The winners of the 2025 Nevada Press Foundation’s Awards of Excellence have been announced, and congratulations are in order all around! To our hardworking RN&R contributors, I say: Great work! I’m excited to see you recognized for jobs well done.
The RN&R competes in the Urban category, meaning we’re up against the state’s largest newspapers, like the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In the editorial department, Michael Moberly won first place in Food/Dining writing for his erudite, informative “Liquid Conversations” column. Veteran arts writer Jessica Santina won first place in Entertainment Feature Story for her moving theater story from last fall, “‘Still a story that needs to be told’: UNR students tackle the painful, prescient story of Matthew Shepard’s death and its aftereffects.” (I’m honored that my name is tagged onto that award for having penned the sidebar.)
Publisher Jimmy Boegle’s thoughtful monthly dispatches earned first place for “Local Column”; I can’t think of a clearer, more consistent bird’s-eye view of what it’s like to be a local news publisher in this, an absurdly difficult era in which to be a local news publisher.
The RN&R also took home three second-place and two third-place editorial awards for Special Sections, Education Writing, General Online Excellence and Editorial Page. In the advertising department, we earned first place for Advertising General Excellence, and second place for Special Section or Campaign.
Designer Dennis Wodzisz earned second place in Page One Design/ aCover Design for his always-creative cover and cover-story designs, and the paper as a whole earned third place for Overall Design.
Well done, RN&R team!
And to our colleagues at news organizations large and small—The Nevada Independent, The Record-Courier, edible Reno Tahoe, This Is Reno, Lahontan Valley News and many others—kudos all around. Thank you for fighting the good fight, keeping truth in the limelight, and telling the stories of our communities.
LETTERS
Prioritize solar power
On Sept. 21, a lively group gathered at Idlewild Park to celebrate the sun. The Solar Festival rang out with solar-amplified live music, demonstrated the power of solar generators and solar ovens, and featured sun-hat art builds, tie-dye, lawn games and nonprofit organizations supporting a quick transition to clean energy. Patterned after Earth Day, Reno’s Sun Day festival was one of more than 450 events nationwide calling on all of us to rise up for a sun-powered planet.
Sun Day is the brainchild of author Bill McKibben, hatched while writing his book Here Comes the Sun. Did you know that while the U.S. continues to dither around and prop up fossil fuels with subsidies, the rest of the planet is blasting forward with the cheapest energy available? As of 2024, solar power is one-half the cost of coal and gas and one-third the cost of nuclear energy; unlike fossil fuels, solar energy gets cheaper the more you use it. After regulations were loosened, 1.5 million Germans plugged in balcony solar. (These stats all come from McKibben’s book.)
Beyond celebrating, we want to bring solar power home. The sun shines almost every day in Nevada, and we have the right to
Email letters to letters@renonr.com
harvest the sun that shines on our homes, whether we own or rent them. One thing you can do is to sign a petition at actionnetwork.org urging local officials to do everything they can to clear the way for a quick transition and implement policies that remove barriers to clean energy access.
Facilitator,
Cathy
Fulkerson
Third Act Nevada Reno
Nevada’s legal system is driving up costs for car buyers
As a car salesman and proud member of the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, I’ve dedicated my career to helping people find reliable vehicles they can afford. But in today’s market, the biggest obstacle isn’t inventory or financing—it’s Nevada’s broken legal system that drives up costs for consumers and small businesses alike. Nevada’s lawsuit-abuse costs are among the highest in the nation, averaging $4,603 per household. Nearly half of those costs fall on small businesses, from dealerships to service shops. That means higher insurance premiums, vendor expenses, and legal fees—all of which ultimately trickle down to the customer. Billboard attorneys and predatory-lawsuit lenders are making the problem worse. By pushing accident victims into high-interest loans and
unnecessary medical treatments, they inflate settlements and pad their own profits. The result? Rising costs across every industry, including auto sales. Customers pay more; businesses struggle to grow; and our economy suffers. Other states have acted to rein in these abuses. Nevada must do the same by reforming lawsuit lending and increasing transparency. We need a legal system that protects people, not one that enriches trial lawyers.
Aerys Pozo Via RenoNR.com
How to find LGBTQ+ and allied businesses
Regarding “Pride month in Reno: Here’s some advice from locals on how to be a good ally,” RN&R, September 2025): Great advice on how to be a good ally! When it comes to patronizing queer-friendly businesses, there is an online directory that includes a list of LGBTQ+ and allied businesses in Nevada. GLCCNV is Nevada’s LGBTQ+ and Allied Chamber of Commerce, and all are welcome! We also invite you to explore our event calendar and join us at an upcoming business networking event. For more information visit glccnv.org. Kri Edholm Via RenoNR.com
—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, Alex Cubbon, Loryn Elizares, Bob Grimm, Helena Guglielmino, Matt Jones, Matt King, Kelley Lang, Chris Lanier, Michael Moberly, Steve Noel, Alice Osborn, Dan Perkins, Carol Purroy, Sitara Reganti, 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 MARK MAYNARD
Reflect on your media literacy; improve your news diet; keep fighting for free speech
The recent suspension (and subsequent reinstatement, as of this writing) of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC is a critical turning point for anyone who cares about the Constitutional right to free speech.
The reason for Kimmel’s silencing can be summed up in a famous line from the 1976 film All the President’s Men about journalists Bob Woodward (played by the late Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) investigating the Watergate scandal: “Follow the money.”
In our current political climate, it’s vital to understand the U.S. media landscape, and use that knowledge to act in your own interests. Kimmel’s silencing was initiated by two media conglomerates, Nexstar and Sinclair, owners of hundreds of U.S. television stations between them, including dozens of ABC affiliates. The banning of Kimmel was an act of anticipatory compliance in response to a thinly veiled threat by Brendan Carr, chair of the broadcast regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Carr—expressing the displeasure of his boss, Donald Trump, at some of Kimmel’s comments in the wake of the Charlie Kirk shooting—went on the record to say, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” in regards to ABC removing Kimmel.
to boycott a mom-and-pop business shouldn’t be what you’re after, especially on the cusp of a possible recession. The goal is to let these businesses know that local citizens are paying attention.
While ABC may have capitulated after the public outcry over the suspension of its latenight star, pay attention to what Nexstar and Sinclair do in these next few weeks.
STREETALK
BY DAVID ROBERT
Have you ever lived in or been in a haunted house? Had a supernatural experience?
Asked at Monte Vista Village, 9570 S. McCarran Blvd., Reno
Both Nexstar and Sinclair are so large that they cannot legally expand their ownership through mergers because of an FCC rule banning companies from having broadcast access to more than 39% of all U.S. households, in an effort to prevent media monopolies. They are dependent on Carr’s agency changing those rules.
Even if ABC has relented, Sinclair in particular is still advocating for shutting down dissent against the Trump administration, as evidenced by a Sept. 17 press release titled “Sinclair Says Kimmel Suspension Is Not Enough, Calls on FCC and ABC to Take Additional Action.” Sinclair owns three Reno television stations—KRNV (News 4), KRXI (Fox 11), and KNSN (Nevada Sports Net). It is a great time to watch their local broadcasts and list the local businesses that are advertising with them. Call or email those companies, and let them know that you support free speech and a free press. Encourage them to consider their affiliation with companies working to curtail free speech, and to consider no longer buying ads on those stations. Be considerate and compassionate—threatening
It is also important to change your news consumption habits and expectations. The country experienced the shock of a nationally televised (and social media-casted) murder of a public figure, and endures near-constant posturing barrages against norms and laws by the current administration. It is common to crave meaning and instant answers among senseless violence and callous cruelty (the round up and detention of our neighbors without due process, assaults on LGBTQ+ members of our community, the increase of blatantly racist rhetoric, etc.), but the truth takes time. Good journalists require days and sometimes weeks to chase down sources, double-check facts, request records, and put those facts out there accurately and completely. Support journalists and organizations that do this, and amplify their work on your own social media. Don’t internalize new developments as fact. (This is a mistake Kimmel himself made in bringing Kirk’s killer’s affiliations and motivations into the discussion before the information was out there.) Do your own research when you hear new information added to the discussion.
It is a far more responsible (and healthier) practice to begin finding your own sources for accurate, vetted information. Remove your admiration (or disdain) for the speakers, and cross-check information from different sources (and with different slants) to arrive at a deeper, more accurate understanding of the day’s events and how they affect you. Use sites like AdFontesMedia.com, and review the media-bias charts. Rather than paying attention to the bias axis of those charts, focus on how accurate media outlets have proven to be over time, and revisit often to track that accuracy.
Most importantly, support your true local media. Know what outlets have local ownership and connections in the community, and know which are owned by large, national corporations with a far greater interest in pursuing profit than truth—and appeasing those in power to get it.
Mark Maynard is a professor of English and journalism, an author and a filmmaker. He lives in Reno.
Saul Ruelas Electrician
Yes, when I was 15, I went to Mexico to visit my aunt, and there was an abandoned house near her. It was empty for over 20 years. My cousin and I went there, and we were told to go at exactly midnight. A bunch of birds flew at us in the dark and scared us. We stayed a while, and nothing happened. We went back home, and we started hearing footsteps and drawers opening and closing around the house. Then the house shook and shuddered.
Daniela Lima Project manager
I was about 7 years old, and my mom, my grandpa and I moved into a house that had this weird vibe. We all felt it. We went to a carnival, and I got a balloon. We had cameras in the house, and we saw the balloon moving up and down and around the house. Balloons shouldn’t move like that.
Kimberly Vazquez Veterinary assistant
Yes, it was a house that I lived in during the COVID lockdown. My room was near the bathroom, and we had a “dead people’s” table in the hall, with pictures of our dead relatives on the table. My grandmother died when I was 15, and I had dreams about her all the time. One night, I had to go to the bathroom, and I had to walk by the dead people’s table, and when I turned off the light in the bathroom, my grandmother came running at me! I blinked, and she was gone.
Ava Spalding
Dance studio manager
No, I have never lived in a haunted house. But, one night, I was alone in my bed, and I suddenly felt two hands grab my shoulders. I jumped straight up! I wasn’t scared, actually; it was comforting. I’m religious, so I assumed that it was Jesus who was comforting me as I was going through a bad time in my life and telling me that he “had my back.”
Giovanni Lucchesi
Golf cart attendant
I had a dream about a shooting at a party that my friends and I were supposed to go to. It was a supernatural warning dream. I woke up and thought that it was just a weird dream or nightmare, but I was so convinced that it was a warning, I talked my friends into not going to the party. Well, later, on the news, we found out that there was a shooting at that party, and someone was killed.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
| BY JIMMY BOEGLE
The Trump administration has declared all-out war on the First Amendment
For the last three years, we’ve been working toward converting the Reno News & Review into a nonprofit news operation.
When Donald J. Trump returned to the White House, we slowed that work. And as of now, it’s stopped. Here’s why, as reported by Time magazine on Sept. 22:
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination earlier this month, President Donald Trump and members of his administration have openly discussed punishing left-leaning organizations they believe fuel political violence. Experts say one tactic that’s been mentioned could be especially harmful to some of the targeted groups: going after their tax-exempt status.
The charge was made most explicitly last Monday, when Vice President J.D. Vance singled out the Ford Foundation and the George Soros-funded Open Society Foundations while hosting Charlie Kirk’s podcast. “We are going to go after the NGO network that foments and facilities and engages in violence,” Vance said, referring to non-governmental organizations.
Asked about the administration’s plans, a White House official told TIME in a statement: “The White House is exploring a wide
variety of options to put pen to paper to address left-wing political violence and the network of organizations that fuel and fund it. Specifics on what that looks like continue to be discussed.”
Legal experts say the loss of tax-exempt status would amount to an existential threat to most organizations. But the White House’s ability to revoke any group’s tax-exempt status would be difficult, and could lead to protracted court battles.
Of course, there’s a big difference between the Ford Foundation and the little ol’ RN&R
The same can be said about the difference between CBS, ABC and the big national media sources being pressured by Trump and his Federal Communications Commission. We’re small potatoes. Why should a small, local media operation worry?
In a recent interview with Editor and Publisher, First Amendment attorney Bob Corn-Revere explained why:
CBS caves on a lawsuit. Stephen Colbert faces political targeting. ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel after a controversial bit. For Bob Corn-Revere, one of America’s leading First Amendment lawyers, these headlines aren’t isolated incidents—they’re symptoms of a larger erosion of free expression.
“You ignore it at your peril,” Corn-Revere said, noting that even though broadcasters operate under government licenses, the same pressures apply across the media spectrum.
“The impulse is the same, regardless of whether you’re traditional media or broadcast media. They simply are using different tools.”
That impulse, he explained, often comes in the form of litigation. “Litigation is one that’s being brought to bear against both newspapers and against broadcast stations,” Corn-Revere said. … Corn-Revere is quick to draw a direct line between national censorship battles and the intimidation tactics often faced by small-town papers. “The common theme is the attempt to use official power in one way or another to silence voices you don’t like,” he said.
That last sentence is worth repeating: The common theme is the attempt to use official power in one way or another to silence voices you don’t like.
The Trump administration and its allies have declared all-out war on the First Amendment.
In addition to everything mentioned above, consider:
• On Sept. 19, the Pentagon announced it would, as The Washington Post put it, require journalists “to pledge they won’t gather any
information—even unclassified—that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. Under the policy, the Pentagon may revoke press passes for anyone it deems a security threat. Possessing confidential or unauthorized information, under the new rules, would be grounds for a journalist’s press pass to be revoked.”
Think about it: The Pentagon is telling reporters that they can’t report anything about the Department of Defense unless the Department of Defense says it’s OK.
• At Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, the president of the United States actually said these words, in reference to Kirk: “He did not hate his opponents; he wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry.”
We may be a small fish, media-wise, in a small pond, market-wise—but we’re doing everything we can here at the RN&R to keep ourselves safe, except for one thing: We’re not watering down our coverage. We’re doing no appeasement. We’re going to continue doing everything we can to tell Northern Nevada’s stories as best we can—and to always tell the truth, no matter the possible consequences.
ON NEVADA BUSINESS
Stay tuned; stay vigilant
Tips
Running a business is always hard—but this is a particularly tough time.
