This is our last regular monthly print edition. We plan on publishing the Best of Northern Nevada issue and perhaps other special issues on paper once in a while, but for the most part, starting in January, we will be primarily a digital news outlet.
To mark the transition, we did something a little different this month.
Ordinarily, we’re not in the business of speculating, but this time around, instead of reporting on what happened, we predicted what we think is going to happen.
As Reno continues to grow and change quickly (much like it has since it was founded in 1868), RN&R contributors chose this moment in time to take a gander at what Reno life will be like in 2035. We forecasted the future of the music scene, local politics, local journalism and other aspects. Historian Alicia Barber predicted the future of downtown, and Frank X. Mullen detoured from his usual job of fact-finding to write some headlines of the future. The whole package starts on Page 12, and you’ll find measures of hope, despair and humor—and even some real projections from experts who consider future trends as part of their jobs.
I’m thinking of this issue as a time capsule. If all goes well, in 10 years, we’ll pull it out and revisit the predictions to see how we did. Will our forecasts hold up? Surely, with technologies like AI changing so quickly, some things will happen by 2035 that we never saw coming. But I’ll put down money on the likelihood that there will be many deeply entrenched Renoisms that don’t change a bit in our lifetimes. As we send this issue to print, the holiday season is sneaking up on us quickly. I’m looking forward to the usual festive family dinners and get-togethers with friends. I hope your winter days are warm with good company as well. Cheers to you and yours!
LETTERS
The media should address the national debt
A suggestion: Why not address the fiscal nightmare overhanging the people of America that no one has the courage to discuss?
Our country has a debt load of $38 TRILLION dollars and growing. That’s 123% of our total GNP and more than $100,000 per American. It is perhaps the greatest danger to the future of America. Yet, the media avoids the mention of it. Why? Because no one wants to hear it, and it’s very unpolitic. Politicians know that bringing that issue up is political suicide. Only the media can make our people aware of it, possibly in time to take action to avoid a fiscal collapse of our nation. I believe that the first forceful journalist to air this pending catastrophe can ultimately save the nation from its worst nightmare. I look forward to reading your cyber version of the RN&R.
Peter Chiarella Napa, Calif.
TikTok grows patriotism; we need to keep it around
I’m the owner of Custom Jacks, a Nevada-based business that creates handmade art
featuring the American flag. As a Coast Guard veteran, I recognize the importance of upholding our flag and spreading patriotism around the United States. TikTok has helped my business do just that.
I started Custom Jacks with my business partner, a Marine Corps veteran, in 2019, and we are continually seeking new ways to reach new customers and market our products. Since we created our TikTok account, the exponential growth we’ve seen has led to numerous new sales and increased traffic to our website, enabling us to continue to hire employees, many of whom are veterans themselves. We’re grateful that TikTok has equipped our business to take off.
Our business has grown so significantly that even the president of the United States has taken notice of us. He ordered one of our flags a few months ago, and it now has a permanent home in the White House. If that doesn’t represent patriotism, I don’t know what does.
My business relies on TikTok to reach customers and stay competitive. I urge Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto to support the deal to keep this platform—and Nevada’s small business economy—strong and stable.
Andy Lynam Henderson
The midterm election shows we can resist Trump’s power grab
On Nov. 4, voters throughout the country soundly repudiated Trump and the malfeasance, corruption and meanness his administration embodies. While commentators ascribe many reasons for the Democrats’ success, including the economy, Epstein and election protection, they missed the important effect of powerful public protests: Nearly 8 million people took to the streets across the country, with hand-drawn signs and peaceful presence, and that action engaged others to get out and vote.
Many people who feel dissatisfied, fearful and angry about Trump’s mis-administration of our government saw that they are not alone. We CAN resist Trump’s dictatorship. They saw friends and strangers coming to protest and realized that they also can participate, at least by voting.
While MAGA media mouthpieces ask, disingenuously, “What do those protesters want?” people are saying on protest signs and on ballots, “no dictators,” “no corruption,” “rule of law,” “democracy.”
Join in! You are not alone.
Bruce Joffe Piedmont, Calif.
—KRIS VAGNER krisv@renonr.com
Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263, Cathedral City, CA 92234 • 775-324-4440 • RenoNR.com
Publisher/Executive Editor
Jimmy Boegle
Managing Editor
Kris Vagner
Editor at Large
Frank X. Mullen
Photo Editor
David Robert
Cover and Feature Design
Dennis Wodzisz
Distribution Lead
Rick Beckwith
Contributors
Matt Bieker, Mark Earnest, Loryn Elizares, Bob Grimm, Helena Guglielmino, Matt Jones, Matt King, Kelley Lang, Chris Lanier, Michael Moberly, Steve Noel, Alice Osborn, Dan Perkins, David Rodriguez, Sarah Russell, Jessica Santina, Jason Sarna, Max Stone, Delaney Uronen, Robert Victor, Matt Westfield, Leah Wigren, Susan Winters
The RN&R is a proud member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the Nevada Press Association, and the Local Independent Online News Publishers. Coachella Valley Independent, LLC, is a certified LGBT Business Enterprise® (LGBTBE) through the NGLCC Supplier Diversity Initiative.
GUEST COMMENT BY
GEORGIA FISHER
Bring on the automated cars!
Years ago, in Amsterdam, I met a brilliant Dutch physicist who told me—over beer and a plate of ribs, I think—that self-driving cars weren’t so far away.
“The thing is,” Desmond continued, topping off my glass as he spoke, “they’ll be more like public transportation or taxis, something we don’t own, something one summons with the push of a button. And eventually, they won’t even need to be shaped like cars as we know them at all. They may be cubes or rectangular prisms—in terlocking shapes that function as movable daytime space, for instance. Little offices, perhaps, or anything else people need.”
“No way, Des! You sure?!” He was.
I didn’t tell him, but back in my teens and 20s, I totaled two Ford Tauruses, a Mercury Grand Marquis and a Toyota Camry. It was bad, y’all, and that’s to say nothing of all the cars I hit, too, including a whole stoner pileup outside of a reggae festival (none of us were capable of anger right then, thankfully), or the day I ran the wrong yellow light in my mother’s Crown Victoria, with my learner’s permit in place and mom in the passenger seat.
Human error isn’t the only thing that maims and kills and drivers and passengers, of course, but government agencies cite it as a contributing factor in the majority of cases, and car wrecks are the top cause of death for anyone age 5 to 29, per the World Health Organization. That’s infuriating.
Companies such as Waymo and Tesla still need major scrutiny, of course, especially given Tesla’s self-reported safety data. Personally, I wouldn’t give anything but the finger to Elon Musk anyway. Waymo looks promising, however, and claims a more than 90 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries and a far safer ride for passengers. For what it’s worth, I’m a safe driver now, too. Parenthood does this, as do adult prefrontal cortexes and waking nightmares about what could have been. Hell, I rarely even play music in the car, let alone use a phone, but am still nothing like the colleague of my husband’s who wears a helmet behind the wheel. He’s got to be the most embarrassing relative in someone’s entire life, yes, but he’s also a trauma surgeon who sees constant death and head injuries. They all do.
STREETALK Paper or digital—how do you like to read your news?
Asked in Midtown Reno
Darla Roberts Creative director
BY DAVID ROBERT
Digital. I’m very specific with my searches. I’m looking for marketing trends. I love the efficiency of a digital search. Looking at a printed paper feels more leisurely to me, and it’s better if I’m traveling and taking my time to read. But in my day-to-day business, I really value the ability to do a quick search.
Gray Manit Barista
Digital. I grew up with it. I’ve always used my phone to get my news, and so did my parents. I’m interested in reading about political stuff, LGBTQ issues and rock climbing. I rarely pick up a paper—only if people leave them on the table at my job. A lot of people leave papers for others to read.
Technically, that one wasn’t my fault, but by the time she limped away, my mother had a broken foot, a ruined land yacht and a heart full of lasting and understandable rage about my driving skills, if not my whole way of life.
“I looked for my daughter after the wreck,” she still tells people, seething decades later, like a dormant volcano ever-liable to wake up and turn your ass into a fine mist, “and finally realized she’d crawled onto the fucking trunk and was reclining up there—lying down, almost, giggling and squealing—because firefighters were giving her attention.”
I mean, true. The other truth is that far more people could’ve been hurt (somehow, only my poor mother was) or even died while my friends and I were laughing and smoking and racing each other at stoplights. No joke, a Texas driver’s ed teacher passed a whole cohort of us, despite having just one working eyeball to her name. Uno, guys. You can’t make that up.
Think of it this way: One day, we may all look aghast at the century when just about everyone hurtled around freely in 4,000-pound machines. After all, we no longer have to climb to the top of rickety coal trains like Victorian commuters once did, or teach skittish animals to pull us around in buggies, either.
Maybe we love driving because cars are so customizable, just like carriages once were: big floaty ones with deep leather seats, solid little scrappy ones for off-roading and camping, camo-wrapped ones with lift kits and gun racks and copyright-infringing bumper stickers of Calvin peeing on things. Whatever makes you proud.
Just know that road-ready, safe and eco-friendly autonomous vehicles are coming soon, too––hopefully so soon that my kids never learn to drive at all.
And really, would you want them to?
Georgia Fisher is a writer and journalist from Austin, Texas, and Reno. She was the Reno News & Review’s special projects editor in 2014-’15.
John Garrard Pilot
Paper! I like the smell of it. I like the feel of it, the texture—the whole package. It’s nostalgic. I feel that print is a dying art. With digital, stories can be modified instantly; with paper, I guess that the editors have to check facts, names and dates before the papers are printed. It’s going into print and can’t be modified later. I like paper; it’s old-school.
Sophia Grant Student
Digital to the extent that it’s so accessible. I still see papers out on the street … so if a paper is readily available, I’ll pick it up. Some papers, you have to pay for, and with digital, I usually go cost-free.
Brooklynn Smith Bartender
Using a phone is definitely convenient. But if you’re sitting on your patio and having your morning coffee, or traveling, then the paper would be a fulfilling experience. Also, with paper, you can cut out articles, obituaries and art, and put it up on your wall. Memories.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
| BY JIMMY BOEGLE
The brightest days of the ‘Reno News & Review’ may very well be ahead of us
In November, the Reno News & Review celebrated its 32nd birthday. In the entirety of those 32 years, I am not sure there’s ever been a moment when the RN&R wasn’t struggling, to at least some degree.
The paper was founded as Nevada Weekly, and after a year and a half, the publication was insolvent. The owners of the News & Review newspapers in Sacramento and Reno came to town and saved the publication.
I was a summer intern for the RN&R in 1996, a temp employee in 1997, the news editor in 1999-2000, and the editor in 20002001—and for that entire time, we were told the financial picture was less than stellar. I kept in touch with the editors and publishers in the years that followed, and whenever I’d ask how the publication was doing, the best answer I ever got was “Eh, OK.”
I know that the staffers toiling here as the calendar flipped from 2019 to 2020 felt overworked and underpaid (as most journalists do)—and then came March 2020, when the pandemic shutdowns led the RN&R’s owners to lay off the entire staff and shutter the paper. After a few weeks, the RN&R resumed very limited publishing online.
In retrospect, that death of the weekly print publication, and the near-complete death of the RN&R, may have ultimately saved the RN&R Frank X. Mullen, a Nevada Newspaper Hall of Famer, stepped in and started writing for the online publication; the owners were smart enough to cajole him into becoming the RN&R’s editor. However, while some readers stepped in and started financially supporting the RN&R—thank you so much for that— the publication had no digital revenue plan. Heck, even though Frank was doing amazing, award-winning work, a significant number of people didn’t even know the RN&R was still publishing online.
Around Thanksgiving of 2021, I received a call from the RN&R’s owners. I’d reached out earlier in 2021 and offered them help, since
as I had experience running a primarily digital publication; that led to brief and ultimately fruitless discussions about me purchasing the RN&R. Now, they were calling to again ask if I was interested in taking it over—because there was a good chance it would shutter entirely if I didn’t. At the time, the RN&R had one paying advertiser. One.
At the end of January 2022, my company became owner of the RN&R. We set to work with two primary goals: First, to rebuild the RN&R’s digital presence and develop a digital revenue model; and second, to return to print as a monthly, since most readers and advertisers had always viewed us as a print publication, and little else.
I am relieved to say we succeeded. We rebuilt our website using Newspack, a top-of-the line publishing platform for small newspaper publishers. We also invested in a top-notch digital advertising system, and signed up with BlueLena, a digital marketing/newsletter/technology company. We used grant funds administered by AAN Publishers and the Local Independent Online News publishers to bolster this “tech stack” and to beef up our digital offerings; for example, we launched our 11 Days a Week
events newsletter.
On the print side, we succeeded in re-launching as a monthly, with our June 2022 comeback issue hitting streets over Memorial Day weekend. Three months later, we brought back our Best of Northern Nevada issue. While we were back in print, we always made sure we were promoting our website and our digital offerings to both advertisers/potential advertisers and readers—because we knew that our regular print edition could not last forever, even as a monthly.
To be blunt: Print is hard to do—and with the last commercial printer in the area closing in early 2022, that made print even more of a challenge. It costs a lot of time and money to design, paginate, proof, print, ship and distribute a newspaper, and none of that time and money has anything to do with reporting and writing the news.
Today, we are at the point where regular monthly print editions are no longer economically feasible, and you’re holding in your hands the last regular print edition of the RN&R. As I mentioned last month, we’ll be back in print for Best of Northern Nevada, and maybe for a
special edition here and there, but as for regular editions—unless someone steps up and writes us a very big check to subsidize things—this is it. I wish we could have kept going in print for longer, but we couldn’t.
But because of our success in rebuilding and bolstering our digital side, we’re ready to continue on and succeed as a (mostly) online-only publication. If the pandemic closures hadn’t happened, and the RN&R had kept struggling along as a weekly print publication with no significant digital side, I am not sure it would have survived the closure of the last local printer in February 2022.
But we’re still here, now in our 33rd year. Yes, just as we always have, we’re struggling a bit—but now we can focus our attention on news, arts, food and music coverage, without worrying about producing and distributing the dead-tree edition. That gives me hope that the best and brightest days for the RN&R may actually be ahead of us.
