Nov. 21, 2013

Letters ........................... 3 Opinion/Streetalk ...........4 Sheila Leslie ................... 6 Brendan Trainor............. 7 News ............................. 8 Green ........................... 11 Feature ........................ 13 Arts&Culture ............... 16 Art of the State ............ 19

Foodfinds .................... 20 Film............................. 22 Musicbeat ....................25 Nightclubs/Casinos .......26 This Week ................... 30 Advice Goddess ........... 31 Free Will Astrology ...... 34 15 Minutes ....................35 Bruce Van Dyke ...........35

Long time to heaL See News, page 8.

Will a delay just put off the inevitable?

See Green, page 11.

ROOM WITH NO VIEW See Film, page 22.

President Kennedy took on powerful myths in June 1963 RENo’s NEws & ENtERtaiNmENt wEEkly

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Just a LittLe bite See Nibbles, inside.

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november 21, 2013

Send letters to renoletters@newsreview.com

It’s easy being green

Lost in space

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

As people keep asking me questions about my electric car, I figured I’d catch readers up.

First, I had my first full electric bill with the car charging off my NV Energy account. My monthly power use went down a little bit in comparison to last year.

At first I couldn’t figure out what the difference was. Finally, it occurred to me that the difference was I bought a new high efficiency washer and dryer about last February. Difficult to believe, but that’s the only thing I can pin down. Is it possible the old appliances were costing me more a month than the new ones plus the car?

Since winter snow time is coming up, people keep asking me which wheels supply the power on my Nissan Leaf. It turns out the car is a frontwheel drive (under the motor).

It’s supposed to snow on Thursday, so I’ll see how it goes. I’m actually more worried about Hunter, who’s driving my old Jeep, which has all-wheel drive.

Finally, today was my first day parking at Harrah’s Reno.

They’ve installed a new electric vehicle parking lot on the corner of Center Street and East Commercial Row, about four blocks from my office. They have a service called “ChargePoint,” which uses 240-volt charging stations. That means, if the car is completely empty, my car will be fully charged in about four hours. So I park it on the way to work and pick it up at lunchtime. I was a little bit nervous about parking there, since I’m not a guest of the hotel, but the man I spoke to in the lot told me, “That’s what they’re here for.” Fine. Cool even. Free fuel.

I really like that casinos in town have taken to greening up. Biodiesel at Eldorado, geothermal at Peppermill (and while I’m on the topic, seems like the Peppermill should have some of those 880 volt stations, since they’re powering from the Earth’s own hot water), and now electric vehicles at Harrahs. Next thing you know, they’ll be putting pedals with generators on the chairs at the blackjack tables.

winding down these horrific actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I always felt 9/11 was a criminal act—not an act of war. Hunt ’em down and kill ’em with Special Ops (and don’t tell anyone). We finally got Bin Laden that way, didn’t we?

How many damaged lives, suicides and destroyed dreams would we have saved had we not followed the agendas of greed and profiteering? (Shell Oil just announced a new refinery in southern Iraq.)

Here’s what Dwight Eisenhower had to say about it after WWII: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of it’s laborers, the genius of it’s scientists, and the hopes of it’s children.”

Congratulations on 20 great and meaningful years.

Jody Everett Peterson Carson City

Re “Space is the place” (Film, Oct. 10): I would hardly consider Gravity a landmark film. While Miss Bullock won the Oscar for Blindside (rightfully earned) that doesn’t automatically qualify her for every dramatic role.

Gravity had incredible special effects, but her acting was horrible. Please, just explain why a physician is up in space tinkering with the Hubble?

She should stick to her cheesy comedy movies at best. This movie gave a bad impression of the space program. In fact, it just made it a joke. Maybe all of this hype about it is coming from men just enjoying her floating around in her underwear.

Lesley Bordas Reno

Resort to violence if angered Re “More on violence” (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 14): If the kid snapped because he was getting picked on by some punks, the incident could have been even worse.

His having a gun wasn’t the issue, more than that what these other kids more than likely did to him to piss him off. The sad thing here is that America is bent on bickering over having guns and not paying attention about what happens in our schools. We have people who believe that you need to let the kids do whatever they want, instead of disciplining them, and that fighting is wrong. American society has gone too soft, and sadly since self-defense is bad as well, then kids snap and go postal, not just on their bullies, but anyone who crossed them.

Joseph Eguizabal Reno

You’re to blame Re “Not careful enough” (Upfront, Nov. 14): Oh good grief. Really? Let’s dump all the problems of our culture because American women have forgotten their proper place and condition: at home and pregnant. Things are a helluva lot more complicated than that. It just gets tiresome when one of these commentaries are professed without any kind of research, data or science to back up their pronouncements. Maybe he wants to go back to those “glorious” mythological days of where men were men and women were just property, brood mares and punching bags. He needs to find a cave and do some serious meditating.

Karen L. Ingraham Sutcliffe

Our bad choices Re “The big 2-0” (Editor’s Note, Nov. 14): Amidst all the war and sanctions talk, we should never forget this speech from a Supreme Allied Commander who knew war and the blow-back to our young folks who have to do the dirty work. I hope we are really

Our Mission To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages people to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.

are those that have and those that have not. Those that have better give because as we know all go broke in one way or another someday.

Chris Ruona Reno

Hail to the leaders Re “Trainor’s got it going on” (Letters to the Editor, Nov. 7): I’m pleased to read the words of someone else who’s starting to get a real sense of what’s really going on politically. Hopefully, there’s a few more open minds like Cynthia Kennedy’s out there. I tend to agree with all she wrote and would offer some further thoughts on the matter.

The reason we’re still mired in Afghanistan and Iraq isn’t just that we grabbed hold of a political and military tar-baby, though that’s certainly a factor. The simple truth is that our country was overthrown by a political coup in November 1963, and we never truly recovered. It doesn’t matter who is elected president, because both candidates are chosen beforehand. Let me restate that another way: Every single holder of that office from LBJ to Obama has been at least an asset of the CIA, and several have been operatives outright. Because of this and because of AIPAC’s heavy influence in this pre-choosing process, we now find ourselves at the brink of an abyss.

Either we attack Iran—a nation which hasn’t invaded another country for centuries—and it triggers a world ending thermonuclear exchange, or we stay out. If we don’t attack, the collapse of the U.S. petro-dollar is assured and with it our government.

Believe it or not, the second choice is the better of the two because it at least allows us a chance of survival. These are the fruits of playing as children within the false left/right paradigm set up for us by the usurpers. We voted for the puppets and paid no mind to the puppet master operating them.

Maybe cockroaches deserve a shot at becoming the dominant species of the planet. They’ve certainly shown more common sense.

Robert Orlin Franklin Johnson Sun Valley

Prevent flu sick days Re “Modify your sick-day policy” (Editor’s Note, Oct. 31): Thank you for highlighting the difficult choice many employees face during flu and cold season—go to work sick or risk losing their job. If businesses invested in their employees’ preventive health by providing the simple benefit of free flu shots, they would actually make money! Factoring in direct cost savings (both absenteeism and medical costs), the American Public Health Association estimates an annual flu vaccine can save up to $95 per vaccinated employee. For a company with 150 employees, this could be over $14,000. Instead, businesses lose approximately 111 million work days and spend approximately $10.4 billion on flu-related illnesses, hospitalizations and outpatient visits.

If your employer or school provides free flu vaccinations, take advantage of it and prevent the spread of illness to co-workers, classmates and our community. The flu vaccine is recommended for people 6 months and older and is the best protection against the flu this season. You can also visit a free community flu clinic at Hug High School on Nov. 21, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Find additional information about the flu at InfluenceNevada.org.

Heidi S. Parker Immunize Nevada Reno

Karma deposit

Buy the numbers Re “The real problem is prohibition” (Let Freedom Ring, Nov. 7): Thank you for this column. It is nice to read something that is factually

Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Editorial Intern Sage Leehey Contributors Amy Alkon, Chanelle Bessette, Megan Berner, Mark Dunagan, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, K.J. Sullivan, Kris Vagner, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young

based and not propagating fear and ignorance. Keep on doing real journalism and spreading educated truth.

There are far too many prohibitionist articles from northern Nevada, especially when considering how libertarian this state’s laws are in relation to gambling, prostitution and alcohol. The hypocrisy here is very frustrating.

Shawn Tamborini Reno

Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Design Vivian Liu, Serene Lusano, Marianne Mancina, Skyler Smith Advertising Consultants Meg Brown, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Office/Distribution Manager/ Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker

—D. Brian Burghart

brianb@ ne wsreview . com

Re “8 things you didn’t know about being homeless in Reno” (Feature story, Jan. 3): The homelessness of Reno is just like any other town in America. There

Assistant Distribution Manager Ron Neill Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Ron Large, Joe Medeiros, Jesse Pike, Martin Troye, Warren Tucker, Matthew Veach, Gary White, Joseph White, Sam White General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Ronsenquist

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Cover & Feature story design: Brian Breneman

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The earthly purity of rain water or C OQWVJ HWNN QH TCFKCVQT ƝWKF CPF cigarette butts? Let’s keep the alien substances out of the storm drains.

It all leads to the river. Remember, only rain in the storm drain.

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by Dennis Myers

This ModERn WoRld

by tom tomorrow

President Kennedy: What comes to mind?

Asked at Java Jungle, 246 W. First St. Michael Taylor Troubador

I was born in ’88, so just pretty much what I learned about President Kennedy in school as well as the other presidents, like Lincoln and Washington. It didn’t really have as much of an impact as the president that was currently involved in my life. … The first one that really had an impact was Clinton. I remember from there on, but Kennedy, pretty much what I remember in history books.

Jim Patterson Retiree

A very interesting man, a little bit loose morals, well liked by the people.

Nathan Ulmer Event lighting designer

Boycott Thanksgiving sales

Mostly the assassination and the 50th anniversary coming up. … I’m from Huntsville, Texas, but I wasn’t around when the assassination happened in Texas.

and prayer are those devout Christians who want to The Reno News & Review is a small independent remember the reason for the season. Walmart’s “Black newspaper in the third-largest city of one of the lowest Friday” policies are surely a reflection and admission population states in the United States. Sometimes of that. Even the phrase “Black Friday” is a play on the we’re tilting at windmills when we take on topics of Christian “Good Friday,” is it not? national import. We accept this, but we’re Americans, We’re not going to change Walmart, or other corpoand we reserve the right to bitch without reserve, even when—as with the weather, the government, or the gun rations that open on Thanksgiving. That’s the bottom line. Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday, and you know lobby—our moaning complaints are only quixotic. how those multinational corporations feel about the In other words, we know that our objections about United States. We’re not going to change J.C. Penney or stores being open on Thanksgiving will have all the Macy’s or Best Buy, either. They’re all open. effect of a tear on a flood.

But we’ve changed a few minds in Northern Walmart, which makes a big deal of its anti-AmerNevada over the years. And that’s who we’re reaching ican policy of being open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving out to, our moral, considerate readers.

Day by making claims that it will be open “earlier than Don’t shop on Thanksgiving Day. Just give it a rest. ever,” is lying. Walmarts are open all day. They just Have a little sympathy for those poor start their Black Friday sales two people who have their patriotic desire hours earlier this year.

Comparing Walmart to the Shop local, after to celebrate this most American of holidays with their family stolen communist countries that produce from them. Do it for their children the goods it sells and are also open Thanksgiving and grandchildren. Every nation for business on Thanksgiving Day celebrates its own birthday. We were is cliché. Of course Walmart is a the first to have a day just to be grateful for things like horrible corporate citizen. Of course the company family and tofu and turkey and Tofurkey. doesn’t pay a livable wage or offer decent benefits to And when you do venture out for Christmas shopmost of its employees. ping, don’t spend a dime at stores that are open on But to try to make a virtue out of forcing its workThanksgiving. Know also that all their loss leader sale ers to be on the floor when their families and loved items will be gone by Black Friday, so you should ones are at home watching football or snuggling on the spend your money at the small, locally owned stores couch is beyond hypocritical, it’s evil. that let their employees spend Thanksgiving home with Look, the only people who have a problem with their loved ones. Ω the fact that Christmas has become a day to worship consumption rather than a day devoted to reflection OPINION

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Roberta Hudson Businesswoman

The 22nd is the assassination, and I was in kindergarten when it happened. And then my mom died on the 22nd, also, so that’s what I think of.

Jessica Ice Bartender

The assassination and conspiracy. I’ve looked into it a lot myself and to me, it’s pretty obvious that he wasn’t murdered

by Lee Harvey Oswald. [I also think of] the Peace Corps.

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Here’s to Nevada’s education system Only in Nevada do we celebrate such mediocrity.

The recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), measured educational milestones for students in fourth and eighth grades. Nevada, along with nine other states, did not meet the national average in reading and math, as the by majority of students performed below Sheila Leslie grade level.

But Dale Erquiaga, Nevada’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Overall, I am pleased,” with Nevada’s progress since the average reading score of eighth-graders in the state improved four points since the 2011 survey. Yet, just 30 percent of these students were at grade level. The fourth-graders’ reading score went up one point, but even fewer, 27 percent, read at grade level.

Our math scores fell by one point for fourth-graders and stayed the same for eighth-graders. Thirty-four percent of the fourth-graders performed at grade level while just 28 percent of the eighth-graders had appropriate scores.

Not much to be pleased about there.

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Erquiaga predicted significant improvements by the 2015 national assessment, as a result of new policy reforms and funding increases. These improvements feature revised teaching standards, a new evaluation process and first-time funding for English language learners (ELL).

But it’s hard to see how new teacher evaluations will lift Nevada from its ranking of seventh worst state in the nation. And the new ELL funding is just $50 million over the next two years to serve only 14 schools in Clark County. Sure, it’s a step in the right direction and the first time ELL has been directly funded in Nevada, but it’s a tiny step when compared to what’s needed.

Support for education in Nevada tends to swell during campaign season when every politician swears allegiance. However, that support seems to disappear when it comes time to make the hard decisions, and our students and teachers are typically left with crumbs while corporations continue to avoid state taxes.

Legislators who moan about the final defeat of AB 46, the bill to raise property and sales taxes to repair Washoe County’s aging schools, at the hands of the County Commission last week should take a hard look in the mirror, along with the governor. It was your job to find a solution to this glaring and growing crisis and frankly, you failed.

If Nevada’s political leadership were serious about dramatically improving education, they would copy Oklahoma where every 4-yearold has free access to high quality pre-kindergarten. Poor children go to full-day nursery school from age 1, in “Educare” schools. Social workers mentor parents and encourage them to talk and read more to their children to help them learn.

Although Oklahoma’s 2013 NAEP scores were nothing to brag about either, researchers from Georgetown University have documented “phenomenal improvements in school readiness” for kindergarten students enrolled in Tulsa’s pre-K program.

They were nine months ahead in

reading, seven months ahead in writing and 5 months ahead of their peers in math skills. It takes money to keep those gains in subsequent years, however, and Oklahoma, like Nevada, is near the bottom in education funding.

