August 2022

FREE AUGUST 2022

COMPOSING APPRECIATION reNEW Music aims to spread the love of classical music across Northern Nevada See Musicbeat, Page 26

IS OUT OF After enduring the highest rent hikes in the U.S., many Nevadans back rent stabilization laws

EDITOR'S NOTE

COVID decides when the pandemic is over Most of us are acting like the COVID-19 pandemic is in the rearview mirror—but it’s not our call.

The virus alone will decide when it is over, and that’s not anytime soon.

Over the last month, I’ve known almost as many friends and acquaintances who tested positive than I did during the past three years—and I already knew dozens of people who caught it, including several who died or became “long haulers.”

The virus is still mutating and spreading, experts say, in part because we haven’t reached the 80 to 90 percent vaccination rate that may allow us to reach herd immunity.

People who have been vaccinated typically suffer less severe symptoms if they do catch the latest, more contagious variant, but there are no guarantees.

After the series of lockdowns, mask requirements and other precautions, the government has given up on mandates. It’s up to us, individually, to decide what’s acceptable, and what’s not, in public, particularly indoors. People should assess their own individual risks, experts advise. We all need to decide for ourselves what precautions—including mask-wearing, social distancing and avoiding indoor venues—we should be taking.

As for me, I still keep masks handy for indoor venues that are crowded and/or poorly ventilated. I shun dense gatherings. Some folks throw caution to the wind and figure they will catch it eventually, so why try to avoid it? I’m not one of them.

Someday, God willing, I’ll put on an old jacket, find a mask in a pocket, and recall the bad old days of the contagion that disrupted all our lives. But until then, as much as I hate it, I’ll think about COVID-19 every time I leave my house.

We can’t live under rocks. But pretending that we—and not the virus—are in charge is magical thinking.

Stay safe out there!

—FRANK X. MULLEN frankm@renonr.com

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LETTERS

Email letters to letters@renonr.com

Time to mobilize for abortion rights

What if turning abortion decisions over to state governments (RN&R, July 2022) was a good thing? What if enough people were sufficiently outraged that they took grassroots action by competing in local and statewide elections? What if everyone who was outraged and feeling betrayed by a system that is making rules based on extreme minority views voted? What if courts were pressed hard with the other parts of the Constitution such, as the right to not have anyone’s religion imposed on them? My guess is that red states would eventually turn blue, and we’ll have evolved past whatever it is that has taken over this version of the Republican Party. And welcome back, RN&R. Mike Rottmann Virginia Highlands

Get to the polls to counter minority views

Although Nevadans’ abortion rights are safe from the right-wing nuts on the Supreme Court and elsewhere, make no mistake that civil rights—including abortion, LBGTQ

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

Publisher/Executive Editor Jimmy Boegle Editor Frank X. Mullen Photo Editor David Robert Cover and Feature Design Dennis Wodzisz Contributors Wishelle Banks, Alicia Barber, Cheree Boteler, Owen Bryant, Brad Bynum, Max Cannon, Katie Finn, Bob Grimm, Michael Grimm, Janice Hoke, Matt Jones, Matt King, Maggie Nichols, Dan Perkins, Cynthia S. Ryan, Jessica Santina, Kingkini Sengupta, John L. Smith, Todd South, Kris Vagner, Robert Victor, Madison Wanco The Reno News & Review print edition is published every month. All contaent is ©2022 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 775-3244440. 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.

RenoNR.com

| August 2022 | Vol. 28, Issue 3

marriage and birth control—are on the ballot in Nevada and everywhere else in November.

The religious fanatics vote! The normal people need to get to the polls in force to counter their minority views.

Barbara Patterson Reno

‘The new (RN&R) is here!’

After reading the July 2022 publisher’s note regarding the emotional response to the return of the RN&R, I, too, reacted excitedly, à la shades of Steve Martin in The Jerk: “The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!”

Thank you so much. I am looking forward to the next, and the next …

Connie Caughlan Gardnerville

Memories of the ‘RN&R’

I saved my (RN&R newspaper) rack because we’ve loved you so much. I’d look at it and be swamped with warm memories. Mine was one of the small businesses that decided to stay closed. I loved to look out over a dining room of contented people eating Sunday brunch and reading your paper—best of luck!

Barb Giacomini Reno (via Facebook)

The Big Liars must lose

Thank you for your comments on candidates who believe in the Big Lie (RN&R, July 2022).

If they don’t accept the results of a free and fair election, they have zero credibility as candidates. These people think elections are valid only if they win. They should be banned from holding office.

Ben Lawrence Truckee

We need better candidates

I would agree that the still lasting belief that our last election was “fixed” is pretty ridiculous. To believe and perpetuate this lie, IMHO, shows a lack of intelligence. That said, it still doesn’t make the opposing party appear all that much smarter. Being a semi libertarian (in pure form, their platform is unworkable), I sometimes lean a little right. Trump wasn’t wrong in all things; he just had zero diplomatic skills. (Yup, I voted against him for this reason.) On the other hand, President Biden is weak and ineffectual. (Russia and China see this.) Trump = butt head and Biden = idiot. Can’t we get a candidate who thinks clearly yet still has both feet planted on the ground? It makes me sad.

John B. Reno (Via RenoNR.com)

STREETALK How has climate change affected your day-to-day life?

BY DAVID ROBERT

Asked at Magpie Coffee Roasters, 1715 S. Wells Ave., Reno Kat Ryan

Eco warrior

GUEST COMMENT

BY JOHN L. SMITH

I got my degree last year in conservation. I wanted to be a part of the fight to save endangered species, plants and habitats. I consume a vegan diet to offset the effects of the meat industry on the environment. I love to travel, and I feel the pressure to travel and see things before they’re gone due to climate change.

Our lakes are trying to teach us something Those seeking a dystopian postcard for the effects of long-term megadrought and human-caused climate change will find a dandy at Lake Mead.

With its ever-growing “bathtub ring,” plummeting water line and the obscenely exposed power-generating turbines at Hoover Dam, you won’t often hear it referred to as a “man-made wonder” these days. The lake that overflowed into Hoover Dam’s spillway in 1983 today is at 29 percent of capacity—and dropping.

About 480 driving miles north, shimmering Lake Tahoe fools the casual observer with cool breezes, big pines and idyllic scenery. But it, too, is in crisis. Imperiled by wildland fires increasing in frequency and intensity, a diminishing snowpack and two decades of drought, the sapphire of the Sierra has shrunk enough to close a boat launch and, climate scientists contend, far bigger challenges are ahead.

It’s that way throughout Nevada, the driest state, where ranchers and farmers vie for diminishing resources, Indigenous tribes once again must watch their backs and long-coveted water rights, and corporate titans jockey for control of aquifers from Gerlach to Sandy Valley.

Other battles are brewing. Some are harder to see, but offer their own lesson.

Increased aridification threatens the state’s precious riparian zones. After decades in the field, UNLV life science professor Stanley Smith has studied most of them.

“Riparian zones only take up probably 5 percent of the landscape, but they support more than half the species,” Smith said. “This is the situation where if we start losing our ephemeral water courses, if they just dry up,

that’s really going to affect the biodiversity in addition to riparian plants just dying. That would have a bigger impact, I think, on the public than would the open desert being a little drier.”

With much hanging in the balance, some stakeholders are taking reasonable steps. After being rebuffed for its own water pipeline plan from rural counties to thirsty Las Vegas, the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s 2021 Water Resource Plan called for reducing individual daily consumption from its current 110 gallons per day to 86 gallons by 2035.

The removal of “decorative” grass throughout Southern Nevada would have been a courageous decision 25 years ago and a forward-thinking one a decade ago. But at least it’s finally been made.

Northern Nevada should do no less—especially considering its ongoing housing crisis.

The issues are complex and often in conflict, but I think we must come to a common conclusion.

Conservation is integral, but it’s foolish to continue to think of it simply as a lynchpin for greater development. If there’s anything nature and scientific models are telling us, it’s that continuing to practice the boomtown philosophy of breakneck growth in an arid land ensures calamity.

The long-term answer may be a kind of next-generation conservation that combines innovative water-saving and fast-tracked desalinization, and substantive changes in interstate water compacts.

In effect, embrace the science—and take a lesson from those very different lakes.

Nevada native John L. Smith is a longtime journalist and the author of Saints, Sinners, and Sovereign Citizens: The Endless Battle Over the West’s Public Lands.

Sarah Geo Walton

Family resource coordinator/small business owner

Climate change has made me more aware of resources.

Lack of water here in Nevada brings the risk of fires. In my business, we rent out cloth diapers, which allows people to waste less. I don’t explore the wilderness as much as I used to because of the fire risk, and I don’t water my trees as much as I used to.

Sean Stitt

Tavern owner

I try to watch how and where I buy things. I try to use conscious companies, and I watch my own input into the world, like conserving gas and using recyclable and reusable products in my business. We source locally and use a swamp cooler rather than have an air conditioner. I try to do something to help the environment every day. That’s something we can all do.

Chad Sweet

Tech director

Climate change is influencing my buying decisions. I shop for products with less packaging or no packaging. The next car that I buy will be electric; it couldn’t be anything else. I buy some food products in bulk and bring my own containers. I shop locally to help save on shipping and fuel consumption. Vote with your dollar!

Miguel Jimenez-Cruz Musician

I’m a touring musician, and climate change definitely affects life on the road. We toured the East Coast last summer, and it was scorching hot. We camped outside rather than staying in very hot hotel rooms. Also, it was expensive to stay in a hotel. The prices have gone up. I’ve lost a lot of work and missed a lot of gigs due to wildfires.

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THE CITY OF TREMBLING PEEVES

| BY BRAD BYNUM

Extended episodes

A medical scare can be just the beginning of a long, dehumanizing process

I’m not sure if I want to tell you about this.

But in the alt-newspaper tradition, we tell personal stories. We don’t shy away from using first-person pronouns. We acknowledge and disclose our own subjectivity. We are not all-knowing ivory-tower oracles, but boots-onthe-streets reporters describing what we see to the best of our limited abilities.

My 4-year-old son has had two seizures in the last week. These seizures were unprecedented and, so far, remain unexplained.

The first seizure happened at a Reno park in the evening. My son Clyde was there with my partner, Margot, and my teenage stepdaughter Josephine. Clyde collapsed suddenly, started convulsing, and stopped breathing. Margot thought he was choking. Another parent at the park suggested she sweep his mouth and throat for obstacles. She did. His airway was clear, but he still wasn’t breathing. He bit down on her finger. Margot reassured the supportive parent that the blood coming out of his mouth was hers. Josephine called 911. After about two minutes, Clyde stopped convulsing and resumed breathing.

A fleet of first responders arrived quickly and responded professionally. He was by then conscious again, but pale, bluish and disoriented. Later, before I had even considered it, Margot said, “If you write anything about this, be sure to thank the people who were at the park.

It was horrific, and everyone was so kind.”

An ambulance took Clyde to the pediatric emergency room at Renown. A doctor there told Margot, “The first seizure is free,” by

which he meant that they weren’t too concerned with determining a diagnosis—which is infuriating. Especially since it’s, of course, not actually free. The doctor prescribed a nervous-system depressant in case it happened again, and he told Margot we’d need to get a referral to see a pediatric neurologist for further tests.

The prescription was the usual pain in the ass to get, at the only 24-hour pharmacy in the valley, the Walgreens over the freeway. We called Clyde’s regular pediatrician the next morning for an emergency visit. We saw her that afternoon at her office on the St. Mary’s hospital campus.

She ordered bloodwork and said her office would send the referral to the pediatric neurologist. Then we spent a couple of hours calling around town to find somewhere to get the bloodwork done that day. Eventually, we headed to Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks, the third hospital we’d visited within 24 hours.

Are you still with me? Your eyes might be glazing over. Hospital stories, doctor’s office stories, insurance stories—at this point, they’re kind of like airline stories. Everyone’s air-travel stories are the same. Whether it’s delayed flights, prolonged layovers, cramped conditions, ridiculous routing—it doesn’t matter. The details might change, but the crux remains: It’s dehumanizing.

You surrender some of your humanity for a little while to get corralled, shepherded and inspected, but in exchange, you travel from one side of the country to the other in a matter of hours.

But a bad experience of air travel can make for a shitty day or two. A bad experience with the medical-industrial complex goes on and on

for weeks, months, years or decades, and costs thousands and thousands of dollars. And medical care shouldn’t be dehumanizing.

The day after our visit to the pediatrician, I called Renown to schedule something with the neurologist. Every call to Renown includes at least half an hour of sitting on hold, punching buttons for their automated phone system, and pointless conversations with disgruntled workers trying to pass the buck. I finally got on with the right person, and they hadn’t received the referral. I called back the pediatrician’s office, and they said they’d faxed it the day before.

Seriously, a fax? What, was the Pony Express rider not available?

I lost another couple of hours of my life calling back and forth between the two hospitals, dictating fax numbers: “It was sent from fax number (X) to fax number (Y).” “They said fax number (Y) is a Renown number, but not the right office. You need to send it to fax number (Z).” And on and on and on. It becomes the responsibility of patients to rectify the basic failures of medical offices to communicate with each other. And I hadn’t even started dealing with the fucking insurance companies yet. But I was finally able to get something scheduled.

The worst part of all of this is that none of it is shocking. I’m not looking for sympathy and don’t want to exploit a serious family crisis for any reason. This stuff—the disgruntled gatekeepers, the antiquated technology, the cavalier doctors—none of it is surprising. We expect it.

But it is not OK. It’s a systematic problem that needs to be reformed. That’s one reason I decided

to write about these experiences. But here’s the real reason: I couldn’t write about anything else right now.

After some tough conversations with the family and with Clyde’s pediatrician, we decided to go to a long-planned family reunion on the Oregon coast. That’s where I am now as I write this, and where Clyde was a few days ago when he had his second seizure. The episode was not as severe as the first—he didn’t stop breathing this time, and we were more prepared—but it was still totally fucking terrifying. And now it’s an ongoing problem, not an isolated incident. We spent about five hours in the ER at a hospital in the sleepy coastal town of Newport, Ore. The vibe there was different than at the hospitals in Reno. I never got the sense that we were getting hurried along. The doctor was kind and patient, and he seemed genuinely concerned. He asked if Clyde had seen a pediatric neurologist yet.