Go to RenoNR.com, please. Bookmark the page. Sign up for our newsletters—and join us as we continue covering Reno, Sparks, Carson City and beyond for many years to come.
ON NEVADA BUSINESS
Pivotal moments
How Sugar Love Candies founder Krysta Bea Jackson met pandemic price surges and other hurdles head-on
Great little companies are launched in Northern Nevada every day, and I’m proud to have helped many of them over the last 25 years. Some have taken off to wild success, while others have crashed and burned. Things happen. Statistics show that half of businesses don’t last five years, and those that do are likely to remain in business for as long as the leaders lead and roll with economic, financial and market fluctuations.
Remember that every big company starts with a risk-taking neighbor who eschews the common sense of getting a “jobby-job.” It often starts with an idea or vision for the future, and they go undeterred into the unknown company-building and ownership abyss. There are many reasons that roughly only 10% of folks build their own futures instead of someone else’s. They tend see a better way, a better solution—or it may be an undeterred nagging. They don’t easily follow others and tend to question the status quo. Recently, I caught up with one of folks in that 10%. I took my House of Estrogen down to Idlewild Park for the farmers’ market on a recent Sunday morn, as we do occasionally, to get hooked up with real Nevada-made products like local honey and wonderful fresh bread from the likes of Beloved’s Bakery and Wheatberry Baking Company. Mmmmmmm, good! My girls also love exploring the jewelry, woodworking, ceramics and photography artists. We have so many fantastic small-business owners here in Northern Nevada.
As we strolled the park walkways on this particular fall trip, we saw our old friend Krysta Bea Jackson. Krysta is the founder and owner of Sugar Love Candies. She started by working for a chocolatier and fell in love with the craft. In 2019, 95% of her product was chocolate-based. Then, the pandemic hit—and everything changed. Chocolate prices went through the roof; markets were in flux; and business fell off. She had to lay off her four employees and pivot. It was really tough on her.
She started experimenting with brittle and other non-chocolate recipes. In 2020, she was having a bourbon libation—and an epiphany overtook her along with the sweet taste of the whiskey. She wondered how a bourbon-pecan brittle might taste. With some testing, it was a hit—plus it was cheaper and easier to produce. So she began increasing non-chocolate products. It took almost two years for her to cull the chocolate products back to holiday offerings only, and it was emotionally taxing. After all, chocolate was her vision—sexy, cool, fun, delicious. But the market change
|
BY MATT WESTFIELD
had deep ramifications for her vision and the reality of the retail business after the pandemic.
She was now back to being a solopreneur, missing her team, with the present and future not resembling her original vision. Her retail shop closed, and she was at another crossroads. Instead of selling one box at a time to customers, she developed a channel strategy to sell wholesale in bigger quantities. The non-chocolate confections were also easier to ship (they didn’t melt) and had a much longer shelf life. Cha-ching!
Those of you who’ve read this column know that I espouse what I call the “One to Many” strategy. Question your market and ask, “Who is the one who can get me the many?” Instead of selling one at a time and chasing the next sale, how do I get steady, repeatable orders on which I can count? Krysta figured this out. Now she makes a lot less per sale—but sells a whole lot more each time she gets an order.
This is a great way to grow the biz, as she can focus on the security of repeat customers.
Pivoting from business-to-customer to business-to-business requires new pricing schemas, and it also requires new marketing messages to appeal to retail distributors. The forecasts can become more consistent, which really changes cashflows and timelines. We’re now focused on 10 customers who buy 100 units as opposed to 100 customers who buy 10 units. When implemented properly, it simplifies and streamlines our operations. It also creates wonderful volume profits, compared to selling one box to one customer once a year in Omaha.
Krysta and I met back in 2013 during the second year of the $50,000 Sontag Business Plan competition, with which I’ve been involved since Day 1. My buddy Dr. Dave was the Sontag director at the time, and Krysta was hired to do all of the stuff needed for six months of marketing—public relations, budgeting, recruiting, workshopping, vetting and venue scheduling. Basically, Krysta was key to setting the Sontag benchmarks for excellence that we still use today.
Krysta is now comfortable with Sugar Love being a candy confectioner, as opposed to a chocolatier. She is growing the company, organically focusing on the wholesale market and repeat orders to keep the company rolling along. She is ever-optimistic and resolute about the trials and tribulations of the biz. We entrepreneurs tend to be optimistic, because pessimists don’t often get past the setbacks as the future gets cloudy and precarious.
Krysta is ramping up her holiday offerings now—yes, including her chocolate products. Get an early order in, and tell Krysta that I sent you. It’ll be so worth it to you, her and the other small businesses in Northern Nevada that continue to need all of our support. (Don’t forget the RN&R is included in this, too!) Please support local businesses and journalism, today and in the future.
Happy holidays!
Visit sugarlovecandies.com.
Krysta Bea Jackson used to primarily be a chocolatier. When chocolate prices soared during the pandemic, she had to adapt. Today, she’s successful as a producer of brittle and other non-chocolate confections. Photo/David Robert
Retail reading
After a year of tariffs and price increases, local merchants discuss their strategies for the holiday shopping season
After nearly a year of new and changing tariffs, and with the economy showing mixed signals, how are local retailers feeling about the 2025 holiday shopping season?
One big indicator is S&P Global’s annual report for 2025, which is predicting 4% growth this year in overall retail, but notes that much of the growth is from higher prices, and that “weaker consumer confidence” will factor into final sales numbers.
Another sign is a report released in mid-November by the U.S. Congress’ Joint Economic Committee-Minority, which estimates that Nevada families have spent an average of $941 more on goods between February and September due to inflation— the eighth-highest jump among states.
Of course, no one knows better than retailers themselves. Four local business owners spoke with the RN&R about what’s changed for them this year, what hasn’t, and what you can expect during your holiday shopping.
Shopping local doesn’t
necessarily cost more
Toys N More at the Shayden Summit mall offers a wide variety of toys and gift items, and owner John Forgie said he’s staying positive but realistic about the holiday season.
The price of beef is up, said Butcher Boy owner Clint Jolly, but “not as much as the news generally thinks it is.” Katie Gutierrez is his business partner. Photo/Mark Earnest
like myself, or a large store, they’re exactly the same price,” he said. “The perception is that, ‘OK, it’s a boutique shop; they have nicer stuff, and it must be more expensive.’ But, in reality, it isn’t.”
Beef prices are up, but not as much as you think
Butcher Boy Meat Market, which has been at its Plumb Lane location for 10 years, hasn’t seen a slowdown leading up to the holidays, but owner Clint Jolly said he is expecting some differences in what customers choose this year.
“We have different levels of grade,” Jolly said. “So what we are seeing is people who might have bought a prime rib last Christmas will go to (USDA) choice, because beef is up a little bit, not as much as the news generally thinks it is.
“Prime is always going to be a pretty high price, and it’s higher than normal for this time of year, so that’s what I’m expecting: People might still get a nice piece of meat, just not the nicest, you know?”
“I’m trepidly hopeful, I guess is a good way to say it. I’m concerned with how strong it’s going to be,” said Forgie, who owns the store with his wife, Stefanie.
Toys N More opened in 2020 at the Firecreek Crossing shopping center on Kietzke Lane. They moved to south Reno in March of this year.
“People were coming out of COVID with money from the government, and they would buy stuff that they never would buy otherwise,”
Forgie said. “Then, our second year was even better, but ever since then, it’s been on a downturn, just like the general economy. Wealthy people still have lots of money, you know, so that hasn’t really changed dramatically. But it’s the working person who is struggling. Gas has gone up; food’s gone up, and so on.”
Forgie said his store hasn’t been directly affected by tariffs, but he’s seen his vendors and competitors charge more overall for their products. “I think everything’s gone up as a general rule of thumb,” he said.
What Forgie emphasized more was the battle to just get people to shop locally. He used the examples of toy companies like Lego and Bruder, which are strict with minimum advertised price policies.
“So what people need to understand is that whether you buy a Lego from a small retailer
Jolly said beef prices are up 17% over last year. (The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, released in October, put it at 14.7%.) He said he’s heard some customers claim that it is up more like 50%, or even 100%.
Jolly said one interesting aspect of the rise
|
BY MARK EARNEST
in meat prices is that “because of the way we purchase from the source, we aren’t as affected, necessarily, as grocery stores are. I’m not saying we aren’t affected at all, but what’s happened is grocery stores are now getting closer to the price (for average-quality meats) that we’ve charged for better meats for a long time.”
Despite the focus on prices for meat, Jolly said he’s still optimistic that Butcher Boy will close out 2025 well.
“I love the holidays,” he said. “We’ve been serving meat to families for 90 years, so the holidays are not a concern.”
Vendors are meeting an indie bookstore halfway
Radical Cat, which opened on Wells Avenue in 2022, is owned by Rosie Zuckerman, Ilya Arbatman and Melissa Hafey. It’s been in its current, considerably larger spot on South Virginia Street for just more than a year.
It is chiefly a book and record store, but Zuckerman said items that do well for the holiday season go beyond that: puzzles, cards, art prints and journals.
“These are a lower commitment than books, and more like stocking stuffers,” she said. “But we do sell a good amount of books, too. It’s definitely our busiest time of the year.”
Zuckerman said she hasn’t seen much effect from rising prices or tariffs, mainly because she and her partners try to buy locally and independent as much as possible.
“There are some artists we buy from who are Canadian, but they’ve actually been doing a lot to counteract tariffs, like offering discounts,” she
Ilya Arbatman and Rosie Zuckerman, co-owners of The Radical Cat, talk about new books at their Midtown Reno store. Photo/Mark Earnest
said. “Some artists I buy from are still offering us better shipping rates, so that’s the way they are trying to offset (tariff effects).
“Yeah, I think we’re all feeling good. It’s fun and exciting for us when there’s a lot of people buzzing around the shop.”
Even if Radical Cat isn’t feeling the effects of high pricing as much as some other stores, Zuckerman acknowledged that less spending is going on in the community.
“Certainly in my personal life, I’m very aware of a lot of people who have either lost jobs or people who are struggling financially,” she said. “But people still do like to come here and shop. I think they feel good about supporting us, and we really appreciate it.”
Zuckerman added, “We don’t spend a ton on marketing, because we do most everything ourselves, which has its ups and downs. I think that we have to just hustle to keep the business going during this time, but doing that ends up supporting us through the year.”
Radical Cat will participate in the Holland Project’s Hi-Dez Holiday Market on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7, at 299 E. Plumb Lane, Suite 115 (next to Sprouts). They are also working with other businesses in Midtown and the Wells Avenue district, such as Bad Apple Vntg, Rising for People Coffee and The Glass Die, on a special punch card during the post-Thanksgiving period, where customers
Toys N More co-owner John Forgie has noted that higher earners seem to be comfortable this year, while lower earners are struggling. “I’m trepidly hopeful,” he said as holiday shopping season approached. Photo/Mark Earnest
who fill out the cards can enter a raffle for a gift basket from all the participating retailers.
“We’ve done this, I think, every year since we started, and it’s been fun,” Zuckerman said.
Customers
are tolerating
$3
increases on bottles of wine Whispering Vine Wine Co. has two locations:
one on West Fourth Street that’s been open for 11 years, and another in the South Creek Shopping Center in South Reno that’s been open for 16 years.
Brian Lalor, the company’s wine director, said wines from Napa and Oregon traditionally do well for the holidays, and that there also more sales for imports from Spain, Italy and France due to more Californians with “more of a diverse palate” discovering the stores.
Lalor said that business in general has been “a little bit down this year, but we are finding ways to keep it busy. We’ve been altering our buying, and we’ve always bought in bulk in order to offer customers the best prices.”
As for price increases due to tariffs or other import taxation, Lalor characterized those as about $3 more per bottle of wine.
“It hasn’t affected us to a point where it’s slowing those categories down that are imported,” he said. “They still do pretty well for us.”
He did say sales of certain wines have declined due to pricing, though.
“I have seen a decline particularly in wines that are in the $70 to $100 range,” Lalor said. “Some from Napa in that range have been declining for us, but I think that has to do with the people who usually buy those are people who collect wines. So, my guess is that they’re probably just drinking what they have, which, really, they should be doing.”
Remembering a lost loved one
Alberta Sydney Malcolm puts an ornament with a photo of her son’s fiancée, Stephanie Rondecker-McLaughlin, a former executive aid for the Nevada National Guard who died in 2015, on the Gold Star Tree. The annual tree-lighting ceremony, hosted by Gold Star Families and Honor Flight Nevada, took place at the Atlantis on Nov. 22. The tree, with bios and photos of fallen services members, is located on the second floor near Bistro Napa.
—David Robert
What’s in a name?
A Reno bakery changes ‘squaw bread’ to ‘prairie bread’ after protest
When a Reno bakery owner declined to talk to Wishelle Banks about changing the name of their “squaw bread”—a moniker widely recognized as a slur against Indigenous women—Banks went to the store on Nov. 20 to stand in the rain with a protest sign.
When Banks arrived at the House of Bread at 1185 California Ave., however, a bakery employee met her to say the name had been changed to “prairie bread” and that the matter was resolved. The Reno franchise is now in line with four other House of Bread franchise locations in California and Alaska, which previously had changed the offending name to prairie bread.
“It was the best possible outcome,” said Banks, a screenwriter and retired journalist from Reno, who is a member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. (She is a former RN&R contributor.) She said the word “squaw” is “like calling a woman the c-word. It’s a cultural issue and a community issue.”
Employees said House of Bread franchise
owners Tim and Nathalie Atwell weren’t present during the protest. Nathalie Atwell, who earlier wrote to Banks in an email that the name would remain, didn’t return calls for comment. In the email to Banks in November, Nathalie Atwell wrote that grandmothers might be upset about “grandma’s white,” another of the bakery’s offerings, because “who wants to be called White these days?”
However, the word “squaw” carries centuries of negative baggage.