We cannot continue to be satisfied with not getting worse. Instead of pretending that a ranking of seventh worst in the nation is acceptable, Gov. Sandoval and legislators should propose a bold early education initiative in our state. They should also find the courage to approve a funding stream to repair older schools so our children have a safe learning environment.

Neither is likely to happen without a corporate tax. But a state that approves $40 million in tax breaks for Hollywood cannot seriously be proud of allocating just $10 million more to support ELL while letting existing schools crumble.

A pre-school teacher should be more valued in Nevada than a fleeting job in the film industry. Let’s get our priorities in order. Ω

The NAEP website is http://nces.ed.gov/ nationsreportcard.

No law to protect gays was needed The Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), outlawing discrimination against gays in the workforce. Republican Sen. Dean Heller joined Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in voting for the bill, enabling it to pass.

Sen. Heller once said that he by Brendan Trainor first asks if a bill expands human freedom. ENDA certainly does not expand freedom for the employer, codifying another regulation to deal with. Perhaps Sen. Heller thought that since Nevada already has a similar law, passing it would inflict the same pain on states we compete with. Or perhaps he wished to send the message he is more gay-friendly than other Republicans. But why at the expense of freedom of contract?

Larger companies with sophisticated human resources departments always have the easiest time complying with anti-discrimination regulations. Smaller businesses are less able to comply. Trial lawyers will benefit, while consumers will suffer, because these laws divert

resources from the business itself to compliance with bureaucratic demands. The best way to eliminate discrimination is to work for general prosperity. Civil society should continue to emphasize the dignity of all humans. Speaker Boehner has promised opposition in the House.

I was living in New York City in June 1969 when the Stonewall Riots happened. I met some of the queens who stood up to the police and started the most successful civil rights movement in human history. Young people may not remember that gays had nowhere by law to socialize except mafia run underground gay bars. One of these bars, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, erupted in violent confrontations between police and the gay clientele when the humiliating monthly police raid didn’t go down as usual. The riots lasted for several nights as the illegal cross dressers resisted arrest and fought the morals police with everything from purses to bricks. It

made sensational front page news because the entire gay scene was so deeply undercover.

Soon the Gay Liberation Front was formed, and the cat was out of the bag. By the late 1990s, the tide dramatically turned, as the TV comedy show Will and Grace showed Middle America that life includes nice people who happen to be gay. The gay marriage movement has only reinforced the idea, because, well, everyone loves a wedding! It is a remarkable testament to human liberation that in such short time the love that used to know no name, was considered a mental disorder, and was the center of numerous blackmail schemes, is now shouted from the rooftops.

In Nevada, the biggest political battle may be over the constitutional amendment that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. A few Republicans spoke up in dissent at their conventions, but the Republican platforms in Nevada are anti-gay marriage.

Because those who believe the

State should enforce “Judeo Christian” sexual morality are heavily involved in the Republican Party, any deviation is currently intolerable. The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada is trying to overturn the ban on gay marriage by lawsuit, which if successful could infuriate social conservatives more. Millennials are firmly in favor of gay marriage, and they are the future of the party.

The Republican Party is risking its future if it continues to cater to the suppression of legitimate gay rights.

This confrontational mind set is not helped by gay overreach. When photographers are sued because they do not want to work on a gay marriage, then the right to be left alone comes up against compelled association. Find another photographer who would love to take pictures at your wedding. Instead of making a federal case out of freedom to associate, let’s allow for major victories and work so both sides can end the culture wars. Ω

John Boehner agrees: ‘No basis or no need’ for ENDA: www. washingtonblade. com/2013/11/14/ boehner-says-noneed-for-enda.

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Photo/Dennis Myers

Sparks City Councilmember Julia Ratti applauds a speaker at a fundraising breakfast in Sparks for Volunteers of America.

Harm reduction Television marketer Kevin Trudeau, whose infomercials appear regularly on Reno television stations, has been convicted of criminal contempt for violating the terms of his earlier Federal Trade Commission consent order. In that order, he promised to stop making misleading claims about his books.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman issued an immediate order for Trudeau’s arrest, pointing to his contempt for the law. Prosecutors believe Trudeau has stashed millions in out-of-country accounts.

Earlier in his career, Trudeau sold merchandise on his infomercials, such as diet supplements for which he made unfounded medical claims. After regularly running afoul of the FTC, he put his claims into books and started selling them instead of merchandise in his infomercials (“Return of a huckster,” RN&R, Dec. 9, 2004). That brought him under the protection of the First Amendment and complicated the FTC’s work.

His books are designed to appeal to the conspiracy minded, with titles like The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About.

The jury reached its verdict in an hour after watching three half-hour infomercials that aired on late night TV in 2006 and 2007. Information from his books was also seen by jurors, including a section where he tells readers that if they receive advice from physicians that Trudeau’s information is harmful, “Find another doctor.”

In past years, some Reno television stations pledged to stop running Trudeau’s programming (“Return of a huckster,” RN&R, Dec. 9, 2004), but it keeps showing up. Infomercials usually are cycled by television stations on a rotating basis from sales agencies, and vigilance is required to know when a Trudeau one is going to air.

Legislators attack selves U.S. Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada and two U.S. House members have sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell demanding a list of proposed national monument designations she is considering recommending to President Obama. An accompanying statement to the press complained about Obama administration “plans to designate national monuments on public lands without congressional approval ... to unilaterally designate national monuments.”

The problem for the three Republican congressmembers is that their complaint is with the Congress, not the president. Congress itself has empowered the president to designate national monuments unilaterally, and without JEWELL consulting Congress, much less seeking its approval.

Title 16, section 431 of the United States Code reads in part that the “President of the United States is authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest ...”

If the three congressmembers are impatient with Jewell, she apparently feels the same toward them. In a National Press Club speech on Oct. 31, she said, “If Congress doesn’t step up to act to protect some of these important places that have been identified by communities and people throughout the country, then the president will take action. We cannot and will not hold our breath forever.”

U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Steve Daines of Montana, Republicans like Heller, joined him in the statement.

—Dennis Myers

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No rebuilding ahead Seven years of recession takes a toll on state’s economy “I expected to do good work when I ran for office and instead we spend our time dismantling everything.” by Sparks City Councilmember Dennis Myers Julia Ratti’s rueful quip reflects the way a lot of elected officials feel.

The recession is generally believed by economists to have started at the beginning of 2007, though in Nevada—hard hit by the nation’s highest foreclosure rate—it may have been earlier. Certainly, it has lasted longer in Nevada. And people who wanted to make an enduring contribution have instead had to spend their time coping, at best.

Ratti ran for the council in 2008, so her entire tenure has been in hard times.

“We’re not going to go back to the way it was.”

Sen. Debbie Smith Washoe County “Well, certainly as a person who’s been involved in the community all my life, and always looking to build solutions to the problems that we’re facing, getting elected right at the time when the economy was crashing—and really, the first two years were spent tearing things down—we had to discontinue a lot of programs, we had to pull apart some things that other people had spent years building” she said. “And that was certainly

not something that I relished. I felt it was important, though, that there be someone on the council who really was invested in quality of life and making sure that we were meeting the needs of all neighborhoods and making sure that we weren’t always just focused on the needs of business, but we were focused on all aspects of the community. And so I just did the best I could to be that voice.”

Ratti, a naturally upbeat person who grew up in Sparks, still enjoys the work and is able to keep an optimistic outlook on city affairs.

She said that there have been some “small victories along the way,” and she hopes for a more stable economy.

And she says that even the hard times have not been without valuable lessons.

“I think it’s a coin with two sides,” she said. “So I think being forced to trim as drastically as we’ve been has made us more nimble, more creative, more efficient as a local government. At the same time, the service levels we’re providing now are inadequate. They are just frankly inadequate. We’re not investing in infrastructure, we’re not doing anything in terms of prevention, we’re not doing the kinds of things that make a city great. So if what our community wants is to just get by, then our service level is adequate. But if we want to have parks that we’re proud of, if we want to have the kind of community services that, when

businesses relocate, they’re looking for in the community because this is where their employees want to live, we have some investment that we still need to do.”

Washoe County Sen. Debbie Smith, who chairs the budget committee and did the same in the Assembly before moving to the Senate, knows state finances intimately, and spent years building public services, even before she got into elective politics.

Like Ratti, she is concerned about economic development but is unsure when the state will be able to rebuild enough to be competitive in economic development. And she thinks it’s important to come to grips with difficult facts—that the state economy as it once was is gone for good, and that the state’s unstable, unpredictable tax structure is a hindrance to moving on to a new and robust economy.

“It just doesn’t look like that economy will ever be there again,” she said of the state’s reliance on construction as an economic engine.

She said she’s been told that in the construction trades, union apprentices have been told they should not get used to the lifestyle.

“We’re not going to go back to the way it was,” she said. “You hear people talking about the new normal a lot, and that’s what we have to focus on.”

But how does the state build a new engine in accordance with that new normal when it is scraping by, unable to compete with other states for business?

“I think if we don’t look at the tax structure, I don’t know how we’re going to get to where we need to be,” she said. “There’s not enough conversation about where we are and where we need to be.”

Watching the wreckage of programs like higher education and mental health, after she spent years in budget committee sessions, is not easy.

“It’s very hard,” she said. “One of the most difficult ones for me has been class size. I was a parent with the PTA when we passed class size reduction and thought it was one of the things we could be proud of over time. We’ve maintained the requirements in grades one and two, and done something for kindergarten, but what we haven’t done is be able to improve the other grades. For me that’s been the hardest thing, that we haven’t been able to improve class sizes. In fact, it has gotten worse above the second grade. It’s very hard to work at something for a very long time and find that our classes are

15655 RNR Thanksgiving.pdf

much bigger. Two steps forward and three steps back and it can be very frustrating.”

She also said the failure to invest in infrastructure means the state will have major costs down the road.

Nor is there a likelihood of much rebuilding of programs any time soon. In previous recessions, there was a sense of recovery and, eventually, of brisk economic growth, which led to repairing damage and making the state able to vie with other states again.

But in Nevada, at least, the effects of this recession linger on and any recovery is happening at an achingly slow pace, which is why the 2013 legislature was a maintenance session. And repeated political claims that the state is in good shape prevents any sense of urgency as other states pull ahead.

For instance, it took Nevada until 2003 to stop ignoring gambling addicts and create a program for them. It was funded by $2 on the taxes on each slot machine. During the recession, those funds have been cut and also raided to help deal with overall shortfalls. (Gov. Jim Gibbons unsuccessfully proposed killing the program altogether.) There were acid jokes at the 2011 Nevada Legislature when, as the lawmakers were cutting the program’s funding in half, an advisory committee at the Nevada

Department of Health and Human Services adopted a five year strategic plan to help problem gamblers.

This program helps demonstrate the consequences of these kinds of budget cuts. Gambling addictions cost the state money in criminal justice, prisons, and social service programs, and sap the state’s economy further—the problem that caused the cuts in the first place.

Reducing the problem saves money, and cutting funding adds to the state’s costs at a time when it can ill afford it.

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11/14/13

4:24 PM

Holiday Pies

Get your ffreshly hl b baked k dA Apple l or Pumpkin P ki pie i two t ways: Earn 400 points on your One Club account or purchase a pie for just $9.99 at the Americana Café or Main Street Deli and Ice Cream Shoppe.

“ We had to discontinue a lot of programs.”

Complete details are available at the One Club.

Julia Ratti sparks City Councilmember

Must be 21 or older. Subject to NRS 463.362. Management reserves all rights. Circus Circus Hotel and Casino endorses responsible gaming. If you or someone you know has a problem gaming responsibly, please call the 24-hour Problem Gamblers HelpLine at 800.522.4700.

Without a sense that recession is behind, the 2015 legislature will another maintenance session, and members of governing bodies all over the state will have more coping to do.

And while the legislature is more or less the legal master of its own house, local governments are at the mercy of rules set by the legislature.

Whether any of the programs damaged by recession cuts will come back again is far from clear for the foreseeable future. Ω

Holiday Dining

Chemistry lessons

The S Th Steakhouse kh at Circus Ci

Photo/Dennis Myers

Thursday, November 28 | 5:00 p.m. - Close

Dos Geckos Cantina

Thursday, November 28 | 5:00 p.m. - Close

Americana Café

Thursday, November 28 | Noon - Close

The Courtyard Buffet

November 28, 29 and 30 Brunch 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Adults $12.99 | Kids 4-11 $7.99 Thanksgiving Menu 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Adults $19.99 | Kids 4-11 $10.99 Please visit www.circusreno.com to see holiday menus.

Locals circulated through silent auction items in the Wells Discovery Museum last week at a fundraiser for the museum.

The event, called “Chemistry of the Cocktail,” featured lessons for participants by bartenders from local lounges.

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special aDVeRTising secTion

It’s happen ing in

!

ACTIVITIES

PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC

SCHEELS RUNNING CLUB Run with expert pacers and enjoy running in a group as we join the Reno Running & Fitness Tuesday night group runs. Tu, 6:30PM through 11/26. Free. Scheels, 1200 Scheels Dr. (775) 331-2700

ERIKA PAUL Enjoy Louisiana-style food and the soulful, breathtaking jazz sounds of Erika Paul on keyboards and vocals. No cover. Th, 6PM, no cover. Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, 1180 Scheels Dr. (775) 657-8659

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE Stroll through a holiday wonderland while enjoying snacks and great in-store sales. Great for finding that last-minute decoration or a Secret Santa gift. Sa, 11/23, 10am-5PM and Su, 11/24, 10am-5PM. Free. Rail City Garden Center, 1720 Brierley Way (775) 355-1551

THE KARAOKE BAR Wi-Fi Jukebox. Karaoke starts at 9PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. doors 6PM. Happy hour from 6 to. F-Su through 12/31, No cover. The Karaoke Bar, 2140 Victorian Ave. (775) 313-2772

SCOTT ALLMAN W, 11/27, 6PM, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

COLORLESS BLUE Colorless Blue performs live jazz for your dining pleasure. Su, 1PM through 12/2, no cover. Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, 1180 Scheels Dr. (775) 657-8659

ROSENDO Spend a well-deserved evening out and relax in the beautiful atmosphere of the Orozko Lounge. There is no cover charge and parking is free. Th, 11/28, 5:30PM, F, 11/29, 6PM and Sa, 11/30, 6PM. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

JOHN DAWSON Join the fun in the Casino Cabaret for weekly live entertainment.

There is also Country in the Cabaret weekly. Th, 11/14, 7PM, F, 11/15, 8PM and Sa, 11/16, 8PM, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

FAST LANE Th, 11/28, 7PM, F, 11/29, 8PM and Sa, 11/30, 8PM, no cover.