“Not yet,” I said, “but he has an appointment.”

“Good,” the doctor said. “Hold on to it. Those are hard to get.”

Become a part of the RN&R by joining our distribution team!

• Flexible hours, non-rushed, 1-3 days per month • Good pay • Be a crucial part of the RN&R team If you have reliable transportation and are interested, email jimmyb@renonr.com for details!

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A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

| BY JIMMY BOEGLE

The first draft of history We’re working hard to preserve and improve access to the ‘RN&R’ archives

We’ve talked a lot about the steps we’ve been taking to make sure the Reno News & Review has a strong, sustainable future.

Today, I’d like to explain what we’ve been doing to preserve the RN&R’s past.

A little history: The publication that would become the RN&R was founded in 1993 as the Nevada Weekly. In 1995, the paper was acquired by Chico Community Publishing, which published News & Review newspapers in Chico and Sacramento. With that, the RN&R was born.

In 2000, the RN&R joined the internet age—a little later than most other publications—and started publishing content each week online, as well as in print. (Fun fact: I was the RN&R editor then.) That continued until March 2020, when, well, you know what happened, and the print edition ceased.

The former owners, to streamline things and save money, hosted all three N&R papers on the same website, using the same web address.

They did the same when they started posting the print editions online via Issuu in 2011: Everything the three papers published was uploaded to the same Issuu page and account.

All of that streamlining made a lot of sense … until it came time for the RN&R to leave the Chico Community Publishing umbrella earlier this year.

Since January, we’ve been working hard to untangle the RN&R from its former sister newspapers. The first step was to give the RN&R a brand-new web address, RenoNR. com, and a brand-new website. The folks at Newspack (a joint project of WordPress. com and the Google News Initiative)—who also host our sister publication, the Coachella Valley Independent—did an amazing job of quickly getting the new RN&R site up and running, and migrating over all of the RN&R

content from late March 2020 on, when the forbylines came over from the staging site to the mer owners switched over to a WordPress site. active one. And all of the category designations That, however, was just the start of the work. are different. And our search function has yet to We then had to get all of the RN&R content index all the 20,000 or so articles. As a result, from 2000 through March 2020 off the former all of that 2000-March 2020 content is there, but owners’ servers, and onto ours. As of this writnobody can really access it. ing, we’re almost done with that process … but As of this writing, I am waiting on Newspack we’re not there yet. to resolve the byline issue, and have the search Tech folks know that migrating content—esindex all of those articles. Once that’s done, I’ll pecially newsgo in and fix all paper content, the categories, “Preserving the RN&R’s past with thousands and we should upon thousands be mostly set is almost as important as of articles, (even though photos, links things assuring the RN&R has a strong some and embeds— here and there from one system may look a bit and sustainable future. All and website to clunky). another system We should be of those articles and photos and website can mostly set, that be difficult, and document 22 years of Northern is, except for that’s proven to the date issue be the case here. Nevada’s history, and will be with all of the The first hiccup content from was that the data an invaluable resource—made 2000-2005. You we received see, the former from the former available for free to everyone.” owners upgradowner was ed or switched incomplete, or systems back in didn’t fully migrate. So we had to get another 2005, and all of the 2000-2005 stuff migrated data file. over without a publication date, meaning all of Then Newspack had to convert all of that data those stories show as having been published in from the former owners’ system (which was not 2005. Therefore, once all the byline, category WordPress-based) to our current system. They and search issues are resolved, we will, as time did this by converting everything and posting is available, go in and manually fix all those it on what’s called a staging site. I reviewed publication dates, using the bound volumes of the site, and everything looked mostly fine print issues as our guide. (migrations like this are never perfect), so I gave This, folks, is why newspaper publishers tend Newspack the OK in mid-July for all of that to drink. content to finally be added to RenoNR.com.

And as for the Issuu page with all of the However … for some reason, none of the electronically uploaded print editions from 2011

on: In order to create an archive of just RN&R issues, we had to manually download all of the RN&R stuff from the former owners’ page, and then re-upload those files on our new page.

Thanks to an amazing amount of work by my husband, Garrett, that is mostly done; see for yourselves at issuu.com/renonr.

Some people may wonder why we’re going through all this time, effort and expense to make sure the RN&R archives are accessible and in one place. The reason is this: Preserving the RN&R’s past is almost as important as assuring the RN&R has a strong and sustainable future.

All of those articles and photos document 22 years of Northern Nevada’s history, and will be an invaluable resource—made available for free to everyone.

One more thing … I’d be remiss if I didn’t tout an award the RN&R just won: Frank X. Mullen’s 2021 stories on the Stewart Indian School’s unmarked graves won second place in the investigative reporting category of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s annual awards.

The judge wrote: “This contest category had some outstanding reporting that was the result of a lot of research and reporting, but none was as deeply researched as this important piece about the Stewart Indian School. The story resonated with me because my state had a reform school for boys where bodies were found in unmarked graves. This story is heartbreaking— and so important to not only your community but also to every American. Pulling together a series based on so much research yet written so clearly and succinctly is tough. Great work.”

This award is a national award, among all alternative publications, of all sizes. In other words, it’s a pretty big deal.

Congrats to Frank, who yet again has proven why he’s a Nevada Newspaper Hall of Famer.

Think Free!

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UPFRONT

NEWS

| BY KINGKINI SENGUPTA

‘Future of Virginia Street’ survey open Reno’s “The Future of Virginia Street” survey is live for community members to share their Virginia Street experiences as part of planning the future of the city’s core thoroughfare.

Data collected will be used to develop a draft vision and set of goals for the future of Virginia Street within the Virginia Street Placemaking study. The online poll is being conducted by Gehl, an urban design and research consultancy.

The cost of the $150,000 study, approved last September, is split between the city and the Regional Transportation District. Officials said the effort will provide “the community and council with options for revitalizing Virginia Street.”

The downtown portion of Virginia Street is currently the site of a “multimodal” transportation experiment. Virginia Street is now a southbound oneway street for motor vehicles from the city’s casino core to Liberty Street. The roadway’s vehicle travel lanes were reduced to make way for a pop-up bike lane project. Those lanes were created after The Row casinos suggested bike lanes are needed on that main street (in front of the casinos’ doors). That’s when a years-long plan for a university-to-Midtown cycle track on Center Street was put on hold.

The survey doesn’t ask about (or mention) the pop-up lanes or options for bicycle/scooter transportation. Instead, it has multiple-choice questions about what survey respondents do downtown, how often, and what they would like to see there in the future.

The questionnaire also has spaces for open-ended comments, so bike lanes and other downtown issues can be addressed within those sections.

The online poll, created in July, is available in English and Spanish and will be open for four to six weeks, pending the number of responses received within the first four weeks.

The Placemaking effort originated in September 2021 when the council approved the plan to study to provide “a cohesive and regional vision for the future of Virginia Street and downtown Reno.” The goal of the Placemaking study is to create a vision for a downtown corridor where locals and visitors want to spend their time, according to city officials.

—Frank X. Mullen 6

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A woman and her belongings at the Canyon Shopping Center in Northwest Reno. Photo/ David Robert

Unsheltered and sick Health care services are available, but some houseless people won’t seek help

Robert, 60, frail and hobbled by osteoporosis, spends his nights inside the Nevada Cares campus, the emergency homeless shelter that opened last year in northeast Reno. On some days, he congregates with other houseless people at a nearby closed gas station, shaded from the desert sun.

A reporter asked him whether he sees a doctor about his aching back or other medical needs.

“I do not need anything; I just want to die,” he said.

Robert is among the more than 1,600 people who live on the streets or in homeless shelters. Health care services are available to those folks, but some, like Robert, decline aid. Others wait until medical problems reach crisis levels before seeking care.

“Sometimes they are afraid and anxious of going somewhere completely new and being judged for their condition,” said Alexandra Macrenaris, director of case management at Northern Nevada HOPES, a community health center. Others, she said, may have been mistreated, ignored or embarrassed when they previously sought help.

HOPES, which has two clinics and does outreach, provides medical assistance to houseless people. Some pay a fee, based on their income level, but many receive free, non-judgemental services. “We try to welcome everyone and make them feel RenoNR.com

accepted,” Macrenaris said.

Once patients receive services, HOPES tries to keep track of them for follow-up care. Many clients are involved in housing programs. Some have cell phones, and the staff calls or sends emails or texts to encourage them to return for continuing health care. The HOPES van provides a needle-exchange service, and the workers can refer people to the clinic. “We (haven’t lately) done a lot of outreach to get patients in to services right now, but are looking at improving that post-pandemic,” Macrenaris said.

Patients who are not enrolled in HOPES programs may get medical services through Hope Springs, a transitional housing service that accepts walk-in clients or community referrals.

The needle-exchange program, called Change Point, provides new syringes and free HIV and hepatitis C testing. HOPES provides follow-up care to HIV-positive patients.

“We understand that if one is houseless and has HIV, they need additional encouragement and a more trusting environment,” Macrenaris said. HOPES works with other agencies to manage services for HIV patients, and its case managers are certified in HIV and case management. Case managers also receive in-service training once a month from insurance agencies, community providers or HOPES personnel.

The pandemic restrictions made it harder to reach houseless people. HOPES is getting back to its full capacity, she said. But sometimes,

it can’t provide all the health care services clients need. “If we might not qualify for a certain financial program, we refer patients to the community, and collaborate with providers in the community,” Macrenaris said. “A lot of it is prioritized on the basis of the care that the patient wants.”

According to the February “point-in-time” count, more than 1,605 people in Reno-Sparks lived on the streets and in shelters. That’s a 30 percent increase from 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Of the 1,605 people, 1,188 had shelter, including 1,007 in the Nevada Cares campus or at Our Place for women and families, and 181 were in “transitional housing.”

Death on the streets

Melissa Ward, 42, has been houseless off and on since 2007. She said during that time some of her friends died on the streets. In 2021, 54 unsheltered people died, according to the Washoe County medical examiner; 16 of them were women.

“If you are a woman, staying on the streets is just not a safe option for you,” said Ward, who said she doesn’t dare camp alone anymore, because “there are a lot of guys that want to take advantage of you.” The streets have gotten a lot meaner since she became homeless in 2007.

“We may not have liked each other,” Ward said, “but there was more unity even then.”

Ward said some of her friends died of exposure last winter. Despite the dangers of living outside, she avoids going to shelters. She has lived under the sky so long that having a roof overhead makes her uncomfortable. “It can be very claustrophobic,” she said.

Ward experiences occasional seizures and said her medical condition prevents her from holding a job; she cites the seizures as another reason she declines to go to a shelter. “I had been to the Record Street shelter some years ago,” Ward said. “I had seizures, but they would not let me be.”

On the streets, she had a friend who watched over her when the seizures occurred. But shelters separate couples. On the streets, she stays away from large homeless camps and prefers staying with a companion.

When unsheltered people delay or avoid seeking help at clinics until their condition deteriorates, hospital emergency rooms become their “family doctor,” and emergency medical services often are called to assist people hurt or

ill at camps or in shelters. The Nevada Cares campus generates about a dozen emergency calls a day for police or medical services. That’s an expensive way to get health care—and taxpayers bear the financial burden.

The Washoe County Commission recently approved a $520,000 contract with MedHealth to provide basic medical care at the Nevada Cares campus. The agreement covers basic health care services for a year.

The county is currently in Phase 2 of campus construction, which will add new laundry facilities, bathrooms and showers, and dorm areas to provide more privacy and security to its clients.

Mental health professionals and additional security personnel have been hired, and a new contract is in place with Volunteers of America to manage the daily operations.

The on-site medical services are intended to reduce emergency response calls to the Nevada Cares campus while also providing participants with medical resources. “There are several medical partners on site at the campus,” said Dana Searcy, Cares’ housing and homeless services manager “One of the challenges that we’re finding is that you need insurance in order to work with them, so this bridges that gap allowing for some immediate emergency triage care, so we can stabilize individuals while they’re working with case managers to get on insurance and get them transferred to one of our partners and set up with primary care.”

Though the campus is looking at providing additional sleeping rooms, restrooms, dining spaces and locker areas, the original bed count of 604 beds is not expected to increase. The capacity of the Safe Camp, Cares’ transitional housing, will increase from 44 to 50.

Though the campus is focused on assisting people with permanent housing, staff members also refer clients to other services, including medical care, and mental health and substance abuse

services and programs, said Bethany Drysdale, the Washoe County communications manager.

Those resources include Northern Nevada HOPES, Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services and the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic. The case workers encourage clients to continue their care after transitioning to permanent housing.

Ideally, when patients are discharged from hospitals, workers at the Cares campus would be aware of their medical history and treatments.

County officials are working with the facilities to do that. But some houseless patients won’t go to the shelter after leaving the hospitals.

One man in a wheelchair recently sat in Pickett Park across the street from Renown Regional Medical Center, where he had been seen for a routine check up. He declined to provide his name to a reporter. He said he is aware of the Cares campus, but won’t go there.

Sandra Orduno, 33, understands this reluctance to go to shelters. Beginning at age 18, she was houseless for almost 14 years after being evicted from her apartment. Living on the streets led her to alcoholism and drug abuse.

She is now helping others who are in the situation from which she escaped.

Orduno is now a certified medical assistant with a degree from Carrington College in Reno.

She worked hard to get her life back together with her fiancé. She gives high marks to the health care at Renown and Northern Nevada HOPES. “These places have great staff who are very understanding,” Orduno said. She also praised Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services for its work with houseless people.

The mental health services campus also is scheduled for an expansion. The campus plans to offer mental health and crisis services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting in January 2023.