Most dictionaries now define the word as offensive, racist and dehumanizing. Linguists report that the word probably came from the Algonquin language and meant “woman,” but devolved into a slur against Indigenous women. Other scholars suspect that the Mohawk word for “vagina,” which has a second syllable that sounds like “squaw,” may have been conflated into early settlers’ use of the word. The term became a vulgar, sexist slur for Native American women, often linked to anatomical meanings by colonists, a member of the Cheyenne tribe said in a Rocky Mountain PBS program in 2022.
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
Wishelle Banks went to House of Bread on Nov. 20 with a protest sign. However, an employee met her and told her the name had been changed and that the matter was resolved. Photo/David Robert
In 2022, the Interior Department, led by Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary, ordered that the word be stripped from more than 650 locations on federal land, including mountains, rivers, lakes and other geographic sites. “Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage—not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression,” Haaland said in a news release about the change. Tribes were consulted about new names for the landmarks, which are now in place.
In Nevada, the 34 new names on federal land include East Pequop Creek (Elko County), Koe Pato butte (Pershing County), Daisy Peak (Lander County), the Depa No’obi hills (Nye County), Mohave Peaks (Clark County) and Too Kapu Tawaka valley (Washoe County).
In 2021, the name of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, was changed to Palisades Tahoe after extensive research by resort officials in consultation with the Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada. The resort’s name had been a matter of controversy for decades.
“While we love our local history and the memories we all associate with this place as it has been named for so long, we are confronted with the overwhelming evidence that the term ‘squaw’ is offensive,” Ron Cohen, president of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, wrote when the name change was announced in 2020. “… We have to accept that as much as we cherish the memories we associate with our resort name, that love does not justify continuing to use a term that is widely accepted to be a racist and sexist slur.”
Critics argue such name changes “erase history,” but proponents, including the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, counter that eliminating the offensive word helps heal centuries of wounds against Indigenous people and provides a more honest accounting of America’s past.
Many bakeries across the country and in Nevada have changed the name of the sweet brown bread—which is usually made with whole wheat, white and rye flour, and blended with honey—to “prairie bread,” “pioneer bread” or “brown bread.”
Banks said she would rather have met with the bakery’s owners to present her case and not resorted to a public protest, but “it turned out well. Some things are worth standing up for, showing up for and speaking up for,” she said.
Unusual terrain
The Dune Trek at Washoe Lake State Park is otherworldly, ever-shifting and right in our backyard
When I set out to write my hiking guide (Urban Trails Reno), there were few trails I had to visit more than twice. A lot of the trails, I was already familiar with, and they required nothing more than a formal runthrough. Others that I visited for the first time were straightforward: Here’s the start; here’s the end; and here’s what I found in the middle.
There was one trail, however, that irked me with its neediness. The Dune Trek at Washoe Lake State Park required more dedication, because it wasn’t simple nor straightforward, and at times it didn’t show up at all as a trail in the wild and shifting landscape in which it’s set.
This hike made it into my guide because it is an adventure unlike any other in the area. It feels like a different world, provides a challenge and hones navigation skills. Plus, it offers stunning views of snowcapped mountains over the lake.
The dunes run about 2.5 miles in length along the eastern shore of Washoe Lake. They’ve built up over thousands of years as
droughts drained the lake, and winds blew the freshly revealed sediment to the east, where it caught in sage and other shrubs. These dunes are home to many plants and are only bald in steep or particularly exposed spots.
“Treasures” can be found hidden in the shrubbery, such as animal bones and, one time, the deflated body of a coyote. The dunes feel like a very wild place—which, in part, is what endears me to them.
“The dunes––they’re such a remarkable place, because it’s ever-shifting and ever-changing,” said Jennifer Dawson, Washoe Lake State Park supervisor. “So you could walk on it one day, and it would look a certain way, and then you could return months later, and it would be slightly different. It’s a unique experience.”
Because the dunes shift, the trail can be impossible to find in spots. Signs along the trail read “100% of the trail is very soft; 100% of the trail is unstable.” Stability refers to the trail’s ability to hold shape under the pressure of footfalls and weather. This trail holds zero shape. It also proved to be a creative pursuit to map. I used an app called CalTopo to map trails
for my guide, which not only tracked where I walked, but also allowed me to create notes and pin particular points along the route. For a lot of the trails I mapped, there might be a smattering of notes to remind me of trail features when writing later––like “this is the point where downtown comes into view” or “trail splits here; keep right.”
The Dune Trek map in CalTopo looks like it has chicken pox; notes are placed, at most, 200 feet apart. There are places, though, especially in the beginning of the route, where notes like “fully in dune now,” “dune sign buried,” “keep straight?” and “to right might actually be the trail” occur every 40 to 50 feet.
As the dunes progress north, it becomes slightly easier to navigate, as signs are posted on about every other hilltop.
“I tried to make it so that if you’re standing at the high point, you could see the next sign,” Dawson said.
Slightly. There’s still a great chance of getting off trail at some point (or multiple points).
“With the dunes always moving, sometimes the signs fall down; sometimes you can’t see that
| BY HELENA GUGLIELMINO
The Dune Trek trail changes frequently, as the dunes shift in the wind. Sometimes, the signs can get buried or fall down, but if you pay attention to where the lake and the mountains are, you shouldn’t get too lost.
Photo/Helena Guglielmino
next waypoint,” Dawson said.
During my initial hike here, I mistakenly followed what I thought was a trail to the side of a pond. A stampede of wild horses flashed by me, splashing through the shallow waters and scaring off a pair of American avocets. Though I lost the trail––and created a new waypoint: “trail swoops left WEST” and then, 10 feet later: “keep water on RIGHT”––I got to have this incredible experience.
All of my harping here is not to dissuade you from trying your hand (foot?) at the Dune Trek.
“In some ways, it’s nice to get lost in the dunes,” Dawson said. “I mean, not officially lost, but to just lose yourself, too.”
I agree. While I rag on this trail for not really being a trail, that’s the reason why I love it so much. Dawson considers it one of the highlights of the park.
My recommendation is to not let the potential loss of trail discourage you, but rather think about this as an adventure more than a hike. Be sure to bring a map or navigation of some sort, and be mindful of where you are in relation to major features on the landscape.
“The good thing is that you have areas that you can look at to help navigate you. You have the lake; you have the Virginia Range; you have the Sierras,” Dawson said. “It’s not necessarily like you’re going to get completely lost. … If you just stay parallel to the lake, you’ll be fine.”
The best way to access the trail is to enter Washoe Lake State Park ($5 fee for Nevada residents), and take the first right toward the campgrounds. Keep to the right, and follow signs for equestrian parking. Park near the bathrooms and day-use area. Walk to the other side of the dayuse area, and keep a keen eye out for a wide trail that heads west toward the lake. Walk along this path for about a half-mile, at which point you’ll find the first and easiest-to-identify trail sign for the Dune Trek.
Generally, from here, keep to the left of all of the ponds, and then keep an eye on the crest of the dunes for more trail signs.
If there is precipitation, Dawson advised, the dunes themselves won’t necessarily be muddy, but the valleys between them might be. Any snow on the dunes will make travel harder, but not impossible.
“I’m actually surprised sometimes that more people don’t know about us,” Dawson said. “I talk to a lot of people that were like, ‘Oh, we’ve never gotten off on this exit. We’ve lived in Reno for 20 years.’”
Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight
For December, 2025
ASTRONOMY
This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north, but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.
December’s evening sky chart. Illustration/Robert D. Miller
Pleiades through a pair of binoculars. Look for a pair of stars 21’ (0.35°) apart, within 5° south of the Pleiades. They are 13 and 14 Tauri, magnitudes 5.7 and 6.1. From Dec. 13-21, 5.6-magnitude Uranus passes closely south of the two stars. Refer to the Uranus and Neptune finder charts (Neptune is currently near Saturn) at www.abramsplanetarium.org/msta.
The Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of Dec. 13-14, with best viewing from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. Meteors can flare up anywhere in the sky, but their tracks, extended backward, will seem to radiate from a point near Castor, one of the Twins. A waning crescent moon, present from about 2 a.m. onward, will interfere very little.
Winter begins on Dec. 21 at 7:03 a.m., as the sun reaches the southernmost point of its annual journey, directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. The moon will return to the early evening sky later that day, as a thin 4 percent crescent low in the southwest at dusk. By Dec. 26, the moon is a gravid 42 percent crescent, 3° to the upper right of Saturn, well up in the south.
December skies
The final month of the year brings the Geminid meteor shower, and simultaneous views of the Winter and Summer triangles
Bright stars and a lone bright planet are visible at dusk as December begins. The Summer Triangle of Vega, Altair and Deneb is well up in the west and getting lower as the month progresses; Saturn is halfway up in the southeast to south-southeast, with Fomalhaut, Mouth of the Southern Fish, to its lower right—and be sure to arrange for telescopic views of Saturn’s rings, tipped only 0.6° to 1° from edge-on this month Capella, the “Mother Goat” star, is in the northeast; and reddish-orange Aldebaran is low in the east-northeast, to the lower right of Capella. Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the Bull, is at opposition to the sun on Dec. 1. That night, you can also spot the star highest in south in the middle of the night, and low in the west-northwest as dawn brightens. The Arabic name Aldebaran means “the Follower,” and you
can find the pursued, beautiful Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster, 14° above Aldebaran in deepening evening twilight, and 31° to the lower left of a bright, 88 percent waxing gibbous moon.
Two nights later, on Dec. 3, the moon, moving through perigee, closes the distance and occults, or covers, some of the cluster’s stars. Since the moon is very bright, the best events will happen along the moon’s narrow, dark edge, and a telescope will be required to observe them: From Reno, stars will be snuffed out at 5:38 p.m. and 5:59 p.m.
On Dec. 4 at dusk, the full moon will appear a wide 11° north (to the upper left) of Aldebaran. On Dec. 5, this month’s northernmost moon will rise in twilight, and thereafter rise later each night, shifting farther south each time. Wait a few more evenings until the moon rises well after nightfall and examine the
Watch the waxing gibbous moon hopscotch over the Pleiades from Dec. 30-31, while its phase increases from 84 to 92 percent. At dusk on Dec. 31, the moon appears 10° to the north (upper left) of Aldebaran, while Jupiter is just rising 43° to the moon’s lower left. Majestic Orion now rises in twilight at year’s end, to the moon’s lower right. Two or so hours later, watch for the rising of Sirius in the east-southeast, in line with Orion’s belt, extended downward. If you’re in a place with unobstructed views toward the west and east-southeast, both the Winter Triangle, Betelgeuse-Procyon-Sirius, and the Summer Triangle, Deneb-Vega-Altair, can be seen simultaneously.
At this time of year, the entire Winter Hexagon is visible for 8 1/2 consecutive hours, taking up most of the night. Its stars of first magnitude (or close) or brighter, in clockwise order, are Sirius; Procyon; Jupiter (a temporary visitor, a planet or “wandering star”); Pollux; Castor; Capella; Aldebaran; Rigel; and back to Sirius. Betelgeuse, another first-magnitude star, lies inside. From Reno on Dec. 1, the hexagon is in good view from 9:15 p.m. until 5:45 a.m., and on Dec. 31, it’s two hours earlier, or 7:15 p.m. until 3:45 a.m.
In morning twilight, within the hour before sunrise, Jupiter is in the west, with the “Twin” stars Pollux and Castor to its upper right. Capella is in the northwest, to the lower right of the Twins. The “Dog Stars,” Procyon and Sirius—the latter, the brightest of all nighttime stars, but not as bright as Jupiter—appear to the lower left of Jupiter and the Twins.
Below Jupiter, find red Betelgeuse, with
| BY ROBERT VICTOR
Orion’s three-star belt farther down. Setting in the west-northwest, far to the lower right of Jupiter and Betelgeuse, is another reddish star, Aldebaran, eye of Taurus. Rigel, Orion’s foot, is already gone from the morning mid-twilight sky at the start of December, but you can catch it earlier in the morning. After Rigel, the stars Aldebaran, Sirius and Betelgeuse will all disappear below the western horizon. Remaining in the western sky at dawn through month’s end will be the “Spring Arch” of Procyon, Jupiter (a temporary visitor), Pollux, Castor and Capella.
Regulus, highest of the first-magnitude stars in the southwest quadrant of the sky on December mornings, marks the heart of Leo, the Lion. Look for Regulus 36° to 39° to the upper left of Jupiter.
In eastern half of the sky on December mornings, golden Arcturus climbs high in the east to southeast, with Spica of Virgo 33° to its lower right, in the southeast to south. Blue-white Vega is in the northeast to east-northeast, nearly 60° to the lower left of Arcturus. Deneb rises in the far northeast, to the lower left of Vega.
Mercury puts on its year’s best morning showing low in the southeastern sky in first three weeks of December, and sinks to the horizon at mid-twilight by month’s end. Watch for fainter, first-magnitude Antares emerging during the last two weeks of the month. It’s 6° to the lower right of Mercury Dec. 17-21, moving to the upper right of Mercury thereafter, to 10° on Christmas morning, and to 18° on Dec. 31.
Follow the moon at dawn: On the morning of Dec. 4, the full moon appears low in the west-northwest, 6° to the upper left of the Pleiades and 11° right of Aldebaran. On Dec. 7, a 90 percent waning gibbous moon appears near Jupiter, Pollux and Castor, and on Dec. 10 at 63 percent, near Regulus. On Dec. 14, a 25 percent crescent moon appears very near Spica. On Dec. 17, find an easy 6 percent crescent moon low in the southeast, with Mercury 10° to its lower left. Finally, on Dec. 18, use binoculars to find a slender 2 percent crescent moon 7° to the lower right of Mercury and 2° below Antares.
Bring in the new year in a Sirius way. In the middle of the night of Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, the brightest star, Sirius, passes directly south almost exactly 12 hours after the sun’s midday passage through its highest point, solar midday, on Dec. 31, at 12:03 p.m. in Reno. On the night of Dec. 31, find the Dog Star well up in the southern sky as the New Year begins.
Robert Victor originated the Abrams Planetarium monthly Sky Calendar in October 1968 and still helps produce an occasional issue. He enjoys being outdoors sharing the beauty of the night sky and other wonders of nature.
