, and Spica setting in west-southwest. Two mornings later, on the 28th, we have another southernmost moon, this time near the tip of the spout of the Teapot of Sagittarius.

The Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar is available by subscription from www. abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar. Links to free downloadable PDFs of the April 2024 Sky Calendar and evening skies constellation map are also available there. For $12 per year, subscribers receive quarterly mailings, each containing three monthly issues.

Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps produce an occasional issue. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the beauty of the night sky and other wonders of nature.

Stereographic Projection Map by Robert D. Miller

Arcturus Vega

A savory stroll through seven regions’ lunches, all in one vibrant neighborhood

BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ

One mile, or about 2,000 steps. In this relatively short distance, you can take a culinary journey through six different Mexican states—and even El Salvador. Highlights on this rich outing include a diverse history, tasty bites and a colorful vibe.

For people who may be new here: Wells Avenue, located just east of Virginia Street, is an active, lively, historic neighborhood that, since its inception in the early 1900s, has been home to a largely blue-collar population. Now mostly Hispanic and Latino, this thriving street offers locals and tourists alike a great selection of amenities, including shopping, countless services and especially food. On any given weekend, as you walk past the beauty salons, repair shops, law offices and car washes, you can't help but notice the smells—savory, spicy and delectable. Smoke rises from the grills and wafts out of lonchera (food truck) windows, trailing off seemingly to the horizon. Clusters of people stand around clutching tickets and awaiting paper plates overloaded with tacos.

Following this “Taco Trail” will transport the hungry and curious to places like Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Baja California, Yucatán and the Federal District of Mexico City. Each is a beautiful locale known for its art, music, culture and food. The diaspora in this neighborhood hails from all across Mexico and Central America, and the delicious result is tacos served in distinct styles including asador (grilled), al vapor (steamed), fried as tacos dorados, filled with stewed meats (guisados), shepherd style (al pastor) and tacos pescados, which include different kinds of fish or seafood.

Here are 14 taco spots to try. Some are bricks-and-mortar restaurants with regular hours, but I recommend strolling Wells Avenue on a Saturday, when the full range of trucks and pop-ups are open too. ¡Vámonos!

1. Fuego Street Tacos

Reno Public Market, 299 E. Plumb Lane fuegostreettacos.com

At the far southern end, where Wells Avenue branches off of Virginia Street, we find our first stop at Fuego Street Tacos in the Reno Public Market. The menu highlights primarily Baja-style street tacos, and options include several different meats and even a surf-and-turf version made from asada and shrimp. The big taco energy is real here.

2. Tacos Mazatlán 1790 S. Wells Ave. instagram.com/tacos_mazatlanrenonv

Brothers Alejandro and Julio Mayorquin are known for their ceviche and aguachile at Tacos Mazatlán.

Photo by David Robert

Illustration by Maria Ratinova

3. Mariscos de Islitas

1700 S. Wells Ave. mariscoslasislitasnv.com

Taking a detour to more seafood-centric versions, we arrive in Sinaloa and Nayarit—or at the Tacos Mazatlán truck and Mariscos de Islitas, respectively. These two spots focus on the “fruits of the ocean,” and it shows. Beyond the shrimp and seafood tacos, brothers Alejandro and Julio Mayorquin at the Mazatlán truck are known citywide for their ceviche and aguachile preparations. One bite of the fresh, hot tortillas; tasty, citrus-tinged fillings; and red-hot salsas takes you straight to coastal Mexico.

4. La Condesa Eatery

1642 S. Wells Ave. lacondesaeatery.com

For more discerning, fine-dining taco lovers, look no further than La Condesa. This sit-down restaurant’s versions feature prime Black Angus ribeye steak or exotic mushrooms prepared “al pastor.” Should you desire to “taco a walk on the wild side,” La Condesa features a “gobernador” taco filled with beautifully grilled shrimp, a melty Manchego cheese blend and habanero aioli. ¡Delicioso!

5. Tacos de Canasta

1510 S. Wells Ave. facebook.com/p/Tacos-decanasta-100068229134402

Getting into the “meat” of the trail: There are four shops at basically the same intersection of Wells and Capitol Hill avenues, led by Tacos de Canasta, one of the most popular loncheras on Wells (if the constant lines are any indication). Ruth Gonzales, the shy but always-smiling owner, and her family proudly serve a tightly focused menu of tortas, burritos and their specialty “tacos al vapor”—tacos steamed with traditional fillings of chicharron (fried pork belly), papas con chorizo or frijoles (beans). Served three to an order and wonderfully matched to three different kinds of homemade salsas, this taco plate is vibrant, punchy and filling. ¡Exquisito!

6. Los Cuatros Vientos

1495 S. Wells Ave.

On the adjacent corner, the Los Cuatros Vientos lonchera offers taco fans a wide variety of meats and fillings—including

9. Anna’s Taqueria

271 Wonder St. annastaqueriareno.com

“Make tacos not war” is the vibey, fun feeling at Anna’s Taqueria, where owner Marco Perez and his friendly staff serve craft tacos, fresh salsas (try the habanero) and bespoke cocktails to hungry crowds daily. Anna’s is well known for its creative and unique taco combinations and is considered by many to serve the best tacos in Reno. A daily menu of revolving proteins offers taco mavens choices like carne asada, al pastor, carnitas, pollo and chorizo, while a delicious veggie option of rajas, elote y queso (roasted peppers, corn, and Oaxacan cheese) can turn even the most diehard asada lover into a vegetarian. A menu of “especialidades” features options like “tacos diablo,” a spicy version featuring pork simmered in red chile sauce and topped with marinated red onion, and “tacos de cochinita,” a traditional specialty from the Yucatán region of slow-roasted pork marinated with citrus and annatto. ¡Exquisito!

10. Asi Es Mi Tierra

1020 S. Wells Ave. asiesmitierrarestaurant.com

carnitas (simmered pork), lengua (beef tongue) and even flor de calabacitas (squash blossoms) when in season. But they are perhaps known best for their traditional Guadalajara-style tacos overstuffed with rich birria, which is traditionally made from stewed goat—but in a nod to U.S. tastes is now more often braised beef—and topped with cilantro and onion. Finally, it’s paired with a sidecar of consommé for dipping. ¡Que Rico!

7. Antojitos El Mundo Latino

1401 S. Wells Ave.

www.instagram.com/antojitos_mundolatino

A few feet farther, you find El Mundo Latino, where owner Rafael Mondragon proudly serves the tacos of Mexico City (colloquially known to many as “The D.F.”), featuring lengua, asada and the very D.F. specialty of tripas (intestines), which are boiled and then grilled until they’re crispy; it’s all served with a variety of fiery salsas; crisp, cool radishes; and lime wedges. ¡Maravilloso!

8. Speedy Burritos

1420 S. Wells Ave. speedyburritosreno.com

A neighborhood fixture for more than 15 years, Speedy Burritos is a standalone, casual restaurant known more for its burritos, but it still offers a variety of tacos, which can be ordered grilled, served soft-shell or as “tacos dorados” with the shells fried to a deep golden brown, and filled with beef, pollo (chicken), carnitas or al pastor.

team have made tortillas, sweet bread and other bakery specialties in-house daily, while also serving a pan-Mexican menu of tacos, tortas and enchiladas. Filled with color and light, this type of taco-bakery combination is quite common in Mexican neighborhoods all across the Southwest, and Las Palomas does not disappoint. The fresh tortillas, savory beans and house-made salsas (try the smoky version made with chiles japones) are sure to impress even the most discriminating taco hounds.

12. Taco John’s

770 S. Wells Ave.

tacojohns.com

Just a few steps north is Taco John’s, a Mexican-inspired chain shop that began in the well-known taco hotbed of Cheyenne, Wyo. Founded in the 1960s, Taco Johns is probably best known for initially trademarking the phrase “Taco Tuesday,” and this venerable fast-food restaurant serves what they call “West-Mex” flavors in a fast-casual environment.

13. Tortas Ebenezer

555 S. Wells Ave.

El Salvador is represented on the trail by Asi Es Mi Tierra, a sit-down restaurant offering pupusas, pollo encebollado (stewed chicken), tamales and other native specialties. But in the spirit of taco adventure, they also serve softshell versions with asada, pollo or chicharron. ¡Que Chivo!

11. Panaderia Las Palomas

814 S. Wells Ave.

facebook.com/p/Panaderia-LasPalomas-100064312261187

One of the longest-tenured shops on the trail is Panaderia Las Palomas. For more than 16 years now, owner Maria Gonzales and her

As you get toward the end of the trail, one of the newer establishments to “taco a chance on” is Tortas Ebenezer. This standalone restaurant focuses on the flavors and styles of the D.F., and while co-owner Betty Sanchez and her team are widely known for exquisite and savory al pastor, they also serve asada, pollo and a taco “alambre,” which is a mixture of grilled steak, peppers and melted Oaxacan cheese. Hot, tasty and served quickly, tacos at Ebenezer are a great addition to the burgeoning Wells Avenue trail scene.

