Letters............................ 3 Opinion/Streetalk............ 5 Sheila.Leslie.................... 6 Brendan.Trainor.............. 7 News.............................. 8 Feature......................... 10 Arts&Culture............... 24 Remembrance..............26 Art.of.the.State.............27 Foodfinds..................... 28
RENo’s
NEws
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ENtERtaiNmENt
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VolumE
23,
issuE 10
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aPRil
20–26,
2017
Drink.............................29 Film.............................. 30 Musicbeat..................... 31 Nightclubs/Casinos....... 32 This.Week.................... 38 Advice.Goddess............39 Free.Will.Astrology....... 46 15.Minutes.................... 47 Bruce.Van.Dyke........... 47
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RN&R | 04.20.17
Email lEttErS to rENolEttErS@NEWSrEviEW.com.
Nice work Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. In reaction to the Reno GazetteJournal’s detailed, comprehensive, multi-part investigative series about the disturbing spike of inmate deaths in the Washoe County jail since he took office two years ago, Washoe Sheriff Chuck Allen released a statement blasting the daily newspaper. He condemned the series as “politically charged, opinion based, agenda driven,” and, worst of all, “tabloidism.” By “tabloidism,” I think he actually meant “sensationalism,” but whatever. Speaking as the editor of a newspaper that’s printed in a tabloid format—as opposed to a broadsheet like the RG-J—I’ll take that as a compliment. It’s a great series, and I suggest readers take the time to clear their browser cache of cookies and complete whatever stupid consumer quizzes it takes to read it online. And, yes, it’s nice to see our daily newspaper aspiring to the level of a good tabloid paper. And if the RG-J did take a little inspiration for their series about inmate deaths from Fatal Encounters, the RN&R’s 2014 project examining officer-involved civilian deaths? So much the better. (RN&R editor emeritus D. Brian Burghart is still working on that project, by the way. We hardly ever see him anymore, either.) We don’t always like what our cross-town rivals get up to over there in corporate Gannett land—we still haven’t gotten a straight answer about how many people are getting laid off when the newspaper starts outsourcing their printing—but we’re happy to doff the cap when they do great work. With hegemonic attacks on First Amendment rights occurring in this country on a daily basis, we’re proud to support good journalism wherever we see it. And Sheriff Allen, rather than resorting to name-calling—complimentary or not—a better reaction to this news series might be a careful examination of the stories and the data, and reform of conditions—particularly regarding mental health—which might prevent these incidents from recurring, and might lead to a responsive reply to the RG-J series.
—Brad Bynum bradb@ ne ws r ev i ew . com
Peace born, too Re “A gold bug’s proposal for reform” (Let Freedom Ring, March 16): I’ll leave reaction to Brendan Trainor’s thoughts and arguments to someone else, but I could not let the opening lines stand uncorrected: “Nevada is called the Silver State. We are Battle Born because in the Civil War both sides fought over the chance to get our silver.” This repeats, once again, the falsehood that we were admitted to the Union because the north wanted and needed our silver. Actually, the Union already had our silver. By March 1861, Nevada was a federal territory, part of the Union. Federal taxes collected here went to the Union. The move to make us a state actually began because Lincoln feared he might need some extra votes in the Electoral College. As it turned out, after Union wins at Vicksburg and Atlanta, his reelection was assured and our votes merely added to the victory total. Lincoln still felt he would need our votes in Congress to support his moderate Reconstruction plans, and they were used that way. We can take pride that we were the only territory of three to answer to the opportunity of statehood and follow through. Nebraska and Colorado did not. And we did provide a key vote in the House supporting the 13th Amendment, followed by support for the 14th and 15th as well, abolishing slavery and establishing full rights to all. I’ve always thought there was much more reason to take pride in that true history than the fiction that the only reason we got in was because of our silver. Still, this myth won’t go away. It’s even found its way into textbooks. I still hear it repeated occasionally, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it’s mistakenly taught in some Nevada classrooms today. Former state archivist Guy Rocha called it Nevada’s No.1 Myth. Ed Pearce Reno