A man speaks to a HOPES worker on Record Street in Reno on July 21. HOPES provides health services to the city’s unsheltered population. Photo/David Robert RenoNR.com

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NEWS

| BY MADISON WANCO Patrick Donnelly, of the Center for Biological Diversity, and Sarah Wochele, mining justice organizer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, protest the proposed federal-land transfer at Rep. Mark Amodei’s Reno office on July 12. Photo/David Robert

Expansion delayed Navy’s ‘land grab’ fails, but the proposal will resurface A congressional committee struck down Rep. Mark Amodei’s amendment to a military appropriations bill that would have transferred more than 500,000 acres of federal public land to the Navy and private developers—but the proposal will keep returning.

Some Nevada environmental groups celebrated the amendment’s defeat.

“This measure would have inflicted significant, permanent harm to wildlife,” said Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Nevada needs more birds, not more bombs.”

The center was among the advocacy groups opposed to the measure, which members characterized as a “land grab” by the Fallon Naval Air Station, which already fences off 200,000 acres of formerly public land. The Navy has requested a total of 8

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600,000 more acres to accommodate more complex training needs, and to accommodate its latest fighter aircraft and weapons systems.

Activists who have opposed other attempts to expand the Navy’s footprint near Fallon said that by attaching the proposal to the must-pass appropriations bill, Amodei was trying to slip the measure in under the public’s radar.

“Nevadans and people from across the country rose up … and demanded accountability and transparency on this measure, which was never vetted with the public,” said Olivia Brister, environmental justice program manager for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. “Our public lands and water are for the public, not the military and mining companies. Now we need our elected representatives to make sure this destructive proposal does not come back, and we need concerned Nevadans to continue to stand with us in this fight to

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protect this land.”

Amodei, who has been pushing the land transfer plan for years and whose 186-page amendment was tucked into the annual Defense Authorization Act, has said he isn’t giving up. In September 2021, Amodei introduced a bill that would expand the Navy’s bombing ranges by 475,291 acres to be used for testing and training for aerial bombing, missile firing and tactical maneuvering. His web page describes the proposal as a necessary measure to modernize the training facility by “responsibly addressing the gaps between current training capabilities and current and future training requirements, while also paying respect to environmental, tribal and military concerns.”

Some Nevada tribes have previously opposed transferring more land to the Navy, but Amodei and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who has backed similar measures, included some

concessions within their proposals. Amodei’s bill would also create the Dixie Valley Special Management area of about 269,572 acres, which would not restrict public access and create nearly 1 million acres of wilderness and conservation areas, with prohibitions on oil and gas leasing.

Another provision of Amodei’s amendment would have established a $20 million Numu Newe Cultural Heritage Center on the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe’s reservation. That center would be dedicated to preserve traditional knowledge, culture and language. Amodei’s plan also would have expanded the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe’s reservation by about 5,000 acres and created a 160,000 acre Numu Newe national conservation area.

Some environmental and conservation groups, including the Friends of Nevada Wilderness and the Conservation Lands Foundation, have backed some of the latest compromise proposals, because they believe that sooner or later, the Navy will get the public land it covets. PLAN, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Great Basin Water Network and other environmental groups continue to fight the proposals.

Opponents of the land transfers also object to their potential effect on the state’s water resources.

“We’ve seen these dirty tricks before, and water defenders across the Great Basin are breathing easier because the Dixie Valley water grab will not be moving forward with this measure,” said Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network.

“Land bills and water grabs go hand in hand in this state. We are glad this committee did not take the bait.”

Opponents said Amodei’s proposal also would harm a vital bird area at Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge that supports hundreds of thousands of birds as they stop along the Pacific Flyway on their migratory journey. The area of the proposed bombing range expansion also is home to bighorn sheep and other protected wildlife.

Brister said PLAN members and her other colleagues are thrilled Amodei’s amendment failed, “but we know this is not over. We will not rest on our laurels and will continue to advocate for justice for communities and the environment.’’

After a two-year break because of, well, you know, Northern Nevada's best Best Of is back.

final round voting through aug. 8 at RenoNR.com. results and more in our special september best of issue!

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Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight For August, 2022 This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north,

but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.

ASTRONOMY

| BY ROBERT VICTOR

N

August’s evening sky chart.

Illustration/Robert D. Miller

Regulus

Deneb

8 Mercury 15

Vega

E

22

W

29 Arcturus

Altair

1

8

Saturn 15 22

29

Spica

Antares

Evening mid-twilight occurs when Sun is 9 below horizon.

Aug. 1: 49 minutes after sunset.

15: 47 " " " 31: 45 " " "

S

August skies

Stereographic Projection Map by Robert D. Miller

A full moon ruins this year’s Perseid meteor shower— but there are a bunch of visible planets and bright stars

There are just a half-dozen bright stars visible at dusk this month: The Summer Triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb (in order of brightness) high in the eastern sky; Arcturus, high in the west-southwest; Spica, in the southwest, to the lower left of Arcturus; and Antares, heart of the Scorpion, in the south.

Mercury hugs the western horizon all month, climbing around midmonth to a maximum altitude at mid-twilight of only 2.3 degrees from Reno. Mercury fades slowly, from magnitude -0.5 to +0.3—definitely an unfavorable apparition, despite its greatest elongation of 27 degrees on Aug. 27. Saturn starts August very low in the east-southeast in evening mid-twilight, and shines at magnitude +0.3 all month. Saturn reaches opposition on Aug. 14, visible all night, with the north face of the rings tipped 14 degrees into our view. For a good look 10

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at Saturn, just wait until later in the evening, or late in the month, when it’s higher. Jupiter and Mars have both risen by four hours after evening mid-twilight, but they’re much better placed for morning observation.

Waxing moon: On Aug. 3, the 36 percent waxing crescent moon appears 3 degrees to the upper right of Spica at dusk. Although Mercury will be visible, Regulus, at its conjunction 0.8 degrees to the lower left, will be very difficult to see because of bright twilight. On Aug. 6, look for Antares just 4 degrees to the lower left of the 69 percent gibbous moon. On Aug. 11, look for Saturn within 5 degrees to the north (upper left) of the full moon rising in early dusk. They’ll remain about the same distance apart all night.

Milky Way: By Aug. 17, the moon will be out of the way, allowing an hour or more of dark-sky viewing after twilight ends. Excellent views of the summer Milky Way at its highest

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in a moonless sky at nightfall continue through Aug. 29.

Late in month, the moon returns to the evening sky as a crescent in twilight. On the 28th, look for the 3 percent crescent very low in the west, with Mercury 9 degrees to its left and slightly lower.

On the 30th, find the 14 percent crescent moon low in the west-southwest, with Spica 4 degrees to its lower left.

Predawn attractions: As August begins, an impressive number of bright objects enhances the sky an hour before sunrise. First is a striking lineup of four planets, 145 degrees long, from brilliant Venus, very low in the east-northeast, through Mars, high in east-southeast, and bright Jupiter, high in south, to Saturn, low in southwest. And these stars: the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair, in the northwest to west; Fomalhaut, mouth of the Southern Fish, to the lower left of Saturn and lower right of Jupiter; Orion with blue Rigel, his foot, low in the eastsoutheast, and red Betelgeuse, his shoulder, low in the east; Pollux and Castor, twin stars of Gemini, to the left of Venus; Capella, the Mother Goat Star, high above Venus and the Twins; and Aldebaran, eye of Taurus, above Orion and to the lower left of Mars.

By the end of August’s second week, two stars—Procyon, rising in the east, and Sirius, the Dog Star and brightest star, rising in line with Orion’s belt extended down toward the horizon— join the scene. These two stars complete the Winter Triangle with Betelgeuse. Catch it soon, after Sirius rises and before Altair sets, and you’ll see the Summer and Winter Triangles simultaneously!

What distinguished planets from stars for the ancients is that they were “wanderers,” changing their positions against the stars. Watch the changing alignment of Venus with Castor and Pollux on Aug. 10, when the line joining the stars 4.5 degrees apart, extended 8 degrees downward, locates Venus. Watch Mars pass within 6 degrees of the Pleiades star cluster Aug. 17-24.

Beginning with the full moon of Aug. 11, the moon will be added to the lineup of solar system bodies in the morning sky. About one hour before sunrise remains a good time to look. Watch the waning moon pass the four morning planets.

On Aug. 11, see the nearly full moon about to set, with Saturn 13 degrees above. On the next morning, the full moon will be 5 degrees to the left of Saturn.

The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches peak between nightfall on Friday, Aug. 12, and dawn’s first light on Saturday, Aug. 13. The radiant is highest before first light on Saturday, and that’s when you’d normally expect the

greatest number of meteors—but this year’s shower will be spoiled by a full moon occurring on Aug. 11. Look for meteors during the intervals of dark skies from moonset until dawn on the mornings of Aug. 8-10, days before the peak, and from nightfall until moonrise on evenings of Aug. 14-16, after the peak.

On Aug. 14, the 92 percent waning gibbous moon appears 14 degrees to the lower right of Jupiter. The next morning, the 85 percent moon will be 2 degrees to the lower left of Jupiter.

This close pairing provides a chance to see Jupiter in the daytime!

On Aug. 17, Mars and Jupiter are 50 degrees apart. The moon, two-thirds full, is high in the south an hour before sunup, and just over halfway from Jupiter toward Mars.

On Aug. 19, the moon, 47 percent full and just past its last quarter phase, is about 2 degrees from Mars and 3 degrees from the Pleiades, a beautiful field for binoculars! Another gorgeous view awaits 9 to 12 degrees below the moon— Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster.

On Aug. 20, the 38 percent crescent moon appears 13 degrees to the lower left of Mars, and 7 or 8 degrees to the upper left of Aldebaran.

Mornings this weekend, Mars appears 6 or 7 degrees south of the Pleiades star cluster. Today is the middle of three consecutive mornings the moon spends in the constellation Taurus, the Bull.

Can you see the four bright planets simultaneously a little less than an hour before sunrise on Aug. 20? Venus-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn will span nearly 170 degrees, with Venus and Saturn only 5 degrees above opposite horizons.

On Aug. 21, the moon’s final morning in Taurus, the 29 percent crescent lies almost between the tips of the Bull’s horns.

On Aug. 23, look for the “Gemini Twins”— fainter Castor, 4.5 degrees to the upper left of Pollux, some 6 degrees to the lower left of the 13 percent crescent moon. Venus is 26 degrees to the moon’s lower left. On Aug. 24, the Twins are 7 to 11 degrees above the 8 percent crescent, beautifully illuminated by earthshine on its darker side.

On Aug. 26, 30 minutes before sunrise, find Venus very low in the east-northeast, with a 1 percent crescent moon 8 degrees to its lower left.

Binoculars recommended! The moon will be new on Aug. 27 at 1:17 a.m.

Sky Calendar includes illustrations of many of the events described in this article. To subscribe or to view a sample issue, visit www. abramsplanetarium.org/skycalendar.

Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 at Michigan State University, and still produces issues occasionally, including the upcoming October and December 2022 editions.

He enjoys being outdoors sharing the wonders of the night sky.

HIKING

| BY MAGGIE NICHOLS For boaters, both powered and paddled, Washoe Lake offers plenty of space to explore and sights to see. Not only are there many access points to the lake itself, but parking isn’t far away. Photo/ Maggie Nichols

Wonderful wetlands

Washoe Lake State Park is one of Nevada’s most diverse areas for camping, hiking, bird-watching and more

About a third of Nevada’s 28 state parks are within an hour’s drive of Reno, but the closest is Washoe Lake State Park. Most Renoites only know it as the setting for high wind warnings along the Interstate 580 corridor—yet the park offers an astonishing array of things to do and see within its boundaries, from hiking trails and sand

dunes to wetlands and fishing.

While hordes of summer vacationers and day-trippers head up to Lake Tahoe, Washoe Lake provides recreation opportunities with far smaller crowds. Washoe Lake is actually two separate lakes—Washoe Lake and Little Washoe Lake—connected seasonally by an unexpected network of wetlands. While there

are a few access points along the western shore of the water, most notably from the Bellevue Road exit off of I-580, arguably the best parts of the lake are reached along its eastern shore.

Off of Eastlake Boulevard are several gravel roads that lead to parking areas with access to Little Washoe Lake in the valley’s north end.

New Washoe City provides easy access to the lake at Sandy Beaches recreation area. On the south end of the valley sits the park’s official campground with several additional lakeshore access points.

For boaters, both powered and paddled, Washoe Lake offers plenty of space to explore and sights to see. Not only are there many access points to the lake itself, but parking isn’t far away, making it that much easier to carry in your kayak, canoe or paddleboard. Boat ramps and trailer parking can also be found in multiple locations along the eastern shore. Mornings in Washoe Valley are usually pleasant all summer, with light breezes that keep things cool. In the afternoons, as the winds pick up, the lake is a prime location for windsurfing, kite-surfing and even small sailboats. In some years, the lake’s shallowness can make navigating boats with deep hulls a challenge, so call ahead to learn about current lake conditions. In general, small, personal watercraft have no problems touring Washoe Lake—as the zephyr winds will allow.

If angling is your thing, pick up your Nevada fishing license, and head to Washoe Lake!

Channel catfish, bullhead, perch and white bass all call Washoe Lake and Little Washoe Lake home. With the right watercraft, you can fish from anywhere on the lake. No boat? No problem! The South Beach and North Ramp both offer excellent access for fishing from the comfort of your camping chair. Hunting is also allowed in certain areas and during specific seasons within park boundaries, though you’ll need to check in with the ranger station before planning any hunting trip.

This state park is also home to a diversity of wildlife, most notably an exceptional array of waterfowl and raptors. During the spring and warmer months, shorebirds, herons, ibises and rails find nesting grounds in and around the maze of wetlands connecting Washoe Lake and Little Washoe Lake. The skies are filled with red-tailed hawks, and one can even spot bald eagles and golden eagles. Evenings reveal numerous species of owls calling and hunting.

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As the weather cools, Washoe Valley becomes a popular wintering ground for a whole new crowd of bird species. Rough-legged hawks, white pelicans and even tundra swans can commonly be spotted enjoying the oasis that this lake provides.

