Feb. 27, 2014

Letters ........................... 3 Opinion/streetalk ........... 5 sheila Leslie ................... 6 Brendan Trainor............. 7 News ............................. 8 Green ........................... 11 Feature ........................ 12 Arts&culture ............... 16 Art of the state ............ 19

Foodfinds .................... 20 Film............................. 22 musicbeat ................... 23 Nightclubs/casinos ...... 24 This Week ....................27 Advice Goddess ........ 28 Free Will Astrology ...... 30 15 minutes .................... 31 Bruce Van Dyke ........... 31

BoB and weave

See Left Foot Forward, page 6.

Democrats struggle for viable canDiDates See News, page 8.

Grimm picks The oscars See Arts&Culture, page 16.

GaMeS PEOPLE PLAY

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Send letters to renoletters@newsreview.com

First encounter

Monoculture clash

The editor headlined it

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I should talk a bit about the cover story since we haven’t done an investigative series in quite some time. Any questions about how this thing started or my motives for doing it can be found on fatalencounters.org.

I started working on it a year and a half ago or so, sort of as a personal project, although, the lines separating Brian Burghart private citizen and Brian Burghart student and Brian Burghart dad and Brian Burghart editor/publisher of the Reno News & Review are non-existent. I know what psychologists say about dividing job from fun, but I just have one life, and I like to live it my way all the time.

So, by way of disclosure, I designed the website, I did the spreadsheets, I created the forms, I did basically everything on the website with the exception of two databases, the list of the country’s state and local law enforcement agencies and the comparative database that Shelby DeNike of Sd3Labs did for me. News & Review knew I was doing the site for some purpose, but it wasn’t until publication of this first story that it became a joint effort.

I can tell you my girlfriend, Kelly Scott, the executive editor over at the Reno GazetteJournal, has been disturbed many times when she wakes up at 4 a.m. and sees me working on the laptop. “What are you doing?” she’ll ask. “Washing the car.” But if you’re looking for transparency, that’s why I didn’t interview anyone currently working over at the Gazette, even though I mildly criticize them. Hopefully, I offset that with the lawyer and Frank Mullen interviews.

Finally, with regard to motives, I only have one: I think the information about who gets killed by government representatives needs to be public. Having this information available to law enforcement on a detailed national level will allow police to create strategies by which they can react with better understanding to dangerous situations to better protect themselves and kill fewer people. This isn’t “gotcha” journalism, it’s public journalism.

Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): There are many reasons for supporting organic and sustainable farming. The main reason I am concerned about transgenic foods, and Monsanto’s monopolistic hold on our food production, is diversity. The value of diversity cannot be overstated.

Diversity is our safety net for survival, without a variety of choices to cull from; we risk the chance that our monoculture farms can fail from one simple miscalculation or accident.

A single insect, fungus, virus or significant weather pattern could wipe out an entire crop. Massive die-offs of plants and animals are becoming more common as we narrow our cultivation choices. Diversity in farming hedges our bets, and keeps our options at hand.

A fantastic book by Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, discusses how dangerous the massive loss of natural diversity truly is, and why we would be smarter to remain diversified.

Diversity is worth more to the human race than the profits of any one industry, or particular company.

Second, Dennis Myers falsely conflates the term “science” with transgenic food development. Not all science must be equally accepted and condoned. I can be against chemical warfare without being against “chemistry.” I can be against nuclear war without being against “physics,” and I can be against illegal organ trafficking without being against “medicine.” I can be against many of the ways in which scientific knowledge is used, without being against “science.” That is why I found the cover of the RN&R offensive last week. The concern about transgenic foods crosses political boundaries. There is no “Liberal War on Science”—just concerned consumers.

No one has even asked for transgenic foods to be banned, just labeled.

We aren’t crazy or stupid because we don’t trust Monsanto—yet that is exactly what Dennis Myers infers.

Andrea Juillerat-Olvera Reno

Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): This article is an example of a journalist trying to push buttons. The word “Lie” is used here to incite. In addition, this journalist is attempting to present an issue as political that isn’t. Myers didn’t bother to explain genetically modified organisms (GMO) and the processes in which they are made, but instead chose to confuse the reader with an unfamiliar word like “transgenic” and stating that GMO and natural breeding are the same.

Genetic engineering is completely different than natural breeding and entails different risks. The genetic engineering and associated tissue culture processes are imprecise and highly mutagenic, leading to unpredictable changes in DNA, proteins and biochemical composition that can lead to unexpected toxic or allergic effects and nutritional disturbances. The article goes on to say GMO food is safe, based on the idea that we all eat it, and nobody has died from it. Studies that claim safety for GMO crops are more likely to be industry-linked and therefore biased. In-depth journalism would reveal the many cases where people and animals have been harmed

by GMO crops. He also marginalized the fact that organic food is lower in pesticides. Well, that’s the point of organic, to reduce pesticide exposure.

People who watch what they eat want to know what’s in their food. Maybe the next article could be about this question: If Monsanto and the Grocers Association are so proud of GMO then why are they spending millions of dollars to avoid labeling it? Or maybe consider why 50 countries around the world have banned GMO food.

Tom Stewart Reno

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.

Just label the stuff Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): I found this article extremely biased and confusing, rather than informative and representative of the whole issue.

There are so many blatant falsities in this article, I can’t help but question

Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Staff writer Sage Leehey Contributors Amy Alkon, Woody Barlettani, Laura Davis, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Brendan Trainor, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young

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 Manager/Ad Coordinator Karen Brooke Executive Assistant/Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker

—D. Brian Burghart

brian b@ n ewsreview . com

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the author’s motives in writing it. The large food corporations have spent a lot of time and money to keep the public from knowing the truth about GMO or “transgenic” foods. Companies like Monsanto have threatened the research and careers of those scientists whose research suggests that there may be health risks associated with GMO consumption. If genetically modified products were, in fact, not only safe but actually better for consumers than organically grown foods, why would there be so much resistance to labeling them? After all, many of those who advocate organics simply want foods containing genetically modified ingredients to be labeled so that everyone can make an informed decision about what they are consuming. I was disappointed to find this article published in the RN&R. Michelle Glenn Reno

Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): We are a nonpartisan, memberowned organization dedicated to meeting the needs of our membership by promoting our local food system.

We were disappointed with the journalistic integrity of “The Organic Lie.” The article contains several fallacies, unchecked research, and broad sweeping generalizations. We would like to clarify that our local small organic and non-organic farmers are very different from any type of large industrial organic or conventional farming operation. We welcome anyone able and willing to come into our store and find educational materials and resources.

We ask for transparency from food manufacturers and from ourselves so that our community can make informed decisions. We urge you to revisit the mission statement of the RN&R and realize what it means to “To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live.” Please support our local food producers who bring nourishment to our plates, create more food security within our state and boost economic value throughout. Visit our website for resources, definitions, a list of high-risk crops, and more at www.greatbasinfood.coop.

Nicole Sallaberry Great Basin Community Food Cooperative Reno

Anti-GMO is pro-science Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): My first thought on reading Dennis Myers’ article was a point-by-point refutation of each of his erroneous assertions. On second thought, why bother? The portrayal of those who reject the GMO experiment as somehow anti-science is patently false.

Is it too much to ask that we question the responsibility of those who are manipulating the genes of our food?

Should we as consumers take for granted the noble goals of the likes of biotechnology given their lineage as makers of poisons since the 1940s?

The FDA requires no human testing of genetically modified organisms prior to them being made available to the marketplace. Folks who support biotech’s GMO efforts should take note of their ulterior motives for developing herbicide and pesticide resistant strains —selling herbicides and pesticides. If Myers and Professor Cramer are so keen on the fruits and vegetables from Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta et al, then I wish them best of luck metabolizing the Roundup 2-4,d and Bt toxin that is part of the biotech food project.

John Davidson Verdi Distribution Manager Valerie Mets Distribution Drivers Trevor Bexon, Sandra Chhina, Ron Large, Joe Medeiros, Andy Odegard, Jesse Pike, Martin Troye, Warren Tucker, Matthew Veach, Gary White, Joseph 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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Ask a scientist Re “The organic food lie” (Feature story, Feb. 13): Dennis Myers’ article conflates the concept of organic foods grown without hormones, antibiotics and pesticides with the completely separate issue of genetically modified foods.

The big issue I have with genetically modified plant foods is that Monsanto in particular has repeatedly used legal harassment to enforce a monoculture in areas contaminated by its products’ pollen.

Peter Johnson Reno

Business Nicole Jackson, Tami Sandoval Systems Manager Jonathan Schultz Systems Support Specialist Joe Kakacek Web Developer/Support Specialist John Bisignano 708 North Center Street Reno, NV 89501 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds & Talking Personals to N&R Classifieds, Reno Edition, 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 or email classifieds@ newsreview.com

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Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available.

Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form.

Cover design: Brian Breneman Cover illustration: Jonathan Buck

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

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February 27, 2014

by Dennis Myers

This Modern World

by tom tomorrow

Would you consider running for mayor?

Asked around downtown Reno Kaitlyn Murphy Waitress

I don’t feel I would have the right credentials at the moment to be mayor.

I don’t know enough about politics in the city.

Jim Bell Business owner

I don’t think I would work for that. If I had the support for that, I would run.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s a lot of things that need addressing. But I’m a small frog in a big pond.

David Calkins Business owner

Let’s get basic Until the recent dispute over the overlap between city councilmember duties and mayoral duties, it’s doubtful that many Reno residents knew that the city charter says that the mayor “[s]hall not have any administrative duties.”

If any voters now feel misled, they should. If a city has a mayor, the title should not be deceptive, and the person in the post should be more than a mere figurehead, even when—as in the case of Mayor Bob Cashell—his personal skills overcome that assigned impotence.

The ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court that the mayor is just another member of the council gives the community an opportunity to come to grips with the role of its municipal governments, and it should go beyond simply giving the mayor some duties. Let’s look at basic, fundamental changes. Reno government is a product of a half-century of evolution, a patchwork of this change and that reform. In the case of the mayor, the city has gone from a strong mayor to a weak mayor appointed by the City Council to a weak mayor elected by the public. This is no way to create government.

The community—that’s the community as a whole, not just reformers or not just businesspeople—should consider two changes: Making the mayor and the councilmembers full-time jobs and getting rid of the city manager post. At the moment, the person who runs the city is accountable not to voters but to the Council.

Municipal government—and that includes the county commission, and Sparks Council and mayor—have become in this valley focuses of power where accountability is dissipated and difficult to achieve. Bureaucracies like the Regional Transportation Commission, the Airport Authority, and the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors OPINION

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I operate my business as a political free zone, so my willingness to be mayor is pretty small. I am just a person who is as involved as I want to be but not so involved that I could take public office.

Authority operate with few or no elected members, out of the flow of accountability. If say, RSCVA screws up, the voter’s ability is limited by the fact that only one or two members of that voter’s municipal government sit on the RSCVA board, which is usually made up mostly of flaks and casinos execs. As the RSCVA evolved from a body concerned with improving quality of life in the valley to a body concerned with keeping the casino industry happy, what could the voters do?

Some believe that those outlying agencies with their nebulous and unaccountable board memberships are necessary because local governments will not consolidate.

Nonsense. Making our governing bodies full time, and then staffing the board of those outlying agencies entirely with elected, accountable officials from the three governments will cut the influence of PR agencies/lobbyists and the casinos and put local governments back in charge of their own houses. It would not only empower those governments, it would empower the voters. If Reno’s mayor instead of a city manager runs the city, the voters will have a better handle on how to control their own lives. If the membership of the board of Airport Authority is no longer shielded from the voters, that board will be better for it. For instance, if elected officials had held down those AA seats, the 1970s decision not to move the airport to Stead or Fernley and open up the Truckee Meadows might not have been made, and sprawl into those two regions could well have been prevented.

For decades, at every level of government, the voters have been shut out, as though election and democracy are undesirable elements of our society. Numerous posts that were once elective no longer are. It’s time to look at reinstating democracy in local government. Ω |

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Judy Jackson Business owner

Actually, yes I would, because Reno has so much potential, and having been raised in Las Vegas when it was growing up, I’d like to see Reno to continue to grow up.

Kim Oates Court clerk

No, because I love what I do. I work for a district court, and I love it. I don’t like the whole high profile aspect. I’m perfectly content with remaining in the background.

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Somebody to love Just when progressives were looking forward to the end of the era of Reno Mayor Bob Cashell’s good-old-boy elected endeavors, the mayor made a sharp turn towards the left this month, coming out publicly in support of marriage equality and access to medical marijuana. by Since both of these policy Sheila Leslie changes will no doubt bring economic benefits to the city of Reno, perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised. But the mayor’s about face seems to have to do more with his humanity than any pro-business sentiment.

Like many politicians, but especially like Republicans on these two issues, the mayor’s change of heart can be traced to his personal experience, since he has a gay relative and a family member who has used marijuana to treat a serious medical condition.

Nevertheless, the mayor has a long history of supporting human rights. It’s worth remembering that he was the political force behind completing the homeless shelter,

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actively lobbying the Legislature for matching funds. He also supported the creation of the Triage Center, a place where law enforcement can take people who are suffering from mental illness and/or substance abuse, rather than dumping them at the jail.

Newer Nevada transplants may not realize that Cashell wasn’t always a Republican. He changed party registration in 1983, less than a year after being elected lieutenant governor as a Democrat, when he felt the party was becoming too antibusiness and too liberal. He wasn’t alone in switching parties during the wave of President Reagan’s popularity, but he has since mentioned to some, including me, that it’s a decision he perhaps made in haste.

After being courted at various times to run for governor, Cashell decided to set his sights on becoming mayor of the Biggest Little City, a position he has held now since 2002.

He is often credited with bringing civility back to the City Council, actively recruiting and supporting

candidates who were committed to working together on the city’s problems. All too often, however, that translated into something of a “group think” process lacking rigorous review. Poor financial decisions were made, benefiting the private sector while leaving the citizens hundreds of millions of dollars in debt with many thinking there’s not much to show for it.