Quick decision-making is a foundational characteristic of an entrepreneur, and this is one reason why being an entrepreneur is considered so risky. We are at historic highs for entrepreneurship in the United States right now, with about 16 percent of the workforce being made up of entrepreneurs, but that still means that 84% of the population works for someone else. They look for the steady paycheck and the (arguable) security that comes with having a “jobby-job.” It’s been an employees’ market for many years, and now its flipped to being an employers’ market— and the corporate “tightening of the belts” and concurrent job justifications mean we’re heading toward a much different business climate than many young business owners have ever had to navigate.
Many of the tips here should always be on an entrepreneur’s mind—but it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day tasks of running a business. Now is the time to make sure you’re hyper-focused on the bigger picture.
As of this writing, the pundits say the full effects of tariffs haven’t hit yet. We should brace for inflated costs in the next 60 days, just in time for holiday shopping, yay! I think that as we browse The Home Depot garden department or the Safeway meat aisle, we’d all agree that prices have been growing all year. We’re paying much more for construction materials compared to just a year ago, so the continued inflation of prices needs to be factored in as we plan the next year’s business strategies.
As business owners, we need to make tough decisions now—involving both immediate matters and longer-term concerns, into 2026, 2027 and beyond. As a founder or general manager, what options do you have to gain more control over the business during uncertain times? In two of my companies, we are looking for more efficiencies, i.e., cutting back on costs and looking to consolidate operations wherever we can. In my local service biz, we’ve combined two routes so my guys are spending less time driving, and more time serving our clients. It also freed up a day for them to focus on client value-add projects. This is good for the customers and good for the company: It helps us generate additional cash flow by maximizing labor, minimizing downtime, minimizing gasoline use, and minimizing overall overhead.
We are also thoroughly focused on existing clients now. It is much easier to maximize revenue (with limited additional cost) by securing new business with existing clients—
who already trust you and already pay you. Leveraging that relationship can be huge. Our goal is to see how we can maximize our value to customers by widening our service offerings. When a customer asks, “Can your company do this?” it’s because they trust us and believe that if we can do this new service for them, they will see the value, as they have in the past services performed by my team.
Hi, Denise! Recall that project we discussed earlier this year? We’d like to get started on it. What’s it going to take to make that happen? We just got a window of time, so I thought I’d give you the first right to fill it. Let’s get it put it into the queue.
Notice in the fake example above that my approach was assumptive: I set the sale up with positive, forward-thinking questions and statements, so there is no yes or no answer. They may say, “We don’t have the budget,” or, “We’re in contract with someone else until December.” At least I know where I stand at that point. If I’d asked, “Can I have your business?” I may get a yes or no without explanation or context. But if the answer is that they are in contract until December, then my response is, “Let’s meet in October so we can launch seamlessly in January after the contract expires.” Those assumptive strategies work well with trusting clients, and they often lead to amazing and profitable new business.
Another great strategy during tough times is to leverage the happy client’s “sphere of influence.” The premise is simple: If they love us, who else do they know who could benefit from our services? A recommendation nullifies the trust factor, meaning a deal can get done much quicker than trying to woo a new client without a warm introduction.
There is always a concern that if I raise prices, I’ll lose clients—but if you continue to provide value, you’ll almost certainly keep that customer. If the tariffs and inflation are affecting your margins and your ability to profit, it’s OK to incrementally raise prices. In fact, I have never lost a client due to raising prices. You won’t, either, if you do so justifiably and professionally. Everybody knows costs are up.
For my international consulting company, in addition to “revenue per customer,” we focus on “revenue per employee”—a simple way to allocate resources and have a benchmark for hiring, laying off and subbing out services. This is a great way to be certain we have all of the resources for expansion and contraction as the market fluctuates. If my benchmark is $150,000 in revenue per employee to make my profit margins, it’s an easy way to measure how we’re doing month over month.
When times are good, and the economy is strong, business comes to me. These are not those times—so, as I said above, I’m hyper-focused on the tactics I mention here when I
know rocky times are coming, or are already here. Stay tuned, and stay vigilant—that’s what enables the quick decision-making for which entrepreneurs are known.
Photo/David Robert
UPFRONT
Opponents say new miningpermit process is shutting out the public
Indigenous, environmental-justice and conservation groups are warning that the Trump administration’s streamlined environmental-review process for a mine near Elko violates federal laws— and will likely backfire when inevitable lawsuits result in delaying the mine project.
The 1970 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) mandates federal agencies solicit public comments throughout the permitting stages. The new policy allows agencies to sidestep NEPA by issuing their own requirements. The South Railroad gold and silver mine, on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, is the first project in Nevada to be affected.
“The truncated public process is a slap in the face to directly affected communities,” said John Hadder, executive director of Great Basin Resource Watch. “The proposal that the BLM presented at the two public meetings and online does not provide a complete picture of the agency action that is required for public comment. The public, and especially those who will feel the effects of the mine, deserve the right to full disclosure.”
Tribes and environmental groups submitted comments on the project in September—before the BLM has conducted its environmental analysis, and changes to the project have been made. Normally, the initial comment period is followed by a draft environmental impact statement with a public comment period, then a final EIS, and the agency’s decision. But the groups were notified that the agency plans to jump from the preliminary “scoping” period to a final environmental statement and a decision on the permit by 2026.
“The public is going to be shut out, with no chance to comment on the final form of the project or the BLM’s environmental analysis,” Hadder said.
Ferminia Stevens, executive director of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said the new process “ignores critical impacts on water, animal life, cultural sites and traditional gathering areas, including medicinal plants essential to community health.”
The 8,548 acre project site is about 25 miles southwest of Elko.
—Frank X. Mullen
Will an out-of-state inmate run for office?
He unsuccessfully tried to run in Nevada in 2024, and got on Alaska’s ballot that year
A man who appears to be incarcerated in New York state, and who filed unsuccessfully to run for office in Nevada’s 2024 election, opened a new paper trail in September by requesting contact information for members of Nevada’s news media.
On Sept. 2, the city of Reno received a public records request—handwritten and sent through the mail—from an Eric Hafner. He asked for contact information for everyone to whom the city distributes press releases and media alerts. It read, in part:
Your agency/office obviously has this information as you regularly send out email blasts of press releases to news media! You are required to produce it under state law.
On Sept. 10, the city of Las Vegas received a public records request from Hafner with the same wording; the city complied and gave Hafner the requested information. According to Jace Radke, public and media relations supervisor for the city of Las Vegas, lists of
news-media contacts are not commonly requested from his office.
“This is the first I can remember in years,” Radke said in an email. “Our records request volume is very high. The city of Las Vegas had 15,679 requests for the calendar year of 2024.”
The email address on Hafner’s public-records requests is the same address on records from his attempts to run for federal office in several states.
News articles from the fall of 2024 say that Hafner was, as of then, an inmate at the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution in New York. According to The Associated Press, and other news sources, “Eric Hafner was convicted in 2022 of threatening to kill judges, police officers and others and sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison.”
According to prison records, his release date is Oct.12, 2036; however, he is marked as “NOT IN BOP (Bureau of Prisons) CUSTODY.” A note on the BOP’s “Find an inmate” page says this designation means “the inmate is no longer
|
BY KRIS VAGNER
Eric Hafner, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for threatening judges and others, attempted to run for a Nevada office during the 2024 election.
in BOP custody; however, the inmate may still be in the custody of some other correctional/ criminal justice system/law enforcement entity, or on parole or supervised release.”
Calls to the Bureau of Prisons to clarify Hafner’s location were not returned as of our press deadline.
Hafner ran as a Democrat seeking a U.S. House seat in Alaska’s 2024 election. The Alaska Democratic Party unsuccessfully sued to get him off the ballot. He got 3,417 votes, totaling around 1%. It was a close race in which Republican Nick Begich won by less than 7,000 votes, or about 2% of those cast. (If all of the votes cast for Hafner had gone to the Democratic candidate, Mary S. Peltola, Begich still would have won.)
According to Ballotpedia, Hafner attempted to run for a U.S. House seat in Florida’s special January 2025 primary as a Republican but was disqualified.
According to a 2024 New York Times report, “Mr. Hafner has been a fringe congressional candidate at least twice before: in Hawaii in 2016 as a Republican and in Oregon two years later as a Democrat.”
In Nevada, Hafner attempted in 2023 to file to run in 2024. He filed suit in federal court seeking an order to require the state to place him on the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. congressional district. He applied for a waiver of fees due to his inability to pay them.
A U.S. District Court in Nevada approved Hafner’s request for a fee waiver, but upon reviewing the merits of the case, determined that Hafner had not satisfied the requirements for ballot access under Nevada law, since he offered nothing to the court showing he is a resident of Nevada.
On April 9, 2024, Hafner filed a new case, pointing out that there is precedent for allowing a candidate to run, even if the candidate is not a resident of the state.
The court dismissed that case due to procedural errors—but Hafner was correct that it’s indeed legal to run for office from out of state. He cited Schaefer v Townsend, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case decided in 2000, which determined that a congressmember, if elected, must reside in the state they represent, but a candidate may file to run for office from out of state.
The fact that Hafner has requested media lists from Reno and Las Vegas would seem to suggest that he intends to seek media attention in Nevada, but his motivation to do so is not clear. As of press time, the RN&R has not received any communications from him.
Goth gathering
Reno Goth Scene gathered at Idlewild Park’s Snowflake Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 20, for the group’s sixth annual Gothic Picnic, organized by Chris “Chase” Fuqua.
Approximately 60 attendees enjoyed a banquet of meats, cheeses, red velvet cakes and drinks. Perhaps inappropriately, the weather was bright, sunny and warm.
—David Robert
Community Is Our Priority.
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NEWS
‘Facts
over folklore’
During my 25 years in the Reno GazetteJournal’s newsroom, we all abided by the “Rocha rule” when a story involved Nevada history.
The unwritten commandment: Ask State Archivist Guy Rocha to check any historical references in stories before the presses roll; that will save the ink (and embarrassment) of
Former Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha in 2009. Photo/Lauren Randolph
next-day corrections. His word, we knew, was gospel.
Rocha, 73, died at Renown Medical Center in Reno on Sept. 18. His health had been failing for several years, and glaucoma had claimed his sight. He was the state archivist for 28 years before retiring in 2008. Rocha wrote a syndicated newspaper column debunking myths about the state’s history, hosted a radio show called History for Lunch Bunch, appeared in television documentaries, was a popular public speaker, and provided expert testimony in legislative hearings.
“Guy Rocha’s work has profoundly influenced journalists, researchers, students and lawmakers across Nevada,” according to his Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame profile. “His insistence on facts over folklore, and research over rhetoric, has made him a singular figure in the preservation of Nevada’s historical identity. … (His induction) recognizes not only his contributions to journalism and public knowledge, but also the foundational role that truthful history plays in a functioning democracy.”
For Rocha, truth and accuracy were the touchstones of history. He used archival materials as a window into people and events long past. When we write about history, he believed, we’d better get it right; otherwise, we’d be furthering—or creating—the kind of myths he debunked. Rocha regularly called reporters to complement them on their work, sometimes gently pointing out an inaccuracy. At his speaking appearances from Carson City to Elko to Tonopah, fans of his column and broadcasts often would treat him like a rock star of state history. Some even asked for his autograph.
“The outpouring of appreciation, love and support, and admiration for his work in the days after he died has been amazing,” said his daughter, Victoria Rocha. “I can’t tell you how many people across all segments of the state have said that he was a Nevada treasure.”
Reporters and fans saw Rocha as a fountain of facts and a weaver of true stories. He made history interesting and fun rather than a dry recitation of dates and events. At home, he had other priorities.
“To me, he wasn’t the myth buster; he was dad,” Victoria said. “It’s one thing to have encyclopedic knowledge of a subject, but what do you do with that knowledge? He really cultivated critical thinking. He would take an interest in whatever I was interested in, and then he would ask difficult questions and encourage me to ask difficult questions. He encouraged curiosity and made sure I was thinking about things thoroughly, asking where I was getting my information. Who was I talking to? What was I reading? He wanted me to be curious,
| BY FRANK X. MULLEN
and I really thank him for that.”
Rocha and his sister were raised in Las Vegas by a single mom and had a sometimes-difficult childhood, Victoria said. “He built this incredible career despite that,” she said, and as an adult, he held on to his compassion for people and his drive to fight against injustice.
Rocha attended Clark High School, where he won two wrestling state championships. He went to Syracuse University on a full academic scholarship and graduated in 1973. He went on to earn a master’s degree in American studies from San Diego State University two years later. Rocha became a teacher in the Washoe County School District and at Western Nevada Community College before joining the State Library and Archives.
He was comfortable digging through old documents, but getting to know people was his passion.
“He wanted to talk to everybody,” Victoria said. “When we would travel and take a cab to airports, he’d ask the driver’s name, where they grew up, and all kinds of questions. He was all about curiosity and connection.”
Rocha’s insistence on facts made him an articulate witness at legislative hearings when mining-reform bills were being considered.
“At a hearing in 2011, a mercenary army of mining lobbyists complained they were being unfairly singled out for special taxation,” said Bob Fulkerson, who was executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada from 1994-2019 and is currently organizing director for Third Act of Reno.
“When Guy testified, he noted their forbears in the mining industry of the Nevada Territory were so opposed to the level of mineral-extraction taxation in the draft Nevada Constitution in 1863, they compelled the constitutional delegates to draft new language much more favorable to mining,” Fulkerson said. “He subtly but clearly conveyed how mining historically strong-armed Nevadans in order to protect its unique and generous tax advantages.
“Whenever Guy was asked to speak at protests, public hearings or before the Legislature, he showed up, and people paid attention. Nevada could use more like him today.”
As the Trump administration is whitewashing history in national museums, banning some books in federal facilities, sowing misinformation online and taking aim at the First Amendment, Rocha would have been on the front lines of the resistance, Victoria said.
“He would have gone toe-to-toe against the people who are doing that,” she said. “He was always fighting against things that are unfair and unjust. Nevada will miss his voice. I miss his voice.”
A celebration of life will be scheduled soon, Victoria said. In addition to his daughter, Guy Rocha is survived by his son, Shane Rocha, and his half-brother, Jim Palumbo.