Beyond being a designated Nevada Important Bird Area, Washoe Lake hosts a plethora of other animals that rely on the water and unique habitat of this wetland area. Many species of frogs, toads and salamanders call the park home. Additionally, turtles, snakes and lizards can be found in the region. Wild horses spend all year roaming throughout the park and surrounding area, while coyotes, mule deer and even white-tailed deer frequent the space.

Black-tailed and white-tailed jackrabbits come out to forage as the sun starts to set. Muskrats swim about, and more than a dozen species of bat feast on insects after dark.

Getting out to see this wildlife—or to just appreciate time in nature—is easy in Washoe Lake State Park. Miles of maintained hiking trails can be found crisscrossing the southeast side. With plenty of equestrian amenities in the park and easy trailer parking, it’s also a great place to get out and ride. The Nevada portion of the American Discovery Trail also accesses Washoe Lake and connects it to five other Nevada State Parks.

If you’re looking to get out for a night and spend some time under the stars, Washoe Lake State Park’s campground is an excellent spot.

Its 49 sites are open 365 days a year on a firstcome, first-served basis. (Nevada State Parks is currently in the process of implementing a reservation system for all campgrounds, set to roll out sometime in 2023.) Nearly half of the sites have full hookups for RVs, while tent-only sites preserve a more remote atmosphere.

The large group campsite can be reserved ahead of time, holds up to 200 people, and has a suite of amenities, including a covered pavilion, modern restrooms, grills, lighting and even volleyball and horseshoe courts. Park staff also offer an ever-changing list of public programming and can even arrange special group presentations on request.

Washoe Lake is part of the fee-based Nevada State Parks system. For the comparatively affordable cost of $5 per vehicle ($10 for out-of-state; camping and boat launch fees are extra), the whole family gains access to the year-round beauty and diversity of activities available in this often-overlooked park, right outside of Reno. Annual permits to all Nevada State Parks can also be purchased online, ranging from day-use-only to all-inclusive permits that let you explore all of Nevada’s State Parks. If you’ve been searching for a low-cost activity you can enjoy time and time again with something new to see every time, Washoe Lake State Park is highly recommended.

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the mere mention of rent control has sent developers and property owners into a frenzy of objections and apocalyptic predictions. The sky, they claim, will fall if landlords can’t boost rents as high as markets will bear.

Nevada politicians, many of whom rely on developers to fund their election campaigns, have been loath to discuss legal limits on rent increases. Tenants can’t compete with the power of real estate industry lobbyists.

But that tide is turning. Workers in the state’s population centers who are fed up with exponential increases in rent are demanding new laws that cap rent hikes. Some officials, meanwhile, are changing their minds about rent control.

“I have never been a fan of rent control, but I’m starting to be a fan all day long, because now, this is just about greed,” said Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick at a commission meeting in February. Kirkpatrick noted that inflation and reasonable cost adjustments can’t account for staggering rent hikes.

Data from the real estate site Zumper, analyzed by the Nevada Independent, show that over the last five years, median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Las Vegas went up about 66 percent (from $755 a month to $1,250). In Reno, during the same time period, rents for one-bedroom apartments have soared nearly 91 percent.

Opponents of laws capping rent increases often cite the late economist Assar Lindbeck, who once opined that “short of bombing, I know of no way to destroy a city that was more effective than rent control.” Rent caps, they insist, will further decrease affordable housing options, force tenants into sub-standard living conditions, spur condominium conversions and stifle construction of new rental units.

The backers of rent stabilization policies see skyrocketing increases in rent as a much greater threat to the viability of cities.

Working-class people in the Truckee Meadows and all around the nation often spend more than 50 percent of their incomes just to keep a roof over their heads. In Reno, according to the real estate investor site Stessa, rents increased at the highest rate among U.S. mid-size cities, and second-highest overall, from 2019 to 2022.

In that time period, the Truckee Meadows saw a 36 percent increase in median rent to $1,624 per month.

It’s a supply and demand problem, but the free market isn’t solving it. Over the last decade, 94 percent of the apartments

constructed in Reno were “luxury units,” according to an analysis of data compiled by the market research firm Yardi Matrix. When COVID-19 pandemic eviction moratoriums expired last year, the August edition of the Nevada Realtors newsletter reminded property owners that because Nevada has no rent control laws, “landlords can raise the rent as much as they like, as long as the rent increase does not occur during the current lease.”

In North Las Vegas, union members and their supporters on July 1 submitted a ballot proposal on rent control to the city, but on July 25, city officials ruled that the petition won’t be certified, primarily because the number of signatures was “insufficient.” The union is appealing the decision.

“We will not be deterred,” said Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer for the Culinary Union.

Pappageorge said the union submitted 3,396 signatures and is confident in their validity.

“The city of North Las Vegas is misreading the

As soon as the words ‘rent control’ come out of an elected “official’s mouth, our community becomes less attractive

to people who are in the building industry. You automatically get a pullback in investment; you get a pullback in development; and you exacerbate what is already a painful housing shortage.

”

— Mike Kazmierski, Executive Director of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada

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law as to how many signatures are required,” he said. “We have proceeded on the basis of the law, and the clerk’s advice as we prepared the petition to be circulated.”

Supporters said city voters should be allowed to decide on rent control, which they believe is the only way to bring rent gouging to heel. If the proposal gets on the ballot, it will be the state’s first rent stabilization measure since the 1970s. “(The proposal is) a campaign for neighborhood stability,” said Bethany Khan, spokeswoman for Culinary Workers Union Local 226. “Nevadans want and deserve neighborhood stability. Neighborhood stability is good for everyone: long-time residents, senior citizens, first-time homebuyers, parents with children, and local neighborhood businesses.”

The union’s measure would prohibit landlords from raising rents during the first year after a tenancy begins, and at any time after the first year without giving tenants written notice at least 90 days before the rent increase would go into effect. The proposal also would link maximum allowable rent increases to North Las Vegas’ Consumer Price Index; rent increases could not exceed 5 percent per year.

The idea of capping rent increases has wide popular support in the Silver State among residents of every political stripe, according to a recent poll by the Nevada Independent/OH Predictive Insights. The survey, conducted in April, indicated that 65 percent of Nevadans support laws enacting rent-control policies or limiting rent increases when leases are renewed. That support came from 81 percent of respondents who self-identified as liberals, 65 percent as moderates and 53 percent as conservatives.

“Yes, the cities need to jump in (and pass laws),” said Beto Gomez, who works for a landscaping service and lives with three roommates in a three-bedroom house in south Reno. He said his rent has gone up about 25 percent in the wake of three rent hikes in three years. Landlords, he said, are motivated by profit. “That’s why they are landlords,” he said.

In December 2021 a small contingent of protesters gathered at Reno City Plaza, next to City Hall, where the Reno Planning Committee was meeting. The group lined up beside the Space Whale sculpture and waved signs with slogans like “Suffocating Rent Prices” or “Honk if you give a shit!” Photo by Matt Bieker “We are dollar signs to them, not people.”

There’s no question that measures like the one proposed in North Las Vegas would bring housing stability to Gomez and many other Nevada tenants, but it’s the long-term consequences of rent stabilization that remain a matter of debate.

T. Tran, a Sparks real estate broker and consultant who oversaw that city’s landlordtenant mediation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, said “jumping on the rent control bandwagon, without looking at the long-term consequences” isn’t a solution.

“I understand why people want it,” Tran said. “But the (exponential rent increases) trend started to correct itself in 2018, and by 2019, we began to look like what was a normal market. Then, all of a sudden, COVID threw everything out the window.”

In Reno-Sparks, she said, rent-mitigation laws would further lower the already scant rental housing inventory. Tran cited the example of Saint Paul, Minn., which instituted a 3 percent cap on annual rent increases this year. In the first three months the law was in effect, multifamily building permits were down more than 80 percent from the same period in 2021.

“Putting in rent control is really a shortsighted decision,” Tran said. “…It’s well intentioned; we need to protect people from price-gouging, but the answer is not that now we need to tie the hands of investors and landlords.”

Tran said even the mention of rent control in public forums spurs landlords to increase rents.

“Back in 2018, when people went to the Reno City Council to talk about rent control, that’s when we started seeing rents peak, because investors started thinking that if we were going to see rents capped, they’d better get what they can while they could. … And when it is instituted, I think there’s way more evidence that it doesn’t help communities than that it does.”

Susy Vasquez, executive director of the Nevada State Apartment Association, said rising rents are “a supply and demand issue.”

She agreed with Tran that the Truckee

Meadows rental market was beginning to stabilize in 2018, before workers started flocking to the area to take new jobs at tech firms, and the pandemic hit. “Then we went back to square one,” she said.

Vasquez said “affordable housing is not easy to build; right now, luxury housing is the only type that pencils out for developers without subsidies, without incentives. … We need workforce housing. I think the conversations that we are having now are about how we can make it easier to build affordable housing.

We need to streamline the affordable-housing process and come up with incentives.”

The free market, she said, will correct itself if left to its own devices. Once more rental units go online, a stable, normal market will return. Rent control, Vasquez said, may seem like a quick fix, but has “failed miserably” everywhere it’s been tried, and there haven’t been any significant positive effects of rent caps.

Economists shared that view for decades, but current research is more even-handed. In 1946, economists Milton Friedman and George Stigler of the University of Chicago argued that controlling rents resulted in dilapidated properties as landlords neglected repairs and did other things to force rent-controlled tenants out. Their paper was in response to New York City’s strict rent caps, but rent stabilization measures have been more nuanced since then.

Some laws limit rent caps to older properties and link allowable increases to the inflation rates. In Oregon, landlords cannot raise the rent more than 7 percent plus the rate of inflation.

For 2020, the maximum rent increase was 9.9 percent. There is no limit to how much the rent can go up after a long-term tenant leaves. In Cambridge, Mass., which had a strict rentcontrol law for 25 years until it was repealed

by voters statewide in 1994, most studies found revenue out of it.” no significant decline in new construction and In densely populated communities such documented “clear, short term benefits for the as New York City, he said, there are limited tenants living under the regulation,” according ways to increase the supply of rental housing. to a paper on Governing.com.

“There, you don’t have much of an option,” The article noted that about 200 U.S. Kazmierski said. “… Because of that, there are communities have some form of rent places where you can moderate and mitigate regulation on the books. Most of them are the annual cost increases. But as soon as that in California, New York and New Jersey. unit turns over, it pretty much doubles in price.

The Urbanist website reported that an Urban So there have been places where it’s worked in Institute literature review in 2019 found the certain ways and in certain environments.” predicted negative effects on housing supply But in Northern Nevada, “if we shut down are not borne out in empirical studies. The development of housing by doing that, which review was generally positive, the Urbanist we will, every developer and firm I’ve talked noted, but the authors stressed that rent to pretty much says as soon as that happens, control “should fit into a broader framework we’ve closed the door on something we need of effective housing policies that promote more than anything else, which is our housing inclusion and limit displacement.” supply.”

Still, rent caps remain an anathema to Kazmierski said landlords and investors landlords and object to governments developers. regulating what they Mike can and can’t charge Kazmierski, tenants to live in their president and CEO properties: “It’s a of the Economic government taking,” Development he said. “It’s taking Authority of money away from Western Nevada, investors and people said rent control who are trying to build provides relief to housing and giving it some tenants, but to the renters. … If the results in long-term government is going to disadvantages to do that, they should be the community. part of the solution and The solution, he pay for it.” said, is not rent Christine Hess, caps, but more executive director of supply. “Building, the Nevada Housing supporting and Coalition, said “the incentivizing more jury is still out” on units ultimately whether rent control is solves the problem a solution to runaway of higher rents, rent hikes. “There are because now your definitely downstream rent has to be consequences,” she Donny Brook, a student at the University of said. “It’s a localized competitive, or Nevada, Reno, holds a protest sign in City decision, and we you won’t have Plaza in December 2021. Photo by Matt Bieker need to look at how anyone in that unit, and you’ll get zero continued on next page RenoNR.com

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continued from Page 13

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Some Reno politicians have been able to it worked or didn’t work elsewhere. … There avoid saying those taboo words by maintaining are a lot of complexities.” that state law doesn’t grant cities the power to The coalition, in its policy forums, has been enact rent control laws (although state officials discussing various solutions to the housing dispute that, saying cities do have the power crisis, including developer incentives and to adopt affordable housing measures). Eddie subsidies for tenants. Rent control could be a Lorton, a candidate for Reno mayor, has said piece of that, she said, but advocates need to he’s against such measures. Incumbent Mayor look at all the downstream effects of rent caps Hillary Schieve, who faces Lawton on the and what unintended consequences may result. ballot in November, also has said she doesn’t Yet, she said, the free market alone won’t solve favor rent control. the problem.

Khan, the Culinary Union spokesperson, said “Affordable housing does not build voters should get rent control measures passed itself,” Hess said. “It takes incentives; it takes subsidies; Affordable housing does not build and it takes communities coming together to prioritize itself. It takes incentives; it takes housing that’s affordable for subsidies; it takes communities working Nevadans, seniors and certainly for our most coming together to prioritize housing vulnerable population. … that’s affordable for working Nevadans, We all have to be at that table. It is not OK that seniors and certainly for our most Nevadans are paying more vulnerable population. … We all have than half their income for housing costs.” to be at that table. It is not OK that Tenants, however, aren’t Nevadans are paying more than half concerned with economic development when rents their income for housing costs. rise above their ability to pay and still meet their — Christine Hess, Executive Director other expenses. Gomez, the of the Nevada Housing Coalition tenant from south Reno who weathered a 25 percent increase in rent since while politicians dither. Rent caps, Khan said, 2019, said the trend toward luxury housing are not automatically destined to fail. and high rents is the biggest threat to a diverse, “What has failed is the current practice of balanced community. letting huge out-of-town corporations continue “(Tenants) should show up at every council to gouge working people on rent and breaking meeting and keep fighting for rent control up our communities and neighborhoods,” until they do something,” he said. “Just keep she said. “Nevada is unique, and the current pounding away at it.” situation calls for action urgently. We believe That’s the sort of attitude that alarms this is the right thing to do at this moment, developers: “As soon as the words ‘rent because it will provide meaningful relief to control’ come out of an elected official’s Nevadans, who overwhelmingly support rent mouth, our community becomes less attractive control. to people in the building industry,” Kazmierski “That’s why the Culinary Union and said. “You automatically get a pullback in community allies are advancing an initiative investment; you get a pullback in development; petition to ensure neighborhood stability, and you exacerbate what is already a painful where North Las Vegas rent increases don’t housing shortage.” exceed the cost of living.”