APRIL 20, 2017 | VOL. 23, IssuE 10
I don’t like Trump any more than you do, but come on, he was elected by our countrymen, and we need to respect that! Name calling is so grade school. Maybe Van Dyke needs to go back and learn some manners! I want to call him an idiot, but I won’t because as I said, I feel sorry for him. And besides, while I might not agree with him, I respect his right to blast off! And hopefully that’s what he will do—to the moon! The Resistance? Really? You want to be a good citizen, Bruce? Then allow others the right to have an opinion and to exercise their rights without the insults. Suzanne Winters Reno
Bun and gone Re “Bun and done” (Dining, April 8): I read the RN&R at my work and noticed that it stated that Burger Me sold three-pound hamburgers. I was going to go because I thought that is a killer deal. Well, lo and behold, you don’t how to spell or this is truly fake news or false advertisement cleverly disguised as a simple typo. Talk about plausible deniability. Dude, just use spell check. Other than that, I really enjoy reading your paper and just wanted to bust some balls. Keep up the integrity. Jason Stanley Reno
ERIK HOLLAND
Poor Bruce Gosh, how did we get to this place? How is it that someone can be so ugly? Mr. Van Dyke has so much hate in his heart! Poor guy! I feel sorry for anyone that feels so angry. It was bad enough when Hillary called everyone that didn’t agree with her “deplorables,” but now those deplorables are goons, idiots and vulgarians of America! I always thought that liberals were the laidback ones, who had a heart for everyone and everything. Now they just seem like a bunch of whiny babies who didn’t get their way. What happened to respect for your fellow human beings? Just because someone does not agree with you is not cause to be so angry and hateful!
Our Mission: To publish great newspapers that are successful and enduring. To create a quality work environment that encourages employees to grow professionally while respecting personal welfare. To have a positive impact on our communities and make them better places to live. Editor Brad Bynum News Editor Dennis Myers Special Projects Editor Jeri Chadwell-Singley Arts Editor Kris Vagner Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Contributors Amy Alkon, Megan Berner, Matt Bieker, Kelsey
Fitzgerald, Bob Grimm, Anna Hart, Ashley Hennefer, Shelia Leslie, Josie Luciano, Eric Marks, Tim Prentiss, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Marc Tiar, Brendan Trainor, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young Design Manager Lindsay Trop Creative Director Serene Lusano Art Director Margaret Larkin Marketing/Publications Designer Sarah Hansel Production Coordinator Skyler Smith Designer Kyle Shine Sales Manager Emily Litt RN&R Rainmaker Gina Odegard Advertising Consultants Brit Johnson, Myranda Keeley
Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager/Operations Coordinator Kelly Miller Distribution Assistant and Driver Marty Lane Distribution Drivers Adam Martinez, Alex Barskyy, Bob Christensen, Debbie Frenzi, Gary White, Jennifer Gangestad, Marty Troye, Paola Tarr, Patrick L’Angelle, Rosie Martinez, Tracy Breeden, Vicki Jewell President/CEO Jeff VonKaenel Director of Nuts & Bolts Deborah Redmond Executive Coordinator Carlyn Asuncion Project Coordinator Natasha VonKaenel Director of People & Culture David Stogner
Director of Dollars & Sense Nicole Jackson Payroll/AP Wizard Miranda Dargitz Sweetdeals Coordinator Courtney DeShields Developers John Bisignano, Jonathan Schultz System Support Specialist Kalin Jenkins N&R Publications Editor Michelle Carl N&R Publications Associate Editor Kate Gonzales N&R Publications Writer Anne Stokes Cover Design: Margaret Larkin
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Editorial Policies: Opinions expressed in rn&r are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permissions to reprint articles, cartoons, or other portions of the paper. rn&r is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or review materials. Email letters to rnrletters@ newsreview.com. all letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form and to edit them for libel. Advertising Policies: all advertising is subject to the newspaper’s Standards of acceptance. The advertiser and not the newspaper assumes the responsibility for the truthful content of their advertising message. rn&r is printed at Sierra nevada media on recycled newsprint. Circulation of rn&r is verified by the Circulation Verification Council. rn&r is a member of CnPa, aan and aWn.