Stereographic Projection Map by Robert D. Miller
Evening mid-twilight occurs when the Sun is 9° below the horizon.
sunset.
Aldebaran
Rigel
Betelgeuse
Capella Pollux
Castor Vega Altair
Deneb
Fomalhaut
This is the last regular monthly print edition of the Reno News & Review that you’ll be able hold in your hands before we go all-digital (with the exception of our Best of Northern Nevada issue, as well as possible occasional special editions). To mark the occasion, we’re presenting the local-news version of a time capsule!
We’re predicting what various aspects of Reno will be like 10 years from now. Some of our predictions are wishful thinking; some are probably-nottoo-bad guesses based on past trends; and one is based on actual data from actual experts.
While we’re collectively optimistic about the future of some things—like the art and music scenes, especially given the motivated young people who will soon be running them—we have frustrations with the present, and more than a wisp of anxiety about the things we fear may go from bad to worse. In any case, we hope you’ll remain an RN&R reader for another decade, because in 2035, we intend to revisit this issue—and look at how well our predictions held up.
EPven though I love being in the Reno music scene, as both a musician and a writer, I always feel a bit of apprehension. Audiences and venues come and go like the wind—and it can be a formidable, Nevadalike zephyr that blows your musical plans and enthusiasm away. So be careful what you wish for, and don’t get your hopes up, fans and players.
However, there are two developments on which I’m willing to bet.
The East Fourth Street makeover will stick: Local music in 2025 has been dominated by East Fourth Street. And it’s a big surprise— because this was not the case as little as two years ago. The street includes bigger spaces like The Alpine and Club Underground, allages venue 4th Street Brewery/Coffee Bar, acoustic venue Black Rabbit Mead Company, mostly electronica shows at Dead Ringer Analog Bar, and two cozy but loud rock rooms: Cellar Stage at Alturas Bar, and Davidson’s Distillery. Coming soon is the indoor/outdoor music venue that Starsound Audio announced
that it plans to open at the old Morris Burner Hotel in 2026.
While that’s great right now, there’s no way every one of those places will last until 2035. Reno has a fickle longevity rep for venues staying open past five years—at best. Will the increased competition cause closures? Will building owners jump ship and cut promoters and music directors loose when there’s less money flying around? Crucially, will the audience truly adopt that part of town despite its flaws?
I’m thinking that Wells Avenue or Midtown might get hotter with more venues, as in the past, but, just as it is on Fourth Street, it all depends on who has the money, genuine interest and/or smarts to stick it out.
Downtown will be its usual scattered self, with NIMBYs and panic-people continuing to spoil the fun for the rest of us.
The kids will absolutely be alright: The Holland Project is the benchmark of the under-21 scene, an established beacon for new bands that has become wonderfully less-
cliquey about what it programs in recent years. We also have Midnight Coffee Roasting doing shows on the regular, and small-but-scrappy spaces such as The Empire near downtown, and Pizzava Showspace in Sparks. This can be nothing but a rad development. It may sound like a cliché, but so be it: The future of the Reno music scene is young people. We’re in a genuine renaissance now of interesting and inventive bands with people under 25 at their cores (like Wormshot, Reeking Slug and Next Question), and that will only increase by the mid ’30s, with today’s middle-schoolers potentially blowing our minds.
—Mark Earnest, writer, music critic, songwriter and singer in former bands Vague Choir, The Vitriolics and Dirt Communion; and current bands Kanawha and Manchild
HEADER: The Alpine is on East Fourth Street, which has become a music-scene hub in recent years. Photo/Eric Marks RIGHT: Revival (formerly Harrah's) is in the background. Photo/Kris Vagner
redicting the future of Reno’s downtown has always been tricky, but it’s grown even more so with the consolidation of so much property into the hands of a few private entities, namely Caesars Entertainment (The ROW); Jacobs Entertainment (J Resort); and the owners of Revival (the former Harrah’s Reno).
Experience has taught us that even plans announced with great confidence by large entities like these can change abruptly, as casino interests explore new ways to diversify and differentiate themselves; commercial developers navigate fluctuating demand for office and retail space; and everyone struggles with the high costs of construction. Expect a decade of surprises.
That said, we’re sure to see downtown’s remaining gaming properties and city-owned venues doubling down on indoor and outdoor special events, sports and concerts over the next decade in hopes of drawing more locals and visitors to the area. Redeveloped and new multi-family housing projects will continue to fill in some of the gaps, although—if current patterns hold—they’ll do so without adding many street-level commercial spaces, which developers often consider too risky.
A pivotal question will be whether the increasing size and frequency of special events, with their accompanying noise, crowds and traffic, will attract or deter potential residents of this central downtown core.
—Alicia Barber, historian and author of the local policy Substack The Barber Brief and the 2008 book Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City
When I first landed in Reno in 2004, I noticed two things that made the art world here seem different.
One: Even though there were plenty of artists, there was something missing—a commercial gallery infrastructure, typically considered a critical component for advancing an art career. Two: Local artists were filling that gap with inventiveness and grit like nobody’s business. Without many options for gallery representation, they took the necessity-isthe-motherof-invention maxim by the reins—organizing professional-looking shows anywhere they could find space, in places like cafes, libraries and motel rooms.
Funkhouser, director of education and youth programs at the Holland Project, put it this way: “Artists were doing weird popups in alleyways and things like that, which was really cool to see happen.”
Over the next few years, a string of small, experimental galleries run by artists came and went—among them The Chapterhouse in Midtown (before anyone called it Midtown); Blue Lion on Evans Avenue behind Louis’ Basque Corner; Grayspace in the cute, old duplex on Cheney Street where Death and Taxes now serves cocktails; Fireplace Gallery on Second and Ralston streets, where a few others and I hosted photography shows; and Never Ender, which had the longest run, lasting until 2018. This bustling little indygallery scene was possible because of thendirt-cheap rents.
Later, in the 2011-’13 era, a different wave of DIY energy characterized the scene. Alisha
Then, in the COVID and postCOVID-era, she noticed a trend of homegrown galleries run out of artists’ garages, basements and backyard sheds. Today, the opportunities to learn how to make art in town are plentiful and varied. The Wedge ceramics studio launched in 2011. The Generator makerspace opened in 2013, and the region’s community-college offerings are strong. There are also more places than ever to see art. The Lilley Museum opened at UNR in 2019, and the Nevada Museum of Art expanded by 120,000 square feet this year.
But the commercial gallery infrastructure remains undeveloped. What does this mean for the future? Here’s what my crystal ball says:
• Will we see a commercial gallery system develop by 2035? I’m not holding my breath.
• Will rent ever be inexpensive enough again to entice artists to open their own experimental galleries? Barring an utter apocalypse, no.
• Will inventiveness and grit persist as the Reno art scene’s brand forever? You can count on it.
—Kris Vagner, RN&R managing editor and longtime arts writer
What will happen with the Lear Theater? Nothing.
Will locals ever start calling the area “Reno/ Tahoe” like marketers want them to? Not on our watch.
LOCAL NEWS HEADLINES IN 2035
—Frank X Mullen, investigative reporter, author, historian and RN&R editor at large
Billionaires Banned from Burning Man
‘Entitled riffraff no longer welcome’
President Ocasio-Cortez to Visit Reno After Demolishing
White House Ballroom
Will we ever stop arguing about whether to fill potholes or fund public art? We will not.
Will all-you-can-eat sushi still be a thing? Oh, hell yes.
Global Warming News: Hot August Nights Event Will Be Held in February This Year
LEAR THEATER CELEBRATES FIFTH ANNIVERSARY AFTER REOPENING AS RENO CULTURAL CENTER
Reno City Council Touts Yet Another Plan to Revive City’s Downtown Core
Tesla Battery Plant to Close After New Quantum Coils Replace Lithium
GOV. EDDIE LORTON CAMPAIGNS FOR RE-ELECTION, WILL FACE CHALLENGER HILLARY SCHIEVE IN NOVEMBER
Last of Nevada’s Convicted ‘Fake Electors’ to Complete Prison Terms in December
Indigenous Tribes Win Lawsuit to Reclaim Ancestral Lands in Central Nevada
TENANTS DEMAND LAWMAKERS PASS RENT CONTROL Studio apartment rents top $3.5K per month
‘Guinness’ Record Book Lists USA Parkway as ‘Longest Parking Lot in the West’
Harrah’s Reno Property Sold … Again New owner to take over renovations
UNR to Build
Fifth New Gymnasium, Reducing Campus Parking to 27 Spaces
Struggling J Resort Will Be Shuttered Property earmarked as homeless center
Cycling Association Tags Reno-Sparks as ‘Most Bicycle-Friendly’ City in Nation
Reno artists have long found creative ways to provide their own exhibition spaces, such as The Outpost, a gallery in Kristin Hough’s backyard that closed in 2023. Photo/Chris Lanier
By now, are you thinking, “What?
An article about the future, and they haven’t even mentioned AI yet?”
Fret not, because when I asked Bill Thomas, the Regional Transportation Commission’s executive director, what the future of local transportation looks like, he said: “Probably the biggest, most visionary, impactful thing would be autonomous vehicles.” Yes, selfdriving cars with AI for a brain.
Thomas said that traffic congestion is often more likely to be due to the behavior of drivers than the number of them on a given roadway. People turn when they’re not supposed to, or drive faster than they need to—“all the things that can really disrupt the flow of traffic,” he said.
While smoother-flowing, AI-directed traffic is possible in theory, will we see it in Reno by 2035? I’ll let you do your own math on that one. Here are three factors to consider:
One: A spokesperson for Waymo, the leading autonomous vehicle-maker with ride-hail fleets in Phoenix, San Franciso and Los Angeles (and soon Las Vegas), sent this statement: “While we are eager to bring Waymo to major cities, we currently have no specific plans or timelines to share regarding Waymo’s future in Reno.”
Two: Thomas noted that transportation technology, even if it’s effective, can sometimes be slow to catch on with the public. He used traffic-enforcement cameras as an example: “Even though we have technology to improve safety by having these autonomous
Boulevard and Panther Valley in a couple of years. And the Nevada Department of Transportation has a project under way to widen U.S. 395. Phase 1 from McCarran Boulevard to the Golden Valley interchange is just about finished. Construction on Phase 2, from Golden Valley up to Stead, is expected to begin in 2026.
On the other hand, Reno’s population is expected to keep growing, and in areas like Spanish Springs and south Reno, where there’s been a lot of development in recent decades, there’s not much room left to build. According to Thomas, the North Valleys area is the most likely candidate for further development.
While we’re discussing the future of transportation, there’s another major project that you may want to keep an eye on: On the 13-mile stretch of Interstate 80 from Vista Boulevard to USA Parkway (to and from evergrowing Fernley), NDOT is preparing to add one lane in each direction.
Improving safety on this stretch is a high priority.
Phase 2 of the effort to widen I-395 to the North Valleys is expected to begin in 2026. Image/NDOT
cameras, they never can seem to get through the Legislature because of arguments that it’s basically too much of an invasive thing for government to do that.”
Three: Tech avoidance tends to decrease with time. Said Thomas: “As younger generations start moving in, I don’t think they have the same kind of fear, maybe, as some of the older generations.”
Autonomous vehicle projections aside, one burning question many Reno residents are asking now is, “Will my commute to the North Valleys ever improve?” I have good news, and I have bad news.
On one hand, the RTC has plans to begin widening North Virginia Street between Parr
“There is so much traffic in such a narrow corridor,” said Nick Johnson, chief of the project management division at NDOT. “If there’s an accident there, we’d rather get the people off the road onto a shoulder where they’re safe (and where emergency responders can get through). … Right now, if there’s an accident anywhere between Vista and Mustang, it shuts down an entire lane. Sometimes it shuts down the whole direction depending on how severe it is.”
Therefore, NDOT’s plan also includes widening the shoulders.
Johnson said the goal is to begin construction in 2027, and his best estimate is that it may take three or more years to complete.
Meanwhile, USA Parkway will continue to fill in. (Current plans include a Vantage Data Center and a Starbucks, almost certainly mere drops in the bucket of a long era of development there.) And the city of Fernley Strategic Plan projects that the city of 20,000 will grow to a city of 40,000 by 2040. How exactly will the supply and demand for road space pan out? Will the significant highway improvements in our busiest corridors outpace population growth to truly alleviate traffic? Can autonomous vehicles help? I make no promises. Only time will tell.
In 10 years, our endless national nightmare will finally be over.
The Republican Congress will have awoken from its Trump fever dream after abandoning their constitutional duty to be a check on the executive branch, salvaging a smidgen of political selfrespect. Nevada’s Republican Party will sustain its infighting between business interests and extremists politicking on the fringe, still managing to win some important statewide races whenever the powerful forces in Nevada politics agree on a candidate.
Nevada’s Democratic Party will be a faint echo of the Harry Reid era, having experienced a mass exodus of party stalwarts to non-partisanship status in 2025 after our two Democratic U.S. senators exhibited the inability to think ahead to an end game, caving instead to the Trumpian madness—while state legislative leadership pushed for a massive tax giveaway to corporate overlords at a time when people were digging in trash cans for food.
Successful candidates at all levels of government will be younger, more diverse and laser-focused on helping their constituents instead of their campaign contributors. Non-partisan candidates will win important races, forcing long overdue changes in campaign-finance rules, gerrymandering and Nevada’s infamously unfair tax structure. Multinational mining corporations and Elon Musk still won’t contribute their fair share to the state’s coffers, but since they pay next to nothing now, it’ll at least be something.
One can dream, right?
—Kris Vagner
—Sheila Leslie, former Nevada legislator and former RN&R political columnist
A 13-mile stretch of I-80 outside of Sparks is slated to be widened. Photo/NDOT
In 10 years, Reno’s news environment will take one of two forms.
On our current trajectory, Gannett and other news corporations will continue to screw over legacy news outlets nationwide, including our “local paper of record,” the Reno GazetteJournal
The media behemoth, which owns the RGJ, has already cut its workforce in half since its 2019 merger with GateHouse. (Nationally, more than 3,000 local newspapers have disappeared since 2005.)