“

”

SOURCE/RENTCAFE

[Your byline here.]

The Reno News & Review is looking to expand its paid freelance writing team! We are looking for: • News freelancers • Feature writers • Cannabis writer • Beer columnist • Wine columnist • Cocktail columnist • Food feature writers If you have the knowledge, the desire, and the ability to write and report, email a resume, clips/writing samples and anything else you would like to share to jimmyb@renonr.com!

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ARTS & CULTURE

| BY PAX LEIGH ROBINSON Radical Cat employee Lola Nixon and Terrence the cat. Photo/David Robert and more. The shop also carries many titles with lefty political subjects like anti-capitalism, police reform and anarchy.

Though all members of the collective share book-buying responsibilities, co-owner Ilya Arbatman puts a lot of his attention on stocking underrated and less appreciated writers. “I read the work of a lot of women authors who really deserve to be on the classics list but aren’t, partially because they’re women, and also because once the canon is established, it gets hard to change it,” he said.

One of Arbatman’s biggest motivations for being involved in physical bookstore was its ability to feature an eclectic collection of current and out-of-print books that can be handled and browsed by patrons standing in front of the shelves. He is a proponent of the intimate, tactile experience of reading a printed book and said the internet isn’t a proper home for most literature.

“I feel like there is something special that happens when all the books are here together,” Arabatman said. “You can see and interact with them.”

The physicality of books makes them more immediate and relatable, he said. They became physical maps of ideas and stories waiting to be explored. Arabatman is an author and his book, Covid Comix is on the shelves. The work is an intimate and often hilarious daily account of his experiences during the pandemic.

Books and purrs

The Radical Cat is a radical bookstore, cat lounge and community space all in one Homeless cats and unconventional books have found a common refuge at the Radical Cat bookstore in Reno. At that new shop, both the felines and the volumes can find forever homes.

The radical bookstore/cat lounge and community space is a welcome addition to the Wells Avenue creative oasis which already includes The Holland Project, KWNK Community Radio, Laika Press, the Our Center LGBTQIA+ community center and Magpie Coffee. As with the gay and feminist bookstores of yore, the collective goal of The Radical Cat is to elevate 16

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and make available previously silenced and under-appreciated voices.

“Our mission it to have this inclusive, cozy space where you can find books by people who have historically been marginalized and on topics that have been historically marginalized, which would include feminism, LGBTQIA+ issues, social justice issues, anti-racism and policing issues,” said Rosie Zuckerman, one of the four founders and co-owners.

This collective spirit helped to make curating The Radical Cat’s initial collection an organic

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and free flowing experience, she said. The inventory includes many of the founders’ favorites, volumes suggested by community members, and ideas from the shelves of existing radical, collectively-operated bookstores, such as Firestorm Books and Blue Stocking.

The shop not only features titles on marginalized identities and underrepresented writers, but also includes tomes on living a more sustainable, radical life, including sections on technology and labor, trauma and healing, farming and gardening, community organizing

Cats and books: a classic combination

And then, there’s the cats.

Like the bookstore, the cat part of The Radical Cat was designed to be an inviting and welcoming space, supportive for both animals and people. “I think we see the cat part of it as creating a venue where people can take advantage of this mutually beneficial relationship we can have with animals,” Zuckerman said, “(a place) where we can care for them and love them and reap the emotional and physiological benefits that come from hanging out with them.”

The cat lounge is separated from the retail part of the store by recycled window frame walls that give the felines some private space and keep the books from collecting cat hair.

Everyone is welcome to come spend time with the four-legged residents, and lots of cat toys are provided to facilitate engagement.

The space can shelter up to five felines, though it is more common for two or three to temporarily be call it home. So far, more than 13 cats have found new families, including Stormy, Brooklyn, Smokie Joe, Little Debbie and Mercury.

Zuckerman connects with each cat in resi-

dence, no matter how long they stay.

“I do sort of identify as a crazy cat lady,” she said. “I feel like dog people are maybe generally a little more normal. I feel like cat people are a little weirder.”

When store patrons select their new cat overlords and take them home, the SPCA supplies more animals for adoption. The organization also covers the expenses related to caring for and feeding the animals. “For those cats and for those people adopting, I think it’s like the best case scenario, because the cats are more comfortable than they might be in a loud shelter environment; you can spend time with them; you can visit them,” Zuckerman said.

The self-described crazy cat lady also is the mastermind behind PussyCat pop-ups, which held cat-adoption events in partnership with the Holland Project. Zuckerman has a rapport with felines, who allow her to put drops in their eyes without resorting to attempted murder. The cats are up for adoption, but many of the folks who hang out with the tabbies aren’t considering taking one home. They are there to spend quality time with the animals and, they hope, to receive some purrs and happy head butts in return.

“I see hanging out with animals as a huge mental health component for people,” Zuckerman said. “I mean, it’s not going to find you affordable housing, but maybe it will make your afternoon a little bit better.”

Defeating censorship

The Radical Cat also is home to many of the books that are being challenged and sometimes removed from schools and libraries across the country. According to the American Library Association, five of the top 10 most commonly challenged books in 2021 contain queer or transgendered themes. Racial and sexual themes also were controversial and commonly cited among the more than 1,600 books that were challenged or banned around the country last year.

“The big inspiration for me was the book banning that’s been going on across the United States for the last year,” said co-owner Melissa Hafey, “the particular targeting of books that are promoting positive self-image and confidence for kids particularly and people who are trans, queer, LBGTQIA+.”

Hafey wanted to create a space reminiscent of the gay and feminist bookstores she frequented in the late 1990s. “I felt like something was missing,” she said, “something that was specific in speaking to people who didn’t identify with a very mainstream identity and needed to know that they were welcome in a community where they could be themselves, their whole selves.”

Hafey runs the business side of the operation and takes the lead on budgeting, accounting and compliance issues. She also brings a lot of startup knowledge to the endeavor. She has been

involved in the early phases of other community organizations including Reno Food Systems and The Great Basin Community Co-op. The fourth partner is Melissa’s husband, Mike Hafey, who took the lead on building out the space, but, sadly, is highly allergic to cat dander and is unable to spend much time in the shop.

The collective approach

The collective organization of The Radical Cat is a model of business ownership rapidly gaining in popularity.

“I don’t feel any ownership. I hope to steward the store, but I don’t expect that it will be my personal thing. I hope that lots of people come here and find great books that change their lives for the better,” Hafey said.

The Radical Cat concept rapidly progressed from idea to brick-and-mortar. The owners said the two-pronged idea of radical books and adoptable cats was hatched in December 2021.

The concept of a cat adoption lounge came first, but they knew it wasn’t viable on its own. They needed a retail business as a partner. The Wells Avenue space became available at a reasonable rate, and the owners signed the lease in January.

After a quick build out, their soft (and furry) opening was in March.

“It’s kind of shocking, really,” Zuckerman said. “I think it’s the only thing in my life that’s been like this. We set a deadline to plan on opening at the end of March, and I think we opened before we even planned. It was a very quick evolution of things.”

In keeping with its collaborative, why-theheck-not spirit, The Radical Cat has already teamed up with several local arts organizations and creative individuals to put on special events, including a monthly children’s story time with the Holland Project, a queer-themed book club with Our Center, a cat toy crochet workshop, an intro to Tarot Card reading workshop, and writing workshops. Arbatman also manages the Radical Cat’s always-expanding event’s calendar, which lists an eclectic slate of offerings including specialized book clubs, craft workshops, panel discussions, write-ins and live music. The founders encourage community members and organizations who have an ideas for an events or workshops to pitch them.

The Radical Cat proprietors also want people to just come by and hang out in a safe, inclusive space. The business needs to make money to survive, but it’s not necessary to buy an eco-friendly handmade cat toy or queer, sci-fi graphic novel. The shop welcomes folks who just want to hang out with cats and books, books and cats.

“Our mission is to nurture a revolution in Reno/Sparks by promoting positive mental health, radical inclusion, a love of great books and meaningful connection, ” Zuckerman said.

Arabatman agreed: “We want to give cats, books and people a place to belong.”

THIS SUMMER IN RENO & LAKE TAHOE

“Northern Nevada’s Premier Big Band Jazz Orchestra.”

TWO GIANTS OF JAZZ GRAMMY Stars Diane Schuur and Ernie Watts

together with The Reno Jazz Orchestra Sunday August 21, 2022 Nightingale Concert Hall

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Monday August 22, 2022 Sand Harbor State Park

RENOJAZZORCHESTRA.ORG

LISTEN ONLINE

kgaypalmsprings.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

| BY FRANK X. MULLEN

On Aug. 19, the Nevada Museum of Art will present Deborah Levoy: Soulful Songs Inspired by Wild Places in the Sky Room on the top floor of the museum. Photo/Jill Johnson

The Bard, bluegrass and rock legends

uniquely “exceptional, resonant, and passionate,” according to the SF Weekly. With a poet’s love of language and an expressive voice that can “soar and scat, get folky and funky” (Daily Hampshire Gazette), Levoy’s performances leap from delicate to fierce, from plaintive to joyful, all within the space of a song.

Levoy will be backed up by Doug Pohorski on acoustic bass and Jeff Goodkind on piano.

Tickets are available online at www.nevadaart. org. The cost is $20 for general admission; $15 for members. The doors open at 6 p.m., with the performance starting at 7 p.m. It’s part of “UPSTAGE: A Literary and Performing Art Series,” supported by the Nightingale Family Foundation and the Williams Foundation.

Bluegrass Festival at Bowers

The Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association’s 36th Annual Bowers Mansion Bluegrass

Festival kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug 19, with a free Friday night show, featuring Little City String Band. Tickets aren’t required, but donations will be accepted. The event also hosts a free Sunday morning gospel music show, featuring Sunday Go To Meetin’, which starts at 10 a.m. at the amphitheater in Davis Creek Regional Park, one mile north of Bowers Mansion.

The festival continues Aug. 20-21 on the main stage at Bowers Mansion, with a host of bluegrass bands, including the NNBA Monday Night Volunteers, Front Porch, The Notables, Sage Creek, Cryin’ Uncle, Central Valley Boys and the Kathy Kallick Band. The cost is $40 per day. Tickets for those acts are available online.

Bowers Mansion, a state historic site, is located at 4005 Bowers Mansion Road in New Washoe City.

Back in Reno, Dragon Lights continues until Friday, Aug. 12 at the Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden in Rancho San Rafael Park with all-new lantern displays.

The 42 larger-than-life lantern sculptures, made of steel, fabric and thousands of LED lights, transform the arboretum into a luminous wonderland. Details and tickets are available at dragonlightsreno.org.

Blood, Sweat and Tears, Blue Oyster Cult and Starship at Hot August Nights are highlights of a busy month of shows This summer’s Artown celebration is a wrap, but Northern Nevada arts events and performances continue throughout August, including Shakespeare and bluegrass festivals, classical music concerts at Lake Tahoe, and classic rock during Hot August Nights.

Hot August Nights is celebrating 35 years of classic cars and music, with rock legends scheduled to headline the week-long festival, Aug. 1-7. Both the headline acts presented Aug. 2-6, and other performances are free at outdoor venues throughout the Truckee Meadows and Virginia City.

Shows are scheduled at the Nugget Event Center in Sparks, with headline acts at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno.

The headliners begin with Kraig Parker as Elvis, backed up by the 10-piece Royal Tribute Band, on Tuesday, Aug. 2. Blood, Sweat and Tears hits the stage on Aug. 3, with Blue Oyster Cult scheduled on Aug. 4. The festival features Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas on Aug. 5, and KC and the Sunshine Band on Aug. 6.

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A full schedule of HAN events and entertainment can be found online at hotaugustnights.net.

The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival continues Aug. 1-6 at Sand Harbor with performances of one of the Bard’s most-loved comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, and the modern musical Mamma Mia! Matinees and evening performances of both works are offered, with details and tickets available online at laketahoeshakespeare.com. At Sand Harbor on Monday, Aug. 1, at 7:30 p.m., the Reno Jazz Orchestra’s 17-piece band will present the chart-topping tunes of Stevie Wonder and Tina Turner, featuring guest vocalists Stephanya Barranti and Cliff Porter. The concert features vintage pop, soul, rock, jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues music under the stars.

Deborah Levoy at the Art Museum

On Friday, Aug. 19, the Nevada Museum of Art will present Deborah Levoy: Soulful Songs Inspired by Wild Places in the Sky Room on the top floor of the museum.

Inspired by wild places, Levoy’s songs weave folk, jazz and soul into a style that is

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The Central Valley Boys will perform at the Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association’s 36th Annual Bowers Mansion Bluegrass Festival.

ARTS & CULTURE

| BY JESSICA SANTINA The cast of Reno Little Theater’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee includes, front row: Jared Lively, Ryan Kelly, John Frederick and Cori Lynne Cooper (not pictured); middle row: Tobie Barton, Bernadette Garcia, Georgia McKnight and Edison Garcia; top row: Ryan Costello.

Photo/David Robert

Tweens spell trouble Reno Little Theater’s ‘Putnam County’ is a playful, occasionally painful musical about adolescent angst

Restaurant. That was the word that finally did me in at my schoolwide spelling bee in fifth-grade. I could have sworn that stupid “u” was in the final syllable. Still, every time I think about that bee, a strange feeling of anxiety sweeps over me.