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Local scientists take to the streets S t o r y a n d p h o t o s b y Brad Bynum | b r a d b @ n e w s r e v i e w . c o m
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No joke D
ave Mencarelli has been writing and performing stand-up comedy in the Reno area for more than 17 years. As local comics go, he’s been pretty successful—he’s run Catch a Rising Star, performed and hosted at The Laugh Factory, earned a No. 1 spot for Best Local Comedian in RN&R’s Best of Northern Nevada 2016, and worked with other comics the likes of Dennis Miller, Gilbert Gottfried and Paul Rodriguez. But doing stand-up still scares the crap out of him. “I’ve always had terrible stage fright,” he joked. “I hate getting up there. I love everything about comedy except doing it.” That may be true, but the fact that he earns an actual income—albeit a small one—for regularly doing comedy is something new comics can look up to. Despite his persistent stage fright, he’s happy to share his words of wisdom for newbies coming up through the ranks. Local comic Pat Shillito, longtime host of the Wednesday night open mic competition at 3rd Street Bar downtown, called Mencarelli “a sort of godfather figure” within the local comedy scene.
And it’s a bigger, more vibrant scene than you might realize. Helped along by Mencarelli, Shillito, and numerous others who’ve worked to create and grow opportunities, the Reno comedy scene is churning out a surprising level of talent.
Make ’em laugh “Probably all of us who do stand-up comedy were the funniest person at work or among our group of friends,” Mencarelli said. “Eventually that leads to someone—in my case, my mom—saying, ‘You should do stand-up comedy.’” At her urging, Mencarelli enrolled in a stand-up comedy class offered through Truckee Meadows Community College’s community education series, which culminated in a showcase at the Great Basin Brewing Co.’s former Thursday night open mic series. Mencarelli felt sure he was funnier than most of the folks in the class and became hooked. What he described is apparently a universal set of traits among comedians— natural comedic talent, high confidence,
“nobody ever says, ‘Hey, you’re funny for a dude.’ but we have to hear, ‘you’re funny for a girl,’ all the time.” Jenny PezDeSpencer 24 | RN&R | 04.20.17
Reno’s comedy scene is serious business by Jessica santina
and permission (and nudging) from friends and family to take the microphone. Then the intoxication of performing keeps them coming back. On a recent Wednesday, just hours before the week’s open mic started at 3rd Street Bar, about a dozen comics converged to tell me about their small-but-mighty scene and their close-knit relationships. They shared similar stories. Carson City’s Nick Josten came up through school doing theater and improv, but when a fellow actor invited him to join him in stand up, Josten found his real high. “Making people laugh, getting that approval from strangers … it’s kind of like a drug,” Josten said. “You do it once, and you get addicted and want to do it again.” “I first came here to see a friend do an open mic,” said Norm Enlow. “My wife leaned over and whispered, ‘You could do this.’” Within weeks, Enlow had his own five-minute slot at 3rd Street, and before long he was arranging another open mic show, the Comedy Power Hour, which ran for three years at Reno’s recently closed Wildflower Village. Local bartender Courtney Reichel had toyed with doing stand up for years until her brother finally held her feet to the fire and said, “Well, what are you gonna do about it?” So she enrolled in the TMCC class. “I knew they do a showcase at the end, so it would force me to go on stage,” Reichel said. Since then, she’s not only ramped up her own stand up, but at the two bars where she works, Beck’s Brew House and Jimmy B’s, she’s helped start open mic events. All these comedians exemplify the Biggest Little City doing what it does best—bucking tradition, supporting its own with ferocity and providing opportunities that might not exist elsewhere. This, they say, distinguishes Reno’s comedy scene.
“We’re fiercely loyal,” said Jenny PezDeSpencer, who started doing stand up about 15 years ago and has since earned a few mentions in RN&R’s Best of Northern Nevada. “I’ve never seen anyone treat a new comic badly. No one bad-mouths other people’s open mics.” “We’re a dysfunctional family, sure,” Reichel laughed. “But it’s welcoming. We want a thriving scene. We don’t have to like everybody or get everybody’s comedy, but we welcome everyone, and everyone gets a shot.”