Next, it will convert the RGJ into a news vending machine—full of cheap, easily accessible garbage and devoid of anything that could sustain a community.
The result in Reno will be fewer reporters with kids in Washoe County schools, and more syndicated outrage-bait about your favorite culture war issue of choice—from Gannett’s AI writing bureau—meant to garner bloodthirsty comments on social media from our less-thaninformed citizenry.
Into that vacuum will step “independent” journalists. Substack alone now hosts more than 5 million paid subscriptions and more than 50,000 money-making publications. Some of these “independent” journalists are excellent. Hopefully, some will come from our own local Reynolds School of Journalism and graciously elect to stick around in a town that is, increasingly, ambivalent to their efforts.
However, many of the “citizen journalist” content creators—cutting their teeth with iPhone ring-lights on YouTube—answer only to their subscribers’ most noxious, racist and unhinged ideas about what reporting is. In a country where just 28% of Americans say they trust the media to report fully and fairly, telling people their worst suspicions are correct is a
terrific growth strategy—no ethical standards or editorial oversight required.
And I’d be remiss if I let traditional newsrooms off the hook. When journalists angle for fellowships, panels and the approval of business and political elites, rather than going to bat for concerned readers, they help dig the trust hole deeper.
So that’s one path. What’s the other path we might tread?
Reno collectively decides to give a shit. Locals decide to pay for local outlets with clear ethics codes, boringly detailed coverage of budgets and buses, and reporters who would rather rummage through the powerful’s trash than eat at their dinner tables.
I have hope. Even now, there are dedicated, caring and knowledgeable professionals doggedly running down stories about local government, art, music, food, business, health—all the aspects of our lives that need to be shared if we want to live in a “city” instead of just next to one another.
I am grateful to have known many of these journalists, and I am touched to have been counted among them in some instances. Many might still be doing the job 10 years from now. We should all be so lucky.
By empowering (and funding) them and their kindred, we’ll have the kind of news environment that holds the mighty to account, that informs our ability to govern ourselves, and, yes, keeps us entertained with the worthy and wacky exploits of our neighbors.
Without them, we’ll trade democracy for doomscrolling through someone else’s algorithm.
—Matt Bieker, music writer, news reporter and former RN&R special projects editor
Snowboarding 101 at 51
It took me a half-century to get around to learning how to snowboard. It was the gearshift I didn’t know I needed.
The ski season was winding down in March 2025 when I found myself online, cursor hovering over the “First-Time Lesson Package, Snowboard” option at Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe. Was I ready to try a new sport at 51 years old? One fee covered a two-hour session with a professional instructor, beginner lift access and rental equipment. Add to cart.
During Thanksgiving 2024—my boyfriend, a snowboarder and Mount Rose season pass holder—returned home in pain. After riding all afternoon, his board slipped on “dust on crust.” He landed hard on his outstretched arm, jamming it into his shoulder. During our seven years of dating, he had yet to seriously injure himself at Mount Rose, Palisades Tahoe, Sugar Bowl or Northstar. He was mad at himself for not riding in control. Despite the festive holiday season, the fall had taken a toll on his spirit. Attempting to cheer him up, I bought a variety of critically acclaimed winter-sports books. Among these was Eric Blehm’s adventure biography, The Darkest White: A Mountain Legend and the Avalanche That Took Him. While my grouchy boyfriend focused on physical recovery
and mental self-flagellation, I nudged the cover open myself.
The Darkest White instantly captured my imagination. Beautifully written and meticulously researched, it traces the origins of snowboarding—its clashes with traditional ski culture, the rise of competitions in the 1980s and ’90s, the Burton-Sims rivalry, the riders who carried a fringe pastime into a mainstream sport, and the exhilaration of freeriding set against the stark dangers of mountaineering. It also chronicles the cinematic life and death of self-taught snowboarding legend Craig Kelly— my newest literary crush.
In early March, I put down the book and picked up a snowboard. In recent years, I’ve navigated a divorce from my college sweetheart, the sale of my cherished home, several relocations to new towns, and the pruning of unhealthy friendships that had become more thorn than rose. Coping with the stress took various forms: prescription Vicodin before COVID-19; excessive cocktails before, during and after the pandemic; and the gilded cage of a shopping addiction. In September 2023, I boarded a plane in Reno. One
Pushing past a critical inner monologue and what seemed like it might have been a midlife crisis, Wendy Wittmann learned to fall, then learned to shred. Photo/Jack Boerger
the Magic dual conveyor lift, pause to strap on their back boot, and tentatively start their descent with varying degrees of success. My inner monologue turned cold and critical. If I was truly having a midlife crisis, then perhaps it was all downhill from here. If you couldn’t succeed in a snowboarding beginner class, you might as well pack it in and go home. Book a cruise to Alaska. That’s as close to the snow as you should go. You missed your window, kid.
My boyfriend encouraged me to try, try again. Despite the popular opinion that you should never teach your significant other to ski or snowboard, he secured my boots into the bindings, pulled me up, and had me shimmy back and forth on the flat snow. After a while, he dropped his hands and stepped back. The snowboard slipped. Expletives slipped. I was on my ass again. I flipped over and pushed myself back to a standing position.
Forty-five minutes later, the snowboard felt like an extension of my body, using toe and heel edges to balance. Later that afternoon, at Timbers bar inside the main lodge, I sipped a wellearned hot toddy and felt a camaraderie with the other skiers and snowboarders that had eluded me when I was only an après-ski enthusiast.
day later, I stepped off a plane in Rome. Somewhere over the Atlantic, I turned 50. I had entered the last half of my life. Carpe diem.
With a freshly waxed rental snowboard and an idiot’s enthusiasm, I arrived at Mount Rose’s 8,260-foot base elevation. The class was a mix of fresh-faced newbies of various ages—some wary, some calm, some ready to shred. Our teachers were two 20-somethings with trendy names and a tenuous grasp on our group’s skill set, or so it seemed to me. You want us to ride our snowboards down a short, steep hill to get to the base of the actual beginner hill? Did I miss the intro class for this intro class?
Though I could dance in stilettos at the Grand Sierra Resort, skate at Roller Kingdom, bike the Truckee River Trail and complete the Wobble Before You Gobble 5k in a turkey costume, I could only stand on my snowboard for mere moments before falling hard, only to bruise like a ripe summer peach.
After a frustrating hour of not being able to stand on my board and make it go downhill, I sat down on the cold snow, resigned. I watched my more-advanced classmates exit the top of
One week later, I repeated the intro class— this time with a smaller group and an experienced instructor, Steven K. He greeted us warmly, led us down to the beginner hill, and taught us how to fall backward safely. Falling forward, on our forearms, we made “fists to save our wrists.”
Shuffling our boards through the conveyor queue with our free back foot, we headed uphill. At the top, Steven broke down our next steps. Students were sprinkled all over the slope, each sliding off in their own direction. Beginning skiers used “pizza” and “French fry” techniques. Everyone fell and rose repeatedly; there was no room for ego.
Following the lesson, things started to click— exhausted yet exhilarated, practicing toeside and heelside turns, falling down repeatedly, and pushing myself back up. The faster I rode downhill, the more stable the snowboard became. Watching experienced snowboarders, I admired their relaxed posture and confident technique. In my sleep, I carved wide arcs down a steep white hill, blue water below, my brain lit up with dopamine. Waking up, however, was a serious struggle as my body was consumed by soreness that defied description. Despite the aches and pains, I was determined to continue. I purchased the “Mt. Rose DoubleDown Pass, Off-Peak” for $695, which allowed me to enjoy
the rest of last season and the entire 2025-’26 season. As a small-business owner, a wedding and event planner for the past 20 years, real mountains reduced my stress levels far more than any alpine desktop wallpaper ever could. After an hour or two immersed in white snow, green pines and blue sky, I’d return to my office, refreshed.
I shopped locally at Bobo’s and Truckee Boardhouse for new snowboarding equipment and at Gear Hut for gently used consignment items. I cross-referenced online product reviews. I bought a pair of Level snowboarding gloves with built-in wrist guards. I studied snowboarding videos on YouTube, most notably by Tommie Bennett. I proudly curated a “Snowboard Aesthetic” Pinterest board.
I kept snowboarding—twice a week for a month—and kept improving, until the day the snow hardened; the conditions sucked, and I fell repeatedly. Pain radiated from deep inside my shoulder, severe enough that I couldn’t sleep for two nights. Fine. I’d go to urgent care. It felt serious. But after multiple X-rays, an arm sling, a bottle of prescription anti-inflammatories and three days of rest, I was ready to ride again.
Determined to finish the season strong, I booked a private lesson with Steven. He identified my strengths and weaknesses and helped me connect the dots. I practiced J-turns—riding downhill, then turning left or right and stopping when the snowboard ran parallel to the horizon. Next, I linked a heel turn with a toe turn and back to a heel turn, creating a serpentine S-turn down the hill. Steven asked if I was ready to learn how to get on and off a chairlift on a snowboard. I laughed and replied, “Next season.” After a hearty lunch and plenty of water, my boyfriend and I said a fond farewell to Mount Rose for the season.
On Sunday, April 27, 2025, the weather was cold and wet. With my weekend guests gone and my boyfriend out of town, I planned to spend a peaceful day with a glowing fire, a movie and two snuggly dogs. But a voice from the ghost of childhood whispered, “Go play outside.”
An hour later, I was cruising up the Mount Rose Highway, snowboard belted to the flattened passenger seat. Incredibly, the last day of the season was a “powder day,” and what a celebration it was. People were smiling, laughing, hugging, eating, drinking, shopping, skiing and snowboarding.
S-turning down the hill was a rush. It was the closest I’d ever felt to flying. Stopping my board at the bottom of the hill, in control, brought a deeply optimistic feeling. My “midlife crisis” wasn’t a crisis at all, but an awakening. Playing it safe had been killing me.
Timbers bar was packed, and the line for drinks was long. A bartender, setting down my drink, asked, “You’re one of the girls learning to snowboard this season, right?” I was taken aback but replied, “Yes. Yes I am.”
| BY JESSICA SANTINA
A Dickens of a detour
Reno Little Theater debuts a leaner, livelier version of the holiday classic
From the moment my family and I sat down and prepared to watch the media preview of Reno Little Theater’s newest show, Samuel Kebede’s A Christmas Carol, two things were clear: First, it was going to be fun, and second, we were probably going to be part of it. It was the two actors (Jessica Johnson and Kristina Charpentier) roaming the theater— with their musical instruments, reindeer antlers and cheeky repartee with attendees— who tipped me off.
Then, as the curtains parted to reveal a confused and cranky Scrooge (played, incidentally, by a woman, Judy Davis Rounds) as he finds himself onstage with them, I instantly knew a third thing about the show: This wasn’t the same old story.
I mean, it is the same story in that it’s still set in Victorian England and tells the story of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, his reckoning with ghosts, and his eventual redemption. But Kebede, an actor and standup comic, has made some significant updates to the classic
Dickens tale. First, though the dialogue all says the same stuff, the actual language has been modernized, with plenty of ironic humor and tongue-in-cheek nods to pop culture and contemporary societal issues woven throughout.
Another major adjustment is in the cast size; to be precise, the cast is almost entirely gone, save for the two antlered actors you meet at the start, who have the daunting responsibility of playing pretty much every other non-Scrooge character. (I say “pretty much” because there’s a bit of an … immersive surprise awaiting audiences.)
Finally, although the bones of the story and characters remain, some memorable details have been changed. Take, for example, our three spirits, who include an amateur magician and a social-media influencer. And although we all remember the fellow who approaches Scrooge to ask for a donation to the poor (“Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?”), Kebede’s version has Scrooge being accosted in the streets by a slew of charity workers, including
immigrant-rights activists and Norwegians concerned about climate change—and all deliver their appeals through song.
Also, yes, it’s a musical, but with relatively few musical numbers that are not the primary dialogue-delivery method.
The RLT production is gender-blind and double cast; though Davis Rounds plays Scrooge every night, Actors 1 and 2 alternate: Charpentier and Johnson take one week, and AJ Clopton and Eli Espinosa step in the following week, with the casts alternating through the end of the run (Dec. 14).
Though I can speak only to the cast I caught, I can confidently report that Actors 1 and 2 absolutely steal the show, with their lighthearted asides to the audience and cleverly managed quick changes—from man to woman to child and back again—that are accomplished with curtains, a few effective props, smart set design and versatile items of clothing. Ultimately, the changes evoke the spontaneity and chaos of a great improv performance. Charpentier and
Johnson are bursting with exuberance and playfulness, and the play’s pacing is energetic and upbeat, unlike Dickens’ original, which at times feels dark and heavy-handed.
Thanks to a deep vocal register and impressive makeup application, Davis Rounds makes a convincing Scrooge who remains in the style of the original, which I consider a wise choice.
Though there’s plenty of humor, it’s always good-natured, resulting in a show that, despite the author’s updates, still speaks of redemption, recognizes the human condition, delights the child in all of us—and will leave you feeling uplifted and full of holiday cheer.
A Christmas Carol is now onstage at Reno Little Theater, located at 147 E. Pueblo St. Remaining performances are at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Sunday, from Nov. 29 through Dec. 14. Tickets are $33 general admission, $30 for seniors and $20 for students. Visit www.renolittletheater.org.
Judy Davis Rounds plays Scrooge in Reno Little Theater’s updated version of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Two pairs of actors each play an entire cast on alternating weeks. They are, from left, AJ Clopton, Jessica Johnson, Eli Espinosa and Kristina Charpentier.
Photo/David Robert
ART OF THE STATE
One-woman ‘museum’
The new Great Basin Native Artists show at the Nevada State Museum has, in a sense, been in the works for decades
When Melissa Melero-Moose went on elementary- and middle-school field trips to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City in the 1970s and ‘80s, she saw something that made her cringe every time: the Native Americans exhibit.
“It was naked mannequins. It was humiliating,” said Melero-Moose, who is a Northern Paiute enrolled with the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, as well as an abstract painter, and the co-founder and director of Great Basin Native Artists. “It’s typical of most museums from my mom’s era.”