John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

TURKEY TROT Scheels and the Sparks Parks & Recreation Department invite you to the Scheels Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day! Register at Scheels. Th, 11/28, 8:30am, $25-$60. Scheels, 1200 Scheels Dr. (775) 331-2700 HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR Original, handmade art by local artisans will be for sale at the fourth annual Indie Reno Holiday Craft Fair! F, 11/29, 5-9PM and Sa, 11/30, 10AM-4PM. Sparks Heritage Museum, 814 Victorian Ave. (775) 355-1144 WOMEN’S DEFENSIVE TACTICS Designed to build confidence through the knowledge gained by training in such techniques as Jeet Kune Do and Judo. Tu, 7-8:30PM through 12/31, $25 a month. Osk Training, 636 Greenbrae Dr. (775) 343-2526 CONVERSATION CORNER Washoe County Library presents a series of English language learning sessions. The group will practice speaking English around various scenarios that the average person encounters.

W, 4:30-6PM. Free. Sparks Library, 1125 12th St. (775) 352-3200

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BRINGING ON THE FUNK Rythym and Blues will save your music soul. So get the funk down here and get your groove on! F, 11/15, 9PM. Sidelines Bar & Nightclub, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 355-1030 JJ GREY & MOFRO The New York Times review reads, “Impassioned singing, riff-based Southern rock, cold-blooded swamp funk and sly Memphis soul.” Sa, 11/16, 9PM, $20. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300 JEFF KASHIWA W, 11/20, 6PM, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

DUO BRASILEIRO Th, 11/21, 5:30PM, F, 11/22, 6PM and Sa, 11/23, 6PM, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 3563300 BUDDY EMMER BAND Th, 11/21, 7PM, F, 11/22, 8PM and Sa, 11/23, 8PM, no cover.

John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

LIVE JAZZ Vocal and instrumental jazz from “The Great American Songbook”, performed by First Take featuring Rick (SAX) Metz.

Fridays, 6PM through 12/27, no cover. Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, 1180 Scheels Dr., Sparks, NV 89441 (775) 657-8659 LADIES 80S WITH DJ LARRY WILLIAMS Ladies ’ with DJ Larry Williams, every Thursday! Th, 7PM through 10/4, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300 COLORLESS BLUE Colorless Blue performs live jazz for your dining pleasure. Su, 1PM through 12/2, no cover. Jazz, A Louisiana Kitchen, 1180 Scheels Dr. (775) 657-8659

JAZZ MUSICIAN BONEY JAMES Boney James has sold more than 3 million records and was Billboard’s No. 3 Jazz Artist of the decade in 2009. F, 11/29, 9PM, $45. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300 BLACK AND BLUES JAM Tu, 8:30PM, no cover. Sidelines Bar & Nightclub, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 355-1030 COUNTRY AT THE CABARET The Casino Cabaret comes alive with the best in country music and dancing for “Country at the Cabaret” featuring DJ Jamie G. W, 7PM and Sa, 9PM, no cover. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave.(775) 356-3300

THis secTion is pRoViDeD as a pUBlic seRVice BY THe Reno neWs & ReVieW anD is noT FUnDeD oR aFFiliaTeD WiTH THe ciTY oF spaRKs

PHOTO/SAGE LEEHEY

Gayle Sherman is a Silver City resident who was involved with a similar planning and zoning decision back in 1986 at the same location where Comstock Mining Inc. now wishes to mine.

All mine Comstock Mining attempts to move into Silver City Silver City residents filled the Lyon County Planning Commission meeting on Nov. 12—impressive for a town of about 170—to show their opposition to Comstock Mining Inc.’s application for a master plan amendment and zoning by Sage Leehey change. This would allow CMI to begin open pit mining in the town.

These residents came to the meeting because there was supposed to have sage l@ been a decision made about the changes, but when it was time for CMI to newsreview.c om present its case, CMI’s representative, Mark Rotter of Manhard Consulting, Ltd., asked for a continuance.

Silver City resident Gayle Sherman said that she believes CMI asked for a continuance because they were not happy with the 35-page staff report’s recommendation.

“Nothing changed,” she said. “Their application didn’t change. Their proposal for change in zoning didn’t substantially change from their August application. What happened is that they didn’t like ... that the staff report recommended denial.”

Rotter said at the meeting that CMI was unprepared to respond to the staff report because it had been received late, and CMI exec Corrado De Gasperis said the same when asked why CMI wanted a continuance.

“Unfortunately, we received the staff report late on Friday evening of a three-day holiday weekend for a Tuesday a.m. Planning Commission,” De Gasperis said. “We were of the understanding we would receive the report at least a week in advance.”

The commission granted a 30-day continuance, and the issue will be discussed at the Dec. 10 Planning Commission Meeting in Yerington. In this interim, De Gasperis stated that CMI will be working on other projects and For more information, visit “working towards making the next Lyon Planning Commission meeting as comstockresidents.org efficient and effective as possible, insofar that it relates to our agenda item, despite the tardy staff report.”

Sherman is concerned that the interim could allow for the decision to be made outside of the public meetings, so the residents intend to keep speaking with officials between now and Dec. 10. The residents also have their own report to present.

“We’re really concerned as a community that this provides an open door for political manipulation on this particular issue,” Sherman said. “We want to fine tune the report and make sure we have everything that we absolutely need to have. We are working to maintain our solidarity and our community spirit by keeping people informed. We want to meet with some of the Lyon County officials to be assured that there is a level playing field.”

The residents’ report includes a legal argument, a planning analysis, a historical analysis and a real estate analysis. The legal argument and planning analysis look at past decisions made in the area and how planning has worked over time. Each time Silver City has faced a decision like this in the past, they have ruled in favor of the residents’ opinion. They included a historic analysis because the areas in which CMI wishes to mine and already has mines are part of the Virginia City Historic District and the Comstock Historic District. The real estate portion of the report is one of the most troublesome to the residents because it will affect them most directly. Ω

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December 8, 1962: President Kennedy tours the Nevada atomic test site, accompanied by Atomic Energy Commission chair Glenn Seaborg and U.S. Sen. Howard Cannon of Nevada

by Dennis Myers

President Kennedy took on powerful myths in June 1963

A

decade ago, around the time of the 40th anniversary of the Dallas assassination, I was watching a discussion on KNPB’s Book Talk.

At one point in the program, one of the panelists made a reference that began, “JFK, who didn’t really do great things …”

To those who were not alive in 1963 and whose idea of presidents is Bill Clinton or George Bush(es), the public reaction to John Kennedy’s murder in 1963 would probably be a surprise. The nation suffered a terrible emotional shock that wore on for years. But Kennedy’s public image also underwent an evolution.

Eventually there was a backlash against the initial sainthood conferred on him, the pendulum then swinging to the other extreme, in which he could do nothing right.

There seems to be no middle ground on Kennedy. He was either St. Jack or he “didn’t really do great things.”

Both viewpoints are absurd, and two speeches Kennedy made on consecutive days in June 1963 are evidence. Their content and contexts show both his faults and his growth.

It is important, always, to make distinctions in commentary, and the John Kennedy who died 50 years ago was very different from the John Kennedy who took office 53 years ago. He had become president as a cold warrior who did a lot of damage to the national security by turning on the tap of military spending full blast, tying the economy to weapons production and helping fuel the military industrial complex of which his predecessor had warned. And although his margin of victory was provided

by African-Americans who believed his promise to end housing discrimination “with a stroke of the pen,” he waited two years after taking office to issue that executive order.

But Kennedy was also educable. He learned from grotesquerie like blacks being driven into walls by the force of water from fire hoses, from appalling U.S. behavior like the Bay of Pigs, and from the terrifying week in October 1962 when the world nearly ended. After he had ordered missiles installed in Turkey on the border of the Soviet Union, the Soviet installed missiles in Cuba, prompting a terrifying confrontation that ended when both sides agreed to remove their missiles (and the U.S. agreed to stop invading Cuba). He was dismayed by how close he took the nation to nuclear war.

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On June 10, 1963, Kennedy went to American University and delivered one of the great state papers of the 20th century.

At a time when nearly every Democrat was immobilized by a fear of a McCarthyism revival, Kennedy found the daring to praise the Soviet Union and call for friendly relations. The president who two years earlier had said of the Soviet that “The choice of war or peace is largely theirs and not ours” now asserted that “our attitude is as essential as theirs.” He praised the courage in battle and the impressive technology in peace of the people of the Soviet Union.

“So let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal…We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different. … I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume.”

The breathtaking change in policy initiated at American University was to pay dividends for years to come. Nobel chemist

and Atomic Energy Commission chair Glenn Seaborg wrote that “The address drew remarkably little attention at home … and not all the attention it drew was favorable. Some Republicans in Congress criticized the speech for its softness, one terming it ‘a dreadful mistake’.”

But Soviet Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, who had put a nuclear moratorium in place before the U.S., was so taken by Kennedy’s generous and groundbreaking approach that he called the speech either (there are differing accounts) “the best speech ever made by an American president” or “the best speech by an American president since Roosevelt.” The text was published in its entirety by Pravda.

Within 20 weeks the Soviet and the U.S. signed the first nuclear test ban treaty, which laid the groundwork for more comprehensive test bans in the years to come.

Under Khrushchev and Kennedy, trade barriers between their two nations began falling, the Soviet stopped jamming Western broadcasts, and coexistence became a policy of both nations. The term détente was heard in the west. It was not easy—both Kennedy and Khrushchev were succeeded by more rigid and doctrinaire leaders who failed to build on what the two men had accomplished, but the seeds had been planted and in 1985 an enlightened new figure, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power and began to rebuild coexistence. Détente became glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic reform), policies of the Soviet that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and independence for Eastern European nations.

Tragically, later U.S. presidents of both parties dismantled one of the assurances Kennedy gave to the world at American University—that the U.S. sought a genuine peace, “not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war.” So while relations between the U.S. and Russia are now in good health, and while Russia is now healthier, the U.S. approach to the world is now toxic and imperial—and exactly what Kennedy warned against.

John Kennedy: I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age ... when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.

•

John Lewis: “I will never forget that speech.”

The next day, June 11, Kennedy went on television to speak to the nation about a domestic matter. In that address, he spoke a sentence that changed the United States forever. The sentence could not have been more simple, but no U.S. leader had ever been willing to speak it before. This was it: “We are confronted primarily with a moral issue.”

The speech nearly did not happen. The White House had requested television time for the president to address the nation on events at the University of Alabama. That state’s governor had stood in the doorway of the registration building on the campus to try to prevent the enrollment of two

African-American students. Kennedy sent the National Guard to enforce federal court orders that the students be admitted. The crisis was settled peacefully and the president’s staff discussed canceling the speech.

Kennedy was a target of suspicion among African-American leaders, partly because of his delay in executing the housing “stroke of the pen.” He and his brother Robert had discouraged many of the tactics and strategies, including the March on Washington, that were central to the nonviolent resistance that gave the civil rights movement its force.

But brutal street scenes and grisly official violence did their work. Kennedy went ahead with the speech, believing that the time had come for a ringing declaration of federal support for civil rights.

There have been reports that he gave the speech without a text, ad libbing it on the air. That’s not exactly what happened. His speechwriter Theodore Sorenson later wrote, “Having assumed that the tranquil resolution at Tuscaloosa that afternoon would make a speech unnecessary, I did not start a first draft until late in the afternoon or complete it until minutes before he went on the air. There was no time for a redraft.” As it was, he gave the speech as written, then continued talking off the cuff.

He began by talking about the terrible fate awaiting “a Negro baby born in the United States today”—“about one half as much chance of completing high school as a white baby born in the same place on

JFK and Nevada W

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NOVEMBER 21, 2013

dignified twin-engine plane at the other end of the field bearing two surprised industrialists.”

In those days, campaigns started much later than they do now. At the end of 1959 a Kennedy campaign aide, possibly Robert Wallace, wrote a memo for Kennedy on the small Western states, including these notes that reflected JFK’s previous visits: “January is an undesirable campaigning period, but these smaller states will be happy to get JFK at any time. Also, the weather should be good in New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. … I would assume an appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada, would be in order. … Check with Steve about possibility of going to Nevada State Democratic Convention on April 30. … Mrs. Thornton – works in Senator Cannon’s office … Send note to Jean Hunter, Nevada [Democratic] National Committee Woman (JFK saw in Reno) … Letter for former governor Vail Pittman (nice to have seen again, etc.) … Letter to Harley Harmon, Las Vegas (good to have seen you, will see you Monday).”

In his efforts to win Nevada’s votes at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angles that year, Kennedy was bucking the state’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Howard Cannon and Alan Bible, who supported Lyndon Johnson of Texas. But in January, Kennedy came to Nevada to address a session of the Nevada Legislature and the state’s young new Democratic governor, Grant Sawyer, was enormously impressed.

He committed to Kennedy and worked enthusiastically to win, first, the state’s national convention votes, and then the state, for the

Massachusetts senator.

In the November 1960 election, Nevada was an island of Kennedy support in a sea of Nixon states. Every state surrounding Nevada went for Nixon.

As president, Kennedy didn’t exactly make Sawyer’s life easy. The Kennedy administration went after the mob-owned or -influenced casinos with a vengeance. (Years later, some Nevada officials conceded the effort had been a blessing to the state.) At one point federal highway officials ruled against a Sawyer-supported route for what became Interstate 80 through downtown Reno. But Sawyer tended to blame the casino probes on Attorney General Robert Kennedy and stayed loyal to JFK. And Kennedy’s administration did aid Sawyer on other matters, such as devastating range fires that swept the state in 1962.

On one occasion in a news conference, Kennedy was asked about U.S. Rep. Walter Baring of Nevada, a right wing Democrat who had called on the president to fire some of his advisors. With a slight smile, Kennedy said, “But congressmen are always advising presidents to get rid of presidential advisers. That is one of the most constant threads that runs through American history and presidents ordinarily do not pay attention, and—nor do they in this case [laughter].”

In September 1963, Kennedy traveled to Nevada and spoke at the Las Vegas Convention Center. In the car from the airport to the center, he inquired of Sawyer about

During the runup to his presidential campaign, John Kennedy posed with Las Vegas Mayor C.D. Baker and casino owner Wilbur Clark (center).

PHOTO COURTESY JONI KAISER

hen John Kennedy began planning his campaign for president, he had some links to Nevada to assist him. His family had vacationed occasionally at Lake Tahoe.

He had a vague family connection—Nevada political figure Norman Biltz was married to Jacqueline Kennedy’s stepfather’s sister.

In the dramatic televised 1956 battle for the Democratic vice presidential nomination that went to Estes Kefauver, the Nevada delegation supported Kennedy (Kennedy 11, Kefauver 2 on the first ballot, Kennedy 13.5 to Kefauver .5 on the second ballot). Kennedy had spoken to the national Young Democrats convention at the Holiday Inn in Reno in 1959. (Kennedy’s speech text is posted on our Newsview blog.)