But still, it’s hard to dislike Mayor Bob. He’s frequently seen around town, attending charity events, political activities of both parties, and at St. Mary’s health center, where he seems to spend more time talking than working out. He’s very approachable and people like to give him their views on city matters wherever he goes. He seems to thrive on the attention his booming Texas drawl attracts.

Cashell is also prone to the grand gesture, once crawling into my legislative office, literally on his knees, to beg forgiveness for incredibly rude and hostile behavior by one of “his”

City Council members. Like most politicians, though, he has a thin skin and doesn’t forget a slight or someone who double-crosses him. He can be as petulant as the next guy, with a quick temper to match.

The mayor’s legacy is certainly enhanced by his public and sincere statements of support for access to medical marijuana and marriage equality, delivered in the direct and plain language Nevada voters prefer.

And there’s no telling how many others he will sway, as one of Reno’s most popular opinion leaders.

He is eminently quotable, explaining his views on marijuana to the Reno Gazette-Journal by declaring: “I’m for medical marijuana.

“I’m not for smoking pot out on the street and all that crap.”

And he boiled down the marriage equality debate to its essence when he told reporters, “For somebody who has been married 49 years, I can’t imagine someone telling me I couldn’t marry the person I love.” Ω

Here’s “Kaya,” a song by another legendary Bob, who—unlike Mayor Bob—was not an original investor in this newspaper: http:// youtu.be/7JUm_ Y0R6Og.

Let’s be honest, Abe The Lincoln’s Day Dinner is the end of spring training and the start of the regular season for Republican candidates in Washoe County. They come to work the room.

“It’s hard work,” one candidate admits ruefully to me.

Nevada in many ways is most by Brendan libertarian of all the libertarian West, Trainor because we have, after all, legal gambling and prostitution, no state income tax, shall-issue concealed carry laws, medical marijuana, and a resurgent Sagebrush Rebellion.

Libertarians believe in the nonaggression principle (NAP). Unlike liberals and conservatives, we do not believe anyone, including the government, can morally initiate force to achieve goals. We believe in a state, if it exists at all, that is dedicated to preserving liberty by protecting private property. We hold a Lockean political philosophy, in which individuals have the right to acquire and dispose of property.

Property, first of all, is in the self. It is fundamental to liberty that every individual enjoys the ownership

of his/her body and self. Classical liberalism is centered around individuation, which is the striving of everyone to reach, through peaceful life experiences, their full flowering of personality and free will without arbitrary interference from the state.

The Republican Party professes belief in limited government.

Buoyed by the Obamacare disaster, Republicans hope to take back the Senate in 2014 and full control of the federal government in 2016.

Because of the Paul family, Ron and Rand, Republicans are compelled to work with libertarians who have their own power base for the first time since William F. Buckley purged us for insufficient enthusiasm for the Cold War. Both the Republican and Democratic parties are bleeding membership to the Independent label. Republicans need libertarians to win elections in crucial races. Libertarians are an important swing vote, more powerful than soccer moms. We have demonstrated now that we can be elected to Congress on a liberty platform.

The Libertarian Party is credited with spoiling Republican races. We have voted Democratic or just stayed home when the Republicans fail miserably to nominate candidates that have libertarian appeal.

Twenty percent of Americans identify as Libertarian in polls, about 10 percent very Libertarian. The business establishment, the military, police, legions of defense contractors, and the evangelical religious right hold sway in the Republican Party. The arch enemy of libertarians however, are the neocons.

The neocons began as Trotskyite communists. The communists who call themselves conservatives have simply replaced an ideology of universal communist revolution with “benevolent American hegemony,” i.e. imposing compliant democracies at gunpoint. Put differently, Empire American style.

There are certain litmus tests for libertarians to remain Republicans.

The War on the World and the War on Drugs have got to be open to reasonable debate regarding a

cessation. We have to see a serious commitment to cutting government spending. Federalism should be consistently applied to social and economic problems. We have to see an honest effort to reform defense and buttress the Fourth Amendment. The criminal justice system is bloated and unfair.

Immigration reforms should not lead to more big government. At least some Republicans should support legislation to repeal Nevada’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Let’s get serious about privatization.

On the Saturday after the Lincoln Dinner, the Nevada Republican State Central Committee denied activist Pat Kerby the state party organization’s chairmanship, presumably because he helped Nevada cast its votes for Ron Paul at the 2012 National Convention. If Washoe County and Nevada are going to be red in 2014, the Nevada Republican Party must offer libertarians enough that will excite them to turn out and vote Republican, and do the same in 2016. Ω

Ever visited the Libertarian Party website? The more you know:

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CALL Governor’s office 775-684-5670

BUY a “SAV-UM” license at NoBearHuntNV.org OPINION

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Photo/Dennis Myers

Local resident Ellen Pillard registered to attend her precinct’s meeting at Wooster High.

New chance job fair A job fair for former prison inmates will be held March 26 at Baldini’s Casino at Rock Boulevard and Glendale Avenue in Sparks.

Prison alums who want help in preparing for the job fair can attend a prep session at the Mount Community Center at the corner of Highland Avenue and Valley Road on March 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Matters that will be dealt with in the prep sessions include “application etiquette, dress[ing] for success, job readiness, financial education, creat[ing] a resume, and doing mock interviews.”

The events are sponsored by the Statewide Prisoner Reentry Coalition, composed of the Washoe Sheriff’s Office, Ridge House, the Nevada Department of Corrections, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and other intimidating agencies.

New angles An initiative petition filed by former U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle seeks to shut down Nevada’s office that administers the federal health care program and turn Nevada enrollment over to the federal government. The petition has been filed with the secretary of state’s office in Carson City. It would amend the Nevada Constitution to accomplish the change.

The decision for Nevada to have a state-run office was made by the 2011 Nevada Legislature, and was supported by Gov. Brian Sandoval. Keeping some local control has been described as an advantage to the state. “I felt it was prudent and in Nevada’s best interest to have a state-run exchange,” said Sandoval in November.

Angle must gather 101,000 signatures by June 17 to qualify the measure for the ballot. It would face first round voting in 2014. If it passes, it would appear on the ballot again in 2016.

Angle is also circulating a second petition to impose identification requirements on Nevada voters. This petition, too, would amend the state constitution rather than writing a statute.

After Yucca With the proposed Nevada dump for high level nuclear wastes at Yucca Mountain defunct, federal planning attention is turning to other ways of storing power plant and nuclear bomb waste, with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M., becoming a principal candidate. Although it is a nuclear dump, storage of nuclear fuel has been prohibited at the site up to now. But wastes from Los Alamos National Laboratory—including plutonium—are being stored in salt beds there, and the site is now being scrutinized seriously to replace Yucca.

Built in the late 20th century, WIPP is one of three deep geological repositories in the world. It was constructed over the furious objections of New Mexicans, but now that it is in place residents are invested in the jobs it provides, and some local leaders there are backing an expansion plan.

The New York Times reported, “Some people despair of finding a place for what officials call a high-level nuclear ’repository’ (they shy away from “dump”) but Allison M. Macfarlane, a geologist who is chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and who served on a presidential study commission established after the Yucca plan was canceled, said WIPP proves it can be done.”

The Salado potassium salt formation at the site is about 2,400 feet thick. In 2011, Nuclear Engineering International magazine reported that the formation “is equally suited” with Yucca Mountain “in terms of geology, hydrogeology, and physical, chemical and radiological interactions” with commercial and military spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste from power plants. It also said, however, that a separate “disposal facility would be required to be constructed to accommodate the diversity” of waste forms.

—Dennis Myers

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Shaking out Grass roots Democrats maneuver between court ruling and filing period This should be a time when Nevada Democrats are feeling upbeat.

The party controls four of the six by state offices elected statewide, majoriDennis Myers ties in both houses of the Nevada Legislature, two of the state’s U.S. House seats, and holds one of the two U.S. Senate seats—and that one is held by the Senate Democratic floor leader, Harry Reid.

“There are plenty of issues and candidates to pull Democrats.”

Richard “Skip” Daly state legislator

For a list of offices up for election in Washoe County this year, go to www.washoecounty.us/ voters/14officesup.html. the filing deadline is March 14.

Even more important, political analysts say the state’s demographics are moving the party’s way, as evidenced by state wins in the last two presidential elections.

But last weekend at Wooster High School, where the biennial Democratic precinct meetings were being held that start party organization activities in election years, the mood was not all that positive. Enthusiasm for the coming year was muted.

Particularly troubling is the party’s failure to put a well known name at the top of the ticket. Taking a pass on the governor’s race would be a significant admission of failure.

Top spot At the entrance, participants registered their names and addresses to identify their precincts. At an adjoining table, several volunteer sign-up sheets were lined up for local campaigns. On a rack as participants entered, there were free spots bottles and signed editions of John Dean’s book Blind Ambition. (The Watergate conspirator spoke at a fund raising dinner for the Washoe Democrats in 2009 and signed a batch of books for them, most of which were later sold.)

At a table for the Young Democrats at the University of Nevada, Reno, large piles of pastries were ready on this Saturday morning for those who had not yet had breakfast.

In presidential years, these meetings are called caucuses. That’s a generic term. The real name, specified

by Nevada Revised Statute 293.135, is precinct meetings. They are held in every election year and are the way of starting a process rolling—the selection of delegates to political conventions. Both parties hold them—the Republicans met on Feb. 8. Most if not all of those who showed up at Wooster will be able to attend the Washoe County Democratic Convention, and the bulk of them will be able to go on to the Nevada Democratic Convention.

(In presidential years, a select few attend the national nominating convention.)

The meetings also serve other purposes. Old allies reunite.

Volunteers are recruited by candidates.

Activists push issues for inclusion in the party platform. And people fret.

This event was buzzing with reports of a comment in Carson City last week

by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic floor leader. Its meaning depended on who did the telling, but generally it was taken to mean that Reid had a candidate for governor ready to run.

“I think it will be a respectable Democrat and someone that people know,” Reid said, adding that he was “still working on it.”

Reid, who has sometimes been a domineering presence in the party organization, may have put himself in a difficult position in guaranteeing such a candidate. Filing for office would open just nine days after these precinct meetings and will last only 10 days. A candidate for governor should already have a campaign assembled and in the field. Incumbent Republican candidate Brian Sandoval has spent much of his term of office raising money for this reelection campaign and had his campaign paid for a year ago.

There were those at this event who—anticipating that there will be no strong candidate for governor—minimized its importance.

“I think there are plenty of other issues and candidates to pull Democrats out to the polls,” said Assemblymember Richard Daly.

But former Sparks city councilmember Cecelia Colling, who was on the governor’s staff under Gov. Bob Miller, said not having a strong candidate at the top would hurt. “I think it’s very said because we don’t really have a choice at this point,” she said. “It’s being made by people who give the money.”

Sen. Debbie Smith was fatalistic.

“I just think it is what it is,” she said.

“You know, there are just some years when you don’t have people in the right place at the right time. … We’re going to focus on expanding our [legislative] majority and not worry about what we can’t control.”

There was one candidate for governor at the precinct meetings— casino worker Chris Hyepock. And a day earlier, physician Stephen Frye, who helped get medical marijuana through the legislature, jumped into the race because, he said, Sandoval has kept the state “last in just about everything.” But the Democrats said they need a major contender.

The Democrats at Wooster tried to parse Reid’s statement. What did it mean, exactly? Respectable and known don’t exactly say winner. Is he saying

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Photo/Dennis Myers

County Commissioner Kitty Jung was surrounded by local supporters as she mulled pressure to run for mayor.

college tuition • action and adventure • career training he has a competitive candidate—or a sacrificial lamb?

Local issues Then there’s the mayor’s race, which opened up suddenly when the Nevada Supreme Court ruled—two days before the precinct meetings—that mayor and city councilmember are effectively the same office, meaning term limits for one apply to both posts. The ruling ejected the leading candidates from the mayor’s race.

That race doesn’t have the same political import as the governor’s race to county Democrats, not least because it is technically a non-partisan race. But both county major parties take a strong interest in local issues, and precinct meetings are the grass roots level.

“I think we have a lot of work to do in taking care of downtown Reno and making sure it starts to thrive,”

Colling said. “Start providing jobs for people in Reno and making sure that they’re in a safe environment.”

Chatter about who may now run was everywhere. City Councilmember Jenny Brekhus, a favorite with this crowd, had taken herself out of the

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mayor’s race as soon as the court ruling came down. But County Commissioner Kitty Jung did not.

“I didn’t say no,” she said. “I’m getting a lot of pressure” to run.

Jung, appointed to fill a vacancy on the commission and then elected to a full term in her own right, would have to choose between running for reelection to the county commission

On the job Photo/Dennis Myers

City workers Fred Decker and John Baker tried last week to correct a Sierra Street digital speed limit reader that was telling passing drivers they were exceeding the speed limit when they were not. The reader was flashing a warning at any drivers exceeding 25 though, in fact, the speed limit along this stretch is 30.

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Urban Roots wants to get kids excited about science by teaching it through a handson Farm Camp. The organization has done Farm Camps for the last three years, but this is the first year they will offer it during the weeks of by Sage Leehey Washoe County School District’s spring break.

The camps last a week and are available for children ages 5 to 12. The sage l@ first week from March 31 to April 4 is titled Birds, Bugs and Butterflies, newsreview.c om and the second week—April 7 to 11—is Spring Showers and Flowers.

The camp runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $150 per week. For busier parents or kids that want more time at Urban Roots, you can pay an additional $25 per week to extend those hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Most of the camp will be outside, but Urban Roots is renovating a recently vacated bar that serves as an indoor classroom if the weather doesn’t allow outdoor activities.

Activities vary throughout the week, but they typically do farm chores when they arrive in the morning, like care for the chickens and rabbit and seasonal planting or gardening. Later in the day, the children do more activities related to the theme of the week, like learning about the critters that live around the farm during the first week or flowers that are in bloom the second week.

“We’ll be doing some planting and mulching and those kind of things,” Daniel said. “We do a lot of pollination stuff in the spring and learn about how plants grow and what they’re going through in the spring, so a lot of science experiments and running around games to demonstrate that stuff.”