14. Tacos La Jerezana

275. S Wells Ave.

The final stop is also the farthest north. Situated in a gleaming black truck on the corner of Wells and Ryland Street, Tacos La Jerezana does one thing, and one thing only: birria. As the constant line shows, this truck offers one of the most notable versions of this delicious, stewed preparation in all of Reno, which it serves in tacos, burritos and quesadillas. The meat is rich, earthy and redolent of chiles and garlic. The tacos border on overstuffed, and the tantalizing side of warm, delicious consommé is good enough to drink (which I have on occasion). All trails should end like this. ¡Buen Provecho!

Tacos fajitas are among the innovative specialties at Anna’s Taqueria.

Photo by David Robert

Joaquin Sanchez and his team at Tortas Ebenezer specialize in the flavors of Mexico City. Photo by David Robert

Nevada nostalgia

Kara

Savant’s solo show at the Holland Project uses minimalism as a springboard to investigate topics close to home

You can tell at first glance that Reno sculptor Kara Savant is deeply fond of materials. In her wall sculptures, she imbues ordinary objects with a subtle, wry wit. Case in point: an assemblage made from an antler that’s the exact same color as the plywood frame surrounding it—with the whole thing framed by a deepblue coat of paint on the gallery wall.

Savant’s work fits squarely within the definition of “formalism”—artwork that’s more about materials and techniques than meaning.

So the satirical title of her solo exhibition at the Holland Project, In the Land of Drunks & Brothels, might seem like a mismatch. But look a little longer, and you’ll see that Savant—an

Elko native and 2017 University of Nevada, Reno, graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sculpture—is using the tradition of formalism not as a rule book, but as a springboard, as she explores subjects like Nevada nostalgia and the concept of being an outsider.

Your work looks like it’s rooted in 20th century Minimalism, but it seems to transgress a lot of the constraints of that form, too. How did you settle into this particular style?

In the beginning of my art practice, I was more drawn toward found objects that were rich in visual aesthetic, and then I kind of started to pull back my lens to see what I was more in-

terested in. And of course, my wife (sculptor Mariah Vargas) works in very minimalistic work, so she probably has an influence on how I see things and how I’ve been editing down my visual language.

What were the first types of things you ever made?

In a professional sense?

Like, at all. Did you pick up sticks and glue them together when you were a kid or anything like that?

Oh yeah. I was definitely making pirate ships out of popsicle sticks. Being out in Elko …

we were always outside in the sagebrush. And of course, we always came across junk that had been left out in the desert … and we would build forts and actually small little towns out there. I always reference Roxaboxen, if you’ve ever read that book.

I don’t know it. What’s it about?

It’s a book about children who pretty much create an entire city on their own, just based off of perimeters of rocks that they put around their settlements. But it seemed, because I had so many siblings, we were always creating our own towns or our own environments. … That act of just building has always been there and has made sense to me.

It sounds like a good way to be a kid. Very much fun. Always exposed to tetanus.

You wrote something in your artist statement about mythology of the West and the mythology of cowboy culture. How does that factor into your sculptures?

I kind of grew up on the outsider perspective of cowboy culture. My family was raised on ranches, and I had a lot of friends who were raised around horses and rodeo. But I was very much a part of suburbia or even the trailer-park lifestyle. I was always fond of thinking about what cowboy culture is, as far as superstition, or what the lifestyle pertains to. So when it comes to identifying myself within there, I still feel like very much an outsider, even though I kind of had insight during my upbringing.

That’s an interesting take. There’s so much discussion in the air right now about cowboy culture and Western culture being inclusive. Beyoncé’s new country tracks refer to the long history of country music being something that various groups have always staked a claim to. Can you say more about how the exclusivity part has worked for you?

I think it stems from going to rodeos with one of my good friends. She would always just be so critical of people who would put on boots and whatever, just to attend. I know everybody wants to be a part of that culture, but she was like, “Oh, they don’t understand that you have to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning to feed your livestock,” and it’s an entire … devotion. That felt pretty exclusive where I was from. … I think I’m just drawn to that aesthetic because it’s nostalgic to me, and yet it still feels at a distance.

One thing that I enjoy about the Reno art scene—especially the UNR art scene—is watch-

Kara Savant’s “Put It in My Skutt” is a 2-D piece on a plywood board. (Skutt is a popular brand of ceramic supplies and kilns.) Photo/Kris Vagner

ing this dialogue that’s been progressing for generations. You can see various aesthetics passed along from professors to students to the next generation of students. I’m surmising from the wall piece toward the front of the Holland Project that you must be an admirer of the work of Fred Reid (a celebrated ceramicist who worked in UNR’s art department for decades and was himself a student there in the late 1960s).

Yes, so that was an ode to Fred Reid and also Joan (Arrizabalaga, an influential local sculptor who also studied at UNR the 1960s and ’70s). I think his ceramic forms of his dogs hanging off the walls were such an odd object for me to first encounter. And now it’s grown as this familiar visual language to me. Once I hung that piece, I was like, “Oh god, I’m turning into Fred.”

So you’re very much a part of this decades-long exchange of ideas and influences. I guess, if you can’t tell by my work, I’m a

very sentimental person. So when I find people or things that I love, I tend to hold onto it.

I think UNR very much raised me, when I showed up to those art classes. I love being a part of this generational thing.

Is there anything else that you want people to know about your work or about the show?

With the title, I don’t know if it was trying to poke fun at my upbringing or maybe the stereotypes that come with coming from Nevada, even Elko. I was just trying to have that nice oppositional feel between the title and the work. So, yeah, shock factor maybe is what I was going for.

Kara Savant’s solo exhibition In the Land of Drunks & Brothels is on view at the Holland Project, 140 Vesta St., in Reno, through Saturday, April 13. For more information on Savant, visit www.karasavant.com or www.instagram. com/karasavant.

Kara Savant’s “Western Landscape (Area 102)” is made of plywood and an antler. Photo/Kris Vagner

ARTS

Setting the stage

A long-held dream of a collaborative performing arts center is becoming a reality

When former professional prima ballerina Rosine Bena founded Sierra Nevada Ballet (SNB) in Reno in 2001, she set a lofty goal: teaming up with other local performing arts organizations in the area, thereby amplifying each other’s work and promotional efforts. But in the early 2000s, small, local companies tended to operate within siloes, focusing more on growing their own audiences than partnering with perceived competitors—so Bena quietly nursed her ambition to someday create a performing arts collective and hoped

Rosine Bena, founding artistic director of Sierra Nevada Ballet, is getting ready to open the new Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective this spring. Photo/ David Robert

the right partner to help achieve that vision would come along.

Finally, in mid-2023, that happened.

SNB board member Dr. Jayson Weir, an internal-medicine physician, was aware of Bena’s dream and introduced her to Lamis Pritchard, who, along with her husband, Arlen, have owned the Steinway Piano Gallery of Reno at 500 E. Moana Lane for the past 18 years. For both women, it was an instant meeting of the minds.

“We’ve been by ourselves in this complex for a long time, and I’ve always been like, ‘Who’s going to be our neighbor?’ Every time they showed the property to another potential tenant, I always held my breath,” Lamis said. “Then I met Rosine, and I thought, ‘Finally! That is a great marriage.’ Exchanging students and business … it made sense.”

Said Bena: “It was an immediate connection. Her vision was the same as ours, so we started moving forward.”

Of course, no such collective would be complete without the “triple threat”: song, dance and theater. Janet Lazarus, co-founder and artistic director of Sierra School of Performing Arts (SSPA), had coincidentally been hunting for a new space for her theater company/academy. Situated in a warehouse space on Greg Street in Sparks without climate control, SSPA was in desperate need of a more accessible, functional space. Not only that, but teaming up with a dance troupe made good sense for a theatrical company that frequently performs musicals. When Lazarus got wind of Bena’s plan, she wanted in.

“The opportunity to collaborate with them, and especially to bring our youth together, is very exciting,” said Whitney Hovenic, president of SSPA’s board of directors. “We have performers who want to be dancers, and there are dancers who may want to perform in musical theater, so I think it’s going to be a really nice synergy and will open up doors for young performers in our community.”

The space next door to Steinway had formerly housed several furniture stores. The deal was secured thanks to the Pritchards’ strong relationship with their longtime landlord, Bena’s clear vision for the space and willingness to pay for its renovation, and Arlen Pritchard’s convenient occupation as contractor with Pritchard Construction. By January of this year, the work of creating the Northern Nevada Performing Arts Collective was underway.

The almost-$200,000 renovation has been possible thanks to architectural design donated by George Ghusn of BJG Architecture &

| BY JESSICA SANTINA

Engineering, an early anonymous donation of $50,000, a GoFundMe campaign created by Bena, and a small percentage contributed by the property’s owner. Completion is expected in April. The new facility will host administrative offices for SNB and SSPA as well as a small and large studio for each company. SNB’s dance spaces are equipped with sprung floors topped with Marley, for maximum safety.