On one occasion, probably in 1958 or 1959, before the 1960 presidential campaign was formally underway, when Kennedy was nevertheless traveling around the nation building support, he and aide Theodore Sorensen took a flight from Salt Lake City to Reno courtesy of “an Idaho politician who enjoyed flying his little single-engine plane as a hobby [and] was confessing openly to fatigue” during the flight. The small plane landed at Elko to get another pilot, tipping over toward one side, then righting itself. In a different small one-engine plane with a different pilot, they made it the rest of the way to Reno. Sorensen later wrote, “We landed at one end of the Reno airport and trudged in with our bags, just as the Democratic dignitaries and brass band awaiting us marched out to meet a more

state regulators examining Frank Sinatra’s gambling license after the singer’s behavior toward a state regulator and his conduct of a Lake Tahoe casino came into question. In later years local reporters portrayed this as Kennedy trying to intervene on Sinatra’s behalf, which it almost certainly was not.

The Sinatra/Kennedy relationship had been ruptured the previous year.

In his speech that day (also posted on our Newsview blog), Kennedy thanked the state’s two senators for voting the previous week to ratify the first nuclear text ban, urged protection of Lake Tahoe, called for restoration of the lands damaged by the range fires, and endorsed creation of a Great Basin national park. Then Kennedy left Nevada for the last time.

—Dennis Myers

the same day, one third as much chance of completing college, one third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much chance of becoming unemployed, about one seventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year, a life expectancy which is seven years shorter …We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it …but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly to each other, that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes, that we have no second class citizens except Negroes, that we have no class or caste system, no ghettos, no master race except with respect to Negroes …?”

For decades, top U.S. leaders, liberal and conservative, had given black leaders legalistic and technical answers to why the nation could not move more quickly in civil rights. They carefully avoided describing the nation’s race problems in ethical or moral terms, saying that only law—through legislative or court action that never seemed to come—could serve as a basis for change.

That ended this night, as Kennedy described law as secondary: “This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution.”

It is hard to convey, four decades later, what a radical change this was.

African-American leaders nearly gasped when they heard its language, and whites responded to the obvious feeling Kennedy imparted, particularly in the impromptu closing section.

Martin Luther King was ecstatic and quoted the “moral issue” line in his next book. His ally John Lewis says, “And that night in June when he spoke, he spoke to the heart and to the soul of America.”

Roger Wilkins later said, “All of a sudden he brought passion to it, he brought that eloquence to it and it electrified me and all kinds of other black people.”

The speech, with its obvious feeling and emotion, went against the grain of JFK’s public persona. Before Kennedy became president, his semi-official biographer James MacGregor Burns had written that to the presidency “Kennedy could bring bravery and wisdom; whether he would bring passion and power would depend on his making a commitment not only of mind, but of heart, that until now he has never been required to make.”

Burns had written specifically of JFK’s formal, intellectual view of civil rights that “this fear of making too much of a commitment, of going off the intellectual deep end, is locked in Kennedy’s character.”

Lyndon Johnson biographer Leonard Baker wrote of Kennedy, “Watching him that night convinced one that if John Kennedy’s emotional commitment to the cause of civil rights had been lacking before, it no longer was now. He had indeed gone off

the ‘intellectual deep end’ ... The black man’s cause had become the White House’s passion.” The New York Times called the address “one of the most emotional speeches yet delivered by a President who has often been criticized as too ‘cool’ and intellectual.”

“We must deal with the world as it is and not as it might have been.”

President Kennedy

that community, a sniper fired from hiding and killed African-American leader Medgar Evers. In news reports, the event was not referred to as a murder. It was called an assassination. Historian Taylor Branch has written that the confluence of Kennedy’s speech and Evers’ murder “changed the language of race in American mass culture overnight.” (Veterans Evers and Kennedy were both buried in Arlington National Cemetery.)

As with the American University speech, Kennedy followed up with action, sending to Congress the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. Unlike the test ban treaty, he did not live to see its enactment.

In two speeches, by breaking with powerful myths that kept other politicians immobilized and following up with action, Kennedy helped make the world safer and the United States more just. In two days he accomplished more than many presidents have done in eight years. Ω An essay that elaborates on Kennedy’s penchant for military spending, “Eisenhower and Kennedy,” is posted on our Newsview blog.

On that same evening of Kennedy’s powerful address, the old order made another tragic effort to retain its hold.

Kennedy’s speech began at 7 p.m. Jackson, Mississippi, time. Shortly after midnight in

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NOVEMBER 21, 2013

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y

ou know that televangelist lady with the unbelievably large, pinkish-blonde hairdo—the one from trinity Broadcasting network? her name’s Jan crouch.

“Jarja,” my dad used to holler from the other room whenever crouch was on tV, moving her head around like a tranquilized swan. “git in here. hurry.”

PSYC HIC PATH Our cOrrespOndent gets psyched Out at the renO psychic Fair by GeoRGia FisheR 16 | RN&R |

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

“What, Dad, what? Is everything OK?” He was doing the silent chuckle by then, tears streaming down his face as he pointed toward the screen. “It’s the … it’s the Christian channel!”

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I’d reply between gasps of laughter. “Please tell me you’re taping this one.”

The other day, I started sounding a little like Dad. I’d found some promotional material for the Reno Psychic Fair on Oct. 26 and 27, and summoned my fiancé.

“Matt. MATT. Please come be at my computer with me. It’s … urgent.”

“Whoa, what’s the matter?”

“Just hurry. Quick.”

Matt chortled a minute later as he read over my shoulder: “Come to the Fall 2013 Reno Psychic Fair and celebrate all the wonderful healing information exploding onto the planet in 2013. As we spiritualize the physical with the downpouring of spiritual energy and vibrations, our bodies have to be able to channel the higher frequencies.”

“Exploding,” I added, in case he’d missed it the first time. “Vi-bray-shuns.”

“So you’re going to this?”

“Duh. Plus your parents’ll be in town! We should totally bring them.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.”

I wound up going alone, which was fine, but I had just 90 minutes to burn. This meant skipping the workshops, unfortunately, which covered everything from “crystal singing bowls” to understanding “The Sun, the Christ Force.”

I headed straight for the fair’s regular booths and vendors instead.

An acquaintance told me the experience is a “sensory overload,” and she was right—such an overload, in fact, that time slid away as I reconciled the smell of incense and the lilt of flute music in an otherwise typical exhibition room at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. With ballroom carpet and wholly normal-looking people milling around, it could’ve been anywhere, save for the blinking lights. And the tie-dyed outfits, “channeled” lotions, exquisite polished rocks and “magyck candles” for sale. That, and a handsome man with a fauxhawk and filigreed, Western-style bell-bottoms. I kept seeing him strut around. And—oh crap, hang on a second.

I hadn’t seen Stan Morey yet.

“Hello,” I blurted when I settled upon a grinning, heavily bearded guy in a three-piece ensemble and ornately festooned velvet hat.

Billed as “the Steampunk Psychic,” Morey was perched contentedly by the most elaborate display I saw that afternoon: A huge vinyl sign proclaiming his craft, a complex rack of beeswax candles hand-rolled by a friendly woman named Modesta (Morey’s partner in life and business), plastic baubles, and enough Christmas lights to threaten a seizure on my part.

For $10, he gave me a “three-stone compass reading,” which boils down to an unusual process with a basis in tarot. Instead of cards, however, you draw myriad gemstones from a box, and concentrate on several questions: “Where am I now?” “How did I get here?” and “Where am I headed?”

It’s more complex than that, though, as Morey’s approach is enmeshed in quantum physics and the notion that energy itself is a sentient

Photo/GeorGia Fisher

“Steampunk psychic” Stan Morey and his wife, Modesta, at the 2013 Reno Psychic Fair.

thing, and open to suggestion. A self-fulfilling prophesy, such as “I think I’m getting the flu,” can be a manipulation of reality, he told me.

“Energy is aware on some level,” Morey said. “And as a result, sentient energy seeks to reinforce itself through constructive interference, so instead of canceling out—” He interrupted himself.

“You’re looking confused. Did you sleep through high school science?”

I nodded, tool-like, as a nearby didgeridoo player starting generating a low, undulating groan. I had the attention span of a gnat.

All told, Morey had an uplifting message.

“You are in a relationship,” he said, “with a divine, creative force. Call it God, Buddha, Jesus, Goddess, Quaker-Baker-CandlestickMaker … your spirit is in a relationship with a creative force that’s in you and all around. Life is all about relationships, so start participating in them.”

Taken in sum, the gemstones I picked—blue tourmaline, sardonyx and opal— supposedly suggest truth-seeking and infinite possibilities.

Granted, it’s not like the man was going to tell me I’d break my neck on the way home.

He did peg me as “noncommittal,” however.

“You tend to go one step forward,” he continued, “and then you shrink back. You do that in your relationships, too, and it drives people crazy.”

I squirmed, fiddling with my engagement ring.

He gave me a pointed look.

“Quit playing silly-buggers.”

I’m not a silly-bugger about commitment itself, but could certainly stand to be kinder and more considerate in general. That’s worth $10 even from a scam artist—which Morey isn’t, in my opinion. Whatever your take on his rock compasses, they’re compelling because he believes in them.

My next interviewee/reader of things was Eda Hatfield, a peppy, pretty older woman bedecked in purple fabric and white crystals.

Her booth sported a lavender mosquito net that touched the ceiling, which was more than enough to win my favor.

Overall, her message was one of beaming positivity. I have an abundantly friendly energy, she said, and a desire to learn all I can. Success is imminent.

Nice. As for my relationship, though—hrmm.

“I’ll give you some advice,” Hatfield clucked in a grandmotherly fashion. “Just don’t jump.”

No way, I thought with an inward smirk. I jumped long ago and have never looked back.

Oh, well.

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As the day drew to a close, some of the tighter-knit vendors geared up for a traditional, post-psychic-fair sushi dinner (the Moreys have only made the invite list in recent years, they told me good naturedly). And Markus Thorndike, the guy in the flashy bell-bottoms, offered to read my palm and fingerprints. “’Scuse me,” he said, licking his finger and then pressing on mine. “You’ve got a lot of wrinkles.”

Among other things, he suggested I shed my old demons, particularly shame and misguided expectations. Right on.

Psychic seeks same Bay Area native Laura Peppard founded the biannual fair and its parent organization, the Reno Psychic Institute, back in the ’90s. She runs a metaphysical gift shop called Mystic Rose, too, and hosts all manner of events and classes at the institute, which is under the same roof on Hillcrest Drive. Every Tuesday, for that matter, anyone who’s curious can show up for a free “energy healing clinic.”

Peppard started the organization, she said, because “I needed people to talk to who understood where I was coming from.”

Years ago, “I just thought I was weird, or that something was not right about me. Then I went to the Berkeley Psychic Institute, and understood those capabilities better.”

But what about the age-old cliché of hoaxers peddling snake oil? Does Peppard think everyone working the psychic fair is legit?

“People criticize psychics very readily,” she answered, “but everybody’s experienced a doctor or lawyer who ripped them off. I leave the door open to a lot of different things.” And yes, she admitted, she’s kicked a few folks out for being unethical.

As for psychic ability in general, “everyone else is so busy pretending it doesn’t exist,” she said with a wry laugh.

“I think it’s real,” I offered. At least it’s something I want to believe, in theory; maybe a few people are clairvoyant after all, if only because the world is such a mystery to an agnostic like me. If I can’t explain why we’re here, then I can’t discount everyone else’s ideas about the universe and such. Right?

Or hell, maybe it’s just nice to have someone like Eda tell you you’re unstoppable. I’ll take it. Ω For more information, visit www.renopsychicfair.com.

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NOVEMBER 21, 2013

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Another 48 hrs

Artist/director and challenge participant Alana-lynn Berglund.

4x4x48 Five local filmmakers, five local music acts, 48 hours.

That’s the Holland Project’s music video by challenge, in collaboration with the Nevada Laura Davis Museum of Art. Titled 4x4x48, the math may not add-up, but that’s because the name was already deployed when the event’s organizers decided to add an additional director and musician at the last minute the first year. As for not switching it up for this year’s second round, let’s be honest, 5x5x48 doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

But the challenge remains the same. the films created for Holland Project selects local filmmakers 4x4x48 will screen at of all ages and styles and chooses local the nevada Museum of musicians just as diverse in sound and Art, 160 W. liberty st. demographic, and pairs them together to on thursday, create a music video. nov. 21 at 6 p.m. For The challenge is not only that most of more information, visit these filmmakers, like visual artist Alannahollandreno.org. lynn Berglund, are fresh to music video making, but that they have a mere 48 hours to bring the song to life, from conception to execution. Adrenaline rushes are a key performance enhancer.

To top it off, and throw a wrench into preplanning, the organizers have a joker up their sleeve. At the beginning of the challenge, the filmmakers are surprised with five items, dreamed up by last year’s filmmakers, which must be incorporated into the videos’ narrative. “Incorporate into the narrative” is the key phrase here, i.e. if one of the items happens to be an apple, the filmmaker is encouraged to not float it across the screen at random.

This year’s list of last minute story elements included at least two of the natural elements (earth, wind, fire or water), the number 11 or the time 11:11, a pomegranate, a reference to someone born on November 21 (the day of the screening), or a historical event that took place that day, and a triangle.

While the surprises are meant to be challenging, they often prove to be creativity enhancing.

“It was challenging trying to integrate what I had already conceptualized with the new information,” Jesse McCloskey, one of 4x4x48’s filmmakers, admits. “But it adds

to the excitement of the whole project—it wouldn’t be the same thing without the unexpected aspect. The [random objects] made me explore avenues that I wouldn’t have before.”

Filmmaker Babs Laukat, who considers herself a collage artist, agrees. She says that being pushed out of her comfort zone in both time frames and surprise factors actually enhanced her final product.

“Normally when I make art, this is not how I work at all,” Laukat says. “I normally have it visualized, so I was freaking out all week. The unknown requirements were scary, but they ended up really helping come up with imagery, and I wasn’t

expecting that to happen.

It made you think on your feet and go with it.”

While 4x4x48’s creators at the Holland Project may have wanted to have a little fun and push the filmmakers artistically, they also wanted to help them create to the best of their ability (in 48 hours). They paired each filmmaker with an artist they felt was well suited for their individual style—making collaboration efforts ideal, such as Laukat’s collage skills pairing with ambient electronic musician Jamie Hemingway of Solterona.

“The subject matter was pretty easy to work,” Laukat says of the Solterona’s song chosen for the video. “It covers a lot of imagery, it’s dreamy, and I’m into surreal stuff so it fit right into my work which is also really feminine like her music.”

How all the other pairings added-up, under the pressure of 48 hours and amid five surprise elements, you’ll just have to wait to see at the unveiling, so start counting down the days. Ready, set, go. Ω

enjoy traditional THANKSGIVING favorites and big new flavors while we do all the work.