That’s the same anxiety I felt at Reno Little Theater as recordings of real Scripps National Spelling Bee winners from years past primed audience members for the opening night performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Though, at heart, the show is a comedy, sprinkled throughout are doses of adolescent angst that keep it from veering into pure silliness.

The spelling bee is a unique kind of torture that American schools perform on young people, and this musical—conceived

by Rebecca Feldman, with book by Rachel Sheinkin and music and lyrics by William Finn—perfectly captures the essence of a bee. We tend to view spelling-bee champions in much the same way we observe bizarre anomalies in museums: with a mixture of fascination, awe, fright and even pity. As for the participants themselves, the thrill of victory and agony of defeat are exacerbated by the pains of puberty, making

the memories even more vivid and haunting.

The show opens on a school gymnasium in Putnam County (state unknown), where Rona Lisa Peretti (Cori Lynne Cooper)—former spelling bee champ, current real estate agent and host of the bee—is ready to welcome her co-host, vice principal Douglas Panch (John Frederick). They’re ready to welcome their 10 student competitors—six actors and four willing volunteers from the audience—to the 25th annual county spelling bee.

Our motley crew of spellers includes Logainne SchwartzeandGrubenierre (Tobie Barton), a woke elementary student, raised by uber-competitive gay dads, with a lisp; Leaf Coneybear (Ryan Costello), an oddball with volume-control problems who can only spell through his puppet; Marcy Park (Bernadette Garcia), an overachiever suffering under the weight of her parents’ massive expectations; William Barfée (Ryan Kelly)—don’t call him “Barfy,” it’s Bar-fay—a know-it-all with a sinus condition and a habit of writing words on the floor with his “magic foot” before spelling them aloud; Chip Tolentino (Jared Lively), a not-so-innocent Boy Scout whose pubescent arousal becomes too difficult to hide; and Olive Ostrovsky (Georgia McKnight), a shy preteen whose heart is broken by her parents’

noticeable absence. Waiting in the wings is Mitch Mahoney (Edison Garcia), an ex-con fulfilling his community service by comforting losing spellers with juice boxes while escorting them out.

Also onstage are those four aforementioned audience members, who have volunteered to spell and must now unwittingly compete in the first act (meaning that every show truly will be unique). This makes for comic gold when the volunteers have the opportunity to spell words and inquire as to words’ origins, definitions and uses in sentences.

The story is strung together with Finn’s musical numbers, which, despite being lyrically funny, defy one’s ability to grasp a memorable tune. Though several actors are competent singers—Kelly is a standout in every sense of the word, though McKnight and Cooper are quite strong as well—others left me wondering whether they were trying to sing off key to convey puberty or simply couldn’t hit the notes. Compounding the problem were some audio issues that made many lines, spoken and sung, impossible to hear.

Also somewhat frustrating are Miss SchwartzeandGrubenierre’s occasional political rants, which could have been cute and precocious in an elementary student, but instead feel heavy-handed and preachy—out of place for the setting and story.

Nonetheless, there are extraordinary moments of comedy—Costello and Lively are incredibly talented in this arena—and McKnight’s irresistible smile and touching song to Olive’s absentee parents are high points.

Director Stacey Spain has done a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life and staging scenes in a way that fully immerses the audience in the competition and evokes our sympathies; I often felt as if I were at the bee rather than watching a play.

Which is fine as long, as I don’t have to spell restaurant.

Think Free!

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

GO TANKLESS.

FREE

Quotes Tank Options & Tankless

Reno Little Theater’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is performed at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Sunday, through Sunday, Aug. 7, at 147 E. Pueblo St. Tickets are $30, with discounts. For tickets or more information, call 775-813-8900, or visit renolittletheater.org.

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Interested in Reno History? Join Us! Historic Walking Tours – June and July Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings Speaker Programs September to November, January to April 2nd Sunday – Reno Downtown Library HRPS 25th Anniversary

NNBA_2022_RNRad.ai 1 6/23/2022 12:00:51 PM historicreno.org | board@historicreno.org | 775-747-4478 HRPS 1_6H.indd 1

7/20/22 4:23 PM

PRESENTS THE

36th Annual Bowers Mansion Bluegrass Festival

IT'S NOT LONG BEFORE WINTER

Aug§st 19-20-21, 2022

$35 advance tickets $40 at the gate

Kathy Kallick Band Cent¢al Valley Boys Cr®ing Uncle Blueg¢ass Band

Food Tr§cks and Vendors!

Rotar® beer and wine garden

Where Do You Want To Spend It?

Club of Reno Sunrise

RENO

PALM SPRINGS

Call Kevin Stern 760-250-1977

For ticket sales and more info visit NNBA.org

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DRE #01376548

TownCA.com MovetoPalmSprings.com

ART OF THE STATE

| BY KRIS VAGNER

Barry Crawford’s latest kinetic sculpture, “Ratchetfish,” in progress. Photo/Kris Vagner

Burner art

A sneak peek at local Burning Man pieces waiting in the wings

Burning Man is coming up Aug. 28-Sept. 5, and artists working to finalize their projects.

Here’s a sampling of the many projects being built in Reno and Sparks this summer.

For more on 2022 Burning Man art from our region—and from around the globe— visit Burning Man’s 2022 Art Installations page at burningman.org/event/2022-artinstallations.

Peter Hazel, “Glass Shark”: Even since Peter Hazel switched careers—from granite and tile contractor to sculptor— the commissions from cities and private collectors have been rolling in faster each year. Close to home, the city of Reno commissioned his glass and mosaic “Dragonfly” in Virginia Lake. This summer, he’ll send a few powder-coated steel trees affixed with glass butterflies to Plains, Ga., where its new home will be the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park. Napa County and Incline Village pieces are coming up next.

Meanwhile, Hazel and his team are right on track with their latest Burning Man piece, a 25-foot glass and steel shark, riding 20 feet in the air on a steel wave. Right now, the sculpture exists as a piece of shark-shaped foam and steel bands. Once the build team applies an outer layer of cement and custommade glass pieces, curved to fit the shark’s

contours exactly, they’ll remove the foam and light the shark from within using LED strips.

Per the request of a child who visited the studio this summer, the shark’s name is Jerry.

Instagram @peterhazelart; Facebook Peter Hazel Art; Support www.gofundme.com/f/ jerry-the-glass-shark-to-burning-man-2022.

Bibi Bliekendaal, “The Tinkle Drum”: One day, Bibi Bliekendaal, a New Zealander of Dutch heritage, heard a solo cellist playing in a park in Amsterdam. “That just got her mind going about solo music and getting people to play music,” said Andy Justice, a fellow Kiwi who’s on her build team. “And then she came up the idea of the music box in a hamster wheel.”

Long story short, the human-sized wooden hamster wheel came to fruition, was constructed in Sparks, and is now packed on a truck ready to travel to the desert. This past weekend, Justice, along with Yarin Snapir, who’s from Israel, were sweeping up the last traces of their construction debris at The Generator. The piece is called “The Tinkle Drum.” The metal nodes that are typically part of a music box drum are made of nitrous oxide cannisters and can be unscrewed and re-screwed to and from sockets to make the drum play different tunes. Justice said that “The Tinkle Drum” playlist is themed around peace.

Listen up for John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train.”

Instagram @bb_queen_nz; Facebook Bibi Bliekendaal; Support www.gofundme.com/f/ thetinkledrum.

Barry Crawford, “Ratchetfish”: Barry Crawford has been building mechanical creatures for Maker Faires, Burning Man and other festivals for years. Viewers can turn a crank to maneuver the articulated metal tentacles of his giant squid or the front legs of his “Rearing Horse,” which is on semipermanent display on Reno’s West Fourth Street. His latest creation is “Ratchetfish,” made almost exclusively of fabricated metal parts— plus an off-the-shelf vegetable steamer basket, which is a great material for when you need a giant eyeball that dilates and un-dilates. “It’s got sort of the whole-body swimming motion,” Crawford said. “Different fins, moving different ways.” And the post that it’s mounted on will allow it to swim in a circle.

Web www.crawfordmetalworks.com; Instagram @crawfordmetalworks; Facebook Crawford Metal Works.

Tom Boughner, “Consumption”: One day, Tom Boughner, a Reed High School art teacher, was at the dump. “There was just a field of used appliances out there,” said collaborator Richard Schreinert. Boughner was distressed by the notion of how much waste results from planned obsolescence and our frenzy to upgrade to the latest appliance models—hence his 2022 playa art piece, “Consumption.” When finished, it will be a 45-foot high dollar sign made of washing machines and other appliances welded together, with used ski lift towers from an Arizona

scrapyard as a support structure. “Around the base of the guywires, we’re going to have little art pieces and informational pieces,” explained Schreinert, who is the project lead. They’ll include messaging about how waste disproportionately affects poorer communities, for example, and tips on how used appliance innards can be recycled into planters and burn barrels.

Web www.consumption2022.com; Instagram @consumption_art.

Benjamin Langholz, “Beam”: Benjamin Langholz is a Californian who lives in Berlin and is assembling his playa piece, “Beam,” at The Generator. The material is two steel I-beams totaling 150 feet in length and 20,000 pounds. They’ll be sloped at angles gentle enough to walk on and reach a 15-foot peak.

While the clean, straight, minimalist lines promise an elegant visual effect against the backdrop of the craggy Black Rock Range, to Langholz, the piece is more about the experience than the look. “(It allows) you to walk up to this moment of presence with each step being a little more risk and responsibility than the step before,” he said. “And then, as you get higher and higher up, hopefully you come to this moment of intensified consciousness.”

At a cultural moment that embraces hairtrigger litigiousness, Langholz wants you to make your own decisions about your safety rather than have an institution make them for you. His reason: “I think art is about taking experiences in your life that have made you feel something—I don’t mean just like an emotional feeling; I mean like a physical feeling—and then transmitting that as high-resolution, as humanly possible, to another human being, in my case, through a sculpture.”

Instagram @benjamin.langholz; Support www.benjaminlangholz.com/beamconcept.

A digital schematic envisions what “Glass Shark” will look like on the playa. Photo/Courtesy of Peter Hazel RenoNR.com

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FILM

| BY BOB GRIMM Daniel Kaluuya in Nope.

Yep to ‘Nope’; things go boom

on showbiz and the media, and those doses account for some of the movie’s funnier moments. As for being a sci-fi horror show, Nope gets high marks. There is one terrific sequence that is as nightmarish as anything put to screen this year.

While many will cite Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a source of Peele’s inspiration for Nope (which Peele himself has done), I think this one has more in common with Spielberg’s sinister take on War of the Worlds—except this battle is isolated instead of involving the whole planet.

That sense of isolation is where a Shyamalan Signs vibe plays strongly. Some of Nope gets goofy in that Shyamalan way, too (The Happening, The Village), with the difference being the goofy stuff in Peele’s movie enhances the experience, while Shyamalan often torpedoes his films with such silliness.

I remember seeing Close Encounters in theaters when I was 10. As with Jaws, Spielberg didn’t roll the UFO money shots out immediately, and Peele takes a similar, stealth approach. Like Close Encounters, the movie is super-weird in spots, with characters speaking and behaving oddly. I like it. It throws things out of whack in a movie that is about things being seriously out of whack.

Jordan Peele’s foray into sci-fi horror is a terrific success; ‘The Gray Man’ serves up mindless summer blockbuster fun Writer-director Jordan Peele makes his weirdest film yet with Nope, a stylish and bizarre foray into sci-fi horror inspired, in part, by the works of Spielberg and Shyamalan. Despite the inspiration, Nope stands very much on its own.

It’s no longer a mystery that this is an alien encounter movie, and it has some nice twists that make it very unique one.

I’ll mention one: Referencing that UFO footage the military released a few years ago and playing a little off of that is a masterstroke, giving the film a nice sense of current-events urgency. Other twists … well, I’ll stay mum.

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Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play OJ and Emerald Haywood, brother and sister owners of a movie horse ranch near Hollywood.

They’ve taken ownership after their dad (Keith David) died in a strange accident, and they are in dire straits. There’s a neighboring, Western themed, kitschy amusement park owned by Jupe Park (Steven Yeun), a traumatized former child star looking to find riches on his fake dude ranch.

The Haywood and Park stories will intertwine, with some of the plot developments making little sense—at first glance. One in particular, involving Park’s childhood gig on a sitcom with a chimp, had me scratching my head, but it made a little more sense when I contemplated it post-viewing. That’s OK … not everything needs to make perfect sense the first time through.

As he did with Get Out and Us, Peele mixes in nice doses of satire, this time focusing

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Ryan Gosling in The Gray Man.

The Gray Man offers a big summer blast of brainless blockbuster fun courtesy of the Russo Brothers (Anthony and Joe of Avengers: Endgame fame), Ryan Gosling kicking major ass, and Chris Evans scoring as a smiley-faced, coldhearted villain.

Honestly, a day after seeing The Gray Man, I don’t even fully remember what it was about … something to do with Gosling getting freed from prison to work as an assassin for the CIA, and eventually getting targeted in some sort of CIA “dark ops cleansing” deal.

However, I don’t really care what it was about, because things go boom really good in it … duh.

That’s right: Sometimes I like to just turn my brain off and watch people hit each other and blow up with aplomb. This film has that, as well as good lead performances, a nice return to form by Billy Bob Thornton, Ana de Armas as a fellow agent, and the evolving greatness of young Julia Butters, the cool kid who traded acting punches with Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood—and won.

She does the same with everybody who shares the screen with her in this movie.

The stunts are spectacular; the fights are well choreographed; and the pyro is on point. Evans is great as a mustachioed villain on a mission to find Gosling’s character, who, of course, has something he really wants. He’s funny in a sick way—casually shooting and torturing

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people, big-movie-villain style. Gosling turns in his usual effortless movie-star-turn in the lead, garnering laughs and coming across as convincing as a premium fist-thrower and gun-shooter.

What more do you want when you press play on a Netflix movie on a summer night? No, your horizons won’t expand when you watch this—the film might actually kill a few brain cells—but you’ll have fun, sort of like drinking two six packs and chasing your dog around the house for two hours. Stupid fun, minus the eventual vomiting because you ate all those nachos before the beer and dog chasing.