Daniel said that it’s important for kids to understand how their food gets to their tables and to show them some real-life applications of science in ways they can enjoy.

“The overall purpose of all of our Farm Camp programs is to help connect kids to where their food comes from in a fun way,” Daniel said.

“We’re really this year trying to focus on science education and using STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] and the new Next For more information Generation Science Standards to show kids how fun science can be.” about the spring break To further that connection between the campers and their food, part of Farm Camp and to each day will be spent making tasty snacks from the garden. register, visit “Every afternoon we make the afternoon snack together, so they urgc.org/#!camps/c15jo. really can see how things from the garden go from the farm to the table and how you can make healthy treats out of things you can grow here in northern Nevada,” Daniel said.

The camps have risen in popularity since they began. Daniel said they have a pretty strong base group of kids that come out to most or all of their camps and events. Urban Roots is working to expand that group, though, and Daniel said the group of people interested is growing because she sees more people doing small scale farming and gardening at their own homes.

Farm Camp is offered during every summer as well. Registration is already open. There will be eight weeks of camps from June 16 to Aug. 8, and each is open for ages 5 to 12 this year. Ω

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RN&R begins a six-part series looking at the use of deadly force by police in Northern Nevada and beyond

T

he pain 18-year-old Brittnie Andrews suffered on October 13 is beyond understanding. In the space of a few seconds, she saw her mother shoot her sister, then—a heartbeat later— watched Sparks Police Department officers mortally wound her mother, Monica Ritchey.

“I heard a gunshot, and I saw my sister [Darcie Latham] fall, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, she just killed her,’” the young but decidedly forthright woman said. “And then the cops started to walk forward, and I heard shots. They were shooting my mom. Then I heard, ‘Keep your guns on her,’ and I realized there was a second set of cops on the other side of my mom. … After they had shot my mom, I heard them saying, ‘Keep the guns on her, her hand’s moving.’”

Sparks Police officer Kim Hodge and other officers loaded Latham and Andrews into Hodge’s cruiser. “And that was it,” said Andrews. “We went around the corner and waited for an ambulance.”

BY D. BRIAN BURGHART brianb@newsreview.com ILLUSTRATIONS BY JONATHAN BUCK

12 | RN&R |

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

remaining requested documents.

PaPers, Please Sometimes, it appears their decisions With regard to the release of informaare arbitrary or designed to protect tion about people who are killed by government from embarrassment or police, Reno, Sparks, Washoe County legal consequences. Sometimes it’s Sheriff’s Office and the Washoe just because they find the information County District Attorney, have It was a crime scene of the sort to a crucial fact, the “who” of the five “distasteful.” That’s why taxpayerinconsistent practices of keeping and that makes news producers and editors W’s and an H, they just … forgot. funded lawyers are needed for the releasing records. Around the turn of drool—police and perps with guns No thoughtful follow-up to the rush simple task of copying and handing the year, the Reno News & Review blazing, a family in distress, blood in to report the breaking news. It’s not over documents to journalists. After sent the agencies public records the street and sudden death in quiet like the RN&R reported it, either. And all, even though the 1993 legislature requests that said in part: suburbia. The only problem was that to make the omission all the more passed a law providing for an award “[The RN&R is] requesting copies the local news media was asleep at the inevitable, the police agencies themof attorneys’ fees to people who of reports that show details regarding press, and apparently nobody—not the selves don’t release this information successfully sue the government for incidents of fatal encounters with law newspapers, not the television news in a meaningful way through publicly records, who can afford the upfront enforcement in the state of Nevada, stations, not the radio stations, not available or archived announcements. costs of suing City Hall? particularly Washoe County, between the all-seeing internet—got this story It’s not censorship. It’s not a “news Well, the Reno Gazette-Journal Jan. 1, 2000 and today’s date. … right. They didn’t even bother to find blackout.” It’s just an antiquated can. It’s owned by the nation’s largest The specific information [we’re] out or to report the victim’s names. method for the dissemination of newspaper corporation, Gannett. The looking for includes: decedent’s Here’s KOLO TV’s story. It’s only important information by government corporation’s deep pockets has put the name; age; gender; race; date of remarkable by the volume of inacto the people.

Gazette-Journal at the state’s forefront death (month/day/year); location of curate information reported that was If the news media truly has a role in for media lawsuits for public access to death (address, city, state, zip code, never corrected: http://bit.ly/1mbUfJI. this country—to keep citizens informed public documents. county); agency(s) responsible for The police report can be read at http:// of government Scott Glogovac death; cause of death (e.g. gunshot, bit.ly/Npjegh. actions in order that has been the vehicle, Taser); a brief description Ritchey suffered from severe they can participate principal attorney of the circumstances surrounding the mental illness. In fact, the police were more knowledgeably for the Gazettedeath; official disposition of death called to help because she was suicidal. in the democracy— Journal for some 20 (justified or other); and whether the How law enforcement responds to then one of its most years. He disputes decedent exhibited symptoms of mentally ill people with guns is one basic responsibilities claims by local mental illness.” facet of the complex issue regarding must be to tell people bureaucrats that Each of the jurisdictions responded police use of deadly force in the United when the governthe state’s courts to the request differently, but none States that will be covered in stories ment kills somebody. have increasingly followed the law as written. To be produced throughout the coming year.

However, changes in supported governfair, Sparks Police Department went But because any scrutiny of public government transparment secrecy. In further than the law requires. All policy must begin with the relationency policies that fact, almost every reports in this story can be found in ship between government and its have developed since time the newspaper this folder: http://bit.ly/1jRLHGp. watchdogs, this first article examines the terrorist attacks has gone to court The records request was sent to the breakdown in the communications of Sept. 11, 2001, for the release of Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley between public officials and the media have undermined the public documents, on Dec. 12. A representative of a that causes this community to remain media’s ability to it’s won—if not at different agency, Deputy District ignorant when a peace officer does the gather and dissemithe trial court level, Attorney Mary Kandaras, responded most consequential thing one can do: nate the news. Sure, then at the Nevada on Jan. 2—Nevada law requires a Kill a person in the line of duty. there was also the Supreme Court. response in five days—writing, “I The findings of this investigation economic collapse “The law is expect to have this information (along can be stated succinctly: In Washoe and the internet effect actually trending with in-custody deaths and any other County, no local agency tracks who that decimated newstoward more openWCSO death encounters) to you next was killed by law enforcement, why room staffs, but the ness both in what week.” On Jan. 14, she received the they were killed, or whether the internet also made the statute says public records request to the district killing was legally justified. While news gathering and and in terms of the attorney and promised the records agencies do internally investigate each information publicajurisprudence of the no later than Jan. 24. On Jan. 30, she other’s incidents of officer-related tion much easier.

Nevada Supreme promised the records by Feb. 5. On shootings, in Nevada, there is no No, the real Court,” he said, Feb. 6, she turned over a total of 18 government board to review policechange is that also mentioning sheriff’s office records dating back related homicides, and the findings government got more that Donrey v.

Frank X. Mullen • Investigative reporter only to 2007, with eight of them produced by an ad-hoc tribunal called secretive, and for Bradshaw is an irrelevant to the request because they the Officer-Involved Shooting Board many bureaucrats, obsolete precedent. didn’t relate to fatalities. No records and its investigative arm are not those reporters who would inform the First Amendment attorneys and “So it’s trending toward more openfrom the sheriff’s forensic lab were public. The district attorney’s office public of government’s day-to-day reporters, though, tell a different ness, most definitely.” produced, except as attached to certain has determined that all incidents since business are considered a threat. story. In intervening years, that Glogovac was reticent to claim of the investigations, despite the fact 2006 when the Board was formed—at balancing act was interpreted and trophies for the wins he’s had for they were specifically requested. least those that were produced—were public openness, but the Public The balancing TesT then reinterpreted as to mean that For the incident documents legally justified. There is no state government lawyers or agencies Employee Retirement System (PERS) between 2000 and 2007, she wrote, In Nevada, public records are ruled review of police-related homicides, were allowed to balance whether data case and the Jim Gibbons cases— “To provide redacted reports dating

by Nevada Revised Statute 239. That and there’s no citizens’ review of the nosy journalists and citizens benefit emails and the concealed weapons back to 2000 will require additional statute essentially says that all records investigations to say any different. by knowing all the facts. While the permit data—set key precedents that use [of] personnel and resources. created by government are to be open Again, the proof of an information Nevada Supreme Court and the required agencies to state reasons It will require at least 6 months of and available to the public, unless breakdown is beyond anecdotal. The Legislature have steadily enhanced for withholding in cases beyond just response time. [http://bit.ly/MlLsaX]” exceptions are specifically written Monica Ritchey incident was not the Nevada’s sunshine laws, at the citing the statute. He is not reticent, No explanation was forthcoming as to into the law. There are reportedly first time police killed someone in this agency level it hasn’t happened. however, to draw a line in the sand. why the first seven years would take around 50 legal exceptions, everything community without media reporting “The balancing test is the worst “When the government agency is six weeks, and the second, six months. from reports of senior citizen abuse the dead person’s name. Another decision that ever came out of an just dead wrong, we fight them.” to reports of child abuse to insurance example took place on Sept. 5, 2011, open-records case,” said local investicommissioner investigations. Many when Greg Larson was shot by Reno gative reporter Frank X. Mullen. of those exceptions seem designed to Police. The media salivated over the Currently, when addressing public protect the guilty from prying eyes. killing and the events surrounding it record requests, government agencies In practice, public records access with almost all the local news outlets often first exclude any exceptions, reporting the gun battle on the night of is dominated by a Nevada Supreme then they decide whether the public continued on page 14 Court decision, Donrey v. Bradshaw, the shooting, but when it came down needs to know the contents of the OPINION | NEWS | GREEN | FEATURE STORY | ARTS&CULTURE | ART OF THE STATE | FOODFINDS | FILM | MUSICBEAT | NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS | THIS WEEK | MISCELLANY | FEBRUARY 27, 2014 | RN&R | 13 http://bit.ly/1bOOJfp. According to the Nevada Press Association, “That case was brought by KOLO-TV in an attempt to open records of a closed criminal investigation of brothel owner Joe Conforte; they succeeded, but they also succeeded in opening a Pandora’s Box which has been interpreted by government bureaucrats as giving them essentially unfettered discretion to deny access to records at whim.”

In Donrey, the Supreme Court created the so-called “balancing test.” The court said that although criminal investigative records were excepted by law, the need for public access could be balanced against the reasons for secrecy. For a good many years, agencies used this court case in the way justices intended, as a way sometimes to open records that were closed by statute.

“The balancing test is the worst decision that ever came out of an open-records case.”

PHOTO BY D. BRIAN BURGHART

Frank Mullen, during his years with the Reno Gazette-Journal, broke some of this state’s biggest document-based news stories.

O

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRITTNIE ANDREWS

n the early afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 13, Monica Ritchey, 45, was depressed. Among other things, she was concerned about a police warrant and the possible loss of spending time with her grandchildren, according to police reports. Her daughter Brittnie Andrews said a lot of things weren’t going right for her and, “She was just done.” She was drinking alcohol and taking prescription medications, which had been prescribed for mental issues like depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Andrews speculates that the PTSD may have originated with the death of a daughter after surgery a few years ago, but she said there were other factors, like a divorce.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, I just want to blow my head off,’” Andrews said. “This was ‘normal’ when she was depressed. She’d call and say these things, and I knew she had guns at the house. … This time I felt like something was really wrong. So I called my sister [Darcie Latham].”

When the daughters entered the home on Woodhaven Lane in Sparks, things were already out of control.

“She was all the way across the room—and she said, ‘Don’t come any closer. If you come any closer, I’m going to blow my head off.”

She fired a .22 caliber pistol into the floor just to show she was serious. The sisters went outside and called 911. By the time police had arrived, Ritchey had switched handguns to a .38.

(Here’s the Sparks Police report: http:// bit.ly/1hc6F1b.)

After police arrived, it was a matter of minutes before Ritchey shot Latham in the hip, and officers returned fire, mortally wounding Ritchey. Latham Brittnie Andrews saw her mother, Monica Ritchey, survived. killed by police on Oct. 13, 2013.

It’s a scenario that has played out more often than most would imagine in the Truckee Meadows. Three out of four people killed by police in Washoe County in 2013 were suffering from mental illness. The issue of police response to mentally ill people will be discussed in-depth later in this series. There’s no question that once the shooting began, police were forced to stop Ritchey—their lives and the lives of others were incontrovertibly in danger. Indeed, when the bullet took Latham down, officers shielded her with their bodies from further fire.

Andrews doesn’t blame the police for her mother’s death: “I kind of have mixed emotions. It sucks. I don’t know; I feel like maybe they could have talked her down, but she had a gun out.”

She is, though, disappointed in the amount of time the investigation has gone on with no word from authorities. Andrews is also direct about why she would talk to a member of the media.

“I don’t like the fact that nobody [in the media] has followed up on it,” she said. “They just pushed it aside. They don’t want anybody to know that [Sparks police] killed somebody.”

The incident remains under investigation by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. Ω

14 | RN&R |

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

continued from page 13 Journalists say it’s a common practice among government offices to delay production of documents far beyond any practical deadlines in order to avoid scrutiny. The attentiondeficient news media simply moves on to the next hot story.

To add insult to injury, the records produced by the district attorney’s office were improperly redacted (info withheld), with specific information about the individuals killed by police removed, including age, race, sex, with only the vaguest support as to why information was withheld. None of the records contained the crucial information as to whether the homicides were considered “justified.”

On Feb. 7, the district attorney reports were sent by email. Peculiarly, there were files referencing only 14 of the 18 fatal shootings by local law enforcement since 2006, when the OIS shooting “protocol” began.

This is because, according to the protocol, bit.ly/1ee5bQC, which is shared among the local agencies, not all officer-involved shootings are investigated. Apparently, no records at all were kept before that.