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Think Free

Recycle this paper

Going back to caliente Rigo’s Mexican Cuisine 1450 E. Prater Way, Sparks, 331-4200 Lovers of Mexican food enjoy it for its flavorful kick, use of fresh, aromatic ingredients and colorful presentation. by Dave Preston Mexican cuisine incorporates the cooking of ancient Aztecs and Mayans with ingredients and cooking techniques to create its unmistakable flavor. Owner/chef Rigo Sedano cooks with this tradition, passion and the freshest ingredients he can buy, often hand-picking his products daily.

The place sits at the back of a strip mall at the corner of East Prater Way and Sparks Boulevard. You have to look for it, but it’s well worth the effort. The restaurant seats 72, and the bar will hold another 60. It has a comfortable décor with colorful chairs and seat cushions. The staff is very congenial and service-oriented.

Photo/AlliSon Young

Owner and chef Rigo Sedano prepares steak and shrimp caliente.

Friday & Saturday, December 6–7 It’s our 27th parade and we’re making all things new and celebrating all things old! To commemorate our state’s 150th birthday, we’re pulling out all the stops by offering these festive events:

Tree Lighting Ceremony

Hometowne Christmas Parade

Photos with Santa

Inaugural Community Faire

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For more information, visit www.rigossparks. com.

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NOVEMBER 21, 2013

The lunch specials start at $9, and daily specials for $6. Dinner specials are $9 with menu items ranging from $8 for appetizers, $12 for salads, full plates, $13-$17, including fresh rice and beans. Burritos and tacos, $11-$13, combination plates, $11-$13, and a kids menu for $5.

They have one of the best chips and salsas I’ve had. The chips are made fresh, and so is the salsa.

Roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, roasted jalapeños and habanera, some homemade tomatillo (a slightly sweet, citrus flavor) and cilantro are all puréed. This was addictive from the first bite. One note: the first batch is on-the-house.

The seconds cost you two bucks.

For an appetizer, I tried the basil quesadilla ($8): sautéed mushrooms, fresh basil, a combination of cheddar and queso blanco (a creamy, soft, mild, unaged white cheese) wrapped in a corn tortilla created a rich and savory, slightly minty dish that fit the flavor profile nicely.

Salmon in Sedano’s “Adovo” sauce topped with sautéed prawns ($17) caught my eye, something unusual for a Mexican restaurant menu. A generous piece of Atlantic salmon came served atop a corn husk covered in the adovo sauce made with red peppers, cilantro, canella (white cinnamon, lighter in flavor) and cloves producing a slightly sweet with a gentile spiciness and very aromatic with the cloves adding a woodiness on the nose. The prawns were covered in a delicate, citrus white sauce made with lime, tequila, and garlic—a nice marriage in presentation and flavors. On the plate was a colorful combination of chopped pineapple and tomatoes in a gentle, savory dressing … another texture, another creative flavor.

Chef offered up the steak and shrimp caliente ($17), asking how spicy I wanted it—to which I said, “mucho caliente.” I like spicy food. A New York strip, medium rare, topped with a half dozen large shrimp and covered in a red sauce that with one whiff, I knew my sinus would be opened with the first bite.

In the sauce were sautéed mushrooms and onions bathed in a combination of sauces—enchilada, habanera and adovo. This ran the gambit of tastes: savory, spicy heat, slightly sweet, and slightly tart. If you’re into hot food, ¡ay Chihuahua! This produced a lasting hot-flash from head to toe.

Know that Rigo will spice anything to anyone’s palate.

They have a specialty cocktail list with things like a spicy mango martini, all at $6. More than two dozen tequilas, a nice array of beers including four on draft ($3-$3.50) and a full bar. A very simple wine list but homemade sangria ($7), and that was good enough for me.

Starting with merlot, add some brandy, O.J., lime juice, and a little sugar—behold the nectar of Tezcatzoncatl (Aztec god of wine).

It was light and fruity, a nice off-set to the heat from the food.

Deep fried ice cream ($4) for dessert and then roll me out. As one of the most versatile and varied cuisines, the cultural aspect of Mexican cuisine takes on a personality of its own; at Rigo’s a new personality comes across with every dish—con mucho gusto. Ω

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Biggest little movie

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The Motel Life Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff convincingly play solemn brothers in The Motel Life, a solid adaptation of the critically praised, Reno-based novel by Willy Vlautin. Fans of the novel might notice some distinct changes, but the “sometimes bad luck hits you” and brotherly themes of the novel remain strongly intact.

Frank Lee (Hirsch) is sleeping off his latest by drunk in a seedy Reno hotel room when halfBob Grimm naked brother Jerry (Dorff) enters the room shivering and bawling. On a cold winter’s b g ri m m @ ne w s re v i e w . c o m night, Jerry has accidentally run over and killed a boy, and he’s begging to get out of town. Frank hears the story, vomits, and then agrees to take a drive.

A string of bad decisions and actions follow, and a lesser made film might’ve been too dark and depressing to take. Thankfully, directing brothers Alan and Gabe Polsky

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combine beautifully shot images with stellar performances to keep things rolling in a way that keeps us rooting for the brothers.

When their travels bring them back to Reno, the film features a wonderfully cast Joshua Leonard as a bad gambler who, nonetheless, makes a good recommendation to Frank. He talks him into betting on the infamous Tyson-Douglas fight. I also bet on this fight back in the day, and I don’t remember the odds being as high as they are in this film at fight time (40-1!).

One element that is played more than in the novel is Frank’s tendency to tell his brother grandly exaggerated, made-up stories. For these stories, the film employs some good-looking animation by Mike Smith that reminded me of the great Gerald Scarfe’s animated contributions to Pink Floyd: The Wall.

It’s nice to see Dorff, a potentially great actor who has never really found his place in Hollywood, getting a role that matches his talents. Dorff captivates as Jerry, a man missing a leg due to an accident in his youth, an injury that has affected his entire adult life.

He’s a scared, scarred man with a good heart that can’t handle the wrong he believes he’s done, and it sends him on a downward spiral.

Dorff makes every inch of that downward spiral believable and heartbreaking.

Hirsch, so good in this year’s Prince Avalanche, has another 2013 performance that qualifies as excellent. As the storytelling, hard-drinking Frank, he’s got both legs but is, in many ways, as vulnerable as Jerry due to his rough past. Hirsch, when he gets the right roles, is an exciting actor, and he truly gets to show off that talent in this film. He’s still got the promising Lone Survivor and a TV version of Bonnie and Clyde on his upcoming 2013 slate, further cementing this year as his best yet. He’s also just been cast as John Belushi in an upcoming biopic, so he’s really taking off.

Having read the novel, I can tell you that some of the plotting changes are a bit jarring, but the directors do a nice overall job of recreating the vibe of the book. The Polsky brothers, along with screenwriters Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster have adapted Vlautin’s novel in a way that honors the book and, for me, results in increased appreciation for the movie’s original source material.

Renoites might cringe when they see Virginia City substituting for Elko toward the end of the film.

It’s a forgivable substitution, but might cause some giggling at Reno screenings. Hey, it’s much better than the time the Farrelly brothers showed their characters arriving from the west when they were clearly driving in from the east in Kingpin. That pissed me off.

After seeing The Motel Life, I’ve now seen two 2013 films shot in Reno that capture the feel of the city better than I’ve ever seen at the movies. Locally shot This is Martin Bonner is also quite good. So, in short, it’s been a good movie year for the Biggest Little City.

The Motel Life is not playing in local theaters, but is available for rental on iTunes and Amazon.com during its limited national theatrical run. Ω

5

12 Years a Slave

A film based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in upstate New York before the Civil War who was abducted and sold into slavery. This latest effort from director Steve McQueen is a towering achievement, one of the year’s bravest and most uncompromising films. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a lock for an Oscar nomination as Northup, forced to work on cotton plantations, one of them run by the despicable Edwin Epps, played by Michael Fassbender in a vicious and brilliant performance. McQueen goes right at his topic, showing slavery for the horror it was, and Ejiofor puts a character on the screen that you will never forget. If you were one of the few people who saw 2011’s Pariah, you know that Adepero Oduye is a stellar actress, as she further proves here as Eliza, a woman sold into slavery and taken from her children. Relative newcomer Lupita Nyong’o is equally heartbreaking as Patsey, a victim of Epps’s sick abuse. The movie is shocking, violent and unrelenting in its mission to show this country in its very worst, most shameful days.

It’s about time somebody had the guts to make a movie like this one.

movie channel feel that derails it. It’s too bad, because some of the players make this one worth watching at times.

1

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

This is animation done with all the style and grace of a spastic colon saturated with hot sauce. While the first film in this series had a reasonable amount of charm, this one goes haywire from its start right until the finish line. Bill Hader returns as the voice of Flint, the overly excited inventor who, in the first movie, managed to use a crazy invention to inundate his hometown with giant food. Now, the machine has gone nuts, creating a race of living food including cheeseburger spiders and dolphin bananas. The film boasts an intolerably frantic pace, with a plotline that’s scattered beyond reasonability. It’s hard to follow, but it does have the occasional fart and poop joke to make the kids laugh. The only character I managed to enjoy was a jittery monkey trying to put out a sparkler, and that accounts for about 30 seconds of the film.

Don’t waste your time and, trust me, your kids won’t like it either.

2

Ender’s Game

3

5

Gravity

3

Thor: The Dark World

In a movie that features almost no dialogue, Robert Redford delivers some of his best work ever as a man trying to survive a shipwreck in the Indian Ocean. While sleeping in his yacht, Redford’s character (simply called “Our Man” in the credits) is abruptly awakened by the feel and sound of a floating cargo bin crashing into his boat’s side. What follows is over 100 minutes of watching Redford solve problems and fight to stay alive. Much credit goes out to the legendary actor, and relative newbie writer-director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call) for making this compelling from start to finish.

You’ll be surprised by how gripping the sight of a man simply trying to repair his boat can be.

Redford looks like he put himself through the ringer in this one, and the results are well worth it. His character gets no real backstory, and other than one loud expletive, a couple of radio transmission attempts, and a quick beginning narration, we never really get to hear his voice.

No need for vocals. Redford does it all with his face in a performance for which he will always be remembered.

Bad Grandpa

Johnny Knoxville has tried to parlay his Jackass fame into an acting career, and he hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire.

So, because huge paychecks are tempting, he has returned to the Jackass well numerous times with three official movies, and his body has paid a tremendous toll. The man has thrown himself into the path of buffalos and bulls to score good laughs and, oh man, has he gotten those good laughs. As big as those checks can be, internal bleeding and broken limbs lose their luster after a while. So now we get this, a sort of Jackass movie that has a narrative mixed into hidden camera stunts. It’s very much in the tradition of Borat. Knoxville gets to play one part for the film, that of Irving Zisman, an over-80 letch of an old man that has shown up in past Jackass skits. He’s taking his grandson (Jackson Nicoll) across country, leading to some funny stunts that manage to shock a few. The highlight would be Nicoll dressed in drag and dancing to “Cherry Pie” at a beauty pageant, a moment when he basically steals the movie from Knoxville. Not as outrageous as the other Jackass films, but a nice way to keep the franchise going without destroying Knoxville’s body.

2

The Best Man Holiday

Fourteen years after the original, writer-director Malcolm D. Lee and friends finally get around to making a sequel to the highly successful 1999 film The Best Man. The results are mixed, with a likeable cast straining to keep Lee’s script vibrant until the all too silly end. Harper (Taye Diggs) is experiencing a lull in his writing career, and looks to get former friend, NFL star Lance (Morris Chestnut) to OK him as the writer of his biography. (It’s actually cool to see Chestnut playing a football star; it’s as if his aspiring athlete in Boyz n the Hood never got shot). So Harper, and much of the cast of the original (including Monica Calhoun, Regina Hall, Harold Perrineau and a very funny Terrence Howard) reunite at Lance’s house where decent comedy and terrible melodrama commences. As a laugher, the film gets some good ones, especially when Howard is on the screen. As a drama, it has a mawkish, Hallmark

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Finally, Orson Scott Card’s epic novel is adapted for the big screen and, regrettably, it misses the mark. Asa Butterfield plays Ender Wiggin, a future young master strategist who is picked by a determined colonel (a craggy and fun Harrison Ford) to eventually command a crew of teens.

The hope is that the teens (including True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld), through a series of drills and exercises can eventually gain the knowledge to lead Earth in a war against an insect-like alien species. The premise is a good one (and a trendsetter for such franchises as The Matrix and Harry Potter, being that Card penned the novel almost two decades ago), but Butterfield is a bust in the title role, rendering much of the movie flat and lifeless. Ford is the best thing in the movie, and I hope this acts as a nice bridge for him to return to the Star Wars franchise.

It’s cool to see him doing sci-fi again. This movie feels abbreviated, with a rushed ending. Perhaps they should’ve done it as a TV miniseries, and recast the lead.

Finally, we get a big event movie that delivers the sort of thrills absent from too many large-scale movies promising big things this year. If you see this movie, you’re going to have a cinematic trip like no other.

This is what going to the movies is supposed to be about. I sound like a movie critic quote machine, and I don’t care. In her first true blue science fiction role since Demolition Man, Sandra Bullock puts herself through the ringer as Ryan Stone, an astronaut on her first space shuttle flight. Her mission commander, played by a charismatic and calming George Clooney, ribs her about her upset tummy as he flies around space in a jet pack while she works tirelessly on the Hubble. Space debris comes their way, and an incredible survival story/adventure is underway. Director Alfonso Cuaron has put together something here that will always be remembered and talked about. This is truly a landmark film.

This latest installment is a step back from Kenneth Branagh’s goofy and grand first franchise installment, Thor. While not likely to piss off superhero film fans, this sequel from director Alan Taylor is not going to blow many minds away, either. It’s a semiefficient placeholder flick moving us towards the next Avengers movie, due in 2015. Chris Hemsworth returns as that incredibly handsome man with long hair, a big hammer and impossibly silly dialogue. The film takes place after The Avengers, with a dark ancient force threatening the universe, and only Thor and his imprisoned brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston, stealing the movie) can save us. The movie is OK, but somewhat of a comedown considering how fun the first Thor and The Avengers were.

It’s merely a placeholder until Thor’s next appearance in an Avengers movie, with some decent action and special effects to tide us over until the next Marvel fix.

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november 21, 2013

Major opera-tion Viva Verdi: Scenes from Verdi’s Great Operas In a studio at the University of Nevada, Reno, the students of Albert R. Lee’s Advanced Opera Workshop are by Rachel Gattuso polishing pronunciation and cementing stage cues. Oh, and they’re singing their talented little hearts out.

Though not a tale of a muscly, mythic god saving our planet— again—or a visual thriller with spacesuit-clad cast, Viva Verdi: Scenes from Verdi’s Great Operas might bring a lump to your throat.

Photo/Rachel Gattuso

Verdi requires that’s difficult for any singer, especially young singers, is that he requires that you sing loud, he requires that you sing soft, he requires that you sing high, he requires that you sing low, he requires that you sing fast. He makes you do everything.”

The challenge is two-pronged: the group must represent an opera legend’s work while hopefully widening its audience base.