History channel
Local YouTuber Steve Ellison tells the stories of Reno’s past, one abandoned building at a time
Given my interests in local history and beer, it was almost inevitable that The Algorithm would suggest an episode from local YouTuber Steve Ellison’s channel, The Reno You Know
It’s become my go-to side quest when I have a half-hour or so of free time—not enough to watch a movie, just a little downtime to be a media consumer. I pull up my “watch later” menu, pick one, and dive into a little history lesson from local days gone by. I’m a pretty big fan at this point and wanted to spread the word, so Steve and I met up at Pigeon Head Brewery (purely by coincidence, where he wrapped his first episode) for a beer and to talk about his channel.
Ellison—the curious, horseshoe-mustachioed star of The Reno You Know—was first inspired by childhood visits to historic sites and that feeling of awe walking in the
very places where history took place.
“I still experience a sense of wonderment when I visit a historic site,” he said. “It’s as if the people who were participating created something larger than ourselves. I got that early on when my folks took me to the Gettysburg battlefield when I was a kid, and that stays with me to this day.”
After attending university in Southern California, he landed in Reno in 1986 due to a job transfer to a city he’d never even visited, much less considered as a place to live. A successful photography business followed (along with playing guitar in local rock ’n’ roll bands and oil painting on the side), and his interest in history continued to grow, particularly after a fortunate discovery on a photo shoot—a book on westward migration in a school library.
Later, by then with a family of his own, his photography business drew to a close, and El-
Steve Ellison in his office.
famous people, and historic places where things happened that helped form our state and our nation—is what emerges from each video, rather than a dry, academic history lesson. He isn’t afraid to say “I don’t know” or propose a possible explanation for something to which he didn’t find an answer, and his neutral, apolitical presentation is a nice palate-cleanser in these most polarizing times.
Of course, there’s a fanatical chunk of the internet devoted to all things abandoned, behind the scenes, and otherwise off-limits, but The Reno You Know isn’t sensational clickbait. Steve is a storyteller, showing us what happened here and what came before, and telling the tales behind artifacts of the past. I often find myself captivated by his skillful blending of historic photos and modern footage, smiling at my own memories of growing up here, or saddened by the things we have lost.
Ellison maintains a growing notebook of ideas for future videos, gleaned from comments on YouTube and Facebook, emails from fans and, most of all, whatever he finds himself interested in. Once he picks a topic, the research begins. He often reads through historic newspaper articles on the public library website, visits the Nevada Historical Society library, and sometimes just reaches out to experts and old-timers to ask questions. He writes a script for his own dialogue in each episode and gets to work, often with his drone or selfie stick, sometimes recruiting a friend or family member to help shoot footage. Finally, he compiles all the video and edits it into the finished product.
lison’s interest in Harold’s Club prompted him to spend the next several years researching, filming and producing a full-length documentary on the long-shuttered but fondly remembered casino.
In 2023, as he neared retirement from a brief stint in liquor sales—a job prompted by his love for craft beer, as shown in each video—he decided to combine his interest in history and experience in video into the creation of The Reno You Know
If you peruse his catalog of videos, you’ll find something for all interests—long-gone music venues; old schoolhouses and casinos; the 1960 Winter Olympics. His most-viewed video isn’t even about Reno proper; it’s an early episode dedicated to the pioneers and their harrowing journey crossing the 40 Mile Desert. Through and through, Steve’s fascination with digging into the past—old buildings,
Fortunately, he is finding an audience—most episodes get several thousand views, occasionally far more due to the whims of the YouTube audience. One video (about the River Inn, aka Lawton’s Hot Springs) was viewed 98,000 times in one day! While it might seem obvious that his viewership skews older, his data shows that his viewers span all ages and are located around the world. He has built a big-enough audience locally that he is regularly recognized when out and about, like a small-time celebrity. Ellison’s goals for the channel are modest. He’d like to get to 100,000 subscribers (he has about 28,500 as of this writing) to get a nice plaque from YouTube to hang on his wall. But mostly, he’d like the channel to grow so he can make it better: The more viewers he gets, the better known it becomes, hopefully leading to more access to interesting places.
I want to see The Reno You Know grow for the same reason, selfishly: I want him to make more interesting videos for me to watch, and learn more about this place we call home.
Glow show
After decades of salvaging old signs, neon collector Will Durham announces a downtown Reno museum
Reno has glittered with vibrant neon lights for nearly 100 years. Reno native and former elementary school teacher Will Durham has spent his life preserving and restoring as many artifacts of Northern Nevada’s 10 decades of neon as he could.
Now, just a little more than five years before the centennial of legalized full-scale casino gambling in March 1931, and the heyday of neon that came with it, Durham has announced plans to open a museum of neon signs called The Light Circus at the National Bowling Stadium in downtown Reno.
Durham, who has also had a career doing props, art direction and production design in the film industry, said he wants the museum to be a happy place.
“The world right now is a lot to be worried about and … I want this to feel like an absolute escape,” he said. “When you’re there, you’re in this place that takes you away.”
Durham began collecting signs in the 1990s, because he loved neon and thought the signs were cool. When Harold’s Club
The iconic cowboys from the Mapes Hotel are depicted in one of the many pieces of neon in Will Durham's collection. Photo/ courtesy Will Durham
the multipurpose room in the National Bowling Stadium, saying they were “seeking a qualified operator who can deliver an experience that captivates the diverse array of tourists passing through the National Bowling Stadium (NBS) each year, while also fostering meaningful engagement with the local community.”
Durham thought this was the perfect spot for The Light Circus. The downtown location would make it an attraction for tourists, and its proximity to Fourth Street and the Brewery District would make it accessible to locals. Plus, the space has an important feature for displaying neon signs: tall ceilings. Durham reports that the Harold’s Club letters are six feet across; the Nevada Club letters take up 30 feet of wall space; and the “R” from the Riviera sign is 17 feet tall.
Durham was awarded the contract, and he began fundraising, assisted by his parents and his friends. They secured sponsorships from people and businesses whose names will be displayed within the museum and on printed materials.
Craft Wine and Beer hosted a fundraising event where supporters could buy founding memberships. Durham said that he and his family are so committed to making The Light Circus happen that most of the funds they are investing are their own.
In 2012-2013, the Nevada Museum of Art hosted an exhibition of many of Durham’s signs. The museum kept ambient light to a minimum, letting the neon lights themselves illuminate the room.
“It created this beautiful, really wonderful calm, but also exciting feel,” Durham said.
and the Nevada Club were demolished in 1999, and the Mapes Hotel was demolished in 2000, he realized there was no organization or plan to preserve the iconic signs.
“They played a huge role in Reno’s history, and they were closing,” he said. “And I thought, ‘The buildings won’t be saved, but isn’t someone supposed to be saving these signs?’”
Durham has since been working to secure and preserve neon signs, not just in Reno, but throughout the state. His collection includes signs from Las Vegas, Elko, Wells, Carson City, Sparks and other locales.
This project has been a labor of love for Durham. He said he has funded the project himself for all these years, paying not just for the signs but for their transport, repair and storage. His parents and a few dedicated friends have helped him throughout.
Durham has always wanted to open a neon museum, but securing and restoring the signs left him no time to find a space for one. Then, in May, the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority put out a request for proposals for
He wants to capture the same atmosphere at The Light Circus, so the bowling stadium will erect walls to keep sunlight from coming through its 100 linear feet of windows into the exhibit space.
The stadium is also undergoing additional improvements in preparation for the museum, including new floors, partition walls and more electrical outlets to accommodate a lot of signs in proximity to each other.
“I think one of the most important elements of displaying these is having a lot of them on display at the same time, just like the way Virginia Street used to light up,” Durham said. “It wasn’t just one really cool sign. It was having them en masse. You were seeing versions of these signs beckoning people in. … It was all about having a lot of them together to tell that story.”
Durham has applied for matching funds to help offset the cost of these improvements from the Reno Redevelopment Agency’s ReStore Facade and Tenant Improvement Program. The agency’s website says ReStore funds are to be used to “stimulate economic development and
| BY SARAH RUSSELL
revitalize downtown and surrounding districts.”
Once the museum opens, Durham dreams of it becoming a “community hub.” He plans to keep it engaging and relevant by rotating the collection frequently so there are always new things to see, facilitating educational field trips for fourth-graders studying Nevada history, keeping the art of neon alive by offering classes on working with the medium, and showing movies in the National Bowling Stadium’s theater that are set in Nevada and feature neon. He hopes to one day create and feature documentaries about neon in Nevada.
The Light Circus will also be available to rent for private events. Durham is inspired by the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, which has become a popular event space.
“People really like unique spaces for corporate events, weddings and reunions, and we think that we can create a very special place,” he said.
There won’t only be vintage signs in The Light Circus, though; Durham wants to show that neon is not a dead art.
“This isn’t a mausoleum; this is a celebration of neon,” he said. “This isn’t something that needs to be history. This can also be part of our future, and we’re hoping it really is.”
He surmised that people who loved Reno in the ’90s will love seeing the Deux Gros Nez neon sign. Folks sad to see the Laughing Planet leave Reno will appreciate seeing their signs in the museum.
Many of Nevada’s neon signs have been lost to history. Durham mentioned the sign for the Primadonna Club, which featured five 20-foottall statues of showgirls, each in her own arch of glittering lights. People ask Durham about the sign frequently. It was taken down after the club sold in 1978, so Durham didn’t have the opportunity to save it or any of the showgirls.
“If that had happened when I was doing this, I would’ve moved heaven and earth to make sure that those were saved,” he said. “That facade was legendary.”
Durham has tried to track down the statues and is pretty sure they’ve all been destroyed. He said one was moved to an adult bookstore.
“They were going to do a cabaret there, and it burned,” he said. “I remember seeing it in the Yesco yard. … It was just this bare chicken wire. … If there was any sort of feature that was salvageable, I would’ve preserved it in some way. But it was just chicken wire and a steel pole. There was nothing.”
Durham does not have a firm date for the grand opening and lighting ceremony yet, but is aiming for “as close to the start of the year as possible.”
If you wish to become a member or a sponsor of The Light Circus, reach out to Will Durham at willdurhamnv@gmail.com.
Leaf life
Fall for fall in Northern Nevada at the Oxbow Nature Study Area
If I wrote a best-selling novel every time a New England transplant told me I’ve never experienced a “true” fall, you’d be able to call me Stephen King. The rainbow of colors, they say. The trees. The maple syrup.
Listen, I’m the first to admit (i.e., complain) that fall in the West means blasting the air conditioning while driving around during the day, and often feels far removed from cozy, latte-inspired romps through multicolored leaf litter.
However, fall in the Truckee Meadows is not without its merits. While our horizons are more monotone than those back East, I can’t help but drive a little slower when heading south through the intersection of McCarran Boulevard and West Fourth Street, which looks out over the Truckee River and a sea of oranges, yellows and the occasional red.
What we have here, besides the forced cold air and residual flip-flops, are dramatic cloud shows with sunshine streaming through to play on the mountains like heaven in Renaissance painting. (Imagine that one, East Coasters!) We have cotton-
woods with yellow, heart-shaped leaves that wave in the ever-present wind, reflecting light like a kinetic sculpture. Lizards still scurry under rocks, and birds twiddle through brush, showing us life that hasn’t yet left our corner of the world. And, most importantly, ambient temperatures usually allow us to enjoy it all in total comfort.
Fall is my favorite time in Reno. No, we don’t have an abundance of maple, but we do have a spectacular show—and a great place to take it all in is the Oxbow Nature Study Area.
This small park is one of the few intact riparian areas in the Truckee Meadows. Partially managed by Nevada Department of Wildlife, this area is preserved for wildlife conservation. This park features a 0.9-mile trail that winds along the northern shores of the Truckee River (to the west and across the river from Idlewild Park). The park also features an oxbow, or a segment of standing water that was once part of the river but is no longer connected. This water, which is present year-round, creates a place for willows, waterfowl and other animals to thrive. During October, visitors could find species like muskrats, goldfinches and hawks.
I love bringing people here, especially in the fall, when golden Fremont cottonwoods line the Truckee. Though the park is adjacent to Fourth Street and the train tracks, it feels isolated and quiet. Wide, sandy trails flow into boardwalks that hang over the river and above the oxbow. It’s serene and shaded and is unlike any other area in town. It’s also a place that feels easy to share with any level of outdoor enthusiast with any degree of fitness. The trail
| BY HELENA GUGLIELMINO
The westward view of nearby mountains makes for a great finale to an already pretty stroll. Photo/Helena Guglielmino
that navigates the park has plenty of benches on which to rest and is nearly flat. Interpretive signs along the trail help guide and educate those who are curious, though the life within the park can spark inspiration itself. A handful of benches on the river are great for picnics.
The trail through the park is shaped like an hourglass with a broken bottom. From the parking lot, you’ll see a trail leading to the left, and another to the right across a grassy lawn. I suggest heading to the right first. This will take you through the northeastern side of the park. Almost immediately, a red boardwalk forks from the sandy path. This short incline leads to an overlook with views of the park’s magnificent flora. Returning to the trail, another fork to the right appears. This leads to the oxbow. I highly recommend visiting this.
Continuing along the main path leads through a tunnel of greenery to the river. If you continue straight (west) from here, you will start rounding the top of this hourglass trail. This section is where I see the most wildlife— birds, bunnies, even a deer once. Completing this loop returns you to the river once again. While facing east, keep along the river’s side for the final portion of the park. Another red boardwalk appears and expands into two consecutive decks over the water. I love to consider this the “finale,” because the view west toward the mountains—framed by golden cottonwoods—makes my heart sing.
If you need more fall color, bring along my fall trail-mix recipe: pistachios, dried cranberries, banana chips, pecans and chocolate. But please, please don’t tell me that fall sucks here.
Oxbow Nature Study Area is located at 3100 Dickerson Road, in Reno. The park’s winter hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily. The entrance gate will be locked after hours. There is no fee to visit.
Planets and Bright Stars in Evening Mid-Twilight
For October, 2025
This sky chart is drawn for latitude 40 degrees north, but may be used in continental U.S. and southern Canada.
October skies
The month’s skies bring a lot of moon-star rendezvous—and an ideally timed meteor shower!
In the evening sky, one hour after sunset, golden Arcturus, sinking in the west to west-northwest, and blue-white Vega, not far west to west-southwest of overhead, are the two most prominent objects. Next in brilliance is Saturn, climbing through the east-southeast toward southeast as this month progresses. Other bright stars are Altair and Deneb, completing the Sum-
mer Triangle with Vega; and the red supergiant star Antares, heart of Scorpius, in the southwest, sinking very low before month’s end. Here are 10 things to watch for in October’s nighttime and early-morning skies.