One of the documents, http://bit. ly/1dZtdDB, page 25—dated July 15, 2011, and signed “Dick”—found legal justification for the fatal shooting of Charles Bishop by RPD on Oct. 28, 2009, even stating the manner of his death: “struck in the right side of his chest with a .223 caliber bullet which resulted in his death.” Other documents, though, like the incident report submitted by the sheriff’s office, don’t support the assertion of fatality, page 57, http://bit.ly/1nYKlds. It’s difficult to imagine how District Attorney Richard Gammick could have read the full report and still written a justification for a fatal shooting, since nobody died.

A call to the Reno Police Department’s record division to verify that the shooting did not end in death

resulted in the information that if it related to an officer-involved shooting, it’s a “locked file.” Gammick was also emailed links to the documents and asked to comment on the discrepency but did not.

City of Reno Deputy City Attorney Mark Dunagan also had issues with production of the documents.

He initially settled on producing a spreadsheet that contained as much information as was easily and “objectively” available. He, too, promised several delivery dates, and he was sardonically concerned that Reno can’t charge for the time spent gathering documents until the Reno City Council comes into line with Nevada law. Still, when it became apparent after more than a month that things like mental state or a brief description of circumstances would require judgment calls on the part of record keepers, he asked that individual cases be requested. It only took two days for the city to supply the additional document requests, but like the sheriff’s office, the city of Reno had no records as to whether the killings were legally justifiable.

And neither did Sparks. City of Sparks Police Chief Brian Allen responded to the Jan. 3 records request on Jan. 5, handing it off to Teresa Wiley, the city’s public records administrator. She responded with 544 pages of redacted police reports on Jan. 30. One item of note: The complete Sparks Police record of the killing of Monica Ritchey— which is currently under investigation by the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office—was made available, although partially redacted as allowed by law. (A nickel a page made a total of $27.20.) It’s a perfect example of how the Donrey “balancing test” was intended to be applied.

Kandaras and Dunagan both pointed out that this was a difficult request to fill. The problem is there

is no file folder tucked away in a cabinet somewhere labeled “People killed by police.” Some may be filed under “Officer-Involved Shooting” or “Bicycle-Vehicle Collision” or even “Strangulation causing death,” but there is no single storage place or easy way to access what’s in another department’s files. Each agency has its own case number filing system.

For example, in Scott Demars’ case, SPD’s is 09-12557, RPD’s is 09-36851, WCSD’s is 09-11444. The “09” is the year.

Add to that the historic change in the medium of record storage, and it’s no surprise that information is so difficult to find, copy and turn over.

Law enforcement has the reputation for being slow to adapt to technological changes, and it has only been in the last 20 years that agencies have more fully embraced digital storage, databases that allow cross referencing, and internet communications.

Despite the fact that agencies never investigate their own uses of deadly force, neither do they keep copies of other agencies’ investigations with their own records—“each governmental agency is responsible only for the maintenance and dissemination of the records it generates,” as Kandaras wrote—and journalists must query every agency in order to get a more complete picture.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s likely an outside review board would have caught the life and death discrepancy in the Bishop matter, and that sometimes, it can be more than two years between the fatality and the district attorney’s determination of legal justification. Sometimes, the investigations take longer; for example, according to Kandaras, one of the documents withheld because the investigation is ongoing was the nonfatal shooting of Chester Ray Hopkins on Sept. 24, 2010—three and a half years ago.

On the grOund One of the most respected names in local journalism, Frank X. Mullen, has been an investigative reporter in Northern Nevada for decades.

Working for the Reno GazetteJournal, he broke and covered some of the biggest investigative projects the community has seen, including the Sierra Army Depot’s burning of toxic materials, the Fallon leukemia cluster, Nevada’s deadliest doctors, and the animal abuse allegations at the University of Nevada, Reno’s farms.

Now he works as a freelancer and an instructor at UNR’s Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism. He’s seen the changes in how agencies respond to public records requests.

Delay tactics, arbitrary redactions, false claims of proprietary information or even “national security” have been used to prevent him getting at documents that, at most, reveal incompetent government practices.

“They follow the letter of the law by acknowledging your request, but then they come up with some lame excuse to delay it, and under NRS 239.010, the lack of staff or people on furlough or whatever—that’s not an excuse to not produce documents,” Mullen said. “What 239 basically says is, the only excuse to not produce a document or to refuse to produce it is if it is already exempted by another statute. That’s all the law says, really. Everything is assumed to be

open unless the law specifically says otherwise.

“All these bullshit excuses are not excuses at all because the law does not allow them. It plainly says if it’s open, you can pick it up during business hours, you can request it, they can charge a reasonable fee. The law is very specific on stuff, but nowhere in it does it say, ‘Oh, just in case somebody is understaffed, they don’t have to produce these in a timely manner.’

And yet that seems to be occurring.

For state agencies, it’s at the bottom of their priority list.”

Some reasons for that are wholly understandable. There is understaffing. There are furlough days.

Employees don’t consider public document research a normal part of their routine. But ultimately, the reason is more prosaic.

“It’s not like they’re proud of this stuff,” Mullen said. “If a journalist is asking for records, chances are that these records in some way will not make whatever agency look good. …

It’s a circle-the-wagons mentality, and I think that it’s gotten to the point that no matter what you ask for, it immediately rings the circle-the-wagons bell.”

And it’s that circle-the-wagons mentality that results in Northern Nevada sometimes not knowing who fell under law enforcement officers’ gunfire. Ω

F

atal Encounters is a project by the Reno News & Review that is intended to run through the end of the year. In this series, we will focus on six specific areas that fall under the umbrella of “When law enforcement kills.”

The six areas planned will be media and government; who gets killed; protocol, training and outcomes; state comparisons; emotional effects on officers; and an examination of the issue on a national level.

Our series is part of a larger, distributed effort by groups as diverse as CopWatch and the National Sheriff’s Association to encourage the U.S. Department of Justice to collect specific information in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. The idea is to collect circumstances of police violence around the country in order to enable law enforcement agencies to make data-based comparisons and to modify policies and procedures to emulate the best practices of other agencies. The UCR is the same place where data relating to the death of police in the line of duty is kept. The collection of this data will also allow citizens to know whether their own local law enforcement agencies are humanely and safely responding to situations in which deadly force may be called for.

For complete spreadsheets, maps and forms, check out our companion site, www.fatalencounters.org.

This series is not about bad cops. Indeed, one thing that has become apparent in researching this series is the insane circumstances under which police must do their jobs. We’ve found nothing so far to indicate that any of the 30 incidents we’ve looked at within Washoe County are anything but “clean.”

This series looks at protocol, with the hope that changes in policy can create better outcomes for both police and citizens.

All documents will be accessible through the Fatal Encounters website, for use by the public, law enforcement and journalists. For specific Nevada incidents, start on the map page and click on the icons.

The site contains tools that allow members of law enforcement, journalists and the public to analyze the data through maps, spreadsheets and a comparative database. It will also allow anyone who chooses to upload data to go to a form that will automatically populate the spreadsheet and the maps, and after verification, the comparative database. Finally, there is a database of all 17,986 state and local law enforcement agencies to enable the public to file their own public records requests, although we’ve pretty much hit up all the Nevada law enforcement agencies. Ω

EE RT R F CE N CO

Youth Orchestra Concert

01. 5Čƫ . $ƫāČƫĂĀāąƫƫƫđƫƫƫĆčăĀƫ Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts

FREE CONCERT SPONSORED BY

The Reno Philharmonic Youth Orchestras and the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra welcome you to the first concert in a two year exchange program. This concert features the best of both orchestras in individual performances, plus an exciting combined finale.

Highlights include Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony and SaintSaëns Piano Concerto No. 2 by soloist Jacob Warnick on the new E. L. Wiegand Grand Piano. Plus a little Gershwin and Stravinsky.

FREE. General admission. Doors open at 5:00 P.M.

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Cherish the Ladies

Thursday, March 6, 2014 / 7:30 p.m. / Nightingale Concert Hall Short of a few U.S. presidents, how many citizens have an avenue named after them in New York City?!

Recently immortalized with a street sign on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, Joanie Madden and her four Irish-American colleagues of Cherish the Ladies have been wowing street namers, audiences and music critics worldwide for 25 years. Their spirited, foot-stomping Celtic concerts garner standing — and dancing — ovations everywhere. “They are the musical equals (some would say betters) of the Chieftains. One of the finest traditional performances I’ve ever attended.” ~ Irish Edition (Philadelphia). www.cherishtheladies.com

2013 14

Tickets: Adult $24/ Senior $20/ Student + Youth $12/ UNR Student $5 A Program of the School of the Arts JNBHJOF t DSFBUF t JOTQJSF

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(775) 784-4ART | Buy tickets online at www.unr.edu/pas FEATURE STORY

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Inside Llewyn Davis contained what I consider the second best performance by an actor in 2013. That performance came from Oscar Isaac, who was not only darkly hilarious throughout the film, but did his own singing and guitar playing as a bleak, negative folk singer. The Coen brothers were also snubbed, and you just don’t snub the Coen brothers when they’ve done their typically excellent work. Not in my universe, you don’t.

Finally, how the hell do you not just hire Steve Martin every year to host? As long as Mr. Martin has blood coursing through his veins, he should be the host of the damned show. Nothing against Ellen DeGeneres, who isn’t all that bad as the host. She’s just not Steve Martin, who I consider the alltime best Oscar host. Yeah, I say it every year. I feel obligated.

So, I’ll talk a little more about the snubs in their particular categories, because I just want to reiterate how right I am and how wrong everybody else is. That’s my job. Well, sort of. Actually, I don’t think I’m supposed to be such a prick, but I really am pissed off about the Gandolfini thing and no Steve Martin this year.

Best Picture American Hustle Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her

Nebraska Philomena 12 Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street

I like this list a little, although I would’ve nominated films like Inside Llewyn Davis, Fruitvale Station and Mud over Nebraska, Philomena and Captain Phillips. I liked those films, but I don’t consider them among the year’s best.

The Wolf of Wall Street is the best movie on this list, but it’s too dirty and doesn’t really stand a chance. Early on in the race, I would’ve predicted American Hustle, but that one seems to be falling out of favor.

As it turns out, I think the final vote will go to Gravity or 12 Years a Slave. Because I actually have to predict a winner, for that is what this article is about, I’m going with 12 Years a Slave.

Should Win: The Wolf of Wall Street Will Win: 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor Christian Bale (American Hustle) Bruce Dern (Nebraska) Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Our movie critic picks who will—and who should—win Academy Awards this year

BY BOB GRIMM • bgrimm@newsreview.com

O

The Academy Awards start at 4 p.m. on March 2 on ABC.

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K, so it’s time for my annual Oscar bitchfest.

Look, I guess it’s pretty hard for the Academy to get everything perfect, which by definition means picking all of the movies and performers that I would personally nominate because I am better and smarter than them.

I’m not afraid to admit I can be a smug know-it-all bastard when it comes to the movies, especially when it comes to the Oscars. I’ll tell you right up front that James Gandolfini being left off the Oscar roll call is stupidity personified. This would have been a prime example, as with Heath Ledger, of a deceased actor truly deserving a posthumous nomination for the work he did. Gandolfini was tremendous in Enough Said (as was his costar, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who also got snubbed).

Fruitvale Station, one of the year’s most powerful films, completely snubbed? You have to be kidding me. The movie and the actor at the center of it (Michael B. Jordan) deserved attention. This is a blown opportunity to put the spotlight on an important and excellent film.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Oh man, leaving Robert Redford, a.k.a Mr. Sundance, off this list for his work in All is Lost is a pretty nasty, heartless snub. Everybody here did a good job, but I would’ve given a slot to either Redford, Isaac for Inside Llewyn Davis or Michael B. Jordan for Fruitvale Station over Bale or Dern.

DiCaprio deserves this so much. It’s criminal that he doesn’t have an Oscar yet, and this is his best work to date. As stated before, Wolf is just too dirty to be fully appreciated.

This is between McConaughey and Ejiofor. McConaughey will probably win. Good performance from McConaughey, but I actually liked him better in Mud. A DiCaprio win would be sweet, but it’s probably not going to happen.

Should Win: DiCaprio Will Win: McCounaughey

Best Actress Amy Adams (American Hustle) Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Judi Dench (Philomena) Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

This list should include Adele Exarchopoulos for her breakthrough performance in Blue is the Warmest Color, but it doesn’t so I will just go ahead and say Blanchett should and will win even if Woody Allen is despicably gross.

Should and will win: Blanchett

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12:20 PM

Best Supporting Actor Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)

Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

This is a Leto party … locked in. I hope he busts out his 30 Seconds to Mars hit “City of Angels” when he gets the gold, and then challenges host Ellen DeGeneres to a bare knuckled brawl in honor of his awesome participation in Fight Club. (My guess is Ellen could kick his ass.)

As for me, I would pick Fassbender or Hill over Leto, and I truly believe James Gandolfini deserved a posthumous slot for his beautiful work in Enough Said, but you knew that already.

Should win: Fassbender Will Win: Leto

Best Supporting Actress Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) June Squibb (Nebraska)

I fell in love with the voice of Scarlett Johansson in Her, and honestly believe she deserved a slot here. I also believe Carey Mulligan deserved a nod for Inside Llewyn Davis.

Still, my year-end pic for this category was Lawrence, and I’m sticking with it. She took American Hustle into the stratosphere when she was on screen. That movie wasn’t nearly as great when her character was off doing other things.

Should and will win: Lawrence

Best Director David O. Russell (American Hustle) Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) Alexander Payne (Nebraska)

Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Scorsese deserves it, but Cuaron did a bang up job on Gravity. He’ll get the Oscar, and Marty will need to feign happiness when the camera is on him.

Should Win: Scorsese Will Win: Cuaron

Best Animated Feature The Croods Despicable Me 2 Ernest & Celestine

Frozen The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises is a masterpiece. Since Hayao Miyazaki claims it’s his last, I think it’s the favorite to win over an otherwise boring crowd.

Should and will win … I guess: The Wind Rises

Will Win Best Cinematography: Gravity Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby Best Documentary: The Square Best Documentary Short: Facing Fear Best Film Editing: Gravity Best Foreign Language Film: Omar Best Makeup: Dallas Buyers Club (but this should go to Bad Grandpa!)