Additionally, Silver State Storytellers, a filmmaking company created by Lyric Burt and Taylor Wilson, will occupy space in the building for recording and editing. Dr. Weir, along with Dr. Carrie Cameron of Healthy Performers NV, an organization providing health care for performing artists, will call the NNPAC home, too. Even Satori Dancewear will maintain a booth there and provide once-a-month pointeshoe fittings.

The renovations will include upgraded bathrooms, new dressing rooms, mirrors and other construction costs. Bena also aims to welcome visual artists to display work in the new facility’s lobby.

Additionally, the empty space on the opposite side of the Steinway Gallery, formerly home to Pacific Sun Tanning, is now part of the NNPAC plan; it will eventually become a performance hall, making 500 E. Moana Lane a one-stop shop for performing arts education, rehearsals and performances—with ample parking for audience members.

At the time of this writing, the NNPAC is still under construction, and the Pritchards have generously opened the Steinway Gallery to Bena’s dance company; SNB currently operates out of Steinway, with its recital hall and former storage room temporarily hosting ballet classes. SSPA aims to take residence by mid-April.

As not only a piano dealership, but also a music performance space and a home to piano classes for both youths and adults, Steinway will partner closely with the NNPAC occupants. Bena said plans for a free-to-the-public grand opening celebration on June 2 will include collaborative performances, including dancers surrounded by 10 piano accompanists and theatrical scenes by SSPA performers, with visual art and a film by Silver State Storytellers on display.

“The best thing about this collaborative is that we’re putting our brains together and coming up with all kinds of new ideas,” Hovenic said. “A very simple conversation can translate into something we’ve all been wanting to do but didn’t individually have the resources, but now we can pull those resources together and make magic.”

To learn more or contribute to the NNPAC GoFundMe campaign, visit www.gofundme. com/f/a-home-for-dreams-unveiling-a-vibrantarts-center.

ART OF THE STATE

The show must go on

The 104-year-old Fallon Theatre premieres a new Heritage of the West event

Unlike modern movie venues, the Fallon Theatre doesn’t have plush recliners or show previews of future releases. Patrons who purchase a soda can borrow a drink holder from the concession stand. Still, Nevada’s oldest continuously operating theater looks good considering she’s nearly 104 years old—and she’s survived fires in 1939 and 1943, earthquakes in 1954, and several significant remodels.

Acrobat J.W. Flood, (“Jumping Jack”) and his singer/dancer wife, Mabelle, spared no expense when they built the theater as a vaudeville venue, purchasing a concert grand Steinway piano and a $20,000 Johnson concert organ. The Floods commissioned esteemed Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps to design the 800-seat theater with an upstairs, three-bedroom apartment for their residence. As survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, both Flood and DeLongchamps were intent on safety and style. A specially built cellar housed the steam heating for the building, and electrical wires were routed through conduits for fire safety.

The new Rex Theatre opened with a silent film, Humoresque, accompanied by a

The Fallon Theatre was renovated to show movies with sound in 1930. Photo/courtesy of the Churchill County Museum

public. Managing an aging theater during times of rising costs requires nimbleness worthy of J.W. Flood’s acrobatics. In addition to pursuing grants, corporate sponsorships and sustaining memberships, the FCT rents the auditorium for parties and the marquee for celebratory messages, which included a marriage proposal last December.

“She said yes,” confirmed Jessica Huckaby, a FCT board member.

Though the days of vaudeville have passed, the theater remains true to its commitment of “best entertainment,” hosting school and community productions, local bands, touring comedians, all-class reunions, political debates and even “The Living Last Supper” during the Easter season. Over the years, the Fallon Theatre has been decorated for Halloween and Christmas, and hosted an October show ’n’ shine and even a Valentine’s 5K run.

“We do a little bit of everything—or try to,” Huckaby said.

On Saturday, April 13, the theater will host its inaugural Heritage of the West event, featuring performances from Nuestra Herencia Mexicana Dance Group and Fallon Paiute-Shosho-

| BY SUSAN WINTERS

ne dancers; acoustic cowboy music from Chip Noll; and cowboy poetry from Dave Morgan, Star Olsen and Stewart Richardson. Mel Glover will portray a 1905 fictitious Hazen resident sharing the tale of Nevada Red’s lynching. The entertainment begins at noon; admission is free, and proceeds from the concession stand will support the theater.

Due to ongoing public support and a dedicated core of the volunteers, Fallon Theatre is not simply a listing on the Nevada historic register, but a viable part of the surrounding community.

“It has been a community gathering place,” said Glen Perazzo, Fallon Community Theatre’s secretary. “It has offered community events to bring local residents back to Maine Street. It has also been a respite to those who are a part of the daily grind, offering a cool place during the summer and a warm place during the winter.”

Heritage of the West will take place at noon, Saturday, April 13, at the Fallon Theatre, 71 S. Maine St., in Fallon; admission is free. The theater screens a wide range of vintage and second-run films on Friday and Saturday evenings, and admission is always free. For more information, visit www.fallontheatre.com or www.facebook.com/fallontheatre.

string orchestra on Dec. 30, 1920. Many prominent Northern Nevadans attended the sold-out premiere, including U.S. Sen.-elect Tasker L. Oddie. To “supply the very best entertainment in motion pictures, vaudeville and traveling productions,” the theater charged 35 cents for movies and 55 cents for vaudeville acts.

Along with the arrival of “talkies” in 1930s came a redesign. The new owners, Mr. Stone and Mr. Hull, added it to their string of Northern Nevada movie houses. They removed the balcony, incorporating Spanish-style arches and cove ceilings. On Sept. 1, 1930, the theater re-opened as the Fallon Theatre with 500 seats—one of only two theaters in Nevada capable of showing movies with sound.

Thanks to the foresight of Flood and DeLongchamps, the theater survived the earthquakes in the summer of 1954 with minimal damage. In 1983, the large auditorium was divided by a sound wall into an upper theater with 113 seats, and a lower theater, retaining the original stage, with 124 seats. In 2017, the Nevada State Register of Historic Places added the Fallon Theatre to its register.

Today, the nonprofit Fallon Community Theatre, Inc. (FCT) operates the venue, hosting community events and offering free films to the

| BY FRANK X. MULLEN

Wanna be newsy?

The RN&R is looking for new freelance writers—especially talented writers/reporters who have a nose for news.

Interested in making a difference in the community—and getting paid to do so? Email a resume and clips/writing samples to krisv@renonr.com!

The last one showering shouldn’t be left in the cold! GO TANKLESS.

Caesar visits Vegas

Nevada author Megan Edwards melds sci-fi, historical fiction

In 1974, a gold coin with the image of Caesar Augustus is discovered buried at the 2,000-year-old level of an archeological dig in Rome. That’s not unusual—except the medallion is dated 1998 and bears the inscription “Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.”

The story of how the coin became unstuck in time is the starting premise of A Coin for the Ferryman by Las Vegas-based author Megan Edwards, the winner of the 2023 Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. The story blends time travel and Roman history with a tale of betrayal and romance. The result is a page-turner of a novel in which scientists use a time machine to snatch Julius Caesar from 44 BCE seconds before his March 15 assassination at the Roman Senate—and transport him to a California physics lab.

But a Nobel laureate’s plan to quiz the dictator about mysteries of Roman history goes awry. Caesar flees to Vegas in the company of his interpreter, a beautiful Latin linguist who had previously worked as an escort in Sin City. The famous Roman, traveling incognito as a tourist, rides shotgun in a red Corvette speeding across the desert, checks into the hotel-casino that bears his name, and enjoys a run as a hot shooter at a craps table while avoiding capture by the bad guys.

That plot requires a great deal of suspension of disbelief from readers, but Edwards is uniquely qualified for the task. She holds a bachelor’s degree in classics from Scripps College and master’s from Claremont Graduate University. She lived and traveled extensively in Europe and taught Latin for

15 years before turning to writing as a memoirist and novelist. After her house was reduced to ashes by a California wildfire in 1993, she and her husband, Mark, took to the road, traveling in a motor home for almost seven years.

The seed of the book was planted while Edwards was still a student. After studying in Rome and Athens, she returned to the U.S. and visited the Getty Villa, a faux Roman mansion in the hills above Malibu. There, amid the statues, columns, pools and courtyards, Edwards wondered what an ancient Roman would think of the modern facsimile. The question bubbled in her brain for many years thereafter and grew into an outline for a book.

The couple came to Las Vegas “for a few weeks” in 1999 so that Edwards could get a sense of place of the city that Caesar would be visiting. Almost 25 years later, they are still there.