• Through a telescope, Saturn’s rings are presented 1.4° to 0.6° from edge-on to Earth during October, and so appear as a narrow line, almost like a needle piercing a ball of yarn. In
October’s evening sky chart. Illustration/Robert D. Miller
2032, we’ll have our most open view, nearly 27° from edge-on. Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon, in the same plane as the rings, appears as an eighth-magnitude star, at most, four ringlengths from the nearer ring edge. This month, in a dark sky, Neptune appears at magnitude 7.8, 3.1° to 4.1° from Saturn. But a finder chart is needed to identify it.
• Arcturus is 33° due north of the sun on Oct. 29, placing it 33° directly above the midday sun on that date. It’s up much longer than the sun, so you can spot it very low in the east-northeast an hour before sunrise, and very low in the west-northwest an hour after sunset on that same date. On what date will you first spot Arcturus in the morning, and on what date in early November will you last see it in the evening?
• The moon is visible an hour after sunset daily Oct. 1-8, and again Oct. 23 or 24 through Nov. 6. Watch the moon pass Saturn on Oct. 5 and Nov. 1, and Antares on Oct. 24.
• On the evening of Oct. 9, the moon will pass through the Pleiades star cluster. Use binoculars to see some of its stars around the moon, and use a telescope to see stars pop out along the dark edge of the moon. From Reno, that will happen at 9:16, 9:34, and 10:02 p.m. PDT.
• In the morning sky, one hour before sunrise, the brightest starlike objects are Venus, very low in the east to east-southeast; Jupiter, high in the southern sky; and the Dog Star, blue-white Sirius, twinkling noticeably in the south-southeast to south-southwest. (You can confirm it’s Sirius by noting that the belt of Orion, the Hunter, extended, points to it.)
• Follow the moon an hour before sunrise each morning Oct. 6-19, and watch it wane from full, low in the west on Oct. 6; through Taurus, the Bull, passing the Pleiades, Aldebaran and Hyades, and the Bull’s horns Oct. 9-11. Continuing eastward, the moon enters Gemini on Oct. 12, and forms attractive patterns with bright Jupiter and that constellation’s “Twin” stars, Pollux and Castor, on the next two mornings. By the morning of the 16th, the crescent moon is in the eastern sky, very close to Regulus, heart of Leo, the Lion. On the 18th, the 8 percent crescent appears 13° to the upper right of Venus, and on the 19th, the 4 percent crescent
| BY ROBERT VICTOR
stands just 3°-4° to Venus’ lower right.
• On the morning of Oct. 13, when the moon passes last-quarter phase and appears half-full near Jupiter, the moon is cutting across the Earth’s orbit just 3 1/2 hours ahead of us in our motion around the sun. On Oct. 17, Jupiter lies directly ahead of Spaceship Earth in our orbit around the sun. In coming months, we’ll overtake slower-moving Jupiter, and it will appear at opposition, 180° from the sun, in early January, around the same date fast-moving Venus has moved around to the far side of the sun. So, between now and early January, watch Jupiter sink toward the western horizon at dawn, while Venus sinks very low in the eastern sky week by week, and becomes too close to the sun to be seen.
• The moon might be seen on one additional morning beyond Oct. 19, but you’ll have to look about a half-hour before sunup, and need a very clear sky and an unobstructed view. Using binoculars on Oct. 20, look for a very thin 1 percent crescent, 10° to the lower right of Venus. The moon will be only 10° from the not-yet-risen sun, and will be 22.7 hours before new from Reno.
• This year, the peak of the Orionid meteor shower coincides with the date of new moon, Oct. 21. Ideal! The best time to look is about five hours to 90 minutes before sunrise.
• On mornings when the moon is absent or not bright, Uranus, of magnitude 5.6, can be spotted with binoculars in the same field of view as the Pleiades cluster. In October, the planet is 4.3° south-southeast of 2.9-magnitude Alcyone, the Pleiades’ brightest star, and 3° to 2.1° east-northeast of the 5.7-magnitude star 13 Tauri. Note the slightly fainter 6.1-magnitude star 14 Tauri 21 arcminutes (about 1/3 of a degree) east of 13.
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. Robert Miller, who provided the evening and morning twilight charts, did graduate work in planetarium science and later astronomy and computer science at Michigan State University, and remains active in research and public outreach in astronomy.
Stereographic Projection
Map by Robert D. Miller
As an activist, Lily Baran spends a lot of time advocating for laws that will help people get their basic needs met.
But official processes usually take weeks, months or even years to lead to change—if they do at all.
“There are problems we need to fix right now, and government is slow,” Baran said. “If our elected officials aren’t listening to what we need, which we’ve seen over and over, what do we do?”
For Baran and other locals, the answer is to take matters into their own hands. The RN&R spoke with representatives from four mutual aid groups—volunteer collaborations that provide food, supplies and services directly to people who need them.
Lily
Baran, who runs the Hampton House Garden Project, also volunteers with Family Soup Mutual Aid.
Photo/David Robert
Hampton House Garden Project
Lily Baran never knows exactly what’s going to happen at the Hampton House Garden Project on a given day. It’s a grassroots food pantry in the front yard of her house on Elko Avenue, near downtown Reno.
One recent afternoon, a neighbor delivered Turkish bread on a silver platter. Minutes later, a delivery came in from Reno Food Systems, the nonprofit urban farm across town. Then Baran helped a woman who had just been released from the hospital get soup and watermelon from a refrigerator.
Baran is a lifelong activist whose family moved to Reno in the 1980s to help with the Reno Musicians’ Union, of which she is still a member. She opened the food pantry in 2020 and named it after Fred Hampton, a Black Panther Party leader slain by police in 1969. In the front yard, anyone is welcome to get food from the refrigerator or pantry shelves. In the backyard (which is not open to the public), bees buzz; 10 chickens roam; and vegetables and flowers grow in a garden. Every Sunday in the summer, Hampton House hosts a “family dinner,” at which anyone is welcome. Food for the dinner comes from the garden and donations.
“You’d be surprised at the quality of things that come in,” Baran said. Local bakeries like Perenn and Beloved might drop off unsold goods at the end of the day. Volunteers will drop off occasional loads they’ve collected from stores like Winco, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts or the Great Basin Food Co-op. A recent ship-
ment of eggs came from a Burning Man camp. Baran doesn’t manage or schedule these volunteers or shipments. “It’s just in the spirit of mutual aid—giving what you can, when you can,” she said.
She doesn’t manage the gates, either. She said the food pantry is open 24/7 and that, typically, around 50 to 100 people might stop by in a day to pick up food or other items such as Narcan and fentanyl test strips, or contraception items such as Plan B and condoms, donated by Wild West Access Fund of Nevada. Baran said that when she first opened the pantry, some people worried that clients would camp in the yard, steal the refrigerator or break into the house.
“Those haven’t been issues,” she said. “When I first moved here, it felt like there were way more police calls on the street and more nefarious activities. And now … you can tell that it’s offered safety to the street, because folks want to respect it. They want to keep it going, and they don’t want to cause any trouble. It’s like an element of public safety. … We’ve had one altercation in five years, and we were still able to solve that without police.”
On the same day the Turkish bread and farm shipment arrived, Baran said: “It’s only 2 p.m. today, and I’ve already interfaced with Heater Bloc Reno, the Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance, and Reno Food Systems. No government was involved, and we solved many problems. We addressed reproductive health, harm reduction, and housing and food insecurity. Imagine if we had something like this every five blocks. What would that look like?”
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Hampton House Garden Project is located at 638 Elko Ave., in Reno. For more information, visit @hamptonhousegarden on Instagram.
Laundry to the People
During the COVID-19 shutdowns, Ilya Arbatman and Rosie Zuckerman, co-owners of The Radical Cat bookstore, noticed that the number of people camping under the Wells Avenue Overpass was increasing, so they took it upon themselves to lend a hand.
“We were going down there with a couple of different friends and handing out clothes and stuff, and it seemed like there was a need for laundry services,” said Zuckerman. “We were giving people new stuff, and they were just throwing it away since they had no way to wash things.”
In January 2021, they started Laundry to the People, a free community laundry service for people who are unhoused. Arbatman and Zuckerman would initially borrow a van from
the Holland Project each Friday, load people’s clothes into it, and drive to Mr. Bubbles laundromat in Sparks. This method was no longer feasible after the encampment got swept by the police.
“There were probably 200 people under the Wells Overpass until they got kicked out of there,” Zuckerman said. “And then … the cops intentionally scattered everybody.”
The two activists still run the service. It now operates at Champion Laundry Center on Wells Avenue, and people have to get their clothes to the laundromat on their own. Laundry to the People provides soap and pays for the machines.
Arbatman said he is concerned that this arrangement is harder for people with physical disabilities, but providing transport remains infeasible.
The cost to run the washers and dryers is around $60 to $100 per week, Zuckerman said, and the cost of detergent and other supplies varies. Usually, if funds are needed, a plea on Instagram yields some contributions. This year, Laundry to the People received a $2,500 grant from Washoe County, which came from Commissioner Mike Clark’s discretionary funds.
Laundry to the People is not in need of volunteers at the moment. For people who want to help, the organizers are ready to advise on how to start their own laundry aid service.
Anagepisis said.
That area got fenced off, which frustrated her. “I talked to a group of people who had been living outside around here for a while, and they expressed that there were less and less places where they could gather and share resources at the time,” she said.
“ Some people see providing harm reduction supplies as 'enabling,' but the thing is, people are never going to recover if they’re dead. ”
“We could give them the exact model of how we do it, and they could do it on a different day, in a different location,” Zuckerman said.
Laundry to the People operates every Friday from noon to 1 p.m. at Champion Laundry Center, at 1301 S. Wells Ave., in Reno. To learn more, visit @laundrytothepeople on Instagram.
Family Soup Mutual Aid
Nichole Anagepisis started going to the Believe Plaza in October 2017 to skateboard.
“I was learning how to skateboard at the time, and there was this thing happening every week here called ‘Flatspot Fridays,’ where all the skaters came out and skated this area,”
This prompted Anagepisis and a couple of her friends to start showing up at the plaza on Tuesdays and distributing things like hygiene products, food and clothes to people in need. Their group became known as Family Soup Mutual Aid.
“A lot of folks didn’t really trust us, because we were new on the scene, and we didn’t ask for anything in return,” Anagepisis said. “I think there is sort of this quid pro quo relationship when you are giving things like this away, and it took a long time to get past those hurdles and gain trust in the community. But, over time, we’ve established ourselves really well, and this is a really peaceful environment. People come; they bring their kids; they bring their pets. We’ve worked really hard to foster a sense of inclusivity.”
Family Soup sets up every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the spring and summer, and 5 p.m. in the fall and winter at the Believe Plaza. Now, more than 50 regular volunteers help out, and donations come from groups, individuals and families.
“We have never missed a Tuesday since (we) started—rain, snow or shine,” Anagepisis said.
“If anybody’s interested in helping out, we welcome them to come and join us for a distribution a couple of times, meet the team, see how we organize,” she said. “And if they feel like it’s a good fit for them, and they have bandwidth, they can hop up in our Discord. We have different committees that handle different things like storage, hygiene and food. Honestly, just come
Ilya Arbatman (left) and Rosie Zuckerman (right), founders of Laundry to the People, provide funds and supplies for people who are unhoused to use at a laundromat each Friday. Erika Taylor (center) has been a client since the service formed in 2021. Photo/David Robert
Family Soup Mutual Aid serves a potluck dinner and distributes items such as hygiene products and clothes each Tuesday evening at the Believe Plaza in downtown Reno. Photo/David Robert
and show up. It’s a good way to meet the folks who are coming through the line. The way that we try to organize these are like block parties or potlucks. It’s mutual aid; it’s not charity. This is us spending time with our friends, and giving and receiving at the same time.”
To learn more, follow @familysoupmutualaid on Instagram; join the group’s Substack; or find them on the Discord app. The group accepts drop-offs of items such as hygiene products, underwear and school supplies at Renovate Wallcoverings, at 300 Vassar St., and The Beauty Project Salon, at 720 Tahoe St., Suite A.
Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance
Maddy Larson is a founding board member of the Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance, but she’s not one for formal titles. She prefers “harm reduction homie.”
The group started in 2022, and in 2023, it began to distribute overdose-prevention supplies. In 2024, NNHRA received a grant from the Washoe Opioid Abatement and Recovery Fund—funds from Washoe County, the state of Nevada and other entities as part of a settlement with distributors and manufacturers of opioids—in the amount of $523,403.
NNHRA offers clean use supplies (like syringes, cottons, cookers, tourniquets and
A man who called himself Boston picks up harm-reduction supplies from Maddy Larson, co-founder of the Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance, as Blake Ranalla and Ace Almanza peruse the offerings. Photo/David Robert
sterile water); naloxone (the drug that reverses opioid overdoses, often called by its brand name, Narcan); fentanyl and xylazine test strips; and safer-sex kits. It operates primarily out of Hampton House and on Tuesday nights during Family Soup Mutual Aid gatherings at the Believe Plaza. In addition, the group
provides training in overdose response to other organizations.
NNHRA organizers would also like to start a program that purchases and distributes drink test strips so that people can test if their drinks are spiked. Larson called that effort “sort of a threefold thing,” explaining that it will require
funding; policies and procedures; and buy-in from bars.
NNHRA is in the process of merging with RISE, the Reno Initiative for Shelter Equality, which began as a grassroots effort to support people who are unhoused and grew into a formalized nonprofit.
Larson said she gets positive reports from people who’ve used her group’s supplies.
“I do get people who come through the Family Soup line who tell me they used Naloxone to reverse an overdose,” she said. “Two weeks ago, I had a woman come through the line and tell me she hasn’t had a soft-tissue infection since we started doing the exchange.”
Harm reduction as a practice “just makes sense,” said NNHRA Outreach Committee chair Steven Markley.
“I had a history of using drugs, but I didn’t understand the philosophy of harm reduction and how that worked,” he said. “A lot of people view it as enabling, but the thing is, people are never going to recover if they’re dead. So that’s what we’re doing here. It’s not that we’re the answer to the whole problem; we’re just a part of the solution.”
If interested in volunteering for the Northern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance, email nnvhra@gmail.com. Learn more at www. nnvhra.org.