The answer likely begins in the studio.

Cocktail dresses, Wolf Pack jerseys and Muppet T-shirts, the varied wardrobe during rehearsal represents opera’s potential to connect with diverse individuals.

Master’s student and performer Sherman Modeste comes from a gospel, soul and R&B background, and recognizes it might be difficult for younger generations to appreciate opera. “I happen to enjoy it, but I can see how someone who doesn’t appreciate it as we do could see it to be just as cliché as, say, the next popular song,” he says.

“I think it has everything to the performer and what they bring to the genre.”

On stage, the young faces tasked with carrying the often visceral material will signal to many seasoned fans that the art form is in good hands. Off stage, they’re encouraging younger generations to give Verdi a shot.

“I feel like sometimes the spectrum of human emotion gets lost in popular music,” says 19-year-old sophomore and performer Anna Hart. “It’s important to see other aspects of culture. In watching opera, you’re traveling around the world and around time periods.”

Lee hopes to attract many new audience members to the art form.

“The stories of the greatest operas are timeless,” he says. “What I hope to do is to be able to build audiences with the things that they love and then when they trust us for always putting on a great product, introduce them to some newer work.” Ω

The Nevada Chamber Opera’s celebration of 19th century composer Giuseppe Verdi’s 200th birthday is set to deliver powerful emotions without green screens and complicated harnesses on Nov. 22, 23 and 24. During rehearsal, nothing escapes the relentless attention of the student group’s artistic director, from the students’ singing technique to their facial expressions. A lauded performer himself, Lee leverages his myriad experience to push his students from good singers to great opera performers. “[Opera is] one of the most phenomenal art forms there is, and as a composer Verdi is in my top three,” says Lee. “Part of my passion is that I just won’t allow my students to come to it with a Britney Spears or Rihanna effort.”

Verdi’s celebration has allowed Lee to navigate his students through selections of fan-favorites including La Traviata and Rigoletto.

“The music is totally accessible,” says Lee. “It’s dramatically engaging, but in a way that isn’t over-composed. One of the things

Albert R. Lee directs Nicole Dzadek and Nicole Delbridge during a rehearsal of Viva Verdi.

Viva Verdi: scenes from Verdi’s Great operas is presented at uNR’s Nightingale concert hall on Nov. 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 24 at 2 p.m. $15 or $5 with a student ID. For more information, visit www.unr.edu/ cla/music/calendars/ index.htm

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NOVEMBER 21, 2013

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THURSDAY 11/21 1864 TAVERN

290 California Ave., (775) 329-1864

FRIDAY 11/22

1UP

214 W. Commercial Row, (775) 329-9444

DG Kicks, 9pm, Tu, no cover

THE ALLEY

Fall Hip Hop Throw Down, 8:30pm, no cover

The Ghost Inside, Volumes, Texas in July, The Jet Stole Home, 7pm, $13

Larry and His Flask, Slaughter Daughter, Sucka Punch, 7:30pm, $10-$12

Thanksgiving Potluck, 6:30pm, Tu, no cover

BAR-M-BAR

Freestyle firespinning, 9pm, no cover

BODEGA NIGHTCLUB

The Charity All-Nighter w/DJ RyOn, DJ Rewind, September, 8pm, $25, $35

816 Highway 40 West, Verdi; (775) 351-3206 555 E. Fourth St., (775) 378-4507

CEOL IRISH PUB

1099 S. Virginia St., (775) 324-2244

Catch a Rising Star, Silver Legacy, 407 N. Virginia St., 329-4777: Andy Woodhall, Th, Su, 7:30pm, $15.95; F, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, $15.95; Sa, 7:30pm, 9:30pm, $17.95; Vanessa Hollingshead, Tu, W, 7:30pm, $15.95 The Improv at Harveys Cabaret, Harveys Lake Tahoe, Stateline, (800) 553-1022: Dennis Blair, Alan Bursky, Th-F, Su, 9pm, $25; Sa, 8pm, 10pm, $30; Rocky LaPorte, Ron Morey, W, 9pm, $25 Reno-Tahoe Comedy at Pioneer Underground, 100 S. Virginia St., 686-6600: Geechy Guy, F, 8:30pm; Sa, 7pm, 9:30pm, $13, $16

College Night Wednesdays, 8pm, W, no cover

Rumble, Electric-Gypsy, 9pm, no cover

CHAPEL TAVERN

3rd Street, 125 W. Third St., 323-5005: Comedy Night & Improv w/Patrick Shillito, W, 9pm, no cover

Select Saturdays, 8pm, no cover Adrenaline, 9:30pm, no cover

538 S. Virginia St., (775) 329-5558

Comedy

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11/25-11/27

Blues jam w/Blue Haven, 9:30pm, no cover

906 Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 358-8891 Nov. 22, 6 p.m.

Jub Jub’s Thirst Parlor 71 S. Wells Ave. 384-1652

SUNDAY 11/24

3RD STREET

125 W. Third St., (775) 323-5005

Zeke

SATURDAY 11/23

DJ Trivia, 7pm, no cover

Pub Quiz Trivia Night, 8pm, no cover

Neil O’Kane, 9pm, no cover

Sonic Mass w/DJ Tigerbunny, 7pm, no cover

Good Friday with rotating DJs, 10pm, no cover

COMMA COFFEE

Drum Circle, 6pm, no cover

312 S. Carson St., Carson City; (775) 883-2662

COTTONWOOD RESTAURANT & BAR 10142 Rue Hilltop, Truckee; (530) 587-5711

A Thousand Years At Sea, 7pm, no cover

DAVIDSON’S DISTILLERY 275 E. Fourth St., (775) 324-1917

EL CORTEZ LOUNGE

235 W. Second St., (775) 324-4255

FUEGO

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

CW and Mr. Spoons, noon, M, no cover

Vaughn Jensen Band, 9:30pm, no cover

Hillbilly Bandits, Vaughn Jensen Band, 9:30pm, no cover

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

Live flamenco guitar music, 5:30pm, no cover

GREAT BASIN BREWING CO.

After Midnight Duo, 8pm, no cover

8545 N. Lake Blvd., Kings Beach; (530) 546-0300

HANGAR BAR

Karaoke Kat, 9pm, no cover

10603 Stead Blvd., Stead; (775) 677-7088

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

Karaoke w/Andrew, 9pm, no cover

Bass Heavy, 9pm, W, $TBA

Canyon Jam, 8pm, no cover

HARRY’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

Open mic, 7pm, no cover

1100 E. Plumb Ln., (775) 828-7665 140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858

Open Mic Jam, 9:30pm, M, karaoke, 9:30pm, Tu, open mic, 9:30pm, W, no cover

Moon Gravy, 8pm, no cover

THE GRID BAR & GRILL

THE HOLLAND PROJECT

Traditional Irish Tune Session, 7pm, Tu, no cover

Randy Blake, Joe Dollister, 7pm, no cover

170 S. Virginia St., (775) 322-1800 846 Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 355-7711

Kelly Ann Miller, 9pm, no cover

Post show s online by registering at www.newsr eview.com /reno. Dea dline is the Friday befo re publication .

Monday Night Open Mic, 8pm, M, no cover

The Soil and the Sun, 7:30pm, $5

Tera Melos, Zorch, Elephant Rifle, 8pm, $8-$10

FALL FAL F LL HIP HIP HOP HOP THROWDOWN TH THROW ROWDOW DOWN

Thursday, Thursd Thu r ay, y, November No ovem vember ber 21

W/ Tra Traj aj Hard Hardie, die,, Smokey Smokey The Ghost. Yan Doe, Doe e, Toc Roc c. Dee Deevious, Knappsacc, Jaydubb +More +More Roc.

THE TH GHOST INSIDE

Friday, Fr Fri day, da y November 22

W/ Vo V Volu Volumes, olu umes m T mes, Texas exas In July, We Predict A Riot, R The e Jet Stole Home

LARRY AND HIS FLASK

Saturday, November 23

W/ Slaughter Daughter, Sucka Punch, Actors Killed Lincoln

EASTER ISLAND MOVING COMPANY

Friday, November 29

Plus: HOLLYWOOD TRASHED

NUKE VEGAS

Saturday, November 30

W/ Deathstalker, Walk Away Alpha, Krosphyer

FRI 11/22

ZEKE, Johnny Manak & The Depressives, Machine Gun Vendetta, Vampirates, Infecto Skeltons, and Slut Fungus.

7 SECONDS

Friday, December 6

W/ Old Glory, Kill The Precedent, Donkey Jaw

PHENOMONAUTS

Saturday, December 7

W/ Dusty Miles And The Cryin' Shame, White Bulbs, Some Kind Of Nightmare (San Diego)

NEW YEARS EVE SHOW ANNOUNCED!!! SADDLE TRAMPS w/ GREG GOLDEN BAND, and SPECIAL GUESTS...

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TheAlleySparks.com (775) 358.8891 906 Victorian Ave, Sparks NV Facebook.TheAlleySparks.com

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SAT 11/23

BAND OF ORCS, The Kennedy Veil, Blessed Curse, Archea, Smokefilled Skies, Victims of the Cave,

SUN 11/24

KEN mode + 2 TBA

FRI 11/29

Warsaw + TBA

THURSDAY 11/21

FRIDAY 11/22

SATURDAY 11/23

SUNDAY 11/24

JAVA JUNGLE

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11/25-11/27 Outspoken: Open Mic Night, 7pm, M, no cover

246 W. First St., (775) 329-4484

JAZZ, A LOUISIANA KITCHEN

First Take featuring Rick (SAX) Metz, 6pm, no cover

Erika Paul, 6pm, no cover

1180 Scheels Dr., Sparks; (775) 657-8659

JUB JUB’S THIRST PARLOR 71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652

Zeke, Jonny Manak and The Depressives, Machine Gun Vendetta, 6pm, $10-$15

KNITTING FACTORY CONCERT HOUSE

MellowHigh, 8pm, $12-$25

211 N. Virginia St., (775) 323-5648

Bill Davis, 6pm, no cover

Colorless Blue, 1pm, no cover Open mic, 9pm, M, no cover

3OH!3, The Summer Set, Wallpaper, New Beat Fund, Weston Buck, 7pm, $22-$45

In This Moment, Kyng, All Hail the Yeti, 7pm, $25-$40

KNUCKLEHEADS BAR & GRILL

Open Mic/College Night, 8pm, Tu, no cover

405 Vine St., (775) 323-6500

THE POINT

Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 7pm, no cover

3001 W. Fourth St., (775) 322-3001

All That Remains, Soil, Sinister Scene, Authmentis, 7:30pm, Tu, $20-$40

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

Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 9pm, no cover

Gemini w/Johnny Lipka & Andrea, 9pm, no cover

Gemini w/Johnny Lipka & Andrea, 9pm, no cover

RED DOG SALOON

Larry and His Flask Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m.

The Alley 906 Victorian Ave. Sparks 358-8891

Open Mic Night, 7pm, W, no cover

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

RUBEN’S CANTINA

Hip Hop Open Mic, 10pm, W, no cover

1483 E. Fourth St., (775) 622-9424

RYAN’S SALOON

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

924 S. Wells Ave., (775) 323-4142

SIDELINES BAR & NIGHTCLUB

Live jazz, 7:30pm, W, no cover

Crush, 9:30pm, no cover

1237 Baring Blvd., Sparks; (775) 355-1030

ST. JAMES INFIRMARY 445 California Ave., (775) 657-8484

STUDIO ON 4TH

Your Choice—Music Video Request Night, 7pm, no cover

432 E. Fourth St., (775) 410-5993

Lost in Delivery, 9:30pm, no cover

Open Mic Night w/Tany Jane, 8pm, M, Black and Blues Jam, 8:30pm, Tu, no cover

Dance party, 9pm, no cover

Strange on the Range, 7pm, M, no cover Tuesday Night Trivia, 8pm, Tu, no cover

Crush Video Release Party, 7pm, no cover

VASSAR LOUNGE

Nov. 23, 7 p.m.

Knitting Factory 211 N. Virginia St. 323-5648

Karaoke Night, 7pm, Tu, Open Mic Wednesdays, 7pm, W, no cover

Rock’N J Entertainment Karaoke, 8pm, no cover

Friday Night Blues, 9pm, no cover

1545 Vassar St., (775) 348-7197

3OH3!

WILDFLOWER VILLAGE

Wildflower Comedy Power Hour Open Mic, 8:30pm, no cover

4275-4395 W. Fourth St., (775) 787-3769

THE ZEPHYR BAR

KristiNikol, 5pm, $5

1074 S. Virginia St., (775) 348-1723

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

BOOMTOWN CASINO HOTEL

2100 Garson Rd., Verdi; (775) 345-6000 1) Event Center 2) Guitar Bar

THURSDAY 11/21

FRIDAY 11/22

SATURDAY 11/23

SUNDAY 11/24

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11/25-11/27

2) Atomika, 8pm, no cover

2) Atomika, 4pm, Cook Book, 10pm, no cover

2) Atomika, 4pm, Cook Book, 10pm, no cover

2) Cook Book, 8pm, no cover

2) Red Hot Smokin’ Aces, 8pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Patrick Major, 6pm, no cover

2) Tyler Stafford, 4:30pm, Rebekah Chase, 8pm, no cover

2) Tyler Stafford, 4:30pm, Rebekah Chase, 8pm, no cover

2) Rebekah Chase, 6pm, no cover

2) Brian Eldredge, 6pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Decades, 7pm, no cover

2) Decades, 8pm, no cover

2) Decades, 8pm, no cover

2) Keyser Soze, 10pm, no cover

2) Tumbleweed Wanderers, 10pm, no cover

1) Ice Fantasy, call for showtimes, $19.95-$24.95 2) Alias, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Skyy High Fridays, 10pm, $10 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

1) Ice Fantasy, call for showtimes, $19.95-$24.95 2) Alias, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Four Play Saturdays, 10pm, $10 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

CARSON VALLEY INN

1627 Hwy. 395, Minden; (775) 782-9711 1) Valley Ballroom 2) Cabaret Lounge 3) Valley Sky Theatre

Odesza

CRYSTAL BAY CLUB

Nov. 27, 8 p.m.