There’s a series of books upon which this film is based, and this movie left me wanting to see some more. We shall see what the Netflix streaming algorithm says about audience participation to determine whether or not this is the beginning of a franchise, or a one-time, orgasmic blast of proficiently executed blockbuster madness.

The Gray Man is now streaming on Netflix.

Creator-director-writer Loren Bouchard’s Belcher family gets their own movie (while continuing its TV run) with The Bob’s Burgers Movie, easily one of the year’s funniest films, and an instant animated comedy classic.

The Belcher family faces a major dilemma when a sinkhole opens up in front of their burger joint. Not only does that hole make it hard for customers to enter the establishment

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at a time when money is tight and bills are due; the hole has a skeleton in it that gives the movie a nice little mystery at its center.

In their transfer to the big screen (I’m a little late with this review, and I saw it streaming, but you know what I mean), the Belchers maintain their rapid-fire deadpan humor, while getting a chance to sing and dance, thanks to some fun musical moments. The TV show has had numerous musical numbers over the years, and Bouchard’s latest project, Central Park on Apple TV+, is a full blown musical (and an equally funny delight), so he’s no stranger to oddly animated characters warbling.

Whoever choreographed the dance in this movie deserves a gold star. Never have animated characters had such sweet moves.

The vocal cast is a virtual who’s-who of some of the best comedic actors working today, with H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz, John Roberts and Eugene Mirman lovingly voicing the Belchers. There’s also the great David Wain of Wet Hot American Summer, Gary Cole, Kevin Kline and Zach Galifianakis chiming in to round out a versatile and frequently funny cast. There’s a hilarious blink-and-you-will miss it cameo by Paul Rudd, too.

The show is renewed through its 13th season, and this film is proof that the premise gets funnier and funnier as the years pass. May there be sequels—and if not, the show lives on.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is now streaming on Hulu and HBO Max.

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FOOD

| BY CHEREE BOTELER

Centro chef Geoffrey Caliger, on Centro South: “We would like to continue to be the location people choose to visit for an exclusive, decadent experience.” Photo/David Robert

Decadent dishes

Centro South gets a menu revamp with chef Geoffrey Caliger leading the kitchen

After many of his guests expressed dissatisfaction with the original Centro South menu concept, Alberto Gazzola—the longtime Reno restaurateur and owner of both Centro locations—knew he needed to make some changes.

As a result, he recruited chef Geoffrey Caliger—or Cheffrey, as many in the community affectionately call him—to take over the Centro kitchens and immediately integrate a new, more-inclusive menu at Centro South that is reflective of Reno’s 24

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preferred food culture.

Cheffrey—formally educated at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute and classically trained on the line at Mina Group in a brigade-style kitchen with James Beard Award-winning chefs—has worked for the past four years as the head chef at Liberty Food and Wine Exchange, of the Reno Local Food Group.

However, Cheffrey said he’s always desired to have a deeper role in a company—and eventually do his own thing. Over the years, business owners and investors in the community had

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begun to notice what he had accomplished at Liberty and had started to reach out to him to talk about opportunities.

A few months ago, Cheffrey sat down with Mark Estee, the owner of Reno Local Food Group, to discuss his future. While Estee had done what he could by expanding Cheffrey’s role at the company, they concluded that it would be several years before the group of restaurants would be able to offer him the level of partnership he was looking to achieve.

Soon thereafter, Cheffrey received the offer

of a partnership with Gazzola.

“Cheffrey has worked really hard for us,” Estee said. “We want everyone who works for us to get the best opportunities, even if we are not the entity that is able to provide that opportunity at the right time for them. The timing of this opportunity has worked out well for him, and while he will be missed; we wish him nothing but the very best. It has been my pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with Cheffrey. He is a great chef, a wonderful guy and a dedicated family man.”

On June 24, Centro South—located in the Village at Rancharrah—launched new lunch and dinner menus that include both small and large plates at reasonable prices. Cheffrey and his team are also offering daily specials, as well as the options of creating a custom menu for a dining party, or requesting a chef’s choice menu whenever diners are looking to elevate their culinary experience.

The newly revamped menu reflects Cheffrey’s view of Reno’s food culture, which focuses on high-quality food, executed well.

In addition to nostalgic dishes (like gnocchi, a lobster roll and a burger), guests have the opportunity to delight in dishes made with familiar ingredients that are prepared and presented in innovative and unique ways (such as calamari or tuna).

“We would like to continue to be the location people choose to visit for an exclusive, decadent experience,” Cheffrey said. “And we also want to be known as a place for people to come to get a little bit of everything for lunch or dinner. There are going to be items you are familiar with, and items you are not. The menu will always be approachable but will take people on a food culture journey.”

Cheffrey is also leading the kitchen at Centro Midtown; however, he said he plans to leave the menu there relatively unchanged at this time.

“Eventually, the menu at Centro Midtown will also change slightly. We will most likely add a few large plates, including a burger, and are looking forward to bringing lunch back,” Cheffrey stated. “But these changes will happen over time so that people will still be able to recognize and enjoy the restaurant they love.”

For more information, visit centroreno.com.

WINE

| BY KATIE FINN

Wine time

Bringing a bottle to the party?

Here are some can’t-miss suggestions

The summer is always the busiest time of year around the Truckee Meadows. On top of all the holidays, we are flooded with local festivals and shows. The weather begs for pool parties, patio dinner parties, and any other excuse we can think of to be outside enjoying the company of others.

Most of the time, I am tasked with bringing the wine to my friends’ get-togethers. (If that gets me out of having to cook something as a contribution, I happily accept my responsibility.)

One recent weekend, I put together a mixed case of wine to bring to a friend’s house for dinner. She was entertaining 20 of us (!), and the menu was as diverse as her guest list, So, I selected six different wines, two bottles of each, that I’ve found are notorious crowd-pleasers. At the party, friends kept commenting on the different wines and how much they loved them.

“I’ve never had a wine from here before,” one person said. “What’s this wine called?

It’s delicious!” another friend said. “I would have just grabbed some cab and chard to bring,” someone else said.

Of course, putting together wines for entertaining can be challenging—and selecting wines that are food-friendly and will appeal to lots of different palates can be daunting. Not everyone loves chardonnay.

Some people prefer Italian wines. Others only drink California wines. And staring at a wall of wine in a retail shop can be totally overwhelming.

So … you can think of me as your personal sommelier. Here, I’ve assembled a list of wines that are party-perfect—and will make you, either as the host or the guest, look like a wine savant!

For white wines, I always suggest something like a sauvignon blanc, but not as grapefruit-y.

Something like a chardonnay but not oaky or buttery. A white wine that will be enjoyed by fans of both chardonnay and sauvignon blanc.

What is this magical white wine, you ask? It’s an albarino from the Rias Baixas region of Spain. One whiff, and your nose is filled with citrus blossoms, passionfruit and fresh Key limes. It has weight without being heavy, and bright acid without being tart. One of my personal favorites is the La Cana albarino, which sells for around $17 and is imported by the godfather of Spanish wine, Jorge Ordonez.

If you’re looking for a screaming value to pour, look no further than a torrontes from Argentina. These wines are usually around $10 a bottle and deliver aromas of white peaches, Meyer lemons and jasmine blossoms. The Filus torrontes and Zolo torrontes are two examples that never disappoint.

I always include bubbles in my party-wine mix. Nothing kicks off a celebration or gathering like sparkling wine—but there’s no need to drop a small fortune on Champagne. There are gorgeous bottles of bubbles from across the globe. I have always found that Spanish cava gives the biggest bang for your buck. Produced in the same way the French make Champagne— the bubbles are created in the bottle—there is no better value on the market. The Paul Cheneau “Lady of Spain” cava is a nonvintage sparkler with a beautifully wrapped bottle that comes in less than $15 a bottle. If you want to splurge a little (and I do mean a little), look for the Raventos Cava. Produced from a single vintage and available in either a blanc de blancs or rose, this will make everyone say, “Champagne who?” and sells for around $25 a bottle.

With the weather heating up, it’s always a

good idea to have a crisp rose in the mix. I like to grab something from the Mediterranean region of France. There’s just something about the flavors of wild strawberries and fresh herbs— with a touch of salinity—that makes rose such a perfect wine to sip in the afternoon. Or the evening. Or at brunch. You get my drift. I have found a fabulous rose called Le Paradou, and it’s made from the cinsault grape. In addition to the beautiful berry notes, it has a little touch of pepper on the finish and sells for less than $10 dollars a bottle. It’s a steal!

For the red wines, I always grab a lighter-bodied style like a pinot noir—without the pinot-noir price tag. For this last party, I included a nero d’Avola from Sicily. I just love the bright red fruits married with the subtle earthiness from the volcanic soils. It’s like raspberries, leather and sweet pipe tobacco all wrapped up together. Messer del Fauno makes a nero d’Avola that goes down way too easy for around $8.

For a richer-style red wine, Portugal is my go-to. Made from the same grapes that go into the country’s famed Port production, like touriga nacional, tinta roriz and touriga franca, the reds from the Douro region are velvety and full-bodied. I’ve found one in particular called Silk and Spice that has an inky darkness in the glass with ripe black fruits, warm vanilla spice and rich dark chocolate notes. I know, right? My mouth is watering, too. Best part is it’s around $13!

Finally, to round out the selection, I like to throw in a red wine that’s fun and juicy—one of those lip-smacking, thank-you-sir-may-I-haveanother wines that takes the party well into the evening (until you run out of wine, and then everyone leaves). Currently, I’m obsessed with the Alfaro Family Vineyards “Dragon Slayer” red blend. It’s kind of a wacky mix of zinfandel, sangiovese, carignan and syrah, and it positively bursts out of the glass with boysenberries, blueberries, cinnamon and vanilla. I can’t think of another wine in recent memory that is as chuggable as this red. The Alfaro Family Vineyards are located in the Santa Cruz Mountains; after one sip of this heavenly blend, you’ll be wondering why you’ve never been wine-tasting there. For around $15 a bottle, this wine might become your new house staple.

And here’s a thought: Even if you don’t have a shindig you’re heading off to, these are ideal wines to have on hand in case the neighbor drops by, or there’s something binge-worthy on Netflix, or you find you’re thirsty. Either way, these beauties are sure to impress!

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Katie Finn is a certified sommelier and certified specialist of wine with two decades in the wine industry. She can be reached at katiefinnwine@ gmail.com. A version of this piece originally appeared in our sister paper, the Coachella Valley Independent.

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MUSICBEAT

| BY MATT KING reNEW Music's Reno Modern Brass.

Composing appreciation reNEW Music aims to spread the love of classical music across Northern Nevada The goal of reNEW Music: Erase newmusic stigma.

The Reno nonprofit is out to spread a love for classical music throughout the area via original compositions by different composers. The next reNEW event is at 7 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 25, when the Reno Modern Brass will be performing at Craft Wine and Beer; the event is free.

During a recent interview with reNEW Music president Paul Fleming, he ex26

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plained how the organization got its start.

“ReNEW music got started in 2019 as an organization under the fiscal sponsorship of another local nonprofit called Tahoe Chamber Music Society,” Fleming said. “Since then, we’ve kind of been developing small chamber ensemble groups; we have our resident brass quintet, the Reno Modern Brass. … That’s our No. 1 small chamber ensemble. There is also a string quartet. When we were first getting started, the pandemic hit us, so we quickly

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had to pivot to very small scale activities. We did a series of solo works that were commissioned for a lot of Reno composers, but also composers living around the world, which we recorded from our homes and released online.

Doing that project, we were able to uncover the breadth of composing prowess that we have right here in our community. We are finding opportunities to work with many local composers who haven’t really had an ensemble or an organization to play the music that they want to be writing.

“Just this March, we became our own 501(c) (3), and in doing so, we’ve been able to apply for larger-size grants, and put our sights on more large scale, long-term projects.”

Fleming plans to assemble a number of different groups and ensembles.

“The reNEW Jazz Ensemble is one of our flagship large ensembles; it’s a nine-piece jazz ensemble that we’re going to be commissioning more and more local composers, particularly jazz musicians, to write for,” Fleming said. “Another one is the reNEW Music Sculpture Garden, which is a collection of small-scale works, but performed in an accessible way. … The other one that we’re looking long-term towards is our biggest and most ambitious project, which you’ll see in June 2023, the reNEW Ensemble, which is going to have anywhere between 13 to 18 people onstage, depending on the composer and the piece that’s being written for it. In the short time since we’ve been in existence, we’ve commissioned over three dozen works, most of which are by composers that live right here in Reno.”

Fleming, a musician himself, felt the need to bring an appreciation for new music to Reno.

“I’m from Reno. I went to college here, but I lived for about a decade in Boston, which has a thriving new music scene, which I was very, very lucky to be a part of,” Fleming said.

“I got familiar with the process of partnering with composers, and kind of being a part of that process. When I came back to Reno, I was playing quite a bit, but there didn’t exist any avenues for me to help with the creative process to help bring new works to life.”

Reno Modern Brass was the first group born out of the project.

“We played our first concert in the fall of 2017, maybe the spring of 2018,” said Fleming. “We have relationships with a lot of people in town—jazz musicians, jazz composers—so when I had an idea for starting up a brass quintet, it was basically just: Who do we know? Who do we like? Who do we enjoy being around? People are writing jazz tunes all the time to play in their combos, so we just

asked them, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about writing a brass quintet (piece) for us?’ We’re extremely lucky to have several pieces written for us, just kind of as gifts by the jazz musician and composer Brandon Sherman, as well as the jazz pianist and composer Tristan Selzler. …

We knew a lot of other people who were also looking to create new music, or at least be a part of an experience that is new and different and visceral and real and relevant, in a way that hasn’t really been attempted before in our town.”

Fleming doesn’t just want to see new music created; he wants to start conversations, too.