“I think if someone had told me when we left California that we would drive all over the country and parts of Canada in a mobile home and finally settle in Las Vegas, I would have said that’s the last thing that’s going to happen,” Edwards said. “… We both came to the conclusion that we really like this place. It really does stay interesting.”

The most noble Roman

Time travel stories are ubiquitous, and many authors have used Julius Caesar as a character in historical novels. But how would the patrician general-politician cope with being transported more than 2,000 years into the future?

“I hadn’t realized how challenging that is,” Edwards said. “If I did, I might not have tried it.”

Edwards’ characterization of Caesar is in-

formed by his own writings, ancient historians’ accounts and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, a work familiar to many Americans. But wouldn’t even a warrior as brave as Caesar freak out if suddenly dropped into a world of aircraft, autos, telephones, skyscrapers and neon?

“A person like Caesar, who was very well-traveled and educated, was more used to seeing other cultures,” Edwards said. “I don’t think he would have the culture shock of someone who was less educated and less traveled.”

She noted that Caesar, at age 25, was captured by Cilician pirates. While imprisoned on an island, he acted more like the pirates’ commander than their prisoner. He even demanded his captors double the amount of his ransom, as befitting a person of his importance. After the brigands were paid and young Caesar was released, the noble Roman raised a fleet, captured the pirates and had them crucified. The guy didn’t mess around.

The Caesar who visits Las Vegas hasn’t lost his edge. He is confident and resourceful—and retains his aura of command. Even as a stranger in a very strange land, Caesar (as Shakespeare wrote) stands bestride the world “like a colossus” with all other people in his shadow. Yet his basic humanity often shines through in his interactions with the other characters.

The book’s main protagonist, Cassandra, the Vegas escort-turned-Latin interpreter, also comes across as a believable character. She questions the morality of plucking someone out of their natural time and place without their permission. She agonizes about whether she should tell Caesar that if and when he returns to 44 BCE, a mob of senators will fatally stab him 23 times, plunging the Roman Republic into civil war.

The book is published, but Edwards still has Caesar on her mind. She is at work on a screenplay based on the book.

“I’m thinking in terms of what will translate into a visual medium and what wouldn’t,” she said. “So I’m still grappling with Caesar’s visit to modern times. It’s the question that keeps on giving.”

Edwards’ other books include the travel memoir Roads From the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, the humor book Caution: Funny Signs Ahead, the award-winning Copper Black mystery novels Getting Off on Frank Sinatra and Full Service Blonde, and the award-winning novel Strings: A Love Story.

A Coin for the Ferryman, by Megan Edwards, is available on Amazon in print, Kindle and audio versions. It also can be ordered online from Sundance Books and Music in Reno.

Megan Edwards: “I’m still grappling with Caesar’s visit to modern times. It’s the question that keeps on giving.”

FILM & TV

Don’t call them

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ manages to make Paul Rudd unlikable; Don’t miss Netflix’s ‘The Bomb and the Cold War’

When a film manages to make Paul Rudd unlikable and squirm-inducing, you have a major problem.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was terrible, but Rudd wasn’t unwatchable; the film was a trainwreck because of everything going on around him. But in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, you just sort of want him to shut up.

That’s one of the many problems making this movie a big nothing-burger—yet again indicating that they just need to stop making Ghostbusters movies. The sequel to the original in 1989 stunk. The reboot with Kristen Wiig was a disaster. Ghostbusters: Afterlife, in 2021, was just sort of useless and flat, and Frozen Empire is even worse— flat, uninteresting and, most distressingly, monumentally unfunny.

Remember how Ghostbusters (1984) was a comedy? Remember how it was so brilliant, in part, because it didn’t really take its science seriously? How everything the protagonists pulled off was part of a big joke, and everybody was in on it?

To say the franchise has lost its way would be an understatement. Actually, to even call this a franchise is a little nutty. Ghostbusters should’ve been a one-time thing. Bill Murray wanted nothing to do

with the franchise after the first one. He’s participated in all of them, but you can tell he’s in a special kind of pain. Lord knows, watching these films causes a special kind of pain.

This one has something to do with yet another ancient entity—one with the ability to scare you to death by freezing you. Ancient artifacts, a roster of uninteresting characters played by the likes of Patton Oswalt and Kumail Nanjiani, and the old New York City firehouse being occupied by the family of the late Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are the things writer-director Gil Kenan and co-writer Jason Reitman have thrown together to try to extend this mess for another film.

The Spenglers now include Rudd’s Gary Grooberson as a stepdad figure, romantically involved with Callie (Carrie Coon) and trying to mentor Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) as they inexplicably have taken up the chore of ghostbusting in Manhattan. They don’t make any money; they live in the old firehouse now owned by Winston (Ernie Hudson); and they occasionally seek advice from Ray (Dan Aykroyd).

Aykroyd and Hudson have slightly bigger roles than they did in Afterlife, while Murray has, again, what counts as a glorified cameo. Murray’s performance here says it all. He obviously doesn’t care that there is a movie being made around him; he’s simply accepted a paycheck, and the magic is gone. He’s tired and uninteresting.

A bunch of plot threads, including one involving Phoebe and a new ghost friend (Emily

Mckenna Grace, Logan Kim, Dan Aykroyd and Patton Oswalt in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Alyn Lind), pad the running time to take Frozen Empire to two hours, which feels more like four. Rudd reduces himself into a whiny, shamelessly mugging character who lacks any real purpose. He was supposed to be the comedic anchor for these movies. Heck, he was actually funny in the preview trailer—but the funny stuff didn’t make it into the final cut. In the final movie, he’s just a bland plot device.

There’s no happiness in seeing the OG Ghostbusters teaming with the new folks. Either make a film about the OG Ghostbusters and go all in on the old guys, or make it about the newbies, with a new story. The last two films prove you can’t have both.

Bill Murray was right: Ghostbusters should’ve never been followed by sequels. It’s not meant to be a franchise. After decades of wishing otherwise, I’m finally giving in and admitting that it seems to be hopeless: This socalled franchise sucks.

If you are a lover of good documentaries, you must dedicate some time to Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War The series—with nine episodes, each of them at least an hour long—starts at Hiroshima and takes things right up to the war in Ukraine. It’s as thorough and enthralling as a documentary on nuclear war, and the Cold War that followed it, could be.

The series starts around Hiroshima and meticulously examines seemingly every major political event contributing to the Cold War after it. It goes over all of the big historic events— most notably the fall of the Soviet Union that supposedly ended the Cold War, but actually didn’t. There’s a new cold war very much in motion, and as this series shows, we are as precariously close to nuclear armageddon as we were at the height of U.S.-Soviet Union hysteria in the 1980s.

At the center of the show is Vladimir Putin, portrayed as the world’s biggest villain of the last quarter century and a major threat to touch off a nuclear confrontation. The show is mostly chronological, but many of the episodes begin with nods to the current Ukraine situation before picking up where the prior episode left off.

I’ve lived through more than a half-century of what’s in this show, and thanks to this series, I know a lot more about the situations and stories behind images like the wall being torn down, Boris Yeltsin hopping on tanks (and dancing around like the complete mess that he was), and the rise of Putin. This is as solid of a history lesson as TV can provide.

This is actually the second installment of this series after the also-excellent Turning Point:

9/11 and the War on Terror (2021). Netflix has thrown its share of schlocky docs out there over the years, but this one is top quality.

Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War is now streaming on Netflix.

Peter Farrelly, director of the Academy Award-winning (and treacherously overrated) Green Book, returns to his hard-R comedy roots with Ricky Stanicky, a comedy that becomes tiresome despite a fine effort by John Cena as the title character.

Farrelly, with his brother Bobby, gave us gems like Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber and, the mother of R-rated comedies, There’s Something About Mary, before splintering off from his bro and venturing into more dramatic fare for a spell. He also co-produced and partially directed the Bob Odenkirk TV drama Lucky Hank, criminally cancelled after one season.

Cena plays a lounge singer in Atlantic City who specializes into turning stuff like Billy Idol songs into masturbation numbers. A group of friends, led by Zac Efron, hire him to become Ricky Stanicky, a made-up best friend the men have been using as an excuse to escape their wives and girlfriends so they can go do “guy stuff.”

It’s a dumb premise, and it gets predictably dumber when the group’s other friends and loved ones start embracing the fraudulent Ricky as a truly great human being. One big business party leads to “Ricky” getting a real job where the boys work, and, you know, hilarity ensues. Actually … it’s not that funny. It feels like a million movies before it and doesn’t come close to approaching the quality and consistency of the Farrelly brother comedies. It’s worth noting that, unlike many of those efforts, Farrelly had no hand in writing the script for Stanicky Cena manages a few laughs here and there, but the tired premise plays out way before the end credits.

Ricky Stanicky is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

John Cena in Ricky Stanicky. 2

BEST 3 THINGS

April cravings

Bibimbap, expert French onion soup and a burrito with fries as a filling!