Grand Sierra Resort 2500 E. Second St. 789-2000

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

ELDORADO HOTEL CASINO

345 N. Virginia St., (775) 786-5700 1) Showroom 2) Brew Brothers 3) BuBinga Lounge 4) Roxy’s Bar & Lounge 5) Stadium Bar

Karaoke

GRAND SIERRA RESORT

Bottoms Up Saloon, 1923 Prater Way, Sparks, 359-3677: Th-Sa, 9pm, no cover

HARRAH’S LAKE TAHOE

Elbow Room Bar, 2002 Victorian Ave., Sparks, 359-3526: F, Tu, 7pm; Su, 2pm, no cover Celtic Knot Pub, 541 E. Moana Lane, 829-8886: J.P. and Super Fun Entertainment, Th, 8pm, no cover Flowing Tide Pub, 465 S. Meadows Pkwy., Ste. 5, 284-7707; 4690 Longley Lane, Ste. 30, (775) 284-7610: Karaoke, Sa, 9pm, no cover Sneakers Bar & Grill, 3923 S. McCarran Blvd., 829-8770: Karaoke w/Mark, Sa, 8:30pm, no cover Spiro’s Sports Bar & Grille, 1475 E. Prater Way, Sparks, 356-6000: Music & Karaoke, F, 9pm; Lovely Karaoke, Sa, 9pm, no cover Washoe Club, 112 S. C St., Virginia City, 847-4467: Gothic Productions Karaoke, Sa, Tu, 8pm, no cover

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1) Ice Fantasy, call for showtimes, $19.95-$24.95 2) Alias, 10:30pm, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

2500 E. Second St., (775) 789-2000 1) Grand Theater 2) WET Ultra Lounge 3) The Beach 4) Summit Pavilion

1) Alice Cooper, 8:30pm, $29.50-$49.50

2) Dale Poune, 6pm Tu, W, no cover

1) Ice Fantasy, call for showtimes, $19.95-$24.95 2) Alias, 10:30pm, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

1) Ice Fantasy, call for showtimes, $19.95-$24.95 2) Live Band Karaoke, 10pm, M, DJ Chris English, 10pm, Tu, Steele Breeze, 10:30pm, W, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, W, no cover

1) Grand Funk Railroad, 9pm, $27.50-$38.50

4) Pretty Lights, Odesza, 8pm, W, $30-$75

15 Hwy. 50, Stateline; (775) 588-6611 1) South Shore Room 2) Casino Center Stage 3) Peek Nightclub

3) DJ Leslie Perez, 10:30pm, $20

3) DJ Rick Gee, DJ SN1, 10pm, $20

HARRAH’S RENO

1) Beatles vs. Stones w/Abbey Road and Jumping Jack Flash, 8pm, $25-$35 2) JOEL: The Band, 9pm, no cover 3) Club Sapphire w/DJ I, 9pm, no cover

1) Beatles vs. Stones w/Abbey Road and Jumping Jack Flash 8pm, $25-$35 2) JOEL: The Band, 9pm, no cover 3) Club Sapphire w/DJ I, 9pm, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 7pm, no cover 3) Duo Brasileiro, 5:30pm, no cover; 5) Karaoke Night, 7pm, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 8pm, no cover 3) Duo Brasileiro, 6pm, no cover 5) Dean Brownell, 6pm, no cover

2) Buddy Emmer Band, 8pm, Country at the Cabaret w/DJ Jamie G, 9pm, no cover 5) Dean Brownell, 6pm, no cover 3) Duo Brasileiro, 6pm, no cover 5) Dean Brownell, 6pm, no cover

2) Beat Mosaic, Rick Gee, 6pm, no cover 3) 3-D Thursdays w/DJs Max, Chris English, Kronyak, 10pm, $20

2) Audioboxx, 8pm, no cover 3) Salsa dancing with BB of Salsa Reno, 2) Audioboxx, 8pm, no cover 7:30pm, $10 after 8pm, DJ Chris English, 3) Rogue Saturdays, 10pm, $20 DJ ((Fredie)), 10pm, $20

3) Social Network Night, 9pm, no cover 4) Live music, 6:30pm, no cover

2) Live music/DJ, 9pm, no cover 3) Fashion Friday, 7pm, no cover 4) Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

219 N. Center St., (775) 788-2900 1) Sammy’s Showroom 2) The Zone 3) Sapphire Lounge

JOHN ASCUAGA’S NUGGET

1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks; (775) 356-3300 1) Showroom 2) Cabaret 3) Orozko 4) Rose Ballroom 5) Trader Dick’s

PEPPERMILL RESORT SPA CASINO 2707 S. Virginia St., (775) 826-2121 1) Tuscany Ballroom 2) Terrace Lounge 3) Edge 4) Capri Ballroom

SILVER LEGACY

407 N. Virginia St., (775) 325-7401 1) Grand Exposition Hall 2) Rum Bullions Island Bar 3) Aura Ultra Lounge 4) Silver Baron Lounge 5) Drinx Lounge

1) Macho Gwapita w/Rico J. Puno, Ai Ai Delas Alas, 8pm, $38-$78 2) Live music/DJ, 9pm, no cover 3) Seduction Saturdays, 9pm, $5 4) Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

2) Country at the Cabaret w/DJ Jamie G, 7pm, W, no cover 3) Scott Allman, 6pm, W, no cover

2) Rock River, 6pm, no cover

2) Rock River, 6pm M, Tu, W, no cover

2) Recovery Sundays, 10pm, no cover 3) Midnight Mass, 9pm, no cover 4) Live music, 6:30pm, no cover

2) Gong Show Karaoke, 8pm, Tu, no cover 3) Step This Way (dubstep, house), 8pm, W, no cover

LOWEST PRICES • INCREDIBLE SELECTION • GREAT SERVICE Prices good thru 11/30/2013.

The Best Wines for your Thanksgiving Meal at the LOWEST PRICES! Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington, 750ml

Mark West Pinot Noir, California, 750ml

$5.97

$5.97

RENO

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OPINION

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TotalWine

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ART OF THE STATE

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FOODFINDS

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EXIT 62

MEADOWOOD MALL

St. ginia S. Vir

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HOURS: Mon-Sun 8am-11pm VISIT US ONLINE FOR OUR HOLIDAY HOURS.

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From 395, take exit 62 (Neil Road).

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Clos du Bois Chardonnay, California, 750ml

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THE COMMONS 6671 S. Virginia St. Reno, NV 89511 (775) 853-3669 Prices good thru 11/30/2013. Not responsible for typographical errors, human error or supplier price increases.

Same Price Cash or Credit. Products while supplies last. We reserve the right to limit quantities. Total Wine & More is a registered trademark of Retail Services & Systems, Inc. © 2013 Retail Services & Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Please drink responsibly. Use a designated driver.

Mirassou Pinot Noir, California, 750ml

Whole Foods

THE COMMONS

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Target

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THIS WEEK

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november 21, 2013

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REN-13-0000-TAB

Fetzer Gewürztraminer, California, 750ml

RN&R

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For a complete listing of this week’s events, visit newsreview.com/reno

HOLIDAY ON

ICE

Holiday tree lighting event

While the holiday shopping drumbeat has begun earlier this year, those who want to celebrate a more traditional start to the season are invited to gather in downtown Reno this Tuesday, Nov. 26, for the city’s annual holiday tree lighting event. The festivities begin at 5 p.m. with a performance of holiday music and Christmas carols sung by the Billinghurst Middle School Choir.

Reno City Council members will lead a countdown and light up the tree, a giant sequoia that was planted at City Plaza, 10 N. Virginia St., last month and will remain the city’s permanent holiday tree. Following the tree lighting, the Rink on the River will open for the season. The rink will be open daily through Feb. 2. Since warm weather or other factors can affect the ice, it’s best to call ahead to confirm if the rink is open and operating. Admission to Rink on the River is $7.50 for adults and $5.50 for children ages 3-12 and seniors age 55 and older. Call 334-6268 for open skate hours.

—Kelley Lang

The Charity AllNighter Event

4x4x48 The Holland Project presents a screening of the 4x4x48 Music Video Challenge at the Nevada Museum of Art with a Q&A with filmmakers and bands after the screening. Originally conceived as a competition involving four directors, four bands and 48 hours, Holland allowed for a fifth director and band last year. The catchy name remains the same but instead of four, now five, directors have 48 hours to complete a music video for a band/artist chosen for them. Additionally, the directors are given a number of elements that each must incorporate into their film. This year’s directors are Alana Berglund and Kelci McIntosh, Sam Santoro, Babs Laukat, Jesse McCloskey and Denali Lowder and Dane Haman. The bands are Televisions, Evynn Tyler, Frontier City Sounds, Alphabet Cult and Solterona. See the results starting at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, at the Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St. Tickets are $5. Call 742-1858 or visit www.hollandreno.org.

30 | RN&R |

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Local musicians, DJs and filmmakers will come together for this gala event and fundraiser presented by Bodega Night Club and Brian Perry Film Works in association with The Community Affect and Reno Tahoe Tonight. The musical lineup includes DJ RyOn, DJ Rewind, Ke’Shay Love, Swayde and September, a tribute to Earth Wind & Fire featuring Cliff Porter, Tim Snider, Whitney Myer, the Mojo Green horn section and others. The event will also serve as the launch of Brian Perry Film Works. The fun continues late into the night with an after party starting at midnight featuring SyWren & Athena, Key Ringz and Black Rock City All Stars. The soiree begins at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, at Bodega Nightclub, 555 E. Fourth St. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. Proceeds from the event will go toward Women and Children’s Center of the Sierra and the Children’s Cabinet Food Pantry. Call 378-4507 or visit http://charityallnighter.eventbrite.com.

Buy Local Marketplace As much we decry the rampant consumerism of the holidays, we can’t deny that a lot of the economy depends on it. If you want to get a jump start on your shopping and don’t want to fight the crowds on Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday, perhaps you’d feel more willing to spend your hard-earned money if it goes to local businesses. The Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce will partner with the City of Reno to host the second annual Buy Local Marketplace on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 23-24, at the National Automobile Museum, 10 S. Lake St. The event highlights local businesses that offer unique goods and services. In addition to shopping, there will be food trucks, musical entertainment, a bounce house for the kids and appearances by Santa Claus.

Admission is $2. The marketplace will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Call 636-9550.

Pray For Snow Party Will libations bring forth a major dumping of snow on the Sierra?

Probably not, but you’ll have fun appealing to the snow gods this Saturday, Nov. 23, during this month’s Reno Beer Crawl. More than 20 bars, taverns and restaurants will participate in the bar crawl, which starts at 2 p.m. at The Waterfall, 134 W. Second St. For $5, you will get a commemorative glass, wrist band and map to participating locations and for $1 you can get 6-ounce samples at each stop.

Dress up in your most outlandish ’80s snow outfit and participate in a winter wear contest or test your pipes in a snow calling competition.

Call 322-7373 or visit http://renobeercrawl.com.

Lake Mansion Jingles with Art & History VSA Nevada presents its annual holiday event featuring arts and crafts for sale, eight kids’ creation stations, face painting, tours of the historic Lake Mansion and visits with Santa Claus. Author Patty Cafferata will also sign her book The Lake Mansion: Home to Reno’s Founding Families. The free event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Lake Mansion, 250 Court St. Call 826-6100 ext. 3 or visit www.vsanevada.org.

IF YOU ARE THE PARENT OF A CHILD SUFFERING FROM ADDICTION,

YOU ARE SUFFERING TOO. JTNN can help. We offer a weekly PARENT GROUP, Thursday’s at 6:30p.

505 S. Arlington Ave. Confidential, FREE, and run by a licensed counselor.

775-324-7557

Moody call Ten months ago, while studying abroad, I had one wonderful night with a girl. We kissed and danced the night away. She lives in Brazil, but we’ve communicated regularly via Skype and email. I’ve never felt such a strong connection. Recently, I asked what she wanted, and she said to be together in the same country. We started imagining that, and she became extremely attached, wanting reassurance about our future that I couldn’t yet give. I confessed to feeling guilty about causing her emotional strain. She flipped, seeming like a totally different person. She said it wasn’t the first time someone had worried about how attached she was and said she’d start being more distant with me. Angry, I briefly blocked her on my phone so I wouldn’t communicate anything rash. She later complained about her texts bouncing back, and I explained what I’d done and why.

She lost it, saying she was “sick of this” and “done.”

That was two weeks ago. Should I attempt reopening communication? I feel I’m missing the opportunity of a lifetime if I don’t.

Here’s a woman who flips out when you worry aloud that you aren’t making her happy fast enough. The prospect of being with someone who does this is the “opportunity of a lifetime” the way Hurricane Sandy was the vacation opportunity of a lifetime, complete with the chance to swim in the Jersey shore’s finest restaurants and mingle with celebrities (well, wave to Sean Penn if a disaster recovery photo op took his rowboat past the roof of your motel).

A long-distance relationship is a relationship that’s miles from reality. Much of its power comes from what’s missing. For example, there are a lot of blanks left by “seeing” somebody by Skype and email. Nature (and human nature) abhors a vacuum, so you fill the blanks with your projections of who the person is, drawn from romantic memories and hopes of who you’d like them to be. The love you feel may, in part, be a love of how your conversations make you feel about you: that you’re witty, charming, and a great romancer. And of course, love that’s out of reach tends to have the strongest pull, a la Romeo and Juliet. Frankly, if their families hadn’t basically been the Crips and the Bloods with linguini and instead had been all “Hey, you crazy kids, be home by curfew,” it probably would have been a matter of weeks before Juliet was sneaking out behind the palazzo with Marcello and then Luigi.

OPINION

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NEWS

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ARTS&CULTURE

You find out whether you can have a life with a woman by experiencing her day to day—seeing whether she chases you around with a cleaver when you forget to wash a glass or when you draw the line at picking up lady products at the drugstore. You could propose living in the same place for a month—after getting in touch to tell her how wrong you were. (This is basically catnip for women, and whether you were actually wrong about anything is immaterial.) But consider all that goes into a relationship with someone from another country (travel expenses, residency permits, and difficulty finding work and even getting a work permit). Maybe it makes sense to deem what you had as “one wonderful night with a girl”—before you get to Brazilian customs and find yourself answering “Do you have anything to declare?” with “Yes, I think I’m making a big mistake.”

The blurt locker I’ve been on two dates with a woman, and she’s agreed to a third. We kissed on the second date and have been talking every night, but she seems to be playing it a little cool (letting me do all the calling, etc.). Perhaps I should also play it cool, but I’m dying to tell her I like her. Is there a magic number of dates you have to go on before it’s OK to do that?

There are solutions that cause more problems than they solve, like giving your car a car bra, which traps moisture underneath and eventually leads to two-tone paint.

(And besides, what happens if your car doesn’t have a bra, someone sees its nipples and it gets embarrassed?)

Announcing that you like someone you’ve gone out with twice is another one of these problem-causing solutions.

If this woman is at all ambivalent (a healthy way to feel early on), telling her you like her wouldn’t make her like you, but it might make her uncomfortable enough to flee. So, go ahead and say those “three little words”—as long as they’re “You free Friday?” Rest assured; she knows you like her. Because you’re still around, because you’re calling every night, and because when you kissed her, you apparently didn’t spit afterward, wipe your hand across your mouth, and say “Eeeuw!”

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

ART OF THE STATE

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we’re hiring!

LOOkING fOR A jOB whERE yOU CAN MAkE A DIffERENCE? Consider working for a company which has published award-winning newspapers for over 18 years: The Reno News & Review. We have the resources of a large corporation, with the independence and flexibility of a small business. We foster creativity, excellence and participation, with everyone having a voice in strategic planning, ideas and the direction of the company.