Autumn onstAge ARTS
Your guide to this fall’s local theater lineup
If you like your theater thought-provoking, this is your season.
Local companies are serving up classic tales of life, love and death; comedies with a decidedly dark streak; and shows with small casts that ask big, even existential questions. Of course, it wouldn’t be fall without mystery, magic, murder and mayhem—just right for those long, dark nights. Here’s a sampling of this fall’s theater offerings.
RENO
Ageless Repertory Theatre
Now in its 11th year as a partner of Reno Little Theater, ART, Reno’s premier readers’ theater troupe, dives into October with a classic that two different companies are taking on this season: Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace, which Frank Capra turned into a film starring Cary Grant in 1944. A murder mystery with laughs, it’s the story of a writer with a famously negative view of marriage who’s now engaged to a woman whose elderly aunts are serial killers. It appears twice, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, and Friday, Oct. 17, for free (donations encouraged). Then comes Sam Bobrick’s Baggage, one of the many introspective shows with small casts this season. Running Tuesday, Nov. 18, and
rehearse a scene in which a real cake will be baked onstage in Birthday Candles, Reno Little Theatre’s mainstage offering, from Oct. 10-26.
Photo/David Robert
their work—and they only get five minutes each. Keep an eye out for a list of presenters, but some may really surprise you. It happens over three days, Nov. 14-16, with every show featuring a different cast.
Head into the holidays with one of Reno’s best-known and most-loved original creations, Buttcracker. Brüka’s own brand of absurdity is directed at Tchaichovsky’s famous ballet, following a different theme each year. Dec. 5-21, catch Buttcracker Neverland, whisking audiences off to a land where no one grows up—and fairy dust is a commodity. www.bruka.org
Firebird Light Opera
Reno’s upstart, energetic little opera company will present Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, on Thursday, Oct. 30, and Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2, at the National Automobile Museum. This one-act comedic opera runs a short-but-sweet 40 minutes, and tickets will include admission to the museum and a reception afterward that features snacks, carnival games and more.
www.firebirdlightopera.org
Good Luck Macbeth
Friday, Nov. 21, it’s the story of a man and a woman, disillusioned with love, who get their luggage mixed up at the airport and forge an unlikely bond.
Then comes Bo Wilson’s The Charitable Sisterhood Christmas Spectacular, about a group of church ladies trying to put on a Christmas show despite a criminal stealing their baby Jesus. It runs Thursday, Dec. 16, and Friday, Dec. 19. www.renolittletheater.org/art-at-rlt
Brüka Theatre
This is Brüka’s 33rd season, dubbed the Wild Card season—and no wonder. It includes two original shows, a Shakespeare play, an ode to the Constitution and a weekend that puts community members onstage. It starts with Club Inferno, an original piece by Reno’s Kell Kittell (you might remember him as the Minister of Loneliness in Brüka’s spring offering, Brukalton) and songwriter Peter Fogel, Oct. 10-Nov. 1. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, this one follows rock-diva Dante, who dies in a freak accident and wakes up in hell’s hottest nightclub. November marks the return of Take Five, which Brüka first presented in 2020. Conceived by Elizabeth Tenney, the idea is that artists and creative people from all over the community step onstage and share how they make or do
Probably the biggest news coming out of the local theater scene is the recent merger between GLM and Reno Little Theater. The two companies forged an unlikely alliance in 2020, in response to the pandemic’s theater shutdowns.
While few changes will be visible this fall, the upshot of the merger is that GLM’s administrative work and scheduling will eventually fall to RLT, with the two companies forming a new mother company, The New Reno Little Theater. Both theater spaces will continue to operate under their existing names, and each will host its own thoughtfully curated lineup of shows each year, planned to suit its location and scheduled strategically to avoid competing, providing more options for audiences.
Some things will remain the same, including GLM’s habit of staging Halloween-themed parodies. This year’s Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, running Oct. 3-Nov. 1, is a fast-paced, gender-bending, hilarious sendup of the original monster story about the blood-sucking count of Transylvania.
Then comes My Big Gay Italian Christmas, Nov. 28-Dec. 20. Inspired by the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this comedy is one in a series about a big, nosy, over-the-top Italian family. In this one, a bisexual love triangle and a massive snowstorm bring chaos to the holidays.
| BY JESSICA SANTINA
GLM’s schedule wraps at the end of 2025; it will then schedule a short 2026 season to enable a switch from a calendar-year season to a school-year season, to align with RLT. www.goodluckmacbeth.org
Reno Little Theater
It’s the big 9-0—not just for Reno Little Theater, Reno’s oldest theater company, but also for the central character in Birthday Candles, the company’s mainstage offering from Oct. 10-26. Throughout the show’s 90 minutes, our protagonist chronicles her own 90 birthdays and what her time on Earth has taught her about big dreams and a fulfilling life.
RLT’s holiday offering is Sam Kebede’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol, an intimate version that features just three actors. It runs Nov. 14-Dec. 14
Finally, the Broadway Our Way youth program will present The Grunch, a children’s musical based on Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, Dec. 6-14 with daytime public performances. renolittletheater.org
Sierra School of Performing Arts
This one isn’t happening in fall, but when the holiday dust settles, you’ll have this to look forward to: SSPA’s Grease, an abridged 90-minute version designed for kids ages 9-18, runs Jan. 9-11. www.sierraschoolofperformingarts.org
TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada Saturday, Oct. 18, marks the return of TWNN’s annual Fall Festival, a fundraiser featuring carnival games, a haunted house, a car-based trunk-or-treat, a Halloween-inspired art project and plenty of food and treats.
TWNN’s mainstage show revisits The Miracle Worker, from Nov. 7-16, nine years after staging the show in its former location, the University of Nevada, Reno’s Laxalt building. For this play about Helen Keller and her loyal teacher Annie Sullivan, TWNN has partnered with the Washoe County School District’s American Sign Language interpreters, to not only gain awareness about the challenges of disability, but to learn ASL and explore effective nonverbal communication.
twnn.org
Truckee Meadows Community College Performing Arts
First, the exciting news: TMCC is finally—after many years on the emotional rollercoaster of exciting plans and dashed hopes—building its long-awaited theater. Construction begins in October, and, according to Shea King, who heads up the school’s theater program, the plan is to finish the 230-seat proscenium theater in 18 months, then return to the large-scale productions it’s been missing since vacating The Theatre on Keystone Avenue more than five years ago.
In the meantime, King’s students will present
The Christmas Tree Farm from Nov. 13-22 in the Performance Lab in TMCC’s Red Mountain Building. Set on a New England tree farm, it’s a holiday-themed romantic comedy. www.tmcc.edu/visual-performing-arts/ performance-schedule
University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Theatre and Dance
Shakespeare’s tragic tale of young love comes to the Redfield Proscenium Theatre, from Oct. 10-19. Director Rosie Brownlow-Calkin brings us a reimagined Romeo and Juliet, set in a modern fundamentalist enclave, emphasizing Verona’s autocratic leadership and repressive social structures. www.unr.edu/theatre-dance
SPARKS
Restless Artists Theatre
RAT’s small black-box theater makes it ideal for shows with minimal sets, small casts and big issues. This fall’s lineup is no different. First is James McLindon’s Dead and Buried, from Nov. 7-17. Set in a cemetery in New England, it’s about three emotionally damaged people who help each other bury their past traumas. Then comes Jen Silverman’s The Roommate, Dec. 5-15, about an empty nester who takes on a roommate with questionable morals, forming an unlikely friendship. rattheatre.com
CARSON CITY/CARSON VALLEY
Carson Valley Community Theatre
The CVIC Hall in Minden will double as a honky-tonk when CVCT’s country music cabaret, A Little Country Time, takes the stage, from Oct. 24-Nov. 2, featuring a variety of country music and a talented group of musical collaborators.
At press time, the December schedule was still in the works, but plans included a radio version of It’s a Wonderful Life. And if the acting bug has bitten, give improv a try; CVCT’s new improv troupe now meets two Wednesdays each
month at its annex in the Copeland Building. www.carsonvalleycommunitytheatre.org
Proscenium Players, Inc.
It’s PPI’s 60th anniversary season, and in honor of the occasion, the company is revisiting popular shows from previous seasons—including Arsenic and Old Lace. Running from Oct. 10-19 at the Brewery Arts Center’s Maizie Black Box Theater, it’s directed by Amelia Gotham, who staged the play with PPI 20 years ago. www.prosceniumplayersinc.com
Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company
Carson’s premier musical-theater troupe brings another knockout production to the Carson City Community Center from Nov. 7-23: the Tony Award-winning Fiddler on the Roof. It’s the story of Tevye, a poor Jewish dairyman; his wife, Golde; and their three daughters as they struggle to embrace family and traditions in the face of a changing world. WNMTC also recently announced its purchase of the Auri Listen system for the hearing impaired; audience members can request it at the sound booth before the show. www.wnmtc.com
Wild Horse Children’s Theater
If jingle bells and Christmas trees aren’t your cup of tea, Wild Horse has the cure: Beetlejuice, Jr. takes the stage at the Brewery Arts Center’s Performance Hall, from Dec. 5-12. A double cast totaling 90 young actors, ages 12 to 18, performs this show, which closely mirrors the Broadway musical but is slightly shorter. Oh, and there’s a real sandworm! www.wildhorsetheater.com
TRUCKEE
Truckee Community Theater
The soon-to-be-named Truckee-Tahoe Theatre Company wraps up its 2025 season with Roald Dahl’s Matilda, The Musical, from Nov. 7-16. It’s a magical tale about a precocious, troublesome little girl with telekinetic powers whom no one but her kind teacher understands. www.truckeecommunitytheater.com
Business owners and startup founders: What’s keeping you up at night? We can help you with those challenges—for free! 9-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 @ The Innevation Center 450 Sinclair, Reno BizAssembly.org
The University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Theatre and Dance rehearses its version of Romeo and Juliet, set in a modern fundamentalist enclave. Photo/David Robert
ARTS
Scares behind bars
The
creative team behind Dark Corner Haunted
House takes this year’s attraction one step further—to an actual prison
In the fall of 2022, Dark Corner Haunted House held its inaugural haunt at the National Bowling Stadium in downtown Reno.
During one of the “13 Nights of Terror,”
Maurice White, the board president of the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society—a group that preserves and develops the prison as a historic site—visited the haunted house. After the visit, White reached out to Dark Corner and said he would love something like this at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City, which had closed in 2012.
“It took us a few years,” said Guinivere Clark, front-of-house operations director for Dark Prison Haunted House, and vice president of operations for Dark Corner Creative, the parent company of Dark Prison.
“But eventually, we were able to put a full haunted house—multiples of them—inside the Nevada State Prison.”
In May, Dark Corner held a three-day “Halfway to Halloween” event at the prison that sold out every night.
Dark Prison Haunted House runs for 17 nights, through Nov. 1. There will be three separate haunted-house areas—Cell Block C, Unit 15, and Jorgan’s Institute for the Unwell. They are all located inside real cell blocks and corridors of the decommissioned maximum-security prison.
According to Clark, Dark Prison is in “the same world and the same story“ as Dark Corner. The story is that a disease called the “shadow plague” infected the city of Dark Lane. In 2022, the storyline was that the “shadow plague” was discovered in “Dark Lane Mall,” a reference to Reno’s old Park Lane Mall. In 2024, the shadow plague got out of control, and different areas of the town were overtaken over by people making encampments. In Dark Prison, some of the
characters from Dark Corner have been captured and incarcerated.
“There are a lot of mad-scientist vibes this year,” said Holly Spahr, CEO of Dark Corner Creative. Attendees will learn the origin story of the fictitious Dr. Stain, the medic at the prison who conducted experiments on the corpses of executed inmates. In addition, a new mad scientist, Jorgen, turned himself into a cyborg and is now conducting experiments with the people from the Institute for the Unwell.
More than 50 live actors in professional costumes and makeup await anyone who dares to enter the prison. In addition to the three haunted areas, the prison yard, aka “The Yard,” acts as an entertainment zone with live actors, food trucks, carnival games, DJ music, a bar serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and performances by Northern Nevada artists on select nights. At press time, details were still being finalized, but organizers mentioned Burning Man sculptors, muralists, musicians, fire dancers and actors from local theaters.
“The team of artists from Dark Corner Creative has been working nonstop over the last few months to put together this stunning show,” said Spahr, in a press release. “We’ve built out new spaces, new characters, and new props all while preserving the history of the amazing building Dark Prison takes place in.”
Lucia Maloney, the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society’s general manager, said during an interview that the prison and Dark Corner are a fine match.
“The team behind Dark Prison Haunt has done a tremendous job of honoring and respecting the historic character of Nevada State Prison, while at the same time creating another world within the facility—one that is spooky, unsettling and beautiful in its artistry,” Maloney said.
Clark noted that the prison was built (in
| BY JASON SARNA
Holly Spahr, CEO of Dark Corner Creative, gets ready to scare some visitors at Dark Prison. Photo/Jason Sarna
1862) Nevada became a state (in 1864). “We’re really honored to be there,” she said.
Spahr originally became interested in haunted houses while working at Netherworld near Atlanta, Ga. When she moved to Reno, she met Dustin Ring, who had a home haunt for a decade in West Reno. The two became business partners and founded Dark Corner Creative.
“It was so good in his three-car garage in his backyard that I said, ‘Hey I think we can make this professional,’” said Spahr. “So it’s been a journey since then to bring it to the public.”
When they’re not scaring people, the members of Dark Corner Creative are a supportive community of people who love all things strange, occult and horror. Clark, who grew up in a family where Halloween was treated like Christmas, and started as a “scare actor” in 2022 as a fun distraction from her day job, fell in love with the artists, and her role with the company grew from there.
“Everybody who’s part of the community is so kind and so passionate,” said Clark. “It’s really fun to see them as these, you know, crazy characters doing these crazy movements, and then you meet them outside of their costume and makeup, and they’re the kindest human beings you’ve ever met.”
Both Clark and Spahr described the environment as “a safe space” for people who feel like they don’t belong anywhere else. Both women have made lifelong friends in the community and love having a place to express their creativity and weirdness.
Dark Corner Creative is associated with Haunters Against Hate, a nonprofit charitable organization that provides grants to help local nonprofits throughout the country support their LGBTQ+ communities, with an emphasis on youth.