Best Score: Gravity

OPINION

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FEATURE STORY

Best Original Song: “Ordinary Love” (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) Best Production Design: Gravity Best Animated Short Film: Possessions Best Live Action Short: Helium Best Sound Editing: Gravity Best Sound Mixing: Gravity Best Visual Effects: Gravity Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle |

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special aDVeRTising secTion

It’s happen ing in ACTIVITIES START YOUR GARDEN

Presented by Randy Robison. What you can plant right now to start the season. Sa, 3/1, 11AM & 1PM, free.

Rail City Garden Center, 1720 Brierley Way (775) 3551551

UNCORKED & UNPLUGGED

Uncorked & Unplugged is an annual wine tasting and live music fundraiser to benefit the Nevada Health Care Association’s Perry Foundation. Sa, 3/1, 5-8PM, $45 presale; $55 day of event. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

KIDS KLUB: HOW TO MAKE A SURVIVAL BRACELET

Join the Scheels Camping Experts to learn how to make a survival bracelet. M, 3/3, 6PM, free. Scheels, 1200 Scheels Dr. (775) 331-2700

CHIRUNNING INFORMATIONAL SEMINAR

Learn about this revolutionary approach to proper running and walking that helps develop safe and effective life-long fitness programs. W, 3/5, 6:30-8PM and W, 5/7, 6:30-8PM, free. Scheels, 1200 Scheels Dr. (775) 331-2700

WINTER PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES

Presented by Michael Janik. Learn how to correctly prune fruit trees. Proper tools and techniques will be covered. Free, but a donation of a canned food is welcome for the Food Bank. Sa, 3/8, 11AM & 1PM, free. Rail City Garden Center, 1720 Brierley Way (775) 355-1551

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!

CLICKETS KNITTING GROUP

Jean Peters guides this class for knitters of all ages and levels. Yarn and needles are available. First and Third Su of every month, 1:30-3PM, free. Spanish Springs Library, 7100A Pyramid Lake Highway, Spanish Springs (775) 424-1800

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

FOUR SEASONS BOOK CLUB

The book club meets the first Saturday of each month.

Call to find out each month’s book title. First Sa of every month, 1-2PM, free. Sparks Library, 1125 12th St. (775) 352-3200

PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC AFRICAN CHILDREN’S CHOIR

The African Children’s Choir is a large choir made up of children ages 7 to 12 from several African nations. F, 2/28, 7PM, $20-$30. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

ROCK HARD & ROCK STEADY!

Your favorite ‘70s-’90s vintage/classic rock! F, 2/28, 9:30PM, no cover. Sidelines Bar & Nightclub, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 355-1030

MIDNIGHT FIRE DUO

F, 2/28, 8:30PM, no cover. Great Basin Brewing Co., 846 Victorian Ave. (775) 355-7711

ROSIE LEDET AND THE ZYDECO PLAYBOYS

Sa, 3/1, 8PM, $25. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

ACOUSTIC WONDERLAND CONTEST FINALE

The winners of the Acoustic Wonderland contest will be chosen on Sunday, 3/2 at 7PM (must be present to win). Su, 3/2, 3PM, no cover. Paddy & Irene’s Irish Pub, 906-A Victorian Ave. (775) 358-5484

THREE DOG NIGHT

From 1969-1974, nobody had more Top 10 hits, moved more records, or sold more concert tickets than Three Dog Night. F, 3/7, 8PM, $59. John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave. (775) 356-3300

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

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

BLACK AND BLUES JAM

Tu, 8:30PM, no cover. Sidelines Bar & Nightclub, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 355-1030

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

KARAOKE

Th-Sa, 9PM, no cover. Bottom’s Up Saloon, 1923 Prater Way (775) 359-3677

LIVE MONDAYS WITH TANY JANE

Open mic night every Monday at 8PM, hosted by Tany Jane. M, 8PM, no cover. Sidelines Bar & Nightclub, 1237 Baring Blvd. (775) 355-1030 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/Ashley hennefer

Nerdy deeds

Kevin Fredericks, founder of the Reno Video Game Symphony, wearing a Zelda Triforce jacket.

Day of Games “There are plenty of nerds here in Reno,” says Kevin Fredericks, founder of the Reno Video by Game Symphony.

Ashley According to Fredericks, video game Hennefer culture is exploding in Northern Nevada.

Competitive gaming is establishing roots (“Level up,” July 4, 2013) and retro gaming is making a comeback (“Drinking games,” Aug. 29, 2013). Some of this is affected by the proximity of California’s avid gaming scenes in Sacramento and San Jose, but there are also many long-time gamers here, the Day of Games is too, who want to see Reno become a new on March 1, noon to hub for geekdom.

9 p.m., at the reno Founded in 2011 for playing at events Collective, 100 n. hosted for game releases, Fredericks and Arlington Ave. $10 his musician comrades started the RVGS admission. learn more at http://dayofgames. to bring video game music to Reno’s art weebly.com/. and music scene. From there, the RVGS became an outlet for nerd-centric events such as the Reno GAME Expo, a largescale gaming convention held at the Silver Legacy. This year’s GAME Expo is an official Artown event.

T O

T I C K E T S

W I N

But smaller events, like the upcoming Day of Games, are where the RVGS gets to shine and test the waters of Reno’s geekery.

The Day of Games is an all-day event at the Reno Collective where people can participate in different facets of gaming. (Full disclosure: The author facilitates workshops for the Reno Collective, but is unaffiliated with this event or the RVGS.) “We can’t do everything we want at the large convention,” Fredericks says.

“The Day of Games is our favorite event that we do. It’s like a little playground. It’s experimental.”

Fredericks describes it as “the most high-tech sleepover you’ll ever go to,” except that it’s not technically a sleepover.

The 9-hour event hosted at the Reno Collective will start at noon and begin with an opening performance by the symphony.

For the first few hours, several stations will be set up with retro game consoles like the SNES and N64, table top games like Settlers of Catan, and card games like Pokémon and Magic: the Gathering. Panels will be hosted on topics like cosplay or

video game collecting. Later in the evening, the night will offer a series of performances by musicians playing video game scores, as well as chiptune and nerdcore artists brought in from California. There’s even an all-you-can-eat cereal bar with Drew Gerthoffer from Cereal Time with Drew, a YouTube show produced in part by Fredericks.

Meanwhile, Fredericks says there will also be viewings of “cute dirty Japanese anime” shows like Shin Chan. “All these little things that people express love for are very niche. Everyone gets a chance to engage in what they want to do.”

For the RVGS, people who love video games, eight-bit music, symphonic renditions of gaming soundtracks, card games and obscure anime shows tend to be part of the same tribe.

“We’re kind of nerds in general,” he says. “We had a discussion on why people starting using the word ‘nerd.’ People start identifying themselves by the things they love, not the things they do to make money.”

But the “geek” vs. “nerd” debate comes down to semantics, as Fredericks sees the terms as interchangeable.

“Sometimes people who really get into something can’t see the forest through trees,” he says.

The response to the RVGS’s endeavors has been “amazing,” according to Fredericks, who says the local art scene has been accommodating and inclusive of video games. RVGS is a non-profit, and its projects are funded by the Holland Project.

The group has also collaborated with the Nevada Museum of Art and Nevada Humanities, among other cultural projects.

“Every organization shows us a different perspective on the importance of gaming,” he says. “It shows that video games bring together art and music and people.” Ω

S E E

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· Send an e-mail to contest@newsreview.com and put “CHERISH THE LADIES” in the subject line · Include your full name, daytime phone and birth date · One entry per person, per e-mail address · Deadline for entries is Monday, March 3, 2014 · Winner will be notified by e-mail and phone on March 4th OPINION

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Lion’s share Coffeebar 682 Mount Rose St., 800-1090 Rules for starting a coffee shop: dream about a lion, be a champion skier, love Italy, meet a coffee guru, care about by Dave Preston the Earth, and have a passion for people. That’s the manual used by Greg Buchheister to bring his entrepreneurial coffee house idea from Truckee to Reno. Coffeebar is an urban brew house in an industrialstyle setting with open beam ceilings, star-like light fixtures, tables that feature the Italian dictionary as top covers, and an energetic staff.

The food menu has four sections, breakfast, crepes, panini and salads ($3.95-$8.75). The drink menu runs the gambit from espresso to specialty drinks like café marocchino ($4.50$5.75). There’s tea and tea lattes ($2.75-$3.50), juices and smoothies ($3.95-$4.95), and beverages like

Greg Buchheister and Tiffany Hill working the main line at Caoffeebar.

Wednesdays

FREE Winter Slide Series

March 5th at 7pm Featuring Sam Roberts “On Safari In Africa” Raffle Proceeds to Benefit Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

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For something savory, I went for a panini, classic Italian sandwich. I had the Milano ($8.25), Cajun-spiced turkey, crispy prosciutto, brie, sweet and tangy serrano jelly and roasted garlic aioli on a ciabatta roll from Truckee Sourdough Company.

There was a cascade of flavors and textures: The pepper jelly gave a hint of heat and sweet, the turkey kicked up the salty, and savory elegance came from the brie—buono Milano!

In-house bakers create a variety of goods fresh daily with signature treats including scones and croissants. There are also muffins, cookies, cakes, strudels, and daily varieties of gluten-free quiches.

I saw something called a Giuseppe Chocolate Bar ($3.25) and jumped in head first. It was enough for two, unless you’re a glutton for dessert punishment. With a graham cracker crust topped with peanut butter, marshmallows and Rice Krispies coated with chocolate, this bad boy was nirvana to all who celebrate peanuts and chocolate.

Coffee is a big deal here, and all are organic coffee blends, selected and roasted locally by Master Roaster Carl Staub each Saturday morning. They offer a house blend “Italian Roast,” a blend of four to five coffees, to a classic French roast. They use the French press method to brew this caffeine confection par excellence.

There are three beers on tap ($4.50-$6.50), and eight more in bottles ($4-$11). I’d categorize them as trendy artisan quaffs—fun. And wine-by-the-glass ($10)—totally Italian—and a wine club in the making. There’s a real green Earth mentality here, and practicing what they preach means making the little things count, like using fettuccine instead of wood or plastic for stir sticks for drinks.

The lion is the Coffeebar logo.

Buchheister had a dream one night where he slay the mighty beast and now honors simba, a frothing mane flowing from the head of the noble beast seen on everything Coffeebar.

And as people discover the place, it’s all about the pride. Ω Photo/AlliSon Young

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only $3.00

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Coffeebar is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Mexican Coca Cola, Italian soda and home-brewed kombucha, a lightly effervescent fermented drink of sweetened black tea. This had a honey-Jasmine essence, not too sweet, and refreshing ($4.95).

They also make their own chai.

The crepe quattro ($6.95) looked interesting. Nutella, mascarpone and bananas with fresh strawberry sauce and powdered sugar. Presented in a traditional French envelope, the chocolaty, creamy hazelnut spread hugged the bananas and perfectly cut strawberry rounds. It was complemented with a layered chocolate cappuccino ($3.75). This allowed the flavor of the remarkable coffee to marry with the Monin dark chocolate syrup, creating a deep and pure chocolate taste and a rich aroma.

dine out and save! purchase gift cards for up to 50% off Sawasdee Thai Cuisine: $25 for $12.50 Arroyo Mexican Grill: $25 gift card for $12.50 Carino’s Italian Restaurant: $20 gift card for $10 Noble Pie Parlor: $10 gift card for $50 Nothing to It!: $25 gift card for $12.50 Ryan’s Saloon & Broiler: $10 gift card for for $50

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21

Blows smoke Pompeii Man, when is somebody going to make a good volcano movie? There was that stupid phase in the late ’90s when Hollywood took a crack at it, giving us Tommy Lee Jones dealing with an eruption in downtown L.A. and that other one with Pierce Brosnan outrunning a pyroclastic cloud in a beater pickup truck.

Now comes Pompeii, a film about the by legendary volcanic eruption that buried Bob Grimm an ancient city and eventually produced those creepy plaster casts of contorted dead bgrimm@ newsreview.c om humans and dogs.

If ever there was a good setting for a decent movie featuring lots of lava, I would think the story of how Mount Vesuvius blew would be intriguing. However, Paul W.S. Anderson directed this one, and that rarely bodes well for a film. Anderson has a way of destroying interesting premises with his

1

“You know nothing, gladiator Milo.”

1 Poor

2 Fair

3 Good

4 Very Good

5

sloppy hand. For prime examples of how he screws things up old school, see Alien vs.

Predator, Resident Evil: Afterlife, The Three Musketeers or Death Race. Or, better yet, don’t see them.

Anderson takes the historic eruption and makes it the basis for what he probably hoped would be his Titanic. He has a love story, he has a lot of people scurrying for their lives, he even has the mournful female vocals that sound a lot like Celine Dion.

He even has a cartoonish villain like the one Billy Zane played in James Cameron’s epic. This one’s an evil Roman senator played by Kiefer Sutherland doing his best Darth Vader voice. Sutherland hasn’t been this embarrassingly bad since he appeared in The Three Musketeers (not Anderson’s Musketeers, mind you, but another abysmally bad take on the classic from back in ’93).

excellent

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FEBRUARY 27, 2014

The goofy love story is embodied by Emily Browning—no stranger to bad films, having appeared in Sucker Punch—as the rich girl Cassia, and ab-tastic douchebag Kit Harington as slave/gladiator Milo. The two want to be in love, but they can’t because he’s all poor and emo, and she’s rich. Better they can’t be in love, for Browning needs a reason to pout. That’s about all she’s good for in movies.

The film is an exercise in waiting for the mountain to blow as Milo deals with life as a gladiator and Cassia deals with life as a pouty face. When Vesuvius does finally go up, all attention to historic detail and continuity goes out the window.