For this column, I typically try to find a common thread that connects the best three dishes I’ve eaten in the last month. Sometimes it’s an ingredient that each dish shares; other times it has to do with the time of day—heck, it’s even been about what I wore when I went out.

This month, I realized there wasn’t a

connection among the dishes themselves, but there was regarding what preceded them: cravings—a piping bowl of rich French onion soup on a chilly spring evening, a sizzling pot of bibimbap that satisfied a need for something healthy (but not too healthy), and a California-style burrito when the sun was shining and I was on the move.

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Underneath the fried egg, fresh veggies and bulgogi beef in Hana Garden’s bibimbap, there’s yet another treat—crunchy white rice, crisped up by the stone pot. Photo/ Maude Ballinger

I am blown away by our ever-growing food scene and the diversity of cuisines Reno’s starting to boast, making it easy to satisfy a craving no matter what mood strikes.

What: French onion soup

Where: Beaujolais Bistro, 753 Riverside Drive, Reno Price: $16

Contact: beaujolaisbistro.com; 775-323-2227

I lived in Paris for almost two years and became heavily acquainted with French onion soup. Each bistro seemed to make their soup a bit differently, and I learned that I have some pretty specific preferences on how I like mine. Fortunately for me, those preferences are reflected in the French onion soup at Beaujolais Bistro.

The rich, silky broth is beefy (but not too beefy); the onions still have a slight give but mostly melt in your mouth; and a crostini topped with cheese accentuates the dish by adding melty goodness—without overpowering, of course. It’s a quiet slice of luxury to be surrounded by tables adorned with fine cutlery and white tablecloths as you enjoy gentle hum of contentment filling the space—and eat a bowl of really delicious soup. I highly recommend the experience.

What: Carnitas California burrito

Where: Speedy Burritos, 1420 S. Wells Ave., Reno

Price: $10.99

Contact: speedyburritosreno.com; 775-324-1339

Speedy Burritos is my go-to spot when I’m craving a burrito, which is often. The service is always friendly and fast (dare I say speedy), delivering exactly what I’m looking for when I want a delicious and affordable meal that’s the

size of my face.

| BY MAUDE BALLINGER

I recently tried the California-style burrito—the usual rice and beans are substituted with French fries—and it was a smart move. Apparently, “Cali” burritos are contentious (folks either love them or hate them) but I feel like they are a fun option when the mood strikes. The crispy fries added a salty textural element while allowing more room for the delicious pork carnitas and guacamole. One of my favorite features of burritos is how portable they are, making them the perfect food to pick up and enjoy during a riverside picnic in the sunshine.

What: Stone pot bibimbap with bulgogi

Where: Hana Garden, 1605 Sullivan Lane, Sparks

Price: Stone pot bibimbap ($16.99) with bulgogi ($6.99)

Contact: hanagardensparks.com; 775-351-1616

For those who may not have experienced it before, stone pot bibimbap is the fajita equivalent in Korean restaurants: a large sizzling stone bowl filled with rice, perfectly julienned vegetables and a fried egg. It makes quite a statement as your server weaves through the restaurant and carefully places it on the table. If you’ve been craving some extra attention lately, this is the dish for you.

In all seriousness, we are lucky to have Hana Garden serving traditional and delicious Korean food. I often crave bibimbap when I want something nutritious without sacrificing flavor. The portions at Hana Garden are ample, and I usually leave with leftovers. The rice gets wonderfully crispy on the bottom of the stone pot; the vegetables are always fresh; and adding bulgogi beef takes it over the edge. Main entrees are served with a selection of banchan, small side dishes often including kimchi and other pickled or dressed vegetables, which add extra flavor and textures to every meal.

I also highly recommend ordering mandu, the fried pork dumplings, as a starter—they are delicious.

Think Free!

TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN

Openings

The Foodshed Cafe was scheduled to re-open Monday, April 1, inside the Great Basin Community Food Co-op at 240 Court St., in Reno. The café, previously open from 2017 to 2020, has been revitalized after closing its doors due to the pandemic. Food will be available for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a new salad bar will feature organic and local greens and produce based on what is in season. “The Foodshed Café is an extension of the Great Basin Community Food Co-op,” said Amber Sallaberry, the coop’s co-founder and co-general manager. “While the community-owned grocery store (the only one in Nevada) exists to simultaneously support local food and provide nourishing whole-food options for its customers, the café exists to further that mission and expand the market for our farmers and ranchers.” Find out more at greatbasinfood.coop.

Perenn Grocery has opened at 7600 Rancharrah Pkwy., Suite 130, in Reno. The grocery is an extension of Perenn’s current offerings, with items including Perenn breads, fresh flowers from Sierra Water, an espresso bar, curated prepared foods and specialty groceries, as well as home and body products.

The grocery expansion will allow for faster pickups of goods and coffee. “We also have wanted to offer local produce and thoughtfully prepared meals made with wholesome ingredients for people and families on the go,” said Aubrey O’Laskey, co-owner. “We have always loved curating an experience, and opening the grocery seemed the most complementary to Perenn, The Village at Rancharrah and the community.” Watch www.perennbakery.com/the-grocery for updates.

Madein (pronounced “made-in”) is a local food and drink collective opening at 3882 Mayberry Drive, in Reno. The concept will feature coffee from Forged

continued on next page

Vintage and boutique

Midtown’s long-empty Best Bet Motor Lodge is transitioning into a boutique motel and hangout spot

“There is something beautiful about the idea of the motor lodge; it’s such a piece of America and so much the idea of the American West,” said Piper Stremmel. She and her husband, Chris Reilly— owners of Fourth Street gems The Jesse Hotel and Abby’s Highway 40—are in the process of transforming the Best Bet Motor Lodge in Midtown into a boutique motel. They intend to make it a comfortable resting spot for travelers—and a fun hangout spot for locals.

Before opening The Jesse in 2019, their team tried to find a motor lodge, but none

were for sale that would fit their vision. The challenges of The Jesse felt more surmountable, with only six rooms. Now, with an expanded and seasoned staff, Stremmel and Reilly are ready to take on the more significant task of a bigger concept.

The newly renovated motel has the charm of a classic motor lodge, but with some stylish nods to the future. I was struck by how cozy and hidden it feels, despite the fact that the building sits right on a pedestrian thoroughfare in Midtown. With a total of 21 rooms, including ADA and pet-friendly ground-floor rooms, Best Bet Motor Lodge is set to become

| BY MICHAEL MOBERLY

the largest motel in Midtown. After operating The Jesse for a while and learning a few lessons, the team made a list of goals for this property, including better noise-dampening and two-room suites for families—a comfort normally only found in more corporate hotels.

“We are both nervous and excited, but ready,” said general manager Sarah Castillo.

The Best Bet also plans to add a new, sweaty luxury: Reno Sauna Club, which will at first be an amenity for guests and eventually grow into a membership-based facility for the public. The club will feature saunas located in a custommade airstream trailer, showers, cold plunges and other wellness-focused offerings.

“We thought a lot about these other spaces where we spend our time—what we can bring to fill the time between events or going out— and the sauna is something Chris and I are very passionate about,” Stremmel said.

The motel’s double-glass doors open into an ample lobby space, where there are a bar and snack offerings. Fun amenities like s’mores and pet-friendly happy hours will be available both to motel guests and the public.

“With The Jesse, we found a way to bring together people visiting Reno and people who live here,” said Mikaila Bird, the operation’s PR and communications manager. “We hope to deliver that third place, not a dinner spot or a bar, but a place you can sit by the fire pit and have a great beverage right in the heart of Midtown.”

The team also plans to collaborate with other businesses in Midtown—with events in the parking lot, for example.

While The Jesse is home to one of the largest agave selections in Reno, and Abby’s Highway 40 is a snapshot of Reno dive-bar culture (with enough schnapps to fill a pool), Best Bet’s beverage selection will be more limited, at first. The bar has all the bones for expansion when needed, but for right now, the goal is to offer familiar styles of wine from producers all over the world, comfortable beers, and a longer list of non-alcoholic options. They will feature drinks like spritzes, simple classics and canned and bottled cocktails from around the country. After all, nothing says “motor lodge” like a margarita in a can.

The Best Bet Motor Lodge, slated to open this spring, is located at 941 S. Virginia St., in Reno. For more information, visit bestbetmotorlodge.com or www.instagram. com/bestbetmotorlodge.

Piper Stremmel, owner of The Jesse Hotel and Abby’s Highway 40 on East Fourth Street, is getting ready to reopen the Best Bet Motor Lodge in Midtown as a boutique motel and bar. Photo/David Robert

From vineyard to shelf

In

Nevada,

the consolidation of distributors may lead to more wine choices for consumers

Most of us don’t think about how the wines we buy in a retail store get there … but why can you find some wines in seemingly every store, while others are nearly impossible to find?