A guy walks into a bar The comics at this table took great pleasure in detailing the enormous opportunity afforded comedians here. They described brutal gigs in bigger markets where they'd been required to spend hours outside clubs handing out flyers and luring in guests, the number of which directly correlated to the number of minutes—or, in some cases, seconds—they were granted on stage. Others spoke of requirements to bring in 10 or 15 friends or two-drink minimums. At 3rd Street, the standard is five minutes. Other shows may offer more. In fact, open mics happen at least five nights a week in Reno, in venues including The Waterfall, The Jungle, Beck’s, Jimmy B’s, 3rd Street and even the occasional backyard or parking lot. For those finding
“Making people laugh, getting that approval from strangers … it’s kind of like a drug. You do it once, and you get addicted and want to do it again.” Nick Josten
PHOTO/ERIC MARKS
CatCh loCal Comedy aCts at these venues the second-tier venues lacking—that middle ground between open mic and full-fledged comedy club—comedians create their own opportunities. Josten, for example, started up a monthly comedy showcase at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City. And the folks at this table insisted that the comedy in this small community is big-time quality. “I’ve looked at other scenes regionally—Sacramento, San Francisco and others—and they may have more comics, a lot more opportunities for open mics, stage shows, showcases, whatever,” said Shillito. “But I’d put our writing against any comedy scene in the country.”
Funny business Of course, even in such a supportive market, success isn’t guaranteed. These comedians could rattle off a host of obstacles. Actually, Mencarelli cited the sheer number of open mics as a challenge. “You can have too many open mic nights,” he said. “When comics go start them up all over town, it gets diluted. If you only had Wednesday nights at 3rd Street, you’d have 60 or 70 people show up, but now they have so few people coming to each spot. … So that tends to be frustrating.” He also pointed to a glaring gap between the large number of open mics and the two
major comedy clubs in town, The Laugh Factory and Pioneer Underground. “So how do you progress and go from a five-minute open mic to getting real stage time?” Mencarelli said, though he offered kudos to Josten’s showcase and other such efforts that help fill this gap. “Still, if you’ve got a solid 15 minutes of material that works, you’re wasting your time at open mics, but where do you go next? There just aren’t a lot of places locally to set your sights on.” Several female comedians cite their gender as a unique challenge. “Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, you’re funny for a dude,’” said PezDeSpencer. “But we have to hear, ‘You’re funny for a girl,’ all the time.” Then there’s the simple matter of awareness. No matter how supportive they are of each other, they all know it doesn’t work if actual (non-comedian) audiences don’t come. Making people aware that these shows exist is an uphill battle, especially if self-promotion doesn’t come naturally. Yet, though it’s hard, thankless, latenight work for little or no pay, they all keep coming back to stand up. “If you’ve ever thought about doing comedy, I’d say it’s like sex,” said PezDeSpencer. “It’s messy, you’re not sure if you did it right the first time, but in the end you’re like, ‘I’m the shit! Look what I did!’” Ω
Pioneer Underground presents
Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m., The Jungle, 246
acts by Reno Tahoe Comedy. Go to www.pioneercenter.com/ underground for schedule of upcoming acts and to buy tickets, or call 322-5233.
Wednesdays, 9 p.m., 3rd Street Bar,
Laugh Factory at the Silver
House, 3611 Kings Row. P.K. Hutchinson and Adam Terry host
Legacy Resort Casino presents traveling and local comics. Go to www.laughfactory.com/clubs/reno for a schedule of upcoming acts and to buy tickets.
The Brewery Arts Center in Carson City features comedy headliners, BAC Improv shows and Nick Josten’s monthly Stand Up Comedy Showcase. The next showcase, April 22, 8 p.m., will have a post-4/20 recreational marijuana theme. www.breweryartscenter.com
Local weekly open mic events Sundays, 8 p.m. The Waterfall Bar, 134 W. Second St. James Fleming hosts.
W. First St. Norm Enlow hosts.
125 W. Third St. Pat Shillito hosts.
Thursdays, 8:30 p.m., Beck’s Brew
Learn stand up comedy Truckee Meadows Community College offers a rotating schedule of comedy classes, taught by local comedian Kinsie Damon. According to Damon, “I teach students how to construct a joke, timing, getting over fears, and finding their authentic self so the material is personal and easy to relate to.” Not necessarily for future comedians only, the course is excellent preparation for public speaking, whatever your profession. Go to www.tmcc. edu/wdce/ for a schedule of upcoming courses.
Mondays, 8:30 p.m., Jimmy B’s Bar and Grill, 180 W. Peckham Lane. Contact Brooke Unger. Hosts change regularly.
04.20.17 | RN&R | 25
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