Displays like that one tend to stay on view, she said, “until a community comes in and says, ‘You know, let’s have something that looks like we’re still alive. Let’s not have just these dusty baskets that portray us just as these artists who came from ancient times.’”
For a couple of decades now, Melero-Moose has been one of the region’s main drivers of these conversations. Before the Lilley Museum of Art opened at the University of Nevada, Reno, the director
consulted with her about ways to showcase Indigenous artists. In 2015, she and Ben Aleck started Great Basin Native Artists, a group that makes sure work by Native artists from Nevada and neighboring states is exhibited and kept in the spotlight. In 2019, she donated GBNA’s growing archive—which contains files on each artist, exhibition posters, magazine articles and the like—to the Nevada Museum of Art, where she has since been a consultant and adviser for occasional projects.
By now, Melero-Moose is something of a one-woman “museum.” She curated the new exhibition, This Is Us: Contemporary Art From the Great Basin Native Artists, which opened late in November at the Nevada State Museum, asserting artists’ individual styles, stories and identities. The show includes dozens of paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, basketry, beadwork and works in other mediums. It’s a beautiful selection—a far cry from the exhibit that embarrassed her as a kid. And there’s a surprising detail that you won’t learn about in the wall text: All but a few pieces are from Melero-Moose’s own collection.
Left: A beaded basket with an eagle design by Jenny Dick and one with bluebird designs by Linda Johnson Comas. Below: Monique Sol Sonoquie’s “Post-industrial work basket.” Photos/Kris Vagner
Melero-Moose said. “It’s too hard to wrangle everybody together, especially when half of them are rural.”
At this point, Melero-Moose’s collection functions like one held by a museum or a homeowner with a great hall. Works like Monique Sol Sonoquie’s “Post-industrial work basket,” which looks like a traditional fishing basket but is made of plastic-coated wire cables, has traveled to Santa Fe with Melero-Moose and recently returned from being on loan in Los Angeles.
“And Stewart (Indian School Cultural Center and Museum in Carson City) is borrowing my Jacqueline Rickard beaded basket that I had purchased from her when she was here for the (Nevada Museum of Art’s) basket symposium,” Melero-Moose said. A piece she owns by GBNA co-founder Ben Aleck is on long-term loan to the Lilley.
“They officially borrowed it from me,” she said. “I was like, whoa, people are borrowing from my collection. How cool is that!”
Before you conjure a mental image of an “art collector,” consider that she lives in a small house in Hungry Valley on Reno Sparks Indian Colony land outside of Spanish Springs, far off any beaten path of commercial activity, and this small house contains no “gallery room” or “great hall” to speak of. While personal art collections are often amassed, at least partially, for the purpose of showcasing one’s wealth and taste, this one was accumulated for more practical reasons. Melero-Moose realized years ago that, if she was going to be able to put on exhibitions successfully without a large institution behind her to make studio visits, transport artwork (sometimes large, and often from remote locales, sometimes from as far as Arizona or New Mexico), and produce inventories, bios and other paperwork in short order, she was going to have to have all of this artwork on hand. (If you are entirely new to art-world goings on, I’ll put this in context for you: This is the first time I’ve ever heard of such an arrangement.)
“I have to work either within my collection, or just a few artists can participate,”
This Is Us: Contemporary Art From the Great Basin Native Artists is on view at the Nevada State Museum, at 600 N. Carson St., in Carson City, through October 2026. Museum admission is $10 for adults, and free for people 17 and younger, and museum members. Learn more at carsonnvmuseum.org. To learn more about Great Basin Native Artists, visit www. greatbasinnativeartists.com.
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FILM & TV
Not so bewitching
‘Wicked: For Good’ is an underdeveloped, disappointing bore; Apple TV+’s ‘Pluribus’ may be the year’s best new
TV show
Without ever seeing Wicked, I went into last year’s movie adaptation with no expectations—and found myself mildly amused. I liked the movie just fine, enjoying the music and the plot kernels, even though it felt more like a setup for a sequel than a complete film.
I went into Wicked: For Good with my expectations a little higher—and I wound up quite bored.
After closing out the first film with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), aka the Wicked Witch of the West, taking off on her own as a fugitive from the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) is left behind to help propel the propaganda machine of the Wiz and the evil Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). I mean, if you are good at heart, why would you ally yourself with somebody named Morrible? It’s clear from their name that they must be some sort of asshole.
While Elphaba is flying around causing trouble in her war to save the animals, Boq (Ethan Slater) and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) are walking into curses/spells that involve some famous Oz characters. This element of the story is so compelling—but it is rushed and pushed into the background. There is a missed opportunity for some real fun involv-
ing those Oz characters. I understand that may be the way in which it was handled in the stage show, but this is a movie, and these elements could’ve used some more heft.
The overall tone of the film is murky/dark; the musical numbers are so-so; and the story just doesn’t have a satisfying payoff. By the time Elphaba and Glinda are saying their goodbyes (until the inevitable sequel or prequel), the films haven’t done enough to prove their implied bond. They seem more like casual friends.
I know the two films put together are almost five hours long, but it seems like the story needed either a major trimming-down to one faster-paced movie, or another film to flesh out the undeveloped plotlines and holes. It doesn’t seem right at its current level of screen time.
Will there be more? The original Wicked novelist wrote all sorts of prequels and sequels expanding on the universe, although nothing has transpired onstage. If they do more, they need to spruce things up a bit and stick their landing better.
Pluribus, the new sci-fi thriller/dark-comedy series from Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), is proving to be the year’s best new TV experience.
We’re four Apple TV+ episodes in as of this writing; to review this without spoiling any of the fun will be difficult, but I shall try. Just to be safe, don’t read any further if you don’t want any aspects given away. Just take what I’ve written so far, believe what I’ve said, and come back later after you’ve watched.
Rhea Seehorn (Kimmy from another great series by Gilligan, Better Call Saul) plays Carol, a novelist plugging away at a book tour for a novel about which she isn’t particularly proud. Something happens at a bar where she and her publicist/lover (Miriam Shor) are kicking back, and we find ourselves in a sort of Invasion of the Body Snatchers scenario—not exactly like it, but with similar threads.
Carol, as it turns out, is … very unique regarding this situation, and she spends much of the first four episodes seeking people with a similar distinction. There, I think I’ve said enough without ruining things.
Gilligan—the showrunner/creator who directs some episodes and also has a hand in the writing—proves that his ability to entertain goes well beyond the Breaking Bad universe (although like those shows, this one is set in New Mexico). His time as a writer on The X-Files gave him some solid sci-fi chops, which come in handy on Pluribus.
Earlier this year, I reviewed another sci-fi show, Alien: Earth, optimistically after a strong start. That show—recently renewed for a second season—went completely off the rails as episodes played out. I have much higher hopes for Pluribus. The show has already been renewed for a second season, so we will have plenty of time to see Carol’s plight plays out.
BY BOB GRIMM
Without a doubt, the mesmerizing Seehorn, who never won an Emmy Award for her excellent portrayal of Kim Wexler in Saul, will get an Emmy for this show. I’m saying it now: She’s going to win an Emmy in the next couple of years.
Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes usually released on Fridays.
I wasn’t all that excited about a Predator movie that supposedly switched the point of view to that of the Predator, focusing on the hunter rather than the hunted. I also wasn’t excited for a Predator movie that was PG-13 and made the Predator somewhat of a sympathetic character. I like my Predators vicious, uncaring vehicles of terror. Well, I was misguided: This one pulls off the old Terminator 2 switcheroo, where the villain successfully becomes a good guy. (Well, sort of a good guy.)
Predator: Badlands is not only best film in the franchise; it is easily one of the year’s best action films. It’s basically like an Avatar movie gone batshit, where an alien planet’s supposed beauty is spiked with too many things that can kill you, and the Predator itself somehow becomes heroic.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who helmed the franchise-resurrecting Prey in 2022, the film is much more than a visual marvel. It features a franchise-best performance from Elle Fanning as two synthetic androids who cross paths with
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Ariana Grande-Butera and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked: For Good
Rhea Seehorn and Kevin Chambers in Pluribus.
FILM & TV
Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a “runt” predator on a terrifying alien planet trying to hunt a mystical, unbeatable beast.
Fanning, as a synthetic created by Weyland-Yutani (the fictitious evil corporation with threads in both the Alien and Predator franchises), gets a chance to show great range as both a sweeter, kinder and funnier version of a synth, and a cold, calculated and humorless one. Both performances are terrific, giving the action a surprisingly human element, even though the characters are artificial.
Dek is a nice addition to Predator lore, a likable character who conveys emotion through all of those prosthetics. The film still contains a ruthless Predator in the form of Dek’s father, so there will be room for the completely vicious Predators in future films. Still, it’s surprising how much you wind up caring for Dek, considering the franchise’s one-note nasty history with the Predators.
The end result is better than Prey, which was very good, and even better than Alien: Earth, the Hulu TV series that stumbled after
a shining start. Like Michael Fassbender before her, Fanning has set a new standard for synthetics in Alien/Predator lore.
Trachtenberg has put the Predator franchise on solid, consistent ground for the first time since the first film in 1987. After a series of sequel misfires, the last two movies show the premise has big, sturdy legs and a promising future.
Stephen King has not enjoyed all of the movie adaptations of his novels. This is not a surprise, considering his vast output; there’s a lot of room to disappoint the creator of all those books and stories.
2He famously disliked Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining for straying from his original vision, and he disliked The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger enough to have his real name removed from the project, replaced with his pseudonym Richard Bachman (the original author credit for the novel).
So here comes another take on The Running Man, this time helmed by the very reliable Edgar Wright and boasting a narrative much closer
to the original story. The result is a near miss that had a lot of promise, but lags too much in the middle—and falls flat on its face in the end.
Glen Powell replaces Arnie as Ben Richards, a down-on-his-luck dude looking to make some quick cash to take care of his family. The world he inhabits has been taken over by reality TV, including The Running Man, where three contestants attempt to evade hunters—and a public seeking them out for reward—in order to score a huge cash prize.
While the original was very campy, with Richard Dawson from The Family Feud as the main villain and host/producer of the show, this one has a more serious, action-oriented tone. It gets rid of the separate hunters with superpowers and makes them one team of faceless bad guys. This change is OK.
However, the film suffers from a surprising lack of variety and stimulating dialogue. This is the first mostly dull and sloppy film of Wright’s
career; he’s a man who hadn’t made a subpar movie until now (with Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World among his credits). Powell is likable enough as the protagonist, but perhaps a little too grating when his character goes into rage mode. Josh Brolin is good as the show’s evil producer, while Colman Domingo is solid but underdeveloped as the host.
After a quick start, the film heads into a meandering middle and, ultimately, a final act that doesn’t save things. In the end, it’s not a terrible movie; but it’s far from good.
Second takes at King adaptations usually don’t pan out. The Running Man joins The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie and Firestarter, among others, that fail in their attempt to please both the masses and King.
There have been rumblings in the past of a second run at Maximum Overdrive. Now that one, which was directed by King himself, could only get better.
Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in Predator: Badlands.
Glen Powell in The Running Man
THE DISH
Vipawan “Opal” Rahm
Chef and owner, Moo Dang Thai Restaurant
When Vipawan “Opal” Rahm became a stayat-home mom in 2015, she couldn’t stop thinking about food. After years working as a server in South Lake Tahoe, the Bangkok native found herself obsessed with opening a restaurant that would bring the authentic street food of her childhood to Reno. That vision became Moo Dang Thai, now celebrating its 10th year. The menu at Moo Dang reflects Rahm’s middle-class upbringing in Bangkok—it’s not fancy restaurant fare, but the vibrant, spicy, memory-laden dishes she longed for from Thailand. Some recipes come from her vegetarian mother. Others, like the very popular khao soi (a creamy coconut curry noodle soup), were added by customer request. Rahm’s mission remains simple: Serve the best Thai food possible—authentically spicy, not too sweet and focused on fresh, healthy ingredients. Moo Dang is located at 1565 S. Virginia St., in Reno. Visit www.thaimoodang.com. Photo by David
Robert
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten locally in the last month?
A bowl of Pho from 999 Pho. The broth is outstanding. You can taste that the spice and the beef in it are perfect. I also love the condiments that they leave on the table.
Your kitchen is on fire— metaphorically! What are you cooking?
Pad Thai and drunken noodle, of course! They are our most popular dishes. (I use) authentic pad Thai sauce only, though—no short cuts. I use only tamarind fruit, palm sugar and fish sauce, all imported from Thailand.
Who is your strongest culinary influence?
I have to say it’s me, because I am a big foodie. I love to eat as much as I love to cook. Whenever I taste something good, my brain starts working and tries to figure out what’s in it and how to prepare it. I like trying to crack the code.
| BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ
What is your go-to midnight snack?
Well, I am Asian, so my midnight snack will be instant noodles ramen. Haha! I always have them at home—so convenient, and they come with variety of flavors. I add a poached egg for protein, squeeze a lime on top, and top off with chili flake. Best snack ever!
Which local restaurant deserves more attention, and why?
Tofu House Korean cuisine. Recently reopened again after COVID, it is my go-to for Korean food in town. Their menu offers delicious Korean fried chicken, seafood pancakes, and jajangmyeon (savory noodles in black bean sauce), which are popular dishes in Korea.
How does food contribute to our community?
Food is not only for nutrition, but it is also social and cultural. There are so many varieties of cuisines to explore and discover how different ingredients, seasonings and tools all add to the experience. It would be boring to have just one cuisine.
What is the most unusual thing in your refrigerator right now?
Shhhh! It is the “king of fruit”—durian from Thailand. So yummy! I had to hide it in the freezer so my husband would not think that our house had a gas leak. If you have a chance, please try it.
Please share your favorite food memory from growing up.
I grew up in Bangkok. On the way home from school, there were food carts that cooked along the side of the road. One of my favorite bites is pork skewers and sticky rice. They cook the pork on a small grill over the charcoal. The pork skewers were so juicy that sometimes I had to use sticky rice to soak all the juice that was left in the bag.