According to BoldData, an international data company located in the Netherlands, there are more than 273,000 wine companies in the world. That means there must be more than 1 million different wines you could buy, if you had access to them. So, why don’t we? This is a byproduct of the wineries’ ability to get their wines placed in retail stores—and here in the United States, it’s the product of a three-tier distribution system.

This system was introduced in 1933, after the repeal of Prohibition, as a method of checks and balances to ensure safe alcohol sales—and effective tax-revenue collection by each state. This also allowed the states a great degree of control over alcohol sales; they could now create their own laws regulating the days and times when alcohol could be purchased, and whether to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales.

The “tiers” are the three industries involved in getting alcohol to consumers—manufacturers, wholesalers (also known as distributors) and retailers.

Distributors are licensed to operate across a state. However, due to warehousing and delivery requirements and limitations, they tend

| BY STEVE NOEL

Last December, Richard Cox bought Encore Beverage, a family-owned liquor distributor in Reno. He also owns Cork Distributors in Las Vegas, and he plans to merge the two into one statewide brand. Photo/David Robert

to be more regional. Reno has a local distributor called Encore Beverage, founded in 2007 by Mark and Deb Baldwin. The Baldwins, who resided in Truckee for more than 35 years, ran Encore as a local, family-owned business. In December 2023, Richard Cox purchased it.

Cox has had a long career as a certified public account and business consultant, including at one point being the vice president of finance for our Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights. Cox founded Cork Distributors in 2014 in Las Vegas and over the past few years has continued to expand his footprint in the wineand spirits-distribution market.

“I already owned a distributor in Las Vegas, and I had done a couple of acquisitions that added additional boutique wines and premium spirits to our portfolio,” Cox said. “When I learned that Encore Beverage was for sale, I decided to see if I could work a deal. … The idea was to get synergies through the scale of warehousing (of both businesses), as well as the synergies of our existing supplies that we would have in both north and south Nevada, combining them to better support all of our customer base.”

As I mentioned before, wineries need to use distributors to get their products placed in retail stores, so a distributor with a larger footprint and more suppliers with better products will help get the wine brands we love on the shelves.

“We probably have the best Italian wine portfolio in Nevada, if not the West Coast, as well as an amazing French portfolio,” Cox said. “In terms of cool wines from California, we’re stacked as well, with Anthem, Alpha Omega and Carte Blanche, among others.”

I am now super-excited to discover all of the Italian wines Encore/Cork distributes. As regular readers know, I love Italian wines.

Cox advised me that sometime in the future, Encore beverage will be renamed Cork Distributors to reinforce the larger statewide brand. “We work with our suppliers and the customers to ensure that we’re doing the best that we can and that we have the best products possible to get to the consumer,” he said.

Cork Distributors also donates to community organizations such as the Folded Flag Foundation, which supports the families of fallen U.S. military and government personnel.

I asked Cox how much time he was spending in Reno now that he has purchased Encore. “My wife and I are fully ingrained Reno residents. We bought a house in 2020, so I actually bought it before I had contemplated buying Encore. So it was all kind of serendipitous,” he said.

TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN

continued from Page 24

Coffee Roasting Co., a selection of graband-go food items made in-house, a full bar program in partnership with Black Rabbit Mead, and an array of locally procured goods. While the grand opening is slated for May 2024, you can stay up to date by following their Instagram: www. instagram.com/madein.nv.

Pasta La Vista is the newest concept to join the Reno Public Market, at 299 E. Plumb Lane, in Reno. The menu features Italian appetizers, desserts and, of course, pasta—that is tossed in a massive wheel of parmesan. For more information, head to linktr.ee/pastalavistareno.

Birdeez, downtown Reno’s latest entertainment venue—including three nine-hole mini-golf courses, a quiz room and a state-of-the-art, technology-driven darts experience—will open at 151 N. Sierra St. The location will also feature two bars and a restaurant, making it a full-service entertainment hotspot. Keep an eye out for the grand opening, but for more information in the meantime, head to birdeezreno.com.

Tasty Pot has landed in Reno at 716 S. Virginia St. The Bay Area-born chain is an “authentic Taiwanese individual hotpot chain that seeks to provide healthy dining in a comfortable, modern setting.” The Reno location serves bowls that are piled high with a long list of ingredients. Just one example: The kimchi dumpling hot soup includes “Taiwanese cabbage, pork slices, kimchi, dumplings, vermicelli, mini sausage, shrimp, enoki mushroom, kamaboko, tempura, clam, Fuzhou fishball, soft tofu, fried tofu skin, zucchini, imitation crabmeat, egg, scallion and pork bone broth.” Learn more at www. tastypotusa.com.

Wing King has opened at 101 E. Pueblo St., in Reno. The driving force behind the restaurant is the hope of bringing people together with a “one people, one world, one love” mindset. While the Wing King menu features appetizers, burgers, salads and desserts, it touts 100 sauces for the steroid/antibiotic-free wings and specialty “pig wings,” which are pork shanks fried and served like chicken wings. Get details at wingkingreno.com.

Step Korean Bistro has opened at 2855 N. McCarran Blvd., Suite 106, in Sparks. The restaurant offers upscale Korean dining, with dishes like soy salmon sashimi, Korean braised pork ribs and kimchi udon. Get the complete menu at www.stepkoreanbistro.com.

Have local food, drink or restaurant news? Email foodnews@renonr.com.

—Maude Ballinger

Bonding and branding

College band BenderWorld is climbing the ladder—in classic Gen-Z style

In the tidal wave of short-form video content that has dominated social media since the advent of TikTok, there is the occasional odd clip that will stop your mindless scrolling in its tracks.

Scroll. Cat wearing a sweater. Scroll. “Use this kitchen hack the next time you—” Scroll. Top 10 greatest NBA rivalries. Scroll. “As fighting continues in the eastern territory—” Scroll. “Hey there, we’re a Reno band just trying to make this music thing work—” Scroll.

Wait, what was the last one?

Scrolling back would introduce the viewer to BenderWorld, a Reno band composed of vocalist Lauren Juillerat, bassist Benjamin Luery, guitarist Ryan Kowalczuk, rhythm guitarist Davis Dunkley and drummer/producer Jack Barrington. With the release of their latest single, “Red Lipstick,” and a fundamentally Gen-Z social media savviness, BenderWorld is part of a wave of young musicians staking a claim in the Reno music scene.

BenderWorld got its start in the fall of 2022, when Barrington and Kowalczuk, Las Vegas locals and friends from high school, decided to follow through on a longtime

plan to start a band. As students at the University of Nevada, Reno, they began to recruit classmates.

They acquired Luery first, a kindred spirit they met through their extracurricular musical pursuits. Juillerat met the band through digital kismet, posting anonymously to an app called Yik Yak, which allows the user to connect with others in a nearby physical location.

“I decided that I was going to post, ‘Does anyone want a singer or want to start a band?’” Juillerat said. “And Ryan responded to my thing immediately. He’s like, ‘Oh, I have a band. Do you want to audition for it?’”

She agreed to a short audition at UNR’s Argenta Hall, where Dunkley had also been invited to attend. They both became band members, and Argenta Hall became their practice space for the rest of the semester—as well as the site of their first live show, in April 2023.

As the spring semester drew to a close, the bandmates practiced as often as they could, building a set list of covers and as many originals as possible. They recorded and released their debut single, Dreams, on April 14, 2023, before Barrington and Kowalczuk returned to Las Vegas for summer break.

Last fall, however, their pace became

frenetic. On top of busy class schedules, parttime jobs and after-hours obligations, the band threw themselves into a crammed performing schedule, playing live at whatever venue would have them.

“We were like, ‘We should be doing shows every single weekend live,’” Juillerat said. “And that was a huge mistake, because we started scheduling so many shows that we had no time to record. We had no time to practice or make new songs, because we had to get ready for the show every weekend.”

The bandmates dove headlong into the Reno music scene, playing house shows at the DIY venue Fort Ralston, crowdfunded concerts at West Street Market, backroom sets at the Holland Project, and Station 9—an art studio and event space in Sparks that opened in 2023. At almost every show, they found a supportive crowd of peers, fans and fellow musicians.

“The community is so tightly knit, at least in my opinion,” said Kowalczuk. “I remember when we first formed our band, and we were probably at just 100, 200 followers on Instagram, and no real fans besides our friends. We already were having other bands reach out and say, ‘Hey, do you want to open for us?’”

BenderWorld released “Red Lipstick” on Feb. 13. An impressively cogent blend of genres, the single starts with a twangy guitar riff straight from the shoegaze playbook, and cascades into a hyped-up, double-time chorus reminiscent of the heady days of 2000s pop punk. Drenched in splashy reverb from the drums to the wandering bassline, Juillerat’s vocals lament an unfaithful lover and carry the listener between disparate tempos.

“I think what makes it interesting, and kind of makes us a little different from the other bands in Reno, is that the single was recorded on our campus in the basement of the library,” Bennington said. “I use those Audio-Technica microphones to do vocals, and then everything else was directly inputted into my computer in my bedroom.”