The eruption spews up a gigantic pyroclastic cloud, which seemingly just goes away for awhile as the resort city panics and the main characters stop to fight and have angry chats. History suggests that many of the folks who died in the Pompeii eruption succumbed instantly to intensely high temperatures, yet nobody in this film complains about the heat. All things considered, they all look surprisingly comfortable for long stretches during the actual eruption.

The costuming basically looks like togas created for a middle school production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

The special effects have their moments, but the 3-D is less than spectacular, and too much of the film takes place in the dark, making it hard to follow.

This is basically an exercise in how to create characters that nobody can care about.

When everybody starts getting annihilated, they are just blips on a screen rather than characters we have invested in.

And let it be said that Sutherland’s work in this film is easily the worst of his career.

Yes, it’s even worse than that drunken YouTube video of him tackling a Christmas tree. Actually, that was kind of awesome, much better than anything in the wasteful, lethargic wannabe epic.

You have to be a truly bad director to make the eruption of Mount Vesuvius a non-event. Ω

2

3 Days to Kill

3

About Last Night

Well, shucks. Kevin Costner and Hailee Steinfeld deliver good performances as father and daughter in this hot mess from sloppy director McG. Costner plays a Secret Service Agent who finds out he’s dying of cancer, and he wants to make his last days on Earth count. So he reconnects with his daughter (Steinfeld) and his ex-wife (Connie Nielsen) in Paris while taking on one last assignment. That last assignment is giving him a lot of money, and an experimental drug that only exists in the movies that could extend his life. Costner is on his game here, and Steinfeld holds her own in the scenes they share together. Unfortunately, the movie is all over the place tonally (sometimes it’s a thriller, sometimes it’s a comedy, and so on). There’s also terrible editing choices and lousy sound editing to boot. Amber Heard shows up as Costner’s boss trying to pull off some sort of femme fatale routine that feels as if it should be in another movie. Only Costner and Steinfeld save this thing from being totally awful.

Don’t just file this one away as another unnecessary remake of an ’80s film, because Kevin Hart and company make the latest adaptation of David Mamet’s play Sexual Perversity in Chicago a wildly entertaining endeavor. Hart, who lights up any film he shows up in even when they stink, plays Bernie, a player who finds himself in a relationship with the fiery Joan (Regina Hall). While Bernie and Joan experience a wild rollercoaster ride of sex and spats, Bernie’s best bud Danny (Michael Ealy) winds up dating Joan’s best friend Debbie (Joy Bryant).

The two have a one-night stand that turns into a long-term relationship replete with all the problems of a relationship that started up way too fast. The main reason to see the film is Hart and Hall, who are a crack up under the direction of Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine). However, Ealy and Bryant make for an appealing and intriguing screen couple, so the movie doesn’t nosedive when the action switches to them. It’s better than the original, which starred Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and flippin’ James Belushi. Screw that movie.

4

American Hustle

David O. Russell continues his impressive directorial roll with this semicomedic look at the notorious ’70s Abscam scandal. This is basically Russell shooting for Scorsese glory here, and while the style of the movie seems copied at times, there’s no denying the power of the ensemble cast. Bradley Cooper scores laughs as a pathetic FBI agent looking to make a name for himself, and Christian Bale looks great in a comb-over as the conman forced into an alliance with the law. Amy Adams gets one of the strangest roles of the year as a con artist pretending to be British, and she pulls it off quite nicely, while Jennifer Lawrence steals her every scene as a seemingly dim Long Island housewife. You also get stand up comic Louis C.K. as Cooper’s field boss.

The film falls a little short of greatness due to its sometimes carbon copy feel, but the cast pulls it out of the fire. It also has the best use of Robert De Niro as a bad guy in many years.

3

Frozen

I have to admit I was more into the strange Mickey Mouse short that precedes this musical adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen” than the actual feature. It features retro Mickey busting out of a black and white film and becoming 3-D as he battles a bad guy kidnapping Minnie. It’s worth the price of admission. As for the actual feature movie, Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel have wonderful voices, and the visuals are fun to behold in this middle-of-the-road Disney fare. It has a lot of music—some of it quite good, some of it, well, not—and a beautiful look to it. For recent Disney animation, my vote goes to Tangled for best, but that’s not to say this one is a letdown. It’s OK. Just OK. It’s about on par with Pixar’s latest, Monster’s University. It’s fun to watch, but not altogether memorable.

4

The Lego Movie

Fast paced, frequently hilarious, and visually fun, this is the sort of movie we’ve come to expect from Pixar, one that appeals to both kids and adults on many levels. It’s also notable that it isn’t a Pixar film, but a product of the still formidable but inconsistent Warner Brothers animation wing. The plot follows Emmet (Chris Pratt), a “generic” builder as he goes about his homogenized life, building structures under strict deadlines, listening to the same song (Tegan and Sara’s terrific “Everything is Awesome”) every minute of the day, and following the rules of the omnipotent President Business (Will Ferrell). President Business demands conformity in a decidedly socialistic way, but he keeps everybody at bay by promising Taco Tuesdays. Things change instantly when Emmet meets Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who reveals to Emmet that he’s living in a pre-programmed world, and there’s the possibility for real life beyond its walls (echoes of The Matrix and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil). Emmet joins forces with Wildstyle and her extremely cool boyfriend, Batman (Arnett) to take down the establishment and restore freewill. The Lego Movie is a bit exhausting at times, but at least the constant stream of activity is laced with super intelligence rather than bombastic, vapid visuals. It’s a cliché, but I’ll say it: “Fun for the whole family!”

3

The Monuments Men

Director George Clooney’s war epic about historians racing to save art from the Nazis looks and feels like it was just taken out of a time capsule buried in 1958. It’s quite breezy for a war movie, peppered with laughs provided by a strong cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban and John Goodman as men trying to thwart Hitler’s plan for a giant museum. It has one of those whistle-infused soundtracks, and it doesn’t hurt that Clooney and Dujardin look like Errol Flynn and Gene Kelly. The movie moves briskly, and is perhaps a bit too weightless for a movie of such heavy subject matter. It also has a useless subplot involving Damon and Cate Blanchett.

Still, Clooney has great command of the camera here, the ensemble (especially Murray and Goodman) shines, and it’s fun to watch. This is an interesting piece of World War II history, and it’s good that somebody has made a decent movie to cover this chapter of Hitler insanity.

4

The Past

Berenice Bejo (Oscar nominee for The Artist) took Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of Marie, a woman who has invited her long absent husband Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) to her home so that they can finalize their divorce. Marie is in a new relationship with Samir (Tahar Rahim of A Prophet), whose wife lies in a coma from mysterious circumstances. Some compelling acting makes up for writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s (A Separation) sometimes longwinded storytelling (the plot contains a bunch of unnecessary twists and a few shocks that aren’t all that shocking). When the movie works, it fires on all cylinders, especially when Mosaffa is acting across from the child actors in this film. Bejo has some powerhouse scenes that make it quite understandable that she has received some nice accolades. The film’s final image and use of music is the best thing in the movie.

3

Robocop

RoboCop is a remake that totally rewrites an original in a way that won’t piss off its legions of fans. Joel Kinnaman steps into the role of Alex Murphy (played in the late ’80s original by Peter Weller), a Detroit cop in the year 2028 who gets himself blown up after causing too much trouble for a criminal kingpin. Murphy, with the permission of his wife (Abbie Cornish) has his life saved by being placed into an armored endoskeleton with the purpose of making him a law enforcement superhero. In the original, Murphy (well played by Peter Weller) started his crime crusade not really knowing who he was, with memories suppressed. He eventually figured out his identity and solved his own murder. The new film drastically diverts from the original, having its Murphy freak out upon waking up as a robot, fully cognizant of who he is. It’s only when his emotional stability comes into question that his doctor (Gary Oldman) decides to mess with his brain and shoot him full of dopamine, turning him into a robot zombie. Paul Verhoeven’s original is a far superior film, but this one has its merits.

Self expression Note-Able Music Therapy What do Nat King Cole, Indiana Jones, and Pyramid Lake have in common?

They’re featured in a song written by by Rachel the participants of music therapist Sara Gattuso Rosenow’s Exploring Music 1 class, a popular Note-Able Music Therapy Services session.

Many in Reno are familiar with the Note-Ables band. Note-Able Music Therapy Services was founded in 2003 by executive director Manal Toppozada. And though Toppozada calls the band her baby, 95 percent of the work the organization does is music therapy, a clinical and evidencebased use of music to achieve nonmusical goals.

“We use music to affect changes in people’s lives,” Toppozada says, referencing the organization’s mission to provide inclusive music programs and music therapy services for children and adults of all ages and abilities.

Photo/Eric Marks

behaviors are physical demonstrations of attention and engagement during conversation. “Music is a perfect way to reinforce, to prompt or to cue.”

At one point during their meeting, Rosenow guides Kaz in a game that calls for him to play the drums at the same time she plays her guitar. When she stops strumming, he must freeze.

“Music therapy is all about celebrating the little things,” she says.

As if to demonstrate, Kaz’s eyes gleam, a grin splits his face, and he laughs as they compose their own duet throughout the game.

Toppozada recounts a “powerful window” of a moment that came about while she was working with a gentleman with dementia.

“There’s a lot of research in dementia in music,” she says. “One gentleman was having difficulties engaging, and we did a lot of singing. It jogs memories. His wife would bring him in and say, ‘You take him!’ and then take a walk. He’d come in agitated and grumpy, and she’d walk in the door, and he’d call her over and would sing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and ‘Let Me Call You Sweetheart’ to her. They’d walk out holding hands.”

Toppozada says Note-Able Music Therapy Services helps more than 400 people a year.

They see about 100 people on site each week ranging from toddlers to septuagenarians.

Mary Lee Fulkerson’s brother, Jim Metzker, began participating at 50 after living with their parents his entire life.

“He was timid about everything, from answering a simple question to ordering from a menu,” Fulkerson says. “He also had anger issues. I heard about this group, and [he] began singing every Monday.”

Fulkerson says her brother’s life changed. He learned to take the bus, find a job, and got his own place.

“I go to rehearsals just to watch the sunshine on the faces of the students,” says Fulkerson.

Toppozada notes that while there are other valid ways of using music to help such as music by the bedside or singing at nursing homes, they are not music therapy in a clinical sense.

“I think about it in terms of seeing a personal trainer versus a physical therapist,” she says. “Both are great, but they serve different functions.” Ω

In the McKinley Arts & Culture Center’s basement studio, the varied participants of Rosenow’s session break into groups to brainstorm new lyrics for “L–O–V–E,” made famous

by Nat King Cole. As Rosenow sings the customized versions, where lollipops, elephants and ice cream reign, the participants dissolve into laughter.

“I focus a ton on self-expression in here,” says Rosenow once the session, designed to help adults with disabilities, ends. “Anybody can play for enjoyment and to express themselves, and that’s what we preach here.”

In a different room on the other side of the basement she sets out a puzzle, a memory game and a ukulele for a one-on-one session. When Kaz Baron, a 9-year-old with bright eyes and brown hair, enters the room he heads straight for the ukulele.

“The biggest thing we work on [with Kaz] is attending behaviors,” Rosenow said beforehand. Attending

Manal Toppozada leads a rehearsal at Note-Able Music Therapy Services.

For more information, visit www.note-ables.org.

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THURSDAY 2/27

FRIDAY 2/28

SATURDAY 3/1

3RD STREET

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

5 STAR SALOON

132 West St., (775) 329-2878

March 1, 9 p.m.

Crystal Bay Club 14 Highway 28 Crystal Bay 833-6333

BODEGA LIVE

555 E. Fourth St., (775) 378-4507 1) Main Room 2) Ultra Lounge

1) Digital Thursdays w/DJ Ryon, 10pm, $5-$8 1) The Biggest Little Superstar Search 2) Reggae Vibez Thursdays w/ Karaoke Superstarz, 9pm, $15 participant fee w/DJ Phenomenal 1, 10pm, $5-$8

CEOL IRISH PUB

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

CHAPEL TAVERN

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

COMMA COFFEE

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

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

Bourgeois Gypsies, 7pm, no cover

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

EL CORTEZ LOUNGE

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

Catch a Rising Star, Silver Legacy, 407 N. Virginia St., 329-4777: Geno Bisconte, Th, Su, 7:30pm, $15.95; F, 7:30pm, 10pm, $15.95; Sa, 7:30pm, 10pm, $17.95; Don Frost, Tu-W, 7:30pm, $15.95

FUEGO

The Improv at Harveys Cabaret, Harveys Lake Tahoe, Stateline, (800) 553-1022: Scott LaRose, Marc Price, Th-F, Su, 9pm, $25; Sa, 8pm, 10pm, $30; Judy Gold, Jackie Kashian, W, 9pm, $25

THE GRID BAR & GRILL

Reno-Tahoe Comedy at Pioneer Underground, 100 S. Virginia St., 686-6600: Jimmie “JJ” Walker, F, 8:30pm, Sa, 6:30pm, 9:30pm, $17, $22

THE HOLLAND PROJECT

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

Drum Circle hosted by Lightfeather, 6pm, no cover

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

Comedy

DJ Ricky Rick, 10pm, Tu, no cover Karaoke, 10pm, W, no cover

Farewell Belladonna, Up Is the Down Is The, Thursday Knights Out, The Jet Stole Home, Hatriot, Pain Clinic, Up Against It, Mudface, 6 Mule Pile-up, 8:30pm, no cover Frontier City Sounds, Shatterbox, 8:30pm, $5 Victims of the Cave, 7pm, $10-$12

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

Karaoke with Lisa Lisa, 9pm, no cover

Adrenaline, 9:30pm, no cover

Countress, The Vampirates, 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.