What’s the one kitchen tool you can’t live without?
I choose my wok, because I cannot live without it. It’s versatile, as it can boil and sear, and its shape allows you to flip food quickly and easy. Plus, it makes prefect fried rice.
If you could have dinner at any restaurant in the world tonight, where would be it, and why there?
I would like to try Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, because I want to experience his first restaurant when he was a young chef and put all his passion into the food he made. Other than that, I would love to be in Thailand and go to the night market for my comfort foods with my family.
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN Openings
Barry Williams and Koming Suryani, owners of Bali Express, a Balinese food truck, teamed up with Adam Jimenez and Sarah Reynosa, owners of Fuego Street Tacos, formerly located in Reno Public Market, and rented a space that was formerly a Johnny Rockets. Their restaurant, Fuego and Bali, at 4600 Snyder Ave., Suite B, in Carson City, held its grand opening and ribbon cutting on Oct. 22. (“We won four restaurant awards before we even had a restaurant,” said Williams, explaining how the food truck rose to quick success after it opened in 2023.) The retro diner decor remains, with street tacos and other Mexican favorites available from one end of the counter, and Balinese/ Indonesian dishes like beef rendang and spicy lemongrass shrimp at the other end. Visit baliexpressrestaurant.com and fuegostreettacos.com.
New bar Barrel & Bine (pictured) opened on Nov. 8 in the space formerly occupied by The Growler Guys at 7530 Longley Lane, No. 106, in Reno. “We’re utilizing the existing draft system, and we’re selling cocktails on draft and beer on draft,” said co-owner Ken Hotchkiss, who previously owned Capitol Beer and Tap Room in Sacramento. Hotchkiss said of the beer menu, “We like to have a lager, a hefeweizen, something malty, something hoppy, something hazy, a wide variety, not ‘IPA only.’ It’s a balanced list.” A short food menu features items like chopped salad, tomato soup, and bar snacks including deviled eggs with bacon, pickled red onion and chives. Sunday happy hour, during which all drinks are $2 off, lasts all day. Find @barrelandbine775 on Instagram.
Closing
Great Basin Community Food Co-op closed its Foodshed Cafe in November, citing reduced traffic resulting from the ongoing Arlington Avenue Bridges Project. According to Nov. 9 social media
continued on next page
LIQUID CONVERSATIONS
A creamy time of year
Extra-rich holiday drinks have endured for generations
December is upon us—that special time of year when you and your loved ones gather around for that most cherished of traditions: drinking the heaviest, creamiest drinks possible.
It’s always perplexed me why, during the time of year when we eat the heaviest foods, we also drink beverages that are rich and high in calories—a Consumer Reports review of 30 eggnogs found that an 8-ounce serving has between 170 and 210 calories. Adding an ounce of rum or brandy adds 65 calories.
Now I am not here to say this is a bad thing. I love a creamy drink—but where did these drinks come from, and why do we drink them at this time of year? Let’s cannonball into the punchbowl of cocktail history and talk about my three favorite holiday creamy tipples, so that while you ignore the calories of the drink, you can share some fun facts with your loved ones.
Eggnog
The king of creamy holiday cocktails is
undoubtedly eggnog. This spiced, creamy, dreamy cocktail is honestly bizarre. How often are you excited to drink a cocktail that features two raw eggs, heavy cream and whole milk? Why in the world do we drink this?
Eggnog has murky origins, with many theories lost in the debate over the name. Its origins could come from an Old English term for strong beer, or maybe it comes from “noggin,” an outdated term for a small cup. In any case, by the 18th century, the name had stuck.
While the history of the name is questionable, the cocktail itself most likely comes from the early medieval “posset,” a warm, creamy, ale-style drink. In early America, around the 1700s, farms were stacked with chickens and cows—and most importantly, cheap rum. It makes sense that we would start mixing until something delicious came out. According to Time magazine, George Washington himself had a famous published recipe for eggnog that cooks of the era estimated featured a dozen raw eggs on top of one quart of cream, one quart of milk, one dozen tablespoons of sugar,
| BY MICHAEL MOBERLY
Andy Johnson puts a finishing touch on a hot buttered rum at Rum Sugar Lime. Photo/ David Robert
a whole pint of brandy, a half pint of rye, a half pint of Jamaican rum and a quarter pint of sherry for fun. Good luck waking up the next day after a couple of those.
Hot buttered rum
Let’s get some hot rum, then throw in some spices and butter, and see how it tastes. If you have never had a hot buttered rum, you may gawk at the idea, but you are missing out on the velvety tiki staple holiday drink.
This drink, like most hot cocktails, started as a treatment for a sore throat and grew into the drink we know today, thanks in part to the godfather of tiki: Trader Vic. In 1946, the modern idea of the hot buttered rum was published in Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink, where he advised creating a base that could be added to hot water and rum.
With three types of sugar totaling 3 1/2 pounds, a pound and a half of butter, a cup of vanilla ice cream and spices, the base for a hot buttered rum is almost cake-batter in texture. Add a spoonful of the spicy, creamy mix to hot water and rum, and you’ve got yourself a tropical holiday.
Coquito
I love Puerto Rico. Every time I visit, my heart grows four sizes, so much so that on a trip there, I decided it was time to marry my wife. The culture and the people fill the island with a kind of hospitality and joy that is infectious. On top of being my favorite place, Puerto Rico is also home to two of my favorite drinks: the piña colada and its holiday cousin, coquito.
Coquito’s base is a tapestry of cultures that make up Puerto Rico’s history. The drink resembles the possets from which eggnog came, which were popular with the island’s Spanish colonizers. The name coquito translates to “little coconut”; coconuts were initially introduced to the island with enslaved Africans who were brought to work the sugar plantations. The drink took shape in the ’50s after the introduction of evaporated and condensed milk to the island. The key ingredient, Coco Lopez cream of coconut, was invented in Puerto Rico and is the main ingredient in a piña colada. There is no official recipe for coquito, mainly because every family makes it differently; however, most recipes feature one can of Coco Lopez, one can of evaporated milk, one can of condensed milk, one can of coconut milk, and a blend of spices mixed into two cups (or more) of rum. The key to a great coquito is to make a lot of it to share with everyone you know—but be sure to let it rest in the fridge for at least two nights.
Wine scene wrap-up
Reno’s wine producers, shops and bars were warm and welcoming in 2025;
the 2026 forecast is for more of the same
Reno’s wine scene in 2025 has been full of energy, warmth and opportunities, whether you’re a wine lover or just curious to try something new. Our retail wine shops, wine bars and wineries are all inviting.
Reno’s retail shops are treasure troves of discovery. Friendly staff members recommend new arrivals, help you find the best value, and/or suggest a wine that fits your taste, even if you’re not quite sure what you like yet.
These shops pride themselves on having a wide range from which to choose. You’ll
generally find bottles from all the classic regions from around the world. Many shops offer samplings and tasting nights, so you can try before you buy. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, compare prices or pick up a bottle you’ve never heard of. The real fun here is in the adventure and conversation.
Craft Wine & Beer remains a favorite for its eclectic, adventurous selections, including “natural,” organic and off-the-beaten-path wines. Local grocery stores have great selections as well. Raley’s offers a 30% discount when purchasing six bottles, and Grocery
| BY STEVE NOEL
At Engine 8 Urban Winery in Sparks, owners Mike and Wendi Rawson offer not just wine, but also music, tours and food. Photo/ David Robert
Outlet has closeout pricing.
For folks looking to relax with a glass or try something new, wine bars are the social heart of Reno’s wine scene. Wine bars here are designed for people, not “wine experts.” That means no stuffy atmospheres or intimidating menus, just friendly places to gather.
Most wine bars feature a rotating selection, so there’s always something fresh and exciting to taste. If you’re not sure what to order, the staff members are always happy to explain the options and suggest some of their favorites. Many wine bars also offer delicious small plates—think cheeses, gourmet snacks and artisan breads.
Wine bars in the Reno area also host events, from group tastings and themed nights to live music and art. These create a laid-back sense of community, and you don’t need to be an “insider” to join in.
Whispering Vine Wine Co. is repeatedly lauded as Reno’s best, with locations in northwest and south Reno, a retail selection of thousands of labels, and spaces designed for small-plate pairings and casual gatherings. Zephyr Wine Bar stands out as my favorite, not only for its diverse wine list but also for its warm hospitality and elegant tapas. It’s a great locale for both intimate evenings and larger private events.
Reno’s wineries combine old-world tradition with new-world creativity. In their tasting rooms, you can sample their latest releases and get a behind-the-scenes peek at the whole process. It is great to be able to visit a winery right here in Reno without having to drive all the way to Napa.
Nevada Sunset Winery, in the heart of Reno’s Downtown Brewery District, was the first licensed winery in Northern Nevada.
Winemaker Kate Boyle MacDonald and her husband, Craig, bring European winemaking sensibilities to California and Nevada fruit, focusing on terroir-driven wines, stored and matured with patience and tradition. They blend science, art and local pride to produce wines in a state where many believed it would be impossible.
Also impressive is the Engine 8 Urban Winery in Sparks, which offers tastings of wines born on-site, along with live music, food and tours.
Reno is a city that makes wine accessible and enjoyable. The focus is on learning, sharing and celebrating what’s local and unique, with a smile and an open door.
There are more wine festivals, dinners and wine walks being added every year. I don’t expect 2026 to be any different.
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN
continued from Page 26 posts, both the co-op and the cafe experienced 20%-plus declines in sales after the Arlington Bridge was closed in May, cutting off travel on Arlington Avenue, the closest main street. The co-op’s grocery store will remain open at 240 Court St., where soups, baked goods and other grab-and-go options are still available.
Event
The Wedge Ceramics Studio, at 2095 Dickerson Road, in Reno, is hosting its 15th annual Chili Cash and Carry holiday shopping event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 13 and 14. A handmade ceramic bowl costs $35, and the price includes a serving of chili and cornbread from Bone Appetit BBQ. Proceeds will benefit the studio. Other ceramic kitchenware and artwork will be available for sale, as well. Learn more at www.thewedgeceramics.com.
News
Great Basin Brewing Co.’s Red Nose Holiday Wassail earned a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival, which took place in Denver Oct. 9-11. “The Great American Beer Festival is one of the ‘Big Two’ beer competitions in the world, with more than 9,000 entries from breweries across the country,” according to a press release. Brewmaster Aaron Halecky called the wassail “a fun, evolving tradition where every year brings a new recipe. Over the years, previous brewers at Great Basin have added their own touch with different spices and fruits.” This award-winning brew is available on tap and in cans at all Great Basin locations in Reno, Sparks, Carson City and Minden. It is not available in stores.
Two other local breweries also earned medals in the Great American Beer Festival competition. Schussboom Brewing Co.’s Tripel Cork, a Belgian-Style Tripel, and Parlay 6 Brewing Co.’s Coconut Mafia stout each earned a bronze.
10 Torr Distilling and Brewing issued a new, limited release spirit, Reserve Rum With the Big Dogs, on Nov. 21. The release was in collaboration with Washoe County K9 Partners, a nonprofit group that helps the region’s law enforcement dogs with equipment, training and medical needs. 10 Torr will donate $5 from each sale to the group. The rum is not being distributed in stores and is available only at 10 Torr, 490 Mill St., in Reno, while supplies last.
Have local food, drink or restaurant news? Email foodnews@renonr.com.
—Kris Vagner
MUSICBEAT
Meet Kat Heart
With a range from indie to blues, the Reno musician has found her following
The Reno music scene has many late bloomers, musicians who started when they were well out of their teen years. Kat Heart is one of those locals who began playing guitar and writing songs in her late 20s— and it took a significant life change to begin her musical life.
Heart, now 41, was born in South Lake Tahoe and lived in Gardnerville for most of her youth. After living in Lima, Ohio, for a decade, she returned to Gardnerville in 2012 after a divorce. She also decided to teach herself guitar and write songs as part of this major crossroads in her life.
“The day I left Ohio, I bought a used black Yamaha acoustic for $100,” Heart said. “I jumped on a plane to visit my family (in Gardnerville) and sort my life out, and I went to the open mic at Genoa Bar (and Saloon), and that was the first time I played guitar and sang for people. I never knew that
I had a voice or that anyone would want to listen to it. I used to say, ‘I can sing on key, but you don’t want to hear it.’”
Oh, how wrong Heart was. She slayed that first open-mic slot and kept going from there, eventually establishing herself as a force in the Reno-Tahoe singer/songwriter scene. She said she’s written about 300 songs in those 12-plus years and can perform a two- to three-hour show.
“Not every song is a keeper, but music has always been a therapeutic thing for me,” Heart said. “It was how I coped with my emotions, and I got a lot off my chest. A couple of songs I’ve written are more like a story or maybe where my life was, just inspiration and not fact, but the vast majority are genuine to my life. …
A lot of the music comes from a place of healing and communication, trying to make the world a better place and not giving in to the darkness.
“I take the time to talk at every show about community, because that’s what it’s all about. I
don’t book any corporate gigs, because I want to support the places that really support the community.”
Heart classifies her music as indie, although she has earned a steady following of local blues fans thanks to her powerful yet nuanced rock voice. There’s plenty of range in what she can play, though. “I have songs that are heavy to super-super light, more like jazz or folk,” she said. She started playing her diverse songs with a band, called Feral Heart, in June 2024, with a pretty big debut: opening for roots-American singer/songwriter Grace Potter at the Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch. In the current Feral Heart lineup, Heart sings and plays guitar and is joined by Arthur Kerr on second guitar, Guy Hartshorn on tenor sax, Jasmine Cooper on bass and Luke Knudsen on drums.
Heart’s music is barely on Spotify, not just for political reasons, but because she said their terms and conditions take too many artistic
| BY MARK EARNEST
Singer/songwriter Kat Heart plays as a solo artist and as the leader of blues-based indie-rock band Feral Heart. Photo/Andrew Kuttor
rights from musicians. She is on other streaming services and has her own YouTube channel with audio and video of her solo and Feral Heart material. This includes two full-length albums, an EP and several singles.