“One of the big things that you’re going to see in all of our reNEW Music events is an openness and a dialogue between the composer and the performer and the audience,” he said. “… If you just show up to a recital, and people blast weird noises at you for an hour, and then you walk away, it might have you feeling a different way about the music itself. When a lot of people think about new music, they think it’s weird, or it’s overly academic, or it’s just weird to be weird. That’s the opposite of what we’re trying to foster with this organization, and you’re going to see that in any of the events that you attend.”

ReNEW Music is also planning to bring new music to people who normally wouldn’t think they’d enjoy it by hosting events at nontraditional venues.

“We’ve had several brass quintet performances at Craft Wine and Beer, which is a midtown beer and liquor store with a beautiful little event space in the back,” Fleming said.

“We don’t want ourselves to be seen so much in recital halls, or at the university space, even though those are great spaces which are built beautifully acoustically. Part of giving access and granting people permission to enjoy the music on their own terms includes taking away the structures and the norms that surround classical music and new music. When we talk to a place like Cypress, and we say, ‘Hey, we want to do a new music concert in your space,’ we don’t necessarily talk about it as a recital; we talk about it as an event or an experience. Once we describe what we’re going after, people are usually really, really excited. People might be talking about it in a way that people don’t usually talk about their spaces, like, ‘Hey, I never thought that I’d be seeing a string quartet in the bar before, but I’m enjoying myself, and this is cool.’”

Reno Modern Brass will perform at 7 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 25, at Craft Wine and Beer, 22 Martin St., in Reno. Admission is free. For more information, visit renomodernbrass.com.

For more information on reNEW Music, visit renewensemble.org.

MUSICBEAT

| BY MATT KING Olivias.

Genre collision

Olivias, performing at the Holland Project on Aug. 17, find connections between Midwest emo and indie rock

It can be tough for a dedicated musician find to like-minded creatives who are just as dedicated—and who want to play the same type of music.

Olivias got lucky in this sense.

Olivias are a four-piece Southwest emo/ indie-rock band based in Reno. Their sound combines the raw emotion and hard-hitting instrumentation of emocore with the jangly lead guitar lines of indie rock. The band released two-track debut Olivias Halloween Demos in 2021, and are currently working on a debut LP. You can catch them live at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Holland Project, opening for Dogbreth.

During a recent phone call with all four members—Adrian Brown, Ramses Nava, Kyle Hutchings and Brady Leighton—the Olivias discussed their beginnings.

“Me and Adrian, we started the band out originally with a different bassist,” Hutchings said. “We just had it as a three-man group for a while, and then eventually, we got Brady on for drums. Our old bassist had to dip because of personal reasons, so we got Ramses in. It’s all good friends, and we’ve just been in different bands together for a couple of years. This one feels like the culmination of all that.”

Leighton said the four musicians quickly realized they all had a similar mindset.

“When we reached out to each other, we were lucky enough to find other people who had that same mindset of wanting to create music, and for us to be able to collaborate was awesome,” Leighton said. “We just went from there, and we all figured out that we wanted the same thing, and it’s got us to where we are now.”

Each of the Olivias members “draw from a

lot” of their personal preferences—meaning the band will continue to tinker with their current emo/indie rooted sound.

“Me and Kyle are in another band that makes punk stuff,” Brown said. “Me, personally, what I listen to mainly is rap and hip hop, and I also like to make that. The four of us in particular are interested in Midwest emo and indie-type stuff, and we’re just trying to experiment with it. We don’t necessarily want to be in one genre in particular.”

Even though emo and indie don’t always mix well, the band found an interesting connection between the two sounds they wanted to explore.

“I feel like there’s something about the combination of the rawness of an emo or DIY aesthetic, with the direct messaging of an indie band, where you can just say exactly what you RenoNR.com

mean,” Hutchings said. “It’s also a lot of what we all grew up on. My dad was in a lot of ska bands growing up, so I was exposed to a lot of that side of the underground, and I feel like there’s a lot of parallels between the ska scene and the underground emo scene—which is one of the nerdier sentences I think I’ve ever said.”

The Olivias members attributed some of their genre-melding to Reno’s mix of sounds.

“I think Reno is really interesting, because it’s a small enough town that, everybody, no matter the genre, knows and plays with a lot of other bands,” said Hutchings. “You’ll have a straightedge hardcore band on a bill with Bug Bath (alternative emo). It’s a combination that you wouldn’t really expect from a larger city, but it’s nice people here are kind of forced to have a diverse path.”

The band’s upcoming show at the Holland Project should be special, as the venue is one of the group’s favorites.

“Me and Adrian have been going to shows at Holland since pre-COVID, and our dream when we started any project was to be like, ‘OK, when’s our Holland show gonna be?’”

Hutchings said. “Holland is like our home; it’s our spot, and everyone there is just so nice. Everybody just kind of welcomes you with open arms there. Playing there is super dope; they have everybody, all genres. It’s great.”

Olivias have been hard at work on a fulllength album, a project that will feature an expansion upon the emo/indie basis of their first two songs.

“We’ve been trying to stick to a lot of aspects of the sound that was on the first two songs, but also, it’s a nice opportunity, when you have a full project, to explore down a lot of different avenues,” Hutchings said. “We have a couple of songs that are more influenced by the hardcore grind scene here in town, or a couple songs that are more atmospheric or even psychedelic. It’s gonna be, I hope, a broader look at our capabilities.”

Added Leighton: “I’d say we’re definitely not going experimental with the album, but we think it was a lot better of an opportunity for us to all give our own creative input into the whole piece of the album. I think every song is unique in its own way, and each of our styles shine through in a different part of the album.”

Olivias, Dog Dog and Hey Cowboy! will open for Dogbreth at 8:30 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Holland Project, 140 Vesta St., in Reno. Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 the day of the show.

For more information, call 775-448-6500, or visit hollandreno.org. For more information on Olivias, visit www.instagram.com/olivias.band.

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[Your byline here.]

The Reno News & Review is looking to expand its paid freelance writing team! We are looking for: • News freelancers • Feature writers • Cannabis writer • Beer columnist • Wine columnist • Cocktail columnist • Food feature writers If you have the knowledge, the desire, and the ability to write and report, email a resume, clips/writing samples and anything else you would like to share to jimmyb@renonr.com!

THE LUCKY 13

Wolfgang Hendrix Lead vocalist of Pussy Velour, performing at the BlueBird on Saturday, Aug. 20

Pussy Velour is punk in its true form. The Reno rockers sing about kicking people in the balls and getting sucked dry—and their live shows are raucous and rowdy.

You can catch the band performing as part of Rock Against Racism: A Mutual Aid Benefit Show at the BlueBird Nightclub on Saturday, Aug. 20. For more details on the band, visit pussyvelour.com. Wolfgang Hendrix is the engaging frontman of the group.

What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?

I don’t feel guilt for things that bring me joy.

What was the first concert you attended?

My friend in eighth-grade took me to see AC/DC in 2008, and it was so sick. Shoutout Jared’s dad.

What band or artist changed your life? How? A band I never had the opportunity to see that changed me is the Dead Boys. A band that I’ve seen that changed me was my brother’s band called Bad Idea back in 2008. Seeing Bad Idea showed me that local bands are actually the sickest to see live if it’s real and honest.

What was the first album you owned?

If I’m not mistaken, it was 1984 by Van Halen.

What bands are you listening to right now?

Lately I’ve been listening to Source of Love, Grimedog, and Drag Me Under.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?

As long as someone is playing music and expressing themselves honestly, I can get behind it. I will say that people who refuse to listen to albums all the way through really confuse me What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?

That list is way too long, so I’ll give a Top 3 bands I will never be able to see: The Cramps, Ramones, The Stooges.

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RenoNR.com

| BY MATT KING

What’s your favorite music venue?

There are too many good ones, but I love to play house shows/parties more than anything. It’s just so intimate and wild What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?

“I’m a King Bee” by Slim Harpo.

You have one question to ask one musician.

What’s the question, and who are you asking?

I’d ask Keith Morris to give me a Germs burn.

What song would you like played at your funeral?

“Rock Lobster “by The B-52’s.

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

The Clash.

What song should everyone listen to right now?

Anything off the Pussy Velour album coming in August. It’s sick.

JONESIN' CROSSWORD

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“Stately”—hey, what’s your name?

By Matt Jones Across 1. Grand slam run count 5. Prince Buster’s genre 8. Candle-heavy occasions, for short?

13. Quindlen with the 2022 best-seller Write for Your Life 14. Corn opener?

15. Some cameras or copiers 17. Show biz parent, maybe 19. Generational separator 20. Brick quantity 21. Aspiration for neither the over- or under-achiever 23. Roth offering 25. Salon worker 26. 180 degrees from NNE 27. Yerevan’s country 31. Actor Morales whose Wikipedia bio mentions his name frequency in crosswords 33. Getting your kicks?

34. ___-Magnon 36. Toy truck maker

40. Bedsheets, tablecloths, etc.

44. The Only Way Is ___ (U.K. reality soap since 2010) 45. The day before 46. Finishes, as cupcakes 47. Word before rain or jazz 50. Done over, like school pictures 52. Tuna steak choice 55. Part of CUNY or NYU 57. Diners, Drive-___ and Dives 58. Slide whistleplaying Simpsons character 62. Pro runner?

65. Farthest orbital point 66. Supernatural witch of Slavic folklore 68. Daughter of Pablo Picasso 69. Thumb drive port 70. Capital near Lillehammer 71. Positive quality 72. Rd. intersectors 73. Bovary and Tussaud, for example (abbr.)

Down 1. Adjective for many world-record

attempts 2. Not faked out by 3. Like some decisions 4. Disreputable newspaper (not like the one you’re reading!)

5. Sport in which athletes crouch 6. “Turn it up and rip the ___ off!”

7. Directed a wad of paper into a wastebasket 8. Truist Park team 9. Social media and computing elite 10. Lenovo alternative 11. Hatha and bikram, for two 12. Catches, as fly balls 16. Erupt 18. The Bad Guys screenwriter Cohen (not one of the filmmaking brothers!)

22. “That it be, lad” 24. Suez Canal’s outlet 27. U.S. Open stadium 28. Platonic P’s 29. “___ bin ein Berliner” (JFK quote) 30. Person who may not feel romantic attraction, for short 32. ___ Sea (arm of the Mediterranean)

35. Cheer for Atlético Madrid 37. Twinge that may need massaging 38. Worn-out jeans spot 39. PTA pt.

41. Burp follower 42. Cable recorder, perhaps 43. Majors who was The Six Million Dollar Man 48. Ready to breed 49. “Holy Diver” rocker Ronnie James 51. Tequila who originally gained fame on MySpace 52. “And hurry!”

53. Medical privacy law, initially 54. Huge celebs 56. Big ride to a Dead concert, maybe 59. Alter ___ 60. Ship feature 61. Declines slowly 63. It’s not a good look 64. Country next to Thailand 67. ___ Kippur

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© 2022 Matt Jones Find the answers in the “about” section of RenoNR.com!

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15 MINUTES

| BY DAVID ROBERT

Guitar savior Wesley Wilkerson, Luthier Meet luthier Wesley Wilkerson, of Reno Guitar Repair. A luthier is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box; the word is originally French and comes from the word for lute. Learn more at renoguitarrepair.com.

How did you get into this business?

I always tinkered around with my guitars as a kid, and I was never very successful at it. Then in high school, I got told that there was a guitar-building school in Phoenix, and in 2008, I went out there and did the school program for about 8 months, graduated and have been doing it ever since.

You told me a story once about working at Gibson guitars.

I worked there from 2010 to 2016 after about two years of kind of doing my own thing. I just applied to them; they were doing new hires. I was actually living in Albuquerque at the time and flew (to Nashville) for an interview. I did a few interviews with a whole bunch of different companies, because I just wanted to leave the Guitar Center; I was done working at a dead-end job. On the day that I was thinking of taking another offer from a guy up in Vegas … I got the phone call from Gibson saying, “Hey, we need you out here as soon as possible.”

How did you choose to move to Reno?

I just kept on looking, and about six months before I left Gibson, I started looking at every single town on the West Coast that I could think of, and just typed in “guitar repairs” to see who my competition would be, and I just happened to stumble upon Reno as a place that didn’t really have a giant selection of high-quality guys, or at least guys who were going to be in the market for a long time. You had a few guys who were, you know, 35-plusyear veterans, and I assumed that they had to be calling it a day soon, so I figured I’d come out here, and by the time they were done and retired fully, I’d be established. I’ve never been to Reno before. I moved here and just opened up my own business in 2016.

How did you establish yourself?

I just pretty much went out on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights to every place that I could find a live gig being played, and I sat around for a few songs, 30

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threw a few dollars in the tip jars, throw a few cards in it, and just kind of worked my way around—”street beat,” as I called it. It was just word of mouth after that. …

I’d say 90% of my clientele is from word of mouth.

Have you done work for any notable musicians?

I have done work for a few. One guy, his name is David Diamond, he is the guitar player and keyboard player from Berlin; they were really huge back in the ’80s. He lives up in Truckee. He’s been in my shop a few times and had me do a whole bunch of guitar work for him. Now and then, I’ll get the random guy who’s coming through town who might need something random that they just don’t have the capabilities of doing … like I had the opportunity to work on a guitar when Willie Nelson came through town. I had a chance to work on a guitar that was supposedly a backup guitar. I got to go to the concert that night, and his son played the guitar the whole night, so I obviously did a good job on that.

What was business like during the pandemic?

Honestly, I had my best financial year during that time. My shop is more oriented toward repairing and restoration, things of that nature. You had a lot of people at home who hadn’t picked up a guitar in forever. … I had a lot of my gigging musicians who had put off these big jobs for so long, because they were still using the instrument, and they finally decided it was time to get it done What do you think about the local music scene right now?

Oh, it’s awesome. I moved here from Nashville. I know a lot of people think I’m crazy for moving from Music City to Reno, but to be honest, the music scene here is way more diversified, and if anything, we have way more venues to play, because you have all the casinos, and then all of the smaller bars that are trying to compete with these casinos. … I think the music scene is healthier probably than it has ever been in the five years that I’ve been here.

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