Midnight Fire Duo, 8:30pm, no cover

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

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 Open Mic Night, 9pm, M, no cover Trivia Night, 9pm, W, no cover

3819 Saddle Rd., South Lake Tahoe; (530) 314-7665 Backseat Lovers, Frontier City Sounds, Priscilla Ford, 8pm, $5

140 Vesta St., (775) 742-1858

Silver Snakes, Drag Me Under, Vague Choir, 7:30pm, $5

JAVA JUNGLE

Outspoken: Open Mic Night, 7pm, M, no cover

246 W. First St., (775) 329-4484 1180 Scheels Dr., Sparks; (775) 657-8659

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

Karaoke, 9:30pm, Tu, no cover Open Mic w/Frazzled, 9:30pm, W, no cover

HIMMEL HAUS

JAZZ, A LOUISIANA KITCHEN

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

Manuel Soto, 7pm, no cover

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

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/3-3/5 DG Kicks, 9pm, Tu, no cover

Karaoke, 10pm, no cover

THE ALLEY

906 Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 358-8891

Diego’s Umbrella

SUNDAY 3/2

Dropkikk, 9pm, no cover

Erika Paul, 6pm, no cover

Awarded 2013 Greater Reno-Tahoe's 'Best Place to Work’

First Take featuring Rick Metz, 6pm, no cover

Bill Davis, 6pm, no cover

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2014

We’ll be accepting entries noW through February 28 once more into the breach, my friends. the reno news & review is hosting a poetry contest.

Only a single submission per person will be accepted, and entrants must live within 50 miles of the Reno News & Review’s office. While there will be panel of judges from both inside and outside the newspaper, we won’t be announcing who they are until publication of the winners to prevent lobbying. We’ll only accept emailed entries, and the poem must be in the body of the email; we’ll not be opening attachments. email to renopoetry@newsreview.com and put poetry 2014 in the subject line. all entries must be received by 5p.m. on February 28. Winners will be published on april 3.

Include contact information, including name, address and telephone number in the body of the same email as the poem. Nom de plumes will not be accepted. The individual

who strips the names from the submissions will not be a member of the judging team. Other than the guidelines for submission, there are only two rules: Poems must be less than 500 words long, and poems must be submitted in a publishable form (for example, no one-line, 499-word submissions). While we’ll be mindful of intentional line breaks and word placement, we reserve the right to change if needed, so stay away from unusual fonts or formatting. We will presume all spellings and punctuation are intentional, and we won’t copy-edit. While we’ve tried to think of every contingency, we’re sure someone will attempt to game the system, so we reserve the right to reject any submission at the editors’ discretion.

THURSDAY 2/27

FRIDAY 2/28

SATURDAY 3/1

SUNDAY 3/2

JUB JUB’S THIRST PARLOR

1) Arkaik, Lord of War, The Kennedy Veil,, 6:30pm, $10-$13 2) The Harvest and the Hunt, Yesir, 9:30pm, $3

KNITTING FACTORY CONCERT HOUSE

Club Knights 2: Deep Thots, 10pm, $5

A Night of Acoustic Appreciation, 7pm, $6

Seix, 8:30pm, no cover

Seix, 8:30pm, no cover

71 S. Wells Ave., (775) 384-1652 1) Showroom 2) Bar Room

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

MOODY’S BISTRO BAR & BEATS 10007 Bridge St., Truckee; (530) 587-8688

Quartet Minus One, 8:30pm, no cover

NEVADA UGLY

906-A Victorian Ave., Sparks; (775) 358-5484

THE POINT

Open mic, 9pm, M, no cover

Walk Off The Earth March 1, 7:30 p.m.

Harrah’s Lake Tahoe 15 Highway 50 Stateline 588-6611

Acoustic Wonderland Contest Finals, 3pm, no cover

Acoustic Wonderland, 8pm, no cover Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 8:30pm, no cover

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

1) Band Roulette, 8pm, no cover

Mark Castro Band, 9pm, no cover

1433 U.S. Highway 395 North, (775) 782-5875

PADDY & IRENE’S IRISH PUB

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/3-3/5

PONDEROSA SALOON

106 S. C St., Virginia City; (775) 847-7210

Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 9pm, no cover

Karaoke hosted by Gina Jones, 9pm, no cover

Steel Rockin’ Karaoke, 7:30pm, no cover

9below0, 8pm, no cover

Karaoke, 8:30pm, Tu, 9:15pm, W, no cover

RED DOG SALOON

Open Mic Night, 7pm, W, no cover

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

RUBEN’S CANTINA

Karaoke, 8pm, no cover

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

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

RYAN’S SALOON

Karaoke, 9pm, no cover

SIDELINES BAR & NIGHTCLUB

Tazer, 9:30pm, no cover

SIERRA TAP HOUSE

Beercan!, 9pm, no cover

924 S. Wells Ave., (775) 323-4142 1237 Baring Blvd., Sparks; (775) 355-1030 252 W. First St., (775) 322-7678

ST. JAMES INFIRMARY

445 California Ave., (775) 657-8484

STUDIO ON 4TH

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

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

Ritual (’80s post-punk, industrial, goth), 9pm, $3 before 10pm, $5 after

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

WILD RIVER GRILLE

Silver Snakes March 2, 7:30 p.m.

The Holland Project 140 Vesta St. 742-1858

Sunday Jazz, 2pm, no cover

17 S. Virginia St., (775) 284-7455

WILDFLOWER VILLAGE

Reno Music Project Open Mic, 6:30pm, no cover

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

Andrew Martin, Road Apples, 7pm, no cover

Classical Revolution Reno, 8pm, M, no cover Comedy, Open Mic, 8:30pm, Tu, no cover

opEns fRidAy at BRÜKA THEATER

written by nick silver

an acerbic black comedy

directed by la ronda etheridge

THESE DON’T MIX

fEBRuARy 28 @ 8pm mARcH 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22 @ 8pm mARcH 9 @ 2pm 2014 TicKETs (in AdvAncE) $18 - sTudEnTs/sEnioRs $20 - gEnERAl Admission $25 - All TicKETs (AT THE dooR)

T

Think you know your limits? Think again.

If you drink, don’t drive. Period.

BRÜKA THEATER 99 n. viRginiA sT. REno 775.323.3221 | www.Bruka.org OPINION

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

THURSDAY 2/27

FRIDAY 2/28

SATURDAY 3/1

SUNDAY 3/2

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3/3-3/5

2) Decoy, 8pm, no cover

2) Decoy, 4pm, no cover 2) Doctor Rock-It, 10pm, no cover

1) Because: A Tribute to the Beatles, 8pm, $15 2) Decoy, 4pm, Doctor Rock-It, 2) Doctor Rock-It, 8pm, no cover 10pm, no cover

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

2) After Dark, 7pm, no cover

2) After Dark, 8pm, no cover

2) After Dark, 8pm, no cover

2) Phil Prunier, 6pm, no cover

2) Phil Prunier, 6pm, M, Tu, W, no cover

1) Tainted Love, 9pm, $25-$45

1) Diego’s Umbrella, 9pm, $12-$32

1) Ring of Fire, 8pm, $24.95+ 2) Audioboxx, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Skyy High Fridays w/Roni Romance, DJ Dragon, 10pm, $10 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

1) Ring of Fire, 7pm, 9:30pm, $24.95+ 2) Audioboxx, 10:30pm, no cover 3) Four Play Saturdays w/Roni Romance, DJ Dragon, 10pm, $10 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

1) Ring of Fire, 7pm, $24.95+ 2) Audioboxx, 10:30pm, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

1) Ring of Fire, 7pm, Tu, W, $24.95+ 2) Live Band Karaoke, 10pm, M, DJ Chris English, 10pm, Tu, Left of Centre, 10:30pm, W, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, W, no cover

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

1) Walk Off The Earth, 7:30pm, $44 2) Rick Gee, DJ SN1, 10pm, $20

1) Frank Marino’s Divas, 8pm, $35-$45 3) Rock River, 8pm, no cover

1) Frank Marino’s Divas, 8pm, $35-$45 3) Rock River, 8pm, no cover

1) African Children’s Choir, 7pm, $20-$30

1)Rosie Ledet and The Zydeco Playboys, 8pm, $25 2) Uncorked & Unplugged, 5pm, $45-$55 3) Country at the Cabaret w/DJ Jamie G, 9pm, no cover

1) Sweet Talk: A Delicious Electro-Cirque Kiss, 8:30pm, $20

1) Sweet Talk: A Delicious Electro-Cirque Kiss, 8:30pm, $20 3) Boogie Nights, 8pm, no cover w/’70s-’80s attire

CARSON VALLEY INN

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

Rose’s Pawn Shop Feb. 27, 7 p.m.

Feb. 28-March 1, 8 p.m.

Peppermill 2707 S. Virginia St. 826-2121

CRYSTAL BAY CLUB

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

1) Ring of Fire, 7pm, $24.95+ 2) Audioboxx, 10:30pm, no cover 4) Live piano, jazz, 4:30pm, no cover

HARRAH’S LAKE TAHOE

Karaoke Elbow Room Bar, 2002 Victorian Ave., Sparks, 359-3526: F-Sa, 7pm; Tu, 6pm, no cover Hangar Bar, 10603 Stead Blvd., Stead, 677-7088: Karaoke Kat, Sa, 9pm, no cover Murphy’s Law Irish Pub, 180 W. Peckham Lane, Ste. 1070, 823-9977: Steve Starr Karaoke, F, 9pm, no cover West Second Street Bar, 118 W. Second St., 384-7976: Daily, 8pm, no cover

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

HARRAH’S RENO

219 N. Center St., (775) 788-2900 1) Frank Marino’s Divas, 8pm, $35-$45 1) Sammy’s Showroom 2) The Zone 3) Sapphire Lounge 4) Plaza 5) Convention Center

JOHN ASCUAGA’S NUGGET

1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks; (775) 356-3300 1) Showroom 2) Rose Ballroom 3) Cabaret 4) Orozko Lounge

MONTBLEU RESORT

55 Hwy. 50, Stateline; (800) 648-3353 1) Theatre 2) Opal 3) Blu

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

2) Rose’s Pawn Shop, 7pm, no cover 3) 3-D Thursdays w/DJs Max, Chris English, Kronyak, 10pm, $20

1) Frank Marino’s Divas, 8pm, $35-$45

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

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

SANDS REGENCY CASINO HOTEL

1) Blues Jam Wednesday, 7pm, W, no cover

345 N. Arlington Ave., (775) 348-2200 1) 3rd Street Lounge 2) Poolside

SILVER LEGACY

407 N. Virginia St., (775) 325-7401 3) University of Aura, 9pm, no cover 1) Grand Exposition Hall 2) Rum Bullions Island Bar 4) Live music, 6:30pm, no cover 3) Aura Ultra Lounge 4) Silver Baron Lounge 5) Drinx Lounge

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3) Fashion Friday, 7pm, no cover 4) Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

1) Foreigner, 8pm, $59.50-$75.50 2) Flock of 80s, 9pm, no cover 3) Seduction Saturdays, 9pm, $5 4) Live music, 8:30pm, no cover

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

2) Gong Show Karaoke, 8pm, Tu, no cover

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

North Lake tahoe SNowFeSt Snow or no snow, the 32nd annual celebration starts at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, with a kick-off party and fundraiser at Gar Woods Grill & Pier, 5000 N. Lake Blvd., Carnelian Bay. The fête will feature the SnowFest Queen candidates, a raffle, an auction and music by Groove Foundry. Admission is a $25 donation. This year’s festival, which has a 1980s theme, continues through March 9 with special events, fireworks show, parades, races, parties, concerts, skiing and other winter sports events and activities at various bars, restaurants, ski resorts and other venues across North Lake Tahoe. For more info, call (530) 583-7167 or visit www.tahoesnowfestival.com.

AfricAn children’s choir

MArdi GrAs dAnce PArty

Artown’s Encore season continues with a performance by this large choir comprised of children ages 7 to 12 from several African nations. The choir will perform well-loved children’s songs, hand clapping, traditional spirituals and contemporary tunes, accompanied by musical instruments commonly played in their homelands. Since its inception in 1984, the choir has included children from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana. All of these children are victims of extreme poverty, and many of them have lost one or both parents to AIDS or other diseases. The African Children’s Choir offers educational tools to the choir members, and once they have completed a concert tour they will return to their homelands with the tools necessary for improving their future. The concert begins at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, at the Celebrity Showroom inside John Ascuaga’s Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave., Sparks. Tickets are $20-$30. Call 356-3300 or visit www.renoisartown.com.

The Reno Blues Society presents its 20th annual dance party and fundraiser. There will be a silent auction of a variety of items to benefit the Washoe County School District’s music program. The California Honeydrops, a blues, New Orleans jazz and traditional R&B band from Oakland, headlines the event. Local blues act Guitar Woody and the Boilers opens the show, which begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, at the Ramada Reno Downtown Hotel and Casino, 1000 E. Sixth St. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at door with a $5 discount for RBS members. Call 247-3011 or visit www.renoblues.org.

OPINION

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NEWS

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GREEN

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FEATURE STORY

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ARTS&CULTURE

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ART OF THE STATE

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FOODFINDS

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FILM

reno PhilhArMonic: clAssix five The Reno Philharmonic Orchestra continues its 2013-2014 season with the fifth concert in the Classix series conducted by music director Laura Jackson. The program features Igor Stravinsky’s 1947 ballet Petrushka.

Pianist Conrad Tao joins the orchestra for Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Tao, the only classical musician on Forbes’ 2011 “30 Under 30” list of people changing the world, will perform on the Reno Phil’s new E. L. Wiegand Grand Piano. The concert begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, and at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts, 100 S. Virginia St. Tickets are $26-$77. Call (775) 323-6393 or visit www.renophil.com.

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MUSICBEAT

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NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS

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THIS WEEK

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clAssicAl revolution reno: in the Month of lePrechAuns Join professional musicians from the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Reno Pops, TOCCATA Tahoe Symphony and other groups for an opportunity to play, sing and/or just listen to live classical music.

This month’s gathering goes green with St. Patrick’s Day-themed surprises and green drinks such as absinthe. The classical jam begins at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 3, at The Golden Rose Café, 4395 W. McCarran Blvd., at the Wildflower Village. Admission is free.

Call (775) 747-8848 or visit http://www.wildflowervillage.com.

MISCELLANY

—Kelley Lang

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FEBRUARY 27, 2014

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27

Recycle this paper

The grating outdoors This great girl I’ve been dating just invited me on a camping trip. Frankly, there is nothing I would like to do less. I hate camping, and I won’t know anyone but her.