“We are very anti-hate,” said Clark. “Even though we are scary, and we like to scare people, we also like to respect people.”
In the future, Dark Corner Creative hopes to have two haunted houses: One in the Nevada State Prison and another in Reno. All members of Dark Corner Creative are grateful to the NSPPS for making this year’s haunt a reality.
“This is going to be the best year yet,” said Spahr. “It’s bigger than ever; it’s scarier than ever—and this location, in general, is worth visiting, with or without coming to the haunted house.”
Dark Prison will be open at the Nevada State Prison, at 3301 Warm Springs Court, in Carson City, on Fridays and Saturdays, and select Thursdays and Sundays, through Saturday. Nov. 1. General admission starts at $24.95 to $34.95. For tickets and information, visit darkprison.com.
ART OF THE STATE
Magical move
For
Kevin and Caruso’s ‘Magique,’ when one door closed, another opened at the Nugget
At the end of May, Kevin Jeffrey and Lord Caruso, the duo behind the long-running show Magique, were expecting their fifth successful summer for their top-rated show at The Theatre, the venue on Keystone Avenue that they had made significant investments in renovating.
Then came the unexpected news from their landlord: The owner of the shopping center had new plans for the building, and a theater did not factor in. The performers would have to pull a rabbit out of their hat— and they did.
Jeffrey and Caruso could continue leasing the space if they wanted, but under some rather unpalatable conditions.
“Rather than enter a lease that was very favorable for them—in which they could basically kick us out in 30 days, at any time they wanted—in addition to raising our rent after we’d been stellar tenants for four years, we just thought it was a little greedy, and very good for them, but not good for us. So we started looking at other venues,” said Jeffrey. (He said the owner is a real estate investment group in Portland, Ore., but declined to name them.)
“It’s business, but it’s hard not to take it personally,” he added. “In hindsight, it probably made sense to them. The building’s aging, and if they can sell it to someone willing to start over and build something shiny and new, it’s hard to argue against that from their point of view. I think if I’m bitter about anything, it’s the fact that they led us to believe everything would stay the same back in the beginning of the year and then waited until six weeks before our lease ended to tell us— so for us, it was clearly a one-sided deal.”
Magique started roughly 20 years ago, when Jeffrey and a team of dancers and other talents performed on Carnival cruise ships, and in casino residencies at venues including Las Vegas’ Tropicana, Reno’s Eldorado and more. That came to a halt when the pandemic hit. In fact, Jeffrey admitted that when Magique took residence at The Theatre in 2021, it was meant to be a temporary home for only a year or two until casino shows came back. This year, now that The Theatre was no longer a viable option after four successful years, they turned to a casino once again.
With the summer tourist season in full swing, the timing for the move was less than ideal. Performing-arts venues in the Reno-Tahoe area
are notoriously difficult to find, with available spaces being either closed (like The Theatre), closed for decades and dilapidated (like the Lear Theater), not conducive to performances (many companies occupy warehouses for storage and rehearsals), too costly for cash-strapped arts troupes, or already occupied, particularly in the summer, when Artown is in full swing. But as if Jeffrey and Caruso had waved a magic wand, one venue emerged as a possibility—the Nugget’s Celebrity Showroom.
“The Nugget has been on my radar probably for three decades,” Jeffrey said. “My first job in show business was running spotlight at the Celebrity Showroom right out of high school, so I’ve had a fascination for that room, and the fact that they never gutted it and turned it into anything else made me think that was our first choice. And, luckily, they agreed that having this attraction there would be mutually beneficial—and so, within six weeks, we moved.”
It’s a better venue for Magique for several reasons. The showroom enables larger crowds— the show frequently sold out in its previous location. Plus, it was designed intentionally as a performing arts space, featuring dressing rooms, storage space for props and costumes, and more,
| BY JESSICA SANTINA
Kevin and Caruso’s Magique started roughly 20 years ago on cruise ships and was in residence in casinos in Las Vegas and Reno—so its recent move from a theater in a shopping center to the Nugget is something of a homecoming.
Photo/David Robert
unlike The Theatre, which began life as a movie theater and required Jeffrey and Caruso to invest in renovations to make it suitable for their show. Additionally, being in the casino makes it ideal for tourists, who can stay in a hotel room, dine at one of the Nugget’s restaurants and catch the show, all without ever leaving the building.
“It all came very suddenly, but we’re thrilled it did, and we’re very happy to be here,” Jeffrey said. “The fact that they were willing to give us a three-year residency made it especially attractive for everyone.”
With the new venue, the team added an additional two performers, bringing the total to 10. The show expanded so that it now includes more than 20 illusions, more than 100 eye-popping costumes (which Caruso makes by hand himself), synchronized lighting, lasers and pyrotechnics, cinematic multimedia backdrops, a grand finale of epic proportions, and a thrilling new soundtrack. The show reopened in mid-August and is set to run every Saturday (and, quite often, other days) for the next three years.
Candlelight Concerts, the series of uniquely themed classical-music concerts lit only by the glow of thousands of candles, which also had been performed at The Theatre, followed Magique to the Nugget for its monthly performances as well.
“Magique’s vibe remains the same, but we’re constantly changing music, effects, lighting and costumes, a little at a time, because most of our guests come back,” Jeffrey said. “It’s really nice to have a residency where that can evolve naturally, rather than constantly chasing gigs, like we spent a lot of our careers doing.”
Kevin and Caruso present Magique each Saturday night and some Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at the Celebrity Showroom at the Nugget, at 1100 Nugget Ave., in Sparks. Showtime is usually 8 p.m., with 4 p.m. matinees scheduled approximately monthly. Tickets start at $55. For tickets and information, visit BestShowinReno.com.
Upcoming Candlelight Concerts at the Celebrity Showroom include “Candlelight: Featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and More” at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 12; “Candlelight: Coldplay vs. Imagine Dragons” at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 12; and “Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics” at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 26 and Thursday, Oct. 30. Tickets start at $27. For tickets and information, visit candlelightexperience.com.
FILM & TV
Family matters
Jason Bateman makes Netflix’s ‘Black Rabbit’ watchable;
Season two of HBO Max’s ‘Peacemaker’ was worth the wait
There is really only one reason to watch Black Rabbit, the eight-episode miniseries streaming on Netflix: Jason Bateman, who gives his best dramatic performance yet as Vince, a long-haired mess of a man making life difficult for his loving but so annoyed brother, Jake (Jude Law).
Jake is the owner of Black Rabbit, a restaurant/club in New York City he started with Vince, before gambling debts caused Vince to flee. Vince returns to the city after a few years, looking to get back into the family business—and bringing a shit load of trouble with him. As the tragedies mount, Jake remains loyal to Vince, no matter how bad he screws up both of their lives. Law is good enough as Jake, although his New York City accent needs a little work.
Oscar-winning actor Troy Kotsur (CODA) is believably menacing as a crime boss who would prefer not to break your limbs, but he will seriously destroy you if you screw with him. His part of the story is solid, although he doesn’t have a lot of screen time.
Even though there are eight hours of story here, the show feels overstuffed. There are too many characters trying to factor into the plot— to the point that it gets confusing and annoying.
The show works fine when Bateman (who also directs a couple of episodes) is onscreen; in fact, he makes Black Rabbit very good at times. The last few episodes move at a crisper pace and feature Bateman and Law’s best moments— but there’s really no reason this story couldn’t have been condensed into a movie.
This one can be binged; all episodes were released at once. It takes some work to get
John Cena and Danielle Brooks in Peacemaker
through the dull stretches, but Bateman’s performance is a fine reward, making your viewing effort worthwhile.
As of this writing, I am five episodes into Peacemaker’s eight-episode second season. It continues be a wild, wacky, hilariously nasty ride—and the tone is even darker this season.
4
It took more than three years to get Season 2, because James Gunn was busy running the entire DC Universe and putting together his Superman. Some of the events (and characters) from Superman play into the episodes, as do events from Gunn’s version of The Suicide Squad Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker (John Cena), had a rough first season, and things get even rougher in the new episodes, as Christopher visits an alternate timeline in which his deceased father (Robert Patrick) and brother (David Denman) are not only alive, but living a happy life as popular superheroes with an alternate version of Christopher.
Of course, this is James Gunn Land, so we are going to see the more fucked-up aspects of an alternative timeline. There are a lot of worst-case scenarios in play that are funny, but super-morbid.
As with Season One, you won’t be skipping the show intro. We get another splendid dance intro, this time to the flamboyant Foxy Shazam song “Oh Lord.” Yes, Eagly features prominently. It’s good to see Tim Meadows getting some great screentime as Langston Fleury, an agent suffering from bird blindness—he can’t tell the difference between an eagle and a duck. Meadows is so good here that it makes one wonder how he hasn’t been in more high-profile stuff.
Season 3 hasn’t been greenlit yet, but Gunn has hinted that Peacemaker should be around past Season 2, TV series or not—so I expect we’ll see Cena and his funny hat for years to come.
There have been a lot of good or even excellent movies this year that have garnered my admiration—yet I am in no rush to see them again.
| BY BOB GRIMM
supernatural efforts; it offers more of a dramatic, horrific scenario than scares.
Years after a fictional American civil war, young men gather for an annual ritual that requires them to walk until just one man remains standing, winning vast riches. The catch: When you bow out, you are executed on the spot.
Cooper Hoffman stars as Raymond, the first participant we see as he’s leaving his tearful mom (Judy Greer) at the walk’s starting line.
Other participants include Peter (David Jonsson of Alien: Romulus), Stebbins (Garrett Wareing) and Hank (Ben Wang). At the start of the walk, it isn’t fully clear just how serious the consequences for slowing down or dropping out are, but that’s made perfectly clear before the film’s title hits the screen a few minutes in.
Mark Hamill, veteran of another Stephen King movie this year (The Life of Chuck), is on hand as the mysterious Major, a gravelly voiced, solemn guy hiding behind sunglasses and riding behind the walkers, egging them on and overseeing the whole thing. He’s one of 2025’s great film villains.
The participants manage to stay up for days and even sleep while moving forward. They begin to form bonds and allegiances that are touching, funny and abasolutely heartbreaking when the number of walkers begins to diminish—and they diminish in very gory fashion, as this movie easily earns its R rating. The graphic depiction of the walkers dying via gunshot is extremely gory without feeling gratuitous, but if you can’t handle onscreen violence, avoid this one.
Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, proves with each passing film that he’s a chip off the old block. He’s the emotional center of the film, delivering pages of dialogue in long stretches, with his performance always maintaining a credible level of intensity. Jonsson matches him step by step and is another young actor who I suspect will be around for a very long time.
Bring Her Back was one of those. Man, that movie knocked me on my ass—in a good way—but I don’t know if I will ever watch it again. Now The Long Walk has joined this category: I dug it; I appreciate it; I won’t put myself through it again anytime soon.
4
The Long Walk was of the first books Stephen King ever wrote, released under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. It’s not one of King’s
The film is directed by Francis Lawrence, who helmed all but one of the Hunger Games films, meaning he’s no stranger to dystopian survival stories. The movie is decidedly bleak, but we never look away, because Lawrence and his cast do such a fine job of giving us a scenario and characters about which we care. Not one of the deaths depicted in the film feels like a throwaway; every time a life is ended, it hits hard.
The Long Walk will likely stand as the most critically acclaimed Stephen King film (it currently holds that title on Rotten Tomatoes), yet many people will say they hate it. (The person with whom I attended the film falls into this category.) It’s a tough film to watch, and if you are in a bad mood already, this film will amplify that bad mood.
The Long Walk admirably sticks to its premise, delivers on that premise, and pulls
FILM & TV
no punches. Some stories don’t have happy endings—and this is definitely one of those stories.
Denzel Washington and director Spike Lee have had a great partnership through the years—including Malcolm X, still one of the greatest biopics ever made. Sadly, their fifth pairing proves to be their weakest.
While New York City has never looked more beautiful than it does in Highest 2 Lowest, stunningly shot by cinematographer Matthew Libatique, the film never finds a rhythm. Despite a good performance by Washington, and some of the standard stylistic touches of Lee on full display, the movie is all over the place.
In this remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, Washington plays David King, a music mogul looking to buy back his label amidst a company shakeup. Just when he has the financing to make the big, risky deal, Kyle (Elijah Wright), the son of David’s chauffer, Paul (Jeffrey Wright, real-life dad of Elijah), is kidnapped—by mistake, instead of David’s own son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph). I think I wrote that in a way that makes sense. If not, editors please have at it.
David is faced with the moral and fiscal dilemmas of having to give up his life savings,
and essentially his career, to save the life of Kyle. In the meantime, some crusty New York City detectives work to find the kidnapper, who calls David often and clearly has some sort of grudge against the man.
The mystery isn’t all that mysterious, and the kidnapping plot is more or less a background for a film primarily about familial bonds, and the rigors of running a business in a world run by social media.
The first half of the movie is a murky slog, hindered by an obstructive soundtrack composed by Howard Drossin. The music is beautiful, but it belongs in another movie. Rather than creating tension or accentuating the film’s attempts at emotional depth, it offers an oblivious, tone-deaf, happy vibe. It simply doesn’t fit.
The second half of the film is a little better as David leaves his sweet penthouse apartment and goes out into the streets for a ransom drop. His train ride is memorable, with Lee mainstay Nicholas Turturro showing up as a revved-up Yankee fan, and Rosie Perez appearing as herself at a city festival. This is where Highest 2 Lowest has a decent pulse. But the finale is simplistically silly—after the film hints at going to some invitingly strange places.
Spike Lee has made some of the greatest American movies of the past 40 years, so it’s always a supreme bummer when one of his movies comes up a bit short. Before missing
with this one, he’d been on a great run over the last decade with the likes of Da 5 Bloods, David Byrne’s American Utopia, BlacKkKlansman and Chi-Raq. Washington is typically good as David, navigating all of the script’s disjointedness, and modulating his performance to all the fits and starts. As hard as he tries, he can’t formulate a complete character that makes sense, due to the film’s shortcomings. Most of the performances around him are either too stiff or overwrought, leaving Washington on a sort of cinematic island.
A$AP Rocky turns in perhaps the film’s sec-
ond-best performance, appearing late in the film as an up-and-coming artist. His performance gives the film an unhinged, unpredictable edge; it could have used a lot more of that.