She and the band have decisive plans to record more songs. First, there is work in December with local video company Coyote Creative to record live material that will be released in January. Heart also said a full studio recording of Feral Heart material is in the cards, in the new year after that video shoot. It’s an ambitious schedule, but Heart said she couldn’t resist the “universal kismet” of this all coming together.
“I’ve been working toward a lot of these things for a long time,” she said. “I have all of my dream players now. Arthur, I’ve known for a long time; he’s a very good friend of mine. I consider him a brother. And Jasmine is my dream bassist, but we never lined up properly to play together until now.”
It’s also a great time to record, as Heart is less busy onstage in the winter months. She reeled off the list of regular gigs she has during the summer months: She hosts three blues jams a month, performs a week-long residency in Tahoe, plays twice a month in Carson City, and grabs other Feral Heart gigs as they come up. Heart is also busy with her four children: Annie, 23; Alex, 19; Autumn, 18; and Alyssa,15. She also had guardianship of two other children before they were adults, Hunter, 19, and Matthew, 18. It’s not a surprise that most of her children are musically inclined.
“Alex has been on tour with me before and is a hell of a bass player,” Heart said. “My oldest daughter knows most band instruments and is mostly a flute player, though she’s not doing that now. Autumn has a beautiful voice and plays the ukelele. Alyssa is learning drums, guitar and sax, and Hunter is the lead singer in his own indie rock band.”
Heart said she’s proud her children have all found the same love of music that she embodies. “My thing would be to get all of them to play with me at the same time,” she said.
Kat Heart will co-host First Tuesday Open Mic at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 10 Torr Distilling and Brewing, 490 Mill St. in Reno. She’s also scheduled to play during jams with the Reno Blues Society at 3 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14 and 28, at Lead Dog Brewing, 415 E. Fourth St., in Reno. A duo version of Feral Heart is slated to play on Friday, Dec. 19, at The Fox Restaurant and Brewery, 124 Wonder St., in Reno. Learn more at www.katheart.net.
Ska-punk pioneers
Save Ferris hit the road to give smaller and mid-size venues a boost
Nearly a decade ago, ska legends Save Ferris coined the term “ska now more than ever”—and well, we kinda do need ska now more than ever.
Thanks to tireless work in the mid-late ’90s spent crafting their upbeat sound, Save Ferris became mainstays of the ska scene, helping to popularize the genre and grow a global fanbase for their mix of punk rock, horns and feel-good jams. You’ve likely heard-their ska-riffic version of “Come on Eileen” on the radio or in a dance club.
But Save Ferris is out to save more than just ska. They’re touring through some lesser-played markets in an effort to support venues, and the band is making a stop in Reno on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Club Underground.
“It’s sort of a rare appearance (in Reno) for us,” said frontwoman Monique Powell during a recent phone interview.
Powell said she wants to support smaller and mid-size venues “as much as possible.”
“There’s been this goal to hit as many midsize clubs as we can on our tours, because I find that that market is starting to die off,” Powell said. “There aren’t many of these venues open, so we want to support them in any way that we can.”
The ska music genre would be nothing without mid-sized clubs filled with skanking (a popular ska dance move).
“COVID really hurt the industry a lot, and we lost a lot of venues then,” Powell said. “The economy doesn’t help, and inflation doesn’t help. It’s not easy opening a business, a brickand-mortar, nowadays, and keeping it open. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
Instead of dropping albums, Save Ferris is doing what a lot of bands are doing these days: slowly releasing singles over time. It’s a way to meet music fans where they are, and it helps
bands to have something new to promote every few months. The band has been using this strategy since 2023’s “Xmas Blue,” which was followed by 2024’s “Lights Out in the Reptile House.” This year saw the release of both “Get Dancing” and “Ooh Ooh Rudi,” which, just like the last two singles, will be released on a 7-inch record in December.
“All of these songs, except for ‘Xmas Blue,’ are going to be on the full-length album that’s hopefully coming out early next year,” Powell said. “They’re all just part of the big picture, and we’re introducing them into the consciousness slowly, one little song at a time. When the fulllength comes out, hopefully people will be at a place where they want to hear more.”
The highly anticipated Save Ferris album will be the band’s first LP since 1999.
“I started writing this album years ago, and then totally scrapped what I had,” Powell said. Powell wants the upcoming release to be as
current as possible, even if the singles for the record are spread out over multiple years.
“Times change; the social climate changes. So where we’re at now, I feel we need something a little different than what we needed five years ago,” she said. “Michael Bradford (a producer) and I put this album together, and it’s been virtually done for about six months, but there are about two more songs I want to write to put on the album. We’re just a writing machine. He’s a producing and writing machine, and we just pump stuff out really quick. I want the right album to come out. I don’t want to just put stuff out to put stuff out.”
Dropping singles here and there doesn’t give Powell the same amount of excitement as releasing an album, but the delayed release cycle allows more time for fun music videos and dedicated artwork for each single.
“The excitement is more of a trickle rather than a bang,” she said. “… We used to just record a video in a day, and spend copious amounts of money on it. Now you have to learn to be creative with little to no budget. It’s fun, because I have full creative control, and then I get to make videos with my boyfriend, who’s a filmmaker, which is super convenient and also very fun.
“I get to come up with the concepts, and then my partner, Ashley Kimmet, and I work out how we’re going to see it come to fruition. Our first video together was the video for ‘Xmas Blue,’ and it’s hilarious. We had so much fun. It was just the two of us recording things around the house. We had a blast, and we had so many laughs. For ‘Get Dancing,’ that was a really fun concept, because we wanted there to be choreography that everybody could do. There are choreography instructionals on our YouTube page. Some people come to the shows and do the choreography with the song, and it’s adorable. … I have all of these visions that may not have anything to do with the song, but it makes for a beautiful picture. The video for ‘Rudi’ is going to be super-cool.”
Save Ferris would release music on a more consistent basis if not for their love of touring.
“We’re busy,” Powell said. “We could probably release singles faster, but we’re on the road a lot, so that kind of gets in the way. When it’s one woman in charge of the entire destiny, I can’t be in 25 places at one time, and I’m not a young girl anymore. When I’m touring, every day, I’m like, ‘God, give me strength.’ I’m not a religious person—but boy, do I pray.”
Save Ferris will perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 6 at Club Underground, 555 E Fourth St., in Reno. Tickets are $27.27. For more information, visit clubundergroundreno.com.
Save Ferris.
JONESIN' CROSSWORD
| BY MATT JONES
“Zoom Lens”—people with the same initials. By
Hotel offerings
U.K. singer who left his boy band in 2015
Trooper maker
Digital party notice 21. Seafood in a “shooter”
Mosquito net material 24. He played Max Bialystock in The Producers 28. Volcanic debris 29. Election Day mo.
Repetitive Olympics chant 31. Bed covering
“You’re born naked, and the rest is ___”: RuPaul
New York City’s mayor as of Jan. 1,
2026
39. Bob’s Burgers daughter
40. Pay rate
41. Disinclined (to)
44. Whatever number
45. Consumer protection gp.
48. Former Dallas Cowboys guard on the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
51. Back
52. More keen
53. “Filthy” money
54. WarGames org.
56. Youngest of a set of comedic film brothers
59. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe author Fannie
60. “___ called to say I love you ...”
61. 2018 Super Bowl number
62. One-on-one student
63. Ghostbusters actress Annie
64. ___ Gala (annual NYC event) Down
1. Dermatitis type
THE LUCKY 13
Jesse Green
Vocalist/guitarist/songwriter of Dewolfe
2. Faces courageously
3. Like some youthful charm
4. “Je t’___” (“I love you,” in French)
5. Lab evidence
6. The NBA’s Hawks, on a scoreboard
7. Aforementioned
8. Ginza’s city
9. Chips with a Chili Cheese variety
10. Crosses the International Date Line, perhaps 11. “I’ve made my move”
12. Celebrity gossip website
13. Buckeyes’ sch.
18. Extreme degree
22. Alma mater of Laura Bush, briefly
24. Harlem Renaissance author ___ Neale Hurston
25. Squares up
26. Caprica actor Morales
27. Fall behind
29. All Songs Considered network
31. Diver’s enclosure
32. Reddit Q&A feature
33. Part of a Buddhist
title
35. NCIS: Tony & ___ (2025 spinoff)
36. Like some diamonds, sizewise
37. Death in Venice author Thomas
38. Not sweet, as wine
39. Space Jam character, familiarly
42. Mess up, as ink
43. Part of MRE
45. “Chill, will you?”
46. Peter Pan author
47. Portmanteau in 2016 U.K. news
49. Close again
50. Danny of Machete
51. Mojito liquor
53. A bunch
54. Theoretically uncopyable piece of digital art, for short
Find the answers in the “About” section at RenoNR.com!
Dewolfe, a pop-punk band out of Reno, uses energetic musical vibes to sing about cryptids, haunts and the end of the world. The band’s alternative approach to both sonics and song topics has allowed for moments of Mothman metal, Bigfoot blues, chupacabra-crunch guitars, and even some fairytale folk. Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Jesse Green uses a pop-inspired vocal approach, allowing these science-fiction tunes to combine dreamy with doomsday, crafting earworms as big as the Loch Ness Monster! The band’s debut EP, Not Dead Yet, features six tracks that show off the band’s diverse and mystical body of work. For more information, visit instagram.com/ dewolfe.band. Photo by David Robert
What was the first concert you attended? Nine Inch Nails.
What was the first album you owned? Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John.
What bands are you listening to right now? The Mountain Goats, The Orwells, Blaze Foley, Geto Boys, C.W. Stoneking, and Power Trip.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? None really come to mind. I think there’s value in every genre if you look for it and have an open mind.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live? 1980s Motorhead. I would melt into nutritious goo from the sheer power.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? I listen to a lot of soundtracks to musicals. I don’t know if that’s guilty or not. Sweeney Todd, Chicago, that kind of
thing. I also unironically enjoy Creed, but I take no shame in that, either.
What’s your favorite music venue? Cypress is really nice.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“Tell me why / Does the spice of loneliness / Seem all but tasteless / And lays there / To haunt me from inside,” “Diet of Strange Places,” k.d. lang.
What band or artist changed your life? How? Bob Dylan. He was my gateway into more artistic musical acts and my inspiration to learn to play the guitar and sing at the same time.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats: Why are you so good at writing lyrics? Can you teach me to write lyrics like you? Also, can my band open for you? We can play Magic: The Gathering together, too, if you’re still doing that. That would be dope. Thank you. I love you.”
What song would you like played at your funeral?
“Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce to make everyone cry. “One Day” by Matisyahu to make all my friends who are still alive laugh.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Warren Zevon, self-titled.
What song should everyone listen to right now?
Zapp, “Doo Wah Ditty (Blow That Thing).” Try not to do a little dance when you listen to it. I dare ya!
| BY KRIS VAGNER
Michael Connolly
Co-owner of Brewers Cabinet, with a new monthly farmers’ market
There’s a new farmers’ market in town, and it has at least three distinguishing factors: It’s in a brewery; its afternoon hours are friendly to the non-early risers among us; and it bravely launched in November, with winter about to set in. The Harvest and Hops Farmers’ Market takes place on the first Saturday of each month from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Brewer’s Cabinet Production Facility, at 8565 White Fir St., in Reno. The vendors set up indoors, and there’s picnic-table seating indoors and out. The next two markets are slated for Saturday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Jan. 3.
How did the idea come about to host a farmers’ market at the brewery?
It’s a huge space, and I was trying to find some ways to fill it up with some activities and promotions, and when I go from the restaurant downtown to the production facility, I drive by the farmers’ market (on California Avenue) almost every time. … I was like, “I’m sure in the wintertime, it gets hard to do those farmers’ markets,” and I thought, “I have an indoor facility, plus space. Maybe it’s something worth trying out.”
What other events have you tried?
We did an Oktoberfest celebration in the end of September. (On Nov. 22), we actually (had) a huge concert going on. It’s called the School of Rock. They teach kids how to play music concerts there. We have bunch of holiday parties that go out there as well. We had the Manogue (High School) track team do their end-ofyear celebration. … We rent it out and use it to do parties all the time.
What types of vendors are at the new farmers’ market?
We’ve got produce, of course, which is
getting harder and harder to do because of the weather. We have a poultry guy; we have a meat guy; then we have little knickknacks. One person’s doing candles. Another vendor is doing candy and chocolate.
At the November market, did you see anything that particularly caught your eye?
The lady who was doing face-painting was selling Thanksgiving wreaths, and she sold a bunch of them. I think Frost Giant ice cream had a good turnout; it was nice that day, actually. It was pretty sunny. … I emailed everyone, like, “Hey, how was the response? Would you guys do it again?” And everyone seemed pretty positive, especially considering it was the first one. … I know the taco truck (La Reyna) had a great day.
Will the taco truck be there all winter? Yeah, they’re there every time we’re open.
Can people buy canned beer from you there, too? We have six packs to-go.
Any special holiday brews?
We’ve got a beer coming. It’s called Control Alt Delete. It’s a festive Kölsch ale, a light German beer. In Germany, there’s a town that makes Kölsch, which is Cologne, and the town next to them makes what’s called an altbier, which is a rival of the Kölsch. It’s a light beer, but it looks dark. So we have the yeast that we use for the Kölsch beer, and we’re excited to make an alt beer. That comes out Dec. 4. It’ll be out for the next farmers’ market.
Any other news?
We’re doing the collaboration with the Reno Ice Raiders, which is the local hockey team. We’ve done a beer for them every year, and we’ve changed it up every year. Last year, it was an IPA. This year, it’s actually a Kölsch. It’s called The Tookey. The coach’s name is (Tim) Tookey, and he was a famous NHL player on the East Coast. Now he coaches the Ice Raiders, and the team wanted to make a beer named after him. We sell it at both places (the production facility and the brewpub at 475 S. Arlington Ave.), and then we sell it at the ice rink. … I went to a game a couple weeks ago, and the cans were everywhere. The beer was everywhere. Everybody was having a great time. It was fun.