The trip is three days with 20 of her friends, including her ex-boyfriend, so I worry about asking her to go without me, especially since we aren’t “official” yet. Can I skip this without it being a big deal, or is it a mistake to let her go when we’re right at the monogamy crossroads?

The comforts of civilization abound. Even Walmart stocks a heated toilet seat, complete with a handy-dandy nightlight in the bowl, for a rather reasonable $119.

Yet—go figure—there are all these people who think it would be super-cool to go out for a weekend and squat behind a bush.

In other words, I’m right there with you. My idea of camping is waiting for our room to be ready in the lobby of a hotel with exposed wood. My favorite hiking safety tip? Avoid hiking. But I understand your problem. It’s a bad idea to stay home when it means she’ll be out there in nature with nothing to block the view of her ex-boyfriend.

Unfortunately, you’re being asked on not just a camping trip but a vetting trip (even if she hasn’t put it that plainly to you or even herself). She’ll be looking at how well you fit in with her friends—which will tell her something about how well you’ll fit into her life—and, possibly, evaluating your camping prowess: whether you can start a fire with a single soggy match, put up a tent using only your teeth, and talk geopolitics with a raccoon.

28 | RN&R |

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

But chances are, if she were some hardcore camper looking for the man to play Lewis to her Clark, she wouldn’t even consider dating a guy whose idea of a nature hike is probably cutting across the lawn to get the mail. I shared this thought with a mentally ill friend of mine (translation: one who camps on purpose), and she agreed. She also added that “camping with 20 people is not camping; it’s ‘camping.’ It’s getting drunk beside your car, tripping over your tent stake, and passing out next to your sleeping bag. Even a city boy can do that once.”

Let your girlfriend know that camping isn’t your thing but that you’re sure you’ll have a great time with her over the weekend. This sets her up not to expect much more of this outdoorsy business from you while setting you up as a good sport who’s willing to go out of his way to make her happy. If both you and your relationship survive the weekend, maybe you can show her a thing or two about the great indoors—like how, of all the current wonders of nature, one of the most wonderful is how you can sit in your house drinking martinis while watching them on Discovery Channel. Ω

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

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OPINION

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NEWS

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GREEN

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feature story |

ARTS&CULTURE

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IN ROTATION

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ART OF THE STATE

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FOODFINDS

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FILM

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MUSICBEAT

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775.334.6666

NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS

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THIS WEEK

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MISCELLANY

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february 27, 2014

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29

Think Free

by rob brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): The battles

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you are the

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Life is like

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In his song

you’ve been waging these last 10 months have been worthy of you. They’ve tested your mettle and grown your courage. But I suspect that your relationship with these battles is due for a shift. In the future they may not serve you as well as they have up until now. At the very least, you will need to alter your strategy and tactics. It’s also possible that now is the time to leave them behind entirely—to graduate from them and search for a new cause that will activate the next phase of your evolution as an enlightened warrior. What do you think?

Sanskrit read to a pony,” said Lou Reed. That might be an accurate assessment for most people much of the time, but I don’t think it will be true for you in the coming days.

On the contrary: You will have a special capacity to make contact and establish connection. You’ve heard of dog whisperers and ghost whisperers? You will be like an allpurpose, jack-of-all-trades whisperer—able to commune and communicate with nervous creatures and alien life-forms and pretty much everything else. If anyone can get a pony to understand Sanskrit, it will be you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Does Kim

Kardashian tweak and groom her baby daughter’s eyebrows? They look pretty amazing, after all—elegant, neat, perfectly shaped. What do you think, Gemini? Ha! I was just messing with you. I was checking to see if you’re susceptible to getting distracted by meaningless fluff like celebrity kids’ grooming habits. The cosmic truth of the matter is that you should be laser-focused on the epic possibilities that your destiny is bringing to your attention. It’s time to reframe your life story. How? Here’s my suggestion: See yourself as being on a mythic quest to discover and fully express your soul’s code.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The 19th-

century American folk hero known as Wild Bill Hickok was born James Butler Hickok.

At various times in his life, he was a scout for the Union Army, a lawman for violent frontier towns, a professional gambler and a performer in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

Women found him charismatic, and he once killed an attacking bear with a knife. He had a brother Lorenzo who came to be known as Tame Bill Hickok. In contrast to Wild Bill, Tame Bill was quiet, gentle and cautious.

He lived an uneventful life as a wagon master, and children loved him. Right now, Cancerian, I’m meditating on how I’d like to see your inner Wild Bill come out to play for a while, even as your inner Tame Bill takes some time off.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “If I was a love poet,”

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30 | RN&R |

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

writes Rudy Francisco, addressing a lover, “I’d write about how you have the audacity to be beautiful even on days when everything around you is ugly.” I suspect you have that kind of audacity right now, Leo. In fact, I bet the ugliness you encounter will actually incite you to amplify the gorgeous charisma you’re radiating. The sheer volume of lyrical soulfulness that pours out of you will have so much healing power that you may even make the ugly stuff less ugly. I’m betting that you will lift up everything you touch, nudging it in the direction of grace and elegance and charm.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “You miss

100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” says hockey great Wayne Gretzky. In other words, you shouldn’t be timid about shooting the puck toward the goal. Don’t worry about whether you have enough skill or confidence or luck. Just take the damn shot.

You’ll never score if you don’t shoot. Or so the theory goes. But an event in a recent pro hockey game showed there’s an exception to the rule. A New York player named Chris Kreider was guiding the puck with his stick as he skated toward the Minnesota team’s goalie. But when Kreider cocked and swung his stick, he missed the puck entirely. He whiffed. And yet the puck kept sliding slowly along all by itself. It somehow flummoxed the goalie, sneaking past him right into the net.

Goal! New rule: You miss only 99.9 percent of the shots you don’t take. I believe you will soon benefit from this loophole, Virgo.

type of person who wears gloves when you throw snowballs, Germans would call you Handschuhschneeballwerfer. They use the same word as slang to mean “coward.” I’m hoping that in the coming days you won’t display any behavior that would justify you being called Handschuhschneeballwerfer.

You need to bring a raw, direct, straightforward attitude to everything you do. You shouldn’t rely on any buffers, surrogates or intermediaries. Metaphorically speaking, make sure that nothing comes between your bare hands and the pure snow.

“4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” Bruce Springsteen mentions a disappointing development. “[T]hat waitress I was seeing lost her desire for me,” he sings. “[S]he said she won’t set herself on fire for me anymore.”

I’m assuming nothing like that has happened to you recently, Scorpio. Just the opposite: I bet there are attractive creatures out there who would set themselves on fire for you. If for some reason this isn’t true, fix the problem! You have a cosmic mandate to be incomparably irresistible.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

“Some people say home is where you come from,” says a character in Katie Kacvinsky’s novel Awaken. “But I think it’s a place you need to find, like it’s scattered and you pick pieces of it up along the way.” That’s an idea I invite you to act on in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It will be an excellent time to discover more about where you belong and who you belong with. And the best way to do that is to be aggressive as you search far and wide for clues, even in seemingly unlikely places that maybe you would never guess contain scraps of home.

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

words bring the most points in the game of Scrabble? Expert Christopher Swenson says that among the top scorers are “piezoelectrical” and “ubiquitarianism”—assuming favorable placements on the board that bring double-letter and triple-word scores.

The first word can potentially net 1,107 points, and the second 1,053. There are metaphorical clues here, Capricorn, for how you might achieve maximum success in the next phase of the game of life. You should be well-informed about the rules, including their unusual corollaries and loopholes. Be ready to call on expert help and specialized knowledge. Assume that your luck will be greatest if you are willing to plan nonstandard gambits and try bold tricks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sorry to

report that you won’t win the lottery this week. It’s also unlikely that you will score an unrecognized Rembrandt painting for a few dollars at a thrift store or discover that you have inherited a chinchilla farm in Peru or stumble upon a stash of gold coins half-buried in the woods. On the other hand, you may get provocative clues about how you could increase your cash flow. To ensure you will notice those clues when they arrive, drop your expectations about where they might come from.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Avery, a

character in Anne Michaels’ novel The Winter Vault, has a unique way of seeing.

When he arrives in a place for the first time, he makes “room for it in his heart.” He “let himself be altered” by it. At one point in the story, he visits an old Nubian city in Egypt and is overwhelmed by its exotic beauty.

Its brightly colored houses are each like “a shout of joy,” like “gardens sprung up in the sand after a rainfall.” After drinking in the sights, he marvels, “It will take all my life … to learn what I have seen today.” Everything I just described is akin to experiences you could have in the coming weeks, Pisces. Can you make room in your heart for the dazzle?

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 Brad Bynum PHOTO/brad bynum

Image maker Austin Pratt Reno art punk band Spitting Image recently released a new 7-inch record, Love on a Terror. That band’s lead singer, Austin Pratt, also has two art exhibits on display at the University of Nevada, Reno. One is a solo photography exhibition in the McNamara Gallery, and the other is a group show with other artists in the university’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program. For more information, visit spittingimage.bandcamp.com.

Let’s start with the BFA show.

I’m in my first year of a two-year program at UNR. This show is myself and four other artists who are halfway through the program. The show opened this Monday, the 17th, and it’s open til the 27th, which is next Thursday. And there’s a closing reception next Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. And that’s in the Student Galleries South in the Jot Travis building. … The work that I’m doing right now are these really large, vibrant acrylic-on-canvas paintings that examine the haunted and the mystical in Nevada.

It’s this nuanced vision I have of a haunted and spiritually embedded material world in Nevada. I guess. [Laughs.]

What does that mean?

I’m using the landscape as a jumping off point, and thinking about what could be under the surface, the underworld and dream-like states. ... It’s kind of weird And, like I said, it’s my midway show, so it’s not

really expanded on. It’s a new idea. It’s a new experiment and new paintings. They look like really hyper-colored visions. The show’s called Immanent Domain: A Great Basin Gothic. I’m also looking for the Gothic in the West, like grotesque characters and disturbing images, eccentric figures or spectral figures, thinking about religion and spirituality.

While making my way through Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, I caught her unmistakable continental drift. Somewhere along the line a few years ago, scientists and researchers did what you knew they would one day inevitably do—they shut their briefcases, covered their laptops, stuffed their Clif bars into their backpacks, and then, with a haughty huff … walked out of the room.

The room to which I refer is the one in which this supposed “debate” about man-made climate change was taking place. Guess what? The scientists got fed up and split. We wore ’em down! Hardy har har. They can’t stand to be around us mouthbreathers any more. Can’t say I blame ’em.

Hell, we might be contagious.

For real scientists, of course, this “debate” has been over for quite some time. Best thing to do now is just to turn your collective back on this whole circus and try to get something done. At this point, it appears safe to speculate that climate OPINION

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FEATURE STORY

Let’s switch gears and talk about Spitting Image. You guys just put out a new 7-inch record.

Tell me about the other artists.

One of them is David Tilley. He does 2-D kind of sculptural work based on maps.

He calls them cartographic negative space collages. He’ll have maps of Reno that are really personal and kind of diarific sculptures about place and topography. There’s another painter named Ashley Follmer.

She kind of riffs on cell phone technology and privacy and security issues—really beautiful oil paintings, but of people looking at their text messages while there’s a world happening around them. Then there’s a woman named Erin Shearing, who does these David Croneneberg-style fetuses in glass bulbs. They’re made of polymer clay.

An epoch to end epochs

ARTS&CULTURE

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ART OF THE STATE

Last Friday, the 14th, Valentine’s Day, we did our record release for our 7-inch. It’s a two-song 7-inch called Love on a Terror.

We put it out as split-label release between our own imprint, which is called Negative Space Extension, and our friends’ label in the Bay Area called Broke Hatre. This is our second 7-inch. … I think it’s sort of related to what my visual art is like. This is a collaborative project, a band, so I can’t speak for everybody, but the music is kind of spacious and has some Western elements to it. There are minor chords and sort of this spooky riffage. And my lyrical and vocal stuff are more closely related to my visual art. So again, there’s an emphasis on images found in the West. And, as a punk band, the underworld and underground culture. Ω

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200 years. The concentration of a more potent greenhouse gas, methane, has doubled in that same time. “Because of these anthropogenic emissions,” wrote Crutzen, “the global climate is likely to depart from natural behavior for many millennia to come.” Anthropogenic emissions. As in one species, running amok with its bad self. Oops.

Oh well. Shit happens. And sometimes, shit happens that lasts for … a while. If we manage to kill all the coral reefs on this planet by the year 2050, I’m gonna have a very big problem with my own species.

This name change has not taken place yet. It’s probable the ICS will vote on it in 2016. Should it come to pass, it still won’t convince anybody at Fox News to drive a Prius. “We could have saved the Earth. But we were too damned cheap.”—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Ω

researchers who encounter those who still insist there exists some kind of “debate” on the issue of climate change might well experience raging ripcurrents of heartburn similar to those felt by the learned men of 1543 who still had to occasionally chat with “flat earthers.”

To give you an idea of how far in the rear view mirror of modern culture science has put us, consider that it was all the way back in the year 2002 that a Dutch chemist, Paul Crutzen, had an epiphany at a meeting at which the chairman kept referring to the current geological epoch, the Holocene. Crutzen just finally blurted out, “Let’s stop it. We’re no longer in the Holocene. We’re in the Anthropocene.”

The International Commission on Stratigraphy is considering this significant name change, to change the current geological epoch to Anthropocene. It seems to be a slam dunk.

After all, Crutzen noted, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by 40 percent in the last |

I think she’s an archeologist and a scientist, so she’s looking at evolution and how we’re changing the environment, and how that’s changing human evolution, so there’s like 15 of these really weird, mutated fetuses, with hair, extended ears or horns. And Matthew Aaker is making these very minimal sculptures and installations based on relationships and societal pressures. There’s a sculpture that’s two cups extended above this glass bowl. One cup has oil in it, and one has water in it, and they’re slowly dripping into the bowl, so ultimately, they’re slowly mixing.

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FEBRUARY 27, 2014

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