“Dreams,” the band’s aptly named first single, shimmers and boogies through a haze of dreamy chords, tight drum patterns and groovy basslines. Like a puff of smoke dancing on the breeze of a golden summer evening, the vibe is so chill, it’s almost anesthetizing.

Listening to BenderWorld’s sparse recorded catalog, one might not even think it’s the same band—such is the width of the stylistic chasm between the two songs. It works, though. It is, delightfully and simply, the sound of college kids having fun, with all the angst and triumph

that comes with it.

Inspired by a diverse range of sounds, BenderWorld’s members mostly agree they are an “indie” band.

“I think indie’s more of a mindset and not a genre,” Dunkley said. “Like, Jack produces and does all the mixing and mastering. I reach out to other bands and try to get shows and stuff. Ryan and Lauren will both handle video editing. And Ben will handle different things. The main idea of indie, for me at least, is that we’re doing this ourselves.”

Part of that DIY mentality is their approach to social media. Most local bands use social media as a digital telephone pole to post fliers for upcoming shows—and that’s it. A few use it as a repository for professionally curated material like promo photos or snazzily edited show highlights. BenderWorld, on the other hand, leans into social media as an active method of finding and communicating with fans and friends alike through goofy videos and show announcements.

“I don’t think we really saw it as a tool until recently when I was like, ‘Hey, we should start posting like stupid TikTok videos that could go viral,’” Juillerat said. “So we recorded a video of me over Jack while he’s drumming, and Ryan pretends to throw a chair at him. And then we started picking up in views and followers.”

The band’s introduction video referenced at the beginning of this story has more than 140,000 views as of this writing. Even with only two songs on Spotify, BenderWorld regularly pulls in hundreds of monthly listeners. Something else that helped them build a fan base: Describing themselves as a Reno band.

“Someone commented on one of our Instagram reels the other day that went more viral, and they said, ‘I’m surprised this is my first time hearing of a Reno band, and that there are not more, because I feel like there’s nothing else to do in Reno,’” Juillerat said. “But there are a lot of bands in Reno. So, (saying we’re from Reno) also helps, because other bands want to support you, and then you support them. It pushes the community out bigger for other people see.”

As opposed to simply being a “band from Reno,” BenderWorld markets itself as a “Reno band”—and yes, there is a difference. Annoying purists might argue that blatant self-promotion could destroy an insular scene like Reno’s, but to BenderWorld and the community of young, excited musicians searching for their own space, likes, views and followers are breeding cohesion and community.

“I’ve gotten, like, five people—random people have come up to me like, ‘Are you in a band?’” Luery said. “A guy in my Spanish class was like, ‘I saw your reel on my Instagram.’ So I think it’s been kind of working.”

BenderWorld hopes to record and release their debut EP sometime this year. Until then, you can find them on Spotify and www.tiktok. com/@benderworld_the_band.

Benjamin Luery, Ryan Kowalczuk, Lauren Juillerat, Jack Barrington and Davis Dunkley are the University of Nevada, Reno, students who make up BenderWorld.

Photo/David Robert

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8 TH ANNUAL

PALISADES TAHOE, CA

THURSDAY, APRIL 4TH

BOOT JUICE @ AULD DUBLINER (FREE WELCOME SHOW 2-5 PM)

FRIDAY, APRIL 5TH

PAUL CAUTHEN

THE LIL SMOKIES • MIGHTY POPLAR • DIGGIN DIRT

SHADOWGRASS • PICKIN’ ON THE DEAD • CLAY STREET UNIT BROKEN COMPASS BLUEGRASS • CAST IRON • CALTUCKY

SATURDAY, APRIL 6TH

THE DEVIL MAKES THREE • SIERRA FERRELL

ANDY FRASCO & THE U.N. • LINDSAY LOU BAND • MIGHTY POPLAR SAM GRISMAN PROJECT • WINTERWONDERWOMEN • SHADOWGRASS CLAY STREET UNIT • BROKEN COMPASS BLUEGRASS

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SUNDAY, APRIL 7TH

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS

KITCHEN DWELLERS • SIERRA HULL • WINTERWONDERWOMEN

PIXIE & THE PARTYGRASS BOYS • TWO RUNNER • PICKIN’ ON THE DEAD BOOT JUICE • WINTERWONDERWOMEN

SHADOWGRASS @ GOLD COAST (FREE ON MOUNTAIN SHOW 11-1 PM)

Creative duo

Songwriting partners How???, coming to Carson City, mix Americana and electronica on their debut album

Can Americana songwriting and lyrics blend together with electronic production and instrumentation? The answer is yes—and the musicians combining these two sounds have already anticipated your next question, as the name of their group is How???

How???, composed of Alex Tebeleff and Matthew Dowling, connects wildly different genres into one body of work. Their debut song “How???” is a feel-good groove with synths and guitar effects galore, along with poignant lyrics filled with metaphors—echoing some of the best contributors to the folk genre. They’re releasing their self-titled debut album in April, and they are hitting the road to celebrate, making a stop on Friday, April 19, in Carson City at the Tap Shack Summer Stage.

During a recent Zoom interview, they explained how the band originated out of the ashes of previous projects.

“Alex was doing a band in (Washington),

D.C., for a long time called Paperhaus, which I ended up playing in,” Dowling said. “I was doing a band called Deleted Scenes for many years that sort of kept me from doing other stuff; then that broke up, and then I started playing in Paperhaus. … I dropped in as a guy who was a good friend of the band, and then wrote with him for the last record for the band. That’s where Alex and I started developing a musical language together. The band broke up, and then this is kind of the next thing.”

They pondered whether to keep the name Paperhaus, but decided against it.

“We felt like, for many reasons, it was important to start something totally fresh—and a lot of that is the move to the West Coast,” Dowling said. “… We’ve made enough volume of music in our lives that we just make the next record; we hope for the best; and we do the work, but we’re not going to stop.”

Said Tebeleff: “It was pretty clear to me early on that this is not a Paperhaus record;

this is something new, and it deserves to be a debut record for something else. For Paperhaus, people would bring songs in, but a lot of the songs were actually written collaboratively, and it was very much a band in a room. … This record was the opposite. Me and Matt came in with songs and let them grow and change in the studio, and really radically used the studio for all sorts of transformative processes. We’d have a friend of mine record drums, and then I’d take them and throw them in my sampler. It’s an Elektron Octatrack—we used it a ton on the record—so I’d send the drums into the sampler, chop them up, create lots of different variations that no human would ever play, and then bring that back in. There was very much a relationship with technology here in a way that Paperhaus just never had.”

Tebeleff and Dowling mixed the record themselves, before bringing in outside help for the final production elements.

“I wanted to make sure we had a second pair of ears on it,” Tebeleff said. “I’m a big believer in, ‘Don’t ever have the same person master who mixed.’ It was already enough of a risk to have me mix it. I’m a massive Beatles freak; they’re a huge influence on my life and on every piece of music I’ve ever done, and it helped (the Beatles to have) George Martin there to balance. One of the arguments against the White Album I hear from people is, without George Martin there, it was too all over the place. … You have to really be self-critical and almost mean to yourself at times, like, ‘Does this suck? Is this good? Do you love it or not?’”

As their own producers, they were able to combine sounds and styles from across the spectrum.

“I view music as music,” Tebeleff said. “To me, it’s all one thing, and I tend to prefer projects that regard genre as something superficial. Radiohead was a big influence on both of us growing up, and they were probably the reason I got into electronic music in the first place. Boards of Canada and Björk, and all of those things I found through Radiohead ended up actually being really influential on this work. We have no interest in sounding like Radiohead. … The rock stuff is often pretty separate from the electronic stuff, but sometimes it hybridizes.” Self-producing had financial benefits as well.

“I have slowly invested for 20 years in home studio equipment, and partly thanks to my work here on this record, I finally was like, ‘OK, I can do professional mixing and mastering,’ so I do that now for other projects too,” said Tebeleff. “It gives you a lot of freedom, but again, it’s dangerous to spend way too much time on something, so I always have to be careful. It saved us thousands of dollars to have me record and mix this.”

Added Dowling: “…That was another reason for saying, ‘OK, this is just a whole new project for Alex and myself to a degree,’ because we are kind of taking on a new life as producers and mixers. We play music because that’s what we do, and we’re going to do a tour, we’re going to make records—but we’re making records for other people now.”

As for live shows, the duo plans on experimenting.

“We haven’t played a ton of shows as a band yet, but it is possible for just Alex and I to do it, and that’s probably how we’re going to do the majority of this tour—but it is configurable in that we can plug in a seven-person band if we wanted to,” Dowling said. “We’re actually taking from some live playbooks that I’ve done with my project SWOLL, which is my own thing. I play bass and sing live, and I have a drummer who has a couple organic elements, but it’s largely tracks. … For this one, we can do tracks as well. One of the things I figured out with SWOLL is by having some crushing keyboard amps onstage to sort of act as the live drummer for the track, so that it’s not just PA-focused, it gives it some of that boominess and feeling live. … Somehow, it’s still interesting.”