Highest 2 Lowest falls somewhere in the middle of a ranking of Lee’s films. It’s not good enough to count among his successes, but it’s better than a couple of his true misfires. He will rise again—and hopefully find an excuse to work with Washington at least one more time before the actor delivers on his promise to retire soon.
Highest 2 Lowest is streaming on Apple TV+.
A scene from The Long Walk
Think free!
THE DISH
William Lyons Chef and owner of Papa What You Cooking
| BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ
William Lyons never expected to become a restaurateur, but his culinary journey began long before opening Papa What You Cooking. Growing up in Alabama with a pastor father who was a barbecue expert, and a mother who was a baker, Lyons developed his passion for Southern cuisine at family gatherings and church meals. After nearly 30 years in law enforcement, he became a pastor himself and began cooking for friends and neighbors. Word-of-mouth praise for his homemade cakes and pies led to neighborhood sales, then requests for savory dishes. Today, his menu—a window into Southern cooking—is full of both.
Papa What You Cooking is located in The Basement, in Reno’s historic downtown post office building, at 50 S. Virginia St. Learn more at papawhatyoucookingnv. com. Photo by David Robert
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten locally in the last month?
The seafood chimichanga (a deep-fried burrito) at Mi Pueblo Sparks.
Your kitchen is on fire— metaphorically! What are you cooking? A fried bologna sandwich—they’re the best!
Who is/was your strongest culinary influence? My mother.
What is your go-to midnight snack? It has to be ice cream.
Which local restaurant deserves more attention, and why?
Mi Pueblo in Sparks. Their food is authentic and well-prepared, and their service is really great.
How does food contribute to our community? It brings family and people from all cultures together. I see this all the time at my restaurant, and it makes me happy.
What is the most unusual thing in your refrigerator right now? Pigs’ feet!
Please share your favorite food memory from growing up. My mother would always cook on Saturday for Sunday dinner. I would be the one she would make stand and stir the pot.
What is the one kitchen tool you can’t live without? My oven.
If you could have dinner at any restaurant in the world tonight, where would it be, and why there?
Le Tout-Paris. The atmosphere is amazing, and you can experience some of the greatest culinary arts in the world.
Sober October
The positives of a monthlong pause from the pour
By the time the warm nights of late summer roll into crisp fall evenings, Nevada’s wine culture is hitting its stride. From weekly wine tastings to the first pours of harvest-time vintages from the Sierra Foothills, October in Reno is a time when glasses are rarely empty.
Yet in recent years, a quieter movement has emerged: Sober October.
Sober October invites us to step back from the nightly pour and see how life feels when the stemware stays untouched for 31 days. In a city where many social rituals are tied to glasses of cabernet or a crisp sauvignon blanc with friends, this challenge is both a disruption and an opportunity.
This concept of taking a monthlong break from alcohol in October reportedly began overseas as a fundraiser—various sources trace it to either Australia or the United Kingdom—and landed in the United States as a kind of self-imposed harvest reset. In Reno, it falls in an intriguing place on the calendar, nestled between summer festivals and the impending string of holiday dinners. What might otherwise feel like deprivation can instead be framed as preparation: a way to fine-tune the palate
and body before November and December invite indulgence again.
For wine lovers, Sober October can also spark creativity. There’s no shortage of nonalcoholic, wine-inspired beverages that mimic the elegance of their fermented cousins. Alcohol-free sparkling cuvées offer the crispness of Champagne without the aftermath, while zero-proof reds and whites provide familiar flavors for nights when a meal feels incomplete without a pour. Local stores have begun stocking more of these options.
Craft Wine and Beer owner Ty Martin sent some comments by email about the nonalcoholic options he stocks, and why he offers them.
“We have primarily grown our selection of NA beverages of all styles because we are in a golden age for the category,” Martin said. “For most of our 15-year history, sober folks were stuck with soda, water and a small range of truly uninspired near beer. The day has finally come where we can offer a very satisfactory prosecco, negroni or IPA for those who want to socialize and refresh without the alcohol. Wine took the longest to arrive, but a variety of styles, from de-alcoholized noble varietals to iconoclastic tea- and fruit-based ‘wines’ are here, and they are delicious.”
| BY STEVE NOEL
Craft Wine and Beer owner Ty Martin noted that for most of his establishment’s 15-year history, “sober folks were stuck with soda, water and a small range of truly uninspired near beer.” These days, the options for high quality NA booze—even wine—are plentiful. Photo/David Robert
I couldn’t agree more. These beverages remind us that ritual is as much about the glass, the clink and the company as it is about the alcohol itself.
From a wellness standpoint, Sober October offers tangible benefits. Improved sleep, clearer mornings and steady energy are frequent rewards. Wine culture sometimes celebrates indulgence, but balance is also important to tradition. A vintner would tell you that the vine itself requires cycles of dormancy, an annual rest before buds break and fruiting resumes. Sober October can be thought of as our own human version of dormancy, a necessary interval of restraint.
Wine’s deep connection to food makes Sober October especially engaging for those who want to keep their gastronomic rituals intact. Pairings need not vanish; instead, they can evolve. Non-alcoholic wines can complement seasonal dishes as effectively as traditional pours. Dinner at can still feel indulgent when paired with a well-crafted nonalcoholic option designed to highlight flavors on the plate.
I asked Martin to address the quality, taste and experience of non-alcoholic wines. He wrote, “They have come a long way in a short time in the white and sparkling category. Aromatic, acid-driven whites with a touch of residual sugar can offer a wonderful beverage experience that can be enjoyed with or without food. Germany is leading the quality movement in my book, with the best range of grapes appropriate to the task.” This has been my experience as well.
When the month ends, wine lovers inevitably return to questions of moderation, habit and intention. Does the first swirl of a glass in November taste richer because of its absence? Is that glass more respected, more savored, because it follows 31 days of quiet? In many cases, Sober October can reshape our relationship with wine—not eliminating its presence, but reminding drinkers of its role in life, tradition and community.
I asked Martin for his thoughts on the future of non-alcoholic wine. He wrote, “I think we are exiting the speculation phase, and the best producers will begin in earnest to explore a greater range of styles.”
Abstaining from wine may not diminish our appreciation for it; it may deepen it. The silence between the toasts makes the next celebration resonate even more.
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN
New and coming soon
Golden Boy Mariscos and Sushi opened on Aug. 31 at 135 N. Sierra St., at the former site of Silver Peak Grill and Taproom in downtown Reno. The menu features tacos, Mexican seafood dishes like ceviche, and the MexicanAmerican version of sushi known as “Sinaloa style”—either “natural” or fried. Golden Boy also has a location at 2100 Victorian Ave., in Sparks. Learn more at goldenboymariscosandsushinv.com.
Sage Leaf, a restaurant that has been serving classic American fare in Incline Village for more than 10 years, is set to open a second location in Midtown Reno this fall, according to both a press release and a banner posted at its future home— the former Laughing Planet, at 650 Tahoe St. Owners Shane and Lara Hammett source their food from Niman Ranch and other local producers. Shane is the chef and sommelier; he and Lara have worked in restaurants in Napa Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. The couple moved to Tahoe in 2011 and opened Sage Leaf shortly afterward. Learn more at sageleaftahoe.com.
Cafe Catrina is a soon-to-launch coffee-cart business owned by cousins Camila Melgarejo and Diana Lobato. As of press time, the cart had been built, and they were about to paint and decorate it. Both women have been away from the coffeehouse business for a few years, and according to Lobato, they’ve been missing the creative energy and social energy. “This time, we wanted to put some of our culture into it, some of our personal tastes,” she said. Mexican-inspired drinks like the tres leches latte were inspired by the desserts they remember from childhood. They plan to begin setting up the cart at locations in Reno and Carson City on fall weekends to fulfill pickup orders. Lobato said the cousins will announce each location on Instagram @_cafecatrina.
Events
The second annual Brewery District Block Party returns during the OffBeat Music Festival, on Saturday, Oct. 4. The Block Party is a free, all-ages event with a beer garden, distillery tastings, food trucks, live music, art, a vendor village and a kids zone. This event runs from 1 to 6 p.m. on Fourth Street between Evans Avenue and Valley Road. Details are at offbeatreno.com/bd-block-party. Oysters aplenty can be found at the October Community Connections Event, “Oyster Shuck and Eat,” from 5-7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9. The Truckee Chamber of continued on next page
TASTE OF THE TOWN TASTE OF THE TOWN
continued from Page 23
Commerce is hosting the event at Buoy and Trap Seafood Market, at 10825 Pioneer Trail, Suite 100, in Truckee. Owner Zack Duksta, a Rhode Island native who is passionate about seafood, will offer his expert tips on shucking. Tickets are $30 and include oysters, drinks and a shucking knife. Tickets are available at business. truckee.com.
The 43rd Annual Great Italian Festival is happening at 345 N. Virginia St., outside the Eldorado, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 11; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 12. Highlights include the family sauce cook-off, grape-stomping, live music and kids’ activities. Admission is free. Wine Walk tickets are $24.20, and tickets for the VIP tent, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday only, are $116.61. For tickets and information, visit caesars.com/reno/ events/great-italian-festival.
Urban Roots is hosting the Seedkeeper’s Table community gathering from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 11, at its Teaching Farm, at 1700 E. Second St. The event features a four-course dinner designed by Tommy Linnet of Liberty Food and Wine Exchange. Each course will be accompanied by a cocktail by El Sativo Tequila. Tickets are $275 and will support the educational mission of Urban Roots. For tickets and information, visit secure.qgiv. com/for/seedsofchange/event/ seedkeeperstable.
The Reno Zombie Crawl will take place in downtown Reno and the Brewery District starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18. With purchase of a crawl cup ($13 plus fees in advance, or $15 on the day of the event), attendees can access more than 150 drink and food specials at more than 40 bars. The pickup location for cups is Circus Circus, 500 N. Sierra St., starting at 2 p.m. Several downtown hotels are offering room deals for the night. Learn more at crawlreno.com/event/zombiecrawl.
Have local food, drink or restaurant news? Email foodnews@renonr.com.
—Alex Cubbon
LIQUID CONVERSATIONS
Time for a revival
The world thought these vintage cordials were for silly ’70s sips only; the world was wrong
People often ask me, “What spirits should I always have in my home bar?”
While the staple base spirits of gin, vodka, whiskey, rum and tequila are obvious choices, nothing makes a house bar a home bar like the classic cordials of the 1970s and ’80s.
There was a time when we did not have easy access to ingredients like elderflower liquor or Aperol, which you can find in the grocery store today. For a very long time, misunderstood disco-flavored ingredients were some of the only ingredients available to dress up your cocktail. When the world rediscovered the art of the cocktail and focused in on homemade and rare ingredients, these vintage cordials got moved to the back of the shelf.
Today, I am here to make a case for why you should reconsider a few of my vintage favorites.
Chambord
Do you want to drink like King Louis XIV? Do you love the flavor of raspberries? Are you looking for a lower-alcohol spirit for spritzes? Look no further than the spherical bottle that contains Chambord. As with most booze history, you’ll find
conflicting accounts of exactly how and when Chambord was developed. I trust the dorks at Difford’s Guide more than most. According to their research, it was first popularized in the 17th century after King Louis XIV was given a bottle after visiting the Loire region of France. It is made from raspberries, blackberries, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, honey and cognac. Difford’s says Chambord was introduced to the States in the same year as the introduction of the McRib, 1981, and it became synonymous with the sticky-sweetdrinks culture of the time. But that’s not the only way to use it.
The reason I am so passionate about Chambord is that with one splash, you can fill any drink with the bold flavor of dark berries, which can make margaritas, Manhattans and daiquiris all taste amazing. My personal favorite is Chambord and tonic with a mint garnish; the flavor is like walking through an alpine berry patch in the spring.
Midori
There is only one spirit so synonymous with disco that it actually debuted in America at Studio 54 during a party in 1978 for the movie Saturday Night Fever. (Launch party? Wrap
| BY MICHAEL MOBERLY
party? Cast party? You’ll find reports of all three.) I am, of course, talking about Midori.
Midori may have scared off the disco generation—who suffered through countless knockoff and generic versions of the spirit— but real Midori is an elegant Japanese melon liqueur. Flavored with funky, indigenous melon varieties, including muskmelon and Yubari, this green-eyed beauty is much more nuanced than many people think.
Part of the problem with people’s understanding of Midori is, again, the time at which it became popular. Drinks like the Midori sour—which contains a whole ounce of the sweet liquor paired with sweet-and-sour mix— became ubiquitous, and extremely sweet drinks became the only way a whole generation knew how to drink Midori. But used in restraint, it can be an excellent complement to drinks and a great way to add color to a cocktail.
My preferred Midori drink is equal parts dry sherry and Midori, a splash of lemon juice, and soda water with a basil sprig. The sweet melon flavor with the dry, salty finish of sherry is perfect for anyone who loves prosciutto with their melon.
Frangelico
In the houses of many grandmothers, there is a monk-shaped bottle with a little rope belt— filled with one of the greatest nut liquors ever made. According to legend, Frangelico was created more than 300 years ago by Christian monks living in the Piedmont region of Italy. Creamy, earthy and sweet, Frangelico gets its signature flavor from the Tonda Gentile hazelnut, grown in Italy and considered superior. I asked the folks at Campari, who own the brand, if they still use this special hazelnut, and they said they do—not exclusively, but they aim for its flavor in the final product.
This nutty bottle arrived in the U.S. in 1978 when, yet again, the world was apparently too drunk to know how to use it. Most cocktails of the time combined Frangelico with cream, cream liqueurs or chocolate. These ideas are fine, because hazelnut flavors love fatty flavors, but this is by far the least interesting approach.
My recommendation is to try it in a spritz: An ounce of Frangelico, a splash of soda, a splash of dry sparkling wine and a lemon twist will change your life.
Hopefully I’ve now I have enticed you to look into the back part of your liquor cabinet and pull out these misunderstood gems. It’s the perfect time of year to play with some sweet and fun spirits.
Anna Vetter, bar manager at the cocktail lounge inside Derby Barber and Supply, shares our cocktail columnist’s love of 1970s cordials and cocktails. Photo/David Robert
MUSICBEAT
Songs of sacrilege
The Saddle Tramps are taking the stage at Cargo Concert Hall for a rare reunion show
Members of Reno rock royalty are coming out of retirement … again!