Our publication reflects our work environment: Decidedly NOT corporate. We are dedicated, hard-working and passionately focused on a common goal: Publishing a great newspaper every Thursday.

During a time when other publications - and other media - are experiencing declines, the RN&R continues to sustain and grow our share of market in the Reno/ Sparks and Carson City/Lake Tahoe markets.

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER The Reno News & Review is growing its circulation to meet the demands of increased readership and we~re looking for someone to manage our increased distribution. The Distribution Manager directs and coordinates activities of the distribution department to ensure on-time delivery of our newspaper to various locations throughout the greater Reno/Sparks and Carson City/Lake Tahoe region. Working in partnership with the Distribution Director, General Manager and other members of the management team, the Distribution Manager will establish and achieve distribution goals associated with the weekly publication of the Reno News & Review and special supplements and will supervise our outstanding team of drivers. Experience with management and distribution of publications preferred. Valid Nevada Driver’s License and clean DMV record required.

ADVERTISING CONSULTANT Since the RN&R is a free newspaper, advertising revenue is a critical part of our operation. We’re looking to add to our existing team of extraordinary Advertising Consultants to help us continue our growth in the market, while achieving results and returns on investment for businesses throughout the region. We offer an outstanding training program, great resources and a competitive salary, commission and bonus structure. As an Advertising Consultant for the RN&R, you’ll not only be helping businesses achieve their goals, you’ll also be a part of something which truly makes a difference in the communities we serve. Outside sales experience and local media sales experience preferred.

For consideration and a complete job description, check out our website at: www.newsreview.com/reno/jobs and Follow the application process chico community publishing, dba the reno news & review, is an equal opportunity employer.

EquAL OppORTuNiTy EMpLOyER

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Print ads start at $6/wk. www.newsreview.com or (775) 324-4440 ext. 5 Phone hours: M-F 8am-5pm.

All ads post online same day.

Deadlines for print: Line ad deadline: Monday 4pm Adult line ad deadline: Monday 4pm Display ad deadline: Friday 2pm

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All advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of Acceptance. Further, the News & Review specifically reserves the right to edit, decline or properly classify any ad. Errors will be rectified by re-publication upon notification. The N&R is not responsible for error after the first publication. The N&R assumes no financial liability for errors or omission of copy. In any event, liability shall not exceed the cost of the space occupied by such an error or omission. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes full responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message.

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OPINION

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IN ROTATION

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ART OF THE STATE

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november 21, 2013

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OODFINDS

by rob brezsny

Recycle this paper

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The poet

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You’re smarter

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): U.S. Con-

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The Paris

Charles Baudelaire prayed for help, but not to God—rather he prayed to the writer Edgar Allan Poe. Novelist Malcolm Lowry sometimes pleaded with God to give him insight, but he also prayed to the writer Franz Kafka. I really like this approach to seeking guidance, and recommend it to you in the coming days. Which hero, dead or alive, could you call on to uplift you? What amazing character might bring you the inspiration you need? Be brazen and imaginative. The spirits could be of more help than you can imagine. Magic is afoot.

federate Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell (1817-1872) sometimes experienced episodes in which he truly thought he was a bird. Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (1826-1875) believed that when she was young, she had eaten a glass piano. Then there was the Prussian military officer Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742-1819), who imagined he was pregnant with an elephant. Sad and funny and crazy, right? And yet it’s my understanding that all of us have fixed delusions. They are less bizarre than those I cited, but they can still be debilitating. What are yours, Taurus? Do you secretly believe that a certain turning point in your past scarred you forever? Are you incorrectly wracked with anger or guilt because of some event that may not have actually happened the way you remember it? Here’s the good news: Now is an excellent time to shed your fixed delusions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Philosopher

Eckhart Tolle suggests that there “may be one person who reflects your love back to you more clearly and more intensely than others.” For some of us, this numinous reflection comes from a special animal.

Whatever is the case for you, Gemini, I urge you to devote extra time to your relationship with this creature in the next 14 days.

Meditate on how you could provide more nurturing and inspiration. Brainstorm about the possibility of deepening your connection.

What practical actions could you take to boost your loved one’s fortunes?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Cance-

rian soprano Kirsten Flagstad was regarded as one of the great operatic singers of the 20th century. Critic Desmond Shawe-Taylor said that “No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone.” She specialized in the operas of German composer Richard Wagner, whose master work, The Ring of the Nibelung, takes 15 hours to perform. Flagstad was asked to name the single most important thing she needed in order to perform Wagner’s music with the excellence it demanded.

Her answer: comfortable shoes. Regard that as good advice for your own life and work, Cancerian—both literally and metaphorically. It’s time to get really well-grounded.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Have you ever been

in a social situation where you really didn’t care what anyone thought of you and therefore felt absolutely free to act on your inner promptings? When was the last time you lost all your inhibitions and self-consciousness while making love? Can you truly say that sometime recently you have been totally responsive to your festive impulses? If you have experienced any blockages in expressing this type of energy, now is a perfect moment to fix that. You have a date with robust, innocent self-expression.

IN IN STOCK STOCK NOW NOW AT AT MINI MINI OF OF RENO RENO

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Norwegian

public television is experimenting with a phenomenon called Slow TV. In one reality show, the main character built a fire with logs and kept it burning for 12 hours. In another program, patient viewers watched for five days as a cruise ship made its way along the Norwegian coast. A third show featured a woman knitting a sweater from start to finish. I wish you would get hooked on slowmotion activities like those, Virgo. Maybe it would help you lower your thoughtsper-minute rate and influence you to take longer, deeper breaths and remember that relaxation is an art you can cultivate. And then you would be in righteous alignment with the cosmic rhythms.

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than you think you are, and soon, you will be even smarter. Previously inaccessible wisdom is seeping up from the depths of your subconscious mind, making its way to your conscious awareness. Your eyes are noticing more than they usually do. Your memory is working at peak levels. And your enhanced ability to entertain paradoxical ideas is giving you special insight into the nature of reality. What will you do with this influx of higher intelligence? I suggest you focus its full force on one of your knottiest problems.

Review interviewed Mexican poet Octavio Paz. “[J]ust how much revising do you do?” the interviewer asked. “I revise incessantly,” Paz replied. “Some critics say too much, and they may be right. But if there’s a danger in revising, there is much more danger in not revising. I believe in inspiration, but I also believe that we’ve got to help inspiration, restrain it, and even contradict it.” I bring this up, Scorpio, because I believe you are ripe for a phase of intense revision.

Inspiration has visited you a lot lately, but now it will subside for a while so you can wrangle all your raw material into graceful, resilient, enduring shapes.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

Costa Rica will be closing its zoos in 2014.

What will happen to the 400 or so animals that are housed there? They will have to be rehabilitated at animal rescue centers and then released into the wild. I suspect there will be a metaphorically similar process going on for you in the coming months, Sagittarius. Parts of your instinctual nature will, in a sense, be freed from captivity. You will need to find ways to retrain your animal intelligence how to function outside of the tame conditions it got used to.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Will

fate kick your sweet ass sometime soon?

Quite possibly. You may be compelled to face up to the consequences of your unloving actions or unconscious decisions. I’m pleased to tell you, however, that you might be able to dramatically minimize or even neutralize the butt-thumping. How? Go over the events of the last 11 months, and identify times when you weren’t your very best self or didn’t live up to your highest ideals. Then perform rituals of atonement. Express your desire to correct wrong turns. Give gifts that will heal damaged dynamics.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Grammy-

winning singer-songwriter Bill Withers became a big star in the 1970s with hits like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me.” But he hasn’t recorded a new album since 1985, nor has he toured. What happened? In Still Bill, the documentary film about his life, Withers says, “I watch other people show off and I say, ‘Man, I used to want to show off.’

If I could just get, you know, moved to. I need a little injection in my showin’ off gland.” I wish you could get an injection like that, too, Aquarius. I’d like to see you show off more.

Not in a contrived, over-the-top, Lady Gagaesque way. Rather, the purpose would be to get more aggressive in showing people who you are and what you can do. I want your talents and assets to be better known.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I have a

feeling that your value will be rising in the coming weeks. An attractive person you thought was out of your league may express curiosity about you. You could get an offer to do an interesting job or task that you had previously considered unavailable. I bet your reputation will be growing, mostly for the better. Who knows? If you put a half-eaten piece of your toast for sale on eBay, it might sell for as much as if it were Justin Timberlake’s toast. Here’s the upshot: You should have confidence in your power to attract bigger rewards and more appreciation.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at (877) 873-4888 or (900) 950-7700.

by Sage Leehey

Winter is coming

decent efficiency upgrade. Sealing your duct system is a very important one. The last thing you want is a leaky duct system where the air is now leaking into unconditioned spaces and not entering the home. That really can cause the system to run more and increase bills.

You definitely want to focus on air sealing of any kind in a house. Things are always trying to leave. You have a very high pressure zone inside the home.

Chad Piekarz NV Energy energy consultant Chad Piekarz has been called an energy conservation guru. In preparation for the winter that should be here any day now, Piekarz gives some tips about how to save energy and money.

What are some of the best ways to save energy for this winter?

The best way would just be behavior modification, and that is truly controlling what your thermostat is doing. So installing a seven-day programmable would be phase one of that.

And phase two would be programming it correctly, and that’s keeping it in the 58 to 68 degree range. 68 degrees would be when the house is occupied, and 58 would be when it’s not occupied and at night. Allowing it to get to those peaks and valleys truly does generate substantial savings.

What should people do to their homes that can also help?

Some of it is actually very affordable—things like air sealing, which is caulking around the windows and weather stripping your doors and installing foam gaskets in any of our switch plates on an exterior wall will help prevent the flow of the conditioned air to the outside of the home. And that really helps.

Additionally, you could take a look at insulation levels, both in the attic space and for the duct system. Having those insulated very well

Is insulation something that homes in Reno lack? creates a resistance to heat flow that also can really help reduce those energy bills. …

There are specific levels more important in the attic space. You want to make sure you have deep enough insulation to create what they consider an efficient resistance to heat flow, and that’s anywhere between an R38 and an R39 in our area.

What is an R38 and an R39?

Those R values are truly resistance to heat flow. If you’re looking at it [in] layman’s terms, that would be trying to keep the heat from leaving the home or. In the summer time, that would be keeping the heat from entering the home.

Have you implemented these things at your own home?

Absolutely. I’ve taken every measure that I preach into my own home and saw significant savings. Items like insulation have a big impact on a home and comfort for the people inside the house. That’s really a nice upgrade.

Windows and window coverings can be a little more expensive, but also do provide a pretty

The rest of the story First, while I’d love to dispute the popular claim, that the rollout of the ACA on Oct. 1, 2013, has indeed become Obama’s Katrina, I have to confess that any kind of refutation on my part is simply not worth the breath, because it all comes back to a very obvious point. How the hell could anybody in the Obama administration in August or September look the president in the face and say, “We’re ready to roll, sir”? In light of what we now know, in light of the staggering unreadiness that was about to make itself glaringly obvious on a national and worldwide stage, how could anyone in Barack’s inner circle, whether it be Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Secretary of Health Kathleen Sibelius, or any of a dozen other insiders, look at Obama as Oct. 1 approached and say, “It’s a go, Mr. President”? How in the hell could this happen? You people didn’t know that you were about to piss all over your loafers?

In light of this massive blooper, the realities that seem to now dominate the performance of the federal government since the beginning of OPINION

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FEATURE STORY

∫y Bruce Van Dye

the new millennium are, you might say, a tad underwhelming. Basically, what we seem to specialize in these days is high level incompetence combined with extremely poor judgment.

By supporting Mr. Obama in ’08 and ’12, I thought, at the very least, I was striking a blow for the return of some kind of D.C. competence. That faith has, in the last few months, taken a fairly substantial nightstick to the noggin.

But to be journalistically fair, there’s the flip side of the coin, and it’s just as real as the bummers and missteps. So don’t have too good of a time cavorting gaily on that carousel of schadenfreude, Republican cretins.

Because there is this: One of the best things that happened to me in 2013 occurred on the day I got my letter of dismissal from Anthem/Blue Cross. I kid you not. I understand that many Americans may truly want to hang on to their current health plans. Good luck to you. All I want to say, though, is THANK GOD ANTHEM DUMPED ME! Those guys have been, |

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Yeah. If you look at code insulation ... our area in the attic space is rated at an R30, which is 10 inches of insulation, which is actually not deemed efficient in our particular climate zone. So there’s always upgrades necessary, even in new homes. And efficiency codes even 10 years ago were drastically different than what we see today. If you start looking at homes that were built in the early 1900s, you can see massive pitfalls of inefficiency. And there’s a lot of really simple things that people can do for their homes that kind of get overlooked, like tuning up your HVAC system—the heating ventilation air conditioning system. Specifically in this time of year, you want to focus on your furnace and make sure the preventative maintenance has been done by a professional licensed contractor. That generates anywhere up to a 5 percent efficiency increase for just the heating system. And making sure that the filters are changed. We live in a pretty dusty area, so it’s important to make sure that that return air filter isn’t completely clogged full of debris and that it’s allowing air to pass through it effortlessly. Ω

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for the last few years, bending me over and schtupping me lube-free. I had to buck up, suck up and take it. I had no alternative. Guys like me, with pre-existing conditions, had zero choice.

Now, with the ACA in place, I can shop. I’m back in the market. When I visited my health insurance broker, here’s what I found, to my very pleasant surprise: (1) The Nevada health exchange is very together. It’s the opposite of the national website mess. Yay for us! (2) My monthly health insurance plan through the Nevada exchange is going to be just fine. And my monthly bill will be reduced by 85 percent. You heard me.

That ain’t no typo. 85 percent!

So before you pee in your pants about your precious plan being canceled, before you assume that Obama is the Hitler of Health, or any other hysterical horseshit, give the new scene a shot. You just may be impressed. And delighted. Ω FOODFINDS

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Y O U R B U S I N E S S T H R O U G H T H E

EYES OF A CHILD On December 19th, kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows will become published writers and designers in the RN&R’s 17th Annual K I D S N E W S & R E V I E W !

This is an opportunity for children to develop their writing and artistic abilities, as the issue contains stories and ads written and designed by kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows. 20% of your ad purchase also goes directly to the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, to help support their many programs and activities.

This award-winning supplement has received honors as “Best Special Issue” five times in the 2002, 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Nevada Press Association’s Better Newspaper Awards.

“ Absolutely delightful! An outstanding idea and very well executed. The very best kind of project - good for the newspaper, good for the community and good for the agency.”

– Judge’s comments, nevada Press association Better newsPaPer awards, 2012

The R N & R K I D ’ S N E W S & R E V I E W is the perfect way for you to reach potential customers and show support for the community. The experience of being published is incredible for the kids and a promotional opportunity for your business.

issue date: thursday, december 19, 2013 advertising deadline: wednesday, december 5, 2013 Contact your Account Executive today at (775) 324-4440!

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