Tebeleff promised that things will get weird.

“This Elektron Octatrack sampler is sort of the brain, and we run some of the tracks from the recording through it, but I’m doing things to remix those tracks live with the sampler,” he said. “Part of what makes the sampler very special is the ability to take loops and tracks and transform them very musically on the fly if you set it up. Even if we’re playing tracks, it’s not just playing tracks; it’s often me scrambling them live in musical ways, so that in a way, we’re live remixing ourselves for a lot of the stuff. Some of it, I’m playing synth, and he’s playing bass, and we’re singing over tracks, but a lot of it is actually taking the tracks and musically transforming them in a way that, to me, makes up for not having a drummer.”

I got to listen to the debut record, and a big takeaway was the band’s attention to detail when it comes to honing their singer/songwriter influences. Even though the tracks are filtered through numerous effects and electronic soundscapes, the lyrics and vocal phrasings wouldn’t sound too out of place being sung by one guy with an acoustic guitar.

“We care about songs,” said Dowling. “We’re a song band, and the live show is a celebration of that. This isn’t a novel idea, but that’s what we want to do—celebrate songs and have some fun.”

How??? will perform on Friday, April 19, at Tap Shack Summer Stage, 112 Rice St., in Carson City. For more information, visit www. facebook.com/thetapshackcc.

JONESIN' CROSSWORD

| BY MATT JONES

“One, Please”—no room for any more.

By Matt Jones

Across 1. Jesting sort

4. China, long ago (as seen in an airline name)

10. Blueberries for ___ (award-winning kids’ book)

13. Chicken ___ king

14. Max for tax calculation

15. Bird that’s not native to Tasmania

16. Radio personality who’s good at archery?

18. With The, 1970s musical Oz remake

19. Scorched

20. Notable time period

21. Bionicles maker

22. Return of the Jedi princess

23. Actor who’s good at pressing clothes?

26. July in Marseille

27. Pilot-licensing org.

28. Show grief

29. Cardinals’ cap initials

30. ___ nous (confidentially)

33. Ceremony performed by a mohel

36. Actress/TV host who’s good at economics?

39. SNL alum Horatio

40. Search site with an exclamation point

41. N, S, E or W

43. Talk trash about

45. Write-___ (some nominees)

46. Number of threeletter chemical elements

47. Blues rocker who’s good at hauling stuff?

52. Prefix for drama

53. Roots author Haley

54. Anchorman anchorman Burgundy

55. Colts’ fathers

56. Big wheel

57. Rapper/actor who’s good at holding together documents?

60. Vow words

61. Curse-inducing stare

62. Graceful shade tree

63. ___ Moines, Iowa

THE LUCKY 13

Canyon White

Performing at the Polecat Tavern on April 20

64. Picks up for another year

65. The Waste Land author’s monogram

Down

1. Sings like a bird

2. Montreal CFLers

3. English actress Wilde of Carrie and Wonder Woman 1984

4. ___ au vin (French dish)

5. Kwik-E-Mart owner

6. Director Lars von

7. Le ___ (French seaport)

8. Starting lineups

9. The Beatles’ “___ Blues”

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles setting

11. Fernando’s friend

12. Largest island of the Philippines

14. It’s a blast

17. ___ minute

21. Scales of the zodiac

23. 1998 Wimbledon champ Novotna

24. Food package date, informally

25. Yokels, in Australian slang

27. Andre the Giant’s

role in The Princess Bride

31. Irish actor Stephen

32. Body of morals

34. Companion that’s great for apartments (and won’t run off)

35. They’re found in the epidermis

37. Alphabetical listing

38. Sound the horn

42. Phrase on tote bags and plastic containers

44. Try hard

47. Michelangelo masterpiece

48. Bypass a vowel

49. Auctioned autos, often

50. Rise of the ___ (PlayStation game coming out on March 22)

51. Mom’s brother

52. ___ de los Muertos

55. ___-Therese, Quebec

57. To see, in Tijuana

58. “That’s disgusting”

59. Pt. of CBS

© 2024 Matt Jones

Find the answers in the “About” section at RenoNR.com!

Canyon White is nothing short of a local music staple. Whether she’s winning awards for her masterful singer/ songwriting skills, hosting open mics, or running The Canyon Club radio show on KNVC 95.1 FM in Carson City, featuring live performances by local musicians, White has been all about the success of the local arts and music scene. White is set to perform at the Polecat Tavern, at 260 W. Winnie Lane, in Carson City, on Saturday, April 20. For more information, visit www. facebook.com/CanyonWhiteMusic.

What was the first concert you attended? My sister’s middle school band concert. (She rocked that clarinet.)

What was the first album you owned?

Some cheesy K-Tel album from the ’70s that I saved up my lunch money to buy.

What bands are you listening to right now?

I change the radio station in my truck every week to whatever is next on the dial. This week, it’s a Latin station. I don’t speak Spanish, so I don’t know who I’m listening to.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? I don’t know who or what everyone loves, but I don’t get heavy jazz.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?

I would like to have seen the Beatles before they became famous.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? Dancing naked, although it’s frowned upon at most venues.

What’s your favorite music venue?

One that’ll let me dance naked.

What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?

“Good gosh, golly girdie, he came after me with a 30-30 and I flew away like a red bird in the snow,” “Red Bird” by Larrel Barber (The Bandalarels).

What band or artist changed your life? How? It’s no one anyone would know, but this one time at band camp …

You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? “What the hell?” You know who you are ...

What song would you like played at your funeral? That old-time hymn … “Master Baiter” (by Canyon White).

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?

Well, you’re gonna have to figuratively shoot me, because I can’t pick just one.

What song should everyone listen to right now? Whatever they want.

15 MINUTES

Anne McNulty

Executive director of CARE Chest

CARE Chest, located at 7910 N. Virginia St., in Reno, is a Nevada nonprofit that provides medical resources—including equipment, supplies, prescription assistance and independent-living home modifications—free of charge. The acronym stands for Community Assistance Resource Endowment. Since the group was founded 34 years ago by three local pharmacists who saw a need, CARE Chest has provided nearly 600,000 unique consumer services to the community. Anne McNulty is the group’s executive director.

What services do you offer?

CARE Chest is a well-established resource for health care professionals, social workers and individuals in need of medical equipment and supplies they would otherwise go without. CARE Chest serves individuals who are at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. (We offer) medical equipment and supplies, and durable medical equipment is loaned for as long as it is needed, and one-time-use supplies can be re-ordered monthly for consumers who qualify. If consumers do not qualify because their monthly income is too high, they may enroll in Club CARE Chest for an annual $50 membership.

CARE Chest provides up to $300 per consumer annually to pay for prescription medication … or to help with copays.

CARE Chest’s diabetic-supplies program distributes testing supplies monthly with a prescription, including blood-glucose monitors, test strips, syringes and lancets.

CARE Chest provides doctor-prescribed supplemental medical nutrition such as Ensure, Glucerna, Pediasure and (Breakfast Essentials). CARE Chest provides assistive technology and helps individu-

| BY DAVID ROBERT

als modify their homes and vehicles for accessibility and independence. We also administer a low-interest loan program to fund similar projects.

Through Mobile CARE Chest and Rural Outreach, we take our traditional programming into the community monthly, serving more consumers closer to where they live and work. We partner with organizations such as Three Square, Hope for the City, New Beginnings, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Catholic Charities, senior centers and (others) to meet potential consumers closer to home, at the same time and same location with other social-service agencies. This makes it easier for consumers who often experience transportation barriers to access various life-changing services. We travel to 43 outreach locations to distribute services, conduct education and gather valuable data that helps us better serve those in need.

Who are your clients? Who do you help the most?

CARE Chest consumers are typically Nevada residents living at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In addition to our headquarters in Reno on North Virginia Street, CARE Chest also has a second office in Las Vegas and travels to more than 40 communities and community-based locations across the state of Nevada each month to distribute our programs closer to where our consumers live and work.

I hear that you have a new addition to your building. We are currently under construction. The project—when completed in late April or early May—is an addition to the existing building that will make it easier for consumers to pick up their equipment and supplies, and a new nearly 5,000-squarefoot warehouse. The new space will give us almost 7,500 square feet of storage space to house equipment and supplies.

What event do you have in April?

The Bill Kahl Community Challenge begins on April 22 and concludes on Sunday, April 28. Each April, teams from across Nevada compete for the Bill Kahl Community Challenge Trophy as they raise funds to help meet the demand for medical equipment and supplies.

How can the public help?

Form a team, and compete for the coveted Bill Kahl Community Challenge trophy. All proceeds go directly to support CARE Chest’s medical resource programming. (Learn more at www.carechest.org/bkcc.)