The Saddle Tramps, known for their goofy high-energy tunes, are gearing up to perform one of their few-and-far-between reunion shows. After dominating the local music scene with raunchy fast rockabilly hits like “The Bulge in Satan’s Pants,” “Shit Kicker,” “Dress Like Elvis” and more, the band called it quits in 2015.
Saddle Tramps reunion shows have popped up here and there in the decade since, and this October, the band is throwing its hat back in the ring. The Saddle Tramps—Scotty Roller (vocals, guitar), “Big John” Von Nolde (vocals, bass), Michael “Powder” Young (drums), Jon Perry (guitar) and Suzy Switchblade (go-go dancer)—are set to perform at Cargo Concert Hall on Saturday, Oct. 25.
During a recent phone interview, frontman Scotty Roller explained how much of an impact this rockabilly-punk band has had on his life.
“(The Saddle Tramps) sure wound up meaning a lot more to me than it started
Jon Perry, “Big John” Von Nolde, Scotty Roller, Suzy Switchblade and Michael “Powder” Young are the Saddle Tramps, as photographed in 2015. Photo/David Robert
says something about me being in the Saddle Tramps, and they’ll say, ‘Oh my god, I used to listen to you guys.’ … It really wound up being a huge chunk of my life. I started that band when I was in my 20s, and I’m 53 now.”
Roller and his crew continue to perform reunion shows to keep the magic of the Saddle Tramps alive.
“The first time we did it, we just didn’t think that logistically we were going to be able to do it, but we tried it, and it worked, so then we thought, ‘Well, let’s do it again,’” he said. “We had a great time doing it, all of us as a band, but we needed to give it a minute before we did it again. By the time we play in October, it will have been a year and a half since we last did it.”
As for their next show, Roller said: “After this one, I don’t know when we’ll do it again. I say that, because we want to get some stuff re-recorded, and we want to get some stuff properly recorded and put on vinyl and expanded. It’s smart at this point to just take things one project at a time. I don’t want to say that we’re not going to play again—we most likely will; I just don’t know when it’ll be.”
The Saddle Tramps’ reunion shows focus on old favorites, but the band is also debuting a new song at the upcoming show.
skilled, Roller said he’s making sure they remain faithful to the Saddle Tramps’ classic crass jams.
“John and I consciously make it so that those songs are played like everybody knows,” he said. “When people show up, and they hear ‘Mamma Was a Flagger’ or ‘My Dick’s Too Big,’ it’s the way that they remember it. … Warren Fitzgerald from the Vandals is an insanely good guitar player, whether anybody knows it or not, and he certainly can play well beyond what those Vandals tunes require, but every time he plays those Vandals tunes, they sound the way that you want to hear them. I try to keep that in mind whenever we’re doing this stuff, too.”
Roller explained why the Tramps broke up in the first place.
“I was moving to Austin; Jon Perry was moving out by San Jose, and before that, we were already starting to look at, ‘What is the next move?” Roller said. “Things were starting to change a little bit. Social media is here, so we need to have a plan—or is the plan an exit strategy? I think every band should have an exit strategy and work toward that, and then if things pivot, they do. We were at that point where we didn’t really know what the next step was going to be, so when the opportunity came up, and I moved to Austin, that was a definitive moment.
off to be,” Roller said. “I don’t think Big John or myself thought that it would wind up being what it was. When we had a handful of songs, we immediately started touring, and we did it relentlessly for 15 years. This was pre-social media, so this really caught on by word of mouth and people seeing us. We were just doing what was amusing to us and entertaining to us— which basically was a fourth-grade fart joke that just went on for 25 years or longer, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”
The Saddle Tramps have sold out recent reunion shows, showing just how much fans have been longing to again enjoy songs like “(You Put the) Cunt in Country” and “The Mullet Song” in a live setting.
“It’s not that we had giant success, but we did have some,” Roller said. “We’ve been told many times by people in the industry—whether it were bigger bands, people from the press, management, festival promoters—that we were the biggest band nobody’s ever heard of, and it kind of really was that. From time to time, I’ll meet somebody if I’m out playing with my other band, or if I’m out doing an art show or something, and through conversation, somebody
“We wrote a new song, and we’re going to play that in October—but we also know that 99.9% of the people are there to see us and hear us play the same ridiculous songs that they’ve grown to love, and we’ve got to do them,” Roller said. “We’re happy to do them, but we wanted to give them something to keep it interesting, so that was the point of writing a new song. If we do another show (after the October one), I want them to have a reason to come out, so either we’ll have worked up something new for the stage show, or a new record that’s out that might be a release of something that we did earlier that is now expanded, kind of like when we did the anniversary edition of Nashville Swinger.”
Roller noted that every time the Saddle Tramps reunite, the musicianship grows.
“I know more as a musician now,” he said. “I play considerably better than I did in the early part of the band. John has become far more of a bass player than he was before. Michael Young, same thing—every time I play with him, he’s a better drummer than he was the last time I was with him, and same thing with Jon Perry. We’re better than we were when those songs were made. If I had to do it over again, I would sure straighten some shit out musically with this— but if I did, it might wreck the charm of what the songs are.”
Even though the musicians are more now
“When we split, everybody was still friends, so we knew at some point, maybe we could try to connect again and play a gig. We had been at it since the late ’90s, and we were tired. We toured relentlessly and did a couple of trips over to Europe. We had been grinding out those van tours for so long, and even before, we were in John’s little Ford mini-truck with a shell, sleeping in the back of it and pulling a U-Haul trailer. By the time 2015 rolled around, we were kind of spent.”
While the songs will sound the same, Roller said the performance at Cargo Concert Hall will less sloppy performances, less falling down and a lot less puke than their shows of yore.
“We’re older, and it’s not as self-destructive,” Roller said. “This band was shockingly like a white-trash version of the New York Dolls. It was a lot of everything, all the time, and it wore out bands that played with us, bands that were touring with us, and people in the band. … I think our show is better now. The jokes are sharper; the timing is a lot more funny; the music is better; the musicianship is better. It’s good that we had the break, because I think people are really getting a heck of a lot more when they see us than they did before.”
The Saddle Tramps will perform at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 25, at Cargo Concert Hall, at 255 N. Virginia St., in Reno. Tickets are $25.68. For tickets and more information, visit www. thesaddletramps.com.
| BY MATT JONES JONESIN'
CROSSWORD
“Time for an Upgrade”—to a higher status.
By Matt Jones
Bracelet fastener
“Crazy” singer Green
Mentalist Geller
French fry, elsewhere
Seafood selection named for the color of its meat
North American deer 25. Shapiro of All Things Considered (through Sept. 26(
Supposes
England’s westernmost cape
31. PepsiCo beverage brand with a two-lizard logo
32. Country near the Strait of Hormuz
Minn. college named for a Nor-
wegian king
35. Airport near OAK
38. Skater Lipinski
39. Where BTS originated
40. Saucy
41. “Exit full screen” key
42. “Walk This Way” rap trio
43. It’s light, but not a saber
44. “Happy Birthday” writer
46. One who agrees
48. Subject of a neighborhood flier
51. “Scratch that,” in texts
52. “If you think you can’t remember the prefix for three, just ___”
53. Submitted, as completed homework
55. A head
57. Despicable Me supervillain
58. Protective gear
60. Actor Christopher
63. Wise one?
64. Adult Swim fare, for short
65. Beach house feature
66. Jack of nursery rhymes
THE LUCKY 13
Nathaniel William Hilts Vocalist/guitarist/mandolinist of The Dead South, performing Oct. 8 at Grand Sierra Resort
BY MATT KING
67. Online administrator
Down
1. G.P., e.g.
2. Line leader?
3. 1947 film set in India with Deborah Kerr as a repressed Anglican nun
4. Miley and Noah Cyrus’s manager mother
5. Vintage photo prints
6. Basic beginning
7. Main squeezes
8. Concert setting
9. Title location for an Adventure, per a 1976 interactive text computer game
10. Is familiar with 13. Snakes native to Southeast Asia but considered an invasive species in Florida
14. “Dies ___” (Requiem movement)
15. Bits of roasted cocoa beans
20. Barometric indicator of upcoming rain, maybe 22. Ursine baby
Find the answers in the “About” section at RenoNR.com!
is the multi-instrumental mastermind behind The Dead South. Since 2012, The Dead South have been crafting bluegrass bangers that push twang to its limits, incorporating elements of outlaw country, folk, roots and more. With minimal drumming, loud acoustic guitars and enchanting mandolin performances, the group crafts a dark and brooding musical vibe—a perfect soundtrack for the most grim, violent and harrowing sections of cowboy movies. The band is set to perform at Grand Sierra Resort on Wednesday, Oct. 8. For tickets or more information, visit www.grandsierraresort.com.
What was the first concert you attended?
The first concert I attended was around the age of 4 with my parents, and it was Garth Brooks.
What was the first album you owned?
It was via a Columbia Records flier, Bat Out of Hell (by Meat Loaf).
What bands are you listening to right now?
I’m currently listening to an assortment of styles: Willie Nelson, Fugazi, Misfits, Sturgill Simpson, Distillers, Blaze Foley, Townes Van Zandt, Pixies, Rattlesnake Milk, and El Michels Affair.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get? Loaded question. Music is subjective, so it really doesn’t matter what I think. Different styles and trends are for other people to feel how they will. I will leave this a mystery.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
I would love to see so many bands play in
their prime, full of energy and excitement. However, to choose just one, I would have to go based on musical talent, wit, lyrics and respect for how amazing I find him to be as an artist: Roger Miller.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure? No guilt. I love Meat Loaf. I get grief for it all the time.
What’s your favorite music venue?
There are quite a few amazing places out there, but I still think Red Rocks (in Morrison, Colo.) has to be near the top.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
“An’ in the shade of an oak down by the river, sat an old man an’ a boy, settin’ sail, spinnin’ tales an’ fishin’ for whales, with a lady they both enjoy. Well, it’s the same damn tune; it’s the man in the moon. It’s the way that I feel about you. An’ with no place to hide, I looked in your eyes, an’ I found myself in you. An’ I looked to the stars, tried all of the bars. An’ I’ve nearly gone up in smoke. Now my hand’s on the wheel of something that’s real, an’ I feel like I’m goin’ home,” “Hands on the Wheel,” Willie Nelson.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
The Doors. I loved so many bands and albums growing up, but it was the first time I found an icon. I discovered The Doors at the perfect time in my life. I would have them playing over and over while reading through Jim Morrison’s poetry. It was where I realized I wanted to write songs.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking? “Do you still enjoy it?” Asking a 92-year-old Willie Nelson.
What song would you like played at your funeral? “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” The Hollies.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time? Nirvana, MTV Unplugged. I am not huge into live albums, but I find a lot of beauty in this one. I love how raw it is, and also the timing. I can listen to this anytime.
What song should everyone listen to right now? “Hands on the Wheel,” Willie Nelson.
Nathaniel William Hilts
Helena Guglielmino ‘RN&R’ columnist, guidebook author
Growing up in Fresno, Calif.—a pretty good basecamp for exploring the Central Coast, nearby national parks and the San Joaquin River—gave Helena Guglielmino a taste for the outdoors early on. In 2014, while living in Truckee and attending Sierra Nevada College (now the University of Nevada, Reno, at Lake Tahoe), she adopted an energetic lab-border collie mix, which increased her outdoorsiness level a few notches. In 2018, she moved to Reno and realized just how much public land is accessible from here; that cemented the deal. She is now a seasonal trail-maintenance employee for the Tahoe Rim Trail, and she’s been the RN&R’s outdoors columnist since May 2024. Her first guidebook, Urban Trails: Reno, is slated to be released on Oct. 1 and will be available online at Mountaineers Books or Amazon. Sierra Arts Gallery, at 17 S. Virginia St., is hosting a launch party from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday Oct. 25.
What made you decide to write a guidebook? I did an internship with Outdoor Writers Association of America in 2020. Through the association, the editor at Mountaineers (Books) found me, and she reached out.
Why did the publisher want a Reno book in particular? They’re looking at just how large Reno’s growing. … And I think Reno’s beginning to get this reputation as an outdoor place.
As your editor at the RN&R, I know your writing voice, and I know you’re not afraid to be transparent about some of the difficult parts of hiking, or even about mistakes you’ve made. You bring that same honesty to this guidebook.
| BY KRIS VAGNER
I haven’t seen that done in a guidebook before. Yeah, this is me. I’m bringing my voice to it. I am very aware, because, like, my family’s not outdoorsy. A lot of my friends like to hike or backpack, but not to the level that I do, so I am very aware that the adventures that I take, the hikes that I go on, the things that I do, maybe sound really extreme. When I tell my family I’m going backpacking for three days, they’re like, “That’s crazy. That’s insane.” But I’m just an average person. I’m at an average fitness level. I go out there; I have a really hard time. It’s not like magic and butterflies all the time. I’m very aware that the outdoors don’t feel accessible to a lot of people … so I want to let people know, yeah, I’ve made so many mistakes, and that doesn’t preclude you from being able to enjoy being in nature.
As you researched the book, was there anything that surprised you? I kind of knew this going into this book, but it just reinforced this idea that we have such great access. We have so many dedicated organizations and people who want to build a sustainable trail system here. I’ve written about sustainable trails in Reno before and the connectivity that we’re trying to achieve in this area. Organizations like Truckee Meadows Trails, Biggest Little Trail Stewardship, Tahoe-Pyramid Trail—then, of course, our land agencies locally—they are all coming together to build this thing. Essentially, they want to provide access from every neighborhood into the outdoors.
Has doing this book project made you want to do another project?
It’s kind of unlocked this really nerdy thing in me. … I’m sure people at work are so tired of me talking. They’re like, “Oh, we saw this really cool state park in Nevada.” I’m like, “Oh my God, let me tell you about all the things and the history, and why it’s named this way.” And I’m sure they’re like, “Please shut up.” So I think it would be cool to keep working on things of this nature. … In what form? I don’t know. We’ll see.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
Almost every hike in this book (besides the ones that are in Washoe Valley) pretty much touches a neighborhood in Reno, Sparks, North Valleys or Spanish Springs. It was really important for me to keep the hikes as local as possible, so that people can do these after work, on their lunch break, on the way to run errands. A lot of other guides will do a few hikes here in Reno and then focus on stuff in Tahoe or Truckee or in the higher elevations. It was really important for me to highlight just how much is available to us here.
